St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-05-13

I'm GRIP OF STEEL.

lin GRIP OF STEEL.
b. Ta1mage Draws a Lesson from
the Tenleity Of Ileazar.
! se Urre. q Closer Adherence to the
| Gospel and Announces That
Hs. VIII Not Cease ts
| - Preach.
ltwashinetcn. Copyright. 1881
| In the first notice concerning DIR. Tai
mage that Pastor Charles II. Spurgeon,
,f London. wrote the great English min
lister said he was glad to find preacher
that believed something. This dis
course of DIR. Talmage is in that vein.
and urges close adherence to the old
Gospel; text. II. Samuel, e3:1o, "And his
hand clave unto the sword" lts
What glorious thing to preach the
Gospel! Some suppose that because !
have resigned q fixed pastorate ! will
cease to preach! No! MOL Iexpect to
preach more than ever have. If the
Lord will. four times as much, though
IN manifoldsplaces. ! would not dare
| to halt with such opportunity u declare
the truth through the ear to audiences
and to the eye through the printing
press. And here we have a stirring
theme put before us by the prophet
A great general of King David was
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
with God against. them. *Fall back!"
shouted the-commander of the Philis-
tine army. The cry ran along the host: :
Fall back!" Eleazar, having swept the
field, thlows himself on the ground to
rest. but the muscles and sinews of his
hand had been 30 long bent around the
hiIt ofthe sword that the hilt Was Inn
bedded in the flesh. and the gold wire of
the hilt had broken through the skin
Of the palm of his hand. and he cdhid
not drop thin sword which he had so
gallantly welded "His hand clave .un-
to the sword" That iswhat / call mag.
nifcent fighting foA the Lord God Of
Israel. Andwe wantnore oft.
/ 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 i come to the con-
clusion that he took the sword with 4
very tight grip. The towards who fled
had NO trouble in dropping their
swords. As they fy 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
clave unto the sword. In this Christian
conflict we want q tighter grip of the
Gospel weapons. . tighter grasp of the
two-edged sword of the truth. 1t makes
me sick to see these Christian people
who hold only part of the truth, and
let the rest of the truth 60, 50 fhat-the
Philistines, seeing the loosened 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 tips of the fingers clutch at
the words: In the beginning God Gre
ated the Heavens and the earth" like
an infidel a great deal better than do
one Of these namby pamby Christians
who hold part of the truth and let the
rest go. By miracle, God preserved this
Bible just as it is, and it is a Damascus
blade. The severest test to which a
sword can be put in q sword factory is
to wind the blade around a gun barrel
like ribbon, and then, when the sword
is let loose, it flies back to its own
shape. So the sword of Gods truth has
been fully tested, and it is bent this
way and that way and wound this way
and that way, but it always comes back
to its own shape. Think of it! A book
written near 10 centuries ago. and some
of it thousands of years ago, and yet in
our time the average sale of this Book is
more than 10000 copies every week. and
more than a million copies year. Isay
now that a book which is Divinely in
spired, and Divinely kept, and Divinely
scattered is q weapon worth holding a
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 up the Bible, you give up any
part of it. and you give up pardon and
peace and life and Heaven.
Do not be ashamed, young man. to
have the world know that you are q
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 very bad man who stood in q cell
of a western prison. This criminal
ndQ gone tHIOuSh OH SSyASS u SAsAiSs
and he was there waiting for the gal
lows. The convict standing there at the
window of the cell, this writer says,
s'looked out and declared, I am an in
f:del.' He said that to all the men and
women and children who happened to
be gathered there, I am an infldel.' "
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, i am Chris
tian,' every man and woman would have
said, He is . liar!'"
This Bible is the sworn enemy of all
that is wrong, and it is the friend of all
that is good. Oh. hold on it! 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: 81 guess it is; don't know. Per
haps it is; perhaps it isn't" II the Bible
true? sWell, perhaps it is, and perhaps
it isn't. Perhaps it may be, figurative-
ly, and perhaps it may be partly. and
perh.ps it may net be at all" They
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