Connecticut western news., 1895-05-30
THE HEROIC JOSHUA.
ROW HE COMMANDED THE SUN TO
 STAND STILL.

 STAND STILL.
 Rev. Dr. TAlmaxe Breaches Another Ser mon of Surpassing Interest and Power. Gallant Thirteenth. BROOKLYN, May a6,-In the Enhury Memorial church largo audience as. sembled this evening to listen to tho an. nual sermon of Chaplain T. Do Witt Tal- mage of the Thirteenth regiment, N, c. S N. Y. The members of the regiment occupied tho body of the church. Dr. Tafmage chose for his subject 1.-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 tho annual sermon. And first look with hearty salutation into the faces of the veterans, who, though now not in active service, have tho same patriotic and military en- thusiasm 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 Unit ed States government "All that man hath will he give for his life, e," 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 Farragut on one side, and Lee and Stonewan Jackson and Longsneet and Johnston on the other.
 As in Greek assemblages, when speak CTS would rouse the audience, they shout ed 'sMarathon I" so if wanted to stir you to exclamation would only need to speak the words, Lookout Noun tain," .'Chancellorsville, "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 I greet the colonel and his staff, and all the officers and men of this regiment It has been an eventful year in your history. If never before, Brook lyn 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 regimentl 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 all time-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 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 tho 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 a backing up as that" Why, my friends, I have to tell you that the God 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, if we go out in that was offered to Joshua God fulfill ed this promise of my text, although Joshua's first battle was with the spring freshet, and tho next with stone wall, and the next leading on a regiment o1 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-live great victories.
 For the most part, when the general of an army starts out in a conflict he
 
 order that he may get his courage uI and he may rally his troops and gel them drilled for greater conflicts, but this first undertaking of Joshua was greater than the leveling of Fort Pulaski, ol the laundering down of Gibraltar, ol the overthrow of the Bastille. It was the crossing of the Jordan at the time of the spring freshet The snows oi Mount Lebanon had just been melting and they poured down into the valley and the whole valley was a raging tor rent So the Canaanites stand on ons bank. and they look across and set Joshua and the Israehtes, and they hugh and say: Aha! ahal They can not disturb us until the freshets fall Il is impossible for them to reach us , But after awhile they look across tn, water, and they see movement in tn, army of Joshua. They say: What the matter now? Why, there must be panic among these troops, and they ar going to fly, or perhaps they are goin, to try to march across the river Jordan Joshua is lunatic. But Joshua, tn chieftain of the text, looks at his arm, and cries, Forward, marchs and the, start for the bank of the Jordan.
 Sure of the Promise.
 One mile ahead go two priests, carry ing glittering box 4 feet long and feet wide. It is the ark of the covenant And they come dowr, and no sooner d they just touch the rim of the wate with their feet than by an almight fiat Jordan parts. The army of Joshu marches right on without getting thei feet wet. over the bottom of the river a path of chalk and broken shells am pebbles, until they get to the othe bank. Then they lay hold of the clean ders and tamarisks and willows ant pull, themselves up bank 80 or 40 fee high, and having gained the other ban they clap their shields and their cym