The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-03-29

useful they are. Robert Hall, the
prince of preachers, was converted at
| IL years of age. 1t is likely he knew
what he was about. Matthew Henry,
the commentator, who did more than
any man of his century for increasing
| the interest in the study of the Scrip
lures, was converted at IL years OF
age; Isabella Graham, immortal in the
| Christian church, was converted at ten
years of age; DR.. Watts, whose hymns
will be sung all down the ages, was
converted at nine years of age. Jona-
than Edwards, perhaps the mightiest
! intellect that the American pulpit
ever produced, was converted at seven
years of age, and that father and
mother take an awful responsibility
when they tell their child at seven
years of age: "You are too young to
be Christian" or "You are too young
| to connect yourself with the church" F"
That is a mistake as long as eternity.
If during a revival two persons pre-
| sent themselves as candidates for the
church and the one is ten years of age
apd the other is 40 years of age. will
have more confidence in the profession
of religion of the one ten years of age
than the one 40 years of age. Why?
The one who processes at 40 years of
age has 40 years of impulse in the
wrong direction to correct, and the
child has only ten years in the wrong
direction to correct. Four times ten
are 40. Four times the religious pros
pect for the lad that comes into the
kingdom of God and into the church at
far xNf / l. ~
am very apt to look upon revivals
as connected with certain men who
fostered them. People who in this
day do not like revivals nevertheless
have not words to express their admi-
alton for the revivalists of the past,
for they were revivalists-Jonatha
Edwards, John Wesley, George Whit
field, Fletcher, Griffin, Davies, Os-
borne, Knapp, Nettleton, Moody and
many others whose names come to
my mind. The strength of their in
tellect and the holiness of their lives
make me think they would not have
had anything to do with that which
was ephemeral. Oh, it is easy to
talk against revivals!
A man said to Mr.. Dawson: "I
like your sermons very much, but
the after meetings l despise. When
the prayer meeting begins / always
go up into the gallery and look down,
and 1 am disgusted." "WeH," said
Mr.. Dawson, "the reason is you go
on the top of your neighbours house
and look down his chimney to exam
inc his fire, and of course you get
only smoke in your eyes. Why don't
you come in the door and sit down
and warm?"
Oh, I am afraid to say anything
against revivals of religion or against
anything that looks like them, be-
cause / think it may be a sin against
the Holy Ghost, and you know the
Bible says that a sin against the Holy
Ghost shall never be forgiven, neither
in this world nor the world to come.
Now, if you are a painter and I speak
against your pictures, do L not speak
against you? If you are an archi-
tect, and 1 speak against building
you put up, do L not speak against
you? If a revival be the work of the
Holy Ghost, and I 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. 1 think sometimes people
have made a fatal mistake in this di-
rection.
Now I come to the real, genuine
cause of objection to revivals. That
is the coldness of the objector. 1t is
the secret and hidden but unmistak
able cause in every case, low state
of religion in the heart. Wide awake.
consecrated, useful. Christians arc
never afraid of revivals. 1t is the
spiritually dead who are afraid of
having their sepulcher molested. The
chief agents of the devil during 4
great awakening are always uncon
verted professors of religion. AS soon
as Christ's work begins they begin
to gossip against it and take pail
of water and try to put out this
spark of religious influence, and they
try to put out 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
church it begins at so many points
that while you have doused one anx-
ious 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 help pull it on
rather than to fling ourselves in front
of the wheels, trying to block their
progress. We will not stop the
chariot, but we ourselves will be
ground to powder.
But I think, after all, the greatest
obstacle to revivals throughout
Christendom is an unconverted minis
try. We must believe that the vast
majority of those who officiate at
sacred affairs are regenerated, but 1
suppose there may float into the
ministry of all the denominations of
Christians men whose hearts have
never been changed by grace. They
are all antagonistic to revivals. How
did they get into the ministry? Per-
haps some of them chose it as a re-
spectacle profession. Perhaps some
of them were sincere, but were mis-
taken AS Thomas Chalmers said, he
had been many years preaching the
Gospel before his heart had been
changed, and as many ministers of
the Gospel declare they were preach
ing and had been ordained to sacred
orders years and years before their
hearts were regenerated. Gracious
o. <1 hon rfrh fr.r- hf.es