St. Tammany farmer., 1903-03-28

plain the lack OF expected re-
suits. And having thus bolstered up
their slim faith in God and His prom
ises, they settle down to another eight,
or ten months of Information, con-
tent with the thought that they have
done all that could be done, and that
God has done the best He could-and
the Lord knows He has considering the
conditions He has had to deal with
but God pity the Christians who are
content to hear the patter of the drops
of blessing, and who do not set about
to discover why the showers and the
downpour have not come. The few
brave-hearted, full-faithed Christians
continue to hold onto Coed. They keep
the button of prayer pressed in and
again take up the search for the ar
resting cause that has prevented the
opening Of the windows of Heaven and
the outpouring of the full blessing OF
God. Their yearning hearts keep sing
ing:
"There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious. reviving again; F NFr
There shall be seasons refreshing.
Sent from the Saviour above.
Showers, showers of blessing, 1+
Showers of blessing, We need;
Mercy drops round US are falling,
| But for the showers we plead.
What is a revival? Somehow the idea
has unconsciously taken root in the
| Christian heart that a revival means
strange and unknown manifestation
| of the Divine Life. This is not true.
A revival is not different manifesto
ton of the life or Spirit of God, but
| is only that same life and Spirit in
| fuller and deeper measure. There lies
| the unfortunate victim of the deadly
potion. It has almost brought the
sleep of death and quenched the last
| remaining spark of life. The doctor
and the nurse work heroically and per-
| sistently over the almost unconscious
| patient, who would, if left to him
self, sleep the long sleep OF death.
But the patient is kept on the move.
He is given not an instant's rest. What
are the doctor and the nurse so des-
perately seeking to bring about? A
revival. They are not trying to put
something different into that almost
lifeless body than the life which has
throbbed there before. They are only
trying to overcome the effect OF the
deadly poison and to get more of the
same life back again. But now sup
pose the word revival had taken on
| some mysterious and strange mean
| ing to the friends standing around,
and as the doctor and the nurse at last
succeeded in bringing the full life
throb back to the patient, they should
ask to see the revival, expecting the
while to witness some unusual and un-
known manifestation. This suppos-
able case, of course, appears ridiculous,
| and yet has it not its very important
| point of emphasis for the Christian
who talks about revival, and expects
| revival, and longs for a revival, and
yet who forgets that revival only
means more of the same Divine life
which he now feels in his heart if he is
a real child of God. e. ~
The First Point of Difficulty.-And
right here we believe is perhaps the
! first and great point of difficulty. A
revival means more of God in the heart
and the life. The sweeping revival
| which shakes church and community
and country is only the letting of the
life and Spirit of God flow into the
place left empty by putting away the
things which have been crowding Him
out. AS Mr.. Moody used to say: "You
can't crowd more into full pitcher,
but you can pour great deal into an
empty pitcher" And while the Chris
tian heart and the Christian, church
remain so full of their own activities
and their own plans there is no chance
for the fuller manifestation of the life
of God. A great many bonfires have
got to, be lighted to get rid Of the
rubbish before God can have room in
which to carry on His revival work.
It has been said that the churches and
Christian work of the day are organ
lied to death. So much system and
so many novel and up-to-date features
that God is crowded out. really be
lieve that if God would grant to the
churches a great ingathering of souls
they would Immediately begin to con-
gratulate themselves upon their splen-
did organization and system, and claim
the credit for the harvest. Gideon,
when called of God to lead the Israel
ties against the Midianites and break
their yoke of bondage, gathered to-
gether an army of $4,000 men. Not
large army, to be sure, especially in
comparison with the hosts of the en-
envy. but the ranks of the Israelites
were full enough to make them conf
dent in themselves, and God declared
that if He gave them victory they
would claim all the credit of defeat
ing the powerful enemy. So He told
Gideon to reduce his army, and $4,000
faint-hearted and fearful returned to
their homes But still the army of
10000 was too many. And another
test came which cut out 9,70O men.
Then God was ready to act. By the
300 men He would give Israel deliver
ance from the mighty enemy which
encompassed them on every hand. And
God must needs reduce the confidence
of the church in it's own resources and
abilities and powers before it is safe
for Him to give the abundance of
blessing which is sought for. This
must be brought about by the individ-
ual Christian making self, and self
plans, take a back seat and exalting
Christ to the supreme place in the life
and heart.
Another Point of Dif6culty-An-
other thing which may prevent the
coming of the revival blessing is the
high-mindedness which has it's gaze
| steadfastly fixed on the mirage of