FIVE MONTHS' REVIVAL

Greensburg Meeting -- No Crowds -- Sermon to One Man -- Two Weeks' Sleeping on the Floor -- Arrested -- The Tide Turned -- Church Packed for Five Months -- Unwise Pastor.

Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Cor. 15:58.

     There is great need of resolute determination on the part of soul-winners. The fact is, this is a shallow age and we think we must have favorable circumstances before attempting a revival. Many evangelists can stay only ten days or two weeks at most and must have a good singer, a choir, a promise of $150.00 or more, and a nice boarding place in order to succeed.

     Is this the way nations go to war? Is this the way to take a city? Some of the greatest victories ever won have been preceded by long sieges and many privations. And shall we be less valiant for immortal souls? Oh, for more of that invincible, irresistible faith that cannot be turned down; that which refuses to recognize obstacles or inconveniences! Many a meeting has closed right on the eve of victory; and in other instances when the devil could do no better, he has compromised with a small concession of a few souls when there should have been scores of them.

     I felt led to open up a meeting at Greensburg, Pa., an old aristocratic county seat, some thirty miles from Pittsburgh. We succeeded in renting an old Covenanter Church on Main Street, which had stood idle for years. The day after I rented it another party tried to get it, but I had it for one month, with privilege of three. Another young preacher was with me and we set in to bombard the place. We found that the city officials had succeeded in keeping the Salvation Army out and now they felt indignant that we had entered.

     The first night we went up to the center of the city, opposite the courthouse, and had street service. As it was a new thing in the place, we soon had an immense crowd around us. We invited the people to the church where we anticipated a good-sized audience. Instead, three illiterate looking people came. The next night we had two, the third night one, and the fourth night none; but God had clearly sent us there and we had been diligent to call, advertise and invite the people out, hence felt it was a test of faith. One night when there was only one present, I preached until the perspiration flowed freely and the lone stranger, who was a crippled, red-headed boy, began to look this way and that, and doubtless thought, "Thou art the man." Well, he was, for later he got saved and went to preaching. He told me that the thing that took hold of him was the earnestness manifested on the preacher's part when there was no one present but himself. He thought, "If that man has such concern for my soul surely I ought to be concerned."

     Afterward, when he himself was in a series of meetings in the mountains of West Virginia, and a great snowstorm was raging, he thought he would not go, but finally did and found only five people present. His first impression was, "Just have a prayer and dismiss," but then the thought came, "If Brother S_____ had done so, I never would have been saved." So he mounted the stand, took a text and preached with all his might. The result was that two of the five came forward and were converted the same night. See the power of example!

     The first two weeks of the Greensburg meeting, no one invited us home and, not being on the popular line, where money flowed freely, we ate and slept in the church. The floor in front of the pulpit was the bed, and for pillows we turned chairs upside down and leaned up against them. Like Paul and Silas, we frequently praised God at midnight, though I confess that at the end of two weeks the floor could be very sensibly felt; and as it was in October, it was rather chilly sleeping.

     One night, during one of our street meetings, I was summoned by an officer to appear before the mayor, when the following conversation took place:.

     "You are holding meetings down in the old Covenanter Church, are you?"

     "Yes, sir."

     "Well, that is where we want you to stay and not come out on the street."

     "But we feel there is a class of people on the street who never go to church and in order to reach them we go where they are."

     "Well, we do not want you on the street, and," (speaking to the policeman) "if they come out again, arrest them."

     "Very well, we shall obey God rather than man; if He will release us we will cease, but if not, you will find us out bright and early tomorrow night."

     "I think He will release you if you tell Him the mayor said so."

     "God does not listen to mayors."

     With this I left and continued our street meeting. That night the preacher boys both prayed God to handle things and, accordingly, early the next morning the mayor, with another brother Freemason, knocked and came in tremblingly, saying, "You can have street meetings, only do not come out on Main Street this week, as it is the week of the fair."

     We continued in the church for a month, at the end of which our congregation averaged about twenty-five, and these were a new lot every night, rendering it difficult to get conviction on them. There was only one soul converted during the month.

