or the souls of dying men.
One preacher said, "As I entered the pulpit, I could scarcely stand
erect because of my concern for the people and solicitude for souls;"
and another said, "I spent a whole night in prayer, and what I passed
through was inexpressible." When we get a glimpse of the worth of a
soul, and then of the death of a soul, and begin to realize that we
stand between lost men and heaven or hell, then we shall have real
concern, and the Lord will hear our prayer of intercession.
When Mr. Moody first went to London he preached in a Congregational
Church, Sunday morning. There was no particular stir. That evening he
spoke to a large audience of men in the same place, and scores expressed
a desire to become Christians. He went to Dublin next day, but was
recalled by a telegram saying that a great revival had broken out. And
Mr. Moody accounts for this wonderful work of grace which followed by
telling that, on that Sunday morning, a lady went home and told her
invalid sister that Mr. Moody from America had preached. "I know what
that means," said the invalid. "We are going to have a great revival. I
have been praying for months that the Lord would send him here." She
would not eat any dinner, but spent the day in fasting and prayer. The
revival began in that invalid's room.
A gentleman waked his wife up at three o'clock in the morning to have
her join him in prayer in behalf of a neighboring family who were
unsaved; and at daybreak went to his neighbor's house to entreat them to
yield to Christ.
When such concern for the perishing is manifested by the Church, there
is sure to be a gracious ingathering.
STUDY XXI.
A PERSONAL PENTECOST.
Memory Verse: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth."--(Acts i, 8.)
Scripture for Meditation: Acts ii, 1-4; xix, 1-6.
But, above all, the soul-winner must have _a personal Pentecost_. Christ
does not send us alone to seek the lost. In the fifteenth and sixteenth
chapters of St. John's Gospel, he definitely promises the Comforter. And
again, on the day of his ascension, he bids his disciples tarry at
Jerusalem until the Holy Ghost is come. Then as they waited, "with one
accord in one place," "a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind
filled all the house where they were sitting
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