Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-04-13

Noriu. Ine cnurcn or CHRIST railing
back from Piedmont. falling back
from Rue st. Jacques. falling back
from 81. Denis falling back from Wurt-
temberg castles. falling back from the
Brussels market place. yet all the time
triumphing. Notwithstanding all the
reverses which the church OF Christ
suffers. what do we see todayf
Twelve thousand missionaries OF the
cross on heather grounds: eighty thou
sand ministers of Jesus Christ In this
land; at least four hundred millions of
Christians on the earth. Falling back.
yet advancing until the old Wesleyan
hymn will prove true:
The Lion Of judah shall break the chain
And give the victory again and againi
But there is a more marked illuStra-
ton of victorious retreat In the life of
our Joshua, the Jesus OF the ages
First falling back from an appalling
height to an appalling depth, falling
from celestial hills to terrestrial val.
leys. from throne to Manager: yet that
did not seem to suffice him as a re-
treat. Falling back still farther from
Bethlehem TO Nazareth. from Nazareth
to Jerusalem. back from Jerusalem to
Golgotha. hack from Golgotha to the
mausoleum in the rock. hack down
over the precipices OF perditlon until he
walked amid the caverns of the eter.
nal captives and drank OF the wine
of the wrath of Almighty God. amid
the Ahabs and the Jezebels and the
Belshazzars. oh, men of the pulpit
and men of the pew, Christ's descent
from heaven to earth does not measure
half tue distance! 1t was from glory
TO perdition. He descended into hell.
All the records of earthly retreat are
as nothing compared with this falling
back. Santa Anna, with the fragments
of his army flying over the plateaus of
Mexico. and Napoleon and his army re-
treating from Moscow into the awful
SHOWS Of Russia are not worthy TO be
mentioned with this retreat. when an
the powers Of darkness seemed to be
pursuing Christ as he fell back until
the body of him who came to do such
wonderful things lay pulseless and
stripped. Methinks that the city of Al
was not so emptied OF its inhab itants
when they went TO pursue Joshua as
perdition was emptied of devils when
they started for the pursuit OF Christ,
and be fell back and back. down lower,
down lower. chasm below chasm. pit
below pit, until he seemed to strike the
bottom or objurgatioD and scorn and
torture. oh. the long. loud. jubilant
shout or hell at the defeat of the Lord
God Almighty
Triumph of the wicked Is short.
But let not the powers OF darkness
rejoice quite so soon. Do you hear
that disturbance In the tomb OF Arima-
thea? hear the sheet rendingl What
means that stone hurled down the side
Of the hill? Who is this coming out?
Push him back! The dead must not
stalk in this open sunlight. oh, II 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 militant
marches up on one side, and the
church triumphant marches down on
the other side. Aud the powers Of
darkness being caught between these
ranks OF celestial and terrestrial valor
nothing is left OF them save Just
enough to illustrate the direful over
throw of hell and our Joshua's eternal
'aNeOaSs vi blS uCdO OG ALI TIE CIOWuS-
In his hands be all the scepters. 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 you ever see
an army In panic? There is nothing
so uncomfortable. III you had stood
at Long bridge. Washington. during
the opening of our sad civil war, you
would know what IL is 10 see an army
run. And when those men OF Al looked
out and saw those men OF Joshua in n
stampede they expected easy work
They would scatter them as the
equinox the leaves. oh. the glceful
and jublant descent or the men of Al
upon the men OF Joshuai But their
exhilaration was brief. for the tide Of
battle turned. and these quondam con-
luerors left their miserable carcasses
In the wilderness OF Bethaven. So II
always is. The triumph of the wicked
Is short. You make $4,000 at the gam
Ing table. Do you expect to keep L.?
You viii die In the poorhouse. You
make n fortune by ubiquitous traffic.
DO you expect to keep IL? Your mon
ey will scatter, or 1t 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,
IKE 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, the
grave took their body and the lost
world took their soul. am always
interested in the building of palaces
or dissipation. l like TO have them
built or the best granite and have the
rooms made large and to have the Dill
lars made very firm. God is going to
conquer them, and they will be turned
into asylums and art galleries and
churches. The stores In which fraud
uient men do business, the splendid
banking institutions where the presi-
dent and cashier put all their property
In their wives hands and then fail for
100000, all these institutions are to
become the places where honest Chris
tan men do business.
How long will 1t take your boys to
get through your Ill gotten gains? The
wicked do not live out half their days.
For awhile they swagger and strut
ana make great splash In the news
papers, but after awhile 1t all dwindles
down into brief paragraph: "Died
suddenly, April 8. 1000, at 80 years of
age. Relatives and friends of the fam
lily are invited to attend the funeral on
Wednesday at 2 o'clock from his late
residence on Madison square. Inter
ment at Greenwood or Oak Hin"
Some OF them jumped of the docks.
Some or them took prussic acid. Some
or them fell under the snap of a Der
ringer pistol. Some of them spent
their days In lunatic asylum. Where
are William Tweed and his associates?
Where are Ketcham and Swartwout.
aDsconding swindlers? Where are
James Fisk. the libertine. and all the
other misdemeanants? The wicked do
not live out half their days. Disem-
bogue. world OF darkness, Come
up Hildebrand and Henry III and
kobespierre. and, with blistering and
disappearing and ashen lips, hiss out.