Morning journal and courier., 1894-05-30
s.aArTLHs OF ro-moRRow.o

<sBATTLES OF TO.MORROW.3 Inc Nature,s Perils To-day-Con- { fronted by Great Moral COnhicts-An Age of Great Battles on Bloody Ffelds-An Age of Great Moral Vic. tories-Achiovements Since tho War -Great Moral Victories Which Are Yet to be Won-Questions Which I the Nation is Facing To-day. |,
 The following is . summary of the very ,triking and forcible remarks of Rev. Dr. Vail at Trinity M. E. church before the Grand Army veterans on Sunday evening last. They are fitting, indeed, and appro- priate for to-day, Memorial day, and sp- peal to all thinking minds. His subject was: "Great Battles of Tomorrow"
 The presence of these soldiers and he- roes of the Grand Army of the Republic suggest the theme of the evenings dis course. Your dress and orders and flags | bring to cur thought the long and faithful service on as bloody fields and against as brave men as ever entered an army. You taught the nations that intelligence and patriotism make the best soldiers the time of great moral conflicts that involve even larger interests than the fate of the republic. We are all affected by the struggles, and all should feel and appre- ciate the questions before us. My theme is "The Greater Battles of Tomorrow" will first discuss my subject and in the end specially address the soldiers of the re- public.
 This has been an sge of great battles, with the struggles of the Crimea, of Sado- wa, of Solferino, of Sedan and Shipka pass in addition to the fearful fights of the rebellion. But battles are great rather from the ideas at stake than from the num- bsr engaged. The little group of Greek soldiers at Thermopylss represented the struggle of Greek thought and life against the ssnsuality and fanaticism of the hordes of Asia. Lexington stands for 8 battle that would not have been digRifed as @ skirmish in the rebellion, yet 1t brought out the character and heroism and purpose of the patriot farmers of puritan New Eng
 land. Marathon was great battle because it was the triumph of great civilization, of mind and spirit over numbers and brute power. Arbels was great battle because it opened tine way for the progress of an Flu ropean language and ideas that were to spread through Asia and prepare the way for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The men who conquered were men who had great ideas and great faith.
 Every important step of human prog ress has first been an idea, faith in some one's mind and heart. Most of these be- ! Iiefs have had to win their way against great odds and at the cost of many human
 livea. If you study the progress of ideas, | of morals and reform you will find the in- | spring and controlling thought to have come from the word of God. Men have added many and costly errors to the Chris tian creeds, but Christianity Is larger than the ereeds, and the inspiring spirit of God
 is behind every great line of moral and in-
 tellectual progress. Sometimes the whole
 religious system seems for a time turned
 backward, but even then God is at work
 correcting the work of His people.
 Note in brief some of these advances
 that have required great fight of faith.
 The elevation of woman: the present ideas
 of our duty to childhood; the doom of
 slavery; the condemnation of wreckinp
 and piracy; general education of the
 masses; international laws; prison re
 forms; liberty of thought and worship
 the arbitration of great disputed question:
 among the classes and nations; the rights
 of the poor. These and other great tues
 tions have coms to bs great reforms and
 realities because men have first felt duty
 have had 8 faith and have pushed ths
 battle.
 There are most remarkable evidences oi
 preparation for the great coming struggle | of tomorrow. There has never been tn. | time when there have been such com mbinius
 and massing of moral forces of to day
 There was time in the rebellion when tn, I volunteers came in thousands from every calling srd station from every part of thu
 country; men offered for every arm of tn, the service, and the government was un able to equip these multitudes of infantry cavalry and artillery forces. In a simila way we have seen during the past twenty : five years such epirit of consecration | such volunteer Christian movement a | the world has never seen. And thi fact Is 8 monentous one. Lst me not
 some of them that have mainly sprung ul
 since the war. The originator of the Y : M. O. A., MT. George Williams, wa knighted the past week by his queen | Twenty-Five years ago the great Woman Foreign Missionary societies were organ izsd. Our own Society of Methodist Wo men raised nearly $500, 1000 last year. Tn
 l Woman's Temperance union, the King Daughters and Sons, the Woman's Inter national Temperance union, Christian Endeavor, the Epworth league, th Baptist Young Peoples union. Thes number their members by the hun dred thousand. The Chautauqua move ment, the Young Woman's Christian association, deaconesses and sisters of tn people, the many City Missionary societies the university settlements, the institution
 al church, the schools of Christian work
 tions for the care of the sick poor, tn } Junior Christian Endeavor, the Junio Epworth leagues, the Junior Foreign an,
 Home Missionary societies by thousand } I and lastly the Boys Brigadss. All thes | are strong organized Christian forces ant , ! they mean that God Is massing His follow CTS for great moral and religious battle 7 | and reforms. Behind these are the grea [ | missionary, educational, reformatory ant
 benevolent societies of all the churches
 We are nearing the day of great things . purpose in this great impulse to organiza Z tion.
 , Every one of these movements will nee'
 workers trained as good soldiers of Jesu ! Christ, and ready for siege or battle, fo f | waiting or work. The tried and trust. ] ones will go to the front. The true lead CTS will be commissioned and man | whose names are now unknown will b , | heard of ss they see and use the oppor
 tunities.
 The speaker then outlined some of tn a \ greater D6ttlea or 10 morrow. They ar ! not all distinctly Christian, but the
 spring from Christian principles. The | are not so much within the church as tn ! society and life that surrounds 1t. In set a ! ting up His kingdom In the world the LOT, r | proposes to redeem and regenerats society , l Christ propes,s to rule in business, ii
 politics. in government, in education, 1, ? | art, in the factory, in the store as in th : house and the church.
 l. One battle Is already begun, essen tislly political and yet far reaching in 1t
 moral influence. It is struggle bstweel
 manhood and partisanship, between whs
 is called Sunday school principles an, l ! practical politics. The tyranny of party 1 s l to be broken, and men will yet be electe. ! to our chief offices because of their man hood and ability rather than because the, , will reward their followers.
 2. We are to have 8 battle between lay | and order on one side and the spirit of an srchy and misrule on the other. There ar strong and able men who will wreck ever, American institution for the sake of thei wild and impossible theories of govern ment. Chicago has tasted the bitter cup | and other cities will yet know the dism a, | and confusion caused by these foreign-bori anarchists.
 Fl 3. Another great battle that is going or and costing the nation in treasure aut | blood far more than the rebellion, is tha between the home and the church on on | side and the saloon on the other. It cost us more every year in money and live | than any year of the WAT The ssloon f.