The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1900-04-14

80 49,
an army In a panicg There is nothing
SO uncomfortable. II you had stood at
Long bridge, Washington, during the
opening Of our 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 10 a STAN
pede they expected easy work. They
would scatter them as the equinox the
leaves. Oh, the gleeiul and jubilant de-
scent Of the men Of Al upon the men Of
Joshua! But their e~xhilaration was
brief, for the tide Of battle turned, and
these quondam %eonquerors left their
miserable In the wilderness
Of Bethaven. SO h always is. The tri-
umph 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 a fortune
BY iniquitous traffic. Do you expect 30
keep il? Your 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 prosperity.
For awhile, like the men Of Al, they
went from conquest to conquest, but
after awhile disaster rolled back upon
them, and they were divided into three
parts. Misfortune took their property,
she grave took their body and the lost
world took their soul.
Lesson the third: How much may be
accomplished by lying in ambush for
opportunities Are you hypercritieal
Of Joshua's maneuver? Do you say
that it was cheating for him to take
that city by smbuscader Wasit wrong
for Washington to kindle camphres on
Jersey heights, giving the impression
TO the opposing force that q great
army was encamped there when there
was none at all? answer, II the war
was right, then Joshua was right in his
Stratagem. He violated no Dag 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 stratagem, by Christian
ambussade, you may take almost any
castle Of sin for Christ. Come up to-
ward men with q regular besiegemeRt
of argument and you will be defeated,
but Just wait until the door Of their
hearts is set ajar, or they are CT their
guard, or their severe caution Is away
from home, and then drop in on them
from a Christian ambusesde. There
has been many a man up to his chin In
scientific portfolios which proved
there was no Christ and no divine
revelation, his pen 4 scimiter flung
into the heart Of theological op'
ponents, who nevertheless has beer
discounted and captured for God By
some little three-year-old child who
has got up and put her snowy arm,
around his sinewy neck and asked
some simple question about God.
Oh, make a flank movement Steal q
march on the DEVIL Cheat that mar
into Heavenl A fve-dollar treats,
that will stand al the laws OF homilet
les may fail to do that which q penn
tract OF Christian entreaty may &C
complish. oh, for more Christians II
ambuscade-not lying in idleness, buI
waiting for a quick spring, waiting un
Ill just the right time comes! Do mo-
talk TO a nan about the vanity OF thii
world on the day when he has bough'
something at "l2" and is going to sci
IL at as" But talk to him about tn,
vanity Of the world on the day when b,
has bought something at rs" and 4
compelled 10 sell it at "12!" Do NO
rub a mans disposition the wronl
way; do not take the imperative mooC
when the %subjunctive mood will d,
just as we'll; do not talk in perfervi,
style to a phlegmatic nor try to tickl,
a torrid temperament with an iciele
You q take any man for Christ II yol
know how to get at him. Do not sen