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GETTING READY 
 
 FOR A Revival 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. E. S. LORENZ, B. D. . 
 
 PRESIDENT OF LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE 
 
 DAYTON, OHIO: 
 United Brethren Publishing House. 
 1889. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1888, 
 
 Bt W. J. Shuey, Dayton, Ohio. 
 
Wi)^a are |^0oKing <f orfaarb ta or ^afac just €nttttlt t\iz pimstrg, 
 antr fol^0 are 
 ^pttrrebr on &g a ^iclg Ambition 
 ®J0 be a ^abstx fat gig^teoasttess in t^t Mottn, ta |Ceair 
 ^ang ^ouls lo S^l^eii: Sabioar, anb ia ^ailb wp 
 @;^e C^tirc^ 0f Christ, 
 §0oh is Post ^ffeclionatelg |pebicateb bg l^eir 
 Jellofo-serbant aab Widi-kk^zt, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Great as are many of the mistakes made in the management 
 of revival work, there is none, in my judgment, so general and 
 disastrous as the negledl adequately to prepare for the coming 
 special services, weeks, and even months in advance. The time 
 was when preparation for a revival was impossible, for a preacher 
 with from ten to forty appointments to serve could do little more 
 than preach, holding a meeting here or there as the Spirit seemed 
 to indicate. The rapid concentration of mind and heart possible 
 to our simple minded fathers on account of the lack of other sub- 
 jedls of thought and feeling made preparation less necessary 
 than it is now in this day of complex civilization with its unnum- 
 bered distracting elements. What was once a simple problem 
 has become a greatly complicated one whose solution requires 
 great fertility in expedients and indomitable patience. I was 
 impressed with this fadl at the very beginning of my ministry, 
 and what little success the lyord has given me in winning souls 
 has seemed largely due on its human side to the plans and meth- 
 ods employed in preparing the way for the revival service. It 
 has seemed a duty to give an account of the general principles 
 which guided me in this work with such plans and methods as 
 would illustrate them, and make them more suggestive, as a help 
 to others whose thoughts have not taken the same diredlion, or 
 whose youth and inexperience would lead them to welcome prac- 
 tical suggestions in this important work. 
 
 I hardly need to say that no attempt has been made to 
 exhaust the possible methods that may be employed in work 
 
 vii 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACIS. 
 
 preparatory to a revival. My desire has been to be suggestive 
 rather than exhaustive. Personal talents and local circumstances 
 vary so greatly that an endless variety of plans and measures are 
 possible, and if the following pages suggest other and better 
 plans to the fertile mind of the earnest evangelistic worker their 
 purpose has been fully met. 
 
 Many of the plans and expedients suggested in this volume 
 will not be found praAicable everywhere ; but that does not prove 
 them practicable nowhere. Indeed, none have been admitted 
 which have not approved themselves either in the author's own 
 experience or in that of some of his brethren. To such pastors 
 as find the clerical profession an easy one the following discus- 
 sion will appear absurd, for it implies absolute absorption of 
 mind in the aggressive work of the church and unceasing toil by 
 day and by night The lazy minister who reverses the law of the 
 Sabbath, working one day and resting six, has no use for this 
 volume. These pages take for granted that the pastor is a hard 
 worker who spares himself only that he may work harder in the 
 future. 
 
 As many a shrewd reader will suspedl it at any rate, I may as 
 well confess that this volume is but a part of a larger work which 
 was to have contained a discussion of all the important phases of 
 the management of revivals. Called to accept other duties 
 which claim all my strength and leisure, I am obliged to relin- 
 quish the larger plan and to content myself with sending out 
 only the first of the three parts of the work. Whether the other 
 two parts, on the management of the work "During the 
 Revival" and "After the Revival" will ever be prepared is 
 known only to Him for whose glory they were projedled. 
 
 E. S. IvORENZ. 
 
 Lebanon Valley College^ Annville^ Pa.y July 13th, 1888. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction 1 1 
 
 PART I. 
 The Preacher's Preparation. 
 
 Chapter First — Studying the Situation 17 
 
 Chapter Second — Preparing Means and Methods 33 
 
 Chapter Third — Spiritual Preparation 52 
 
 PART II. 
 Preparation of the Church. 
 
 Chapter First — Waking the Fnergy of the Church 76 
 
 Chapter Second — Spiritual Preparation of the Church 83 
 
 Chapter Third — Organizing the Church 104 
 
 PART III. 
 General Preparation, 
 
 Chapter First — Preparation of the Unsaved 119 
 
 Chapter Second — Calling an Evangelist 143 
 
 Chapter Third — Miscellaneous Preparation 151 
 
 ix 
 
"The connedlion between the right use of means for a re- 
 vival, and a revival, is as philosophically sure as between the 
 right use of means to raise grain and a crop of wheat. I be- 
 lieve, in fadl, it is more certain, and that there are fewer 
 Instances of failure. The e£fe(5l is more certain to follow. 
 Probably the law connedling cause and e£Fedl is more undevi- 
 ating in spiritual than in natural things, and so there are 
 fewer exceptions." — President Finney. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Before proceeding to consider the methods to be used in pre- 
 paring for revival work, it is important that the conception of 
 revivals upon which this study is based should be clearly defined, 
 and its claims to definite treatment examined and justified. 
 
 In a general way a revival may be said to be the result of a 
 special religious impulse manifesting itself in the renewal of the 
 first love of Christians, and the quickening of their zeal, and in 
 the conversion of sinners. The very etymology of the word 
 implies previous spiritual death. Indifference and negledl hav- 
 ing broken down the spiritual life of a community, at its lowest 
 ebb an unexpedled readlion is felt. The native religious 
 instindls of the race assert themselves, and open the way for the 
 operation of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly, and often seemingly 
 spontaneously, a wonderful interest is felt by church and world 
 alike in the long negledled subjedl of religion, especially in its 
 personal bearings. The church becomes conscious of its sin and 
 unworthiness, repents deeply of its backslidings, renews its faith 
 and love for God, and manifests a consuming zeal for the exten- 
 sion of his kingdom. The results of the new religious impulse 
 are seen among sinners in antagonism, restlessness, fear, con- 
 viction of sin, and conversion. The movement affedls the 
 community in its organized solidarity as a community, not as an 
 aggregation of individuals. Like conditions have produced like 
 needs and susceptibilities, and, the movement having found a 
 beginning in some more religiously sensitive heart, it runs like 
 an electric current throughout the whole community. 
 
 xi 
 
Xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 r 
 
 ^ It will be noticed that the results look in two different 
 directions, the church, and the unsaved. The conception of a 
 revival will vary as the one or the other is emphasized. The 
 word revival itself lays the stress on the results to the church, 
 because in the beginning of these movements the benefits were 
 most conspicuous among professed Christians. . During the last 
 century when the churches both in England and America had 
 declined to such a fearful extent in piety and religious power, 
 when they were largely composed of unregenerated persons, the 
 revival of the church was the most striking result obtained, and 
 hence the eflfedl of the new religious impulse upon the church 
 was emphasized. 
 
 In our own day the radical idea of the revival has not changed, 
 but owing to altered conditions another aspedl of the result ha'^ 
 received the greater attention. The churches are at least pro- 
 fessedly constituted of converted persons, and the stress placed 
 upon the dodlrine of personal assurance of salvation has drawn a 
 sharp line between the saved and the unsaved. The accumulated 
 momentum gained from past revivals makes it no longer neces- 
 sary to dwell so emphatically on the quickening of the church, 
 and the revival becomes an aggressive movement for the conver- 
 sion of sinners. The etymological sense of the word is obscured. 
 Instead of a largely spontaneous movement, unpremeditated and 
 unplanned, we have a definite method by which the church, 
 already quickened and consecrated, adds to the number of 
 Christ's disciples. It rests on a consecrated will, not on a fleet- 
 ing emotion. It becomes a means carefully studied and prepared 
 for in advance, a regular and integral part of the church work, 
 influencing to a greater or less extent all its other phases and 
 forms. It is the harvest time of the year, when the yield of the 
 seed sown during other seasons is gathered in, when all the gen- 
 eral and personal plans for saving people reach their time of 
 consummation; when the ordinary cares and interests of life 
 stand in abeyance, and all the energies of the church are concen- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xiii 
 
 trated upon the immediate work of leading souls to Christ; when 
 under special power and grace obtained from God by special 
 prayer a special work is accomplished. It is a definite method 
 from which, if properly applied, definite results are to be ex- 
 pedted. It is a campaign, deliberately determined upon and 
 planned, in which every possible exigency is foreseen and pro- 
 vided for. 
 
 As it is this conception of the revival which is the basis of the 
 thought of this work, it deserves a little further investigation. 
 This is all the more necessary that many workers whom it gov- 
 erns unconsciously in their work feel a vague sense of duty to 
 antagonize it when it is definitely expressed. Others denounce 
 as presumptuous and impious the degradation of these modern 
 theophanies into a mechanical method for manufadluring Chris- 
 tians, as they would express it. A revival is the work of God 
 through his Spirit, they would urge, and man should not impede 
 the work by his plans and measures. The origin of the difficulty 
 lies in the false presumption of a necessary antagonism between 
 the plans and methods of consecrated men and the mind of the 
 Spirit. The emphasis placed upon human instrumentalities and 
 plans seems to them to imply a substitution for divine power 
 and a derogation from the divine glory. An examination of the 
 basal ideas of the conception of the revival as a method of work 
 will remove the misapprehension, and relieve many earnest and 
 successful workers from the imputation of presumption and 
 impiety. 
 
 The corner-stone of this conception of the revival is the idea 
 of God's abiding desire to save the sinner, "As I live, saith the 
 I/ord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that 
 the wicked turn from his way and live." (Ezekiel 33: ii). In 
 the form of Wisdom, God cries in the streets, in the chief place 
 of concourse, in the opening of the gates (Proverbs i: 20). He 
 rises up early (Jeremiah 7: 13), and calls and spreads his hands 
 all the day (Isaiah 65: 2). God is not only always ready and will- 
 
xiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ing, but also eager to save, and rejoices to cooperate with any 
 honest eflFort to accomplish the results he himself so earnesf y 
 desires. God's wish to save men is not fludluating, or subject to 
 ebb and flow, finding its manifestation in a community but once 
 in two or three or even ten years, but an abiding passion of the 
 divine heart upon which we can rely even more certainly than 
 we can on the force of gravitation. God's love for souls is always 
 aglow. He is always ready to work in a revival. His right arm 
 of power is ever bare waiting to be set in motion by the prayer 
 ot faith from a soul which longs for the salvation of sinners. 
 
 The second truth justifying this conception of the revival is 
 that God does not use his power in an immediate and absolute 
 way, but in his wisdom prefers to work by human agencies. The 
 Scriptures are largely the history of the persons whom he chose 
 as his agents. The command " Teach all nations " is a recogni- 
 tion of man's partnership in the work of evangelizing the world. 
 The infinite uses the finite to influence the finite. Infinite power 
 and grace are translated into finite terms through human person- 
 ality. The desired results are purely moral, and no power, even 
 though infinite, can produce them except as it is transformed 
 into moral influence. To the great mass of mankind this moral 
 influence best comes through their fellows. The power of a great 
 manufadlory is the expansive force of the pent-up steam in its 
 hoilers; but only as that force is transmitted by cogs and belts, 
 hopelessly powerless in themselves, to the various machines, 
 does it set every wheel in motion and yield the desired produdls. 
 The influence of neighbor on neighbor and of friend on friend, 
 family and social ties, all these are but the cogs and belts by 
 which the power of God is often transmitted. This is as true in 
 the revival as in any other department of church work. No 
 matter how spontaneous a revival may seem to be, a closer 
 examination will reveal the human instruments, perhaps uncon- 
 scious or even unwilling, through whom God worked; and in one 
 way or another he immediately provides efficient agents to carry 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 XV 
 
 it on. Moreover God is pleased to have the results depend very 
 largely, not only upon the faithfulness and zeal of his agents, but 
 also upon their power and skill in moving and controlling men. 
 Their mental power, their emotional natures, the force of their 
 ■wills, their social ties or influence, nay even their physical force 
 may become the channel through which the power and grace of 
 God flow into the lives of men. 
 
 So far from there being any antagonism between divine power 
 and the human instrument, the highest results are obtained by 
 their fullest cooperation. Beyond question God could work 
 alone, but he does not choose to do so. When man works alone 
 trusting to his own wisdom and methods his failure is disastrous. 
 But when men consecrate to God their physical, mental, and 
 spiritual powers, their eloquence and executive talents, their tadl 
 and fertility in expedients, all they have and are, he accepts these 
 gifts which he had first given them for this very purpose, and 
 vitalizes and renders them unspeakably more efficient by the 
 anointing of the Spirit. As the disciples went forth and preached 
 everywhere, the I^ord worked with them and confirmed the word 
 with signs following. The love is divine, the methods of apply- 
 ing it to human needs are human, and there is no rivalry between 
 them. As well might the air and the flying birds enter into a 
 controversy over the credit for its speed. God may convidl and 
 convert individuals and communities without intermediate human 
 agency, even as the storm might carry the bird with unspread 
 wings; but storm driven birds are the exception not the rule, and 
 even they will go faster and further if their wings are outspread. 
 
 In the third place this conception of the revival rests upon the 
 truth that it is the result of a wise application and adaptation of 
 the laws of mind and spirit, and not a miracle contradicfting or 
 suspending those laws. They become the channels through 
 which the power of God becomes available to men in the pros- 
 ecution of his work. For in revival work we are not engaged as 
 some seem to think in something outside the laws of cause and 
 
xvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 efife<5l, something without rule or order, in which the divine will 
 works arbitrarily, but in a realm of law none the less definite and 
 fixed that it is spiritual. There are laws of faith and prayer and 
 love in the spiritual world just as there are laws of motion in the 
 physical. Nay more, there is an interadlion between the laws of 
 the physical, mental, and spiritual realms, which, while it adds 
 great complexity to the problem, also gives a wider range for the 
 exercise of skill and tacft in applying them to the needs of the 
 revival. The laws and instindls of man's animal nature, ordained 
 as they are of God, are not too low to receive consideration of the 
 skillful revival worker. No matter what his theories may be, 
 every successful revivalist studies carefully the best methods of 
 impressing the minds of men, and of controlling those affecftions 
 and motives which most powerfully affedl their wills. In the less 
 thoroughly explored psychical and spiritual realm of man's nature, 
 he trusts his intuitions, his sublimated common sense, and uses 
 and applies laws he would find unconquerable difficulty in formu- 
 lating. Everywhere, consciously or unconsciously; with set 
 purpose or spontaneously, revivalists are using all these laws 
 under the guidance and inspiration of God, and accomplishing 
 his blessed purposes. Sandlified skill and wisdom not only have 
 a place in the economy of God's kingdom, but a high place, as 
 the history of the Christian church abundantly illustrates. 
 
 A revival therefore is the result of harmonious cooperation, 
 God supplying the working power and man the means of apply- 
 ing it. It is produced according to and by the application of 
 given religious, spiritual, mental, and physical laws, all of which 
 are instituted of God. When God's conditions as formulated in 
 these laws are met, the results will appear in the quickening of 
 the church and the conversion of sinners. 
 
GETflNG READY FOR A REVIVAL. 
 
 THE PREACHER'S PREPARATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STUDYING the: SITUATION. 
 
 If it is wortli one's while to spend years in preparing 
 for the ministry, or to give hours and even days to the 
 preparation of a single sermon, it certainly is fitting to 
 devote weeks and even months to preparing for the revi- 
 val, the harvest and consummation of the year. In point 
 of fadl in no other branch of church work is previous 
 preparation so important, or so diredlly remunerative. 
 When a general begins a campaign he seeks information 
 of the utmost possible accuracy with regard to the geo- 
 graphical and topographical features of the country 
 which is likely to be the seat of war. By various means 
 he seeks to discover the strength of the enemy, the 
 
 17 
 
i8 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 novement and disposition of his forces, and his probable 
 plans. He makes an accurate estimate of the forces at 
 his own command, and studies their points of strength 
 and of weakness. He arranges for the proper supply of 
 food, of ammunition, and of other necessities; in short, 
 he provides for every possible exigency. After a careful 
 survey of all the conditions affedling the case, he prepares 
 a thoroughly matured plan of operations, which, with the 
 inevitable modifications made necessary by unforeseen 
 circumstances, will govern his army and largely decide 
 results. A revival is a campaign, and requires the same 
 study, planning, and preparation of resources Many a 
 battle is lost before it begins ; many a revival service is a 
 failure before it is announced. How often a preacher in 
 the evangelistic churches, feeling that a protradled meet- 
 ing is expelled of him, and finding the proper season at 
 hand, announces such a meeting at a given date. At the 
 appointed time the service begins, but the preacher is cold, 
 and the church, if possible, is colder still. The outside 
 world is too indifferent to attend. It takes a week to rouse 
 the preacher, a second is needed to raise the spiritual tem- 
 perature among the church members. At the end of the 
 third week, when pastor and people are giving signs of 
 physical exhaustion, sinners are getting interested and a 
 few are under convidtion. Perhaps the revival closes 
 
A REVIVAI,. 19 
 
 witli simply this unfulfilled promise of results, or, if it 
 continues, it is not until the fourth week is nearly gone 
 that the work of salvation begins in earnest. Owing to 
 extreme weariness, or to other engagements of the pastor, 
 the meeting soon closes with only a partial vidlory. The 
 secret of this waste of time and labor, nine cases out of 
 ten, is inadequate preparation. The preacher is not ready, 
 the church is not ready, and, equally fatal, sinners are 
 not ready. ( 
 
 Dr Porter used to say that where there was uo revival 
 the preacher was the greatest obstacle , and ha confessed 
 that his own early ministry was at fault. In view of 
 the awful responsibilities resting upon him for the souls 
 of men, the preacher is under peculiar obligations to pre- 
 pare himself in knowledge, feeling, and purpose, in body, 
 mind, and soul, for this aggressive work. "Whatever the 
 condition of his people or the attitude of the unsaved 
 may be, the preacher should bring to the very first service 
 the fullest possible preparation. If he is in proper condi- 
 tion he will soon give the keynote to the meeting, and 
 the desired results will speedily follow. With a thorough 
 knowledge of the situation in and out of the church, he 
 knows what is to be done. Having made a study of the 
 best methods of revival work and gathered materials, he 
 knows how it is to be done. By study of the word of 
 
20 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 God, by prayer and faith and love he has won the power 
 by which he is to do it. The thoroughly prepared 
 preacher is invincible; his victory is assured. 
 
 That the pastor should comprehend the situation is 
 exceedingly important. Without this comprehension 
 his work will largely be a groping in the dark. It is 
 worse than folly to expert the Holy Spirit to teach him 
 what he can learn by his own efforts. But this study of 
 environing conditions will take time; indeed, it is a work 
 that is never completely done. It requires a steady 
 observation from which nothing escapes, a faculty for 
 drawing corredl and important inferences from small facfts 
 of seemingly little value, a knowledge of human nature 
 which reads the motives and purposes of men. By 
 inquiry and observation the preacher should possess 
 himself of at least the leading and most influential fadls 
 of the general situation. 
 
 I. In the first place the pastor should thoroughly 
 know himself. The range of his physical power and 
 capacity for endurance, the dangers to his health and 
 vigor, ought to be definitely known. Owing to a lack of 
 this physical self-knowledge many a pastor has been 
 prostrated in the midst of a prosperous meeting, which 
 then of necessity closed. 
 
 A careful review of his mental gifts, with a keen eye 
 for his weaknesses and limitations, has its value. The 
 
FOR A REVIV^r.. 
 
 21 
 
 unimpassioned logical preacher needs to know liis lack 
 of emotional power. The powerful preacher must learn 
 his want of executive ability. A humble, unegotistical 
 study of one's gifts in order to use them for God to the 
 greatest advantage is a Christian duty. If the servant 
 with five talents had allowed himself to believe he had 
 but two, and had managed accordingly, his lord would 
 hardly have praised him for the modesty that cost him 
 an increase of three talents. On the other hand, his 
 management would have been equally unsuccessful had 
 he proceeded on the false and proud basis of a capital of 
 ten talents. 
 
 The preacher should have an accurate knowledge of his 
 own spiritual condition Watching for the souls of 
 his flock, a pastor sometimes negledls to watch for his 
 own His consecration in certain lines may be complete, 
 and wholly wanting in others not so conspicuous. He 
 may mistake the earnestness of habit, an. acquired power 
 of warming up to his work, a professional earnestness 
 shared by him in common with men m other professions, 
 for the true religious earnestness His faith may simply 
 be a form of self-confidence, his love simply good-nature. 
 A realization of his condition in the sight of God is a 
 fundamental necessity. Ignorance here makes success 
 very doubtful 
 
22 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 2. Kvery community is an organized unit with art 
 individuality all its own. Within certain bounds it has 
 logical, emotional, and volitional laws peculiar to itself. 
 It has idiosyncrasies and whims, pet ideas and opinions^ 
 which must be rCvipedted and considered, if no offense is 
 to be given. It has peculiar laws of propriety, social, 
 moral and religious, which it would be hazardous to out- 
 rage. Some communities are sedate in their religious 
 life, a few from principle, others by mere force of habit 
 and inertia Other communities are demonstrative and 
 given to religious excitements. One community needs 
 argument, another a vivid, imaginative presentation of 
 truth, another still can be moved only by an appeal to its 
 sensibilities, while still another can be helped by the 
 application of a strong will force from without. A clear 
 apprehension of the characteristic traits of a community 
 will be a great help to the preacher in the adaptation of 
 his means and methods to their needs. 
 
 While the church will share the traits which character- 
 ize the community, it will have in addition peculiarities 
 of its own, which need consideration. There will be 
 prejudices for or against certain methods of work, and 
 certain forms of religious life, whicii taasc be utilized 
 avoided, or removed. Peculiar ideas of Christian life and 
 work will more or less prevail, and exert an influence 
 
FOR. A REVIVAL- 23 
 
 for good or evil. In one church there is a shrinking 
 from public testimony, in another from prayer, in another 
 these are made the whole of the religious life and 
 teaching is ignored. Every church has its peculiar weak- 
 nesses from which danger is to be feared. It also has its 
 peculiar strength to be used to the best advantage. 
 
 The relations which exist among the individual mem- 
 bers should be well understood. Certain lines of cleavage, 
 based on congeniality of character and tastes, not incom- 
 patible with Christian love, govern the crystallization of 
 the social life of the church. While not only inevitable 
 but proper, they need watching lest by undue emphasis 
 they promote division and strife. Kvery church has its 
 leaders each of whom has influence over a certain number 
 of his fellow members. If any members are indifferent or 
 backslidden it is important to know whose cooperation 
 in their restoration will be most helpful. In the 
 very nature of things there will be a certain amount of 
 incompatibility between some of the members of the 
 society; an accurate knowledge of the degree and the 
 causes should be sought. Should there be positive ill- 
 will, or a quarrel of old standing, a quiet, unobserved, 
 utterly unbiased investigation needs to be made by the 
 pastor, if for no other reason, for his own guidance in the 
 management of the church. 
 
