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    June 30, 1898

    “Notes” American Sentinel 13, 26, pp. 401, 402.

    ATJ

    THE truest patriotism is not the noisiest.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.1

    A MAN’S time is an important part of his wealth.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.2

    IT is the business of the church to invite, not to command.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.3

    THE gospel of force is the devil’s counterfeit of the gospel of love.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.4

    NEITHER the church nor the state is the custodian of an individual’s rights.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.5

    IN gospel work, coercion is not a remedy for failure in the line of persuasion.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.6

    THE church is effectual for righteousness only as she is energized with power from on high.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.7

    GOD worked upon the first day of the week and he will not punish any one for doing what he has done himself.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.8

    THE important question is, not what the country did for you a century ago, but what you are doing for the country to-day.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.9

    “HIGHER criticism” will have to get a good deal higher than it is before it reaches the level of that Word which it professes to dissect.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.10

    POLITICAL methods find no place in Christianity.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.11

    THE approval of conscience is worth more than the applause of the multitude.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.12

    “CHRISTIAN politics” combines the worst form of religion, with the worst form of politics. It is not Christian in any sense.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.13

    THE Christian Statesman, in an argument made to demonstrate the awful recklessness of deeds which constitute a desecration of Sunday, says that “Every battle begun on the Sabbath as a historical fact resulted disastrously to the aggressor.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.14

    This was printed by the Statesman just about the time that news came of Dewey’s great victory in Manila harbor, on Sunday. As a matter of fact, it is not historically true that battles fought “on the Sabbath” have always resulted disastrously to the aggressor; but the engagement in Manila harbor, fresh in the minds of all Americans, should constitute a complete answer to the current sophistry that the Government ought, as a measure of safety, to avoid the desecration of the first day of the week.AMS June 30, 1898, page 401.15

    THAT which is of most value to any person, is character.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.1

    And that which, above all other things, is effectual for the development of a strong, sound character, is faith.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.2

    But faith does not call the individual’s attention to the multitude of other people around him. It does not call attention to public sentiment nor to popular customs and maxims. By faith, the individual sees none of these.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.3

    By faith, the individual beholds Jesus Christ, the author of salvation to all who believe on him. The life of the Christian is lived by “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.” Hebrews 12:2.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.4

    By faith the individual sees “no man, save Jesus only.” If he is looking at some other man or set of men, or if he is looking at human customs, opinions, and laws, contemplating the question of how much help he may derive from them in right doing, he is not beholding Jesus at all. He is not walking by faith; he is not forming a character which will be worthy of perpetuation beyond this life.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.5

    And when laws are passed to prescribe moral duties to the individual, or those things necessary to the formation of right character, their only effect must be to point him away from Jesus Christ to the multitudes of the world, and to the sentiment of the multitudes, which the law embodies. Such laws can tend only to weaken character, not to strengthen it.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.6

    Jesus Christ is the standard of righteousness. He is the divine standard; and any standard set up by human law, whether by people in the church or out of it, can be only a human standard, and altogether below the required excellence.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.7

    Laws which are passed with the intent of doing more than to protect the rights of the individual, are worse than useless.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.8

    BE true to yourself by being true of God.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.9

    “‘Imperial America’” American Sentinel 13, 26, pp. 402, 403.

    ATJ

    “IMPERIAL AMERICA” is a term now seriously proposed and actually used to suggest the “manifest destiny” of the United States in the “enlarged sphere” opened to her by the guns directed by Dewey on the morning of May day at Manila. This sentiment is fast growing. In a speech at a dinner tendered to him a few days ago at San Francisco, Major-General Merritt, the proposed military governor of the Philippines, said:—AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.1

    “I believe in the new national policy of the United States, which looks to the acquisition of additional territory represented in outlying islands that are requisite for the development of national strength and growth. The war was begun for the enforcement of the idea of human liberty, and with no thought of national aggrandizement; but the logic of events has brought about an unexpected result and the Government has taken the Philippines by right of conquest. What the navy has won the army will hold. The strong hand of the Government on those islands ought never to be loosened. This great people is in need of room in which to spread. The people feel this, and the Government will never be able to let go of the islands that have been won by American prowess.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.2

    The Chicago Times-Herald is almost strictly an administration paper. With General Merritt’s words—“What the navy has won the army will hold”—for a text, the Washington correspondent of the Times-Herald tells what he finds at the National Capital as follows:—AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.3

