The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-04-12

in this day. Ifyou have mind to adopt
such theory, will not. II 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 1
see Eleazar taking such a stout grip
of the sword in the battle against sin
and for righteousness, / come to the
conclusion that we ought to take a
stouter grip of Gods eternal truth
the sword of righteousness.
As look at Eleazar's hand I also no
tice his spirit of self forgetfulness. He
did otnotice 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 go never
so deeply into the palm of his hand,
it could not disturb him. "His hand
claye unto the sword" Oh, my brothers
and sisters, let us go into the Christian
conflict with the spirit of self abnega-
tion. Who cares whether the world
| praises us or denounces us? What do
we care for misrepresentation or abuse
or persecution in a canflict 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 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,
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
nerciful discovery of anaesthetics. He
said, mo, don't fasten me to that table;
get me violin" A violin was brought
TO him, and he said, ''Now 60 to work
ash begin to play" and for 40 minutes,
during the awful pangs of amputation,
he moved not a muscle nor dropped
note, while he played some sweet tune.
OH, is il not strange that with the music
ofithe gospel Of Jesus, Christ and with
this grand march of the church mill
tant on the way to become the church
triumphant we cannot forget ourselves
and forget all pang and all sorrow and
all persecution and all perturbation?
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
under what disadvantages it was writ
ten-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 60 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: "oh, my
hand; oh, 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 it.
What have we suffered in compari-
son with those who expired with suf-
|
chopped to pieces for the truths sake ?
We talk of the persecution of olden
times. There is just as much persecu-
tion going on now in various ways.
In 1s40, in Madagascar, IS men were
put to death for Christ's sake. They
were to be hurled over the rocks, and
before they were 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 a Pullman sleeping car, our
feet on soft plush, the bed made up
carly, 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 Eleazar does
not know his hand is hurt. His hand
clave unto the sword"
AS | look at Eleazar's hand l come to