New York, 1895
Evangelist Cressey Says a Brother's Faith Wouldn't Rescue an Ant.
Evangelist E. R. Cressey, who has been conducting the big revival at Babylon for the past ten days, has declared war against the Rev. J. E. Raymond, pastor of the Babylon Baptist church, on account of Mr. Raymond's refusal to take further part in the revival services. An open rupture occurred between the men Friday morning on the street. Evangelist Cressey, the Rev. Mr. Adams, and the Rev. Mr. Long, pastors of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, saw Pastor Raymond and accosted him. Mr. Cressey demanded to know what Mr. Raymond meant by his continued indifference, and wound up his remarks by asking his Baptist brother: "Have you no faith in God?"
Pastor Raymond is a short, quiet man with a powerful command of language. He replied: "I have faith in God, but I don't think God has much to do with the way in which these services are being conducted."
The dominies looked at each other in silence, but Evangelist Cressey began to berate his brother preacher, and finally said excitedly: "Why, you have not faith enough to pull an ant out of the mud."
Pastor Raymond quietly assured his brother preachers that he had an unlimited quantity of faith, but that it was not of the kind which allowed him to hold services in barrooms or on store stoops.
Evangelist Cressey and Pastors Long and Adams held twelve services on Friday, and will continue the revival for an indefinite time. It was known by many that Pastor Raymond had all along not favored the methods pursued by Evangelist Cressey, and that he had refrained from taking part in the meetings for men only, and would not conduct services in the saloon. Many of the church people are siding with Pastor Raymond, while the crusaders are looking correspondingly gloomy. Evangelist Cressey says the people are too fastidious.
Found a Spring Under the Church
While deepening the cellar under the Methodist church in Oyster Bay workmen struck a spring of water. The water came spouting up at about the rate of a barrel a minute.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 1, 1895, p. 2.
Showing posts with label preachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preachers. Show all posts
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Marblehead Divine and the Fierce Bull
1895
An uncomfortable experience which befell Parson Bartlett, a Unitarian minister, some years ago, used to be related by his clerical brethren with a good deal of glee. The parson had been invited to exchange pulpits with a clergyman in Salem, and it being a delightful Sunday in the spring the parson walked across the fields from his home in Marblehead, starting early enough in the morning to be on time when the hour for service arrived. The congregation assembled at the usual time, but no minister appeared. Minutes passed into a half hour, and from that into an hour, and it began to be apparent that there would be no services that morning. Just as the congregation was about to disperse the parson arrived. He was covered with mud from head to feet. His coat was torn, his hat battered, and a telltale streak on his shirt front exposed his darling vice of chewing tobacco.
An explanation was in order and was given. While the parson was sauntering leisurely along, enjoying the bracing morning air and the picturesque views, thinking now and then of the points in his sermon, he heard a bellowing behind him, and, looking around, saw a belligerent bull, with his nostrils dilated and his tail in the air, rushing directly for him. The parson ran for a wall near by and jumped into the next field. But the bull was not to be eluded in that way. He was over as soon as his clerical victim. The parson jumped over the wall again into the field he had left, but The bull was there before he was. In this way they kept up the jumping and running, first over one wall, then over another, until by scaling a fence the parson reached the open road. The bull was thus brought to a standstill and ran off snorting defiance. Parson Bartlett, exhausted with his unwonted exertion, bruised and sore in every limb, made his way as best he could to Salem. — Boston Globe.
An uncomfortable experience which befell Parson Bartlett, a Unitarian minister, some years ago, used to be related by his clerical brethren with a good deal of glee. The parson had been invited to exchange pulpits with a clergyman in Salem, and it being a delightful Sunday in the spring the parson walked across the fields from his home in Marblehead, starting early enough in the morning to be on time when the hour for service arrived. The congregation assembled at the usual time, but no minister appeared. Minutes passed into a half hour, and from that into an hour, and it began to be apparent that there would be no services that morning. Just as the congregation was about to disperse the parson arrived. He was covered with mud from head to feet. His coat was torn, his hat battered, and a telltale streak on his shirt front exposed his darling vice of chewing tobacco.
An explanation was in order and was given. While the parson was sauntering leisurely along, enjoying the bracing morning air and the picturesque views, thinking now and then of the points in his sermon, he heard a bellowing behind him, and, looking around, saw a belligerent bull, with his nostrils dilated and his tail in the air, rushing directly for him. The parson ran for a wall near by and jumped into the next field. But the bull was not to be eluded in that way. He was over as soon as his clerical victim. The parson jumped over the wall again into the field he had left, but The bull was there before he was. In this way they kept up the jumping and running, first over one wall, then over another, until by scaling a fence the parson reached the open road. The bull was thus brought to a standstill and ran off snorting defiance. Parson Bartlett, exhausted with his unwonted exertion, bruised and sore in every limb, made his way as best he could to Salem. — Boston Globe.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Twice Shot At
New York, 1895
Local Exhorter Valentine Chased by Miss Fleming's Father.
Edward W. Valentine is well known as a local exhorter in Long Island and Connecticut. He has been for a number of years the secretary of the board of trustees of the St. James' Methodist church at Pearsalls and superintendent of the Sunday school. He has even occupied the pulpit in the absence of the minister. He has a wife but no children.
Among the ladies who attend St. James' church was Miss Belle Fleming, a handsome young woman who until recently has been a teacher in one the Brooklyn schools.
Recently it was remarked that Miss Belle Fleming was receiving more attention from Mr. Valentine than was consistent with propriety. People whispered their suspicions to Mrs. Valentine. Thursday night Miss Fleming, it is said, told her father a story which astounded him and put him in uncontrollable passion. He took his shot gun and went out to look for Valentine. Valentine was not in town. When the latter appeared at his place of business Friday morning he found Fleming awaiting him. The moment he saw Fleming he turned and ran into Forbell's grocery.
Fleming saw him and bounded after him. As he entered the front door he saw Valentine running out the rear of the store. He fired both shots, shattering the glass in the door. Whether Valentine was wounded or not is unknown, as he escaped across the lots and ran with all speed for the railroad tracks. Fleming followed until his strength gave out.
Valentine has probably gone to Scranton, Pa. He received a letter from that place recently tendering him the secretaryship of the young men's Christian association of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad at Scranton.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 8, 1895, p. 1.
Local Exhorter Valentine Chased by Miss Fleming's Father.
Edward W. Valentine is well known as a local exhorter in Long Island and Connecticut. He has been for a number of years the secretary of the board of trustees of the St. James' Methodist church at Pearsalls and superintendent of the Sunday school. He has even occupied the pulpit in the absence of the minister. He has a wife but no children.
Among the ladies who attend St. James' church was Miss Belle Fleming, a handsome young woman who until recently has been a teacher in one the Brooklyn schools.
Recently it was remarked that Miss Belle Fleming was receiving more attention from Mr. Valentine than was consistent with propriety. People whispered their suspicions to Mrs. Valentine. Thursday night Miss Fleming, it is said, told her father a story which astounded him and put him in uncontrollable passion. He took his shot gun and went out to look for Valentine. Valentine was not in town. When the latter appeared at his place of business Friday morning he found Fleming awaiting him. The moment he saw Fleming he turned and ran into Forbell's grocery.
