From the Editor

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If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

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- 7 Classics on HOLINESS

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QUICK TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1.  A FAITHFUL NARRATIVE OF THE SURPRISING WORK OF GOD (1736) – Jonathan Edwards

2.  LECTURES ON REVIVALS OF RELIGION (1868) – Charles Finney

3.  HANDBOOK OF REVIVALS FOR THE USE OF SOUL-WINNERS (1874) – Henry Fish

4.  THE AWAKENING IN WALES AND SOME OF THE HIDDEN SPRINGS (1905) – Jessie Penn-Lewis

5.  THE WELSH REVIVAL (1905) – Stead & Morgan

6.  AZUSA STREET (1925) – Frank Bartleman

7.  THE REVIVAL WE NEED (1925) – Oswald J. Smith

8.  THE WAY TO PENTECOST (1932) – Samuel Chadwick

1.  A FAITHFUL NARRATIVE OF THE SURPRISING WORK OF GOD (1736) – Jonathan Edwards

A

FAITHFUL NARRATIVE

OF THE

SURPRISING WORK OF GOD

IN THE

CONVERSION OF MANY HUNDRED SOULS,

IN NORTHAMPTON

AND THE

NEIGHBOURING TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, IN NEW ENGLAND;

IN A

LETTER TO THE REV. COLMAN OF BOSTON.

Editor’s note:  This is the 1736 account by Jonathan Edwards of the revival in Northampton (Massachusetts) and the surrounding area at the beginning of “The Great Awakening.”

Preface

Rev. and Honored Sir,

Having seen your letter to my honored Uncle Williams of Hatfield, of July 20, wherein you inform him of the notice that has been taken of the late wonderful work of God, in this and some other towns in this country, by the Rev. Dr. Watts, and Dr. Guyse, of London, and the congregation to which the last of these preached on a monthly day of solemn prayer; also, of your desire to be more perfectly acquainted with it, by some of us on the spot: and having been since informed by my Uncle Williams that you desire me to undertake it, I would now do it, in a just and faithful a manner as in me lies.

Section 1: A General Introductory Statement

The people of the country, in general, I suppose, are as sober, orderly, and good sort of people, as in any part of New England; and I believe they have been preserved the freest by far of any part of the country, from error, and variety of sects and opinions. Our being so far within the land, at a distance from sea-ports, and in a corner of the country, has doubtless been one reason why we have not been so much corrupted with vice, as most other parts. But without question, the religion and good order of the county, and purity in doctrine, has, under God, been very much owing to the great abilities, and eminent piety of my venerable and honored grandfather Stoddard. I suppose we have been the freest of any part of the land from unhappy divisions and quarrels in our ecclesiastical and religious affairs, till the late lamentable Springfield contention. [The Springfield Contention relates to the settlement of a minister there, which occasioned too warm debates between some, both pastors and people, that were for it, and others that were against it, on account of their different apprehensions about his principles, and about some steps that were taken to procure his ordination.]

Being much separated from other parts of the province and having comparatively but little fellowship with them, we have always managed our ecclesiastical affairs within ourselves. It is the way in which the country, from its infancy, has gone on, by the practical agreement of all; and the way in which our peace and good order has hitherto been maintained.

The town of Northampton is of about 82 years standing, and has now about 200 families; which mostly dwell more compactly together than any town of such a size in these parts of the country. This probably has been an occasion, that both our corruptions and reformations have been, from time to time, the more swiftly propagated from one to another through the town. Take the town in general, and so far as I can judge, they are as rational and intelligent a people as most I have been acquainted with. Many of them have been noted for religion; and particularly remarkable for their distinct knowledge in things that relate to heart religion, and Christian experience, and their great regards thereto.

I am the third minister who has been settled in the town. The Rev. Mr. Eleazer Mather, who was the first, was ordained in July, 1669. He was one whose heart was much in his work, and abundant in labors for the good of precious souls. He had the high esteem and great love for his people, and was blessed with no small success. The Rev. Mr. Stoddard who succeeded him, came first to the town the November after his death; but was not ordained till September 11, 1672, and died February 11, 1728-9. So that he continued in the work of the ministry here, from his first coming to town, near 60 years. And as he was eminent and renowned for his gifts and grace; so he was blessed, from the beginning, with extraordinary success in his ministry, in the conversion of many souls. He had five harvests, as he called them. The first was about 57 years ago; the second about 53; the third about 40; the fourth about 24; the fifth and last about 18 years ago. Some of these times were much more remarkable than others, and the ingathering of souls more plentiful. Those about 53, and 40, and 24 years ago, were much greater than either the first or the last: but in each of them, I have heard my grandfather say, the greater part of the young people in the town, seemed to be mainly concerned for their eternal salvation.

After the last of these, came a far more degenerate time (at least among the young people), I suppose, than ever before. Mr. Stoddard, indeed, had the comfort, before he died, of seeing a time where there were no small appearances of a divine work among some, and a considerable ingathering of souls, even after I was settled with him in the ministry, which was about two years before his death; and I have reason to bless God for the great advantage I had by it. In these two years there were nearly twenty that Mr. Stoddard hoped to be savingly converted; but there was nothing of any general awakening. The greater part seemed to be at that time very insensible of the things of religion, and engaged in other cares and pursuits. Just after my grandfather's death, it seemed to be a time of extraordinary dullness in religion. Licentiousness for some years prevailed among the youth of the town; there were many of them very much addicted to night-walking, and frequenting the tavern, and lewd practices, wherein some, by their example, exceedingly corrupted others. It was their manner very frequently to get together, in conventions of both sexes for mirth and jollity, which they called frolics; and they would often spend the greater part of the night in them, without regard to any order in the families they belonged to: and indeed family government did too much fail in the town. It was become very customary with many of our young people to be indecent in their carriage at meeting, which doubtless would not have prevailed in such a degree, had it not been that my grandfather, through his great age (though he retained his powers surprisingly to the last), was not so able to observe them. There had also long prevailed in the town a spirit of contention between two parties, into which they had for many years been divided; by which they maintained a jealousy one of the other, and were prepared to oppose one another in all public affairs.

But in two or three years after Mr. Stoddard's death, there began to be a sensible amendment to these evils. The young people showed more of a disposition to hearken to counsel, and by degrees left off their frolics; they grew observably more decent in their attendance on the public worship, and there were more who manifested a religious concern than there used to be.

At the latter end of the year 1733, there appeared a very unusual flexibleness, and yielding to advice, in our young people. It had been too long their manner to make the evening after the sabbath, [It must be noted, that it has never been our manner, to observe the evening that follows the sabbath, but that which precedes it, as part of the holy time], and after our public lecture, to be especially the times of their mirth, and company-keeping. But a sermon was now preached on the sabbath before the lecture, to show the evil tendency of the practice, and to persuade them to reform it; and it was urged on heads of families that it should be a thing agreed upon among them, to govern their families, and keep their children at home, at these times. It was also more privately moved, that they should meet together the next day, in their several neighborhoods, to know each other's minds; which was accordingly done, and the notion complied with throughout the town. But parents found little or no occasion for the exercise of government in the case. The young people declared themselves convinced by what they had heard from the pulpit, and were willing of themselves to comply with the counsel that had been given: and it was immediately, and, I suppose, almost universally, complied with; and there was a thorough reformation of these disorders thenceforward, which has continued ever since.

Presently after this, there began to appear a remarkable religious concern at a little village belonging to the congregation called Pascommuck, where a few families were settled, at about three miles distance from the main body of the town. At this place, a number of persons seemed to be savingly wrought upon. In the April following, anno 1734, there happened a very sudden and awful death of a young man in the bloom of his youth; who being violently seized with a pleurisy, and taken immediately very delirious, died in about two days; which (together with what was preached publicly on that occasion) much affected many young people. This was followed with another death of a young married woman, who had been considerably exercised in mind, about the salvation of her soul, before she was ill, and was in great distress in the beginning of her illness; but seemed to have satisfying evidences of God's mercy to her, before her death; so that she died very full of comfort, in a most earnest and moving manner warning and counselling others. This seemed to contribute to render solemn the spirits of many young persons; and there began evidently to appear more of a religious concern on people's minds.

In the fall of the year I proposed it to the young people, that they should agree among themselves to spend the evenings after lectures in social religion, and to that end divide themselves into several companies to meet in various parts of the town; which was accordingly done, and those meetings have been since continued, and the example imitated by elder people. This was followed with the death of an elderly person, which was attended with many unusual circumstances, by which many were much moved and affected.

About this time began the great noise, in this part of the country, about Arminianism, which seemed to appear with a very threatening aspect upon the interest of religion here. The friends of vital piety trembled for fear of the issue; but it seemed, contrary to their fear, strongly to be overruled for the promoting of religion. Many who looked on themselves as in a Christless condition, seemed to be awakened by it, with fear that God was about to withdraw from the land, and that we should be given up to heterodoxy and corrupt principles; and that then their opportunity for obtaining salvation would be past. Many who were brought a little to doubt about the truth of the doctrines they had hitherto been taught, seemed to have a kind of trembling fear with their doubts, lest they should be led into bypaths, to their eternal undoing; and they seemed, with much concern and engagedness of mind, to inquire what was indeed the way in which they must come to be accepted with God. There were some things said publicly on that occasion, concerning justification by faith alone.

Although great fault was found with meddling with the controversy in the pulpit, by such a person, and at that time-and though it was ridiculed by many elsewhere-yet it proved a word spoken in season here; and was most evidently attended with a very remarkable blessing of heaven to the souls of the people in this town. They received thence a general satisfaction, with respect to the main thing in question, which they had been in trembling doubts and concern about; and their minds were engaged the more earnestly to seek that they might come to be accepted of God, and saved in the way of the gospel, which had been made evident to them to be the true and only way. And then it was, in the latter part of December, that the Spirit of God began extraordinarily to set in, and wonderfully to work amongst us; and there were very suddenly, one after another, five or six persons, who were to all appearances savingly converted, and some of them wrought upon in a very remarkable manner.

Particularly, I was surprised with relation of a young woman, who had been one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town. When she came to me, I had never heard that she was become in any wise serious, but by the conversation I then had with her, it appeared to me, that what she gave an account of, was a glorious work of God's infinite power and sovereign grace; and that God had given her a new heart, truly broken and sanctified. I could not then doubt of it, and have seen much in my acquaintance with her since to confirm it.

Though the work was glorious, yet I was filled with concern about the effect it might have upon others. I was ready to conclude (though too rashly), that some would be hardened by it in carelessness and looseness of life; and would take occasion from it to open their mouths in reproaches of religion. But the event was the reverse, to a wonderful degree. God made it, I suppose, the greatest occasion of awakening to others, of anything that ever came to pass in the town. I have had abundant opportunity to know the effect it had, by my private conversation with many. The news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning, upon the hearts of young people, all over the town, and upon many others. Those persons amongst us, who used to be farthest from seriousness, and that I most feared would make an ill improvement of it, seemed to be awakened with it. Many went to talk with her, concerning what she had met with; and what appeared in her seemed to be to the satisfaction of all that did so.

