The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-02-12
HOME AGAIN
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage breaches
to Brooklyn Congregation
About Rahab's House Perched on thu
Walls of Jerlcho-How She and Her
Family Were Saved from De-
struction-The Scarlet Cord
Across the window and
What 1t Signifies.

ARJf ehpOA MS NAoAp w NbN iiOiJ huhu'
and the Academy of Music was crowded.
Thousands of people were not able tc
get into the building. The subject OF
his discourse was ''The House on the
Wall" DR.. Talmage took for his text
Joshua vi, 2S: "And the young men
that we're spies went in, and brought
4 out Rahab, and her father, and her
mother, and her brethren. and all that
she had" He said:
When, only few weeks ago, I visited
Jericho, / said, can 1t be possible that
this dilapidated place is the Jericho thai
Mark Antony gave as q wedding presen'
TO oCleopatra? 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 horns? But the fact
that all these have 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 1t 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 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
comesl' but only to sink back again into
disappointment. Alas Alasl The father
sits by the hour, with his face in his
hands, saying not one word. The
mothers hair rs becoming gray too fast,
and she begins to stoop so that those
who saw her only a little while ago in
the street know her not now as she
passes The brothers clench their fists,
swearing vengeance against the de-
spoiler OF their home. Alasl will the
poor soul never come back? There is
long. deem shadow over all the house,
hold. Added TO this there Is an inyad-
ing 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 destructive
army. think the old people wished that
thew could die. This is the first scene
in this drama of the Bible. In a house
on the wall of the 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
IL may be taken. Yonder is the lost child,
In that dwelling on the wall Of the city.
Tho police hear OF Il 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-Arst, Rahab secretes the two
spies and gets their pursuers off the
track; but after a while she saws to
them: 81 will make a bargain with
you. will save your life II 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, you see. The
wanderer never forgets home. Her
heart breaks now as she thinks Of how
she has maltreated her parents, and she
wishes she we're back with them again,
and she wishes she could get away from
her sinful enthrallment: and sometimes
she looks nm 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 a scarlet cord and ties II
around the body Of one Of the spies,
brings him to the window, and as he
chambers out, nervous lest she have moi
strength to hold him, with muscular
arms such as woman seldom has, she
? lets down, hand over hand, in safety x
the ground. Not being exhausted, she
ties the cord around the other SPY
brings him TO the window, and lust a,
successfully lets him down TO th,
ground. No sooner have these men un
tied the scarlet cord from their bodies
than thew look up and they saw: "Yo,
had better get ali your friends in thi
bouse-.-your father. and your mother
your brothers and your sisters; YOU hat
better ret them In this house. An,
then, after you have them here, TAX,
this red cord which you have put aroun,
our bodies and tie it across the window
and when our victorious army comes up
. L