Norwich bulletin., 1916-07-10
AMERICAS IDEAL
Rev. Joel B. SIooum, D. D., Delivers Another Patriotic Sermon at Gen. traI Baptist Church.

Following up his patriotic sermon of a week ago Rev. Joel B. Slocum, D. D., preached from the topic, Americas Ideal at the Sunday morning service at the Central Baptist church. Rev. Dr. Slocum took his text from Elk. 32: S6. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whose is on the Lords side, let him come unto me
 In part Rev. Dr. Slocum's sermon follows:
 The wise man in Proverbs (29;18) says: Where there Is no vision, the people cast off restraint" In the old version it reads perish" But you can easily understand that casting off all moral restraint is equivalent to perishing. The same word occurs in Exodus to describe the situation that resulted from the demand of the peo- pie that they should be allowed to have gods like their heather nefghbors round them. Here, too. the expression IS east off restraint And when
 Moses saw that the people were brok- en Ioose"-then Moses stood in the gate of camp, and said: "WhosO is on the Lords side, let him come unto me"
 The people had broken loose be- cause they had no vision. Their sight was limited to the sensuous things, the things of the moment
 There is demand today as perhaps never before for men who will bind JuHLuSGINHS together TOT the T69lIZa- ton of Americas ideal. We are very much in the situation of the builder who has assembled all the materials and whose next work must be to put them together into an integrated, log lCal structure. True we have called ourselves a nation for one hundred and forty years. but we are still at the very beginning of the process of nation building. Nations are not old, anyway; not at least in the sense we are now using the term. Empires are old, but nations that represent peO- pie bound together by common ties and united in a great common pur- pose for their own welfare and for the welfare of mankind are com paratively new institution And among these We are about the latest-unless we say that China has recently merg- ed from an empire into a nation and is beginning to find herself in a new life for herself and the world.
 Our Tasks as Builders. What then are some of our tasks as builders of a, great national ideal?
 First of all. for in many respects it is foremost, is the task of the alien. He Is here and here in vast numbers. After the European war, he may be here in still vaster numbers. He must be educated, assimilated and Chris | tianized. Either one of these is no small enterprise. In many cases this alien is beyond the reach of our edu- cationa1 process He is too old to go to school and the school is not quite flexible enough to some to him. His children we can handle much easier, but even here the problem is no small one.
 Foreigners and Old Glory. It was an inspiring sight last Tues day (July 1, 1916) in our local parade to see the large number of foreigners | each carrying an American flag. One of our thoughtful citizens said to me a day or two later, T am impressed | as never before since seeing those foreigners marching in such large numbers in our ranks and carrying our flag-their f1ag!-that we must do something with them or it will not with us" It is the three-fold task of education, assimilation and evangeli- zation. Many of the ideals that were theirs, if indeed they could be called ideals, before they left the old coun- try must be surrendered before these people can become a Homogeneous part of our national life. If we go on at the rate we are going, the stock of l the puFitans will be Supplanted by
 mixture of foreign nationalitfes be- fore many. years have gone by. What
 We. do we must do quickly. Wa will
 be obliged to work along the direc- tiOn of the least resistence and do our work with the children. and the young
 people. And there are great encour- agements in this service. Often we are put to shame by the qUiclSness of
 these aliens to grasp the true Ameri-
 can spirit and to give expression to 1t. It was zgood to see so many of them in linet the other day carrying our flag which now Is their flag, too. They are catching the spirit of our, institu-
 tions and if they are properly handled they will become useful American cit-
 izens.
 sours attitudes towazdss themashsuld'