The free press., 1893-05-18
REV. DIR. TIA ] MAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE's SUN
DAY SERMON.
Sub;est: "Over All Forever. %

TEXT: "C1;-ist came uho is ouer ALL
Romans tx, 5.
For 1000 years the world had been waiting
| for deliverer- waiting while empires rose
and fell Conquerors came and made the
world worse instead Of making it better
J still the centuries watched and waited. They
! looked for Him on thrones, looked for Him in
/ palaces, looked for Him in imperial robes,
| looked for Him at the head of armies. At
last they found Him in barn. The cattle
| stood nearer to Him than the angels, for the
| former were in the adj Joining stall, while the
| latter were in the clouds. parentage OF
| peasantryl No room for Him in the inn be-
| cause there was no one to pay the hotel ex-
| pense. Yet the pointing star and the angelic
| eantata showed that heaven made up in ap-
| probation 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 have no con-
Germ. If could by the turning over Of my
| hand decide whether all the world shall at
| last be Baptist or Methodist or Congregational
or Episcopalian or Presbyterian, l would not
turn my hand. But there are doctrines which
are vital to the SOUL Ii Christ be not God,
we are idolators. To this Chr1stologlcal
| question l devote myself this morning and
| pray God tnat we may think right and do
Alright in regard to question in which mis-
| take is infinite.
| suppose that the majority of those here
to-day assembled believe the Bible. 1t re-
quires as much faith to be an infdel as to be
Christian. 1t is faith in q different threc-
/ ton. The Christian has faith in the teach
ings of Matthew Luxe John, Paul. Isaiah,
Moses. The infidel has faith in the FREQ
thinkers. We have faith in one class of men.
| They have faith in another class of men. But
as the ajority 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.
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 will
not be counted until the trumpet of the arch
angel sounds the roll call Of the resurrection.
Those men and their sympathizers saw that
if 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 exegete says
that all the miracles were legends. They
propose to take everything supernatural from
the life of Christ and everything supernatural
from the Bible. 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 Romulus said to have
been born of Rhea Silvia and the god Mars.
They say no star pointed to the manger it
was only the fash of a passing lantern. They
say .here was no miraculous making Of bread,
but that it is a corruption of the story that
Elisha gave 20 loaves OF bread to hundred
men. They say the water was never turned
into wine, but that it is corruption of the
story that the Egyptian plague turned the
water into blood They say 1t 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 disciples
at the Pentecost that there was only great
thunder storm, and the air was full Of cleo
tricity, which snapped and flew 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
dramatized funeral and Lazarus played the
corpse, and Mary and Martha played the
weepers, and Christ was the tragedian. I
put it i'll my own words but this is the exact
meaning OF their statements They say the
Bible is a spurious book written by super
stitious or lying men, backed up by men who
died for that which they did not believe.
Now, | take back the limited statement
WHICH 4 Uldut Il lew IuOHtuLS ago, Wutu L
said it requires as much faith to be an in
fidel as to be Christian. 1t requires
thousandfold more faith to be an infidel than
to be Christian, for if Christianity demand
that the whale swallowed Jonah, then
skepticism demands that oonah swallowed
the whale | can prove to you that Christ
was God, not only by supernatural appear
ances 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 Alex
ander the Great, not over the Henrys, not
over the Louises? Yes. Pile all the thrones
OF all the ages together and my text over
spans them easily as Il rainbow overspans
mountain, 'Christ came, who is over all.
Then He must be God.
The Bible says that all things were by
Him. Does not that prove too much? Gould
1t be that He made the Mediterranean. that
He made the Black sea, that He made the
Atlantic, the Pacific, thar He made Mount
Lebanon that He made the Alps, the Sierra
Neyadas, that He made the Hemisperes, that
He made the universe? Yes The Bible says
so, and lest we be too stupid to understand
John winds uD with magnificent reiteration
and says, "WItnouC Him was not anything
made that was made" Then He was God.
The Bible says at the name of Jesus every
hho' oudii pDW All utttNtu must cOIne uOWn
on its knees. Martyrs on their knees, apos-
ties 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-Bornesian, Malayan,
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 years7
Does not the mind chsnge2 Does not the
heart change? Christ the same yesterday
to-day and forever. He must be God
Philosophers say that the law of gravita,
ton decides everything and that the centrip-
etal and centrifugal forces keep the world
from clashing and from demolition But
Paul says that Christ's arm is the axle on
which everything turns, and that Christ S
hand is the socket in which everything is set.
Mark the words, "Upholding-u -upholding all
things by the word OF His power" Then He
must be 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. If / ask you where you were
born and you tell me, II was born in Ches-
ter England" or Il was born in Glasgow,
Scotland" or Il was born in Dublin, Ire
land, " or II was born in New Orleans, the
United States ~ Won bainp "A man of intaority