Fleming saw him and bounded after him. As he entered the front door he saw Valentine running out the rear of the store. He fired both shots, shattering the glass in the door. Whether Valentine was wounded or not is unknown, as he escaped across the lots and ran with all speed for the railroad tracks. Fleming followed until his strength gave out.
Valentine has probably gone to Scranton, Pa. He received a letter from that place recently tendering him the secretaryship of the young men's Christian association of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad at Scranton.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 8, 1895, p. 1.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Both Held for the Grand Jury
New York, 1895
Robert Smalley of Seaford was held to appear before the grand jury on a charge of perjury by Justice Seaman at Wantagh Tuesday evening. Smalley's accuser is Joseph Smith, a local preacher, who was also the complainant against Smalley's father on a similar charge, which resulted in his being held for the grand jury.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 1.
Robert Smalley of Seaford was held to appear before the grand jury on a charge of perjury by Justice Seaman at Wantagh Tuesday evening. Smalley's accuser is Joseph Smith, a local preacher, who was also the complainant against Smalley's father on a similar charge, which resulted in his being held for the grand jury.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 1.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Snowshoe Itinerant
1901
Denver, June 17. — The Rev. John L. Dyer, one of the most famous preachers who has figured in the history of the west, died of paralysis of the throat after a lingering illness. Mr. Dyer was born in Franklin county, Ohio, in 1812. "Father" Dyer, as he became known, began preaching in Wisconsin in 1849, and was the oldest, if not the last of the old Methodist "circuit riders." Coming to Colorado in 1861 he met many thrilling adventures in his travels in this state and New Mexico, and through his zeal in preaching to the widely separated and almost inaccessible mining camps in ail kinds of weather earned the sobriquet of "The Snowshoe Itinerant" He is the author of a book bearing that title.
Denver, June 17. — The Rev. John L. Dyer, one of the most famous preachers who has figured in the history of the west, died of paralysis of the throat after a lingering illness. Mr. Dyer was born in Franklin county, Ohio, in 1812. "Father" Dyer, as he became known, began preaching in Wisconsin in 1849, and was the oldest, if not the last of the old Methodist "circuit riders." Coming to Colorado in 1861 he met many thrilling adventures in his travels in this state and New Mexico, and through his zeal in preaching to the widely separated and almost inaccessible mining camps in ail kinds of weather earned the sobriquet of "The Snowshoe Itinerant" He is the author of a book bearing that title.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Baptist Humor
1901
Here is a story from the Baptist conference at Leicester. It is about a minister. He found himself at chapel one morning without his sermon. "My dear brethren," he exclaimed, "I can only give you now what God will send me, but tonight I will come back better prepared." — Pall Mall Gazette.
Here is a story from the Baptist conference at Leicester. It is about a minister. He found himself at chapel one morning without his sermon. "My dear brethren," he exclaimed, "I can only give you now what God will send me, but tonight I will come back better prepared." — Pall Mall Gazette.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Cain's Wife
1910
"I never discuss marriage," said the late Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, to the Womans' Companion, "without thinking of an old colored preacher in my state who was addressing his dark-skinned congregation, when a white man rose in the back of the building."
"Mr. Preacher," said the white man.
"Sir to you," said the parson.
"Mr. Preacher, you are talking about Cain, and you say he got married in the land of Nod, after he killed Abel. But the Bible only mentions Adam and Eve as being on the earth at that time. Who, then, did Cain marry?"
The colored preacher snorted with unfeigned contempt.
"Huh!" he said. "You hear dat, brederen an' sisters? You hear dat fool question I am axed? Cain, he went to de land o' Nod, just as de Good Book tells us, an' in de land of Nod Cain gits so lazy an' so shiftless dat he up an' marries a gal o' one o' dem no 'count white trash families dat de inspired apostle didn't consider fittin' to mention in de Holy Word."
—Amador Ledger, Jackson, CA, Dec. 30, 1910, p. 2.
"I never discuss marriage," said the late Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, to the Womans' Companion, "without thinking of an old colored preacher in my state who was addressing his dark-skinned congregation, when a white man rose in the back of the building."
"Mr. Preacher," said the white man.
"Sir to you," said the parson.
"Mr. Preacher, you are talking about Cain, and you say he got married in the land of Nod, after he killed Abel. But the Bible only mentions Adam and Eve as being on the earth at that time. Who, then, did Cain marry?"
The colored preacher snorted with unfeigned contempt.
"Huh!" he said. "You hear dat, brederen an' sisters? You hear dat fool question I am axed? Cain, he went to de land o' Nod, just as de Good Book tells us, an' in de land of Nod Cain gits so lazy an' so shiftless dat he up an' marries a gal o' one o' dem no 'count white trash families dat de inspired apostle didn't consider fittin' to mention in de Holy Word."
—Amador Ledger, Jackson, CA, Dec. 30, 1910, p. 2.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Development of Man
1911
Man does not develop in the highest sense until he comes into a conscious need of spiritual attainment, until there is a hungering and thirsting after the fruits of the spirit — gentleness, long suffering, goodness, temperance, love. — Rev. Gay Arthur Jamieson, New York.
Seed of the Church
The blood of the martyrs is the church, the giving up of life is at heart in all great movements, expiatory. — Rev. Allyn K. Foster, Baptist, Brooklyn.
Man does not develop in the highest sense until he comes into a conscious need of spiritual attainment, until there is a hungering and thirsting after the fruits of the spirit — gentleness, long suffering, goodness, temperance, love. — Rev. Gay Arthur Jamieson, New York.
Seed of the Church
The blood of the martyrs is the church, the giving up of life is at heart in all great movements, expiatory. — Rev. Allyn K. Foster, Baptist, Brooklyn.
Supremacy of the Soul
1911
Link soul with all that is worthy, with all that is true, with all that is good, with all that is noble and then when you go out into the world of nature you will be enabled to say, I have walked with God upon the hills and have seen each morn arise new, bathed in light of Paradise. — Rev. E. L. Powell, Louisville.
Love Your Enemies
The call from the great teacher to love even enemies is really a call to get acquainted with folks as they really are. — Rev. A. G. Singsen, Congregationalist, Providence.
Link soul with all that is worthy, with all that is true, with all that is good, with all that is noble and then when you go out into the world of nature you will be enabled to say, I have walked with God upon the hills and have seen each morn arise new, bathed in light of Paradise. — Rev. E. L. Powell, Louisville.
Love Your Enemies
The call from the great teacher to love even enemies is really a call to get acquainted with folks as they really are. — Rev. A. G. Singsen, Congregationalist, Providence.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Don't Be a Sloven
1910
No One Can Afford to Be Untidy
No man or woman is great enough to be slovenly.
I have known — and of course you have — many people who felt justified in developing their minds and ignoring their bodies, because they thought the mental was so much more important than the physical, a writer in the Colorado Springs Gazette says.
I think that is a very wrong outlook. No mental power, however great, exempts its possessor from the care of the person.
A brilliant, slovenly person may succeed in life, but only by using twice as much force as he need have expended. He will never go so far as the man or woman who takes care to add a prepossessing appearance to a prepossessing mind.
