The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-01-02

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
Lachish, King of Eglon? Let it be
Joshua. What is his text2 There
shall not any man be able to stand be-
fore thee all the days of thy life"
But before you fasten up the door
want five more Kings beheaded and
thrust in: King Alcohol, King Fraud,
King Lust, King Superstition, King In
fidelity. Then fasten up the door for
ever. What shall the inscription and
what shall the epitaph be? For all
Christian philanthropists 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 it is time for Joshua to go home.
He is 10 years old. Washington went
down the Potomac and at Mount Vernon
closed his days. Wellington died peace
fully at Apsley House. Now, where
shall Joshua rest? Why, he is to have
his greatest battle now. After 40 years
he has met king who has more sub
jects than all the present population OF
the earth, his throne a pyramid OF
skulls, his parterre the graveyards and
s. xbs ,,,rrI1 hic nha riot tho
worlds hearse-the king of terrors.
But if this is Joshua's greatest
battle it is going to be JOSH
ua'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
grandfather or great grandfather,
seated by the evening fire, tell OF Mon
mouth or Yorktown, and they lift the
crutch or staff as though it were mus
ket, to fight and show how the old
battles were won-so Joshua gathers
his friends around his dying couch, and
he tells them the story of what he has
| been through, and as he lies there, his
white locks showing down on his
wrinkIed forehead, / wonder If God has
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
| - 4Iaronf hos failaH.
all has come to pass, not one word
thereof has failed" And then he turns
to his family, as dying parent viii,
and says: Choose now whom you will
serve, the God of Israel, or the God of
the Amorites. As for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord" A dying pa
rent can not be reckless or thoughtleso
in regard to his children. Consent 10
part with them forever at the door. OF
the tomb we can not By the cradle m
which their infancy was rocked, by the
bosom on which they first lay, by tho
blood of the covenant, by the God OF
Joshua, it shall not be. We viii not
part, we can not part. Jehovah Jireh,
we take Thee at Thy promise. Il viii
be God to thee and thy seed after
thee"
Dead, the old chieftain must be laid
out. Handle him very gentlys that
sacred body is over ITO years OF age.
Lay him out, stretch out thse feet that
walked dry shod the parted Jordan
Close those lips which helped blow the
blast at which the walls of Jericho fell.
Fold the arm that lifted the spear
toward the doomed city of Al Fold it
right over the heart that exu1eed when
the five Kings fell. But where shall we
get the FURNISHED granite for the head
stone and the footstone? / bethink my
self now, 1 imagine for the head it shall
be the sun that stood still upon Gideon,
and for the foot the moon that stood
still in the valley of Aialon.