The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-10-28
YOUNG MEN
Given Some Fatherly Advice BY
DR.. Talmage.
They Need Tighter Grip Of tho Gospel
Weapons, an Order TO BE Fortified
Against Satan and Sin.

clave unto the sword"
A great general of King David was
Eleazar, the hero OF the text The
Philistines 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 q whole bat
TALON with God against them Fall
back!" shouted the commander OF the
Philistine army. The cry ran along the
host: Fall back!" Eleazar having
swept the field throws himself upon the
ground to rest, but tho muscles and
sincws of his hand had been
so long bent around the hilt OF
the sword that the hilt was inn
beded 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. 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
Eleazar took hold of the sword and
how the sword took hold of Eleazar.
/ look at Eleazar's hand, and come to
the conclusion that he took the sword
with very tight grip. The towards
who fed had no trouble in dropping
their swords. AS they fly over the
rocks / hear their swords changing in
every direction. 1t is easy enough for
them to drop their swords. But Flea
ears hand clave unto the sword.
O, nv friends, in this Christian con-
flict we want tighter grip of the Cos
pei weapons, a tighter grip 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 go, so that the
Philistines, seeing the loosened grasp,
wrenched 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" like an in
fidel great deal better than I
| do one of these namby PANTY
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 q
sword can be put in a sword factory is
to wind the blade around a gun barrel
like 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 it always comes back to its
own shape. Think of it! A Book
written eighteen centuries ago, and
some of it thousands of years ago,
and yet in our time the average
sale of this book is more than 5000
copies every week, and more than
1000, 900 copies year. say now that
a book which is divinely inspired
and divinely kept and divinely scat
tered is weapon worth holding tight
grip of. Bishop Colenso will 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 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 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 it, and you give up pardon and
peace, and life in Heaven.
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 incident of 4
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 win
dow Of the cell, this writer says, "lools
) ed out and declared Il am an infidel.'
He said that to all the men and
women and children who happened te
be gathered there, 4 am an infidel,"
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, 4 am Chris
tian,' every man and woman would
have said, He is liar!'" This Bible
is the sworn enemy of all this wrong
and it is the friend of all that is good
Oh, hold on to all OF it Do not takt
part of it and throw the rest away
Hold on to all of it. There are so many
. people now who do not know. Yo,
ask them if the soul is immortal, an,
they say, 81 guess it is, l don't know
perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't" Is tn
.. Bible true? "Well, perhaps it is, ant
perhaps it isn't; perhaps it may b
: figuratively, and perhaps it ma.
be partly, and perhaps it ma,
not be at ALL" They despise wha
they call the Apostle creed, but if thei
own creed were written out it woul
cad like this: II believe in nothing
che Maker Of heaven and earth, and il
, nothing which it hath sent, whic
nothing was born Of nothing, and whic
, nothing was dead and buried and de-