Faith of our Fathers 1/31/43

Scripture: Hebrews 11: 1-13

Text: Hebrews 11: 13a; “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.” ---  (American Standard Translation.)

“There is a moral grandeur about this chapter,” (Hebrews 11) says Edgar DeWitt Jones. In it, there is an impressive procession of men and women of grand moral stature, who had achieved important places in the life of their people, who had lived by high faith. The chapter begins with a classic definition of faith. “Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.” The thirteenth verse pauses in the recital of Israel’s great men and women of faith to remark, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.”

I have read that the word “greeted” as used here comes from a Greek word which carries with it the idea of a gesture. It is a “wave at the future.” Thus one sees some long-sought goal. He catches sight of it and salutes it, even though he may never actually reach the prize himself.

It is true to say that we count not ourselves to have achieved. But we press on!

Will you think with me for a little while of some of the souls of faith whose vision, whose determination, whose faith and devotion have given us the country we love? Edgar DeWitt Jones suggests a few gems of our history which may make up the picture.

(1) On December 21st, 1620 the voyaging Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth harbor, far north of the “northern part of Virginia” where some colonists had proposed to go. For 66 days - (more than two perilous months) - she had battled the Atlantic storms and endured calm. Disease and discouragement must have threatened her passengers. And now, with autumn gone and winter ready to set in on these unknown shores, the little ship lay just off the land.

Aboard the Mayflower were 102 passengers - normal human beings. There were 18 married couples and a great many single folk - including a number of small children. A baby had been born in mid-ocean and another as the ship lay anchored in Plymouth Bay. One passenger had died at sea.

Youth was there aboard the Mayflower. It was by no means an aged crowd. Only youthful vigor could have survived the hardships of the voyage and the cruelty of that first winter to be endured. William Bradford, who was to become the second governor of the colony, was 31; Edward Winslow was 26; John Alden 21. They were people of trained intelligence and better than average education.

In Plymouth harbor, before they landed with their belongings, the Compact was signed, beginning with the words: In the name of God, Amen.” An historian calls this event “the birthday of constitutional liberty.” It was religion - the Christian religion - made real in the conscience of vigorous men and women that inspired the Mayflower’s voyage; that solemnized this compact among the passengers; that sustained the heroic colony through the bitter hardships of those early and terrible years; that determined the survivors to stick it out and stay for good.

These folk dared everything they had for their freedom and it was religion that sustained them and enabled them to sing hymns of praise.

Amid the storm they sang,

And the stars heard and the sea,

And the dim aisles of the forest rang

With the anthem of the free.

(2) Leap over a century and a half of history to July, 1776. The place is Philadelphia. The Continental Congress meets a mighty issue and great events are in the making. The several states, so sharply different in origin, location, forms of belief; yet drawn together by common dangers and interests and plagued by a single tyranny - are represented in a single Congress. The committee is bent on independence for these states. A tall, rangy Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, is selected to write the document. He goes to a boarding house where, in seclusion, he wrestles with the ideas and the diction needed to express the desire and need of a new nation. In less than a month, he had produced a paper which, to this day, thrills those who hear it properly read.

For two days the paper was debated. A few slight changes were made and the resolution of adoption was passed. There were dramatic episodes connected with this determined and dangerous move. Caesar Rodney, ill, with one side of his face covered with a silk cloth to hide the disfigurement of a malignant disease, rode all night and day from Dover, Delaware. He arrived in time to stride, still booted and spurred, into the assembly and say, “I vote for independence.”

John Hancock led off with a bold signature written large, saying that he wanted George III to be able to read it without putting on his specs. Ben Franklin remarked with wry humor, “We shall all have to hang together or we will all hang separately.” And there was further grim and pointed joking following Franklin’s comment.

A pessimistic old bell ringer waited for a message. He had been told to be on hand to start ringing as soon as word came that the Declaration had been signed. “They’ll never do it; they’ll never do it,” he said over and over. Suddenly a boy came running, and shouting, “Ring! Ring! Ring!” and the event was history - made in the integrity, honor and courage of religious men who were determined on their freedom.

(3) More than ten years later, in 1787, in that same city of Philadelphia, the Constitutional Convention was in session. By late May, 55 men had arrived. Of these 55, 34 were lawyers or had studied law; 8 were merchants; 6 were farmers; 3 were physicians; 2 had been ministers of the gospel; 1 was a printer. 39 of the 55 were graduates of universities. Their average age was a shade over 45.