    “‘What the navy conquers the army must hold.’”AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.4

    “So said Major-General Wesley Merritt, prospective military governor of the first colony of the United States, and his sentiment has awakened a responsive echo from the nation.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.5

    “Admiral Deweys’ victory at Manila has filled the American blood with the fever of conquest. Conservatives may preach on the ‘policy of the fathers,’ but they cannot hold the ears of the masses while the fever is on. The cooler judgment of the second sober thought may quiet the public pulse, but there is abundant evidence that for the time being the sentiment of the nation is against the surrender of any territory wrenched from the grasp of Spain, with the exception of Cuba.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.6

    “FLOOD OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT”

    “Hawaii will be annexed as one of the first results, and, once launched on a policy of colonial expansion, who can say where it will end? Speaker Reed and the sugar trust and other powerful interests were opposed to Hawaii, but they have been engulfed in the flood of public sentiment. The House of Representatives will vote for annexation Wednesday afternoon. The opposition in the Senate may filibuster indefinitely, but the wearers of the toga might better accept their fate gracefully, for the handwriting is on the wall.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.7

    “But it is the jewels of Alfonso’s crown at which the newborn lust of conquest aims. It is the Spanish isles of the Orient and Occident that have challenged the American prowess. It is the idea of empire that has filled the American soul with world-wide ambitions. These aspirations are a new force in American life, and sooner or later the guiding statesmen must face that force. Washington is the nerve center of the country, and the new sentiment is surging to this center with such intensity as to command earnest attention.AMS June 30, 1898, page 402.8

    “SPAIN’S ISLAND POSSESSIONS”

    “Already the cry is that Spain must be stripped of all her island POSSESSIONS IN AMERICAN AND Asiatic seas. Let the figures tell the price of that stubborn quality termed ‘Spanish honor.’ This is the list of the principal islands, with their area and population, according to the latest statistics:—AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.1

    AMERICAN
    Square Miles. Population.
    Cuba 41,655 1,631,687
    Porto Rico 3,670 806,708
    AMSIATIC
    Philippines 114,326 7,000,000
    Sulus 950 75,000
    Carolines and Pelews 560 36,000
    Ladrones, or Marianos 420 10,172
    Total, 161,581 9,559,567

    “President McKinley has no colonial policy. He is not counting any chickens before they are hatched. He will not cross the bridge until he comes to it. It is his purpose to bring the war to a successful end before formulating any policy for the disposition of the pearls of the sea garnered by American valor, but there is a tide of public opinion already set in for colonial expansion that may sweep all opposition before it. This statement must not be taken as an implication that the President will oppose such a policy, for he has stated distinctly to close friends that he will not be diverted by such problems from the main purpose of crowning American arms with complete and lasting victory.AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.1

    “MERRITT HITS POPULAR CHORD

    “Unused to the possession of insular colonies, taught by a hundred years of precept and example to avoid it, the first thought of Americans on learning of the triumph of Admiral Dewey was that Spain should not be punished by the loss of the Philippines. American sentiment has changed. It has become familiar with the thought of ‘colonial empire,’ and there is something in the sonorous term that appeals to the imagination. Advocates of colonial expansion have sprung up on every hand. The disease is contagious, and the masses have caught the fever.AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.2

    “General Merritt not only touched a popular chord, or at least awoke a dormant chord to responsive rhythm, but his phrase has furnished the country with a telling shibboleth. Statesmen may make the laws, but greater than they is he who turns the sentiment or passion of a nation into a pat epigram. General Merrit [sic.] has made the epigram, and if he were a younger man it might make him President of the United States and its dependencies.AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.3

    “NEW NATIONAL DESTINY

    “By one of the accidents with which all history is strewn the American people have a new destiny opened before them. One need not be for or against a policy of colonial expansion to recognize the fact that the nation is at the parting of the ways, nor should one be blind to the wonderful possibilities and the grave responsibilities presented to the United States for its choosing, but a calm survey of the field from Washington is calculated to convince one that there has been a remarkable transformation in the American habit of thought. It has been revolutionized, apparently, within a few weeks. The change is reflected in Congress, for the representatives of the people are quick to catch the public pulse.AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.4

