The age-herald., 1900-05-14
AN ABLE SERMON
 TO THE SOLDIERS
0r. Murray Preached to the Bir-
 mingham Rifles,
LIFE A CONTINUOUS COMBAT
Struggle From Infancy to the End Duty of the Christian Soldier to be Ever on the
 Watch.

The Birmingham Rifles, with full ranks, attended services at the Church of the Ad- vent yesterday at Il o'clock and listened to a sermon by the rector, the Rev. John G. Murray who is also chaplain of the Third Alabama regiment, of which the Rifles form part.
 Murray chose for his text a part of the Sth verse of the Sth chapter of Ecclesl- astes: And there is no discharge in that war" He preached without notes, and his remarks were at once earnest and practical. He began with the general proposition that man is born a soldier; that the desire for combat is instinctiye and that us outcrop- plng is seen in the different stages of life. The struggle begins in infancy It goes on through the school days and continues through the years.
 The preachers next proposition was that God, recognizing the fact that He had inn planted in man this propensity, had given him something to fight for.
 In the moral world battle is being ever waged-justice against injustice, right against wrong, the spiritual against the purely intellectual. Every man should be a Christian soldier.
 No Substitutes
 The next point made was that there was no discharge from this moral warfare, and not only was there no discharge but there were no substitutes. Every man had his battles to fight And this warfare, the preacher said, was continuous. It was continuous warfare for d purpose, too, the purpose being to avoid the corruption and degredation that would come from inactivi- ty or lethargy. There could be no such thing as corruption among soldiers when they were in the act of marching or fight ing. It was in the barracks where corrup- tion was found In the moral world the soldier must be always engaged.
 If every man is a soldier, he sad every man must be armed. Every man should put on the whole armor The preacher then quoted St. Paul: Put on the whole ar nor of God. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Man needs not only the armor of defense, for if he is to overcome evil he must wage offensive warfare, and the weapon for the offensive is the sword of the Spirit which he should always carry. As an emphatic note the cdlleu dlleHllOH lO lllS ldCl ludl there was no protection for the back. Therefore the Christian soldier must never turn his back to the enemy; must never turn the undipped-keel. The Greek and Roman soldier slept in his armor so as to be always ready. And must the Christi ian soldier be always ready.
 Soldiers Dream
 Dr. Murray described a great picture which he once saw. It was entitled the Soldiers Dream"
 A soldier, after day of battle, lay down to sleep. In the distance was seen the soldiers home Loved ones there were sending prayers to heaven for him and the cause for which he was fighting. Angels were bearing these prayers to Gods throne These were the things that the soldier in his dream saw. And when he awoke he was strengthened with the feel ing that his cause was just. The man who fights the battles of life, he said, Is strengthened when he knows that he is engaged in a righteous cause
 In closing, the rector reminded his hear CTS that the soldier was familiar with the tattoo and taps, which were sounded in the evening, and the reveille which call ed him in the morning, they must be ready for the taps which must be heard by all at the close of life, knowing that the reveille of the resurrection would fol- low. All must be prepared for the reveille which would call us to the review which the Grand Commander of the Universe had ordered. Dr. Murray alluded to the activi- ties which the Christian soldier would find in heaven There would be no friction in the woorld everlasting, but he imagined that there would be employment for all