The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1908-05-28
MEMORIAL ADDRESS
Rev. j. w. Heard breaches an Able
and Impressive Sermon to the
Members of G. A. R..
He Pays Glowing Tribute to Heroism
of Veterans Who Fought in
War of the Rebellion.

Union memorial services were held
at the Methodist church on Sunday
morning, and the majority of the
members of Wallace T. Rines Post
AZ were in attendance at the obser-
vances arranged especially in honor
of their departed comrades. The
church was prettily decorated with
flowers, foliage and flags, while the
standard of the Grand Army of the
Republic stood forth in bold relief,
producing very pleasing effect.
Rev. Geo. A. Swertfager of the
Congregational church read the scrip
ture lesson and offered the prayer and
chorus of forty voices rendered
selections of an appropriate nature.
The services throughout, which
ended with an able patriotic sermon
by Rev. J. W. Heard of the Methodist
church, were particularly impressive.
Mr.. Heard's sermon, in verbatim,
follows:
Text, Mark IA, 9: "Verily I saw
unto you wheresoever this gospel shall
be preached throughout the whole
world this also that she hath done
shall be spoken of for a memorial of
her,
You recognize this text as a part of
the scripture story just read. The
characters are entirely human and
modern: The cold proud hypocritical
and discourteous Pharisee at whose
table Jesus sat; the woman who saw
the Pharisee's heartless inhospitality
in neglecting to provide water and
ointment for the footsore traveller,
according to the common practice of
the day. Fastening home she seizes
her precious box of ointment and, re-
turning, breaks it and pours upon the
head Of our Lord. Her tears prove
the genuineness of her love. The un-
sentimental critics, chief of whom is
the miser Judas, so solicitous, sud-
denly, for the poor for whom they
Ecared not at ali. The situation calls
for true, chivalrous, gentlemanly
man and Jesus rises to the occasion
in a rare and beautiful tribute:
'Wheresoever this gospel shall be
preached throughout the whole world
this also that she hath done shall be
spoken of for a memorial of herr
You we'll know the prophesy has
come true. I tell this story today as
it has been told many times. Millions
of people have heard it and read it
and know it by heart, and it will be
known by millions yet to come. This
woman's simple act of love and ador-
alton, done without thought of fame,
is an immortal thing. It was not the
intrinsic value of the gift. Modern
men whose names will be forgotten a
generation hence have given vastly
more.
But here is one, who according to
Jesus explanation, foresaw his death.
"Against the day of my burying hath
she kept this. With rare spiritual in
sight, such as the coarser Materials
tic disciples knew nothing Of she saw
the true aim and purpose of Jesus and
knew that, if he pursue it to the end,
it led straight to the cross. Her
amounting and her tears are the con-
secration of her own life to her Lord
and seem to say-"Master I am ready
to die with YOU"
On this Memorial Day Sabbath it,
is our custom devoutly to take our
stand beside the soldiers grave. He
may have been killed in battle or died
of wounds or from natural causes, but
to everyone we pay the tribute Jesus
paid to the woman. "As long as this
republic shall last, so long as history
shall be read, this that the soldier has
done shall be spoken of as memorial
of him. And some modern Judas
will stand there too and cry, "Why all
this fuss about the old soldier?n
'Why all this waste of pension
money!" We will not stop to show
the animus of the criticism nor the
hard miserly heart from which it,
comes. Think rather of the underly-
ing meaning in every soldiers grave
through our land! The soldiers
grave and the woman's tribute to
Jesus and the Christ upon the cross.
all stand for the same great common
place principle. We talk and preach
it so much more than we practice it so
the mere mention today may sound
like "cant." But when the world sees
true genuine unprecedented prac-
tice of this principle such as we saw
in Princeton the other day we recog-
nize it as the divinest thing in human
life. It's a little thing to die-a
coward can die, but it takes man in
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