Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-02-13
.TALMAGE HOME AGAIN.
HIS APPLICATION OF rHE DELIv-
FRANCE OF RAHAB.
his Late Visit to the Site OF Jsrfoho-sup-
posed Youth and Errors OF Rahab-Her
Deliverance by the IsraelItes and the
Lessons Il Teaches

8, after his visit to the Holy Land, and
the Academy of Music was crowded.
Thousands of people were not able to
get into the building. The subject OF
his discourse was -The House on the
Wall" DR.. Talmage took for his text
Joshua vi, %: 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 few weeks ago, / visited
Jericho, said. Can it be possible that
this dilapidated place is the Jericho
that Mark Antony gave as q wedding
present to Cleopatra? Where are the
groves of palm trees2 Where are Her
DDS palaces that once stood herep
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
placer Where is the wreck of the walls
that fell at the blowing Sof the rams
horns? But the fact that all these have
disappeared did not hinder me from see-
ing 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 we're yes
terday.
There is 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 internal plot she was induced to
leave I know not; but they look in vain
for her return. Sometimes they hear
footstep very much like hers, and they
start up and say: @She comes!"s sbut only
to sink back again into disappointment.
Alas! Alas! The father sits by the
hour, with his face in his hands, saying
not one word. The mothers hair is be-
coming gray too fast, and she begins to
stoop so that those who saw her only
little while ago in the street know her
not now as she passes. The brothers
clinch their fists, swearing vengeance
against the despoiler of their home.
Alas! will the poor soul never come
back? There is a long, deep shadow
over all the household. Added to this
there is an invading army six miles
away, just over the river, coming on to
destroy the city; and what with the 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 house on the wall of the
city is that daughter. That is her home
now. Two spies have come from the in
vading 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 government 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 off the
track; but after awhile she says to them:
will make bargain with you. I will
save your life if 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" o, she had not forgotten her
home yet, yousee. The wanderer never
forgets home. Her heart breaks now
as she thinks of how she has maltreated
her parents, and she wishes she were
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 sooner have
these two spies promised to save her
life, and the life of her father, and
mother, and brothers, and sisters, than
Rahab takes 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