Milford chronicle., 1907-07-05
Calnage
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase, D. D.

events that have contributed TO our
country's greatness and traces the Di-
vine hand guiding its destinies. The
text is Psalm lxxvii, II, surely l will
remember thy wonders of old"
During the coming week we celebrate
our birth as a nation. Our topic this
morning, therefore, should be patriotic.
The text l have chosen invites US to
Renaissance, and the reminiscence
need not be limited to our own lives.
Like our famous writer Edward Ever
EFT Hale, our thoughts may well in
clude "The Memories Of a Hundred
Years" That book deals for the
most part with the youthful history Of
this nation. When l think of the Rev
olutionary war and the signing of the
Declaration of Independence and the
forming Of the constitution of the Unit
ed States and the political supremacy
of Washington's government, l always
think of our government as a new
born baby In its swaddling clothes.
But when think of the government Of
Jefferson, Madison and Monroe and
the great causes which led up to our
civil war ! think Of the boyhQod and
young manhood of our country. It is
about this development of our govern |
ment that I would like to speak today. /
Such a theme should offer us a wide
scope for a national sermon.
As 1 read that interesting book the /
fact which forced itself upon me was
that in the beginning Of the last cen
tury the complete unifcation Of the
United States government had not
been established. DR.. Hale we'll said:
"On the LIST Of January, 1901, the
United States was belt on the Allan
tic seabOard Of thirteen poor and weak
communities, occupying territory which
hardly ran back more than $50 miles
from the ocean. They had united
they were nation. Even the states
men Of that day would have written,
The United States are ready or are
prepared, while an officer Of ours to-
day would say, The United States is
ready or IS prepared" In other
words, though the constitutional con- 7
vention which formed the original
thirteen colonies into a federation had r
assembled in 1857, yet up to the latter =
part Of John Adams administration =
the different states still thought the :
central government was of minor i'm /
portance and that the state legislatures h
had more power than the national con- @
gress. f
knew this fact was true of the be- I
ginning of George Washlngtons ad- o
but did not think it was G.
30 clear down through John Adams Il
-erm. When the first president was "
in New York city, it was b
llmost impossible for him to get strong Il
men to take positions under the United 0
States government. In the United al
states government today the most i'm s.
,ortant position next to the presidency cf
S that of chief justice Of the supreme "
ourt of the United States. Yet John Jt
ay, the first chief justice of the United
tates supreme court, resigned his seat of
4 order to be a candidate for governor W
T New York, in which contest he ca
allied Washington had the hardest to
York to obtain proper men for his cab ma
let. John Marshall, who afterward gr
ecame the great chief justice of the ne
'nited States supreme court refused OF
le position Of attorney general, pre- ev
srring to remain a member of the Vir- no
mia state senate. tol
AS an illustration of the low esti- Co
ate placed on positions in the Unit wa
States government in the beginning Sc
the last century we find De Witt we
linton, a United States senator from Ha
ew York in 1901, resignlng his posi- LA
IN in the United States senate in or les
r to become the mayor of New York me
ty. Can you dream of anything that lists
Ould be more incomprehensible to Ro
e statesmen of the present day? The WI
ca our early statesmen had of the les!
ion of the states seems to have been ste
at Of bond but little closer than an Wi
lance such as might bind two friend ius,
European countries. But as they new
me to realize that the union was one 3
. mutual strength and protection the the
portance of the central federation peo
iumed greater proportions. And so, diff
: brothers, as we thank God today gre,
It the United States government has eve
,wn into a cohesive unity we should mos
be bitter or harsh in our criticism VOL
those statesmen who in 1861 still ings
ieved that the single commonwealth mad
S supreme. John G. Calhoun's ad- coul
,acy Of state sovereignty was the in o
ural sequence Of the thought, which cost
5 almost universally prevalent when the
Omas jefferson became president, hard
t the United States was confed- ''tha
cy of seventeen commonwealth ket
her than a single government Of whe
ich the different states were only As !
igral parts. ridic
The State Sovereignty Idea. chus
} universal was the idea Of state hom
in Washington's time that jug
IN the first president made his IA that
IS tour Of the New England states OF a.
governor Of Massachusetts at first barg
lsed to call upon George Washing Whe
when he came to Boston. He Drac- carry