My address this evening might, with equal propriety, be entitled "American Patriotism," so closely related to the best interests of the nation is the study of God's word. Indeed, it is in nowise extravagant to maintain that all we are as a people is due to the influence of the Bible on our personal, social and institutional life.

      At the close of the sixteenth century, pious dissenters living in the north of England, especially in the counties of

R. H. CROSSFIELD.

Nottingham, Lincoln and York, banded together for the free exercise of Christian worship. They were loyal to the king, but were rebels against the Established Church; their determined opposition to the Church of England, however, applying only to the right of every man to discover the truth of revelation with no restraint whatever other than that of conscience.

      This sturdy stock voluntarily exiled themselves from fatherland and sought asylum in Holland. Later on, in 1620, a pilgrim on a December morning stood upon Plymouth Rock with his Bible in hand, and declared that such a place as he and his fellow-wanderers had long sought had been discovered. That Puritan was typical of the Christian liberty we are enjoying to-day. And it is due to the direction given our people and institutions by such an ancestry that our success and achievements have been nothing less than phenomenal.

      The charters of all of the American colonies, the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, all sprang from the devotion of these people to the Book which God had entrusted to their keeping, and which they passionately loved.

      One does not have far to seek to discover the tremendous and far-reaching influences the Bible exerted upon our people. It was the eternal rock upon which the republic was budded. It gave to our citizenship an incomparable character. It afforded our people the sublimest philosophy. It was the guide of both church and state. It furnished the refrain for our national joy and the minor measures of our sorrow. It was the nation-wide voice inculcating virtues as lofty as heaven, and uttering warnings as dreadful as hell.

      Daniel Webster, the "defender of the Constitution," set forth the effects of the Bible upon the nation, and the place and power of religion in the American commonwealth thus: "If we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall live always in the fear of God, and shall respect his commandments, we may have the highest hopes of the fortunes of our country."

      Of no people has it been truer than of America that "righteousness exalteth a nation," and, "The powers that be are ordained of God."

      But, the democracy of America, lauded by De Tocqueville as the democracy of the Holy Scriptures, may have suffered decadence in these latter years, due to a neglect of the sources of continued strength. Many say that in our changed conditions the Bible is not studied as formerly, and that they entertain grave apprehension for the future. Indeed, it is a fact beyond all dispute that an appreciable per cent. of our people are failing in their devotion to the loftiest ideals on account of a lack of proper instruction in sacred things.

      Pertinent in this connection is the observation of Prof. William L. Phelps, of the department of English of Yale. He says: "The ignorance of college students in Biblical literature is universal. Students in Harvard and Yale, different [566] as they are in many respects from their brothers in smaller colleges, resemble them closely here. If all of the undergraduates of America could be placed in one room and tested by examination on the supposedly familiar stories of the Old Testament, the result would be a magnificent addition to American humor. I would therefore refuse to allow any candidate to enter the university until he has satisfactorily passed the examination on the Bible."

      This ignorance of the Bible is by no means confined to college students, but represents a condition far too prevalent among all ages and classes, and serves to explain certain conditions which are regarded as perilous to the perpetuity of American institutions.

      The absence of Bible influence is manifested to a marked degree in the home, that fundamental institution out of which every department of life normally springs.

      Whatever we are as a people may be attributed very largely to the American home. The condition of Oriental society, degraded and unspeakable in pollution, is due in the last analysis to defects in this institution. The lack of its holy influence makes man more dangerous than asp or dragon, and renders him a subject for all crime and iniquity. The perils of the home are, therefore, the more serious, because the home is truly fundamental.

      The word of God plainly declares that marriage is not a civil contract. No law of man ordained it. Marriage anteceded even the consideration of such a law. The Bible declares that what God has joined together man should not put asunder.

      Furthermore, according to the teachings of the Bible, marriage is not a partnership in a common enterprise. The two thus joined are no longer twain, but one flesh--one in thought, one in purpose, one in ideals, one in destiny. The Bible doctrine declares that there is only one condition upon which divorce may be granted, the existence of the sin which destroys this unity. Not incompatibility of temperament, not the pleasure of friends nor the jealousy of foes, but the one sin which rends asunder spiritual union.

      The lack of conformity to Bible teaching is also shown in the various business enterprises in which men are engaged in our country. Growing out of this condition, the evils attending business life are among the most numerous, complex and unyielding.

      We hear much to-day about "the square deal" and the evident lack of the ethical conduct relative to others. This is due very largely, I take it, to a misapprehension of the purpose of trade and commerce. As a man who labors simply for his bread misses widely the mark, so the business man who strives simply for money wastes his time and perverts his abilities.

