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Messrs. Moody and Sankey.

A SERMON,

PREACHED AT ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LANGHAM

PLACE, APRIL 18, 1875, BY THE

REV. CHARLES

VOYSEY.

2 COR. X. 4., "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal."

B

Y this time, it is possible that some of us are growing weary of the names of the American Revivalists and are waiting daily for the collapse of public interest in what most Londoners looked upon as a nine days' wonder. We shall, however, be mistaken in our calculations if we reckon so superficially on this remarkable movement.

The public interest will not so soon fade because, if I am not mistaken, it has been created in the first instance by one of the most powerful influences which rule mankindthat is, by money. An immense sum of money was raised to start the revival and to guarantee a successful beginning. Immense sums of money have been rolling in ever since to keep up the excitement and the prestige which money at first secured.

I make no unworthy insinuations that some petty trade interest lies at the bottom of it; of this there is no evidence forthcoming, and time will reveal any mystery which may lurk unknown. But by whomsoever started in the first instance, the plan laid down for its accomplishment was wisely chosen and has furnished, indeed, to this age a fresh proof of the marvellous power, not of the Gospel, but of advertising. No new patent, no quack medicine ever had such a rapid and splendid success, as that which has attended the advertising of Messrs. Moody and Sankey. Further, the mode of advertising was striking and unique. It was

Rev. C. Voysey's sermons are to be obtained at St. George's Hall, every Sunday morning, or from the Author (by post), Camden House, Dulwich, S.E. Price one penny, postage a halfpenny.

not merely effected by the repetition of notices in the public journals, by huge posters, and by the distribution of handbills; but thousands of clergy and ministers and tens of thousands of religious laymen were laid under tribute for months before to herald the coming and prepare the way of these American Missionaries. Moreover, we must not lose sight of the fact that as a new patent invention, or a quack medicine owes some of its success to a real or imaginary want on the part of the public, so the success of the Revivalists is partly due to the want (felt by the religious portion of the community) of some sort of stimulus or revival both to quicken their own belief in doctrines which have been so shaken by modern scepticism, and to awaken serious thought among the masses who have never been brought under religious influences in their lives. It would be no exaggeration to say that millions have felt this want, and in their honest but blind hope of doing and receiving good, they welcomed the idea of a revival so loudly praised in America, and with one heart and soul joined not merely in raising money but in exciting attention everywhere around them, so that the moment the missionaries reached our shores, crowds of eager listeners would be ready to hear them. Outside this circle of religious people there is a still larger one composed of those whom no revival can touch, but who are delighted with anything new or rare, who always go where "everybody" goes, and whose curiosity and love of a crowd would carry them with equal alacrity to hear a sermon or to see a popular ballet. The crowds of to-day make the crowds of to-morrow, and until nearly all London has been to hear Messrs. Moody and Sankey, it is very doubtful whether the so-called excitement will abate.

Another reason of its success is that there is no charge for admission. This is a charm which few Englishmen can resist if the attraction be ever so small. And the acmé of commercial shrewdness is exhibited in this measure, forasmuch as while it removes all excuse for non-attendance, and has an air of Gospel-Freedom about it-" Come ye, buy wine and milk, without money and without price," at the same time it opens the heart-strings and purse-strings of the pious and generous and wealthy people who believe that a great work is being done in the salvation of souls.

It is more than probable that the managers of the funds receive far more after each meeting held than they could have possibly gained by payments for admission. The money

thus pouring in helps them to carry on their operations on a magnificent scale, and this is a fresh means of advertising and of dazzling the public eye which is always fascinated by

success.

That the vast crowds which assemble to hear the Revivalists are drawn thither by purely religious emotions, is not to be for one moment believed. If I may venture on a rough guess, I should say that the majority are drawn by curiosity alone, and as the numbers of those who follow up the services by a visit to the inquiring-rooms are out of all proportion to the whole congregation, it must be inferred that religious "awakening" is not very general. Nearly all of my friends have been or are going to hear them; and it can hardly be questioned that their motive is pretty much the same genuine curiosity. I went myself last week from the same motive, and partly because as a clergyman I feel it my duty to study phenomena of this kind, and to discover if possible how they are produced. It is only fair to myself to say that I went as free as possible from all prejudice, and even cultivated a recipient and candid spirit that I might catch whatever influences might be afloat, and go frankly afterwards and own it, if I had been at all touched. But impressible as I know I am to earnest preaching, and also to the sweet influences of even orthodox poetry when tenderly sung, I was utterly unmoved from first to last; and the conviction grew upon me as the service and sermon proceeded that the whole thing was, in a certain sense which I will define, a gigantic hoax.

