Again, my apologies for not having much analysis, but I am quickly posting this from our diocesan conference. This next excerpt has to do with Dr. Ross’ view of the development of human history. As I have said before, I do not agree with Dr. Ross. And I do promise that more analysis will be coming. Meantime, feel free to comment and rant.
Ham will be ever lower than Shem; Shem will be ever lower than Japheth. All will rise in the Christian grandeur to be revealed. Ham will be lower than Shem, because he was sent to Central Africa. Man south of the Equator–in Asia, Australia, Oceanica, America, especially Africa–is inferior to his Northern brother. The blessing was upon Shem in his magnificent Asia. The greater blessing was upon Japheth in his man-developing Europe. Both blessings will be combined, in America, north of the Zone, in commingled light and life. I see it all in the first symbolical altar of Noah on that mound at the base of Ararat. The father of all living men bows before the incense of sacrifice, streaming up and mingling with the rays of the rising sun. His noble family, and all flesh saved, are grouped round about him. There is Ham, at the foot of the green hillock, standing, in his antediluvian, rakish recklessness, near the long-necked giraffe, type of his Africa,–his magnificent wife, seated on the grass, her little feet nestling in the tame lion’s mane, her long black hair flowing over crimson drapery and covered with gems from mines before the flood. Higher up is Shem, leaning his arm over that mouse-colored horse,–his Arab steed. His wife, in pure white linen, feeds the elephant, and plays with his lithe proboscis,–the mother of Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, and Christ. And yet she looks up, and bows in mild humility, to her of Japheth, seated amid plumed birds, in robes like the sky. Her noble lord, meanwhile, high above all, stands, with folded arms, following that eagle which wheels up towards Ararat, displaying his breast glittering with stars and stripes of scarlet and silver,–radiant heraldry, traced by the hand of God. Now he purifies his eye in the sun, and now he spreads his broad wings in symbolic flight to the West, until lost to the prophetic eye of Japheth, under the bow of splendors set that day in the cloud. God’s covenant with man,–oh, may the bow of covenant between us be here to-day, that the waters of this flood shall never again threaten our beloved land!
Please look at the last couple of sentences again. Please notice that Dr. Ross clearly considers the USA, in particular, to be the ultimate fulfilment of God’s plan, and that we are destined to lead all the world in the correct way. This is the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Now, do you hear any echoes of this type of talk in the political speech of today? Do you ever hear us pictured as the best country on earth, the greatest country on earth, the country with the best judicial system, with the most opportunity, with the greatest economic engine on earth, etc.? Do you ever hear us pictured as a country whose democracy is to be an example to all?
There is nothing wrong with being proud of one’s country. Having lived in several other countries, believe me when I say that I am glad that I live here. But, when one starts hearing absolute claims that we are the best at several things, bar none, and when any criticism is met with charges of being a traitor, one begins to suspect that pride in one’s country (which is appropriate) has slipped into a civil/religious belief. In fact, though we do not say it as baldly as Dr. Ross, there is a deep strain in the culture of this country which still sees us as the climax of God’s development.
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