Connecticut western news., 1904-03-24
TalnAaSe Sermon
By Rec. Frank De Uiff TaIm q dSe. D. D.

the ideal Christian soldier IS peculiarly appropriate. The preacher chooses as his text II Timothy ii, 3, Endure hard ness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ
 What is war? War is he'll" once bluntly said William T. Sherman. War is a river of blood flowing into river of blood. War means sickness and death, widowhood and orphanhOOd, mangled bodies, devastated harvest fields and pauperism. War is mortal grapple when nation says to nation. My quarrel with you cannot be set tied but by fighting, and now we will see which of us two has the power to crush the other" and then they put their armies in the field commissioned to kill one another. War Is q grave trench dug with bayonets. It Is the heavens deluging countless tears. It is man with cllnched fist and flaming Sye-man with an artillery wagon for carriage and with the surgeons op- erating table for couch. War! It is the most brutal, the most tiendish, the most terrific, the most blasting curse of the ages. We have the right to hate 1t with an intense hatred and to pray that the Prince of Peace may give us more antipathy to it and more in tense horror of the awful suffering and death that 1t entails.
 War an International Curse.
 But though war is an awful interna- tional curse there have been occasions when men have entered the army and have gone to tine battlefield from con scientious motives. There have been cases, as every student of history knows, when 1t has become sacred duty for the redress of wrong or for the defense of the home for the patriotic citizen to take up arms. Christ himself recognized the fact when he said, 'I came not to send peace on the earth, but sword" So it has come to pass that his followers have at times, with sore reluctance, but under a stern sense of duty, en- gagged in war. Unhappily, too, they have been found in hostile camps, as in our own civil war, when good Chris tian men conscientiously followed the Confederate flag, as others equally conscientious followed the Union flag. A conspicuous illustration was that of Leonidas Polk, the bishop of Louisiana, whose pure Christian character none could deny. He was so gentle and kind in his private life that when one of his black slaves was dying he was just as tender to him as if the black man had been his own flesh and blood. On the night on which the humble slave closed his eyes in death the good bishop said, Tom, Is there anything else 1 can do for youY' The answer was: "Yes, massa. If you will only lie down by me on the bed and put your arm around my neck, and let me put my arm around your neck, as we used to do when boys lying under the green walnut trees, think that could die more easy" So the great southern minister and leader lay down upon his slaves cot and held his black servant in his white arms until the white an- gel of death came down and took the soul from beneath the black skin. Surely such q man of God as Bishop Polk was not cruel or malevolent. Yei at the bugle blast of war he donned the soldiers uniform. As q lieutenant general of the Confederate army he was shot at Pine Mountain, Ga, June IA, 1864, He was shot only a few hours after he had confirmed into the Episcopal church some of his brother officers
 When Good Men May Fight.
 It Is proper and right at certain times and seasons for good men to go to war, If they go with the right motive. The qualities which go to make up a good and Brave soldier are those which should characterize good Christian. The courage and self sac rifice and devotion to righteous cause which have been displayed In the field are needed in the Christians daily life Therefore, Paul aptly and powerfully uses the figure of my text for gospel comparison. He is practically saying to young Timothy: Hook upon your Christ as great leader and general Enlist in his service. Implicitly obey ; his orders. Charge in Christs name If the order is given you to charge. Do sentinel duty and trudge weary marches If that is your order. Be ready to fight on battlefield, or starve in trench, or suffer in hospital, as duty may command" All young people are delighted with military parade. Let me in this sermon recount for you how q gospel soldier should obey Christ's bugle call.
 What does 1t mean to be q gospel soldier? First and foremost, to take the oath of enlistment. The difference between an army and a mob, the diff ference between collection of men governed by one brain, ruled by one voice, directed by one order, and a lot of men running hither and thither like flock of sheep, or frightened, stampeding cattle, doing as they will, is the difference between the oath of enlistment and no oath. Before man takes the oath of enlistment he Is a free man. After he takes the oath of enlistment he is no longer an independr ent individuality. He is a soldier, subject to the soldiers orders, and Is liable to be shot if he deserts or dis obeys his superior officers. The oath of enlistment practically says: II wiIl,. if necessary, let others do my thinking. l will go where I am told to go, and do what I am told to do." The oath of enlistment is more binding than bands of steel. | well remember the time, that I took the oath of enlistment in the United States army, and the trans formation in my life which immediate ly took place on account of that oath. The Spanish-American war had broken n.,k bot r cago, and was chaplain of one of tho largest regiments in Illinois AS soon as war was declared, the colonel tele- graphed Governor Tanner, placing our whole regiment at the service of the state. What to do l knew hot. My duty to my church and to my family required me to stay; my duty to my country called me to go.
 The Divine Commander.
 Worried and fretted by these con