"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war."
What to say about this? It begins a stunning passage, of presence, righteous indignation and power to make a difference. There's a whole host of armies similarly on white horses about to advance.
So much white and so much power. It's like Niagara coming down, with each little drop being another horse and rider. It's hard to keep it distinct and know exactly what to say about it.
What I'm thinking of goes well beyond what I'm likely to write here. But still I'm barely keeping it distinct. It's easy to see a blur but harder to separate the pieces. One, I don't want to say what the pieces are exactly. But, two, I know there's something to it. Something steady that could flow in any second.
The pouring down of that awesome presence -- like a stream rushing through a channel -- is in view. "I saw heaven opened" -- heaven says its moment has arrived, your moment has arrived; no more messing around. The concentration of force is right at the door. You may be beleaguered and surrounded on all sides right here, but a steady stream of heaven's force is ready to rush in.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Some Pulpit Utterances
Iowa, 1902
Condensed Sunday Sermons
FIRST BAPTIST.
At the First Baptist church yesterday morning Mr. Porter continued his studies in the Book of Revelation, preaching on "The Seven Seals," Revelation 6 and 7. In the course of his sermon, which was heard by a large congregation, he dwelt upon that awful cry of the day of wrath, "Rocks and mountains fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne."
It is a picture of men dreading the face of Christ. It is a picture of men crying for annihilation rather than look upon His face. What is the matter with that face? It was the most beautiful, the most winning, the most sympathetic face that the sun ever shone upon. Yet here are men preferring oblivion to a sight of it. A man sins against his wife. What, then, is the face he most dreads to see? It is the loving trusting face of the woman to whom he pledged himself to cleave til death. What is the matter with her face? A young man sins against his mother. He sins against her prayers, and tears. He is in the saloon taking his first glass. What is the last face on earth he would have look in at that saloon door? It is the face of his mother. Any face but that. What is the matter with that face? It is the sweetest and loveliest face in the world. There is nothing the matter with the face. The trouble is with him. A guilty conscience makes the face of love terrible. That is what was the matter with these men fleeing from the face of Him that sat on the throne. Will you dread or welcome the face of Christ?
—Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, Sept. 1, 1902, p. 5.
Condensed Sunday Sermons
FIRST BAPTIST.
At the First Baptist church yesterday morning Mr. Porter continued his studies in the Book of Revelation, preaching on "The Seven Seals," Revelation 6 and 7. In the course of his sermon, which was heard by a large congregation, he dwelt upon that awful cry of the day of wrath, "Rocks and mountains fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne."
It is a picture of men dreading the face of Christ. It is a picture of men crying for annihilation rather than look upon His face. What is the matter with that face? It was the most beautiful, the most winning, the most sympathetic face that the sun ever shone upon. Yet here are men preferring oblivion to a sight of it. A man sins against his wife. What, then, is the face he most dreads to see? It is the loving trusting face of the woman to whom he pledged himself to cleave til death. What is the matter with her face? A young man sins against his mother. He sins against her prayers, and tears. He is in the saloon taking his first glass. What is the last face on earth he would have look in at that saloon door? It is the face of his mother. Any face but that. What is the matter with that face? It is the sweetest and loveliest face in the world. There is nothing the matter with the face. The trouble is with him. A guilty conscience makes the face of love terrible. That is what was the matter with these men fleeing from the face of Him that sat on the throne. Will you dread or welcome the face of Christ?
—Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, Sept. 1, 1902, p. 5.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Beasts of Revelation To Be Topic
1924
"The Beast of the Symbolic Books of Daniel and Revelation" will be the subject of C. W. Gerdes, who will speak at Ebell hall, 1440 Harrison street, tomorrow evening at 7:45.
Gerdes maintains that physical facts transpiring today show conclusively that the last and greatest beast mentioned in the Book of Revelation is now making its appearance. One of those symbolic beasts he says, was responsible for the World War and the more recent religious controversy and will play an important part in the coming world crisis.
Gerdes promises to show how these beasts will be finally destroyed and mankind forever relieved of all oppression.
—Oakland Tribune, Oct. 11, 1924, p. 4.
