1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



921 



in full accord with the work, in fact, it 

 seemed to me as if the dear brother kept im- 

 proving and progressing in every sermon. 

 Now, very likely his sermons were just about 

 the same from the beginning to the end; but 

 it was myself that was receiving a new bap- 

 tism of the Holy Spirit, and getting on to 

 ' ' higher ground. ' ' By the way, there is a 

 beautiful hymn called ' ' Higher Ground, ' ' and 

 it got to be one of my favorites before the 

 meetings were closed. I think it is now used 

 in some of the Endeavor meetings and Sun- 

 day-schools. It is not only grand in senti- 

 ment but beautiful in melody. When you 

 hear it, see if I am not right. I will quote 

 here the first verse and chorus: * 



I'm pressing on the upward way. 

 New heights I'm gaining every day; 

 Still praying as I onward bound, 

 "Lord, plant my feet on higher ground." 



Lord, lift me up and let me stand. 

 By faith, on heaven's tableland; 

 A higher plane than I have found. 

 Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. ' 



When we first came into the Sunday- 

 school after our long absence I found the 

 Bible-class had a different teacher; and 

 when all the members of the church and 

 those who love the Lord Jesus Christ were 

 invited to come forward this teacher of the 

 Bible-class was not among them. But I 

 was told they had very great difficulty in 

 getting anybody to teach that class; and 

 this good woman consented only after much 

 urging. Please understand that I do not 

 object to choosing a teacher, under such 

 circumstances, from outside the regular 

 membership of the church. It is often done, 

 and I think wisely so. Such teachers often 

 unite with the church very soon after they 

 take a class. It proved so in this case. The 

 teacher of our Bible-class was one of the 

 first to stand up for Jesus. Then the pupils 

 followed here and there; more and more 

 came forward at every meeting; and when 

 a whole seatful of boys or young men came 

 forward in a body I felt like shouting and 

 praising God as loud as the pastor or any- 

 body else. One rainy evening almost every 

 person in the church was persuaded to come 

 forward. Now, friends, some of you may 

 be disposed to criticise, and say it is an easy 

 thing to get boys and girls and others to 

 come up to the anxious-seat, but that they 

 do not hold out. Let us consider the matter 

 a little; and 1 wish especially to emphasize 

 the wisdom of Bro. Shelly in presenting the 

 matter as he did. One evening he said 

 something like this: 



"Dear friends, we invite everybody to 

 come forward who loves the Lord Jesus 

 Christ. This coming forward here does not 

 mean that you unite with this church, nor 

 with any church for that matter. It simply 

 means that you are willing to take a step 

 in becoming a follower of Christ. You can 

 take this first step if you choose, and never 

 take another one. It all rests with you; 

 but if you take this first step, and you get a 



* From " Songs of the Living Way," published by the 

 Pepper Pub. Co., Philadelphia. 



blessing in so doing, we expect you will, of 

 course, take the second step at the next 

 meeting, and so on. You can take the first 

 step in one minute; but it takes a lifetime 

 to become a matured full-fledged Christian. 

 Will you come?" 



Perhaps I have not got it exactly as Bro. 

 Shelly expressed it. I will say, for the ben- 

 efit of our older readers, that among the 

 recent converts was my friend Earl Rosa, 

 who has worked for me for several years 

 past, and Orville Heimforth, a young far- 

 mer whose land adjoins mine, and a lot of 

 other boys just turning from boyhood to 

 manhood. Alice Hilbert, of whom I have 

 frequently spoken, is now a member of the 

 church, a teacher of the infant class in Sun- 

 day-school, and one who is always ready to 

 stand up in the very front for Jesus. 



When Bro. Reed was here, some made the 

 objection that he had got only a lot of chil- 

 dren; but, three years added to the ages of 

 those children has almost made them men 

 and women; and those who were on hand at 

 all the meetings a few years ago were the 

 first to come forward at this time; and 

 among the new converts there was quite a 

 sprinkling of middle-aged and some elderly 

 people. 



During one of the last meetings when, as 

 usual, there were several praying at once, 

 the leader almost startled me by saying, 

 " Now let several pray. Let us have a doz- 

 en prayers all at once." Talking about it 

 afterward, the objection was made to me, 

 " Why, nobody could hear a word if a dozen 

 were all praying at once." I answered in- 

 stantly, "That may be true; but if God 

 hears, does it matter so very much whether 

 anybody else hears or not? " 



As there has been considerable said about 

 emotional religion or emotional meetings, 

 suppose we consider the matter a little. 

 You who read our religious papers may have 

 noticed frequent comments on the fact that 

 many denominations at the present time are 

 hardly holding their own in the way of mem- 

 bership. The number of converts does not 

 equal the number of removals by death and 

 otherwise; and several denominations are 

 seriously asking what is the matter; and I 

 believe some learned divines have at least 

 suggested that it did not matter very much: 

 that people who do not unite with any 

 church are, perhaps, getting imbued with 

 the spirit of Christianity. This might do 

 very well if we were not obliged to confess 

 the fact that iniquity and crime are becom- 

 ing rampant in our land ; and even some 

 who are members of our various churches 

 are getting so far away from their religion 

 that they are found connected with stupen- 

 dous grafts, and misappropriation of money 

 that belongs to the people, etc. The teach- 

 ings of the Bible seem to have been forgot- 

 ten and trampled under foot as it was in the 

 time of Jeremiah and other prophets. If 

 the old-fashioned religion and emotional re- 

 vivals would help us to read our Bibles more 

 and pray oftener for the influences of the 

 Holy Spirit, shall we not extend a helping 



