The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-05-18
IN GRIP OF STEEL.
6F TaImage Draws a Lesson from
the Tenacity Of Eleazar.
:. rrges . Closer Adherence to the
a.spel and Announces That
Ne Will Not Cease to
Preach.

- ,.,..hinston. Copyright. 1897
In the first notice concerning DIR. Tai
-.ge that Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon,
/ 4 fiopdon, wrote the great English min
;..er said he was glad to find a preacher
thai believed something. This dis
rourse Of DIR. Talmage is in that vein,
and urges close adherence to the old
l:oepei text, II. Samuel, 1910, "And his
Asnd claye unto the sword
what . glorious thing to preach the
Gospel. Some suppose that because
have resigned fixed pastorate ! will
eease to preach! No! No! Iexpect to
preach more than ever have. If the
Lord will, four times as much, though
il manifold places. would not dare
d halt with such opportunity to declare
fhe truth through the ear to audiences
and 10 the eye through the printing
prtss. And here we have stirring
] iheme put before us by the prophet.
4 great general of King David was
Eleamr, the hero of the text. The
Philistines opened battle against him,
and his troops retreated. The cow
aris 6ed. Eleazar and three of his COM
rsdes went into the battle and swept
lie field, for four men with God on their
side are stronger than whole regiment
With God against them. Fall back!
shouted the commander of the Philis-
tine army. The cry ran along the host:
.Fall back!' Eleazar, having swept the
4eld, 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 i'm
bedded in the flesh, and the gold wire of
Tie hilt had broken through the skin
d The palm of his hand. and he could
not drop this sword which he had so
eallantly welded. "His hand clave un-
70 the sword" That is what l call mag
nihcent fighting for the Lord God of
Israel. And we want more of it.
! propose to show you how Eleazar
took hold of the sword and how the
skord took hold of Eleazar. l look at
Eleaxsr's hand, and / come to the con-
elusion that he took the sword with a
sesy tight grip. The towards who fed
lad no trouble in dropping their
swords. As they fly over the rocks /
hear their swords changing in every di-
rection. It is easy enough for them to
drop their swords. But Eleazar's hand
elave unto the sword. In this Christian
eonflict we want tighter grip of the
1aspel weapons. tighter grasp of the
tEo-edged sword of the truth. II makes
Me sick to see these Christian people
nho hold only part of the truth. and
ks the rest of the truth go, SO that the
fhilistines. seeing the loosened grasp,
Nrench the whole sword away from
them.
The only safe thing for us to do is to
Sp4t our thumb on the book of Genesis
/ 10 sweep our hand around the book
zyatn the tips of the fingers clutch at
W words: I'm the beginning God ere
sesed the Heavens and the earth" / like
ninfdel a great deal better than do
80 OF these p.mby pamby Christians
Nao hold a part of the truth and let the
80. By miracle. God preserved this
I s1se just as it is. and it is Damascus
sZsseue. The severest test to which a
sofd can be put in sword factory is
- Wind the blade around a gun barrel
aake ribbon, and then. when the sword
& iet Loose. il flies back to its own
So the sword of God truth has
aeesn fully tested, and it is bent this
Aay and that way and wound this way
ana that way, but it always comes back
s.so lts own shape. Think of it! A book
satten near 10 centuries ago. and some
s1 4 thousands of years ago, and yet in
s9es ume the average sale of this Book is
ssoFe than 10000 copies every week. and
; a'ote tnan million copies year. say
RoW that book which is Divinely in
ared, and Divinely kept. aud Divinely
{ Sss sstsered is weapon worth holding a
saashf grip of. Bishop Colenso will come
~ 8 and try to wrench out of your
ad the five books of Moses, and
nsfauss will come along and try to
fench out of your hand the miracles,
20 henan will come along and Try to
snsench out of your hand the entire life
90 tne Lord Jesus Christ, and your as
sa.esinthe Office or the factory or she
nklng house will try to wrench out
your hand the entire Bible, but in
Us strength of the Lord God of Israel
- With Eleazar's grip hold on to it.
~ give up the Bible, you give up any
~ q It, and you give up pardon and
sece and life and Heaven.
'o not be ashamed, young man. tc
se the world know that YOU are q
sad OF the Bible. This book is the
ssao of all that is good, and it is the
: n enemy of all that is bad. An elo
writer recently gives an inciden,
! very bad man who stood in eel
western prison. This crimina
eone- through all styles of crime
ee was there waiting for the gal
The convict standing tn ere at the
8 81 1ew Of the cell, this writer saws
- out and declared, I am an in
He said that to all the men ane
g and children who happened /,
athefed there, I am an infitle..'
II Ine eloquent writer saws. ..Eyer,