Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1891-10-21
YOUNG MEN
Given Some Fatherly Advice by
DR.. Talmage.
They Need . Tighter Grip of tho Gospel
Weapons. I'm Order to Bc Fortified
Against Satan and Sin.

DIR. Talmnge's text last Sunday was:
ii. Samuel. xiii. TO-: ,"And his hand
clave unto the sword"
a great general of King David was
Eleaznr. the hero of the text The
Philistincs opened battle against him.
and his troops reiterated The towards
fed. Elcnzar and three of his comrades
won't into the battle and swept the
field, for four men with God on their
side are stronger than whole bat
TALON with God against them. Fall
back" shouted the commander of the
Philistine army. The cry ran along the
host: Fall backv' Elcazar having
swept the field throws himself upon the
ground to rest. but the muscles and
shows of his hand had been
so long bent around the hilt of
the sword that the hilt was inn
beded in the flesh. and the gold wire
of the hilt had broken through the
skin of the palm of the hand. aud he
could not drop this sword which he had
SO CALAMITY welded "Iis hand clavo
unto the sword" That Is what | call
magnificent fighting for the Lord God
OF Israel. And we want moro of il.
propose to show you this morning how
Eleazar took hold OF the sword and
how the sword took hold of Eleazar.
i look Mt Elcazars hand. and come 20
the conclusion that he took the sword
with n very tight grin. The towards
who fed had no trouble in dropping
their swords. AS they fly over the
rocks / hear their swords Changing in
every direction. IL is easy enough for
them to drop their swords. But Flea
zar's hand clave unto the sword.
O, my friends, in this Christian con-
flict we want tighter grip Of the Cos
pei weapons, n tighter grip 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 looscned grasp.
wrenched 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 comes
into the palm. and keep on sweeping
our hand around the Book until the
tips of the fingers clutch at the words:
I'm the beginning God created the
Heavens and the Garth" like an in
fidel great deal better than |
Wv thN va AhCSC hAlnuN -llllpN
Christians who hold part
of the truth and let the rest
so. by miracle God preserved this
Bible just rs it is, and IL is Damascus
blade. The scvcrcst test To which n
sword can he put in n sword factory is
to wind the blade around n gun barrel
like ribbon, and then when the sword
is letloose ii flies back to its own shape.
So the sword OF Gods truth has been
fully tested, and il is bent this way and
that way, and wound this way and that
way, but it always comes back TO it's
own shape. Think OF IT, A Book
written eighteen centuries ago, and
some of il thousands OF years ago,
and yet in our time the average
sale of this book is moro than 90. 600
copies every week, and moro than
1000. 600 copicsa year. / say now that
book which is divinely inspired
and divinely kept and divinely scat
tered is weapon worth holding n tight
grip Of Bishop Colenso will come along
and try to wrench out 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 grin. hold on to it.
You give mp the Bible, You give up any
part of il, and you give up pardon and
peace, and life in Heaven.
see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
young men in this audience. Do not
be ashamed, young man. To have the
world know that you are n friend of
the Bible. This book ia the friend of
NIL that is good and IL is the sworn
enemy of all that is bad. An eloquent
writer recently gives an incident of n
very bad man who stood in the cell of
western prison. This criminal had
gone through all styles OF crime. and
he was there waiting for the gallows
The convict standing there Mt the win
dow of the cell, this writer says. look
| ed out and declared Il am an infidel. -"
He said that 90 all the men and
women and children who happened to
| be gathered there, Il am an nfidcl ,"
and the eloquent writer says. every
man and woman there believed him. "
And the writer goes on TO say. "If he
had stood there saying, Il am n Chris
tian,' every man and woman would
have said He is a liarr" This Bible
Is the sworn enemy OF all this wrong.
and IL IS the friend of all that Is good
oh. hold ON to all of H. Do not take
part OF IL and throw the rest away
Hold on TO all of IT, There are so many
people now who do not know. You
ask them IL the soul Is immortal, and
they say, 81 guess il is, don't know;
perhaps 1t is, perhaps IL isn't" Is the
| Bible true? well. perhaps II Is. and
perhaps IL isn't; perhaps IL may be
tiguratively, and perhaps IL may
be partly, and perhaps II may
not be at all" They despise what
they call the APOSTLE creed. but II their
own creed were written out 10 would
read like this: II believe in nothing,
the Maker Of heaven and earth, and in
nothing which II hath sent, which
nothing was born OF nothing. and which
nothing was dead and buried and de.
seconded into nothing. and arose from
nothing. and assembled TO nothing. and
| now sittcth az the right hand Of moth.