The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-13
TALMAGE IN KENTUCKY.
A BIG CROWD HEARS HIM AT HIS
TORiC HIGH BRIDGE.

Third CHAPTER of Acts: I'VE are Wit
nesses"-W Witnesses to Disprove the
Assertions of Skeptics-Faith as a
Weapon.
HIGH BRIDGE, KY. July IA vast con-
course of people assembled this morning on
the historic camp ground at High Bridge,
KY, to hear DR.. Tamage preach. They
came from all the surrounding cities, towns
and neighborhood. A large contingent
| from Louisville and another from Cincin-
! dati were present Many of the visitors
have remained here since yesterday after
noon, when DR.. Talmage preached in the
same place The text of his sermon this
morning was from Acts ill.,, IS: I'VE are
witnesses"
Standing amid the hills aud groves of
| Kentucky, aud before thi great multitude
chat no man can number, most OF whom
never saw before and never will see again
| In TINS world, choose very practical
theme In the days Of George Stephenson,
the perfector Of the locomotive engine. the
scientists proved conclusively that a rail-
| road train could never be driven bv steam
| power successfully without peril; but the
rushing express trains from Liverpool to
Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh to
| lAOhNphr haNd ilGuG dil LQo nation
witnesses Of the splendid achieve
ment. Machinists and navigators proved
| conclusively that a steamer could never
| cross the Atlantic ocean; but no sooner had
they successfully proved the impossibility
| OF SUCH an undertaking than the work was
done and the PASSENGERS on the Cunard and
the lnman and the National aud the White
Star lines are witnessed. There went up a
| gutfaw OF wise laughter at Prof Morse's
| proposition to make the lightning Of heaven
his erraud boy. and it was proved con-
clusively that the thing could never be
| done; but now oil the news of the wide
! world, put In your hands every morning and
night has made ell 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 logi-
cally that wGen 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 20
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 bis voice, and talked with him, and
they took the witness stand, to prove that
to be true which the wiseacres Of the day
had proved to be impossible; the record Of
the experiment and of the testimony is in
the text: Him hath God raised from the
dead, whereof we are witnesses"
6 Now, let me playitne skephc for mo-
ment. There ia no God,n says tie skeptie
'for Il have never seen him with my physi-
cal eyesight. Your Bible is a pack..of CON
tradlctiOns There never was a miracle
Lazarurwas not raised from the dead, aud
the water was never turned into wine
Your religion is an imposition on the cred
Unity OF the ages" There is an aged man
moving in that pew as though he would
like to respond. Here are hundreds of peo-
pie with faces little flushed at these an
nouncements, and all through this throna
there is suppressed feeling that would like
to speak out in behalf Of the truth Of our
glorious Christianity, as in the days Of the
text, crying out: "We are witnesSesm
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 de-
fense of religion-you would not convert
soul. Lectures on the harmony between
science and religion are beautiful mental
discipline, but have never saved q soul. and
never Will save 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 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 explora.
tlon. But then, in order TO have faith, we
must have testimony, and If 500 men, or
| l,O0O men, or 100000 men, or 5000 900 men
get up and tell me that they have felt the
religion of Jesus Christ joy, a comfort. a
| help, an inspiration, am bound as a fair
| minded man to accept their testimony. ]
want just now TO put before you three
propositions. the truth of which think this
audience Will attest with overwhelming
| unanimlty. The first proposition is: We
are witnesses that the religion of Christ is
able to convert a soul The gospel may have
| had a hard time to conquer US. we may
have fought it back, but we were van.
quished. You say conversion is only
an imaginary thing. We know
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 DR.. Judson. the
Baptist missionary, because he kept on
preaching in Burmah five years without
single convert; but there are many thous-
| ands or Baptists In Burmah to-day. People
| laughed at Dr. Morrison, in China. for
preaching there seven years without q
single conversion; but there are many
v.
People laughed at the missionaries for
preaching at Tahiti for fifteen years with4
out single conversion, and at the missions
aries for preaching in Bengal seventeen
years without single conversion; yet in
all those lands there are multitudes of
Christians to-day
But why go SO far as to find evidences of
the Gospels power TO save q soul? ave
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 overcome us: but
one day, perhaps at Methodist anxious
seat, or at Presbyterian catechetical lec-
ture, or at BURIAL or on horseback, a
power seized us, 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
we could not. It flung us fat, and when
We arose we were as much changed as
GOurgis, the heatnen, who went into a
prayer-meeting with dagger and a gun,
to disturb the meeting and destroy it but
the Eext day was found crying: 20!
my great sins! o! my great SaviourF'
and for eleven years preached the gospel
OF Christ to his follow mountaineers, tho
last words on his dying lips being Free
gracen O, it as free grace
There is man who was for ten years a
hard drinker. The dreadful appetite had
sent down its roots around the palate and