Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-10-23

troops retrpated The towards fed. EleaZlF
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 ):h God against them
Fall back r. 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 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 gallantly welded. "His
| hand Clave unto the sword That is what
| call magnificent fighting for the Lord Col
| Of Israel And we want more Of it. l
| propose to show YOU this morning how
Eleazlr took hold oi the sword and how
the sword took hold OF Eleazar look at
Eleazar'S hand, and | como 70 tho 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
| hy over the rocks hear their swords clang-
ing in every direction. 1t is easy enough for
them 10 drop their swords. But Eeazar's
| hand clave unto the sword.
Oh, my friends III this Christian conflict
we want a tighter grip OF the Gospel weap-
ons, a tighter grasp of the two edged sword
! Of the truth. 1t makes me sad TO SEQ these
| Christian people who hold only a part OF the
truth and let the rest Of the truth 60 SO that
| the Philistines, seeing the loosened grasp,
wrench the whole sword away from them.
| The only safe thing for us to do is 10 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
| created the heavens and tho earth | like
an intdel 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 10 which a sword can be put in sword
| factory is to wind the blade around q gun
| barrel like a ribbon, and then when the
| sword is let loose IL flies back to its own
| shape. SO the sword OF Gods truth has been
! fully tested, and it is bent this way aud that
| way, and wound this way and that way, but
it always comes back TO its own shape
| Think OF it! A book written eighteen CEN
turies ago, and some Of it thousan Is of years
ago, and yet IN our time the average sale Of
| this book Is more than twenty thousand cop
| les every week, and more than q million
| copies year. | say now that book
which is divmely inspired and divine
| ly kept and divinely scattered is
a weapon worth holding n tight grip Of
| Bishop Colenso will come along aud try to
wrench out OF your hand the i've books OF
| Moses and Strauss will come along and try
| to wrench out Of your hand the miracles,
| and Renan will come along AMI 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 house will try TO wrench out Of
| your hand the entire Bible; but In the
49, h, I Ia I II Iuran1 md wit
Eleazars grip, hold on 10 it. 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 be
ashamed, young man, u have the world
know that you are frIenl OF the Bible
This book is the friend OF all that is good
and it is the sworn enemy of oil that is bad.
An eloquent writer recently gives an incl
dent of Il very bad man who stood in 4 cell
| Of "A 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, Hooked out and declared, 4 am
an intidel' He said that 70 all the men and
women and children who happened to ba
there, L am an inhdel, ;" and the eloquent
writer says, Every man and woman there
believed him" And the writer goes on to say,
'It he had stood there saying, i am n Chris
tian,' every man and woman would have
| said. He is liar" This Bible is til,
sworn enemy OF all this wrong, and it is the
friend Of oil that is good. Oh, hold on tc
| 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, and they
say, II guess it i, don't know; perhaps II
| Is perhaps it isn't" Is the Bible true
"Well, perhaps it il, and perhaps 1t isn't;
| perhaps it may be tiguratively, and perhaps
| 1t may be partly, and perhaps it may not be
at all" They dcSpise what they call tht
| Apostolic creed; but il their own creed were
| written out it would read like this: Il be
lieve in nothing, the Maker of heaven md
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 ami arose from
| nothing, and ascendei TO nothing and now
sitteth at the right hand OF nothing, from
which it will come to judge moth
ing. | believe in the holy agnostic
| church AMI 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 n mind to adopt such
| 4 theory | will not. II believe in God the
Father Almighty, maker Of heaven and
| earth, and in Jesus Christ, and i'll the holy
| catholic church, md in tho communion OF
| saints and in the life everlasting. Amen"
Oh, when see Eleazar taking such stout
| grip of the sword in the battle against sin
| and for righteousness | come to the conclu-
| sion that we ought to take stouter grip Of
| Gods eternal truth, the sword OF righteous
| ness.
AS look at Eeazer's hand ] 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 1t 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. HIS hand cave unto the
| sword.n Oh, my brothers and sisters, let us
| 90 into Christian conflict with the spirit OF
| self abnegation. Who cares whether the
world praises us or denounces usp What do
we care for misrepresentation, or abuse or
persecution in conflict like this2 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 il 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 so tempted, wher
Eleazer did not think whether he had hand
or an arm or foot. All he 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 al
annoyance and all obstacles. Just after
the battle of Yorktown, in the American
Revolution, q musician, wounded, was tolt
he must have his limbs amputated, snc
they were about to fasten him to the sur
geon's table--for it was long before The
merciful discovery of anesthetics. Dc
said, mo, don't fasten me to that table;
get me a violin" violin was brought tC
him and he said, snow go to work as l be-
gin to play" and for forty minutes during
] the awful pangs of amputation, he moved
not muscle nor dropped q note while b.