Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-11-04
OLD-TINE RELIGION
BY BISHOP w 4. GAMBLER

Patriotism is not the equivalent of piety
but there is no genuine piety into which pa
triotism does not enter as an inseparable
ingredient. No man loves and serves God
as he ought who is insensible to the sacred
obligations which he owes to the land in
which Providence has placed him and the
people who with him nhabit it.
Any token of an enfeebled sense of duty
to ones country indicates weakened recog-
milton of obligations of all kinds.
Men sometimes speak of "a civic con-
science, but the words are misleading.
Conscience is something quite indivisible. 1t
speaks with one voice with respect to all
duties and admits of the application of no
descriptive terms to it's operations such as
"civic" and like explosives. A conscientious
man is conscientious in all things. He
scrupulousy renders to Caesar the things
that are Caesars and to God the things
that are Gods.
The saints of all ages have been unselfish
and devoted patriots.
Moses 1.-The man OF God" jealous
for the honor of Jehovah and he was not
less devoted to his people. Hence, he
prayed for them in a spirit of complete
self-effacement, \saying, "Oh this people
have sinned great sin; and have made
them gods of gold Yet now. if thou wilt
forgive their sin; and if not, blot me,
pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou
hast written exodus xxxii:21).
/ In like manner st. Paul, the great apostle
81 could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh; who are lsrael1tes;
to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the
glory, and the covenants, and the giving or
the law, and the service of God and the
promises; whose are the fathers, and OF
whom concerning the flesh Christ came,
who is our all God blessed forever" (Rom-
ans ix:35.)
Martin Luther was German in every
fiber of his nature, and served nightly his
native land.
John Knox prayed with feryent faith,
"Give me Scotland, or | de!"
John Wesley his deathbed whispered
prayers for his country and his king.
1t is impossible to think these sanity
men would have neglected the duty of vot-
ing, if voting had been theirs as citizens Of
the lands they loved.
In times of war men are ready to die for
their country. Have not they in periods of
peace duties to their governments just as
real and just sacred their obligations
for service in times of war?
In the faithful discharge of duty in days
of peace unattended by the pomp and cir
cumstance of martial combats, there is often
found herosm lofty as any soldier ever
exemplifed.
To such heroic service of his country
every citizen should feel himself bound
whenever occasion arises demanding it,
But lives given to the gathering of pelf
and the indulgence of pleasure are incapa-
BILE of such higher service. Patriotism is
suffocated in an atmosphere of mammon-
ism; and this is the pestilential breath
which is quenchng the vitality of Amer
lean patriotism. 1t is paralyzing the sense
of duty in the breath of multiplied thou
sands
The welfare of the nation calls for a re-
y1Val among our people of their languishing
sense of duty. And the quickening of the
consciousness of civic responsibility can be
brought to pass by nothing less than the
return Of the people of God. They are list
less in civil life because they have suffered
an impairment of their religious life
The fires on the affairs Of patriotism are
Pickering and failing because the flames of
faith are burning low.