SPECIAL SERMONS

For Special Occasions

 

Edited by
E. W. THORNTON

 

 

 

 

THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
CINCINNATI, O.

J. SPENCER was born in Belmont County, O., and received his education in the public schools, in Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Mich., and in Bethany College, Bethany, W. Va. He was minister of the church of Christ in Bellaire, O., five and a half years; Baltimore, Md., two years; Clarksville, Tenn., two and a half years; a group of churches in Virginia, while editor of the "Missionary Weekly," nine and a half years; Winchester, Ky., two years; Broadway Church, Louisville, Ky., one year, and Central Church, Lexington, Ky., twenty-seven years. For twenty, of the twenty-seven, years he was superintendent of the Central Church school. On July 24, 1921, the Central Church elected him pastor emeritus, on salary, for the remainder of his life.

      Mr. Spencer has been a pastor and evangelist for nearly fifty years, adding approximately eight thousand persons to the church during his ministry. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society for fifteen years, and is a trustee of Hamilton College, a curator of Transylvania College, a director of the Christian, Board of Publication, a trustee of the Board of Ministerial Relief and a member of the Board of Managers of the United Christian Missionary Society. He resigned from the active ministry that he might spend his time in writing and in evangelistic meetings. [133]

      Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy, heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.--Mark 12:30, 31.

HY connect the name of Christ with Decoration Day? Because we should love Him with all the heart, mind, soul and strength; and because whatsoever we do we should do in the name of the Lord Jesus, "bringing every thought into captivity to him."

      The thirtieth of May is a national holiday, and in observing it we make it a holy day by the Christian consideration of the welfare of our country, while at the same time we honor the memory of those who sacrificed their lives in response to their nation's call. Our patriotism and religion should be conjoined.

      President, Washington, in his farewell address, presented three particular cautions with respect to America's future, which we may at this time recall with profit. He said that the unity of government is the main pillar of our independence and tranquility at home and abroad. He declared that "against this point in our political fortress the batteries of internal and eternal enemies will be constantly directed." He urged that, as of infinite moment, we should cherish it as "the palladium of our political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous [135] anxiety, and indignantly frowning upon every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties that now link together the various parts."

      He then warned against such geographical distinctions as North, South, East and West, which, by fostering ideas of separate interests and character, are calculated "to weaken the bonds of our union and to create prejudices, if not antipathies, dangerous to its existence."

      The church, too, should keep "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" and not foster division among its members. A united church--united in spirit, purpose and function--is eminently to be desired for the sake of the unity of our Government, as well as for other spiritual reasons. The church is of incalculable value in the leadership and progress of the nation.

      Washington also earnestly recommended implicit "obedience to law" as one of the fundamental duties "enjoined by the maxims of liberty." He said: "The very right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government." He denounced all combinations and associations under whatsoever plausible representation, "with the design to direct, control, counteract or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities."

      To-day, as well as in the lifetime of President Washington, obedience to the laws of the Government needs emphasis and needs the good example of the church. He wisely admonished against the "excitements of party spirit," suspicion, faction and the excesses to which they tend. He warned against [136] demagogues who vaunt themselves as infallible leaders. Such a warning is also appropriate to the church.

      "The Father of His Country" inculcated, with fervent eloquence, supreme regard to religion and morality. He said that "of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." He declared that no man could be a patriot "who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them." He asked: "Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?" "Whatever may be conceded to a refined education, or minds of a peculiar cast," he continued, "reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in the exclusion of religious principles."

      Unity of Government, obedience to constituted Governmental authorities and the supreme value of religion and morality, which Washington urged in his farewell address to the American people, are as important now as they were when Washington recommended them.

      A nation as well as an individual is called to be unselfish and neighborly. The Good Samaritan nation will not pass by on the other side, but will show kindness to another country in distress. Jesus taught His disciples that when they made a feast they should not invite their friends and rich neighbors in the hope of reciprocation; but that they should invite the maimed, the blind, the poor; and that their reward would be [137] received in the resurrection of the just. The principle is as applicable to a church and to a nation as to a person.

