The Nevada picayune., 1885-02-19
Christian Church Meetings [,

weeks.
 SERMON, wED'DAY NIGHT, FEB, II.
 Jesus, when he was about to de- part from this world, said unto his disciples, "behold I send the prom ise of my Father uponyou: but tarry ye in the city ofJerusalem until ye be endowed with power from on high. duke 9th c-49th vs) How shall we consider the workings of the Holy Ghost. 1 will take the same text that many of my religious friends do. John 9th c-ii and 45 vs) And Jesus said. mo man can come unto me except the Father draw him." Here Is where most all would stop, and 80 l will for a little while. You have heard some preachers get up and say after reading a short text like this: l will preach from the latter part of she clause. When a man has the Bible before him, then after he has said one sentence if he will chop that in two pieces, he is very apt to do just what he says-preach from, and great ways from, the text. But with this text ending here, we get theory about this: The Father draws men in answer to prayer; we pray God and he op- crates upon then through the Ho- ly Ghost. And that is the secret I never could understand why l1o. ly Ghost revivals were governed by the weather as the spirit can act in one place as well as another. We know that the rain and snow effects our meetings because we preach the Gospel and people must come near enough to hear us. But let IS read on:- "For it is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God.n Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me, and so the people must be taught-they must hear the gospel and they must learn. You see the difference it makes in the theory. The Holy Ghost comes through the word of God and not in some ov empowering and mysterious way, like revival I heard ot, where the people were lying all around on the ground perfectly prostrate under the intlu- ence of the Holy ghost.
 One reporter called it an epileptic revival, aud that was about it. But the Spirit of truth is Gods Word, which was written by inspired men.
 When God created the world, we read that all was darkness and chaos, and the Spirit of God broo- ded over the waters. But did life come without the word? Listen and God said, "let there be light and there was light etc, and life came through the word. God works upon men through their sen- slble faculties. He made them minds that they should use them and He expects them to see, to hear and obey. A great many whc would come into the church, are waiting under the false idea, for some special manifestation of God grace. Tn ey get Paul's conversion and his call to the ministry mixed up, and think that they must be knocked down before they can ac, cept the Savior. A great many others feel too unworthy, or that they cannot hold good their pro. fession; and will do something wrong after they have made start Now, you need never expect to be free from sin while you are in the flesh. The church is the hospital and the place for yo and why dc you not commence serving God as
 freely as you do the devil. You never hesitate in following him, be cause you thought you could not be bad enough; that you could noI swear enough orthat you could mol be drunk all the time; you just went right on serving him with all the energy that is in you thrown in
 And so God wants you to serve
 Him, with all your weakness
 thrown in; not your willful sin, but your human faults and eccentri.
 cities, Why not take God at his
 wordf He says: To-day if you
 hear my voice, harden not your
 hearts as in the provocation.' The
 old negro preacher Illustrated our