El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-28
A STRONG SERMON.
JOshua's Great Victory Over the Five
Heather Kings

| 1edlueu hluSS
Rev. H. w. Moore, of the Presby
| terian church, preached to packed
| house as usual yesterday morning, from
the text, "There was no day like that
day before it or after it when the Lord
| hardened to the voice of man."
| Joshua X:14. The scene Of the text
was the ever celebrated battle field Oh
which Joshua, the great lsraelltish
general, with supernatural help, put to
ignOminiOuS flight the com bined forces
OF the five kings from the south; and
when as the scripture says, the sun and
moon stood still for twelve hours SO
that abundant light was vouc hsafed
the Jewish troops while they over
threw their foes.
The speaker said in his predatory
remarks that the object of preaching
this sermon was to make Gods name
glorious, and then he preached one OF
the strongest sermons with which he
has favored an Ell PasO audience. Mr..
Moore said in part: Carlisle once said,
| am standing on the brink of eternity:
and he closed the rejection with asking
himself: What is the chief end of man:
And the answer was, to make COD
glorious. That is what the Jewish
commander did. Joshua had just
crossed the Jordan with his conquerlng
warriors, leaving numerous dead from
the heather forces in his rear. All
| through Canaan, men were terrified by
the presence of the hosts OF Israel.
Now Gideon had formed an alliance
with Joshua, and because of this clty's
| action five kings from the south haG
marched up with their hosts to help p the
| king of Jerusalem wipe Gideon from
| the earth. In accordance with the
terms OF the alliance, Joshua turned to
save the beleaguered population, and
his troops went into the fight crying
out, THE Lord is mighty in battle"
| Then the Lord sent terrible hur-
ricane of hail stones into the face OF
| the heather that slew thousands, as
the Hebrew forces attacked them. But
| the sun was setting in the west, and
the silvery moon was rising in the east,
and Joshua feared that the five kings
and their men would escape in the
| darkness. So he cried out that wonder
| ful PRAYER, ''Sun stand thou still over
Gideon, and thou moon in the valley
of A Ajalon.' n.''-something unprecedented
in the history of mankind. So there
was no day like that day when the
Lord listened to the voice of man.
A good many questions lave been
asked as to this phenomenon, whether
God called upon astronomy to halt;
whether the passage is not poetical, a
figure of speech, although there may
have been something miraculous con-
|
prolongation of the natural day for
| twelve hours was miraculous refrac-
| tion of the suns light. But this would
| be a cOntraventiOn of natural law, and
| no miracle contI avenes such. On the
| contrary, they have invariably operated
along natural lines. But God is able
to lengthen. the day without violating
member how, about forty years ago in
this country, the day became unac-
countably dark, and continued so for
most of the afternoon. The phenOmen-
on was unexplained except through
mere supposition, and yet no one has
denied that the day was materially
shortened. BY some unknown law that
eventful day at Gideon was heightened,
and the fact that we are unable to
account for it on any purely scientific
basis or hypothesis, does not vitiate the
fact.
This was a high day in Jewish his
tory: and so there are high days in our
individual existence, when the gather
ing thoughts of years Overleap their
bounds aud express themselves in
deeds aud acts that stamp true great
ness upon the individual and upon the
occasion. Witness Cara baldi battling
for italian unity, and the outcome
glorious for Italy at the battle OI
Solferino where the Austrian power
| was humbled. Witness Paul before
Agrippa, with his gray locks anG
| impressive mien arguing in irresistible
. logic in behalf of righteousness, tenn
perance ard the Judgment to come
until the king was terrified. Witnes!
5 the heroic figure Of John in the islanC
of Patmos giving to mankind d fore
: taste of the marvellous wonders of the
world to come. There are times in ON
lives when we can not understand thC
. events that are developing within anC
i around us. But because we do no
understand them we can not deny tina
= they exist.
n Though you be as weak as a litt!
child you can move mountains will
Gods help. When He'll Gate wa
a blown up thirteen years ago, the elec
trio spark that fired the subterraRea'