Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-11-23
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE EMINENT DIvINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject. The Faith of Rahab-There is
Mercy For All Sinners = Cheer FOR All
who Are Engaged in Life's ba..ies-
Meaning of the SUMS Standing Stills
fCopyright IsOI.I

who Are Engaged in Life's Batties--
Meaning of the SUMS Standing Stills
copyright 1901.
WASHINGTON, d. C.-In this discourse
DR.. Talmage follows Joshua on MS UT
umphal march and speaks encouraging
words to all who are engaged in the ne, pat
files Of this life; text, Joshua /, D., .Inere
shall not any man be able to stand peiore
fhee ali the days of thy life. ,.,
Moses was dead. A beautiful tradition
saws the Lord kissed him and IN thac act
drew forth the soul of the dying lawglver.
He had been buried; only one person at
fhe funeral-the same One who kissed nlm'
But God never takes man away rom
any place of usefulness until he mas some
one ready to replace him. The LORD does
not 90 looking around amid great va
riety of candidates to find some one espeIi,
ally fitted for the vacated position. ne
makes a man for that place moses mas
passed off the stage, and Joshua, the nero,
puts his foot on the platform OF nistoly
so solidly that all the ages echo with Lne
tread. He was magnificent nghoer, ous
he always fought on the right SIDE, ana ne
never fought unless God told hlnl 10 I H
He got his military equipment from Gol'
"There shall not any man be able 20
stand before thee all the days OF thy lie;
God fulfilled this promise, although JOSH
mas first battle was with the spring tresn-
ct. the next with stone wall, the next
leading on regiment of whipped cow
ards and the next battling against DARK
ness. wheeling the sun and the moon into
his battalion and the last against the king
of terrors, death-fve great victories.
AS A rule. when the general OF an army
starts out in a war he would like to have
. small battle in order that he may get
his own courage up and rally his troops
and GET them drilled for greater conflicts,
hut the first undertaking of Joshua was
greater than the levcling of Fort, Pulaski
or the assault of Gibraltar or the over
throw of the Bastille. 1t was the crossing
of the Jordan at the time OF the spring
freshet. The SHOWS of Mount Lebanon hao
just been melting, and they poured down
the valley, and the whole valley was
rapinp torrent. So the Canaanltes STAND
on one bank, and they look across and see
Joshua and the Israelites, and they laugh
and saw: "Aha! They cannot disturb
us until the freshets fall, 1t is impossible
for them to reach u.s." But after awhile
thew look across the water, and they see
a movement in the army of Joshua. They
saw: "What is the matter now! why,
there must be panic among those troops,
and they are going to fly, or perhaps they
are going to march across the river Jor'
dan. Joshua is a 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 60
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 no 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 get,
ting their feet wet over the bottom Oh
the river. a path of chalk and broken
shells and pebbles, until they get to the
other bank Then they lay hold OF the OLE e,
anders and tamarisks and willows and pun
themselves up bank thirty or forty 1eet
high, and, having gained the other bank,
| thew clan their shields and their cymbals
| and sing the praises of the God of Joshua.
| But no sooner have they reached the bank
| than the waters begin to dash and roar,
and with a terrific rush they break loose
| from their stran-e anchorage. AS the
hand of the Lord God is taken away from
] the thus uplifted waters-waters perhaps
uplifted half mile-they rush down, and
some of the unbelieving Israeltes say:
"Alas. alas, what a misfortune! why
could not not those waters have staid
parted. because, perhaps, we may want
to 90 back? o Lord, we are engaged IN
risky business! These Canaanites may
eat us up. How if we want to go back
Would it not have been more complete
miracle if the Lord had parted the waters
to let us come through and kept them
parted to let us go back if we are de-
feated?"
But this is no place for the host to
stop. Joshua gives the command, For
ward, ARCH" In the distance there is
long grove of trees, and at the end OF the
grove is a city. 1t is city with arbors
a city with walls seeming to reach to the
heavens, to buttress the very sky. IL is
the great metropolis that commands the
mountain pass, 1t is Jericho. That city
was afterward captured by Pompey and
once by Herod the Great and once again
bv the Mohammedans, but this campaign
the Lord plans. There shall be no swords
no shields, no battering ram; there shall
be only one weapon OF war, and that
rams horn. The horn CT the slain ram
was sometimes taken, and holes were
punctured in it, and then the musician
would put the instrument to his lips, ano
he would run his fingers over this rude
musical instrument and make great dea
of sweet harmony for the people, That
was the only kind of weapon. Sever
priests were to take these rude, rustic
musical instruments, and they were to
20 around the city every day for six days
once a day for six days-and then on the
seventh day they were to go around blow
ing these rude musical instruments seven
times, and then at the close of the seventh
blowing OF the rams horn on the seventh
day the peroration of the whole scene
was to be a shout, at which those great
walls should tumble from capstone to base:
The seven priests with the rude musical
instruments pass all around the city walls
on the first day and score "a failure. Not
so much as a piece of plaster broke loose
from the wall, not so much as loosened
rock, not so much as piece OF mortar ,ost
from it's place. There say the unbe,
lieving Israelites, did l not tell you so:
Why, those ministers are fools. The idea
of going around the city with those musi-
cal instruments and expecting In that
way to destroy it. Joshua has been spoiled
He thinks because he has overthrown and
conquered the spring freshet he can over
throw the stone wall. Why, it IS not
philosophic. Do you not see there is nc
relation between the blowing of these
musical instruments and the knocking
down of the wall? 1t is not philosophc.' .
And suppose there were many wlseacres
who stood with their brows knitted and
with the forefnger of the right hand to
the forefnger of the left hand, arguing II
all out and showing that it was not pos
sble that such a cause could produce such
an effect. And L suppose that night in the
encampment there was plenty of carica
ture, and if Joshua had been nominated
for any high military position he would
not have received many votes. Joshua
stock was down. The second day the
priests blowing the musical instruments