Long and Steady
I venture to say that patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
A One-sided View
In the annuls of sheep, the wolves are always defeated and disgraced.
Dedication to Country
Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right. –Carl Schurz
Everyday Patriots
I don’t think the United States needs superpatriots. We need patriotism, honestly practiced by all of us, and we don’t need these people that are more patriotic than you or anybody else. –Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Flag and the Cross
Several times during my ministry, I shared in military funerals. Finally, a very significant lesson dawned. I’ve seen military funerals on the news, and have participated in six or seven across the years. And not once have I seen the American flag do down with the deceased. At every instance, the flag was removed at the end of the service, and neatly folded and handed to the survivors. It’s true. A nation cannot die for someone; it is powerless to do so; indeed it must not die. A nation survives, and the removal of the flag from the casket symbolizes that, though all it’s citizens die, the nation continues. I am impressed that the symbol of our faith is the cross of Jesus, who died for men and women of all nations so that they may have life. A nation will finally say its farewell to us all, but the Savior will not.
Alexander Graham Bell, Patriot
We can demonstrate our love of country in many ways. When Bell prepared his gravestone’s epitaph, he had it read: “Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor-Teacher, Born Edinburgh, March 3, 1847, Died a Citizen of USA 1922”
He could have listed his numerous inventions and honors. But that he was a citizen of the USA was his most cherished accomplishment.
Catching Up
President Reagan tells how we could match Russia’s record after its more than half a century of socialism: “We’d have to cut our paychecks by more than 80 percent; move 33 million workers back to the farm; destroy 59 million television sets; tear up fourteen of every fifteen miles of highway; junk nineteen of every twenty cars; tear up two-thirds of our railroad track; knock down 70 percent of our houses; and rip out nine of every ten telephones. Then all we have to do is find a capitalist country to sell us wheat on credit to keep us from starving.”
The Price They Paid
Have you ever wondered what happened to those fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. Nine fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the Revolutionary War.
What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well-educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers or both looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton.
At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire, which was done. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and gristmill were laid waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves, returning home after the war to find his wife dead, his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. These were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
They gave us an independent America. Can we keep it?
A Cynical View
History is largely the glorification of the iniquities of the triumphant. –Paul Eldridge
Dolley’s Courageous Rescue
President Madison’s declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812 was not popular with many Americans, especially when the first year of conflict brought a series of shattering American defeats. New England was in a virtual state of secession; the governor of Vermont ordered the state militia to resign from national service; and in Massachusetts there was talk of negotiating a separate peace with the enemy.
After threatening for a year, the British actually attacked the capital in August 1814. While President Madison rode out to the battlefield in an attempt to instill confidence in the untrained troops, the citizens of Washington streamed out of the city into Virginia. Even the militia assigned to protect the White House deserted their posts. But First Lady Dolley Madison refused to budge.
Before the White House was burned, Dolley saved her husband’s papers, a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence, and a valuable portrait of George Washington. She would leave only at the last minute—and returned as soon as Madison sent word that the British had left Washington.
Dolley’s dramatic rescue of George Washington’s portrait silenced her husband’s critics and infused the once-divided nation with a new spirit. When news of the British burning of the White House spread, people who had been denouncing the war and talking surrender abruptly changed their minds. Confronted by a united, determined people, the British were more than willing to sign a peace treaty six months later.
Godly Men in Government
A traveling man came into a hotel to secure a room for the night. Upon being informed that every room in the building had been taken, he was naturally quite perturbed, until a portly gentleman standing nearby kindly offered to share his room with him. The offer was thankfully accepted.
Upon retiring, the portly man knelt and prayed, tenderly mentioning his guest for the night in his petition. In the morning, his host informed him that it was his custom to read a portion of the Word of God and pray before taking up the responsibilities of the day. The effect upon the man was moving; a strange feeling came over him; something had been working in his heart all night. When gently pressed by this stranger to accept the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior, his resistance went down in a heap. A soul had been won for Christ!
But who is this humble ambassador of Christ, who so strikingly resembles a member of President Wilson’s cabinet? When business cards were exchanged before parting, to the guest’s amazement he read, “William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State.”
Christianity and Patriotism
Christianity and patriotism have much in common. It is significant to note the following:
Our patriotic hymn, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” was written by a Baptist minister, Samuel Francis Smith.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag was written in 1892 by a Baptist minister, Francis Bellamy.
The words, “In God We Trust,” carried on all of our coins are traced to the efforts of the Rev. W. R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania. His letter of concern, addressed to the Hon. S.P. Chase, was dated November 13, 1861. Seven days later Mr. Chase wrote to James Pollock, Director of the US Mint as follows:
“No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins. Will you cause a device to be prepared without delay with a motto expressing in the finest and tersest words possible, this national recognition.”
The president of the College of New Jersey, the Reverend John Witherspoon (Presbyterian), signed the Declaration of Independence.
He is too much forgotten in our history books: John Witherspoon had a far-reaching influence on democracy. He had personally taught several of the signers of the document, and nine of them were graduates of the little college over which he presided at Princeton.
When he took up his pen to put his name to the document, Witherspoon declared: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, a spark. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to consent to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon the table, that insures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning by every pen in this house. He that will not respond to its accents, and strain every nerve to carry into effect its provisions, is unworthy of the name of free man. For my own part, of property I have some; of reputation, more. That reputation is staked, that property is pledged on the issue of this contest; and although these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulcher, I would infinitely rather that they descend thither by the hand of the executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country.”
Lincoln’s Father’s Faith
We have forgotten the gracious Hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. –Abraham Lincoln
Emphasize the People
The late Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam tells of giving the annual Memorial Day address at the National Monument at Gettysburg. Like most other speakers, he felt the need to conclude his speech by reciting Lincoln’s famous address. After he finished, he felt all had gone well. That is, until an old, old man made his way forward and remarked: “Son, you made an awful mess of Lincoln’s speech.” Oxnam asked: “What do you mean? I didn’t miss a word of it. Here, look at my notes.” The old man replied, “Oh, I don’t need your notes. I know it by heart. You see, I heard it the first time ’round.” By now Bishop Oxnam realized that his man had been present when Lincoln originally delivered his words. He was curious about his recitation had differed from that of the president. The old-timer explained it this way: “Abe put his hands out over the people like a benediction, and said, ‘That the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, should not perish from the earth.’ You got the words right, son, but you missed the message. You emphasized “government”; Lincoln talked about “people.”
The Dollar Carries the Message
Like so many other everyday things, even our money bears witness to the fact that ours is a God-founded nation, and it emphasizes the additional fact that as a nation, we rely upon Divine Providence.
On the dollar bill is a pyramid, which represents the building of our country. The fact that it is broken emphasizes that our nation is not yet completed. Directly about the pyramid is an eye symbolizing the eye of God. This stresses the importance of putting spiritual welfare about material prosperity. Our Founding Fathers firmly believed that our strength was rooted in God and that our progress must always be under the watchful eye of Providence.
Another important symbol is contained in the words “Annuit Coeptis” in a semicircle at the top of the seal. Referring to the Almighty, they mean “He has smiled on our undertakings.”
And finally, three Latin words appear directly under the pyramid, meaning “A new order of the ages.” That statement suggests that our nation, under God, is introducing a new age in the life and freedom of mankind. –Norman Vincent Peale
The Need for Democracy
Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. –Reinhold Niebuhr