     We felt determined to succeed hence again resorted to the street. One Saturday as we came singing up the street and approached our appointed place, the chief of police (who was a Catholic) met us ordering us to pass on. The people saw he was angry and came rushing together from all directions, until a great crowd was around us.

     Presently he took hold of my assistant, who was standing next to him, saying, "Come with me." At this I saw the crowd was agitated and, motioning with my hand, said, "Just be still a moment and we will preach to you." At this the "Chief' replied. "I want you, also." I took one step, then said "Just wait a moment; we have not had prayer," and before he had time to protest we were upon our knees. He at once let go; then it was our time and we took hold of him, holding him fast while one, then the other, prayed perhaps fifteen minutes. We told God how venders and patent medicine men could come out, crack coarse jokes, and get the people's money, and it was all right. But when two boys came along singing religious songs and trying to do good, they must be arrested. We asked God to have mercy upon the officials and lay not this sin to their charge. By this time men in our favor were "fighting-mad."

     We were taken to the mayor's office for a hearing. Men and women pressed their way to the front, while one said, "What are the charges? I will pay it, if it is $20.00." Another cried out and said, "I will pay it if it is $100.00." Still farther back one spoke, "I would not touch those boys for $1,000.00.," By this time the old mayor was getting frightened and seemed to feel as did the Scribes and Pharisees when they sought to lay hands upon Jesus, "but feared the people." We were released, went out and finished our street service.

     The daily papers took it up, and from this time people began to come, many, of course, just to see what kind of beings we were. Sometimes the churchyard was full of people one hour before service in order to get seats. The interest was so great that men climbed on the trees and windows outside, to look in, as the aisles were packed out to the street at both entrances and it was difficult to have enough room for the seekers to kneel. God was in the midst, saving, sanctifying and healing the people. The meeting continued five months.

     On one occasion a traveling man was out for a walk Sunday morning and came down by the old church. We were having altar service and a number were seeking holiness; one was praying in a loud manner, saying, "Let me die," and another was saying, "Yes, kill him out." The traveling man rushed back to his hotel, saying, "Send an officer down to that old brick building at once, for there is a big fight there." And he was right, for a number died the death to carnality. One Sabbath morning while we were preaching, a young man who had been cramped just as long as he could stand it, sprang into the air, saying, "That's the stuff," and from that time on was known as "Shouting Tommy" -- Rev. T. R. Wayne.

     We organized a class of nearly forty, built a nice church and dedicated it free of debt in nine months from the time we entered the city. It was interesting to see drunkards, harlots and one banker kneeling side by side seeking salvation. Thirty years later I arose to speak in a meeting in Harrisburg, Pa., when a nice-looking woman, who was a member of a fashionable church, began to shout, saying, "I was converted in his meeting in Greensburg, when I was but a girl." She further said, "I want to come back home," and was one of the first to form the nucleus of a new society in the capital city. It pays to enter every open door. "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters."

     There were several preachers dug out in that meeting, but from lack of proper care, the work ran down. It is very noticeable that in order to avoid a reaction after a good meeting, much depends upon the pastor who follows the revival, especially if it be conducted by an evangelist. If the pastor is out of harmony with any of the views of the former, and especially if he be unwise enough to let it be known, he will either poison the minds of the converts against their spiritual father or, in his attempt to do so, kill his own influence and then the work will be sure to run down. This is too frequently the case. However, taking all things into consideration, the results of this meeting, direct and indirect, can be computed only in eternity.

     Thorns were the fruit of the curse for man's sin. "Cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thorns and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee." Gen. 3:18. Christ bears our curse. The soldiers, to insult the Savior and despise His royalty, platted a crown of thorns and put it upon his head (Matt. 27:29).

     Triumphant Confidence

 

      "Still nigh me, O my Savior, stand,

     And guard in fierce temptation's hour;

     Hide in the hollow of Thy hand,

     Show forth in me Thy saving power:

 

     Still be Thy arms my sure defense,

     Nor earth nor hell shall pluck me thence.

      "Though in affliction's furnace tried,

     Unhurt, on snares and death I'll trend:

 

     Though sin assail, and hell, thrown wide,

     Pour all its flames upon my head:

     Like Moses' bush I'll mount the higher,

     And flourish, unconsumed in fire."