The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-05-31
THE HEROIC JOSHUA.
HOW he COMMANDED THE SUN TO
STAND STILL.
Rev. DR.. Talmago breaches Another Ser
mon Of Surprising Interest and Power.
The Greatest soldier of All Time-The
Gallant Thirteenth.

nSNs A"Ahn"bo As'S'."
mon Of Surprising Interest and Power.
Tho Greatest Soldier Of All Time-rhe /
Gallant Thirteenth.
BROOKLYN, May 26.-m the Embury
Memorial church large audience as
sembled this evening to listen to the an
nual sermon of Chaplain I. De Witt Tai
mage of the Thirteenth regiment, N. q.
S. N. Y. The members of the regiment
occupied the body of the church, DR..
Talmage chose for his subject The
Greatest Soldier of All Time" the text
being Joshua i, 5, "There shall not any
man be able to stand before thee all the
days of thy life"
The "gallant Thirteenth, " as this reg
iment is generally and appropriately
called, has gathered tonight for the wor-
ship of God and to 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 en-
thusiasm which characterized them
when, in 1868, they babe farewell to home
and loved ones and started for the field
and risked all they held dear on earth for
| tho establishment of the falling Unit
ed States government. "All that a man
| hath will he 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 of all history, a
war with Grant and Sherman and Han
cock and Sheridan and Farl4gut on one
side, and Lee and Stonewa1 Jackson
and Longstreet and Johnston on the
other.
As in Greek assemblages, when speak
ers would rouse the audience, they shout
1 ed Marathon ~ so if l wanted to stir
YOU to reclamation l would only need
to speak the words, Lookout Noun
tain" Charlottesville, ''Gettys-
burg" 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.
A Great Fighter.
And next 1 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 Brook
Ign appreciates something 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 comrades 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,
have concluded to hold up before you
the greatest soldier of alltime-Joshua,
the hero of my text.
He was a magnificent fighter, but he
always fought on the right side, and he
never fought unless God told him tc
fight In my text he gets his military
equipment and one would think it must
have been plumed helmet 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. " ooh, you say, "any
body could have courage with such 6
backing up as that. Why, my friends
l have to tell you that the God of the
universe and the Chieftain Of eternity
promises to do just as much for us as fol
him. All the resources of eternity are
. pledged in our behalf, if we 60 out il
the service of God, and no more thai
that was offered to Joshua God fulfill
ed this promise Of my text, although
Joshua S first battle was with the spring
freshet, and the next with stone wall
5 and the next leading on a regiment O
f whipped towards, and the next battl
: against darkness, wheeling the sun ant
the moon into his battalion, and the las
against the king of terrors, death-fiv
great victories.
For the most part, when the genera
Il Of an army starts out in a conflict h
c would like to have a small battle il
u order that he may get his courage u
and he may rally his troops and ge
them drilled for greater conflicts, but thi
- first undertaking of Joshua was create
than the leveling of Fort Pulaski, G
the laundering down of Gibraltar, c
: the overthrow of the Bastille. 1t wa
p" the crossing of the Jordan at the tim
% tl,n frachot Tho c,,nx r
=, Mount Lebanon had just been melting
~ and they poured down into the valley
70 and the whole valley was raging to-
rent So the Canaanites stand on on
ID bank, and they look across and sc
- Joshua and the Israelites, and the
~ laugh and say: aha! aha! They cal
not disturb us until the freshets fall
is impossible for them to reach us.
But after awhile they look across tt
water, and they see movement in tt
army of Joshua. They say; "What
the matter now? Why, there must be
panic among these troops, and they al
going to fly, Or perhaps they are goir
to try to march across the river Jorda1
Joshua is lunatic." But joshua Il
chieftain Of the text, looks at his arm
and cries, Forward, march p and the
start for the bank of the Jordan.
: Suee of the Promise.
, One mile ahead go two priests, carr
ing glittering box 4 feet long and
, feet wide 1t is the ark of the coyenan
3 And they come down, and no sooner I
q they just touch the rim Of the wat
: with their feet than by an almigh
fiat Jordan parts. The army of Josh,
marches right on without getting the
- feet wet, over the bottom of the rive
path of chalk and broken shells al
pebbles, until they get to the 9th
bank Then they lay hold Of the olea
ders and tamarisks and willows a