The Penn's Grove record., 1900-04-13
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE sYTH. NOTED
DIVINE.


E
umph OF the Wicked Is Short-Fiee
From Telnptation-Calamitv May 10
Avcrted by Running Away From Evil.
[Copyright 1901
WARRINGTON, d. C.--From an old time
battle scene DR.. Tnlmngo 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 will, z, ssThen 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 tho wide open eyes and the
cheeks l realized whht q thrilling drama
It was. There is the old city, shorter by
namc than my othor city in the ages,
spelled with two letters, A, /, All. 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. but % they are going
to take It by ambuscade. General Joshua
has two divisions In his army. The one
division the battle worn commander Will
lead himself, the other division he sends
of to encamp in an ambush or the west
eide OF the city Cd Al. No torches. no
lanterns, nc soundt OF heavy battalions.
but 8 5000 swarthy warriors moving in
silence, speaking only in a whisper; no
clicking OF swords against shields, lest the
watchmen OF All discover 1t, and the strata
gem be a failure. II. the FOSTERING soldier
In the Israelfttsh army forgets himself, all
along the line the wqrd is "Hush!"
Joshua takes the csher division, the n
with which he IL to 4narcb, and puts 1t on
the north sidc OF tile city of Al aud then
spend the night In reconnoitering In the
valley. There he Is, thinking over the for
tunes 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 10 the
night and says to himself: sYonder Is the
division In ambush On the west side of Al.
Here Is the division have ulder my espec-
ial command on the nsrth 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 All look out In he morn
Ing very early. and while they do not see
the division in ambush, they behold the
other divisions OF Joshua, and the cry ITO
armst To armsl" Rings through all the
streets OF the old TOWN, and every sword,
whether hacked and bent or newly welded,
is brought ont, an1 all the inhabitants OF
the city OF Al pour Through the gates, an
infuriated torrent, tnd their cryis, 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
gaye-"Fall backl'' Why, they could not
believe their own ears! Is Joshua's cou
age failing him? The retreat is beaten,
and the IsraelitesI are flying, throwing
blankets and cantefns 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 III ambush are s~training
their vision to get ONE signal from Joshua
that they may know what time to drop
upo the city. Joshua takes his FURNISHED
spear, glittering in the sun like a shaft OF
doom, and points 1t toward the city, aud
when the men up yonder in the ambush see
1t with hawklike swoop they drop upon Al
mi without stroke of sword or st R,n.s
spear take the city and pnt iI.s.sa tnaas.
So much for the diyiss space 81 in
ambush. How about Z pa,cony, under
Joshua's commar5 boxes sklrtt6ner does
Joshua stop in the y all his men
stop with him. ~ v 81 tug wheels they
M sasiais Z stfass ii arm ,n dlisias Is BACK ssls :
torrent OF flying troops. And then, MS he
points bis spear through the golden light
toward that fated city, his troops know
that they are to start for it. What a scene
1t was when the division in ambush which
had taken the city marched down against
the men OF All on the one side. and the
troops under Joshua doubled up their
enemies from the other side, and tho men
OF Al were caught between these two hurri-
canes of Israelitish courage, thrust before
and behind, stabbed In breast n back,
ground between the upper and the neither
mtllstones OF Gods indignation Woe to
the city OF All Cheer for Israeli
Lesson the first: There is such a thing as
victorious retreat. Joshua's falling pack
was the first chapter in his successful be-
s~iegement. And there are times In your
life when the best thing you can do Is to
ruD. You were once the victim OF strong
drink. The demijohn and the decanter
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
d~issipating companions will come around
you for your overthrow. Run for YOU
life! Fall back! Fall back from the drink
ing saloon! Fall back from the wine
partyl 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 tho place OF our calamity? A spoon
full OF brandy taken for medicinal pnr-
poses by q man who twenty years before
had been reformed from drunkenness
hurled into inebriety and the grave one OF
the best friends I ever had. Retreat is
victoryi
Here is a converted in1del. He is so
strong o in his faith in the Gospel he
says he can read anything. What are you
reading? Bolingbroke? Andrew Jackson
Dayis's tracts2 Tyndall's Glasgow UNI
versity address,? Drop them and run. You
will be an infldel before you die unless you
unit that E Ithaca man - A FL L. So
much for you. Turn your back on tho rank
and file OF unbelief. Fly before they cut
you with their swords and translx YOU
with their javelins.
So, also, there is victorious retreat in the
religious world. Thousands OF times the
Kingdom OF Christ has seemed to fall bach.
When tie blood of the Scotch Coyenanters
gave a deeper dye to the heather of the
highlands, when the Vaudois OF France
chose determination rather thar rake an
unchristian surrender, when on st. Bartho-
lomew's day mounted assassins rode
through b streets OF Paris, crying stKiii!
BloodlettinR Is good in August! Kill
Death to tho Huguenotsl Kilr' when
Lady Jane Grey's head rolled from the
executi0ner's block, when Calvin was I'M
prisoned In the castle. when John Knox
died for the truth, when John Bunyan lay
rotttDg in Bedford jail, saving. .If God
will help me and my physical life con-
tinues, I will stay here until the moss
grows On my eyebrows rather than give 10
my faith,'' the lays OF retreat for the
church were dayslof victory.
The pilgrim f2thers fell back from the
other side OF the sea to Plymouth Rock.
but now are m~arshaling a continent for
the Christianizavon OF the world. The
Church OF Christ falling back from Pied
mont, falling back. from Rue st. JACQUES.
falling back frou st. Denis, falling back
from WurtembeLK castles, falling back
from the Brussels market place. vet ali the
time t%riumphing Notwithstanding ali the
reverses which the Church OF Christ suf-
fers, what do we see today Twelve thou
sand EalsslonarieAcf the cross on heather
grounds; eighty! thousand ministers OF
Jesus Christ In this land; at least four hun
dred millions OF christians on the earfh.
Falling back, yet. advanclng until the old
Wesleyan hymn will prove true:
The lion Of Judkh shall break the chain
And give Us thsyictory again and again!
But there Is a more marked Illustration
at victorious retreat In the life of our
Joshua, the jesuit OF the ages. First fall
ing back from anhAnpallfng height to an
appalling depth falling from celestial hills
to terrestrial yalllys. from throne to man
ger; yet shat did F0t seem to suiace Him as
as a retreat. Filling back stiH farther
from BethlehemA to Nasarotb. from Nag
arafh tn Jerusalem haoE s.1n. T.-SAn~