Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-10-12

same old ring to his voice and the same old
story of pardon and peace and Christ and
heaven. His hand has so long clutched the
sword in Christian conflict he cannot drop
it His hand clave unto the sword"
THE AGED MINISTER'S FAITH
| had in my parish in Philadelphia a
very aged man who in his early life had
been the companion and adviser of the
early presidents, Madison and Monroe lie
had welded vast influence, but only
knew him as a very aged man. The most
remarkable thing about him was his ardor
for Christ. When he could not stand IN
| in the meetings without propping he would
throw his arms around pillar of the
church, and though his mind was partially
gone his love for Christ was so great that
all were in deep respect and profound ad.
miration, and we're moved when he spoke.
was called to see him die. | entered the
room, and he said, "Mr. Talmage, can.
not speak to you now" He was in a very
pleasant delirium, as he imagined he had
an audience before him. He said, 81 must
tell these people to come to Christ and pre-
pare for heaven" And then in this pleas.
ant delirium, both arms lifted, this octo-
genarian preached Christ and told of the
on his dying pillow, his dying hand clave
to his sword.
Oh, If there ever was any one who had a
right to retire from the conflict it was old
Joshua. Soldiers come back from battle
have the names of the battles on their flags,
showing where they distinguished them.
selves, and it is very appropriate inscrip
ton Look at the flag of old General
loci n,, a;al.
City of All, and instead of the stars
sprinkled on the flag the sun and the moon
which stood still. There he is, one hun.
dred and ten years old. He is lying fiat on
his back but he is preaching. His dying
words are battle charge against idolatry
and rallying cry for the Lord of Hosts as
he says, Behold, this day go the way of
all the earth and God hath not failed to
fulfill his promise concerning Israel" His
dying hand clave unto the sword.
There is the headless body of Paul on the
road to Ostea. His great brain and his
great heart have been severed. The elm
wood rods had stung him fearfully. When
the corn ship broke up he swan ashore,
coming up drenched with the brine Every
day since that day when the horse reared
under him in the suburbs of Damascus, as
the supernatural light fell, down to this
day when he is siXty-eight years of age and
old and decrepit from the prison cell of
the Mamertine, he has been outrageously
treated, and he is waiting to die. How does
he spend his last hours? Telling the world
how badly he feels, and describing the
rheumatism that he got in prison, the
rheumatism affecting his limbs, ornthe
neuralgia piercing his temples, or the thirst
a. 30, l. L.,
words are the battle shout for Christendom:
Il am now ready to be offered and the
time of my departure is at hand; have
fought the good fight" And so his dying
hand clave unto the sword.
1t was in the front room on the second
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, and he had been home
sick 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, 81 have been
young and now am old, yet have never
seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed
begging bread" They bathed his brow,
and they bathed his hands, and they bathcd
ing out the feet; but they did not succeed
in bathing open the hand so it would stay
open. They bathed the hand open, but it
came shut They bathed it open again, but
it cameshut What was the matter with the
thumb and the fingers of that old handP
Ali it had so long clutched the sword of
Christian conflict that "his hand clave unto
the sword"
SPIRITS OF THE MARTYRS
preach this sermon as tonic. want
you to hold the truth with ineradicable
grip, and want you to strike so hard for
God 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 ut Lex
ington. Soldiers coming together are very
apt to recount 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 another soldier pulls down his
collar, and says, "There, was wounded in
the neck" And another soldier says, II
have had no use Of that limb since the gun
shot fracture" Oh, my friends, when the
DdUUl6 Oh lie ~ over anu JuS TcSUTTSCGlOu
has come and our bodies rise from the
dead, will we have on us any scars of
bravery for GodP Christ will be there all
covered with scars Scars on the brow,
scars on the hand, scars on the feet, scars
all over the heart won in the battle of re-
demption. And all heaven will sob aloud
with emotion as they look on those scars.
Ignatius will be there and he will point
a. 81, l. =
of the lion seized him in the Coliseum;
and John Huss will be there, and he will
show where the coal first scorched the foot
on that day when his spirit took wing OF
fame from Constance. M'Millan and Camp
bell and Freeman, American missionaries
In India, will be there-the men who with
their wives aud 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 Piedmontese soldiery
pitched them over the rocks. And there
will be those there who took care Of the
sick and who looked after the poor, and
they will have evidences of earthly ex-
haustion And Christ, with his SCARED
hand waving over the SCARED multi
tude, will say, "You suffered with me on
earth, now be glorilied 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 the blood of the Lamb"
But what will your chagrin and mine be
If it shall be told that day on the streets OF
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