New Britain herald., 1927-12-06

going on that is not apparent to tn.
 casual observer. These people have
 been lifted above the things whict
 absorb their attention the other si, days Of the week. They have beer
 reminded of the things that are un.
 seen and eternal. | divine influence
 has been brought 10 bear upon theil
 spirits Hard hearts have been made
 tender. Weak wills have been
 strengthened. Sleeping conscience.
 have been aroused. and these people
 como forth from the houes of pray.
 or with a new determination to live
 as becometh the sons of tho livins
 God. An institution which produces
 results such as these. which makes
 life worth living, can hardly fail to
 commend itself to the most practical
 of men,
 Amer3oA Not Keeping Faith.
 Charging that America has broken
 faith with the F'ilipinos and is incur
 ring the distrust Of the Orient. Dr.
 Laubach urged that administration
 Of the islands be taken out of the
 hands of politicians and placed in
 those of experts in various phases
 of activity. in order that the Philip
 pines might sooner become ready for their promised independence. An abstract of Dr. Laubach's address on
 Getting in and Getting Out of the
 Philippines" follows:
 America compared with the rest
 of the world today Is a paradise. 1 Unless we watch our international relations it will be short-lived paradise. We have come upon enor- nous power since the war. We are
 headed toward ownership of the ! whole world. East, west, south they , arc nervous about us. Can the world trust us with q power unparalleled in history? Upon that answer to that question depends whether the world will unite In hating us. Splendid isolation is extinct as dinosaurs
 "We are ignorant. fatally ignorant, i Of Asia. We do not see that keeping faith with the Iilipinos will gain the confidence Of the Orient, and breaking faith with the Filipinos will earn the hatred of the Orient. The question of independence ought to be taken out of politics forever. It ought 10 be placed in the hands Of commissions Of specialists on educa- ton. finance. labor language, social conditions and international rela- tons; and when these commissions report that it Is safe to withdraw We ought to go. This would lift the Philippine question 10 the level of splendid cooperative enterprise in which both Americans and the FlN- pinos would work together to make the Philippines a model of demo- cracy in Asia. The present method of using independence as a political football in America and the Philip pines is insane for country so sys- tematic IS America and appallingly perilous.
 We can make the Philippines a beacon of hope for Asia The church must cooperate with the schools to build the foundations of character, while the Red Cross and the Rocke- i fellcr Foundation must co-operatc i with the government 10 build the physical basis for the first great Malay commonwealth.
 Abraham the First American
 Calling the Biblical Abraham the first American because he first pos sessed the true pioneer spirit, Mir. Beach said that the Congregational denomination showed this spirit in the highest degree. His speech, in :, part, was as follows:
 Who is the first American? While l some are declaring him to be Wood- [ row Wilson. still others Theodore ! Roosevelt, third group name Abra- ham Lincoln. and a fourth George An Englishman insists upon having his way with reference to the matter. This Englishman is none other than one who saw eerv- :. ice through the World war and Is now private chaplain 10 the king of England.
 He says in q recent article In the Century, I believe that Abraham was the first American. When he led up his camels and went out from his fathers home in Cr of the Chaldc<s, 'oward a land he knew not Of, seek ns freedom to worship God accord ns to the dictates of his own con- science, the stars and stripes went before him, a pillar of cloud by dayj md fire by night
 The meaning of the famous >haplain is this: That an American s not necessarily a man who lives in i land bounded by two oceans and he lakes and the Gulf of Mexico nan who speaks certain languages md wears certain styles of clothes md has the blood Of O. particular ace flowing through his veins but hat an American is primarily a man with a certain outlook on life-a nan Of the pioneer spirit.
 Now this pioneer spirit which .as characterized not only great men # all lands. but in a preeminent de- rec, those who have dwelt on hese shores, has manifested itself in 10 finer way than in the life and de- 'elopment of our churches. The hurch in the United States, there- ore, of whatever name or sign. is .ot an accident does not reprcsenl , Il occasional interest. Is never in the ature of side show or neelisipi- oncern, but rather is at the, very leart Of the nation, and is that ex- sting in which the real spirit of lmerlca reveals itself most freely nd most gloriously.
 "As a part of the church life in $ lmerica. Congregationalism has had, t times. at least the right of the