The Grit-advocate., 1900-04-13
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
VICTORY OF RETREAT, LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
Mech AoooA plishsd by Waiting for Op-
portunitiss-Joshus's Plan of Ambus-
sads Cited ~ . Successful One for
the Righteous.

Text: Joshua viii. 7, Then shall ye
rise up from the ambush and seize
upon the city"
One Sabbath evening, with my fam
lily around me, we were talking over
the scene OF the text. In the wide
open eyes and the quick interrogations
and the blanched cheeks realized
what thrilling drama it was. There
is the old city, shorter by name than
any other city in the ages, spelled with
two letters, A. /. Al. Joshua and his
men want to take it. How TO do it is
the question. On former occasion,
In Straightforward, face to face fight,
they had been defeated, but now they
are going to take it by ambuscade.
General Joshua has two divisions In
his army. The one division the battle
worn commander will lead himself, the
other division he sends of to encamp
IN an ambush on the west side of the
city OF AL. No torches, no lanterns,
no sound Of heavy battalions, but 30,-
600 swarthy warriors moving In ST.
lence, speaking only in a whisper; NO
clicking OF swords against shields, lest
the watchmen of Al discover 1t and
the stratagem be failure. II the rois-
terfng 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
puts it on the north side OF the city
OF Al. and then spends the night in
reconnoitering 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 him
self, "Yonder is the division In am
bush on the west side Of All. Here is
the division l have under my especial
command on the north side Of Al.
There is the old city slumbering in its
sin. Tomorrow will be the battle"
Look! The morning already begins
to tip the hills. The military officers
Of All look out in the morning very
early, and, while they do not see the
division in ambush, they behold the
other division Of Joshua and the cry,
ITO 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.
A Seeming Ropulse.
No sooner had these people Of All
come out against the troops of Joshua
than Joshua gave such command as
he seldom gave-"Fall back" Why,
they could not believe their own ears!
Is Joshua's courage failing him? The
retreat is beaten, and the Israelites
are flying. throwing blankets and can
teens on every side under this worse
than Bull Run defeat. And you ought
to hear the soldiers of Al cheer and
cheer and cheer. But they huzza too
soon. The men lying in ambush are
straining their vision to get some sig
nal from Joshua that they may know
what time to drop upon the city. JOSH
ua takes his FURNISHED spear, glitterine
in the sun like shaft Of doom, and
points it toward the city, and when the
men up yonder in the ambush see II
with hawklike swoop they drop upon
All and without stroke Of sword OF
stah of smear take the city and put Il