Chapter VIII
Persistent in Evangelism
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I. Baptists Must Evangelize With their insistence upon individualism and their demand for a regenerated church membership, the Baptist people are wholly dependent upon evangelism for their existence and growth. State churches and denominations which practice infant baptism may exist and even prosper without giving special attention to evangelistic effort. Some such denominations frankly declare their indifference and even their opposition to special soul-winning efforts. Manifestly, Baptists are bound by the very genius of their faith to seek the salvation of the lost. Believing as they do in the competency of Jesus to save, and the competency of the soul to seek or reject the great salvation, they are under peculiar and binding obligation to seek to bring the lost to surrender to the seeking Saviour.
Among the Baptist people there are no conscripts. Each one is a volunteer. Whenever the Baptist people cease to win new converts, they begin to perish from the face of the earth. The Baptist people can only hope to live as they evangelize. That they have been persistent in this duty must be obvious when we recall that at the close of the War of the Revolution they numbered only about 100,000; they now number above nine millions. During these years they have led to Christ and to the baptismal waters men and women into the tens of millions.
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II. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, All, Evangelized In 1639, the First Baptist church in Providence was organized with a dozen members. When the colonies declared their independence in 1776, the number of Baptists had grown to nearly 100,000. Those early days of repression and persecution were not favorable to religious growth, and the increase of the Baptist people is the best possible tribute to their persistence in winning the lost to love and trust the Saviour. Under the conditions of larger freedom, which came with independence and the establishment of a free government, the Baptists multiplied with a rapidity which was truly wonderful. Their growth was, and still is, due almost wholly to their evangelism, since unlike many other denominations they have drawn few recruits from among the immigrants coming to the country.
The Methodist church in the United States came into separate existence in 1784, although previous to that time the followers of John Wesley, later to comprise the Methodist Church, had attained considerable numbers and wielded an extended influence. From their earliest beginnings the Methodists were imbued with great zeal for the lost; they grew out of a blessed revival, and they sought to perpetuate and spread revival fires. The Presbyterians likewise were forward in evangelistic effort, although their reluctance to employ as ministers any but trained and educated men in that day of wide-spread prejudice against the educated hirelings of the established churches handicapped them in their efforts to reach the people. In the face of vast need and dense darkness, the Methodists and Presbyterians joined hands with the Baptists, and all went afield with a zeal which has rarely been equaled and perhaps never excelled.
That there was in those early days sharp denominational competition is not to be denied. Controversies and debates, which sometimes became acrimonious, were indulged. There was decided sparring for advantage in
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newly-developed sections and in newly-founded towns. That the competitions and controversies of those early days have been unduly magnified, there can be little doubt. That they fell out rather to the furtherance of the gospel is absolutely certain. Those were stern and rugged times, when men believed strongly and even passionately. Broad culture, liberal views, large Christian courtesy to those who held differing views were hardly to be expected.
III. Evangelism was the Preacher's Business Evangelism was considered the prime business, the especial high calling, of every preacher. In season and out of season the ministers sought to bring the gospel blessing to the lost. When the preacher stopped over-night, enjoying the hospitality of the home, he sought to win the children and the domestic servants to an acceptance of the Saviour. He would keenly watch the boy who led his horse away to the feeding place, and who would later bring back the horse to the door. Somehow he would find opportunity, after the fatherly fashion of the time, to lay his hand on the boy's shoulder and say a word to him about his need of the Saviour. At the inevitable family altar, when all the family would gather, the preacher would be sure, probably with tears, to exhort and plead for an immediate acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Few were the sermons preached which did not close with a fervent invitation to come to Christ.
IV. Picture of Public Service It is not difficult to reproduce the services which were common among the early settlers. The little house in the open clearing was used both for church and school; the inevitable cemetery was hard by. The first family arriving, probably on horseback, opened the house and planted a candle at some convenient place. The next family likewise brought its candle, until presently the house was comfortably filled and reasonably well-lighted.
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The old preacher went to the platform with sober and stately step. He took out his glasses and carefully cleaned them, since at best perhaps he could see none too well. He announced a hymn, let us say, "Rock of Ages," and looking toward the ceiling, no, there was no ceiling; looking heavenward, he "lifted" the tune in solemn fashion. His discourse dealt much with his own experiences, with incidents which had come under his observation, with warnings concerning death and the judgment to come. Whether the sermon was regular or irregular, long or short, it concluded as a matter of course with an urgent plea and a loving invitation to accept and confess Jesus as Saviour. Since all classes attended the preaching services, there were always those present who were without Christ.
