The Burke County news. [volume] (Morganton, N.C.) 1899-1901, 1899-04-28
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR YOUNG
AND OLD.
swbject: "Hold Fast to the Rible"-Les-
sons Drawn From the Sword of Eleazar
"A. Tie Grasped His Weapon SO should
We Cieave tn the Old Gospel.

We CleAve to the Old Gospel.
TEXT: And his hand clave unto the
.word."-U Sanuei xiii. 10.
What a glorious thing to preach TIE
Gospel! Some suppose that because 1
have resigned a fixed pastorate l will
cease to preach. No, no. l expect to
preach more than 1 ever have. II the
Lord will. four times as much, though
IN manifold places. | would not dare to
halt with such opportunity TO declare the
truth through tho ear TO audiences and to
the eye through the printing press. And
here we have ~ stirring theme put before
~ by the prophet.
A. great general OF King David was
Eleazar, the hero Of the text. The Philis-
tines opened battle against him. and his
troops reiterated. The towards fed.
Eleazar and three of his comrades went
into the battle and swept the field, for
four men with God on their side are
stronger than q whcie regiment with God
against them. Fall back shouted the
commander Of the Philistine army. The
DRY ran along the host, Fall back!"
Eleazar, having swept the field, throws
himself on the ground to rest, but the mus
cles 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 tho hilt had broken trough
the skin OF tho palm OF the hand, and he
could not drop this sword which he had
so gallan.ly welded. His hand clava
unto the sword That Is what I call
magnificent fighting for the Lord God Of
Israel. And We want more OF it.
propose to shOw you how Eieazar took
hold OF the sword and how the sword took
hold of Eleazar. l look at EleaZar's hand.
and I come to the conclusion that he took
the sword with u very tight grip. The
towards who fed had no trouble in drop.
ping their swords AS they. fly over the
rocks hear their swords Changing in every
direction. [. is easy enough for them 20
drop their swords. but Eleazar's hand clave
unto the sword. In this Christian conflict
we want Il tighter grip Of 1.-THE Gospel weap-
OnS. a tighter grasp 81 the two edged sword
Of the truth. 1t makes me sick to see these
Christian people VINO hold only q part Of
the truth and let the rest Of the truth go,
50 that the PhilistineS. seeing the lOOsenet
grasp. wrench the whole sword away from
them. The only safe thing for us to do is to
put our thumb on the book Of Genesis and
sweep our hand around the book until the
New Testament comes into the palm II
keep on sweeping our hand around the
book uNtil the tips OF the fingers clutch at
the words In the bt ginning God created
the heavens AMI the earth. like an inf
del a great deal better than | do one OF
these Mandy PANTY Christians who hold a
part Of tho truth and let the rest 60. BY
miracle God preserved this Bible lust as 1t
is, and it is Il Damascus blade. Tle sever
est test to WHicna sword can be put in q
sword factory Is to wind the blade around
gun barrel like q ribbon. and then when
IT," sword is let loose il lilies back to its own
shape. SO the sword Of Gods truth has
been fully tested, and 1t is bent this way
and that wGv and Uclnd this wav and that
way. but it ALWAYS cDm"s back to its own
shape. Think otitl book written nearly
nineteen centurie, ago. and soao OF fl
fh41lElnIS 81 4, L or grl T-nt j.,
our tine the average sale of this book
is more thau 2j.GGp copies every week and
more than 1900 800 copies Il year, / say
now that a booi, wElch is G~iyinely inspired
and divin"lv keEt and a~iyineiy scattered is
p weapon worth holding n tight grip OF.
Bishop CGienso VIII come along ana trv 10
wrench out OF your hand the five books Of
Moses, and strauss Will come along and try
TO wrench out OF y0ur hand the miracles,
AMI Hcnan will come along and try To
wrench out OF NoIr hand the entire lile OF
the Ior3Jesas Christ, and your associates
IN the oftcc or the factory or the banking
house VII. try TO wrench out of your hand
the entire Bibie, but in the strength Of the
Lord God OF lsraei and with Eleazar's crit
hold on 20 II. You give up the Bible, YOU
tive up az pert OF il. and you giveup par
den an2 neace and Lille in heaven.
DO net be ashamed. young man. to have
the world kuowthat YOU are a friend Of the
Bible. This book Is the friend of all that is
good. ana il l. the sworn enemy OF all that
il bad. An eloquent writer recently gives
an incident of q very bad man who stood
In a cell OF a Western prison. This crimi-
nal had gone through all styles Of crime,
and he was there waiting fer the gallows.
The convict standing there at the window
Of the cell. this writer says. Cooked out
and declared. i am an infiel.' He said
that u all the men and women and chill.
dren who happened to be gathered there.
4 AN an iaftdel. Andthe eloquent writer
says, Every man and woman there lie.
lieve3 him. And TIE writer goes on tc
say, II he had stood there saying. I ar
ats-I,tiaa. every man and w0nan wouI:
have said. lie j. 4 liar