A few months ago I was much pleased to hear that a young minister for whose brilliance I had great respect had been honored by a call from a small town where he was preaching to one of Boston's most famous and beautiful churches.
Yesterday I was saddened by hearing that his resignation had been asked and given and that he had left the church and gone back to a small parish.
And the reason was simply this: He did not keep his linen clean.
A small thing, you say?
I don't know. A very large one, I should think, if it had the power to come between the congregation and his message.
A woman in our town whose slovenliness about her dress and her person has made her a town character took the civil-service examination recently. She is as clever as she is slovenly and passed at the head of the list. She has never received an appointment. It is an open secret that her failure to do so is simply because the officials will not have a person of her disgraceful appearance in a public position.
In the college from which I was graduated the commencement part is one of the prizes for which the best students strive. In awarding it last year a girl of the highest scholarship was passed over for one who had received less excellent rank because the first girl was nothing more nor less than "sloppy." The college was not willing that a girl of untidy appearance — no matter how brilliant her mind, no matter how clever a speech she might have made — should represent it on its commencement platform.
A shopkeeper might have an excellent stock of articles, but if his window show were thick with dust and his doorway choked with litter the public would be pretty apt to pass by and go to the more attractive shop down the street, though the articles sold there were no better or even scarce as good.
Any one who thinks the contents of his mind ought to make friends and win success for him, no matter how slovenly and unattractive his person may be, is just such a shopkeeper.
The examples I have cited have been extreme cases, of course. But on that account they are the better object lessons to remind any of us who may sometimes be careless in some slight particular that it never pays.
No One Can Afford to Be Untidy
No man or woman is great enough to be slovenly.
I have known — and of course you have — many people who felt justified in developing their minds and ignoring their bodies, because they thought the mental was so much more important than the physical, a writer in the Colorado Springs Gazette says.
I think that is a very wrong outlook. No mental power, however great, exempts its possessor from the care of the person.
A brilliant, slovenly person may succeed in life, but only by using twice as much force as he need have expended. He will never go so far as the man or woman who takes care to add a prepossessing appearance to a prepossessing mind.
A few months ago I was much pleased to hear that a young minister for whose brilliance I had great respect had been honored by a call from a small town where he was preaching to one of Boston's most famous and beautiful churches.
Yesterday I was saddened by hearing that his resignation had been asked and given and that he had left the church and gone back to a small parish.
And the reason was simply this: He did not keep his linen clean.
A small thing, you say?
I don't know. A very large one, I should think, if it had the power to come between the congregation and his message.
A woman in our town whose slovenliness about her dress and her person has made her a town character took the civil-service examination recently. She is as clever as she is slovenly and passed at the head of the list. She has never received an appointment. It is an open secret that her failure to do so is simply because the officials will not have a person of her disgraceful appearance in a public position.
In the college from which I was graduated the commencement part is one of the prizes for which the best students strive. In awarding it last year a girl of the highest scholarship was passed over for one who had received less excellent rank because the first girl was nothing more nor less than "sloppy." The college was not willing that a girl of untidy appearance — no matter how brilliant her mind, no matter how clever a speech she might have made — should represent it on its commencement platform.
A shopkeeper might have an excellent stock of articles, but if his window show were thick with dust and his doorway choked with litter the public would be pretty apt to pass by and go to the more attractive shop down the street, though the articles sold there were no better or even scarce as good.
Any one who thinks the contents of his mind ought to make friends and win success for him, no matter how slovenly and unattractive his person may be, is just such a shopkeeper.
The examples I have cited have been extreme cases, of course. But on that account they are the better object lessons to remind any of us who may sometimes be careless in some slight particular that it never pays.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Acknowledges Debt to the Bible
1905
Justice David J. Brewer of the United States Supreme Court for over half a century has been connected with Sunday schools as scholar or teacher. Ever since going to Washington twelve years ago he has had a class of adults. The justice says he frequently has been indebted to the Bible for sentences which have given emphasis to the thought and vigor to the argument of his legal opinions.
Besetting Sin of "Gentlemen"
All people above the condition of laborers are ruined by excess of stimulus and nourishment, clergy included. I never yet saw any gentleman who ate and drank as little as was reasonable. Looking back on my past life I find that all my miseries of body and mind have proceeded from indigestion. — Sydney Smith's Confession.
Welsh Tangles Pastor
In one of the southern Kansas towns the preacher at a funeral made a sad mess of it when he attempted to read an obituary of the dead woman. She was born in Ystradgyulas, Glamorganshire. Wales. — Kansas City Journal.
Justice David J. Brewer of the United States Supreme Court for over half a century has been connected with Sunday schools as scholar or teacher. Ever since going to Washington twelve years ago he has had a class of adults. The justice says he frequently has been indebted to the Bible for sentences which have given emphasis to the thought and vigor to the argument of his legal opinions.
Besetting Sin of "Gentlemen"
All people above the condition of laborers are ruined by excess of stimulus and nourishment, clergy included. I never yet saw any gentleman who ate and drank as little as was reasonable. Looking back on my past life I find that all my miseries of body and mind have proceeded from indigestion. — Sydney Smith's Confession.
Welsh Tangles Pastor
In one of the southern Kansas towns the preacher at a funeral made a sad mess of it when he attempted to read an obituary of the dead woman. She was born in Ystradgyulas, Glamorganshire. Wales. — Kansas City Journal.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
The Preacher, Deacon's Daughter, and Money
1902
A Bit of Parish History
By David H. Talmadge
There was a preacher once whose health was bad — bad as the state of his spiritual being was good, which was very bad. And, although he labored strenuously to perform his duty, as the Scriptures admonished and his congregation seemed to desire, he lost heart and became exceedingly like the proverbial reed. No man of thin blood and writhing nerves should expect to preach sound and healthy sermons.
The thought had occurred to him that might use a vacation if he had one; but as the Board of Trustees did not suggest it, and as he felt that to mention it himself would be to deprive himself of his job, he struggled along as best he could, awaiting the inevitable end, and smiling strongly through his weakness.
He prayed for his lost strength, at times he wept for it. And then — poor, almost exhausted fellow! — he tumbled head over heels in love with the deacon's daughter, lately returned from school, and his cup was full to overflowing.
Then he was in more trouble. No man can reveal the Scriptures successfully unless they hold first place in his mind. So, as might have been expected, the congregation, while it enjoyed the change, looked upon him as one in whom the lamp of intellect was burning low, and shook its heads and sighed — inside. And the choir took to practicing popular songs and the President of the Board of Trustees bought a race horse, and altogether the outlook in that parish was pretty glum.
The deacon who, strangely enough, was wise in a worldly way, saw how things were going. He knew his daughter. He knew she was soft on the preacher as the preacher was soft on her, although perhaps she did not show so plainly. He knew that a wedding was inevitable. And he knew that unless he stirred his stumps — to use his own elegant expression — the girl would be married to a pulpitless preacher of poor health without a cent between them and starvation. So while the preacher prayed the deacon stirred his stumps.
