REV. DR. TAEMGE,
The Eminent New York Divine's Sim
day Sermon.
Subject:-. "The Greatest Soldier of All
Time."
In the Embury Memorial Church, Brook
lyn, a large audience Usfc3nM to th9 annual
sermon of Chaplain T. De Witt Talmage. of
the Thirteenth Regiment, N. O. S. N. Y. The
members of the regiment occupied the body
of the church. Dr. Talmage choso for his
subject 'The Greatest Soldier of AH
Time," the text beinar: "There shall not any
man be a'jle to stand before th9e all tho days
of thy lire.' Joshua i.. 5.
The 'gallant Thirteenth," as this reg
iment is generally and appropriately called,
has gathered to-night for the worship of
God and to har the annual sermon. -And
first I look wit'i hearty salutation into the
faces of the veterans, who. though now not
in active service, have the same patriotic and
military enthusiasm wnieh characterized
them when, in 1863. they bade farewell to
home and loved, ones and' started for the
field and risked all they held dear on earth
for the re-establishment of the falling United
States Government. 4 'AM that h man hath
will he give for his life," and you showed
yourselves willing to give your lives. We
hail you! We thank vou! We bless you, the
veterans of the Thirteenth. Nothing can
ever rob you of the honor of having been
soldiers in one of the most tremendous wars
of all history, a war with Grantand Sherman
and Hancock and Sheridan and Farragut on
onesider and Lee and StoDewall Jackson and
Longsireet and Johnston on the other.
As in Grek
would arouse the audience, .they shouted
"Marathon!" so if I wanted to stir you to ac
clamation I would o-ily nlto speak the
words. "Lookout M-maUlo," "C leellors
ville," "Gettysburg." And thougn through
the passage of years you are forever free
rrom duty of enlistment, if European nations
should too easily and too quickly forget the
Monroe doctrine and set aggressive foot upon
this continent I think your ankles would be
supple again, and your arms would grow
9trong again, and your eyes would be keen
enough to follow the stars of the old flag
wherever they might lead.
And next I greet the colonel and his staff,
and all the Qfflcers and men of this regiment.
It has-been an eventful year in your history.
If never before, Brooklyn appreciates some
thing of the value of its armories, and the
importance of the men who there drill for
mo ueieuse ana saiety of the city. The
blessing of God be upon all of you, my com
rades of the Thirteenth Regiment! And
looking about for a subject that might be
most helpful and inspiring for you, and our
veterans here assembled, and the citizens
gathered to-night with their good wishes. I
have concluded t J -hold up before vou the
greatest soldier of all time Joshua the hero
of my text.
He was a magnificent fighter, but he al-
WllVfl fnilfVlt rr f ir- 1 .-1 .1 i
j" Hie ntik Biuc, iiuu lib never
fought unless God told him to fight. In mv
text he gets his military ecminmen z and rm
would think it must h i ve been plumed hel
met for'the brow, greaves of brass for the
feet, habergeon for the breast. "There shall
not any man be able to stand before thee all
the days of thy life." "Oh," you say. any
body could have courage with such a bac'k-
ing up as that." Why. my friends, I have to
you that the God c the universe and the
Chieftain of eternity po nises to do just a&
much for us as for him. All the resources or
eternity are pledged i- ir behalf, if we go
.out in the service of C '. and no more than
that was offered to Josh. i i. Grl fulfilled this
promise of my text, altho i Joshua's first
battle was with the .spring freshet, and the
next with a stone wall, and the nVcS leading
on a reeiment of-whinnri pattoc
next battle against darkness, wheeling the
sun and the moon into his battalion, and the
last against the king of terrors, death tve
great victories.
For the most part, when the general of an
army starts out in a conflict he would like
to have a small battle in order that he may get
his nconrage up nnd he may rally his troops
and get them drilled for greater conflicts,
but this first undertaking of Joshua was
greater than the leveling of Fort Pulaski or
the thundering down of Gilbraltar, or the
overthrow of the Bastile. It was the crossing
of the Jordan at the time of the spring
freshet. The snows of Mount Lebanon had
just been melting, and they poured down
into tho valley, ai l the w,hole valley was a
raging torrent. So the Canaanites stand on
one bank, and they look across and see
Joshua and the Israelites, and they laugh
and say: "Aha! r.ha! They cannot disturb
us until the freshets fall. It i3 Impossible
for them to reach us." Bat after awhile they
look across the water, and f.iey see a move
ment in the army of Joshua. They say
"What's the matter now? rQy. there must
be a panic among these troops, and they are
going to fly, or perhaps they are going to
try to march across the river Jordan. Joshua
is a lunatic." But Joshua, tha chieftain of
the text, looks at his army and cries, "For
ward, march!" and they start for the bank
of the Jordan.