Note: Gerdes was with the International Bible Students' Association, later called the Jehovah's Witnesses.
"The Beast of the Symbolic Books of Daniel and Revelation" will be the subject of C. W. Gerdes, who will speak at Ebell hall, 1440 Harrison street, tomorrow evening at 7:45.
Gerdes maintains that physical facts transpiring today show conclusively that the last and greatest beast mentioned in the Book of Revelation is now making its appearance. One of those symbolic beasts he says, was responsible for the World War and the more recent religious controversy and will play an important part in the coming world crisis.
Gerdes promises to show how these beasts will be finally destroyed and mankind forever relieved of all oppression.
—Oakland Tribune, Oct. 11, 1924, p. 4.
Note: Gerdes was with the International Bible Students' Association, later called the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Foursquare City Subject At Services
1930
Evangelist Deals With Universal Longing At Baptist Church
"It is our purpose at this hour to deal with a universal longing," declared the Rev. John W. Ham, evangelist, in opening his talk on "The City Foursquare" at the First Baptist Church, Monday evening. "The leaf in immortality antedates the Christian revelation of Heaven. The hope of Heaven is humanity wide. No race has been found that does not possess a basic idea of life beyond the grave. This hope often expressed in crude form is present in all dialects."
"The Old Testament conception of man and its revelation of God sets up in a pagan world the doctrine for immortality and Heaven. Man is set forth as made in the image of God. Sin marred that image.
"An unprejudiced study of the hopes and aspirations of the New Testament saints will convince that they held firmly to the hope of Heaven. They desired a better country. They were in search of perfection. Their lives were modeled according to that hope.
"The New Testament saint is seen wishing to go but willing to stay for the benefit of others. This marks a decided advance in the knowledge and hope of the one who stands in the full glare of a revelation, final and authoritative on the question of Heaven.
"There are three Heavens set forth in the Bible. We all live in the first Heaven. It extends up for fifty miles. The second Heaven is the area in which the constellations have their position. The vastness of space in this second sphere staggers the mind. The third Heaven is positioned beyond the second. Paul was caught up to this position. Stephen looked up and saw Jesus in the third Heaven, standing at the right hand of God. Jesus went up into the third Heaven while his disciples stood gazing.
"Materialistic science and philosophy has steadily denied the literal aspect of Heaven. Strange to say the majority of this group accept as literal a city called Babylon, described in the seventeenth chapter of Revelation, but reject the literal aspect of the new Jerusalem.
"It is interesting to study the characteristics of the City Foursquare. The external views of the city beautiful are set forth in language that is in thorough keeping with the spiritual ideals and hopes of the race.
"The streets of gold are transparent like the most perfect glass. The illumination staggers the imagination. The light will be of an uncertain character. It will need no material power to sustain it.
"The architectural harmony and beauty of the city will surpass the most exalted imagination of the artistic mind. There is neither symmetry, harmony or beauty in the lines of long rows of buildings. The perfect city will not assault the artistic sense of such a conglomeration of structures. Beauty and harmony will be written in every line of its streets.
"God loves the beautiful. He is the author of beauty. Nature witnesses to that fact. At certain seasons of the year, the earth is crammed with the beautiful that feeds the artistic sense lavishly.
"Sin marred the beauty of the first paradise. It was lost. The redemption on Calvary made possible its regaining. Heaven is a place of intellectual activity. Its internal characteristics are in keeping with its external beauty. We live in the prep school of eternity at the present.
"Social activity will characterize the citizens of the City Foursquare. Jesus in good-bye conference, pointed out that he was going away for the purpose of preparing mansions. That word suggests social activity.
The City Foursquare will be free from all trouble and sorrow; pain and crying will have passed away. Nerve wracking, fatiguing toil will be unknown. It will be a place of rest.
"John saw a city with twelve gates, three of these opened on the north, three on the east, three on the south, three on the west. These gates symbolize the various groups of earth, temperamentally and religiously.
"The New Testament closes with a call. The spirit and the bride utter the word 'Come.' The redeemed join in this invitation. Any who have tasted the water of life are in turn to issue the invitation to those that are thirsty. Six hundred and forty-two times the word 'come' is iterated and reiterated between Genesis and Revelation."
