REVIVALISM.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1794, 2 October 1874, Page 3

REVIVALISM.

t The "Saturday Iteview," April 18th, I in an article headed " The Comic Gospel," ■ays: — " It appears that for some months past much excitement has been produced in Edinburgh and other towns in Scotland by the lingular exercises of a couple of itinerant Americans —Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey. For a very long time no entertainment has been so popular in Edinburgh as that which goes by the name of these gentlemen. It is attended by overflowing audiences. Crowds 1 of enthusiasts follow the performers from one place to another, for it is part of their system to have as much variety as possible, and to hold their meetings in all aorts of different buildings—in town halls, i lecture- rooms, and churches of all denominations. The meetings are held at all hours of the day, and some are for young men, some, for mothers, some for fathers, others,for young women, clerks, students*, or. little children. Curiosity* is i stimulated by huge placards on walls, and >■"' several periodicals command a large sale •! by desPibing the performances. The nature of the exhibition is stated in, the following announcement: —" At 6.30 p.m. Mr. Moody will preach the Gospel, and Mr. Sankey will sing the Gospel." Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey are Americans from Chicago, and we learn from one of their organs that their visit to Scotland ■was prompted by a feeling that the churches there stood '." specially in need of th© applicatipn of those brisker, livelier, more direct modes of appeal which are characteristic of America." In the intervals of Mr. Moody's lectures, Mr. Sankey sings hymns. "Abhorring the, notion of providing a musical entertainment merely to please those who are not in the Kingdom of God," he seeks to move "by truth expressed in the most winning tones." It is also " in subserrisnee to spiritual ends that Mr. Sankey uses the harmonium." Those who are acquainted with the history of revivals will recognise in the agitation which has been carried on in Edinburgh and elsewhere a repetition, in a slightly modified form, of the ordinary type of these disorders. There are different methods of getting intoxicated, and this is one of.them. Nothing is easier than for a skilled and daring expert in revivalism to work upon the nerves and feelings of a weak, susceptible person so as to throw all the blood to the head, and bring on all the symptons of violent •xcitem«nt. One of Mr. Moody's disciples has designated him the " Lightning Minister of the Lightning j City, 1' and there can be no doubt that his ■ performance is •of a rousing kind. In ' commsn revivals mere shouting and I shrieking answers the purpose of the 1 -operators, but Mr. Moody's exercises are nf>inora artistic quality. Friends of the ""^Oyeinent, mingled with the audience, jdso lend their aid. They pounce upon any one who seems to be. moved, and pour in their exhortations ; and there are alio private rooms, to which cases of distress are conveyed. "About forty," says one account, "confessed that they wereSiew converts, and about forty stood tip, anxious to be saved, and were asked to go to the other side of the hall, where they were conversed with." A servant girl is described as weeping like an inundation. Another time Mr. Moody called severn gentlemen on the platform to tell the company how they were saved. "Most of them were wellknown men—a minister, a colonel in the army, a merchant, a sheriff, a doctor, a nobleman, and a captain in the navy. The effect was marvellous." Prayers were offered up for " an uncle who is an infidel, and the mother and children unconverted," for " a clergyman of the Church of Ireland who is imbued with Rationalistic errors."

fAt one of the meetings the experiences of ft young lady were given as part of the •ntertainment. " For an hour she sat in the greatest agony; her hands were clasped* her eyeballs looted as if they would start from their sockets." Even little . children, are worked upon —little children of eight or nine—with all the terrifying formula of the Revivalist school. A. little boy illustrated his faith by remarking that, if his sister received an offer of marriage from a very rich man who had promised she would live in a fine mansion, would she not be very foolish to refuse such an offer ? At one meeting we are told of " a dear little boy, about aine years of age, at most ten, who was crying as if his little heart would break," while a " kindly fatherly-like man" was torturing the poor child with things too deep for him to understand. .JSYIe read of a book which was . ient .to ano&ier child containing three leaTes-T-one-white, the next blood-red, the third white, indicating salvation. In Edinburgh the heat and frenzy have probably been less intense than might be supposed from the extravagant language of tn» movement. It can readily.be understood that, as one of these papers says, " hundreds of young persons who were formerly accustomed to go to the theatre, opeia, and pantomime*, gave mp|deliberatelyi and from choice and force of conviction attended^ne prayer meetings;" but the •xplanWon in a great many cases is no doubt that the prayer-meetings were found to be more amusing and stimulating. One of Mr. Moody's most "screaming hits," as they say in the pity-bills, is a mock representation of a court of law for the trial of Jesus Christ. He asks the congregation to consider itself a court of inquiry, nominates one of the ministers present to be usher and to call in the witnesses, who are then examined with Yankee freedom and jocularity by Mr. Moody. Pilate's wife is called Mrs. Pilate, and among other witnesses are the -Apostles; the angels, and the, Deity. This sort of roaring fun goes beyond anything on the stage; It is hard to say whether the treatment of religion in this t manner does 'most harm by bripgiog «%cred things into ridicule, by afflicting

some feeble minds with idle agony, or by overbalancing others with the inflation of self-righteous arrogance and conceit. There is not the faintest trace of educated intelligence or spiritual elevation in Mr. Moody's harangues. They are a mere gabble of' texts, interspersed with jzroiesquo or sensational anecdotes, and spiced with vulgar American slang. The most extraordinary feature of the agitation is that it should be connived at and patronised by the clergy of Edinburgh and other towns. It is obvious that, if Moody and Sankey are right in their mode of preaching the Gospel, and if the success of their performances is really a " great awakening " and the " Power of the Holy Gho^t, in Scotland," the ordinary services of religion must be a melancholy farce. Everybody who has been in Scotland must have been struck with the severe endurance and fortitude with which a Scotch congregation sits out not only a long and dreary sermon, but a series of prayers which are the worst sort of sermons in disguise; and it is not surprising that the Scotch laity shoul<#b*V%infcful *» * 3ltfcle re" laxation. Buttbat the ministers themselves should come forward in this manner to proclaim publicly that their whole system is a failure and waste of time, is really strange. It must be still more wonderful if, in supporting and recommending Messrs. Moody and Sankey, they do not see that they are condemning themselves. Either a great awakening is good for their flocks or it is not; if it^ is, why do they not take measures to bring it about on their own account ? If it is to be understood that it is the business of Christian churches to compete, as the British Evangelist holds,.' with "the theatre, opera, and pantomime," why is the competition leftto these American gentlemen? ' It is stated that Messrs/Moody and Sankey may shortly be expected in London, but thry will perhaps ducover that their line of business has already been pretty well worked at the Tabernacle and elsewhere.