The GOSPEL TRUTH

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN REVIVALS

by

Frank G. Beardsley PH.D, S.T.D.

1912

Chapter 16

 

RECENT REVIVALS.

 

The closing years of the nineteenth century, as has already been intimated, were characterized by an apparent decline in the interests of religion. The churches for the most part were at a standstill; their growth for the time being seemed to be arrested, accessions to membership were less numerous, while revivals became less frequent and less powerful. In 1899 the Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the most aggressive religious bodies in the country, actually suffered a net loss of 21,934 members and probationers. A recognition of these conditions on the part of the churches led to speedy and earnest efforts to overcome them.

In February, 1900, Bishops C. H. Fowler, W. X. Ninde, and I. W. Joyce, acting as a committee on behalf of the Board of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, issued a call to the Church in which the situation was squarely faced, a ringing appeal was addressed to ministers and laymen, and every Methodist was exhorted "to take himself or herself to prayer to call mightily on God for help." To the ministers these words were addressed: 

"The Church is questioning about our retreat. We must answer with the bugle call to the front. We must emphasize the old and essential doctrines of the Bible. We must exhibit sin as the one thing which God hates, which overwhelms the unrepentant sinner in irretrievable ruin, against which the ocean of God's wrath flows forever like a shoreless sea of fire, from which there is but one escape, and that through faith in Jesus Christ. Men must be made to feel that they are lost and need salvation. They must be made to confront the judgment bar of Almighty God. They must know that a pardoning Saviour is only for penitent sinners. The old gospel that has made its way through all of the brutality of heathenism and through all the conceit and pride of skeptical philosophy for nineteen centuries has not lost its power. Give it a chance." 

The Church was asked to set apart "the days from March 25th to April 1st, inclusive, as a season of fasting or abstinence and prayer." 

"We ask you to assemble yourselves in your accustomed places of worship at least once each day, humble yourselves before God, worship Him, personally lay aside every weight and the easily besetting sin, and make earnest supplication to Him. We ask, also, that in your private and family prayers you will daily implore God's mercy for the revival of His work of grace in each heart throughout all our borders." 

Action on the part of other denominations was not long deferred. In May, 1901, at the meeting of the Presbyterian General Assembly in Philadelphia, a resolution was adopted authorizing the Moderator "to appoint a special Committee of Twelve, to consist of six ministers and six elders, whose duty it shall be to stimulate the Church in evangelistic work." In accordance with this resolution the Moderator appointed the following Committee on Evangelistic work: Elder John H. Converse, Chairman; Ministers: George T. Purves, D.D.; J. Wilbur Chapman, D.D.; W. J. Chichester, D.D.; S. S. Palmer, D.D.; John Balcom Shaw, D.D.; George P. Wilson, D.D.; Elders: John Willis Baer, James I. Buchanan, S. P. Harbison, E. K. Hackett, Charles S. Holt. 

At the triennial National Council of the Congregational Churches, held at Des Moines, Iowa, October 13-30, 1904, a Committee on Evangelism was appointed, the object of which was "to promote evangelism among the Congregational churches of America, the bringing of men to a definite decision for Jesus Christ." Upon this committee were appointed Newell Dwight Hillis, Frank W. Gunsaulus, Charles L. Morgan, Herbert C. Herring, Edward N. Packard, Don O. Shelton, W. T. McElveen, Edwin L. House, Francis E. Clark, G. R. Leavitt, and James W. Fifield. 

While action on the part of these various denominations no doubt did much to stimulate the churches to greater activity along evangelistic lines, the most noteworthy events within recent years in American evangelism have been the great evangelistic campaigns of Torrey and Alexander and later of Chapman and Alexander. These campaigns have not been confined to this country alone, but have been practically world-wide in their scope. 

The evangelistic tour of Dr. R. A. Torrey and Charles M. Alexander, beginning in 1901 and continuing for several years, was the first attempt on the part of any evangelists at world-wide evangelism. Whitefield, Finney, Moody and others labored both in England and America, but never before had any great revivalist attempted to preach "the same gospel to the yellow races of Japan and China, the mixed population of Australia, and the dark-skinned natives of India." 