He reasoned, the deacon, that the first step was to restore the preacher's health. In good health the preacher was perfectly satisfactory to the congregation, "He is a corker," said the deacon, quoting from saint no one in particular, "when he is in trim." Which was true.
The deacon, being a practical man, consulted a doctor. And the doctor, also a practical man, wasted no words. "He must have rest," declared the doctor.
"The Board of Trustees won't listen to it," returned the deacon.
"They would if they were convinced that he was independent of 'em," said the doctor, "there isn't one preacher in a hundred, of his excellence, who'd preach for his salary. Tell 'em he's got a fortune in his own right, and prove it to 'em. It'll be chancing your future salvation of course, but it'll work."
"I believe it will," agreed the deacon, after a brief period of deliberation. "But we'll have to make the preacher believe it, too, he's so—so deuced conscientious. Then we'll draw a ten-year contract and get it signed, and then I'll give him five hundred of his fortune and send him away for a few months."
"It'll work," repeated the doctor. "If I was in your fix I'd do it without hesitation."
So the deacon went to a certain city and was closeted for the better part of three hours with a lawyer, and for the better part of an hour with an expert in genealogy, as a result of which journey the preacher received papers stating that a distant relative in a foreign land had died, and that a more or less vast estate was being parceled out to innocent and unsuspecting victims. And the preacher believed, for he was without guile, and the check for $500 was before his eyes. And he hied him away to get his shatteredness together again. And the deacon labored with the Board of Trustees to the end that the ten-year contract was signed and sealed.
At the end of the allotted time the preacher returned and was wedded to the deacon's daughter. He seemed another man. His eyes were bright; his shoulders had lost their stoop; he was his old time hearty self, and collections at the church increased much.
"See," said he, "what prayer will accomplish!"
"See," said the deacon's daughter, "the wondrous power of woman's love!"
"See," said the deacon, "what common sense will do! A heap of good your prayers and love would have done if it hadn't been for me and Doc, and that smashed commandment. Lord, forgive me!"
And it was all so. Beautiful thoughts dropped from the preacher's lips like unto sparks of fire. The congregation came to look upon him as one inspired. And one day there came from a large city church a call. "We have heard of you," said they of the large city church, "and we offer you a salary and an annual vacation." And the preacher waxed exceeding glad, and accepted the good offer.
Then was the deacon saddened. "I am to lose my only daughter," he sighed, "and by own fault. The ten-year contract holds not under these conditions. We'll be lonely here with Maggie gone." But he put his finger piously to one side of his nose, and bore himself bravely. — New York News.
A Bit of Parish History
By David H. Talmadge
There was a preacher once whose health was bad — bad as the state of his spiritual being was good, which was very bad. And, although he labored strenuously to perform his duty, as the Scriptures admonished and his congregation seemed to desire, he lost heart and became exceedingly like the proverbial reed. No man of thin blood and writhing nerves should expect to preach sound and healthy sermons.
The thought had occurred to him that might use a vacation if he had one; but as the Board of Trustees did not suggest it, and as he felt that to mention it himself would be to deprive himself of his job, he struggled along as best he could, awaiting the inevitable end, and smiling strongly through his weakness.
He prayed for his lost strength, at times he wept for it. And then — poor, almost exhausted fellow! — he tumbled head over heels in love with the deacon's daughter, lately returned from school, and his cup was full to overflowing.
Then he was in more trouble. No man can reveal the Scriptures successfully unless they hold first place in his mind. So, as might have been expected, the congregation, while it enjoyed the change, looked upon him as one in whom the lamp of intellect was burning low, and shook its heads and sighed — inside. And the choir took to practicing popular songs and the President of the Board of Trustees bought a race horse, and altogether the outlook in that parish was pretty glum.
The deacon who, strangely enough, was wise in a worldly way, saw how things were going. He knew his daughter. He knew she was soft on the preacher as the preacher was soft on her, although perhaps she did not show so plainly. He knew that a wedding was inevitable. And he knew that unless he stirred his stumps — to use his own elegant expression — the girl would be married to a pulpitless preacher of poor health without a cent between them and starvation. So while the preacher prayed the deacon stirred his stumps.
He reasoned, the deacon, that the first step was to restore the preacher's health. In good health the preacher was perfectly satisfactory to the congregation, "He is a corker," said the deacon, quoting from saint no one in particular, "when he is in trim." Which was true.
The deacon, being a practical man, consulted a doctor. And the doctor, also a practical man, wasted no words. "He must have rest," declared the doctor.
"The Board of Trustees won't listen to it," returned the deacon.
"They would if they were convinced that he was independent of 'em," said the doctor, "there isn't one preacher in a hundred, of his excellence, who'd preach for his salary. Tell 'em he's got a fortune in his own right, and prove it to 'em. It'll be chancing your future salvation of course, but it'll work."
"I believe it will," agreed the deacon, after a brief period of deliberation. "But we'll have to make the preacher believe it, too, he's so—so deuced conscientious. Then we'll draw a ten-year contract and get it signed, and then I'll give him five hundred of his fortune and send him away for a few months."
"It'll work," repeated the doctor. "If I was in your fix I'd do it without hesitation."
So the deacon went to a certain city and was closeted for the better part of three hours with a lawyer, and for the better part of an hour with an expert in genealogy, as a result of which journey the preacher received papers stating that a distant relative in a foreign land had died, and that a more or less vast estate was being parceled out to innocent and unsuspecting victims. And the preacher believed, for he was without guile, and the check for $500 was before his eyes. And he hied him away to get his shatteredness together again. And the deacon labored with the Board of Trustees to the end that the ten-year contract was signed and sealed.
At the end of the allotted time the preacher returned and was wedded to the deacon's daughter. He seemed another man. His eyes were bright; his shoulders had lost their stoop; he was his old time hearty self, and collections at the church increased much.
"See," said he, "what prayer will accomplish!"
"See," said the deacon's daughter, "the wondrous power of woman's love!"
"See," said the deacon, "what common sense will do! A heap of good your prayers and love would have done if it hadn't been for me and Doc, and that smashed commandment. Lord, forgive me!"
And it was all so. Beautiful thoughts dropped from the preacher's lips like unto sparks of fire. The congregation came to look upon him as one inspired. And one day there came from a large city church a call. "We have heard of you," said they of the large city church, "and we offer you a salary and an annual vacation." And the preacher waxed exceeding glad, and accepted the good offer.
Then was the deacon saddened. "I am to lose my only daughter," he sighed, "and by own fault. The ten-year contract holds not under these conditions. We'll be lonely here with Maggie gone." But he put his finger piously to one side of his nose, and bore himself bravely. — New York News.
Friday, June 29, 2007
A Place for Hosea
1896
Dean Hole, in his "Little Tour in America," gives the following good story, which was picked up at an entertainment given in his honor by the Lotos Club of New York. The quaintest story of the evening was told by Dr. Greer, of a tedious, monotonous preacher, who had exhausted the patience of his hearers by an elaborate dissertation on the four greater prophets, and when, to their sad disgust, he passed on to the minor, and asked, "And now, my brethren, where shall we place Hosea?" a man rose from the congregation and made answer, "You can place him here, sir. I'm off."
