Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1874-01-15
BeeCher on the Prayer-M ting.

"'ii Noh'ii'"ii. 0'i"NN WIN '
that when | introduce topic in pray
? ermeeting, and open it as it runs il
my mind, I hardly get through pre-
senting it am hopeful, | look at
things in the light Of courage and
hope-before a brother on my left
) hand, who always has a kind Of mel
ancholy caution, brings me up Eith
) 'Dont you think, Brother Beecher,
that if persons were to follow that
out in such relations it would be LA
ble to such and such peversions p
"Oh, yes; | never thought to stop up
that hole )" so then | give it little
plaster in that direction. And so it
goes all around, and men look at the
subject from some experience OF their
own, from some habitude of their own.
They put questions which result, in
the end, in bringing this truth home
from Its generic state to personal
truth, to black and white to each par
ticular person. He gets it as he
wants it.
So truth, when you bring it into
the congregation, is like a roll of
cloth, which may be cut and fitted to
all the different sizes of men. 1t
comes in cloth, it goes out garments.
When YOU come to see how truth
stands in its relations to the indivi-
dual man the infnity of it, the uni
versatility it, the multitudinousness
of it, the wonderful power in it, this
is one Of the most convincing eyi-
denccs OF its divinity. The truth,
when you come to study it in relation
to mems wants. is like nature itself,
when you come to study it in all its
infinite diversities and minute differ
ences.
Don't let prayer-mecting know
that there is anbody there but the
brethren.
Don't say a word to SINNERS" |
would shut up Il mans mouth who
begins to talk in that way, as quick
as | would turn the faucet of wine
cask if the wine was leaking away.
1t is the actual sight of what we
mean by piety, it is the sight of tears,
is hope, it is love, it is fellowship, it
it is hel lpfulness-not in any Of their
grander poetical forms, but as they
exist in actual men and women it
is the battle oflifc going on before
mans eyes, that makes the most i'm
personal of all ways Of preaching the
truth to many men. There is many a
man that can stand the greatest fif-
teen inch gun of the pulpit, that can
not stand the mityadleuSe, this null
tiludinous fire, Of the whole church.
| have been accustomed, in times of
reyivals of religion, to say to persons
awakened and coming slowly along
in their steps toward the light. ''Come
to the morning prayer-meeting.
The most converting agency | have
known in my whole ministry has
been the morning prayer-meeting,
when | could keep the hounds off of
men, so that they should not be ex
horting them and telling them how
sinful they were. Let them alone;
let them see what the grace of God is
in the brotherhood.
A wise pastor who is conducting
meetings will be conducting meetings
all the week long. There will be an
undertone in his mind. All manner
of feelings and thoughts are running
through your mind, and you may just
as well have something which will be
of value to you. You see man.
You say to yourself, 81 wonder how
his sensibilities are?' You will sur
yey him, and look at him, as an en-
glneer looks at a fort. You say, GLOW
can attack that man? 2" Gen Sher-
man never rides through country,
| believe, without looking at the
topography of it. He says, "There is
good place for a battery; how fine
ly my flanks would be protected over
therel" He is engaged in noticing
the military advantages of the coun-
try.
With respect of those acknowledged
hindrances to good meetings, profess
ional '.exhorters,' Mr.. Beecher thinks
this:
You cannot always stop them.
You have got to drive prayer-meet-
ings Just as you do horses. You cam
not keep flies from biting them, nor
them from whisking their tails, in a.
summers day. You have got to
make the best of your annoyances.