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4 mW hHo -wtKsiHl zvA a' M I IB _ li mi j IKHI • \ ill : 0 ill I -r- Mil The Way of the Lord. ‘‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Matt. 3: 3. TLANTA is now on the lookout for the beginning of the Torrey-Alexander meetings. ’Within the next two or three weeks hundreds and thousands of peo ple will be gathering day after day in these meetings, the object of which is to lead souls to Christ and quicken the spiritual lire of our churches. It is well for us, in view of this fact, to I stop awhile and ponder, Eo great movement of any kind was ever exploited without preparation. The history of the rise and fall of empires and king doms will show that foundation work is always necessary to any great culmination. Business men appreciate this and hence they are careful about their foundations. Statesmen and politicians see it, and hence their vigorous cam paigns of education and preparation. It is just so in matters of religion. Jesus would not enter upon his ministry without the prepara tion of John the Baptist: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight,” was the spe cific message that John was sent to deliver. This note has been necessary in all the great religious campaigns of the world. It is said that preceding the great revivals of Whitfield and Wesley months of preparation were observed. Business men of all ranks were known to give up their business and spend their time in prayer and preparation for the great revival expected to come through the instru mentality of these men. It has also been true in this country. Charles G. Finney, the great Presbyterian revivalist, would never go to a place to conduct a meeting until he was assured that there had been thorough prepara tion on the part of the Christian people. Every detail of the proposed meeting had to be settled, and much time in prayer, and ofttimes fasting, was insisted upon. The same was true in the great meetings of D. L. Moody in this country and abroad. He was always very careful about much preparation. He used to say: “Have just as many committees and get just as many people to work as you possibly can, but when I come please let all of your committees re sign, for I cannot be bothered with committees.” Torrey and Alexander. The same plan is insisted upon by Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander in their great campaigns throughout the world.- In Australia, England, Ireland, Scot-, land and this country they have insisted upon a thorough coming together of the people in the com munities where their meetings are to be held and that much time be given to prayer and prepara tion. Atlanta is now in the midst of such a prepara tion. We are expecting a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the whole community and the en tire Southland. But we need not expect this to come through Dr. Torrey’s preaching and Mr. Alexan der’s singing alone. They can only be the channels wl KIM Mmwffir The Golden Age for May 10, 1906. tof blessing. If we are to have the great revival expected it must come through the Holy Spirit Himself as He reveals Jesus Christ to us. But this is not to be expected unless the way is prepared. y God is not going to make an exception in favor of Atlanta. He has blessed it in many ways, and is to-day blessing it, but this great spiritual awaken ing that some of us are looking for is not coming unless Atlanta, like every other place, sets itself to the work of faithful, honest, spiritual prepara tion. DenominationaEsm Ignored. First, we must lay aside all mere denomination alism. I believe in denominations. The man who sets himself up to knock down all denominational lines is himself a denominationalist. The creed of his denomination is no creed, and no creed is de struction. Generally speaking, the man who advocates no denominational lines is so narrow as to demand that everybody shall come into his denomination. If he is a Baptist, he is in favor of everybody giv ing up their denomination and becoming a Baptist, ii lie is a Metnouist, lie is m favor of everyuody becoming a iVietlioaist. Ao,'we are not here talk ing about the obliteiation of ail denominational tenets and creeds; but we are talking about laying our denominational differences down, for the time being, that we may unite m one great campaign for soui-winning, tor that is the most important work of the Church. There is religion enough expressed in the creed of any of our evangelistic churches to save the worm, if only it was lived up to. Let us then not be giving ourselves to the ques tion of church distinctions. 1 do not personally care wnether Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander and their workers are Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, or Quakers. What I want in this campaign is to see Atlanta on hie with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to see sinners converted. I want to see all of our people who believe in Jesus Christ and His atoning blood, join hands in one great pull for the salvation of souls. Let there be no church lines in this effort. I shall feel free on the platform or the floor. I shall feel that it is as much my work as it is the work of the leaders. 1 shall give myself just as much to it as if it were a meeting of my own church or de nomination. Oftimes the blessing in a work like this is lost because churches get jealous about the reception of members. The fact is, too much of our evangel istic effort is to get members into our churches so as to swell our reports. If there ever was a dam nable motive inspired of the devil it is this. It is all right to get members into the churches. We want to get them and we ought to get them. A saved man has no business outside the church, but in heaven’s name let us have a higher motive for an evangelistic effort than that. Let us get men saved. The saved man will go to heaven whether he is in my church or not. No Social Distinction. Again, if this work is to be of God there must be no social distinctions made. It is not to be considered a work for the salvation of Peachtree or Decatur street. A soul is a soul wherever found. A lost man or woman is hellbound. The fires of hell will burn just as hot for a lost bum on De catur street as a lost beauty on Peachtree street, and no hotter. Let its remember this. It is a campaign for salvation and not society; it is for inspiration and not influence. Some people have acted as if we cannot have a great revival in Atlanta unless it is promoted by the influential classes. I abominate any such senti- Le n G . Broughton ment. It is not of God. God is not dependent upon the influence of any man. Surely it looks to me like it is time we were realizing that fact. Paul was not a man of influence. He lost every whit of the influence he had when he became a Christian. But, thank God, he got something that was better than influence, he got power. Pie did not have influence enough to keep out of jail, but be had power enough when chained fast in stocks to open the prison doors and shake off the shack les that bound him and walk out. Christ did not have any influence. He did not have influence enough to keep off the cross, but he had power enough to break the bands of death and rise from the dead. Away with all this talk about influence, position and money. We want all of it, we need it, but we do not want it nor do we need it at the expense of power. It is the humble, consecrated, Spirit-filled saint in this city that this meeting depends upon more than all the flary flounces of society. Let us seek a revival that revives without regard to class or distinction. Let us see the business man leave his office and win souls. Let us see the rich and the poor unite at the same altar. Let us see the ignorant and the learned all together mix up in one great meeting, laboring for salvation for themselves and for their people. R'ght with God. But, again, there must be heart preparation. God is not going to come in saving power upon this city until the Christian men and women get their hearts right in His sight. There is too much sin and worldliness in the churches of Atlanta to have a great revival. There must be a cleaning up and a cleaning out before God will come in. This work must begin at the most influential cen ter of our churches. The officers and leaders must get right. Their lives are known to the community, and more still they are known to God. Israel once bemoaned its condition and God spake to them through His prophet saying, “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that He will not hear.” This is the trouble with God’s people to-day and it is the only trouble. One of the explanations given by the Russians for the defeat of their fleet by the Japanese is that the day before the conflict a leak was sprung in one of their main vessels which admitted water into the powder magazine. They discovered the leak but thought it was so small that it would not affect anything; and so they rushed the great ship into the thickest of the fight, and found, when it was too late, that the powder would not explode. How true this is of the church in religious cam paigns.- We have our machinery in good shape. I think now that the machinery for the coming meet ings, from what I can gather, is in good trim; but about the powder magazine I do not know. I am satisfied of this,, that there are numerous leaks that have been recognized for a long time by our churches. But they have not been repaired and are still causing defeat. There is the leak of worldli ness, of bitterness and jealousy, the leak of com mercialism and indifference. When men and women who are leaders in the church, pay no attention to the church services; ignore meetings for prayer; stay at home on Sun day nights and entertain their friends; I say, when such conditions as these exist the powder magazine is in poor shape for a vigorous campaign. Let us get right. Let us all get right. Let us begin at the pulpit and not stop until we get to the