Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-05-06
REV. DR.. 9ALMAGR
Tho Eminent Brooklyn Divins's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: "ovsr All Forever"

Subject: "Over AL Forever"
TEXT. Christ came, soho Is oper ALL
Romans X, s.
For 1000 years the world lad been waiting
for deliyerer-waiting while empires rose
and fell. Conquerors came and made the
world worse instead of making 1t better
still the centuries watched and waited. They
locked for Him on thrones, looked for Him ID
palaces, looked for Him IN imperial robes,
looked for Him at The head Of armies Al
last they found Him in barn. The cattle
stood necref to Him than the angels, for the
FORMER were in the adjoining stall, while the
latter were In the clouds. parentage of
peasantry No room for Him i'd the inn be-
cause there was no one to pay the hotel ex-
pense. Yet the pointing star and the angelic
cantata showed that heaven made up in an
preeiatioh OF His worth what the world
Hacked. "Christ came, who is over all. God
blessed forever. Amen"
But who is this Christ who came2 Al to
the difference between different denomira.
tons OF evangelical Christians have no cons
Germ; III could BY the turning over of my
hand decide whether all the world shall At
last be Baptistor Methedistef Congregational
or Episcopalian or Presbyterian, would not
turn my hand. But there are doctrines which
are vital 10 the soul. If Christ be not God,
we afe idolators. To this Christological
question devote myself this morning and
pray God that we may think right and do
aright In regard to question in Which mis-
take is infinite.
suppose that the majority of those here
to-day assembled believe the Bible. Z re-
quifes as much faith to be an infldel as to be
Christian. 1t is faith in different diree.
ton. The Christian has faith In the teacR=
inss OF Matthew, Luke, John, Paul, Isaiah,
Moses. The infldel has faith IN the free
thinkers. We have faith III one class OF men.
they have faith in another class of men. But
as ene minority OF those perhaps all of those
mere assembled, are willing to take the Bible
1or standard in morals and in faith, mako
TINS book my starting point
suppose you are aware that the two gen.
erals who have marshaled the great Armies
against the deity of Jesus Christ are Strauss
and Renen. The number of their slain win
not be counted until the trumpet of the arch
angel sounds the roll call of the resurrection.
Ihose men and their sympathizers saw that
II they could destroy the fortress OF miracles
they could destroy Christianity, and they
were right. Surrender the miracles and YOU
surrender Christianity The great Ger
man exegete says that all the miracles
were myths. The great French esegete says
that all the miracles were legends, They
propose to take everything supernatural from
the life of Christ and everything supernatura
rom the Bible. They prefer tho 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 fanciful story,
Just IKE the story Of Romulus said to have
been born of Rhea Silvia and the god Mars,
They say no star pointed to the manger 1t
was only the flash OF a passing lantern They
say there was no miraculous making of bread,
but that il = corruption of the story that
Elisha gave 20 loaves of bread to a hundred
men. They say the water was never turned
into wine, but that II IL d 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
mad been out in the night air and was taken
suddenly Ill. They say that there were no
tongues OF fire on the heads Of the Disciples
at the Pentecost /; that there was only great
thunder storm, and the air was full of elee=
tr1city, 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 excitement for
the forwarding of their religion, and 80 they
dramatiGed funeral and Lazarus PLAYED the
corpse. and Mary and Martha played the
weepers, and Christ was the tragedian. I
put it in my own words, but this is the exact
meaning of their statements. They say the
Bible is spurious book written by super
stitious or lying men, backed up by men who
died for that which they did not believe
NOWh \ Jake DICK the um1IeQ Statement
which l made few moments ago, when !
said it requires as much faith IS be an in
f1del as to be Christian 1t requires a
thousandfold mefe faith to be an infldel than
to be . Christian, for If Christianity demand
thai the whale swallowed Jonah, then
skepticism demands that Jonah swallowed
the whale 1 can prove to you that Christ
ances on that Christmas night, but by what
inspired men said Of Him, by what Ho says of
Himself and by His wonderful achievements.
Christ came, who is over ALL" All; does
not that prove too much2 Not over the
Ceesars, not ever Frederick; not over Alex
ander the Great, not over the Henrys, not
over the Louises2 Yes. Pile all the thrones
OF all the ages together; and my text over.
spans them as easily as a rainbow overspans
a mountain, "Christ came, who is over all. y
Then lie must be God.
Tho Bible says that all things were made b5
Him. Does not that prove too much? Could
it be that He made the Mediterranean, that
He made the. Black sea, that He made the
Atlantic, ths Pacific, that He made Mount
I,Rb,nch, that He made the Alps, the Sferrs
Revadas, that He made the Hemisperes, tina
He made the universsl Yes. The Bible say,
SO, and lest we be too stupid to understand
John winds up with a magnificent reiteratioI
and says, without Him was not ANYTHING
made that was made" Then He was God:
The Bible says at the hame of Jesus every
knee shall bow, All heaven must come down
on its knees. Martyrs on their knees, apos-
ties on their knees, confessors on their knees
the archangel on his knees. Before whom? A
MANI No, Is God. The Bible says every
tongue shall e6nfess-Bornesian, Malayan,
mexican, Italian, Spanish Persian, English.
Every tongue shall confess. To whom? God.
the Bible says Christ the same yesterday. to-
nay ana forever. Is that Characteristic OF
humanity Do we not change? Does not
tne BODY entirely change in seven wears?
Does not the mind changer Does not the
heart change? Christ the same yesterday,
to-day and forever. He must be d God.
philosophers say that the law of grayita-
tlon decides everything and that the centr;p-
etal and centrifugal forces keep the world
from elashihg and from demolition. But
fatl says that Christ's arm Is the axle on
winch everything turns, and that Christs
hand is the socket in which everything is set
Mark the words, "Upholding- unfolding all
things by the word Of Ills power" Then He
must be a God.
Then look at what Christ says of Himself
Now, certainly, every one must understand
himself better than any one else can under
stand him. IL l ask you where you were
born and you tell me- II was born in Ches-
ter, England" or ~ was born in Glasgow,
Scotland" or 81 was born in Dublin, Ire
land, or 81 was born in New Orleans, the
United States, you being a man of integrity,
1 should believe you. II asked you how
many pouncs you could lift and you should
say you could lift 100 pounds or 200 pounds
or 300 pounds, should believe you 1t is
matter personal TO yourself. You know bet
ter than any one else can tell you.
II ask how much estate you are worth,
and you say SIC, 900 or 900. 900 or $500, 900,
believe what you say. You know better
than any one else. Now, Christ must
know better than any one else who He is and
what He is. When | ask Him how old He is,
He says, Before Abraham was ] an"
Abraham had been dead 202s years. Was
Christ 202S years old2 Yes, He says He is
older than that. Before Abraham was, 1
am" Then Christ says, 81 am the Alpha"
Alpha Is the first letter of the Greek alphabet,
and Christ in that utterance declared. 81 am
the of the alphabet of the centuries. Then
He must be a God.
Can a man be in = thousand places at once2
Christ says He is in a thousand places at
once. ''~nere two or three are gathered to
gether in My name, there am I in the midst
OF them," This observation-disclosures, is it
Characteristic Of q man or of God2 And
lest we might think this everywhereativenes
would cease, He goes on and He intimates
that He will be in all the cities of the earth
He will be in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and
South America the day before the world burns
up. 10, am with you always, even unto
the end OF the world" Why, then, He must
be God