City Paved With Gold
Prescott, the capital of Arizona, boasts that it is the nearest approach to the New Jerusalem as described in the Bible, as its streets are being paved with gold. The granite used for pavements contains $4 in gold and twenty cents in silver to every ton, so that in time, when less expensive methods of reducing ores are used, it may pay the city to tear up and crush its street pavements. — New York Times.
Time for Prayer
If a praying machine were invented many would use it if it did not take too much time from business to wind it up.
Dean Hole, in his "Little Tour in America," gives the following good story, which was picked up at an entertainment given in his honor by the Lotos Club of New York. The quaintest story of the evening was told by Dr. Greer, of a tedious, monotonous preacher, who had exhausted the patience of his hearers by an elaborate dissertation on the four greater prophets, and when, to their sad disgust, he passed on to the minor, and asked, "And now, my brethren, where shall we place Hosea?" a man rose from the congregation and made answer, "You can place him here, sir. I'm off."
City Paved With Gold
Prescott, the capital of Arizona, boasts that it is the nearest approach to the New Jerusalem as described in the Bible, as its streets are being paved with gold. The granite used for pavements contains $4 in gold and twenty cents in silver to every ton, so that in time, when less expensive methods of reducing ores are used, it may pay the city to tear up and crush its street pavements. — New York Times.
Time for Prayer
If a praying machine were invented many would use it if it did not take too much time from business to wind it up.
Monday, June 25, 2007
The Minister's Blunder
1896
The New Yorkers are telling one another of a good joke on Rev. John Wesley Brown, rector of St. Thomas' Church, previously rector of St Paul's in this city.
His part in the ceremonial of the Paget-Whitney wedding was to read the service. Either he had marked the wrong place in the prayer book or the singing disconcerted him; at any rate the wedding party was amazed to hear his rich, full voice utter the words: "I am the resurrection and the life."
"Heavens and earth!" ejaculated Bishop Potter in a whisper behind him. The rector at once awoke to the fact that he was reading the burial service, and, after one breathless second, he proceeded with the proper ritual.
1901
Old Parson Helton, a Baptist preacher, of Tennessee, had eighteen sons, and during the Civil War sixteen of them enlisted in the Union Army, and two sided with the Confederates. When the old minister had reached his eighty-eighth year, someone, who did not know about his sons' views, asked him where his sympathies lay during the war. "My sympathies were with the Union by fourteen majority," said the old man.
The New Yorkers are telling one another of a good joke on Rev. John Wesley Brown, rector of St. Thomas' Church, previously rector of St Paul's in this city.
His part in the ceremonial of the Paget-Whitney wedding was to read the service. Either he had marked the wrong place in the prayer book or the singing disconcerted him; at any rate the wedding party was amazed to hear his rich, full voice utter the words: "I am the resurrection and the life."
"Heavens and earth!" ejaculated Bishop Potter in a whisper behind him. The rector at once awoke to the fact that he was reading the burial service, and, after one breathless second, he proceeded with the proper ritual.
1901
Old Parson Helton, a Baptist preacher, of Tennessee, had eighteen sons, and during the Civil War sixteen of them enlisted in the Union Army, and two sided with the Confederates. When the old minister had reached his eighty-eighth year, someone, who did not know about his sons' views, asked him where his sympathies lay during the war. "My sympathies were with the Union by fourteen majority," said the old man.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Friends Church: "You Need Baptism of The Holy Ghost"
Ohio, 1916
Increased Attendance at Friends Church Revival
Large crowds attended the revival services at the Friends Church, Sunday. Last night it was necessary to throw open the Sunday School room. Seven persons presented their names for membership.
In his sermon in the morning the pastor spoke on the need of "Divine Equipment for Service." In part he said: God not only wants to save men from sin, but prepare them for service. It is not enough to have your sin pardoned, but you need the baptism of the Holy Ghost to give you power to do. This is the crying need of the church to-day. In the days of Finney, Edwards and the Wesleys it is claimed less than fifteen per cent of the converts backslid. In our day less than this number stand and all because we do not preach a full gospel.
In the evening his subject was "God's Estimate of the Value of a Soul." He said that no soul has ever gone so low but what Jesus goes beneath that one to lift him up. It is an abomination in the sight of Heaven for church people to talk about trash. All men are human beings, and have a soul and the soul of a poor harlot or drunkard is as precious in the eyes of Jesus Christ as that of the President or a King. When you hear a person talk about trash you may rest assured that that person is dirtier than the "trash" they talk about. The mission of Jesus is to put all men on an equality. Blind Bartimaeus had to be lifted up, while the self-righteous Zacchaeus had to come down, and the two met on the same platform.
Meetings to night at 7:30. Special prayer and inquiry meeting at 6:30. Special music at every service.
Resignation
Rev. Hugh Willard Hanna tendered his resignation as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Kenton, "for the sake of peace and harmony." His resignation caused general surprise as he was called to the pastorate in June, 1914, from Freeport, Pa.
—The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Feb. 21, 1916.
Increased Attendance at Friends Church Revival
Large crowds attended the revival services at the Friends Church, Sunday. Last night it was necessary to throw open the Sunday School room. Seven persons presented their names for membership.
In his sermon in the morning the pastor spoke on the need of "Divine Equipment for Service." In part he said: God not only wants to save men from sin, but prepare them for service. It is not enough to have your sin pardoned, but you need the baptism of the Holy Ghost to give you power to do. This is the crying need of the church to-day. In the days of Finney, Edwards and the Wesleys it is claimed less than fifteen per cent of the converts backslid. In our day less than this number stand and all because we do not preach a full gospel.
In the evening his subject was "God's Estimate of the Value of a Soul." He said that no soul has ever gone so low but what Jesus goes beneath that one to lift him up. It is an abomination in the sight of Heaven for church people to talk about trash. All men are human beings, and have a soul and the soul of a poor harlot or drunkard is as precious in the eyes of Jesus Christ as that of the President or a King. When you hear a person talk about trash you may rest assured that that person is dirtier than the "trash" they talk about. The mission of Jesus is to put all men on an equality. Blind Bartimaeus had to be lifted up, while the self-righteous Zacchaeus had to come down, and the two met on the same platform.
Meetings to night at 7:30. Special prayer and inquiry meeting at 6:30. Special music at every service.
Resignation
Rev. Hugh Willard Hanna tendered his resignation as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Kenton, "for the sake of peace and harmony." His resignation caused general surprise as he was called to the pastorate in June, 1914, from Freeport, Pa.
—The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Feb. 21, 1916.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
"The Walking Bible" Visits Nazarene Church
Illinois, 1910
Church of the Nazarene
Revival extraordinary at the First Church of the Nazarene. In connection with the general revival movement that is now sweeping the city, the First Church of the Nazarene, 6417 Eggleston avenue, Rev. C. E. Cornell, pastor, began a special series of evangelistic services Wednesday.
Rev. Bud Robinson of Texas, one of the most unique and successful evangelists in America, will preach each night except Saturday. This is Mr. Robinson's third visit to this church. On each of the former visits the church was packed to the doors and hundreds were seeking the Lord. Bud is called "The Walking Bible." He can now quote accurately seven or eight thousand passages of scripture. He is a man of deep spirituality, keen, logical, witty and knows how to bring things to pass.