Presently upon this, a great and earnest concern about the great things of religion and the eternal world, became universal in all parts of the town, and among persons of all degrees, and all ages. The noise amongst the dry bones waxed louder and louder; all other talk but about spiritual and eternal things, was soon thrown by; all the conversation, in all companies and upon all occasions, was upon these things only, unless so much as was necessary for people carrying on their ordinary secular business. Other discourse than of the things of religion would scarcely be tolerated in any company. The minds of people were wonderfully taken off from the world, it was treated amongst us as a thing of very little consequence. They seemed to follow their worldly business, more as a part of their duty, than from any disposition they had to it; the temptation now seemed to lie on that hand, to neglect worldly affairs too much, and to spend too much time in the immediate exercise of religion. This was exceedingly misrepresented by reports that were spread in distant parts of the land, as though the people here had wholly thrown by all worldly business, and betook themselves entirely to reading and praying, and such like religious exercises.

But although people did not ordinarily neglect their worldly business, yet religion was with all sorts the great concern, and the world was a thing only by the bye. The only thing in their view was to get the kingdom of heaven, and everyone appeared pressing into it. The engagedness of their hearts in this great concern could not be hid, it appeared in their very countenances. It then was a dreadful thing amongst us to lie out of Christ, in danger every day of dropping into hell; and what persons' minds were intent upon, was to escape for their lives, and to fly from wrath to come. All would eagerly lay hold of opportunities for their souls, and were wont very often to meet together in private houses, for religious purposes: and such meetings when appointed were greatly thronged.

There was scarcely a single person in the town, old or young, left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world. Those who were wont to be the vainest and loosest, and those who had been disposed to think and speak lightly of vital and experimental religion, were now generally subject to great awakenings. And the work of conversion was carried on in a most astonishing manner, and increased more and more; souls did as it were come by flocks to Jesus Christ. From day to day for many months together, might be seen evident instances of sinners brought out of darkness into marvellous light, and delivered out of an horrible pit, and from the miry clay, and set upon a rock, with a new song of praise to God in their mouths.

This work of God, as it was carried on, and the number of true saints multiplied, soon made a glorious alteration in the town: so that in the spring and summer following, anno 1735, the town seemed to be full of the presence of God: it never was so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress, as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in families on account of salvation being brought to them; parents rejoicing over their children as new born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The doings of God were then seen in His sanctuary, God's day was a delight, and His tabernacles were amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautiful: the congregation was alive in God's service, everyone earnestly intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly in general were, from time to time, in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors.

Our public praises were then greatly enlivened; God was then served in our psalmody, in some measure, in the beauty of holiness. It has been observable, that there has been scarce any part of divine worship, wherein good men amongst us have had grace so drawn forth, and their hearts so lifted up in the ways of God, as in singing His praises. Our congregation excelled all that ever I knew in the external part of the duty before, the men generally carrying regularly, and well, three parts of music, and the women a part by themselves; but now they were evidently wont to sing with unusual elevation of heart and voice, which made the duty pleasant indeed.

In all companies, on other days, on whatever occasions persons met together, Christ was to be heard of, and seen in the midst of them. Our young people, when they met, were wont to spend the time in talking of the excellency and dying love of Jesus Christ, the glory of the way of salvation, the wonderful, free, and sovereign grace of God, His glorious work in the conversion of a soul, the truth and certainty of the great things of God's word, the sweetness of the views of His perfections, etc. And even at weddings, which formerly were mere occasions of mirth and jollity, there was now no discourse of anything but religion, and no appearance of any but spiritual mirth. Those amongst us who had been formerly converted, were greatly enlivened, and renewed with fresh and extraordinary incomes of the Spirit of God; though some much more than others, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Many who before had labored under difficulties about their own state, had now their doubts removed by more satisfying experience, and more clear discoveries of God's love.

When this work first appeared and was so extraordinarily carried on amongst us in the winter, others round about us seemed not to know what to make of it. Many scoffed at and ridiculed it; and some compared what we called conversion, to certain distempers. But it was very observable of many, who occasionally came amongst us from abroad with disregardful hearts, that what they saw here cured them of such a temper of mind. Strangers were generally surprised to find things so much beyond what they had heard, and were wont to tell others that the state of the town could not be conceived of by those who had not seen it. The notice that was taken of it by the people who came to town on occasion of the court that sat here in the beginning of March, was very observable. And those who came from the neighborhood to our public lectures were for the most part remarkably affected. Many who came to town, on one occasion or other, had their consciences smitten, and awakened; and went home with wounded hearts, and with those impressions that never wore off till they had hopefully a saving issue; and those who before had serious thoughts, had their awakenings and convictions greatly increased. There were many instances of persons who came from abroad on visits, or on business, who had not been long here, before, to all appearances, they were savingly wrought upon, and partook of that shower of divine blessing which God rained down here, and went home rejoicing; till at length the same work began evidently to appear and prevail in several other towns in the county.

In the month of March, the people in South-Hadley begun to be seized with deep concern about the things of religion; which very soon became universal. The work of God has been very wonderful there; not much, if anything, short of what it has been here, in proportion to the size of the place. About the same time, it began to break forth in the west part of Suffield (where it also has been very great), and soon spread into all parts of the town. It appeared at Sunderland, and soon overspread the town: and I believe was, for a season, not less remarkable than it was here. About the same time it began to appear in a part of Deerfield, called Green River, and afterwards filled the town, and there has been a glorious work there. It began also to be manifest, in the south part of Hatfield, in a place call the Hill, and the whole town, in the second week in April, seemed to be seized, as it were at once, with concern about the things of religion; and the work of God has been great there. There has been also a very general awakening at West-Springfield, and Long Meadow; and in Enfield there was for a time a pretty general concern amongst some who before had been very loose persons. About the same time that this appeared at Enfield, the Rev. Mr. Bull, of Westfield, informed me, that there had been a great alteration there, and that more had been done in one week, than in seven years before. Something of this work likewise appeared in the first precinct in Springfield, principally in the north and south extremes of the parish. And in Hadley old town, there gradually appeared so much of a work of God on souls, as at another time would have been thought worthy of much notice. For a short time there was also a very great and general concern, of the like nature, at Northfield. And wherever this concern appeared, it seemed not to be in vain: but in every place God brought saving blessings with Him, and His word attended with His Spirit (as we have all reason to think) returned not void. It might well be said at that time, in all parts of the county, Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?

As what other towns heard of and found in this, was a great means of awakening them; so our hearing of such a swift and extraordinary propagation, and extent of this work, did doubtless for a time serve to uphold the work amongst us. The continual news kept alive the talk of religion, and did greatly quicken and rejoice the hearts of God's people, and much awakened those who looked on themselves as still left behind, and made them the more earnest that they also might share in the great blessings that others had obtained.

This remarkable pouring out in the Spirit of God, which thus extended from one end to the other of this county, was not confined to it, but many places in Connecticut have partaken in the same mercy. For instance, the first parish in Windsor, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Marsh, was thus blest about the same time as we in Northampton, while we had no knowledge of each other's circumstances. There has been a very great ingathering of souls to Christ in that place, and something considerable of the same work began afterwards in East Windsor, my honored father's parish, which has in times past been a place favored with mercies of this nature, above any on this western side of New England, excepting Northampton; there having been four or five seasons of the pouring out of the Spirit to the general awakening of the people there, since my father's settlement amongst them.

There was also the last spring and summer a wonderful work of God carried on at Coventry, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Meacham. I had opportunity to converse with some Coventry people, who gave me a very remarkable account of the surprising change that appeared in the most rude and vicious persons there. The like was also very great at the same time in a part of Lebanon, called the Crank, where the Rev. Mr. Wheelock, a young gentleman, is lately settled: and there has been much of the same at Durham, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Chauncey; and to appearance no small ingathering of souls there. Likewise amongst many of the young people in the first precinct in Stratford, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Gould; where the work was much promoted by the remarkable conversion of a young woman who had been a great company-keeper, as it was here.

Something of this work appeared in several others towns in those parts, as I was informed when I was there, the last fall. And we have since been acquainted with something very remarkable of this nature at another parish in Stratford, called Ripton, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Mills. There was a considerable revival of religion last summer at Newhaven old town, as I was once and again informed by the Rev. Mr. Noyes, the minister there, and by others: and by a letter which I very lately received from Mr. Noyes, and also by information we have had other ways. This flourishing of religion still continues, and has lately much increased. Mr. Noyes writes, that many this summer have been added to the church, and particularly mentions several young persons that belong to the principal families of that town.

There has been a degree of the same work at a part of Guildford; and very considerable at Mansfield, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Eleazar Williams; and an unusual religious concern at Tolland; and something of it at Hebron, and Bolton. There was also no small effusion of the Spirit of God in the north parish in Preston, in the eastern part of Connecticut, of which I was informed, and saw something, when I was the last autumn at the house, and in the congregation of the Rev. Mr. Lord, the minister there; who, with the Rev. Mr. Owen, of Groton, came up hither in May, the last year, on purpose to see the work of God. Having heard various and contradictory accounts of it, they were careful when here to satisfy themselves; and to that end particularly conversed with many of our people; which they declared to be entirely to their satisfaction; and that the one half had not been told them, nor could be told them. Mr. Lord told me that, when he got home, he informed his congregation of what he had seen, and that they were greatly affected with it; and that it proved the beginning of the same work amongst them, which prevailed till there was a general awakening, and many instances of persons, who seemed to be remarkably converted. I also have lately heard that there has been something of the work at Woodbury.

But this shower of divine blessing has been yet more extensive: there was no small degree of it in some part of the Jerseys; as I was informed when I was at New York (in a long journey I took at that time of the year for my health), by some people of the Jerseys, whom I saw. Especially the Rev. William Tennent, a minister who seemed to have such things at heart, told me of a very great awakening of many in a place called the Mountains, under the ministry of one Mr. Cross; and of a very considerable revival of religion in another place under the ministry of his brother the Rev. Gilbert Tennent; and also at another place, under the ministry of a very pious young gentleman, a Dutch minister, whose name as I remember was Freelinghousa.

This seems to have been a very extraordinary dispensation of providence; God has in many respects gone out of, and much beyond, His usual and ordinary way. The work in this town, and others about us, has been extraordinary on account of the universality of it, affecting all sorts, sober and vicious, high and low, rich and poor, wise and unwise. I reached the most considerable families and persons, to all appearance, as much as others. In former stirrings of this nature, the bulk of the young people have been greatly affected; but old men and little children have been so now. Many of the last have, of their own accord, formed themselves into religious societies in different parts of the town. A loose careless person could scarcely be found in the whole neighborhood; and if there was any one that seemed to remain senseless or unconcerned, it would be spoken of as a strange thing.

This dispensation has also appeared very extraordinary in the numbers of those on whom we have reason to hope it has had a saving effect. We have about six hundred and twenty communicants, which include almost all our adult persons. The church was very large before; but persons never thronged into it as they did in the late extraordinary time.-Our sacraments are eight weeks asunder, and I received into our communion about a hundred before one sacrament, fourscore of them at one time, whose appearance, when they presented themselves together to make an open explicit profession of Christianity, was very affecting to the congregation. I took in near sixty before the next sacrament day: and I have very sufficient evidence of the conversion of their souls, through divine grace, though it is not the custom here, as it is in many other churches in this country, to make a credible relation of their inward experiences the ground of admission to the Lord's supper.

