The Golden age. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1906-1915, April 19, 1906, Page 7, Image 7

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

NOTABLE CONVERTS' MEETING Stirring Testimonies Given by Converts of the Revival. —The Evangelist Speaks in Carnegie Hall, New York. — The Drug Curse Among Women. HE remarkable way in which Philadel phia is being moved by the revival is shown by the large number of new members who are being received into the churches of the city. One church recently received 101 members, another, 106, and another, 96. Next Sunday about 100 persons will be baptized in the well known Grace Temple. These T figures are just an indication of the way in which churches throughout the city are receiving far more accessions than they have had for many years past. Not only in churches, but even in unexpected plac es, one constantly hears of how the revival spirit is working. Last night Mr. Alexander told how striking scenes were recently witnessed at a G. A. R. meeting. He said. “A lady came home, to the house where I am boarding, and said, ‘There is a G. A. R. man over at our church, and he told me with the tears run ning down his cheeks about something that happen ed at the G. A. R. He said that in the post where he belongs, they started in to have a supper, but just before they started in, some one said, “Let’s have grace.” They had never had it before, and after it was over, one of the officers got up and said, “I want to tell you something. I have been going to the Torrey-Alexander meetings, and I have changed my life: I am going to live for Christ from now on.” He made a good talk, and before they were through nearly everybody in the room was shedding tears. The man at the organ was a Christian man. and he jumped up and said. ‘I never was so happy in all my life’’ A stranger next got up, and said, ‘I am not a Christian, but this man’s talk is going to make me a better man all my life.’ ” “I never wanted to be elected into the G. A. R. before,” said Mr. Alexander, “but I wish they would elect me into that post.” Two Wonderful Meetings. Although the evangelists were supposed to be resting last week, preparatory to beginning the final series of meetings in Philadelphia in the Second Regiment Armory, yet two memorable meetings were held, one in Philadalphia, and the other in New York. The first meeting was held on Thursday night in the Academy of Music in this city. It was a con vert’s testimony meeting, conducted by Mr. Alex ander, and a Philadelphia newspaper characterized it as “the most remarkable prayer and testimony meeting ever held in Philadelphia.” The meeting was for men only, although a choir of 1,000 voices, chiefly composed of women, was present on the platform. Nearly 3,000 men gathered to hear the stirring testimonies of prominent converts of the revival. Among those who spoke were “Jimmy” Briggs, the converted police magistrate, James H. Macßride, the converted real estate dealer, and N. B. Lockyer, the converted insurance manager. In language which deeply moved the audience, they told what God had wrought in their souls since they accepted Christ. Mr. Lockyer said: “I have been a church member since I was four teen years old, and I felt as hundreds of others have felt, that because my name was on the church roll, I was all right. And I was satisfied with being a respectable man and a respectable church mem ber. But I came to these meetings, and something touched me—l don’t know just what it was. I went home to my wife and said, ‘l’ll keep going to these meetings till I am converted—that’s what will happen to me.’ And I did keep coming to the meetings, and I was converted. I told a friend of mine who attends the same church that I had been converted. He said, ‘You don’t mean converted; The Golden Age for April 19, 1906. By GEORGE T. B. DAVIS you mean revived.’ I said, ‘I know what I mean. 1 have been converted.’ Strength to Give up Cigarettes. “I had to give up smoking cigarettes, and that was about the hardest thing. I had been accus tomed to smoking from 75 to 100 cigarettes a day, and I thought it would be impossible for me to give up the habit. But I asked God to help me, and a week ago I gave it up. And to-day, see here (hold ing up his hand) I am not a bit nervous.” One of the most interested men in the audience was Mr. John Wanamaker, the well known mer chant prince and Christian leader. Mr, Alexander asked him to speak, and although suffering from a sore throat, he finally consented, and was greeted with prolonged applause. He said in part: “I am deeply affected by this wonderful sight. The first great meeting that I remember in this Academy was when General Grant was nominated for the presidency; the sight of so many men filling the Academy from top to bottom reminds me of that wonderful scene. Another occasion was when James G. Blaine spoke from this platform, when he had to be carried over the heads of the people to get in. “In the providence of God, these two men have come to our city, and have presented the truth to us; they have taught it, they have sung it, and this dear man who leads the meeting to-night has tried to love us into the kingdom, God bless him. Let us not resist the wonderful power that is near us to night.” A Song Revival Service. From the commencement of this meeting God’s Spirit was present in power, and the men were deeply moved by the testimonies of the converts, and by the singing of the choir and of Mr. Alex ander and