Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-04-20


lister said he was glad to find n 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, 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! No! Iexpect to
preach more than ] 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 the ear to audiences
and to the eye through the printing
press. And here we have n stirring
Theme put before us by the prophet.
A great general Of King David was
Eleaznr, the hero of the text. The
Philistincs opened battle against him,
and his troops retreated, The cow
ards fed. Elenzar 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 II whole regiment
with God against them. Fall back!'
shouted the commander OF the Philis-
tine army, The cry ran along the host:
Fall bnck!" Eleaznr, having swept the
field, throws himself on the ground to
rest, but the muscles and sinewB OF his
hand had been so long bent around the
hilt OF the sword that the hilt was i'm
bcdded In the flesh and the gold wire OF
the hilt had broken through the skin
OF the palm Of his hand, and he could
not drop this sword which he had 30
CALAMITY welded. Ellis hand claye UNI
to the sword" That is what call mag
ni6cent fighting for the Lord God OF
Israel, ANDY want more Off
propose to show you how Elenzar
took hold OF the sword and how the
sword took hold OF Elcazar. look Mt
Eeazar's hnnd, and come to the con-
cluson that he took the sword with a
very tight grip, The towards who fed
had no trouble In dropping their
swords As they fly over the rocks
henr their swords changing in every d.
rcction, II Is easy enough for them to
drop their swords. But Eleaznr's hand
clave unto the sword. In this Christian
conflict we want n tighter grip OF the
Gospel weapons, n tighter grasp OF the
two-edged sword OF the truth i makes
me sick TO see these Christian people
who hold only pnr' OF the truth, and
let the rest OF the truth 60, so that the
Philistines, seeing the loosencd grasp,
wrench the whole sword away from
them.
The only safe thing for MS to do IL to
put our thumb on the book of Genesis
and sweep our hand around the book
until the tips of the fingers clutch ut
the words; "ln the beginning God Gre
ated the Heavens and the earth" | like
an inhdel great deal better than do
one OF these nanny pamby Christians
who hold n part of the truth and let the
rest go by miracle, God preserved this
Bible Just as II is, and II Is II Damascus
bln1e The scvercst test to which II
sword can he put IN n sword factory Is
to wind the blade around n gun barrel
like n ribbon. and then, when the sword
is let loose, II flies back to its own
shape, So the sword of Gods truth has
been fully tested, and II Is bent this
way and that way and wound this way
and that way, but II always comes back
to It's own shape. Think of II! A book
written near 10 centuries ago, and some
Of II thousands OF years ago, and yet IN
our time the average sale of this Book IS
more than 10000 copies every week, and
more thun n million copies year, say
now that n book which Is Divinely In
spircd, and Divinely kept, and Diyinely
scattered is n weapon worth holding u
tight grip Of Bishop ColcnSo will come
along aud try to wrench out of your
hand the five books OF Moses, and
Strauss viii come along and Try To
wrench out OF your hand the miracles,
and Rcnnn will come along and try to
wrench out OF your hand the entire life
Of the Lord Jesus Christ. and your as
sociutcs In the office or the factory or she
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 Elcazar's grip hold on to It.
You give up the Bible, YOU give up any
part OF II. and YOU give up pardon and
peace aud life aud Heaven.
DO not he ashamed, young man, to
have the world know that YOU are Il
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 elo'
oucnt writer recently gives an incdcn,
of very bad man who stood in cell
of western prison, This criminal
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,
Hooked out and declared, ! am an in
fidel.' He said that to all the men and
women and children who happened to
be gathered there. Il am IN intldel,'"
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, 1 am u Chris
tian,' every man and woman would have
said. He is iar!'
rhin Rihla IL fha swarm rnnlny ~ "A II