Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-05-04

Save to Accept Them as Literal Truth.
wild Attempts ut Evasion.
BROOKLYN, April 30.-In the Tabernacle
Mis forenoon the large audience listened
with rapt attention to a powerful discourse
by Rev. Dr. Talmage, who chose for his
subject "Over All Forever" the text Sc
lected being Romans tx, 3, Christ came,
wi o is over all"
For 1900 years the world had been wait
Ing for dcliverer-waiting while empires
rose and fell. Conquerors came and made
the world worse instead of making it bet
ter; 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 cat
tie stood nearer to him than the angels, for
the former were in the dioining stall while
the latter were in the clouds. a parcntage
of peasantrv. No room for him in the inn,
because there WAS no one TO pay the hotel
expense Yet the pointing star and the an
gelc 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"
THE CENTRAL AND VITAL TRUTH.
But who is this Christ who came: AS to
lions of evangelical Christians have no
concern. If could by the turning over of
my hand, decide whether all the world shall
at last he Baptist or Methodist or Congre-
gational or Episcopalian or Presbyterian,
! would not turn my hand. But there are
doctrines which are vital to the soul. If
Christ he not "A God, we are idolators. To
this Christologcal question devote myself
This morning and pray God that we may
think Alright and do Alright in regard to a
question in which mistake is infinite.
suppose that the ma iOritv of those here
today assembled believe the Bible. 1t re-
qui1es as much faith to be an infidel as to
be a Christian. 1t is faith in a different d-
rection. The Christian has faith in the
teachings of Matthew, Luke, John, Paul,
Isaiah, Moses. The infide has faith in the
free thinkers. We nave faith in one class of
men. They have faith in another class of
men. But as the majority of thoseper
haps all of those here assembled-are will
ing to take the Bible for a standard in NOR
ais and in faith | make this book my start
ing 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 Rcnan. The number of their slain will
not be counted until the trumpet of the
archangc sounds the roll call of the resur-
rection. Those men and their sympathizers
saw that if they could destroy the fortress
of the miracles they could destroy Chris
tianity, and they We're right. Surrender
the miracles, and you surrender Christian
ttY. The great German eXegete says that all
HE miracles were myths. The great French
sNegetc says that all the miracles were leg
ends. They propose to take everything
supernatural from the life of Christ and
everything supernatural from the Bible
They prefer the miracles of human nom
sense to the glorious miracles of Jesus
Christ.
VAIN INAGININGs OF INFIDELITY.
They say there was no miraculous birth
in Bethlehem, but that it is all fanciful
story. just like the story of Romuus said
TO have been born of Rhea Silvia and the
god Mars They say no star pointed to the
manger; it was only the flash of passing
lantern. They say there was no miraculous
making of bread, but that it is the corrup-
ton of the story that Elisha gave 20 loaves
OF bread to "a hundred men. They say the
water never turned into wine, but that it is a
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 there were no tongues of fire on the heads
of the disciples at the Pentecost; that there
was only a great thunderstorm, and the
air was full of electricity 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 excite
ment for the forwarding OF their religion,
and so they dramatized Il funeral, and Laz-
arus played the corpse, and Mary and Mar
tl1 nlnVpI the and Christ I ba
tragedian put it in my own words, but
this is the exact meaning of their state
ments. They say the Bible is spurious
book, written by superstitious or lying men,
backed up by men who died for that which
they did not believe.
Now, ] take back the limited statement
which | made few moments ago, when |
said it requires as much faith to be an in
Hdel as to he Il Christian. 1t requires u
thousandfold more faith to be an iniidel
than to be IA Christian, for if Christianity
demand that the whale swallowed JONAH
then skepticiSm demands that Jonah swal-
lowed the whale! can prove to you that
Christ was God not only by the supernat-
ural appearances on that (hristmas night
but by what inspired men said of him, by
what he says of himself and by his won
derful 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 Great,
not over the Henrys, not over the Iouisce?
Yes. Pile all the thrones Of all the ages
together, and my text overspans them AS
easily as Il rainbow overspans IL mountain
top. Christ came, who is over all. Then
be must be a God.
BY THE WORD or HIS POWER
The Bible says that all things were made
by him. Does not that prove too much;
Could it he that he made the Mediterra-
mean, that he made the Black sea, that he
made the Atlantic the Pacific, that he
made Mount Lebanon, that he made the
Alps the Sierra Nevadas that he made the
nemispheres, that he made the universe
Yes. The Bible says so, and lest we be too
stupid TO understand John winds up with
magnificent reiteration and says, with
sut him was not anything made that was
made" Then he was u God
The Bible says at the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow. All heaven must