24 GETTING READY 
 
 The standing in the community of each Christian 
 should be more or less definitely known. Occasionally 
 there are those who stand high in the church, and some- 
 times deservedly so, who have lost their influence in 
 the community. A knowledge of this will diredt the 
 use to be made of them. Inconsistent Christians often 
 have so deleterious an influence upon the world that 
 it is better to refuse to use them publicly until they 
 make public confession and set their wrong-doing 
 right as far as that may be possible. In a meeting 
 held some years ago by the writer, two of the most 
 adlive workers were afterward discovered by him to 
 be persons of the most unsavory reputation and they 
 were expelled. The harm the}^ had done who can 
 measure? Again, the true value of some of the less self- 
 assertive members is often underestimated. They need 
 to be brought out and their influence in the community 
 utilized. Dr. Cuyler very wisely remarks, ''The only 
 people in our churches who really do much good are those 
 who have established a confidence in their own sincerity, 
 and who get credit for a disinterested benevolence. 
 Ungodly persons will sometimes phrase their opinions of 
 
 church members on this wise : ' I believe in Mr. A . 
 
 He pays his debts, and he came to sit up with me when 
 I was sick. He's no Pharisee/ Now such a Mr,. A 
 
FOR A REVIVAIv. 25 
 
 is the only one who has sufiiciently won the confidence 
 of impenitent people to win them over to Christ. No 
 others need make the attempt " 
 ^ The pastor must know the amount and nature of the 
 talents of each individual member. In the average 
 church one-half of its ability is still undeveloped. A 
 few leading spirits are allowed to overwork their talents 
 until they get the church into a rut, while the less for- 
 ward members of perhaps equal capacity lie fallow and 
 useless. These undeveloped workers are to be studied 
 and their real power estimated. One is not much of a 
 speaker but is apt in quoting striking and pertinent 
 texts. Another can always be depended upon for some 
 fresh and impressive remarks, full of suggestiveness and 
 power. Still another has less intelle(5lual vigor but a 
 more enthusiastic style which moves the people. An- 
 other is tender and melting, quick to stir sensibilities. 
 I once had a worker who rarely spoke, but when he did 
 he put €o much of feeling and power into it that it 
 invariably gave the meeting a new start. Some cannot 
 be utilized to any special advantage as talkers, but can 
 pray with uncftion and power. One can pray in the quiet 
 prayer-meeting with good efFedl, but is not so valuable in 
 the more stirring revival meeting; while another can do 
 Jiis best only under the inspiration of the latter service. 
 
26 
 
 GETTIXG READY 
 
 There may be a number in the church who have no gifts 
 for public efforts, but are effeclive in personal, private 
 work. Another class is might}' in secret prayer, in 
 unwavering faith, and has power with God if not with 
 man. By family and social ties, or b}' personal influence, 
 ever}' Christian has power over some outsiders. It is 
 peculiarly important that the persons over whom it can 
 be exerted and its extent be known to the pastor. Its 
 use often turns the critical point in a sinner's case, while 
 a mistake may do irreparable injur}-. It may be safelj'' 
 said that no Christian lacks the one talent, and the ^^-ise 
 pastor seeks to know its nature and where and how to use 
 it. A just faith in the ability of his people opens great 
 resources to the taclfiil preacher. Over-estimation will 
 do less harm than imder-estimation, although both, of 
 course, are to be avoided. By personal obser^'ation, b}' 
 seemingh' incidental inquir}' among" the members, and 
 b}' actual experiment, the value of each member for 
 religious work ma}' be quietly but accurately ascertained. , 
 
 The relations of the church to the outside world are 
 also a proper subject of investigation. Churches differ 
 in their public influence even as do individuals. By a 
 seeming indifference to the outside world, by the incon- 
 sistencies of its members as manifested in their business 
 and social life, or even in the church life itself, or by a 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 2/ 
 
 lack of religious vitality, churches sometimes lose the 
 respecl of the community. Again, by indiscreet man- 
 agement, or by unavoidable circumstances, an antagonism 
 has arisen between the church and the unsaved part of 
 the community. Some churches are robbed of their 
 religious influence by their high social standing, others 
 by their utter lack of it. Churches often lose their hold 
 upon the world by their lack of enterprise and aggress- 
 iveness in the temporal aspe(5ls of church life. All these 
 and other kindred fadls the pastor should know, that he 
 may use the advantages and neutralize the disadvantages 
 they represent. 
 
 Every church appeals to a fairly defined constituency 
 in the community that is peculiarly its own. Its spirit 
 and methods of work, its social and mental culture, its 
 undefinable indi«viduality, attract certain elements in the 
 community more strongly than they do others. It is 
 important that the pastor know not only this con- 
 stituency and its ruling ideas, but also what elements in 
 the life of the church attra(5t it, in order that he may on 
 the one hand adapt his methods and direcfl the life of the 
 church so as to strengthen these bonds and use them for 
 drawing the unsaved part of this constituency into the 
 kingdom and into the church, and on the other to so add 
 to the power of the church as to increase its constituency 
 and influence. 
 
28 , GETTING READY- 
 
 3. Essential as it is for a general to know his own 
 resources, it is equally so to know those of the enemy. 
 A spiritual general needs to know the opposing forces 
 with which he has to contend. What are the prevalent 
 forms of sin and vice in the community ? To awaken the 
 conscience of the people, the adlual concrete sins of 
 which it has been guilty must be exposed and set forth 
 in their true light. Especially should the lives of those 
 whose attendance is to be expedled at the special ser\aces 
 be thoroughly known to the preacher, not for purposes 
 of personal or even indirecft denunciation which w^ould 
 only antagonize and revolt, but as an assumption of the 
 true state of the case which shall justify the truth pre- 
 sented and its application to that case. 
 
 The ideals of Christian life, the conceptions of Chris- 
 tian doctrine, the arguments brought to bear against the 
 Christian religion and the church, the cause and extent 
 of any antagonisms or resentment against the church 
 and the truth, which obtain in the sinner's mind, should 
 all be known to the preacher as far as may be possible. 
 Once he is able to put himself in thought into the atti- 
 tude of the sinner and get his point of view, he will find 
 the great advantage to be not so much the mere answer- 
 ing of objecftions or the corredlion of misapprehensions, 
 as the ability to put the truth in a form that will take 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 29 
 
 ■hold Upon the mind of the sinner. The power of Mr. 
 Jones, and of many evangelists and ministers whose past 
 lives of sin seem to be strangely enough an advantage to 
 their present blessed work, has been in no small measure 
 due to their ability to read the sinner's thoughts, to give 
 form to his ideas, and to put the truth into the language 
 which finds" him. 
 
 The social organization among the unsaved is another 
 important study. A wise pastor became acquainted with 
 the youngest member of a class of seven young men 
 who were studying in a seledl school, and succeeded in 
 leading him to Christ. Through him he gradually 
 became acquainted with the other six and one by one led 
 them to accept Christ as their Savior. One Sabbath 
 morning coming down from the pulpit, he approached a 
 circle of young men, when one of them exclaimed, 
 **Here we are, our old class of seven, all united to 
 Christ!" By deftly using the social bonds that united 
 them he won them all when many another pastor would 
 have been satisfied with the first alone. 
 
 Single out the leaders and study them. I^earn the 
 charadler and extent of their influence both with refer- 
 ence to the persons influenced and its controlling power. 
 Ferret out their weak points and the susceptibilities of 
 their natures to religious truth. An accurate knowledge 
 
30 GETTING RKADY 
 
 of these leaders and the proper adaptation of means and 
 methods for reaching them will under God sweep the 
 community. 
 
 A definite knowledge of the exadl number and where- 
 abouts of the unsaved ought also to be obtained. A 
 canvass of the Sunday-school for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing a full and accurate list of the unsaved persons in the 
 school should early be made. The record should be kept 
 by classes under the names of the teachers, as the coop- 
 eration of the latter will be needed. At the same time 
 the name, residence, and spiritual condition of the par- 
 ents may be learned, as through the child the parents may 
 often be won. In a country neighborhood the name and 
 residence of every family in which there are unconverted 
 persons, within a radius of three miles, should be 
 obtained by personal visitation and inquiry, and each 
 individual name kept recorded. In the village or city a 
 thorough house to house canvass should be made, taking 
 the name of at least every family, if not of every indi- 
 vidual, and a permanent record made of their spiritual 
 condition, and of their church and Sunday-school rela- 
 tions In general it would be better that the pastor 
 himself make this canvass as he will learn many helpful 
 things that another person cannot put on record for him. 
 Yet in some few places the rivalry between the different 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 31 
 
 denominations, or a peculiar public sentiment, may make 
 it more advisable to send some other discreet and com- 
 petent person to perform the work, doing it in a more 
 secular and business-like way. It may also be done by 
 a committee of the members; but while this method has 
 its advantages it has also all the disadvantages under 
 which the pastor would labor, and the unity and likely 
 the accuracy of the work would be impaired. 
 
 A regular canvass book ought to be prepared, which 
 can be done at the cost of only a few dollars An oblong 
 book, perhaps eight by ten inches, will be the most con- 
 venient. The following facfts are certainly important: 
 name in full, street and number of residence, number in 
 family, church relations if any, number unconverted, 
 and number of children not in Sunday-school; a space 
 should also be left for remarks in which other fadls may 
 be noted. If this canvass is thoroughly and accurately 
 made, the book becomes a record of the religious condi- 
 tion of the people such as can be gained in no other way. 
 From this record an abstradl of the families who are 
 without church relations can easily be made, the list 
 being systemized geographically for future convenience. 
 If the pastor has made the canvass himself he can make 
 out a further list of individuals in Christian homes who 
 remain unconverted and who may seem accessible, With 
 
32 GETTING READY 
 
 these lists in hand the pastor knows exadlly what he has 
 to do, and can arrange his plans accordingly. The value 
 of such a canvass is simply not to be overestimated. The 
 pastor who has once given it a thorough trial will never 
 again consent to work in a community on the haphazard, 
 accidental plan 
 
FOR A RISVIVAL. 
 
 33 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 PREPARING MKANS AND METHODS. 
 
 During a revival tlie preacher is so taken up between 
 services with pastoral duties among ChrivStians and the 
 unsaved, that little leisure remains for study and medita- 
 tion. It is quite essential, therefore, to the best work in 
 the pulpit, that an ample amount of homileticai material 
 shall have been previously gathered. While the natural 
 excitement of the work, and the inspiration of the Holy 
 Spirit, will quicken the memory, and vivify the imagina- 
 tion, it is a mistake to rely on these alone. The Holy 
 Spirit often gives a clearer insight into a truth and opens 
 out relations between certain fadls not before seen, but 
 the truth and the facfls had previously been stored away 
 in the memory As a general rule he employs the men- 
 tal resources already accumulated. If he is to have a 
 wide range of materials from which to seledl the most 
 timely and effedlive text, thought, or illustration, it is 
 necessary that the mind be previously well furnished. 
 
 I. Other things being equal, the freshest and most 
 striking text will produce the freshest and most striking 
 
 3 
 
34 GETTING READY • 
 
 sermon. A fresh text presents the old truths from a new 
 point of view, and offers fresh lines of thought and forms 
 of expression. It arrests the attention and provokes the 
 intelledlual interest which precedes spiritual interest. A 
 happy text often accomplishes more than the sermon 
 which follows. But such texts are not revealed by an 
 arbitrary inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They must be 
 sought with care. In looking over a number of lists of 
 the texts used by various preachers, it is astonishing 
 to find how little they vary. It is safe to say that one-half 
 the revival preaching in our churches rests on less than 
 one hundred texts. The consequence is that year after 
 year approximately the same series of texts and the same 
 lines of thought fall upon the ears of the unsaved. Ser- 
 mons have power by the general impression they leave 
 rather than by any definite logical idea they impress upon 
 the memory. The repetition of ideas may not be noticed 
 by the hearer, but unconsciously a callousness of mind 
 and heart is produced by the repetition of the impression, 
 and susceptibility is destroyed without absolute loss of 
 the intelledlual interest. It is always important that the 
 preacher be fresh, but in the revival service it is an abso- 
 lute necessity that he leave the beaten track, finding 
 things new as well as old in the treasury of the Word. 
 But in order to do this there must be previous provision. 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 35 
 
 In his study of the Scriptures during the year every 
 text that strikes the preacher as adapted for revival work 
 should be noted and a record made of the line of thought 
 it suggested. In like manner the more extended readings 
 for exposition and the chief points they present should 
 be preserved for use in day services and other fitting 
 occasions. To make them more accessible, these texts 
 and readings should be classified. The condition of the 
 meeting requiring seemingly a given theme, the record 
 under that subjecft will yield not only a fresh and perti- 
 nent text, but also many collateral scriptures for proof 
 and illustration. The recorded sermon outline can in a 
 few moments be adapted to the needs of the hour, and in 
 a little while a discourse is prepared that without pre- 
 vious gathering of materials would have required a whole 
 day of study. In this way the proper amount of time 
 can be devoted to the pastoral work, — the private preach- 
 ing that is often so effedlive, — and to that personal 
 religious preparation and accumulation of religious and 
 divine power which is so essential, without the haunting 
 fear that the pulpit work is suffering. 
 
 2. Its lack of illustrations robs many an otherwise 
 powerful discourse of its edge. A telling anecdote 
 clinches the nail which the hammer of logic has driven. 
 The abstradl becomes flesh, as it were, in the anecdote, 
 
36 GETTING READY 
 
 is translated into concrete terms which the imagination 
 can grasp. As the first aim of revival preaching is to 
 awaken a keen realization of spiritual truth as adlual and 
 tangible, it ought by all means to abound in anecdotes 
 and illustrations. But there is no leisure for seeking 
 illustrations during a revival. IVIost preachers depend 
 upon their memories to call up comparisons and anecdotes 
 which they ha\e casually read in various periodicals. 
 The memories of some men will not suffer a striking 
 illustration to escape however hastily it may have been 
 read. But these anecdotal geniuses are rare. The number 
 of anecdotes the memory of the average preacher will 
 retain and yield at the fitting season is very small, and 
 most men must be content to reinforce their memories 
 with carefully kept records and systemized scrap-books. 
 
 Not every^ illustration or anecdote that is valuable for a 
 regular discourse is fitted for the revival sermon. To 
 adorn, to explain, or to prove, the ordinary uses of illus- 
 tration, they still have a place, but they are subordinated 
 to the purpose of reaching the will by impressing the 
 feelings and waking the emotions of the hearer. Its 
 appeal to the heart is the final test of the value of an illus- 
 tration for revival purposes. 
 
 Tried by this test there is a change from the standards 
 pbtaining for regular discourses in the relative impor- 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 37 
 
 tance of illustrations. Mere dignity and beauty taking 
 the lowermost seats and being but little considered, 
 whole classes of illustrations, scientific and historical, 
 are ruled out as worthy of only the rarest use. The rela- 
 tive value of illustrations for proof also suffers a change, 
 as those containing an emotional element are to be pre- 
 ferred. In explanatory illustrations the appeal to the 
 sympathies is even more emphasized and demanded. 
 Added to these comes in a class of illustrations which 
 usuall}^ have little place in dignified discourse, those, 
 which have no other objecl than the touching of the 
 heart. Logic here is not that of the head, but that of 
 the heart, it is not the harmony of ideas but of feelings 
 When one heart-string is set in motion its related accord- 
 ant strings are thrilled as w^ell, and are prepared to 
 respond more quickly and powerfulh^ when their help is 
 neededj Npt so much the illustration of a thought as the 
 preparation of the heart to receive a thought is here the 
 legitimate puipose. "^^ — 
 While the anecdote is rarely accorded a place in the 
 more dignified forms of discourse, it is peculiarly adapted 
 to the use of the revival worker. It gives variety and 
 movement, and thus adds interest and chains the atten- 
 tion. It appeals to the mind and heart of every class, 
 young and old, cultured and illiterate. Adults are after 
 
38 GETTING READY 
 
 all but grown-ui3 children and have not out-grown their 
 love for stories, as the numerous coUedlions of ana in 
 literary, scientific, artistic, and other fields of knowledge 
 abundantly testifj'. Even Disraeli confesses, " I have 
 often found anecdotes of an author more interesting 
 than his works." The anecdote brings an idea within 
 the range of human sympathy as no other form of illus- 
 tration can. As violin answers to violin, so the heart 
 responds to the history of the beating of other hearts. 
 For revival purposes therefore the anecdote must remain 
 the leading, and the most powerful and effecTiive form o£ 
 illustration. 
 
 In the selection of materials the following essential 
 elements of an effe(5tive revival anecdote should be kept 
 in view. 
 
 I. I t must be brief . Every detail which is unimportant^ 
 or which the hearer can infer from the details already 
 stated, ought to be omitted. During the progress of a 
 long tale the attention of the hearer is wearied by the 
 suspense of the mind uncertain of the connedtion to be 
 established between the thought and its illustration; or 
 what is worse, the idea to be emphasized is entirely for- 
 gotten. The progress of thought is broken, and the 
 unity of the discourse, destroyed. Moreover, it will 
 occupy too large a part of the short revival discourse. 
 
FOR A RKVIVAI.. 39 
 
 2. The anecdote must have point. No mere stringing 
 together of details will be effedlive. It must have unity, 
 must make progress as it develops, and must culminate 
 in some fa(5l, sentence, or phrase of such interest as to 
 jUvStify its narration, and of such meaning as to mark a 
 definite step in the development of the thought, or to 
 produce an impression upon the sensibilities of the 
 hearer. If the point is concentrated in a single phrase, 
 it will be all the more incisive and valuable. 
 
 3. Life and dramatic force are desirable elements in a 
 revival anecdote. They afford a larger opportunity for 
 the exercise of skill in the narration, and make the anec- 
 dote more interesting to the hearer, and more impressive. 
 This is the case however only when the immediate efifedl 
 upon the will is desired. When the purpose is instrudlion, 
 the more striking and interesting the illustration the 
 more likely is the hearer to remember the illustration and 
 forget the truth illustrated. 
 
 4. A large proportion of revival anecdotes ought to 
 make a diredl appeal to the sensibilities of the hearer. 
 An appeal to the fundamental affediions, — to the mutual 
 love of parents and children, of brothers and sisters, of 
 husbands and wives, — rarely fails to meet a response. 
 But the broader sympathies, — for children, for the heroic 
 and brave, for the divStressed in body or mind, — are 
 
40 GETTING READY 
 
 hardly less responsive, and deserve the attention of the 
 revival speaker. Anecdotes which stir the emotional 
 nature, the sense of the beautiful, even, or of the sub- 
 lime, which wake joy or sadness, or generate enthusiasm, 
 or put in motion any of the other aggressive emotions 
 which can be utilized for moving the will to make a right 
 choice, are extremely valuable, and should be sought 
 with great diligence. Every part of the sensibilities of 
 the hearer may thus be played upon and used to affedt 
 the will, and induce its adtion in the desired diredtion. 
 
 5. An anecdote to be useful must be fresh. An oldL 
 anecdote awakens no interest in the hearer because the 
 element of surprise has been eliminated. An unexpedled 
 application of a well known incident, however, is pecu- 
 liarly effedlive. The use of the stock anecdotes which 
 are in every speaker's mouth can add little to the effedl- 
 iveness of a sermon. Their powder was burnt long ago, 
 and their value is a thing of the past. A constant sup- 
 ply of fresh incidents must therefore be secured from the 
 various sources the preacher may be able to command. 
 
 The preacher's general reading ought to furnish a 
 goodly amount of illustrative material. The religious 
 press teems with valuable illustrations with the appro- 
 priate applications. Even the secular press with its 
 varied panorama of human life will offer a fruitful field 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 4I 
 
 to the thoughtful reader. Books of travel and history, 
 of biography and of historical and literary reminiscences 
 will occasionally furnish an illustration of great value. 
 
 Illustrations used by other preachers, whether gath- 
 ered from their printed sermons or addresses, or from 
 their lips, are lawful prizes, of course, and should be 
 carefully preserved. And yet there must be some judg- 
 ment exercised; a personal experience or observation 
 may have been impressive and striking not because of 
 inherent and obje(5live value but because of the mingling 
 -of the personality of the speaker with it, and a repetition 
 by any one else would prove a failure. 
 
 But the best sources are personal experience and 
 observation. Few men work this quarry as much as it 
 deserves. Comparatively interesting incidents have a 
 strange charm when related as personal knowledge. Com- 
 ing to the people at first hand, there is a vitality about 
 an anecdote which the speaker culls from his own expe- 
 rience which all other illustrations lack. It is this 
 'element which adds so much effedliveness to Moody's 
 anecdotes. Few lives are so monotonous and barren as 
 not to furnish a large number of interesting incidents 
 and experiences. Nqwhere will the keen homiletical eye 
 -discover more illustrative treasures than in the revival 
 service itself. Incidents, conversations, impressions, and 
 
42 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 other experiences and observations may be used imme- 
 diately, or in future meetings with, excellent results. It 
 is fatal for most men to trust to their memories. The 
 event is so striking, and the impression made upon the 
 mind so vivid that one is sure that whatever else is for- 
 gotten this certainly will be retained. But a week or 
 two pass and it fades; it is an accident if it is ever called 
 up again. Each day a short suggestive record should be 
 made of such matter as promises to be useful in the 
 future. The records of pastoral visitation during the 
 3^ear will add to this valuable store. Nor should any 
 one be dissuaded from the use of these personal expe- 
 riences and observations by the fear of being charged 
 with egotism. Too great a fear of being considered ego- 
 tistical only proves the charge well-founded. Nor should 
 any self-conscious modesty lead the preacher to make the 
 narration of his experiences impersonal, or to hide his 
 participation in them, for by so doing he surrenders van- 
 tage ground which he cannot afford to lose. One ought 
 to learn to speak of his own experiences with as little 
 self-consciousness as of those of other persons, and when 
 that is done there will be no imputation of egotism. 
 
 While of course a private collecftion gathered from 
 many sources, private and public, is most valuable, 
 cyclopedias of illustrations are not wholly to be despised. 
 
FOR A REVIVAI,. 43 
 
 They yield many illustrations whicli lie outside of the 
 range of the reading and experience of the average 
 preacher. Moody's anecdotes have been gathered up by 
 various editors and are easily accessible, albeit somewhat 
 threadbare and too generally known ' ' Cabinet of Illustra- 
 tions," a little magazine once published by Howard 
 Gannett, of Boston, is a rich gathering of illustrative 
 materials bound volumes of which may be obtained by 
 addressing the former publisher. "The Gospel Worker's 
 Treasury," a collecftion of anecdotes, texts, themes and 
 readings peculiarly adapted for revival work made by the 
 writer, has been widely used. When a lack of means 
 forbids many periodicals and books, or life gives small 
 opportunity for varied experience or observation, they 
 become absolutely indispensable. Indeed there are few 
 preachers that can afford to ignore them altogether. 
 
 There is no better source of illustration than the Bible 
 itself. Its historical portions are a never-failing spring, 
 if properly used. Many preachers fail to make scriptural 
 illustrations interesting because they reduce them to a 
 mere reference, or a dry narration of fadts. Nothing can 
 be more interesting than a scriptural incident when thq 
 human heart beats in it again, when the kinship in feel- 
 ing and thought of the ancients with ourselves is made 
 to appear. I never shall forget the description I heard at 
 
44 GETTING READY 
 
 a camp-meeting in \'irginia of the return of Benjamin 
 from Eg3'pt and his meeting with Jacob, by a good and 
 able minister whose fame as an eloquent preacher fills the 
 Shenandoah Valley. For dramatic interest and mo^dng 
 pathos it far excelled an}' anecdote I ever heard from 
 Mood3''s or any other man's lips. 
 
 A careful record should be kept b}' the preacher of all 
 such biblical incidents as seem to be fitted to illustrate 
 revival themes in a living and dramatic wa}'. 
 
 Not only should illustrations be sought for the sermon, 
 but for the song as well. An effective anecdote pertinent 
 to the leading sentiment of a h3'mn doubles its value as 
 a part of the revival ser^'ice. It calls attention to the 
 thought and prevents the people from singing it in a 
 pureh' mechanical and thoughtless wa}'. These anec- 
 dotes need to be provided previoush' even more carefully 
 than those intended for the sermon, and should be 
 recorded with the hj-mns the}' are fitted to illustrate. It 
 is a good plan to write the titles of these illustrative 
 anecdotes over their respective h3'mns in the hymn-book 
 used b}' the preacher, in order that they ma}' always be 
 at hand when needed. 
 
 The record of illustrations gathered from all sources 
 should be thoroughly systemized, so that as the materials 
 accumulate they will always be classified, and so more 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 45 
 
 accessible to the preacher. Otherwise the records will be 
 in chaotic confusion, and when he wishes illustrations 
 for a given theme he must search through the whole col- 
 lection. If the record be kept in a book a certain 
 number of pages may be allotted to each general subjedl, 
 and the illustrations entered under their respecftive sub- 
 jecfts. As a large proportion of the gathered matter will 
 be in the shape of clippings, abetter way will perhaps 
 be to use a letter file made of strong manilla paper with 
 a compartment for each letter of the alphabet which may 
 be obtained of almost any stationer. To each of these 
 compartments a subjedl may be assigned, and the scraps 
 distributed as they are gathered. Illustrations found in 
 books or gathered from oral or personal sources can be 
 copied on slips of paper adapted to the size of the file. 
 "Breed's Portfolio Scrap-Book," published by Merrill, 
 Hubbard & Co., Indianapolis, Ind., is very convenient, 
 as is also the more elaborate "Supplemental Encyclo- 
 pedia," of Crafts, issued by Funk & Wagnalls. What- 
 ever the plan, it is important that the preacher's mater- 
 ials be classified and accessible at a moment's notice. 
 
 3. Careful provision must be made for the songs to be 
 used during the meeting that is to be held. It will not 
 do to trust to the spontaneous development of the song 
 service, nor to the facft that a book is already provided. 
 
46 GETTING RE.\DY 
 
 The resources of that book must be under immediate 
 command, that selections appropriate to the feeling of 
 the meeting- may be quickly made. A variety of songs 
 of invitation will be needed. Songs of consecration for 
 the opening of the ser^-ices are important. Songs that 
 have the ring- of victory in them, and begetting faith and 
 enthusiasm must be provided. If the proper musical 
 help is at hand, solos, duets, or quartettes may be 
 selected. Hymns of eternity, judgment, or the destiny 
 of the impenitent dead are particularly effective rendered 
 in this way. The numbers of these various h^-mns 
 should be committed to memory in order that the 
 preacher may announce the appropriate h^*mn at once 
 without turning to the book. It may be that the book 
 that has been in use is worn out. and it would be wiser 
 to procure something fresher and more striking, or some 
 small book may be procured to supplement the one in 
 use. In the selection of such a book three things should 
 lje__kept in mind: the book must cover the range of sub- 
 jects required and furnish useftd popular songs in each 
 line of thought; it should at least contain the words of 
 the standard revival songs without which the song ele- 
 ment of any revival meeting- would be crippled;^ and it 
 should furnish a goodly number of new songs of a thor^ 
 oughly popular character, with a striking^ sentiment 
 
I^OR A REVIVAI,. 47 
 
 easily understood, and with music so easy that the 
 science of music may be forgotten after they have been 
 sung a few times, and so taking that the people will be 
 inclined to sing them spontaneously. 
 
 It is exceedingly important that these musical matters 
 be not negledled as they are too often done. That the 
 preacher has no musical knowledge or skill does not 
 excuse him. He must seek the counsel of competent 
 persons in or out of the community with reference to the 
 seledlion of the book, and when the book is seledled he 
 certainly can study its hymns and learn their value and 
 availability. In this the assistance of the person to 
 whom he must look for the diredlion of the music during 
 the meeting ought to be sought. He must thus become 
 master of the spiritual side of the song service even if he 
 may not be competent to diredl the music in person. 
 
 4. The success of a revival often depends more on the 
 management than it does on the preaching. Kvery single 
 service presents in one form or another a new exigency 
 and demands some new adaptation of methods. It is 
 important, therefore, that the preacher have large 
 resources in ways of working. While some men are 
 gifted with a peculiar adaptability and almost without 
 set purpose or consciousness produce the method the 
 requirements of the moment demand, most men must 
 
48 GETTING READY 
 
 make- a study_ ofj tlie nr t_nf revival maiiageiiient , and- 
 store their minds with a large variet}^ of methods. The 
 proper conditions for the application of a method and 
 the ends to be reached by it must be fully understood, or 
 it cannot be used intelligently. How to adapt it to 
 varying conditions wall be another important point for 
 study. An analysis of each method should be made in 
 order to get at the general principle underlying it. It 
 will likel3" be founded upon some fadt in human nature, 
 and it is well to know just what that fadl is. With a 
 clear comprehension of the general principles underlying 
 revival methods, the preacher will have little difficulty in 
 adapting them to the varying needs of his meeting. But 
 he will none the less have occasion to stud}^ the develop- 
 ment and application of those principles. No detail in 
 the management of revivals should be too small to 
 attradl his attention, or wake his intelligent interest. A 
 general principle is valueless until it is embodied in 
 details, and the omission of some detail may take away 
 the condudtor by which the power of that general princi- 
 ple was to be applied to the need of the moment. 
 
 This study of methods has a double effedt. It yields 
 definite plans according to which one can work and which 
 both diredlly and by the conscious application of general 
 principles which underlie them suggest other and fresher 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 49 
 
 plans; it also develops the executive talents of the 
 preacher and helps him aided by the insight into the sit- 
 uation it brings to form radically new methods by which 
 to meet the demands of a new situation. 
 
 The inethods used by successful revivalists, whether 
 evangelists or pastors should be observed and studied 
 with care. There are few ministers who have been suc- 
 cessful who cannot furnish some new way of working. 
 The records of the work of great evangelists like Finney, 
 Nettleton, Earle. Hammond, Moody, or Jones will furn- 
 ish valuable suggestions. Care should be taken to study 
 the underlying principles of the methods of evangelists 
 rather than to copy the details of the methods them- 
 selves. Many of their ways of working are not at all 
 adapted to the use of the regular pastor. Their attitude 
 towards and relation to the people are quite different 
 from those of the pastor, and they can apply methods 
 and risk results which would be fraught with danger to 
 him. Indeed it is not safe to copy any man's methods, 
 as they might prove Sauline armor which would only 
 encumber. Every book on the subje(fl, whether historical 
 or pra(5lical, on which the preacher can lay his hand 
 should be read. The literature on this subjedl is growing 
 rapidly, and is becoming more useful and pradtical. 
 4 
 
5© GETTIXG READY 
 
 Finne3^'s Autobiograpli}-, Earle's " Bringing in Sheaves," 
 Hammond's " Reaper and the Harvest," Parker's "Fire 
 and Hammer," Graves' " I^ife and Sermons," and the 
 Memoirs of Peter Cartwright, are all most inspiring and 
 helpful. Among books of a more pracftical nature, Fin- 
 ne^^'s "Revival Lectures," Kirk's "Lectures on Revivals," 
 Fish's "Hand-book of Revivals," Newell's "Revivals, 
 How and Wrhen," and Hervey's " Manual of Revivals," 
 are most useful. Most treatises on pastoral theolog}^ 
 contain excellent hints. B}^ personal obser^^ations of 
 others, and b}' reading the best books on the subjecl a 
 great deal of useful information ma}' be gathered that 
 will be very helpful in the progress of the meeting. 
 
 It should be remarked here that all this accumulation 
 of texts. Scripture readings, illustrations, and methods, 
 has little value if it is only a mechanical aggregation. 
 A large blank book crowded with, the record of these 
 gathered treasures may prove only an unhappy embar- 
 rassment of riches, a snare and an encumbrance. Diges- 
 tion and assimilation must follow aggregation. This 
 gathered material must be so thoroughly appropriated 
 that its use becomes spontaneous, and the individuality 
 of the speaker impressed upon its form and manner of 
 use. Week after week the preacher must go over his 
 
FOR A RKVIVAI.. 
 
 gathered treasures until he has absorbed them, and they 
 become a part of his mental furniture. While this is 
 eminently true of Scripture texts and readings and of 
 illustrations, it is even more true of the methods of work; 
 unless they are permeated with the preacher's individu- 
 ality, adapted to his idiosyncrasies and limitations, they 
 will be but dead forms and worse than useless. 
 
52 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SPIRlTUAIv PREPARATION. 
 
 ^Many preachers imagine themselves to be always 
 ready for a revival. In their secret and public devotions 
 they have joyful access to God; their trust in him is firm 
 and their peace of mind unruffled; and in view of these 
 fadls they presume themselves to be in a proper state of 
 grace for revival work^ No greater mistake can be made. 
 iHs a special work requiring special grace, and special 
 spiritual preparation must be _made. The spiritual 
 strength of the pastor is not sufficient when he assumes 
 the funcflion of the evangelist. God does not waste his 
 grace but grants it to the faithful worker according to 
 the work he assigns him. The sermon which the 
 preacher is moved to deliver for the instrudlion and edifi- 
 cation of God's people will have a gentle grace, while 
 the revival discourse intended to break the hearts and 
 move the wills of sinners must have rending grace. To 
 wake the dead is a greater task than to nourish the liv- 
 ing. In this aggressive campaign there is necessary a 
 concentration of spiritual resources, an energizing of the 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 53 . 
 
 soul, an intensification and sublimation of the powers for 
 which there would be little use in the regular work of the 
 church, and which, indeed, the body could not long sus- 
 tain. There must be a clear-eyed insight into divine 
 truth, an openness of soul to divine influences, an utter 
 submissiveness to divine diredlion, found only on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration, This spiritual preparation is 
 rarely a spontaneous gift of God, but must be sought, 
 and this element of desire and choice only adds to its 
 moral value. 
 
 I. The first step in the spiritual preparation of the 
 preacher will be to reach a fixed determination to have a 
 revival. Whatever the power of the will may be over 
 others, there can be no doubt of the tremendous influ- 
 ence of a set resolve upon the individual himself. If the 
 young minister in entering upon a new field of labor to 
 which he has been called by the conference, or by the 
 voice of the congregation itself, will decide that he will 
 and must have a revival, cost what it may of labor and 
 sacrifice, he has already taken a long step towards the 
 realization of that divine ambition. It will influence his 
 whole attitude towards the people among whom he comes. 
 Round that decision all his experiences, his rapidly accu- 
 mulating knowledge, his judgment of the many new 
 acquaintances he is making, and the relations he will 
 
54 GETTING READY 
 
 sustain to tliem will crystallize and take form. It will 
 decide what lie shall see and what he shall overlook; it 
 will give purpose to his every movement and sound the 
 key-note of the opening pastorate in the ears of his peo- 
 ple and prepare them for the coming victory; it will 
 associate the idea of revival with every phase of the 
 church life and so shape his every plan and measure, and 
 charadlerize all his preaching. While such a resolve 
 may carry more hopefulness and enthusiasm with it in 
 the first 3'ear of a pastor's ministry, when the difficulties 
 of the situation have not grown all too familiar and the 
 faith depressed, it is even more important that it be made 
 each succeeding year. There is in such a detemiination, 
 particularly if the underlying motives are what they 
 should be, a moral value that God cannot but honor. But 
 it must be something more than a desire ; the whole soul 
 must be concentrated in it. It must be the edidl of the 
 kingly will which cannot be changed or repealed. It 
 must be so fixed that obstacles will only be an inspira- 
 tion, and hindrances a help. Toil and labor, sacrifice 
 and pain, will be but its meat and jrink, adding power 
 and insuring vi(5tory. 
 
 Dr. Newell relates the case of two class-mates who 
 were called to be pastors. The one, who was a genius, 
 proposed to preach great sermons, but lacked faith and 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 55 
 
 point, and concentration of purpose and power. His 
 ministry was completely barren. The very first day that 
 the other young pastor looked down upon his congrega- 
 tion he said to himself : ' ' These are my dear people. I 
 am responsible for their souls; and, God helping me, 
 they shall be won to Christ." And so he gave himself to 
 the work. He prepared his own soul. He aroused the 
 sympathy and co-operation of the church. He made 
 the Sabbath-school, the meetings of the week, and the 
 personal interviews exceedingly interesting and impress- 
 ive. " He loved the souls of his people. He adopted the 
 most appropriate revival methods. His whole soul was 
 fixed on one resolve. True, mighty obstacles arose. 
 True, there were groans and tears and a wasting away 
 of human flesh. There were fiery zeal and pointed 
 words. There was a purpose that would not yield; and 
 so, in his utter helplessness, he came into wrestling 
 contact with the Almighty Helper, and the blessing 
 came." 
 
 2. The preacher must win a realization of scripture 
 truth as adlual and concrete. An element of abstradlion 
 mingles itself unconsciously with all our conceptions of 
 divine truth and robs it of its moving power. We 
 calmly reason and placidly preach about dodlrines which 
 would set us on fire if we had any realizing sense of their 
 
56 GETTING READY 
 
 meaning. They need to be taken out of their abstradt 
 and purely objedlive form and seen in their concrete and 
 subje(ftive aspedls. The general truth must find content 
 to the heart by a particular application. When not 
 simply man in general, but his own wife or child, 
 brother or sister, father or mother, friend or neighbor or 
 even acquaintance is in danger of being lost forever, the 
 pained heart, the falling tear, the spontaneous prayer, all 
 prove that at last the soul has stood face to face with the 
 terrible reality, from which the veil of abstra(5lion has 
 been drawn. Abstradlions or general dodlrines stir no 
 one. But when the [preacher realizes the meaning and 
 personal value of the dodlrines of salvation, his words 
 will impress these truths upon the minds and hearts of 
 his hearers as concrete fadls, and will move them as 
 abstradlions never do. A profound realization of the 
 truths and fa(5ts of evangelical religion, therefore, is an 
 important step in the preacher's preparation for a revival. 
 
 Upon his soul must lie a deep sense of the sinfulness 
 of sin. Its threat against the very throne of God, and 
 the peace and order of the universe, its utter unreason 
 and folly, its degrading and destrudlive power over the 
 soul in this life and in the life to come, all must be 
 clearly apprehended if the preacher is to enter into full 
 sympathy with God's view and treatment of it, and is to 
 
FOR A re;vivaiv. 57 
 
 preach with a clear conscience the terrors of the law. 
 Unless the hideousness of sin and the loveliness of 
 righteousness are appreciated, and the impassableness to 
 man of the gulf between them comprehended, the real 
 meaning of salvation cannot be grasped. Man's sin 
 must be studied in the light of God's holiness and justice 
 on the one hand, and of his pleading love on the other, if 
 its true heinousness is to be comprehended. Sin must 
 be understood, not as a mere weakness, not as a sad mis- 
 take, not as a means of culture, but as a rebellion against 
 God, whose guilt is infinite, whose penalties are justly 
 everlasting. Nor is this simply to be predicated of sin 
 in general, but of the sin of the souls who are uncon- 
 verted in the community, of the very persons for whose 
 conversion the preacher is planning. Any weakening 
 here, any palliation of the sinner's guilt, any toning 
 dqwn of the scriptural conceptions of sin, will be disas- 
 trous. 
 
 The preacher ought also to be thoroughly impressed 
 with the dreadful consequences of sin, in this life and in 
 the life to come. There should be no flinching here. If 
 the heart enters protest, it only proves that it is still 
 blind to the real nature of sin. A study of the merely 
 physical results of sin in the world about the preacher 
 will be impressive, how much more the mental and 
 
58 GETTING READY 
 
 moral! By analog}-, these results will give a glimpse of 
 the woe of the finally impenitent. As a help to the 
 imagination the descriptions of hell given in Milton's 
 " Paradise Lost," and Dante's "Inferno," ma}^ be read. 
 The}' are, however, too material and crass to be followed; 
 vastl}" more spiritual and therefore more helpful is 
 Rowel's " Letters from Hell," which in spite of its sen- 
 sational title is a powerful and valuable work. The 
 praj-erful, tearful stud}' of the Scriptures on this topic 
 will be the most useful and impressive. The vers- fact 
 that descriptive passages are so few has a significance 
 that the preacher should b}' no means overlook. The 
 subjed; must be studied from the spiritual side made so 
 prominent in the large number of references which the 
 Scriptures make to the fate of the impenitent dead. 
 There should be an absorption, not of the details of the 
 biblical description of hell, but of the spirit of sorrow 
 and despair which it breathes over the doom of the 
 unsaved. This realization of eternal punishment will be 
 a power over the preacher himself, rather than a source 
 of materials for the sermon, although even here it will 
 be useful. 
 
 Having gained a realization of man's need of salvation 
 from sin and its consequences here and hereafter, the 
 preacher is read}' to study the provision God has made for 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 59 
 
 this salvation. If his heart has been sorely oppressed 
 and burdened by his insight into the true condition of 
 man, filled with an almost ungovernable longing to save 
 men from their present and eternal ruin, he will be pre- 
 pared to appreciate more fully than he otherwise could 
 the fullness and freeness of the means and power God 
 has provided for the accomplishment of the desire of 
 his heart. An_abiding, restful sense of the power of God 
 to conyidl men of their sin, to break down all evil oppo- 
 sition to his work from whatever source it may come, is 
 particularly essential. With this realization of the power 
 of God, the preacher will find springing up in his heart 
 a hopefulness, a courage, a fixed faith, that will prove a 
 very panoply of strength. Without it he will be at the 
 mercy of all the little difficulties and petty hindrances 
 which occur in the course of every revival, and lack that 
 confident aggressiveness which is always the promise of 
 vidlory. The history of God's dealings with his people 
 as recorded both in the Old and New Testament, particu- 
 larly in the book of A(5ls, gives inspiring instances of 
 the manifestations of divine power. Hardly less helpful 
 will be the reading of the accounts of great revivals, and 
 of the work of great evangelists, in which the arm of the 
 Ivord appears plainly unbared. Pondering over our own 
 experiences in past revivals will often refresh the soul^ 
 
6o 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 and give delightful views of the saving omnipotence 
 of God. J 
 
 But as the almightiness of God thus comes into the 
 preacher's mind as a living facft, there will be born in 
 him not only a faith in that power but also a faith in the 
 means ordained of God for the application of that power. 
 Prayer fulfilling the divine conditions will become an 
 a(5lual force to his conception, omnipotent as the God 
 who is pledged to answer it. Its subjedtive readlions 
 will be lost sight of in the objedlive results it is able to 
 achieve. Not merely as a means of working up the 
 earnestness of the people, but as an unfailing method of 
 moving the divine arm for the convi(ftion of sinners and 
 their subsequent conversion, for the defeat of antagonist- 
 ical influences that may make themselves felt, for the 
 enduement of divine power upon Christian workers, as a 
 way of accomplishing diredtly any spiritual end, prayer 
 will appear to the soul as the final resource. 
 
 If the Holy Spirit is omnipotent, then his sword, the 
 Word of God, must have unconquerable might. Faith 
 in the power of the Holy Scriptures opens to the preacher 
 resources of inestimable value. To look upon the Bible 
 as a mere magazine of texts and impressive readings, 
 which are superior to the expression of the same 
 thoughts by other writers chiefly because of their associa- 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 
 
 6l 
 
 tions, and because they are the original source of religious 
 ideas, is to miss the real hidings of their power. The 
 Holy Spirit has fashioned his sword in his infinite wis- 
 dom in the very form in which the truth can do the most 
 effe(5tive work upon the hearts of men. Remembering 
 the power of God the preacher will not only have a gen- 
 eral faith in the efficiency of the Bible to accomplish 
 results, but in particular texts and passages. He will use 
 them with an unshaken confidence that they will produce 
 results. When truth is needed, he will feel like going to 
 the Scriptures as a matter of course, and will use what 
 they furnish as the all-sufficient means. A well- 
 grounded faith in the Word of God gives the Holy Spirit 
 an opportunity to use his sword to the best advantage. 
 
 But this faith in the Bible as a channel of the power of 
 God is not at all incompatible with a strong faith in the 
 power of the preaching of the Word. A certain hope- 
 lessness as to the real value of preaching is often a 
 grievous temptation to the preacher. He preaches week 
 after week without visible results until almost uncon- 
 sciously he draws the conclusion that it cannot produce 
 results. This snare is all the more insidious and dan- 
 gerous that it often affedls the mind without rising 
 definitely into consciousness. Modest, timid, self-depre- 
 ciative men are peculiarly liable to suffer from this 
 
62 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 scepticism as to tlie value of preaching. But ** it pleased 
 God b}' tlie foolishness of preaching to save them that 
 believe. ' ' Paul sa^-s in his letter to Titus that God has 
 " manifested his word through preaching." Indeed it is 
 a remarkable faci that while the perennial fountain of 
 Christianity" is the Bible, a book, that it insists upon 
 preaching and teaching, the oral methods of communi- 
 cation, as the proper means of spreading the knowledge 
 of the Gospel, rather than upon the written Word. 
 Divine truth seems to find men more thoroughU' when 
 backed by human convictions, when translated into their 
 own range of experience not onh* hy speech, but also by 
 the expression of the countenance, by the flashing or 
 tearful eye, by the emotion that finds innumerable ways 
 of expressing itself in the gestures and manner of the 
 speaker. But in realizing the power of preaching one 
 must look at the divine not the human side. Not one's 
 own abilities as a speaker or orator, whether they be 
 great or small in our own e^-es, but the divine power 
 using the preaching as a method of manifesting itself, 
 must be the basis of the faith in its efficiency. Modesty 
 and conceit are alike out of place here, for self ought to 
 be entirely forgotten. ^Mien the preacher realizes the 
 divine mightiness of preaching however weak the 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 63 
 
 preacher, he has won an impregnable position command- 
 ing the enemy. 
 
