The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-04-14
IN GRIP OF STEEL.
DR.. Talmage Draws Lesson from
the Tenacity of Eleazar.
He Urges n Closer Adherence 10 the
Gospel and Announces That
He VIII Not Cease TO
Preach.

Prenchs
washington, April g. Copyright, 1892
In the first notice concerning DR.. Tai
mage that Pastor Charles II. Sturgeon.
of London, wrote the great English min
lister said he was glad o find preacher
that believed something. This dis
course of DR.. Talmage is in that vein.
and urges close adherence to the old
Gospel: text. II. Samuel. 23:10. And his
hand clave unto the sword"
What glorious thing TO preach the
Gospel! Some suppose that because
have resigned fixed pastorate | will
cease to preach No! mol expect to
preach more than | ever have. If the
Lord will. four times as much. though
In manifold places would not dare
to halt with such opportunity TO declare
the truth through the ear TO audiences
and TO the eye through the printing
press And here we have stirring
theme put before us by the prophet
\ great general of King David was
EIpazar the hero of the text. The
Thilistines opened battle against him.
and his troops retreated. The cow
| ards fled. 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. throws himself on the ground to
rest. but the muscles and sinews of his
| hand had been so long bent around the
hilt of the sword that the hilt was i'm
beddcd i'm the flesh. and the goldwire of
the hilt had broken through the skin
of the palm of his hand. and he could
not drop this sword which he had so
CALAMITY welded. His hand clave un-
to the sword" That is what call mag
| nificent fighting for the Lord God of
Israel. Andwe want more off 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 l come to the con-
| clusion that he took the sword with n
very tight grip. The towards who fed
had no trouble in dropping their
swords. As they fly over the rocks !
hear their swords changing in every di-
rection. 1t is easy enough for them TO
drop their swords. But Eleazars hand
clave unto the sword. In this Christian
conflict we want a 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 go. so that the
Philistines. seeing the loosened grasp
wrench the whole sword away from
them.
The only safe thing for us TO do is 10
put our thumb on the book of Genesis
and sweep our hand around he book
until the tips of the fingers clutch at
the words: "In the beginning God ere
ated the Heavens and the earth" | like
an nfidel a great deal better than dc
one of these mandy PANTY Christians
who hold part Of the truth and let the
rest go. BY miracle, God preserved this
Bible just as it is. and il is n Damascus
blade. The severest test to which a
sword can be put in sword factory Is
20 wind the blade around gun barrel
like ribbon, and then, when the sword
is let loose, il 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 n million copies year. | say
now that book which is Divinely in
spired, and Divinely kept. and Divinely
scattered is a weapon worth holding q
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 &c
wrench out of your hand the entire life
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and your as
socialism the Office or the factory or Che
banking house will try to wrench Out
of your hand the entire Bible, but IN
NhN oAiNhB III VI NllC lIOld NOt VI lol dGl
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, tc
have the world know that you are G
friend of the Bible. This book is the
friend of all that is good, and it is tn,
sworn enemy of all that is bad. An elo
quent writer recently gives an incident
of very bad man who stood in n eel
of western prison. This crimina
had gone through all styles of crime
and he was there waiting for the gal
lows. The convict standing there at the
window of the cell, this writer says
"looked out and declared, 4 am an in
fidel.' He said that to all the men anG
women and children who happened tt
be gathered there, I am an infdel,''
and the eloquent writer says, Every
| man and woman there believed him, >