The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-10-12
A GRIP ON THE GOSPEL.
REV. TALMAGE breaches ON "a
STOUT GRIP"

vid, the Hero OF the Text-A Tighter
Grasp or the wo-Edged sword OF
Truth One of the Necessities.
BRooKLYN. Oct. 11.-Among the vast
audiences which Gro owd the Brooklyn Taber-
nacle at every service are large numbers Of
young men, many of whom sre theological
students. Dr. Talnage's sermon this MORN
ing had special interest for them. At this
time when Sd many are giving up the Bible,
or holding the truth less firmly than befors.
the eloquent preacher put himself on record
SO clearly and forcibly that no one who
heard him could have any doubt as to his
attitude. His text was: III. Samuel xiii,
III, And his hand clave unto the sword. y
A great general of King David was
Eleazar, the hero of the text The Philis-
tines opened battle against him, and his
troops reIreated. The towards fled. Eleazar
ana three OF his comrades went into the
battle aud swept the field, for four men
with God on their side are stronger than a
whole battalion with God against them.
Fall baokV' shouted the Commander OF
the Philistine army. The cry then ran
along the host: Fall backl" Eeazar hay--
| ing swept the field throws himself on tho
ground to rest, but the muscles and sinews
OF his hand had ueen 80 long bent around
| the hilt Of the sword that tho hilt was i'm.
bedded in the flesh, and the gold wire OF
the hilt had broken through the skin Of
the palm OF the hand, and no could not drop
this sword which he had so gallantly
welded "His hand cave unto the sword "
Ihat Is what Ioall magnificent fighting for
the Lord God Of Israel And we want more
OF it. l propose TO show you this morning
how Eleazar took hold ~ the sword and
how the sword took hold OF Eleazar. l look
at Eleazar's hand, and come to the con-
clusion that he took the sword with a very
tight grip. The towards who hed had no
trouble in dropping their swords Az they
fly over the rocks hear their swords clang-
log In every direction. 1t is easy enough
Tor them to drop their swords But Eleazarix
hand clave unto the sword
o, my friends, ia this Christian conflict
we want tighter grip of the gospel
weapons, tighter grasp Of the two-edged
sword OF the truth. 10 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 tho 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
comes into the palm. and keep on
sweeping our hands around the book un-
til the tips OF the fingers clutch az ths
words: I'm the beginning God created
the heavens and tho eartn.n ! like an
infdel great deal better than do one of
| these nemby-pam y Christians who bold a
| part OF the truth and let the rest 20. Bv
miracle God preserved this Bible Just as 10
| 49, and 1t is a Damascus blade. The severesb
test 60 which a sword can bo put IN a word
factory Is to wind the blade around a gun
barrel like ribbon, aud then when the
sword Is lot loose iC flies back to its own
shape 30 the sword OF Gods truth las
been fully tosted, aud it Is bent this wav
and that way, and wound this way and
that way, but 1t always comes back to its
own shape. Think of It'll A book written
eighteen centuries ago, nnd some of il
thousands Of years ago, and YET
In our time the average sale of this
book IL more than twenty thousand
copies every week, and more than million
copies year. / say now that book which
Is divinsly inspired aud divinely kent and
divinely scattered is a weapon worth hold
Ing tight grip of. Bishop Colenso will
come along and try 10 wrench out of your
hand the five books Of NJ sss, and Strauss
will come along aud 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 tho
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
AN~AA 0~0 Va Aoioois anu WIN IleaLarB GRID.
hold on 1t. You give up the Bible, you
give up any part Of it, and you give up
pardon and peace, and life and heaven.
see hundreds, perhaps Thousands. OF
young men in this audience Do not bs
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 q very bad man who stood in the
cell OF q 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
this writer says, "looked out and declared
Il am an inhdel' He said chat to all the
men and women and children who happened
to be gathered there, Il am an infiiel,r
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, Il am Christian every man
and woman would have said, He is a liarpr
This Bible is the sworn enemy of ali this
wrong, and it is tue friend OF all that ia
good. .. hold on it. Do not take part of it
and throw the rest away. Hold on to all OF
1t. There are so many people now who do
not know. on ask them il the soul is i'm
mortal, and they say. Il guess it is, don't
know; perhaps Il is, perhaps it sn's" Is
the Bible true? "Well, perhaps it is. aud
perhaps it isn't; perhaps it may be fgura-
lively, and perhaps it may be partly, and
perhaps 1t may not be at all" They despiss
what they call the Apostolic creed; but IL
their own creed were written out it would
read like this: AZ believe in nothing,
the maker Of heaven aud earth,
and In nothing which IL hath
sent, which nothing was born Of
nothing, and which nothing was dead and
buried and descended into nothing and
arose from nothing, and assembled to moth
ing, and now sitteth at the right hand OF
nothing; from whicn it will come to Judge
nothing. / 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 III tho
life that never shall be. Amenr That ia
the creed Of tens OF thousands OF people in
this day. II you have mind TO adopt such
a theory will not II believe in God the
Father Almighty, maker of heaven and
earth, and in Jesus Christ and in the holy
Catholic church. aud In the communion Of
saints, and in the life everlasting. AmsnT
o. when gee Eeazsr taking such stout
grip Of the sword ia the battle against sin
and for righteousness, l came TO the con-
ciusion that wo ought 20 take stonter
grip OF Gods eternal truth, the sword OF
Righteousness.
As look et Eieazars haud also notice
his spirit Of ssif-forgstfulness. he did not
notice that the hilt OF the sword was eating
through the palm o. bis hand. He did nci
know iE hurt him. As be went out into the
c1nhic. be was 80 anxious for the victory be
flrI0t himself aud tnat hilt might 20 uevnr