Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-15
EVANGELIST ASSAHS
CHURCH MEMBERS WHO
SELDOM OFFER PRAYER
Nicholson Tells Darby O. ovid
That No Revival Can Come
Unless Gods Aid Is
Sought
SATAN is ON THE JOB"

Evangelist william p Nicholson wa
greeted by a far.sized audience in tn,
/ Nicholson-Hcmmings tabernacle in DARBY
this afternoon, Notwithstanding the bat
! weather. lie preached the second of 9
I series Of sermons on Prayer" and was
frequently applauded for his assaults OF
church members who neglect to pray.
! Those who have been actively engaged
! in promoting the revival were enthusiastic
/ because of the big attendance last night
and the ready response when Doctor Mich
| olson called for converts II was the spe-
| cial Family Night"
The sermon this afternoon was built
around these words from the first verse
Of the eighteenth chapter Of St Luke:
Men ought to pray and not 10 faint"
The evangelist said in lart:
The man who prays will not faint.
Prayer bears nm Intimate and vital rela.
tion to the revival. IF this were q po.
litical campaign | would not ask you TO
pray. If It were civic Improvement con.
vention, or n temperance reform move.
ment, / would not ask you to pray. But
in a revival of religion we can no more
succeed without praying than you can
live without breathing We shall doubt
less have great excitement; we shall
probably have big crowds in attendance
here, but there will be no spiritual prog
ress unless we make that progress on our
knees.
you cannot buy a revival, you cannot
deserve n revival. The only way to get
revival is to ask God for It, Do not
think or act as though you thought that
this evangelistic party had n lot of re-
vival bugs tucked away in their inside
pockets TO set loose at the proper time
and create revival epidemic in the city
Get your eyes on God and pray.
Faith is needed. God never uses a dis
couraged man or a pessmist. If you are
unbclievers and knockers, you will never
have a revival But work Is needed also.
To merely pray and not to work is not
to get n revival.
SATAN AGAINST PRAYER
Pray for the other fellow, to be sure.
but get after him as we'll God never
encourages lazness, Laziness and holi-
ness cannot keep house together. The
devil will do his best to hinder your
praying. Prayer is the most important
thing about any campaign. Prayer is
the greatest thing about a church. Yet
why is it that it is treated as the very
littlest thing? Many of You think that
the sermon is the biggest thing and want
n great preacher. Many think the music
is the greatest thing, and want first
class choir. Some of you seem to think
that the pea soup luncheon or the chicken
waffle supper is the biggest thing in the
church.
THE devil knows the fun power of your
life by your prayer meeting. How much |
time do you spend in prayer? Praying |
for your minister, your church? How !
many of you spent an hour this morn
ing before your toilet table but not
minute on your knees People spend
half hour reading their daily paper, not
minute reading Gods word. You spent
hours entertaining your friends, not
minute entertaining your best Friend, Oh,
brother. sister. If you never pray, then
you are but a priceless soul on your way
% hell
"In our campaigns we find that when
he daily prayer meetings are up, the
light services are up; when the prayer
meetings are down, the night meetings
ire down, not in numbers, but in results.
There is n two-fold danger in a campaign
ike this. There is the danger of over
our ability.
REASONS FOR PRAYER.
Now. why should we pray? Because
[ is Gods command. To restrain prayer
S to sin. Because of the example OF
,hrist Jesus never taught His disciples
o preach, but He taught them to pray.
study the prayer life of Jesus Study the
Inswers He got to His prayers and you
will omen your eyes. Pray because of
he drawing power of the Spirit of God.
DO not throttle your divine-born desire.
% not resist the Spirits drawing. Pray
because of the great need all around.
Iother, when your precious babe lies sick
into death, oh, how you prayed and
.gonized with God for his life. Listen,
our boy grows bigger and goes out to-
light somewhere reveling in sin and on
lis way to hell and eternal death. You
prayed for the baby to be kept out of