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Revival Flames Spreading Everywhere Revival Rooms in an Office Building—Unique Organizations Begun by Philadelphia Business Men — Dr. Torrey Preaches on “Three Fires.” By GEORGE T. B. DAVIS AY we have house revivals, church re vivals, Sunday School revivals, revivals on the street, revivals in the shops, re vivals on the trolleys, revivals on the trains—revivals everywhere! Lord, we thank The that we have four weeks left, and may they be weeks of tremendous power.” M prayer before beginning one of his last sermons at the South Armory to an audience of nearly 5,000 people which packed the big building, while hun dreds of others were unable to obtain admission. At the end of the second of the three months’ cam paign, led by Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander, the prayer of the evangelist is being answered in a strik ing manner. The revival fire is permeating every phase of Philadelphia life. The newest development of the revival wave which is sweeping over the city, is the inaugura tion of “revival rooms” in an office building. They are probably the first rooms of the kind ever opened in the history of revivals, and their inception is creating widespread comment. They have come into being as one result of the recent luncheon tendered to Mr. Alexander, when five men arose at the table and announced their acceptance of Christ. The new departure is being backed by the men who attended the luncheon, and who are now on fire for the sal vation of the city, they having led nearly fifty people to Christ since the luncheon which took place about three weeks ago. The rooms of the or ganization are being handsomely fitted up, and will be located on the sixth floor of an office building in the heart of the downtown district. The rooms are to be called “Inquiry Rooms,” and will be open all day long. Spiritually minded men will be in atten dance constantly. The rooms will not be for the members of the organization, but for people who are seeking the way of life. During the next month Rev. W. S. Jacoby will be in charge, and will deal with the anxious souls one by one, explaining to them just what it means to accept Christ as their personal Savior. The “Inquiry Rooms.” Tn a few days thousands of little cards will be distributed throughout the city bearing the message: “Men who want to have a serious talk about their spiritual life with one who knows men and can sym pathize with them, come to the Inquiry Rooms, 607 Hale Building. Office hours, 10 to 2, and 3 to 5 daily, except Sunday.” The rooms are the realization of a plan which has long been in Mr. Alexander’s mind, but which he had never before found financial support enough to inaugurate. When he recently broached the plan to the score of young business men who gave him the luncheon, however, it appealed to their business sense and they sanctioned it immediately. Mr. Al exander is jubilant over the quick fruition of the plan. He says: “What a place can be made! Think of a place where a busy man, or a poor one, or a puzzled or doubting one, or the fellow who has lost all hope of ever having any hope again, can come and talk it over as man to man with some one who has love for men in his heart, and is working for the One whose heart is all love for men!” An Answer Meeting. At a recent noonday business men’s meeting held in the Academy of Music, Dr. Torrey did not give his usual address, but instead he devoted his entire time to answering questions which had been sent in to him by correspondents throughout the city. The questions dealt with statements made by the evan gelists and with biblical and theological doctrines. Dr. Torrey first read the questions and then gave such straightforward and direct replies that the audience frequently broke laughter and ap- This was a part of Dr. Torrey’s The Golden Age for April 12, 1906. plause. The first question dealt with a lie which has followed the evangelists around the world. It was as follows: “I have been told by three different people that you have stated in your meetings that your own mother was in hell to-day. Did you make any such statement?” “Everybody who has attended my meetings knows I didn’t,” declared Dr. Torrey. “My mother was a good Christian woman. I owe my salvation to her prayers, humanly speaking, and thank God she is with Christ in Glory. But everywhere I have gone around the world that kind of lie has followed me. People don’t like the doctrine I teach about future punishment, but they can’t disprove it so they tell lies about me. Sometimes the lie is varied. A young man in this town told one of the most prominent ministers in this town that he heard me say in the Armory that I knew my grandmother was in hell because she played cards. I don’t think that either of my grandmothers Knew one card from another; I have every reason to believe that they were both earnest Christian women, and that they are both in glory. And if they played cards that wouldn’t prove that they would go to hell. I know lots of Christian people who play cards. I think they are doing foolishly. Variations of the Story. “Ip England the story was a little different. It was that I said my aunt had gone to hell, and that a young man got up to go out of the meeting, and that I said, ‘Young man, you are going straight to hell,’ and that he turned round and said, ‘Shall I take your love to your aunt?’ Now I never had but two aunts; one of them I never saw; the other was r'n earnest member of the Presbyterian Church, and I think that the one I never saw was an earnest Christian woman. “And yet the story was circulated in London when I was going there—told in a meeting of min isters of the church of England as a reason for not inviting me to London—that I had said that pub licly in Cardiff, Wales. “That story was first told about D. L. Moody, then about Sam Jones, then about Major Whittle, and then about an evangelist who was In Australia before I was, and then it was told about me. It is wonderful how the devil lacks in originality.” “Why don’t you get something new?” shouted Mr. Alexander amid laughter and applause. Last night in his sermon at the Armory on “Three Fires,” Dr. Torrey again dealt with ques tions which had been sent to him regarding the na ture of hell. Before preaching he said he had been deluded with letters asking whether he believed hell is made up of actual fire, and hence, had chosen for the subject of his sermon “Three Fires,” viz.: the glorious fire of the Holy Ghost, the searching fire of the judgment, and the fire of everlasting doom. In speaking of the third fire, he said: The Punishment by Fire. “The Bible always stands for facts. Is the fire of eternal damnation literal fire? You say the ex pression ‘fire’ is figurative. Suppose it is. God is tl-e Lord of Truth. God’s words, figurative though they may be, always stand for facts. Have you ever been burned by a merciless fire? You know the in tense agony. What, then, must be the spiritual, mor al a°ony that warrants God in using the figure ‘un ending fire,’ in speaking of he torment in store for the unrighteous? “You say, ‘I can’t believe God will let men suf fer.’ Why, are there not tens of thousands of men and women in Philadelphia suffering because they have broken God’s law? Yet they are on probation; God's mercy remains over them. What, then, is the suffering of those who have let the time of re pentence pass? What have they left but everlast- ing hell, everlasting fire? The Bible tells you what you have to do—accept Jesus Christ and put your trust in Him. “Infidels are guilty of the amazing folly of shut ting this the only gate of possible escape. It is your business to know God’s truth. If you don’t it is your own fault. I was once agnostic, but not for long. Many agnostics that I have met, when con fronted with the truth that convinced me, delib erately refused to hear her. That is where agnostics perish. ” Yard-Wide Christians. “If you want conventional Christians 36 inches wide, and answering all the usual demands upon orthodox church-attending Christians, you can find more to the square mile in Philadelphia than any where else in the world. What you need is fire. If you would go out of these meetings aglow with a baptism of fire, there would be no need of these meetings in the armories, for there would be meet ings on the street corners, in the hotels, street-cars, business houses and everywhere.” Churches that conduct fairs, picnics, bazaars, card-parties, and other entertainments to raise money were roundly scored. “They bring down the church of Jesus Christ to the level of a vaudeville show,” declared Dr. Torrey. “Why, a young man asked one of my daughters if she would ask her mother to bake some biscuits as a contribution to a supper his church was giving to raise money. He said it was the first Christian work he had ever done. Think of it! He thought he was doing Christian work by soliciting biscuits. If the efforts of thousands of good, well-meaning Christian women who now waste time making bis cuits, cakes and other tomfoolery for such affairs, were devoted to enlisting the support of people who would contribute to church work out of love for Jesus Christ, the churches would escape much rid icule.” Fruits of the Meeting in England. It is cheering to hear that the missions conducted by Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander in Great Britain are still bringing forth glorious fruitage. I have just received a letter from a young man who was converted in the Liverpool campaign. He writes: “I am now working at the London-and-North- Western Railway Co., as an engine cleaner, and with two other converts have just started a prayer-meet ing. We have been the means in God’s hands of leading one lad to Christ who was a very great gam bler. My motto is, ‘I am happy in Him.’ ” At a testimony meeting a few days ago in the Academy of Music, a man in the gallery arose and said: “I want to say a word for the meetings you conducted in Belfast. I have a letter in my pocket from an old companion saying that in Belfast at the present time, there are prayer-meetings going on in behalf of you two men and your work. The Lord is still continuing your mission there in the hearts of many people in the city.” A woman with a pronounced Scotch accent next arose and said: “I should also like to say something about Tor rey’s and Alexander’s work in Glasgow. I had a letter from a friend recently telling me that the work started there is still going on, and the ‘Glory Song’ is still what it used to be when you were there. ” This week the evangelists -will rest, after which they will begin the last three weeks of the Phila delphia campaign in the 2d Regiment Armory, where the first meetings were held. Will not the readers of this paper cry earnestly to God that the last meetings may be the best, and that the city may be shaken yet more mightily than it has been thus far? 7