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The World- Wide Revival: w
I.
Another Outpouring in China.
AILY the world-wide revival is grow
ing, and God’s -Spirit is being more
mightily poured out. In hundreds of
places in Christian and heathen lands
prayer is being answered, and showers
of blessings are descending. The key
note of nearly all the awakenings seems
to be a: deep conviction of sin, and a
subsequent passion for souls. And the
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origin of each work of grace seems to lie in the
strong crying to God of consecrated souls, who
have first been cleansed themselves.
In Hokeo Kiang-si, China, it was a doctor named
Yao that was the chief human instrument in bring
ing the revival. One Sunday he was overcome with
a "vision of the sin in the hearts of the peopb
about him. Thereafter he gave himself unceis
ingly to prayer, and ere long the power of Go.l
fell upon the people.
Miss Marion 11. Fisher, writing in China’s M’l
lions of the preparation of prayer, says:
11 During the week following the doctor came
daily to meet with us and with those of our house
hold who wished to pray for the ‘showers.’ Our
longing grew with our prayers. The second week
I was in the country. That week and the next
ihite there was united prayer twice daily with pJI
the household, when others sometimes joined us.
The doctor begrudged himself food and sleep; he
was up before daylight, spending hours in prayer.’’
In describing the scenes when the revival came,
Miss Fisher says:
‘‘Then suddenly such a sense of sin came over
the congregation that no one voice could be hearl
above the loud weeping and cries for mercy. It
seemed as though the outward act of bending be
fore God ’had helped their hearts to bend before
Him. After half an hour or more most had found
peace. The service did not close till 3.30, when the
congregation scattered for their mid-day meal. It
was too late to have the afternoon meeting, as
many had come from a distance
“In the evening the usual Christian Endeavcr
meeting was given up for another of waiting upon
God. It was a wonderful time. During one pa
cf the meeting almost every one was on his knees
pleading aloud with the Lord for himself or others.
For more than two and a half hours hymns, prayer
and testimony followed each other without inter
ruption, and there was no sense of weariness. The
lord had visited His people and we had proved
that what He had promised He was able to per
ft rm.
“ These two weeks since, the reviving work ha<
been going on more quickly, but none the less
really. Some of the Christians are being dealt
with for love of money, some for not closing shops
on Sunday, one enquirer for dishonesty in business,
another who was selling firecrackers (for idol wor
ship). A battle is going on such as we have not
known before, and many are coming through vic
t->. ious. V e still look for a greater ingathering
of souls, knowing that the blessing will stop only
wnen we stop praying and expecting. Many of
ti?e girls for whom we have been praying have
come out definitely on the Lord’s side.”
11.
Gracious Revival in Mexico.
Even in Mexico the Spirit of God is working
powerfully. Zion’s Herald reports the awakening
in the Mexican capital as follows.
“News reaches us of a gracious revival in rhe
City of Mexico. The native pastors of the four
evangelical churches working in that city planned
for a four weeks’ campaign which ran on for an
other week still. Every morning the pastors ami
ether workers met for consultation and prayer.
Every evening evangelistic services were held
in one of the churches.
“The members of the various congregations en
tered heartily into the plans of the pastors, and
ditl effective work. One consecrated woman made
By GEORGE T. B. DAVIS.
The Golden Age for November 29, 1906.
personal appeal to fifty different individuals. An
other visited fifteen families and invited them to
the services. A young man who thought he had no
gift for such work printed an invitation on two
hundred postals and mailed them.
“The closing service was a most memorable one.
It began as a preaching service, but soon took the
form of song, testimony and prayer, so manifestly
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as to call
to mind the recent great movement in Wales,
though we cannot as yet expect in Mexico such
ra merical results as have come from great revivals
in the United States and England. Over one hun
dred conversions were registered.”
111.
Wonderful Work in Korea.
Pentecostal days are being witnessed in Korm
at the present time. Marvelous things have oc
curred during the past twelve months. A mis
sionary, writing in an American journal, says:
“What but the hand of God can bring such
hosts into the kingdom? During the year the num
ber of Christians has almost doubled. We had
six thousand friends and fellow-believers in Jesus
last year. We now have over eleven thousand.
This is in the Syen Chyun district alone. Mr
Kearns baptized with his own hands one thousand
'and twenty-seven Korean Christians between May
1, 1905, and May 1, 1906.
“Again, what but the hand of God can be mak
ing all these people such lovers of the Holy B’lfie,
so fervent in prayers and so eager to spend th fir
time in the service and employment of the privileges
of church worship? One night during a recent offi
cers’ class, a shipment of 500 Bibles arrived on the
railroad. Before ten o’clock the next morning
every volume was sold and paid for. That the
church life manifests the presence of the Holy
Spirit is beautifully illustrated by the Tung Kang
gr< up. We got word a year ago that in the extreme
m 1 lowest corner of Korea, over three hundred
miles from Syen Chyun, some had begun to believe.
Lai or reports gave thirty as the number of believ
ers. This spring when visited seventy believers
attended church. There were only three men who
had ever seen a missionary. The remarkable thing
was the unconsciously sincere nature of their
trust in the Bible and the acceptance they gave to
ail things of the church. There was no sign of low
motives in the movement.
