Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-06-05
Mr. sweeney,s SERMON.

~ mind. Ii Christ wa not divine, He WIS
very bad man indeed. He made claims,
hitch If fslse, would eonsign him to the
au2s OF the basssl decsiyers and hypocritss.
l. hsd been regarded by third class as sn
nposior. He was sn adveBiurer in the
orld oil morals-a seeker of fame, and hence
lis pretsnsions. We hold that BE was
wine. He had power over life and death,
nd held the key 10 Immortal mysteries. We
aid IN our first sermon IN this series that
Tod was independent, aud hence sslf-exist-
~. Re vas the thinker Of che uaivetse and
lorsl designer of all things, and, therefore,
person. We are His "ofspring" He
made us and gave to rs our fsculties-sur
Intellect, affections and conscience. These
seulties demsnd that He should manifest
Himself TO US. His standardization and
are involved, therefore, and
ecessary TO such manifestation. There are
-zrious Iorms within the range of His self-
init alton. That He might make Himself
PERSONAL 10 Us it was necessary that the man
fes.ation should be in human form. We
orm
PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE
Trough works, words aud lie. 1t was rea-
enable that He should come in words, life
md works, and thar the manifestation should
,e superuatarsily at,estcd. 1t was reasona-
Die tn 1t miracles De wrought. Men would
,sye doubted His claims ad He not worked
hem, and they doubt when he does work
hem. Is it not little strange that the pro.
essedly scholarly sSeptical mind should be
10 egregiously Inconsistent just here? Aud
IN the ground of the miraculous" He hes
been rejected / hold thai upbelievers are
and Inconsistent on the whole
subject Of the miraculous aud supernatural.
\ > ~ IL
beginning of new order OF things in our
world, and all great beginnings and produc-
live periods have been miraculous Ii took
a miracle or supernatural lsw to lift our
world out of chaos aud into order and form.
The fixed, ordiuaryor natural state of things
then in existence, and that had been for
ages, was producing no life, and
hence forces above the natural, or in
other words, the supernatural forces were
necessary 10 produce vegetation. And this
wss also true of ANIMALS and man. These
three beginnings required miracles or the
80 pernaiural-periods from chaos TO form,
IRON form to lie, and from life to man. Men
who reject Christianity on account Of mirsc-
ulous origin, 10 be consistent, should reject
many other things in our world that we
know are facts. Now, We know the oak
came from the acorn, or the acorn from
the oak. One or the other was first. And
an oak before an acorn, or an acorn betuSe
an oak, was
A MIRACLE.
The forests are built on miracle. The egg
wss frs. or the eagle was first. An eagle
egg without an eagle was miracle or an
esgle before the egg was a miracle. A mist
without an ocean was 2 miracle, or su ocean
before a mist was a miracle. One or the
other was fret. TIere cannot be two frsts.
Aud 10 either case = have q miracle. Mao
" "a put on the earth by evolution or a power
extrsneous TO The materials Of the globe.
He could not have = beginning by evolution,
for there can be no evolution without Iuvo-
luton. And The Fisry Mis-; Theory" in-
doreed by Christians and intidels precuded
the possibility of an invoiution of human
life. The globe was toe hot for its exist
ence. Il could not, therefore, have been
evolved from what did not involve it. Man,
therefore, was put on our globe by a power
ex,rsneCuE 10 the materials OF our earth.
Aud the first human pair put here was
without parentsge, which was mira
Gle! TIE human race, therefore, has
been built On j miracle. II we reject
Christianity and Christ becsuse of
miraculous origin consistency demands
that We reject our world and the hum an
race, for they, too, began ia miracle !
The resurrection of Christ from the dead
is the greatest miracle at the foundations Of
eur faith. If it can be proved that He rose
from the dead ell doubt as to His o. her
miracles ia at end. Various views have been
held as 10 his resurrection. Some have held
that it was fraud perPetrated by His dis
ciples. But this view is unreasonable, for
they had everything to lose and nothing 10
gain If it were fraud. Nor could il have
been that others haze held a fancy. But in
the case eff the resurrection there were too
many that were under the same hallucins-
ton.
