The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1899-04-21
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
The Eminent Divins's Sunday
Discourse.

TEXT: '"Ant his hanL clay, unto IL.
SWORD. III Samue; xNiti., 10.
What glorious thing to prcncb IN,
Gospel! Sone suppose that because I
have resigned fixed pastoratn [ Will
cease to preach No, no. exp..t to
Preaeh more than 1 ever have. II the
Lord will, four times as Inuci, thou,-.,
IN maniiold places. 1 would not d,nru to
malt with such opportunity To declare th,,
.,u'h tnrough tho ear to audiences and to
,he eye through the printing press. Au,
here we have stirring them. mt h.fnra
US by the prophet
A: Srent general o. King David Wis
E'enzar, tho hero OF the text. The pnins.
tines opened battle against him, aud his
troops retreated. The cownrds csd
Elenxar and three OF his comrades ,x.,,:
into the battle and swept tho field for
four mon with God on their side mr.,
stronger than whcie regiment with God
against them. Fall baek!" shouted thu
commander OF the Philistiua army. The
cry ran along the host, "Fall back"
Eieazar. having swept the feid throws
himseit on the ground to rest, but the mus
Gles and sinews OF his hand had been 80
iSng 1ent around the hiit OF his sword thnt
the hilt was imbeddei IN tho flesh. mud th.
gold wire of the hilt had broken through
inc SKIN or tho palm OF tho hand, aud n.
could not drop This sword which ho had
unto tho sword" That is whit I call
magnificent fighting for tho Lord God o;
Israel. Aud wo want moro OF It.
propose to show you how Eleazar took
hoiu OF 1.-THE sword ana how tho sword took
hold OF ElcaZar. look ut EIaaznr,s hand
ana como to the conclusion that he took
tho sword With very tight grin. The
towards who fed had no trouble in tror-
ping their swords. AS they fv over the
rocks hear their swords changing I'm every
direction. I. is easy enough Tor them io
drop their swords. but Elruzur's hand cIaye
unto the sword. In this Christian conflict
we want tighter grip of tha Gospel wenn
ons, tighter grasp OF the two edged sword
OF tue truth. Ii makes mo sick to SEQ these
Christian people who hold only rart OF
the truth and let the rest OF the truth GO
so that the Phiistincs, seeing the looscnrd
grasp, wrench the whole sword away from
them. The only safe thing for US to do il to
put our thumb on tho book OF Genesis mud
sweep our hand around the hook until the
New Testament comes into the paim and
keep on sweeping our hand around the
BOOK until the tips OF the Nncers clutch at
the words "In the be ginning God created
tho heavens and tho earth" l like an inn
del II great denl better than / do one o,
these namby paluhy Christians who hold n
part o! the truth and let tho rest 20. By
miracle God preserved this BiUln lust ns il
IL, and it is Damascus blade. The sever
est test to which 4 sword can DO put in a
sword factory Is TO wind the binde around
gun barrel like n ribbon, and then when
the sword is let loose it hies back to it's own
y
been fully tested, ana it Is ben. thi. way
ana that way and wound this way and that
way, but 1t always comes back TO its own
shape. Think ofit! A book written nearly
nineteen centuries ago, and some OF it
thousands of years ago, and vet in
our timo the average salo OF this book
is more than % O00 copies every week and
more than 100000 copies Il year l say
now that Il book which is divinsly inspired
and divinely kept aud divincly scattered Is
~ weapon worth holding tight grip OF.
Bishop Colcnso will come along and try to
wrench out OF YOUR hand the Ave books OF
Moses, aud Strauss will come along ana try
to wrench ou. OF your hand the miracles
IN Eenan will come alonG ana try to
wrench out OF your hand the entire life OF
tha Lord Jesus Christ, and your associates
IN the Office or the factory or the banking
house will try to wrench ont Of your hand
tho entire Bible, but in tn" strength of the
Lord God OF Israel and with Elenzar's grip
hold on to it. You give up the Bible YOU
Eivo up any part OF It, and YOU give up pay
doa and peace and life in heaven.
d. not be ashamed, young man, to have
the worIi know that you are n friend Of tho
Bible This book is tho friend OF all thnt il
good. and IL is the sworn enemy OF all that
Ia bad. An eloquent writer recently gives
m incident OF II very bad man who stool
in II cell OF II Western prison. This cri,ni-
nal had gone through all styles OF crimr,
mud he was there waiting for tho gailUws.
Tie convict standing there at the window
of tho cell. this writer says, ''looked out
and declared, Il am al inllcl.' He said
that TO M! tho men ana women and chill
drcn who happened to be gathered there.
Il am m inilGel.'" And tho eloquent writer
SAYS, EVERY man and woman there br-
Gcvea HIM" And the writer goes on to
say. 1T he had stood there saying. 4 nm
Christian every man and woman would
have sail, 'Hn is II liar"
This Bo.o is the sworn enemy Of all that
Is wrong, and 1t is the friend OF NIL that IL
good. On, hold on il! Do not take part
of it nnd throw the rest away. Hold on to
nl or IL. There are so many reopla now
who DO not know. You ask them II the
soui is immortn!, and they say: II guess Il
is; don't know. Perhaps 1t l.; perhaps
1t isn't" Is the Bibirtrue? well, perhaps
it is, and perhaps it isn't Perhaps IL may
he, nguratireiy, and perhaps it may br
partly, and perhaps ii may not be Mt ALL"
they DIES rise what they cal the apostolic
creed, but IL III 'ir own creed were written
out K would read like this: II believe in
nothing, the maker OF heaven and earth,
and in nothing which 1t hath sent. which
nothing was born OF nothing aul which
nothing WAS dead and buried AMI descend
cd in;o nothing ana roso from nothing
aad assembled to nothing, and now sittcth
mt the right hand OF nothing, from
which 1t will come tojUdga nothing. be.
)cve in tho holy ngnostic church and in
tho communion OF EothiDgnrianS and In
the forgiveness OF nothing AMI the rrsur-
rcction OF nothing and in the life that never
Shall ie Amna"" That is tho creed OF
tens Of thousa::is of people IN this day. II
YOU have Il mind to adopt such n theory, l
will rot. II believe in God the Father Al
mighty. Maker OF heaven and earth, and IN
Jesus Christ and in the holy catholic
"hurch and In the communion OF saints
aud In the ii's everlasting. Amen!' On,
when / see E!eazar taking such Il stout
grip OF tho sword in tho battle ag iinst sin
and for righteousness, L come to the con
clusion that we ought To take II stoutcr
grip OF Gods eternal truth-the sword OF
righteousness.
AsI look Mt EcaZar's hand also notice
his spirit OF self fnrgetfulness. lie did not
notice that the hilt of tho sword was entiDg
q ,,,,l, I.,n liza, - l,iS I,np a