Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-03-15
CHRIST THE CAPTAIN
Rev DR.. TALMAGE breaches A SER
MON OF MARTIAL ELOoUGNCE.

cause.
WASHINGTON, March I4-At this
time, when our national capital has
for ten days been ablsze with cur ma
tional flag, the imagery of this sermon
of DR.. Tal1nage seems very vivid and
appropriate. The text is Psalms xx, 5,
In the name of God we will set up our
banners. -
l hate war In my boyhcod 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 fer the glory of striking down a
Hessian. For rusty swords hung up Oh
the rafters and bullets cut out of log
houses in which they were lodged dur
ing the great strife we had unbounGed
admiration, or on some public day,
clothed in our grandfather's soldierly
Announcements, 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, a hundred
thousand m1sl1ets glittering among the
dancing plumes, ICED Save the King
waving up from clarinets and trum-
pets and rung back from deep de-
files or the arches of PROSTATE city,
distant capitals of Kingdoms illuminated
at the tidings, generals returning home
under flaming arches and showering
amaranths and the shout of empires
that is poetry.
Chilled and half blanketed, lying Gu
the wet earth, feet sore with the march
and bleeding at the slightest touch,
hunger pulling on every fiber of flesh CT
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 a
deadly strife where death may leap on
him from any one of q hundred bayo-
nets, the closing in of two armies now
changed to q hundred thousand maniacs,
the ground slippery with blood and shat |
tered flesh, fallen ones Writhing under |
the hCofs CT unbIidled chargers madden |
ed with pain, the dreadfulness of night /
that comes Down when the strife is I
over, the struggle Of the wounded ones
crawling out over the corpses, the long, |
feverish agony CT the crowded barracB |
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 /
of, without giving any dying message
or sending Z kiss to the dear ones at
home, tuEbied into tie soldiers grave
trench, and houses ia which few
weeks before unbroken family circles
reJoiced now plunged in the great sor-
lows Of widowhood and orphanage-
that is prose.
No Quarter WIZ BE Given.
But there is now on the earth o king.
dom which has set itself up for conflicts
without number In it's march it tram
pies no graiEfelds; it sacks 10 cities; il
impCverishes no treasures; it fills DC
hospitals; 1t bcreaves 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 ar1nistices. We will make nc
treaty. Until all the revolted nations
of the earth shall submit again to KING
Emmanuel in the name of God we will
set up 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
wolf, the tribe Of Dan representation
of cherubim, Judah u lion wrought into
the groundwork CT white, purple, Grim
son and blue. Such flags from their
folds shook fire into the hearts of such
numbers as were in the field when Abb
jah fought against Jehoraln, and there
were l, 200, coo soldiers, and more than
500, 600 were left dead on the field
These ensigns gave heroism to such
numbers as were assembled when Asa
fought against Zerah, and there were
l, $50, GOO 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 it would be i'm
polite to enumerate them. These en-
signs are streamers borne On the point
of d 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 adj
miral's flagship to distinguish it among
other ships CT 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 CT victory.
When nation feels it's rights infringed
or its honor insulted, when its citizens
have in foreign chimes been oppressed
and no indemnity has been offered to
the inhabitant of the republic or king {