Connecticut western news., 1899-04-13

| CTS 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 re-
 demption Is lost in the fear we will get
 our hand hurt, while Eleazar went into
 the conflict, "and his hand clave unto
 the sword"
 | Strong to the End.
 But I see in the next place what a
 hard thing it 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 when he proposed to drop it.,
 and his three comrades, I suppose, came
 up and tried to help him, and they
 bathed the back part of the hand, hop
 ing the sinews and muscles would re-
 lax. 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 palir | of the hand corresponded exactly with | the curve of the hilt "His hand clave unto the sword. --.-------. | You and have seen it many time There are in the United States today
 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. or | the words are "a minister without charge. They were heroic race. They had small salaries and but few books, and they swam spring freshets to meet | their appointments, but they did in their day mighty work for God. They | took off more of the heads of Philistine iniquity than you could count from
 noon to sundown. You put that old minister of the gospel now into prayer meeting or occasional pulpit or sick room where there is some one to be com forted, 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 cannot drop it. "His hand clave unto the sword. had in my parish in Philadelphia a very aged man who in his early life had been the companion and adviser of the early presidents, Madison and Monroe. He had wielded vast influence, but only knew him as very aged man. The most remarkable thing about him was his ardor for Christ When he could not stand up in the meetings without propping, he would throw his arm around pillar of the church. and. though his mind was partially gone. his love for Christ was so great that all were in deep respect and profound ad- miration and were moved when he spoke. was called to see him die. l entered the room. and he said. "Mr. Talmage cannot speak to you now. He was in a very pleasant delirium, as he imagined he had an audience before him. He said, ''I must tell these people to come to Christ and prepare for heav- en. And then in this pleasant deliri- um, both arms lifted, this octogenarian preached Christ and told of the glories of the world to come. There, lying on his dying pillow, his dying hand clave to his sword.
 No Retiring From the Conflict. Oh, if there ever was any one who had right to retire from the conflict, it was old Joshua. Soldiers come back from battle have the names of the bat ties on their flags, showing where they distinguished themselves, and it is .
 very appropriate inscription. Look at
 that flag of old General Joshua On 1t
 Jericho, Gibeon, Hazar, city of Ali, and.
 instead of the stars sprinkled on the
 flag, the sun and the moon which stood
 still There he is, no years old. He is
 lying flat on his back, but he is preach
 ing. His dying words are battle
 charge against idolatry and rallying
 cry for the Lord of Hosts as he says.
 Behold, this day go 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
 elmwood rods had stung him fearfully.
 When the cornship broke up, he swam ashore. coming up drenched with the
 brine. Every day since that day when the horse reared under him in the sub-
 urbs of Damascus, as the supernatural light fell, down to this day, when he is 68 years of age and ill from the prison cell of the Mamartine, he has been out rageously treated, and be 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, the rheumatism aff1icting his limbs or the neuralgia piercing his temples or the thirst that levers his tonguei Oh, mol His last words are the
 battle shout for Christendom, 'I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand; I have fought the good fight" And so his dy- ing hand clave unto the sword.
 It was in the front room on the sec ond floor that my father lay a-dying It was Saturday morning, o'clock Just three years before that day my
 mother had left him for the skies, and he had been homesick to join her com pany. He was 83 years of age Minis ters of the gospel came in to comfort him, but he comforted them. How
 wonderfully the words sounded out from his dying pillow, "I have been young and now am old, yet have l
 never seen the righteous forsaken or
 his seed begging bread" They bathed
 his brow and they bathed his hands and
 they bathed his feet and they succeeded
 in strengthening out the feet, but they did not succeed in bathing open the
 hand so it would stay open. They bathed the hand open, but it came shut.
 They bathed it open again, but it came shut What was the matter with the
 thumb and the fingers of that old hand An, it had so long touched the sword of Christian conflict that "his hand clave unto the sword.''
 The Grip of Truth.
 I intend this sermon as a tonic. l
 want you to hold the truth with in- eradicable grip, and I want you tc