News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-10-15

| need a baptism of fire from the Lord
/ God of Pentecost. But we are so
afraid somebody will criticise our ser
mons, or criticise our prayers, or criti-
else our religious work that our anxiety
for the worlds redemption is lost in the
fear we will get our hand hurt, while
Eleazer went into the conflict, land
his hand cIave unto the sword"
But | see in the next place what a
hard thing it was for Eleazar to get his
hand and his sword parted. The mus
Giles and the sinews had been so long
grasped around the sword he could not
drop it when he proposed to drop it,
and his three comrades, l suppose, came
I'D and tried to help him, and they
bathed the back part of the hand,
hoping the sinews and muscles would
relax. But no. His hand clave unto
4 the sword" 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
a while they were successful, and then
they noticed that the curve in the palm
of the hand correspondent exactly with
the curve of the hilt. His hand clave
! unto the sword.
You and | have seen it many time.
There are in the United States today
many aged ministers of the Gospel.
They are too feeble now to preach. In
the church records the word opposite
their name is emeritus" or the words
are, "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 APP
pointments. But they did IN their day
a mighty work for God. They took off
more of the heads of Philistine iniquity
/ than you could count from noon to
shutdown. You put that old minister
of the Gospel now into prayer meet
! ing or occasional pulpit, or q sickroom
where there is some one to be COM
| forted, and it is the same old ring to
his voice and the same old story of
pardon and peace and Christ and heav-
| en-. His hand has so long clutched the
sword in Christian conflict he cannot
drop it. His hand clave unto the
| sword"
| had in my parish in Philadelphia
very aged man who, in his early life,
| had been the companion and adviser of
the early presidents, Madison and Mon
roe. He had welded vast influence.
but l only knew him as a very aged
man. The most remarkable thing
about him was his ardor for Christ.
When he could not stand up in the
meetings without propping he would
throw his arm around pillar of the
| church, and though his mind was par
TALLY gone, his love for Christ was SO
great that all were in deep respect and
profound admiration, and were moved
when he spoke. l was called to see
him die. l entered the room and he
said, Mr. Talmage, cannot 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 prepare for heaven" And then
in this pleasant delirium, both arms
lifted, this octogenarian preached Christ
and told of the glories of the world to
come. There, lying on his dying pill
low, his dying hand clave to his sword.
| THE SUBLIME LESSON OF JOSHUA.
Oh, if there ever was any one who
had right to retire from the conflict it
was old Joshua. Soldiers come back
| from battle have the names of the bat
ties on their flags, showing where they
distinguished themselves, and it is a
very appropriate inscription. Look at
the flag of old General Joshua On it,
Jericho, Gideon, Hazar, City of Al,
and instead of the stars sprinkled on
the flag, the sun and the moon which
stood still. There he is, a hundred and
ten years old. He is lying fiat on his
back, but he is preaching. His dying
words are a battle charge against idol
airy, and a 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 elmwood rods had stung him fear
fully 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 out
rageously 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. or the neuralgia piercing his
4 temples, or the thirst that fevers his
tongue? Oh, no. His last words are
! the battle e'lout for Christendom: 81
am now ready to be offered, and the
time of my departure is at hand; l
have fought the good fight" And so
his dying hand clave unto the sword.
1t was in the front room on the sec
ond 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 homesick to join her com
pany. 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, II 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 bathed his feet and they sue
ceeded in Strengthening 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 came shut What was the mat
ter with the thumb and the fingers Of
that old hand? Ali it had so long
clutched the sword of Christian CON
! flict that Ellis hand clave unto the
sword y
HONORABLE WOUNDS IN HOLY WAR
FARE.
/ preach this sermon as tonic.
want you to hold the truth with in
eradicable grip, and | want you to
strike so hard for God that it will re-
act, and while you take the sword the
sword will take you.