Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-04-10


What has ransacked his entire naturei
What has turned him square about?" Take
| two pictures Of Paul-one on the road tc
Damascus to kill the disciples of ChriSt, the
] other on the road to Ostia to die for Christ
Come nearer home and look at the man who
found his chief delight In a low class Of club.
/, rooms, hiccoughing around a card table and
then stumbling down the front steps after
midnight and 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 solacer o.
broken hearts. Christ calls Him the
Comforter. Nothing does the world 80 much
want Us comfort. The most people have
| been abused, misrepresented. cheated, lied
I about swindled, bereft. What Is needed is
| roads, rescue from maligning pursuers, q
lift from the marble slab Of tombstones. Life
| to most has been a semifailure. They have
| not got what they wanted. They have not
| reached that which they started for. Friends
| betray. Change of business stand loses old
to make up for the loss. Health becomes
| precarious when one most needs strong
| muscle and steady nerve and clear brain.
Out of this audience Of thousands and thou
sands, if I should ask all those who
have been unhurt in the struggle oi
up their right hands, not one would move.
Oh, how much We need the Holy Ghost
as comforter! He recites the sweet
gospel promises to the hardly beStead. He
assures of mercy mingled with the seventies.
He consoles with thoughts ofcominS release.
He tells Of ~ heaven where tear Is never wept
ana burden is never carried and 1n1usloe Il
never suffered. Comfort for all the young
people who are maltreated at home, or re-
ceive insufficient income, or are robbed OF
their schooling, or kept back from positions
they earned by the putting forward of Others
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 infirmities
an i who feel themselves to be in the way il
the home or business which themselves eS
'ablished with their own grit.
The Holy Ghost comfort, think, general
ly comes in the shape OF a soGoquy. Yol
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. I am glad that father and mother
are together in heaven, and they will be
waiting to greet US, and it will be only a lit
tie while anyhow, and God makes no mis-
takes" Or you soliloquize. saying: sit j.
hard to lose my property. am sure
worked hard enough for it. But God Will
take care OF us, apd, as to the children. the
money might have spoiled them, and we
find that those who. nave to struggle for
themselves generally ,furTout best, and il
will all be we'll if this upsetting Of our world
ly resources leads US to lay up treasures in
heaven" Or you soliloquize. sayingx
"1t was hard to give up that
boy when the Lord took him. ex.
pected great things of him, and, oh, how we
miss him out of the house, and there are so
many things come across that MAKE one think
Of him, and he was such a splendid fellow
But then what an escape he has made from
the temptations and sorrow5 which come to
all who grow up. and it is 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 heavenward 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-
pie 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 dews of the night dashed with sun.
rise. am so glad you can weep. But you
think these things you say to yourself are
only soliloquies. No, no; they are the Com
forter, who is 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 Chesterhedian address and
rhetorical hand uplifted with diamond big
enough to dazzle an assembly and 50 sur.
charged with vocabulary that when they lefi
this lifeit might be said of each of them a.
De Quincy said of another that in the act OF
dying he committed robbery, abscondin2
with a valuable polyglot dictionary. yet no
awakening or converting or sanctifyinS re'
suit, while some plain man, with humblesl
phraseology, has seen audiences whelmed
with religious influence. 1t was the Hols
Whof n f,,l ipup ha
every minister would give the history of. hi;
sermons! 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 a great outpouring
OF the Holy Ghost at that service, and the
awakening power exceeded anything ever
witnessed since began to preach, with per.
haps the exception of two or three occasions.
Clergymen and Christian workers by the
score and hundreds expressed themselves as
having been blessed during the service.
That afternoon took the train for an out
door meeting in the State Of Ohio, where ]
was to preach on the night OF the next day.
AS the sermon had proved so useful the day
before and the theme was fresh in my mind,
resolved to reproduce it, and did reproduce
1t as far as could, but the result was nothing
at all. Never had I seemed to have any
thing to do with flatter failure. What
was the difference between the two serv-
ices? Some will say, ''You were tired with
long journey" No, was not tired at all.
Some will say, "The temporal circumstances
in 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 present at the first
service, not seemingly present at all at the
second. I call upon the ministers of Ameri-
ca to give the history OF sermons, for I be-
lieve it will illustrate as nothing else can the
truth of that Scripture, ';Not by might nor by
power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord"
On the Sabbath of the dedication of one OF
,ur churches in Brooklyn. at the morning
service, 32S souls stood up to profess Christ.
They were the converts in the Brooklyn
Academy OF Music, where We had been wor
Shipping. The reception Of so many men,
bers-and many of them baptized by INNER.
sion-had made it an arduous service, which
continued from half past ten in the morning
until half past two in the afternoon. From
that service We went home exhausted, be-
cause there is nothing so exhausting as deep
emotion. messenger was sent out to
obtain a preacher for that night, but the
search was unsuccessful, as all the
ministers were engaged for some. othei
place. With no preparation at all fol
the evening service, except the looking IL
Crudens Concordance for a text and feeling
almost too weary to stand up, began the
service, saying audibly while the opening
song was being sung, although because oil
the singing no one but God heard 1t: "Oh
Lord, Thou knowest my tnsuficiency fol
this service! Come down In gracious power
upon this people," The place was shaker
with the divine presence. As far as we could
find out. over 400 persons were converted
that night. Hear it, all young men entering
the ministry; hear it, all Christian WORKERS
It was the Holy Ghost.
IN the Second Reformed Church, of Somer-
vile, N. j., in my boyhood days, Mr.. Os-
borne, the evangelist, came to hold special
service. see him now as he stood in tho
,l.~.A D-f- h. a.n1 10 fAvrf md
before he had uttered a word of his sermon
strong men wept aloud, and it was like the
lay OF Judgment. 1t was the Holy Ghost.
In 1857 the electric telegraph bore strange
messages. One of them read, "My dear pa
rents will rejoice to hear that | have found
peace with God" Another read, "Dear
mother, the work continues, and l, too, have
been converte&." Another read, "At last
faith and peace" In Vermont religious
meeting was singing the hymn, "Waiting and
Il