—Olean Times, Olean, NY, April 1, 1930, p. 3.
Evangelist Deals With Universal Longing At Baptist Church
"It is our purpose at this hour to deal with a universal longing," declared the Rev. John W. Ham, evangelist, in opening his talk on "The City Foursquare" at the First Baptist Church, Monday evening. "The leaf in immortality antedates the Christian revelation of Heaven. The hope of Heaven is humanity wide. No race has been found that does not possess a basic idea of life beyond the grave. This hope often expressed in crude form is present in all dialects."
"The Old Testament conception of man and its revelation of God sets up in a pagan world the doctrine for immortality and Heaven. Man is set forth as made in the image of God. Sin marred that image.
"An unprejudiced study of the hopes and aspirations of the New Testament saints will convince that they held firmly to the hope of Heaven. They desired a better country. They were in search of perfection. Their lives were modeled according to that hope.
"The New Testament saint is seen wishing to go but willing to stay for the benefit of others. This marks a decided advance in the knowledge and hope of the one who stands in the full glare of a revelation, final and authoritative on the question of Heaven.
"There are three Heavens set forth in the Bible. We all live in the first Heaven. It extends up for fifty miles. The second Heaven is the area in which the constellations have their position. The vastness of space in this second sphere staggers the mind. The third Heaven is positioned beyond the second. Paul was caught up to this position. Stephen looked up and saw Jesus in the third Heaven, standing at the right hand of God. Jesus went up into the third Heaven while his disciples stood gazing.
"Materialistic science and philosophy has steadily denied the literal aspect of Heaven. Strange to say the majority of this group accept as literal a city called Babylon, described in the seventeenth chapter of Revelation, but reject the literal aspect of the new Jerusalem.
"It is interesting to study the characteristics of the City Foursquare. The external views of the city beautiful are set forth in language that is in thorough keeping with the spiritual ideals and hopes of the race.
"The streets of gold are transparent like the most perfect glass. The illumination staggers the imagination. The light will be of an uncertain character. It will need no material power to sustain it.
"The architectural harmony and beauty of the city will surpass the most exalted imagination of the artistic mind. There is neither symmetry, harmony or beauty in the lines of long rows of buildings. The perfect city will not assault the artistic sense of such a conglomeration of structures. Beauty and harmony will be written in every line of its streets.
"God loves the beautiful. He is the author of beauty. Nature witnesses to that fact. At certain seasons of the year, the earth is crammed with the beautiful that feeds the artistic sense lavishly.
"Sin marred the beauty of the first paradise. It was lost. The redemption on Calvary made possible its regaining. Heaven is a place of intellectual activity. Its internal characteristics are in keeping with its external beauty. We live in the prep school of eternity at the present.
"Social activity will characterize the citizens of the City Foursquare. Jesus in good-bye conference, pointed out that he was going away for the purpose of preparing mansions. That word suggests social activity.
The City Foursquare will be free from all trouble and sorrow; pain and crying will have passed away. Nerve wracking, fatiguing toil will be unknown. It will be a place of rest.
"John saw a city with twelve gates, three of these opened on the north, three on the east, three on the south, three on the west. These gates symbolize the various groups of earth, temperamentally and religiously.
"The New Testament closes with a call. The spirit and the bride utter the word 'Come.' The redeemed join in this invitation. Any who have tasted the water of life are in turn to issue the invitation to those that are thirsty. Six hundred and forty-two times the word 'come' is iterated and reiterated between Genesis and Revelation."
—Olean Times, Olean, NY, April 1, 1930, p. 3.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Isle of Patmos, the Abode of St. John
1906
The isles of Greece, "where burning Sappho loved and sung," are forever reappearing in history. Even the least known of them all in antiquity, hardly mentioned by the prehistoric writers, but made famous by the visions of the best-beloved of the apostles, Patmos, is frequently familiarly spoken of, though seldom visited. For throughout the length and breadth of the Christian world many edifices stand in commemoration of St. John. Great and small, humble and grand, cathedrals, churches and chapels, they cover a period of history extending from the day when the conversion of Constantine made Christianity the official religion of civilization down to the present time.
