Connecticut western news., 1899-04-13


 to take stouter grip of Gods eterna truth-the sword of righteousness
 Forget Self.
 As 1 look at Eleazar's hand I alsC notice his spirit of self forgetfulness He did not notice that the hilt of tht sword was eating through the palm o his hand. He did not know it hurt him As he went out into the conflict he wat so anxious for the victory he forgo himself, and that hilt might go never so deeply into the palm of his hand, il could not disturb him. His hand clavt unto the sword. Oh. my brothers anC sisters, let us go into the Christian con hict with the spirit of self abnegation Who cares whether the world praise: us or denounces us? What do we care for misrepresentation or abuse or perse cution in a conflict like this2 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 victoryf Oh, how many Christians there are who are all the time worry ing about the way the world treats thelnl 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 worldly success, will forget all physical fatigue and all annoyance and all ob- 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 it was long before the merciful discovery of anasthetics. He said "No don't fasten me to that ta- ble Get me a violin. A violin was brought to him. and he said, "Now, go to work us begin to play and for 40 minutes, during the awful bangs of amputation, he moved not a 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 all sorrow and all perse- cution and all perturbation
 Weak Christians.
 We know what men accomplish un der worldly opposition. Men do not shrink back for antagonism or for hard ship You have admired Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, as brilliant and beautiful history as was ever writ ten, but some of you may not know un- der what disadvantages it 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 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 handl Don't you see there is blood on the sword?" while Eleazar. with the hilt imbedded in the flesh of his right hand, does not know it
 Must be carried to the skies
 On fiowery beds of ease,
 While others fought to win the prize
 Or sailed through bloody seas?
 What have we suffered in comparison with those who expired with suffoca- tion or were burned or were chopped to pieces for the truths sake2 We talk of the persecution of olden times. There is just as much persecution going on now in various ways In 1849. in Mad. agascar. IS men were put to death for Christ's sake They were to be hurled over the rocks, and before they were h7rled over the rocks, in order to make their death the more dreadful in antici patton. they were put in baskets and swung to and fro over the precipice 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 bosom fly,
 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 en- 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 eeath to wake us up only in 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 handages and all the salve, for our hand is hurt, while Elca- gar does not know his hand is hurt "His hand clave unto the sword. |"
 Strike Hard For Right.
 As look at Eleazars hand I come to the conclusion that he has done great deal of hard hitting. am not surprised when see that these four men-Eleazar and his three companions drove back the army of Philistines-thatE Eleazar's 8 sword clavo to his hand. for every time he struck an enemy with one end of the sword the other end of the sword wounded him. When be took hold of the sword, the sword took hold of him.
 Oh, we have found an enemy who cannot be conquered by rosewater and soft speeches It 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 10, 900 battalions of iniquity, armed Philistine iniquity. How are they to be captured and overthrown2 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 Christians who eat the sacrament on Sunday and devour widows houses all the week. We have got to stop our indignation against the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Cir gashites and let those poor wretches go and apply our indignation to the mod