Dr. Reuben A. Torrey, with whom this novel and daring idea originated, was born at Hoboken, New Jersey, January 28, 1858. He was the son of a New York banker. It was his ambition in boyhood to become a lawyer, but it was the hope and prayer of his mother that he might be a minister of the gospel. At the age of fifteen he was sent to Yale University, and for a time he led a decidedly worldly life; but at the close of his senior year he made a public confession of faith in the college chapel, and the following fall he entered the theological department of the university to prepare for the ministry. During his senior year in theology Mr. Moody visited New Haven, and a number of the theological students, including Mr. Torrey, perceiving that Mr. Moody, though an uneducated man, knew some things which they did not, asked him to instruct them in the art of winning souls. He accordingly arranged a meeting for the purpose, and after giving them a few passages of Scripture, said, "You go at it. The best way to learn is to go at it. How to do it is to do it.'' 

On completing his theological course young Torrey accepted a call to a little Congregational church in Garretsville, Ohio. Infidelity was rife in the town, while denominational strife and jealousies had weakened the influence of the churches. The heart of the young pastor was greatly stirred by reading Finney's Autobiography and Revival Lectures. He began to pray and work for a revival. He appointed a meeting in his church, but after three weeks of futile effort he went to the Baptist and Methodist ministers and persuaded them to unite in a union meeting. Soon a mighty revival swept over the community, the influence of which continued throughout the remainder of Mr. Torrey's pastorate. 

After spending four years in Garretsville he went to Germany for a year's post-graduate study, dividing his time between Leipsic and Erlangen, and studying under such teachers as Delitzsch, Luthardt, Kahnis, and Frank. Up to this time he had leaned strongly toward the viewpoint of the "higher criticism" but during his studies abroad his views veered back to the old conservative position. 

On returning to America he accepted a call to a newly organized church in Minneapolis. Through the reading of George Muller's "Life of Trust.î Mr. Torrey was influenced to refuse a stated salary and live entirely by faith. Speaking of this, Dr. Torrey said, "A number of years ago I was brought to the place where it seemed my duty to give up my salary, and give up every means of gaining a livelihood, and work for God among the poor, never ask for money, and never tell any man that I needed a cent. Every penny I got for the support of my family and for the support of my work, the light, the rent, every penny came in answer to prayer.'' 

In the fall of 1889 Mr. Torrey was called to the superintendency of the Moody Bible Institute at Chicago. Before the Institute was opened Mr. Moody was talking one day to Dr. E. M. Williams, and said, "I wish I knew a man to take the place of Superintendent of the Institute. It seems to me to be the largest thing I have ever undertaken, and that it is going to accomplish more than anything I have yet been permitted to do." He asked Dr. Williams if he knew of a suitable man for the position, and the latter told him of the young minister who was living by faith in Minneapolis. He spoke of him in such glowing terms that Mr. Moody exclaimed, "You make my mouth water for him!'' Mr. Torrey was accordingly invited to the Superintendency of the Institute, which he at once accepted. 

Four years later he was asked to take the pastorate of the Chicago Avenue Church in connection with his duties at the Institute. By a suitable division of labor with his assistants he was able to do this and to develop the Chicago Avenue Church into a great soul-saving center. During the World's Fair Campaign in 1893 he was Mr. Moody's right-hand man, and when Mr. Moody was stricken down in Kansas City Dr. Torrey, on being telegraphed for, went and carried on the campaign to a successful close. 

The idea of a world-wide evangelistic tour, Dr. Torrey believes, came as a direct answer to prayer. In 1898 or 1899, at the close of the Week of Prayer, Miss Strong, superintendent of the woman's department at the Bible Institute, went to Dr. Torrey and said, "Do you not think that we ought to continue these prayer-meetings throughout the year, meeting together one night every week to pray for a worldwide revival?" The question was submitted to the faculty of the Institute, and met with their unanimous approval. Every Saturday night from nine to ten o'clock, at the close of the Union Bible Class, this meeting was held. After the prayer-meetings had been running a few weeks people would go to Dr. Torrey and ask, "Has the revival begun?" ìNo, not so far as we know." "Well, when is it coming?" "We do not know." "How long do you expect to keep praying?" "Until it comes." 