There were usually the stated annual seasons of revival effort, when it was possible to secure the services of a minister. These revival efforts came in the light of the moon, usually late in the summer when the crops were "laid by" and all could go to the meetings. For days and often weeks before, effort was made to have all things in readiness, and when the time came for "the big meeting" the old and the young along with all the farm hands gave themselves up largely to attendance upon the preaching. It was often the case that the people heard more preaching during a single meeting than they would otherwise hear during the whole year. There has been some tendency to speak lightly of those annual harvest seasons, and it has sometimes been said that no one was expected to get religion except "during the light moon in August." It may be long before the world will find a better plan for reviving the community and winning the lost than those same "big meetings" which the fathers held and which brought with them such refreshings from on high. That was the agency, at any rate, which more than any other made the Baptist people what they are today. It was no less blessed and effective among the Methodists, the Presbyterians, and other denominations.
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V. Picture of Camp-meeting The camp-meeting came early, and was an evangelizing agency of no mean value. Many sections have claimed the honor of originating the camp-meeting. Really the conception must have grown up naturally and simultaneously in different sections. When there were no meeting houses large enough to accommodate more than a very meager number, when there were not enough preachers for each community to have its own meeting, when religion was a chief concern of most families, nothing could be more natural than that some central place should become the rendezvous, the rallying point, for a great revival effort. A description of one camp-meeting will be suggestive of the essential marks of all. Thomas Flint describes such a meeting in East Tennessee as follows: Suppose the scene to be, where the most frequent camp meetings have been, during the past two years, in one of the beautiful and fertile valleys among the mountains of Tennessee. On the appointed day, coaches, chaises, wagons, carts, people on horseback, and multitudes traveling from a distance on foot, wagons with provisions, mattresses, tents, and arrangements for the stay of a week, are seen hurrying from every point toward the central spot. It is in the midst of a grove of those beautiful and lofty trees natural to the valleys of Tennessee, in its deepest verdure, and beside a spring branch, for the requisite supply of water.The line of tents is pitched; and the religious city grows up in a few hours under the trees, beside the stream. Lamps are hung in lines among the branches; and the effect of their glare upon the surrounding forest is as of magic. By this time the moon, for they take thought to appoint the meeting at the proper time of the moon, begins to show its disk above the dark summits of the mountains, and a few stars are seen glimmering through the intervals of the branches. The whole constitutes a temple worthy of the grandeur of God. An old man, in a dress of the quaintest simplicity,
[p. 85]ascends a platform, wipes the dust from his spectacles, and in a voice of suppressed emotion, gives out the hymn of which the whole assembled multitude can recite the words, - and an air in which every voice can join. We should deem poorly of the heart that would not thrill, as the song is heard like the 'sound of many waters,' echoing from among the hills and mountains. The hoary orator tells of God, of eternity, a judgment to come, and all that is impressive beyond. He speaks of his experiences; his toils and travels, his persecutions and welcomes, and how many he has seen in hope, in peace and triumph, gathered to their fathers; and when he speaks of the short space which remains to him, his only regret is, that he can no more proclaim, in the silence of death, the mercies of his crucified Redeemer.1Mr. Flint tells further of the effects of these camp-meetings: Notwithstanding all that has been said in derision, of these spectacles, so common in these regions, it cannot be denied, that the influence, on the whole, is salutary, and the general bearing upon the great interests of the community, good. The gambling and drinking shops are deserted; and the people that used to congregate there, now go to the religious meetings.VI. Special Revivals While there was perennial evangelism running from year to year and extending on through the years, there were, as we would naturally expect, certain special seasons when widespread revivals would seem to cover the whole country. Some of them were notable; we mention some of the more important.
1. The Great Awakening "The Great Awakening" swept the whole country for many years, roughly we may say from 1734 to 1750, though the power of the revival continued to be felt for
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1 History of the Baptists, Christian, page 305.
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a long time. There was a background of dearth and darkness. The state churches, with their tax-supported ministers and their bitter persecution of the Baptists and other dissenters, had brought religion down to a low ebb. Vital godliness was rare, and genuine evangelism was hardly known. The awakening, which was destined to make itself felt in every part of the land and which under the Wesleys and Whitefield was to find its counter-part across the ocean in England, began in 1734 under the powerful preaching of Jonathan Edwards. Rarely in all the history of Christianity has the gospel been preached with such cogency, and with such urgent and effective pleas for men to escape the wrath to come, as marked the revival ministry of Edwards in his pastorate in Northampton, Massachusetts. Some idea may be gained of his vividness and fervor from the following extract from his great sermon, "The Sinner in the Hands of An Angry God.""The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow for one moment from being drunk with your blood. . . . "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked. . . . "You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you have ever done, nothing that you can do to induce God to spare you one moment."The revival which swept Northampton spread rapidly throughout New England. Under the Tennents, father and sons, Presbyterian preachers about Philadelphia, similar revival fires were speedily burning in the Middle
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Colonies. Whitefield, coming from England to Georgia in 1737, threw himself with great vigor into the revival movement. He preached all the way from Georgia to the northernmost settlements with a fiery energy and zeal which have commanded admiration ever since.
