s®>£ FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Section If REV. JOSEPH COOK. 4; «S TIMES OF REFRESHING. A HISTORY OF AMERICAN REVIVALS FROM 1740 TO 1877, With their Philosophy and Methods. REV. CHARLES L. THOMPSON, D. D., CHICAGO. EDITOR OF THE INTERIOR. CHICAGO: M. W. SMITH & CO. 1877. Copyrighted by L. T. PALMER & CO A D. 1877. la gij go%r, WHOSE PRAYERS FOR THE KINGDOM FIRST INSPIRED AN INTEREST IN IT, THIS ATTEMPT TO MARK SOME SIGNS THAT HERALD ITS COMING IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. In presenting this book on American Revivals the author is very conscious that he has not compassed his subject. He has written in the hope of helping the Church in her present revival work. He has therefore given much space to an account of present revival movements. Such an account must of necessity be rather of the nature of a sketch than of a history. The limits of this book have forbidden any exhaustive consideration of the early history of revivals in this country. Indeed, it has hardly been necessary to the purpose in view, which has been to show the thread of common teaching and endeavor running through all these years. While methods have differed in different periods, the essential elements of Divine Truth and Divine Grace are the same at all times. Amid the whirl of the revival scenes of this day, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to write an abiding history of these times. That can better be done in the perspective of other days. That has not been attempted. The practical aim of furthering the gospel by giving a report of its triumphs has been steadily held in view. As a season of revival is one of great encouragement, so it has been hoped the history of God's dealing with the American church in this regard would be a mighty stimulus for future activity and conquest. It seems a token of good, and an indication of great hope for the future, that the first century of our Republic should close, and the second open, on a time like this, when God has arisen to shake mightily the earth, when the Divine Spirit is VI TIMES OF REFRESHING. present with saving power among His people, when in the sym- bolic but significant language of Scripture, there is distinctly 11 heard the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." The author has wished to show that present revivals have deep roots running through a hundred years of history, and while bearing that individuality which every genuine popular move- ment must have, they share with preceding revivals of our na- tional history those common marks of divine truth and spiritual power which are the unvarying signs of the Spirit's work. If thus the wonderful revivals of the past two years can be shown to be at once the culmination of broad peparations, the fruit of a slow growth, and the special need of the church in our country at this time, somewhat may be contributed to such faith in the truth and power of present movements as will tend to continue and extend them throughout the nation. So may the church of America enter upon her unused heritage of truth, and gather the Eschol vintage, not as an exceptional evidence of how rich is the kingdom, but as its full and regular harvest. Especially if it has been shown in the light of revival histories, that God freely honors His truth, and is ever ready to open the windows of heaven, when the church accepts the condition, should it not encourage all God's people to expect revivals as the mariner expects the tides ? Our God is not the God of confusion, but of order and law. To fall into harmony with his laws of grace, whether iii ordinary or special endeavors for the kingdom ot Christ, i-s to advance with the force and order of those laws. Since the days of Nehemiah there has not been a revival more singly <>r purely built on the study of God's Word, than that which now is gladdening so many parts of the country. If we will learn that the secrel of Israel's joy may be repeated and con- tinued by Israel's method of bringing and keeping before the people the law of the Lord, we shall boon the eve of such a work of grace as by it- permanence, breadth and depth, will deserve the name, less of a revival than of a new departure for the church PREFACE. Vll of God. We shall yield to that central current of Bible study and Bible living which since the days of the Captivity has swept to itself and borne onward in triumph the best life of the church — the best results of human history. Inasmuch as the Temperance Reform is a factor of rising value and influence in the general revival tendencies of the age, a special place has been given it in this history. Of this work, as of other phases of the revival, only a tentative judgment can now be given, but facts and present results may be of some value to a more distant and historic review, as well as of some utility to those who look to Gospel Temperance in some form as the best hope of society in its struggle with the most gigantic of its foes. The author desires to express his obligations for valuable aid to Prof. L. J. Halsey, D. D., of Chicago ; Prof. Henry Cowles, D. D ., of Oberlin, O ., and Rev. C. H. Richards, of Madison, Wis. The fol- lowing books, among others, have been consulted in the prepara- tion of this work: Kirk's Lectures on Revivals, Headley's Har- vest Work of the Holy Spirit, Earle's Bringing in Sheaves, Tracy's Great Awakening, Fish's Hand-Book of Revivals, Townsend's Supernatural Factor in Revivals, Humphrey's Revival Sketches and Manual, Tyerman's Life of Whitefield, D. W. Whittle's Mem- oirs of P. P. Bliss, Life of Nettleton, Life of Daniel Baker, Stev- ens' History of Methodism, Hodge's History of Presbyterianism, Presbyterianism in Central New York, Daniels' Life of Moody, Modern Evangelists, Headley's American Evangelists, Centennial Temperance Volume, Autobiography of Finney, Life of Knapp, Life of Caughey and others. That the Master may bless this book to the quickening of his people, to their increase in faith and holy courage, that the " Times of Refreshing" from the presence of the Lord may cover all seasons, water all the earth, and bring that time for which all times were made, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the deep, is the prayer of The Author. ILLUSTRATIONS. I. Portrait of Whitefield. II. " " Daniel Baker. III. " « C. G. Finney. IV. « « E.P.Hammond. V. « « D. L. Moody. VI. « " IraD.Sankey. VII. « « Maj. D. W. Whittle. VIII. " « Philip Paul Bliss. IX. " " Francis Murphy. X. " " Miss Frances E. Willard. XI. " " Rev, Joseph Cook. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Law in revivals. Philosophy of revivals. What is a revival? Dr. Kirk. Dr. Barnes. Mr. Finney. Essential elements of revivals. Holy Spirit. Announced in Scripture. Con- firmed by experience. The truth of God. What truths most prominent. The Church on earth. Human agency in every revival. Varying elements in revivals. Social or national conditions. Intellectual conditions. Illustra- tions. Pentecost and Reformation. Great variety in re- vivals. One law for them all. Duty of obedience to it. . 13 CHAPTER II. REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD Beginning of Revivals in this country. Religious con- dition. Preaching ot Edwards. Revival at Northamp- ton; at Freehold, N. J., under the Tennents; at New Londonderry, Pa., New Brunswick, Newark, N. J., Harv- ard, Mass. 'End of the night. Whitefield. Birth. Edu- cation. Religious experience. Comparison between Whitefield and Luther. First sermons. Characteristics. Removes to Savannah. Return to England. Back again. Wm. Tennent, Sr. Gilbert Tennent. Whitefield in New York, Philadelphia. Anecdotes by Franklin. Effect of Whitefield's preaching. Savannah. New England. Work in Boston. Other towns. Physical effects. Nervous action. Explanation. Return to England. Back to Bos- ton. Opposition. Faculty of Harvard College. His itin- eracy. Colloquy between Whitefield and Wm. Tennent. Last evangelistic tour. Anecdote. Last sermon. Death. Secrets of his power. Place as a preacher. General re- sults of the revivals. Number of converts. Educational effects. Evangelism 37 CHAPTER III. REVIVAL OF l800. Antecedent condition. Political and religious. Prevalence of infidelity. Revival came suddenly. Little human agency. X CONTENTS. Testimony of Dr. Griffin. Experience of leading minis- ters at that time. Spiritual experience of the converts. Tone of the preaching. Rev. Moses Hallock. Dr. Por- ter. Dr. Wood. Dr. John M. Mason. Revival in New- ark. In Hampden-Sidney College. Dr. Wm. Hill. Dr. Alexander. The work in Virginia, Kentucky, Tenne- see. Rev. James McGready's account. Revivals in North and South Carolina. Dr. Foote's account. Revivals in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. Character- istics of them. Beginning of modern missions. Leading features 67 CHAPTER IV. REV. ASAHELNETTLETON AND HIS EVANGELISTIC WORK. Epoch of revivals. Revivals in colleges. Duration of the period. Testimony of Dr. Spring; of Dr. Humphrey. Presence of the Spirit. Birth. Education and experience of Nettleton. Purpose to be a missionary. How diverted from it. Beginning of evangelistic labors. His services from 1S12 to 1822. Amount of his labors. Dr. Sprague's testimony. Summary of his work. Saratoga Springs. Nassau. New Haven. North Killingworth. Eastern Connecticut. Laid aside. Continues to preach. Goes South. Revivals there. Testimony of Dr. John H. Rice. Incident. Return to New England. Appointed professor at East Windsor. Death. His meihods. His caution. Manner of preaching. Illustrations. Permanent effects of his work 92 CHAPTER V. DANIEL BAKER, THE SOUTHERN EVANGELIST. Daniel Baker — Compared with Nettleton and Whitefield. Biographical sketch. Education. Licensed to preach. Pastoral charges. Evangelistic tours in many states. Austin College, Texas. Visits to East and results. Re- signing pastorates to do evangelistic work. Labors in Prince Edward. Results. Secret of his power. Early ideal of preaching. Catholic Spirit. Influence on young men. Testimony to his character. Conservative. Re- lation to pastors. A life of faith. Style of his preaching. Mr. Moody's suggestion. Personal appearance. Extract from memoir. Christianity the inspiration of his life 116 CHAPTER VI. REVIVALS \JNDER FINNEY. Centering in Personal influence. Birth of Finney. Early education. Study and practice of law. His religious ex- CONTENTS. XI perience. Remarkable revelations. Baptism of the Spirit. Justification by faith. Mr. Finney's power as related to his conversion. Closing his law busi- ness. His personal experience in prayer. Extract from autobiography. Absurdity of unbelief. The truths he preached most prominently. His views of grace and conscience. Studying theology. Bible, the fountain of it. First commission to preach. Meeting at Evans Mills. Remarkable interest. Meetings in northern New York, at Rome, Utica, Rochester. Labors in other cities. View of his revival work by Dr. Chas. P. Bush. Characteristics as a preacher. Results of his work. Personal character- istics. Testimony of Prof. Cowles as to salient points of revival labors 133 CHAPTER VII. REVIVALS OF 1857-8. Human agency and divine energy. A Providential revival. The national condition in 1857. Financial panic and crash. Public confidence undermined. Men begin to pray. Origin of Fulton Street meeting. Rapid growth. Testimony of a business man. Effect of prayer on busi- ness circles. Systematic visitation. Extact from Dr. Conant's Revival Incidents. Sunday school conven- tions. Meetings at Burton's theatre. Progress of the work in New York. The Jayne's Hall meeting in Phil- adelphia. Great audiences. The daily press reports. Extent of the revival in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and other Western states. Revival in Boston under Finney. Throughout New England. Leading features of the work. Prayer and union efforts. Rev. Jacob Knapp. Work in Boston and Chicago, &c. Characteristics. Testimony of Dr. Kirk. Rev. A. B. Earle. Testimony of Dr. Fish. Mrs. Maggie N. Van Cott 157 CHAPTER VIII. REVIVALS UNDER REV. E. P. HAMMOND. Birth. Conversion. Education. Tour abroad. Labors in Mussel- burgh, Scotland, Glasgow, etc. Return. Labors in Boston, Portland, etc. Great work in Rochester. Permanence of results. Other places East. Goes West. Beloit, Wis. Ordained. Work in Brooklyn, Utica. etc. Philadelphia, etc. Large work in Springfield, 111. In 1866, went abroad. Scotland. England. Italy. Egypt. Palestine. Work in London. Return home. Again in Rochester. Revivals in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Evansville, etc. Great work in St. Louis. In 1875, great revivals in Washington, Har- Xll CONTENTS. risburgh, and through the Cumberland Valley. 1876-7, Syracuse, Seneca Falls, N. Y., etc. Sources of his success. Character of preaching, as to matter and manner. His generalship. His enthusiasm. A pioneer in the work among children i75 CHAPTER IX. MODERN EVANGELISM. Age of revivals through Evangelism. What is Evangelism? Two Greek words. To herald. To Evangelize. When, and how used. Two-fold nature of preaching. Relations of the ministry to the church. Two extremes. Neander. Lay preaching not an innovation. Special opportunities. The world larger and accessible. Need of more voices. Strictures on lay preaching. " Disparages the ministry." " Evangelists are ignorant." " Unhealthy excitement." Best field for lay preachers. Duty of the church 195 CHAPTER X. MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. Moody's birth. Education. Business experience. Early re- ligious struggles. Conversion. Removal West. First work in Chicago. North-market mission. Seeking the lost. Preaching in a saloon. Y. M. C. A. Rise of. Re- sults. Moody's work in it. Learning to preach. Work among soldiers. At the front. Noon-day prayer meet- ing. Farwell Hall. Burned and rebuilt. Meets Sankey. They go to England. Meetings in York, Sunderland, NewCastle, Edinburgh; success there. Free Assembly Hall. Testimonies. Andrew Thomson. Andrew and Horatius Bonar. Glasgow. Character of Moody's preach- ing there, Dublin. Manchester. Sheffield/ Birming- ham. Liverpool. London. Criticism and summary by Dr. Dale 212 CHAPTER XI. MOODY AND SANKEY IN BROOKLYN, PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK. Beginning in Brooklyn, Opening words. Prayer meetings and Bible readings. General results. Not time enough. Touching incident. Philadelphia. Great success. Christian Convention. Testimony ot Gorge H. Stuart. Closing me tings. Y. M. C. A., John Wanamaker. New York. The Hippodrome. Opening services. The Temperance work. Dom Pedro. Results. Words of N. Y. Tribune. 246 CONTENTS. xiij CHAPTER XII. MOODY & SANKEY IN CHICAGO. Preparing for work. The Tabernacle. The first service. Three years and their changes. Mr. Moody's growth.' The opening sermon. Overflow meeting. " The Interior." Unity of the churches. The doctrines preached. The test of faith. Mr. Moody called away. The meetings go on. Directed to Christians. Mr. Whittle in charge. Mr. Moody's return. Great meetings. The first inquiry meeting. Increase of interest. Extract from a sermon. The classes reached. Hardened sinners. The temperance work. The sixth week. Children converted. Number of meetings. The interest spreads. Incidents. A little girl and her father. Conversion of Mr. A. The Christian convention. Question drawer. Closing hours. Prayer Alliance. Reaching the masses. Death of Bliss. Criti- cism of the work. Case of conscience. Farewell meeting. Moody's address. Analysis of his power 261 CHAPTER XIII. MOODY AND SANKEY IN BOSTON. How they began. First meeting. How they met the skeptic ism of Boston. Anecdote of Dr. Duff. First prayer meetings. Progress. Extract from a leading journal. Co-operation. Rev. Joseph Cook. Extract from a lec- ture. Discouragements. Criticisms. A flanking move- ment. Visitation. Meetings for special classes. Their success. Prayer-meetings all over the city. Address to the churches of New England. Preparation for wider movement Last week. Extract from sermon. Wo- men's meeting. Market men's meeting at Faneuil Hall. Moody's address. Extract from Gen. John L. Swift's ad- dress. Increasing throngs. Moody's sermon on " Tekel." The closing day. Sermon to women. Extract. Measure of the harvest. Comparison between Chicago and Boston. The same. Temperance work. Effect on public morals. Liberty. Arrangements to carry on the work 292 CHAPTER XIV. REVIVALS AND SACRED SONG. Place of emotion. Truth as rousing emotion. Teaching pow- er of hymns. Early history of song. During the reform- ation. Luther's hymns. English hymns. Sacred song fin this country. In 1740. In Nettleton's time. Best hymns tne 1 esull of revival. Handel. Wesley. Cowper. XIV CONTENTS. Ray Palmer. Philip Phillips. P. P. Bliss. Early experi- ence. Meeting Moody and Whittle. Dr. Goodwin's testimony. Meetings m Waukegan, Rockford. Inci- dents connected with hymns. Meetings at Jackson. Madison. Sankey. Birth. Religious experience. Meets Moody. Goes to Chicago. Incidents. Abroad with Moody. Effect of the singing in Scotland. Testimony. Dr. Thompson. Daily Edinburgh review. Mr. Morgan and others. Sankey 's views on Church music. Freer use of sacred music in revivals. Character of the music. In the Sunday school 3I8 CHAPTER XV. BIBLE PREACHING, READING AND STUDY. Bible preaching. Bible readings and Bible study. Place of the Bible in revivals. The one book. Bible in the pulpit. Historic sketch. Evangelists and the Bible. Preaching in Biblical forms. Variety, freshness and vitality. Preach- ing the whole Bible. Bible readings. Harry More- house. Character of his readings. Morehouse and Moody. Rev. George C. Needham. Conditions of good Bible readings. Topical study of the Bible. Subject study. Study of particular books. Three essentials. Careful preparation. Use of illustrations. Reliance on the Holy Spirit. Bible study. Social study of the Bible. Bible classes. Wider range of knowledge. Illuminated by experience. Promotes revivals of religion 356 CHAPTER XVI. INQUIRY MEETINGS. Essential idea. Scriptural examples. Modern form. When first introduced. Necessity for them. Nature of the gospel. Per- sonalism. Scripture illustrations. Constitution of human mind. Human influence on level lines. Objects of inquiry meetings. Ascertain state of revival. To lead to decision. Workers in inquiry meetings. Personal experience. Love for souls. Wisdom. When to have them. Church should make more of them. Should one be held after every service? Suppose religious awakening. Conversation meeting al- ways possible. How to conduct. Moody. Whittle 37S CHAPTER XVII. WOMAN IN REVIVALS. The Home. Woman's throne. Two new channels for her work. Woman's mission societies. Woman's Temper- CONTENTS. XV ance union. Its origin. Miss Frances E. Willard. Ob- ject of the "Union." Plans of work. Bethel home. Burr mission. Outside work. Incidents. Permanence of the work. Bible work. The basis of it. Biole-readers. Their work. Summary for 1876. Miss Emily Dryer. A field for Christian women. Woman in inquiry room. Peculiar qualifications. Tact. Spiritual intuition. Con- ditions of success. With whom should women converse? Incident of conversation with a skeptic 395 CHAPTER XVIII. GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. — ITS RISE, PROGRESS AND METHODS. Beginning of the woman's praying crusade. Its progress. Reason for it. Good effects. Organization. National Temperance Union. Its history. Progress in various states. Plans of work. Prayer. Gospel Temperance. Moody's temperance work 'in New York, Chicago. Charles W. Sawyer. His experience. His work. Find- ing " Scotch Willie." Breadth of the work. Incidents. Results in Chicago. The work in Boston. The first Friday meeting there. Mr. Moody's address. Subsequent meetings. Gospel temperance convention. Dr. Curler's address. John B. Gough. Requests tor prayer. Moody's question drawer. Taking away the appetite. Testimonies of its entire destruction. Witnesses who say it remains. Others who are unconscious of it. The Pledge revival. Francis Murphy. His experience. Beginning of his work. Pittsburgh. The work in Western Pennsylvania. In New York. Description of a meeting in Philadelphia. Michigan. The red and blue ribbon movement. Dr. Henry A. Reynolds. His experience. Methods. Secret of success. Results. Action of legislature. Moody and Murphy. Christ and humanity. Sign of the times. Lesson for the Church 415 CHAPTER XIX. REVIEW AND PROSPECT. Human and divine elements. The two ends of revivals. Con- version and sanctification. Unity of Church on these points. Harmony of essential doctrines. Differences of topic and form. In what sense progress in theology. The enlarging science of it. Variations caused by conditions in Church and world . The conscience. Preaching of Ed- wards' time. The shaping condition now a denial of Christ. Combined assault on this central position. Christ- ological preaching. Its bearing on revivals. Immediate XVI CONTENTS. and personal effect. u Coming to Christ." Meaning, depth and power of it. Conscience-arousing, because it gives a firm moral base. Increase of preachers. Lay- preaching. Conventions and associations. Woman's work. The Sunday school. Machinery. The press, etc. Tabernacles. Generalship. Adaptation of work to all classes. Revivals becoming permanent factors of nation- al influence. The perplexing social problems. Not met by philosophy or morals, but by Christianity. How re- vivals have saved the nation in the past. Hope for the future 464 CHAPTER FIRST. INTRODUCTION. From the day of Pentecost to this year of grace there have been great religious movements called re- vivals. They have, in many respects, been different from the steady and regular progress of the kingdom of Christ. Let us inquire whether they are consist- ent and harmonious with the ordinary laws of spir- itual increase, or whether they antagonize them. Are they parts of a spiritual plan, or are they varia- tions from it? Astronomers have from time to time been puzzled by apparent movements of heavenly bodies that seemed to be at variance with established laws. A closer observation has disclosed that these very irregularities are parts of the broad plan of the heavens, and like discords in music, tend to the finest and best harmony of celestial laws. Eclipses are regarded by savages as portents of evil, wholly aside from the movement of planets and suns. Somewhat in this light many have looked upon revivals of relig- ion. If they were not signs of evil to the church, they were at best abnormal action of religious forces always doubtful in the blessings they produce, often of preponderating harm to the cause they were meant to subserve. It were idle to deny there have been 14 TIMES OF REFRESHING. such revivals. They are the necessary human infirm- ity that accompanies every great work. There is a philosophic reason for them, a reason which Dr. Kirk has suggested thus: "When the plans of Providence are approaching their maturity, and some new truth is about to enter the current of human thought, there are found persons of peculiar temperament, who are among the first to feel the approaching change, and seize the idea, in its fragmentary form of manifesta- tion, and who pluck the unripe fruit, and poison themselves and others with its crude juices. Elated with their discovery, they attack the established order and convictions rudely and unwisely, and present the coming truth in caricature." Nevertheless, the truth carries its own light with it, and furnishes the counter-action incident to its con- nection with human agency. Spurious revivals can- not disprove the genuine. Popular objections that are urged against popular extravagances, or bad methods, fall powerless against the fundamental idea of a true revival of religion. Therefore, though there have been man-made — and therefore evil — revi- vals, and though many others have had such an infu- sion of evil human elements as largely to neutralize their good, let us at the opening of our history find, if we can, some standing ground of general princi- ples, from which we may not only view the separate movements, but get a conception of some common law to which they move. Dr. Bonar says: "Viewed on the human side, the philosophy of revivals, as they term it, is just a department of the philosophy of history. In nu region has progress been uniformly INTRODUCTION. 15 steady and gradual; but it lias been now and then by- great strides, by fits and starts, and such events as the Germans call epoch-making. In all the affairs of men there have been tides with full floods. Every channel along which human energies pour themselves has had its 'freshets.' We are all familiar with revi- vals in trade, science, literature, arts and politics. Times of refreshing and visitation are not much more frequent in sacred than in secular history; and they indicate the most interesting and fruitful periods in both." The law being reached, obedience to it will be our high and constant duty. If the farmer would have a joyous harvest home, when the yellow light of the harvest moon begins to tinge the fields and skies, let him observe the laws of nature. Let him work with sunlight and rain and change of season. To oppose the laws of seed-time, to neglect the laws of summer- growth, is to plan for barren fields and empty gar- ners. If we would rejoice before the Lord according to the joy of spiritual harvest, let us fall under the power of God's spiritual laws — wide as His universe — unfailing as His nature. If we shall touch this law we will understand that true revivals are not the flush of emotional life. As harvest has summer and spring behind it, pushing out its sheaves, tinging its skies, writing flame-colors along its fields, so we will see that every work of grace has years of ripening history behind it; seed-time and growth prepare its flush of harvest time and herald its song of joy. What is a revival of religion? Dr. Kirk says: "A Revival is the result of special impulses on the 16 TIMES OF REFRESHING. religious sensibilities of a community, characterized by these features, — a change, a religious change, wrought by the supernatural action of the Holy Ghost, tending to the advancement of true religion, directly or indirectly." Another defines revivals of religion as: "Times of spiritual awakening, when different classes in community have their attention directed to the great subject of salvation, and earn- estly desire to lay up their treasure in heaven." Dr. Barnes speaks more fully, thus: "Take the case of a single true conversion to God and extend it to a community — to mawy individuals passing through that change, and you have all the theory of a revival of religion. It is bringing together many conversions; arresting simultaneously many minds; perhaps condensing into a single place, and into a few weeks, the ordinary work of many distant places and many years. The essential part is, that a sinner may be converted by the agency of the Spirit of God from his sins. The same power which changes him, may change others also. Let substantially the same views and feelings and changes which exist in the case of the individual, exist in the case of others; Let a deep seriousness pervade a community, and a spirit of prayer be diffused there; let the ordinary haunts of pleasure and vice be forsaken for the places of devotion, and you have the theory, so far as I know, of a revival of religion." And Dr. Finney, confining his definition more strictly to^ the meaning of the word, defines revivals as a " work of grace, which includes conviction of sin, repentance, new obedience and faith in the church, breaking the power INTRODUCTION. 17 of the world ana of sin over Christians, a condition from which reformation and salvation of sinners will follow, going through the same stages of conviction, repentance and reformation." For the purposes of this discussion it will be suffi- cient to say a true revival of religion is a movement among the people produced by the power of the truth and the agency of God's Spirit, resulting in the quick- ening of God's children and the conversion and reformation of sinners. This is a broad work. It has causes — both various and uniform. That is to say, there are certain elements necessary to every true revival; there are certain causes always present. These maybe called its necessary or essential elements. There are also certain elements that give particularity to every revival. They constitute its individuality. These differ from time to time, and they are the vary- ing factors which are essential in that in some form they will always be present, but which are never exactly the same in any two revivals of religion. The former may be likened to the primary elements of matter, always present and operative, the latter like form and color, indefinite in their variety and determined by very many conditions. Let us ask, first, What are the essential or perma- nent elements of a revival, those without which it never can exist, those, therefore, which differentiate a true work of grace from every false or merely man- made work? 1. God's sovereign and Holy spirit. It is not dog- matism to say there never has been, there never can be, a true work of grace without the vitalizing power 18 TIMES OF REFRESHING. of the Holy Ghost. There cannot be any personal religion without that Spirit. No soul ever burst the bonds of its own grave. The Spirit's work is it to give efficacy [to the truth. It has no inherent saving power. It becomes saving only when the Spirit quickens it. Here is a seed in the earth. It is the germ of a beautiful flower. Folded in its hard, dry cell is a bloom that defies the imitation of best art, — a perfume that will burden the air around it. But that on one condition, that the sun stoop from his throne with a finger of light and spring open its life and beauty. Even so only the Holy Spirit can trans- form gospel truth into the efflorescence of beautiful life and character. So say the words of Jesus to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." " The Spirit," Christ says, " shall convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." Not only does the Holy Spirit first renew the soul; He also is the source of its holiness. If we are sanc- tified, Peter says, it is "through the Spirit, unto obe- dience." So Christ says: " Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you unto all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear (i. e., from the Father and Son) that shall He speak." Now, the twofold work of revival is to quicken and sanctify. But this is the specific and special work of the Holy Ghost. And if His agency is essential to the vivifying of a single soul, and to every increase that soul shall make in obedience and holiness, how even more is it essen- tial that if a whole community is to be aroused, a INTRODUCTION. 19 great movement to be inaugurated, in which truth shall spring like a sun into the heavens to awaken and illuminate and guide, God's eternal Spirit must conduct the work from its inception to its close. Not only is the Holy Spirit the author of every genuine revival, but in this authorship He is sover- eign. He calls whom and as He will. He works when and as He will. He works by means we would despise, and He often passes by the means we had hopefully laid to his hand. As the wind bloweth where it listeth, so in a free and sovereign might God's Spirit breathes upon His church. If we shall learn this lesson and accept this freedom of the Spirit as one of the very laws of revival, it will save us much vain philosophy and hopeless conjecture. It will give modesty to our criticisms and freedom to our plans, it will save us from hasty condemnation of methods that are novel, it will make us pliable in the hands of the Spirit to follow the indications of Providence, and to use with skill and effect every tool He may lay to our hands. This fact of divine operation as the first essential factor in every revival of religion, is not only announced by scripture, but is confirmed by experi- ence. It likewise has its illustrations in every depart- ment of work. The visible human hand must clasp the invisible hand from above. The vessel, fresh from the artisan's hands, slides from the dry dock into the water. Fair and graceful as a lily, she rests on the ocean's breast. Glittering arms of graceful waves close around her as if to bear her on the pros- perous voyage. Yet she moves not. The sailors in 20 TIMES OF REFRESHING. holiday attire man the yards and rigging. The sails are spread — the streamers fastened — the anchor weighed. She stirs not. Free sovereign breath of heaven, the launched vessel waits thy coming. From some far-away blue mountain roll, from some wide level plain, from some sultry sea thou must come, and at thy viewless touch the art and thought and purpose and plan of man spring into a living thing of beauty and utility. So ever the work of man waits the touch of God. The breath from heaven must come. It may be the north wind, sharp with biting strength ; it may be the south wind, blown over gardens and faint with spices; but the plans of man rock idly on stagnant waters until it comes. God can energize the feeblest human agency. Without His Spirit the very best machinery of human thought and skill advertises only more effectively human helplessness. First then, of all agencies, behind, above, around every device of man's head, every holy endeavor of man's renewed heart is the free, boundless, almighty breath of God. In EzekiePs vision the wheels with wheels within them were moved by the living creatures of flaming and glori- ous appearance, "and when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them ; and when the creatures were lifted up the wheels were lifted up by them. W hither soever the spirit was to go they went, thither was their spirit to go, and the wheels were lifted up over against them, for the spirit of the living crea- ture was in the wheels." The wheels represent the Church on earth, the liv- ing creatures are the Spirit of God, their wings are INTRODUCTION. 21 his power, and their eyes are his wisdom. The Church was organized amid a brilliant display of the power of a mighty God. Tongues of flame lit the brows of the apostles, and words of flame, like the lightning flashes of Ezekiel's spirit, lit up that first magnificent century of church history. Since then, however revivals have differed from each other, they have had this unvarying mark and sign, the tongues of flame have brought heavenly illuminations and the victories of the truth have been secured by the direct power of the Spirit. In the words of an Eng- lish writer, "The reformation of the monasticism, and the great religious movement associated with it, extending from the close of the eleventh century far into the thirteenth; the Waldensian revival, which covered apart of the same period; the very remarkable outburst of religious life in the Low Countries in the fifteenth century; the Protestant reformation of the sixteenth century; English Puritanism; English Methodism, — were singularly unlike each other; but they were all the results of fresh communications to the Church of the life and light and power of the Holy Ghost. II. The second permanent factor in a revival is the truth of God. There is no inherent and necessarily saving efficacy in the truth. The gospel may be heard only to be rejected. And yet the truth is God's agency for the liberation of men. "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." God has ordained that men shall be saved by the procla- mation of the gospel. To the mere ritualist it may be a stumbling block, — as it was to the Jews, — to W TIMES OF REFRESHING. culture it may seem to be foolishness; so it appeared to the Greeks; but it is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation. That is to say, salvation is the design of it. If man is not saved by it, it is because he perverts it. Now the place which truth holds in revi- vals is easily determined. It is the seed whose life is to bring the harvest. The harvest indeed depends on certain relations between sunlight and seed grain; neither is fruitful without the other. Preach, there- fore, without the Spirit, and it is vain. And for life, movement, guidance of the people, the Spirit with- out the truth is vain. The Spirit may overwhelm a community with a sense of sin and peril. He may awaken dull sensibilities and arouse lethargic CCn- sciences, but the truth as it is in Jesus must point the way of peace. Redemption, therefore, as a great fact, to which the Bible gathers all its strength, redemp- tion in the life, suffering, death and glory of Jesus, is the seed truth of revival harvest. Around it many others cluster. As in times of JSehemiah, in the un- folding it brings confession and praise, tears and jo\ . Upon these all, the Holy Spirit pours His light. They rise into strength and beauty ; they grow into life and character. As a garden unfolds in the har- mony of colors, so does truth, colored, vivified, blended, expand under the Spirit's power into the beautiful unity of Christian life. The truth is many-sided. The side that is most prominently seen at any particular period, determines somewhat the character of the revival that may result. The moon always turns the same illuminated disc to us, but truth revolves. The Spirit shows us INTRODUCTION. 23 all the sides. A variable shade is thus given to the different ages. The same vegetation in different lati- tudes has different colors, the same truth in different ages has different appearances. If we were to char- acterize the distinguishing mark of the religious movement of the first century we should call it inten- sity. The apostle's simple creed: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" glowed in white heat in every sermon, and the feet that obeyed the Savior's first commission were swift to run the race whose goal was martyrdom. The Reformation Revival, broader and more multi- form, was an awakening, not only of personal faith, but of doctrine, learning and liberty. The revivals of this century indicate a percepti- ble tendency towards apostolic simplicity and mis- sionary zeal. Through all these changes one fact stands prominently to view and must never be forgot- ten. The truth as it in Jesus is an essential element in every work of grace. Popular excitement that is not pointed to rest in the doctrines of the cross is only hurtful. The truth, only, rightly arouses; the truth, only, successfully calms. If, therefore, it be inquired what element should be most prominent in revival work, we answer, Christ and His cross. Rowland Hill, wrote in his Bible three words as condensing all its meaning, "Ruin, Regeneration, Redemption." Scatter these seed- truths through any community, plow them in with sharpest assertion, water them with tears, tend with unfailing watchfulness, and then fear no empty gleam of harvest sheaves that have no bread in them. 24 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The mind unfed by truth is easily made the victim of delusions, the prey of its fervid imaginations. Passion maybe mistaken for religion; excitement for consecration. But he builds securely, whether for personal character or for popular persuasion, influ- ence and spiritual results, who builds on God's Word. A series of Bible revivals will train up a generation of stalwart Christians, not moved about by every wind of doctrine, not seduced from their allegiance by every fascination of the world. It is this that constitutes at once, the beauty and safety of the present revivals. It is the truth that makes us free. III. There is another element that may be consid- ered essential to revival work, an element that has never been wanting, viz., a church on earth. Sometimes a dead church needing first to be raised before it could become helpful to others, but still the conception of a revival as the impress of the truth upon a commu- nity supposes an agency that shall bring that truth to the mind and heart along the ordinary path of instruction and appeal. Human agency then is sup- posed in every revival of religion. Let us be humbly mindful of the fact that such agency has often begun at the minimum of church coldness and formality. Let us remember God has often chosen things con- spicuously weak to be the channel of his strength. Yet it remains true, the human side is as much an unvarying factor (though of course in relatively insig- nificant measure) as the divine. Christ's method was the projection of himself with all of divine pity and human tenderness and sympathy into the Borrows of men, recognizing that not the least of INTRODUCTION. 25 these sorrows are those which spring in a sincere heart from the bondage of sin and error. He could have sent a liberating doctrine by the month of an angel, or let it kindle again in the words of an Isaiah or a David, but not so has he chosen. "It has pleased God to save men by the foolishness of preach- ing." Men are imprisoned, and the tap of an idea at the iron prison door cannot set them free. A man must come into that jail, a man, who has the keys to its winding corridors; he must surrender his liberty for the time, stand among the prisoners, unbinding chains with one hand, and with the other point the almost despairing faces to the breadth of sunlight, that glints feebly through the grated windows. Society is so constructed that influence is at a max- imum, when its lines are level. So it is not angels for men, but men for men in personal impact of moral power by which the world is moved. Thus, however feeble is human agency in itself, God takes it into a glorious partnership. They who underrate or ignore it will fail to reach the philosophy of God's method of grace with the children of men. A clod of earth is dark, most unlovely, in any view of its pow- ers separate from the sun in the heavens and the vital germ hid within it. Most unimportant in itself, yet it is the solid base on which the tree stands. Through its dark corridors the sun shoots its quickening beams, through its unlit passageways the roots must twine. There is no growth without it. The reason is plain. The soil and the seed and the radiant sun are one in the grand endeavor for growth and life. Inert clod, It may be powdered under the heel, but it has lofty alii- 26 TIMES OF REFRESHING. ances, it has mighty friends. The sun sends it shin- ing greeting, and girds it with its own puissance. Weak enough is humanity — a humanity apart from its God, aside from truth. It is dust to be blown by the winds, to be whirled in an endless unrest, in a dry and perpetual death, but that' human- ity which comes into harmony with God, for which heaven has tears, and truth has light, and God's Spirit has life, is the broad base of all those spiritual growths that seem more of heaven than earth. We say again, therefore, a church on earth, a company of people allied to God, willing subjects of His grace, willing missionaries of His truth, locking hands with the Spirit, is an essential element in that movement, which is at once deeply divine and thoroughly human; deeply divine, because God is all its real efficiency; thoroughly human because man is the sphere of its activity, .and the divinely ordained channel of its progress. Let us turn our thought now to what may be termed the varying elements of revival. They are not essential, but they are such as, combining with what is essential, give form and color to revivals; such, in a word, as determine their individuality. Three elements determine a tree as to the facts of life, growth and nature. There must be a germ, a soil, and warmth. Three factors constitute the fact of a revival as to life, growth, and nature, God's Word, God's Spirit, and God's Church. But the wind and storm and latitude and other influences measure the strength, shape and color of the tree. So many influences of the age, society, and intellectual ten- INTRODUCTION. 27 dencies pressing on a revival from the outside, give direction, shape and tone to that which, as a fact, is assured by the triple movement from the center. 1. Prominent among these is the social or national condition, which like an atmosphere flows around every work and modifies its form. It is difficult for a man to rise out of the level of his time. And relig- ious movements are restricted in like manner. Some conditions of society are favorable to reflection; oth- ers adverse. So some times in a nation give better scope to the victories of truth than others. A revival of religion is in a large measure a tide of religions thought and feeling. The thoughts and feelings of a nation or community cannot be pro- foundly set in two opposite directions at the same time. Hence a time of war is seldom a season of wide-spread religious interest. The reason is appar- ent. The whirl of present interest and peril diverts all feeling to that one central channel. It is some- times a matter of wonder that times of national calamity should so often be times of religious indif- ference. There need be no wonder. The waters that run to white lines of most intense activity cannot be separated into several channels. They must be com- pressed into one. On the other hand, times of failure and of depres- sion are favorable for the impression of the truth. After the strain of a worldward tendency has relaxed, when men let go their worldward endeavors with the gathering conviction of the vanity of things under the sun, then, in the calm and hunger that fol- low, truth has had some of her most signal victories. 28 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The great revival of 1857-58 followed hard on the commercial disasters. The present financial depres- sion and business stagnation seem to have given an impetus to religious interest all over the country. Thus the Holy Ghost in His free sovereignty does not despise the help of circumstance. He can work over and above it. He has often done so. But remembering how often He has taken advantage of a lull in human passions, of a subsidence of the fever for possessions, to make heard His call to faith and the service of God, it is interesting to think He thus takes into his service the ordinary current of history, using the changes of social or national life to give sj:>eed to the conquests of truth. In the development of our history we shall have fre- quent occasion to give illustrations of these remarks, showing the influence of the national history upon the spiritual condition of the people. Thus the gen- eral indifference and apathy of the people of New Eng- land on all religious subjects for quite a long period before the time of Edwards and the labors of White - field seemed to be the groundwork out of which arose the great revivals which followed. Special providen- tial occurrences were used by God for the purpose of arousing attention and quickening the popular con- science. Dr. Edwards makes particular mention of one of these providences that had a most remarkable effect in giving power to the truth. He says: "In the month of April, 1734, there happened a very sud den and awful death of a man in the bloom of youth. The sermon preached at his funeral affected many. This was lb Jo wed by the death of a young married INTRODUCTION. 29 woman. In the beginning of her illness, she was greatly distressed about the salvation of her soul, but seemed to obtain satisfactory evidence of God's sav- ing mercy, and in a most earnest and moving manner counseled and warned others. This seemed much to affect many young persons, and increased the relig- ious concern on their minds. It wras in the latter part of December, that the Spirit of God began to act in. and wonderfully to work among us. Soon the noise among the dry bones waxed* louder and louder. The work of conversion was then carried on in the most astonishing manner. Souls did, as it wTere, come by flocks to Jesus Christ. It made such a glo- rious alteration in the town, that, in the following spring and summer (1735), the town seemed to be full of the presence of God. I hops that more than three hundred have been brought home to Christ in this town (a population of eleven hundred) in the space of half a year." 2. Intellectual conditions also enter into the success of revivals. Of this fact there are two signal historic illustrations. The day of Pentecost came at a re- markable time in the intellectual history of the world. The wonderful religious progress that followed Pen- tecost, and which made the first hundred years of Christian history almost a continuous revival, would scarce have been possible at any other time. A sin- gle glance at the confluence of Ec.stern and West- ern history at that time would reveal how Providence had prepared the way for the revival fires that broke forth through the darkness all around the Mediterra- nean. 30 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The intellectual history in the dark lands east of Palestine had been one prolonged failure. Confucius set his face toward his ancestors and died. Brahmins drank the sacred soxiia and in its intoxication became indifferent to time and eternity. Buddhists wandered a wThile in atheism, and, saying: " There is no God," plunged into Nirvana, and the Magians from the courts of Zoroaster, perceiving the hopeless struggle between good and evil, and longing for a deliverer, followed the Hebrew traditions that lingered on the Euphrates, and by that Star which emblems every his- toric light, came to the manger of Jesus, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh. To the west of Pales- tine a similar course of failure and of hunger may be traced. The Star passes from Persia and rises over Greece. Plato dreamed of a great good, a perfect hu- man state, an infinite chasm between them, and there the dream ended. Greek religion climbed to the height of beauty and art, and then broke down under its own loveliness. The end of their cultured and earnest endeavor was a wail of utter helplessness and surrender, which, as the tradition runs, sounded through all their temples, saying: "The great Pan is dead " and hushed the oracles forever. The gorgeous mythology had fallen to pieces on the ^Egean, as be- fore it had failed on the Euphrates. The world had nothing else. It was an hour of despair. Philosophy was creeping drearily on toward atheism. Then came Christ, then came Pentecost. And from all nations the heavy hearted people looked toward Jerusalem and listened to its call to faith and peace and rest. The Pentecostal wave was borne eastward along Ara- INTRODUCTION. 31 bian sands, and westward around the base of classic mountains, on the tide of such intellectual confession and need as had never been lifted before. Another illustration is at the Reformation Era. The revival of learning stimulated and shaped that great revival of religion. The progress of science in many directions led men slowly out of the cloisters to look upon the world and themselves. It was the develop- ment of the man against the church, personal re- sponsibility against authority. The end where- unto alike the schoolmen and defenders of science worked, often blindly and unconsciously, was this: the right of private judgment in all matters, great or small, sacred or secular. The highway thus thrown up among falling altars and decaying art was not made by the reformers, but rather for them. It was God's developing idea that prepared this way, and as the soul is often darkly led from its outer supports to the vitality of the inner life, so by steps no logic can measure and no chronology date, the mind of Europe felt its way past the outward to the inward, away from the picture gallery of a whole continent to the lecture room of the Truth. And even as the soul gains its freedom at a great price, so the transition from Art to Thought required the ransom price of tears and flames and blood. Thus the quickening of a human intellect and the quickening of religious life and thought came together. Their confluence gave a power to each that separately they could not have at- tained. Eationalists claim that the liberation of the mind from the shackles of superstition was wholly due to intellectual causes. The influence was indeed 32 TIMES OF REFRESHING. mutual, but the illumination which shone direct from heaven upon the minds of Martin Luther and his compeers had much to do, not only with the awak- ening of religious, but also civil and intellectual lib- er t v. On the other hand, the awakened mind gave wings to the new-found gospel. At no other time could the unchaining of the Bible have been of so much use to Europe and to the world. The printing press loaded with Bibles that vessel which the mari- ner's compass had made bold to push out from shore. And so that revival, which spread from the Adriatic to the North Sea, from Geneva to Edinburgh, shook a continent, with all its thrones and its universities, as with the very powTer of God. Thus again the Holy Spirit brought human instrumentality to Ais service; used the circumstance of aroused intellectual condi- tion to deepen and spread the grandest work of grace known to the history of men. We believe the sharpening lines of the present in- tellectual battle will eventuate in a similar service to the spirit of revivals. The line of attack now is around the foundation stone. Shall we have ai^ re- ligion, any God, any immortality? We believe the result of this inquiry for deepest truths will disclose a bed-rock, on which will be built the most sucessful of all the labors of the church. Out of these discus- sions will come a strength of mental conviction, which is the condition of the best religious zeal. Lord Ba- con says: " It is true that a little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." From that depth in philosophy there will arise such height of INTRODUCTION. 33 united Christian endeavor to conquer the world for Christ as has never marked a period of church history before. Surely it is not without significance that this depth of conviction should be approached in these days at once by the heart methods of evangelistic la- bors and by masterly philosophical discussions, at once through the sermons of Moody and the lectures of Cook. Indeed, as a condition of revival zeal, it mat- ters little by what path this conviction of the truth as it is in Jesus may come — path of logic, or path of service — so only the truth take shape in the mind and settle into the heart. It is the grandeur of the Bible that its lines of evidence are level to the lowest. It not only touches the springs of feeling with an im- partial hand in the breast of sage or child, but the evidence that leads to mental conviction is drawn with such a masterly hand that it equally impresses every age, rank and condition. We believe this conviction is now being impressed upon the attention of the world, through scholarship and missions and revivals, as never before. We look forward, therefore, to an unwonted depth and continuous and widening power of the revival work of the future. Without stopping to specify all the human and so- cial conditions which shape and affect revivals of re- ligion, it is perfectly manifest, if they have a human side, as well as a divine, then the changes of that hu- man will powerfully characterize the revival. That is what the Germans call a Zeitgeist, a spirit of the age that sets its impress on every work done within that age. From that spirit and its molding power even an outpouring of the Spirit of God is not exempt. 34 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The water taken up from the great ocean and in clouds carried over the land is originally all of the same density and form. A smooth and even vapor, it rises from the sea and drifts toward the mountain ranges. But when it comes within reach of the atmosphere of the continent, then the conditions of that atmosphere determine its form. Whether, unbound from the clouds by peals of thunder, it shall fall in heavy drops upon the land below; whether it shall descend in hardly visible mist clouds, or in icy sleet or feathery flakes of snow, depends on conditions of that element into which it has come. So is the work of God's truth among the children of men. Even the Spirit's appeals get tone from the Christian atmosphere in which they vibrate. The theology, the religious or irreligious tendencies, the political and social and moral air color and so individualize revivals of re- ligion. It were idle, therefore, to expect that one revival would have the same prominent elements as some other. We cannot learn them all by studying one. We cannot, from one age, take a standard of measure- ment which can be applied to all others. It were folly to discredit the present work of grace because it has features not marked before; because it has not the tongues of Pentecostal flame, or the intense hero- ism of Scottish Covenanter days, or the severe legal aspects of the first revivals in our own country. Just as unwise would it be unduly to magnify it because it has more of the gospel of simple trust, and exalt it at the exepnse of other revivals in which the gos- pel of St. John had a less conspicuous place. INTRODUCTION. 35 Again, we Bay God's Spirit is a free Spirit, and be- cause this is so, He makes every age, every condition of society, every state of human thought, subservient to His grand purpose of pressing forward the king- dom of Christ. From this glance at the necessary and accessory elements of revivals, we discover there is one great law under which these elements fall. A revival of religion is not a lawless thins:. When a farmer has learned the laws of nature he plans for harvest under those laws; he goes to his fields with a firm step, be- cause he believes God is with him. From the first furrow turned in the spring to the last sheaf gathered in the autumn, he works under the buoyant con- sciousness that God is with him because he is with God, because he observes those laws of seedtime and harvest which he is assured shall never fail. In our blessed work of winning souls to Christ we may work under the inspiring thought that the laws of grace are as sure as those of nature; that the promise that brings the opening warmth of spring, the radiant heat of summer and the mellow light of autumn is the same word that secures the bloom, growth and ripen- ing of religious life. Let us, therefore, learn to take revivals out of the exceptional realm into that of reg- ular church methods. They are God's means, or- dained to bear his church along. It is the aim of this history to gather from the various fields of spe- cial religious interest in this country, such hints of the relation between the necessary divine elements and the varying human efforts as may contribute somewhat toward a discovery of that law of success 36 TIMES OF REFRESHING. in saving souls obedience to which would give the ut- most joy, and the largest success to Christian work. It is not too much to hope that at some time not far away the church will enter upon a revival which, in its breadth, shall encompass the world, and in its re- sult shall bring the fulfilment of that promise when nations shall be born in a day. God speed the time when Pentecostal expectation shall fill every church, and Pentecostal flames light up every altar. Then shall the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. CHAPTER II. REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. The first general revival of religion in this country realized most perfectly the strict meaning of the word. It was a quickening again ; it was the Spirit of God call- ing to newness of life those who once had lived. The beginning of it is usually put at 1740. In truth, it ante- dates that period by several years. A glance at the relig- ious condition of the country will prepare us to under- stand its character and extent. A single phrase may outline it: Formalism as opposed to vital Godliness. Puritan severity had yielded to the gradual encroach- ment of an all-pervading worldliness. Between the Church and the world the line had grown so shadowy as to be almost invisible. Conversion was not neces- sary to church-membership — a work of grace in the heart not at all essential to an approach to the commu- nion table, and not at all times to be insisted on as a qualification even for preaching the gospel. Writes Samuel Blair, the venerable President of Princeton College, " Religion lay, as it were, dying and ready to expire its last breath of life in this part of the visible Church." Edwards says, " Many seemed to be awak- ened with the fear that God was about to withdraw from the land." Joseph Tracy, in his admirable 38 TIMES OF REFRESHING. work on " The Great Awakening," says, " Such had been the downward progress in New England. Re- vivals had become less frequent and powerful. There were many in the churches, and some even in the ministry, who were lingering among the supposed preliminaries to conversion. The difference between the church and the world was vanishing away. Church discipline was neglected, and a growing laxness of morals was invading the churches. And yet never, perhaps, had the expectation of reaching heaven at last been more general, or more confident. Occasional revivals had interrupted this downward pro- gress, and the preaching of sound doctrine had re- tarded it in many places, especially at Northampton, but even there it had gone on, and the hold of truth on the conscience of men was sadly diminished. The young were abandoning themselves to frivolity, and to amusements of dangerous tendency, and party spirit was producing its natural fruit of evil among the old." There was one man who perceived the extent of the peril to which the church was exposed by this gene- ral lapse from experimental religion, and who also un- derstood that only the truth in its majesty and severity could break the deadly lethargy which had seized upon the conscience. Jonathan Edwards determined to meet the danger with the unsheathed sword of the Spirit. With keenest insight he saw that the worst of the spiritual trouble of the land was, in somewhat differ- ent form, what was the malady under which relig- ion lay dying just before the Reformation. It was the denial of the necessity of regeneration and person- REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 39 al faith in Christ as the sinner's only hope. Lnther had unveiled the truth of justification Ity faith alone, and it flashed light over a continent of darkness. To him it was the article of a standing or falling church. To Edwards came a like opportunity, and God honored him to be the preacher of this doctrine at a time when it was well-nigh as sorely needed as in the sixteenth century, and when it also required the highest moral courage to proclaim it. In 1734 Edwards preached that remarkable series of sermons on " Justification by Faith," which shook the whole community with the truth that in his rela- tions with God the sinner can rel}' on no outer sup- port of morality, or church fellowship, but only on the atoning work of Christ. The effect of these and following sermons was to strip away false hopes, to enrage some, to humble and convict others, but gen- erally to awaken the public mind to the sharpest questioning and the closest sifting of religious grounds and hopes. The Holy Spirit owned the truth. In December of that year, Edwards says: "The Spirit of God began extraordinarily to set in and wonderfully to work among us." Remarkable conversions followed one after the other; the report of the work at North- ampton spread through the neighboring towns in which many were awakened and brought to repent- ance. In half a year Edwards hoped that more than three hundred were converted in Northampton. His account of the experience of the converts is impor- tant to our purpose. He notes among those who were awakened, first a conviction of the justice of 40 TIMES OF REFRESHING. God in their condemnation, a sense of their own ex- ceeding sinfulness and the vileness of all their per- formances. This was followed by unexpected quiet- ness and composure, and often a conclusion within themselves that they would lie at God's feet and await His time. This was followed, sooner or later, by "some comfortable and sweet view of a merciful God, of a sufficient Redeemer, of some great and joyful things of the gospel." " There is wrought in them a repose of soul in God through Christ, a secret disposition to love him and to hope for blessing in this way. And yet they have no imagination that they are now con- verted. They know not that the sweet complacence they feel in the mercy and complete salvation of God, as it includes pardon and sanctification, and is held forth to them only through Christ, is a true receiving of this mercy, or a plain evidence of their receiv- ing it." A few years before this there was a revival of con- siderable power in Freehold, X. J., under the minis- try of the Tennents. In 1735 "Mr. Gilbert Tennent brought some overtures into synod with respect to trials of candidates both for the ministry and for the Lord's Table." He was moved to this by the custom into which the low state of religion had led the church, of not only receiving people to the Lord's Table without any evidence of a change of heart, but even ordaining ministers without any strict examina- tion as to their " experience of a work of sanctifying grace in their hearts." The response of the synod was, however, explicit on the last of these points, and it was one of the signs of the general religious awak- ening for which God's Spirit was preparing the way. REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 41 Prominent among those early revivals, the one among the Scotch Irish Presbyterians of New Lon- donderry, Pa., deserves special mention, less for the extent of it than for the insight it gives us into the spiritual tendencies of the times. Samuel Blair gives an interesting account of the state of religion at that time. He speaks of the presence everywhere of the external forms of religion, but also a lamentable ig- norance of the main essentials of true, practical re- ligion. " The necessity of being first in Christ by a vital union and in a justified state before our religious services can be well-pleasing and acceptable to God, was very little understood or thought of. But the common notion seemed to be that if people were aim- ing to be in the way of duty as well as they could, as they imagined, there was no reason to be much afraid." In the spring of 1740 the Spirit was poured out on his congregation in Londonderry in an eminent manner. He had prepared the way- for it during the previous winter, by most searching preaching of the nature of sin, the breadth of divine law and the ne- cessity of conversion. Many were brought into great distress of soul; " some burst out with an audible noise into bitter crying." During the whole summer every sermon produced wonderful impressions on the hearers. The effect of these impressions he thus de- scribes: " Several would be overcome and faint- ing, others sobbing, hardly able to contain, oth- ers crying in a most dolorous manner, many oth- ers more silently weeping, and a solemn concern appearing in the countenances of many others. And •12 TIMES OF REFRESHING. sometimes the soul exercises of some (though com- paratively but very few) would so far affect their bodies as to occasion some strange, unusual bodily motions." The joy and peace that followed after were usually as deep as the distress that had gone be- fore. Afterwards, he relates that those who were under slight impressions lost them again, and fell into their former carelessness and stupidity. But many gave increasing evidence of a firm and saving change. In 1739 and '40 there were also marked signs of re- vival in New Brunswick and Newark, N. J., Harvard, Mass., and other places. The long, dark night was drawing to a close. The day was near at hand. Among ministers there was longing for better experi- ence in their own hearts, better fruit in their work. Among the people there was a deepening sense of the unworthy character of their Christian life, the often unscriptural nature of their hope and experience. God was dealing with his church and through it with the formative period of our national history. There were great perils before our land ; times of trial both nation- al and religious. A struggle was coming that would try men's souls. Infidelity was getting ready to make brilliant bids for the controlling thought of the coun- try. The Lord was about to lift up a standard against it. George Whitefield wTas born in the Bell Inn, Gloucester, England, on the 16th day of Dec, 171-1 (old style). His father was a wine merchant in Bristol, and afterward an inn -keeper, and died when George was only two years of age. During the lad's early years he had fair opportunities for an education — at fifteen being proficient in Latin — and astonishing his REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 43 associates by his speeches and dramatic performances at the public examinations. He seems to have been born a preacher, for in early years he used to " play minister/' composing sermons and spending much time in the study of the Bible. At the age of seventeen he went to Oxford. His progress here was rapid. His decision, prompt ac- tion and hard working ambition, displayed pluck not unworthy of the man who in later years braved bru- tal mobs with heroic boldness, and who, when the present comforts of ocean traveling were things un- thought of, again and again crossed the turbulent At- lantic; and, constrained by the love of Christ his Sa- vior, tramped American woods and swamps, seeking sinners and trying to save them. The moral tone of Oxford at this time was at its worst, " a learned den of infidelity and dissipation." He resisted, however, from the first the temptation to carousals with which he was surrounded. Studying his Bible and other good books, he had determined to strive for a better life than that he saw around him. But how to attain it he knew not. The three following years were years of religious darkness and struggle. There were two others in the University destined to like conspicuous places in the church who were in a similar state of mind, John and Chas. Wesley. These three, beating around in the dark, put themselves upon severe as- cetic regimen to find the way of life. They knew not Christ and were trying to save themselves. In this path Whiten* eld hesitated at no sacrifice. The worst of food, the meanest apparel, prolonged fasting, mid- night vigils and other forms of crucifixion of the 44 TIMES OF REFRESHING. flesh so wrought upon his brain and nerves that he was haunted with a constant fear of seeing the devil. His condition, physical and mental, had become alarm- ing. His friends, the Weslevs, knew not what to do for him; they had not found the light themselves. Happily his bodily constitution broke down, and by prostrating him upon abed of sickness for six or seven weeks, gave him an enforced rest from his bodily cru- cifixion and the torturing thought with which his mind was afflicted. His mind became clearer as it became calmer. He spent much of the time in reading the Greek Testament and in prayer. Gradually the hopeless- ness of his own efforts at salvation dawned upon his mind, and for the first time in his life he knew he was lost. The decisive point in his experience we give in his own words: "One day, perceiving an uncom- mon drought and a disagreeable clamminess in my mouth, and using things to allay my thirst, but in vain, it was suggested to me that when Jesus Christ cried out, ' I thirst,' his sufferings were nearly at an end. Upon which I cast myself down on the bed crying out * I thirst, I thirst.' Soon after this I found and felt in myself that I was delivered from the burden which had so heavily oppressed me, the spirit of mourning was taken from me and I knew what it was to rejoice in God my Savior, and for some time could not avoid singing psalms wherever I was. But my joy gradually became more settled and, blessed be God, has abode and increased in my soul, saving a few casual intermissions ever since. Thus were the days of my mourning ended. After a long REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 45 night of desertion and temptation, the stand which I had seen at a distance before began to appear again, and the day-star arose in my heart. Now did the Spirit of God take possession of my soul, and, as I humbly hope, seal me unto the day of redemption." Sixteen years afterward, reviewing this experience, he writes more fully of his feelings at the time: "My crying ' I thirst, I thirst,' was not to put myself on a level with Jesus Christ. But when I said those words, my soul was in an agony. I thirsted for God's salva- tion and a sense of divine love; I thirsted for a clear discovery of my pardon through Jesus Christ, and the seal of the Spirit. I was at the same time enabled to look up to, and act faith upon the glorious Lord Jesus as dying for sinners, and felt the blessed effects of it." From this time his spiritual life rapidly deepened. Henceforth his hungerings and thirstings after right- eousness were boundless. The Bible became almost his one book. lie found his theology not in the Uni- versity course or library, but in prayerful study of God's Word. Some time after his conversion, writing from Gloucester, he says: " I began to read the Holy Scriptures upon my knees, laying aside all other books and praying, if possible, over every line and word. This proved meat indeed and drink indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh lite, light and power from above. I got more true knowledge from read- ing the book of God in one month, than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men." This outline of his early religious exercises gives an insight into his future life and work. "Whitefield, the servitor at Oxford, brought at last to the utter end 46 TIMES OF REFKESHING. of human endeavor, and made to surrender wholly to the sovereign grace of God in Christ, interprets Whitefield, the preacher, casting himself never on his own resources, or on human plans, but singly and al- ways upon the power of God. He never retraced the steps of the lesson of those early days of spiritual gloom and struggle. He accepted as the pole star of all future aims the truth of Scripture. " Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." The reader can hardly fail to notice the points of similarity between Whitefield's religious experience and that of the father of the Reformation. Luther's struggles in the chains of his youthful sins were matched by the groans that came from Pembroke College in such complaints as this: "If I- trace my- self from my cradle to my manhood, I can see nothing in me but a fitness to be damned.1' The self- righteous attempts at salvation by the great German Reformer, even to climbing the stairs at St. Peter's on his knees, find a parallel in the self-lacerations of the English student, who pressed on his way of mortify- ing the flesh till the bones well-nigh burst through the skin, and the mind staggered away from the ordeal. And the perfect peace, the sweet surrender at the feet of Christ, the completeness of righteousness, and the unshaded acceptance with God through Christ, are the same at Erfurth and Oxford. The parallel might be carried further. In each case it was the key-note of life. As they had received Christ in the fullness of his atoning sacrifice, so they walked in Him. In each case the instrument was nothing, and God was all in all. REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 47 Whitefield's experience also interprets his theology. Those nights alone with the Bible taught him in rare measure the secrets of men's hearts and the hidings of his power in dealing with them. If we would un- derstand his method for winning men, we must re- call how the Lord won him. To that lesson he was always loyal. The spirit had burned human help- lessness, and ruin, and divine grace too deeply into his own experience to allow him ever to forget it in his preaching. These truths had been in his own heart too consum- ing a fire ever to allow him to wander beyond them. The impressions of his life were struck from that early type with singular fidelity. He became a preacher of the way in which God had revealed His Son in him. Hence he preached profoundly rather than broadly. Hence he did nothing but preach. He had less cul- ture than his noble friend, Chas. Wesley, less breadth of plan, less executive power, less worldly wisdom in measures for extending the gospel than John Wesley. But no preacher since Paul more grandly lived under the light of the Apostle's single purpose: " This one thing I do." Our sketch, therefore, of the revivals under Whitefield in this country will be a sketch of the effect of the gospel of Christ, preached by a man whose soul burned with Apostolic consecration. It is a history, not of measures, plans, or systems, but simply, purely an account of the wisdom of God mak- ing foolish the wisdom of man, the strength of God, conspicuous most in the weakness of man. Whitefield's first published sermon was on the na- ture and necessity of a new birth. The doctrine, so 48 TIMES OF REFRESHING. common now, was at that time new and startling. In his own words: " It was so seldom considered and so little experimentally understood by the generality of professors that, when told they must be born again, they were ready to cry out: 'How can these things be? ' " The effect of this sermon was electric. Mul- titudes were pricked to the heart and led to Christ, but some mocked and scoffed. As the preacher went on ringing the fundamental truths of spiritual relig- ion in the ears of the people, the opposition to him grew apace. Bishops and priests united in assailing him. He was forbidden many of the pulpits of his own church. Then he went to the streets and com- mons, and preached to the thousands who gladly nocked to his words. " His mighty deeds in the pulpit were blazoned in the newspapers. He preached nine times a week, and the people listened as for eternity. * * * And now a few of the clergy began to turn against him. Some called him a "spiritual pick-pocket," others thought he used a charm to get the people's money. Some were offended because he was on good terms with the dissenters, and some forbade him the use of their pulpits, unless he would retract a wish expressed in the preface of the sermon on regeneration, that his brethren would preach more frequently on the new birth." At this time he made up his mind to go to America. The "Wesleys had invited him to Georgia. Having collected a thousand pounds for an orphan school, and about three hundred for the poor in Georgia, the already famous preacher embarked (Dec. 28, 1737,) to cross the Atlantic. REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 49 The morning after reaching Savannah, he began his ministry on this continent by preaching to an audience of " seventeen adults and twenty-live chil- dren." After a residence in Savannah of about three months, he returned to England, first in order to be ordained as a priest; and secondly, to collect funds for the orphan house, which had now become very dear to him. After spending a year in England, he set sail again for his far-away home in the New World. What a year it had been ! He had set all England on fire. Thousands had been converted. Timid mouths had been opened. A new era was about to dawn on the churches of Great Britain. But Whitefield felt called to an humbler field. He was consumed with zeal to preach the gospel in the wilderness. He landed near Philadelphia, October 30th. Here he began his wonderful evangelistic career. His word, which in England had kindled like a torch, now lit up the new settlements of Pennsylvania and New York, and later, of Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. First among the men he met in the New World, and to whom his soul became knit in the bonds of warmest friendship, were the Tennents, Wil- liam and Gilbert. A sketch of their lives and minis- try will be in place here. Wm. Tennent, Sr., was an ordained minister of the Established Church in Ireland. Unable to conform to some of the terms imposed on the clergy, he was deprived of his living, and migrated to Pennsylvania in 1718. He was received as a member of the Pres- byterian Synod of Philadelphia, and settled at Ne- 50 TIMES OF REFRESHING. shaminy, twenty miles north of Philadelphia. There in 1720, he opened the famous school, known in his- tory as the " Log College," in which some of the most distinguished ministers of that time received their education. He had four sons. One of them, Charles, was minister of the Presbyterian church at Whiteclay Creek. Another, John, was, for two short years, the greatly beloved and remarkably successful pastor in the old church in Freehold, N. J. In 1732 death called him from labors which God had greatly honored m the conversion of many souls. The next year his brother William succeeded him, and the re- ligious interest begun under the labors of John Ten- nent, continued for many years under the ministry of William. His pastorate continued for forty-four years. Gilbert Tennent began his work in New Brunswick. At first there were no signs of life, but after a course of close and severe preaching of the claims of divine law, the Holy Spirit was poured out in a wonderful manner. He became prominent as a revivalist, and was often associated with Whiten* eld. Indeed, the love of these men for one another was like the friend- ship between David and Jonathan. Extracts from a few letters will give touching illustrations of this friendship. Mr. Tennent writes to Whitelield, from New Brunswick, thus: " I think I never found such a strong and passionate affection to any stranger as to you. When I saw your courage and labor for God at New York, I found willingness in my heart to die with you, or to die for you." Of Tennent, Whitefield writes thus: "Then I went to the meeting-house to REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 51 hear Mr. Gilbert Tennent preach, and never before heard such a searching sermon. He convinced me more and more that we can preach the gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts. Being deeply convicted of sin, by God's Holy Spirit, at his first conversion, Mr. Tennent has learned experimentally to dissect the heart of the natural man. Hypocrites must either soon be converted, or enraged at his preaching. He is a son of thunder, and does not fear the faces of men." This estimate of the power of Gilbert Tennent is amply confirmed by all we know about him, and he was the instrument in God's hand not only for quickening the church and rescuing sinners where- ever his influence reached, but by his courage and fidelity he reformed abuses that had crept into the church, and with a few others of like spirit changed the whole character of the Presbyterian ministry of that day. To return to Whitefield. His ministry in New York and Philadelphia (in both which places he had the powerful and sweet company of Mr. Ten- nent) was greatly blessed. Not allowed in New York to preach in his own church, " his preaching in the Presbyterian meeting house received the sanction of his Divine Master." In Philadelphia so great was the change produced at this time through the preach- ing of Whitefield and Tennent, that Benjamin Franklin, quite at a loss, from his skeptical standpoint, to explain the results, writes thus: " It was wonder- ful to see the change soon made in the manners of our 52 TIMES OF REFRESHING. inhabitants. From being thoughtless and indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through Philadelphia in the evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street." The story of the effect of Whitefield's preaching on Franklin has often been told. It will bear an- other repetition. Franklin had opposed Whitefield's project for an orphanage in Georgia, and had refused to contribute. Soon after, he was present at a preach- ing service from the drift of which he soon perceived that the great preacher was going to finish up with a collection. He, therefore, braced himself in the pur- pose that "Whitefield should get nothing from him. As the sermon proceeded, the great philosopher soft- ten ed down a little, and thought he would give the coppers that were in his pocket. Another stroke of Whitefield's oratory determined him to give the sil- ver, and the conclusion was so overwhelming that Franklin emptied his pockets into the collector's plate — copper, silver, gold — all. He also tells the following anecdote: "At this sermon there was also one of our club, who, being of my sentiments respecting the building in Georgia, and suspecting a collection might be intended, emptied his pocket before he came from home. Towards the conclusion of the dis- course, however, he felt a strong inclination to give and applied to a neighbor who stood near him to lend him money for that purpu.se. The request was fortu- nately made to perhaps the only man in the company who had the firmness not be affected by the preacher. REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 53 His answer was: "At any other time, friend Hop- kinson, I would lend thee freely, but not now, for thee seenis to me to be out of thy right senses." Another writer, speaking of the surprising effect of Whitefield's preaching in and about Philadelphia, says: "So great was the enthusiasm to hear Mr. Whiteiield preach that many from Philadelphia fol- lowed him on foot to Chester, to Abington, to Ne- shaminy, and some even to New Brunswick in New Jersey, the distance of sixty miles." Of the services at the latter place during this time, Whitefield writes: k- 1 preached morning and evening to near seven or eight thousand people, and God's power was so much amongst us in the afternoon sermon that the cries and groans of the people would have drowned my voice." After a visit to Savannah to further the interests of the Orphan School, and sundry trials as well as great successes, in which, however, we have not space to follow him, he went to do evangelistic work in New England, landing at Newport, E. I., on Sep- tember 14th, 1740. The land was ready for him. We have spoken of the preaching of Edwards and the local revivals. A general desire for a better re- ligious life seemed to be spreading through the length and breadth of the land. Tarrying onlj a few days in Ehode Island, Whitefield hastened on to Boston. In the afternoon of the dav following1 his arrival he preached to about four thousand people in Dr. Colman's meeting house." During the next few weeks his labors in and around Boston were hercule- an. His correspondence at this time shows that he 54 TIMES OF REFRESHING. preached two or three times daily to audiences num- bering from three to eight thousand, and often spent a large part of the night with inquirers, who came to him in great distress. The work thus begun in Boston continued for a year and a half after Whitefield's departure. Gilbert Tennent remained nearly four months after the great evangelist had gone, and was wonderfully instrumen- tal in deepening and extending the work. The gene- ral activity of the city following this revival may be seen from the following summary: "Thirty relig- ious societies were instituted in the city. Ministers, besides attending to their usual work, preached in private houses almost every night. Chapels were always crowded. The very face of the town seemed to be strangely altered. Even the negroes and the boys in the streets left their usual rudeness, and tav- erns were found empty of all but lodgers." From Boston Whiteh'eld went to Northampton to visit Jonathan Edwards, and, of course, to preach the gospel. Here, where there had been precious revivals in the preceding years, his ministry of a few days was greatly blessed. " The town seemed to be in a great and continual commotion day and night." Mr. Whiteh'eld now left New England for a preaching tour Southward, lingering a few days in New York, , New Brunswick, Baskinridge, Philadelphia and many other towns, his ministry everywhere being with power over the consciences of the people. In New England the gracious wave of blessing spread from Boston north and south and west. There were great awakenings in Plymouth, Taun- REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 55 ton, Middleborough, Portsmouth, Gloucester, Enfield and many other places. It was in the last named place that Edwards preached his great sermon on " Sinners in the hands of an angry God." The revival had not reached that town. The people were almost defiantly careless and unconcerned. Their appearance at church, before the preacher began his sermon, was thoughtless and vain. Trumbull, who learned the particulars from an eye-witness, thus describes the effect of the sermon: " Before the sermon was ended the assembly appeared deeply impressed, and bowed down with an awful conviction of their sin and dan- ger. There wTas such a breathing of distress and weeping that the preacher was obliged to speak to the people and desire silence, that he might be heard. This was the beginning of the same great and pre- vailing concern in that place, with which the colony in general was visited." What shall be said concerning the physical effects which this sermon and the preaching of the Tennents and other revivalists of this period often produced? The philosophy of them, to those who have at all con- sidered the subtle action of sensitive nerves on the body and mind alike, will not be very obscure. The falling and fainting fits, the convulsions and trances and other physical manifestations were the result of high nervous action among a people, all whose train- ing had been toward intense mental action and in- tense feeling. The reciprocal influence of mind and nerves was not so well understood then as now, and hence many things were referred to supernatural agency that would now be more readily and simply 56 TIMES OF REFRESHING. explained. But it were folly to discount the reality of those works of grace, because so often the body yielded to the severe stress of religious excitement. The character of the preaching at this time is also an element in the explanation of this strange physical and nervous action. Mr. Tennent's preaching is thus de- scribed: " It was frequently both terrible and searching. It was often for matter, justly terrible, as he, according to the inspired oracles, exhibited the dreadful holiness, justice, law, threatenings, truth, power, majesty of God. * * * . * It was not merely, nor so much his laying open the terrors of the law and wrath of God, or damnation of hell; as his laying open their many vain and secret shifts; and refuges, counterfeit resemblances of grace, delusive and damning hopes, their utter impotence and impending danger of de- struction, whereby they found all their hopes and refuges of lies to fail them and themselves exposed to eternal ruin, unable to help themselves and in a lost condition." The same words would well describe the preaching of Edwards, Whitefleld and others. Those were times of awful disclosures of human hearts and unveilings of divine truth. They came after times of trial upon people who had undergone the perils of wil- dernesses and savages. There had been two centuries of tremendous nervous excitement. The settlers of New England were by inheritance people 01 tense and sen- sitive nerves. Upon such people the preaching of that generation could not come like the dew on the flowers. It was a rushing torrent, plunging into a condition of intense thought and feeling. There REVIVAXS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 57 were present all the elements, both subjective and objective, necessary, not only to determine the mind, but to agitate and shake the whole nature. While the excesses connected with these early re- vivals do not disprove their genuine character, they are abnormal, the results of peculiar temperaments and circumstances, and not to be desired. They in- crease the dangers of false conversions, blind the minds of the ignorant, so that nervous excitement is taken for religion and in many ways operate unfavorably toward that religion which is most manifest not in earthquake or whirlwind, but in the silent influence of the truth and the " still, small voice" of the Spirit. In 1741, Mr. Whiten' eld returned to the old country. His preaching in England and in Scotland, the op- position to him, the stormy scenes through which he passed, holding aloft steadily and gloriously the banner of the cross, the immense crowds that in streets and commons flocked to his ministry, the mul- titudes of conversions, the extent of the work, not only through Great Britain, but even on the continent, these would fill a volume. Except as they illustrate the power of Whitefield they are aside from our pur- pose. On Mr. Whitefield's return to Boston, he encoun- tered more decided opposition in this country than he had ever met before. Many Congregational and Pres- byterian ministers disapproved his plans and methods, and thought his ministry tended to unsettle pastors and disaffect churches, and that his doctrine was often- times unscriptural either in form or substance. The " Testimony " adopted by the faculty of Harvard 58 TIMES OF REFRESHING. College gives the general animus of this opposition. In it Whitefield is charged, first, with being " an en- thusiast," the charge being sustained by numerous quotations from his journal and sermons; second, with being an " uncharitable, censorious and slander- ous man;" and third, with having been " a deluder of the people," in the affair of the contributions to his orphan house, collecting money under the impression that he was to have personal charge of the school, whereas he was all over the country preaching the gospel. In point of fact there was nothing to the charges. As to the last one, Mr. Whitefield often expressly declared his purpose to preach as long as he had breath and wherever he could find an audience. He never for a moment thought of settling down to be a pedagogue at Savannah. As to the charge of a slanderous and censorious disposition, while he spoke often in severity, and was sometimes censorious he al- ways loved the people well enough to be at once faithful and tender. As to the charge of " enthusiasm " he would doubtless admit it to the full. His intineracy was a frequent ground of complaint against him. Dr. Chauncey said: " Itinerant preach- ing had its rise at least in these parts from Mr. Whitefield; though I could never see, I own, upon what warrant, either from scripture or reason, he went about preaching from one province and parish to an- other, when the gospel was already preached and by persons as well qualified for the work as he can pre- tend to be." To this the great preacher truly replied, " But did I come unasked? Nay; did not some of those very persons who were as well qualified for the REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 59 work as I could pretend to be, send me letters of in- vitation? Yes, assuredly they did; or otherwise, in all probability, I had never seen New England." In his reply to the faculty of Harvard College he defends itineracy as scriptural and right. He quotes the di- vine command, " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," and argues that it authorizes the ministers of Christ to the end of the world, to preach the gospel in every town and coun- try, though not of their own head, yet whenever and wherever Providence shall open a door, even though it should be in a place where officers are already set- tled and the gospel is fully and faithfully preached." This, he claimed, was every gospel ministers indisputa- ble privilege. During this opposition Whitefield was never for a moment swerved from his work. He was utterly tireless in his zeal and devotion. In Boston, Ipswich, through Maine, in New York, Philadelphia, through the South, with the heart and the tongue of an apostle, he preached salvation through Christ. But our sketch of him must close. He crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, and was the evangelist of two continents. His quenchless zeal, his matchless elo- quence, his dauntless courage, were now the praise of all Christian lands. The opposition gradually died away under the majesty of that glorious life, so single for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The time was coming for his reward. On his last tour from South to North, stopping one day with his old friend, William Tennent, to refresh his soul with a company of cherished ministers, he happened to express 60 TIMES OF REFRESHING. his joy at the thought that he was approaching the Kingdom. All assented but Tennent. White- held said to him: "Brother Tennent, you are the oldest man among us. Do you not rejoice that your being called home is so near at hand?" " I have no wish about it," bluntly answered Tennent. White- field pressed his question, and Tennent again replied: "No sir, it is no pleasure to me at all, and if you knew your duty it would be none to you. I have nothing to do with death. My business is to live as long as I can, and as well as I can." Win tefield still pressed him, to know if he would not gladly die if death were within his choice. " Sir," answered Ten- nent, " I have no choice about it. I am God's ser- vant. And now, brother Whitefield, let me ask you a question. What do you think 1 would say if I were to send my man Tom into the field to plough, and if at noon I should find him lounging under a tree, and exclaiming: 'Master, the sun is hot and the plough- ing is hard, and I am weary of my work; do let me go home and rest.' What would 1 say? Why, that he was a lazy fellow, and that it was his business to do the work I had appointed him, until I should think fit to call him home." But Whitefield truly ploughed till he was called home. He was now on his last evangelistic tour. An anecdote of his pulpit power at this time is worth inserting. " An eminent ship-builder being invited to hear Whitefield, at first made several objections, but at last was persuaded to go. ' What do you think of Mr. Whitefield?' asked his friend. "'Think,' said he, * I never heard such a man in my life. I REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 61 tell you sir, every Sunday when I go to church I can build a ship from stem to stern under- the sermon. But were it to save my soul, under Mr. Whitefield I could not lay a single plank.' " On his journey toward Boston he preached almost constantly, although part of the time seriously ill. Thus a biographer, giving an account of the labors of his last two weeks on earth, says: " From September 17th to 19th he preached in Boston, and on the 20th at Newtown. The next two days he was ill, but man- aged to travel from Boston to Portsmouth, where he preached on the 23d to the 25th. The 26th he em- ployed at Kittery; the 27th at Old York; the 28th at Portsmouth, and the 29th at Exeter. At six o'clock in the morning, of the 30th, he died." His last sermon was preached at Exeter. The peo- ple prevailed on him to stop there and preach to them. An immense audience assembled to hear him. His pulpit was a hogshead. His text was: "Exam- ine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith." One of his biographers thus relates the scene: "Mr. White- field arose and stood erect, and his appearance alone was a powerful sermon. He remained several min- utes, unable to speak, and then said: ' I will wait for the gracious assistance of God; for he will, I am certain, assist me once more to speak in his name.' He then delivered, perhaps, one of his best sermons, ' I go,' he cried, 'I go to rest prepared. My sun has arisen, and by aid from heaven has given light to many. It is now about to set for — no, it is about to rise to the zenith of immortal glory. I have outlived many on earth, but they cannot outlive me in heaven. 62 TIMES OF REFRESHING. Oh, thought divine! I shall soon be in a world where time, age, pain and sorrow are unknown. My body fails; my spirit expands. How willingly would I live forever to preach Christ, but I die to be with him." That night, when about to retire to rest, the people pressed around the parsonage, and into the hall, im- portunate for a few more words from the man they so dearly loved. He paused on the staircase and began to speak to them. The people thronged the hall, " gazing up at him with tearful eyes as Elisha at the ascending prophet. His voice flowed on until the candle, which he held in his hand, burned away, and went out in its socket. The next morning he was not, for God had taken him." Thus died one of the greatest of all pulpit orators. What were the secrets of his wonderful power over men? First of all, he was an orator of most consum- mate skill and astonishing resources. The manner of his address revealed, or, rather, concealed, the most perfect art. Garrick said he could say " Mesopota- mia" in such accents as to drawT tears from the hearers. At another time he said: "I would give a hundred guineas if I could only say: ' Oh!' like Mr. White- field." Mr. Tyerman, Mr. Whitefield's last and cer- tainly not too partial biographer, says: " Whitefield was the greatest gospel orator of the age. He never stretched after profundity of thought. A fine, highly ornamental style he seems to have eschewed as much as Wesley did. He preached simple truth with all his mi glit, and witnessed success such as is rarely given a minister to see." Indeed, he was a preacher, in many points, wholly REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 63 different from "Wesley. The ministry of the founder of Methodism was most effective among the common people, and was not confined to preaching to them. He was a great captain and organizer. "Whitefield, on the contrary, did almost nothing but preach. His preaching, however so united simplicity and fervor with the perfection of diction, attitude, accent, all, indeed, that goes to make the skillful orator that every class hung delighted upon his utterance. In England, the clergy, lords and ladies, and literary men crowded into his audiences, and vied with each other in their praises of his eloquence. In this country his fame was as great. Franklin was enthusiastic in his expressions, and we have already narrated how, to his cost, he learned how great was the orator's power. Dr. Gillies, of Glasgow, gives a most careful analy- sis of his oratorical power. He says: " His eloquence was great, and of the true and noblest kind. He seemed to be quite unconscious of the talents he pos- sessed. * * * The grand sources of his elo- quence were an exceedingly lively imagination and an action still more lively. Every accent of his voice spoke to the ear, and every motion of his hands spoke to the eye." This as to the manner of his speech. The matter of it was the gospel of Christ in its simplicity and power. His preaching was at once severe with the unsparing energy of truth, and gentle under the moving of a great love for souls. He spoke to the conscience, awaking the sense of sin and guilt against a holy God. He spoke to the heart, holding up in ever new light the changeless love of God. He 64c TIMES OF REFRESHING. preached the old doctrines of grace. It was emphat- ically ''the old, old story." And finally, he was an unselfish, consecrated, holy man. He lived for God with a purpose absolutely undivided. A few words upon the general results of the revivals running from 1740 to 1770, will close tins chapter. The Congregational churches added about one hundred and fifty new churches to their roll in E"ew England. The number of Presbyterian churches was more than doubled. Baptist churches also greatly increased in number. The converts have been numbered at about fifty thousand. On this basis the effects of the revival in the conversion of sinners, was as great in proportion to the population as if there should now be a series of revivals gathering four hundred thousand people into the churches. Yet, indeed, that is but a superficial estimate, which counts only the converts. There are other fruits broader, deeper, and themselves continually productive. Prominent among these is the higher tone of spiritual life in the church. The preaching of Edwards, Whitefield and Tennent opened the mind of the church of their day to the startling truth that in greater or less measure an unconverted ministry had entered the pulpits and unconverted communi- cants gathered at the Lord's table. Granted that all three of them were severe and often uncharitable in their judgments of their brethren, it is clear there was only too much ground for severity. The revival strengthened the various denominations to exact of candidates for the ministry clearer evidence of personal piety, and destroyed the idea that mere knowledge of REVIVALS UNDER WHITEFIELD. 65 the catechism, without evidence or profession of re- generation, was sufficient qualification for church- membership. Not only so, but the exaltation of the cardinal doc- trines of grace in the preaching and teaching of that time had a most wholesome effect in nourishing the new life of the church and making vigorous Chris- tians and vigorous preachers. JSTot in vain did Whitefield preach " the new birth " over and over, from Savannah to Boston. Among the educational fruits of the revival may be mentioned Princeton and Dartmouth Colleges. The latter college was founded in 1770, and in connec- tion with its founding there was a series of revivals extending through several years, and over a large district round about. These revivals were evidently a continuation of those of 1740 and possessed many of their leading characteristics. The influence of the revivals on the nation, which was just entering its most critical period, was doubt- less greater than can well be defined. The men of the Revolution were in the formative period of youth when Whitefield's eloquence and zeal lit up the whole land. They can hardly have failed to learn lessons of high virtue and courage from men who, for Christ's sake, braved every peril and shrank from no sacrifice. Not only so, but the land was to be brought into close relations and alliance with France, where infidelity was rife and was soon to be in the ascendant. Forcibly on this point does Tracy say : Ci The relig- ious principles of the country needed to be strength- ened in advance against all these dangers, and with 66 TIMES OF REFRESHING. all the accessions of strength that religion received from the revival, it did but just stand the shock, and for a long time many of the pious feared that every- thing holy would be swept away. Strengthened by so many tens of thousands of converts, and by the deep sense of the importance of religion produced in other tens of thousands, both in and out of the churches, religion survived in time, rallied and ad- vanced, and is marching on to victory." There is another result of this revival, the fruits of which, in full measure, we are just beginning to reap. We have said Whitefield was our first itinerant evan- gelist. He stoutly defended the right of every minis- ter to find his audience wherever he could. This evangelism has limitations. "We shall have occasion in a subsequent chapter to define its boundaries. But in Whitehead's splendid ministry that fact is unrolled to the world, which ecclesiasticism had for a long time obscured, that " the field is the world " — that the gospel needs to be everywhere proclaimed, and that some of the grandest periods of church history have been periods of itinerant evangelism. Especially when the church has gone to sleep among altars on which the sacred fire is dying, does God call men to rise above churches and to refuse to bound their in- fluence by any particular place, and to " go every- where preaching the gospel." Such there were in apostolic times, such there were in the Reformation in Germany, such were Knox and his co-laborers in Scotland, such wTas Whitefield. Before the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in there will be many more — the flying artillery of the army of the Lord. CHAPTEK III. REVIVAL OF 1800. The great revival of which we spoke in the preced- ing chapter was, as we designated it, specially a revival through the preaching of the gospel. " There were giants in those days," and with giant strength did they wield the sword of the Spirit; and the hearts of the King's enemies bowed before them. During the latter part of that period, from 1750 to 1770, the spirit of revival gradually died out of the churches. There were still marked signs of divine favor wherev- er "Whitefield and his associates went, but the work of grace was during that time local rather than general. From 1770 to the close of the century was a time of great spiritual death. There were a few local revivals in New England and the Middle States, and some of decided power in Virginia, but the general state of the church was one of coldness and apathy. For this deplorable condition of church life there were manifest reasons. In the first place, the " old French war," by which France sought to gain a foothold in the provinces of the new world by surrounding them with a cordon of garrisons and troops from Quebec to New Orleans, 67 68 TIMES OF REFRESHING. greatly distracted the minds of the people and cen- tered all thoughts on the supreme one of self-defense. In the second place, when this peril had passed away, the colonies were on the very eve of an open rupture with the mother coun- try. The clouds which had long been gathering were ready to let loose their bolts. A time of war is almost never a time of religious prosperity. With the dawn of 1776, therefore, all the energies of the people were turned away from religion, and every peaceful pursuit and concentered in the bloody torrent of a seven years' struggle. The close of the war was hardly more favorable for spiritual life than had been its absorbing progress. The disbanded armies, long used to camp license and sin, sowed seeds of bad morals through all the communities. Intemperance, profanity, Sabbath-breaking, and other sins abounded. The church, so long asleep, with only a name to live, was in no condition to resist them. Then from France, the friend and ally of our country, came an- other and a far greater peril. The infidelity which brought on the French Revolution was sending its baneful influences across the water. The colonies were flooded with infidel books. France won the sympathies of the New States by writing "liberty" upon her banners, and so gained access to the best thought of the country. Voltaire, Yolney and Paine spread their blasphemous publications widely through the land. It was a time of unequaled peril. In Paris the boast was openly made that in a few years the religion of Christ would be blotted from the earth. In our own country the same fearful prophe- EEVIVAL OF 1800. 69 cies were echoed. So we approached the end of the century; — death in the churches, rottenness in public morals, infidelity coming in like a flood upon the schools and the thinkers of the young republic. This was God's time to lift a standard against the enemy. And if ever there was a revival of which it might be said, it was the direct interposition of God to save His church and save the state, it surely may be so said of the one we are now considering. Some revivals have more of the human element than others. In every true work of grace the fact of God's Spirit present with His church, is of course assumed. But in some the lines of human agency can be quite dis- tinctly followed. In some cases it is preaching, in others it is organized personal effort. But the revival of 1800 came from God so straight that no footfall of human activity announced its coming. There were no signs in the sky. It fell as did the manna upon famishing Israel — silently, everywhere, and plentiful- ly. Indeed there were many and faithful preachers at that time, worthy successors of the men of 1740. There was Bellamy and Griffin, and the younger Ed- wards, Dwight, Mason, Livingston and many others. The Lord girded them to gather the ripening vintage. But it was His sunlight that brought the harvest. That harvest ripened almost simultaneously in New England, New York, Pennsylvania and the South. There were no evangelists like Whitefield to go from place to place with a John-the-Baptist call to repent- ance. There was no union of effort like that which characterizes present revivals. It was a revival in the church and under the ordinary ministrations of 70 TIMES OF REFRESHING-. the pastor. There were almost no protracted meet- ings, nothing that in modern phrase would be called revival services. A neighboring minister would come to the help of the pastor on Sunday, a " confer- ence" meeting would be held in connection with the public service, one or two " week-day lectures" would be given as the interest seemed to demand, and ser- vices, not very unlike the present cottage prayer-meet- ing, would be held in outlying districts of the con- gregation, and that was all. And yet this revival, so quietly conducted that while in the midst of it you would hardly know, by any outward stir, that there was a revival at all, shook the new states as they have hardly been shaken since. Let us briefly sketch the work in some of the more marked centers of its power. It is called the revival of 1800. The first movings of it came several years earlier. Dr. Edward D. Griffin graduated at Yale College in 1790, and studied theology with the young- er President Edwards. When he was licensed in 1792 and returned to his father's house in East Had- dam, he found himself the only professor of religion in a family of ten persons. He began his work there among his kindred. One of his sisters was the first seal of his ministry. "That," said he> " was the beginning of American revivals so far as they fell under my personal observation, and from that moment I know they have never ceased." In Jan- uary he commenced preaching in New Salem, where his labors were blessed in " a revival of great power, and a church was gathered where there had not been one for forty years." REVIVAL OF 1800. 71 Referring to this period, he says: "I had an op- portunity to see the whole field of death before a bone began to move, and no one who comes upon the stage forty years afterwards can have any idea of the state of things at that time." In 1828 Dr. Griffin preached a sermon at the dedi- cation of a chapel at Williams College, of which he was then president, in which he thus refers to the be- ginning of the revival: "The year 1792 it has often been said, ushered a new era into the world. In that year commenced that series of revivals in America, which has never been interrupted, night or day, and which never will be until the earth is full of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In ponder- ing upon the destinies of this college in illumined moments — in moments of intense interest — it has been no indifferent thought that it arose into being at that punctnm of time; that it opened upon the world when those other institutions began to open which are full of salvation — when the redemption of Africa commenced at Sierra Leone and St. Domingo — when that moral change began which has swept from so large a part of New England its looseness of doc- trine and laxity of discipline, and awakened an evan- gelical pulse in every vein of the American church. " It was my happiness to be early carried by the providence of God to Litchfield county, Conn., and to be fixed in that scene where the heavenly influence was to send out its stronger radiations to different parts of the country; where thrice twenty congrega- tions, in contiguous counties, were laid down in one field of divine wonders. There it was my privilege 72 TIMES OF REFRESHING. to be most intimately associated with such men as Mills and Gillett and Hallock — names which will be ever dear to the church on earth, and some of which are now familiar in heaven. Their voices, which I often heard in the silent groves, and in the sacred as- semblies which followed, and in the many, many meetings from town to town, have identified them in my mind with all those precious revivals which opened the dawn of a new day upon our country." As an illustration of the way in which God pre- pared the work of grace by invisible processes, it is interesting to notice the experience by which God trained some of the men who were most blessed in their ministry at this time. The experience of Mr. Hallock, whom Mr. Griffin mentions in the extract above, is a case in point. He had never seen or heard of a revival, and knew nothing about conviction or conversion. In 1779, at the age of twenty-one while at work alone, " he was impressed with a sense of his dependence on God and of the sinfulness of his heart, which seemed so black and polluted that he could hardly avoid crying out." At length, as he afterwards wrote: "The law of God appeared just, I saw myself a sinner, and Christ and the way of salvation by him looked pleasant. I thought it was a happiness to be in the hands of God, and that I could trust my all to him. It still did not occur to me that I had experienced a change of heart." Soon after this, while engaged in military service, he called his comrades around him and exhorted them on the subject of religion. His words were winged by the Spirit of God. It was the beginning of a re- REVIVAL OF 1800. 73 vival. Meetings were held, and as Mr. Hallock seemed to be the first of the converts, the conduct of them was placed in his hands. He then began to study for the ministry, and in his first charge, in a few weeks there were a hundred hopeful conversions. He and Dr. Griffin were settled in neighboring parishes. Dr. Humphrey says: " They both had tasted the bless- edness of revivals, and together they mourned and wept and wrestled for perishing souls and the lan- guishing interests of Zion. One or more of the groves is still pointed out where they, with neighbor- ing pastors, used to retire from the world to agon- ize for the descent of the Holy Spirit. The day of mercy was near." The work now spread rapidly on all sides. Infidels who had long preached infidelity were brought into fearful distress of mind, and in many cases were con- verted. One of them, with trembling limbs, cried out: " I am the wretch who have murdered Christ. I have talked a great deal against the gospel, but there was always something in my heart which said it was true." He was brought into deep and long despair, but at last God had mercy upon him, and he found in Christ his best friend. The deep spiritual exercises of the converts in these first stages of this great revival are worthy of special remark. Frequently, without any public means of grace, a sense of sin so great as to be well- nigh crushing would fall upon the soul. The anguish of soul would so deepen that perforce the convicted person was constrained to seek some minister or oth- er Christian, and raise the old question, " What must 74 TIMES OF REFRESHING. I do to be saved?" Writes one: "Several were brought under distressing conviction at midnight on their beds, and many in such circumstances that it could not be accounted for on any principle but the sovereign power and mercy of God." Thus in many instances the first knowledge ministers had of any special interest in their congregation would be in these solemn and anxious visits. What was the general tone of the preaching in New England at this time? It may somewhat ex- plain these depths of conviction of sin. Dr. Hyde, of Lee, Mass., in whose church there was a great and precious work of grace, thus gives the substance of his preaching: "The holiness and immutability of God, the purity and perfection of His law; the en- tire depravity of the heart, consisting in voluntary opposition to God and holiness; the fullness and all- sufficiency of the atonement made by Christ; the freeness of the offer of pardon, made to all on condi- tion of repentance; the necessity of a change of heart by the Holy Spirit, arising from the deep-rooted de- pravity of men, which no created arm could remove; the utter inexcusableness of sinners in rejecting the kind overtures of mercy, as they acted freely and voluntarily in doing it, and the duty and reasonable- ness of immediate submission to God. These are some of the truths which God appeared to own and bless, and which, through the agency of the Spirit, were made 'quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.' " The revival under this preaching continued quietly, solemnly, steadily, for a year and a half. The visible REVIVAL OF 1800. 75 results were about a hundred and ten additions to the church and a surprising change in the religious sentiments and feelings of the people, and in the general aspect of the town. Rev. Moses Hallock, of Plainfield, Mass., in giving an account of the work in that town, gives a summary of the distinguishing marks of the revival. He speaks of the depth of conviction as springing not so much from a fear of punishment as from a sense of sin against God, which took away all their peace, and of the great doctrines of grace which have been owned of God, and whatever may have been the antecedent prejudices,, have been in every case humbly accepted by the converts. Many of these had been scoffers, and had long sought to fortify them- selves in skepticism as a refuge against the threaten- ings of divine law. In Washington, Conn., under the labors of Dr. Ebenezer Porter, afterward Professor at Andover, there was a very penetrating revival in 1803. We give Dr. Porter's account of it: "Near the close of the summer of 1803, several persons became seriously impressed. Weekly conferences were revived. Dur- ing the winter the operations of the Divine Spirit were discernible in every part of the society. The church, which had appeared to languish as with a wasting hectic, put on the aspect of returning health. Through the next spring and summer, though thir- teen had been added to the church, we were still between hope and fear. God's people longed for, rather than expected, a revival. They scarcely dared to believe that the day had indeed dawned 76 TIMES OF REFRESHING. which was to succeed a night of more than sixty years. But in the Autumn, the Sun of righteous- ness arose upon us with healing in his wings. As in the valley of Ezekiel's vision, there was a great shaking. Dry bones, animated by the breath of the Almighty, stood up new-born believers. The children of Zion beheld with overflowing hearts, and with thankful tongues acknowledged, ' This is the linger of God.' The work was stamped conspicuously with the impress of its divine author, and its joyful effects evinced no other than the agency of Omnipo- tence. So manifestly it was the work of God, that op- position, however it might have rankled in the bo- soms of individuals, was awed into silence. Many old professors, amidst the majesty and glory of the scene, seemed unable to contain, and equally unable to express the wonder and joy of their hearts. Dur- ing a winter unusually severe, nothing could surpass the resolution with which numbers attended, to be instructed in the way of salvation. From the ex- tremity of the season, apprehensions were entertained for persons of delicate constitutions; but the people were seldom or never more healthy. " As the first-fruit of this precious and memorable season, fifty-four persons have been added to the church, none of whom, blessed be God, have been left to discredit their holy profession." One of the most remarkable of all the New Eng- land revivals occurred in the little village of Boscawen, N. H., in the ministry of Rev. Dr. Wood. A revival had never been known there. Dr. Wood modestly felt if his work might only be crowned with the sal- REVIVAL OF 1800. 77 vation of one soul, it would be reward sufficient. But a healthful state of religious interest, amounting almost to a continuous revival, began in 1782, and went increasingly on until the beginning of the present century. In a small inland congregation Dr. Wood had the pleasure of fitting one hundred students for college — of whom more than forty en- tered the gospel ministry. We have not space to follow the details of a work that was almost as extensive as New England. Rev. J no. B. Preston, writing from Rutland, Vermont, says: " Within little more than a year, the Spirit has also been wonderfully poured out upon a number of towns, and about a thousand have been added to the churches of Christ in Bennington and Rutland counties. Bennington, Sandgate, Rupert, Dorset, Tinmouth, Rutland, Biandon, Pittsford, Benson, and Orwell, have shared the most largel}- in this shower of divine grace. Not less than fifty have been added to the church in each of these towns, and in several, more than a hundred. Most of the other towns have shared in some degree." In New York similar scenes were witnessed. Dr. John M. Mason was installed in 1793. His ministry was greatly blessed. Within a short time six hun- dred were added to his church, and the increase, he said, " owes nothing to soothing doctrines or to re- missness of discipline." The sainted Isabella Gra- ham, writing of him in his youth, says : " Our young Timothy is a champion for the gospel of Jesus. The Lord has well girded him and largely endowed him. He walks closely with God, and speaks and preaches like 78 TIMES OF REFRESHING. a Christian of long experience. He was ordained and installed about two months ago in his father's church. O for a thankful heart! The Lord has done wonders for me and mine; and blessed be his name, that in a remarkable manner he hedged me in to be- come a member of this congregation, where I am led and fed with the same truths which nourished my soul in Zion's gates at Edinburgh; and I am helped to sing the Lord's song in a strange land." In Newark, N. J., the spirit of revival descended on the churches in 1806. It was preceded by a spirit of prayer. Dr. Griffin writes to Dr. Ashbel Green: " Early in September many private associations for prayer were formed, and I never witnessed the com- munication of so earnest a spirit of prayer, and so general, nor observed such evident and remarkable answers to prayer. The agonies of parents have been such as to drive sleep from their eyes, and for weeks together have been seemingly as great as their nature could well sustain. And these parents, in every case that has come within my knowledge, have each seve- ral children who are already numbered among the hopeful converts. What a testimony to the truth of God's promises, and what an encouragement to prayer! In this revival between two and three hun- dred were converted in the then small town of New- ark. They were from all classes, from nine years old to more than threescore and ten, and of all charac- ters, including drunkards, apostates, infidels, and those who were lately malignant opposers, and of all conditions, including poor negroes, and many of them hoary with age. While we gaze with wonder and de- REVIVAL OF 1800. 79 light at these glorious triumphs of the Prince of Peace, and weep for joy to hear babes and sucklings sing hosannas to the Son of David, we cannot but join in the general response, and cry, ' Blessed is he that coraeth in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!' " Some of the most signal revivals of this period were in Virginia. The rise of one in Hampden -Sid- ney college, as early as 1788, is an interesting story. Eev. Dr. Win. Hill, in his youth, was a student in the college. A pious lady sent him a copy of "Al- leine's Alarm." The reading deeply affected him. He soon found out there were two or three other stu- dents anxious about their souls. They gathered for a prayer-meeting — a thing they had never heard of be- fore. The other students heard the singing, and tried to break up the meeting. So serious was the distur- bance, the president, the excellent Dr. John Blair Smith, had to investigate the cause of it. The good man heard of the little prayer-meeting, and of the purpose of the rioters that there should be no such doings there. Looking at the youths charged with the sin of praying, with tears in his eyes, he said: " Oh, is there such a state of things in this college? Then God has come near to us. My dear young friends, you shall be protected. You shall hold your next meeting in my parlor, and I will be one of your number." Sure enough they had their next meeting in his parlor, and half the college were there. And there began a glorious revival of religion, which per- vaded the college, and spread into the country around. 80 TIMES OF REFRESHING. " Two hundred and twenty persons, chiefly young people, were added to the churches to which he min- istered within eighteen months; and the revival ex- tended over Prince Edward, Cumberland, Charlotte and Bedford counties, and to the " Peaks of Otter," in the Blue Kidge. It was in one of these revivals that Dr. Archibald Alexander was converted. He says of himself at the age of seventeen : " My only notion of religion was that it consisted in getting better. I had never heard of any conversions among Presbyterians." A pious lady in a family where he was employed as tu- tor, loved the writings of Flavel, and as her eyes were weak, often sent for him to read to her. This was the means of his conversion. Hearing of the great revival in the neighborhood of PriDce Edward, he, with some of his fellow students, went to the scene of religious wonders, attended a communion sea- son, heard Dr. John Blair Smith and others preach, saw Wm. Hill and others of the recent converts, and on their return " a revival of great power commenced which extended to almost every Presbyterian church in the Yalley of Virginia." The work in Virginia is further described by the Eev. Dr. Foote, thus: "In the latter part of the year 1801, the churches under the care of Messrs. Mitchel and Turner were greatly revived. A m rat- ing held at the close of the year was noted for the number of people impressed with a deep sense of the value as well as truth of the gospel. Many made profession of their faith. In the succeeding spring the influence of Divine truth was felt with increased REVIVAL OF 1800. 81 force. The Presbytery of Hanover met at Bethel. Crowds attended upon the ministrations of the gos- pel. About one hundred had now professed conver- sion. The congregations in Albemarle, in Prince Edward and Charlotte, were greatly awakened, and the happy influence was felt over a large region of country east of the Blue Eidge. The revivals at this period in Kentucky and Ten- nessee were of the most extraordinary character. Probably in no part of the country were there more marked displays of Divine grace, neither in any oth_ er place was there so large an admixture of human passions followed by so many deleterious effects. In 1801 there was an immense gathering at Cave Ridge, Kentucky, to which people had come from all parts of the state, even a distance of two hundred miles. An eye witness, describing it, says: " "We arrived upon the ground, and here a scene presented itself to my mind not only novel, but awful, and unaccountable beyond description. A vast crowd, supposed by some to have amounted to twenty -five thousand, was collect- ed together. The noise was like the roar of Niagara. The vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated by a storm.. I counted seven preachers all speaking at once, some on stumps, and some on wagons." An- other says: "The shouting, shrieking, praying and nervous spasms of this vast multitude produced an unearthly and almost terrible spectacle. The relig- ious exercises on the ground were continued from Friday morning until the ensuing Wednesday even- ing, day and night without intermission. Heavy rains fell during that time apparently without being 82 TIMES OF REFRESHING. noticed by the people, though few were protected by any covering." It was in this tempest of religious emotions that Campbellism had its rise,and it was here also the Cumberland Presbyterian church dates its origin. The work in Tennessee, probably somewhat soberer in its character and attended by fewer physical mani- festations, was equally deep and pervasive. The Rev. James McGready gives the following account of some meetings in that state: "The present summer (viz. 1800) has been the most glorious time that our guilty eyes have ever beheld. All the blessed dis- plays of Almighty power and grace, all the sweet gales of the Divine Spirit and soul-reviving showers of the blessings of heaven, which we enjoyed before, and which we considered wonderful beyond concep- tion, were but like a few scattering drops before the mighty rain which Jehovah has poured out like a mighty river upon this, our guilty, unworthy country. The Lord has indeed showed himself a prayer-hearing God; he has given his people a praying spirit and a lively faith, and then he has answered their prayers far beyond their highest expectations. This wilder- ness and solitary place has been made glad, this dreary desert now rejoices and blossoms like the rose; yea, it blossoms abundantly, and rejoices even with joy and singing. " At Gasper river, on the fourth Sabbath of June, a surprising multitude of people collected, many from a very great distance, even from the distance of thirty to sixty, and one hundred miles. On Friday and Saturday there was a very solemn attention. On REVIVAL OF 1800. 83 Saturday evening, after the congregation was dismiss- ed, as a few serious, exercised Christians were sit- ting conversing together, and appeared to be more than commonlv en^a^ed, the flame started from them and overspread the whole house until every person ap- peared less or more engaged. The greater part of the ministers and several hundreds of the people re- mained at the meeting-house all night. Through every part of the multitude there could be found some awakened souls struggling in the pangs of the new birth, ready to faint and die for Christ, almost upon the brink of desperation. Others again were just lifted from the horrible pit, and beginning to lisp the first notes of the new song, and to tell the sweet wonders which they saw in Christ. Ministers and experienced Christians were everywhere engaged praying, exhorting, conversing and trying to lead in- quiring souls to the Lord Jesus. In this exercise the night was spent till near the break of day. The Sabbath was a blessed day in every sense of the word. The groans of awakened sinners could be heard all over the house during the morning sermon, but by no means so as to disturb the assembly. It was a comfortable time with many at the table. Mr. Mc- Gee preached in the evening upon the account of Pe- ter's sinking in the waves. In the application of his sermon the power of God seemed to shake the whole assembly. Toward the close of the sermon the cries of the distressed arose almost as loud as his voice. After the congregation was dismissed the solemnity increased till the greater part of the multitude seem- ed engaged in the most solemn manner. No person 84 TIMES OF REFRESHING. appeared to wish to go home; hunger and sleep seemed to affect nobody. Eternal things were the vast concern. Here awakening and converting work was to be found in every part of the multitude, and even some things strangely and wonderfully new to me. Sober professors, who had been communicants for many years, now lying prostrate on the ground, crying out in such language as this: 'I have been a sober pro- fessor, I have been a communicant; oh, I have been de- ceived, I have no religion.' The greater part of the multitude continued at the meeting-house all night." In 1801-2, there were also great revivals in North and South Carolina. Union meetings were not very common at that time, but Dr. Fur man gives an ac- count of a union meeting held by Baptists, Presby- terians, Methodists and others, at Waxhaws, about one hundred and seventy-eight miles from Charleston, at which three or four thousand people were present, and about twenty ministers. A large proportion of the great audience had traveled over bad roads, sev- enty or eighty miles from different parts of the state to attend this meeting. On their return home they spread the fire, and extraordinary religious interest was developed in many places. The character of the revival may somewhat be judged from the following description: "By the latest accounts we hear that the flame has reached South Carolina, and is going on with rapid progress. I would just mention for the comfort of God's people in your country, that I never knew a revival with fewer instances of decep- tions or delusive hopes. It is truly astonishing to find those who are delivered from their burden of REVIVALS OF 1800. 85 guilt and distress to be the subjects of such clear, rational, scriptural views of the gospel scheme of sal- vation, and the nature of Christ's satisfaction to the law and justice, and his willingness to save guilty, lost sinners. It is a common case for illiterate negroes and little children of five, six, seven and eight years old, when they get their first comforts, to speak of their views of the mediatorial glories of Christ; his full- ness, suitableness and sufficiency to save to the utter- most; their views of the holiness of God and the purity of the divine law, and such like subjects, with an elo- quence and pathos that wrould not disgrace a preacher of the gospel." The Eev. James McG ready, mentioned above, was an instrument in God's hand for wonderfully extend- ing the work throughout the Southern states. A man of great energy, decision of character and zeal for souls, he preached with a courage and vehemence throughout all that region that earned for him the name of Boanerges. His ministry was especially blest in North Carolina. The revival became gen- eral throughout that state. Dr. Foote, in his " Sketch- es of North Carolina," thus describes a communion season held at Cross Roads, Orange county: "No interest had attended the meetings up to the commun- ion season. At the service on that day the pas- tor arose to dismiss the people, intending first to say a few words expressive of his sorrow that apparently no advance had been made in bringing sinners to God. Overwhelmed with his sensations of distress that God had imparted no blessings to his people, he stood silent a few moments and then sat 86 TIMES OF REFRESHING-. down. A solemn stillness pervaded the congregation. In a few moments he rose again ; before he uttered a word, a young man from Tennessee, who had been in- terested in the revival there, and had been telling the people of Cross Roads during the meeting much about the state of things in the West, raised his hands and cried out, ' Stand still and see the salvation of God!' In a few moments the silence was broken by sobs, groans and cries, rising commingled from all parts of the house. All thoughts of dismissing the congrega- tion at once vanished. The remainder of the day was spent in the exercises of prayer, exhortation, singing and personal conversation, and midnight came before the congregation could be persuaded to go to "their respective homes. The excitement continued for a length of time, and many were hopefully converted to God. No irregularities appeared in this commence- ment of the great excitement in North Carolina; the sobs and groans and cries for mercy were unusual, but seemed justified by the deep feeling of individuals on account of the great interests concerned." In no part of the country, however, was the re- vival more marked with best features and productive of permanent results than in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. The people of that region were, as Dr. Gillett observes, " by no means the miscellane- ous driftwood which emigration usually floats oif from older communities to new settlements. Among them were men of culture, and a large proportion of them were characterized by stern religious principle. They were men whose energy and vigor were developed by the circumstances of their lot, and who, in grappling REVIVALS OF 1800. 87 with the forest and repelling or guarding against sav- age attacks, were made more sagacious, fearless and self-reliant." The beginnings of grace among the people were thus recorded by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, of Ohio: " It may almost be said that the Presbyterian Church in Western Pennsylvania was born in a revival. In 1778 Vance's Port, into which the families living ad- jacent had been driven by the Indians, was the scene of a remarkable work. There was but one pious man in the fort, Joseph Patterson, a layman, an earnest and devoted Christian, whose zeal had not waned, even amid the storm and terrors of war; and during the long days and nights of their besiegement he talked with his careless associates of an enemy more to be dreaded than the Indian, and a death more terrible than by the scalping-knife. As they were shut up within very narrow limits, his voice, though directed to one or two, could easily be heard by the whole company and thus his personal exhortations became public addresses. Deep seriousness filled every breast, and some twenty persons were there led to Christ. These were a short time subsequently formed into the Cross Creek Church, which built its house of worship near the fort, and had as its pastor for thirty-three years one of these converts, the Rev. Thomas Marquis. " From 1781 to 1787 a more extensive work of grace was experienced in the churches of Cross Creek, Upper Buffalo, Chartiers, Pigeon Creek, Bethel, Leb- anon, Ten Mile, Cross Roads and Mill Creek, during which more than a thousand persons were brought 88 TIMES OF REFRESHING. into the kingdom of Christ. Considering the unset- tled state of the public mind at the close of the Rev- olutionary war, the constant anxiety and watchfulness against the incursions of hostile Indians, the toils and hardships incident to new settlements, and the scarci- ty of ministers, this was a signal work of the Spirit, greatly strengthening the feeble churches." The revival in some of these congregations con- tinued almost without perceptible diminution for a number of years, and was everywhere marked by the same characteristics of a most thoi\u0di and genuine work of grace. Everywhere there was a deep sense of sin and its awful penalty, an humbling sense of the hardness of the heart and the blindness of the mind, an apprehension of the plan of salvation through the obedience, sufferings and death of the Savior, a cordial acceptance of Him as the sinner's only hope, and abiding peace and consolation as the result. Mr. Stevenson speaks of it as a work that was generally carried on in more ordinary and mod- erate manner than that in other parts of the country. Although convictions were deep and pungent, the sense of sin, guilt and danger very affecting, and the apprehensions of divine wrath distressing, yet in but few instances were they attended with any ex- traordinary bodily affections. The work was also remarkably free from enthusiasm, wild imagin- ations, and disorderly, hurtful irregularities. Al- though there were some instances of apostasy, yet it must be remarked, to the praise of free grace, that these were but few amongst those respect- ing whom their pious friends and the officers of the REVIVAL OF 1800. 89 Church entertained a favorable opinion that they had been the subjects of saving grace, and who were admitted to the communion of the Church. This work extended throughout western Pennsyl- vania and eastern Ohio, continued for several years, and has now for more than seventy years borne the precious fruit of a genuine revival of religion. Upon all that region it has set a stamp of intelligent piety and Christian activity. Some of the special services held during that time have probably never been sur- passed in the history of this country. Services were continued not only through th e whole of successive days, but sometimes through the intervening nights as well . There was very little of outward agitation, but a solemnity so silent and deep as to be overwhelming and awful in its character. The effect of these revivals was felt not only in the states that were moved by them, but even to this day they are thrilling the uttermost parts of the earth, for this was the beginning of modern missions. Up to this time there was no Foreign Missionary So- ciety, and no Bible, Tract or educational organiza- tions. The Church was purely on the defensive, and very feebly at that. In this revival Newell, Judson, Rice, Knott, Mills and other foreign missionaries were converted. The American Board was organized in 1810 to support the first band of foreign missionaries that went out from this country to India. About the same time the Baptist foreign board was organized at the call of Judson from far-off Burmah. A new life had taken 90 TIMES OF REFRESHING. possession of the whole Christian world. The Savior's commission was again heard ringing in the ears of his disciples. The Church shook herself from her slumber of many years and went forth to her con- quest of the world. If to-day we look hopefully to the future, if a dash of the sunrise that came over the Alleghanies at the beginning of the century begins to tip the Rocky and Sierras Ranges, to light np the Himalayas, and to fall with a prophesy of Christian life on China and Japan, let us remember the world's debt to the revival of 1800, — which is only to say, let us remember when God would open a new era that would girdle the world with its glory, He does it by pouring out his Spirit upon towns, villages and hamlets, so giving new energy and efficacy to that truth which, with feet as fair and swift as the morn- ing, shall run around the world. Who knows but the century which began with a Pentecost may end with the dawn of the Millennium? Looking back upon the leading features of this re- vival, they may, perhaps, be described in the follow- ing general terms: — a sense of unfaithfulness on the part of Christians, penitence and confession of their sins to one another and to the Lord, an affecting view of the love of God in the gift of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world, a new and enlarged sense of the value of immortal souls around them, and of their certain destruction out of Christ, and then earnest, believing, and importunate prayer for the sanctification of God's people and the salvation of sinners. As in 1740, so now, there was little of method or plan. The aggressive idea of winning the whole world to REVIVAL OF 1800. 91 Christ was but just dawning and had not taken full possession of the Church. Of a religious campaign in the modern sense of that word, nothing was known. The overwhelming ideas that stood over all their work, gave it their impress of solemnity and power, were the holiness of God, and the sinfulness and con- sequent peril of men. Under these ideas they wept over their sins and besought men to be reconciled to Christ. These ideas never more profoundly moved the Church than they did then, but the application of them to human necessities in all their fullness and breadth was, in the development of God's plan, re- served to a later age. CHAPTEK IV. REV. ASAHEL NETTLETON AND HIS EVANGELICAL WORK. In the middle portion of what is regarded by some writers as the most remarkable age of revivals in the history of the American Church, there appeared up- on the stage, following each other in quick succession, three men, wonderfully endowed of God and wonder- fully successful in their evangelical labor. These were Asahel Kettleton of New England, Daniel Ba- ker of the Southern States, and Charles G. Finney of New York and Ohio. They were, for a considerable portion of their lives, cotemporaries, and yet their en- trance upon the field of labor, as well as the chief work accomplished by each, was not synchronous, but following one the other, in the order in which their names have just been mentioned. It is proposed in this chapter to give some account of the first of the three, Eev. Asahel Nettleton. He was himself a child of the great revival epoch just referred to, and from his early manhood, no one con- tributed more to its distinctive character and success. He had the distinction of being a sort of pioneer in the revival work, and in the end, he became as true a 92 NETTLETON AND HIS WORK. 93 representative and exemplar of what are called Amer- can revivals, as any man who has ever preached amongst us. He seemed to possess a double portion of the evangelical spirit, and to combine, in his own character, all the highest and best gifts that fit a man for such work. The epoch of revival in which these men of God successively commenced their ministry, had its begin- ning about the opening of the present century. It is sometimes called the Great Revival of 1800. But it is more appropriately styled the Revival of Devel- opment and Organization. It would be a great mis- take to suppose that its chief or only work was accom- plished by the evangelists just named and others of the same order. They indeed acted an important, and, it may be, indispensable part, in their burning zeal, and by their itinerant labors. But in all parts of the land, especially in the New England States, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, the Carol i nas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, the revi- val spirit took possession both of pastors and church- es. Scores and hundreds of pastors had their own faithful labors sealed with the Divine blessing, in great and often repeated revivals; while most of the Colleges and Seminaries were visited in like manner. Among the Colleges visited with seasons of refresh- ing and ingathering during all this period, may be mentioned, Yale, under the presidencies of Drs. Dwight, and Day, Princeton, under Dr. Ashbel Green, Dartmouth, under Dr. Lord, and Amherst, under Dr. Humphrey. As an illustration of leading pastors, in widely separated parts of the Church, whose charges 94 TIMES OF REFRESHING. witnessed continual outpourings of the Spirit, in what might be called an unbroken series of revivals, may be named, Dr. Gardiner Spring of New York, Dr. Heman Humphrey of Pittsfield, Mass., Dr. Ly- man Beecher of Litchfield, Conn., and afterwards of East Hampton, L. I., Dr. John McDowell of Eliza- beth, N. J., and afterwards of Philadelphia, Dr. James Patterson of Philadelphia, Dr. David McGee of Eliz- abeth, N. J., Drs. Christmas and Baldwin of New York, Dr. Ichabod Spencer of Brooklyn, Dr. Wil- liam Nevins of Baltimore, Dr. Edward Pay son of Portland, Me., Dr. Alvan Hyde of Lee, Mass., Dr. Edward G. Griffin of Newark, N. J., Drs. Benjamin H. Rice, and George A. Baxter of Virginia, and many others too numerous to mention. This revival did not soon exhaust its force and pass away, as did the Great Awakening of the preceding century, in the times of Whitefield, Edwards and the Tennents. But it spread its blessed influences over the whole first quarter of the century, or more properly dating from its earliest beginnings in 1790, it covered the whole period of half a century. During its continuance, and under its blessed influences, were inaugurated nearly all the great benevolent associations, and all the evangelical, missionary and educational Boards and agencies of the Church. Thus originated in rap- id succession, the Bible, Tract, Sunday School, Tem- perance, Educational, Foreign and Home Missionary Societies, and our Theological Seminaries, with other kindred institutions for the spread of the gospel, and conversion of the world. Says Dr. Gardiner Spring, who was himself one of NETTLETON AND HIS WORK. 95 the early converts of this great movement, and lived to witness all its triumphs: "From the year 1800 down to the year 1825, there was an uninterrupted series of these celestial visitations spreading over dif- ferent parts of the land. During the whole of these twenty-five years there was not a month in which we could not point to some village, some city, some sem- inary of learning, and say, 'Behold what God hath wrought!' " At a later period of his ministry, the same venerable writer, taking a wider survey, says: "The period, commencing with the year 1792, and terminating with 1812, was a memorable period in the history of the American Church. Scarcely any por- tion of it but was graciously visited by copious effu- sions of the Holy Spirit. From north to south, and from east to west, our male, and more especially our female academies, our colleges, and our churches drank largely of this fountain of living waters. It was my privilege to enter upon the course of academ- ical life not far from the meridian of this bright day. There were no subjects that interested my mind more deeply, when I began my ministry among this peo- ple, than those revivals of religion which passed over the land of my boyhood." We have a similar testimony from Dr. Humphrey, President of Amherst College, in his "Revival Sketches." " In looking back fifty years and more, the great revival of that period strikes me, in its thoroughness, in its depth, in its freedom from ani- mal, unhealthy excitement, and its far-reaching influ- ence on subsequent revivals, as having been decidedly in advance of any that had preceded it. It was the 96 TIMES OF REFRESHING. opening of a new revival epoch which has lasted now more than half a century, with but short and partial interruptions— and blessed be God, the end is not yet." During the entire period covered by the successive ministry ofDrs. Nettleton, Baker and Finney, and in fact for more than ten years before Dr. Nettleton be- gan his public labors, the Spirit of God was present in the churches and wrought mightily in the conver- sion of sinners. Not alone under the direct agency of these itinerating evangelists did the great move- ment go on. While they were working, all good pas- tors were everywhere at work with revived zeal and a fresh baptism of the Spirit. God himself was present in the churches. In whole regions of country, and in multitudes of churches, not visited by the evangelists, there were great and precious revivals. This was specially the case in New Jersey, in Penn- sylvania, in Kentucky, in Virginia and New England. Says Dr. Humphrey, speaking of the twenty years when Dr. Nettle ton was in active service on the field, "Hundreds and thousands of churches connected with the various evangelical denominations in all parts of the country, were visited and blessed by the gracious outpourings of the Spirit, notice of which constantly appeared in weekly and other periodicals of the time." And it was well for the Church and for the Nation that it was so. For this was the very hour when our young, growing country, spreading its population in all directions, most needed God's presence. This was the very hour when our whole American Church, passing through her formative and organizing state, NETTLETON AND HIS WORK. 97 most needed the saving, plastic influences of the Holy Ghost, upon her people and her institutions. Asahel Nettleton, who was honored of God to per- form so important a part in this great revival era, was born in North Killingworth, Connecticut, on the 21st of April, 17S3. In the eighteenth year of his age he was converted to God in a season of revival in the Church where he resided. It had been his expectation to spend his days in agricultural pursuits, as he had been reared on a farm. He was the oldest sun of a family of six, and his father dying in 1801, the care of the family and the management of the farm seemed to devolve on him. But God designed him for a different course of life. AVhile laboring in the field he would often say to himself: If I might be the means of saving one soul, I should prefer it" to all the riches and honors of this world. He would frequently look forward to eternity, and put to him- self the question: What shall I wish I had done thousands and millions of years hence? Reading the missionary magazines of the period, a strong desire was awakened in his breast to become a missionary to the heathen, and he decided to devote his life to the missionary service if God, in his providence, should prepare the way. This was at a time when no foreign missionaries had yet gone from our land. Born on the same day with Samuel J. Mills, the pioneer of our American Missionary Boards, young Xettleton shared fully in the feeling expressed by the former: "That lie could not conceive of any course of life in which to pass the rest of his days, that would prove so pleas- ant, as to go and communicate the gospel salvation to the poor heathen." 98 TIMES OF REFRESHING. As there were no education societies in the land in his time, and his means were limited, he had much difficulty in obtaining a collegiate education. So strong, however, was his desire to become a minister of the gospel and a missionary to the heathen, that he resolved to make the attempt, even while laboring on the farm and devoting his leisure moments to study. After much difficulty and some delay, he succeeded in entering Yale College in 1805, and graduated after a four years' course of study. He was licensed to preach the gospel in 1811, and was ordained as an evangelist in the summer of 1817 by the South Con- sociation of Litchfield. After receiving license to preach, Mr. Nettleton re- fused to consider himself a candidate for settlement as pastor, because he intended and expected to engage in the missionary service as soon as the providence of God should prepare the way. He chose therefore to commence his labors in waste places, and in some of the most desolate places of the Lord's vineyard. He accordingly went to the eastern part of Connecticut on the borders of Rhode Island, and preached for a few months in a region entirely destitute of settled pastors. But he was never permitted to go to the heathen. The reasons why he did not go are thus stated in his Memoir by Dr. Tyler: Soon after he began to preach, his labors were crowned with signal success. "Wherever he went, the Spirit of God seemed to accompany his preaching. His brethren in the min- istry, witnessing the success of his labors, were of opinion that he ought, at least, to delay the execution of his purpose to leave the country. In deference to NETTLETON AND HIS WORK. 99 their opinion, he consented to delay; and as his labors became increasingly successful, his brethren were more and more convinced that God had called him to labor as an evangelist at home. Still, he never en- tirely abandoned the idea of a foreign mission, until his health failed in 1822." In the year 1812 Mr. Nettleton went to South Britain, Conn., and then to South Salem, JR. Y. He preached a week in one of these places and two months in the other with great solemnity, and with the mani- fest blessing of God on his labors. From that time onward through the next ten years it was his happy Jot to be employed almost constantly in revivals of religion. These two meetings formed but the be- ginning of a series of the most wonderful outpourings of the Spirit of God, to be found in the history of the Church. His biographer, Dr. Tyler, heard him for the first time on one of these occasions, and thus de- scribes his manner: " It was in a school-house, crowd- ed with people, not a few of whom were under deep conviction of sin. As he arose, being an entire stranger, every eye was fixed upon him. and a breath- less silence pervaded the assembly. "With great so- lemnity he looked upon the congregation, and thus be£:an: 'What is that murmur which I hear? — I wish I had a new heart. What shall I do? — The}- tell me to repent — I can't repent — I wish they would give me some other direction.' He thus went on for a short time, personating the awakened sinner, and bringing out the feelings of his heart. He then changed the form of his address, and in a solemn and affectionate manner, appealed to the consciences of 100 TIMES OF KEFRESHING. his hearers, and showed them that they must repent or perish, that it was their reasonable duty to repent immediately, and that ministers could not direct them to anything short of repentance, without being unfaithful to their souls. The address produced a thrilling effect, and served greatly to deepen the con- victions of those who were anxious." During this decade, from 1812 to 1822, his services were in great demand among the Churches, he was constantly acting as an evangelist, and wherever he went, a remarkable blessing attended his labors. It is impossible in our brief limits, to give an account of the wonderful results accomplished in these meetings, or even to enumerate the places in which he labored. Within the period just mentioned he was engaged in connection with more or less extensive revivals in from sixty to one hundred towns and parishes all over Connecticut, and in the adjacent parts of Massa- chusetts and New York. In most of these places there were scores, and in some of them hundreds, add- ed to the Church through his instrumentality. The amount of labor which Mr. Nettleton perform- ed during this period would seem almost incredible when it is remembered that he never possessed much vigor of constitution. During this time he preached generally three sermons on the Sabbath and several during the week, besides spending much time in visiting from house to house and conversing with in- dividuals on the concerns of their souls. How he could endure such accumulated labors was a mystery to many. But at length, in the autumn of 1822, lie was brought so low by a violent attack of typhus fe- NETTLETON AND HIS WORK. 101 ver, that neither he nor his friends had, for some time, any expectation of his recovery. Dr. Sprague, in the Annals of the American Pul- pit, thus speaks of his career at this early period of his ministry: "From the commencement of his course as a preacher, he evinced a remarkable power over the conscience, and it was quickly apparent that his ministrations were destined to produce no ordina- ry effect upon the public mind. The world did not indeed crowd after him as an eloquent man; but mul- titudes went to hear him, because they could not stay away. There was in all that he said a directness and pungency, which it was not easy to resist, and wherever he went, a rich blessing seemed to hang up- on his footsteps. In these circumstances, he was ear- nestly solicited by many of his brethren to abandon the idea of a foreign mission, which had been with him the cherished idea of many years, and devote himself to the work of an evangelist, in his own coun- try. He, however, consented only to postpone the carrying into effect of his purpose to be a missionary, and he never relinquished it till the failure of his health in 1822 obliged him to do so." There is no way by which we can give the reader a better idea of the character and extent of Mr. Nettle- ton's labors at this time, than by presenting a brief summary of his meetings during the last few years of this period, taken partly from Dr. Humphrey's Eevi- val Sketches,and partly from his Memoir. Exhausted by his incessant work in Connecticut, he went to Saratoga Springs, K Y., in the summer of 1819, not for the purpose of preaching, but simply for rest. 102 TIMES OF REFRESHING. But his services were soon in demand, and he com- menced preaching in the neighborhood. The result is thus stated: "This year, 1819, was a remarkable year of the right hand of the Most High in the county of Saratoga,New York. The work commenced in the summer, at Saratoga Springs, and about forty made a profession of religion, including some of the most prominent persons in the village. About the same time, there was a remarkable revival in Stillwater. In February a hundred and three were added to the church, and about a hundred more were rejoicing in. hope, expecting soon to be received. In Ballstoii, too, the work was very powerful, and at two communion- seasons a hundred and eighteen were added to the church, while the work was still increasing. In the adjoining town of Milton the work was overwhelming. In less than two months, more than a hundred and fifty were brought to rejoice in hope. In Amsterdam there were about fifty hopeful conversions." Dr. Tyler, his biographer, says: "This revival, which commenced at Saratoga Springs, and spread into the surrounding region, resulted in the hopeful conversion of not less than two thousand souls." Mr. Nettleton himself, writiug from Union College in April, 1820, writes: " I have no time to relate inter- esting particulars. I only add that some of the most stout-hearted and heaven-daring rebels have been in the most awful distress, and within a circle whose di- ameter is about twenty-fuiir miles, not less than eight hundred souls have been hopefully born into the kingdom of Christ since last September. In Malta there were such displays of the power of God's Spirit NETTLETON AND HIS W0EK. 103 in crushing the opposition of the natural heart, as are very seldom seen. The Deist and Universalist, the drunkard, the gambler and the swearer, were alike made the objects of this heart-breaking work. It was a place of great spiritual dearth, and, like the top of Gilboa, had never been wet by rain or dew; but the Lord now converted that wilderness into a fruitful field. A church was soon organized with eighty -five members." In the month of April, 1820, Mr. Nettleton commenc- ed his labors in Nassau, N. Y., near Albany, where he preached until the last of June, with similar results. More than a hundred had become subjects of Divine grace, of whom five young men prepared for the gos- pel ministry. Of this meeting he wrote out at the time a full account, which is given in his Memoir, and this is the only one of his revivals of which he has given a full record. In the same year was a pow- erful revival in New Haven, and about three hun- dred were added to the churches. It extended to most of the neighboring towns. Out of thirty-one con- gregations in the county of New Haven, at least twenty-five were visited, during the winter and spring, with the special presence of the Lord, and it was estimated that within those limits between fifteen, hundred and two thousand souls were called out of nature's darkness into marvelous light. In North Killingworth the revival was very powerful. It com- menced about the last of August in a Bible-class, and rapidly spread over the town. The hopeful converts were a hundred and sixty-two, a hundred and seven of whom united with the church at the communion-sea- son in January, and soon after twenty-five more. 104 TIMES OF REFRESHING. In 1822 and 1823 were many extensive revivals in the eastern part of Connecticut, of which Mr. Nettle - ton gives the following summary view: u Most of these churches have, in years past, been favored with seasons more or less reviving, but never with such a general and powerful refreshing from the presence of God. The following towns have shared in the work: In Somers one hundred and fifty have been made the subjects of divine grace. In Tolland one hundred and thirty. In South Wilbraham one hun- dred. In North Coventry one hundred and twenty. In South Coventry, North and South Mansfield, about one hundred in each. In Columbia forty. In Leba- non ninety. In Goshen thirty. In Bozrah seventy. In Montville ninety. In Chaplin fifty. " The work has recently commenced, and is advanc- ing with power in Hamj)ton, and within a few weeks fifty or more are rejoicing in hope. Also, within a few weeks past, the Spirit of God has descended with overwhelming power in Millington and Colchester. In the former place about seventy, and in the latter sixty, are already rejoicing in hope. They have never witnessed the like in the power and extent of the work. In the above cluster of towns, all contiguous, more than thirteen hundred souls have hopefully received a saving change since the work began. Of these, more than eight hundred have already made a profession of religion. In Chatham also the work is interesting, and about seventy are rejoicing in hope. The Lord has done great things for Zion, whereof we are glad; and let all her friends humbly rejoice, and bow, and give thanks, and exalt his name together." NETTLETON AND HIS WORK. 105 For the next two years Dr. Nettleton was laid aside from all public service. He had been brought so near to death, and recovered so slowly from his prostration, that he did not attempt to preach till the close of 1824, and then very seldom. Indeed, he never after- wards fully regained his health. But, beginning spar- ingly at first, he was after a few years engaged again in evangelical meetings in many places, through Con- necticut, Massachusetts and New York, and with the same manifestations of the Divine blessing which had attended his earlier ministry. Some of his most rem ark- able revivals took place during this period, as those at Taunton, at Brooklyn and Jamaica, Long Island, at Durham and at Albany, "N. Y., where he preached feeling that he was a dying man. Even in the Cats- kill mountains to which he had retired for the sake of health, he was constrained to hold services, and many were converted. While at this place, in a letter to a theological student, he gave this striking counsel: "Every itinerant preacher, especially if he has been engaged in a revival of religion, must feel the need of this last direction, 'Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile;' or suffer greatly if he long neglect it. I could not advise any one to be em- ployed in a powerful revival more than three months, without retiring into solitude for a short time, to re- view the past, and to attend to his own heart, He will find much to lament, and much to correct; and it is by deep and solemn reflection upon the past, and by this only, that he can reap the advantages of past experience." In the fall of 1827, Mr Nettleton, being advised by 106 TIMES OF .REFRESHING. his physicians, as a last resort, that he must seek a Southern climate in order to restore his health, went to Virginia where he remained till 1829, spending the winters in Prince Edward county, and his summers at the Springs in the mountains. But though so feeble, he could not be idle. As health and strength permit- ted, he labored in different parts of the State with much success, and was made the instrument of a great work of Divine grace. Writing to a friend in Connecticut at the end of the period, he says: "For three winters I have been in the Southern States, and my health has wonderfully improved, so that I have been able to labor almost incessantly. The scene ot the deepest interest was in the county of Prince Ed- ward, Yirginia, in the vicinity of the Union Theolog- ical Seminary, and Hampd en-Sidney College. Our first meeting of inquiry was at the house of Dr. Pice — the very mansion containing the Theological Students. More than a hundred were present, inquiring, ' What must we do to be saved?' Among the subjects of divine grace were a number of lawyers, six or seven, and some of them among the leading advocates at the bar. Some were men of finished education, who are soon to become heralds of salvation." Di. John H. Pice, here referred to, gives the fol- lowing testimony as to the nature and extent of this revival : " When Mr. Nettleton had strength to labor, he soon was made instrumental in producing a con- siderable excitement. This has extended, and now the state of things is deeply interesting. Five law- yers, all of very considerable standing, have embraced religion. This has produced a mighty sensation in NETTLETO.N AND HIS WORK. 107 Charlotte, Mecklenburg, Nottaway, Cumberland, Powhattan, Buckingham and Albemarle. The minds of men seem to stand a- tiptoe, and they seem to be looking for some great thing. Mr. Nettleton is a remarkable man, and chiefly, I think, remarkable for his power of producing a great excitement, without much appearance of feeling. The people do not either weep or talk away their impressions. The preacher chiefly addresses Bible truth to their con- sciences. I have not heard him utter, as yet, a single sentiment opposed to what you and I call orthodoxy. He preaches the Bible. He derives his illustrations from the Bible." Dr. Nettleton's influence during this visit was most marked and happy on the theological students. He also exerted a decided and salutary influence over many clergyman of the State as he became acquaint- ed with them, by exciting in their minds an increased interest in revivals. One of them, after being with him two weeks, and hearing in conversation his theo- logical views and methods, said, " On all these sub- jects he was the most interesting and instructive indi- vidual with whom I have ever had intercourse; and on the subject of revivals of religion, incomparably the wisest man I ever saw." As an illustration of his wonderful tact and sagacity in winning souls, in the daily intercourse of life, which was indeed one of his most striking characteristics, we select from his Memoir a touching incident related by himself in a letter to a friend. u During my residence in Virginia, I took a tour across the Alleghany Mountains, about two hundred 108 TIMES OF REFRESHING. miles, to spend a short time during the warm season. On my way, I spent a few weeks at a place called Staunton, where I left a pleasant little circle of young converts. On a certain Sabbath, as we were almost destitute of singers, I noticed a female voice, which from its fullness, and sweetness, and wildness, all com- bined, attracted my attention. On arriving at my lodgings I inquired of a young lady whose voice it could be, and whether we could not catch and tame it, and enlist it in our service? The name, I was informed, was S — L. ' Will you not invite her to call and see us?' ' Oh, she is a very gay and thoughtless young lady ; was never at our house, and we have no acquaintance with her.' ' Tell her from me that I wish to see her— that I wa*t the aid of her voice.' N — went out, and in a few moments returned with the interesting stranger, who sat down with a pleasing, pensive coun- tenance, which seemed to say, Now is my time to seek an interest in Christ. And so it was that she and her sister, and fifteen or twenty others, became deeply impressed, and soon became joyful in Christ. This little circle would call on me daily, linking hand in hand, and smiling through their tears, would sing Redeeming Love. I bade them farewell — and now for the sequel. I have received a letter from Dr. "Wardell, the worthy physician of that place, at whose house I resided, from which I will give an extract. 'We have had several instances of death from typhus fever since you left us. The only individual whom you know, included in this number, was one of your little circle, — S. L. It will be no less gratifying to you than it is to her friends here, to learn that she NETTLETON AND HIS WORK. 109 gave abundant evidence of the genuineness of the Christian profession. To go a little into detail. She had been complaining for several days, before she would consent to lie by; and did not call in medical aid for some days after her confinement. I first saw her six days from her first attack, when she was en- tirely prostrate. She said she believed she shun 1*1 not recover, nor had she any desire to live longer. So far from being dismayed at death, she seemed to view it as one of the most joyful events. I was in some perplexity to ascertain whether these were the feel- ings of a sound mind, and the vigorous exercise of faith; and closely watched for some incoherences which might settle the inquiry; but there was nothing of the kind. She was too weak to converse much, but had her friends summoned around her, to give them a word of exhortation; expressing a strong desire to be the means of leading one soul to heaven. She took great delight in gazing on those whom she had been accus- tomed to meet in your little religious circle, because she expected to meet them in heaven. She often spoke of you, and your little social meetings, prayed for you, and said she should meet you in a larger cir- cle in heaven than she had ever done in Staunton. In order to test the correctness of her apprehension, I asked her if she would feel no diffidence in beinc- o admitted into the presence of a Holy God, and the holy beings who surround his throne? She had strength only to reply, < But I am washed— I am washed! ' She lived fourteen days after I saw her first. I have been thus particular, because she requested that some one would inform you of her death. You 110 TIMES OF REFRESHING. will pardon me for sending you this little story. It cannot touch your feelings as it does my own. You may read it to your young people as a token of affec- tionate remembrance from their unworthy friend." Returning to New England somewhat improved in health, though not restored, he preached at different places as his strength permitted. At Munson, Mass., in 1829, and in the cities of New York and Newark in 1830 — 1831, his preaching was again attended with the Divine blessing. In 1832, at the advice of his friends, he made a visit to England. After his return he preached for some time at Enfield, Conn., and in- several other places, with precious revival influences on his labors. In 1833, he took an active part in the organization of the Theological Seminary at East Windsor, Conn., and was appointed one of its Pro- fessors.. Here he continued to reside, giving occa- sional lectures to the students, again visiting the South from time to time for his health, and preach- ing as his infirmity allowed, until May 1844, when his useful life ended in a peaceful and happy death, and he entered into the glorious rest of the blessed. Dr. Nettleton was never married. So devoted was he to the one great work of his life, so unselfish and self-sacrificing, that he sometimes even refused to ac- cept money, which his friends had voluntarily raised for his support. It is stated by his biographer, that during the first ten years of his ministry, though con- stantly laboring in revivals, he received as a compen- sation for his services, a sum barely sufficient to de- fray expenses; so that when his health broke down in 1822, he was found so destitute that his friends in NETTLETON AND HIS WOEK. Ill different places had to defray the expenses of his sickness. After narrating, even in this brief and imperfect way, the prominent facts of a career like this, it will not be necessary to add much as to his style of preach- ing and his peculiar method of conducting revivals. No man could be more judicious and cautious in deal- ing with souls. This seemed to be his special gift. Probably no man was ever endowed, excepting those only who are inspired of God, with a more wonderful sagacity and insight, as it regards the workings of the human mind. In all his revivals he resorted to no extra means or agencies. He seemed to need none. Relying simply on the preaching of the truth, and the influence of the Holy Ghost accompanying the "Word, in all his revivals, whether short or long con- tinued, he was for the most part satisfied with the ordinary Sabbath services, with one or two evenings in the week for preaching. With great solemnity and directness he proclaimed the saving truths of the gospel. He then followed this up with inquiry meet- ings for the anxious, held in a smaller room, and with personal conversations held with individuals from house to house. There was an indescribable awe upon his congregations while he was preaching, making them feel that God was in the house, and there was an indescribable charm in his conversations and ad- dresses when he met the anxious in the inquiry room. Says Mr. Cobb, of Taunton, one of his most intimate friends and fellow laborers, " His visits among the people were frequent, but short and profitable. He entered immediately on the subject of the salvation 112 TIMES OF REFRESHING. of the soul, and the great importance of attending to it without delay. He did not customarily propound questions and require answers, lest by this means he should turn the attention of sinners from their own wretched state, by leading them to think 4 how they should reply to the minister.' He was so well ac- quainted with the human heart, that he seemed to have an intuitive perception of what was passing in the minds of those whom he was addressing. Thus he could so direct his conversation as to produce silence and self-condemnation, and confine their thoughts to their own lost and ruined state, sometimes remarking, ' You have no time to spend in conversa- tion, before the salvation of the soul is secured.'' " When any indulged a hope which was not satisfac- tory, he would say, ' You had better give it up, and seek your salvation in earnest.' Well versed in all the doctrinal and experimental parts of the gospel; feeling deeply in his own heart the power of divine truth, he was qualified, beyond most, to judge of the character of others' experience; and though mild and conciliatory in his manner, he was faithful in his warnings against false hopes and spurious conver- sions. All selfish considerations in the concerns of the soul he discarded; and he never used any art or cunning to entrap, or produce commitment on the part of sinners. In the anxious circle he was short, direct in his remarks, concluding with a short and fervent prayer; directing his petitions solely to God, and not displaying eloquence, or seeking to fascinate the congregation, lie seemed to lose sight of man, and to be absorbed in a sense of the divine presence." NETTLETON AND HIS WOKK. 113 " In his sermons, of which I heard sixty, he was, in manner, simple. He spoke with a clear voice — rather slow and hesitating at first, but gradually rising, till before the close, it was like a mighty tor- rent bearing down all before it. As the revival be- came more interesting and powerful, he preach- ed more doctrinally. He brought from his treasure the doctrines of total depravity, personal election, reprobation, the sovereignty of divine grace, and the universal government of God in working all things after the counsel of his own will. And these great doctrines did not paralyze, but greatly pro- moted the good work." Dr. Sprague and others tell us with what amazing power he sometimes uttered a single word or sentence, which would smite and penetrate like an arrow, and could never be forgotten. Dr. Edward Beech er gives the following illustration of this, in a sermon which he heard on the parable of the lost sheep: " In one part of the sermon he came to a point in his descrip- tion of the state of the sinner, where he rose to the climax of emotion and impression, by ringing out in clear and thrilling tones the words 'lost/ lost!! LOST!!!' It startled and electrified me at the time, but I did not know how great was its practical power till he told me that those words had been the arrows of the Almighty to many in the various places in which the sermon had been delivered/' Dr. Beecher adds, " So long as I knew Mr. Nettleton, he never re- sorted to what are called ' anxious seats,' nor did he call on his hearers to rise for prayer or to testify their purpose to serve God. Nor did he ever engage in 114 TIMES OF REFRESHING. protracted meetings. The services of the Sabbath and one or two weekly lectures he generally regarded as sufficient, in connection with meetings of inquirers, for religious conversation, and small social circles for exhortation and prayer. The tones of his voice were deep and solemn, his person was dignified and com- manding, and in his countenance and whole aspect there was such a manifestation of absolute conviction of eternal realities, and of deep earnestness and emotion, that few could remain long in his presence unmoved." All the great revivals under Dr. Nettleton were in an eminent degree beneficial to the Churches; and their effects were as permanent as they were salutary. They invariably strengthened the Churches, and en- couraged the hearts of their pastors. There is no in- stance on record, in which his ministry ever divided a church, or failed to augment the affection of the people for their pastor. It is the unvarying testi- mony of his cotemporaries, that these revivals exerted a powerful and lasting influence for good upon society at large wherever they occurred. So striking was the evidence that they were not of man's devising, but from divine agency, that in many cases a marked so- lemnity and awe took possession of the whole com- munity. Such was the feeling of the aroused con- sciences of men, in those times, that the very name of a revival had a wonderful power. The announcement in a congregation, that a revival had begun in a neighboring town would produce great solemnity on the whole assembly. The general feeling seemed to be that God had come nigh, and was calling men in NETTLETON AND HIS WORK. 115 solemn accents to meet him. As to the permanence of the results on the newly converted, Dr. Kettleton himself thus writes: " For a number of years I have kept a list of the names of those who have hopefully experienced religion, and made a profession of it in these revivals. I have watched them with anxious solic- itude, and have made particular inquiry about the spir- itual welfare of each one as opportunity presented. The thousands who have profe?sed Christ, in this time, in general, appear to run well. Hitherto, I think they have exhibited more of the Christian temper, and a better example, than the same number who have pro- fessed religion when there was no revival." CHAPTEK V. REV. DANIEL BAKER AND HIS EVANGELICAL LA- BORS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. While Dr. Nettleton was carrying forward his wonderful revival meetings in Connecticut and the adjacent States, there was a young student first pass-, ing through College, and then pursuing his Theo- logical studies in preparation for the ministry, whom God had especially called and anointed to do a simi- lar work in many of the Southern States. This was Daniel Baker, whose name is still cherished, with reverence and love, in many a Christian household of the South — a man of great simplicity of character and singleness of aim in life, endowed of God with evangelical gifts of the highest order, and through a long ministry, successful in winning souls to Christ, to a degree not excelled by any one of his cotemporaries. His successful revival work commenced indeed, while he was yet in College, but his public ministry em- braced a period of forty-one years from 1816 to 1857. In the double capacity of pastor and evan- gelist, his ministry was extended over a far wider field than usually falls to the lot of Presby- terian clergymen. It embraced, in fact, a large por- tion of the Southern and Western States, from Wash- ington City to Texas, where his useful life closed in <72<*^c REV. DA.NIEL BAKER. 117 1857. As a missionary and revivalist among the churches, he held the same pre-eminent position in this vast region, which had been accorded to Dr. Net- tleton in the Eastern churches. In some respects there was a marked correspondence of work and character between the two. Each pos- sessed in eminent degree the passion for souls, the burning evangelical spirit, which shrank from no toil and no sacrifice in the Master's cause. Each was at the same time deeply imbued with a reverent, con- servative, and even cautious cast of mind, which shrank from all rash or doubtful measures, and felt that it must walk softly before the Lord. While Dr. Nettleton was never married, Dr. Baker married ear- ly and reared a family leaving two sons in the minis- try. While the former was a Congregationalist and the latter a Presbyterian, their work was identical in spirit, and in all that constitutes Christian character, they were brothers. In the extent of his work, in the signal man- ifestations of God's blessing, and in the multi- tude of persons converted under his ministry, Dr. Baker has probably never been excelled in the history of the Presbyterian pulpit. He has been appropriately called the Whitefield of the South. In fervor and devotion of spirit, in the be- seeching pathos and unction of his manner in preach- ing, as well as in the extent of his travels and the suc- cess of his labors, he well deserves the compliment of such comparison. But in the symmetry of his min- isterial character and in the judiciousness of his counsels and measures, he was a very different man 118 TIMES OF REFRESHING. from the Great English Evangelist. It seems a strik- ing coincidence, that in each case, there was the grand endeavor, pursued with unabated enthusiasm through years of toil, of founding a great educational and beneficent Institution. Whitefield crossed the At- lantic many times and traveled over the British Isles, raising funds to accomplish his favorite scheme of an Orphans' Home in Georgia, and at last succeeded in founding the first institution of the kind in America. Baker spent the last seven years of his life in a simi- lar effort, and after many journeys through the states, had the satisfaction of founding at Austin, Texas, the first College to give a Christian education and pre- pare young men for the ministry, in that great State. It is not easy to give in brief compass, an adequate view of the extent, variety, and wonderful character of his evangelical labors. They began with the be- ginning of his studies for the ministry at Ilampden- Sidney College in 1811, when about twenty-two years old, and ended only with his life at the age of sixty- six. He was born in Liberty count}7, Georgia, in 1791, and after studying awhile at Hampclen-Sidney, graduated with honor at Princeton in 1815, just four years after he had first taken up his Latin grammar. In both institutions he engaged in special efforts for the salvation of his fellow students, and at Princeton College, then under the Presidency of Dr. Ashbel Green, he was the chief instrument of an extensive revival of religion among the young men. On grad- uating he pursued his theological studies at Win- chester, Virginia, with Dr. William Hill, teaching at the same time a Female Academy, and engaging in REV. DANIEL BAKER. 119 exhortations and religious services among the people. He was licensed to preach the gospel in 1816. In 1818 he was settled as pastor in the Church of Harri- sonburg, Virginia. This was his first charge. These early beginnings were but the harbingers of the re- markable career which awaited him. His whole min- istry embraced six different pastoral charges in as many different states, in all of which he performed a large amount of missionary and evangelistic work in connection with his pastorate. In fact, he always made it a point, to have an understanding with his people on taking any new pastoral charge, that he should have the liberty of spending a portion of. his time in such labors whenever the way was opened, and God called him to it. His successive pastoral charges were at Harrisonburg, Ya., Washington City, Savannah, Ga., Frankfort, Ky., Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Holly Springs, Miss. In every one of them he had the seal of the Divine blessing on his work. During these several pastorates it was his custom to spend a large portion of his time in extended mis- sionary excursions. He preached night and day for weeks in succession, attended by immense congrega- tions, and honored of God in the conversion of sinners and the edification of his people. Repeatedly, too, during his ministry, in order that he might give him- self the more fully to the work of an evangelist, he re- signed his pastoral charges, and took an appointment from the Synod or Presbytery. Thus he traveled over whole States preaching the gospel, not only through all the Churches, but in regions beyond, where it had never been heard before. 120 TIMES OF .REFRESHING. In this way he preached to thousands through Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas, with portions of Louisiana, Missouri, and Ohio. Before he became a resident of Texas, he had already gone to that State, on two different mission- ary excursions, and had preached the gospel in many parts of it, from Galveston to the Kio Grande. It has already been stated that his last seven years were devoted to what he regarded as the great effort of his life, the raising of a hundred thousand dollars to found Austin College in Texas. During thes-e years he made four extended visits to the older States, some of them as far East as New York City, collecting funds, and preaching to the crowds who nocked to hear him. It was a striking fact attending these visits, that though he was past sixty, and doing what to some might seem the secular work of raising money, he still told the story of the cross with the enthusiastic unction and the same blessed results that had marked his earlier years. In North and South Carolina especially, he preached in the very churches which had witnessed the triumphs of divine grace under his ministry twenty years before. Day after day, and week after week, he labored on from place to place, in a series of revival meetings in which hun- dreds were added to the churches. Not unfrequently he spoke from the pulpit, or in the prayer and in- quiry meeting, between six and seven hours every day. His intellectual and spiritual resources seemed as full and fresh as in his youth, while his physical BEV. DANIEL BAKER. 121 powers of endurance seemed to know no exhaustion in his Master's work. It must be added, as illustrating the apostolic spirit of the man, that his frequent removals from his pas- toral charges were caused by no dissatisfaction on the part of his people, but sprang from his own yearning desire to preach the gospel as an evangelist. In every instance he resigned his pastorate at the height of his popularity and influence among the people, when it almost broke their hearts to give him up, and when it cost his family much inconvenience and self-sacri- fice to remove. As an instance of this, in 1831, when he had been about fifteen years in the ministry, he resigned his pastoral charge over the large and flourishing congre- gation of Savannah, and spent two years as an evan- gelist through the States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, preaching those graphic and power- ful sermons, which have since been published in his volumes, called " Kevival Sermons." He says in his autobiography, that his sermons for this whole pe- riod averaged two for every day in the year; and that two thousand and five hundred persons were savingly converted and added to the church. A large number of these were gentlemen of education and distinction in the community, who afterwards wielded a powerful influence for good. Some of them entered the min- istry, and reached the highest spheres of usefulness in Presbyterian, Baptist, and Episcopal pulpits. Among his converts during this tour were Bishops Elliott of Georgia and Barnwell of South Carolina, of the Episcopal church, and Dr. Richard Fuller of Baltimore, of the Baptist church. 122 TIMES OF KEFBESHING. After this extended and exhausting labor of two years, he set out to go to Ohio, but on the way was providentially detained in the vicinity of Prince Ed- ward, Virginia. Here he remained for one year, and at the urgent solicitation of the pastors, held a series of protracted meetings in the Churches of that region. His labors were again greatly blessed by the out- pouring of the Divine Spirit, and resulted in the con- version of one thousand souls. These two instances of the success of his evangelical labors are referred to simply to give the reader some conception of the work which distinguished Dr. Baker's ministry from its beginning to its close. Until he was stricken down by his last sickness, he had never ceased to travel, and to hold protracted meetings. As he had done in all the older States where he resided, so he traversed the whole State of Texas, preaching the gospel to its ut- most western borders where there were no organized Churches, and where it had never been heard before. It has been estimated that the number of persons hopefully converted under his preaching could not have been less than twenty thousand. The influence exerted upon the Presbyterian Churches, and upon other evangelical Churches, in this vast region is be- yond all computation. Who can estimate the good done to uncounted multitudes, both of saints and sinners, who heard his voice, and were impressed by his beseeching eloquence? This brief summary may serve to give some idea of his spirit and character to those not acquainted with him, or who have not read the memoir published by his son. They may ask the question, What constituted REV. DANIEL BAKER. 123 his peculiar power as a preacher? Wherein lay the secret of his success in persuading sinners to be rec- onciled to God? Perhaps a true solution will be found in a characteristic passage of his diary, penned while he was yet a student in Hampden- Sidney Col- lege: " Dry, logical sermons, with rounded periods, de- livered in a cold, formal and heartless manner, I can never relish, however beautified by the superficial elegances of composition; and I question if the good effects which flow from such preaching will be suffi- cient to compensate the minister for all his care, labor and refinement. I love warm, animating, lively, evangelominos preaching, full of fire, breathing love and compassion. Oh, may I never become a cold, life- less, sentimental preacher, but may I imitate the zeal of a Whitefield, the tenderness of a Hervey, the af- fection of a Baxter, and blend all with the pure, sound, evangelical principles of a Doddridge." The style of preacher, thus early indicated as the ideal of his aspirations, he certainly did attain to in an eminent degree. Warmth, fire, tenderness, earnest- ness, unction, directness, pungency, and sound doc- trine were the striking features that marked his preaching; and they were combined with so much originality and freshness, such uniqueness of thought, feeling and method, as well as of voice, look and ges- ture, as to enchain the attention of all hearers, and make them feel that what he uttered was the truth of God. All men felt, — no man that heard and saw him from day to day in his revival work could possibly doubt, — that Daniel Baker was a man of God, that his 124: TIMES OF REFRESHING. soul was tilled with the love of Christ, and that he knew by experience what he preached to others. His whole style and method of preaching was so peculiar to himself, so unlike that of all other preachers, that it might be said with emphasis, there was but one Daniel Baker in the world. The supreme purpose of his life was to save souls and honor Christ. This intense, uniform devotion to his work, this burning desire to preach so as to save men, was no doubt one main secret of his power with God and his influence over men. He was a thorough Presbyterian, and most ardently attached to the doc-' trines and polity of his own Church. At the same time, he was a man of large Catholic spirit, in loving sympathy with all evangelical Christians of every name. Through his whole ministry, his influence over other denominations was second only to that over his own. We have probably never had a minister whom Christians of all evangelical Churches held in higher honor, or loved more to hear. All claimed him as their own, and he recognized all as his breth- ren. He was especially admired by the colored people of the South, for whom he felt the deepest in- terest, to whom he always preached when opportunity was given, and who flocked in great crowds to hear him. He was in full accord with the spirit of the sublime apostrophe related of Whitefi eld, and sometimes re- peated it to his own hearers: "Father Abraham, have you any Episcopalians in Heaven? No, we have none here by that name. Father Abraham, have you any Presbyterians in heaven? "No, Presbyterians are not known here. Father Abraham, have you any REV. DANIEL BAKER. 125 Baptists in heaven? ]5To, that name is never heard here. Well, Father Abraham, liave you any Chris- tians in heaven? Yes, all are Christians here, we have none but Christians in heaven." Few men, perhaps, have ever been so active and so successful in bringing young men into the ministry. That purpose was distinctly before him in the found- ing of Austin College, and it seemed indeed never to be absent from his mind. A single incident, will illus- trate his zeal in this respect. In 18M, when he was visiting the Churches of Mississippi, as an evangelist, in a small county-seat town, where he had an appointment to preach, he was entertained at the house of an influ- ential and cultivated gentleman, then married and en- gaged in secular business, who till then had not known Dr. Baker. He stayed only a few days, but before he left the house, he had succeeded in convincing this gentleman that it was his duty to preach the gospel. In less than one year, the gentleman was accordingly in the full work of the ministry, and spent his life in the service. A minister of another denomination, who was accustomed to hear him frequently, while a pastor in Washington, attracted by his earnest preaching and consistent life, thus writes after his death: u He was a man of prayer ; he preached to save souls ; he walked with God. For more than thirty years I have not seen, but I have often been gratified by hear- ing of his evangelical labors and his abundant success. Twenty thousand converts ! What a host of gems for one servant to collect out of the rubbish of a depraved world for his Master's crown ! Knowing the man as 126 TIMES OF REFRESHING. lie was from 1822 to 1827, I can easily understand the secret of his usefulness. He sought the appointed end ; he labored upon the appointed plan ; he used the appointed means. He was sincere, earnest, simple- minded. He did one thing, and did it well. Surely, his rest was glorious. "' The same thing is well expressed by his biograph- er: " There is no disguising the fact, he wras a man of one book, the Bible; of one idea, the salvation of men by a crucified Savior; of one occupation and ob- ject in life, the making known, as he was enabled of God, this salvation to men." Dr. Baker, as already indicated, was eminently con- servative in all his principles and methods. He went a little farther than Dr. Nettleton had done, and made use of the anxious seat to a limited extent, that is to say, he called upon the people to show their interest in salvation by coming forward to be prayed for. But he did this with much caution and solemnity. His decided preference was for the inquiry meeting, of which he made much use in all his revivals. He was always respectful and deferential to the pastors in whose Churches he preached. A pastor himself, he assumed no authority over them. In all his meetings he loved to labor with the pastors, and under their direction. His presence in a congregation invariably strengthened the influence of the pastors, and the re- spect of the people for them. This was indeed one of the most blessed results of his widely extended move- ments among the Churches. Pastors and people were always, and everywhere, glad to receive him, and sorry when the time came for his departure. While REV. DANIEL BAKER. 127 all Christians loved and honored him, we have prob- ably never had an evangelist in all onr history, who had so fully won the high respect, approval, and even admiration, of the people of the world wherever he lived. No man, probably, has lived in our times, who re- alized more fully what it was to live the life of faith and trust, and of close communion with God. He carried this spirit into all his pulpit ministrations. He preached the things of the gospel with that sort of vivid impression of them and that relish for them, which might be in&pired by having seen and felt them. His testimony was like that of an eye- witness. For all forms of metaphysics and specula- tive philosophy he had a positive aversion. Why should he reason and debate about truths which he knew and felt, had seen and heard on the holy mount? "As to studying the elaborate works against Christianity [remarks his biographer] he occasionally attempted it; but his patience would always fail. With him it was worse than if he should stand at high noon, and with the meridian splendor of the sun blazing full upon the page, read an argument proving that there is no sun. He was not philosophic enough for the task." To one who had never seen or heard Dr. Baker, it would be difficult to convey an adequate conception of his personal appearance and peculiar style of preaching. His manner was always that of the best extemporaneous speakers — free, easy, natural, fluent, animated. He was never known to use any kind of manuscript in the pulpit. His sermon, on all occa- 128 TIMES OF REFRESHING. Bions, was a speech, pointed, direct, and delivered without ever hesitating one instant for the proper word or the proper thought. And though he had such wealth of diction, that he seemed able to speak all day, he was never prolix. Through life, in the midst of the most exciting revival scenes, where the people would have stayed all night to hear him, his sermons were always characterized by brevity — often not over thirty or thirty-five minutes long. But these short sermons, seemingly so off-hand and un- studied, were the beaten oil of the sanctuary. They were the very condensation of weighty matter, in terse, simple, pungent, powerful diction. There was not one superfluous expression, not one redundant word. Every word and sentence filled its chosen place, and went home to the heart and conscience of the hearer. Every sermon was constructed with a view to produce immediate results; every sentence and paragraph, every argument and illustration, add- ed to the impression as he advanced, and the dis- course closed when that impression was at its height. It is scarcely necessary to say, after this statement, that Dr. Baker's sermons were thoroughly prepared. They were, in fact, carefully written out; and for the most part, he preached them precisely as he had written them, without changing a word or sentence in the delivery. The revival sermons, which have since been published, were often repeated, and usually without change. He did not alter them in the least, either as to matter or expression, but preached them on all occasions, with equal animation and effect, just as they now stand in his volumes. Why should he REV. DANIEL BAKER. 129 have changed them? For the object he had in view, they were as perfect as they could be made. Each discourse was a unit, distinct in its theme, symmet- rical in its plan, vivid with apt illustrations, clear in its statements, full of saving gospel truth, and as sim- ple and forcible in its diction as language could be made. It was thought reduced to its simplest, clear- est elements; and language condensed to its briefest, strongest terms. Nothing can exceed the unity of conception, the symmetry of plan, the concise strength of diction, the aptness of illustration, the radiant clearness of style, the unction of saving truth, and the adaptation to their end, that mark these revival sermons. They may well be commended as a study for our young ministers. Dr. Baker once re- marked that in tbe early years of his ministry, he had carefully written out between two and three hundred of these sermons, and that he could preach anv of them on very short notice, without any use of the manuscript — so retentive was his memory, and so complete his mastery of their contents. It has been stated that, when Mr. Moody was in England in the midst of his great revival work, he was requested by some friends to prepare a series of his own sermons and addresses for publication in a volume. He declined the proposal, but at once sug- gested the publication of a volume selected from the revival sermons of Daniel Baker. Any one who was at all acquainted with the spirit of the two men, or the identity of the great doctrines preached by them, would be struck with the fitness of the selection, in which the greatest of lay preachers commended the 130 TIMES OF REFRESHING. heart-stirring discourses of Daniel Baker as being the truest and best exponent of his own gospel. His personal appearance was striking and unique. He was about the medium height, with broad shoul- ders, strongly and compactly built, without being corpulent, and capable of great physical endurance, with large and grave features, and a voice deep, sono- rous and distinctly audible to its lowest whisper. He was one of the happiest men on earth ; and his face, though grave, was always lighted, as if from the sun- shine of his cheerful spirit. He was never loud or boisterous, extravagant or vehement, even in the most, exciting scenes. There was no approach to violence or vociferation; but his voice, deep, full and distinct, had an indescribable earnestness and pathos, which no one who heard it could ever forget. While speak- ing, there was an aspect of solemnity, of reverence, of benignity, of peace with God and good will to man, upon his face and in his whole deportment, which was but the reflection of that high communion which his soul held with God. Judged by the work he accomplished, and the multitude of souls he won for Christ, there is no man of the past generation bet- ter entitled to be called a great gospel preacher than Daniel Baker. Nothing in all his interesting autobiography and the supplementary memoir by his son, has struck us with greater force than the following passage by the latter, as giving the true key to his excellence as a preacher: " The remark was often made in regard to Dr. Ba- ker, how high he would have risen, had he gone from REV. DANIEL BAKER. 131 the outset into political life, instead of the pulpit; what a millionaire he would have become as a mer- chant. Let the truth be spoken. It is not so. It was the religion of Jesus Christ, which in almost ev- ery sense of the word made him the man he was. In following his Master, he attained a larger manhood than he would ever otherwise have known. The knowledge of Christ elevated, expanded and strength- ened his intellect, as nothing else could have done. It was the love for Christ, and the consequent love for his fellowmen, which enlarged, invigorated and lent a swifter beat to his heart. Intellect, heart, even bodily frame, received from God, the Holy Ghost, a supernatural development and quickening. It was the knowledge of the Son of God that caused him to grow, so far as he did grow, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Had he remained unregenerate, he would never, in any pursuit of life, have risen, as a man, to the rank of manhood he did attain as a servant of Christ. No other object whatever could have aroused him to the energy he displayed in striving for the salvation of souls. . ]STo conceivable motive could have constrained him as did the love of Christ. What duty was to Wellington, glory to Napoleon, love of country to Washington, the love of Christ was to him, as it was to Paul, and as it is to all servants of Christ accord- ing to their measure of faith." It has been the fashion with a certain class of semi- skeptical writers, like Carlyle, to disparage the Chris- tianity of the present age, as one of cant and hypoc- risy, of words rather than deeds, of empty professions 132 TIMES OF REFRESHING. and shams; and to speak of faith as having died out with the men of former times. The life of Daniel Baker is a sufficient refutation of the slander. No man can follow this career of forty-one years, through mental and bodily toil, and voluntary self-exile, for a large part of the time, from all the comforts and endearments of the home circle, without feeling that religion with him was all in all; that faith was earnest and real, full of the heroism of great deeds; and that the ruling passion of his soul, like that of Paul, was to glorify his Master, and do good to dying men. To this miracle of a pure, holy, disinterested life, spend- ing itself joyfully for the good of others, in a world of selfishness and ambition, Christianity may now point with the same confidence to Daniel Baker and others of like spirit, as it once did to the example of Paul. Behold what he did for the gospel of Christ! Nay, rather first behold what the gospel of Christ did for him! C^t^t^^^y7 * CHAPTEK VI. THE REVIVALS UNDER THE LABORS OF REV. CHARLES G. FINNEY, Any history of revivals prepared by human hands must contemplate them chiefly on their human side. The facts to be set forth and the problems to be studied therein relate primarily to the human agents. This does not deny the presence of a divine agency, and should never be allowed to disparage or dishonor it. The presence and power of the Spirit of God are always to be assumed wherever souls are new-born to holiness. One of the most vital problems we have to study pertains to the interworking of the human with the divine — the laws that control the glorious fact — man, a " laborer with God;" the gospel " treasure in earthern vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of man;" a Paul to plant and an Apollos to water, but one mightier than either to " give the increase." Comparing one with another the various waves of revival power that have passed over portions of our country within the past one hundred and forty years, it is noticeable that in some the human agents have appeared in groups, with perhaps some one central figure, more prominent than the rest; while in others the human agency has been almost exclusively that 134 TIMES OF REFRESHING. of some one man. Of the latter sort are the revivals that have been associated with the name of Charles G. Finney. Contemplated on their human side, these re- vivals appear in the light of history to have been very largely due to his personal influence and labors. Let it not be supposed that for this reason there has been in them more of man and less of God, or that any more honor is due to the human instrument than if the labor had been shared by so many that no one name could legitimately appear in history at all. Mr. Finne}T's personal prominence in these great revivals serves to simplify their study as bearing upon • the philosophy of revivals — the relation of the human element to the divine. It becomes mainly the study of one man. Naturally it must contemplate this one man as a preacher of the gospel, for the pulpit must be the throne of his power. To reach the sources of his pulpit power, we must needs study his original endowments, mental and moral; his antecedent edu- cation; his experiences at the point of his conversion and in his subsequent spiritual life; his practical views of the gospel scheme; his way of putting the great truths of the gospel before his hearers; and, if last, not least, his power with God in prayer. Mr. Finney was born in Warren, Conn., August 29, 1792; but at the age of two years was removed with his parents to Oneida county. N. Y., and, short- ly after, to Jefferson county, near Lake Ontario, then a very new settlement and but scantily supplied with higher schools or instructive preaching. His own narrative ("Autobiography:" A. S. Barnes & Co. 1870) speaks of attending common schools summer REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 135 and winter till the age of fifteen, after which he en- joyed still better opportunities in high schools for some three years in New Jersey, and spent also con- siderable time in teaching. He never enjoyed the advantages of a college course, but readily mastered the branches taught then in the higher schools, and ultimately obtained some knowledge of Latin, Greek, and, in later years, of Hebrew. Three years (1818- 1821) he devoted to the study and practice of the law — a training which developed in his mind the great principles of law and jurisprudence; prepared him in some points for Bible study by schooling him in the science of interpretation ; and, moreover, through his practice at the bar, initiated him into the skill of di- rect personal address, thinking on his feet, and adjusting his appeals to the men before him and the very case in hand. It is remarkable that the Bible was first brought to his particular notice by the ref- erences to it which he met in his law books. So he bought his first Bible to add to his law library. It was during these years of his law studies (then aged 26-29) that he was gradually brought face to face with religious truth and the claims of God upon his heart. Leading the choir in church, and hence mainly constant in attendance; occasionally dropping into a prayer meeting, and there struck with the fact that so many prayers were apparently unanswered, while yet the Scripture promises seemed to him very definite and strong; agitating profoundly the ques- tion whether the Bible must be accepted as from God; his mind opening more and more to the mighty con- viction of personal responsibility to his Maker — to a 136 TIMES OF REFRESHING. sense of sin and of personal need of a Redeemer, — he came at length to see that he mnst be born again and to feel that now is the accepted time. With his natural simplicity and frankness he tells us in his narrative of his conversion (p. 12), how he found himself very proud without having been aware of it; how he kept shy of religious people, put his Bible out of sight, and dared not pray above his breath, and yet how some unknown power held the truth pressing more and more upon his conscience. At the vital point (in his own words) " something seemed to con- front me with questions like these-r-indeed it seemed as if the inquiry was within myself, as if an inward voice said to me: 'What are you waiting for? Did you not promise to give your heart to God? And what are you trying to do? Would you work out a righteousness of your own V " Just at this point the whole question of gospel salvation opened to my mind in a manner most mar- velous to me at the time. I think I then saw, as clearly as I ever have in my life, the reality and full- ness of the atonement of Christ. I saw that his was a finished work, and that instead of having or need- ing any righteousness of my own to recommend me to God, I had to submit myself to the righteousness of God through Christ. Gospel salvation seemed to me to be an offer of something to be accepted; and that it was full and complete, and all that was neces- sary on my part was to get my own consent to give up my sins and accept Christ. Salvation, it seemed to me, instead of being a thing to be wrought out by my own works, was a thing to be found entirely in .REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 137 the Lord Jesus Christ, who presented himself "before me as my God and Savior. After this distinct reve- lation had stood for some little time before my mind, the question seemed to be put, 'Will you accept it now, to-day?' I replied ' Yes, I will accept it to- day, or I will die in the attempt.' " (" Biography," p. 13—14.) Having found a closet in the forest, a yet deeper sense of his great pride came over him: " Just at this moment I again thought I heard some one approach me, and I opened my eyes to see whether it were so. Right there I saw that my pride of heart was the great difficulty in my way. An overwhelming sense of my wickedness in being ashamed to have a human being see me on my knees before God took such pow- erful possession of me that I cried at the top of my voice and exclaimed that I would not leave that place though all the men on earth and all the devils in hell should surround me. 'What!' I said, 'such a de- graded sinner as I am, on my knees confessing my sins to the great and holy God, yet ashamed to have any human being, and a sinner like myself, find me on «iy knees endeavoring to make my peace with my offended God!' The sin appeared awful, infinite. It broke me down before the Lord." " Just at this point this passage of scripture seemed to drop into my mind with a flood of light: 'Then shall ye go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto vou. Then shall ye seek me, and find me when ye shall search forme with all your heart.' Instantly I seized hold of this with my heart. I had believed the Bible before intellectually, but never had the truth 138 TIMES OF REFRESHING. - been in my mind that faith was a voluntary trust instead of an intellectual state. I was as conscious as I was of ray existence, of trusting at that moment in God's veracity. Somehow I knew that was a passage of scripture, though I do not think I had ever read it. I knew it was God's word, and God's voice, as it were, that spoke to me. I cried to Him, "Lord, I take thee at thy word. Now thou knowest that I do search for thee with all my heart, and that I have come here to pray to thee; and thou hast promised to hear me." * * * He then gave me other promises, especially some most precious promises respecting Jesus Christ. I can never in words make any human being under- stand how precious and true those promises appeared to me. I took them one after the other as infallible truth— the assertions of God who could not lie. They did not seem so much to fall into my intellect as into my heart, to be put within the grasp of my voluntary powers of mind, and I seized hold of them, appropri- ated them and fastened upon them with the grasp of a drowning man." * * * " The question wheth- er I was converted had not occurred to me, but on my way back I recollect saying with great emphasis, ' If I am ever converted, I will preach the Gospel." Then came a peace of soul which he could not under- stand. At first it led him to fear he had grieved the Spirit. He says (page 18 ): " The repose of my mind was unspeakably great. I can never describe it in words. The thought of God was sweet; the most pro- found spiritual tranquillity had taken full possession of me." Another scene, evincing the depth and power of his REVIVALS ITNDER FINNEY. 139 feelings, he puts thus (page 19): " As I went into the office alone and shut the door after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus face to face. It did not occur to me then, nor did it for some time afterward, that it was wholly a mental state. On the contrary, it seem- ed to me that I saw him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, hut looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at his feet. I have always since regarded this as a most remarkable state of mind; for it seemed to me a reality that he stood be- fore me, and I fell down at his feet and poured out my soul to him. I wept aloud like a child; I made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed his feet with my tears; and yet I had no distinct impression that I touched him, that I recollect." Closely following this came a mighty baptism of the Spirit, of which he says (page 20): " Without any expectation of it, without even having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, with- out any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love; for I could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me like immense wings. No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love." Certain circumstances suggested to his mind some 140 TIMES OF REFRESHING. doubt as to the nature and significance of this baptism, but another recurrence of it brought his soul to rest. " When I awoke (page 22) in the morning, the sun had risen and was pouring a clear light into my room. Words cannot express the impression that this sun- light made upon me. Instantly the baptism that I had received the night before, returned upon me. I rose upon my knees in the bed and wept aloud with joy, and remained for some time too much over- whelmed with the baptism of the Spirit to do any- thing but pour out my soul to God. It seemed as if this morning's baptism was accompanied with a gentle reproof, and the Spirit seemed to say to me, ' Will you doubt? Will you doubt? ' I cried—' No! I will not doubt; I cannot doubt!' He then cleared the subject so much to my mind that it was impossi- ble for me to doubt that the Spirit of God had taken possession of my soul." Then followed a conscious experience of justifica- tion by faith, presented by himself in these words: "In this state I was taught the doctrine of justifica- tion by faith as a present experience. I had never thought of it distinctlv as a fundamental doctrine of the gospel, nor did I well understand its proper meaning. But now I could see what was meant by the words, ' Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' 1 could see that the moment I believed, while up in the woods, all sense of condemnation dropped entirely out of my mind. From that moment I could not feel a sense of guilt or condemnation by any effort that I could make. My sense of guilt was gone; my sins were gone; and REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 141 I do not think I felt any more sense of guilt than if I had never sinned." Whoever would fathom Mr. Finney's power in revi- vals, must take his first soundings here, in his expe- riences at the point of his conversion. To know him, we must know his heart — the great depth and intens- ity of his emotional nature; the transparent clearness of his apprehensions of God, of Christ, and of the Spirit, and of the overwhelming power of those apprehensions upon his will — his purposes of life, his whole charac- ter. Whatever may be thought of these experiences as an average model and standard by which all genuine conversions are to be estimated, none can reasonably doubt that in his case they were thoroughly genuine and honest, penetrating to the very depths of his soul and transforming his heart into love and obedience to God. " If any man be in Christ, he is a new cre- ation; old things have passed away; all things have become new." This doctrine of Paul is at one with both his own experience and that of Mr. Finney. With both, conversion had a mighty significance; opened a new world of truth to the mind's eye; a new life for the whole activities of the soul. Paul says of himself: "Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, but forthwith preached the faith I once destroyed;" and even so Mr. Finney; his unassuming narrative shows that forthwith he laid hold of men on the right hand and on the left, to " save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire." In his own words (page 25): " I soon sallied forth from the office to converse with those I should meet about their souls. I had the impression, which has never left my 142 TIMES OF REFRESHING. mind, that God wanted me to preach the gospel, and that I must begin immediately. I somehow seemed to know it. If you ask me how I knew it, I cannot tell how I knew it any more than I can tell how I knew it was the love of God and the baptism of the Holy Ghost that I had received. I did somehow know it with a certainty that was past all possibility of doubt, and so I seemed to know that the Lord commissioned me to preach the Gospel." In his characteristic way he tells us how he closed off his law business. Dea. B. came into the office and said, u Mr. Finney, you recollect my case is to be tried at ten o'clock this morning; I suppose you are ready." (I had been retained as his attorney on this case.) I replied to him, " Dea. B., I have a re- tainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to plead his cause, and I cannot plead yours." Forthwith he began. His words were barbed ar- rows sharp and fast in the heart of the King's ene- mies. The work pervaded the village, and spread outward in every direction through the country. But before we follow the track of his evangelistic labors, particular attention should be given to two points, (a) his personal experience in prayer; (b) the truths he preached and the points of personal duty which he impressed upon the hearts of men. (a) As to prayer, let us recall those first impres- sions which he received when he stepped into prayer meetings and was struck with the difference between the amount asked for and the amount received. Manifestly his view of real prayer will be drawn, not from conventional notions or usages, but from the re- REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 143 vealed promises and the perfect veracity of God. Hence prayer must needs have with him a very great significance. It brought him face to face with God. It meant the pleading of promise — an asking that grew out of conscious want and sought the promised supply. How it brought him into debate with God and an urgent pleading that could not be denied may perhaps be put best in his own words, thus: (p. 142) " In regard to rny own experience I will say that un- less I had the spirit of prayer I could do nothing. If even for a day or an hour I lost the spirit of grace and supplication, I found myself unable to preach with power and efficiency or to win souls by personal con- versation. In this respect my experience was what it has always been. For several weeks be- fore I left De Kalb I was very strongly exer- cised in prayer, and had an experience that was somewhat new to me. I found myself so much exercised and so borne down with the weight of im- mortal souls that I was constrained to pray without ceasing. Some of my experiences, indeed, alarmed me. A spirit of importunity sometimes came upon me so that I would say to God that he had made a promise to answer prayer, and I could not and would not be denied. I felt so certain that he would hear me, and that faithfulness to his promises and to him- self rendered it impossible that he should not hear me, that frequently I found myself saying to him, ' I hope thou dost not think that I can be denied. I come with thy faithful promises in my hand, and I cannot be denied.' I cannot tell how absurd unbelief looked to me, and how certain it was, in my mind, that God 1 4:4 TIMES OF REFRESHING. would answer prayer — those prayers which from day to day and from hour to hour I found myself offering in such agony and faith. I had no idea of the shape the answer would take, the locality in which the prayers would be answered, or the exact time of the answer. My impression was that the answer was near, even at the door; and I felt myself strength- ened in the divine life, put on the harness for a mighty conflict with the powers of darkness, and ex- pected soon to see a far more powerful outpouring of the Spirit of God in that new country where I had been laboring." It should also be said that a spirit of most importunate prayer prevailed extensively in those revivals. In some instances young converts were constrained by their burdens for souls, to pray whole nights, and until their bodily strength was quite exhausted. (See page 141.) (b) As to the truths he preached and the points made most prominent and pressed most earnestly, it must suffice to say: He justified God's ways and condemned the sinner's. He preached every- where that men must repent, or perish; must accept Jesus, or be lost. He found men abusing the doc- trine of gracious help from God under the notion that God must give them a new heart before they could re- pent, and they must wait till he did; and that at the utmost they could do nothing more or better than to pray for God to do his antecedent work. According to his own statements (Autobiography, p. 189), " In- stead of telling sinners to use the means of grace and pray for a new heart, we called on them to make themselves a new heart and a new spirit, and pressed .REVIVALS U-NDER FINXEY. 145 the duty of instant surrender to God. We told them the Spirit was striving with them to induce them now to give him their hearts, now to believe and to enter at once upon a life of devotion to Christ, of faith and love and Christian obedience. We taught them that while they were praying for the Holy Spirit, they were constantly resisting him; and that if they would at once yield to their own convictions of duty they would be Christians. We tried to show them that everything they did or said before they had sub- mitted, believed, given their hearts to God, was all sin, was not that which God required them to do, but was simply deferring repentance and resisting the Holy Ghost." " We insisted on immediate submis- sion as the only thing that God could accept at their hands; and that all delay, under any pretext what- ever, is rebellion against God. Under this teaching it was very common for persons to be convicted and converted in the course of a few hours, and sometimes in a few minutes" (p. 190). If space could be afforded here, it would throw a flood of light upon the great spiritual forces in these revivals to present fully his way of putting the great themes of gospel truth. " Few preachers in any age have surpassed Pres. Finney in clear and well-defined views of conscience and of man's moral convictions; few have been more fully at home in the domain of law and government; few^have learned more of the spiritual life from experience and from observation; not many have discriminated the true from the false more closely, or have been more skillful in putting their points clearly and pungently." A volume of 146 TIMES OF REFRESHING. sermons reported from his lips, and subsequently in- dorsed by himself, entitled, " Gospel Themes" (Ober- lin: E. P. Goodrich, publisher, 1876), will give the reader a just view of what he preached; how he put his points; how he made them clear by statement and illustration, and then, by most impassioned per- sonal appeal, pressed them home upon the heart and the conscience. We resume our narrative. In the Spring of 1822, Mr. Finney put himself under the care of Presby- tery as a student of theology, and was placed under the special direction of Rev. Geo. W. Gale, then pas- . tor of the church in Adams. His narrative shows, however, that the Bible became the fountain of his theology, and that his studies were guided by the in- tuitions of his own mind and the wisdom he sought constantly and fervently from above. After two years Presbytery gave him their license to preach. With modest views of his attainments, he remarks in substance (p. 61), " Having had no regular training for the ministry, I did not expect or desire to labor in large towns or cities, or minister to cultivated con- gregations. I therefore took a commission from a Female Missionary Society of Oneida county and went into the new settlements in the North part of Jefferson county." Everywhere he preached the word with boldness; everywhere the word preached was with power. It is utterly impossible by any general statements to give the reader the same vivid concep- tion of the results which he would get from the preacher's own graphic and often minute narrative. The first case is perhaps as good for a specimen as REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 147 any— that at Evans' Mills. Think of him in a stone school-house filled with people, among them the merest sprinkling of professed Christians. After a few sermons, but no such fruits as he sought, he brought one meeting to a close by saying, in sub- stance: " You compliment my preaching, but you do not turn from your sins. I came here, not to amuse you, but to save your souls. I cannot spend my time here unless you will receive the gospel. Now deal truly with me and my Master. If ye will receive God's message through me, tell me,, and I stay; if not, tell me, and I go. I must have your decision. If aye, then rise; if nay, keep your seats." All re- mained sitting, as he expected. Then, after looking round upon them a few moments, he said: " You are committed; you have taken your stand; God is wit- ness; you reject Christ and his gospel." They began to look angry, and rising, started for the door. He said, "I am sorry for you; the Lord willing, I will preach to-morrow evening." There was no small stir in that place. At first, many were deeply offended; some cursed the preach- er; said he had got them under an oath not to be- come Christians. But they came once more; packed the house; he opened upon them from these words: " Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him ; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Wo to the wicked; it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him." " The Spirit of God came upon -me with such power that it was like open- ing a battery upon them. For more than an hour, and perhaps an hour and a half, the Word of God M8 TIMES OF REFRESHING. came through me to them in a manner that I could see was carrying all before it. It was a fire and a ham- mer breaking the rock; and as a sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. I saw that a general conviction was spreading over the whole con- gregation. Many of them could not hold up their heads." During the ensuing night, he was sent for several times to visit persons under awful distress of mind. The great power of God swept through the community. His own published narrative sketches vividly his labors, first in those new settlements in Northern New York; thence onward into Oneida Co., at West- ern, Home and Utica; then westward to Rochester in 1830-31 where the city, then of ten thousand peo- ple, was profoundly moved, and the converts were es- timated at eight hundred. He labored there again in 1842 when one thousand were converted; and again, in 1856 when nearly another thousand were added to the Lord. The work in this city received a great im- pulse from a course of sermons preached to men in the legal profession, great numbers of whom were con- verted. "Worn down with his protracted labors in Rochester; he journeyed East, and stopped at Auburn to rest awhile. The awakened people could not let him rest. Restricting himself rigidly to less than half his ac- customed work, he preached there six weeks. The converts were estimated at five hundred. He labored in many other cities, Philadelphia, Reading, Boston and Providence; in New York City from 1832 to 1835, where he became pastor of a church worship- REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 149 ing in Chatham St. Chapel, removing ultimately into Broadway Tabernacle. In June, 1 835, he removed to Oberlin; taught in the Theological Department, and preached as pastor of the First Congregational Church till nearly eighty years of age. During this period he spent several winter vacations elsewhere in Evangelistic labors, especi ally in Rochester and Boston. Twice he visited England, viz., in the autumn of 1849, and again in December, 1858; re- maining about one year and a half on each visit. In England as well as in America, his preaching was with power and many were turned to the Lord. An inside view of his revival work as developed in Rochester has been well fgiven by Rev. Dr. Charles P. Bush, in a paper prepared for the memorial day devoted to reminiscences of Prof. Finney at the com- mencement next following his decease. The extracts below are in point. " At first his preaching was ad- dressed almost exclusively to professors of religion, with hardly a word to the impenitent; but the duties and responsibilities of the Christian life were so portrayed as absolutely to amaze and frighten the cold and backslidden professor. The sins of worldli- ness, lukewarmness, and neglect of duty were set in startling colors. There was indeed something fearful in those sermons, so searching, scorching, withering; and yet no one could find fault with them, for they were drawn directly from the Word of God. He had a 'Thus saith the Lord' for every statement; and the Holy Spirit was evidently attending every word spoken and carrying conviction to every mind. Indeed the very atmosphere of the place seemed sur- 150 TIMES OF REFRESHING. charged with the solemnity of eternity; and there was in the speaker the dignity and majesty of one of the old prophets. His words were like names of fire. False hopes were consumed like tow by their touch. Backsliders were brought trembling and astonished to the feet of the Savior to ask for mercy. Recon- ciliations were effected among estranged brethren. Confessions, sad and pitiable, fell from penitent lips. Forgiveness was sought and found at the mercy-seat; all were melted together in love and new consecration to the Master * * * The church being thus shaken as by an earthquake, and Christians aroused to pray fervently for God's blessing, Mr. Finney was prepared to preach to sinners. He be- gan with the law, showing what its require- ments are, what its penalties, and how just they are, how absolutely necessary to the order and sta- bility of the universe; how even the law itself, as really as the Gospel, demonstrates the goodness of the divine Being; and therefore how fearful a thing it must be to sin against such a lawgiver and against all the interests of the universe. "There was something fearful in those sermons also. Indeed, it almost makes one shudder, even after this lapse of years, to recall some of them, that especially from the text: 'The wages of sin is death.' The preacher's imagination was as vivid as his logic was inexorable. After laying down self-evident princi- ples of human nature and of divine government, then drawing out scripture truth touching the same, mak- ing all plain and irresistible by argument and illustra- tion, how he rung the charges on that word REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 151 * wages' as he described the condition of the lost soul. ' Yon will get your wages; just what you have earned, your due; nothing more, nothing less; and as the smoke of your torment, like a thick cloud, ascends forever and ever, you will see written upon its curl- ing folds in great staring letters of light, this awful word wages, wages, wages!' "As the preacher uttered this sentence he stood at his full height, tall and majestic — stood as if trans- fixed— gazing, and pointing toward the emblazoned cloud as it seemed to roll up before him; his shrill, clear voice rising to its highest pitch and penetrating every nook and corner of the vast assembly. People held their breath. Every heart stood still. It was al- most enough to raise the dead; there were no sleepers within the sound of that clarion voice. And yet that same mighty man, when speaking of the love of Christ or the peril of a soul in its sins, was as great in ten- derness and pity as before in majesty and truth; him- self moved to tears and entreaties enough to break a heart of stone. Many seem to think of him only as the stern, uncompromising preacher of righteousness. He was that, and more also — a Paul in doctrine, but touching and tender as John himself in his delinea- tions of divine love. But he did not preach love as a mere instinct, or a weak, mawkish, and indiscrim- inating sentiment. His God was not all pity; but was also a God of majesty and of law and of justice; his love all the more glorious because intelligent, and because it saves from wrath deserved." Of results estimated by numbers, the paper stated that during that year (1831), over twelve hundred 152 TIMES OF REFRESHING. new members were added to the churches of Rochester presbytery alone, besides the great in- gathering on the same field into churches of other denominations. "But the grandeur of that work is not to be estimated by numbers alone. The whole community was stirred. Religion was the one topic of conversation, in the house, in the shop, in the office, on the street. The soul's interests were upper- most in all minds. God was near, eternity real; the judgment sure." " It is worthy of special notice that a large number of the leading men of the place were among the con- verts— the lawyers, the judges, physicians, merchants, bankers, and master mechanics. From the first these classes were more moved than any other. Tall oaks were bowed as by the blast of the hurricane. Skeptics and scoffers were brought in, and a large number of the most promising of the young men. It is said that no less than forty of them entered the ministry.' ' Treating of his personal characteristics, Dr. B. admits that he "had his peculiarities — what great man has not? But he was never accused of levity or in- sincerity. He was a plain, blunt man who spoke right on, and always meant just what he said. His soul abhorred deceit and hypocrisy. Perhaps it is not too much to say th at he saw the truth in greater clearness, and more fully appreciated its value and importance than most men could. He was, in fact, a giant in intellect, in the grandeur of his thoughts and purposes and in the sublime force of his char- acter; and this was enough to justify some of his peculiarities. * * Before his conversion he re- REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 153 marked to an Elder of the Church that < Christians generally did not half believe what they professed.' " 1 If ever I become a Christian,' he said, I shall go into it with all my might,' and he did. That is, he went to work as though he really believed that God had a right to all his powers; as though men around him were really sinners, going down to death eternal ; and as though something ought to be done for their salvation. Hence, like Paul, he began at once to 'warn every one night and day with tears;' and with the Bible in his hand he could not see why this was not the proper thing to do." " As to his manner and style of preaching, it is not too much to say that he introduced a new era, the era of simplicity, directness, and earnestness; looking for definite and immediate results. He dis- carded technical terms and talked to the people so that they knew he meant them and was talking about their interests; and that they were guilty and in danger, and had something to do to escape the wrath to come." He tried to adapt his instructions to the times. Like John the Baptist, he came preaching repentance. The notion prevailed somewhat, at that time, that sin is more a misfortune than a fault; it is. inherited; it comes with our blood, and we can not help it. On the contrary, Mr. Finney from the first preached "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself" — showing that sinners are the guilty authors of their own destruction; not the innocent victims of a terri- ble calamity. Here he explained the nature of sin as a transgression of the law; rebellion against divine authority; the foolish, wicked choice of our own way in preference to God's way. 154 TIMES OF REFRESHING. A few words should aj:)pear as to Pres. Finney in Oberlin, i. e., from 1835 onward to bis death. Of the first score of years, his narrative (p. 348) bears this testimony: " During these years of smoke and dust, of misapprehension and opposition from with- out, the Lord was blessing us richly within. We not only prospered in our own souls here, as a church, but we had a continuous revival, or were in what might properly be regarded as a revival state. Our students were converted by the scores; and the Lord over- shadowed us continually with the cloud of his mercy. Gales of divine influence swept over us from year to year, producing abundantly the fruits of the Spirit, — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." This sketch may be closed fitly by testimony from one who during forty years stood in most inti- mate relations with Pres. Finney, associated with him in the pulpit, in prayer and inquiry meetings, and especially as a listener in the pew. He puts the salient points of his revival labors thus: 1. Prayer in order before preaching; prayer for special help from God before any direct effort to con- vert sinners. This means and implies both his own personal prayer, pleading with God, and taking hold of his promises for special blessings; and also bring- ing to his help as many others as possible; laboring to revive the church, renew its spiritual life, beget true devotion to gospel work and the spirit of pre- vailing prayer. 2. Conviction before conversion. No hope of lead- ing sinners to their Savior, and no effort for it till REVIVALS UNDER FINNEY. 155 they both see and feel themselves sinners. Hence his order of topics in preaching would always be, first, the law; then, the gospel; first, to beget a sense of guilt and of conscious need of Christ; then, hope- fully, Christ will be welcome for what he is. 3. A knowledge of human hearts that seemed to miss nothing. You would suppose he had seen a thousand human hearts dissected, from circumference to centre; had observed and studied till he knew all their secrets, could track out every winding, fathom every great deep. His eye, moreover, was keen, and took in with astonishing precision the general im- pression and ruling thought of a congregation. He knew if the truth was taking effect, he felt the reac- tion upon himself when his words had power upon the hearts of his hearers. If the masses were moved, like the trees by the mighty wind, he saw it, and could judge when it was wise to call for a public ex- pression of personal decision. I have seen him call for such expression many scores of times, and have never known him to misjudge as to the fact of a deep and general impression. 4. The fruits of revivals under his labors have rare- ly been superficial. True, all human work in the gospel ministry will have, on its human side, defects; bat in the main the converts under his preaching have run well, have lived Christian lives, and endured to the end. During the last hundred years few preachers, if any have swept away so many false hopes and helped so many to build again, not on the sand, but on the rock. No man's preaching has borne such fruits in confession of hidden sins, in 156 TIMES OF REFRESHING. restitution under the law of love to one's neighbor, in profound heart-searching, and astounding dis- closures ot things before kuown to God only. No sham morality, no shallow and soft sentimentalising would he ever allow himself to baptize as genteel and current Christianity. A system of gospel preaching and labor which so signally honored the Spirit of God; which so judiciously unfolded and mightily enforced the most fundamental gospel truths, has been hon- ored of God to results enduring and glorious. CHAPTER TIL REVIVALS OF 1857-8. In various results of human history it is often very difficult to distinguish between the human agency and the Divine energy, so subtly does God work through in- strumentalities, and so often does he hide his hand un- der the glove of a human activity. This is especially true of revivals of religion. God is the center of every revi- val. But to carry it forward, his church is ordained. Sometimes his stately steppings can be plainly seen amid the worship and organization and endeavors of the church; at other times he condescends to let hu- man energy and counsel stand more prominently forth. Thus there have been many revivals that are forever linked with the names of men around whom they seemed to gather. A human name stands at the head of a Divine epoch. Augustine ushers in one era, and Luther another, and Whitefield and the Wesleys an- other. At the head of almost every chapter in the revival history of this country we may write some name honored of God, to mark with his personality the resistless activity of the Holy Spirit. But we come now to speak of a revival, that more than any other in our land, came without a human herald, a revival without revivalist or evangelist, without pre- arranged plan or purpose; a revival that came from 158 TIMES OF REFRESHING God as the dews fall from heaven, silently, invisibly, but everywhere refreshing. God spoke in a great national Providence, and men from their shops and offices, and markets, came out to hear. The early revivals in this country were revivals of gospel preaching, of the pungency of the truths of man's sin and God's justice boldly and sharply pro- claimed. The present revivals are revivals of Christ- ologieal preaching, and world-wide organization. But that of which we are now speaking was, above all others, a Providential revival. God prepared the na- tion for it, not through the unveiling of great truths of redemption, or through the pressure of human sym- pathy and personal effort, but by such a conduct of national affairs as led in every heart to a cry to the God of Providence for relief from distress, and moral help to bear unusual burdens. The national condition before 1857 is still well re- membered. It was a time of reckless expenditures, of unparalleled fever for riches without much consid- eration of how they were obtained, of apathetic con- science and wakeful selfishness, of coldness and deadness in the church and alarming godlessness out- side of it. The nation seemed drifting in the same direction in which it had gone before the great reviv- als of 1800. Skepticism, both speculative and practi- cal, pervaded all ranks of society. We were becoming a people without God in the world. But in his Prov- idence the greed for gain was preparing its own rem- edy. A financial crash that shook all the monetary centers of the world fell upon us on the 14th of Octo- ber, 1857. Fortunes unaccountably vanished into REVIVALS OF 1857-58. 159 thiii air. The solid business firms, as well as the air- built houses of the speculator, trembled to their fall. The result of the long course of dishonesty came sud- denly and terribly. The very foundations seemed giving way. Men looked in each other's faces and wondered, what next. Every class was affected. No- body dared stir. Public confidence was swept away. It lay amid the ruins of the monetary system and the business industries of the country. On every hand there was a certain, fearful looking for — men knew not what. In that bewildering pause, that seemed to herald the crashing of a wilder storm, God came sud- denly to his temple, came to every place, came with overwhelming spiritual power. Everywhere men began to pray. They had no words for each other. They had reached the ultimate of human resources. Almost unconsciously they began to cry unto God, unknown to each other, without concert of effort or thought. East and West, North and South, the peo- ple thronged churches and halls for prayer, and waited on God to solve the perplexing and prostrating prob- lem of the hour. Let us follow briefly the white lines of this national wave of prayer. In New York the first ray of light that fell athwart the general gloom came into the heart of a down-town missionary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church. His work was not on Wall street or Broad- way. He wTas unknown on those thoroughfares, crowded with the excited and desperate throng of men trembling on the verge of bankruptcy or whelmed under the ruins of their accumulations. He was a missionary among the poor and outcast. 160 TIMES OF REFRESHING. But God, one day, when lie would bring salvation to a nation, sent a great and noble thought to Mr. Lanphier's heart. Could not something be done for the distressed business interests of the well-nigh paralyzed city? Might not prayer point the way out of the general distrust and panic, or, if not, might not prayer sustain men under burdens inevitable, and amid confusion inextricable? He proposed a busi- ness men's prayer meeting. The idea was coldly met. But an inspiration from God need not court the earthly element of success. There were three persons in the first business men's prayer meeting, in a little room in the old Dutch Church on Fulton street. And that place and that hour were the visi- ble beginning of the great revivals of 1857-8. "The next meeting was composed of six persons. The next of twenty persons. The next meeting was held in the middle room on the second floor, and now on every "Wednesday noon the Business Men's Prayer meeting attracted increasing numbers. Its striking fitness and evident usefulness were noticed in the newspaperSs secular and religious, and the suggestion was earnestly made that it should be opened every day instead of weekly. This was promptly done, and the meeting room overflowed and filled a second, and eventually a third room in the same building; mak- ing three crowded prayer meetings, one above another, in animated progress at one and the same hour. The seats were all filled, and the passages and entrances began to be choked with numbers, rendering it scarcely possible to pass in or out. The hundreds who daily went away disappointed of admission, REVIVALS OF 1857-58. 161 created a visible demand for more room, and the John Street Methodist Church and lecture-room were both opened for daily noon prayer meetings, by a committee of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, and were crowded at once with attendants." It was at one of the first of these meetings that a business man, doubtless representing in the spirit of his remarks a great multitude, said: "Prayer never was so great a blessing to me as it is in this time. I should certainly either break down or turn rascal, except for it! When one sees his property taken from him every day, by those who might pay him if they were willing to make sacrifices in order to do it, but who will not make the least effort, even for this end, and by some who seem designedly to take ad- vantage of the times, in order to defraud him — and when he himself is liable to the keenest reproaches from others if he does not pay money, which he cannot collect and cannot create — the temptation is tremendous to forget Christian charity, and be as hard and unmerciful as anybody. If I could not get some half hours every day to pray myself into a right state of mind, I should certainly either be overbur- dened and disheartened, or do such things as no Christian man ought." It was the depth and general character of the con- viction thus expressed that made the noon prayer meeting such a constantly increasing success. It operated to produce a revival of religion, but it also had a direct effect in arresting the panic and restor- ing better times. When men, who had cynically come to distrust the whole business world, met each 162 TIMES OF REFRESHING. other in a prayer meeting, heard each other's appeals to heaven for pardon, grace and wisdom ; and when they could counsel one another in the immediate presence of God himself, gradually the universal dis- trust yielded to a feeling of common brotherhood, and that grew into confidence and a spirit of mutual for- bearance and helpfulness. So the noon-day meeting, standing in the very middle of every fevered day as a great argument for sympathy and help, prepared the way for the recovery of the nation from her financial and business prostration ; while more and more every week it became the scene of marvelous displays of divine power in the salvation of souls. We have spoken of the Fulton Street meeting as the visible beginning of the revivals. A close obser- vation will disclose the fact that there were many signs of a gracious Divine presence hovering over the land. Prominent among these is to be men- tioned the enterprise of " systematic visitation" in New York, Brooklyn and other cities. The feeling that something must be done for the poor and neg- lected, and that the ordinances of God's house must be more earnestly sought by both rich and poor, took a strong hold on those churches that were not wholly immersed in worldliness and spiritual indifference. Accordingly, by a systematic plan, an attempt was made by churches of various denominations to visit every house, ascertain the religious condition of every family, and seek to induce a more general attendance upon church and Sunday school services. This gen- eral visitation was no doubt one of the signs of the Spirit's presence and one of the preparations for the coming of the Lord. Dr. Conant says of it: revivals of 1867-58. 163 "Gradually this scheme of visitation was extended so as to include the respectable and fashionable streets, as well as the ' highways and hedges,' until finally no ' passover ' was written even on a brown- stone front, and Fifth avenue itself was not left to be exempt. And from the reports that have been pre- sented, the result of these efforts, as seen among the higher classes of society, have been of equal interest with those in the lower. The number of rich people who were found never to attend any church was enormous." Another sign of the dawning day was Sunday school conventions, then just beginning to be held, at which were discussed not only the best methods for making Sunday school exercises attractive, but also how most effectively to reach the hearts, rouse the consciences, and save the souls of the children. The church was beginning to realize — a truth which the twenty sub- sequent years have made sharper and clearer — that if this country is to be taken for Christ, the de- cisive battle must be fought in the nursery and the Sunday school. The church understood, in its noblest import, the sentiment of John Kuskin, that not out of the mouth of the smoothed rifle or the knitted gun, but out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, is ordained the strength that shall still the enemy and the avenger. Still further, there were held, here and there through the country, revival conventions, which had much to do with the rise and continuance of the re- vival. Such a convention was held in Pittsburgh in the autumn of 1857. It continued in ses- 164: TIMES OF REFRESHING. sion for three days for the purpose of considering the necessity of a general revival in all the churches. Among other plans, it designated the first Sabbath of January for the preaching of sermons on the need of revivals in the church. A general compliance with this recommendation doubtless had much to do with the beginning of the general work of grace. Another convention was held in Cincinnati. It was also largely attended and doubtless tended powerfully to the one general result which was now beginning to be the burden of prayer everywhere. But while a thoughtful observer might have no- ticed, in these and other signs, the dawning of the light, the general fact written above, that the revival burst on the world as a great revival of prayer, will always remain the most obtrusive and glorious truth regard- ing it. Let us follow further that universal prayer- meeting. The Fulton-street meeting soon overflowed the capacity of the audience room. Then other places were opened for prayer. Burton's old theatre in Chambers street, at that time one of the most popular resorts for the lovers of pleasure, was thrown open at mid-day for prayer and crowded with a solemn as- sembly. No theatrical entertainment in New York ever drew together such immense throngs. The au- dience is thus described: " Half an hour before the time appointed for be- ginning the exercises, the house was packed in every corner from the pit to the roof. By noon, the entrances to the hall were so densely thronged that it required great exertions to get within hearing distance, and revivals of 1857-58. 165 no amount of elbowing could force an entrance so far as to be able to get a sight of the stage. People clung to every projection along the walls; they piled themselves up on seats, and crowded the whole stage beneath, and above, and behind the curtain. The street in front was lined with carriages. The audience was composed principally of business men; there were about two hundred ladies, and not less than fifty clergymen." Not long after the organization of the Fulton Street meeting in New York the celebrated Jayne's Hall prayer meeting in Philadelphia was commenced. It began in a small room with a few earnest hearts waiting on God. The large hall was soon required, and overflowed as soon as opened. The Philadelphia Press thus describes the vast audience: "When the hour had about half elapsed yesterday, during which the mid-day meeting is held, we entered the hall, and, to our amazement, found it densely crowded, every seat being occupied, including the settees in the aisles, and a large portion of the immense gal- leries, and those who left for want of room on the main floor are said to have exceeded the number who could not gain admission on the day previous, when the meeting was held in the small room adjoining. There were certainly not less than three thousand persons who entered the hall during the hour, and our reason for announcing it as an epoch is the fact that it was conceded by those present, who have reason to know, that it was the largest meeting con- vened for the simple purpose of prayer to God that has ever been assembled in this country." 166 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The telegraph was subsequently freely used to chronicle the wonders of divine grace, to seek prayers for friends, and to express the joy of new-born souls. Another characteristic of this revival was the help given to it by the daily press. For the first time in the history of the country the newspapers reported fully the proceedings of Christian associations, of preaching services, and prayer-meetings. This has continued to the present time. Knowledge is in- creased and runs to and fro; heavenly tidings are carried on the wings of the press from one city to an- other— from one land to another. It is a most hope- ful prophecy of the future. The daily press prints according to the daily demand. When men read re- vival sermons with avidity and scan prayer-meeting reports as they do the daily markets, it is surely a sign that God is riding forth in the majesty of his strength. From New York and Philadelphia, the centers where the religious interest was first conspicuously developed, it spread rapidly throughout the land. Or perhaps it would be speaking more accurately to say, it sprang up spontaneously in widely sundered cities and widely scattered communities. In the State of New York two hundred towns were reported as hav- ing revivals at one time, resulting in six thousand conversions. In the city of New York the accessions to the churches varied from fifty to three hundred and fifty. Rev. George Dufiield, Jr., of Philadelphia, communicated some very interesting facts to the Fulton-street prayer-meeting. He had been employed, revivals of 1857-58. 167 as one of a committee, to compile the facts of the re- vival as pertaining to that city. He found that 3,010 had been added by profession to one denomination, 1,800 to another, 1,500 to another, 1,200 to another, and so on, till the aggregate was above 9,000. He be- lieved there had been in that city 10,000 conversions within that current year. In New Jersey there were extensive revivals in many towns. In Newark there were nearly three thousand hopeful conversions. Sixty towns in that state reported revivals with five or six thousand con- versions. In Ohio there were powerful revivals in various towns. In Cleveland a number of morning prayer- meetings were held in the different churches. So absorbing was the interest, that business during the hours of prayer was almost suspended. In one of the churches (Plymouth Congregational), there were as many as five meetings daily, commencing at six in the morning and closing at nine in the evening. Within a few weeks nearly a thousand were received into the Evangelical churches of the city. In Cincin- nati the noon prayer-meeting became the great centre of attraction and the subject of religion in shops and offices was the common topic of conversation. Con- versions were numerous and the churches were great- ly strengthened. In Chicago a noon prayer-meeting was held in the First Presbyterian Church, corner of Clark and Washington streets, and another in Metropolitan Hall. The latter place was full at the first meeting. A correspondent writes of the revival in that city, 168 TIMES OF REFRESHING. thus: "The religious interest now existing in this city is very remarkable; more than 2,000 business men meet at the noon prayer-meeting. The Metro- politan Hall is crowded to suffocation. The interest in the First Baptist Church is beyond anything ever known in this city, and exceeds anything I have ever seen in my life. Some who have come to the city on business, have become so distressed about their condi- tion, as sinners against God, that they have entirely forgotten their business in the earnestness of their desire for salvation. I am amazed to see such evi- dences of God's grace and power manifested among men. Every section of the country is alike favored by the Lord. I might add that the First Baptist Church have daily meetings from eight to nine in the morning, twelve to one at noon, and six and a half o'clock evening. The church to-day have had an all- day meeting." With similar power the work went on in other Western cities. At Detroit there were crowded business men's prayer-meetings and quick- ened interest in nearly all the churches. In Louis- ville the noon meeting numbered fully a thousand, and great solemnity, prayerfulness and activity, came upon all the churches. In St. Louis the churches were crowded with eager, anxious throngs, and union prayer-meetings gathered the people in great numbers to pray for a copious rain from Heaven. So perva- sive was the interest throughout the Western states, tli at it was said from Nebraska to Washington, there was an unbroken line of prayer- meetings along the entire length of the road. " So that wherever a REVIVALS OF 1857-58. 169 Christian traveler stopped to spend the evening, he could find a crowded prayer-meeting, across the en- tire breadth of our vast republic." Now was New England without special blessing? During that winter Pres. Finney was preaching in Boston. The results were wonderful beyond descrip- tion. Almost every church, was the scene of quiet, but powerful revivals. The business men's meeting was of a kind never known in New England before. A correspondent says of the revival: " It is not ex- citement. There is none of that wildness so often manifested in seasons of religious interest. The work has reached the ' Black Sea,' our Five Points. 4 Publicans and sinners' are awakened, and are enter- ing the prayer-meetings of their own accord. Some of them manifest signs of sincere repentance, and a movement is on foot to make them a home, to place them where vice shall not find or temptation allure them." Instances of sudden and complete transformations of character were common. Infidels became believ- ers, the profane learned to pray, and the most aban- doned devotees of pleasure became the consecrated servants of Jesus Christ. We have not space to fol- low the work in detail, either in Boston or other towns in New England. But it was at once general and thorough. In Springfield, Lynn, New Bedford, Haverhill, New Haven (where nearly all the students of Yale College were anxious), in Hartford, Portland, Bangor, Concord, Providence, in Brattleboro, Clare- mont, Dartmouth College, North field, St. Albans, Burlington, Middlebury, and many other places, there 170 TIMES OF REFRESHING. was special religious interest, a noiseless but resistless presence of the Spirit of God. Looking over these eventful years, two character- istics stand prominently forth. To one we have al- ready alluded. It was first of all a revival of the spirit of prayer. It had no very conspicuous human agent. It realized the priesthood of every believer. It sprang out of a general sense of spiritual need, a general confession of sin and seeking after God. The other marked feature of the work was its union character. Christians saw eye to eye over denomina- tional lines. It was the beginning of union prayer- meetings and union effort of various kinds. To say this, is not to impeach the brotherliness or Christian love of other revival scenes. But never before were Christians so willing to forget their denominational ends in the supreme purpose to save souls from death. The union movements inaugurated at that time have continued to the present, and have been continuously effective in the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ. The Fulton Street and the Jaynes' Hall prayer-meetings have set a seal of grand catholicity on all the evangelistic work of this gener- ation. When, therefore, we would compute the length and breadth of the revival harvest of 1857 and 1858, it is not enough that we speak of the three or four hundred thousand conversions and the quick- ened churches all over the land. We must also con- sider the large stimulus given to all God's people to march in solider columns against the works of the devil. Henceforth let us hope in all her victories REVIVALS OF 1857-58. 171 the church will realize the unity of the faith, and if many like the billows, be one like the sea. We append to this chapter brief mention of several evangelists whose labors during the past twenty years have had the stamp of divine favor. Elder Jacob Knapp, the celebrated Baptist evan- gelist, has been wonderfully blessed in revival work. We have not space to follow his career. But the scenes in Bostou where the boldness of his speech roused the enemy almost to the point of mobbing the preacher, and in Rochester, where a multitude ol souls were converted, have rarely been surpassed in the revival history of the country. A pastor writes us of his ministry in Chicago thus: " While I was p>astor in Chicago in the winter of 1862, I had the assistance of that wonderful man, El- der Jacob Knapp, in a protracted meeting. For four or five weeks he labored with us in word and doctrine. His preaching was with power. More pointed and stirring appeals to the conscience I never heard. Some of his sermons are full of gos- pel truth and some present the law in all its terrors; sometimes he says odd and laughable things, which are a hindrance rather than a help to his usefulness; but, take him all in all, I am persuaded that he has been raised up to do a great work in carrying the truth to a large class of people that ministers ordina- rily do not reach. The brethren who entertained him said that he gave himself up day and night to prayer, and spoke with deep awe and solemnity of the fervor of his midnight pleadings with God." His personal characteristics were, first, great cour- 172 TIMES OF REFRESHING. age. He never feared the face of man. He never wavered in telling the whole truth; often bluntly — sometimes coarsely — but always honestly and fearless- ly. His sermons were often a series of sledge-ham- mer blows. Secondly, he was a man of prayer. His prayers were sometimes overwhelming in their so- lemnity and earnestness. He talked with God. He was also a man of ready wit. In a meeting in Boston, we believe, a reckless young man sought to disturb the meeting, by calling out to the preacher that he wanted to ask a question. Mr. Knapp paused, and then said: " Certainly; what is it?" "Who was the devil's father?" rudely queried the youth in the gallery. Quick as a flash came the annihilating answer: "Young man, keep your own family rec- ord." With all his peculiarities he was a man of God, owned and blessed in his labors in a remarkable degree. Dr. Kirk who knew him well, says of him: "Com- plaints were heard of the superficialness of conver- sions under his ministry. But following him as I did, in 1S39 and 1840, in Baltimore, New Haven, and Hartford, I am able to testify, that, in all those places, men's religious sensibilities had been deeply moved. I found the ground ploughed for the seed, and the harvest ripe for the sickle." Another evangelist, who deserves a much fuller mention than our limits allow, is the Rev. A. B. Earle, also a Baptist minister. For twenty years and more he has been preaching Christ and him crn- i-ified, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with uniform revivals of 1857-58. 173 and sometimes wonderful success. His preaching is marked with great simplicity, directness and logical force. His revival methods are very simple, preach- ing, singing and personal conversation. He is very judicious in his plans and wise in his counsels. Dr. Fish speaks of him thus: "Among living preachers who are successful in lead- ing souls to Christ, few are more blessed of God than Rev. A. B. Earle. It has been the writer's privilege to be with him in a series of meetings, and to know him intimately as a brother beloved. He has trav- eled in almost all parts of the country, and preached seventeen thousand sermons. On the matter of 'Preaching and Revivals,' such an example is deserv- ing of study. It is often asked, 'Where is his power?' AVe answer, obviously from God. Like all good ministers of Jesus Christ, he lives in communion with the skies, and is invested with an energy more than human. As has been remarked of him, one can hardly be with him long without a persuasion that he loves God, and loves the gospel, and loves the souls of men — without a persuasion that with him 4 re- ligion is the chief concern,' and that it possesses his mind and heart and life." Mrs. Ma^ie N. Van Cott is the first woman licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church of the United States. Opinions will widely differ as to the Scripturalness and expediency of women exercising the public functions of the ministry. There can be no question of Mrs. Van Cott's ability and devotion to her work. She has held services widely throughout the country, in New York, New 174 TIMES OF REFRESHING. England, Wisconsin, Illinois, and other states. She is a woman of great self-reliance, decided tact, fine presence and address, and oratorical gifts. She preaches with whole-souled passion and not unfre- quently has great power over her audience. Few wo- men, and not very many men, could have endured the physical strain of her numerous revival campaigns. Her boundless enthusiasm carries her through all fa- tigue and over all obstacles. And, whatever may be thought of her ministry, there is no doubt of her power, the singleness of her purpose, or the sincerity of her efforts to glorify the Savior in the salvation of souls. CHAPTEK Till. REVIVALS UNDER THE LABORS OF REV. E. P. HAMMOND. It is not too much to say the labors of Mr. Ham- mond mark a distinct era in the revival history of our country. He has been called the children's evangel- ist. "While his work is not given exclusively to the young, it is in this direction that his success has been most marked. He has taught the church a lesson concerning early conversions which will be useful in all coming time. In what is now the very common method of per- sonal work, Mr. Hammond has also been a pioneer. Going from pew to pew in the congregation, turning the public service at once into an inquiry meeting, and relying less upon the general proclamation than the personal conversation following, is one of the methods now in general use in revival meetings which Mr. Hammond did not indeed originate — which was freely used by Pay son and others — but which he has done more to popularize in our generation than any other evangelist. A sketch of his work will best in- troduce us to the secret of his success. He was born in Ellington — a quiet town in the Connecticut Valley, Sept. 1, 1831. He was a child of prayer, consecrated to God by parental piety, and 175 176 TIMES OF REFRESHING. was converted when about seventeen years of age. The story of his conversion shows how he first obtain- ed that clear view of the free grace of God, which has since so signally characterized all his preaching. "We give his own account: " The first Sabbath of my stay in Southington was the communion. This was held between the services, and all who were not Christians were in the habit of going out. As I looked about, it seemed that all my friends and relatives and new acquaintances were gathering around the table of the Lord. Among the few who passed out were none whom I knew. The thought of the judgment day flashed across my troub- led mind, and the awful scenes of that final separa- tion passed like a panorama before my view. On re- turning to my boarding-place that night, a lady hand- ed me James's 'Anxious Inquirer' to read. I glanced my eye hastily over a few of its pages, but thought it too dry a book for me, and I angrily threw it down. But this did not extract the arrow of conviction that pierced my heart. I felt that I was a sinner, hasten- ing on to the great judgment day unprepared. Little did I know of the earnest pleadings that were daily ascending from a mother's fond heart. Day by day my convictions deepened. My heart rebelled against God. I disputed his undivided claim to my heart. " During these dark days I read James's 'Anxious Inquirer.' I used to study it by the hour with my Bible, looking out all the passages referred to. I thus saw more and more of my deceitful and pollut- ed heart. At first, it was thoughts of the judgment day and the sight of the wicked going away into ever- REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 177 lasting punishment that alarmed me; but afterwards it was the sight of myself that alarmed me most. I was led by the Holy Spirit to look on him whom my sins had pierced, and . . . mourn. (Zech. xii: 10.) I began to understand those words in Acts v: 31: k Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance.' I shall never forget that calm autumn morning when I fell upon my knees in my little closet and repeated the hymn my mother had taught me, — " 'Alas, and did my Savior bleed, And did my Sovereign die ? Would he devote that sacred head For such a worm as I ? " 'Was it for crimes that I had done, He groaned upon the tree ? Amazing pity ! grace unknown, And love beyond degree!' k* I then saw that God ' might be just, and the jus- tifier of him which believeth in Jesus' (Rom. iii: 26), and that I must " 'Cast my deadly doing down, Down, down at Jesus' feet' ; and with tears in my eyes I exclaimed, in the words of the last verse of the hymn which I was repeating, — 11 'But drops of grief can ne'er repay The debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away, 'Tis all that I can do.' " It was then the Holy Spirit, that had so long been striving with me, took of the things of Christ and 178 TIMES OF REFRESHING. showed them unto me; my blind eyes were opened. I saw that God was satisfied with what Christ had done; that Jesus had paid the debt, and I had only to trust him for it all." During the early years of his Christian life it was his purpose to go to Bulgaria as a missionary. He had become interested in that country by the state- ments made by Dr. Schauffler, in Williams College, - to the effect that Christian merchants in Constantino- ple had long been in the habit of putting leaves of the Bible in packages of goods sent out into the country, and that by this means many had been con- verted. While cherishing the purpose of being a missionary, he determined upon a course of European travel. Four students from Williams College made their plans to go together. For one reason or another three of them failed to keep the appointment. On the 1st of June, 1859, Mr. Hammond embarked alone. He went to Ireland, witnessed the scenes of revivals there, and made the tour of Switzerland and France principally on foot. On his return, he reach- ed Glasgow with only five dollars in his pocket. Money he had expected from home failed to reach him, and while considering what he should do in this dilemma, a family in the city kindly invited him to their house until he should finish his studies at the uni- versity. He made the acquaintance soon after of the Kev. Dr. Lindslay W. Alexander. Through his influ- ence he obtained an invitation to preach for a few weeks in a well-nigh dead Congregational Church, in Musselburgh. At the first service there were thirty persons present. After a few weeks so much inter- REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 179 est was manifested that protracted services were com- menced and held for twenty-one successive weeks. Dr. Alexander became alarmed, and visited the stu- dent for the purpose of cautioning him against the re- vival extremes. For some time one day of each week had been devoted to the children. It was at one of these meetings that Dr. Alexander was present. Be- ing urged by Mr. Hammond to meet the young con- verts in the study, and examine them as to their ex- perience, he reluctantly consented. And presently, his doubts all gone, he came back to the young revi- valist, and said, with the tears streaming down his face, "The Lord has broken my heart. This is his work." From that moment Dr. Alexander became Mr. Hammond's steadfast friend. He took him to the National Congregational Association in Glasgow, and introduced him to his brethren in such terms as soon secured him invitations from all parts of Scot- land. He went first to Edinburgh, where he preached for sixteen weeks. The city was greatly moved, and large numbers were converted. Thence he went to Dumfermlein and Hun thy, preaching in the churches until they became too small to hold the audiences, and then in the open air to audiences estimated as high as ten thousand. In Aberdeen, Perth and An- nan, wonderful religious interest was developed, and converts were numbered by thousands. In the last- named place so great was the interest that meetings for prayer and inquiry were often continued until one o'clock at night. Bonar, Alexander, Buchanan, and others, now invited him to Glasgow, where he labored with wonderful success for six or eight weeks. The six 180 TIMES OF REFRESHING. daily papers reported the meetings page by page, and the effect of them, it is safe to say, is still felt through- out Scotland. He went to Italy for a brief rest, and after a few more services in Glasgow and other places in Scotland, in 1861, returned to this country. His first services were held in the Salem Street Church, Boston, where several hundred were converted. He was invited to Dr. Payson's old church in Portland, Me. At the beginning of the meetings Dr. Carruth- ers said to him, " My people are still greatly in love with their old pastor, Dr. Payson, and if you could somewhat follow his methods, it would greatly favor the work." "What were those methods?" inquired the evangelist. " Well, he used to leave the pulpit, go right down among the people, and talk to them personally." "This," said Mr. Hammond, " is just what I have done for years." To the people of this church, therefore, his methods were nothing novel, and they took hold of them heartily, and for six weeks there was a powerful series of services. From Port- land he went to Bethel, and then to Gorham, K. H., and Batb, Me. In all these places, not only were the churches stimulated to a higher life and harder work, but large numbers of sinners were converted. In 1863, he began union meetings in Rochester, N". Y. The whole city was moved as it had not been since the days of Finney. Up to this time he had not made the children's meetings prominent in connec- tion with the revivals. His experience, however, was gradually teaching him two things; first, that even young children may be truly and soundly converted, REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 181 and second, that often the adults may often be most readily reached through children. At the State Sun- day School Convention at Troy in the spring of 1864, the Secretary stated that a thousand and one children had been examined and received into the churches of Rochester, as a result of the revival in that city. The Rev. Dr. Campbell stated in the Evangelist that 163 had joined his church from the Sunday School. After seven years he had gone over the list for the purpose of finding out by careful examination how the con- verts of that revival had endured. He found that all but two or three were steadfast in their professions, and living Christian lives. Mr. Hammond then held meetings in Brunswick, Me., where many students of Bowdoin College were converted; in Farmington, Me., and in Hamilton and London, Canada. During the same year (1862) he visited Beloit, "Wis. The veteran missionary, Father Cary, urged the evangelist to bold meetings, but having come for the purpose of rest, he declined. During the after- noon a godly woman having heard of his presence, came to him and said : " The Lord has sent yon here. I have been in prayer nearly the whole night. We must have meetings." Not long after another Chris- tian woman came and said: "A wonderful spirit of prayer and anxiety has come over me. I feel that we must have a revival, and the Lord has sent you here to help." Mr. Hammond replied that if a prayer meeting could be arranged for that (Saturday) even- ing, he would then see what were the indications of Providence in regard to it. This was at four o'clock, 182 TIMES OF REFRESHING. This woman went out to circulate the notice, and by half-past seven a large company were assembled. The next day they had a crowded and solemn service, and at the close of it nobody left the house. So sud- denly had the Lord come to His temple that good old Mr. Cery was not ready to go down and converse with inquirers. Speaking of his hesitation at the prayer meeting on Monday morning, he said : " The Lord came too suddenly. I wasn't prepared for his coming. I hoped in a few days to see souls anxious about their salvation, and by that time I hoped to be ready to meet them ; but I feel that the Lord has come to me now, and I will not excuse myself again from the blessed work of guiding inquirers to Christ." The meetings in Beloit continued for only a few days, but decided results were achieved. In the autumn of 1862 Mr. Hammond held services in Montreal, where as many as fifteen hundred sought an interest in the prayers of God's people, and large numbers were converted. In the following winter Mr. Hammond was or- dained as an evangelist by the Presbytery of New York, Dr. Mark Hopkins preaching the ordination sermon. He then held meetings in Brooklyn and Utica. In the latter city there were some remarkable scenes — depths of conviction, and clear and decided conversions of some of the leading business men of the city. When Mr. Hammond left New York city to engage in work in the central part of the State, a friend said to him: "I am sorry you are going to those burnt-over districts. You will not find fruitful revival fields there." The evangelist, therefore, went REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 183 with some misgivings. He soon found his mistake, and was led to thank God for " burnt-over districts." He found those old men — who were converted thirty- years before, under the labors of Finney and Knapp — were like war-horses, used to the sounds of bat- tle. Not easily frightened by new methods, they entered heartily into the work, and gave the evan- gelist most cordial support. In the spring of 1864 Mr. Hammond began serv- ices in the First Congregational Church, of Chicago. Here Mr. Moody and Mr. Hammond worked together, the former being present at nearly all the meetings, taking notes and an active part. The meetings in Chicago were not so successful as they had been in some places, partly because of the lateness of the sea- son and partly because the meetings, instead of being rooted in one place, were moved from one side of the river to another. The correspondent of the New York Independent estimated the number of conver- sions at nearly or quite a thousand. In 1865 a glorious work was begun in Detroit, Mich., where as. many as five thousand were present at open-air serv- ices. During that winter Mr. Hammond preached for ten weeks at Philadelphia, sometimes in churches, sometimes in the Academy of Music; in which lat- ter place as many as five hundred rose for prayers at a single meeting. Then followed services in Halifax, and other towns in Nova Scotia; Bingham ton, Elmira, Watkins, N. Y.; Towanda, Pa.; Corning and Erie, N. Y.; and Peoria, 111.; where it is thought that as many as 184 TIMES OF REFRESHING. a thousand were hopefully converted to Christ. From Peoria Mr. Hammond went to Springfield, 111., where the work was blessed by a large number of re- markable conversions. In May, 1866, Mr. Hammond was married in To- wanda, Pa., and soon afterwards started with his wife on an extended tour through Scotland, England, France, Italy, Egypt and Palestine. In Jerusalem and Beirut he held services, being assisted by Bishop Gobat, of the Episcopal Church. On his return, he held meetings at Naples, Paris and other places on the continent, preaching the gospel through an inter- preter. After visiting scenes of his former labors in Scotland, in the spring of 1867, he held services for six weeks in London. His work among the children there was peculiarly blessed, and has been developed into what is called the Children's Special Service Mis- sion, which is now a permanently established institu- tion, its officers being among the leading men of Lon- don. During the summer and autumn of 1867 he con- tinued his evangelistic labors in various parts of Scot- land, England and Ireland, and returned home early in 1868. Like Mr. Moody, he went first to his old family home in Yernon, Conn., and preached the gospel to his own townsmen and neighbors. As the result, several of his own relatives were converted. During this year he returned to Rochester, the place where his work had been so blessed before, and began another series of meetings. At the opening meeting he was pressed down with an unusual weight of prayer, that that meeting might be blessed. REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 185 In the course of the sermon, while speaking of the valor with which men under earthly leadership would brave danger, Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade " came so forcibly to his mind that he could not resist the desire to repeat it entire. At the close of the service a lady came to Dr. Shaw, and said : " There is no occasion for us to go to the theatre now: you provide us with theatrical enter- tainment here." Somewhat alarmed by this repre- sentation, the good Doctor said to Mr. Hammond: " This will cause criticism. You must not be so the- atrical. Why did you do it?" " I don't know," answered Mr. Hammond. " I had prayed very earnestly to be guided in this sermon. It came to me like an inspiration, and I used it." The following morning a fine-looking elderly man, with a bronzed face, called on Mr. Hammond and said: "I was one of that six hundred who went into Balaklava. I am one of the thirty-six who came out of the charge. I have been in a hundred battles, but never until last night did I feel myself a sinner. My wife and I went home from the meeting convicted of sin, and gave our hearts to God." Thus it appeared that the Spirit had overruled what seemed to many the preacher's mistake, to the salvation of two souls. From Rochester he went to Lockport. As the re- sult of the revival there, Rev. Dr. Wisner received into his church in one day two hundred and fifty-six members. About a thousand united with the churches in and around Lockport. In 1869 Mr. Hammond labored four weeks in In- 186 TIMES OF REFRESHING. dianapolis. The meetings of the first week were full of power, the churches were greatly refreshed, and a great number added to them of such as should be saved. In November of that year he went to Cincinnati. The churches had thoroughly prepared for his com- ing— organized union services, and joined heartily with him in the work. "When Mr. Hammond reached the city there were already hopeful indications of a gracious harvest. In the First Presbyterian Church there were many inquirers, and throughout many of the churches there was an atmosphere of expectation and prayer. According to his custom, Mr. Ham- mond began with union children's meetings. He preached the cardinal truths of the gospel with great simplicity and fervor, and a large number of young- people gave evidence of having been truly converted. Mr. Hammond remained in the city for about six weeks, and the work, both in the city and the towns around it, gave signs of the mighty presence of the Spirit of God. The editor of the Cincinnati Gazette gathered statistics of the numbers who united with the various churches in and around the city, and they were found to aggregate about five thousand. These were, either directly or indirectly, the fruits of Mr. Hammond's labors. He then spent a few weeks in Evansville, Ind., where the work was rapid and powerful. In one of the children's meetings the wealthiest man in the city was converted to Christ. The conversion was doubtless genuine, for he has since given a round half- million of dollars for public benevolent purposes of the city. REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 187 We have not space to follow the work of the evan- gelist in Milwaukee, Wis.; Providence, R. L; Brook- lyn; Newark, N. J.; Kansas City, Leavenworth, Topeka, Atchison, Fort Scott and Lawrence, Kan. In the latter place it was estimated that a hundred family altars had been erected. In the fall of 1873 eighteen ministers of St. Louis invited Mr. Hammond to that city. On January 10, 1874, the meetings there were begun. A great revival followed, the practical character of which may be gathered from the following covenant read in the farewell meeting, and signed by thirty-six ministers, who were present on the platform: " We, the undersigned, ministers and pastors of the different churches of St. Louis, hereby become members of the ; Evangelical Alliance of St. Louis ;' and by so doing bind ourselves as a band of brothers, combining our Christian forces as a unit, presenting an unbroken front against intemperance, infidelity and unbelief, laying aside all local preferences, and in a grand union effort on one common platform to do all we can to bring sinners to Christ, to the living Savior." A paper was also adopted by the pastors, specifying among the characteristics of the revival, the union services, the conversion of children, the deep stillness and solemnity of inquiry meetings, free from all ob- jectionable extravagances, the effect of gospel singing, the clearness of the preaching, and its thoroughly sound doctrinal tone, and the closer bond of union created between all the ministers of the gospel. From St. Louis, Mr. Hammond, accompanied by 188 TIMES OF REFRESHING. six ministers and a number of laymen, made a flying evangelistic tour through the Indian Territory and Texas, preaching in Galveston, Austin and other places. During the summer and autumn of this year, Mr. Hammond spent several months in California, preaching in San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland and San Francisco, making a missionary tour as far north as Alaska. In 1875, he labored with remarkable success in Washington and the Cumberland Valley in Pennsyl- vania. The work in Harrisburg was specially power- ful, the meetings in Dr. Robinson's church often con-" tinning till far into the night. The depth of convic- tion for sin was so deep in many cases, that strong men were physically prostrated and cried aloud under an overwhelming sense of guilt. The revival soon became general throughout the valley, and refreshing rains of blessing fell successively upon Mechanicsburg, Shippensburg, Greencastle, Chambersburg, Mercersburg, Carlisle, Middletown, New Bloomiield, JSTewville, and other places. In Newville the work was wonderful beyond anything known in that locality before. We quote from the report made to the General Assembly by the Presby- tery of Carlisle, April, 1876. Referring to the work in Newville, it says: "With the union meetings a work of grace, of great power and of wide influence, began in that community, and which continued dur- ing the winter, greatly reviving the professed people of God, and causing them to rejoice in God their Savior, and resulting in the ingathering to the churches of that place and the immediate vicinity, of REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 189 between four and five hundred souls on profession of their faith in Christ." The same report, speaking of the general effect of the revival throughout all the towns of that valley, said, "A further result of this most gracious awaken- ing has been an increased spirit of unity and harmony among the professed people of God, a deeper interest in all the different parts of public service, the erection of many family altars, a general reformation in the morals of the community, a better observance of the Christian Sabbath, and a strong check upon the pub- lic vices of intemperance, profanity and licentiousness. In short, the whole region has been stirred by a supe- rior spiritual power, infidelity upon all sides stands abashed, and all classes are ready to acknowledge that this was truly the work of God." Afterward Mr. Hammond held services in Phila- delphia, Newburyport, Amesbury, Mass., and Terre- haute, Ind. The meetings in the latter place were specially fruitful. A report in one of the religious papers gives the following summary of results: " The grand result is that all classes, from the most respectable to the most abandoned, have been reached. Sin, also, has been continually held up as the abominable thing that God hates ; and the conversions taking place have largely indicated how pungent has been convic- tion in that regard,— thus leading the pastors to be- lieve that the work as a whole has been a deep and thorough one." During the winter of 1876 and 1877 a great revival wave swept over the towns of Syracuse, Seneca Falls, Geneva, and other places in Central New York, for a 190 TIMES OF REFRESHING. description of which we nave not space beyond the general remark that the characteristics of meetings we have already described were present in these also, in the increased faith and life of the churches and the turning of many to righteousness. A brief estimate of the elements of Mr. Hammond's success may fittingly close this sketch of his labors. His place as a preacher. The cross of Christ is most distinctly outlined in his own mind, and is therefore vividly presented to his hearers. The sub- stance of his sermons is ruin through sin and present full redemption through Christ, who was " wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities." The substitution of Christ in the sinner's place — the full satisfaction to Divine justice — the full justifica- tion of the sinner in God's sight on account of the Savior's work, and the believer's privilege to live ever in the light of conscious acceptance with God — are the notes that he is never weary of ringing in the people's ears. His power of illustration is remarka- ble. He is eminently successful in picturing before his audience whatever scene he is trying to impress on their minds. The attention of children, therefore, never flags, and his influence over them through vivid picturing of the plan of salvation, has been greatly blessed, alike to their instruction and salva- tion. The criticism that might be founded on his too great urgency in bringing children to an announce- ment of a decision for Christ, is largely shorn of its strength by the undoubted fact that he is as careful to make them intelligent as he is to make them de- cided. He gives them a reason for the hope he would REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 191 have them entertain. It is his custom, m separating the young converts from the audience, to have pastors examine them as to the ground of their faith in Christ. Brief as this examination must be, he solemnly and distinctly urges that it be pointedly made, and as clearly warns the children against the professi on of a love for Christ for which they cannot give some simple and Scriptural reason. His preach- ing, then, whether to children or adults, consists in a clear, well-defined and well-illustrated statement of the central doctrine of the cross. His system of truth is cast in Biblical rather than technical or theo- logical forms. The personality of Jesus as a heav- enly friend; the Fatherhood of God, calling for our confidence and filial love; the joyfulness of Christ's service and the certainty of its rewards in a real heaven of endless progress and endless work, these truths come from his lips with the freshness and force which only a deep conviction of them can give. His manner of preaching is in harmony with the mat- ter of it. Buoyant, almost boyish, with a certain phy- sical exuberance — with a fine commingling of joyful- ness and seriousness — he commends his religion as something that will give relish to this life as well as blessedness to the next. He is no ascetic, removed from the people and shading their thoughts with pic- tures of religious gloom. He brings a dash of Chris- tian sunlight and a breath of free Christian courage and hope with every sermon. Add to this his earn- estness, which never weakens; his directness of pur- pose, which never swerves, and he is before us as an evangelist a large measure of whose success is in his 192 TIMES OF REFRESHING. loyalty to the truth, his sense of its power, his wisdom in presenting it, and his earnestness in en- forcing it, as the very Word of God — the charter of Christian liberty, and the guide to a h appy Christian life and work. Another element of his success is in his general- ship. He has singular tact in setting people to work. Many of our later evangelists are gifted in this direction. Indeed, the spirit of the time points to this as one of the coming methods. It was an- nounced by Wesley long ago, "All at it and always at it." It was announced by Paul much longer ago, in his appeals to personal devotion. The church has been slow to learn. Evangelism in New England in 1740, meant preaching, and wonderful were the re- sults. In our own day it means preaching followed by hand-to-hand battle for souls. In this conflict generalship has its finest field. Mr. Hammond has decided tact in bringing Christians and inquirers to- gether. He bustles around an inquiry-room seem- ingly in a hap- hazard way, but in a few moments, somehow, order has come out of the confusion and the hushed groups and the subdued murmur of Christian conversation show that personal work has begun in earnest. He now — in the pulpit or out of it — is not the most successful man who works the hardest, but he who can inspire and organize others. We are proba- bly just on the eve of our best progress here. Mr. Hammond was one of the first men to grasp firmly the truth, that a public revival service un folio wed by the close quarters of heart to heart, has failed at the point of its highest success. REVIVALS UNDER HAMMOND. 193 All great evangelists are enthusiasts. It was a chief charge against Paul, against Luther, against Calvin, against Knox, against Whitefield and the Tennents. Mr. Hammond owes much to a certain natural enthusiasm of mind. In any calling he would have been ardent, impulsive, enthusiastic. This state of mind sanctified by grace, becomes mighty in re- ligion. It discounts or denies the discouragements, it trangfigures hope, and in its beautiful light turns it into success. It bridges streams and levels moun- tains, and batters down walls. It enables a man to make the most of himself, the most of his opportuni- ties, the most of the grace of God. It pictures above the clouds the ideal result of the battle begun below. Standards that trail here, are firmly planted and flung out triumphant there. Columns that are weak and wavering here, advance with level front there. To that ideal, enthusiasm holds the soldier, and under its inspiration he fights his battle. We stated at the beginning of this sketch that Mr. Hammond was a pioneer in the work among children. The church, will, perhaps, advance by increasing ex- perience to better methods than have yet been adopt- ed. But the essential idea that supports the work among children, both in Sunday schools and revival meetings, that little ones can be soundly converted; that the law of spiritual growth from very feeble be- ginnings, may be emphasized in religious life, and children be trained up in the church, rather than re- covered to it after prolonged wandering, is one that will throw heavenly radiance on all the future life of 194: TIMES OF REFRESHING. the church. It is one of the characteristics of these days that we believe will shine to ever- fairer light as the church moves on, that " of such is the kingdom o f heaven." Children in the midst of the disciples, with Christ's hands on their heads, is a historic picture on which new and clearer light is falling. It means more to-day than it ever meant before. CHAPTER IX. MODERN EVANGELISM. We have traced the progress of revival work from its beginning in this country, through its various sta- ges, to what may be called its present period. We have noted that each epoch has had its peculiar char- acteristics, both as to origin and methods. It is for us now to note the distinguishing mark of the revivals of to-day. It may be written down in a single phrase : This is the period of revivals through evangelism. This age so thoughtful, so intense, so practical and fruitful has been labeled by many a designation. It is an age of dawning liberty, civil and religious. Even now it is being struck out on the theater of a continent in " the clash of resounding arms." It is an age of science. As never before, the world lies open to the explorer, and submits her facts to the or- derly hand of science, to arrange and classify. It is the age of brotherhood. The walls of caste in every land are lowered, and manhood is rising to its premi- um. But, considered from a religious point of view what name shall we write across this age in which we live? It is not distinctively the age of theology as was the sixteenth century, that formulated creeds for the newly unshackled church; it is not an ecclesi- astical age, in which the definition and defense of de nominations is the principle and controlling thought, 193 196 TIMES OF REFRESHING. but it is the age of missions and revivals; of mis- sions, because the church is realizing, with the vivid- ness of the first century, the value of the gospel to perishing nations, and by the help of various agencies of education, civilization and national intercourse is inspired with the purpose of preaching the gospel to every creature; and of revivals as one of God's most effective methods for the rapid extension of the king- dom, and the conquest of the world. The special agency which Providence seems to have laid at the door of the church for realizing this idea, is evangelism. Let us inquire concerning its nature, its scriptural authority, its peculiar opportunities, its perils and its limitations. FIRST, WHAT 18 EVANGELISM? Two principal words are used in the Greek Testa- ment to express the idea which in English is expressed by one word — preaching. One of these is the official word, which means to herald. The Greek Herald was an official person representing the king, proclaiming by royal authority whatever the king desired to com- municate. This person was an embassador in the strict sense of the word. He wore the badge of a high office. His word was the word of royalty. From the heroic age of Greece his office was sacred, and his person inviolable as being under the immedi- ate protection of Jupiter. The New Testament wri- ters, therefore, who use words with great precision, express the idea of office or an official message by the use of the word herald. They use it whenever the principal stress of the idea is on the message as from EVANGELISM, 197 God, It is the word of dogmatic theology. Thus in 1 Cor. 1:23 the doctrine which the apostle preached was " Christ crucified, unto the Jews, a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks, foolishness," but the apostle preached it because it was a divine doctrine and di- vinely true. So also in Mark 16: 15: " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature:" the divine character of the message is made promi- nent in the very word of the commission. Again, the word " to herald " is used to give promi- nence to the office above the doctrine or message, which is conveyed. This is distinctly marked in such passages as Mark 3:14, " And He ordained twelve that He might send them forth to preach," and Acts 10 :42, "And He commanded us to preach unto the peo- ple," and 1 Tim. 2:7, " Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle," in all of which passages the doctrine is not the leading thought, but the fact that there was a class of men especially authorized and commanded to be heralds. This is also the word which is applied to official men in the New Testament, to John the Baptist, to Jesus and to the Apostles. The other word, usually translated by the general word preach, is evangelize, the literal meaning of which is to tell the good news, and it is employed wherever the tidings as joyful news to the people is the leading idea. As the word " to herald " is the word of authority, so to "evangelize " is the word of expe- rience. Thus in Gal. 1:16, Paul declares the revela- tion of Christ in his heart, is his commission to preach (to tell the good news). So in Eph. 3:3, 198 TIMES OF REFRESHING. he speaks "of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ," where the wealth of glad tidings being the burden of his thought, he uses the word which will direct attention to the good news of the riches of grace. Again, as we would expect, this word is employed whenever the apostle would humble himself, or would conceal his office under the news which it conveyed. Whenever he would for any reason for the moment divest himself of his character as an embassador, and stand only as a man among men, he uses the unoffi- cial word evangelize. A striking instance of this is recorded in Acts 14:15. When Paul had performed a miracle at Lystra, in the healing of a lame man, the excited populace, naming Barnabas, Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, brought oxen and garlands to the gate to do sacrifice to the preachers, as if they were gods. Then Paul felt he must lay aside every au- thority, and he cried out: "Sirs, why do ye these things? We also, are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities." Here, as the people had already un- duly magnified the apostles, it was meet that even a word which might convey to them an official meaning should be avoided, and so Paul uses the word evan- gelization, and his sentence might be, paraphrased thus: We are only men — men of like passions with you — assuming no authority; we have merely come telling you the good news, which has gladdened our own hearts. This word is also used to express the labors of un- ordained men. There are a number of passages EVANGELISM. 199 where men, not set apart to any sacred office, are rep- resented as preaching. These passages are Acts 8:4, where it is said the disciples scattered from Jerusa- lem by persecution " went everywhere preaching the word;" also Acts 11:19 and 20, "Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution which arose about Stephen, traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none, but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus." These, and other cases where pri- vate persons are said to preach, the word is invaria- bly, evangelize. They preached, but the very word used, the word that laid stress on the message and not on the office, and on the message, not as a doc- trine, but rather as an experience of the heart, indi- cates the difference between their preaching and the preaching of the apostles. From this analysis we learn the twofold scriptural nature of preaching. First, it is heralding the doc- trines of God by men set apart to that authoritative and special work. It is to stand as an embassador be- tween God and man, and to offer eternal life through Jesus Christ. In this view preaching is less an argu- ment, or an appeal, than an announcement and an of- fer. Preaching is also telling the good news. It is the answer of one man's experience to the profound questionings of another man's heart. It is reproduc- ing the gospel from the depths of the spirit, in which that gospel has been fused and tried, and proved to 200 TIMES OF REFRESHING. be good news of God. It subordinates the idea of office to that of experience and sympathy. That is the truest preaching which, holding both these ideas, comes with ever tenderer testimony and en- treaty to the common toils and struggles of men, which makes brotherhood conquer office, and transfig- ures the robe of the minister in the light of a broth- er's appeal. The church is an organized body. As such it has officers, orders and government. The officers of the church are called bishops, presbyters, elders, pastors, and teachers, whose duty it is to preach, to teach, to- rule, to feed the flock. These officers were appointed by Holy Ghost, signifying his will through the church, and giving it effect through the agency of the church. Upon the relations of the ministry to the church, the pendulum of Christian thought has vibrated be- tween two extremes. First the sacerdotal extreme, in which the office is exalted at the expense of the message, and an ordained and regularly constituted priesthood is the sole depository of the truth. Sec- ond, the ultra democratic view, in which there is no idea of ambassadorship, and no order of men divine- ly commissioned to bear the gospel to their fellows. There are evangelists, and every man who chooses to open his mouth is an evangelist. In this view the or- dination of men and the official charge to them to preach the gospel, is a trick of the trade, a device of a worn-out priesthood. On this theory, if one man is chosen by the congregation to do the preaching for them and give his time exclusively to the labors in- cident to the ministry, it is simply an economic busi- EVANGELISM. 201 ness arrangement, a kind of co-operative spiritual housekeeping, where one steward shall do the cook- ing for a whole community, that the rest of the people may be free to attend to more congenial pursuits The idea of an office from God, an office and a work to which God sends a man, and for the right discharge of which God holds him responsible, is wholly dis- carded. The preacher is simply the agent of men, and accountable solely to them. To these extremes a careful study of the New Tes- tament will furnish the sufficient antidote. The two words used to express the idea of preaching, the Her- ald and the Evangelist, very clearly set forth the scriptural idea of preaching, both on the divine and human side. The idea in the former word is best expressed in the word ambassador. The minister is not simply a messenger nor an agent. He represents a kingdom. His words and acts attain their signifi- cance from the power whose representative he is. On the other hand, while there is an official body of men chosen by the Holy Ghost through the instrumental- ity of the church, whose business it is to make the offer of God's plan of mercy to the world, yet the pro- clamation of glad tidings is not confined to this body of men. There is no patent upon telling the good news, and whosoever will may proclaim it. If then the inquiry be raised, Who may preach? we answer, everybody. Who should repeat the glad tidings of salvation for sinners, a reconciled Father, an open heaven? Everybody who has a heart to feel and a tongue to speak those feelings. There is a scriptural basis, therefore, for laj preaching in the very word 202 TIMES OF REFRESHING. used to designate the proclamation of the gospel in the first century. As Neander remarks, the office of teaching was not committed exclusively to presbyters and bish- ops, but all Christians had originally the right of pouring out their hearts before their brethren, and speaking for their edification in the public assembly. In truth, the new dispensation brought in a univer- sal, Christian priesthood, and every one was encour- aged to use for the glory of God the gift that was in him. There were diversities of gifts, of course, and some were therefore fitted for the regular office of teaching, while others were not. But so great was the demand for telling the good news realized to be that the disciples (not apostles) went everywhere preaching the gospel. This common right, Neander further says, was not denied until the age of Tertul- lian. Even then there was a strong reaction of the primitive Christian consciousness of the universal priesthood, and the common rights grounded thereon against the arrogated power of that particular priest- hood, which had recently begun to form itself on the model of the " Old Testament." From that point onward church history marks a gradual and constant encroachment of power over the freedom of the church. The original equality of spiritual right among Christians was more and more obscured. But even as late as the third century it was maintained in a book, pretty wrell imbued with a hierarchical spirit, and that, too, under the assumed authority of the apostle Paul: " If a man, though a layman, is skill- ful IN EXPOUNDING DOCTRINE, AND OF VENERABLE MAN- EVANGELISM. 203 NERS HE MAY BE ALLOWED TO TEACH, FOE ALL SHOULD be taught of God." If the study of the New Tes- tament in the passages we have quoted proves the original equal right of all Christians, ordained or unor- dained, to spread abroad the news of salvation, it is just as clear from the early history of the church that this was the common practice. It was not denied un- til the rising spirit of ecclesiasticism eclipsed at once the early personal consecration, and the spiritual rights and privileges grounded therein. We have said it is one of the distinguishing char- acteristics of this age that lay preaching is becoming an element of increasing Christian power. We are returning in this respect to the early centuries of Christian life. The church is not, therefore, enter- ing upon an innovation. She is only asserting an original right of all truly converted souls, — a right the denial of which was rebuked by our Lord hi in- self. The disciples found one not of their own num- ber casting out devils in Christ's name, and they for- bade him. It was an irregular procedure, and in the minds of the disciples it might tend to mischief in the future. Christ's reply was very emphatic, tell- ing them that because a man was not in the number of the disciples, or did not follow their methods, he should not therefore be forbidden to cast out devils. special opportunities. Not only was lay preaching grounded in original right, but there was in the apostles' times a necessity for it. The world was to be evangelized. There were only twelve apostles. Christ had commanded them to go into all the world with His gospel. 204 TIMES Or REFRESHING. There was only one way in which it could be done. All the sanctified gifts of the Church must be used. He that heareth must say, come. The apostles could not go to every place. They could not remain long at any one of their numerous mission stations. They must call native converts to teach and preach to the people. Only by such a multiplication of voices could the commission be fulfilled in the short time the apostles supposed allotted to their task. There is even greater necessity now. The gospel is the world's last, best hope. If light does not shine upon the world's doubt, and peace do not come to its troubles through the name of Jesus, in the name of a world- wide and age-long experiment, we have a ri^ht to say, light and peace will never come at all. .Not only so, but the world is vastly larger to us than it was to Paul. Its nations, kindreds, tribes and tongues mean more to us than they ever meant be- fore. We are just beginning to learn how many are those nations, how various those tongues. In the light of modern science the breadth of our commis- sion stands revealed to us as never before, and we un- derstand as we have not understood before, that if the gospel shall penetrate to every human habitation, then we must return to the apostolic idea of a univer- sal Christian priesthood, and the sacred, Christ-given obligation resting upon all who have received glad tidings in their own hearts to send them abroad to others. There is a further necessity for lay evangelism. The same science that multiplies the nations also mul- tiplies the appliances for reaching them. We have EVANGELISM. 