The GOSPEL TRUTH A HISTORY OF AMERICAN REVIVALS
by
Frank G. Beardsley PH.D, S.T.D.
1912
Chapter 15
ORGANIZED MOVEMENTS.
Contemporaneous with the lay movement in revivals has been the expansion and development of lay organizations, which consciously or unconsciously have proven powerful factors in evangelism. The earliest of such organizations was the Young Men's Christian Association. This movement was founded by George Williams of London, England, who instituted a prayer meeting for the clerks in the establishment of George Hitchcock & Co., drapers, where he was employed. Similar meetings were established in other mercantile houses, and June 6, 1844, a "Society for Improving the Spiritual Condition of Young Men Engaged in the Drapery and other Trades" was organized. Four weeks later the name was changed to the Young Men's Christian Association. During the earlier years the growth of the organization was slow, and it was not until the latter part of 1851 that the first American Associations were formed. The earliest association on this side of the Atlantic was organized in Montreal December 9, 1851. On the 29th of the same month the first association in the United States was instituted at Boston. This association resulted from an article written by an American student for the Watchman and Reflector. This article descriptive of the London Association attracted the attention of a few Christian young men who corresponded with the London secretary about the organization. As a result the Boston Association was formed. In 1852 associations were organized in Buffalo, Washington, New York and Baltimore.
The Revival of 1857 gave a great impetus to the Young Men's Christian Association. The association rooms became the rallying places for large numbers of young men who had been converted and furnished them an effective training school for Christian work. The Civil War proved disastrous to many associations on account of the excessive enlistments, which depleted their numbers and forced them to disband. The work of such associations was not lost, for the presence of their members in the army had a goodly influence upon their compatriots. The work of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions received the hearty endorsement of the Young Men's Christian Association, and local associations rendered efficient service in this work.
Since 1870 the growth of the organization has been phenomenal. New lines of work have been developed -- the railroad work, the evening educational classes, college association work, and the Student Volunteer movement, being some of the phases in which the Young Men's Christian Association has been especially serviceable.
The Young Women's Christian Association, with no small degree of success, has attempted work along similar lines for young women. These organizations have not only served as an anchor to multitudes of young people, who might otherwise have drifted, especially amid the temptations of city life, but they have been instrumental also in leading large numbers to embrace the Christian faith.
More potent still has been the influence of the Young People's Societies. One of the problems of the church life in the past was how to reach and hold the young people. A tentative solution was the young people's prayer meeting, a service of rather ephemeral character, which was long experimented with in various parts of the country, and a fair type of which was described as belonging to "the spasmodic variety that wilted under the heat of summer, was frequently washed away, for the time being, by the rains of autumn and was blockaded by the snows of winter." None of the various experiments seemed to quite meet the situation until the organization of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. The first society was formed by Rev. Francis E. Clark at the Williston Church, Portland, Me. The church had been visited with a gracious revival, among the converts of which were a number of promising young people. In order to bridge the gap between conversion and church membership, and for the purpose of giving these young converts some systematic training in Christian work, they were invited to meet in the pastor's parlor, Wednesday, February 2, 1881. A constitution, which he had previously drawn up, was presented for an organization entitled the "Williston Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor." Thirty-five boys and girls appended their names to the document which has become historic. They pledged themselves to be present and to take some part in the weekly prayer meetings. Monthly consecration meetings were a feature of the new organization, and a "look-out" committee was charged with the duty of looking after delinquent members and enlisting new recruits.
The first public notice of this organization was an article by Dr. Clark in the Congregationalist in August, 1881, entitled "How One Church Cares for its Young People." The idea met with public favor, and by February, 1882, there were twenty Christian Endeavor Societies in different parts of the country. During the earlier years of its history, the growth of the organization was comparatively slow, but by 1886 there were reported 850 societies and 30,000 members, "representing eight different denominations, distributed through thirty-three States, Territories, and Provinces, with seven societies in foreign lands."
In 1885 the United Society was incorporated "to bind the societies closer together in a common interest and to provide a responsible central organization, through which the work of the society may be carried on in the way of raising, receiving and paying out money, and giving proper custody for whatever property the society may acquire." The expenses of this society are met by the sale of literature, badges, etc., no assessments being made on the local societies for the purpose.
In 1887 Rev. Francis E. Clark, D.D., was chosen president of the United Society and editor of Christian Endeavor literature. In the interest of all that pertains to the welfare of this movement Dr. Clark has been an indefatigable worker, compassing sea and land in his efforts to extend and build up the Endeavor cause. In these efforts he has received the co-operation of a host of consecrated workers throughout the world.
Since 1886 the growth and expansion of the Endeavor movement have been remarkable, and it now numbers thousands of societies and hosts of members throughout the world. The work of the organization has been developed until it embraces temperance, good citizenship, prison work, etc., while the division of its membership into Active, Associate and Honorary, and its departments for Junior, Intermediate and Senior work, give the largest scope to its usefulness.
Although the original purpose of the society was the training and development of young people for Christian service, the organization has proven a mighty evangelistic agency, more than a million of its associate membership having gone into the various evangelical churches, influenced in part at least through this organization.
