The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-12-07
RELIGIOUS REVEALS.
Talmage Calls Them the Gateways
for Recruiting Christ's Army.
Opposition to Them Comes from Uncon-
verted Ministers and Sterile Hearted
Professors of a Faith They
Have Never Felt.

Inc latest sermon given out Dy heV.
7. Dewitt Talmage was upon the SUBJ
ject of OBJECTIONS to Religious Re-
vivals,'' the text being from Luke, V. 6:
They inclosed a great multitude of
fishes, and their net brake"
Simon and his comrades had expert
enced the night before what fishermen
call poor luck" Christ steps on board
the fishing smack and tells the sailors
to pull away from the beach and
directs them again to sink the net.
Sure enough. very soon the net is
full of fishes. and the sailors begin to
haul in. So large a school of fish was
taken, that the hardy men begin to
look red in the face as they pull. and
hardly have they begun to rejoice at
their success when snap goes thread
of the net, and snap goes another
thread, so there is danger not only of
losing the fish. but of losing the net.
Without much care as to how much
the boat tits. or how much water is
splashed on deck. the fishermen rush
about, gathering up the broken meshes
of the net. Out vonder there is ship
dancing on the wave, and they hail it:
'Ship ahoy. bear down this wayr'
The ship comes and both boats. both
fishing smacks. are filled with the
laundering treasures.
''Ahi'' saws some one. chow much
better it would have been if they had
stayed on shore. and fished with hook
and line. and taken one at a time, in
stead of having this great excitement.
= Il Al.
broken, and having to call for help and
getting sopping wet with the sea-
The church is the boat, the gospel is
the net. society is the sea. and a great
revival is a whole school brought in at
one sweep of the net. have admira-
ton for that man who goes out with
hook and line to fish. | admire
the way he unwinds the reel.
and adjusts the bait. and
drops the hook in quiet place on a
still afternoon, and here catches one
and there one: but / like also big
boat, and a large crew, and net a
mile long. and swift oars. and stout
sails, and a stiff breeze. and a multi
tude of souls brought-so great a null
titude that you have got to get help to
draw it ashore, straining the net to
the utmost until it breaks here and
here. letting a few escape. but bring
ing the great multitude into eternal
safety.
In other words. | believe in revivals
The great work of saving men began
with three thousand people joining the
church in one day, and it will close
with forty or a hundred million people
saved in twenty-four hours. when ma
tons shall be born in a day. But there
are objections to revivals. People are
opposed to them because the net might
get broken, and if by the pressure of
souls ii does not get broken. then they
take their penknives and slit the net.
They inclosed great multitude of
fishes and the net brake"
l have noticed that those who are
brought into the Kingdom of God
through revivals have more persistence
and more determination in the Chris
tan life than those who come in under
a low state of religion. People born in
an ice house may live, but they will
never get over the cold they caught in
the ice house. \ cannon ball depends
upon the impLlse with which it starts
for how far it shall go and how swift
ly: and the greater the revival force
with which a soul is started the more
far-reaching and far-resounding will
be the execution.
But it is sometimes objected to re-
vivals that there is so much excitement
that people mistake hysteria for re-
ligion.
We must admit that in every revival
of religion there is either a suppressed
or a demonstrated excitement. Indeed.
if man can go out of state of con-
demnation into state of acceptance
with God, or see others go, without any
agitation of soul he is in an unhealthy.
morbid state. and is as repulsive and
absurd as man who should boast he
saw a child snatched out from under
horses hoofs and felt no agitation. or
saw a man rescued from the fourth
story of house on fire and felt no ac-
celebration of the pulses.
Salvation from sin and death and
hell into life and peace and Heaven for
ever, Is such tremendous thing. that
If a man tells ire he can look on il
without any agitation, l doubt his
Christianity. The fact is, that some
times excitement is the most important
possible thing. In case of resuscita-
ton from drowning or freezing. the
one idea Is to excite anima ton. Before
conversion we are dead. 1t is the bust
ness of the church to revive. arouse.
awaken. resuscitate, startle into life
Excitement is bad or good according
to what it makes us do. If it make us
do that which is bad. it is bad excite
ment; but if it make us agitated about
our eternal welfare, if it make us pray.
if it make us attend upon Christian SER
vice, if it make us cry unto God for
mercy, then it is good excitement
1t is sometimes said that during re-
vivals of religion. great multitudes of
children and young people are brought
into the church, and they do not know
what they are about. 1t has been nv
observation that the earlier people
come into the Kingdom of God. the
more useful they are.
Robert Hall. the prince of Baptist
preachers. was converted at l. years OF
~ - htPOSNo hhCH Nhdl nc
was about. Matthew Henry. the COM |
mentator. who did more than any man |
of his century for increasing the in
terest in the study of the Scriptures, |
was converted at IL years of age; |
Isabella Graham, immortal in the |
Christian church, was converted at 10 |
years OF age; DR. Watts. whose hymns |
will be sung all down the ages, was |
converted at 9 years of age: Jonathan
Edwards. perhaps the mightiest intel |