I am far from pretending to be able to determine how many have lately been the subjects of such mercy; but if I may be allowed to declare anything that appears to me probable in a thing of thin nature, I hope that more than 300 souls were savingly brought home to Christ, in this town, in the space of half a year, and about the same number of males as females. By what I have heard Mr. Stoddard say, this was far from what has been usual in years past; for he observed that in his time, many more women were converted than men. Those of our young people who are on other accounts most considerable, are mostly, as I hope, truly pious, and leading persons in the ways of religion. Those who were formerly loose young persons, are generally, to all appearance, become true lovers of God and Christ, and spiritual in their dispositions. I hope that by far the greater part of persons in this town, above sixteen years of age, are such as have the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. By what I have heard I suppose it is so in some other places, particularly at Sunderland and South Hadley.

This has also appeared to be a very extraordinary dispensation, in that the Spirit of God has so much extended not only His awakening, but regenerating influences, both to elderly persons, and also to those who are very young. It has been heretofore rarely heard of, that any were converted past middle age; but now we have the same ground to think that many such have at this time been savingly changed, as that others have been so in more early years. I suppose there were upwards of fifty persons converted in this town above forty years of age; more than twenty of them above fifty; about ten of them above sixty; and two of them above seventy years of age.

It has heretofore been looked on as a strange thing, when any have seemed to be savingly wrought upon and remarkably changed in their childhood. But now, I suppose, near thirty were, to appearance, savingly wrought upon between ten and fourteen years of age; two between nine and ten, and one of about four years of age; and because I suppose this last will be with most difficulty believed, I will hereafter give a particular account of it. The influences of God's Holy Spirit have also been very remarkable on children in some other places; particularly at Sunderland, South Hadley, and the west part of Suffield. There are several families in this town who are all hopefully pious. Yea, there are several numerous families, in which, I think, we have reason to hope that all the children are truly godly, and most of them lately become so. There are very few houses in the whole town, into which salvation has not lately come, in one or more instances. There are several Negroes, who from what was seen in them then, and what is discernible in them since, appear to have been truly born again in the late remarkable season.

God has also seemed to have gone out of His usual way, in the quickness of His work, and the swift progress His Spirit has made in His operations on the hearts of many. It is wonderful that persons should be so suddenly and yet so greatly changed. Many have been taken from a loose and careless way of living, and seized with strong convictions of their guilt and misery, and in a very little time old things have passed away, and all things have become new with them.

God's work has also appeared very extraordinary in the degrees of His influences; in the degrees both of awakening and conviction, and also of saving light, love, and joy, that many have experienced. It has also been very extraordinary in the extent of it, and its being so swiftly propagated from town to town. In former times of the pouring out of the Spirit of God on this town, though in some of them it was very remarkable, it reached no further then; the neighboring towns all around continued unmoved.

This work seemed to be at its greatest height in this town in the former part of the spring, in March and April. At that time God's work in the conversion of souls was carried on amongst us in so wonderful a manner, that, so far as I can judge, it appears to have been at the rate at least of four persons in a day; or near thirty in a week, take one with another, for five or six weeks together. When God in so remarkable a manner took the work into His own hands, there was as much done in a day or two, as at ordinary times, with all endeavors that men can use, and with such a blessing as we commonly have, is done in a year.

I am very sensible, how apt many would be, if they should see the account I have here given, presently to think with themselves that I am very fond of making a great many converts, and of magnifying the matter; and to think that for want of judgment, I take every religious pang, and enthusiastic conceit, for saving conversion. I do not much wonder if they should be apt to think so; and, for this reason, I have forborne to publish an account of this great work of God, though I have often been solicited. But having now a special call to give an account of it, upon mature consideration I thought it might not be beside my duty to declare this amazing work, as it appeared to me to be indeed divine, and to conceal no part of the glory of it; leaving it with God to take care of the credit of His own work, and running the venture of any censorious thoughts, which might be entertained of me to my disadvantage. That distant persons may be under as great advantage as may be to judge for themselves of this matter, I would be a little more large and particular.

Section 2: The Manner Of Conversion Various, Yet Bearing A Great Analogy.

I therefore proceed to give an account of the manner of persons being wrought upon; and here there is a vast variety, perhaps as manifold as the subjects of the operation; but yet in many things there is a great analogy in all.-Persons are first awakened with a sense of their miserable condition by nature, the danger they are in of perishing eternally, and that it is of great importance to them that they speedily escape and get into a better state. Those who before were secure and senseless, are made sensible how much they were in the way to ruin, in their former courses. Some are more suddenly seized with convictions-it may be, by the news of others' conversion, or some thing they hear in public, or in private conference-their consciences are smitten, as if their hearts were pierced through with a dart. Others are awakened more gradually, they begin at first to be something more thoughtful and considerate, so as to come to a conclusion in their minds, that it is their best and wisest way to delay no longer, but to improve the present opportunity. They have accordingly set themselves seriously to meditate on those things that have the most awakening tendency, on purpose to obtain convictions; and so their awakenings have increased, till a sense of their misery, by God's Holy Spirit setting in therewith, has had fast hold of them. Others who before had been somewhat religious, and concerned for their salvation, have been awakened in a new manner; and made sensible that their slack and dull way of seeking, was never like to attain that purpose.

These awakenings when they have first seized on persons, have had two effects; one was, that they have brought them immediately to quit their sinful practices; and the looser sort have been brought to forsake and dread their former vices and extravagances. When once the Spirit of God began to be so wonderfully poured out in a general way through the town, people had soon done with their old quarrels, backbitings, and intermeddling with other men's matters. The tavern was soon left empty, and persons kept very much at home; none went abroad unless on necessary business, or on some religious account, and every day seemed in many respects like a Sabbath-day. The other effect was, that it put them on earnest application to the means of salvation, reading, prayer, meditation, the ordinances of God's house, and private conference; their cry was, What shall we do to be saved? The place of resort was now altered, it was no longer the tavern, but the minister's house that was thronged far more than ever the tavern had been wont to be.

There is a very great variety, as to the degree of fear and trouble that persons are exercised with, before they attain any comfortable evidences of pardon and acceptance with God. Some are from the beginning carried on with abundantly more encouragement and hope than others. Some have had ten times less trouble of mind than others, in whom yet the issue seems to be the same. Some have had such a sense of the displeasure of God, and the great danger they were in of damnation, that they could not sleep at nights; and many have said that when they have laid down, the thoughts of sleeping in such a condition have been frightful to them; they have scarcely been free from terror while asleep, and they have awakened with fear, heaviness, and distress still abiding on their spirits. It has been very common, that the deep and fixed concern on persons minds, has had a painful influence on their bodies, and given disturbance to animal nature. The awful apprehensions persons have had of their misery, have for the most part been increasing, the nearer they have approached to deliverance; though they often pass through many changes and alterations in the frame and circumstances of their minds. Sometimes they think themselves wholly senseless, and fear that the Spirit of God has left them, and that they are given up to judicial hardness; yet they appear very deeply exercised about that fear, and are in great earnest to obtain convictions again.

Together with those fears, and that exercise of mind which is rational, and which they have just ground for, they have often suffered many needless distresses of thought, in which Satan probably has a great hand, to entangle them, and block up their way. Sometimes the distemper of melancholy has been evidently mixed; of which, when it happens, the tempter seems to take great advantage, and puts an unhappy bar in the way of any good effect. One knows not how to deal with such persons; they turn everything that is said to them the wrong way, and most to their own disadvantage. There is nothing that the devil seems to make so great a handle of, as a melancholy humor; unless it be the real corruption of the heart.

But it is very remarkable, that there has been far less of this mixture at this time of extraordinary blessing, than there was wont to be in persons under awakenings at other times; for it is evident that many who before had been exceedingly involved is such difficulties, seemed now strangely to be set at liberty. Some persons who had before, for a long time, been exceedingly entangled with peculiar temptations of one sort or other, unprofitable and hurtful distresses, were soon helped over former stumbling-blocks, that hindered their progress towards saving good; convictions have wrought more kindly, and they have been successfully carried on in the way to life. And thus Satan seemed to be restrained, till towards the latter end of this wonderful time, when God's Holy Spirit was about to withdraw.

Many times persons under great awakenings were concerned, because they thought they were not awakened, but miserable, hard-hearted, senseless, sottish creatures still, and sleeping upon the brink of hell. The sense of the need they have to be awakened, and of their comparative hardness, grows upon them with their awakenings; so that they seem to themselves to be very senseless, when indeed most sensible. There have been some instances of persons who have had as great a sense of their danger and misery as their natures could well subsist under, so that a little more would probably have destroyed them; and yet they have expressed themselves much amazed at their own insensibility and sottishness at such an extraordinary time.

Persons are sometimes brought to the borders of despair, and it looks as black as midnight to them a little before the day dawns in their souls. Some few instances there have been, of persons who have had such a sense of God's wrath for sin, that they have been overborne; and made to cry out under an astonishing sense of their guilt, wondering that God suffers such guilty wretches to live upon earth, and that he doth not immediately send them to hell. Sometimes their guilt doth so stare them in the face, that they are in exceeding terror for fear that God will instantly do it; but more commonly their distresses under legal awakenings have not been to such a degree. In some, these terrors do not seem to be so sharp, when near comfort, as before; their convictions have not seemed to work so much that way, but to be led further down into their own hearts, to a further sense of their own universal depravity and deadness in sin.

The corruption of the heart has discovered itself in various exercises, in the time of legal convictions; sometimes it appears in a great struggle, like something roused by an enemy, and Satan, the old inhabitant, seems to exert himself, like a serpent disturbed and enraged. Many in such circumstances, have felt a great spirit of envy towards the godly, especially towards those who are thought to have been lately converted, and most of all towards acquaintances and companions, when they are thought to be converted. Indeed, some have felt many heart-risings against God, and murmurings at His way of dealing with mankind, and His dealings with themselves in particular. It has been much insisted on, both in public and private, that persons should have the utmost dread of such envious thoughts; which if allowed tend exceedingly to quench the Spirit of God, if not to provoke Him finally to forsake them. And when such a spirit has much prevailed, and persons have not so earnestly strove against it as they ought to have done, it has seemed to be exceedingly to the hindrance of the good of their souls. But in some other instances, where persons have been much terrified at the sight of such wickedness in their hearts, God has brought good to them out of evil; and made it a means of convincing them of their own desperate sinfulness, and bringing them off from all self-confidence.

The drift of the Spirit of God in His legal strivings with persons, has seemed most evidently to be, to bring to a conviction of their absolute dependence on His sovereign power and grace, and an universal necessity of a mediator. This has been effected by leading them more and more to a sense of their exceeding wickedness and guiltiness in His sight; their pollution, and the insufficiency of their own righteousness; that they can in no wise help themselves, and that God would be wholly just and righteous in rejecting them and all that they do, and in casting them off for ever. There is however a vast variety as to the manner and distinctness of such convictions.

