Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1907-02-06
An Excellent Address,

-
but now in charge of the Episcopal
Church at Jacksonville, Alabama,
and is well worth reading:
Mr.. Presidentand the Faculty Of the
Alabama State Normal. and You.
Veterans of the Southern Con
federacy, and You, Daughters Of
this Noble Order, and You, Com
rades of the United Sons of the
Confederate Veterans, Ladies
and Gentlemen:
| assure YOU it is no meaningless
phrase when say that, as Assistant
Chaplain General of the L. s. {.
V, and as a member of the Camp
of Jacksonville, l count it very
high honor and privilege to address
you upon this occasion.
As we look around us at the
weakness of human nature and the
power of temptation, and see how
often today poor, frail man goes
down in the awful struggle for the
supremacy of his higher nature
over the lower. we would be tempt
ed to dispair of the final victory of
good over evil. but for one great
redeeming fact in humanity and
that is mans admiration for the
ture, the beautiful and the good.
For, it matters not how bad man
may become, it seldom happens
that he loses this. When he does.
he is lost beyond redemption.
My friends, we are met here
today to memorabilia the man who
stands out pre-eminently among
all men, ancient or modern as en-
bodying i'll himself, in greatest de-
gree, the true, the beautiful and
the good.
Fortunately for us, as we trav-
erse this dark, untried pilgrimage,
we see in the armament above us
certain great lights which have
been placed there by the Godlike
in man as fixed stars to illuminate
our pathway.
We see upon the horison, bright
ly shining, such men as Cyrus the
great, and AleXader and Caesar
and Socrates and Plato and Homer
and Virgil and all that great galaxy
of the heather world who, by the
light of nature around them and
by inmate inspiration, have strug-
gled up to noble achievement.
And then, higher up in thisfrma,
ment, we see the prophets andapos.
ties revolving around the great sun
of Righteousness, lifted up to still
higher attainment by the specia
inspiration of Gods Holy Spirit.
And then, we fix, the telescope
upon another group of stars which
border around these grear
geninses of the Christian world
We see such men as Charlemagne
and Richard Occur De Leon, anC
Frederick the Great and Napoleon
Bonaparte and Wellington anC
Washington and Lincoln and Davi
and Grant. They appear outsid,
of this other great galaxy of in
spired men and inspire us to loft,
enterprise and endeavor because
like ourselves, they are uninspiret
in the special sense, and becaus
they share our weaknesses.
But as we sweep this heaven 0
heroism, we behold a single star
if the very zenith, shinin more bril-
liantly than all the rest of uninspr
ed humanity star which belong
not TO the purely human, or tn
all-Divine- a star which has n
companiOns-of a class all by itsel
and generis" "a star whic
revOlves around the great sun O
Righteousness in closer orbit tina
any except the Apostles an
Prophets; and star which sparkle
with unrivaled, ever-increasini
brilliancy and glory. That star
the one whom we have met toda
to memorable, sublime in Peac
a terrible Mars in war, Godlike i
defeat, first in the hearts of ever
Southern man, woman and child
Gen. Robert Edward Lee.
The three chief characteristic
which differentiated Jesus Chri>
from all men we're His humility
His self-abuegation, and His mi.
sion to minister to others and nc
to be ministered unto. And, /
these traits of character our i'm
mortal Lee stands out in bold relic
as nearest the Divine Christ of a
uninspired men.
Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar an