BUSY streets. Crowded buildings; Overflowing cataracts of traffic! Roaring motors! Clanging trolleys! Thundering elevated railways bearing commuters to and beyond Corona, a suburb of New York City.
I
\ other, I mounted the knocked upon the door. In am in one hand, letter in the of a humble home and oment my astonished eyes beheld the beaming face of a colored mammy framed in the doorway! ‘Oh, I your pardon! I have mistaken the house. I am ra lady who wrote to me to come here to hold a ing. I thought—I thought this was the number— revival m I faltered. “Yo' all isn’t Si:
tah McPherson d:
been preachin’ in Cape
"Well bless yo" heart, chile! Come in yere dis bery minute! T'se been a-lc; what kep’ yo’ all? Come kin’ fo" yo’ all weel in! Come in!”
Two big black arms were around me and, before I knew it, I had been shown to a tiny attic bedroom and told to refresh myself for a bite of lunch.
Ef ever dere was a town dat needed a Holy Ghost revival, 1 it," my hostess told me as she spread thick blackberry n a liberal slice of bread and laid it on my plate.
Y-yes?”’ I queried. “Where are the services to be held?”
dis a jam
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“Why, right here in Corona, bless yo"!””
“But what is the name of the hall or church in which the meetings will be conducted?”
“Oh, ah don’ know nothin’ ‘bout dat! Ah thought you'd arrange all dat in no time when yo' all got here, as yo’ knows more ‘bout sech things dan ah do!”
__, “Yes, but who's supporting the meetings? Have you a group of people—a company of believers who will assist me?”
“No, chile, ah couldn't seem to get dem interested in a revival. No, ah reckon I'se about de onliest one yo’ can depend on right now; but dere will be mo’ when de meetin’s git stahted.”
“Then there aren't any—any real—preparations for a meet ing—yet?”
“No preparation? Indeed dere is preparations, chile! Prepatations a-plenty. Didn’ ab tell yo' I'se been a-prayin’ fo’ dis yere meetin’ fo’ mor’ two years? Got it all prayed through now, and de clouds am sure ready to burst upon dis yere town when yo’ all begins to preach de Word!”
After the humble repast, at Mammy’s suggestion we had a season of prayer. No one could hear that earnest voice upraised to God without knowing that here was one who conversed with the Master, as friend communes with friend. Though black without, her spirit was as snow within!
“Guess we better go out and look for a hall now,” I volunteered. "I am in a strange city and do not quite know where to go first.”
“Ef ah was younger, ah would go with yo chile; but ah knows de Lawd has a prepared place all a-waitin’ somewhere. Yo’ all run along and ah'll stay home and ask de Lawd to guide you.”
Gathering up my courage, I set forth in search of an auditorium; but met with scant encouragement, No town hall, no empty theatre, no vacant lodge rooms were available.
The next day and the next, the search continued without avail. Tired, footsore, weary, I returned and, after bathing my hot face with a moistened towel, flung myself heavily in a chair.
What a peculiar situation! Was I wrong about this letter I had received? Was I out of the will of God?
True, the city’s desperate need of a Holy Ghost revival—its coldness and formality were laid before my eyes as I walked the streets in search of a meeting-house; but was the dear old coly tight in positively declaring this was God's time for a campaign?
I leaned back wearily in the chair and closed my eyes. A perplexed frown puckered my brow
Rap! Rap! Rap! Someone was knocking on the door below Perhaps, I thou fh news about an auditorium, for I had flung out inquiries in all directions. Leaning over the banister, I listened, and was astonished at the words of the big voice that came booming up the little hall.
T understand there is a lady evangelist here.”
“Yas suh. Sistah McPherson am here to conduct a revival ored mamr
Well, I am the pastor of the Swedish M. E. Church down the street and I wonder whether she would have time to come down and conduct some meetings for us?”
“Jes’ a minute, suh, I'll call her and yo’ ask her yo'self Sistah!
Yes, Mammy.
I almost stumbled down the stairs in my eagerness, and stood breathless, looking up at the minister who had come like a messenger from the sky at this perplexing moment.
That very night I found the church half-filled with people; but they spread the news throughout the town, and the next tnoon the church was full, and that night the crowd overaft flowed into the streets. * From the opening moment of the Corona revival the Spirit of God moved upon the people in a very special manner. Tears flowed down many faces, and numbers came to the altar seekg the Lord as their Saviour. The Sunday School superintendent of a nearby church was gloriously baptized with the Holy Ghost, also the wife of one of the city’s leading ministers. Interest was stitred, and even as the dear old colored lady had said, the revival was already prayed down, the clouds were ready to burst! Never had it seemed easier to preach! The Lord was very near and precious to our hearts.
Remember, this was in the day before churches were ordaining women to the ministry as they are today!
Ere the revival had been in progress many days, the pastor of a nearby Baptist church took occasion to warn his flock against the campaign, asking them to stay away. This, of course, was one of my greatest assurances of a crowd; for the folk immediately came to find out just why they should stay away!
The minister came also!
