The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-03-27

glad that father and mother arc 20
gether in Heaven, and they will be
waiting to greet MS, and it will be
only little while anyhow, and God
makes no mistakes" Or you solilo-
quize, saying: 1T is hard to lose nv
property. am sure / worked hard
enough for it. But God will take care
OF MS, and, as to the children, the mon
ey might have spoiled them, and we find
that those who have to struggle for
themselves generally turn out best,
and 1T will all be we'll if this upsettinp
OF our worldly resources leads us to
lay up treasures in Heaven" Or YOU
soliloquise, saying: ut was hard to
give up that boy when the Lord took
him. expected 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 splendid fell
low! But then what an escape he has
made from the temptations and sor-
rows 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 drawing Heaven.
ward that we could not otherwise
have experienced" And after you
have said that you get that relief
which comes from an outburst of tears.
do not say to you, as some say, do
not cry. God pity people in trouble
who have the parched eyeball and dry
eyelid and can not shed tear. That
makes maniacs. To Gods people tears
are the dew of the night dashed with
sunshine. l am so glad you can weep.
But you think these things you say to
yourself are only soliloquies. No, no;
they are the Comforter who is the
Holy Ghost.
Notice also the Holy Ghost as the
preachers reinforcement You and |
have known preachers encyclopedia in
knowledge, brilliant as an iceberg
when the sun smites it, and with Ches-
terfeldian address and rhetorical hand
uplifted with diamond big enough to
dazzle an assembly and so surcharged
with vocabulary that when they left
this life it might be said of each of
them as De Quincy said of another
that in the act Of dying he committed
a robbery, absconding with valuable
polyglot dictionary, yet no awakening
or converting or sanctifying result,
while some plain man, with humblest
phraseology, has seen audiences whelm-
ed with religious influence. 1t was
the Holy Ghost. What useful
thing it would be if every minis
ter would give the history of his SER
mohs! Years ago at an outdoor meet
ing in the state of New York preached
to many thousands. There had been
much prayer on the grounds for great
outpouring of the Holy Ghost at that
service, and the awakening power ex-
ceeded anything ever witnessed since
l began to preach, with perhaps the ex-
ception of two or three occasions Cler-
gymen and Christian workers by the
score and hundreds expressed them
selves as having been blessed
during the. service. That after
noon l took the train for an out
door meeting in the state of Ohio, where
l 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, l resolved to re-
produce it, and did reproduce it as far
as l could, but the result was nothing
at all. Never had l seemed to have
anything to do with fatter failure.
What was the difference between the
two services? 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 favor
able in the last. The difference was in
the power of the Holy Ghost-mightily
present at the first service, not SEEM
ingly present at all at the second. l
call upon the ministers of America to
give the history of sermons, for 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 our churches in Brooklyn, at the
morning services, 32S souls stood up to
profess Christ They were the con-
verts in the Brooklyn Academy of Mu-
sic, where we had been worshiping.
The reception of SO many members
and many of them baptized by
made it an ar
duous service, which continued
from half past 10 in the morning
until half past 2 in the after
noon. From that service we went
home exhausted, because there is
SO exhausting as deep emo
ton. A messenger was sent out to
obtain preacher for that night, but
the search was unsuccessful, as all the
ministers were engaged for some other
place. With no preparation at all for
the evening service, except the looking
in Cruden's Concordance for text and
feeling almost too weary to stand up,
began the service, saying audibly
while the opening song was being
sung, although because of the singing
no one but God heard it. 80 Lord,
thou knowest my insuficiency for
this service! Come down in gracious
power upon this people, The place
was shaken 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
hear it, all Christian work
ers. Itwas the Holy Ghost aastf