The church has been praying for weeks that this revival will exceed anything in its history. There will be Bible readings Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 2:30. Thursday of each week will be devoted to fasting and prayer from 10:30 a.m. to four p.m. The public are cordially invited to hear this remarkable man.
Ashland Christian Revival
Evangelistic meetings will commence at the Ashland Christian church in the Masonic hall at 6319 Ashland avenue, and continue indefinitely. The distinguished evangelists, W. P. Brooks, Papps and Lewis, will be the speakers and no better team is known than they. Eloquent, earnest and elevating and they will doubtless draw big crowds at every service. Everyone is invited.
—Suburbanite Economist, Chicago, Oct. 28, 1910.
Church of the Nazarene
Revival extraordinary at the First Church of the Nazarene. In connection with the general revival movement that is now sweeping the city, the First Church of the Nazarene, 6417 Eggleston avenue, Rev. C. E. Cornell, pastor, began a special series of evangelistic services Wednesday.
Rev. Bud Robinson of Texas, one of the most unique and successful evangelists in America, will preach each night except Saturday. This is Mr. Robinson's third visit to this church. On each of the former visits the church was packed to the doors and hundreds were seeking the Lord. Bud is called "The Walking Bible." He can now quote accurately seven or eight thousand passages of scripture. He is a man of deep spirituality, keen, logical, witty and knows how to bring things to pass.
The church has been praying for weeks that this revival will exceed anything in its history. There will be Bible readings Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 2:30. Thursday of each week will be devoted to fasting and prayer from 10:30 a.m. to four p.m. The public are cordially invited to hear this remarkable man.
Ashland Christian Revival
Evangelistic meetings will commence at the Ashland Christian church in the Masonic hall at 6319 Ashland avenue, and continue indefinitely. The distinguished evangelists, W. P. Brooks, Papps and Lewis, will be the speakers and no better team is known than they. Eloquent, earnest and elevating and they will doubtless draw big crowds at every service. Everyone is invited.
—Suburbanite Economist, Chicago, Oct. 28, 1910.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Resurrection Life of Christ
Pennsylvania, 1882
Sermon by Rev. P. H. Mowry
Note: The Rev. P. H. Mowry was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chester, Pennsylvania.
The preacher taking his text from John 20:17, said:
In the words of Christ to Mary Magdalen, which properly translated read, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say unto them, I am ascending unto My Father and your Father; and to My God and your God." He indicates that in the forty days that lay between the Easter Sunday and the Pentecostal Sunday, his life was of a different character than the ordinary human, and that His body was in a state of transition tending toward its highest spiritual form.
The scene of the incident mentioned in this chapter, was in the garden surrounding the rock-hewn tomb, where His body had been deposited. On the morning of the first day in the week, Mary Magdalen came to look for the body of the Master. When the Lord said to her, "Woman, why weepest thou?" she thought the form before her was the gardener. This, however, gives us no right to suppose that physical appearance of Christ had changed to such an extent, that even Mary Magdalen should not recognize Him, but with her eyes dimmed with tears, her mind preoccupied, and perhaps prevented from seeing Him distinctly by the posture assumed, it was only when another sense was touched, when He said, "Mary!" that she recognized Him. And immediately following Christ adds, as if to prevent an embrace or the grasping of His hands by Mary Magdalen, "Touch me not."
Various reasons have been given as explanations of this, but the most reasonable is this, that the touching of his body was not essential to her for recognition and faith as it was later for Thomas. The special point is that the Lord tells her that He is ascending. That is in other words that he is in a state of transition or transformation from the temporal and physical state to the eternal and spiritual.
Christ's is the first instance of resurrection as distinct from resuscitation or reanimation of those who were dead, as for instance Lazarus. Lazarus was reestablished to the same condition of things out of which he had passed, to live the same life and be subject again to death. This was not the case with Jesus. When he rose, he was risen in triumph no more to die. The transitions through which Christ passed are therefore essential to us. He was the first resurrected, the first born of death and when he returned to the realm of the visible and tangible he had a body. Mary and Thomas did not see a spirit. In some respects it was the same body which is seen by Christ challenging Thomas to put his hands on the marks of the nails.
It was the same body that had hung on the cross, but had changed mysteriously in several respects. It was a palpable body that might be touched, yet it was above the limitations of space, as proved by his appearance in the midst of the disciples through closed doors and afterwards vanishing from their sight. It was a body, which could eat, but did not need it. Christ manifested himself on ten different occasions between his resurrection and ascension. They all indicate that some change had taken place in his body, while still preserving its identity. From this we may reasonably infer that the 40 days constitute a period, measuring the beginning and consummation of the glorification, where at last he assumed the perfect spiritual body in which he was taken from the vision of the disciples.
Of the ten manifestations, five occurred on the day following the resurrection, the five others were distributed over the period; we do not know exactly how, but one was towards the close, that at the shores of the lake of Galilee, where He spoke to the despondent disciples from the shore, and when John said to Peter, "It is the Lord," Peter threw himself in the water and swam ashore. But some awful change was wrought in him, and while the disciples recognized him, they felt that he was not the same who wandered through Galilee with them, but that this was a life of manifestations. And thus he progressed, leaving behind gradually the old earthly relationships, and gathering and lifting up himself into glory everlasting.
The whole subject of Christ's resurrection life is a personal revelation of life and important for every one of us. The heart of the world was aching for this doctrine of resurrection. It is the consolation of the world, the sure, immovable corner-stone whereon to rear the glorious superstructure of our own immortality. It teaches us that there is a continuity of our own existence; that death is only apparently a chasm, and shows most surely the fact that life goes on continuously, preserving individuality. Death in the naturalistic sense of the word is the disintegration of the body, and when it does not break the chain nothing can.
Jesus arises unharmed from sin and death and hell. Behold him, the same who hung on the tree, the same as the one who held familiar converse with the disciples, indestructibly the same yesterday, today and forever. This is the truth of continuity of life in this story, redolent and fragrant with the blossoms of eternity. If Christ's life triumphed over death, ours will. And his process through new faculties of existence to the possession of a spiritual body, the spiritual element evermore assuming the ascendancy until the ascension will be a pattern of ours.
In order to participate in anticipation or reality in this, there must be a oneness of life with Christ, which will be part of us on our passage through the portals of death. Oneness with Christ is the link. Life without a personal union with Christ, how can it expect to share in the benefits he marked out for his children? The question is, are you with Christ? Then all that life of Christ from his birth — the cross, burial, resurrection and ascension — will be to you a grand object-lesson — a picture where you may read what are constituent elements in your own fate. Yours will be similar.
—Chester Times, Chester, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1882.
Sermon by Rev. P. H. Mowry
Note: The Rev. P. H. Mowry was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chester, Pennsylvania.
The preacher taking his text from John 20:17, said:
In the words of Christ to Mary Magdalen, which properly translated read, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say unto them, I am ascending unto My Father and your Father; and to My God and your God." He indicates that in the forty days that lay between the Easter Sunday and the Pentecostal Sunday, his life was of a different character than the ordinary human, and that His body was in a state of transition tending toward its highest spiritual form.
