The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-03-17
miscellaneous.
REV, 7. DEWITT TALMAGE.
THE SWORD OF ELEAsER.

Ms manu- NlhIt UNIV bWNAu- - ~"'@N
A great general OF King David was
Eleazar, the hero Of the text. The Phil
istines had opened battle against him.
and his troops ran; but he, with three
other men, held the field; he fought 30
furiously the Philistines were appalled,
and routed. Putting his hand on the
hilt of his sword, he swept the fingers
around until the tips of the fingers were
clenched on the other side, Now with
down stroke laying open the head OF
the Lords enemies from Uranium to the
chin; now coming in upon them with a
sharp thrust at the vitals, and now, with
swift, keen, glittering stroke, leaving
the Carcasses of his enemies by the road
side. Fall baCkp shouted the officers
ofthe Philistine army. The cry ran all
along the line-"fall baCkp Eleazar
having cleared the field, throws himself
on the ground to rest; but the sinews oi
his hand have been so long ClenChing
his sword, the hilt of it has entered the
palm of his hand, and the gold wire on
the hilt has broken the skin of the palm
until he cannot drop the sword he has
30 gloriously welded. That is what |
call grand fighting for the Lord God Of
Israel, and we want more Of it. | am
going to take up your time this morning
showing how Eleazar took hold Of the
sword, and how the sword took hold Of
him.
First, I notice he took hold of that
sword With very tight grip. The sold
iers in his army who ran away could all
easily drop their weapons whenever
they wanted to, l hear their swords
changing on the rocks as they throw them
down in fright; but Eleazar's hand claYe
unto his sword. The fact is, that in this
Christian COL hict we want tighter grip
of the gospel weapon; the two edged
sword of Gods truth. am sick and ii.
red of seeing people with only half and
half hold. They take hold of part of
Gods word and let the rest 60, and the
Phiistines, seeing their loose grip, take
the entire sword away. The only safe
thing for US 10 do is to put our thumb on
the first verse of the first chapter of Gen
esis, and sweep our hand around till the
New Testament shall come in the palm,
and sweep the fingers around until tine
tips clutch on the words, tn the begin.
ming. God created the heaY ns and the
earth" l like an infdel uCh better
than one of these nambyp nby Christ
ians who takes hold of Goo word with
a light hold, and knows ytIat part to
keep and what part to let ~. God, by
positive miracle, has kept us book to
gether, and is Damascus blade. III
sword factory the severest test they can
apply to sword, is winding the blade
around a gun-barrel like ribbon, and
when the sword is let loose it springs
bak TO it's old shape. This sword of
Gods word has been put to that test, and
it has been bent this way and that way,
but it always springs back again. Think
of i'll A book written eighteen Centur-
les ago, yet published to-day, at the rate
of twenty thousand copies a week, and
more than one million copies year, a
book miraculously written and preserv
ed and sea tered, ls book you want to
keep tight grip on. Strauss will try to
wrench from your fingers the miracles;
Renan the life of Christ. But with Flea
zer's grip, and in the strength of the
Lord God of Israel, hold on to it! He
who gives up the Bible, or any part of it,
gives up pardon, and peace, and heaven
Again, notice in Eleazar's grip of The
sword an entire self-forgetfulness, He
did not realize that tbe hilt of the sword
was eating down into the palm of his
hand; that while he was taking hold of
the sword, the sword was taking hold of
him. He forget the pain in his hand in
his desire to destroy he Philistines
Now in our Christian work we want self
forgetfulness. If we are all the time
afraid we are going to get hurt, we will
not kill the Philistines. Who cares
whether our hand is hurt or noDP When
we are battling in such a glorious con-
hiCt, let us throw our whole nature into
it, in entire self.abnegation. Iprefer liv
ing FIVE years more, and have them in
dustrious and ConseCrated to Christ, than
live fifty years more and have them in
dolent and useless. Do not be groaning
because you are so tired, and meet with
such severe rebukes from the world
Stop thinking ofyour wounded hand and
think of victory. What were the ever
lasting arctic frosts to DR.. Kane; or gout
to Torstensten, the Swedish general; or
sCrofula to Dr. Johnson, doing the work
of five professors at Oxfor' or invalid
ism to Alexander Pope, poetizing for all
time and for the nations? When we see
worldly men overcoming every kind of
impediment in order to succeed, what
ought we not overcome in the gaining of
heavenly crowns for ourselves? And
yet how many Christians 20 wringing
their hands, saying; my baud, my
hand; there is blood on the hilt, there is
blood on the handp When Eleazar
plunged into the conflict with such a
holy reCklessness, he did not think he
had hand or an arm, or anything else
but victory. His hand Clave to his
sword"
Must Ibe carried to the skies,
On aowery beds Of easel
While others fought TO win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?"
Ah, my friends, how little we are will
ing to suffer for Christ and his cause, as
compared with those who we're sufoCat.
ed, or burned, or drowned or chopped
to pieces for the truth. You do not ap.
preciate the roll of martyrs-15O000 for |
Christ in the Irqaisition; 100000 Wal
denses slain; and in the history of the
Christian church it has been estimated |
that 50,000,000 have suffered martyrdom
but we must go to heaven in Pull.
man sleeper, our feet on plush, the bed
made up early so we can sleep nearly all
the way, the black porter Of death to
wake US up in time to enter the golden
city. We must have all the spiritual sur.
geOns to care for our wounds; while Flea.
zar forgets that the hilt of the sword is
embedded in the flesh. "His hand ClaYe
TO the sword" /