The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1900-04-14

smear, rlittering In the sun like a shaft
Of doom, and points IL toward the city,
and when the men up yonder in the am
bush see IL with hawklike swoop they
drop upon Al and without stroke OF
sword or stab Of spear take the city
and put st to the torch.
So much for the division that wa IN
ambush. How about the division under
,Joshua's command? No sooner does
Joshua stop in the fight than all bis
men stop with him, and as he wheels
they wheel, for in a voice OF thunder
he cried; Haiti" one strong arm
driving back a torrent Of flying troops.
And then. as he points his spear
through the golden light toward hat
fated city. his troops know that they
are to start for ii. What a scene II was
when the division in ambush which
had taken the city marched down
against the men Of Al on the one side.
and the troops under Joshua doubled
up their enemies from the other side
and the men Of Al were caught between
these two hurricanes Of lsraclitish
courage. thrust before and behind,
stabbed in breast and back, ground be-
tween the upper and the neither mill
stones OF Gods indignation! Woe TO
the city Of Al, Cheer for Israel!
Lesson the first: There is such a
thing rs victorious retreat. Joshua's
falling back was the first chapter in
his successful besiegement. And there
are times in your life when the best
thing you Fan do is to run. You were
once the victim of strong drink. The
demiiohn and the decanter were your
fierce foes. They came down upon you
with greater fury than the men of Al
upon the men of Joshua. Your only
safety is 10 get away from them. Your
dissipating companions will come
around you for your overthrow. Run
for your life! Fall back! Fall back
from the drinking saloon! FAN back
from the wine partyl Your fight is
your advance; your retreat is your
victory. There is a saloon down on the
next street that has almost been the
ruin Of your soul. Then why do you
90 along that street? Why do you
not pass through some other street
rather than by the place Of your calam-
ity? A spoonful Of brandy taken for
medicinal purposes by a man who 20
years before had been reformed from
drunkenness hurled into inebriety and
the grave one Of the best friends l ever
had. Retreat is victoryl
Here is a converted infdel. he is so
strong now in his faith in the Gospel
he says he can read anything. What
are you reading? Bolingbroke? An
drew Jackson Davis tracts? Tyndars
Glasgow university address? Drop
them and run. You will he an infdel be-
fore you die unless you quit that. These
men OF Al will be too much for you.
Turn your back on the rank and file
OF unbelief. Fly before they cut you
with their swords and transhx you
with their iavelins, There are people
who have been well-nigh ruined be-
cause they riskcd a %foolhardy cxpedi-
ton in the presence OF mighty and
overwhelming temptations and the
men Of Al made a morning meal OF
them.
So, also. there is victorious retreat In
the religious world. Thousands OF
times the Kingdom Of Christ has
seemed to fall back. When the blood
OF the Scotch Coyenanters gave a deep
dye TO the heather Of the highlands.
when the Vaudois Of France chose ex.
termination rather than make an un-
christian surrender, when on St. Bar
tholomew's day mounted assassins
rode through the streets Of Paris, cry.
ing Kill! Bloodletting is good in Au.
gust! Kill! Death to the Huguenotsl
Kill" when Lady Jane Grey's head
rolled from the executioner's block.
when Calvin was imprisoned in the
castle, when John Knox died for the
truth, when John Bunyan lay %rottine
in Bedford ial -aving: IF God vii