The Russellville Democrat., 1888-08-02
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Use of Strategy in the Various
 walks of Life-
The Victory of Joshua Over the City . Al Illustrative of Modern Msthods of CircomvenfinE and De-
 festing 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. F., at the annual encampment of the regiment His text was:
 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and
 etze upon Inc city.--Jcshua win. 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 it for all os 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 a 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, r. Ali Joshua and his men wanted to take it. How to do it is the question. On a former occasion, in straightforward, face to face fight, they had been defeated; but now they are going to take if by ann buscade. General Joshua has two diyi- sions in his army--the one division the battle worn commander will lead him. self, the other division be sends of to encamp in an ambush on the west side of the city of Ali. No torches, no lanterns, no sound of heavy bsttahons, but thirty thousand swarthy warriors moving in silence, speaking only in whisper: no clicking of swords against shields, lest the watchmen Of Ali discover 1t and the strstagem be a fail- ure. If roistering soldier in the Israeli 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 Ali. 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 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:
 'sYonder is the division in ambush on the west side of Ali Here is the division I have under my especial command on the north side of Ali. There IS the old city siumbering in its sin. To-morrog will be the battle. Lookl the morning already begins b 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, 'sTo arnsl 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 all the inhabitants of the city of Ali pour through the gates, an infuriated torrent, and their cry is: "Come-we'll make quick work with Joshua and his troopsip No sooner had these people of Al come out against the troops Of Joshua than Joshua gave such command as he sel. dom gave. Fall backr Why, they could not believe their own ears. Is Joshua's courage falling hims
 The retreat is beaten and the Israelites are flying, throwing blsnkets and canteens on every side under this worse than Bull Run defeat. And you ought to hear the soldiers of Ali 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, glitterfng in the sun like shaft of doom. and points it toward the city, and when the men up wonder in the ambush b
 
 upon Ali, 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 yosnua stop in fhe flight than all his men stop with him, and as be wheels they wheel, for in voice of thunder he cried: ssHaltla One strong arm driving back a .,e ar-fv, f,far nd hap az n a points his spear through the golden light toward that fatal city, his troops know that they are to start for it. What a scene it was when the division in ambush which had taken the city, marched down against the men of Ali on the one side, and the troops under Joshua doubled up their enemies from the other side, and the men of Ali were caught between these two hurricanes ot Israelitish courage, thrust before and behind, stabbed in breast and back, ground between the up- per and neither milistones of Gods indig- nation. Woe to the oity of Ali! Cheer tor the triumphs of Israeli
 Lesson the first: There is such thing a victorious retreat. Joshua's falling back was the first chapter in his success sul 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 Ali upon the men of Joshua Your only safety is to get away from them. Your dissipating companions will come around for your overthrow. Run for your life Fall backi Fall back from the D. ft,A wine party. Your flight is your adyan nce 1! 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 I ever had. Your retraat is your victory. Here is a converted infideL He is so strong now in his faith iu the Gospel he says he can read any thing What are you readingi Bolingbroke; Andrew Jack son Davis' tractsf Tyndall's Glasgow University addressi Drop them and run. OQ VIII De All iiluucl lOA G4c less you quit that These men of Ali will be too much for you Turn your back on tho rank and Ale of unbelief. Fly before they cut you with their swords and trans fx 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 Ali made a morning meal of them. So also there is such thing as victorious retreat in the religious world. Thous and of times the Kingdom of Christ has seemed to fall back When the blood of the Scotch Covenanters gave deeper dye to the heather of the Highlands, when the Vaudois of France chose extermina- ton rather than make an unchristian sur render, when on St Bartholomew's Day mounted assassins rode through the streets of Paris, crying; Kill Blood letting is good in August Kill Death to the Huguenotsi Killp' when Lady Jane Grey's head rolled from the executioner's block, when Calvin was imprisoned in the