The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-11-04

! istsr visiting fFonsEEizabati Town. June
Pa. in that year, Slated thddt this wag the
sfirst great meeting held iii the state of
New Jersey His meauing was that,
while there had been meetings for revi-
1 val in the various towns, the meeting at
Bottle HIN was the first general meeting
for the benefit Of large section Of coun-
try. To this assemblage came people
from all over two populous counties.
Morris and Essex. Thenty-three minis
tiers We're present, an dthe venerable DR..
McWhorter, Of Newark's "Old First"
presided
DR.. McWhorter's church had expert
enced a considerable awakening in 1874,
but in 1907, during the pastorate of DIR.
Edward D. Griffen, a greA revival took
place. The death Of DIR. McWhorter, 50
long and venerated leader Of the people,
which occurred in that year, and the
fresh Impulse created by the vigorous
and evangelical spirit of DR.. Griffen,
were causes that helped to tthe revival
at this time.
These several local movements have
been instanced because they occurred in
Newar andk vicinity. They are types
Of similar movements that are going on
throughout the country
Ayout this time began to flourish the
new religious asseublages- -eampneet-
ings-which had their origin in the south.
The first one that Lorenzo Dow, the
eccentric itinerate preacher, ever attend
/ ed was on Shoulderbone Greek, Georgia,
in 1903. Campmeetings were powerful
aids to revival work, and continued to
be so until within recent years. Their
successors today are auditorium and
! summer tent meetings. Lorenzo Dow
was one who deplored the change from
field to chapel preaching, which the
/ Methodists made after Wesley's death.
IM Reviyals continued to take place for
many years during the first half Of the
nineteenth century, and another power
full force which had a share in their con
| tinuation was the temperance and total
abstinance movement. This much-needs
! ed reform went to the heart of the Amer
lean church, and because it meant saeri-
fee and self-denial it enabled and spir-
| itualized its members The first temper
ance society, by the way, was organized
in 1880, in Moreau, Saratoga County,
n. Y. This great movement lost it's
broader religious impulse and sweet vol
untariness only in recent years, when
universal compulsion was contemplated
and it became political rather than a
spiritual programme.
In passing should be mentioned the re-
vivals that followed the preaching of
Charles G. Finney ,afterward president
of Oberlin College. whose activities were
spread over large part of the States of
New York and PENNSYLVANIA. His strong
personality was a great force in this
work.
TheWar of the Rebellion brought
aboU,s new conditions, and then later new
people flowed into the country, greatly
increasing the difficulty of arousing a
common religious impulse in communi-
ties New ideals, emigration TO the west,
the increase of wealth, and the copse-
| quent intensifying of the class lines, also
added to the complexity of the pepole at
large-and as the days go on the problem
of reaching them Increases.
Dwight L. Moody arose in the midst of
these new conditions and with his COM
panion, Ira d. Sankey. began a series of
revival meetings which in earlier days
might have been a movement that would
have affected the whole people but which
under these changed conditions affected
but a part, though that part was mar
vesously large His influence is still felt
throughout America and Great Brisain.
In Newark, as in other cities, Mr..
Moody's york greatly revived and en-
couraged the churches.
Mr.. Moody was the fugleman of the
considerable army of modern evangelists
who have with greater or less fidelity
copied his methods. The work done by
this great leader was, or came near to
being, a great religious movement, bur
naturally the occasional and scattered ef-
forts Of the many who try in all sincerity
to work along his lines, while productive
Of much good. do not for obvious reasons
constitute a great movement or revival
A great general revival must arise
from a powerful central force, which can
give a common impulse to the many and
unite them in common spiritual IDEALS
Such a leading force might be person,
| a doctrine or a reform. Personality has
usually been the strongest Instrument in
| the revival. 1t has been said that the
Welsh revival was without a human
| leader, but if Evan Roberts. whose name
and portrait have now become so fa-
miliar, was not the instrument Of the,
Spirit, he was at least the proyerbial last
straw that broke Wales down before
God. s
The movement in this state under the
49, L ~