 But a supreme faith in the power of God will not onl}^ 
 make prayer and preaching seem mighty agencies, but 
 will create a confidence in revivals as God's favorite 
 method of manifesting his power. No one can study the 
 history of the ancient Jewish church, and of the begin- 
 nings of the Christian church, as found in the Scriptures, 
 or the development of that church since the days of the 
 apostles as recorded in that later scripture, the history 
 of the Christian church, without feeling that teyiyals 
 have been the visible walkings of God through human 
 history. T he pasto r who is preparing for a revival is 
 strong in the fact that he is pursuing God's own method 
 for the salvation of the world. Dr. Albert Barnes 
 expresses himself earnestly on this point: "What is 
 needed now is the ministry of men who have an intelli- 
 gent faith in revivals; who have no fear of the effedls 
 which truth, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, shall 
 have upon the mind; who shall so far understand the 
 philosophy of revivals as to be able to vindicate them 
 when assailed, and to show to men of intelligence that 
 they are in accordance with the laws of our nature; and 
 whose preaching shall be such as shall be fitted, under 
 the diredlion of the Holy Spirit, to secure such results 
 
64 GETTING RE:ADY 
 
 on the minds of men. To revivals of religion our coun- 
 try owes more than to all other causes put together; and 
 if our institutions are preserved in safety, it must be by 
 such extraordinary manifestations of the presence and 
 the power of God. ' 
 
 A like faith should create confidence in revival methods 
 without which they are useless machinery. Whatever 
 methods seem to the conscience and jvidgment as fitted 
 to produce the desired results and approved of God, as 
 may seem assured by the success he has been pleased to 
 bestow upon their use, should be undoubtingly accepted 
 and relied upon with implicit confidence. But as the 
 basis of faith is not the power of the methods them- 
 selves, but the power of God, there will be no false 
 reliance upon any one method, but an openness to all 
 methods and means that God seems willing to bless. 
 f The preacher's faith should also grasp as a living real- 
 ity the loving side of the charadler of God. God's 
 patience and long suffering, his deep anxiety and passion 
 for the salvation of man, his willingness not only to for- 
 give but even to provide the way by means of which 
 forgiveness might become possible, his acceptance of the 
 repentant sinner not as a subjedl but as a child, to be 
 enriched with all the treasures of his love and mercy, his 
 tenderness and sympathy, his comfort and help, and the 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 65 
 
 bliss and glorj^ of eternal life should be impressed upon 
 his mind and beart as fadls fresh ever}^ day, each hour a 
 rapturous surprise.^ The life of Christ and especially 
 his sufferings and death, the eighth chapter of Romans, 
 and the first epistle of John should be studied over and 
 over again until the heart has fully absorbed their mean- 
 ing. The love of God should be studied in the light of 
 the sinfulness of man, of his dire need, of the insuffi- 
 ciency of all else to help him, and of the amazing 
 sacrifice God has made to save him. It should become a 
 fixed idea in the preacher's mind, an abiding conscious- 
 ness in his heart. It should permeate his whole soul, 
 and be the main-spring of all his efforts. It must be the 
 sovereign idea of his mind to whose glorj' all other ideas 
 are tributary. 
 
 Gfasping the fullness of the ideas of the power and the 
 love of God, the preacher will have little trouble in exer- 
 cising faith in the conviction and conversion of any and 
 
 all men however vile, or rebellious against the truth. He 
 
 , . 
 
 will be able to see the possible, na}' probable Christian in 
 
 the most degraded and unlikely sinner. He will find an 
 
 inspiration in seledling the most difficult case for his 
 
 most earnest and hopeful prayers and w^ork. He will 
 
 expedt sinners to be convic5led mightily, to see them con- 
 5 
 
66 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 verted thorouglih- and glorioush-. That their inner and 
 outer life will be transformed and that they will become 
 active and effective workers for Christ, he will look for 
 as a matter of course. Faith in the power and love of 
 God must find this application if it is to have an}' mean- 
 ing. 
 
 Realizing that the power and love of God are able to 
 change the heart and life of evers* sinner in the commu- 
 nity in which the preacher is called to labor, and 
 understanding his position as the representative of God, 
 standing "in Christ's stead," a deep sense of responsi- 
 bility such as rests on no one else for the unsaved souls_ 
 of the community ought to, and will, fall upon him. 
 Upon him more than upon any one else depends whether 
 the conditions governing the application of that power 
 and love to the needs of immortal souls about him 
 shall be realized. If he is indifferent or but half-hearted, 
 if he is negleclful or indolent, the church will be like 
 him, and souls will enter eternity unprepared to meet 
 their God. 
 
 Fleming in his "Fulfillment of Scripture" mentions 
 the case of a pastor by the name of John Welch who 
 often rose for prayer in the coldest winter nights, and 
 who being found b}' his wife weeping on the ground and 
 wrestling with the Lord on account of his people replied 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 67 
 
 to her anxious inquiries, " I have the souls of three thous- 
 and to answer for, while I know not how it is with 
 many of them." 
 
 The highest motives that the human heart can enter- 
 tain will not only impel him to accept this responsibility 
 as a duty, but also to lift it out of the realm of duty into 
 that of love and desire. As he broods over the value of 
 imnjortal souls to themselves and to God, realizes their 
 lost condition and the complete provision for their salva- 
 tion, a passion for their salvation will be roused that 
 will not be gainsaid but sweeps the whole nature on to 
 the work. 
 
 But this sense of responsibility must be individualized 
 if it is to do its full w^ork upon the mind and heart of 
 the preacher. His lists of unconverted Sunday-school 
 scholars, of unconverted families and persons, of back- 
 sliders to be reclaimed will aid him in realizing in a 
 particular and personal way for whose salvation he is 
 responsible. He should make these lists his rosaries, 
 praying over them day by day, taking one name after the 
 other, until he has praj-ed b}^ name for every unsaved 
 person in the community. Leaving out of consideration 
 the results of his prayer upon the heart of God and upon 
 the persons for whom he prays, the readlionary effedls 
 upon himself will be most blessed and happy. Duty 
 
68 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 will be lost in love and his passion for souls in general 
 will find means of expression, points of attachment 
 through which to seek the attainment of its desire. 
 
 But this sense of responsibility and passion for the sal- 
 vation of individual souls will be quickened still more 
 by personal intercourse, social and spiritual, with the 
 persons who need salvation. Desire for their spiritual 
 good will promote kindly feeling and friendship, and 
 these in turn will strengthen the longing for their conver- 
 sion. This personal attachment to the unsaved therefore 
 should be earnestly cultivated in one's self, cultivated all 
 the more if there is an}i;hing repellent in the person's 
 characler and condudl. There is no place here for the 
 manifestation of personal feeling. The true passion for 
 souls will override uncongeniality of tastes or incompati- 
 bility of dispositions. Love must attach itself to what 
 the person may become, rather than to what he now is. 
 It must, like the love of God, find in itself rather than 
 in the objecft the grounds of its being. The more repul- 
 sive the charadter of the person, the greater, likely, is his 
 need of the transforming power of the Spirit of God. 
 With personal motives thus reinforcing those which are 
 divine in the heart of the pastor, there will be a holy fire 
 in his bones which will give him peace only as he is 
 engaged in labors looking to the salvation of the lost. 
 
FOR A RKVIVAIv. 69 
 
 3. His faith having thus reached the substance of 
 thing-s and found the fundamental truths of the Gospel 
 to be living facfts, the preacher has now to fulfill the con- 
 ditions which precede the exercise and co-operation of 
 the divine power and love in himself first of all. And 
 this he will find no easy matter. Dr. Lyman Beecher 
 once said, * ' I never had a revival without a tussle with 
 myself, the church, and the devil." The spiritual strug- 
 gle through which he often has to pass will be bitter 
 enough. The way of confession of sin, of humiliation, 
 of complete surrender to God, and of the losing of self 
 in God, the way of thorns in which he insists that the 
 Christian workers of his congregation must walk before 
 they can hope to lead sinners to Christ, he must have 
 trod himself in its complete distress and pain. There 
 must be a recognition of his sin, of his neglecit and indif- 
 ference toward God and his work, of his selfishness and 
 self-will, of his pride and vanity, of his adlual unworthi- 
 ness to do the work that lies before him, and a consequent 
 confession to God and deep humiliation before him, 
 before he has found the attitude towards God that 
 will make his co-operation possible. There must be 
 further a complete surrender of the will to the will of 
 God. A thorough, albeit painful, self-examination is 
 important, for the self-will has a dangerous way of dis- 
 
j?0 GETTIXG READY 
 
 gnising itself and putting on garments of liglit. One's 
 plans and ambitions for the future, one's relations to 
 friends and acquaintances and possibly fellow-ministers, 
 one's pleasures and pursuits, na}- even the attitude 
 of one's will, and the motives for doing what is recog- 
 nized as God's will must be diligently examined and 
 wherever there is an}' hesitancy in accepting the vrill of 
 God or any rebellion against it, there must be an uncon- 
 ditional surrender. The pro\4dential ordering of our 
 lives, in our appointment to a charge or change of pas- 
 torates, in aflSiclions sore and grievous, in trials and 
 difficulties painful and distressing, in whatever form 
 the\' ma3^ have appeared contran,' to the natural desires 
 of the heart, must be accepted freelj' and with complete 
 resignation. Resentments against our fellows, even if 
 they are well founded and in one sense of the word just, 
 must be put away from the heart b}- a direcl: acl of the 
 will. Pride and self-esteem and the approbativeness that 
 desires the good vriW of the people must be thoroughly 
 subjugated to the will of the Lord. Motives based upon 
 a desire to build up one's own individual society', or even 
 worse, one's reputation as a revival worker, must be cut 
 out of the heart root and branch. In general whatever 
 in us antagonizes the will of the Lord must be broken 
 down and cast out. This is the indispensable condition 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 7I 
 
 of the enjoyment of the divine bles^sing and power in our 
 work. In proportion to the incompleteness of this self- 
 surrender will the power of the preacher be limited and 
 insufficient, and the revival service hindered and made 
 ineflfe(flive. 
 
 But we have been considering only the negative side of 
 this self-surrender, in the putting away of the antago- 
 nism which may be found to exist between us and God. 
 The positive side is the devotion to the service of the 
 I^ord of all our talents, influence, powers, whether 
 physical, mental, social, moral, or spiritual. This con- 
 secration of one's self to divine uses, this setting apart 
 all one's force to the work of winning souls to Christ, 
 this transferring to the ownership of God our whole 
 self to be used by him as he may think wise and good, 
 is the most important phase of self-surrender, and cannot 
 be emphasized too strongly. Only as the soul is com- 
 pletely in the hands of God and pliable to his every 
 touch, can he use it to his greatest glory and to the 
 greatest good. But when it is thus wholly his, there is 
 seemingly no limit to the power he manifests through it. 
 
 But this self-surrender is not a light task. The strug- 
 gle is often a protra(5led one, lasting days and weeks, and 
 even months. It represents the bitterest distress of soul 
 to the preacher, a wading through deep waters that often 
 
72 GETTING READY 
 
 threaten to engulf him. It is the wa}^ of the cross, over 
 which the servant must follow his Lord. Cloud on cloud 
 the darkness may gather, and when it momentarily 
 breaks, it is only to deepen more terribly than ever. 
 One difficult}^ overcome, he finds himself face to face 
 with a greater. But the complete vidlory comes at 
 last, and when it does come, the power it brings is 
 generally in proportion to the struggle through which 
 the soul was obliged to pass. It brought out every 
 spiritual force of the soul, stirring it to its utmost 
 depths, and developing its latent powers as no other 
 experience could have done. So certain is this pro- 
 portion of power and spiritual results to the severity 
 of the struggle that a preacher is almost to be con- 
 gratulated if this preparatory battle in his own soul 
 waxes hot and continues long. But an unfortunate 
 man is he if he loses in the strife. Not only does 
 he lose the vidlory in his meetings, but he has lost 
 his peace of mind, his religious vitality. 
 
 In regard to this matter the Rev. Wm. W. Newell, 
 D. D., writes of his own experience : "I had seen 
 so many revivals . averted b}^ the condition of pastors 
 that I devoted the entire week of prayer to a prepa- 
 ration of m}^ own heart and life. I believed that I 
 was a Christian, but I wanted to see myself as God 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 
 
 73 
 
 saw me. I wanted to be thoroughly humbled and 
 completely emptied of self. I wanted to press upon 
 the church and the world the overwhelming motives 
 of God's eternal word with all the magnetism of a 
 fervid, confident, loving, divine spirit. In pleading with 
 Jehovah for others I would obey his command, ' Be 
 ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.' (Isaiah 52: ii). 
 On Monday I considered the infinitely holy charadler of 
 God. By this stupendous theme my soul was greatly 
 awed. On Tuesday I considered my own particular sins, 
 in the presence of that Jehovah with whom even the sol- 
 emn meeting may be iniquity. (Isaiah i : 13). I asked 
 myself 'What of your pride, ambition, self-seeking.'* 
 "What have you lacked in love, trust, spirituality, 
 improvement of time, and toil for the lost.?' On 
 Wednesday I considered God's kindness to me, my family, 
 and my church. I was amazed at his munificence; I 
 was abased at my own unthankfulness. But he had 
 snatched away my loved ones. Yet he enabled me to 
 say, ' O God, thy will be done, — my Jesus, as thou 
 wilt.' On Thursday my questions were: 'Why do 
 you want a revival of religion ? Is it chiefly to build up 
 one man or one church, to make your people more genial 
 and loving ? Or are you seeking first of all to honor 
 Jesus in the salvation of the perishing ? Have 5"ou been 
 
74 GETTING READY 
 
 asking God for things which you do not expedl to receive 
 and which you make slight effort to secure ?' 
 
 By this time I was ready to cry with the Apostle: 
 'Oh! wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me 
 from the body of this death?' (Romans 7:24). On 
 Friday, I was prepared as never before to look to Jesus. 
 Mere earthly advantages seemed to me like the idle wind. 
 I confessed and loathed my sin. 'I looked upon him 
 whom I had pierced, and I mourned for him.' (Zecha- 
 riah 12:10). I laid myself upon his altar, to do and to 
 suffer his will. With great confidence I sought his 
 Spirit. My view was definite. My feeling was deep. 
 My soul was filled with confidence and peace. Kach 
 evening during the week I had poured forth to my 
 church the experience of the day. When told by one of 
 them to look to Christ, the answer was: * God's Spirit 
 is teaching me what I need. It is making for me a 
 straight path to my Savior.' At the close of this Friday 
 evening numbers took my hand and with glowing faces 
 exclaimed: 'Oh, what a meeting we have had! We 
 knew how you would come out.' * ->5- * * -s^ 
 
 In this movement I had the sympathy of the church. 
 The great revival had commenced." 
 
 Having learned to exercise such faith in God, in his 
 |)ower and love, having made this complete surrender of 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 75 
 
 self, and thorough consecration of his all to God, the pas- 
 tor has fulfilled the conditions which assure the baptism of 
 the Holy Spirit, the baptism of fire and of power. God is 
 realized as dwelling within, as an impelling force, as a 
 diredling influence. There will be a new insight into the 
 truth of God and into the movings of the heart; a new 
 fruitfulness of thought and vividness of imagination; a 
 new fertility in expedients and methods of work; a new 
 emotional power and an earnestness that is able to kindle 
 the earnestness of others ; a new courage that fears no diffi- 
 culty and apprehends no defeat; a new magnetism and 
 power of will that enables the preacher to control men as 
 he is not usually able to do. It is the Holy Spirit quick- 
 ening his every power and charging it with an efiiciency 
 that is superhuman and divine. He is possessed of God, 
 controlled and used by him. The bliss of this intimate 
 communion with God, the rapture of invincible power, 
 and the joy of certain results unite to make this baptism 
 a most blessed experience. Yet the deepening of the 
 longing for the salvation of the lost which it brings often 
 crowds the ecstasy of the experience out of the con- 
 sciousness. 
 
 When the preacher has won this baptism of power, and 
 not until then, is he ready to begin revival services. 
 
76 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 I=iPLK.T II. 
 
 PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WAKING THE ENERGY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The church, needs preparation for revival work no less 
 than the minister. This is an absolutely essential 
 element in the work to be done. No matter what the 
 mental and spiritual fitness of the pastor may be, he 
 will fail in his effort if his church does not co-operate 
 with him and is out of sympathy with or indifferent to 
 the results he wishes to "accomplish. An unrevived 
 church is a wall of defence round the unsaved, sheltering 
 them against the power of the Spirit and of the truth as 
 proclaimed by the preacher. It were better for the 
 worker that he have no church at all, that he be left 
 unhindered to develop his methods and plans, relying, 
 under the guidance and help of God, on his own unham- 
 pered efforts, than that he be handicapped and weighted 
 down, checkmated and betrayed at every point by an 
 
FOR A REVIVAI<. 77 
 
 indifferent or unwilling church. It is, therefore, of the 
 greatest importance, nay an absolute necessity, that the 
 church be prepared for the aggressive campaign; that 
 in mind and soul its members be equipped to carry on the 
 work of salvation. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Humphrey, formerly of Amherst College, 
 says: "After a revival in my old parish a good deacon 
 said to me, 'Before the revival I wondered why you 
 preached so long and pointedly to the church. We 
 thought it was cruel to lay the charge of not having a 
 revival to us. But I see now how needful it was. ' If we 
 had the fa(5ts, I believe it would be found that nearly all 
 the most powerful revivals have been preceded by earnest 
 and faithful appeals to the church." . — „ 
 
 But this preparatory work among Christians ought not 
 to be postponed until the series of special meetings 
 begins. Kconomy of strength and time, and thorough- 
 ness of work, alike demand that at least a large share of 
 the preparation of the church be begun not only weeks 
 but even months in advan^e^ Indeed much of the most 
 important work can only be done beforehand. Time is 
 an important fadlor in much of it, and when the meetings 
 are in progress that precious commodity cannot be given 
 to it freely. It will be comparatively easy during the 
 meetings of the first week to stir up the regular working 
 
78 GETTING re;ady 
 
 members of tlie church who are always to be depended 
 upon, but the great body of the church which needs 
 reviving most will require many days and weeks of per- 
 severing and patient labor before it can be reached. 
 There is private pastoral work to be done that it is impos- 
 sible to do after the meetings have begun, for lack of 
 time and strength. There are often social and religious 
 bonds that have been fradlured and need to be reknit, all 
 of which requires time. Before the autumn season has 
 been fairly ushered in the pastor should be lajdng his 
 plans and setting influences in motion for the preparation 
 of his church for a revival. 
 
 In many a church it is necessary, before proceeding to 
 any diredl preparation for a revival, to do some indire(5l 
 work. The society has fallen into deep ruts in its regular 
 lines of activity, it has lost its enterprise and freshness 
 of spirit, its aggressiveness and inventiveness, its power 
 of seeing and seizing opportunities, its adaptiveness to 
 the needs of the community for whose spiritual welfare 
 it is responsible. Dry rot has set in, and not only the 
 spiritual energies of the society are decaying, but 
 the mental as well. Where such is the state of affairs the 
 pastor has the difiicult task of instilling new vitality, of 
 transfusing from his own spirit to that of the church a new 
 life and energy. This requires a hopeful spirit which dis- 
 
IfOR A RKVIVAI.. 
 
 79 
 
 couragement and dismay cannot touch, but which 
 kindles hope and enthusiasm in those with whom it 
 comes in contacft. Whatever disheartenment the pastor 
 may find resting upon him should never find the slightest 
 expression in either adls, words, or looks. He must be 
 the very embodiment of courage and hopefulness of the 
 church, [seeing the bright side of everything, acknowl- 
 edging no impossibilities and making light of difficulties 
 and hindrances that may be met. he can in any way 
 set before his people tangible proofs of progress, such as 
 the accession of valuable members who may have been 
 standing off before, or a marked enlargement of the reg- 
 ular congregation, or of the Sunday-school, by various 
 means some of which may hereafter be suggested, he 
 will find that a delightful change will come over the 
 spirit of his people, i In many cases the tide may be 
 turned by the agitation of some projedl for the material 
 advancement of the church. The building of a new 
 church edifice, or the enlargement or improvement of the 
 old, the purchase or building of a parsonage, the eredtion 
 of sheds for the shelter of horses and vehicles where such 
 are necessary, securing an organ or a library for the 
 Sunday-school, furnishing the pews with an adequate 
 number of hymn-books, or any other needed improve- 
 ment may be made the means of waking the ambition 
 and enterprise of the society. 
 
8o 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 It will be very helpful in man}- places to break up the 
 dull routine and monotony in the services by quietly and 
 gradually introducing a greater variet\- in their nature 
 and order. In congregations where there is wealth and 
 that veneered culture which is more fastidious and crit- 
 ical than the true, it may be necessan.-- to break down 
 false and artificial standards of propriety in church ser- 
 vice, which emphasize the form at the expense of the 
 content, and hamper the manifestation of the religious - 
 life of the people. That these laws of propriety are 
 unwritten makes them none the less might}' for evil in 
 crippling the spontaneity of worship. This fastidious- 
 ness is a religious dyspepsia that rejects with disdain the 
 wholesome food on which the health}^ thrive. 
 
 Sometimes where it can be done without causing 
 ill feeling or strife, a reorganization of the church would 
 be valuable. AMiere a certain set of men, no matter of 
 how high a standing and charadler have by long posses- 
 sion made good their claim year after year to re-election 
 to certain ofiices until the places of power and honor 
 seem to belong to them by right and until by age or con- 
 ■firmed habit, a dull uniformity and listlessness has come 
 over the ofScial representatives of the societ}^ it may be 
 necessar}' to introduce fresh elements into the councils of 
 the church. Even a redistribution of the offices among the 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 
 
 8l 
 
 same individuals so that each is made responsible for 
 a new set of duties may be helpful. A new Sunday- 
 school superintendent or class-leader or deacon or other 
 officer will aid in breaking the spell of inadlion that is 
 upon the church. New conceptions and ideas, new plans 
 and methods, new knowledge of wants and state of 
 affairs in the community, nay that element in human 
 nature which has justified the adage, "A new broom 
 sweeps clean," all will prove an inspiration to the pastor 
 and his church. Of course such changes must be made 
 cautiously and discreetly and in a spirit of appreciation 
 of the work and sacrifice of the outgoing officers. Per- 
 sonal criticism should have no place in the discussion of 
 the matter and other motives than the unfitness of the 
 incumbents should be urged in support of the change. 
 
 In most churches such a reorganization is not needed 
 and in some where it might be desirable it would be folly 
 to attempt it. However that may be, the pastor should 
 seek to lead the officials of his church to a greater inter- 
 est and activity with reference to the temporal and 
 spiritual interests of the congregation. He should make 
 it his business not only to call their attention to the lines 
 of needed progress, but to inspire them and, if need be, 
 to spur them on to follow those lines to desired success. 
 
 6 
 
82 GETTING READY 
 
 If he is skillful enough to draw the suggestions out of 
 his officials and so make them responsible for the ideas, 
 the more power will they have to wake up the church and 
 prepare the way for spiritual adtivity. 
 
FOR A re;vivai^. 
 
 83 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SPIRlTUAIy PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 No one seeks or strives after that of which he has no 
 sense of need. In the diredl preparation of the church 
 for a revival the awakening of the sense of the need of 
 a revival is particularly important. In the first place the 
 individual Christian must be made to realize that he him- , 
 self needs a deeper work of grace in his soul; that he has 
 been indifferent and negledtful in the discharge of his 
 religious duties, and that he has not that sense of the 
 presence and favor of God which brings on the one hand 
 peace and joy, and on the other power and efifedliveness 
 in the Christian work ; that he has taken from the altar 
 of God his power, influence, time, means, and other tal- 
 ents for which he was responsible to God their Giver, 
 and consecrated them to the power of the world; that he 
 needs to humble himself before God in confession of sin 
 and unworthiness, and reconsecrate himself to the service 
 of his divine Master. This personal sense of the need of 
 a revival is the most essential, as if this is secured all 
 the rest will follow almost necessarily. The society is 
 
84 GETTING READY 
 
 but an aggregation of units, and when the units are hun- 
 gering after the presence of God the way is well prepared 
 for a general work of grace. 
 
 The church as an organization must be impressed with 
 its need of a more powerful religious vitality. It must 
 become conscious of its general negledt of duty towards 
 God and the unsaved, of the low standard of piety which 
 obtains, of its lack of religious power, of its want of 
 spiritual influence over the community. The lack of reg- 
 ularity in attendance on the usual services of the church, 
 the small prayer-meetings and their lack of interest, the 
 omission of family prayers in many homes, the covet- 
 ousness and worldliness of its members, the great want 
 of Christian charity in its social life, its indifference to 
 the fate of sinners, its formalism and purely mechanical 
 effort in the ordinary lines of church adlivity, the back- 
 sliding in heart of which all have been guilty, should be 
 realized and lamented and a desire awakened for a 
 change. Nor should it simply be a passing depression 
 of spirit, but a deep and abiding realization of one's con- 
 dition before God. 
 
