Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-10-12

rocks, IN order 20 make their death the
more dreadful in anticipation, they were
put In baskets and swung 70 aud fro
over the precipice that they might see
how many hrndred feet they have 70 be
dashed down, and while they were
swinging in these baskets over the
rocks they sung:
Jesus, lover OF my soul,
Let ne 70 Thy bosom n.y.
While the pillows near me roll
While the pest Sill Is high.
Then they were dashed down to death.
Oh. how much others have endured
for Christ.
As look at Eleazar's hand, come
to the conclusion that he mas done a
great deal Of hard hitting. / am not
surprised when l see that these four
men-Eleazar and his three companions
drove back the army Of Philistines,
that Eleazar's sword clave 10 his hand,
for every time he struck an enemy with
one end of the sword, the other END OF
the sword wounded him.
We have got to expel from our church
es Christians who eat the sacrament on
Sunday and devOur widows houses all
the week. We have got TO stop our In
d.gnation against the Hittites and the
Jebusites and the GergishiteS, and let
those Door wretChes go, and apply our
Indignation 10 the modern transgres-
slons which need 10 be dragged out and
slain, Ahabs here, Herods here.
JEZEBELs HERE.
But I see in the next place what
~. B.. 9, Tf1anror p ga his
hand and his sword parted. The mus
cles and sinews had been so long grasped
around the sword that he could not drop
II when he proposed TO drop it, and his
three comrades, / suppose, came up and
tried TO help him, and they bathed the
back part Of his hand, hoping the SineWs
and muscles would relax. But no. "Hls
hand clave 10 the sword" Then they
tried to pull open the fingers and TO pull
back the the thumb; but no sooner were
they pulled back than they closed again,
land his hand clave unto the sword.
But after awhile they were successful,
and then they noticed that the curve In
the palm Of the hand corresponded ex-
actly with the curve of the hilt. "Hls
hand Clave unto the sword"
You and l have seen IL 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 emeritus" or the words
are, "a minister without charge"
They were a heroic race. They had
small salaries, and but few books, and
they swan spring freShets TO meet their
appointments. But they did in their
day a mighty work for God. They took
off more of the heads of PhiliStine in
EQUITY 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 a sick
room where there is some one TO be
and il is the 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 can
not drop it. ellis hand clave unto the
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 bat
ties on their flags, showing where they
distinguished themselves, and it was a
very appropriate inscription. Look at
the flag Of
Old GENERAL JOSHUA.
On it, Jericho, Gideon, Hazar, City Of All,
and instead Of the stars Spangled on the
flag, the sun and the moon which stood
still. There he is, j hundred and ten
years Old. He is lying fiat on his back,
but he is preaching. His dying words
are a bugle-charge against idolitry, 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 Is
rael." His dying hand ciave 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 hOme-Sick 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: Il have
been young and now am old, yet haye
I never seen the righteous forsaken, or
his seed begging bread" They bathed
his brow, and they bathed his hands,
and they baJhed 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 il came shut. What was the mat