THE RECENT REVIVALS

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 21, 1859

THE RECENT REVIVALS.

Most of our readers are probably well aware of the application we make of the term Babylon to the confused and corrupt Christianity of the present day. The popular religious bodies herein included, we understand met with a moral fall by their rejection of the great truth designed especially for these last days; namely, the coming and kingdom of our Redeemer. This change was announced by the second angel of Rev. xiv, as he uttered the solemn proclamation, Babylon is fallen! Believing them to be in this fallen condition from such a cause, we know of course that they cannot recover from that condition, until they first repent of the steps that led them to it—until they grieve for their past neglect, and walk up to the abundant light that now shines forth from the word of God. Nothing of this kind have they done; and yet they claim that a wonderful revival has taken place among them, a wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of God been realized in their very midst. We have therefore watched this movement with great interest, to note its progress, and more especially, its results; for by their fruits ye shall know them. We have no disposition to judge them except from their own testimony. Abundant testimony of this kind concerning their spiritual barrenness and moral destitution they furnished us between the year 1844 and the commencement of the recent supposed work of grace. But that testimony will not avail now; for should we bring it up they would meet us with the declaration that that is no evidence that they are fallen, because they have recently enjoyed a refreshing from the presence of the Lord. To convict them now then we must have testimony which bears date subsequent to these recent revivals. Very well. The prospect is that testimony of this kind will not be lacking. We have already laid before our readers some very startling disclosures when considered as a work of grace! They will recollect the statement that the chief conductor of "The Way of Life," (a paper originated under revival influence) who was withal one of the leading men on the committee on devotional meetings, was arrested and imprisoned on a charge of fraud in conducting said paper. They will remember that the committee ran the association into debt, the settlement of which gave rise to some very exciting meetings; and that services that were supposed to be gratuitous turned out to claim exorbitant remuneration. They will remember the statement of the Boston Congregationalist, that the revived piety of our churches was not such that from its mere existence could be inferred legitimate fruits; and its admission that the charge of Theodore Parker that a score of such revivals would never close a dram shop or liberate a slave, had some truth. They will also remember the statement of the Watchman and Reflector, that there had never been among the Baptists so lamentable a spread of church dissension as prevails at present; and that most of these alienations had their origin in the very midst of the recent awakening! We always had the impression, somehow, that a genuine work of the Spirit of God tended to love and union, instead of dissensions and alienation.

When the reader has treasured up all these facts, we have some more of the same nature for him to read, digest, and lay up in mind. We take them from the N. Y. Independent. From the testimony it will appear that reports of religious interest are not always altogether reliable, and that the excitement has in a great measure been carried on by "fictitious narratives," "sensation style," "old stories of twenty years' standing revamped and made as good as new," and "exaggerated and highly colored statements of itinerant story-tellers," &c.

It seems that some of its readers made inquiry of the Independent why it did not give reports, like other journals, of the religious interest in New York, to which that journal replies:

"With regard to this city in particular, we have taken pains to inquire of pastors in various denominations, at intervals during the winter, concerning the state of religion in their churches; and the invariable answer has been that they know of no facts in their own churches or in their several denominations, which would warrant the impression given by some newspapers that there is now in New York a general and powerful revival, such as was enjoyed in this city a year ago. We mourn that such is the fact; but surely it would not make it otherwise, to report it otherwise. In some of the mission-schools and churches of the city, and occasionally in other churches, there have been during the winter marked evidences of a work of grace. But in the churches generally, we are sorry to say that such is not the fact. The daily concourse of persons at the Fulton-st. prayer-meeting—which is largely attended by strangers—is no indication of a general religious awakening in the community or of a revival in the churches. Other Union prayer-meetings in New York and Brooklyn have greatly flagged, or have been wholly abandoned. We have refrained from stating these facts, lest we might even seem to ignore or disparage a real work of grace. But now that we are accused of doing this very thing, we must frankly say to our brethren in the country that we do not give them such reports as are given by some journals of a great revival in New York, because after repeated and diligent inquiry we do not find evidence of a general revival in the city.

