Times of Refreshing

C. L.Thompson

In what is now the very common method of personal work, Mr. Hammond has also been a pioneer. Going from pew to pew in the congregation, turning the public service at once into an inquiry meeting, and relying less upon the general proclamation than the personal conversation following, is one of the methods now in general use in revival meetings which Mr. Hammond did not indeed originate— which was freely used by Payson and others—but which he has done more to popularize in our generation than any other evangelist. A sketch of his work will best introduce us to the secret of his success.

He was born in Ellington—a quiet town in the Connecticut Valley Sept. 1, 1831. He was a child of prayer, consecrated to God by parental piety, and was converted when about seventeen years of age. The story of his conversion shows how he first obtained that clear view of the free grace of God, which has since so signally characterized all his preaching. We give his own account:

“The first Sabbath of my stay in Southington was the communion. This was held between the services, and all who were not Christians were in the habit of going out. As I looked about, it seemed that all my friends and relatives and new acquaintances were gathering around the table of the Lord. Among the few who passed out were none whom I knew. The thought of the judgment day flashed across my troubled mind, and the awful scenes of that final separation passed like a panorama before my view. On returning to my boarding-place that night, a lady handed me James's 'Anxious Inquirer' to read. I glanced my eye hastily over a few of its pages, but thought it too dry a book for me, and I angrily threw it down. But this did not extract the arrow of conviction that pierced my heart. I felt that I was a sinner, hastening on to the great judgment day unprepared. Little did I know of the earnest pleadings that were daily ascending from a mother's fond heart. Day by day my convictions deepened. My heart rebelled against God. I disputed his undivided claim to my heart.

“During these dark days I read James's 'Anxious Inquirer.' I used to study it by the hour with my Bible, looking out all the passages referred to. I thus saw more and more of my deceitful and polluted heart. At first, it was thoughts of the judgment day and the sight of the wicked going away into everlasting punishment that alarmed me; but afterwards it was the sight of myself that alarmed me most. I was led by the Holy Spirit to look on him whom my sins had pierced, and . . . mourn. (Zech. xii: 10.) I began to understand those words in Acts v: 31: 'Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance.' I shall never forget that calm autumn morning when I fell upon my knees in my little closet and repeated the hymn my mother had taught me—

“'Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
And did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head,
For such a worm as I?

“'Was it for crimes that I had done,
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown,
And love beyond degree!'

“I then saw that God 'might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus' (Rom. iii: 26), and that I must

“'Cast my deadly doing down,
Down, down at Jesus' feet'

and with tears in my eyes I exclaimed, in the words of the last verse of the hymn which I was repeating,—

“But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe.
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
'Tis all that I can do.'

“It was then the Holy Spirit, that had so long been striving with me, took of the things of Christ and showed them unto me; my blind eyes were opened. I saw that God was satisfied with what Christ had done; that Jesus had paid the debt, and I had only to trust him for it all.”

During the early years of his Christian life it was his purpose to go to Bulgaria as a missionary. He had become interested in that country by the statements made by Dr. Schauffler, in Williams College, to the effect that Christian merchants in Constantinople had long been in the habit of putting leaves of the Bible in packages of goods sent out into the country, and that by this means many had been converted. While cherishing the purpose of being a missionary, he determined upon a course of European travel. Four students from Williams College made their plans to go together. For one reason or another three of them failed to keep the appointment. On the 1st of June 1859, Mr. Hammond embarked alone. He went to Ireland, witnessed the scenes of revivals there, and made the tour of Switzerland and France principally on foot. On his return, he reached Glasgow with only five dollars in his pocket. Money he had expected from home failed to reach him, and while considering what he should do in this dilemma, a family in the city kindly invited him to their house until he should finish his studies at the university. He made the acquaintance soon after of the Rev. Dr. Lindslay W. Alexander. Through his influence he obtained an invitation to preach for a few weeks in a well-nigh dead Congregational Church, in Musselburgh. At the first service there were thirty persons present. After a few weeks so much interest was manifested that protracted services were commenced and held for twenty-one successive weeks. Dr. Alexander became alarmed, and visited the student for the purpose of cautioning him against the revival extremes. For some time one day of each week had been devoted to the children. It was at one of these meetings that Dr. Alexander was present. Being urged by Mr. Hammond to meet the young converts in the study, and examine them as to their experience, he reluctantly consented. And presently, his doubts all gone, he came back to the young revivalist, and said, with the tears streaming down his face, “The Lord has broken my heart. This is his work.” From that moment Dr. Alexander became Mr. Hammond's steadfast friend. He took him to the National Congregational Association in Glasgow, and introduced him to his brethren in such terms as soon secured him invitations from all parts of Scotland. He went first to Edinburgh, where he preached for sixteen weeks. The city was greatly moved, and large numbers were converted. Thence he went to Dumfermlein and Huntly, preaching in the churches until they became too small to hold the audiences, and then in the open air to audiences estimated as high as ten thousand. In Aberdeen, Perth and Annan, wonderful religious interest was developed, and converts were numbered by thousands. In the last-named place so great was the interest that meetings for prayer and inquiry were often continued until one o'clock at night. Bonar, Alexander, Buchanan, and others, now invited him to Glasgow, where he labored with wonderful success for six or eight weeks. The six daily papers reported the meetings page by page, and the effect of them it is safe to say is still felt throughout Scotland.

