The Fourth of July recalls us to our precious heritage of freedom and justice for all.

The Fourth of July ought to be a great day for all Americans. We call it Independence Day, for it is the anniversary of an epochal event in our nation's history. On this date 224 years ago, our courageous forefathers-with a firm reliance on the protection of Providence and a mutual pledge to each other of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor-signed the Declaration of Independence. That act shed all allegiance to the British crown and created a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all persons are created equal with certain inalienable rights.

Since that day, this nation has neither found it necessary to build strong walls nor to erect impenetrable curtains to keep its citizens from fleeing its borders. Rather, it has been a beacon of hope among the nations of the world to which millions have cast wistful eyes and have been willing to risk their lives to reach. From every nation on the face of the earth, the economically oppressed and politically prosecuted have sought the security that is found within our borders. From every land, they have come here for an opportunity to fulfill their dreams, hoping their aspirations will flower into reality. Let us pray that it may ever be so!

This most significant of days calls for more than frivolity and firecrackers. It is a clarion call to remember the precious heritage that is ours and to pledge anew our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the perpetuation of the basic principles upon which this nation was founded and upon which it rests its greatness today-freedom and justice for all. This great heritage is our bridge, substantial and strong, to the 21st Century and beyond.

W. Howard Coop is a retired United Methodist Minister and has been a Mason since 1952. He is a Past Master of Lancaster Lodge No. 104, currently serving as Chaplain and member of W. R. Selby, Sr., Chapter 4, Danville, Kentucky, and the Scottish Rite Bodies of Louisville, Kentucky.