Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-10-12
A STOUT GRASP OF FAITH
OR. TALMAeE ON THE NECESSITY
or A MORE EARNEST BELIEF.

It's Entirety VIII Remain-rhe Inspi
ing Example OF EIcaxar.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 11.-Among I'll
vast audiences which crowd the Brool
lyn Tabernacle at every service al
large numbers of young men, many {
whom are theological students. ID
Tahnage's sermon this morning had
special interest for them. AT this tim
when SO many are giving up the Bibl'
or holding the truth less firmly tina
before, the eloquent preacher put hin
self on record so clearly and forcibl
that no one who heard him could hav
any doubt as to his attitude. His tex
vas II Samuel xiii. 10, "And hi
hand clave unto the sword"
A great general Of King David wa
Eleazar, the hero of the text. Tn,
Philistines opened battle against him
and his troops retreated. The coward
fed. Eleazar and three of his com
rades went into the battle and swep
the field, for four men with God or
their side are stronger than a Who'll,
battalion with God against them
Fall backln shouted the commander
Of the Philistine army, The cry ran
along the host, Fall back" 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
niflcent 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 Eleazar's hand, and 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 hear their swords changing in
every direction. 1t is easy 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-
flict we want a tighter grip of the Cos
pei weapons, a tighter grasp Of the two
ali r,nI - he.
me sad to see these Christian people
who hold only a 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, I'm the beginning God ere
ated the heavens and tho earth"
like an intidel 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
q Damascus blade
The seveTest test 10 which sword
can be put in "A sword factory is to wind
the blade around a gun barrel like a
ribbon, and then when the sword is let
loose Il dies back to its own shape. So
the sword OF Gods truth has been fully
tested, and II is bent this way and that
way, and wound this way and that
way, but Il always comes back TO its
own shape. Think of itl A book writ
ten eighteen centuries ago, and some
of il thousands of years ago, and yet in
our dime the average sale Of this book
Is more than twenty thousand copies
every week, and more than million
copies year.
say now that book which is di-
vlnely inspired and divinely kept and
divinely scattered Is weapon worth
holding tight grip OF. Bishop Colen-
so viii come along aud try TO wrench
ont Of your hand the 1--we books OF
Moses. and Strauss win come along and
try to wrench out OF your hand the
miracles. aud Renan will come along
and try to wrench out Of your hand
the entire life OF the Lord Jesus Christ,
and your associates Ia the store. or the
shop or the factory. or the banking
house win 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 toit You
give up the Bible you give up any
part OF il, and you give up pardon and
peace and lie Nnd heaven.
THR CONVICTED INFtpRIA
see hundreds. perhaps thousands,
Of young men Ia this audience. Do not
be ashamed. young man, 70 have the
world know that you are friend OF
the Bible This book Is the friend Of
All that Is good and Il Is the sworn
enemy Of all that Is bad. An elOqaen,
writer recently gives an Incident OF a
very bad man who stood In the cell oi
! weslorn prison. This criminal had
gone through ali styles Of crime, and he
Was there waiting for the gallowS The
nonvict. standing there az the window
of the cell, the writer says. ''looked out
md declared, 4 ana an infldel He said
hat to all the men and women and
,hlldren who happened 10 be gathered
here. i am an lnildel.' and the elo-
lneut writer sayA "Every man and
Noman thers believed him" And the