He went to Italy for a brief rest, and after a few more services in Glasgow and other places in Scotland, in 1861, returned to this country. His first services were held in the Salem Street Church, Boston, where several hundred were converted. He was invited to Dr. Payson's old church in Portland, Me. At the beginning of the meetings Dr. Carruthers said to him, “ My people are still greatly in love with their old pastor, Dr. Payson, and if you could somewhat follow his methods, it would greatly favor the work.” “What were those methods?” inquired the evangelist.” “Well, he used to leave the pulpit, go right down among the people, and talk to them personally.” “This,” said Mr. Hammond, “is just what I have done for years.” To the people of this church, therefore, his methods were nothing novel, and they took hold of them heartily, and for six weeks there was a powerful series of services. From Portland he went to Bethel, and then to Gorham, N. H., and Bath, Me. In all these places, not only were the churches stitmullated to a higher life and harder work, but large numbers of sinners were converted. In 1863, he began union meetings in Rochester, N. Y. The whole city was moved, as it had not been since the days of Finney. Up to this time he had not made the children's meetings prominent in connection with the revivals. His experience, however, was gradually teaching him two things; first, that even young children may be truly and soundly converted,and second, that often the adults may often be most readily reached through children. At the State Sunday School Convention at Troy in the spring of 1814, the Secretary stated that a thousand and one children had been examined and received into the churches of Rochester, as a result of the revival in that city. The Rev. Dr. Campbell stated in the ‘Evangelist’ that 163 had joined his church from the Sunday School. After seven years he had gone over the list for the purpose of finding out by careful examination how the converts of that revival had endured. He found that all but two or three were steadfast in their professions, and living Christian lives.

Mr. Hammond then held meetings in Brunswick, Me., where many students of Bowdoin College were converted in Farmington, Me., and in Hamilton and London, Canada.

During the same year (1862) he visited Beloit, Wis. The veteran missionary, Father Cary, urged the evangelist to hold meetings, but having come for the purpose of rest, he declined. During the afternoon a godly woman having heard of his presence, came to him and said: “The Lord has sent you here. I have been in prayer nearly the whole night. We must have meetings.” Not long after another Christian woman came and said: “A wonderful spirit of prayer and anxiety has come over me. I feel that we must have a revival, and the Lord has sent you here to help.” Mr. Hammond replied that if a prayer meeting could be arranged for that (Saturday) evening, he would then see what were the indications of Providence in regard to it. This was at four o'clock. This woman went out to circulate the notice, and by half-past seven a large company, were assembled. The next day they had a crowded and solemn service, and at the close of it nobody left the house. So suddenly had the Lord come to His temple that good old Mr. Cery was not ready to go down and converse with inquirers. Speaking of his hesitation at the prayer meeting on Monday morning, he said: “The Lord came too suddenly. I wasn't prepared for his coming. I hoped in a few days to see souls anxious about their salvation, and by that time I hoped to be ready to meet them; but I feel that the Lord has come to me now, and I will not excuse myself again from the blessed work of guiding inquirers to Christ.” The meetings in Beloit continued for only a few days, but decided results were achieved.

In the Autumnal of 1862 Mr. Hammond held services in Montreal, where as many as fifteen hundred sought an interest in the prayers of God's people, and large numbers were converted.

In the following winter Mr. Hammond was ordained as an evangelist by the Presbytery of New York, Dr. Mark Hopkins preaching the ordination sermon. He then held meetings in Brooklyn and Utica. In the latter city there were some remarkable scenes—depths of conviction, and clear and decided conversions of some of the leading Business Men of the city. When Mr. Hammond left New York city to engage in work in the central part of the State, a friend said to him: “I am sorry you are going to those burnt-over districts. You will not find fruitful revival fields there.” The evangelist, therefore, went with some misgivings. He soon found his mistake, and was led to thank God for “burnt-over districts.” He found those old men—who were converted thirty years before, under the labors of Finney and Knapp—were like war-horses, used to the sounds of battle. Not easily frightened by new methods, they entered heartily into the work, and gave the evangelist most cordial support.

