Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

achievement."
agency."
earth."
gift."
welfare."
own
THIS NATION UNDER GOD . . . from front page
better thing today, in his celebration of the Fourth
of July, than to bow his head in fervent, humble
gratitude and say, "Lord, thou hast 'been favorable
unto (this) land." Glowing Phrases
We have been favored with great ideals. John
Gunther, in the closing chapter of his Inside U.S.A.
says, "The United States became great largely be
cause it was founded on a deliberate idea a complex
and enveloping idea including equality of opportunity
for all, government only by the consent of the gov
erned, and the Bill of Rights." What Gunther fails to
point out is the basic Christian philosophy out of
which that idea sprang. This philosophy,
or better
still, this faith, which brought the Pilgrims to Amer
ica in the early 17th century, was hammered into the
glowing phrases of the Declaration of Independence
in the 18th century: "We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalien
able Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and
the Pursuit of Happiness."
This pattern of lofty ideals took further shape
in the Preamble to the Constitution : "We the people
of the United States, in order to form a more per
fect Union, establish
Justice, insure domestic Tran
quility, provide for the Common Defense, promote
the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of
Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain
and establish this Constitution for the United States
of America."
Here indeed is what someone has called "the
American dream the dream of a land where life
shall be richer and fuller and better, with opportun
ity for every person according to his ability and
But mark this : just as the dream was
born "under God," so it must be kept alive "under
God."
Editor's Note: Paragraphs, omitted here for the
sake of brevity, concern God's favor to us in giving
Incalculable Wealth and Great Leaders.
Tokens of Providence
In his First Inaugural Address George Wash
ington has a beautiful passage in which he makes
reverent acknowledgment of the guiding hand of
God upon the development of the new-born nation
and expresses his firm conviction that the Divine
Goodness has superintended the brave venture. He
then says: "In tendering this homage to the great
Author of every public and private good, I assure
myself that it expresses your sentiments not less
than my own. . . No people can be bound to acknowl
edge and adore the Invisible Hand, which conducts
the affairs of men, more than the people of the
United States. Every step by which they have ad
vanced to the character of an independent nation
seems to have been distinguished by some token
of Providential
The deluded disciples of Karl Marx may tell you
otherwise, but the unshakable truth is that no na
tion can rise to greatness which leaves out such
sterling sentiments and such profound faiths as were
expressed by our greatest American leaders. It is
"under God," and only "under God," that America
deserves to be called great. For this heritage of the
past let us pay ungrudging tribute to the Giver of
406
"every good and perfect
Indeed, "Lord, thou
hast been favorable unto (this) land."
II.
Consider, next, how our ancient patriot sounds
the note of prayer for the present. Look at verses
4-7.
The psalmist says in part: "Turn us, 0 God of
our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to
cease . . . Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy
people may rejoice in thee" Such language is suited
to America's situation today. We too have sinned.
We need a national alarm clock to wake us up.
Our National Debauch
We have sinned against the law of sobriety, and
we need a revival of temperance. Fifteen years ago
the United States was spending a little more than
a billion dollars on its liquor in one year. Steadily
our national debauch has increased until now the
outlay for liquor is approximately nine billion dol
lars. For that sum of money you could place a $4 Bi
ble in the hands of every human being in the world.
You could support 4,350,000 missionaries at a rate of
$2,000 each.
Yes, America has sinned against the law of tem
perance, and she desperately needs a revival of so
briety. This need alone, if we were intelligent about
it, would put America on her knees before Almighty
God.
America has sinned, too, against the law of the
whole, and needs a revival of national unity. Perhaps
the most completely forgotten clause in the Pream
ble to the Constitution is the one which says: "To
promote the general About the only place
left where they remember it is the Supreme Court.
Emotional Dynamite
Today we are afflicted with the fanatical spirit
of group interest expressing itself in high-powered
propaganda and in the employment of extreme pres
sure techniques to influence legislation. It has
reached the point where, for example, if you use the
initial "NAM" or "PAC" you are carrying emotional
dynamite. The National Association of Manufactur
ers is held by many to be a symbol of a state of mind
a reactionary, labor-baiting mentality. Similarly,
the Political Action Committee of the CIO is made
the symbol of a radical, anti-capitalist labor mind.
Thus we tend more and more to think and to act and
to vote with our prejudices and our emotions, forget
ting the while that what happens to America as a
whole is more important than what happens to any
one block or group within it. I want Mr. Lincoln's
phrases to stand: "that government of the people,
by the people, for the people shall not perish from
the I do not want it altered to read : "govern
ment of groups, by lobbies, for special interests."
If Jesus Christ were permitted to take our wide
ly split groups by the hand they with their narrow
viewpoints, their stubborn prejudices, and, at times,
their bitter hatreds He would say to them what
He said long ago, as recorded in Luke 16:12, "If
ye have not been faithful in that which is another
man's, who shall give you that which is your
To complete the list of America's sins is not
within the scope of this message:
There is the sin of wrong attitudes toward the
colored peoples.
There is the sin of immorality and adultery
COVENANTER WITNESS