As they are gradually more and more convinced of the corruption and wickedness of their hearts, they seem to themselves to grow worse and worse, harder and blinder, and more desperately wicked, instead of growing better. They are ready to be discouraged by it, and oftentimes never think themselves so far off from good as when they are nearest. Under the sense which the Spirit of God gives them of their sinfulness, they often think that they differ from all others; their hearts are ready to sink with the thought that they are the worst of all, and that none ever obtained mercy who were so wicked as they.

When awakenings first begin, their consciences are commonly most exercised about their outward vicious course, or other acts of sin; but afterwards are much more burdened with a sense of heart-sins, the dreadful corruption of their nature, their enmity against God, the pride of their hearts, their unbelief, their rejection of Christ, the stubbornness and obstinacy of their wills; and the like. In many, God makes much use of their own experience, in the course of their awakenings and endeavors after saving good, to convince them of their own vile emptiness and universal depravity.

Very often, under first awakenings, when they are brought to reflect on the sin of their past lives, and have something of a terrifying sense of God's anger, they set themselves to walk more strictly, and confess their sins, and perform many religious duties, with a secret hope of appeasing God's anger, and making up for the sins they have committed. And oftentimes, at first setting out, their affections are so moved, that they are full of tears, in their confessions and prayers; which they are ready to make very much of, as though they were some atonement, and had power to move correspondent affections in God too. Hence they are for a while big with expectation of what God will do for them; and conceive they grow better apace, and shall soon be thoroughly converted. But these affections are but short-lived; they quickly find that they fail, and then they think themselves to be grown worse again. They do not find such a prospect of being soon converted, as they thought: instead of being nearer, they seem to be further off; their hearts they think are grown harder, and by this means their fears of perishing greatly increase. But though they are disappointed, they renew their attempts again and again; and still as their attempts are multiplied, so are their disappointments. All fails, they see no token of having inclined God's heart to them, they do not see that He hears their prayers at all, as they expected He would; and sometimes there have been great temptations arising hence to leave off seeking, and to yield up the case. But as they are still more terrified with fears of perishing, and their former hopes of prevailing on God to be merciful to them in a great measure fail, sometimes their religious affections have turned into heart risings against God, because He will not pity them, and seems to have little regard to their distress, and piteous cries, and to all the pains they take. They think of the mercy God has shown to others; how soon and how easily others have obtained comfort, and those too who were worse than they, and have not labored so much as they have done; and sometimes they have had even dreadful blasphemous thoughts, in these circumstances.

But when they reflect on these wicked workings of heart against God-if their convictions are continued, and the Spirit of God is not provoked utterly to forsake them-they have more distressing apprehensions of the anger of God towards those whose hearts work after such a sinful manner about Him; and it may be, have great fears that they have committed the unpardonable sin, or that God will surely never show mercy to them who are such vipers; and are often tempted to leave off in despair. But then perhaps by something they read or hear of the infinite mercy of God, and all-sufficiency of Christ for the chief of sinners, they have some encouragement and hope renewed; but think that as yet they are not fit to come to Christ; they are so wicked that Christ will never accept them. And then it may be they set themselves upon a new course of fruitless endeavors, in their own strength, to make themselves better, and still meet with new disappointments. They are earnest to inquire what they shall do. They do not know but there is something else to be done, in order to their obtaining converting grace, that they have never done yet. It may be they hope that they are something better than they were; but then the pleasing dream all vanishes again. If they are told that they trust too much to their own strength and righteousness, they cannot unlearn this practice all at once, and find not yet the appearance of any good, but all looks as dark as midnight to them. Thus they wander about from mountain to hill, seeking rest, and finding none. When they are beat out of one refuge, they fly to another; till they are as it were debilitated, broken, and subdued with legal humblings; in which God gives them a conviction of their own utter helplessness and insufficiency, and discovers the true remedy in a clearer knowledge of Christ and His gospel.

When they begin to seek salvation, they are commonly profoundly ignorant of themselves; they are not sensible how blind they are; and how little they can do towards bringing themselves to see spiritual things aright, and towards putting forth gracious exercises in their own souls. They are not sensible how remote they are from love to God, and other holy dispositions, and how dead they are in sin. When they see unexpected pollution in their own hearts, they go about to wash away their own defilements, and make themselves clean; and they weary themselves in vain, till God shows them that it is in vain, and that their help is not where they have sought it.

But some persons continue wandering in such a kind of labyrinth, ten times as long as others, before their own experience will convince them of their insufficiency; and so it appears not to be their own experience only, but the convincing influence of God's Holy Spirit with their experience, that attains the effect. God has of late abundantly shown that He does not need to wait to have men convinced by long and often repeated fruitless trials; for in multitudes of instances He has made a shorter work of it. He has so awakened and convinced persons' consciences, and made them so sensible of their exceeding great vileness, and given them such a sense of His wrath against sin, as has quickly overcome all their vain self-confidence, and borne them down into the dust before a holy and righteous God.

There have been some who have not had great terrors, but have had a very quick work. Some of those who have not had so deep a conviction of these things before their conversion, have much more of it afterwards. God has appeared far from limiting Himself to any certain method in His proceedings with sinners under legal convictions. In some instances, it seems easy for our reasoning powers to discern the methods of divine wisdom, in His dealings with the soul under awakenings; in others, His footsteps cannot be traced, and His ways are past finding out. Some who are less distinctly wrought upon, in what is preparatory to grace, appear no less eminent in gracious experiences afterwards. There is in nothing a greater difference, in different persons, than with respect to the time of their being under trouble; some but a few days, and others for months or years. There were many in this town, who had been, before this effusion of the Spirit upon us, for years, and some for many years, concerned about their salvation. Though probably they were not thoroughly awakened, yet they were concerned to such a degree as to be very uneasy, so as to live an uncomfortable disquieted life. They continued in a way of taking considerable pains about their salvation; but had never obtained any comfortable evidence of a good state. Several such persons, in this extraordinary time, have received light; but many of them were some of the last. They first saw multitudes of others rejoicing, with songs of deliverance in their mouths, who before had seemed wholly careless and at ease, and in pursuit of vanity; while they had been bowed down with solicitude about their souls. Yea, some had lived licentiously, and so continued till a little before they were converted; and yet soon grew up to a holy rejoicing in the infinite blessings God had bestowed upon them.

Whatever minister has a like occasion to deal with souls, in a flock under such circumstances, as this was in the last year, I cannot but think he will soon find himself under a necessity, greatly to insist upon it with them, that God is under no manner of obligation to show mercy to any natural man, whose heart is not turned to God: and that a man can challenge nothing either in absolute justice, or by free promise, from anything he does before he has believed on Jesus Christ, or has true repentance begun in him. It appears to me, that if I had taught those who came to me under trouble any other doctrine, I should have taken a most direct course utterly to undo them. I should have directly crossed what was plainly the drift of the Spirit of God in His influences upon them; for if they had believed what I said, it would either have promoted self-flattery and carelessness, and so put an end to their awakenings; or cherished and established their contention and strife with God, concerning His dealings with them and others, and blocked up their way to that humiliation before the Sovereign Disposer of life and death, whereby God is wont to prepare them for His consolations. And yet those who have been under awakenings have oftentimes plainly stood in need of being encouraged, by being told of the infinite and all-sufficient mercy of God in Christ; and that it is God's manner to succeed diligence, and to bless His own means, that so awakenings and encouragements, fear and hope, may be duly mixed and proportioned to preserve their minds in a just medium between the two extremes of self-flattery and despondence, both which tend to slackness and negligence, and in the end to security. I think I have found that no discourses have been more remarkably blessed, than those in which the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty with regard to the salvation of sinners, and His just liberty with regard to answering the prayers, or succeeding the pains, of natural men, continuing such, have been insisted on. I never found so much immediate saving fruit, in any measure, of any discourses I have offered to my congregation, as some from these words, Rom. iii. 19. "That every mouth may be stopped;" endeavoring to show from thence that it would be just with God for ever to reject and cast off mere natural men.

As to those in whom awakenings seem to have a saving issue, commonly the first thing that appears after their legal troubles, is a conviction of the justice of God in their condemnation, appearing in a sense of their own exceeding sinfulness, and the vileness of all their performances. In giving an account of this, they expressed themselves very variously; some, that they saw God was sovereign, and might receive others and reject them; some, that they were convinced God might justly bestow mercy on every person in the town, in the world, and damn themselves to all eternity; some, that they see God may justly have no regard to all the pains they have taken, and all the prayers they have made; some, that if they should seek, and take the utmost pains all their lives, God might justly cast them into hell at last, because all their labors, prayers, and tears cannot make an atonement for the least sin, nor merit any blessing at the hands of God. Some have declared themselves to be in the hands of God, that He may dispose of them just as He pleases; some, that God may glorify Himself in their damnation, and they wonder that God has suffered them to live so long, and has not cast them into hell long ago.

Some are brought to this conviction by a great sense of their sinfulness, in general, that they are such vile wicked creatures in heart and life: others have the sins of their lives in an extraordinary manner set before them, multitudes of them coming just then fresh to their memory, and being set before them with their aggravations. Some have their minds especially fixed on some particular wicked practice they have indulged. Some are especially convinced by a sight of the corruption and wickedness of their hearts. Some, from a view they have of the horridness of some particular exercises of corruption, which they have had in the time of their awakening, whereby the enmity of the heart against God has been manifested. Some are convinced especially by a sense of the sin of unbelief, the opposition of their hearts to the way of salvation by Christ, and their obstinacy in rejecting Him and His grace.

There is a great deal of difference as to distinctness here; some, who have not so clear a sight of God's justice in their condemnation, yet mention things that plainly imply it. They find a disposition to acknowledge God to be just and righteous in His threatenings, and that they are undeserving: and many times, though they had not so particular a sight of it at the beginning, they have very clear discoveries of it soon afterwards, with great humblings in the dust before God.

Commonly persons' minds immediately before this discovery of God's justice are exceedingly restless, in a kind of struggle and tumult, and sometimes in mere anguish; but generally, as soon as they have this conviction, it immediately brings their minds to a calm, and unexpected quietness and composure; and most frequently, though not always, then the pressing weight upon their spirits is taken away, and a general hope arises, that some time or other God will be gracious, even before any distinct and particular discoveries of mercy. Often they then come to a conclusion within themselves, that they will lie at God's feet, and wait His time; and they rest in that, not being sensible that the Spirit of God has now brought them to a frame whereby they are prepared for mercy. For it is remarkable, that persons when they first have this sense of the justice of God, rarely, at the time, think anything of its being that humiliation they have often heard insisted on, and that others experience.

