The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-06-19
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
ANNUAL SERMON PREACHED TO
HIS REGIMENT.
Subject; "The Greatest Soldier Of
All Time"

lyn, large audience listened to the annual
sermon Of Chaplain T. De Witt Talmage, o1
the Thirteenth Regiment, N. G. s. N. Y. The
members OF the regiment occupied the body
Of the church. DR.. Talmage chose for his
subject ''The Greatest Soldier Of AL
man be able to stand before thee all the days
Of thy life. Joshua j.. 5.
The gallant Thirteenth" as this reg
iment is generally and appropriately called
has gathered tonight for the worship Of
God and 10 hear the annual sermon. And
first look with hearty salutation into the
faces Of the veterans, who, though now not
in active service, have the same patriotic and
military enthusiasm which characterized
them when, in 1868, they bade farewell to
home and loved ones and started for the
field and risked all they held dear on earth
for the re-establishment Of the falling United
States Government. GAIL that a man hath
will be give for his life," and you showed
yourselves willing to give your lives. We
hail you! We thank you! We bless you. the
veterans of the Thirteenth. Nothing can
ever rob you Of the honor of having been
soldiers in one Of the most tremendous wars
ofall history, war with Grant and Sherman
and Hancock and Sheridan and Farragut on
one side, and Lee and Stonewali Jackson and
Longstreet and Johnston on the other.
As in Greek assemDlages, when speakers
would arouse the audience, they shouted
"Marathonm so if wanted to stir you to ac-
clamation I would only need to speak the
words, Lookout Mountain" "Chancellors-
vile, "Gettysburg." And though through
the passage of years you are forever free
from duty of enlistment, If European nations
should too easily and too quickly forget the
Monroe doctrine and set aggressive foot upon
this continent think your ankles would be
supple again, and your arms would grow
strong again, and your eyes would be keen
enough to follow the stars of the old flag
wherever they might lead.
And next greet the colonel and his staff,
and all the officers and men Of this regiment.
1t has been an eventful year in your history.
If never before, Brooklyn appreciates some
thing of the value Of its armories, and the
importance of the .men who there drill for
the defense and safety Of the city. The
blessing of God be upon all of you, my COM
rades of the Thirteenth Regiment! And
looking about for a subject that might be
most helpful and inspiring for you, and our
veterans here assembled, and the citizens
gathered tonight with their good wishes, I
have concluded t. hold up before you the
greatest soldier Of all time-Joshua the hero
of my text.
He was magnificent fighter, but he al
ways fought on the right side, and he never
fought unless God told him to fight. In my
text he gets his military equipment and one
would think it must have been plumed he'll
met for the brow, greaves OF brass for the
feet, habergeon for the breast. "There shall
not any man be able to stand before thee all
the days of thy life." "Oh." you say, "any-
body could have courage with such back
ing up as that" Why, my friends, I have to
oil hot tba noI ~ fba rnju n "a
Chieftain Of eternity promises to do just as
much for US as for him. All the resources of
eternity are pledged in our behalf, If we go
out in the service of God, and no more than
that was offered to Joshua. God fulfilled this
promise of my text, although Joshua's first
battle was with the spring freshet, and the
next with stone wall and the next leading
on regiment Of whipped towards, and the
next battle against darkness, wheeling the
sun and the moon into his battalion, and the
last against the king of terrors, DEATH We
great victories.
For the most part, when the general of an
army starts out in a conflict he would like
to have small battle in order that be may get
his courage up and he may rally his troops
and get them drilled for greater conflicts,
but this first undertaking of Joshua was
greater than the leveling of Fort Pulaski, or
the laundering down of Gibraltar, or the
overthrow of the Bastile. It was the crossing
Of the Jordan at the time of the spring
freshet. The SHOWS of Mount Lebanon had
Just been melting, and they poured down
into the valley, and the whole valley was
raging torrent. So the Canaanites stand on
one bank. and they look across and see
Joshua and the Israelites, and they laugh
and say: "Aha. aha! They cannot disturb
us until the freshets fall. It is impossible
for them to reach u.s." But after awhile they
look across the water, and they see move
"What's the matter now? Why, there must
be panic among these troops, and they are
going to fly, or perhaps they are going to
try to march across the river Jordan. Joshua
is a lunatic." But Joshua, the chieftain Of
the text, looks at his army and cries, "For-
ward, march," and they start for the bank
of the Jordan.
One mile ahead 20 two priests, carrying a
glittering box four feet long and two feet
wide. 1t is the ark Of the covenant. And
they come down, and no sooner do they
Just touch the rim OF the water with their
feet than by an almighty fiat Jordan parts.
The army Of Joshua marches right on with
out getting theirfeet wet over the bottom OF
the river, path of chalk and broken shells
and pebbles, until they get to the other bank.
Then they lay hold Of the oleanders and
tamarisks and willows and pull themselves
up bank thirty or forty feet high, and hav-
ing gained the other bank they clap their
shields and their cymbals and sing the
praises of the God Of Joshua.
But no sooner have they reached the bank
than the waters begin to dash and roar, and
with terrific rush they break loose from
their strange anchorage. Out yonder they
have stopped; thirty miles up yonder they
halted. On this side the waters roll of
toward the salt sea. But as the hand OF the
Lord God Is taken away from the thus up
lifted waters-waters perhaps uplifted half
mile-as the Almighty hand Is taken away
those waters rush down, and some Of the un-
believing Israelites say: "Alas, alas, what Il
misfortune! Why, could not those waters
have stayed parted? Because, perhaps, we
may want to 20 back. Oh, Lord, We are en-
gagged in risky business. Those Canaanites
may eat US up. How If we want to 90 back2
Would it not have been more complete
miracle If the Lord had parted the waters to
let US come through and kept them parted
to let US 60 back if We are defeated2" My
friends, God makes no provision for a
Christians retreat. He clears the path
all the way to Canaan. To 60 back is to die.
The same gatekeepers that swing back the
amethystine and crystalline gate OF the
Jordan to let Israel pass through now swing
shut the amethystine and crystalline gate Of
the Jordan to keep the Israelites from going
back. declare it in your hearing to-day.
victory ahead. water forty feet deep in the
rear. Triumph ahead, Canaan ahead; be-
hind you death and darkness and woe and
hell. But you say, "Why didn't those
Canaanites, when they had such splendid
demonstrating on the top Of the bank
thirty or forty feet high-completely de-
molish those poor Israelties down in the
rivcr?" l Twill tell you why. God had made
a promise, and He was going to keep it.
"There shall not any man be able to stand
before thee all the days Of thy life"