The Portland daily press., 1878-02-06
The Revival Meetings.

In the AFTERNOON the services opened with
singing hymn No. ia, 81 need thee every
hour" Rev. Mr.. Gardner offered prayer, and
hymn No. 1O3 was sung, "There is a fountain
| filed with blood" The preacher wished his
hearers to look at some passages of Scripture
speaking of sweet word in the Bible-the
word "Come." In Gen. III the word first oc-
ours, as God speaks to Noah and bids him come
into the ark. Again in Rev. 2217 the message
of God to man is ''come,.' and he bids his SER
wants give this invitation to all the perishing,
and who of Gods servants is too weak to repeat
it. In Luke 10 we read of Christ's invitation to
Zaccheus-the first words of the Gospel invi
tation-"Make haste and come down" The
rich publican and the poor, blind beggar are
put on the same level before the Son of God.
In Matt. 1l:2S, we read the precious invitation
of Jesus, "Come unto me-" 1t is to Christ as
personal Saviour that we are to come mot to
a church, or creed, or good works,-but we
must come as poor, lost sinners to loving,
personal Saviour, where we may find rest,
Take the yoke of Christ and we shall find
rest from the burden Of sin. How many of
the followers of Jesus fail to secure this rest;
for they do not take the yoke Of Jesus upon
them. Ii we are bound to Jesus then we shall
be led by him and do as he does. In I'd Cor.
9th chap, we see how Jesus calls upon his peo-
pie to come out from and be separ ate from the
world. The church of God ought to be pc
culiar people-though in, yet not of the world.
We are to be ready to refuse all sinful associa-
ton with the world, even if we are called sin-
gular If we go with the world, we shall be
corrupted and lose all cur influence. We are
to live earnest devoted, self-denying lives; for
to such life did Jesus give himself; and we
are to follow in his steps. In John q :12 we
dine" Then, after dinner, he gave the COM
mand to Peter, $50 and feed my sheep" So
we are first to be fed and then we are to 90 and
feed others. In John II :43 we read another
instance of using this word-where Jesus bids
Lazarus come forth from the tomb; and so he
bids every one of his people to come out of the
darkness into the light Ia Mark $3.50 we read
sweet invitation of Jesus to his disciples,
Come We apart into desert place and rest
awhile" The disciples needed period of rest
with the Master in order to get right ideas of |
their work. Perhaps they were elated by their |
success in working miracles, aud so Jesus
called them apart, and set them to work in |
feeding the hungry multitude. By such
work our Lord brings us to right state Of
feeling. In Rev. 22:20 we read the last s'come''
of the Gospel history. Jesus tells us that he |
will come quickly; and then the apostle says, |
Even SO, come quickly Lord Jesus" We |
must believe that Jesus is surely coming /
again, and our hearts should respond with joy /
come quickly" The services closed with the |
hymn, "What ffiend we have in Jesus, ami /
the benediction by Rev. Mr.. Fem.
The evening service commenced with singing |
hymn No. rs, SIT is well with my SOUL" Rev.
Mr. Fem offered prayer, and the choir and con-
gregation sang No. 65, "Hallelujah, It's done.'
The preacher wished the audience to take their /
Biblesand turn to passages referring to our as
surance of salvation. 1t is we'll to look occa-
sionally at our title deeds. There are present
three classes, those not saved, those who are
saved and do not know it, and those saved who
10 know it. 1t is a device of Satan to keep
Gods people in doubt as to their salvation. In
Luke 1: ", we read Of being delivered from our
Toes. and in the next verse we read of serving
God in holiness; and in yet another, We read Of
knowing about our salvation. Ia John 5, "a
We read of the certainty of our salvation, be-
cause Jesus affirms it. Many speak of their |
lope-they hope they are saved; now we hope
Tor something that is to come; out our saliva
lion is something that we now have, and why |
10 we not believe Gods simple word? If we |
near the word of Jesus and believe on God who
'ent Him, we have everlasting life.
1u Col /: 12-14, We read of the full assur-
snce of our salvation in what God has done for |
u.s. Many look to feelings, or works, or cir
for assurance; but we must take |
Gods word and believe that; and if III assures
Is of safety, why should we not rest on His |
word? In Isaiah 81: II, we read of peace, and
Iuietness and assurance. Why should we not |
AXE the simple word of God as it MEANS and |
believe that it means what it says? La I'd Tim.
|: H. we read of Pauls faith 10 personal Sa-
7iour, and why should we not trust Him also?
In Let Thes. /: 5, we read Of the manner in |
which the Gospel came to that people, and of
the assraunce of salvation it wrought in their |
hearts. In Col. 1: IL and Is, we read of what |
Sod has doae for His people; for in these verses
We learn of the great things that He has done
Tor u.s. and shall we not believe that He will |
ave us? In LIST John l: Z and 81 10, we read of |
he testimony we may have of acceptance with |
God; and the letter was written that We might |
nave proof of our safety. In chapter we read
that if we are Christians, we are the sons of
1od, our salvation Is assured and our Heavenly |
Father will never suffer US to be lost.
In Rom. 8: SO, we read of the security of
Gods elect. VINO shall lay anything to the
charge of Gods people? Who shall condemn
hem? Who shall separate them from God,
heir justifer? No one shall even be able to
njure them or pluck them out of the hand of
Him who has saved them.
Hymn No. 16 was sung, 81 know he is mine"
and Rev. Mr.. Fem pronounced the benediction.
This evening the preachers subject will be
modification.