THE WORK AT OAKLAND, CAL
By James White
Agitate! Agitate!! Agitate!!!
THE WORK AT OAKLAND, CAL.
There had been a discouragement over the minds of our tent preachers about entering large cities, owing to the difficulties in the way of arresting the attention of the people, and building up churches in these cities. It had been decided to labor with the tent the present season in small towns and villages. But the providence of God seemed to arrest the efforts in that direction, and has brought the California tent to this wealthy, proud city, which is the seat of the State University, theological, military, and many other schools. And while the transition in plans was going on, we took the ground that the advertising, and seizing every opportunity to arrest the attention of the people, must be proportionate to the difficulties in the way, and the importance of the subjects to be presented. The tent-meeting was therefore noticed in three papers daily, large posters, small bills to be scattered, bulletin boards, and in large letters on canvass at the side of the tent. These efforts have secured a good attendance. A few days only before the tent was pitched in Oakland, there was, at the house of a respectable citizen, startling physical manifestations in the line of spiritualism, which excited the whole community around as far as the San Francisco dailies reached. Eld. Cornell seized upon the opportunity to explain the phenomena, and expose Satan. He succeeded in calling the tent full on the very start. This effort succeeded in establishing the reputation of the tent-meeting in the city, so that all the daily papers have treated it with respect. They not only give notices at very reasonable rates, and speak well of the meetings; but they are almost daily giving brief articles from the pens of our preachers. This has been secured by a little foresight and active effort. Without a wide-awake, earnest effort, an extensive interest cannot be gotten up and maintained in a city like this. And we solemnly believe that we are annually losing one-half from want of earnest, prompt, liberal action, to come up and meet the people where they are in conducting our tent and camp-meetings. We have long been disgusted with that kind of careless, tardy, reckless, stingy, cheap humility that will be satisfied with conducting these meetings in a manner to impress the public that there is little or nothing to our message. The prophets of God, and the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, talked and acted in a manner to give the impression that they, at least, thought that their work was of the greatest importance of any going on under the heavens. The notice of the first meeting held in the tent at Oakland was as follows:— “THE MYSTERY SOLVED! OR THE DEVIL UNMASKED! “A candid and critical examination in the light of Reason and Revelation in a Commodious tent in Oakland on Broadway and Thirteenth Streets, Thursday and Friday evenings, April 30 and May 1.” In a day or two the following appeared in one of the dailies:— “The tent-meeting at the corner of Broadway and Thirteenth streets continues to draw large audiences, and, by special request, the managers have decided to remain at least one more week. Whatever motives induce so many candid and intelligent people to come nightly and listen to the strangers, it must be regarded as quite complimentary to the speakers. The novelty of the tent, or the prevailing desire to hear some new thing, may, in part, account for the large attendance. It was supposed that with the solving of the haunted-house mystery, the interest would subside, but it seems rather to increase than diminish. The speakers certainly ought to be gratified, and to give Oakland credit for a good degree of liberality and courtesy. Some wealthy member of their sect has offered $500 reward for one Scripture text which plainly states that the soul of man is immortal, or that men go to Heaven at death. Probably the hope of obtaining the reward will occasion the removal of dust from some of the Oakland Bibles, and the gentlemen may be called upon by some of our biblical scholars before they leave the city.” And soon the following came out:— “The interest manifested in the lectures being delivered every evening at the tent, corner of Broadway and Thirteenth streets, seems to be on the increase. Their books and tracts are being taken quite freely, and they say there is an increasing demand for Bibles. “At first, many went to the tent out of curiosity, but the peculiar style of the speakers arrested their attention, and now they are deeply interested. Their way of constantly urging upon the consideration of the hearers the Bible proof for every point, seems to be a new feature in preaching; and their enterprise is a sort of theological school!” “On Monday evening a variety of questions were asked by several persons in the audience, all of which were readily answered from the stand. It is very evident that the speakers understand their business, and are prepared for any emergency. “The presence of police officers insures the best of order, and the managers express themselves as highly pleased with the general cordiality