The Penn's Grove record., 1895-03-29

W. AZ " dAoOtpAD1 VI OuAfHtf ~
other on the road to Ostia TO die for Christ.
Come nearer home and look at the man who
found his chief delight tn low class of club
room, hiccoughing around a card table and
then stumbling down the front steps after
midnight n staggering homeward, and that
same man, one week afterward, with his
family on the way to q prayer meeting.
What has done it, It must be something
tremendous. 1t must be God. 1t must be
the Holy Ghost.
Notice the Holy Ghost as the solaeer o.
broken hearts. Christ calls Him the
Comforter. Nothing does the world so much
want as comfort. The most people have
about, swindled, bereft. What is needed Ia
baIsam for the wounds, lantern for dark
roads, rescue from maligning pursuers, O
lift from the marble slab OF tombstones. Life
to most has been a semifailure. They have
not got what they wanted. They nave not
reached that which they started for. Friends
betray. Change Of business stand loses old
custom and does not bring enough custom
to make up for the loss. Hes becomes
precarious when n most ne strong
muscle aad steady nerve and cleas brain.
Out of this audience OF thousands and thou
sands, II I should ask all those who
have been unhurt In the struggle Of
life to stand up, or all standing to hold
up their right hands, not one would move.
Oh, how much we need the Holy Ghost
as comforteri He recites the sweet
gospel promises to the hardly bestead. He
assures Of mercy mingled with the seventies.
He consoles with thoughts blooming release.
He tells Of a heaven where tear Ia never wept
and burden is never carried and injustice "a
never suffered. Comfort for all the young
people who are maltreated at home, or re-
ceive insult cient income, or are robbed Of
their schooling, or kept back from positions
they earned by the putting forward of other
less worthy. Comfort for all these men and
women midway in the path of life, worn out
with what they have already gone through
and with no Frightening future. comfor
for these aged ones amid many inflrmities
AMI who feel themselves to be in the way In
the home or business which Themselves es
abolished with their own grit.
The Holy Ghost comfort, I think, general
ly comes in the shape Of a soliloquy. 70,
find yourself saying to yourself: swell, ]
ought not to go on this way about my
mothers death. She had suffered enough.
She had borne other peoples burdens long
enough. am glad that father and mother
are together in heaven, and they will be
waiting to greet us, and 1t will be only a lit
tie while anyhow, and God makes no mis-
takes" Or you s~oliloquize. saying; sit Il
hard to lose my property. am sure !
worked hard enough for 1t. But God will
take care OF us, and, as to the children, the
money might have spoiled them, and W.
find that those who have to struggle for
themselves generally turn out best, and II
will all be well II this upsetting of our world.
ly leads us to lay up treasures in
heaven" Or you s~oliloquize, saying:
pected great things of him, and, oh, how we
miss him out of the house, and there are so
manythings / come across that make nethink
Of him, and he was such a splendid fellow
But then what an escape he has made from
The temptations and sorrows which come to
all who grow up, and it is a grand thing to
have him safe from all possible harm, and
there are all those Bible promises for parents
who have lost children, and we shall feel a
drawing ~beavenward that we could not have
otherwise experienced" And after you have
said that you get that relief which comes
from an outburst Of tears. I do not say to
you, as'some say, do not cry. God pity peo-
Pile In trouble who have the parched eyeball
and the dry eyelid and cannot shed q tear.
That makes maniacs. To Gods people tears
are the LEWIS Of the night dashed with sun.
rise. l am SO glad you can weep. But you
think these things you say to yourself are
only s~oliioquies. No, no; they are the Com
forter, who lis the Holy Ghost.
Notice also the Holy Ghost as the preach
er's reinforcement. You and I have known
preachers encyclopedia In knowledge, brill
liant as an iceberg when the sun smites It,
and with Chesterfleldian address and
rhetorical hand uplifted with diamond big
enough to dazzle an assembly and so sur.
charged with vocabulary that when they left
this lifeit might be said of eachyof them az
De Quincy said Of another that In the act Of
dying he committed a robbery, Ascending
with a valuable polyglot dictionary, yet no
awakening or converting or sanctifying re-
suit, while some plain man, with humblest
phraseology, has seen audiences whelmed
with religious influence. 1t was the Holy |
Ghost. What a useful thing 1t would be II
every minister would give the history Of his
Years ago at an outdoor meeting
in the State Of New York I preached
to many thousands. There had been much
prayer on the grounds for q great ~outpouring |
OF the Holy Ghost at that service, and the |
power exceeded anything ! ever |
witnessed since ] began to preach, with per.
haps the exception Of two or three occasions.
SCORE and hundreds expressed themselves az
having been blessed during the service. |
That afternoon I took the train for an out. |
door meeting In the State Of Ohio, where ] |
was to preach on the night Of the Q day. |
As the sermon had proved 80 useful the day |
before and the theme was fresh In my mind, |
| resolved to reproduce 1t, and did reproduce
It as far as I could, but the result was nothing |
at all. Never had I seemed to lave any |
thing to do with o fiatter failure. What |
the difference between the two sery- |
Ices? Some will say, you were tired with |
long journey" No, I was not tired at all. |
Some will say, 1.-THE temporal circumstances |
the first case were more favorable than in |
the last" No, they were more favorable In
the last. The difference was in the power OF
the Holy Ghost-mightily preseLs at the first
service, not seemingly present at all at the |
! call upon the ministers OF Ameri-
"a to give the history OF sermons, for I be-
Iieve It will illustrate as nothing else can the
truth Of that Scripture, mot by might nor by
On the sabbath Of the dedication OF one Of
our churches tn brooklyn, at the morning
s28 souls stood up to profess Christ.
They were the converts in the Brooklyn
Academy Of Music, where we had been wor.
The reception OF SO many mem.
Ders-and many Of them baptized by INNER
,ion-had made 1t an e OPS service, which
until half past two In tn @.ternoon. From
hat service We went home exhausted, be-
cause there ia nothing so ~exhausting as deep
A messenger was sent out to |
obtain q preacher for that night, but the
search was unsuccessful, as all the
were engaged for some Other
place. With no preparation at al fol
he evening service, except the looking In
Cruden's Concordance for a text and feeling
WV WCtt4y W tNAa APs = UcHaA tnN I
saying audibly while the opening
long was being sung, although because Of
he singing nc one but God heard it. "Oh |
Lord, Thou knowest my insuficiency fol
his service. Come down in gracious power |
upon this people" The place was shaken
With the divine presence. As far as we could
out. over 400 persons were converted
hat night. Hear 1t, all young men entering !
be ministry; hear 1t, all Christian workera |
L was the Holy Ghost.
m the Second Reformed Church, OF Somer-
lille, N. J., in my boyhood days, Mr.. os-
,orne, the evangelist, came to hold a special
! see, him now as he stood In the
pulpit. Before he announced his text and
he had uttered q word Of his sermon
trong men wept aloud, and Il was like the
lay Of Judgment, 1t was the Holy Ghost. |
In 1857 the electric telegraph bore strangt /
messages, One OF than read, 'My dear pa
'ents will rejoice TO hear that { have found
,eace with God" Another read, .Dear
mother, the work continues, and !, too, have
,een converted" Another read, "At last
Aith and peace" In Vermont q religious
Meeting was singing the hymn. waiting and
Watching for Me-" The song rolled out on
he night air, and a la halted and said, 81
Wonder II there will be any one waiting and
for me2" 1t started him heaven