The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-06-18

members OF the regiment were lmme 1laCely
! in front of the platform, ami their friends
| thronged the galleries. Ths hyma sung was
! the national air:
Ny country, 'tis Of thee,
Sweet lant OF liberty.
The following is the sermon in full:
Three hundred and fifty-one times does
the Bible speak of that sharp, keen, curved,
| ine5orable weapon, which flashes upon Us
| from the text-ths sword. Sometimes the
mention is applaudatory and sometimes
| damnatory, sometimes as drawn, sometimes
| as sheathei. In the Bible, and in much
secular literature, the sword represents all
| javelins, all mussets, all carbines, all guns,
| all police clubs, all battle axs, all weaponry
| for physical defense or attack. 1t would
be an interesting thing to give the history
of the Piow, and follow its furrow all down
through the ages from the first crop in
Chaldea to the last crop in Minnesota. 1t
| would be interesting to allow the Pen as
it has tracked its way on down through thu
literature of nations, from its first worI in
| the first book to the last word which soma
author last night wrote as he closet his
| manuscript. 1t would be an interesting
| thing to count the ecaoes of the hammer
| from the first nail driven, down through all
| the mechanism of centuries to the last stroke
in the carpenters shop yesterday: But in
| this, my annual sermon as chaplain OF ths
Thirteenth Regiment propose taking upa
weapon that has done work that neither
| plow nor pen nor hammer ever accom-
plished My theme is the sword-its mission
| and its doom.
The sword Of the text was bathed in
| heaven; that is, it was sword of righteous
| ness, as another sword may bs bathet IN hell,
and the sword of cruelty and wrong. There
is great difference between the sword OF
| Winklereid and the sword of Catalins, be-
tween the sword of Leonidas and the sword
of Benedict Arnold. In our effort to hasten
| the end Of war, we have hung the sword,
with abuses and execrations, when it has had
| a divine mission, and when in many crises OF
the worlds history it has swung for liberty
| and justice, civilization and Righteousness
and God. At the very opening of the Bible
| and OH the east of the Garden Of Eden God
| placed a flaming sword to defend the tree
| of life. Of the officer of the law st. Paul
| declares: He beareath not the sword in
vain" Through Moses God commanded;
"Put every man his sword by his side"
David in his prayer says: ''Gird thy sword
upon thy thigh, D most mighty" One of the
old battle shouts of the Old Testament was,
1.-THE sword of the Lord and of Gideon"
| Christ, in great eNigency, said that such
| weapon was more important than coat for
| be declared: "He that hath no sword, let him
sell his garment and buy one" Again He de-
| clared: II come not to send peace but
sword.n Of Christ's second coming it is said:
"Out of His mouth went sharp, two edged
| sword" Thus, sometimes figuratively, but
oftener literally, the divine mission Of the
sword is announced.
What more consecrated thing in the word
| than JoSnuas sword, or Caleb'S sword, or
Gideon's sword, OF David's sword, or Wash
| ingtons sword, or MarionS sword, or Lafay-
| cites sword, or Wellington's sword, or
| Nosciusko's sword, or Garibaldi's sword or
hundreds of thousands Of American swords
| that have again and again been bathed in
| heaven. Swords of that kind have been
the best friends of the human race. They
have slain tyrannies, prie1 open dungeons,
and cleared the way for nations in their
march upward. 1t was better for them to
take the sword and be free, than lie under
the oppressor's heel and suffer. There is
| something worse than death. and that
is life il it must cringe and crouch
before the wrong. Turn over the
leaves OF the worlds history, and find that
there has never teen a tyranny stopped or
a nation liberated except by the sword. l
am not talking to you about the way things
ought to be, but about the way they have
| been. What force drove back the Saracens
at Tours, and kept Europe from being over
whelmed by Mohammedanism, and, subse-
quently, all America given over to Moham.
| mechanism? The sword of Charles Maj tel and
his men. Who can deal enough in minutes
to tell what was accomplished for the worlds
good by the sword of Joan Of Arc.
In December last looked off and saw In
the distance the battlefield of Marathon, and
] I asked myself what was it that, on that
most tremendous day in history, stopped the
Persian hosts representing MOI only Persia
but Egypt and Tripoli, and Afghanistan
and Beloochistan, and Armenia; host that
had Asia under foot, and proposed to put
Europe under foot, and, if successful in
that battle, would have submerged by Asatic
barbarism European civilization, and, as
consequence in after time, American clvlllza-
ton. The swords of Miltiades, and Themisto
cles, and Aristides At the waving Of these
swords the eleven thousand lancerS OF Athens
on the run dashed against the one hundred
thousand insolent Persians, and tranpled
them down or pushed them back into the
sea. The sword Of that day saved the best
part of the hemispheres, trinity of keen
Steel flashing in the two lights-ths light OF
the setting Of the sun of barbarism, the light
of the rising sun of civilization. Hail to these
three great swords bathed in heaven!
What put an end to infamous Louis XFI.'s
plan of universal conquest, by which England
would have been made to kneel on the steps
of the Tuileries and the Anglo-Sa1oa racs
would have been halted and all Europe
paralyzed? The sword Of Marlborough at
Blenheim. Time came when the Roman war
eagles, whose beaks had been punched into
the hearts of nations, must be brought down
from their eyries All other attempts had
dispracefully failed, but the Germans, the
mightiest nation for Drawn and brain, un-
dertook the work, and, under God, sue
ceeded. What drove back the Roman
cavalry till their horses, wounded, flung their
riders and the last rider perished, and the
Hercynan forest became the scene OF RomeS
humiliation? The sword, the brave sword,
the triumphant sword Of Armiuius.
While passing through France last Janu,
ary nv nerves tingled with excitement an1
I rose in the car the better to see the battle
field of Chalons, the mounds and breast
works still visible, though nearly five hum
dred years ago they were shoVeled up;
Here, Attila, the heather monster, called
by himself the ''Scourge of God, for the
punishment of Christians" his life mas
sacre of nations, came to ignomlnlous de-
feat, and he put into one great pile tne
wooden saddles Of his cavalry, and the
spoils of the cities and Kingdoms he haa
sacked, and placed on top Of this holocaust
the women who had accompanied him IN
his devastating march, ordering that the
torch be put to the pile. What power broke
that sword, and stayed that red scourge OF
cruelty that was roIllng over Europe: Inc
sword OF Theodore and Actlus.
To come down to later ages all Intelligent
Englishmen unite with all intelligent Amerl.
cans in saying that it was the best tnlils tnae
the American colonies swung off from the
government of Great Britain. 1t would
have been the worst absuriity of 4Ooo years
il this continent should have continued IN
loyalty to a throne on the other side OF the
sea. No one would propose a governor