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a bit of his experience. D. L. Moody never had
any idea of being a preacher or an evangelist. He
began to work for God out of a great heart of love
for humanity and for the souls of men. lie went
to New York City. When there, he first felt that
he had never been baptized with the Spirit, He got
down right there and received the “Baptism of the
Spirit.” He arose with a new power in his life,
and that great and marvelous revival that swept
over New York followed. And from New York it
swept over the sea, and for years was in operation
in England.
Again, see the movements of God today in the
history of Evan Roberts, that humble evangelist
to the mines of Wales. He felt a passion for souls,
but was held back until he received “Spiritual En
duement.” Then he felt the fire of God burning
through his soul; then he felt the voice of God
calling him out into the work, and you know the
result. No man has ever aroused the slumbering
conscience of this world more than Evan Roberts.
He blazed forth as a great fire. He blazed for a
time, and then flickered out. You scarcely hear his
name mentioned now. He seems to have been call
ed of God to stand for one definite work in this
present day and time. Salvation and mystery ac
companied his preaching in a marvelous manner.
FIRE IN INDIA.
Then, look at India. Never since the days of the
apostles has there been anything like it. Take up
the Acts of the Apostles and read it, then read the
accounts that are coming from India. Not exagger
ated accounts, but accounts that come to us from
the missionaries of our various boards and socie
ties that are laboring there in that country—con
servative men, over-conservative men, who, in part,
tried to prevent the very thing that is now operating
"with such blessing upon the people because they
feared that it was fanaticism. But, finally, they
were forced to fall in line and give their testimony.
Take their reports, and they are more like the
reports of the early church than anything my eyes
have ever rested upon, and they inspire me with
awe when I read them. Many of these missiona
ries I know personally, have met them in different
parts of the world, and I know them to be conser
vative, wise men. Let me give you one example.
After a long season of prayer, where they had been
praying for God to come in his own way, for it
takes one getting to just that place before this
power will be sent; there came upon one person,
a woman, a peculiar sense of fire. There seemed to
blaze out from her that which looked like actual
fire. The cry was made by some, and people came
to see her. In the room where she sat there was
the actual appearance of fire, and in the midst of
it she sat rejoicing and thanking God. The man
who wrote that to his board said: “'You may say
that I am cranky, but I saw this with my own
eyes.” If that was all, you might say that was no
good, but immediately following this mysterious
manifestation of the presence of God, there was in
tense conviction of sin. They were forced to see
that God was in their midst, and the people began
to cry unto God for mercy—almost the exact re
production of Pentecost.
Now, this leads me to say that I believe today
that what we lack is faith that can grip the mys
tery of God. I do not believe that the Holy Spirit
will take charge of any community and leave no
trace of mystery-. I believe that wherever He
takes charge, everything will be operated upon a
plane vastly different from the conceptions of the
natural mind.
We are so afraid of mystery that we have lock
ed God up in the logical corner and demanded that
He work according to our rules of things. What we
want in this country today is a revival of mystic
ism. I do not mean the nonsense that is worked
up through the energies of the flesh. I mean defi
nite, inexplicable manifestations that can only be
accounted for by the presence of God.
THE REVIVAL COMING.
The day is fast approaching of a great revival
to sweep over this country. The Holy Spirit seems
to be manifesting himself in a marvelous way, and
everywhere there is seen mystery working in con
nection with revival.
In almost every instance it has come in away
that the people had not expected it, and there are
The Golden Age for February 14, 1907.
great manifestations of the mysterious workings of
the Mystery-worker Himself.
The main question for us, if we are interested
in it, is, how can I help in this revival? Answering
this I do not know anything better to say than to
give you Evan Roberts’ four rules for the filling
of the Spirit. First, get down on your knees and
pray for the baptism of the Spirit. Second, confess
all sin to God. Third, yield yourself to the direc
tion of the Spirit. Fourth, believe that you have
Him.
Temperance in Tennessee.
The Tennessee legislature is going after the sa
loon in no uncertain manner, and one by one the
few remaining towns and cities permitting the sale
of liquor are becoming dry. The first temperance
legislation enacted in Tennessee was the “four
mile law,” which prohibited the sale of liquor
within four miles of a school-house, except within
incorporated towns.* About eight years ago this
law was extended to incorporated towns under
2,000 inhabitants “hereafter incorporated.” Most
of the towns of that size were immediately re
incorporated, wiping out the saloons. Then the
law was extended to towns under 5,000 and more
towns became dry. Now the legislature has passed
a bill that affects the whole state and I his measure
at this writing is in the governor’s hands. While
there is some question as to his approving the
bill, it would doubtless be passed over his veto.
If the measure becomes a law, then the legislature
can, by abolishing the charter and re-incorporating
any town, clean it of saloons. Bills have been in
troduced, though, providing that no charter be
abolished except after a majority vote of the peo
ple of a town in favor of such action. Already,
however. Lynchburg and Winchester, both small
towns, have been made dry, and measures affecting
Columbia and Mt, Pleasant have been introduced.
