stmas
and Easter. "On the street, long before the hour, the crowds gather
waiting in reverent silence for the opening of the service," writes
Burdette, in "Temple and Templars." "The inspiring strains of 'the
English Te Deum,' 'Coronation,' rise on the starlit night, thrilling
every soul and suggesting in its triumphant measures, the lines of
Perronet's immortal hymn made sacred by a thousand associations--'All
hail the power of Jesus' Name.'" "This greeting of the Resurrection,
as it floats out over Monument Cemetery just opposite, where sleep
so many thousands, does seem like an assurance sent anew from above,
cheering those who sleep in Jesus, telling them that as their Lord
and King had risen, and now lives again, so shall they live also.
Men looked at the graves of them that slept, listened to the song of
triumph that was making the midnight glorious, remembered the risen
Christ who was the theme of the song, thought of that other midnight,
the riven tomb, the broken power of Death a conquered conqueror,
and seemed to hear the Victor's proclamation as the apostle of the
Apocalypse heard it, pealing like a trumpet voice over all the earth,
'I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead; and
behold, I am alive forevermore; Amen; and have the keys of hell and
death!'

"The music continues, the band playing 'The Gloria,' 'The Heavens are
Telling,' 'The Palms'; now and then the listeners join in singing as
the airs are more familiar, and 'What a Friend we Have In Jesus,'
'Whiter than Snow,' 'Just as I Am,' and other hymns unite many of the
audience on the crowded streets about The Temple in a volunteer choir,
and when the doxology, 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow,'
closes the service, hundreds of voices swell the volume of melody that
greets the Easter morning."

CHAPTER XXVII

A TYPICAL PRAYER MEETING.

The Prayer Meeting Hall. How the Meeting is Conducted. The Giving of
Favorite Bible Verses. Requests for Prayer. The Lookout Committee.

The prayer meetings of Grace Baptist Church are characterized by a
cheery, homelike atmosphere that appeals forcibly and at once to any
one who may chance to enter, inclining him to stay and enjoy the
service, be he the utmost stranger.

But underneath this and soon felt, is the deep spiritual significance
of the meeting, which lays hold on men's hearts, inspiring, uplifting,
sending them home with a sense of having "walked with God" for a
litt