Evening star., 1924-10-15
Pioneers Sacrifices Builded
america, Declares Coolidg ge
President Says Asbury's Life Portrays
Spirit of Deuotion That Made Nation
Greater Than Its Founders Dreamed.

ing ceremonies at the statue of Bish-
op Asbury, delivered the following ad-
dress:
This occasion cannot but recall to
our minds in most impressive way
the sacrifice and devotion that have
gone into the making of our country.
1t is impossible to interpret it as the
working out of a plan devised by man.
The wisest and most far-sighted of
them had little conception of the
greatness of the structure which was
to arise on the foundation which they
were making. AS we review their
accomplishments they constantly ad-
monish us not only that all things
work together for those who do good
but that in the direction of the af-
fairs of our country there has been
an influence that had broader vision,
a greater wisdom and wider pur-
pose than that of mortal man which
We can only ascribe to a Divine Prov
idence. A wide variety of motives
has gone into the building of Our re-
public. We can never understand
what government is or what is
necessary to maintain it, unless we
keep these fundamentals in mind. To
one of them, Francis Asbury. the first
American bishop of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and his associates
Our Government rests upon relig
ion. 1t is from that source that we
derive our reverence for truth and
justice, for equality and liberty. and
for the rights of mankind. Unless
the people believe in these principles
they cannot believe in our Govern
ment. There are only two main
theories of government in the world.
One rests on righteousness. the other
rests on force. One appeals to rea-
son, the other appeals to the sword.
One is eXemplifed in a republic, The
other is represented by a despptism.
The history of government on this
earth has been almost entirely a
history of the rule of force held in
the hands of few. Under our Con-
stitution America committed itself
to the practical application of the rule
of reason, with the power held in the
hands of the people.
Result Only by Struggle.
This result was by no means ac-
CompliShed at once. 1t came about
only by reason of long and difficult
preparation, oftentimes accompanied
with discouraging failure. The abil-
ity for self-government is arrived at
only through an extensive training
and education. In our own case it
cannot yet say that it is wholly per-
fected. 1t is of a great deal of sig
nificance that the generation which
fought the Am erican Revolution had
seen a very extensive religious re-
yival. They had heard the preaching
of Jonathan Edwards. They had seen
the great revival meetings that were
inspired also by the preaching of
Whitefeld. The religious experiences
of do do i'm
preston upon the great body of the
people. They made new thought and
created new interests. They freed
the public mind. through a deeper
knowledge and more serious contem-
plation of the truth. By calling the
people to righteousness they were a
direct preparation for Self-govern-
ment. 1t was for a continuation of
this work that Francis Asbury was
raised up.
THE religious movement which he
represented was distinctly a move
ment to reach the great body of the
people. Just as our Declaration of
Independence asserts that all men are
created free, so it seems to me the
founders of this movement We're in
spired by the thought that all men
were worthy to hear the Word.
worthy to be sought out and brought
took their preachers among the poor
and neglected, even TO criminals in
the jailS. AS our ideal has been to
bring all men to freedom, so their
ideal was to bring all men to saliva
tion. 1t was pre-eminently a move
ment in behalf of all the people. 1t
was not a new theory. The Amer
lean Constitution was not new
theory. But like it, it was the prac-
tical application of an old theory,
which was very new.
Just as the time was approaching
when our country was about to begin
the work of establishing a Government
which was to represent the rule of the
people, where not a few but the many
were to control public affairs. where the
vote of the humblest was to count for as
much as the vote of the most exalted,
Francis Asbury came to America to
preach religion. He had no idea that he
was preparing men the better to take
part in a great liberal movement, the
better to take advantage of free institu-
tions and the better to perform the func-
tions of self-government. He did not
come for political motives. Undoubtedly
they were farthest from his mind.
Others could look after public affairs.
He was a loyal and peaceful subject of
the realm. He came to bring the gospel
to the people, to bear witness to the
truth and to follow it wheresoever it
might lead. Wherever men dwelt, what
ever their condition, no matter how re-
mote, no matter how destitute they
might be, to him they were souls to be
saved.
A Man of the People.
For this work the bearing of the
testimony of the truth to those who
were about to be and to those who
in his later years were sovereign Amer
ican citizens, he had a peculiar training
and aptitude. He was the son of "a
father who earned his livelihood by
manual labor, of a mother who bore
a reputation for piety. BY constant
effort they provided the ordinary
comforts of life and an opportunity
for intellectual and religious instruc-
tion. 1t was thus that he came out
of home of the people. AS early as
the age of II he began his preaching.
In I'LL, when he was 26 years old,
responding to a call for volunteers,
he was sent by Wesley to America.
Landing in Philadelphia, he began
that ministry which in the next As
years was to take him virtually all
through the Colonies and their west
ern confines and into Canada, from
Maine on the North, almost to the
Gulf of Mexico on the South.
He came to America five years
after the formation of the first
Methodist Society in the city of New