Great Falls tribune., 1922-03-13

! neafts or men. that shall cause them
! to study the law of God and man and
| to enforce it sacredly. We need the
! spirit Of God that shall give men cour-
age and backbone t" stand against the
Wiles and temptations Of the devil. We
need men of the type of Washington
and Lincoln who are incorruptible and
! who are unswcrved from duty and the
; path Of right. The history of civilza
ton is history Of such revivaIs. The
Bible is true history of man in that
it gives the rise and fall Of individuals
and nations in clear and unvarnished
colors. 1t paints the souls Of men as
well as his glorious prominence and
gains all power and position. The
! early chapters of the Bible picture a
terrible decline after the murder of
Abel by Cain. We find a state of wick
edness, and so corrupt was man even
to the very imagination Of his heart
that it repented God that he had made
man. but there was one strong attempt
to stem the tide Of corruption.
I'm the days of Enoch men began
to call upon the name of the oLrd.
There was an interesting personal re-
vival when Abraham was called from
the low levels of the life on the plains
Of Chaldea up to the high place of
Gods presence. And Abraham lifted
the fountain head Of his race to
tremendous heights, which was not lost
by many generations.
Sends Moses and Aaron
'The first great and nation wide re
vival was the Exodus The people
were bonded and in degrading
slavery. God heard their groans and
cries and sent Moses and Aaron to
deliver them and they came forth con-
querors of Canaan and the pioneers of
a world wide religion and gave to the
world law and a preparation for
Christianity. There were other i'm
portant times when God especially
visited his people. Joshua renewed the
faith and stood as mighty force for
righteousness, for laws, for justice and
for the advancement of the nation.
Samuel, Daniel. Elijah, Hezekiah,
Josiah and Ezekiel each in turn sought
for the presence of God and through
him brought inestimable blessings upon
the race. But in spite Of all these
efforts, there was again a decline and
a weakening of the people which
brought the Assyrian invasion, and
caused the captivity Of the people
Ezra and Nehemiah troubled at the
desolation and in great sorrow because
of the desolation of their land, sought
Gods presence and there came forth
wonderful awakening. Ezra read the
law, proclaimed it and classified wicked
doers and urged the people to turn
away from their evil doing. Ezra
preached from a pulpit of wood and
so fiery was his zeal and so searching
was his preaching, that the governors
and the leaders of the people repented
in sack cloth and ashes and this lifted
the spiritual power of the nation to its
highest point. Synagogues and schools
were established, making the beginning
Of the common school educational
system.
Race Is Lifted.
"It is from this fountain of life and
this epoch making work that the race
of Israel was lifted to a point that they
could produce Christ from the human
side, and fit the people for the re
ception Of the Messiah And the great
revival Of history was Pentecost, which
was the climax Of the teachings and
example Of the life and death, resur-
rection and enthronement Of Jesus, the
Christ. The gift of the Holy Spirit was
the result of it's prophetic utterances
which had proclaimed the day when
Gods spirit should be poured out upon
all flesh.
This ushered in great literary
and evangelistic era. It was the re-
yival Of all learning and awakening of
the latent powers of Peter, Paul. John
and the apostolic band that followed.
The impress of this revival continued
through four centuries, sweeping like |
a tidal wave of the sea, steadily sweep
ing all before it until the battle of
Bridge put the sceptre in the
hands of Constantine and the conquer
ing sign Of the cross in the heavens,
md thus paganism was overthrown and
The Christ enthroned The decree of
Milan crowns the religion of Christ
The religion of the Roman empire.
Reformation Ends Decline
But Christianity was not complete
and pure as it might have been. There
vas much Of paganism and heathenish |
rites and practices were kept within !
he pale of the church. The open |
Bible was denied the common people |
md the priest stood between God and |
nan. Consequently night Of spiritual
settled down upon Christen-
lon. The decline continued until the !
The crusade had caused |
he commercial expansion of Europe
Nycliffe, John Huss and Savonarola, a
tUu IHP culture VI 1pIAHSt anu az
,uaintance Under the preaching Of
lew impulse and revival was given,
which produced the Protestant reforma-
ion. This was the fourth great period
n human history. The world war has
Produced conditions which demand an
,ther great revival. There is distress
md starvation on every hand Leaders
ire doubtful and established ways are
ost We would urge all Christian peo
BE everywhere to pray for a new
'entecost that shall lift a sorrowing
world to the fifth stage Of progress
n the human race We need larger
Of the spirit Of Christ
q tho hearts Of men. new desire to
hare the worlds Burdens and sor-
ows. So let US pray fervently that
Tod shall at this time pour out His
hall see visions and the old men shall
pirit on all flesh till the young men
ream dreams of a new day Of civili-
alton which shall be fully realized in
he prophecy or isaiah 35
Mines and torpedoes took the lives