Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-22

judgment day. and the hills and the mountains,
the metal bones ana ribs of Laturc, shall break,
they who have had Rahab's faith shall have
Rahab's deliverance.
FORWARD, MARCH,
But this is no place for the host of Joshua to
stop. Forward marchr' cries Joshua to the
troops. There is the city of Gideon. 1t has
put itself under the protection of Joshua. They
send word. ''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 more than double quick. On the morn
ing of the third day he is before the enemy.
There are two long lines of battle. The battle
opens with great slaughter, but the Canaanltes
soon discover something. They say, "lhat is
Joshua; that is the man who conquered the
spring freshet and knocked down the stone
wall and destroyed the city of Al. There is no
use fighting" And they sound retreat and
as they began to retreat, Joshua and his host
spring upon them like panther, pursuing
them over the rocks. and as these Canaanltes
with sprained ankles and gashed forheads re-
treat the catapults of the sky pour voliey OF
hallstoneS into the valley. and all the artillery
of the heavens with bullets of iron, pound the
Canaanites against the ledges of Beth-horon.
'Ohr' says Joshua this is surely victory"
Those AmOrItes are going to getaway alter all,
and then they Will come up some other time
and bother us, and perhaps destroy u.s." See, the
sun is going oown. Oh. for longer day than
has ever been seen in this climate! What IS
thesmatter with Joshua? Has he fallen in an
apoplectic fit? No. He is in prayer. Look
out when good man makes the Lord his ally:
Joshua raises his face, radiant with prayer, and
looks at the descending sun over Gideon and at
the faint crescent of the 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 other 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 Gibeon; and thou. moon, in the valley OF
Ajalon." They halted. Whether it was by re-
fraction of the SUMS rays or by the stopping
of the whole planetary system, do not know.
and do not care. 1 leave 1t to the Christian
scientists and the Infde scientists to settle that
question. while tell you have seen the same
thing. "Whatr' say you, mot the sun stand
ing stillT' Yes The same miracle is per-
formed nowadays. The wicked do not live out
half their day, and the sun sets at noon. But
let a man start out in battle for God and
the truth, and against sin, and the day of his
usefulness is prolonged and prolonged and pro-
longed.
SOME MORE MODERN INSTANCES.
John Summertield was consumptive Meth
odist. He looked fearfully white. am told. as
he stood in old Sands Street Church, in Brook
lyn preaching Christ. and when he stood on the
anniversary platform in New York. pleading
for the Bible until unusual and unknown
glories rolled forth from that book. When he
was dying his pillow brushed with the
wings of the angel from the Skies the messen-
ger that God sent down. Did Jonn Summer
fields sun set? Did John Summerfed's day
end? Oh! no. He lives on in his burning utter
ances in behalf of the Christian Church.
Robert McCheyne was consumptiye Pres
byterian. 1t was said when he preached he
coughed so il seemed as if he would never
preach again. His name is fragrant in all
ChrlstendOm that name mightier to-day than
was ever his living presence. He lived TO
preach the gospel in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and j
Dundee, but he went away very early He
preached himself into the grave. Has Robert
McCheyne'S sun set? Is Robert McCheyne's
day ended? Oh. no! His dying delirium was
filled with prayer, and when he lifted his hand
to pronounce the benedction upon his family,
and the benedction upon. his country he
seemed to say: II cannot die now: l want tn
live on and On. want TO start an influence
for the Church that will never cease. l am
only 20 years of age. Sun of my Christian mn-
istry stand still over Scotland" And it stood
still.
A long time ago there was a Christian woman
very consecrated and she had drunken hus
band, and so on came the night of domestic
trouble. She lost her children. and there came
the night OF bereavement. She was very ILL.,
and there came the night of sickness. Her
SOU departed, and there came the night of
death. But all these nights of trouble, and
darkness, and sorrow, and sickness were illu-
minated by the grace of the gospel; and people
came for many miles to see how cheerfully
Christian could be sick and how cheerfully a
Christian could die. The moon that lllu-
minated that night of trouble was reflection
from the .Son of Righteousness. In the last
hour of that uight-that night of darkness and
sickness and misfortune, as she lifted her hand
to- ard heaven. those who stood nearest her
pillow could hear the whisper-for she wanted
to live in the generations that were to fol-
low. consecrated to God; she wanted to have
an influence long after she had entered upon
her eternal reward. and while her hand was
lifted and her lips were moving. those who
stood nearest her pillow could hear her say
Thou moon stand sull in the Valley of
Ajalon."
THE FINAL CHANGE.
-But it is time for Joshua to go home. He is
ITO years old. Washington went down the
Potomac and at MounS Vernon closed his days.
Wellington died peacefully at Apsley House.
Now, where shall Joshua rest? Why, he is to
have his greatest battle now. After ITO years
he has to meet king who has more subjects
than all the present population of the earth,
his throne pyramid of skulls, his parterre the
graveyards and the cemeteries of the world, his
chariot the worlds hearse-the King OF Terrors
But if this is Joshua's greatest battle it is 60
ing TO be Joshua's greatest victory He gathers
his friends around him and gives his vaiedlc-
tory, and it is full of "reminiscences. Young men
tell what they are going 10 do; old men tell what
they have done.
And as You have heard a grandfather. or
great-grandfaIher. seated by the evening fire,
tell of Monmouth Yorktown, and then lift
the crutch staff as though it were a musket
TO fl ht, ana show how the old battles were won
so Joshua gathers his friends around his dy-
ing 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 wrlnkied fore
head, wonder if God has kept his promise all
the way through. As he lies there he tells the
story one, two, or three ilmes-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; all has come to pass not one word
thereof has failed" And then he turns to his
family, as a dying parent will, and says:
Choose now whom you will serve, the God of
Israel, or the god of the Amorftes. As for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord" A dv-
ing parent cannot be reckless OF ihoughtless in
regard o his children. Consent to part with
them forever at the door of the tomb we can
not. BY the cradle in which their infancy was
rocked, by the bosom which they first lay,
by the blood of the covenant, by the God of
Joshua, it shall not be. We will not part, we
cannot art. Jehovah Jireh. we take thee at
thy promise. ~ will be God to thee and thy
seed after thee"