Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-27
A SERMON TO SOLDIERS.
Rev. 4. J. Leaks Address Last Night-He
Pays High Tribute to Privates-1, 400
poauln praaanf

Rev. 4. J. Leaks Address Last Night-Hs
Pays High Tribute to Privates-1, ,4OC
People Present.
The North Avenue M. E. Church, ALE
gheny, was crowded last night, and fully
500 persons were turned away, being unable
to gain admittance. This church has a
seating capacity for 1000, and about 40C
more attended the services, filling the
aisles and gallery. The sermon was for the
members of the Allegheny posts of the G..
A. R., Nos. 8s, 1913 and 162, and about 15O
attended in full uniform.
Rev. 7. J. Leak, D. D., the pastor, deliv-
cred an interesting sermon on ga Tribute
to the Private Soldier" His text was
James l., 9. He spoke of the citizen SOL
diery, the privates, as being the heroes Of
the great Rebellion. Although the names
Of the Generals and leaders in the late war
have found places in the history of the
United States, the heroes were the privates,
many of whom were capable of filling the
places of their Captains and higher officers.
He said:
The great army of the United States in our
war for the Union was peculiarly organized.
1t was not composed of men who had been
regularly educated for the work of the SOL
dier, as are so many of the armies OF Europe.
1t was not made up of conscripts, who had been
unwillingly pressed into the service; it was a
volunteer soldiery, actuated by motives, not
of ease or of gain or of ambition for glory but
by motives OF patriotism. Their country
was in danger, the flag of. their fathers
was threatened; and when the echoes of the
first gun that was fred upon Fort Sunpter
swept throughout our land a fiery indignation
was aroused, and the hearts of loyal citizens
that led the farmer to leave his plow, the me-
chanic his tools, the merchant his business the
lawyer and the physician their practice and
even the preacher the sacred desk, that they
might defend the Government that had al
ready cost SO much to establish and maintain.
They were an intelligent soldiery.
To the heroism of these private soldiers
would call your attention at this time. They
we're heroes in surrenderlng what they did.
Heroism is not to be measured merely by what
one achieves on the field of battle. There are
many men in our country to-day-there are
probably some before me at this hour-who
would now be wealthy learned and honored,
but that the most necessary four years of their
lives in preparation for such, results were spent
amid the hardships of war.
Let others, then, proclaim the honors due to
great generals; and would not withhold from
them a single breath of merited praise: but to-
night speak of the sacrifices, the sufferings
the heroisms and the martyrdoms of our COM
mon soldiery. many of whose bodies rest in un-
known graves.
Now bring your flowers, your roses of rich
est carmine, your pinks and violets of beau
teous hue, your camelIas of immaculate white
ness; bring flowers of every form and color;
bring them in pyramids, in crosses and anchors
and crowns; bring them in wreaths
and bouquets; bring them in every
form that affection and skill
can suggest; pile them high in their beauty
and fragrance upon the graves of our untitled
heroes; water them with your tears, bind them
with the chords of your gratitude, and, as the
breezes fan and the sun rays kiss the beautiful
floral monument declare that thus shall honor
ahd affection ever be heaped upon the citizen
soldiery of our country, who volunteered to
suffer in her defense.
And now, my friends, let me exhort you to be
heroes in the moral warfare of life, as you have
already been upon the field of battle. Lift
your voices and exert your influences against
every form of vice and sin. Conquer self. and
devote your lives to the service of the Great
Captain of our Salvation.