The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-31
OUR LAND AND NATION
(contInued from First Page.)

America. Our God Is the God of Israel, our Saviour is the Christ, some day to be acknowledged the world around. said 0 few moments ago that God seems to hold in His mind an ideal man to- wards which He is leading us, Now, as @ nation in the measure that our re- lation with the great Jehovah becomes closer and closer, as We learn more of Him, He imparts to us of His spirit, of his knowledge, of his hopes. His ideal man cannes to be our ideal man, His conception of society comes to be our conception, His idea of what nation should be is our idea.
 This beautiful relation between God and us, this likeness of purpose and aspiration, the similarity of the pie lures in our heart and the divine mind are not yet realized in their perfection. When they are realized we shall have attained unto the ideal, but the Master is gradually working and working to this end, namely, the identity of our souls experiences with those of God.
 "As a nation He is drawing us near CT and nearer the true nation. Obvi- ously, He is accomplishing this by cer- tain courses of training, by creating crises which are expected to meet bravely, and, if triumphant, we tramp on pitching our tents days march nearer our journeys end. By war and by peace He lifts us higher and higher, ever rousing us from our lethargy ever stimulating us to greater effort. As our hands ply themselves at their 1re, it,1c inly nd 1N1n as our spirits struggle with tempta- tiGrs, there Is the strange voice some where within us singing constantly: Build thee more stately mansions, o
 my soul,
 As the swift seasons roll!
 Leave thy low-vaulted past!
 Let each new temple nobler than the
 last,
 Shut thee from heaven with a dome
 more vast,
 Till thou at length art free,
 Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's
 unresting sea!
 Ever as We tramp through ice and snow up. up the mountain there is held above us
 That banner with the strange de- wees
 Excelsior!
 And from the sky, serene and far, A voice falls, like a falling star. Excelsior!
 "The revolution came and passed, leaving as priceless inheritance to flu ture generations the constitution of the United States of America, the liberty of man more a reality independent character, broader conceptions of liv- ing The historian tells us that when the British army at Yorktown tramped out of their Notifications to the surren- der they marched to the tune, The Worlds Upside Down. And sure enough it was, for a new order of things had come, the old regime was gone, hu- manity in America had taken step nearer the ideal.
 Tonight we tell the story of heroic | lives, we sing the praises of brave l hearts, tomorrow shoulder to shoulder we step to the sound of the drum, we carry our flowers and wreaths to the graves of our soldier dead. We are commemorating another struggle in this magnificent campaign | of right against wrong, of justice against injustice, of the noble against | that which is less noble.
 Thirty odd years ago the bugle was echoing through the hills and dales of | Connecticut summoning the flower of our manhood to battle for the preser- vation of the Union. From the office, 1 from the shop, from the mansion, from the vine-clad cottage, they went forth, | husband father, brother, son, demon strating anew the power of patriotism 1 by those who went and by those who remained at home to bear the sorrows and endure the awful suspense. Four long years the battling continued, thou sands were sacrificed on our country s | altar. Yea, tonight we see the crape that tells it's story of the husband sleeping somewhere in one of the many unknown graves on southern fields, of the brother who went down into the sea wrapped in the flag of his loved land, of the son who rests on the hill side wonder where the violets grow But the war ended and once more we rose triumphant bearing the flag that symbolized union, freedom for all sub, | jects and a character more glorious be- cause of its liberation from the chains of human slavery. Once again Goo had tried us found us faithful and hon. ored us with a step heavenward.
 We rest from war enjoying the her tiage that others have purchased. This
 is a strange world and yet, after al
 beautiful in the devotion of man tc
 man. We see and read so much of en.
 mity and strife that we are apt to for
 get the mightier force for good whicf are at work. The spirit of Calvary stil
 lives. Sacrifice Is the prominent fea-
 ture of life. One dies that another may
 live. So we enjoy the fruit bought by
 the blood of countless numbers preced
 ing us.
 MT. Emerson has said: Times ot
 heroism are generally times of terror | but the day never shines in which this | element may not work Truly peace | has it's crises, peace has its training peace calls loudly for patriot heroes | If We are to develop further into tht 1 likeness of our ideal, if we are to hand
 to posterity our country advanced il its character, We must be wise, diligent loyal to our possible destiny | Patriotism We must possess and ex
 emplify. patriotism that is born O
 God, that recognizes Him as the req | founder of this republic, the maker O it's history, the preserver of it's life God and America are inseparable. Tht