they have met with during their stay in our city. They announce that their future lectures will be of still more thrilling interest. The company have issued a very neat little paper called “This they hand out freely to those who wish them. A general synopsis of their enterprise is given in this paper. They propose to start an eight-page weekly, entitled, ‘The Signs of the Times.’” And when the tent preachers struck the immortality theme, the Oakland Transcript gave the following:— “To the Transcript—How then? Supposing, “1. That the Bible nowhere directly states that the soul of man is immortal, is it mortal? “2. That the Bible nowhere prohibits gambling, are we to disregard our State laws because they are unscriptural? “3. That the Bible nowhere commands the observance of Sunday, are we to give up its observance and our liberal laws enforcing it? “4. That the Bible nowhere forbids polygamy (the fact that a bishop is scripturally required to have but one wife would surely intimate that other men might have two), are our laws against polygamy invalid because unscriptural? “5. That the Bible does speak of the ‘foolishness of preaching,’ is all preaching foolishness? “6. That the Bible does require us ‘not to dwell in their tents,’ are we not to go to hear the elders? “7. That the Bible does tell us that ‘the elders took counsel against Jesus,’ are we to conclude that all elders are taking counsel against the Lord and his church. H.” The above of course demanded a prompt reply, which Eld. Cornell made in these words:— “Mr. Editor: In yesterday’s Transcript we find several questions addressed to us by “H” on the soul question, prompted as we think, by an entire misapprehension of our position on that question. “We do not deny the immortality of the soul merely on the ground that it is not called immortal in the Scriptures, though we think that fact ought to have some weight when we consider how often the word soul occurs in the Bible. The phrase ‘immortal soul’ is so common in religious books and papers, and so often heard in prayers and sermons, a person would expect to find it on almost every page of the Bible; but while we find the word soul in the two Testaments 873 times, it is never once called immortal. “1. If we now have immortality, why need we seek for it, as we are told to do in Rom. 2:7? “2. If we have immortality by nature, then it does not come as a gift through Christ at the resurrection. 1 Cor. 15:54. “3. That which is immortal cannot die, but the soul of man can and does die, hence it cannot be immortal. Eze. 18:4; Ps. 89:4; 78:50. And soon the Oakland Transcript gave the following liberal statement:— “To the Transcript: With many others, I have been attending the tent-meetings on Broadway and Thirteenth streets, and must confess that the Elders there are upsetting my theology on some points which I had supposed were impregnable, and I find this to be the case with the majority who attend. Either these preachers have a very plausible way of presenting their theories, or we do not know what good evidence is, if their positions are not true. They give the Bible, chapter and verse, for everything they affirm, and back it up with testimony from eminent authors. They do not seem to shun investigation, but give liberty for questions and objections, which they readily answer. “Now, I think these men ought to be answered by some one capable of doing it; for it is not right to allow honest people to be thus deceived, if it is a deception. They not only affirm that the end of the world is at hand, but boldly deny the immortality of the soul, the conscious state of the dead, an eternal hell, etc. But they claim that the wicked will be burned up, that the dead know not anything, etc. They have offered a reward of five hundred dollars for a single Bible text plainly stating that the soul is immortal. If the whole world has not been wrong, there must be some Scripture on this point which can be found. I do not claim to be posted, but there are ministers in this city who are; and we ask them to furnish us the proof on these points. The Elders offer the use of their tent for any of the pastors of the churches of Oakland to show wherein they are wrong. By request of those attending, I write this to ask our ministers to take up these subjects in the tent and show what the Bible does teach concerning them. These are important questions, and many are becoming deeply interested in them. I hope some one will take them up in a candid manner, and so give us both sides. A Hearer. About this time, the editors of two of the dailies invited the tent preachers to give brief notices of the progress of the meetings, and items of interest, which they give in their editorial columns. Here is a brief statement:— “At the corner of Broadway and Thirteenth streets is still thronged nightly to hear the new and somewhat novel subjects dwelt upon by the earnest tent preachers. They have issued a little paper in the interest of their lectures, called The Tent Meeting, in which they give a synopsis of their enterprise and what they propose to do. It is given freely to those who wish it. We learn that they are about starting, in this city, an