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

the sword.
But see in the next place what a hard
thing 1t was for Eleuzar TO get his hand
and his sword parted The muscles and
the sinews had been so long grasped around
the sword he cond not drop it when he
proposed to drop il, and his three comrades,
suppose, came up and tried to help him,
and they bathed the back part of the hand,
hoping the snews and muscles would re-
lax But no. Ellis hand clave unto 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, "and his hand clave unto the
sword" But after awhile they were sue
cessful, 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 a time.
There are in the United States today many
Jne Time worrying about the way the world
treats them They are so tired, and they
are so abused, and they are so tempted,
when Eleazer did not think whether he
had IA hand, or an arm or a foot. All he
wanted was victory.
We see how men forget themselves in
worldly achievement We have often seen
men who in order to achieve worldly sue
cess will forget all physical fatigue aud all
annoyance and all obstacles Just after
the battle OF Yorktown, in the American
Revolution, II musician, wounded, was told
he must have his limbs amputated, and
they were about TO fasten him to the sur
geon's table-for it was long before the
merciful discovery of antesthetics. He
said, "No don't fasten me to that table;
get me violin" A violin was brought to
him and he said, Now go to work as be-
gin to play" and for forty minutes, during
the awful pangs of amputation, he moved
not muscle nor dropped note while he
played some sweet tune. Oh, is it not
strange that with the music of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ and with this grand march
OF the church militant on the way to be-
come the church triumphant, we cannot
forget ourselves and forget all pang and
all sorrow and all persecution and all per
turbation?
THE ENDURANCE OF HEROIC MEN.
We know what men accomplish under
worldly opposition. Men do not shrink
back for antagonism or for hardship. You
have admired Prescotts Conquest Of
Mexico" as brilliant and beautiful his
tory as was ever written; but some of you
may not know under what disadvantages
1t was written-that Conquest of Mexico"
for Prescott was totally blind, and he had
two pieces of wood parallel to each other
fastened, and totally blind, with his pen
between those pieces of wood he wrote, the
stroke against one piece of wood telling
how far the pen must 20 in one way, the
stroke against the other piece of wood tell
ing how far the pen must go in the other
way. Oh, how much men will endure for
worldly knowledge and for worldly success,
and yet 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 swordp" while Eleazar, with the hilt
imbedded in the flesh of his right hand,
does not know it.
Must be carried to the skies
On iiowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize
Or sailed through bloody seas2
What have we suffered in comparison
with those who expired with suffocation,
or were burned, or were chopped to pieces
for the truths sakeP We talk of the per
secution of olden times. There is just as
much persecution going on now in various
ways. In l949, in Madagascar, eighteen
men were put to death for Christ's sake.
They were to be hurled over the rocks, and
before they were hurled over the rocks, in
order to make their death the more dread
full in anticipation, they were put In bas-
kets and swung to and fro over the preei-
pice that they might see how many hun
dred feet they would have to be dashed
down, and while they were swinging in
these baskets over the rocks they sang:
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the pillows near 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 Christi
We want to ride to heaven in Pullman
sleeping 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 Eleazar does not know his
hand is hurt. His hand clave unto the
sword"
AS look at Eleazar's hand / come to the
conclusion that he has done a great deal of
hard hitting. am not surprised when
see that these four men-Eleazar and his
three companons-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 there is lust, and there are ten thou
sand battalons of iniquity, armed Philis-
tine iniquity. How are they to be captured
and overthrown2 Soft sermons in mcroc-
co cases laid down in front of an exquisite
will not do it. You have got to
call things by their right names.
IMPERATIVE NEED OF AN AWAKENING.
We have got to expel from our churches
Christians who eat the sacrament on Sun |
day and devour widows houses all the
week. We have got to stop our indigna-
ton against the Hittites and the Jebusites
and the Gergshites, and let those poor
go, and apply our indignation to
the modern transgressions which need to
be dragged out and slain. Ahabs here /
Herods here. Jezebels here The massa-
ere of the infants here Strike for God so
hard that while you Stay the sin the sword
will adhere to your own hand. tell you,
my friends we want few John Knoxes
and John Wesleys In the Christian church
today. The whole tendency is to refine on
Christian work. We keep on refining on
it until we send apologize word to iniquity
We are nhnnt to cnntnra It. And we must |