The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-05-29
NO DISCHARGE in THIS
was Rev. #. l.. Phaien's Able and ElOUueI
Memorial Sermon

Was Rev. #. l.. Pha,en's Able and Eloauen
| Memorial Sermon.
Sundays balmy beauty drew out an excep
tionally large audience at the Unitarian
church to listen to Rev. f. l.. Phaleu's Me
moral sermon. There were over so g. A. X
men present, 60 ladies' of the Relief Corp
ana 81 Sons of Veterans. The pulpit wa
bright and fragrant with decorations of rec
white and blue, and an artistic arrangement
OF flowers and potted plants. The text wa
from the eighth chapter of Ecclesiaste
eighth verse.
ISIS.
rhese words refer not to the camp and th'
tented field, the clash of steel or the awfu
sights and sounds Of the battle field but tO
the war In which humanity has been engaged
| since history began and which shall last til
the world shall be ended
Every man, woman and child Is enlisted
and there Is no discharge, no resigning unit
the light OF earth fades out of our eyes and
the veil is rent which hides the vision of the
unseen and eternal world. Life Is a warfare,
battle and be who will not or cannot qui
| nimself like mau VIII be defeated and over
come In the struggle. do not mean by this
that man who strives for right and duty,
God and the truth shall lose bis reward II be
| does not gain high place. mean that he
Who does not strive, who will not use the
| ,alpht GOD has given him, that man shall suf.
Ter loss and he ought to.
Liie Is Il battlefield where men are sci
TO contend. Milton's imagery and Dante's
vision are true pictures In poetic vesture of
| what goes on In the soul Of man and In the
strange mysterious life of this world. Heaven
with its angels, Its light and Its beauty. Hell
| with s devils, It's blackness and woe are moi
far distant places In the Heavens above or IL e
earth beneath; They are In, and Of, the soui
of man and it is for him to say which power
| shall sit on the throne that which is of God
| or that which Is of desolation and darkness of
the bottOmess pit. Life Is more than three
score years and ten of smiles and tears, of
ups and dowrs; 1t is spiritual conflict, a
grand divine and eternal existence steadily
stretching upward and onward from the frs t
| cry of the babe in Its mothers arms to the
white throne of God encircled In its halo of
Purity and Truth.
Life Is constant warfare even In infan cy
against disease, tempest and storm on land
and sea. earthquake and cyclone, accident
and fire. All civil and political liberty has
ueen gained by warfare, not only theb attic
OF ideas but that battle which stains the
sword with blood and turns the earth into a
mighty sepulchre for the millions of heroes
slain. From the wars of Joshua, the struggles
u the Greeks and Romans to the victories OF
Cromwell and Washington and Grant It has
heen necessary to fight to bleed and to die to
conquer, enforce and maintain those priceless
principles of Order, Freedom and Progress
which make possible the civil and religious
liberty we enjoy In this house of God on this
24th day Of MAY In the year of our Lord 1891.
So 1t will ever be. If not by bullets then by
IDEAS and sentiments our Flag will be kept in
The air and our country on the map of the
world.
take In my hand telescope, and sweep
the heavens. What do see In those far.
away worlds! The war of the elements, the
steady battle of matter and motion, of chemical
and celestial powers and forces that no man
can weigh or meas ire. Even here 'there Is no
discharge" no eIdto the constant but restful
service of God. lay down the telescope
and take uD the mfscrOscOpe and even here
lost In the depths Of the infinitesimal l find
tue same law, the same struggle, the same
eternal God. Atom, planet, the solar system
and the brain Of man all tell the same tale
and stamped upon every page of human his
tory. 1t is this which makes our science re-
hgioss ana our religion science vfz:--stut---
.si1ce n n the : u3ivsrss I've . beg:n
The soul of nature and of man
And soul of God are blended"
How goes life's warfare with you? Do you 4
long for discharge, for the end? Have you
been defeated, starved and wounded! Are
the nights long and the days empty of joy
sroping alone without the countersign which
will admit you within the camp of that cloud
,f witnesses who In heaven and on earth
have entered into the joy of that service Of
God which is perfect peace? Your lips may
not put nsr answer that question but far
within the recesses of the soul the answer Is |
written. day by day, by hands Invisible; and
eyes of strictest justice shall one day read to
YOU the inscription. God grant we may all
ight the good fight of faith, and find 1t not a
sentimental nor cherries service but the
lnspeakable secret of Christlike and noble |
ife.
In the darkest night of the year
Wnen the stars have all gone out
Courage is better than fear |
Aid faith is truer than doubt.
And fierce tho the friends may fight
And long tho the angels hide
knew that Truth ard Right
Have the universe on their side.
And that somewhere beyond the stars
Is love that is better than fate
When the night unlocks her bars
l shall see Him. and will walt