The scene of the incident mentioned in this chapter, was in the garden surrounding the rock-hewn tomb, where His body had been deposited. On the morning of the first day in the week, Mary Magdalen came to look for the body of the Master. When the Lord said to her, "Woman, why weepest thou?" she thought the form before her was the gardener. This, however, gives us no right to suppose that physical appearance of Christ had changed to such an extent, that even Mary Magdalen should not recognize Him, but with her eyes dimmed with tears, her mind preoccupied, and perhaps prevented from seeing Him distinctly by the posture assumed, it was only when another sense was touched, when He said, "Mary!" that she recognized Him. And immediately following Christ adds, as if to prevent an embrace or the grasping of His hands by Mary Magdalen, "Touch me not."
Various reasons have been given as explanations of this, but the most reasonable is this, that the touching of his body was not essential to her for recognition and faith as it was later for Thomas. The special point is that the Lord tells her that He is ascending. That is in other words that he is in a state of transition or transformation from the temporal and physical state to the eternal and spiritual.
Christ's is the first instance of resurrection as distinct from resuscitation or reanimation of those who were dead, as for instance Lazarus. Lazarus was reestablished to the same condition of things out of which he had passed, to live the same life and be subject again to death. This was not the case with Jesus. When he rose, he was risen in triumph no more to die. The transitions through which Christ passed are therefore essential to us. He was the first resurrected, the first born of death and when he returned to the realm of the visible and tangible he had a body. Mary and Thomas did not see a spirit. In some respects it was the same body which is seen by Christ challenging Thomas to put his hands on the marks of the nails.
It was the same body that had hung on the cross, but had changed mysteriously in several respects. It was a palpable body that might be touched, yet it was above the limitations of space, as proved by his appearance in the midst of the disciples through closed doors and afterwards vanishing from their sight. It was a body, which could eat, but did not need it. Christ manifested himself on ten different occasions between his resurrection and ascension. They all indicate that some change had taken place in his body, while still preserving its identity. From this we may reasonably infer that the 40 days constitute a period, measuring the beginning and consummation of the glorification, where at last he assumed the perfect spiritual body in which he was taken from the vision of the disciples.
Of the ten manifestations, five occurred on the day following the resurrection, the five others were distributed over the period; we do not know exactly how, but one was towards the close, that at the shores of the lake of Galilee, where He spoke to the despondent disciples from the shore, and when John said to Peter, "It is the Lord," Peter threw himself in the water and swam ashore. But some awful change was wrought in him, and while the disciples recognized him, they felt that he was not the same who wandered through Galilee with them, but that this was a life of manifestations. And thus he progressed, leaving behind gradually the old earthly relationships, and gathering and lifting up himself into glory everlasting.
The whole subject of Christ's resurrection life is a personal revelation of life and important for every one of us. The heart of the world was aching for this doctrine of resurrection. It is the consolation of the world, the sure, immovable corner-stone whereon to rear the glorious superstructure of our own immortality. It teaches us that there is a continuity of our own existence; that death is only apparently a chasm, and shows most surely the fact that life goes on continuously, preserving individuality. Death in the naturalistic sense of the word is the disintegration of the body, and when it does not break the chain nothing can.
Jesus arises unharmed from sin and death and hell. Behold him, the same who hung on the tree, the same as the one who held familiar converse with the disciples, indestructibly the same yesterday, today and forever. This is the truth of continuity of life in this story, redolent and fragrant with the blossoms of eternity. If Christ's life triumphed over death, ours will. And his process through new faculties of existence to the possession of a spiritual body, the spiritual element evermore assuming the ascendancy until the ascension will be a pattern of ours.
In order to participate in anticipation or reality in this, there must be a oneness of life with Christ, which will be part of us on our passage through the portals of death. Oneness with Christ is the link. Life without a personal union with Christ, how can it expect to share in the benefits he marked out for his children? The question is, are you with Christ? Then all that life of Christ from his birth — the cross, burial, resurrection and ascension — will be to you a grand object-lesson — a picture where you may read what are constituent elements in your own fate. Yours will be similar.
—Chester Times, Chester, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1882.
Apostle's Creed — The Office of The Holy Ghost
Pennsylvania, 1882
St. Paul's German Lutheran
At St. Paul's German Lutheran Church yesterday morning, the Rev. E. H. Gerhardt preached an instructive sermon on the gospel of the day in conjunction with the third article of the Apostle's Creed, as both suggest the office of the Holy Ghost. This is the first sermon of a series of three to be delivered in this church by the pastor on the Sundays preceding Pentecost, and on the third article of the creed in connection with the gospel for the day.
The pastor opened his sermon by calling the attention of the hearers to the expressions concerning the Holy Ghost in the three chief symbols of the church's faith, that there is a Holy Ghost "the Lord and Giver of life." The Holy Ghost is not made, nor created, nor begotten, but eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, John 15:26. "But when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father." That the Holy Ghost is proceeding from the Father and the Son is denied by the Greek church, Irvingites, Old Catholic and Moravians in their Easter Litany. The Holy Ghost is of equal essence and power with the Father and the Son, Acts 5:3,4; 1 Cor. 3:16. This doctrine is denied by the Armenians, Socinians, Unitarians, Universalists, (so called) Protestants, Swedenborgians, Bible Christians, Campbellites, Christians, Quakers, Hicksite Quakers, Mormons, Shakers, Christian Israelites, Seventh Day Adventists and Spiritualists.
It is the office of the Holy Ghost to sanctify us, to bring us to Christ in order that we may be saved. " Neither is there salvation in any other," (Acts 4:12). Jesus Christ became man, suffered and died in order that we might be His, live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness. To this end salvation appeared that we shall believe in Jesus Christ and come to Him. We cannot by our own reason and strength believe in Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 2:14; Rom. 7:18,19); but must be led thereto by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). The Holy Spirit is powerful to work sanctification; this has been promised to us (Acts 2:1-18). The Holy Ghost brings us to Christ in no other way but by the Divinely appointed means, the Word and the Sacraments; and this by a fixed order of salvation.
The first in the order of salvation is calling. It is the universal and gracious invitation of God to enter His Kingdom and accept salvation through Christ by faith. All men are called through the Gospel, for that all men shall be saved that believe in Him who has mercy upon all men (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). Calvinists teach that God has decreed from eternity some to be saved, and some to be lost. After man has been called he must be illuminated, by which the Holy Ghost instructs the now called man and imparts to him a knowledge of his sinfulness as well as of Divine grace. To the illumined mind the Holy Ghost now produces deep sorrow on account of sins committed, and that by faith in the merits of Christ he shall be saved. Man attaining this stage will now appear improved, regenerated and born anew by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost through the means of grace, and this coinciding with justification, man upon entering that mystical union with God will experience more and more the presence of God, and His dwelling in him in a special manner. The sanctifying act of the Holy Spirit will be now more and more felt, and the believer continually seeking a higher degree of perfection in faith, love and obedience.
The pastor closed his remarks by earnestly admonishing all present unceasingly to pray to the Holy Ghost to preserve them in true faith unto everlasting life.
