The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-02-03
THE PULPIT.
4 BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
Gypsy SMITH.
Theme: Prevailing Prayer.

conducting a mission in this city, ana
Sunday he preached in the Fifth Ave-
u Presbyterian Church.
Gypsy Smith said: You will find the
text in Mark 8, beginning at the
twenty-eighth verse, And when
Jesus was come into the house His
disciples asked Him privately, why
could not we cast the devil out? Jesus
said unto them, this kind can come
forth by nothing but by prayer
prayer! This is only one picture out
of the life of Jesus, just a little view
of what was going on all the time
with Him. You who are students of
this book, remember that He had just
been upon the Mount of Transfgura-
ton; that He had taken with Him
Peter, James and John; that He was
TRANSPORTED before them. We are
told that while He prayed" up there
on the mountain the fashion of His
countenance was changed, and all
countenances change as men pray.
While He prayed His face was
changed. The glory from within and
the glory from without met. That
happened always, I believe, when
Jesus prayed, but this was the first
time that the disciples had been al
lowed to see Him communing with
His Father. They were allowed, for
certain reasons, to see what happened
when He talked to His Father. While
He prayed there appeared Moses and
Elijah. Moses representing the law
and Elijah the prophets, and Jesus,
the fulillment Of both, in the midst.
And the apostles had a wonderful eX-
perience to equip them forever to go
forth and evangelize the world. The
scene was Dol over, and Jesus and
the disciples came down from the
mountain. Down in the valley was
another group, the other disciples,
who had been left down there to go
on with the work while Jesus was abb
sent. When the people see Jesus and
the three disciples coming, they run
to meet them, and one of them, a
father, outstrips the rest and runs to
Jesus with his child, who is possessed
with a devil, an unclean spirit, and
says: Master, I have brought to Thee
my son. He has a dumb spirit. I
brought him to Thy disciples down
here that they might cast the devil
out of him, and they could not"
Please remember that; they could
not. Jesus made no excuse for His
disciples failure. He eve does
when they ought to succeed. He did
not excuse them.
He said: 20, faithless generation;
how long shall I be with you? How
long shall / suffer you? How long
shall I suffer because Of you?" I
want to say this: If Jesus said that of
a few fishermen, who had only been
with Him for two and a half years,
because they failed once to bring
out of the thralldom Of the devil into
the liberty of the people Of God, what
do you think he would say to some of
you here who have been protesting
Christ for ten, fifteen, twenty and
even forty years, and you do not know
a soul in this city whom you have
brought to Jesus Christ? Hear me!
Your religion stands or falls by what
1t does for the next man. Your relig-
ion is tested by what it does for HUI
manity. Does it get into your life?
Does it make you pity with a divine
pity, love with a divine love, spend
yourself with a divine prodigality?
1t made Jesus empty Himself. He
took upon Himself the form of a SER
want and humbled Himself, even to
the death of the cross-"even Christ
pleased not Himself" Listen: The
unanswerable argument for your re-
ligion is the healed man. What the
world is waiting for is a bit of hu-
manity out Of whom the church has
cast a devil. 1t, waits for that. God
help us to be able to product it! No,
Jesus did not excuse these men, and
He does not xcuse us, either. You
know what happened. Jesus said to
the man: IF thou canst believe, all
things r possible to him that be-
lieveth." And the man cried out,
with tears, Lord, I believe, help Thou
mine unbelief;" and Jesus said,
Bring him (the child) to Me-" and
then Jesus spake the word that did
the work. The disciples did not for
get the rebuke, and they went to
Jesus-and l want you Christian peo-
pie to remember this and said.
Master, why could not we cast him
out?" and Jesus said, This kind can
come forth by nothing but by prayer"
They were not praying; they were
discussing with the scribes and Phari-
sees, doing anything else but praying.
And that is the weak part of the
church to-day-the prayer meeting.
Have you tried to do anything in
the way of helping anybody up who is
down? Have you spoken to anybody
lately about Jesus and His love? Your
boy, for whom you have to sit up late
sometimes? You do not tell anybody,
but your tears can tell volumes you
never put into words. You know
what it is to sit up for an unsteady
step, and you are bearing that trag-
edy alone. Have you prayed with
that boy? If I came to your house,
could you show me the place where
you kneel to pray? Has your boy
ever seen you pray? Have you ever
put your arms around him and said,
MY boy. Jesus can break the power
of the sin that is binding you?" Have
you eve prayed him into living con-
tact with Christ? That is what Jesus
means. All about US are men and
women, paralyzed by sin, half damned
by sin, and We are doing nothing to
deliver them-and We profess to be
Christians! And Jesus is looking at
us, and, from a broken, disappointed
heart, He is saying: How long am l
to sufferobecause of you?"
How often do you ladies get into
your carriage OF automobile and set
out for an afternoons calling to pray
with people?f I know that would
mean a good deal. but that is what
Jesus wants you to do, and that is
what you will have to do if you are to
carry out the mission Jesus wants you
to carry out. How often do you bust