The Yale expositor., 1899-04-14

uOlHlnB WHICH IL naIn sent, WnlSh
nothing was born OF nothing, and
which nothing was dead and buried
and descended into nothing, and arose
from nothing, and now sitteth at the
right hand Of nothing, from which 1t
Will come to judge nothing. l be-
lieve In the holy agnostic church and
in the communion of nothingarians,
and in the forgiveness of nothing, and
the resurrection OF nothing, and in the
life that never shall be- Amen" That
is the creed OF tens of thousands OF
people in this day. II you have mind
to adopt such theory, / will not. 81
believe in God the Father Almighty.
Maker OF heaven and earth, and in
Jesus Christ, and in the holy Catholic
church, and in the communion OF
saints, and in the life everlasting.
Amen. Oh, when l see Eleazar taking
such stout grip of the sword in the
battle against sin and for righteous
ness, / come to the conclusion that we
ought to take a stouter grip of Gods
eternal truth-the sword of righteous
ness.
AS / look at Eleazar's hand I also
notice his spirit of self-forgetfulness.
He did not notice that the hilt of the
sword was eating through the palm OF
his hand. He did not know ii hurt
him. AS he went out into the conflict
he was so anxious for the victory he
forgot himself, and that hilt might 60
ever so deeply into the palm of his
hand, it could not disturb him. "His
hand clave unto the sword" o, my
brothers and sisters, let us go into the
Christian conflict with the spirit OF
self-abnegation. Who cares whether
the world praises us or denounces us?
What do we care for misrepresentation
or abuse. or persecution in a conflict
like this7 Let us forget ourselves.
That man who Is afraid OF getting his
hand hurt Will never kill Philistne.
Who cares whether you get hurt or not
If you get the victory? Oh, how many
Christians there are who are all the
time worrying about the way the world
treats them. They are so tired and
they are so abused, and they are so
tempted. when Eleazar did not think
whether he had a 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 success, will forget all
physical fatigue and all annoyance and
all obstacle. Just after the bate of
Yorktown, in the American Revolu-
ton, a musician, wounded. was told he
must have his limbs amputated, and
they were about TO fasten him to the
surgeons TABLETOP ii was long be-
fore the merciful discovery OF anaes-
thetIcs. lie said, mo, don't fasten me
to that table; get me a violin" a
violin was brought to him, and he
said: Now go to work as l begin to
play" and for forty minutes. during
the awful pangs of amputation, he
moved not q muscle nor dropped a
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 become
the church triumphant, We cannot for
get ourselves and forget all pang and
all sorrow and all persecution and all
perturbation.
We know what men accomplish
under worldly opposition. Men do not
shrink back for antagonism, or for
hardship. You have admired Pres
colts Conquest OF Mexico" as bril-
liant and beautiful a history 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
90 in one way, the stroke against the
other piece of wood telling how far
the pen must go 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, 20 my
hand. my hand, my hurt hand;
don't you see there is blood on the
hand and there is blood on the
sword?" while Eleazar, with the hilt
imbedded in the flesh of his right hand.
does not know It.
Must l be carried to the skies
On fowery beds of ease.
While others fought to win the prize.
Or sailed through bloody seas?
What have we suffered in COMPARE
son with those who expired with suf-
location, or were burned, or were
chopped to pieces for the truths sake?
We talk of the persecution OF olden
times. There is just as much persecu-
ton going on now in various ways. In
1S49, in Madagascar, eighteen men
were put to death for Christ's sake.
They were to be hurled over the rocks,
in order to make their death the more
dreadful in anticipation, they were