The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-10-31
The Revival in Henderson.


Methodist Episcopal church, writes as
follows to the Raleigh Christian Aduo-
cate of the revival meeting recently
conducted in his church by Rev. w. B.
North
We have had Il very gracious revival In
our church at this place. Brother North
preached with great acceptability to all
the people. There was no effort at rhe-
toric, or sensation, but repentance, con-
fession of sin, faith i'll Christ, present
salvation, Judgment to come, hell to
shun, q heaven to gain, formed the staple |
OF his preaching. | am confident that !
when we preach these great Bible doctrines
we are laying the foundation for a genu-
inc work of grace, as distinguished from
the ephRleral results that too often follow
an excess of sensation and manipulation.
And more important thar all: we are
doing Gods pork in Gods ,oay, and may
then with confidence, claim and expect
His blessing.
There will be large addition to our
church membership, and while we rejoice
at this, there is profound feeling OF
THANKSGIVING that God has been pleased
to baptize our beautiful new church, with
the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven.
The day of dedication was happy day,
but this is a happier one. Bro. North
was with ME in my room during his stay
and we had much pleasant, Christian
conversation and interchange OF views as
the meeting progressed. Let meg1ve you
some conclusions we reached which may
possibly help some one. We agreed that
three conditions are necessary to revival
work-the preacher, the aoord, and the church.
The commission reads: "Go and preach
my Gospel" The man of God then comes
with the word in his hand, which is the
"Sword of the Spirit" But may not a
preacher be anointed from above and his
sermons be the true word of God and de-
livered with power, and yet the church
may tie his hands and he be as powerless
as Sampsonin helap of Delilah? | heard
Sam Jones say in sermon at Durham
1 few DAYS ago that God never had saved
f a man without the help of men-and the
= Devil never had damned one without their
help.
Now, let us suppose the preacher is all
right and the preaching all right, and let
us look moment at the church. know
it often happens that neither the preacher
+, nor his preaching is right, but that Is moi
1 the case we are now considering.
; want to say first-that [ believe II
most cases the church wants to work
q uould be qlad to vork, if they only knew how
y and where to take hold. Furthermore
when they find that they can do SOM
Z work they thank the minister, or frlent
q who shows them the way. We oftel
e speak of getting church ready for re
d yival. This, of course, means prayer ant
e meditation, but it also means intelligent
~ active work. | have often asked Chris
~ tians to talk to the impenitent or tn
mourner and they say, cannot, for d.
y not know what to say. This is simpl
because they have not taken the troubl
5, to memorize such passages OF Scrlptur
u as are suited to such cases OF the impen
il tent and the mOurner and then to go t
1T work, praying divine guidance Any Oh
ir can sit down and soon find many pas
~ sages lust suited to such cases. You ca
~ send to the American Bible Society, an
=. for q trife get tracts i'll which the yer
texts you want can be found.
ce What struck me with good deaf
re force was some common sense that Bro
It. North introduced into the managemer
as of the meeting Our audience room ha
adj an aisle on each side next to the wall, an
- a wide aisle in the centre. This divide
= the room into two sections. We ha
We crowded audiences. and after preac
~ ing we requested all christian
who would work to remain with u
ay and we also affectionately and earnest
us invited all sinners to remain, who Wou
Die talk with us on the subject OF rellglo
,at and the congregation was dismissed. v
still had goodly number lett, but I
,,,+ crowding. We then asked the chrlsua
~ to sit on the right OF the centre aisle, al
ne the sinners on the left. This was quiet
III and pleasantly done, and the chrlst1a
nS were then asked to go over at once al
in begin work among the unconvertt
-ho This plan secured thirty or forty earnt
tie workers aud it began to tell at once.
H. That cold, formal, straight-jacket
49, straint which often paralyzes church
hS vice was soon gone and the room "
'eo full of busy workers.
'ss- The altar began to fill up and souls
ON be made happy in a sense OF pardon
as sin. And in doing good the workers
hev good and the tide OF Joy and peace RI
rapidly. have often been IN GROVE
INN, congregation, and heard the minis
:11 call for penitents, when in truth one v
iiu' sat in the middle OF bench could
AK. well get out-and ii Christian Il
nall wanted to speak a word to some one
ami seemed interested, he must almost CT
asm over men and women to get to MIN.
y * little common sense comes IN very
1I;s here and thins out the crowd and ma
some arrangement for easy access
HIN conversation. | am confident that W
nSe- a preacher finishes his sermon ne
stu lust then reached a point where MS
Guild work may be done. We found
cate under such steady work OF many