George Washington was presiding over the conference. Sessions were held behind locked doors - no cameras; no reporters present. There was confusion, disagreement, disputing. Far into the summer, the controversy continued. How could so many people from so many states come to agreement?

There came a day when Benjamin Franklin arose and suggested that they send for a clergyman of the city to invoke Divine guidance upon them, that they might find their way to a happy conclusion.

Alexander Hamilton opposed the proposition on the grounds that the public might become alarmed, though he made it clear that he had no objection to the offering of prayer. So Franklin’s resolution failed, but there was thereafter a spirit in the hearts of the delegates that sought guidance upon their task. In the spirit of “give and take” the framers finished their tremendous task. The British Gladstone said of the document that it was the most inspired instrument conceived by the mind of man at any given time.

The framers were not unanimous. 16 of the 55 refused to sign the Constitution, though it was adopted by majority vote. Among those of the opposition were the fiery Patrick Henry; and George Mason, author of the Bill of Rights. Some believed the Supreme Court was given too much power, others that the Federal government would have too much power to levy taxes (Shades of the founding fathers! What would they think of our fate some 156 years later in 1943!)

Those 16 were not counted unpatriotic. They had their say, and it was respected. The democratic process was at work. The majority ruled, but the minority had its right of free expression.

The Constitution is elastic. It has been amended 21 times and “unamended” once. The Bill of Rights went into the Constitution by amendment. The Supreme Court passes on questions of interpretation. Chief Justice Hughes said that the Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is. And the court usually reflects the will of the people. The people make their government, and are here protected from their government.

(4) On February 11th, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was leaving his home in Springfield, Illinois. He was bound for Washington. Skies were clouded and a gentle rain fell. A thousand people, neighbors and friends, had gathered to see him leave. Just before the train moved, Lincoln came out on the rear platform, raised his hand, and spoke:

“My friends: no one not in my situation can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I own everything. Here I have lived for a quarter of a century and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether I may return, with a task resting upon me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with me, and remain with you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

(5) More than 4 years later (April 9, 1865) the great General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Virginia to the victorious commander of the Armies of the North, General Ulysses S. Grant. There was to be hardship in this nation where union had been preserved at so great cost.

Lee might have left it. He was offered a comfortable home in England, and a life of ease. An insurance company offered him $25,000 a year. He declined it saying “I can receive no money that I have not earned.” Though his own material possessions were gone with the war, he accepted the presidency of a small struggling college at an annual salary of $1,500. His heart and his tongue knew no rancor. A mother one day put her child in his arms and asked him to offer prayer for her firstborn. He bowed his head, held the child close, then handed him back to the mother, saying “Teach him to deny himself.”

(6) In 1892 a ship from Europe entered New York harbor. Like so many others. it was laden with immigrants. Some laughed and sang as they passed the Statue of Liberty. A little boy standing by his father at the rail, said “Father, do you know anybody in America?” The father said he didn’t know a soul here. “Do you have a job waiting for you?” Again a negative answer. Another question: “How much money do you have, father?” The answer was that he had about $450. The boy thought silently for a while and then spoke again, “If you don’t know anybody in America, and if you haven’t a job, and have only $450, what are we going to do if you don’t get a job and your money runs out?”

Then the father explained: “My boy, this is America. It was in this country where a boy, born in a one-room cabin with a dirt floor, and lighted by a single window, climbed to the greatest within the power of the American people to confer: the presidency. In a land where such a thing could happen, there must be room for a Dutch immigrant who has faith in God and is not afraid to work. There must be a place for us.”

And there was. The little Dutch boy is now the Rev. Joseph R. Sizoo, formerly minister of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and now minister of the Church of St. Nicholas, Dutch Reformed, in New York City.

Faith of Our Fathers! It is our faith! It is the faith of the millions of young people of this nation and of some abroad. We believe that God is the rewarder of those who honestly seek Him; who are willing to sacrifice for our democratic institutions as proof of their continuing faith in them. If we have such faith in the necessity and dignity of honest toil, this nation will endure. Only the enemy within - sloth, corruption, intolerance, injustice, sectionalism, wanton carelessness - can give the enemy without a chance to prey upon us.

Is there a “land” of plenty, of eternal peace, of universal opportunity, of harmony in all life’s adjustments - a promised land of perfection? There is. It is in the heart of every one of us here present and in the hearts of people all over this nation and beyond this nation.

Like the fathers of old, and our own fathers immediately before us, today’s youth sees the promises, and though afar stands and greets them. “There shall be light.”

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dates and places delivered:

Wisconsin Rapids, January 31, 1943