205 facilities for missionary work that are new and con- stantly increasing. A missionary can go to the anti- podes in half the time it took Paul to go from Cesa- rea to Rome. Railroad and steamboat lines render accessible all the great national centers of population. Not only so, but the inter-communication between the most remote lands brings Christianity and heathen - dom into the most constant contact. Hindoos and Chinese visit Christian lands, enter Christian schools, and in every way submit themselves to opportuni- ties of learning the gospel of Christ. Not only does science open the way to heathen na- tions, but those nations themselves open the door in- vitingly to every good message we can bring them. India, through all her magnificent length and breadth, lies open not only to British, commerce, but to the British. Bible Society, and China and Japan, awak- ing from the slumber of untold ages, stretch their hands toward our western coast, and invite from our civilization the best we can give, sending their youth to our colleges to learn the sciences and to study the genius of our Christian institutions. If the growth of the missionary spirit, of late so wonderfully aroused, shall meet the world's demand for" the gospel, it is plain there must be a multiplica- tion of agencies and increase of men. The regularly ordained ministry is inadequate to meet the wants of the world. There are ministers enough to fill the first-class pulpits, but not enough to fill the first-class fields. When Thomas Chalmers stood at the Cow- gate and looked down upon the slums of Edin- burgh, with a fine enthusiasm for souls, he exclaimed : 206 TIMES OF REFRESHING. " It is a beautiful field." There is not in any part of the earth a place so sin -wrapped and sin-cursed that to the eye of faith may not be bright with beautiful spiritual harvest. The desolate places of our own land need a human voice. The dark drifts of hea- then population can be illumined only by the Lamp of Life offered by human messengers. The inadequacy of the ministry to overtake this world-wide want cannot be met by lowering the qual- ifications or shortening the course of those who are to be the official heralds of the cross, for there is a de- mand, not only for more words, but for deeper ones. "We must not lose sight of the truth that we are to " bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," as well as all people. Christianity must not only plant her standards on the world's farther shore, but she must hold her lines amidst the world's culture and science. Therefore, we need enlarged preparation on the part of those who are to defend these lines. We cannot afford to convert the Joseph Cooks into the D. L. Moodys. The same demand which claims the one is persistent in calling for the other. We conclude, then, that the distinction which obtained in the early Church between those who were advanced to the regular office of teaching in the Church, and the much larger number, who exercised whatever gifts they had in whatever place they could gain a hearing, need not be, and should not be, sacri- ficed now. Between a regular ministry and lay preaching, there is not only consistency, but harmony and mutual dependence. EVANGELISM. 207 DANGERS OF LAY EVANGELISM. Emerson says: " There is among men an insane tendency to go to extremes." It were not strange if a touch of this insanity were developed in modern revival movements. The zeal that springs the bow to the arrow's head may sometimes send it beyond the mark. Evangelism is not, as we have shown, a new experiment. It cannot be criticised as something which has just sprung into notice, the capabilities of which are for the first time put to the test. It has been the advance-guard of some of the best move- ments in Church history. Nevertheless, the evangel- ism of to-day has new and peculiar features. It enters new fields and enlists in its aid new methods. In these methods it may be considered an experiment, and the question of its permanent success still open to debate. Let us glance at some of the strictures that are made upon it. 1. It is claimed it disparages the regular ministry. We have shown for this there is no necessary reason. Ministers and lay preachers have spheres of their own, whose circles do not cut. As a matter of fact, we see but little tendency in the direction criticised. The most successful evangelists will not move in any place without the hearty co-operation of the ministry. It cannot be charged upon men like Moody and Ham- mond that they lack in any recognition of the office of the ministry, or in any politeness to ministers. On the other hand, the best and most successful min- isters have not failed to stand by these revivalists; to show their sympathy and confidence by their personal 210 TIMES OF REFRESHING. and uncalled ministry. We take it as a fact Church history will vindicate, that long-continued prosperity in Christian work is a sign of divine approval. They who have that seal upon their labors may be open to criticism upon many sides, may offend taste, violate proprieties, and roughly cross the path of ordinary church life and work, but they cannot thereby be dis- credited. The duty of the Church in regard to such is to commend the work, which seems manifestly of God, while leaving the human eccentricity in its own place, for criticism and judgment. God, for the sake of the kingdom, overlooks a great deal in the best of His servants. The Church should cultivate a like charitable temper. There is no absolute rule by which religious work can be squared and cut; the result must measure it. The golden sheen of the harvest will disclose the nature of the seed. Let us, there- fore, not be unduly anxious lest, in the great increase of laborers in the vineyard, some are idlers, some are worthless. They will drop to their own place. The ranks will close up again with better material and the harvest will go on. 3. It is feared that the novelty and excitement attendant upon evangelistic labors will, in the minds of many Christians, produce a feeling of dissatisfac- tion with the ordinary, regular and quieter means of grace. To our minds, this stricture is not without force. Important as is the conversion of souls, the edification of believers is hardly less so. Building them up on the foundations of the truth is the neces- sary and perpetual work of the Gospel ministry. This work, without noise or demonstration, goes quietly on EVANGELISM. 211 from year to year. On the fidelity with which it is done depends largely the future life and growth of the kingdom. Let us not, therefore, disparage it because it does not respond favorably to revival tests. The force of this criticism will be considerably lessened if evangelistic labors are devoted chiefly to the gathering of churchless masses to the sound of the truth. Then the tide wave that fills the Taberna- cle from the streets and alleys of a great city will, in its refluent movement, bear them into the churches, to be a new and stimulating element there, and, in turn, to become messengers of help and blessing to others, who are without God and without hope in the world. Should evangelistic movement widen and deepen, as now seems probable, it may develop ten- dencies which need to be checked; tendencies which need to be avoided. For that time, should it come, the sanctified wisdom of the Church may be relied upon to deal rightly with the questions it may pre- sent. Meantime the present duty of the Church seems plain. In view of the New Testament author- ity for encouraging the proclamation of the truth by all who have felt it, in view of the success which attended this evangelism in the first Christian eras, in view of the favor of God, which is manifestly upon it now, in view of the ever-increasing demand for Christian labor, at home and abroad, the Church should recognize as of God the evangelistic movement that distinguishes this time. She should encourao-e those whose gifts and labors qualify them to go out into that field, which is the world, and call men to repentance and faith. 210 TIMES OF REFRESHING. and uncalled ministry. We take it as a fact Church history will vindicate, that long-continued prosperity in Christian work is a sign of divine approval. They who have that seal upon their labors may be open to criticism upon many sides, may offend taste, violate proprieties, and roughly cross the path of ordinary church life and work, but they cannot thereby be dis- credited. The duty of the Church in regard to such is to commend the work, which seems manifestly of God, while leaving the human eccentricity in its own place, for criticism and judgment. God, for the sake of the kingdom, overlooks a great deal in the best of His servants. The Church should cultivate a like charitable temper. There is no absolute rule by which religious work can be squared and cut; the result must measure it. The golden sheen of the harvest will disclose the nature of the seed. Let us, there- fore, not be unduly anxious lest, in the great increase of laborers in the vineyard, some are idlers, some are worthless. They will drop to their own place. The ranks will close up again with better material and the harvest will go on. 3. It is feared that the novelty and excitement attendant upon evangelistic labors will, in the minds of many Christians, produce a feeling of dissatisfac- tion with the ordinary, regular and quieter means of grace. To our minds, this stricture is not without force. Important as is the conversion of souls, the edification of believers is hardly less so. Building them up on the foundations of the truth is the neces- sary and perpetual work of the Gospel ministry. This work, without noise or demonstration, goes quietly on EVANGELISM. 211 from year to year. On the fidelity with which it is done depends largely the future life and growth of the kingdom. Let us not, therefore, disparage it because it does not respond favorably to revival tests. The force of this criticism will be considerably lessened if evangelistic labors are devoted chiefly to the gathering of churchless masses to the sound of the truth. Then the tide wave that fills the Taberna- cle from the streets and alleys of a great city will, in its refluent movement, bear them into the churches, to be a new and stimulating element there, and, in turn, to become messengers of help and blessing to others, who are without God and without hope in the world. Should evangelistic movement widen and deepen, as now seems probable, it may develop ten- dencies which need to be checked; tendencies which need to be avoided. For that time, should it come, the sanctified wisdom of the Church may be relied upon to deal rightly with the questions it may pre- sent. Meantime the present duty of the Church seems plain. In view of the New Testament author- ity for encouraging the proclamation of the truth by all who have felt it, in view of the success which attended this evangelism in the first Christian eras, in view of the favor of God, which is manifestly upon it now, in view of the ever-increasing demand for Christian labor, at home and abroad, the Church should recognize as of God the evangelistic movement that distinguishes this time. She should encourage those whose gifts and labors qualify them to go out into that field, which is the world, and call men to repentance and faith. CHAPTER X. MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. Dwight Lyman Moody was born Feb. 5, 1837, at ISTorthfield, Mass. He was the sixth child of Edwin and Betsy Holton Moody. His mother is a descend- ant of ¥m. Holton, one of the first settlers of ISTorth- field on a tract of land purchased from the Indians in 1673. When Dwight was only four years of age his father suddenly died, leaving a family of seven chil- dren, the oldest but thirteen years of age, and with no property for their support, save a little house with an acre or two of land, and even this incumbered with debt. The mother of this helpless family was not an ordinary woman. Endowed with great force of char- acter and strength of both body and mind, she picked up her burden of poverty and toil and struggled on as best she could, until her children, who had been her anxiety and care, became her comfort and sup- port By her frugality and good management, and by the enterprise of her sons, they have now a com- fortable property. Mr. Moody has built a house for himself near the family homestead, which has become his retreat from the exhaustive labors of revival cam- paigns. His early education was exceedingly limited. A few terms at the district school afforded all the edu- 212 (^>j£.2^ MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 213 cational opportunities his boyhood had. His expe- rience at school is given in one of his sermons, and it serves to illustrate at once his life and his doctrine: " At the school I used to go to when I was a boy, we had a teacher who believed in governing by law. He used to keep a rattan in his desk, and my back tin- gles now as I think of it. But after awhile the notion got abroad among the people that a school might be governed by love, and the district was divided into what I might call the law party and the grace party; the law party standing by the old schoolmaster, with his rattan, and the grace party wanting a teacher who could get along without punishing so much. " After awhile the grace party got the upper hand, turned out the old master, and hired a young lady to take his place. We all understood that there was to be no rattan that winter, and we looked forward to having the jolliest kind of a time. On the first morning the new teacher, whom I will call Miss Grace, opened the school with reading out of the Bi- ble, and prayer. That was a new thing, and we didn't quite know what to make of it. She told us she didn't mean to keep order by punishment, but she hoped we would all be good children, for her sake as well as our own. This made us a little ashamed of the mischief we had meant to do, and every thing went on pretty well for a few days; but pretty soon I broke one of the rules, and Miss Grace said I was to stop that night after school. Now for the old rat- tan, said I to myself; it's coming now, after all. But when the scholars were all gone she came and sat down by me, and told me how sorry she was that I, 214 TIMES OF REFRESHING. who was one of the biggest boys, and might help her so much, was setting such a bad example to the others and making it so hard for her to get along with them. She said she loved us, and wanted to help us, and if we loved her we would obey her, and then every thing would go on well. There were tears in her eyes as she said this, and I didn't know what to make of it, for no teacher had ever talked that way to me before. I began to feel ashamed of myself for being so mean to any one who was so kind; and after that she didn't have any more trouble with me, nor with any of the other scholars, either. She just took -us out from under the Law and put us under Grace." About the age of seventeen, he went to Boston to be trained for business in the establishment of his uncles, Samuel and Lemuel Hoi ton. His family were Unitarians. At this period of his life, therefore, he knew little about evangelical religion, although the Unitarianism of his mother's family was quite differ- ent from that which passes under the same name now. He began to attend the Mt. Yernon church and Sunday school, and we can imagine the effect the clear and pungent preaching of old Dr. Kirk had upon his quick and inquiring mind. Sometimes the doctor would, as it seemed to young Moody, get very prosy; then he would go to sleep in a corner of the gallery till some vigilant deacon would give him a nudge, recall his attention to the preacher, and bid him listen to the sermon. In this way Mr. Moody got his early views of theology and his first relig- ious impressions. He had few friends in the great city. He was poor and often lonely, but was already MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 'J 15 beginning to develop those traits which afterward made him a most successful business man, and final- ly the most successful revivalist. In these days his chief solace was in the memory of his good home in Northfield, and in the words of love and counsel he received from the loved ones there. In one of his sermons, in a fine appreciation of the humor of the situation, he tells us the effect of a letter he received from his sister. She was full of solicitude for him, but the chief burden of her anxiety was that he should remember he was in a city full of dishonest people, and especially to beware of pick-pockets. As there was at that time absolutely nothing in his pockets to be picked, the caution appeared to him as intensely amusing, as it was wholly unnecessary. Under the sermons of his pastor, and the per- sonal influence of his Sunday school teacher, his mind was gradually turned to the subject of religion. As his mind became informed, and his conscience awakened, his rebellious will beg-an to set itself against the claims of the gospel. Sometimes he would leave the church with the purpose not to re- turn to it, but even then the Spirit of God was taking hold of the young man and dealing with him for the preparation of his future work. He would come back again to hear Dr. Kirk's appeal ; he would sub- mit himself again to the influence of his godly Sun- day school teacher. At length, he surrendered him- self to the claims of Christ. He never did any thin o- by halves; his conversion, therefore, was a complete moral and spiritual revolution. The energy he had used in his business and in his own interest 216 TIMES OF REFRESHING. or pleasure, he transferred to the Savior. His life had taken its new and endless direction, and his religion speedily became to him what it has ever since been, the one absorbing passion of his life. A Christian, in his thought, ought to be an enlibted soldier in the army of Christ. He did what since he has so constantly urged others to do — offered himself to the Church for membership. The committee de- bated, hesitated, and finally rejected him. They did not discourage him in his Christian life, but insisted that he should wait awhile. He could give so little reason for the hope that was in him, his knowledge Was so limited, his experience so obscure, they put him on a kind of probation, kindly appointing, however, a committee to watch over and help him. At the end of this period he was received into the Church. The fire in his bones would not let him altogether hold his peace. He tried occasionally to blunder through a prayer, or a few words of remark, but so unacceptable to the Church were these first at- tempts that his uncle was asked to keep his nephew still. It is related in one of the lives of Mr. Moody that when he was first becoming known as a Chris- tian worker in Chicago, a member of the Mt. Yer- non Church, visiting a friend at the West, spoke slightingly of the religious life of that section of the country, because such men as Moody were allowed such prominence in it, saying : " When we had him in our church we wouldn't let him speak in our prayer meetings." A number of years after Mr. Moody's removal to Chicago, Dr. Kirk, during a visit to the West, assisted Mr. Moody nearly a week in his mis- MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 217 8ionary labors. So greatly was lie impressed with the changes wrought in a few years that on his return home he called upon Mr. Hoi ton, and said : " I told our people last night that we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. There is that young Moody who, we thought, did not know enough to be in our church, exerting a greater influence for Christ than any other man in the great Northwest." In 1856 Mr. Moody came to Chicago. His first employer in that city said of him : " His ambition made him anxious to lay up money. His personal habits were exact and economical. As a salesman he was the same zealous and tireless worker that he after- ward became in religion." His first religious home was Plymouth Congregational Church. His first re- ligious work was to rent four pews in that church and fill them every Sunday with young men. But lie longed for more to do, and at once began looking around to find his work. There was a little Sunday school on North Wells street, to the superintendent of which he offered himself one morning to teach a class. The reply was : " You may have a class if you will go into the street and get it." He was stirring betimes the next Sunday morning, and when the Sunday school opened, young Moody was at the door heading a strag- gling procession of eighteen ragged urchins. He had found his work. Glasgow, Dublin, London, and the great cities of our own country, with their countless thousands thronging our great tabernacles, may look across twenty years to that motley group at the San- day school door as the insignificant beginning of their marvelous results. Personal work, the touch of 218 TIMES OF REFRESHING. a s j m pathetic mind and a loving heart upon other minds and hearts, drew together that straggling band. The same force, almighty in the kingdom of grace, draws together the great multitudes that are gathered in the present revivals. The method was not new with Moody. He learned it from the greater Leader, who went up and down the shores of Galilee, up and down the streets of Jerusalem, with a heart large enough to rind a brother in every suffering fellow, and to love not the church or humanity, but the men, women and children, who were in sickness, sin and trouble around Him. Mr. Moody did not teach the class he had gathered. He was not very well qualified for it, and he had found something that, for him, was better. He turned that class over to another teacher, and went out and gathered in others and others, until the school was full and the recruiting officer for that school was no longer needed. Then he started a school of his own. He began it in the very worst part of the city, a dis- trict called " The Sands," surrounded by saloons and gambling dens. It was on the North Side, the coun- terpart of the "DeviFs Half Acre " on the South Side. It began in a deserted saloon, rapidly outgrew its limits, and was then moved to the " North Market Hall." The room was large and commodious, but it had its disadvantages. On Saturday nights it was used tor a dance. Sunday mornings the young mis- sionary was fully occupied clearing out the sawdust, tobacco juice and beer barrels. There were no benches. The school stood up, or, in Turkish fashion, sat on the jdoor. But Mr. Moody wanted things comfortable, so MOODY IN GBEAT BRITAIN. 219 he went around the city and solicited money to buy benches. One of the men he approached was John V. Farwell. After getting his subscription, Mr. Moody invited him over to visit the school. The next Sunday the distinguished merchant made his appearance. He found the school full of howling young Arabs, in all possible postures, making Sun- day hideous with all sorts of cries, behaving in gene- ral like anything but a Sunday school. Before he knew it Mr. Moody had nominated him to the super- intendency, put the motion, had it carried, and in- ducted him to the office. In vain he protested. Mr. Moody picks his men with great sagacity and presses them to their places with absolute command. From that time the North Mission became one of the insti- tutions of the city. The attendance ran up rapidly to six or seven hundred, and often more. They came as the first eighteen came, under the influence of per- sonal approach and persuasion. II. Thane Miller, once in a Christian convention in the First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, being called on for a speech upon the question, "How shall the masses be reached?*' made the shortest and most effective speech of his life. It was this : " If you want the masses, in the language of the boys, 'go for them.' " It was thus the North Market Mission was filled and kept full. Mr. Moody devoted his evenings, often until a late hour, going for the heathen on " The Sands," and on Sunday he and a band of like-minded friends gath- ered boys and girls from the purlieus of vice and crime, and brought them under the influence of the gospel in the mission. Many of them, indeed, would re- 220 TIMES Or REFRESHING. main but a few weeks, but who shall tell unto what harvest, a single text, lodged in an active mind, may grow ? "We have not space to follow Mr. Moody through the years of this remarkable work, although they were formative years, and of the utmost influ- ence in his future career. They gave the tone to all his future preaching. His one book was the Bible. The one subject taught in his school was the gospel of the grace of God. His teachers were of all de- nominations. He required of them only this, that they be able to point out clearly the way of salvation. He worked for the reformation of the community, but he expected it only through the conversion of the soul. Among the religious experiences of this time, Mr. Moody relates the following. It illustrates his wisdom, courage and faith: " One of our friends reported a family where there were several children who were * due ' at the North Market School, but whose father was a notorious in- fidel rum-seller, and wouldn't let them come. "I called on him; but as soon as I made known my errand I was obliged to get out of that place very quickly, in order to save my head. " * I would rather my son should be a thief, and my daughter a harlot, than have you make fools and Christians of them over there at your Sunday school,' 6aid he. " One day I found the man in a little better humor than usual, and asked him if he had ever read the New Testament. He said he hadn't, and then asked me if I had ever read Paine's < Age of Reason.' He MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 221 then agreed to read the Testament if I would read Paine's book. " He had the best of the bargain; but it gave me a chance to call again to bring the book. After wading through that mass of infidel abominations I called on him again, to see how he got on with the Testament, but found him full of objections and hot for de- bate. " ' See here, young man,' said he; ' you are invit- ing me and my family to go to meeting; now you may have a meeting here, if you like.' " ' What! will you let me preach here in your sa- loon V " ' Yes,' he said. 'l ' And will you bring in your family, and let me bring in the neighbors?' " 4 Yes. But mind, you are not to do all the talk- ing. I and my friends will have something to say.' " ' All right. You shall have forty-five minutes, and I will have fifteen.' " The time for the meeting was set, and when I got there I found a great crowd of atheists, blasphe- mers and other wild characters waiting for a chance to make mince-meat of me, and use up the New Testa- ment forever. "• ' You shall begin,' said I. " Upon this they began to ask questions. " ' No questions! I haven't come to argue with you, but to preach Christ to you. Go on and say what you like, and then I will speak.' "Then they began to talk among themselves; but it wasn't long before they quarreled over their own $22 TIMES OF REFRESHING. different unbeliefs, so that what began as a debate was in danger of ending in a fight. " ' Order! Your time is up. I am in the habit of beginning my addresses with prayer. Let us pray.' " ' Stop ! stop !' said one. ' There's no use in your praying. Besides, your Bible says there must be " two agreed " if there is to be any praying; and you are all alone.' " I replied that perhaps some of them might feel like praying before I got through, and so T opened my heart to God. " When I had finished, a little boy, who had been converted in the Mission School and had come with me to this strange meeting, began to pray. His childish voice and simple faith at once attracted the closest attention. As he went on telling the Lord all about these wicked men, and begging him to help them believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost fell upon the assembly. A great solemnity came over those hard-hearted infidels and scoffers; there was not a dry eye in the room. Pretty soon they began to be frightened. They rushed out, some by one door and some by the other — did not stop to hear a word of the sermon, but fled from the place as though it had been haunted. " As a result of this meeting we captured all the old infidel's children for our Sunday school, and a little while after the man himself stood up in the noonday prayer meeting and begged us to pray for his misera- ble soul." We have now reached a point where it will be necessary to note the connection of the present evan- MOOPY TN GREAT BRITAIN. 223 gelistic movements and the Young Men's Christian Association. The first Association was organized by a band of active, consecrated young men in the city of New York, about the year 1845. The Association of Cincinnati dates back to about the same time. For many years they were looked upon with suspicion and distrust. Conservative men regarded them as an out- side agency, without direct scriptural authority, of doubtful good, and with many tendencies to evil. They were very generally so considered at the time when Mr. Moody identified himself with the Associa- tion, which had just been formed in Chicago. He saw in it the very hand he wanted for reaching the masses of the city. Although Christian associations had ex- isted before the great revivals of 1857 and 1858, they first sprang into a place of great influence and power at that time. The revival spirit spread over the whole land. It aroused Christians to a new sense of duty. It made them inquire for new agencies for spreading the gospel, and it was speedily perceived that in no way could the young men of the country be so effect- ually reached, helped and saved as by the associated labors of Christian men. "Within the last twenty years this agency of Chris- tian work has spread and grown into almost univer- sal popular favor, the very exponent of Christian zeal and evangelical Christian catholicity. Some of the good results already reached, which also guarantee still greater good yet to come, may be enu- merated as follows: 1. It has developed and embodied the lay activity of the Church in all Christian work, as it never had 224: TIMES OF REFRESHING, been done before. It has demonstrated the entire har- mony between the clerical and lay agencies of the Church to a degree which had never been seen in for- mer days. It has assigned to the member ship of the Church, and especially to its active younger men, a field, a mission, and a work which hitherto had not been realized. And it has brought all that powerful assistance and encouragement to the help of the reg- ular established ministry, to an extent which the min- isters of former generations had not dreamed of. 2. It has practically united all evangelical Churches in one grand brotherhood for doing good, and has given to the world a living demonstration of true Christian Catholicism. It has given the argument of actual fact and example, how evangelical Christians of all Protestant Churches are one in spirit, one in char- acter, one in work, however separated by external or- ganization. 3. Under the influence of Christian zeal and philan- thropy, it has illustrated the maxim — aut inveniam a\it facia m viam — by actually setting to work and solving the problem how to carry the gospel to the poor, how to reach and save the outlying masses in our towns and cities. It has organized itself into a saving society. In Christ's name, by his Spirit and power, and with God's blessing, it has succeeded in carrying the gospel of salvation to the perishing. It has res- cued hundreds and thousands of young men and sin- ners of all other classes, who had resisted all the ordi- nary means of grace, and who, without its agency, would have gone to destruction. It has infused its fresh young life into the whole MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 225 body of the Church and into the whole band of its ministry and office-bearers. Full of zeal and energy itself, it has been the means of stimulating all others to a fuller consecration to Christ and a more earnest, energetic service in the work of doing good. It has given directness to all agencies. Men preach better, pray better and work better by reason of its influ- ence. This it has already done. We will not even try to forecast the share it will have in the religious move- ments of the future. It can, however, no longer be doubted that it will be in the very vanguard of the army of Christian conquest. Let us, however, recall its feeble beginnings, and thank God that men like Dudley Tyng, Thane Miller, and D. L. Moody set upon it such a seal of whole-souled devotion to Christ, that it has outgrown the criticism that once surrounded it, has enlisted in its service the men who once doubted it, and has infused new blood into the whole Church of God. D. L. Moody is the gift of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association to the Church. Let us follow a little farther the training he received in that school. At this time Mr. Moody felt himself called upon to de- vote all his time to gospel work. He gave up his business and cast himself on God. In one of his ser- mons, referring to this time, and to his experience in learning to preach, he relates the following personal incident : " For a long time I used to be the laughing-stock of this community, because I used to stop people on the street and elsewhere and talk to thean abomt their 226 TIMES OF REFRESHING. souk; but that was the school in which I learned to preach the gospel. It was my rule to speak to some one every day. One night, as I was going home, when I got as far as the corner of Clark and Lake streets, I remembered that I hadn't spoken to any un- converted man that day about his soul. But just then I happened to 6ee a man leaning up against the lamp- post, so I went up and put my hand on his shoulder and asked him if he loved the Lord. He was very an- gry; turned round and cursed me, and afterward went to a friend of mine and said: ' If you have any influ- ence with that man Moody, I wish you would tell him. to stop his impudence. He is doing more harm than any ten men in Chicago.' My friend came and tried to persuade me that I was doing mischief by speaking to strangers that way; but I replied that God hadn't shown it to me in that light, and until he did I should keep right on as before. " Well, a little while after that, when I used to live up in the Young Men's Christian Association rooms, and was janitor and sexton and secretary and what not, very early one morning I heard a rap at my door, and, as soon as I could dress me, I opened it, and there stood a man who was a perfect stranger. '"Don't you know me?' he asked; ' I am the man that cursed you for asking him about his soul down there at the corner of Clark and Lake streets. I haven't had a minute's peace since, and now I am come to ask you to pray for me.' " On the breaking out of the war, in 1861, a new turn was given to his labors. His first work among the soldiers was at Camp Douglas, in South Chicago. MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN'. 227 Night after night he might be seen going from tent to tent, striving to bring the soldiers under the influ- ence of divine grace. When the Christian Commis- sion was organized he became President of the Chi- cago branch, and pushed it at once to a most wonder- ful degree of efficiency. Through his labors the noon- day prayer meeting in Chicago and the armies on the field and Christian homes throughout all the West were brought into close and sympathetic relations. From the towns and prairies of the West, requests for prayer for fathers, sons and brothers in the army were sent to the noon meetings. Mr. Moody and his co- laborers helped to answer those prayers. Again and again they went to the front, held meetings with the soldiers in camp, went from cot to cot in the hospital, and from man to man among the wounded on the field of battle, preaching the gospel of Christ. Many were the answers to prayer mentioned in the Chicago meet- ings, and sent abroad throughout the country, answers secured by the faith of the praying ones in that hall and by the personal work of the agents they had sent to the field. A careful examination of Mr. Moody's work in connection with the Christian Commission during the war would disclose the fact that it was an important element in his Christian education, and largely helped to fit him for the work he was to do. It gave him a knowledge of men he could hardly have obtained in any other way, and taught him many ave- nues to the heart without which he could hardly be the evangelist he is. It taught him faith in prayer. So often had he carried messages from Christian homes and prayer meetings to the soldiers, with know! 22S TIMES OF REFRESHING. edge that prayer accompanied the message; so often had he seen the result in the conversion of those thus prayed for, that he came to have an unwavering faith in the words of God: "Ask and it shall be given you." He also learned how to organize revival cam- paigns. In the very midst of battle memories, and almost amidst battle scenes, he witnessed many revi- vals of religion. No other war ever had its horrors so surrounded by the light that comes from above, and the praise of it, under God, is due to the Christian Commission. After the war Mr. Moody's work, in connection with his own mission and the Young Men's Christian As- sociation, continually increased on his hands. In 1867 the first building ever erected for any association in America was built in Chicago through the untiring efforts of Mr. Moody. A few weeks after its dedica- tion it was burned to the ground, and while the ruins were still smoking he began to raise money for the second building, in which he was so successful that it is said the necessary funds were all subscribed by the time the fire had completed the destruction of the first. The new building contained a hall of enor- mous size, in which Mr. Moody preached every Sun- day evening, his mornings and afternoons being given to North Market Mission. In the past few years Mr. Moody has been wonderfully successful in raising money for building enterprises of association work, having secured, for this purpose alone, more than a quarter of a million of dollars, in London, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. He has, in addition to this, been instrumental in securing large sums fui- MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 229 other departments of Christian activity. He is an eminently successful beggar. His training for it he received in the dark days of his mission enterprise in Chicago. Shortly before the Great Fire, at an international convention of the Young Men's Christian Association at Indianapolis, Mr. Moody was attracted by the sound of a voice of remarkable sweetness and power. At the close of the service he approached the owner of the voice with the question: " Where do you live?" Mr. Sankey replied: "In Newcastle, Pa." Mr. Moody, in his quick, decided way, continued: "You must come to Chicago and help me." Arrangements were soon completed, and in a few weeks the preacher and singer had formed that partnership in the service of Christ that marks a new era in gospel services. Of the influence of song in the furtherance of the gospel we shall speak in another place. It is sufficient here to say that the harmony in their ideas, singleness of purpose and unselfish devotion to the salvation of souls make them par nohile fratrum, fitted to each other and to the work in which they are engaged. Passing over the great fire and the incidents con- nected with it, and bearing upon Mr. Moody's work, we come to speak briefly of the work of these two evangelists in Great Britain. Mr. Moody had been in England twice before. His acquaintance there, however, was very limited. A few active Christian men had per- ceived the power that was in him, and had been urg- ing him to come to that country for evangelistic work. Kev. Mr. Pennefather, an Episcopal clergyman, in London, and Mr. Cuthbert Bainbridge, a Wesleyan 230 TIMES OF REFRESHING. layman, of Newcastle, invited the Chicago evangelist to labor with them in the gospel. On June 7, 1872, Mr. Moody and his family and Mr. Sankey set sail for Liverpool. On arriving in that city the first tid- ings that they heard were that both the men who had invited them, and on whose introduction and co-oper- ation they had depended, were dead. They began meetings, however, in York and Sunderland, but with only indifferent success. Mr. Moody relates that at the first meeting there were only eight present. The day of small things surely, but he had set his face and fixed his heart. Before he left Chicago a friend inquired: " What are you going to Europe for?" The answer came like a bullet: "Ten thou- sand souls for Christ." He kept this star before him. The evangelists were next invited to Newcastle, and there, their success began. The Holy Ghost was y>oured out upon their meetings. The country was leavened for a radius of twenty miles around the town. Invitations poured in upon them from every quarter. They next went to Edinburgh, steady-going, clas^u- Edinburgh. One would think it the most difficult field the evangelists could enter. The well-indoctrin- ated congregations would look with distrust on the new methods of Moody, and Sankey's " kist o' whistles." But devout ones in Edinburgh had long been praying for a revival of religion. They were tired of the respectable formalities and the long dead- ness of their churches, and were willing to accept help from any quarter. From the very first, the Free Church of Assembly Hall was crowded at every meet- ing. From the first the ministers of the city gathered MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 231 solidly around the evangelists. Churches were open and thronged in all parts of the city, and the number of converts rapidly increased. An idea of the progress and extent of the work can perhaps best be given in pictures taken from letters, written from Edinburgh during the revival. Thus a close observer writes: "The fourth week of the special meetings began in St. Stephen's Church, Dec. 16, 1873. Admission was by ticket, and as the church was crowded in every part, there must have been 2,000 people pres- ent at each meeting. St. Stephen's congregation is composed almost entirely of the upper classes, many of whom attended and were deeply impressed by the preaching and singing of the American brethren. The Rev. Dr. Nicholson presided, and every evening there were around the pulpit ministers of different denominations, from all parts of the country, while among the audience there were members of the nobil- ity, professors from the university, and distinguished lawyers from the Parliament House; many came to criticise and seek grounds of opposition, who went away to approve and to pray. The large church gave full scope to Mr. Sankey, and the singing of his beau- tiful and truth-imparting solos was most impressive, while Mr. Moody's direct and faithful preaching held the most intense attention. There can be no doubt that among those who went away there were many wounded and many healed, but each night a number stayed to hear more of Jesus in the inquiry meeting. These after-meetings increased in number and inter- est night alter night, and not a few of all classes gave 232 TIMES OF REFRESHING. evidence of their closing with Christ. Only those present can fully appreciate the solemnity and still- ness that pervaded these meetings. " God's Spirit was moving on the hearts of the people." The power of the Spirit of God was felt at all these meetings, giving life to the dead and revival to the living, both of the rich and poor. "At half- past eight on Friday evening a meeting was held for young men, in the Free Assembly Hall. Admission was by ticket and 2,000 young men thronged the hall. A prayer meeting was held at the same hour to implore a blessing on the effort being made for the young men, at which there was upwards of 300. In addressing the young men Mr. Moody spoke of the " New Birth," and at the close a great number remained for conversation. Artisans, clerks, young men from the stores, soldiers, sailors and young men from the schools, were all rep- resented. Some of them were prodigals wearied with the far country and the swine-troughs of sin; some had tried infidelity, and found it nothing but bitterness and woe; some had known the truth in word, and now wanted to know it in its saving power; while all were greatly in earnest in asking, u What shall I do to be saved?" The Free Assembly on Sun- day morning was crowded with Sunday-school teach- ers, and every one felt that their work among the young called for absolute consecration, and a high level of Christian life. In the evening the same building was crowded with students, and their pro- fessors, and many had to go away for want of room. They listened to Mr. Moody with marked attention, MOODY IN OfiEAT BRITAIN. 233 and towards the close the meeting was most deeply solemn. The daily prayer-meeting, at noon, has been greatly blessed on all days of the week and in all states of the weather. The Assembly Hall is crowd- ed. No report can convey a true conception of what is being done. One must see for himself the won- ders that God is working among us in these pressing days." Professor Blaikie says: "At one of the daily prayer-meetings a well-known and conspicuous citizen, bearing a name honored in the history of evangelism, asked the meeting to give thanks with him on behalf of one of his sons brought under the power of the truth — one for whom many prayers had been offered, but about whom his family had begun to despair. The emotion of the father was very powerful, and the vast assemblage, while joining in his thanksgiving, acquired fresh hope and confidence for similar cases not yet disposed of. An esteemed and goodly minis- ter from a country town, rose up and bore his testi- mony to the good the meetings had done to himself. He had fallen, he said, into a state of depression, had been discouraged at the apparent want of success in his work, and with a view of recruiting his strength, had left home for a little, intending to go South for change and refreshment. In passing through Edinburgh he had come to these meetings, and a new light had burst on his soul. He had seen the glorious sufficien- cy of the Savior to bear all his burdens and supply all his need. He had rolled all his cares over on Him, and had got such an impression of His grace and love that his heart was quite lifted up; he needed no fur- 234 TTMES OP EEPRE8HINO. ther recruiting, but was eager to be back to his work. The quiet, solemn joy of the speaker made a deep im- pression on the meeting, and seemed to open a fresh view of the grace that is free to all." "Among the most direct and touching fruits of saving impression in the case of anyone, affectionate interestin the welfare of other members of the family is one of the surest and most uniform. A working man of fifty years of age, for example, is impressed and brought to peace in believing, and immediately he comes to the minister and cries, with streaming eyes, ' Oh, pray for my two sons.1 A father and his son are seen at another meeting with arms around each other's neck. In many cases the work of conversion seems to go through whole families. That peculiar joy fulness and ex- pectation which marks young converts is often the means of leading to the fountain, and two, three, four and even more members of the family share the bless- ing. There have been some very remarkable conver- sions of sceptics. Dr. Andrew Thomson told of one who, having been awakened on the previous week, had gone for the first time to church on the Sabbath. He had hardly been in a place of worship for years, and a week before he would have scouted the idea. He was so happy in the forenoon that he returned in the afternoon. The blessing seemed to come down upon him. We heard of another who carried his un- belief to the verge of blasphemy, and who had now come to the foot of the cross. The number interested is quite too large to be specified. It is almost amus- ing to observe how entirely the latent distrust of Mr. Sankey'g kist o' whistles has disappeared. There MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 285 are different ways of using the organ. There are or- gans for display in some churches, as some one has said, 4 with a devil in every pipe,' but a small harmonium, designed to keep the tune right, is a different matter, and is seen to be no hindrance to the devout and spir- itual worship of God." Concerning this wonderful movement, Dr. Bonar says: " The movement carries on its face an intens- ity of earnestness which leaves one in no doubt as to the single-heartedness of the workers. With them Christianity is not a creed merely, but a living en- ergy which ought to carry everything before it. This much must be said at the outset, in the way of dis- arming hostility. Let us not, however, look at the work from without, but from within. Let us throw ourselves into it, and then form our judgment. I think that in so doing right-minded men will not merely withdraw opposition, but feel constrained to sympathize and approve." Again, Dr. Bonar says: " This is the day of earnest men and earnest things. Let no man forbid the Christian worker to be in earnest; he surely is not the one man who, amid all the fervor of modern zeal, is to remain cold, and repressed in his loving ardor, because his wavs of working are not exactly according to established rule and line. We ask for self-denying, hard-toiling men, who are spending and being spent in a service which they believe to be not human, but divine. We ask .for definite aims, and an ultimatum in which self shall have no place, and we do well. These men have the most definite of all definite aims, winning souls to everlasting joys; and they look for no fame 236 TIMES OF REFRESHING. and no reward, save the Master's approval and the recompense of those who turn many to righteous- ness. They have in view no sinister, no selfish, no sordid motives, as their past history shows, and as everyone who associates with them must feel." The evangelist remained two months in Edinburgh. The result may thus be summarized. The Gospel was proclaimed to the masses of Edinburgh as, per- haps, never before. Bible lectures, given in halls and churches, brought multitudes from bondage into the liberty of the truth. The Bible was given its due place of prominence, and caused to be regarded, not only as the most important, but as the most interest- ing book in the world, aud about three thousand souls were hopefully converted to Christ. The whole city was moved, and so extensive was the blessing that Dr. Horatius Bonar said: " Almost every Christian household had been blessed with one or more conver- sions." The influence of the meetings was not con- fined to Edinburgh, but seemed to extend throughout Scotland. The evangelists were now eagerly sought for by many towns and cities, but they determined on the great manufacturing city of Glasgow as their next field of labor. Meetings were commenced there Feb. 8, 1874. The very first gathering, of three thousand Sunday school teachers, seemed to assure the success of the work. It is not in the line of our purpose to follow particularly the extraordinary course of the meetings, nor to dwell in detail upon their effect. Although the two cities are so wholly unlike, the same general characteristics which marked the revival in MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 237 Edinburgh stamped it also in Glasgow. There was the same unanimity of the co-operation among the ministers, the same crowds in attendance upon the preaching ot the word, Bible readings and prayer meetings, the same impressive scenes in the inquiry rooms, the same pathos and power in Mr. Sankey's singing, and the same ringing Gospel that was preached to the cultured and aristocratic audiences of Edinburgh, was sent with overwhelming effect to the very heart of Glasgow. From the accounts that have been given, we notice the same marks of a subtle and divine power in carrying on the revival far beyond the preacher's or singer's voice. It is of this time that Dr. Andrew A. Bonar writes: " Souls are coming from great distances to ask the way of life at the lips of those who can tell it, and these souls, awakened to this concern by no direct means, but evidently by the Holy Spirit, who is breathing over the land. It is such a time as we never had in Scotland before. The same old Gospel is preached to all men as aforetime; Christ, who was made sin for us, Christ, the Substitute, Christ's blood, Christ's righteousness, Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation; but now the Gospel is preached B with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.' And amid all this the enemy is restrained, so that we are solemnly reminded of Rev. vii. 1-3, the time before the coming of the Lord, when the four angels are charged to let no storm burst, not to allow the wind even to ruffle the sea's smooth surface, or move a leaf of any tree, till the seal of the living God has been put on His elect. Is 238 TIMES OF REFRESHING. not this sealing going on daily among us? Are not the four angels looking on? Surely it is time to seek the Lord, that He may rain righteousness upon us." We have alluded to an intense personalism as mark- ing all of Mr. Moody's labors. He does not deal with audiences, but with souls. His success in thus individualizing his work is, perhaps, nowhere more apparent than in Glasgow. He impressed the duty of personal endeavor for saving souls upon those immense throngs to such an extent that when the great public meetings had closed, thousands of peo- ple, men, women and children, might be seen going about through churches, halls, streets and parks, " seeking that which was lost." This kind of work was, perhaps, newer in Scotland than in our own country, but Mr. Moody's enthusiasm in it inspired the people with a delight in it which, when the heart was aroused," was all the keener because of its novelty. As some one has said, he attacked them on the weak side. The scenes described in the following words, so new in Glasgow and so inspiring, attest beyond a question the presence and power of the Holy Ghost: " So great was the activity of Christians that they could not content themselves with ordinary church work, but in the long evenings, when daylight lingers in this high latitude, in the open squares, on the bridges, or at the corners of the streets, alone or in little companies, devoted Christian men and women might be seen engaged in prayer, or making brief addresses to groups of listeners, or leading the com- pany in singing some of the favorite Gospel hymns." It is interesting to note the effect of this evangel- MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 230 istic work on the mind of Scotland, and the explana- tions it finds for the wonderful success of the revival- ists. They speak with wonder of the spirit of Christian union that from the very beginning distin- guished the revival. Walls of division, that had been ao-es in building, fell flat as Jericho. Other revivals had begun and ended in particular churches or de- nominations, but this one alone was indorsed by something like the catholic consent of all the churches. The character of Mr. Moody's preaching received from Scotland, perhaps, the highest, because at once the most intelligent and conservative indorsement it has ever had. Writes a competent critic, in review of the work: " Though he has introduced some novel methods, he has stuck to the old truths, and his con- victions are in perfect accord with Scottish ortho- doxy." Scotland is the place also that would im- mensely enjoy Mr. Moody's mental traits. A. general impression to the contrary, a Scotchman enjoys hu- mor, and Mr. Moody's flashes of wit would not be without appreciation. His brusque and business-like manner, his vivid picturing of Bible facts and scenes, his downright earnestness, and especially his manly courage, were elements that drew the Scottish mind by an almost irresistible fascination. Mr. Sankey's singing stormed the stronghold of Scottish prejudices by its very earliest notes. The same critical review of the Glasgow work from which we have already quoted gives the effect of Gospel singing thus : " Music in his hands is, more than it has yet been, the handmaid of the gospel and the voice of the heart. We have seen many stirred and melted by his singing 240 TIMES OV REFRESHING. oefore a word had been spoken. Indeed, his singing is just a powerful, distinct, and heart-toned way of speaking, that seems often to reach the heart by a short cut when mere speaking might lose the road." We have dwelt with some particularity on the ef- fects of the meetings of the evangelists on the intel- lectual and commercial centers of Scotland. We have done so because the work in those two cities may be considered representative of all the work in Britain. In the cities to which they afterward went there were the same difficulties to encounter, the same criticisms were made, the same popular sympathy and interest aroused, the same methods adopted, and followed by the same results. The rest of the campaign abroad, therefore, we may pass over in more rapid mention. Belfast followed GlasgoAV. The motto that marked the great meetings there was this: " We want Ireland for Christ." Five weeks were given to that city, and tor the farewell meeting for young converts, two thousand one hundred and fifty tickets were given out. Since Pentecost not many such harvests have been gathered in so short a time. Two weeks after that farewell meeting, the Exhibition Palace of Dub- lin was crowded with ten thousand people to welcome the evangelists. An Episcopal minister, accounting for the immense crowds, asking what is the mighty power which draws together these vast crowds and holds them spell-bound, gives answer thus: " It is the simple lifting up of the cross of Christ -the holding forth the Lord Jesus before the eyes of the people in all the glory of His Godhead, in all the simplicity of His manhood, in all the perfection of MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 241 His nature, for their admiration, for their adoration, arid for their acceptance." Here, too, as elsewhere, Mr. Moody's use of the Bible was recognized as the hiding of his power. It would be difficult to put into one sentence a better ex- planation of the telling peculiarity of Mr. Moody's preaching than was given by the Dublin minister who said: " He does not wait for the end of his sermon to make the application, but the Bible in his hands is a quiver, and every passage to which he refers is an ar- row, which, the Holy Ghost accompanying, he shoots home straight to the hearts of his hearers." The closing of the Dublin meetings was signalized by a three-days' convention, attended by more than eight hundred ministers from all parts of Ireland. This is said to have been the most remarkable gather- ins: ever held in Dublin. All denominations met on a platform as broad as the love of Christ. " At one point, during the discussion of Ireland, the central subject of the day, and when Mr. Sankey, seizing the opportunity with his usual tact, sang * Hold the Fort' alone, and the ministers and people lifted up the chorus in a mighty shout, the enthusi- asm was overpowering and altogether indescribable." The result of the work in Dublin was a great and general awakening throughout the city, the bringing of some three thousand converts to the fold of Christ, and the quickening of hundreds of ministers, who, with a fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost, went out to preach the Gospel as they had never preached it be- fore. Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham fol- 242 TIMES OF REFRESHING. lowed. In the latter city especially the harvest was very great, botli in the awakening of the Church and the conversion of sinners. In these cities the follow- ing points seem most deeply to have affected the hearts of the people: the power of the cross, the per- sonality of Jesus as a Savior and brother, brought vividly out in all the sermons, the uncompromising test against worldly Christianity, and the rich adapta- tion of the Gospel to every class and condition of men. In Liverpool the first Tabernable was erected, with a seating capacity for eight thousand persons, and a month was given to that city in preaching, Bible readings, children's services and organized house- to-house visitings, the results of wrhich eternity alone will disclose. On Tuesday, March 9, 1874, the two evangelists, no longer obscure, but as singly de- pending upon the help and presence of Christ as when they first landed at Liverpool, opened services in the great Agricultural Hall of North London. Thence they went to the Koyal Opera Hall in West End, then to Bow Road, in East London, and finally to Camber- well, in South London, the latter building having been erected especially for their use. From March to July their services were continued. These, in point of numbers, possibly, also, in their fruits, were un- doubtedly the most wonderful of all the evangelists' services, as also the most remarkable religious meet- meetings ever held in London. To influence London, is to influence not only Great Britain, but all Europe. Moody's sermons, wide-spread through the London press, were read in France, Germa- ny, on the banks of the Nile and the Ganges, and even MOODY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 243 in far-off Australia; and "Hold the Fort," "What shall the Harvest be?" might be heard, not only up and down the streets of the metropolis, but are sung to-day by young converts in Africa, Madagasca, In- dia and China. What is the secret of these astonishing results? is the one question which successively has agitated all communities where the evangelists have been. Let us get an answer from one of the most thorough, judicious and candid English critics, Rev. R. W. Dale, of Birmingham. He says: "The truest, simplest, and most complete reply to the question, which I can give, is that the power of God was manifested in a most extraordinary degree in connection with them, but there were concurrent circumstances which de- served notice." These " circumstances " we condense as follows: 1. The attention and expectation excited by pre- liminary prayer-meetings and by the reports of the revival work, which were published for many months, and which have impressed large numbers of people, with the conviction that the religious movement was more remarkable than anything England had seen since the middle of the last century. 2. A wide-spread feeling of dissatisfaction among Christians, and the hope that the great revival wave, which, by general testimony, had brought refreshing to so many communities, might also have a blessing for them. 3. An expectation excited by relatives and friends in the towns the American evangelist had previously visited, telling of what the Lord had done for them, 244 TIMES OF REFRESHING. and urging them to go to the Moody and Sankey meetings. 4. As the work proceeded, the bright faces and enthusiastic words of young converts. 5. A general longing and hoping throughout the evangelical churches of England for a brighter day. 6. A personal visitation from house to house. 7. The attractive character of the services. Mr. Sankey's solos touched many hearts, and the effect produced by the vast audiences uniting in such songs as " Safe in the Arms of Jesus," and " The Great Physician now is Near," was sometimes most thrill- ing. Mr. Moody's preaching was so unaccountably affecting that Mr. Dale told Mr. Moody about the be- ginning of the meetings that "the work is most plainly of God, for I can see no relation between you and what you have done." This bit of frank criti- cism Mr. Moody most heartily enjoyed, replying, he should be very sorry if it were otherwise. It was not long, however, before Mr. Dale discovered his mistake, and perceived it Mr. Moody's elements of success were not obtrusive, they were none the less real. These elements he finds to be his perfect na- turalness, a certain art of putting himself en rapport with his audience so as to disarm criticism, such de- votion to his work that he " keeps Sunday every day in the week,'1 and the tenderness of his presentation of the infinite love and power of Christ. We have thus briefly sketched some of the aspects of the great revival campaign of Great Britain, which was undertaken in the daring hope of winning ten thousand souls for Christ, and which resulted in MOODY IN GKfcEAT BRITAIN. 245 a vastly larger number of conversions, and in other results, which cannot be computed by any arithmetic of time. Our object has been not to follow in detail the harvest, nor to measure it, but rather to notice in and through it, the development of the new revival methods, the education of the men who, so far as hu- man agency is concerned, have been the life and cen- ter of it all. CHAPTER XL MOODY AND SANKEY IN BROOKLYN, PHILADEL- PHIA AND NEW YORK. Ill July, 1875, the evangelists returned to their own country. In London and Liverpool immense fare- well meetings were held, abundantly attesting the con- fidence and love in which they were held. There is probably in all history no parallel to the victory achieved by Messrs. Moody and Sankey over the con- servatism and prejudices of a wdiole nation. To enter old England, fortified in the religious habits and opin- ions of centuries, to begin without introduction or prestige, either social, literary or ecclesiastical, to make headway in new methods, by blunt speech and fervid hearts and the power of prayer, to carry the campaign from one center of culture, wealth and power to another, until the standards of their con- quest were firmly planted in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Liverpool and London, to see gathered around them not only thousands upon thousands of converts, but almost unbroken ranks of the ministry of all denominations, and the entire evangelical church of three kingdoms; this is a triumph so wholly beyond our philosophy to fathom that it must in all ages be regarded as none other than the mighty power of God unto salvation. Indeed, human ele- ments of great compass and depth entered into it. 246 MOODY IN NEW YORK. 247 Such passionate and stirring sermons had been rung into English ears as they had not heard since the days of Whitefield. Such singing had been heard in their assemblies as had never before been sung there, so that Earl Shaftsbury, at the farewell meeting in Camberwell Hall, could truly say, if the evangelists had left them no other heritage than that of such songs as " Hold the Fort," their work had been a wonder- ful success. Yet back of every explicable reason for the great spiritual harvests lay that wide, deep enig- ma, to solve which or lighten which only the light which Mis from the throne can avail. The one les- son impressed by the work in Great Britain is this: The supernatural factor holds in this revival precisely the place it held on the day of Pentecost. It is worth everything to the religious thought of oivr times, to the right solution of religious problems, the right measurements of religious movements — to have this fact clearly cut out before the eyes of the world. It will give us the key to unlock mysteries which have been barred against our science. It puts into our hands the central word that will explain the present revival period in our own country. This is the dis- pensation of the Spirit. Signally, He honors those who honor Him. Holding this fact constantly in mind, we are ready to follow the evangelists in their cam- paigns in our own country. They began in Brooklyn on the 24th of October, 1875. The Eink on Clermont avenne was fitted up for the preaching service. It had a seating capacity of about five thousand, and on the opening morning was thronged almost as soon as opened, multitudes 248 TIMES OF REFRESHING. surging up and down the streets unable to obtain ad- mittance, and yet reluctant to leave the place. Mr. Moody took for his text the words that are the key- note of all his plans, " Let us go up at once and pos- sess it." Brooklyn is accustomed to good preaching. Earnestness and directness are no new things there. But the swift stream of Mr. Moody's resistless, mag- netic eloquence bore the whole great audience with him as he exclaimed: "I say to you to-day, there is only one obstacle to a revival, and that is unbelief in the churches. Sinners and the devil cannot stop a revival. It is only the unbelief of the church that can do it. If we will trust God, we need not fear the rum-sellers nor the Sabbath-breakers. It is not we who light, hut God through us. You would laugh at seven priests walking around the walls of Jericho, blowing ram's horns. If the doctors of Brooklyn were to blow trumpets, you would say they should be silver or gold. But God's way is not our way. I would like to speak through a ram's horn to the forty thousand ministers of the United States to-day, and ask whether they are ready to fall into line and go up and possess the land." — " We are all ready," cried Mr. Stuart of Philadelphia. " Then," continued Mr. Moody amidst great sensation, ulet us go up and pos- sess the land." With electric effect Mr. Sankey rang forth the tones of that martial hymn, "Only an armor bearer, proudly I stand, Waiting to follow at the King's command." Thus was the work auspiciously begun in the " City of churches." From that hour it went steadily for- MOODY IN NEW YORK. 249 ward. The prayer-meetings were held in Dr. Tal- mage's Tabernacle, and many of them gave sign of the wonderful displays of divine grace. Bible read- ings were also given in the afternoons, which were largely attended and deepened the knowledge of God's word in many Christian hearts. Dr. Cuyler, in the course of the meetings, writes thus: "God's people keep in sweet unison. The press, secular as well as religious, continues its good behavior. Many souls are rejoicing in a new birth. One of the grandest bless- ings of the week has been Brother Moody's three af- ternoon lectures on ' Studying God's "Word.' He has made the Bible a new book to hundreds." The revivalists closed their services in Brooklyn on November 19th. Mr. Moody probably never worked harder than during those four weeks in that city. He led the morning meeting at the Tabernacle, gave a Bible reading in the afternoon, preached at the Rink in the evening, conversed with inquirers at the close of the service, and then hastened to the Tabernacle to address a young men's meeting there, often linger- ing with inquirers there till a late hour of the night. And yet, though the results were by no means in- considerable, they were not as remarkable as in other cities. Many souls were saved, and many churches quickened, and by any ordinary standard the Brook- lyn revival was a great success. But the meetings which preceded it in Britain, and those which fol- lowed in other cities of our own land, have been rel- atively more fruitful. For this there is one chief reason. The preparations may have been inadequate, the co-operation not sufficiently hearty, and other 250 TIMES OF REFRESHING. subsidiary causes, may have conspired to limit the in- fluence of the work; but the one reason, that had more to do with limiting the results than all others, was the shortness of the time. It is impossible to organize and move so large a column to any great victory in three or four weeks. The machinery was just beginning to be worked, the hearts were just be- ginning to beat in unison, the laggard lines were just beginning to come to the front, when the rink was closed and the evangelists had departed. This lesson of the necessity of time as an important element in evangelistic labors, has been so impressed on Mr. Moody's mind that now he refuses engagements for very short time. Indeed, he will no longer limit himself by making positive plans for any services beyond those he is holding. lie waits the order of Providence. His experience teaches him with constantly increas- ing emphasis that the best results are attained when time is given to the preparation, time for thorough- ness of the work when it is once begun, and time to glean the harvest-field after the great harvest in-gath- ering. Among the numerous touching incidents connected with the Brooklyn work, we copy the following: When the revival was at its height, a very wealthy, cultivated and skeptical lady from New York went over to hear Mr. Moody preach. She was amazed and a little disgusted by his style of oratory. But for some reason, which probably she could not have defined, she went again; still again. On her fourth visit she passed into the inquiry room, and said to Mr. Moody that she would like to hear from him, di- MOODY IN NEW YORK. 251 reetly and privately, his argument why she should become a Christian. He answered her, saying: " Madam, I know of no surer way to reach your heart than through prayer. Let us pray." Mr. Moody knelt. His manner was such that the lady could not choose, but knelt beside him. He asked her to re- peat after him his prayer. In low, earnest tones, and with all the tender and pathetic phraseology of which on occasions he is master, he uttered his supplication, pausing after each sentence for his companion to fol- low. The prayer concluded with the vow, — " And now, O Lord, I give my life to thee!" "Mr. Moody," said the lady in a hard, painful whisper, " I cannot say that: truly I cannot." Mr. Moody made no reply, nor did he change his position. There was a pause of half a minute. Then again he uttered the words, — " And now, O Lord, I give my life to thee." The lady, trembling, did not respond. The evangel- ist paused for about the same space as before, motion- less. And now, wTith a voice still more resolute and fervid, he repeated for the third time the pledge. After a momentary interval of silence, the new con- vert said, — " And now, O Lord, I give my life to thee." Mr. Moody rose, took his weeping charge by the hand with the wwds, " Madam, I devoutly thank God," and led her quietly to the door. She has ever since been actively employed in religious work. On the corner of Thirteenth and Market streets, in Philadelphia, there stood an old railroad depot which 252 TIMES OF REFRESHING. was no longer needed for the purpose for which it had been built. John Wanamaker, a large-hearted Chris- tian layman of that city, had purchased it for a house for his extensive business. In the Autumn of 1875, he had it fitted up as a tabernacle for the use of the evangelists. It was seated with ten thousand chairs, and was one of the most commodious and complete of all the buildings prepared for the revivals. Services in it were opened at 8 o'clock on Sunday morning, November 21st. The rain poured down in torrents, but fully nine thousand people greeted the evangelists. Mr. Moody began his address thus: "Some ask ' What is the object of these special meetings? Are there not churches and ministers enough in Philadel- phia?' We have come just to help. In the time of the harvest extra help is needed, and harvest time is now. I have been in the school of Christ for twenty years, and I have never seen a better time than the present. We are right in the midst of the blessings from heaven." This was the keynote of his work in Philadelphia. It was his keynote everywhere. " Now is the accepted time," was painted across the front of one of the galleries in the Chicago Tabernacle. It is the motto of which Mr. Moody never loses sight. To him it is never four months to the harvest. His ears catch the sound of its rustlings always. To his eyes its golden sheen reaches everywhere to the horizon. The success of the revival in Philadelphia was as- sured from the very first day. The people attended every service in immense throngs. The features that distinguished the work in other cities marked it in MOODY IN NEW YORK. 253 this. His Bible readings were specially fruitful. Audiences of from three to five thousand assembled in the afternoons to hear those wonderful expositions of Scripture truth. Thanksgiving day was celebrated in the tabernacle by a concourse of eleven thousand people. Never be- fore in the history of our country, did so many people unite in one place in singing, 41 Praise God from whom all blessings flow." On the 19th of January, a Christian convention of nearly a thousand ministers and thousands of laymen, assembled in the tabernacle to discuss methods of Christian work and to have their hearts fired by being for a few days in the midst of the revival. These con- ventions have become a regular part of each series of meetings. They spread the fire. To be near one of these revivals is to become imbued with its spirit. The effect, therefore, of a convention of ministers and laymen gathering for a few days in the glow of such services has uniformly been to extend the bless- ing. They go back to their homes with an impulse, a fervor and a faith, the results of which are some- times apparent at once, in sudden and precious sea- sons of grace, and at other times sow the seed for harvests in other days. The tide of religious life rose steadily during the stay of the evangelists. On the 14th of January George H. Stuart wrote to the Tribune'. " The last service of the eighth week of Moody and Sankey's labors in this city was attended this evening by over thirteen thousand persons, filling the great depot building to its utmost capacity. 