      Can the teaching of Jesus be applied to corporations and governments, industry, business, and the entire social life of the world? In all these God may be first and best loved, and the neighbor may be regarded and treated as justly and kindly as one would treat himself. Our Lord enunciated the great, practical law of arbitration, and commanded it. It is invaluable in controversies between labor and capital. Reconciliation to a wronged and offended brother is essential to right worship. The fruit of the Holy Spirit will be found in the character of American statesmen when the church shall have discharged its high duty in the regeneration of its members through the gospel. Our Government waits upon the character of its religion. The Sermon on the Mount instructs our national leaders to go the second mile and to return good for evil. It teaches them to let the nation's light so shine among the powers that they, too, will glorify the Father in heaven. The neighbor may be a person, a community, the whole country, the world, the church on earth and the whole kingdom of heaven. Christ is the neighbor of the lost and neighbor also of the redeemed. To love one's neighbor as himself links all creation together and leads one to pray, "Our Father, be merciful to all."

      In memory of the appointment and significance of Decoration Day, I declare that I know of no reason why any one should be bitter or resentful either toward the North or the South on account of the sad events of the Civil War. If my father and older brothers had been born and reared in Alabama, [138] instead of Ohio, they would have given their lives for the Southern cause as they gave them for the Union.

      As a child I remember a Sunday afternoon conversation between my older brothers, during the Civil War, in which they expressed their willingness to volunteer, but I did not regard the matter seriously. A few weeks thereafter the family carriage was driven to the railway station that their parents, two sisters and myself might see them pass, in uniform, with their regiment to the war. I remember how quietly the horses moved that morning and how silent were those it bore. I remember the coming of the train and the waving of my brothers' hands in their tender farewell. Scarcely three months had passed when a telegram called my father to their bedside. Both were sick. One was dying. His body was expressed to our home for burial. A few weeks more, and father, along with the other brother, died. Their bodies were laid side by side in the Quaker burial-ground near the Plainfield meeting-house. The building and its beautiful grove no longer attract the crowds of worshipers, old and young, who erstwhile assembled there as familiar friends. The house has fallen into decay, but the birds still sing their grateful, happy songs and myrtle twines around the graves. Gentle and patriotic neighbors strew those mounds with fresh, bright blossoms as the decoration season comes with each return of May.

      I remember that with the quick departure of those loved ones from our home the roses left my mother's cheeks and the dark color of her hair changed to white like the snow. But, through the power of religion and the comfort of the word of God, her heart mounted to victory. She uttered no word of narrow bitterness [139] withal. Another brother of mine, who also shouldered his musket and followed the flag, has joined the three whose bodies sleep under the myrtle leaves in Plainfield burying-ground. Mother, likewise, has entered into her rest. I am sure that no resentment nor sorrowful memory beclouds the sky of their happiness now. We are called to emulate their example and to look upon the bright bow in the cloud, and upon the cloud itself as only a background for the splendor it enfolds.

      As I look back upon the tragedy of the Civil War I think how innocent were the soldiers themselves, both North and South. Their thoughts were clouded, more or less, with misunderstandings, but their hearts were kind, brave and uncruel. Since they died, new light has flashed forth from the word of God. The Lord has been coming in glory, shining out from the cloud and the letter of the Scriptures. Our national experiences, also, since the civil contest of the sixties, have been healing. "When I was a child I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man"--and the apostle was writing of becoming a man in love's vision, spirit and power--"I have put away childish things." I have thought, ever since I was able to think, that if all the leaders of our nation, both North and South, had only known God's will and method concerning the abolition of slavery, there had been no American Civil War. I can not think that the divine method of overcoming the differences that provoked the war, between brethren of the South and of the North, was the shedding of rivers of fraternal blood.

      The present controversy as to whether America was selfish in the late World War or altruistic, has two [140] important aspects diametrically opposed the one to the other. Our Ambassador to England is reported to have said that our nation did not enter the World War to help save France or England, but to save itself; and that we sent our soldiers overseas most reluctantly and laggardly; that "we fought because we were afraid not to fight." He is reported to have said, also, that our country "will not have anything whatsoever to do with the League of Nations, directly or indirectly, openly or furtively."

