Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-03-30
TOUCHED AS BY FIRE.
REV. DIR. TALMAGE breaches IN NEW
YORK ON THE HOLY GHOST.

REV. DIR. TALMAGE breaches IN NEW
YORK ON THE HOLY GHOST.
Another Great ThronS Turned Away From
the Academy Of Mnsic--The wonderful
Power of tho omnipotent Holy Ghost.
Tongues of Fire.
NV YORK, March "a When DIR.
Talmage assembled tho platform of the
Academy Of Iasie this afternoon, be
faced an audience quito as largo as any
that had assembled in the great build
ing since these services began, while
several thousand others were outside I'M
able to secure seats or even standing
room. lie took for his subject Tongues
of Fire, " tho text selected being Acts
xix. 2, Have ye received tho Holy
Ghosts'
Tho word ghost, which means soul,
or spirit, has been degraded i'll common
parlance We talk of ghosts as baleful
and frightful and in a frivolous or su-
perstitious way. But my text speaks of
q Ghost who is omnipotent and divine
and everywhere present and 81 times in
the New Testament called the Holy
Ghost. Tho only time l ever heard this
text preached from was in the opening
days OF my ministry, when Il glorious old
Scotch minister came up to help lac in
my village church. On tho day of my
ordination and installation he said, IF
you get into the corner of Saturday
night without enough sermons for Sun
day, send for me, and will comu and
preach for you. Tho fact ought to be
known that tho first three years of pas
tors life are appallingly arduous No
other profession makes the twentieth
part of the demand on young man. If
@ secular speaker prepares one or two
speeches for political campaign, it is
considered arduous. Ii Il lecturer pre-
pares enc lecture for a year, he is
thought to have done well. But a young
pastor has two sermons to deliver every
Sabbath before the Same audience, be-
sides all his other work, and the most of
ministers never recover from the awful
nervous strain of the first three years
Be sympathetic with all young ministers
and withhold yonr criticisms.
The Holy Ghost.
My aged Scotch friend responded to
my first call and came and preached
from the text that | now announce.
remember nothing but the text 1t was
the last sermon he ever preached. On
the following Saturday he was called
to his heavenly reward. But | remem-
Der just how he appeared as, leaning
over the pulpit, he looked into the face
/ of the audience, and with earnestness
and pathos and electric force asked
them, in the words of my text, Have
We received tho Holy Ghost?'i The Office
CT this present discourse is to open a
door, to unveil Parsonage, to intro,
duce force not sufficiently recognized.
He is as great as God. He is God The
second verse Of the first chapter of the
Bible introduces him-Genesis i, 2.
The Spirit of God moved upon the face
OF the waters that is, as an albatross
or eagle spreads her wings over her
young and warns them into life and
teaches til m to fly, so the Eternal Spirit
spread his great, broad, radiant wings
over this earth in its cailow and I'M
tledgod state and warmed it into life
and fluttered over it and set it winging
its way through immensely. 1t is the
tip top of all beautiful and sublime sug-
gestiveness. Can you not almost SEQ the
outspread wings over the nest of young
worlds? '"Tho Spirit of God moved upon
the face Of the waters. -
/ Another appearance of the Holy Ghost
was at Jerusalem during a great feast
Strangers speaking II different Ian
guages wero present from many parts
of the world But in one house they
heard what seemed like the coming of
cyclone or hurricane. it made the
trees bend and the houses quake The
cry was what is that" And then a
forked flame of fire tipped each fore
head, and what with the blast of wind
and the dropping fire panic took place,
until Peter explained that it was neither
/ cyclone nor confiagration, but the bril-
lance and amounting aud baptismal pow
er of the Holy Ghost.
That scene was partially repeated in
a forest when Rev. John Easton was
preaching. There was the sound of q
rushing, mighty wind, and the people
looked to the sky to see if there were
any signs of storm, but it was a clear
sky, yet the sound of the wind was so
great that horses, frightened, broke loose
from their fastenings, and the whole as
sembiy felt that the sound was supernat-
ural and pentecostal Oh, what an in
finite and almighty and glorious person
age is the Holy Ghostl He brooded this
planet into life, and now that through
sin it has become dead world he will
brood it the second time into life. Peril
GUS attempt would be a comparison be-
tween the three persons of the Godhead.
They are equal, but there is some con-
sideration which attaches itself to the
third person of the Trinity, the Holy
1 Ghost, that does not attach itself to oi-
ther God the Father or God the Son. We
may grieve God the Father and grieve
God the Son and be forgiven, but we are
directly told that there is sin against
the Holy Ghost which shall never be
forgiven either in this world or in The
world to come. And it is wonderful
that while on the street you hear the
name of God and Jesus Christ used in
profanity you never hear tho words
Holy Ghost. This hour | speak of the
Holy Ghost as Biblical interpreter, as
a human constructor, as a solace for the
broken hearted, as a preachers re-en-
forcement.
Better Than Concordance.
The Bible is mass of contradictions,
an affirmation of impossibilities, unless
the Holy Ghost helps US to understand
it, The Bible says of itself that the
Scripture is not for private interpre.
tation, but holy men of God spake
as they We're moved by the Holy Ghost
that is, not private Interpretation. but
Holy Ghost Interpretation. Pile on your
study table all the commentaries Of the
BibIe-Matthew Henry and Scott and
Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes and
Bush and Alexander. and all the archm-