Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-04-13


people in this day. II you have mind
to adopt such theory, ! will not 81
believe 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.
Amen" Oh, when see Eleazar taking
such a stout grip of the sword In the
battle against sin and for righteous
ness, come to the conclusion that we
ought to take stouter grip of Gods
eternal truth-the sword OF righteous
ness.
As I 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 1t hurt
him. AS he went out into the conflict
he was SO anxious for the victory he
forgot himself. and that hilt might go
ever so deeply into the palm of his
hand, 1t could not disturb him. "His
hand clave unto the sword" o, my
brothers and sisters. let us go into the
Christian conflict 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 persecution in a 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
II you get the victory? Oh, how many
Christians there are who are all the
time worrying 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 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
al! obstacle. Just after the bate of
Yorktown, In the American Revolu-
ton, musician, wounded was told he
must have his limbs amputated and
they were about to fasten him to the
surgeons tabletop It was long be-
fore the merciful discovery OF anaes-
thetlcs. He said, mo, don't fasten me
to that table; get me a violin" A
violin was brought to him, and he
said: Now go to work as / begin to
play" and for forty minutes, during
the awful pangs Of amputation, he
moved not a muscle nor dropped n
note, while he played some sweet tune.
Oh, Is 1t 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 cannota for
get ourselves and forget all pang and
all sorrow and all persecution and all
perturbation.
We know what men accomplish
under worldly opposition. Men do not
shrink back for antagonism, or for
hardship. You have admired Pres
colts Conquest of Mexico as bril-
liant and beautiful history as was
ever written; but some OF you may not
know under 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
60 in one way, the stroke against the
other piece OF wood telling how far
the pen must so the other way. Oh,
how much men will endure for worldly
knowledge and for worldly success,
and yet how little we endure for Jesus
Christ. How many Christians there
are that go around saying, 20 my
hand. o my hand, my hurt hand;
don't you see there is blood on the
hand, and there Is blood on the
sword?" while Eleazar, with the hilt
imbedded in the flesh Of his right hand,
does not know 1t.
Must be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
Or sailed through bloody seas?
What have we suffered In compari
son with those who expired with suf-
location, or were burned or were
chopped to pieces for the truths sake?
We talk of the persecution OF olden
times. There Is just as much persecu-
ton going on now In various ways. In
1849, in Madagascar, eighteen men
were put to death for Christ's sake.
They were to be hurled over the rocks,
In order to make their death the more
dreadful In anticipation, 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 Death 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 bandages and all the
salve, for our hand is hurt. while
ta