The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1894-12-13

| objection to reylvals. luhe 10 - k;JJor
ofthe director. 1t is the secret ana hia1eo
but unmistakable cause in every case 10"
| etate Of relipion in the heart. VIDE awake,
consecrated. useful Christians are neVe,
| afraid of REVEALS. 1t is the spirtua'iy ues.
| who are afraid of having their sspulene'
| molested. The chief agents OF the deVit our
| ing a great awakening are always tncon
| verted professors of religion. As soon az az
| Cbrjst's work begins they begin 70 GOSSIP
against it. and take pail of water ana Try 10
| mt out this spark OF religious influence
| and they try to put out another spark. LIZ
| they succeed? As we'll when Chicago was on
! fire might some one have gone ont WIN
garden water pot trying to extinguish 1t.
| The difficulty Is that when revival pc
| gins in church il begins Mt so many poiitS
| that while YOU have doused one ANXIOUS SOU
| with pail OF cold winter there are 5OO otner
anxious souls on fire. oh, how much bet
| fer it would be to lay hold OF the chariot oil
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.
Did YOU ever hear that there was a con-
yention once held among the icebergs In the
arctic? 1t seems that the summer was com
ing on, and the sun was getting hotter ana
hotter. and there was danger that the whole
icefield would break up and flow away, SO
the tallest and the coolest and the broadest
of all the icebergs, the very king OF the arc
ties, stood at the head of the convention.
and with a gavel of ice smote on table OF
ice, calling the convention to order. But the
sun kept growing in intensity OF heat, and
the south wind blew stronger and stronger.
and soon all the icefield began to grind up,
iceberg against iceberg, and to flow away
The first resolution passed by the convention
was. 'sResolved. that we abolish the sun"
But the sun would not be abolished. The
heat OF the sun grew greater and greater
until after awhile the very king OF the ice
bergs began to perspire under the glow. and
the smaller icebergs fell over, and the cry
was: "Too much excitement Order,
orderr' Then the whole body, the whole
field, OF ice began to flow out. and thou
sand voices began to ask: "Where ara We
going to now? Where are we floating to?
We will all break to pieces. BY TINS time
the icebergs had reached the gull stream,
and they were melted into the bosom of the
Atlantic Ocean. The warm sun IS the
eternal Spirit. The iceberg5 are frigd
Christians. The warm gulf stream Is a great
revival. The ocean into which everything
melted is the great, wide heart OF the
pardoning and sympathizng God.
But think. after all, the greatest obstacle
TO reyvals throughout Chrlstendom to-day
Is an uncovered ministry. We must be-
lieve that the vast majority of those who
offlciate Mt sacred affairs are regenerated,
but suppose there may float into the MINIS
try of all the denominations OF Christians
men whose hearts have never been changed
by the grace Of God. OF course they are all
antagonistic to revivas.
How did they getin the ministry? Per
haps some Of them chose it as respectable
profession Perhaps some chose it as
means of livelihood. Perhaps some OF them
eli h1t Thomas
Chalmers said, be had been many years
preaching the gospel before his heart had
been changed, and, as many ministers OF tho
gospel declare, they were preaching and
had been ordained to sacred orders years
and years before their hearts were regener-
ated. Gracious God, what solemn thought
for those of us who minister at the altar !
With the present ministry in the present
temperature OF piety the world will never be
enyeloped with revivals. While the pews on
one side the altar cry for mercy the pulptts
on the other side the altar must cry for
mercy. Ministers quarreling. Ministers
trying to pull each other down Ministers
struggling for ecclesiastical place. Ministers
lethargic with whole congregations dying
on their hand. What spectacle!
Aroused pulpits will make aroused pews.
Pulpits aflame will mako pews afame.
Everybody believes in n revival of trade,
everybody likes a revival in literature. every
| body likes revival in art, yet great multi
tude cannot understand a reviva in matter,
of religion. Depend upon it. where you
| find a man antagonistic to revivals, whether
| he be in pulpit or pew, he needs to be re3en'
| Grated by the grace OF GOD.
I could prove to a demonstration that
| without revlvals this world will never ba
| converted, and that in 100 or 200 years with
out revivals Christianity will be practically
| extinct. 1t Is a matter OF astounding arth
| metic In each of our modern generations;
there are at least 80, 900 900 children. Now
| add 80, zoo, 600 to the worlds population, and
| then have only 100, 900 or 200,0 900 converte |
| every year, and how long before the world
| will be saved? Never-absolutely never.
During our war the President OF the
| United States made proclamation for 75,001
| troops. Some of you remember the big stir
| But the King of the universe to-day asks to-
| 800. OOO, 900 more troops than are enlisted,
| and we want it done softly, imperceptibly,
| gently, no excitement, one by one!
| You are dry goods merchant on large
scale, and am merchant on small scale,
| and / come to YOU and want to buy 1909
| wards of cloth. Do you say: "Thank you
| ri sell you 1000 yards OF cloth, but III sell
| YOU twenty yards to-day, and twenty to-
| morrow and twenty the next day, and if it
takes me six months I'll sell YOU the whole
! 1000 yards you will want as long rs that TO
examine the goods and I'll want as long as
l
1000 yards OF cloth are too much to sell all
at once?" No, you do not say that. You
take me into the counting 70 om, and in ten
minutes the whole transaction is consum-
mated. The fact is, we cannot afford to be
fools in anything but religion
That very merchant who on Saturday after
noon sold me the 1000 yards of cloth at one
stroke the next Sabbath in church will stroke
his beard and wonder whether it would not
be better for 1000 souls to come Struggling
along for ten years, instead OF boiling in al
one service.
Wetalk good deal about the good time!
that are coming and about the worlds re-
demption. How long before they will come
There is a man who says 500 years. Here j,
a man who says 200 years. Here is somt
one more confident who says in fifty years
What, fifty years? DO you propose 10 lie
two generations pass off the stage beIor
the world is converted?
Suppose by some extra prolongation o
human life Mt the next fifty years you Shout,
walk around the world, y1u would not il
all that walk fina one person that you rscog
nize. Why? All dead or so changed thai
you would not know them. In other words
| hn cd anti 81 l. A.: