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The meeting is a blur of amaze ment in my memory . . . Among these thousands of eager peo ple, the Spirit of God Himself was the real Leader —- as He must be in every true revival.
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WHEN GOD SAVED THE BREWEf [Continued from Page 122]
light of that Town Hall meeting, and that I wanted time to ponder the is sues that lay closest to my heart. Troubled by Three Questions My thoughts that night formed themselves into a triangular pattern in which my own activities, my absent brother Jim, and my future were the focal points. I thought: Here I am— just out of Newington College, with a good job in my fa ther’s employ, and with other offers crowding in on me. College days had been fun. The school was privately operated and for boys only, providing an excellent education for students- who would apply themselves, but of fering little in the way of compulsion. I majored in athletics and not much else, and had the time of my life playing on the football and cricket teams. Examinations never bothered me, for at crucial times I would sug gest to Father adroitly: “Wouldn’t it be nice to send a case of whiskey to Professor So-and-so?” Father; unsuspecting, would gra ciously comply. But more than once he said tp me, “I don’t see how you get such good grades in college when you paurder the King’s English at home.” Moreover, the jobg I held were in teresting to me. As a solicitor for my father’s business, I was brought in contact with influential men, some of whom were engaged in a vast sheep raising enterprise, and I cuifsfcerefi seriously the taking of a government claim myself. At the same time, news-
sands of people—their bright faces contrasted against the gray dignity of the building’s ornate walls. They were singing: “When I fear my faith w ill fail, Christ w ill hold me fast; When the tempter would prevail, He can hold me fast.” “ Sing it!” The leader shouted. It was a trumpet call, and it thrilled the ranks. The whole meeting continued in the same tone: vital, spontaneous, pleas urable. I enjoyed every moment of i t Not a word of the sermon can I recall,' in spite of the fact that I listened with rapt interest. In fact, though a num ber of years intervened between the Sydney campaigns of Torrey in 1902 and of Chapman in 1909, in my re membrance of each man’s sermons there is a complete commingling. And this is not surprising when it is point ed out that in each of these cam paigns, and in a subsequent one, the dynamic and lovable Alexander and Harkness directed the music, and the meetings in each instance were held, in the Town Hall. What- impressed me most was that God was in those meetings. Certainly at no time did it enter my thoughts that, in the plan of God, I would some day be the pastor of the church that. Torrey founded in Los Angples. When the benediction was pro nounced, it -was easy for me to slip out quickly, for I was near the door. “ I’ll walk part way home, just for the exercise,” I concluded. Not even to mysell would I admit that my ideas of success were changing, in the
people talking, of overflow, meetings being held .simultaneously in four or five neighborhood churches, and I thought: the attraction, then, is not entirely in the meh from Amer ica, else, why would peoplé crowd into churches where not even a glimpse of the evangelists was prom ised? Little did I apprehend then that the Spirit of God Himself was thè real Leader—as He must be, in every true revival—and that it made little difference through what human personality He spoke. Just as I became aware that I had spent a ; considerable time in this disappointed multitude, -and that it was too late to get to the theater- as I had planned, the huge company, within the. Town Hall began to sing. Waves of triumphant gladnèss broke one upon another. ' The music held me. I had heard the same.kind of singing-during the earlier Torrey campaign; but I, was older now, and the impression was stronger. . " I’m coming here tomorrow night,” I told myself, “ and I’ll get a seat!” How I managed it, I do not know, but,I did arrive there on the following evening in time tp squeeze -into a bal cony entrance just before the doors were closed and no more people were admitted. Two -steps at a time, I bounded up the stairs and settled into a seat in the last and highest row. The "meeting is a blur of amazement in my memory. I think I was more impressed by the vastness of the audi ence and by its reaction than by the leadership. Here were people—thou
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