Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-05-27
CALLED TO BE WITNESS.
By Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D. D.
"And We shall be witnesses unto me-"

ACtS L. 0.
The word witness" is one of the
great words of the Bible. It is found
| at least hundred times in the Old
and New Testaments with reference to
| testimony to God: and the thought
| that lies beneath 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
competent To know something about
| God and tell what we know-that Is
witness in the true Biblical sense.
There is the relation of the witness
| to God Himself "Ye are My witness
es, saith the Lord" "Ye shall be wit
nesses unto Me-" God depends upon
human witnesses; the Lord Jesus
| Christ is dependent upon His follow
ers for witnessing Of Him to dying
world If we do not testify for the
Lord by lip or pen, how is He going to
proclaim His gracious Gospel? This
great work of witnessing is the mag
nifcent and all-comprehensive work of
Christians individually and collective
| ly. As long as the church rests upon
the rock-foundation Of Peters confess
sion, Thou art the Christ, the Son of
the living God''-the foundation upon
which our Lord said He would build
His church-''the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it, but 1t shall
stand unaffected by demoniacal rage
and malice.
What is all work for God, but wit
ness to the fact that He has a claim
ON our service? Witness is expansive,
expulsive and explosive. Witness
makes us greater men and women, it
enlarges our experience, it deepens our
sense of God, it closely Identifies US
with the Faithful and True Witness,
the very Amen" of God. Witness
casts out trif1ing, hindering, enslav-
ing, def1ling things; 1t makes it impos-
sible for us to follow the idols Of the
world. If we have really got the love
of God in our hearts we shall be con-
strained to witness for Him.
The greatest witness in the Word
;; of God, next to the Lord Jesus Christ,
is 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-
fore, or, at best, only in the course of
the trial, when the Christ said: II am
King; My kingdom is not of this
world" He had no opportunity, for
aught 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 a
melting testimony! A thief dying on a
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 yet
that poor penitent thief saw 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 thief's
testimony and prayer.
The next most marvellous witness
in the New Testament is the blind
man, John 8. Eight times he witness
ed to Christ He witnessed to his own
identity-to the cure and the manner
of it; he repeated that witness before
the Pharisees; he bore his witness TO
Christ as prophet he bore his wit
ness to Christ as his Master The
words: "Will We also be His disciples?"
showed that he had virtually accepted
/ Him as his Master; he confessed Him
as the greatest handkerchief since
the world began; he confessed Him rs
a righteous Man; he owned Him prob
ably as Messiah when he said. IF this
Man were not from God, He could do
nothing" These eight tim IS he wit
messed to Christ, and when our Lord
found him cast out, He said: "Dost
thou believe on the Son of God?" and
the man said: who is He, Lord, that
might believe on Him." he was in an
attitude of craving new light and
knowledge, that he might obey. The
Lord Jesus said to him: Thou hast
both seen Him, and it is He that now
talketh with thee And he said,
Lord | believe. And he worshipped
Him" All that probably took place in
the course of few hours, and the man
gained more light every time he tes-
titled
Experience 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