those times were eignalieecl. The miraculous element is inseparably interwoven with the fabric of the history. It can be denied here only by those who are pre- pared to relegate the whole to the region of fable and romance. The fall of this fortified city of Jericho had a peculiar meaning, ancl stood in important relation to the events that followed. As the strongest fortress of Canaan, its conquest was tlie key to the possession of the whole Janel. As pre-eminent, probably, in its wicked- ness, its doom was a prophecy of the unmitigated judgments of Goel on the abomi- nations of ~hcenician idolatry. The solemn procession of the ark, time after time, around the city was a significant declaration of His sovereignty over it and all that it contained; and when at last it fell, it was as the first-fruits of the harvest- fielcl, "accursed "-devoted-to show that the whole land was His. Thus were the Israelites taught that an inheritance which they had not won for themselves by their own skill and strength, but which had been given to them by the Lord (vers. 2, 16), must be held in unreserved allegiance tu .Him (Psa. xliv. 3). We see in this event a typical representation of the Divine conquest of the powers of en-or and evil in the world. It prefigures the assault of the kingdom of light upon the kingdom of darkness, and sets forth, as in acted parable, the apostolic truth, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (2 Cor. x. 4). I, IN JERICHO ITSELF WE SEE A TYPE OF THE STRONGHOLDS OF IYIQUITY IN THE WORLD.-The city was "straitly shut up; none went out and none came in " (ver. 1). The combination of the passive and active forms here indicates how the natural strength of the fortifications was supplemented by the resistive spirit of the people. We are reminded of those conditions of the human soul in which it is impenetrable by the influence of Divine truth; resolute in its unbelief, impenitence, corrupt affection, evil habit; closely shut against the powers that would bring into it a new and nobler life. But the pictw·e of the closed city suggests not so much the resistance of the individual soul to redeeming influence, as that of the con- spicuous forms of evil existing in the world-false systems of thought, conupt institutions, pernicious social usages; strongholds of infidelity, vice, tyranny, super- stition, idolatry. We are reminded how deeply rooted they are, how strong in the radical tendencies of human nature and in the traclitionary custom of ages. Like Jericho, the very hot-heel of Canaanite pollution, in the midst of its glorious palm- groves, so do these forms of evil stand as blots on the fair creation of Goel, and cast their deadly shadow on the otherwise glad life of man. It is against these that the kingdom of truth and 1·ighteousnesa wages an exterminating war, "casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of Goel, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.'' II. THE MODE OF THE CITY'S FALL IS SUGGESTIVE OF THE RELATION EXISTD;G BE'fWEEN THE HUMAN INSTRUMENT AND THE DIVINE POWER IN THIS SPIRITUAL COX- FLICT. Note the apparent impotence of the means usecl in view of the ernl to be answered. This silent procession of the ark and the armed host rournl ancl round the walls, the silence broken only by the rucle music of the priests' rnms' horns- what a solemn farce it must have seemed I We can imagine with what derision it was greeted by the men of the city. If that is all the power that can be brought against them, they have little need for· fear. The spiritual analogy is plain. To men destitute of faith, incapable of discovering the resistless force tha.t lies behirnl them, the instruments of the kingdom of Christ seem very feeble. The workers of iniquity, within their refuges of lies, bold in the strength of "bloocl ancl custom," laugh at weapons such as these. " The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness" (1 Cor. i. 18). But outward appenrances are a very false rule of judgment. The sovereign power can work through meanest, simplest instruments. Their efficacy is often in inverse ratio to their apparent feebleness. "We have the treasUl'e in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of Goel, and not of us (2 Cor. iv. 7). "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to con- found the wise," &c. (1 Cor. i. 27-29). III, THE DELAY OF THE ISSUE AFFORDS A LESSON IN THE PATIENCE THAT WAITS ON Goo IN THE PATH OF OBEDIENCE AND SERVICE. The seven us.ys' process, in acltlition 106 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CH. VI, l-"-21.
to its symbolic meaning, was a tiial of the faith o.nd consto.ncy of the people. " By faith the walls fell down,'' because it wo.s confidence in the unseen Power the.t kept both p1iests o.nd warriors steadfo.st in their s_eemingly meo.ningless 11nd profitless round till the o.ppointed time. All gree,t issues in the onw11rd progress of the kingdom of Christ-the fall of corrupt institutions, the doom of reigning iniquities -ha,·e their appointed time. This applies pre-eminently to the gmnd fin11l issue: "Of that day and hour knoweth no man." But in the fulness of tl10 time the glorious vision shall appeitr. The slowness of the process of destruction and resti- tution is strange to us. ,ve cry, in our moments of impatience- " Oh, why these years of waiting here, These ages of delay ? " But" he that believeth sb.a.11 not make haste." He knows how to wait, "For the ,ision is yet for an appointed time," &c. (He.b. ii. 3, 4). Faith, on its watch-tower, ~ees the grand procession of events moving on to the end of the days, when II the Lord himself shall descend from heo.ven with a shout, with the voice of the arch- angel and the trump of God," to lo.y the lo.st stronghold of Sato.n in ruins, o.ncl "create the new heavens and the new eo.rth wherein dwelleth righteousness" (1 Thess. iv. 16; 2 Peter iii. 13).-W.