eight-page weekly to be devoted to their cause. They announce a subject of thrilling interest for this evening, viz., The Second Angel, or, Babylon and her Fall.” Here is another fair statement of the facts in the case:— “The Elders are still holding forth every evening in their canvass church. Evidently the interest is on the increase, as their audiences are steadily growing larger. The weather also being more pleasant of late, the people find the tent a most comfortable place for meetings. In connection with the lectures, a small paper entitled The Tent Meeting is being published and distributed gratuitously. It is designed to contain a synopsis of the matter presented in the lectures. They are also just starting, in this city, a weekly paper, The Signs of the Times. So it would seem that they hope to establish a permanent organization in Oakland. We have not heard them call for converts as yet, nor do we know that any one has openly embraced their views, though many seem deeply interested. We notice that they are selling a good many books advocating their doctrines. “They hold that the Bible does not teach the immortality of the soul, but that the righteous will obtain eternal life through Christ at the resurrection. Hence, they attach great importance to the advent and the resurrection of Christ. They hold that the wicked will not be tormented eternally, but will be burned up. They quote many passages of the Bible to prove all this. Some think that they prove it while others think differently. These are days of free thought on theological as well as scientific subjects. Old and long cherished theories are being disputed and examined in the light of modern developments. Whatever faith a man may hold, old or new, he must be prepared to defend it inch by inch. The authority of tradition, creed, or party, is growing less each year. As one extreme follows another, so, doubtless, there is danger that men may now be carried too far in their liberal ideas. No better injunction can be given than that of the apostle, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. A Listener.” And again our preachers speak to the people of Oakland in the following statements:— “In view of the increasing interest in our lectures, we find it necessary to give a brief statement of what we are doing. The inquiry is heard every day, ‘What are they doing? What is their object?’ etc. It is heard in every part of the city. It is certain, therefore, that a statement would be of general interest; for that which influences the public mind, and arrests the attention of a considerable number of people is of interest to the public, whether it be good or evil. We will therefore submit the following brief synopsis of our subjects:— “1. The Messiahship of Christ, demonstrated by prophecy. “2. Man and his attributes, his creation, fall, nature, and destiny. “3. The Reward of the Righteous—what it is, and when and where it will be realized. “4. The United States as noted in Prophecy. Its Republican form, and its unparalleled growth, and wonderful inventions, foretold. “5. The Signs of the Times—showing where we are in the world’s history. “6. Will Christ come before or after the Millennium? “7. The Dangers and Duties of our Times. “We dwell upon these subjects because they are so prominent in the Scriptures, and because they are so much neglected in the preaching of the present day. But while we earnestly warn the people of the shortness of time, we do not believe that the day, or even the year, of Christ’s second advent is revealed in the Bible. We are not, therefore, of that class that are continually setting time for the end of the world. “We expect the result of these lectures will be that many will become more interested in the Bible than ever before. The way of life and salvation through Jesus Christ, as we teach it, has converted thousands, and we confidently expect much good will result from our efforts in this city. We have already published two numbers of a little paper called The Tent Meeting, which has been circulated gratuitously. In the last number, the tent preachers offer To any person who will produce one text of Scripture plainly stating either of the following points, namely:— “1. A commandment for keeping the first day of the week holy. “2. That the first day of the week is a Sabbath day, a holy day, or a day of religious worship. “3. Giving any title of sacredness to the first day, any more than to Monday or Wednesday. “4. That the disciples of Christ ever had a religious meeting in the day time of that day. “5. That the disciples ever had more than one meeting, even in the evening of the first day. “Report to the Tent Elders.” What the result of this meeting will be, the future will fully decide. No expression has yet been taken upon the Sabbath question; but the brethren have already conversed with fifteen or twenty who have decided to keep the Sabbath. The last two evenings the tent has been occupied with temperance mass meetings which have given a good opportunity to advertise, and lead the crowd the way to the tent. A second California tent is nearly completed, and will probably be pitched in East Oakland next week.