Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-12
man became the shrine and temple of the iv.

man became the shrine aad temple Of the iiv
ing God.
From that day onward the wesleyans have
been testifying people that they knew be-
yond doubt that they we're, living in commu.
mon with the Father Of their spirits and
calmly and intelligently declared that "the
spirit beareth witness with our spirit that We
are the children Of God" The assertions were
hailed with obloquy and the Methodists were
called the children Of the feelings"
METHoDrsM EQUAL TO THE PRESENT.
Since then the very heavens have been telling
that he was right and that his critics were
wrong. The success of Methodism il the mar
vel Of two centuries. The vastness of her pop
ulation, betting the globe the multitudes an
nuaiiy converted, the saintliness of her men,
bership, the spirituality and scholarship of her
ministers, the largeness Of her contributions,
the power of her press. the number OF her tenn
pies Of plety, schools of learning and houses OF
mercy and the vigor wherewith she is pushing
forward the conquest Of the world by her homo
ana foreign missions are facts that indicate that
the Lore Is with His people.
Since the birth of Methodism there has been
no other distinctive religious movement in the
church OF God. There have been notifications
OF creeds, changes in church polity, revival of
formal churches organizations to meet special
iorms OF vice and misery and special classes in
society, but nothing that rises to the dignity
and proportions Of great reformation.
ls new movement needed to meet the ext
gencies OF our times? What are the ext
gencies? Political corruption. bribery in
office and instability Of governments? Is the
present worse than. when kings delighted to
honor such statesmen as Bolingbrokc and
Chesterfield. Walpole and Newcastle: when
prime ministers bribed the king, bribed the
queen. bribed the parliament; when elections
were rated on the royal exchange. and when
the maxim was accepted. that government
"a ~rfnI hx-x A.
tine clergy more worldly and the church more
formal than when Topladv said. "a converted
minister in the established church is a greater
wonder than comet" and when, according to
Butler. christianity is not 30 much AZ sub
ject Of inquiry?' Is infidelitv more audacious
and assertive than that which gave birth to the
French revolution, that dissolved the very ele-
ments Of society?
Are the masses more degraded than when
Whitfield preached to the GOLFERS of Kings
wood and the merry-andrews of some Bar
tholomew's fair?
Is literature more debased than when fame
hailed with delight such authors as voltaire
and d. Alembert, Smollett and Paine, who min
istered to the lowest and worst of human pas
sions?
Methodism met all those social conditions,
and behold the change!
Is it true that we are threatened TODAY with
new perils?
d, Is the lust of ecclesiastical preferment. in
the disguise of hot ZEAL eating, as doth a
cancer. at the vitals of the church, and
is there nothing better and greater than
Officer Has the spirit of worldliness en-
tered our Rion, under the pretense of
innocent mirth, and that at the expense of the
means of grace? Is the Bible imperiled as
never before. its authorships denied and its
histories impeached?
what is the remedy? new religious move
menT Has rot Methodisn all her ancient ele-
ments OF strength. Her doctrines are as sound.
Her pollty is as adaptive. Her Redeemer is as
great. The all-suficient and all-efficient remedy
Is Holiness unto the Lord" Lot the church
have that and the gates of hell shall not pre-
vail against her.
GIVE us ministry full of faith and the Holy
Ghost; heaven called and heaven inspired,
with hearts of flesh and souls of Ere. Give us
men who will preach the truth as it is in Jesus:
OF dauntless courage, who will stand unblanched
before the mighty; men of tenderest sympa-
thies, untlring zeal and purest motives; give
US the men who can write in lines of light and
speak In sentences of fire, who can enter the
arena OF debate and maintain the Bible as the
WORD OF GOD TO man. who can thrill all hearts
by the power of their own experience; who will
turn many to righteousness and shine AZ stars
forever and ever.