The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-12-22

to the troops. There is the city of Gibeon.
IL 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 las three-days' march more than
double-quick. On the morning of the third
day h. Is before the enemy. There are two
long lines Of battle. The battle opens with
great slaughter, but the Canaanites soon
discover something. They say, That is
Joshua: that is the man who conquered
| the spring frsShet and knocked down thu
stone wall and destroyed the city of Al.
There Is no use fighting" And they sound
a retreat, and as they began TO retreat,
Joshua and his host spring upon them like a
panther, pursuing them over the rocks, and
rs these Canaa1ltes with sprained ankles
and geshei foreheads retreat. the catRpults
of the sky pour volley of haistones into
the valley, and all the artillery of the
heavens, with blllets of iron, pound the
CanaanItes againts the lodges of Beth
horon.
"Oh" says Joshua, "this is surely
a victory But do you not see
the sun is going down? These
| Amoriies ara goi TO get away after all,
and then they will come up some other time
aud bother US, and perhaps destroy us"
See, the sun is going down. Oh, for long
or day than has ever been seen in this Gil
mattel What is the matter with Joshua?
! Has he fallen in an apoplectic fl! 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 tho faint
| crescent Of the moon. for you know the
queen or the night sometimes Will linger
around the palaces of the day. Pointing
one hand ct the descending sun and the
other bacd at the faint crescent Of
the moon, in the name of that God
xrl.A CHI h.
the worlds, he cries: "Sun, stand thou still
upon Gideon; ami thou moon. in the valley
OF Ajalon." They halted. Whether it was
by refraction Of the SUMS rays, or by the
stopping Of the whole planetary system,
do not know, and do not care. leave it to
tho christian scientists and the infidel
scientists to settle that question, while tell
you have seen the same thing. "Whatln
say you, Lot the sun standing still?n Yes.
The Same miracle is performed nowadays.
The wicked do not live out half their day,
and the sun sets at noon. But let q man
start out in battle for God and
the truth, and against sin, and
the day of his usefulness is pro-
longed and prolonged aud prolonged.
John Summerteld was a consumptive
Methodist. He looked fearfuIly white, |
am told, as he stood in old Sands Street
church, in Brooklyn, 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 was brushed with the wings OF the
angel from Che skies, the messenger that
God sent down. Did John Summerfelds
sun set9 Did John Summerfields day end
o! no. He lives on in his burning utter
ances in behalf of the Christian church.
Robert McCheyne was q conSumptive
Presbyterian. Ii was said when be preached
be coughed So it seemed as if he would
never preach again. His name is fragrant
liz all christendom. that name mightier to-
day than Yves ever his living presence. He
lived to preach tho gospel in Aberdeen, Ed
fnburgh and Dundee, but he went away
very early. He preached himself into the
grave. Has Robert McCheynes sun set7 Is
Robert McCheyne's day ended. Oh, mol
His dying delirium was filed with prayer,
and when be lifted his hand to pronounce
The benedictioa upon his family, and the
benediction upon his country, he seemed to
say: Il cannot die now; l want to live on
and on. | want to start an Influence for
the church that will never cease. am only
80 years or age. Sun of my christian
ministry, stand still over Scotland" And
it stood still.
a long time ago there was christian
woman very consecratsd, and she had a
drunken husband, and 80 on came the
children, aud there came the night of
bereavement. She was very i'll, and there
came the night OF sickness Her soul de-
parted, and there came the night of death
But al these nights OF trouble, and dark
ness, and sorrow. and sickness we're
lumined by the grace of the gospel; and
people came mauy miles to see how cheer
how caeerfully Christian could
die. Ths moen that illumined
that nighs of trouble was a reflection from
the sun Of Righteousness. In the last hour
OF that night-thaC night of darkness and
Sickness and misfortune, as she lifted her
hand toward heaven, those who stood near
est her pillow could hear the viii sper-for
she wanted to live on in the generations that
were to follow, consecrated TO God; she
wanted to have an influence long after she
had entered upon her eternal reward, aud
while her hand was lifted and her lips were
moving those who stood nearest her pillow
could hear her say Thou moon, stand still
tn the valley,of A lalon.n
But Joshua was not quite through. There
was time for five funerals before the sun of
thai prolonged day set. Who will preach
their funeral sermona Massillon preached
the funeral sermon over Louis XVI. Who
will preach the funeral sermon of those five
dead kfngs-King of Jerusalem, King of
Hebron, King OF Yarmouth, King sof Laoh-
ISL, King OF Eglon2 Let it be by Joshua.
What is mis- texts What shall be the cpl
taph put on the door of the tombs There
shall not any man be able to stand before
thee all the days of thy iife."
But before you fasten up the door want
five more kings beheaded and thrust in:
King Alcohol, King Fraud. King Lust,
King Superstition, King Infidelity. Let
them be beheadsd and hurl them in. Then
fasten up tho door forever. What shall the
inscription and what shall the epitsph be9
For all christian philanthropists Of all ages
are going TO come and look at it, What
shall the inscription be? There 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 q hundred and ten years old. Washing
ton went down the Potomac and at Mount
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 hundred and
ten years he has to meet q king, who has
more subjects than all the present popula-
ton of the ear6h his throne a pyramid of
skulls, his parterre tbs graveyards and the
cemeteries of the worlds hearse-the King
of Terrors. But if this is Joshua's great
est battle, it IS going to be
Joshua'S greatest victory. He gathers his
friends around hun and gives his valedic-
tory, and it Is full of "reminiscences. Young
men tell what they are going to do: old
men tell what they have done And as Won