In many persons, the first conviction of the justice of God in their condemnation which they take particular notice of, and probably the first distinct conviction of it that they have, is of such a nature, as seems to be above anything merely legal. Though it be after legal humblings, and much of a sense of their own helplessness, and of the insufficiency of their own duties; yet it does not appear to be forced by mere legal terrors and convictions, but rather from a high exercise of grace, in saving repentance, and evangelical humiliation. For there is in it a sort of complacency of soul in the attribute of God's justice, as displayed in His threatenings of eternal damnation to sinners. Sometimes at the discovery of it, they can scarcely forbear crying out, It is just! It is just! Some express themselves, that they could see the glory of God would shine bright in their own condemnation; and they are ready to think that if they are damned, they could take part with God against themselves, and would glorify His justice therein. And when it is thus, they commonly have some evident sense of free and all-sufficient grace, though they give no distinct account of it; but it is manifest, by that great degree of hope and encouragement they then conceive, though they were never so sensible of their own vileness and ill-deservings as they are at that time.

Some, when in such circumstances, have felt that sense of the excellency of God's justice, appearing in the vindictive exercises of it, against such sinfulness as theirs was; and have had such a submission of mind in their idea of this attribute, and of those exercises of it-together with an exceeding loathing of their own unworthiness, and a kind of indignation against themselves-that they have sometimes almost called it a willingness to be damned; though it must be owned they had not clear and distinct ideas of damnation, nor does any word in the Bible require such self-denial as this. But the truth is, as some have more clearly expressed it, that salvation has appeared too good for them, that they were worthy of nothing but condemnation, and they could not tell how to think of salvation being bestowed upon them, fearing it was inconsistent with the glory of God's majesty, that they had so much contemned and affronted.

That calm of spirit that some persons have found after their legal distresses, continues some time before any special and delightful manifestation is made to the soul of the grace of God as revealed in the gospel. But very often some comfortable and sweet view of a merciful God, of a sufficient Redeemer, or of some great and joyful things of the gospel, immediately follows, or in a very little time: and in some, the first sight of their just deserts of hell, and God's sovereignty with respect to their salvation, and a discovery of all-sufficient grace, are so near, that they seem to go as it were together.

These gracious discoveries given, whence the first special comforts are derived, are in many respects very various. More frequently, Christ is distinctly made the object of the mind, in His all-sufficiency and willingness to save sinners; but some have their thoughts more especially fixed on God, in some of His sweet and glorious attributes manifested in the gospel, and shining forth in the face of Christ. Some view the all-sufficiency of the mercy and grace of God; some, chiefly the infinite power of God, and His ability to save them, and to do all things for them; and some look most at the truth and faithfulness of God. In some, the truth and certainty of the gospel in general is the first joyful discovery they have; in others, the certain truth of some particular promises; in some, the grace and sincerity of God in His invitations, very commonly in some particular invitation in the mind, and it now appears real to them that God does indeed invite them. Some are struck with the glory and wonderfulness of the dying love of Christ; and some with the sufficiency and preciousness of His blood, as offered to make an atonement for sin; and others with the value and glory of His obedience and righteousness. In some the excellency and loveliness of Christ, chiefly engages their thoughts; in some His divinity, that He is indeed the Son of the living God; and in others, the excellency of the way of salvation by Christ, and the suitableness of it to their necessities.

Some have an apprehension of these things so given, that it seems more natural to them to express it by sight or discovery, others think what they experience is better expressed by the realizing conviction, or a lively or feeling sense of heart; meaning, as I suppose, no other difference but what is merely circumstantial or gradual.

There is, often, in the mind, some particular text of Scripture, holding forth some evangelical ground of consolation; sometimes a multitude of texts, gracious invitations and promises flowing in one after another, filling the soul more and more with comfort and satisfaction. Comfort is first given to some, while reading some portion of Scripture; but in some it is attended with no particular Scripture at all, either in reading or meditation. In some, many divine things seem to be discovered to the soul as it were at once; others have their minds especially fixing on some one thing at first, and afterwards a sense is given of others; in some with a swifter, and others a slower succession, and sometimes with interruptions of much darkness.

The way that grace seems sometimes first to appear, after legal humiliation, is in earnest longings of soul after God and Christ: to know God, to love Him, to be humble before Him, to have communion with Christ in His benefits; which longings, as they express them, seem evidently to be of such a nature as can arise from nothing but a sense of the superlative excellency of divine things, with a spiritual taste and relish of them, and an esteem of them as their highest happiness and best portion. Such longings as I speak of, are commonly attended with firm resolutions to pursue this good for ever, together with a hoping, waiting disposition. When persons have begun in such frames, commonly other experiences and discoveries have soon followed, which have yet more clearly manifested a change of heart.

It must needs be confessed that Christ is not always distinctly and explicitly thought of in the first sensible act of grace (though most commonly He is), but sometimes He is the object of the mind only implicitly. Thus sometimes when persons have seemed evidently to be stripped of all their own righteousness, and to have stood self-condemned as guilty of death, they have been comforted with a joyful and satisfying view, that the mercy and grace of God is sufficient for them-that their sins, though never so great, shall be no hindrance to their being accepted; that there is mercy enough in God for the whole world, and the like-when they give no account of any particular or distinct thought of Christ. But yet, when the account they give is duly weighed, and they are a little interrogated about it, it appears that the revelation of mercy in the gospel is the ground of their encouragement and hope; and that it is indeed the mercy of God through Christ that is discovered in them, and that it is depended on in Him, and not in any wise moved by anything in them.

Sometimes disconsolate souls have been revived, and brought to rest in God, by a sweet sense of His grace and faithfulness, in some special invitation or promise; in which nevertheless there is no particular mention of Christ, nor is it accompanied with any distinct thought of Him in their minds: but yet, it is not received as out of Christ, but as one of the invitations or promises made of God to poor sinners through His Son Jesus. And such persons afterwards have had clear and distinct discoveries of Christ, accompanied with lively and special actings of faith and love towards Him.

Frequently, when persons have first had the gospel-ground of relief discovered to them, and have been entertaining their minds with the sweet prospect, they have thought nothing at that time of their being converted. To see that there is an all-sufficiency in God, and such plentiful provision made in Christ, after they have been borne down and sunk with a sense of their guilt and fears of wrath, exceedingly refreshes them. The view is joyful to them to seek conversion. This begets in them a strong resolution to devote themselves and their whole lives to God and His Son, and patiently to wait till God shall see fit to make all effectual; and they very often entertain a strong persuasion that He will in His own time do it for them.

There is wrought in them a holy repose of soul in God through Christ, with a secret disposition to fear and love Him, and to hope for blessings from Him in this way. Yet they have no imagination that they are now converted; it does not so much as come in their minds: and very often the reason is, that they do not see that they accept of this sufficiency of salvation they behold in Christ, having entertained a wrong notion of acceptance; not being sensible that the obedient and joyful entertainment which their hearts give to this discovery of grace is a real acceptance of it. They know not that the sweet complacence they feel in the mercy and complete salvation of God, as it includes pardon and sanctification, and is held forth to them only through Christ, is a true receiving of this mercy, or a plain evidence of their receiving it. They expected I know not what kind of act of soul, and perhaps they had no distinct idea of it themselves.

And indeed it appears very plainly in some of them, that before their own conversion they had very imperfect ideas what conversion was. It is all new and strange, and what there was no clear conception of before. It is most evident, as they themselves acknowledge, that the expressions used to describe conversion, and the graces of God's Holy Spirit-such as a spiritual sight of Christ, faith in Christ, poverty of spirit, trust in God, etc.-did not convey those distinct ideas to their minds which they were intended to signify. Perhaps to some of them it was but little more than the names of colors are to convey the ideas to one that is blind from his birth.

In this town there has always been a great deal of talk about conversion and spiritual experiences; and therefore people in general had formed a notion in their own minds what these things were. But when they come to be the subjects of them, they find themselves much confounded in their notions, and overthrown in many of their former conceits. And it has been very observable, that persons of the greatest understanding, and who had studied most about things of this nature, have been more confounded than others. Some such persons declare, that all their former wisdom is brought to nought, and that they appear to have been mere babes, who knew nothing. It has appeared, that none have stood more in need of instruction, even of their fellow-Christians, concerning their own circumstances and difficulties, than they: and it seems to have been with delight, that they have seen themselves thus brought down, and become nothing; that free grace and divine power may be exalted in them.

It was very wonderful to see how persons affections were sometimes moved-when God did as it were suddenly open their eyes, and let into their minds a sense of the greatness of His grace, the fullness of Christ, and His readiness to save-after having been broken with apprehensions of divine wrath, and sunk into an abyss, under a sense of guilt which they were ready to think was beyond the mercy of God. Their joyful surprise has caused their hearts as it were to leap, so that they have been ready to break forth into laughter, tears often at the same time issuing like a flood, and intermingling a loud weeping. Sometimes they have not been able to forbear crying out with a loud voice, expressing their great admiration. In some, even the view of the glory of God's sovereignty, in the exercises of His grace, has surprised the soul with such sweetness, as to produce the same effects. I remember an instance of one, who, reading something concerning God's sovereign way of saving sinners, as being self-moved-having no regard to men's own righteousness as the motive of His grace, but as magnifying Himself and abasing man, or to that purpose-felt such a sudden rapture of joy and delight in the consideration of it: and yet then he suspected himself to be in a Christless condition, and had been long in great distress for fear that God would not have mercy on him.

Many continue a long time in a course of gracious exercises and experiences, and do not think themselves to be converted, but conclude otherwise; and none knows how long they would continue so, were they not helped by particular instructions. There are undoubted instances of some who have lived in this way for many years together; and these circumstances had various consequences, with various persons, and with the same persons, at various times. Some continue in great encouragement and hope, that they shall obtain mercy in a steadfast resolution to persevere in seeking it, and in an humble waiting in it before God. But very often, when the lively sense of the sufficiency of Christ and the riches of divine grace, begins to vanish, upon a withdrawment of divine influences, they return to greater distress than ever. For they have now a far greater sense of the misery of a natural condition than before, being in a new manner sensible of the reality of eternal things, the greatness of God, His excellency, and how dreadful it is to be separated from Him, and to be subject to His wrath; so that they are sometimes swallowed up with darkness and amazement. Satan has a vast advantage in such cases to ply them with various temptations, which he is not wont to neglect: in such a case, persons very much need a guide to lead them to an understanding of what we are taught in the word of God concerning the nature of grace, and to help them to apply it to themselves.