There was one remaining seat unoccupied, and into it he slipped quietly. I purposely asked him to lead in prayer at the close of the service—and an earnest, hungry prayer it was.
The following evening he was again in the audience. My message that night was “Lost and Restored,” and many crowded the altars seeking salvation and a deeper spiritual life. Among those who came forward to shake my hand after the benediction was this minister.
“Sister,” said he, and I noticed there were tears in his eyes, “I wish to extend to you an invitation to come to my church as soon as possible and give that same message. You are crowded out here. Our church is considerably larger. Will you, in the Master's name, accept the invitation?”
The Baptist church was packed from pulpit to the door and far out into the street. The windows had been opened, and the people stood on boxes or ledges, looking in.
On the platform sat a number of prominent ministers, clad in correct clerical garb; and to a wiser, more formidably learned company, surely few young evangelists had ever spoken.
Lifting my heart to God in earnest prayer for power to preach the Word to this assembled throng, I took one more hurried glance at the dignified clergymen who, it seemed to me, sat like human interrogation marks at the very thought of a woman preaching the gospel, and launched into my message.
‘The Lord had prepared the way before me!
The theme of my sermon concerned the dispensation of the Holy Ghost from the day of Pentecost unto the coming of the Lord; and as I told of the “former rain” and how the Holy Spirit had fallen with a rushing mighty wind and tongues of flame and copious showers of blessings, tears streamed down faces.
I spoke of the great revival which followed the initial outpouring of the Spirit—of how three thousand souls were born into the Kingdom in a single day, and five thousand on another occasion; of the healing of the lame man at the gate Beautiful, the persecution of the apostles, the flourishing of God’s Word; of how the sick, who lay on their beds in the streets, were even healed by the shadow of Peter passing over them! I told of the gifts and fruits of the Spirit, and ringing “Amens” and “Hallelujahs” began to come from various points in the audience.
The wonderful old colored mammy sat just at my left, her dear face shining like polished ebony.
‘Lawd, pour out Thy Spirit;” I could hear her saying now and then. “Lawd, yo’ all knows Ise done prayed through fo’ dis yere meetin’, Pour Thy Spirit out, Lawd!”
Strengthened and encouraged, I went on to tell of the falling away of the church, when, hundreds of years after the death of the early disciples, worldliness and unbelief crept in; of the ensuing dark ages when even the light of justification by faith was dimmed and there remained but a feeble flickering of the oldtime glory; of the hungering in the hearts of the people, the reformation period, the saints and martyrs burned at the stake, the great reformers, and on up through the years, from one denomination to another, to the present day.
Admonishing the people to accept the promise of the “latter rain” outpouring as told in God's Word, I asked them to open their hearts, take down their umbrellas of unbelief and skepticism and receive the showers of blessing God had for them! ame to the altar that night!
How they
The eyes of the pastor filled with tears and he exclaimed, “Why, I've had to use a logging chain to get even one or two to the altar! See them coming!"
Happy, thrilled from head to foot with joy that the Lord had honored His Word, vindicated the message, I kneeled down at one corer of the platform and began to pray.
Above my own prayer, and those of the other people kneelound me, I could hear my colored friend crying out: Hallelujah, Lawd! Ah knowed You'd do it! Ah jus’ knowed dis was a-comin’!
ing
Certainly, I thought to myself, here was proof-positive that in Christ Jesus there is neither black nor white, bond nor free,
Jew nor Gentile—for Christ hath broken down the middle wall of partition and made us all one! * One night, following the message, two brothers who had not spoken to each other for more than a year because of a petty disagreement over the trimming of their store window, rose from their respective seats in the auditorium.
Said one, “Bill, I want you to forgive me for that little incident last year; it was all my fault.”
“Not at all, Dick,” hastily replied the other. “It was my fault, and I have known it all the time!”
The other man started to say something again, but no sooner had he opened his mouth than he fell into his brother's arms under the power of the Holy Spirit; Alarmed, his brother lowered him to the floor and knelt beside him in humble prayer.
At another service a few nights later a beautiful young society lady who had recently given her heart to Jesus Christ, even though her mother had offered to present her with a new Packard automobile if she would give up the church and continue on with her social ambitions, blessedly received the Holy Spirit.
PThe pastor of the church, who was growing more hungry for the infilling with each successive meeting, and yet kept looking doubtfully through his fingers every time someone new would fall under the power, came over to get a closer view of what was happening to this young lady. He knew she had been wonderfully saved just previous to this; he knew she had entered whole-heartedly into Christian service in the church, Now he saw her face suffused with heavenly glory and heard her speaking in other tongues, and he knew she was receiving a new experience which he had not as yet obtained for himself. ‘As he watched and listened a look of intense longing swept over his face. Without speaking he went back to his pulpit, knelt down, lifted his hands and began to pray:
"Oh Lord, fill me! Oh Lord, fill me!”
Over and over he prayed this simple prayer in earnestness and humility before God. Kneeling beside him, I felt led to cry out also the same words.
“Lord, fill me,” he would say.
"Lord, fill him!” I would repeat.
