The Yale expositor., 1896-01-24

other actor, in awful blasphemy, dipped
Gellacius, pronouncing over him the
words, II baptiZe thee in the name OF
the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost" But coming forth from the bur-
lesqued baptism, he looked changed
and was changed, and he cried OFT to
the audience, Il am Christian; / win
die as Christian" Though he was
dragged out and stoned to death, they
could not drown the testimony made
under such awful circumstances, Il am
Let the redeemed of the Lord say co."
What confirmation would come il
all who had answers to prayers would
| speak out! If all merchants in tight
! places because of hard times would tell
| how, in response to duplication, they
got the money to pay the note. II all
| farmers in time of drought would tell
how, in answer to prayer, the rain came
| just in time to save the crop. IL all
| parents who prayed for n wandering
son to come home would tell how, not
long after, they heard the boys hand on
the latch of the front door.
There fingers on this side of the river
that divides earth and heaven, ready
at any time to cross over, the apostle Of
prayer for this century, jeremiah Cal
vim Lanphier, the founder of the Full
ton Street Prayer Meeting, and If he
should put on his spectacles and read
this, salute him as more qualified than
any man since Bible times in demon
strating what prayer can do. Dear
Brother Lanphier The high heavens
are full of his fame. Having announced
a meeting for IL o'clock, September %,
1857, he sat in the upper room on Fulton
street, New York, waiting for people to
| come. He waited for half hour, and
| then a foot fall was heard on the steps,
and after awhile in all six persons ar
rived; but the next day twenty, and the
next day forty, and from that time TO
this, for over thirty-eight years, every
day, Sabbath excepted, that Fulton
Street Prayer Meeting has been place
where people have asked prayer and
answers to prayers have been an
nounced, and the throb OF that great
|
only in the heavens, but clear around
the world, more than any spot on earth.
That has been the place where the re-
deemed of the Lord said so.
Let the same outspokenness be en-
ployed toward those by whom we have
been personally advantaged. We wait
until they are dead before we say so.
Your parents have planned for your
best interests all these years. They
may sometimes, their nervous system
used up by the cares, the losses, the
disappointments, the worriments of life,
be more irritable than they ought to be,
and they probably have faults which
have become oppressive as the years go
by. But those eyes, long before they
took on spectacles, were watching for
! your welfare, and their hands, not as
smooth and much more deeply lined
than once, have done for you many a
| good days work. Life has been for
them more Of a struggle than you will
ever know about, and much of the
struggle has been for you, and how
much they are wrapped up in your well
fare you will never appreciate. Have
you by word or gift or behavior eX-
pressed your thanks? Or if you cannot
quite get up to say it face to face, have
you written it in some holiday saluta-
ton? The time will soon pass and they
will be gone out of your sight, and their
ears will not hear and their eyes will
not see. If you owe them any kindness
of deed or any words of Appreciation
why do you not say SO? How much we
might all of us save ourselves in the
matter of regrets if we do not delay
until too late an expression of obliga-
ton that would have made the last
years of earthly life more attractive.
The grave is deaf, and epitaphs on cold
marble cannot make reparation.
There are hundreds of ministers who
have hard work to make sermons be-
cause no one expresses any apprecia-
ton. They are afraid of making him
vain. The moment the benediction is
pronounced they turn On their heels
and go out. Perhaps 1t was subject
on which he had put especial pains. He
sought for the right text, and then did
his best to put the old thought into
some new shape. He had prayed that
it might go to the hearts Of the peo-
pie. He had added to the argument
the most vivid illustrations he could
think of. He had delivered all with
, power that left him nervously OK
hausted. Five hundred people may
have been blessed with it, and resolved
upon a higher life and nobler purpose.
Yet all he hears is the clank of the
pew door, or the shutting of feet in
the aisle, or some remark about the
weather, the last resort of inanity.
Why did not that man come up and
say frankly, You have done me
good?" Why did not some woman
come up and say, Il shall go home to
take up the burden of life more cheer
fully?" Why did not some professional
man come up and say, THANK you,
dominic, for that good advice. / will
take it, God bless YOU" Why cid
they not tell him so? / have known
ministers, in the nervous reaction that
comes to some after the delivery of
| eorp,on with M coop,ipo tacuJt IN on