Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-25
to see how cheerfully Christian could
be sick and how cheerfully

A CHRISTIAN COULD DIE.
The moon that illumined that night of
trouble was a reflection from the sun of
Righteousness. In the last hour of that
night-that night of darkness and sick
ness and misfortune, as she lifted her
hand toward heaven, those who stood
nearest her pillow could hear the whis-
per-for she wanted to live on in the
generations that we're to follow, cOnse-
Grated to God; she wanted to have an in
fiuence long after she had entered upon
her eternal reward, and while her hsnd
was lifted and her lips were moving,
those who stood nearest her pillow could
hear her say: "Thou moon, stand still
in the valley of Aja!on.
But Joshua was not quite through.
There was time for five funerals before
the sun Of that prolonged day set. Who
will preach their funeral sermon? Mas
sillon preached the funeral sermon over
Louis XVI. Who will preach the funeral
sermon of those five dead kings-king
of Jerusalem, king of Hebron. king
of Jarmuth, king Of Laohish, king of
Eelon? Let 1t be Joshua. What is his
text? What shat shall be the epitaph put
on the door of the tomb? "There shall
not any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life.'
But before you fasten up the door
want five more kings beheaded aud thrust
IN: King Alcohol, King Fraud, King
Lust. King Superstition, King Intidelity.
Let them be beheadsd and hurl them in.
Then fasten up the door forever. What
shall the inscription and what shall the
epitaph he? For oil Christian philan-
thropists of all ages are going to come
and look at It.
WHAT SHALL THE INSCRIPTION BE!
''There shall not any man be able to
stand before thee all the days of thy
life
But il is time for Joshua to go home.
He is ITO years old. Washington went
down the Potomac aud at Mount Vernon
closed his days. Wellington died peace
fully at Appsley house. Now, where
shall Joshua rest? Why, he is to have
his greatest battle now. After ITO years
he has to meet king, who has more
subjects than all the present population
of the earth, his throne a pyramid of
skulls, his parterre the graveyards and
cemeteries of the world his chariot the
worlds hearse-the King of Terrors.
But If this is Joshua's greatest battle, it
Is going to be Joshua's greatest victory.
He gathers his friends around him and
gives his valedictory. and it is full of
Renaissance. Young men tell what
they are going to do; old men tell what
they have done. And as you have heard
a grandfather, or great-grandfather,
seated hv the evening fire, cell of Mon
mouth or Yorktown, and then lift the
crutch or staff as though it were a mus
ket, to fight, and show how the old bat
ties were won-so Joshua gathers his
f-t- l.. 1t.
and he tells them the story of what he
has been through, ana as he lies there,
his white locks showing down on his
kept His promise all the way through.
AS he lies there he tells the story
ONE, TWO, OR THREE TIMES
you have heard old people tell story
two or three times Overland he answers:
81 go the way of all the earth, and not
one word of the promise has failed;
not one word thereof has failed; all
has come to pass; not one word thereof
has failed. And then he turns to his
family. as dying purent will and says:
"Choose now whom you will serve, the
God Of Israel, or the God of the Amor
ties. As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord A dying parent can
not be reckless or thoughtless In regard
to his children. Consent to part with
them forever at the door of the tomb We
cannot. By the cradle In which their
infancy was rocked, by the bosom on
which they first lay, by the blood of the
covenant, by the God Of Joshua, 1t shall
not be. We will not part, We cannot
part. Jehovah Jireh, we take thee at
thy promise. 81 will be a God to thee
and thy seed after thee
Dead, the old chieftaiu must be laid
out. Handle him very gently; that
sacred body is ovsr ITO years of age. Lay