Blue-grass blade., 1907-06-09
(By c. Cohen.D


Torrey and Alexander nave been in
England.
1t was natural that their efforts
should meet with success as toa-
dying press will testify.
The truth is. after all, that the:
trip was a failure as will be under-
stood by the following from the pen
of C. Cohen in the London Free
thinker. He cays:-
Not very long ago, the religious
press was filled with accounts oil the
numerous accessions that were dairy
being made to the Christian ranks. AT
that time the Torrey-AleXander MIS-
sion was in full swing, and 1t had
been preceded by the Welsh revival
under Evan Roberts, as that had Deeh
preceded by the United Free Church
Mission and similar movements. Ana
since these missions, that were, SO u
was reported, securing souls by Vu@
thousands, leading to great spiritual
revival, etc, there have been numerous
assurances that materiaism is qulle
discredited. and that the higher spirit
ualistic philosophy has been winning
all along the line. OF course, those
who had any conception OF the Iacls
of the case took all these statements
for what they were worth, ana werH
ouite content to let Christian roman
cists get all the abstraction posSiD'
imaginative productions. Facts re-
main facts when all is said ana done
and the tendency of the age IS not
likely to be reversed by the ili-timeu
iubilations of hysterical religionis'S'
II is less than a hundred years SINCE
good book in an hour than can DE
the Catholic Church admitted the re-
yolution of the earth around the sum-
hut schoolboys knew it to be SO nearly
n couple of centuries before.
Outsiders knew all along what these
Christian captures were worth. Wmie
Messers. Torrey and Alexander were
nreaching at the Albert Hall to sparse
congregations, many of the daily pap
ers published the lie about pacKeu
audiences and crowds turned away
The same journals repeated the tales
of Torrey's converts, although one OF
two of the papers reported that TOT
rev seemed to be the only one pres
ont who could see them. he dls'
cerned them with the eye OF IalIh'
Those who know how this mission
business is run know how worthless
these statistics of conversion are
Anart from the positive lies which
hardly any of these professional ms
sioners shrink from telling, the gen
nine responses to the call Tor SOUS
comes from those who visit mission
q after mission, getting saved at each'
mucb as a confirmed drunkard wouiu
make n round of the public houses
did n system of free drinks exist
The monotony of the experiences
recounted. and the identical phrase
ologv used, are alone enough TO snow
that we are dealing with experienced
hands at the game. The net result
of which is that all these missions
are run to provide little mehta'
destination for variety of Christians
who are too mentally fabby to seek
II in other directions, and far 100
lacking in soundness of character 10
devotion the outlet of healthy vice.
Apart from this, their only junction
is to provide employment for a num-
her of specialists in revivaism'
class of men who would certainly
not he tolerated in a healthy-orgah-
lied community.
Sooner or later the Churches must
take their courage in both hands ana
face facts. and the Christian World
in n leading article on the SUBJECT
takes a gloomy view of the situation
II points out that the figures OF Yves
levan Methodist Church, showing a
decrease of 200 full members, 2'ooo
iuuior members, and over 6,OOo on
trial. are disquieting to all believers;
the more so because the Wesleyan
Church is symptomatic of the rest.
The most successful cannot Keep
pace with the growth of population
the least successful show an actual
decrease, When Freethinkers are