Semi-weekly herald., 1914-06-01


eyes inseparable with those princi-
| pies themselves.
Take the accounts, for example, Of
( the lives of all the saints and martyrs
of old time, who sacrificed everything
in life, yea even life itself for the
cause and teaching Of the Crucified
i. Christ. The history Of Christianity
for the past nineteen hundred years
/ is full Of such lives. One is moved
to have a deeper love and reverence
for all humanity, because there have
lived such men in all ages. These
men, yes and women, have ennobled
humanity by the very fact that they
have lived. Their names are legion,
who have suffered for the sake OF
the Christian religion. Beginning with
| the first Christian martyr, st. Steph-
en-, coming down through the ages,
| there are the names Of st. Paul, the
evangelists, the apostolic fathers, and
all those who have sacrificed in the
name of Christ, up to the time of the
Pilgrim fathers, men who have given
up everything in obedience to that
love of the truth which Almighty God
Himself had implanted in their
breasts--for religious liberty.
ind now, to revert to my argu-
ment, these Christian heroes, start
| ing with the central fact of Chris
tianity, that the Lord and Saviour of
the world was crucified, and feeling
in their very hearts core that they
needed something which they might
set up before their eyes to symbolic
the life and death and teaching of
their Divine Master, something con-
crete which would be to them an en-
blem of victory over life and death,
chose that cross upon which the
Christ was crucified. And as time
went on, that cross became thu SYM
boil which held and typified for them
all the great truths of Christian doc
trine, in fact the upholding and de-
fense of the cross became the uphold
ing and defense of Christ Himself, be-
cause it represented Christ to them
And SO down through the ages, men
fighting for the truth and preserva-
ton of the Christian life, have ever
kept their eyes on that holy sign
borne before them, for it was for all
that which laid within its four arms
for all that it represented, for which
they were spilling out their life's
blood.
Now, second only to that great ano
overpowering devotion to the cross
and all that it represents to Chris.
tianity and religious liberty, is that
inborn spirit of patriotism and love OF
country which is also heaven-borr
passion. For it is Heaven or Goo
created. And men have lost theil
lives and sacrificed their homes ant
home ties just as willingly and glad
" for the love of country as they
have for a devotion to religious
principle. Take, for example, the
sacrifices that were made by some oi
you sitting before me this morning
and by those absent brothers OF
yours for whom you have met her'
today to mourn. You were called
upon to lay great many things upoI
the altar Of your country, but Il
seems to me that one of your great
est sacrifices, because it was giving
up all that you held dear in thi.
world, was in the dissolution of fam
lilies at the beginning and during the
progress of the Civil war, the part
ing of husband and wife, of fathel
and son, and of brother and brother
in great many cases forever in thi.
world.
| have often attempted to imagin
what that breaking up of the hom'
was like, in every city and village O
our land during that awful conflic
, which you took SO active part in
"As the companies made their wa!
down the village street. citizen
marching with their hands on tn
, shoulders of the soldiers, old men tod
ding along beside strapping sons
brothers passing arms around broth
ers. Here and there, woman hang
: ing to the chevroned sleeve of SO
or husband who was striving to sc
ahead through blurring eyes; here an
there, some fair young girl, badge
with the national colors, stretching
!, out her arms form the crowd an
laying her barred hands to the lips @
her passing lover"
IL And SO, as you and thousands @
your kinsmen marched down the vi
lage and city streets, all over thi
E broad land of ours, singing that wor
: derful battle hymn of the republic
e in the beauty Of the lilies, Chris
was born across the sea. with glor
= in His BOSOM that transfgures 20
: and me. As He died to make me
n holy, They died to make men fre
: While God goes marching on" whs
4 were you doing it all for? Why wei
you leaving your home, your swee
heart, your father and mother and Ii
Q tie children? Why, brethren, becaus
n you were following an ideal, an ide'
q Of freedom and happiness and justit
and fair play for all men. And, mai
y you, more than an ideal you were fo
lowing, you had the reality floatir
o there before your eyes, leading yc
j. as cloud by day and pillar of fl
y by night. You not only had the al
y stract idea of fighting for union al
for country, for freedom and happ
r, ness and justice for all men in yol
l. mind as motive power, but you we
20 fighting for all these things symbo
lied by the glorious flag of the.
e United States, and that flag in tin
It became a living thing to you. If OF
e insulted the flag, he insulted Il
IL country which it stood for. All tn
= comes very close to us now becaul
of the recent Mexican incident, an
at least, we younger men realize, ,
d never before, what that flag means.
i'll And SO today in eulogizing tn
:, flag, | am eulogizing the men WI
" fought and died for it, and cs
d see no better way on an occasion
II Al IL. 4 Ill r.. Al