“What did it? Two things. First, he preached the gospel straight. Second, the Holy Spirit quickened the Word spoken and made it powerful. What would the people do if there should be such an uproar in some of our congregations to-day? It would scare some of them half to death, and many would run for dear life. But we have the same gospel Peter had, and the same Holy Spirit to accompany the Word. What is the matter? The people do not want it that way, neither does the devil. Thousands of church people instead of praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, are asking such questions as these: Is it wrong for a Christian to dance? to go to the theater? to visit places of amusement? to play progressive euchre? etc. Why don’t they ask such questions as these: Is it wrong to pray? to go to church? to take the sacrament? etc. The fact is, a man or woman filled with the Spirit of Christ knows without asking any questions whether a thing is right or wrong. “But some may say that the writer is getting old and feeble, and has fallen far behind in the race, all of which is readily granted; but the fact remains that we have the same gospel, which is as changeless as the throne of God. If in the days of the Son of man and his inspired apostles it was necessary that a man should be ‘born again,’ ‘born of the Spirit,’ ‘made a new creature,’ and be ‘cleansed from all sin,’ it is necessary now. If there ever was a time when men were born into the kingdom of grace by the power of the Holy Ghost, it remains the same to-day. What under the heavens is the use for preachers and people to go whining around, and winking at this and that when they know it is out of harmony with the plain teaching of God’s Word? It is all well enough to be nice and orderly in the house of God, but there is no substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the advocate between God and man, and the Holy Spirit is the executive officer in the holy trinity. If the church with its splendid machinery were endued with power as it might and ought to be, there is no telling what might be done in the next ten years. But what good is all this machinery, with no power to run it? What good is an engine without steam? I saw Engine 999. It was beautiful to look at. Everything was as near perfect as it could well be. But it was standing stock-still. Why? There was no steam; no power to move a wheel. That represents a good many congregations. The machinery is there, but no power to run it. In Ezekiel’s vision he saw a marvelous vehicle, which moved with great rapidity. But it did not move itself. The spirit of the living creature was in the wheels; but for that it would not have moved at all. So it is with the church. If the Spirit of the living God is not in it, it will not and can not move forward. Oh, this spiritless, powerless performance called worship. How it detracts from the usefulness of the church!”