Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-10-23

parallel Co eacn other fastene1 ana totally
blind, with his pen between those pieces OF
wood he w ote, the stroke against one piece
Of wood telling how far the pen must go in
one way the stroke against the other piece
of wood telling how far the pen must go the
other way. Oh how much men will endure
for worldly knowledge and for worldly sue
cess and vet how little we endure for Jesus
Christ. How many Christians there are
that go around saying, oh my hand, my
! hand, my hurt hand; don't you see there is
blood on the hand, and there is blood on the
sword?' while Eleazar, with the hilt i'm
bedded In the flesh Of his right hand, does
not know it.
Must be carried to the skies
On Aowery beds Of ease,
Or sailed through bloody seas?
What have we suffered In comparison
with those who expired with suffocation. or
were burned, or were chopped to pieces for
the truths sakes We talk of the persecution
OF olden times. There is just as much perse-
cutlon going on now in various ways. In
lS49, In Madagascar, eighteen men were put
to death for Christ's sake. They @ere to be
hurled over the rocks, and before they were
hurled over the rocks, in order to make their
death the more dreadful in anticipation
they were put in baskets and swung to and
| fro over the precipice that they might see
| how IoanY hun ired feet they would have to
be dashed down, and while they were swing
! ing IN these baskets over the rocks they
sang:
Jesus, lover of nv soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fv
While the pillows me roll,
While the tempest still is high.
/ Then they were dashed down to death
Oh, how much others have endured for Christ
and how little we endure for Christ! We
I want to ride to heaven in a Pullman Sleep
ing-car, our feet on soft plush. the bed made
! up early so we can sleep all the way. the
black porter of death to wake US up only in
| time to enter the golden city. We want all
! the surgeons to fix our hand up. Let them
bring on all the lint, and all the bandages.
and all the salve, for our hand is hurt, while
Eleazer does not know his hand is hurt. ellis
| hand clave unto the sword"
AS look at Eleazar's hand come to the
conclusion that he has done great deal Of
hard hitting. | am not surprised when T
see that these four men-Eleazar and his
three companions-drove back the army of
Philistines that Eleazar's sword clave to his
hand, for every time he struck an enemy
with one end of the sword the other end of
the sword wounded him. When he took
hold OF the sword the sword took hold of
him. Oh, we have found an enemy who
cannot be conquered by rose water and soft
speeches. 1t must be sharp stroke and
straight thrust, There is intemperance, and
there is fraud, and there is gambling. and
Gnete Is lust' and there are ten thousand
battallons of iniquity, armed Philistine
lnlquity. How are they to be captured and
overthrown? Soft sermons in morocco
cases laid down in front of an exquisite audi
ence Will not do it. You have got to call
things by their right names.
we have got to expel from our churches
CHRISTIANS who eat the sacrament on Sum
day and devour widows houses all the week.
We have got to stop our Indignation against
the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Ger
glshltes, end let those poor wretches go, and
apply our indignation to the modern trans
gressions which need to be dragged out and
slain. Ahabs here. Herods here. Jezebels
here. The massacre of the infants here.
Strike for God so hard that while You slav
the sin the sword will adhere to your own
hand: tell you, my friends, we want a
few John knoxes and John Wesleys in the
Christian church to-day. The whole ten
dency is to refine on Christian work We
keep on refining on it until we send anoIo-
getic word to iniquity we are about to can
ture it. And we must go with sword silver
chased and presented by the ladies' and wa
must ride on white palfrey under embroid-
cred housing, putting the spurs only lust
enough to make the charger dance grace
fully, and then we must send a missive, deli
cate as a wedding card to ask the old black
giant of sin if he will not surrender.
Women saved by the grace of God and on
glorious mission sent, detained from Sabbath
classes because their new hat is not done
Churches that shook our cities with great
rev1vals sending around to ask some demon
Strative worshiper if he will not please to saw |
amen and ''halleluJah" a little softer. It !
seems as II In our churches we wanted a |
baptism of cologne and balm of a thousand |
flowers, when we actually need a baptism of |
fire from the Lord God OF Pentecost But |
we are so afraid somebody will criticse our |
sermons or crltlclse our prayers, or critlcise |
our religious work that our anxiety for the |
worlds redemption is lost in the fear we will |
get our hand hurt, while Eleazar went into |
the conflict, And his hand clave unto the
sword"
But [ see in the next place what a hard
thing 1t was for Eliazar to get his hand and
his sword parted. The muscles and the sin
ews had been SO long grasped around the
sword he could not drop it when he proposed
to drop it, and his three comrades I SUPPOSE
came up and tried to help him, and they
bathed the back part of the hand, hoping
the slnews and muscles would relax But
no. His hand clave unto the swordn
Then they tried to pull open the fingers and
to pull back the thumb; but no sooner were
they pulled back than they closed again.
land his hand clave unto the sword" But
after while they were successful, then they
noticed that the curve in the palm of the
hand corresponded exactly with the curve
OF the hilt. His hand clave unto the sword"
You and l have seen it many time.
There are in the United States to-day many
aged ministers of the Gospel. They are too
feeble now to preach. In the church records
the word opposite their name is 'emer-
titus, or the words ara "a minister without
charge" They were an heroic race. They
had small salaries and but few books and
they swan spring freshets to meet their ap- !