Milford chronicle., 1902-06-06
TALMAGF
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE, DID,
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago
Chicago, June LIN this sermon the
Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage shows
how the dead heroes whose graves are |
garlanded on Memorial day live gain |
in the spirit which their self sac idce
inspires in the American people; text. |
Ezekiel xxxvii, 3. "Can these Zones
live?"
A dark, grewsOme valley, peOpled |
with the strangest of all strange Osts, |
Il great army Of bleached skeletons. is |
the scene Of the prophets vision. Amid |
the millions and billions of dry homes
there is not the CLEAN Of one eye, the
beating of one heart, the welcome of
one handclasp. All are motionless
All are dead. Then, in the silence,
there comes voice asking the momen-
tOus question, Can these bones live?"
And. strange to say, as if in answer.
the dry bones begin to move, the
joints, like rusty hinges, creaking from
lift themselves and stand up. Then,
stranger still, these skeleton forms
stOOp down, as we would bend to gath.
er the fresh, clean linen after Il morn
ing bath, and they clothe themselves in
garments of flesh and blood. Coo first
asked Ezekiel whether the dry bones
could live. Then God showed the
prophet by visual manifestation that
they could.
The same question which was asked
the ancient prophet l ask you this ma
tiOnal Memorial day in reference to the
bones, the dry bones, of the soldiers
who died in our civil war. asl it in
reference to the dead soldiers If the
northern and southern armies alike
Now that the civil war is forty years
past, all are agreed that the men who
wore the gray fought from motives
just as honorable as t88se of the men
who wore the blue Robert e. Lee and
Stonewall Jackson were Gods noble
men as certainly as were u. S. Grant
and William Il. Sherman. AleS ander
II. Stephens was Obeying the dictates
did Thaddeus Stevens. ] ask this ques-
ton the more boldly because among
the last plans of our martyred Presi-
dent William Mckinley was one to do
justice to the aged Confederate veter-
ans. Can the bones of the northern
and southern heroes who suffered
death upon American battlefelds live
again? ! ask the question because
intend to answer it myself. l want to
prove this morning that the men who
met 4 soldiers death fighting lravely
are not dead. They are more alive to-
day than when their deeds testified to
the world that Americas heroes and
herOines-for shall speak in reference
to bOth-shOuld be classed among the
moral and intellectual forces of their
day and generation.
The Inspiration of Example.
The dead of our American battle
fields are intensely alive today in their
inspiring examples Every true soldier
knows what | mean by the over Whelm-
Ing power Of personal example. 1t is
the ability which a brave leader, by a
deed of heroism, has to instill IL e cour-
age Of his own life into othe' lives.
There comes a crisis in the battle.
What does the assaulting brigade com
mander do? Does he keep his position
in the rear of his troops. where he has
right to stay? Does he send one OF
his staff officers TO lead in the charge
Does he look after his own safety
Oh, no. He draws his sword and steps
to the front of his brigade. He hurried
ly utters a few inspiring words HI
says: Boys the safety Of the whole
army depends upon this move. Either
we must capture yOnder hill and breal
that opposing line. or else the whole
force must retreat Or surrender. Som,
Of us may lay down our lives there
Will you follow me, men? ] ask II,
man to go where l am not ready t,
lead. ! ask no man to charge wheri
+ 1t may not be possible for him to stel
over my dead body. Men, will you go
t win you go" And al! down the lin
of threats there comes the holrse an
swer: AYE, general. we will go! w
will gOw This was the way Genera
George Edward Pickett did when h
+ stepped in front of his soldiers at tn
/ battle of Gettysburg and led his bri
gade across those bloody fields until a
last his lines were almost ann INFLATED
With tears streaming down his cheeks
Pickett returned to report to his CON
mander, saying. General Lee my nc
. bic brigade has been swept ava yr' Thi
was the way Marshal Ney did when h
led the Old Guard down into the ravin
Of Chain, where the Waterloo TRACED
was practically ended. This was til
way Richard Neville, earl of Warwicl
E. did upon the battlefield of Barne
When the great kingmaker saw tina
:. his troops were being routed, he rod
l. to the top of a hill and disnounteC
$ There, within sight of his men. Il
sr drove his sword into the heart of hi
y noble war charger. Then, hitving CT
4, off all possibility of personal escape, /
called his troops, saying: "rhe con
mander OF the English forces is here
= conquer or die! Will his men be Wi
ing to die with him?" The retreatiT
soldiers gathered around their mob
leader and died by thousands as Il
v Earl Of Warwick himself died. w;
may be hell. as an American gener
once bluntly declared, but by The glea
Of the hct. kissing. demoniac flames
that awful inferno are seen the hero
=, deeds of many whose noble lives ha'
been tried and purified by the fires
In an earthly martyrdOm.
nc This national Memorial day we n
les living among the gloriied scenes of Il
&C. past. We are ready to suffer for Il
in, old flag because its red folds nave be-
e,s clipped IN pools of human blood. Y
are better fathers and husbands a.
ms sons because the domestic hearth
Ills many u family has been builded O
-, of the tombstOnes of Arlington Heigl
in and Petersburg, of Nashville and I
lanta. We are better men and WON
81. because our dead soldiers have shoV
= us how to nobly live and how to G
N riOusly die.
~ A battlefield Request.
The dead of our American bait
fields are intensely alive today in I
influence of the sorrowing loved OIL
Z who were left bereft. Som atimes
49, are apt to enormously believe that
es. only sufferings of war were to be fou
in the gunshot wounds and the swal
fevers, in the heartrending cries
ntal water. Water?' heard ut night fir
the wounded lying between the c
tending lines, in the colds, the hes
the hunger, the WEAKNESS and
H. inconsistencies suffered by the men