River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-06-04

work Of a great English jurist, who b,
way of illustration, describes how
President Lincoln crushed the rebellion
And we say Grant took Petersburg and
captured lee. And we speak of lS,eri.
dams campaign in the Shenandoah.
And who was your great command
er-in-chief? None other than the
Great King whose battles you were
fighting and who gave you the victory
None other than that same Jesus who
has said that whatsoever we do for His
brethren, for the black slave or for
our free institutions, is done as unto
Him. And Jesus likewise requires
that the identity OF every soldier be
merged in the glory of the Great Cap
tain of the worlds salvation. His
commandment is that we deny our.
selves and confess Him. To deny
oneself means more than to go with
out some table delicacy in order to
save fifty cents for the missionary
collection. 1t means TO lose oneself
in a loving purpose. You meet the
pastor of the Congregational church
and say, "Good morning, Mr. Balch, y
and he says my name is not Balch,
but McIntosh.s He denies that he is
Balch, and confesses that he is McIn-
tosh. This exactly illustrates what
Christ requires; we are to so live that
we can say, II am not myself; / am
dead to self; for me to live is Christi
Or, as Luther greeted stranger at
his door: mo sir; Martin Luther does
not live here,--he is dead, Jesus
Christ lives here"
S.-1he Graves Of the Patriots.
The Hebrew patriarch-patriots were
buried far from their fathers land in
country which their children were
afterward to possess. Something like
this were those sad burials by night
after the battles of the SOS; our
patriot soldiers, far from home, were
laid in nameless trenches, that by
their sacrifice the land should be made
sacred to the liberties of unborn mill
ions
There is death that is not death.
There are graves that are not graves.
or every patriot as of Abel, we may
say, HE being dead yet speaketh. !"
There is nothing dead about soldiers
grave. All these little mounds of
earth where we soon shall strew the
flowers are crowned with everything
memory and inspiration, and as the
skin of the dead Ziska made into
drum-heads summoned the Hussites
to victory, so out of the seeming death
of these and all heroes come baptisms
of life to nations and ages. Jesus
Christ himself is most truly alive be-
cause he has once died; and because
He lives, we shall live ALSO"
4.-Ihe Patriots H0Dle-conaing
heard friend of mine tell of his
fathers returns from the war. He
was only little fellow In his moth
er's arms. In little village street in
Indiana one hot summer day, two
mothers, his own and another, stood
with their little boys in their arms
and watched the road for weary hours.
At last they heard the distant sound
Of drum and fife; then saw cloud of
dust, then glimpse of a waving flag,
at last line Of weary, war-worn men,
and as the column reached them,
some one sprang from the ranks and
clasped the wife and Daby-boy to his
happy heart, while the drum and fife
were playing "Home, Sweet Home"
But the other mother and boy with
eyes dim with tears watched the line
file past and still gazed ON when it
passed from sight, thinking with bro
ken hearts of the husband and papa"
who would never come home again.
Soldiers of the Republic, and all who
hold sacred our country and the name
of our God, the hot battle of life will
soon be over and we will all go homel
And, brothers, when the dear ones
stand to welcome the long line that
marches into the Golden City, let us
so live that the little boy, the wife.
the friends who have gone before shall
not wait in vain for the father, the
husband, the comrade, who will never
GOMEZ
No, they are neither dead nor silent.
Patriarchs, prophets, apostles, mar
tyrs, reformers, heroes Of '76 and '61,-
all patriots OF the Redeemer's King
dom, still live to beckon US or to
noble achievements making us akin
to them. Wherefore seeing we also
are comp assed about with so great
cloud OF witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us,
unto Jesus tue author and
finisher of our faith"