I have been much blamed and censured by many, that I should make it my practice, when I have been satisfied concerning persons' good estate, to signify it to them. This has been greatly misrepresented abroad, as innumerable other things concerning us, to prejudice the country against the whole affair. But let it be noted, that what I have undertaken to judge of, has rather been qualifications, and declared experiences, than persons. Not but that I have thought it my duty, as a pastor, to assist and instruct persons in applying Scripture-rules and characters to their own case (in which, I think, many greatly need a guide); and I have, where the case appeared plain, used freedom in signifying my hope of them to others. But I have been far from doing this concerning all that I have had some hopes of; and I believe have used much more caution than many have supposed. Yet I should account it a great calamity to be deprived of the comfort of rejoicing with those of my flock who have been in great distress, whose circumstances I have been acquainted with, when there seems to be good evidence that those who were dead are alive, and that those who were lost are found. I am sensible the practice would have been safer in the hands of one of a riper judgment and greater experience: but yet, there seems to be an absolute necessity of it on the forementioned accounts; and it has been found what God has most remarkably owned and blessed amongst us, both to the persons themselves, and to others. Grace in many persons, through this ignorance of their state, and their looking on themselves still as the objects of God's displeasure, has been like the trees in winter, or like seed in the spring suppressed under a hard clod of earth. Many in such cases have labored to their utmost to divert their minds from the pleasing and joyful views they have had, and to suppress those consolations and gracious affections that arose thereupon. And when it has once come into their minds to inquire, whether or not this was not true grace, they have been much afraid lest they should be deceived with common illuminations and flashes of affection, and eternally undone with a false hope. But when they have been better instructed, and so brought to allow of hope, this has awakened the gracious disposition of their hearts into life and vigor as the warm beams of the sun in the spring have quickened the seeds and productions of the earth. Grace being now at liberty, and cherished with hope, has soon flowed out to their abundant satisfaction and increase.

There is no one thing that I know of which God has made such a means of promoting His work amongst us, as the news of others' conversion. This has been owned in awakening sinners, engaging them earnestly to seek the same blessing, and in quickening saints. Though I have thought that a minister declaring his judgment about particular persons' experiences, might from these things be justified; yet I often signify to my people how unable man is to know another's heart, and how unsafe it is to depend merely on the judgment of others. I have abundantly insisted, that a manifestation of sincerity in fruits brought forth, is better than any manifestation they can make of it in words alone: and that without this, all pretences to spiritual experiences are vain. This all my congregation can witness. And the people in general have manifested an extraordinary dread of being deceived; being exceeding fearful lest they should build wrong. Some of them have been backward to receive hope, even to a great extreme, which has occasioned me to dwell longer on this part of the narrative.

Conversion is a great and glorious work of God's power, at once changing the heart, and infusing life into the dead soul; though the grace then implanted more gradually displays itself in some than in others. But as to fixing on the precise time when they put forth the very first act of grace, there is a great deal of difference in different persons; in some it seems to be very discernible when the very time was; but others are more at a loss. In this respect, there are very many who do not know, even when they have it, that it is the grace of conversion, and sometimes do not think it to be so till a long time after. Many, even when they come to entertain great hopes that they are converted, if they remember what they experienced in the first exercises of grace, they are at a loss whether it was any more than a common illumination; or whether some other more clear and remarkable experience which they had afterwards, was not the first of a saving nature. The manner of God's work on the soul, sometimes especially, is very mysterious; and it is with the kingdom of God as to its manifestation in the heart of a convert, as is said, Mark iv. 26, 27,28, "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how; for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear."

In some, converting light is like a glorious brightness suddenly shining upon a person, and all around him: they are in a remarkable manner brought out of darkness into marvelous light. In many others it has been like the dawning of the day, when at first but a little light appears, and it may be presently hid with a cloud; and then it appears again, and shines a little brighter, and gradually increases, with intervening darkness, till at length it breaks forth more clearly from behind the clouds. And many are, doubtless, ready to date their conversion wrong, throwing by those lesser degrees of light that appeared at first dawning, and calling some more remarkable experience they had afterwards, their conversion. This often, in a great measure, arises from a wrong understanding of what they have always been taught, that conversion is a great change, wherein old things are done away, and all things become new, or at least from a false inference from that doctrine.

Persons commonly at first conversion, and afterwards, have had many texts of Scripture brought to their minds, which are exceeding suitable to their circumstances, often come with great power, as the word of God or of Christ indeed; and many have a multitude of sweet invitations, promises, and doxologies flowing in one after another, bringing great light and comfort with them, filling the soul brimful, enlarging the heart, and opening the mouth in religion. And it seems to be necessary to suppose that there is an immediate influence of the Spirit of God, oftentimes, in bringing texts of Scripture to the mind. Not that I suppose it is done in a way of immediate revelation, without any use of the memory; but yet there seems plainly to be an immediate and extraordinary influence, in leading their thoughts to such and such passages of Scripture, and exciting them in the memory. Indeed in some, God seems to bring texts of Scripture to their minds no otherwise than by leading them into such frames and meditations as harmonize with those Scriptures; but in many persons there seems to be something more than this.

Those who, while under legal convictions, have had the greatest terrors, have not always obtained the greatest light and comfort; nor have they always light most suddenly communicated; but yet, I think, the time of conversion has generally been most sensible in such persons. Oftentimes, the first sensible change after the extremity of terrors, is a calmness, and then the light gradually comes in; small glimpses at first, after their midnight darkness, and a word or two of comfort, as it were softly spoken to them. They have a little taste of the sweetness of divine grace, and the love of a Savior, when terror and distress of conscience begin to be turned into an humble, meek sense of their own unworthiness before God. There is felt, inwardly, sometimes a disposition to praise God; and after a little while the light comes in more clearly and powerfully. But yet, I think, more frequently, great terrors have been followed with more sudden and great light and comfort; when the sinner seems to be as it were subdued and brought to a calm, from a kind of tumult of mind, then God lets in an extraordinary sense of His great mercy through a Redeemer.

Converting influences very commonly bring an extraordinary conviction of the reality and certainty of the great things of religion; though in some this is much greater some time after conversion, than at first. They have that sight and taste of the divine excellency there is in the gospel, which is more effectual to convince them than reading many volumes of arguments without it. It seems to me, that in many instances, when the glory of Christian truths has been set before persons, and they have at the same time as it were seen, and tasted, and felt the divinity of them, they have been as far from doubting their truth as they are from doubting whether there be a sun, when their eyes are open in the midst of a clear hemisphere, and the strong blaze of His light overcomes all objections. And yet, many of them, if we should ask them why they believed those things to be true, would not be able well to express or communicate a sufficient reason to satisfy the inquirer; and perhaps would make no other answer but that they see Him to be true. But a person might soon be satisfied, by a particular conversation with them, that what they mean by such an answer is, that they have intuitively beheld, and immediately felt, most illustrious and powerful evidence of divinity in them.

Some are thus convinced of the truth of the gospel in general, and that the Scriptures are the word of God: others have their minds more especially fixed on some particular great doctrine of the gospel, some particular truths that they are meditating on, or reading of, in some portion of Scripture. Some have such conviction in a much more remarkable manner than others: and there are some who never had such a special sense of the certainty of divine things impressed upon them, with such inward evidence and strength, but who yet have very clear exercises of grace; i.e. of love to God, repentance, and holiness. And if they be more particularly examined, they appear plainly to have an inward firm persuasion of the reality of divine things, such as they did not use to have before their conversion. And those who have the most clear discoveries of divine truth in the manner that has been mentioned, cannot have this always in view. When the sense and relish of the divine excellency of these things fades, on a withdrawment of the Spirit of God, they have not the medium of the conviction of their truth at command. In a dull frame, they cannot recall the idea and inward sense they had, perfectly to mind; things appear very dim to what they did before. And though there still remains an habitual strong persuasion; yet not so as to exclude temptations to unbelief, and all possibility of doubting. But then, at particular times, by God's help, the same sense of things revives again, like fire that lay hid in ashes. I suppose the grounds of such a conviction of the truth of divine things to be just and rational; but yet, in some, God makes use of their own reason much more sensibly than in others. Oftentimes persons have (so far as could be judged) received the first saving conviction from reasoning which they have heard from the pulpit; and often in the course of reasoning they are led into in their own meditations.

The arguments are the same that they have heard hundreds of times; but the force of the arguments, and their conviction by them, is altogether new; they come with a new and before unexperienced power. Before, they heard it was so, and they allowed it to be so; but now they see it to be so indeed. Things now look exceeding plain to them, and they wonder they did not see them before.

They are so greatly taken with their new discovery, and things appear so plain and so rational to them, that they are often at first ready to think they can convince others; and are apt to engage in talk with every one they meet with, almost to this end; and when they are disappointed, are ready to wonder that their reasonings seem to make no more impression. Many fall under such a mistake as to be ready to doubt of their good estate, because there was so much use made of their own reason in the convictions they have received; they are afraid that they have no illumination above the natural force of their own faculties: and many make that an objection against the spirituality of their convictions, that it is so easy to see things as they now see them. They have often heard, that conversion is a work of mighty power, manifesting to the soul what neither man nor angel can give such a conviction of; but it seems to them that these things are so plain and easy, and rational, that anybody can see them. If they are asked, why they never saw thus before, they say, it seems to them it was because they never thought of it. But very often these difficulties are soon removed by those of another nature; for when God withdraws, they find themselves as it were blind again, they for the present lose their realizing sense of those things that looked so plain to them, and, by all they can do, they cannot recover it, till God renews the influence of His Spirit.

Persons after their conversion often speak of religious things as seeming new to them; that preaching is a new thing; that it seems to them they never heard preaching before; that the Bible is a new book: they find there new chapters, new psalms, new histories, because they see them in a new light. Here was a remarkable instance of an aged woman, of about seventy years, who had spent most of her days under Mr. Stoddard's powerful ministry. Reading in the New Testament concerning Christ's sufferings for sinners, she seemed to be astonished at what she read, as what was real and very wonderful, but quite new to her. At first, before she had time to turn her thoughts, she wondered within herself, that she had never heard of it before; but then immediately recollected herself, and thought she had often heard of it, and read it, but never till now saw it as real. She then cast in her mind how wonderful this was, that the Son of God should undergo such things for sinners, and how she had spent her time in ungratefully sinning against so good a God, and such a Savior; though she was a person, apparently, of a very blameless and inoffensive life. And she was so overcome by those considerations that her nature was ready to fail under them: those who were about her, and knew not what was the matter, were surprised, and thought she was dying.

Many have spoken much of their hearts being drawn out in love to God and Christ; and of their minds being wrapped up in delightful contemplation of the glory and wonderful grace of God, the excellency and dying love of Jesus Christ; and of their souls going forth in longing desires after God and Christ. Several of our young children have expressed much of this; and have manifested a willingness to leave father and mother and all things in the world, to go and be with Christ; some persons having had such longing desires after Christ, or which have risen to such degree, as to take away their natural strength. Some have been so overcome with a sense of the dying love of Christ to such poor, wretched, and unworthy creatures, as to weaken the body. Several persons have had so great a sense of the glory of God, and excellency of Christ, that nature and life seemed almost to sink under it; and in all probability, if God had showed them a little more of Himself, it would have dissolved their frame. I have seen some, and conversed with them in such frames, who have certainly been perfectly sober, and very remote from anything like enthusiastic wildness. And they have talked, when able to speak, of the glory of God's perfections, the wonderfulness of His grace in Christ, and their own unworthiness, in such a manner as cannot be perfectly expressed after them. Their sense of their exceeding littleness and vileness, and their disposition to abase themselves before God, has appeared to be great in proportion to their light and joy.

Such persons amongst us as have been thus distinguished with the most extraordinary discoveries, have commonly nowise appeared with the assuming, self-conceited, and self-sufficient airs of enthusiasts, but exceedingly the contrary. They are eminent for a spirit of meekness, modesty, self-diffidence, and a low opinion of themselves. No persons appear so sensible of their need of instruction and so eager to receive it, as some of them; nor so ready to think others better than themselves. Those that have been considered as converted amongst us, have generally manifested a longing to lie low and in the dust before God; withal complaining of their not being able to lie low enough.

