Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-03-23
Calfnase
sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaae. D. d.


sermon the saving power of faith and
the influence we may exercise to bring
others into the kingdom are illustrated
IN the familiar story of Rahab. The
text is Joshua vi, %: "And Joshua
saved Rahab the harlot alive and her
fathers household and all that she
had"
Marvellous are the stratagems by
which walled towns supposed to be
impregnable and fortresses believed to
be unscalable have been captured. For
ten long years the Greeks, under Ago
memnon, laid siege to the citadel OF
Troy. At the end of the ten years they
were no nearer their object than they
were in the beginning Then the Gre
clan leaders built . huge wooden horse
and rolled IL up to the gates OF fhes I'm
passable walls. Then during the ptEht
the Grecian army and navy withdrew
and sailed away to Teas6os, pretsnd-
ing that I'm disgust they had raised the
useless siege. When morning broke
and the inhabitants looked forth and
saw this wooden horse and noted that
said: "Aha! The Greeks have fed.
They have left one Of their gods to
terrify u.s. So they opened the gates
of the city and in derision rolled In
side of the walls this wooden horse to
make sport OF 1t. But the next night,
while the great city slept, the side of
that wooden horse mysteriously open
ed. and out of it leaped q swarm of
Grecian soldiers. They ran TO the city
gates and flung them open. Meantime
the Grecian army, which had set sail
fer Tcnedos as ruse, returned. The
besieging soldiers marched in; the
awakening defenders were slain before
they could form in line of battle, and
Troy fell. The dlshonor of Helen, who
had been stolen by Paris from Meme
laus. WIS avenged.
You remember how the Sabines cap
tured the citadel Of old Rome. Day aft
er day, week after week and month
after month the useless siege went on.
Then what the Sabine army could not
do by direct assault they accomplished
by bribery. They went to Tarpeia, the
daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, COM
mander of the intrepid garrison, and
said. IF you will open for us the gates
by night and let us capture Capitoline
hill. we will give to you all the wealth
we wear on our left arms" Her cupid
ity was aroused. She supposed that
they would give TO her their costly
bracelets, which the Sabine soldiers al
ways wore on their left wrists. The
gates were opened, and the city fell.
Then the Sabine soldiers came and
threw upon Tarpeia their heavy war
shields, which they wore upon their
left arms. and crushed the traitress
dead. You remember how Babylon
was captured by Cyrus through strata
gem and how Gibraltar was captured
in 11O4 by the English general, Sir
George Rookie. through stratagem. But
OF all the strange and weird attacks
ever made upon any fortified town not
one was so strange and weird as that
employed in the overthrow OF Jericho,
the first city 10 fall before the advanc-
ing armies OF the Israelites after they
had crossed over the Jordan and enter
ed the promised land
This plan of campaign was not map
ped out by Joshua. but by the Lord
God Almighty himself Once, twice
thrice, four, five. six times the Israel
lies encompassed the town. Thus did
the besiegers for six days running
Then on the seventh day the Hebrews
arose very early. for they were to
march around the city seven times.
When the priests bad marched around
the seventh time they blew the trum-
pets and shouted. and the Jericho walls
~, ffaf
whole city lay at the mercy OF the in
Vaders. and every man, woman and
child was put TO the sword. All We're
slain, with the exception of Rahab and
her family, for the Bible says, "And
Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive
and her fathers household and all that
she had"
RahaAts Ms~sssy. ..... =.
Now. you know the hlstoxy Of Ra-
hab. As Rahab has always beaa txkss>
as the symbol OF the sinner saved t,s
grace. want to describe to you Ra-
hab's reward and how this reward can
apply In a spiritual and In a temporal
sense to our own lives Rahab, on nc
count OF her faith III God. had her ma
teriai reward. Not only was she per-
sonally saved, but the lives OF her Ia
ther and mother and sisters and broth
ers were also saved. You may remem-
Der the story of the siege OF Weinsbery.
emperor konrad III. laid siege to this
famous German castle. Week after
week his army lay encamped before
those impregnable walls until at last
me garrison was starved into submis-
sion. Then the commander of Veins
berg made an agreement with Kon.
rad that the fortress and all 1t contain.
ed should be surrendered, with the ex,
ception OF the women and what each
woman could carry away upon her
pack- konrad agreed On the day of
the capitulation n wonderful sight was
seen. When the city gates were thrown
open each woman came forth CARRYING
upon her back her greatest treasure
This treasure was not bag of gold
put was the body of her father or hus
band or son or brother. Emperor Kon
rad was so touched at their devotion
and love that he allowed these womer
with their burdens to go free Cen
turtles later in the year OF 1920 Queer
Charlotte Of Wurttemberg built upor
this same hill where once stood ths
castle OF Weinsberg a shome" or a ere
treat for the women of the present
day who have been distinguished fol
seir sacrifice for their loved ones. Ru
though the women OF Weinsberg eacf
saved husband, father, a brothe,
or son, 1 want to tell you that Ra
hab Of Jericho did far more than that
Through her faith in God she was tn,
means %