Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-05-10

| mausoieum in the rock, back down over
the precipices Of perdition until He walked
amid tho Gu verns OF the eternal captives
and drank Of the wine OF the wrath OF
| Almighty God, amid the Ahabs and tho
Jezebels and the Belshazzars. On, 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 perdition. He descended into
hell. All the records OF earthly retreat ara
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 amy retreating
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 rs
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 All was not so emptiod OF it's inhabitants
when they went to pursue Joshua rs per-
dition WAS emptied OF devils when they
started for the pursuit OF Christ, and He
fell back and back down lower, down
lower, chasm below chasm, pit below pit,
until He seemed to strike the bottom OF OBJ
jurgation and scorn and torture. Oh, the
long, loud, jubilant shout OF hell at the de.
feat of tho Lord God Almighty!
Lesson the second Tho triumph OF the
wicked is short. Did you ever see an army
In panic? There is nothing so uncon-
trollable. II you had stool ut Long Bridge,
Washington, during the opening OF our
sad Civil War, you would know what 1t Is
to see oil 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 gleeful and
| jubilant descent of the men Of Al upon the
men of Joshual But their exhilaration was
| brief, for the tide OF battle turned, an1
these quondam conquerors lett their miser
able carcasses in the wilderness OF Bethu-
ven. SO it always is. The triumph OF the
wicked is short. You make $40 900 ut the
gambling table. DO you expect to keep IL {
You will die in the poorhouse. You make
n fortune by iniquitous traffic. Do you ex.
pect 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 pros
pered and see how short was their prosper
ity. For awhile, like the men OF Al, they
went from corIuest to conquest, but after
awhile -...aster rolled back upon them, and
they were divided into three parts. Mis-
fortune took their property, the Rravetook
their body and the lost world took their
soul. am always Interested in the bull t.
! 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 into asylums
and art galleries and churches.
How long will it take your boys to get
through your i'll gotten gains? The wicked
do not live out half their days. For awhile
they swagger and strut and make II great
splash in the newspapers, but after awhile
it all dwindles down into Il brief paragraph:
''Died suddenly, April s, 1900, ut thirty five
years OF age Relatives and friends OF the
! family are invited to attend the funeral on
Wednesday at o'clock from his late resi-
denee on Madison square. Intermcnt at
| Greenwood or Oak Hill" Some .of them
L INN, mad p Off In n.lyu . ,aI.
prussic acid. Some OF them fell under the
snap OF Derringer pistol. Some OF them
| spent their days in lunatic asylum.
Where are William Tweed and his asso-
ciates? Where are James Fisk, the Iiber-
tine, and all the other misdemeanants?
The wicked do not live ont half their DAYS.
Disembogue, o world OF darkness! Come
up. Hidebrand and Henry III and Robes
pierre, and with blistering and blasphem-
ing and ashen lips, hiss out, 1.-The triumph
OF the wicked is short"
Lesson the third: How much NAV be ac-
eomplished by lying in ambush for oppor-
.unities. Are you hypercrtical OF Joshua's
maneuver? Do You say that it was cheat
ing for him to take that city by ambus-
cade? Was it wrong for Washington to
kindle campllro3 on Jersey heights giving
the impression to the opposing force that
! great army was encnmped there when
there was none at all? L answer, ii the
war was right, then Joshua was right in
his stratagem. He violated no flag OF
truce. He broke no treaty, but by Il lawful
ambuscane captured the city of Al.
On, that we all knew how to lie in am
bush for opportunities to serve Godl The
best OF our opportunities do not lie on the
surface, but are secreted. By tact, by
stratagen. by Christian ambuscade, You
may take almost any castle of sin for
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 home, and then drop in ON them
from Il Christian ambuscade.
There has been many q man up TO his
chin in scientific portfolios which proved
there was no Christ and no divine reyelu-
tion, his pen scimeter flung into tho
heart OF theological opponents. who never
theless has been discom ilted and captured
for God by some little three-year-old child
who has got up and put her snowy arms
around his snewy neck and asked s1me
simple question auout God.
Oh, make II flank movement! Steal n
march on the devill Cheat that man into
heaven! A $5 treatise that will stand all
the laws OF homiletics may fail to do that
which penny tract OF Christian entreaty
may accomplish.
Oh, for more Christians in ambuscade-
not lying In idleness, but waiting for Il
quick spring, waiting until just the right
time comes! Do not talk to man about
tho vanity of this world on the day when
he has bought something ut "12' and is
gong to sell it ut "15." But talk to him
about the vanity of the world on the day
when he has bought something ut 'l5" and
is compelled to sell it at .s12.''
Lesson the fourth The Importance OF
taking good aim. There is Joshua, but
how are those people i'm ambush up yonder
to know when they are to drop ON the city,
and how are these men around Joshua to
know when they are to stop their fight
and advance? There must be some signal
IA signal to stop the one division and to
start the other. Joshua, with II spear on
which were ordinarily hung the coors OF
battle, points toward the city. He stands
In such consl icuous position, and there
Is so much OF the morning light dripping
from the spear tip, that all around the
horizon they see it. 1t was as much as to
sny: There is the city. Take itl'
God knows and we know that n great
deal OF Christian attack amounts to moth
Ing simply because we do not tako good |
aim. Nobody knows and we do not know |
ourselves which point wo want to take |
when we ought to makeup our minds what |
(taN NvVrIt