The Washington weekly post., 1900-04-10
Depth. that Christ sounded.

/ Joshua. the Jesus OF the ages. First fall
| Ing back from an appalling height to an
appalling depth. falling from celestial hills
/ TO terrestrial valleys, from throne to man
ger; yet that did not seem 10 suffice him
as retreat FRiling back still farther
from Bethlehem 10 Nazareth. from Naza-
reth 70 Jerusalem, back from Jerusalem
10 CO,gotha. back from Golgotha TO the
nausoleum in the rock, back down over
the precipi5es OF perdition. until he walk
ed amid the cavernS OF the eternal cap
tives and drank Of the wine Of the wrath
Of Almighty God. amid the AhabS and
the Jezebeis, and the Beishazsars on,
men of the pulpit. and men of the pew.
Christs descent from heaven TO earth
does not measure half the distance! 1t
was from glory TO perdition. He descend
ed into hell All the records Of earthly
retreat are as nothing compared with this
falling back. Santa Anna, with the frag-
ments Of his army flying over the pla-
teaux of Mexico, and Napoleon and his
army Tetreating from Moscow into the
awful SHOWS of Russia. are not worthy to
be mentioned with this retreat, when all
the powers Of darkness seem to be pursu-
ing Christ as he fell back, until the body
Of Him who came to do such wonderful
I thinks. that the city OF Al vas not so
/ emp;ied Of its inhabitants when they went
TO pursue Joshua, as perditlOn was emp
tied Of devils when they started for the
pursuit OF Christ, and He fell back and
/ lack, down lower, down lower, chasm
below chasm. pit below pit, until ne seem
ed TO strike the bottom of objurgation and
scorn and torture. Oh. the long. loud,
jubiiant shout OF hell at the defeat OF the
Lord God Almighty
NJ I'll l. sho.t
But let not the powers Of darkness re-
jOice quite so soon. Do YOU hear that dis
turbance in the tomb of Arimathea? 1
hear the sheet rending. What means that
stone hurled down the side of the hill?
Who is this coming out? Push him back!
the dead must not stalk in this open sun
light. On it is cur Joshua. Let Him come
out He comes forth and starts for the
city. He takes the spear OF the Roman
guard and points that way. Church mili-
tant marches up on one side. and the
church triumphant marches down on the
other side And the powers of darkness
being caught between these ranks of ce-
lestial and terrestrial valor, nothing is
left of them save just enough to illustrate
the direful overthrow of perdition and our
Joshua's eternal victory. On His head be
all the crowns. In his hands be all the
scepters. At his feet be all human hearts;
and here, Lord, is one of them.
Lesson the second: The triumph of the
wicked is short. Did you ever see an army
in panic? There is nothing so uncOn-
trollable. If you had stood 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 eX-
peCted easy work. They would scatter
them as the equinox the leaves Oh, the
9leeful and jubilant descent of the men of
Al upon the men of Joshua, But their
eXhilaratiOn was brief, for the tide of bat
tie turned, and these quondam conquer
OrS left their miserable Carcasses IN the
wilderness of BethaVen. So il always is.
The triumph Of the wicked is short. You
make S30QN0 at the gaming table. Do you
expect TO keep il? You will die in the
pOOrhOUse. You made a fortune by in
iquitous traffic. Do you expect TO keep il?
Your money will scatter. or It viii stay
long enough 10 curse your children after
you are dead Call over the roll Of bad
men vino prospered and see how short
was their prosperity.
Works of the Wicked Fall.
For a while. like the men of Al, they
went from conquest to conquest, but after
a while disaster rolled upon them and
they were divided into three parts-mis-
fortune took their property, the grave
took tbeir body, and The lost world took
their soul. / am always interested in the
building of palaces of dissipation. / like
to have them built OF the best granite,
and TO 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. The stores in which fraudulent
men do business, the splendid banking in
stitutions where the president and cash
ier put ali their property in their wives
hands and then fail for S500Oo0-all these
institutions are TO become the places
where honest Christian men do business
How long will 1t take your boys 10
get through your ill-gotten gains? The
wicked do not live out half their days
For awhile they swagger and strut ani
make a great splash in the newspapers,
but after a while it all dwindles down
into brief paragraph: Died suddenly,
April 8. 1900, a thirty-fiYe years of age.
Relatives and friends OF the family are
invited TO attend the funeral on Wednes-
day. at O'Clock. from his late residence
on Madison Square. Interment Al Green
wood or Oak HILL Some Gf them Jumped
on the docks. Some Of them took prUssic
acid. Some of them fell under the snap
OF a Derringer pistol. Some OF them
spent their last days in q lunatic asylum
Where are William Tweed and his asso-
cldteS? Where are heJcham and Swart-
Wout absconding swindlers? Where IS
James Fisk, the libertine and all the
other misdemeanants? The wicked do
not live out half their days. Disam-
eogue, o world Of darkness! Come up,
! Hldeorand and Henry III and Robes
pierre, and with blisteTing and blasphan-
ing and ashen lips hiss out: The tri-
umph Of the wicked is short
SOuls Wen by Tact.
Lesson the third: How much NAV b.
accomplished by lying in ambush for OBJ
portCniues. Are you hypercritical of
Joshua's maneuver? Do you say thai IL
was cheating for him to take that city nv
ambuscade? Was it wrong for Washing
ton to kindle campires on New Jersey
Heights.s sgiving the impression TO the op-
posing force that a great army was en-
camped there when there was none at aII9
| answer, if the war vas right than
Joshua was right in his stratagem. He
violated no flag of truce He broke no
| treaty. but by lawful ambuscade eaptur-
ed the city of Al. on that We all i.nev
( how 10 lie in ambush for opportunities IN
serve God. The best of our opportunities
do not lie on the surface. but are secretcJ.
by tact, by stratagem BY Christian an
buscade, YOU may take almost any castle
Of sin for Christ Come up toward mrn
with regular besiegement Of argument.
and YOU will be defeated: but lust wait
until the door OF their hearts is set aiar
or they are OF their guard. or their severe
caution Is away from home. and then drop
IN on them from a Christian ambuscsde
There has been many man up to his chin
in scientific portfolios which proved there
was no Christ and no divine revelation.
his pen seimeter flung into tha heart OF
/ theological opponents who. nevertheless
mas been discounted and captured for
God by some little tAree-year- child
who has got Gp and PUT her snowy arms
around his slnewy neck. and asked some