The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-03-16

WeIe SlIduSeIS 10 Tue country Jney were
about to take. The Canaanites wei
Joshua were tTavel-wOrn. Why didn't
the Canaanitas double up the right
wing, and then double up the left wing
and then pierce the center of Joshua
army" | will tell you why they dlI
not. The promise had been given. and
the Lori God keeps His promise: There
shall not any man be able to stand up
before thee all the days of thy life"
But we cannot stop here. 1t is no
place for JOshua's troops to stay. What
l, that in the distance? At the end of
a grove of palms eight miles long is the
chief city. 1t is city of gold, and arb
Ors, and huge, impregnable walls that
seem to reach the heavens and buttTess
the sky. That is the city that guards
the mountain pass. That is Jericho, the
great metropolis. Take it Joshua must.
Take it Joshua can't" say the unbe-
levers. Where are the batteTing rams
for such conflict as this? why, the
Canaanitish archers will come out on
the top of the walls and shoot destruc-
tiOn and death into these Israelites if
they come anywhere near the walls.
This city in after time was taken by
POmpey; it was taken by HerOd the
Great, and it was taken by the MOham-
medans; but this campaign is planned
by the Lord Almighty. There are to be
no swords, no shields, no battering
rams. TheIe is to be only one weapon,
and that is to be a rams horn. The
crooked horns of the slain rams were
punctured with holes so that the fingers
could play on them, and then the musi-
clan would put this rustic instrument
to his lips and make music for the peO-
pie. Now the command is that seven
OF the priests should take these rude
musical instruments, and for six days
they shall go round about the walls of
Jericho once day, and then on the
seventh day they shall go around seven
times, blowing this curious rustic musi-
cal instrument, and the perOratiOn Of
the whole scene is to be great shout,
under which the wall, from base to cap
stone, is, to tumble. ROnnd the wall
of Jericho go the priests once, and fail
uTe. Not so much as piece Of mortar or
plaster drops from the wall-nOt so
much as creyice Opens-nOt so much
the second day, and failure; the third
day, and a failure; the fourth day, and
failure; around the fifth day, and a fail
uTe; around the sixth day, and failure.
"Ah," say some of the unbelieving Is
raelites. II told you so; those ministers
are simply making fools of themselves;
that wall stands as firm now, after six
days surrounding, as when it was first
built. The fact is that our leader,
Joshua, is getting spoiled. He thinks,
because he can conquer spring freshet,
that he can conquer city wall. Come
now, let us be philOsOphic about this; it
isn't reasonable that rams horn blown
should knock down city wall" And
the wiseacres knit their bTOws and put
their fore finger of the right hand
against the fore finger of the left hand,
and reasoned it all out that such a case
could not possibly produce such an
effect. The encampment, | think, that
night was full of philosophy and caTica-
tuTe, and if Joshua had been nominated
for any prominent military position he
would have received but few votes.
JOshua's stock was down. But the
seventh day came, the climacteTic day,
| and Joshua is up early, according to the
statement and he is around among the
| troops, looking at their condition, and
| he is impatient for the moment to come
| when he shall march on to the victory.
At last the hour has arrived. The
| priests, with these rude musical instru-
ments, go all around the city of Jericho
once, and a failure; around the city
twice, three times, four times, and
failure; around the city five times, six
times, seven times, and failure. There
is only one thing to be done. and that is
to give great shout. | see the IsTaelit-
ish army Strengthening themselves up
and filling their lungs for a vOclfeTatiOn
such as was never before or since heard.
Joshua rises up to his full stature and
gives the command. He feels the right
moment has come, and he says: shout!
for the Lord hath given you the city"
and the command is heard, and the peO-
pie all together cry: Down, Jericho.
down, Jerichop' And that long line of
solid masonry begins to culver, and then
crash go the walls, the temples, the
palaces, until the earth quakes and the
heaJe blackened with the dust, and
the shrek of the crushed city and the
huzzah of the victorious Israelites COM
mingle. ooh" say the philosophers who
were crOaking the night before. 1--WE did
it! We did it! Did you hear that shout?
That was me! Joshua is there. Any
thing else you want us to do, we are all
Teadyp Ahl Joshua felt no bOasting in
his soul, for while he stood there, amid
the debris of that destroyed city, the old
promise came ringing through his soul:
There shall not any man be able to
stand before thee all the days of thy
life"
People cross the ocean to see ruin.
You need not go so far. Stand minute
and look at the ruins of this city of
Jericho. There is one house that did not
fall. Why did not that one house fall?
Could very great and good man have
lived there? No. Rahab lived there
She had been noted for her crimes, yet
she was saved. Because she had been a
great sinner? No. Because she had re-
pent9d, and to prove to all ages that
there is mercy for the chief of sinners.
There was a red cord hanging at the
window of that house, and that cord
was placed there by Divine injunction,
and when that was seen no one dared to
damage those premises. When | see
the color of that cord it makes me think
of the crimson cord let down for our de-
liyerance; it makes me think that we
ought to have swung out of the window
of our soul the red cord of a SaviOur's
sacritice-the red cord of a SaviOr's
mercy, the red cord of SaviOr's inter
cessiOn. Mercy for the chief of sinners.
Rahab's house stood. She repented; she
trusted in God; she was saved. Put your
trust in God, and nothing shall ever dam
age you, and when at last our world
shall be surrOunded-mOre terrible than
was Jericho evenly the trumpets of
judgment and resurrection, the walls
and rocks and mountains shall fall,
crushing all the unpardOned; yea, when
nations, metal, bOnCs and ribs shall
break, they who have Rahab's faith shall