The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-10-21
REVEALS.

The Ministerial Union ulSCuo0SN
vivals yesterday and left itself and the
public somewhat in doubt as to how
such awakenings of religious spirit can
he brought to pass. One speaker SAID
that by drawing nigh to God, Goa
would draw nigh to them; view which
is scriptural but which does not meet
ali the injuries raised. The speaker
did not say how general movement
OF the kind could be started. To get
people TO do anything in the mass there
must be powerful impetus, moving
cause and when this is had, the rest
comes of itself. The point is not so
much what God will do when the people
go to Him but how to get the people to
start To solve that question Is to reach
the secret of revival movements
One of the ministers of the Union
made the shrewd remark that much de-
ponds on the state of the community.
He might have said "alP' depends. The
history of revivals shows that when
the people are ready, the revival comes
like effect from cause; but when they
are not ready the voice of the evangel-
list is simply one crying in the wilder
ness. That is the reason why the con-
certed effort to mark the beginning of
the century with a national revival
failed There was no demand in 1901
for a vast religious awakening and the
evangelical ministers appealed for it in
vain.
One of the most powerful incentives
Of the revival spirit is decline in
worldly prosperity. When people are
rich and contented this world is good
enough for them and they do not feel
the need of preparing for another. The
Great Awakening of 1857 was due to the
commercial panic of that year. When
the foundations of trade tottered. when
men came home at night beggared,
when it seemed as if nothing but Provi-
dence could avert the financial doom
of multitudes, then men in common fear
drew nigh to Cod They could not
help themselves and so they tried to
was very human spectacle and not
altogether an edifying one; but in 1t the
ministers found their opportunity and
a bankrupt people their hope. Churches
were filled with men from the boards
of trade; but alas! when prosperity
came back the pews lost what the
boards regained They did not lose all,
but they lost much, and the revival
came to an end.
The next awakening occurred after
the panic of 1873 and continued, inter-
confidence in 1879. The revival was not
so widespread as the former one and
it was finally merged into the Murphy
movement. Its close was coincident
with the return Of that cheerful optirn-
ism which always comes with good
times and full pockets. Since then
there has been no general awakening
of the religious spirit and in the mean
time the foundations of evangelical
faith itself have been Slapped and mined
by the higher criticism. The documen-
tary authority on which Christian the
slogy rests is discredited even by theo-
logical authority. The Bible has been
made "a literature of human compost
ton and open to human criticism. The
temporal rather than the spiritual well
fare of society is the end to which fash
iondble current religious activity Is di-
rected; philanthropy supersedes re-
ligion. The church has become largely
a social institution. appealing to tastes
that are rather aesthetic than religious.
Still the instinct to turn to God when
self-help fails remains deeply and per-
manently imbedded in human nature,
Let any crisis come to Hawaii-any
crisis which twinges the pocket-nerve
of each inhabitant-and the ministers
will have no time to attend Union con-
ferences but will be busted, each in his
own pulpit, in throwing out the life
lines OF hope and faith to souls that are
sinking in the quicksands of fear.
-----@----