The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1905-06-02
CIaln1aQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, d. b.

realization of the promise of universe
peace and welcomes the agencies thai
are now at work for that purpose. The
text is Isaiah ii, 4, "Neither shall they
learn war any more"
Every great catastrophe is an inspi
ration for overcoming on at least fol
lessening danger. No sooner did the
awful conflagratiOn of the Iroquois
theater take place in December, 1904
than the whole city of Chicago arose
in protest. EXcoriating denunciations
appeared in all the daily newspapers.
Editors as well as people declared mo
fire trap like that had a right to exist"
At once there was a scurrying about of
the city officials. The fire regulations
were Overhauled. The means for fight
ing fire were increased. The fire in
spectOrs were clearly and emphatically
told that hereafter there was to be no
evading of the fire laws and of the
building restrictions The will of the
people plainly said "The horror of the
past through criminal negligence of the
city officials shall not become the hor-
ror of the future"
What is true in reference to fire ca
tastrophes is also true about railroad
accidents. The tragedy of the Tay
bridge in old Scotland strengthened the
abutments of many bridges in many
lands. The terrific annual slaughter of
human life upon the railroads of our
country was the cause of creating the
block system, the Westinghouse brake
and the automatic coupling whereby
car can be Joined to car without en-
dangering the body of brakeman or
other railroad employee. So the awful
tragedy of the civil war, with it's mil
lion dead, ought to be an inspiration to
teach us not only how we should honor
the soldiers who fought and bled and
died. but also how we should honor
those who are living, to prevent such
a horrible butchery of human life in
the future.
AS man has to be taught the art of
war, so he must learn the art of peace.
Shall he not honor his preceptors who
are teaching him how to cover the val
leys with houses and factories and
schools and churches instead of with
campfires and fortresses and burning
towns? Shall we not honor the men
who are teaching us how to change
our plains of Esdraelon into "cities of
refuge" which were once battlefields
in many wars? Shall we not honor to-
day such teachers as Professor r. G.
Holden of Iowa Agricultural college,
who in 1904 gave to the farmers of
the west a certain kind of corn seed
which would produce a better kind of
corn in that region than the farmers
ghad been able to grow and thereby in
one year put into the western farmers
pockets $50,000,000 more than had ever
been there before? Shall we not honor
such one as well as we honor the
soldier who teaches the Iowa boy how
to march and how to shoot and how to
slay his brother?
ROOseveIts Pen Versus His Sword.
Shall we not honor Theodore Roose-
velt's pen as well as Theodore Roose-
velt's sword? The pen which sum-
mons the representatives of all the civ
ilized nations to the peace conference
at The Hague is just as truly brave
and patriotic as was the sword which
our president drew at San Juan hill
and the sword which today is ready to
be drawn if foreign nations dare tram
pie upon the rights of American citi-
Zens. Yes, the pen Of peace Is to be
honOred quite as much as the sword
of war Therefore, on this Memorial
Sunday, when friends and loved ones
are strewing the graves of our dead |
soldiers with flowers, / would place
garlands upon the brows of the living
heroes, upon the brows of the men and |
the women who are living and work
ing to prevent future civil wars and fu- |
ture international strife.
This subject which we are about to
discuss is one which is uppermost to- |
day in the minds and hearts of many. |
at has occurred to me recently" wrote
q dear friend from the east, that a |
good subject for sermon at some ear |
ly day would be Peace and the move
ments being made for the preservation |
of the worlds peace. Now that the |
statue of Frederick the Great has been |
set up in Washington it is seriously |
proposed to supplement it with the |
statues of Caesar, Napoleon and Han
nibal This may be a war college idea. |
/ do not know who made the sugges-
ton, but it is not in line with the true
spirit of the age, which is one of peace |
and arbitration. Instead Of clarifying |
these great destroyers of nations we |
might do well to emulate the South
American republics of Chile and Ar
gentina, which have entered into mu-
tual arbitration cOmpacts, melted their
cannon and set up a huge statue of
Christ on a peak of the Andes as the
bringer of peace to the world" That
letter has in it the true ring of the gos-
pei and of the best Christian states
manship. May God help us, one and
all, to honor the dead soldier today in
khe best of all ways by teaching man.
kind to honor the gospel and the tenn
poral agencies that are ct work to pre-
vent future wars!
True Statesmanship.
The dead soldier of the civil war in
the first place should teach us that the
statesman who ought to be most re-
spected in American politics is not nee
essarily the man who is elected to Of
fee. but the man who would sooner be
defeated for advocating just princi-
pie, than elected for advocating
wrong one. He should teach us that
Jeroboam, in. exile may be more of
true friend to his country than a Re
hobOam, the heir apparent to a throne.
A publicly denounced and disgraced