Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-04-15
SWORD OF EI1EAZAR.
1T INSPIRES DR.. TALMAGE ToA POW
ERFUl SERMON.
As the Soldier of Old Gripped His
Weapon. SO Sho..ld We Hold the
Bible Grasp Tightly the FwO
Edged Sword of Truth.

Weapon. So Sho.ld We Hold the
Bible Grasp Tightly the FwO
Edged sword of Truth.
copyright 1899. by American Press Asso-
cIntion.
WASHINGTON. April 9.-ln the first
notice concerning DR. Talmage that
Pastor Chnrles H. Sturgeon of London
wrote the great English minister said
he was glad to find II 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. TO- And his hand clave
unto the sword
What d glorious thing to preach the
gospel! Some SUPPOSE that because |
have resigned tixcu pastorate will
cease to preach No. no | 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 a 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 rstreatcd 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 Il whole regiment with
God against them Fall hack 7" shout
ed the commander of the Philistine
army The cry ran along the host,
Fall bnck! Eleazar having swept
the field. throws himself on the ground
to rest. but the muscles and sinews of
lis hand had been so long bent around
the hilt of his sword that the hilt was
inbedded in the flesh. and the gold
wire of the hit had broken through the
skin of the palm Of the hand, and he
could not drop this sword which he had
so gallantly welded His hand clave
unto the sword That is what call
magnificent fighting for the Lord God
of Israel And we want more of it.
Held In Firm Grasp.
propose to show you how Eleazar
took hold of the sword and how the
sword took hold of Eleazar look at
Eleazar's hard. 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
As they fly over the rocks | hear their
swords Changing in every direction 1t
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 1t makes me sick to
see these Christian people who hold only
a part of the truth and let the rest of
the truth 60 80 that the Philistines.
sseing 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 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 lin the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. .
| like an infidel a great deal better than
do one of these nalnby palnby Chris
tians who hold Il part of the truth and
let the rest 90 By miracle God pre-
served this Bible Just as it is. and it is
Damascus blade The severest test to
which sword can be put in sword
factory is to wind the blade around a
gun barrel like ribbon and then when
the sword is let louse it flies back to its
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 il always comes back
to its own shape Think of it A book
written near / 8 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 1000. 600 copies a year
say now that book which is divinely
inspired and divinely kept and divinely
scattered is 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 ont Of your hand the miracles
and Renan will Gene 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 OF
the banking honse will try to wrench
out of ynnr band the entire Bible, but
in the strengthof the Lard God of Israel
and with Eleazars grip hold on to 1t
You give up the Bible. you give up any
part of it. aud yon give up pardon and
peace and life and heaven
Friend OF All Good.
Do not NJ ashamed yonng man. tc
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-
ouent writer recently gives an incident
of a very lad man who stood in a eel
of western prison This criminal hao
gone 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, 'look'
ed out and declared i am an intldeL
He said that to all the men and women
and children wbo happened to be gath
ered there. 4 am an intidel :" And the
Eloquent writer says. Every man anc
woman there believed him. And the
writer goes on to say. IF he had stood
there saying. 1 am Christian. every
man and woman would have said, He
is liarl
This Bible is the sworn enemy of al
that is wrong. and it is the friend Of
all that is good Oh. hold on it d.
not take part of it and throw the resi-
away Hold on to all of it There are
30 many people now who do not know
You ask them if the soul is immortal
and they say II gness it is; ] dom
know. Perhaps it is perhaps it isn't.
Is the Billie trueY "Wdl, perhaps 1t ls
and perhaps it isn't. Perhaps it MAY
be, fguratively, and perhaps it may D.
N@% q