Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-03-06
HOME AGAIN.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage breaches
to His Brooklyn Flock.
"The House on the Wall" the Subject of
His Observation-Disclosures Of the
Text to the Affairs of Life
at the Present Time.

Rev 4, Dewitt Talmage, d. D., re-
sumed preaching in Brooklyn Sunday
morning, after a visit to the Holy
Land, snd the Academy of Music was
crowded. Thousands of people were not
able to get into the building. The sub
ject of his discourse was ''The House on
the WALL" DIR. Talmage took for his
text Joshua vi, 2S: "And the young
men that were spies went in, and
brought out Rahab, and her father, and
her mother, and her brethren, and all
that she had" He said:
When, only a few weeks ago, / visited
Jericho, l said: Can it be possible that
this dilapidated place is the Jericho that
Mark Antony gave as a wedding pres
ent to Cleopatra Where are the
groves of palm trees? Where are Her.
DDS palaces that once stood here?
Where is the great theater from the
stage OF which Salome told the people
that Herod was dead? Where is the
sycamore tree on the limb of which
Zaccheus sat when jesus passed this
place? Where is the wreck of the
walls that fell at the blowing Of the
rams horns? But the fact that all
these had disappeared did not hinder
me from seeing in imagination the
smash of every thing on the fated day,
save one house on the wall. That scene
centuries ago comes back to me as
though it were yesterday.
There is a very sick and sad house in
the city OF Jericho. What is the matter?
Is it poverty? No. Worse than that.
Is it leprosy? No. Worse than that. Is it
death? No. Worse than that. A daughter
has forsaken her home. BY what infer
nal plot she was induced toleave know
not; but they look in vain for her return.
Sometimes they hear a footstep very
much like hers, and they start up and
say: ''She comesl' but only to sink
back again into disappointment. Alasl
Alasl The father sits by the hour, with
his face in his hands, saying not a word.
The moth ~ hair is becoming gray too
fast, and she begins to stoop so that
, those who saw her only a little whileago
In the street know her not now as she
passes. The brothers clinch their fists,
swearing vengeance against the dispoil-
err Of their home. Alasl will the poor
soul never come back? There is a long.
deep shadow over all the house,
hold. Added TO this there is an invad-
ing army six miles away, just over the
river, coming on to destroy the city;
and what with tho loss of their child
and the coming on of that destructive
army, / think the old people wished that
they could die. That is the first scene
in this drama Of the Bible. In a house
on a wall of the city is that daughter.
That is her home now. Two spies have
come from the invading army to look
around through Jericho and see how
best it may be taken. Yonder is the
lost child, in that dwelling on the wall
Of the city. The police hear OF it. and
soon there Is the shutting Of feet all
around about the door, and the city gov
eminent demands the surrender Of those
two spies First, Rahab-for that was
the name of the lost child-frst, Rahab
secretes the two spies and gets their
pursuers of the track; but after awhile
she says TO them: 81 will make a bargain
with you. / will save your life
II 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 wanderer never
forgets home. Her heart breaks now
as she thinks of how she has maltreated
her parents, and she wishes she we're
back with them again, and she wishes
she could get away from her sinful en-
thrallment; and sometimes she looks up
In the face of the midnight, bursting
into agonizing tears. No ooner have
these two spies promised TO save her
life and the life of her father and moth
err and brothers and sisters than RAJ
hab takes a scarlet cord and ties
it around the body OF one Of the spies,
brings him to the window, and, as he
chambers out, nervous lest she have not
strength to hold him. with muscular
arms such as woman seldom has, she
lets him down. hand over hand, in safety
to the ground. Not being exhausted
she ties the cord around the other spy,
brings him to the window, and just as
successfully lets him down to the
ground. No sooner have these men un-
tleu tue SCdrieb COTu ifOm NutAF DONAtS
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 bet
ter 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 1t. Shall it be SOP cried the
spies. "Aye, aye" said Rahab from the
window; sit shall be so" This is the
second scene in this Bible drama. There
is a knock At the door of the old a
He looks UP, and says: Come in" and
lol there is Rahab, the lost child; but
she has no time to talk. They gather
in excitement around her, and she
says to them: 'eGet ready quickly, and
60 with me to my house. The army IS
-s--f III s----nAf Mnra haEApf