The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-11

An Response Go the FEesAuohS
 nation for Day of Thanksgiving and
 Prayer-Revelation to the American
 People of n New Moral Power and Ob- Iisation-A New Religious Blessing and Awakening.
 At the Center church yester- day morning in accordance with the presidents proclamation for day of thanksgiving and prayer, Rev. Dr, Smyth preached upon the topic, "The Moral Blessings of the War" He took for his text the words Blessed are the peacemakers." He spoke entirely with out notes, and a report of the features of the discourse is as follows:
 The brave soldiers, the true men who have given their lives for the right, they are the makers of peace, and have won their share of this religious blessing. Constantine and Charlemagne could have claimed a share of the peace blessing which they obtained by their arms. William of Orange when he drove the troops of Ava back to Spain won a noble part and share in the blessing of the peacemaker. Washing ton at Yorktown won an immortal part. Grant and Lee and the forces under them, when they brought to an end our last war, terrible, but inevitable, won portion of this blessing.
 Not the weak and cowardly, but the brave and the strong and the noble. they alone can win, and to them alone belong the blessings of the peacemaker. It may be that at this present time we by our own arms shall bring to an end this desperate conflict between two civ- iizations, one belonging to the past, the other to the future. The conflict IS one which has been waged for centu- ries. It is one that could only be brought to an end by some sacrifice.
 Let me mention some of the bless ings which we may say in part at least have come before our eyes. The least important Is the very slight cost i'll the loss of men with which our achieve ments up to the present time have been made. It is scarcely to be believed that the loss of life resulting from an accident of a peaceful Nher upon her course across the ocean was almost twice as great as the number of our men killed upon the field of battle up to this time.
 Then a second and almost ines timable moral blessing already realized in the last two months consists in the revelation of the moral power of the American people. Some of US who have realized the power of evil in the modern civilization have at times al most lost hope. The two twin born sins of covetousness and cowardice have been the parent sins of American life, the one necessarily following the other. They have entered even the high places. It seemed at times as if all were greedy for results and lustful for success, so that the voice of the church itself has seemed to have been silent when it should have spoken. Many not realizing the temptations of the Ameri- can people have said that there was no hope of reform. Then within the last two months there has come to our peo- pie revelation of our own moral pow CT and covetousness has been put from us and no class, no community, nor 1n- stitution has been found wanting, but we are one people raised to high moral plane. They have been willing to do and to give all for a righteous cause. Have you thought of it? With in the last two months you have scarcely heard a whisper of the dema- eoeue, whose voice strives to excite the classes against one another, but one people with one voice, we have recog- nized our duty, counting not the cost. So that if war should close at once, as we pray God it may, and political campaign begin, politics itself would strike a higher plane. Such excltable appeals to class prejudice as occurred during our last political campaign have disgraced us.
 Then a third blessing, hardly possi- ble to exaggerate. This is the sober under-consciousnes of our moral obli- cations It has come to us in the Prov idence of God. For over century we have succeeded in keeping in the lines of policy marked out by our first pres ident and in the isolation Of our devel- opment we have kept ourselves sepa- rated from world affairs. And then ir a moment without forethought, with out anticipation all this seems to have been changed. Whether we like it ol not the United States is world pow CT among the world powers. One
 morning the guns of our admiral fal off in the island of Luzon, at Manila proclaimed to our surprise the end oi one era of our history and the begin ming of another period. Dewey could not have left Manila at once after de stroying the Spanish fleet for no trus American ever yet has sailed away from a duty half accomplished or z work half done. This country can no sail away from the Providence of God What our future policy is to be it i' not my intention to discuss but it i! evident that our people have come tC the sober consciousness that a new policy is needed. It is a credit to tht sense of our people that they have re mained silent soberly taking counsel This nation means to go on and on, anC I trust in no party, trust in no class I trust in no statesman, l trust in tht instantaneous conviction and sount sense of the people from hour to hou1 that this new question shall be settled and settled rightly; settled with nt greed for acquisition of territory, bu settled rightly for freedoms sake; set ic o11,. Hr7txr i,