Practical Bible Training School - Theologue Yearbook (Johnson City, NY)

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20 He Lived For Olherf' 12,000 people, situated some forty miles east of Pittsburgh, was mightily stirred by the reports that came to him from Altoona concerning the great things the Lord was doing for that city, and his heart longed for a similar work for his own home town. After much prayer he and a fellow worker decided to spend a Sunday in Altoona to see if the reports were not exaggerated and if possible to catch some of the fire of the revival. It was toward the close of the Altoona campaign that he and L. A. Stahl visited the meetings, and as they expressed it after- ward, soon learned that the half had not been told them. They at once entered into communication with the evangelists to learn if it were possible to secure their services for a campaign in Latrobe, and upon what terms. After correspondence the way opened, and an invitation was extended to Davis and Mills to conduct a campaign in that city. The meetings were held in the skating rink which was arranged so as to accommodate over 2,000 peo- ple. At the first Sunday afternoon service, the fol- lowing communication was read by General Secretary Thomas B. Dilts: Midnight, Oct. 2, 1908. Altoona, Pa., My dear Brother: At an enormous gathering of people in the Second Presbyterian Church tonight, I was unanimously and enthusiastically authorized to send the following mes- sage: The churches of Altoona send Christian greeting to the churches of Latrobe, bespeaking for our beloved evangelists their warm-hearted, earnest co-operation and prayers, being well assured as we are that divine approbation and blessing will rest in fullest measure upon them in the saving of souls and for this we will ever pray. Henry Howard Stiles, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church It would be practically impossible to tell all the in- cidents that indicated the power of God as it was manifested in this campaign. Dance Called Off-Merchants 'Failed to Put in Appearance. Under the above head the following article ap- peared in the Latrobe Daily Bulletin, and is here given to indicate the great interest aroused by the workers in the evangelistic campaign. lThere's no use trying to have a dance while this religious revival is going on,' said Prof. R. E. lakes, the dancing teacher, late yesterday afternoon, when he called off the dance which he had announced for last evening in the Doherty Auditorium, and stated that he would discontinue his weekly dances until after the evangelistic campaign comes to an end. This means that there will be no dance in school until early in November at least. Prof. jakes stated that a number of his regular patrons had requested him to discontinue the dances during the revival, and as the attendance had been falling off very noticeably since the evangelistic meetings started, he believed the proper thing to do was to call off his dances. The effort to have a big meeting of the business men of the town for the purpose of rehabilitating the Merchants' Association, proved unavailing last evening, less than a dozen business men having as- sembled at the city hall. Consequently, the meeting had to be called off. The reason for the non-attend- ance of many merchants was to be found in the fact that they were at the evangelistic services at the rink, a number of them being in the choir, and others being in the audience. It is likely that no further effort will be made to hold a big meeting until after the evangelistic campaign has been concluded, in- asmuch as so many of the merchants are actively iden- tified with the religious movement, making them loath to miss any of the services. A prophet is not without honor except in his own country. It is the exception that proves the rule. There proved to be an exception to this rule when Davis and Mills returned to Mr. Davis' home city, Binghamton, to conduct a campaign, in 1907. The story of the inception of the Binghamton campaign is a story of the power of the Holy Spirit's work to bring about the will of God. For two years previously a few godly women.had met at different times to pray for an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the city of Binghamton. In God's own way the an- swer came. And in a article by Rev. F. O. Belden in Echoes, our Bible School paper, on the prepara- tions for the revival, he says: If I were asked to tell when preparations began for the great spiritual awakening, known to us as the Davis and Mills meetings, I should answer, 'God foreordained it before the foundation of the world.' He began to reveal it to some in the city, however, several months ago. While it was not known who would 'command the battle,' yet there were groups of praying men and women that were laying hold of God's great promises and believing that the time of refreshing from the hand of the Lord was near and He was about to 'pour water upon him that was thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.' The way the three churches, the West Pres- byterian, the Tabernacle Methodist and Main Street Baptist came to unite in this work is of special inter- est. In fact, to those to whom Christ committed the work it is sacred, because of the manifest leading, as we believe, of the Holy Spirit. Last spring two of the pastors were together attending a commence- ment at Colgate Univeristy. While they were talk- ing over their work and plans for the fall, to their great surprise it was found that the same desire and The way of the cross is the way to the crown.