    “The American Government entered on this war to free Cuba and hand it over to the Cubans, but the American people may change their mind. Influences are at work that may ultimately force the retention of the pearl of the Antilles, though this Government would be quick to disavow such a possibility. It is conceded that a protectorate will probably be established over Cuba for a time, until the Cubans shall have organized a competent government of their own, and from a protectorate it may be a short passage to actual possession. There are faint murmurings that betoken the growth of a new sentiment for the retention of Cuba, and the Government may have to face a tidal wave when the war is over and the cost is counted.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.5

    In a sermon only a few days ago President Patton, of Princeton, said:—AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.6

    “History knows not what it is to retreat. Every step we take shuts a door behind us. The boom of Admiral Dewey’s cannon across the Pacific made us forget Washington’s farewell address and throw the Monroe doctrine for a time into the background. It is impossible, some one says, for a nation to secede from the family of nations, and if it stays in the family it is going to have family complications.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.7

    All these things are worthy of thoughtful consideration; for no one knows what “manifest destiny” may produce. And if we mark events as they pass, we shall be able better to understand each new phase that may open to the world. These are times in which the world moves rapidly, and must may occur in a day. “Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 403.8

    A. T. J.

    “In Puritan Days” American Sentinel 13, 26, p. 407.

    ATJ

    THE wish which some good people in this country have expressed, for a return of Puritanism, is one which, charitably construed, may be attributed chiefly to ignorance. At this distance, under the softening but deceiving touch of time, it is easy to mistake the austerity, intolerance, and rigid formalism of Puritanism for the higher qualities of character imparted by true religion, the need of which is so strongly felt in all lands; but a closer view of Puritanism will convince any candid observer that were Puritan ways, customs, and ideas of morality to become again prevalent here, may of those who are now foremost in asserting the country’s need of Puritanism would be foremost in raising an outcry against it.AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.1

    It is well known, for example, that Puritanism was very tolerant of indulgence in intoxicating drink. The following “ordination bill,” dated at Hartford, Conn., in 1784, is one that has been recently printed as a curiosity:—AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.2

    ? S. D.
    “To keeping ministers 0 2 4
    ” 2 mugs tody 0 5 10
    ” 5 segars, 0 3 0
    ” 1 pint wine 0 0 9
    ” 3 lodgings, 0 9 0
    ” 3 bitters, 0 0 9
    ” 3 breakfasts, 0 3 6
    “15 boles punch, 1 10 0
    “24 dinners, 1 16 0
    “11 bottles of wine, 0 3 0
    ” 5 mugs flip 0 5 10
    ” 3 boles punch, 0 6 0
    ” 3 boles tody, 0 3 6”

    Alice Morse Earle, well known as an authority upon facts of Puritan history, says of this bill, of which she was the modern discoverer: “I sadly fear me, that at that Hartford ordination, our parson ancestors got grievously ‘gilded,’ to use a choice ‘red-lattice’ phrase.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.3

    The same authority mentions other ordination bills which included among the items of expense barrels of rum and cider and metheglin, bowls of flip and punch, toddy, etc.AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.4

    Not quite so bad as this, but no more justifiable from a Christian standpoint, was a feast held on the occasion of the ordination of Dr. Cummings as pastor of the Old South Church, of Boston, in 1761, which is thus described:—AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.5

    “There were six tables that held one with another eighteen persons each, upon each table a good rich plum pudding, a dish of boiled pork and fowls, and a corn’d leg of pork with sauce proper for it, a leg of bacon, a piece of alamode beef, a leg of mutton with caper sauce, a roast line of veal, a roast turkey, a venison paste, besides chess cakes and tarts, cheese and butter. Half a dozen cooks were employed upon this occasion, upwards of twenty tenders to wait upon the tables; they had the best of old cider, one barrel of Lisbon wine, punch in plenty before and after dinner, made of old Barbados spirit. The cost of this moderate dinner was upwards of fifty pounds lawful money.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.6

    The dinner given at the dedication of the Old Tunnel Meeting House, of Lynn, Mass., in 1682, is described as follows:—AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.7

    “Dainty meats were on ye table in great plenty, bearstake, deer meat, rabbit, and fowle, both wild and from ye barnyard. Luscious puddings we likewise had in abundance, mostly apple and berry, but some of corn meal with small bits of sewet baked therein, also pyes and tarts. We had some pleasant fruits; as apples, nuts, and wild grapes, and to crown all we had plenty of good cider and ye inspiring Barbadoes drink. Mr. Shepard and most of ye ministers were grave and prudent at table, discoursing much upon ye great points of ye dedication sermon and in silence laboring upon ye food before them. But I will not risque to say on which they dwelt with most relish, ye discourse or ye dinner.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.8