 But this sense of the need of a revival is only the 
 beginning of the required spiritual preparation. It is 
 but the initial step which must be followed by many 
 others. The recognition of sin and neglect must be sue- 
 
FOR A RKVIVAI.. 85 
 
 ceeded by repentance. Without it the realization of sin 
 only drives the soul further into the darkness of a 
 backslidden life. The sin so recognized must be hated 
 and repudiated. A holy sorrow for sin must seize the 
 soul in much the same way that it did in convidlion 
 before the original conversion. But the sin must be 
 given up. The worldliness and selfishness which have 
 grieved the Spirit must be put aside and a strong effort 
 made to meet the duties that have been so long neg- 
 leaed. 
 
 Repentance will find its expression in private and 
 public confession and humiliation. At this stage of 
 affairs prayer will largely consist of a confession 
 of unworthiness and negledl, and the urging by the soul 
 of its deep spiritual needs. All self-sufiiciency and self- 
 righteousness will be removed from the heart, and the 
 soul will appear before God in the deepest humility, 
 clothed in sack-cloth and ashes. 
 
 But as the sins were committed in the presence of the 
 people there must also be a confession before them. Not 
 that there is any need, except in extraordinary cases, of 
 any detailed confession, for that were hardly edifying. A 
 general confession of unworthiness and sinfulness will be 
 amply sufficient, but this much certainly is essential. If 
 this confession be made in the presence of the uncon. 
 
86 
 
 GETTING RE-\DY 
 
 verted all the better. Instead of leading them to despise 
 the church it will lead them to a realization that the 
 standard hy which Christians judges themselves is high 
 and far above them; moreover, the inconsistencies of 
 Christians will no more ser^-e them as a hiding place 
 when the Spirit wakes the conscience. The moral cour- 
 age and unselfishness which a public confession represents 
 will be appreciated so much that the evil influence of the 
 previous inconsistencies will be largeh* counteracted. 
 
 There must be developed a deep spirit of praj-er. 
 Desire must take such hold upon God's people that the}' 
 will instinctive!}- and spontaneousl}' fl}- to him to secure 
 that for which the}- long. This must be markedly the 
 case in behalf of the unsaved. There must be a sharing 
 of the pain of Christ as he suffers for the sin of the 
 world. Deep anxiety and travail of soul must seize 
 the church, an agony of earnestness that will not cease 
 its importunity, a violence of spirit which taketh the 
 kingdom of heaven by force. This spirit of prayer is in 
 direct contrast with the quiet communion with God of 
 the soul in its normal Christian life. It is a struggle, an 
 aggressive conflict, in which self is forgotten and the 
 spiritual welfare of others is the consuming desire. It 
 may be said that there cannot be a re^4val with much 
 result unless this burden of soul comes upon the church. 
 
FOR A RKVIVAL. " 87 
 
 Indeed the results may often be forecast from the intens- 
 ity of the desire of the church for the salvation of the 
 people, and from the degree of unanimity in this matter 
 among its members. 
 
 There must be an exercise of living faith in God, as a 
 Savior forgiving all sin and cleansing the soul from its 
 impurities, as a Helper in the work of salvation. There 
 must be faith in one's own behalf through which God 
 can blot out the sins that have been repented of and con- 
 fessed, and also in behalf of the unsaved that they will 
 be called into the kingdom. This faith will not be a 
 passing jo}^ a momentary enthusiasm, but an abiding 
 realization of the power and mercy of God, wavering not in 
 spite of discouragement or difficulty. One must learn to 
 distinguish between fitful glimpses, as between clouds, 
 of the grace of God, and resting in its constant 
 fullness. The pastor is often deceived by outward 
 demonstration into feeling that his people are fully pre- 
 pared, that they have won the victory of faith, when the 
 battle is not even fully joined. The first difficulty that 
 is met proves that it was a mere ebullition of feeling, 
 lacking the staying qualities of true faith. Indeed there 
 may be a number of fludluations of feeling before the 
 permanent power, the abiding sense of the almightiness 
 of God and of his constant presence, is won. 
 
88 GETTING READY 
 
 The pastor must lead his people to look for the endue- 
 ment of power from above, even the baptism of fire and 
 of the Spirit. The stress must be placed however, not so 
 much on the personal subjedlive experience as upon the 
 meeting of the conditions upon which that baptism 
 depends. These are complete surrender of self, full con- 
 secration of all to God, and an implicit obedience to the 
 guidance of the Spirit. Pride, timidity, self-conscious, 
 ness, all that hinders the vSpontaneous impulses of the 
 soul from finding manifestation in determined efforts for 
 the glory of God and the salvation of souls, must be put 
 aside if the Spirit is to come in its power. It is useless 
 to pray for the baptism of power until these conditions 
 are met. Here again the pastor must guard himself 
 against being misled by outward demonstrations of joy; 
 the best test of the descent of the Spirit will be found not 
 in subjecftive, emotional experiences, although these are 
 likely to occur to a greater or less extent, but in the new 
 willingness to do, and in the success in aggressive work 
 which will be the immediate result as in the day of Pente- 
 cost. Of course it will not do to belittle or cast refledtions 
 on religious ecstacies or raptures that may find exprcvssion. 
 The pastor ought rather to sympathize with them, or 
 share in them ; but he must after all use them for means 
 to higher ends and insist that they are granted only as a 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 89 
 
 preparation for work, and that if they are not followed by 
 work they stamp themselves as false, "wildfire" that is 
 born of the flesh and not of the Spirit. The tendency to 
 have a "good time," as it is sometimes phrased, is 
 purely selfish and lacks all the elements of true spiritual- 
 ity. The result of such an effort may satisfy the craving 
 for physical excitement, but is an impious caricature of 
 the blessing of God, and will soon bring leanness of soul. 
 Instead of power the result of such a forced effort will be 
 a disastrous readlion from which it will be difficult to 
 rally. Feeling is a result, not a cause, and any inversion 
 of this order is foolish and calamitous. Still worse is it 
 to seek by noise, which is often the result of deep feel- 
 ing in demonstrative people, to create feeling. Lung 
 capacity takes the place of faith and physical force 
 becomes the measure of spiritual power. 
 
 The spiritual preparation thus sketchily indicated may 
 be made in many ways, diredl and indiredl. No mechan- 
 ical formulae can suffice for this work and no minute 
 directions be given that will fit every case. In one congre- 
 gation one course is advisable, in another the same 
 procedure will have no effe(5l and may even do harm; 
 indeed the plans that succeeded one year in a congregation 
 will not be useful the next so fully have the conditions 
 changed. Yet it is possible to suggest a few general 
 
90 GETTING READY 
 
 methods some adaptation of which, will meet the case. 
 Will it be wholly superfluous to suggest secret prayer as 
 one of these methods ? The Holy Spirit is the great 
 Wakener, and in answer to the pastor's prayer he will do 
 his work upon the church. He will prepare the way of 
 the pastor for his private and public efforts, and will 
 produce results no human power could in any way 
 accomplish. But this secret prayer must not consist sim- 
 ply of occasional ejaculations, but must be prolonged 
 wrestling with the Lord until the vidtory of faith is won, 
 and the pastor realizes in his heart that as a prince has 
 he had power with God and men and prevailed. His pray- 
 ers in public and in the homes of his people may be made 
 a mighty force. The power of an earnest sincere prayer 
 in its immediate adlion upon the people is rarely esti- 
 mated at its true value. A college student full of 
 earnestness and spirituality once made the opening 
 prayer in a service held in a community which had lost 
 its spiritual vigor. I^ed away by his feelings he prayed 
 for three-quarters of an hour, but in spite of its inordi- 
 nate length it was the occasion of a great revival. Of 
 course public prayer must not degenerate into exhorta- 
 tion or castigation of the people; that were not only 
 offensive beyond measure, but also impious and insulting 
 to God. Yet public prayer has diredt relation to the lis- 
 
FOR A RKVIVAI,. 91 
 
 tening people and its influence for good upon them not 
 only can, but also ought legitimately to be considered. 
 In leading them in prayer the pastor should express the 
 sentiments which under the circumstances the people 
 ought to feel. They should contain much confession of 
 sin and negle(5l and of deep desire for the restoration 
 of the joys of salvation. Such a prayer made with evi- 
 dently deep feeling and sincerity will often steal into 
 hearts that would be closed to the sermon or personal 
 appeal. 
 
 The sermon of course, will be the preacher's great 
 opportunity. The line of thought will entirely depend 
 upon the spiritual condition of the church. There ought 
 to be little preaching at a venture. If ever purpose 
 should govern the style of preaching and the subjecfts 
 considered, this is the time. In one aspedl or another the 
 preacher will need to emphasize the reality of Christian 
 experience, the assurance of salvation, Bible standards 
 of Christian life, the obligations of the redeemed to God 
 and men. The power and conditions of prayer, the 
 power of God and his willingness to use it in behalf of 
 his people, the pre-requisites for the exercise of that 
 power, and kindred themes may be used to kindle the 
 faith and enthusiasm of the people. He must insist upon 
 a separation from the world. The line between the saved 
 
92 GETTING READY 
 
 and the unsaved must be sharply and rigorously drawn 
 in order that unconverted or backslidden church members 
 and the respedlable church-going people v^^ho rest in their 
 self-righteousness may be brought to see their true con- 
 dition in the sight of God. He must load upon the 
 church the responsibility for the loss of sinners under its 
 influence. While the greatest care should be taken to 
 avoid personalities in the pulpit, and never to adl the 
 coward by saying publicly in a general way what ought 
 to be attended to in private, there ought to be no sparing 
 of the sins and negledl of which all are guilty. The 
 neglec5led prayer-meeting, the tedious meeting for testi- 
 mony, the family altar that lies in ruins, the secret closet 
 that remains unvisited, all will furnish opportunities for 
 sweet, kindly, but none the less fearless and plain expo- 
 sitions of the true condition of the church and its 
 members. 
 
 With regard to the danger of offending the church by 
 faithful reproof. Dr. Cuyler gives the following expe- 
 rience: "While going through my congregation one 
 afternoon on a pastoral visitation, I found three persons 
 under deep convidlion of sin. I at once summoned my 
 church officers together and recommended a daily prayer 
 meeting for the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit. When 
 the first inquiry-meeting was held, the officers took their 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 
 
 93 
 
 hats and went lionie. I wrote each one of them a sharp 
 note. One or two were affronted, but the irritation 
 proved a means of grace. It is a good thing to get a 
 sleepy backslider thoroughly angry; when a wound 
 smarts it is commonly healing. Mr. Moody wittily says: 
 * When God awakens a sleeping soul, it generally wakes 
 up cross.' lyct us never be alarmed when the truth, 
 working in a conscience, produces sharp words. The fire 
 is getting into the bones. In a few days I found all my 
 staff of elders and deacons well warmed to the work. A 
 blessed revival followed. ' ' 
 
 The great danger of such preaching is that it will 
 degenerate into mere denunciation which will do only 
 harm, generating an antagonistic spirit and a resentment 
 little fitted to prepare the soul for a levival. The 
 preacher must guard this point with the utmost care, and 
 come into the pulpit for such work only after having the 
 most thorough spiritual preparation and a baptism of 
 the love and patience of God. Dr. Newell writes of a pas- 
 tor who was especially hard and faithful. One evening, 
 as he was leaving his meeting, a good sister said to him, 
 *I am tired of being scolded.' He was startled. He 
 carried this reproof to the cross. His heart was moved. 
 He said, * I try to be faithful, but how rarely do I strive 
 to melt them with my own broken heart and with the 
 precious love of Jesus. ' ' ' 
 
94 GETTIXG REA^DY 
 
 A j oimg clergj'man whom I once knew wlio was 
 ver\' anxious to succeed on the charge to which he 
 had been sent threw the whole of his tremendous 
 energy" into a revival serv'ice, but with no seeming 
 success. He preached with increasing severity, loading 
 upon the church the responsibility for the failure, but 
 onlj' drove his people away from himself. The meet- 
 ing promised to result in positive harm to the church 
 and his mental distress was intense; it seemed, how- 
 ever, only to embitter him and he became more de- 
 nunciatorj'. At last the crisis came and in the midst 
 of an evening ser^^ce he was overcome by his mental and 
 spiritual distress, and was obliged to dismiss the congre- 
 gation. He knelt in prayer among a few of his faithful 
 members who remained with him in their anxiet}^ and 
 after hours of struggle he won the vidlory and was at 
 peace. The meetings continued, but the denunciations 
 ceased. The church soon rallied about him, sinners 
 began to be converted, and a precious revival swept 
 scores into the kingdom. When the preacher is inclined 
 to be harsh and severe, he may be sure that like this 
 3'oung minister the trouble is with himself and not with 
 the congregation. 
 
 Indeed direcl references to the faults and negledl of the 
 church and its members will not always be necessary and 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 95 
 
 before making them the preacher should alwa3's be 
 certain in his own mind that they are called for. If the 
 preaching on the various themes connecled with 
 the Christian life is clear and definite, the church may 
 usually be trusted under the guidance of the Spirit to 
 make the proper application to its own needs. 
 
 But the pastor has even better opportunities than the 
 preacher for impressing his people with their need of a 
 revival and for preparing them for its coming. In his 
 pastoral relation there is a freedom that he lacks in the 
 pulpit. The unconverted are not present to misinterpret 
 and pervert the plain words of the speaker. There is an 
 opportunity for detailed illustration, for personal applica- 
 tion, that would be utterly out of place in the pulpit. 
 The pastor should talk up the need of a revival wherever 
 he goes among Christians, refer to it in season and out 
 of season months before he expedts to begin, until the 
 people by mere dint of iteration (and many persons can 
 be impressed in no other way) have absorbed the idea. In 
 the homes, on the streets, in the workshops, in private 
 conversations on the work of the church, in the ofiicial 
 meetings, in the prayer-meeting, in the class-meeting, 
 everywhere the need of a revival should be alluded to 
 and the desire for it kindled. But this iteration must be 
 a natural expression of the pastor's own desire and pur- 
 
96 ge:tting ready 
 
 pose, not a mere mechanical repetition. Let the people 
 once discover that it is not spontaneous and impulsive 
 and its power is shorn, indeed it becomes a power for evil 
 disgusting and repelling those whom it seeks to gain. 
 
 In seeking the spiritual preparation of his people the 
 pastor must not assume that the pillars of the church will 
 not need particular attention at his hands. The fadl is 
 they often need it most. They are peculiarly liable to 
 self-complacency and self-righteousness, those heart sins 
 so fatal to all revival effort. They finst of all may 
 demand pastoral visitation, religious conversation of a 
 personal and searching character, and earnest prayers for 
 them and theirs, in their homes. If they are humble and 
 kindle quickly, so much the better for the pastor as they 
 immediately become helpers and the desired movement 
 has already begun. Unless they are early won for an 
 aggressive movement and a deeper spiritual life in the 
 church they will be in the way of others and prove a 
 great hindrance. Such persons often become an antago- 
 nistic element in a revival, their pride leading them to 
 oppose what they had no hand in setting in motion. In 
 any event they will be harder to reach afterwards. Those 
 who have become indifferent to the church and its inter- 
 ests and negle(5lful of their religious duties will need 
 more prolonged attention and persevering effort. Con- 
 
FOR A RKVIVAI.. 97 
 
 vensation with these may range from the mere urging 
 them to attend the social and other services of the church 
 to references to the personal religious condition, accord- 
 ing as it may be wise to do one or the other. Sometimes 
 when diredl means fail it may be well to send some one 
 of the church who has influence over the person under 
 treatment; and often it is well to send the backslider after 
 some one else who needs attention, that the effort to help 
 others may reveal to him his own helplessness. This is 
 one of Moody's favorite methods. Some will require a lit- 
 tle diredlion in work to be done privately, others will need 
 to be inspired to public efforts in prayer or testimony, in 
 some families the altar of prayer must be rebuilt. There 
 may be those who have lost their sense of acceptance 
 with God and crave enlightenment and comfort. They 
 may even claim that they are no longer Christians, 
 but in many cases they are judging only by their feelings 
 and the pastor will need to exercise care in accepting 
 their view of the case. He should be slow to grant that 
 they have utterly backslidden, but insist that they take 
 up their long negledled duties and by a reconsecration 
 win back the lost peace of soul. There is great danger 
 in belittling conversion and wrecking the faith of the 
 
 communit}^ in its reality and value when church mem- 
 7 
 
98 GETTING READY 
 
 bers must experience it every year or two. The truth is 
 that a majority of those who claim that they have lost 
 their religious life are simply discoiiraged and misled by 
 false conceptions of the basis of Christian life. 
 
 With those whose w^hole life and conversation prove 
 that they have really forsaken the Lord a different course 
 must be pursued. Their church membership must be 
 recognized in talking with them only as an added con- 
 demnation, and as rendering them more accountable for 
 their sin. In general the}^ will need the same treatment 
 as other unsaved persons. An effort should be made to 
 interest them in the church and its work and to secure a 
 personal influence over them. Direcfl personal appeals 
 should rarely be made to them until they have been 
 brought into a condition to profit by them. Otherwise 
 they will be repelled and hardened before the reaping 
 time of the meeting has come. 
 
 New life needs to be put into the social services of the 
 church. New methods need to be used in adding inter- 
 est. Perhaps I can do no better on this point than to 
 quote the excellent description and suggestions of the 
 Rev. W. P. Doe, as found in his valuable compilation, 
 "Revivals, — How to Promote Them." "The prayer 
 meeting is in the ruts; no unusual thing; smitten with 
 dullness; prayers long and wandering and prosy; singing 
 
FOR A REVIVAI,. 99 
 
 nasal and twangy; same routine, praj-er, singing, Script- 
 ure, a whole chapter; exhortation by leader; remarks, 
 prayers and pauses by brethren; benedidlion; dispersion. 
 The young are not there; the sounds are too doleful. 
 The church are not there for the same reason. 
 
 How shall it be raised to newness of life and freshness 
 of power? Try experiments; have variety, spring, 
 sparkle. Mix things; now a praise-meeting, now a 
 promise-meeting, now both in one. Have topics, discuss 
 them; a Bible service in which all can join; bring along 
 6ome passage on which your own soul has feasted, talk 
 about it; come full of enthusiasm for whatever means is 
 to be tried, never criticising measures, and you will find 
 the conference room a very Bethel. ' ' 
 
 Valuable hints may be gained from the late Rev. ly. O. 
 Thompson's book on " The Prayer-Meeting" and also in 
 Rev. Clark's " Young People's Prayer- Meeting." 
 
 The pastor may easily be able to judge whether his 
 efforts to prepare the way for a revival are successful. 
 The increasing number of his hearers and the interest 
 they manifest in his words, the increasing size and spir- 
 ituality of his prayer-meetings and the larger number of 
 those who participate, the more and more frequently 
 expressed sense of the need of and desire for a revival in 
 public and private, the reconsecration of backsliders, the 
 
lOO 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 confessions of sin and lamentations over negledl of duty, 
 the interest manifested in the spiritual welfare of the 
 community will be some of the tokens of the rising spir- 
 itual tide. When conversions begin to occur, and they 
 ought to be expedled, he may be sure that the divine 
 Spell is working and that all things are nearly if not 
 altogether ready. 
 
 But the church should not only be impressed with its 
 individual and collecftive need of a time of refreshing, 
 but also with the terrible need of the unsaved about it. 
 To this end it may be necessary to preach a series of 
 sermons on the present and future condition of the uncon- 
 verted with a special view to the enlightenment of 
 Christian people. During a time of great spiritual 
 drought in Providence, R. I., Dr. Wayland, the President 
 of Brown University, preached a series of sermons on the 
 doom of the impenitent. There was no little protCvSt 
 against the forbidding theme so persistently brought to 
 the attention of the people, but Dr. Wayland continued 
 and in a short time a great revival of religion broke out. 
 Earnest private talk along these lines will often be more 
 useful than preaching which the hearer is too apt to con- 
 sider professional and perfuncftory. It is often necessary 
 to remove from the minds of even good earnest Christians 
 the very comfortable but fatal idea that mere morality 
 
FOR A REVIVAIy. lOI 
 
 and respe(5lability on the one hand and the love and 
 mercy of God on the other will save souls, even when 
 they die in an unconverted state. The church must be 
 thoroughly impressed with the inexorableness of the 
 words of Jesus, '*He that believeth not is condemned 
 already," and that without conversion there can be no 
 salvation for any responsible soul. When sin and its 
 consequences here and hereafter are clearly realized as 
 facets of awful significance, and then only, will Christians 
 comprehend the need of sinners. 
 
 Few persons realize how many of their friends and 
 acquaintances are unsaved. They do not apply the 
 religious do(5lrines they accept in a concrete way to the 
 case of their friends, but think of them only as abstradl 
 theological do(flrines in a hazy, misty, and unreal way. 
 They must be helped, therefore, by the pastor to make 
 the application of the truth as adtual and living to their 
 acquaintances, that they may know the number and 
 personelle of the unsaved. His investigations along this 
 line will now prove of great value. He can refer to 
 his canvass book or to his lists for such aggregate figures 
 with reference to the spiritual condition of the commu- 
 nity as will in most cases not only impress but even 
 startle Christians who have been previously indifferent. 
 The number of unconverted persons in the Sunday-school 
 
I02 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 and in the regular congregation may be more or less 
 accurately determined and referred to. He can canvass 
 the families of the church and use the number of unsaved 
 husbands, wives, parents, brothers and sisters, and 
 the aggregate with telling effedl. These and other like 
 fadls can be reiterated in public and in private in various 
 forms and connedlions until they are firmly fixed in the 
 minds of Christians and wake a deep passion for the 
 salvation of the people. It has been found useful to ask 
 each member to make out a list of the unsaved persons 
 among his friends and acquaintances and to hand it to 
 the pastor for reference and prayer. The effedl upon the 
 Christian in impressing him with the great number of 
 the unconverted in the circle of his friends and 
 acquaintances is the chief value of these lists as the 
 pastor has in other ways made his investigations, 
 but they often give him ideas of social and other 
 relations that will be very useful. It will often be 
 necessary for the pastor to call the attention of Chris- 
 tians to the unsaved in their own families and to ask their 
 cooperation in saving them. Some need to be reminded 
 of the dangerous condition of their neighbors and 
 acquaintances. It may even be necessary to impress 
 them that these persons can be saved and wake their 
 hopefulness, for some people accustom themselves to the 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 103 
 
 fadt that certain of their friends are unconverted and 
 seem to take for granted that they will always remain so. 
 Out of this delusion they must be awakened. 
 
 When Christian people have realized the eternal loss of 
 a sinner so deeply that they begin spontaneously to pray 
 for his salvation, the revival may be said to have begun. 
 If the church has truly made the proper preparation for 
 the coming of the Lord by confession, humiliation, 
 prayer and faith, the battle may be said to be won. The 
 iiardest work has been done, that which requires the most 
 skill, perseverance, patience, and piety. But when it is 
 done and thoroughly done, the cloud no larger than a 
 man's hand is already above the horizon. The times of 
 refreshing are at hand. There may yet be hard work 
 to be done, but it is joyous and rich with reward. 
 
