The Nicodemus cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Graham County, Kan.) 1887-1888, 1888-08-10

And give us the victory again anu dSdlu. |
But there is a 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 bills to terres-
trial valleys from throne to manger; yet that
did not seem to suffice Him as retreat
Falling back still further from Bethlehem to
Nazareth, from Nazareth to jerusalem back
from Jerusalem to GOlgOtha, back from Goi-
gotha to the mausoleum in the rock PACK |
down OYER tie pfecipices OF perdltlon unt1l he |
walked amid the ca7erns OF the eternal
captives and drank Of tile, wine Of The wrath
of Almighty Cob amid The Ahabs and the |
deteteis and the BelshaZzars. . men OF the |
pulpit and men of the pew, Christs descent
from heaven to earth does not measure nan
The DISTANCE. twas from gIcr{ &c pe[Gltion nf
earthly retreats are as nothing compared Win
this falling back. Santa Anna, with the
fragments Of his army flying over the plateauX
of Mexico, and Napoleon and MS army re-
treating from Moscow into the aW1uI SHOWS
of Russia are not worthy to be mentioned
with ttis retreat, when all the powers OF
| darkness seem to be pursuing Christ as lie
| fell back, until the body OF HIM VINO came
| to do such wonderful things lay pulseless ana
stripped. Methinks that the cry Oh al WA. Was
not SO emptied of its inhabitants when they
went to pursue Joshua, as perdltlon was
! emitted of devils when they started Tor the
| pursuit of Christ and He fell back ana Daek
| down loNer down lower, chasm belOW chGsIhi
| bit below pit until he seemed to strike the
| bottom OF obiurgation and scOrn and torture.
! Oh, the long, loud, jubilant shout OF hell at
| fine defeat of the Lord God Almighty!
But let not the powers Of darkness rejoice
quite So soon. Do you hear that disturbance
rendingi What means that stone hurled
down the side of the hill? Who is this
coming out2 Push him back! the dead must
not stalk in this open sunlight. o, it is our
Joshua Let him come out. lie comes 1orth
and starts for the city. He takes the spear
Of the Roman guard and points the way.
| Church militant marches Up on one
aide and the church triumphant marches down
on the other side. And the powers OF dark
hess being caught between these ranks OF
celestial and terrestrial vIlOr nothing is lett
of them save just enough to illustrate the
dreful overthrow of he'll and our Joshuas
eternal victory. On His head be all the crowns.
In His hand be all the sceptres. AT HIS 1eet
| be all the human hearts, and here, Lord3 Is
one Of them.
Lesson the second: The triumph of the
wicked is short Did you ever see an army
| in panic There is nothing so uncOntroll-
able. If you had stood at Long Bridge
| Washington, during the opening OF our SAD
civil war, you would know what it IS to sec
an army run. And when those men OF AL
looked out and saw those men of Joshua In a
stampede, they expected easy work. 1hey
would scatter them as the equinox the leaves
o, the gleeful and jubiant descent OF the
men of All upon the men OF Joshua BuG
their exhilaration was brief, for the the OF
battle was turned and these quondain con
uuerors left their miserable carcasses IN the
Wilderness of Bethaver. So it ALWAYS is. Ihe
triumph of the wicked is short. You make
$4,000 at the gaming table DO you eXpect
to keep it? You will die in the pOorhouse.
You made a fortune by Ubiquitous traffic. DC
YOU expect to- keep it? Your money will
scatter, or it will stay long enough to curse
your children after you were dead Call over
the roll of bad men who has prospered anC
awhile like the men of Al they Wen
, from conquest to conquest bu
: after awhile disaster rolled bacl
upon them and they were divided into three
, parts: misfortune took their property, tn
J grave took their body. and the .ost Wori'
took their soul. | am always interested II
Q the building of theatres and the building o
! disslpating saloons. | like 10 have then
D built of the best granite and have tn
! | rooms made large aud to have the pillar
them and they will be turned int
, asylums and art galleries and churches. In
3 stores in which fraudulent men do business
o the splendid banking institutions where til!
2 president and cashier put all their property !
q their wives hands and then fail for $2OO, W
4 -all these institutions are to become tn
= places where honest Christian men do bust
: ness.
r How long will it take your boys to g(
n through your ill-gotten gains! The wlcke
/ do not live out half their DAYS. For a Whl
y they swagger ana strut and make grei
# splash in the newspapers, but after while
IL all dwindles down into a brief paragraph
# ''Died suddenly, July 22d, 1855, at thirtv-ii'
@ years of age. Relatives and friends OF I'll
10 family are invited to attend the tuneral @
" Wednesday, at two O'clock, from his late re
n idence on Madison Square. Intermcnt
- Greenwood Some of them jumped OFT IL
D. docks. Some of them took prussic aci
ii Some of them fell under the snap OF Derrl
IS ger pistol. Some of them spent their i, Ia
o. DAYS i'm lunatic asylum. Where are w
III liam Tweed and his associates: Where a
ps Ketchum aud SwartwOut, abscOnding swim
il dlcrs? Where is James Fisk, the libertin
Where is John Wilkes Booth, the assassl
No and all the other msdemeanants. The vic
as cd do not live out half their days. Disel
"a. bogue. O world of darkness! Come up, ii
an debrand and Henry II. and RObesplerre,
III with blistering and disappearing and ash
no lips hiss out: 1.-THE triumph of the Wick' q
"A. short" Alas for the men OF Al when josh
rv stretches out his spear toward the city!
Of Lesson the third: How much may be
.et compished by lying in am bush for opnortu
ny titles. Are you hypercrltical of Joshua's IN,
Oh Oeuyrel Do YOU say that it wac cheating J
all him to take that city by ambuscade: "
IN. it wrong for Washington to kindte camp-hr
hit on New JERSEY Heights, giving tile
ry procession to the opposing force that gre
lat army was encamped there when there -"
en- none at ali? | answer, If the war was RIG
do then Joshua was right in his stratagem
eet violated no flag of truce. Tie broke no Urea
A but bv lawful ambuscade captured the citT
ur- Al. Oh, that we all knew how to lie In 8
ad bush for opportunities to serve GOD. lhe [
ito of our OPPORTUNITIES do not lie on the surta
est but are secreted; by tact by slratagem'
tic Christian ambuscade. you may take am
so any castle Of sin for Christ Come tow
avs men with a regular besiegement OF argum
adj and YOU will be defeated; but Just walt u
ISIS the door of their hearts is set alar OF I
adj are off their guard, or their severe cautlo
an is away from home, and then drop IN on II
nat. from a Christian ambusCade There has D
on. many a man up TO his chin in scientific =
IN folios which proved there was no Christ
leir no divine revelation, his pen scimetar Ill
into the hearts of theological opponents "
Iirh nevertheless. has been discounted and
me- tnred for God by some little three-year
YER child who has got up and put her SNOWY a
All around his sinewv neck, aud asked some
1ere pie question about God and heaven.
the on, make a flank movement; steal m
the on the devil; cheat that man into heaven.
sck fye-dollar treatise that Will stand oil
ters laws Of homiletcS NAV fail to DO that viii
Igh- nepnv tract OF Christian enlreaty NAV
ex- c9mplish Oh. for more Chr stians in All