The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-04-21
SWORD OF ELEAZAR
TT INSPIRES DIR. TALMAGE TO A
POWERFUL SERMON
As the Soldier of Old Gripped His Wea.
pom. So should We Hold the Bible
Grasp Tightly the Two Edged sword
of Truth

Association.)
In the first notice concerning DR..
Talmage that Pastor Charles H. Spur
geon of London wrote the great Eng
lish minister said he was glad TO ind
a preacher that believed something.
This discourse of DR.. Talmage is in
that vein and urges close adherence 10
the old gospel; text, II Samuel xiii, lO,
And his hand clave unto the sword
What a glorious thing to preach the
gospel. Some suppose that because L
have resigned a fixed pastorate, 1 will
cease to preach. No, no. l expect to
preach more than L ever have. II the
Lord will, four times as much, though
in manifold places. 1 would not dare
to halt with such opportunity to declare
the truth through the ear to audiences
and TO the eye through he printing
press. And here we have a stirring
theme put before US by the prophet
A great general Of King David was
Eleazar. the hero of the text. The Phil
istines opened battle against him, and
his troops retreated. The towards fed.
EIeaZar and three of his comrades went
nto the battle and swept the field, for
four men with God on their side are
stronger han a whole regiment with
God against them. Fall back shout
ed the commander of the Philistina
army. The cry ran along the host.
Fall back" Eleazar, having swept
the field, throws himself oa the ground
to rest, but the muscles and sinews of
his hand had been so long bent around
the hllt Of his sword that the hilt was
imbedded in the flesh, and the gold
wire Of the hilt had broken through the
skin of the palm Of the hand, and he
InTr1I mot 1pnr, hjc GV~nr1 yrhisb ha had
SO CALAMITY welded. His han clave
unto the sword" That is what / call
magnificent fighting for the Lord God
Of Israel. And we want more of it,
HELD IN FIRM GRASP.
[ propose to show you % EleaZar
took hold of the sword and how the
sword took hold of Eleazar. / look at
Eleazar's hand, and / come to the con-
clusion that he took the sword with a
very light grip. The towards who fled
had no trouble in dropping their swords
As they fly over the rocks | hear their
swords C hanging in every direction. 1t
is easy enough for them to drop their
swords, but E1eaZar's hand clave unto
the sword. In this Christian conflict we
wan a tighter grip of the gospel weap-
OnS, a tighter grasp of the two edged
sword of the truth. 1t makes me sick
see these Christian people who hold
only a part Of the truth n let the
- III liz I L l 81 ~ IAA0S bA> L A'1A
wrench the whole sword away from
istines seeing the loosened grasp,
them. The only safe thing for US to
do is to put our thumb or the book Oh
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 Gre
ated the heavens and the earth /
like an nfide a great deal better tina
/ do one of these mandy pamby CHRIS
tians who hold a part of tn truth and
let the rest go. BY miracle God pre-
served this Bible just as it is, and it is
a Damascus blade. The severest test to
which a sword can be put in a sword
factory is to wind the blade around a
gun barrel like a 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
his way and that way and wound this
way and that way. but it always comes
back to it's own shape. Think of it!
A book written near nineteen centuries
ago, and some of it thousands of years
ago, and yet in our time the average
sale Of this book is more thar 10000
copies every week and more tina 1,OOO,-
600 copies a year! I say now that a
book which is divinely inspired and
divinely kept and divinely scattered is
a weapon worth holding a 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 or
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 office 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 VI pardon and
peace and life and heaven.
FRIEND OF ALL GOOD.
Do not be ashamed, young man., to
have the world know that you are a
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 elo-
uuent writer recently gives an incident
of a very bad man who stood in a cell
of a western prison. This criminal mao
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, look
ed out and declared, L am an infdel
He said that to all the men and women
and children who happened to be gain
cred there, L am an infidel. And the
eloquent writer says, Every man and
woman there believed MIN. anu Tie
writer goes on to say, eff he had stood
there saying, L am a Christian every
man and woman would ave said. He
is a liari'"
This Bible is the sworn enemy Of all
that is wrong, and it is the friend OF
all that is good. Oh, hold on it! DC
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: IT guess it is; I dom
know. Perhaps it is; perhaps it isn't
Is the Bible true? "Well, perhaps 1t is
and perhaps it isn't. Perhaps 1t may
be. figuratively, and perhaps it may bt
partly, and perhaps it may not be a.
all" They despise what they call tn
apostolic creed, but il their own cree
were written out 1t would reao INK
this: "I believe in nothing, the make
of heaven and earth, and In nothing
which it hath sent, which nothing wa