"But why not report the incidents of the Fulton-st. prayer-meeting, and thus furnish materials of interest for prayer-meetings all over the land? With respect to remarkable incidents of divine grace as matters of newspaper report, we take it for granted that our readers will insist upon two things; first that they must be reliable, and secondly that they must be proper to be reported to the public.

"Does a village prayer-meeting desire to be stirred by fictitious narratives, or by stories which no person would consent to have published concerning himself? Let it be understood that your prayer-meeting is to be reported in the village newspaper; and how soon will Mr. Talkative, and Mr. Sympathetic, and Mr. Excitable, and Mr. Exaggeration, monopolize the sacred hour. If some humble convert should tell the story of his sins and sorrows in the ear of Christian confidence, and find it repeated with emphasis and embellishment in the newspaper, who of that class would again trust himself to speak in a Christian assembly? Consider the inevitable effect of newspaper notoriety upon the tone of any prayer-meeting. The evil of this is provided against, as far as possible, in the management of the Fulton-st. meeting, which is in wise and safe hands. The three-minute rule is a severe check upon Mr. Talkative. But that the stories told at that meeting are not to be taken without abatement we know from more than one instance. The following 'thrilling incident' has gone the rounds of the newspapers, and has doubtless been used with effect in many prayer-meetings:

"The Last Sheaf Gathered.—A gentleman related in Fulton-st., on Monday, the conversion of an aged sinner of eighty-five years. He had spent a long life in extensive business, and, with his pious wife, had reared four daughters, all of whom had united with their mother in the vows of God, and in years of faithful and persevering prayer for the stony-hearted husband and father, until three of the number had been successively called home to heaven, leaving him still hardened. Three sons had been liberally educated with the wealth of the father, and brought into the school of Christ through the fidelity of the mother, and two of them into the ministry. Still the head of that redeemed family remained an alien and a spiritual outcast from the eternal portion of his own household, and drew nearer the grave, with every hope for his son fading and closing in darkness of human view. The trial of faith was of the deepest; yet they still prayed on, and faithfully warned and besought him. At length, in the past winter, it pleased God to relieve the long, dark, and weary watch of these praying ones with a break of day. The old man was brought to his senses by the Holy Spirit, saw himself a perishing sinner, and with decrepit and trembling steps repaired to his wife's pastor to ask what he must do to be saved. When he felt that had found a Savior, and all was ready for his public confession of Christ, the aged frame of her who had been sustained to bring about, instrumentally, and to behold with joy this blessed consummation of her prayers, gave way, and she sank, in twenty-four hours, into her last sleep, saying, 'Lord, now lettest thou servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation.' At the last communion of that church, the frail survivor kneeled alone at the altar, supported by one of his sons, and, as he turned away with tears coursing down the furrows of his face, he exclaimed, How wonderful! I have lived eighty-five years, and never tasted peace till now."

"Upon this narrative the editor of The American Presbyterian makes the following comments:

"The father of the principal editor of this paper is eighty-five years of age, and though he has for twenty years indulged a hope and manifested great respect for, and interest in, the subject of religion, he never had connected himself with the visible church till the first Sabbath in January last. Some weeks before, of his own free will and accord, he went to his pastor and made known his desire to connect himself with the church, and took the requisite steps to accomplish this duty. It is true that in the providence of God, our aged mother, who has been a member of the Orthodox Congregational Church much longer than we can remember, died suddenly in the interim between the examination or propounding and the act of reception into the church.

"These facts, however, had no possible relation to each other as cause and effect, though as providential circumstances they had peculiar interest to the family. Some kind friend, who may by chance have heard these incidents, has seen fit to relate them, together with certain other statements of family history that are only partially true; and three of the New York religious papers have published the remarkable case, with colorings, exaggerations, and misstatements of the facts, which are offensive to propriety and revolting to all proper views of truth and religion. The man who related the case, no doubt intended to give all the essential particulars correctly, and yet in such a manner as to tell with good effect. We do not believe he will be willing to hold himself responsible for the detailed statements. Indeed each of the three reports that we have noticed differs materially from the others, which shows that the arrangement and dramatic effect of these remarkable incidents were given by the skillful and wide awake reporters of the enterprising press at New York city."

