The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1888-07-26

the Jesus Of the ages First falling hack
from an appalling height to an appalling
depth. falling from celestial hills to terres.
trial valleys. from throne to manoer; vet
that did not seem TO suffice Him as n retreat
Fallinx back still further from Bethlehem To
Nazareth from Nazareth 20 Jerusalem, back
from Jerusalem to Golgotha. back from Co.
gotha to the mausoleum in the rock back
down over the precipices Of perditon until
he walked amid the caverns Of the eternal
captives 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, Christ's descent
from heaven to earth does not measure half
the distance, IL was from glory TO perditon
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 seemed to be pur.
suing Christ as he fell back. until the BODY
OF him who came to do such wonderful
things lay pu'seless and stripped. Mathinks
that the city OF Al was not 30 emptied of its
inhabitants when they went TO pursue Joshua
as perdition was emptied OF devils when thev
started for the pursuit OF Christ and he fell
back and back, down lower. down lower,
chasm below chasm, pit below pit. until h,
seemed to strike the bottom Of obiurgation
and scorn and torture. OH the long loud.
tubiant shout OF hell Mt the defeat OF the
Lord God Almighty
But let not the powers OF darkness rejoice
quite so soon. Do you hear that disturbance
in the tomb OF Arimathea, hear the sheet
rending! What means that stone hurled
down the side OF the hilli Who il this COM
ing out' Push him back the dead must not
stalk in this open sunlight Oh. IL is our
Joshua. Let him come ont. He comes forth
and starts for the city. He takes the spear
OF the Roman guard and points that way.
Church militant marches up on one side and
the church triumphant marches down
on the other side. Aud the powers Of
darkness being caught between these ranks
OF celestial and terrestrial vaor. nothing
Is left OF them save Just enough to illus
trate the direfu overthrow of hell and our
Joshuas eternal vitory. 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 a panicl There is nothing so uncontrol-
liable. II you had stood at Long Bridge
Washington during the opening of our sad
civil war, you would know what it is to SEQ
an army run. And when those men of All
looked out and saw those men of Joshua in a
stampede. they expected easy work. They
Wouh tuem hS tne equinox tnn
leaves. o, the gleefu and iubllant de-
scent OF the men OF All upon the men
of Joshua! 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 IL always is The triumph Of
the wicked is short You make s2O,Ol0 at the
gaming table. Do you expect to keep III You
will die in the poorhouse. You made fortune
by iniquitous traffic. DO You expect TO keep III
Your money will scatter, or il will 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 n while like the men of Al
they went from conquest to conquest,
but after whole 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 '"e building of theatres and the
building dissipating saloons. | like To
| have them built OF the best granite and have
the rooms made large, and to have the pillars
made very firm. God is going to conquer
them, and they will DO turned into asylums,
| 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
Ia their wives names and then fail for
| 500, ,OO0-all these institutions are to be-
come t. places where honest Christian men
! do business
How long will it take your boys to get
through your ill-gotten gainsi The wicked
do not live out half their days. For while
they swagger and strut and make a great
! splash in the newspapers, but after while
it all dwindles down into brief paragraph
"Ded. suddenly, July -, lSSS, at 81 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 Mad-
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 a lunatic asy-
lum. Where are William Tweed aud his
associates' Where are ketcham and Swart-
| won't, absconiing swindlers! Where is
James Fisk, the libertine; Where is John
! Wilkes Booth, the assassin, and all the other
misdemeanants, The wicked do not live out
half their days. Disemboyue, q world OF
darkness Come up Hildebranl and Henry
! III. and Robespierre, and with blstering and
disappearing and ashen lips hiss out: "The
triumph of the wicked is short Alas for
the men of Al when Joshua stretches out his
spear toward the city.
Lesson the third: How much may be ac-
| complished bv lying IN ambu for oppor-
tunties. Are you hypercritical of Joshua s
maneuveri Do you say that il was cheating
for him to take that city by ambuscade:
| Was it wrong for Washington TO kindle
camp fires on New Jersey Heights, giving
the impression To the opposing force that "A
great army was encamped there when there
was none at alli 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 lawful ambuscade captured
the city of Al. Oh, that we all knew how 10
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 a regular besiegement of
argument, and you will be defeated; but just
wait until the door of their hearts is set jar,
or they are of their guard, or their severe
| caution is away from home, and then drop in
on ttem from Christian ambuscaie. There
has been many n man up to his chin in scien'
tfic portfolios which proved there was no
Christ and no divine revelation, his pen a
scimetar flung into the heart OF theological
opponents, who nevertheless has been dis
comflted and captured for God by some little
three-year- FOLD child, who has got up and put
her snowy arms around his slnewy neck and
asked some simple question about God and
heaven.
Oh, make flank IN ovement; steal a march
on the devil; cheat that man into heaven.
A five dollar treatise that will stand all the
laws of homiletics may fail to do that which
a penny tract of Christian entreaty may ac-
complish. Oh. for more Christians in am
buscade not lying in ideness, but waiting
for a quick spring, waiting until lust thd