Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-12-05
THE MODERN MANIA FOR MEETINGS
BY BISHOP w. A. CANDLE


English-speaking nations have been
holding ali sorts of conferences. convenz
tons, and assemblies, in which the
lamount of talking done was quite out OF
proportion to the sum of good accom-
lpllshed. These meetings may have had
an inspiratlonal value which can not be
accurately stated in definite terms; but
lcertainly their visible results have not
seemed to justify the expenditure of
time, energy and money which has been
bestowed upon them: and in their recent
years many wise and good men have ex-
lpressed privately doubts as to whether
these gatherings have been worth all
THAT they have cost.
4 Such doubts. privately expressed.
are now finding public utterance of the
most emphatic hind, IN very influential
Quarters.
/ Recently that very ably conducted
periodical, The British Weekly Of Lon
ldon, has called attention to the reac-
ton which has set in against these ever
recurring meetings. with their vast QUE
put of pious talk and fervid declama-
ton. The Editor goes on to say, For
twenty-five years at least the whole
drift has been turned, congresses, con-
| ferences public meetings, motor-car
Ipreachings, wandsrings through the
VIII ole earth. Floods Of oratory have
lpaSSeO over the CnuTCu > SIOuhN, anu
what has been the result? They have
left 1t largely barren"
The London Inquirer. agrees with The
British Weekly, and says that meetings
have been multiplied until they threaten
to become a WEAKNESS to the flesh, and
laffirms that they are attended only by
small fraction Of the religious world.
which has a taste for this particular
kind of excitement"
The words of the Inquirer point to
the source from which fondness for
these over-done meetings springs; they
arise from "a taste for this particular
kind OF excitement" and they are
part Of that pernicious sensationalism
upon which certain class Of men have
been relying for achieving religious re-
| suits for some time past. These spec
/ tacular gatherings and pulpit serisa-
tionalism Tin both peripatetic. evangel-
lsts and some others also) have had
their day together. for they were born
together from a common parentage.
| They proceed on an essentially UNI
seriptural principle, viz that christians
are made by overwhelming the sensuous
in men by appeals to the senses rather
| than by bringing men into obedience
| to Christ by the appeals of gospel truth
/ to their hearts and consciences. On such
a basis they were bound to bring to
/ pass, sooner or later, a reaction against
| themselves; for it Is of the nature or
sensationalism to become more sensa-
tional every day In order to please the
Initiated taste to which 1t plays. going
| from bad to worse, until 1t reaches
point at which 1t can go no further
without becoming utterly repulsive and
can not turn backward without losing
the interest Of its patrons. Thomas
| Carlyle supplies a figure to express the
case, in that of dog with a tin can
tied to his tail, who finally reaches
speed at which he can go no faster and
will be frightened to death If he does
not move more rapidly. 1t is noticeable
that as the years have passed since
these excessive meetings have been in
vogue, the speakers who have been most
popuar with them. have been men most
given to making utterances more start
ling than useful-utterances which have
In some cases been nothing short of
reckless. II would not be stating the
case too strongly to affirm that many
of these meetings have fallen to the
level of neutrality-suspicious. for exciting
the jaded nerves of men whose religious
life was rooted In nothing deeper than
their nervous systems.
Such methods did not, and in the
nature Of the case could not. nourish
genuine spiritual energy, nor private
worthy religious activity They produce
commissions, which are succeeded quick
ly by collapse This Inevitable conse-
ouence the editorial of the British
Weekly points out, and explains these
words: There is a dangerous alterna-
tive to inaction and action. That alter
native is speech. If we are not very
much mistaken, this Is how the passivlty
of the age expresses itself. Men and
women do not exactly say, We can do
nothing, and 1t is vain to try Nor do
they say, we will do our little best,
and leave the rest to God and man.
what they say or at least what large
numbers say, Is we shall hold con-
ference and discuss the matter thor
oughly. This is salve to the con-
science, and 1t is not disagreeable to
apply it. we will arrange series of
| huge meetings, and get this eloquent
man and that eloquent man to address
them, and then when the talk ends we
shall feel more comfortable, because
something must come of the talk. We
are afraid that very, very little comes
of the talk in the vast majority OF
| instances"
In all this the British Weekly is emf
nently correct Very little. If anything.
comes of the talk. at least little or
| shat xvaa nrofes<xpdlv aimed at comes