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GRACIOUS MEETINGS IN SALISBURY
Clippings From the Salisbury (N. C.) Ebening Post Telling of the Recent Work of Our Editor in That City.
ECAUSE of the general interest it will
hold for those who rejoice in the “com
ing of the Kingdom” and especially be
cause our editor would rather others
than himself would speak of his relig
ious and platform work, we reproduce
here some of the excellent and gener
ous reports of The Salisbury (N. C.)
Evening Post concerning the meetings
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recently held with the church of his former pastor,
Rev. Robert L. Motley:
The First Day.
Yesterday was a great day at the First Baptist
church in Salisbury, and Will D. Upshaw, of Georgia,
the man on crutches, can say of his first day in our
community, if he wants to: “Veni, vidl, vici!” The
friends of Rev. R. L. Motley, the pastor, are con
gratulating him on all sides that he knew the kind
of man that Salisbury needed. For while the pas
tor had highly advertised his man, the overflowing
crowds at the church morning and night declared
that, while they expected much, they received more.
The Georgian had already completely won the
Sunday School when he faced the big congregation
at the morning service. In his speech of introduc
tion, the pastor stated that he had known the speak
er fifteen years—ever since he began his lecture
work on the roller-chair —during eight years of
which he had been his pastor, and that it was his
frank opinion that as an all round man of the peo
ple—editor, author, platform entertainer, civic re
former, evangelist and inspirer of youth, he had not
known his equal. He further stated that he had
seen the speaker pluckily overcome difficulties that
would have crushed hope and life out of most men.
Sitting on his chair, the speaker took the audi
ence immediately into his confidence. The over-fas
tidious might regard him as shockingly informal, but
anyhow he goes straight after the hearts of his
hearers and wins. The theme of the morning was
“Old Time Religion,” and rarely has Salisbury seen
an audience so stirred and melted. Many came for
ward pledging themselves to deeper consecration,
while several professed conversion. In the after
noon Mr. Upshaw delighted a full house at the Spen
cer Y. M. C. A. At night, a great crowd greeted the
speaker, and between a tear and a smile, the people
were mightily moved from start to finish. Mr. Up
shaw will speak each day this week at 3:30 p. m.
and 8 p. m.
After Four Days.
A packed house heard the most remarkable ser
mon of the week at the First Baptist Church last
night. Mr. Upshaw’s theme was “My Sin,” from the
51st Psalm. He began with a graphic picture of the
difference between sin and righteousness, and fol
lowed this line of thought: My sin offends God; my
sin hurts myself; my sin hurts somebody else; my
sin nailed Christ to the Cross.
It was seen before the speaker had been talking
five minutes that he himself was mightily stirred.
His arraignment of sin was terrific; his illustrations
from real life were startling; at times his words
seemed to almost blaze as they leaped from his
mouth. It has been years since a Salisbury audi
ence was so overwhelmed with a spiritual impres
sion. As he closed a holy hush was upon the great
audience, and suddenly Mrs. F. F. Smith began to
sing, “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.” The
effect was wonderful. It was a moment that those
present will remember through life. There was an
after meeting in which some strong men who had
drifted far from God expressed an interest in their
salvation.
Twilight Meeting Today.
A novelty was announced by the pastor in the
way of a twilight meeting. The people are expected
to assemble tonight according to the good, old coun
try fashion, at 7:30, and the meeting will be dis
missed promptly at 8:25, in order to allow those who
have arranged to hear Jomelli sing ample time to
reach the opera house before the curtain rises.
Meeting Saturday Night.
“We won’t give Saturday night over to the devil,”
said Mr. Upshaw. “There will be no service Satur
day afternoon in order that housekeepers may make
The Golden Age for June 30, 1910.
their preparations for Sunday, but we will have the
regular services at night. Some of the most glorious
meetings I have ever known have been held on Sat
urday night.”
After the Second Sunday.
The greatest crowd seen at a religious meeting in
Salisbury for ten years—the greatest since the fa
mous Stuart meetings, packed auditorium of the
First Baptist church last night. The Sunday School
room was thrown open and quickly filled, class rooms
and all extra chairs were brought into service. This
immense throng came as the climax of the three
services of the day—the greatest day, the Baptists
declare, which their church in Salisbury has ever
seen.
The Pentecost began in the Sunday School. Mr.
Allen, a Christian traveling man, who is at the head
of 200 “What!” boys in Dr. Broughton’s Tabernacle,
Atlanta, led off with a catchy, inspiring talk which
gripped the whole school. Mr. William D. Upshaw,
the evangelist, who wins the old and young alike,
made a heart-reaching talk. And then Mr. P. S.
Carlton, superintendent of the school, stood among
the boys and girls and made a tender appeal to them
to “feed on the Bread of Life.” After he had led
in an earnest prayer, a dozen or more came and
gave him their hand, declaring that they had sur
rendered their hearts to Christ.
At the eleven o’clock hour Mr. Upshaw spoke on
“The Evidences of Discipleship.” He closed with
a beautiful illustration of the Christian’s “making a
picture of Christ,” and many in the audience came
in tears declaring their purpose to make a better pic
ture of Christ on earth.
A Meeting For Parents.