One mile ahead go two priests, carrying a
glittering box- four feet long and two feet
wide. It is the ark. of the covenant. And
they come down, and no sooner do thev
just touih the rim of the water with their
feet than by an almighty flat Jordan parts.
The army of Joshua. marches right on with
out gettipg their feet wet over the bottom of
the river, a path of chalk and broken shells
and pebbles, until they get to the other bank.
Then they lay hold of the oleanders and
tamarisks and willows and pull themselves
up a bank thirty or forty feet high, and hav
ing gained the other bank they clap their,
shields and their cymbals and sing the
praises of the God of Joshua. j
But no sooner have they reached the bank
than the waters begin to dash and roar, and
with a terriflo rush they break doose from
their.strange anchorage. Out yonder they
have stopped; thirty miles up yonder they
halted. On this side the waters roll off
toward the salt sea. But as the hand of the
Lord God is taken away from the thus up
lifted waters waters perhaps uplifted half a
mile as the Almighty hand is taken away
those waters rush down, and some of the un
believing Israelites sav: "Alas, alas, what a
imsioriune: wny coull not those waters
have stayed parted?
may want to go back.
Because, p'erhaps, we
Oh. T,rrd w nr n-
sageu mu nsicy ousiness. Those Canaanites
may eat us up. How if we want to go back?
Would it not have been a more complete
miracle if the Lord had parted the waters to
let us come through and kept them parted
to let us go back if we are defeated?" My
friends, God" makes no -provision for a
Christian's retreat. He clears the path
al 1 the way to Canaan. To go back is to die.
The same cratekeeners that swine hanv rho
amethystine and crystalline gate of the
Jordan to let Israel pass through now swing
shut the amethystine and crystalline gate of
the Jordan to keep the Israelites from going
back. I declare it in your hearing to-day.
victory ahead, water forty feet deep in the
rear. Triumph ahead, Canaan ahead; be
hind you death and darkness and woe and
hell. But you say, "Why didn't those
Canaanites, when they had such a splendid
chance standing on the top of the bank
thirty or forty feet high completely de
molish those poor 'Israel ties down in the
river?" I will tell you why. God had made
a promise, and He was going to keep it.
"There shall not anv man be able to stand
before thee all the days of thy life."
Pxit -this is no place for the host to stop
Joshu-i gives the command, "Forward,
marrh!" . In the distance there is a long
groy-. of trees, and at the end of the .grove is
a city. It is a city of arbors, a city with
walls seeming to reach to the heavens, to
buttress the very sky. It is the great metro
polis that commands the mountain pass. It
is Jericho. That city was afterward captured
by Pompey. and it' was afterward captured
by Herod the Great, and it was afterward
captured by the Mohammedans, but this cam
paign the Lord plans. There shall be no
swords, no shields, no battering ram. There
shall be only one weapon of war, and that a
ram's horn. The horn of the slain ram was
sometimes taken and holes were punctuied
in it. and then the musician would put the
instrument to his Hps, and he would run his
Angers overthis rude musical instrument, and
make a great deal of sweet harmony for the
people. That wa3 the only 1cind of weapon.
Seven priest3 were, to take these rude rustic
musical instruments, and they were to go
around the city every day for six days once
a day for six days, and then on the seventh
day they were to go around, blowing these
rude musical instruments seven times, and
then at the close of the seventh blowing of
the rams' horns on the seventh day the
peroration of the whole scene was to be a
shout, at which those great walls should
tumble from capstone to base.
The seven priests withthe rude musical in
struments pass all around the city walls on
the first day. and a failure. Not so much as
a piece of. plaster broke loose from the wall,
hot so much a loosened rock, not so much as
a piece of mortar lost from its place..
"There." say the: unbelieving Israelites.
