The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-03-28

| Next consider the Holy Ghost as n human
reconstruction. We must be made over again.
| Christ and Nicodemus talked about IL.
Theologians call It regeneration. I do not
care what you call II, but we have to be re-
constructed by the Holy Ghost. We become
new creatures, hating what we once loved
and loving what we once hated. II sin were
| n luxury. II must become n detestation. III
we preferred bad associations. we must pre-
| Ter good associations. In most cases II is
such complete change that the world
notices the difference and begins TO ask:
| what has come over that man? Whom has
he been with2 What has so affected him?
What has ransacked his entire nature?
What has turned him square about2" Take
two pictures of Paul-one on the road 10
| Damascus to kill the disciples OF Christ the
other on the road to Ostia TO die for Christ.
Come nearer home and look nj the man who
found his chief delight in low class OF club
| rooms, hiccoughing around a card table and
then stumbling down the front steps after
midnight and staggering homewnrd. and that
| same man, one week afterward. with his
family on the way to prayer meeting.
What has done 1t? II must be something
| tremendous II must be God. IL must be
Notice the Holy Ghost IA tho solaccr OF
| broken hearts. Christ calls Him the
Comforter. Nothing does the world 80 much
want rs comfort. The most people have
been abused, misrepresented. cheated, lied
u
balsam for the wounds lantern for dark
roads. rescue from maligning pursuers. q
lit from the marble slab Of tombstones. Life
&c most has been a somifailure. They have
not got whnt they wanted. They have not
reached that witch they started for. Friends
betray. Chaf.ye OF business stand loses old
custom and does not bring enough custom
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, II | should AJAX all those who
have been unhurt In tho strnggle OF
life to stand up, or oil standing to hold
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 bcstead. He
assures OF mercy mingled with the seventies
He consoles with thoughts ofcominG release
He tells of n heaven where tear Is never wept
and burden Is never carried and injustice Ia
never suffered. Comfort for all the young
people who are maltreat,d 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. Comfort
for these aged ones amid many infrmities
an who feel themselves TO be In the way in
tablished with their own grit.
The Holy Ghost comfort. | think. general
ly comes in the shape OF soliloquy. You
find yourself saying to yourself; well, |
ought not to go on this way about my
mothers death. She had suffered enough.
She had borne other peoples burdens long
enough. am glad that father and mother
are together in heaven, and they will be
waiting to greet us, and Ii will be only lit
tie while anyhow. and God makes no mis-
takes" Or you soliloquize. saying: at is
hard to lose my property. l am sure |
worked hard enough for IL. 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 to struggle for
themselves generally turn out best, and II
will all be we'll II this upsetting OF our world
iy resources leads Us to lay up treasures in
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 n splendid fellow
But then what an escape he has made from
the temptations and sorrows which come 10
all who grow up, and Il Is grand thing 10
have him safe from all possible harm. and
there are all those Bible promises for parents
who have lost children, and wa shall feel a
drawing heavenward that we could not have
said that you get that relief which comes
, from an outburst Of tears l do not say 70
/ you, as some say, do not cry. God Pity peo-
, pie in trouble who have the parched eyebal
and the dry eyelid and cannot shed tear.
That makes maniacs To Gods people tear
are the dews OF the night dashed with sun
rise. l AN 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 have knowr
preachers encyclopedia In knowledge, brill
liant rs an iceberg when the sun smites IL
aud with Chasterfieldian address ant
, rhetorical hand uplifted with diamond biz
enough TO dazzle an assembly and so sur
charged with vocabulary that when they lef
, this life il might be said OF eachsof them n,
De Quincy said Of another that In the act o
, dying he committed u robbery, absconding
, with a valuable polyglot dictionary. yet NJ
, awakening or converting or sanctifying re
suit, while some plain man. with humbles
a phraseology, has seen audiences whelmec
with religious influence. IL was the Hol,
Ghost. What IA useful thing 1t would be 1
! every minister would give the history OF hi
sermonsi Years ago at an outdoor meetins
, in the State OF New York l preached
; TO many thousands. There had been muci
. prayer on the grounds for a great outpouring
/ Of the Holy Ghost at that service and tn,
"a
4 witnessed since began TO preach, with per
haps the exception OF two or three occasions
7 Clergymen and Christian workers by tn,
score and hundreds expressed themselves a
: having been blessed during the service
/ That afternoon took the train for an out
door meeting in the State OF Ohio, whore
a was to preach on the night OF the next day
As the sermon had proved so useful the day
before aud the theme was fresh In my mind
= | resolved 10 reproduce ii. and did reproduc'
!; II as far ~ could, but the result was nothinl
A at all. Never had l seemed to have any
thing TO do with hatter failure. Wha
: : was the difference between the two serv
: ices? Some will say, "You were tired with
+. long journey" No, | was not tired at all
i Some will say, "The temporal circumstance
!. in the iirst case Were more favorable than II
: the last" No, they were more favorable II
/, the last. The difference was In the power o
, the Holy Ghost-nightily present at the frs
service, not seemingly present at all ut tn
a second. call upon the ministers OF Aneri
~ | loa t, oil Va ha Of Tor \ ka