The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-05-02
V ER ALL FOREVER"
CHRIST CINE AND WILL RULE UNTO
THE END OF THE World.
The Faith it Requires to Believe in Christi
anity and tho Faith of the Infidel-Dr
Talmages Sermon Last Sunday.

Brooklyn April 3O-(SpeciaI)- the
tabernacle this forenoon the large audience
listened with rapt attention to powerful
discourse by Rev. DR.. Talmage who chose
for his subject: Over All Forever" the text
selected being Romans 8, 5; Christ came
who is over all"
For 1000 years the world had been wait
ing for a delivercr-waiting while empires
rose and fell. Conquerors came and made
the world worse instead of making it better,
still the centuries watched and waited. They
looked for him on thrones. looked for HIM III
palaces, looked for him in imperial robe.
looked for him ut the head of armies. AT
last they found him i'll a barn. The cattle
stood nearer to him than the angels, for the
former were in the adjoining stall while
the latter We're in the clouds. "A pareDtage
of peasantry. No room for him in the inn,
because there was no one to pay the hotel
expense Yet the pointing star and the an
gelic cantata showed that heaven made
up in appreciation of his worth what the
world lacked, Christ came. who is over all,
God blessed forever. Amen"
But who is this Christ who came? AS to
the difference between different denOmina-
tons of evangelical Christians l have no
concern. If | could by the turning over of
my hand, decide whether all the world shall
at last be Baptist or Methodist, or Con
gregatiOnal, or Episcopalian, or Presbyterian,
l would not turn my hand. But there are doc
trlnes which are vital to the soul. II Christ
be not a God. we are idolaters. To this
CFriStolOglcal question / devote myself
this morning, and pray God that we may
think Alright and do Alright i'll regard to Il
question i'll which mistake is infinite.
l suppose of the majority OF those here to-
day assembled believe the Bible 1t re
q t1t hA al tn
be a Christian 1t is faith in different di-
recton The Christian has faith in the teach
ings of Matthew, Luke, John. Paul, Isaiah,
Moses. The intidel has faith in the free
thinkers. We have faith in one class of
men. They have faith in another class of
men. But as the majority of those, perhaps
all of those here assembled, are willing to
take the Bible for a standard in morals
and in faith, l make this book my starting
point.
l suppose you are aware that the two
generals who have marshalled the great
armies against the deity of Jesus Christ
are Strauss and Renan. The number of
their slain will not be counted until the
trumpet of the archangcl sounds the roll
call of the resurrection. Those men and their
sympathizers saw that if they could destroy
the fortress of the miracles they could de-
stroy Christianity. and they were right,
Surrender the miracles and you surrender
Christianity. The great German exegete
says that all the miracles were myths. The
great French eXcgete says that All the mira
cles were legends. They propose to take ev-
erything supernatural from the life of Christ,
and everything supernatural from the BIZ
BILE. They prefer the miracles of human
nonsense to the glorious miracles of Jesus
Christ.
They say there was no miraculous birth
in Bethlehem, but that it is all a fanciful
story, just like the story of Romuus said
to have been born of Rea Silvia and the god
Mars. They say no star pointed TO the man
ger; it was only the flash of passing Ian
tern They say there was no miraculous max
ing of bread, but that it is Il corruption of
the story that Elisha gave twenty loaves
OF bread to hundred men. They say the
water was never turned into wine, but
that 1t ls corruption of the story that
the EGYPTIAN plague turned the water into
blood. They say it is no wonder that
Christ sweat great drops of blood: he had
been out in the night air and was taken
suddenly i'll. They say that there were no
tongues of fire on the heads of the dsci-
pies at the PentecoSt; that there was only
great thunder storm, and the air was
full of electricity which snapped and few
all around about the heads of the disciples.
They say that Mary and Martha and
Christ felt it important to get up an ex-
ligion, and so they dramatized funeral
and Lazarus played the corpse, and Mary
and Martha played the weepers, and Christ
was the tragedian. l put it in my own
their statements. They say the Bible is
a spurious book written by superstitious or
lying men, backed up by men who died for
that which they did not believe.
Now. l take back the limited statement
which L made few moments ago. when
said 1t requires as much faith to be an in
tdel as to be 4 Christian. 1t requires Il
thousand fold more faith to be an infide
than to be a Christian, for if Christianity
demand that the whale swallowed Jonah
demands hat
lowed the whale. | can prove to YOU that
Christ was God. not only by the super
natural appearances on that Christmas
night, but by what inspired men said of
him, by what he says of himself and BY
his wonderful achievements Christ
came, who is over all" All! does not that
prove too much? Not over the Caesars.
not over Frederick, not over Alexander
the Louises? Yes. Pile all the thrones
of all the ages together, and my text over
spans them as easily as Il rainbow over
spans mountain top. Christ came, who
Is over all - Then he must be God.
The Bible says that all things We're made
by him. Does not that prove too much i?
Could it be that he made the Mediterra-
mean, that he made the Black sea, that he
made the At antic. the Pacific, that he
made Mount Lebanon. that he made the
Alps, the Sierra Nevadas that he made
the hemisphcres that he made the universe =?
Yes. The Bible says SO, and lest we be
too stupid to understand John winds up
with a magnificent reiteraton, and says:
without him was not anything made that
was made" Then he was a God
The Bible says at the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow. All heaven must
come down on its knees. Martyrs on their
knees, apostles on their knees, confesSors
on their knees, the arChangel on his knees.
Before whom? A man? No, he is a God
The Bible says every tongue shall confess
BorneSan. MaIayan, Mexican, Italian.
Spanish, Persian, English. Every tongue
shall confess. TO whom? God The
Bible says Christ the same yesterday, to-
day and forever. Is that characteristic
of humanity? Do we not change? Does
not the body entirely change in seven
years? Does not the mind change? Does
not the heart change? Christ the same
yesterday, today and forever. He must be
God.
Philosophers say that the law of grayita-
ton decides everything. and that the cen
| tripetal and centrifugal forces keep the
| world from clashing and from demolition
| But Paul says that Chrst's arm is the axle
| on which everything turns, and that
Chrst's hand is the socket in which every
| thing is set. Mark the words, "Uphold-
| ing-upholding all things by the word of
| his power" Then he must be n God
| Then look at what Christ says of him
| self Now, certainly every one must under
| stand himself better than any one else can
| understand him. If | ask you where YOU
| were born. and you tell me, 81 was born