'Didn't I tell you so? Why, those ministers
are fools. The idea of going around the city
with those musical instruments and expect
ing in that way to destroy it! Joshua has
been spoiled. He thinks because he has
overthrown aud destroyed the spring freshet
he can overthrow the stone wall. Why, it is
not philosophic. Don't you see there is no
relation between the blowing of these musi
cal instruments and the knocking down of
the wall? It isn't philosophy."
And I suppose there were many wiseacres
who stood with their brows knitted, and
withthe forefinger of the right hand to the
forefinger of the left hand, arguing it all out
and showing it was not possible that such a
cause should produce such an effect. Aud I
suppose that night in the encampment there
was plenty of. philosophy and caricature, and
if Joshua had been nominated for any high
military position he would not have trot
many votes. Joshua's stok was down. The
second day. the priests, blowing the musical
instruments, go around the city, and a' fail
ure. Third day. and a failure; fourth dav,
and a failure: fifth rlv nri a faii.,a. a;iv.
day, and a failure. The seventh day comes,
the climacteric day. Joshua is up early in
the morning and examines the troops, walks
all around about, looks at the Wty wall. The
pries. s start to make the circuit of the city
They go all around once, all aroun i twice'
three times, four times, five times, six time3,
seven times, and a failure.
There is only one more thing to do. and
that is to utter a great shout. I see th
Israelitish army straightening themselves up,
tlllingtheir lungs for a vociferation such as
was never heard before and never heard af
ter. Joshua feels that the hour has come,
and he cries out to his host. "Shout! for the
Lord hath given you the citv!" All the peo
r.le begin to cry: "Down. Jericho! Down,
Jericho! And the long line of solid ma
sonry begins to quiver and to move and to
,rock. Stand from under! She falls! Crash
golhe walls, the temples, the towers, the
palaces! . The air is blackened with the dust.
1 he huzza of the victoriou Israelites and
the groan of the conquere 1 Canaanites com
mingle, and Jo3hua, standing there in th5
debris of the wall, hears a voice savin-Tn-re
shall not any man be able to stanJ
before thee all the davs of thy life "
cat joauua tninj may not halt
The command is; -Forward, march'"
lstuecity of Ai. It must be taken,
saailitba taken? A scoutin- party
hre.
There
How
comes
back and says: "Joshua, we can do that
without you. It is going to be a very easy
job. You just stay here while we go and cap
ture it." They march with a small regiment
in front of that city. The men of Al look at
them and give one yell, and the Israelites
run like reindeers. The northern troops at
Bull Him nnt rin.L- cnrh r-nrki1 timn aa
( these Israelites with the Canaanites after
them. They never cut such a sorry figure
as when thev were on the retreat-
Joshua falls on his face in chagrin. It is
the only time you ever see the back of his
head. He falls on his face and begin.s to
whine, and he says: "O Lord God, wherefore
hast Taou at all brought this people over
Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the
Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we
had been content and dwelt on the other side
of Jordan! For the Canaanites and all the
inhabitants of the land shall hear of it and
shall environ us round and cut off our name
from the earth."
I am very glad Joshua said that. Before
It seemed as if he were a supernatural being,
and therefore coulcl net be an example to us,
but I And he is a man, he is only a man. Just
as sometimes you find a man under severe
opposition, or in a bad state of physical
health, or worn out with overwork, lying
down and sighing about everything being
defeated. I am encouraged when I hear this
cry of Joshua as he lies in the dust.
God comes and rouses him. How does
He rouse him? By complimentary apos
trophe? No. Be says: "Get thee up. 'Where
fore 'liest thou upon thyiace?" Joshua
ris3s. and. I warrant you, with a mortified
look. But his old courage comes back. The
fact was that was not his battle. If he had
been in it, he would have gone on to victory.
He'gathers his troops around him and says:
"Now let us go up and capture the city of
Ai. Let us go up right away."
They march on. He puts the majority ot
the troops behind a ledsre of rocks in the
night, and then he sends a comparatively
small battalion up in front of the citv. The
men of Ai come out with a shout.' fhia vut
talion in stratagem fall back and fall back,
; and when all the men of Ai have left the city
and are in pursuit of this scattered or seem
; ingly scattered battalion Joshua stands on a
j rock I see his locks flying in the wind as
he points his spear toward the doomed citv.
and that is the signal. The men rush out
; from behind the rocks and tako the city, and
i It is put to the torch, and then these israel
! ites in the city march down, and the flying
! battalion of Israelites return, and between
these two waves of Israelitish prowess th
I men of Ai are destroyed, and the Israelites
j gain the victor, and while I see the curlin
! smoke of that destroyed city on the skv, and
i while I hear the huzza of the Israelites and
the groan of the Canaanites, Joshua hears
something louder than it ail, ringing and
echoing through his soul, "Tnere shall not
any man be able to stand before thee all tho
days of thy life." .
