Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-04-18
SERMON
Rev. DR.. CaInlags

Rev. DR.. Calmage
sabJect: Victory in Rstreat-rhe TIT
uinph OF the Wicked - short-fiee
From Te,nptation-Calami May He
Averted by kauning Awav From Evil.
GCopyrRht lsoo.l
WASHINGTON, D. C.-From an old time
battle scene DR.. 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 WILL, z, "Then 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 the wide open eyes and the
quick interrOgattons and the blanchet
cheeks I realized what thrilling drama
Ii w. There is the old city, shorter by
name than any other city in the ages,
spelled with two letters, A, l. Al. Joshuf
and his men want to take 1t. How to 20
It Is the question. On a former occasion,
In a Straightforward, face to face fight, they
had been defeated, but now they are going
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 on the west
side of the city of Al. No torches. nc
lanterns. no sound of heavy battalions.
but 1000 swarthy warriors moving In
silence, speaking only In a whisper; nc
clicking of swords against shields, lest the
watchmen OF Al discover 1t, and the strata
gem be failure. II the roistering soldier
in the Israelitish army forgets himself all
along the line the word Is "Hush!''
Joshua takes the ether division, the one
with which he is to march, and puts 1t on
the north side OF the city OF Al and then
spend the night in reconnoitertng, In the
valley. There he Is, thinking over the for
tunes of the coming day with something ol
the feelings 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: "Yonder Is the
division in ambush on the west side Of Al
Here is the division have under my espec.
is the old city slumbering In its sin. To.
morrow will be the BATTLE" Looki The
morning already begins to tip the hills. The
military officers Of Al look out in the morn
ing very early, and, while they do not see
the division in ambush, they behold the
other divisions of Joshua, and the cry ''Tc
armsl 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 All pour through the gates. an
infuriated torrent, and their cry Is, "Come,
his troops"
No sooner had these people Of Al come
out against the troops OF Joshua than
Joshua gave such command as he seldom
gave-"Fail backp' Why, they could moi
believe their own ears Is Joshua's cOur.
age failing him? The retreat Is beaten.
and the Israelites are flying, throwing
blanke cts and canteens on every side under
this worse than Bull Run defeat. And you
ought to hear the soldiers Of All cheer and
H. D,,f kI.1,, l,r,xx 100
! The men lying in ambush are straininp
their vision to get some signal from Joshus
that they may know what time to droI
upon the city. Joshua takes his FURNISHED
spear, glittering In the sun like shaft OF
doom, and points It 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 IL
! ambush. How about the division under
J Joshua's command? No sooner does
Joshua stop in the flight than all his men
stop with him, and as he wheels they
/ wheel, for in a voice OF thunder he cried
"Halti' one strong arm driving back a
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 up their
| OF Al were caught between these two hurri-
/ canes of Is-aelitish courage, thrust before
and behind, stabbed in breast and back.
ground between the upper and the neither
millstones Of Gods Indignation Woe tc
mo city OF All Cheer for Israeli
Lesson the first: There is such thing as
victorious retreat. Joshua's falling back
was the first chapter in his successful be-
siegement. 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 tho decantef
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
dissipating companions will come around
YOU for your overthrow; Bun for your
lifel Fall backl 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 q saloon
down on the next street that has almost
been the ruin Of your soul. Then why do
you 60 along that street2 Why do you not
pass through some other street rather than
by the place OF your calamity? A spoon
full Of brandy taken for medicinal pur.
poses by q man who twenty years before
had been reformed from drunkenness
, hurled into inebriety and the grave one Of
Sh0 Doot iAi0huo = 0NOA haus AsptiOut 10
victoryi -
Here is q converted infidel. He is so
strong now in his faith In the Gospel he
says he can read anything. What are you
reading2 Bolingbroke3 Andrew Jackson
Davis's tractsp Tyndal's Glasgow Uni
versity address3 Drop them and run. You
will be an infldel before you die unless you
quit that. These men of All will be too
much for you. Turn your back on the rank
and file OF unbelief. Fly before they cut
you with their swords and transhx 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 back.
| When the blood Of the Scotch Covenanters
| gave deeper dye to the heather Of the
! highlands, when the Vaudois OF France
chose determination rather than make an
unchristian surrender, when on st. Bartho-
| lomew's day mounted assassius rode
| through the streets Of Paris, crying xiii!
Bloodletting is good in August! XIII
Death to the Huguenots! kip when
| Lady Jane Grey's head rolled from the
| executioner's block, when Calvin was I'M
| prisoned in the castle, when John KNOX
died for the truth, when John Bunyan lay
rotting 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 up
my faith,' the days OF retreat for the
church were days OF victory.
The pilgrim fathers fell back from the
| other side OF the sea to Plymouth Rock,
! but now are marshaling a continent for
| the Christianization<of the world. The
| Church Of Christ falling back from Pied
| mont, falling back from Rue st. Jacques,
| falling back from st. Denis, falling back
| from Wurtemberg castles, falling back
from the Brussels market place, yet all the
I time tRium phing. Notwithstanding all the
reverses which the Church Of Christ suf-
| fers, what do we see to-day? Twelve thou.
sand missionaries Of the cross on heather
] grounds; eighty thousand ministers OF
Jesus Christ In this land; at least four hum
dred millions Of Christians on the earth.
Falling back, yet advancing until the old
| Wesleyan hymn will prove true:
The lion Of judah shall break the chain
And give us the victory again and again!
| But there Is a more marked illustration
Of victorious retreat In the life Of our