    The following relates to a different matter, but is no less characteristic of Puritan times. It is a leaf from the diary of Obadiah Turner, dated at Lynn, Mass., two and a half centuries ago. The diary was discovered recently by an antiquarian, and the extract was published in the Christian Advocate, of this city:—AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.9

    “1646. Iune ye 3. Allen Bridges hath bin chose to wake ye sleepers in meeting. And being mch proude of his place, must needs have a fox taile fixed to ye end of a long staff wherewith he may brush ye faces of them yt will have napps in time of discourse; likewise a sharp thorne wherewith he may prick such as be most sounde. On ye laste Lord his day, as hee strutted about ye meeting house, hee did spy Mr. Tomlins sleeping with much comforte, hjs head kept steadie by being in ye corner, and hjs hand grasping ye rail. And so spying, Allen did quicklie thrust his staff behind Dame Ballard and give hjm a grievous prick vppon ye hand. Wherevppon Mr. Tomlins did spring vpp mch above ye floore and with terrible force strike with his hand against ye wall, and also, to ye great wonder of all, prophainlie exclaim, in a loude voice, cuss ye woodchuck; he dreaming, as it seemed, yt a woodchuck had seized and bit his hand. But on coming to know where hee was and ye great scandal hee had committed, he seemed mch abashed, but did not speake. And I think hee will not soone againe go to lseepe in meeting. Ye women may sometimes sleepe and none know it, by reason of their enormous bonnets. Mr. Whiting doth pleasantly say yt from ye pulpit hee doth seem to be preaching to stacks of straw with men sitting here and there among them.”AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.10

    Certainly there can be no good reason for desiring a return to Puritan ways, or as some deluded persons have expressed it, “a rain of Puritanism.” The independence of Puritanism which the country achieved through the efforts of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and their co-laborers, is as worthy of perpetuation as is its independence of Great Britain.AMS June 30, 1898, page 407.11

    “Back Page” American Sentinel 13, 26, p. 416.

    ATJ

    APPETITE and passion are far worse tyrants than was George III.AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.1

    PERSONAL independence means more to you than national independence.AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.2

    ALL human laws are a failure which aim either to make it as easy as possible to do right, or as hard as possible to do wrong.AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.3

    “OLD Glory” bears neither mark nor sign suggestive of empire or a colonial government. Will the nation adopt a new flag?AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.4

    A VERY good thing, in its place, becomes a very bad thing, out of its place. The church, out of her proper place, becomes one of the worst institutions in the world.AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.5

    THE law of the land says that you shall not spend your time in doing that which interferes with the rights of your neighbors. And this is as far as human law has a right to go.AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.6

    OUR forefathers of Revolutionary days fought against the principle of arbitrary government embodied in an act of Parliament imposing a tax on tea. The tax itself was very mild; but the unjust principle was just as big in the mild tax as it would have been in a heavy one. And so of a Sunday law; the unjust principle embodied in the law is in no wise affected by making the requirements of the law mild instead of severe. It is against the principle of such measures that we need to be guarded.AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.7

    “WHY don’t God kill the devil?” some people foolishly ask. The answer is that God believes in religious liberty, and is now giving the human family an opportunity, through the enjoyment of that liberty, to develop character. God purposes to dispose of the devil and sin and all that is evil at one and the same time; for all these things belong together and all tend toward the same end. But if God were to destroy sin now, all sinners would be destroyed with it; but sinners are yet on probation, and have an opportunity to separate from sin, so that the destruction of sin will not involve them with it; and besides, God is able to deliver all persons from the devil, so that so far as that is concerned, the devil doesn’t need to be destroyed. If God were to kill the devil now it would be an acknowledgement that he could not successfully contend with him on even terms.AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.8

    SOME people find fault with the AMERICAN SENTINEL for speaking so much in a tone of challenge. They think it should have more to say in the line of “All’s well,” or “Good time coming.” We assure our friends that the SENTINEL would be glad to make this report if it could do so upon evidence. It proceeds upon the principle that it is better to know an unpleasant truth, than a pleasant lie. There is a good time coming, but we will not survive to see it unless we know how to meet and escape existing perils.AMS June 30, 1898, page 416.9

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