Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-05-07
BIG TENT MEETING.

BIG TENT MEETING.
A Large Crowd Despite the Rain and
Cold.
tFrom Wednesdays Daiy.I
Despite the cold and the snrinllling
rain q large crowd was present in the
tent again last night to take part in
the third of the series of revival
meetings which are in progress. Last
night was the most severe test TO
which the enthusiasm of the church
workers has been put, but they re-
| sponded hravely, and the audience,
while not quite SO large as the one
of Monday night, was large enc. The
interest is growing and the meeting
held last night was perhaps the most
| impressive so far
The Song Service.
The song service which preceded the
meeting was especially good George
Lewis sang a beautiful bass solo en-
titled my Name in Mothers Prayer"
Professor Geiger sang but one solo.
Il Am the Vine and Ye Are the
Branches was perhaps the most eff
Elective solo which has been given so
! far. Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me" which
was ing as solo by one of the choir
members, was very sweet and pretty.
| A Strong Exhorter.
The short after-meeting brought out
| the fact that Professor Geiger is a
good strong talker as well as most
excellent singer. His short descrip--
ton of the old mans testimony of eX-
perience at the meeting in Louisiana,
Mo-, was graphic and pointed and dis
played an adaptability to character
sketching that is unusual. His exhor--
4 tation was strong and impressive.
A Benefit Collection.
Rev. j. NJ. Bailey, who delivered the
address on Monday evening, was the
leader. No collection was taken on last
evening, bat strong appeal was made
to all to redouble their contributions
in the collection tonight, which is to
be for the benefit Of the man who was
injured in erecting the tent.
Sermon by s. J. Geddes.
| Rev. S. j. Geddes, pastor of the
Methodist Episcopal church, preached
the sermon of the evening. No stated
text was announced, but the thought
upon which the sermon was built mas
be embodied in the sentence, Weep
not for the dead, but weep sore for
the living who shall go away out of
Gods country never to return The
sermon was strong practical plea,
and was in part as follows:
Zone thing is universally true OF all.
You have found life full of difficulties.
lin no regard is this more true than
when you have faced the problem of
living Christian life. Many things
lin regard to doctrine you could not UNI
Iderstand. The Inconsistencies of many
processing Christians seemed matter
that was utterly unexplainable. 1t is
useless for lis to waste time in vain
endeaVor to explain these things
4 Common sense is the heritage of all
4 If we make practical use of it it is
all that God asks from us. He will do
1.-THE rest and we will be very good
Christians.
death is not the greatest sorrow in
1.-THE world. There are worse things
that come upon you than the sorrow OF
losing those whom you love. Many
men and women who are constantly
guilty of sin are very happy, happier
lPSA man many piolSooiiso VII 10
tians, but those have not gone very faI
down the pathway of sin. Let them
look down on the road and they viii
see something that will startle them
Many young man and woman, who
a few years ago felt that to lose life
would be the greatest calamity and the
Igreatest sorrow that could possibly
come upon them, tonight, mentally
morally and physically ruined, pray fol
death, as blessed relief from the mis-
cries to which continued life subjects
them.
Parents who have children who
have gone astray and who are leading
lives of sin pray to God that they
might have been permitted to bury
: these same children which were once
the joy and pride of life when they
were still children. The bitterest anc
most scalding tears are shed not oyel
: the dead but over the living To &c
: away in sin is worse, a thousand times
> than to die in innocence. Statistics
!. gathered show that of those who de
part from the ways of right living few
) ever return. Facts seem to prove al
> most absolutely that those who gt
: away into sin and do not return before
9 they are twenty-five years old, neve
do return"