The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-08

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 town has signed an invitation for him to come.
 Describing the temptation of Christ in the. mountain, Billy Sunday says: And the Devil says to Jesus. Are you the Son of God? And when Jesus says yes the Devil comes right back at him: I'm from Missouri. you'll have to show me. Get busy with turning these rocks into bread and have a square meal Very shocking. but Billy Sud- day says 1t brings the picture to the minds of the people. And others say in his defense that Jesus was up- braided for associating wish publicans and sinners and speaking their simple languages. that St. Paul was slangy in his day. and that 1t is all right for Billy Sunday to be slangy If he does things, despite the criticism of preach CTS who complain that their churches are empty.
 Leaving aside all question of relig- ious dogma, and regardless of what one may believe. 1t must be admitted that the purpose of religious revivals Is to do good. and that great revivals have left their impress upon the history of man. Ahelard. St. Francis of Assist. wielif. Luther, Sayouarola. Whteheld, Wesley--all were revIvaIists. They did not agree as to doctrines, and the character of their missions differed widely. But they all got results. The great religious reviyals of American history have reflected the changes of social conditions with unerring faith fulness. Jonathan Edwards led the first. beginning about iI35. He was a stern man and his was the voice of one calling to conscience to awake to It's duty. Duty was the keynote of the mission but the effect was to break down narrow sectarlapism in New Eng land and to effect great reform in the habits of the people.
 Wesley has been described as the man who joined conscience to rapture. His great revival so affected the lives of the English people that the ordinary conversation of the gentle-folk of the era is now wholly unfit for ears polite. Wesiey's revival was an effort to in- duce men to be good in order that they might be happy. The Wesleyan mis- sion had its effect in America as in England. and since his days prohlgacy has been looked upon with suspicion, If not with dlsapproval.
 The "Great Revival' which started in Kentucky and Tennessee In 1799 was a revival in which the preachers brought sinners to repentance by preaching a mixed gospel of salvation and damnation,. But the damnation was the greater part and the element Ol Cdl was HiOSI pOtSuts III luC IC- vival of 1858 which swept over the northern states there was a militant element-caused by the anti-slavery agitation. Each of these revivals suc- ceeded in so far as the needs of the people of the time were recognized.
 Church going may be on the decline in the United States. as SO many preachers complain, but the evangelist still has his crowds. And If the in. luence of the church is on the wane. | then there in another ethical influence | has a prohibition sentiment in his | baliwick. He will not er-estlmate | the so-called moral wave.
 It is this moral wave" this "awak- | ening conscience, which Is so evident | in the world of politics, that the evan gelists are seeking to turn into a great religious revival. And that Is the | underlying reason why Gypsy Smith | was able to lead 15.oo0 good people of the City of Washington on a mid night march against sin"
 ''The Great Revival" Is the name | which will always belong to the re- markable uprising which originated in | Tennessee and Kentucky at the end of | the eighteenth century. The French | Revolution had profoundly affected the | people of the American frontier. There | were Jacobin societies in Nashville and | Lexington, and 1t was fashionable to | be an atheist. Churches were scofred | at. and there were no gods but horses | the population of both Kentucky and | Tennessee at that time was made up of | refugees from justice and all sorts of | men who had been forced to flee the i wrath of society in the older states.
 Tn the year 17s9 there was a remark |