The Penn's Grove record., 1891-10-23

ior Woriuiy knoWleuBe anu Ior WoLauiy su0
cess, and ret how little we endure for jesus
Christ. How many Christians there are
that go round saying, "Oh, my hand, my
hand, my hurt hand; don't you see there IL
blood on the hand, and there IL blood on the
swordy' while Eleazar, with the hilt Inn
bedded in the flesh Of his right hand does
not know 1t.
Must I be carried to the skies
On E0wery beds Of ease,
Or sailed through bloody seasf
What nave we suffered In comparison
with those who expired with s~uffooation, or
were burned, or were chopped to pieces for
the truths sakeg We talk Of the persecution
of olden times. There Is just a. much psrse-
cution going on now In various ways. In
1919, in Madagascar, eighteen men were put
10 death for Christ's sake. They were 10 be
hurled over the rocks, and before they were
hurled over the rocks, in order to MAKE their
Heath the more dreadful in anticipation,
they were put in baskets and swung to and
tro over the precipica that they might zee
how many hunIred feet they would have TO
ing 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 stlll 10 high
Then they were dashed down to deathi
Oh, how much others have endured for Christ
and how little we endure for Christi We
want to ride to heaven In q Pullman sleep
ing-car, our feet on soft plush, the bed made
up early so we a 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. Lat them
bring on all the lint, and all the bAndagea,
aud all the salve, for our hand 10 hart, while
Eleazer does not now his land II hurt. His
hand clave unto the sword.n
As l look at Eleazar's hand / come to the
conclusion that he has done . great deal Of
hard hitting. l am not surprised when I
see that these four men -Eleazar and his
three companions-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 a found an enemy who
cannot be conquered by rose water and soft
speeches. 1t must be sharp stroke and
straight thrust, There Is intemp srance, and
there is fraud, and there Is gambling. and
there is lust, and there are ten thousand
~battalions Of iniquity, armed PhilistineI
iniquity. How are they to be captured and
overthrownS Soft sermons in morocco
cases laid down In front of an exquisite audi
HIS VIII uOb w ~ 4ou Aat4 kOJ ~ Gall
things by their right names.
We nave got to expel from our churches
Christians who eat the sacrament on SUM-
dav and devour widows' houses all the week.
We have got to stop our indignation against
the Hittites and the Jebusites aud the Ger
gishites, n let those poor wretches 90, and
apply cur indignation to the modern trans
gressions which need to be dragged out and
slain. Ahabs here. Herods here. Jexebelsi
here. The massacre OF the infants here
Stri e for God SO hard that while you sIayi
tue sin the sword will adhere to your own
hana. tell you, my frieuds, we want al
few John Knoxes and John Wesleys in the
Christian church to-day. The whole ten
dancy is to refine on Christian work. We
getic word to iniquity we are about to cap
ture it. And we must go with sword silver
chased and presented by the ladies, and wei
must ride on white palfrey under embroidJI
cred housing, putting the spurs only just
enough to make the charger dance grace
fully. aud then we must Q q missive, deli
cate as a wedding card, to ask the old black
giant of sin if he will not surrender. !
Women saved by the grace of God and on
glorious mission sent, detained from Sabbath
classes because their new hat 10 not done
Churches that shook our cities with great
r~evivals sending around to ask some demou-
strative worshiper IL he will not please to say
''amen" and ''nalleiujah" q little softer. 10
seems as if in our churches we wanted a
baptism of cologne and balm Of q thousand
flowers, when We actually need . baptism Of
fire from the Lord God OF Pentecost. But
we are so afraid somebody will ~criticise our
sermons, or ~criticise our prayers or ~criticise
our religious work that our anxiety for the
worlds redemption is lost In the fear we will
get our hand hurt, while Elsasar went into
the conflict, "And his hand clavs unto the
sword"
But I see in the nsxt place what q hard
thing it was for Eliaxar to get his hand and
his sword parted. The muscles and the zinl
ews had been SO long grasped around tho
sword be could not dropit when be proposed
to drop it and his three comrades / suppose,
came up and tried to help him, and they
bathed the back part Of the hand, hoping
the sinews and muscles would relax. But
no. Ellis hand clave unto the sword.n
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 q while they were successful, 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 1t many Q 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 h 'smerl
titus" 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 frsshets to meet their APP
pointments. But they did In their day a
mighty work for God. They took OF more OF
the heads of Philistine iniquity than you'could
count from noon to shutdown. You put that
old minister of the Gospel o into a prayer
meeting, or occasional pulpit, or q sick
Lo.1 &tara u e1xx.o 1nA e. h. arrfo~S
ed. and it 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
be cannot drop it. "His hand clave unto
the sword"
I had in my parish in Philadelphia q very
aged man, who in his early hfe had been the
dents, Madison and Monroe. He 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 up in the meeting
without propping he would throw his arms
around a pillar Of the church, and though
his mind was partially gone his love for
spect and profound admiration, and were
moved when he spoke. l was called to see
him die. / entered the room. n he said,
"Mr. Talmage, I annot speak to you now"
He was in q very pleasant delirium, as he
imagined he had an audience before him.
He said, II must tell these people 10 come
TO Christ and prepare for heaven AnG
then in this pleasant delirium, both arms
lifted, this octogenarian preached Christ and
told Of the glories Of the world TO com9,
There, lying on his dying pillow, his dying
hand elave to his sword.
Oh, If there ever was anyone who had a
right to retire from the CONFLICT 1t was oil
sosnua. Soldiers come pack from battle
have the names OF the battles on their hagA
blowing where they distinguished them
selves, and It Is a very appropriats inscrip
lion. Look OF the flag Of old General
Joshual On It Jericho, Gfbeon, Hssar, City
II Al, and instead Of the stars sprinkied on
The flag the sun and the moon which stood
tin. There he is, one hundred and ten years
did. He Is lying fat on his back but he Is
preaching. His dying words are a battle
.harge against idoiatry and q rallying cry
Tor the Lord OF Hosts as he says, BEHOLD,
his day I go the way Of all the earth, an J
God hath mot failed to fulhii his promise
soacsrning Israeli His dying hand clase
unto the sword.
There is tho headless body Of Paul ON til
road to Ostsa. His great brain n bis gre
heart have been severed. The elmwood no
had stung him fearfully. Whom the COR
ship broke up he swan ashore, coming u
- - - Il, E2.xu Aaa ia