The Golden age. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1906-1915, May 10, 1906, Page 7, Image 7

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Closing Incidents of Philadelphia Campaign HE great revival campaign in Phila delphia, conducted by Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander, closed yesterday with two of the most successful meetings held since the commencement of the cru sade three months ago. At the two services, for men only and women oniy, over 150 persons stood up to accept Christ. The total number of converts T recorded during the three months equals fully 5,000 men, women and children. They have come from all ranks and professions, a number of them being leaders in the business and political life of the city. The revival has proved a triumphant success. Nothing like the present religious awakening has been witnessed since the work of Moody and Sankey in the seventies. The crowds which tried to gain entrance to the meetings during the closing days of the campaign were such as have rarely been seen in Philadelphia. On the last night that both men and women were admitted, it is estimated that not less than 10,000 people flocked to hear the evangelists. When the big doors of the Armory were swung open a rush was made by the crowd which filled the street, and in a few moments the big building was packed with 6,000 people. Still the crowds continued to stream toward the building, many making pitiful but vain appeals to the policemen for admittance. At the Broad street entrance to the building hundreds of people stood for nearly two hours waiting for the first meeting to end that they might be admitted when a part of the audience went home. They oc cupied their time by singing gospel hymns and lis tening to stirring revival testimonies. The “Revival Bands.’’ The revival fire is being spread—and will con tinue to be spread after Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alex ander have left Philadelphia—by “Revival Bands” such as helped to spread the flame in the revival in Wales and India. The revival bands are composed of groups of about half a dozen converts and oth ers w T ho take the Sunday morning service in city churches, and tell the story of their conversion, and how they are leading others to Christ by per sonal wmrk. Two days ago in a suburb of Philadelphia, an interesting event occurred in connection with the revival, when Rev. John Howard Deming, chair man of the committee on personal work, was mar ried to Miss Edith Knowlton, secretary of the same committee. It w y as essentially a mission wedding, for the ceremony was performed by Dr. Torrey, while Mr. Alexander acted as one of the ushers; the wedding march was played by Robert Harkness, and “The Pilot Song” was sung by Charles Butler, the soloist. It was my privilege to act as best man, while other members of the mission party, who at tended were Mr. Rupert Lowe, Mr. Edgar Ward, Miss Mary Holyoak and Miss Blanche Torrey. The bridegroom has just resigned his charge as pastor of Haddon Heights church, and Mr. and Mrs. Dem ing will sail in October for Hanyang, Central China, to engage in missionary work. During the past week Dr. Torrey has been de livering a series of addresses in the afternoons on “The Real Christ.” For several days he pictured our Lord as a man of prayer. The evangelist plead earnestly with his hearers to spend more time in prayer, and told how prayer was the secret of the success of the late Lord Cairns, a former Lord Chancellor of England. Dr. Torrey said: “Unless prayer occupies a very prominent place in your life you are not Christ-like. One of the most prominent characteristics of the life of Christ as recorded in the four Gospels, was his prayerful ness, the frequency with which he prayed, and the amount of time he spent in prayer. What do You do With Your Minutes? “There are 1,440 minutes in every day. How By GEORGE T. B. DAVIS. The Golden Age for May 10, 1906. many of those 1,440 minutes to you spend in prayer? Do you spend a tenth of them—two hours and twenty-four minutes? Do you spend a twentieth of them—one hour and twelve minutes? Are you Christ-like? Is prayer one of the great outstand ing features of your life? “Let me read you another passage that tells us when our Lord prayed: Mark 1: 35: ‘And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.’ Jesus Christ rose early in the morn ing, a great while before day, to pray. Why? I suppose, partly for the reason that he might have undisturbed solitude for communion with God, be fore everybody else was up, or likely to be up for a long time to come. But there was another reason, as we are shown by the context, and that was to prepare for the w T ork of the coming day and of the coming days. “Every day ought to be prepared for by prayer. We ought to talk to God before we talk to any body else. I believe that one of the keys to victo rious days is to begin every day with prayer. A day that is begun by communion with God is begun right, and is pretty sure to go right. But if you don’t begin right everything will go wrong all day long. ’ ’ Impressions of the Torrey-Alexander Meetings. “The power and the glory and the majesty” of the cause of Christ is never more fully impressed on any human mind than when one sits in the midst of a vast concourse of people and feels the waves of spiritual emotion which flow, seemingly, direct from the souls of the individual to swell the great current of spiritual life. This impression was never stronger than during the first meetings of the great revival movement that is now being held in Atlanta, by the world renowned