After this general meeting, usually attended by from 300 to 400 persons, had been running for some time, Dr. Torrey and a few of his associates were so burdened one evening that they tarried for a time in prayer after the main meeting had been dismissed. From that time on these smaller meetings were continued after the first meeting, sometimes until one and two o'clock Sunday morning. One night in this smaller meeting. Dr. Torrey says, "I was suddenly led to pray that God would send me around the world preaching the gospel, and that I might see thousands of conversions in China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, India, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and America. I remember mentioning these countries. 

"Nothing seemed more unlikely than this. It seemed as if I was tied to Chicago for life by the Bible Institute and the Chicago Avenue Church. It seemed as if there was no one to whom I could leave this work; and yet, when that prayer was done, I knew that I was going around the world and that God was going to do great things. The prayer was not my own. I was quite taken out of myself as I prayed, and borne along by the Spirit of God." 

About this time two strangers, Dr. Warren and Mr. G. P. Barber, of Melbourne, Australia, visited the Bible Institute, and after attending the classes and lectures a few days they went to Dr. Torrey and said, "When we left Australia we were commissioned to visit Keswick and other centers in England and America and select some man to invite for a series of evangelistic meetings in Australia. We have been at Keswick and elsewhere, and both of us have decided that you are the man to invite. Will you go?" 

Dr. Torrey was unable to see how he could leave his duties at the Institute. For months he revolved the matter in his mind. Finally, in October, 1901, while conducting a Bible conference in St. Louis, he received a letter from Mr. Barber asking him to cable at once that he would come to Australia and begin meetings in March of the following year. After laying it before the members of the conference for prayer, and wrestling alone with God about the matter, Dr. Torrey was impressed that the call came from God, and he cabled that he would go. He was asked to bring with him a gospel singer, and after looking the field over he selected as his associate Charles M. Alexander, a graduate of the Bible Institute, who for several years had been associated with Evangelist Milan B. Williams. 

Mr. Alexander was born in the hills of Tennessee, and through a magazine article which he read in his boyhood he became imbued with the ambition to become a great chorister and musical conductor. 

In his youth he attended Maryville College for a time, and afterward was appointed Director of Music in the institution. Most of the students were professing Christians, but not yet had the future evangelist consecrated himself to Jesus Christ. 

Through the death of his father he was led to Christ, and he soon abandoned all thoughts of a secular career. About this time he chanced upon a copy of Finney's "Autobiography," which he read and reread with consuming interest. Such was the impression made by the reading of this volume that he resolved to become a soul-winner. 

Hearing of the Moody Bible Institute about this time, he decided to attend it to prepare himself more perfectly for his life's work. While at the Institute the famous World's Fair Campaign was carried on, and he was brought into contact not only with Mr. Moody, but with many of the famous gospel singers of the day -- Sankey, Stebbins, Towner, Burke, and others. 

Upon completing his course at the Institute, for several years he was associated with Rev. M. B. Williams, a successful evangelist, who labored chiefly in Iowa and the adjoining States. 

When Dr. Torrey was casting about for. some one to accompany him on his world-wide evangelistic tour it so happened that Mr. Alexander was without engagement, his associate, Mr. Williams, having gone upon a three months' vacation to the Holy Land. Upon receiving an invitation to accompany Dr. Torrey, he finally decided to do so. 

Dr. Torrey started on his journey to Australia before Mr. Alexander, going by way of China and Japan, where hundreds of converts were made during this brief visit. Finally the evangelists met in Melbourne. On reaching their destination they found that for twelve years a little group of men had been praying for a revival. Mrs. Warren, the wife of one of the men who had visited Chicago, had read a book by Dr. Torrey on "Prayer," in which she had come across the phrase "Pray through," which so impressed her that she organized her friends into "prayer circles." This movement grew until by the time the evangelists reached Melbourne 1800 prayer-meetings were being held weekly that the Spirit of God might be poured out in a mighty religious quickening. 

