Newport weekly independent., 1902-09-12

llttty. Wnau d Unr1illnR ana interest ing recital that must have been How it must have stirred the hearts of | those :n the meeting to hear of real live experiences under the leading | and protection of the Lord. No sleepy, holding heads in that assembly. No long, painful pauses. Nor tiresome repetitions of the same old testi- monies which had been offered time and time again before. No preach ing of fine sounding sentiments with empty experience back of them. We all know what it is to have these fea- lures in the prayer meeting, and know too little of the Paul-Barnabas style of wideawake meeting.
 Do you know the reason why a re- turned missionary who talks of his work is always interesting? Not generally because he is fluent talk CT or is finished in manner or speech, but because he comes to you with real life experiences and you realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in- deed the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
 That Rally Day in the church at Antioch was a memorable occasion, and undoubtedly stirred the life of the church to a degree that it had not known before. Probably there were some there who for the first time lad borne in upon their souls the sense Of their own obligations to- wards others and felt a special call to service. It is the spark that is struck from the flint which can set the finder into a blaze, and not the flint or the piece of steel by itself. It is the lightning flash which spits out the ball of electrical fire, and not the thunder clap which rolls through the heavens. It is life in touch with suits. It is real heart and life ex- periences which supply inspiration | for the most stirring testimonies. l. A Suggestion for Rally Day.-And if 1 |you want to make Rally Day in your | church and Sunday school an occasion of great profit and blessing, and stir the meeting to it's foundations, and stimulate to more and better work than ever before, cut out all the fine cut and dried speeches of welcome, all the fulsome praise, all the good prom ises to larger and better service, and get two or three or four, who have been about the Masters business dur ing the summer and are all alive with His work, to tell their experiences. Pick your speakers carefully. Let your choice be determined not by fiuency of speech and ease of manner, but by the fact that those who are to saving and are. burning with desire to tell it. '. Theories as to methods of work and exhortations to service are all we'll enough sometimes, but there is more power to the square inch in the Paul and Barnabas Rally Day meth ods than in all the theories and elo- quent speeches you can crowd into the audience room of the meeting house. Try it and see.
 The Need of Going Away.-In order to fully appreciate the thought of the Home Coming, let us go back of our text to the time of the departure of Paul and Barnabas from Antioch on their missionary journey. Undoubt- edly there was double purpose in the Lords calling these two men to new fields of labor. First, the needs of oth- CTS were greater than those of the church at Antioch, and second, the church at Antioch had reached con- dition where it required the stimulus of the Home Coming. Your going away from home or your church ought to be marked by the same conditions or motives. You are going away or have been away? If it was in response to the call of God (and we ought never to go anywhere or do anything except He does call us and lead us), it was not at any sacrifice of real duty to home or church. If the Lord calls us away it is because we are no longer needed there, but have a mission to perform elsewhere, and because, the time ot separation ended and the mission per. formed, the home and the church needs the inspiration and blessing o1 the return home.
 Christ said to His disciples: "It is expedient for you that I go away Why? Because His going away meant His return in fuller measure in the person of the Holy Spirit. It was ex pedient for Paul and Barnabas to ge away, not alone to carry blessing to all the dark places they visited, but that they might return filled with ex periences and lessons which would stir the church at Antioch and inspir. to greater effort than ever before.