At one end stands the little chapel built by the piety of the simple fishermen of Patmos above the cave where St. John passed the long days of his banishment from the mainland of Asia Minor. At the other are the central arch and the columns of the Cathedral of St John the Divine now being erected at the cost of a king's ransom and years of thought and patient toil. The contrast between the capital of the New World and the barren island in the Grecian archipelago, between the wealth of the twentieth century and the provincial village of the Roman empire, is typified by the unlikeness of the two structures.
Cave Refuge of St. John
High up on the steep hillside of the little island of Patmos is still to be seen to-day the natural cave in which St. John lived for many years and wrote his "Revelation." The cave, roughly divided into two compartments, is cut deep into the solid rock, the walls are damp with the natural moisture of the earth, and the only light comes from a single candle burning before an ancient shrine.
The city is built around the peak of the hill in a series of three or four tiers. One finds no poorer district and no exclusive quarter. The inhabitants appear to be equally prosperous or equally poor — and in either event equally content. The houses are all alike, square in shape, plain and unadorned, of one or two stories in height, and covered with simple, flat roofs. There are no sidewalks in the streets, which again, like the roadway, are paved with slabs of stone. No horses, or wagons, or traffic of any kind, with the exception of the trains of pack donkeys, ever pass through. Flights of stone steps in various places lead upward, from one tier to another until finally a second massive gateway is reached which marks the entrance to the main courtyard of the monastery.
Monastery a Refuge
The exact date at which the earlier parts of the monastery were first constructed is still at matter of conjecture, but according to the condition of life which existed in those far-off days, it had been built with the purpose of providing a refuge for the people in times of peace. Huge stone battlements completely surround the courtyard and the little chapel, with battlements within battlements and corridors and hidden passageways leading up to the different points of vantage behind the parapets. The monastery stands, a massive fortification, enclosing tbe church on the hilltop.
The cave itself is situated a short distance down the northern slope of the hill from the city wall. In the present day, a small chapel stands above the entrance. You are informed that the chapel is of recent construction, but this word "recent" is applied after the manner in which periods of time are counted by the inhabitants of the island. The informant probably means that it was built after the death of St. John. In appearance the chapel looks to be as old as the rock itself.
From a door in the interior of the chapel a crooked, twisted stairway of stone dips downward abruptly into the earth. This stairway is comparatively dark, illuminated merely by a shaft of meager light from the open door of the chapel above. At the end of the first flight of steps you are given a candle to light your further progress and are advised to move with caution over the slippery stones.
St. John's Pillow a Stone
The cave lies at the bottom of the second flight; it is divided into two compartments, the main body of the cave, where the shrine still stands, and a natural alcove in the rear in which, it is said, St. John spent most of his time, working and praying during the day and sleeping there at night. In the solid rock of the wall, close down to the flooring of the alcove is a smooth, round stone, which was used by St. John for a pillow, and directly above this, seen when the light is raised, is a long fissure running diagonally across the ceiling. Through this fissure the spirit descended and inspired/the "Revelation."
All this, however, belongs to the history of nearly 2,000 years ago. Since then, in better known parts of the world, cathedrals have been built and dedicated in the name of the saint who lived and worked in the cave of Patmos, where still to-day, as ever before, a single candle burns perpetually in front of the ancient shrine. Structures like the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome or the far larger Protestant Cathedral of St. John the Divine rising stone by stone on Morningside Heights, in New York, are works far beyond the resources of the simple fishermen of Patmos, but to the English church and to the Episcopal church of America, which is its lineal descendant, the island cave and the chapel over it must always be objects of special interest. It was by disciples of St. John that the southern province of what is now France was converted to Christianity, and it was from these provinces that the missionaries came to spread the gospel in England. The great Cathedral of St. John in New York is bound to the little Patmos chapel by a link nineteen centuries long. — Los Angeles Times.
