The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-11-14
"DAN|EL PURPOSED
IN HIS HEART"
An Effective Sermon by Mr..
Stuart Last Night.
HIS THINE "cHARACTFRN
HIS THEME "CHARACTER"
At Morning Service BE Talked Of EFF.
fectual Faith"
LARGE CROWDS HEAR HIM AT NIGHT
"DanieI Preserved His Integrity and as a Re-
suit, Was During -Four Dynasties
the First in the KiEgdom,
Said Mr.. Stuart,

Rev. George Stuart, the evangelist, is
an evangelist of wisdom and power.
went to hear him yesterday morning. File
began to a rather small congregation at
Edenton Street Methodist church, but be-
fore he had finished that large church
was full, and there were men present, too,
by the score. OF course the women out
numbered the men. They always do in
good work in good places.
Mr.. Stuart has a style that is original.
There is some QuaintnesS of expression
now and then that suggests Sam Jones,
with whom he has. preached a long time,
but there is a sweetness, a drawing you
near-ness, so to speak, that is not like
anybody but Mr.. Stuart. He has action"
a plenty he has incidents in abundance;
he has wit and humor that has no trace
rof coarseness; he knows men, and the
secrets that move them; but the thing
that makes him hold the attention from
first to last is his vital Faith.
=-. Now Faith is the substance of the gos-
pei, and yet how often do you so to
church and hear a preacher deliver the
truth in manner that gave you an i'm
preston of his vital Faith. The differ
ence between successful preacher and
an unsuccessful one is this: The success
full preacher makes you feel that he is
delivering message that he must deliver,
and one that you must hear and must
heed. The unsuccessful one delivers a
message that he believes himself. nc
doubt, but does not believe it in that all
absorbing and pervading way that keeps
the man on the back seat in the church
from going to sleep.
You can't sleep while Mr.. Stuart is
preaching. You just can't. He holds you
so that you follow him and feel that you
are an awful sinner unless you take his
advice. Yesterday morning he talked
about asking God to give something with
out believing He would answer prayer. l
did not get there soon enough to hear
his text. But that doesn't matter. Mr..
Stuart is no preacher of the thirdly and
fourthly order, and you can drop in at
the middle of his sermon and get enough
of plain gospel truth without feeling that
you have lost the thread of the discourse
because you missed the land secondly,
my brethren" Every part of his sermon
glows and uplifts and warns and makes
you say: 81 ought to be better man.
Now my definition of good preaching is
this: Does it make you feel like you
ought to do better and quit your mean
ness? If so, it is good preaching, nc
matter what it lacks; if not, it is poor
preaching, no matter how able. BY this
test Evangelist Stuart measures up to the
highest measure of the good preacher.
But to come back to his subject. He
was urging men and women to believe
that God would answer their prayers. He
said he knew many folks who would gel
on their knees and ask God to give then
a certain thing, and get up and go of
never expecting an answer to their petit
ton. Did you ever think about that
Well, if you had heard the way Evangelist
Stewart illustrates that idea, yor
wouldn't forget it soon. And you wouldn' I
want to forget the way he leads along tt
the mountain-top of his sermon when he
shows the difference between a Vita
Faith that believes in God and a weak
Faith that expects no fulfillment Of His
promises.
There's another thing like about
Evangelist Stuart. He is fond of quot
ing John Bunyon and the characters in
Pilgrims Progress. There's marrow in
every line of Bunyon's book, and there S
true religion in the homely characters
that went along the old and narrow way
to the Celestial City. A preacher who
has studied and lived with John Bunyor