The Brookhaven leader., 1891-07-23
WITNESSES FOR CHRIST.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage at High Bridge, KY.
The Power OF the Christian Religion Dem
onstrated by Its witnesses Through
the Centuries of Its Ex-
istence.

Dy hev. Il. Dewitt lalmage at the
High Bridge (Ky.) camp ground, based
on the text:
We are witnesses.-Acts ill.,, Is.
Standing amid the hills and groves of
Kentucky, and before this great multi
tude no man can number, most of whom
| never saw before and never will see
again in this world, / choose a very
practical theme. In the days of George
Stephenson, The perfector of the loco
motive engine, the scientists proved
conclusively that railroad train could
never be driven by steam power sue
cessfully without peril; but the rushing
express trains from Liverpool to Edin-
burgh, and from Edinburgh to London,
have made all the nation witness of the
splendid achievement. Machinists and
navigators proved conclusively that u
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 laugh
ter 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 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 from the dead. 1t was
shown logically that when a 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 power of friction or
arousal They showed it to be an 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 wiseacres
had proved to be impossible; the rec
ord of the experiment and of the testi-
mony is in the text: "Iiim hath God
raised from the dead, whereof we are
witnesses"
Now, let me play the skeptic for a
moment. There is no God says the
slxeptic, 'for | have never seen Him
with my physical eyesight. Your Bible
is pack of contradictions. There never
was a 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 in that
pew as though he would like to re-
suond. Here are hundreds of people
with faces little flushed at these an
nouncements. and all through this
throng 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 before God it will not be
through argument, but through testi-
mony. You might cover the whole
earth with apologies for Christianity,
and learned treatises in defense of re-
ligion-you would not convert soul.
Lectures on the harmony between
science and religion are beautiful men,
tai discipline, but have never saved a
soul and never will save a soul. Put
man of the world and 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 illog-
ical 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
exploration. But then, in order to have
faith. we must have testimony, and if
five hundred men, or one thousand men,
or five huEdred Thousand nan, or five
million men get up md tell me that
they have felt the religion of Jesus
Christ a Joy, a comfort. a help, an in
spiration, / am bound as fair-minded
man to accept their testimony. l want
Just now to put before you three PROPOSE
tions, the truth of which think this
audience will attest with overwhelming
unanimity. The first proposition is:
We are witnesses 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 conversion is only an inn
aginary thing We know better. "We
are witnesses. There never was so
great change in our heart and
life ON any other subject as on this.
People laughed at the missionaries in
Madagascar because they preached ten
years without one convert; but there
are many thousands of converts in
Madagascar to-day. People laughed
at DIR. Judson, the Baptist missionary,
because he kept on preaching in Bur
nah five years without single convert,
but there are many thousands of Bap-
lists in Burmah to-day. People laughed
at Dr. Morrison, in China, for preaching
there seven years without a single con-
version; but there are many thousands
of Christians in China to-day. People
laughed at the missionaries for preach
ing ut Tahiti for fifteen years without Q
single conversion, and at the mission-
aries for preaching in Bengal seven
teen years without a single conversions;
vet in all those lands there are multi
tudes of Christians to-day.
But why go so far to find evidences OF
the Gospels power to save soul? I'VE
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; they could not
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