Amerikai Magyar Reformátusok Lapja, 1912 (13. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)

1912-12-28 / 52. szám

AZ AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUS EGYESÜLET HIVATALOS LAPJA.

Editor:

Rev. L A I). H A R S A \ V 1 285 East 1 It Ml St. New York, N. Y.

OFFU'IAL ORGAN OF THE AMERICAN HUNGARIAN REFORMED FEDERATION

XIII. ÉVFOLYAM, 52. SZ.

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NEW YOÍU,, N. Y. 1912 DECEMBER 28

XOL. XIII. No. 52.

MEGJELENIK MINDÉN SZOMBATON — PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY

Entered as second-class mater Oct. 28, 1910 at the Post OfficeN. Y„ under the act of March 3. 1879- — ■■■ — -■ V ------j ---i-.:—-S —— ~~ ”"■ -rr-.~~

THE CONTRIBUTION OF OUR CHURCHES TO THE NEW AMERICA

(A summary of address delivered to the conference^of workers am„.

speaking- people within the Metropolitan District.)

There are times when a man earnestly longs for abilities quite beyond him in order that he may express to others his deepest hopes and paint for them his noblest visions. Such a time is this when I come to speak to you of the new Ameeica. Mere and more as the days and years go by the thought of this our country and its tremendous mission to the world under the providence of God is my inspiration. There is a patriotism which does not deserve the word, rather we should call it jingoism, but there is another patriotism which is one of the purest most unselfish passions of men. Just as devotion to one’s family ought to make a man desire the well being of all families, so devotion to one’s country ought to mage a man desire the well being of other countries. This patriotism which is the love of a country for the sake of what a country can do fór the world is bound up with our religion. «

See how full the Bible is of such patriotism. Palestine was a Holy Land to the Jews, not because it was more favorably endowed by God than many other spots of earth, but because they loved it passionately and because they were convinced of their high destiny under God. To the greatest Prophets all Israel was a Ser vent of Jehovah His mightiest mis- sionary, more effective than any one individual could be. The universal Christ whom we love was over Jerusalem. Paul the greatest of apostoles, not only

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took pride in his Hebrew ancestry, but also that he was a free-born Roman citizen. Surely with such examples we are justified *in saying that there is no task of the church more lofty than that of an ardent love for country and an ardent desire that the country shall become more worthy of our God. We here in America are privilaged to witness one of the wonders of history, even the creation of a new country to which men of all races are contributing. We have a part in a great creative task-, that of moulding the future of this land of destiny. American is still young. Like a young giant she bends herself to the tasks of civilization which are laid upon her. As the years roll on she will increase in strength and in maturity. We are charged with seeing that our nation develops out of youth, out of the faults of immaturity, into the full grown stature of a servant of God. We love not merely the America that now is, but the America that is to be, and to this ideal America we devote ourselves. Other nations before have tried out the capacities of the Anglo Saxons or of the Italians or of some other race to endure and to be self-governing. Here in America humanity itself is on trial, for we are trying to form a Christian democracy made up of representatives of all the races of Europe.

I am an optimist. I belive in the wonderful contribution that men from Slavic, Hungarian, Germanic and Latin stocks

I can bring. I rejoise in the stores of strength and in the capacities for the appreciation and creation of beauty which are coming to us from many lands, but let us face facts seriously and realize that just as there are enormous possibilities for good in the incoming of our many S tongued immigrants, so there are possibilities for evil which it is the task of the church to help to avert.

The creation of this new America which we love will require cooperation from us Americans of longer standing and from the new American stock, on many occasion have spoken with all the force that is within me to my fellow citizens concerning our failure to make brotherhood and ! justice real to those who are coming to our shores. We Americans ought to go I down on our knees and confess before I God that we have sinned most unworthily in our self conceit and in our exslusive- ness. The very names “dago” and “wop” are a reproach to us and to our Christianity, but I like to belive that America awakening to her Christian duty and that the church is aroused as never before to her task; and to this group representative of many churches among the new comers I plead that we may use I our influence among Italians, Hungarians, Bohemians, to see that they too dedicate their lives in service, in cooperation, in order that the ideal America of our hopes may be made real. I ask no forgetfulness cf the lands from which man of you have