Gloriously the Lord answered prayer, for, just inside the chancel rail of that lovely church, a hungry soul was baptized with the mighty power of the Holy Ghost. Other members of the congregation gathered around quickly to observe this strange sight—that of their pastor actually speaking with other tongues in a clear, plain language of which the Lord gave me the interpretation, message after message. They leaned over the chancel rail and even stood on the pews to peer over each other's shoulders!
When the pastor finally rose to his feet he began walking up and down the platform, preaching a mighty sermon under the anointing and inspiration of the Spirit!
Havir yesterday
: heard me declare that Jesus Christ was the same id today and forever, and that he still lived to save, and baptize with his Spirit, a young lady who was in need of all three experiences in her life, one night came to the meetings.
During the altar call I looked up from those who were kneeling before the mourner’s bench and great was my asto ishment and dismay when I saw, coming down the central aisl a strange and pathetic little figure leaning upon two crutche bowed over and twisted with rheumatic arthritis, and being supported, in addition to her crutches, on the left and on the ight by two friends!
A gasp of pity rippled over the entire assemblage, as e) were focused upon this procession
Now, I had had no experience whatsoever in praying for the sick. Indeed, very little, comparatively, had been said or done about this great doctrine at that time. Yet in my sermons I had constantly proclaimed Jesus Christ to be the same Healer He was in days of old, and that He had never lost His power, I believed what I preached, and w n willing to pray for one who was sick; but oh, I did wish then and there that I could have begun with some one who looked a bit more mendable than this poor little thing with her gnarled and twisted fingers, swollen joints, chin pulled forward until it lay upon her breast, limbs that were drawn, and hands she could not even lift to comb her own hair and with which she could scarcely feed herself!
But there she came and it seemed she would never get to the front!
Step—step—step—
Gentle hands eased the emaciated body along. I remember, in the dead silence that had fallen upon us all, how one crutch area and a floorboard creaked with each movement forward.
The eyes of the people looked first at the young lady and then at me; and I, God help me, felt my face flushing more each moment. But I cried out in my heart:
“Oh Lord, You are able to heal her, though I admit she does look like a hopeless case!"
I made up my mind to have a word of prayer quietly with her down on the front seat, trying to convince myself that the kindest thing to do would be to make her case as inconspicuous as possible. or away in the back of my mind there was the thought that if she were not completely healed, her affliction would not be so noticeable there.
But I gasped a little as I saw that the young lady was being borne by the strong arms of her attendants to the altar. Not being able to kneel, lo and behold, they were carrying her to the platform, never stopping until they had placed her in the pastor’s chair!
Earnestly she prayed. Whole-heartedly she gave her heart to Jesus. Inquiry revealed the fact that she was the child of a non-Protestant family; but ere many minutes had elapsed, she had not only been converted, but baptized with the Holy Spirit as well!
Then I prayed for her healing, telling her to lift her hands and praise the Lord.
She could very easily have replied, "Oh, but I cannot lift my hands!” Instead of this, her obedience was instantaneous.
“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” she repeated over and over again in a clear voice, and to the joy of all, the gnarled joints began to straighten out, and she lifted her hands up, up, up as high as her chin, her eyes, the top of her head!
“Praise the Lord,” she exclaimed. “This is the first time I have been able to lift my hands to the top of my head in so, so long!”
Her hands and arms were now practically free. Her chin, however, had been pressed against her chest for so long, that it seemed as though it had almost grown there, her neck being rigid! Slowly her head began to turn, and then the chin lifted as she gazed heavenward.
In a moment she was on her feet! Clinging hand over hand to the chancel rail she began to walk as the limbs straightened.
Whether it was because I had until this time never seen such a sight, I know not; but to this day the healing of that young lady seems to me one of the most mighty miracles I have ever known.
She w from the church that night walking, climbed into the car and stepped out again at her own home. When her mother saw her walking up the garden path and when one of her companions handed the mother the girl's crutches, she threw up her hands and cried:
“Thank God! Oh, thank God!” then threw the crutches down into the cellar to be used no more.
From that time forward, Louise became one of the constant attendants at the meetings. She declared it seemed to her that as she sat at home, reading her Bible or running the sewing machine, which she now delighted in doing, all the neigh bors for blocks around dropped in to inquire whether these things were true!
Some years later, I had occasion to conduct a meeting the same church. Tripping down the aisle came a plump, rosy little lady who descended on us like a tornado
“Do you member me?” she demanded
Looking into the sparkling eyes and clear complexion, I shook my head and said, almost unbelievingly
“It's not—not Louise—?”
"The very same, praise the Lord! I have been sewing, cooking, doing housework, attending the meetings; our entire family has been converted, and I never cease praising the Lord for His goodness to me!”
"Here, then, was a case that was helpless insofar as man was ed, but was not utterly hopeless when God was taken into consideration! For four years this young lady had been concer compelled to use her crutches. The pain of her rheumatic condition would cause her to weep wad eae almost continually. Her jaw had become so stiff she could scarcely get a morsel of food into her mouth unless it was broken into very small pieces! But, praise God, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever! The prayer of faith still saves the sick and the Lord still raises them up in newness of life!