The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-05-09

| "a Idi &c duQlCHCC uilSQ Tic IT II St NOii-
gregational church yesterday morning
and listened to a patriotic sermon de-
| livered by the pastor, Rev. Clarence 7.
Brown. The organ and pulpit were
beautifully draped with flags, and at
the conclusion of the service the con-
gregation united in singing America"
Rev. Brown spoke as follows:
The writer of Hebrews, in the second
chapter, 18th verse, describing Jesus,
the great captain of salvation, made
perfect through suffering, says of him:
He was not ashamed to call them
brethren
Unless 1 am greatly mistaken, when
history shall write, as it surely will,
the great central fact in these exciting
days of war, the word that will sum
up the whole thing Better than any
other, will be the word brotherhood"
Fraternity is what battle-fre and
smoke are writing today in the pages
/ of history. We do not have to go back
a thousand years to find stirring nara
tives of history, significant and impor-
! tant.
a little girl said to me yesterday, u
suppose the name of Admiral Dewey
vill be read about by the school chill
iren in the histories for years to come. :"
md 1 take it her childish saying will
;e amply justified by the future annals
f history.
No, we do not need TO go back to
Moses, or to Homer, TO Plutarch, Gaze
sar, or William the Silent, to Washing
ton or Adams, to Lincoln or Grant, to
read narratives that have in them the
dignity of great movements, and all
the splendor and tragedy of great is
sues and great events. We all agree
that it is profitable to read lessons of
philosophy and of civilization out of the
splendid stories of the past.
1t certainly cannot be amisS for US
to attempt at least, however we NAV
fail in our conclusions, to attempt -
make clear to ourselves some of the
things that this Spanish-American war
means today.
John Adams, writing to his wife on
the 5th day of July, 1875, said: Il be-
lieve it will be the great anniversary
festival. 1t ought to be commemorated
as day of deliverance by solemn acts
of devotion to Almighty God, from one
end Of the continent to the other, from
this time forward forever.
AN EARLY FOURTH OF JULY.
The Fourth of July has come little
early in 1898, and l take it that this
spring festival of liberty will be COM
memorated in the future not only with
in our own borders, but on that sad
island Just off the shores of our coast
for all time to come. For more than
1900 years bands Of men and women,
sometimes pitifully small, sometimes
large, have been going forth in the
world with this watchword: "All men
are our brothers" 1t is a watchword
that has been uttered with passionate
devotion by the Missionary going from
his home to a foreign land and to I'M
civilized peoples; the watchword on his
banner is, ''all men are my brethren,
and the world is our field That has
been the watch-cry of Christian men
through all these centuries That
watch cry of the idealist and the devo-
tee has been very slow in being ac-
cepted, even as a theory, in the worlds
affairs, and much slower in being ac-
cepted as "a, working theory" working
itself from theory into solemn and glor-
ious facts. But it Is true that this ideal
watchword has been the nerve of Chris
tan missions, and now today the long
space between the idealist and the
statesman, the long distance between
creed and creed, is being shortened by
long strides. When this great nation
declares war. what is the battle cry?
1--WE are not ashamed to call them
brethren, and in the name of human
ity we will stand the brunt Of the bat
tie, and in the name of humanity we
will win
FIGHTING FOR THE OPPRESSED.
This war means. I believe, that our
people, taking the flag in their hands,
are making another long stride, carry
ing it still closer to the splendid cross
on Calvary. in the name of liberty,
marcy and brotherhood. For liberty
our fathers gave their blood; for indie
pendence thew fired the shot heard
round the world; for that they endur
ed the terrors of Valley Forge. For
mercy, our boys in blue fought through
five cruel years under the flag whose
every strand they loved. In these days
we are adding one more cord to the
noble care of Christian civilization, and
that is brotherhood 1t is noble to fight
for ores own; but, in the light of AL
mighty God, to fight for the alien
and the oppressed. is thrice noble.
WHAT WAR MEANS NOW.
What does war mean? oh, we know,
all of us. what war means. We know
the carnage and the awful pictures
after a victory or a defeat We know
the tears that fall, the hearts that
trem. We know the affairs that are
dripping with tears, while the battle
field is running with blood. We all know
nj America full we'll what war means
terrible sacrifice: and if we are going
into war. we want to know what we
are going for. 1t may be enough for
some to follow their countrys call,
right or wrong: but for an American
citizen, he must know that he is follow
ing his country right and not wrong.
Wendell Phillips said: THE nineteenth
century cannon must think" An
American cannot be content to go into
A battle whose great aim and scope
They little care to know.
Content like men at arms, to cope
Each with his fronting foe.
No. an American who fires cannon
must know what he is doing and make
his cannon think.
And so, I think, it may not be amiss
for us who stay at home to attempt
make clear to ourselves what our sailor
and soldier brothers are giving them
selves to battle for.
If l had boy to give on the field of
battle or on the high seas, 1 should
like to feel that he was giving his |
young life for great principle.
should hate to have my boy pour out !
his dear young life for anything less |
than the noblest ideal. If I had a boy |
to give. l would rather give him for |
the thing which I believe this war is !
being fought for than for the thing /
that some of our newspapers think it !
is being fought for. I would like to
have him feel as his dying glance looks !
the poet puts it: Every star an an
gels tear. and every stripe. Christ's /
mercy covering ALL" l would like to |
have him fell as his dying glance looks |
and yearnS toward his flag, that ii is /
the flag of the free hearts hope and |
home by angels hand to valor given"
And If so small creature could ex-
tend congratulations to so large a
country, / should feel like lifting my I
feeble voice and concentrating Column |