Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-01
PATRIOTISM TAUGHT
IN BROADEST SENSE
MUST BE LOCAL, NATIONAL
AND INTERNATIONAL
Rev. William Horace Day Draws Les
sons from the Civil War and Ap-
piles Them to Conditions of
Modern Life

Modern Life
At the First Congregational church
yesterday the Memorial day service
was attended by the Boys brigade
as well as the usual congregation. The
music and decorations were In accord
with the day. The pastor, Rev. William
Horace Day, preached from the text in
Exodus xii, This day shall be unto
you for a memorial" His subject
was "The New Patriotism
Every generation" he said, Tex
presses it's patriotism in its own way.
Forty years ago the men whose mem
ory we have been honoring were in the
midst of q terrible struggle to MAIN
tain the nation. Patriotism meant to
enter the service of the government.
Today America does not need many
soldiers. but she needs patriotic citi-
zens. The patriotism of our time must
be local, national and world wide.
IF slavery had not existed 1 sup
pose there would have been no war,
but the point at issue was between
state patriotism and national patriot
ism. National patriotism overcame,
and in that result all rejoice. When
the soldiers of the surrendered armies
turned back to their deserted homes
to begin life afresh, they had a sense
of defeat; of a cause to which they
had consecrated their magnificent
American valor, which was a lost
cause. That cause was not lost. The
nation was forever given precedence
over the state, but the local patriot
ism, which held a Virginian loyal to
the call of his state, was not dead.
"The south taught the nation the
meaning of the local patriotism with
out which the national can never
stand. The men who obeyed the sum-
mons of Georgia, or Alabama, for ex-
ample, and went out to wear the gray
in 1861, trained sons who no less heard
the call of their state and went out
in the beginning of the new century
to fight the saloon and to place their
states among those who have white
stars In the stainless flag which
waves its victory over strong drink.
If the spirits of the southern dead were
here this morning and knew of the
struggles we are making in California
to have worthy state they would see
the fruits of the travail of their soul
and be satisfied
New Patriotism National
THE finest result of the civil war
was the establishment of q nation
ality of which all might be proud.
While Italy under Garibaldi was set
ting up loyalty to a united Italy, as
more binding upon conscience than the
love for any single city or state, so
the men of the north settled that in
the United States loyalty to the whole
was greater than that for any of its
parts. Yesterday we honored the men
who made 1t possible for us to say
I am an American If our honored
dead were here in spirit they would
look upon these boys, upon that which
stirs our blood, that for which we, too,
are ready to make sacrifice, see the
travail of their souls and be satisfied
Ancient patriotism in Athens and
Rome and Babylon never produced
anything higher than contempt for for
eigners. Though Socrates could call
himself a citizen of the world and
Terence could say that nothing hu-
man could be counted alien to him,
these isolated voices never estab-
ltshed the highest form of patriotism,
that which is racial. 1t was not till
men learned that God SO loved the
world that he gave his only begotten
Son that the beginnings of the larger
loyalty affected life. Out of American
patriotism has come the larger. Both
General Joe Wheeler, the believer in
patriotism as a state loyalty, and Cen
eral Shafter, thes upholder of national
patriotism, were united in making
Cuba Libre possible.
From Army to Pulpit
after the war was over a success
full soldier came home, went to col
lege and seminary and Colonel J. B.
Davis became a minister. In Japan,
whittier he went at the call of the
larger patriotism, he became the
preacher, lecturer and theological
teacher. the inspirer of the new Japan.
After the defeat of the Russian fleet
Admiral Togo went to the hospital to
visit the wounded, defeated Rojestven-
sky, and the japanese admiral spoke
comfortingly to the Russian. He was
as loyal to the wider patriotism as
to his emperor He had learned it
from the men who, like Colonel Davis,
heard the call to the higher loyalty
when the island empire was opening
its doors. The members of this COM
pany, and we who are here this morn
ing, need to reconsecrate ourselves to
the new patriotism as did the men
who wear the bronze button of the
Grand Army of the Republic, to the
call of him who saw the day when
They shall come from the north and
the south, and from the east and from
the west, and they shall sit down to-
gether in the kingdom of Cod"