I04 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ORGANIZING THE CHURCH. 
 
 It is not SO much a new organization that is needed as 
 an application of that which already exists to the pur- 
 pose of work, thus giving the merely formal organization 
 looking to existence a content and reality it lacked 
 before. It is not the multiplication of church machinery 
 so much as the getting what already exists into working 
 order and making the proper conne(5lions. Organizing 
 the church does not mean multiplying societies within 
 the church with a large board of officials for each, but 
 finding work for everybody that he can do and getting 
 him to do it. 
 
 I. The pastor must win for himself the power as well 
 as the place of leadership. Some pastors are mere 
 puppets in the hands of their leading members whose 
 wills they consciously or unconsciously obey. Many 
 more are untrammeled in their own adls by outside 
 pressure or didlation, but are not ready to assume any 
 control or leadership over the individual members of 
 their congregations. Others again are free enough to 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 105 
 
 assert their authority in the general management of the 
 church but have nevertheless failed to win the loyal 
 obedience of the individual members. It is exceedingly 
 important that the pastor get control of the working 
 forces of the church so as to use them as he under the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit may think wise and proper. 
 Nor should any considerations of a modest nature hinder 
 him from seeking to attain this power. Modesty is a 
 pleasant trait, but it is no more a virtue when it checks 
 the adlivity of a pastor who is looking forward to a 
 revival meeting than in a general who is made respon- 
 sible for the condudl of a campaign. It is his duty to 
 lead and to diredl his people, and in so far as he allows 
 a native timidity to hamper him in this phase of his 
 work he is weak and recreant to the trust placed upon 
 him. It goes without saying that I do not mean any 
 didtatorial, magisterial authority such as obtains in 
 military life. The pastor must so win the respedl and 
 confidence of his people by his kindness, self-forgetfulness 
 and piety, as well as by his knowledge and discretion, 
 that they will cheerfully accept his suggestions as to the 
 work they are colledlively and individually to do. A 
 loyal people will obey a hint of their pastor as faithfully 
 as will an army the stern command of its general. 
 Where such obedience is lacking it is usually the fault of 
 
io6 
 
 GE^TTING READY 
 
 the minister. Either in chara(fter or judgment there is a 
 conspicuous lack which forbids respedl and confidence, or 
 he is unwilling to assume the leadership his position 
 implies. The people want to be led; they gladly follow a 
 real leader. It is true they do not want to be "bossed," 
 and resent it when it is attempted, but that is not leader- 
 ship. Curt commands and scolding may do in an army 
 or workshops, and even there they are an element of 
 weakness, but where authority rests on purely moral 
 considerations as in a church, they only undermine 
 discipline and prevent obedience. The gentle authority 
 of love will meet the obedience that is most useful and 
 leave only blessings in its path. People can be trained 
 to obey simply by giving them something to do and 
 making frequent requests of a reasonable charadter and 
 by the gentle and kindly, but firm and unwavering, nay 
 indomitable and unconquerable, persistence of purpose 
 to which the people will and must yield. If revival 
 work is to be thoroughly successful, this element o^ 
 leadership must be cultivated by the pastor until his 
 workers collectively and individually are willing to do in 
 spiritual work what he suggests by the methods he 
 decides it wise to use. Otherwise he will always have a 
 haunting fear crippling his efforts that his people will 
 not accept his plans of work, and sometimes they will 
 
FOR A REVIVAI,. IO7 
 
 refuse to a<ft on his suggestions, humiliating the pastor 
 publicly, and stopping the work of grace that may be in 
 progress. A timid, fearful leader rarely wins a vidlory 
 and a mutinous, rebellious army certainly can expedl 
 none. An evangelist of some note was once holding a 
 meeting in a city church. One evening during the first 
 week, before he had fully won his place as the leader of 
 the people, he suddenly asked the Christians about the 
 altar to follow him down the central aisle to the rear of 
 the church in order that prayer might be had among the 
 unsaved who were chiefly in that part of the house, a 
 method he had effedlively used elsewhere; but the Chris- 
 tian people who were really very anxious that the work 
 should be a success were repelled by this method and 
 refused to follow. This defeat had an exceedingly bad 
 efFedl on the meeting which during the subsequent work 
 was never wholly overcome. A young preacher was led 
 by his deep sense of the meaning and horror of sin to 
 preach a series of sermons on the subjedl, fearlessly 
 applying the Word of God, laying judgment to the line 
 and righteousness to the plummet, and sweeping away 
 the refuges of lies. Deep convidlion seized upon the 
 unsaved and the young pastor looked for a great vi($lory; 
 but just as he was expecfling a break in the ranks of the 
 unconverted, his people crowded about him denouncing 
 
loS GETTIXG READY 
 
 his plain preaching and refusing to stand by him. 
 Instead of the anticipated victor}- the meeting was an 
 unfortunate defeat. In both instances if the proper rela- 
 tion of leadership had been previously established these 
 unfortunate results would not have ensued. 
 
 2. There must be an organization of the church for 
 aggressive work. The ideal should be: everybody at 
 work on that which he is best qualified to do. It is the 
 pastor's business to point out and di^-ide the work in 
 such a way as to realize this ideal. Only as he oversees 
 and directs will there be unity and thoroughness in the 
 efforts of the church. Of course this is no light task 
 amid the multiplicity of other duties, but it should be 
 none the less bravely and perseveringly attempted. 
 Some men organize from mere instinct for organization, 
 but the great majority who have not this genius must set 
 themselves to learning how to organize, and compel 
 themselves to do this important work, talent or no talent. 
 
 As has already been suggested it is not so much a 
 reorganization of the church that is needed, as a ^-italiza- 
 tion of that which already exists. The nominal leaders 
 of the church must become real leaders. The class- 
 leaders or elders must be made to feel the responsibilities 
 of their positions and impressed with their dutj- to lead 
 out in the work of the church. The Sundaj'-school 
 
FOR A RBVIVAI,. 109 
 
 superintendent should be newly impressed with the spir- 
 itual ends to be reached by the school under his charge, 
 and, if possible, interested in the pastor's plans for 
 accomplishing them. A special meeting of the Sunday- 
 school teachers may be called for the purpose of 
 impressing them with the need of their cooperation. 
 Opportunities should also be sought in private to deepen 
 this impression. In this way the whole organization 
 must be quickened into new life, the conne(5lions of the 
 church machinery must be fully restored, until the whole 
 works together smoothly and powerfully. There is 
 nothing finer in the world than a church in which every- 
 body is at work doing that for which he is best fitted and 
 cooperating with others in carrying out a well-matured 
 plan for bringing the unsaved to Christ. The angels in 
 heaven must rejoice over such a mighty engine for the 
 glory of God. 
 
 f It may be well to appoint committees for visiting the 
 ^komes of the unsaved. These should be sufiiciently/J^^^ 
 large to avoid burdening any one person unduly, and ' f V"' 
 distributed geographically oyer the territory occupied by 
 the society so as to minimize the needed time and effort. 
 The pastor's lists of the unconverted persons of the com- 
 munity should then be divided among these committees 
 geographically in such a way that every unsaved person 
 
no 
 
 GHTTIXG READY 
 
 lias a Christian worker responsible for him. In some 
 individual cases for social or other reasons it may be wise 
 to ignore the geographical idea and put the responsibility 
 on some one peculiarly fitted to meet -it successfully. It 
 will be wise to have several individuals assist in caring 
 for each unsaved person, as the influence exerted 
 increases in a geometrical ratio with each additional 
 wwker. These committees should have a clear idea of 
 the subordinate as well as the final ends they are to 
 reach, and also how best to reach them. This instru(5tion 
 must not only be given them at the time of organization, 
 but reiterated as often as opportunity offers or necessit}- 
 requires, as some of the workers will unconsciously get 
 these ends confused in their relative order and impor- 
 tance. The first point to be gained is to get the unsaved 
 into some sort of social relation to the church, where such 
 does not already exist. Hence their first visits will have 
 little apparent religious or churchly significance, being 
 purely social calls. When kindly relations have been 
 established the effort to get them interested in the services 
 of the church or in the Sunday-school may begin. Then 
 it may be well to make them acquainted with the pastor 
 who can easily secure an invitation to call at their 
 home. When in the judgment of the pastor and his 
 workers the soil has been fully prepared, the purely 
 
rOR A REVIVAL. 
 
 Ill 
 
 religious work by conversation, reading of Scriptures, 
 and prayer may be commenced. This should be as spon- 
 taneous as possible, and if it can be managed that the 
 person himself broaches the theme so much the better. 
 Frequent consultations should take place between the 
 pastor and the members of these committees in order that 
 he may be kept informed of the progress making in each 
 particular case, give needed advice, and spur his workers 
 up to the utmost diligence. An occasional meeting of 
 these committees for interchange of experience and 
 further instrudlion will be very profitable and probably 
 generate enthusiasm in the work. 
 
 A large and well selected conimittee for greeting and 
 welcoming strangers who come into the services will also 
 prove very useful. Its members should be seated in such 
 places in the house that at the close of the service not a 
 single stranger shall be able to pass out without being v 
 greeted by several persons and invited to come again. 
 If opportunity offers, a few introdudlions may be given 
 to other members standing by. A general cooperation 
 of the church in this work should be insisted upon, so 
 that strangers may easily be introduced into the church 
 life and be attradled by its kindliness and courtesy. The 
 private work of the visiting committees will thus be 
 reinforced and utilized. 
 
112 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 In addition to this official division of the church work 
 which might not give every member of the society his 
 specific duty, there should be a personal division of the 
 responsibility in family and social lines. Ever}' member 
 should be held responsible for some one or more of their 
 friends who are unsaved, whether they are willing to 
 accept the responsibility or not. This sense of responsi- 
 bility and care should be deepened as in the case of the 
 committees hy frequent references to the matter, and 
 inquiries with regard to the progress of the effort. The 
 pastor should not allow himself to be discouraged by 
 indifference and the neglecl of the duty assigned; he 
 must patiently applj^ the tremendous power of iteration, 
 until the conscience of the laggard is aroused. This 
 may not occur until the revival meeting is in progress, 
 but then all the power of the previous work of the pastor 
 will be manifested. But in many cases he will see the 
 indifferent graduall}" become interested, and persons who 
 promised little take high rank as workers. It is the 
 development of the latent power of the church which has 
 not learned it own value which is one of the chief objedls 
 in view in closel}^ organizing the church for spiritual 
 effort. Its development in public prayer and testimony 
 will by the freshness of the voices and experience add 
 variety and vigor to the social services, and inspire hope- 
 
FOR A REVIVAI . 113 
 
 fulness and expecftancy in the churcli at large. New 
 ideas, new modes of expression, a fresh, earnestness and 
 zeal will break up the monotony of former meetings and 
 wake greater interest. Moreover the momentum gained 
 by their progress will be a force that will move the 
 unsaved when once the opportunity comes for its appli- 
 cation. 
 
 As the spiritual tide rises in the church this personal 
 work will be done more and more willingly and thor- 
 oughly, and by the time the special services begin, the 
 church will be prepared to lead souls to Christ, knowing 
 who and where they are and how to win them. The 
 trouble the pastor has taken to organize his work will 
 yield returns a thousand fold. 
 
 Preparation must also be made for the singing in 
 advance of the meeting. The song-book the pastor 
 intends to use should be introduced some months before 
 the meeting begins and gone over by the musical talent 
 of the church until every song likely to be useful shall 
 be learned. It will be easy to institute regular meetings 
 for the purpose of drilling these songs in a thorough 
 way. While the pastor need not be the leader in these 
 gatherings for pradlice, he ought to control them with a 
 special view to their future effedtiveness. When these 
 8 
 
114 GETTING READY 
 
 songs are learned they ought to be introduced into the 
 church services and prayer and testimony meetings so 
 that all may learn them. The people should be led, 
 consciously or unconsciously, to commit to memory one 
 or more stanzas of the more valuable hymns, as it is often 
 of great importance in a meeting to start a song spon- 
 taneously without announcing the number. If the 
 community has the requisite talent and public sentiment 
 will permit it, provision may also be made for solos, 
 duets, quartets, and choruses, the pastor insisting that 
 not only such material alone be provided as will really 
 impress Gospel truth, but also that they be sung with 
 the proper feeling and sense of their meaning. No 
 matter what the musical power of the pastor, he ought to 
 have a leader appointed for the singing. He should not 
 bear this burden in conne(5lion with his other arduous 
 labors. The selecftion of this leader will not be an 
 easy task in many communities, but the pastor must 
 do the best that is possible under the circumstances. 
 The essential qualifications of a good leader of song are 
 the following: he must have a strong voice able to 
 be heard in the midst of the loudest singing, sweet- 
 ness not being so important; he must be able to start 
 a song at the proper pitch without fail; he must be a 
 real leader directing the people and controlling them; 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. II5 
 
 and finally lie must have his musical resources com- 
 pletely at command and be able to fit his seledlion to 
 the ruling thought or feeling quick as thought. Whoever 
 this leader may be, he should be trained and instru(5led 
 both in the ends to be reached by the song, and how to 
 reach them most successfully. That he has more musical 
 skill than the pastor does not by any means prove that 
 he does not need the instrudlion ; indeed his very culture 
 in this direction may make it more necessary, as he is in 
 danger of considering his work entirely from the artistic 
 side than which nothing can be more fatal to the spiritual 
 success of the song service. The pastor should also 
 have an understanding with him that he seek to adapt 
 himself to the efforts of the leader of the meeting, so 
 that the latter may announce hymns and otherwise take 
 charge of the music without causing offense. The pastor 
 must always remain in full control of the service in all 
 its aspe(5ls. 
 
 3. There will be need for more definite training in the 
 methods and means of leading souls to Christ for many 
 of the members both old and young. When one con- 
 siders the ignorance of many Christian workers of 
 human nature and the divine truth, one is amazed that 
 there is as much accomplished as there is. But while 
 the power of God can overcome the disadvantage of igno- 
 
ii6 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 ranee, that hindrance ought to be taken away as far as is 
 possible. Either in a special worker's meeting, in the 
 regular prayer-meeting, by special sermons, or by 
 means of tracfts and books, such teaching should be 
 given. Particular instrucftion should be given in the 
 pradlical use of the Word of God for immediate spiritual 
 ends. The texts that can be used for the conviction or 
 comfort of the unsaved, as need may require, for the 
 rebuke of the scoffer, the Universalist, or the infidel, 
 ought not only to be definitely known so as to be easily 
 referred to, but even committed to memory. But the 
 workers with the penitents are usually especially in need 
 of instru(5lion in this so delicate and important task. 
 The steps in conversion should be definitely known and 
 an abundant stock of Scripture texts to be quoted from 
 memory vShould be acquired. Instead of distradling, 
 troubling and confusing the penitents as they often do by 
 their excited and purposeless clamor, they ought to lead 
 souls gently and lovingly into the kingdom. To do this 
 requires skill and knowledge and it is the pastor's duty 
 in one way or another to furnish these. 
 
 This work has been carried to a high pitch of perfecftion 
 in the training classes of many of our Young Men's 
 Christian Associations, and much help may be gained 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 117 
 
 from the plans and methods they employ, as detailed in 
 McConaughy's " Leaves from a Worker's Note-book." 
 Sloan's "Pra(5lical Outlines for Workers' Training 
 Classes ' ' is considered even more useful by many. Indeed 
 these very books may be introduced and used with great 
 profit, omitting such portions as are less immediately 
 valuable. "The Coming Revival," a series of revival 
 tradls written by a number of successful pastors, projecfted 
 and edited by the writer for this very purpose has been 
 found very valuable and effe(ftive. Nor should the 
 pastor be deterred from attempting in one way or another 
 to furnish such training by the fadl that owing to the 
 native ability and culture of his workers no very com- 
 plete or finished results are to be expedled. Indeed 
 this fadl only proves all the more conclusively that 
 training is needed, and needed greatly, and his duty 
 to strive after such improvement as in the nature of 
 the circumstances may be possible becomes more evi- 
 dent even if his ideal cannot be attained. Should no 
 more be done than the removal of a few offensive and 
 senseless methods at the altar, and the equipment of a 
 few of the more intelligent workers with several 
 effe(ftive texts, the effort has been rewarded. In many 
 communities where there is a great unwillingness 
 
ii8 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 to change from old habits and customs, it may be 
 best to reach these ends in an indiredl way, leaving the 
 purpose entirely out of sight. In any case it will not be 
 wise to attack the methods that obtain, trusting the 
 better way that the pastor may introduce to win its way. 
 
FOR A REVIVAIv. 
 
 119 
 
 P^'jPs.K.T III. 
 
 GENERAL PREPARATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PREPARATION OP THB UNSAVED. 
 
 Not the least necessary preparatory work for a revival 
 is that which is to be done among the unsaved. And yet 
 it is usually entirely negle(fted. If it is done at all it is 
 in an indefinite, purposeless way that makes thorough 
 work impossible. The final end of all revival effort is to 
 save the unconverted. What can be more necessary than 
 to bring them within reach of the gospel, to secure an 
 influence over them that will render them more accessible 
 to the efforts of the church ? The preacher too often pre- 
 sumes that all he needs to do is to announce the meeting 
 and not only the church-members, but the unsaved as 
 well will be present in force. It is safe to say that in the 
 majority of communities the presumption proves to have 
 no foundation in fa(5l. In cities and in larger towns 
 where other attradlions of a worldly nature abound; it is 
 
I20 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 often impossible to secure the attendance of any consid- 
 erable number of the unconverted. Hence it is important 
 that preparatory efforts be made that will furnish the 
 church with materials upon which to work. If the 
 previous year was blessed with a larger ingathering the 
 necessity is all the greater that a new class of persons 
 who need salvation be attracfted and prepared for the 
 coming meeting. The off year in revivals is almost 
 entirely due to the fa(5l that the church has not accumu- 
 lated materials in which it has a deep interest and which 
 are under its influence. Nor can the pastor shift the 
 responsibility upon the unsaved themselves, saying that 
 as they will not come to the services to be saved they are 
 to blame if they are lost, and that he will be innocent in 
 the sight of God, having done all that could be demanded 
 of him; he is not free from responsibility until he has 
 exhausted all his resources during months and 3'ears of 
 effort to attra(5t them to the services, until by the personal 
 work of the church and of himself the gospel invitation 
 has been extended not only in the house of God but also 
 in the homes of the people, until they have had pressing 
 invitations to attend the services as well as to come to 
 Christ. 
 
 But even when the attendance of the unsaved may be 
 certainly expedled, there is much preparatory work that 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 
 
 121 
 
 can be done among them that will be exceedingly useful 
 and fa'^ilitate the work of saving them. Their attitude 
 towards the church, its pastor and its individual members, 
 will largely determine their susceptibility to their efforts. 
 Their interest in the church and its work will be the gates 
 by which the truth and the Spirit will enter their lives. 
 Hence whatever the state of the community, the pastor 
 should aim months before he plans to hold his special 
 services to prepare the way among the unsaved for their 
 conversion. 
 
 What has been said in previous chapters concerning 
 the preparation of the pastor and the church has already 
 outlined much of the work that needs to be done, and 
 many of the methods to be employed. Having his lists 
 containing the names and residence of all the unsaved in 
 the community divided among his workers, so that some 
 one is responsible for every unconverted person, a tre- 
 mendous force for the salvation of the people has been 
 set in motion. But he must by no means depend upon 
 his people for doing all the work. Having his lists sys- 
 temized by neighborhoods or streets, he ought to do a 
 great amount of pastoral visiting among the unsaved. 
 If he ever needs a full enduement of geniality and sym- 
 pathetic, magnetic kindliness, it is in this phase of his 
 labors. A hearty, friendly manner, utterly unprofessional 
 
122 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 and manly, showing the people that he feels at home in 
 their homes, will in most cases win the good-will and 
 respedl of those whom he visits. A stiff professional air, 
 in which the man is lost in the preacher, and genialit}^ in 
 clerical dignity, will chill the hearts of the people and 
 repel them from the church and from Christ. A domi- 
 neering, sharp, and egotistical manner will have an 
 equally fatal effedl. Shyness and timidity manifesting 
 themselves in reserve or awkwardness are little fitted to 
 put strangers at their ease. If the preacher suspects 
 himself of having an^' of these impediments he should 
 tarry at prayer until self is lost in the work of saving the 
 perishing. It is the preacher's duty to make those who 
 meet him esteem him. A\Tiile he cannot compel persons 
 to feel kindly towards him, there must be some serious 
 flaw in his life, character, or manner, or a grievous lack 
 of tacl, if the great majority of those with whom he 
 comes in contacl is not attracted to him. But the oppo- 
 site extreme of forced joviality and insincere flatter^^ is • 
 degrading to the office and character of the pastor. Its 
 reacftionary influence on the spiritual health of the pastor 
 is fatal. If the kindliness and geniality cannot be 
 genuine, it is better to continue the natural reserv^e and 
 stolidity of demeanor. However that may be, the spirit 
 and atmosphere of the pastor's intercourse with the 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 1 23 
 
 people should impress them that he lives in a religious 
 sphere, and that the great controlling motives of his life 
 are religious. While he will share with the people about 
 him in all the good and innocent interests and enjoy- 
 ments which help to make up our human life, the aroma 
 of the higher spiritual life must ever be in the nostrils of 
 those with whom he associates. Hence whether he 
 expresses himself diredlly on religious subjecfts or not, a 
 spiritual influence is exerted. This is all the more 
 important because in most cases it will not be wise to 
 obtrude religious conversation in a personal way upon 
 them at the first visit. This should be postponed until 
 the pastor is reasonably sure that it will be kindly 
 received and have some effed:. Of course if they mani- 
 fest a willingness to consider the matter or themselves 
 bring it up, the pastor's duty is evident, and he should 
 improve the opportunity afforded him. A request to 
 pray with the family even at the first call will in most 
 instances be perfedlly appropriate, and is indeed often 
 expected. A quick perception of what is appropriate 
 under given circumstances, or in a word, tadl, is very 
 useful in this work, and the pastor should use all that he 
 has, and more, if he can acquire it. 
 
 If the pastor can secure a personal introdu(5lion to 
 those whom he wishes to win through some mutual 
 
124 GETTING READY 
 
 acquaintance, or through a member of his visiting com- 
 mittee, and an invitation to call, he will have gained a 
 decided advantage especially among persons of some 
 social culture. Yet where this for an}^ reason seems 
 impossible he should have little hesitation in making the 
 call without introducftion or invitation. Few will resent 
 this libertj^ on the part of a kind and faithful pastor, 
 while most will look upon it as an honor and appreciate 
 it all the more that there was no previous acquaintance. 
 In many cases it will be wise to call on the men at their 
 stores, work-shops, or in the fields as they are at work; 
 in other cases it will not be advisable at all. The slight- 
 est contadt with any person should be made the pretext 
 for claiming an acquaintance, and continuing it in a kind 
 and hearty way. A cheerful greeting for everj^one on the 
 streets or on the road will find general appreciation. 
 Occasions of public interest which give the pastor an 
 opportunity of showing his S3^mpath3^ with the feeling 
 of the community by his presence, or, better vStill, by 
 adlive participation, or bj^ public speech, should be used to 
 add to his general influence in the communit}-. In a 
 thousand waj^s by his social and secular adlivit^- he can 
 gain an influence and win the confidence of the great 
 mass of the unsaved in the locality in which he labors. 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 1 25 
 
 But the preacher must cooperate with the pastor in this 
 effort to get hold upon the unsaved masses by rendering 
 the regular public service as interesting and attra(5live as 
 possible. The singing, Scripture reading, and prayer 
 should be carefully considered from this standpoint and 
 all things lawful done to make them pleasing and enjoy- 
 able to outsiders. There is danger of overdoing this, of 
 course, but most preachers err in the opposite dire(5lion. 
 The musical element of the service should be taken out 
 of the formal rut, with little purpose or meaning, and 
 filled with life and power. It may, or may not be wise 
 under existing circumstances to organize the musical 
 forces of the church into a choir, but in any event they 
 can be gathered together in an informal way and drilled 
 so as to make the song service more attracftive. Above 
 all the preacher must insist that the congregation sing, 
 for after all there is nothing so attractive as congrega- 
 tional singing. Add to this carefully read Scriptures 
 with bright and instrudtive comments and short, earnest, 
 genuine prayers, and the service will have a movement 
 and life that are certain to draw people. 
 
