Witnesses Who Give Evidence

“* We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” HEB. xii. 1. I cannot think that these witnesses are mere observers, silent lookers-on, watching eT SV Se ee

Witnesses who give Evidence 241 the strenuous game which is being played by others. I cannot think they are like spectators at a gladiatorial show, gazing passively upon the combatants who are wrestling even unto blood in the arena below. I cannot think they are like the crowd who line the race-track and cheer the racers as they run. I think they are witnesses with a story. The witnesses have run on that very track, and they have won the garland and the palm. These witnesses are old racers, who made the course glorious with their contest, and who have left a record which is full of inspiration.

And therefore they are more than witnesses who can give applause, they are witnesses who can give evidence. They éan tell us how they ran the race, and how they won it. They can tell us how they trained for the race. They can tell us how they nourished and inspired their spirits. They can tell us how they maintained their strength, what kind of attire they wore, and what sort of shoes. That is the precious worth of these witnesses; they are not like old members

16 of the House of Commons who have been elevated to the peerage, and who now come into the Commons and sit in the gallery, and look down silently on great conflicts which they are not permitted to share. These witnesses are more like veteran members of the House, ripe in exploit, and wisdom, and experience, whose every word is deed and history, and who offer their evidence on the floor of the House to the youthful — members who are just beginning, who are uncertain about their equipment, and who are not familiar with the course. These are witnesses with a story, and they offer themselves in evidence.

Well, now, we are surrounded by these witnesses. The very air is thick with them. — They are like a cloud in their multitude. “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”” And every one of them has a story, a story of grace, the miracle of Divine mercy as he found it on the road, and the story is full of encouragement for the runner of to-day. And what we have to do is to listen to them. ‘‘ What experience have you had on the road? What secrets did you discover? What hidden manna did you gather? What brooks did you find by the way? What light of divine revelation broke upon your path? Above all, what did the Lord of the way say to you?” In this way let us question the witnesses, the bright throng in the Old Testament, and the still brighter throng in the New. And then let us turn to others in the vast multitude, and take their eagerly offered evidence. “The Lord’s dealings with George Miiller.”’ Let that witness give his evidence. And what about the evidence of William Lockhart, the Liverpool merchant? And what about the evidence of Earl Cairns, and General Booth, and Francis Willard, and Ellice Hopkins, and Father Maturin, and Mr. Gladstone? What personal stories they have to tell of the grace and mercy of God!

And perhaps in this “great cloud of witnesses”? there are your own father and mother, or some minister of Christ who was to you both herald and hero, both prophet and priest. Listen to their evidence. They have wonderful things to tell us about the way, and about the Lord of the way, and about the provision which He has made for those who are taking that road to the Celestial City, where the glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land. And they tell us of their stumblings and their fallings, and how they were recovered from their faults. They tell us how things looked at the beginning of the road, and how things looked towards the end. Above all, they tell us of their fellowship with the Lord, and how His Presence transformed the desert into a garden, and changed midnight into noon. All these are not silent witnesses, indifferent lookers-on. They have something to tell us, and they are eager to tell it. Let them give their evidence. ‘‘ We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.”

‘* Witnesses of Jesu’s merit, speak the word of power to me.” That is the hungry cry of the world. Let us bring the witnesses forward, and open the way for their story. Let their story be retold in our teaching and ae,

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preaching, and so make it powerfully evidential. And to the testimony of cthers let us add our own. Let us join the cloud of witnesses, and let us tell our story. What has the Saviour done for us? What did He do with our sin? ‘What was our experience in the banqueting room where we received our forgiveness? How have we found Him on different parts of the road where all earthly lights went out and we were left alone with Him? What has Christ Jesus been to us? Let us give the world our evidence. A bit of vital evidence is worth a ton of impersonal creed. ‘“‘ O what shall I do my Saviour to praise?” Do this; be a witness, and give your evidence. ‘** How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.”