The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-02-26
A NIGHT BY MEROM.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage Discourses
on Joshua's Victories.
The Great Battles of Israel Recalled by a
Nights Encampment where Met the
Allied Kings who Sought to
Crush Gods People.

OO~@S~N~00
ton of the Holy Land series, was de-
livered by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage
in Brooklyn and New York City from
the text:
And when all these kings were met to-
gether they came and pitched together at
the waters of Merom to fight against Israel
Joshua XII, 5.
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 first
class American hotel, for the most of
our caravan start an hour and half
earlier in the morning. We detain only
two mules carrying so much of our bag
gage as we might accidentally need,
and a tent for the MONDAY luncheon.
The malari..s around this Lake Merom
are so poisonous that at any other time
of the year encampment here is peril
Gus, but this winter night the air is
tonic and healthful. In this neighbor-
hood Joshua fought his last great bat
tie, The nations chad banded them
selves together to crush this Joshua,
but along the banks of these waters
Joshua left their carcasses. Indeed it
is time that we more infinitely examine
this Joshua of whom we have IN these
discourses caught only momentary
glimpse, although he crossed and re-
crossed Palestine, and next to Jesus is
the most stirring and mighty character
whose foot ever touched the Holy Land.
Moses was dead. a. beautiful tradf-
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 rhas some one
ready. The Lord does not go looking
around amid a great variety of candi-
dates to find some one especially fitted
for the vacated 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 The,
tread. He was magnificent fighter.
but he always fought on the right side,
and he never fought unless God told
him to fight. He got his military equip
Enent from God, who gave him the
promise at the start: 'phere 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 d 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, deatlk-fve
great victories.
For the most part, when the General
of an army starts out in a conflict he
would like to have a small battle in
order 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. It vas 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 torrent. So the Canaan
ties stand on one bank and they look
across and see Joshua and the Israelites,
and they laugh and say: saba! aha!
they can not disturb us in time-until
the freshets fall; it is impossible for
them to reach u.s." But after awhile
they look across the water and they
see a movement in the army of Joshua.
They say, ''What's the matter now?
Why, there must be 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: ''For-
ward, 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. It is the ark of the Gov
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 fat, 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 ta1na-
risks 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 their praises of the God of Joshua.
But you say: why didn't those Ca
naanites, when they had such a splen-
did demonstrating on the top of the
bank thirty or forty feet high-com-
pletely demolish those poor Israelites
down in the river9" I will tell you
why. God had made promise and He
was going to keep it. 'aThere shall not
any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life"
But this is no place for the host to
stop. j. shua gives the command: For
ward, march, In the distance there is
a long grove of trees, and at the end of
the grove is city. LISA city of arbors,
a city with walls seeming to reach to
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