They speak much of their sense of excellency in the way of salvation by free and sovereign grace, through the righteousness of Christ alone; and how it is with delight that they renounce their own righteousness, and rejoice in having no account made of it. Many have expressed themselves to this purpose, that it would lessen the satisfaction they hope for in heaven to have it by their own righteousness, or in any other way than as bestowed by free grace, and for Christ's sake alone. They speak much of the inexpressibleness of what they experience, how their words fail, so that they cannot declare it. And particularly they speak with exceeding admiration of the superlative excellency of that pleasure and delight which they sometimes enjoy; how a little of it is sufficient to pay them for all the pains and trouble they have gone through in seeking salvation; and how far it exceeds all earthly pleasures. Some express much of the sense which these spiritual views give them of the vanity of earthly enjoyments, how mean and worthless all these things appear to them.

Many, while their minds have been filled with spiritual delights, have as it were forgot their food; their bodily appetite has failed, while their minds have been entertained with meat to eat that others knew not of. The light and comfort which some of them enjoy, give a new relish to their common blessings, and cause all things about them to appear as it were beautiful, sweet, and pleasant. All things abroad, the sun, moon, and stars, the clouds and sky, the heavens and earth, appear as it were with a divine glory and sweetness upon them. Though this joy includes in it a delightful sense of the safety of their own state, yet frequently, in times of their highest spiritual entertainment, this seems not to be the chief object of their fixed thought and meditation. The supreme attention of their minds is to the glorious excellencies of God and Christ; and there is very often a ravishing sense of God's love accompanying a sense of His excellency. They rejoice in a sense of the faithfulness of God's promises, as they respect the future eternal enjoyment of Him.

The unparalleled joy that many of them speak of, is what they find when they are lowest in the dust, emptied most of themselves, and as it were annihilating themselves before God; when they are nothing, and God is all; seeing their own unworthiness, depending not at all on themselves, but alone on Christ, and ascribing all glory to God. Then their souls are most in the enjoyment of satisfying rest; excepting that, at such times, they apprehend themselves to be not sufficiently self-abased; for then above all times do they long to be lower. Some speak much of the exquisite sweetness, and rest of soul, that is to be found in the exercise of resignation to God, and humble submission to His will. Many express earnest longings of soul to praise God; but at the same time complain that they cannot praise Him as they would, and they want to have others help them in praising Him. They want to have every one praise God, and are ready to call upon everything to praise Him. They express a longing desire to live to God's glory, and to do something to His honor; but at the same time complain of their insufficiency and barrenness; that they are poor and impotent creatures, can do nothing of themselves, and are utterly insufficient to glorify their Creator and Redeemer.

While God was so remarkably present amongst us by His Spirit, there was no book so delightful as the Bible; especially the Book of Psalms, the Prophecy of Isaiah, and the New Testament. Some, by reason of their love to God's word, at times have been wonderfully delighted and affected at the sight of a Bible; and then, also, there was no time so prized as the Lord's day, and no place in this world so desired as God's house. Our converts then remarkably appeared united in dear affection to one another, and many have expressed much of that spirit of love which they felt toward all mankind; and particularly to those who had been least friendly to them. Never, I believe, was so much done in confessing injuries, and making up differences, as the last year. Persons, after their own conversion, have commonly expressed an exceeding great desire for the conversion of others. Some have thought that they should be willing to die for the conversion of any soul, though of one of the meanest of their fellow-creatures, or of their worst enemies; and many have, indeed, been in great distress with desires and longings for it. This work of God had also a good effect to unite the people's affections much to their minister.

There are some persons whom I have been acquainted with, but more especially two, that belong to other towns, who have been swallowed up exceedingly with a sense of the awful greatness and majesty of God; and both of them told me to this purpose, that if, at the time, they had entertained the least fear that they were not at peace with this so great a God, they should certainly have died.

It is worthy to be remarked, that some persons, by their conversion, seem to be greatly helped as to their doctrinal notions of religion. It was particularly remarkable in one, who, having been taken captive in his childhood, was trained up m Canada in the popish religion. Some years since he returned to this his native place, and was in a measure brought off from popery; but seemed very awkward and dull in receiving any clear notion of the Protestant scheme till he was converted; and then he was remarkably altered in this respect.

There is a vast difference, as observed, in the degree, and also in the particular manner, of persons' experiences, both at and after conversion; some have grace working more sensibly in one way, others in another. Some speak more fully of a conviction of the justice of God in their condemnation; others, more of their consenting to the way of salvation by Christ; and some, more of the actings of love to God and Christ. Some speak more of acts of affiance, in a sweet and assured conviction of the truth and faithfulness of God in His promises; others, more of their choosing and resting in God as their whole and everlasting portion; and of their ardent and longing desire after God, to have communion with Him; and others, more of their abhorrence to themselves for their past sins, and earnest longings to live to God's glory for the time to come. But it seems evidently to be the same work, the same habitual change wrought in the heart; it all tends the same way, and to the same end; and it is plainly the same spirit that breathes and acts in various persons. There is an endless variety in the particular manner and circumstances in which persons are wrought on; and an opportunity of seeing so much will show that God is further from confining Himself to a particular method in His work on souls than some imagine. I believe it has occasioned some good people amongst us, who were before too ready to make their own experience a rule to others, to be less censorious and more extended in their charity; and this is an excellent advantage indeed. The work of God has been glorious in its variety; it has the more displayed the manifold and unsearchable wisdom of God, and wrought more charity among His people.

There is a great difference among those who are converted, as to the degree of hope and satisfaction they have concerning their own state. Some have a high degree of satisfaction in this matter almost constantly; and yet it is rare that any enjoy so full an assurance of their interest in Christ that self-examination should seem needless to them; unless it be at particular seasons, while in the actual enjoyment of some great discovery God gives of His glory and rich grace in Christ, to the drawing forth of extraordinary acts of grace. But the greater part, as they sometimes fall into dead frames of spirit, are frequently exercised with scruples and fears concerning their condition.

They generally have an awful apprehension of the dreadful nature of a false hope; and there has been observable in most a great caution, lest in giving an account of their experiences, they should say too much, and use too strong terms. Many, after they have related their experiences, have been greatly afflicted with fears, lest they have played the hypocrite, and used stronger terms than their case would fairly allow of; and yet could not find how they could correct themselves.

I think the main ground of the doubts and fears that persons after their conversion have been exercised with about their own state, has been, that they have found so much corruption remaining in their hearts. At first, their souls seem to be all alive, their hearts are fixed, and their affections flowing; they seem to live quite above the world, and meet with but little difficulty in religious exercises; and they are ready to think it will always be so. Though they are truly abased under a sense of their vileness, by reason of former acts of sin, yet they are not then sufficiently sensible what corruption still remains in their hearts; and therefore are surprised when they find that they begin to be in dull and dead frames, troubled with wandering thoughts at the time of public and private worship, and utterly unable to keep themselves from them. When they find themselves unaffected, while yet there is the greatest occasion to be affected; and when they feel worldly dispositions working in them-pride, envy, stirrings of revenge, or some ill spirit towards some person that has injured them, as well as other workings of indwelling sin-their hearts are almost sunk with the disappointment; and they are ready presently to think that they are mere hypocrites.

They are ready to argue that, if God had indeed done such great things for them, as they hoped, such ingratitude would be inconsistent with it. They complain of the hardness and wickedness of their hearts; and say there is so much corruption, that it seems to them impossible there should be any goodness there. Many of them seem to be much more sensible how corrupt their hearts are, than before they were converted; and some have been too ready to be impressed with fear, that instead of becoming better, they are grown much worse, and make it an argument against the goodness of their state. But the truth, the case seems plainly to be, that now they feel the pain of their own wound; they have a watchful eye upon their hearts, that they did not use to have. They take more notice of what sin is there, which is now more burdensome to them; they strive more against it, and feel more of its strength.

They are somewhat surprised that they should in this respect find themselves so different from the idea they generally had entertained of godly persons. For, though grace be indeed of a far more excellent nature than they imagined, yet those who are godly have much less of it, and much more remaining corruption, than they thought. They never realized it, that persons were wont to meet with such difficulties, after they were once converted. When they are thus exercised with doubts about their state, through the deadness of their frames, as long as these frames last, they are commonly unable to satisfy themselves of the truth of their grace, by all their self-examination. When they hear of the signs of grace laid down for them to try themselves by, they are often so clouded, that they do not know how to apply them. They hardly know whether they have such and such things or no, and whether they have experienced them or not. That which was the sweetest, best, and most distinguishing in their experiences, they cannot recover a sense of. But on a return of the influences of the Spirit of God, to revive the lively actings of grace, the light breaks through the cloud, and doubting and darkness soon vanish away.

Persons are often revived out of their dead and dark frames by religious conversation: while they are talking of divine things, or ever they are aware, their souls are carried away into holy exercises with abundant pleasure. And oftentimes, while relating their past experiences to their Christian brethren, they have a sense of them revived, and the same experiences are in a degree again renewed. Sometimes, while persons are exercised in mind with several objections against the goodness of their state, they have Scriptures one after another coming to their minds, to answer their scruples, and unravel their difficulties, exceedingly apposite and proper to their circumstances. By these means, their darkness is scattered; and often, before the bestowment of any new remarkable comfort, especially after longcontinued deadness and ill frames, there are renewed humblings, in a great sense of their own exceeding vileness and unworthiness, as before their first comforts were bestowed.

Many in the country have entertained a mean thought of this great work, from what they have heard of impressions made on persons' imaginations. But there have been exceeding great misrepresentations, and innumerable false reports, concerning that matter. It is not, that I know of, the profession or opinion of any one person in the town, that any weight is to be laid on anything seen with the bodily eyes. I know the contrary to be a received and established principle amongst us. I cannot say that there have been no instances of persons who have been ready to give too much heed to vain and useless imaginations; but they have been easily corrected, and I conclude it will not be wondered at, that a congregation should need a guide in such cases, to assist them in distinguishing wheat from chaff. But such impressions on the imaginations as have been more usual seem to me to be plainly no other than what is to be expected in human nature in such circumstances, and what is the natural result of the strong exercise of the mind, and impressions on the heart.

I do not suppose, that they themselves imagine they saw anything with their bodily eyes; but only have had within them ideas strongly impressed, and as it were lively pictures in their minds. For instance, some when in great terrors, through fear of hell, have had lively ideas of a dreadful furnace. Some, when their hearts have been strongly impressed, and their affections greatly moved with a sense of the beauty and excellency of Christ, have had their imaginations so wrought upon, that, together, with a sense of His glorious spiritual perfections, there has arisen in the mind an idea of One of glorious majesty, and of a sweet and gracious aspect. Some, when they have been greatly affected with Christ's death, have at the same time a lively idea of Christ hanging upon the cross, and His blood running from His wounds. Surely such things will not be wondered at by them who have observed how any strong affections about temporal matters will excite lively ideas and pictures of different things in the mind.

