Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-05-31
SERMON
INTERESTING THEME IN THE
Mn YORK PREACHER.
Subject: "The Greatest Soldier OF
All Time.n

the Thirteenth Regiment, y. q. :. y y. The
members Of the regiment occupied the body
Of the church Or. Talmage chose for his
subject The Greatest Soldier Of All
Time. - the text being: There shall not any
man be able 10 sand before thee all the days
Of thy life. Joshua l.. ;.
The gallant Thirteenth a. this reg
iment Is generally and appropriately called.
has gathered tO-ai:at for the worship Of
God and 10 hear the annual sermon. And
first look with hearty Salutaiiun 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 hadr farewell To
home aud loved ONES and started Tor IN"
field and riskel all they held drar ON earth
for the r5-sstahlishmanto of the falling United
States Government. "All that "a man hath
will he give for his lie. 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
all history. a war with Grant and sherman
and Hancock and Sheridan and Farragut on
one side, and Lee and Stonewall Jackson and
Longs,reet and Johnston OH the other.
As in Greek assemOlaSes, when speakers
would arouse the audience. they shouted
Marathon so ii | wanted to stir YOU To ac-
clamatiOn | would only need t. SPEAK the
words, Lookout Mountain. "Chancellors-
Vile. Gettysburg Aud 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 aud 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 Nag
wherever they might lead.
And next | greet the colonel and his stan,
and all the officers and men OF this regiment.
1t has been an eyentful year in your history.
Ii 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 subject that might be
most helpful aud inspiring for you. and our
veterans here assembled, and the citizens
gathered tonight with their good wishes, |
| have concluded II 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, have Ia
/ tell YOU that the God of the universe and the
| Chieftain of eternity promises to do just n
much for us as for him. All the resources of
eternity are pledged in our behalf. if we e
out in the service Of God. aud 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 a stone wall. aud the next leading
on a 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 VI
/ great victories
For the most part. when the general Of an
army starts out in conflict he would like
to have a small battle in order that he may get
his courage up and he may rally his troops
and get them drilled for greater conflicts
but this first undertaking of Joshua wa
greater than the leyeling Of Fort Pulaski, or
the numbering down of Gibraltar, or the
overthrow OF the Bastile. 1t was the crossing
of the Jordan at the time of the spring
freshet. The SHOWS of Mount Lebanon hat
just been melting, and they poured down
into the valley. and the whole valley was a
raging torrent SO the Canaanites stand OF
| one bank. and they look across and set
Joshua and the 1sraelites, and they laugh
and say: ''Aha! aha. They cannot disturb
us until the freshets fall. 1t is impossible
for them to reach us But after awhile they
look across the water. and they see Il move,
ment in the army of Joshua. They say
whats the matter now? Why, there must
be panic among these troops. and they are
| yOiDO IN fly uprboDS tbaV ptippr f.
try to march across the riverJOrdan. Joshua
is lunatic." But Joshua, the chieftain o
the text, looks at his army and cries, For,
ward, march, and they start for the bank
OF the Jordan.
One mile ahead go two priests. carrying 4
glittering box four feet long and two feet
wide. 1t is the ark of the covenant. AnC
they come down, and no sooner do they
Just touch the rim of the water with thei
feet than by an almighty fiat Jordan parts,
The army OF Joshua marches right on with
out getting their feet wet over the bottom o
the river. path Of chalk and broken she'll
and pebbles, until they get to the other bank
Then they lay hold Of the oleanders an,
tamarisks and willows and pull themselve
up bank thirty or forty feet high and hay
ing gained the other bank they clap thei
shields and their cymbals and sing thu
praises of the God of Joshua.
But no sooner have they reached the banl
than the waters begin to dash and roar, an,
with terrific rush they break loose from
their strange anchorage. Out yonder the
have stopped; thirty miles up yonder the
halted. On this side the waters roll OF
toward the salt sea. But as the hand of tn
Lord God is taken away from the thus up
lifted waters-waters perhaps uplifted half
mile-as the Almighty hand is taken ava
those waters rush down, and some of the un
believing Israelites say: "Alas, alas, what
msfortune Why could not those water
have stayed parted? Because, perhaps W
may want to go back. Oh, Lord, we are Ell
gagged in a risky business. Those Canaanite
may eat us up. How If we want to go back
Would it not have been a more complet
miracle if the Lord had parted the waters t
let us come through and kept them parte
to let us go back if we are defeated?" NJ
friends, God makes no provision for
Christians retreat. He clears the pat
all the way to Canaan. To go back is to di,
The same gatekeepers that swing back rh
amethystine and crystalline gate of tn
Jordan to let Israel pass through now swim
shut the amethystine and crystalline gate
the Jordan to keep the Israelites from goin
back. | declare it in your hearing to-da,
victory ahead, water forty feet deep in IL
rear. Triumph ahead, Canaan ahead; b.
hind you death and darkness and woe an
/
hell. But you say, why didn't thos
Canaanites, when they had such a splendi
chance standing on the top of the ban
thirty or forty feet high-completely d
molish those poor Israelties down in II
river?" l will tell you why. God had mac
promise, and He was going to keep
"There shall not any man be able to star
before thee all the days of thy life"
But this is no place for the host to sto
Joshua gives the command, "Forwar
march, In the distance there is a lor
grove of trees, and at the end of the grove
a city. 1t is city of arbors, Il city wi
walls seeming to reach to the heavens,
buttress the very sky. 1t is the great metr
polls that commands the mountain pass
is Jericho. That city was afterward capture
by Pompey. and it was afterward capture
by Herod the Great. and it was atterwa
captured by the Mohammedans. but this cal