Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-08-01

DEEKsKILL, N. Y, July 22.-Chaplaln T.
i Dewitt Talmage preached today to
the Thirteenth regiment of the New
York State National Guards, now encamp-
ed here. The regiment bled at 3
P. NJ, when people from the neighboring
country, towns and cities we're present in
immense numbers. A military band con-
Quoted the musical part of the service.
Chaplain Talmage's sermon, which was on
"Uses of Stratagem," was based on Joshua,
chapter 5, verse Z: "Then We shall rise up
from the ambush and seize upon the CITY,"
He said:
Men of the Thirteenth regiment, and
their friends here gathered, of all occupa-
tions and professions, men of the city and
men of the fields, here is 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 wide-open eyes and the
quick interrogations and the blanched
cheeks, realized what thrilling drama it
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 ques-
tion. On former occasion, in straight
forward, face to face fight, they had been
defeated; but now they are going to take it
by ambuscade. General Joshua has two
divisions in his army-the one division the
battle-worn commander will lead himself,
the other division he sends off to encamp in
an ambush OH the west side of the city of
All. No torches, no lanterns, no sound of
heavy battalions, but 10000 swarthy war
riors moving in silence, speaking only in a
whisper: no clicking of swords against
shields, lest the watchmen of All discover it
and the stratagem be failure. If a roys-
tering soldier in the Israelitish army forgets
himself, all along the line the word is
"Hush p 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 reconnoitering in
the valley. There he is, thinking over the
fortunes of the coming day, with something
of the feelings of Wellington the night be-
fore Waterloo, or of Meade and Lee the
night before Gettysburg. There he stands
in the night, and says to himself: ''Yonder
is the division in ambush on the west side
of All. Here is the division have under
my especial command on the north side of
All. There is the old city slumbering in its
SIN. Tomorrow will be the battle. Look
the morning already begins to 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, ''To
armsl To arms1' rings through all the
streets of the old town, and every sword,
whether hached and bent or newly welded,
is brought out, and all the inhabitants of the
city of All pour through the gates, an in.
furiated torrent, and their cry is: ''Come,
we'll make quick work with Joshua and his
| troops" No sooner had these people OIL
All come out against the troops of Joshua
than Joshua gave such command as he
seldom gave: "Fall back !' Why, they
could not believe their own ears. Is josh
ua's courage failing him?
The retreat is beaten, and the IsraelItes
are flying, throwing blankets and canteens
on every side under this worse than Bull
Run defeat. And you ought to hear tht
soldiers of All cheer and cheer and cheer
But they huzza too soon. The men lyine
in ambush are straining their vision to ge
some signal from Joshua that they may know
what time to drop upon the city. Joshui
takes his FURNISHED spear, glittering in tn
sun like shaft of doom, and points it to
ward the city; and when the men up yonde
in the ambush see it, with hawk-like swool
they drop upon All, and without stroke o
sword or stab of spear take the city and pu
it to the torch. So much for the division
that was in ambush. How about the dlvi
sion under Joshua's command? No soone
does Joshua stop in the flight than all hi
} men stop with him, and as he wheels the,
wheel, for in voice of thunder he cried
"Halt !" One strong arm driving back
, torrent of flying troops. And then, as b
points his spear through the golden ligh
toward that fatal city, his troops know tina
they are to start for it. What sense it wa
when the division in ambush which ha
f taken the city marched down against tn
: men of All on the one side, and the troop
! under Joshua doubled up their enemie
8 from the other side, and the men of All wer
g caught between these two hurricanes G
Israelitish courage, thrust before and be
d hind, stabbed in breast and back, groun
g between the upper and neither milestone {
: Gods indignation. Woe to the city of All
Cheer for the triumph of Israel
Lesson the first There is such thing a
victorious retreat. Joshna's falling bac
:. was the first chapter in his successful b.
siegemcnt. And there are times in yor
life when the best thing you can do is