News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1899-02-15
Some Timely Thoughts.

! upon the church PRAYER meeting,
condition which nearly all churches
at some time or another find them
selves in. AS a pertinent starting
point Mr.. Kellogg took the scripture
which reads in part, "When the day
! of PentecOst was fully come they were
found all together in one place, " etc.
The speaker, claiming this gathering
referred to in the text to be a prayer
meeting, spoke to some extent upon
the modern prayer-meetiug, the
source of much helpfullness to every
church organization and all its mem
bership.
Prayer, said he, is, was and ever
will be the condition of blessings,
PentecOstal PRAYER meetings quite
always precede Pentecostal preach
ing. Poor sermons are sometimes
due to poor, unappreciative hearers
the congregation does half the
preaching. Spiritual deafness is the
direct result of neglected prayer
meetings. AS a church we here are
not making as much of the PRAYER
meeting as we ought. Too many
are seldom seen in the pr0yer-meeC-
ing. say this in all kindness and
not directed to any particular iudi-
viduals. This ought not SO to be,
the church suffers and each and every
absentee suffers. BY the text We see
chat they were all together in one
pl- ce, all the Christian people in
Jerusalem were present at that typ.
ical New Testament prayer,meeting.
What is the matter with the aver
age modern prayPr-meeting? Too
much bench, too little people, too
many members conspicuous by their
absence. Would that we could see
all the members of this church in the
prayer-meeting. Would that We
might have the enthusiasm and the
inspiration of the elbow touch! This
meeting of the text was an accordant
praper-meeting, they were with one
accord prasing God. People who
meet and pray together will not long
be estraDged; spiritually we are too
much strangers.
Here the pastor dwelt upon that
spirit and those conditions which,
if prevailing, would do away with
and take the place Of The long
prayers, the long speeches, and the
still longer and more painful pauSps,
would stop the falling Of the temper
allure and awaken the sO-Callpd dull
ness, and it would be found possible
to have a prayeI-meetlnE Ike unto
that of old, when all are to be found
together and of one accord in one
place. | hear one say, oh | don't
know, | don't care to 90 10 the
prayer-meetings, they are so Gull
What are you doing TO make the
prayer meeting something else than
dull? We ought to be anxious
enough for the welfare of our church
and ourselves to make every effort
to make it the Holy Ghost prayer
meeting that it may and should be.
True prayer is promise pleading; we
give too much thought to the word
ing of our pleading, more than to
our needs themselves, that for which
we pray. Earnestness of purpose is
first, never mind how we express it.
There are many people who think
| prayer does not amount to much.
Here the speaker referred to the
| painting "Angelus, representing
silent prayer, which even France,
infidel as she is thought, paid such a
fabulous price to retain. He also
touched briefly on Paul's words as
to the women, which he said Con.
gragatiOnalists ia common with
Prpsbyterians and others had long
since made up their minds they had
been misnterpreting. From the
words following the part of the text
given, he believed that there was a
common vocal expression OF prayer
and of testimony by the women
as by the men in those days
and that surely women took
part in that Pentecostal service. We
need woman's help in our prayer,
meeting. we want the spiritual uplift
of the prayers of the mothers in
Israel. Let us return to the New
Testament type of prayer meeting,
let the paddock placed on the lips Of
woman be unlocked and the key
thrown away, let us gather all of US
together in one place remembering
the words, IF We ask, ye shall re-
ceive." Rev. Mr.. Kellogg conducted
an evening preaching service in the
vestry.
| w. G. 4. U.
The National w. C.. u. L. recon-