The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-07-27
The Lion Of Judah shall break the chain,
And give us the victory again and againi

And give us the victory again and againi
But there Is more marked illustration Of
victorious retreat In the Life Of our Joshua,
the Jesus Of the ages First falling back
from an appalling height to an appalling
depth, falling from celestial hills to terres-
trial valleys, from throne to manager; yet
that did not seem TO suffice him as q retreat
Falling back still further from Bethlehem to
Nazareth, from Nazareth to Jerusalem, back
from Jerusalem to Golgotha, back from Col
gotha to the mausoleum in the rock, back
down over the precipices Of perdition until
he walked amid the caverns Of the eternal
captiyes and drank Of the wine Of the wrath
Of Almighty God amid the Ahabs and the
Jezebels and the Belshazzars. o men Of the
pulpit and men Of the pew, Christs descent
from heaven to earth does not measure half
the distance. 1t was from glory to perdition
he descended into hell All the records Of
earthly retreat are as nothing compared with
this falling. Santa Anna, with the frag-
ments Of his army flying over the plateaux
Of Mexico, and Napoleon and his army re-
treating from Moscow In the awful
SHOWS Of Russia are not worthy to
be mentioned with this retreat, when
all the powers Of darkness seem to be pur-
suing Christ as he fell back, until the body
Of him who came to do such wonderful
things lay pulseless and stripped Methinks
that the city Of Al was not so emptied of its
inhabitants when they went to pursue Joshua
as perdition was emptied of devils when they
started for the pursuit of Christ and he fell
back and back, down lower, down lower.
chasm below chasm, pit below pit, until he
seemed to strike the bottom Of objurgation
and scorn and torture. Oil the long, loud,
jubilant shout of hell at the defeat of the
Lord God Almighty
But let not the powers Of darkness rejoice
quite 30 soon Do you hear that disturbance
In the tomb Of Arimatheaf hear the sheet
rendiugi What means that stone hurled
down the dde Of the hilli Who is this COM
ing QUIT Push him backi the dead must not
stalk in this open sunlight. Oh, It is our
Joshua Let him come out He comes forth
and starts for the city. He takes the spear
Of the Roman guard and points that way
Church militant marches mp on one side and
the church triumphant marches down
on the other side And the powers
Of darkness being caught between these
ranks Of celestial and terrestrial valor, moth
ing is left Of them save just enough to Illus
trate the direful overthrow of hell and our
Joshuas eternal victory. On his head be all
the crowns. In his hand be all the scepters
At his feet be all the human hearts; and
here, Lord, Is one Of them
Lesson the second: The triumph of the
wicked is short Did you ever see an army
In panici There is nothing 30 uncontrol-
liable. II you had stood at Long Bridge,
Washington, during the opening Of our sad
civil war, you would know what 1t Is to see
an army run. And when those men of Al
lSNnlr a1 a,,I
stampede, they expected easy work. They
would scatter them as the equinox the
leaves. o, the gleeful and jubilant de-
scent Of the men Of Al upon the men
Of Joshuai But their exhilaration was
brief, for the tide Of battle turned,
and these quondam conquerers left their
miserable carcasses in the wilderness Of
Bethaven. So it always Is The triumph of
the wicked is short. You make soO, 900 at the
gaming table. Do you expect to keep iti You
win die In the poorhouse You made a fortune
by Ubiquitous traffic. Do you expect to keep it,
Your money will scatter, or it win stay long
enough to curse your children after you are
dead. Call over the roll Of bad men who
prospered and see how short was their pros
perity. For while Hike the men Of Al
they went from conquest TO conquest,
but after while disaster rolled back upon
them and they were divided into three
parts: misfortune took their property, the
grave took their body, and the lost
world took their soul am always inter-
ested In the building Of theatres and the
building Of dissipating saloons I like to
have them built Of the best granite and have
the rooms made large, and to have the pillars
made very firm God IL going to conquer
them, and they will be turned into asSlums,
and art galleries, and churches. The stores
In which fraudulent men do business, the
splendid banking institutions, where The
president and cashier put all their property
In their wives hands and then fail for $780,
000-all these institutions are to become the
places where honest Christian men do bust
ness.
How long will it take your boys to get
through your Ill gotten gainsa The wicked
do not live out half their days. For while
they swagger and strut and make q great
splash In the newspapers, but after while
1t all dwindles down into brief paragraph:
"Died suddenly, July q, 1888, at IS years Of
age. Relatives and friends of the family are
invited to attend the funeral, on Wednesday,
at o'clock, from his late residence on Madi-
son square. Interment at Greenwood" Some
Of them jumped OFF the docks. Some Of them
took prussic acid. Some Of them fell under
the snap Of a Derringer pistol Some Of
them spent their last days in lunatic asy-
lum. Where are William Tweed and his
associatesi Where are Ketcham and Swart-
won't, absconding swindlersl Where Is
James Fisk, the ibertinei Where Is John
Wilkes Booth, the assassin, and all the other
misdemeanantsi The wicked do not live out
half their days Disembogue, o world OF
darknessi Come up, Hildebrand and Henry
II and Robespierre, and with blistering and
disappearing and ashen lips hiss out: ''The
triumph Of the wicked Is shortp Alas for
the men Of Al when Joshua stretches out his
spear toward the city.
Lesson the third: How much may be &C
complished by lying In ambush for oppor-
tunities. Are you hypercritical Of Joshua,s
maneuveri Do you say that 1t was cheat
ing for him to take that city by ambuscadei
Was It wrong for Washington to kindle
camp fires on New Jersey Heights, giving
the impression to the opposing force that Q
great army was encamped there when there
was none at alli I answer, If the war was
right, then Joshua was right in his stratagem.
He violated no flag Of truce. He broke no
treaty, but by a lawful ambuscade captured
the city Of Al Oh, that we all knew how to
lie In ambush for opportunities to serve God.
The best of our opportunities do not lie on the
surface, but are secreted; by tact, by strata
gem by Christian ambuscade, you may take
almost any castle Of sin for Christ Come up
toward men with regular besiegement Of
argument, and you will be defeated; but just
wait until the door Of their hearts Is set ajar,
or they are of their guard, or their severe
caution Is away from home, and then drop In
on them from Christian ambuscada There
has been many man up to his chin In scien-
tific portfolios which proved there was no
Christ and no divine revelation, his pen
scimetar flung into the heart Of theological
opponents, who, nevertheless, has been dis
comfted and captured for God by some little
three-yearold child, who has got up and put
her snowy arms around his sinewy neck and
asked some simple question about God and
heaven
Oh, make flank movement; steal a march
on the devil; cheat that man into heaven.
A five dollar treatise that win stand all the
laws Of homiletics may fail to do that which
penny tract of Christian entreaty may &C
complish. Oh, for more Christians in am
buscade, not lying In idleness, but waiting
for quick spring, waiting until just the
right time comes Do not talk to man
about the vanity Of this world on the day
when he has bought something at "twelvep
and Is going TO sell 1t at fifteen" But talk
to him about the vanity Of the world
on the day when he has bought some
thing at Fifteen and is compelled b sell at
twelve" Do not rub mans disposition
the wrong way. Do not take the imperative
mood when the subjunctive mood win do
Just as we'll Do not talk in perfervid style
to phlegmatic, nor try TO tickle torrid
temperament with an icicle You can take
any man for Christ il you know how to ga
at him. Do not send word to him that to