Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-07-16
A SERMON IN KENTUCKY.
TALMACE CALLS WITNESSES TO
THE POWER OF CHRIST.

| Or. p1CdCuCu iAOhl ASpo lAiS
Is. s.We are witnesses.
Standing amid the hills and groves of
Kentucky and before this great multi
tude that no man can number, most of
whom | never saw before and never will
see again in this world, I choose very
practical theme. In the days of George
Stephenson, the perfector of the locomo-
tive engine, the scientists proved con-
clusively that railroad train could
never be driven by steam power success
| fully without peril; but the rushing ex-
press trains from Liverpool to Edinburgh
and from Edinburgh to London have
made all the nations witnesses of the
splendid achievement
MachinistS and navigatOrs proved con-
clusively that steamer could never
cross the Atlantic Ocean, but no sooner
had they successfully proved the impos-
sibllity of such an undertaking than the
| work was done, and the passengers on
! the Cunard, and the Inman, and the Ma
| tional, and the White Star lines are Wit
nesses. There went up a gutfaw OF wise
! laughter at Prof. Morses 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
I 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 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 be-
yond all power Of friction or arousal.
They showed it to be an absolute alb
surdity 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 WtnGSS-Stand to prove that to
be true which the WiseacrcS 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"
Now, let me play the skeptic for a
moment. ''There is no Goo" says the
skeptic, ''for 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 not
turned into wine. Your religion is an
There is an aged man moving in that pew
as though he would like to respond.
Here are hundreds of people with
faces little flushed at these announce
ments, 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, 1--WE 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 apol-
ogies 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 have never saved d 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 thousand things in our religion
that seem illogical to the world and al
ways will seem illogical.
Our weapon in this conflict is faith,
not logic; faith, not metaphysics; faith,
not profundity: faith, not scholastic ex-
ploration. But then, in order to have
faith, we must have testimony, and II
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
JOY, a comfort, a help, an inspiration, l
am bound as fair man to accept their
testimony. l want just now to put be-
tore you three propositions, the truth OF
which | think this audience will attest
with overwhelming unanlmty. The hrSt
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 US, we may have fought
it back, but we are vanquished. You
say conversion is only an imaginary
thing. We know better. eve are wit
nesses'' There never was so great
change in our heart and life on any sub
ject 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 NADIA
gascar 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 thousands of Baptists in Bur-
nah to-day. People laughed at DR..
Morton in China for preaching seven
years without @ single conversion, bus
there are many thousands of Christians
in China to-day. People laughed at the
missionaries for preaching at Tahiti for
fifteen years without single conversion,
and at the missionaries for preaching in
Bengal seventeen years without a single
conversion, yet in all those lands rnere
are multitudeS of Christians to-day.
But why go so far to find evidences of
the Gospels power to save soul? eve
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
Methodist anxious seat, Or at Presby-