Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-03-29

anyhow, and God makes no mistakes.
Or you soliloquize, saying: 1T is hard
to lose my property. i am sure j worked
hard enough for it, But God will take
care of us, and. as to the children, the
money might have spoiled them, and we
find that those who have 10 struggle for
themselves generally turn out BEST
and it will all be we'll if this upsetting
of our worldly resources leads us TO lay
mp treasures in heaven. Or yo1 soliio'
quize, saying, 1T was hard to give mp
that boy when the Lord took him. / ex-
pected great things Of him, and, on, how
we miss him out of the house, and there
are so many things l 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 tempta-
tions and sorrows which come to all
who grow up, and it is grand thingtC
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 heavenward that
We could not have otherwise expert
enced." 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 peo-
pie in trouble who have the parched eye
ball and the dry eyelid and cannot shed
a tear. That makes maniacs To Gods
people tears are the dews Of the night
dashed with sunrise. 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
Help TO the Preacher.
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 Chesterfield
ian address and rhetorical hand uplifted
with diamond big enough TO dazzle All
assembly and so surcharged with yocab-
ulary 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, abscond-
ing with valuable polyglot dictionary,
vet no awakening or converting or sane
tifying result, while some plain man,
with humblest phraseology, has seen
audiences whelmed with religious infu-
ence. It was the Holy Ghost What
useful thing it would be if every minis
ter would give the history OF his SER
mons! 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 a great
outpouring of the Holy Ghost at that
service and the awakening power ex-
ceeded anything | ever witnessed since
| began to preach, with perhaps the ex-
ception Of two or three occasions. Cler'
Qymen and Christian workers by the
score and hundreds expressed themselves
as having been blessed during the sery-
ice. That afternoon took the train for
an outdoor meeting III the state OF ONO,
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 re-
produce il, and did reproduce 1t as far as
could, but the result was nothing at
all Never had l seemed TO have any
thing to do with fiatter failure. What
was the difference between the two sery-
ices? Some will say, "You were tired
with long journey. No, | was not
tired at all. Some will say, The tenn
poral 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. | call upon the
ministers Of America TO give the history
of sermons, for / believe it will Illus
trate as nothing else can the truth OF
that Scripture, mot 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 service, S2s souls stood up to
profess Christ. They were the converts
in the Brooklyn Academy Of Music,
where we had been worshiping The re-
ception Of SO many nembers-and many
of them baptized by immersion-had
made it an arduous service, which con-
tinued from half past 10 in the morn
ing until half past in in the after
noon. From that service we went
home exhausted, because there Is
nothing so exhausting as deep emo
ton. A messenger was sent out to
obtain a preacher for that night, but
the search was unsuccessful, as all the
ministers were engaged for some other
place. With no preparation at all Tor
the evening service, except the looking
in Cruden's Concordance for text and
feeling almost too weary to stand up, L
began the service, saying audibly while
the opening song was being sung, al
though because of the singing no one but
God heard it: 80 Lord, thou knowest
my insufficiency for this service! Come
down in gracious power upon this peo-
pie" The place was shaken with the dl-
vine presence. AS far as we could hnd
out, over 400 persons were converted
that night. Hear it, all young men en-
tering the ministry; hear it, ali Chris
tian workers. 1t was the Holy 6iost
In the Second Reformed church OF
Somerville, n. j., in my boyhood days
Mr.. Osborne, the evangelist, came to
hold a special service see him now as
hs stood in the pulpit Before he an
nounced his text and before he had ut
tered a word Of his sermon strong men
wept aloud, and it was like the day OF
Judgment. Ii was the Holy Ghost.
A Wonderful Power.
In 1857 the electric telegraph bore
strange messages. One OF them read.
my dear parents will rejoice to hear
that | have found peace with God.
Another read, Dear Mother. the work
continues, and /, too, have been convert
ed. 4" Another read, "At last faith and
peace. " In Vermont religious meeting
was singing the hymn, Waiting ana
Watching For Me-" The song rolled
o..s -, tho pioht air and a man halted