The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1900-01-26

| instead Of your taking the men of All
the men of All will take you. Look at
the church of God on the retreat. The
Bornesian cannibals ate up Munson,
the missionary. Fall back" said a
great many Christian people-"Fall
back, oh church of God! Borneo will
never be taken. Don't you see the
Bornesian cannibals have eaten up
Munson, the missionary" Tyndall de-
livers his lecture at the University of
Glasgow, and a great many good people
say: Fall back, oh church of God!
Don't you see that Christian philoso-
ply is going to be overcome by world
ly philosophy? Fall back" Geology
plunges its crowbar into the noun
tains, and there are a great many peo-
pie who say: Scientific investigation
is going to overthrow the Mosaic ac-
count OF the creation. Fall back!"
Friends of God 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:
"Oh, Lord God, wherefore 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 dwelt on
the other side of the Jordan! For the
Canaanites and all the inhabitants of
the land shall hear of it, and shall en-
viron us around and cut off our name
from the face of the EARTH
/ am very glad that Joshua said that.
Before it seemed as if he were SUI
pernatural being, and therefore could
not be an example to us; but l find
he is a man, he is only man. Just
as sometimes you find man under
severe opposition, or in bad state Of
physical health, or worn out with over
work, lying down and signing about
everything being defeated. l am en-
couraged when l hear this cry of
Joshua as he lies in the dust.
God comes and rouses him. How
does he rouse him BY complimentary
apostrophe? No. He says: Get thee
up. Wherefore Hest thou upon thy
face?" Joshua rises, and l warrant
you, with a 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 gathers his troops around him and
says: Now let us go and capture the
city OF All; let us go up right away"
They march on. He puts a MAJOR
itV of tho bahiud lodpa nf
rocks in the night, and then he sends
a comparatively small battalion up
in front of the city. The men of Al
come out with a shout This battalion
in strategem falls back and falls back,
and when the men of Al have left the
city and are in pursuit Of this scattered,
or seemingly scattered battalion,
Joshua stands on q 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
these Israelites in the city march down
and the flying battalion of Israelites
return, and between these two waves
of Israeltish proves gain the victory;
and while l see the curling smoke of
that destroyed city on the sky, and
while hear the huzza Of the Israelites
and the groan of the Canaanites,
Joshua hears something louder than it
all, ringing and echong through his
soul: There shall not any man be
abe to stand before thee in 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 destroy us; send
troops quick; send us help right away.
Joshua has a 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 discover some
thing They say: THAT is Joshua;
that is the man who conquered the
spring freshet and knocked down the
stone wall and destroyed the city Of
All. 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 these
Canaanites with sprained ankles and
gashed foreheads retreat, the eatapults
of the sky pour a volley of hailstones
into the valley, and all the artillery Of
the heavens with bullets of iron pounds
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 they
will come up some other time and
bother us and perhaps destroy us"
See the sun is going down. Oh, for a
longer day than has evec been seen in
this climate! What is the matter with
Joshua? Has he fallen in an apop-
lectic fit? No. He is in prayer Look
out when a good man makes the Lord
Ii co.