The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-09
THE NIGHT MEETING.


THE NIGHT MEETING.
BIr. Small Begins to Show Signs of Over
work, But breaches with Much Spirit.
The evening meeting was opened with prayer
by Rev. Sidiall, of the Northwest NJ E. Con-
ference. This was followed by the hymn. Fall
into Line" and prayer by Rev. Mr.. Bright.
'Ring tho Bells of Heaven" was sung and Rev.
H. Mcconnell made special plea for the
business mems prayer meeting at Meridian
street NJ. E. Church. Mr.. Exel in fine voice,
Dang. when the King Comes In"
So the door. and the door stood wide;
Close to the port, but not inside;
Near to the fold. yet not within;
Almost resolved to give up sin;
Almost persuaded to count the cost;
Almost crown, and yet lost
Mr. Small looked somewhat jaded as he rose
to speak, his work here-four services day
being exceedingly arduous; but he soon showed
his usual fervor, and his voice was full and clear
He said:
The selection Of Scrpturegfor tonight is the
seventh chapter of the Gospel according to st.
John, the thirty first verse:
"And many of the people believed on Him and
Eaid When Christ cometh will He do more miracles
than these which this man hath donei"
Christ had been teaching in the temple just
previous to this remark. People had been ques-
tioning about Him, and expressing their divers
opinions as to who He was and what He was
We can readily understand that there was very
considerable and some very natural doubt In the
minds of the ancient Jews with reference to the
reality of this being the Messiah. The Jews were
In very bad condition at the time Christ
came into the world They were in subsection
to the Roman empire. They were dominated
and governed by the vicegerent Of Caesar. They
were under thu control and paid tribute to
couqueror. They were surrounded, repressed
and oppressed by foreign soldiery. They had
they had many ingrates and renegade Jews
among the officers that were depressing them
from time to time They had fallen away from
their ancient condition. They had fallen away
from their ancient prosperity They had fallen
away from their favor under God. and they
IN hopeless condition nationally, and in con-
dition where there seemed to be no out
let escape from their bondage
and for ragaining their position, their
political anatomy, and for making themselves
the favored nation of God They had reached
precisely that condition when the entire Jewish
heart was longing for Jesus Christ to come.
Every aspiration OF the Jewish nature was for
the immediate presence and the immediate com
Ing of the Messiah. The old Jew, as he looked
around over the condition of his people and saw
the insignia of Rome dominating in his country,
as he saw himself buffetted by the Roman SOL
der as he saw the officers walk I'D to him and
aspirations ard the prayer of his heart was, "Oh
God. if there ever was a time in the his
tory of Israel when we needed Mes
Bah it is now" They wanted the
condition They wanted the Messiah to come
and Dust the authorities of Rome. They wanted
the Messiah to come and send Plate and all the
ianizares of Caesar back across the Mediter-
ranean to their native place. They wanted the
Messiah to come in accordance with their an
cient traditions and their expectations in all the
BON, and glory of the temporal sovereign, to
take the rule out of the hands OF these foreign
oppressors ana to establish Himself as ahe king
of Israel and to puf Israel, the entire Jewish
nation, At the head or IL the nations of the
world and make them the .s'ors Vi .ne
world as they thought they shoiilo 20 "Hen
the Messiah should come They were lonclns.
for the re-estsblishment of their position In
tho world They were longing to be relieved
from their political bondage. They were long
ing for the Messiah to come and be the regnant
king of the world, and make the proud Caesar of
Rome and all the nations of the earth bow to
his name and to His authority; and then they
presumed that they would be His chosen princes
and His chosen servants, and His chosen rulers
and, from being bondsmen and tribute payers to
Caesar, they would be again the princes of Israel,
and they would be again the appointed and the
Amounted kings and rulers under the Messiah of
all the nations or the world. And these Jews
had the idea that when Christ came He would
come in all the pomp and panoply of king, de-
scending the sky and accompanied with
such cohorts of angelic creatures, with
an army of celestial beings, so armed and
equipped as to at once overawe all the opposing
forces OF the universe and give to them the
sovereignty of which they had dreamed so often.
And it was in TINT state OF longing, in that state
of expectancy, Ill that state of universal PRAYER
and petition to God that the Messiah might come
to relieve them from their misery and re estab-
lish them before Him that Jesus Christ came
into the world Jesus Christ appeared on the
scene and Jesus Christ, when He begun His
ministry, began to proclaim himself as the Son
Of God and rs the promised Messiah, aud as
Him for whom they had been looking for age
upon age and as Him for whom they had been
praying with almost every hourly aspira-
ton of their natures in this their season
of gloom, and distress. and dsfavor with God.
Jesus manifested himself unto them, and He
supported all His claims as the Messiah and as
the expected Christ. He manifested them all in
His nature. in. His person. in His deeds, in thu
miracles that He wrought. in the character of
the teaching that He gave and in the authority
that He proclaimed He should have over the
hearts and lives Of all men everywhere. But
this was so at variance with the expectation and
hope OF the jews that it involved them in con-
fusion, and it raised these great questions Of
doubt which the priesthood, and which the rene
gades and those who had given their allegiance
70 Cesar fostered among the people, these
Mo had become subseryient TO Rome,