The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-05-12


sand missionaries Of the cross on heather
| grounds; eighty thousand ministers o
Jesus Christ In this land; at least four hun
dred millions OF Christians on the earth
Falling back, yet advancing until tho ole
Wesleyan hymn will prove true:
The lion OF Judah shall break the chain
And give US the victory again and again
But there is a more marked illustration
OF victorious retreat In the life OF oul
Joshua, the Jesus Of the ages. First fall
Ing back from an appalling height to an
appalling depth. falling from celestial hill:
to terrestrial valleys, from throne to man
ger: yet that did not seem to suffice Him rs
as IL retreat. Falling back still farther
from Bethlehem to NaEareth, from Naz-
ereth to Jerusalem, back from Jerusa lem
to Golgotha, back from Goigotha TO the
mausoleum in the rock, back down over
the precipices OF perdition until He walked
amid the caverns OF the eternal captives
and drank of the wine OF this wrath OF
Almighty God, amid the Ahabs and the
Jezebes and the Belshazzars. Oh, men of
the pulpit and men OF the pew, Christ's
| descent from heaven to earth does not
measure half the distance 1t was from
glory to perdtion. He descended into
| hell. All the records OF earthly retreat are
| as nothing compared with this falling
| bnck. Santa Anna, with the fragments OF
his army flying over the plateaus OF Mexico,
and Napoleon and his Amy retreattng
from Moscow into the awful SHOWS OF
| Russia are not worthy to be mentioned
| with this retreat, when all 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 pulse-
| less and stripped. Methinks that the city
| Of Al was not so emptied OF its inhabitants
| when they went to pursue Joshua as per-
| ditioD was emptied OF devils when they
IA 0f riS JJa
fell back and back, down lower, down
| lower, chasm below chasm, pit below pit,
until He seemed to strike the bottom Of OBJ
| jurSation and scorn aud torture. Oh, the
long, loud, jubilant shout Of he'll at the de-
| feat OF the Lord God Almighty!
Lesson the second: The triumph OF the
wicked is short. Did you ever see an army
ia panic? There IS nothing SO uEcon-
trollable. II you had stood at Long Bri!ge,
Washington, during the opening OF our
sad Civil War, you would know what it Is
to see an army run. And wher those men
of All 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 gleeful and
jubiant descent OF tho men OF Al upon the
men Of Joshua But their exhil aration was
brief, for the tide Of battle turned, AMI
these quondam conquerors lett their miser
able carcasses In the wilderness OF Bethn-
ven. 80 IL always Is. Inc triumph Oh tho
wicked is short. You make $40 900 at the
gambling table. Do you expect to keep it?
You will die In the poorhouse. You make
Il fortune by iniluitous trafflc. Do you ex-
pect to keep 1t? Your money will scatter,
or 1t will stay long enough to curse your
children after YOU are dead.
Call over the roll OF bad men who pros
pered and see how short was their prosper
ity. For awhile, like the men OF Al, they
went from conquest to conquest, but after
awhile disaster rolled back upon them nd
they were divided into three parts. Mis-
fortune took their property, the grave took |
their body and the lost world took their |
soul. am always interested In the buili-
ing OF palaces OF dissipation. like to have |
them built Of the best granite and have the
rooms made large and to have the pillars
made very firm. God Is going to conquer
them, and they will be turned int asyIums
and art galleries and churches.
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 and make a great
splash In the newspapers, but after awhile
it all dwindles down into a brief paragraphs:
"Died suddenly April s, 1900 at thirty-ilve
years OF age. Relatives and friends OF the
family are invited to attend the funeral on
Wednesday at o'clock from his late resi-
dence on Madison square. Interment at
jumped off the docks. Some OF them took
prussic acid. Some Of them fell under the
snap Of a Derrlnger pistol. Some Of them
spent their days in a lunatic asylum.
Where are William Tweed and his asso-
ciates? Where are James Fisk, tho liber-
tine, and all the other misdemeanants?
The wicked do not live out half their davs.
Disembosue, 0 world OF darkness! Come
up. Hildebrand and Henry ii and Robes
pierre, and with blistering and blasphem-
Ing and ashen lips, hiss out, 'Tie triumph
OF the wickod is Short
Lesson the third: How much may be ac-
complished by lying in ambush for oppor-
maneuver? Do you say that 1t was cheat
ing for him to take that city by ambus-
cade? Was it wrong for Washington to
kindle campl1res on Jersey heights, giving
the impression to the opposing force that
great army was encamped there when
there was none at all? / answer, il the
war was right, then Joshua was right in
his stratagem. He violated no flag OF
truce. He broke no treaty, but byn lawful
ambuscane captured the city OF Al.
Oh, that we all knew how to lie in am
bush for opportunities to serve God! The
best OF our opportunities 60 not lie on the
surface, but are secreted. by tact, by
stratagen, by Christian ambnscade, you
may take almost any castle OF sin fOl
Christ. Come up toward men With reg
ular besiegement OF argument, and you
will be defeated, but just wait until the
door OF their hearts is set ajar, or they are
off their guard or their severe caution is
away from homo, and then drop in on them
from Christian ambuscade.
There has been many a man up to his
chin in scientific portfolios which proved
there was no Christ and no divine revela-
tion, his pen a scimeter flung into the
heart Of theological opponents, who never
theless has been discounted and captured
for God by some little three -year-old child
who has got up and put her snowy arms
around his sinewy neck and asked some
simple question about God.
Oh, make a flank movement! Steal n
march on the devill Cheat that man into
heaven! S. treatise that will stand all
the laws Of homiletics may fail to do that
which penny traot OF Christian entreaty
may accomplish.
Oh, for more Christians in ambuscade-
not lying In idleness. but waiting for a
quick spring, waiting until just the right
time comesl Do not talk to man about
the vanity OF this world on the day when
he has bought something ut ''12' and Is
gong to sell it at ''15." But talk to him
about the vanity Of the world on the day
when he has bought something at "15" and
is compelled to sell It at So"
Lesson the fourth: The importance OF
taking good aim. There is Joshua, but