Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1909-07-08
THESE ARE EVIL
DAYS INDEED
BISHOP WiLLIAMS's scATHING
SERMON ON AMERICAN
PATRIOTISM.
SAYS WE ARE INHUMAN
His Views Regarding Wealth, Educa-
ton, the People and the Trend of
Public Affairs Vigorously Set Forth.

Rt. Rev. Charles ID. Williams, Bish-
OPP OF Michigan. preached in st. Bar
tholomew's Episcopal church, New
York, Sunday. sermon, OF which
IL is said, John the Baptist never
preached more scathing evangelis-
tic sermon in the wilderness or any
where else against an Israel that was
satisfied with itself because its father
was Abraham. He admitted that it
was an odd sort of Fourth of July
sermon.
Said Bishop Williams: Even on the
anniversary of the nations birth and
at the risk of being counted sensa-
tional, | shall venture TO mention
some things wherein Americans COM
NIT the sins against which John the
Baptist and Jesus Christ preached.
"One thing is that of our wealth.
We are more crudely materialistic
than any other people on earth.
We cannot tell the difference be-
tween bigness and greatness.
"Bigness is material. You can meas-'
ure it with tape. Greatness is spirit
ual 1t is that which God alone can
measure.
1--WE call New York and Chicago
great cities. Are they?
They are big-monstrously big
but have they the civic conscience
that Is necessary to greatness? Com
pare them with Athens Of old with
some of the small cities of Europe
of the present day, where real prob
lens OF humanity are being worked
out
As a people we are big in land.
we are big In energy, we are big; but
in any of these are we great?
What are our national ideals?
Have We cry? fear we nave not.
I'VE are so individualistic that the
nation has hardly an existence.
The state seems to exist TO take
care of persons-especially rich per-
sons. Congress is just now spending
its time looking after particular inter
ests. 1t is the individual and il he
is cared for the devil can take the
general public.
I'VE are inhuman. We care little
for art, for sentiment. or for any
thing that cultivates humanity We
have a horror of being called senti-
mental
Our universities teach trades, not
the higher life. We turn out grad
yates fitted TO get rich, and when
they get rich they do not know how
to use. much less enjoy, their
money"
While making a great show of pa
tiotism, the people of the United States
refuse to take up the. simplest obliga-
tons of their citizenship. They would
not soil their dainty fingers with
dirty politics" even in the effort TO
make them clean, he said He d.
agnosed latter-day troubles as fol-
lows:
This false patriotism Of idle pride
in our past and blind confidence in
our future has so possessed the pop
ular mind that he who ventures TO
criticize our national character makes
himself prey of popular fury and
scorn. The greatest need Of America
today Is a line of prophets TO con-
vince us of our sins-sins that are
palpably manifest to all who are not
wilfully blind, sins which have in
variably, throughout the whole course
of history. brought in their train the
declines and fall of nations"
Concluding, the bishop said that he
saw signs of Improvement, and that
he believed that If Christian peple
would stop in their mad rush for
wealth long enough to consider width
er they and the nation are going,
America might not know the fate of
Israel and Of Rome.