254 TIMES OF REFRESHING. Many thousands were turned away, unable to obtain even standing room. The interest in these services has from the first steadily increased, and the labors of the evangelists have been and continue to be the all- absorbing topic of conversation." The regular services of this wonderful series were brought to a close on the 16th of January. The total attendance during the two months has been estimated at about seven hundred thousand, and the number of converts has been placed at about four thousand. Biit these immediate results we believe to be the smallest part of the blessing the revival brought to that city and the surrounding country. Of the overflow of the Philadelphia meetings into Pennsylvania and other states we speak in another chapter. It is Mr. Moody's habit to return to the scene of the revival a few weeks after the close of the meetings, to meet and strengthen the converts and to encourage the people to the permanent adoption of the methods which had proved so successful. On the 4th of Feb- ruary the evangelists held a meeting in the depot building. It was densely crowded. Xever more ten- derly or effectively did Mr. Moody speak than on that occasion. His words distilled as the dew on the hearts of thousands of converts, and quickened again the thousands of faithful workers who had stood so loyally around him during* that blessed campaign. His closing words, so full of pathos and cheer, will ring in many hearts while memory lasts: " I do not like the word farewell. I'll bid you good night, and, by the grace of God, I want to meet you in the morning." MOODY IN NEW YORK. ZOO The Young Men's Christian Association building in Philadelphia is the finest in the country. It needed money. At the closing meeting Mr. Moody took up a collection which amounted to one hundred and twenty-live thousand dollars. During the offering he read the following letter: "Dear Mr. Moody: Through the instrumentality of the blessed meetings now closing, my darling son, a prodigal, and his wife, are now resting in a Savior's love. The accompanying ring, the gift of one dearly loved, and so long worn it seems a part of myself, I now offer to my dear Lord and Master as a thank offering for his unspeakable blessing. Do with it as the Holy Spirit directs." This ring Mr. Moody put into the collection. The amount realized for the Association by its sale was a thousand dollars. The permanence of the revival at Philadelphia is well shown by the following words of John Wana- maker, spoken in Boston in May, 1877: " Perhaps I can not do better than to tell what the result has been of the movement as it was carried on in our city. Churches and ministers are imbued with a spirit that flowed from those meetings. Many men that were once weak and sinful have been saved and kept by the power of God to bless our city. I give this testimony as a business man, standing in the wit- ness-box and bearing witness to the truth. Hundreds of men converted at the meetings in Philadelphia, out of work and wandering about the streets, have been kept in the way they chose when they embraced 256 TIMES OF REFRESHING. the religion of Jesus Christ during the Moody and Sankey meetings." Almost without a day's rest the evangelists opened their services in New York on the 7th of February. The Hippodrome, covering a whole square, was con- verted into an immense audience room. It had served various uses. Once it was a depot into which and from which daily thousands of people came and went on busy errands. Then it was a great menage- rie. Later it was famous as the place where Gil- more's great concerts had been held. At last it came to its noblest use. Ample preparation had been made for the work. Eight hundred singers had been trained to render the most effective aid to Mr. San- key's magnetic and powerful voice. Six hundred lay- men had been selected and taught, that they might guide inquirers intelligently, wisely and lovingly to the Savior. The ministers of all denominations were around the evangelists at their opening meeting, to assure them, not only of sympathy, but of active and hearty co-operation. The scenes in Brooklyn and Philadelphia were re- peated in New York. We do not know the feelings with which the evangelists went to the rushing me- tropolis of our country. But the Christian heart of the land beat high with mingled hope and fear. Would those unlettered men catch the ear of that ex- cited and world-bound population? Would they arrest the attention long enough to make a lasting impression? Would they have the thorough support of the learned and influential and often conservative MOODY IN NEW YORK. 257 clergy of the city? These and many similar ques- tions in the hearts of Christian people throughout all the country gave a tragic interest to those first days of February, 1876. Mr. Moody closed his sermon at the first meeting (which was attended by the greatest audience ever as- sembled for a religious purpose in New York) by say- ing: "The mighty spirit of Elijah rests upon us to- night. Let us go to our homes and cry to the God of Elijah : ' Here I am, God, use me,' that we may be ready for all his service." During the first week of the meeting, hundreds of people were aroused to a sense of their sins, and the inquiry rooms were thronged at once with inquirers. The temperance work which he had begun in connection with his revival meetings in Philadelphia, was made a prominent part of the work in New York. The Friday noon prayer-meet- ing was set apart to this special purpose. It was at- tended during all the meetings by from six to nine thousand people. Day after day, and week after week the evangelists by the power of gospel preaching and gospel singing moved the masses as they had never been moved before. Three, four and even five times a day the Hippodrome was crowded with people of all denominations and no denomination, listening to the words and the singing of the evangelists, not in idle curiosity, but with intense personal interest and sym- pathy. Mr. Moody is one of the most diligent of men, snatching every spare moment for careful preparation for his pulpit. His preaching, touching the loftiest themes, is constantly increasing in power. It was noticed by the critics in New York that his sermons 258 TIMES OF REFEKSHIKr.. were richer, fuller, broader than ever before. Funda- mental facts of man's ruin and Christ's redemption were set forth in most vivid light, and impressed with overwhelming earnestness; so that it was the judg- ment, not only of the common people, who heard him gladly, that his sermons were effective, but also of professional and literary men, that they belonged to the highest type of preaching. One of the incidents worthy of mention, was the occasion when Dom Pedro sat near Mr. Moody on the platform. The text was: " What shall I do with Jesus, that is called Christ." In the course of the sermon, after the preacher had exalted the Savior as the one name by which salvation is possible, he turned with great solemnity to the Emperor and ex- claimed: "Even a great Emperor cannot save his soul with all his wealth and power, unless he bows himself at Christ's feet and accepts Him." To this Dom Pedro, in an audible voice, gave instant and hearty assent. On March 29th and 30th, a revival convention was held in the Hippodrome of between three and four th< >u- sand ministers and others, from all the Eastern States. There is no doubt this convention gave an impulse to religious work, which is still felt throughout the East. The services in New York closed April, 9, 1876. It was estimated that as many as a million and a half of people had attended the different meetings at the Hippodrome, and that ten thousand had attended the inquiry meetings. The farewell meeting was the most touching, if not the most remarkable, of all the se- MOODY IN NEW YORK, 25 'J ries. About thirty-five hundred converts were pres- ent, to whom Mr. Moody spoke with great earnest- ness, tenderness, and practical wisdom. He bade them grow strong in the divine life by activity and service. He related as an example for all, the case of a young man converted early in the meetings, who had a list of fifty-nine persons, with the residence of each, whom he had been instrumental in bringing to the Savior. In taking leave of him, one of the leading New York journals said: "Make him the best-read preacher in the world, and he would instantly lose half his power. Put him through a systematic training in systematic theology, and you fasten big logs of fuel to the driving-wheels of his engine. . . We shall not soon forget his incomparable frankness, his broad undenominationalism, his sledge-hammer gestures, his profuse diction which stops neither for colons nor commas, his trueness which never becomes conventional, his naturalness which never whines, his abhorrence of Pharisaism and of ecclesiastical Machiavelism, his mastery of his subject, his glori- ous self-confidence, his blameless life, and his un- swerving fealty to his conscience and to his work." Mr. Moody does not care to measure the result of his labors. It is of the nature of spiritual work that in proportion to its spirituality it eludes all measurement. The immediate fruits of the revival in New York were large accessions to all the churches that were active in their support of the work, and a quickened state of religious life and activity mani- fest in those churches. But the broader results and L^° TIMES OF REFRESHING. the more subtle influences, and the invisible agencies started there, eternity alone will disclose. CHAPTER XII. MOODY AND SANKEY IN CHICAGO, The summer of 1876 was a season of great interest and anxiety, not only to the Christian people of Chi- cago,but throughout the northwest. Messrs.Moody and Sankey had accepted the invitation to begin labors in that city October 1st. Mr. Moody was spending the summer months at jSTorthfield, studying his one Book. To his work in his old home he looked for- ward with special solicitude. He loved that city more than any other. He would have there a warmth of co-operation hardly met elsewhere. To the enthusiasm of his work would be added the ele- ments of personal friendship and unbounded confi- dence. But the prophet was going to his own coun- try. No curiosity based on the man or his methods would meet him there. Yet the prayers of God's people would more than take its place. He therefore besought his friends there to be at once wise and act- ive in their outward preparations and incessant in their appeals to the throne of grace. Indeed, no- where had plans been better laid, or the work more prayerfully anticipated, than in Chicago. The Tabernacle, which had been built for the evan- gelists/at the corner of Monroe and Franklin streets, was simply an unfinished business block, the four •Ml 262 TIMES OF HEFKE8HING. walls of which were carried up one story and roofed in a manner to comply with the rules of acoustics. There were broad galleries around the entire build- ing, that in the rear of the speaker's platform being- reserved for the choir. On the wall back of the choir was the word " Now " in large crimson letters, under which was in smaller characters, " is the accept- ed time." To the left the text, " I am the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty." On the right, " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bap- tizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." Under the right gallery: "He that believeth on the Son HATH everlasting life." Under the front gallery: u I am the resurrection and the life." Under the left gallery: " The blood of Je- sus Christ cleanseth from ALL sin." A perfect morning dawned on the first Sunday in October. When Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey came upon the platform, a minute or two before eight o'clock, they found themselves in the presence of seven thousand people, who at that early hour had been drawn together from all parts of the widely scattered city to give welcome to the evangelists, and inaugurate the meetings to which they had anxious- ly looked forward for months. So perfect were all the arrangements, thanks to the efficient executive com- mittee and their almost ubiquitous chairman, Mr. T. W. Harvey, that the great audience was comfortably seated without confusion or a moment's delay. It was the judgment of Messrs. Moody and Sankey MOODY IN CHICAGO. 263 that nowhere had the management of details been so perfect. Mr. Stebbins had well in hand a choir of six hun- dred of the best singers of the city. When they opened the service on that morning by singing: "Joy to the world, The Lord is come," the whole audience joining in the song, it was like the noise of many waters. It disclosed the large and effective place which Christian song has in these re- vival meetings. The people seemed borne upward on the rising waves, and when Mr. Moody began to preach, he had an audience already deeply moved and in sympathy with every word. After an absence of about three years, Mr. Moody had returned to the scene of his early Christian work. Very seldom, in all history, have three years counted so much in the life of any man. He went away known to that community only as an earnest worker among the masses. He went with the sub- lime purpose to win ten thousand souls to Christ. He returned after such evangelistic labors, with such results, and such seal of God's Spirit upon his work, as have been accorded to no man since the days of Whitefield. God had owned him to the turning- of a multitude to Christ. Look at the man as he stands before his friendly and expectant audience. His characteristics are man- ifest at a glance. In the first place, he is eminently a man without nonsense. He rises modestly, not even looking around the great concourse, and in the very first sentence, without introduction of any sort, 264 TIMES OF REFRESHING. plunges straight into the heart of his subject. He handles it in a lawyerly, business way, like a man thoroughly intent on one tiling, and closes abrupt- ly when he has finished his course of thought. lie had evidently thought very little about his surround- ings, but is very intent upon his Master's business. Again, his earnestness, always great, seems to have intensified to a perfect passion for souls. He pays lit- tle attention to the structure or order of sentences. Like Paul, he sometimes is carried over to the sec- ond sentence before he has concluded the first. And while there is nothing like a rhetorical climax, there is ever and again a climax of feeling, when he fair- ly hurls from him some short sentence with terrible power. And then as above and crowning all, the Lord has kept His servant in the grace of humility. He hides behind the cross. He is seeking souls. The leading features of his mind are, of course, the same as when he was an unknown missionary in Chi- cago. The same masculine directness, by which he hews his way straight to the heart of his subject; the same Saxon vigor by which, with a genius untaught by the schools, he pounces on the shortest, clearest, strongest words in which to incarnate his thought; his happy power of picturing, rather than illustrat- ing, and his passionate earnestness, — these qualities still mark the man, and lead him on into his suc- cess. And yet they have undergone certain modifi- cations. II is mind works more consecutively. The daily pit ;ss speaks of the disconnected and rambling style MOODY IN CHICAGO. 265 of his address. It is so only to superficial attention. His logic is not that of method, but the deeper logic of the truth. He grasps the relations not of forms, but of things in God's Word and in human experi- ence, and these he presents with unerring accuracy. His apparent excursions from his theme bring him back to it again with new and unexpected light, and with increased momentum. This, indeed, is his power ; the tremendous persistence with which he drives one idea to its very head. It may be, in so doing, lie rambles over a whole chapter, but the central aim is never for a moment forgotten. In his thought, as in his purpose, it is: "This one thing I do." His command of language and of illustration is more extensive. It could hardly be otherwise. He is not the man to pass through the experience he has had without learning something. Ever on the alert for whatever will illumine or better express God's truth, he has attained remarkable felicity of expres- sion and richness of illustration. That which next to his directness, more than any other mental peculiari- ty, makes him what he is — is what we have called his picturing power. Let him describe the healing of the paralytic by the Savior, and when he is through with the picture, while you know you have often heard and had those ideas, you will be conscious you never heard them put in that way. The condensed statement of Scripture has been vitalized and illuminated until it seems to stand out from the page in new and living colors. And all this in simplest phrase, without ex- travagance or wild fancy. The power of recovering a familiar statement from the commonplaceness into 266 TIMES OF REFRESHING. which, iii most minds, it is sure to fall, and invest- ing it with new and living forms, recalls to mind the pictures into which John Bunyan converts the worn statements of Christian experience. There is one characteristic of Mr. Moody — perhaps we should say the distinguishing feature of his mind — has undergone no perceptible change. His earnestness, that throws a white light over all his words, is the same now as ever. He always wTas at white heat, only, of course, it gives added force to the accumulations of past years. And it is the hiding of his power. He had it, when an unknown worker, he went about the streets of Chicago beseeching men to come to Christ. It has driven him on these eighteen years, crushing down every obstacle in his path, and con- verting failure into success. His opening sermon was from the text: "Jesus said take away the stone ;*' the three stones being unbelief, prejudice and sectarianism. He closed his sermon on this lofty ground: ''We are not doing this work for the sake of this creed or that creed, but lor the sake of Christ. I re- member the story of the missionary Mrs. Judson, who was obliged to send her children back to her own country because they could not be educated in India. She could not go; her work was pressing, and she must stay. So she took her children on board the vessel, and, just as she was about to go away and leave them, she knelt down on the deck and prayed this prayer: 'Lord Jesus, I do this for Thee.' Let this be our spirit as we enter upon this work. No self-seeking, but everything for the Lord Jesus." MOODY IN CHICAGO. 267 At the close of the service the ministers of the city gathered with most cordial greeting, around him and Mr. Sankey, both of whom were visibly affected by this token of brotherly love, confidence, and co-oper- ation. The afternoon, however, brought the great sur- prise of the day. Three-quarters of an hour before time for commencing, fully eight thousand people were in the Tabernacle, and the doors were closed. Before four o'clock as many more were surging around the doors and blockading the streets. Far- well Hall was opened, and in less than ten minutes was crowded to its utmost capacity of sitting and standing room. Mr. Sankey and several ministers were sent for, and for an hour that " overflowing" " was continued, with every indication of aroused feel- ing and interest. Addresses were delivered by Rev. Messrs. Goodwin, Kittredge, Chamberlain and Thompson, and Mr. Sankey sang, as only he can, " The Ninety and Nine," and other favorite pieces. His voice had its full melody and power, and he sang so with all his heart and soul that when the sounds of the last song died to silence, many all over the audience were bowed in tears. All the papers of the city, both secular and relig- ious seemed at once enlisted in the work. The In- terior of Oct. 5, spoke hopefully and enthusiastically thus: " So the great work has begun — a work that, we believe, will spread throughout the West. How many churches are waiting the reports from this city? How many will be made glad as the tidings come to 268 TIMES OF REFRESHING. them of what the Lord has already hegun to do here? Who shall measure the responsibility of Christians now? Only God can gird them with strength for this day. The battle is still before us, but the long roll has been sounded. Let every soldier loyal to Christ spring to his place." The perfect unity of the Christian Churches of Chi- cago was one of the most noteworthy facts of the early period of this revival. It is the test claim of High-churchmen that external organization gives the most perfect Christian unity. But no particular church on earth, however compact its external organ- ization, ever exhibited a more perfect unity of spirit, aim and end, than was exhibited by those congregated thousands, drawn together from day to day, in the great Tabernacle, from all existing churches. The wide world cannot furnish an assemblage of men and women who have more in common, are bound together in a profounder sympathy, and give a more practical demonstration of oneness in Christ. It is the very fact and ideal of that Christian brotherhood, that unity of the spirit in the .bond of peace, which the New Testament enjoins upon the disciples of Christ. If an outside observer, feeling no interest and tak- ing no part in this great work, should ask, what is the secret of this attraction, the tie which binds these hearts in common sympathy, the impelling cause of so much enthusiasm and so much labor, the only an- swer would be, it is the gospel of Christ, the essen- tial doctrines, the essential precepts, the essential hopes and promises of the gospel of Christ. It is the vital, saving Christianity of the New Testament MOODY IN CHICAGO. 269 —that Christianity which Jesus Christ provided in his death, which the apostles preached in his names which the Church of all ages has received and held as the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation. This is the one theme of all the sermons preached by Mr. Moody and his associate evangel- ists. This is the keynote of all the songs poured forth by Mr. Sankey in melting solo, or lifted up m enrapturing chorus by ten thousand voices around. It is the story of the Cross. It is the love of God in Christ for perishing sinners. It is the great mystery of Godliness. It is the beauty of Immanuel. It is the attraction of a Savior, who is God with us, who lived, suffered, died, rose again, and ascended to heaven for our redemption. This accounts for it all, explains it all, justifies it all. Because of this the meetings were a success from the beginning. The faith of God's people, however, met with a se- vere test before the close of the first week of the meetings. On Friday evening, Oct. 6th, an immense audience gathered at the Taberna- cle. It had been a day of peculiar blessing. The noon prayer-meeting had witnessed a remarkable dis- play of the grace of God in the heart- sea rchings of His people. With tender hearts they assembled in the evening, and with large expectation of a great blessing. But at six o'clock that evening Mr. Moody had received a dispatch announcing the death of his youngest brother. He called the ministers around him in his room, at the rear of the platform, to in- quire what should be done. His heart was deeply bowed. He felt he must start at once to stand 270 TIMES OF REFRESHING. by his aged mother's side in the hour of her great sorrow. No one could say him nay. But the great audience was waiting to hear the Word of God from his mouth. A moment of prayer for guidance, and then with one consent the work of leading the meet- inge was laid on Maj. Whittle. The announcement that Mr. Moody had gone came like a great disap- pointment and grief to the waiting thousands. But at once every Christian heart seemed to raise the cry. Why is this? What is the meaning of this Providence? And the answer did not linger. God would try the faith of His people. He would see whether they could trust him when their leader was taken away. For a few moments it was debated among the ministers whether the meetings should ^o on in the Tabernacle, or be held in Farwell Hall. It wa63 however, only for a few moments. Was not the Lord able to make good the absence of the leader? Was not this the grandest opportunity of the Church to cast itself on God? Was not this God's time to vindicate His cause in the presence of a scoffing world? So it was announced the meetings would go on in the Tabernacle. On Sunday afternoon many prayerful hearts vibra- ted between faith and fear, as they went toward the great building. Would God, indeed, gather his host there, and go forth with them to battle? He was bet- ter than all the fears. The house was packed in ev- ery part. It was a significant demonstration of faith in God. It was the victory of that faith whose trial is more precious than gold. The power of the meeting was not in the numbers MOODY IN CHICAGO. 2,1 alone. There was a hushed solemnity, and a depth of feeling which only God's Spirit can produce. And after the main service, a thousand people crowded into the inquiry rooms to wait on God in prayer. It was a day of faith and joyful hope and new encourage- ment. Thus out of disappointment can the Lord bring victory. There was still another preparation for the great re- vival which was to follow. That was in the hearts i>f God's people. During that summer Mr. Moody had been carefully studying Mr. Finney's Autobiog- raphy, and his Lectures on Revivals. "The result was a conviction that there ought to be deeper ploughing in the spiritual iields; that conversions will be superficial unless they spring from convic- tions of sin and a whole-hearted renunciation of it; and that revivals will be limited and shallow, unless the church not only warms up from coldness, but turns from tangible and visible sins, that bring re- proach on religion." Therefore both Mr. Moody and Mr. Whittle began at the house of Israel. The preach- ing, prayer-meetings, and Bible-readings of the first two weeks were all directed toward breaking up the fallow ground of Christian hearts. The effect was sol- emn, tender and humbling beyond description. Writ- ing at this time of this characteristic of the work in Chicago, the Rev. W. W. Patton, D. D., forcibly says : " The real stumbling-block before the unconverted is not so much that professed Christians have been 'cold,' as to exhibiting a sentimental fervor; as it is, that they have committed positive infractions of 9,79 TIMKS OF REFHESHING, the law of love; that they have been guilty of evil tempers, of backbiting, of slander, of falsehood, of breaches of promise, of unfaithfulness in pecuniary trusts, of fraud, of oppression, of political corrup- tion, of covetousness in many forms. So long as these things are not confessed and put away, and ap- propriate reparation made to the injured, so long it is of little use to wax warm in revival meetings. Ministers may preach a free redemption, and zealous church members may sing and pray with the greatest fervor; but if, meanwhile, the church neglect disci- pline, and these individual tangible sins remain a stumbling-blocks, the gospel will have little effect upon the unconverted. A revival which proceeds from general prayer, singing and 'Bible-readings' to personal confessions and restitutions, which shows power to give Christians the victory over their actu- al lusts and iniquities, will convince the world of its divine authorship; and no other will or can." The meetings during the week of Mr. Moody's absence, under the. conduct of Mr. Whittle, were greatly blessed to the quickening of God's people. Such searching of heart, such humiliation and con- fession among Christians, not many had ever seen be- fore. Along the path of that humbling experience the whole Church seemed to walk together from day to day. The direct, Scripture-based, and therefore searching appeals of the leader, met a ready response in thousands of Christian hearts. So directly was the Church led to cast itself on God that it must have been plain to those who looked on the meetings, from the outside, that the ruling spirit of those hush- MOODY IN CHICAGO. 273 ed and solemn gatherings was not the romance of new measures, nor the enthusiasm of any human leadership, but the power of the Holy Spirit. On Friday evening, the closing service of the week, the leader seemed to be borne up by the prayers of Christians as never before, and his call to the Church to consecrate itself to God and come up to his help against the mighty, rang like a bugle-call. A tele- gram from Mr. Moody was read, announcing that if all went well, he would return on Saturday morning and at the close of the meeting, the great audience, rising to their feet, sang u Hold the Fort," till the building rang again with the echoes of the inspiring song. Sunday was a perfect autumn day. In the crisp early morning thousands wended their way from all parts of the city to the Tabernacle, that had already become a sacred spot. There were fully six thousand people in the building at eight o'clock. Mr. Moody's address on " Finding your brother," was more tender even than ususal, and words and tone alike bore marks of the sorrow he had passed through and the grace that had sustained him under it. His heart was full to overflowing, and there were very few dry eyes in the house as he besought each one to go and find his brother. In the afternoon the Tabernacle was full nearly an hour before time for the service to begin. Farwell Hall was soon packed, and then the First Methodist Church, and crowds still in the streets unable to find entrance anywhere. Again in the evening, the great hall was overflow- 274. TIMES OF REFRESHING. ing, and several churches where evangelists were hold- ing services, were crowded to the utmost capacity. At the First Baptist Church, where Rev. Mr. Need- ham addressed a union meeting of the First Baptist, Fifth Presbyterian and Michigan avenue M. E. churches, about forty asked the prayers of God's people. Monday marked perhaps the most decided advance in the work. The noon prayer-meeting wras, as usual, densely crowded, and at its close Mr. Moody called a meeting for women exclusively. About five hundred assembled and decided upon a daily meeting for prayer. A very large number of wTives and mothers asked prayers for husbands and sons. Mr. Moody says he never knew7 of so many only sous being brought in the arms of faith, as at that meeting. At the close of the evening service in the Taber- nacle, the first inquiry meeting was held. Christians who were burdened for souls, and inquirers, wTere the only ones invited to remain. About nine hundred gathered in the two inquiry rooms. Mr. Moody led the meeting in one room and Mr. San key in the other. About seventy inquirers presented themselves for the prayers of Christians, and amid many tears and prayers, and much tender and sympathizing counsel, they were commended to the Savior. During the following weeks the work constantly increased in solemnity, both among church members and the unconverted. In the reports in the noon meetings it began to be apparent that the Tabernacle work was being felt in the churches. It is here wor- thy of remark that those churches, whose pastors MOODY IN CHICAGO. *Uo and members were active in their support of the cen- tral meetings, did not fail to have a great blessing in their own fields. As one of the pastors, who was untiring in his services at the Tabernacle, expressed it: " When the great tide wave comes in I have no fear but my little pond will be filled/' On Sabbath evening, October 29th, Mr. Moody preached to an overflowing audience in the Taberna- cle one of his most effective sermons, on " Excuses for not coming to Christ." We give an extract from that sermon as a good illustration of his graphic, trenchant, and direct style of address: " Will you stay to-night and accept this invitation? Don't make light of it. I can imagine some of you saying, ' Well, I never got so low as to make light of religion.' Suppose I got an invitation to dinner from a citizen of Chicago for to-morrow and I don't answer it; I tear the invitation up. Would not thai be making light of it? Suppose you pay no atten- tion to the invitation to-night; is not that making light of it? Would any one here be willing to write out an excuse something like this: < The Taberna- cle, October 20th. To the King of Heaven: While sitting in the Tabernacle to-day I received a very pressing invitation from one of your servants to sit at the marriage supper of the Son of God. I pray you have me excused.' Is there one person in this assembly would take his pen and write his name at the bottom of it? Is there a person whose right hand would not forget its cun- ning, and whose tongue would not cleave to his mouth if he were trying to do it ? Well, you are doing 276 TIME& OF REFRESHING. this if you get up and go right out after you have heard the invitation. Who will write this? " To the Lord of lords and King of Glory: While sitting in the Tabernacle this beautiful Sabbath evening, Octo- ber 29th, 1876, I received a pressing invitation from one of your servants to be present at the marriage supper. I hasten to accept.' Will any one sign this? Who will put his name to it? Is there not a man or woman saying down deep in his soul 4 By the Grace of God I will sign it;' < I will sign it by the grace of God, and will meet that sainted mother who has gone there;' ' I will sign and accept that invitation and meet that loving or dear child.' Are there not some here to-night who will accept that invitation?" This kind of preaching, and the singing that ac- companied it, reached at once the hearts of the im- penitent. The very first night the inquiry room was thronged with inquirers and their friends. And be- cause Christians had gone forth carrying the invitations of the gospel, many sinners were breaking the stillness of praying circles by the old cry, " Men and brethren, what m ust we do to be saved ?" And what is worthy of special mention — the class first aroused was not. as is frequently the case, those who had long been al- most persuaded, the children of Sunday schools and Christian families, and the regular attendants upon the services of God's house, but men and women out- side of religious influences, and beyond the reach of the Church. In many cases, the earliest inquirers came from the " churchless masses," who were weary with the burden of great sins, and wanted to find rest MOODY IN CHICAGO. 25 1 « unto their souls. Notably, many drunkards came crying for deliverance from the accursed thralldom, and found in Jesus one " able to save to the uttermost." In the daily gospel temperance meetings scores (A' in- ebriates gathered for prayer and scores of witnesses stood up to praise the grace that had set the cap- tive free. Of the temperance work, which began with the third week and continued with increasing power to the end of the meetings, we will speak in a following chapter. The sixth week marked another advance in the work. Many revivals have begun in the more sus- ceptible mind of childhood, and afterward have reached those of maturer years. The first trophies of this one, as we have already remarked, were among those, who had either not been accustomed to the means of grace, or had long been hardened under them. But now, in the second week of November, the power of the Spirit was present in many Sunday- school meetings, reaching many a young heart. In many a school, classes and teachers might have been seen weeping together in common anxiety and ten- derness of heart. There were many conversions among the little ones, secured by the blessing of the Spirit upon a clear and simple teaching of Christ as a present Savior to all who will sincerely receive him. So the accessions to the churches, as the fruit of the first month of these special services embraced a very wide range of life and experience, old and young, pa- rents and children, hardened sinners accepting the yoke of the Master who had stricken off their chains, and little ones from Christian homes and Sunday school 278 TIMES OF REFRESHING. classes, together taking upon them the name of Christ. We have not space for a full description of the work of all these weeks. Their general and outward features may thus be summed: A noon-day prayer- meeting at Far well Hall, attended by from two to three thousand, followed by a second meeting for wo- men in the main hall, and for men in the lower hall ; frequently a Bible reading at three o'clock; tabernacle service at eight in the evening, followed by a second meeting in the main hall, and inquiry meetings in the various inquiry rooms; and, toward the close of the meetings, a young men's meeting in Farwell Hall. In addition to these general services, there were many special meetings of various kinds. The whole city seemed converted into a scene of religious activity. Unwonted conversations filled the ear. In office, store, street-car and stages, men discussed the one over-shadowing subject, sometimes in tones criti- cal and wondering, occasionally in words of denuncia- tion, often in words of sympathy and joy, but always earnestly, as men discuss things that have laid a firm grasp upon the popular thought. At the same time that the revival wTas securing so firm a hold upon the people of Chicago, the lines of it were going out throughout the states of the North- west. Through the labors of Whittle and Bliss in Kalamazoo and Jackson, Michigan, and other places, of Needham and Stebbins in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, of Morehouse in Racine, of Morton in Joliet, and other evangelists in many other towns and villages, the re- vival became general through all the regions round about. MOODY IN CHICAGO. 279 Multitudes of incidents might be gathered to show how diffusive was this work of grace at this time upon all classes of people. In one of the churches in the city, at the close o\' a Sunday school meeting, a little girl of ten or twelve came to her pastor and said: " I want to tell you that, last Sunday evening, I gave my heart to the Savior." Her pastor said: "Now can't you bring your father ? I am praying for him, and I want you to help me." The child burst into tears and said she would try. At the evening service on the same day, that father was bowed in tears. During the inquiry meeting the pastor went to him, told him about the prayers and tears of his little daughter. Then and there the man kneeled before God and gave himself up to Christ; and rising from his knees, confessed the Savior in the presence of all the people. His only grief was that instead of bringing his child, as a father ought to do, his child had to bring him. Yet this is according to Scripture. " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength." The power of the press, not only as an agency foi spreading the tidings, but also for widening the work, is well brought out in the following incident: At the close of one of the noon-prayer-meetings in Farwell Hall, a young man, who had arisen for prayers, sought an interview with one of the pastors. The minister learned that Mr. A lived in a neisrh- boring city, and had known of the revival only through the reports of the daily papers, which he had read, lie had been utterly without religion, but the read- ing of those printed reports awakened within him for 280 TIMES OF REFRESHING. the first time, a spiritual hunger. He said to him- self: " If these things are true, the people there are having a blessing, which I also need. I will go and seek it." "And now," said he to the minister, " I want to be a Christian." "Will you kneel down with me here and consecrate yourself to God?" "I will." The two knelt in prayer, the minister first com- mending the young man to the grace and love of the Savior, and Mr. A , in broken utterance surren- dering himself to be the Lord's. He went home with the purpose of living a Christian life, making known to his friends the step he had taken, and trying to lead others to the joy he had found. A few weeks after this occurrence, early one morning Mr. A came to the study of this pastor and said: " I have come to say good-bye to you." " Are you going away ? " " Yes, I am going to start for Sweden to-night. I have a father and mother there, who are out of Christ; a father, who has been a drunkard for forty years. I must go and tell the good news and preach the gos- pel to them." "Had you thought of going home at this time?" His reply was born of sublime faith. "Not until I was converted; but my father and mother are not safe, and I cannot rest until I have spoken to them of Jesus. Pray for me that God will help me to reach their hearts." And so with a purpose as single as Paul's, he went away on a journey of five thousand miles to preach the gospel to his kindred. From his home in MOODY IN CHICAGO. 281 Sweden he wrote back to that minister, asking for prayers, that he might have more grace. His words had not yet been blessed to the saving of the souls that were dear to him ; but surely such faith wTill have its reward. In the last week of November, a Christian conven- tion representing the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Indi- ana, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota convened in the Tabernacle. Great earnestness and prayerfulness characterized all its ses- sions. Subjects of practical interest, and the various branches of church work were prominently discussed. One of the most remarkable of all the meetings was the Question Drawer on Thursday. Mr. Moody's genius of common sense was never more conspicuous than on that day. Nearly a hundred questions were presented for answer. They did not come into Mr. Moody's hands until the beginning of the meeting. The answers were of course extemporaneous, save as his experience of similar meetings in many places gave him a general fund of ready knowledge on the practical questions which naturally come up in every similar convention. His aptness of word and illus- tration, his sensible viewrs on all points of church work, the breadth of his knowledge and the happy faculty of speaking the truth in unfailing love and charity, made that hour one long to be remembered. Though a few of the questions reflected somewhat upon the evangelists, or their methods, his buoyant o-ood nature carried him triumphantly over every perilous place. Some one had the bad taste to pro- pound this question: "Why do the evangelists know 282 TIMES OF REFRESHING. so little about science? " Without a moment's hesi- tation, and with an enthusiasm that was perfectly electric, he cried out: " Because we have something better." Of course there was nothing left of that ques- tion. In the closing hours of the convention, Mr. Moody gave a forcible address upon inquiry meetings, and how to conduct them. In his judgment an inquiry meeting should follow every sermon, addressed espe- cially to the unconverted. In his one pertinent' phrase: "We must draw the net." The effect of this would be threefold; it would impress sinners with the truth that we are expecting them to come to Christ; it would make Christians feel a responsibility in bringing the impenitent to church; and it would give greater directness to the aim of the preaching. The straightest, smoothest arrow would be laid upon the string. At the last session of the convention, Mr. Moody proposed the formation of a Prayer Alliance among the churches of the Northwest. About three hundred churches were at once enrolled, to make daily solemn prayer for each other, and it is believed that many revivals throughout the Western states may be traced to this alliance. During the month of December the meetings went on in a constantly deej)ening tide. As the time ap- proached for the departure of the evangelists there seemed to be an increasing interest in the services, an increasing unwillingness to have the great central meeting close. Especially did the active Christians of the city feel that the Tabernacle was solving a great MOODY IN CHICAGO. 28$ practical question. That question was this: "How to reach the people with the gospel ? " A square mile or two in the heart of the city contains about a hun- dred thousand people, in boarding houses, hotels and flats. There is not accessible church accommodation for one-fifth of this multitude. They must either stay at home or chase after the churches in their ave- nue march. The Tabernacle was built in the midst of them, free, cheerful and inviting. Day after day, and night after night, a motley throng from alleys, streets, and avenues, from cellers, garrets and parlors had crowded the building. On a single Sunday as many as twenty thousand had heard the gospel there. A notable feature of the work was its extra-church character. The pastor of one of the largest churches remarked that among the hundreds with whom he had talked in the inquiry rooms, there had not been five from his own congregation. The seekers after life in a vast majority of cases had been people outside of churches. Many were from the uncared-for, and out- cast multitude. Hungry for sympathy, love and counsel, they had eagerly seized the outstretched hand of help. Bearing these facts in mind, it was re- solved by those having the meetings in charge, that, as long as possible after the departure of the evangel- ists, the Tabernacle services should be continued, and that they should be placed in charge of Messrs. Whit- tle and Bliss. These plans were made about the middle of December. In two weeks an overwhelming prov- idence had cut them short. It had been an- nounced that on Sunday morning, December 31, Mr. 284: TIMES OF KEFKESHING. P. P. Bliss would be present to assist in the Taber- nacle service. On the Friday evening preceding, the express train plunged through the bridge at Ashta- bula. The tidings of the sudden and awful death of the sweet singer and his wife fell crushingly upon the very large circle of their friends in Chicago. The scene at the Tabernacle on that Sunday morning will never be forgotten by those who were present. The whole great audience bowed as under the touch of God. It was the second time that place had been the scene of a great sorrow and a great sympathy. At its opening it was consecrated by grief in the tidings that hurried Mr. Moody to the grave of his brother. And now, near the close of the services, it was draped in mourning because Bliss had been so suddenly, mysteriously taken from his songs on earth. Heaven's choir needed another sweet voice. We give elsewhere an estimate of the place his songs do now, and for many years to come will hold in revival and evangelistic services. Their continued influence and power is the long comfort of the Christian public, the ever deepening consolation that falls like his own superb melodies around his death. But only those who were present in the Tabernacle on the morning when the hour that was to be his welcome became his dirge, can realize what a test to the faith of God's people was this Providential interference with their plans. But God's eternal thought moves on, even when all human reserves fail, and so he raised up others to carry on the work. He has boundless reserves of grace and mercy with which .to come to the rescue of men's failing hearts, and con- scious weakness. MOODY IN CHICAGO. 285 It has sometimes been said in criticism of the Chi- cago revival, that it lacked that element of law and conscience for which the earlier revivals in our coun- try had been remarkable. "We think the criticism without foundation. Some of the most pungent con- victions of sin, some of the intensest awakenings of conscience, occurred during this revival. As one among the many, we select the following incident: A young man of pleasant and intelligent address was met one evening in an inquiry room by one of the ministers. A brief conversation made it manifest that he was suffering the sharpest conviction of sin. He had drifted to the city and drifted into the Taber- nacle with the faint hope that in some way or other there might be help for him there. Resting under a burden that seemed to crush his secret out of his soul, he stated that he was a criminal flee- ing not, indeed, from justice, for he had been declared innocent on trial, but from the torturing- consciousness of his own guilt. He wanted to know what he should do. He felt there was hope for him neither on earth nor in heaven. He could neither carry his load nor shake it off. He had even medita- ted a fearful refuge through suicide. On the follow- ing day he met, by appointment, the pastor and Mr. Moody at the close of the noon prayer-meeting. These Christian friends assured him there was but one thing to do. He must return, surrender himself to justice, and accept the consequences. "But," said Mr. Moody, " you cannot go alone. You need an Almighty Friend to go with you. Give your heart to Christ and he will take your burden and give you 286 TIMES OF REFRESHING. strength for your duty." The three kneeled together. After prayer by Mr. Moody and the pastor, Mr. B. was called on to pray for himself. That prayer was, indeed, the groaning of a spirit. It seemed to rise out of the depths of hell and fall heavily, almost de- spairingly, against the throne. He prayed for pardon, he prayed for strength to go to the home circle and tell the dear ones there at once of his guilt and his peni- tence; he prayed that the blow might not kill his aged father and mother, he prayed for strength to live a new life, whether in prison or out of it. He rose' from his knees as one from whose heart a mountain had been lifted, and said : " I'm going back to suffer what human law demands, but Christ, I believe, has taken my sins away." After a few words of counsel and encouragement, and assurances of prayers for him that he might be able to carry his cross, he went away to take the train for his horns and the scene of his crime. A few hours later, at the opening of the Tabernacle service, a telegram was handed Mr. Moody. It was from Mr. B., who was so anxious that his new friends in Chicago should know of his happiness in his sor- rowful journey, that, stepping from the train at a way-station, he had sent back these words: " My heart is fixed. The Lord has told me just what to do, I never was so happy before." Letters came from him afterward, telling of the great peace that, like a river, was flowing through his days. Indeed, he had to bring anguish upon his home by telling the almost incredible story of his sin ; indeed, he had to stand in court and plead guilty of a crime of which the law had acquitted him ; indeed, he had to go to MOODY IN CHICAGO. 287 the penitentiary and bear a three-years penalty, but there was wonderful illustration of the sustaining grace of God in the words he wrote to Mr. Moody: "My sentence is three years in the penitentiary, but what is that to the last six months?" We must bring our sketch of the Chicago meetings to a close. Week after week the shout of harvest-home was being heard throughout the churches of the city. No statistics can measure the extent of the revival. The new faith that was given to God's people, the more direct line of appeal and endeavor it gave them, the more stress it gave to preaching and the power of song, are not to be told by arithmetic. The farewell meeting was held on Tuesday evening, Jan. 16th. In many respects it was the most notable of all the won- derful series. The floor was filled with young converts, probably four thousand being present. Very many with young convert's tickets were turned away, because the great building was packed to its utmost capacity long before the hour for opening the service arrived. It was a sight to thrill the heart with joy unutterable. On the plat- form crowded close around Moody and Sankey, were the ministers who had stood so firmly by them, from the first meeting to the last. Farther back on the platform were about five hundred singers whose voices had done so much for the success and interest of the services. And in every available corner, passage and stairway around the platform were hundreds of prom- inent business men, and active Christian workers. The galleries were packed with Christian people who had so often sung, and prayed, and labored, and re- 288 TIMES OF REFRESHING. joiced in that building. And on the main floor were tliose with a new song in their mouths. There were children, young men and maidens, men and women in life's prime, and very many with whitening heads. They represented all classes — the rich and the poor, the ignorant and the scholarly, the young people from the midst of the Sunday-school and the Christian home, and reformed men who had been the slaves of evil passion, had drained every cup of vice, and were there clothed and in their right mind at last. It was a sight to waken new hallelujahs in heaven. Mr. Moody's address on what God is able to do for those who trust Him, was practical, spiritual, and deeply earnest. At its close, he addressed words of tenderest Christian love to those who had been his "helpers in the Lord." With a voice well broken by emotion he thanked the pastors who in such unbroken ranks had been around him — the choir, the ushers, the workers with him in the inquiry rooms, and the reporters who had given such careful and kind report of all the meetings. In his closing prayer he remem- bered all these classes, and commended the young converts to the care of the Chief Shepherd in words and tones which will hardly be forgotten. His part- ing words were "Good night; we shall meet in the morning." While the great audience sang " Praise God from whom all blessings flow," the evangelists suddenly left the platform through a trap-door, much to the surprise of the hundreds who were hoping to have one more hand-shake and a parting word. When, the next day, we remarked to Mr. Moody the disappointment their sudden exit had caused, he re- MOODY IN CHICAGO. 289 plied with great feeling, " We couldn't have gone through that — it was too much." Mr. Moody's work in Chicago Avill be memorable in all time as a reversal of the historic proverb. The prophet had a hearing and honor in his own country. His own received him, followed him, and by him were led to a great victory. How shall we explain it? Success in every work has elements so hidden as to give meaning to the suggestive truism: " Success is the most successful thing in the world." Yet though hidden, the elements are there. There are no miracles in life's work. Visible, or invisible, some- where there is a reason for every achievement. We ask again the question so often asked, so difficult of answer: Why has Mr. Moody been able to do this work, imeqiialed at least in modern times? Is he a great preacher? Yes, measured by highest standards, he is a great preacher, but there have been, and are others, greater in all measurable elements of power, men richer in scholarship, argument, illustration and address. Is he a man of great earnestness, deep piety and single purpose? Undoubtedly yes; but there have been others as profoundly in earnest, as fervent in spirit, as devoted to their work. Is lie exception- ally large in his soul, broad in his sympathies, intense and generous in his affections? To be near him, is to feel the magnetism of a great heart. Yet there have been, and are others, who love their fellows with a sim- ilar princeliness of love, and who in their devotion to souls do gladly die for them. Is he a great organizer and leader of men? Yes; a thousand times yes. There are few such captains. In any sphere of sol- 290 TIMES OF REFRESHING. diery he would have been a leader. He was born to command. Prominent as is this factor in his success, and rarely as others have equaled him in this, it would hardly be a satisfactory solution of the problem of his success to attribute it to his generalship alone. Upon no one trait of his mind, or grace of his heart can exc'usive stress be laid. ~No one of them accounts for Mr. Moody. Therefore those who apply to his work the yard-measure of some pet theory of his abil- ity, must constantly fail. Mr. Moody is that happy, that unexplained, that divine combination of many factors of success, no one of which solves the problem. It is not his eloquence, nor his judgment, nor his piety, nor his skill, nor his soul on fire. Rather it is them altogether, in peculiar relations and terms, in a blending, the lines, boundaries, or proportions of which our philosophy strives in vain to fathom, but the tout ensemble of which, in God's great method, has resulted in the most successful evangelist at least of later times. There is just one arrangement of let- ters that spells out the cabalistic word that springs open the iron door of the bank vault. There is only one combination of faculties and powers that spells out the Sesame of highest success. Call it genius, or what you will, this it is that makes Mr. Moody. If his work baffles our criticism, let us accept the fact with the mystery, and say: God, who made the locks and bolts that bound ordinary endeavor, can also, and once in a few centuries does, in some human soul, throw together the charmed letters that slip the bolts, and give power of progress and victory, which is as rare as it is divine. MOODY IN CHICAGO. 291 But high above every explanation, the ultimate reason of all success in winning souls to Christ, is the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Per- haps we shall come nearest to understanding Mr. Moody in his relation to his work if, abandoning all human words, we are content to say, in the words an inspired writer applied to Stephen: "A man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." OHAPTEE XIII. MOODY AND SANKEY IN BOSTON. We come to speak now of what, to thoughtful, minds, must be one of the most interesting of all the revival campaigns. After a rest of only a week the Evangelists, whose physical endurance and resources are as wonderful as their mental and spiritual, began their work in Boston. That work was anxiously re- garded by the Christian people throughout the coun- try. It seemed as if the preaching and singing of these plain men would meet with a new, and perhaps a disastrous test in that center of culture and various philosophical and religious isms. The Evangelists, however, seem to have made no new calculations of probabilities. They went to this work just as they had gone to every other, with simple, unquestioning faith in God. Anxious only for the smooth pebble from the brook, they seemed to have spent little time in measuring Goliath. At the farewell meeting in Chicago, Mr. Moody said: " As we leave you, there is just one boon we covet, and that is your prayers." Relying on prayer- and the truth, they began their services in Boston January 28th, 1877. Extensive preparations had been made for their coming. The Tabernacle, built on Tremont street, though the smallest that had been built for them, was aw MOODY IN BOSTON, 293 a substantial brick structure, convenient in its ar- rangements, and capable of seating six thousand peo- ple. Of course, it was packed at the first meeting. Curiosity was on tip- toe to hear Mr. Moody's intro- ductory sermon. It was an address to Christians. He denied that Boston had any peculiarity in a relig- ious point of view that required any different mode of procedure there than had elsewhere been adopted. Boston sinners had, he declared, the same old nature that all sinners have. He affirmed: "God could shake Boston as easily as a mother shakes her child." Then touching the skepticism of that city, he ap- proached it not with kid gloves of dainty acknowl- edgements, not with any consciousness of its claims or any words apologetic for daring to confront it; he men- tioned it only to say infidelity in Boston was no ob- stacle to God. In the very midst of their pride and their philosophy, he planted the doctrine of depravity common to all, and the power of God sufficient to all. The skepticism of that city of learning and culture is met in a novel way. Arguments they have been accustomed to — and patronizingly wait for them — deference they are used to, and treat it with freezing politeness — but to be thus bluntly confronted with God, and to have his presence end the controversy, to be set down among common sinners, and to be told that their only hope was in a cry for mercy, was a measure of audacity for which philosophy had no reply. This address, delivered with great earnestness, produced a decided effect on the audience. 294 TIMES OF REFRESHING. Some, with not brains enough to sec past the gram- mar or the rhetoric, criticised these; but others, touched by the pathos of Mr. San key's songs and the lofty courage of Mr. Moody's address, said: " This is none other than the power of God." It was, in- deed, an occasion memorable beyond Boston, memo- rable for future ages. It was the gospel going oul bo battle the wisdom of this age. Since the day when an obscure man stood on Mars' Hill, waiting till the clamor of "What will this babbler say," had subsided, and then to Stoical doubt- ers on one side, who were too proud to deny any- thing, and to the Epicurean atheists, on the other, too proud to believe anything, preached Jesus and the resurrection, we think of no finer picture of the con- trasts of faith and doubt than Boston then presented. In theeveninghe gave his sermon on Christian courage to an overflowing audience. In the course of it he told the story of the enthusiasm of the great Scottish missionary, Dr. Duff. The effect was electric. He said: " When I was going to Europe in 1867, my friend Mr. Stuart, of Philadelphia, said: 'Be sure to be at the General Assembly in Edinburgh, in June. I was there last year, and it did me a world of good.' He said Dr. Duff, from India, was invit- ed to speak to the General Assembly, on the wants of India. The old missionary, after a brief address, told the pastors who were present, to go home and stir up their churches and send young men to India to preach the gospel. He spoke with such earnestness that af- ter a while he fainted, and they carried him from the moody m BOSTON. 295 hall. When he recovered he asked where he was, and tliey told him the circumstances under which he had been brought there. ' Yes,' he said, * I was making a plea for India, and I didn't quite fin- ish my speech, did IV After being told that he did not, he said: " Well, take me back and let me finish it.' But they said, 'No, you will die in the attempt.' 'Well,' said he, 'I will die if I don't,' and the old man asked again that the) would allow him to finish his plea. When he was taken back the whole congrega- tion stood as one man, and as they brought him on the platform, with a trembling voice, he said: 'Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is it true that you will not let your sons go to India? I spent twenty-five years of my life there. I lost my health, and I have come back with sickness and shattered health. If it is true that we have no strong grandsons to go to India, I will pack up what I have and be off to-morrow, and I will let those heathens know that if I cannot live for them 1 will die for them.'' The first noon prayer-meeting was held the next day in the Park Street Church, and was a promising beginning of a series, which still continues, and has been the scene of hundreds of conversions. On the evening of that day, in the prayer-meeting held after the close of the regular services, Mr. Moody said: " We are here to-night to pray for one another. Re- member me in your prayers. I do not understand it, but I have many imes felt when I have gone from one place to another, and tried to do the work with the grace that God has given me to work in an- other place, it seems to me that every time we 296 TIMES OF REFRESHING. change we need a fresh baptism, a fresh power, a fresh supply of e^race; and, now we have come to Bos- ton, we would like to have you pray for us, that God may bless us with his Spirit, and Christ may enter all our prayers and be a power in us to preach the simple gospel. And now, if there are any friends to pray for us and to be prayed for, would you just rise?" As many as three thousand people rose, and the Rev. Mr. Pentecost made a fervent prayer. After the first week the Evangelists rapidly grew on the Boston people. Criticism poured in on them from every side. Scoffers were abundant, but the.r manhood, their utter freedom from shams, their sin- gleness of purpose, which made them indifferent to what people said about them, so only lost souls might be saved, conquered the criticism and silenced the scoffs. Mr. Moody's power in prayer was nevermore conspicuous than during those days. A correspon- dent says: "He comes at once 'to the grips' with God. 'Ask for something when you pra}T,' he said one day. ' A Scotch woman heard a minister make a long and voluble prayer. When he was about to close, she could stand it no longer, and cried out: " Ash for something." : His comments on the ' Ask,' k Seek,' ' Knock,' in Luke, were novel. k If you don't get a blessing by asking, seek the reason why. It is in yourself. If you don't get it by seek- ing, knock.' He took out a letter, which he said he had just received, and read it. It was from a reformed man. For years his mother and sister had prayed for liiin. His mother died. His sister kept on praying. MOODY IN BOSTON. 297 For eighteen years she never failed a single day. ' That is what I call knocking! ' said Mr. Moody, the tears almost choking him. i Now hear the rest. Last November this brother found himself in Chicago, and was reclaimed at the Tabernacle. What if his sister hadn't knocked?" ' "Writing about this time, a leading journalist said: " Evangelical religion never presented a bolder front. There is no longer any doubt as to the doctrines held by the revivalist. He is an out-and-out believer in the ruined state of man, in the substitution of the blood of Christ for broken law, and in pardon gained through faith in him. He believes in the Trinity, the personality of the Devil, the second coming of Christ, the salvation of those believing in him, and the ever- lasting punishment of those rejecting him. He also holds that conversion is inbtantaneous, and that good works follow as a consequence." These cardinal doctrines in terse, epigrammatic form, vividly illustrated and driven home with tremendous earnestness, Mr. Moody preached in Boston week after week, and month after month, and had the pleasure of witnessing there, as elsewhere, the wisdom and power of God in the salvation of souls. The inquiry rooms in the Tabernacle being found insufficient for their purpose, the inquiry meetings were held in neigh- boring churches. They were from the first well at- tended, were efficiently manned by ministers and other Christian workers, and resulted in a constantly in- creasing number of conversions. Such ministers as Drs. Webb, Manning, Phillips Brooks, Withrow, Dunn. Pentecost, Meredith, and others, stood solidly 298 TIMES OF REFRESHING. around the evangelists, and gave tliem efficient aid in prayer and inquiry meetings. Mr. Moody also Lad powerful aid of a kind lie had not elsewhere had, which in no other city was so much needed. The Rev. Joseph Cook lectured each Monday at noon in Tremont Temple to an audience of three thousand of the most intelligent people of Boston. He treated upon the most intellectual themes in the mo>t intellectual and brilliant manner. He assaulted rationalism amid its very intrenchments. He gave to Mr. Moody not only the indirect support, which a philosophical discussion of evangelical relig- ion on such a lofty plain and by such masterly meth- ods could not fail to give; he also stood by him in his evangelistic work, giving him the cordial support of his words and his work. Prefacing one of his lectures with some remarks upon the revival, he said: "Let us admit that we could all wish for greater blessings. Macaulay said concerning literary excel- lence that we were to measure success not by absolute, but by relative standards. Matching his own historv against the seventh book of Thucydides, he was always humble; but matching his history against cur- rent productions, Macaulay felt encouraged. Match- ing this day in Boston against some things in "White- field's day; matching it against the dateless noon of Pentecost: matching it against our opportunities, we are humble; we have no reason for elation; ours is a day of small things. But compare what has been •lone here by God's Word and religious effort with all that has been done since Boston was founded by the opponents of God's Word, and we are encouraged. MOODY IN BOSTON. 299 " Our opportunity in the second New England is greater than that of our fathers was in the first New England. Let us act as the memory of our fathers dictates. New England, the Mississippi Valley, the Pacific Coast, Scotland, England, always know whether or not Boston does her duty. A power not of man is in this hushed air. Who will lock hands with him whom we dare not name and go forward to triumph in the cause that cares equally for the rich and poor and for to-day and to-morrow?" During the later part of March the meetings, for a few weeks seemed to drop to a level which was trying to the leaders and discouraging to the church. \ variety of reasons conduced to this temporary slacken- ing of interest. Ijt was the natural movement of the tide. The intensity of the first enthusiasm reached a point, where by a necessary law, it had to relax a lit- tle. The edire of outside curiosity was blunted: tlip CD *> novelty of the exercises and methods no longer at- tracted. This lull in the interest — superficial though it was — aroused and encouraged the hostile element of Bos- ton. Unitarian criticisms began to pour in. Some of the lesser lights especially, as in Chicago, sought, to lift themselves into temporary notice by diatribes against the men and the doctrines. The meetings in the Tabernacle seemed falling off. and everybody but Mr. Moody felt the shadow of discouragement. Then the Evangelist rose to his height; he told the people of Boston if they would not come to the Tab- ernacle, he would go to their houses and warn them to flee from the wrath to come. He called the minister 300 TIMES OF REFRESHING. around him, and inspired them with his own courage and faith in God, blocked out new plans, and went on as if in the very flush of victory. It was Wellington again, turning the tide of Waterloo, and in a far nobler cause. He moved the noon meeting from the Taber- nacle to halls and churches in different parts of the city. He organized meetings for the different classes, and thus laid his hand upon the pulse of every kind of activity in Boston. The holy Ghost seemed to de- scend in a fresh baptism, the churches were inspired with new courage, and the work from that time went gloriously forward. In the last weeks of March arrangements were made for the systematic visitation of the whole city, which was divided into a hundred districts, to each of which a chosen committee was appointed. No less than two thousand persons were engaged in this work, devoting a greater part of their time to visitation of the poor and degraded. Ninety churches co-operated in this work, each pastor appointing a committee to oversee the work undertaken by his particular church. Thus it is safe to say within a few weeks nearly all ol the seventy thousand families of Boston were visited by men and women whose hearts God had touched with the desire to lift up the fallen and to save the un- saved. No wonder the city was moved from center to circumference. No wonder Joseph Cook could say of him who planned this work: " If there is one measure in which our American evangelist has shown his generalship, it is in setting men to work, and in so setting them to work as to set them on fire." The work now began to reach beyond Boston. At Portland, MOODY IN BOSTON, 301 Portsmouth, Newburyport, Bangor, Haverhill, Salem, and Worcester .the effect of the business men's meetings in Boston, and the general religious movement were noticeable. In many of these places evangelistic services were held, and converts were numbered by the hundred. Noon prayer-meetings were also organized in South Boston, East Boston, Chelsea, Boston Highlands. Charlestown and other suburbs, under the conduct of different clergymen. The market-men's prayer-meet- ing, held in a hall over the market in the North End, presented each day at the noon hour a scene of re- markable interest. Hundreds of men, in their mark- et dress, gathered there each day, earnest and resolute in their pursuit of salvation. At the corner of Sum- mer and Kingston streets, prayer-meetings were held in the interest of the dry-goods and clothing trades. The room seating four or five hundred people, often tailed to accommodate half of those seeking admit- tance. Business men not only attended themselves, but took their clerks with them, and many of both classes daily found the Savior. Meetings for hack- men, grocers, fishermen, furniture dealers, and those of other trades, were sustained at a very high point both in numbers and interest. A correspond- ent of a leading journal says : " A leading firm oi two well known merchants were present at one ol these meetings a few days since. Both went into the inquiry-room, though prominently connected with a religious society wThose minister had given them any- thing but a knowledge of our faith in a vicarious atone- ment, both found Christ as their Savior, on the cross 302 TIMES OF REFRESHING. as well as by His life. The one who first accepted the truth, and on his knees gave himself to his Lord, find- ing light and peace almost in a moment, rose from his knees, and exclaimed to his partner: * I am converted, Joshua.' It was only the work of a few moments for his partner to take the same Lord and Redeemer and find the same peace and joy. Stout market-men, in their white frocks, crowd their places of meeting to overflow. I heard of a conversion in a place of business belonging to one of them. A friend had called on business. The claims and privileges of religion were urged by that friend for some time without avail. At last the reply came: * I will seek the Lord. I will pray when I go home.' * Don't wait for that,' said the friend, ' let us pray here.' So kneeling in the cellar, by a tank of meats, the prayer of self-surrender and consecration was made on the spot." So from week to week the work went on widening and deepening. Christian people were drawn into closer sympathy with the Evangelists every day; the outside strictures ceased. At a great prayer-meeting one day at which two or three thousand business men were present to declare their interest in the blood of Christ, Mr. Moody made the following remark: " I have been a professing Christian twenty-two years, and I have been in Boston and other cities most of that time, but I never saw such a day as this. I stand in wonder and amazement at what is being done. It seems as if God were taking this work out of our hands. Prayer-meetings are springing up in all parts of the city. If you had been asked two MOODY IN BOSTON. 303 months ago if these things were possible, you would have said: ' Yes, if God will open windows in heaven and do them.' " Cheered by the evidence of such approval of the people, Mr. Moody issued an address to the churches of New England. It was a- general marching order, and called upon every church in sympathy with the Tabernacle meetings to organize prayer and evangel- istic services, to be held as often as thought best, and to continue for two weeks, commencing with a special service, Sunday, April 8th, and that Thursday, the 12th, be observed by all the churches as a day of fast- ing and prayer. These days of special service and prayer were largely observed throughout New Eng- land and among the hills of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, on the banks of the Androscoggin and Connecticut; and in scores of towns and country dis- tricts, evangelistic services were held and inquiry- rooms opened. The feeling everywhere seemed gen- eral that New England was to have such a day of mer- ciful visitation as it had not since 1740, if even then. Though the spring and summer time were approaching, they were looked forward to not as in- terfering with or putting a stop to the work, but ra- ther as affording a breathing spell of needed rest, and a time in which broader plans might be matured for a still grander campaign in the autumn of 1877. As during the latter part of April the meetings at Bos- ton drew toward a close, the feeling that a strategic point had just been gained, and that a wider move- ment must follow, took strong possession of the peo- ple's minds, and before the first series of services had 304 TIMES OF BEFRESHING. closed, they were already talking of a second series in the fall. As the time approached for the Evangelists to leave Boston, the interest in their work seemed steadily to increase. The last week of the revival service proper began on Sunday, April 22d. At nine o'clock in the morning, despite the inclemency of the weather, the vast auditorium was packed, and crowds were turned away from the various entrances. Mr. Sankey sang- with great effect : "What hast thou given for Me ?" and " Nothing but Leaves." Mr. Moody preached on the life of Christ with his usual enthusiasm and force, closing finely as follows: "John and Jesus were like the sun and moon in comparison with the stars. All the prophets were like the stars in comparison with those two men. There was no prophet like John. None born of women was greater. Moses was a mighty prophet. Elijah was the sun of thun- der and a great and mighty prophet, and so was Eli- sha. But they were not to be compared with John. What a character! He lost sight of himself entirely. Christ was the uppermost; Christ was the all-in-all with him. He was beheaded outside of the promised land. He was buried in Moab somewhere near where Moses was buried. The first and last prophet of that, nation were buried near together,and there they lie out- side of the promised land; but their bodies by and by will be resurrected, and they will be the most grand, the most glorious, in God's Kingdom. Oh, that God would give us the spirit of John that we might exalt God, forget ourselves and cry out: " Christ is every- thing " MOODY IS BOSTOIT. 305 At the women's meeting in the afternoon an unex- ampled crowd besieged the doors of the Tabernacle, and long before three o'clock the doors were closed upon the numbers who found themselves too late. Dr. Tourjee led the usual praise meeting, and exactly at the appointed hour Mr. Moody came to the front of the platform, and said: " Sing, ' Come ye Discon- solate." John Wanamaker made the opening prayer, and after the singing of the hymn, "Are your win- dows open toward Jerusalem?" by Mr. Sankey, Mr. Moody preached his sermon on " salvation," beginning by saying that it would be his purpose to tell every woman in the assembly how she might be saved be- fore the meeting closed. He then pressed upon them the duty of an instant repentance, the privilege of an immediate pardon. In the evening he preached sub- stantially the same sermon to an immense concourse of men. This was one of the most effective days of all the revival series, and many, doubtless, will look back to it as the day of their spiritual birth. Monday, one of the most noteworthy of the revival meetings was held at noon in Faneuil Hall. It was a market-men's meeting. Butchers, teamsters, market- men from the neighboring markets, stood in their white frocks in the main floor of the hall. The £al- lery was crowded with business men. It was thor- oughly inspiring to see that throng of earnest faces, to notice the heartiness with which they sang the re- vival hymns, " What a Friend we have in Jesus," " Hold'the Fort," and " Hallelujah 'tis done." Mr. Moody evinced his usual tact in securing the atten- tion of his audience in the opening sentences. He 306 TIMES OF REFRESHING. began as follows: "The first time that I ever came into this hall was about twenty-one or twenty-two years ago this spring, I think, or it might have been the month of June. Anthony Burns was then in the Court House, and there were a great many Bostoni- ans going to try to set him free. I remember after Wendell Phillips had spoken, and quite a number of others had spoken on this platform, and when the meeting was just at white heat, General Swift, who spoke at Tremont Temple the other day, was up in the gallery, and he said he understood the people' were already breaking into the Court House and tak- ing out Anthony Burns. I went out of this hall as quick as I ever left a meeting, and there was a great crowd round the Court House, but all of us could not liberate that poor captive. But, thank God, the Gos- pel can set hundreds free to-day. We haven't got to go out of this hall and to go up to the Court House, but in this old hall men who have been loaded down with sin, and who have been slaves to sin for twenty, thirty and forty years, can be set free this very hour if they want freedom; and I don't know any better place than this hall, that is called the " Cradle of Lib- erty," for the captives to be set free, and I hope eve- ry Christian in this house will be lifting up their hearts to God in prayer that there may be hundreds of them set free to-day. That is what we have come for. We have not come here just to have a meeting in Fan- euil Hall, but to proclaim the glorious Gospel of Je- sus Christ, and tell men how they can be free. I want to draw your attention to a few verses in the six- teenth chapter of John, illustrating that salvation is MOODY IN BOSTON. 307 by faith alone. People say, I don't believe you can be saved that easy; I believe we have got to work a little for salvation. Faith and works I believe in. So do I, but I don't believe a man is going to work out his salvation. Suppose for a moment that this platform is the wreck of a sinking ship. The vessel has sprung a-leak and is going to the bottom. The captain says: 'Jump into the life-boat! The vessel's going down!' But I think I can keep the vessel afloat by pumping; and so I keep pumping, pumping; and I say to the captain: < Don't be- lieve the vessel's going down.' Now that would be working out my salvation; and all the time the vessel would be sinking. But Mr. Sankey won't stay on the wreck. He just leaps into the life-boat and takes an oar and pulls with a will for the shore. That's working ont your salvation after you're saved. Now isn't there some one here to-day who will just step into the life-boat and be saved? I want Mr. Sankey to sing ' Pull for the Shore,' and may every man join in the chorus." Mr. Sankey then sang " Pull for the Shore," and the audience joined in the refrain until the historic walls of Faneuil Hall rans" again. The women's meeting at Park-street Church at noon was also largely attended. Miss Frances E. Willard had for several weeks been conducting these meetings, and they had been greatly blessed to many hearts. The Monday evening audience at the Tabernacle was larger than usual, having been drawn together doubtless by the announcement that John L, Swift, 308 TIMES OF REFKE9IIING. an influential citizen of Boston, and a recent convert would address the meeting. He began by saying that he came to the building three weeks ago without the expectation of meeting with any change. He believed in Christianity, he had made up his mind, in a quiet way to be a Christian. He had a great dislike to re- ligious terms. The expressions: " He has come out," "He has experienced religion." " He is convert- ed," were very distasteful to him. He then went on to say: "But I took my seat half way down, I think, in that aisle. (Pointing to one of the center aisles.) From my experience, it is the most uncomfortable sit- uation in this whole house for a half-and-half Christian ; but I stand here to-night an unworthy occupant of this place, because I was an uneasy occupant of that seat. I have already told some others that Mr. Moody seemed to know that I was here and to under- stand my case precisely. His eye seemed to range over to that very spot, and his whole artillery seemed to bear upon that one spot, and his sermon drove the cowardice out of my heart, and then and there I re- solved that at the first opportunity I would carry the flag and wear the uniform of the Master I proposed to serve. But away back of all this, is the superior fact that for nine and forty years I have been the ob- ject of constant and of loving prayers. When those prayers first began to affect my mind it is impossible for me to tell. John Stuart Mill says to debating Christians: ' Hold on to the argument of design, if you wish to prove the existence of God.' And I say here this evening, to believing Christians, hold on to moody m BOSTON. 