St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-02-23
Moody in Boston.
THE OFFICE OF THE SPIRIT.

THE OFFICE OF THE SPIRIT.
One day, little Willie was left in a
room with his sister, and seeing pair
of scissors he grabbed them. Children
seem to like things that they are for
hidden to have. My little girl thought
that he ought not to have them, and
she tried to get them away from him.
But he resisted, and made an cutlery.
Knowing that he liked oranges, she
went into the next room, and came
back saying, "Willie, don't you want
an orange?" The little fellow dropped
the scissors ut once, and took the or
ange. She gave him something better /;
and if the Spirit of God gets into your
heart away go the scissors. These men
that have become slaves to strong
drink think they cannot give it up.
We'll, thank God, you have got to let
the Spirit of God get into your heart,
and then you won't want any more
drink.
Some women have come to me and
said, Mr.. Moody, since | have been
praying for my husband, he acts as
though he had got seven devils in him."
That is a good sign; the Spirit of God
is working in him. Sometimes, when
the Spirit of God wakes up these men,
they wake up very ugly and very cross,
but let us bear in mind that the Spirit
of God can cast out these devils, as he
did the dumb devil that was brought
to him.
An old Scotchman once said that it
took two to convert him. CHOW was
that 2" he was asked. "Well," he
said, 81 fought all | could against it,
and the Lord did the rest" Men are
not willing to give up their own way,
but, when they do, the Spirit leads
them into light.
When man comes to me and says
that the Spirit of God has told him to
do something, | am very suspicious of
him. A man came to me, some time
ago, when we were in Chicago, and
said that the Spirit of God had told him
that lie was to preach in the taberna
Gle. "Well," said to him, "when the
Spirit of God wants you to preach in
the tabernacle, he will tell me, and
then will let you know"
THE HAUNTING TEXT.
Twenty years ago, was wild and
reckless young man in this town of
which l have been speaking, Northtield,
and was working in Il field with a man,
and he was weeping. And j asked him
why he was weeping, and he told me a
very strange story, which sounded
strange then, because L was not a
Christian. He said when he was
young man Che was then in middle
life) he started out from that town to
make his fortune, and, as he left, his
mother gave him this text, "Seek first
the kingdom of God" He forgot all
about the text, but went from one
town to another, but got nothing to do.
He was very anxious to get money.
After he had been away from home for
some time, he went into church, and
the minister preached from the text
which his mother gave him. The pas
sage went deep into his heart, but he
was seeking after money and didn't
want to be Christian. Finding moth
inS.to do in that town, he went to an
other, and then another; and it wasn't
long before he heard another sermon
from the same text, and it troubled
him very much. But he didn't want to
become a Christian, and thought he
would get rich faster without having
Christ, and thought he would put off
the question until he got settled in life
just as great many people in this
building no doubt think. Finally, he
said he wouldn't seek the kingdom of
God till he got position in life. Then,
with the tears trickling down his face,
he said God had given him some prop
erty, but no sermon ever touched his
heart since. After | became a Chris
tian, l thought l would go and see that
man, and found that he had been taken
to an insane asylum, and while there
he would keep repeating the text,
''Seek first the kingdom of God" The
next time | went home | found him at
his farmhouse. He was idiotic. He
didn't know me, but reached out his
finger and said, "Young man, Seek
first the kingdom of God" The text
had followed him all through life. The
next time | went home | found he was
buried.
SEEK WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND.
! want to call your attention to a
verse here in the 55th chapter of Isaiah,
the 9th verse "Seek We the Lord while
He may be found /; call We upon Him
while He is near" For the last three
nights have been speaking here about
the Lord seeking out the lost. To-
night want to take up the other side
of the question, about our seeking Him
the human side of it. "Seek We the
Lord while He may be found; call We
upon Him while He is near" Now, in
those verses in jeremiah, which read,
we are told how to seek Him. We are
to seek him with the heart and not
with the head. That is the trouble
with Boston. Men have been seeking
him in Boston with their heads and not
with their hearts,; but God tells us to
seek after Him with the heart. The
Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a matter
of investigation, but of revelation.
And when a man seeks with all his