For two weeks meetings were held by fifty different ministers and evangelists in fifty different centers throughout the city, and then for two weeks great meetings were held in Exhibition Hall, where thousands gathered nightly and multitudes were turned away. During the four weeks that the campaign was in progress the names of 8,642 persons were reported to the various churches as having been converted in the meetings. 

From Melbourne the work spread to other parts of Australasia, and the evangelists were invited to conduct campaigns in the chief cities of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. 

The report of the remarkable results accomplished in these campaigns spread to every part of the world, and invitations were extended to Messrs. Torrey and Alexander to conduct similar campaigns in the British Isles. Before doing so they spent six weeks in India, where meetings were conducted in Madura, Madras, Calcutta, Bombay and Benares. The hearts of the missionaries in that land were gladdened and thousands were converted as a result of this visitation. 

From India they sailed to England, where a great welcome meeting, over which Lord Kinnaird presided, was held in Exeter Hall, London. Following this meeting the evangelists spent three weeks at the Mildmay Conference Hall, North London, where large numbers were converted, and Christians stirred to greater activity in the work of saving men. Thence they proceeded to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee in Scotland; to Belfast and Dublin in Ireland; to Liverpool, Manchester, Brighton, Birmingham, Bolton, Cardiff (Wales), Liverpool, for a second campaign, London and Oxford. 

Having completed their work in Great Britain, Messrs. Torrey and Alexander began their labors on this continent at Toronto, Canada, in January, 1906. Massey Hall, one of the largest auditoriums in the city, was secured for the services. Hundreds were converted and lasting good was accomplished. 

After a four weeks' campaign in Toronto the evangelists went to Philadelphia for the first campaign in their native land. Extensive preparations had been made for this campaign. The entire city was districted and union prayer-meetings were held in each of the forty-three wards. A chorus choir of three thousand voices was organized, six hundred only of whom sang nightly, there being room to accommodate no more. Noon meetings were held at the Academy of Music. During the progress of the campaign some five thousand persons professed conversion. 

The month of May was spent in Atlanta, where there were many notable conversions. Messrs. Torrey and Alexander went thence to Ottawa, Ontario, for an eighteen-day campaign, in which fifteen hundred conversions were reported. 

Early in 1908 Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman and Mr. Charles M. Alexander joined forces to conduct revival services in America and elsewhere, their campaigns to be known as the Chapman-Alexander Simultaneous Mission. Dr. Chapman had met Mr. Alexander several years before at a convention in Bloomington, Ill., and saw him capture an audience in a few minutes with an old-time gospel hymn, and from that time it had been his desire that they might co-operate in evangelistic work. 

J. Wilbur Chapman, to whom some reference has been made in a preceding chapter, was reared in a Christian home, his father being a Presb3rterian and his mother a Methodist. In his boyhood he attended two Sunday-schools, the Presbyterian in the morning and the Methodist in the afternoon. One afternoon at the latter a stranger addressed the school and urged the pupils to confess Christ by rising. Says Dr. Chapman, "The most of my class of boys were standing, and I was saying to myself, ëWhy should I stand? My mother and father are both Christians. I think I believe in Christ. For me to stand is not a necessity,' when suddenly I felt a touch on my shoulder, and my teacher, Mrs. C. C. Binckley, was saying, 'Hadn't you better stand?' And somehow she got her hand under my elbow and seemed to lift me up. I shall never forget my standing that day. Whether I had been accepted of God before that day or not I cannot say, but I do know that the deepest impression of my life was made at that minute, and, under God, my Sunday-school teacher was the channel through which the blessing came." 

