Old Missoula

 

 

Get Right With God

 

Evangelist Oscar Lowry at Missoula

 

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025316/1911-02-06/ed-1/seq-1/

 

2/6/1911

 

The Missoulian headline read “Greatest Revival Campaign Ever Conducted In Montana Closed By Evangelist Lowry.”

 

It marked the end of five weeks of ceremony that the famed evangelist, Oscar Lowry, conducted in Missoula. Lowry, who was sometimes compared with the mighty Billy Sunday, did not disappoint. Attendance at the final Sunday ceremony topped 3,000 according to the article that appeared the next day. The reporter spared no words in praising the events:

 

“God be with you till we meet again” – three thousand voices joined in the refrain that last night marked the close of the final meeting of the Lowry series of revival services. The vast chorus swelled to the high roof overhead, rolled back and magnified the chanted petition which six thousand lips repeated. “Till we meet again, till we meet again” – the chorus welled from earnest hearts and found expression in earnest tongues . . .”

 

Several Missoula churches were involved in sponsoring this five week-long event and it had required many days of planning and effort by a host of local people and businesses.

 

“The Missoula Light & Water company has furnished the light.

 

“Judge Stephens gave the use of the ground for the tabernacle.

 

“The Independent Telephone company furnished telephones for the tabernacle and Mr. Lowry’s private room.

 

“Orton Brothers furnished the pianos.

 

“Lucy & Sons furnished the pulpit stand.

 

“The Missoula Mercantile company furnished the tables and bunting.

 

“Murphy & Lockman furnished bunting.

 

“The Missoulian has very fully advertised the meetings and sermons.

 

“The cash collections have been liberal and cheerfully given.

 

“We are truly grateful to all these for their help. May God graciously remember all who have in any way contributed to this good cause.”

 

The three page Missoulian article also gave space to several local ministers and leaders who felt compelled to add their thanks and description of the events. It included remarks by Reverend J. N. Maclean, D. D., of the First Presbyterian Church:

 

“‘Some said of Jesus, He is a good man; others said, not so, but he leadeth the people estray.’ Mr. Lowry, like his Master, has been variously regarded here in Missoula. As for myself, I consider him a sincere, capable and consecrated Christian man, a great agitator of righteousness and salvation, and his work here as altogether wholesome and successful.

 

“In estimating the quality and worth of his ministry among us, one should be wise enough, and big enough, to pass by the small details of rhetoric and doctrinal views, and consider the great things which he brought to our minds and hearts. Three things stand out before my mind as characteristics of his ministry, giving it peculiar distinction and power.

 

“First, his extraordinary knowledge of the Bible. He excels any other man I ever knew in his ability to quote scripture, giving chapter and verse, and using it always aptly, and often with striking effect. His mind is steeped in its teaching; his convictions are immovably grounded on its authority; his rare spiritual understanding is the reflection of its light; his language is rich and flexible with its honest words and phrases; and his appeals often take on the grand style of the old prophets, because he has lived so much among their thoughts. Of a truth ‘he is mighty in the scriptures.’ The critics of his preaching are very apt to find themselves in conflict with the obvious teaching of the word of God, and that is all the worse for the critics.

 

“Second, the moral basis of his evangelism. He is no sentimentalist. He is, first of all, a great preacher of righteousness. He deals hard with sin. He appeals mightily to the conscience of men. His is not out to persuade men to ‘Join the churches,’ but to get right with God and with one another. He demands that sin shall be repented of, and forsaken, and where wrong has been done a fellow man, that restitution shall be made. His fearful denunciations of sin are to the end that men and women may forsake it, and live unspotted from the world. He offers salvation only on the basis of repentance, and repentance with him is a great moral transaction. I regard his preaching as profoundly ethical; and in his way of ethical approach he is in strict accordance with the teaching of the New Testament.

 

“Third, his gospel of deliverance from sin and hell is clear and definite. He knows what it is, and he tells it out with great simplicity and force. He offers free and full salvation to men through Jesus Christ. There is no whittling down; there is no faltering; it is the old gospel as Paul and Luther and Wesley and Spurgeon and Moody preached it, that gospel which is the ‘power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.’

 

“Such a ministry continued for five weeks, supported by the great majority of our churches and people, helped by a great chorus and many prayers, waited upon by great congregations night and day, could not fail to accomplish large and lasting good. That it has done so, I have no doubt at all. Laus Domino.

 

“Rev. J. N. MACLEAN, D. D.

 

“Pastor First Presbyterian Church.”

 

In light of these succinct paragraphs it’s not hard to see where Norman Maclean found his calling, both as and teacher and a writer.