Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-05-19
NUMBER 20.

one end of the sword the other end
of the sword wounded him.
Oh, we have found an enemy who can
not be conquered by rosewater and soft
speeches. 1t must be sharp stroke and
straight thrust. There is intemper-
ancc, and there is fraud, and there is
gambling, and there is lust, and there
are 10000 battalions of iniquity.
armed Philistne iniquity How arc
they to be captured and oyerthrown?
Soft sermons in morocco eases laid
down in front of an exquisite audience
will not do it. You have got to call
things by their right name, You nave
got to eXpel from our churches Chris
tians who eat the sacrament on Sunday
and devour widows houses all the week.
We have got TO stop our indignation
against the llittites and the Jebusitcs
and the Girgashites and let those poor
wretches go and apply our Indignation
to the modern transgressions which
need to be dragged out and slain. AhabS
here. lIerods here. Jezebels here. The
massacre of the infants here Strike for
God so hard that while you slay the sin
the sword will adhere to your own
hand. tell you, my friends, we want
few John KnoXes and John Wesleys
in the Christian church to-day.
The whole tendency is to refine on
Christian work. We keep on refining
on it until we send apologize word to
iniquty we are about to capture it.
And we must go with sword, silver
chased and presented by the ladies', and
we must ride on white palfrey under
embroidered housing, putting the
spurs in only just enough to make the
charger dance gracefully and then we
must send a missive, delicate as we'd
ding card, to ask the old black giant
of sin if he will not surrender. Women
saved by the grace of God and on glori-
Gus mission sent, detained from the
| Sabbath classes because their new hat
is not done. Churches that shook our
cities with great revivals sending
around to ask some demonstratiye wor-
shipper if he will not please TO say
"amen" and "halleluiah" little softer,
1t seems as if in our churches we want
ed n baptism of cologne and balm of
n thousand flowers when we actually
need baptism of fire from the Lord
God of Pentccost. But we are so afraid
somebody will criticise our sermons
or criticise our prayers. or criticise our
| al; ;ntn hnt vi ipt
worlds redemption is lost in the fear
we will get our hand hurt, while Flea
zar went into the conflict, "and his hand
clave unto the sword"
But | see in the next place what n
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, and his three comrades, sup
pose, came up and tried to help him,
and they bathed the back part of the
hand, hoping the sinews and muscles
would relax. 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 We're they
pulled back than they closed again,
"and his hand claye unto the sword"
But after awhile they were successful
and then they noticed that the curve
in the palm of the hand correspondcd
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 to-day
many aged ministers of the Gospel.
They are too feeble now to preach. Ir
the church records the word standing
opposite their name is emeritus" or
the words are, "a minister without
charge" They were n heroic race.
They had small salaries and but few
books, and they swan spring freshcts
to meet their appointments. But they
did in their day a mighty work for God.
They took off more of the heads of
Philistine iniquity than you could
count fromnoon to sundown. You put
that old minister of the Gospel now into
prayer meeting or occasional pulpit
or sicliroom where there is some one
TO be comforted, 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 can
not drop it. Ills hand claye unto the
sword
l. bad in my parish in Philadcl-
phia very aged man who in his early
life had been the companion and adj
wiser of the carly presidents, Madison
and Monroe. lie had welded vast in
fucncc, but | only knew him rs a 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 par
y, tally gone, his love for Christ was sc
/ great that all were in deep respect and
profound admiration, and were moved
q when he spoke. | was called to sec
I him die. | entered the room, and he
:, said: mfr. 1almage, cannot speaE
y to you now" lie was in very pleas
@ ant delirium, as he imagined he had al
p audience before him. He said: 81 mus
@ tell these people to come to Christ ant
prepare for Heaven" And then in this
pleasant delirium, both arms lifted, thi.
octogenaran preached Christ and told
of the glores of the world to come
, There, lying on his dying pillow, hii
dying hand clave to his sword.
Oh If there ever was anyone who had
0 d right to retire from the conflict it was
+ old Joshua. Soldiers come back from
y battle have the names Of the battles or
G their flags, showing where they distin
. guished themselves, and it is very ap
;. propriate inscription Look at tha'
r flag Of old Gen. Joshua. On it, Jericho
t Gideon, IIazar, city of Al, and instead o.
Al IL. A..