Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-07-12
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

open his mouth and God will fill it
without any preparation on his part.
When the congregation had finish,
ed the hymn and was seated, / OPEN
rs. he book with silent prayer for
DE-. \help and looking down upon
it "a. before me those suggestive
words >eoh. Luke, Acts 2:21: "And
it shall ce< . pass that whosoever
shall call ol,A name of the Lord,
shall be saveLN had found my
text. 1t was cful; / might
have searched the \, e from Begin
ming to end and found nothing more
simple or more suggestive than the
words before me. They were exactly
fitted to the occasion and furnished
me with just what / needed for the
congregation. To be sure | was at
first all at sea as to what l should
say, and what / did finally say, l
know not. I remember at this dis
tant day, over forty years afterward,
that the text seemed to suggest it.
self to me. I saw the word saved"
and that meant salvation, which was
uppermost in my thought at the
moment, and l talked about it much
as a preacher would do now,
think, who was in dead earnest.
Then there was the word "call," ;"
which meant prayer, very
necessary thing in the requirement,
or in the maintenance of the relig-
ious life, and l urged the necessity
and Importance of prayer on my
congregation. Finally the univer-
salty of the offer of salvation was
before me in the text, represented in
the word "whosoever." These three
things / saw at glance and tried
hard to make the people see them.
Surely it was an impressive occasion
and the audience was thoughtful and
expectant. / announced hymn and
invited any who desired to be saved
to stand during the singing of the
hymn. Two men rose, son and a
son-in-law of the class leader, Ben
Jones. At the conclusion of the
hymn called upon the congrega
tipns to Pray, and asked Brother
Jones to lead us. He responded most
fervently and was followed by 9TH
ers, whose petitions were interspers-
ed with songs, as was the custom in
the prayer meeting. Before closing
the service I asked the people if they
would attend another meeting the
next night and nearly all said they
would, so l announced services for
the following evening.
That night there were some con-
versions and the next night there
were more. The word went out over
the country that there was a pro-
tracted meeting at the Fairfield
school house and the people began
to gather in from all sections until
the building was crowded to suifoca-
tion, it could hold no more. One
night the jam was so great that
some one broke one of the windows
to let in fresh air. In the meantime,
the meetings were constantly grow
ing in interest, conversions were TAX
ing place every night, some OF them
being very remarkable. The mourn
ers' bench" was crowded on both
sides; people were on their knees
wherever there was room in any part
of the house, and where they could
not find room to kneel down they
prayed where they sat or where they
stood. 1t surpassed anything ] had
ever seen before, it was wonderful.
Some would be singing, some crying
for mercy, others silently and
thoughtfully looking on, but all In
tensely interested. The meetings
&C ntinued for nearly two months and
between seventy and eighty were
added to the church at that appoint
ment. The converts were almost
without exception either elderly peo-
pie or young married people; very
few children were among the first
fruits of the revival. l think that
was because they were generally left
at home during the meetings on ac-
, count of the cold and the limited
capacity of the school house. Later
, on many of them were added to the
number who Joined to the church.
| One night when the crowd was
| greatest and the interest high as
t was speaking to woman kneeline
} at the mourner's bench. she sudden
/ ly cried out: "Oh, Mr.. Green, &c
and speak to my husband" | saw
him near the door looking very
: solemn; he, like many others in the
neighborhood. was originally from
) the north of Ireland. | said to him
5 "Mr NJ, don't you think you haC
better go and join your wife at thu
ALTAR" Faith, believe | had" HI