"Compare this simple statement of the case, as given by a son of that 'aged sinner of eighty-five years,' with a dramatic sketch of 'the last sheaf gathered,' and how evident it is that the Fulton-st. meeting was imposed upon, not intentionally, but really, and that the sympathies of thousands of readers of religious journals have been wasted over the fiction of 'The Last Sheaf Gathered.' The same tone of exaggeration—doubtless unconscious and unintentional on the part of the narrators—pervades many of the narratives which go forth weekly from the Fulton-st. prayer-meeting.

The Oberlin Review, which cannot be suspected of a want of sympathy with revivals and revival narratives, thus remarks upon the style of Dr. Prime's volume on The Power of Prayer:

"We are constrained to remark, however, that, while the style and spirit of the body of the book is good, there are too many specimens of the sensation manner of newspaper paragraphs to suit our ideas of what a record of the recent gracious visitation should be. The three or four first chapters are very objectionable to good taste from the jerky character of the sentences and the intensely intensified use of italics and pious epithets and ejaculations."

This 'sensation manner' is a necessary result of

the practice of reporting through the press the free utterances of the prayer-meeting. An illustration of this 'sensation' style which must shock every sober and pious mind, is given in the following advertisement in The N. Y. Tribune:

"The daily prayer-meetings at the John-st. church from 12 to 1, and from 3½ to 4½ o'clock, have the greatest attraction to the truly devotional, the Holy Spirit's influence in the conversion of sinners, and building up of saints. Send in your requests if you cannot come yourself. Direct JOHN-ST. PRAYER MEETING."

The American Presbyterian notes an additional fact which is here in place:

"We have observed that the same stories with variations have been repeated at Sansom-st., Fulton-st., and Old South chapel; and in some cases, stories of twenty years' standing have been revamped and made as good as new. This evil, which is to an extent unavoidable, is increased by this newspaper publicity. This pompous display and love of notoriety have done much to grieve the Spirit and retard the influence of these precious means of grace. We can excuse impulsive expressions and even exaggerations made in the fervor of religious feeling and interest; the prayer meeting is too serious and solemn a place for the exercise of the functions of the critic; and for the same reason we feel that it is no place for the newspaper reporter. Sincere christian brethren, who do not worship God to be seen and heard of men, ought to be protected against that unwarrantable liberty of publishing their prayers and exhortations in the corners of the streets and to the world in general. We protest against making these union prayer-meetings an arena for public display, or even a temptation for a vain-glorious exhibition of a natural love of notoriety."

"There is another fact to be considered. Propriety forbids that the affairs of families should be laid promiscuously before the public. Yet this is often done with a view to magnify the grace of God, when it serves rather to gratify a prurient curiosity. Not long ago we copied from another journal a narrative of the death scene of one who was represented as a violent opposer of the gospel. The story was so printed that the party referred to could be easily identified. His surviving family, deeply grieved at this use of his name, sent a remonstrance to the religious press against the exaggeration and perversion of facts, which, in the best view of them, could only be painful to a highly respectable circle of friends. Let every reader make that case his own. We conclude with the remonstrance of The Am. Presbyterian against this form of abuse:

"We remonstrate against the practice of reporting exaggerated and highly-colored statements of itinerant story-tellers, who may be both strangers to the reporter and the audience, and thus improperly scandalizing some inoffensive family by perverted statements, and relating of incidents of personal history, with which the public have no right to intermeddle. The instinctive love of the marvelous seems to make a well-told story relish, and the fact that it is to appear in half a dozen prominent religious papers has its influence both upon the relater and the reporter."