The Monitor-register., 1896-06-05
DR.. TALMAGE ON WAR
APPROPRIATE MEMORIAL DAY SER
MON BY THE ELOQUENT PREACHER.

APPROPRIATE MEMORIAL DAY oee'
MON BY THE ELOQUENT PREACHER.
He Calls Down the Wrath OF the Ay
AGAINST War, but Later He INDUCES In
s...,snts That Will Please BeIligerent
Jingoes.
n May 31.-What could
10 more ~anpropriate or stirring than
th;s discourse by the Rev. DR.. Talmage
at tbe time of year when the friends OF
those who wore the blue and the gray
have decorated the mounds OF the fallen
The text was Solomon's Song ~, a.
,..The tower of David builded for IN
armorv. wherein there hung a Thousand
buckles, all shields of mighty men.
The church is here compared to an
armory. the walls hung with trophies
of dead heroes. Walk all about this
tower of David and see the denied
shields. and the twisted swords, and
the rusted helmets of terrible battle.
So al this season, a month earlier at the
south, a month later at the north, the
American churches are turned into ar
mories adorned with memories OF de-
parted braves. Blossom and bloom, Y
walls, with stories of self sacrifice ana
patriotism and provost
By unanimous decree of b people OF
the United States of America the graves
of all the northern and southern dead
are every year decorated. All acerbity
and bitterness have gone out of the ma
tionaI solemnity, and as the men and
women of the south N month ago
iforalized the cemeteries and graveyards
so yesterday we, the men and women of
the north, put upon the tombs of our
dead the kiss of patriotic affection.
Bravery always appreciates bravery,
though it fight on the other side, and if
a soldier of the Federal army had been
a month ago at Savannah he would not
have been ashamed to march in the
floral professions to the cemetery. And
if yesterday a Confederate soldier was
at Arlington he was glad to put a sprig
of heartsease on the silent heart of our
dead.
In a battle during our last war the
C~onfederates were driving back the Fed
erals, who were in swift retreat, when
a Federal officer dropped wounded. One
Of his men stopped at the risk of his life
n put his arms around the officer to
carry him from the field. Fifty Confed-
crate muskets were aimed at the young
man who was picking up the officer.
But the Confederate captain shouted
Hold! Don't tirel That fellow is too
brave to shoot" And as the Federal
officer, held up by his private soldier,
went limping slowly off the field the
Confederates gave three cheers for the
brave private, and just before the two
disappeared behind a barn both the
wounded officer and the brave private
lifted their caps in gratitude to the Con-
federate captain.
Shall the gospel be less generous than
the world? We stack arms, the bayonet
of our northern gun facing this way,
the bayonet of the southern gun facing
the other way, and as the gray of the
morning melts into the blue Of noon SC
the typical gray and blue of old wal
times have blended at last, and they
quote in the language of King James
translation without any revision, "Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will to men" Now, what
do we mean by this great observance?
The Lesson of 1t.
First, we mean instruction to on
whole generation. Subtract 1865, whe1
the wal ended, from our 1896, and yor
will realize what a vast number of PEG
pie were born since the war, Or were 81
young as to have no vivid appreciation
No one under Al years of g has an,
adequate memory of that prolonged hor
ror. Do you remember it? "Well," yol
say, 81 only remember that mothei
swooned away while she was reading
the newspaper, and that they brough
my father home wrapped in the flag
and that a good many people came il
the house to pray, and mother fade(
away after that until again there wer'
many people in the house and they tolt
me she was dead"
There are others who cannot remem
Der the roll of a drum or the tramp of
regiment or a sigh or a tear of that tor
nado of woe that swept the nation agail
and again until there was one dead il
each house. Now, it is the religion
duty of those who do remember it to tel
those who do not. My young friends
there were such paintings at rail car win
dows and steamboat wharfs, and a
front doors of comfortable homes as
pray God you may never witness. Oh,
what a time it was when fathers ant
mothers gave up their sons, never ex
pecting to see them again and never die
see them again until they came bacl
mutilated and crushed and dead!
-Four years of blood. Four years Of
hostile experiences. Four years of ghast
illness. -Four years of gravedigging
Four years of funerals, collins, shrouds
hearses, dirges. Mourning, mourning,
mourningl 1t was hell let loose. Whar
a time of waiting for newsl Morning
paper and evening paper scrutinized fol
intelligence from the boys at the front.
First, announcement that the battle
must occur the next day. Then the new
of the battles going on. On the follow
ing day still going on. Then news Of
30, 600 slain, and of the names of the
great generals who had fallen, but ne
news about the private soldiers. Wait
ing for news! After many days a loa6
of wounded going through the town OF
city, but no news from our boy. Then 6
long list of wounded and q long list Of
the dead, and a long list of the missing
and among the last list boy.
When missing? How missing? VIII
saw him last? Missing, missingl Was he
In the woods or by the stream? How
was he hurt? Missing, missingl What
burning prayers that he may yet BIZ
heard 'FRONT.' In that awful waiting fol
news many a life persisted. The strain
OF anxiety was too great. That wife's
brain gave way that first week after the
battle, and W and anon she walks the
floor of the asylum or looks out of the
window as though she expected SOM
n to come along the path and up thu
steps as she soliloquizes, missing,
missingl"
A Man of Peace.
What made matters worse, all this
might have been avoided. There was nc
more need of that war than at this
moment I should plunge a dagger
through your heart. There were a few
Christian philanthropists in those days,
scoffed at both by north and south, who
had the right of it. If they had been
heard on both sides, we should have
had no war and no slavery. 1t was ad.
vised by those Christian philanthropists,
Let the north pay in money for the
slaves as property and set them free. >
The north said, 1--WE cannot afford te
pay" The south said, eve will moi
sell tho ulauoc opvbo >, DIT fbo ,or+l