Connecticut western news., 1899-04-13
SWORD OF ELEAZAR.
IT INSPIRES OR. TALMAGe TO A TOW
 ERFul SERMON.

A. the Soldier of ofI GrIpped His
 Btble = Grasp Tightly the Two
 Edged Sword of Truth.
 ICopyright. fSss by American Press Asso-
 ciat!onI
 WASHINGTON. April 9.-In the first notice concerning Dr. Talmage that Pastor Charles H. Sturgeon of London wrote the great English minister said he was glad to find preacher that be- lieved something This discourse of Dr Talmage is in that vein and urges close adherence to the old gospel; text. II Samuel xiii. 10, And his hand clave unto the sword
 What,a glorious thing to preach the gospell Some suppose that because l have resigned fixed pastorate l will cease to preach No. no l expect to preach more than I ever have If the Lord will four times as much. though in manifold places 1 would not dare to halt with snch opportunity to declare the truth through the ear toaudiences aud 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 Phil istines opened battle against him. and his troops retreated The towards fled 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 whole regiment with God against them. Fall backl" shout ed the commander of the Philistine army The cry ran along the host. Fall backl" 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 imbedded in the flesh. and the gold wire of the hilt had broken through the skin of the palm of the hand. and he could not drop this sword which he had so gallantly yielded. His hand clave unto the sword ' That is what 1 call magnificent lighting for the Lord God of Israel And we want more of it
 Held Tn Firm Grasp.
 propose to show you how Eleazar took hold of the sword and how the sword took hold of Eleazar. look at Eleasar,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. Asthey fly over the rocks hear their swords changing in every direction. It is easy enough for them to drop their swords but Eleazar's hand clave unto the sword. In this Christian conflict we want tighter grip of the gospel weap- ons a tighter grasp Of the two edged sword of the truth It makes mesick to see these Christian people who hold only . part of the truth and let the rest of the truth go. so that the Philistines, seeing the loosenedr 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 and keep on sweeping our hand around the book until the tips of the fingers clutch at the words "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. , like. an infidel a great deal better than do one of these namby parnby Chris tians who hold part of the truth and let the rest go. By miracle God pre- served this Bible just as it is, and it is a Damascus blade. The severest test to which a sword can be put in a sword factory is to wind the blade around gun barrel like ribbon, and then when the sword is let loose it flies back to it's own shape So the sword of God truth has been fully tested. and it is bent this way and that way and wound this way and that way. but 1t always comes back to it's own shape. Think of iti A book written near | centuries ago, and some of it thousands of years ago. and yet in our time the average sale of this book is more than 20, 900 copies every week and more than l. 1000. 900 copies year. ] cay now that book which is divinely inspired and divinely kept and divinely scattered is a weapon worth holding tight grip of Bishop Colenso will come along and try to wrench out of your hand the five 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 out 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 xp the Bible, you give up any part of it, and yon give up pardon and peace and life and heaven.
 Friend of All Good.
 Do not be ashamed. young man, to have the world know that you are 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 elo- quent writer recently gives an incident of a very bad man who stood in cell of western prison. This criminal had zone through all styles of crime, and he was there waiting for the gallows The convict standing there at the win dow of the cell. this writer says. Hook ed out and declared, I am an infidel He said that to all the men and women and children who happened to be gath cred there I 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 saying. T am Christian, every man and woman would have said. He ds a liarI ''
 This Bibl. is the sworn enemy of all that is wrons. and it is the friend of all that is good. Oh. hold on itI Do not take part of it and throw the rest away Hold on to all of it. There are so many people now who do not know You ask them if the soul is immortal, and they say; "I guess it Is; don't know. Perhaps it is; perhaps it isn't" !" Is the Bible true7 "Well, perhaps it ie, and perhaps it isn't. Perhaps it may be, 6guratively, and perhaps it may be partly, and perhaps it may not be at : all." They despise what they call the apostolic creed, but if their own creed