The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-06-10

city Of All. He selected 10000 men, and
concealed most Of them. Then with a
few men he assailed the city, which
poured out its numbers and strength
upon Joshua's little band. According
to previous plan, they fell back in
seeming, defeat, but, after all the
pround inhabitants of the city had
been brought out of their homes and
had Joined in the pursuit of Joshua,
suddenly that brave man halted in
his flight and with his spear pointing
toward the, 80, 900 men bounded from
the thickets as panthers spring to
their prey, and the pursuers were
dashed to pieces, while the hosts of
Joshua pressed up to the city, and
with their lighted torches tossed it
into flame. Thus it was that the dis
coveries CT science seemed to give tenn
porary victory against God and the
Bible, and for awhile the church acted
as if she were on a retreat, but when
all the opposers Of God and truth had
Joined in the pursuit and were sure
of the field Christ gave the signal to
His church, and, turning, they drove
back their foes in shame. There was
found to be no ~antagOnism between
nature and revelation. The universe
and the Bible were found to be the
work Of the same hand, two strokes
of the same pen, their authorship the
same God.
PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL.
Again, learn the lesson that pride
goeth before a fall. Was any man ever
SO far up as Hannah, who tumbled so
far down? Yes, on a smaller scale ev-
cry day the world sees the same thing.
Against their very advantages men
trip into destruction. When God
humbles proud men, it is usually at the
moment of their greatest arrOgancy. If
there be a man in your community
greatly puffed up with worldly success,
you have out to stand a little while
and you will see him come down. You
say, I wonder that God allows hat
man to go OF riding over others heads
and making great assumptions of
power. There is no wonder about it.
Hannah has not yet got to the top.
Pride is a commander, we'll plumed
and caparisoned, but it leads forth a
lark and frowning host. We nave the
best of authority for saying that
pride .soeth before destruction and a
naughty spirit before a fall" The ar
rows from the Almighty's culver are
apt to strike a man when on the wing.
Goliath shakes his great spear in de-
In puI Tx S1lIoi oto11CS 1Iolh IiiS
brook Elah make his stagger and fall
like an OK under the butchers blud-
geon. He who is down cannot falL
| Vessels scudding under bare poles do
not feel the force of the storm, but
those with all sails set capsize at the
sudden descent of the tempest.
Again, this oriental tale reminds us
of the fact that wrongs we prepare
for others return upon ourselves. h
gallows that Hannah built for Mordecai
became the prime minister's strangu-
lation. RObespierre, who sent so
many to the guillotine, had his own
head chopped off by the horrid instru-
ment. The evil you practice on others
will recoil upon your own pate. SLAM
derS come home. Expressions come
home. Cruelties come home.
You will yet be a lackey walking be-
side the very charger on which you
expected to ride others down. When
Charles I, who had destroyed STRAIT
ford, was about to be beheaded, he said
Il basely ratified an unjust sentence,
and the similar injustice I am 10Y to
undergo is a sensible retribution for
the punishment I inflicted on an inno-
cent man." Lord Jeffreys, after in
generating many innocent and good
people in London Tower, vas himself
imprisoned in the same place, where
the shades of those whom he had NAL
treated seemed to haunt him, SO that
he kept crying to his attendants,
Keep them off, gentlemen, for Gods
sake, keep them off," The chickens
nae come home to roost. The body of
Bradshaw, the English judge, who had
been ruthless and cruel in his decis-
ions, was taken from his splendid
tomb in Westminster abbey, n at Ty-
.-- ~-
until night in the presence of jeering
multitudes. Humans gallOws came a
little late, but it came. Opportunities
fly in a straight line, and just touch
us as they pass from eternity to etern-
ity, but the wrongs we do others fly
in a circle, and however the circle
| may widen out, they are sure to come
back to the point from which they
started. There are guns that kick!
FORTUNE QUICKLY TURNS.
Furthermore, let the story of Hannah
teach us how quickly turns the wheel
of fortune. One day, excepting the
king, Hannah was the mightiest man
in Persia, but the next day a lackey.
So we go up, and so we come down.
You seldom find any man 20 years in
the same circumstances. OF those who
in political life 20 years ago were the
ASS pa " 1S" 1lIo Al
conspicuity? Political parties make
certain men do their hard work, and
then, after using them as hacks, turn
them out on the commons to die. Ev-
cry four there is a complete
revolution, and about 5000 men who
ought certainly to be the next presi-
dent are shamefully disappointed,
while some who this day are obscure
and poverty stricken will ride upon the
shoulders of the people and take their
turn at admiration and the spells of
Office. Oh, how quickly the wheel
turns! Ballot boxes are the steps on
which men come down as often as
they go up. OF those who were long
ago successful in the accumulation
Of property how few have not met
with reverses, while many of those
who then were straitened in circum-
stances now hold the bonds and the
bank keys Of h nation OF all tickle
things in the world fortune is the most
6orfa Every day she n her