      Ex-President Wilson had declared: "We have no selfish end to serve. We desire no conquest or dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights shall have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nations can make them."

      Premier Lloyd George, in welcoming Col. George Harvey as our Ambassador to the Court of St. James, said: "We appeal to America not merely as a nation of high ideals. We know that it is not a country that will say, 'Am I my brother's keeper?' The world has become more interdependent than it ever was before." Thus the British Premier indicated his faith that the United States not only had the willingness to be helpful to the world, but was ready to translate that willingness into action.

      I do not doubt that both the conceptions and the motives that moved our nation to enter the war were mixed. Some citizens were impelled by lower and some by loftier impulses. I am reminded that Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." The kingdom [141] shines, but he can not perceive it. Our Ambassador, it would seem, could not visualize the celestial forces which others realized. He saw only the natural, worldly, selfish causes in operation.

      The little poem called "Flanders Field," by John McCrae, will illustrate what I mean by the altruistic motives that stirred and constrained the Allies, along with our American patriots and soldiers. No piece of verse in recent years has been more widely read in the civilian world, and it was called "the poem of the army" and was also the poem of the soldiers' hearts. It was used on every platform from which men and women were urged to adventure their riches and their lives to "make the world safe for democracy."

      The same author, in a stanza from another of his poems--"The Anxious Dead"--answers the challenge thus:

Among the many answers to "Flanders Fields" was the following by Mr. Lillard, that appeared in the New York Evening Post:

      There are two kinds of narrowness, whereas some had supposed there was but one. The usual conception of the thing is that of a straitened mind or faith. It has been associated with a provincial understanding, a creed, a partisan view, resulting from ignorance of what lies outside its vision; while a limited love, a circumscribed interest in and sympathy with others, has generally escaped the odious appellation. But narrowness of heart is more to be deplored and more fatal than a meager understanding. In other words, a love restricted to self, and to those related and favorable to self, is more injurious and blameworthy than that which belongs only to an unenlightened understanding. One may have great knowledge, great faith, and yet be prejudiced, partisan, sectarian and selfish in his affections. The distinction is strikingly presented by the apostle Paul in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians and by the Sermon on the Mount. To be a patriot is better than to be a paltry politician. To be a Christian is better than to be a sectarian. To be an American is better than to be a Kentuckian. For a good Samaritan to succor a half-murdered man of a hostile nation is better than to show mercy to another because he is a fellow-citizen, and may return the favor. Caste, clannishness, partisanship, sectarianism, nationalism, should give place to Christianity which [143] feels, thinks and acts in the terms of all humanity; that prays "Thy will be done on earth," and both gives and goes that "every creature" may be regenerated and become a citizen of heaven.

      We shall not love our own country less because we love other countries more. And, in order that we, as Americans, may the better serve the nations of earth, it behooves us to keep our political house in proper order.

      Applying this principle, let us hope as did Daniel Webster when he said: "When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered or on a land rent with civil feuds. Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto: 'Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable.'" And I think our hearts would add: "May that motto apply not only to the United States of America, but to the united states of the whole world." Let us still pray: "Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven."

      Justice Harlan said: "To every American the flag is the symbol of the nation's power, the emblem of freedom. It signifies government resting on the consent of the governed; liberty regulated by law; protection of the weak; security against arbitrary power, and safety for free institutions against foreign invasion." Does it not stand, also, for altruistic ideals over against selfish aggrandizements and materialistic [144] ambitions? When thoughtful persons look upon the flag they do not see the flag itself, but the nation it represents. It bears no ramping lion and no fierce eagle. It holds no insignia of autocracy or oppression. It carries no sign of royalty, no crown, no scepter. It carries warmth and light in every fold and every thread of all nations and all mankind. Only our loyalty to the cross can glorify and immortalize our banner.

