The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-30
OSHUA'S WCTORl les
DR.. TALMAGE DRAWS FROM THEM
LESSONS IN CHRISTIAN WARFARE
ENCOURAGING Words for Those En-
gagged in the Battles of Life-God's
Soldiers Never Turn Backward-Df-
vine Promises Unfafling.

~ NLAo 0
Joshua on his triumphaI march and
speaks encouraging words to all who
are engaged in the battles of this life:
text. Joshua i, 5, There shal not any
be able TO stand before thee all the
days Of thy life"
Moses was dead A beautiful tradi-
ton says the Lord kissed him and in
that act drew forth the sou of the dy-
ing Iawgiyer. He had been buried,
only one person at the funeral, the
same one who kissed him. But God
never takes a man away from any
place of usefulness until he has some
one ready to replace him. The Lord
does not go looking around amid a
great variety of candidates to find some
one especially fitted for the vacated po-
sition. He makes J man for that place.
Moses has passed off the stage, and
Joshua, the nero, puts his foot or the
platform of history SO solidly that all
the ages echo with the tread He was
a magnificent fighter, but he always
fought on the right side, and he never
fought unless God told him to fight,
He got his military equipment from
God, who CAV him the promise at the
start, Their shall not any man be able
to stand before thee all the days of thy
life" God fulfilled this promise, al
though Joshua's first battle was with
the spring freshet, the next with a
stone wall, the next leading IN a regi-
ment of whipped towards n the next
battling against darkness, wheeling
the sur and the moon into his battal-
ion, and the last against the king of
terrors, death-five great victories.
"Ao l. onrnaro ~ m
army starts out in a war he would like
to ave a small battle in order that he
may get his own courage up and rally
his troops n get them drilled for
greater conflicts, but the first under
taking of Joshua was greater THAI the
leveling of Fort Pulaski, or the as
Sault of Gibraltar, or the overthrow of
the Bastille. 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 a raging torrent. SO the
Ca~naanites stand on one bank, and
they look across and see Joshua and
the Israelites, and they laugh and say:
"Aha the cannot disturb us until the
freshets fall 1t 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
III L. 10 liz ny >
there must be a panic among those
troops, and they are going to fly, or
perhaps they are going to try TO march
across the river Jordan. Joshua is a
lunatic." But Joshua, the chieftain,
looks at his army and cries, Forward,
march," and they start for the bank
of the Jordan. One mile ahead GO two
priests carrying a glittering box four
feet long and two feet wide. 1t is the
ark of the covenant. And they com
down, and no sooner do they just touch
the rim of the water with their feet
than. by an Almighty fiat. Jordan
parts. The army of Joshua marches
right on without getting their feet wet,
over the bottom of the river, a path
of chalk and broken shells and pebble
until they get to the other bank. Then
they lay hold of the oleanderS and
tamarisks and willows and pull them
selves up a bank so ar 40 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 lave they reached the
bank than the waters began to dash
and roar, and with a terrific rush they
break loose from their strange anchor
age.
NO GOING BACKWARD.
AS the hand of the Lord God is aiken
away from the thus uplifted waters
waters perhaps uplifted half a mile
they rush down, and some OF the un-
believing ~ISraeliteS say: Alas, alas.
what a misfortune! Why could not
those waters have staid parted? Be
cause perhaps We may want TO go
back. o Lord, we are engaged in a
risky business. Thos Canaanies may
eat us UP. How if we wan to go backE
Would it not have been a more COM
plete miracle if the Lord had parted
the waters to let us come through n
kept them parted to let us go back
if we are defeated?" My friends, God
makes no provision for a Christian re-
treat. He clears the path all the way
to Canaan. To go back is to die. The
same gatekeepers that swung BACK the
aInethystine and crystalline gate OF the
Jordan to let Israel pass through now
swing shut the amethystine N crys-
talline gate of the Jordan to keep he
Israelites from going back. victory
ahead, but water 80 feet deep behind
surging to death and darkness n woe.
But you say. why did not these Ca
naanites, when they had such a splen-
did chance. standing on the top OF the
bank SO or 40 feet high, completely de-
moIish those poor IsraeliteS down IN
the r:ver?" 1 will tell you why. Coo
had made a promise, and he was going
to keep it. There shall not any man
he able TO stand before thee all the
days of thy life"
buI InlS us III nav A
stop. Joshua gives the command, For
ward. march, In the distance there
is a long grove of trees, and at the
end of the grove is'a city IL IS d CITY
with arbors, a city with walls seeming
to reach to the heavens, TO buttress
the very sky. 1t is the great metro
polls that commands the mountain
mass Tt is Jericho. That city was al
terward CAPTURED by Pompey and once
by Herod the Great n once again by
the Mohammedans, but this campaign
the Lord plans. There snah De ny
svords no shields. no battering ram
There shall be only one weapon OF wal
and that a hams horne. The norm OF
the slain ram was sometimes taken,
and holes were punctureo In y, ano
then the musician would put the inStru-
ment to his lips. n he would run ms
fingers over this rude musical lnstru.
ment and make a great Zeal OF swee'
for the people. That was tne
only kind of weapon. Seven priests
We're to take these rude, rustic musical