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WAZKEK and RIDLEY and 'BEAUMONT
N JANUARY 30th, I began a series of
meetings in the First Baptist church,
which lasted for three weeks. I was
assisted by Dr. W. L. Walker, now with
the Home Board of Atlanta. Walker
had been with me before and I thought
I knew what to expect; but his pulpit
work even surpassed the high stand
ard I had set for him. Knowing the
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needs of my people and knowing the kind of man
Walker was, somehow my heart went out after
him and at last I found a time when he could
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REV. W. L. WALKER.
come to me. I knew his method of presenting
truth and believed it would appeal to my people. I
was not disappointed.
Dr. Walker stands for the whole truth and pre
ents it without an apology to the world, the flesh,
the devil or higher criticism. He speaks without
excitement and yet with the profoundest convic
tion. He knows the Book and stays right with
it from day to day. Not once did he ever lower
God’s standard to make a convert. His plea was
two fold: First, to God’s children for absolute
surrender to do his will and then to the unsaved
to repent of and forsake sin that the Lord might
be able to save.
No man I have had help me preaches a clearer,
Teasting Days at the Tabernacle.
(Continued from Page 1.)
which the great English preacher dropped into the
hearts of his enchained hearers.
Standing on the eminence of his more than three
score years, his hair white with the dawn of the
eternal morn, and his peaceful countenance transfig
ured with the light of the inner fires kindled by the
Piercedjdand—that was F. B. Meyer in his first mes
sage at the conference, and his face, though he wist
not that it shone,” made us think of "a little patch
of Beulah Land.”
Dixon “Tells His Experience.”
The first message of Dr. A. C. Dixon, who has been
a great favorite at conference since its organization
ten years ago, was a beautiful exposition of the
Lord’s Prayer, and on Friday afternoon, at Dr.
Broughton’s special request, he told the story of his
conversion and his call to the ministry. Os this mes
sage, The Atlanta Constitution gives a strikingly cor
rect interpretation for a secular paper, as follows:
“Dr. A. C. Dixon occupied the platform at 4 o’clock,
relating, at the request of Dr. Broughton, some of
the important crises of his life as a preacher in his
The Golden Age for March 10, 1910.
simpler and more powerful Gospel than AV alker.
He spends much time alone with God and when
in the pulpit the message is indeed God's message.
It cuts like a knife, heals like a salve and blesses
like a benediction.
The ten o’clock meetings were veritable feasts
for the soul. The word of God was honored and
taught. The preacher had not set sermons that
he was obliged to deliver. He came trusting God
and with his heart full of the word suited the
message to the congregation. My people grew in
knowledge and power every day and many of them
will never be the same again.
This is indeed the age of the Holy Spirit and
great emphasis was laid upon His leadership. If
He is allowed to rule,,.Jesus will be enthroned in
the heart and the life will become a life of power.
Rob Christianity of the supernatural and you have
left a creed but a creed without warmth. Rob
Christ of His divinity and you have left a man,
but a man with no power to save sinners. Rob
the Bible of its inspiration and you have a collec
tion of meaningless tales that are paralytic in the
presence of suffering and sin.
There were two never-to-be-forgotten days dur
ing the meeting. The ladies of the church prepared
lunch and served all who came from 12:00 to 1:00
o’clock, and then reassembled for an informal meet
ing of prayer, praise and testimony. One of the
meetings lasted six hours, including the lunch hour,
during which time the power of God came upon
the people in an almost miraculous way. One
woman, who lived a thousand miles away and
who was incidentally brought into the meeting, was
gloriously saved, united with the church and 1
baptized her into sweetest fellowship and now she
returns to her lovely home in Missouri, a firm
believer in the saving grace of God. In fact, it
was well nigh impossible for an unsaved man to
come under the magic spell of these hours of
waiting on God without surrendering to Christ.
