Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-05-09

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God, if they do not submit, they at
least cease to openly defy Him, and
are disposed to respect the Word
which He makes quick and powerful,
and the Church made glorious by His
manifested presence
This sense Of the Divine presence
is even now often apparent in local
reyivals. The Church is favored with
these in many places, some OF them
of very striking character. But even
the most marked of these revivals
fail to make noticeable impressions
GA the multitude of non-churchgolng
people who are to be found in all our
large cities. They gather IN the chill
dren of Christians, and make converts
Of many heretofore mere hearers OF
the Gospel At this latter line their
effects mostly cease. The anti-Chrs-
tian masses, the thousands to whom
the Gospel is as unknown a sound as
it is to men in heather lands, are left
to wallow undistributed in their gross
sius aud dangerous errors. Evidently
something more than such local re-
yivals is needed in the present crisis.
What is it,
Manifestly the need Of the times IS
a modern Pentecost, new Reforma-
ton, another time of refreshing kin
dred to that which gave birth to Meth
odism, vast outpouring of the Holy
Ghost upon whose communities,
spreading like rivers of water over
every part Of the country-such a
manifestation of the spirit as would
spread from lhnumerable centers,
beget agencies hitherto unthought OF
for giving the Gospel to what the
church now guilty regards as the
unreachable portions of our city pop
ulatione, to men of all languages, to
Socialists, to unbelievers of every
type, and even to Romanists, whom
the Church is at present content to
abandon to the cruel tender mercies
Of a misleading priesthood. This,
even this, is the great, the grand, the
merciful visitation from on high re-
CURED to beat back the powers OF
eternal darkness and to prevent the
seeds Of communism and proleta-
rian demagoglsm from growing into
the upas of mob violence and social
revolution. Before such a manifesto
ton of the Spirit the false theories of
the socialistic propagendism, the in
Justice of the rich, and the violence Of
reckless laborers, would drop from
the multitudes like ragged garments,
inaamuch as these being the out
growth Of unbrldled selfism, the in
PRODUCTION Of the unselhsh life Of the
Gospel into mems hearts would sup
plant them in root and branch.
Is such a general, such an epoch
making revival as this within reach Of
the Christian Church? Let that
Christian man who thinks it IS not,
read carefully the Masters assurance
that God is more willing to give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask him than
parents are to give good things to their
children let him duly heed Christ's
promise to send another Comforter"
whose province it should be ito con-
vict (R. V the oUorld of SIM" Let
him also weigh the divine command
to the Church, BE ye filed with the
Spirit" and then ask his heart the
question, "Do l dare affirm that such
revival is not within reach of the
Christian Church of American
Nay, he will not dare to make this
affirmation because he sees it conflicts
with Gods words. Neither, perhaps,
will be dare to confidently affirm that
it is within her reach, because, look
ing on the past history Of the Church,
he sees but one Pentecost, one grand
Reformation like Luther's, and only
one spiritual visitation as great as
that OF the last century. But he also
sees many minor revivals which die
not become general. Therefore, he
reasons, the minor local revival ii
Gods general method; the wide
sweeping work is the act of divine
sovereignty, not placed within reacl
of the praying hand of the Church
but wrought only when and where III
pleases.
But this reasoning is set aside b,
} the fact that Jesus placed Pentecost