Although he was thus influenced to take a definite stand for Jesus Christ, he was often beset with doubts and fears, particularly during his student days. While he was attending Lake Forest University he heard that Mr. Moody was to be in Chicago, not many miles distant, and in company with a friend he went to the city to hear him. Five times in a single day he listened with rapt attention to the great lay evangelist. In Farwell Hall he heard him preach his sermon on "Sowing and Reaping" to a great company of young men, many of them students like himself. 

When Mr. Moody called for an after-meeting, young Chapman was among the first to respond. The great evangelist asked him the source of his difficulty, and he replied, "I am not sure I am saved." Moody then asked him to turn to John 5:24, and with trembling lips he read, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Said Moody, "Do you believe this?" "Certainly." "Are you a Christian?" "Sometimes I think I am, and again I am fearful." "Read the passage again." He did so, and Moody repeated his question, receiving about the same answer as he had before. Then the evangelist seemed to lose his patience, and asked somewhat sharply, "Whom are you doubting?" Suddenly it dawned upon young Chapman that he was doubting Him who had given the promise of everlasting life to such as heard His word and believed on the Father who had sent Him. Still he was inclined to be skeptical, when for the third time he was asked to read the passage, after which Mr. Moody said very gently, "Do you believe this?" and he answered, "Yes, indeed I do." "Are you a Christian?" "Yes, Mr. Moody, I am." "From that day," said Dr. Chapman, "I have never questioned my acceptance with God." 

For five years previous to his coalition with Mr. Alexander in 1908 Dr. Chapman had conducted simultaneous campaigns in over fifty American cities. With the co-operation of a staff of assistant evangelists, meetings were conducted simultaneously in various centers in each city, so that during the campaign the whole community would be stirred. In Pittsburgh seven thousand conversions were reported, in Minneapolis three thousand, while equally notable results were accomplished elsewhere. 

The first Chapman-Alexander Simultaneous Mission was conducted in Philadelphia. Ten of the leading denominations co-operated in the movement. Dr. Chapman called to his assistance many well-known evangelists, including Dr. W. J. Dawson of London, England; Dr. Charles W. Gordon (Ralph Connor), the author, of Winnipeg, Manitoba; Dr. James M. Gray, of Chicago; W. E. Biederwolf, Henry Ostrom, John H. Elliot, L. W. Munhall, J. W. Mahood, and others. The preparations for this campaign had been most thorough. The city was divided into forty-two districts with the purpose of holding a three weeks' series of meetings in each. Simultaneous meetings were held in twenty-one of these districts, beginning March 12th. The workers were transferred April 1st to the remaining twenty-one districts. In each district an experienced evangelist had charge, assisted by an evangelistic singer, a chorus choir, and a band of personal workers. The largest and most centrally located churches in the districts were selected for the services. 

Noonday meetings, usually conducted by Dr. Chapman and Mr. Alexander, were held in the Garrick Theater. One night a service was conducted at the Lyric Theater from 11 to 12 p.m., after the close of the play, by request from some of the actors and actresses. Meetings were held at various places, in hotels and upon the streets. Mr. and Mrs. Asher, who had had unusual success along such lines, conducted services in saloons and in every disreputable resort to which they could gain access. The Salvation Army, under Commander Eva Booth, also cooperated in some of the meetings during this campaign. 

One of the results of the mission was the organization by Mrs. Alexander of a Pocket Testament League, every member of which took a pledge to make it the rule of his life to read at least one chapter of the Bible every day, and to carry with him a Testament or a Bible wherever he went. The League has since spread to other cities and now has a considerable following. 

During the first half of the mission Dr. Chapman preached at Bethany Presbyterian Church, of which he had formerly been pastor, and during the latter half at the Baptist Temple, of which Dr. Russell H. Conwell is pastor. The services in the various districts throughout the city, as well as in the centers where Dr. Chapman and Mr. Alexander labored, were largely attended and great numbers were converted. It was the general consensus of opinion that through this mission the city of Philadelphia had been visited with one of the greatest revivals in its history. 

