Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-11-24
THE FAITH OF RAHAB
OR. TALMAoE SAYS THERE IS MERCY
FOR ALL SINNERS.

Specka EncournginEly to All Who
Arc Engaged In Life's BATTLES.
Meaning of the SUMS Standing still
Upon Gideon.
WASHINGTON. Nov. 1S.-In this dis
course DR.. Talmage follows Joshua on
his triumphal march and speaks en-
couraging words to all who are engag-
ed In the battles of this life; text, Josh
ua 1, 3, "There shall not any man be
able to stand before thee all the days
Of thy life"
Moses was dead. A beautiful tradi-
tion says the Lord kissed him and in
that act drew forth the soul OF the dy-
ing lawglver. He had been buried;
only one person at the funeral the
same One who kissed him. Put God
never takes man away from any
place Of usefulness until he has some
one ready to replace him. The Lord
does not 60 looking around amid
great variety Of candidates to find some
one especially fitted for the vacated po-
sition. He makes man for that race.
Moses has passed off the stage, and
Joshua, the hero, puts his foot on the
platform Of history so solidly thai all
the ages echo with the tread. lie was
q 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 gave him the promise at the
start. "There shall not any man be able
TO stand before thee all the days OF thy
life" God fulfilled this promise, al
though .Ioshuas first battle was with
the spring freshet, the next with
stone wall. the next leading on regi-
ment of whipped towards and the next
battling against darkness, wheeling the
sun and the moon into his battalion
and the last against the king Of ter
rors, death-fve great victories.
Parting the Jordan.
Asa rule, when the general of an ar
my starts out in a war he would Ike
70 have n small battle in order that he
may get his own courage up and rally
his troops and get them drilled Tor
greater conflicts, but the first un1er-
taking of Joshua was greater than the
leveling Of Fort Pulaski or the assault
Of Gibraltar or the overthrow OF the
Bastille. 1t was the crossing or the
Jordan at the time Of the spring fresh
ct. The SHOWS OF Mount Lebanon had
fust been melting, and they poured
down the valley. and the whole valley
was n raging torrent. So the Canaan
ties stand on one bank, and they look
across and see Joshua and the Israel
ties. and they laugh and say: aha!
They cannot disturb us until the fresh
cts fall. 1t is impossible for them TO
reach US" But after awhile they lcok
across the water. and they see
movement in the army of Joshua. They
say: what is the matter nowf why,
there must be panic among 1se
troops, and they are going 20 hy or
perhaps they are going to try to march
across the river Jordan. Joshua Is
lunatic." But Joshua, the chleftain,
looks at his army and cries, Forward,
march,! and they start for the bank or
the Jordan. One mile ahead go two
priests carrying 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, q path or cnalK
and broken shells and pebbles, until
they get to the other bank. Then they
Law hold of the oleanders and tama-
risks and willows and pull themselves
ND q bank so or 40 feet high, and, haY-
ing gained the other bank, they clap
their shields and their cymbals ana
sing the praises of the God Of Joshua.
But no sooner have they reached the
bank than the waters begin to dash
and roar, and with terrific rush they
break loose from their strange anchor-
ope. AS the hand of the Lord God Is
taken away from the thus uplfted wa
ters-waters perhaps uplifted half a
mile-they rush down, and some or the
unbelevlng Israelites say; "Alas, alas'
what a misfortune Why could not
those waters have staid parted, be-
cause perhaps. we may want to 90
back? o Lord. we are engaged IN a
risky business! Those Canaanites may
eat us up. How if we want to go back
Would II not have been a more com
! plete miracle If the Lord had parted
the waters to let us come through and
kent them parted to let us go back II
we are defeated"
Gods Promise.
Nv friends. God makes no provision
| for Christians retreat. He clears the
path all the way to Canaan. To e
back is to die. The same gatekeeper'
that swung back the amethystine an'
crystalline gate of the Jordan to LEI
Israel pass through now swing shu
the amethystine and crystalline gat'
of the Jordan to keep the lsraellte'
from going back.
Victory ahead, but water 30 feet deel
behind, surging to death and darkness
and woe. But you say. "Why did no
these Canaanites, when they had suci
O splendid chance, standing on the tol
of the bank 80 or 40 feet high, com
pletely demolish those poor lsraellte
down in the rlverT ! will tell yo'
why. God had made a promise, ana n
was going to keep it There shall no
ony man be ahle to stand before the
all the days Of thy life"
But this is no place for the host L
stop. Joshua gives the command, "Fol
ward. march" In the distance ther
IS q long grove Of trees, and at the en-
of the grove is n city. 1t is city wit
arbors. a city with walls seeming I
reach to the heavens, to buttress IN
very sky. 1t is the great metropoll
AH