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He Lived For OllJe1'J 19 crowd was now, and where Mr. Mills was leading the singing, and that he sang at that time Blest Be the Tie That Binds. He especially requested that the same song should be sung, which was done tenderly. He put his arms around Mr. Mills and thanked him. The people broke up a little after ten to hasten to their own services. The Davis and Mills mission began with the Hanson Place Church in the evening with a house filled. The large platform, the largest the church has ever had, was filled with singers. Mr. Davis filled his sermon last evening with rich personal ex- periences which showed that he had much of that power which made Gipsy Smith's sermons so effec- tive. Mr. Davis can be wonderfully tender at times and at others he makes the building ring with his voice. It is impossible to compare Mr. Davis with any other evangelist. He discards all formalities in his dead earnestness. So absorbed was the audience that probably few knew that twice he sat down in the chair, and when people thought that they had before them fully a half hour of testimony he so suddenly closed the meeting that they sat quiet a few moments before moving. He declared the service was closed and leaped from the platform all in the same moment. The sermon was on 'Soul-winning,' and was from Daniel 12:3. 'And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmamentg and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.' He declared that every man can be a soul-winner, and that he pitied the person that had never won a soul to Christ. The day following the service the letter below was received from Mr. Sankey, and is here used by spe- cial permission. 148 So. Oxford Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. Jan. 28, 1908. Messrs. Davis and Mills, Hanson Place M. E. Church, Brooklyn. Dear Brethren: I wish to thank you and your choir with all my heart for singing for me last night. It was very kind of you indeed to remember me, and I hope that we shall sing together some day in the land that is fairer than day. With best wishes for your continued success, and with kindest regards, I am, Fraternally yours, Ira D. Sankey per C.R. During the two years of his stay in Brooklyn, Evangelist Davis was mightily used of God to win hundreds of precious souls and build up the spiritual life in the following churches of the city: the Sumner Avenue Baptist, the Embury Memorial Methodist, the lanes Methodist, the Washington Avenue Baptist, the Hanson Place Baptist and the Simpson Methodist. While he was thus engaged in presenting the Glad Tidings in Brooklyn, he received a call from the pastors of the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania, where thirty evangelical churches were willing to unite in the movement. After some correspondence, Mr. Davis was so impressed with the need and the great opportunity, that he concluded, after much praying, that it was the call of God and decided on the close of the Brooklyn campagn to open the work there. Consequently one Saturday evening late in March, 1908, Mr. Davis arrived in Altoona and as he stepped from the train with some members of the committee, who had gone down the road a few miles to meet him, he was given a most cordial greeting by the 200 or more persons gathered at the station. They sang the hymns, God Will Take Care of You, and Victory Through Christ, under the leadership of singer Mills who had preceded Mr. Davis to the field. No such enthusiasm had ever been evidenced in the city before. The crowd marched through the station, out to the street, where Mr. Davis was in- troduced to the workers, and an open air service was held by a large number of the Christian workers and citizens of the city. A prayer was offered by Mr. Davis and after some remarks and the singing of a number of hymns the very atmosphere seemed charged with the spirit of the revival, and the cam- paign was on! From the opening service it was apparent that there was no building in the city adequate to hold the great crowds. So the committee decided to di- vide the city into three sections, with Davis and Mills in the center, and his co-workers Rev. William H. Pike in the second section, and Rev. Charles H. Har- rington in the third. Even this provision proved inadequate, for all three places of meeting were soon over-crowded. Therefore, the committee considered the advisability of erecting in a central location a tabernacle capable of seating at least 3,000 people. The meeting was held on a Saturday afternoon, and the contract awarded. The following Tuesday morn- ing the erection of the building began. In five days the great tabernacle was completed, the floor laid, the lights installed, the seats arranged, and every- thing was in readiness for the service on Sunday afternoon, at which 3,000 men gathered. Even this huge tabernacle was not sudicient to accommodate the crowds, and hundreds were turned away. During the closing days many would come to the afternoon service, bring their lunch and remain in the building in order to insure their securing a seat for the evening services. So great were the crowds that Evangelist Davis thought it wise to open a campaign on the south-side of the city. This was done and the meetings there were carried on with splendid results. Thomas B. Dilts, the General Secretary of the Y.M.C.A. at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a city of about 'LWe give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord jesus Christ, praying always for youf' Col. 1:21.