In using this offensive epithet, I unfeignedly disclaim any unworthy imputation upon Messrs. Moody and Sankey or their supporters. I saw nothing in the preacher or singer to betray any insincerity or the least conscious duplicity. As for the singer, he sang well and his tunes were sweet and full of pathos, and there was a kind of rough simplicity in his expression that was very agreeable, in spite of an accent which reminded one, now and then, of what is known as street-singing. The preacher, too, seemed honest and earnest enough; indeed he was too little cultured to be anything else. His naturalness was striking, and were he only a mercenary adventurer, which I do not believe him to be, his gifts would hardly avail him for a week. At times he shewed some originality of thought, but more frequently of expression and metaphor; while his grammar was more original than accurate, and such as we do not meet with even in American

second-class literature.

He

Once only, I thought there was a little tendency to diplomatic preaching, and even that I afterwards set down to his own sincere but erroneous belief. told the story of a minister who could scarcely get any one to listen to him, till at length he shut himself up in his closet and prayed fervently for the Holy Spirit of God, wrestling like Jacob with Jehovah for the divine gift. He came out a new man, with a new message to his flock; and then, Mr. Moody said, crowds thronged to hear him, because he spake with power and the Holy Ghost. The inference which seemed intended to be drawn from this story was, of course, that crowds flocking to hear a preacher was a sign that the preacher was full of the Holy Ghost; and for a moment I thought that looked rather sly on Mr. Moody's part, till I remembered that very likely he does regard these large crowds as a witness to himself of his divine gifts.

I deliberately believe that if Messrs. Moody and Sankey had come to London, utterly unknown and untalked of, and had set up the identical services they now hold in some secluded chapel, or at some street corner, they would not have got more than a hundred people to hear them. I am informed, though I will not state it as a fact, that they did pay a previous visit to this country and were unsuccessful. From this point of view then, I call it a gigantic hoax. The vast crowds are not really attracted by the singer, though he sings well; nor by the preacher, though he is an honest man and is somewhat original; but they are attracted by the previous advertising, by the crowds which have preceded them, and by their natural curiosity. The audience, when I was there, was composed of people of all ranks from the highest to the lowest-no, not quite the lowest; but the poorest and least educated; though by far the greater number were persons of middle rank in life. On one side of me were two women evidently of the respectable poorer class who had bought a Hymn Book and could read. They were saying audibly to each other, how nice it would be to come there (i.e., to Her Majesty's Theatre) to see a play, and wondering what it would cost. On the other side of me were some persons of the aristocratic class freely exchanging confidences with me as to the motive which brought us there-curiosity both as to the performers and the audience. The gentleman compared the crowds who thus flock day after day to the multitude that tradition says gathered in front of Northumberland House in consequence of a bet made by a

young officer that he would gather a crowd there simply by looking up fixedly at the stone lion over the gate-way. We also wondered how many of the vast concourse then present would come again! It was of course impossible to judge of the hearts of the people merely by their demeanour. English people are always well-behaved in a place of worship and, if they have come to hear, know well how to listen. One woman was deeply impressed by the sermon and kept nodding her head, and her whole countenance betrayed religious interest in what was spoken. Her neighbour, on the contrary, was coolly writing it all down for some purpose of his own. There was not the most distant approach to excitement or hysterical emotion; and I was truly glad to be spared such an infliction as that of witnessing the grosser phenomena of a Revival meeting. If there is any soulstirring power at work it lies in the pathetic singing of the hymns by Mr. Sankey, or in the burst of sound when the congregation are called upon to join in. I cannot resist the impulse to read you one or two extracts from their Hymn Book, not for their poetical charm alone, but for the sweetness and tenderness of the sentiment.

"MARY MAGDALENE."

TO the hall of the feast came the sinful and fair,
She heard in the city that Jesus was there;
Unheeding the splendour that blazed on the board,
She silently knelt at the feet of the Lord.

The frown and the murmur went round through them all,
That one so unhallowed should tread in that hall;

And some said "the poor would be objects more meet;"

As the wealth of her perfume she poured on his feet.

She heard but the Saviour; she spoke but with sighs

She dared not look up to the heaven of His eyes;

And the hot tears gushed forth at each heave of her breast,
As her lips to His sandals were throbbingly pressed.

In the sky, after tempest, as shineth the bow,

In the glance of the sunbeam as melteth the snow.

He looked on that lost one: "Her sins were forgiven,"

And Mary went forth in the beauty of heaven.

"THE NINETY AND NINE.'

THERE were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold,

But one was out on the hills away,

Far off from the gates of gold.

Away on the mountains, wild and bare

Away from the tender Shepherd's care

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