Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-05-30
LIVING FOR OTHERS,
Rev, Mr. Putnsms Sermon Before Post
StaUuard. q. A. II.


Stannard, q. A. u.
The annual sermon before Post Stannard.
G. A. r, was preached by Rev. Mr.. Put
nam at the College street church Sunday
evening. The members Of Post Stannard
marched in a body from their hall to the
church. The audience was . large one,
nearly every seat being occupied. Rev. Mr..
Putnam took for his text "For none hveth
to himself" Rom. xiv I. Mr.. Putnam
began by sketch,g the brief military career
Of Young Office = splendid promise who
received his death wounds at the battle OF
Antietam, and continual AS the season re-
turns when these memories are recalled, we
remember and acknowledge anew that a
precious price was paid for the life Of this
nation. Every year we commemorate
especially those qualities which are
heroic Army life was transfer frsm
private to public life. There are crises,
sovereign opportunities In life, which carry
their own peculiar temptations, aud fidelity
to which demands our honor. 1t is not a
mere figure OF rhetoric TO speak Of the life OF
nation. That life embraces and transcends
the lives of the indi,i nn's which compose It,.
Their lives pass away, nl' the life OF the
nation grows and br lcHs and deepens.
The poets and scholar, npd orators and
statesmen OF the past h4y developed the
life OF today. Thou OF unknown
and unhonored lives have been given for the
nation, but they have not been completely
lost, for they have been woven into the life
Of the nation and are immortal.
No one desires to live for himself. 1t mskeb
life too small. No one really believes that
death ends all. II .dwarfs life too much.
The life o. today has within it
the forces OF times long past. We Gau not
.oo ,bom ,e,,, .,,o'v and can not pick them
out, Tor they are lnseparaoly woven into IT,
How men in the days Of the war put V"s
sweetest things of life second to duty And
yet how careless, how remorseless seemed
the Nation In regard to individual lives.
The devotion OF the individual to the COM
mon good was a sublime sacrifice. The army
is a unit. IN G cattle II soes forward. as q
whole, but its parts are scattered.
We are not now disturbed by danger OF
war, but we need the peculiarly soldierly
Qualities of valor. fidelity. endurance. We
have internal foes, vicious tendencies,
temptations to wrong. No man among us
ought to live for himself alone. We ought
to five with aud for others. Government in
Its best and highest form Ia the observance
of the moral law. The observance
OF that law will make any nation strong.
To live wholly TOR self Il subyersive of
liberty. Reforms come from the people,
and not from the kings house or the Senate
chamber. The people are almost always in
advance q tEe:r legislators. That is the
reason that the temperance rolo.m IS gaming
ground. The people demand protection
from danger. That protection they Insist on
having, and the time Is not far distant when
tia. State will be an exception where FRO
lection is not offered. TIE PUBLIC safety is
to be secured. Battles just as zeal fs those
on Southern soil are to be fought. The
individual must enlist, for the benefit OF
thousands unknown. Apathy and indiffer-
euCc will not answer the demand OF the
times any more than The call of the war:
Individual service is needed, aud tho moral
force back of voice or vote.
II none lveth to himself, then the con-
ciousness ennobles and dignifies our individ
| ual lives. The individual life is brief, i'm
perfect, INCOMPLETE, but it has it's part in the
greatness and glory of the Natien. Let W
live to MAKE others wiser and better and
even now we can anticipate the work OF
those who are to follow us.
Mr.. Putnam's able and interesting dis
course, Of which the above is but brlei
abstract was listened to with close atten.
ton through ut. The exercises closed with
singing My country, It's of ther,' by choiI
and congregation.