The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-05-03
CHRIST OVER ALL.
A Powerful Discourse by Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage, D. D.
More Faith Required to be an Infldel Thar
ChrIstian-A Logical Argument
Proving That Christ Is God
The Worlds Deliverer.

ing discourse, his subject being "Over
All Forever" and the text Romans TX,
b-"Christ came who is over all"
For four thousand years the world
had been waiting for deliverer-wait-
ing while empires rose and fell. Con-
querors 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 i'm
perial robe, looked for Him at the head
of armies. At last they round Him in
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. A parentage Of
peasantry. No room for Him in the inn,
because there was no one to pay the
hotel expense. Yet the pointing star
and the angelic cantata showed that
Heaven made up in appreciation of His
worth what the world lacked "Christ
came, who is over all, God blessed for
ever. Amen"
But who is this Christ who came? AS
TO the difference between differen de-
nominations of evangelical Christians
have no concern. If / could, by the
turning over of my hand, decide
whether all the world shall at last be
Baptist, or Methodist, or Congregation
al, 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 ida
latois To this Christological question
I devote myself this morning, and pray
God that we may think Alright, and do
Alright in regard to question in which
mistake is infinite.
suppose that the majority Of those
here to-day assembled believe the
Bible. 1t requires as much faith to be
an infidel as TO be Christian. 1t is
faith in different direction. The
Christian has faith in the teachings 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 an
other class of men. But as the major
ity Of those, perhaps all of those here
assembled, are willing to take the
Bible for standard in morals and in
faith, make this book my starting
point.
Isuppose you are aware that the two
generals who have marshaled the great
armies against the deity of Jesus Christ
are Strauss and Renan. The number
of their slain will not be counted until
the trumpet of the archangel sounds
the roll call Of the resurrection. Those
men and their sympathizers saw that II
they could destroy the fortress Of the
miracles they could destroy Chris
tianity, and they were right. Surren-
der the miracles and you surrender
Christianity. The great German exc
gete says that all the miracles were
myths The great French exegete says
that all the mircles were legends.
They propose to take anything super
natural 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 1t is all a
fanciful story, just like the story Of
Romulus said to have been born Of Rea
Silvia and the god Mars. They say no
star pointed TO the manger; 1t was only
the fash Of passing lantern. They
saythere was no miraculous making Of
bread but that it is corruption of the
story that Elisha gave twenty loaves of
bread to hundred men. They say the
water was never turned into wine, but
that II is 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 that
there were no tongues of fire on the
heads Of the disciples at Pentecost;
that there was only great thunder
storm, and the air was full of electricity
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 excite
ment for the forwarding of their relig-
ION, and so they dramatized funeral,
andsLazarus played the corpse, and
Mary and Martha played the weepers,
and Christ was the tragedian. put 1t
in my own words, but this Is the exact
meaning Of their statements. 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 state
ment which / made few moments ago,
when said II requires as much faith
70 be an infdel as TO be Christian. It
requires thousand-fold more faith to
be an infidel than to be Christian, for
IL Christianity demand that the whale
swallowed Jonah, then skepticism de-
nands that Jonah swallowed the whalel
/ can prove to you that Christ was God,
not only by the supernatural appear
ances on that Christmas night, but by
what inspired men said Of Him, by
what He said of Himself, and by His
wonderful achievements. "Christ came,
who Ia over all" Ahl does not that
prove too muchp Not over the Cesars,
not over Frederick, not over Alexander
the Great, not over the Henrys, not
over the Louises? Yes. Pile all the
thrones Of all the ages together, and my
text overspafls them as easily as rain
bow overspans a-nountaintop. "Christ
came, who is over all" Then he must
be a God.
The Bible says that all things wsrc