The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 26, 1899, Page 25

PAGES 25 vo 82 FOCOCHTOT o o fos Rega L )0 [ PEOPLE dor't want and the atonement, and others away. a lifetime, and it is as when I started owt. o3 fed fed o o =3 bad fed o =3 o [ pald o o b= el o o o pe ni ¥ I should live a hundred vears, ves, a t I could mot fulfill gements T am implored and yet some of our that the work g; that it that the by a When I I cannot tell d be folly to son of revival me I should other p B8ix mc d some of d for me, and 1 much lor You may, if you please, Introduce Into form of so-called re- You d find peo- h it and to swear by n all countri < of thing has gone on for centuri at do we find when an evan- I will tell you what we find. We find e bigger demand than ever for the r old gospel, and this demand is ac increased bec there this principle matters as Since the fir thelr poral. evangelists were the number has There never were less Th also grows, they b i any nov of to-day be re- membeted, or has any writer of the past nturfes been remem- bered, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John I do not th s0 Neither do I think any intelligent per- ntradict me. How long do John Wesley and Whitfield mbered? They will be re- r every con- n forgotten. of son will ¢ you th will be r temporary Wr There have been tir when the strength of tianity upon the people ha course. O say that “we are all playthings in the hands of the fates wwe all lie at the feet of the strong god, Circumstance,” a half truth, the potent factor of the expre omitte al laws. In our social re re placed, and our activ: wything in life are those ird the purposes first fo a irpose is a tool of the fates, ¥ DUACUVOV LD VLAV OVOVITOON jS' e %07‘ ZQ’ 597‘ owl}zy flC’Z‘ Z ér .? ‘ Q./C"J} Says Svangelist Ifoody, IHnad Fe Gells of the either want the best or none at all. the srand old truths of hell, heaven. repentance tian yearns for more of this kind of theo'osy.® T believe these doctrines clear throwsh to my back- bone, and I always ardue that when a church shows signs of decay it is becawse the pastor is departing from the good old way and is diving his flock little sugar-coated doses of relidion to suit each individual taste, and finally they be- come disswusted with the treatm>nt and drop off. Let a redhot evangelist set into that church and if it would hold in a citylike San Francisco 10,000 people yow would still have to turn That has been. my experience for afcReRoRoRoFoRaFoFogoRoRagageFeFaRaFaRugeFugegeFeaFaRaFeFoFogaRaF ] PEORG SAN FRANCISCO, INDAY, MARCH 26, 1899. a fancy rebigion. They I believe in I find that every Chris- true to-day as it was DOVHVI OO GV VUV VOOV OACAOGROT This has been n the believers alled Christians at Antioch. at certain perfods n countries the tyrant and the publicly proclaimed tian existed’ within , but what was the 1 each case? No £00 was a false boast made than the Christians rallled and increased more than ever and proved the falsity of such statements. This century now nearing its close has been one of the most marvelous in regard to the work of evangelists. This has been in reality an evangelical cen- tury. You could begin ninety-nine years ago and easily recall a-long list of men and women who have moved the world because of their allegiance to the truth the old gospel. People don’t want a fancy religi They efther want the be all. I belleve in the grand old truths of hell, heaven, repentance and the atonement, and I find that every Chris- tian yearns for a ot theology. I believe doctrines clear through to my backbone, and I argue that when a church igns of decay. it Is because the r is departing from the good old way and is giving hi ek little sugar- coated dos to suit each individual ly they come disgus e treatment and drop off. Let a redhot evangelist get into that church and if it wou hold in a city like San Francisco 10,000 people you would still have to turn oOthers away. That has been my experience for a life- time, and it is as true to-day as it was when I started out. There is no such thing as localism to these truths. The world over peo- ple want the real th whether it be in religion o else. You can talk all you lik the excellent finish, beautiful engraving and clear ring of a cou rfeit coin, but I haven't met the man vet who would not prefer the genu article even if its face bore the evidence of having been well rubbed. And it ma s no difference whether he be an American or an Eng- lishman, a Canadian or a Frenchman, or a Hin one of them like counter- feits. I have been for forty years spreading the seed of Christianity all over the globe, and I have never yet conducted a revival whe there were not genuine conversions, Perhaps no other single ma has such a unique mail a; v time I return to my headquarters in Chicago. There is a small library of bound pet tions there from a dczen countries offer_ *#o%0Q or that is simply to human will being On the negative side of life we are all creatures of physiological tions we are affected by the soclety in ies are conditicned by our opportuni- this we know, and we know, too, that the men who have accom- who have used circumstances as a lever- ed in their own mind. and sometimes the man with a purpose A man without his eyes open. may be so unless Hemmed power of the fates s the life of man. For all this we must r t the human will is one of the fates and must take its § with the others. In my own life such success as T have had has come from bringing my will to bear on the conditions I found around me whatever they