The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1890-07-17
A STRONG SERMON.
The One Preached by DR.. Tai
mage to an Open Air Crowd
in Nebraska.
Faith Must Save Souls, Ac.
cording to the Evidence
of the Witnesses.

vi IlC NlUllCSStSs
BEATRICE, Neb,, July 6.-Dr Talmage
preached here in the open air to an immense
congregation which had gathered from all
the surrounding country to hear the famous
preacher. His text was, "We are witnesses. !"
Acts, iii, Is. Following is his sermon:
In the days OF George Stephenson, the per-
fector OF the LOGON olive engine, the scientists
prove conclusively that railway train could
never be driven by steam power successfully
and without peril; but the rushing express
trains from Liverpool to Edinburgh, and
from Edinburghto London, have made all the
nations witnesses ofthe splendid achievement.
Machinists and navigators proved conclusive
~ that a steamer could never cross the Allan
tic ocean; but no soonerhad they successfully
proved the impossibility OF such an under
taking than the work was done, and the pas
sengers on the Cunard. and the Inman, aud
the National, and the White Star lines are
witnesses. There went up q guffaw Of wise
laughter at Prof Morse's proposition to
make the lightning OF heaven his GRAND
boy, and it was proved conclusively that the
thing could never be done; but now all the
news Of the wide world, by Associated Press
and United Press, put in your hands every
morning and night, has made all nations
witnesses. So in the time of Christ it was
proved conclusively that it was impossible
for Him to rise flom the dead. 1t was
shown logically that when man was dead,
he was dead, and the heart and the liver and
the lungs having ceased to perform their
Offices, the limbs would be rigid beyond all
- VII 81 ~,
it to be an absolute absurdity that the dead
Christ should ever get up alive; but no
sooner had they proved this than the dead
Christ arose, and the disciples beheld Him,
heard His voice and talked with Him, and
they took the witness stand to prove that to
be true which the wiseacres O! tho day had
proved to-be impossible; the record of the
experience and OF the testimony is in the
text: Him hath God raised from the dead
whereof we are Witnesses"
Now, let me play the skeptic for moment.
"There is no God" says the skeptic, ''for
have never seen him with my physical eye
sight Your Bibleis pack of contradictions
There never was miracle. Lazarus was not
raised from the dead, and the water was
never turned into wine. Your religion is an
imposition on the credulity of the ages
There is an aged man moving over yon-
der as though he would like to respond
Here are hundreds OF people with faces lit
tie flushed at these announcements, and all
through this bly, there is q suppressed
feeling which would like to speak out in be-
hall OF the truth OF our glorious Christianity
as In the days OF the text, crying out, owe
are witnesses"
The fact is that if this world is ever
brought to God it will not be through argu-
ment, but through testimony. You might
cover the whole earth with apologies for
Christianity and learned treatises in defense
OF religion-you would not convert q soul.
Lectures on the harmony between science
and religion are beautiful mental discipline.
but have never saved a soul and never will
save soul. Put man of the world and
man Of the Church against each other, and
the man OF the world will in all probability
get the triumph. There are a thousand
things in our religion that seem illogical to
the world, and will always seem illogical.
Our weapon in this conflict is faith, not logic:
faith, not metaphysics; faith, not pro undi-
ty; faith. not scholastic exploration. But
then in order to have faith. we must have
testimony, and if 500 men, or 1 900 men, or
900, 900 men, or 5000, 900 men get up and
tell me that they have felt the religion Of
Jesus Christ a JOY, comfort, help, an as
plratlon, L am bound as q tair-minded man
to accept their testimony. / want Just now
to put 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
a soul. The gospel may have had hard
time to conquer We may have fought it
back but we were vanished. You say con-
versation is only an imaginary thing. We
know better. "We are witnesses" There
never was SO great a changein our heart and
? hnTp n nnfn IL, d.
laughed at the missionaries at Madagascar
because they preached 10 years without one
convert; but there are $4,000 converts in
madagascar to-day. People laughed at DR..
Adoniram Judson, the Baptist missionary,
because he kept on preaching in Burmah five
years without a single convert; but there are
10000 Bartists in Burmah to-day People
laughed at Dr. Morrison in China, forpreach-
Ing there seven years without a single con-
version: but there are 25 900 Christians in
China to-day. People laughed at the mis-
sslonarles for preaching at Tahiti Is years
without single conversion, and at the
missionaries ita for preachingin Bengal II years
without single conversion; yet in all those
lands there are multtudes of Christians to-
day.
But why go SO far to find evidence of the
gospeps power to save a soul? ''We are
witnesses" We were SO proud that no man
could have humbled us; we were SO hard that
n
gels O. God were all around about u.s. thew
could not overcome us; but one day perhaps
at a Methodist anxious seat, or at a Presby-
terrain cat eclietical lecture, or at burial, or
on horseback, power seized u.s. and made
us get down, and made us tremble, and made
us kneel. and made us cry for mercy, and we
tried to wrench ourselves away from the
grasp but could not. 1t flung US fiat. and
When we arose we were as much changed as
5Gourgis. the heather, who went into a pray.
er meeting with dagger, and a gun, to dis
turb the meeting and destroy it, but thenext
day was found crying. ooh, my great sinsl
Oh, my great Savior!" and for eleven wears
preached the gospel Of Christ to his fellow
mountaineers, the last words on his diving
lips being, Gree grace" Oh, it was free
grace!
There is O man who was for 10 years a
hard drinker. The dreadful appetite had
sent down it's roots around the palate and
the tongue, and on down until they wero in
terlinked with the vitals Of body, mind, and
soul, buthe has not taken any stimulantsfor
10 years. What did that? Not temperance
societies. Not prohibition laws. Not moral
'suasion. Conversion did it. "Why,," said
one upon whom the great change had come,
.ssir, feel just as though were somebody
-elsel'' There is a sea captain who swore all
the way from New York to Havana, and
from Havana to San Francisco, and when
he was in port he was worse than when he
was on the seq. What power was it washed
his tongue clean of prolanities, and made