— Kevin Gilbert 100 years ago in The Record
Sunday, April 15, 1917
Now that the U.S. is at war with Germany, war has become a popular subject for Sunday sermons in Troy churches.
Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Sprague of First Baptist Church will begin a series of sermons on war next weekend. He gives a preview of the series tonight in an appeal for “active co- operation with the government in policies adopted for a successful prosecution of the war.”
The U.S. declared war on Germany on April 6 after repeated German submarine attacks on merchant ships bound for France and Great Britain.
“The patriotism that counts is not that which merely talks about love for country,” Sprague says, “but one which expresses that love in concrete service. The call for service is being heard on every hand. Let us not turn deaf ears to entreaties, but recognizing the service we can best render, let us offer it in love and whole-hearted consecration.”
At Fifth Avenue Baptist, Rev. Dr. Warren G. Partridge preaches that “America was called into the world war to assist in putting an end to autocracies, despotisms, militarism and wholesale murder.”
Partridge sees the recent overthrow of the Russian monarchy as an act of “Divine Providence” pointing the U.S. to the right side of the war. Russia has been at war with Germany since the sum- mer of 1914.
“I believe that the Almighty has a divine purpose in using the United States at this hour, as one of His instruments in securing the triumph of democracy throughout the world,” Partridge says.
“America for generations has been the asylum for the persecuted and oppressed subjects of all despotic governments. Now the hour has struck for America to enter the world war and help give freedom to the persecuted and oppressed in their home lands.”
West Sand Lake revival
While many communities have held patriotic parades since the declaration of war, a march of over 300 people in West Sand Lake this morning is more spiritual in nature.
The march is led by Rev. A. R. Young, an evangelical revivalist. At Firemen’s Hall, Young defends his preaching style, which has been criticized for “jumping from one extreme to the other.”
Taking Ephesians 5:18 as his text, Young says that the Apostles were “intoxicated with the spirit.” That sort of intoxication is commendable, he argues.
“I have been called a crank many a time for preaching of the holy spirit, but can well afford to be called a crank…. Thank God for the man who is called a crank who dares to stand on God’s truths and preach them. I would to God we have more cranks like that.”