Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-05-12
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINEs sun.
DAY SERMON,
Subject: cover All Forever"

TEXT: "Christ came, ,cho is Deer 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
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 a barn. The cattle
stood nearer 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 in 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 APP
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 III could by the turning over of my
hand decide whether all the world shall at
last be Baptist or Methodist or Conversational
or Ep1scopalian or Presbyterian, would not
turn my hand. But there are doctrines which
are vital to the soul. If Christ be not God
we are idolators. To this ChristolOgical
question l devote myself this morning and
pray God that we may think right and do
arlght 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 intldel as to be
Christian. 1t is faith in a different direc-
ton The Christian has faith in the teach
ngs of Matthew, Luke, John, Paul. Isaiah,
Moses. The iufidel has faith in the free
thinkers. We have faith in one class of men
They have faith in another class of men But
IS the majority Of those, perhaps all of those
here assembled, are willing to take the Bible
Tor 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
II they could destroy the fortress Of miracles
they could destroy Christianity and they
we're 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 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 manager; it
was only the flash of q passing lantern. They
say there was no miraculous making of bread,
but that 1t Is corruption OF the story that
Elisha gave 20 lOayes 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 flew all around
about the heads of the disciples.
They say that Mary and Martha and Christ
felt it important to get up excitement for
the forwarding of their religion, and so they
dramatized funeral and Lazarus played the
corpse, and Mary and Martha played the
weepers, and Christ was the tragedian 1
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.
Now, l take back the limited statement
which made few moments ago, when 1
said it requires as much faith to be- an in
fidel as to be a Christian. 1t requires a
thOusandfOld more faith to be an infldel than
to be a Christian, for If Christianity demand
skepticism demands that Jonah swallowed
the whale! l 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 much2 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
together r
spans them as easily as a rainbow overspans
mountain, Christ came, who is over all.
Then He must be God.
The Bible says that all things were made by
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, the Pacific, that He made Mount
Lebanon, that He made the Alps, the Sierra
Nevadas, 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 up with magnificent reiteration
and says, without Him was not anything
made that was made" Then He was God.
The Bible says at the name 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 en- his knees Before whom? A
man? No. He is 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 changer Does not
the body entirely change in seven years?
Does not the mind change? 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
TQY1f