Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-10-23
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN.
DAY SERMON.


Eleazar, the hero of the text The Pbilis
tines opened battle against him, and hi
troops reiterated. The towards fed. Eleaza1
and three of his comrades went into the
battle and swept the field, for four men
with God on their side are stronger thar a
whole battalion with God against them
Fall backF shouted the commander OF
the Philistine army. The cry ran along the
host, Fall backr' EleaZar having swept
the field throws himself on the ground te
rest, but the muscles and sinews of his
hand had been 50 long bent around the hilt
of the sword that the hit was embedded in
the flesh, and the gold wire of the hit had
broken through the skin of the palm of thu
hand, and he could not drop his sword
which he had so gallantly welded. His
hand clave unto the sword" That is what
L call magnificent fighting for the Lord Col
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's hand, and come to the concu-
sion that he took the sword with a very
tight grip. The towards who fed had no
trouble IN dropping their swords. AS they
fly over the rocks | hear their swords clang-
ing in every direction. 1t is easy enough foi
them to drop their swords But Eleazar's
hand clave unto the sword.
Oh, my friends, in this Christian conflict
we want a tighter grip of the Gospel weap,
ons, 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 comes into the palm.
and keep on sweeping our hand
around the book until the tips of the fingers
clutch at the words, In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth" I like
an intidel a great deal better than do one
of these mandy PANTY Christians who hold
part Of the truth and let the rest go. By
miracle God preserved this Bible just as it
is, and it is Damascus blade. The severest
test to which a sword can be put in a sword
factory is to wind the blade around q gum
barrel like a ribbon, and then when the
sword is let loose it flies back to it's own
shape. So the sword of Gods truth has been
fully tested, and it 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 CEN
turtles ago. and some of it thousan is of years
ago, and yet in our time the average sale Of
this book Is more than twenty thousand COD
les every week, and more than million
copies year. say now that a boob
Wnich is divlnely inspired and divine
~ kept and divinely scattered is
a weapon worth holding a 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, OF
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 to it. You give up
the Bible, you give up any part of it, and you
give up pardon and peace and life and
heaven.
l see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
young men IN this audience. Do not be
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 Incl
dent OF d very bad man VINO stood in a cell
Of western prison. This criminal had gone
through all styles of crime, and he was there
waiting for the gallOWS The convict stand
ing there at the window of the CELL this
writer says, looked out and declared, 4 am
An intidel.' He said that to all the men and
women and children who happened to be
here, L am an infidel,'" 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, I am Chris
ian,' every man and woman would have
worn enemy OF all this wrong, and it is the
riend of all that is good. Oh, hold on to
t. Donot take part of it and throw the
est away. Hold on to all of it. There are
o many people now who do not know. You
six them if the soul is immortal, and they
ay, Il guess it is, don't know; perhaps it !
S, perhaps it isn't" Is the Bible true? !
Well, perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't;
perhaps it may be fguraUively, and perhaps .
may be partly, and perhaps it may not be
t all" They despise what they call the
Apostolic creed; but if their own creed were
written out it would read like this: Il be-
leve in nothing, the Maker of heaven and
arth, and in nothing which it hath sent,
which nothing was born of nothing and
which nothing was dead and buried and
descended into nothing, and arose from
othing, and assembled to nothing. and now
which it will come to judge moth
lg. | believe in the holy agnostic
hurch AMI IN the communion of nothing
rians, and in the forgiveness of nothing
nd the resurrection Of nothing, and in the
fe that never shall be. Amen" That is
ne creed of tens of thousands of people in
MS day. If you have mind to adopt such
theory will not. Il believe in God the
ather Almighty, maker of heaven and
arth, and in Jesus Christ, and in the holy
athohc church, and in the communion of
ANTS. and in the life everlasting. Amen"
IL, when see Eleazaf taxing Such stout
rip of the sword in the battle against sin
nd for Righteousness, | come to the conclu-
on that we ought to take a stouter grip of
ods eternal truth, the sword of righteous
eSs.
As look at Eleazer's hand I also notice
is spirit of self forgetfulness. He did not
office that the hilt of the sword was eating
trough the palm of his hand. He did not
now 1t hurt him. As he went out into the
,nflict he was SO anxious for the victory he
'rgot himself and that hilt might go ever
deeply into the palm of his hand it could
DIT disturb him. HIS hand clave unto the
SOrd.' Oh, my brothers and sisters. let us