Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-01-24

IT, and. properly persistent, will obtain IL
Power from on the level IS a good thing,
such power as / may give you, or you may
give me. by encouraging words AMI actions.
Power from OF the level when we stald by
each other in any Christian undertaking.
Power from on the level when other pulrlts
are In accord with ours. Power from on the
level when toe religious and secular press
forward our CHRISTIAN undertakings Eu.
power from ca the level is not sutiic cnr.
Power from on high Is what we need to fako
possession Of Us. Power straight from Col
Supernatural power. potent power, al!
cou4u@rinG power Not more than one out
OF z thousand Of the ministers has l. con
tinuously. Not n4ore than enc out Of tan
thousand Christians has it all the time. Given
IN abundance, these las. ten years Of tho
nineteenth century would accomplish more
fox GOD, and the church, ami the world thar.
the previous ninety years OF this century.
4 few men and women IN each age OF tho
world have possessed it. Caroline Fry, tie
immortal QuaEereso. had il, and three hun
dred OF the depraved and suffering Of New
gate prison, under her e1hortatlon, repented
aud believed. Jonathan Edwards had it. and
Northampton meeting house heard the out
turst Of religious emotion as he spake Of
Righteousness and judgment to come. Samuel
Budget, the Christian merchant, had it, anu
Ills henefactions showered the world. John
Newton had it. Bishop Latmer had it. 1sa-
bella Graham had it. Andrew Fuller had it.
AhS H'coS CFaAiSCASS AL! odhSl ALI ~.
N.ttieton and truman Osborn and Charles
q. Finney had L. In my boyhood / saw Tru-
man tOsboTn rise to preach in the village
church at Somerville, y. j., and before he
had gwen out his text or uttered a word
people IN the audience sobbed aloud with re-
iigious emotion. 1t was the power from on
high. All in greater or less degree may have
IT. Once get 1t and nothing can stand before
YOU. Satan goes down Caricature goes
down. Infdelity goes down. Worldiness
goes down. All opposition goes down.
Several times in the history Of the church
and the world has this power from on high
been demonstrated. In the seventeenth
century, after a great season Of moral de-
preston, this power from on high came
down upon Jonn Tiliotson and Owen and
Flayel and Baxter and Bunyan, and there
wa a deluge Of mercy higher than the tops
Of the highest mountains OF sin. La the
eighteenth century, IN England and America,
religion was at q low water mark. William
Copper, writing Of the clergy Of these days,
said
Except a few with Ells spirit best.
Hophni and Phineas may describe the rest.
The intidel writings Of Shaftesbury an0
Hobbies and Chubb hao lone their work.
But power from on high cane upon both
the Wesleys and Lady Huntington or the
other side the Atlantic, and upon William
Tenant and Gilbert Tenant and David
Brainerd on this side the Atlantic, and both
heInispheres felt the tread OF a pardOning
God. Coming to later date, there may be
here and there in this audience an aged man
or woman who can remember New York in
1881, when this power from on high de-
scended most wondrously. 1t came upon
pastors and congregations and theatres and
commercial esta blishments. Chatham
street Theatre, New York, was the scene Of
a most tremendous religious awakening.
a committee of Christian gentlemen called
upon the lessee Of the theatre, and said they
He said, "What do you want it for" They
replied, For a church" For wh-a-atY'
said the owner. For a church," was the
reply. TIE owner said, You may have it,
and I will give you a thousand dollars to help
you on with your work" Arthur Tappan,
a man nightly prosecuted in his time. but q
man, as | saw him in his last days, as honest
and pure and good as any man I ever knew,
stepped on the stage of old Chatham Theatre
as the actors were closing their morning
rehearsal and said, "There will be preaching
here tonight on this stage" and then gave
out and sang with such people as were there
the old hymn:
The voice Of free grace cries, escape to the mount
ain,
For all that believe Christ has opened a fountain
The barroom of the theatre was turned in
to a prayer room. and eight hundred per
sons were present at the first meeting. For
seventy successive nights religious services
were held in that theatre, and such scenes of
mercy and salvation as will be subjects of
conversation and congratulatlOn among the
ransomed in glory as long as heaven lasts.
But | come 70 a later time--1S57-remem-
bered by many who are here. l remember
it especially, as l had just entered the office
of the ministry. 1t was a year Of hard times.
A great panic had flung hundreds of thou.
sands OF people penniless. Starvation en-
tered habitations that had never before
known a want. Domestic life IN many casey
became Il tragedy. Suicide. garrotine
burglary, assassination were rampant. What
an awful day that was when the banks Wen
down! There has been nothing like it III
thirty years, and | pray God there may no
be anything like It i'll the next thirty cen
turtles. Talk about your Black Fridays Ii
was Black Saturday, Black Sunday, Blacs
Monday, Black Tuesday, Black WedneSday
Black Thursday as well as Black Friday.
This nation III its extremity fell helples:
before the Lord and cried for pardon anC
peace. and upon ministers and laymen tbs
power from on high descended. Engin
houses, warerooms, hotel parlors, museums
factories from ~ to l O'Clock, while the oper
atlves were resting, were opened for PRAYER
ana sermons and inquiry rooms, an
Burtons old theatre on Chambers street
where our ancestors used to assemble t
laugh at the comedies, and all up and dow
the streets. and out on the docks an on tn
+" decks OF ships lying at the wharf people sang,
All hail the power Of JesuS's name Will,
others cried for mercy Agraat mass meet
ing OF Christians on a week day, i'll Jayne
haii, Phliadelphia, telegraphed to Fulto,
Street Prayer Meeting in New York. saying
What hath God wrought and a Telegram
Went back saying. Two hundred soul
saved at our meeting today 4 ship caul
through the Narrows INTO our harbor. tn
captain reporting that himself and all tn
crew had been converted to God betwee,
New Orleans and New York.
In the busiest marts Of our busiest Amer
lcan cities, where the worshipers Of Nam
mon mad been counting their golden beads
men began to calculate, What shall it pre-
MT a man If he gain the whole world and los
has soulE The walters in restaurants afte
tue closing of their days work knels anon
the tables where they had served. Police
men asked consent OF the Commissioner O
1once TO be D3rmittei IA attaoj raii1in,