Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1891-10-12


drop it when he proposed to drop il
and his three comrades, Isuppose cam
up and tried to help him, and the
bathed the back part of the hand
hoping the sinews and muscles woult
relax. But no. His hand clave unit,
the sword Then they tried to pull
open the fingers and to pull back tn
thumb; but no sooner We're they pullet
back than they closed again, land hi
hand clave unto the sword" But afte
a while they were successful, and ther
they noticed that the curve in the palm
of the hand correspondent exactly will
the curve of the hilt. His hand clavt
unto the sword"
You and I have seen it many a 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 a prayer meet
ing or occasional pulpit, or sickroon
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-
Ell. His hand has SO long clutched the
sword il Christian conflict he cannot
drop it, His hand clave unto the
sword.
| 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 Mon
roe. He had welded vast influence,
out | only knew him as 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 a 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. I was called to see
him die. | entered the room and he
said, Mr.. Talmage, | cannot speak to
you now He was u very pleasant
delirium, as he imagined he had an
audience before him He said, 'I
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 |
rom battle have the names of the bat |
les on their flags, showing where they |
themselves, and it is a
7ery appropriate inscription. Look at
he flag of old General joshua On it,
Jericho, Gideon, Hazar City of All,
md instead of the stars sprinkled on
he flag, the sun and the moon which
TODD still. There he is, n hundred and
en- years old. He is lying fiat on his
Jack, but he is preaching. His dying
words are a battle charge against idol
try, and Il rallying cry for the Lord of
Iosts, as he says, Behold, this day
o the way of all the earth, and God
ath not failed to fulfill his promise
oncerning Israel" His dying hand
lave unto the sword
There is the headless body of Paul
n the road to Ostea. His great brain
nd his great heart have been severed.
he elmwoOd rods had stung him fear
lily. When the corn ship broke up
e SWAN ashore, coming up drenched
18th the brine. Every day since that
ay when the horse reared under him
| the suburbs of Damascus, as the
lpernatural light fell, down to this
ay when he is siXty-eight years of age
nd old and decrepit from the prison
I'll of the Mamertine, he has been out
lgeously treated, and he is waiting to
e. How does he spend his last hours?
cling the world how badly he feels.
Id describing the rheumatism that he
1t in prison, the rheumatism affecting
s limbs, or the neuralgia piercing his !
IMPLIES, or the thirst that fevers his
ngue? Oh, no. His last words are
e battle shout for Christendom: Il
n now ready to be offered, and the -
ne of my departure is at hand; l y
I've fought the good fight And SO =
$ dying hand clave unto the sword. T
1t was in the front room on the sec G
id floor that my father lay a-dying. =
was Saturday morning, four o'clock. :.
st three years before that day my y
other had left him for the skies, and u
had been homesick to join her COM "
ny. He was eighty-three years of
e. Ministers of the Gospel came in to
mfort him, but he comforted them.
wv wonderfully the words sounded Il
t from his dying pillow, 81 have tc
EN- young and now am old, yet have G.
never seen the righteous forsaken or m
seed begging bread" They bathed al
brow, and they bathed his hands, Ia
d they bathed his feet and they sue Oh
9ded in Strengthening out the feet, W.
they did not succeed in bathing 81.
|
ey bathed the hand open, but it on
ne shut. They bathed it open again, fo
it came shut. What was the mat La
with the thumb and the fingers of m.
It old hand? All! it had so long so
tched the sword of Christian con ba
t that His hand clave unto the we
1rd'' ~
NORABLE WOUNDS IN HOLY WAR
FARE.
preach this sermon as a tonic. |
ut you to hold the truth with in
dlcable grip, and I want you to Is
Ike SO hard for God that it will re- SUI
and while you take the sword the LIE
'rd will take you. NE
,ou noticed that the officers of the Sud
thern army a few years ago assem- 10
at Denver, and you noticed that s aal
officers of the southern army as uil
bled at Lexington. Soldiers com CIV
together are very apt to recount d
If experiences and to show their GU
s. Here is a soldier who pulls up Oh
sleeve and says, There, I was