The Penn's Grove record., 1891-01-03
RBV. DR.. TAIN AGE
The Brooklyn D,vine's Sunday
Sermon.
Subject: "The Waters Of Herom.-

TEXT: "And tohsn all these KINGS ,oers
met together they came and pitched tAyethss
at the eaters of Merom to fight against L.
raeL"-Josh. H, S.
We are encauped tonight in Palestine
by the waters Of Merom. 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 q first class American
hotel, for the most of our caravan starts'an
hour and a half earlier in the morning.
We detain only two mules, carrying
so much of our baggage as we might acci-
dentally need and a tent for the MONDAY
luncheon. The malarias around this Lake
Merom are 50 poisonous that at any other
season Of the year encampment here is peril
Gus, but this winter night the air is tonic and
healthful. In this neighborhood Joshua
fought his last great battle. The nations
had banded themselves together to crush this
Joshua. but along the banks q tne19 . .; "a rn,a
Joshua left th-i. ~-Arcdsses. tuoeeu isls Iime
that ". niore 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 charac-
ter whose foot ever touched the Holy Land.
Moses was dead. A beautiful tradition
SAYS the Lord kissed him, and in that act
Grew IOTLn tu6 SOUL VI buo u1tuk AhWklbcEs
He had been buried, only one Person at the
burial, the same One who kissed hin. But
God never takes a man away from any place
of usefulness but he has some one ready.
The Lord does dot go looking around amid .
great variety of candidates to find some one
especially fitted for the vacant position. He
makes a man for that place. Moses has
passed off the stage. and Joshua, the hero,
puts his foot on the platform Of history so
solidly that all the ages echo with its tread.
He was q magnificent fighter, but he
always fought on the right side and
he never fought unless God told
him to fight. 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 a stone wall, and the next
leading on a regiment Of whipped towards.
and the next battle against darkness, wheel
ing the sun and the moon into his battalion,
and the last against the king OF terrorA
death-fve great victories
This first undertaking OF Joshua was
greater than the leveling Of Fort PULASKI. or
the laundering down Of Gibraltar, 4Et&he
overthrow Of the Bastile. It was theac f0ss-
ing of the Jordan at the time Of the spring
freshet. The SHOWS Of Mount Lebanon had
Just been melting, and they poured down in
10 Iu6 Nd1ityt dklu Il WhOio NailCy "a .
raging torrent. So the C~anaanites stand on
one bank, and they look across and see
Joshua and the Israelites, and they laugh
and say, "Ahal aha they cannot disturb US
in time-until the freshets fall; it is impossi-
BILE for them to reach u.s. But after q
while they look across the water and they
see a movement in the army of Joshua.
| They say. whats the matter nowe 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 the River
Jordan. Joshua is a lunatic." But Joshua,
the chieftain, looks at his army and cries,
Forward, marchv' and they start for the
bank Of the Jordan.
One mile ahead go two priests carrying a
glttering box four feet long and two feet
Wide. It Is the ark of the covenant. And
| they come down, n nc sooner do they Just
touch the rim of the water with their feet
than by an Almighty fiat Jordan parts. The
army Of Joshua marches right on without
getting their feet wet over the bottom Of the
river, a path Of chalk and broken shells and
pebbles, until they get to the other bank.
Then they lay hold of the oleanders and tam
srisks and willows and pull themselves up
Q 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 this waters begin to
1 a11n& ho AO24y ~ . q koaA tuCy
break loose from their strange anchorage:
Out yonder they have stopped, thirty miles
Of distance they halted. On this side the
watsrs roll Cd toward the salt sea.
But as the land Of the Lord God Is taken
away from tho thus uplifted waters
waters perhaps uplifted half a mile -as the
Almighty hand IL taken away those waters
rush down, and some Of the unbelieving
Iraelitss say: "Alas, alas what q misfor>
tunnel Why could not those waters have
staid partedi Because perhaps we may want
to 20 back. oLord, we are engaged in a
risky business. Those C~anaanites may eat
US up. How II 70 want to &c backf Would
It not have been a more complete miracle IL
the Lord had parted the waters to let US
come through and kept them parted to let US
go back II we are defeatedr'- My friends,
God makes no provision for a Christians re-
treat. He clears the path all the way to
Canaan. To go back Is to die. The same
gateksepers that swing back the amethystine
and crystalline gate OF the Jordan to lst
Israel pass through now swing shut the auo
thystine and crystalline gate, .
But this is no time for tho host 10 stop
Joshua gives the command, "Forward,
marchp' In the distance there Is . long
grove Of trees and at the end Of the grove
Is a city. It Is a city Of arbors, a city Win
walls seeming to reach to the heaveus TO
buttress the very sky. 1t Is the great me-
ltrOpClls tnab COHllndnuS tue mountain pass.
It is Jericho. The city was afterward cap
tured by Pompey, and it was afterward
captured by Herod the Great, and it was
afterward captured by the Mohammedans;
but this campaign the Lord plans. There
shall be no swords no shields, nc battering
ram. There shall be only one weapon OF
war, and that . 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 to his
lips and he would run his fingers over this
rude musical instrument and make a great
deal Of sweet harmony for the people. That
was the only kind of weapon Seven priests
were to take these rude rustic musical In
struments, and they were to go around the
nx days and then on the seventh day they
were to 60 around blowing these rude musical
instruments seven times, and then at the
close Of the seventh blowing of the rams
horns on the seventh day the peroratlon Of
the whole scene was to be q shout at which
those great walls should tumble from cap
stone to base.
The seven priests with the rule musical
instruments pass all around the city walls on
the first day, and q failure. Not so alych as
. piece Of plaster broke loose from tbs wall,
not 50 much as a loosened rock, not so much
as a piece Of mortar lost from its place,
There say the unbelieving ~lsraehtes
ulQut l tell you sOE why, EuOSe IilulsteI5
arefooia The idea of going around the city
with those musical instruments, and expect
ing In that way TO destroy iii Joshua has
been spoiled; he thinks because he has over
thrown and destroyed the spring freshet
he can overthrow the stone wall,
Why, it Is not philosophic- Don't
you see there Is no relation
between the blowing OF tGc-s.ss a,.ssca! instru-
ments and the knocking down of the walli
1t isn't philosophy" And / suppose there
Were many wiseacres who stood with their
brows knitted and with the ~foreinger of the
right hand to the forefinger OF the left hand
arguing 1t all out snd showing that it was
| not possible that such a cause could produce
such an effect. And / suppose that night in
the encampment there was plenty of philos-
ophy and caricature, and if Joshua had been
nominated for any high military position he
would not have got many votes.
Joshua's stock was down. The second day
the priests blowing the musical instruments
go around the city, and a failure. Third day
and failure; fourth day, and q failure: fftf
day, and a failure, sixth day, and q failure
The seventh day comes, the climacteric day,
Joshua is up early IN the morning and er
amines the troops, walks all around about
looks at the city vail The priests start e
make the circuit of the city. They 60 al
around on,e, all around twice, TIRES times
four times, five times, six times, seven times