The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-03-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINEs SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Crossing the JORDAN.
delivered at Detroit, Mich3


TEXT: "And the priests that bare the arb
ofthe covenant of the Lord stood firm on
dru ground in the midst Of the Jordan,
and all the ISrdeiiteS passed oveT on dr9
gro,nd, until all tine people ,oere passed
clean ouer Jordan."-Joshua iii, Il.
Washington crossed the Delaware when
crossing was pronounced i'm possible, but he
did it by boat. Xerxes crossed the Hell.
Iespont with 20l0, 900 men, but he dill it by
bridge. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea,
but the same orchestra that celebrated the
deliyerance Of the one army sounded the
straugulation Of the other. This Jordanic
passage differs from all. There was no sac.
rifice Of human life-not so much as the loss
OF a linchpin. . The vanguard OF the host,
made I'D of priests. advanced until they put
their foot at the brim 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 been soaked up
with sponge, and then by towel tne roao
had been wiped dry.
Yonder goes great army Of ITaelites-
!. the hosts in uniform. Following them the
wives the children, the hocks, tho herds.
The people look up at the crystalline wall
of. the Jordan az they pass and think what
an awful disaster would come to them II be-
fore they got to the opposite bank Of that
Ajalon wall that wall should fall 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. hocks and herds,
aud let this wonderful Jordanic passage be
completed forever.
Sitting on the shelved limestone, look of
upon that Jordan where Joshua crossed un-
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; the river where
the ax-the borrowed a1-miraculously
SWAN at the prophets order; the river IL
lustrious in the history Of the world for he
xtypical Of scenes yet to transpire In your
, life and rnine-scenes enough to make US,
from the sole OF the foot to the crown Of the
head, tingle with infinite Rladness.
Standing on the scene OF that afrighted,
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
water-the edge Of the water with their feet
the water parted. They did not wade in
chin deep or waist deep or knee deep or ankle
water it vanished. And It makes me think
that almost ell the obstacles Of life need only
be approached in order to be conquered.
Difficulties but touched vanish. It is the
trouble the difficulty, the obstacle far In the
distance, that seems 80 huge and tremend-
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, "Without
are dogs" But have been told that when
those animals are furious, If they come at
you, if you will keep your eye on them and
advance upon them they will retreat.
Whether that be so or not cannot tell, but
T do know that the vast majority Of the mis-.
fortunes and trials and disasters OF your life
that hounds your steps, If you can only get
your eye on them, and keep your eye on
them, and advance upon them. and cry,
"Begone." they will stink and cover.
There is beautiful tradition among the
American Indians that Manitou.. was travel
ing in the invisible world, and one day he
camo to barrier Of brambles and sharp
thorns which forbade his going on, and
there was wild beast glaring at him from
the thicket, but as he determined to 60 on
his way be did pursue it, and those brani-
bles were found to be only phantoms, and
that beast was found to be a powerless
ghost, and the impassibie river that forbade
him rushing to embrace the Yaratilda
proved to be only phantom river.
Well, my friends, the fact is there are q
great many things that look terrible across
our pathway, which, when weadyance upon
them, are only the phantoms, only the ap-
partitions, only the deusions OF life. Diff.
culties touched are conquered. Put your
feet into the brim Of the water, and Jordan
retreats. You sometimes see q great duty
to perform. It is very disagresable duty.
You say, Il can't go through ir; haven't
the courage, haven't the intelligence, to
60 through it." Advance upon 1t, Jordan
will vanish.
I always sigh before begin to preach at
the greatness o. the Undertaking, but as
soon as start it becomes to me an exhiIara-
tion. And any duty undertaken with con.
fident spirit becomes a pleasure. and the
higher the duty the higher the pleasure.
Difficulties touched are conqueret. There
are great many people who are afraid OF
death IN the future. Good John Livingston
once, on a sloop coming from Elizabethport
to New York, was dreadfully frightened be-
cause be thought he was going to be drowned
as sudden gust came up. People were sur.
prised at him. II any man in all the world
was ready to die, 1t was good John Living.
ston.
80 there are now a great many good peo-
pie who shudder in passing a graveyard,
and they hsIrdly dare think Of Canaan be-
cause Of the Jordan that intervenss. But
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
wuters, and to cross now Is only a pleasant
sail. How long the boat is comingl 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 pearl.
Oh. could we make our doubts remove
These gloomy doubts that rise
And view the Canaan that we love
With unbeclouded eyes!
Could we but climb where Moses stood
And view the landscape DER.
Not Jordsn's stream nor deaths cold food
Could fright Us from the shore.
Again, this Jordanic passage teaches ms
the completeness of everything tlat God
does. When God put an invisible dam across
Jordan, and 1t was halted, it would have
been natural, you would have supposed, for
the water to have overdowed the region all
around about, and that great devastation
would have taken placa, but when God put
the dam in front Of the river BE put dam
on the other side Of the river, 80 that ac-
cording to the text, the water halted aud
reared and stood there and not overaowing
the surrounding country. Oh, the complete
ness of everything that God does!
One would have thought that, ie the
waters OF the jordan had dropped Until
they were only two or three feet deep, the
Lsraeites might have marched through it
and have come up on the other bank with
their clothes saturated and their garments
lilo thoae of man coming ashora from chiD-