Seldom has a revival of such thorough-going power, of such wonder-working results, blessed any land. New churches were organized, whole communities were transformed, the spiritual life of the whole country was quickened, and that within the short space of a few years. So deep a movement among simple, primitive frontier people whose dominant interest always was religion, could but be accompanied by excesses and extravagances. Men of certain types, shallow in their own experiences, naturally inclined to play much on the emotions of the people and to seek to develop to the utmost emotional expressions, wrought much harm. Men of better poise and larger vision, however, saw the peril, and guided the general movement along safer and more fruitful lines.
This revival did not begin among the Baptists, but the Baptists made large and important gains through its influence. They were themselves refreshed and led to higher spiritual heights. They also made considerable gains from among other people, whole churches in many instances coming over to the Baptist faith. For example, Mr. Moulton, pastor of the Baptist Church at Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as is related by Dr. A. H. Newman, baptized thirteen members of a new separate church, including one deacon. Shortly after, the pastor, Rev. John Blunt, along with most of the members followed, and in a few months the pastor had baptized nearly one hundred new members.
After "The Great Awakening," a half century passed before there was another general widespread revival movement. The intense agitations which preceded and led up to the War of the Revolution, and the inevitable lowering of moral and spiritual tone which followed, all tended to divert the people from a serious consideration
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of religious concerns. During the War and in the years following, the alliance of the people with France opened the way for the introduction of the freethought and skepticism which was so terribly blighting the French people. The leaders of thought in America were heavily tinctured with the infidelity of the French, and atheism and skepticism seemed to permeate in some measure the masses of the people.
2. The Revival oj the Later Years of the Eighteenth Century In the last years of the eighteenth century (1790-1802), however, a revival wave spread over the country, and its tremendous influence and appeal continued long after 1800, reaching every part of the land. It was in connection with this revival that certain physical and psychical phenomena arose, which have ever since been in some measure a puzzle and mystery to physicians, psychologists and religious teachers. In many sections the people coming under the power of the revival were strangely and violently affected, both mentally and physically.
No satisfactory explanation has yet been given of these widespread developments. Certain it is that the apparent excesses and extremes to which the revival led did much to discredit revivals as such. Thoughtful observers and students are agreed that, in spite of harmful excesses, the revival on the whole brought immeasurable blessings, led vast numbers to a genuine acceptance of Christ as Lord and Saviour, and lifted the people to a higher plane, both morally and spiritually.
3. The Finney Revival In the years following 1825 another revival, which reached with its influence the whole country, was led chiefly by Charles G. Finney in the New England states. Mr. Finney seems to have been the first to introduce the custom of calling for some kind of separation of sinners, to the end that prayer and special instruction might be
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given them. Thus they were designated as "seekers" or "inquirers" or "mourners," and thus came the historic "mourners' bench."
4. The Civil War Revivals The year 1857 was again marked by a revival of wide influence and power. It is said that in that year no less than 500,000 people confessed faith in Christ. The revival fires continued to burn in spite of the terrible experiences of the Civil War, resulting in the remarkable revivals conducted by the chaplains, in the armies both of the North and the South. In these armies, soldiers into the many thousands were converted; the camps often echoed with gospel sermons and songs. The men often went into battle like the soldiers of Cromwell, singing some great hymn.
5. The Moody Revivals During the last fifty years religious effort seems to have moved on a more steady plane, and instead of special wide revivals to be followed by periods of dearth and stagnation, we have had persistent and perennial revivalism. The revival movement led by Dwight L. Moody was in its direct and indirect influence far-reaching in power. God has raised up, and continues to raise up, revivalists who gather and bless the people in great numbers. Best of all, the pastor has become his own evangelist, while laymen and women in increasing numbers are seeking day by day and week by week to win the lost.
The Sunday school has become a chief and commanding evangelizing agency, while the Baptist Training Union offers invaluable training in the fine art of personal soul-winning.
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Teaching Suggestions Question-Answer Study
How can the growth of American Baptists be accounted for? Tell something of the evangelism and the evangelistic efforts which marked the Baptists in the early American days. Discuss "The Great Awakening." Tell something of the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. Tell of the revival under Charles G. Finney. In what ways has evangelism in the last fifty years differed from the evangelism of the century preceding? Blackboard-Outline Discussion
I. Baptists Must Evangelize II. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, All, Evangelized III. Evangelism Was the Preacher's Business IV. Picture of Public Service V. Picture of the Camp-Meeting VI. Special Revivals 1. "The Great Awakening" 2. The revival of the later years of the eighteenth century 3. The Finney revival 4. The Civil War revivals 5. The Moody revivals ============ [From P. E. Burroughs, The Baptist People, SSB of SBC, 1934. This document provided by Pastor Tom Byrd. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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