      I should enter upon a given business because of the good I can accomplish in and through it, and every transaction should carry out this purpose. This is the true Bible doctrine, and is becoming recognized to-day. Well-developed Christian sentiment abhors injustice in every form, and therefore the increasingly strong protest arising from every quarter to-day against inequality and oppression. The railroad company should no longer operate for the purpose of declaring dividends. The steamship, which brings the ends of the earth together, should realize, first of all, that it is the servant, not the master, of men. The merchant must regard his business as philanthropic and benevolent, and only incidentally as a money-making agency. The college professor, the physician, the lawyer, should no more practice his profession for selfish purposes than should the preacher deliver his sermons, visit the sick, help the distressed, with his salary as the chief compelling motive. "The love of Christ constraineth us," says Paul, and when this doctrine is fully realized, business operations will become but a part of applied Christianity, and the motto, "Each for all and all for each," will dominate the activities of men.

      I am prepared to say that such patriotism as looks to the good of others, that takes a comprehensive view of society, that has as its motto "The Other Fellow," finds its finest inspiration in the word of God. Webster was right when he declared, "Whatever makes good Christians, makes good citizens." Gladstone, the greatest statesman of his day, uttered with profound feeling, [567] "There is but one question: How to bring the truths of God's word into vital contact with human life." This towering genius in statecraft reached the conclusion that the real cure for political ills is the word of God.

      Sins of whatever kind--domestic, social, political--yield to nothing so readily as to the treatment of the Word. Paul with fine insight says that it manifests the activity of real life; it enters the temple of thought and inspects it; it traverses the fields of endeavor and views alike the true and the false, the worthy and the destructive.

      Using another metaphor, the same apostle calls it a mirror. The artist may not paint you as you are, but this true reflector of life and personality registers no illusions, panders to no conceit, but gives back with certainty and in true proportions the pictures of men as they are.

      The most universal and far-reaching treatise on social relations is the Bible. The principle that it enunciates is not such as "Might makes right," "To the victor belongs the spoils"--each must enjoy his rights, paying back in kind for service rendered; nor yet the statement of the Golden Rule; but the broader, more universal and impersonal principle of going the second mile, of giving the cloak also, that says, "Let all that ye do be done in love."

      This word of God is constructive as well as destructive. While it is the germicide to domestic infelicity, the antitoxine to faulty business ethics, and the specific for political disorders, it is also the invigorating spirit of the springtime, not merely pushing off the old leaves and bark, but dressing the tree with new foliage and adding another concentric ring to its diameter. The rungs of Peter's ladder, beginning with faith and ending in universal love, are constructed from the materials taken from the storehouse of revelation.

      How may we secure that Bible study which will result in the largest knowledge of the word of God?

      I hold that the Bible should be a text-book in the curriculum of every secular school in the land, and that the epic and dramatic poetry of the Old Testament, the history of the Semitic peoples and the profound utterances of the seers of Israel should take their place side by side with the literature and philosophy of the Greeks and the Romans. The Sermon on the Mount and the transcendent thoughts of Paul should be studied along with the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, Plato and Confucius. Such, however, is not the case with us to-day. The Bible has been eliminated to a very large degree from our public system of education.

      The State is therefore giving to the youth of our land incomplete education, as no true education can be integral without religious instruction. If the province of education is to prepare for complete living--in a word, to develop men into all they are capable of becoming--the word of God must take its rightful place. Along with Kant and Aristotle, the true teacher should put Christ and Paul. With the poems of Homer and Horace and the orations of Cicero and Demosthenes should be placed the towering eloquence and poetic genius of Isaiah and Jeremiah. Job is as worthy of study in our educational system as Æschines or Goethe. Ambassador Rufus Choate was right when he said, "If we can have but one book, save us the Bible."

      As the public-school system of America has practically excluded all religious exercise from its curriculum, we must look further for an agency which will develop the spiritual life along with the physical and intellectual.

