Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-05-28

\ as TO ornament the soldier On his way
to the field of strife. One may not speak
| hastily in the presence of the truly great,
but there are few who would not rebel at
| the thought that the brave hearts who
spring from the plow and The forge, the
pulpit and the bar, the counting room and
| the college, TO fight their country's battles
when menaced by the foe, that these nobly
| self-sacrificing souls should be compared
to the paid hangman who goes to his grim
duty as stolidly as the butcher leads the
| dumb brute to the shambles and the knife
Surely the soldier, foot-sore and weary.
| comes to his melancholy biveuac with
heart sore enough for the sad scenes that
are the mile-stones in his awful life; surely
the bit OF tinsel and color that give slight
attraction to the rank and file will
throw no inordinae glamor over the
scenes that every true heart torn from
home and loved ones must hate, and for
ever learn to hate Surely the lonely
patriot may at least feast his eyes upon the
banner loving hands have formed and
decorated with filial love and truest loyalty.
Nay, when foe meets foe upon the san
gmnary field around that banner and
around our country's ensign, blood shall
How like water and deeds of daring shall
be done that history will cherish as sym
bots OF patriotism when the love of God
has at last smoothed every scowl of hate
from the brow of man; wiped every blood
stain from the fair fields OF EARTH beaten
every sword into plow-shares and every
spear into pruning hooks, and he who
came TO turn the sword of the father
against the heart of the child shall stretch
his scepter of peace over reunited brother
hood, when the love of man to God is seen
in the love CT man TO man.
God speed the day! We cannot do too
much, we cannot pray TOO fervently, We
cannot strive too earnestly for the hasten
ing of the Gay when the discomfort of
nation shall be compelled to submit its
grievance to the arbtrameDt of the world.
We wait the time with eager, beating hearts
when there shall be erected on this globe
one bar OF justice at which all the nations
oil the earth shall be the lury-a tribunal
whose Judgment no sword shall pierce
from whose verdict there shall be no APP
peal. Yet much as we long for that glad
day we would not blot from the page of
history the record of one heroic deed, the
story of one campaign where truth fought
out its vindieaiion, and stamped with eter.
nal infamy the efforts Of darkness and I'M
holy zeal.
So long as truth and error struggle for
the mastery, SO long there will be strife and
hatred upon earth, and so long, too honor
will shine resplendant above dishonor and
justice be crowned with power and might
| would not lift one finger to smooth out
those mounds at Thermopyln and Bal
aklava, at Bull Run and at Gettysburg for
! they are the finger-pOsts of history and
mark the course of ruth from age to age
Bring then your flowers despol your
| choicest gardens and pour out these offer
ings of love and loyalty, for they are not
mute memorials that these patriotic sons
have died, they are vocal with the strong
assurance that the sacrifice was not useless.
They tell us that they did not die in vain
| there are yet hearts as true to liberty as
| ever scaled the ramparts or flung them
selves into the breech that the love of
| freedom is as warm and the breath OF patri-
otism as sweet as when our fathers Kissed
| their brides gOod-by or went forth 10 battle
with their mothers blessing on their heads.
But there is one thing that we must not
fail to teach that if patriotism would be
! quick and real, freedom must be something
other than name.
The speaker then drew four pictures of
great men whose graves will be decorated
on Wednesday next, and pointed out the
true secret of their power Abraham Lin
coin, going 10 the Presidents chair with the
plea to his townsmen, Pray for me- on
his lips; Charles Sumner, who next to
Lincoln, was the true friend of the slave,
pleading for the stern pur;ly and integrity
OF the men who first made Plymouth Rock
sublime; James A. Garfield, now sleeping
in soldiers grave, witnessing, through a
long and glorious life, at the head Of 4
command, in the Senate chamber ami
in the Presidents chair, the power of
the Gospel of the Carpenters Son
General Grant pleading with the childr.n
to hold fast TO the Bible as the shee;.
anchor to your liberties, the book to which
we are indebted for all progress in true
civilization, and to which alone We must
look in the future righteousness exalteth
nation, but sin is a reproach to any PEG.
| pie
The speaker then said Young friends.
it is not permitted to you TO drop flower
upon the grave of him who was our great
est General and twice our President but
beg you will not forget the words he has
lett to those who think lightly of this
blessed book. If you will search carefully
the pages of history that are rich with the
| greatest deeds of men, you will find that
| when the mistakes of careless and small
| souled men have brought dire disaster upon
| the cause intrusted 10 their care il is the
man OF stern morality and christian inter-
| rlty whom God throws in the breach TO
| bear the nations back to Justice and To
! righteousness. Patriotism we must cEer-
| ish, but patriotism that demands for lis de-
votion something more than a political
| STRUCTURE fabric built upon pledges with
| too little character behind them to keep
| them fresh in memory beyond the close of
| one campaign. Only when our country
sends to its halls OF legislation men who
have been chosen not for their pledges, but
| for their character, known and read of all
| men, will the idea of patriotism receive its
truest meaning and the legacy for which
these brave men fought be safely and Sc
curely ours.
Fourteerth-street Presbyterian.
Rev, George Il. Bird, pastor of the Four
teenthstfeet Presbyterian Church. spoke
upon the civic duties of the Christian. His
text was from Mark xii, II: Render to
Cesar the things that are CGsar's'
These wolds answer an artful question.
The churchmen OF that day-the Pharasees.
and the politiciaps-the Herodians-com-
! bine TO catch Christ in His words by art
| fully asking, Is it lawful to give tribute to
Cesar or not?' They sought to mix Him
up in quarrel with the State. The State
was Caesars. The Jews were subjects and
J paying tribute as such. The men in au-
thOrity were either Romans or in the pay
Of Rome. The people in subsection were
restless under their rule and sought to throw
1t of il opportunity offered. If Christ
! should side with Caesar He would offend
the people, and if He sided with the people
He would be obnoxious TO Caesars friends.
His answer to this artful question Shows
His wisdom. He separates the Church
and State when He says: Render to
Caesar the things that are Cesar's, and to
| God the things that are Gods" The civic
duties of the Christian are suggested by
| the first part Of this reply.
First-A Christian citizen. To be
| Christian is not to cease TO be citizen. A
! Christian is one whose faith and hope in
the Lord Jesus Christ makes him fellow
citizen with the saints--a member of the
Kingdom Of Heaven, for the coming of
which be longs as well as prays, Thy
kingdom come Its King is Christ and
its constitution is righteousness, peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. But Christian is
| III the world as yet and therefore has his
civic duties to perform. There is nothing
| in this higher life as citizen OF the king
dom OF heaven to hinder the lower life as a
citizen of the State. Nay the State is to
him as q scatioiding by which his Christian
life is protected as il is built upward in its
hopes, aspirations and expectations heaven