Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-02-20
RAHAB's DWELLING.
Dr.. Talmage Again Addresses His
Brooklyn Congregation.
Rahab's Dwelling on the Walls of Jericho
and Her Escape the Subject of His Dis
cOurse-The True Road to Sal
walton Defined.

o holy Land rev. L. De Witt Talmap
Y was greeted by large congregation tn
a drst Sunday that he preached in tn,
( Brooklyn Academy of Music. TIL,
3 subject of his discourse was, 9Th,
!, House on the Wall" DR.. Tai
mage took for his text Joshu,
vi %: "And the young men tina
were spies went in and brought our
Rahab, and her father, and her mother
and all that she had" He said:
When only few weeks ago 1 visited
Jericho, said, Can it be possible that
this dilapidated place is the Jericho that
Mark Antony gave as a wedding present
to Cleopatra? Where are the groves OF
palm trees? Where are Herod's 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 blow
. ing of the rams horn? 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 very sick and sad house in
the city of Jericho. What is the mat
ter? 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 home.
By what Internal plot she was induced
to leave know not, but they look in
vain for her return. Sometimes they
hear footstep very much like her and
they start up and say: ''She comes, "but
only to sink back again into disappoint-
ment. Alas! Alas! The father sits by
the hour, with his face in his hands,
saying not one word. The mothers hair
is becoming gray too fast and she is be-
ginning to stoop so that those who saw
her little while ago in the street know
her not now as she passes. The brothers
chnch their fists, swearing vengeance
against the despoiier of their home.
Alas! will the poor soul never come
back?
There is long, deep shadow over all
the household. Added to this there is
an invading army six miles away, lust
over the river, coming on to destroy the
city; and what with the loss of their
child and the coming on of that destruct- |
i've army, think the old people wished |
that they could die. That is the first |
scene in this drama of the Bible. |
n
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
If the city. The police hear of it, and
soon there is the shutting of feet all
around about the door, and the city
demands the surrender of
those two spies. First, Rahab-for that
vas the name of the lost child-frst
2ahab secretes the two spies and gets
heir pursuers off the track; but after
while she says to them: II will make a
'argain with you. l will save your life
I you will save my life, and the life of
ny father ard my mother, and my broth
rs and my sisters, when the victorious
.rmy comes upon the city" o, she had
lot forgotten her home yet, you see.
The wanderer never forgets home. Her
eart breaks now as she thinks of how
he has maltreated her parents, and she
fishes she were back with them again,
nd she wishes she could get away from
er sinful enthrallment; and sometimes {
he looks up in the face of the midnight {
ursting into agonizing tears. No sooner 1
ave these two spies promised to save I
er life and the life of her father and
lother and brothers and sisters than {
.ahab takes a scarlet cord and
es it around the body of one /
the spies, brings him to S
ne window and as he chambers out i
ervous lest she have not strength to
old him-with muscular arms, such as '
oman seldom has, she lets him down, c
and over hand, in safety to the ground. d
OF being exhausted she ties the cord t
'ound the other spy, brings him to the t
indow, and just as successfully lets t
m down to the ground. No sooner t
I'VE these men united the scarlet cord /
ON their bodies than they look up and v
ley say: a
"You had better get all your friends
| this house-your father, your mother, a
'ur brother and your sisters. You had l
etter get them in this house. And e
zen, after you have them here, take u
is red cord which you have put around @
IT bodies and tie it across the window; O
i'd when our victorious army comes up "
ID sees that scarlet thread in the win "
w, they will spare this house and all W
40 are in it." ''Shall it be sop cried b
g spies. AYE, aye" said Rahab from 81
@ window, lit shall be So" That is 90
e second scene in this Bible drama. Il
There is a knock at the door of the old tt
IN. He looks up, and says: ''Come a
!" and 10! there is Rahab, the lost CT
lid; but she has no time to talk. They al
ther in excitement around her, and tv
e says to them: sect ready quickly, j
d go with me to my house. The army h
coming! The trumpet! Make haste!
y! The enemy" That is the third &C
,ne in the Bible drama. The hosts W
Israel are all around about the Is
omed city of Jericho. Crash! goes CT
, great metropolis, heaps on heaps w
e air suffocating with the dust, and SC
rrible with the screams of a dying ''t
y. All the houses fat down. All the SD
ople dead. All, no, no! On crag of tn
wall-the only piece of the wall left he
is a house which we =
st enter. There is family there he
It have been spared. Who are they? be
US go and see. Rahab, her father, an
; mother, her brothers, her sisters, ha
safe, and the only house left stand es