The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-06-03
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
NEED OF A REVIVAL"
rbe Rev. Or. Philip s. Moxam Says That
We Require Fresh Conviction of rbe
Reality of Salvation-ToO Much ABB
5orptlOn In the Pursuit. of Riches.

Sorptl0n In the Pursuit of Riches.
BROOKLYN, n. Yin Plymouth Church
| the Rev. Philip S. Moxom, of Springfield,
Mass, preached Sunday morning. Dr.
Moxom's subject was The Need of a Re
viva!." He took his text from HabakkuG
| ll:2: 20 Jehovah, revive Thy work in the
midst of the years; in the midst Of the
| years make it known; in wrath remember
mercy" DIR. Moxom said:
! In times past, when the church was in a
low state of religious vitality, the more
| spiritual OF the members, distressed by the
I absence of vigorous life and burdened by
the condition of the multitude VINO were
looked upon as lost, sought revival of
religion. They sought by prayer, earnest
and long continued, to deepen their own
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 continuous series of
meetings for preaching and prayer and eX
hortatlon and confession. The preacher
wrought upon the consciences of men by
setting forth Coos claims on them and
their neglect of duty. He wrought upon
the fears of men by denunciatons CT 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-sacrifice 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-
ferngs of Christ. Much was made also OF
the material pains of perdition.
&c +ho
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
selfsurrender 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
1t 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
conjunction and reclaimed to their neg
lected fealty, the Indifferent were aroused
and convicted and brought to a state of
deep contrtion. There were numerous
conversions, and the testimony of.the-eon-
verts increased the religious fervor of be-
levers and produced conviction of sin and
desire Of salvation in other unbelievers.
Considerable numbers were added to the
church, and for a time the whole commu-
nifty was raised to higher level of relig-
lous life, and IN many instances to higher
morality.
Usually, after time, the revival was
followed by gradual relapse into formal
ty OF religious service, GOODNESS of relip-
GUS temper, and indifference to the high
'r claims of the church. Fever was fol-
owed by chill, until, after months or
ears, new demand arose for "a season
II refreshing from the Lord" This inter
nlttency OF religious life was character
lstlc feature of Protestant church life for
many generatlons-a period covering quite
2oO years. This period, extending from
the seventeenth to the nineteenth centur-
les, was marked by great crises of religious
awakening. Notable among them were
those signalized by the names of Edwards,
later, Finney and Moody
That "revivals of religion" in what NAV
now be called the historic sense, did great
good cannot successfully be disputed nor
can it be denied that they also did much
harm, On the whole, the good was in ex-
cess of the harm. "Revivals" were in ac-
cord with the religious ideas prevalent at
the time, and were a natural product of
those ideas. During their hectic existence
transformed from lives of wickedness or
vanity to lives of virtue and unselfsh serv-
ice to their fellow men. Reverence for
God was .deepened and faith in God was
stimulated. and nourished.
The evils were incident to the mistaken
theology that held supreme place in the
churches. and largely supplanted the sim
were very great, and the effect of them
still remains. though in diminishing de-
gree. Among them may be noted false,
or at least, mistaken and inadequate, mo-
tive for Christian propaganda, mischiev-
Gus separation between religion and NOR
atty, an unnatural and feverish piety that,
on the one hand, became a morbid senti-
mentallsm, or, on the other, degenerated
into Journalism not less real because often
1t was not rtualistic.
Wrong ideas of God and Christ and sin
and salvation and Righteousness and the
hereafter were rooted so deep that they
could be destroyed only by criticism SO
drastic that it >has seemed to tear up fun
damental truth of the spiritual life. A
KIND OF orthodoxy was established that
perpetuated, if it did not create, opposition
between nature and providence, science
and faith, the business of life and the in.
terests OF the immortal soul. 1t produced
an artlhcality OF life which stimulated self. |
deception and hypocrisy, and gave great
opportunity and scope to the bigot. Much |
OF the irreligion of to-day, or what is rath- |
er undiscriminately called irreligion. is
simply, reaction, though often unconscious. |
from the unreality of yesterday.
AT the present time an attempt is being
MADE to restore the revival methods of |
last century. Organizations have been |
formed the more efficiently to prosecute |
this attempt. In the nature of the case
the attempt will fail. 1t will fail because |
1t Is not in accord with prevailing ideas of |
religion--of God and man and their mutual |
relations and of human development and |
destiny. The principle of evolution has