Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-03-29

Iney would not nave nau any ming W w
with that which was ephermera!. Oh, 1T
is easy to talk against revivals.
A man said to Mr.. Dawson: II like
your sermons very much but the after
meetings l despise. When the PRAYER
meeting begins, L always 60 up in the
gallery and look down, and L am dis
gusted." "Well," said Mr.. Dawson, 'the
reason is you go on the top OF your neigh.
boris house and look down his chimney
to examine his fire, and of course you
only get the smoke in your eyes. Why
don't you come in the door and sit down
and warm"
Oh, | am afraid to say anything against
revivals of religion or against ANYTHING
that looks like them. because ] think it
may be sin against the Holy Ghost, and
you know the Bible says that sin
against the Holy Ghost shall never be
forgiven neither in this world nor the
world to come. Now, if you are painter.
and [ speak against your pictures. do |
not speak against you? If you are. an
architect and l speak against a building
If revival be the work of the Holy
Ghost and / speak against that revival.
do l not speak against the Holy Ghost?
And whose speaketh against the Holy
Ghost, says the Bible. he shall never be
forgiven neither in this world nor in the
world to come. ] think sometimes peo-
pie have made fatal mistake in this d.
rectlon.
Many of you know the history of Aaron
Burr. He was one of the most brilliant
men of his day. l suppose this country
never produced a stronger intellect; He
was capable of doing anything good and
great for his country or for the church of
God had he been rightly disposed. but
his name is associated with treason
against the United States government,
which he tried to overthrow, and with
libertinism and immortality. Do you know
where Aaron Burr started on the down
ward road? 1t was when he was IN COZ
lege and he became anxious about his
soul and was about to put himself under
the influences of revival, and minister
of religion said: Don't 60 there. Aaron;
don't 90 there That's place of wildhre
and great excitement. No religion about
that. Don't go there" He tarried away.
And who is responsible for his ruin for
this world and his everlasting ruin IN
the world to come? Was it the minister
who warned him against that revival:
When / speak of excitement in REVEALS:
/ do not mean temporary arrangement o,
the nerves, | do not mean the absurd
things of which we have read as trans
piring sometimes in the church of Christ,
but I mean an intelligent, intense, all alb,
sorbing agitation OF body, mind and soul
in the work of spiritual escape and spirit
ual rescue.
Now | come to the real, genuine cause
of objection to revivals-that is, the
GOODNESS of the objector. 1t is the secret
and hidden but unmistakable cause IN
every case, low state of religion IN the
heart. Wide awake, consecrated, useful
Christians are never afraid OF revlvals;
1t is the spiritually dead who are afr "a,
chief agents of the devil during a, great
awakening are always unconverted pro-
fessors of religion.
As soon as Christ's work begins they be.
gin to gossip against it and take pail OF
water and try to put out this spark OF
religious influence, and they try to put ont
another spark. Do they succeed? As well
when Chicago was on fire might some one
have gone out with a garden water pot
trying to extinguish it. The difficulty is
that when a revival begins in a church 1T
begins, at SO many points that Whie yoa'
have doused one anxious soul with a pail
of cold water there are 500 other anxious
souls on fire.
Oh, how much better it would be to lay
hold of the chariot of Christ's gospel and
helm pull it Oh rather than fling our
selves in front of the wheels, trying to
block their progress. We will not stop
the chariot, but we ourselves will be
ground to powder.
Aroused pulpits will make aroused
pews; pulpits afame will make pews
afame. Everybody believes IL! revival
in trade everybody likes a revival in lit
erature. everybody likes revival in art.
vet great multitude cannot understand
a revival in matters of religion. Depend
upon it, where you find man antagon-
istic to revivals, whether he be in pulpit
or pew, he needs to be regenerated by
the grace of God. -,
/ could prove to a demonstration that
without revivals this world will never
be converted and that in 100 or 200 years
without revivals Christianity will be praeG-
tically extinct It is matter of astou4nd'
ing arithmetic. In each Of our modern arn
generations there are at least 32,oUo,Uoo
children. Now add $4,000, 600 to the
worlds population and then have only lOO,:.
900 or 100000 converted every year, ana
how long before the world will be saved!
Never-absolutely never!
During our Civil War the President OF
the United States made proclamation Ior
$4,000 troops. Some of you remember
the biz stir. But the King of the universe
to-day asks for 200, 000,0 600 more troops
than are enlisted, and we want 1T done
softly, imperceptibly, no excitement, one
by one. You are a dry goods merchant
on a large scale, and l am merchant on
small scale, and come to you and want
to buy thousand yards of CLOTH DO you
saw: "Thank you. I'll sell you a thou
sand yards of cloth, but I'll sell you TWEEN,
~ yards to-day and twenty tomorrow, and
twenty the next day, and if it takes me
six months I'll sell you the whole thou
sand yards; you will want as long as that
to examine the goods, and I'll want as
long as that to examine the credit, and,
besides, that, thousand yards OF cloth
are too much to sell all at once" NO, you
do not say that. You take me into the
counting room, and in ten minutes III the
whole transaction IS consummated. Inc
thing but religion,
That very merchant who on Saturday
afternoon sold mo the thousand yards
of cloth at one stroke the next Sabbath
in church will stroke his beard and Won
der whether it would not be better for a
thousand souls to come struggling along
for ten years instead of boiling IN at one
service.
We talk a good deal about the good
times that, are coming and about the
worlds redemption. How long before
500 years; here is man who says zoo
wears; here is some one more confident
who says in fifty years, What, fifty
years? DO you propose to let two genera,
lions pass off the stage before the world
is converted? Suppose by prolongationn OF
human life at the end of the next fifty
years you should walk the length OF
Pennsylvania avenue, Washington, or the
length of Broadway. New York-in all
SON that you recognize. Why? All dead
or so changed you would not know them.
In other words, if you postpone the re-
demption of this world for fifty years
YOU admit that the majority of the two
whole generations shall 60 off the stage
unblessed and unsaved. tell you, the
church of Jesus Christ cannot consent to