Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1921-11-26

not to forget the Divine leadership,
the power that had safeguarded them
and turned them from perilous tragt
edy. They were by Moses reminded
Of the captain on the bridge the
Mighty Pilot who keeps awake
through every storm and never takes
his hand from the helm.
| Thou shalt remember all the way
which the Lord. thy God hath led
thee, much might well be forgotten,
the old rebellions the old murmurings
that did not better their conditions,
Tut made it worse, their disloyaity to
their spiritual leader and many IN
pleasant and unsavory things tnev
had done. But we must remember
the lesson of history that they had
been divine1y led, divinely protected,
divinely trained for life in the new
land, the Promised Land. They were
facing a great future but their feet
were mortised in the past and that
new future would come to them out
of the past.
Unfortunate is the man OF the ma
ton without the memories OF Great
Providences, that has never known the
caress or discipline of heaven. That
can discern no divine meanings in the
past history of nation or a man.
mere are Sucn ana Gou pity Lnem,
nations over whose past no angel OUT
VINO nave resisted the moulolng Coucn
OF the dlvIne hand; depending upon
their own ability as the Quincy
snrougn Ute, to chat man or that ma
ton there IS but one place for them
ana that Is amongst the decadent and
perlsnlng nations of the world; we
are never to forget the past. We are
the product of the past, the ground
on which we stand is made soil, when
you sink your shaft into it you cut
into a layer Of Az or SO centuries, SO
that all our sowing is upon prepared
ground and the top dressing comes up
from the Older periods, Coo has been
working and good faithful men have
Deen building on the foundation which
he has laid even Christ Himself.
Providence is not the mintage OF
yesterday, and God did not have to
wait for US to appear on the scene be-
fore he made all things ready for our
use. We had better not be to ready
to juitr the past for the life Of today
has sprung from the past, so we must
i.onor the old foundations, as we our
selves are the product OF the past.
We must not get inflated minds, be
cause Of our great physical and IL
nancial power, we must not be car
ried away, because we are doing
things much quicker than our Tor
bears, we boast of our modern clat-
tering civilization, and world wide
commerce, also being able to talk
around the world in 40 minutes, cross
the ocean in sc hours. | wonder If
we are not scurrying through life to
LASTLY and doing very little: are we
better and more reliable than our
forefathers, we have to go back to
great men, the greatest moulders OF
men, the greatest teachers of the
world. There are not any OF them
above ground when we come to think
Of it. :, =. dis
: Where is your modern Plato Shakes
,peare, Milton, Blaise Paschal, a
Burke, a Grafton and Addison, when
we think Of these mighty forces and
their Transforming powers in the hu-
man life we must truly say our best
has come from the past: Yes history,
and dearest Of all our treasures, our
religion, we drink our richest drafts
of inspiration out Of vintages OF the
past who have made this world what
it is for us to live in. 1t would be
better for US to throw all our gold
and wealth into the sea than to lose
our past. The past of a divinely led
nation, America, where God has been
so visibly working.
We had better remember all the
way the Lord hath led US; remember
it because it has made US what we
are, we have been from the beginning
religious nation, and have never
been more so than today. We have
over 23,000,000 Christian people IN
this great country, we have feared
God for centuries, some one has re-
Gently asked the question, if America
would run off in a tangent like Ger
many. No danger, America will not
forget the great Christian history be-
hind her and that she is Christian
nation and means to be for all time