' But this is no place for the host of Joshua
to stop. "Forward, march!" cries Joshua to
the troops. There is the city of Gibeon. Jt
has put itself under the protection of Joshua.
They sent word: "There are flv kings after
us. They are going to destroy -vs. Send
troops quick. Send us help risht awav." j
uouua "as aiureeuays marcn more than
double quick. On the morning of the third
lay he is before the enemy. There are two
long lines of battle. -The battle opens w.rh
1 great slaughter, -but the Canaanites soon
discover something. They say: "That is
I Joshua. That is the man who conquered
i the spring freshet and knocked down the
stone wall and destroyed the city of Ai.
There is no use fighting." And they sound
a retreat, and as they begin to retreat
. Joshua and his host spring upon them like a
j panther, pursuing them over the rocks, and
j as these Canaanites, with sprained ankles
j and gashed foreheads, retreat the catapults
j of the sky pour a volley of hailstones into
, the valley, and all the artillery of the
; heavens with bullets of iron pounds the
Canaanites against the ledges of Beth-horon.
j "Oh." says Joshua, "this is surely a
, victory!'.', "But do you see the sun is going
i down? Those Amorites are going to get away
I after all, and they will come up some other
; time andbotherus, and perhaps destroy us."
I See. the sun is going down. Ob, for a longer
i day than has ever been seen in this climate!
What is the matter with Joshua? Has he
fallen in an apopletic fit? No. He is in
prayer. Look out when a good man makes
the Lord his ally. Joshua raises his face,
radiant with prayer, and looks at the de
scending sun over Gibeon and at the faint
; crescent of the moon, for you know the
queen of thenisrht somBtimw with lincroi-
around the palaces of the day. Pointing one
hand at the descending sun" and the other
hand at the faint crescent of the moon, in the
name of that God who shaped the worlds and
moves the worlds, he cries, "Sun, stand thou
still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in'
the valley of Ajalon." And they stood
stilL Whether it was by refraction of the
sun's ray3 or by the stopping of the whole
planetary system I do not know and do not
care. I leave it to the Christian scientists
and the infidel scientists to settle that ques
tion, while I tell you I have seen the same
thin:. "What," sav you, "not the sun stand
ing still?" Yes. The same miracle is per
formed nowadays. Tha wicked do not live
out half their day. and the sun sets at noon:
Bat let a man start out md battle for God,
and the truth, and against sin. and the day
of his usefulness is prolonged and prolonged
and prolonged.
But it is time for Joshua to go hom. He
is 110 year3 old. Washington went down the
Potoma-'. and at Mount Vernon closed his
days. Wellington died peacefully at Apsley
;5e Now'' where shall Joshua rest?
W hy he is to have his greatest battle now.
After 110 years he ha3 to meet a king who
nas more subjects than all the present popu
lation of the earth, his throne a pyramid of
skulls, his parterre the graveyards and the
cemeteries of the world, his chariot the
world s hearse the kins of terrors. Bat if
this is Joshua's greatest battle it is
be Joshua's greatest victory. He gathers
his friends around him and gives his vale
dictory, and it is full of reminiscence
Young men tell what they are going to do
Old men tell what they have done.
And as you have heard a grandfather or a
frreat-grand father, j seated by the evening
flre, tell of Monmouth or Yorktown and then
lift the crutch or staff as though it were a
musket to fight and show how the old battles
were won, o Joshua gathers his friends
around his dying couch, and he tells them
the story of what he has been through, and
as he lie3 there, his white locks snowing
down on his wrinkled forehead. I wonder it
God has kept Ills; prom Iso all the way
through the promise of the text. As he lies
there he tells the story one. two or three
times you have heard old people tell a story
two or three times over and he answers: "I
go the way of all the earth, and not one word of
the promise has failed, not one word thereof
has failed: All ha3 come to pass; not one
word thereof has failed." And then he
turns to his family as a dying parent will
and says: "Choosenow whom ye will serve
the God of Israel or the 'God of the Amor
ites. As for me and my house, we will serve
the Lord." A dying parent cannot be reck
less or thoughtless in regard to his children
Consent to part with them at the door of
the tomb we cannot. By the cradle in which
their infancy was rocked, by the bosom oa
which they first lay, by the blood of the
Covenant, by the God of Joshua, it shall not
be. We will not part. We cannot part.
