The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-28
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINES SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Sword of Eleazar.

I TEXT: "And Has hand cldue unto tho
suord."-II Samuel xiii, 10.
A great general of King David was
Eleazar, the hero of the text. The Philis-
times 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
whole battalion with God against them.
'Fall backm 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
hand had been 80 long bent around the hut
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 Ee could not drop his sword
which he had so gallantly welded. "His
hand clave unto the sword" That is what
I call magnificent fighting for the Lord God
of Israel And we want more or u. ]
propose to show you this morning how
Eleazar took hold OF the sword ana now
the sword took hold OF Eleazar. look at
Eleazars hand, and l come to the conclu-
sion that be took the sword with very
tight grip. The towards who fed had nc
trouble in dropping their swords. As they
1ay over the rocks hear their swords clang-
ing in every direction. 1t is easy enough fol
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, O tighter grasp OF the two edged sWoro
of the truth. It makes me sad to see thess
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 tae 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, ia the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth" like
ar infidel great deal better than do one
of these namby- -pamby Christians who hold
% part of the truth and let the rest go. BY
miracle God preserved this Bible just as 1t
de and il is Damascus blade The severest
test to which sword can be put in a sword
factory is to wind the blade around gun
barrel like a ribbon, and then when tho
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
wav. and wound this way and that way, but
it ALWAYS comes back to its own shape.
Think of It'll A book written eighteen CEN
turies ago, and some of it 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 million
copies a year. I say now that book
which is divinely inspired and divine
ly kept and divinely scattered IS
a weapon worth holding tight grip OF.
wrench out Of your hand the tive 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
An 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 grip, hold on to it. You give up
the Bible. you give up any part OF II, anu you
give up pardon and peace and lie ana
heaven. !,
l see hundreds, perhaps thousands, OF
Young men in this audience. Do not be
ashamed, young man, to have the world
know that you are 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 Il very bad man who stood IN cell
of a western prison. This criminal had gone
Through all styles Of crime, and ne was there
waiting for the gallows. The convict stand
ing there at the window Of the cell, this
writer says, "looked out and declared, am
an infdel.' He said that to all the men and
women and children who happened to be
there, i am an infidel,'" and the eloquent
writer says, "Every man and woman there
believed him" And the writer goes on to say,
'Ifh had stood there saying, I am Chris
.tian,' every man and woman would have
said. He is iarr" This Bible Is the
sworn enemy Of all this wrong, and it is tho
friend Of all that is good: On, hold on to
it. Donot take part Of it and throw the
rest away. Hold on to all Of it. There are
50 many people now who do not know. You
ask them il the soul is immortal, and they
say, II guess it is, Idon't know; perhaps it
is perhaps it isn't" Is the Bible true?
'"Wel, perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't;
perhaps it may be fguratively, and perhaps
1t may be partly, and perhaps it may not be
at ALL" They despise what they call the
Apostolic creed; but if their own creed were
written out it would read like this: Il be-
iiieve 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 and buried and
descended into nothing and arose from
nothing, and ascended to nothing, and now
!sitteth at the right hand Of nothing, from
which 1t will come to judge moth
ing. believe in the holy agnostic
church and 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. If you have mind to adopt such
a theory I will not. II 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 I see Eleazar taking such stout
grip of the sword in the battle against sin
and for Righteousness, I come to the conclu-
sion that we ought to take stouter grip OF
Gods eternal truth, the sword OF righteous
ness.
AS look at Eleazsr's hand I 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
80 deeply into the palm of his hand it could
not disturb him. His hand claye unto the
sword" Oh, my brothers and sisters, let us
60 into Christian conflict with the spirit OF
self abnegation. Who cares whether the
world praises us or denounces us? What do
we care for Misrepresentation, or abuse or
persecution in a conflict like this? Let us
forget ourselves That man who is afraid OF
getting his hand hurt will never kill Philis.
tine. Who cares whether you get hurt Or
not if you get the victory? Oh, how many
Christians there are who are all the time
worrying about the way the world treat:
them. They are so tired, and they are SC
abused, and they are 80 tempted, when
Eleazer did not think whether be had a hand
or an arm or foot. All he wanted was vic
tory.
We see how men forget themselves in