The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-04-14
VICTORY IN RETREAT
DR.. Tslmage Gives Suggestions as
to Christian Warfare.
Joshua's Plan of A~mbuscnde Cited as
n Successful Method of Fight
ing Unrighteousness-sin'S
Triumph Brief.
Copyright, 1900. by Louis Klopsch.1
Washington,

starting suggestions as 10 the pest
styles of Christian work and points nj
the reason of so many pious failures;
text. Joshua ST.: Then shall we rise
-p from the ambush and seize upon
the city"
One Sabbath evening, with my family
around me, we were taking over the
scene of the text. In the wide open
ewes and the quick interrogations and
the blanched cheeks | realized what a
thrilling drama it a Their" is the
old city, shorter by name than any
other city in the ages, spelled with two
letters, A, l, Al. Joshua and his men
want to take it. How to do it is the
question. On a former occasion, in a
straightforward, face to face fight,
they had been defeated. but now they
are going to take it by ambuscade. Gen.
Joshua has two divisions in his army.
"rhe one division the battle-worn COM
mander will lead himself, the other di-
vision he sends off to encamp in an am
bush on the west side of the city of
Al. No torches, NO lanterns, no sound
of heavy battalions, but 10000 swarthy
warriors moving in silence speaking
only in a whisper; no clicking of
swords against shields, lest the watch
men of Al discover it and the stratagem
be a failure. If the roistering soldier
IN the Israelitish army forgets himself,
all along the line the word is Hush"
{ Joshua takes the other division, the
one with which he is TO march, and
nuts il on the north side of The city
of Al and then spends the night in re-
connoitering in the valley. There he
is. thinking over the fortunes of the
coming day with something OF the feel
ings of Wellington the night before
Waterloo or of Meade and Lee the night
before Gettysburg. There he stands
in the night and says to himself: "Yon-
der is the division in ambush on the
west side of Al. Here is the division L
have under my especial command on
Che north side of All. There is the old
city slumbering in its sin. Tomorrow
will be the battle" Look! The morn
ing already begins to tip the hills. The
military officers of Al look out in the
morning very early, and, while they
do not see the division in ambush. they
behold the other divisions of Joshua,
and the cry $40 arms! To arms!'
rings through all the streets of the
old town, and every sword. whether
hacked and bent or newly welded, is
brought out. and all the inhabitants
of the city of Al pour through the gates,
an infuriated torrent, and their cry is:
Come. we'll make quick work with
Joshua and his troops!"
No sooner had these people of All
come out against the troops of Joshua
than Joshua rave such a command as
he seldom gave-"Fall back" Why,
they could not believe their own ears!
Is Joshua's courage failing him? The
s~'etreat is beaten, and the lsraelites are
flying. throwing blankets and canteens
on every side under this worse han
Bull Run defeat. And you ought to
heal the soldiers of Al cheer and cheer.
But they huzza too % The men lying
in ambush are straining their vision to
get some signal from Joshua that they
may know what time to drop upon the
city. Joshua takes his FURNISHED
spear. glittering in the sun like a shaft
of doom. and points it toward the city,
and when the men up yonder in the am
bush see it with hawklike swoop they
drop upon Al and without stroke of
sword or stab of spear take the city
and put it to the torch.
SO much for the division shat was in
ambush. How about the division under
Joshua's command? No sooner does
Joshua stop in the flight than all his
men stop with him, and as he wheels
they wheel, for in a voice of thunder
he cried. Halt" one strong arm
driving back a torrent of flying troops.
And then, as he points his spear
through the golden light toward that
fated city, his troops know that they
are to start for it. What ID scene it was
when the division in ambush which
had taken the city marched down
against the men of All on the one side,
and the troops under Joshua doubled
up their enemies from the other side,
and the men of Al were caught between
these two hurricanes of Israelitish
courage, thrust before and behind,
stabbed in breast and back, ground be-
tween the upper and the neither mill
stones of Gods indignation. Woe to
the city of All! Cheer for Israel!
Lesson the first: There is such a
thing as victorious retreat. Joshua's
falling back was the first chapter in
his successful ~besiegement. And there
are times in your life when the best
thing you can do is to run. You were
once the victim of strong drink. The
demijohn and the decanter were your
fierce foes. They came down upon you
with greater fury than the men of Al
upon the men of Joshua. Your only
safety is to get away from them. Your
hissipating companions will come
around you for your overthrow. Run
for your life! Fall back! Fall back
from the drinking saloon! Fall back
from the wine party! Your fight is
your advance; your retreat is your
victory. There is a saloon down on the
next street that has almost been the
IL - ra,,r .A,,1 TIoa ,,l,- l. $500.