The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1900-11-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SOME LESSONS IN CHRISTIAN
WARFARE.
Encouraging Words for Those Engaged
In the Battles of Life - Gods Sol
Promise-.

! NCppS IiShtt lJOV, LcuiS IlOIJSCi. ~ L.
In this discourse Dr.. Talmage fol-
lows Joshua on his triumphaI march
and speaks encouraging words TO all
who are engaged in the battle of this
life; text, Joshua i, }. There shall no.
any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life"
Moses was dead. A beautiful tladi-
ton says the Lord kissed him and in
that act drew forth the soul of the dy-
ing lawgiver. He had been buried, only
n 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 Il
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 posi-
ton. He makes a man for that place.
Moses has passed off the stage, and
Joshua, the hero, puts his foot on 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 gave MIN 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 prom
Use, although Joshua's first battle was
| with the spring freshet. the next with
a stone wall, the next leading on a
regiment Of whipped towards and the
next battling against darkness, wheel
ing the sun and the moon into his
battalion. and the last against the
king of terrors, death-ive great vic
tories.
AS a rule whcn the general OF an
army starts out in a war he WCuld
like to have a small battle in order
that he may get his own courage up
and rally his troops and get them
drilled for greater conflicts. but the
first undertaking Of Joshua was great
er than the leyeling of Fort Pulaski,
or the assault 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 melt
ing, and they poured down into the
valley, and the whole valley was a
raging torrent. So the C~anaanites
stand on n 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 look
across the water, and they see q move
ment in the army Of Joshua. They
say: What is the matter now? Why,
there must be a panic among those
troops, and they are going 10 fly, or
perhaps they are going 10 try TO march
across the river Jordan. Joshua is q
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 come
down, and nc 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. Il path
of chalk and broken shells and pab-
bles, until they get to the other bank.
Then they law hold of the ~0leandeTs
and tamarisks and willows and pull
themselves up a bank 50 Or 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 10 have
they reached the bank than the waters
begin to dash and roar, and with a
terrific rush they break loose from
their strange anchorage.
No Going backward.
AS the hand of the Lord God IS ;
taken away from the thus uplifted Wa
ters-waters perhaps unified half 4
mile-they rush down. and some OF
the unbelieving Israelites say: Alas.
alas, what d misfortune, Why could
not those waters have staid parted?
because pSTllJpS We ludS WANT " So :
back. o Lord, We are engaged in a
risky business. Those Canaanites may
eat us up. How if sc want to so
back? Would it not have been a more
complete miracle if the Lord had
parted the waters to let us come
through and kept them parted 10 let
us go back if We are defeated?' My
friends. God makes no provision for
a Christian retreat. He clears the path
all the way to Canaan. TO go back
is to die. The same gatekeepers that
swung back the a~methys,ine and crys-
talline gate of the Jordan to let lsrae!
pass through now swung h u the
amethystine and crystalline gate OF
the Jordan to keep the lsraelites from
going back. Victory ahead, but water
so feet deep behind, surging to death
and darkness and o But yoH say.
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