The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-12-29
Joy to the world, the Lord has come
Let earth receive her Klug.r

Joy to the world the Lord has
Let earth receive her King"
The text was Romans tx. 5: Christ
came, who Is over all, God blessed for
ever. Amen" The following is the ser
mon:
The world had been waiting four
Thousand years for delivery, waiting
while empires rose and fell. Conquerors
came, but they made the world worse
instead of making it better. Still the
centuries waited and looked for rescuer,
They looked for hun in palaces, looked
for him on thrones, looked for him at
the head of armies, looked for him ia i'm
perial robes. At last they found film in
a DaTn, the cattle nearer than the au-
gels. rhe former in an adjoining room,
the latter in the clouds; a paTentage OF
pea9antry; no room for them in the inn.
Yet the pointing star and the angelic
voices indicate that heaven made up in
appreciation Of His worth what the
world lacked.
About the differences between the
evangelical denominations of Christians
IhaVe no concern. IL l could by the
turning over Of my hand decide whether
finally all the world shall be DethOdists
or Baptists or EpiscOpalians or COngre-
gatiOnalists or PresbyteTians would not
turn over my hand. But if Christ be not
God, then we are base idOlators. If
OnllS 10 OUtlt bubl bllOSb W ilO ubily II
are blasphemers, To that ChristOlOgi-
cal question we now come, and may God
help us to do right in a question where
mistake is infinite.
You may be aware that the two great
Generals who have marshaled the largest
army against the deity Of Christ are
Strauss and Renan. The multitudes of
the slain under them will never be count
ed until the day when the Archangel
sounds the rOll-call of the resurrection
These men, and all men who have sym
pathy with them, begin by attacking the
fortress of the miracles. They know
that when once they have captured that
fortress Christianity must surrender
The great German exegete says that all
the miracles are myths. The great
French exegete says that all the miracles
are legends. They must somehow or
other explain away everything superna-
tural in the Bible, everything superna-
tural In the life of Christ, though to 8C
eOmplish that they must go up the great
est absuTdity. They prefer the miracles
OF human nonsense rather than the
grand miracles Of Jesus Christ. They
say, for instance, that the miraculous
birth of Christ was myth, just as it is a
faneiful idea that ROmulus was born Of
Rhea Sylvia and the God Mars. They
say that Christ did not feed five thOus-
and with few lOaVes Of bread; that Is
only a myth which got mixed up with
the distribution of twenty lOaYes among
hundred people by Elisha. They say
Christ did not turn the water into wine;
that was only an improvement on the
old Egyptian plague by which water
was turned into blood. They say no star
pointed down TO the manger where
Jesus laid; that was only the flash of a
passing lantern. rhey say that Christ's
sweating great drops of blood in Geth
semane was not very astonishing, for
He had been exposed to the night and
had been taken suddenly physically i'll.
They say no tongues of fire sat on the
heads of the Disciples at the PentecOst
1t was only great thunder storm, and
the air was full of electricity, and il
snapped and few all around about the
heads of the Disciples. They say that
Mary and Martha and Lazarus and Christ
made up their minds it was necessary to
get up an excitement in order to forward
their religion, and so they resolved to
play funeral, and Lazarus consented to
be the corpse and Mary and Martha con-
sented to be the mOuTners, and Christ
consented to be the chief operator. /, OF
course, put it in my own words, but state
accurately their meaning. They say
that the four gospels ars spurious, writ
ten by superstitiOus or lying men, and
that they were backed up by people who
were to die, and did actually die, for "a
thing they did not believe. | say that it
requires thousandfOld more credulity
and faith to be an in6del than to be a
Christian, and that If Christianity de-
mands that the whale swallow Jonah,
then skepticism demands that Jonah
swallow the whale.
propose to show you, so far as the
Lord may help me, that Jesus Christ is
God. shall prove it, first. from what
inspired men say of Him; then from
what He said of Himself; then from His
wonderful achievements. Get a good
fat text to start with, said DIR. Ludlow,
our grand old theological professor. If
l never had such text before | have
one now: "OhTist came, who is over all,
God blessed forever. Amen" Not over
SOlomon's throne, not higher than
DaVid's throne, not higher than Cesar'5,
not higher than Henrys, than the Fred
ericks', than the LOuises, than NapOl-
cons, than VietOria's2 On, yes. Gath
or all those thrones and pile them up,
and my text OVerspans them as easily as
rainbow spans the mountain top,
"Ohrist came, who Is over all, God
blessed forever. Amen"
The Bible says: "AiI things were made
by Him." StOpl Does not that prove toe
much2 He did not make the MediteTTan
did Hep Not Mount lebanon Nor the
Alpsp Not Mount Washington? Not the
earthP Not the stars? Not the universei
Yes, all things were made by Him. And
lest we should be so stupid as not to un.
derstand it, the apostle concludes by say
ing: "WithOnt Him was not anything
made that was made" Why, then, He
must have been God.
The Bible says: "At the name of Jesus
Christ every knee shall bow of things on
earth and things in heaven" See al
, heaven coming down on their knees
} martyrs on their knees, apostles on theiI
, knees, cOnfessOTs on their knees. Before
u whom? manP No, God.
OThe Bible goes on to say that every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord" Malayan. BOTnesian, Mexican
Persian, Italian, German, Spanish
French, English-every tongue shall
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Why
He must be a God. The Bible says
ssIoaun Nhriat tho aama vaatardQv tn