The Tupelo journal., 1903-03-06


sort of lame, uncertain excuse to ex-
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
OF 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 :nd h
%downpour have not come. The few
brave-hearted, full-faithed Christians
continue to hold onto Coed. They keep
the button of prayer pressed in n
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 y%earning hearts keep sing
ing:
There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious. reviving again;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Saviour above.
Showers, showers of blessing,
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 loot in the
Christian heart that a revival means a
strange and unknown manifestation
of the Divine Life. This is not true.
A revival is not a different manifesto
ton of the life or Spirit of God, but
is only that same life aud Spirit in
fuller and deeper measure. There lies
the unfortunate victim Ct the deadly
potion. 1t has almost brought the
sleep of death and quenched the last
remaining spark Of life. The doctor
and the nurse work hero4cally and per-
sistently over the almos. 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
l~ifeless 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
tp~ IN thA frianIc .tonlinn ,rnnnI
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 I'M
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.
The First Point of Difficulty.-And
right here we beIieve 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 wsich have been crowding Him
out. AS Mr.. Moody used to say: You
can't crowd more into a full pitcher,
but you can pour a great deal into an
empty pitcher" And while the Chris
tan 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 bontires have
got to be lighted to get rid of the
rubbish before God can have room in
which to carry on His revival work.
1t has been said hat the churches and
Christian work of the day are organ
lied to death. So much system and
SO many move. and up-to-date features
that God is crowded out. l really be-
lieve that if God would grant to the
churches a great ingathering of souls
they would Immediately begin to con-
graduate themselves upon their SPLEEN
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 ar army of $4,000 men. Not
a 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 9,700 men.
Then God was ready to act. BY the
800 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