The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, April 1885Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Philosophy
The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, April 1885
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
He will reach the Mission first, as he approaches this strange
conjunction of stars; Jerry said he wanted the Lord to have the first
chance at a sinner when he could.
The doors are open night and day, and some one is always there to welcome
the visitor. A “protracted meeting” is held here all the year, and all
the years, around. Going in, you stand in a long, narrow hall, with high
ceilings modestly decorated; an aisle down the middle flanked by rows of
oaken settees terminates at a low platform on which are chairs, a cheap
desk, and a grand piano. The place seats five or six hundred. The hall
is brilliant with electric lights, and the walls are illustrious with
such Scripture quotations as, in the words of one of the converts, have
been found most apt to “fetch ’em”—_i. e._, sinners. By the platform are
conspicuous notices that speeches are limited to one minute each, a rule
that is easily enforced in the case of the converts, because they have
only facts to tell, and do not seem to be in love with that sweetest
music on earth, the sound of their own voices. “One minute each,” Jerry
would say: “Don’t be too long; cut off both ends and give us the middle;
you need not get mad, as some people have done, if I ring this bell.”
“All right,” replied one easy speaker; “If I get long-winded pull me down
by my coat tails;” whereat all laughed heartily, as they frequently do.
Jerry McAuley’s method, first and last, was unique, but simple and very
effective. Testimonies are the great reliance. They teach salvation by
object lessons, prove the truth of conversion by concrete examples.
There is no argument, no exhortation, no didactics, no theological
disquisition. What need of these in the presence of these living
examples? A man stands up and says: “For twenty years I was a common
drunkard and thief. Five years ago I found Christ here. I have not
touched a drop nor stolen a thing since.” McAuley was won by _proof_. He
said: “It was a testimony that brought me. I was ‘sent up’ for fifteen
years and six months; I listened to preaching there for over seven years,
but I was still unmoved. Then a man came along who gave his experience.
He had been a wicked man. That man told just my history; but he was
saved, and since there was hope for a desperate man like him, I knew
there was hope for me. And there was! Now you have heard the biggest
debtor to grace that is in the room, let the next heaviest debtor follow
me.” Others were won by the undeniable transformation of Jerry. These
things were irresistible. Men describe the effect on themselves of these
living witnesses:
“The Bible reading and the prayer did not have any effect upon
me, but the testimonies of some who had been, as I could not help
admitting to myself, just as I then was, did affect me. I felt
that I was in the same boat as they had been in. The conviction
of my state forced itself upon me, whether I wanted to think of
it or not.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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