The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1895-05-31


them the blessings OF liberty. Let this be kept
a sacred day. Last week my eye fell upon q
protest sent out by some body of the Grand
Army. against the use OF decoration day for
base BAH games bicycle and horse races, and
MANY other things foreign to its spirit and pur.
pose. And my heart said God, speed to that
protest Already we have almost lost our
Fourth of July through these very things and
let us see to it that the Decorating hand OF
these amusements, however innocent be not
permitted 10 rob US of this precious day. 1t is
the nations memorial day, and for that purpose
1t ought to be kept.
And now on this Sabbath morning previous
TO the day, am glad to welcome you TO this
house of God in evidence of our faith in the
God who fought our battles for us, and l wish
tospeak to you for o time, of the war OF the re-
bellion as the Nations Memorial" In some
large way wish to speak OF it, I mean to say
that this war of the rebellion will ever stand out
In this nations history as one OF the great
events in il; that should this nation exist for
the thousands OF years, and should events take
place here whose greatness we can not even
imagine they will not throw into insignifcance
this event of the sixties and in the 10th century
It's fame is ever secure because of the greatness
of the issues therein settled. It's glory shall
never be eclipsed by other outshining luster.
The war itself is to be the nations memorial.
When our monuments of stone have crumbled
in the dust and our special days for memory
and for gratitude have fallen into disuse, we
shall still hold precious the achievements and
results OF this great struggle.
First: And this will be so first of all because
of what the war has wrought for the realization
of the brotherhood of man. And when you are
talking about the brotherhood of man you are
talking about one of the great things. You are
talking of that which in large degree: constitute
ed the. mission of the Son of God to the world.
When you are talking of the brotherhood of
man you have split the sum of all religion into
two equal parts and are dealing with one hemi-
sphere of it. For it was our Lord himself who
said that all the law and the prophets conferred
and were summed up in love to God and to
neighbor. And when say that the war of the
rebellion had its chief influence in the brother
hood of man, and realized its purpose largely in
helping to bring it about 1 have hitched it to
the very stars. l have therein baptised the
fray in the blood that flows from Calvary. We
then see in it the eternity which belongs to the
everlasting gospel.
And the rattle of the musketry and the firing
'of the cannon at Gettysburg and on every battle
Held have their whizzing, whirring sounds mel,
lowed into the pleading tones of Calvary,
FEATHER forgive them for they know not what
they do" Yes here is the greatness of the
struggle. 1t meant that all men, white and
black, high and low, alike, were men. Well do
recall a certain county school superintendent
in my younger days who insisted that the right
answer to the question for the cause for the re-
bellion was the doctrine of States Rights"
How vehemently he maintained that we who
had always thought that the question of slavery
was at the bottom of it were mistaken And
remember how / then tried to unearn all that
had previously gained of knowledge of the cause
OF the rebellion. And again, just last week at
the reunion of the Confederate Veterans" at
Houston Texas, the chairman of the historical
committee, General S. d. Lee said 'gThe true
cause of the war between the States was the
dignifed withdrawal of the southern states
rom the Union, to avoid the continued breaches
of that domestic tranquility guaranteed but not
consummated by the constitution, and not the
high moral purpose OF the north to destroy
slavery, which followed incidentally as war
measure go ***." The South fought for the
great principle of local self-government, and the
privilege of managing their own affairs, and for
the protection Of their homes and their fire
sides" But such Interpretation of the war can
never find its acceptance outside the southern
states. After all the dust they throw in the
eyes OF the world has been digged out and
cleared away it will be seen that 1t was the
told question of slavery that was at bottom the
bone Of contention. Any reader of history
knows that in the very beginning of things it
was the question of slavery that almost wrecked
the enterprise Of q free nation and all but de.
feated the adoption of the constitution 1t was
this question Of slavery which urged the pur.
chase of Louisiana, the acquisition of Texas
and the Mexican war. 1t was the question of
slavery and not directly the doctrine Of states
rients which dictated the compromise Of 1850,
the fugitive slave law the repeal of the Missouri
and the bred Scot decision, and
the Kansas struggle. And old John Brown
may his Soul go marching on, was not thinking
of States rights when he said, 'This country
cannot exist half slave and half free" No, no,
1t was our Brother in Black" as some one has
named him whose degradation and slavery put
energy into all this conflict. 1t was the rest
lessness Of the human conscience and the plead.
fngs of love which kept this live issue until it
was settled In battle. No fair man will charge
ali the responsibility for the institution of
slavery to the south. The slave states har.
bored the institution, and the free states gath.
ered in profit from it. Together we stood be.
fore almighty God with great crime against
humanity in our midst and crying to high heav
en- for It's atonement. Together we struggled
and contended and suffered until the knife was
applied to the cancerous thing. 1t was Gods
hand that reached down to the slave and broke
his chains and then wrote on his black brow the
Inscription, "a brother man, go love and serve
him for Christ's sake And it was this
mighty thing that was achieved by the war
which makes the war great Say that it'was a
war for the states rights and you have made
mean thing of it, Say that we were fighting to
determine whether laws should be made in
Washington and executed by delegated GEN.
tral government instead of being made and ex-
ecuted from local state capitol and you make
of the war the greatest crime of history. The
gre atness Of the sacrifice made, and number OF
lines destroyed stands forth as an eternal re.
bulSe for the littleness OF the cause of IL all
And so here is our nations memorial to this
great gospel of human brotherhood These
thousands of graves that dot the battle fields of
the south and lie unmarked and unknown plead
with us eloquently for the brotherhood of man.
The heroic deeds of the millions Of heroic men
an Inn ~ do .,f,t,