Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1880-06-05
dent to its will. 1t is tho divinely
nr.votuaI foroa for fran cnr,niuU tha

glory and power OF the cross. With
this love we need ourselves to DO
filed. Only thus can we share the
power of Jesus, for only thus can
we be like him. Oh, for those out
pourings of the spirit of God from
on high, by which the mighty love
Of God il shed abroad in the hearts
of his people. Then should we sec
Zion charged with newness Of life,
and going forth conquering and to
conquer! Let us desire 1t, let us
pray for 1t, let us expect it. until
the heavens are opened, and copi-
GUS illusions of life aud power de-
scend upon us from above.
From what has now been said, 1t
is evident, I think, that in a Ger
tain sense, a Christian is a soldier
The opposite, viz: that q soldier IS
always Christian, cannot OF
course, be affirmed. And yet the
impulses by which one is called
from the quiet seclnsion and SAFETY
of private life, to risk life and oil
for his country, is a very grand ana
lofty, and l might say holy, impulse ;
and the sight OF al army represent
ing, not the spirit of cOnqeest nor
of plumber, but loyalty to country,
Christian patriotism, and devotion
to the institutions of q Christian
civilization, is a most sacred spec
tacle. Such an army, we saw 60.
ing out from our beloved stete anq
hSr sister states NOT many years
ago and then from time to time
we saw reint0rcements going out to
swell it's ranks that had grown thin
in the exigencies of war. Ii ever
there was a holy cause that was
one, and If ever loyal men went out
to do battle from holy impulses,
these did. They were made up OF
the flower of our youth and man
hood the best fruit of our best fam.
lilies. true descendants of Pilgrim
sires. How much Of Christian cul.
ture and of noble capacity, and
lofty aspiration they represented !
From every company might have
been taken those fit to represent
the town in the Legislature; in
every regiment were those that
would have filled acceptably the
Governors chair. What pity to
see such companies Of fair youth
and noble men driven to the sham
bles of war, to become food tor reb.
ell bullets, and inmates OF rebel
prisons. And yet, of many, such
was their fate. AS Innocent vic.
tins they we're doomed to be Offer
cd up on their country's altar to
atone for the crime of slavery.
They went out knowing that they
were liable thus to be offered up.
They saw the black cloud of war,
and though knowing it to be charg-
ed with death, shrank not from
meeting it. They said: "Since
some one must stand the shock, or
our country be lost, zoe will Go it."
And nObly did they accomplish
their task. Because they died, we
live and have country. Because
they died, the black man is free,
and has set before him All open
door, and an upward path leading
to intelligence, responsibility and
Christian manhood. Because they
died, free schools and free churches
are beginning to exert their benlfi
cent sway to the fdrtiest cor.
fines of the South; and health-the
health of intelligence, freedom and
spiritual life-is beginning to per-
wade the once paralyzed limb of our
body polite. We say: What pity
that such men should have been
driven to the sEambles of war aud
vet who ever died more worthily
or whose dying ever brought great
or benefits to the race?
Most fitting it is that we have
reared monuments of marble and
granite to their memories. And yet
these mute mementoes are not
enough. We should commemorate
their deeds also in living words,
and strew the sweet flowers of June
upon their graves, and set apart
day of every rolling year as sacred
to their memories. And if this day
shall fall on the Sabbath-sacred by
the resurrection of our Lord-yet we
will count tnotsacrilege TO dwell on
the heavenly lesson of selfsacrlfice
which they taught us by example
and to seek how by initiating them
we may the better honor him who
bought us by his blood.
To-day, then, while seeking to be
"gOod soldiers of Jesus Christi" we
linger in thought sadly yet exult'
ingly around the grass.grown
caves of our fallen heroes, and
while we drop a tear with bereaved
fathers, mothers, wives and children,
we will also bless God that by his
spirit he raised up such defenders Z
of our country, and we will vow to
honor their sacred memory while
life shall last. If obedience to no l
BILE sentiments, conservation to a t
noble cause, and a lofty valor in {
death, are anything, they are
worthy of a place in the Westmin-
ster of the worlds heroic dead. We D
will give them place in our memo t
ries, at least, and will transmit t
their names and deeds to posterity, t
80 that being dead they shall yet =
speak, and generations yet unborn
shall honor them as they deserve, and
learn how great and noble a thing
it is to die for ones country; espec-
tally such a country as that which !
we possess-the birthright of the :
free; the home of the oppressed
the legacy of Christian ancestry,
and the blood-watered, tear-bedew. s
ed land given to us by the God of
our fathers. +
Vennor, the weather prOgnOsti. e
Gator. predjcts that June will be an I,