Milford chronicle., 1891-10-16

sword in Christian conflict be cannot dro
! It. His hand clave unto the sword" "
THE AGED MINISTER'S FAITH.
had In my parish In Philadelphia
very aged man who in his carry life ha
been the companion and adviser OF til
early presidents, Madison and Monroe n
had welded vast influence, but / onl
knew him rs very aged man. The mos
remarkable thing aliont him was his arlO
for Christ Wien he could not stand a.
in the meetingswithoutD DrOpping he woul,
throw his arms around a pillar OF tn,
church, and though his mind was partially
4 gone his love for Christ WAS so great tina
all were in deep respect and profound ad
miratiOn, and were moved when he spoke
/ was called 70 see him die. | entered thu
: room, and he said, 'Mr. Talmage, I can
not speak to You now" He was in yer,
Z pleasant delirium, as he imagined he had
] an audience before him. He said, Il must
Z tell these people to come to Christ and pre-
I pare for heaven" And then In this pleas
ant delirium, both arms lifted, this octo
genarian preached Christ aud told Of the
glOries of the world to come. There lying
on his dying pillow. his dying hand clave
to his 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 battles on their flags,
showing where they distinguished them.
selves, and it is a very appropriate inscrip-
ton. Look at the flag Of old General
Joshual On It Jericho. Gibeon, Hazar,
City Of All, and instead Of the stars
sprinkled on the flag the sun and the moon
which stood still. There he is, one hun
dred aud ten years old. he is lying fat on
his back but he is preaching. HIS dying
words are a battle charge against idolatry
and rallying cry for the Lord Of Hosts as
he says, Behold, this day 20 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 elm
wood rods had stung him fearfully. 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 outrageously
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, tho
rheumatism affecting his limbs, or the
piercing his temples, or the thirst I
that feyers his tOngue9 Oh, no. His last
words are the battle shout for Chrlstendom: |
II am now ready to be offered, and the /
time of my departure Is at hand; have
f0rgrr "a Hfrb nj hFa
hand clave unto the sword
It was in the front room on the second /
floor that my father lay a-dying. It was
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 company. He was eighty
three years of age. Ministers of the Gospel
,ame in to comfort him, but he comforted
hem. How wonderfully the words sounded
tut from his dying pillow, II have been
loung and now am old, yet have I never
een the righteous forsaken, or his seed
Iegging bread" They bathed his brow,
md they hathed his hands, and they bathed
lis feet and they succeeded in straighten-
ng out the feet; but they did not succeed
u bathing open the hand so it would stay
pen They bathed the hand open, but It I
aine shut They bathed it open again, but .
cameshut What was the matter with the 4
humb and the fingers Of that old handP
Mi it had so long clutched the sword Of
,hristian conflict that "his hand clave unto (
he sword" c
SPIRITS OF THE MARTYRS
] preach this sermon as a tonic. ] want !
on to hold the truth with ineFadicabls
rip, and want you to strike so hard for 2
iod that it viii react and while you take 5
he sword, the sword will take you. {
You noticed that the officers Of the north
IN army a few years ago assembled at
'enver, and you noticed that the officers \
the southern army assembled at Lex
lgton. Soldiers coming together are very
pit to recOup' their experiences and to
low their 81 rs Here is a soldier who
nils up his sleeve and says, "There, ]
as wounded "a that arm" and shows the u
ar. And another soldier pulls down his Il
,llar, and says, "There, was wounded in y
le neck" And another soldier says, 81 8
ave had no use Of that limb since the gun v
lot fracture" Oh, my friends, when the f
title of life is over and the resurrection "
IS come and our bodies rise from the d
'ad, will we have on us any scars OF Vt
avery for God9 Christ will be there all Of
vered with scars. Sears on the brow, il
ars on the hand, scars on the feet, sears y
over the heart won in the battle of re- b
mption. And all heaven will sob aloud
th emotion as they look ON those scars. u
natius viii be there, and he Gill point p'
{ the places where the tooth and the paw pl
the lion seized him in the Coliseum; "
d John Huss will be there, and he will ! la
ow where the coal first scorched the foot W
that day when his spirit took wing Of pI
me from Constance. M'Millan and Camp st
u and Freeman, American missionaries dc
India, will be there-the men who with VI
sir wives and children went down in the
w where the daggers Of the sepoys
uck them.
he Waldenses will be there, and they st
! show where their bones were broken ue
that day when the Piedmontese soldiery "
ched them over the rocks. And there ar
] be those there who took care Of the We
K and who looked after the poor, and ~
y will have evidences of earthly ex- N'
istion. And Christ, with his Scared OF
I'd waving over the SCARED multi us
le. will say, "You suffered with me on
tn; now be glori1ed with me IN heaven"
d then the great organs Of eternity will
e up the chant and St. John will play, toe
hese are they who came out OF great wO
)ulatiOn and had their robes washed mc
made white In the blood of the Lamb" apl
Int what will your chagrin and mine be the
shall be told that day on the streets Of Ri,
ven that on earth we shrank back from gre
toll and sacrifice and hardship. No Tn
rs to show the heavenly soldiery. Not Pr
much as one ridge on the palm Of the
d to show that just once in the battle
God and the truth, we just once grasped S
sword 50 firmly, and struck so hard Tel
the sword and the hand stuck to- tril
her, and the hand clave to the sword. c
~ Lord Jesus, rouse us to thy service. isy
Thy saints IN all this glorious war VIII
Shall conquer though they die: Wol
They see the triumph from afar. Baz
And seize II with the eye.
When that Illustrious day shall rise, a
And all thy armies shine no,
In robes Of victory through the skies, -
The glory shall be thine. ~
and
The Root Of the Evil Ter.
inks-Helloi Cunning for that dog -