The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1890-12-26
JOSHUA'S TRIUMPH.
DR.. TaIrnage on the Intrepid VVar-
riOr of Israel
The Story of the Parting OF the waters OF
sOrdan-The OverthrOsr of jericho
Last Hours of the OId
Commander.

NlEC6 on LnC 1OlN lza1ltlz uCAFCEE0
Brooklyn, Rev. T. De Witt Talmage re-
Gently took his text from Joshua, XII 5:
'And when all these Kings were met to
gether, they came and pitched together
at the waters of MerOm to fight against
Israel" He said;
We are encamped tonight in Pales-
tine by the waters of Merom- After
a long march we have found our tents
pitched, our fires kindled, and though
far away from civilization, variety of
food that would not compromise a first
class American hotel, for the most Of
our caravan starts an hour and half
earlier in the morning The malarias
around this Lake MerOm are SO poison
GUS that at any other season of the year
encampment here is PerilOus, but this
winter night the air is tonic and health
full In this neighbOrhOod Joshua
fought his last great battle The ma
tons had banded themselves together TO
crush this Joshua, but along the banks
of these waters Joshua left their car
casses- Indeed it is time that we more
infinitely examine this Joshua of whom
we have in these discOurses caught only
a momentary glimpse, although he
crossed and recrossed Palestine, and
next to Jesus is the most stirring and
mighty character whose foot ever
touched the Holy Land
Moses was dead. a beautiful tradi-
ton says the Lord kissed him, and in
that act drew forth the soul of the dy
ing lawgiver. He had been buried; only
one Person at the funeral, the same One
who kissed him But God never takes a
man away from any place of usefulness
but he has some one ready.
Moses has passed off the stage and
Joshua, the hero, puts his foot the
platform of history SO solidly that all
the ages echo with the tread. He was
magnificent fighter He got his military
equipment from God, who gave him the
promise at the start: There shall not
any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life" God fulfilled
this promise, although Joshua's first
battle was with the spring freshet; and
the next with stone wall; and the
next, leading on a regiment of whipped
towards; and the next battle, against
darkness, wheeling the sun and the
moon into his battalion, and the last,
against the king of terrOrs, death-fye
great victories.
For the most part, when the general
of an army starts out in a conflict he
would like to have small battle in or
der that he may get his courage up and
he may rally his troops and get them
drilled for greater conflicts; but this
| first undertaking of Joshua was greater
than the leveling of Fort Pulaski, or
! the laundering down of Gibraltar, or
the overthrow of the Bastile. 1t was
the crossing of the Jordan at the time
of the spring freshet. The SHOWS of
Mount Lebanon had just been melting
and they poured down into the valley,
and the whole valley was raging tor
rent. So the Canaanites stand on one
bank and they look across and see
| Joshua and the Israelites, and they
laugh and say: AHA! aha! they can
not disturb us in time-until the fresh
cts fall; it is impossible for them to
reach US" But after awhile they look
across the water and they see a move
ment in the army of Joshua. They say,
whats the matter now? Why, there
must be a panic among these troops,
and they are going to fly, or perhaps
they are going to try to march across
Jordan Joshua is a lunatic-" But
Joshua, the chieftain, looks at his army
| and cries: Forward, march, and they
| start for the bank of the Jordan
One mile ahead go two priests carry
/ ing glittering box four feet long and
| two feet wide. 1t is the ark of the COW
enant- And they come down, and no
sooner do they just touch the rim of the
water with their feet than by an al
mighty fiat, Jordan parts The army
| of Joshua marches right on without
| getting their feet wet, over the bottom
/ of the river, = path of chalk and broken
shells and pebbles, until they get to the
other bank. Then they lay hold of the
| oleanders and tamarisizs and willows
| and pull themselves up bank thirty or
| forty feet high and, having gained the
other bank, they clap their shields and
their cymbals, and sing the praises of
| the God of Joshua But no sooner have
| they reached the bank than the waters
| begin to dash and roar, and with terrific
rush they break loose from their strange
anchorage. Out yonder, thirty miles of
| distance they halted. On this side the
/ Tl,1f
as the hand of the Lord God is taken
away from the thus uplifted waters
waters perhaps uplifted half a mile-as
the almighty hand is taken away, those
waters rush down, and some of the I'M
believing Israelites say: -'Alas, alas,
what a misfortune! Why could not
those waters have stayed parted? Be
cause, perhaps, we may want to go back.
Would 1t not have been a more com
plete miracle if the Lord had parted the
waters to let us come through and kept
them parted to let us go back if we are
defeated?" My friends, God makes nc
provision for Christians retreat He
clears the path all the way to Canaan.
Te go back is to die. The same gate
keepers that swing back the amethys
tine and crystalline gates of the Jordan
to let Israel pass through now swing
shut the amethystine and crystalline
gate of the Jordan to keep the Israelites
from going Dsick. ! OSctarG II IN yOu
hearing to-day, victory ahead, water
thirty feet deep in the rear, triumph
ahead, Canaan ahead, behind you death
and darkness and woe and hell
But this Is no place for the host tc
stop. Joshua gives the command, For
ward marchi'' In the distance there Is
long grove of trees and at the end OF
the grove Is city. 1t Is city of ar
bors, a city with the walls seeming &c
reach to the heaven to buttress the
very sky 1t is the great metropolis
that commands the mountain pass. II
is Jericho That city was afterward
captured by Pompey, and it was after
ward captured by Herod the Great, and
it was afterwsrd captured by the Mo
hammedans, but this campaign the
Lord plans There shall be no swords
no shields, no battering ram. There
shall be only one weapon of war and
that q rams horn The horn OF the
slain ram was sometimes taken and
holes were punctured in it and then the
musician would put the instrument K