The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-02-04
HENRY nIOREROUsE.
Opening of .he Union Gospel Meetings.

Opening of the Union Gospel Meetings.
| The series of Union Gospel meetings held
last season in this city proved SO successful that
| it was proposed to have another series this sea-
| son, and some time ago Mr.. Henry Morehouse,
an English evangelist, was secured to conduct
| them. The first of the series took place yes
| terday afternoon at High street church The
| meeting was advertised to commence at 3
| O'Clock, and at that hour the church was pack
| ed with people, but it was full half hour be-
fore the services opened. The seats arranged
upon the platform for the chorus choir, which
did not put ia an appearance, were taken BY
the congregation after the body Of the house
was filed.
AT about $50 Rev. Mr.. Fem came upon the
platform accompanied by Mr. Morehouse. The
latter is man about 80 years of age, little
below the medium height and with square
shoulders, upon which is placed a round, well
formed head His eyes are black and sharp
looking. His face is smooth shayen and his
general appearance is youthful. As he sits
listening to the voluntary by the choir his eyes
ara wandering about the congregation as though
he was studying the faces before him. He has
not strong voice and at times it is rather I'M
pleasant. His gestures are few aud rather for
chile. He is not man of extensive education
but has wonderful earnestness about him
which covers up defects in his discourse. He
was born in Lancashire, England, and there
led rather a wild life. At the age of twenty
he was converted through the influence of
former companion in sin. His health failed
him soon after his conversion and he went to
Southport for the benefit of the sea air. There
he began to talk to the people who wandered
about the beach on the Sabbath, and after a
while gave them Bible readings in his rough
way each Sabbath in the open air. In this way
he began the Bible readings which today at
tract so much attention from all classes. He
has been wonderfully successful elsewhere and
there is every reason to believe that his labors
here will be blessed.
After the voluntary by the church choir Rev.
Mr.. Fem gave out the hymn "The Sweet BY
and By" which was sung by the choir and
congregation. Rev. Mr.. McWhinnie then Of
fered a short prayer for the outpouring Of Gods
grace.
Mr. Morehouse then gave out hymn No. 50
in Gospel Hymns No 2, commencing, "I have
Saviour. He is pleading in Glory" which
was sung with much expression by the entire
congregation. At the close of the singing Mr.
Morehouse advanced to the front of the plat
form and began his remarks in very pleasant
manner. 1t was evident that no sermon need be
expected but simply Bible readings. He said
he should ask all of his friends, those in the
oh ~; 4 @Iaao ,,,k h. aolr
bring Bibles to the meetings in order to follow
him in his remarks and citations. He said:
Today if you have your Bibles with you we
will look at some of the blessed promises God
gives Us. ask you to bring your Bibles as
particular favor to me. l am stranger to you
all and you are strangers to me, and the only
way for you to tell whether preach truth or
error is to examine the book for yourselves.
do not like meeting without Bibles; it is like
regiment without guns Many think they
know the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,
but fear that were they put to test they would
book, see Gods messages to his children to
cheer them up. In looking through this book
we find great many sweet passages, but none
better than the words, Gear not" which can
be found ffty-two times in the Bible. In addi-
ton will be found a number of reasons why
you should fear not. God always gives rea-
son. We first find this command in the 10Th
chapter of Genesis, where the Lord spoke to
Abraham to cheer him up after he has refused
the goods of Sodom. He refused them be-
cause he had received help from God, and
when we have received His help we do not
need the worlds goods. He was the favorite
of the people known as independents. We,
today, are Just as independent as he was If we
trust in the Lord. We must be separated {
fIom the world.
In Isaiah 41st 10th will be found the words re-
ferred to again, where God says, Fear thou
not, for am with thee" This is most beau
tifal promise and no one need be afraid or dis
mayed if he will trust in this one passage. 1
don't care how much God asks you to do He /
will give you strength to perform the task when
the way is rough and the path dark. What
can't Christian do if God helps him. God
takes us up load and all and helps us over the
rough places if we ask Him, and nothing gives
Him more pleasure than to have us ask Him.
In the 18th verse of the same chapter, he says
81 will hold the right hand saying unto thee
fear not will help thee" In the following
trouble is we try to cling to God instead of let
ting Him cling to us. We have to fall before
we are ready to cry out, Lord take hold of my
hand" In Isaiah 43d, LIST, we read, Fear not for
have redeemed thee and thou art mine" The
Lord says we are His and He has redeemed us.
If you are Gods people, you have had to go
through the water and flames. If He takes us
through these trials it is for our good, and all
we have to do is to trust in Him and fear
not" We are like the pottery, and have to be
put into the fire and burned before we prove
faithful. The Rose of Sharon is painted upon
us and we are burned until the lesson OF trust
ing is burned into us.
In Isaiah "A: 2, we read, "For l will pour
water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon
the dry ground" In the 4lst chapter of the
same and the 18th verse, we lind "When the
poor aud needy seek water and there is none
L will not forsake them" This
last passage is comforting, but it is not as sweet
as the first. He says, if you need refreshing l
will pour water upon you. But to thirst is the
one condition upon which God will furnish wa
ter, it is the one condition upon which God will
pour water down upon you There must be the
thirst and the longing. Every one here who
thirsts shall have the water poured upon them.
Fear not, only trust, and all shall be well
The congregation sang ''Only trusting in His
Word. Rev. Mr.. Fem made the closing pray
er and pronounced the benediction.
EVENING SERVICE.
At the evening service there was much
larger attendance than 10 the afternoon. The
aisles were crowded, tire galleries packed and
hundreds were TUNED away. The crowd
reached clear into the entry and Mr.. More
house did his utmost to be heard by all. The
chorus choir was present and was conducted
by Mr.. Fitch. After the opening exercises
Mr. Morehouse asked all to take their Bibles
and read the text which is found in I'd Corin-
thians, V, 20: CHOW then we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by
US; we pray you in Christ's stead be ye recon-
clel to God" He said that he should address
his remarks to those who call themselves Chris
tians, members of the Church of Jesus Christ.
l have never been able to find a true Christian
who talked of forgiveness, they are already
forgiven and they know it, We have house
not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
1t is not proper that we should always be
dwelling upon the glories of heaven, it is the
presence of the Master that should attract us.
Heaven would not be heaven without Him.
Give US poverty or sickness or anything else
if we have Christ it will be heaven to US wher-
ever we are and under whatever circumstances.
Christ is heaven. We are ambassadors and
must attend to the business of the Master. We
must go out where the people are. There is
not passage in the whole Bible which COM
mands people to go to church, but there are an
abundance of commands for the church to go
to the people. Every member of church
must go out into the highways and bring the
common people to church. Go in the Masters
name. Every member is as responsible for
this work as any minister in the city. There
is not single Christian who has not gifts that
the angels have not Improve the gifts yeu