you: Cry, and shout. So the ark of the Lord went about the city once a day, and returning into the camp, abode there. And Josue rising before day, the priests took the ark of the Lord, the symbol of His presence, and seven of them took trumpets: and they went before the ark of the Lord walking and sounding the trumpets and the armed men went before them; and the rest of the common people followed the ark; and they blew the trumpets. And they went round about the city the second day once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days. But the seventh day, rising up early, they went about the city, as it was ordered, seven times. And when in the seventh going about the priests sounded with the trumpets, Josue said to all Israel: Shout; for the Lord hath delivered the city to you.

At the same time, he bade the people to set apart whatever gold, silver, brass, or iron they should find in the city, for consecration to the service of God; and he gave orders that Rahab and her household should be guarded from all harm. Then followed the first of those awful chastisements which God inflicted upon the Chanaanites by the hands of the Israelites. When the people shouted, and the trumpets sounded, the walls fell to the ground as by an earthquake; and the Israelites marched in over the ruins, and smote with the sword every living being, both man and beast, within the city, save Rahab and her family. And the city, with all its riches, was destroyed to the very ground; and Josue pronounced a curse upon any person who should attempt to rebuild it, declaring that his eldest child should die the moment he began to build, and his youngest when he set up the gates of the city thus doomed to destruction.

CHAP. II. The taking of Hai. The Gabaonites.

THE next city to be attacked was Hai, a place of small importance, and not calling for an assault from the

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whole army of the Israelites. Three thousand men were therefore sent to seize upon it; but the moment they encountered the troops of Hai a panic seized them, and they fled with the loss of thirty-six of their number. On learning the shameful tidings, Josue threw himself upon his face before the Lord, and entreated to know why it was that defeat and destruction seemed to be the appointed lot of the people. And God answered, that the defeat was a punishment for the disobedience of some person among the people who had appropriated some portion of the wealth he had found in Jericho, contrary to God's express command. Lots were then cast among the whole of the people, and the lot fell upon Achan, a man of the tribe of Judah. When questioned by Josue, Achan confessed that, attracted by the beauty and splendour of the spoil of Jericho, he had taken and hidden a rich garment, and some gold and silver, and that they would be found buried in the middle of his tent. Then, by God's injunction, Achan and his family were stoned to death, his possessions were burned, and a heap of stones cast up upon the bones and ashes, as a memorial of his sin and its punishment.

A large body of troops then marched against Hai, with instructions to pretend to fly again before the bands who should meet them. And when this was done, and the soldiers of Hai and its inhabitants pursued in crowds the flying Israelites, leaving the gates of the city open and unguarded, the remainder of the Israelites seized upon the unprotected place, fired its dwellings, and, between the two parties of the Israelites, the men of Hai were routed and slain, and their possessions divided among the conquerors.

The terror of the victorious Israelites now spread rapidly throughout the Chanaanitish nations; and one tribe thought to deceive them into making a friendly league, before they shared the fate of Jericho and Hai. These were the people of Gabaon, a town not three days' march from the spot where the Israelites were encamped. They sent messengers to Josue, clothed in

ragged garments, and with shoes worn as if with a long and toilsome journey, with the remains of dried-up loaves, and torn skins for holding wine. These men presented themselves to the leaders of the Jews, and pretended to have come from a far distant country, not belonging to the territory of Chanaan, and therefore not forming a part of the land which was to be divided among the tribes of Israel. And they begged to be allowed to become friends to the conquerors, whose fame, they said, had reached them in their distant homes. The falsehood deceived Josue and the chiefs of the Jews, and they swore solemnly not to slay the Gabaonites, as they were about to destroy all the people of Chanaan. Three days' journey, however, betrayed the trick, and the Israelitish people loudly called for vengeance on the deceivers; but Josue and their leaders refused to put them to death, for the sake of the oath they had taken, though in error; but condemned the Gabaonites to serve the Israelites in the lowest of offices,-to hew wood for them, and draw water, as their servants. And such was the lot of the Gabaonites and of their posterity so long as the two nations lasted.

CHAP. III. The Sun stands still. The Division of the conquered Countries.

As the fame of the advancing Israelites spread throughout the Chanaanitish nations, the people yet unconquered began forming alliances with one another to resist the invaders. The desertion of the Gabaonites from the cause of their countrymen also aroused their vengeance; and Adonisedec, the king of Jerusalem, with four other chiefs, attacked Gabaon, and laid siege to it. The besieging army was, however, attacked by Josue, and the heathen armies fled in dismay. A miracle also was wrought by Almighty God, to prolong the hour of punishment upon the idolatrous races; and at the intercession of Josue, the day on which the battle was fought was prolonged beyond its natural length, until

the Israelites had revenged themselves upon their enemies. The sun and moon are said, in holy Scripture, to have stood still, although, as we know, it is the earth which moves, and not the sun; and therefore it was really the earth which stood still for a time upon her course. The Bible, however, uses the common language of the time when it was written, just as we now speak of the sun's rising and setting, although we know well that it remains fixed in the heavens, and only appears to rise and set, through the moving of the earth upon which we stand.

Before the end of the slaughter, the five kings, whose armies had been discomfited, were found hidden in a cave; and by Josue's order, the mouth of the cave was blocked up with stones till the pursuit of the flying Chanaanites was over, when they were brought out and put to death.

One after another, in like manner, the native princes of Chanaan were defeated, and their cities and territories

seized by the conquerors. For six years the struggle went on; and at the end of that period above thirty different chiefs had been subdued. The conquered country was parcelled out among the various tribes of the Israelites. Eight-and-forty cities, with their suburbs, were assigned by lot to the priests and Levites for their support; and six cities were also appointed to be places of refuge for any man who should kill another by accident. In them he might live secure from vengeance of the slain man's relations, until the death of the highpriest of the time, when he was to be permitted to return in safety to his own home.

CHAP. IV. The Death of Josue.

WHEN the conquest and division of Chanaan were complete, the people settled down under that form of government under which it was the will of God that they should dwell. They were to have no king, but a chief magistrate, or judge, who was to act as the viceroy, or

representative, of Almighty God Himself, who vouchsafed to be called the king of His people. Josue was the first judge of the Israelites in their new condition, and he ruled the people and administered justice with the same perfect faithfulness to God, and uprightness towards man, which he had shewed from his earliest years. The people prospered under his rule; and though many of the idolatrous nations yet remained unsubdued, and dwelt on the borders of their territories, the Israelites on the whole remained obedient, and avoided that idolatry into which they were ever so prone to fall.

At length, being now 110 years old, Josue prepared to leave this life, and gathered together the people, and delivered to them one of those solemn warnings with which from time to time God, by the mouth of His prophets, encouraged the Israelites to be faithful to their calling. He called for all Israel, and for the elders, and for the princes, and for the judges, and for the masters, and said to them: I am old, and far advanced in years and you see all that the Lord your God hath done to all the nations round about, how He Himself hath fought for you: and now since He hath divided to you by lot all the land, from the east of the Jordan unto the great sea, and many nations yet remain: the Lord your God will destroy them, and take them away from before your face; and you shall possess the land as He hath promised you. Only take courage; and be careful to observe all things that are written in the book of the law of Moses and turn not aside from them neither to the right hand nor to the left: lest after that you are come in among the Gentiles, who will remain among you, you should swear by the name of their gods, and serve them, and adore them: but cleave ye unto the Lord your God; as you have done until this day. And then the Lord God will take away before your eyes nations that are great and very strong; and no man shall be able to resist you. One of you shall chase a thousand men of the enemies; because the Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised. This only take care of with all diligence,

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