Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-04-15

! that never shall be- Amen That IS
the creed of tens of thousands Of people
in this day If you have a mind to
adopt such theory. will not Il be-
lieve 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. Amenl'
Oh, when l see Eleazar taking such a
stout grip of the sword in the battle
against sin and for righteousness, l
come to the conclusion that we ought
to take stouter grip of Gods eternal
truth-the sword of righteousness.
Forget Self.
AS l look at Eleazar's hand l 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 it hurt him.
AS he went out into the conflict he was
so anxious for the victory he forgot
himself, and that hilt might 60 never
SO deeply into the palm of his hand it
could not disturb him His hand clave
unto the sword. Oh. my brothers and
sisters. let us go into the Christian con-
fict 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 perse-
cution in conflict like this? Let US
forget ourselves That man who IS
afraid of getting his hand hurt will
never kill Philistine Who cares
whether you get hurt or not if 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 a 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
worldly success, will forget all physical
/ 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 SUI
geon's table, for it was long before the
merciful discovery Of anasthetics. He
said mo; don't fasten me to that ia
BILE. Get me violin. A violin was
brought to him. and he said, "Now, go
to work as | begin to play, and for 40
minutes. during the awful pangs of
amputation. he moved not muscle
nor dropped 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 forget ourselves and forget
all pang and AL sorrow and all perse-
cution and all perturbation2
Weak Christians.
We know what men accomplish I'M
der worldly opposition. Men do not
shrink back for agonism or for hard
ship You have admired Prescott $
conquest of Mexico. as brilliant and
| beautiful history az was ever>wrlt-
ten, but some of you may not know I'M
der what disadvantages it was written
that Conquest of Mexico
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 lit
tie 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 sword? p while
Eleazar, with the hilt imbedded in the
flesh of his right hand, does not know it.
Must be carried to the skies
On tiowery beds of case,
While others fought to win the prize
Or sailed through bloody seaS.
What have we suffered in comparison
with those who expired with suffoca-
ton or were burned or were chopped to
pieces for the truth S sake2 We talk OF
the persecution of olden times There
is Just as much persecution going on
now in various ways In 1S49. in Mad
agascar. lS men were put to death for
Christ's sake They were to be hurled
over the rocks. and before they were
h1rled over the rocks. in order to make
their death the more dreadfnl in anticl-
patton. they were put in baskets and
J swung to aud fro over the precipice
! that they might see how many hundred
feet they world 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 bosom ily,
| While the pillows near me roll,
! While the tempest still is high
Then they were dashed down to
death Oh. how much others have en-
dured for Christ. and how little we an
dure for Christ! We want to ride to
heaven in . 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 in time to enter the golden city
We want all the surgeons to fix our
hand mp Let them bring on all the
lint and all the bandages and all the
salve, for Our hand is hurt, while Flea
nnr docs not know his hand is hurt