The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-06-11
1l]E; SWORD.
1t LAS PlA(ED A GREAT PART. But
II IS DOOMED.

SC. mon by DIR. Ta:,l,::&e Mt the brooklSi
.c,l,mv-Thc Sword as Seen i'll the Sible
The Use and AbaSe by NationS-Ihe
Time Is coming When Nation Sh IL NO
More. lit Up Sword Against Nation.
I,,:;.,;sLYS, \. Y, June 5.-Chap-
lain (. De W.tt Talmage last Sun
Gay preached the annual sermon be-
fore the Thirteenth regiment, IL the
Academy cfMusic. The staf-otiicers
and members of the regiment were
immediately in front of the platform,
and their friends thronged the gal
leries. The hymn sung was the Nat
ional Ain:
'My Goa tr:. It's OF ;ae'.
Sweet land oflberty.
The subject of the sermon was:
The Sword-Its Mission and It's
Doom" The text, Isaiah Xxxlv. 8:
Ny sword shall be bathed IN heav-
en-"
Three hundred and ffty-one times
does the Bible speak Of that sharp,
keen, curved, mexorable weapon,
which tlashe. upon us from the text
the sword. sometimes the mention
is applaudatory and sometimes damn
atory, sometimes as drawn, some,
times as sheathed. IL the Bible, and
in much secular literature, the sword
represents all iavelins, al muskets,
all carbines, al guns, all pohceelub
all battle-axes, all weaponryior phys
ical defence o. attack. It twoulc be
an interesting thing to give the his
tory Of the Plough, AID follow ITS tut
row all down Though the ages from
the first crop in Chaldea to the last
IN Minnesota. It would be interest
ing to follow the pen rs u has track
ed its way on down through the liter,
atue OF nations, from It's hrst word
in the first book to the last word
which some author last night wrote
as he closed his manuscript. 1t would
be an interesting thing to count the
echoes of the hammer from the tlrst
nail driven, down through all the
mechanism of centuries to the last
stroke in the carpenters shop yester-
dav. But in this, my annual sermon
as chaplain of the Thirteenth regi-
ment, I propose taking up weapon
that has done q work that neither
plow nor pen nor hammer ever ac-
comphshed. My theme is the sword
its mission and its doom.
The sword Of the text was bathed
in heaven; that is, it was d sword OF
Righteousness, as another sword may
be bathed IN hell, and be the sword OF
cruelty and wrong. There is great
difference between the sword OF
Winklereid and the sword OF Catahne,
between the sword Of Leonldas and
the sword of Benedict Arnold In
our effort to hasten the end OF war,
we have hung the sword with abuses
and exeerations, when 1t has had a
divine mission, andwhen many crises
of the worlds history it has swung
for liberty and iiastlce, civllzatlon
and righteousness and God. At the
very opening Of the Bible, and on the
east side of the Garden OF Eden God
placed flaming sword to defend the
tree of life. Of the officer OF the law,
st. Paul declares: He 5eareth not
the sword in VAIN" Through Moses
God commanded: '.Put every man
his sword by his SIDE; DaVld, IN
his prayer, says: Gard thy sword
upon thy thigh, 0 most mighty. One
Of the old battle shouts of the Ola
Testament was, .:The sword OF the
Lord and of Gideon" Christ, IN a
great exigency said, that such a wea-
Don was more important than a coat,
for He declared: He that hath no
sword. let him sell his garment and
buy one Again He declares: Il
come not to send peace, but a sword
Of Ch,ist's second coming it IS said:
cont of His mouth went a sharp,
two-edged sword Thus, sometimes
fsuratively, but oftener literally, the
divine mission Of the sword IS an
nounced.
Whas more concentrated thing IN
the world than Joshuas sword, or
Caleb's sword, OF Gideon.s sword, o.
David's sword, or Washington
sword. o. Marion's sword, OF Lafay-
cites sword, OF Wellington,s sword,
W. Eoscinsko's sword, or Garibaldis
sword. or hundreds Of thousands OF
American swords that have again and
aea;n been bathed in heaven. Swords
Of that kind have been the bestt friends
Of the human race. They have slam
tyrannies, pried open dungeons, and
cleaned the way for nations III then
march upward. It was better Tor
them to take the sword and be Tree;
than lie under the oppressor hee1
and suffer. There is something worse
than death and that is life II 1t must
crince and crouch before the wrong.
Tu1n over the leaves of the worlds
history, and find that there has never
been a tyranny stopped OF a nation
liberated except by the sword. l am
not talking to you about the way
things ought TO be, but about the
wav they have been. What force
drove back the Saracens at Tours,
and kept Europe from being over
whelmed by Mohammedanlsn, and,
subsequently, all America given over
to Mohammedanism? The sword OF
Charles Martel and his men. Who
can deal enough in nfnltles to ten
whatwas accomplished fol- the world S
GOOD by the sword OF Joan OF Arc?
In December last, I looked off and
cav in the distance the battlefield OF
Marathon, and I asked myself what
was it that, on that most tremendous
dav in history, stopped the Persian
hosts. representing not only Persia: