Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-04-18

Iu0 puipit 8uu mou Ot tue pow, Outist
descent from heaven to earth does not
measure half the distancel 1t WAS from
glory to perdition. He descended into
hell. All the records OF earthly retreat Rrs
Is 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 ali the powers OF
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-
dition was emptied Of devils when they
fell back and back, down lower, down
lower, chasm below chasm, pit below pit,
until He seemed to strike the bottom OF OBJ
iurgation and scorn and torture. oh, the
long, loud, jubilant shout OF hell at the de-
feat OF the Lord God Almighty!
2 Lesson the second: The triumph Of the
w'cke1.. short. Did you ever see an army
In u tahicf There Is nothing so Gicos.-
trollaDio. Il JJoE lad s,o5i at Long Bridge,
Washington, during the opening OF our
sad Civil War, you would know what 1t is
to see an army run. And when those men
OF Al looked out and saw those men OF
Joshua In a stampede they expected easy
work. They would scatter them as the
equinox the leaves. Oh, the gleeful and
jubilant descent of the men of All upon the
men OF Joshual But their exbilaration was
brief, for the tide OF battle turned, nni
these quondam conquerors lett their miser-
able carcasses in the wilderness o! Betha-
ven. So 1t always is. The triumph OF the
wicked Is short. You make $50 900 at the
gambling table. Do you expect to keep IL?
You will die In the poorhouse. You make
a fortune by Ubiquitous traffic. 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, and
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 bull l.
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 asylum
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 paragraph:
"Died suddenly. April 8, 1900, at thirty-lve
years OF age. Relatives and friends OF the
family are invited to attend the funeral on
Wednesday at 2 o'clock from his late resi-
dence on Madison square. Interment at
or Oak HILL" Some of them
jumped of the docks. Some Of them took
prussic acid. Some OF them fell under the
snap OF a d erringer pistol. Some OF them
spent their days in lunatic asylum.
Where are William Tweed and his asso-
ciates? Where are James Fisk, the liber-
tine, and all the other misdemeanants?
The wicked do not live ont half their days.
Disembogue, o world of darkness! Come
up. Hildebrand and Henry III and Robes.
pierre, and with blistering and blasphem.
Ing and ashen lips. hiss out, THE triumph
OF the wicked Is short"
Lesson the third: How much may be ac-
complished by lying in ambush for oppor-
:unities. Are you hypercritical OF Joshua's
maneuver? Do you saw that 1t was cheat
ing for him to take that city by ambus-
cade? Was 1t wrong for Washington to
kindle campnre5 on Jersey heights, giving
the impression to the opposing force that
a great army was encamped there when
there was none at alp l answer, IL the
war was right, then Joshua was right in
his strntagem. He violated no flag Of
truce. He broke no treaty, but by II Lawful
ambuscane captured the city OF Al.
Oh, that We all knew how to lie in am.
bush for opportunities to serve Godi The
pcSt vi OuE uo Dot ne On tue
surface, but are secreted. BY tact, by
stratlgen, by Christian ambusclde, you
may take almost any castle of sin fol
Christ. Come up toward men with reg
ular besiegement Of argument, and you
wilt be defeated, but just wait until the
of their guard. or their severe caution Is
away from home, and then drop in on them
from Christian ambuscade.
There has been many 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 e-year-old child
who has got up and put her snowy arms
around his sinewy neck and asked sJme
simple question about God.
Oh, make flank movement Steal a
march on the devill Cheat that man into
heavenl A S5 treatise that will stand all
the laws Of homiletics NAV fail to do that
which a penny tract OF Christian entreaty
may accomplish.
Oh, for more Christians In ambuscade-
not lying in idleness, but waiting for
quick spring, waiting until Just the right
time cOmesi Do not talk to man about
the vanity OF this world on the day when
he has bought something at "12' and H.
going to sell it at "15." But talk to him
about the vanity OF the world on the day
when he has boIght something at "15" aud
is compelled to sell 1t at .sI2"
Lesson the fourth: The Importance OF
taking good aim. There is Joshua, but
how are those people i'm AN bu ush up wonder
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 light
and advance2 There must be some signal
"a signal to stop the one division anil to
start the other. Joshua, with Il spear on
which were ordinarily hung the colors OF
battle. points toward the city. He stands
in such a consI 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 rs much AS to
say: "There Is the city. Take It'll"
God knows and we know that n great
deal OF Christian attack amounts to moth
ing simply because we do not take god
aim. Nobody knows and we do not know
ourselves which point we want to take
when we ought to make up our minds what
God will have us to do and point our spear
in that direction and then buri our body,
mind, soul, time, eternity at that one tar
get.
In our pulpits' and pews and Sunday
schools and prayer meetings we want to get
reputation for saying pretty things, and
so We point our spear towardsth the flowers,
or We want a reputation for saying sublime
things, and We point our spear toward the
stars, or we want to get reputation for
historical knowledge, and we point our
spear tOWHru tue past, or We want TO get
reputation for great liberality, so we swing
our spear all around, while there is the
old world, proud, reoellious and armed
against all righteousness, and instead OF
running any further away from Its pursuit
We ought to turn around, plant our foot In
the strength of the eternal God, lift the old
cross andPoint 1t In the direction of the
! worlds conquest till, the redeemed OF
earth, marching up from one side and the
glortfed OF heaven marching down from
tue other side, the last battlement OF sin
Is compelled to swing out the steamers OF
Emanuel. o church Of God, take aim and
eonqueri
Give the man you wish to benefi,
your idea, and let him frame it in his
own thoughts. Don't do his thinking
for him. '.4