The Columbus commercial. (Columbus, Miss.) 1893-1922, 1907-04-02
HE THAT BEING OFTEN REPROVED, HARDENETH
HIS HEART, SHALL SUDDENLY Be DESTROYED ETC.

| felt all the time that God hat
great work that he wanted
done, and, so far as recall now
there were more additions to th,
churches of Colum bus than il
anv one day in any meeting o
all my life, so far as | remember
1t was so good of the Lord jus
to keep on making it better and
better. There were a hundred
and eighty odd received into the
churches in Union City two weeks
ago today, but the pastors tell
me that this morning there were
received into the membership of
the churches who are co-operat-
ing in this meeting two hundred
and seventy five members in one
hour-why that's great big
church, isn't it? And | wish i
had the strength and power to
plead on this great text. Prov.
%: 1, is the one that cries out
for your hearing.
1t hurts my heart to speak it,
because it is more directly con-
nected with most of the saddest
chapters in my life. These are
the words: ''He that being Of
ten reproved, hardeneth his neck,
shall be suddenly destroy ed, and
that without remedy" "He that
being often reproved, hardeneth
his neck, shall be suddenly de-
stroyed, and that without reme-
dy." This is one of the most
solemn passages of the Bible to
me, because | have seen so many
sad tragedies connected with it.
1t is Gods eternal truth, HE
that being often reproved, hard
eneth his neck, shall be suddenly
and that without rem
edy."
My first point is this: the first
clause in this text is certainl y
fulfilled in Columbus. "He that
being often reproved. There
isn't a man here but has been
hundreds and thousands
of times before this meeting be-
gan, but, during the last week,
your reproofs have come rapidly
and from a hundred different
sources. Do you know, gentle
men, that fifty odd thousand have
been praying for you ever since
last Sunday. God has been good
to me, and that is why He blesses
my work so graciously, over a
half hundred thousand people
are praying for every city whose
gates | enter, that the lost who
hear me may be saved, and
brother, neighbor, friend, the re-
proof which these fifty thousand
prayers have brought to you
during this week have been
numerous.
There are men who havn't
slept much this week. / havn't
been to sleep any night this
week before one or two o'clock,
and | have prayed God to keep
the wicked men of this towh
awake long enough that they
might consider where they will
spend eternity, and be prepared
to meet God. There are forty or
fifty men in the sound of nv
voice now, who, if they would be
honest with me, would acknowl-
edge that you have walked in
the night time during the. past
week with strange feeling over
you, and you didn't understand
it. I want to explain it to you:
1t was Gods answer to prayer.
Not only those many thousa nds
were praying for you, but, upon
my face yonder in my sweet
home at Gen. Lees, / have fallen
down before God and asked Him
to wake up the men and let them
upon their destinies,
and | have been just as con-
scious that God has walked up
men in this town and made them
think, l know it just as certain
ly as / know / am standing here.
All these reproofs have come
from your pastors, they have
come from your wives, they have
come from your children, and