Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-12-01

love which a redeemed man should exercise
towards his Redeemer, giving heed to seduc.
ing spirits and doctrines Of devils, fast losing
the purity and strength OF their faith, and
coming down into formality and indifference,
until through all England, Wales, Scotland
and America the church seemed spiritually
dead A little company Of young men at Ok
ford, mourning over tho desolaton Of Zion,
met together for their mutual good. Among
these VIC find the names of John and Charles
Wesley and George Whtfeld-names which
were soon associated with the greatest revival
earth had at that time ever seen exceeding
in power and numbers even the day of Pente-
cost. These men Travelled over England,
| Scotland, Wales, America and other portions
| OF the land, and wherever they preached the
| gospel il fell upon the hearts of the people
with fresh inspiration from God. Infdolity
| faded away a. the shadows fade ut tho dawn
Of a new day. The Church was aroused from
her apathy aud Indifference Tho lcentious-
ness that characterized the age fled before the
doctrine Of pure gospel. An agency was set
at work which has everywhere secured victo-
ries for the cause of truth. It was the insti-
| tuition Of the Methodist church, known to day
in all lnnds for its piety its zeal for God, and
! ITS success in winning souls to Christ. From
! that period repeated aud powerful revivals
| have followed each other. They will become
!
Kingdoms Of this world become the kingdom
OF our Redeemer, the heather DO given to
| Christ for his Inheritance and the uttermost
| parts Of the earth for his possession. In this
| way only can we hope for the regeneration of
fallen world to God.
| 1t would seem almost unnecessary to speak
! of the nature of revival of religion, since
| We SO well understand the nature of a revival
| in art, in science, in commerce. in general
] l.rVga -. Al.
| been pound with cords and bands of snow
and ice for long months, wearing everywhere
the chilling semblauce of death, and when it
| springs forth to its new life and beauty by
| vernal showers and summer sunshine, we call
it spring; but it is only revival in nature
So when minds, thoughts and feelings receive
new religious impulse; when there is quick
| ening of the Christian graces in the hearts of
Christian people when their faith leads them
to walk out with unfaltering step upon the
naked promise of Gods Word: when their
love for Christ and for mon constrains them
as it constrained Paul when he said, II have
great heaviness and continual sorrow; could
wish myself accursed from Christ for my
brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh"
The world looked on and saw him suffer the
loss of all things, enduring hardship peril
and privation. They said, Thou art mad
much learning hath made thee mad" They
couldnot understand the motive which prompt
ed such sacrifice and such self.deuial. 1t was
not money, for he counted the wealth Of this
world but dross; it was not honor, for he
made himself Of no reputation; it was not
pleasure, for he endured all things and suffer
ed all. He alone can give the true motive
The love of Christ constrains me"-quick-
ems the pulsations of my heart, fires my very
brain, bears me Oh as if on the bosom of
resistless current. So are Gods people con-
strained This constraining love, brought in
TO the soul by the refreshing from the pres
ence Of God, is i true revival aud most fruit.
full in the conversion of souls aud in awaken
ing profound reformation among those who
are unsaved.
Objections are urged against revvals:
First That these seasons do not abide.
but after a few weeks or months pass away
that they are ephemeral, coming periodically
and periodically passing away. Is not this
true of the spring time, when the buds come
forth and open into blossom and form into
fruit! Can you retain all the year the bloom
and the beauty Of the spring. VIII it not
by-and-by pass into the heat of summer, and
will not summer waste itself and pass into
the autumn, and will not the golden harvest
of autumn be gathered at last, giving way to
the dreary death of nature coming on in the
cold and frosty winter? Is it not true of hu-
man life that it is periodical-that it passes
away! One generation comes and another
goes, even as tue tide GIBBS and flows. Was
1t not true Of the life of Christ among men
Short was that life upon the earth how brief
tho period of His earthly ministry! Aud yet
how We treasure the spriugtime with its prom
ise of the golden harvest. How We treasure
this mortal life-the life OF q loved child or
dear friend. How we treasure the few years
given us of the life of Christ-hs teachings
and his example while on earth. Aud do we
think it of no avail because it is not always
continued as it was eighteen centuries ago?
Second. That the fruits will not last; that
among those who are converted at such tunes,
many fall away. Do all fall away? No one
would argue that part of them-a fraction
of the whole. If twenty are converted to
Christ as the result of heaven. .begOlten re-
vival, bringing its fruit in genuine reform
alton and the conversion of men to Christ,
and five out Of the twenty fall away, yet If
teen remain; and are not these worth all the
time and struggle to secure their redemption? ?
Or suppose ten fall away, yet ten are left
and the cities of the plain-five populous cit
les would have been saved from the deyour-
ing fire if forty-thirty -twenty-teR right
eous men had been found. II God would
save the doomed cities of the plain because
of ten righteous men, shall not We prize the
conversion of an equal number to Christ, and
shall We not believe that the angels rojoice in
heaven over the victory of the truth and the
power of the Christian religion? Is it not
equally true that every good gift from our
Heavenly Fathers hands seems to our short
sight partially wasted? When the earth is
parched and shriveled with the drought, we
pray for rain and when We see the cloud
gathering over the sky and pouring down wa
ter upon the thirsty earth, we are not little
astonished to see how much runs off into the
little rivulets, down into the brook away into
the river, and even out into the mighty ocean.
But do We think it is wasted and almost fear
lest the shower has been O failure? -? We shall |
never know how much of the falling water
the thirsty earth drank, and what blessing came
to the seeds that were buried in her bosom
and were made to germinate aud to spring up
into the healthy stalk, into the ear, into the
full grain in the ear-crowning the labors Of
the husbandman. Or, again, let us look in the
sprngtime upon fruit tree covered with a
thousand beautiful, fragrant blossoms. We |
count them, and calculate that in the day of |
harvest we will gather thousand fair, rosy |
checked apples. But alas for human expec- |
tation Ere they have formed into fruit one
half have dropped upon the ground; and of |
the five hundred that yet remain and form |
into fruit, one-third at least only grow to the |
smallest size, and then wither and fall to the |
ground. We have now left but three hun |
dred, or little more, of the thousand bios |
SONS; and shall we despise these Is the |
tree no blessing in the time of harvest, when |
it gives us beyond three hundred beautiful |
specimens of perfect fruit? If all through |
nature, then, there seems to us a loss in the |
bountiful goodness of our God, let us not |
complain if in spiritual blessing there seems at
times to be loss. But is there 80 great loss |
It is the judgment of the best men who have
ever blest any Christian denomination-meu |
~
scarcely feel worthy to stoop down and un-
loose-that there is far more permanenoe and
stability in those converted in times of revival
than in ordinary times, since the church is
then specially prepared to receive the new
born babes in Christ, and from the hand of the
mothers and fathers in Israel they receive the
help they so much need to continue their spir-