In the spring of 1864 Mr. Hammond began services in the First Congregational Church, of Chicago. Here Mr. Moody and Mr. Hammond worked together, the former being present at nearly all the meetings, taking notes and an active part. The meetings in Chicago were not so successful as they had been in some places, partly because of the lateness of the season and partly because the meetings, instead of being rooted in one place, were moved from one side of the river to another. The correspondent of the New York Independent estimated the number of conversions at nearly or quite a thousand. In 1865 a glorious work was begun in Detroit, Mich., where as many as five thousand were present at open-air services.

During that winter Mr. Hammond preached for ten weeks at Philadelphia, sometimes in churches, sometimes in the Academy of Music; in which latter place as many as five hundred rose for prayers at a single meeting.

Then followed services in Halifax, and other towns in Nova Scotia; Binghamton, Elmira, Watkins N. Y.; Towanda, Pa.; Corning and Erie, N. Y.; and Peoria, Ill.; where it is thought that as many as a thousand were hopefully converted to Christ. From Peoria Mr. Hammond went to Springfield, Ill., where the work was blessed by a large number of remarkable conversions.

In May, 1866, Mr. Hammond was married in Towanda, Pa., and soon afterwards started with his wife on an extended tour through Scotland, England, France, Italy, Egypt and Palestine. In Jerusalem and Beirut he held services, being assisted by Bishop Gobat of the Episcopal Church. On his return, he held meetings at Naples, Paris and other places on the continent, preaching the gospel through an interpreter. After visiting scenes of his former labors in Scotland, in the spring of 1867, he held services for six weeks in London. His work among the children there was peculiarly blessed, and has been developed into what is called the Children's Special Service Mission, which is now a permanently established institution, its officers being among the leading men of London.

During the summer and autumn of 1867 he continued his evangelistic labors in various parts of Scotland, England and Ireland, and returned home early in 1868. Like Mr. Moody, he went first to his old family home in Vernon, Conn., and preached the gospel to his own townsmen and neighbors. As the result, several of his own relatives were converted.

During this year he returned to Rochester, the place where his work had been so blessed before, and began another series of meetings. At the opening meeting he was pressed down with an unusual weight of prayer, that that meeting might be blessed.

In the course of the sermon, while speaking of the valor with which men under earthly leadership would brave danger, Tennyson's “Charge of the Light Brigade “ came so forcibly to his mind that he could not resist the desire to repeat it entire. At the close of the service a lady came to Dr. Shaw, and said: “There is no occasion for us to go to the theatre now: you provide us with theatrical entertainment here.” Somewhat alarmed by this representation, the good Doctor said to Mr. Hammond:

“This will cause criticism. You must not be so theatrical. Why did you do it?”

“I don't know,” answered Mr. Hammond. “ I had prayed very earnestly to be guided in this sermon. It came to me like an inspiration, and I used it.”

The following morning a fine-looking elderly man, with a bronzed lace, called on Mr. Hammond and said: “ I was one of that six hundred who went into Balaklava. I am one of the thirty-six who came out of the charge. I have been in a hundred battles, but never until last night did I feel myself a sinner. My wife and I went home from the meeting convicted of sin, and gave our hearts to God.”

Thus it appeared that the Spirit had overruled what seemed to many the preacher's mistakes to the salvation of two souls.
From Rochester he went to Lockport. As the result of the revival there, Rev. Dr. Wisner received into his church in one-day two hundred and fifty-six members. About a thousand united with the churches in and around Lockport.

In 1869 Mr. Hammond labored four weeks in Indianapolis. The meetings of the first week were full of power, the churches were greatly refreshed, and a great number added to them of such as should be saved.

In November of that year he went to Cincinnati. The churches had thoroughly prepared for his coming—organized union services, and joined heartily with him in the work. When Mr. Hammond reached the city there were already hopeful indications of a gracious harvest. In the First Presbyterian Church there were many inquirers, and throughout many of the churches there was an atmosphere of expectation and prayer. According to his custom, Mr. Hammond began with union children's meetings. He preached the cardinal truths of the gospel with great simplicity and fervor, and a large number of young people gave evidence of having been truly converted. Mr. Hammond remained in the city for about six weeks, and the work, both in the city and the towns around it, gave signs of the mighty presence of the Spirit of God. The editor of the Cincinnati Gazette gathered statistics of the numbers who united with the various churches in and around the city, and they were found to aggregate about five thousand. These were, either directly or indirectly, the fruits of Mr. Hammond's labors.

