Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-03-18
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
This Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.



iivered at Detroit. Mich.)
TEXT. ANA the priesrs Lnas Dare rac arm
of the covenant of the Lord stood firm, on
dry ground IN the midst Of the Jordan,
and all the Israeiifes passed ocer OH dry
srownd. until all the people scere passed
clean over Jordan Joshua ill.,, ~.
Washington crossed the Delaware when
crossing was pronounced i'm possible, but he
did it by boat. Xerxes crossed the Hell.
lesoont with 2 0N, 0U0 men, but he di 1t by
bridge. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea,
but the same orchestra that celebrated the
delverance of the one army sounded the
strangulation of the other. This Jordanic
Passage differs from ALL There was no sac
ri6ce of human hfe-not so much as the loss
of linchpin. The vanguard of the host,
made up OF priests. advanced until they put
their foot at the brim of the river, when iru-
medic teiy the streets of Jerusalem were
no more dry land than the bed of that river.
1t was as if all the water had been drawn eff,
and then the dampDess had been soakedup
with a sponge, and then by towel the road
had been wiped dry.
Yonder goes great army o; lsraelites-
the hosts In unifor. n. Following them the
wives, the children the tiocks, the herds
The people look W at the crystalline wall
of the Jordan as they pass and think whit
all awful disaster would come to them if be.
fore they got to the opposite bank of that
Ajalon wall that wall shoiId fail on them
And the thought makes the mothers hug
their children close to their hearts as they
swiften their pace. Quick, now Get them
all up on the banks-the armed warriors
the wives and children. flocks and herds
and let this wonderful Jordanic passage be
completed forever.
Sitting on the shelved limestone, 1 look off
upon that Jordan where Joshua crossed uu.
der the trtumphal arch of the rainbow
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forwards became the baptistry where Christ
was sprinkled or plunged; the river where
the ax-the borrowed ax-miraculously
swan at the prophets order; the river il
lustrious in the history of the world for he.
roic faith and omnipotent de.iverancs and
typical of scenes yet to transpire in your
life and mine--sceues enough to make us,
from the sole of the foot to the crown of the
head, tingle with infinite gladness.
Standing on The scene OF that affrighted
fugitive river Jordan, | learn for myself and
for you, first, that obstacles, when they are
touched, vanish. The text says that when
thee priests came down and touched the
water-the edge of the water with their feet
the water parted. They did not wade in
chin deep or wa st deep or knee deep or ankle
deep, but as soon as their feet touched the
water it vanished. Aud it makes me think
that almost all the obstacles of life med only
he approached in or!er to be conquered,
trouble. the difficulty, the obstacle far in tho
distance, that seems so huge and tremena
Gus.
The apostles Paul and John seemed to dis.
like cross dogs. for the apostle Paul tells US
in Philippians, beware of dogs" and John
seems to shut the gate of heaven against all
the canine species when he says. "Witlout
are dogs But I have been told that when
those animals are furious, il they come at
you, if you will keep your eye on them and
advance upon them they will retreat.
Whether tnat be so or not l cannot tell, bur
do know that the vast maj ,rity of the mis-.
fortunes and trials and disasters of your life
that hounds your steps, it you can only get
your eye on them, and keep your eye on
them, and advance upon them. and cry,
"Begone" they will sink and COVER
There is beautiful tradition among the
American Indians that Manitou was travel
ing in the invisible world, and one day he
came to a barrier of brambles and sharp
thorns which forbade his going on, and
there was wild beast glazing at him from
the thicket. tut as he determined to go on
his way he did pursue 1t, and those BRAN.
bles were Tou ID to be only phanto.ns and
that beast was founi to be a poweriess
ghost, and the impossible river that forbade
him rushing to embr ace the Yaratilda
proved to be only phantom river
Well, my friends, tae fact is there are a
great many things that ok terrible across
Our pathway, which, when we auvance upon
tf-m, are only the phantoms only the ap-
par tons, only the decisions OF life. Diff. |
cuitles touched are conquered. Put your
feet into the brim OF the water, and Jordan
retreats. You sometimes see great duty
to perform. 1t is very disagreeable duty.