“We have also had a beautiful illustration of
the practical and simple prayer life among oar
Korean friends recently. Our little town of Syen
Chyun is quite largely Christian and a large chur. ’i
to seat twelve or fourteen hundred worshipper
is now nearing completion. It is a beautiful build
ing towering above all the little thatched huts, and
is the pride of all the town. The construction of
so large a building involved the possibility of many
accidents because most of the workmen had nevsr
seen such a building. To our surprise, and yet not
to tur surprise, we soon learned that the singing
of the hymns we heard each morning wafted out
over the village before we were up, was the si ig
ir.g of the carpenters at the church. Each day
before beginning the day’s labor, the head civ
penter called them together and led a short service,
the chief petition in all their prayers, day by day,
be.i g that God would make them careful so that
no lives might be lost while building His house.
It is a day of great joy and we have hearts to be
lieve that it is of the Lord and will endure.”
The death of “Old Bob,” the faithful servant,
who lived his life at the famous Belle Meade farm
near Nashville, Tenn., removes one of the few sur
vivors of the most picturesque period of our coun
try. “Bob” was well known to turfmen in all
parts of the world, and when the Belle Meade place
was sold he begged to be allowed to retain his
cabin until the end came to him. He has had
more newspaper mention, perhaps, than any mem
ber of his race who was known only for his fidelity
and loyalty to his work and to his employers.
“The Empire State of the Earth.”
{Editorial Correspondence.)
Georgia may be -the “Empire State of the
South,” but Texas is the Empire State of the
Earth! Bob Taylor said that “she is the biggest
black waffle on the gridiron of the Republic,” and
the genial senator-humorist helped the stranger
with that striking sentence to catch only a little
glimpse of the bountiful bigness of Texas.
“If you see my brother John out in Texas—
’spose you will, ’cause he lives out there—just
tell him that I am getting along very well.” That
is about the conception that many a Georgia man
has about the size of Texas before he ever sees
it; but it has never occurred to him that his brother
John may be living in Texas a whole thousand
miles away from somebody else who lives in the
same wide Empire. Describe a circle from Texar
kana, with the outer rim as far as El Paso, and
you will take in Denver and Chicago and Raleigh,
while on the southern rim you would cover just
about all the Gulf of Mexico and come very near
making acquaintance with the Equator!
But the people of Texas are bigger than her bor
ders, and their hearts are larger than her prog
ress and wider than her plains!
A Mighty Gathering.
The Texas Baptist Convention with three thou
sand delegates, and visitors is undloubtedlly tlhe
greatest religious gathering in any state in the
world. This is not strange. The other denomina
tions have divided synods and conferences accord
ing to what would seem to be convenient geograph
ical lines; but the Texas Baptists are like the peo
ple of the whole empire—they do not want to be
divided. They love to come together by the thous
ands, and feel the throb and thrill of marvelous
fellowship and enjoy the sweep and “whoop” of
doing big things. Just think of forty-seven thous
and dollars raised in one night’s service for the
care of 600 children at Buckner’s Orphan Home;
then $4,700 raised the next day for ministerial ed
ucation; and then about $50,000 raised that night
for Christian Education—the liberation and en
largement of the correlated schools of the Conven
tion! This follows the startling sum of $90,000
given last year to the great Sanitarium being built
by the Convention at Dallas, and over $200,000
given this year to missions. And this follows more
than $200,000 given for Christian education in re
cent years. That is the way Texas does things.
But no wonder—for R. C. Buckner, the grand old
man who presides over the convention at seventy
five with the vigor of youth and the grace of a
patriarch is here; B. H. Carro'l, standing like an in
tellectual colossus in humble grandeur before the
throne of God; Samuel Palmer Brooks, walking in
and out, a veritable giant of mental and spiritual
power before a thousand students of Baylor Univ
ersity; J. B. Gambrell, “grizzled, grand and grey,”
the most captivating “stump speaker” in a re
ligious gathering on the American Continent; Lee
Scarborough, with the honors of Yale upon him
and “old-time religion” in his heart; J. Frank
Norris, a younger son of Baylor, with philosophy
and eloquence shrined at the foot of the Cross; an.!
Geo. AV. Truett, the magician of eloquence and the
dynamo of spiritual power, swaying a kingdom
among men beautiful to contemplate and inspiring
to behold—these masters among men have all spok
en since the convention began, and while they have
spoken, thousands have listened and rejoiced and
wept and resolved and have the nrisen up to do
wonderful things for the uplift of humanity and
the glory of God.
This is not intended in any sense to be a report
of proceedings, but rather a hurriedly drawn pic
ture of the spirit and purpose of this remarkable
body of men and women.
There will be other echoes of this flying trip to
the greatest State of the greatest nation on the
earth. Wm. D. Upshaw.
Waco, Tex., Nov. 10, 1906
The Carnegie Hero Fund has recently given rec
ognition to sixteen persons for deeds of valor which
have resulted in saving life. Most of these persons
have been young and have received the money to
enable them to procure educational advantages.
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