might 11 manner of them my version of t T Moody th nt. irticularly attrac- tive about h What they want is the same old genuine article, and when Moody goes to his Maker you will find there will be a dozen others ready to drop into his shoes and carry forward the work just the same as I supp I took it up where somebody else l¢ off. * Now, just look at my mail of to-day. Here is a letter from Denver, remind- ing me to g and give old gospel. It isn't There is nott pducemen 3 1 ing me that six months ago I promised, to visit them and I haven’t been there vet. Neither do I know when I will Dwight I. Moody as He 4 ppears on-the Platform. Sketched from life. e2go in a little English town I heard him for the first a wrinkle or two he is the same earnest evangelist. Mr. Moody does not change. time, and barring a few more gray hairs and poss with him long before being impressed with two facts: the other, that he considers it his duty to lead hfs fellow beings into the same belief. Mr. Both' are desperately in" earmest: ¥ No one talks what he say: Moody somewhat resembles General Booth. t there, I fix the time. Here is another lette OC”L‘OC”Z‘OC‘OOOOOOUQOQGOOGQOOOQDQ1:‘*:‘0\‘)0806C‘t‘fiODC:OOO00000000000000‘?‘0‘3’00O go, of course, go any- here if T live long enough, but I can't ton from Scotland, as pe To see M hear Prof. Twenty-five vea Not a bit of it. vner lead the choir? 1t Is simply a repe- tition' of the argument that they want St to hear the same old gospel preached on the same lines as were followed by bl m Lord Over- to let ncthing prevent, my going thére as soon othe ble. . He tells me of the dreds of churches and the thousands of Christians that have signed a petition réquesting mie tovisit the land of Burns, and what is it all for? Jody? Dr T Not by any mear hun- [eR R R R ReR TR FuR-R-F-R-F=FR=R=FaF=F=F-F=2=F=1c3 the Savier on the mount, and by the evangelists that he sent out. reque: dare not think what I shall find. To* ¢! a new cycle. difference. One, that the man sincerely believes r invitation with 15,831 from Australia making the same and it is a fair sample of the When I get back to Chicago I You people of- California have much to be thankful for. You are doing well Public interest in and the result from angelical work comes around in cy- California has just commenced on Of course, you may not notice it as I do.. I have not been in this e for ten years,’ and I can see the There is a wonderful Im- provement, and it has stretched into the e R R R R R R AR Rk R RNk -T-F-F=F-R-B-F-R-F-F-F-F-F-R-F-F-F-I-Fok-F-F-F-F-F-F-F=F-F-3-3-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-3-F-F=F-F-F-F=F=-F=F=-F-F=F-F=F=F=3-F=-3=F-2=F - =S = L 31 >8=8-3-8 3 R -5 S Rng-Ro =R Erl oo R R R R fed fed f=3 : Jlorious Orcumphs of o , : Christiandy Durs s Chreotiandy uring : L =3 o : the Last Century. k= %QGfiQOQDOQQQQQDOOQOGC‘C‘fiUC‘QUfiUQCQC‘.QQ“ during the past few days even the Pope has advised the whole Christian world to read the Bible every day. In Chicago I have my Bible institute most remote corners of the State. Tam happy to see that it has not been con- fined to the town, b there are little halls and barns and gospel wagons and traveling evangelists s each one doing its part faithfull This is as it should b The spreading Christianity should not be spasmodic. It should be permanecat and thorough, and when a man takes it up he should make it as compl his business to obey his Divine Maste command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every crea a gnan considers it his business to serve faithfully his emplo . who pays him his salary in dollars and cents. California has 2d vastly in a religious way since my st visit, and 1 can see the change very plainly. I have just taken a flying trip over Southern California and am delighted and astonished at the marked increase of interest in religious affairs, and at the spread of good work everywhere. The religious tone of the State seem to be far ahead of what it has eve been before. All the same plac have been reached and the grand work of evangelization is being organized, and in organization lies the secret of suc- cess. Ten years ago California’s Christians paid little attention to the unhappy beings within her jails and prisons. But now this work is a special branch and is being attended to tematically with splendid results. Another gratifying feature is that there are now two hundred gospel wa- gons. Just think of it. An average of nearly four to every county in, the State going over the highw and into the little heard of townships and doing work hitherto neglected. I am told that in some townships this gospel wa- gon work has been so thorough that not a single inhabitant has been missed by the evangelists, and in every instance there are conversions. Does this look as if the work of the evangelists was passing? Among the ministers of California revival work is more popular than ever. On my present trip I have seen more unity of action than on the four previous ones, and investigation proves that the resul of revivals are for the greater part lasting. I shall remain in California but a few weeks more. and while here I am moving around too quickly to be able to obtain an idea of what the results may be. But I am just as confident as ever that in the future my mail will bring me proofs of the good results accomplished. Is the old evangelical religion becom- ing stale and is the Bible less popular than it ever was? I should say not. I have been asked that question scores of times. Not long since a member of the staff