The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-05-31

and the grand old hymn which closed
the song services, sung geographically
was very inspiring. Pastor Widmer, in
his address to the Grand Army post
said:
You, gentlemen, stand as exponents
of the Bible idea of the sword. The
time is to come when the sword is to be
beaten into the plowshare, but that time
is not yet. Jesus said once; "Put up
thy sword, for all that take the sword
shall perish with the sword" But he
said after that: LET him that hath no
sword sell his cloak and buy one,"
The first saying recognized the SOL
dler profession as one Of peril; the sec.
ond, as one of temporary necessity. No
good government can yet be secured
without the military arm, and in the
profession of arms there is an opportu
nifty to manifest all the high qualities of
perfect manhood. The pages of history
are illuminated by the exploits of men
of high, pure character and lofty mind,
who have hazarded their lives to the
death in the high places of the field. The
Bible itself ia sometimes called "the
book of the wars of the Lord, and from
Abraham to Judeus Maccabeus and his
brethren these brave, patriotic soldiers
have been honored in chronicle and
song.
We welcome you, then, as the rep
resenaIives of that power that is the de-
fender of the poor and the helpless, the
cOnservatOr of the vested rights of man
and the liberator of the enbondaged.
"God smiles on valiant soldiers:
Their record is on high"
The special passage of scripture to
which you are asked to give heed is this:
Thou therefore endure hardness as
good soldier of Jesus Chrst"-Second
Timothy ii:23.
We think it is made plain that Chris
tan can be soldier. The Saviour
found the elements of Christianity in
more than one Roman centurion, and
said in faith they exceeded any in Is
rael. Cornelius at Cesarea was the de-
vout man whose prayers and aims came
up before God,
The thought next suggested is that,
all other things being equal the real
Christian will make the best soldier
You have heard read part of the
Of Hebrews, where the military
heroes and captains are said to have
been lightly through faith.
Let me allude to few names in mod
ern history. The first will be Gusta vus
Adolphus, the famous King OF Sweden,
most able tactician and general, who,
after destroying the mighty armies of
Austria under Tilley, ruined Wallenstein
at Lutzen, md gave hope to liberty and
enlightenment in the North. He was a
praying commander and led his men
into action in the name of God.
The mighty commoner of England,
Oliver Cromwell, who by his we'll
trained regiments, the lronsides, shat
tered the despotism of Charles |. and ii.
at Marston Moor, at Worcester. Naseby
and Dunbar, was before everything else
a Christian man who preached TO his
soldiers, banished profanity and drunk
enness from the ranks, and who by faith
put his enemies to flight in every battle
and gave England peace and power and
prestige abroad.
HaveloCk, whose noble spirit inspired |
heroism in the little band of soldiers in
India till they did exploits in arms that
made the world admire, and won back |
to a Christian civilization that magnIfi- |
cent mpre of the East.
Charles George Gordon, known as
Chinese Gordon for his wonderful mill |
tary career in leading the ever victorious
army in lis effort to restore order to
Southern China, is another conspicuous
example of pre-eminent faith and Chris |
tian life and military success. Tender
ness, heroism, business, strength, pa
thence, endurance such as chivalry never |
found in him center.
Have | led you all to see that you can
be better citizen soldiers by being good |
soldiers of Jesus Christ? Then, when |
the evening comes, and the last survivor
of your ever diminishing band of heroes
closes his eyes to the light of earth, may |
the ministries of kindly friends gently |
fold your arms and reverentIy compose
your features with the words, "He was
a good soldier of Jesus Christ" Amen.