Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1910-09-07
CALLED TO
BE WITNESS

XdN Bible. 1t Is found at least
%AE hundred times in the Old
F- and New Testaments with
reference to testimony 70
GOD; and the thought that lies be.
meath the word is simply telling out
what We know" for which any child
is competent. and for which even the
greatest man Is no more than CONNIE
tent To know something about God
ana tell what We know-that Is wit.
ness IN the true Biblical sense.
There is the relation of the witness
TO God himself. "Ye are my witnesses.
saith the Lord" Eye shall he Wit
nesses unto me-" God depends upon
human witnesses: the Lord Jesus
Christ Is dependent upon his follow.
ers for witnessing Of him to n diving
world. II We do not testify for tho
LORD by lip or pen, how is he soIn,
70 proclaim his gracious sospel, This
great work OF witnessing Is the mag.
innocent and all-comprehensive work
81 christians individually and collect.
'veiy. AS long as the church rests
upon the rock-foundation of P.ter,s
confession. Thou are the Christ, tho
son OF the living God.-the founda.
ton upon which our Lord said he
would build his church---"the gates OF
hell shall not prevail against it." but
IT shall stand unaffected by demoniacaI
rage and malice.
Dying Thief a Great Witness.
The greatest witness I'm the word ri
God, next to the Lord Jesus Christ IL
not Paul the apostle, but the dying
thief. We have long deprecated the
penitent thief. There was the dark.
ness over all the earth, there was the
dying Christ, and even the disciples
themselves had given up their hopes
That Christ was he "who should have
redeemed Israel" Perhaps that peni.
tent thief had never seen Christ be.
lore, or, at best, only In the course of
the trial, when the Christ said: "I am
king; my kingdom is not of this
world. He had no opportunity, for
aIght We know, of any acquaintance
with the Lord Jesus Christ or with his
teaching. And yet, while the other
malefactor rallied on him, he gave his
witness, even before he had the Lords
assurance and blessing He said:
Doth not thou fear God, seeing thou
art In the same condemnation? And
we indeed Justly, for we receive the
due reward OF our deeds: but this man
hath done nothing amIss. What q
melting testimony! A thief dying on
cross and Jesus Christ dying beside
him. he not knowing the person of
Christ, or his character, never having
even sat under his teaching: and vet
that poor penitent thief saw a king in
the dying Jesus. and that death and
burial were the ushering Of the King
into his kingdom. He says: Lord.
remember me when thou CONTEST into
thy kingdom" There Is hardly any.
thing more pathetic and melting and
marvellous In the whole of the New
Testament than that penitent thiefs
testimony and prayer.
The next most marvellous witness
In the New Testament is the blind
nan, John 81. Eight times he wit
messed to Christ. He witnessed to his
own identity-to the cure and the
manner OF It; he repeated that wit
less before the Pharisees; he bore his
witness to Christ as a prophet; he
bore his witness to Christ as his mas.
ter. The words: "Will We also be his
disciples?" showed that he had yir.
tually accepted him as his master.
he confessed him as the greatest mir.
acle-worker since the world began: he
confessed him as righteous man: he
owned him probably as Messiah when
he said: IF this man were not from
God. he could do nothing" These
eight times he witnessed to Christ
and when our Lord found him cast out
he said: "Dost thou believe on the SOD
of God?' and the man said: "Who is
he, Lord, that might believe on
him?' he was in an attitude of craving
new Hight and knowledge that he
might obey. The Lord Jesus said &c
him: Thou hast both seen him, and
II is he that now talketh with thee"
And he said. Lord, believe. And he
worshiped him"
Testimony Enriches Experience.
Experiences enriches testimony. but
testimony enriches experience. Every
time he confessed something that he
found, the Lord revealed to him some
thing he had not previously known
Many people keep silence because they
think they do not know anything: but
they do not know more because they
keep silence.
Yet II IS dangerous thing to give
what Is not a sincere expression of ex
perience. To talk about and cray for
conservation, while your noighbors
and family know that ;ou are carnal
1t Is a dangerous thing to yourself
and hurtful TO e<her people. Lot was
twenty years in Sodom, and he never
saved soul that we know OF. II ne
bed brought one soul 70 God in each
of these twenty years. Sodom would
not have persisted. There was no man
In ff~.