Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-04-12
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
VICTORY OF RETREAT, LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECT,
Much Accomplished by Waiting for Op-
MISUNDERSTANDING Plan of Ambas-
csds Cited rs - Successful One for
the Righteous.

Copyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch.l
Text: Joshua viii. z, Then shall W
Use up from the ambush and seizt
upon the CITY,"
One Sabbath evening, with my fam
lily around me, we were talking oveI
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 1t. How to do it is
the question. On a former occasion
In straightforward, face to face fight,
they had been defeated, but now they
are going to take 1t 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 off to encamp
in an ambush on the west side of the
city OF Al. No torches, no lanterns,
no sound Of heavy battalions, but 80
900 swarthy warriors moving in 81
Ience, speaking only in whisper; no
clicking of swords against shields, lest
the watchmen of Al discover 1t and
the stratagem be failure. II the rols-
tering 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 1t on the north side of the city
Of Al, and then spends the night in
reconnoiterins 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 him
self, "Yonder Is the division in am
bush 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 its
sin. Tomorrow will be the battle.
LookI 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 behold the
other division 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 All
come out against the troops Of Joshua
than Joshua gave such a command as
he seldom gave-"Fall back" Why,
they could not believe their own ears!
Is Joshua's courage failing him? The
retreat is beaten, and the Israelites
are flying, throwing blankets and can
teens 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 sig
nal from Joshua that they may know
what time to drop upon the city. Josh
ua takes his FURNISHED spear, glittering
in the sun like shaft of doom, and
points 1t 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 Joshua stop in the fight than all
his men stop with him. and as he
wheels they wheel, for In voice OF
thunder he cried Halt" one strong
arm driving back 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 ambush
which had taken the city marched
down against the men of Al on the
one side, and the troops under Joshua
doubled on their enemies from the
other side. and the men of Al were
caught between these two hurricanes
Of Israelitlsh courage. thrust before
and behind. stabbed In breast and
back, ground between the upper and
the neither millstones of Gods indigna-
ton! Woe to the city OF Al! Cheer
for Israel!
Victorious Retreat.
There is such thing as victorious
retreat. Joshua's falling back was the
first chapter in his successful besiege-
ment. 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 demijohn and the
decanter were your fierce foes. They
came down upon you with greater fury
than the men of All came 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 drink
ing saloon! Fall back from the wine
party. Your flight is your advance;
your retreat is your victory. There i
saloon down on the next street that
mas 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