He then spent a few weeks in Evansville, Ind., where the work was rapid and powerful. In one of the children's meetings the wealthiest man in the city was converted to Christ. The conversion was doubtless genuine, for he has since given a round half-million of dollars for public benevolent purposes of the city.

We have not space to follow the work of the evangelist in Milwaukee, Wis.; Providence, R. I.; Brooklyn; Newark, N. J.; Kansas City, Leavenworth, Topeka, Atchison, Fort Scott and Lawrence, Kan. In the latter place it was estimated that a hundred family altars had been erected.

In the fall of 1873 eighteen ministers of St. Louis invited Mr. Hammond to that city. On January 10, 1874, the meetings there were begun.

A great revival followed, the practical character of which may be gathered from the following covenant read in the farewell meeting, and signed by thirty-six ministers, who were present on the platform:

“We, the undersigned, ministers and pastors of the different churches of St. Louis, hereby become members of the 'Evangelical Alliance of St. Louis;' and by so doing bind ourselves as a band of brothers, combining our Christian forces as a unit, presenting an unbroken front against intemperance, infidelity and unbelief; laying aside all local preferences, and in a grand union effort on one common platform to do all we can to bring sinners to Christ, to the living Savior.”

A paper was also adopted by the pastors, specifying among the characteristics of the revival, the union services, the conversion of children, the deep stillness and solemnity of inquiry meetings, free from all objectionable extravagances, the effect of gospel singing, the clearness of the preaching, and its thoroughly sound doctrinal tone, and the closer bond of union created between all the ministers of the gospel.

From St. Louis, Mr. Hammond, accompanied by six ministers and a number of laymen, made a flying evangelistic tour through the Indian Territory and Texas, preaching in Galveston, Austin and other places. During the summer and autumn of this year, Mr. Hammond spent several months in California, preaching in San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland and San Francisco, making a missionary tour as far north as Alaska.

In 1875, he labored with remarkable success in Washington and the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania. The work in Harrisburg was specially powerful, the meetings in Dr. Robinson's church often continuing till far into the night. The depth of conviction for sin was so deep in many cases, that strong men were physically prostrated and cried aloud under an overwhelming sense of guilt.

The revival soon became general throughout the valley, and refreshing rains of blessing fell successively upon Mechanicsburg, Shippensburg, Greencastle, Chambersburg, Mercersburg, Carlisle, Middletown, New Bloomfield, Newville, and other places. In Newville the work was wonderful beyond anything known in that locality before. We quote from the report made to the General Assembly by the Presbytery of Carlisle, April 1876. Referring to the work in Newville, it says: “With the union meetings a work of grace, of great power and of wide influence, began in that community, and which continued during the winter, greatly reviving the professed people of God, and causing them to rejoice in God their Savior, and resulting in the ingathering to the churches of that place and the immediate vicinity, of between four and five hundred souls on profession of their faith in Christ.”

The same report, speaking of the general effect of the revival throughout all the towns of that valley, said, “A further result of this most gracious awakening has been an increased spirit of unity and harmony among the professed people of God, a deeper interest in all the different parts of public service, the erection of many family altars, a general reformation in the morals of the community, a better observance of the Christian Sabbath, and a strong check upon the public vices of intemperance, profanity and licentiousness. In short, the whole region has been stirred by a superior spiritual power, infidelity upon all sides stands abashed, and all classes are ready to acknowledge that this was truly the work of God.”

Afterward Mr. Hammond held services in Philadelphia, Newburyport, Amesbury, Mass., and Terrehaute, Ind. The meetings in the latter place were especially fruitful. A report in one of the religious papers gives the following summary of results:

“The grand result is that all classes, from the most respectable to the most abandoned, have been reached. Sin, also, has been continually held up as the abominable thing that God hates; and the conversions taking place have largely indicated how pungent has been conviction in that regard—thus leading the pastors to believe that the work as a whole has been a deep and thorough one.”

During the winter of 1876 and 1877 a great revival wave swept over the towns of Syracuse, Seneca Falls, Geneva, and other places in Central New York, for a description of which we have not space beyond the general remark that the characteristics of meetings we have already described were present in these also, in the increased faith and life of the churches and the turning of many to righteousness.

A brief estimate of the elements of Mr. Hammond's success may fittingly close this sketch of his labors.

