The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-06-05
THE GREAT SOLDIER.
REV. T. De WITT TALM&GE, D. D., &c
VETERANS OF Tie WAR.

VG GnfHlNo VT war.
lie breaches to the Thirteenth Regiment.
Joshua tho Soldier and Hero The Cross
ing of the Jordin--rIie Great Victory.
The Burial.
BROOKLYN, May 26.-In the Embu
ry Memorial church a large audience
assembled this evening TO listen to the
annual sermon OF ChaplainT. De Witt
Talmaee Of the Thirteenth regiment,
\. G.. S. n. y. The members of the re-
ginient occupied the body Of the..church.
DR.. Talmage choose for lis subject
The Greatest Soldier Of all Time,
the text being Joshua i, ), There
shall not any man be able to stand be
fore thee all the days Of thy life. :
The gallant Thirteenth. as this reg
iment is generally and appropriately
called. has gathered tonight for the
worship Of God and to hear the annual
sermon. And first | look with hearty
salvation 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 establishment Of
the falling United States government.
All that 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 hay
ing been soldiers in one of the
most tremendous wars OF all history.
a war with Grant and Sherman and
Hancock and Sheridan and Farragut
on one side and Lee and Stonewall
jackson and Longstreet and Johnston
on the other AS in greek assem- blages,
when speakers would rouse the audi
ence. they shouted Marathon so If
l wanted to stir you to acclamation, l
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 forgot the Monroe
doctrine and set aggressive foot upon
this continent, l think your ankles
would be supple again, and your arms
would grow strong again, and youreye
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 event
full year in your history. If never be-
fore, Brooklyn appreciates something
of the value of its armories and 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 fora subject that might
be most helpful and inspiring for you,
and our veterans here assembled, and
the citizens gathered tonight with their
good wishes, l have concluded to hold
up before you the greatest soldiers of
all time-Joshua, the hero of my text.
He was a magnificent fighter, but he
always fought on theright 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 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 lite. ''Oh,
you say, anybody could have cour.
age with such backing up as that. !"
Why, my friend, have to tell you
that the God of the universe and the
Chieftain of eternity promises to do
just as much for us asefor him. All
the resources of ofeternity are pledged in
our behalf, if we 60 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 fresh
ct, and the next with a stone wall,
and the next leading on a regiment of
whipped towards, and the next battle,
against darkness, wheeling the sun
and moon into his battalion, and the
last against the king of terrors, death
five great victories.
For the most part when the general
of an army starts out IN a conflict ne
would like to have small battle In
order that 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
Gibralter, or the overthrow of the
Bastile. 1t was the crossing of the
Jordan at the time of the spring fresh
ct. The SHOWS of Mount Lebanon had
just been melting and they poured
down into the valley, and the whole
valley was a raging torrent. So the
Canaanites stand on one bank and
they look across and see Joshua and
the Isrealites, and they laughed and
SdS, AID did Il1SN CdiilOI etLSsotA -
us until the freshets fall; It
is impossible for them to reach us.
But, after awhile they look across the
water and they see movement in the
army of Joshua. They say: Whats
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, Forward march
and they start for the bank OF the
Jordan.
One mile ahead 90 two priests carry
ing glittering box 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 tlat
marches rirht on without oettin O. their