Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-10-16
REV. DIR. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
subjecn THE Sword of Eleauar."

ctOfUs IL AAthss lSt
A great general of King David was
Eleazar, the hero Of the text The Philis.
tines opened battle against him, and his
troops retreated. The towards fed. Eleazar
and three of his comrades 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 back = 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 TO
rest but the muscles and sinews Of bis
hand had been so long bent around the hit
Of the sword that the hilt was embedded 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 his 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 1t.
propose to SHOW you this morning how
Eeazar took hold OF the sword and how
the sword took hold OF Eleazar. LOOK at
EleaEars hand, and | come to the conclu-
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 for
them to drop their swords. But Eleazar's
hand clave unto the sword.
Oh, my friends, in this Christian conflict
we want 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 90. 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 l like
an infidel great deal better than do one
Of these namby-pamby Christians who hold
a 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 sword can be put in sword
factory is to wind the blade around a gun
barrel like a ribbon, and then when the
sword is let loose it flies back TO its 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
il always comes back to its own shape.
Think OF it! A book written eighteen CEN
turies ago. and some oft thousands of years
ago. and vet in our time the average sale Of
this book is more than twenty thousand cop-
les every week, and more than a million
copies a year. | say now that book
which is divinely inspired and divine
ly kept and divinely scattered is
a weapon worth holding a tight grip or
Bishop Colenso will come along and try to
wrench out OF Your hand the i've books of
...I will along and try
TO wrench out Of your hand the miracles,
and Renan will come along and try to
wrench ont Of your hand the entire life OF
the Lord Jesus Christ, AMI your associates
in the store, or the shop, or the factory, or
the banking house will try to wrench ont 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 1t, and you
give up pardon and peace AMI life and
heaven.
see hundreds, perhaps thousands of
Young men IN this audience. Do MOI be
ashamed, young man, TO have the world
know that You are a frien1 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 eloquent writer recently gives an Incl.
dent of d very bad man who stood in 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, Cooked out and declared, i am
an infidel' He said that to all the men and
women and children who happened 10 be
there. Il am an iufdel, and the eloquent
writer says, Every man and woman there
believed him" And the writer goes on to say
IF he had stood thsre saying, 1 am Chris
tian,' every man and woman would have
said. He Is a liarn This Blole Is tue
sworn enemy Of all this wrong, and it is the
friend of all that is good. On, hold on 70
it. Donot 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, and they
say. Il guess it il, ! don't know; perhaps 1t
il. perhaps it ISN'T" Is the Bible true;
well, perhaps it is, and perhaps 1t isn't;
perhaps it may be liguratiyely, AMI perhaps
it may be partly, and perhaps it may not bs
at ALL They despise what they call the
Apostolic creed; but II their own creed were
written out it would read like this: Il be-
heve in nothing, the Maker OF heaven and
earth, and in nothing which it hath sent,
which nothing was born OF nothing, and
which nothing was dead ana buried AMI
descended into nothing. AMI arose from
nothing and ascendel to nothing. and now
sitteth at the right hand OF nothing, from
which it will come 70 judge moth
ing. l believe in tue holy agnosnc
church an in the communion OF nothing
arians. and in the forgiveness Of nothing.
and the resurrection Of nothing and in the
life that never shall be. Amen" That Is
the creed Of tens Of thousands OF people in
this day. II you have mind to adopt such
a theory / viii not. Il believe in God the
Father Almighty, maker Of heaven and
earth, and. in Jesus Christ. and in the holy
catholic church, and in the communion OF
saints. and in the life everlasting. Amen
Oh. when | see Eleazar taking such a stout
grip OF the sword in the battle against sin
and for Righteousness, | come to the conciu-
sion that we ought to take stouter grip OF
Gods eternal truth, the sword or righteous
ness.
AS / look at Ele1zsr's hand l also notice
his spirit Of self forgetfulness. He did not
notice that the hilt Of the sword was eating
through the palm Of his hand. He did not
know it hurt him. AS he went out into the
conflict he was so anxious for the victory he
forgot himself, and that hilt might go ever
so deeply into the palm OF his hand 1t could
not disturb him. II hand clave unto the
sword" On, my brothers and sisters, let us
90 into Christian conflict with the spirit or
Self abnegation. Who cares whether the
world praises Ills or 6enounces Us? What do
we care for misrepresentation, o.. abuse or
persecution in a conflict like this? Let us
forget ourselves That man who IS afraid OF
getting his han1 hurt will never kill PILLS
tine. Who cares whether you get hurt or
not il you get the victory? Oh, how many
Christians there are who are all the time
worrying about the way the world treats
them. They are so tired, and they are so
abused. and they are so tempted, when
Eleazer did not think whether he had hand
or an arm or foot. All ne wanted was vic.
tory.
We see how men forget themselves in
worldly achievement. We have often seen
men who in order to achieve worldly sue
cess will forget all physical fatigue and all
annoyance and all obstacles. Just after
the battle OF Yorktown. in the American
Revolution, a musician. wounded was told
he must have his limbs amputatsi AMI
they were about to fasten him to the sur
geon's table-sor it was long before the
merciful discovery Of ana sthetics. He
said, No, don't fasten me to that table:
get me a violin A violin was brought t.
him and he said, Now go to work as be-
gin to play and for forty minutes, during
the awful pangs Of amputation, he moved
not a muscle nor dronDed a note while hn
played soma sweet tune. Oh, is it not
strange that while the music OF the Gospsl
of Jesus Christ and with this grand march
of the church militant on the way to be-
come the church triumphant. we cannot