West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-08-02


OF Mexico, and Napoleon ana his army re-
treating from Moscow In the awful
SHOWS OF Russia are not worthy 70
be mentioned with this retreat, when
ali tho powers OF darkness seemed 70 be pur-
suing Christ as ne fell back. until the BODY
OF him who came TO do such wonderful
Things lay pulseless and stripped. Methinls
.nat tne city OF Al was not 50 emptied of is
inhabitants when they went 10 pursue Joshua
as perdition was emptied OF devils when they
started Tor the pursuit OF Christ. and he fell
BACK and back, down lower, down lower
chasm below chasm, pit below pit until ha
seemed to strike the bottom OF objurgation
and scorn and torture. OH the long loud
1ubilant shout OF hell at the defeat OF the
Lord God Almighty
But let not the powers OF darkness rejoice
quite so soon Doyou hear that disturbance
I'm the tomb OF Arimatheal hear the sheet
rendingl What means that stone hurled
down the side OF the hilll Who Is this com
ing QUIT Push him back the dead must not
stalk I'm this open sunlight. Oh, IL 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 up 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. nothing
is left OF them save just enough 20 illus
trate the direful 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 tho 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 panlcl 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 il is 10 see
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
would scatter them as the equinox the
leaves. o, the gleeful and jubIlant de-
scent OF the men OF All 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 IL always Is. The triumph Of
the wicked Is short. You make 500 900 at the
gaming table. Do you expect to keep iti You
Will die in the poorhouse. You made fortune
by Ubiquitous traffic. Do you expect to keep itl
FOUR money will scatter, or It 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 while like the men of AZ
they went from conquest to conquest
but after n 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 the building of theatres and the
building of 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 be 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
In their wives names and then fail for
$500, 0OO-all these institutions are to be-
come to 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 great
| splash in the newspapers, but after while
| 1t all dwindes down into a brief paragraph:
| "Died, suddenly, July % 1885, at 30 years OF
age Relatives and friends of the family are
invited TO attend the funeral on Wednesday,
at O'Clock, from his late residence OH Madi-
son square. Interment at Greenwood Some
OF them jumped off the docks. Some Of them
| took prussia 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 and his
associatesl Where are Ketcham and Swart-
won't, Ascending swindlers2 Where is
James Fisk, the libertnel Where is John
| Wilkes Booth, the assassin, and all the other
misdemeanantsl The wicked do not live out
| half their days Disembogue, o world OF
| darknessl Come up Hildebrand and Henry
| III. and Robespierre, and with blistering and
disappearing and ashen lips hiss out; "The
triumph of the wicked is shortl" Alas for
| the men Of All 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 bypercritical OF Joshua's
| maneuverl Do you say that IL was cheating
| for him to take that city by Ambassador
| Was II 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 alll j answer, if the war was
| right, then Joshua was right in his stratagem.
lie violated no flag Of truce He broke no
/ treaty, but by a lawful ambuscade captured
| the city of All. Oh, that we all knew how to
4 lie in ambush for oppor tunities 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
| coward men with a regular besiegement OF
argument, and you will be defeated; but Just
wait until the door of their hearts is set aiar,
I or they are Off their guard, or their severe
caution is away from home, and then drop I'm
! on ttem from Christian ambuscade. There
| has been many a man up TO his chin in scien-
| tiiic portfolios which proved there was no
| Christ and no divine revelation, his pen
I scimetar flung into the heart of theological
! opponents, who, nevertheless, has been dis
comfited and captured for God by some little
three year-old child, who has got up and put
| her snowy arms around his snewy neck and
asked some simple question about God and
heaven.
| Oh, make flank IN Movement; steal 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 idleness, but waiting
/ for quick spring, waiting until just the
right time comes. Do not talk TO a man
about the vanity OF this world on the day
when he has bought something at twelve"
and Is going to sell IL at "fifteen.n But talk
| 70 him about the vanity of the world
| on the day when he has bought something
! at "dfteenn and is compelled to sell at
! twelve" Do not rub a mans disposition
the wrong way. Do not take the imperative
| mood when the subiunctive mood will do
just as well. Do not talk in perfervid style
70 phlegmatic, nor try 70 tickle torrid
| temperament with an icicie. You can take
any man for Christ II you know how to get
| at him. Do not send word 20 him that to-
morrow at 10 o'clock you propose 20 open
your batteries upon him, but come on him
by skillful, persevering, God directed am
Lesson the fourth: The Importance OF taxi
ing good aim. There is joshua but how are
/ these people in ambush up yOnder 70 know
when they are TO drop upon the city, and
/ how are these men around Joshua 70 know
when they are 70 stop their fight and adj
/ vancei There must be some signal---a signal
/ 70 stop the one division and to start the
] other. NpaNffn TrffH In s.Ittf