The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-11-12

you and bring victory where defeat
! is threa teniHg you en- every side. Could
there be any better or more inspiring
and cousolatoTy word: For We Shall
not go cut With haste nor by fight,
for the Lord will go before you, and
the God of Israel will be your rere-
ward
The Line of 6attle.
Here is a picture of the line of bat
tie Yonder are the two TANKS Of the
army, thoroughly intrenched and pro
| tected from the line of fire. Here is
the center of the army made up of
men with stern faces fighting for their
lives. Again and again the enemy
charges. The brigade and the division
commanders become frightened. Away
| their staff officers gallop to head
quarters, begging and beseeching for
| e-enforcements. I'VE must have more
| troops or we are lost!' is the cry, but
the far seeing eye of the commander
in chief sweeps the field with his glass
and answers: Not yet! The rear guard
must be held in leash for awhile. Not
| yet. Go back to your generals and tell
them to hold their positions a little
| longer!' Still the battle RACES But
| just as the enemy have concentrated
their fires and moved forward on Il
| grand charge. then the commander
says: "Order up the rear guard. This
| is the psychological moment Now let
the great forward movement be
| made" Then the reserve force. like
| a great avalanche, sweeps on. and the
charging force is halted. Then the
enemy is driven back. Then the
charge is turned into rout and a fly
| ing mob. SO it is with the Divine
Commander. He let's us struggle on
| and on He lets us struggle until all
seems lost Then with mighty clar
ion call he moves up his reserve force
and turns our impending defeat into
| a glorious victory. for 1.-The God O.
Israel shall be your rereward." O.
| Christian soldiers, is not this military
| figure the picture of your past life?
Do you not remember the time years
ago when you got entangled in the
meshes of that financial difficulty:
Like Schuyler ColfaX, implicated in tie
scandal of the Credit Mobilier rascal
ties, you knew you were honest. You
knew that dishonest dollar had never
| stuck in the palm of your hand. But
somehow you could not make your ac
counts balance. Disgrace was facing
not only you, but your wife and chill
dren. You can remember the scene as
though it was yesterday. The night
| before the accounting must be made
you went to your room and locked the
| door and knelt by your bed and said;
80 God, thou knowest l am honest.
Thou knowest have done no wrong
Thou alone canst help me. Save my
good name. Save me for the honor of
my family" Then it was as though
by miraculous power you We're
saved. You found the slip of paper
which held the link to the chain of
financial evidence. Or the man who
had stolen the money from the trust
fund returned it. And when all seem
ed lost God saved you by the advanc-
ing "rear guard" for ''the God of
Great Life's Trouble.
Or perhaps your great trouble of life
| US. Under false pretenses you were
persuaded to take certain position
No sooner were you installed in thai
position than you became involved in q
fight over which you had no control.
You found that you were the center Of
two bitter factions. You dared no;
run. That would be cowardly. To
stand still made you the inheritor OF
long years of discord and dissension
| What were you to do? Where We're
you to go? Conditions seemed to grow
worse every minute. Then when all
seemed lost God sent forward his real
guard Then it was that the divine
aid manifested Itself Oh, my brother
| can you not thank God that he has
come to your aid in the great exigen-
cies of life? Have you not four Or
five distinct remem brances of when
you have been saved by him, as If
were, by the breadth of hair?
But there is another great fact about
this rear guard. 1t is always COM
posed of the best soldiers in the army.
It's numbers may not be very large.
1t may be comprised. as an old soldier
told me, of only two brigades out of
three whole divisions. But it is made
up Of true and tried veterans. For
those who compose the rear guard
| must have proved themselves able to
stand the test So l have always felt
that God has for us rear guard made
up of the best Christian forces we
have ever known. They are the good
| men and the women who have stood
| behind us ever since we were born.
And during the great moral and spirit
ual struggles, in Gods name as well
as in the name of infinite love. they
have always come to our rescue.
To the Rescue.
And the peculiar fact about this rear
| guard is: The older we grow the more
su.A, l,oJ, to h> NV