GRACIOUS REVIVAL IN SELMA, ALA.
BY REV. A. T. BURNELL.
You will be interested to hear of the gracious revival we have had the past three weeks under the lead of the English Evangelist, Rev. James Wharton. Over 400 have professed Christ, and of these 140 were enrolled in Burrell School. To the very end of the meetings, "mourners" came forward, once in the church as many as fifty; but this was exceeded in immediate results at two schools where as many as fifty accepted Christ, after the briefest address. Following the Oberlin plan, I offered prayer with each class one day; the next, I suspended my recitations for a continuous prayer-meeting, permitting pupils to elect this instead of a class or study-period (certain grades, certain hours). At another time, instead of chapel the grade-teachers retained the Christians while the rest were addressed in the chapel,—the majority falling to their knees for prayer to rise in peace. Of course we have had regular prayer-meetings, with volunteer room gatherings at noon and like groups in the yards at intermission. When, on account of the late meetings each night, it seemed best to close at noon, most of the school gathered for a meeting in the chapel; and, with several after meetings, large numbers spent that half-holiday in the building, praying for and laboring with classmates. A member of Grade Eleven, for whom special effort had been made, came out at this time.
Some of the converts have made detailed confession of sins (stealing, e.g.); some who have been neglectful of school privileges have returned to get the religious impetus; and at least two that had been dismissed for meanness have experienced a change of heart. We shall look for permanent results, and work to that end with hope; yet this people are so emotional and so stolid! so ready to move along a certain line in a body, but indifferent to duty when it leads along an uninteresting path of individual effort. Indeed, the home life of many is unfavorable to genuine Christianity; some being persecuted, even, because they have not seen a vision, till they are made to believe they "have got nothing."
Mr. Wharton preaches the pure and simple gospel plainly and vividly; is attractive in person and of commanding presence. At his departure there were many expressions of regard and grateful remembrance, and he will always have a warm place in the affections of Selma people, who have been impressed in so short a time by the life and words of this man of God.