      It reminds one of the words of the Psalmist: "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth." If the fear of God shall characterize our people, then our God-given flag should be displayed because of the truth.

      The flag of the United States has been called "the flag of Dawn." If the designation be appropriate, we should in nowise keep back its radiance from the nations that sit in the darkness and shadow of death. The patriots who fashioned our national banner felt the sacred responsibility and significance of the flag we cherish. When Betsy Ross, in her day one of the most skilled women of Philadelphia in the use of the needle, artistic in her taste and a genius in the freehand designing of patterns, was asked by Washington and others to make a flag for the United States, she humbly replied, "I'll try!" She suggested that it ought to be one-third longer than it was wide; that its stars would be more beautiful if five-pointed, instead of six; and that they should be arranged in regular form. George Washington drew his chair up to the table and sketched a design embodying her suggestions. Her first sample was so pleasing that it was carried to Congress on the very day it was completed, and was adopted on June 14, 1777. [145]

      The story is told of a certain man who came from England to this country and became naturalized. Later he went to Cuba when the war broke out there in 1867. He was arrested under the suspicion that he was a spy. He was tried and condemned to be shot. He sent for the British and American Ministers, who looked into his case and found he was innocent. They said to the Spanish authorities: "This man is innocent:" but they replied: "He has been tried under the Spanish laws, and found guilty, and must die." The Spanish soldiers were ordered to put an end to his life. Just as they were about to shoot him, a carriage drove up rapidly, and the two Ministers leaped out of it and flung the British flag and the "Stars and Stripes" over him, and said to the soldiers: "Shoot, if you dare!" The shot was not fired. Those banners gave to the prisoner the protection of both Governments. There was power behind those colors. No wonder men are patriotic when they have such banners to protect and to inspire them.

      General Gordon told a story of the Confederate and Union armies encamped on opposite sides of the Ravanna River ready for conflict on the morrow. The Northern band struck up "The Star-Spangled Banner," and the boys in blue cheered and cheered. Then across the river the Southern band retaliated with "Dixie," and the air rang with the cheers of the boys in gray. Defiantly the Union band played "Hail Columbia" and the Confederates came back with "The Bonnie Blue Flag." Finally one of the bands played "Home, Sweet Home," and the other immediately took up the same refrain.

      Sectionalism, group interest, sectarianism, national and individual avarice, isolation and selfishness, will [146] be banished when the spirit of Christ shall have conquered the hearts of the American people. The church should vote only for true and competent men for office. But the real function of the church toward our Government, local and national, is to create men through the gospel, regenerate citizens through the truth, in such numbers and of such a character that they shall be fitted completely to adorn all the offices and to discharge worthily every responsibility to which the people may call them.

      I love to idealize the flag as a banner of goodness and truth, bringing political deliverance to the captives and "liberty to them that are bruised." Let every patriot lift it high for the display of the truth. Let it whisper to the air, "Spread wide my folds, for no blot shall stain them." Let it challenge the rain and the snow, that its face shall be as pure as they. Let it say to the dawn: "My red is not the blush of guilt, but the flush of love and joy." Let it address the sky, saying, "Enrich and deepen my field of blue for the brighter shining of my constellation." Let it command every national cloud to depart or be transfigured by its glory. Let it petition the sun to pour its light upon it, that, as it moves around the world, all mankind shall know that its power and its purposes, like its colors, come from heaven.