309 God's promises concerning prayer, if you want to prove His oversight and His care for the human soul. Ah, it is in answer to those prayers, I be- lieve, that I am here with you. There is sentiment enough about prayer. Men will melt and have their hearts touched as you repeat poetry about prayer. But it is the Bible, and in it this truth, as imperish- able as the law of the ever-living God, — that prayer is heard and prayer is answered, for He has said : 'And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believ- ing, ye shall receive.' I never left my mother, to my recollection, in my whole life, for any length of time, but what she said to me when I left her: T3£u*s. REVIVALS AST) SACRED SONG. 319 the seed, without which there can be no harvest; but feeling is the warmth that thaws the frosty intellect so that the seed can drop into it, and then nurses that germ into growth. Feeling is the wind in the sails of intellect that blows it on to a glorious voy- age. Stripped of the susceptibility through which we are awed by sublimity, entranced by beauty, alarmed by peril, won by an exalted ideal, touched with sym- pathy, enkindled with gratitude, fired with noble resolution, we should be deformed and crippled in the race for truth. Nothing so powerfully appeals to the noblest emo- tions of human nature as the great truths of the Christian religion. And never does the soul so viv- idly see those truths, nor so easily and gladly act upon them, as when under the influence of those emotions. Poetry and song are the natural language of strong feeling; it falls as easily into rhythmical and musical forms, as logic shapes itself into closely articulated prose. Great joy breaks out in the bal- anced modulations of a song, and great grief chants its wailing monody, by as natural a law as the dew shapes its perfect globe, or the snow its crystal star. Hence from the very earliest times religious emotion has taken music for its vehicle, and songs have been the instruments it has used to awaken new devotion. When King David brought the Jewish Church up to the highest point of spirituality and splendor of worship, his psalms of praise were among his chief reliances for fostering the spirit of devotion. Yet he did not invent religious music. He simply seized it as a natural language in which the soul instinctively 320 TIMES OF REFRESHING. seeks to voice its noblest feeling. And his magnifi- cent provision for the service of sacred song, with more than four thousand singers and players upon instruments, divided into antiphonal choirs, was per- haps the nearest approach to high Art the Hebrews ever reached. What a Niagara of praise that vast chorus must have poured forth. Those matchless lyrics of devotion, the Psalms, have been ever since among the choicest aids to worship. Christ himself set the example to his church by lead- ing his disciples in the " Hallel" of praise after his last 6upper. And the apostolic churches were quick to fol - low that example. The prayer-meetings by riversides, the gatherings in upper chambers, the conferences in prison, the assemblies in catacombs, were all vocal with sacred song. And the theme that most enlisted their praise was this Divine Master himself. Their hymns were full of delight in his incarnation, his nativity, his resurrection and the immortality which this betokened. And these Christian lyrics spread far and near, some- what as our revival melodies to-day are whistled by the street boys and sung in every home. A little later, Jerome said: "Go where you will, the plow- man at his plow sings his joyful hallelujahs, the busy mower regales himself with his psalms, and the vine- dresser is singing one of the songs of David." Fear- less of persecution, they sang their exultant praises in streets and forum, and died in martyr-fires with these songs on their shriveling lips. The teaching power of hymns was very early recog- nized. The Christians of Antioch depended as much \ Ira David Sankey was born in 1840, in Edinburgh, Pennsylvania. His parents, who were members of the Methodist church, consecrated him to the Lord in infancy, and surrounded him with religious influ- 344 TIMES OF REFRESHING. ences. As a child he was sensitive to musical im- pressions, and before he was sixteen he composed times for himself. The financial prosperity of his father was favorable to his culture. An old Scotch farmer of the name of Frazer deeply impressed his religious sensibilities, when lie was a little boy of six years. But it was not until his sixteenth year, in a revival in Edinburgh, where bis family worshiped, that he was led by the affectionate solicitation of a devout steward to consecrate himself wholly to the Christian life. He soon became an earnest member of a Methodist church in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, whither his father had moved to be- come President of a bank, and made himself useful in the service of song. At twenty he was superin- tendent of a Sunday school of three hundred and fifty scholars. Here, in his intense desire to benefit the young people under his care, he perceived that music was a vehicle for conveying religious truth to the heart, and he began to sing the gospel to his school, with great effect. It was thronged with eager listeners, and under his training became famous for its musical skill. He was also the " class-leader " for some sixty or eighty men and women, which led him to "search the Scriptures" more thoroughly than ever, and deepened the earnestness of his piety. In 1867 he was actively engaged in a movement to organize a Young Men's Christian Association in Newcastle, and nfterwards became its president. His ability as a singer aUu brought hiin more and more into re- ft ?5 quest in conventions and religious assemblies, and as REVIVALS AND SACRED SONG. 345 he prayed over his singing as anxiously as a devout pastor prays over his sermon, it was increasingly effective. In 1870 he attended an International Convention of Young Men's Christian Associations in Indianap- olis. At a morning prayer-meeting led by Mr. Moody the singing was intolerably drowsy and dull. Some one who knew Mr. Sankey called him forward to take charge of that part of the service, and as his clear, bell-like voice rang out in the hymns, flexibly and sympathetically suiting itself to express every emotion breathed in the words, the convention was electrified. A new spirit took possession of the meet- ing, and instead of being dragged down by the dead weight of lifeless tunes, it was lifted up on buoyant wings of ecstatic song. As soon as the meeting was over Mr. Moody sought an introduction to the singer, and fired these pointblank shots at him: "Where do you live?" " In Newcastle, Pennsylvania." " Are you married?" "Yes." " How many children have you?" " One." " I want you." " What for?" " To help me in my work at Chicago." " I cannot leave my business." " You must. I have been looking for you for the last eight years. You must give up your busi- ness and come to Chicago with me." It was a startling proposition, to give up a profita- B4S TIMES OF REFRESHING. hie business, to break up his home, and to join hands in an untried work with an unknown man. He prom- ised to pray over it and talk it over with his wife, to whom it would be especially a heavy cross. But be- fore the convention closed at Indianapolis Moody and Sankey held their first meeting together, in the open air, at which the former preached to the throng that gathered in the street, and the latter melted them with his touching melodies. Coming to Chicago to take up the work with Mr." Moody tentatively for a week or two, he found him- self so abundantly blessed in it that he concluded that the invitation given to him was a real call of God. A little incident greatly deepened this impression. After the Chicago iire, which occurred in October, 1871, he went to see a Sunday school scholar lying very sick, in a family which had lost everything by the fire. Knowing that she was soon to pass away, he asked: u How is it with you to-day?" "It is all well with me to-day," she answered with a beautiful smile. " I wish you would speak to my father and mother." " But are you a Christian?" said he. " Yes." " When did you become one?" " Do you remember last Thursday in the Tabernacle, when we had that little singing meeting, and you sang ' Jesus loves even me?' " " Yes." "It was last Thursday I believed on the Lord Je- sus, and uow I am going to be with hi m to-day." REVIVALS AND SACRED SON©- 347 The conversion of this little girl deeply affected Mr. Sankey, and did much to decide him to give his life to the work of " singing the gospel." When Mr. Moody returned from his second visit to England in the spring of 1872, he said to Mr. Sankey: " You have often proposed that we should go out evangelizing together. Xow go with me to England." And after a prayerful consideration of the matter, these two co-laborers, whose names have since become famous around the world, set sail from New York to begin a work of whose magnitude they did not dream. There were some misgivings at lirst, lest his new style of religious songs, his abundant use of solos, and his melodeon might awaken opposition in the conservative towns they visited; especially in Scot- land, where House's version of the psalms seemed al- most a portion of holy writ, and an organ was to many an ungodly contrivance. But the songs were so full of the gospel, and the sincere manliness of the singer so impressed the people, and his rich bari- tone so carried the pith and pathos of the hymns into the tingling hearts of all who heard, that all opposi- tion was disarmed. Mr. Sankey himself was anxious lest his singing should be a failure in the Highlands, where the people were especially particular as to the character of their religions music: so he searched with eagerness for some hymn that might be especially adapted to their tastes, to put into his " Musical Scrap-Book." At length he found in a London paper a little poem by Miss Elizabeth 0. Clephane, of Melrose, Scotland. 348 TIMES OF REFRESHING. the beautiful hymn, — "The Ninety and Nine." A sweet, wild melody at once wedded itself to the words in his mind, and he sung it for the first time in the great congregation without ever having written it out. It was peculiarly adapted to the shepherds of Scotland, and had an immense popularity among them, as well as everywhere they went. A good instance of the power of the new sacred songs was aiforded in a pious Scotchman, who was troubled because they were so unlike the psalms in Rouse's version. He took his trouble to his pastor, in considerable distress, saying: "I cannot do with the hymns; they are all the time in my head, and I. cannot get them out. The psalms never trouble me in that way." " Yery well," said the pastor, " then I think you should keep to the hymns." So powerfully did Mr. Sankey's singing awaken spiritual emotion in all classes, so persuasively did his hymns draw men to the cross, that the stout est opponents of " man-made hymns " relaxed their antagonism. That which was obviously blessed of God in such conversions, must be good. Dr. Thom- son, of Edinburgh, said; " Those who have come and heard have departed with their prejudices van- quished and their hearts impressed." The Daily Edinburgh Beview said: " Our own Scottish forefathers made a notable, if not altogether successful, attempt to wean the population from the ribald ballads of the sixteenth century, by substitut- ing wgude and godly ballats ' to the same melodies, and, as far as might be, to the same words. REVIVALS AND SACRED SONG. 349 "Yet we have hardly wakened up in Scotland to a sense of the importance of sacred music, notwith- standing all the efforts made during the past twenty or thirty years. In a good many Presbyterian con- gregations the psalmody is still treated as a bit of convenient padding to be laid between the more important exercises of worship "Why should there be any prejudice [against these new methods] 1 For generations most of the High- land ministers, and some of the Lowland ministers too, have sung the gospel, — sung their sermons, aye, and sung their prayers too. The only difference is that they sing very badly and Mr. Sankey very beautifully. He accompanied himself on the ' Amer- ican Organ,' it is true, and some of us who belong to the old school can't swallow the ' kist o'whustles' yet. It may help us over this stumbling-block if we consider that with the finest voice and ear in the world, nobody could maintain the proper pitch of a melody, singing so long as Mr. Sankey does. And then the < American Organ ' is ' only a little one.' When a deputation from the Session called on Kalph Erskine to remonstrate with him on the enormity of fiddling, he gave them a beautiful tune on the vi- oloncello, and they were so charmed that they re- turned to their constituents with the report that it was all right — ' it wasna' the wee, sinfu' fiddle ' that their minister operated upon, but a grand instrument full of grave, sweet melody. I'm afraid some good, true-blue Presbyterians will be excusing Mr. Sank- ey's organ, and themselves for listening to it, by some such plea as that." 350 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The real reason why that stubborn prejudice was so entirely dissolved under this singing, was that as- signed by Rev. W. Taylor, of Edinburgh: "We felt that it was real teaching. Not only was there his wonderful voice, which made every word distinctly heard in every corner of the hall, and to which the or- gan accompaniment was felt to be merely subsidiary, but it was the scriptural thought borne into the mind by the wave of song, and kept there till we were obliged to look at it and feel it in its importance and preciousness." Or, as one of our own writers says: " His singing is a sort of musical oratory, and it affects or influences people as an oratorical performance rather than a mu- sical one. That is to say, Mr. Sankey touches the same chords, arouses the same feelings, appeals to the same emotions, that would be struck or aroused by a persuasive speaker, and lie sways an audience precisely as it would be surged by a man of rare elo- quence." It is this power of making "every hymn a gospel message" that makes his work in this new era of sacred song so pre-eminently useful. As Mrs. Barbour says: '* Mr. Sankey sinjj-s with the conviction that souls are receiving Jesus between one note and the next. The stillness is overawing; some of the lines are more spoken than sung. The hymns are equally used for awakening, and none more so than i Jesus of Naza- reth passeth by.- When you hear the ' Ninety and Nine' sung you know of a truth that down in this corner, up in that gallery behind that pillar which hides the singer's face from the listener, the hand of BETTY A LS AND SACRED SONG. 351 Jesus has been finding this and that and yonder lost one, to place them in his fold. A certain class pf hearers come to the services solely to hear Mr. Sankey and the son£ throws the Lord's net around them." Abundant testimony shows the wonderful effective- ness of this novel use of sacred song in Great Britain. Rev. Mr. Morgan, of Scotland, declared, " There lias been more heart-singing during the last twelve months than for a whole generation before." Jean Paul said that heart-songs would make the face of the plainest woman beautiful; but they will do more: they will melt the heart of those who listen. A young man in Birmingham, Eng., said: " I went down the other night just to see what the fun was; and before ! bad been there long, Mr. Sankey sang something that went straight to my heart. So now 1 am a Christian too." In the Free Trade Hall at Manches- ter, a workman was brought under deep conviction by the singing of " Safe in the arms of Jesus." A Roman Catholic priest in Dublin, ascribed his con- version to the power over his heart of the hymn, 'Jesus the water of life will give." In Sunderland, Eng., after a sermon by Mr. Moody on the " Prodigal Son," Mr. Sankey sang with great pathos and earn- estness, "O prodigal child, come home!" When the meeting closed, there pressed into the in- quiry room a young man, whose wild and dissipated life had been the sorrow of his home, and throwing his arms about his father and mother who were there, he craved their forgiveness and God's, and consecrat- 352 TIMES OF REFRESHING. ed himself to the Christian life. That song reversed the whole current of his life, and set it flowing heaven- ward. The same teaching and persuading power of his songs has been manifested in this country. A law- yer in Philadelphia was led to devote himself to the Savior by the hymn, "Almost Persuaded." Mr. Sankey thinks this hymn has won more souls to the Savior than any other written by Mr. Bliss. He who thus makes his songs the most eloquent and powerful sermons, and who takes them as grap- pling hooks of heaven with which to draw souls to the Lord of Life, may well teach us how to make our sacred music more effective. Here are Mr. Sankey's views concerning church music: " It should be con- ducted by a good large choir of Christian singers who should encourage the congregation to join heartily with them in the songs of Zion, instead of monopolizing the service themselves. I would have the singers and organ in front of the congregation, near the min- ister; and would insist on deportment by the singers in keeping with the services of the house of God. The conduct of the choir during the service will have very much to do with the success of the preaching. Instead of whispering, writing notes, passing books and the like, the choir should give the closest atten- tion to all the services, especially to the preaching of the Word. There should be the most intimate rela- tion between the leader of the singing and the pastor. Old familiar hymns and tunes should be used, and now and then a Sunday school song: so that the children may feel that they have a part in the prayer-meeting as REVIVALS AND SACRED SONG. 353 well as in the Sunday school. All should try to under- stand the sentiment of the hymn or sacred song, and enter into it with heart and voice in a prayerful frame of mind, silently asking God to bless the song to every soul." In the great meetings in this country Mr. Sankey has given us a good illustration of what he would have sacred music to be. In the Tabernacle in Brook- lyn he was sustained by a well-trained choir of two hundred and fifty voices; this, after his own soul-pene- trating solos, gave variety to the service by rendering a sacred song alone, or by leading the great congrega- tion in some choral of praise. In Philadelphia, a choir of five hundred singers under the leadership of Prof. Fischer gave him similar assistance. In Chi- cago he organized a similar chorus of Christian sing- ers for work in the Tabernacle. In Boston, Dr. Eben Tonrjee, director of the largest musical conservatory in the world, gathered a choir of about two thousand voices which he separated into five or six sections; and with one of these led by himself or some assis- tant, the great congregations were nightly led in swelling the great tide of song that swept heavenward, bearing precious souls upward on its great billows of holy emotion. The pre-eminent characteristic of this modern movement is its bolder and freer use of this natural vehicle for the expression of feeling, in arous- ing those emotions that are needed for a healthy and vigorous religious life. A cold, didactic presentation of truth is not enough; it must be truth so ablaze with feeling that it will burn through all indifiference? 354 TIMES OF REFRESHING. arouse conscience, kindle aspiration, persuade obdu- ate wills. Whatever words glow with the gospel spirit, or throb and tingle with the sentiment of in- tense religious devotion, is the hymn needed: and whatever touching or thrilling melody will speed it to the heart, as with the musical twang of Apollo's bow, is the tune needed. If sometimes the hymns seem too ardent and rhapsodical, we are to remember that they may not be so for the most exalted hours of the soul. As Mr. Beecher says: " When the church is coM and dead, these hymns which were written by God's saints in moments of rapture seem extravagant, and we walk over them on dainty footsteps of taste; but let God's Spirit come down upon our hearts, and they are as sweetness to our tongues; nay, all too poor and meagre for our emotions; for feeling is al- ways tropical and seeks the most intense and fervid expression." The music of this new era may not be of the strong- est and highest order, but we are to remember that the simplest air, surcharged with feeling, is often far more potent to stir the heart than a complicated har- mony. A melody with strong rhythmic flow, or a refrain with its repeated pulsebeat forcing a thought home, will often be more effective than a far more ar- tistic anthem. What a ballad is to an epic, these lit- tle heart-songs, so useful to these campaigns, are to the oratorio. We need them both. It would be a grand thing if we could have rendered with the high- est perfection of musical skill, Sunday after Sunday, " I know that my Kedeemer liveth," the " Hallelujah Chorus;,, Mendelssohn's " Hymn of Praise," and other BEVIVALS AND SACKED SONG. 355 noble compositions; but we should still want those tenderer, soul-melting songs, like " He leadeth me," or " I need Thee every hour." And we are to remember what one of the foremost music teachers in Philadelphia has said, that the Sunday school, in its use of these simple songs of faith, is doing more to make the American people a nation of singers and music lovers than any other agency. As has been well said: "Millions of chil- dren, every Sunday, are drilled in the elements of music and vocal culture, and in their earliest years are having an interest awakened in thisheavenliest of arts. And it is a fact worthy of mention, that the songs and melodies of the Sunday school have driven into disuse nearly all the cheap, common rhymes and songs which were once so prevalent. And, then, to think that these ballads which have so widely dis- placed others, are songs of Jesus, chimes and rhymes of Christianity, preludes of heaven sung into millions of young and tender hearts, hymned and hummed in thousands of homes all up and down the hills and valleys, the cities and hamlets of the land; sung in the hearing of men and women who, but for their^ would never have heard of the great salvation, What a glory and blessing is this!" CHAPTER XV. BIBLE PREACHING, BIBLE READINGS AND BIBLE STUDY. The Bible of necessity holds the central place in every genuine revival of religion. There is no relig- ious awakening without religious knowledge; there is no religious knowledge without the Bible. There- fore Bible study in some form and to some extent is supposed in every true work of grace. When Ezra the Scribe " stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose," and read the law from the morning until mid-day, and caused the people to un- derstand the book of the law, until the readings and expositions of the preacher were drowned in the cries of the people, there was a thoroughly Biblical revival of religion. Then the "seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers." Half 1heir entire time they gave to revival service, and it was divided equally between confession (or prayer) and Bible study. The revival at Pentecost was also a revival of Bible truth. It was the keen appreciation of Christ's own teachings and promises that gathered the disciples in the "upper chamber." These, waiting together there, 850 BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 357 had an express word of Jesus to rest upon. Because they believed that word, they were in that circle of meditation upon Divine truth and expectation of the Divine blessing, when the Spirit suddenly fell upon them. The great revival of the 15th and 16th cen- turies, as wide as the continent of Europe, and extend- ing through several generations, was signally a Bible revival. It was the liberation of God's truth after the bondage of ages; and wherever it went it set the people free from the double slavery of mind and con- science. The revivals in our own country, from White- held to the present, have been the result in less or greater measure of Bible preaching. And yet in look- ing for the distinguishing mark of the present exten- sive work of grace, the most obtrusive fact is this, the present revival is pre-eminently a revival of Bible study. This is the day when God's Word is magni- fied as it hardly has been since Martin Luther took down the Bible from the library shelves at Erfurth and cried out in the hunger of his soul, "Oh! that God would give me such a book for myself." When Sir Walter Scott lay a-dying he said to Lockhardt, " Give me the Book." " What book?" inquired his son-in-law. " There is but one — give me the Bible." This age is repeating the noble words of the dying Scott. A variety of influences have led to this supreme es- timate of God's truth. The intellectual conflicts with the Bible have impressed the whole thinking world with the importance of a right understanding of that which claims to be the oracles of God. When philos- ophy and science throw their challenging lights upon 358 TIMES OF REFRESHING. the sacred page, those to whom it is a heritage of heavenly truth study that page with a profounder in- terest. Again, the enlarged missionary operations of the church have given a revived interest to the study of the Word which promises the nations for Christ. The moral wants of the world growing greater — as science opens up the length and breadth of the nations — the intellectual darkness and the uncivilized condition, for which the Bible, in the judgment of history, is the best light and remedy, press with peculiar force upon the church her obligation to send abroad this light and truth. And especially the uniform lesson series of the In- ternational Sunday- School Committee, by giving to all the Christian world the same page to study, and by bringing that study into the sphere of a devout religious science, with best helps and best methods, has stimu- lated such thorough popular research into Bible treas- ures as the world has never witnessed before. It has made the Bible the book. It has placed it at a focus of illumination upon Which all the lights of history, philosophy, science and criticism are made to fall. It sets it in a blaze of the world's latest, matnrest, most critical and most devout thought. On the side of scholarship as well as on the side of religion, the Bible is therefore the book of this generation. The spiritual effect of such study is obvious. There can be no enthusiastic study of nature without n kindling of the heart under its beauty, a glow of the mind under its order. There can be no sustained, methodical study of the cosmos of God's Word with- BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 359 out a quickening of the mind under its beautiful progress and the disclosures it makes of human desti- ny; without a rising of the heart toward those themes and interests that of all others are dearest to the human heart, and are touched and opened to human vision only by the hand of Revelation. No wonder, there- fore, that the Bible has come to a place in human thought and love it has never held before. The move- ments of human history, and the advance of learning among men throw its truths into ever intenser light and ever grander perspective. No wonder, therefore, that a revival coming at this time should take color from this Biblical tendency of the age, and should be, above all others, a revival of Bible preaching and Bible in- quiry. There are three directions in which it may be well to inquire of the Biblical element of present religious movements. I. THE BIBLE IN THE PULPIT. The preaching of the first few centuries was wholly Biblical, in the main, was an exposition of an epistle or a chapter. During the dark ages there was not much preaching of any kind. What little there was, was wholly ecclesiastical, a preaching not of the gos- pel, but of the Church. At the dawn of the Reforma- tion the preaching was again Biblical, but soon be- came theological, a defense of one system of doctrine as contrasted with another. In the early history of on; own country the preaching was Biblical in form, but dogmatic and severe in spirit. During the past thirty years it has been, as to its form, literary rather than Biblical, and as to its substance negative rather than 360 TIMES OF REFRESHINGS positive. The pulpit essay took the place of the hom- ily of the first century, the theological discussion of the sixteenth, and the sharp and conscience-quicken- ing sermons of the days of Edwards and Tennent. Against this tendency, which at one time seriously threatened the spiritual power of the pulpit, there has come within the last few years a sudden and com- plete reaction. The Bible has taken its old place as the "beginning, middle and end of effective pulpit dis- course. To this result the agencies spoken of above have contributed. Preachers who had tried in vain to interest their audiences in discussions of science, literature and ethics, discovered that they were giving a secondary place to what the people were beginning to esteem not only the most interesting, but the most helpful book in the world. The pulpit was found to meet the demands of the people, not as it sought to vie with the newspaper, or the review, the lyceum or lecture course, but rather as it ministered to the popu- lar hunger for certain knowledge and spiritual food. Those churches were found to be best attended, as well as most fruitful in good works, where the pulpit teaching was most thoroughly imbued with Scriptural truth and Scriptural forms of the truth. The leading evangelists of the present time are greatly to be praised for what they have done for the church and the ministry itself, by enthroning the Woid of God in its supreme place in the pulpit. At a time, when so many of the educated classes, and some even within the churches, in the name of cul- ture, advanced thought and liberalism, were doing so much to throw discredit on the Scriptures, God BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 361 seemed to raise up from the ranks of the people themselves a glorious company of witnesses to speak from their own experience and tell a rationalizing age that this old Book, every jot and tittle of it, is from God and shall abide forever. It is notable that lay evangelism has given prominence to the Bible on the side of experience. These men speak not the things they have learned out of books, but the things they have felt as the}- have held their human hearts over the mirror of divine truth. Their message is not of scholarship, but of faith. Their cry is this: "We believe, therefore we speak." To them the Bible is precious beyond all else, because its truths have been run into the molds of their daily lives and wants. The conviction, so deeply wrought, that Bible- knowledge is the best of all knowledge, and that Bible-truth is more than a match for all that can come against it, is now, as it has been in every age, a source of superhuman power to those who hold it. In the labors of Messrs. Moody, Whittle and others, not only is the Bible the center and circum- ference of preaching, but there is never detected throughout it the shadow of a doubt. The semi-skep- tical preachers of the past generation have made doubters in the congregations. The whole-hearted faith of the evangelists in the entire Word of God, the uncompromising demand that the Bible be accepted as God's Word, " from back to back," as Moody puts it, has given new faith to the church and broken the unbelief of many a skeptic. In this they are walking in the steps of all the heroes of faith from Abraham down. An unqualified faith that God is, and that He 362 TIMES OF REFRESHING. is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, is said to he the condition of acceptable prayer, and it is equally the condition of efficient religious discourse, whether in public or private. It is our privilege to say as did our divine Master: "We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen." The tone of absolute certainty pervades all Paul's preaching. " Knowing, therefore, the terrors of the law, we per- suade men." John never wavers. Rocky Patmos was not so solid as his spiritual standing-ground when he cried out: " This is the true God and eternal life." In regard to this sustained tone of religious certainty, Mr. Moody's sermons sound like Paul's. He never doubts God, he never doubts the truth of any part of God's Word, he never doubts its power. To him, "It is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation." We do not hesitate to say this is one of the prime elements <>f his pulpit success. His own profound conviction becomes magnetic. Faith is born of his faith. The hearer becomes ashamed ever to have doubted a word which can so deeply move a human heart. Here is a hint of the evangelist's successes in dealing with the Word of God that ought not to be lost upon the min- istry of this time. That preacher who will most viv- idly preach the Bible, is the preacher who will have most power for Christ. And by preaching the Bible, we mean, in the first place, the presentation of truth in Biblical forms. In one sense every true minister preaches the Bible. That is to say, he unfolds the truths that are in the Bible. He preaches the char- acter of God as the Bible has it. He holds up sin, and condemns it, as the Bible does. lie preaches BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 363 Christ who is revealed in the Bible. And so around the whole circle of revealed truth. But he may do all this in forms that are far from Biblical. He may present these truths in a speculative or purely theologic way, as parts of a system, rather than as parts of the Bible. His message may leave the im- pression of an elaboration of a connected and formu- lated theory, rather than of a concrete word from the mouth of God. In proportion as he makes prominent the system, in which the ideas inhere, especially in proportion as he unfolds them in the language of the schools more than of the Word of God, is he shorn of his power. God honors His own Word, more than the human philosophy of that Word, however logical or true that philosophy may be. We are far enough from saying the minister should have no system of divine truth. Every severe student of God's Word will necessarily come to a system. But though the message may come through the system, let it be as the bullet goes through the rifle, carrying with it no mark of the bore. Let the truth come to man with- out taste from the vessel that carries it. And let the preacher so imbue his mind with Biblical forms of statement that they shall come first to his lips. God will regard the honor thus put upon His truth. This will secure endless variety, freshness and vi- tality. It will secure variety, because, though the Bible concretes its truth around one center, and is therefore thoroughly systematic and logical, it gathers its parts from every phase of life and thought. From it the grace of humility, for instance, can be taught didactically or by illustrations in the lives of God's 364: TIMES OF REFRESHING. people. The cross of Christ can be presented from the standpoint of human necessity, or the revealed plane of Divine love and purpose. It can be unfolded through the logic of Paul, or along the line of illus- trated history, from Abraham to Christ. The same theme will be endlessly di versified. It will secure freshness and vitality also, because the truth will not be presented from the standpoint of any one theory or experience, but it will be seen in the manifold workings of peoples and nations through whom it has risen into expression. Love can be preached from the life of John with a vividness pos- sible from no merely didactic exhibition of its nature and power, for the simple reason that back of every definition or judgment is a real human life. The truth has become concrete and active in the experi- ences of a life like our own. This leads us to the remark that the best preaching will preach the whole Bible. Not only will it not be the formal enunciation of propositions or evolution of doctrine on the line of a system, but it will not be the preaching of any one book or part of the Bible. It will not exalt the discourses of Christ to the forget- ting of Paul's Epistles, nor the unfolding of Paul's Epistles to the ignoring of that Divine life on which they are built. It will not be the preaching of the New Testament alone, but Old and New Testament together, and as mutually complementing each other. The " law and the prophets," so largely ignored now, are worthy of special emphasis. When the knife of criticism is drawn down sharply between Malachi and Matthew, we need to affirm, with urgent emphasis, BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 365 the oneness of God's Word. We need to show by Biblical exposition, that the Old is the seed-thought of the New, and that the scheme of redemption ad- vances as logically through Jewish history as it does through the ministry of the Apostles; that Abraham's place in the sacred march is as essential as Paul's; and the uncertain swaying of tabernacle curtains, or cloudy pillar, as truly part of the on-coming love of God, as the steady light of Bethlehem's star, or the tongues of flame on Apostles' brows. The Divine Word, the foundation of the Church, as against mere- ly ethical theories, may best be made manifest by preaching the whole of it in the variety of its truths, and in the vitality of their own revealed forms. .BIBLE READINGS. Meetings for the particular kind oi' study included under this head were introduced into this country by Mr. Harry Morehouse, the English evangelist. Con- verted in a circus, under the preaching of some lav- preachers on a Sunday night, he soon after gave up his business and devoted his time to evangelistic work. He is a man of one book, and that book the Bible. He has visited this country four or five times, spend- ing several months each time, holding evangelistic services and giving Bible readings. From Mr. Head- ley's book on evangelists we copy the following de- scription of him and services which he held in Roch- ester a few years ago: "Youthful almost to boyishness in figure and ap- pearance, you wonder at first where lies the spell that draws people so irresistibly. But one look into those 366 TIMES OF REFRESHING. clear grey eyes reveals such earnestness, sincerity, and perfect transparency of soul, you trust him without an instant's questioning. His whole face wears the calm, untroubled look of a soul at perfect rest in God. His voice is clear and winning, his delivery rapid, es- pecially in his readings, as if the time were all too short for what he has to say. And all too short it is for those who hang with breathless interest on his words. "A full and free salvation he preaches, and preaches with all the earnestness of his soul; but not a salva- tion that involves no Christian living. In this he is emphatic. " His readings are marvelous. His unbounded love and reverence for the Bible, and its constant study, have given him a deep insight into its very heart. And the freshness, beauty, and originality of thought in these readings are a constant surprise, sometimes making every verse of a psalm, that from childhood has been familiar as the alphabet, a new il- luminated text. ik The Hashes of genius all through his readings and sermons; the wonderful aptness of his illustrations, driving the truth home irresistibly, and linking both truth and illustration so perfectly that one can never be recalled without the other; his astonishing memo- ry, that carries a score of texts, perhaps, at a single reading, scattered, from Genesis to Revelation, nam- ing book, chapter, and verse, that the congregation may follow him in their own Bibles, and not a bit of paper to aid his memory, and never an instant's hesitation in recalling a text or expressing a thought of his own — these all give him a great power over an audience." BTBLE PREACHING, ETC. 367 Mr. Moody says he is under a lasting debt to the boy evangelist for giving him first the key to Bible study and Bible preaching. He was called away from home to attend a convention. Mr. Morehouse had written him from New York, that if he so desired, he would preach for him on Sunday. Mr. Moody hesi- tated, but having no other arrangement for the pul- pit, left word that if Mr. Morehouse came along, lie should be asked to preach in the morning. If he made a failure then, the deacons were to make some other arrangement for the evening, or hold a prayer- meeting. Mr. Morehouse so delighted the congrega- tion in the morning, that he was urged to preach at night, and all through the week. This he did, giving for six days, one continuous sermon on the text: " God so loved the world/' When Mr. Moody came home, Mr. Morehouse wTas still preaching that sermon, and the great evangelist heard the Boy Preacher. He was so impressed with the young man's might in the Scripture, that lie determined if possible, to find out the secret of it. Somebody had advised the evangel- list to enter upon a thorough and a somewhat exten- sive course of theological reading. This advice Mr. Morehouse completely upset. He said: "Mr. Moody, you are sailing on the wrong tack. If you will change your course, and learn to preach God's words instead of your own, He will make you a great power for good. You need only one book for the study of the Bible." The reply was: "You have studied many books to gain your knowledge of it." Mr. Morehouse answered: "No: since I have been an evangelist I have been the man of one book. If a text 368 TIMES OF REFKESHING. of Scripture troubles me, I ask another text to explain it; and if this will not answer, I carry it straight to the Lord." The result of this conference was a Bible Reading at Mr. Moody's house, — probably the first meeting of this kind ever held in America. It was thebeg'nning of a series that has been since productive of untold good. Rev. George C. Need ham, a young Irishman, who had had considerable experience in various parts of Ireland in Bible work, came to America in 1868, and has since then labored both East and West, with great acceptance, both as an evangelist and a Bible Reader. Several years of his residence in this country have been spent in Canada. A leading paper of the Do- minion describes him thus: "Mr. Needham's accent is broadly Irish; he is ex- ceedingly fluent, and he cannot help being witty. Moody's illustrations are not more rough and ready and eccentrically original. In appearance he is young, fresh, Spurgeon-looking, almost jolly, — a man one would expect to find very genial in private inter- course. His sentiments are eminently sound, and we should judge him calculated to do much good." During the Great Revival in Chicago his labors in that city, and in towns throughout the Northwest, in company with George C. Stebbins, resulted in a very large number of conversions. Bible readings have certainly given addi- tional zeal to the methodical study of the Scrip- tures. They may be very variously conducted, and the interest of them will depend almost wholly BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 369 upon the leader. There is much that passes for Bible reading that is dry and unprofitable enough. A good one cannot be hastily prepared by running down a column of Cruden's Concordance. The enthusiasm that has been aroused in some parts of the country by the means of Bible readings has led many laymen, and ministers too, to the hasty conclusion that all that is necessary to make a Bible reading successful is to string together a lot of texts, in which the same Eng- lish Bible-word occurs, have them read successively by the people, and linked together by extemporaneous comment. It is evident this kind of work must be not only heterogeneous, but often misleading as to the true meaning of the Scriptures. There is indeed a logical progress of doctrine in the Bible, and that progress may be traced, but the relations between the different parts cannot always be determined by sepa- rate words, still less by the words of the English translation. For example, he who should give a Bible reading on the word " Light," knowing no dis- tinction and making none between the two Greek words used in the New Testament to designate that light, would not only fail in a beautiful distinction, but in the true Scriptural intent. There is another peril against which only careful and conscientious preparation can guard. It is the tendency to overstrained analogies, to find types, where it were better to find only illustrations of di- vine truth. Thus a Bible Beading on the Hebrew Tabernacle may be made more interesting than truth- ful, by finding in every part, color and form of that 370 TIMES OF REFRESHING. earliest place of worship a prophecy of New Testa- ment doctrine and worship. The most successful Bible Readers in this country at this time are Messrs. Moody, Whittle, Needham, Brookes, and Miss Smiley. With Mr. Moody the topical study of the Bible is a favorite method. Those who have heard his masterly Readings on "The Blood of Christ," and « The Holy Spirit," will not soon for- get the unexpected fullness, richness and power of the Bible on these subjects. Speaking of the advantages of a topical study of the Scriptures over the careless reading of so many chapters a day, Mr. Moody says: " When I was a boy I used, among other things, to hoe turnips on a farm, and I used to hoe them so badly to get over so much ground that at night I had to put down a stick in the ground so as to know next morning where I had left off. That was somewhat in the same fashion as running through so many chap- ters each day. A man will say : 'Wife, did I read that chapter1?' 'Well,' says she, 'I don't remember,' and neither one of them can recollect. Perhaps they read the chapter over and over again, and they call that studying the Bible." Pie speaks in another place of studying the word " Love " for several weeks, until he became so full of the subject that he was con- strained to rush into the street and tell every one he met of the wonderful love of God. "Assurance" is another favorite topic with him, and upon which he has given many a forcible Bible reading, and on which he always dwells with enthu- siasm. Speaking of the third chapter of 1st John, he says: " There is assurance for you again. In that BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 371 one chapter, six assurances. Every truth I get, my friends, makes me lighter and lighter, until I expect to fly away by and by. I heard Mr. Aitken one day, and he told us about a boy who had some gas-bags fastened around him, and they were so light that when he came to a hedge or ditch he had only just to touch the bags, and away they carried him right over, and it is just the same when we read the Bible. It makes us lighter and lighter, and we leap over the obstacles in our way." There is hardly a limit to the variety that may be in- troduced into Bible reading. But the few methods that in the experience of the past few years seem to have been most fruitful, are first, subject study, and second, the study of particular haul's. There are many well-informed Christians, for example, who know very little about the historical development of leading Scripture doctrine. Thus faith in Abraham and in Paul, and in all who believed God between those two, is essentially the same. Upon its nature the changes of time and religious progress have no effect; yet the faith of Paul, as he looked up to the city that "hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," was very different from the faith of Abraham, when, a dweller in tents, he rested on the promise of God, which He illustrated to him by the countless stars that hung over the Arabian desert. Xothing can be more interesting than to follow the unfolding of that germ of faith in the breast of the "Fa- ther of the faithful " in Jewish and apostolic history. So with all the other doctrines of grace. 372 TIMES OF REFRESHING. They all come out of the shadows of types and cere- monies into the increasing light of " the fullness of time," and to follow them through the course of their natural history, is not only to help us to a richer knowledge, but a deeper experience. Similarly, the study of separate books, as to their structure, central design and their relation to other books, may be made interesting to the last degree. Mr. Moody says, in 1872 an Englishman asked him if he ever noticed Job was the key to the whole Bible, and he divided it for him into seven heads. " The first head is a perfect man untried. That is what God said about Job. That is Adam in Eden. The second head is, " Tried by adversity." Job fell as Adam did. The third head, "The wisdom of the world." Wise men tried to help Job, but there was no help in them. In the fourth place, in comes the Days-man, who is Christ. In the fifth place God speaks, in the sixth Job learns his lesson, and in the seventh God restores him." But whatever plan of Bible reading he adopted, there are three essentials to the best success. First, a careful preparation that will not only arrive at the literal or surface meaning, but also at the spiritual intent of the Word of God. Second, the judicious use of illustration, either from the Bible or Christian experience in which the truth may be pictorially set before the mind, and so be the more readily retained. Third, an humble and constant reliance upon the Divine Spirit for guidance. It is His work at once BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 373 to illumine the page, quicken the mind and touch the heart. III. BIBLE STUDY. There are some advantages in a social study of the Bible which can be had in no other way. Bible classes and Bible institutes have a place, therefore, that cannot be filled by Bible preaching or reading. The latter is the product of one mind and heart in their relations to divine truth; the former, the study of many minds and the experience of many hearts. Mr. Moody's appreciation of the value of thus communicating spirit- ual gifts is illustrated by his persistent habit of inter- viewing those whom he meets concerning their Bibli- cal and spiritual attainments. " What is the best thought you have had to-day?" u What do you know about the power or grace of Christ?" " What is the best illustration of this passage of gospel truth?" These, and kindred questions, are often upon his lips when he is in the company of Christian friends. The result is a mind richly furnished, as much by the fresh- est thoughts of those around him, as by his own read- ing and study. John Calvin was prepared to write the " Institutes of the Christian Religion " in the cottage of a pious widow in Basle. Destined to become the grandest instrument for the defense of the truths of the Reformation, it was necessary for him to live alone with God. But from his communion with the Bible, he ever and again came out to meet his friends on the hills, and communicate to them the fire which burned in his own bones, and could not be repressed. It was in these interviews with Du Tillet, Cop and 374 TIMES OF REFRESHING. others, Calvin not only gave, but in turn received new views of gospel truth to be embodied in his books and to be a heritage to every aire. The secret conic r- ences among the hills of Germany and France, which like beacon fires kindled the darkness, till the land was aglow, give fine illustrations of what a power God's truth becomes, when, having been fused in a hu- man heart, it falls in fiery earnestness from human lips. It was social study of the Bible, following pro- foundest secret meditation that set Europe on fire for God. Not much wras due to the press, and pulpit elo- quence was suppressed, but in Bible classes a spirit was born which shook the throne of St. Peter. During the past few years a new impulse has been given to the comparative study of the Word of God. Not only are there more Bible classes and Bible insti- tutes, but the investigations in them have an ever- increasing range and depth. Let us suppose the formation of a Bible club of earnest, intelligent persons, meeting regularly to study the Bible from different standpoints. They will look at it as a book of the literature of different ages, as an inspired history of religion on earth, and as God's message of love to a lost wrorld. They will perhaps assign subjects from time to time, or parts of sub- jects to different members, according to their fit- ness to investigate and speak upon the same. Some of the manifest results will be — First, a wider knowledge than individual .study could give. Most of us are limited in our time. We are further limited in the helps at command. The whole range of literature throws side-lights upon the BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 375 Bible's advancing thought. No one of us has time, means or taste to surround himself with the vast number of helps in science, sacred geography, in his- tory, art, and modern research. But in a large circle ot' intelligent persons some may be found who, ac- cording to taste or opportunity, can investigate and condense the best of human helps upon parts of sub- jects, and in a few moments present to others what they perhaps never could reach for themselves. Sup- pose an evening be given to studying the Confusion of Tongues. To the geographical member of the club let there be assigned an exercise in drawing the migrations of the race down to the central basin of Asia, the probable location of Babel and the general movements of the separated people thereafter. An- other, who is versed in Max Muller, may give an es- say on the science of language, and the evidences that in many roots point to a tap-root of common origin. And to another may be assigned a Bible reading of all the passages bearing upon the subject, closing with a comparison or contrast of Babel and Pente- cost. In some such way into an hour will be compressed what no one could reach in a day or a week, and with the knowledge thus gained there will be the glow which comes with the man, who, for a purpose, has been engaged in such stimulating investigation. A second advantage of social study of Scripture is in that you have knowledge illuminated by life and experience. The Bible is richer to us than to the ancients, by all the addition of Christian life that gathers around it and has been sustained by it. The famous hanging gardens of Babylon with bloom and 376 TIMES OF REFRESHING. fruitage in rich profusion a hundred feet in the air were sustained by arch on arch of solid masonry. The interlocking arches of divine truth hold up the bloom and fragrance and fruit of eighteen centuries of church history. If over the world's desert stretch there is borne the odor of rose and lily, and if in the evening air of old age there gleams the waving of a palm of triumph, it is no mirage of sentiment. It is the up- lifted glory of truth, it is the masonry of God, which in the upper air of Christian living opens in the flow- ers of faith and hope in God. This beautiful transi- tion of truth into character, goes on in every Chris- tian heart. So when a company of disciples confer to- gether about the Bible, they do more for the truth than a commentator can. They reveal the colors into which it has been transmuted. Their hearts burn. Spiritual life is the tide that bears the Word into the sunlight of clearest understanding. You have the thoughts of God illustrated by the lives of those who in various circumstances have tried them. And as life's circumstances run through an almost infinite range, a circle of Christian hearts can throw lights from many points, all of which no one in the company had ever reached. There is an art called photo-sculpture. The cast is made by throwing light upon the object from a vast number of surrounding points. This brings the sub- ject into prominence. So if upon any Bible topic be thrown the revealing light of experience from life on many sides, it will rise out of the level of truths by which it is surrounded, it will stand like sculpture in the gallery of God's Word. " Then they that loved BIBLE PREACHING, ETC. 377 the Lord spake often one to another." Oh! for more commentaries that have blood and breath ; for a social frankness in religion that will prompt us to put our souls as well as our thoughts into expressions. Then our words would burn as a torch. This leads to the third advantage, with a word con- cerning which we close this chapter. The prayerful study of God's Word in companies has been a power- ful promoter of revivals of religion. It is the law of grace that the truth should move most mightily on the line of social spiritual influence. God has or- dained that men shall convert others by talking the truth. Printing presses will not do. We must have heart to heart. Angels would not do. We must have the interchanges of human life. More than one re- vival has, during the past year, grown out of Bible Eeaiings. The Bible, like the sun, and Christian life freely communicated, like the moon reflecting the sun, will together lift that tide wave of spiritual power on which souls will be carried toward God. CHAPTER XYI. INQUIRY MEETINGS: NECESSITY FOR; OBJECTS OF; WORKERS IN; WHEN TO HAVE, AND HOW TO CONDUCT THEM. Inquiry meetings, properly so-called, may be counted among the new methods of the past fifty years. Of course the essential idea of such a meeting is as old as religion. As Mr. Moody would say, whenever a Christian and a sinner have a conversa- tion on the subject of personal religion, you have an inquiry meeting. Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch had an inquiry meeting in that chariot, when the truth of the fifty- third chapter of Isaiah found the high officer of the Egyptian court, and he went on his way rejoicing. Christ and Kicodemus had such a meeting. It was the first of a series of influences that changed the timid Jew into a brave Christian. Christ and the woman at the well had such a meeting, the fruits of which brought a great company of Samari- tans to the feet of Jesus. The young man came to the Savior with the world's old question: u What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and there was an inquiry meeting, though, alas! so far as we know, without sav- ing result. A similar conversation meeting was held in open court once, when the judge on the bench said to his chained prisoner: "Almost thou persuadest 878 INQUIRY MEETINGS.* 379 me to be a Christian," and the noble answer was given : "Would God that not only thou, but all that hear me this day, were not only almost, but altogether such as I except these bonds." But inquiry meetings in the present and technical sense of the words, are of modern origin. We do not read of them in the early continental revivals. We do not hear of them in the days of Whitefield, in our own country. A " second meeting," in which the persons present are divided into two classes, the anx- ious, and those who are there to lead the anxious to the Savior, is one of the methods recently adopted for deepening the impress of the truth, and leading the hesitating to decision. Dr. Humphrey, in his very admirable "Revival Sketches and Manual," speaks of the origin of inquiry meetings thus: " When they were first introduced among the means which God has been pleased to own in the glorious ' times of refreshing from his presence,' I do not know. Where the Lord has poured out his Spirit, good ministers have always encouraged inquirers to come to them for personal conversation and advice, either singly or several together; but where a great many awakened sinners have needed their attention at the same time, they have found it impossible to meet them all, and say even a few words to them at the critical stages of their need of instruction — perhaps the turning-point of their immortal destiny. The question was : ' Can any thing be done to bring all the inquirers within our reach, so that in a single hour we may learn the state of fifty or a hundred anxious souls, that demand our immediate attention? At this 380 TIMES OF REFRESHING. critical point, God put it into the heart of somebody, no matter who or where, to invite all who were anx- ious to meet their pastor at a given time and place. It was found that in this way the desired object might be accomplished without taking time which could not be spared from other duties that always press hard during a revival. In the great revivals at the beginning of the present century, I neither saw nor heard of such inquiry meetings as we are all now fa- miliar with. Indeed, my first acquaintance with them was about 1817, it might be a little earlier, when Mr. Nettleton was in the midst of his remarkable career, going from place to place in the shining armor of his mission, " the Lord working mightily with him," wherever he went. He held inquiry meetings (anx- ious meetings as he called them), and felt that in the midst of a large revival he could not do without them. Other highly favored servants of the Lord, ever since this day, have felt so; and such inquiry meetings as he held are now almost as firmly established, where God pours out his Spirit, as special meetings for prayer." When we consider the personal character of thegos pel, and that the end of it is always to persuade men, it is wonderful that inquiry meetings were not earlier adopted as part of all revival work, and that they are not in more common use among us at the present time. The necessity for them is most manifest. It lies in the nature of the gospel and in the constitu- tion of the human mind. 1. The nature of the gospel supposes the personal impact of one mind upon another. The line of per- INQUIRY MEETINGS. 381 sonal endeavor is the only one recognized in the gos- pel. The Church has often glided away from this idea and fallen into weakness and utter inefficiency by reliance upon theories which regard men only in the aggregate. At one time Christianity sought to make progress by general announcements from thrones of civil power, and strove to wheel men into the King- dom by battalions and regiments under pressure of a general order. At another time, at the call of ideas or principles, the same end has been proposed, and systems of culture have stood in place of individ- ual approach and personal influence. On either path there has been only failure, as there must ever be on any road that so directly antagonizes the nature of the gospel and the methods of Jesus Christ. The gos- pel's impeachment is always this: "Thou art the man;" its call is always this: "Believe and thou shalt be saved; " its appeal to every Christian is this: "Where is thy brother?" To every speculative question about the Savior, it has one answer: "Come and see." The genius of it is clearly set forth in the h'rst chapter of John, where Christ speaks to two dis- ciples, inviting them to a personal interview, where one of the two then finds his own brother Simon, and brings him to Jesus; where, again, the Savior finds Philip, and calls him by the familiar command: "Fol- low me," while this new convert proves his devotion by at once finding Nathaniel and bringing him under the power of Jesus' personal presence. The measure of success in spreading the gospel is in the vigor with which this fundamental idea is grasped. Christ did less of preaching than of personal seeking and saving 382 TIMES OF REFRESHING. of that which was lost. In all his teachings likewise, the idea of man for man comes sharply out. Is there one lost piece of silver? the house is swept to find it; one lost sheep? the ninety and nine are left that the one may be found. 2. The very constitution of the human mind enforces the supreme value of personal religious work. There are many avenues of approach to the human heart, but the narrow path of brotherhood is the straightest and shortest. Moral influence is at its highest when it moves from one heart to another. Therefore a gen- eral proclamation often fails, when a personal word is at once persuasive. How often do ministers hear words like these: "I could resist your sermons, I could shake off the influences of public worship, I could answer the books I read, or quietly let them go without answer; but there was one life in my house, an humble consistent Christian life, perhaps only an example, perhaps an example intensified by wise and loving words of entreaty; for this there was no an- swer, from its presence I could not fly, from its power 1 could not hide, and I have yielded to the irresisti- ble persuasion of a godly life by my side." God has adjusted every moral force in the universe for the purpose of accelerating the progress of truth. Chi*'!' among these moral forces are those which lie in the line of human and natural affections. The gospel gets an impulse in passing through a human heart which it could not have if it were shot through the li|» oi' an archangel. Therefore God has made every Chris- tian a priest, to minister at the grand altar of human life, and to bring human hearts into the presence of INQUIRY MEETINGS. 383 the Lord. At last we learn of Jesus only by per- sonal faith, but the determination to that faith God has ordained should come through the life or words of a brother. The Samaritans from Sychar believed at last from personal contact with Jesus, but they were led to that contact by the personal appeal of a sinner like themselves. Level lines of influence are strongest. Therefore God has not sent angels to win men; and therefore He has set the mark of hio-hest wisdom, not on those who gain empires, either in physical or mental realms, but on those who win souls from death. The germ of an inquiry meeting is, then, in the nature of the gospel, and in the nature of human influence. The appreciation of its value will con- stantly rise as the Church, descending from theories, realizes the secret of Christ's method, and with sin- gleness of purpose and under pressure of love and sympathy goes forth on the sublime mission of seek- ing the lost. OBJECTS OF THE INQUIRY MEETING. Let us set before our minds the precise ends to be sought in meetings for inquiry. The author, from whom we have already quoted, marks two chief ob- jects of such meetings. They are, first, to ascertain the actual state of the revival, and secondly to drop into the ear of the inquirer such advice as may at the time be needed. Perhaps we shall be only expanding the end in view in his mind in the second object stat- ed above, if we say the two purposes of an inquiry meeting are, first instruction, and secondly , decision. 384 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The whole of the Gospel, as it stands related to par- ticular minds, cannot be put into the brief formula of Paul's charge to the jailor, "Believe and be saved." That is, indeed, the heart of it. But it has essential relations to knowledge, experience and feeling in in- dividual cases. Hence the value of an inquiry meet- ing oil the side of instruction. The pulpit rings forth its call to faith. It is the voice of John the Baptist, saying to John and Andrew: "Behold the Lamb of God." But that voice falls with varying tone and meaning upon the individuals of the congregation. Therefore, the " second meeting " is needed. A place for personal inquiry, where John and Andrew may have the instruction suited to the special needs of each. One understands his condition as a sinner, but does not apprehend the truth of the atoning sac- rifice of Christ. His faith needs its object set clearly before him. Another, sensible of sin in a general way, feels no sense of condemnation. He needs to be led to Sinai. And so through a very wide range of ex- periences. An ideal inquiry meeting will not only present Bible truth, but that truth modulated and adapted to each special case. It will be the truth, imt only as it is in Jesus, but as it is and needs to be in the sinner's heart. The minister in the pulpit is the lecturer on the principles of God's remedial sys- tern, and their fitness for all human sorrows. The minister in the inquiry room is the physician in the wards of the hospital. The second object — we do not hesitate to say the principal and final object — of the inquiry room, is to lead to instant decision. To this statement there are, INQUIRY MEETINGS. 385 of course, exceptions. There may be some people within the influence of every revival so ignorant, so careless and unconcerned, that they are not ready to be urged to an immediate surrender to Christ. But, usually, those who linger at an inquiry meeting are already more or less affected by the truth and con- cerned for their souls. Their very presence in a meeting that has been properly called for inquiry as- sumes as much. And usually, also, they have al- ready been instructed in the fundamental truths of the gospel. They have lived in an atmosphere of relig- ious truth and influence. They know their duty. Instruction they need to meet particular difficulties, a clearer knowledge of the plan of salvation, — as all of grace and at once accessible, — they may also need. This knowledge being imparted, the remaining ob- ject of the meeting for inquiry is to reach the point of surrender. In very many cases the difficulties that seem to obstruct the inquirer's path are conjured up almost unconsciously to postpone this one urgent step. The anxious person should, therefore, be taught that to be almost persuaded is to be lost; that no dutvean come between the soul and its decision. Unless all of instruction and appeal gathers around this one point, there is clanger that the inquiry meeting may lose its power and come to be regarded merely or mainly as a Bible class for religious instruction. The idea that should guard its doors is this: those who en- ter there have come for earnest, close and decisive work in regard to the present salvation of their souls. If it be inquired whether there may not be some peril in urging sinners to decision, for fear it may 386 TIMES OF REFRESHING. prove to be premature, we reply, instruction as to sin and salvation being supposed, there can be no premature decision. Unbelief is sin. Out of that sin there is only one way — through the gate of faith. The angels that hurry Lot from Sodom to Zoar can- not be too importunate. One of the secrets of the success of Moody, Whittle and others is in the stress laid upon this point. The inquiry room is the k" val- ley of decision." With tremendous insistance the mind of the inquirer is held upon the fact that he must now either accept or reject salvation and that from that solemn alternative there is absolutely no escape. AVhen such an issue is clearly seen to be joined, it the soul is at all impressed by the Spirit of God, the necessity tor an immediate acceptance of Christ be- comes most imperative. If the soul, then, be urged to the supreme choice intelligently and lov- ingly, it can hardly be done too earnestly or decisive- ly. Amid the truths and obligations of Christian- ity, the gathering illumination of eighteen centuries and the present moving of the Spirit of God, the word that needs to be blazed persistently before the eyes of hesitating sinners, is Non\ WORKERS IN INQUIRY MEETINGS. Not every converted person is tit to guide every in- quirer. A few brief suggestions may be helpful. 1. It is assumed in those who enter the inquiry room as workers, that they have not only accepted Christ, but also that they have studied God's Word with a view to make the King's highway plain to others. The sick-room is not the place for blunder- INQUIRY MEETINGS. 387 ing experiments. The inquiry room is a place where minds are alert and hearts are sensitive regarding the most precious subjects of thought and feeling in all the universe. lie who would speak there needs per- sonal experience of the grace of God, unquestioning faith in the Bible and knowledge of its truths. Spe- cially should the worker have well in his mind those passages that clearly set forth the sinner's guilt and tiic Saviors love and mercy. 2. The worker needs a tender, Christ-like love foi ton Is. This opens the door of the 'inquirer's heart. Be faithful with souls, but let fidelity to truth always have the crown of love. 3. Let the fitness of things rule in the inquiry room. God can overrule a blundering approach to an anxious soul for that soul's salvation. But he usu- ally works through a subtle law of adaptation. The path that law has smoothed is the path on which ho commonly walks. Souls in his presence have equal dignity and value. But there are diversities of .sta- tion, culture and influence which are not to be ig- nored by those who would be wise in winning souls. Speaking in a general way, people are easiest infiu- enced by those in their own circumstances, habits or conditions of life. Those who have had no opportu- nities for culture can more readily impress their friends in the same condition, and usually the diffi- culties of an educated mind can best be met by one of similar training. We do not forget the striking ex- ceptions to this statement, which yet are exceptions and should so be considered. The impulse of the re- geuerated heart often carries the " worker " past the 388 TIMES OF REFRESHING. thought now suggested ; and let us not unduly repress those impulses, while yet in planning for the most successful inquiry room, we hold fast the general prin- ciple that level lines have greatest drawing power. So the young with the young, women with women, and men with men, suggest the conditions in inquiry work which as a rule are most effective. The Scottish lass in the inquiry room was perhaps a little too sensitive when she exclaimed: " Let the minister of the gos- pel come and speak to me. I dinna want the wheen callans comin' aroon' me." But the idea that lies be- hind it is worthy of continual respect from those who would see the best results from personal religious conversation. WHEN TO HAVE THEM. Kev. Joseph Cook recently spoke of inquiry meet- ings thus: " Now there is our other religious instrumentality, almost in the germ yet, but which might have a field as wide as that which the Sabbath School has entered, and become even more fruitful, would Chris- tians but learn Washington Irving's secret, that hard work at an odious duty makes such duty bliss. This is a large hope, I know; but I refer to the conversation meeting, which had such pow- er in this city in the last three months, and is to continue to have the same power in the 400 churches which are now uniting their services with those of Boston." Some of the evangelists hold similar views, affirm- ing that the inquiry meeting should be made a part INQUIBT MEETINGS. 389 of each religious service, and should have a normal place in all public worship. Two facts in this direc- tion seem evident. I. The church has failed to make the most of the power of religious conversation, and inquiry meetings have been too infrequent. The "germ" of such meetings needs to be developed until they have a place and power of which the church lias as yet hard- ly dreamed. II. But it is to be questioned whether an inquiry meeting (using the words now in their strict sense as meaning a place where anxious souls shall be pressed to decision) ever can be made a regular part of church services, or whether it is desirable that such a thing should be attempted. There can be no inquiry meet- ing, properly speaking, without anxious souls. While it is true there always should be anxious ones in every congregation, and while every church service should be directed with a view to produce spiritual anxiety, as a matter of fact, in the ordinary routine of church work, there frequently are no inquirers. To call a meeting at such time for the purpose of guiding the anxious to the Savior, will often fail of its partic- ular end; and the effect, instead of being good, may be discouraging and unhappy. It may be said such meetings will often cause secret inquirers to make their condition known, and will keep the mind of the church constantly alert for the salva- tion of souls. And this in certain cases may be true. But we incline to hold to the old idea of the inquiry meeting, as a place when the state of a revival i* measured; as a fact, therefore, which supposes some 390 TIMES OF REFRESHING. special manifestation of the Spirit of God. There are certain parts of church work, which are pliable to human rules and methods and can be fixed in advance as an almanac can be made at the beginning of the year. Of this nature is the Sunday school. It is a place for instruction. The committee on the lesson series can block out the work, and on the track which they have proposed the Sunday schools of the whole world can run from January to December. But the purely spiritual work of saving souls has secret and almighty connections with the invisible Spirit of God. "The wind bloweth where it listeth." God's t'vee Spirit moves as and when he will. This does not remove his work beyond the sphere of promise and prayer. We may both pray and plan for his coming. Sermons, prayer- meetings and Christian life should constantly recognize this fact. But his out- pouring upon the people cannot be antedated. An inquiry meeting is a place to guide those who have been awakened. Until times of revival become one continuous time, as, in the latter days, we believe they will be, these meetings should wait on the Spirit. Let them be held as often as there are signs of inquiring. Every day, if every day there are seeking souls. But let us not forget that to keep the form of them when the spirit of them is not present, may be to convert into useless machinery that which rightly used is one of the highest and most powerful agencies of Chris- tian service. At this point, however, another question rises. It' inquiry meetings in their strict sense suppose a relig- ious awakening, and should commonly be limited INQUIRY MEETINGS. 391 by such awakening, is there not some way as yet hardly discovered for making the most and the best of religious conversation? Might there not be a " second meeting " which would not necessarily sup- pose anxious souls, which would be open to all who are willing to confer together concerning spiritual things, and where whatever was vital and helpful in the public meeting, might be repeated with the additional force of the personal experience and address with which it would be blended? "'Then they that feared the Lord spake often^one to another." In our superlative estimate of public speech we have neglected the more penetrating personal word. We have made the truth the reflection of one man's expe- rience, the public speaker's, when it might have been sharpened and brightened by the attention of a mul- titude of minds. A conversational meeting taking such direction and coming at such results as Provi- dence and the Spirit might from time to time open for it, would be alwavs in order, and increasingly helpful to every class of worshipers. Of indefinite flexibility, it could be adapted to every phase and form of religious life. It might be a Bible class — it might deepen into an inquiry meeting — sometimes an hour of quiet Christian instruction and nurture, and sometimes an hour for decisions for eternity, but always a stimulus to Christian life and thought. In this regard the present revivals have brought us upon a new era. Conversation meetings will give courage in speaking for Christ and wisdom in fishing for men. Hearts unmoved by the diffused light of truth will burn under the lens-power of this personal address 392 TIMES OF REFRESHING. HOW TO CONDUCT INQUIRY MEETINGS. There is no one rule by which each meeting may be determined. Where there are many inquirers very much depends upon the leader, both in the wise conduct of the public exercises and in the wise dis tribution of inquirers and those who are to counsel them. There are two evangelists who seem to us pe- culiarly happy in their conduct of such meetings, Mr. Moody and Mr. Whittle. A brief sketch of a meeting conducted by each will indicate the plans that have been greatly owned of God. It is at the close of the Tabernacle service. The anxious had been urged to enter the inquiry room. The merely curious had been specially urged not to disturb the solemn place by their presence. Mr. Moody in opening the meeting assumes there are only two classes present, the seekers and the workers. By a call for the inquirers to rise, he ascertains their number, and at once distributes them in different parts of the room and assigns a " worker" to each in- quirer, or in some cases gathers two or three cf simi- lar circumstances and spiritual condition around one judicious and competent teacher. In a few moments the whole room presents a hushed and solemn scene. The Bible, without which no " worker " is welcome in that p'.ace, is freely opened, earnest faces bend togeth- er over its pages. In many cases the teacher and the inquirer study its promises on their knees, and then engage in prayer. In almost every case the inquirer is urged to pray for himself, and if unable to form the sentences, the teacher makes the prayer, which Q^rvc^cfi^n this altar with more than vestal vigilance, being the only missionaries to kindle and propagate its light among the heathen. Dambrowa kindled it in Poland, Anna in Russia, Sarolta in Hungary, Tyra in Denmark; and so it went on, with queens, for its nursing mothers, and captive maidens for its faithful missionaries, until the ferocious rage of crusaders drove their gentle in- fluence away." Nor is that part of woman's work which entitles her to special mention in a history of revivals of re- cent origin. The home is woman's throne, and that revival will be most permanently blessed which is besl fcecured in Christian homes. The iniluence of mother. 