Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-02-14
TALMAGE AT HOME.
HE RESUMES PREACHING IN BROOK
LYN AFTER HIS FOREIGN TRIP.
\ Powerful sermon Drawn From the
Great Bible Drama OF the House
on the Wall-We Must Go to God
for Salvation.


BROOKLYN. Feb 9.-The Rev. T. De Witt
Talmsge, ID. D., resumed preaching in Brook
lyu this morning, 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 "Thc House on the Wall"
DR.. Tamage took for his text Joshua vi,
q: "And the young men that were spies
went in and brought out Ruhab, and her
father, and her mother and her brethren, and
all that she had" He said
When, only few weeks ago, | visited Jeri-
cho said, can it be possible that this dlapi-
dated place is the Jericho that Mark Antony
gave as a wedding present to Cleopatra
Where are the groves of palm trees Where
are iIerods palaces which once stood here!
Where is the great theatre from the stage of
which Salome told the people that IIerod 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 blowing Of the rams horns'
But the fact that all these have disappeared
did not hinder me from seeing in imagination
the smash of everything on the fated day,
save one house on the wall. That scene cen
turies ago comes back to me as though it were
yesterday.
SAD HOUSE.
There is a very sick and sad house in the
city Of Jericho. What is the matter, Is it
povertyl No. Worse than that. Is it lep-
rosy? No. Worse than that. Is it deathl
No. Worse than that. a daughter has for
saken her home. By what Internal plot she
was induced to leave know not; but they
look in vain for her return. Sometimes they
hear a footstep very much like hers, and they
start up and say: "She comes!" but 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 bee 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 She passes. The brothers clench
their fists, swearing vengeance against the
despoiler Of their home. Alasl will the
poor soul never come backl There is
a long, deep shadow over all the
household Added to this there is an in
vading army six miles away, jus over the
river, coming on to destroy the city; and
what with the loss of their child and the co M
ing 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 a house on the wall of the city is that
daughter. That isl her home now. Two spies
have come from the invading army to look
around through Jericho and see how best it
may he taken. Wonder is the lost child, in
that dwelling on the wall of the city. The
police hear of it, and soon there is the shut
fling of feet all around about the door, and
the city government demands the surrender
of those two spies First, Rahab-for THAI
was the name of the lost child-tirst, Rahab
secretes the two spies and gets their pursuers
off the track; but after awhile she says to
them; 81 will make a bargain with you.
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 vic
torious army comes upon the city" o, she
had not forgotten her home yet, you see. The
panderer never forgets home. Her heart
breaks now as she thinks Of how she has mai
treated her parents, and she wishes she were
back with them again, and she wishes She
could get away from her sinful enthralment;
and sometimes she looks up i'll the face of the
midnight, bursting into agonizng te ars. No
sooner have these two spies promised to say @
her life, and the life of her father, and
mother and brothers. and sisters, than
Rahab takes a scarlet cord and ties it
around the body OF one of the spies, brings
nervous lest she have not strength to hold
hm-with muscular arms such as woman
seldom has, she let's him down, hand over
hand, in safety to the ground. Not being ex-
hausted, she ties the cord around the other
spy, brings him to the window, and Just as
successfully let's him down TO the ground No
sooner have these men united the scarlet
cord from their bodies than they look up,
and they say: ''You had better get all your
friends in this house-your father, your mo-
Their, your brothers and your sisters; you
had better get them in this house. And then,
after you have them here, take this red cord
which you have put around our bodies and
tie ii across the window; and when our vic
torious army comes up and sees that scarlet
thread in the window, they will spare this
house and all who are in II. Shall it be soN'
cried the spies AYE aye,n said Rahab,
from the window, ''it shall be So" That
is the second scene in this Bible drama.
There Is knock at the door of
the old man. lie looks up and says: Come
in" and lO! there is Rahab, the lost child
but she has no time to talk. They gather in
excitement around her, and she says to them,
Get ready quickly, and 60 with me TO my
house. The army is coming! The trumpet
Make haste! Flyl The enemy" That is
VIC tnHd scene IN JliiS Dido drama, nc
hosts Of Israel are all around about the
doomed city Of Jericho. Crash goes the
great metropolis, heaps on heaps. The air
suffooating with the dust, and horrible with
the screams of dying city. All the houses
fiat down. All the people dead All no, no
On crag Of the wall-the only piece of the
wall left standing-there is house which
we must enter. There is a family there
that have been spared. Who are they
Let US 60 and sea Rahab, her ia
thsr, her mother, her brothers, her sisters,
sn safe, and tho only house left standing
In all the city. What saved them. Was the
house moro firmly builti Oh, no; it was built
In she most periious place-on the wall; and
the wall was the first thing that fell. Was
1t because Der character was any better than
any of the other population of the citv1 O,
no. Why, then, was she spared and all her
household Can you tell me whyl o, it
was the scarlet line in the window. That is
the fourth scene in this Bible drama When
the destroying angel went through Egypt il
was the blood Of the lamb on the door posts
that aVed the Israelites; and now that yer.
geance has come upon Jericho it is the same
color that assures the safety of Rahab and