The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-05-21

1D4V shields, and the
REV. fALhAeE- tramp of rmle are
heard up and down the Old Testament
and you find cody soldiers like Moses,
and Joshua, and Caleb, and Gideon, and
scoundrelly soldiers like Sennacherib,
, and Shalmaneser. and Nebucadnez'
Ear. The high priest would stand
at the head of the army and say;
Hear, o Israel, ye approach this
day unto battle against your enemies,
let not your hearts faint, fear not, and
do not tremble, neither be We terrified
because of theInr' And then the of
fcers would give command tCt the
troops, saying: What nan Is there
that hath built a new house M hath
not dedicated it? Let him go and re-
turn 20 his house, lest he die in the
battle and another man dedicate it.
And what man is he that hath planted
q vineyard and hath not eaten of itP
Let him also go and return into his
house lest he die in the battle and
another man eat of it. And what man
is there that hath bethrothed 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 the time of Moses and
Joshua all the men were soldiers.
When Israel came out of Egypt they
were 600, 900 fighting men. Abijah
commanded 400, 900. Jeroboam COM
manded 500. 600 men. of whom 500. 900
were slain in one battle. Some of
these wars God approved, for they
were for the rescue of oppressed ma
tions, and some of them he denounced,
but in all cases it was a Judgment up
on 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 1
be confident"
David Is encouraging himself in
stormy times and before approaching
battle 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 as.
sassination. It is the convocation of
all horrors. 1t is butchery wholesale.
It is murder glorifed. 1t is death on
throne of human skeletons. 1t is the
coffin in ascendency. 1t is diabolism
At q game of skulls. But war is here,
and it is time now to preach of its al
leviations.
First, / had an alienation in the fact
that it has consolidated the north and
the south after long-contipued strained
relations. 1t is SO years since our civil
war closed, and the violences are all
zone and the seventies have been
hushed. But ever and anon, in ora
ton, in sermon, in newspaper edito-
rial. In magazine article, on political
T. I'LL Al
old sectional difference has lifted its
head; and for the first time within
nv memory or the memory of any
one who hears or reads these words,
the north and the south are one.
By 3 marvellous providence the fam
lily that led in opposition to our
government 30 years ago is repre-
sented at the front ia this present war.
Nothing else could have done the work
of unihcation so suddenly or SO COM
pletely as this conflict At Tampa. at
Chattanooga, at Richmond, and in
many other places, the regiments are
forming, and it will be side by side,
Massachusetts, and Alabama, New
York aud Georgia, Illinois and Louis
lana, Maine and South Carolina. North
ern and southern men will together nm
timber the guns and rush upon the for
tihcations and charge upon the enemy
and shout the triumph. The voices of
military officers who were under Sid
ney. johnson and Joseph Hooker will
give the command on the same side.
The old sectional grudges forever 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 a keep step in march, and are
testing their eyesight to find whether
they can again look along the gun bar
rel 20 successfully take aim and fire.
The old war cry of "0n TO RichmondT
and 'On to Washington has become
the war cry of ION to Havanap ION to
Porto RicoP' ION the Philippine Is
landsr' The two old rusty swords
that In other days clashed at Murfrees-
boro and South Mountain Inc Atlanta
are now lifted to strike down Hispanic
denominations.
Another alienation of the war is
the fact that it is the most uhselfsh
war of the ages. While the CONNER
cial rights of our wronged citizens
will be INDICATED, that is not the
chief idea of this It is the res
cue of hundreds of thousands of peo-
pie from starvation and mu1tiform
maltreatment. A friend who went ont
under the flag of the Red Cross two
years ago to assuage suffering in Ar
menia, and who has been on the same
mission, under the same flag, in
Cuba, says that the sufferings In
Armenia were a comedy and a farce
compared with the greater sufferings
of Cuba. At least 200, 900 graves are
calling to us to come On and remember
by what process their occupants died.
Il Is the twentieth century crying out
to the nineteenth: "Do You mean to
pass down to us the curse with which
you have been blasted. Or will you
Let me begin under new auspicies and
turn the island Of ~desolstion ilto an
island Edenic?"
1t is a war inspired by mercy, which
Is an attribute In man initiative of the
same attribute of God. In no other
age of the world could such a war
have been waged. The gospel of kind
ness needed to be recognized through
u C~hristendom in order to make such
a war possible. The chief reason why
most of the European nations are not
now banded together against us is be-
cause they dare not take the part of
that behemoth Of cruelty, the Spanish
government, against the crusade of
mercy which our nation has started.
Had it been on our part a war of con-
quest, a war of annexation, a val of
ACKNOWLEDGMENT, there would have
been by this time enough flying squad
roDs coming to this country across
the Atlantic to throw into panic every
city on our American s~eaboard.
Another alienation of this war is
tina it is for the advancement of the
sublime principles of liberty. which
will yet engirdle the earth. Not only
will this war free Cuba, but 1t will
finally free Spain. By what right
does a dynasty like that stand and a
corrupt court dominate a people for
taxing them to death, riding
in gilded chariot over the neck of a
population? There are 10, 900
boys in Spain growing up with more
capacity to govern that nation than
will the weak boy now in the Madrid
ever possess Before this con-
Is over the Spanish nation will be
,-.II - S.--.-S AHa 4l~a Uhan q oOn.