The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-05-02

There Is a very sick and sad house in the
city OF Jericho. What is the maSer2 IL it
poverty No. Worse than that Is it
I leprosy2 No Worse than that. Is it deathi
No. Worse than that. A daughter has for
saken her home. By what Internal plot she
was induced TO leave l know not; but they
look IN vain for her return. Sometimes they
hear footstep very much like hers, and they
start up and say: 'She comesr' but only to
sink back again into disappointment. That
is the first scene in this drama Of the Bible
In a house on the wall of the city is that
Laughter. That is her home now. Two spies
have come from the invading army to lock
around through Jericho and see how best it
may be taken. Nonder is the lost child, in
that dwelling on the wall of the city.
First, Rahab-for that was the name of the
lost child-hrst, Rahab secretes the two spies
and gets their pursuers of the track; but
after awhile she saws to them: y Will make
4 bargain with you. 1 viii save your life if
you Will save my life and the life Of my
father and my mother and my brothers and
my sisters when the victorious army comes
upon the city" Oh, she had not forgotten
her home yet, you see. The waRderer never
lorgets home.
No sooner have the men united the scarlet
cord from their bodies than they look up and
they say You had better get all your
friends in this house-your father, your
mother, your brothers and your sisters: YOU
had better get them in this house. And
then, after you have them here, take this
red cord which you have put around our
bodies and tie it across the window; and
when our victorious army comes up, and
sees that scarlet thread in the window, they
will spare this house and all who
are in it. Shall it be sos' cried the
spies. AYE, aye, said Rahab, from the WIN
dow. lit shall be SOP That is the second
scene in this Bible drama. There Is q knock
at the door Of the old man. He looks up, and
says: Come in" and 10. there is Rahab,
the lost child; but she has no time to talk.
They gather in excitement around her, and
she says to them: Get ready quickly, and
20 with me to my house The army is COM
ing! The trumpet Make hastel Flyi
The eneuym That is the third scene in this
Bible drama.
The hosts Of Israel are all around about
the doomed city of Jericho. crash goes the
great metropolis, heaps on heaps. The air
suffocating with the dust and horrible with
the screams Of a dying city. All the houses
fat down. All the people dead. All, no, no.
On a crag of the wall-the only piece of the
wall left standing-there is a house which we
must enter. There is a family there that
have been spared. Who are they? Let us go
and see. Rahsb her father, her mother, her
brothers. her sisters, all safe and the only
house left standing in all the city. What
saved them. Can YOU tell me whys o, it was
the scarlet line in the window That is the
fourth scene in this Bible drama.
Ny friends there are foes coming upon US
more deadly and more tremendous, t6over-
throw our immortal interests. They viii
trsmple us down and crush US out forever,
unless there be some skilful mode of rescue
open.
In the first place carrying out the idea Of
my text, we must stretch this scarlet cord
across the window Of our rescue. There
comes q time when man IS surrounded.
What is that III the front door of his soul? 1t
is the threatenings Of the future What is
that in the back door Of his soul? 1t is the
sins OF the past. He cannot get out of either
of those doorways. If he attempts it he viii
be cut to pieces What shall he do? Escape
through the window Of Gods mercy. That
sunshine has been pouring in for many day.
Gods inviting mercy. Gods pardoning
mercy. Gods all conquering mercy. Gods
everlasting mercy.
1t is easy to get into sin. young man. 1t
Is not so easy to get out Of 1t. \ young man
goes to the marble counter of n hotel. he
asks for a brandy smas"-called 50, l sup
pose, because it Smashes the man that takes
1t. There is no intoxication in it. As the
young man receives it he does not seem to
be at all excited. 1t does not give any glossi-
ness TO the eve. lie walks home in beauti-
ful apparel and all his prospects
are brilliant. That drink is not going
to destroy him, but it is the first step on
nad road. Years have passed on, and see
that young man after he has gone the whole
length Of dissipation. 1t is midnight, and he
Is IN hotel-perhaps the very one where he
took the first drink A delirium is upon
him. He rises from the bed and comes to
the window, and IL is easily lifted; so
he lifts it. Then he pushes back
the blinds and puts his loot on the
window sill. Then be gives one spring
and the Waterman finds his disfgured body
unrecognizable on the pavement o. if he
had only waited littie-if he had come
down on the scarlet ladder that Jesus holds
from the wall for him, and for YOU, and for
me; but no, he made one jump, and was
gone
Still further: We must take this red cord
of the text and stretch it across the window
OF our households When the Israelitish
army came up against Jericho they said:
What IS that in the Window Some one
said: That is n scarlet linen ''Oh," said
some one else, that must be the house that
was to be spared. Don't touch it That
line was thick enough, and long enough, and
conspicuous enough, to save Rahab, her
father, her mother, her brothers and
her sisters-the entire family Have our
households as good protection? Have your
children been cousecrated to Christ? Have
you been washed in the blood of the atone
ment? In what room do you have family
prayers Show me where 1t is you are ac-
custOmed to kueel. The sky IS black with
the coming deluge. Is your family inside or
outside Of the ark 1t is a sad tlTir,- for u
man to reject Christ; butte lie down in the
night OF sin, across the path to heaven, so
that his family come up and trip over
him-that is terrific. 1t is sad
thing for mother to reject Christ;
but to gather her family around her,
and then take them by the hand and lead
them out into paths Of worldliness, away
from God and Heaven. Alas alasl you
owe to your children, oh, father, oh, mother,
more than food, more than clothing,
more than shelter-you owe them the exam
pie Of prayerful, consecrated, pronounced,
out-and- out Christian life. You cannot
afford to keep it away from them.
Now, as 1 stand here, yCd do 1Ob see any
hands outstretched toward me, and yet there
are hands on my brow and hands on both my
shoulders They are hands Of parental bene-
diction. 1t is quite good many years ago
now since we folded those hands as they began
tue last sleep on the banks Of the Karitan
in the village cemetery; but those hands are
stretched out toward me to-day, AMI they
are just as warm and they are just as gentle
as when sat on her knee az IIVe years OIL
oge. Aud l shall never shake off those
hands. / do not want to. They have helped
me so much thousand times already, and
do not expect TO have a trouble or trial
between this and my grave where those hands
will not help me. 1t was not a very SPLEEN
did home as the world calls it; but
we had family Bible there, well worn by
tender perusal; and there was family altar
there where we knelt morning and night;
and tnere was holy Sabbath there; and
stretched in a straight line or hung in loops
on festoons there was a scarlet line
in the window. Oh, the tender, prec-.
lous, blessed memory of Christian
homel Is that the impression you
are making upon your children? When you
are dead-and it viii not be long before you
are-when you are dead, will your child say:
IF there ever was a good Christian father.
mine was one. If there ever was a good
Christian mother, mine was oney'
Still further, we want this scarlet line of
the text drawn across the window of our
prospects. To-day, my friends, we sit in the
window Of earthly prospects, and we lock of
toward the hills Of heaven and the landscape
OF eternal beauty. God has opened the YIN
dow for us, and we look out. We now only
get dim outline Of the inhabitants. We now