The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1901-01-12
TALMAGE SERMON.
N,NDAY'S DISCOURSE By The AsLs o..
VINE.

WNDA'S DISCOURSE BY The AaLf o.
vMe.
Subject, Tho Faith of Rahab-There .,
Mercy For All Sinners Cheer For AL
Who Are Engaged in LIES Battles
Meaning of the SUMS Standing still.
Copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, d. Gin this discourse
DR.. Talmage follows Joshua on his tri.
umphal march and speaks encouraging
words to all who are engaged in the bat
ties of this life; text, Joshua /, g., There
shall not any man be able to stand before
thee all the days of thy life"
Moses was dead. A beautiful tradition
says the lord kissed him and in that act
drew forth the soul of the Tying lawgiver.
He had been buried; only one person at
the funeral-thc same One who kissed him.
But God never takes q man away from
any place of usefulness until He has some
one ready to replace him. The Lord 6oes
not go looking around amid = great va
riety OF candidates to find some one especi
ally fitted for The vacated position. He
makes a man for that place. Moses has
passed off the stage. and Joshua, the hero,
puts his foot on the platform of history
20 solidly that ali the ages echo with the
tread. He was a magnificent fighter, bu.
be always fought on the right side, and he
never fought unless God told him TO fight.
He got his military equipment from God,
who gave him the promise at the start,
There shall not any man be atle to
stand before thee I'll the days of thy life."
God fulfilled this promise, although JOSH
ua's first battle was with the spring fresh
ct, the next With a stone wall, the next
leading on a regiment o. whipped cow
-. t. IL "a l.
ness, wheeling the sun and the moon into
his battalion and the last against the king
of terrors, death-fvc great victories.
As a rule, when the general of an army
starts out in a war he would ike to have
a small battle in order Il at he may get
his own courage up and rally his troors
and get them drilled for greater conflicts,
but the first undertaking OF Joshua was
greater then the leveling Of Fort Pulaski
or the assault of Gibraltar or the over
throw of the Bastillc. 1t was the crossing
of the jordan at the time OF the spring
freshet. The SHOWS of Mount Lebanon had
just been melting, and they poured down
the valley, and the whole valley was
raging torrent. So the Canaanites stand
on one bank, and they look across and see
Joshua and the Israclites, and they laugh
and say: "Aha! They cannot disturb
US until the freshets fall II Is impossible
for them to reach u.s." But after awhile
they look across the water, and they see
a movement in the army of Joshua. They
say: 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 rt his army and cries,
Forward, march," and they start for the
bank OF the Jordan. One mile ahead go
two priests carrying 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 of
the river, path of chalk and broken
shells and pebbles, until they get to the
other bank. Then they lay hold of the Ole
anders and tamarisks and willows and pull
themselves up bank thirty or forty feet
high, and, having gained the other bank,
they clap 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 terrific rush they break loose
from their strange anchorage. As the
hard Of the Lord God is taken away from
the thus uplifted waters-waters perhaps
uplifted half a mile-they rush down, and
some of the unbelicving Israeltes say:
"Alas, alas, what a misfortunei Why
could not not those waters have staid
parted, because, perhaps, We may want
to 60 back? O Lord, we are engaged in
. risky business These Canaanites may
eat us up. How il we want to go back?
Would it not have been a more complete
miracle If the Lord had parted the waters
to let us come through and kept them
parted to let us go back il we are de-
feated3
But this is no place for the host to
stop: Joshua gives the command, For
ward, 14arch!" In the distance there is
= long grove of trees, and at the end of the
grove is city. 1t is city with arbors,
. city with walls seeming to reach to the
heavens, to butt-ess the very sky. 1t is
the great metropolis that commands the
mountain bass. 1t is Jericho. That city
was afterward captured by Pompey and
once by Herod the Great and once again
by the Mohammedans, but this campaign
the Lord plans. There shall be no swords,
no shields, no battering ram; there shall
be only enc weapon of war, and that a
rams horn. The horn of the slain ram
was sometimes taken, and holes were |
puncturcd in it, ard then the musician |
would put the instrument to his lips, and |
he would run his fingers over this rude |
musical instrument and make great deal |
OF sweet harmony for the people. That |
Was the only kind of weapon. Seven
priests were to take these rude, rustic |
musical instruments, and they were to |
60 around the city every day for six days
once 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 shout, at which those great |
walls should tumble from capstone to base. !
The seven priests with the rude musical |
on the first day and score a failure. Not |
30 much as piece of plaster broke loose
from the wall, not SO much as loosened |
rock. not SO much as piece of mortar lost
from its place. There" say the unbe-
lieving Israelites. "did / rot 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.
lie 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 ia no
relation between the blowing of these
musical instruments and the knocking
down OF the wall! 1t is not philosophic."
And I suppose there were many wiseacres
who stood with their brows knitted and
with the foretinger of the right hand to
the forefinger of the left hand, arguing it
all out snd showing that it was not pos
sible that such cause could produce such
an effect. And 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's
stock was down. The second day the
priests blowing the musical instruments
go around the city, and again failure.
sNl.a l..,.l ..;l..,.a. L