Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-01


teaching. He said in part:
In Isaiah the 43d chapter Of the
10th verse-"Ye are my witnesses,
saith the Lord OF hosts"
Jesus Christ has staked his
cause upon the character and the
utterances and the lives of his fol-
lowers. But the world wants q re-
ligion of deeds rather than words.
Talks cheap! And when he want
ed to leave the world he want
ed to leave behind him words they
would remember and precepts they
would propagate and spread broad
cast throughout the world.
His claims to be the Son of God
are to be witnessed to by those that
have experienced the saving power
through faith in his shed blood.
In Isaiah, in my text, God issues
a challenge to the world. He said:
You bring forth your witnesses
and you let them tell what you are
doing. will bring forth mine and
l will let them tell what l am do
ing, and upon their testimony 1 am
! perfectly willing whether the Lord
shall be God or the devil"
And that's a wonderful conf
dence that God places in it. He
says:
IF it's better to be drunk than
sober. we want to know it."
IF we are better because we
cuss than pray, let's know it,"
1 eff we are better because we are
vile than pure, let's know it."
'If a man is better because he's
thief than honest, let's know it,
IF a man who goes home and
cusses and beats his wife up is bet
ter than the one that goes home and
kisses her, let's know it"
Bring forth your witnesses and
| let them tell what they are doing
and 1 will bring forth mine and l
will let them tell what l am doing
and 1 am perfectly willing to go
I before the world and to put up the
! proposition and know who they
/ will serve and who they will &C
cept."
/ If that isn't a fair deal, I'd like
to know what it Is. Sometimes in
the processes of law there is cor
ruption of judges, and the bribing
| of juries and of witnesses. There
| is one thing that's absolutely indis-
| pensable and that's a true witness.
A witness may be a man or a wom-
I an They may know very little.
| They may say:
He was in an automobile and
there we're four in the machine, ="
or They we're driving a team and
one horse was gray and the other
black"
But a witness is one who is sup
posed to be in possession of some
information that you do not have
and that that information is ask
ed and expected to be given for the
purpose either of liberating some
victing them.
1t is a sad thing to put a man
or woman on the witness stand and
have them testify, and Immediately
be followed by somebody who will
prove that they are liar and
fraud That not only initiates
against the character of the witness
but it initiates also against the
cause of the individual which that
witness had hoped to help by and
through his or her testimony, so
not only is he injured but the
cause of somebody else is injured.
1t is a sad thing to have man
get up and stroke his whiskers and
read his testimony and say he is
Christian, and somebody come
along and prove he is an old liar
and a fraud and a hypocriate. That
not only initiates against his char
acter but it hurts the cause of
Jesus Christ as well.
Eye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord God of hosts"
The heather nations are gazing
on the nominal Christian nations,
waiting for the testimony of Jesus
Christ. Out of the horrible con-
hict of Europe has come some great
good. The car of old Russia 3
overthrow and every one of that
rank dynasty was opposed 20
Christianity and opposed to any at
tempt on the part of any influence
to bring the knowledge Of the COS
Del of Jesus Christ to the people.
Another thing, the secretary Of
the republic OF China is a Christ
ian; the treasurer is a Christian,
many leading officials are Christ
ian and the next man who Will be
president was a graduate OF Yale
college, and the doors of China are
thrown open to Christianity, for the
reigning heads today are sympa-
thetic with it. This old world is
on the very verge of the greatest
changes, politically, morally, re-
ligiously, since Jesus Christ hung
on the cross. You Ought to be
thankful that you are alive, you
ought to be thankful that God IS
giving you the opportunity, here in
this city to do something by your
influence to help Tewrite the his
tory of America
There never has been a time in
the history of Christianity, my
friends, when the great cities
opened their minds and hearts so
toward God. They had an idea
that the gospel was a good thing
for the rural community and all
that but that they were immune in
big cities. l am glad that move
ments like this let the man in the
country know that you are COM
mon fol- = neither you live in a
6Jalace, or in a dugout or a log
cabin on the mountain sides of
Tennessee. The eyes of the ungod-
ly are turned toward the cody
everywhere, the congregation, the
home, the ONCE, the store and So
ciety.
Get out and deliver the goods, ex-
press charges prepaid. Get out