leaders, Dr. R. A. Torrey and Mr. Chas. M. Alexander. In these consecrated men themselves we see ese “power” of human influence, touched by redeeming grace, the “glory” of spiritual pur pose and the “majesty” of the great cause they represent. Yet not by force of persuasion, nor force of fear or invective is this wonderful com bat begun—but a force more powerful than any or all of these—the force of purest truth, logic and reason. Dr. Torrey is a calm talker—no ex citement, no undue emotional display is made, and yet his words fall directly on the heart of the hearer, and by the mere force of their own power the impression is made, and made deeply. “I do not want to make it easy for you,” said Dr. Torrey; “I want to make it real and strong and true.” It is this intention that sounds the key-note of the present great series of meetings— not to “make it easy,” but to bring home the truth—the Bible, and the force of the plan of salvation as outlined by the Great Teacher. It has been long since Atlanta, or, indeed, the South, has had the opportunity which is now pre sented, for carefully considering spiritual matters, but it is already clear that the people appreciate this chance, and are eager to avail themselves of it. Although the campaign has just begun, the indi cations are that it will be as frutful as any which these consecrated men have yet held, and as is well known, their field of operation has covered a large part of the civilized world. The service conducted by Mr. Charles Alexander, of Tennessee, is a wonderfully attractive and help ful feature of these meetings, and Mr. Alexander is pre-eminent in his ability to handle and to sway large audiences, such as assemble daily in the Peach tree Auditorium. Many of the songs in the books furnished for these meetings were written by Mr. Alexander, and the author’s personality imparts a touch and tone to each song which cannot be un derstood by every one who has not been there to see and feel the magic thrill. Mr. Charles Butler, of Georgia, is the soloist of the meetings, and his voice is one of great sweet ness, truth and feeling. He has won the heart of Atlanta. First Meetings of the Series. Two meetings were held on the past Sunday, one a song service and special meeting for women, be ginning at 3:30 in the afternoon and the other an evening service for the general public. This order of service will be adhered to during the stay of the evangelists in Atlanta, and as Dr. Torrey said in his Sunday sermon: “We must make the pre eminent business of this month the saving of souls. I believe that God is going to shake Atlanta so hard that the shake will be heard all over the world. ’ ’ l If one may judge from the vast audiences, and from the rapt and careful attention which each in dividual gave to the service, then Dr. Torrey’s be lief seems to have been well founded. His first message was on the subject-of a “Real Revival—What it Means and What it Costs,” and although, as the title indicates, it was rather a preparation for the real work, than an actual be ginning, it certainly laid the foundation for the more specific things which followed. The auditorium, which seats about four thousand persons, will not only be the gathering place of the hosts of God, but the birth-place, we trust, of hundreds who are now unsaved, and although it is too early to predict results at this date, yet the in dications are that the success in the saving of souls which has everywhere followed similar services, will not be lacking in Atlanta. A feature of these meetings which is already noted with interest and approval, is the hearty co operation which the ministers of the various de nominations are giving the movement. As Dtr. Torrey said in that stirring Sunday evening ad dress, “The extent of this revival in Atlanta, and of the good work which it will accomplish, will de pend on the ministers and the members who will get right with God,” and ample evidence is already seen of the co-operation which will be given the prime movers in this great work. As we go to press early in the week, we cannot give our readers a full report of these opening ser vices, but a brief mention must be made of Dr. Torrey’s powerful address of Monday evening, the second general meeting. His text was taken from Genesis, 3: 9, “Where Art Thou?” and he spoke both eloquently and searchingly on the significance of this question as put to each in dividual soul. Many a pertinent story was told to illustrate the force of this question as applied to each one of us, either by the spoken voice of God on the Day of Reckoning, or by our own spirit taught consciences, which represent the voice of the Lord. So strongly was the question put, and in so many varied phases, that each heart was stirred and the awakening must come to all who listen faithfully and sincerely. One of the most touching incidents of the work thus far, was the Story of His Conversion. as told by Mr. Charles Butler, of Macon, the singer whose name has already been mentioned. This oc curred at the afternoon service, and so great was the emotional strain created by this story, elo quently, though simply told by a young man well known to many in the vast audience, that Dr. Tor rey was, himself, compelled to step forward and divert the thoughts of the hearers by calling at tention to the work to be done, and by an urgent ap peal for co-operation and assistance in doing it. Mr. Geo. T. B. Davis, who has been giving the reports of the meetings heretofore, will continue to report the services for this paper. Before the close of the meeting, The Golden Age will issue a special edition as a souvenir. 7