The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-07
PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
1t Was Inspiring, and the Reports for
Year We're Very Encouraging.

Mcdonald, of Altoona and Treasurer
Raymore, of Erie. respectively deliver
ed and read by those officers at each
OF the three places of meeting. are
here reproduced. President McCrory
said:
The name that distinguishes us from all
other kinds of endeavor We derive from
the one man of our race who was supreme
ly. utterly possessed and inspired by
been as MOsea Elijah Pau ahd nffs Matn %
Luther. who were nightly moved, but
Jesus Christ was literally consumed, by
this divine passion. His blood was hot
with 1t; His very bones We're on fire with
IT.: His brain, His affections, His whole
being pulsated with the passion for the
supremacy of righteousness and truth in
the earth. To deserve the name at all,
therefore, we must bear some likeness to
Jesus Christ In moral earnestness, in FER
vor and ardor of soul. in all our endeavorS;
But in this, as in every other point OF
likeness to ohr Master, We have to confess
our short-coming' and say with the apos,
tie, mot as though | had already attained
either were alreadyperfect," but like Him
we ought also to protest, But this one
thing | do" II follow after If may ap-
prehend that for which. also | am ap.
to you, at the end of another year, from
my place in the watch. tower l rejoice to
be able to testify that, TO the best of my
knowledge and belief, there is very dis
deavor fellowship in this supreme grace
of the Christian life, moral earnestncss.
You see l call this the supreme
grace of the Christian life. for as
is the sign and fruit, of the indwelling
Of the Holy Ghost" and that is the life
and soul, the sum and substance of the
Christian .graces,. The one thing that Is
church of Jesus Christ is the fullness of
the Holy Spirit in every heart, in every
congregation. in every branch of our
blessed fellowship and in the whole, wide
kingdom, of God on this earth. Give us 4
church filled with the Holy Spirit and
the time will have come when the angels
of heaven will join with sons and dau2h.
ters of earth In that great. glad burst OF
song which Is ito usher in the millenial
reign of our glorious King. To speak,
therefore, on the deepening moral earn
estness of our fellowship is to direct your
attention to what may term the practical
baptism of the Holy Spirit There is an
immense amount of vagueness in our
thinking on this subject of the baptism of
the Holy Spirit and l have selected this
form of expression in the hope that ! may
help some of my earnest fellow endeaVor-
ers to a clearer and more joyful appre-
hension of great and absolutely essen
tial truth. And now may the Spirit very
graciously breathe upon us while We con-
slider this theme for a few minutes and SO
prepare us the better at the very begin
ming of this convention for receiving and
impartng great grace in this city.
THE PRACTICAL OUTCOME.
I. Permit me first of all to point
out the fact that the practical outcome
of the baptism by the Holy Spirit is moral
earnestness. ! say Christians get in.
fused over this matter of the baptism of
the Spirit and ask What will the Spirit
do for me?' rs there anything tangible
may count on in the event | am really en-
dued with this power from on high?' They
say, "The athlete gets enlarged and
strengthened muscle by his exercise; the
musician gets acuteness of ear and deli
cacy of touch from practice. but what does
one get from the enduement of the Holy
Spirlt?" There are three things. | be-
leve, one may absolutely count on as re-
suits of the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
and they are essential to efficiency in
Christian work and combine to produce
moral earnestneSs.
First-There is the enduring experience
of the saving power of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. one must be conscious in his very
soul of the power of Christ to save unto
the uttermost before he can witness to
that fact. Multitudes of sincere Chris
tians do not possess that conviction, or.
rather, to put it more accurately, are not
possessed by that conviction. They know
that Jesus is able TO save. They can stand
up before men and testify that they firm
ly, thoroughly believe that doctrine of the
Holy Word. They can go to the unsaved.
even the most wicked and ungodly men.
and tell them with all sincerity that if
they will put their trust In Jesus Christ
He will save them. But with all their
sincerity and all their confidence in the
truth of the word of God and of teh saving
power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. they
lack something and mostly. they feel they
lack something to give to their testimony
that quality that carries with it convic-
ton. Is not this true? Are there not hun
dreds who hear me tonight who can bear
witness to the truth of what am saying:
Then sometimes we set about trying 10
find some explanation for tina lack of con-
vction. We think it may be because we
have not had the experience. We have
not been great sinners, blasphemers,
drunkards, intidels or anything of that
kind. and, hence, have not experienced the
wondrous saving power of grace a Saul
of Tarsus or Jerry McCauley has eX-
perienced. and so cannot TESTIFY with the
depth of conviction as to the saving power
of Jesus Christ they feel. But | tell you
that is not the trouble. The conviction
we need is wrought by the power of the
Holy Spirit-a confidence of the saving
might of the Son of God begotten in the
soul by the Spirit of God-so that one can
go out and with the utmost assurance,
and with the feeling that the testimony
he bears has in the element that carries
conviction. point Thea worst of men to
Jesus for eternal life. Without this con-
yiction, however vehemently one may as
sert the truth that Jesus is able to save,
his words will not be with power and in
the demonstration of the Spirit. But with
this confidence of soul there is II moral
earnestness in his testimony for Christ
that can neither be gainsaid nor resisted
This Is practical. tangible result of the
enduement of the Spirit. The one who
possesses it knows that he is speaking not
with the mere intellectual certain that a
belief in the word of God inspires, but
with the assurance that the Holy Ghost
inspires. He who is thus moved must
needs be morally earnest, and as the Spirit
a,,ta hn tt.,l.l Nt li-fn
getting possession of his entire being he
will grow in moral earnestness until 1t
will be come, as it was in his Master, an
all-consuminS passion.
RESULT OF BAPTISM.
Second-The second practical result of
the baptism of the Spirit and an element
essential to efficiency in the Masters SER
vice and an ingredient. moreover in moral
carnestness, is the experience of the bl -
he heart of the one who would efficiently
testify for Christ before men an abiding
sense of the blessedness of salvation.
This must be the normal experience of his
spiritual life and not the experience of
some supreme moment of spiritual ecsta-
cy. One must know what it is to have sal
walton as well of water springing up
unto. eternal life within his own soul he
fore he can offer the water of life to any
poor sinful Samaritan in a way that will
elicit the earnest, yearning cry, "Sir, give
me this water You may tell me If you
want to that the Christian is not to depend
on feeling or emotion, and | will agree
with you, but | will tell you, also, that
when one is baptized by the Holy Spirit
he will speak with an JUNCTION. an earn
estness and sensiblity that is difficult to
counterfeit and that cannot be dispensed
with in efficient witness bearing for Jesus
Christ. Yes, and not only will the joy of
salvation be manifest in the speech. but,
also. in the countenance the hand grasp
and in the whole attitude of it's possessor
toward his fellowmen. To be morally
earnest and to witness efficiently for Jesus
Christ it may not be necessary that one
have a part in some glorious pentecost
where he has heard as it were the sound
as of a rushing. mighty wind and has felt
the touch of lambent tongues of fire upon
his consecrated brow, but 1t is necessary
that he possess an abiding sense of the
blessedness Of salvation; and this attain
ment Is to be made through the baptism of