The theme for the next sermon will be The Sanctification of the whole Christian Church on earth.
—Chester Times, Chester, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1882.
St. Paul's German Lutheran
At St. Paul's German Lutheran Church yesterday morning, the Rev. E. H. Gerhardt preached an instructive sermon on the gospel of the day in conjunction with the third article of the Apostle's Creed, as both suggest the office of the Holy Ghost. This is the first sermon of a series of three to be delivered in this church by the pastor on the Sundays preceding Pentecost, and on the third article of the creed in connection with the gospel for the day.
The pastor opened his sermon by calling the attention of the hearers to the expressions concerning the Holy Ghost in the three chief symbols of the church's faith, that there is a Holy Ghost "the Lord and Giver of life." The Holy Ghost is not made, nor created, nor begotten, but eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, John 15:26. "But when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father." That the Holy Ghost is proceeding from the Father and the Son is denied by the Greek church, Irvingites, Old Catholic and Moravians in their Easter Litany. The Holy Ghost is of equal essence and power with the Father and the Son, Acts 5:3,4; 1 Cor. 3:16. This doctrine is denied by the Armenians, Socinians, Unitarians, Universalists, (so called) Protestants, Swedenborgians, Bible Christians, Campbellites, Christians, Quakers, Hicksite Quakers, Mormons, Shakers, Christian Israelites, Seventh Day Adventists and Spiritualists.
It is the office of the Holy Ghost to sanctify us, to bring us to Christ in order that we may be saved. " Neither is there salvation in any other," (Acts 4:12). Jesus Christ became man, suffered and died in order that we might be His, live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness. To this end salvation appeared that we shall believe in Jesus Christ and come to Him. We cannot by our own reason and strength believe in Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 2:14; Rom. 7:18,19); but must be led thereto by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). The Holy Spirit is powerful to work sanctification; this has been promised to us (Acts 2:1-18). The Holy Ghost brings us to Christ in no other way but by the Divinely appointed means, the Word and the Sacraments; and this by a fixed order of salvation.
The first in the order of salvation is calling. It is the universal and gracious invitation of God to enter His Kingdom and accept salvation through Christ by faith. All men are called through the Gospel, for that all men shall be saved that believe in Him who has mercy upon all men (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). Calvinists teach that God has decreed from eternity some to be saved, and some to be lost. After man has been called he must be illuminated, by which the Holy Ghost instructs the now called man and imparts to him a knowledge of his sinfulness as well as of Divine grace. To the illumined mind the Holy Ghost now produces deep sorrow on account of sins committed, and that by faith in the merits of Christ he shall be saved. Man attaining this stage will now appear improved, regenerated and born anew by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost through the means of grace, and this coinciding with justification, man upon entering that mystical union with God will experience more and more the presence of God, and His dwelling in him in a special manner. The sanctifying act of the Holy Spirit will be now more and more felt, and the believer continually seeking a higher degree of perfection in faith, love and obedience.
The pastor closed his remarks by earnestly admonishing all present unceasingly to pray to the Holy Ghost to preserve them in true faith unto everlasting life.
The theme for the next sermon will be The Sanctification of the whole Christian Church on earth.
—Chester Times, Chester, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1882.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Said by the Youngsters in Church
1910
Some Bright Remarks Worth Preserving, From Childish Lips
A little girl, after listening to the hymn, "In heaven there stands an ever open door," remarked that there must be two heavens, " 'cause grandma'd never had any open door where she is." And a dear little country laddie, visiting a city Sunday school and hearing about the "many mansions" of the better land, later explained that they had been "studying all about 'Paradise Flats.' "
Ecclesiastical modes and matters frequently are puzzling to the little ones. A small Chicago citizen was taken to a fine church, where the music, windows, furnishings, and all accessories were as impressive as the building. The minister, living up to his enviable reputation as an orator, indulged in a brilliant rhetorical flight.
"I know," he declared, "who gilds the sun and silvers the stars and paints the flowers and tints the sky and lends to the rivers their beauty, to the ocean its glory, to the skies their perfect light," and so on through long and effective periods. Finally came the interrogatory climax: "Who is it, my friends, who performs all these wonders? Who is it? Who?"
From the front pew where the baby listener had been all eager attention came a shrill, disappointed pipe: "You said you knew!"
Some Bright Remarks Worth Preserving, From Childish Lips
A little girl, after listening to the hymn, "In heaven there stands an ever open door," remarked that there must be two heavens, " 'cause grandma'd never had any open door where she is." And a dear little country laddie, visiting a city Sunday school and hearing about the "many mansions" of the better land, later explained that they had been "studying all about 'Paradise Flats.' "
Ecclesiastical modes and matters frequently are puzzling to the little ones. A small Chicago citizen was taken to a fine church, where the music, windows, furnishings, and all accessories were as impressive as the building. The minister, living up to his enviable reputation as an orator, indulged in a brilliant rhetorical flight.
"I know," he declared, "who gilds the sun and silvers the stars and paints the flowers and tints the sky and lends to the rivers their beauty, to the ocean its glory, to the skies their perfect light," and so on through long and effective periods. Finally came the interrogatory climax: "Who is it, my friends, who performs all these wonders? Who is it? Who?"
From the front pew where the baby listener had been all eager attention came a shrill, disappointed pipe: "You said you knew!"
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Evangelist Martin on "The Three Social Evils"
California, 1921
"If laws were passed in the state of California making it unlawful for men to dance with women other than their own wives, and allowing single men to dance with each other, and not with single women, the dance craze would soon be abated," declared Evangelist T. T. Martin, addressing a union meeting in the Twenty-third Avenue Baptist church yesterday afternoon on "The Three Social Evils — Dancing, Card Playing and Moving Pictures."
"In San Francisco," he continued, "statistics show that 75 percent of fallen women come from dance halls.
"The harm of the dance comes in the contact of the sexes and should be abolished for that reason. Although the dance ruins many women, the great sufferers are of the sterner sex. Where the dance ruins one woman it harms a dozen men."
Card playing and moving pictures were both condemned by the evangelist. "If card playing, one of the great social evils, is to be abolished, the women must cease gathering around their bridge tables. Were that the case, the men would not gather at their poker tables."
—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, March 7, 1921, p. 8.
"If laws were passed in the state of California making it unlawful for men to dance with women other than their own wives, and allowing single men to dance with each other, and not with single women, the dance craze would soon be abated," declared Evangelist T. T. Martin, addressing a union meeting in the Twenty-third Avenue Baptist church yesterday afternoon on "The Three Social Evils — Dancing, Card Playing and Moving Pictures."
"In San Francisco," he continued, "statistics show that 75 percent of fallen women come from dance halls.
"The harm of the dance comes in the contact of the sexes and should be abolished for that reason. Although the dance ruins many women, the great sufferers are of the sterner sex. Where the dance ruins one woman it harms a dozen men."
Card playing and moving pictures were both condemned by the evangelist. "If card playing, one of the great social evils, is to be abolished, the women must cease gathering around their bridge tables. Were that the case, the men would not gather at their poker tables."
—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, March 7, 1921, p. 8.
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