The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1911-06-09
SATURDAY NIGHT
2NSERMONS
,Mss ~
= REySAMUEL
MpURVISDD
The GETTYSBURG OF YOUR LII

have an adequate remembrance Of it,
You're nearly half century older.
comrade. And you, my lady--well, I've
seen your dagucrrcotypc taken in the
sixties. don't wonder n certain
young officer narrowly escaped court
martial for over staying his furlough.
And he nearly missed Gettysburg by
IL, too. To have missed the girl and
the battle would have been a calamity.
And that was n battle In all the cen
turtles with their innumcrable wars
there have been few great decisive
battles. Greasy names only fifteen be
tween Marathon and Waterloo. Get
tysburg was fought since but mono
greater or more decisive before or AFT.
er. This is hallOwed ground Ever
been to Gettysburg l wish you could
before you are n year older. To see
its COO monuments and tablets, visit
Cemetery HILL Round Top Little
Round Top, CUPS hill. cross that
mile wide plain over which from Sem
mary ridge Numbered Pickctt'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, il you do
not say to your guide, IL must walk or
suffocate," then l do not know the
youth of our generation.
Life Warfare.
I have recently been over the ground
Just 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, at is we'll" So shall we.
But, brother, all life is warfare.
There is the tumult OF perpetual con
fiict; every year its campaign, every
day its battle. Enemies without, with
much. No man who does his duty wfll
escape enemies. If you make them
through your meanness, selfshness,
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 hard hSht
with enemies without.
The Greatest Battlefield.
The greatest battlefield on which II
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 fianked and gripped.
What the particular enemy is each in
dividual knows, openly or secretly
What is it, o woman - backbiting,
gossip, mischief making, selflshnessr
You, o man, blasphemy, temper ap-
petite, passionf Have you gone down
| to defeat again and again? 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 1t. Are these goods
all wool?" said Denver woman to q
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 II 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 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, you'll
have others again, but this determines
whether you will be final victor or not
Christ's Gettysburg was in the wilder
ness, Luthers at Worms, Wesley's at
| Oxford Daniels In Babylon, yours Is
here and now. The emphatic date In
human history is today. Yesterday is
gone forever. Tomorrow may never
come, and when It does 1t viii be en-
gagged with conflicts of its own. Hap
by the man who seizes this strategic
moment. Attention! Count or to the
right! Roll the drum! Sound the bu-
gle! Forward! Now is the bloody
angle" Victory here means forever.
Today is the Gettysburg OF your life
| Will vnu mr. vonr So,,l'c apauoy