"Born of the Spirit;" or, Gems from the Book of LifeOsborne, Zenas
Religion
"Born of the Spirit;" or, Gems from the Book of Life
Osborne, Zenas
Free Methodist Church of North America; Osborne, Zenas
This people will have another class of manifestations, peculiar and
marvelous. When the Holy Ghost comes on an individual, as it will,
when a complete surrender has been made, there will be at times,
visible evidences of that fact. This manifestation will not be the
same with every individual, neither will it be always the same with
the same person. The Spirit’s operations are differently presented;
some will fall--others will laugh--some will cry--run--jump--shake as
with the ague--shout--praise God--sing--and in various peculiar ways,
God the Holy Ghost will manifest Himself. This has been the condition
of things in the church of God from the beginning down to the present
time when the church has been alive in Him, earnestly seeking to do
His will. But when a church is dead--plucked up by the root--cold,
frozen, stiff, formal, backslidden, why, then they have things
“_decently, and in order_.” There are lots of churches in these days
that, a legally constituted amen, would give them all a severe run of
fever!
I suppose that if David, the King of Israel, should come to worship
with you as he worshiped before the ark, dancing with all his might,
you would have him stop, or put him out. I have no doubt but that you
would set as umpire and cry out fanaticism, wild-fire.
_Jesus_, on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, was followed by
the crowd; the children that were there worshiped Him, crying out
Hosannah to Jesus, the King of Israel! The old Pharisees then
acted just as they have ever since when God blesses His children,
requesting them to stop their noise. Jesus gently reproved them in
the statement made. Said He: “If these should hold their _peace_,
the stones would cry out.” How this truth has been verified again
and again. When one people stop praising God in the way the Spirit
directs and operates, then another is raised up to take their place,
thus it has ever been. The Free Methodist church was raised up to
take the place made vacant by others, to offer the tribute of praise
in its various moods and tenses to the Lord Almighty. Beware how you
put your hands on the Ark! Death comes on that line. “_Quench not
the Spirit._” Alas! the fumes of the dead killed in that way cover
the land like a malaria, and the odor in many of our churches is
stifling. O, for a breeze of salvation’s life and power on all the
churches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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