Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-12
GRASP THE SWORD.
The Battle of Christ Desperately
Waged by His Soldiers.
ELEAZAR THE HERO OF THE TEXT.
DR.. Talmage breaches a FOrcible Sermon
at the Tabernacle.
HIS ATTITUDE on THE BIBLE PLAIN

MO Al1lllD w 1un DIDID L ualp
BROOKLYN, Oct. 11.-Among the vas
audiences which crowd the Brooklyn Taber
nacle at every service are large numbers of
young men, many of whom are theological
students. DR. Tamage's sermon this morn.
ing had a special interest for them. AT this
time when so many are giving up the Bible
or holding the truth less firmly than before
the eloquent preacher put himself on record
SO clearly and forcibly that no one who
heard him could have any doubt as to hi:
attitude. His text was; II. Samuel xiii;
10, "And his hand clave unto the sword"
\ great general OF King David was Eieazar
the hero Of the text. The Philistines opened
battle against him, and his troops rctrCated
Tie towards fed. Eleazar and three OF his
comrades went into the battle and swept the
field Tor four men with God on their side are
stronger than 4 whole battalion with God
Z. -ainst them. "FaIl back!' shouted the com
man Ter OF the PhiliStlne 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 sincws
OF his hand had been olong bent around the
hilt OF the sword that the Eilt was lmbedded
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 gallantly welded. 'flts
hand Clave unto the sword" L at is what l
call magnificent fighting for the LORD God
or Israel. And we want more Oft
o my friends, in this Christian conflict we
want Il tighter grip OF the Gospel weapons; a
tighter grasp of the two-edged sword OF the
truth. 1t makes me sad to see these CHRISTIAN
people who hold only part OF tie truth
and let the rest of the truth go, SO that the
Philistines, seeing the loosened grasp,
wrench the whole sword away from them
no 10 for a :
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: "ln the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth" like an infidel 4
nambv- pamby Christians who hold q 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 BIBLE HAS STOOD FOR AGES.
Think Of it! A Book written Is centuries
ago, and some of it thousands of years ago,
and vet IN our time the average sale of this
Book is more than 10000 copies every week,
and more than a million copies year.
say now that q book which is divinely in
spired anG divinely kept and divinely scat
grip of. Bishop Colenso viii come along
and try to wrench out of your hand the five
books of Moses and Strauss will come along
and try to wrench out of your hand the
miracles, and Ren4o will come along and
try to wrench out of your hand the entire
lille OF the Lord Jesus Christ, and your as
EOCiateS in the store, or the shop, or the fac
tory, 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 it. Iou
give up the Bible, you give up any part of it,
and you give up pardon and peace, and life
and heaven.
An eloquent writer recently gives an Incl
dent o. 4 very bad man who stood in the cell
ofa Western prison. This criminal had gone
through all styles of crime and he was there
whiting Tor the gallCws. The convict stand
ing there at the window OF the CELL this
writer says '1ooked out and declared, 4 am
an mfidel.' lie said that TO all the men and
women and children who happened to be
gathered there, i am AN infidcl,' and the
eloquent writer says, every man and woman
there believed him." And the writer goes
on TO say, III he had stood there saying, i
am Christian every man and woman
would have said, lie is a liarr " This Bible
Is the sworn enemy of all this wrong, and it
Is the friend of all that is good. Oh, hold on
st. 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
Ssk them If the soul is immortal, and they
say, 4 guess it Is, l don't know; perhaps it
is, perhaps it isn't Is the Bible true?
We'll, perhaps it is and perhaps it isn't;
perhaps il may be figuratively, and perhaps
II 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 1t would read like this:
THE CREED OF THE INFIDELs
Il believe 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 and
descended into nothing, and arose from
nothing, and asccnded to nothing, and now
sitteth at the right hand of nothing; from
which it will come to judge nothing. be-
licve in the holy agnostic church and in the
of nOthingarians, and in tho
forgiveness OF nothing, and the resurrection
Of rothing, and in the life that never shall
be. Amen,' That is the creed of tens of
thousands OF people N this dav. If you
have a mind to adopt such a theory will
nos. Il believe in Sod. the Father Almighty
Maker of heavea and earth and in Jesus
Christ, and in the holy catholic church, and
ia the communion Of saints, and in the life
everlasting. Amen" oh, when l see Eleazar
taking such a stout grip OF the sword in the
lattle against sin and for righteousness, l
come TO the conclusion that We ought to
take a stoutcr grip OF Gods eternal truth,
he sword Of Righteousness.
As look Mt EicaZars hand l also notice
his spirit OF scit. .fOrretfuness. He did not
notice that the nilt of the sword was eating
through the palm of his hand. He did not
know it hurt him. As he went cut into the
conflict he was SO anxious fo- the victory
DE forgot himself ana that hilt might go
ever so deeply into the palm OF his hand, it
unto the sword"
We see low men forget themselves in
worldly achievement. We have often seen
men who. in order to achieve worldly sue
cess, viii forget all physical fatigue and all
annoyance and all obstacle. just after the
attle OF Yorktown, in the American
l,gvclutiOn, musician, wounded, was
old he must have his limbs amputated,
and they were lLOEt TO fasten him TO |
The surgeons : table-foc it was long before
the mCTcitul discovery of an9sthCtics. He |
said: "NO, don't fasten Inc to that table: get
me a violin" 4 violin w,s brought to him,
md he said: "Now 20 to work as begin TO !
play" and fo- 80 minutes during the awful
rargs of amputntiOn. he moved not muscle !
ior dropped note, while he played some
sweer tune. Oh, iS il NOT strange that with
he music OF the Gospel of Jesus Christ and
p it'll this grand march If tile church mill
ant on the way to become the church tri-
forget all pang and ali sorrow and all perse-
,utiOn and all perturbation.
WORLDLY AND CHRISTIAN BRAVERY.
We know what men accomplish under
worldly opposition. Men do not shrink back
or antag onism o. Tor hardship. You have
.dmircd Prescott Conquest of Mexico"
$ brilliant and beautiful a history as was
yer written: but some of you may not know
iudcr what disadvantage it was written
hat Conquest OF MeXicO-fOr Prescott was
C'aily blind, and Inc had two pieces OF wood
larailcl 10 each other fastened, ana totally
5iInd, with his uen between those two pieces
% wood he wrote, the stroke against one
nicvc of wood telling how far the pen must
90 in one WAY. the strOAe agHinSt the other
'f"ce Of wood iciiipg how far the pen must
go in the other WAY. oh, how much men
vii endure FOR worldly knowledge and for
'o"ldiN success and yet how little We en-
lEre for Jesus Christ How many Christians
ere are that 90 around saying. 80 my nand,
n~ hand, my hurt hand: don't yOu see there |
$ Liood on the naDd, and there is blood on
Ie sword. while Eleazar, with the hilt i'm |
'12dcu ju thc flesh OF his right hand, does |
lDt know il.