The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-12-17
THE CHRISTIAN BATTLE.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage in Brooklyn Tabernacle.
Eheminacy Taking the Place of Fighting
Zeal In the Ranks of the Christian
Hosts -More Cologne than
Battle Scars.

The following discourse was delivered
by Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage in the
Brooklyn tabernacle from the text:
And his land clave unto the d-IT.
Samuel, xxiIi.
A great general of King David was
Eleazar, the hero of the text. The
Philistines opened battle against him
and his troops retreated. The towards
fed. Eleazar and three of his COM
rades went into the battle and swept
the field, for four men with God on
their side are stronger than a whole
battalion with God against them. Fall
backw shouted the commander of the
Philistine army. The cry ran along
the host: Fall bacll!" Eleazar, having
swept the field, throws himself on the
ground to rest, but the muscles and
sinews of his hand had been so long
bent around the hilt of the sword
that the hilt was imbedded
In the flesh, and the gold wire
of the hilt had broken through
the skin of the palm of the
hand, and he could not drop the sword
which he had so CALAMITY welded.
His hand clave unto the sword" That
is what | call magnificent fighting for
the Lord God of Israel. And we want
more of it. propose to show you this
morning how Eleazar took hold of the
sword, and how the sword took hold of
Eleazar. look at Eleazar, and come
to the conclusion that he took the
sword with very tight grip. The
towards who fed had no trouble in
dropping their swords. AS they fly
over the rocks l hear their swords
changing in every direction. 1t is easy
enough for them to drop their swords.
But Eleazer's hand clave unto the
sword.
Oh, my friends, in this Christian con-
hict we want tighter grip of the Cos
pei weapons, a tighter grasp of the
two-edged sword of the truth. 1t
makes me sad to see these Christian
people who hold only part of the
truth, and let the rest of the truth go,
so that the Philistines, seeing the
loosened grasp, wrench the whole
sword away from them. The only safe
thing for us TO do is to put our thumb
on the Book of Genesis and sweep our
hand around the book until the New
Testament ZONES into the palm, and
on sweeping our hand around the book
until the tips of our fingers clutch at
the words: 'In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth" l
like an infdel a great deal better than
/ do one of these namby-pambv
Christians who hold part of
the truth, and let the rest 60 By
miracle God preserved this Bible lust
as 1T is, and it is a Damascus blade
The severest test to which a sword can
be put IN the sword factory is to wind
the blade around a gun barrel like a
ribbon, and when the sword is let loose
1t lies back to its own shape. So the
sword of Gods truth has been fully
tested, and it is bent this way and that
way, but it always comes back to it's
own shape. Think of it! A book writ
ten eighteen centuries ago, and some
OF it thousands of years ago, and vet in
our time the average sale of this book
IS more than twenty thousands copies
every week, and more than a million
copies a year. l say now that
a book which is evidently in
spired and divinely kept and
divinely scattered is weapon worth
holding tight grip of Bishop Colen-
SO Will come along and try to wrench
GSS OF your hand the five books of
Moses, and Strauss will come along and
try to wrench out of Your hand the
miracles, and Renan will come along
and try to wrench out of your hand the
entire life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
your associates in the store. or the
shop or the factory, or the banking
house will try to wrench out of your
hand the entire Bible; but in the
strength of the Lord God of Israel, and
with Eleazar's grip, hold on it. You
give up the Bible, you give up any part
OF 1t, and you give up pardon and
peace, and life and Heaven.
] see hundreds, perhaps thousands.
OF young men i'll this audience. Do not
be ashamed, young man, to have the
world know that you are a friend of
the Bible. This book is the friend of
all that is good, and it is the sworn
enemy of all that is bad An eloquent
writer recently gives an incident of a
very bad man who stood in the cell of n
western prison. This criminal had
gone through all styles of crime, and
he was there waiting for the gallows
The convict standing there at the wind
ow, the writer says, looked out and
declared: I am an infidel.' He said
that to all the men and women and
children who happened to be gathered
there: i am an infdel,'" and the elo-
quent writer says: Every man and
woman there believed him" And the
writer goes on to say: IF he had
stood there saying, 4 am Christian
every man and woman would have
said: lies a liar!" This Bible
is the sworn enemy of all this wrong.
and it is the friend of all that is good, |
Oh, hold on TO it, Do not take part of (
it. There are so many people now who |
do not know. You ask them if the |
soul is immortal, and they saw: .T
guess it is; ] don't know; perhaps it is,
perhaps it isn't" Is the Bible true3 |
We'll, perhaps it is, and perhaps it
isn't; perhaps it may be figurativelv.
and perhaps it may be partly, and per.