TENNESSEE.
Methods of Revival Work at Fisk University.
REV. A. K. SPENCE, NASHVILLE.
You request me to give an idea of our “methods, success, and experiences” in revival work in Fisk University. It is with much hesitation that I attempt to comply with your wish, for it is difficult, in a brief communication, to convey a correct idea in such matters, and, also, one shrinks from bringing into the foreground human agencies in a work which, if genuine, must be Divine.
To understand revival work here, one must know the ordinary religious work done in the University. Varying from time to time, the following are the means of grace enjoyed by us. We have a church which is, practically, a part of the school. There are three services on the Sabbath—a preaching service, a Sunday-school, and a prayer meeting. During the week there are school devotions in the morning and family devotions in the evening, and also one meeting for prayer. Upon all these attendance is required.
Many other meetings are held voluntarily by the students, conducted frequently by an instructor. There is a Christian Association of the young men and one of the young women, meeting once a week, or oftener. The Society for the Evangelization of Africa holds a meeting once a month, and every Sunday morning since the departure of our missionaries to Africa, a meeting has been held to pray for them and their cause.
Besides these stated meetings, there is a large amount of personal religious work done in a private way, to lead the unconverted to Christ. Opportunities are sought for conversation and prayer with individuals alone. As employees of the American Missionary Association, we feel ourselves bound to labor, as we can, for the salvation of our students. We try to keep it before us continually that we should aim at nothing less than their conversion. And we seek to impress it upon all, that the Institution is entirely the Lord’s, built with His money, kept by His care, and dedicated to His service. We are sustained by the charities of God’s people, given for the sake of His cause. We remember the way in which our wants have been met, in the use of the Jubilee Singers and by other means. The place whereon we stand is holy ground.
In “times of refreshing” the ordinary means of grace have been quickened into greater life, and other means have been used as the Spirit of God seemed to direct. The morning and evening devotions have at times been turned into revival meetings, and extra meetings for prayer and labor with inquirers have been instituted. In a few cases the work of the school has been suspended and the day given to religious meetings; but usually the ordinary work has gone on. Persons under too deep conviction to attend to aught else, have been allowed and advised to wait upon God, and suitable persons have been permitted to wait with them. Occasionally scenes have transpired not to be forgotten nor to be described—the tears, the sighs, the groans, the bowed or prostrate form—and the after unspeakable joy! As time has gone on, whether for better or worse, the emotional has diminished. We have never sought to produce excitement, nor have we sought rudely to crush it out when it came spontaneously, but to quiet it off by indirect means, a thing always soon successful. Doubtless clearer views of truth are doing away with that frenzy of religious excitement which has so largely prevailed, unbalancing the reason and prostrating the body.
We find it necessary to follow a revival with oft-repeated instructions as to the doctrines and duties of Christianity. The young converts need much loving and wise watchcare. They are exposed to many dangers, and have nearly everything to learn, except that they are the Lord’s and he is theirs.