396 TIMES OF REFRESHING. wife and daughter tells directly upon the broadest and grandest movements of the kingdom of grace. Some of the greatest revivals of the world may be traced to a praying mother. Who shall measure the work of the mother of the Wesleys? Who shall set bounds to the prayers of Monica, the mother of Au- gustine, or calculate the far-reaching influence of the midnight wrestlings of the mother of John Newton? They reached farther than the deck of the slaver on . which the godless sailor was stricken with the memo- ry of his mother's love and counsels. They were the fountain-heads of streams of grace which, after encir- cling the earth, bring precious freightage of countless souls to the foot of the throne. But two particular channels have recently been opened for woman's work, which are destined largely to affect the religious life of the world. The first is the Woman's Missionary Work. It is only a few years since this special branch of Foreign Mission service began. Its progress has been rapid and its fruits abundant. It had its origin in the conviction in the minds of godly women, that there was a work for the salvation of heathen women which only Chris- tian women could accomplish. Indian Zenanas were closed against men. A woman's hand must carry the gospel through those lowly doors, or it never could enter. This thought aroused a multitude of conse- crated women in various churches, to the necessity of organized work by women for women. This is not the place to dwell on that work. Its relation to re- vivals is most intimate. If women could band to- gether for the more efficient and enthusiastic carrying WOMAN IN REVIVALS. 397 of the gospel abroad — if so doing, developed resources unknown before — why not use this same force for home evangelization? "Why should not women band together every where to rescue their perishing sisters? The feet that were swift in a tender devotion to hasten to the tomb, might be swift in an organized endeavor to lead others to the cross. The second channel for woman's work — so wonder- fully opened of late — began in the Praying Temper- ance Crusade, and developed into the well-planned Woman's Temperance Union. This is directly connected with revival work and claims more than a passing mention. In the chapter on Gospel Temperance, we will note the rise and progress of the Temperance Union; but this chapter calls for a more particular review of woman's efforts, in connection with the Tabernacle Eeform. This Union assumes a national character. It is or- ganized in many states, and it aims to do a work as general as that of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation. Its plans and methods in all the cities will best be set before the reader by giving an account somewhat in detail of the work undertaken and ac- complished in the " Union," in Chicago ; one of the earliest and most efficient of them all. It dates its beginning from a meeting of the ladies of Chicago, called March 16th, 1874, for the purpose of presenting to the Mayor and Common Council a pro- test against the sale of liquor on the Sabbath. Pre- paratory meetings of a quiet character had been hejd, and a petition circulated, to which ten thousand sig^ 39£ TIMES OF REFRESHING. natures were speedily obtained. The best portion of Chicago's citizens, aroused by the daily report of the Temperance Revival in Ohio and other states, was eager to have the petition presented. Fifty-eight la- dies went to the Council Chamber. The request was refused, and, in the presence of the ladies, an adverse bill was passed, while they were escorted from the temple of justice by a ruffianly mob. The animus of the liquor traffic was never more plainly exhibited, and organized opposition to it was natural and inev- itable. From March to October, 1874, the society engaged in the circulation of pledges, visitation of saloons with temperance literature, and holding mass meetings. It also maintained a temperance prayer meeting, every- where the central idea of the " women's work." In October of 1875, Miss Frances E. Willard was elected President, a position which she still holds. To her zeal, eloquence and executive ability much of the success, not alone of the Chicago Society, but all the organizations in the country, is largely indebt- ed. She is a woman of rare qualifications for the evangelistic work she is doing. Of cultivated and pol- ished address, of skill in arranging and presenting facts and arguments, and of a restrained and im- pressive eloquence, both of matter and manner, and of practical sagacity, both in plans and their execu- tion, she is admirably fitted for her useful and re- sponsible position. The object of the Union is primarily to save men and women from intemperance. But associated with this is a wider purpose; to save from sin of every kind, WOMAN IN REVIVALS. 399 and persuade men to find in Christ and his service, freedom from every bondage. The pledge is present- ed first of all; but only as a means to the higher end. Christ is urged upon everyone who takes the pledge as the only efficient and sufficient help. The Union strives in many ways of prayer and work to undo what is being done by the thousands of legalized dram-shops in the city. Visitation from house to house is an important part of the work. For this purpose visitors are con- stantly employed, seeking the homes of those who have attended the meetings or signed the pledge. A bond between the Union and the families of the intemperate is thus created which strengthens often into a saving friendship. Among the public means by which the ladies carry on their work the following may be mentioned: First, a daily temperance prayer-meeting — the scene of con- stant interest, and many hopeful conversions. The room is usually crowded ; requests for prayer are pre- sented in large numbers, and at the close of the meeting jin hour is given to religious conversation and signing the pledge. It is really inquiry-room work, and has been greatly blessed. Mrs. Bounds, the accomplished secretary, says : " One remarkable and blessed feature of this meeting and its special work is this: Christ is represented as the only refuge for the sin- ner, and they are urged not to depend upon their own will-power or strength, but to lay hold of Christ, who alone is able to save and keep them ; and as I have held personal conversation with nearly all who have signed the pledge from day to day, I find the 400 TIMES OF REFRESHING. case rare where a man insists lie is able to stand alone. So large is the per cent, of those who have already either found the Savior precious or are anx- ious to find him, that we have come to look upon this work of sign ing the pledge as virtually saying: 4I need Christ's help.' Any number of instances could be given interesting in the extreme, where men have come to the platform and before leaving, by some earnest, tender word, from some warm Christian heart, have been persuaded not only to pledge themselves to temperance but to the blessed Christ; and who have thus pledged, redeemed their promise by earnestly seeking him with all their hearts, and have afterwards testified to the same." The work at the Bethel Home, carried on by Chris- tian women is a touching part of this Christlike mis- sion to the degraded. There gather every Friday night from 150 to 200 of the most wretched and hopeless wanderers eye ever saw, and to them the gospel is preached, and often hard hearts break and yield to the touch of the Divine Spirit. In connection with the meetings held at this point, a beautiful reading-room has been fitted up and maintained by the ladies of the Union. A cottage prayer-meeting has also been started in the neighborhood, and through it many families are reached, with encouraging results. Another department of the general work is carried on at the Burr Mission. For more than a year a gospel temperance meeting has been sustained there amid many alternations of discouragement and hope. The average attendance is over a hundred, and over two hundred during the year have signed the WOMAN IN REVIVALS. 40 1 pledge, and up to this time only thirteen are known to have broken it. Here, also, the temperance work has been crowned with the glory of many hopeful conversions to Christ. This, in general, is the work in immediate connec- tion with the Chicago Temperance Union. Its influ- ence, however, is felt throughout the Northwest. It is often called upon by towns outside for help in the great battle against rum. Mr. Wm. Torrance, — better known among his friends as " Scotch Willie," — Mr. Latimore, Mr. Cassiday, Mr. Hollenbeek and others, have done good missionary service in various States, under the auspices of the " Union." Thus temperance work, on a Christian basis, is rapidly spreading throughout the West. As illustrating the fruits of the work, we give the following incidents, reported to us by the Secretary: " In the early beginning of our work, a poor, ragged, dirty, wretched-looking young man, in a state of in- toxication, came into our daily temperance prayer meeting. He said he wanted to sign the pledge, and did so. He said his home was in H , England; that he was an only son of well-to-do parents, but that he had been banished by his father from home, because of dissipation; that he formed the habit at his own father's table. For twelve months he had wandered the streets of Chicago, earning little more than enough to pay for his whisky. In this desti- tute and half-starved condition he wandered into our meeting. The hand of sympathy was held out to him, and he was told there was hope. But so low had he fallen, so terrible was the struggle to break 4:02 TIMES OF REFRESHING. away from the demon of strong drink, that not until lie made a fall surrender to Christ did he succeed in getting a firm foothold upon the rock of safety. This alternate falling and rising covered a period of over a year; but at last he was enabled to cast himself wholly upon the Lord, and the victory came. In the mean- time letters passed frequently between the mother, in far-away England, and the Secretary of our Union ; but the father refused for months to write to his boy, and scarcely allowed his name to be mentioned in the home; but at last the stern man yielded before the earnest, constant pleadings of the mother, and money came at last to take the son home to his parents. How the poor child wept for joy, when at last the message came, ' Come home:'* and with his passage paid to Liverpool, dressed in a new, comfortable suit of clothes, and with many a ' God Mess you, Rich- ard? the boy left us for his longed-for haven of rest. To-day he is a respected citizen in his native city, an active business man, and an earnest Christian and temperance worker. The mother still writes us, and every letter is filled with gratitude to God for her son's deliverance. " At the close of one of our meetings, a man with a terribly rough and forbidding countenance, was <>1» served leaning against a post. A lady approached and held out her hand, with a -pleasant k Good even- ing, sir; I am glad to see you here.' Keeping his hands behind him, his surly answer was: ' Don't you touch me.' 'Why, won't you shake hands with meV said the lady, not appearing to notice his rough man- ner. 4 No, I won't.' 'Why not?' said she. "I WOMAN IN REVIVALb. 40" Am here to do you good if I can.' ' Nobody does me any good,' was the still rude rejoinder. 'Per- haps that is because you won't let them. Now, listen to me. You are a great big man, very strong, and yet you wouldn't harm me I know.' ' Indeed, I wouldn't, lady,' he said, interrupting. 'Well, then,' continued the lady, ' I have a favor to ask of you. I want you to come to my house to-morrow, at ten o'clock, and I will tell you some good news. You have been among very wicked people.' ' Indeed I have,' said the poor fellow, again interrupting. 'And they have done you no good. Now, come with good people, and see if you don't like the chano-e.' Something in the kind words and manner touched the man's heart, and his head drooped a little, as with a choked voice he said: 'Just look at me —all dirt and rags. Don't ask me to go with good people. / ain't ft P and the tears ran down his cheeks, and were wiped away with his poor dirty sleeve. But the lady went on : ' Yes, you are fit, too; tit to come to my home. Here it is,' giving him her address on a slip of paper. ' Come to-morrow morn- ing I shall look for you, and I'll have some "good news" to tell you. Good-night,' and again she held out her hand, which was grasped in a great brawny one, with no reluctance this time. 'Good-night,' said a husky voice, in response to her cheery one; and the door to that man's heart, so long shut and barred to all good influences, swung open that night, touched by the magic fingers of a woman's tenderness. "The morning came, and with it the poor fellow, who gat down, and told, after some persuasion, the story of i04 TIMES OF REFRESHING. his life. So pitiful was it, that the lady herself was moved to tears, and as he went on recounting the strug- gles, the failures, the cruel disappointments, and the increasing power of the appetite for strong drink, it seemed as if the sun could not shine when the world was so full of misery. ' And last night,' he went on, 'I heard the singing in that meeting, and just stepped inside to see what was going on, so wretched that I hated everyone, and hated myself; and as I leaned against the post, I made up my mind I would drown myself in the lake. Just then you spoke to me, and oh! I can't tell how it was, but it seemed as if I was in hell, and I was afraid to touch you. Oh! I know I was very rude; but you can't tell how I felt; and oh! if you think there is any chance for me, won't you pray for me now?' "Ah, the 'good news' she had for him was the blessed gospel tidings, and here he was already, cry- ing out to be saved. Surely the Lord had prepared the way. They both knelt, and as she prayed, the poor man cried aloud for mercy and deliverance, and ( io'd came to his relief. He was enabled to cast himself upon Christ, and believing, accept the sacrifice prepar- ed for him. As they rose from their knees, the old bit- ter, hard look was gone from the poor man's face, and with a calm, subdued manner, and with a look so full of wonderment, he said in a whisper, ' Jesus has saved me!' It seemed the gate of heaven. "With a new copy of the Word of Life in his hands, he went out into a new world and to begin a new life!" In reply to questions concerning the character and permanence of this work, Mrs. Rounds writes thus: WOMAN IN EEVIVALS. 405 " The basis of our work is Christ, and no means or measures are used but such as He manifestly ap- proves and blesses. Our lady visitor, a noble Chris- tian woman, is constantly employed in looking after the families of those who have signed the pledge, en- deavoring to complete the work by leading them to become Christians, and unite with some church, whatever may be their choice — Catholic or Protes- tant. She gives Bibles and Testaments to persons too poor to buy them, and tracts and religious papers are freely distributed at many of our meetings. The work of the Union for this year, commencing with October, 1876, numbers up to the present date over 1,500 signers to the pledge. This covers all the points where meetings are held. Of this number we feel confident that fully 350 are truly converted. We trust and believe that eternity will reveal a much larger number saved with an everlasting salvation. We are often asked how large a per cent keep the pledge. We cannot tell, as hundreds who sign it are beneath our care for a few days or weeks only, and then leave us for months or forever, scattering into other cities, or upon the lakes, or away over the ocean. It is estimated that 20,000 pass through the Bethel Home every year, and nearly all of these at- tend one, if not more, of our temperance meetings held in the Home. We have no accurate means of knowing the number of different ones who attend our meetings daily in Farwell Hall — we only know that their name is legion. " Last winter our daily meetings at this point aver- aged between two and three hundred. During this 406 TIMES OF REFRESHING. summer we average, daily, seventy-five. We often hear this expression as we engage in personal conver- sation at the close of the meeting: "I am a stranger here; was never in this meeting before. I heard the singing, and came in to see what was going on." Thus we scatter the seed every year upon thousands of hearts, with what definite, accurate results only the dear Lord knows. " But He who bids us " Sow beside all waters," as- sures us also that we "Shall reap if we faint not," and that if we go forth weeping bearing precious seed, we shall doubtless come again, rejoicing, bring- ing our sheaves with us." So we leave it all in His hands, content, so that we have His presence in our hearts and His blessing on our work!" Who will not say this work is blessed already? Yet who but can see it is but just beginning? When the slave to appetite shall be everywhere approached with a Christian's believing prayers and a woman's loving sympathy blended, shall we not see new won- ders of reformation and spiritual emancipation? BIBLE WORK. The idea of an association among women for Bible reading and Bible work was first suggested to Mr. Moody, we believe, by the Bible Work Association of London. The ultimate object of it in Britain, and since in our own country, is to make known salvation through Christ by reading the Bible to individuals in their homes and in small meetings collected for the study of the Scriptures. The association, as organ- ized in Chicago and other cities, binds its members by WOMAN IN KEVIVALS. 40? the following agreement: 1st, To read the Bible to- gether daily — praying for Spiritual guidance in the reading. 2nd, To pray daily for one another. 3rd, To meet weekly and monthly for prayer and conference and study of the Scriptures. 4th, By personal con- versations, prayer-meetings, Scripture readings and other Christian efforts to present Christ as the Savior of the lost and a present help to all who are weary and heavy laden. About eighteen Bible readers are regularly employ- ed in Chicago. Their work is to visit a certain given district, (about a hundred families usually constituting a district,) instructing them in Bible truth, ascer- taining their spiritual condition and striving, by re- peated visits, prayer and counsel to lead them to the Savior, or if Christians already, to make them more intelligent in Bible knowledge and more active in Christian service. In addition to this wTork the Bible readers usually hold mothers' weekly meetings in their district, and have a sewing-school in connection with some Church, for the instruction of girls. Thus an attempt is made to anchor the work in a Church or- ganization, and so seek its permanence and expan- sion. We give the following summary for 1876, as indi- cating at once the actual results and the breadth of their plan: Number of cottage prayer meetings G73 " mothers' meetings 73 " school prayer meetings ; i6,"i Sessions of Sewing schools 202 Number of Bible visits [ [ 2 820 " Scripture conversations 2723 Visits to sick '479 408 TIMES OF REFRESHING. Errands to poor 265 Tracts and religious papers distributed 1 0,62(1 Garments received for distribution 2,723 Miss Emily Dryer is in charge of the work, and to her labors and well-directed counsels these large re- sults are mainly due. Not only does she plan and manage the central-work — engaging in the instruc- tion of the Bible readers, and in a general superin- tendence of all the meetings and missions. She has also infused into many of the churches in the city a new interest in united Bible study and in mis- sionary Bible work. Thus, in illustration, one of the churches stimulated by her statements and en- couraged by her help, organized a Woman's 'Associ- ation, which has, in addition to the improvement of its members (about two hundred), compassed an as- tonishing amount of missionary work in that part of of the city around this Church. Scores of cottage prayer meetings, and sewing-circles, and Bible classes are regularly sustained. Several Bible readers are constantly employed, and thousands of visits are an- nually made. These visits are not merely nor main- ly for temporary relief, but for the salvation of souls. How many have thus been brought to Christ it is im- possible to say, but it is easy to prophesy that similar activity among the Christian women of every congre- gation in a great city, would soon be mightily felt in the improved intelligence and morals of these centres of influence, good or bad, these fountains of hope or peril tor the nation. It is a fact, significant in explana- tion of recent civic troubles, and alarming unless forces of counteraction are set at work, that the populations of our great cities are fearfully ignorant of the Bible. WOMAN IN REVIVALS. 409 Any organization that tends not only to supply the Bible to the people, but also to enable them to under- stand the sense of it, must be worthy of the notice of the philanthropist and the praise of all good men. Quietly and almost unnoticed in all our cities, Chris- tian women, without the slightest violation of the re- serve and delicacy that should guard the Christian activity of their sex, are together studying the Bible, that in personal conversation they may convey its precious truths to others, and are then going forth like missionaries from the throne, to bring Heaven's light to cottage and hovel, to lane, alley, cellar and garret. If there is a work an angel might covet, it surely is this. Grace Darling's heroism, as she plunged into the surf to rescue the drowning, Flor- ence Nightingale's courage and devotion as she stood with lamp in hand in the hospital wards, are repeated in the Christian womanhood of this generation, which plunges into the destructive waves of city wickedness and ignorance, which stands in wards of our spiritual hospitals, full of sick and dying souls, flashing on wan, neglected outcast ones the light of hope from the lamp of life. WOMAN IN THE INQUIRY ROOM. Among the results of woman's work in the churches in the various departments now open to her, none have been more wholly good, more definite or glo- rious, than her personal conversations on the subject of religion. As to substance, this kind of Christian service is indeed as old as motherhood. Wherever among Christian people, the relation of mother and 410 TIMES OF REFRESHING. child has existed, there with more or less fidelity and tenderness has motherly love impressed the lessons of Christian faith. But it has been reserved for this present revival era to carry into wider circles this ef- fective form of Christian service, the natural begin- ning of which is in the Christian home, but the lines of which have now gone far and wide into society. A Christian woman has peculiar (qualifications for this work. In the inquiry room masculine vigor and emphasis count far less than feminine sympathy, tact and address. The qualifications most essential and val- uable, are knowledge and love of the Bible; especially a clear understanding of the plan of salvation, love of souls, and a certain sacred art in at once applying the Scripture remedy for every phase of spiritual doubt and trouble. In the former of these requisites, intelligent women are on a plane with men, and in the latter they are by natural constitution better fitted to be the spiritual guides of the anxious. Reasoning counts for very little when the question which by its great- ness belittles all reasoning stands before the mind. Then a spiritual intuition, which, impatient of all slower methods, flies straight to the heart of the sub- ject, rises to a supreme value, and quickness of percep- tion mingled with the sympathetic art of bringing the thing perceived to the test of intense feeling, is the mightiest helper in the soul's questionings and struggles. Here it is, that woman has a sphere of in- fluence which, while it does not jeopard any womanly interest or feeling, invites her to a breadth of Chris- tian activity limited only by her opportunities. The recent campaigns for Christ in evangelistic services "WOMAN IN REVIVALS. 411 have enlarged these opportunities beyond anything the world has known before. Woman's sphere is no longer confined to the home circle or the Sunday school class. The hushed and thronged inquiry rooms, protected from public gaze by the sanctity of the place, afford a field of usefulness in personal conver- sation, nearly as well guarded as the home circle, and vet as extensive as the grand revival tendencies can make it. In this field the labors of Christian women have been blessed to the salvation of thousands of souls. It is evident the success which attended the conver- sations of woman with inquirers depends largely on the judiciousness with which the work is planned. It is true of women as of men (and no more so), that many need, above all things, to be wisely repressed. With an intemperate zeal and little discretion, and perhaps no experience, they sometimes rush in where people of larger experience would bashful tread. With many there is absent a sense of the " fitness of things," and they do more harm than possible good, alike in their daring selection of people to talk with, and the man- ner in which they do it. The remedy for these and other perils, to which ignorant and foolish, but well- meaning people expose every revival season, is in a wise guidance of inquiry room work on the part of the person having the meeting in charge. It cannot be left to run itself. And nowhere* will the good judgment of a leader be more severely tested than in his management of the personal conversations. He will remand the forward and unqualified to the back- ground, or gather them together in a group where 412 TIMES OF REFRESHING. they may mutually learn from each other. He will usually assign women to converse with women of like circumstances and condition. He will seek to know the natural lines of personal influence, and follow them. To those who have been in great trouble, he will try to bring a voice modulated by like experience. To those in doubt and intellectual hesitation, he will bring one whose feet have wandered in and through a similar wilderness, and so around all the room, he will, as he may be able, select guides for the anxious who, by their training, their circumstances, their nat- ural sympathies of age or rank, or trial or occupation, may have most influence to teach, persuade and de- cide. Should women converse only with women? Not at all. It is, perhaps, most natural that ordinarily this should be the case. But there are many circum- stances which would render it desirable that women should converse with anxious men. There arT3 condi- tions, even of intellectual difficulty, which may best be met by intelligent women. Within the past few months a case in point came under our observation. A young skeptic of remarkable intelligence, and some pride of skeptical opinion, had been successive- ly conversed with by many evangelists, pastors, and others. He was evidently somewhat impressed witli the need of spiritual life and help; every attempt to bring him face to face with Christ he would ward off by propounding difficult questions in speculative the- ology. Every appeal was met either by argument or by some cynical remark which neutralized its effect. At length, one evening the leader of the in- WOMAN IN REVIVALS. 413 quiry meeting introduced Mr. A. to a Christian woman. His first remark was, " So you have come to interview me." The reply was, "No, I do not know enough for that. I want you to interview me, or rather let us both interview the Bible and see what we can learn." Somewhat disarmed by this reply, his tone changed, and he expressed himself very willing to have a conversation. But his old habit returning upon him, he propounded one after another of the in- tellectual difficulties in his way. The lady met each one by saying, " I cannot answer you. I will not pre- tend to; but let us see what God says about it;" and then opening the Bible she would read such passages as gave a Divine answer to the inquiry. In this way he was pressed by the sword of the Spirit from point to point/until unable longer to continue the struggle, he sprang to his feet exclaiming, "This question must be settled to-night. Pray for me." The result was his conversion — not as the result of the argument he coveted — but of a judicious use of Divine truth. In- stances of this sort might be indefinitely multiplied. They prove that the superior conversational powers of women have found a field new and wide, and tell- ing upon the highest of human interests. Henceforth, can it be doubted, the qualities of mind and heart that have made so many parlors sources of great so- cial influence, will be more freely used in commend- ing to society the grand themes and the blessed hopes of the Christian religion? Wise we have been in our lectures and sermons, our books and essays. Our literature has stamped our religion with its lofty sign, and the two have 414 TIME6 OF REFRESHING. gone forth in splendid promise together. Meantime our conversation has often been puerile, often empty, often worse. Surely the close contact of mind with mind in the freedom of social life, should not be left to the domination of gossip. It is sometimes said of American people that conversing is a lost art among them. They talk grandly in public address, but chat- ter unworthily in their parlors. If it be so, our women are most of all responsible for it. Men set the key of debates and lectures, hut women give the pitch of conversation. If it be trifling, maiifly on them will rest the blame. If ennobling, to them belongs the honor. But the highest aim of conversation should be to develop life toward its best end. There is one theme which unfailingly will do it. It is in the power of women to regenerate society, lift it out of vapidity and gossip into the noblest realm of human thought, by daring to make Christian faith, life and hope, a free and open subject of parlor talk. The world is to be converted, not by the stately artillery that is reserved for intellectual battles, but by the impact of heart on heart in office and shop and parlor and kitchen. In this personal address women are peer- less. Let them use their tine intuitions and their ready art of apt and feeling speech for the kingdom of Christ, and they may do more for the spread of that kingdom than Mercurius, by his dialectic skill, or Boanerges, by his resounding eloquence. CHAPTER XYIII. GOSPEL TEMPERANCE.— ITS RISE, PROGRESS AND METHODS. The historian who, from the calmer distance of future years, shall review the rise and progress of the temperance reform in our country will most probably date the truest progress from Christmas morning, 1873. That date marks the beginning of the Wo- man's Praying Crusade. On Christinas eve Dr. Dio Lewis was telling the people of Hillsboro, Ohio, the pathetic story of the first woman's crusade. His own mother, the wife of a drunkard, and a number of other women whose hearts God had touched, visited the saloon keeper and prayed with and for him, and be- sought him to give up the traffic that was bringing death to so many homes. Their prayers were answered -the saloon was closed. The heroism and faith of that sainted woman seemed to descend upon the audience.' They pledged themselves to a like effort to rescue the perishing, and at nine o'clock the next morning a band of believing, heart-burdened women gathered in the Presbyterian church for a season of counsel with God, and then went out on their holy mission. The world called it fanaticism. The church in many quarters named it kt impracticable enthusiasm." But fanaticism has often been consecrated by grand 116 TIMES OF REFRESHING. results, and enthusiasm never better vindicated for itself the. original meaning of the word than in the wo- man's crusade. If ever labors were undertaken " in God," if ever that holy name was made the beginning and end of work, it was so in the united endeavor of hearts, that long had bled under the pressure of a pit- iless curse, to find relief by the way of the throne. The story is a familiar one. How the crusade swept like a whirlwind of sacred fire, first, through the towns and villages of central and southern Ohio, how it reached Cincinnati and Cleveland, enlisting in it, in each city, many of the truest, most accomplished and influential women, how it widened into other West- ern States, — Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wiscon- sin,— until almost every community was ablaze with a holy purpose to crush out the monster iniquity with on wave of Christian resolution, — all this is still fresh in every mind. Within six months it had enlisted hun- dreds of thousands of Christian women under its hau- lier of prayer. Within six months more it had whol- ly ceased ; a fact at which the finger of critical scorn is significantly pointed, as if the subsidence of these waves proved that the water had evaporated. This is not so. The methods may not have been practicable. It took the sober second thought to find it out. The passion of the movement hurried it to hurtful extremes. Nothing great is done without extremes. It is the overflow of the Nile that makes the harvest. It is the overflow of human hearts that enriches God's heritage. There was an adequate reason for the woman's crusade. The wonder is less that it ever came than GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 417 that it ever ceased. Woman's wrongs from intemper- ance are broad, and strong enough to force from every woman's heart one endless prayer: "How long, O Lord, how long!" They are deep and keen enough to merge all womanly modesty and weakness in ntter self-forgetf illness and a strength that is born of despair. The rise of the crusade is therefore readily explained. The fervor with which it swept over half a dozen states is no marvel. The cyclone had long been forming. It needed only one strong hand of faith in God to unbind its wings. The crusade was not without good effects. It taught the Christian Church the extent of the en- trenchments of the liquor traffic, and that the victory would not be hastily achieved. The insults heaped upon the bands of praying women opened many eyes to the true character of the giant iniquity. The mob that surged through the streets of Cleveland, bore down with brutal fury upon a company of helpless women, assaulted them with fists and stones and brick-bats, sounded in the ears of the Church the long roll of battle. If the crusade had accomplished noth- ing else than to arouse the Christian community to a sense of the vastness and recklessness of the liquor interest in its assaults upon manhood and woman- hood, homes and society, it would have done a worthy work. For the sake of this conviction, society could forgive the excesses, and bend its head in grateful acknowledgment of the faith and the heroism. But the crusade did more than measure the lines of the approaching conflict. We are often told its actual effect upon the wrong which it battled was wholly 418 TIMES OF REFRESHING. imperceptible, While we regard its direct results as by far the most unimportant, we cannot ignore the fact that in the few months of passionate prayer and wholly unorganized labor, some tangible results are left to record. In scores of towns in Ohio saloons were closed that have never since been opened. Let it be granted that in many cases, with the subsidence of the excitement came the reopening of the saloons. Some of them are closed forever. In some of those towns — though the praying bands no longer kneel in the streets and no longer chant their Miriam songs of deliverance — so persistent and admonitory is the force of public opinion, that the blinds remain over the windows and the bolts turned in the doors of places in which once raged constantly the Moloch fires that consumed the goodliest sons and brothers- It also affected the legislature of Ohio. More than twenty years ago, a clause had been put in the con- stitution forbidding the granting of license. A new constitution was to be submitted to the people and they were again asked whether they would have license or no license. The praying women, blending work with their prayers, set themselves to defeat the license clause. The state has probably never been so excited over any issue. The result was glorious, the new constitution and its license clause were buried beyond hope of resurrection. For this result the state is largely indebted to the temperance women of the state — their prayers and organized action. It was one of the fruits of the crusade. But the chief value of the woman's crusade was twofold. First it was a fiery skirmish line to meas- GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 419 lire the enemy's forces, to discover their batteries and mark the arrangement and temper of the forces. It thus impressed on the Church the need of compact and thorough organization. Second^ it brought into prominence in the temperance reform the almighty agent of prayer. This, we do not hesitate to say, is the grandeur of the crusade. In its first desperate sally, it made a use of prayer not always to be com- mended. It absurdly expected in one day the victory which may require years. But its cardinal principle of driving out this raging devil from our communities and the hearts of our friends through the instrument- ality of an appeal to the Lord of hosts, is both phil- osophical and Scriptural. And when all the weak- nesses and follies and extravagances of the crusade are properly discounted from it, this will remain as the crown of its glory, which no wilcluess of measures can dim, no apparent failures can take away. The pray- ing women have told us that prayer is to be the meas- ure of success; that he lights this battle best, who lights it on his knees. When the effervescence of public agi- tation over the crusade had passed away, and the worldly wise were loud in their denunciations of this temperance fanaticism there was one crystal at the bottom of the crucible. In its heart shone the double light of a long experience and a Scripture truth: Wi This kind goeth not out but by fasting and prayer." The woman's crusade was tentative, but it took only a few months to reach its conclusions. These conclusions became the base lines for future and ex- tensive, and we believe victorious operations. The first is expressed in the word organization; the second. 420 TIMES OF REFRESHING. in tlie word prayer. The first means the best of human wisdom and endeavor; the second means the arm of God. By the right union of these two, every great moral work is done; by their union intemperance must be conquered. Let us look at them separately. ORGANIZATION. The praying bands had not knelt long in the sa- loons and the streets before they became convinced that with their prayers must be united prudent, or- ganized labors. This conviction was the origin of a most powerful aid in the temperance battle — the "Woman's National Christian Temperance Union. We cannot better show how the one rose out of the other than by quoting the words of Miss Frances E. Willard, Corresponding Secretary of the Union: "The woman's prajdng bands — earnest, impetuous, inspired — became the Woman's Temperance Unions, firm, patient, persevering. The praying bands were without leadership, save that which inevitably results from ' the survival of the fittest.' The Woman's Unions are regularly officered in the usual way. The first wrought their grand pioneer work in sublime in- difference to prescribed forms of procedure, ' so say we all of us,' being the spirit of ' motions,' often made, seconded and carried by the chair, while the assembled women nodded their earnest acquiescence. The second are possessed with good, strong constitu- tions (with by-laws annexed), and follow the order of business with a dutiful regard to parliamentary usage. In the first, women who had never lifted up their voices in their own church prayer meetings, GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 421 stood before thousands, and < spoke as they were moved.' In the second, these same women, with added experience, and a host of others, who have since enlisted, impress the public thought and con- science by utterances carefully considered. The praying bands, hoping for immediate victory, pressed their members into immediate service. The Woman's Unions, aware that the battle is to be a long one, ask only for such help as can be given consistently with other duties." In the spring of 1874 the praying bands called con- ventions in the various States for consultation. They were at first called State Temperance Leagues, a name which was afterwards changed to Unions, as better expressing the spirit of their purpose. These socie- ties were confederated in a National Temperance Union, which met in the city of Cleveland, November 18th, 19th, 20th, 1874, and was attended by delegates from sixteen different States. The spirit of the con- vention is contained in the following resolution: Resolved, That recognizirjg the fact that our cause is, and is to be, combated by mighty, determined, relentless forces, we will, trusting in Him who is the Prince of Peace, meet argument with argument, misjudgment with patience, denunciation with kind- ness, and all our difficulties and dangers with prayer. Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer, of Philadelphia, a veteran worker in temperance reform, was chosen President; Miss Frances E. Willard, Corresponding Secretary; Mrs. Mary C. Johnson, of Brooklyn, Recording Se- cretary; Mrs. Mary Ingham, of Cleveland, Treasurer; with one Yice-President from each State in the con- vention. 422 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The very first year of its history was a year of suc- cessful work, and when they held their first annual meeting in Cincinnati, November, 1875, they re- ported delegates from twenty-two States in the Union, — local organizations, active and flourishing, from Maine to Nebraska, and the blocking out of well- considered plans for every phase of temperance work. The banner States in this " Union " are Ohio, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania and Iowa. New York was especially active and successful in its work. In Brooklyn over twenty-live hundred saloon visits had been made, and the Bible and temperance literature freely distributed. In fourteen months a thousand and ten saloons had been closed, and three hundred and twenty-six saloon keepers induced to suspend their traffic on the Sabbath clay. Gospel temperance meetings had been held in jails and inebriate asylums. In New York city also decided progress had been made. Besides the daily prayer meeting in the hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, gospel temper- ance meetings had been held in Water Street, Mag- dalene Asylum, the Tombs and Belleviue Hospital. A thousand saloons had been visited, and many had permanently closed their doors. Ohio, which was first in this war, reported a most thorough organization throughout the State; as many as two hundred and fifty local societies, two hundred Friendly Inns or coffee houses, reading rooms, juvenile societies and leagues in great num- ber. In Indiana, in addition to the moral and per- sonal work, the interest took the practical form of contesting the application for licenses in the Com- GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 423 missioner's Court. Out of three hundred and live permits to sell, a hundred and thirty-eight were de- feated at the March term in 1874. In this State, also, there are over two hundred local societies, man)' juvenile organizations, reading rooms, temperance halls and kindred auxiliaries for enlightening public sentiment and resisting the tide of destruction. The practical good sense of the National Temper- ance Union, the thoroughness and comprehensiveness • of its organization, may be judged by the following rec- ommendations, adopted by the second national con- vention: First, the establishing of a lyceum bureau, which should furnish organizers, readers, speakers, etc., for communities desiring to organize. Second, to arrange a plan by which young women may actively engage in the work. Third, to appoint a medical commission to investi- gate the medical use of alcohol and its effect upon the country. Fourth, to appoint a commission on Bible wines. Fifth, a committee on presenting the cause to min- isterial, Sunday school, educational, medical and other associations. The work of the organization of Temperance Unions, North and South, East and West, is going steadily forward, under the auspices of the Woman's Unions, in New England and New York city. Dr. Henry A. Reynolds has been instrumental in the ref- ormation of twenty thousand drinking men in the East; and later, under the flag of the Red Ribbon Crusade, many thousands more in Michigan and other Western States. 424 TIMES OF REFRESHING. Thomas Murphy, also, began his work under these auspices. Of that we shall speak in another place. This and other organizations, the direct results of the great awakening caused by the Woman's Crusade, are practical expressions of an increasing purpose of the Christian men and women of the country to unite in every wise effort to put to an end the ravages of the destroyer. PRAYER. They greatly mistake who suppose that because street praying and saloon visiting had been largely abandoned, therefore there had been nothing left of the Woman's Crusade. The basal idea of it remains, and is to-day the mightiest factor in the reform. Al- though we have headed this section, "Prayer," as ex- pressing the central thought, Gospel Temperance is more than a prayer meeting. It is praying, preach- ing, personal appeals, printing, and every other moral influence all in one. It is the outgrowth of the con- viction we have written above, that intemperance must be fought with the gospel. In this respect it does not differ from other sins or crimes. Deeply imbedded in the midst of society, there is only one lever strong enough to lift it out: that lever is Chris- tianity. The Christian world is just beginning to learn how sovereign a remedy for all the ills of life, is the truth as it is in Jesus; just beginning, though faintly, to be- lieve, that when argument, entreaty, resolution and human love have failed, the gospel of Christ with one blow can break the fetters that bind the inebriate. GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 425 The general idea that prayer can save a drunkard, ante-dates the woman's crusade, but it was held ex- ceptionally and feebly believed in by individuals whose experience had happily tested it, rather than by the Church as a Scriptural and eternal truth. The idea remained an isolated fact. It had no* passed into a law of Christian truth and life. If the mother of Dio Lewis had seen her husband saved from drunkenness through her prayers, if other women had seen the conversion of their sons through the same agency, these cases were thankfully acknowl- edged as special instances of divine interposition, but were not accepted as facts of a divine law. Whether confirmed drunkards could be saved at all, was often doubted; whether they could be instantly saved from the power of appetite was usually disbelieved. The distinguishing feature of gospel temperance in the present revivals is this: prayer for drunkards is within the realm of the premise, u Ask and ye shall receive." It is as easy for God to save the drunkard as any other sinner, and in answer to believing prayer He will do it. That salvation includes not only the pardon of sins, but the destruction or repression of appetite; not only the freedom from condemnation, but freedom from the power of the tempter. Let us briefly follow the progress and mark the victory of this creed. Gospel temperance is assuming a more and more important place in the labors of Messrs. Moody and Sankey. In Philadelphia the revival resulted in the conversion of many drunkards. In New York the Friday noon prayer-meeting was set apart especially 426 TIMES OF REFRESHING. for temperance. Requests for prayer for friends in the bondage of intemperance came from all parts of the East. The meetings were crowded, and many re- markable conversions attested the power of God and his favor on that phase of the Tabernacle work. Among the notable cases of reformation, or — as Mr. Moody prefers to call it — regeneration, was that of an Englishman, who was obliged to flee from his own country to escape legal penalty for his crimes. His conscience became aroused and he endeavored to re- form. Every endeavor resulted in failure. At length he determined to try prayer. Although not a Chris- tian, for several weeks" he overcame the tempter, by an appeal in every moment of temptation to the name of Jesus. It gave him hope that on this path his vic- tory would come. He came to the Hippodrome, and in great earnest sought the pardon and grace of the Savior. He did not seek in vain, and has since been an active temperance and Christian man. The tem- perance work in New York resulted in the reclama- tion of nearly a thousand intemperate men; most of whom, it is believed, are firm and steadfast at the present time. But it was in Chicago this work first developed into a special department of the gospel meetings. Mr. Moody found in that city an efficient arm of temperance service, ready to lend him its aid. That was the well-organized and well-managed Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Since 1874, it had fought the battle in various ways, and with various successes. At one time it had gathered up a mon- strous petition againstopen saloons on Sunday, and had GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 427 carried it to the common cou ncil. At other times, in quiet and unoticed ways, it had reached its hands in many directions, to strengthen the tempted, encour- age the struggling, succor the desolate households, and save the drunkard for time and eternity. It was a center of humble prayer, and of organized, judicious and courageous work. It was a living link between the praying crusade and Mr. Moody's gospel meet- ings. With the help of this Union, the temperance work became at the very first an important part of the Tabernacle meetings. Friday noon of each week was set apart for this special work. From the very first, these meetings were the fullest day meetings of all the week, and dis- closed the fact that there was a wonderful latent in- terest on this subject that only needed an outlet to spring into a tremendous activity. Bequests poured in, not only from all parts of this city, but from vari- ous states of the Northwest, for prayers for fathers, husbands, sons and neighbors. Almost stimultan- eously with the requests for prayer, came words of thanksgiving for the answer. The result was that the faith of God's people was greatly enlarged and strengthened. Many Christians, for the first time realized that here is a lever, which, when every other has broken, has power to lift a fallen one out of his sins. Many Christians for the first time understood that the gospel is the power of God against every sin; that it is not one kind of strength we need to destroy avarice, revenge or selfishness, and another to over- come appetite. Has not the Church been sadly heret- ical in its dealings with drunkards? 428 TIMES OF REFRESHING. We fail to believe God can break the tempter's power. At bottom, we think if an intemperate man ever reforms, it must be through a slow and always doubtful siege. And yet we believe God can sudden- ly convert a blaspheming Saul into an Apostle Paul; a profane sailor into a John Newton; a wretched lib- ertine into a St. Augustine. It is only in the ques- tion of intemperance that our theology weakens. We look with distrust on the drunkard's conversion, and rather expect he will fall away again. Perhaps to the coldness and lack of faith of the church is due the fact that he so often does. But let us be faithfully consistent. A drunkard is not saved by his resolu- tion. The path to victory is not along an uncertain battle-line. As with every other sinner, it is the road of faith. The gospel has power to break up a human appetite and set the captive free. You may call it a miracle. So in a sense is every conversion. It is, in truth, the "expulsive power of a new affection." It is the new and higher life driving out the old and lower. No matter what the kind of sin, the philoso- phy of grace is the same, — it is the love of God sup- planting the love of the world. When the church acts on this principle, and be- lie vingly attacks intemperance with "the truth as it is in Jesus," we shall see drunkards liberated whom every other agency has failed to reach. This conviction is the heart of the temperance revival, and gave such power to those memorable Fridays, of November and December, 1876. In this branch of his labor, in Chicago, Mr. Moody had the assistance of a man es- pecially called of God for this work, and particularly GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 429 adapted, botli by his experience and his gifts, to be greatly instrumental in saving drunkards. Charles W. Sawyer was born in Gloucester, Mass., 1835. Left without a father, at an early age he fell into habits of dissipation. Some years in the employ of Jordan, Marsh & Co., of Boston, and afterward of Clanin & Co., of New York, his path was a continual descent, until he reached the very depths of reckless and abandoned drunkenness. His mother, who no longer knew whether her son was dead or alive, hoping against hope, and praying almost against her own despair, clung to the promises, mean- time giving herself most actively to temperance labors, trying to save the sons of other mothers, in hope that God would send some one to her own boy were he still alive. He gives his own sorrowful experience thus: kk I had every thing behind me calculated to make my life a success, but at sixteen years of age I began to like the taste of blackberry brandy, and the appe- tite grew upon me year by year — you know how it is, down, down, down, all the time. You have heard of that man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho: he fell among thieves before he got to the city, but I had got right into the midst of Jericho. I was so completely lost that I had no power I could call my own. I drank myself out of house and home, and into absolute destitution. I had eyes, but I could see nothing; ears, but I could hear nothing; a heart that knew nothing." While in this condition, a wretched, and utterly hopeless .drunkard, he stumbled one day into the of- 430 TIMES OF REFRESHING. fice of a Christian lawyer of Poughkeepsie. This lawyer was to him the Good Samaritan. He told him he understood his case; that he himself had passed through that bitter experience; had many years ago been cured by the grace of God, and had since been kept from falling. He preached the gospel to him; told him the story of Naaman, and that even so, he might plunge into the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, and be cleansed at once. He accepted the message, surrendered himself to the Savior of sin- ners, and has since been actively engaged in rescuing others from the pit out of which God lifted him- When Mr. Moody began his meetings in New York, he found this earnest man preaching Christ in the saloons. He at once engaged his help there, and has kept him with him in all his meetings since. Mr. Moody makes no mistakes in the selection of his men. There are some things in Mr. Sawyer not unlike the great evangelist himself. The same buoyant, cheerful and hearty manner, the same consuming purpose to save souls, much practical tact, discretion and knowl- edge of human nature, and above all an unbounded faith in prayer. He has little faith in talk, but be- lieves with all his heart in personal labor. In this he is especially successful. He remembers the Dame, condition and circumstances of the large number of drunkards with whom he comes in contact in the meetings; bears each case upon his heart as though it were the only one, and inspires every man of them with the conviction that in Mr. Sawyer he has found :i friend and a brother. To his industry, perseverance, and tireless energy, the temperance work in the Tab- ernacle is very largely indebted. GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 431 At one of the first temperance meetings in Farwell Hall, Mr. Moody read a letter from a praying father and mother in Scotland, begging him to find their wandering boy. He besought the wanderer, if through the newspaper reports the fact of his parents' anxiety should come to his knowledge, to come to Christ and be saved. Mr. Sawyer, who is in charge of the tem- perance work, made it his special business to find " Willie." For six weeks he had searched and in- quired, but in vain. The meetings were drawing to a close. It seemed as if the lost one would not be found. But there was a mother praying in Scotland, and there was a prayer-hearing God on the throne. On a Friday in December, a young man came up to Mr. Sawyer casualty and addressed him. He was not seeking Christ. As we would say, he happened to meet Mr. Sawyer and happened to speak to him. Mr. Sawyer asked him his name. It was "Willie !" Mr. Sawyer said, " I have been seeking you for six weeks." "How is that?" said the young man, with astonishment; " you do not know me." Then he was told of his mother's letter and prayers and love, and the prayers of God's people here. That broke his heart. And on Friday, December 15th, he stood up and told a story that melted the whole audience to tears. Years ago he married a beautiful girl, a min- ister's daughter. Already he had begun his down- ward course. His wife, who had been his guardian angel, soon died. They had a little girl. He left her — left his father and mother — and became a homeless wanderer. When about to start for Australia, his lit- tle girl, kissing him good^by, said, " You will not be 432 TIMES OF REFRESHING gone long, papa." He had not seen her since. He had gone the world around — a very prodigal, full of sin and shame, but now prayer had been answered; God had brought the lost one home. We think we had never witnessed a scene like that. Strong: men fairly sobbed, and the whole audience was in tears. Mr. Moody, with a voice broken with sobs, gave thanks for answered prayer and cried to God to keep the boy, by his grace, unto eternal life. Thus from Friday to Friday, from day to day, in the Tabernacle, in Far well Hall and in the churches this temperance work went on. It reached every class in the community. Early in the meetings, a prominent business man, a member of the Board of Trade, a man of culture and social posi- tion, but who, for many years had been a respectable but confirmed drunkard, was saved from his appetite, and became a great help to Mr. Sawyer, and has since, as president of the Reformed Men's Tem- perance Union, been doing a noble work for Christ. By his side on the platform at a Friday-noon meet- ing might be seen a Yorkshire man, with a dialect as broad as Tennyson's Old Farmer, telling on every occasion what the Lord had done for him in saving him after fifty years of drunkenness. But he could do more than talk Yorkshire. Night after night, with his arms full of loaves of bread and his heart fall of the gospel, he would wend his way to some of the low lodging dens of the city, where men and women, in poverty, tilth and mire, were living like rats. There, while he stilled their clamor by feed- ing them bread, he poured into their astonished ears GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 433 the story of his salvation, and told them there was hope now, even for them. Now and then, one would creep out of the shadows of the horrible place, and listen in tears, while he told of the love of Jesus for his soul. We have said this work extended into the churches Women with drunken husbands took heart again, and asked the prayers of Christians for their darkened homes. Many were the answers to these prayers, that to our unbelieving ears sound like romances. Families that long had been separated were bound together in the bands of Christian love. Sons, who had long been prodigals, came home to find in un- changed human love a welcome as boundless as had been granted them in the mercy of God. On a Saturday evening in November, a pastor re- ceived a message from a woman in his congregation, at that lime not a Christian, desiring him to come at once and try to calm her husband, who was on the verf revelation, let us remember the final end in 472 TIMES OF REFRESHING. the interest of which. Satan moves every column, is this daring and awful one, the destruction of Christi- anity. Therefore, more and more, in our own and other countries, the religious battle of the age is Christological. The batteries are unveiled, and the Cross is seen to be the center of the gathering col- umns. So Christian and anti-Christian literature are chiefly concerned with a personal Savior. Fate, free-will and fore-knowledge do not agitate the Church as once they did. The infidelity of 1800, that rudely boasted that it would obliterate the Bible, -the rationalism of a generation ago, that questioned the personality of God and the possibility of a revela- tion, are exchanged for a rationalism that questions the personality of Jesus, and the efficacy of his blood. In France, Germany, England and our own land, no discussions awaken such interest as those which raise the question of Christ's position among the children of men. Witness the thronged and breathless audi- ences of Cook, as he plunges into the heart of this great theme, and vindicates Christ's name to a place above every name that is named. Now this prominent fact bears directly and evi- dently upon all the preaching, and especially on the revival preaching of this time. Preaching, by all the trend of these later years, is, and ought to be, the lifting up of Jesus Christ. The guns must be mounted on the assaulted rampart. And that not alone for speculative and argumentative purposes. For moral and immediate spiritual ends as well, the preacher may give a more passing emphasis to other parts of the broad scheme of re- REVIEW AND PROSPECT. 4:7*3 demption and throw the weight of argument and appeal on faith in Jesus Christ. Dr. Kirk says: "The aim of the revival preacher is to produce im- mediate and personal results." Immediate results can no way be so readily reached as by taking men on the line either of their present interest or present need. Therefore let Edwards preach to the con- science. Even in its death it will side with the preacher as he arraigns it at the bar of God. And let our preacher now, hold the sinner's breast open to the glance of a living Christ, who sees and can un- fold the half-confessed longings of the heart. Again if, as Dr. Kirk says, the end of revival preaching is to produce personal results, how better shall it be done, than by bringing two persons vividly together — the sinner, conscious of sin and dimly con- scious also of a need of pardon, and a Savior, with a personal touch of love and sympathy and help? This then is the characteristic and (on the side of truth) the power ot present revival preaching. It holds all the circle of the old doctrines of grace, but pressed by the state of religious opinion in the denials of Christ, and by a consequent popular sense of the need of Christ, (for with ns as with Peter, the denial of Christ, and the feeling of its guilt are not far apart), the emphasis of modern preaching is a personal Savior, Son of man and Son of God. This personal- ism of the preaching is philosophically allied to a sharp sense of individual responsibility. It leads on the confession of sin and the confession of Christ. When he speaks with a living voice, as he did to Mary, the cry of worship springs readily to the lips. And A74: TIMES OF KEFRE&ULNG. now, as ever, it is proven true, when lie is lifted up He draws men unto him. So not without reason in the revival of the past twenty years a gentler form of spiritual counsel has prevailed to such an extent as to give rise to the crit- icism, that our present revival teaching is superficial and shallow when compared with the stern and scath- ing language of the first preachers. The self-search - ings and self-loathings of a century ago, are now veiled under the winning invitation u Come to Jesus." To critics, who judge by surface-sound it has become a stock phrase without depth or meaning, perhaps a cant phrase on which exhorters ring the changes at re- vival meetings, or at best an unmeaning sentiment which deceives inquirers with the glitter of an idea destitute of real comfort and power. But this is not true. The form of the message in which conversion is set forth has changed, but not its substance. " Coming to Christ," means the same thing as the severer, fuller and more theologic terminology of Edwards and Whitefield. Neither is it to be admitted that from a philosophic view the preaching of " Come to Jesus," is less effec- tive in the arousal of conscience, and in the sharp sense of sin and responsibility, or inferior in these re- spects to the legal preaching of the old divines. We will gain power, not lose it, when we clearly per- ceive that conversion is not coming to the truth, how- ever pungent and humbling it may be, but it is ac- cepting the concrete fact of Jesus Christ slain for our sins; that the world's spiritual help is not to come through anv moral philosophy, however true or awak- REVIEW AND PROSPECT. 475 ening, but through the life and death of a person. There is no moral base so firm as that which the per- sonality of the our religion furnishes. Every form of heathen theology is the basis of a wrong system of morals, because without a personal God there is pos- sible no rigid sense of moral accountability. The scale slides to suit the shifting occasion. But not only must there be a supreme God, he must stand revealed to us. Spencer's God is, for spiritual ends, no better than none at all. The nearer God stands to us while yet he is truly God, the better defined do our moral relations to him become. And this comes to pass in the person of Jesus. Coming to him is rising to that point of view from which a perfect and conscience- arousing system of morals, like stars at sea, wheel solemnly into view. Philosophy says, " Come to right morals and a broad system of right living, that you may get into right relations with God." Christ says, " Come unto me, that you may see sin and duty and responsibility." Some one wisely says, " Con- viction at Calvary is deeper than conviction at Sinai." There can be no spiritual life without a sense of sin. There can be no deep sense of sin without a view of its true character as opposition to God; there is no such view of the nature of sin as opposing God as ap- pears from the standpoint of the incarnation; the hum- bling, bruising, crushing of the Son of God; therefore, to attain the life which comes through a knowledge and abhorrence of sin, that is to be converted, it is neces- sary to come to Him who was "wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities." " Coming to Jesus" then, is a winning phrase which 4?6 TIMES OF REFRESHING. lias in it all the old theology — a diamond in whose heart are the storms and darkness and light of many ages of revelation and human history. Sinai and Cal- vary blend there, and while it may be superficially? because ignoranlly spoken, it may also disclose depths more profound than human logic can measure. III. As the direct consequence of the simplified theology of the present revival era there has risen another and most important difference between early and present revivals. The number of preachers is greatly increased, revivals are multiplied by the mul- tiplication of revival preachers. Pastors, with per- haps a larger faith in the blessings of revival, preach more directly and plan more earnestly to that end. Revivals are more generally expected, and therefore, are more frequently enjoyed. Besides, there is an increasing number of lay preach- ers. It would be a mistake to suppose there were none in the first revivals in this country. President Ed wards says that in his time " Some laymen were in some respects under greater advantages to encour- age and forward this work than ministers." Still their labors by no means occupied the place to which they have now attained. Of the limitations of lay-evan- gelism mention has elsewhere been made; it is suffi- cient to the present purpose to remind the reader, that never in the history of the world were there so many hearts realizing the privilege of a Christian priesthood, and speaking, as opportunity offered, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Another distinguishing feature of modern revival agencies is in the conventions and associations of va- REVIEW AND PROSPECT. 477 rious kinds now so extensively held for the special purpose of aiding the revival work of the church. k,The inhabitants of one city go to another city" and pray and plan and labor for the rapid coming of the kingdom of Christ. The results of these conferences are enlarged knowl- edge of the Bible, and consequent better aptitude to teach its truths, wider experience of methods most effective in gathering the people and impressing the truth, and above all, an increase of faith and fervor in the work of winning souls. Granted that the plans developed are not always either wise or practicable. In their application this will soon be demonstrated, and they will either be improved or abandoned. After the chaif there will be found a residuum of wheat, and through experience, even of failures, the church goes on. By these various methods the voices that call men to Christ, are both multiplied and qualified. Salvation comes through the hearing of the truth, and too many preachers ordained, or unordained, can- not be sent into the great world-field, provided only they be sound of head and heart. The directions in which the activity of Christian women is being brought to bear upon revival work, as shown in a preceding chapter, present another hopeful contrast of later and earlier revivals. In the inquiry room, in Bible and temperance work and in house-to-house visitation the natural and the sancti- fied influence of Christian womanhood is brought into direct contact with the work of saving souls. How it often wins attention, and leads to decision — when other agencies had failed — every one of the revivals of the past few years could give abundant evidence. 478 TIMES OF REFRESHING. The Sunday School also draws its lines of instruc- tion closer around the idea of salvation. Teachers are no longer content to labor only for the catachetical or Biblical instruction of the children. Before every class hovers the Bethlehem star, and they are wisest teachers who by its single light guide their scholars to Jesus. Hence revivals beginning in the Sunday School are neither uncommon nor discredited. The simpler theology of this day — simpler, and yet not less profound than that of a century ago — invites- childhood to the arms of Christ in terms which can be readily understood and obeyed. And the time is gone by forever, when a revival shall be considered complete, that does not stoop to the Sunday school class and the home circle, gathering some of its brightest trophies in the lives of those, standing in the midst of whom on earth, Jesus spoke his tender- est words of invitation and whom he made the types of his kingdom, "Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven. " IV. Comparing past and present revivals in regard of the outer agencies, or machinery, if such a word may be used, it is manifest the compass and the num- ber of those agencies has been vastly enlarged. It cannot be said our revivals are deeper than those of a century ago. They do not produce fruit in more decided or devoted followers of Christ. But they are broader. The Church has anew, and with loftiest purpose, undertaken the commission to evan- gelize the world. In this she has many allies. The newspaper, the railroad, and the telegraph are called to the service of revivals, and grand, indeed, has been REVIEW AND PROSPECT. 479 the service they have recently rendered. They have called people from homes and shops and distant cities in countless throngs to hear the gospel. To give room to those throngs, great tabernacles, with every appliance for comfort and successful work, have been erected. Within and around them "religious cam- paigns" have been organized and conducted with con- summate generalship and in the sublime purpose of taking all the world for Jesus. Under that general- ship every class of society has been approached on whatever line of influence promised greatest efficiency and power. With some the packed inquiry room, with some a service for kindred callings, with others, visitation in the home or the office. Some have been brought face to face with Calvary at once, others have first been fed, clothed, sobered, encouraged by human kindness and then led up to the great question of eternal life. So broad have been these agencies, planned with such skill and driven with such faith, that mountains of difficulty have been whelmed under the revival waves, and the hopeless and abandoned, as well as the attentive, life-long hearers of the Word and children in life's impressible morning, have all been gathered to the standard of the Cross. It is no disparagement of any other revival era, to say (nay, rather it is the fruit of the Church's long experience in all eras) that never was the world so wound round and round with a net-work of holy agencies to draw- it to the feet of Christ, as in these days of the broad, systematic "campaigning" of the army of the Lord. In the light now of the past history of revivals in our land; their impress on the dawn of our national 480 TIMES OF REFRESHING. life; their increasing breadth by which they reach over our enlarging territory, and compass all the con- ditions of our multiform society; the growing faith in them, by which they tend more and more from the exceptional and spasmodic, to the normal and con- tinuous state of church life and work, who shall measure their future connection with our history, or their influence on our destiny? We are in the midst of difficult social ques- tions. Unsolved and vital problems shade some- what the gleam of the future's promise. Every- where there rises into clearer outline the con- viction that somehow in Truth and Righteousness, that are above the turmoil and whirl of earthly collisions, that shall come to us from the calmness and wisdom of Heaven, alone will be found the medicine for our healing. From the political economist, and the philanthropist and moralist, men turn to a "divine philosophy." The Delphic oracle of human wisdom with its politic uncertainty is failing us. The cry of the old Greek's despair rings through our nation, "Pan is dead." Not in ideal government, in litera- ture or commerce can America safely rest her last de- pendence. Our railroad lines, and telegraph lines, that intersecting every whither "demonstrate the problem of our greatness," demonstrate also the incapacity of greatness to save us. Our very expan- sion threatens our unity, and our industries are fraught with peril to the enterprise and power which they suggest. Already the despotisms and the aris- tocracies of the old world are sighting glasses across the sea to note the tottering of a fabric they have REVIEW AND PROSPECT. 481 long pronounced as ephemeral as it is brilliant. Meanwhile, through the length and breadth of our prosperity, and far into the depth of our nation's best thought there is a significant pause and silence. The factories on our eastern coast, with the wheels of o^reat enterprises poised on their axles, are waiting. The mines of western mountains, lean into their dark- ness, and listen for a word that shall assure success- ful venture before they load the shaft. The great markets of commerce move cautiously — listening be- tween every trade across the counter and every tran- saction in the halls of exchange, and the ships rock idly in the harbor, till from restored public confidence and adjusted social relations shall come a healthful and hopeful breeze to swell their sails. But "Dodona's oak is riven," and the oracles are silent. A confused murmur of many voices but increases uncertainty, while the economist talks of supply and demand, and the politician talks of police and laws, and obedience, and the philanthropist lectures on brotherhood and charity, and the moralist pleads for " virtuous liv- ing," and honesty and righteousness of man with man. But many are the guide-boards of Providence that point to the truth. These voices in their com- mingling shape a truth higher than their separate philosophy dreams. The steps and the voice for which Eastern factories and Western mines and crowded marts and lonely prairies and silent seas are waiting, are the steps and the voice of the Galilean. Through His conquest comes our peace. Upon this point what do the history and philosophy of revivals say? God in the interests of his kingdom, 482 TIMES OF REFRESHING. which is also our kingdom, shapes every human force and agency. As we have seen, even national troubles and disasters pave the way for the more victorious march of the gospel. As through a million impal- pable influences of heaven, earth and sea, he brings on that wave of mingled light and warmth which men call spring, so by countless agencies, and by invisible but mighty providences, he prepares the revivals which bring the flush of heaven to earth. If the past teaches us any lesson clearly, it is this; revivals of religion are passing from the extraordinary to the ordinary fact in the life of the Church, from occasion- al and relatively passing effects on national life to fac- tors of such persistent and widening power, as more and more to determine that life. A wave of feeling lays its hand for an instant on the granite of unbelief, only to fall helplessly back. The almighty force of the tide unites heaven and earth in its victorious movement. A thousand streamlets 11 Draw down iEonian hills, and sow The dust of continents to be," and so all spiritual force, however slight and slow, in the feeblest church, in the lowliest heart, makes solid ground for future life. But revivals are to individual life and activity, what tide-waves are to streamlets. T^h ey close around social and national stagnation, as with the uplifting clasp of the arms of God. They have saved Germany, and the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and England, and Ireland, and Scotland. By blessed confluence of mighty human endeavor in the hearts of Whiteiield and the Edwards and Ten- REVIEW AND PROSPECT. 483 nents, and supreme divine grace, a revival lifted the nation from the perils of dishonesty and hypocrisy in 1740. By combination of heavenly influences to compute which our mathematics are powerless, a revival bore our vessel of national life from the sands of French infidelity which threatened it with decay and rot, in 1800. By upward drawings of the heart of the Church in universal prayer, as the moon and stars uplift the sea, the nation was saved from a de- vouring reign of greed and speculation in 1858. And now in this time of anxious thought, one sign may well outweigh our fears. The truths of God are above us like stars in the sky, and human hearts are pliant water under their golden lines. In Nova Scotia the Atlantic marches inland with a glittering front forty feet high. Are revivals the tides of God? Then there is heavenly law in their movement, and by their prevalence everywhere and their continuance always, they will more than match all our waiting problems and overflow all our hidden perils. But their prevalence and continuance are at the command of the Church. They move to the drawings of truth, faith, prayer, and service. How resistless the union when the hand of human faith clasps the hand of God! How responsible the position of the American Church! If she is faithful to her sublime place as meditator between the Throne and the nation, how the abiding works of the Spirit may light up all our country's path! How firm and free she may set her prow against the sunrise of the world's best day! The breath of God will expand her sails and the waves of God buoy up her keel.