The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-10-16
A STOUT GRASP OF FAITH
DR.. TALMAGE ON THE NECESSITY
OF A MORE EARNEST BELIEF.


It's Entirety win Remain-The Inspir.
Ing Example of Eleazar.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 11.-Among the
vast audiences which crowd the Brook.
Ign Tabernacle at every service are
large numbers of young men, many OF
whom are theological students. DIR.
Talmage's sermon this morning had a
special interest for them. At this time
when so many are giving up the Bible,
or holding the truth less firmly than
before, the eloquent preacher put him
self OH record so clearly and forcibly
that no one who heard him could have
any doubt as to his attitude. His text
was II Samuel xiii, 10, "And his
hand clave unto the sword"
great general of King David was
Eleazar, the hero of the text. The
Philstines opened battle against him,
and his troops retreated. The towards
fled. 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 whole
battalion with God against them.
Fall back" shouted the commanded
OF the Philistine army. The cry ran
along the host, Fall backw 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 this sword which he had SO gal
lantly welded. His hand clave unto
the sword" That is what call mag
niticent fighting for the Lord God OF
Israel, and we want more of it. pro-
pose to show you this morning how
Eleazar took hold of the sword and
how the sword took hold of Eleazar /
look at Eleazars hand, and l come to
the conclusion that he took the sword
with very tight grip. The towards
who fled had no trouble in dropping
their swords AS they fly over the
rocks l hear their swords changing in
every direction. 1t is e3sy enough for
them to drop their swords, but Eleaz-
ar's hand clave unto the sword.
HALF HEARTED CHRISTIANS.
Oh, my friends, in this Christian con-
fict we want tighter grip of the Cos
pei weapons 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
lei 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 onr hand around the book
until the tips of the fingers clutch at
the words, IN the beginning God Gre
ated the heavens and the earth" l
like an infldel great deal better than
do one Of those nambypamby Chris
tians who hold part of the truth and
let the rest go. By miracle God pre-
served this Bible just as it is, and it is
a Damascus blade.
The severest test to which sword
can be put in sword factory is to wind
the blade around gun barrel like
ribbon, and then when the sword is let
loose it flies back to it's own shape. So
e,uor5 If Gn1,c tr,,tl, b,c hoa,, f,,ll1y
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 writ
ten eighteen centuries ago, and some
Of it thousands of years ago, and yet in
bilr time the average sale of this book
is more than twenty thousand copies
every week, and more than a million
copies year.
| | say now that a book which is di- |
vinely inspired and divinely kept and
divinely scattered is a weapon worth
holding tight grip Of. Bishop Colen-
SO will come along and try to wrench |
cut 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 |
houss. will try to wrench out OF your
hand the entire Bible, but in the
strength of the Lord God of Israel, and |
with Eeazar'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.
THE CONVICTED INFIDEL.
see hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of young men in this audience Do not
I've ashamed, young man, to have the
world know that you are friend of
I'LL that is good and it is the sworn
enemy of all that is bad. An eloquent
writer recently gives an incident of q
very bad man who stood in the cell Of
a 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 window
of the cell, the writer says looked out
and declared, i am an intidel He said
that to all the men and women and
children who happened to be gathered
there, i aIn an infidel, and the elo
;;uent writer says, Every man and
woman there believed him." And the
writer goes on to say, IF he had stood
there saying, i am a Christian every
man and woman would have said. He
is liar
This Bible is the sworn enemy of all
is wrong, and it is the friend of all
t,s;:t is good Oh, hold on to it. Do not
take part of it and throw the rest
away. Hold on to all of it. There are
SO many people now who do not know
You ask them if the soul is immortal,