      Thomas Nelson Page tells a story of "Two Little Confederates," who lived on a plantation, called Oakland, in Virginia, and whose names were Frank and Willy. The Civil War had begun and soldiers from both armies appeared often in the neighborhood. Their brother Hugh, at the age of seventeen, had volunteered and they were very proud of him. They played that they were soldiers, and sometimes ventured into [147] dangerous proximity to the fighting. One day they were captured by a squad of Federals and were questioned as to the whereabouts of Hugh and a Confederate General. They refused to tell. Frank was taken away from Willy and threatened with punishment for his obstinacy. His hands were tied behind him and he was placed against a tree as though he were to be shot. He still refused to betray his trust. The corporal's pistol looked big to Frank and he wondered where the bullets would hit him; if he would be left all night in the woods and if his mother would come and kiss him. "I want to say my prayers," he said, and all grew dark before his eyes. He fainted away. Then a big, young soldier, who had said it was "useless" to intimidate the boy, showed kindness. Water was dashed in his face and he awoke with his head in the lap of the big soldier, who said, "We were just trying to scare you a bit, and carried the joke too far." The big dragoon took him in his arms to carry him back to Willy. "I can walk," said Frank. "No, I'll carry you, bless your brave little heart." The big soldier was looking at the light, curly head resting on his arm, and gave Frank a caress for the sake of his own little, curly-headed son about Frank's size at his home in Delaware. "I hope you'll get back to him safe and well," said Frank.

      Soon thereafter the boys ventured upon a battlefield while yet some bullets were flying and they heard a distressing call for water! They drew near and saw a blue-coated soldier lying propped against a tree, with a ghastly wound in his head. He could not see. His face was ashy pale and he still begged for water. Frank whispered to Willy, "He's my soldier." Cutting the wounded man's canteen loose from [148] its strap, and disregarding the danger of being shot, Frank ran to the stream and brought the coveted drink. He pressed it to the dying man's lips, bathed his face and watched it as the tide of his life went ebbing away. The soldier thought, in his delirium, that he was again at home and called for water from the well by the dairy. The boys poured more water into his fevered lips. Then the soldier said, "Come, my darling, and say your prayers with father." "Now I lay me down to sleep." Frank said: "Willy, let us pray with him." "If I should die before I wake." But the departing soldier's voice was now so weak that it could scarcely be distinguished, "I pray the Lord my soul to take," and the two little Confederates finished the prayer. The good soldier's soul had been taken.

      The boys ran home and told the story to their mother. An old ox-cart, the only vehicle left upon the place, brought the lifeless body to Oakland. It was buried, tenderly, in the garden. The mother of the boys read the burial service, an uncle of the lads offered a prayer and the little family group sang "Abide with me." A small packet of letters and a gold watch were taken from the pocket of the deceased, and sealed and placed in a bureau drawer to remain until called for.

      A year later, after Lee's surrender, when poverty reigned at Oakland, the boys met an elderly lady and a boy about the size of Frank, coming from the railroad station. They recognized the driver and his one-horse wagon, but knew the two passengers were strangers, for they had seen no boy so well dressed as the young stranger. "Are there any Union soldiers' graves around here?" inquired, the gray-haired lady. [149] They said "Yes," and she told them her story. They inquired the name of her son who, she said, had been reported missing. "Willy, that was our soldier," exclaimed Frank. They climbed into the wagon and told her how brave and kind he had been, and added: "He is buried in our garden." Their mother met the mother of the big, young soldier like a sister meeting her sister in distress, for her son Hugh had been wounded and captured in a charge at Petersburg, and as yet she knew not where he was. The body of the big, young soldier was exhumed and carried back to his home on the Brandywine, in Delaware. Hugh and his father came home again. Boxes of clothing and provisions arrived from the Northern mother who had found love and comfort in her visit to Oakland. Among the presents were two new guns for the "Two Little Confederates" and a complete trousseau for "Cousin Belle," who was to marry "the General," with Hugh to serve as his best man, and the boys were to be ushers.

      This story illustrates the parable of the Good Samaritan and reminds us of Him who is good and neighborly to all.

      When all the mists have rolled away, and narrowness of heart and mind shall have expanded under the warmth and light of the Sun of righteousness, we shall know the meaning of the text, to love God with all the heart, mind, soul and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. [150]

[CDD 133-150.]

      The electronic edition of I. J. Spencer's "Christ and Decoration Day" has been produced from a copy of the printed text published in Special Sermons for Special Days, ed. E. W. Thornton (Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing Company, 1921), pp. 133-150. The text has been scanned by Colvil Smith and formatted by Ernie Stefanik.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Created 2 May 2001.