The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-05-30
CHRIST IN OUR HISTORY
REV. DIX. GILBERT'S SERMON AT
 TRINITY M. F. CHURCH.

The Significance of Memorial Day. Direction of tod for Our Generals-Th Root of Liberty is in the Heart of Christ-Oppression of the Spanish Colonies.
 At Trinity M E. church yesterday morning the Rev. Dr. Gilbert preached upon the subject. Christ in American History" taking as his text Deut. 4:17. He said, in part:
 It was 8 peculiarity of the Hebrews that they looked behind human actions and saw the divine actions. God was no more to them than to other nations. They did not write histories of Abra- ham, of Isaac and of Jacob, but they wrote of God working through them. TO them human agents were but sub sidiary
 I wish that we might have their il- luminated vision so that we could see that God is leading us by day in pil- lar of cloud and by night in pillar of fire. We stand to-day upon the eve of day, the celebration of which should make us thankful for that lead- ership. We come together tomorrow to honor those who so gallantly gave up their lives for their country. .r.I
 During that whole war the hand ot God was shown more and more. Grant and Lincoln both felt that God was di- recting them. Did not both of them show by their actions how He would have acted toward His enemies? It was conflict for humanity and for the least of those for whom Christ died. Harriet Beecher Stowe sometimes said that she did not know how she wrote "Uncle Ton.'s Cabin" It stands so far above her other works that it seems as if God inspired it. Was not John Brown in the hands of God? He was a fanatic, it is true, but yet a glorious fanatic
 Even before the war, that stand which we took unknown as Monroeism showed the hand of God. And away back in the Revolution we saw the spirit of Christ at work. During the AGOdlCS 5OL lllC COASlllutlOllell SoAlpCii- tion the country seemed to be on the verge of anarchy. The old world look ed on and laughed with ridicule. But the direction of God was not lacking.
 The very root of liberty is in the heart of Christ. We do not know what liberty is until we read the new Testa- ment. It is the basis of all our liber- ties. Before it man as an individual had been regarded merely as an ami mal There has beenf a long stride in that direction from taht day to this, and on that principle of individual < rights our whole government has been founded. The vote of a man as a man is the basis of the democracy of to-day. The old world prophesied that when men should begin to govern themselves 1awlessness would result. But it is well known that our government is the E most conservative of the world. We cannot easily change it. Our freedom is constitutional freedom and that is Gods freedom. The old world had re- publics, but none of them were pure democracies I am not anxious that a half barbarous people should come into a republic. A republic is form of government for the best educated < people
 see the hand of God in steering Co., 1umbus to these shores. It was a re- ligious impulse that brought the Puri- tans to New England, the Quakers to Pennsylvania and the Roman Catholics to Maryland. From the Gulf of Mex < ico to the Canadian border, from Maine to Puget Sound, the sound of the gos- pei has gone forth and has made this country religious nation. Every where the spirit of Christ is dominant The common law is based upon the Ter Commandments The whole principle of education is based upon the neces- sity of appealing to mans heart.
 Tn our own times we can see the hand of God. It is to be seen in civil service reform. I see it in the rising civic consciousness around me. I see it in the general endeavor for arbitra- ton. I see it in the present war. Dur ing teh Reformation Spain stood up fo1 hindering the liberties of speech, re- ligion and life. During all her history Spain has oppressed her colonies simply for her own nourishment and support We see the north and south reunited in opposition to such inhumanity. We have lived to see Lee and Wheeler put on the blue. The proposition that the old Confederate flags should be return ed is received with favor on all sides.
 The much talked of question of ar Anglo-Saxon alliance may soon con. front us with demand for a prompt decision. MT. Gladstone said in refer ence to this alliance that not to form ! it would be 8 assertion of an easy duty We do not know whither we are going Does God mean for us to extend our. selves and to take up the grave duties of the most prominent nation of the world? Whatever may mean let us follow in His footsteps at all times.
 REA AUTLFUL MEMORIAL SERVICI Held at the New Music Hall Last Even
 ing-The Exercises.