      The family altar formerly exercised a potential influence in training the youth of the home in the precepts of the Bible. Around it the household was wont to gather at the morning hour, while the dew was still upon the soul, or at eventide, when the hush of quiet was upon the world. No one has quite so well pictured the scene of domestic love and the attendant joys of religion in the home as Burns in his inimitable "Cotter's Saturday Night":

      Then "they chant their artless notes in simple guise." The Holy Bible is explained by the priestlike father as he reads the sacred page:

      The poet observes with keen insight as he concludes:

      It may be said, without reflection on our modern poets, that not one of them describes a contemporaneous home like this. Not that such homes do not exist, but that they are unique, rather than typical. If modern life has not deliberately and willfully destroyed the family altar, neglect has accomplished almost as much. Few agencies can do so much as neglect. It is the sharpest blade, the keenest sword, the wound that defies healing. The average churchman has forgotten. Many a layman, much absorbed with business, social or political enterprises, is too busy to linger about the source of spiritual supply and instruction. There was a time when men defended their altars and their fires with their blood, but to-day no one seems to arise to defend them from neglect.

      I know of no agency quite so effective in teaching the Bible to all ages and classes as the Sunday-school. It has accomplished wonderful things, and its golden age is yet to be. It has added to the church 75 per cent. of the present membership, established 90 per cent. of our churches, and brought into the ministry 95 per cent. of our preachers of the gospel.

      The Sunday-school has failed, however, in that not more than 50 per cent. of those who attend its sessions become Christians during their connection with the school, and in the further fact that the number of churches and preachers which are the outgrowth of this institution is but a bagatelle of the hosts of men who should be trained for preaching the gospel, and the hundreds of congregations that should be established to serve as centers for world evangelization.

      This failure may be attributed to an imperfect conception of the Sunday-school. Its leaders at first began to build the pyramid at the apex. Instead of enlisting the fathers and mothers, the strong appeal was made to the children. The maximum emphasis was put upon the direct training of the child, with the minimum accent given to the preparation of that adult environment without which the child is not likely to fill his highest destiny. We thought of the Sunday-school as a kindergarten and nursery. Our architects built simply for the young. Teachers were prepared to train the children only. Few thought even a decade ago of realizing the present-day slogan--"The whole church in the Sunday-school and the whole Sunday-school in the church."

      Now, for the first time, the Sunday-school is taking imperial rank and is making its appeal to the greatest and strongest of our men. We are coming to understand that to save the boy, we must first of all have the example of the father, and to keep him in the straight and narrow way, we must build a wall of men around him. The Sunday-school must mean infinitely more to the boys of a given community when their fathers attend, and manifest an abiding interest in their welfare.

      But how can we enlist men in the Sunday-school? My answer is, find out what interests them and apply what the pedagogist calls the "doctrine of interest." The successful fisherman baits his hook with that which the fish likes. Some members of the church are devoutly interested in all religious matters. No effort is required to enlist them. Others do not care a brass pin for the Bible; the only book they seem to study ever is that of the lives of inconsistent Christians. To some the Bible is as dry as Sahara sand. Others feel embarrassed because of what they once knew, but have long since forgotten, while indifference, inertia and lack of good habit keep many away. Applying the doctrine of interest, it will be noticed that men everywhere appreciate sociability, and are influenced in a large measure by the glad hand, the brotherly token, and the manifestation of helpful interest. This, I dare say, accounts for [569] the fact that nine-tenths of our men are members of some lodge, society, fraternity, order or brotherhood.

      Why not organize the men of a community into a Bible Brotherhood in connection with the Sunday-school? All agree that the most perfect fraternity is taught and exemplified in the Bible. Get them together to study this fraternal manual in order to prepare to carry out its precepts during the succeeding days of the week.

      Let the men give the glad hand to the stranger, and let no man remain a stranger after he becomes a member of the class. Assist the unemployed member to secure work. If necessary, operate an Employment Bureau for all such. Visit the man when he is sick. Such tender ministries will go far to cement him to the class whose main purpose is to study God's word. Friendship is the foundation of fidelity.

      Much, of course, will depend upon the teacher of such a class. He should be a student of human nature as well as of revelation. He should know men and the Book. He says,

      He is in dead earnest, and fills and thrills the men as he teaches them. There is not a dull moment as he translates the Scripture under consideration into the vernacular of the class, as he illustrates the lesson with well-chosen incidents, and as he waterlines the great principles into the lives of men.

      The men fall in love with such study. The work appeals to them. What is taught on Sunday is given an opportunity for expression later in the week, and thus are they trained for citizenship, for the home, for Christian business life, and for the largest glory of God.

      With such training of the entire family from the youngest to the oldest, the interests of the nation will be safeguarded at every point, impending perils of every kind will be averted and forces adequate to the regeneration of the whole world will be set in motion. Then shall Christ's kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven! Then shall we not fear that some Gibbon may arise to chronicle the downfall of the republic, but we shall sing in triumphant measure--

[CCR 566-570]