Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-12-26

and the groan Of the Canaan;tes, Joshua
hears something louder than It all, ring
Ing and echoing through his soul, s.Thero
ehall not any man be able to stand be.
fore thee all the days of thy life.'
But this is no place for the host of
Joshua to stop. "Forward, march!''
cries Joshua to the troops. There is the
city OF Gideon. 1t has put itself under
the protection of Joshua. They send
word s"There are five kings after us;
they are going to destroy us; send troops
quick; send us help right away" Joshua
has three days march at more than
double quick. On the morning of the
third day he is before the enemy. There
are two long lines of battle. The baltic
opens with great slaughter, but tho
Canaanites soon discover something.
They say: ''That is Joshua; that is the
man who conquered the spring freshet,
and knocked down the stone wall and
destroyed the city of All. There is no
use lighting" And they sound a retreat,
and as they begin to retreat Joshua and
his host spring upon them like panther,
these Canaanites with sprained ankles
and gashcd forehcads retreat the cata-
quilts of the sky pour avolley of hail
stones into the valley, and all the
artillery of the heavens with bullets of
iron pound the Canaanites against the
lodges of Bethheron.
! 'Oh!' says Joshua, ssthis is surely q
victory, But do you not see the sun is
going down? Those Amorites are going
to get away after all, and then they will
come up some other time and bother us,
! and perhaps destroy u.s. See, the sun
is going down! Oh, for longer day
than has ever been seen in this climate!
| What is the matter with Joshua? Has
he fallen in an apoplectic fit? No. He
is i'll prayer. Look out when a good man
makes tho Lord his ally. Joshua raises
his face, radiant with prayer, and looks
at the descending sun o :er Gideon and
the faint crescent of III moon, for you
know the queen Of The night sometimes
will linger around the palaces of the day.
| Pointing one hand at the descending sun
and the othet hand at the faint crescent
OF the moon, in the name of that God
who shaped the worlds and moves the
worlds, he cries, ''Sun, stand thou still
upon Gideon; and thou, moon, in the val
ley of Ajalon." They halted.
Whether it was by refraction of the
SUMS rays or by the stopping of tho
whole planetary system do not know
and do not care. l leave it to the Chris
tian scientists and the infidel scientists
to settle that question, while tell you
have seen the same thing. "Whatw
you say, mot the sun standing still?'
| Yes. The same miracle Is performed
nowadays. The wicked do not live out
half their day, and the sun sets at noon.
But let man start out in battle for God
and the truth and against sin, and the
day of his usefulness is prolonged and
prolonged and prolonged.
But Joshua was not quite through.
There was time for five funerals before
the sun of that prolonged day set. Who
will preach their funeral sermon? Mas
sillon preached the funeral sermon over
Louis XVI. Who will preach the funeral
sermon of those five dead Kings-King of
Jerusalem, King of Hebron, King of jar
mouth, King of Lachish, King of Eglon?
Let it be by Joshua What is his text?
What shall be the epitaph put on the
door of the tomb? 'sThere shall not any
man be able to stand before thee all the
days of thy life"
But before you fasten up the door I
want five more kings beheaded and
thrust in: King Alcohol, King Fraud,
King Lust, King Superstition, King Inf
deity. Let them be beheaded and hurl
them in. Then fasten up the door for
ever. What shall the inscription and
what shall the epitaph be? For all
Christian philanthropists of all ages are
j going to come and look ut it. What
A shall the inscription be? ssThere shall
not any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life."
\ But it is time for Joshua to go home.
He is ITO years old. Washington went
down the Potomac, and at Mount Vernon
closed his days. Wellington died peace
fully at Apsley House. Now, where
shall Joshua rest? Why, he is to have
his greatest battle now. After ITO years
he has to meet a king, who has more
subjects than all the present population
of the earth, his throne pyramid of
skulls, his parterre, the grave yards and
cemeteries of the world, his chariot the
worlds hcarse-the king of terrors. But
If this is Joshua's greatest battle it is
going to be Joshua's greatest victory.
He gathers his friends around him and
gives his valedictory, and it is full of
"reminiscences.
Young men tell what they are going to
do; old men tell what they have done.
And as you have heard o grandfather or
great-grandfathcr, seated by the even
ing fire, tell of Monmouth or Yorktown,
and then lift the crutch or staff, as
though it were musket, to fight, and
show how the old battles were won, so
Joshua gathers his friends around his
dying couch, and he tells them the story
of what he has been through, and as he
lies there, his white locks showing down
on his wrinkled forehead, wonder if
God has kept his promise
all tho way through. AS
he lies there he tells the story one, two
or three times-you have heard old
people tell story two or three times
Overland he answers, 81 go the way of
all the earth, and not one word Of the
promise has failed, not one word thereof
has failed" And then he turns to his
family, as dying parent will, and says:
'sChoosc now whom you will serve, tho
God of Israel or the God of the Amoritcs.
As for me and my house, we will serve
the Lord.''
A dying parent cannot be reckless or
thoughtless in regard to his children.
Consent to part with them forever at the