The Brookhaven leader., 1891-01-01

than double quick. On the morning OF
the third day he is before the enemy.
There are two long lines 'ot 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 frcshet and
knocked down the stone wall and de-
stroyed the city of Al. There is no use
fighting" And they sound a retreat,
and as they begin to retreat, Joshua
and his host spring upon them like a
panther pursuing them over the rocks,
and as those Canaanites with the
sprained ankles and gashed foreheads
retreat, the catapults of the sky pour a
volley of hailstones 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, this is surely a
victory" but do you not see the sun
is 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 us" See,
the sun is going down. Oh, for longer
day than has YER been seen in this eli
mate! What is the matter with Joshua?
Has he fallen in an apoplectic fit? No.
He is in prayer. Look out when a 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,
for you know the queen of the night
sometimes will linger around the pal
aces of the day. Pointing one hand at
the descending sun and the other hand
at the faint crescent of the moon, in the
name of that God who shaped the
worlds, he cries: "Sun, stand thou
still upon Gideon; and thou moon,
in the valley of Ajalon." They
halted. Whether it was by re.
fraction of the suns rays, or by
the stopping of the whole plane,
tary system, do not know, and do not
care. | leave it to the Christian
scientists to settle that question, while
tell you have seen the same thing:
What say you, mot the sun standing
still?" Yes. The same miracle is per-
formed nowadays. The wicked do not
live out half their day, and the sun sets
at noon. But let man start out in
battle for God and the truth, and
against sin, and the day of his useful.
ness is prolonged and prolonged and
prolonged.
But Joshua was not quite through,
There was time for five funerals before
the sun of that prolonged day set. Who
will preach their funeral sermon? Mas
sillon preached the funeral sermon over
Louis XVI. Whowill preach the funeral
sermon of those five dead Kings-King
of Jerusalem, King of Hebron, King of
Jarmuth, King of Lachish, King of
Eglon? Let it be by Joshua. What is
his text? What shall be the epitaph
put on the door of the tomb? There
shall not any man be able to stand be-
fore thee all the days of thy life
But before you fasten up the door
want five more Kings beheaded and
thrust in: King Alcohol, King Fraud,
King Lust, King Superstition, King In
fidelity. Let them be beheaded and
hurl them in. Then fasten up the door
forever What shall be the inscription
dIlIA " lldI ollull VIC NC. VI Oil
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 one hundred and ten years old.
Washington went down the Potomac
and 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 one hundred and ten years
he has to meet King who has more
subjects than all the present population
of the earth, his throne pyramid OF
skulls, his parterre the graveyards and
the cemeteries of the world, his chariot
the worlds hearse-the King of Ter
rors. But, if this is Joshua's greatest bat
tie. it is going to be Joshua's greatest
victory. He gathers his friends around
him and gives his valedictory, and it is
full of Renaissance. Young men tell
what they are going to do; old men tel
what they have done. And as you have
| heard a grandfather, or great-grand-
father, seated by the evening Sre, tell
of Monmouth or Yorktown, and then
| lift the crutch or staff as though it were
muslzet, to fight, and show how the
old battles were won--so Joshua
gathers his friends around his dying
couch, and tells them the story of what
he has been through, and as he
lies there, his white locks snow.
| ing down on his wrinkled fore
lead, l wonder if God has kept
His promise all the way through. AS
he lies there he tells the story one, two
or three times-you have heard old peo-
pie tell story two or three times over
and he answers: 81 go the way OF
all the earth, and not one word of the
promise has failed, not one word there
of has failed, all has come to pass, not
one word thereof has failed" And
then he turns to his family, as dying
parent will, and says: Choose now
whom you will serve-the God OF
Israel or the God of the Amorites.
AS for me and my house we will
serve the Lord. A dying parent can not
be reckless or thoughtless in regard to
his children. Consent to part with them
forever at the door of the tomb we can
not. By the cradle in which that in
fancy was rocked, by the bosom on
which they first lay, by the blood of the
covenant, by the God or Joshua, it shall
not be. We will not part; we can not
part. Jehovah Jiren, we take Thee at
Thy promise. 81 will be a God to thee