The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1873-03-19
For THE CESgR PRESBYTERIAN.
1.-THE Revi NO. 6.
"Shall a nation be Dor It once?'


"Shall a nation be Dor It once?"
WHO are these that IS cloud, and as doves
to their windows p
Would that could uch pen as would stir
up Christian hearts al the land, on the ques
! ton which have in articles undertaken to
discuss; that is, whetl may not hope shortly
to have great, gle work Of God in the
| quiekeniDg OF His and the conversion oil
sinners, throughout and, if not throughout
| Christcndom.
| Such work won not mere transient excite
ment, under unusual ge as and strong stimula
ton, that might prodoce some good effects, for
God does In degree, bless even very imperfect
neans,-but the app. re effects of which seem,
80 oten In great meas e. to PASS away. Such
"revivalS and they a. the too fashionable one:
aow a.days, In most dej ninations-are like the
| hasty summer shower CD comes sweeping over
Us with great noise aud ger, pourS out torrent:
OF rain, and passes rapis away. Nature smiles;
the earth is relreshe II the shower has been
TOO sudden and me good, perhaps, ha:
come: ii vas &c rain, II may be; but
soon the ground ses US 81 ost as Cry, and vegeta
bles in almost as suffering condition as before
What is the kind OF ran that clothe the earth II
yeudure, and fill our garnt with the golden grain
Il is when the clouds gat er more slowly and 81
lsntly, aud, spreading The nseVes nolSeessiy ovel
the whole horizon, hover down over us, and be
ginning with the gentle q Wy sprinkles, gradually
steadily pour out their rel sshng into the earth
hosom. On. then il is { at the earth most re
i0ices, and the husbandma : looks Tor the larges
haryestsl Such gathering of the clouds Of mercy
such Installations OF grace, re the great splrltua
aecessity of the Church au the world And suct
widely spreading, thorough penetrating, and con
tnuous outpourings Of tn Spirits llhlence arr
certainly to take place, ere hat day of glory shall
fully rise upon the world to which prophecy points
our rejoicing hope. For he ', ask, can the worlc
be converted without such reviVas, IN character
and mower, as no age of its STORY, even the Apos
tolic, has ever yet witnesse what DO we NEAR
when we talk OF the world 'onVefslonE 1t coulC
never be fulfilled except in ne conversion OF th'
worlds population-a OF he greater part of i
within that space Of time " len we usually assign
on the average, to each &c ration OF mankind
saw fifty years. Can we d )t that, under prope
Christian instruction, child OF even so early al
ave as i've years might be nteliigently converted
that is with an intelligent apprehension OF the plan
of salvation and as Intelligent agentSl Aud thu
is leaving out OF view the idea-and who can chal
epge its correctness?-that Infants may be regen
Grated even before they or anybody else can know
of it. Grace may be grated In before any bud o
moral feeling or action expands But, leaving on
the infant fraction, whatever it may amount to, o
Inc earth's population and that population il
tailr increasing--at what rate, ask, must CONVEX
sion 90 on if-say two thirds OF the twelve or thir
teen hundred millions to which geographers now
reckon up the worlds inhabitants, are to be
brought into the Kingdom in the course OF fifty
years? 1t will require but slight knowledge Of
arithmetic and very Jew moments calculation to
reach thu astounding sesults. We have, all of Us
of any age, seen as times wondrous impulse,
given to Gods word. great Ievivas," as we
thought and, thinking of them, our hearts seize
on Watts lines,
"My God repeat that heavenly hour,
That vision 80 divine"
But what is anything OF the sort that we have
ever seen, or our fathers before US, or even the
Christians Of primitive times, except on the Pen
tecosta day, as compared with what has just now
been alphabetically stated, but is to be historically
realized?
Are any of US to see it come to pass? Has that
day dawned? Are We oh brethren, ministers and
l.. - Il