Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-10
srcciaI Correspondence VI The Star.


NEW YORK May y. 1908.
-HE fourth great summer evangel-
istic campaign OF the combined
churches of New York has been
started on basis that insures its sue
cess as A business enterprise, no matter
what other result it may have. In fact.
il will go In emphasize further the fact
that revivalism nowadays is a business.
and can only he conducted successfully
along business lines. Philadelphia gave
evidence of this. and New York intends
to prove it.
Norfolk. Syracuse and Springfield will
he other cities TO test the plan known
now as The Kings Business and all
are busy with the preliminary work for
the real labor that is TO come later when
the evangelists themselves take the field
Il was not so many years ago that a re-
vival was considered as a purely local az
fair. something sectional in city. one
church awakening interest among those
close TO it and claiming as many converts
as possible from among its immediate
neighborhood. This type OF religious
campaign passed with the coming of those
who had made q study of present-day con-
ditions and recognized that business meth
obs must be injected into the church as
we'll as into mercantile life to secure the
greatest results in Il given time.
Neither DR.. Chapman nor DR.. Iorrey
undertake work now where there has not
been much preparatory effort. The first
meeting in this direction In New York
was held in the Metropolitan Opera House
TO give the greatest possible number an
opportunity of learning the small details
hcfore the battle gets fairly under way
Eight denominations have been enlisted
this year. men of affairs attending to
tn, business end of the siege that is to
be laid to every part of the great city.
-.
Greater stress is to be placed this year
on work for children and among business
and workingmen. The committee of 100
has arranged for intelligent cooperation
or the city missions of the several de-
nominations. more tents have been Sc
cured and many more open-air meetings
have been scheduled. At the head of the
evangelistic force will be Rev. Dr.. Arthur
a. Smith, who has worked with Moody.
Mills and Chapman. Is careful and con-
sentative and as a speaker fOrcefuf and
sympathetic From time to time he will
have the aid of DIR. Chapman, though
for the present the latter will be working
elsewhere.
1t is more than likely, however. that
DR. Chapman will be the real force back
of the movement. for he has shown much
earneGkness in discussing the things he
hopeS9o do this summer.
have become convinced he says.
that II the reign OF anarchy is to be
stopped and events like the bomb throw
ing in Union Square prevented. the
church must grasp its opportunity and
20 after these hundreds Of thousands of
unchurched. There are in this city more
than 100000 non-church Protestants
and a vast number of people who were
active church members in other towns
and cities. but have never touched foot
within a church door in New York. The
socialists and all others with destructive
propaganda find them a fertile field
The work here will not be done with
such a huge army of workers as DIR.
Chapman had enlisted under him in
Philadelphia. There will be a personal