 Of course the sermon will be the great magnet with 
 which to attra(5l the unsaved to the services. Not for the 
 sake of the applause of men, saved or unsaved, but for 
 the sake of the lost whom he would lead to Christ, he 
 
126 GETTING READY 
 
 will make an effort to make his sermons as interesting 
 and popular as loj'alt}- to the truth and to the final end of 
 saving the people will permit. It is not simpl}- the 
 preacher's privilege, it is his absolute dut}' to make his 
 preaching as striking and brilliant as he can within the 
 limits and with the motives already- indicated. Nor 
 need he wander into the b3--wa3^s of science, philosophy, 
 or current events to secure attracT:ive themes; biblical 
 truth still affords the grandest themes, kindling the 
 imagination, satisf^'ing the reason, and touching the 
 heart, which human thought can consider. Fresh views 
 of the old truth will 3-ield striking subjects and their 
 announcement will 3-ield good returns. If newspapers 
 are accessible the3' should be freely used for this pur- 
 pose. The good old minister who refused to use the 
 newspaper because it was degrading to the Gospel to 
 bring it in contacl with so secular an institution was too 
 fastidious to be a good soldier in the army of the Lord, 
 and it is not strange that the slain of the Lord under his 
 ministrj^ were few. A sermon or series of sermons to 
 3'oung people, or to 3-oung men, or to an3^ other import- 
 ant class in the communit3-, will often awake great 
 interest and sers^e to build up the congregation. In 
 general, while his methods should be legitimate and in 
 no bad sense sensational, his preaching should make a 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 1 27 
 
 sensation in the community, for that is what in all prob- 
 ability is needed. The preacher should not allow 
 himself to be worried by the criticisms of spiritually 
 indolent and useless people who make their keen sense 
 of propriety an excuse for their own lack of effort, and 
 for criticising the efforts of others who are more zealous 
 and faithful. A sandlified sensationalism, in which 
 personal vanity and self-assertion are absent, has the 
 blessing of God upon it. John the Baptist and the 
 Master-preacher, Jesus Christ, both created a tremendous 
 sensation by their preaching. 
 
 But in addition to this effort to make his preaching as 
 attractive as he legitimately can, there are other methods 
 of building up the congregation and drawing in the 
 unsaved. Special services in which other exercises take 
 the place of the sermon ma}^ be held. A missionary 
 concert by the Sunday-school will often greatly interest 
 the people besides yielding other desirable results. 
 Music is almost always acceptable, and an occasional 
 service of song in which the best talent of the commu- 
 nity participates will attradl large audiences. Care 
 should be taken that these do not degenerate into 
 concerts, for mere musical enjoyment or the display 
 of skill. The announcement of a lec51;ure, or series of 
 ledlures, in lieu of the sermon often seives the same 
 
128 GETTIXG READY 
 
 purpose. It goes without sa3'ing that these ledlures 
 must be thoroughly religious in matter and spirit. They 
 will likely differ from sermons chiefly in their form. 
 One pastor gave a series of Sunday evening ledlures on 
 the Ivord's Prayer with excellent results. Another 
 attracted the 3^oung people by a series on the "Young 
 People of the Bible." A number of le(?tures on Bunyan's 
 " Pilgrim's Progress" added greatly to the interest and 
 attendance of another pastor's services. Whatever the 
 method it must recognize the principle that intellecftual 
 must precede spiritual interest. 
 
 But the preacher's work is not done when the benedic- 
 tion is pronounced. As quickly as it is at all possible he 
 should be at the door in the rear of the house to speak to 
 the unsaved before the^^ pass out. A cordial hand-shake 
 with the stranger as well as with the acquaintance, with 
 a word of welcome or a personal inquiry or two, will 
 have great value in building up a congregation of regular 
 attendants. A quick eye for faces and a firm memory for 
 names are very important here and need to be consciously 
 cultivated by most men. He will be free to speak to 
 every one, rich or poor, children as well as adults. It 
 is his privilege to accost the stranger, for every member 
 of his congregation is his guest, hence no timidity or 
 false scruples of propriety should restrain him from 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 129 
 
 seeking the acquaintance of all however high or low in 
 the social scale. Of course he will have time for but few 
 words with each person, else he will greet but a small 
 portion of those who have been present whose presence 
 he ought to recognize. Yet if he is acquainted with all 
 of his congregation it may be well to single out a few 
 who most need encouragement and kindly recognition, 
 and spend the little time at his disposal with them. 
 Here as in private, the * ' wisdom of the serpent ' ' will be 
 needed to guide the talk in the right channel. While 
 general religious conversation will be in order, with 
 reference to the meeting or the truth that has been 
 preached or the interests of the church at large, direcft 
 personal application of religious truth should be made 
 only when the plain call of the Holy Spirit or of the evi- 
 dent circumstances is felt. Unless a general interest is 
 felt in personal religion it is rarely w^ise to speak to a 
 person on this topic in the presence of others or in a 
 crowd. Besides his own personal work the pastor will 
 have an eye to the committee for welcoming strangers, 
 and will direcft them, and call their attention to strangers 
 that are in danger of being negledled in the general confu- 
 sion. Nor will a robust, genuine, clerical dignity suffer 
 
 from this freedom; it will rather flourish. The minister 
 9 
 
GETTrN-G READY 
 
 who is hampered hy a false, artificial dignity, and hindered 
 in using this golden opportunity- for winning the hearts of 
 the people, and making or renewing their acquaintance, 
 is unfortunate and deserves to be pitied. 
 
 WTiile few preachers have the physical vigor to teach 
 a class in the Sundaj'-school without discounting their 
 pulpit work, the}' ought at least to be present at all 
 the sessions if at all possible. In most communities the 
 Sunday-school is the quarry^ from which most of the 
 converts are dug out and if this is not so, something is 
 wrong in the school and its management which ought to 
 be speedily and courageously correcled. The pastor who 
 is preparing for a revival should therefore pay particular 
 attention to the members of the Sundaj'-school. While 
 the personal acquaintance of all the scholars is important, 
 that of the unconverted is particularly^ so, especially of 
 the older and more mature ones. As the pastor of the 
 school he will have a right to visit their homes and to 
 give them such pastoral attention as the circumstances 
 may permit. The relation of the scholar to his teacher 
 may easih' be discovered, and the influence of the latter 
 understood. ^\Tiere teachers have the proper qualifica- 
 tions for spiritual work, their attention should be kept on 
 the spiritual needs of their charges and their responsi- 
 bility emphasized by frequent and impressive references 
 to it. 
 
FOR A RKVIVAI,. 131 
 
 In a mission school in the West there was a class of 
 six young men of a gay and lively turn who attended 
 chiefly because of their high regard for their teacher, a 
 young lady of charming manners and high Christian char- 
 adter. As the revival season approached the pastor 
 concentrated his forces upon that class determined to win 
 them all to Christ. The teacher cooperated with him 
 most heartily in this effort, and early in the meeting they 
 were convi(?ted and speedily converted. They were the 
 most valuable workers won during that meeting, and have 
 all been officials in the church which has since developed 
 out of the mission. The emphasis of the class idea in 
 this instance had much to do with the final success. 
 
 The cooperation of the superintendent should be 
 sought in making the sessions of the school increasingly 
 spiritual. A short prayer service may take the place of 
 some of the less important features of the regular pro- 
 gramme. A short address by the superintendent or a 
 leading teacher in this line may be helpful. With 
 some superintendents this is not as easy as it should 
 be. They are wedded to their mechanical routine 
 and anything that breaks in upon their programme 
 is deemed an intrusion. Owing to a false con- 
 ception of the relation of the church and the school, 
 many superintendents look upon a pastor's advice and 
 
132 GETTING READY 
 
 suggestions as more or less gratuitous and officious, and 
 are inclined to assert their authority' as superior to that 
 of the pastor who to manj' of them seems to have no 
 rights be\-ond those of other members of the school. In 
 such cases the pastor should insist upon his authority' 
 where he can do it without causing strife; but where 
 unkind feelings might arise the pastor usually by a little 
 strategy' may accomplish the principal ends he desires. 
 The more he can succeed in getting the superintendent 
 and the teachers' meeting to do as if at their own sug- 
 gestion, the more heart}* and valuable will be their 
 cooperation. 
 
 ^"\Tiere the pastor takes an earnest interest in the 
 work of the school, and adds by his labors to its pros- 
 perity", there will xery rareU* be any trouble on his part 
 in controlling it within reasonable bounds. In building 
 up the attendance of the school, in particular he can do 
 much. AVith the canvass-book or his lists before him, he 
 knows where the families reside in which there are 
 persons not in attendance upon any Sundaj'-school, and 
 can take measures to solicit and in many cases secure 
 their presence. In conneclion with the superintendent 
 and teachers' meeting he may appoint new teachers to 
 \-isit these homes, and from the materials thus gathered 
 to form new classes. Or it ma\- be wise to let the visiting 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 133 
 
 committees do the advance soliciting, and where scholars 
 are secured their names can be reported to the pastor who 
 will hand them to the appropriate teacher whose dut}^ it 
 will be again to visit the famil}- and get into pleasant 
 personal relations with the scholars and their parents 
 and so assure their attendance and interest. By the 
 latter plan the new materials will be scattered through 
 the school and will be assimilated more rapidly, while 
 the responsibility can be divided more equally among the 
 whole corps of teachers. These scholars should be gath- 
 ered in not only for their own sakes, but also for that of 
 their parents and other friends who will soon recognize 
 a certain bond of attachment to the church and of definite 
 relation to it. The pastor should make as much as 
 possible of this sense of relation to the church, and 
 strengthen it constantl}" by all the methods and means at 
 his command, diredl and indiredl. 
 
 Perhaps not in all, but certainly in many communities, it 
 will be very useful to provide a series of entertainments, 
 such as ledlures, concerts, and the like. These should 
 be free, or if there is any admission fee charged it 
 should be small so as to exclude no one. If there is 
 danger that these entertainments will not be attended by 
 the persons whom it is desired to attradl, and the 
 audiences are made up of Christians from the various 
 
134 GETTING READY 
 
 churches, it ma}* be well to issue invitations, either 
 written or printed, to the persons whose presence is 
 desired. The members of the church will of course be 
 remembered as they will be needed to do the work that 
 must fall upon them. The utmost care should be taken 
 to send invitations to every unsaved family and person 
 in the communitj^ or else the slighted individual will 
 antagonize the church. Admission may be exclusively 
 b}' tickets, and the tickets sent to the church members 
 and the unsaved persons b}" mail or by the visiting com- 
 mittees. In village or countrj^ communities these 
 methods of limiting the attendance will rarely be needed, 
 and would only cause trouble if attempted. The workers 
 need only urge their unsaved neighbors and friends to 
 attend to reach the persons desired. Even if the persons 
 in\'ited by any of these methods do not attend the enter- 
 tainments, they will be pleased by the kindly feeling 
 represented b^^ the invitations and made more accessible. 
 Care should be taken that these entertainments be not 
 known as intended simph^ to win the unsaved; let that 
 idea once become general and they will not come. 
 "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any 
 bird" is still as true as in the days of the wise men of 
 old. A little holy guile in these matters will produce 
 valuable results. The pastor must also use the utmost 
 
FOR A REVIVAIv. 135 
 
 discretion and caution that none of these entertainments 
 contain elements that are harmful or inconsistent with 
 the final end he has in view. The unsaved often have a 
 more sensitive conscience with reference to what 
 Christians ought and ought not to do than Christians 
 themselves. A series of instru(5live and popular lectures 
 varied by a concert or two, an elocutionary entertainment, 
 or a couple of socials can do no harm if managed with 
 ordinary discretion, but will do much to gather the 
 unconverted about the church and make them accessible 
 to the spiritual efforts of the pastor and his workers. 
 
 It should be understood that at the close of these 
 entertainments the audience is expedled to remain for a 
 little social intercourse, the various committees and 
 indeed the church at large doing their utmost to make 
 the social feature free and pleasant, speaking to those 
 who are unknown, making the acquaintance of the 
 strangers, and introducing them to others. Stiffness and 
 formality at such a time would be criminal. Kindliness, 
 unaflfedled and sweet, should be the prevailing spirit. 
 The tadl and skill of the pastor will here have a large 
 opportunity which will in the near future be fruitful in 
 spiritual results. The church idea must be emphasized 
 constantly by both pastor and workers, so that it will 
 be the church, not the pastor or workers as individuals, 
 
136 
 
 GETTING READY 
 
 that vrill get the credit for whatever attracts the people 
 and consequenth' will wield the influence. 
 
 .^It is often possible to attach many of the unsaved to 
 the church still more closeh^ by making them responsible 
 for some share of the work, such as they are able to do. 
 In a community" known to the writer the pastor gath- 
 ered the young people and trained them in the music he 
 proposed to sing during the coming meetings and the}' 
 understood that they would be responsible for the singing 
 during that time. Before the meetings had been in 
 progress many da^'s almost every member of that choir 
 had been converted. So in many of the pureh' secular 
 phases of the church life it will often be possible in one 
 wa}' or another, or to a greater or less extent, to use the 
 unsaved and in so doing prepare the way for their salva- 
 tion. The fertilit}' of the pastor in expedients will be 
 marked by his success in finding work to do for the 
 unsave4,J 
 
 Perhaps no better illustration of these methods and 
 their happy results can be given than the following 
 account of the work of Dr. Newell, an exceedingl}' suc- 
 cessful pastor, in his "Revivals, How and \\Tien." 
 
 " In order to secure a yearh' ingathering of j'oungmen, 
 it is indispensable that they should ever^' year be drawn 
 to us from the outside world. But man}- negleclers of the 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. 137 
 
 san(5luary would not attend revival meetings; hence 
 there must be something to a':tracl them; some prepara- 
 tory steps must be taken. 
 
 After the summer vacation we commenced our year of 
 evangelistic work. The question was, 'How can we 
 insure the largest number of vidlories for the Master ? ' 
 The pastor and the choir did not propose to do this work 
 alone. The work was not left to the Sabbath-school or 
 Bible-class. The people were not merely urged from the 
 pulpit in a general way to do more for Christ. All the 
 soldiers of the cross were to aid their chosen leader in 
 wise and specific ad:ion. Hence they must be interested, 
 consulted. 
 
 After surveying the field, and talking with the officers 
 of the church, I was in the habit of inviting all the 
 Christian young men of the congregation to meet me. 
 After prayer and song I would perhaps say: 'What can 
 we do this coming campaign for young men and others 
 who are irreligious 'i How can we win them to ourselves 
 and to Christ?' Perhaps one would propose several 
 reunions. This would be discussed and voted. Com- 
 mittees on music and flowers and invitations, with 
 chairman and secretary and treasurer, would be appointed. 
 Another would perhaps propose that the pastor be 
 requested to deliver a short course of Sabbath evening 
 
138 GETTING RE-IDY 
 
 leclures to 3'oung men, on practical siibjecls. This was 
 also decided hy vote. The pastor could suggest or 
 objecl. In this way he obtained just what he wanted; 
 but it was their work. The^' made the arrangements 
 and bore the expenses. It was young men's missionary 
 work, in which the pastor and the church and the con- 
 gregation and outsiders were all finally enlisted. 
 
 After a time notice came to the pulpit, sa3'ing, ' This 
 church and congregation are invited by the young men 
 to a reunion to be held in the Lecture and Sunda\--school 
 rooms.' Ever\-body was desired to bring in outsiders, 
 and the poor of the congregation. The pastor with his 
 companion and others were earU* present to receive an 
 introduction to strangers, and to give welcome to all. 
 Among others there would be knots of 3'oung men to 
 know and to entertain. The pastor and others gave 
 introduction and special attention to the friendless and 
 the unknown. He put in his parish-book the name and 
 residence of strangers, with the promise of a future call. 
 It was really missionary- work. 
 
 On this occasion the chairman of the young men's 
 committee presided. He finalh* called upon the free and 
 happ\' assembly to listen to some special music. The 
 pastor and several others would be called out to say a 
 word of love and cheer. The assembly would join in 
 
FOR A RBVIVAI.. 139 
 
 a familiar song. Then came a word of prayer and the 
 benedicftion. In reviewing this scene, how many said to 
 me: ' What a delightful time we have had. How 
 pleasant and home-like it all seemed. This is the church 
 I want to attend.' Two or three of these reunions were 
 held during the autumn. In a small congregation such 
 reunions might, perhaps, be held at a private house. 
 
 In the meantime appropriate subjedls for five or six 
 Sabbath evening discourses were selecfted by the pastor. 
 The young men printed the subjecfts and the time of 
 their delivery. These cards were distributed in the pews 
 and in the Sabbath-schools. Every one was expe(fted to 
 do his best to circulate them among the young men and 
 the strangers of the community. In this way a large 
 crowd was always colle<5led. Sometimes a distinguished 
 clergyman would open the course, and once a whole 
 course of ledlures was delivered by different pastors in 
 the city. The subjecfts discussed were eminently pradli- 
 cal. A negledler of the san(5luary, who kept his store 
 open on the Sabbath, said to me one Sabbath evening: 
 * I am sorry these ledlures have closed. I would love to 
 attend such meetings every Sabbath evening in the 
 year.' His large family were brought into the fold of 
 Christ. 
 
I40 GETTING READY 
 
 During the autumn, boxes of missionary clothing 
 were prepared. Entertainments were sometimes given 
 for the purpose of raising the salary of city missionaries. 
 Many calls were made. By all these, and other means, 
 there was much social and familiar intercourse among 
 parishioners and outsiders. Many strangers had come 
 to be our friends. In all this work the end in view 
 was the salvation of souls. During this time sinners 
 were often converted; but this was a preparation of the 
 field. It was the ploughing and the harrowing. As 
 soon as the Week of Prayer arrived, all this general 
 work was abandoned. As a wise business arrangement 
 this was an indispensable measure. No absorbing matter 
 must obtrude. The time had now come for that thorough 
 preparation of heart to which I have already referred. 
 The one specific and uninterrupted aim was now to be the 
 present conversion of sinners. Bonaparte made specific 
 arrangements for a confli(5l. The merchant prepares for 
 the busy season. With equal propriety and profit we 
 prepare for an ingathering of souls. 
 
 Worldly young men and strangers became our friends, 
 and they were so enlisted in this movement that they 
 could not be drawn away by the frivolities of the city. 
 They attended our evangelistic prayer-meetings, in 
 which Christian young men took part. This wise timing 
 
FOR A REVIVi^Iv. 
 
 141 
 
 of things never insured a revival, but it always proved 
 and invaluable aid. It vastly increased the number 
 saved. ' ' 
 
 Of spiritual preparation there can be comparatively 
 little among the unconverted. There may and ought to 
 be much of instrucftion given in the various evangelical 
 truths of the Bible, and put in such a form that they will 
 be deeply impressed with its truth and reasonableness. 
 Where there are two sermons each Sunday, it may be 
 well to preach in the evening on themes intended for the 
 unsaved, leading them to recognize their need of conver- 
 sion and of salvation from sin. These should become 
 increasingly evangelistic and earnest until the special 
 services begin. The thought of a coming revival may 
 be used to generate expecflancy even in unsaved persons. 
 The best preparation of the unsaved will be that which 
 results indirecftly from the rising tide of spiritual power in 
 the pastor and in the church. As the Spirit works more 
 and more mightily in the church, they will feel his 
 influence too. The sermons intended for the church and 
 used by the Spirit for the waking of the church will 
 "find" the sinner as well. Indeed there is generally 
 little use in trying to impress the unsaved until the 
 church manifests the rising tide. When purely personal 
 religious work is done before the church is ready there is 
 
142 GETTING READY 
 
 great danger of repelling the unconverted and in harden- 
 ing the unsaved against the truth before the time for 
 aggressive effort has come. It is a mistake to urge 
 sinners to come to Christ before the Christian people are 
 ready to pray with and for them. While this is trae in 
 general, there may occur specific cases where the plain 
 duty of the pastor will be to strive to lead the soul to 
 Christ at once. The conversion of a sinner or the 
 reclamation of a backslider ma}" thus be used to spur up 
 the church to a completer consecration. 
 
 If this preparatory^ work is done year after year among 
 the unsaved there is no reason why there should not be 
 an ingathering into the church every year. Of course 
 the results looked at numerically will vary with the 
 circumstances over which the pastor cannot in the very 
 nature of things expecft to have any control. But with 
 God ever ready to save those who come unto him, and 
 with unsaved persons in the community, every year 
 ought to have its harvest of souls, and will have if the 
 pastor does his full duty. 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CALLING AN E^VANGELIST. 
 
 Where it is at all possible the pastor should be his own 
 evangelist. While the results may not appear as great as 
 when the help of an evangelist is secured, they are 
 usually more permanent and leave the church in better 
 condition. The pastor's influence over his people, his 
 standing in the community, and his own Christian 
 life and character will be built up by his per- 
 sonal efforts in revival work, and his power for good 
 for the future greatly increased. His relation to the con- 
 verts will be more intimate and his influence over them 
 greater. In every respedl the results will be more 
 healthy and normal if the pastor is the leader in the 
 special services instead of a stranger. But there are 
 exigencies when the engagement of an evangelist is 
 proper and advisable. When the pastor's health will not 
 permit him to undertake the exhausting and arduous 
 task; when he finds by repeated past attempts that he 
 lacks the gifts and talents necessary for effedlive revival 
 work (truly a sad discovery!); when by his own or others' 
 
144 GETTING READY 
 
 fault he has not the necessary control of the working forces 
 of the church; when in previous years he has largely won 
 those elements in the community which are susceptible 
 to his ideas and methods; when in a long pastorate the 
 many meetings held by a single pastor have caused the 
 congregation to fall into a rut in revival work which robs 
 it of spontaneity and power and out of which they need 
 to be helped by an impulse from without; when owing 
 to other attradlions and distradlions the pastor finds 
 himself unable to draw any considerable number of the 
 unsaved to the special services; when all other efforts 
 and plans have failed to stir the community on religious 
 subjedls; when any of these or other like conditions obtain 
 it will be wise to seek the help of a competent evangelist 
 whose spirit and methods are adapted to the needs of the 
 community. 
 