Following the Philadelphia campaign the evangelists conducted a two weeks' mission in Norfolk, Va., where great crowds gathered nightly at Armory Hall to hear the preaching and singing of the gospel. One of the features of the mission in Norfolk was a children's parade, in which seven thousand teachers and pupils participated, marching through the principal streets of the city to the court-house square, where Dr. Chapman and others addressed a crowd of twelve thousand people. 

During the latter part of the summer Messrs. Chapman and Alexander went to New York to participate in the closing meetings of the gospel tent campaign which had been conducted by Dr. Arthur J. Smith and his associates. Meetings were conducted in the Tent Evangel, in a Bowery Mission, in Carnegie Hall and the Fifth Avenue Presb5rterian Church. Following this brief stay in the city a series of conferences were conducted in Toronto, Canada; Chicago, Ill.; Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio; Berea, Ky.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Brantford and Paris, Ontario; and New York City. 

The season of 1908-1909 was spent in Burlington, Vt.; Richmond, Va.; Boston, Springfield and L3nin, Mass. The meetings in Burlington were a departure from previous methods. Instead of confining the mission to that city, it included the whole of Northern Vermont. For two weeks Dr. Chapman and a corps of twenty assistants conducted simultaneous meetings in ten towns and cities in that section of the State. Dr. Chapman and Mr. Alexander labored in the Armory at Burlington, where Major-General O. O. Howard was the chairman of the local committee. As a result, the city and the surrounding country were stirred as they had not been since the visit of Mr. Moody thirty years before. 

At Richmond, Va., all denominations co-operated, Rev. Dr. Thomas Semmes, of the Episcopal Church, being the chairman of the committee. Two hundred cottage prayer-meetings, conducted throughout the city before the mission began, served to prepare the way for the revival which followed. The central meetings were conducted in a huge building which originally had been used as a market, but which had been converted into an auditorium for this mission by the city council at an expenditure of ten thousand dollars. 

In Boston, Tremont Temple was crowded nightly with three thousand people, who flocked to hear Messrs. Chapman and Alexander. Throughout the city, even in the far-out suburbs, the meetings in the various districts were thronged. The students in the theological department of Boston University entered so heartily and enthusiastically into the spirit of the campaign, dealing with men personally about the great concerns of the soul and going out into the highways and hedges, that the dean of the school dismissed its sessions for a week to enable the students to devote their whole time to the salvation of men. Dr. Francis E. Clark, President of the United Society of Christian Endeavor, compared the revival to those of Finney and Whitefield. He said, "I rejoice more than words can express in the great religious awakening that has come to Boston. It is so sane, so sound, so strong, so full of Christ and the Christ-spirit, that I thank God that I have lived to see this day in the city of Boston" So deep and genuine was the work that the criticism of Unitarians and Roman Catholics was silenced. Throughout the city 990 services were conducted, which were attended in the aggregate by 720,000 persons. All classes were moved and conversions multiplied on every hand. 

Following the Boston campaign, missions were conducted in Lynn and Springfield, Mass. After their labors in these cities Dr. Chapman and Mr. Alexander, accompanied by a corps of assistants, started upon a world-wide evangelistic tour. Brief conferences were held in Minneapolis, Winnipeg, and Vancouver, whence they sailed, March 26, for Australia, via Hawaii and the Fiji Islands. Two great meetings were held at Honolulu, where the boat stopped a few hours. A stop was also made at Suova, in the Fiji Islands. In Australia missions were held at Melbourne, Sydney, and elsewhere. 

From Australia the evangelists proceeded to Shanghai, China, making brief stops en route at Manila and Hong Kong. A ten days' mission was conducted in Shanghai, which reached a large number of business and professional men. Nanking, Peking, Tientsin, and other Chinese cities were visited. Sailing to Korea, they visited Pyeng Yang and Seoul, whence they went to Japan, where most of their time was spent in Tokio. Wherever Dr. Chapman and his assistants went evangelistic meetings were conducted both for the natives and for English-speaking foreigners. These meetings served as a great impetus and inspiration to the missionaries in those lands. From Japan Dr. Chapman and his party returned to this country via Vancouver. Since then Dr. Chapman and Mr.Alexander have continued their work in this and other countries. 