The isles of Greece, "where burning Sappho loved and sung," are forever reappearing in history. Even the least known of them all in antiquity, hardly mentioned by the prehistoric writers, but made famous by the visions of the best-beloved of the apostles, Patmos, is frequently familiarly spoken of, though seldom visited. For throughout the length and breadth of the Christian world many edifices stand in commemoration of St. John. Great and small, humble and grand, cathedrals, churches and chapels, they cover a period of history extending from the day when the conversion of Constantine made Christianity the official religion of civilization down to the present time.
At one end stands the little chapel built by the piety of the simple fishermen of Patmos above the cave where St. John passed the long days of his banishment from the mainland of Asia Minor. At the other are the central arch and the columns of the Cathedral of St John the Divine now being erected at the cost of a king's ransom and years of thought and patient toil. The contrast between the capital of the New World and the barren island in the Grecian archipelago, between the wealth of the twentieth century and the provincial village of the Roman empire, is typified by the unlikeness of the two structures.
Cave Refuge of St. John
High up on the steep hillside of the little island of Patmos is still to be seen to-day the natural cave in which St. John lived for many years and wrote his "Revelation." The cave, roughly divided into two compartments, is cut deep into the solid rock, the walls are damp with the natural moisture of the earth, and the only light comes from a single candle burning before an ancient shrine.
The city is built around the peak of the hill in a series of three or four tiers. One finds no poorer district and no exclusive quarter. The inhabitants appear to be equally prosperous or equally poor — and in either event equally content. The houses are all alike, square in shape, plain and unadorned, of one or two stories in height, and covered with simple, flat roofs. There are no sidewalks in the streets, which again, like the roadway, are paved with slabs of stone. No horses, or wagons, or traffic of any kind, with the exception of the trains of pack donkeys, ever pass through. Flights of stone steps in various places lead upward, from one tier to another until finally a second massive gateway is reached which marks the entrance to the main courtyard of the monastery.
Monastery a Refuge
The exact date at which the earlier parts of the monastery were first constructed is still at matter of conjecture, but according to the condition of life which existed in those far-off days, it had been built with the purpose of providing a refuge for the people in times of peace. Huge stone battlements completely surround the courtyard and the little chapel, with battlements within battlements and corridors and hidden passageways leading up to the different points of vantage behind the parapets. The monastery stands, a massive fortification, enclosing tbe church on the hilltop.
The cave itself is situated a short distance down the northern slope of the hill from the city wall. In the present day, a small chapel stands above the entrance. You are informed that the chapel is of recent construction, but this word "recent" is applied after the manner in which periods of time are counted by the inhabitants of the island. The informant probably means that it was built after the death of St. John. In appearance the chapel looks to be as old as the rock itself.
From a door in the interior of the chapel a crooked, twisted stairway of stone dips downward abruptly into the earth. This stairway is comparatively dark, illuminated merely by a shaft of meager light from the open door of the chapel above. At the end of the first flight of steps you are given a candle to light your further progress and are advised to move with caution over the slippery stones.
St. John's Pillow a Stone
The cave lies at the bottom of the second flight; it is divided into two compartments, the main body of the cave, where the shrine still stands, and a natural alcove in the rear in which, it is said, St. John spent most of his time, working and praying during the day and sleeping there at night. In the solid rock of the wall, close down to the flooring of the alcove is a smooth, round stone, which was used by St. John for a pillow, and directly above this, seen when the light is raised, is a long fissure running diagonally across the ceiling. Through this fissure the spirit descended and inspired/the "Revelation."
All this, however, belongs to the history of nearly 2,000 years ago. Since then, in better known parts of the world, cathedrals have been built and dedicated in the name of the saint who lived and worked in the cave of Patmos, where still to-day, as ever before, a single candle burns perpetually in front of the ancient shrine. Structures like the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome or the far larger Protestant Cathedral of St. John the Divine rising stone by stone on Morningside Heights, in New York, are works far beyond the resources of the simple fishermen of Patmos, but to the English church and to the Episcopal church of America, which is its lineal descendant, the island cave and the chapel over it must always be objects of special interest. It was by disciples of St. John that the southern province of what is now France was converted to Christianity, and it was from these provinces that the missionaries came to spread the gospel in England. The great Cathedral of St. John in New York is bound to the little Patmos chapel by a link nineteen centuries long. — Los Angeles Times.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
World Is In Need of a Real Revival, Says Minister Here
Texas, 1920
In his sermon the theme of which was "Christ Standing and Knocking at the Door," Rev. J. F. Carter of the Thirty-third Street Methodist Episcopal Church South told his congregation last night that the greatest need of the world is "genuine revival of old-time religion." He said in part:
In the third chapter of Revelation Jesus Christ says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door. I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me." At the door of a lukewarm, indifferent, worldly, backslidden, apostate church the Lord Jesus is standing and knocking. Will the church hear his voice and open the door and invite him in to be its gracious guest? How tragical that the Christ is compelled to stand on the outside and knock at the door for admittance! But how far more tragical that some within will not hear his voice and open the door and let him in to sup with them and they with him!
