The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-24
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
sv THE REV. FRANK DE WITT rALmAeE. D. D

Los Angeles, Cal, July l"-An 'His sst mon a new construction Is placed upor many of the miracles of modern science. which are interpreted in the light oi christ,s promise to his followers in John xiv l2. "Greater works than these shall he do."
 Man increases not his gospel faith by lowering the standards of the cross. You might as we'll expect water to run uphill of its own accord, or violets to grow during midwinter in a snowbank. or daylight to follow after the sinking of the sun in the west, O.. the fiush of health to be seen on the pale cheek o. a corpse, or a hummlng bird to volun- tarily make her nest in the dark laby- rlnths like a ground mole, as for a ra- dant faith capable of transfor.nipg char acter to exist in any temple unless the chief cornerstone of that temple is Jesus Christ. And l. if l be lifted up from earth, will draw all men unto me-" said Jesus Christ just a short time before his crucitixion. T am the way. the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me-" speaks our resurected Re deemer to the gospel workers of the pres ent day.
 Let it he clearly understood at the out set that by no word or thought would l seek to depreciate the power and in huence of Christ's personality and work He 1t is who fills all created things; He 1t Is who gives life natural, mental, so- cal. He Is the inspirer the spring from which come all our triumphs. But I want to show you that the promise which he eave to his disciples. Greater works than these shall he do." has been fulfilled and That man inspired with his spirit has with the natural forces at his disposal done more for uplifting humanity, as Christ said he should, than did Christ him. sell Man has taken hold of the power which Christ bestowed and has applied it beyond the opportunities which Christ had to complete the work that he ini- tiated Christ fed the multitudes; Christ opened the blinded eyes and straigltened the crooked limbs; Christ assuaged main and stop ped the chronic issue of blood Christ fought against the heathenish doc Urine that might Is right" Christ was the greatest of all workers of wonders that tho world had ever seen There was only one Christ There will never ha another. Yet there are senses, natural as well as spiritual, in which his promise has been kept to his followers, and they have been enabled through the bower emanating from him to do works which surpass those he did in his life on earth. But let it never be forgotten that these
 greater works which man has done have been accomplished only because Jesus has lived and Jesus prophetic words have been fulfilled. Tn order to get better grasp of this theme let me read to you the full verse in which the words Of my test are found "Verily, verify l say unto you he that believeth in me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do, because go unto my Father"
 Christ Amazed Generation.
 Jesus Christ was the amazement of amazements to the people of his day and generation as worker of natural phen- omena- He seemed to his time superior to all natural laws. When he went out to visit lis disciples in their ship. he did not have to use the land, as other people had to do. lie stepped upon the crystal pavement of Lake Galilee as cas- .ly as an Alpine climber lnght rest his fcot upon solid rock. as easily as a hnd's feet might glue themselves to mountain crag. When he spoke, the homage of obedience was rendered to him, not alone by men in the synagogue, by beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, but by the winds and the waves. He called to NHN O-AHatoiA AtiHptSl fedcc De Sl1ll.' At the glance of his eye the "conscious water blIshed to see the face of it's Lord'' at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. At a word from his lip the fig tree dried up and withered away. All he had to say was Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever" At his call came whole schools Of fish to be caught by the Galiean fish ermen. By his touch whole ovens full of bread seemed to be miraculously created.
 Wonderful were those triumphs over na- tural laws and forces, but what triumphs has man achieved since thar time by com polling those natural laws and forces to serve his purposes and by harnessing them as his servantsl What wonder can be greater than for man to speak in a telephone receiver as I have done, in Chicago and have my voice heard in New York city, 1000 miles away? I do not con- slider It any more of a wonder than for Theodore Roosevelt to start the great. ronderous machinery in the worlds fair at St. Louis by touching a simple but ton. Christ walking upon the waves of Lake Galilee excited the wonder of the spectators. but how they would have won dered had they have seen that submar- inc boat constructed by an American in- ventor, which he supplied with such won derful mechanism that it can sink to the bottom Of the sea and support life there Tor twenty-four hours, or if they could have known how spark. as mermaid could carry mans message by running along the pathway of Pacific cable from Vancouver to Australia or how a great iron hull could be made to battle against storm and tide and carry thousands of human beings, besides tons upon tons of freight. from New York to Liverpool Christ feed Ing the multitude with the five loaves and two fishes to me is wonderful, but man making the dry desert blossom as a rose by the stored up waters of irrigation, man making rains descend in regions where for centuries nature as a forbiddlng angel of the Edenic paradise has said Thou shalt not" man making the fruits of the Asiatic climes to mate with the fruits of the California hills, man to make street cars run without horses or steam engines to shriek through Gothard pass and disappear into a Houstonic tunnel, man making his airships lighter than the atmosphere we breathe-al these are tri- umphs over natural forces so wonderful that l say, as I compare them with the phenomena of Christ's life. how truly has the promise been kept. Greater works than these shall he do."
 Wireless TeIegraphy's Wonders.
 When see an Edison make an electric light blaze and burn upon the tip end of dirty piece of carbon; when I see the marvels of machinery, born with every thing but a soul; when l see Ice frozen in the tropics. and when know that nations separated by broad seas are brought into speaking distance by wireless telegraphy know that one of the fulfilliments of my text has come. Anything which excites wonder. surprise or astonishment in the broad sense Is miracle" wrote