During the early years of the twentieth century numerous other evangelists have been active in this country, including Dr. W. J. Dawson and "Gipsy" Smith, both from England. Dr. Dawson, whose message appeals particularly to the educated and cultured, was for a number of years pastor of the Highbury Quadrant Church, London, but becoming deeply imbued with the evangelistic spirit, and being invited to this country by Newell Dwight Hillis and others, he was led to relinquish his pastoral labors and enter upon the work of evangelism. 

The life of Rodney Smith is full of romantic interest. He was born in a gipsy tent and spent most of his early life in a gipsy wagon. He never went to school a day in his life, and at the time of his conversion could neither read nor write. By self-discipline he has acquired a graphic and forceful use of the Anglo-Saxon which rivals that of John Bunyan. After laboring for a time in William Booth's "Christian Mission" which developed into the Salvation Army, he became an independent evangelist and has been greatly blessed in his labors. Although laboring separately and appealing, perhaps, to greatly different classes. Dr. Dawson and "Gipsy" Smith have labored acceptably in numerous American cities, and multitudes have been stirred by their presentation of the gospel. 

Rev. W. A. Sunday, or "Billy" Sunday as he is better known, has labored through the Middle West. He was formerly a baseball player in the National League team of Chicago, but one Sunday afternoon with two or three companions he paused for a few moments to listen at an open-air meeting conducted by Harry Monroe and a band of workers from the Pacific Garden Mission. As he sat on a curbstone, to the impressions made by the testimonies of men who had been rescued from lives of sin were added the memories of a mother's prayers, and when an invitation was given for any one who wanted prayer to raise the hand he jumped to his feet and said, "Pray for me!" When the prayer was ended he said, "God helping me, from to-day I will give my heart to Jesus Christ and live for Him.î Not long afterward he gave up baseball and entered the evangelistic field. For a time he was associated with Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, and later with M. B. Williams and his co-laborer, Charles M. Alexander, but for several years past he has labored independently. He is often criticized for his sensational methods and his "slangy" expressions, but judged by the results of his labors, few men have been more successful than he in reaching men, and especially sin-hardened men, with the message of the gospel. Under his labors thousands have been converted, communities have been revolutionized, and in many places saloons have been voted out and obliged to discontinue their business. Whatever may be the opinion of men as to the methods of "Billy" Sunday, the results which have been accomplished through his instrumentality are above criticism.

Of the many evangelists who have labored during this period mention can only be made of Henry Ostrom, W. E. Biederwolf, Fred B. Smith, Ford C. Ottman, Arthur J. Smith, James M. Gray, C. H. Yatman, Major J. H. Cole, L. W. Munhall, John H. Elliot, J. W. Mahood, French E. Oliver, Tillman Hobson, J. W. Fifield, Harold F. Sayles, Milford H. Lyon, H. C. Hart, Frank A. Miller and Robert L. Layfield. 

Earnest efforts have not been wanting, but present-day evangelism is often criticized for the fewness of its converts and the smallness of the attendance on the part of the unconverted. Great meetings have been held, but the attendance has been made up chiefly of professed Christians. Whether these conditions are the result of too great dependence upon machinery and too little dependence upon the Divine Spirit, as Dr. A. T. Pierson and others have intimated, or whether it is because "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things" have so preoccupied the minds of men that they will not hearken to the gospel, cannot here be discussed. It should be observed that numbers are not the decisive factor in revivals. Moreover the revivals at the beginning of the twentieth century are too close at hand to be studied in their true perspective. If these revivals, even though the numbers converted may be proportionately smaller than in some of the revivals of the past, shall have left the churches with a deeper and more abiding faith in God, if they shall have a more hopeful outlook for the evangelization of the world, if men shall have been stirred by a more consuming passion for righteousness and the moral uplift of their fellows, then these revivals will not have been in vain.

 

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