The American Dream

What does America mean to you? Perhaps no one answered this question better than Rev. Peter Marshall, the chaplain of the United States Senate, in a sermon during World War II, November 19, 1944. Here is a portion of that message from the book The Wartime Sermons of Dr. Peter Marshall. Consider how you might answer this question as you read his sermon?

“It is said about Columbus’s discovery of America

that he was on a search for spices,

and trying to prove that the Indies might be found by sailing directly west,

Instead he discovered America.

Surely, there was Providence in it - God’s guiding hand.

The thoughtful American must be impressed by

the sense of America’s mission in the world-

and find a commanding imperative - not alone in its origin,

but also, and supremely, in its destiny.

What if Providence were separating a people out of the Old World

to begin a new experiment...

the Old World itself might begin anew?

Up to this point in history,

it would seem that America was humanity’s latest chance...

perhaps the last chance...

although there are other nations God could use and might use...

if we Americans reject our high destiny....

I came to this country as a quota-immigrant,

and in the process of being naturalized,

I was required to learn something about this land

which I had chosen from my own free will to be my home.

I had to learn, by comparison with the land of my birth,

the things that made America distinctive,

and in which I share with you, a deep and thankful pride.

I believe I am able to speak on this question:

‘“What does America mean to the world?”’

I know what America meant to me and to my fellow countrymen.

when I left Scotland all alone and set sail for the New World,

I knew from my own experience

what it must have meant to the Pilgrim Fathers...

when they watched the headlands of England disappear under the horizon,

and then turned their faces to the West.

They landed on Cape Cod in November 1620,

and finding the soil unsuitable for agriculture,

they sailed across Cape Cod Bay,

and established their settlement at Plymouth.

At first, they thought they would be governed by the charter that had been

granted to the Virginia colony,

but they discovered that its provisions did not extend that far.

There was a dazzling exhilaration in the thought that they were free from

all law and authority.

But their Calvinistic training asserted itself.

Their stern piety and wisdom took charge...

and they determined to have authority from within...

if there was to be none from without.

They drew up one of the most significant documents in American

history - the Mayflower Compact -

which called for just and equal laws.

This was a new concept, a departure from their experiences

in the land from whence they had just come.

There, they had experienced a bitter revelation of the fact

that many laws were not just,

nor were they applied equally to all citizens.

And thus, it was through them that democracy was conceived....

Democracy was born out of the Christian faith,

and only in the Christian faith can it be nurtured.

This democracy began to grow in Pennsylvania,

amid the pure faith of the Quakers,

and reached its highest expression in William Penn’s principles of government.

It remained for Thomas Jefferson to put it into words that are cherished today.

Though it was the Christian faith that gave birth to the democratic ideals of the young Republic,

the beginning of the 19th Century saw the beginning of the separation - that was to continue for many a year-

between the political expression of government

and the Christian faith out of which it grew....

There have been times when the light has almost gone out;

times when the American Dream has faded.

We need today to make it shine again in our hearts and in our lives.

Our Government is in danger of control by corrupt party machines - cynical, ruthless, self-seeking, lovers of power and authority,

which should challenge every true patriot

and summon all who love America here and now to resolve,

in the words of Lincoln:

‘“That this nation, under God shall have a new birth of freedom -

and that Government of the people, by the people, for the

people, shall not perish from the earth....”

George Washington said in his First Inaugural Address:

‘“No people can be bound to accept and adore the Invisible

Hand which conducts the affairs of man more than the people

of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to

the character of an independent nation seems to have been

destined by some token of Providential Agency.”’

This is the foundation upon which the founding Fathers built this country.

It is the conviction that pulses through the American Dream.

That dream must be perpetuated by us, under God.

If this dream was born of God, and I believe it was;

if it was preserved by God, and I believe it was;

then a great responsibility rests on us.

America may be humanity’s last chance - we do not know.

But it certainly is God’s latest experiment,

and if America fails to realize her destiny,

then the opportunity may go to another nation....

What a witness;

what a testimony;

what a power could be turned loose in the White House,

on Capitol Hill, and in the Supreme Court,

to lead America back to the faith of our fathers;

back to the sure foundation upon which they built this nation so long ago...

And so I come to my text, 2 Chronicles 7:14:

‘“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves

and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then

will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sins, and will heal their land.”’