Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-04-12

ton In the presence of mighty and
overwhelming temptations, and the
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 OF
our Joshua, the Jesus of the ages. First
falling back from an appalling height
to an appalling depth. falling from ce-
lestial hills to terrestrial valleys, from
throne to manger; yet that did not
seem to suffice him as a retreat. Fall
ing back still farther from Bethlehem
to 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-
pices Of perdition until he walked amid
the caverns of the eternal captives and
drank OF the wine Of the wrath OF Al
mighty 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! 1t
was from glory to 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 a panic?
There is nothing so uncomfortable. IL
you had stood at Long bridge, Wash
ington, during the opening Of our sad
civil war, you would know what 1t Is
to 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. Oh,
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
Bethaven. So II always is. The tri-
umph OF the wicked Is short. You
make $4,000 at the gaming table. Do
you expect to keep IL? You will die in
the poorhouse. You made a fortune by
Ubiquitous traffic. Do you expect to
keep it? Your money win scatter. or
1t 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 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 news
papers, but after awhile it all dwindles
down into a brief paragraph: "Died
suddenly, April s. 1900. at 35 years of
age Relatives and friends of the fam
lily are invited to attend the funeral
on Wednesday at 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 lunatic asylum. Where
are William Tweed and his associates?
Where are Ketcham and Swartwout.
absconding swlndlers? Where are
James Fisk. the libertine. and all the
other misdemeanants? The wicked do
not live out half their days. Dlsem.
bogue, o world OF darkness, Come
up, Hildebrand and Henry III. and
Robespierre and. with blistering and
disappearing and ashen lips, hiss out,
1.-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 to take that city by ambus-
cade? Was it wrong for Washington
to kindle campfres on Jersey heights,
giving the impression to the opposing
force that a great army was encamped
there when there was none at all? I
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 lawful ambuscade
captured the city of Al. Oh, that we
all knew how to lilo In ambush for
opportunities to serve God. The best
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
regular beslegement Of argument.
and you will be defeated. but just walt
until the door of their hearts is set
ajar. or they are OF their guard. or
their severe caution is away from
\ home. and then drop in on them from
a Christian ambuscade. There has
been many man up to his chin in
scientific portfolios which proved there