The Yale expositor., 1899-04-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"A STOUT GRASP" LAST SUN
DAYS SUBJECT.
From Second Book of Samuel, Chapter
xiii, Verse 10. as Follows; And His
Hand CIave Unto the sword"-David
and the PhIIIstines.


have resigned fixed pastorate 1 will
cease to preach. No, No. l expect to
preach more than l ever have. If the
Lord will, four times as much, though
in manifold places. l would not dare
to halt with such opportunity to de-
clare the truth through the ear to au-
diences, and to the eye through the
printing press. And here we have
stirring theme put before us by the
prophet.
A great general of King David was
Eleazar the hero of the text. The
Phiiistines opened battle against him,
and his troops retreated. The towards
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 a whole
regiment 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
on the ground TO rest; but the muscles
and sinews OF his hand had been SO
long bent around the hilt of his sword
that the hilt was imbedded in the
flesh and the gold wire of the hilt had
Of the hand, and he could not drop this
sword which he had so CALAMITY WELD
ed. His hand clave unto the sword.
That is what l call magnificent fight
ing 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
sword took hold OF Eleazar. / look at
Eleazar's hand, and come to the con-
clusion that he took the SWORD with
a very tight grip. The towards who
fled had no trouble in dropping their
swords. AS they fly over the rocks l
hear their swords changing in every di-
rection. 1t Is easy enough for them to
drop their swords, But Eleazar's hand
claye unto the sword. In this Chris
tian conflict we want a tighter grip OF
the Gospel weapons, tighter grasp OF
the two-edgcd sword OF the truth. II
makes me sick TO see these Christian
people who hold only a part OF the
truth, and let the rest of the truth so.
so that the Philistines, seeing the loos-
ened grasp. wrench the whole sword
away from them. The only safe thing
for us to do is to put our thumb On :he
Book of Genesis and sweep our hand
around the Book until the New Tesla
ment comes into the palm, and Keep { n
sweeping our hand around he p, TX
until the tips Of the fingers clutch at
the words: I'm the beginning God
created the heavens and the Garth"
l like an infidel a great deal better
than l do one OF these namby-pamby
Christians who hold part of the truth
and let the rest so. BY miracle, God
preserved this Bible just as il is, and Il
is Damascus blade. The severest test
factory is to wind the blade around
gun-bsrrel like a ribbon. aad then
when the sword is let loose it flies >scll
to its own shape. So the sword Of
Gods truth has been fully tested, and
it is bent this way and that way, and
lndl way, Dul IL IOlllC9 UdCh ~
its own shape. Think of it! A Book
written near nineteen centuries ago,
and come of 1t thousands Of years ago,
and yet in our time the average sale OF
this Book is more than twenty thou
sand copies every week, and more than
a million copies a year. / say now
that Book which is divinely inspired
and divinely kept and divinely scat
tered is a weapon worth holding n
tight grip Of. Bishop Colenso will
come along and try to wrench out Of
your hand the Eve 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 as
sociates in the Office or the factory or
the banking house will try to wrench
cut 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 par
don and peace and life and heaven.
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
eloquent writer recently gives an in
cident OF a very bad man who stood In
cell of a Western prison. This Grim
inal had gone through all styles OF
crime, and he was there waiting for
the gallows. The convict standing
there at the window of the cell. this
writer says, looked out and declared.
1 am an infidel.' He said that to all
the men and women and children who
happened to 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 say
ing. 4 am Christian every man and
woman would have said: He is
liar!'T
This Bible is the sworn enemy OF all
that is wrong. and II is the friend of all