Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1918-10-03
A FINE SERMON
Thickness Of Sermon and Its Thought
Cause Much Comment.

with which it deals, The Alma Record
has had several requests TO print a
sermon recently delivered by Rev
j. w. Priest of the First Baptist
church of this city
The sermon, 1.-THE Soul of Amer
ica,' which follows, is full Of thought
for everyone, dealing as it does with
the great subjects which are upper
most in the thoughts of, not only the
men of the world, but of every in
dvidual:
Mark S:36-"What shall it profit a
man if he gain the whole world and
lose his own soul ?"
THE question is familiar to us all,
there are few passages of Scripture
we know better. We have answered
the question for ourselves by belief in
Jesus Christ, and endeavors to cult
vate the soul life. would change
the wording of the text for my mes
sage this morning and the truth will
remain. What shall il profit a nation
if it gain the whole world and lose
its soul
What shall it profit the United
States if it gain the whole world and
lose its soul? A nation may be said
to have soul DR.. Hills preached
notable sermon on the theme, How
, Germany Lost Her Soul He showed
how that nation undermined the
foundations for a great and noble
Germany which were laid by the
gospel under the direction Of Luther.
She invented false philosophy, the
philosophy of Nie;zsche, teaching
that only the strongest have right
to live and prosper; that Christianity
is detriment 10 the race because IL
helps the weak. Germany's theory
of the state was another blow at
morality, for she held that while the
moral law is good for the individual,
the state is not subject 10 the moral
law. Under the plea of military
necessity she taught her soldiers that
II was their duty TO destroy as far
as possible the mental and material
resources of the enemy In such a
way has the German state encour-
aged its soldiers to pillage, to destroy
and commit outrages of the most bar
barrie sort. In showing how Germany
lost ner soul, DR.. Hills tells of the
token given TO German soldiers and
worn by them | have never heard
of il from any other source, so he is
my authority. The token is an alum
mum coin about the size of our silver
dollar, bearing an image of the
kaiser's conception Of the Deity with
drawn sword Underneath is the in
scription, Strike him dead, the Day
of Judgment will ask no questions.
81 confess | have been puzzled to
understand how, under the circum-
stances. William of Germany could
speak in the language of religion, but
how much such utterances are worth
IS clearly seen in what Germany's
code allows. violation of treaties,
pillage, lust, ruthless submarine war
fare, war on hospitals, war on women
and children, destruction Of life and
property in neutral countries.
Suppose our country had said, az
a good many Of our people did say
two or three years ago, 1t is no af-
fair Of ours, let the nations Of Europe
fight it out We were at peace. we
We're prosperous. while the nations
were becoming bankrupt we were
piling up our treasury. If we had
this course We should have
gained the whole world financially.
But we should also have gained the
contempt of the civilized nations and
our security could not have been long
If Germany had succeed
ed in defeating the allied nations. she
would have very soon attacked US
But, for a time, We should have
gained the whole world. though the
principles Of freedom, of which we so
proudly boast, would have received
crushing blow, and we should have
lost our soul
Il am proud that / am an Ameri-
can. | used to be proud that was
an Englishman. ! am not ashamed
of my English birth, but | am proud
that ! man American ! am proud
of our national history. | am proud
of our part in the great world conflict
for we have proved that the soul Of
American lives.
"The soul of America lives for she
has forsworn the worship of the dol
lar. 1t has often been charged that
in America the dollar was almighty.
The Germans thought we were so de-
voted TO it that We would not make
war. We have shown that there are
some things We regard as much more
valuable than money. We have given
our money for Red Cross activities.
and for the noble work Of the Y. VI.
C. A., that our boys may be properly
cared for We have loaned our money
to the government knowing it to be
a safe investment. We shall loan
our money when it is hard TO get IL
together, when il means sacrifice. be-
cause we do not worship the dollar.
We will give all we have that the
highest and hottest things may be
saved.
The soul of America lives for we
follow our Leader. Jesus Christ.
against the adversary of mankind.
1t is becoming mere and more clear
that this is war Of Christianity
against barbarism, the barbars SIN of
tne ngn. Long centuries ago the
Huns attacked the Christian nations
ana cit sueh a trail Of desolation as
Europe can never forget William of