The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1891-06-11
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON FOR ME-
MORTAL DAY.

81 VIII Say to tho North, Give Up, anu TO
tho South, Keep Not Back"-IsaIah
A,i,i, @, tho Text-A Notable Discourse.
BROOKLYN, May 81. Yesterday hav-
Ing been observed as Decoration Day,
DR.. Talmage this morning preached an
appropriate sermon. 1t was anovel and
unprecedented service, as IN different
parts ofthc audience were many Of those
who had belonged to both Federal and
Confederate armies, the subject having
been previously announced, namely.
1.-Two Garlands for Northern and South.
crn Graves" Over the pulpit were two
wrcaths of beautiful flowers, and they
were linked together, so that they were
an object lesson Tor the subject present.
cd. Text: Isaiah xiii, G--"I will say
to the north, Give up, and to the south,
Keep not back"
Just what my text meant by the north
and south L cannot say. but in the United
States the two words arc so point blank
in Their meaning that no one can doubt.
They mean more than east and west, for
although between those last two there
have been rivalrics and disturbing ambi-
tons and iniclicitics and silver bills and
Worlds fair controversies, there have
been between them no batteries unlim-
bered, no intrcnchmcnts dug, no long
lines OF scpuichral mounds thrown up.
III has never been Massachusetts Four
tcenth regiment against Wisconsin
ZOuaVcs; it has never been Virginia
artillery against Mississippi rifles.
East and west are distinct words, and
sometimes may mean diversity of in
tcrcst, but there is no blood on them,
They can be pronounced without any i'll
tOnatlon ot weiling and death groan. But
the north and the south are words that
have been surchargcd with tragedies.
They arc words which suggest that for
iOrLy years the clouds had been gather.
ing for n four years. tempest, which
thirty years ago burst in Il fury that
shook this planet rs il has never been
shaken since it swung out at the first
world building. | thank GCu that the
words have lost some Of the intensity
winch they possessed three decades ago
that a vast multitude of northern people
have moved south, and vast multitude
ol southern people have moved north,
and there have been intcrmarriages by
the ten thousand, and northern colonels
have married the daughters of southern
captains, and Texas rangers have uni ed
ior life with the daughters of New York
ab0litionlsts, and their children are half
northern and half southern and altogcth-
cr patriotic.
But north and south are words that
need to lie brought into still closer har-
monization. thought Chat now, when
We arc half way between presidential
elections, and sectional animosites are
at the lowest cbb; and now, just after
presidential journey, when our chief
magistrate, who was chiefly elected by
the north, has been cordially received at
the south; and now, just after two Me-
mortal Days, one Of.thcm month ago,
strewlug flowers on southern graves, and
the other yesterday, strewing nowers
on northcrs graves, it might be appro-
pirate and useful Tor me to preach Il SER
mon which would twist two garlands,
one for the northern dead and the other
lor the southern dead, and have the two
interlockcd in chain of tlowe!s that
shall bind forever the two sections into
one; and who knows bnt that this NAV
he the day when the prophecy of the text
made ID regard to the ancicnts may be
fulfill III regard to tins country, and the
north give up its prejudices and the
south keep not back its confidence? II
will say to the north, Give up, and to
the south, Keep not back"
GARLANDS ON LIVING BROWS.
But before put these garands on the
graves mean to put them this morning
httlc while on the brows Of the living
men and women Of the north and south
who lost husbands and sons and brothers
during the civil strife. There is nothing
more soothing to IL wound than cool
bandagc, and these two garlands are
cool from the night dew. What morn.
ing that was on the banks of the Hud-
son and the Savannah when the son was
to start for the war! What iatherly and
motherly counsel! What tears! What
heartbrcaks! What charges to write
home often! What little kccpsakcs put
away IN the knapsack, or tho bundle
that was to be exchanged for the KNAPP
sack! The crowd around the depot or
the steamboat landing shouted, but
father and mother and sisters cried.
And how lonely the house seemed at-
Ter they went home, and what an awful
ly vacant char there was at the Christ
mas and Thanksgiving table! And al
ter the battle, what waiting for news!
What suspense till the long lists Of the
Killed and wounded were made out! All
''hs1 viz L ClloDSCot. tllI G.lc NOnucCllo
cut, and the st. Lawrence, and the Ohio
and the Oregon, and the James, and the
Aibcmarlc, and the Alabama, and the
Mississippi, and the Sacramento there
were lamcntation and mourning and
great woe, Rachel weeping for her chill.
oren, and refusing to be comfvrtcd be-
cause they were not. The world has
forgotten it, but father and mother have
not forgotten IT. They may be now in
me eighties or the ninctcs, but it is
fresh wound, and will always remain
fresh wound.
Coming down the steep ofycars the
hands that would have stcadicd those
totterng steps have been twenty-clght
years folded into the last sleep. The
chlldlshness, the wldowhood, the or.
Phanage, who has measuring line
long enough to tell the height of it, the
depth OF it, the minity of il? What
mountain, what m Alps, what IIima-
lava of piled m AGONY of horooyon,o,.