Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-08-03
IN GRIP OF STEEL.
Dr.. Talmage Draws a Lessen from
the Tenacity of Eleazar.
He Urges a Closer Adherence to the
Gospel and Announces That
He VIII Not Cease to
Preach.
fwashington. April 9.

In the first notice concerning DR.. Tai
/, mage that Pastor Charles II. Sturgeon
of London, wrote the great English min
lister said he was glad to find preache
that believed something This dis
course of DIR. Talmage is in that vein
and urges close adherence 10 the oil,
Gospel; text ii. Samuel, 23:1O, "And hi,
hand clave unto the sword"
What a glorious thing TO preach tn,
Gospel Some suppose that because
have resigned a fixed passionate ! vii
cease 10 preach! mol MOI Iexpect Il
preach more than / ever have. If the
Lord WILL four times as much, though
in manifold places. would not dare
to halt with such opportunity 10 declare
the truth through the ear TO audiences
and TO the eye through the printin~
press. And here we have a stirrir,
theme put before us by the prophet
A great general Of King David wa
Eleazar. the hero of the text. The
Philistines opened battle against him
and his troops retreated The COW.
ards fed. Eleazar and three OF his com,
rades went into the battle and swept
/ the field, for four men with God on their
/ side are stronger than whole regiment
4 with God against them. "Fall back"
shouted the commander Of the Philis-
/ tine army. The cry ran along the host:
( Fall backl" Eleazar, having swept tho
7 field, throws himself on the ground tc
rest, but the muscles and sinews Of nj,
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
the hilt had broken through the Skin
OF the palm of his hand, and he could
not drop this sword which he had 50
CALAMITY welded His hand clave I'M
70 the sword" That is what call mag.
niticent fighting for the Lord God OF
Israel. And we want more oft
| propose TO show you how Eleazar
took hold of the sword and how the
sword took hold OF Eleazar. / look al
Eleazar's hand, and | come to the con
clusion 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 di.
rection. II is easy enough for them 10
drop their swords. But Eleazar's hand |
clave unto the sword. In this Christian |
conflict we want tighter grip of tn |
Gospel weapons, a tighter grasp of thu |
two-edged sword Of the truth Itmakes |
me sick 10 see these Christian people |
who hold only a part of the truth. and
let the rest of the truth go, so that the |
Philistines, seeing the loosened GRASP. |
wrench the whole sword away from |
them
The only safe thing for US to do is 10
put our thumb on the book Of Genesis |
and sweep our hand around the book
until the tips of the fingers clutch al
the words: I'm the beginning God ere
sted the Heavens and the earth" | Hike
40 infidel great deal better than do
one Of these mandy PANTY Christians
who hold part Of the truth and let the
rest go. BY miracle, God preserved this
Bible Just as ii is, and it is a Damascus
blade. The severest test to which 4
sword can be put in a sword factory is
TO wind the blade around a gun barrel
ike ribbon, and then, when the sword
Is let loose II flies back to its own
shape. So the sword of Gods truth has
been fully tested, and il Is bent this
way and that way and wound this way {
md that way, but il always comes back }
% its own shape. Think OF i'll A book
written near 10 centuries ago, and some {
i il thousands of years ago, and yet in {
'ur time the average sale of this Book is {
more than 10000 copies every week. and !
more than million copies year | say n
low that book which is Divinely in
pred, and Divinely kept and Divinely q
is weapon worth holding {
light grip of. Bishop Colenso will come q
long and try to wrench out of your /
and the five books of Moses. and |
trauss will come along and try 10
french out of your hand the miracles. v
nd Renan will come along and try TO II
french out Of your hand the entire life k
I the Lord Jesus Christ and your as
ociates in the Office or the factory or She s
anking house will try to wrench out f
{ your hand the entire Bible. but in G
he strength Of the Lord God of Israel V
nd with Eleazar's grip hold on TO it, 4
ou give up the Bible you give up any Ii
art Of it, and you give up pardon and
eace and life and Heaven. p
Do not be ashamed, young man, to v
ave the world know that YOU are b
riend of the Bible. This book is the II
riend of all that is good, and il is the d
worn enemy of all that is bad. An elo- il
uent writer recently gives an incident Il
T a very bad man who stood in a eel n
I western prison. This criminal {,
ad gone through all styles of crime, s.
nd he was there waiting for the gal r,
ows. The convict standing there at the
window of the cell, this writer says.
looked out and declared, i am an in
del He said that TO all the men and
romen and children who happened to d
e gathered there, I am an infidel,'" d
nd the eloquent writer says. Every d
IAN and woman there believed him" h
md the writer goes on to say, IF he I,
ad stood there saying, 4 am Chris C;
ian,' every man and woman would have b
aic. He is liarl'" or
.