Gipsy Smith Obtains Two Thousand Converts.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18011, 23 November 1926, Page 6

Gipsy Smith Obtains Two Thousand Converts.

ATTACKS CHURCHES WHICH ALLOW JAZZ MUSIC IN THEIR HALLS

“ Don't look round at -what other people are doing. Close your eyes and tell God why you have risen. And you who are sitting, tell God that you are good enough and don’t want to be any better.” said Gipsy Smith as about two thousand people rose as converts in the King Edward Barracks last night. Very few remained sitting. It was the critical moment of the service, said the missioner. During his address, he criticised strongly those churches w-hich allowed “ jazz music, whist drives, semi-dramatic performances, and other ungodly things,” in their halls. He urged a return to family prayer, and a willingness to follow Christ in deed as well as in word.

All were deeply moved at the missioner’s words, and not a few eyes were filled with tears. In an atmosphere of religious fervor the converts sang several times a verse of the hymn, “I need Thee, O, T Need Thee,” ushers meanwhile handing round cards for signature. These in hand, the penitents joined in the singing of “ When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” And above the vast congregation, smiling and joyful, stood Gipsy Smith. “ Jesus says there will be joy in Heaven over a sinner that repenteth,” said the missioner. “ There will be joy in Heaven to-night. The happiest moment of my life is when I am accepting the decision cards of young people who have accepted Christ. “ I want to remind you that this is the most beautiful thing you have done in your lives, to give yourselves to Jesus. Do you (there was a scornful challenge in his voice) do you think that I did wrong in giving myself to Christ? Do you?” A voice: It was the best thing you did in your life. • Praise the Lord. The following decisions were signed on the cards: —For those who had never before accepted Christ: “ Believing Jesus Christ to be the only Saviour for sinners: I do here and now accept Him as mv Lord and Saviour, and promise by His grace to love and follow Him. For those who re-dedicated themselves: “I humbly and penitently confess my unfaithfulness as a church member, and desire to re-dedicate myself to my God and my church, and this I do for Jesus' sake.” “NOW, SING UP!" “ And how are the choir?” asked the missioner smilingly at the beginning of the service, after having offered up a silent prayer. “ Are we downhearted?” After some prompting, those referred to replied in an emphatic negative. “ Sing, sing,” he urged, when the congregational assistance in the choruses was not voluminous. “ Sing. If you invited me to lunch —if you did—and I ate nothing, but only sniffed, you would-feel uncomfortable. Well, that’s what you do in church, you just sniff, and make the parson feel uncomfortable. But he suffers in silence. When I suffer. I suffer out loud. Come on, sing up.” The congregation responded. Thanks to the Press for the publicity and sympathy it had given to the mission was accompanied by a characteristic touch of humour. The missioner said that the Bible recounted that a certain man could not get near Christ because of the press—but the Press of New Zealand was not like that. It offered no obstruction. Gipsy Smith preached a stirring address from St Matthew, xvi., 21 and following verses. The passage recounted Christ’s telling of His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the leaders and chief priests and scribes, of Christ’s rebuke of Peter when he said these things must not be, and of Christ's words that “ if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Ale.” Christ did not speak of hard treatment at the hands of the reputed evildoers. said the missioner, but from those in high places. When Jesus had said “Follow Me,” He haji meant something stupendous, something bigger than most people dreamed. He had meant His followers to be scorned for llim, to die for Him, if necessary'. Following Christ was more than having a name on a church register or on a church pew. It meant being a representative of Christ here in Christchurch. Religion was not creed; it was not denominationalism; it was contact with God and the living of a life of good and the being in constant fellowship with Him. walking in the light, above the world of sin. “Is your church a praying church?” he demanded. “I do not speak about its culture. Prayer is a lost art in the Church of Jesus Christ now as—(To a few ushers at the side of the platform*: Please don’t move about. It’s rude. It is not good to move about in a service. It is irreverent, and I cannot stand it. (To the congregation) : Am I not right?” There was general assent.

formances, and other sxich ungodly things. But family prayer—l am not the finished article of your schools; Ji am not the finished product of yjour universities. Jesus found my gipsy father, who prayed twice a day* that his children might be given to God, and he had his answer. Don't pose as such a monstrosity as a Christian if you do not pray. If my visit to Christchurch would bring back the family altar in nominally*-Christian homes, then Christchurch would be revolutionised. “My father lived to over ninety* >*ears of age. and yet I never gave him a back answer Gipsy* parents bring up their children. Some children bring up their parents now.” The gipsy missioner said that he had carried his Bible round with him when he was a little gipsy* boy* selling his wares. He had often gone into the fields, stretched himself on the earth, and prayed over his open Bible. That it might have been upside down did not matter, for he could not read then, but he prayed God to flood his soul with the spirit of the Book. His uncle had asked him how came the holes in the knees of his trousers, and the boy had replied that they were caused partly by his kneeling and praying for his uncle. His relative had thereupon learned to pray also. “JAZZ ON SUNDAYS” “Take the case of a churchgoer: She went to church on Sunday morning and took Communion; entertained people with jazz music in the afternoon. He went to church in the morning, and played golf or tennis in the afternoon. Tell me, is that true? Am I slandering anyone?” There was a chorus in the negative. “I will tell you people as New Zealanders, if you are going to keep up as a nation y*ou will have to tighten vour grip on the Lord’s Day. (Ilea*, hear.) Parents are creating scepticism in the minds of their children by* lacking in faith. What does y*our religion cost >*ou? What does your church membership cost you? When have you denied yourself?” Gipsy’ recounted .several deeds of quiet heroism on the battlefields of the Great War, and in private life. One of them concerned nine soldiers who were ly’ing wounded in a shell hole. One feebly asked the speaker for water. A bdttleful was obtained, the nine men were served, but there was just as much water in the bottle at the. end as at the beginning. Each wounded man had left the water for his mates. “Oh, men and women.” exclaimed Gipsy*, “when I tell these things I am ashamed of myself for not being a better man. Those men followed Christ in practice. I hope I have made you also feel that you want to be better men and women ? ” Voices: Yes. “Then stand up all tho.se who will accept Christ. Don’t stand because others are doing so. Don’t look round to see what other people a.e doing. Close y*our eyes and talk to God. Tell Him why* you have risen. And those sitting down, vtell God that y*ou are good enough, and don't want to be any* better. This is the critical moment of the service, and if you are in touch with the Lord you will want to get a little closer to Him. and not move about. Let us sing: ‘I Need Thee, O I Need Thee.’ Everyone hold the cards and don’t sign until I tell you about them. I .want you to know what y r ou are doing. It is beautiful to see you do it. Commit yourselves. You have voted for your politics and your amusements. 1 want to remind you that this is the most beautiful thing you have done in y*our lives, and you will have to do as I did, tell others about it. It is the happiest moment in my* life when I am accepting cards from young people. Now let those who have signed join in another verse before the Benediction." FURTHER MEETINGS.

To-night at 7.30 a united service will be held in the King Edward Barracks, when the Com!.. rc. l Choir will sing under the h ,> , Mr Y. C. Peters, and tl . pianist, Mr E. E. Young, will play sacred music. On Thursday* there will be a service for young people, and on Friday Gipsy* Smith will give a talk on “Three and a Half Years with the Boy*s in France.”

” That’s right. I knew you would be with me. There is a lack of prayer In the churches. They have plenty of culture and money—but prayer! They open their halls to all sorts of frivolities. I would rather break stones on the road than be the pastor who would permit in the church halls jazz music, whist drives, semi-dramatic per-