Omaha daily bee., 1888-05-14
ALL ABOUT COUNCIL BLUFFS.
Made BY Pulpiteers to Yes
terday's Pious Listeners.
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Two Lads Who Now Know IL
Was Loaded-Personai
Paragraphs.
{ Necessity for Christian Testimony.

{ Necessity for Christian Testimony.
This was the subject treated yesterday
morning by Father Adolph Wesselling, at
St. Peters church. The text was "You
shall give testimony because you have been
with. me from the beginning" st. John,
1897. Said the speaker: "Christ is before
us this morning as he was before the apos-
ties. The injunction recorded here is the
wisdom and word of the blessed Master.
Jesus not only describes fully the christian
life, its duties and responsibilities, but He
tells them Of the future, that prosecutions
will always be theirs. A glance at history
will confirm these prophesies. The history
of the world is divided according to the
prosecutions the church has had to undergo.
These prosecutions continue until now and
will so long as the world stands and its
people are unredeemed. To be sure our
struggles are different from those which
were had by the apostles. The majority of
the people in those days believed in the exist
ence of God, the immortality of the soul,
and other principles which were taught and
believed by the early church. There were a
few dissenters, but dissension was the excep-
ton, not the rule. Now dissension is the
rule. The infidel world does not believe
these principles. 1t espouses the ideas con-
tanned in the novels of the times; it calls
these sits creed' and thinks itself wonder
fully smart in so doing. These people dis
believe the doctrine of the divinity of Christ,
which is the foundation of christian faith.
y \ n Christ told his disciples what would
happen to them in the future, hence they
were not surprised when these prophecies
were fulfilled.
The purpose Of Christ in thus foretelling
was twofold. First, that we might be pre-
pared for these things, that we might antici-
pate them, and that in their coming the
church should not be scandalized; second,
that the apostles might give testimony con-
corning these things. This obligation to
speak rests alike upon all who have
received the mark of the cross, upon whose
souls has been indellibly fixed the figure of
His martyrdom' Christ infused this obliga-
ton into His apostles during the three years
of His sacred ministry. The same spirit that
was in them is in us. The battle is now
different from what it was then. The
apostles confronted the Jews and pagans.
The reigning power was against them.
Their work was to correct wrong impress
sions concerning Christ. In this labor of
opposition thousands of heads rolled in the
dust. The cruelty of this warfare was well
nigh a death blow to the church. From these
times nave arisen monuments of truth and
the grandest teachings which are ours to
believe and ours to transmit. The world
is now opposed to the truths of christianity
no matter from what source they come.
The world knows If it can break the sue
cessiOn of st. Peter the church is destroyed
The truth is the same as it was in those days,
but the weapons of our warfare are different.
st. Peter came to Rome. He saw the mag
niIicient temples reared to every name and
| virtue; the arches which have become cele-
brated in history; the soldier smiling in the
conscious strength which won hun and his
armies innumerable conQuests: senators
whose wisdom had made Rome the savant of
the nations. st. Peter entered Rome, the
recognized capitol of the civilized world,
alone. So went the other apostles, dispersed
to the different quarters of the known world,
to give testimony to the spirit that was in
them. Alone they commended for the truth.
The world listened, accepted, was converted,
and then came persecution, and the apostles
and their followers suffered death alone
The speaker gave numerous examples show
ing the fearleSSnesS and vigor which charac
terized the preaching of the early fathers
and contrasted this with the lethargy and
lack of earnestness which to-day
dominates IN certain portions Of
christian labor. He made a strone
plea for a consistent christian life and 8
constant and unwavering adhesion to the
church and a profession of the faith which il
in us.n Said lie: 'It is not enough that we
possess the spirit of Christ, but when mer
would scott and sneor at the religion we hole
most dear it is our duty to defend it. 1t is
our duty to obey the practices the church
imposes. Abstinence, progress confession
etc, are religious duties, and no amount o.
derision or dlsparagement should deter III
from their faithful discharge He referred
to the necessity which exists for this testi
mony in the work of saving men. He spoke
of the widespread atheism of the day, of the
disrespect shown the church by these per
sons, the arguments advanced by them, ant
closed with Il strong and eloquent plea for
greater intelligence and knowledge in thu
church, that these would-be opposers of the
christian faith may be met at every poin
and successfully answered and overcome.