Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-06-01

yard rounda bout. 1t was in January.
LIS. when the atmosphere was
chArGeds with, personalities. AT the
cl0se Of his sermon the minister spoke
OF the duties we our country, cay
ing with a fervor born Of conviction
the following words, which were 50
appropriately subjoined to the greet
ings and by my Alma Mater: "In the
language Of Holy Writ. there Is a time
for all things, a time to preach, and q
tine to pray, but those things have
passed away. There is a time to fight
and that time has now come" From
the choir loft there pealed forth the
fret measures of Luther's incom-
parable song Of the Reformation "a
congregation Joined in. Then the
minister pronounced the b%enediction,
threw of his clerical robe, and be-
hold, minister nc more, he stood II,
the uniform of a colonel sofFthe Con-
tinental army. AS he slowly descend-
ed from the pulpit the drums were
beaten outside the church, for the
mastering of the, soldiers for the
cs use of freedom.
This picture and this dramatic ut
terance have been in my mind a great
deal during. the months past. There
is indeed a time to preach and a time
to pray. but the time to fight has
come. o
1--WE are agreed with Peter$Muhlen-
berg. We are agreed with him what
ever our ancestry and our inheritance.
The sentiment so dramatically ex-
pressed by that pioneer and patriot
142 years ago has awakened the same
response in the masses as they did on
that Sabbath day in that little church
at Woodstock. The ideals Of freemen
are at stake today as they were then.
The bugle call has sounded and from
origin Columbia's sons arise to their
defense. In the asst host that Is as
sembling the old lines that stamped
one Briton, or Frank, or T%euton, or
Slav, or Geek, or sol Of the fjord-in-
dented north, or scion of ancient
Rome, or even offspring of former
African slaves, these lines are all
blotted out and the proudest name of
all is given all-Americans. We are
metal in each of us is freed from
dross. The common danger makes us
a united people as never before. We
have our renaissance.
'"From the angle from which we
now view the great conflict of ideals
in which we are engaged, it seems al
most incomprehensible> that men
should have been divided in their
opinion regarding the war, when ii
was still in it's initial stages. l am by
no means ready to concede that those
who sided against the Central powers
at that time had any more ,c%lairvoyant
insight than the rest. We were di-
vided on lines Of racial interest. In
this very audience 1 see those who at
the beginning were distinctly pro-
British, pro-French, pro-1talian, pro-
Russian, pro-German. And why were
they? Because either their interests
or their kinship. though remote
linked their hearts with this or that
group over there. Those were the
days prior to the u~tterances of our
noble president, when the aims and
purposes of this vast war, as Ameri-
ca now sees them. had not attained
to crystalization and were not placed
on such ideal heights as now they
hold. Each nation had its selfish
ends and aims and goals, nor are we
quite convinced that all have ever
now espoused in full the lofty and
unselfish aims for which our country
now is risking all. If our historians
and u statesmen knew what was 60
ing on beyond the seas in treaties and
agreements they did not share this
knowledge with the .laiety. l think
they did not know. Then. If they. the
experts in these things, were in the
dark, how could the common man
reasonably be expected to divine the
truth: And did not bonds Of friend
ship and of kin. often bind him to
those beyond the seas?. Did they
not speak his mothers tongue and