Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1890-07-19
WE ARE WITNESSES
|DR. TALMAGE'S OPEN AIR SER
MON AT BEATRICE. NEB.
The Logic of the Skeptic Is Met by the
Overwhelming Testimony of Millions of
CHI hans and Proved to Be False.


&preached here in the open air to an i'm
#mense congregation which had gathered
from all the surrounding country to hear
The famous preacher. His text was. We
are witnesses acts iii. 15). Following is
his sermon:
al In the days OF George Stephenson, the
perfector of the locomotive engine, the
scientists proved conclusively that rail-
way train could never be driven by steam
Bower successfully and without peril; but
The rushing express trains from Liverpool
10 Edinburgh and from Edinburgh to Lon
don, have made all the nations witnesses of
The splendid achievement. Machinists and
navigators proved conclusively that a
ASteamer could never cross the Atlantic
ocean; but no sooner had they success
fully proved the impossibility OF such an
undertaking than the work was done, and
the passengers on the Cunard, and the In
man. and the National, and the White Star
lines are witnesses. There went up guf-
law of wise laughter at Prof. Morse's prop
psition to make the lightning of heaven his
errand boy, and it was lproved concluslvely
That the thing could never be done; buf
low all the news of the wide world, by AS
S8ociated Press put in your hands morning
and night has made all nations witnesses.
# SO in the time of Christ it was proved
eonclusively that it was impossible for Him
"a rise from the dead. 1t was shown logic
&lly that when man was dead he was
Head. and the heart and the liver and the
&&Q1SS having c6aSou 10 perform tIIclI OlllCcos
the limbs would be rigid beyond all friction
IN arousal. They showed it to be an abso
hte absurdity that the dead Christ should
Gyer get up alive; but no sooner had they
Moved this than the dead Christ arose and
he disciples beheld Him. heard His voice
md talked with Him, and they took the
witness stand to prove that to be true which
the wisacres of the day had proved to be
impossible: the record Of the experience
nd of the testimony is in the text: Him
hAth God raised from the dead. whereof we
are Witnesses.
ow, let me play the skeptic for a NOM
ent There is no God" says the skeptic,
Tor have never seen him with my physi-
cal eyesight. Your Bible is pack OF con-
tradictions. There never was miracle.
LazaruS was not raised from the dead. and
The water was never turned INTO W1neI
IDtir religion is an imposition on the credu-
lily of the ages" There is an aged man
moving over yonder as though he would
Ike to respond. Here are hundreds OF peo-
ple with faces a little flushed at these an
Inducements, and all through this assem-
bly, there is a suppressed feeling which
would like to speak out in behalf of the
truth of our glorious Christianity. as in the
nasse 81 /" '' ''' VI e 0'' -
The fact is that if this world is ever
Wrought to God it will not be through argu-
nlent, but through testimony. You might
cover the whole earth with apologies for
christianity and learned treatlSeS In de-
Tease of religion-you would not convert
soul Lectures on the harmony between
sEience and religion are beautiful mental
diScipline, but have never saved soul and
never will save a soul. Put a man OF the
world and a man of the church against each
0tl1er and the man of the world will in all
availability get the triumph There are q
thousand things in our religion that seem
izogical to the world and always will seem
ilogical.
i3llr weapon in this conflict is faith, not
LOGIC; faith, not metaphysics; faith, not pro-
funtlity; faith, not scholastic exploration.
BuS then in order to have faith. we must
have TESTIMONY, and if five hundred men.
or pne thousand men, or five hundred thou
sand men, or five million men get up and
tell me that they have felt the religion of
Jesus Christ a JOY, a comfort, a help, an
aspiration. am bound as affair minded man
t0Accept their testimony. L want Just now
toput before you three propositions, the
truth of which think this audience will at
test with overwhelming unanimity..
The first proposition is, We are witnesses
that the religion of Christ is able to convert
eDul. The Gospel may have had hard
time to conquer US, we may have fought it
back. but we were Vanquished. You say
conNersion is only an imaginary thing. We
know better. I'VE are witnesses" There
never was so great a change in our heart
and life on any other subject as on this.
agAs car because they preached ten years
without one convert; but there are $4,000
converts in Madagascar to day
ReOple laughed at DR.. Adomram Judson.
theaBaptiSt missionary, because he kept on
prea ching in Burmah five years without a
single convert; but there are twenty thou
sand Baptists in Burmah to-day. People
lai.hed at DR.. Morrison, in China, for
pFehching there seven years without a sim
&labc onyersion; but there are twenty five
Moo II Hhricf iroC inn r.. low
pIe laughed at the missionaries for preach
Il Inn bit Tahiti fifteen years without single
c0nEersion, and at the missionaries for
preGching in Bengal seventeen years with
ou4A single conversion; yet in all those
l0nds there are multitudes of Christians to-
mt why go so far to find evidence of the
&0apel power to save a soul? I'VE are
Witnesses" Wewere SO proud that no man
could have humbled us; we were so hard
thai no earthly power could have melted US;
au9els of God were all around about us;
they could not overcome US. But one day,
peEhapS at a Methodist anxious seat, or at a
Rresbyterian catechetical lecture. or at a
hNx1al, or on horseback, power seized u.s.
land made US get down, and made us trem-
btu. and made us kneel. and made US cry
Tor mercy, and we tried to wrench ourselves
away from the grasp, but we could not. 1t
Hung us fiat, and when we arose we were as
much changed as Gourgis the heather,
WA4 went into prayer meetlng Win Gag
Rer and a gun to disturb the meeting and
DESTROY it, but the next day was found cry
inE~ Oh. my great sins Oh, my great
6aviour!" and for eleven years preached the
HUSpel of Christ to his fellow mountaineers,
Ml@ lAst words on his dying lips being, Free
kE8ee" oh, it was free grace
#Nhere is a man who was for ten years
hard drinker. The dreadful appetite had
&antaown its roots around the palate and
3h8tongue. and on down until they were
ints11inked with the vitals of the body, mind
a0H8 &alIl hut he nm NJ faEnn SfiInl1-