Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-05-04
AT THE TABERNACLE.
THE TESTIMONY or JESUS CHRIST
AND HIS WITNESSES.

Anteinkent explanation OF the Soepell
Save to Accept Them Us Literal Truth
wild Attempts at Evasion.
BROOKLYN, April 30.-In the Tabernacle
this forenoon the large audience listened
with rapt attention to a powerful discourse
By Rev. DR.. Talmage. who chose for hi:
subject, "Oyer All Forever the text Sc
lected being Romans tx, 5, "Christ came
VINO is over al"
For 1900 years the world had been wait
ing for deliverer-waiting while empires
rose and fell. Conquerors came and made
the world worse instead of making Il bet.
ter; still the centuries watched and waited,
They looked for him on thrones, looked fol
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, fol
the former were in the adjoining stall while
the latter were in the clouds. A psrentaQe
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 an.
gelic cantata showed that heaven made ur
In appreciation of his worth what the world
lacked. Christ came, who is over all, Gcd
blessed forever. Amen"
THE CENTRAL AND VITAL TRUTH.
But who is this Christ who camei As to
the difference between different denomina-
tions Of evangelical Christians I 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 Congre.
gational or Episcopalian or Presbyterian,
would not turn my hand. But there are
doctrines which are vital to the soul. II
Christ be not God, we are idolators. To
this Christological 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
Isuppose that the majority of those here
today assembled believe the Bible. 1t re-
quires as much faith to be an infidel as to
be a Christian. 1t is faith in different di-
rection. 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 another class OF
men. But as the majority of those--per-
haps all of those here assembled-are will
ing to take the Bible for 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 tho 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 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 were right. Surrender
the miracles, and you surrender Christian
ity. The great German exegete says that all
the miracles were myths The great French
exegete 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 DiAGININGs OF INFIDELTTY.
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
manger; it was only the flash of passing
lantern. They say there was no miraculous
making of bread, but that it is the corrup-
tion Of the story that Elisha gave 90 Ioaves
Of bread to 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 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 religion,
and so they dramatized funeral, and Laz-
arus played the corpse, and Mary and Mar
tha played the weepers, and Christ was the
tragedian. Iput 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, I take back the limited statement
which made a few moments ago, when I
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 infidel
than to be Christian, for if Christianity
demand that the whale swallowed Jonah,
then skepticism demands that Jonah swal-
lowed the whalel can prove to you that
Christ was God not only by the supernat-
ural appearances on that Christmas 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
much2 Not over the Caesars, 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 overspans them as
easily as a rainbow overspans mountain
top. Christ came, who is over all.n Then
he must be God.
BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER.
The Bible says that all things were made
by him. Does not that prove too muchs
Could it be 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, UIlG olcEEt 4NeNdudS, tlidG uc IHdue bU0
hemispheres that he made the universeP
Yes. The Bible says so, and lest we be too
stupid to understand John winds up with
a magnificent reiteration and says, with
out 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, apostles on their knees, confessors
on their knees, the archangel ON his knees.
Beforegwhom-a man? No. He is Goda
The Bible says every tongue shall confess
Bornesiaa, Maylayan, Mexican, Italian,
Spanish, Persian, English. Every tongue
shall confess. To whom? God. The Bible
says Christ the same yesterday, today and
forever. Is that characteristic Of human
itya Do we not change? Does not the
body entirely change in seven yearsp Does
mt tho fuind chanpap Christ tho en,,,a uas