The Penn's Grove record., 1895-05-31
REV. DR.. TaLuaGE.
rhe Brooklyn Divine's Sunds
Sermon.
Subject: "The Greatest Soldier Of
All Time"

SebJNSts oEOhttSt Roh1AS
All Time"
In the Embury Memorial Church, Brook.
iyn, q large audience listened to the annual
sermon Of Chaplain T. De Witt Talmdge, Of
the Thirteenth Regiment, N. G. s. N. Y. The
members OF the regiment occupied the body
OF the church. DIR. Talmage chose for Bis
subject ''The Greatest Soldier of All
Time" the toxt being; "There shall not any
man be able to stand before thee all the days
OF thy life. Joshua l., 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 l look with hearty salutation into thu
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 babe 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. "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'll We bless you, the
OF the Thirteenth. Nothing can
ever rob you OF the honor Of having been
soldiers in one of the most tremendous wars
Low - We II NAnhh u
and Hancock n Sheridan and Farragut on
oneside, and Lee and stonewall Jackson and
Longssreet and Johnston on the other.
As in Greek ss~semDlages, when speaker
would arouse the audience, they shouted
Marathon 80 II I wanted to stir you to &C.
clamation I would only need to speak the
words, Lookout Mountain" "Chancellors-
willie" "Gettysburg." Aud though through
the passagcrof years you are forever fres
from duty Of enlistment, II European nation.
should too easily and too quickly forget the
Monroe doctrine and set aggressive foot upon
this continent I think your ankles would be
supple sgain. and your arms would grow
strong again, IN your eyes would be keen
enough to follow the stars Of the old flag
wherever they might lead.
And next 1 greet the colonel and his stat
and all the officers and men OF this regiment.
II has been an eventful 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. Tho
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 he citizens
gathered tonight with their good wishes, |
have concluded - hold up before you the
greatest soldier Of all time-Joshua the hero
Of my text.
He was a magnificent fighter, but he al
ways fought on the right side, and he nsve
fought unless God told him to fight. In my
text he gets his military equipment and one
would think 1t must have been plumed hol-
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." ooh" you say, stany-
body could have courage with such a back
ing up as that" Why, my friends, 1 have to
tell you that the Coo Of the universe and the
Chieftain Of eternity promises to do just as
much for US as for him. All the resources Of
eternity are pledged In our behalf, II We 90
out in the service OF God, and no more than
that was offered to Joshua. God fulfilled this
prorsise of my text, although Joshuss first
battle was with the spring freshet, and the
nex with a stone wall, and the next leading
on q 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 t%errors, death-fve
great victories.
For the most part, when the general of az
army starts out in q 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 was
greater than the leveling Of Fort Pulaski, or
the laundering down OF Gibraltar, or the
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 a
torrent. So the Canaanites stand on
ono bank, and they look across and sec
Joshua and the Israelites, and they laugh
and say; "Ahs. ahs. They oannot disturb
us until the freshets fall. 1t is impossible
for them to reach u.s." But after awhile they
look across the water, and they see a move
ment In the army of Joshua. They say:
whats the matter now2 Why, there must
be a 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 go two priests, carrying \
glittering box four feet long and two feet
wide. 1t Is the ark OF the covenant. And
they CONF down, and no soone do they
Just touch the rim Of the water with their
feet than by an almighty flat Jordan parts.
The army OF Joshua marches right on with
getting their feet wet over the bottom OF
the river, a path Of chalk and broken shells
and pebbles, until they getto tho other bank.
Then they lay hold Of the oleandazs and
htludElbkb anu WlhiOWb bUu pun tu6WIQlHE3
up q bank thirty or forty feet high, and hay.
ing gained the other bank they clap theii
shields and their cymbals and sing tbs
of tho God of joshua.
But no sooner have they reached the banl
than the waters begin to dash and roar, and
with q terrific rush they break loose from
their strange anchorage. Out yonder they
have stopped; thirty miles up yonder they
halted. On this side the watep roll Oh
Toward fha GaIt aQa Rt1t a = cha had - Az
Lord God Is taken away from the thus up
lifted waters-waters perhaps uplifted half q |
the Almighty hand "a taken away
those waters rush down, and sons Of the IN.
believing Israelites say: "Alas, alas, what q /
misfortunel Why could not those waters
have stayed parted? Because, perhaps w
may want to go back. oh, Lord, we are en-
may eat us up. How n we want to go back?
Would 1t not have been q more complete
II the Lord had parted the waters to
lot US come through n kept them parted
10 let us go back II we are defeated?'' nv
God makes no provision for .
Christians retreat. He clears the path
all the way to Canaan. To go back Is to die. |
The same gatekeepers that swing back the
.methystine and crystalline gate Of the
Jordan to let Israel pass through nov swing
shut the amethysttne and crystalline gate q
The Jordan to keep the Israelites from going
back. I declare 1t in -FOUR hearing to-day, |
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 thoso
Canaanites, when they had such . splendid
Misunderstanding on the top OF the bank
thirty or forty feet high-completeiy de-
molish those poor Israelties down In the
Twill tell you why. God had made
. promise, and He was going to keep 1t.
There shall not any man be able to stand
before thee all the days Of thy life.n
But this Is 10 place for tho host TO stop
Joshua gives the command, forward,
In the distance there Is q long
grove Of trees, and at tho end of the grove q
> city. 1t is 9 city OF arbors, . city with
walls seeming to reach to the heavens, to
buttress the very sky. 1t is the great metro
polls that commands the mountain pass. 1t
Is Jericho. That city was afterward Captured
by Pompey, and 1t was afterward captured
by Herod the Great, and it was atterward
blythe Mohammedans, but.this cam.
the Lord plans. There shall be nc
swords. no shields. 10 battering ram. Thes
A. ~ 1-N aALf