The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-04-14

sold by all medicine dealers. Pr rte
Heaven in a 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 i'm 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. Ills hand
clave unto the sword"
As ! look at Eleazar's hand | come to
the conclusion that he has done great
deal of hard hitting. am not sur
prised when | see that these four men
-GleaZar 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.
Oh, we have found an enemy who can
not be conquered by rosewater and soft
speeches. 1t must be sharp stroke and
straight thrust. There is intemper-
ance, and there is fraud, and there is
gambling, and there is lust, and there
are 10000 battalons of iniquity,
armed Philistine iniquity. How are
they to be captured and overthrow?
Soft sermons in morocco cases laid
down in front of an exquisite audience
will not do it. You have got to call
things by their right name. You have
got to eXpel from our churches Chris
tians who eat the sacrament on Sunday
and devour widows houses all the week.
We have got to stop our indignation
and the Girgashtes and let those poor
wretches go and apply our Indignation
to the modern transgressions which
need to bedragged out and slain. Ahabs
here. Ilerods here. Jezebels here. The
massacre 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
a few John KnoXes and John Wesleys
in the Christian church to-day.
The whole tendency is to refine on
Christian work. We keep on refining
on it until we send apologize word to
iniquity we are about to capture it,.
And we must go with sword, silver
chased and presented by the ladies, and
we must ride on white palfrey under
embroidered housing, putting the
spurs in only just enough to make the
charger dance gracefully, and then we
must send a missive, delicate as we'd
ding card, TO ask the old black giant
of sin if he will not surrender. Women
saved by the grace of God and on glori-
Gus mission sent, detained from the
Sabbath classes because their new hat
is not done. Churches that shook our
cities with great reyiyals sending
around to ask some demonstrative wor-
shipper if he will not please to say
''amen" and "halleluiah" little softer.
1t seems as if in our churches we want
ed baptism of cologne and balm of
a thousand flowers when we actually
need n 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 Flea
Ear went into the conflict, "anl his hand
claye unto the sWard."
But | see in the next place what II
hard thing il was for Eleazar to get his
hand and his sword parted. The mus
cles and the sinews had been so long
grasped around the sword he could not
drop it, and his three comrades, | sup
pose, 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. His 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 successful
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 l have seen it many 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 standing
opposite their name is emeritus" OF
the words are, "a minister without
charge" They were a heroic race
They had small salaries and but few
books, and they swan spring freshets
to meet their appointments. 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 ofthe Gospel now into
a prayer meeting or occasional pulpit
or a sicl1room where there is some one
to be comforted, 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 he can
not drop it. "His hand clave unto the
sword"