Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-04-16

/ Key. w. Russell Bowie, ID. d.. dis
! cusscd Spiritual Opportunities and
! Spiritual Dangers in a State OF Mar"
/ He said in part:
Let us chart first the dangers OF our
situation. TO begin with. there are
two. the first of these which VIC shall
mark is that stunned sense of fatality
into which many deep and thoughtful
impact of this war.
There come moments when it seems
as though it were useless to attempt
20 hold the ruddcr Of ones destiny
with any Intelligent control. The YES
sci of all our living hopes seems in
such hours to be caught in the resist
less forces which men can neither
guide nor stay. From that danger,
SO typical il may be OF the noblcst
spirits. there can he no escape by shall
low evasion.
GREATNESS OF HUMAN SPIRIT
STILL ABLE TO DOMINATE:
Yet il is not true that in this ca
lamity there arc nothing but blind,
incNorahlc forces. The greatness of
the human spirit is still able to domi-
nate. 1t Is a tragedy, but not fatal
ity. And the mark of tragedy. AS dis
tinguished from fatality, is that,
though il is poignant with all the an
ruish OF human failure and human suf-
tcrinE. il can be worked through to
heroic and holy human ends. u is in
order that this may be that We
need in America to-day the thought.
the meditation. the prayers. OF those
best and. most conscientious spirits on
whom tho burden of this war falls
at first with most crushing weight. We
need their conse Grated thought to max e
1t sure that tho entrance of America
into this tragedy OF the world shall
contribute TO il that element, which.
out Of its dark. confused plot, shall
bring some measure of redemption.
Opposite to this danger. and likely to
threaten Il larger number of people,
is The temptation to take this war with
III" kind Of shallow impetuouSneSS
which. instead OF thinking agoniz-
inEly that thought is almost paralyzcd.
goes to the contrary extreme OF not
thinking at all. II is the danger Of the
mob spirit which rushcs into the pas
sionatc excuses it miscalls patriotism.
and under the Euise Of serving the coun-
try may trample under it's feet the
most precious values which the coun-
try possesses
MUST LEARN LESSON or
NATIONAL UNSELEISIINESS
Is il not true that we have thought
OF tho nation as having no necessary
concern with the welfare OF the other
peoples Of the earth. so long as VIC
could advance our own" Have we car
ricd into our tariff making. for in
stance. any sense Of an end larger than
the effect upon our own induStrieS'
Have we been mastered by any nobler
vision of the interests OF all the world
and of that mutual concern among the
| families of the nations which shall try
to order the affairs of one SO that pros
pcrity and good will shall be promo ed
among all" Unless We can clear our
conscience on all these questions. un-
less we can stand up in the face Of
God and say that We have never been
selfish, never narrow. never unsympa-
thctic--then We also are caught in
the complex OF the worlds great guilt
Of which this war is the awful cNpia-
ton Nor ont Of this war shall there
ever come redemption until beneath all
the immediate and accidental events
which brought II on, we recognize and
seek TO atone for those deeper failures
which VIC. and all the res, of tho peo-
pie. must confess If from the war
we learn that lesson. its fearful cost
viii not have been in vain.
Closely correlated with the thought
which We have just considered. I set
another. II is our opportunity TO
realize the wider human brotherhoo
Of our rightful service and RESPONSE
bility.
TELL. IMPOSSInILIrN
or OuR OWN ALOOFNtSSS
We, in the United States as the
months have gone on have felt more
and more the impossibility of our own
aloofreSs from the destiny Of the
world at large. We have known tina,
the time has passed when We could
Imagine tina, We could live our own
life here on our sheltered Western
shores. unconccrncd with the needs. the
pcrils and the possibilities OF tie hu-
man race on other continents. "Neu-
traiity," said the President. is no
longer feasible or desirable where the
peace of the world is involved and
the freedom Of it's people"
Arrogance and self -suncicncy where
these existed, have had their day
With nations. AS with individuals. we
know henccforth more profoundly than
we could ever have known before,
mat none 'iveth TO himself and none
! dieth to himself" The obligation tina
faces us is TO think through 10 the
realization that consciously hencefortl.
we must shape our national choices
with reference TO their effect upon the
welfare OF the world. and that our
real greatness. as also our real safety,
/ can be achieved only through the guild
/ ancc Of this ideal
. The third opportunity which faces
{ rs Is that ennoblement Of spiri, which
I recognizes and accepts the sacrifices
/ which great Royalties call for
DISTILLERY SETS EXAMPLE,
OI' HIGH PATRIOTISM
Let us, Try TO illustrate explicitly
/ some OF the things which this involves
lhree days ago, the newspapers con
tanned the announcement that ono O.
! tho great dist!ll.rics in Kentucky had
determined 10 suspend operation for
4 nc period OF the war. on the ground.
I mat the consumption OF grain i'm the
manufacture OF liquor at this time is un
\. )ustihed in the face of the worlds acute
need Tor food. If that action WAS taken
I on that ground. u "',.s a high example OF
unSeitSh patriotism. at,;, !. vas a chdl
/ !cngc TO people everywhere to rise &c
the level Of choices equally as clca-
/ ana right. No man, nor set Of men In
1 TINS momentous hour have q right to
. think OF their own business. or Of their
own habits ana preferences. as suhirc;
10 their own arbitrary choices. |!
there mad never been any moral rca
son for the suppression Of the manu-
tacturc of strong drink. there wonld
ne IN the enormous argument of the