The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-08-23
AN ADDRESS
DELIVERED BY
REV. J. H. KEppEL,
JULY /, 1893.
Before lauman Post No. I'll, 6. 4. h.,
LIME SPRINGS, IOWA.

LIME SPRINGS, IOWA.
Gentlemen of the Grand Army oi
the Republic.-you may have read OF
twelve young men who agreed to dine
together once year. Should one OF
their number be removed by death his
place was not to be filled but the survi-
vors we're to meet as usual till but one
was left, and then, when the next amir
versary came around that one was to un.
cork a bottle of wine that had been left
over from their first dinner and drink
it in solemn silence in memory of the
dead. Accordingly a gradually di-
minishing number met year by year,
looking as time rolled on older and
more careworn. At last an old man past
eighty went to the meeting place alone.
But the rush of memories was to much
for him. He was found there, dead!
Gentlemen, your ranks are thinning.
1t is too late now to make members ol
the Grand Army. The slow advance oi
years has whitened your hair and bent
your shoulders and furrowed your face.
And you grow sad as again and again
new vacancy in your ranks makes
you miss 1.-THE touch of vanished hand
and the sound of a voice that is STILL"
You remmember the words oi
Charles Wesley:
''Lo' on narrow neck of land,
''Twixt two unbounded seas, stand'
The marrow neck of land" that we
are standing on is the Present. On
one side of us is the vast sea
of the past, on the other the vast sea oi
the future. The past is eternal; the
future is eternal. We are connected
with the past by memory and inheri-
tance; we are connected with the fll-
ture by hope and purpose. The past
has colored our lives; our lives are
coloring the future. And our narrow
neck of land is ever shifting its posi-
tion. On the one hand we are ever
driven before the advancing waves OF
the past that are flowing on to us,
flowing, flowing. flowing, without any
ebb. On the other hand the future is
ever receding before us,ebbing, ebbing.
ebbing. without any flow. And from
time to time some of our number are
drawn away and sucked in by the
attraction of the ebbing tide; the waves
of silence and mystery roll over them
and We see them no longer.
Our dead have left us a rich legacy
and sacred trust. We inherit their
example. We inherit the influences gen.
rated by their lives. We inherit the
freedom, the unity, the institutions for
which they gave their blood. And it is
ours to preserve and extend the bless
ings they left us. 1t is ours to fight as
bravely against the evils of our own
day as they did against the evils of
theirs. For God wants all of us to be
soldiers, old and young, male and
female. We are on battle ground.
We need soldicrly qualities. l have
therefore chosen as the subject of our
thought this morning a passage
in which St. Paul describes the
Christian soldier, showing us
the nature Of his warfare, the enemies
he has to meet, the armor he needs,
and the spirit that is indispensable to
his success.
''Put on the whole armor of God
that We may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers. against
the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickcdness in
high places. Wherefore take unto you
the whole armor of God, that We may
be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand. Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth. and having OH the breast
plate of righteousness, and your feet
shod with the preparation of the gos-
pei of peace; above all, taking the
shield of faith wherewith We shall be
able to qucnch all fiery darts of the
wicked. And take the helmet of sal
yation. and the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God; praying al
ways.-Ephesians 6:11-l8.
!. In considering the NATURE of the
Christians warfare our attention is at
once challenged by the scope. the need
and the design of destructiveness in
human affairs. Indeed we may trace
its mission all through nature. Look
at the soil under our feet. Part of it is
the ruins, the detritus of rocks that
have crnmbled under glacial or chemi-
cal agencies. Part of it is decayed
vegetable matter; or, in other words,
successive harvests have died.
to form n seed-bed for their successors.
Go to the vegetable kingdom. 1t can
not use the soil Or the atmosphere with
out, SO far decomposing them. "Ex-
cept corn of wheat fail into the
ground and die it ab;leth alone" Till
the blossom falls off the fruit cannot
mature. You see the operation of the
same law in the animal kingdom from
monads 10 mammals. You see it in
human life. In respiration We decom-
pose air: in thought we destroy brain
cells. This law operates in the sphere
of intellect and morals. Much of our
success depends on the right use oi
time, but we destroy time in the act OF
using it. No one ever built up good
habits but on the ruins of bad ones.
We cannot crafty wish but at the
price of disappointing other wishes.
When We start in life. a yaricty-al-
most an infinity-of prospects stretches
out before us. all tempting us. all ap.
parcntly within our reach. Are they all
possibilities? In the aggregate they are.
Amy one of them may be made actual.
But individually they are not. To
realize some of them we must sacrifice
the rest. The boy there may become a
merchant or Il lawyer. or an inventor,
or II tcacher.or asailor; he may become
a good chess player or good bass ball
player or good violinist. But he
cannot be all these things at the same
time. To achieve success he must turn
his back on many q pursuit; he must