The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-12-15
SATURDAY NIGHT
SSNSERNONS
,WS BY
- REVSAMUEL
" WpURVISDl
TIE GETTYSBURG OF YOUR LIFE.

Text "Thcy be many that night against
me."-psalm lvl, .
Doesn't seem forty-eight years since
Gettysburg. Not many under slNt,
have an adequate remembrance of 3D.
| You're nearly half century oldu.
comradc. And you, my lady well, N.
seen your daguCrrcotypc taken In t0.
| sixties don't wonder CcrtNN
young officer narrowly escaped court
martial for over staying his furious
! And he nearly missed Gettysburg ng
| IL, too. 10 have missed tho girl uUl
the battle would have been calamity
And that was n battle! In all the cru-
| turtles with their innumcrable WA"
there have been few great decisive
| battles. Greasy names only fifteen bn-
| tween Marathon and Waterloo. Gr,-
| tysburg was fought since, but uuur
greater or more decisive before or aft
or. This is hallowed ground. Ever
been to Gettysburg? l wish you could
before you are n year older. TO SEQ
its GOO monuments and tablets, visit
| Cemetery hill, Round Top Little
Round Top, Culp's hill, cross that
mile wide plain over which from Sem
mary ridge Numbered PiCkett's awful
charge. Walk through the devils den
the peach orchard and the wheat.
| field. If your heart doesn't swell al
most to bursting, IL your nerves do not
| thrill almost to exaltatiOn, If you do
not say to your guide, IL must walk or
| suffocate," then l do not know tho
| youth OF our generation.
Life a Warfare.
I have recently been over the ground
| lust once more.'' 1t is changed where
shot and shell crashed through forest
| then-the birds are now building their
| nests. The drumbeat Is hushed, the
bugle peal has died away. the hosts
| that endured hunger, thirst, weary
marches, charged up mountain sides,
faced death in camp and field and
filed the world with their glory are
| passing away. The blue and the gray
| lie together in death. The green corn
of spring is now breaking through their
| Commingled dust. The dew from heav-
| en- falls upon their union in the grave.
| From the battlements OF peace In the
| clearer light of the spirit world they
| surely say, 1T IS we'll" So shall we.
| But, brother, all life is a warfare.
| There is the tumult of perpetual con.
| flict; every year its campaign, every
| day its battle. Enemies without, with.
| in. Those without cannot harm us
much. No man who does his duty will
escape enemies. If you make them
| through your meanness, selhshness,
unkindness, then feel ashamed and
| right the wrong. The battle without
| is fierce one-sickness, trouble, dis.
| grace. Even the wolf has shifted at
| your door. 1t has been q hard fight
with enemies without.
Tho Greatest Battlefield.
The greatest battlefield on which
man ever fought is within himself
| The greatest defeats are there and the
| mightiest victories. Victory on the
| field of ones own heart means victory
| elsewhere. The greatest mastery is
self mastery. Every true man, every
true woman recognizes this. Sin first
stole our self mastery away. 1t must
be charged and danked and gripped
| What the particular enemy is each in
dividual knows, openly or secretly.
| What is 1t, q woman - backbiting
| gossip, mischief making, selfishness?
| You, o man, blasphemy, temper, APP
| petite, passion? Have you gone down
| to defeat again and again2 Seen your
| colors drag at the very time you
should have been most easily the tri-
| umphant victor? That's good. Then
| you know the weak point on your line
That's where the hottest conflict is to
be fought. There's the key to the
| whole situation. You'll have to mass
your batteries there. Temptation to
| dishonesty? Fight It, Are these goods
| all wool?" said a Denver woman to n
| little shopkeeper. "They were, mad
am, before the revival at our church.
| They are not now" Uncleanness,
cowardice and encouragement are the
soldiers weakest points. Find out
| that point and defend it with all your
strength. Victory consists in holding
on a moment longer.
Your Gettysburg.
How have your campaigns gone?
Very unsatisfactory? Then you are
at good place TO listen. Now comes
the crisis. The conflicts are coming
| thicker and faster. Now you must
fight the battle of your life. All be
fore have been only skirmishes This
is the cruX of the whole warfare-you
will now have to decide in this life's
warfare whether you will be a Chris
tian in the fight or not. You will fight
three enemies at one time-the world,
the flesh, the devil. You have come
TO your Gettysburg! This is the en-
gagement that decides your war.
You've had other battles before, youll
have others again, but this determines
whether you will be final victor or not.
Christ's Gettysburg was in the wilder
ness, Luther's at Worms, Wesley's at
Oxford, Daniels in Babylon, yours IL
here and now. The emphatic date in
human history is today. Yesterday ID
gone forever. Tomorrow may never
come, and when 1t does It will be en-
gagged with conflicts of its own Han