Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-06-12
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME BY THE
WASHINGTON PREACHER
Subject: ''war."

NltTtNu nuns
buckles, all shields Of mighty men. SOLO,
mons Song iv.. L..
The church Is here compared 20 an arm
CRY, the walls hung with trophies OF dead
heroes. Walk all about this tower OF David
and see the dented shields. and the twisted
swords and the rusted hemlets OF terrible
battle. So at this season, a month earlier AZ
the south, month later at the north. the
American churches are turned into armories
adorned with memories Of departed braves.
Blossom and bloom. o walls. with stories OF
self sacrifice and patriotism and proves!
BY unanimous decree Of the people 81 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 national solemniiy, and
as the men AMI women OF the south one
month ago foralized the cemeteries and
graveyards so yesterday we. the men aud
women of the NORTH put upon the tombs OF
our dead the kiss of patriotic affection.
Bravery always appreciates bravery, though
IL fight on the other side, and il a soldier OF
the Federal army had been 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 warthe Confed-
crates were driving back the Federals, who
were in swift retreat, when Federal officer
dropped wounded. One OF his men stopped
at the risk of his life and put his arms
around the officer to carry him from the
field. Fifty Confederate muskets were aimed
at the young man who was picking up the
officer But the Confederate captain shout
ed. "Hold! Don't fire! 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 Confederate soldiers
gave three cheers for the brave private, and
/ Just before the two disappeared behind a
| barn both the wounded officer ana the brave
/ private lifted their caps in gratitude TO the
/ Confederate captain.
/ Shall the gospel be less generous than the
worldY We stack arms, the bayonet OF our
northern gun facing this way, the bayonet
/ of the southern gun facing the other way,
and rs the gray of the morning melts into
the blue OF noon, so the typical gray and
blue of old war times have blended at last,
and they quote in the language of King
James's 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?
First, we mean instruction TO one whole
generation. Substract 1865, when the war
ended, from our 1895. and you will realize
what vast number ofpeople were born since
the war, or were so young rs to have no
vivid appreciation. No one under forty-one
years Of age has any adequate memory of
that prolonged horror. Do you remember
it2 "Well, you say, II only remember that
mother swooned away while she was read
ing the newspaper, and that they brought
my father home wrapped in the flag, and
that good many people came in the house
to pray, and mother faded away after that
until again there were many people in the
house and they told me she was dead"
There are others who cannot remember
the roll of drum or the tramp Of a regi-
ment or sigh or tear Of that tornado of
woe that swept the nation again and again
until there was one dead in each house. Now,
il is the religious duty Of those who do re-
member it to tell those who do not. My
young friends, there were such partings at
rail car windows and steamboat wharfs, and
at front doors of comfortable homes rs l
pray God you may never witness. Oh, what
q time it was when fathers and mothers gave
up their sons. never expecting to see them
again and never did see them again until
they came back mutilated and crushed and
dead!
Four years OF blood. Four years OF hos
tile experiences. Four years of ghastliness.
Four years of gravedigging. Four years Of
funerals. collins, shrouds, hearses, dirges.
M9pT tn Agsr3 81 waiting TSf
news! Morning paper and evening paper
scrutinized for Intelligence from the boys
at the front. First, announcement that the
battle must occur the next day. Then the
news of the battles going on. On the fol-
lowing day still going on. Then the news
of 10000 slain, and of the names of the great
generals who had fallen. but no news about
the private soldiers. Waiting for news! AT.
ter many days q load Of wounded going
through the town or city, but no news from
Our h0V Than q long liet Of Upupdad A
q long list of the dead, and long list of the
missing, and among the last list our boy.
When missing? How missing? Who saw
him last? Missing, missing! Was he in the
woods or by the stream? How was he hurt
Missing, missing What burning prayers
that he may yet be heard from! In that aw.
full waiting for news many n life persisted
The strain OF anxiety was too great. That
wife's brain gave way that first week after
the battle, and ever and anon she walks the
floor OF the asylum or looks out of the win
dow as though she expected some one tc
come along the path and up the steps as she
solioquizes, "Missing, missing!"
What made matters worse, all this nigh
have been avoided. There was no more neeC
of that war than at this moment should
plunge dagger through your heart. There
were few Christian phianthropists in those
days, scoffed at both by north and south
who had the right of it. If they had beer
heard on both sides, we should have had nc
war and no slavery. 1t was advised by those
Christian phianthropists, "Let the north
pay in money for the slaves as property and
set them free" The north said. "We cannot
afford to pay" The south said, ave will
not sell the slaves anyhow" But the north
did pay in war expenses enough to purchase
the slaves, and the south was compelled tc
give up slavery anyhow Might not the
north better have paid the money and saved
the lives of 100000 brave men, and might not
the south better have sold out slavery and
saved her 500, 900 brave men2 I swear you
by the graves OF your fathers and brothers
and sons to a new hatred for the champion
curse of the uniYerse-war
U Lord God, with the hottest bolt of Thine
omnipotent indignation strike that monster
down forever and ever! Imprison it in the
deepest dungeon of the eternal penitentiary.
Bolt it in with all the iron ever forged in
cannon or moulded into howitzers. Cleave
1t with all the sabers that ever glittered in
battle and wiring its soul with all the pangs
which it ever caused, Let it feel all the con-
flagrations Of the homesteads it ever de-
stroyed. Deeper down let it fall and in
~ tiercer flame let it burn, till it has gathered
into its heart all the suffering Of eternity as
well as time In the name of the millions
of graves of its victims, denounce it, The
nations need more the spirit of treaty and
less Of the spirit of war.
War is more ghastly now than once, not
only because of the greater destructiveness
OF its weaponry, because now it takes down
the best men, whereas once it chiefly took
down the worst. Bruce, in 1717, in his "In.
stitutiens of Military Law" said of the Eu.
ropean armies of his day, "If all infamous
persons and such as have committed capita
crimes, heretics. atheists and all dastardly
feminine men were weeded out of the army
1t would soon be reduced to pretty moder
ate number" Flogging and mean pay made
them still more ignoble. Officers were ap
pointed to see that each soldier drank hi!
ration of pint ofspirits day. There were
noble men in battle. but the moral character
OF the army was then ninety-fve per cent
lnruar than Tho al C 49,