The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-04-10
THE WITNESSES OF GOD
Sermon Delivered Yesterday by Rev. |. D,
Iamkin.
THEY ARE FOURFOlD IN THEIR CHARACTER
Nature, History, the BtbIe and RE-
deemed Men ana women--Con-
hrmntion mt Christ Church.

An unusually large congregation listened
to a sermon on Gods Faithful Witnesses"
at the First Baptist church yesterday
morning. The pastor Rev. l.. ID. Lamkin,
took for his text the following: II tell
you that If these should hold their peace
the stones would Immediately cry out
Luke xix, 40. "Ye are My witnesses. saith
the Lord. Isaiah xiii. 10.
Mr.. Lamkin said: These passages from
the word of God have local significance
and an immediate application They both
have the force of divine authority. The
first lis a reproof administered by Christ
to the envious Pharisecs, who sought to
hush the hosannas that greeted His APP
proach to Jerusalem. II was the time OF
His triumphal entry. And Christ declares
in the most convincing manner the ina
bility of the people to refrain from praise
full acknowledgment of Gods great mercy
in the gift of His Son. He affirms with
due poetic license the impossible, that II
they were to hold their peace the mutc
and melancholy rocks, feeling the mighty
inspiration OF the theme, would take up
the neglected anthem and Immediately
cry out" This was hgurative Bu; unless
] am sadly at fault these words have a
profounder meaning than appears on the
surface, The second OF these texts is the
utteraice of Isaiah. the most gifted proph-
ct in the history OF the Jewish nation He
presents Gods idea of the lofty position
of Israel In the world--reprcsentntive and
witnesses of God Combining the truth
OF these two texts. we laYo the import
ant theme--"God's Faithful Witnesses. "
These are fourfoid in their character--Na-
tura hfsto,.v the Dibla and redeemed men
and women.
We can not overestimate the value Of
the testimony OF nature. 1t rs great. God
has never left Himself without a witness
convincing TO His intelligent creatures.
Nature is Gods never falling witness.
Even this leaves men without excuse.
From the stars that sparkle on the brow
Of night to the smallest atom on which we
tread there Is abundant evidence that the
hand that made all things Is divine. There
il not an athelstic atom in the universe OF
God. Creation Is a broad book. written
all over by the finger of God. The Bible
frequently personihes nature, Cndows 1t
with human attributes and represents 1t as
speaking lessons OF wise and solemn i'm
port. and other religions have taught the
race TO regard the material universe as
vast hieroglyph of deity. according TO
these teachings the subimities and beau
ties of nature are glorious symbols Of
spiritual realities. And thus cur life
finds tongues in trees, books in running
brooks sermons in stones and good in
every thing." IL then seems plain that the
expression employed by our Lord In tho
text involves the far-reaching - nth that
the organic world, from stones to shadow
less mountain ranges, pear testimony, in
company with more complex structures,
TO the existence and glorious Character OF
the Creator. Though beings endowed with
Intelligence should 10 violence to their
spiritual nature and drift into oold ma
teralism, God should never be deprived
of witnesses. When man grows skepticai
ard has unworthy views OF God he can
not hush His praise breathed Increasingly
by inanimate nature Let him enter the ca
thedral of the mountains. as ] nave done,
through their gateways of stone and. how
ing low TO the earth before the snowy
SUBMITS on whose brow the clouds rest
lightly as the smoke of morning sacrifice
curling round purest affairs, near there
what is said Of Him who Is both invist-
bio and infinite God has ordained that
nature should have great influence on
men, that lofty attitudes should bring
lofty reflections, Man can no more tread
the unutterable sterility OF earth's rugged
rockribbed Businesses or mediate on their
unspeakahle suhlimity without meeting
God than could Moses when called "a
stand before Him amid the splendors OF
Sinai. Again these towering pinacles that
rise. as Eusltir beautifully phrases 1t, In
the stiffness OF perpetual mercy pro-
claim Gods eternity Stratihed rocks rep
resent the elements OF time by their thick
ness and the march OF the worlds physical
history BY their dlslocation. Traces Of
volcanic eruptions, or marks Of primeva
seas whose wallngs sank into silence lone
before the ear waa fashioned 10 drink IN
sound or gorges worn in the hard hills
by grinding glaciers which the guns Of
unuumbered periods have long since melt.
ed away, assist the feeblest understanding
10 realize The meaning of an antiquity
compared with which rhe era ~ ths
pharoahs is but as yesterday and that WI
are living in the presence Of One whom
We Iney we'll call the Ancient of Days
and who "inhabiteth eternity" Again
these mountains suggest their Creator
&c odpess. Constantly they are illustrating
things broader and higher than them
selves which reveal varying aspects o
divine beneficence.
stood on the summit OF the CONT
mental divide where snow lies one sid,
and flowers grow on the other These
exposed to sunshine and storm, lift the
pallid faces above the snow and wav
in the cold breeze their pendulous beauty
These flowers blooming on the border o
desolation remind us that God has so or
dered human life that there shall be n,
unmitigated evil. No night without a sue
ceeding day. no sorrow without n cor
responding JOY, no blight without "A bles
renewal, no sin without blessed re
demption Thus nature speaks forth tn
character, eternity and goodness OF God
Hero He has a silent but faithful wit
ness.
Secondly. history is Gods witness. His
torN Is the kaleidoscope of human events
rAcord of the progress of the worlt
Mark the progress of nations whose his
tory Iaas been preserved In their secre
archives, in sunken and long buried elite