In order to provide for a type of young people's society which should accord with the genius of the denomination, the Methodists early favored a denominational form of organization. The earliest society of this character was the Young People's Methodist Alliance, which was formed on the Des Plaines camp ground near Chicago, August 25, 1883, by Henry Date, a young lay evangelist. Other organizations with a similar purpose sprang into existence, so that by 1889, in addition to hundreds of Christian Endeavor Societies throughout the denomination, there were no less than five distinct Methodist young people's organizations. To merge these organizations, a convention met at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church of Cleveland, Ohio, in May, 1889, had perfected a society to be known as the Epworth League.
The progress of this organization has been phenomenal. At the first meeting of the Board of Control in February, 1890, it was advised that all existing young people's societies in the church become Epworth Leagues. In 1892, by virtue of an act passed by the General Conference at Omaha, the Epworth League was officially endorsed and became an organic part of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It has also found a home in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and other branches of Methodism.
Other denominational movements have been organized, such as the Baptist Young People's Union, the Luther League, the Young People's Christian Union, etc., in other religious denominations.
An existence of nearly a quarter of a century has proved the right of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor and kindred organizations to exist. The young people's movement is no longer an experiment, but an established fact. Millions have been effectively trained for service, and vast multitudes have been gathered into the churches through their instrumentality.
To the very romance of evangelism belongs the history and work of the Salvation Army, which was founded in East London, England, in 1865, by Rev. William Booth, a former minister of the Methodist New Connexion. The work which he inaugurated prospered, and was known as the Christian Mission until 1878, when with the introduction of military methods it was changed to the Salvation Army.
The history of the Army in this country dates back to the year 1880, when Commissioner Railton with seven "hallelujah" lasses landed at Castle Garden and made an "attack" on the city of New York. Some time prior to this services had been held in Philadelphia by a family of Shirleys who had been connected with the Army in England, and had emigrated to America. Within a few months after Railton' s arrival corps were established in various other cities, and the Army began its career of prosperity in this country, which, however, was not uninterrupted. Commissioner Railton was succeeded in the command of the American forces by Major Thomas E. Moore. For a time all went well, but soon disturbing rumors reached International Headquarters at London, and Moore was recalled. He refused to obey and withdrew from the original organization, taking nine-tenths of the Army in America with him.
Commissioner Frank Smith was appointed to the command of the remnant which remained. He rallied about him the scattered forces, and within a twelve-month the American contingent of the Salvation Army was stronger than ever. Since that time the growth of the organization has been substantial and permanent.
In 1887 Ballington Booth, the second son of General William Booth, and his wife, Maude Charlesworth Booth, a most accomplished woman and a splendid platform speaker, were appointed to the command of the American forces. They not only succeeded in winning for themselves the favor of an appreciative public, but through their influence and self-denying efforts, the Army met with that recognition from pulpit, press and people which it so richly deserved.
It has been the constant aim of the Salvation Army to reach the unchurched classes and those who were beyond the ordinary religious influences of the day. It has sought to rescue the drunkard and the harlot, to reclaim the outcast of society, and to bring the "lowest of the low" into personal touch with the saving message of the gospel. For the accomplishment of this purpose it not only conducts religious services, but through its rescue-homes, work-bureaus, cheap lodging houses, and the employment of every legitimate means, it aims to elevate and save men and women, morally and socially. Untold thousands have been reclaimed to sobriety and righteousness through this organization. Multitudes of its converts, especially of the more respectable classes, have found a home in the various churches, while not a few who are now in the gospel ministry received their first training in Christian work in the ranks of the Salvation Army.
On account of differences existing between them and International Headquarters, Commander and Mrs. Ballington Booth were forced to relinquish their command of the American wing of the Army early in 1896, and a few months later they were succeeded by Frederick De Latour Tucker and his wife, Emma Booth Tucker, whose recent tragic death shocked the whole Christian world.
Forced to give up their command, Commander and Mrs. Booth could not give up their work for lost and fallen humanity. After some deliberation they decided to inaugurate a new movement which should be known as the Volunteers of America, with a less autocratic form of government and along lines slightly divergent from the work of the Salvation Army.
A leading feature in the work of the Volunteers have been their efforts in behalf of prisoners in various penal institutions of the country, to which Mrs. Booth has devoted a great deal of attention. Hope Halls for prison graduates, as released prisoners are called, have been instituted in several places to care for these unfortunates and to provide for their restoration to society and respectability.
While other denominations have developed along the line of lay activity, the Roman Catholics and Episcopalians have not been idle, but have sought the conversion of men by means of Missions which are not dissimilar to revivals. Within recent years the Parochial Missions Society for the United States has been organized in the Protestant Episcopal Church with the Bishop of New York as its president, and some twenty bishops in various parts of the country as honorary vice-presidents. At the present time a staff of more than thirty missioners is employed for conducting evangelistic meetings or missions.
Efforts have been made in recent years to enlist the Sunday Schools in the direct work of evangelization by means of an annual "Decision Day," when special efforts shall be made by officers and teachers to influence their pupils to decide for Christ and enter upon the duties of the Christian life. Not infrequently such efforts are under the supervision of the pastor, in whose care the young converts are placed for definite instruction and training in the Christian life before they are admitted to church membership.
The great revivals of the period, and the various organized movements for evangelization, have made the years 1870-1900 emphatically a revival era. The work on the whole has not only been quiet and orderly, but deep and lasting. As the century drew towards its close, however, there was a diminishing number of accessions to the churches, and indications were not wanting that the religious life of the nation was suffering a decline, but with the efforts now under way in various denominations, it is hoped that the opening years of this new century may be characterized by a sweeping revival which shall greatly increase the usefulness and spiritual power of the churches.