Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-05-06
-ACCOMAC G a. VA SATURDAY, NAY g. 1898

characteristic of humanity? Do we not
change? Does not the body entirely
change in seven years? Does not the
mind change? Docs not the heart change:
Christ the same yesterday, today and for
ever He must be Il God.
Philosophers say that the law of grayi.
tation decides everything and that the
ccntripetal and centrifugal forces keep
the world from clashing and from demo
htion. But Paul says that Christ's arm
is the axle on which everything turns,
and that Christ's hand is the socket il.
which everything isset Mark the words,
"Upholding- upholding all things by the
word of his power" Then he must be q
God.
c11r1sT's OWN TESTIMONY.
Then look at what Christ says of him.
self. Now, certainly every one must un.
derstand himself better than any one
else can understand him. If I ask you
where you were born and you tell me,
~ was born in Chester, England" or 81
was born in Glasgow, Scotland" or 81
was born in Dublin, Ireland" or II was
born in New Orleans, the United States, j
you being man of integrity, l should
believe you. If l asked you how many
pounds you could lift and you should
say you could lift 100 pounds or 2Ot
pounds or 900 pounds, l should believe
you. 1t is Il matter personal to yourself,
You know better than any one else can
tell you.
If 1 ask how much estate you are
worth, and you say $4,000 or 100000
or $500, 1000, believe what you say. You
know better than any one else. Now,
Christ must know better than any one
else who he is and what lie is. When ]
ask him how old he is, he says, Before
Abraham was, I am." Abraham had
been dead 2,02S years. Was Christ
s,Ga9 years old? Yes, he says he is Older
than that. Before Abraham was,
aln." Then Christ says, ~ am the Al
pha." Alpha is the first letter of the
Greek alphabet, and Christ in that ut,
terance declared, Il am the A of the al
phabet Of the centuries. Then he must
DO God.
Can man be in a thousand places al
once? Christ says he is in a thousand
places at once. "Where two or three
are gathered together i'll my name, there
am in the midst of them" This every
whereatiyeness, is it characteristic of q
man or of a God? And lest we might
think this eyerywhereativeness 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, ! am with you
Away, even unto the end of the world"
Why, then, he must be God.
Besides that, he takes divine honors
He declares himself Lord of men, angels
and devils. Is he? If no is, he is a God.
If he is not, he is an impostor. A man
comes into your store tomorrow morn
ing. He says: II am the great shipbuilder
of Liverpool have built hundreds OF
ships" He goes on to give his experience.
You defer to him as man of large ex-
perience and great possessions. But the
next day you find out that he is not the
great shipbuilder of Liverpool; that he
never built ship; that he never built
anything What is he then? An impostor.
Christ says he built this world. He built
all things. Did he build them? If he did,
he is God. If he did not, he is an i'm
postor.
A GOD OR AN DIPosToR.
A man comes into your place Of bust
ness with Jewish countenance and a
German accent and says: II am Roths-
child, the banker Of London. I have the
wealth of nations in my pocket. LOANED
that large amount to Italy and Austria
in their perplexity." But after awhile
you find that he has never loaned any
money to Italy or Austria; that he never
had a large estate; that he is no banker
at ALL that he owns nothing. What is
he? An imposter. 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 he? If he is, he is q God.
Is he not? Then he is an impostor.
A man enters the White House at
Washington. He says: II am Emperor
William of Germany. I am travelling
incognito. l have come over here for
recreation and pleasure. own castles
in Dresden and Berlin" But the presi-
dent finds ont 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 inpos-
tor. Christ says he is the king over all
the king immortal, invisible. If he is,
he is God. If he is not, he is an i'm
postor.
Strauss saw that alternative, and he
tries to get out of it by saying that Christ
was sinful 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 fault
Of others-lost his purity of conscience,
and he slyly intimates that dishonorable
women had damaged his soul. Anything
but believe that Christ is God. Now you
believe the Bible to be true. If you do
not, you would hardly have appeared IN
this church. You would have gone over
and Joined the Broadway Infdel club,
OF 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.
I have shown you what inspired men
said of Christ; I have shown you what
Christ said of himself; now, if you be-
ieve the Bible, let us go out and see his
wonderful achievements-su surgical, ali.
mentary, marine, mortuary. Surgical
achievements! Where is the medical
journal that gives an account of such
exploits as Christ wrought? He used DO
knife. He carried no splints. He en-
ployed no compress. He made no pa
tient squirm under cauterization. He
4;oJ no o,+or, Vet baho1d hi1ni With