Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-05-25
SOLDIERS SERMON.
Rev. Or. G. e. Taylor breaches
to the Veterans.
MEMORIAL SERVICES YESTERDAY.
Patriotic Occasion 1T the First Baptist
OCh 1rch-rwo Baet aiaur sate Discourses
Rev. Ira W. Allen Irstslled at the

The mutfied drums sad roll has beat
| The soldier last tattoo;
No more on LIES parade shall meet
| That brave and fallen few
On fame eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread.
And glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac Of the dead
They faced the mu>ket'S kissing shot
What honor to the land they brought,
How much their lives awaited Us"
This is how Rev. c. E. TAYLOR in.
troduced his memorial address at
the First Baptist church yesterday
morning. The W. X. c., Il. A. r..
U. W.. and S. of V. attended SER
vices in q body. The edifice was
handsomely arrayed in patriotic
colors. while ferns and flowers lent
beauty to the scene. Aside from
Rev. Taylor's discourse there was o
special musical program. Oscar Nell
son, an Augustana college student,
contributing vocal solo, and quar-
tet composed of Misses Bertha Will
iiams and Josephine Woodin aud
Messrs. Carlton and William Taylor
singing several selections, and the
choir rendering appropriate anthems.
The church was filled to the doors.
aev. Taylor took for his text:
Hebrews. XII A." Being dead. yet speaketh -
"ln the beginning OF human history
the righteous man. slain by his en-
vious aud wicked BROTHER" said the
speaker, left as the memorial of his
life the witness that he was righteous
and by that testimony, he being
dead. Yet speake,h. On memorial
day in every part Of our land the
dead speak. The cemetery. which
on each recurring 30th day of May
is wrcathed in flowers. reaches all
over the. republic. Each country
churchyard has its mounds sacred to
the dead soldiers; each town and city
has its headstones end its monu-
ments to hold aloft the names of the
fallen heroes. This land is dotted
with the graves Of those who by their
death purchased our goodly heritage.
These grassy mounds speak with an
eloquence surpassipg all speech.
For their country and for the rights
OF mankind. those who sleep SO
peacefully now once offered up all
the sweets of life. Within sight Of
the national capitol the graves OF
more than $4,000. who, for their
country, CAV, their all silently but
ell 'quentIy lifr a!oft the standard of
a pure patriotism. These graves cry
m Chilly in r, bake of every man who
puts self before country or would
sell the nations interests for gain
not only around the capitol. but
from holy grounds, from state to
state, from mountain to prairie. and
from ocean to river. until more than
100000 graves in silent. solemn
power rebuke the living who deal in
Doodle, hinder legislation for party
interests or turn their attitude on
important questions to the measure
Of personal advantage. These graves
tell US that those who sleep within
gave up life that we might live
nobly.
An Inspiration to the Living.
at seems to me that the purpose of
this day and the thoughts it suggests
are that we may gather from the
lives, services and death of our fellow
soldiers, those lessons and insrira-
tions which shall be a moral stimu-
lus to the living and inspire us to
better act our part. They yielded
up life in the sacred cause of human
ity; they gave themselves that we
might have heavens hottest boon to
man-liberty. The first lesson we
learn from these dead is that of a
noble and lofty ideal of human
life. They set liberty. honor. right
and the public good, above the pos
sessions and enjoyments of life.
Yea, above life Itself. War with them
was not trade. They were not
soldiers by profession or choice.
They went to war only at the call of
duty, stern daughter of the voice Of
God They foug ht for ideas and HUI
man rights. not for conquest or vain
glory.
"Humsn life has been uplifted to-
ward the divine and made nobler,
and all the world is brighter because
OF the service and sacrifice of those
whose memorial we observe. All
that is good in this world is pur-
chased at great cost. The greatest
benefactors of the race have been the
martyrs. Human progress has ever
been nourished to fruitags by the
tears and blood of the noble. The
law that by vicarious sacrifice are the
best gifts of God bestowed upon men
is an universal one, having its appli-
cation to material, intellectual.
moral and spiritual things. The
purchase OF liberty has cost myriads
Of human lives. In the very front
rank Of those who through toll, wea-
riness, the surrender of all that made
life dear and by the sacrifice OF life
itself have aided to lift men to no.
Ter things and to make life purer,
sweeter and truer for all mankind
were those. your comrades. in whose
memory we are assembled. They gave
their lives for an idea-the grand
idea OF human liberty and American
nationality. All the living are
debtors to these dead. We inherit
their works and their examples.
Their memory cheers and encourages