The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-04-18

Rue S., jacques, falling back from st.
Denis. falling back from Wurtsenbeg
castles, falling back from the Brussels
market place, yet all the time triumph
ing. Notwithstanding all she shocking
reversss which the church Of Christ
suffers, what dow see today? Twelve
thousand missionaries Of the cross on
heschen grounds; eighty thousand min
listers of Jesus Christ in this land: st
least four hundred million of Christians
on the earth. Falling back, yet advanc,
ing until the OLD Wesleyaa hymn will
prove true:
TIE Lion Of JUDAH shall break the cham
And give us the victory assin aud sgslh
But there is more marked illessra.
tion of victorious retrestln the NE OF
orr .Joshus, the Jesus Of the ages: First
fsIIinr back from an appalling height
70 an appsllirs depth, falling from
celestial hills to terrestrial valleys,
from throne 80 nanser; yet that did
not seem TO su6ee hin as a retreat.
Falling back still farther from Ssthle-
hem to Nazareth, from Nazareth 90
jerusalem, back from Jerusalem to
Golgotha, back from Golgotha to the
nauseleum in the rock, back down over
the preoipices Of perditlen until he
Walked amid the csyerns Of the eternal
captives and drank of the wine of the
wrath Of Almighty God, smid the
Ahabs, and the Jezebels, and the Bel
shazzars. Oh, men of the pulpit and
nsn Of shs pew, Christs descent from
heaven to earth does net measure half
the distance! It WISE FROM glory to
perdition. He descended inte hell.
All the records Of earthly retreat are IS
nothing compared with this falling back.
Santa Anna, with the fragments Of his
army sying ever she plaseaas of Mexico
and Napoleon and his army res1easing
from Moscow, into the awful SHOWS Of
Russia are not worthy to be mentioned
with this retreat, when al the powers
Of darkness seem to be pursuing Christ
az he fell back, until the body of kln
Who came to do such wonderful things
lay pulseless and stripped. Methinks
that the city Of Al was not 80 enpsled
Of its iDbabitants when they went to
pursue Joshua SIS perdition was enpsied
Of devils whom they started for the pur-
suit Of Christ. snd he fell back spd
back, down lower, down lower, chasm
below ehssm, pit below pit, until be
seemed to strike the bottom Of objurga-
tion and scorn and torture. Oh, the
long, loud, jubilant shout Of hell at
she defeat Of the Lord God Almighty!
But let ret the powers Of darkness
rejoice quite SO soon. Do you hear
that disturbance in the tomb Of Ari-
mathes? hear the sheet rending!
What mesns that stone hurled down the
side of the hill? Who is this coming
cut? Push him back! The dead must
not stalk in this open sunlight. Oh, it
is our Joshua. Let him COMO out.
Ee 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. And the powers Of darkness be-
ing caught between shese ranks Of eeles-
tial and terrestrial vSlor nothing is left
Of thea save just enough to illustrate
the 6irefrl overthrow of he'll and eur
Joshus's eternal victory. On his head
be sll the CROWDS. In his hands be all
the scepters. At his feet be al the hs-
man hearts; and here, Lord, is one Of
them.
Lesson the second: The triumph Of
the wicked is short. Did yeu ever see
an army in paais? There is nothing
SC uncomfortable. II you had stood at
Long bridge. Washington, during the
opening Of our sad sivil war, you would
know what it is to see an array run.
And When those men Of Al locked cut
and saw those men Of Joshua in stan-
pede they ezpested easy work. They
woaI6 soattcr then as the equinox the
leaves. Oh, the gleefsl and jubilans
descent Of the men of Al upoa the men
Of Joshual But their exhllarstisn was
brief, for the tide Of battle turned, SD
these qrondam eoneuerors left their
miserable carsasses IN the wilderness Of
Bethayen. So it always is. The
triumph Of the wicked ia short. You
make S3e, coo at the gaming table
Do you expect to keep IL? You
will die in the poorbeuse. You vade
fortzne by iniqaitoas tra&c. Do
you expect to keep it? Your money
will scatter, or it will stay long enough
to curse your children after you are
dead. Call ever the roll of bad men
who prospered and see how sbert Nss
their prosperity. Yer swhile, like the
men Of Al, they weDs from conquest to
conquest, bat after awhile disaster
relied back upon them, and they we're
divided into three parts. Misfortune
took their property, the grave took
their bedy and the lost world took their
soul. I an always interested in the
building Of palaces Of dissipation.
ike to have thea built Of the best
granite and have the rooRs made large
and to have the pillars made very arn.
God is going to conquer then, AID they
will be turned into asylumas and art
galleries and churches. The stores in
which fraudulent neH DO business, the
splendid banking Institutions where the
president and cashier pat all their
property IN their wives hands and then
fail for $500, 900, all these institutions
are to become the places where honest
Christian mn do business.
Lesson the third: Eev much may
be accomplished by lying in ambush
for opportunities, Are ySu hypercrisi-
cal Of Jeshus's naneuve1? Dc you say
tkst it was cheating for him to take
that city by anbuacade? Was it
v-opy for Wasbinetop to kinSle camp