The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-08-09
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Disoourses Of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher.
Subject: s'Uscs OfStratagem.s
Preached to the l3th Regi.
ment, N. v. =. N. g.. at
the Peel<skill IN. NJ
State Camp.

TEXT: "Then ye shall rise up from tho
,,. ambush and seize upon the city."-Joshua,
Men of the Thirteenth Regiment, and their
friends here gathered, of all occupations, and
professions men Of the city and men Of the
delds, here is a theme fit for all of us.
one Sabbath evening with my family
around me, we were talking over the scene
of the text. In the wideopen eyes and the
quick interrogations and the blanched
cheeks, realized what a thrilling drama IL
was. There is the old city, shorter by name
than any other city in the ages, spelled with
two letters-A, I-Ai. Joshua and his men
want to take it How to do it is the
question, tne;a,. On a former occasion, in
they had been defeated; but now they are
going to take it by ambuscade. General
Joshua has two divisions in his armya>the
one division the battle worn commander will
lead himself, the other division he sends off
70 encamp in an ambush on the west side of
The city of Al No torches no lanterns, no
sound of heavy battaions, but $4,000
swarthy warriors moving in silence,
clicking Of swords against 'psli Shields, h'
lest the watchmen of All discover it, and the
stratagem be failure. If registering
soldier in the 1sraelitish army forgets him
self, all along the line the word is "Hushl'
Joshua takes the other division, the one with
which he is to march, and puts it on the north
side of the city of All, and then spends the
night in accommodating in the valley. There
he is, thinking over the fortunes of the
coming day, with something of the feelings
Of wellington the night before Waterloo, or
OF Meade and Lee the night before Getty
ourg. There he stands in the night and says
70 himself: "Yonder is the division in am
push on the west side of All. Here is the
nlvision have under my especial command
on the north side of All. There is the old CITY
Numbering in its sin. Tomorrow will be the
battle. Look! the morning already begins
70 tip the hills. The military officers Of All
LOOK out in the morning very early, and
while they do not see the division in ambush,
they behold the other division of Joshua,
and the cry: ITO armsl To armsp'
rings through all the streets Of the
pG pa a, town, and every sword, whether
brought out. and all the inhabitants of
the city of All pour through the gates, an in
turlated torrent, and their cry is; ''Come.
we'll make quick work with Joshua and his
troops. No sooner had these people of All
eome out against the troops of Joshua than
joshua gave such a command as he seldom
gave: gave: Fall back!' Why, they could not
failing him?
The retreat is beaten, and the Israelites are
hying, throwing blankets and canteens on
every side under this worse than Bull Run de-
leat And you ought to hear the soldiers of
al cheer and cheer and cheer But they huzza
700 soon: The men lying in ambush are strain.
ing thelr vision to get some signal from
time to drop upon the city. Joshua takes his
FURNISHED spear, glistening in the snn like a
shaft OF doom, and points it toward the city; !;
and when the men up yonder in the ambush
zee 1T, with hawk-like swoop they drop upon
Al, and without stroke Of sword or stab of
spear take the city and put it to the torch
80 much for the division that waS in am
bush. How about the division under Joshua's
command! No sooner does Joshua stop in
the flight than all his men stop with him, and
as he wheels they wheel, for in a voice of
thunder he cried: "Haltln One strong arm
driving back torrent of flying troops. And,
then, as he points his spear through the
golden Light toward that fatal city, his
troops know that they are to start for it,
What scene it was when the division in am
ousn, which had taken the city marched down
against the men of All on the one side, and
the troops under Joshua doubled upon their
enemies from the other side, and the men of
al were caught between these two hurricanes
Or israelltlsh courage, thrust before and
oenlnd, stabbed in breast and back, ground
between the upper and the neither miilstones
Of Gods indignation. Woe to the city of
Al! Cheer for the triumphs of Israel!
Lesson the first: There is such thing as
victorious retreat. Joshua's falling back
was the first chapter in his successful besege-
menu. And there are times in your life when
tne best thing you can do is to run. You
we're once the victim of strong drink The
aemiJohn and the decanter were your fierce
I'll
tury than the men of All upon the men of
Joshua. Your only safety is to get away
from them. Your disspatng companions
will come around you for your overthrow.
Run for your life! Fall back! Fall back
from the drinking saloon. Fall back from
she Wine party. Your flight is your advance
Your retreat is your victory There is a
has almost been the ruin of your
soul. Then why do you go along that
streeta Why do you not pass through
some other street rather than by the place of
your calamity! A spoonful of brandy taken
Tor medicinal purposes by a man who twenty
years before had been reformed from drunk
enness, hurled into inebriety and the grave
one of the best friends ever had. Your re-
treat is your victory. Here is converted
infidel. He is SO strong now in his
suion IN rne uospel he says he
can read anything. What are you
readings BoIingbroke, Andrew jackson
Davis's tracts! Tyndalrs Glasgow Univers
NY address! Drop them and run. You will
De an infidel before you die unless you quit
That. These men of All will be too much for
you. Turn your back on the rank and file
Of unbelief. Fly before they cut Won with
their swords and transfix you with their
javelins.
There are people who have been well-nicb
ruined because they risked a fool-hardy exps-
dltion in the presence of mighty and over.
whelming temptations. and the men of Al
made morning meal of them. So also there
Is such thing as victorious retreat in the
religious world. Thousands of times tn,
Kingdom of Christ has seemed
to fall back. When the blood OF
the Scotch Covenanters gave a deepe
dye to the heather of the Highlands, wher
the Vaudois of France chose exterminatioi
rather than make an unchristian surrender
when on st Bartholomew Day mounted as
sassins rodo tie streets of Paris crying
Kill! Bloo1-letting is COOL in August
Kill! Death to the Huguenots! Kill
when Lady Jane Greys head rolled from tn
executioner's block, when Calvin was i'm
| prisoned in the castle, when John Knox diet
for the truth; when John Bunyan lay rottin,
in Bedford Jail, saying: 'If God will hell
me and my physical life continues will stay
here until the moss grows on my, eyebrow
retreat for the church were days of victory
The Pilgrim Fathers fell back from tn
other side of the sea to Plymouth Rock, bu
now are marshaling a continent for tn
Christianization of the world The Churc
or Christ falling back from r1edmon
falling back from Rue ST. Jacques, fallin
back from st. Denis, falling back fror
Wurtemburg castles, falling back frel
the Brussels market place, yet all tn
time triumphing. Notwithstanding a
the shocking reverses which the Church {
Christ suffers, what do we see to-day9 Thre
thousand missionaries of the cross on heathe
ground; sixty thousand ministers of Jesr
Christ in this land; at least two hundre
millions of Christians on the earth A
nations to-day kindling in blaze of reviva
Falling back, yet advancing until the ol
Wesleyan hymn will prove true:
"The lion OF Judah shall break the chain.
And give us the victory again and again,s
But there is more marked illustration Z
victorious retreat in the life of our Josbu,
the Jesus of the ages First fallinp bac
from an appalling height to an appallin
depth, falling from celestial hills to terre
trial valleys from throne to manper. ",
that did not seem to suffice Him as retrea
Falling back still further from Bethlehem
Nazareth, from Nazareth to Jerusalem. bac
from Jerusalem to Golgotha, back from Go
gotha to the mausoeum in the rock. bac
| down over the prccipices of periition uoti