The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-05-13
A PERFECT BENEDICTI0N.
DR.. Grier's Sermon to the Old Soldiers.
News and Courier, April q.

NeUS n courier, Apf1L ~.
AS the setting sun gilds the clouds
upon the horizon and marks the pass
ing Of a bright day so The services al
the First Presbyterian Church last
night cast in retrospect a soft glow
over the day of the reunion, softenine
the clouds that had been brought tc
mind and promising a glorious morn
ing to follow the night. This gather
ing of veterans in that beautiful, sa.
cred edifce to praise God in song and
hear His Word, ittingly closed the
Confederate Reunion Of 1896.
Not often has the capacity Of the
First Presbyterian Church been SC
taxed. And seldom has such a splen-
did congregation listened to such elo-
quence. The church was comfortably
full before the veterans came, a few
minutes before 8 o'clock, but after
this body of old soldiers had entered
and taken the seats reserved, the crowd
came on. Every seat in the church
and galleries was soon taken and all
the chairs from the Sunday School
were brought in-and yet many stood
through the sevice.
The veterans came in twos, with
Gen. G. Irvine Walker and Col. AS,
bury Coward, at the head of the col
umn. They divided at the aisles and
in two columns proceeded up to the
front of the church. On the right of
the veterans sat the young ladies of
the Confederate Home School. Many
representatives of the Sons Of Veter-
ans and Daughters Of the Confederacy
were present.
At 8 o'clock the ministers came in
and took seats on the platform as fol-
lows: The Rev. W. NJ. Grier, D. D.,
the Rev. W. T. Thompson. D. D., the
Rev. G. S. Vedder, D. D., the Rev.
John johnson, D. D., the Rev. R. c.
Holland, D. D. The organist, Prof.
Dauer, and the special choir, Miss
Nathan and Miss Carew, Mr.. Tren-
holm and Mr.. Blumner, also came in,
and, after a short organ prelude, the
service was opened by the choir sing
ing an exquisite arrangement of
"When I Can Read My Title Clear"
After this hymn, No. Is, was sung
the Rev. DR.. Holland read a por-
ton of the sixth chapter of Ephes-
ians.
The Rev. DR.. johnson then offered
the following beautiful petition for
grace and strength:
almighty God, our Heavenly
Father, who sittest on the throne,
judging right, who orderest all things
for the coming of the kingdom of Thy
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, we invoke
through His mediation, the majesty of
Thy favor and the grace Of Thy bless
ing on these services this evening.
May they revive in us naught but
chastened memoriefj may they awaken
in us hopes Of better things; may
they confirm in us new resolutions to
guard more sacredly than eve the
principles Of truth with the practices
of t%ruth-telling and law-abiding, which
once was contended forb BY some of us,
even unto death! Thy faithfulness,
oh, God, is unto all generations. We
praise Thee for the witnesses Thou
hast granted us in our Confederate
history to the honor ofhumanity, to the
heroism of self-sacri6ce, to the infu-
ence of Christian character, and we
beseech Thee to impress all minds and
hearts in this congregation with such
deep sense of religious duty as will
appear in the lives and conduct of US
all, both in private and public station.
We beseech Thee to be our ruler and
guide, that passing through things
temporal we finally loose not the
things eternal. Grant this. oh, Hea-
venly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake,
our Lord. Amen
Another humn, No. 101, vas sung,
and then DR.. Grier came forward.
His voice was low and earnest at the
opening. It swelled as the speaker
went deeper into the subject, and as
each thought and ruth was illustra-
ted the immense congregation follow
ed and listened with all attention. 1t
was a rounded argument, unanswera-
BILE, iuvulnerable and full of hope.
The few short words at the close, di-
rectly spoken to the veterans were ex-
quisite in their tenderness, love and
promise.
Following the sermon DR.. Thomp-
son led the congregation in the Lord s
Prayer.
The choir sweetly sang "Protect us
Through the Coming Might and the
services closed with hymn 1912 and
the benediction which was pronounced
by DR.. Grier.
THE SERMON.
DR.. Grier announced his text and
spoke as follows:
Second Timothy, iv, Z: II have
fought a good fight"
The combative element in man is
strong and universal. It is among
the earliest manifestations of our ma
ture. Our children fight before they
are out of their swaddlipg clothes.
Civilization has done something to-
wards mitigating the horrors of war;
Christianity has done a great deal
more, but neither the one nor the 9th
er, nor both combined, have put an
end to the evil. Indeed, paradoxical
as it may sound, it is to Christendom
that we look for the largest standing
armies, the strongest ~navies, and the
most complete military equipment.
The great fighting forces Of the world
to-day are marshalled behind princi-
palities and powers which profess allie
glance to the Prince of Peace. Com,
pare, if you please, Germany with
Turkey, and England with Egypt. AS
things arc now in this world this com,
bative element enters largely into hui
man progress. True it is that might
never makes right. it never did aud
never can, but Yorktown and Water.
loo have taught US new the lesson of
Old Testament history, that physical
forces are sometimes the harnessed
agencies of moral forces, and that the
thunder of artillery is sometimes the
voice of God.
There was a grain of truth in the
stern reply of the wild vandal king,
who said to his pilot, when asked
"Whither shall I sail. nv master p