MEMORABLE SERVICE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19723, 14 December 1926, Page 8

MEMORABLE SERVICE

GIPSY SMITH MISSION ST. PAUL’S CHURCH CROWDED EVANGELIST'S IMPRESSIVE APPEAL. I i 4< A good tree cannot bring forth evil | fruit, nor can an evil tree bring forth good fruit,’’ said Mr Gipsy Smith, ad- • dressing a large congregation at St. j Paul’s Church, Wanganui, last night, j The popularity of the mission er was I shown by the fact tha£ the church j crowded. Mr Smith described how ho delivered a message from Heaven in fifteen minutes granted him by the proprietor of a theatre in which a matinee was being conducted. After that fifteen minutes, he said, the audience left the theatre, and the actors and actresses stood in the wings with tears streaming down their faces. They, like the audience, were too deeply affected to go on with the programme. The modem theatre, gambling, drinking and so on, were not consistent with a life with God. When they had Jesus Christ with them, they did not want those things. They had something else to be satisfied with. They had a deep peace in their souls. In this the children of God were manifest. The Children of God. He hoped the Church members wouM understand his language, the language of tho children of God. If they did not understand him, it was proof that they had never learned the language, and they should take steps to get familiar with it. In Kimberley, South Africa, some years ago, he was driven to the city’s welcome in a carriage and pair, with coachman, and all the trappings accorded to visiting nobility. They had railed him Lord Clothes Peg. (Laughter). The Gipsy touched on his earlier life, and explained the difference between the real travelling gipsies and the show gipsies. Ho had gone to tho latter class, in their travelling encampments, ' and spoken to them in the true Gipsy ! tongue, tho tongue into which he was born. But they did not understand him. They wore not born to the gipsy life. There was just that difference between formally joining the Church and living in it and belonging to it in the spirit. Only Jesus could effect the subtle transposition in their souls. There could bo no uncertainty about, if. Some people, asked if they wore converted, hesitated, and said “I hope so.” They wouldn’t say that if they were asked if they were married. (Laughter). A Mongrcfi GospeL “Don ’t you believe that mongrel gospel which says you can be a Christian and not know it. A religion that can come while you are asleep can pass off while you are asleep. I know that Jesus saved me, and if you ask me how I know, I will tell you: Because I love Him. I gave myself to Him.” It was not possible, he claimed, for ♦ a convert to point to any spot where I his conversion occurred. Jesus had~>l come to him months before he was conscious of it. Air Smith, digressing, described how tho date of his birth had become confused, and was not settled until a birth certificate was produced. In just the same way it was impossible to place the exact moment or place when and where sin was cast out of the soul. They knew that it was cast out, and that was what mattered. “God’s spirit tells me I am bom of God. I can’t explain it mord than I explain the rainbow, the song of the thrush—the voice of an angel, clothed in feathers. But I know this—put yourself in the place of a penitent, commune with God, and you will know. ’’ What did their hearts and their consciences say? They were the voices that decided. They wanted 1o deepen and intensify their love for Christ, and to give effect to their desire for salvation. While most of the congregation stood, as a mark of their acceptance of Christian doctrines, the hymn “I Need Thee” was sung, and prayers were offered. Afr Smith’s decision cards, by which those eager to accept spiritual truth signified their determination, were issued. “Praise the Lord.” said the missioner, when people present stated that they intended to seek salvation. “I feel impelled to say this —it may be that there is someone here with a sad heart, saying, ‘I dare not sign. I would like you to pray for me to-night.’ Is there anyone who would like me to pray for them?” Several people stood. “God bless you. I want you to feel our interest. We don’t want anyone to feel that no one cares,” concluded the evangel ist impressively. Further hymns and <*• ■ prayers terminated a memorable service.