THE FIRST WAR SERMON.

To the late Dr. Thomas Kerr belongs the honor of preaching the first war sermon in Rockford. He was then pastor of the First Baptist church. Sunday morning, April 14th, the startling news was received that Sumter had fallen. It was one of the critical moments in the nation's life.

Under its solemn inspiration Dr. Kerr preached an impressive, patriotic discourse Sunday afternoon in the Baptist church. For the first time in the history of Rockford, the American flag graced the sanctuary of the God of battles. It was a symbol of the true union of church and state. But it was then an innovation. Public worship was then of the "churchly" sort. Questions of the day had not been discussed in the pulpit. The Civil war made the services of the church more practical and less theological. The pendulum has never swung back

. Sunday afternoon, April 28, 1861, Dr. Kerr preached another stirring War sermon in the Baptist church. The auditorium was crowded and the pastor preached a sermon of great power. Several times during its delivery his noble sentiments were greeted with outbursts of applause. None of Dr. Kerr's local contemporaries in the ministry are now living. The hearts moved by the eloquence of that hour have ceased to beat. The aged preacher himself was almost the last survivor of that historic day.

Dr. Kerr was asked to repeat this discourse to a larger audience. He responded in Metropolitan Hall Sunday evening, May 5.

Monday morning, April 15th, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers to "subdue combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, and to cause the laws to be duly executed." On the same day a dispatch was received at Springfield, stating that the quota of Illinois under the president's call was six regi­ ments of militia. Governor Yates therefore issued a proclamation, convening the legislature in special session, April 23d. for the purpose of putting the state upon a more effective war footing

The attack upon Sumter obliterated all party lines in Winnebago county, and friends and opponents of the administration sprang to arms to defend the government from the assaults of traitors. It is said that when Cadmus of old needed men he sowed dragons' teeth, and forthwith from the ground came warriors armed for battle. So when Treason threw down the gauntlet. loyal legions of freedom accepted the gage of battle.

 

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