Never in its history has the First Baptist church
of Beaumont been more united and more of one
mind than now. Os course, there are those in the
church who did not come under the influence ot
the meetings at all, they just would not. They were
not right with God and did not propose to get
right, so they stayed away. It is always so. It is
one of the things that breaks a pastor’s heart, and
yet it is one of his certain experiences. But thank
God this element in our church is growing less
each month and is also growing less influential. The
best people are in the lead. God is gradually
but surely revolutionizing this great church. In it
He has some men and women on whom He can
absolutely rely and the number is growing larger
all the time. This meeting has done much to
strengthen us along this one line.
There are those in the church who see now as
characteristically earnest and eloquent manner. This
pastor of the non-denominational Moody church, of
Chicago, a Baptist of the deepest convictions and con
scientiousness, related some of the deepest experien
ces of his life, from his conversion at 11, under his
father’s ministry, when he was greatly troubled be
cause he could not feel troubled enough, being a
healthy, normal boy, who simply wanted to be a Chris
tian, and could not stir up a great degree of emotion
about a process so natural; his call to the ministry,
which came about through the request of an old
farmer that he leatl a meeting in his father's absence
when he was a lad of 17, to the severer tests that
tried his soul as the pastor of wealthy city churches,
where he had to choose between pleasing certain in
fluential members of his congregation and being true
to himself and God.”
Gray’s Grasp On Scripture.
Dr. James M. Gray, of the Moody Bible School,
Chicago, showed by his first message that same won
derful grasp upon Bible truth with which he has
charmed and enriched the conference for several
years:
Following the devotional services at !l o clock bat
urday morning, Dr. James S. Gray, dean of the
C A. RIDLEY.
never before that God wants their whole life —
social, political, religious, spiritual—wants it all con
secrated to Him that he may bless them beyond
anything they had hoped or thought. I know of
no man who can present the word of God along’
these lines as can Walker. My own life will never
be the same again and the life of my church will
mean more to the lost world than it has ever
meant. Walker does not feel that his reputation
depends upon his getting a great number of people
to Unite with the church. His heart is ablaze
with interest, for the unsaved, but having been a
pastor he knows the necessity of getting into the
■
church only those who really mean business and
know the joy of personal trust in Jesus. In my
judgment, modern evangelism needs to exercise
great wisdom just here. I have done a great deal
of evangelistic work and my sympathies are with
the evangelist as he follows his holy calling; but
he needs to bs careful. There are many churches
today all ovei’ the land whose work has been crip
pled, whose energies have been atrophied, and
whose influence has been greatly weakened by
great ingatherings of unsaved people. Walker is
safe at this point. He acts with intelligence.
In our meeting here we had something over fifty
additions, but the emphasis was not laid on this
point. The one great thought was the word of
God as our guide in all things with the Holy Spirit
to lead us in studying it. I wish we might lay more
emphasis here. There is nothing to lose and much
to gain.
Moody Institute, of Chicago, opened his series of ser
mons on the general subject of “Prophecy,” the
series of perhaps the greatest general interest to be
delivered during the conference. Dr. Gray will con
sider the Old Testament prophets and those of the
New Testament as well, and the application of their
messages, delivered through the history of the race
from the beginning, to the complex and remarkable
condition of the present.
In his preliminary address, Dr. Gray reviewed
briefly the purpose of the Bible as the history of the
redemption of the human race from sin, for which
God employs two instruments, His Son as a personal
Savior, and the Jewish race, as a repository for His
truth a channel lor the appearance of the Redeemer
in the earth, and as a. witness to Himself before the
world. In the failure of Israel in the last capacity
lies the secret of its tragic history, one of the most
fascinating Old Bible studies.
Kemp From Scotland.
From the far-away land of Bruce and Burns comes
again Rev. Joseph Kemp, who is doing such notable
work as pastor in Edinburgh, and whose stirring
addresses at the conference last year called for his
coming again.
REV. C. A. ridley:
