World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
And may the ideals of that flag and the flags of our noble Allies guide
the destinies of the world, and Christ again become the guide of human
life and Prussianistic Militarism be speedily ground to powder.
No true social order can be erected upon a false foundation. Autocracy
is false, pernicious, and rotten from top to bottom. Therefore it must
be annihilated root and branch before the peoples of the earth can find
freedom and happiness. The old structure must be entirely torn down and
the social order built on a new foundation.
The United States has consecrated herself to this task. Stupendous as it
is, she can accomplish it. France has done her part, Britain has
performed her duty, but France and Britain today are calling to us. Not
in any spirit of boastfulness therefore, but in a spirit of deep
humility coupled with a determined confidence must we respond to their
urgent plea. We must go, we must give, we must sacrifice. If America is
to save the situation, as I believe she is, she must know beforehand
that it will be at a price such as she has never paid before. Widows
will pine and daughters will mourn. Rachel will weep in the midnight
for her sons because they are not and orphans will cry themselves to
sleep. But out of the blackness the consolation which comes to me is
that through it all we will find our soul and we will obey the summons
of a just and righteous God. To do less were craven.
America, like other nations, may sometime go down. When we have
accomplished our mission we too may pass off the stage of action. But,
please God, when the names shall be called from the great Book of Life
and the records of the nations now gone, shall be read, lack of vision
and failure in duty shall not be charged against America; and, in the
new and better world, America's part in making possible the higher order
of things shall be recognized and acknowledged.
Every man has his duty. Every woman her sphere. There is nothing worth
living for in the present hour but to assist in defeating Germany. And
let me sound a warning here and now, loud and clear, that the person who
is found unwilling or inactive in the accomplishment of this one goal
will sooner or later feel the bitterness of what it is to be "a man
without a country." He will come to hate himself.
On the other hand, he who does his part, who gives himself unstintedly
in this hour of the world's woe, and who does not calculate the personal
cost, will have the boundless and undying gratitude of future ages.
These will have a part in the greatest humanizing and redemptive work
since earth began and "the generations shall rise up and call them
blessed." They also will be able to boast the honor of having been true
Americans.
As for myself, I know not what the future holds. My personal fortunes
are in the hands of God and my country. The pastorate which I resigned
has been filled by another.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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