The Teton peak. [volume] (St. Anthony, Idaho) 1899-1904, 1903-02-12
4 Sermon.

largely by urexperience. Words have
their passing phases, and life, its cpl
sodes. Both have their influence in
coloring our view of life as a whole.
To Il passing along the dark valley,
mourning p~crchance, the loss of some
''angel face which "he has loved long
since. and lost awhile" life seems one
drear eXpanse of endless gray, monoton-
Gus in its continuity. To such a one
life seems in truth a vale Of tears"
To another having achieved much of
life vast possibilities and being crowned
with glorious wealth of a lovely woman's
love, with ex-President Cleveland he
might well exclaim that life was II
grand, sweet song"
Or, with Sir Edwin Arnold, viewing
life from q swiftly moving palace car,
might well be pardoned for sounding
his optomistic, if somewhat superficial
note. of "alls well along the Potomac
To the sheltered and to the superficial.
life with its swiftly passing, kaleidos-
copic changes, may partake solely of the
pleasurable, tho the actually may more
nearly threaten an engulfing cataclysm.
To the strenuous one, life may fit
tingly be described by the great apostle.
as a good fight 1t is a warfare,
good or evil, as victory or defeat, may
await its end. AS u experience deep
ems we realize that the whole world is
a vast encampment.
IN national armies the recruits are
vigorously tested. = = 3 Yet in this
larger warfare, and ali, the pity Of it,
the recruits are thrust upon the firing
line, infirm, feeble, and many times
utterly incompetent.
Or, again, within the armies of the
republic are two establishments, that
of the regulars and that of the volun-
teers. TO these may be added d possible
third division, the conscript, subject to
draft. 4 II y | have a father who is
proud Of the past and Of his regiment,
the SSth Indiana Volunteers. But not
the least cause for pride, lies in the last
significant word-'volunteers." They
We're not laggards, these saviors Of the
best land on earth. They were not deaf,
when the republic cried out in the an
guish Of an almost mortal wound. A
lnightier anthem and a sweeter. was
never heard than that inspiring chant,
We are coming Father Abraham,
these volunteers Of the great republic,
Of all time, for every war has seen its
quota. Never has the republic called
in vain and God forbid that she ever
should.
But. while this is true, how goes the
battle, upon our ''far-tiung battle line, :
| upon the larger stage of life, within
whose scared and embattled ranks
there IS no place for the volunteer. We
are all c0nscripts here. Drafted and
I the wealth Of the klondike could not
purchase a substitute. Drafted. and
death alone can end this conscription OF
bring this enlistment to an end. Drafted,
God pity the conscript in life's great
contest, fore-doomed to defeat, thro' the
fearful handicap of an evil heritage or
environment.
On every side there lies the tragic
evidence of these stricken ones against
whom the battle has gone. The press
teens With reports, daily, of life's ira
gic failures. There is no sanitorium, no
hospital, no tenement, 60 house Of re-
fuge, no morgue in all our broad land,
that might not add it's quota, and no
''potter's field that does not eloquently
testify Of these nameless ones, who have
fought their last fight and have lost the
race. Take them up tenderly, for only
God can know the anguish of the brok-
en- in heart and comfort them that
MOURN He alone can measure the
L1N9o VI VIC NtCICtU VI hIOW tIlt
heroism of the fight. Suspend your
finite Judgment, in the interim, for
possibly the publican and the harlot,
| go unto the kingdom of God before
You, oh, thou carping, self righteous
~pharasite, thou bird of most %wondrous
plumage. Learn this, that not every
one that sayeth, Lord, Lord" shall en-
ter into the kingdom of heaven, but him
that 'doeth the will Of my father which
is in heaven
As the army corps wendS it's way
thro the binding glare of the mid day
san, here II and there another, falls
from the ranks exhausted. Comrades
are told off, by the officer in charge, to
care for, and bring in these stricken
ones, unable Of themselves to keep their
place i'll the line. Or, p~erchance. it is
after some actual time Of conflict, and
the red-cross legions, with corporals and
guard, bring in their less fortunate com
lades from the front.
Tourist and guide, in their dangerous
quest amidst the dizzy heights, and the
preclpltous sleeps, the yawning crevasse
or threatening avalanche of the lordly
Alps, secure themselves with a rope
lied to the waist Of each. Then step by
step, each b~racing and each braced they
Pttott tliCil nolLdItlDuS uNenIur Ii
one should fall the connecting rope Sc
cures the fallen one from death on the
rocks below.
Comrades in life's battle, what the
ambulance and stretcher are to the
stricken soldier, the rope to the noun
t%aineer, 50 friends are to friends, in
Life. The great Commander tells off his
guards, and friends were born for ad-
Yersltles hour, God pity them who are
eomradless or friendless in this univer-
sal war, God pity US, with a ~profounder
pity, II we prove ourselves unfriendly
IN this war. 4 comrade- and your fel
bowman IS your comrade in this case
has been beaten in life's course. He
fails, defeated in the contest. Tempta-
ton has weakened him, hat you per-
chance are a stranger to. Instantly
friends step in and reach out helping
hands. Again and again they assist and
shield him with their brotherly regard.
Thank God for a friend in need for he
IS a TREND indeed, for, you have but to
aHI1