Connecticut western news., 1897-03-18
CHRIST THE CAPTAIN
REV. pR. TALMAGE BREACHES A SER MON OF MARTIAL ELO0UENcE.

MON OF MARTIAL ElOQUENcE. The Saviour Is the Leader, the Cross the
 Standard, and All May Serve In the
 Great Army = Fighting For a Glorious
 Cause. t
 WASHINGTON, March 14.-At this time, when our national capital has for ten days been ablaze with our na- tional flag, the imagery of this sermon of Dr. Talmage seems very vivid and appropriate. The text is Psalms xx, 5, In the name of God we will set up our banners.
 I hate war. In my boyhood we may have read the biography of Alexander or of some Revolutionary hero until our young heart beat high and we wished we had been born over 100 years ago just for the glory of striking down a Hessian. For rusty swords hung up on the rafters and bullets cut out of log houses in which they were lodged dur ing the great strife we had unbounded clothed in our grandfather's soldierly accouterments, we felt as brave as Gar ibaldi or Miltiades. We are wiser now, for we make vast distinction between the poetry and the prose of war. The roll of drums, and the call of bugles, and the champing of. steeds foaming and paving for the battle, hundred thousand muskets glittering among the dancing plumes, "God Save the King" waving up from clarinets and trum- pets and rung back from deep de- files or the arches of prostrate city, distant capitals of kingdoms illuminated at the tidings, generals returning home nnder flaming arches and showering amaranths and the shout of empires that is poetry.
 Chilled and half blanketed, lying on the wet earth, feet sore with the march and bleeding at the slightest touch, hunger pulling on every fiber of flesh or attempting to satisfy itself with scanty and spoiled ration, thirst licking up the dew or drinking out of filthy and tram pied pool. thoughts of home and kindred far away while just on the eve of deadly strife where death may leap on him from any one of a hundred bayo- nets, the closing in of two armies now changed to hundred thousand maniacs, the ground slippery with blood and shat tered flesh, fallen ones writhing under the hoofs of unbridled chargers madden ed with pain, the dreadfulness of night that comes down when the strife IS over, the struggle of the wounded ones crawling out over the corpses, the long, feverish agony of the crowded barrack and hospital, from whose mattresses the fragments of men send up their groans, the only music of carnage and butchery, desolate homes from which fathers and husbands and brothers and sons went oil, without giving any dying message or sending kiss to the dear ones at home, tumbled into the soldiers grave trench, and houses in which a few weeks before unbroken family circles rejoiced now plunged in the great sor- rows of widowhood and orphanage- that is prose.
 No Quarter will Be Given.
 But there is now on the earth king dom which has set itself up for conflicts without number. In it's march it tram ples no grainfields; it sacks no cities; it impoverishes no treasuries; it fills no hospitals; it bereaves no families. The courage and victory of Solferino and Magenta without carnage-the kingdom of Christ against the kingdom of satan that is the strife now raging. We will offer no armistices We will make no treaty. Until all the revolted nations of the earth shall submit again to King Emmanuel lin the name of God we will set mp our banners.
 Every army has it's ensigns. Long be- fore the time when David wrote the text they were in use. The hosts of Israel displayed them. The tribe of Benjamin carried flag with the inscription of a wolf, the tribe of Dan representation of cherubim, Judah lion wrought into the groundwork of white, purple, crim- son and blue. Such flags from their folds shook fire into the hearts of such numbers as were in the field when Abi- jah fought against Jehoram, and there were 1, 200, 900 soldiers, and more than 500, 900 were left dead on the field. These ensigns. gave heroism to such numbers as were assembled when Asa fought against Zerah, and there were 1,680, 900 troops in the battle. The Athenians carried an inscription of the owl, which was their emblem of wis dom. The flags of modern nations are familiar to you all, and many of them so inappropriate for the character of the nations they represent 1t would be inn politic to enumerate them. These en- signs are streamers borne on the point of lance and on the top of wooden shafts They are carried in the front and rear of armies They unroll from the main topgallant masthead of an ad- miral's flagship to distinguish it among other ships of the same squadron. They are the objects of national pride. The loss of them on the'field is ignominious.
 The three banners of the Lords hosts are the banner of proclamation, the ban ner of recruit and the banner of victory. When nation feels its rights infringed or its honor insulted, when its citizens have in foreign climes been oppressed and no indemnify has been offered te the inhabitant of the republic or king dom, proclamation of war is uttered. On the tops of batteries and arsenals and custom houses and revenue offices flags are immediately swung out Al who look upon them realize the fact that uncompromising war is declared Thus 1t is that the church of Jesus Christ, jealous for the honor of it's soy ereign and determined to get back those who have been carried off captive into the bondage of satan and intent upol the destruction of those mighty wrongl which have so long cursed the earth ant bent spon the extension of the Saviour I reign of mercy in the name of God set up it's banner of proclamation.
 Assault Against Sin.
 The church makes no assaolt upoi the world. I do not believe that Cox
 ever made better world than this.
 is magnificent in its ruins. Let us sto
 talking so much against the world
 God pronounced it very good at the be
 ginning Though a wandering child c