Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-05-26
TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY.
TALMAeE's MEMORIAL SERMON
Echoes From the Battlefelds Of Twealy
Years AgO--Pictures Seen Through
Clouds of Smoke--The Blue and
Gray on Different Fields.

Il
Tabernacle, by reiaes. sermon or
the approach Of Decoration Day. The
sermon was addressed chiefly to the soldiers
Of the Grand Army of the Republic. Thous,
ands of soldiers of the Northern and South
ern armies were present. Before the ser
mon DR.. Talmage read the story Of ancient
battle and for the opening hymn the nation
II air was sung. The subject of the ser
mon was 1864 and 1885" and the text
was taken from / Chronicles xxi, q: "And
the Lord commanded the angel and he put
up his sword again into the sheath thereof,
One day, said DR.. Talmage, in Davidic
times the people looked up and saw some
thing which made the blood curdle and the
cheek blanche and the breath stop-an an,
gel of overtowering stature and armed with
a sword long and bright as summer light,
ming when it cleaves the sky from zenith to
horizon The broad blade with curved edge
pointing towards doomed Jerusalem. The
sheath hung dangling at the side of the
great supernatural, the sheath of course ot
such vast proportions as to have held the
sword before il was brandished. As long as
that uncovered sword was pointed toward
Jerusalem, havoc and massacre and blood,
shed went on Ia after awhile, in answer TO
the PRAYERS of the people and the sacrifices
on the threshing floor of Ornan, the angel
drew back the sword with the right hand,
and Scizing the sheath with the left he in
serted the sharp point into the mouth of the
scabbard and flung the sword down deep
until the heft of it struck the rim of the
scahbard with a resouud that made the
mountains about Jerusalem tremble, when
the havoc stopped and the wounds healed
and the former glories of the city were
ecIipSed By the splendorS subsequent Hear
YOU not the CLAMP of sabre and scabbard as
they come together in the recitation of nv
text: "And the Lord commanded the angel
and he put up his sword again into the
sheath thereofy'
The Blue and the Gray.
Soldiers ofthe grand army of the Rcpub-
lie and soldiers who fought on the other
side! All one now in kindly brotherhood
whether you wore the color that suggested
the grey of the morning sky or the blue OF
the full noon! and let no man, who BY word
or deed tries to open the old wounds, ever
offer either in this world or the next to take
nv hand Hear me while draw out the
contrast between the time when the angel
of war stood in the American sky pointing
his long, keen, cutting, fITgbtful sword to-
ward this, our beloved land, and for four
years the nation was in awful hemorhage,
and now when in answer to the prayers and
sacrifices on ten thousand altars, that angel
OF war that stood above us hath hurled
the bloody scimetar into the scabbard with
a Clang that made everything from the
Canadas to the Gulf quake. At this season
of decoration Of soldiers graves both at the
North and South it is appropriate that
rouse your patriotism and revive your rem
iniscencrs and stir your gratitude by putting
bS6i beside lSS4. shalfmake two circles
around these two dates. Around 1861 |
shall pat garland of rrd dahliaS for the
carnage. Around lss4 shall pat gar
land of white lilies for the peace. The
first date | shall crown with chaplet of
cypress. The last date | shall crown with
a sheaf of wheat The one date dead
march and the other wedding anthem.
Twelve o'clock at night compared with
twelve o'clock at noon.
Sectional bitterness.
Contrast first of all the feelings of section
al bitterness in 1864 with the feeling OF
sectional emnity in 1856 at the first date
the South had banshed the national air,
the Star Spangle BANNER, and the North had
barished the popular air Of "Way Down
South in Dixie" The Northern people
were "mudSills' and the Southern people
were white trash. The more Southern peo-
pie were killed in battle, the better the North
liked it, For four years the head OF AbrR-
ham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis would have
been worth a million dollars ifdelivehed on
the ether side of the line. No need now;
standing in our pulpits and platforms, of
saving that the North and South did not
hate each other. The hatred was as long
and terrible as the sword that the angel of
war, standing mid heaven, gripped pointing
toward this nation and then swung closer
down till it gashed grave-trench clear
through the quivering heart OF the cont
nent. So estimate how very dearly we
loved each other. Count up the bombshells
that were hurled and the carbines that were
loaded and the cavalry horses that were
mounted. North and South facing each
other. all armed in the attempt to kill.
The two sections not only marshaIled all
their earthly hOstihties, but tried to reach
up and get hold of the sword spoken Of in
the text, the sword of heaven, and the pray
ers of Northern and Southern pulpits gave
more information to the heavens about the
best mode of settling this trouble than was
ever used For four years both sides tired
10 get hold of the Lords thunderbolts, but
could not quite reach them. AT the break
.nr out of the war we had not for months
heard of my dear uncle Samuel h. Tai
mage. President of Oglethorpe University
in Georgia He was about the mildest man
ever knew and as good as good can ne.
The first we heard ot him was his opening
PRAYER in Confederate Congress in Rich
mond. which was reported in the New York
Herald, which prayer if answered. would,
10 say the least, have left all his Northern
relatives in very uncomfortable circum-
stances. The ministry at the North prayed
one was and the ministry at the South
prayed another way. No use in hiding the
fact that the North and Sonth both cursed
zach other with a Withering, an-consuming
,urSe.
CoIaPfete Accord.
Beside that antipathy Of 1864 place the
complete accord Of 1884, Meeting in Ne~
to raise money TO build home for
crippled Confederate soldiers, the meeting
presided over Ly a man who lost an arm
aud leg in fighting on the Northern side
and the leg Dot los. so hurt that 1t does not
amonnt to much. cotton exhibition two
years ago at Atlanta attended by tens OF
thousands OF northern people and By Gen.
sherman, who was greeted with kindness
as though they never saw him before, Uni
ted States government las, week voting
million dollars toward New Orleans exhi-
5iIion to be held next December in which
every northern state viii be represented. A
thousand fold more kindlier feeling after
the war than before the war. No more use
for gunpowder in this country excep. for
Fourth Of July pyro,echnics or shot at q
roebuck in the AdiroadackS Bngaiier
Generals in the southern confederacy max
ing fortunes as lawyers in our northern cit,
;aS pivars nf Gaor,y;a Alabama and North