Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-05-29
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

Chicago, May 2L-In view OF the
approaching celebration of Memorial
day and the decoration Of soldiers
graves DR.. Talmage recalled in his ser
mon this morning the services rendered
to the nation by American sailors and
pleaded that they, too. be remembered
in the patriotic tribute. His text was
Isaiah Nxxiii, 81, Neither shall gallant
ship pass thereby"
The old Brooklyn navy yard used TO
have many interesting sights. There
were its museum and it's antiquated
cannon mounted in the yards and its
piles of empty shells. There were its
famous dry dock and the great sheds
under which lay the keels and the
skeleton ribs of those massive frames
that We're laid and knit together to-
ward the close of the civil war, but
never finished. There We're also it's
uniformed sailors and marines. and its
buildings, filed with food and clothing
soon to be sent to the different naval
stations of the world. There often lay
the training ships and the great men,
of-war just in from foreign ports. But
to me the most interesting place of all
In the Brooklyn navy yard, where i
used to play as n boy, was Rotten
row." Alongside Of its wharfs were
tied some of the decaying vessels that
had helped to make Americas valor
respected and admired around the
world. These ships were too old 10
voyage the sea and too weak to defy
the enemy's shells. They were also
too sacred 10 be split uo for kindling.
There they lay, with a sentimental but
not an intrinsic value. Their decks
were deserted, their hulls empty, their
masts cut down. But there they float
ed at the docks, magnificent reminders
Of glorious past.
Isaiah has been walking In magma
ton along the Rotten row. of a mil
lennial dawn. With prophetic vision.
he has been looking ahead to the time
when all the navies of the world shall
so out Of commission; when every
quarter deck OF every s.an-of-war shall
be a playground for the pattering feet
OF the little children; when the war
ships decks shall no longer be slippery
with human blood. Neither shall gal
liant ship pass thereby" translated
into the language of ordinary life,
means Neither shall gallant men-of-
war ever again sail TO destroy life"
And yet Isaiah, speaking of this glad
some day, cannot refrain from paying
we'll earned compliment to those
patriotic sailors who have always been
willing to fight and, If necessary, TO
die for their country's cause. lie
speaks of the man-of-war in words
or martial praise. He calls the naval
vessel n gallant ship"
Heroic Deeds OF BIucjaclxets.
Ought the jack tnrs Of old to be
more honored than those of the present
time? Cannot we afford, on this Me-
mortal Sunday, 10 praise the heroic
deeds OF American bluejackets who
Fought under John Paul Jones i'm the
Ranger and the Bonhomme Richard.
under Captain Hull I'm the Constitution.
under James Lawrence in the Chesa-
peake, under Decatur I'm the United
States, under Farragut in the Hart
ford, under Dewey in the Olympia? If
the most conspicuous monument I'm all
London was reared I'm Trafalgar
square to the memory OF Admiral Mel
son. surely we, on this last Sabbath
preceding our annual Memorial day,
should dedicate ut least one sermon TO
the noble tars who. in the American
wars, won immortal fame upon the
high seas. Gallant ships" IS n term
we can we'll apply TO the great mum
Der OF man-of-war vessels which have
composed the American navy from
1II6 down TO the present time.
The American navy was always will
ing TO fight our wars with the material
1t had on hand. Its officers in the past
did not estimate the strength of the
enemy. They gathered together what
vessels and men they could, and then
they went forth TO battle, no matter
how great the odds were against them.
We are all able TO recognize this kind
OF valor when 1t Is found beating under
the breast OF an American. When some
years ago tourist was being shown
about the heights OF Quebec French
guide tauntingly said. "And these are
the cannon we captured on Bunker |
HILL" Yes" answered the American
you got the guns. but we have the hill. |
And we finally got possession of Bun.
ker Hill with soldiers who wore no uni, |
form and, for the most part, had nc |
military education. We won witt |
farmers boys. led by farmers like Put |
nam and Nat Greene" But is the Rev |
olutionary soldiers bravery to be prais
ed more than that of the Revolutionary
sailors? Were the most heroic deeds OF
Il a nrfr
and Valley Forge any more brilliant OF
heroic than that of Captain Paul Jones
who with an old tub set sail for Eng
land and set fire to the British ship
ping at White Haven on November
1177? Was George Washington cross
ing the Delaware n more glorious fig
ure than Captain Jones standing upor
the deck OF the Bonhomme Richard
and fighting on until his own ship was
n wreck. and then, when the Serap i.
had struck her colors. sailing aw1y ir
the captured prize, while his own ship
with a swift plunge. went down to 8
watery grave?
Perry and Decatur.
Then. passing by the war of 1Sl:
and the deeds of Perry and Decatur
we would come down to the war OF
1851. We would speak in the same
breath or the deeds of the northern and
sailors. We certainly were
'rothers before the war; we have been
'rothers since the war; we were broth
rs during the war, though for that
hort time we had family difference.
Vas there ever Drawer deed recorded
han when Commodore Franklin Buch-
man steered the Confederate Merrnnac
nto Hampton Roads to give battle to
he whole Federal fleet? You must re-
that this kind of vessel had
lever yet been tested, and her arma-
nent had already been condemned by
he naval experts as dangerous and of
title use. Then, after the Merrimac
one day had sunk the Cumberland
nd disabled the Congress aud run the
Minnesota aground, was there ever a
raver sight than when the little band
OK Monitor. seemingly mere toy,
vent forth as n shepherd boy to meet