Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-05-30

In the winter OF 1878, we were wor-
Shipping in the Brooklyn Academy OF
Music in the interregnum OF churches.
We had the usual great audiences, but
I was oppressed beyond measure by the
fact that conversions were not more
humorous. One Tuesday, l invited TO
nv house five old, conSecrated Christian
men-all Of them gone now, except
Father Pearson, and he, in blindness
and old age, waiting for the Masters
call to come up higher. These old men
came, not knowing why l had invited
them. l took them TO the top room OF
my house. / said to them; 81 have
called you here for special prayer. l
am in an agony for great turning TO
God of the people. We have vast null
titudes in attendance and they are at
tentive and respectful, but cannot see
that they are saved
LET Us KNEEL DOWN
and each one pray and not leave this
room until we are all assured that the
blessing will come and has come" 1t
was a most intense crying unto God.
said: Brethren, let this meeting be
secret" and they said il would be. That
Tuesday night special service ended.
On the following Friday night occurred
the usual prayer meeting. No one
knew OF what had occurred on Tuesday
night. but the meeting was unusually
thronged. Men accustomed to pray In
public in great cOmpOsure broke
down under emotion The people
were IN tears. There were sobs
and silences and solemnities OF such
unusual power that the worshipers look
ed into each others faces as much as TO
saw: What does all this mean?" And,
wuen the Sabbath came, although we
were In a secular place, over four hun
dred arose for prayers AID religious
awakening took place that made that
winter memorable for time and for eter-
nifty. There may be in this building
many who were brought TO God during
that great gathering, but few of them
know that the upper room in my house
on Quincy street, where those five old
Christian men poured out their souls be-
fore God, was the secret place OF thun-
der.
But" says some one, "that is a beau
tiful theory, yet it does not work in my
case, for am in a cloud of trouble or
cloud Of sickness or cloud OF persecu-
ton or a cloud of poverty or cloud OF
bereavement or a cloud Of perplexity. "
How glad l am that you told me that.
That is exactly the place TO which my
text refers, it was from a cloud that God
answered ISrael-the cloud over the
chasm cut through the Red Seattle
cloud that was light to the Israelites
and darkness to the Egyptians. 1t was
from a cloud, a tremendous cloud, that
God made reply. 1t was cloud that
was the secret place Of thunder. So
you cannot get away from the consola-
ton of my text by talking that way.
Let all the people under a cloud near
IL. 81 answered thee in the secret
place Of thunder"
THE Reason THAT
we ministers do not accomplish more, is
because others do not pray enough for
US, and we do Dot pray enough for our
selves. Every minister could tell you
thrilling story Of sermons-sermons
haSty and impromptu, because OF funer-
ais and sickbeds and annoyaaces in the
parish; yet those sermons harvesting
many souls for God And then Of ser
mons prepared with great care and re-
searcn and toll uninterrupted; yet these
sermons falling fiat or powerless. Or Of
the same sermon nightly blessed on
one occasion and useless on another.
How well l remember a sermon l
preached at q great outdoor meeting in
the upper part OF this state. For sew
eral days in that place prayers had
been offered for the successes Of the SER
vice, and had myself been unusually
prayerful, and we had Pentecostal
blessing while was preaching it. That
afternoon l took the train for great
outdoor meeting in Ohio. said to my
self: This sermon was blessed to-day
and it is fresh in my mind, and l will
preach Ii tomorrow in Ohio And l
did preach 1t, but not in as prayeIful
spirit, and l think no one else had been
praying about II, and it turned into the
most iaane and proftlesS discourse that
I ever delivered. 1t was practically the
same sermon, but on Wednesday it had
on il a power that comes from the secret
place of thunder, and on Thursday it
had on il no such power at all.
Oh! PRAY FOR Us!
Poor sermons in the pulpit are the curse
Of God on prayerless parish. People
say: "What is the matter with the
ministers in our time? So many of them
seem dissatisfied with the Bible and
they are trying TO help Moses and Paul
and Christ out of inconsistencies and
contradictions by fixing up the Bible"
As well let the musicians go to work to
fix up Haydn'S Creation" or Handel's
Israel in Egypt" or let the painters go
to fixing up Raphael's "TranSfgura-
tiOn," or architects go to fixing up
Christopher Wren'a st. PaupS. But l
will tell you what is the matter
There are too many unconvert-
ed ministers. Their hearts have
never been changed by the grace of
God. A mere intellectual ministry is
the deadest failure this side of perdi-
tion. Alas for the Gospel Of icicles!
From aDologetics, aud hermeneuticS,
and dOgmaticS, good Lord deliver US!
They are trying to get their power from
transcendental theology, or from pro-
found exegeSis, or from the art of split
ting hairs between North and North
west side, instead OF getting their pow
er from the secret place Of thunder.
We want the power man gets when
he is alone, the door locked; on his
knees; at midnight; with such a burden
Of souls upon him that makes him cry
out, first in lamenJation and then in
rastureS.
LET ALL THE SABBATH SCHOOL
I