The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-07-24

following sermon at the High Bridge
Ky camp-ground in the presence of
an immense congregation. His text
was:
We are wItnesses.-Acts IT., IS.
Standing amid the hills and groves Of
Kentucky, and before this great multi
tude no nan can number, most of whom
/ never saw before and never will see
again in this world, I choose a very
practical theme. In the days Of George
Stephenson, the perfector of the loco
motive engine, the scientists proved
conclusively that a 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,
ave made all the nation witness of the
splendid achievement Machinists and
navigators proved conclusively that a
steamer could never cross the Atlantic
ocean; but no oon 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 a guffaw of wise laugh
ter at Prof. Morse's proposition TO make
the lightning of Heaven his errand boy,
and it was proved co~nclusively 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 Lotions witnesses.
So in the time of Christ it was proved
c~onclusively chat it vas impossible for
Him to rise from the dead. 1t was
shown logically that when a man was
dead, he vas 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 20 be an abb
solutc absurdity that the dead Christ
should ever get mp alive, but no sooner
had they proved this than the dead
Christ arose, and the disciples bcheld
Him, heard His voice, and talked with
Him, and they took the witness stand to
prove that to be true which wiseacrcs
had proved to be impossible; the rec
ord of the experiment and of the testi-
mony is in the text: Him 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
skeptic, ''for / have never seen Him
with my physical eycsight. 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 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-
spond. Here are hundreds of people
with faces a little flushed at these an
nouncements, and all through this
throng there is a 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:
1--WE are witnessesI'
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 a 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 a
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 a thousand
things in our religion that seem illog-
icaI 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 hundred thousand 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 in
spiration, / am bound as a fair-minded
man to accept their testimony. / want
just now to put before you three PROPOSE
tons, the truth of which / think iris
audience will attest with overwhelming
unanimity. The first proposition is:
We are witnesses that the religion of
Christ is able to convert a soul. The
Gospel may nave had a hard time to
conquer us, we may have. fought
it back, but we were v~anquished.
You say conversion is only an i'm
aginary 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 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 Dr.. Judson, the Baptist missionary,
because he kept on preaching in Bur
NAH five years without single convert,
but there are many thousands of Bap-
fists in Burmah to-day. People laughed
at DIR. Morrison, in China, for preaching
there seven years without a single con
version; but there arc many thousands
of Christians in China to-day. People
laughed at the missionaries for preach
ing at Tahiti for fifteen years without a
single conversion, and at the mission
aries for preaching in Bengal seven
teen 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 evidences of
the Gospels power to ave a 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
overcome IS; but one day, perhaps at a
Methodist anxious seat. or at a Presby-
terrain Observation-Disclosures or at a burial,
OF on horseback, a power seized us and
made us get down. and made us trem-