Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-04-09
VICTORY IN RETREAT
DIR. TALMAGE SAYS TRIUMPH OF TIE
WICKED IS. SHORT.


FaiIures-FIee Frem Temptation.
Calamity May Be Averted by Rum
ming Away From E=.iI.
WASHINGTON, April S.-From an old
time battle scene Dr.. Talmage in this
discourse makes some startling sugges-
tons as to the best styles of Christian
work and points out the reason of SO
many pious failures; text, Joshua viii,
z, +'Then shall We rise I'D from the am
bush and seize upon the city"
One Sabbath evening, with my fam
ily 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 q
thrilling drama it was. There 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, bpt now they
Rre going to take it by ambuscade. Gen
eral Joshua has two divisions in his
army The one division <,the battle
worn commander will lead himself,
the other division he sends. off to en-
camp in an ambush on the west side of
the city of Al. No torches. ne lanterns,
no sound of heavy battalions. but 3d.
900 swarthy warriors moving in ST
lence, speaking only in a whisper; no
clicking of swords against shields, lest
the watchmen of All discover it, and
the stratagem be failure. If the roist-
ering soldier in the Israelitish army
forgets himself, all along the line the
word is "Hushp'
Joshua takes the other division, the
one with which he is to march, sand
puts it On-ihe north side of the city Of
All and thep spends the night in recon
noitering in the valley. There he is.
thinking over the fortunes of the cOm
ing day with something of the feelings
of Wellington the night before Water
loo or of Meade and Lee the night be-
fore Gettysburg. There he stands IN
the night and says to himself: "YOnder
is the division in ambush on the west
side of Al. Here is the division | have
under my especial command on the
north side of All. 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 Ai 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 ITO arms! To arms!' rings
through all the streets CT 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 infuriat-
ed torrent, and their cry is, ''COme,
We'll make quick work with Joshua
and his troops"
No sooner had these people of Al
come out against the troops Of Joshua
than Joshua gave such a command as
he seldom gave-"Fau backr' Why.
they could not believe their own ears!
Is Joshuas courage failing him? The
retreat is beaten, and the ISraeliteS are
flying. throwing blankets and canteen6
on every side under this worse than
Bull Run defeat. And you ought 10
hear the soldiers of Al cheer and cheer
and cheer. But they huzza too soon.
The men lying in ambush are straining
Joshua that they may know what time
to drop upon the city. Joshua takes
his burI&shed spear, glittering in the
sun like a 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 OF 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
Joshua stop in the fight than all his
men stop with him, and as he wheels
they wheel, for in a voice of thunder
he cried Haiti 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 @ scene it was when the
division in ambush which had taken
the city marched down against the
men of Al 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 between the
upper and the neither millstones Of
Gods indignation! Woe to the city of
All! Cheer for Israel!
Victorious Retreat.
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
hnce the victim of strong drink The