Is not this written in the book
of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted
not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that
before it, or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a
man: for the Lord fought for Israel." The weak were made strong that
the enemy might not triumph over them. "If God be for us who can be
against us?" In this struggle with the Amorites Israel won the day.

III

The victory of the Israelites over the Amorites was like the general
deliverance which God has given us from the power of sin, but there are
certain sins which may pursue us, and from these we ought to be set
free. When the children of Israel started from Egypt and had passed
through the Red Sea certain of the Egyptians started after them, the
waters of the Sea came together and they were put to death. The next
day the Israelites camped upon the shore and they could easily go back.
Doubtless more than one could say as he turned over the body of a dead
man to see his face, "Why, this is my old tax master who used to beat
me. He will never have power over me again." Is such a deliverance as
this from individual sins possible? I think it is. I can think of
five sins which stand in the way of men and which maybe likened to the
five kings shut up in the cave.

First: Sinful imagination or secret sins. I doubt not but that almost
every one whose eyes may light upon this sentence has been guilty at
this point. He may have said again and again, "I will never do this
thing again," and he has put the king into the cave and rolled the
stone against the door.

Second: Impurity. It may be that some one who reads this sentence will
plead guilty at this point, and he may have said, "This sin which is
now my defeat began with only a suggestion of evil which I encouraged;
but I will never be guilty again," and he puts the sin into the cave
and rolls the stone against the door.

Third: Intemperance, not simply in the matter of drinking strong drink,
but it may be intemperance in the matter of dress, or eating, or
pleasure; in other words, it is the lack of self-control. This has
been the defeat of more men than one, and as you stop and think you
say, "I will never lose control of myself again," and you put the sin
within the cave and roll the stone against the door.

Fourth: Dishonesty; not simply in what you do but in what you say, for
one may be dishonest in speech as well as