But suffice it to say there are always faithful few, "a remnant," who are "the salt of the earth" that have not lost their savor; who are "the light of the world" that can not be hid. I thank God for these and take fresh courage and press forward with greater energy for the heavenly prize. But for these and their Christ and our Christ we would not and could not bear the burdens that weigh so tremendously upon us.
Christ would have the vilest sinner, the most indifferent, self-satisfied, stubborn backslider hear his voice and open the door that he may come in and be with him. Christ died for him as well as for "the ninety and nine" out on the bleak mountain side. He gave himself even for the apostate who openly renounces him and crucifies him afresh tonight: who forsakes Jehovah the God of his fathers for the god of this world; who surrenders the love of the Lord for the love and the passion of worldly power and of worldly influence that can not last. Yes. the price was paid for him who gives up the Christianity of the Christ for the philosophy and the learning and the wisdom of Plato that pass away forever. Aye, the Christ suffered and died on the cross to save a poor wretch like him, like you. Will he, will not you take warning before it is too late, lest God Almighty hurl his thunderbolt out of the skies and strike him, to strike you dead in his, in your fight against Christianity, against its holy teachings, as tradition tells us he struck Julian the apostate dead on the battlefield for his apostasy, for his love and his passion for worldly power and worldly, influence? God save Methodism. save the church from plunging deeper into worldliness, deeper into apostasy, from turning farther away from "the old paths, where is the good way," where the Lord is found and where his love and truth shine forevermore.
Your greatest need, my greatest need, therefore, is a genuine revival of old-time religion in the heart and in the life. And that's the greatest need of the church today. The Wall Street Journal, that is wont to be permeated with the cold metallic ring of the dollar, in a recent editorial said: "America's greatest need is a genuine revival of old-fashioned religion." Think of a journal like that having to tell the church, America, that the greatest need today is not the ring of the almighty dollar, not world power and world influence in the money markets, in the political forums, in the knightly courts of the parlors, but that her greatest need is a genuine revival of old-fashioned religion. Henry Watterson, the brilliant old Bourbon, but recently declared: "The only power that can keep this world from sinking into the hell toward which it is bound is the cross and the Gospel of him who died on Calvary." And a writer of a recent article in a leading magazine says: "The world needs a spirit-filled ministry that preaches the straight gospel rather than political science. The individual must first get an individual experience not in political science, but in the science of salvation, before he can help others to higher ground. We have been working at the wrong end of the line. We must come back to the Gospel plan, and preach the Word."
Now tell me if you will that the signs of the times point in another direction. Now tell me if you dare that there is no added need of preaching the old-fashioned religion in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And then I will tell you that you have eyes and see not, ears and hear not, brains and think not. mouths and speak not — that you are as dumb as idols of stocks and of stones.
The "one thing needful" is to go with the Gospel message first to the individual, and then to the crowd. Jesus never moved from the multitude down to the individual but always from the individual up to the multitude. The New Testament revivals never went from the people down to the individual, but always from the individual up to the people.
—Galveston Daily News, Galveston, TX, April 19, 1920, p. 8.
