The Red Cloud chief., 1891-07-24
GOSPEL WITNESSES.
d.. Talmage Talks to q Larre Audi.
ence In Kentucky.
skcptics Answered BY Modern Wonde,s-
Living Witnesses to the Truth Of thu
Bible-value Of Faith-Power OF
Religion.

v. I. Dewitt Talmage preached TO
. -Arec %concourse Of people recently at
the historic camp ground at High
Bridge, Ky. His text was from Acts
Iii Is: 1--WE are Witnesses" The
preacher said:
Standing amid the hills and groves of
Kentucky. and before this great multi
tude that no man can number, most of
whom I never saw before and never
will see again In this world. I choose q
very practical theme. In the days of
George Stephenson, the perfector of
the locomotive engine, the scientists
proved conclusively hat . railroad
train could never be driven success
fully without peril: but the rushing ex-
press trains from Liverpool TO Edin-
burgh and from Edinburgh to London
have made all the nation witnesses OF
the splendid achievement Machinists
and navigators proved conclusivcly that
a 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 Gu
nard 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 errant boy,
and IL was proved c~onclusively 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 conclu-
sively that it was impossible for him to
rise from the dead. 1t was shown logic
ally that when a man was dead he was
dead, and the heart and the liver and
h lungs having ceased To perform
their Offices the limbs would be rigid
beyond all powcro of friction OF arousal.
They showed IL 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 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: ''IIim hath God raised
from the dead, whereof we are wit
nesses."
Now, let me play the skeptic for n
moment. There is no God" says the
skeptic, 'for l have never seen him
with my physical eyesight Your Bible
is n pack of contradictions. There
never was a miracle. Lazarus was not
raised from the dead, and the water
was never tuI ned into wine. Your re-
ligion Is an imposition on the credulity
of the ages" There Is an aged man
moving in that pew as though he would
like TO respond. Here are hundreds OF
people with faces n little flushed at
these announcements, and all through
this throng there is a suppressed feel
ing which would like To speak out in
Christianity. as in the days of the text,
crying out: 1--WE are witnesses"
The fact is hat il this world is ever
brought Z o God il will never be through
argument, but through testimony. You
might cover the earth with apologies
6 Christianity and learned treatises in
Tense of religion-you would not con-
/ a soul. Lectures on the harmony
between science and religion are beau
tiful mental discipline. but have never
saved a soul md 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 probable
ity, get the triumph. There are n
thousand things in our religion that
seem illogical to the world and always
will seem illogical. Dur weapon in this
conflict is faith. not logic: faith. not
metaphysics: faith, not ~profundity;
faith, not scholastic exploration. But
then i'm order to nave faith sc must
have testimony and IL 500 men. or 1000
men, or 800, 900 men. or 5000, 600 men
get up and tell me they have felt the
religion Of Jesus Christ a JOY, a com
fort, 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 u%nanimity. The first
propositiou is: We arc witnesses Ia
the religion of Christ is able TO convert
a soul. The Gospel may have had n
hard time TO conquer us, we may have
foughtit back. but we were vanQuished.
You say conversion is only an i'm
aginary thing. We know better. "Wc
are witnesses" There never was SO
great n change i'm our heart and life on
any other subject as on this. People
laughed at the missionaries in Madagas-
ear because they preached ten years
without one convert; but there arc
many thousands of converts In NADIA
gascar to-day. People laughed at DIR.
hudson. the Baptist missionary. because
he kept on preaching IN Burmah FIVE
years without q single convert; but
there are many thousands of Baptists
in Burn.ah to-day. People laughed at
DIR. 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 nj the missionaries for preach
ing at Tahiti for fifteen years without
a single conversion, and at the mission
aries for preaching in Bengal seventeen
tcdTS Witiout oshSAS
in all those lands there are multitudes
of Christians to-day.
But why go SO far to find evidences
Of the Gospels power TO save a soul?
1--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 overcome us; but one day.
perhaps at a Methodist anxious seat, or
at a Presbyterian c~atechetical lecture,
or nj a burial. or on horseback. a power
seized us and made us get down and
made us tremblc and made us kneel
and made US cry for mercy, and We
tried to wrench ourselves away from
the grasp, but we could not 1t flung
us fat and when we arose we were rs
much changed as Gourgis the heather.
who went into a prayer meeting with q
dagger and . gun to disturb the meet
ing and destroy it but the next day
was found crying: 20! my great sins!
q, nv great Saviour" and for eleven