Jehovah Jireh, we take Thee at Thy promise",
"I will be a God to thee and thy 6eed aftpJ
thee." j
Dead, the old chieftain must be laid out.
Handle him very gently. That sacred body
13 over 110 years of age. Lay him out. Stretch
out those feet that walked dry shod the parted
Jordan. Close those lips which helped blow
the blast at which the watl3 of Jericho fell.
Fold the arm that lifted the spear toward the
doomed city of Ai.j Fold it right over the
heart that exulted when the five kings fell.
But where shall we get the burnished granite
for the headstone and the footstone? I be
think myself now. I imagina that for the
head it shall be the sun that steod still upon
Gibeon, and for the foot the moon that stood
still in the valley of Ajalon.
INCBEASEIX INTOXICANTS.
The Rev. Dr. T. L. Cuyler claims that so
cial drinking customs are on the increase in
our country, and he adds: "The decanter is
stealing back again on to the dinner tables
of people from whom we should expect bet
ter things. Intoxicants are more freely of
fered at weddings and in social gatherings.
Club life is becoming more popular, and
there are very few clubs that are under re
strictions of total j abstinence. Betting and
bottles are the two concomitants of the foot
ball matches and rowing matches which at
tract thousands of our college students."
This is a sorry picture in view of all the eU
forts of the various wings of the great tem
perance army. We -wish we could believe
that Dr. Cayler wa3 mistaken when he so
wrote, but we fear that he is correct. As to
methods of overcoming the evil the doctor
says that to prohibit the sale of intoxicants is
bootless so long as the use of intoxicants is
on the increase. He wants to see a tremend
ous arousing of public conscience all over
the land. No one can sound out as effective
a clarion call on this subject as Dr. Cuyler,
and we hope that he will cry aloud and spara'
not. Independent. . .
H9
MAMMA DID KOT WAXT TO EE SEEN.
The pastor went to call at a house.
rang tne iront door belL It was not an
swered. He tried the lock on the front door,
but the door did not open. Presently a child
came from the bak' entrance. "We cannot
open the front; door to-day," . she said.
'Mamma would like you to come around to
the back door," He obeyed. He found
"mamma" over a wash tub, washing with
her right hand, holding the baby in her left
hand. The hand that she was using in wash
ing had one finger done up. .
"What is the matter with your finger. Mrs,
Sorrowfuly" T
At first she hesitated to answer, but by de
grees the pastor learned that her husband,
in his drunken rage, had bitten the finger
"Where is vour m
pastor asked.
The little child answered, "He "is lying on
the floor, in the front ball, up against the
door. Papa is sick to-day."
4,Oh, what a curse is this curse!
lusbond to-day?" also the
' BAILIIOADS a!xD tlQUOE DEINKIXG.
Among the questions proposed to the rail
road companies doing business in Wisconsin
by the Railroad Commissioner of that State
is the following: j
"Has your company anv rule governing
your .conductors,! engineers and trainmen
concerning the use of intoxicating liquor"
In the report of, the commissioner for 1S77
answers are given1 as follows, to wit:
Chicago and Northwestern Road: "The
rules of this company absolutely prohibit the
u?e of intoxicating liquors by conductors,
engineers and trainmen, and they are strictly
enforced."
Green Bay and Minnesota Road: "Em
ployes not allowed to use intoxicating
hquors. '
Chicago, Sf. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha
Load: "The use of intoxicating liquors in
volves instant dismissal."
Wisconsin Central Road: "Rule No. 2 of
our book of instructions reads, 'The use of
intoxicating liquors by any employe is detri
mental to himself and the interests of the
company, and only those who abstain from
Ks use will be employed.' This rule is rig
idly enforced." f .
Wisconsin and ! Minnesota and Chippewa
ialls and Western Roads: "Have thesara-
rules as the Wisconsin Central. Substan
tially the saxe owners."