The Penn's Grove record., 1893-03-17
REv. DIR. TALMAGE
The Brooklyn Diyine's
Sunday Sermon.


u ftf - -
dry around in the midst Of the Jordan,
and all the lsrdeiffPs passed oUsr on drp
around. until all the people were passed
ouer Observation-Disclosures ill.,, II.
Washington crossed the Delaware when
Was pronounced impossible, but hs
did it by boat. Xerxes crossed the Hell
lespont with , o 0,WO men. but he dill it by
bridge. The lsraelites crossed the Rel Sea,
hut the same orchestra thlt celeor ated the
Of the one army sounded the
s,ranpulation OF the other. This Jordanic
passage diff RS from all. There was no sac
ridce of human fe-no so much as tue loss
of a linchpin. The vanguard OF the host,
made up OF priests. aivance1 until they put
their foot at the hrim OF the river, when i'm
mediately 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 Of,
and then the dampness had btea soaked up
with a sponge, AMI then by a towel the road
had been wiped dry.
Yonber goes a great army of lsraelites-
the hosts in uniform. Following them the
wives. the children, the tiocks, the herds.
The people look u at the crystalline wall
of the Jordan a. they pass and think what
an awful disaster would come to them If be-
fore they got TO the opposite bank of that
Aialon wall that wall should fail on them.
And the thought makes the mothers hug
their children close to their hearts as they
swiften their pace. Quick, nowi Get them
all up on the banks-the armed warriors,
the wives and children. tiocks 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 I'M
der the triumphal arch of the rainbow
woven out of the spray; the river which al
forwards became the baptistry where Christ
was sprinkled or plunged; tue river where
the ax-the borrowed ax-mlraculously
swain at the p~rophhets order; the river il
Iustrious in the history of the world for he-
roic faith and OmnipOtent deliverancs N
typical of scenes yet to transpire in your
life and mine-scenes enough to make us,
from the sole OF the foot to the crown of the
head, Jingle with infinite sladness.
standing on the scene OF that ~atfrighted,
fugitive river Jordan, | learn for myself and
for YOU. first, that obstacles, when they are
touched, vanish. The text says that when
these priests came down and touched the
wa ,r-the edge of the water with their feet
the water parted. They dill not wade in
chin deem or wa st deep Or knee deep or ankle
deem but a, soon as their feet touched the
water it vanished. And it makes ms think
that almost all the obstacles of life need only
be approached in order TO be conquered.
Difficulties but touched vanish. 1t is the
trouble. the difficulty, the obstacle ar in the
uiSLiltt. Ahtt FE' ~ lug ""h
GUS.
The apostles Paul AMI John seemed to dis
hike 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. Without
are dogs.' But | have been told that wnen
those animals are furious, il they come at
you, IL YOU will keep your eye on them and
advance upon them they will retreat.
Whether t6at be 81 or not cannot tell, but
[ do know that the vast majority of the mis-
fortunes and trials AMI disasters of your life
that hounds your steps, IL you can only get
your eve on them, and keep your eye On
them, and advance upo them, and cry.
''Begone," they viii stink and cover.
There is a beautiful tradition among the
American lniianS that Manltou was travel.
ing in the invisible world, and one day he
came to a barrier of branbles aud SHARP
thorns which forbade his going on, and
there was a wild beast glaring at him from
the tbicket, but as he determined to 20 on
his wav he did pursue it, and those BRAN
bles were lou ID to be only phantoms aud
that beast was found TO be a poweriess
ghost. and the impossible river that forbade
him rushing TO embrace the Iaratilda
proved to be only a phantom river.
Well. my friends, the fact Is there are d
great many things that ioDk terrible across
our pathway, which, when We advance upon
them, are only the phantoms, only the ap-
par t ons, only the delusions OF life. Diff
| culties touched are conquered. Put your
feet into the brim of the water, and Jordan
, retreats. You sometimes sea a great duty
to perform. 1t is a very disigresable 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
I the greatness OF the un iertlSIng, but as
| soon as / start it becomes to ms an exhilara.
ton. Ami any duty undertaken with a con
tident spirit he3omeS a pleasure. and the
higher the duty the higher the pleasure
| Difficulties touched are conquered. There
are a great many people VINO are afraid o.