of the New York Sun asked me that question. ‘We had a discussion in the Sun edi- torial room and it was remarked that the Bible was getting out of date and that the people were reading Sunday newspapers. One of the editors sent me out to investigate, and I found that more Bibles had been sold in New York in the last three years than ever before. Why? In one department store in Philadelphia they are selling tons of Bibles. “Thé old book is not worn qut yet; let me tell you that more Bibles have been sold In the last eight years than in the preceding 1300 years. If I read the papers aright, CrardxoRd: as mpro PLOXOAPXONOAPARPXORD and in connection with it I have a iarge Bible class, with a.membership of be- tween 6000 and 7000. There are 1100 stu- dents nd from sixty to seventy pro- fessors in the faculty, and do you know, I pay more to a man who can teach the Bible than to any one who can teach Greek or Latin. I have no sympathy with modern ministers, who believe in a part of the Bible. It is a calamity for any child of God to begin to pick the word of God to pieces. When a man is filled with the spirit he gets along pretty well with the Bible. When he commences to be- come “intellectual” he never knows. where he will end. He begins by ying, “I believe some of the word of God, but I don’t believe it all. I don’'t believe in some of those stories of the Old Testament, the story of Lot's wife, Jonah and the whale, and the feeding of the children of Israel with manna and quail in the desert.” When a Christian talks that way and wiser than the son of God he had stter get out of the pulpit. Christ set the seal ~¢ his approval upon almost everything in the Old Testament that men cavil about. He connected the ,ry of Jonah with his own resurrec- tion. When a man begins to cavil at the story of Jonah in a few months he in to doubt the resurrection of . Then his hold on the people :lax; they will become lukewarm nd @ soon a3 an evangelist comes along they will swarm to hear him tell of the good old doctrine of hell and heaven. . As ‘the nineteenth century closes I can look back and rejoice over the pro- gress that Christianity has made in that time. It has steadily” gone on an@ on in every country where it has been carried, and it has been carried into many new countries since the birth of this century. All the great inventions of this cen- tury have helped the cause of Chris- tianity. Th. speedy means of trans- tation, whether by steam or elec- , have all been made use of by are carrying on the work of evangelists. It is a lie to say that infidelity is in- creasing. There are probably more ts to-day than th@re were, but ere are infinitely more Christians in proportion. The researc of science and the marvelo discoveries of the nineteenth century have materially aided in the support of the truths, principles and histo of Christianity, and although every means have been taken by those ‘who would distort the word of God to make it appear that these discoveries substantiate their position, they have invariably failed. It ‘is the easi st thing in the world to te: It is the hardest thing to build d the best proof of the sta- bility of a structure is the amount of and persistence required to tear it down. Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus Christ completed. the structure of Chris- tianity. Since that time every evil- minded person and the strength of kings has been used to tear it down, but without effect. And to-day that structure stands upon a firmer foun- dation than when the keystone of its arch was placed on Calvary hillside. And yet some of our critics tell us that Christianity is stale; that the Bible is worn out, and that the work of the evangelist is passing. Pshaw! ————— “Gonsider -he bilies.” “As lilies grow, grow thou,” My Father said. I knelt, and whispering, “How?" I bowed my head. r down. w Across the vibrant sky His answer swept, “Rise, soul, arise, And wherefore hast thou erept! “Through time and life, Through balmiest breath Of peace, through stormiest strife, Past icy death, “Reach thou with heart aglow To Heayen and Me, For thus-the lilies grow,” So answered He. ice Katherine Fallows, Harper's Ba- COLONEL W. R. SMEDBERG ON FATE. creed which makes of us all mere puppets and holds out no incentive to strive for higher and better things than which come to us without effort. Concerning ourselves and our rela- tion to this world, no .living person knows or can know more than two things: We have come into it, and we are destined to go out of it. We can believe anything we choose, but we can know only thi My belief is that our lives are ruled by Providence, but that our own efforts assist very materially in determining oun successes or our failures. Nobody can faile to realize thdt there is some wonderful creative power, and I believe that that power I DO not belleve at all in the fatalist keeps charge of us, though we are al- lowed to “work out our own salvation,” both materially and spiritually. I don’t think it was fate that decreed that, out of a group of twenty mounted men, I should be the only one mangled by a bursting shell. I am very sure if a certain person had not called to me and made me pull up my horse in or- der to listen to him that shell would not have hit me at all. It was not fate —it was merely an accident of battle. In great things I believe the Power beyond us guides us. In the smaller things of life I think we are left te use our own brains, and therefore are to a great degree personally responsi- ble for the tenor of our own lives.