WHERE ART THOU? TO THE BROKEN HEARTED SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS EIGHT"I WILLS" OF CHRIST THEIR ROCK IS NOT AS OUR ROCK ON SAVING CHILDREN PRAYERS OF JESUS LIFE, LOVE, PEACE, POWER, BOLDNESS PRAYERS OF MR. MOODY. 721 722 722 723 723 724 725 725 726 727 728 729 729 DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. The United States is now in the midst of the throes of the third of the great Religious Awakenings that have become so memorable in its historic development. It is of the deepest importance for Christians, and for all thinking men as well, to pause and study the origin, development and results of these successive broodings of the Spirit of God upon the face of the becalmed waters of the church. Were these singular events only isolated and hap-hazard phenomena, which achieved nothing beyond a temporary inrushing of souls into the fold of Christ; or were they inspired by the deep councils of the Almighty Ruler of Nations and the head of the church, for the upbuilding of his kingdom, and the putting forth of mighty efforts for bringing the entire world under his own control? The scanty limits of our space allow us only to suggest this line of thought, and to make a very hasty generalization of the facts. "The Great Awakening" of 1740-42 was not confined to New England, though that section was peculiarly blessed. The soulstirring sermons of George Whitefield, the grandest preacher in modern times of salvation by Christ Jesus and him crucified, were preceded by the faithful pastorate of Jonathan Edwards, and supplemented by the loving zeal of Gilbert Tennant. Fifty thousand souls were converted at that time. That same ratio of one in forty of the entire population should result at present in the conversion of fully a million. But that revival is specially deserving to be termed one "of doctrinal instruction, of spiritual quickening." It checked the practice, then so common among the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, of admitting to the communion all persons of orthodox belief and moral life, without requiring any evidence of conversion, and merely on the basis of a subscription to the half-way covenant. This wonderful season of refreshing grace did not really end until Whitefield and Tennant were called away from their toils, in 1770. And thus, when the American Colonies were overshadowed by the black pall of the Revolutionary war, and they were called on to pass through the baptism of fire that they might be welded into a nation, they were sustained by the spiritual strength which an entire generation had been imbibing. After the return of peace, the season of awakening was succeeded by a prolonged te. m of organization for evangelistic labor. The tide. of living humanity was now sweeping majestically across the continent, reclaiming miles of farm lands from the wilderness every |