Clarksville, Knoxville and Bristol are only await
ing the governor’s action to instruct their repre
sentatives to give them the advantage of the law.
It is probable that by the time the legislature 'ad
journs there will not be over three “wet” towns
in the state, if there are any at all. A bill will be
passed, too, to prevent the shipping of liquor into
“dry” counties, and the towns that do remain
“dry,” if any do, have the saloons segregated in a
limited area and subject to high license.
Prohibition of another sort has already been
enacted in the passage of bills to stop gambling
on races, and this means, of course, that the Nash
ville and Memphis race meetings will be no more.
A bucket shop bill, similar to the Georgia law, is
pending’, and will become a law. This same legis
lature (need it be stated?), has increased the ap
propriation for public schools and pensions to Con
federate soldier's.
“NEW LIFE IN THE OLD PRAYER
MEETING.”
By John F. Cowan, D.D.
(Fleming 11. Revell Co., publishers: New York,
Chicago, Toronto, and London. Price sl.)
This valuable little volume is designed for the
sole purpose of accomplishing what its name indi
cates. The writer has evidently made a careful
study of the unsatisfactory conditions surrounding
the usual church prayer meetings, and after giving
his personal observations in a dozen specifically
described meetings, all of which were more or less
unsatisfactory, except “Number Twelve,” which
the writer describes as being first of all brilliantly
lighted, and then “taking the public into its con
fidence by inviting the attendance of strangers.”
With these twelve representative prayer meet
ings as a basis for the general dissatisfaction of the
pastor and people with the usual mid-week meet
ing, Dr. Cowan directs his entire work to sugges
tions, advice and helpful plans derived from practi
cal experiences which will enable all religious
meetings to avoid the ordinary coldness, dullness
and scant attendance with which the church-goer is
unfortunately very familiar. The work must prove
of real practical value to those leaders, preachers
or laymen who desire to add to the usefulness and
power of any meeting for the purposes of further
in'.’’ religious principles or practices,
Points On Prominent People.
While there is perhaps no novelist more widely
known and more popular with a large class of the
reading public than Miss Marie Corelli, it will be
a surprise to many to learn that this versatile
writer has recently returned to her early practice
of writing poetry, but the latest phase is that of
hymn writing. She has just published a very
creditable hymn entitled “At Eventide,” which
bids fair to become most popular with the public.
The Poet-Laureateship of France is now held by
Mlle. Andre Corthis. She was chosen in 1906 by
a jury composed of her literary peel’s, all women,
who compose a literary society with the power to
annually confer this distinction on one of its mem
bers.
Considering the large number of persons in the
United States who are now engaged as professional
stenographers, it is of interest to note that the
first person to master stenography in this country
was a preacher, Rev. Oliver Dyer. He did not,
however, follow his profession but was associated
with Robert Bonner in publishing the New York
Ledger. He learned stenography in England from
Isaac Pitman and was the fi)"st stenographer in
the United States Senate. He was also an author
of some distinction and associate of many promi
nent persons. He has recently died in Boston.
If the ideal marriage is truly an intellectual co
partnership then it is wonderfully well exempli
fied in the life of Prof, and Mrs. W. E. Ayrton.
Professor Ayrton is a famous English electrical
engineer and unusual as it may seen his wife’s
taste closely corresponds with that of the Profes
sor. She has recently been making electrical ex
periments on her own account, the results of which
were so valuable that she has received the David
Henry Hughes medal from the Royal Society which
is given only as a mark of appreciation for valua
ble research. Mrs. Ayrton is the only woman who
ever received this distinction. She is a Jewess.
It seems a little strange to consider that King
Edward today draws more revenue in interest on
American securities than King George HI. ever
collected from the American colonists. The invest
ments of King Edward are similar to those of thou
sands of British capitalists and consist of all sorts
of American enterprises, including American fac
tories and all varieties of “paying” industries.
It would seem indeed that women had invaded
almost every avenue of industry which could afford
a reasonable living. Even physical limitations
seem to have been overcome, especially when we
learn that now four women hold licenses to navi
gate the waters near one point—Pittsburg. These
women are Mrs. Mary Swan, Mrs. Mary Green and
the Dippold sisters. The two latter come from a
family of pilots, every member of which now holds
licenses. All these women are entitled to the rank
and title of captain.
Senator Albert J. Beveridge, who is a youthful
statesmen from Indiana, is better known to the gen
eral public as a writer than as a servant of the
state. He contributes to nearly every publication
in the country and thus materially increases his
somewhat meagre senatorial salary. He says he
could not continue to hold his official position did
he not thus increase his income by his writings. He
recently received the goodly sum of $1,500 for only
three magazine articles.
Senator La Follette, of Wisconsin, is yet another
United States representative who augments his sal
ary by literary work, although of a very different
kind from that of Senator Beveridge. Senator La
Follette is a popular lecturer and he is credited with
saying that he cleared $16,000 during his last lec
ture course. The amount was thus small (?) only
because he had but a short season of leisure owing
to the lateness with which congress adjourned, and
he confidently expects to make not less than $25,000
during the coming season.
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