The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1899-04-21

'rlu HphHEt, we cannot forget ourselves
ahd forget NIL rang and all sorrow and all
pers ecution and all perturbation?
Wo know what men accomplish under
worldly opposition. Men do not shrink back
Tor nntagonism or for hardship. You have
ADMIRED Pre'cott's Conquest OF Mexico"
~ brilliant and beautiful u history as was
ever written, but some OF You NAV not
know under what disadvantages It wns
written-thnt Conquest OF Mexico..-for
prescott was totally blind, and hs had two
pieces OF wood parable to each other fast
ened, and totally blind. with his pen be-
tween those pieces OF wood, he wrote the
stroke against Que piece OF wood telling
row lar the Zen must go In one wny, the
stroke against the other piece of wood tell
Ing how fur the pen mus. so the other way.
On, how much men will endure for worldly
knowledge and for worldly success. and vet
how little We endure for Jesus Christ! How
many ChIIstiens there ars that 20 around
saving, "Oh, my hand; Oh, my hand, my
nurt handl Don't YOU sea thsrs Is blood on
the swOrd7" while Eleazar, with tho hilt i'm.
penhed In the aesh OF his righ. hand, does
not know Il.
Must be carried to the skies
On nowery beds OF ease
While others fought to win the prize
Or sailed through bloody seus2
What have We su Tered ia com parison with
tnoso who expired with sufocution or were
burned orwere chopped to pieces for the
truths sake? We talk OF the persecution
ot "iden times. There Is just us much per-
secution going on now in various ways. In
!0s9, In madagascar, eighteen men were put
to death for Christ's snke They were to
be hurled over tho rocks, and before thew
were hurled over the rocks, in order to
make their death the moro dreadful in an
trtpat'op, they were put in baskets and
swunS to and fro over the precipice that
they might see how manv hundred feet they
wouid have to he dashed down, aud while
taey were swinging in these baskets over
the rocks they sang:
Jesus, lover Of my soul,
Let mo TO Thy bosom hy,
W Llle the biliows near mo roll
While the tempest still Is high.
Then they were dushel down to death.
Oh, how much others have endured for
Christ. and how little we endure for
Christ! We want to ride to heaven in II
fn'ihan sleeping car our foot on soft
plush, tho bed mndn up early, go we can
steep all the way, the black porter OF death
TO wake Us ur only in time to enter the
golden city. We want all the surgeons to
i,H our hand up. Let them bring on all the
lint ana MI the bandaces and all the salve.
Tor onr hand is hurt, while Eleazar does
not know his hand is hurt. Ills hand
cavo uuto the sword"
As look ut EeaZar's hand come to the
conclusion that lie has done n great deal OF
hard hitting. / am not surprised when
see that thess four mcn-Eieuznr and his
three companions drove back tho army Of
Philistlnes-that Eleazar's sword rlave 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 he 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. 1t must be sharp stroke and
straight thrust. There is intemperance,
ana there is fraud, aud there Is gambling
ana there is lust, and there are 10. 600 bnt-
taiions OF iniqIity, armed Philistine in
iGuity. How arc they to be captured and
overthrown? Soft sermons In morocco
cases laid down I'm front of IN exquisite nu-
d!cn'o will not do 1t. You have got to cull
things hy their right name. You have got
to cXpei from our churches Christians who
eat tho sncrement on Sunday and devour
widows houses all the week We haye
got to stop our Indignation against the
Utilities aud the Jebusites and the Cir
Enshites and let those poor wretches go
and apply our Indignation to the mod
rrn transercssions which need to be
dragged out and siatn. Ahabs here
Hero!s here Jezcbels here, the mussncrs
OF the infunts here. Strike for God so hard
that willis you slay the sin the sword wilt
adhere TO yonr own hnud. l tell you, my
friends. We want few John Enoxes and
John Wcsleys IN the Christian church to-
day. The whole tendency is to refine on
Christian work. We keep on refining on X
until we send upoloSetic word to inlGuity
we nr" about to capture 1t. And we must
20 with sword silver chased and presen ed
by the Indies, and we must ride on
white palfrey under embroidered hous-
Ing, putting the spurs in only Just
enough to make the charger dance
EraeefnlIy' and then we must send II
m!ssive, delicate ns wedding card, to
ask the old black giant OF sin IL he will
not surrender. Women saved by the
Erico OF God and on glorious mission
sont, detained from sabbath Glasses be-
cause their now hat is not done. Churches
that shook our cities with great revivals
sending around to ask some demonstrativs
worshiper IL he will not please to saw
Amen" and "halleiuinh" u little softer 1t
seems us TX in our churches we wanted Il
baptism OF cologne aud balm OF thousand
flowers when we actually need a baptism
OF fire from the Lora God OF Pentecost
But we are so afraid somebody will criti-
else our Sc ermons or crttcise our prayers
or critiriso our religious work that our
anxiety for the worlds redemption is lost
In tho fear We will get our hand hurt
while Eleazar went into the couilct, "and
his hand clave unto the sword"
But SEQ in tha next plucs what hard
thing 1t was Tor Eleaznr to get his hand and
his sword parted. The muscles und the
sinews had been so long grasped around
the sword he could not drop II when he
proposed 10 drop 1t, ana his three COM
rahes, suppose, came up ana tried to help
him. and they bathed the back part OF his
hund, hoping the SinewS and muscles would
rr.aX. But no. His hand cluvs unto the
sword" Then they tried to pull open the
fingers and to null back the thumb but no
sooner were they pulled PACK than tney
closed again, "nnd his hand clnve unto the
sword" But after awhile thew were suc
cess:nl. and then they noticed that the
curve in the palm ofthe hand corresponded
exactly with the curve OF the hilt. His
hand clave unto the sword"
You and / have seen 1t many n time
There are in the United States TODAY
many aged minister's OF the GOSPEL
They are too feeble now to preach. In
tho church records tho word standing
opposite their name Is emeritus" or
the words nre "a minister without
charge" They were Il heroic race. They
had small snlarieS md but few hooks