The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-01-01


a failure Third day. and failure; fourth
day, and q failure; fifth day. and failure;
sixth day, and failure The seventh day
comes, the climacteric day. Joshua is up
early in the morning and examines the |
troops, walks all around about, looks at the |
city wall. The priests start to make the cir.
cult OF the city. They go all around once,
all around twice, three times. four times.
five times, six times, seven times, and a
failure.
There is only one more thing to do. and
that is to utter n great shout. see the Isra-
elitish army strai ghtening themselves up,
filing their lungs tor a vociferation such as
was never heard before and never heard
after. Joshua feels that the hour is come,
and he cries out to his host: "Shout; for the
pie begun to cry: down, Jericho: down.
Jericho!' and the long line Of solid ma
sorry begins to culver and to move and to
rock. Stand from under! She falls! Crash!
go the walls, the temples, the to wers, the
palaces; the air bluckened with tho dust.
the groan of the conquered Canaanites COM
mingle, and Joshua standing there in the
debris Of the wall. hears q voice saying:
There shall not a man be able to stand
before thee all the days Of thy life
Only one house spared. Who lives there?
tinguished for great kindly deeds? No. She
had been conspicuous for her crimes. 1t is
the house of Rahab. Why was her house
spared? Because she had been great sim
ner? No, but because she repented, demon
strating to all the ages that there is mercy
tor the chief OF sinners The red cord Of di.
vine injunction reaching from her window to
| the ground, so thot when the people saw the
red chord they knew it was the divine in
| dication they should not disturb the premi-
! SEES; making us think of the divine chord OF
! Sayior's deliverance, the red cord OF a Sa-
viors kindness, the red cord OF q Savior's
mercy, the red cord of our rescue Mercy
for the chief of sinners. Put your trust in
that God, and no damage shall betall you.
When our world shall be moro terribly sur
trumpets OF the Judgment day and the hills
/ and the mountains, the metal bones and ribs
! of nature, shall break, they who have had
/ Rahub's faith shall have Rahab's deliver
! ance.
! But Joshua's troops may not halt here.
The command is, Forward, march!' There
il the city OF Al; it must be takon How
shall it be taken? A scouting party comes
| back and says: "Joshua. We can do that
without you; it is going 10 be very easy
job; you just stay here .,he we go and cap
ture it." They march with small regiment
in front OF that city. The mon OF Al look at
them and give one yell, and the 1sraelites
run like reindeer.
! Joshua falls on his face in chagrin. 1t is
the only time you ever zee the back OF his
head. He falls on his face and begins to
i whine, and he says, "Oh, Lord God. where
fore hast thou at all brought this people
over Jordan to deliver US into the hands of
!, the Amorites, to destroy US? Would to God
we had been content and dwet on the other
side OF Jordan! For the Canaantes and all
the inhabitants OF the land shall hear OF it,
and shall environ us round and cut off our
name from the earth"
God comes and rouses him. How does he
L: D. ~>11 %
No. He says: ''Get thee up. Wherefore
lest thou upon thy facet" Joshua rises, and
I 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 victory. He gath
ers his troops around him and says: Nov,
let as go up and capture the city of Al: let
us go up right away"
They march on. He puts the majority Of
the troops behind a ledge OF rocks in the
night, and then he sends comparatively
small regiments up in front Of the city.
| The men Of Al come out with n shout The
small regimentsof lsraelites fall back and
fall back. and when all the men of Al have
left the city and are in pursuit of these scat
tered or seemingly scattered regiments, Josh.
ia 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 lsraelites in the city march down
and the flying regiments of 1sroelites return,
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
on the sky, and while hear the huzza OF
the lsraelites and the groan Of the Canaan
ties, Joshua hears something louder than it
all. ringing and echoing through his soul,
'There shall not any man be able to stand
before thee all the days of thy life"
But this is no place TOR the host Of Joshua
to stop. "Forwa I'd. march!'' cries Joshua
to the troops. There is the city Of Gideon.
1t has put itself under the protection OF
; Joshua. They send word, ''There nre five
kings after us; they ore going to destroy us;
Joshua has three-days' march more than
day he is before the enemy. There are two
long lines OF battle. The battle opens with
great slaughter. but the Canaanites soon
discover something. They say. THAT is
spring freshet and knocked down the stone
wall and destroyed the city of Al. There il
no use fighting" And they sound a retreat
and as they begin to retreat, Joshua and his
. host spring upon them like a panther, pur
' suing them over the rocks, and as these
Canaanites with sprained ankles and gashed
foreheads retreat. the catapults of the sky
, pour yoley of hailstones into the valley,
and all the artillery of the heavens with bull
) let's of iron, pound the Canaanites agains
: the lodges Of Bathroom.
:, "Oh!'' says Joshua, "this is surely vic
- tory" But do you not see the sun is going
down? Those Amorites going to ge
:. away after all. and then they will come VI
:. some other time and bother us, and per
). haps destroy u.s. See, the sun is goins
+ down, Oh, for longer day than has ever
! been seen in this climate! What is the nut
= ter with Joshua? Has he fallen in an apop
! leptic fit? No. He is in prayer. Look ou
= when a good man makes the Lord his ally
:, Joshua raises his 'ace, radiant with prayer
! and looks ut the descending sun over Gibeo1
! and at the faint crescent OF the moon, TO
you know the queen of the night sometime
> will lnger around the paling of the day
: Pointing one hand at the descending sun ant
- the other hand at the faint crescent of tn
q moon, in the name of that God who sho pei
p tho worlds and moves the worlds, he cries
y ''Sun, stand thou still upon Gideon; an
!. thou moon. in the valley Of Ajalon." The.
q halted Whether it was by refraction of til
!, SUMS says. or by the stopping of the Who'll
# planet system, do not know, and do no
= care I leave it to the Christian scientist
!. and the infidel scientists to settle that quea
ton, while tell you l have seen the sam