Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-05-28
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMACE. DID,,
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

Chicago. May 24.-1n view of the |
approaching celebration Of Memorial
| day and the decoration of soldiers
| graves DR.. Talmagc 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 xxxiii, q, "Neither shall gallant
ship pass thereby"
The old Brooklyn navy yard used to
have many interesting sights. There
were its museum and its Anticipated
cannon mounted in the yards and it's
piles of empty shells. There were its
famous dry dock and the great sheds
| under which lay the kcels and the
skeleton ribs of those massive frames
that were laid and knit together to-
ward the close of the civil war, but
never finished. There were also its
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 ]
used to play as a boy, was Rotten
row." Alongside of its wharfs were
tied some of the dccaying vessels that
had helped to make Americas valor
respected and admired around the
world. These ships were too old to
10,
the enemy's shells. They We're also
too sacred to be split up for kndling.
There they lay, with sentimental but
not an intrinsic value. Their decks
were deserted, their hulls empty. their
masts cut down. But there they float
ed Mt the docks. magnificent reminders
of II glorious past
Isaiah has been walking in magma
ton along the "Rottcn row. of a mil
lennial dawn. With prophetic vision,
he has been looking ahead to the time
when all the navics of the world shall
20 out of commission; when every
quarter deck of every man-of-war shall
be playground for the pattcring 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 tho 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
Il well earned compliment TO those
patriotic sailors who have always been
willing to fight and, if necessary, to
die for their country's cause. He
speaks Of the man-of-war in words
of martial praise. He calls the naval
vessel Il gallant ship
Heroic Deeds of Dluejackets.
Ought the jack tlrs of old to be
, more honored than those of the present
, time: Cannot we afford. on this Me-
: mortal Sunday, to praise the heroic
deeds of American bluejackcts who
, fought under John Paul Jones in the
, Ranger and the Bonhomme Richard,
under Captain Hull in the Constitution,
a under James Lawrence in the Chesa-
pcake, under Decatur in the United
States, under Farragut in the Hart
A ford, under Dewey in the Olympia? If
London was reared in Trafalgar
9 square to the memory of Admiral Mel
=, SON. surely we, on this last Sabbath
preceding our annual Memorial day,
9 should dedicate at least one sermon to
the noble tars who, in the American
n wars. won immortal fame upon the
! high seas. Gallant ships is term
9 we can we'll apply to the great NUN
her of man-ofwar vessels which have
q, composed the American navy from
17IG down to the present time.
4 The American navy was always will
: ing to fight our wars with the material
ii 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 Their
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
c years ago Il tourist WAS being shown
: about the heights of Quebec Frencf
guide tauntingly said. And these are
II the cannon we captured on Bunker
e Hill YES" answered the American
a you got the guns, but we have the hill
S Aud we finally got possession of Bun
kcr Hill with soldiers who wore no uni
II" form and, for the most part, had NJ
o military education. We won will
farmers boys, led by farmers like Put
d nam and Nat Greene" But is the Rev
g dictionary soldiers bravery to he prais
e ed more than that of the Revolutonar.
1t sailors? Were the most heroic deeds o
Lexington and Princeton and Saratogi
n and Valley Forge any more brilliant o
n heroic than that Of Captain Paul Jones
t. who with an old tub set sail for Eng
land and set fire to the British ship
1. ping at White Haven on November
e 1T77? Was George Washington cross
e Ing the Delaware n more glorious fig
e ure than Captain Jones standing upo
the deck of the Bonhomme Richar'
&c and fighting on until his own ship wa
&c wreck and then, when the Serapi
had struck her colors, sailing away 4
the captured prize, while his own shiI
J. with swift plunge, went down to
r. watery grave?
" Perry and Decatur.