Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 10.djvu/118

 THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS

forward. "Centurion, you had charge of the executioners; you saw that the order for his death was carried out; you saw him die; you heard him speak upon the cross. Tell us, what think you of Christ ? ' ' Hark ! Look at him ; he is smiting his breast as he cries, * ' Truly, this was the Son of God!"

I might go to the thief upon the cross, and ask what he thought of him. At first he railed upon him and reviled him. But then he thought better of it. "This man hath done nothing amiss," he says.

I might go further. I might summon the very devils themselves and ask them for their testi- mony. Have they anything to say of him? Why, the very devils called him the Son of God ! In Mark we have the unclean spirit crying, "Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God." Men say, ' ' Oh, I believe Christ to be the Son of God, and because I believe it intellectually I shall be saved." I tell you, the devils did that. And they did more than that ; they trembled.

Let us bring in his friends. We want you to hear their evidence. Let us call that prince of preachers. Let us hear the forerunner; none ever preached like this man — this man who drew all Jerusalem and all Judea into the wilderness to hear him ; this man who burst upon the na- tions like the flash of a meteor. Let John the Baptist come with his leathern girdle and his hairy coat, and let him tell us what he thinks of Christ. His words, tho they were echoed in 90

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