In his sermon the theme of which was "Christ Standing and Knocking at the Door," Rev. J. F. Carter of the Thirty-third Street Methodist Episcopal Church South told his congregation last night that the greatest need of the world is "genuine revival of old-time religion." He said in part:
In the third chapter of Revelation Jesus Christ says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door. I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me." At the door of a lukewarm, indifferent, worldly, backslidden, apostate church the Lord Jesus is standing and knocking. Will the church hear his voice and open the door and invite him in to be its gracious guest? How tragical that the Christ is compelled to stand on the outside and knock at the door for admittance! But how far more tragical that some within will not hear his voice and open the door and let him in to sup with them and they with him!
But suffice it to say there are always faithful few, "a remnant," who are "the salt of the earth" that have not lost their savor; who are "the light of the world" that can not be hid. I thank God for these and take fresh courage and press forward with greater energy for the heavenly prize. But for these and their Christ and our Christ we would not and could not bear the burdens that weigh so tremendously upon us.
Christ would have the vilest sinner, the most indifferent, self-satisfied, stubborn backslider hear his voice and open the door that he may come in and be with him. Christ died for him as well as for "the ninety and nine" out on the bleak mountain side. He gave himself even for the apostate who openly renounces him and crucifies him afresh tonight: who forsakes Jehovah the God of his fathers for the god of this world; who surrenders the love of the Lord for the love and the passion of worldly power and of worldly influence that can not last. Yes. the price was paid for him who gives up the Christianity of the Christ for the philosophy and the learning and the wisdom of Plato that pass away forever. Aye, the Christ suffered and died on the cross to save a poor wretch like him, like you. Will he, will not you take warning before it is too late, lest God Almighty hurl his thunderbolt out of the skies and strike him, to strike you dead in his, in your fight against Christianity, against its holy teachings, as tradition tells us he struck Julian the apostate dead on the battlefield for his apostasy, for his love and his passion for worldly power and worldly, influence? God save Methodism. save the church from plunging deeper into worldliness, deeper into apostasy, from turning farther away from "the old paths, where is the good way," where the Lord is found and where his love and truth shine forevermore.
Your greatest need, my greatest need, therefore, is a genuine revival of old-time religion in the heart and in the life. And that's the greatest need of the church today. The Wall Street Journal, that is wont to be permeated with the cold metallic ring of the dollar, in a recent editorial said: "America's greatest need is a genuine revival of old-fashioned religion." Think of a journal like that having to tell the church, America, that the greatest need today is not the ring of the almighty dollar, not world power and world influence in the money markets, in the political forums, in the knightly courts of the parlors, but that her greatest need is a genuine revival of old-fashioned religion. Henry Watterson, the brilliant old Bourbon, but recently declared: "The only power that can keep this world from sinking into the hell toward which it is bound is the cross and the Gospel of him who died on Calvary." And a writer of a recent article in a leading magazine says: "The world needs a spirit-filled ministry that preaches the straight gospel rather than political science. The individual must first get an individual experience not in political science, but in the science of salvation, before he can help others to higher ground. We have been working at the wrong end of the line. We must come back to the Gospel plan, and preach the Word."
Now tell me if you will that the signs of the times point in another direction. Now tell me if you dare that there is no added need of preaching the old-fashioned religion in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And then I will tell you that you have eyes and see not, ears and hear not, brains and think not. mouths and speak not — that you are as dumb as idols of stocks and of stones.
The "one thing needful" is to go with the Gospel message first to the individual, and then to the crowd. Jesus never moved from the multitude down to the individual but always from the individual up to the multitude. The New Testament revivals never went from the people down to the individual, but always from the individual up to the people.
—Galveston Daily News, Galveston, TX, April 19, 1920, p. 8.
Bible Conference at Grace Baptist Church
1933
Rev. Frank C. Torry will conduct a Bible conference during the week on the following subjects: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Church," "The Revelation of Jesus Christ in Heavenly Preparation," "The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Preceding Judgments," "The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Man of Sin," and "The Revelation of Jesus Christ and That Which Follows."
—Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, PA, Feb. 18, 1933, p. 3.
Rev. Frank C. Torry will conduct a Bible conference during the week on the following subjects: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Church," "The Revelation of Jesus Christ in Heavenly Preparation," "The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Preceding Judgments," "The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Man of Sin," and "The Revelation of Jesus Christ and That Which Follows."
—Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, PA, Feb. 18, 1933, p. 3.
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