The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1900-04-11

In! Talmage in this discourse makes
@ some startling suggestions as to the
best styles of Christian work and points
out the reason Of so many pious failures;
text, Joshua viii, {. Then shall ye rise
up from the ambush and seize upon the
city"
One Sabbath evening, with my family
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, I, All. Joshua and his men want to
take it. How to do it is the question.
On "a former occasion, in straightfor-
ward, 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. The one division
the battle worn commander will lead
himself, the other division he sends off
to encamp in an ambush on the west side
of the city of Al. No torches, no Ian
terms, no sound of heavy battalions, but
$4,000 swarthy warriors moving in 81
ence, speaking only in whisper: no
the watchmen Of Al discover it and the
stratagem be a failure. If the rostering
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 All and
then spends the night in accommodating
in the valley. There he is, thinking over
the fortunes of the coming day with
something of the feelings 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: ''Yonder is the division in am
bush on the west side Of All. Here is the
division / have under my especial COM
mand on the north side of Al. There is
the old city slumbering in its sin. To-
morrow will be the battle" Look! The
morning 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 be-
hold the other divisions OF Joshua, and
the cry. ''To 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 Infatuated
torrent, and their cry is, Come, We'll
make quick work with Joshua and his
troops"
A Seeming Repulse.
No sooner had these people of Al come
out against the troops of Joshua than
Joshua gave such command as he sell
dom gave-"Fall back!" Why, they
could not believe their own ears! Is
Joshua's courage failing him? The re-
treat is beaten, and the Israeltes are
flying, throwing blankets and canteens
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 signal from Joshua that they
may know what time to drop upon the
city. Joshua takes his FURNISHED spear,
glittering in the sun like shaft of doom,
and points it toward the city. and when
the men up yonder in the ambush 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 that was in
ambush. How about the division under
-Joshua's command? No sooner does Josh
ia stop in the flight than all his men
stop with him. and as he wheels they
wheel, for in 4 voice Of thunder he cried
Halt" one strong arm driving back q
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
a scene it was when the division in am
bush which had taken the city marched
down against the men Of All on the one
side, and the troops under Joshua dou-
bed up their enemies from the other
side, and the men Of Al were caught be-
tween these two hurricanes of Israelitish
courage, thrust before and behind, stab
bed in breast and back, ground between
the upper and the neither millstones of
Gods Indignation! Woe to the city Of
Al! Cheer for Israel!
Victorious Retreat.
Lesson the first: There is such thing
as victorious retreat Joshua's falling
back was the first chapter in his success
full 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 demijchn and the de-
canter 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 dissipating 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 flight is your
advance; your retreat is your victory.
There is a saloon down on the next street
that has almost been the ruin of your
soul. Then why do you go along that
street! Why do you not pass through
some other street rather than by the
place Of your calamity? A spoonful Of
brandy taken for medicinal purposes by
a man who twenty years before had been
reformed from drunkenness hurled into
incbriety and the grave one Of the best
friends | ever had. Retreat is victory.
So, also, there is victorious retreat in
the religious world. Thousands of times
the kingdom OF Christ has seemed to fall
back. When the blood of the Scotch Gov
enanters gave deeper dye to the heather
.,f tho HIGHLAND whom tha Vaudoic Of