The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1899-04-14

| creed, but III their own creed were writ
| ten out IL would read like this: 81
| believe in nothing, the maker of heaven
| and earth, anG in nothing which IL hath
sent, which nothing was born of moth
ing and which nothing was dead and
buried and descended into nothing and
arose from nothing and assembled 10
nothing and now stitch at the right
hand of nothing, from which it will
come to Judge nothing. believe in the
holy agnostic church and in the com
munion of nothingarians and in the
forgiveness of nothing, and the rcsur-
rection of nothiug and in the life that
never shall DO. Amcn!" That is the
creed of tens of thousands of people
in this day. Tfyou have mind TO adopt
such a theory, will not. II 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 |
see Eleazar taking such stout grip
of the sword In the battle against sin
and for Righteousness, | come TO the
conclusion that we ought to take "a
stouter grip of Gods eternal truth
the sword of righteousness.
As look Mt Elea2ar's hand also no.
tice his spirit of self forgctfulness. lie
did not notice that the hilt OF the sword
was eating through the palm of his
hand. He did not know it hurt him.
As he wen out into the conflict he was
So anxious for the Victory he forgot
himself, and that Eilt might go never
so deeply into the palm of his hand,
it. could uot disturb him. Ills hand
caye uni, the sword" Oh, my brothers
and sisters. let us go into the Christian
conflict with the spirit of self abnega-
ton Who cares whether the world
praises us or denounccs us? What do
we care for misrepresentation or abuse
or persecution in canflict like this?
let us forget ourselves. That man
who is afraid of getting his hand hurt
will never kill philistinc. Who cares
whether you get hurt or not IL you get
the victory? Oh, how many Christians
there are who are all the time worry
ing 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 hand or an arm or 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
all nj MI 10 nj
fatigue and all Annoyance and all OBJ
stacle. just after the battle of York
town. in the American revolution, a
musician. wounded. was told he must
have his limbs amputated, and they
were about to fasten him TO the sur
geon's table. for il was long before the
merciful discovery of anarsthetIcs. He
said, NO, don't fasten me to that table;
get me "A violin" \ violin was brought
TO him, and he said. Now go to work
as l begin TO play" and for 40 minutes,
during the awful pangs of amputntion
he moved not muscle nor dropped a
note, while he played some sweet tune.
oh, is ii not strange that with the music
Of the gospel of Jesus Christ and with
tant on the way to become the church
triumphant we cannot forget ourselves
and forget all pang and all sorrow and
all persecution and all perturbation
We know what men accomplish un-
der worldly opposition. Men do not
shrink back for aptagonism or for hard
ship. You have admired Prescott's
Conquest of Mexico as brilliant and
beautiful a history as was ever writ
ten. but some of you may not know
under what disadvantages il was writ
ten-that Conquest of MeNico"-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
go 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: "Oh, my
hand; oh, 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.
What have we suffered in compari-
son with those who expired with suf-
location or were burned or were
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 lS40, in Madagascar, IS men were
nut to death for Christ's sake. They
were to be hurled over the rocks. and
before they were buried over the rocks.
in order To make their death the more
dreadful in anticipation, they were put
in baskets and swung to and fro over
the precipicc that they might see how
many hundred feet they would have
to be dashed down, and while they were
swinging in these baskets over the
rocks they sang:
Jesus. lover OF my soul
Let me TO Thy bosoih fly.
While the pillows near me roll,
While the tempest Dtill Is high.
Then they were dashed down to