Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-07-23

hear the sheet rending! What means that
stone hurting down the side of the hill?
Who is this coming out? Push him back!
the dead must not stalk in this open sun.
light. o, 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 mil
liant marches up on one aide and the
church triumphant marches down on the
other side. And the powers of darkness
being caught between these ranks of celes-
tisl and terrestrial valor, nothing ia left OF
them save just enough to illustrate the
direful overthrow of hell and our Joshua's
eternal victory. On His head be all the
crowns. In His hand be all the sceptres.
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 Won ever see an army
in panic? There is nothing so uncon.
trollable. II you had stood at Long Bridge,
Washington, during the opening Of the
civil war, you would know what it is
TO SEE AN ARMY RUN.
And when those men of Al looked out and
saw those men of Joshua in q stampede,
they expected easy work. They would
scatter them as the equinox the leaves.
o, the gleeful and jubilant descent of the
men OF Al upon the men of joshua! But
their exhilsrstion was brief, for the tide
Of battle turned, and these quondsm con-
querers left their miserable carcasses in the
wilderness of Bethaven. So it always is.
The 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 fortune by
iniquitous traffic. Do you you expect to
keep it? Your money will scatter, or il
will stay long enough to curse your chill
dren after you are dead. Call over the
roll of bad men who prospered and see
how short was their prosperity. For q
while, like 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.
Lesson the third: How much may be
accomplished by lying in ambush for op-
portunities. Are You hypercritical of
Joshua's maneuvre? Do you say that j:
was cheating for him to take that city by
ambuscade? Was it wrong for Washing
ton to kindle camp fires on New Jersey
Heights, giving the impression to the op-
posing force that a great army was en-
camped there when there was none at all?
l 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 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 strategem, by Christian ambus-
cade, 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 ajar, or they
are off their guard, or their severe caution
is away from home, and then drop in on
them from Christian ambuscade. There
has been many man up to his chin in
scientific portfolios which proved there
WAS no Christ and no divine revelations,
his pen a scimeter flung into the heart oi
theological opponents, who, nevertheless,
has been discounted and captured for God
by some little three-year-old child who has
got up and put her snowy arms around his
sinewy neck, and asked some simple ques'
tion about God and heaven.
Oh, make q flank movement! 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 penny tract of chris
tian entreaty may accomplish. Oh, foi
more christians in ambuscade, not lying
in idleness, but waiting for quick spring,
waiting until Just the right time comes.
Do not talk to man about the vanity oi
this world on the day when he has bought
something at "twslve" and is going tc
sell it at "ffteen." But talk TO him
about the vanity of the world on the day
when he has bought something at fifteen
and is compelled to sell at twelve" Do
not rub mans disposition the wrong way.
Do not take the imperative mood when the
subiunctive mood will do Just as well. Dc
not talk in psrfervid style to phlegmatiC
nor try TO tickle q torrid
temperament with an icicle. You can
TAKE ANY MAN FOR CHRIST
if you know how to get at Him. Do moi
send word to Him that tomorrow at ten
o'clock you propose TO open your batteries
upon Him, but come on Him by skilful,
persevering, God d-directed ambuscade.
Lesson the fourth: The importance Of
taking good aim. There is Joshua, bu,
how are those people in ambush up yonder
to know when they are to drop on the
city, and how are these men around
Joshua to know when they are to stop
their flight and advance? There must be
some sigual-a signal to stop the one di-
vision and to start the other. Jobua, with
a spear on which were ordinarily hung the
colors Of battle, points toward the city.
He stands in such conspicuous position,
and there is 80 much Of the morning light
dripping from that spear-tip, that al
around the horizon they see it. 1t was a.
much az to cay: There is the city. Take
it. Take it now. Roll down from tho
West. Sarge up from the North. 1t il
ours, the city Of Al. God knows and
we know that great deal o.
Christian attack amounts to nothing SIM
ply because we do not take good aim
Nobody knows and we do not know our
selves which point we want to take, when
we ought to make up our minds what Coo
will have us to do, and point our spear IL
that direction and then hurl our body
mind, soul, time. eternity at that one tar
get. In our pulpits and pews and Sunday
schools and prayer meetings We want Il
get reputation for saying pretty things,
and 30 we point our spear toward ths
flowers; or we want . reputation for say
ing sublime things, and we point our speal
toward the stars; or We want to get rep
utation for historical knowledge, and vi
point our spear toward the past; or W
want to get reputation for great iberali
ty, 80 we swing our spear all around; and
il strikes all points Of the horizon, and yot
can make out of il whatever you please
while there is the old world,
PROUD, IEBELL1oUs AND ARMED,
against all righteousness; and instead o
running any further away from its pur
suit, we ought to turn around, plant on
foot in the strength Of the eternal God
lift the old cross and point it in the diree