The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-01-07

ANY DOuy tnat goes out In the DattlcS OF
God with only half force, instead Of
your taking the men of Al, the men of All
will take you. Look at the Church Of
God on the retreat. The Bornesian cam
nibals ate up Munson, the missionary.
Fall back!' said great many Chris
tian people-''Fan back, c "'iurch Of
God! Borneo will never be taken.
Don't you see the Bornesian cannibals
have eaten up Munson, the mission
ary?"
Tyndall delivers his lecture at the uni.
versity of Glasgow, and a great many
good people say. 'Fall back, Church
of God! Don't you see that the Christian
Church is about to be overcome by
worldly philosophy? Fall back" Geol-
ogy plunges its crowbar into the mount
aims, and there are a great many people
who say, Scientific investigation is 60
ing to overthrow the Mosaic account Of
the creation. Fall back" Friends OF
the Church have never had any right to
fall back. Joshua falls on his face in
chagrin. 1t is the only time you ever
see the back of his head. He falls on
his face and begins to whine, and he
says: sob, Lord God, wherefore hast
thou at dill brought this people over Jor-
dan to deliver us into the hands of the
Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God
we had been content and dwelt on the
other side of Jordan! For the Cananites
and all the inhabitants of the land shall
hear of it, and shall environ us round
and cut off our name from the earth"
am very glad Joshua said that. Be-
fore it seemed as if he were a super
natural being, and therefore could not
be an example to us; as sometimes you
find man under severe opposition, or
in bad state of physical health, or
worn out with overwork, lying down,
and signing about every thing being de-
feated. / am encouraged when hear
this cry of Joshua as he lies in the dust
God comes and rouses him. How
does he rouse him? By complimentary
apostfophe? No. He says: sect thee
up. Wherefore lest thou upon thy
face?" Joshua rises, and / warrant
you with mortified look. But his old
courage comes back. The fact was,
that was not his battle. If he had been
in it he would have gone on to vic
tory.
He gathers his troops around him and
says: "Now let us go up and capture the
city of All; let us go up right away"
They march on. He puts the major
ity of the troops behind ledge of rocks
in the night, and then he sends COM
paratively small regiments up in front
of the city. The men of All come out
with a shout The small regiments OF
Israelites in stratagem fall back and fall
back, and when all the men of All have
left the city and are in pursuit of these
scattered, or seemingly scattered, regi-
ments, Joshua stands on rock-I see his
locks flying in the wind as he points his
spear toward the doomed city, and that
is the signal. The men rush out from
behind the rocks and take the city, and
it is put to the torch, and then these
.Israelites in the city march down and
the flying regiments of Israelites re-
turn, and between these two waves OF
Israelitish prowess the men of Al are
destroyed and the Israelites gain the
victory: and while l see the curling
smoke of that destroyed city in the sky,
and while / hear the huzza of the Israel
ties and the groan of the Canaanites,
Joshua hears some thing louder than it
all ringing and echoing through his soul,
tSFC1n,a eln11 hn al 1o m
stand before Thee all the days of Thy
life"
But this is no place for the host Of
Joshua to stop. Forward, march,"
cries Joshua to the troops. There is the
city of Gideon. 1t has put itself under
the protection of Joshua.
They sent word: "There are five
Kings after us; they are going to de-
stroy us; send troops quick; send us
help right away" Joshua had three
days march more than double quick.
On the morning of the third day he is
before the enemy. There are two long
lines of battle. The battle opens with
great slaughter, but the Canaanites soon
discovered something. They say: "That
is Joshua; that is the man who con-
quered 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, pur-
suing them over the rocks, and as these
Canaanites, with sprained ankles and
gashed foreheads, retreat, the catapults
of the sky pour volley of hail-stones
into the valley, and all the artillery Of
the heavens with bullets of iron pound
the Canaanites against the lodges Of
Beth-horon.
"Oh!" says Joshua, shat is surely a
victory" But do you not see the sun
going down? Those Amorites are going
to get away after all, and then they will
come up some other time and bother us,
and perhaps destroy u.s." See, the sun
is going down. Oh. for longer day
than has ever been seen in this climate!
What is the matter 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,
foryou know the queen of the night some
times will linger around the palaces ofthe
day. Pointing one hand at the descend
ing 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 Gideon, and thou moon,
In the valley of Aialonm They halt.