His place as a preacher. The cross of Christ is most distinctly outlined in his own mind, and is therefore vividly presented to his hearers. The substance of his sermons is ruin through sin and present full redemption through Christ, who was “wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.” The substitution of Christ in the sinner's place—the full satisfaction to divine justice—the full justification of the sinner in God's sight on account of the Savior's work, and the believer's privilege to live ever in the light of conscious acceptance with God—are the notes that he is never weary of ringing in the people's ears. His power of illustration is remarkable. He is eminently successful in picturing before his audience whatever scene he is trying to impress on their minds. The attention of children, therefore, never flags, and his influence over them through vivid picturing of the plan of salvation, has been greatly blessed, alike to their instruction and salvation. The criticism that might be founded on his too great urgency in bringing children to an announcement of a decision for Christ is largely shorn of its strength by the undoubted fact that he is as careful to make them intelligent, as he is to make them decided. He gives them a reason for the hope he would have them entertain. It is his custom, in separating the young converts from the audience, to have pastors examine them as to the ground of their faith in Christ. Brief as this examination must be, he solemnly and distinctly urges that it be pointedly made, and as clearly warns the children against the profession of a love for Christ for which they cannot give some simple and Scriptural reason. His preaching, then, whether to children or adults, consists in a clear, well-defined and well-illustrated statement of the central doctrine of the cross. His system of truth is cast in Biblical rather than technical or theological forms. The personality of Jesus as a heavenly friend; the Fatherhood of God, calling for our confidence and filial love; the joyfulness of Christ's service and the certainty of its rewards in a real heaven of endless progress and endless work, these truths come from his lips with the freshness and force which only a deep conviction of them can give.

His manner of preaching is in harmony with the matter of it. Buoyant, almost boyish, with a certain physical exuberance—with a fine commingling of joyfulness and seriousness—he commends his religion as something that will give relish to this life as well as blessedness to the next. He is no ascetic, removed from the people and shading their thoughts with pictures of religious gloom. He brings a dash of Christian sunlight and a breath of free Christian courage and hope with every sermon. Add to this his earnestness, which never weakens; his directness of purpose, which never swerves, and he is before us as an evangelist a large measure of whose success is in his loyalty to the truth, his sense of its power, his wisdom in presenting it, and his earnestness in enforcing it, as the very Word of God—the charter of Christian liberty, and the guide to a happy Christian life and work.

Another element of his success is in his generalship. He has singular tact in setting people to work. Many of our later evangelists are gifted in this direction. Indeed, the spirit of the time points to this as one of the coming methods. It was announced by Wesley long ago, “All at it and always at it.” it was announced by Paul much longer ago, in his appeals to personal devotion. The church has been slow to learn. Evangelism in New England in 1740, meant preaching, and wonderful were the results. In our own day it means preaching followed by hand-to-hand battle for souls. In this conflict generalship has its finest field. Mr. Hammond has decided tact in bringing Christians and inquirers together. He hustles around an inquiry-room seemingly in a hap-hazard way, but in a few moments, somehow, order has come out of the confusion and the hushed groups and the subdued murmur of Christian conversation show that personal work has begun in earnest. He now—in the pulpit or out of it—is not the most successful man who works the hardest, but he who can inspire and organize others. We are probably just on the eve of our best progress here. Mr. Hammond was one of the first men to grasp firmly the truth that a public revival service unfollowed by the close quarters of heart to heart, has failed at the point of its highest success.

All great evangelists are enthusiasts. It was a chief charge against Paul, against Luther, against Calvin, against Knox, against Whitefield and the Tennents. Mr. Hammond owes much to a certain natural enthusiasm of mind. In any calling he would have been ardent, impulsive, enthusiastic. This state of mind sanctified by grace, becomes mighty in religion. It discounts or denies the discouragements; it transfigures hope, and in its beautiful light turns it into success. It bridges streams and Levels Mountains, and batters down walls. It enables a man to make the most of himself the most of his opportunities, the most of the grace of God. It pictures above the clouds the ideal result of the battle begun below. Standards that trail here are firmly planted and flung out triumphant there. Columns that are weak and wavering here advance with level front there. To that ideal, enthusiasm holds the soldier, and under its inspiration he fights his battle.

We stated at the beginning of this sketch that Mr. Hammond was a pioneer in the work among children. The church, will, perhaps, advance by increasing experience to better methods than have yet been adopted. But the essential idea that supports the work among children, both in Sunday schools and revival meetings, that little ones can be soundly converted; that the law of spiritual growth from very feeble beginnings, may be emphasized in religious life, and children be trained up in the church, rather than recovered to it after prolonged wandering, is one that will throw heavenly radiance on all the future life of the church. It is one of the characteristics of these days that we believe will shine to ever-fairer light as the church moves on, that “of such is the kingdom of heaven” Children in the midst of the disciples, with Christ's hands on their heads, is a historic picture on which new and clearer light is falling. It means more to day than it ever meant before.