The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-06-04
THE SWORD.
Its Mission on the Earth Nearly
Fulfilled.
Arbitration VIII Take the Place Of War
Between Nation and Nation-Rev.
T. De witt Talmage's Sermon
Before the Thirteenth
Regiment.

tect of his recent annual sermon before
the Thirteenth Regiment, ''The Sword
Its Mission and its Doom" The text
was Isaiah xxxiv., s: "My sword shall
be bathed in Heaven" Following is
the sermon:
Three hundred and ffty-one times
does the Bible speak of that sharp,
keen, curved, inexorable weapon which
flashes upon US from the text-the
sword. Sometimes the mention is ap-
plaudatory and sometimes damnatory,
sometimes as drawn, sometimes as
sheathed. In the Bible, and in much
secular literature, the sword represents
all javelins, all muskets, all carbines,
all guns, all police clubs, all battle-axes,
all weaponry for physical defense or at
tack. It would be an interesting thing
to give a history Of the plow, and follow
its furrow all down through the ages,
from the first crop in Chaldea to the last
crop in Minnesota. 1t would be inter-
esting to follow the pen as it has tracked
its way on down through the literature
of nations, from its first word in the first
book to the last word which some author
last night wrote as he closed his manu-
script. 1t would be an interesting thing
TO count the echoes Of the hammer from
the first nail driven, down through all
the mechanism OF centuries to the last
stroke in the carpenters shop yester-
day. But in this, my annual sermon as
chaplain Of the Thirteenth Regiment, l
propose taking up weapon that has
done work that neither plow, nor pen,
nor hammer ever accomplished. My
theme is the Sword--its mission and It's
doom.
The sword Of the text was bathed in
heaven; that is, it was sword Of right
eousness, as another sword may be
bathed in hell, and the sword Of cruelty
and wrong. There Is a great difference
between the sword Of Winkleried and
the sword Of Cataline, betweenthe 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
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 on the east side
Of the Garden Of Eden, God placed a
flaming sword to defend the tree OF liie
OF the officer OF the law st. Paul de-
clares: "He beareth 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, o most mighty"
One Of tho old battle shouts OF the Old
Testament was; "The sword OF the Lord
and Of Gideon" Christ, in great exi-
gency said, that such weapon was more
important than coat, for He declared:
"He that hath no sword, let him sell his
garment and buy one." Again He de-
clared: 81 come not to send peace but
sword" or Christ's second coming IL
is said: "0ut Of His mouth went sharp,
two-edged sword" Thus, sometimes
figuratively, but oftener literally, the
divine mission OF the sword is an
noupced.
What more consecrated thing in the
world than Joshua's sword, or Caleb's
sword, or Gideon's sword, or David's
sword, or Washington's sword, or Mari
on's sword, or Lafayette's sword, or
Wellington's sword, or Kosciuskos
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
b9en the best friends OF the human
race. They have slain tyrannies, pried
open dungeons, and cleared the
way for nations in their march up
ward. It 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 II 1t must cringe and crouch before
the wrong. Turn over the leaves Of the
worlds history, and find that there has
never been tyranny stopped or nation
liberated except by the sword. I am
not talking to you about the way things
ought 10 be, but about the way they
have been. What force drove back the
Saracens at Tours, and kept Europe
from being overwhelmed by Moham-
mechanism, and, subsequently,, all
America given over TO Moham-
medism? The sword OF Charles Martel
and his mon. Who can deal enough In
infnities 10 toll what was accomplished
for the worlds good by the sword Of Joan
Of Arc? In December last looked of
and saw In the distance the battlefield
Of Marathon, and asked myself what
was It that, on that most tremendous
day in history, stopped the Persian
hosts, representing not 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, II success
full In that battle. would have sub
merged by Asiatic barbarism, European
civilization, and, as a consequence In
after time, American civilization? The
swords Of Miltiades, and Themistocles,
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 trampled them down or pushed
them back into the sea The sword Of
that day saved the bost part OF the hem
ispheres, trinity OF keen steel flashing
in the two lights-the light Of tie set
ting sun Of barbarism, the light Of the
rising sun OF civilization. Hail to these
three great swords bathed In heayenl
What put an end TO Infamous Louis
XVI.'s plan OF universal conquest by