The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1890-07-17

the following sermon to an immense
throng in the open air at Beatrice,
Neb., during his Western trip, taking
for his text:
We are witncsses.-Acts IT,, Is
In the days OF George Stephenson,
the perfector of the locomotive engine,
the scientists proved conclusively that
railway train could never be driven
by steam power successfully and with
out peril; but the rushing express
trains from Liverpool to Edinburgh,
and from Edinburgh to London, have
made all the nations witnesses Of the
splendid achievement Machinists and
navigators proved conclusively that
steamer 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 Inman, and the National, and
the White Star lines are witnesses.
There went up guffaw of wise
laughter at Prof. Morse's proposition to
make the lightning of heaven
his errand, 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, put in
your hands every morning and night,
has made all nations witnesses. SO in
the time of Christ it was proved con-
clusively that it was impossible for Him
to rise from 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 per-
form their offices, the limbs would be
rigid beyond all power of friction or
arousal They showed it to be ar alb
solute 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 wise
acres of the day had proved to be i'm
possible; the record of the experience
and of the testimony is in the text:
"IIim 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 l have never seen Him
with my physical eyesight. Your Bible
is a pack of contradictions. There
never was a miracle Lazarus was not
raised from the dead, and the water
was never turned into wine. Your re-
ligion is an imposition on the credulity
of the ages" There is an aged man
moving over yonder as though he would
like to respond. Here are hundreds of
people with faces little flushed at
these announcements, and all through
this assembly there is suppressed
feeling which would like to speak out
in behalf of the truth of our glorious
Christianity, as in the days of the text,
CRYING out: I'VE are Witnesses
The fact is, that if this world is ever
brought to God, it will not be through
argument, but through testimony. You
might cover the whole earth with
apologies for Christianity and learned
treatises in defense of religion-you
would not convert soul. Lectures on
the harmony between science and re-
ligion are beautiful mental discipline,
but never saved soul, and never will
save q soul. Put man of the world
aud a man of the church against each
other, and the man of the world will in
all probability get the triumph. There
are thousand things in our religion
that seem illogical to the world,
and always will seem illogical. Our
weapon in this conflict is faith, not
logic; faith, not metaphysics; faith, not
profundity; faith, not scholastic eXplo-
ration. But then, in order to have faith
we must have testimony, and if five
hundred men, or one thousand men, or
five hundred thousand men, get up and
tell me that they have felt the religion
of Jesus Christ JOY, comfort help,
an aspiration am bound as a fair-mind
ed man to accept their testimony. !
want just now to put before you three
propositions, the truth of which ! think
this audience will attest with over
whelming unanimity.
The first proposition is: We are wit
nesses that the religion of Christ is
able to convert soul. The Gospel
may have had hard time to conquer
us, we may have fought it back, but we
were vanquished. You say CONVEX
sion is only an imaginary thing. We
know better. 1--WE are witnesses"
There never was SO great a change in
our heart and life on any other subject
as on this. People laughed at the mis-
sionaries in Madagascar because they
preached ten years without one
convert; but there are thirty
three thousand converts in NADIA
gascar to-day. People laughed
az DR.. Adoniram Judson, the Baptist
missionary, because he kept on preach
ing in Burmah five years without
single convert; but there are 90, 900
Baptists in Burmah to-day. People
laughed at DR.. Morrison, in China, for
preaching there seven years without a
single conversions; but there are 25,-
900 Christians in China to-day. People
laughed at the missionaries for preach
ing at Tahiti fifteen years without a
single conversion, and at the mission
aries for preaching in Bengal seventeen
years without a single conversion;
yet in all those lands there are multi
tudes of Christians to-day.
But why go so far to find evidence of
she Gospels power to save soul? 'We
are witnesses" We were so proud that
no man could have humbled US; we were
SO hard that no earthly power could
have melted us; angels of God were all
around about us, they could not over
come us; but one day, perhaps at a