oo much excitement. I heard of a minister, not
long ago, who was present at a public dance till after five o'clock in
the morning. The next Sabbath he preached against the excitement of
revivals--the late hours, and so on. Very consistent kind of
reasoning, was it not?

Then look at Pentecost. The apostles preached, and you know what the
result was. I suppose the worldly men of that day said it would all
die away. Although they brought about the martyrdom of Stephen and of
James, other men rose up to take possession of the field. From the
very place where Stephen was slain, Saul took up the work, and it has
been going on ever since.

There are many professed Christians who are all the time finding fault
and criticising. They criticise the preaching, or the singing. The
prayers will be either too long or too short, too loud, or not loud
enough. They will find fault with the reading of the Word of God, or
will say it was not the right portion. They will criticise the
preacher. "I do not like his style," they say. If you doubt what I
say, listen to the people as they go out of a revival meeting, or any
other religious gathering.

"What did you think of the preacher?" says one. "Well, I must confess
I was disappointed. I did not like his manner. He was not graceful in
his actions." Another will say: "He was not logical; I like logic." Or
another: "He did not preach enough about repentance." If a preacher
does not go over every doctrine in every sermon people begin to find
fault. They say: "There was too much repentance, and no Gospel; or, it
was all Gospel, and no repentance." "He spoke a great deal abort
justification, but he said nothing about sanctification." So if a man
does not go right through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, in
one sermon, they at once proceed to criticise and find fault.

"The fact is," says some one of this class, "the man did not touch my
heart at all." Some one else will say, "He was all heart and no head.
I like a man to preach to my intellect." Or, "He appeals too much to
the will; he does not give enough prominence to the doctrine of
election." Or, again, "There is no backbone in his preaching; he does
not lay sufficient stress on doctrine." Or, "He is not eloquent;" and
so on, and so on.

You may find hundreds of such fault-finders among professed
Christians; but all their criticism will not lead one solitary soul to
Christ. I never preached a sermon yet that I could not pick to p