The Penn's Grove record., 1893-05-05
RBV. DR.. TALMAGR'
The Brooklyn Divine's
Sunday Sermon.
Subject ; "Oyer all Forever"

W tOOu NthES tut WDTlu nHu been KAlTlni
Tor q dellyerer-waiting while empires rosi
and fell. Conquerors cam and made tn,
world worse instead of making 1t better
still the centuries watched and waited. The,
looked FOR Him on thrones, looked for Him Ii
palaces, looked for Him in imperial robes
looked for Him at the head OF armies. A
last they found Him in a barn. The cattIt
stood nearer TO Him than the angels, for tn,
former were in the adjoining stall, while tn,
latter were in the clouds. A percentage o
peasantry! No room for Him in the inn be
cause there was no n to pay the hotel ex
pense. Yet the pointing star and the ANGEL,
eantata showed that heaven made up In ap
probation of His worth what the world
lacked. "Christ came, who ts over all, God
blessed forever. Amen"
But who is this Christ who came? As tc
the difference between different denomina.
tons of evangelical Christians l have no con.
Germ. III could by the turning over Of my
hand decide whether all the world shall al
last be Baptist or Methodist or Congregations
or E~piscopaiian or Presbyterian, l would MOI
turn my hand. But there are doctrines which
are vital to the soul. II Christ be not a God,
we are idolators. To this ChristoloRicaI
question l devote myself this morning and
pray God that we may think right and do
arlght in regard to a question in which mis-
take is infinite.
l suppose that the majority OF those here
to-day assembled believe the Bible. It re-
qutres as much faith to be an infidel as to be
a Christian. 1t is faith in a different direc-
ton. The Christian has faith In the teach
1nss OF Matthew, Luke, John, Paul, Isaiah,
Moses. The infidel 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
Tor a standard in morals and in faith, l MAKE
This book my starting point.
l suppose you are aware that the W gen
erals VINO 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 n their sympain.zers saw thct
IL 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
Tesus Christ.
They say there was no miraculous birth in
bethlehem, but that it is all a fanciful story,
JNHt hhO az otoI1 VI IOululu5 5dlu lO@u1N6
been born of Rhea Silvia and the god Mars.
They say no star pointed to the manger it
was only the flash of a passing lantern. They
say there was 10 miraculous making Of bread,
but that it is a 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 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 ill. They say that there were no
tongues of fire on the heads of the disciples
at the Pentecost that there was only a great
thunder storm, and the air was full of cleo
tricity, 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 so they
dramatized a funeral and Lazarus played the
corpse, and Mary n 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 a spurious book written by super
stitious or lying men, backed up by men who
died for that which they did not believe.
Now, l take back the limited statement
which / made a few moments ago, when I
said it requires as much faith to be an in
idel as 10 be a Christian. 1t requires a
thousandsold more faith to be an inldel than
to be a Christian, for If Christianity demand
that the whale swallowed Jonah, thNn
skepticism demands that Jonah swallowed
tbe whn'el l con prove to you that Christ
V,.s God, not only ny supernatural appear
hnces 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 Alea-
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 as easily as a rainbow overspans
a mountain, "Christ came, who is over all. y
Then He must be God.
The Bible says that all things were made by
Hin. 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, the Pacific, that He made Mount
Lebanon, that He made the Alps, the Sierra
Negadas, that He made the Hemisperes, that
He made tho universe? Yes. The Bible SAYS
So, aud lest we DO too stupid to understand
John winds up with a magnificent reiteration
and says, "Without Him was not anytbin,
made that vas made" Then He was a God
The Bible says at the name of Jesus ever,
Fnee h bow. All heaven must come dow
on its knees. Martyrs OF their knees, apos
ties on their knees, confessors on their knees
the archangel on his knees. Before whom? 4
mann No,,He is a God. The Bible says ever
tongue shall eonfess-Bornesian. Malavan
Mexican, Italian, Spanish, Persian, English
Every tongue shall confess. To whom? God
Inc Bible says Christ the same Yesterday. to
day and forever. IL that characteristic al
humanity? Do we not change? Does mel
the body entirely change in seven years;
Ioes not the MIND change? Does not the
nAQT1 Hhnnnno fhRtnA AL~
to-day and forever. He must be a God.
Philosophers say that the law of erayfta
ton decides everything and that the centrip.
etal and centrifugal forces keep the world
from clashing n 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, Notwithstanding All
tnlngs by the word of His power" Then He
must be a God.
linen look at what Christ says of Himself
Now, certainly, every one must understand
himself better than any one else can under
stand him. If l ask you where you were
oorn and you tell me, 81 was born in Chss-
ter, England, OF 81 was born in Glasgow,
scotland, or Il was born in Dublin, Ire
land, or II was born in New Orleans, the
United States" you being q man Of integrity.
L should believe you. II l asked you how
many pounds you could lift and you should
say you could lift 100 pounds or 200 pounds
or 800 pounds, l should believe Won. It is a
matter personal to yourself. You know Ia
ter than any one else can tell you.
If l ask how much estate YOU are WORTH
and you say $4,000 or 900, 600 or $500. 600.
l believe what you say. You know better
than any n else. Now, Christ must
know better than any one else who He is and
what He is. When l ask Him how old He is.
he says, Before Abraham was, l am"
Abraham had been dead POPS years. Was
Christ POPS years old? Yes, He says He Is
older than that. Before Abraham was. /
am" Then Christ says, "a am the Alpha"
Alpha is the first letter Of the Greek ALPHABET.
and Christ in that utterance declared, 81 am
the A of the alphabet OF the centuries. - Then
He must be a God.
Can a man be in a thousand places at oncei
Christ says He is in a thousand places az
once. "Where two or three are gathered to-
gether in My name, there am I In the midst
OF them" This everyya- reativaness, is il
characteristic of a man or OF a God? And
lest we might think this observation-disclosures
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. 'Lo, l am with you always, even unto
the end Of the world" Why, then, He must
Re a God.
sesidss that he takes divine honorA 10