The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-23

full life and the secret whereby even seem ing reverses may be transformed into triumphs. The text is Joshua 1. 5, 'As was with Moses, so I will be with thee"
 One of the greatest novels ever written, so considered by many of our best critics, is Victor Hugo's masterpiece. Les Mser- ables." Amid all the art gallery of that treasured book the most wonderful de- scription is the word painting by which the denunciator of Napoleon the Little" pictures the downfall of Napoleon the Great at the battlefield of Waterloo. When this great master of literature top ples over the French colossus, the earth trembles and the dead centuries come forth out of their musty tombs and look on in perpetual wonderment.
 In that marvellous recital you can hear the booming of the artillery's guns and the crack of the infantry's muskets and the groans of the dying and the cheers of the charging cavalry, and the tramp of the British lines forming themselves into the unbreakahle squares against which the Old Guard flung itself in vain. In 1t you can see the flushed cheeks and fash ing eyes of a conquering host and the
 
 Yet after all in reading the thrilling story I am impressed not so much by what happened as what did not happen. For many hours the eagle of victory seemed undecided upon which standard to alight. She fiuttered this way and that, as though awaiting some ones expected advent to help her to decide. Napoleon himself was waiting, anxiously waiting for the same helper. Every little while he would take his field glass and scan the surrounding hills and valleys. Every little while he would turn to his staff officers and say: Do you see him? Have you heard any news from Grouchy2 We must have re- Inducements or we are lost" In the mean time over the hills marched Marshall Butcher with his German endorsements. That was the decisive event Victory hes itated no longer. She flew to the standard of Wellington and perched. The Napo- leonic star set In gloom to rise no more in this world. It was the lack of re-enforce- ments at a critical moment which de- stroyed the French army. It is the lack of divine re-enforcements which may de- stroy us in the battle of life.
 % Will Be With Thee," Said the Lord.
 The text tells us of another general who also needed re-enforcements To Joshua was committed the task of conquering a country held by warlike people. To him at the supreme moment comes the assur- ance of the Lord of Hosts, T will be with thee" Now, my friends, the same kind of divine re-enforcement which came to Joshua when he took command of the Israelitish forces may also be given to us. When God gave to him his commission he said: Joshua, if you will be true to me and fight under my standard l will be with thee as l was with thy predecessor That d inc succor which God gave to Joshua he gave to our Christian fathers; that divine help he will give to us if we will trust Him. Therefore I would inspire every Christian to prayerfully go forth and do what God wants him to do. I would inspire all Christians to live and work with a brave heart because the re- suits of our future conflicts are as sure as Gods promises are sure.
 First. God will be with the Christian workers of this present generation. We fight under His glorious banner. David had proved 1t by experience when he wrote: Thou hast given banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed becauselof the truth" Under that banner the church of God has won victories In all ages. Solomon saw it on it's march and pronounced 1t terrible as an army with banners" He saw 1t later, triumphant over all evil entering like a bride into the home of a bridegroom and her lord lead
  over her the banner of love.
 Now. a banner is not merely piece of rag ora fiaring bit of fluttering bunting or dress parade endazzlement. The banner of God is a flag or a standard. It is --Ie symbol of supernal authority. Whoever therefore strikes at Gods banners strikes at the divine heart. When, some years ago. an American citizen was arrested by the Spanish authorities in Cuba and sen- to 1 1ia fhA aaric at firct protested in vain. But on the day set for the execution the Cuban authorities dared not shoot because that consul wrapped an American flag about the condemned man., saying, he is an American citizen. Now shoot him through the folds of that flag If you darei" Today, in symbol, God wraps about every Christian worker his banner. It Is the symbol of protection It Is the symbol of omnipotence. It is the symbol of the atonement. It is the symbol of di- vine forgiveness IL is the symbol of glorious and never ending life
 Symbols in the Gospel Banner.
 We all can see the beautiful symbols in the American flag. Is there none for us in the gospel banner? We say there never was national flag so poetic as ours. When George Washington and Robert Morris and Colonel Ross, the committee appointed by the second continental con gress. visited Betsy Ross in her Philadel- phia home. they accomplished great work. That flag symboized thirteen dif ferent governments in one, and still that one government kept it's thirteen distinct individualities. The thirteen bars and the stars represented the thirteen colonies which afterward became the thirteen states. Then. after Vermont and Ken lucky. the first of the new states, were added to the union, the thirteen bars and thirteen stars were changed into fifteen bars and fifteen stars, but now. by law, there are still the original thirteen bars. but every state has a star. Thus today the American flag has forty-five different states in one government-one great gov ernment with forty-fve different, distinct states Beautiful is the symbolisml But is not the gospel banner just as beautiful in symbol? Does it not make us one with God? Like a chameleon. it continually changes it colors. One day it is all red, reminding us that we are one with God through the blood of the cross. Another day 1t Is all white, suggesting purity, as Christ Is pure. Another day it is all blue. That signifies our infinity of divine re- sources, as space itself is filled with blue. Oh, the glorious. the transcending, the in- spring thought that we are fighting un- der Gods bannerl
 The Gospel Work Never Dies.
 God is with living Christian workers in the continuity of service. He will never allow the gospel work of past generations to die. Christian work has immortality. Like the government of England 1t goes on uninterruptedly from generation to generation. When King William ".
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