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fon | whe she tha hk AaibuctahGcaLlidh deere ag enth, nee ed dadlinn Zh dh ad a S2WNM- OO OO INN WNP & ae tw BSI AW 29 FOE Rept. en eneTEpReRTERy:. MV AWN HOW @ IAU WN OO oO She eon « . ° . @ —/ f . S. 7+ Tet is vhy, when you go back into history, yeu will discover that when a civilization’ began to decline the very last ferces that ever declined were these that belonged to the armed forces. eee ce For éxample, when the Roman civilization began to rot and decay vt the center, in the civic life, in its leaders, the enly group that you read about in histery who maintained some sense of loyalty, decency and honor were those whe were soldiers in the broad sense of the term. That is why in the New Testament, for example, you cannet find a single soldier mentioned who is not praised. That cannot be said of the lawyers. It could not be said of @octors, because one of them was accused of having treated a patient for many years and the patient was not better but worse, though incidentally, @&. Luke, who was the physician, left out that charge. Isn't that interesting? But without being hard -— “I do not wish te be hard en lawyers aad docters; I merely wish to give praise where praise is due. It was the centurion, for example, a member of the Roman Army, when Rome was already declining, who built for the Jews a synagogue. And though he was a member of an army that occupied their country, we have nothing but praise fer hin. It was a centurion also that was good to Paul when he was taken as a prisener to Rome. A centurion, incidentally, in the Rowan Army was a ‘Sergeant, that a million of yeu gentle n salute. And also, who shall ever forget that great centurion at the foot ef the Cross who proclaimed at the moment of Crucifixion the divinity of Our Blessed Lerd, saying, "Indeed, this is the Son of Gedi" And therefere, because you are maintaining in eur nation this respect fer discipline, for law and for authority, we salute yeu. And you have not only done that; you are also preserving in our national life a sense of loyalty. You do not become members of the armed forces in order to die. That is met the vocation of a soldier. But you become members of the armed forces, ready to die in order that certain loyalties will not be trespassed. Most of you men have faced death, and a man who has faced death develops a profundity pf sout. That is why so many of you, when you came back as soldiers from the last World War, were discontent with certain university courses. They were not sufficiently profound. You had come face to face with great and profound eternal verities. _ Now, shall this nation of ours say that we expect sacrifice or loyalty from you, but we want no loyalties from the home or loyalties from the nation? When you are at war, you are told, "We expect every man to do his duty." Shall we theréfore become a nation in which people insist only on theif rights?" -2-