The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-04-06
EVANGELISTS.
Continued from page ID

vival has ever stirred that fashiona-
BILE district There in an organized
canvass of all the great houses.
Come to the Albert Hall revival
meetings." say the canvassers and
their circulars.
1t is practically as though the Earl
of Portsmouth Lady Wimborne and
the daughter of John Morley issued
the summons personally. 1t is really
an embarrassing position for society
people who cannot endure the excite
ment and the vulgar crowds" of re-
vival meetings.
And neither DR.. Torrey nor Mr..
Alexander spares the feelings of these
oversensitive individuals in their great
audiences. The sermons and the songs,
many of them. are levelled straight at
their pet vices. DR.. Torrey has set
! his face sternly against bridge. which
is still the favorite dissipation of the
smart set. OF the vices that dwell in
Mayfair he thunders:
Then you have your bridge dives,
! accompanied by what is called the
| bridge look and the haunted nervous
| look 1 don't think the case against
| cards is a s clear as that against dane
| ing. but cards have transformed family
drawing rooms into gambling hells
where innocent girls have been intro
| duced to disgrace
| STRENGTHENED BY ADVERSE
[ CRITICISM.
| While DR. Torrey thus denounces
| high society for its vices, Lord Kin
naird sits on the platform as presiding
| officer of the meeting. {,
| But not the whole of London soci-
| o+,- I,,- cta fn
| these denunciations. Several London
ministers have preached and sent let
! ters to the newspapers defending So
! ciety against the attacks of the Amer
lean evangelists and intimating that
| their revival is not what it purports
! to be- The Rev. DR.. Price said:
There is an Almighty revival which
| is Of God. and another, sham revival,
| a mockery, a blasphemous travesty of
the real thing
The Rev Forbes Phillips, whose
play. Church and Stage" was re-
Gently produced by Mrs. Brown Pot
ter, declares:
''AlI men of clean and healthy mind
| must be indignant at the foul utter
| ances of Mr.. Torrey on the ballroom
! and the stage. Just as there are loose
places of worship, so there are loosely
| managed theatres; but a note to the
police about the latter soon puts
| things right. Not so loose chapels.
1 am no dancer, but L like>to see peo-
pie dance, and 1 encourage it in my
parish as a healthy form of amuse-
ment. Only a dirty mind and a jaun-
diced life could imagine such things
and I should hope all sweet-minded
| women will hesitate before allowing
their daughters to attend the minis
trations of Mr.. Torrey.'
| The fact that DR. Torrey is a thor
| oughly educated and cultivated man,
a doctor of divinity and a recognized
authority on theology, causes most
! of the ortl o5ox clergymen of England
to give him at least the respect of
their silence The Evangelical Coun-
ell, too, under whose auspices the re-
| vival is conducted, is composed OF
noblemen and others whose names
have great influence.
But when it comes to Evan Roberts
the lowly born Welshman, the criti-
cism of the clergy is more emphatic
Several have declared his utterances
"blasphemous."
Nevertheless, the great revival goes
on triumphantly. The mass of the
audiences are people of the middle
and lower classes" and they regard
these attacks by conventional pastors
to the rich as so much proof that the
American evangelists are the true ser
! wants of God.