The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-05-18
UNSELFISH WAR.
Rev. DR.. Talmage So Calls the
Spanish-American Conflict.
The Might is on the Side of the Right,
Being Inspired by Mercy, Can Have
but One Outcome-Waged to
Assuage Suffering.

Rev. DIR. Talmage in his latest SER
mon gives cheer to the people who are
saddened by the horrors of war. Text: |
Psalms 27: 8: Though war should
rise against me, in this will l be conf
dent"
The ring of battleaXes and the clash
of shields and the tramp of armies are
heard all up and down the Old Testa-
ment; and you find godly soldiers like
Moses and Joshua and Caleb and Gid
con and scoundrelly soldiers like Sen
nacherib and Shalmaneser and Nebuc-
hadnezzar. The high priest would stand
1.-THE head of the army and say: Hear,
Dye, Israel, ye approach this day unto
battle against your enemies, let not your
hearts faint, fear not, and do not trem-
BILE, neither be ye terrified because of
them" And then the officers would
give command to the troops, saying:
"What man is there that hath built a
new house and hath 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 a vineyard and hath
not eaten of itP let him also go and re-
turn unto his house, lest he die in
the battle and another man eat of it.
And what man is there that hath
betrothed a wife and hath not
taken her? let him go and return
unto his house, lest he die in the
battle. and another man take her."
Great armies marched and fought. In
time of Moses and Joshua all the men
were soldiers. When Israel came out
of Egypt they were 600, 900 fighting
men. Abijah commanded 100000. Je-
roboam commanded 100000 men, of
whom 100000 were slain in one battle.
Some of these wars God approved, for
they were for the rescue of oppressed
nations, and some of them He de-
nounced, but in all cases it was judg-
mentupon both victors and vanquished.
David knew just what war was when
he wrote in the text: Though war
should rise against me, in this will l
be confident"
David is encouraging himself in
stormy times, and before approaching
battles administers to himself the con-
solatory. So to-day my theme is the
"Alleviations of War;" War is organ
lied atrocity. 1t is the science of assas-
sination. 1t is the convocation of all
horrors. 1t is butchery wholesale. 1t
is murdered glorifed. 1t is death on a
throne of human skeletons. 1t is the
coffin in ascendancy. 1t is diabolism
at game of skulls. But war is here,
and it is now time to preach on its
alleviations
First, find an alienation in the 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 violencet
are all gone and the seventies have
been hushed. But ever and anon, il
Grafton, in sermon, in newspaper edi
torial, in magazine article, on politica
stump, and in congressional hall
the old sectional difference has lifted
its head, and for The first time
within my memory, or the mem
ory of any one who hears ol
reads these words, the north an(
the south are one. By marvellous
province the family that led in opposi
tion to our government 80 years ago il
represented at the front in this presen
war. Nothing else could have don,
the work of unifcation so suddenly o.
so completely as this conflict. A
Tampa, at Chattanooga, at Richmond
and in many other places the regi
ments are forming, and it will be sid,
by side, Massachusetts, and Alabama
New York and Georgia, Illinois an'
Louisiana, Maine and South Carolina
Northern and southern men will to
gether unlimber the guns and rusl
upon the fortifcation and charge upol
the enemy and shout the triumph. Tn
voices of military officers who were un
der Sidney Johnson and Joseph Hooke
will give the command on the sam
side. The old sectional grudges for
ever dead. The name of Grant on th
northern side and of Lee on the south
ern side will be exchanged for tn
names of Grant and Lee on the sam
side. The veterans in northern an
southern homes and asylums ar
stretching their rheumatic limbs t
see whether they can again kee
step in march, and are testin
their eyesight to find whether they ca
again look along the gun barrel to sue
cessfully take aim and fire. The old wa
cry of "On to Richmondp and ION t
Washingtonw has become the war cr
of ION to Havanaw ION to Port
Ricow ION to the Philippine Islands!
The two old rusty swords that in othe
days clashed at Murfreesboro an
South Mountain and Atlanta are nov
lifted to strike down Hispanic abom
nations.
Another alienation of the war is tn
fact that it is the most unselfish war {
the ages. While the commercial right
of our wronged citizens will be Wind
Gated, that is not the chief idea of tn
war. 1t is the rescue of hundreds {
thousands of people from starvatio
and multiform maltreatment. A frien
who went out under the flag of tn
Red Cross two years ago to a
suage suffering in Armenia, an
who has been on the same mi
sion, under the same flag, in Cubi
says that the sufferings in Armeni
were comedy and farce compare
with the greater sufferings of Cub;
At least 200, 900 graves are calling to |
to come on and remember by whf
process their occupants died. 1t is tn
twentieth century crying out to tf