Connecticut western news., 1898-05-19
MURDER GLORIFIED.
REV. DR. TALMAGE THUS CHARAC-
 TERIzES WARS HORRORS.

Tho Great Preacher Deplores Strife, but
 Points Out Its Alleviations-A Sermon
 of Cheer For saddened People-war
 For Humanity.
 Copyright. 1898, by American Press Asso-
 ciation.1
 WASHINGTON, May 15.-Most perti nent to the exciting times through which we are now passing is this ser mon of Dr. Talmage, in which he pro- poses to cheer the people who arc sad dened by the horrors of war; text, Psalms xvii, 3, Though war should rise against me, in this will 1 be con- fident.
 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 Senna- cherib and Shalnaneser and Nebuchad- nezzar. The high priest would stand at the head of the army and say, Hear O Israel, ye approach this day unto bat tie against your enemies, let not your hearts faint, fear not and do not trem- ble, 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 new house and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedi- cate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard and hath not eaten of it? Let him also go and return 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 re. turn unto his house, lest he die ill 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. Abiiah commanded 400, 900. Jeroboam commanded 800, 900 men, of whom 500,- 0O0;were slain in one battle. Some of these wars God approved, for they were for tho rescue of oppressed nations, and some of them he denounced, but in all cases it was judgment upon both vic- tors and vanquished. 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 "Aileviations of War" War is organ ized atrocity. It is the science of assas- sination. It is the convocation of all horrors. It is butchery wholesale. It is murder glor:fied. It is death on throne of human skeletons. It is the coffin in ascandency. It is diabolism at game of skulls. But war is here, and it is time now to preach on it's alleviations.
 Marvellous Providence.
 First I find an alleviation in the fact that it has consolidated the north and the south after long continued strained relations. It is 83 years since our civil war closed, and the violences are all gone and the seventies have been hush ed. But ever and anon, in oration, in sermon, in newspaper editorial, in mag azine article, on political stump and in congressional 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.5 By a marvellous providence the family that led in opposition to our government 30 years ago is represented at the front in this present war. Moth ing else could have done the work of unifcation so suddenly or so completely as this conflict. At Tampa, at Chatta- nooga, at Richmond and in many other places the regiments are forming, and it will be side by side-Massachuset and Alabama, New York and Georgia, Hi nois and Louisiana, Maine and South Carolina. Northern and southern men will together unlimber the guns and rush upon the fortifcatio and charge upon the enemy and shout the triumph The voices of military officers who were under Sidney Johnson and Joseph Hook CT win give the command on the same side. The old sectional grudges forever dead. The name of Grant on the north ern side and of Lee on the southern side
 
 Grant and Lee on the same side. The veterans in northern and southern homes and asylums are stretching their rheu- matic limbs to see whether they can again keep step in march and are test ing their eyesight to find whether they can again look along the gun barrel to successfully take aim and fire. The old warcry of "On to Richmond p and "On to Washington! P has become the war cry of "On to Havanap "On to Puerto Ricol''"On to the Philippine islandsl' The two old rusty swords that in other days clashed at Murfreesboro and South strike down Hispanic abominations.
 Inspired by Mercy.
 Another alleviation of the war is the fact that it is the most unselfsh war of the ages While the commercial rights of our wronged citizens will be vindi- cated that is not the chief idea of this war. It is the rescue of hundreds of thousands of people from starvation and multiform maltreatment. A friend who went out under the flag of the Red Cross two years ago to assuage suffering in Armenia, and who has been on the same mission, under the same flag, in Cuba, says that the sufferings in Ar menia were comedy and farce con- pared with the greater sufferings of Cuba. At least 200, 900 graves are call ing to us to come on and remem Der by what process their occupants died. It 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 auspices and turn the island of desolation into an island Edenic?"
 It is 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 kindness needed to be recognized throughout Christendom in order to make such a war possible. The chief reason why most of the European nations are not