Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1900-04-13

1
men of All made a morning meal of
them
Reasons for Retreat.
But there is more marked illustra-
ton of victorious retreat in the life or
our Joshua. the Jesus of the ages. First
falling back from an appalling height
! 70 an appalling depth, falling from ce-
lestial hills to terrestrial valleys. from
throne 10 Manager; yet that did not
seem 10 suffice him as retreat. Fall
| ing back still farther from Bethlehem
| 10 Nazareth. from Nazareth to Jerusa-
lem. back from Jerusalem to Golgotha.
/ back from Golgotha to the mausoleum
in the rock. back down over the preci-
| pieces of perdition until he walked amid
the caverns of the eternal captives and
drank of the wine of the wrath OF Al
.ghty 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 the distance, Il
I was from glory 10 perdition. He de-
scended into hell All the records of
earthly retreat are as nothing com
pared with this falling back.
Sins Triumph Brief
The triumph of the wicked IS short.
Did YOU ever see an army in panic?
There is nothing SO uncOntrollabie. II
you had stood at Long bridge. Wash
ington, during the opening of our sad
civil war. you would know what il is
10 see an army run. And when these
men of Al looked out and saw those
men of Joshua in a stampede they ex-
pected easy work. They would scatter
them as the equinox the leaves. On.
the gleeful and jubilant descent of the
men of Al upon the men of joshua:
But their exhilaration was brief. for
the tide of battle turned and these
quondam conquerors left their miser-
able carcaSSes in the wilderness OF
Betbaven. So it always is. The tri-
umph of the wicked is short. You
make $50 900 at the gaming table. Do
YOU expect to keep it? You will die IN
the poorhouse. You made fortune by
iniQuitous traffic 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 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.
the grave took their body and the lost
world took their soul. ! am always
interested in the building OF the pal
aces 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 turn
ed into asylums and art galleries and
/ churches The stores in which fraud
ulent 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
$500. 900. all these institutions are TO
become the places where honest CHRIS
tian men do business.
How long will it 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 news
papers, but after awhile It all dwindles
down into a brief paragraphs: Died
suddenly, April g. 1900, 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 the
late residence on Madison square. In
terment at Greenwood or Oak Hill"
Some OF them Jumped off the docks.
Some OF them took prussic acid. Some
of them fell under the snap of Der
ringer pistol. Some of them spent
their days in a lunatic asylum. Where
are William Tweed and his associates =?
Where are ketcham and Swartwout.
. absconding swindlers? Where are
I James Fisk, the libertine. and all the
other misdemeanants? The wicked do
, not live ont half their days Disem
bogue, world OF darkness. Come
mp Hildebrand and Henry H. and
! Robespierre and. with blistering and
) disappearing and ashen lips. hiss out.
The triumph of the wicked is short
Awaiting Opportunities.
How much may be accomplished by
lying in ambush for opportunities. Are
you hypercritical Of Joshua's maneu-
; yer? DO you say that it was cheating
for him 10 take that city by ambus-
cade? Was it wrong for Washington
TO kindle campfires on Jersey heights
giving the impression to the opposing
force that a great army was encamped
there when there was none at all?
answer, if the war was right. then
Joshua was right in his stratagem. lie
violated no flag of truce He broke
= no treaty, but by lawful ambuscade
: captured the city of All Oh, that We
r all knew how to lie in ambush for
J opportunities TO serve God The best
T of our opportunities do not lie on the
. surface. but are secreted. BY tact, by
stratagem. by Christian ambuscade
= you may take almost any castle of sin
for Christ. Come UP toward men with
I a regular besiegement of argument
: and you will be defeated. but just wait
r until the door of their hearts is set
: ajar. or they are of their guard. or
= their severe caution is away from
.,.I .lr<,v hon f-n,r