Perhaps the most impressive and far-reaching
service thus fa? was the meeting of parents in the
afternoon. Heads of families from all parts of the
Salisbury-Spencer section crowded the double audi
torium. Many were in tears as Mrs. Smith sang,
“My Mother’s Prayer.” Mr. Upshaw spoke from the
prayer of the Syro-Phoenician mother, “Lord, Help
Me,” saying that those words must surely be the
prayer of every true parent’s heart concerning the
rearing of their children. Concerning the parent’s
personal example, he indulged in some very plain
talk about meagre and indelicate dressing on the
part of mothers who led their daughters in their
footprints. The speaker said he felt too desperate
to joke about the matter, declaring that if mothers
would rear daughters of beautiful modesty they
must set them the right example by abstaining from
wine-drinking, card playing and improper dressing.
It was especially remarked by those who would be
supposed to disagree with the speaker, that his man
ner of handling the subject was so earnest, delicate
and respectful that no one could be offended. Mr.
Upshaw closed with an impassioned appeal to par
ents to build altars in their homes, and many par
ents agreed to do so.
“Sacrifice.”
For thirty-five minutes last night Will D. Upshaw
held as in a vice the minds and hearts of the splen
did audience that assembled at the First Baptist
Church, in spite of the threatening weather. His
theme was “Sacrifice” from the text: “He saved oth
ers—Himself He can not save.”
The speaker began by saying, “That expression
is the greatest slip of the tongue that the devil ever
made in all the world. In common parlance, he did
not go to do it.” He meant it as hateful raillery,
but he uttered the sublimest truth of all the ages.
In this remark the servants of Satan, declared the
deity of Jesus Christ by confessing what they had
seen with their own eyes—that He had “saved oth
ers.” But He could not have healed lepers, opened
the eyes of blind and raised the dead if He had not
been the Son of God. In the hour of all hours —the
hour toward which the hungry, waiting world had
looked so long—the hour of all hours back toward
which earth and heaven and hell must ever look, the
deity of Christ was confessed by His enemies,
while they declared a truth wiser than they knew—
He could not save Himself because He wanted to
save you and me.”
Meetings Close.
The revival meetings at the First Baptist Church
closed Sunday night at high tide. The men’s meeting
in the afternoon was a great success and at night, de
spite the rain, the house was packed. The pastor,
Rev. R. L. Motley, baptized several Candidates at
the first of the service, and Mr. William D. Upshaw,
who has won all hearts by his great earnestness-and
engaging personality, announced, as the text for his
farewell message: “If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above. Set your affec
tions on things above, and not on things on the
earth.” Although he had spoken twice a day on an
average for two weeks, he plunged into his theme
with all the vigor and freshness that characterized
his first sermon, and for thirty minutes gripped and
swayed his crowd with a message that charmed and
blessed. Following a solo, “For You I Am Praying,”
by Mrs. F. F. Smith, several professed conversion,
among them a number of strong citizens. Five more
united with the church. So deep was the interest
that many were anxious for the meeting to continue.
*
r ' c ßtn Cox of Arkansalv”
(Continued from Page 1.)
to thus treat others as they would not like to be
treated themselves.
Anyway, Ben Cox got stirred up on this propo
sition not long ago, and The Arkansaw Gazettte
tells the story as follows:
“Because many of the feminine members of
the congregation of the First Baptist Church
insist on wearing their hats in church to the
envy of other feminine members and the annoy
ance of sundry masculine church-goers, Rev. Ben
Cox, pastor of the church, has set aside a cer
tain portion of the church as the “Millinery
Section” for the use of these hat wearers.
“The arrangement will be effective next Sun
day, the minister announced at the service last
night. At both morning and evening services
all women who come with large creations adorn
ing tneir heads must either take them off or sit
in the “Millinery Section.”
“The practice of women wearing hats during
the services has been a subject of agitation for
some time at the church and the pastor has from
time to time openly opposed it. Yesterday morn
ing a pillar of the church happened to sit direct
ly behind a wonder of the milliner’s art. He
sat unprotesting for a while, but finally cast out
a hint that the hat might be removed. Its
wearer sat unperturbed, however, and after chaf
fing at the blocked landscape for a few minutes
longer, the mere man got up and left.
“The incident came to the knowledge of Rev.
Mr. Cox and at last night’s service he comment
ed rather sharply on the practice of wearing hats
in church and announced the new program for a
millinery section.”
Broughton Stirs Church and Town.
When I saw Ben Cox recently in Baltimore, he
said: “Broughton’s visit to Little Rock was a great
uplift to my church and city. He helped to stiffen
my backbone and made me believe more than ever
in prayer and work.
We have bought a splendid house of twelve rooms
for our “Young Ladies’ Home,” and with a Baraca
Home for oui' young men, we are going to try more
and more to fit our church and its work to the prac
tical needs of humanity.”
Mr. J. O. Johnson, President of the Baraca Class,
a great-hearted financier and philanthropist, who
loves the young men whom he teaches better than
the money in his vaults, has purchased the Baraca
Home in the name of his class of stalwart, manly fel
lows, and these two Christian homes for young men
and young women, will be “light houses on the
shore” amid the siren songs of the city’s tempting
life.
I cannot close this nurried and inadequate sketch
without expressing the joy that we Americans feel
whenever the “old country” sends us such a contri*
bution to our religious and civic life and Christian
citizenship as BEN CO?s OF ARKANSAW,
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