Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-05-26
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
"NEED OF A REVIVAL"
The Rev. DR.. Philip s. Moxam Says That
We Require q Fresh Conviction Of the
Reality of Salvation-TOo Much Alb
sorptiOn in the Pursuit of Riches.

we n0yulT0 reSn CONVICTION Oh the
Reality of salvation-Too Much Alb
sorption in the Pursuit of Riches.
BROOKLYN, N. Yin Plymouth Church
the Rev. Philip S. Moxom, of Springfield,
Mass, preached Sunday morning. DR..
Moxonl's subject was 3"The Need Of Re-
vival." He took his text from Habakkuk
m:2: 20 Jehovah, revive Thy work in the
midst Of the years; in the midst of the
mercy" DR.. Moxom said:
In times past, when the church was in
low state Of religious vitality, the more
spiritual of the members, distressed by the
absence of vigorous life and burdened by
the condition of the multitude who were
looked upon as lost, sought revival of
religion. They sought by prayer, earnest
experience of divine grace; they sought by
communion with others Of like mind and
by mutual exhortation to increase their
zeal in the service of God; they sought by
means of pungent and powerful preaching
to arouse sluggish Christians and awaken
careless sinners.
The "protracted meeting" as it was
called, was simply a continuous series of
meetings for preaching and prayer and ex-
hortation and confession. The preacher
wrought upon the consciences of men by
| setting forth Gods claims on them and
their neglect Of duty. He wrought upon
the fears of men by denunciations of the
| imminent danger and certain and terrible
! punishment of impenitent sinners. He
| wrought upon the hearts of men by vivid
presentations of the love of God and por-
trayals of the vast self-sacrifce of the Son
OF God in making atonement for the sins
of mankind on the cross. Often, if not al
ways, much was made of the physical suf-
ferings of Christ. Much was made also of
the material pains of perdition.
An important accompaniment of the
preachers work was the work of private
visitation and appeal, and the testimony
of religious experience. Men told, with
astonishing frankness, their sins, their
| doubts and fears, their repentance, their
self-surrender and their joy and peace in
the conscious experience Of pardon. They
talked of Gods dealings with them with a
familiarity that would be shocking, were
it not, on the whole, so reverent
The result Of these combined efforts Of
ten was the awakening of a community
the meeting house was thronged with hear
ers, many became, alarmed on account OF
their sins, backsliders were filled with
compunction and reclaimed to their neg
lected fealty, the Indifferent were aroused
and convicted and brought to state Of
deep contritlon. There were numerous
conversions, and the testimony of the con
verts increased the religious fervor of be
levers and produced conviction Of sin anc
desire of salvation in other unbelievers
Considerable numbers were added to tht
church, and for time the whole commu
nifty was raised to higher level of relig
ious life, and in many instances to higher
morality.
Usually, after time, the revival wa
followed by gradual relapse into formal
ity Of religious service, GOODNESS of relig
ious temper, and indifference to the high
er claims of the church. Fever was fol
lowed by chill, until, after months O.
years, a new demand arose for ga season
of refreshing from the Lord" This inter
, mittency of religious life was character
istic feature of Protestant church life fo
many generations period covering quit
200 years. This period, extending from
the seventeenth to the nineteenth centu1
les, was marked by great crises of religion
awakening. Notable among them wer
those signalized by the names of Edwards
Wesley, Whitefeld, Summerfeld and
later, Finney and Moody.
That 'revivals Of religion" in what ma
now be called the historic sense, did grea
good cannot successfully be disputed; no
can it be denied that they also did muc
harm. On the whole, the good was in e1
cess of the harm. 'Revivals" were in az
cord with the religious ideas prevalent a
the tn time, and were a natural ma: product
|
many individual men and women wer
transformed from lives of wickedness O
| vanity to lives of virtue and unselfsh ser1
ice to their fellow men. Reverence fo
God was deepened and faith in God wa
stimulated and nourished.
theology that held supreme place in tn
churches and largely supplanted the sin
plicity of the gospel of Christ These evi
) were very great, and the effect of thel
still remains, though in diminishing d.
> gree. Among them may be noted falls
or at least, mistaken and inadequate, MI
1 tive for Christian propaganda, a mischief
atty, an unnatural and feverish piety tina
= on the one hand, became a morbid sent
4 mentalism, or, on the other, degenerate
b into Journalism not less real because ofte
it was not ritualistic.
, Wrong ideas of God and Christ and 81
and salvation and Righteousness and Il
t, hereafter were rooted so deep that the
n could be destroyed only by criticism
drastic that it has seemed to tear up fu
= damental truth of the spiritual life.
: kind of orthodoxy was established tn
5. perpetuated, If it did not create, opposite
8 between nature and providence, scieh
- and faith, the business of life and the
T. terests of the immortal soul. It produc
an artifciality of life which stimulated Sc
oOCCPCAol Iy pONA1oy3 oA1u SoFS Il =
: opportunity and scope to the bigot. Mu
Z. of the irreigion of to-day, or what is rat
q er undiscriminately called irreligion,
,e simply reaction, though often unconscio1
% from the unreality of yesterday.
- At the present time an attempt is bel
IS made to restore the revival methods
lg last century. Organizations have be
le formed the more efficiently to prosec,
. this attempt. In the nature of the ca
the attempt will fail. It will fail beca,
e it is not in accord with prevailing ideas
I'd religion-of God and man and their mutt
m relations and of human development a
- destiny. The principle of evolution
&c overthrown, not the truths, but the stru
rs I ural principles and the elaborate theory
.ir the old theology. The new biology
.s- made necessary new theology, and a n
- theology is already diffused in the atm
ss phere of the common thought.
II But I psak of this attempt now no.
ne criticise it; would rather welcome it i
contained any promise of real good.
speak of it particularly because it indica
and emphasizes growing feeling that
in is not right with the church and society
12i day, and the deepening surmise, if it
not yet generally a conviction, that we
in great need of true revival of religion
No one can justly criticise the pres
ay life of our country without recognizing