The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-05-26

A-xlS ~ CdlcU, duu OluSOil,
and scou n drelly
soldiers like Sennacherib, and Shall
naneser, and NebuchadnezZar. The
nigh priest would stand at the head of
the army, and say: Hear o Israel, We
approach this day unto battle against
your enemies, let not your hearts faint,
rear not, and do not tremble, neither
De We terrified because of them!" and
then the officers would give command
10 the troops, saying: What man is
there that hath built a new house and
hat,/not dedicated it? Let him go and
return to his house, lest he die in the
battle and another man dedicate it.
AND what man is he that hath planted
vineyard and hath not eaten Of it?
Let MIN also go and return unto his
mouse, lest he die in the battle and
another man eat of it. And what man
is there that hath betrothed wife and
hath not taken her? Let him go
and return unto his house, lest he die
in the battle and another man take
ner. Great armies marched and
fought. In time of Moses and Joshua
all the men were soldiers When Is
lrael came out of Egypt they were 600,-
'oeo flghting men. Abijah commanded
4oo,O0o. Jeroboam commanded $780,
ooO men, of whom 100000 were slain in
one Eattle. Some of these wars God
approved, for they were for the rescue
or oppressed nations, and some of them
he denounced, but in all cases it was
a Judgment upon both victors and van
quished. David knew just what war
was when he wrote in the text:
Though war should rise against me,
IN this will I be confident"
David is encouraging himself in
stormy times, and before approaching
battles administers to himself the con-
solatory. So today my theme is the
"Alleviations Of War" War is organ
ICED atrocity. 1t is the science of as
sassination. 1t is the convocation of
all horrors. 1t is butchery Wholesale
1t is murder glorified 1t is death on
throne of human Skeletons 1t is the
coffin in ascendancy. 1t is diabolism
at game Of skulls. But war is here
and it is time now to preach on its al
leviations.
fact that it has consolidated the north
and the south after long-continued
strained relations. 1t is thirty-three
years since our civil war closed, and
the violences are all gone and the Sc
verities have been hushed. But ever
and anon, in Grafton, in sermon, in
newspaper editorial, in magazine ar
ticle, on political stump, and in con-
gressional hall, the old sectional diff
ference has lifted it's head; and for the
first time within my memory, or the
memory of any one who hears or reads
these words, the north and the south
are one. By marvellous providence.
the family that led in opposition to our
government thirty years ago, is rep
resented at the front in this present
war. Nothing else could have done
the work of unification so suddenly or
$50 completely as this conflict. At
Tampa, at Chattanooga, at Richmond.
and in many other places the regi-
ments are forming, and it will be side
by side Massachusetts, and Alabama.
New York and Georgia, Illinois and
d, Louisiana, Maine and South Carolina.
Northern and southern men will to-
gether unlimber the guns and rush
upon the fertilization and charge upon
the enemy and shout the triumph. The
voices of military officers who were
under Sidney Johnson and Joseph
Hooker will give the command on the
same side. The old sectional grudge is
:forsver dead. The name of Grant on
the northern side and Of Lee on the
southern side will be exchanged for
the names of Grant and Lee on the
same side. The veterans in northern
and southern homes and asylums are
stretching their rheumatic limbs to see
whether they can again keep step in a
march. and are testing their eyesight
to find whether they can again look
along the gun-barrel to successfully
take aim and fire. The old war cry
of ION to Richmond!" and "On to
Washington" has become the war cry
Of "On to Havana!' "On to Porto
Rico" "On to the Philippine islands,
The two old rusty swords that in other
days clashed at Murfreesboro and
South Mountain and Atlanta. are now
lifted to strike down Hispanic abom
nations. .4 .
Another alienation is the fact that
in this war the might is on the side of
the right Again and again have liber
ty and justice and suffering humanity
had the odds against them It was
SO when Benhadad's Syrian hosts, who
were in the wrong, at Aphek, came
upon the small regiments of Israel,
who were In the right, the Bible gut
ting it in one Of those graphic SEN
fences for which the book is remark
able-"The children of Israel pitched
before them like two little focks of
Kids, but the Syrians filed the whole
country" It was SO in the awful de-
feat OF the Lords people at Gilboa
and Megiddo. It was so recently when
gallant and glorious Greece was in
conflict with gigantic Mohammedan-
Ism, and the navies of Europe hover
Ing about the Bosphorus were in prac-
tical protection OF the Turkish Gov