AMAZING SCENES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 25 July 1929, Page 6

AMAZING SCENES.

RELIGIOUS REVIVAL AT CESSNOOK. DUTCH EVANGELIST’S METHODS. SYDNEY, July u. Am..zmg reports have come aurmg the past week from the mining town of t etisnocK, in New south \\ aies, oi the operations ol' one van r.y k, .1 Du tell evangelist, who reacheu Australia not long ago from coatu Am.a. This evangelist lias gamed the comm-

ence of tile people 111 the distressed ininnm centres 111 a remarkable manner, and it has been suggested tout in the midst of their suffering tne unemployed (minors and their .families have been like the proverbial drowning man who was glad to clutch at a straw. Van Eyk said that he received a call to go to the mining towns, and he answered it. Tie prayed for sunieient money to enable him to make the trip, and lo and behold, lie became p\J»Sb>t?SS~ ed, as if by, magic, of £7o. ne said that God always provided lor 111111. ne had no need to take up collections. He had never been stranded, God luid always answered his prayers, ano would also answer the prayers 01 the people. All this he told the people 01 (Jessnock, and very soon lie became the centre of the most remarkable religious revival ever seen in any town in New South Wales. After a number of preparatory meetings he announced a great p iodic meeting, at which there would he baptism by immersion. Needless to say, the announcement created a great ueal of interest, and long before the advertised time of starting hundreds of people were waiting for the doors <d the theatre to open a specially constructed concrete tank had been erected on the stage, and tins was Idled with warm water, which was heated in kerosene tins in the. vacant section alongside the theatre. When the meeting commenced a crowd had gathered the like of which Cessnock hact never before seen. It was evident, too, that many of them iiad come to scolf, and if that were so, most of them remained to pray. The scoffers soon found that theye were in a minority, and any unseemly behaviour was due more to the enthusiasm of the crowd than to any endeavour to obstruct the proceedings. At the first baptismal ceremony 3b women and 31 men were “dipped.” And dipped they were in the true sense

of the term. The women were arrayed in white gowns and the men. 111 white shirts and white trousers. The women were dealt with first, une oy I one they emerged from their dressingroom and proceeded to the tank once they reached the tank they came into full view of the audience but not one

of them faltered. They were greeted by the evangelist, who stood in the tank with the water up to his thighs. Van Eyk placed his arm around the shoulder of each woman, and with one hand he covered the nostrils and mouth of the convert. Then he allowed the patient to fall back, and finally pressed her head beneath the surface of the water, at the same time intoning the words, “1 baptise you; in the Name of the Lather, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Dripping wet, the converts proceeded to their dressing-rooms, where they sang with much feeling many well-known hymns. It was at this stage of the proceedings, when all the women had been dipped, that the crowd got out of hand. Apparently the people were even more anxious to see the men who had agreed to face the ordeal of a public baptism. Van Eyk called for twelve strong men to help him to regain control, and his appeal was not in vain. The volunteers formed a cordon around the tank. But this did not

j dampen the enthusiasm, and it was only with the utmost difficulty that the front-rankers were not precipitated into the tank. So Van Eyk resorted to the method of declaring that the ceremony was over. He left the stage and later ordered that the lights (should be put out. Many people went home, but hundreds were sceptical, and the patience of the latter was rewarded, for when the crowd had thinned out the baptisms, were proceeded with and carried to a conclusion. Then the men who had been convertjed sailer, hymns The men and women who had been converted said the next day that they felt much better for it. 1 They felt that God had taken possession of their lives, and that thereafter they could do no wrong, and would be guided wild protected in everything. Scores of others appealed to Van Eyk to baptise them. The following day Van Eyk announced that lie had been billed for £lO for damage done to the theatre by the crowd when enthusiasm was at its

height. That did not worry him, lie said, for he knew that the bill would be met by tho good people of Cessriock, who appreciated his mission. But what dad concern him was the fact that scores of others wanted to be baptised, aud lie had no place where he could carry out the rite. Then it was announced that jsomebody had answered his prayer and had given his mission a section of land. More than that, sufficient money had been subscribed to erect a temporary meeting house. At a meeting the night after the baptisms Van Eyk attacked various religious, and some of his remarks were resented. It was then that Van Eyk displayed his real

powers,. “Leave tile hall,” he said to one of the interjectons. And when the man refused Van Eyk went down from the iplaftorm, took the man by the scruff of the neck, and practically carried him outside amidst the applause of his many followers.

This interjection was but a mere echo of the controversy which Van Eyk’s mission has aroused in the coal fields. At practically all the churches on Sunday the baptismal ceremony was the topic of the sermons. So if the mission lias done nothing more it has attracted a great deal of attention to this important religious rite.