The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1916-02-25

the very thoughtful and timely rmol
delivered by DR.. B. q. Mattson at tn
Congregations church Sunday morning
Luke 9:62-"No Man, Having Pu
) His Hand to tho Plow, and Looking
, Back, is Fit For the Kingdom o
God"
, The challenge of an enduring purpos
, rings out in these great words. Tha
J the call of Him who spoke them has no
: been unheeded through the centuries il
witnessed by noble succession of fear
less and upflinching men and womel
by whom, in our own and other lands
the Kingdom of God has been brough
more near.
BY the side of these words drswr
, from the sacred documents of our re
ligious faith l venture to place today
other words, drawn from the mos,
sacred document of our political faith
The Declaration of Independence: 1--WE
hold these truths to be self evident
|
they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unaliensble rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit
of Happiness. BY the side of this i'm.
mortal affirmation of human rights,
venture further to place the closing
words the vow of an answering pur.
pose as fifty six strong men set their
hands to the plow of the nations des.
tiny. These other words with which
the great document closes are, "And
for the support of this Declaration, with
q firm reliance on the protection of
Divine Providence, we mutually pledge
to each other, our Lives, our Fortunes
and our sacred Honor"
1t is no sacrilege thus to place this
great affirmation and this great
pledge Of loyalty side by side with
the words of the divine Son of God.
In broad and true sense they interpret
and fulfill His gospel and His mission.
Among these human rights is the right
to life. Yes, did not He say, 81 am
come that they might have life and
that they might have 1t more abundant
lly." The right to liberty; yes and He
tsaid also. IT came to set at liberty them
that are bruised" and this too: "Ye
shall know the truth and the truth
shall set you Free" The right to the
pursuit of happiness, yes and did He
not set before men the supreme goal of
happiness when He cried Happy are
they who hunger and thirst after
righteousness for they shall be filledT
And when we bare our heads again
before the splendid pledge Of loyalty
with which the Declaration of Indepen.
dence closes we become aware that it
draws its moral grandeur from its kin.
ship with words like these: mo man
taketh my life from me; lay it down
of myself" And these: "The foxes
have holes and the birds of the air have
nests but the Son of Man hath not
where to lay his head" And these:
"If any man serve me, him will the
Father honor"
speak then at this crisis hour in our
nations life and in the last and greatest
crisis of our Christian civilization. In
such an hour we may we'll take again
to heart the great, the eternal ideals
voiced first in the message and life Of
the Christ and again in these heroic
words, "Our Lives, our Fortunes and
our sacred Honor"
There is no evasion or quibbllng here;
no pairing down the cost and haggliug
about the price. With future un.
known and destiny unmeasured, into
the lot of new born nation these brave
men cast their all Fifty.si names are
written at the end of the immortal
document. John Hancock's heads the
list Samuel Adams and John Adams
are there. Benjamin Harrison and
Benjamin Franklin are there and Thorn
as jefferson whose hand and brain
forged this greatest message to hu.
manity ever struck off at single sit.
ting by human pen"
In what fulness of meaning. then
may we ask, did these men make good
their noble pledge of loyalty2 And
still more necessary is 1t that we ask
how we shall be included in this our
own time in pledging our lives, our
fortunes and our sacred honors
The record of the fathers is secure.
Forever those glorious pages will re.
ma unsullied in the story of the up
ward progress of the race. Not for
themselves alone did they make those
affirmations of rights unalienable. For
all men they spoke. For every race
and color of skin; for the countless
hosts who later should come knocking
at our gates and for the still mightier
multitude of those who, owing allegi.
ance TO thrones and empires not our
own, still yearned with US to share the
right to life, TO liberty and to the pur-
suit of happiness. Nor was it for them
selves alone that these fifty six men
solemnly weighed the cost of these high
privileges az they pledged their lives,
their fortunes AMI their sacred honor.