Mr. Butler. Mr. Alexander delivered no set sermon, but conducted the meeting largely on the lines of the Welsh revival meetings. When he asked who would accept Christ then and there, one after another quickly stood in all parts of the building until a total of sixty-eight had arisen. Mr. Alexander then asked the men to come down to the front of the stage and repeat in concert: “I accept Jesus as my Savior, my Lord, and my King.” On Friday evening Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander went over to New York, where they were the chief speakers at an evangelistic meeting in Car negie Hall, which had been arranged by Dr. James B. Ely, of the Evangelistic ’Committee of New York City. The meeting was held for the purpose of raising money to carry on the evangelistic tent work in New York during the coming summer. The announcement that Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alex ander would be present drew an enoromus throng to the meeting. Carnegie Hall was quickly packed with 4,000 people, while 2,000 others attended over flow meetings in two neighboring churches. As has been the case everywhere around the world, Mr. Alexander quickly captivated the New York au dience, and had the rich and aristocratic gathering of millionaires, professional men, society people, minsters and business men singing lustily the stir ring old melody, “The Old Time Religion.” An Invitation to New York. As the song concluded, Rev. Donald Sage Mackay made an earnest appeal for the work of the sum mer, and voiced the larger hope that Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander would soon be invited to conduct a great campaign in New York City, saying: “I wish it were possible here to-night to frame an invitation to Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander to come to us in New York, and by the blessing of God, and in answer to your prayers and your co operation, do that work which has been so mightily blest throughout England. Spotland, Ireland and this country,” Dr. Torrey produced a deep impression by his ad dress on “He That Winneth Souls is Wise.” He declared that soul-winning should be the business of every Christian, and when he asked all those who recognized that they had not been doing their duty in the past, but who would henceforth make soul-winning the business of their lives, to arise, scores responded in all parts of the building. He then asked all those who would then and" there ac cept Jesus Christ to stand up, and several arose on this invitation. The Closing Series. The last series of meetings of the Philadelphia campaign began yesterday in the Second Regiment Armory on the north side of the city, with the usu al meeting for women only in the afternoon, and for men only at night. Dr. Torrey preached a pow erful sermon on “He is Able.” lie declared that God is able to deliver from all forms of sin and vice in modern life, saying in part: “I wonder if some woman away down in sin has come in here this afternoon. Let me say to you, my sister, that Jesus is able to forgive every sin, even to the uttermost. And some of you who think you haven’t gone very far into sin, who belong to m< st respectable families in the city, need forgive ness just as much as the outcast woman. Perhaps some woman here has an appetite for strong drink or drugs. I wish that physicians would be a little more careful about prescriptions that beget an evil habit. I have met women all over Europe and America who were slaves to the drug habit, many of them to the use of that damnable kind of ca tarrh snuff which has cocaine in it. Perhaps you have gotten into the way of taking these headache powders, some of which have morphine in them. There is no hope in human help when the drug habit gets fixed upon you. But thank God He is able, and will cure you. “He is able to do all that any one of us can need or want. I know because I have tried Him. My heart was for many years a cave of midnight darkness, and it seemed as if no ray of sunshine could ever again come into my life. But I found Him, and He has made me so happy that if I weie to sing with my voice as 1 do in my heart, Alex ander and Butler would have to retire. A Religion of Sunshine. “Perhaps you have an ungovernable temper, turning your home into a hell, so that your husband goes to the club or to the saloon, and his life is thus shipwrecked. Jesus is able to cure you of it. He is able to fill your life with sunshine and with song. “Another thing. Jesus is able to make use of you. God delights to take people who appear to be less gifted than others and do most with them. The trouble with talente*. people usually is that they put so much trust in their own talent that they are of no use to God. God can use them if they will just put their talents aside. In Philadelphia, as elsewhere, I have found commonplace people whom no one thought much about, who were able to do what people with rare talents would never have accomplished. God is able to use everybody who will give himself wholly to Him. In Chicago I got hold of a drunken expressman who, after his conversion, won hundreds and thousands of con verts. His name was Culley. He went into the slums and gathered in the most abandoned out casts. “One iii.dit he came in, and I noticed that he had a black eye. I inquired the cause. ‘Oh,’ he said, his face radiant, ‘Mr. Torrey, I praise the Lord I have been counted worthy to be hit for His sake.’ God delights to take weak people and use them mightily,” 7