/ death IN the future. Good John Livingston
once, en- a sloop coming from Ellzlbethpori
| to New York, was dreadfutiy frightened be
cause be thou ht he was going to lie drowned
as a sudden gust came up. People were sur
| prised at him. 1t any man in all the world
was ready to die, 1t was good o h Living
ston.
50 there are now a great many good PEG
pie who shudder in passing a graveyard,
and they hardly iare thin of Canaan be-
| cause of the jordan that lnteryenes. But
! once they are down on q Slc6 bed, then al
| their fears are gone-the waters OF death
dashing on the beach are like the mellow
voice OF ocean s~hells-tney smell OF the bios
SONS of the tree OF life. The music OF TIT
! heavenly choirs comes stealing over TN
waters. an to cross now Is only a pleasant
sail. How long the boat Is CO nlng! Come,
Lord jesus. come quickly. Christ the Priesi
advances aht adj, suI the dying Christia.
! goes over dry shot ON coral beds ami flowers
OF heaven and paths OF par,
Oh, conld we make our dOubt. remove
These gloomy dOn0ts tnat rice
Aud view the Canaan that we iowa
With unbeclOuded eyes.
Cou d we oni clImR " ere Moses stood
And view the landscape DER.
Nor 10; dau'4 stream nor re this cod hood
Could frigh; Us from tue shore.
Again, this Joriaaic passage teaches m
the completeness Of everything at Go.
does. When God put an invisible lam acros
Jordan, and it WAS haiti, 1T would hav,
been natural, you would have supposed, fol
tie water TO nave overlooked the region al
around about, and thaG great devastation
would have taken placa, but when tod pu
the dam iii front Of the river H. put a da I
on the otner side OF the river, So that. aG
cording to the text the water halted anI
reared and stool tuere and not O~vsr10win.
the surrounding country. Oh, the complete
ness OF everythin tat Got hoe!
One would have thou hit tu1t, If tn.
waters O. the Jor AN hal drOplsi uqtI
they were only two Or three feet deer, tHI
lsraetites mIeut a " lnarchet throu "a i
amt have come Il GA the oLnar n4lS VITA
their clothes s1Iura' aut their gar
like those of .uan co.sing ashore irJn sinr
wrecK. ami tuut ~. nd have ueIu A. wMIfar
iul a deliveralce, but GJi Hoes 50 nsthiu.
better than tlut WI n the prissyS' fec
touched the waters o jordan anith4y We.
dawn of, they might have taou ghr tner
would have been "A Dei OF ma HuI slim
through which tue armv slYut 1 . iSy.
Draw of the waters OF the hu t-un or tt
Ohio, snI Inere wOuId Ne a goo { IMAM utl
and perhaps many weeks, before ths Sc u
ment would dry up, ami yet nere IA IA" in
stauT, Immediately. Col provides "a p ~
through the deIt1S OF Joruap. 1t is ~ ,Ir
the passengers do not even get the,r lee
uamp. On, the completeness OF ever ytnln.
that Co doesl DOES ne maze "A unrVerst
Ir lSE perfect H ""'' 1 -
was wound up. the fixed stars the pivotS th
' consultations the Intervening wheels an
ponderous laws the weights and might
swinging pendulum, the stars in the grea
iome of night striking the midnight, AMI tn
un, with brazen tongue, toiling the hour Q
noon.
The widest comet hss a chain nt law tina
II cannot break. The hustle down hyin
before the schoolboy's breath is controlle
by tho same law that controls the SUI an
the planets. The rossbush in your wIndo'
Is governed by the same principle tina
--h- .-AA Of the universe On Yhic