The Canton times., 1895-06-07
THE GREATEST SOLDIER.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage. as Ma
tional Guard Chaplain.
~His Annual Sermon Before the Thirteenth
Reg ment N. G. 8. N. Y.-The Les
sons Afforded by the Great
Soldier, Joshua.

in his capacity of chaplain of the Thir
tecnth regiment N. G. S. N. Y, in EN-
bury Memorial church. Brooklyn. Hi!
subject was: ''The Greatest Soldier O
All Time," the text being:
There shall not be any man able to stand be-
fore thee all the days Of thy life.-Joshua l.. S
For the most part, when the general
of an army starts out in conflict he
would like to have 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 Pu-
lasxi, or the laundering down of Glib
raltar, or the overthrow of the Bastile.
1t was 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 Canaanites
stand on the bank and they look
across and see Joshua and the Israel
ties, and they laugh and say: "Aha!
aha! they can not disturb us until the
freshet falls; 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: whats the matter now?
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 lunatic." But Joshua. the chief
-, Df la of 10 III
cries: Forward. march," and they
start for the bank of the Jordan.
One mile ahead 60 two priests car
rying a glittering box four feet long
and two feet wide. 1t is the ark of
the covenant. And they come down,
and no sooner do they just touch the
rim of the water with their feet than
by an Almighty fat, Jordan parts.
The army of Joshua marches right on
without getting their feet wet, over |
the bottom of the river, path of |
chalk and broken shells and pebbles,
until they get to the other bank. Then
they lay hold of the oleanders and
tamarisks and willows and pull them
selves up 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 the waters be-
gin to dash and roar, and with ter
rifle rush they break loose from their
strange anchorage. Out yonder they
have stopped; thirty miles up yonder
~, a. IL |
roll off toward the salt sea. But as the
hand of the Lord God is taken away
from the thus uplifted waters-waters
perhaps uplifted half a mile-as the
Almighty hand is taken away those
waters rush down, and some of the un-
believing Israelites say: "Alas, alas;
what misfortune! Why could not those
waters have stayed parted? because
perhaps we may want to go back,
Oh, Lord, we are engaged in risky
business. Those Canaanites may eat
us up. How if we want to go back?
Would it not have been a more COM
plete miracle if the Lord had parted
the waters to let us come through and
kept them parted to let us go back if
we are defeated?" My friends, God
makes no provision for a Christians :
He clears the path all the
way to Canaan. To 60 back is to die.
The same gatekeepers that swing back
the amethystine and crystalline gate {
of the Jordan to let Israel pass {
now swing shut the
and crystalline gate of
the Jordan to keep the Israelites
from going back. declare it in your
hearing to-day, victory ahead, water I
forty feet deep in the rear. Triumph /,
ahead, Canaan ahead; behind you /
death and darkness and woe and hell. &
But you say: "Why didn't those |
when they had such I
splendid chance standing on the top {
Of the bank thirty or forty feet high,
demolish those poor Is I
raelites down in the river?" l will tell S
you why. God had made a promise, g
Ind He was going to keep it. There 8
shall not any man be able to stand be- |
lore thee all the days Of thy life." s
But this is no place for the host to t
stop. Joshua gives the command:
Forward, marchl" In the distance
here is long grove of trees, and at a
he end OF the grove is city. 1t is a t
,ity of arbors, city with walls seem t
ng to reach to the heavens, to buttress t
The very sky. 1t is the great metrop- /
,lis that commands the mountain pass.
{ is Jericho. That city was afterward i
:aptured by Pompey, and it was af- O
.erward captured by Herod the Great b
ind 1T was afterward captured by I
he Mohammedans: but this cam | 4