5 Sermon Illustrations on Spiritual Revival

In the township of R., in the western part of New York, says a writer in the Ch. Watchman, without any special or known cause, numbers of individuals were suddenly aroused to anxious inquiry and trembling respecting their souls. Some in different parts of the town, without any knowledge of the affections of others, were alarmed by the consideration of their sins. Two men, from different directions, came to a clergyman in the morning, asking What shall we do? About nine o'clock in the same morning, one of the members of the church called upon the same clergyman, to go and visit several anxious individuals in his neighborhood; and before night it was ascertained, that almost the whole population of a considerable district, were solemnly, and with weeping, asking the prayers and instructions of the people of God.

Accompanied by the pastor, on that and the subsequent day, we visited from house to house; but wherever we went the Spirit had preceded us. The whole region was a Boehm. A solemn awe pervaded our soul, and we could not but feel that, "God is in very deed in our midst."

Revivals, thus commencing, are, indeed, rare; but where they do occur they show very clearly the agency of the Holy Spirit.

# 196. Holy Spirit Grieved.

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Like pneumatic tires, the Church needs to be “pumped up” by special efforts from time to time. The same is true of the individual.

Pneumatic tires, whether on a bicycle or an automobile, always become more or less deflated in the course of time, even when there is no puncture and the valves are perfectly tight. All cyclists and chauffeurs know that a tire needs pumping up, from time to time, to keep it hard and rigid. This is because the enclosed air constantly tends to escape through the envelop; the phenomenon, which is due to what chemists call osmose, is quite complex and is worth attention. (Text.)--_Cosmos._