The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-08-03
TALMAGES SERMON.
The Use of Strategy in the Various
Walks of Life.
The Victory of Joshua Over the City of
Al Illustrative of Modern Methods
of Clrcumventing and De
feating the Devil.

Rev. T. De Witt Talmage preached the
following sermon to the Thirteenth Regi-
ment, of which he is Chaplain, at Peeks-
kill, N. Y, at the annual encampment of
the regiment. His text was:
Then We shall rise up from the ambush, aud
eize upon the city.-Joshua viii, z.
Men of the Thirteenth Regiment, and
their friends here gathered, of all occu-
pations 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-o open eyes
and the quick interrOgatiOns and the
blanched cheeks, 1 realized what thrill
ing drama it was. There is the old city,
shorter by name than any other city in
the ages, spelled with two letters-A, L
All. Joshua and his men wanted to take
it. How to do it is the question. On n
former occasion, in a straightforward,
face to face fight, they had been defeated;
but now they are going to take it by am
buscade. General Joshua has two divi-
gions in his army-the one divi ision the
battle worn commander will lead him.
self, the other division be sends
off to encamp in an ambush
on the west side of the city of Al No
torches, no lanterns, no sound of heavy
battalions, but thirty thousand swarthy
warriors moving in silence, speaking
only in whisper; no clicking of swords
against shields, lest the watchmen of Al
discover it and the stra tagem be a fall
ure. If a roistering soldier in the Israel
itish army forgets himself, all along the
line the word is ''HushW 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
feeling of Wellington the night before
| 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
| I 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. Lookl 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 arms! To armsY' rings
through all the streets of the old town,
| and every sword, whether hacked and
| bent or newly welded, is brought out, and
| all the inhabitants of the city of All pour
| through the gates, an infuriated torrent,
| and their cry is: "COme-we'n make
| quick work with Joshua and his troops !!
| No sooner had these people of Al come
| out against the troops or Joshua than
Joshua gave such a command as he sell
dom gave: "Fall backw Why, they
could not believe their own ears. Is
! Joshua'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 the
soldiers of Al cheer, and cheer, snG
cheer. But they huzza too soon. The
men lying in ambush are straining then
vision to get some signal from JOshua
| that they may know what time to droT
| upon the city. Joshua takes his FURNISHED
| spear, glittering in the sun like a shaft Of
| doom, and points it toward the city, and
when the men up yOnder in the ambusf
| see it. with hawk-liEle swOop they drOI
| upon All and without stroke of sword OF
| stab of spear take the city and put it tc
the torch. So much for the division thai
| was IN ambush. 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
''HRltP' One strong arm driving back 9
/ Oh nyln8 ITOODSs Anu IltOAl1 sAS Alc
| points his spear through the golden Hgh
toward that fatal city, his troops know
| that they are to start for it. What &
sc enc it was when the division in ambush
| which had taken the city, marched dowr
| against the men of All on the one side
| and the troops under Joshua doubled VI
their enemies from the other side, anC
the men of Al were caught between these
| two hurricanes of Israelitish courage
thrust before and behind, stabbed il
breast and back, ground between the up
per and neither millstones of Gods indig'
nation. Woe to the city of ALL Cheer
for the triumphs of Israeli
Lesson the first: There IS such a thing
as victorious retreat. JOshua's falling
back was the first chapter in his success
| full besiegemen6. And there are times III
your life when the best thing you can dc
is to run. You were once the victim o.
strong drink. The demijohn and the de-
canter were your fierce foes. They came
down upon you with greater fury than the
men of Al upon the men of Joshua. You
only safety is to get away from them
Your dissipatlng companions will come
around for your overthrow. Run for you
life! Fall backl Fall back from th'
drinking saloon. Fall back from th'
wine party. Your flight is your advan ce
| Your retreat is your victory. There is
saloon down on the next street that hal
| almost been the ruin of your soul. Then
why do you go along that street? VIII!
| do you not pass through som'
other street rather than by the placi
of your calamity? A spoonful of brand,
taken for medicinal purposes by a maj
who twenty years before had been re
formed from drunkenness. hurled into in
ebriety and the grave one of the bes
| friends / ever had. Your retraat is you
victory. Here is a converted infideL III
is so strong now in his faith in the GOspe
he says he can read any thing. What ar
you reading? Bolingbroke? Andrew Jack
son Davis tracts2 TyndalPs Glasgow
University address? Drop them and run
| You will be an infidel before you die un
less you quit that These men Of Al viii
be too much for you Turn your back Ol
the rank and file of unbelief. Fly befor
| they cut you with their swords and trans
fix you with their javelins.
There are people who have been well
nigh ruined because they risked a fool
hardy expedition in the presence Q
mighty and overwhelming temptations
and the men of Al made morning mea
of them. So also there is such thing a
victorious retreat in the religious world
Thousand OF times the kingdom OF Chris
has seemed to fall back. When the bloo
D of the Scotch Covenanters gave q deepe
dye to the heather of the Highlands. whe
! the Vaudois of France chose extermina a
tion rather than make an unchristian sur
render, when on st Bartholomew's Da
mounted assassins rode through th
: streets of Paris, crying; "Killi Blood
letting is good in August! XIII Death
the Hugueuotsi Kill" when Lady Jan
I Grey's bead rolled from the execuhoner
| block when Calvin was imprisoned IN th
; castle, when John Knox died for Ii
truth, when John Bunyan lay rotting i
Bedford JAIL saying:
"If God will help me and my physics
I life continues / will stay here until Il
= moss grows on my eyebrows rather tina
give up my faith" The days Of retre'
the Church were davs Of victory