The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-01-02
JOSHUA'S TRIUMPH.
DR.. Talmage on the Intrepid War
rior of Israel.
The Story of the Parting of the Waters of
Jordan-The Overthrow of Jericho
Last Hours Of the Old
Commander.

Gently took his text from Joshua, ri. .:
"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 AIerom. After
a long march we have found our tents
pitched, our fires kindled. and though
far away from civilization, a variety of
food that would not compromise 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
encamrSnent here is rerilous, 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
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 on the
platform of history so solidly that al
the ages echo with the tread. He wasa
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 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-fve
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
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 Israelitss, 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 u.s." 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 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
60 &c thn nf hn
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 tamarisks 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 a terrific
rush they break loose from their strange
anchorage. Out yonder, thirty miles of
distance they halted. On this side the
waters roll off toward the salt sea. But
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 un-
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 it not have been a more com
plete miracle if the Lord had parted the
waters to let us come through and KEEP
them parted to let us go back if we art
defeated?" Ny friends, God makes NJ
provision for a Christians retreat. He
clears the path all the way to Canaan
To 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 swins
shut the amethystine and crystallin,
gate of the Jordan to keep the Israelite
from going back. / declare il in you,
hearing to-day, victory ahead, waite
thirty feet deep in the rear, triumph
ahead, Canaan ahead, behind you dealt
and darkness and woe and he'll.
But this is no place for the host Il
stop. Joshua gives the command, ''For
ward march, In the distance there j
long grove of trees and at the end o
the grove is city. 1t is city of ar
bors, city with the walls seeming t.
reach to the heaven, to buttress tn,
very sky. 1t is the great metropoli
that commands the mountain pass. /
is Jericho. That city was afterwar,