is the most remarkable episode in the conquest of the Canaanitee. Israel might well huve had cause to tremble in presence of such allied enemies. But Divine aid gives it a signal victory. That aid comes under t,wo forms: 1. It consists first in a miraculous intervention of the Divine power, which sends down a fierce ~torm'. of hailstones upon the Canaanitish armies, and so lengthens out the day as to make the conflict decisive. No one believes now that the sun stood still. Holy 1:!oripture speaks the popular language of the day, and makes no pretension to being scientific in its records. God reveals only that which man has no power to discover, and it was not the calling of Joshua to be a Galileo or Copernicus. Do we not still speak in common parlance of the rising and setting of the sun ? All that is essential is, that we hold fast our faith in the miracle itself. Let us not marvel that such a prodigy was wrought for so small a nation ; for that nation was the depository of the promise that in it should all nations of the earth be blessed. The God of nature may surely show Himself the King and Master of nature, and it is most fitting that the heavens which declare His glory should do Bis command- ments. The supreme law of the universe is not the physical law, but the depen- dence of that law upon the sovereign will of the Almighty. 2. This Divine aid was manifested, in the second place, by the heroic confidence and courage infused in to the hearts of his people. "Fear them not," was the message to Joshua, who might well have been dismayed at so powerful a league of enemies, " for I have delivered them into thine hands." " Therefore," as we read in the following verse, "Joshua came unto them suddenly." The Divine word alone gave him courage to go forward, and courage is in itself an irresistible power, even more formidable than the storm of hailstones from heaven. With more than redoubled force, Israel rushes on to certain victory. Thus the noble words of the Psalm xxi. are antici- pated and fulfilled: " Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord Olll' God'' (ver. 8). Did not Elisha describe Elijah as the chariot and the horsemen of Israel? Let us place unwavering trust in all our conflicts in this Di vine aid, and that coDfidence will be the first condition of victory, -E. DEP. Vers. 12-14.-The aun and moon atayed. Whatever opinions we may entertain relative to the exact nature of the incident celebrated in the poem of the Book of Jasher, there are certain general principles and religious truths which that poem brings distinctly before us. I. GOD IS ACTIVELY CONCERNED WITH THE EVENTS OF HUMAN HISTORY, Divine powers aided Joshua, in resisting the onslaught of the Canaanites. God is present, when He is not clearly so recognised, in all crises of life. (1) His overruling power so disposes of the order of creation that even without miracle the outward world works His will. (2) His providential control of the minda of men and the co,urse of their lives determines ultimate events. Therefore note : God has not left the world to go its own course only to be judged and rectified at a future jndgment day. He judges now, and intervenes now, and works on the side of right, for the pro- tection of those who submit to His rule, and to the loss of such as fight against His will (Psu. lxviii. 1, 7, 24). II. NATURE IS SUBSERVIENT TO THE WILL OF GOD. Mir11cles are not ra.re and occasional instances of the way in which God makes His will felt in nature. They are rather abnormal manifestations of the Divine power which is equally present in the regular course of nature. God is as much working in the natural as in the miraculous event, though the miraculous serves to impress us with the conscious- ness of His power. If we believe in God at all, it is unreasonable to suppose that He would create the universe in some age of dim antiquity, and then leave it to itself like a self-acting machine, which being once wound up only needs adjusting by miracle now and again to suit special emergencies. It is much more reasonable to regard the universe as an organism of which God is ut once the creating, the inspiring the energising, and the controlling spirit. Thus the sun and moon and stars and the eurth always move by His power, and at every moment express His will (Psa. civ. 2-4, 16, 21, &o.; Rom, i, 20), 180 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [cH. X. 1-48;
III. NATURAL EVENTS ARE LIN_lmD. WITH HUMAN DESTINIES. Like a,ll great cleln_s1ons wlnch ha.ve exercise~ wide mfluence over men, a,strology was the per- vers1011 of n deep truth. Our lives are connected with the stars. All nature is one an<l we-in our earthly life-are part of nature. The processes of nature affect ~s; e.g., possibly s1m-spots_ ~cting through atmospheric phenomena have some mflnence over human calamities, and even over moral relations. Therefore note: (1) Goel touches us through nature, and we must regard nature 11,s an instrument in His hands for onr discipline. (2) Nature should be studied in its bearings upon human life for our practical instruction. Iv. ~ATCRE FIGHTS AGAINST THOSE WHO RESIST THE WILL OF Goo. The Canrumites were resisting God's _will concerning the settlement of the laud, and thus they made themselves enemies to God's servant, nature. So the stars out of their courses fought against Sisera (Judg. v. 20). It is objected that it is unworthy of the chamcter of God to suppose that He would intervene by means of natural agencies to assist in a work of destruction. But it should be remembered that God is always employing destructive agencies in natU1·e, as earthquakes, storms, &c., and that physical destrnction is a less evil than moral con-uption.-W. F. A.