The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-12-22

so aroHnl the city. and AGAIN i failure
The third d., and 4 future; the fourth
day. and { iai.use; filth day. ami u failure;
sixth day, and failure The seventh
| dag comes. the C'.ma"tcr.c day. Joshua
is up early in The moraiu9 and examines
the troops, wali:s ali about and looks at
the city Wall. The priest. start to make
tine circuit of the city. They 60 all round
| once, all ?ro md tWcc. three times. four
times, five tiHts. sly tn,s, seven times,
and failure Ii}er. IS oniv one more
! thing to do. and TIA. Is t. utter great
shout. | etc the lsrsclillsh army straight
ering themselves up, filling their lungs fox
| yOciferation such as never was heard be
! fore and never heard after. Joshua feels
| that the hour has come, and he cries out
| to his host, Shout, for the Lord hath Civ
! en- you the city" All together the troops
| shout: Down, Jericho! Down, Jericho!"
and the long line of solid masonry begins
to quiver and to move and to rock. Stand
fro,a under, She falls. Crash go the
walls and temples, the towers, the pal
aces, the air blackened with dust.
The huzza of the victorious Israelites
and the groan of the conquered Canaan
ites commingle, and Joshua, standing
there n the debris of the walls, hears a
voice saying, There shall not any man
of thy life"
Only one house spared Who lives there?
Some great king. No. Some woman dis
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 a
great sinner? No, but because she re-
pentcd, demonstrating to all the ages
that there ID mercy for the chief of sin
ners.
The red cord Of divine injunction reach
ing from her window to the ground, 50
that when the people saw the red cord
they knew it was the divine indication
that they should not disturb the prem
ises, making US think of the divine ccrc!
of Saviour's !eiverance the red ccrd
Of a Saviour's kindness, the red core of
q Saviour's mercy, the rcd cord of OAR
rescue. Mercy for the chief of sinners.
Pat your trust in that God. And no dam
age shall befal you.
When orr world shall nc moro terribly
surrounded than was Jericho. even by the
trumpets of the Judgment day, and the
hills and the mountains, the metal bones
and ribs of nature, shall break, they who
have had Raha5's faith shall have Rahab's
deliverance.
When wrapped IN fire the realms of ether
glow
And heavens last thunder shakes the
earth below,
Thou, undis.layed, shalt DER the ruins
smile
And light thy torch at nature's funeral
pile.
But Joshua's troops NAV not halt here.
The command is Forward, march" There
is the city of Al y must be taken. A
scouting party comes back and says:
Joshua, we can do that without you. 1t
is going to be ve-y easy job. You must
stay here while we so and capture it"
They march with small regiment in
front of that city. The men Of Al look at
them and give one yell, and the Israelites
run like reindeer.
Look out when good man makes the
Lord his ally. Joshua raises his face, ra-
diant with prayer. and looks at the des
cending sun over Gibeon, and at the fain.
crescent of the moon, for you know the
queen of the night sometimes will linger
around the palaces Of the day Pointing
one hand At the descending sun and the
other 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 stN upon Gibeon, and
thou, NOON In the valley o: Ajalon" They
halted Whether it was by rcfraction Of |
the SUNS rays or by the stopping of the |
whole planetary system do TO: know and
do not care. J leave it to the Christian
Scientists and the infdc! scientists to set
tie that question while ! tell you have
seen the same thing. "What.' say you.
''Not the sun standing still:" Yes. The
same miracle is performed nowadays
hn bad do - l,,-o hoie H..
day, and their sun sets at noon. But let
a man start out in battle for God and the
truth and against sin, and the day of his !,
usefulness is prolonged and prolonged and
prolonged.
But Joshua ,yas not quite through.
There was time for five funerals before the
sun OF tina. prolonged day set. Who will
preach their funeral sermon? Masslon
preached the funeral sermon over Louis
XVI. Who will preach the funeral SER
non of those five dead kings-king Of
Jerusalem, king of Hebron. king of Jar.
nutb. king of Lachish- king Of Eg!on?
let n De Dy Joshua. WHAT js his text?
What shall be the cpitaph put on the door
# the tomb? "Therc shall not any man
'e able to stand before thee all the days
# thy life"
Before you fastcn Up the door I wan.
King Alcohol. King Fraud King Lust,
hem be beheaded and !.uri then, in. Then
asten up the door forever.
What shall the irscription and what
hall the epitaph Lc: For all Christian
of al ages are going
o come and look At it. What shall the
inscription be? There shall not any
nan be able to stand before thee all the