The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-12-07

your sermons very much. but the after
meetings | despise. When the prayer
meeting begins | always go up into the
gallery and look down, and am dis
gusted." Well said Mr.. Dawson.
''the reason is you go on the top of
your neighbor's house and look down
his chimney to examine his fire, and of
course you only get smoke in your eyes.
Why don't you come in the door and sit
down and warm?''
Oh. L am afraid to say anything
against revivals of religion, or against
anything that looks like them. because
| think it may be a sin against the
Holy Ghost, and you know the Bible
says that a sin against the Holy Ghost
shall never be forgiven, neither in this
world nor the world to come. Now.
you are painter, and speak against
your pictures, do / not speak against
you? IL you are an architect. and
speak against building you put up,
do l not speak against you? If a re-
vival be the work of the Holy Ghost.
and speak against that revival. do l
not speak against the Holy Ghost?
Many of you know the history OF
Aaron Burr. He was one of the most
brilliant men of his day. / suppose
this country never produced a stronger
intellect He was capa bic of doing any
thing good and great for his country,
or for the church of God, had he been
rightly disposed: but his name is assoc
ciated with treason against the United
States government. which he tried to
overthrow. and with libcrtinism and
public immortality.
Do YOU know where Aaron Burr
started on the downward road? 1t was
when he was in college. and he became
anxious about his soul. and was about
to put himself under the influences
of revival. and a minister of re-
ligion said: Don't go there. Aaron:
don't go there: that's a place of
wildfire and great excitement; no re-
ligion about that; don't go there" He
tarried away. His serious impressions
departed. lie started on the down
ward road. And who is responsible
for his ruin? Was it the minister who
warned him against that revival?
When | am speaking of excitement
in revivals. of course | do not mean
temporary arrangement of the nerves:
l do not mean the absurd things of
which we have read as sometimes
transpiring in the church of Christ.
but | mean an intelligent, intense. all
absorbing agitation of body. mind and
soul in the work of spiritual escape
and spiritual rescue.
Now | come to the real, genuine
cause of objection to revivals. That is
the GOODNESS of the objector. 1t is the
secret and hidden, but unmistakable
cause in every casa low state of re-
ligion in the heart. Wide-awake, con-
secrated. useful Christians are never
afraid of revivals 1t is the spiritually
dead who are afraid of having their
sepulcher molested. The chief agents
are always unconverted professors of
religion. AS soon as Christ's work be-
gins, they begin to gossip against it,
and take pail of water and try to put
out this spark of religious influence,
and they try to put out another spark.
Do they succeed? As well when Chica-
go was on fire might some one have
gone out with a garden waterproof try
ing to extinguish it.
The difficulty is that when a revival
begins in a church it begins at so
many points. that while you have
doused one anxious soul with pail of
cold water. there are 800 other anxious
souls on fire. Oh. how much better it
would be to lay hold of the chariot of
Christ's gospel and help pull it on,
rather than to fling ourselves in front
of the wheels, trying to block their
progress. We will not stop the chariot,
but we ourselves will be ground to
powder,
But l think. after, the greatest OBJ
stacle to revivals throughout Christen-
dom to-day is an unconverted ministry.
We must believe that the vast ma iority
of those who officiate at sacred affairs
are regenerated; but l suppose there
may float into all the denominations
of Christians men whose hearts have
never been changed by the grace of
God. OF course they are all antago-
nistic to revivals.
How did they get into the ministry?
Perhaps some of them chose it as re-
spectacle profession. Perhaps some
chose it as a means of livelihood. Per-
haps some of them were sincere. but
were mistaken. As Thomas Chalmers
said. he had been many years preach
ing the gospel before his heart had
been changed. and as many ministers
of the gospel declare they were preach
ing and had been ordained to sacred
orders years and years before their
hearts were regenerated. Gracious
God. what solemn thought for those
of US who minister at the altar, With
the present ministry in the pres
ent temperature of piety the
world will never be enveloped
with revivals. While the pews on
one side of the altar cry for mercy the
pulpits on the other side the altar must
cry for mercy. Ministers quarreling.
Ministers trying to pull each other
down. Ministers struggling for ecclesi-
astical place. Ministers lethargic. with
whole congregations dying on their
hands. What a spectrcle.
Aroused pulpits will make aroused
pews. Pulpits aiame will make pews
Everybody believes in a re-
vival in trade, everybody likes a revival
in literature. everybody likes revival
in art; yet a great multitude cannot
understand revival in matters of re-
ligion- Depend upon it, where you
find man antagonistic to revivals,
he be in pulpit or pew, he
needs to be regenerated by the grace
of God.
could prove to demonstration that
without revivalS this world will never