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RE VI VAE MEE TINGS - - The Church ’s Preparations
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0 prudent man will undertake any
important work, without first mak
ing all preparation, that the work
may be a success. Indeed, in the
great majority of cases the work
will be a success or failure, ac
cording to the preparation thus
made. The success of Solomon in
building the temple resulted as
largely from the careful preparation made by
his father as from his own wisdom and conse
crated plans.
Even though the prepartory work be long
and arduous he must not become impatient nor
careless, for no part of the whole enterprise is
more important or necessary to insure success.
Often the preparatory work requires more
time and earnest, careful thought than to com
plete the work after the preparation is made.
It only took Christ three and a half years to do
the work of atonement, but it took the Divine
Father four thousand years to get everything
ready for it.
Every revival meeting, if conducted accord
ing to the Divine plan will have two distinct
stages: They are: first, the preparatory stage;
in which the Church following the Divine plan
comes together and, by humiliation, confession
and prayer, seeks for the Divine enduement,
to prepare them for the divinely appointed
work of soul-saving.
Second, the working stage, in which the
Church having received the Divine enduement,
and under the power and guidance of the Holy
Spirit, goes out with the message of salvation,
and seeks to bring the unsaved to Christ. I
confess to have but little hope of any great
permanent good from a revival meeting in
which the Church has not and does not come
closer to Christ —and is brought through prop
er and solemn self-examination more or less
under the power and control of the Divine
Spirit.
A Sad Mistake.
Here, I very much fear, is one sad mistake
that is being made in much of our modern
evangelism. It overlooks the necessity of the
Holy Spirit’s power in the Divine enduement
of the Church, which is God’s human agency for
the salvation of sinners. I have no word of
GEORGIA WHISKEY FIGHTERS PLAN CAMPAIGN
State Anti-Saloon League Held Convention in Atlanta Last Week—Movement Started to Enforce Law and “Clean Up” Georgia.
IE Seventh Annual Meeting of the
State Board of Trustees of the
Georgia Anti-Saloon League, which
was held at the Wesley Memorial
Church, on Tuesday, January 14,
1913, was the most enthusiastic
and largely attended session of the
Board since the passage of the
State-wide prohibition law. The
ly i
reports of the officers and committees sounded
a note of healthy growth of public sentiment
in favor of the prohibition law and a determin
ation to secure a more rigid enforcement of it.
The Headquarters Committee was high
ly commended for its safe and sane administra
tion of the affairs of the League. State-wide
campaign of law enforcement was made the
chief work of the League for the coming year.
To effect this the Board authorized Headquar
ters Committee to consider the feasibility of
establishing a department of law enforcement,
under competent direction to accomplish this
result.
The following officers were elected for the
year:
Rev. W. P. Lovejoy, D. D., president.
Frank J. Dudley, W. Woods White, Henry
S. Jones, vice-presidents.
Rev. G. W. Young, superintendent.
Rev. C. W, Daniel, chairman IJeadquaters
Committee.
The Golden Age for February 6,1913.
censure for brethren who may differ from me
on religious questions; but it seems to me that,
in a matter involving the immortal destiny of
human souls, we may well “ask for the old
paths and walk therein,” if we would hope
for success in saving sinners.
What preparation then should the Church
make for a revival meeting? I answer:
First, every necessary business arrangement
should be made so that the Church members
can give their time and thought to the work in
hand. This is a matter that I fear is very
largely overlooked in appointing revival meet
ings. How often has the faithful pastor been
induced to hold a revival only to have his heart
saddened and disappointed by finding that two
thirds or three-fourths of his members, on
whose hearty co-operation he depended, were
too busily engaged in worldly matters to give
any time or thought to the work of saving
souls. A revival, under such circumstances
is more apt to result in failure than success,
and had better not be undertaken.
Just here allow me to throw out a kind sug
gestion to my brother pastors. It is this: learn
to depend more on your Church, and less on
outside help. Work your Church. Throw your
self on their sympathies and co-operation. Let
them know that you have confidence in them.
Encourage but do not scold them. Embolden
them to stand by you. However, discouraged
you may feel personally, do not let them know
it. Rally them —send the word of cheer all
along the line —even as the commander would
rally his warriors for the one great struggle
for victory. Let their battle cry be, “The
Lord Jehovah is my strength.” A Church thus
endued and thoroughly consecrated to the
work is the very best human agency any pas
tor can have in a revival meeting. Fifty years
of active service as pastor and evangelist, with
careful observation of methods and results, en
titles me to write advisedly on this matter.