THE TWELVE APOSTLES"
and the "l20," and also the 800 brethren"
we're too many 10 fancy il after His death.
And the facts are against the fancy theory"
These witnesses had given up all hope wnen
He as put to death. Tuey had hoped "He
would redeem Israel" and when He
sn. end forever. Ard thev were not in the
frame of mind 10 f, Bcy His resurrection.
Others have held that the story Of the resur-
recgion was not fact nor fancy, but mix
ture of fact and fancy. They grant His
human life and that He was in our world
when and where claimed by His fri nds. B 1t
they deny his divinity, holding that be wa
an idolized human memory. He had been
environed aud euswaihed by myth and
legend in the passing of the years after II q
crucifxioD, and hence grew into sort OF act
cepted divinity. But Strauss and Renan
and others of the German and French inf
drls who held this jheoIy we're compelled 10
abandon it. There were two facts in the
wsy. Historical cfiticisn,, severely applied,
recognizes the disappearance Of Christ from
our world in the year A. d. "a, and also the
existence of churches built on his divinity
in the year A. d. 60. 10 these churches the
scholarship of Coriuth and other cities was
found. This scholarship was the equal OF
that Of our Harvard and Yale College grsdp-
ates. And consider, that between tn e
years "a snd 60 there was an
lapse of only twenty-aix years. 1t was not
4 Sufficient lapse, therefore, for an en-
swathement of human memory with myths
that it should be accepted as divine. We
can account for these churches In the year
d. 1850, with the scholarship of Corlnth
in them on the ground that
CHRIST AROSE FROM THE DEAD
and, therefore, accepted as divine. Had ne
been only a human memory the twenty six
years would have disclosed the fact. The
imposition could not be made now nor could
4
Mythical Theory" has fallen to the ground
forever. And it was the most wiry web Of
doubt ever drawn around the resurrection
and divinity Of Jesus Christ. Greenlesf, the
author of GreenLeof on Evidence, and the
standard on both sides If the Atlantic IN
matters of legal evidence, has left the world
another work. l refer TO Greenlesf's
work on the Testimony Of the Erangelists,
examined by the rules OF evidence I'D.
ministered in courts OF justice" The
London Lau Journal and NsTh American
Reriew have pronounced him the sblest law
yer in the world on evidence. He sits the
testimony Of the WITNESSES for The resurrec-
ton, and says: "Let the witnesses be CON-
pared with themselves, with each other and
with surrounding facts and circumstances,
and the result, it is confidently believed, will
be an undoubtiug convic ion OF their ioteg-
rity, ability and truth. TIE probability oil
the yeraeity OF the Witnesses, and of the
reality OF the occurrences which they relate,
will increase until it acquires, fer all prscii-
cal purposes, the value and force Of demon
stration" According 10 THE great lawyer
then, We cannot impeach their testimony
but are compelled to accept It. And they
bore testimony 10 the death, burial and
resurrection Of Christ, and these facts attest
His divinity. Scholarly history recognize;
these facts 10 the institutions that have been
reared in commemorstiou OF the facts.
refer to
THE LORDS SUPER,
BAPTISM and the Lords day. These ordi
uapces that have stood for 1900 years, traced
back 10 their beginnings are found to stand
on the death, burisl and resurrection o.
Christ. and these facts attest the cIyisity
The svsngelis,s could not have idesliz>d The
character OF Christ. We build idesls iron
materials previously in existence. the char
scter contained materials that were not IL
the literature Of JeSs, GreeEs sDd Romans
They must have written, therefore, from al
actual character. And this actual character
without sword, money, education or popular
sncestrv.has built 8 kingdom IN history tina
III Il linorlnrrna II ALL ...aa Az