The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-04-26
DIR, TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: "HoId Fast to the Blble"-Les-
sons Drawn From the Sword of Eleazar
As He Grasped His Weapon So Should
We CIenye 70 the Old Gospel.

Subject: "Hold Fast to the Blble"-Les-
sons Drawn From the Sword Of Eleazar
As He Grasped His Weapon So Should
We CIeave TO the Old Gospel.
TEXT: "And his hand clave unto the
sword. III Samuel xxiii., 10.
What q glorious thing to preach the
Gospel! Some suppose that because
have resigned q fixed pastorate I will
cease to preach. No, no. 1 expect to
preach more than / ever have. II the
Lord will, four times as much, though
in manifold places. would not dare to
malt with such opportunity to declare the
truth through the ear to audiences and to
the eye through tho printing press. And
here we have Il stirring theme put before
US by the prophet.
Eleazar, the hero Of the text. The Philis-
tines opened battle against him, and his
troops retreated. 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 whcie regiment with God
against them. Fall backl" shouted the
commander OF the Phiistine army. The
cry ran alops the host, Fall bnck!'
Eleazar, having swept the field, throws
himself on the ground to rest, but the mus
long bent around the hilt OF his sword that
the hilt was imbedded in tho 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 oalan.ly welded. His hand clave
unto the sword" That is what I call
magnificent fighting for the Lord God Of
Israel. And we want more OF 1t.
propose to show you how Eleazar, took
hold Of fthe sword and how the sword took
hold OF Eleazar. look at Eleazar's hand,
and I come to the conclusion that he, took
the sword with very tight grip. The
towards who fled had no trouble In drop
ming their swords. AS they fly over the
rocks hear their swords changing In every
direction. I. 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, u 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 go,
so that the Philistlnes, seeing the loosened
grasp, wrench the whole sword away from
them. The only safe thing for us to is to
rut 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 tie tips OF the fingers clutch at
the words "In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth" like IN inf
del great deal better than I do one OF
these namby pamby Christians who hold q
part OF the truth and let the rest 50. By
miracle God preserved this Bible just as 1t
is, and it is Damascus blade. The sever
est test to which Il sword can be put In q
sword factory is to wind the blade around
a gun barrel like a ribbon, and then when
the sword Is let loose 1t flies back to its own
shane. SO the sword Of Gods truth has
been fully tested, and it is bent this way
and thut way and wound this way and that
way, but 1t always comes back to its own
shape, Think oft A book written nearly
nineteen centuries ago, and some Of II
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 100000 copies yearl say
now that book which Is divinely inspired
and divinely kept and diviney scattered Is
n 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,
ani Renan will come along and try to
wrench out OF your hand the entire life OF
the Lord Jesus Christ, and your associates
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 1t. You give up the Bible, you
give up any part OF It, pnd you give up par
don and peace and life in heaven.
DO not be ashamed, young man, to havo
the world know that you are friend OF the
Bible. This book is the friend OF all that Is
good, and 1t is the sworn enemy OF all that
is bad. An eloquent writer recently gives
IN incident OF very bad man who stood
in cell OF a Western prison. This crimi-
nal had gone through nll 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, 4 nm an iD0del.' He said
that to nll the mon and women and chill
dren who happened to be gathered there,
Il am IN inildel'" And the eloquent writer
.ays, Every man and woman there be-
heved him." And the writer goes on to
eay, "If he had stood there saying. am
IL Christian every man and woman would
have snii, He is II liar'"
This Bible Is the sworn enemy OF all that
Is wrong, and it is the friend OF all TINT Is
good. Oh, hold on it! Do not take part
3f 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 II the
soul Is mortal, and they say: " guess 1t
it isn't" Is the Bbletrue? "Well, perhaps
It Is. and perhaps it isn't. Perhaps it may
he, figuratively. and perhaps 1t may bn
partly and perhaps it may not be at all"
They despise what they call the apostolic
creed, but il thsr own creed were written
out 1t would read like this: ~ believe in
nothing, the maker OF heaven and earth,
and In nothing which it hath sent, which
nothing was born OF nothing and which
nothing was dead and buried and descend
ed into nothing and rose from nothing
md assembled to nothing and now Sitteth
nt the right hand OF nothing, from
waich it will come judge nothing. be-
lleve in the holy agnostic church and In
the communion OF notbingarians and in
the forgiveness of nothing and the resur-
rsctiun Of nothing and in the life that never
5, al be. Amenn' That Is the crcod OF
T. ms OF thousands of people IN this day. II
YOU have n mind to adopt such theory,
will not. II believe in God, the Fathcr Al!
mighty. Maker OF heaven and earth, and in
Jesus Christ and in the holy catholic
church and in the communion OF saints
and in the life everlasting. Amen" Oh,
when 1 sec Eieazar tnkiDg such q stout
grip OF the sword in tho battle against sin
and for righteousness, come to the con-
.iustou that We ought to take stouter
grip OF Goh's eternal truth-the sword OF
Righteousness.
As look Mt Eieazar's hand also notice
bis spirit OF self forgetfulness. He did not
notice that the hlt OF the sword was eating
through the palm OF his hand. He did not
know it hurt MIN. AS he went Gut into the
conflict he was so anxious for the victory
he forgot himself, and that hilt might 60
never so deeply into the palm OF his hand.