Second, having so arranged that, as far as is
possibile, the members of the Church can give
their time and thought to the work, the next
stop is to secure the Divine enduement, with
out which the real work of a revival meeting—
the conversion of sinners—can not be success-
J. B. Richards, general secretary.
Dr. Peyton H. Todd, treasurer.
The following vitally important 'resolutions
were adopted:
To the State Board of Trustees of the Georgia
Anti-Saloon League:
We, your Committee on Resolutions, having
had under consideration various suggestions
■submitted by the Board, and by individual
members, beg leave to submit the following,
viz:
Resolved, 1, That this Board is gratified with
the efficient services constantly rendered by
the State officers of the Georgia Anti-Saloon
League, and that our special thanks are due to
Dr. Young, the able and faithful State Super
intendent; to Mr. J. B. Richards, the General
Secretary, and the members of the Headquar
ters Committee; and that the reports submitted
Ry these officials have cheered and reassured
us as to the general work of the League.
Resolved, 2, That the Headquarters Commit
tee give earnest consideration to the question
of the current financial support of the League
with a view to placing its work upon a more
substantial and certain basis, and thus provid
ing means for the enlargement of its field and
equipment.
Resolved, 3, That the League contemplates
with satisfaction the effective administration,
and wise and strong decisions, of not a few of
or H. P. FITCH.
ful. How shall we secure this Divine endue
ment? It is just here that we must fall back
on and carefully study the Divine model. Clear
and explicit are the directions given. Read
them in Christ’s own words, “Behold I send
the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry
ye in Jerusalem till ye be endued with power
from on high.”—Luke 24:49. “But ye shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost has
come upon you.”—Acts 1:7.
Notice here that Christ nowhere told his dis
ciples how long they would have to tarry. That
was entirely a matter of faith and obedience.
It might have been one day or ten days, or a
hundred days. It was enough for those dis
ciples that their Master had promised them
that “Divine endument,” that “Holy Ghost
power,” and they would faithfully carry out
his instructions and wait his time.
Not Idle Waiting.
Nor was that waiting to be an idle waiting.
“They continued in prayer and supplication,
with the women, etc.” They had but one.
thought, one purpose, one intense expectation
—that was the Divine enduement, the Holy
Spirit’s power, that was to come upon them. Oh.
brethren! Is it not here that we have made
the fatal mistake? We have turned away
from the Divine instructions, and, instead of
seeking for, and depending on, this Divine
power, we have substituted human eloquence,
human persuasion and human machinery. What
wonder that we so often fail!
Here, brethren, is the Church’s preparatory
work of a revival meeting. Not until this
work is done is either the Church or the pastor
ready to preach to the unconverted. Then
will his preaching be attended with “the dem
onstration of the Spirit and with power.” Then
will the Church, like Israel of old —“As a
prince, have power with God and with man
and will prevail.” Then with “the sword of
the Lord and of Gideon” gleaming in the
brightness of the Divine power, do grand work
among the enemies of Jesus, and instead of the
simply expressed “desire to lead a better life”
sinners will be convicted of their sins and the
old nentaeostal crv will be hoard, “Men and
brethren what shall we do?”
the Judges of the Superior and other courts
of the State, in connection with the enforce
ment of the prohibition law; and that we give
it as our judgment that, in the enforcement of
this, as of other laws, the judiciary is the key
to the situation, and our chief bulwark against
lawlessness.
Resolved, 4, That Hon. Seaborn Wright, Hon.
W. B. Stubbs, and Hon. C W. Smith, be re
quested by the Georgia Anti-Saloon League, to
act as a committee to investigate the present
laws of the State as they effect the cause of pro
hibition, togther with all court decisions hav
ing a bearing upon the same cause, and recom
mend to the League, a plan for such changes in>
or amendments to, the statues as are necessary
to secure the enforcement of the tSate’s anti
liquor laws; and that they be also requested to
frame such bills, as, in their judgment, the
coming General Assembly should be asked to
consider and pass.
Resolved, That the work of the Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union continually com
mends itself to our loyal interest and endorse
ment, and we pray for its prosperity and en
largement.
Resolved, by motion of Judge Geo. Hillyer,
That the pastors throughout the State be re
quested to preach at least one sermon on Tem
perance and Law Enforcement during the
year.
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