Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-06-04

I'm the first place. there stands the
| impressive truth that the entrance OF
| America into the war. and the very
| fact that universal service should ever
| have been considered as possible, de-
| pend upon an altogether new rcaliza :
! ton of the awful intimacy with which
| the destiny Of every nation i'm the
world is bound up with the fate Of
every other. Three years ago the
causes which have led To this war
seemed to us as remote rs the sun
posed doings OF the problcmntic peoule
on the planet Mars Like men awakinc
from dream, we have seen the thing
that we thought We could watch from
aiar come and involve us in itself
Cither that thing must be overcome
or the ideals and liberties which we in
America have thought secure will find
themselves in peril for their life.
No MAN LIVErH TO HIMSELF.
AND NONE DIETH TO HIMSELF
Here in the affairs of nations. ms in
the spiritual life of individuals. there
Sntne Tor us the words Of the text
for no man liveth to himself and no
man dieth to himself The day has
passed for provincialism in thought
ana interest. The day has gone for
ever when any one nation or class or
'nat they can ultimately prosper by in
oiHerence to the dec radiation OF the
other group be ii near or far.
We turn now TO a second and diff
tcrent consideration. The registering
OF men for universal service helps us
10 appreciate with 4 new vividncss
what love of country means. When We
see step taken which may call tens
OF thousands OF men to lay down their
ilNes Tor their country's sake. we real
ne that this great corporate thing OF
"A ba
.hinE wonderfully high and precious
II II has the right to demand such sac
rince' And that realization ought to
make us search our conscienccs to soc
II all OF US. men and women alike. arc
measuring up fully to what that larger
loyalty should require OF us
1T is one OF tho curious facts of
life that the things which are to us
most precious and most Indispensable
woven into the very fabric of ourselves
are the things of which we may think
least often and OF the incstimable
value of which we may not even he
WILDLY conscious until some sharp con-
'rast or some grave loss makes us
all OF sudden wake to the realiza-
zion Of what they arc In this time
when the strength Of mighty nations is
being spent in the awful fields of E:u-
rope, we know that there is something
IN America which the life of the COM
ing generations must not loSe-hcr
ideals OF freedom. her reverence for
even the lowlicst human soul her wide
open gates OF opportunity. her fresh
ness. her Nirility and her hope are SO
priceless that TO preserve them the
lives Of her sons arc not too much IN
he la id down
NEED WILLINGNESS FOR
UNIVERSAL SERVICE;
ho
4 this spiritual principle which We lay
aold OF here might expand through all
our living. The great need of the
anal redemption OF life is that into the
activities Of the common days there
may come the same enthusiasm and
no same devotion which we give 10
The dramatic needs OF war. To-day the
nation goes out TO fight what we be-
heve Is evil AS represented by another
great people in arms. riut always and
everywhere the forces Of righteousness
arc gong out TO the eternal warfare
against the realities Of wrong and sin
The church is Gods army in that UNI
ending warfare. and the Kingdom OF
God which it seeks to win is that far
off end TO which a Just outcome Of any
war of the nations is only step to-
ward the attainment
I'm our politics. in our civic duty
IN our religion. we need the same will
lingncss for universal service which
makes the meaning OF this military
Registration Day noble In these fields
also We need to feel the shame that
ought 10 attach 10 the coward and the
Stacker. We need TO feel the thrill
and the inspiration than ough, to call
every single life TO the desire To take
its own contribution and render its own
tathful service to the common good"