RELIGIOUS REVIVAL IN BELFAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 95, 21 April 1923, Page 19

RELIGIOUS REVIVAL IN BELFAST.

„ _ GUNMEN GO TO CHURCH. *.' * Billy .Sunday's methods have struck Belfast, and a religious revival as'lntense and fervid as that which seized France after the Napoleonic wars is sweeping Ulster like a prairie fire, writes the .-pedal correspondent of tbe "New York Herald," on March 3. All classes and age 3 seem to have caught the contagion, and all the mission halls of the city are crowded "to their capacity every day. Scenes such as England witnessed when the Wesley brothers preached in the fields are being re-enacted ln the North of Ireland. The shipyard workers assemble ln their overalls after their heavy day's toil and form a procession, with a band leading them, to march to the mission halls. In workshops and factories midday prayers have taken the place of ribald songs, and hymns now come from the lips of labourers instead of oaths and rude jests. Bakers, lawyers, tramwaymen, factory girls, stenographers, and students join the processions of "those seeking salvation," and long queues stand outside the crowded missions, hoping to hear stray words of the evangelists. Saturday ll considered an off day ln mission attendance, but Sunday sees a fresh outpouring of religious enthusiasm with energy enough to carry over the following Friday. In some plants the' employers provide religious literature for the workers, aud it is a common sight to see the employer leading his employees ln the midday service of hymns and prayers. Recently the star soccer player of an International team "received a call" on the eve of a crucial match, and resigned from his team, saying that be considered football a worldly diversion. The boxing expert on a Belfast newspaper "got religion" and quit his joh. In the Ballymacarrett district a well-known preacher has a Bible class which Includes several men who a year ago were going through the streets of Belfast shooting at all the Romanists they could find, and these es-gnnmen are now preparing to teach Sunday-school classes of their own. A hundred children, who never before attended Sunday school, and many c_ whom did not even know the Lord's Pra**«er or any one of the Commandments, an now regular attendants. Slovenliness in dress Is disappearing from the streets, and some of the "pubs" look as if prohibition had reached the city. One of the leading revivalists Is an American, the Rev. W. r. Mcholson, a native of Ulster, who Is known as the "whistling parson." He whistles the hymns from tbe pulpit, leads the congregation ln whistling the choruses, and believes tbat handclasps and handshakes are aids to salvation. He admits that lie is a trifle vulgar ln his methods, but contends that he is preaching the true gospel. Terrific-* applause greets him when he mounts the pulpit, and roars of laughter punctuate the string of funny American stories be tells. In Billy Sunday, style he Issues tho command, "Now, you young feliow-s in :he gallery, you sing the first verse, while you dignified baldheads downstairs, get your whiskers out of the road and whistle the tune." The children perhaps are the most affected of all hy the spirit of revival. Boys and girls sometimes arise ln the middle of the service, Quaker fashion, nnd preach because the "spirit moves them." A minister said: "I have seen a nine-year-old revivalist say a few words at a meeting and then retire, while another boy delivered a sermon without an Intermission for more than an hour." Midnight meetings follow the revival sessions. Converts parade the streets slugging Moody and Sankey hymns at the top of their Toiees. This is causing soma sharp criticism from the more orthodox ministers, who say that the hymns are too "jazzy." But whatever they may think, Belfast is happy now, for the strains of "Brighten the Corner Where You Are" can be heard where a few months back were the sharp bark of the revolver and the cry for help or the croans of the wounded.