Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-10-01
Caln1a9e
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, d. d.

the churches this sermon comes as a
call to arms to all who are eager for
spiritual conquest. The text is Revela-
ton iii, 8. Il have set before thee an
open door, and no man can shut IT"
Have you ever roamed over any OF
the great battlefelds Of the world?
Have you ever stood upon Lookout
mountain and had an old Federal or
Confederate soldier point out TO you
the chief places where the great bat
tie above the clouds" was foughtf
Have you ever walked along the stone
fence of Fredericksburg, toward which
Fighting Joe" Hooker drove his troops
in three heroic charges, but near to
which that great giant of war, James
Longstreet, had planted his cannonF
Have you ever walked over the histor-
ic sites Of Bull Run or Antietam or
Shiloh or Fair Oaks or Vicksburg? ?
Well, il you have and at the same
| time if you have studied these battle
fields intelligently, yor have been inn
pressed with one gigantic idea. A bat
tlefield is not, as rule, mere hap
hazard place of meeting where two
great armies wrestle in mortal combat,
but a carefully chosen position, afford
ing opportunities for attack or defense.
Thus the Japanese armies have been
concentrating for weeks and months TO
acquire a commanding position at Port
Arthur and have been seizing strategic
points from which they could drive the
Russian armies which were being sent
TO its relief These strategic move
ments are planned in advance with the
utmost care in selection of the ground
so as to get the advantage Of elevated
positions from which to fire upon the
enemy. The generals on both sides are
aware that the conquest Of the region
depends in no small degree on the skill
exercised in this important matter.
Months before an invading army
moves for the subjugation of coun-
try trained military minds study its
natural features and intuitively settle
the strategic points which it is essen
tial to capture and to hold and the
course which the various corps must
take to cooperate in the general
scheme. 1t is related that before our
own civil war, as far back as the po'
litical campaign which resulted in LIN
coins election and when war was
but q dim and dreaded possibility, the
plan to be pursued in the event OF hos
tllities was considered. William T.
Sherman. with one of bis fellow offi
GERS. George Henry Thomas, after
ward nicknamed 1.-The Rock Of Chicka
mauga," was visiting his brother the
late Senator John Sherman of Ohio
John Sherman, in his subsequent biog
raphy, relates that at that time these
two soldiers placed map OF tht
southern states upon the floor. Ther
upon this map they practically traced
out every important military move
ment which was to follow. With on'
lire they showed how the great army
of the west must fight its mighty bat
ties before Shiloh and Vicksburg t(
open the gateway Of the Mississippi
With another line they traced th'
movements of a central army tghtint
on to Atlanta, and on to the sea. where
William T. Sherman was to win lm
mortal fame, although, as Henry w
Grady, the great Georgian orator, onc'
quantity put 1t, "Some people did thinl
that he showed himself little care
less with fire" With another lin
they traced the movements of the Arm.
Of the Potomac, fighting its way iron
Arlington heighta to Richmond. Al
2 those movements of these differen
armies were carefully traced by tn
two soldiers, studying the map OF til
southern states, stretched out upon tn
moor of Senator John Sherman's par
lor, months before Major Anderson Il
Fortress Monroe heard the booming o
the gun which started the most gigan
= tic war of modern times,
4 Campaigns Must he Planned.
4 Thus coming campaigns or the mill
Q tary lines of summer operations ar
planned for the most part by the dill
ferent commanders of invading armle
while their armies are encamped i
winter quarters. Therefore the ques
. ton which at this season natural
} forces itself upon my mind is this
"What is the gospel campaign ahea
of the Christian church for the ensr
ing ten months? am q captain in tn
= army of Christ. How am ] to lead m
people? Where am ! to goT" In tn
beginning of this winters work al
exactly In the same position as the mi
= itary leader of an invading army WI
is about to break up winter quarters
Summer is really the time for wintt
quarters in city church. When Jpl
comes many of the Christian soldier
in q large city pastorate HE themselvf
away to sea beach or to mountai
stream for rest. They are very TIRE
from their winters labor. But by IL
time the middle of September is hel
the schools are all opened ana u
members of the city congregations al
back to their winter homes and al
filling their church pews When the
arrive and start out for gospel wor
the Christian soldiers of each churC
naturally expect to know the kind OF
gospel campaign which is ahead.
Christ is our great commander, an
as a captain under him ! would hel
ana now point out to you the migh1
opportunities which are before us.
g. would sketch the line of campaign v
IL as a church are about to enter. An
or furthermore. not only want to shS
I'd you how we are to fight, where we q
We to fight, but also to try to encoura
II, you by reminding you OF the gre
ne agencies Of our time which are goii
re to help us in this coming years stru
" gle.
sc The glorious twentieth century
x,,;do ifc dnorc tO LOT the Chllr