 To make such a choice and to secure the services of the 
 chosen evangelist at the time when the congregation is 
 ripe for a revival is no light responsibility or tri- 
 fling task. Within the last few years the number 
 of evangelists has been rapidly increasing. Among 
 them are men of high chara(5ler and large ability, 
 but also those who are utterly unreliable and irre- 
 sponsible. Some are the merest charlatans whose 
 only call to the work is an adventurous disposition and 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 145 
 
 instlndlive desire to create a .serivSation wherever they go, 
 having no real piety and little regard for the truth, and 
 moving in an atmosphere of undefined but persistent 
 suspicion. To glorify themselves seems to be their chief 
 objedl in life to which all other interests are sacrificed. 
 To have engaged such an evangelist in ignorance of his 
 real charaAer is a calamity to pastor and people. To 
 prevent such a calamit}^ the pastor should make a careful 
 investigation of the past record of the evangelist whom 
 he is inclined to call. There are so many excellent and 
 successful evangelists in the field that a mistake in this 
 respedl is unnecessary. Indeed the variety of spirit and 
 methods employed by them is so great that if the pastor 
 attends to the matter in time, he will have little trouble 
 in securing the help not simply of an eflficient evangelist, 
 but of one adapted to the demands of the situation, and 
 one who will supplement his own deficiencies. 
 
 Ministers are often misled in their judgment of evan- 
 gelists by an undue emphasis of preaching ability. Of 
 two evangelists equal in other respecfts, the better 
 preacher should of course be chosen, but that is not the 
 final basis of judgment. Some of the best evangelists 
 are poor preachers according to accepted standards. The 
 great essential talent of the evangelist by which he 
 10 
 
146 GETTING READY 
 
 stands or falls is his heat producing power. If the 
 pastor and the Sundaj^-school have been doing their 
 work aright, the people will not need instruction so 
 much as a vitalizing of what the}^ have learned, and an 
 impulse from without to acft according to that instruction. 
 To lead the people to transmute knowledge into adlion is 
 the mission of the evangelist in most communities, and 
 he must be judged by his power to lead people to act 
 rather than by the value of his preaching. If he is 
 overflowing with religious earnestness, if the truths of 
 the Gospel are to him veritable realities, if he has a con- 
 tagious enthusiasm that w^arms the people, if he is 
 genuine and sincere in the expression of his religious 
 life, no matter how weak or weighty his preaching, he 
 w^ill succeed in quickening and warming saints and 
 in leading sinners to Christ. Other things being equal, 
 the evangelist who is a good singer or who is accompa- 
 nied by a good leader of song is to be preferred, as 
 that will not only add to the general interest and 
 power of the services, but also serv^e to draw into the 
 meetings unconverted persons who could not otherwise 
 be induced to attend. 
 
 When an evangelist is desirable an engagement should 
 be made with him a sufficient length of time in advance 
 and a definite date fixed if at all possible in order 
 
FOR A REVIVAL 147 
 
 that the pastor may prepare the way for his coming. 
 The congregation and the community should be inter- 
 ested in the coming worker by private conversations 
 concerning him, and when possible by a discreet use of 
 the newspapers. Care should be taken however to be 
 corre(5l as well as kindly in the descriptions given of him 
 and his work, lest there be a general disappointment and 
 readlion when he comes. The Christian workers of the 
 church must be impressed privately and publicly with 
 the necessity of cheerfully and loyally accepting the 
 methods of the evangelist however distasteful and unreas- 
 onable they may appear at first sight. The church 
 should also be made to realize that upon them and their 
 cooperation more than upon the work of the evangelist 
 will the success of the meeting depend. When an 
 evangelist comes Christians are often inclined to stand 
 back as spedlators to see how he will succeed. This atti- 
 tude is very unfortunate and prevents a large success 
 unless he has the power to change it. 
 
 Arrangements should be made in advance to provide 
 for the compensation of the evangelist which should be 
 generous and ungrudging. A competent committee 
 should be appointed to canvass the community and raise 
 the desired funds. Instead of this plan there may be col- 
 ledlions held at every service, or a strong public effort at 
 
148 GETTING READY 
 
 the close of the series of meetings. While few evangel- 
 ists demand a specified sum, many of them have their 
 own plans for raising what they are to receive. It may 
 be well therefore to give him an opportunity for express- 
 ing his preferences in the case. The best possible 
 arrangements should also be made for his comfort. A 
 home should be secured for him near the church, where 
 he need not feel the restraints of a guest, but can feel free 
 to come and go at his pleasure. A room well heated 
 and comfortably furnished where he can be in stricT; pri- 
 vacy, where he can unbend, rest, study, meditate, pray, 
 without interruption, should be provided. It should be 
 understood that he is not to be disturbed and imposed 
 upon by unnecessary^ calls and visits. 
 
 By securing the assistance of an evangelist the pastor 
 has neither resigned his ofiice nor unloaded the responsi- 
 bilities that are upon him for the spiritual welfare of the 
 people. His public leadership may be held in abeyance 
 for a few days, but in private his people should not miss 
 his direction and stimulus. Where the employment of an 
 evangelist cripples the influence of a pastor it is usually 
 his own fault. He throws off all the responsibility upon 
 the evangelist, and feels that he has done his duty when 
 he prays when he is called upon. While the evangelist 
 is present the pastor should magnify his office as 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 
 
 149 
 
 pastor, doing- the private personal work that is often 
 more important than the public service, and which no 
 one ought to be so able to perform as he. He should not 
 expedt the evangelist to do much of this pastoral work, 
 as he will likely need all his strength for the public 
 service. The pastor should come into personal contadl 
 with every awakened sinner by conversations in private 
 and in the congregation, and get into such personal rela- 
 tions with every convert that he may be able to influence 
 and control him after the meeting has closed. By his 
 deep and patent anxiety for the success of the special 
 services, by his deep religious earnestness and fervor, by 
 his tireless private efforts, the pastor should impress the 
 congregation that, while the evangelist is in seeming 
 control, he is the real leader and manager of the work. 
 This may be done without in the least hampering the 
 movements of his helper whose methods and public 
 leadership he ought to accept in a large-hearted and loyal 
 way perfectly consistent with a proper self-respe(5l. 
 There must be some extreme imprudence or folly in the 
 measures of the evangelist before the pastor is justified 
 in opposing them among his people, much less in the 
 presence of the unsaved. The fadl that the stranger can 
 use methods that it would be the height of folly for 
 the pastor to attempt is one of the advantages connedled 
 with his assistance. The very fa(5l that the pastor cannot 
 or has not used a given method may be the best reason 
 
GETTING RP:ADY 
 
 for its use by the evangelist. Very frequently at the 
 beginning of a series of meetings the evangelist's fearless, 
 unsparing treatment of the weaknesses and follies of 
 professed Christians provokes a passing antagonism and 
 bitterness against him. The pastor should not be misled 
 or w^orried if this should happen, nor should he join the 
 hue and cry against the evangelist that he is scolding 
 and denouncing too much. This antagonism is only the 
 promise of thorough work and large results. But while 
 the pastor should not express any sympathy with the 
 complaints of the people, he should also avoid participat- 
 ing in the severity which the evangelist may find it 
 necessary to use. He cannot afford as can the evangel- 
 ist to risk the petmanent alienation of his people. 
 Kindliness, patience, and tadl should characterize the 
 pastor's adlions in such an exigency. 
 
 Mutual forbearance, consideration, and appreciation 
 will make the association of the pastor and the evangelist 
 a delightful and profitable one. The pastor should learn 
 all the evangelist can teach him of the management and 
 control of evangelistic services. The most valuable 
 result of a meeting held by an evangelist has often been 
 the new conceptions of the work gained, the new methods 
 acquired, the new spirit of aggressiveness absorbed by 
 the pastor in whose church the services were held. 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS PREPARATION. 
 
 The proper announcement of a revival meeting" is more 
 of a fine art than most preachers realize. It is not 
 enough to give the people a knowledge of the proposed 
 services. They must be so advertised as to create a 
 desire to attend them from the very beginning. Even in 
 country or village communities, where less effort is 
 required, very much less is done in this diredlion than 
 should be done. The families of the church who for 
 sufficient or insufficient reasons have been absent from 
 several of the recent regular services may know nothing 
 of the opening of the campaign. The unconverted fam- 
 ilies who rarely or never go to church are ignorant of the 
 meetings until they have been in progress for some time 
 and something unusual occurs and becomes the subje(5l 
 of general conversation. But in larger towns and cities 
 the matter of advertising the expedled revival services 
 becomes one of the first importance and needs careful 
 attention. Fertility in expedients and ta(5t will find 
 abundant occasion for exercise in this task. Methods 
 
152 GETTING READY 
 
 must vary with the circumstances^ and while anything 
 sensational or undignified is to be carefully avoided, the 
 neater and more striking the plan the more efFe(ftive will 
 it be. From year to year it may be well to vary the 
 methods employed so as to insure attention and interest. 
 A rapid course of house to house visitation in which no 
 family in or out of the church is missed and in which the 
 chief or only topic of conversation is the proposed special 
 services will be found a laborious but very eflScient plan 
 in small communities. To this may be added a printed 
 or still better a written postal reminding every family in 
 the community of the opening of the meetings a day or 
 two before they begin. In larger communities a printed 
 poster conspicuously displayed in public places will be 
 useful. These should be supplemented by neatly printed 
 invitations to the services to be sent by mail to the 
 unsaved persons in the community. These invitations 
 should emphasize the coming of the evangelist, the good 
 singing, or other attradlions that have been provided as a 
 bait and which are likely to interest those to whom the 
 invitations are dire(5led. They should not be too 
 aggressively personal in religious matters, else they will 
 repel instead of invite. A few pertinent Scripture texts 
 will bear the message less obtrusively, and make the 
 proper religious impression without giving offense. By 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 153 
 
 inserting the name of the family to whom they are sent, 
 they may be made more dire(5l and personal. After the 
 services have begun, small hand-bills may be distributed 
 in the neighborhood calling attention to the progress of 
 the meeting. The press where it is available should be 
 Used to the full extent of the courtes}' and good-will of its 
 editors. The tacftics of those who wish to sell their 
 wares or who strive to recommend the amusements they 
 offer the people may be studied and with proper modifi- 
 cations imitated by the energetic pastor as he seeks to 
 secure the attendance of the unsaved. 
 
 There are a few other little matters of preparation 
 which deserve at least passing notice. They are material 
 rather than spiritual, but may have an influence on 
 spiritual things and to a considerable degree condition 
 results. 
 
 It is important that the church edifice be put into such 
 condition as will best serve the needs of the expedled 
 revival services. In country neighborhoods or villages 
 it will be wise to provide facilities for hitching securely 
 and caring for the horses and vehicles that will gather. 
 The approaches to the church can usually be so arranged 
 that vehicles can be driven near the church door so that 
 in case of storms of rain and snow persons need not long 
 be exposed to their violence in mounting and dismount- 
 
151- GETTING READY 
 
 ing. In some cases a vestibule may be placed at the 
 entrance of the church during the winter season where 
 persons who arrive during prayer may remain in shelter 
 until they can enter the house without disturbing the 
 service. This vestibule need not be very large and may 
 be made portable by being construdled in secfbions, easily 
 put together and taken apart. Such a strudlure, neat and 
 tasty, in harmony with the style of the church building, 
 may be construdled at a small expense, and will add 
 very much to the comfort of the people and the order of 
 the services. 
 
 The provision for heating the building should be ample 
 and adapted to the needs of the people. SuflB.cient fuel 
 should be put in the stove before the meetings begin. 
 Receptacles should be provided in the church for the fuel 
 necessary for a service, and so arranged that the stoves 
 can be replenished with the least possible confusion and 
 noise. I have seen the progress of more than one meet- 
 ing materially checked by the disturbance created by the 
 sexton attending to the fires. Proper facilities for ven- 
 tilating the room are equally important. The usual way 
 of ventilating a room that is insufferably close or hot by 
 throwing up a window is to invite disease and death to 
 take hold upon the perspiring congregation. Hence 
 some other less dangerous method of lowering the tem- 
 
FOR A REVIVAL. . 155. 
 
 perature or introducing fresh air should be devised. 
 Whatever the plan of ventilation, the preacher ought to 
 be able to control it by a mere look at the proper person, 
 and have the proper changes made without the knowl- 
 edge of the congregation, thus avoiding both distradlion 
 and complaint. 
 
 The church should be well lighted. Light has a moral 
 quality, begetting inspiration, enthusiasm, and hopeful- 
 ness. Plenty of lamps should therefore be provided, so 
 that the finest print can be read anywhere in the room 
 and persons readily recognized at any distance within 
 the walls. To save lamps and oil during a revival meet- 
 ing is unthrifty economy. 
 
 The minister should make careful provision for his 
 own comfort and health during the meeting. Owing to 
 the heat of the crowded house and the violence perhaps 
 of his physical and nervous exertion, he will find him- 
 self at the end of the service bathed in perspiration. In 
 such a condition to make a change of fifty degrees in the 
 temperature of the atmosphere which surrounds him and 
 which he breathes cannot but give a dangerous shock to 
 his system. In many cases carelessness here has bten 
 the cause of permanent disability, or even of death, 
 through throat and other diseases. If on the other hand 
 proper precaution^ are taken, evangelistic work is not 
 
156 GETTING READY 
 
 necessarily prejudicial to bodily health, but may ser\^e, 
 as it has done in numberless cases, to strengthen and 
 build it up. Sufficient wraps should be provicled for 
 the whole person, but for the neck and head in 
 particular. If he has any distance to ride, he should 
 be well wrapped in robes and rugs so as to abso- 
 lutely prevent an}- chilling. In holding a meeting 
 at some distance from his own home, the sele(5lion of 
 his stopping place should be made with care. He should 
 frankly tell his people that the proper care of his health 
 will not permit him to spend his nights in their various 
 homes as is expedted in some communities. To sleep in 
 a different bed every night, perhaps in rooms where there 
 has been no fire for months, if indeed ever, where the 
 bed-clothes are icy with dampness, is to criminally risk 
 one's life and future health, which the minister has no 
 right to do, if it can at all be prevented. He should 
 seledl a home as near the church as possible, and engage 
 a bedroom in which there is a stove where a brisk 
 fire is to be kept several hours each day, and a well 
 furnished bed which is to be thoroughlj^ aired each day 
 to obviate the evil consequences of his unusual and copi- 
 ous perspiration. If he cannot have a stove in his room 
 he should have a jug of warm water, a hot stone, iron, or 
 even a stick of wood, well wrapped to prevent a too rapid 
 
FOR A REVIVAI.. 157 
 
 loss of heat, placed in his bed. Nor should any timidity 
 or unwillingness to make what might appear unnecessary 
 trouble, or any fear of giving offense to other members 
 of his church whose hospitality he does not accept pre- 
 vent him from thus providing for his comfort and taking 
 the proper precautions to shield his health. The success 
 of the campaign depends too much upon the maintenance 
 of his health and strength to allow any trivial consider- 
 ations to interfere with proper arrangements for their 
 protedlion. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 Advertising a revival, 151. 
 After the service, 128. 
 Anecdotes, 36. 
 
 brief, 38. 
 
 pointed, 39, 
 
 lively and forcible, 39. v 
 appeal to sensibilities, 39. 
 fresh, 40. 
 
 Association of pastor and evangelist, 148. 
 Attradtive themes, 126. 
 Autobiography, Finney, 50. 
 
 Barnes, Dr. Albert, quoted, 63. 
 
 Beecher, Dr. layman, quoted, 69. 
 
 "Bringing in Sheaves," E)arle, 50. 
 
 Building up attendance of Sunday-school, 132. 
 
 Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," 128. 
 
 "Cabinet of Illustrations," Gannett, 43. 
 Calling an evangelist, 143. 
 Canvass-book, 31. 
 Cartwright, Peter, 50. 
 Choice of an evangelist, 144. 
 Clark, Rev. , 99. 
 
 -Comfort and convenience in church building, 153. 
 "Coming Revival, The," 117. 
 Committees, 109. 
 
 Compensation of evangelist, 147. 
 •Conditions of spiritual baptism, 88. 
 
i6o 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Confession, 85. 
 Contents, 9. 
 
 Cooperation of pastor and evangelist, 148. 
 
 Cooperation of Sunday-school teacher and superintendent, 131. 
 Craft's " Supplemental Encyclopedia," 45. 
 Cuyler, Dr., quoted, 24, 92. 
 
 Danger of belittling conversion, 97. 
 Danger of denunciation, 93. 
 Dante's " Inferno," 58. 
 Determination to have revival, 53. 
 Diredl reference to faults, 94. 
 Disraeli, quoted, 38. 
 Doe, Rev. W. P., quoted, 96. 
 
 Earle, 49. 
 
 "Bringing in Sheaves," 50, 
 Employing others' help, 97. 
 Entertainments, 133. 
 Essentials of song-books, 46. 
 Every Christian's power, 26, 
 Evidences of success, 112. 
 
 Final, end of revival efifort, 119. 
 Finney, 49. 
 
 Autobiography, 50. 
 " Fire and Hammer," Parker, 50, 
 Fleming's "Fulfillment of Scripture," 66. 
 Forgetfulness of self, 62. 
 Future condition of unconverted, 100. 
 
 Gannett's, Howard, " Cabinet of Illustrations," 43. 
 
 General Preparation, 119. 
 
 " Gospel Worker's Treasury, The," 43. 
 
 Graves' "I^ife and Sermons," 50. 
 
 Hammond, 49, 
 
 " Reaper and the Harvest," 50. 
 " Hand-book for Revivals,'' Fish, 50. 
 Health of minister, 155. 
 How to make the service interesting, 125. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 How to seledl song-book, 46. 
 Humphrey, Rev. Dr., quoted, 77. 
 
 Ideal of organization, 108. 
 
 IllustraUon, 54, 66, 72, 90, 92, 94, 107, 131, 136. 
 
 Illustrations, 35. 
 
 for sermon, 35. 
 
 for song, 44. 
 
 systemized, 44. 
 Illustrative material, 40. 
 
 personal experience, 41. 
 
 cyclopedias, 42. 
 
 Bible, 42. 
 
 Importance of attention to music, 47. 
 Importance of spiritual influence, 123. 
 Impressing Christians as to unsaved, loi. 
 Indirect work, 78. 
 " Inferno," Dante, 58. 
 Interesting public service, 125. 
 Introdudtion, 11. 
 
 Jones, Mr., 29, 49. 
 
 Kirk's "I,e(f\ures on Revivals," 50. 
 Knowledge, Pastor's, of situation, 20. 
 of self, 20. 
 
 physical, mental, spiritual, 20, 21. 
 of community, 22. 
 
 laws of propriety, 22. 
 peculiarities, 22. 
 
 relations between individuals, 23. 
 standing of individuals, 24. 
 special talents of individuals, 25. 
 of enemy, 28. 
 
 prevalent sins in community, 28. 
 cause and extent of resentment against church, 28. 
 social organization, 29. 
 number and whereabouts, 30. 
 I^EADER of song, 114. 
 
 "I,eaves from a Worker's Note-book," McConaughy, 117. 
 "I^edtures on Revivals," Kirk, 50. 
 
l62 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 "I^etters from Hell," Rowel, 58. 
 " Ivife and Sermons," Graves, 50 
 Ivists, 31, 121. 
 
 Management of revival, 47. 
 
 " Manual of Revivals," Hervey, 50. 
 
 McConaughy's "I^eaves from a Worker's Note-book," 117. 
 Memoirs of Peter Cartwright, 50. 
 Methods of successful revivalists, 49. 
 Milton's "Paradise I^ost," 58. 
 Miscellaneous preparation, 151, 
 advertising, 151. 
 
 condition of church building, 153. 
 
 health of minister, 155. 
 Moody, 43, 49, 93. 
 Morality not enough, 100. 
 
 Necessity of faith, 63. 
 Need of an evangelist, 143. 
 Need of geniality, 121. 
 Nettleton, 49. 
 
 Newell, Dr., quoted, 54, 72, 93, 136. 
 
 " Revivals, How and When," 50, 136. 
 Number of unsaved, loi. 
 
 Off year in revivals, 120. 
 Organizing the church, 104. 
 
 " Paradise I^ost," Milton, 58. 
 
 Parker's " Fire and Hammer," 50. 
 
 Pastoral relation, 95. 
 
 Pastor as evangelist, 143. 
 
 Pastor must be leader, 104. 
 
 Pastor's relation to Sunday-school, 130. 
 
 Personal acquaintance, 123. 
 
 Personal division of responsibility, 112. 
 
 Personal love for unsaved, 68. 
 
 "Pilgrim's Progress," Bunyan, 128. 
 
 Pillars of church, 96. 
 
 Porter, Dr., 19. 
 
 Power of preacher, 19. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Power of the Word, 60. 
 
 Prayer- Meeting, The," Thompson, 99. 
 ^'Pra<flical Outlines for Worker's Training Classes," Sloan, 
 Preacher's preparation, 17. 
 
 importance of, 17. 
 
 time necessary for, 17. 
 
 compared to a campaign, 17. 
 
 result of inadequacy of, 18. 
 Preface, 7. 
 
 Preliminary remarks, 17. 
 Preparation for revival, 
 
 of preacher, 17, 69. 
 
 of church, 76. 
 spiritual, 83. 
 
 general, 119. 
 Preparatory work among Christians, 77. 
 Pressing unsaved into service, 136. 
 Previous preparation of songs, 45, 113. 
 Public prayer, 90. 
 
 Qualifications of leader of song, 114. 
 Quoting texts from memory, 116. 
 
 Realization of need, 83. 
 
 Realization of scripture truth, 55. 
 
 "Reaper and the Harvest," Hammond, 50. 
 
 Relation of church to outside world, 27. 
 
 Repentance, 85. 
 
 Reproof of negledl, 92. 
 
 Responsibility of preacher, 19, 66. 
 
 Result of realization, 103. 
 
 "Revivals, How and When," Newell, 50, 136. 
 
 "Revivals — How to Promote Them," W. P. Doe, 98. 
 
 "Revival I^edlures," Finney, 50. 
 
 Rowel's "lyctters from Hell," 58. 
 
 Scripture texts, 116. 
 Secret prayer, 90. 
 Self-examination, 69. 
 Self-forgetfulness, 62. 
 Self-surrender, 69. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Sense of sinfulness, 56. 
 
 its folly and degradation, 56. 
 
 in God's sight, 57. 
 
 consequences, 57. 
 Sermon, The, 91. 
 
 Sloan's " Pradlica lOutlines for Workers' Training Classes,' 
 
 Social organization among unsaved, 29. 
 
 Social sei-vices 98. 
 
 Songs suitable for revival, 46. 
 
 Special services, 127. 
 
 Special talents, 25. 
 
 Spirit of prayer, 86. 
 
 Spiritual influence of pastor, 123. 
 
 Spiritual preparation, 52. 
 
 Spiritual preparation of church, 83. 
 
 Study of methods, 48. 
 
 Sunday-school, 130. 
 
 "Supplemental Kncyclopedia," Craft, 45. 
 
 Table of contents, 9. 
 Talking up need of revival, 95. 
 Texts, 33, 116. 
 
 Thompson's, Rev. L,. O., "The Prayer-Meeting," 99. 
 Training members in methods, 115. 
 
 Undeveloped workers, 25. 
 
 Use of anecdotes. 35. ' 
 
 Value of consecration, 71, 74. 
 Value of determination, 54. 
 Value of variety in services, 80. 
 
 Wayland, Dr., 100. 
 Welch, John, 66. 
 
 When an evangelist is needed, 143. 
 Who need particular attention, 96. 
 
 Young Men's Christian Association, 116. 
 
 "Young People of the Bible," 128. 
 
 "Young People's Prayer-Meeting," Clark, 99.