Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-10-31

Joshua. Soldiers coma back from BATHS
have the names OF the battles on their nsgs.
showing where they distinguished them
selves. and it is a very appropriate lnscrip-
ton. Look at the Gag Of old General
Joshua, On it Jericho. Gibeon, Hazar. City
of Al, and instead Of the stars sprinkied on
the flag the sun and the moon Which stood
still. There he is. one hundred and ten years
old. He is lying fat on bis back but be IS
preaching. His dying words are q battle
charge against idolatry and a rallving cry
for the Lord of Hosts as be says, behold:
this day | go the way OK all the earth, AMI
God hath not failed ID fulfill his prolnis,
concerning Israel His dying hand claVe
unto the sword.
There IS the headless body Of Paul on tne
read 70 Ostea. His great brain end bis great
heart have teen severed. The elmwood role
had stung him fearful!y. When the corn
drrnchei with the brine Every day SINGS
that day when the horse reared under him
in the 81 ourhs Of Damascus. as the superna-
tuTal llgnt TELL, 90 va TO tbs DAY "nsh Ne Is
sixtv-ejch. years Of age and old and decrepic
from the prison cell OF the Mamertlna, he has
been outrageolsly treated, ana he Is waiting
t. die. How does he spend his last hours.
Telling the world how badly he feels, AMI de-
scribiny the rheumatism that he got III
prss1n. the rheumatism affecting his lim5s.
or the neuralgia piercing his temples, or the
tairst that fcvers his tongue: On. no his
last words are the battle shout for Christen-
dom 4 am now ready to be Offered. and
the time % my departure is at hand: have
fought the good fight" And 50 his dying
hand ella Va unto the sword.
Itwas in the front room on the seconi
floor that my father lay a-dying. 1t was
saturday morning, four o'clock. Just three
years before that day my mother had left
him for the skies, AMI he had been homeslck
to join her company He was eighty-three
years of age. Ministers of the Gospel came
in to comfort him. but he comforted them.
How wonderfully the words sounded out
from his dying pillow. Il have been young
and now am Old, yet have | never seen
the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging
bread They bathed his brow, they bathed
his hands, and they bathed his feet and they
succeeded III Strengthening out the feet; but
they did not succeed III bathing open the
hand so it would stay open. They bathed
the hand open, but it came shut. They
bathed it open s,aiu. but it came shut:
What was the matter With the thumb and
the fingers os that old hand? An! it had
50 lone clnfchad the sword of Christian con.
dict that his hand clave unto the sword.
| preach this sermon as q tonic. l want
YOU to hold toe truth with lnerddlcable grip,
and | want you to strike SO hard for Coz
that it will react and while you take the
sword, the sword will take You.
You noticed that the officers Of the North
ern army a few years ago assembled at
Denver, and you noticed that the officers OF
the Southern army assembled at Lexington.
Soldiers coming together are very apt TO re-
count their experiences and to show their
scars. Here is a soldier who pulls. up his
sleeve and says, There, | was wounded in
that arm and shows the scar. And an
other soldier pulls down his collar. and says,
There, | was wounded in the neck" And
another soldier says, Il have had no use OF
that limb since the gun-shot fracture" Oh,
my friends, when the battle of life is over
aud the resurrection has come and our
tOdlGs rise from the ueal, Will
we have on us any scars of
bravery for God? Christ will be there all
covered with scars. Scars On thu brow,
scars on the hand, scars on the feet, scars all
over the heart, won in the battle Of radenp-
ton. And all heaven will sob aloud with
emotion as they look on those scars. 1gna-
thus will be there and he will point out the
places where the tooth and paw OF the lion
seized him in the Coliseum: and John Huss
viii be there, and he will show where the
coal first scorched the foot on that day when
his spirit took wing Of lame from Constance.
MMillan and Campbell and freeman,
American missionaries in India, will be
there-the men who with their wives and
children went down in the awful massacre at
Cawnpore. and they will show where the
daggers of the Sepoys struck them.
The WaldenseS will be there, and they will
show where their bones were broken on that
day when the Pie1montese soldiery pitched
them over the rocks. And there will be those
liz II oOh 1alo Ok IhC I'LL wiz
locked after the poor, and they will have
evidences of earthly exhaustion. And Christ,
with His Scared hand waving over the
Scared multitude, will say, You suffered
with Me on earth; now be ~glorifed with Me
in heaven" And then the great organs of
eternity will take up the chant and st. John
will play, These are they who came out OF
great tribulation and had their robes washed
and made white in :he blood of+the Lamb :"
Put what will your chagrin and mine be
if it shall be told that day on the streets Of
heaven that on earth we shrank back from
all toll and sacrifice and hardship. No scars
toAshow the heavenly soldiery. Not SO much
aJone ridge on the palm or the hand to show
that Just once in the battle for Col and the
truth. We just once graspei the sword SO
firmly, ana struck so hard that the sword
and the hand stuck together, and the hand
clave to the sword, 0 my Lord Jesus, rous,
US to Thy service.
Thy saints in al this glorious war
Shalt conquer though they die,