I Corinthians 10:1 “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea”
Hebrews 11:39-40 “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
The National Memorial Arch at Valley Forge contains the following thought from Henry Armitt Brown that he delivered during a speech at the 100-year anniversary of the long winter of 1777-78:
And here in this place of sacrifice
in this vale of humiliation
in this valley
of the shadow of that death
out of which
the life of America rose
regenerate and free
let us believe
with an abiding faith
that to them
union will seem as dear
and liberty as sweet
and progress as glorious
as they were to our fathers
and are to you and me
and that the institutions
which have made us happy
preserved by the
virtue of our children
shall bless
the remotest generation
to the time to come.
A century after the great sacrifice at Valley Forge, Brown described the importance of that sacrifice with great passion. He did so in order that we would never forget them, and that we would always remember our responsibility to live up to their sacrifice.
They endured a vale of humiliation and their own valley of the shadow of death. Out of it arose America! May we and our successors consider liberty as sweet and progress as glorious as did they. May we preserve the institutions which have made us happy and can continue to allow this nation to bless the remotest generation in times to come.
PLEASE PRAY FOR US TO EMBRACE THE FAITH OF OUR AMERICAN FOREFATHERS. Based on their faith and their sacrifice, they passed through the sea. Out of it arose America!
