Democratic messenger., 1892-06-04
into the secret place of thunder.
PRAY EnR TILE rRH ,cuEps


lister could tell you thrilling story of
sernons-sermons hasty and impromptu
because of funerals and sickbeds and
annoyances III the parish. vet those SER
mons harvesting many souls for God.
And then of sermons prepared with great
care and research and toll uninterrupted,
yet those sermons falling fiat or power
| less, or of the same sermon nightly
| blessed on one occasion and useless ON
another. How well | remember ser
mon preached at a great outdoor meet
ing in the upper part of this state. For
several days i'll that place prayers had
been offered for the success of the scrv-
ice. and had myself been unusually
prayerful. and we had Pentecostal
blessing while was preaching it.
| That afternoon took the train for n
great outdoor meeting in Ohio. said
to myself. This sermon was blessed to-
day and it is fresh in my mind, and
will preach il tomorrow in Ohio" And
did preach it, but not in as prayerful
spirit, and | think no one else had been
praying about it. and it turned into the
most inane and protitlcss discourse that
ever delivered. 1t was practically the
same sermon, but on Wednesday it had
on il u power that comes from the secret
place of thunder. and on Thursday it
had on it no such power at all.
Oh, pray for us! Poor sermons in the
pulpit are the curse of God on prayer
less parish. People say: What is the
matter with the ministers i'll our time?
| =. g 4 -
the Bible and they are trying To help
| Moses and Paul and Christ ont Of in
consistencies and contradictions by fix
| ing up the Bible" As well let the mu-
sicians go to work To fix up Hadyns
Creation" or Handels 'lsrael in
Egypt" or let the painters go To fixing
up '2aphael's TRANSPORTATION, orarchi-
tects 20 TO fixing up Christopher Wrcns
50 Paul's. But will tell you what is
the matter There are too many uncon-
verted ministers. Their hearts have
never been changed by the grace of
God.
| A mere intellectual ministry is the
deadest failure this side of perdi,ion
Alas for the Gospel of icicles. From
apologctics and herneneutics and dog
matics. good Lord deliver us! They are
trying To get from transcendental the
ology, or from profound exesesis. or
from the art of splitting hairs between
north and northwest side instead of get.
ting their power from the secret place
IF thunder. We want the power man
gets when he is alone, the door locked:
IN his knees; at midnight: with such
burden of souls upon him that makes
him cry ont, first in lamentation and
then i'll raptures.
Let all the Sabbath school teachers
and Bible class instructors and all re-
formers and all evangelists and all min
listers know that diplomas and diction-
aries and encyclopedias and treatises
and libraries are not the source of
moral and spiritual achievement. but
that the room of prayer, where no one
but God is present and no one but God
hears. is the secret place of thunder.
Secret? All. yes! So secret that COM
paratively few ever find il.
At Boscobel, England. we visited a
house where king was once hid. No
one. unless il was pointed ont to him.
could find the door in the floor through
which the king entered his hiding place.
When there hidden the armed pursuers
looked in vain for him. and afterward
through an underground passage far
out in the fields, he came ont i'll the open
air. So this imperial power of spiritual
influence has hiding place, secret
place which few know, and it comes
forth sometimes III strange and mys-
terious ways and far from the place
where it was hidden you can find it only
by diligent searching. But you may
find it, and some of you will find it. and
wish You might all find 1.-THE secret
place of thunder.
DIR. TALMAGE GOING ABROAD.
At nine o'clock Wednesday morning.
June Is next on the steamer City of
New York, expect To sail for Liverpool.
to he gone until September 1t is i'll ac-
ceptance of many invitations that am
going on a preaching tour. expect TO
devote my time to preaching the Gospel
in England. Scotland. ireland and
Sweden. | want to see how many souls
can gather for the kingdom of God.
Those countries have for many years he
longed 10 my parish, and 20 to speak
to them and shake hands with them.
want to visit more thoroughly than be-
fore those regions from which my an
cestors came. S,ales and Scotland.
But who is sufficient for the work
undertake: | call upon You who have
long been my coadjutors TO go into the
secret place Of the Almighty. and every
day from now until my work is done on
the other side of the sea. to have me i'll
your prayers. In proportion To the in
tensity and continuance and faith of the
prayers, yours and mine. will he the re-
suits. If you remember me i'll the de
votional circle. that will I've we'll but
what most want is your importuning.
your wrestling supplication in the secret
place of thunder.
God and You alone may make me the
humble instrumentality i'll the redemp-
ton of thousands of souls. | shall
preach in churches. in chapels and in
the fields. | will make ii Il campaign
for God and eternity. and hope to get
during this absence n baptism of power
that will make me of more service tO
you wen | return than ever yet have
been For, brethren and sisters in
Christ, our opportunity for usefulness
will soon be gone. and we shall have
our faces uplifted to she throne Of judg-
ment, before which we must give ac-
count. That day there will be no secret
place of thunder. for all the thunders
will he out There will be the thunder
of the tumbling rocks. There will be
the thunder If the bursting waves.
There will be the thunder Of the de-
scending chariots. There will be the
thunder of the parting heavens. Boom.
Boom.
But all tina. din and uproar and crash
will find MS una1frighted. and will leave
us undismaycd, if we have made Christ
our confidence. and as after an August
shower, when the whole heavens have
been IN unlimbcred battery cannonad-