The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-05-17


ANYTHING. What Is he then? An impoetor.
Christ saws He built this world. He built all
things. Did He build them? II He did, He
Is God. II He did not, He ID an lmpostor
man comes into your place OF business
with Jewish countenance and German
accent and says ~ am Rothsch1ld, the
banker, of London. have the wealth OF
Nations in my pocket. I loaned that large
amount to Italy and Austria In their perplex-
ity." But after while you find that ne has
never loaned any moley to Italy or Austria
that he never had a large estate that he Is
no banker at all; that he owns nothing.
What Is he2 An impostor. Christ says He
owns the cattle on thousand hills !; He owns
this world; He owns the next world; He
owns the universe; He is the banker OF all
Nations. Is He2 II he is, He is God. Is
He not? Then He Is an impostor.
A man enters the White House at Washing
ton. He says: sI am Emperor William, OF
Germany. am travelling incognito. have
come over here for recreation and pleasure.
own castles in Dresden and Berlin" But
the president finds out the next day that he
is not Emperor William that he owns no cas-
ties at Berlin and Dresden that he has no
authority. What Is he? An 1mpostor. Christ
says He Is the king over al-the king immor-
tai, invisible. II He Is, He Is God II He Is
not, He Is an impostor.
to get out OF It by saying that Christ was sim
full in accepting alteration and worship.
Renan tries to get out of It by saying that
Christ-not through any fault OF His own.
but through the faul. Of others-lost Hls
purity or conscience, and he slyIy intlmstes
that dishonorable women had damaged His
soul Anything but believe that Christ Is
God Now you believe the Bible to be true.
II you do not, you would hardly have ap-
orodf In nh,1r uUNuId
over and joined the Broadway Infdel club,
or you would go to Boston and kiss the foot
of the statue of Thomas Paine. You would
hardly come into this church, where the most
OF us are the deluded souls who believe in
whole Bible and take it all down as easily as
you swallow ripe strawberry.
have shown you what inspired men said
Of Christ I have shown you what Christ said
Of Himself now, II you believe the Bible, let
US 20 out and see His wonderful achieve
ments- surgical, alimentary, marine, mortu-
ary Surgical achievements Where Is the
medical journal that gives an account OF such
exploits as Christ wrought He used no
knife. he carried no sphnts. He employed
no compress. He made no patient squirm
under cauterization. He tied no artery. Yet
behold Him! With q word He struck fast
Malchus' amputsted ear. He stirred little
dust and spittle into q salve and with 1t
caused man who was born blind and with
out optic nerve or cornea or crystalline lens
to open his eyes on the sunlight. He beat
music on the drum Of the deaf ear. he
Strengthened woman who, through contrac-
ton Of muscle, had been bent almost double
for well nigh two decades. He made man
who had no use Of his limbs for S8 years
shoulder his mattress and walk of.
Sir Ashley Cooper, Abernethy, Valentine
Mott, stood powerless before withered arm,
but this doctor OF omnipotent surgery, comes
In and He sees the psralytic arm useless and
Hfeless at the mans side, and Christ says to
him, "Stretch forth thine hand" and he
stretched 1t forth whole as the other. He
was God.
Alimentary achievements! He found lad
who had come out Of the wilderness with five
loaves Of bread for q speculation. Perhaps
the Lad had paid five pennies for the five
loaves and expected to sell them for ten PEN
MES, and 80 he would double bis money.
Christ took those losves Of bread and per-
formed q miracle by which He fed 1000 fam
ishing people, and warrant you the lad lost
nothing, for there were twelve baskets Of
fragments taken up. and If the boy had five
loaves at the start warrant you he had at
least ten at the close.
The Ssviour's mother goes into neigh
bor's house to help get up wedding party.
By calculation she finds out that the amount
of wine is not sufficient for the guests. She
calls In Christ for help, and Christ, not blythe
slow decay OF fermentation, but by word,
makes $50 gallons Of pure wine.
Marine achievements He turns q whole
school of fish into the net Of men who were
mourning over their poor luck, until the boat
Is 50 full they have to halloo to other boats,
and the other boats come up, and they are
laden to the waters edge with the game, 80
that the sailors have to be cautious in going
from larboard to starboard Lest they upsetths
ship.
Then there comes squall down through
the mountain gorge, and Gennesaret, with
long locks Of white foam, rises up to battle
It, and the boat crops into trough and ships
q sea, and the loosened sails crack in the
tornado, and Christ rises from the back part
of the boat and comes walking across the
staggering ship until He comes to the PROV,
and there He wipes the spray from His brow
and bushes the crying storm on the knee Of
His omnipotence. Who wrestled down that
euroclydon? Whose feet trampled the rough
Galilee into smooth foor2
Let philosophers and anatomists go to
Westminster Abbey and try to wake up
Queen Elizabeth or Henry VIII. No hu-
man power ever wakened the dead. There
is dead girl in Capernaum. What does
Christ do? Alas that she should have died so
young and the world 80 fair Only twelve
years Of age. Feel her cold brow and cold
hands. Dead, dead! The house Is full Of
weeping. Christ comes, and He takes hold
Of the hand Of the dead girl, and instantly
her eyes open, her heart starts. The white
lily of death bushes into the rose Of life and
health. She rushes into the arms Of her
rejoicing kindred. Who wokeup that death?
Who restored her to Ife2 A man2 Tell
that to the runatics In Bloomingdale asylum.
1t was Christ the God
But there comes a test which moro than
anything else will show whether He was God
or man: You remember that great passage
which says, "We must all appear before the
judgment seat Of Christ" The earth will be
stunned by blow that will make 1t stagger
In midheaven the stars will circle like dry
leaves In an equinox the earth will unrou
the bodies, and the sky will unrol the spirits,
and soul and flesh viii come Into incorrupti-
BILE conjunction. Day Of smoke and fire and
darkness and triumph. On one side, piled
up in galleries Of light, the one hundred and
forty and four thousand-yea, the quintil-
Hons-of the saved. On the other side, piled
up in galleries OF darkness, the frowning, the
glaring multitude Of those who rejected God.
Between these two piled up galleries
throne, high throne, throne standing on
two FURNISHED pillars-iustice, mercy-a
throne 80 bright you had better hide your
eye lest It be extinguished with excess OF
visio-. But 1t Is an empty throne. Who will
come up and take it2 VIII you?
'Ah, no ~ you say "I am but child OF
dust. would not dare to climb that throne"
Would Gabriel climb it9 He dare not. Who
will ascend it? Here comes one. His back is
to us. He goes up step above step, height
above height until He reaches the apex. Then
He turns around and faces all the Nations