The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-05-17
VICTORY IN RETREAT
DR.. falmage Gives Suggestions as
to Christian Warfare.
JOShua's Plan Of Ambuscaile Cited M
a Successful Method of Flght-
ing UnrighteOusness-S
Triumph Brief.

Successful Method of Flght-
ing Unrishteousness-sin
Triumph Brief.
copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington,
From an Old-time battle scene DIR.
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 ST.: "Then shall We 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 a
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, All. Joshua and his men
want to take it. How to do it is the
question. On former occasion, in a
Straightforward, face to face fight.
are going to take it by ambuscade. Gen.
Joshua has two divisions in his army.
The one division the battle-worn COM
mander will lead himself, the other di-
vision he sends off to encamp in an am
bush on the west side of the city of
All. No torches, no lanterns, no sound
of heavy battalions, but 10000 swarthy
warriors moving in silence, speaking
only in whisper; no clicking Of
swords against shields, lest the watch
men of Al discover it and the stratagem
be failure. If the roistering 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 re-
connoitering 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 himself: "Yon-
| der 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 Al. There is the old
| city slumbering in it's sin. Tomorrow
will be the battle Look! The morn
ing 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 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 infuriated torrent, and their cry is:
"Come, we'll make quick work with
Joshua and his troops!"
No sooner had these people of A
! come out against the troops of Joshu;
} than Joshua gave such command q!
; he seldom gave-'Fall back!" Why
they could not believe their own ears
!, Is Joshua's courage failing him? Th'
retreat is beaten, and the Israelites ar
flying, throwing blankets and canteen
, on every side under this worse thai
Bull Run defeat. And you ought t.
hear the soldiers of All cheer and cheer
But they huzza too soon. The men lynn
: in ambush are straining their vision t.
: get some signal from Joshua that the.
may know what time to drop upon tn
city. Joshua takes his burnishe'
spear, glittering in the sun like shat
of doom, and points it toward the city
and when the men up yonder in the am
bush see it with hawklike swoop the
drop upon All and without stroke Q
sword or stab of spear take the cit
: and put it to the torch.
So much for the division that was i
$ ambush. How about the division unde
a Joshua's command? No sooner doe
. Joshua stop in the fight than all hi
r men stop with him, and as he wheel
: they wheel, for in a voice of thunde
t he cried: "Halt!" one strong arr
t driving back torrent of flying troops
o And then, as he points his spea
+ through the golden light toward ths
+ fated city, his troops know that the
. are to start for it. What a scene it we
e when the division in ambush whic
|! had taken the city marched dow
;. against the men of All on the one sid
and the troops under Joshua double
t up their enemies from the other sid
Q and the men of All were caught betwee
r these two hurricanes of Israelitis
!. courage, thrust before and benin
. stabbed in breast and back, ground b
i tween the upper and the neither mil
c stones of Gods indignation! Woe
4 the city of All! Cheer for Israel!
Lesson the first: There is such
thing as victorious retreat. Joshua
falling back was the first chapter
. his successful besiegement. And the
L are times in your life when the be
thing you can do is to run. You we