You say, Il can't go through it, haven't
the courage, | haven't the intelligence, to
go through it," Advance upon 1t, Jordan
will vanish.
always sigh before begin to preach at
the greatness o. tho unIerta 1Ing. but as
soon as start it becomes to me an exhiara-
ton. Ami any duty undertaken with con-
tident spirit becomes a pleasure and the
higher the duty the higher the pleasure.
Difficultes touched are corquerei. There
are great many people who are afraid of
death IN the future. Good John Livingston
once. on slocp coming from Etzaoethport
TO New York, was dreadtuiy frightened be-
cause be thought he was going to be drowned
as a sudden gust came up. People were sur
prised at him. If any man in all the world
was ready to die. 1t was gool John LIVING
ston.
80 there are nowa great many good PEG.
pie who shudder in passing a graveyard.
and they hardly dare mink of Canaan be-
cause of the jordan that interyenes. Bui
once they are down on sick bed, then all
their fears are gone-the waters of death |
dashing on the beach are like the mellow |
voice of ocean shells-they smell of the bios. |
SONS OF the tree of life. The music of the
heavenly choirs comes stealing over the
waters, an to cross now is only pleasant
sail. How long the boat is comingi Come,
Lord Jesus, come quickly. Christ the Priest /
advances ahead, and the dying Christian /
goes over dry shod on coral beds and flowers /
of heaven and paths of Earl.
Oh could we make our doubts remove
these gloomy doubts that rise
And view the Canaan that we love
With unbeclouded eyes,
Cou'd we but climb where Moses stood |
And view the landscape DER, /
Not Jol dams stream nor deaths cold food !
Could fright us from the shore
AGAIN, this Jordanic passage teaches me |
the completeness of everything tlat God |
does. When God put an invisible dam across |
Jordan, and it was halted, it would have |
been natural, You would have supposed, for |
the water to have overhowed the region all
around about, and that great devastation
would have taken place, but when God put
the dam in front of the river Hs put dan
on the other side of the river, SO that. nc
cording to the text. the water halted and
reared and stood there and not OVERLOOKING
the surrounding country. Oh, the complete.
ness OF everything that God doesi
One would have thought that. if the
waters OF the Jorjan had dropped until
they were only two or three feet deep. the
lsraelites might have marched through it
ana have come up on the other bank with
their clothes saturated and their garments
like those OF men coming ashore from ship.
wreck, and that would have been as wonder
tu delverance, but Col does something
better than that. When the priests feet
| touched the waters o, Jordan and they vera
drawn off, they might have thought thers
would have been a bed of mud and slime
through which the army should pass.
Draw off the waters Of the Hudson or the
Ohio, and there would be good many DAYS.
and perhaps many weeks before the sedi-
ment would dry up and yet here in an in
slant, Immediately, God provides path
! through the depths of Jordan. 1t is so dry
the passengers do not even get their feeti
damp. Oh, the completeness Of everything,
that God doesi Does he make a unlyersei
1t is perfect clock. running ever since it
was wouni IN. the fx. stars tie v
cons citations the intermovin- wheels, an
ponderous laws the weights ami mighty
swinging pendulum, the stars in thu great
dome of night striking tho midnight, anu tue
sun. with brazen tongue. tolling the ho1r u
noon.
Inc widest comet he S chain of law that
| IL cannot break The thistle down hVlnS
! before the schoolboys breath Is controuel
| by the same law that controls the sun auNl
the planets, The rosshusa in your window
| Is governed by the same principle that
| PuTS ms --e re O. the universe on wn'cd
the stars are ripsning fruits, and on which
God will one dey put His hand and shake
| down the fruits-a perfect universe. No
| astronomy has ever proposed an amend
ment
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