The Brookhaven leader., 1888-08-02
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Use of Strategy in the Various
Walks of Life.
The Victory of Joshua Over the City o
Al Illustrative of Modern Methods
of Circumventing and Do
feating the Devil.


kill, n. V, at the annual eucampment n
the regiment. His text was:
Then ye shall rise IN from tho ambush, and
seize upon the city.-7Ioshua viii, :.
Men ot 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 ft
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
end the quick interrogations and the
blanched cheeks, | 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
former occasion, in a straightforward,
face to face fight, they had been defeated;
but now they are going to take 1t by am
buscade. General Joshua has two divl-
sions in his army-the one division the
battle-worn commander will lead him
self, the other division he 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 stratagem be a fall
ure. If FOSTERING soldier in the Israel
itish army forgets himself, all along the
line the word is "Hush!" 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, aud 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
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 Al 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 armsW rings
through all the streets of the old town,
and every sword, whether hacked and
bent or newly welded, is brought out, and
al the inhabitants of the city of All pour
through the gates, an infuriated torrent,
and their cry is: "Come-well make
quick work with Joshua and his troops"
No sooner had these people of All come
out against the troops of Joshua than
Joshua gave such n command as he sell
dom gave: "Fall back" Why, they
ha1; la
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, and
cheer. But they huzza too soon. The
men lying in ambush are straining their
vision to get some signal from Joshua
that they may know what time to drop
upon the city. Joshua takes his FURNISHED
spear, glittering in the sun like Il shaft of
doom, and points it toward the city, and
when the men up yOnder in the ambush
see il, 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. SO much for the division that
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:
HALT" 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 ambush
which had taken the city, marched down
against the men of Al on the one side,
and the troops under Joshua doubled up
their enemies from the other side, and
the men of Al were caught between these
two hurricanes OF Israelitsh courage,
thrust before and behind, stabbed in
breast and back, ground between the up
per and neither millstones Of Gods indig-
nation. Woe to the city Of All Cheer
,or the triumphs of Israel!
Lesson the first: There is such a thing
rs victorious retreat Joshua's falling
back was the first chapter in his success
tul besiegement. And there are times in
your life when the best thing You can do
Is to run. You were once the victim of
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. Your
only safety is to get away from them.
Your dissipatlng companions will come
around for your overthrow. Run for your
life! Fall back! Fall back from the
drinking saloon. Fall back from the
wine party. Your flight is your advan ce I!
Your retreat is your victory. There is a
saloon down on the next street that has
almost been the ruin of your soul. Then,
why do you go along that street? Why
do you not pass through some
other street rather than by the place
of your calamity? A spoonful of brandy
taken for medicinal purposes by man
who twenty years before had been re-
formed from drunkenness, hurled into in
ebriety and the grave one of the best
friends l ever had. Your retraat is your
victory. Here is a converted infidel. He
is so strong now in his faith in the Gospel
he says he can read any thing. What are
you reading? Bolingbroke? Andrew Jack
son Davis tracts? TyndalI's Glasgow
University address? Drop them and run
You will be an infidel before you die I'M
less you quit that. These men of Al will
be too much for you Turn your back on
the rank and file of unbelief. Fly before
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 fool
hardy expedition in the presence of
mighty and overwhelming temptations,
and the men of Al made a morning meal
of them. So also there is such thing as
victorious retreat in the religious world.
Thousand of times the kingdom of Christ
has seemed to fall back. When the blood