Discrediting Religion by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jan 28, 1904

Discrediting Religion

By L. A. S.

CHRISTIANITY does not mean religious excitement or hysteria. There is with Christianity, always, as one of its chief characteristics, a “peace” which is greater than any peace which is of the world, and effectually holds in check any tendency of the mind to hysterical outbursts or unseemly exhibitions of emotion. It must have been something else than a genuine Christian revival which took place at a West Virginia town recently, if the following from a “special” to the Washington Post is a correct report:—

HUNTINGTON, W. VA., JANUARY 12.—At a protracted revival meeting, which was in session for nineteen hours, beginning at seven o’clock yesterday evening, at Mount Vernon, many women and children were prostrated from hysteria, and grave fears of insanity are entertained for several of those who were most fervent in their worship. . . . Hours passed with men, women, and children acting like wild. Repeatedly did the preacher attempt to adjourn the congregation, but without avail, although many of the audience were prostrated. When daylight dawned, the meeting was still in progress. Not until two o’clock this afternoon did the meeting adjourn, none of the audience having taken food or drink in the nineteen hours that the demonstration continued. . . . Nothing similar was ever before known in the history of the State.

And nothing similar was ever known in the history of Christian preaching. Nowhere is it recorded that any such demonstration ever attended the preaching of Jesus to the multitudes that followed him. Nowhere is it recorded that the preaching of his apostles produced any such results. On the day of Pentecost, when Peter spoke under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit, and three thousand of his hearers were converted, the record is that they were “pricked in their heart,” and inquired, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter

instructed them to repent and be baptized, and “they that gladly received his word were baptized.” They did nothing at all hysterical or not comportable with reason and soberness. The same may be said of the apostle Paul’s preaching; but a hysterical outbreak did occur at Ephesus, under the pagan influence associated with the worship of the goddess Diana. It is some other spirit than that of Christianity which gets control of people on such occasions.

There is no better safeguard against insanity than the possession of the “peace of God,” which “shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:7. Nobody ever went insane while his mind was being “kept” by the peace of God. But such occurrences as that here noted remind us that these are times when evil spirits, whose work is characterized by “intensity,” are abroad, and only those are safe who are “kept by the power of God.” L. A. S.