Victory of Prayer Over Prejudice — Page 8
8 I do not say merely out of my own mouth that I am the Promised Messiah. God Who has created the heavens and the earth bears witness for me. To complete His witness He has manifested and continues to manifest hundreds of signs in my support. I say truly tha t His grace upon me is in excess of His grace that He bestowed upon the Messiah who appeared before me. His countenance has been exhibited in my mirror more widely than it was reflected in his mirror. If I say this only out of my own mouth, I am false; but if He bears witness for me, no one can call me false. I have thousands of His testimonies in my support, which I cannot number… One testimony is that if Mr. Dowie will accept my challenge and will put himself in opposition to me expressly or impliedly, he will depart this life with great sorrow and torment during my lifetime. Dowie has not so far replied to my challenge nor has he referred to it in his paper. I, therefore, grant him time for seven months from today, the 23rd of August 1903. If during this period he comes forth in opposition to me and makes an announcement in hi s paper that he accepts fully the plan that I have put forward, the world shall soon see the end of this contest. I am about seventy years of age and Dowie, according to his own statement, is a young man of fifty years. I am not concerned about this dispar ity in our ages as the issue is not to be decided on the merits of age. It rests entirely with God Who is the God of heaven and earth and is the best Judge. If Mr. Dowie runs away from this contest I would call upon the people of America and Europe as witn esses that this would also be deemed to be his defeat, and in such case it should be concluded that his claim of being Elijah is a