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He Lived For Oll2er.r 21 heart hunger was in each soul, and not only that, but in the souls of many of their people. On their return one of the pastors went to the other neigh- boring pastor only to find that God had given to him the same burden. This led to a meeting for conference and prayer by the pastors of the three churches, and from the first it was decided to ad- vise our people to unite in the early fall in a union evangelistic campaign, if we could find the right man to lead us. After a few weeks a committee .of laymen from each church was invited to join with the pastors in conference and to advise in regard to the selection of an evangelist. With the increased numbers the interest broadened and the desire to have the united work deepened. Gradually but surely we came to the conclusion that we wanted Brothers Davis, Mills and Carr, whom we so well knew and loved, to be our leaders. Therefore our brethren were invited to come with us early in Oc- tober. Believing that our invitations expressed to them the will of God, they accepted, and we com- menced to plan for the work. Besides these campaigns already mentioned, Mr. Davis labored in many other cities and towns. Some of the better known cities in which he worked dur- ing the early years of his evangelistic career are: Elmira, N. Y., Reading, Pa., Birmingham, Pa., Kal- ' bln 4, nviif, 's MR. DAVIS AT HAZLETON, PA., SEATED AS HE WAS VVHEN THE VIS- ION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A BIBLE SCHOOL CAME TO HIM amazoo, Mich., Hancock, N. Y., and at Hazleton, Pa., where he received the vision of a Bible training school, out of which grew the present Practical Bible Training School. Other cities include Clyde, Ohio, Cambridge Springs, Uniontown, Wfellsboro, Phoenix- ville, and Wyalusing, Pa., Baltimore, Md., Afton, N. Y., his boyhood home, Worcester, Sidney, Mas- sena, Oneonta, Illion, Governeur, Albany, Sherburne, Cortland, Ithaca, N. Y., and back to his home sec- tion, Lestershire and Binghamton, N. Y. He also held campaigns in New England cities and in the West. Why were the campaigns of Evangelist Davis so different from all others and why were they readily recalled many years after the evangelist had left the field? Because Evangelist Davis thoroughly believed in using all legitimate methods to God's glory. He did not propose that the children of the world should be wiser than the children of Light. Therefore, he employed the most unique methods of procedure, not only in the conducting of the services, but also in getting the attention of the crowds. His methods were different, startling and attractive. One of the methods commonly employed was his parades. In some of his parades as many as 500 horses have been used. It took two hours for some of his larger parades to pass a given point. He solicited the co- operation of the Mayor and leading officials of the town and often the Mayor of the town led the pa- rade. Some of his parades were said to have cost as much as 35,000 for a single town. He spared neither money nor effort in order to make each pa- rade a success. One of the interesting features of the parade was the white brigade, which was a company of girls whom the Evangelist had trained in military tactics. This brigade never failed to win the heartiest ap- plause from the enthusiastic on-lookers. Interest ran high-people from every walk of life offered their heartiest co-operation. Business men closed their ofiices, stores were closed, and it seemed that the central theme for the day was the great Davis and Mills parade. Every vantage point was filled with eager, enthusiastic spectators. Roofs of houses, hre escapes, windows and sidewalks were crowded with people who had come to see the sights, Many times Evangelist Davis has been criticized for conducting these parades. Many people have said that it was a waste of money and that such methods should never be employed in the service of the King. But the parades had their psycholog- ical effect. For a whole day the eyes of an entire town were focused upon the Davis and Mills evan- gelistic party, and after one of these parades Evan- gelist Davis uowned the town by the popular vote of the people themselves. The support and the en- thusiasm of the towns-people never waned at the end of a parade, but extended far into the campaign, where many hundreds, and often thousands, looked upon the crucified Christ and believed. He held meetings where no one else would ever think of holding them, The incident has been told Holding fast the faillijiul Wrivd as he liazli been Lauglic, than he may he able by .wound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayersf Titus l:9.