St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-26
DEEPER MEANING OF WAR.
An Impressive Memorial Sermon
by Rev. Marion ID. Shutter.

The chimes of the Church of the Re-
deemer pealed out national hymns yes
terday, and Rev. NJ. d. Shutter preached
an eloquent memorial sermon to large
congregation. Said he: ''ln speaking
of the soldiers of the Onion l wish to
treat their work, not as it stands by
itself, but as it is related to the larger
subject of war in history. l shall link
the name of our own heroes dead with
those who in other ages battled Tor the
right. War has not always been an I'M
mitigated evil though often that asser-
ton has been made. We admit Its nor
rorS; we are making no defense
of war itself, but we claim that
it has another side. Out of its
terrible fertilization and seed sow
ing have sprung harveStS OF blessing.
1t has been factor of immense conSe
quence III human progress. war mas
frequently been the means of collecting
and combining the elements that enter
into the composition of a nation. There
is no instance of a great nation that has
been produced and established without
the instrumentality of war. The ele-
ments that are found in the English
people were gathered through centuries
of invasion and conquest and fused to-
gether By the camp fires OF uncounted
generations. BY the intermlngilng
through successive ages OF Roman,
Saxon, Dane and Norman with the
early Briton upon plains Of bat
tie the blending was completed. All
the nations OF continental Europe
emerged after ages of strife and
turmoil, from the furnace of barbarian
collision with the old Roman world.
The war Of our own Revolution did
much more than liberate the colonist5;
it unified them 1t threw into a conf
mon crucible the different bands OF adj
venturers who had come from France,
Spain, England and holland, when the
heat of conflict purged away all diner
eHceS of origin and interest, ana re-
duced the heterogeneous elements 10
common nationality. That union or our
states and that oneness or our people
thus effected in the blaze OF keVoiu-
tiOnary encounters, our late civil war,
among other things that it accom-
plished. reaffirmed with the emphasis
OF the sword. and strengthened with
the cement. of additional blood. 1t
should seem as if war had ever fur
nished the most potent machinery
for breaking up the obsolete, the etfete
for purging away the worthless the out
grown: for consolidating the progress
siye. the valuable. in the different Deo-
pies it has brought together.
But we may trace the footprints of
wer in the after history of the empires
in whose formation 1t plays so lmpOr-
taht part. There may be cases IN
which peace is a greater curse than
war. In the long calm days OF summer
there are n0XiCuS Vap0rS and deadly
poisons accommodating IN the atlroS-
,,l.,r, COLL fOr thunder storm
toremove them. Very often III times
of peace evils are'growing that demand
the purgatiOn of battle. And when 1t
comes, although the incidental evils it
brings ale neither few nor unimportant.
it purgeS away evils that are still
greater. The Crusades reused Eu-
rome from az long sleep. They cleared
England of her. bands of outlaws
and robbers and prepared the country
for settled industry. The wars III
which for a quarter OF century Ma
p0eon was the central figure. reused
Italy and lied her toward that free and
united national life which she at length
| enjoys" They destroyed the innumer-
able petty states of Germany and IN
spired that dream of unity it has re-
ouired more than half a century to full
fill" Our own civil war was the Bosom
in Gods hand that swept from existence
! the whitening curse of slavery with It's
attendant and consequent corruptlons.
And with that evil went anOther-the
heresv OF notification that hal long
menaced the unity and life of the re-
nublic. Dreadful as the war was, it
was not so bad as the wrongs 1t for
ever removed. The claShing of
swords is a Sweeter sound
than the cianking of chains.
But war does more than remove evils
and develop resources. A nation WorkS
| out and diffuses certain great ideas. In
spreading those ideas war becomes an
efficient agency. The eonquests OF
Alexander. by spreading the Greek
language. gave the world the New
Testament: the siege of COnstantinople-
by scattering Greek scholars, translated
If for the reformers. The northern
barbarans sWooped down upon Rome
for conquest and plumber, but carried
back with them over the entire face OF
Euro ne the tenetS of that religion
which the sword of Constantine mad
established upon the throne of the
Caesars. The long series OF wars I'M
mediately following the Rector
nation scattered over Europe the
doctrines of the refOrmers. Our own
civil war gave an Impulse 10 the cause
of popular government throughout the
world-an impulse that will finally level
all thrones and break all scepters. how
long it will be before the muses. Tenny-
son saw in his dream can chant the
.death of war; we do not know. The
human race through toll and battle and
blood has been cutting pathway to the
mIlennial heights, the point where ma
tionS shall learn war no longer. And
when the calm SUBMITS OF that hnal
peace are reached it will be seen that
swords and spears as they flashed and
dashed in battle were only Fastening
the day when they should be beaten
into pIowshares and pruning hooks.