The vigorous exercises of the mind, doubtless, more strongly impress it with imaginary ideas in some than others, which probably may arise from the difference of constitution, and seems evidently in some, partly to arise from their peculiar circumstances. When persons have been exercised with extreme terrors, and there is a sudden change to light and joy, the imagination seems more susceptive of strong ideas; the inferior powers, and even the frame of the body, are much more affected, than when the same persons have as great spiritual light and joy afterwards; of which it might, perhaps, be easy to give a reason. The forementioned Reverend Messrs. Lord and Owen-who, I believe, are esteemed persons of learning and discretion where they are best known-declared, that they found these impressions on persons' imaginations quite different things from what fame had before represented to them, and that they were what none need to wonder at-or to that purpose.

There have indeed been some few instances of impressions on persons imaginations, which have been somewhat mysterious to me, and I have been at a loss about them. For, though it has been exceeding evident to me, by many things that appeared both then and afterwards, that they indeed had a greater sense of the spiritual excellency of divine things accompanying them, yet I have not been able well to satisfy myself whether their imaginary ideas have been more than could naturally arise from their spiritual sense of things. However, I have used the utmost caution in such cases; great care has been taken both in public and in private to teach persons the difference between what is spiritual and what is merely imaginary. I have often warned persons not to lay the stress of their hope on any ideas of any outward glory, or any external thing whatsoever, and have met with no opposition in such instructions. But it is not strange if some weaker persons, in giving an account of their experiences, have not so prudently distinguished between the spiritual and imaginary part; of which some who have not been well affected to religion might take advantage.

There has been much talk in many parts of the country, as though the people have symbolized with the Quakers, and the Quakers themselves have been moved with such reports; and some came here, once and again, hoping to find good waters to fish in, but without the least success, and have left off coming. There have also been reports spread about the country, as though the first occasion of so remarkable a concern was an apprehension that the world was near to an end; which was altogether a false report. Indeed, after this concern became so general and extraordinary, as related, the minds of some were filled with speculation what so great a dispensation of Divine Providence might forbode; and some reports were heard from abroad, as though certain divines and others thought the conflagration was nigh; but such reports were never generally looked upon worthy of notice.

The work which has now been wrought on souls, is evidently the same that was wrought in my venerable predecessor's days; as I have had abundant opportunity to know, having been in the ministry here two years with him, and so conversed with a considerable number whom my grandfather thought to be savingly converted at that time; and having been particularly acquainted with the experiences of many who were converted under his ministry before. And I know no one of them, who in the least doubts of its being the same Spirit and the same work. Persons have now no otherwise been subject to impressions on their imaginations than formerly: the work is of the same nature, and has not been attended with any extraordinary circumstances, excepting such as are analogous to the extraordinary degree of it before described. And God's people who were formerly converted have now partaken of the same shower of divine blessing-in the renewing, strengthening, edifying, influences of the Spirit of God-that others have in His converting influences; and the work here has also been plainly the same with that of other places which have been mentioned, as partaking of the same blessing. I have particularly conversed with persons about their experiences, who belong to all parts of the country, and in various parts of Connecticut, where a religious concern has lately appeared; and have been informed of the experiences of many others by their own pastors.

It is easily perceived by the foregoing account, that it is very much the practice of the people here, to converse freely one with another about their spiritual experiences; which many have been disgusted at. But however our people may have, in some respects, gone to extremes in it, it is, doubtless, a practice that the circumstances of this town, and neighboring towns, have naturally led them into. Whatsoever people have their minds engaged to such a degree in the same affair, that it is ever uppermost in their thoughts, they will naturally make it the subject of conversation when they get together, in which they will grow more and more free. Restraints will soon vanish, and they will not conceal from one another what they meet with. And it has been a practice which, in the general, has been attended with many good effects, and what God has greatly blessed amongst us: but it must be confessed, there may have been some ill consequences of it; which yet are rather to be laid to the indiscreet management of it than to the practice itself; and none can wonder, if among such a multitude some fail of exercising so much prudence in choosing the time, manner, and occasion of such discourse, as is desirable.

Section 3: This Work Further Illustrated In Particular Instances

But to give a clear idea of the nature and manner of the operation of God's Spirit, in this wonderful effusion if it, I would give an account of two particular instances. The first is an adult person, a young woman whose name was Abigail Hutchinson. I fix upon her especially, because she is now dead, and so it may be more fit to speak freely of her than of living instances: though I am under far greater disadvantages, on other accounts, to give a full and clear narrative of her experiences, than I might of some others; nor can any account be given but what has been retained in the memories of her friends, of what they have heard her express in her lifetime.

She was of an intelligent family: there could be nothing in her education that tended to enthusiasm, but rather to the contrary extreme. It is in no-wise the temper of the family to be ostentatious of experiences, and it was far from being her temper. She was, before her conversion, to the observation of her neighbors, of a sober and inoffensive conversation; and was a still, quiet, reserved person. She had long been infirm of body, but her infirmity had never been observed at all to incline her to be notional or fanciful, or to occasion anything of religious melancholy. She was under awakenings scarcely a week, before there seemed to be plain evidence of her being savingly converted.

She was first awakened in the winter season, on Monday, by something she heard her brother say of the necessity of being in good earnest in seeking regenerating grace, together with the news of the conversion of the young woman before mentioned, whose conversion so generally affected most of the young people here. This news wrought much upon her, and stirred up a spirit of envy in her towards this young woman, whom she thought very unworthy of being distinguished from others by such a mercy; but withal it engaged her in a firm resolution to do her utmost to obtain the same blessing. Considering with herself what course she should take, she thought that she had not a sufficient knowledge of the principles of religion to render her capable of conversion; whereupon she resolved thoroughly to search the Scriptures; and accordingly immediately began at the beginning of the Bible, intending to read it through. She continued thus till Thursday: and then there was a sudden alteration, by a great increase of her concern in an extraordinary sense of her own sinfulness, particularly the sinfulness of her nature, and wickedness of her heart. This came upon her, as she expressed it, as a flash of lightning, and struck her into an exceeding terror. Upon which she left off reading the Bible, in course, as she had begun; and turned to the New Testament, to see if she could not find some relief there for her distressed soul.

Her great terror, she said, was, that she had sinned against God: her distress grew more and more for three days; until she saw nothing but blackness of darkness before her, and her very flesh trembled for fear of God's wrath: she wondered and was astonished at herself, that she had been so concerned for her body, and had applied so often to physicians to heal that, and had neglected her soul. Her sinfulness appeared with a very awful aspect to her, especially in three things; viz. her original sin, and her sin in murmuring at God's providence-in the weakness and afflictions she had been under-and in want of duty to parents, though others had looked upon her to excel in dutifulness. On Saturday, she was so earnestly engaged in reading the Bible and other books, that she continued in it, searching for something to relieve her, till her eyes were so dim that she could not know the letters. While she was thus engaged in reading, prayer, and other religious exercises, she thought of those words of Christ, wherein He warns us not to be as the heathen, that think they shall be heard for their much speaking; which, she said, led her to see that she had trusted to her own prayers and religious performances, and now she was put to a nonplus, and knew not which way to turn herself, or where to seek relief.

While her mind was in this posture, her heart, she said, seemed to fly, to the minister for refuge, hoping that he could give her some relief. She came the same day to her brother, with the countenance of a person in distress, expostulating with him, why he had not told her more of her sinfulness, and earnestly inquiring of him what she should do. She seemed that day to feel in herself an enmity against the Bible, which greatly affrighted her. Her sense of her own exceeding sinfulness continued increasing from Thursday till Monday and she gave this account of it: That it had been her opinion, till now, she was not guilty of Adam's sin, nor any way concerned in it, because she was not active in it; but that now she saw she was guilty of that sin, and all over defiled by it; and the sin which she brought into the world with her, was alone sufficient to condemn her.

On the Sabbath-day she was so ill, that her friends thought it best that she should not go to public worship, of which she seemed very desirous: but when she went to bed on the Sabbath night, she took up a resolution, that she would the next morning go to the minister, hoping to find some relief there. As she awakened on Monday morning, a little before day, she wondered within herself at the easiness and calmness she felt in her mind, which was of that kind she never felt before. As she thought of this, such words as these were in her mind: The words of the Lord are pure words, health to the soul, and marrow to the bones: and then these words, The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin; which were accompanied with a lively sense of the excellency of Christ, and His sufficiency to satisfy for the sins of the whole world. She then thought of that expression, It is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun; which words then seemed to her to be very applicable to Jesus Christ. By these things her mind was led into such contemplations and views of Christ, as filled her exceeding full of joy. She told her brother, in the morning, that she had seen (i.e. in realizing views by faith) Christ the last night, and that she had really thought that she had not knowledge enough to be converted; but, says she, God can make it quite easy! On Monday she felt all day a constant sweetness in her soul. She had a repetition of the same discoveries of Christ three mornings together, and much in the same manner, at each time, waking a little before day; but brighter and brighter every day.

At the last time, on Wednesday morning, while in the enjoyment of a spiritual view of Christ's glory and fullness, her soul was filled with distress for Christless persons, to consider what a miserable condition they were in. She felt a strong inclination immediately to go forth to warn sinners; and proposed it the next day to her brother to assist her in going from house to house; but her brother restrained her, by telling her of the unsuitableness of such a method. She told one of her sisters that day, that she loved all mankind, but especially the people of God. Her sister asked her why she loved all mankind. She replied, Because God has made them. After this, there happened to come into the shop where she was at work, three persons who were thought to have been lately converted: her seeing of them, as they stepped in one after another, so affected her, and so drew forth her love to them, that it overcame her, and she almost fainted. When they began to talk of the things of religion, it was more than she could bear; they were obliged to cease on that account. It was a very frequent thing with her to be overcome with the flow of affection to them whom she thought godly, in conversation with them, and sometimes only at the sight of them.

She had many extraordinary discoveries of the glory of God and Christ; sometimes, in some particular attributes, and sometimes in many. She gave an account, that once, as those four words passed through her mind, wisdom, justice, goodness, and truth, her soul was filled with a sense of the glory of each of these divine attributes, but especially the last. Truth, said she, sunk the deepest! And, therefore, as these words passed, this was repeated, truth, truth! Her mind was so swallowed up with a sense of the glory of God's truth and other perfections, that she said, it seemed as though her life was going, and that she saw it was easy with God to take away her life by discoveries of Himself. Soon after this she went to a private religious meeting, and her mind was full of a sense and view of the glory of God all the time. When the exercise was ended, some asked her concerning what she had experienced, and she began to give an account, but as she was relating it, it revived such a sense of the same things, that her strength failed, and they were obliged to take her and lay her upon the bed. Afterwards she was greatly affected, and rejoiced with these words, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain! She had several days together a sweet sense of the excellency and loveliness of Christ in His meekness, which disposed her continually to be repeating over these words, which were sweet to her, meek and lowly in heart, meek and lowly in heart. She once expressed herself to one of her sisters to this purpose, that she had continued whole days and whole nights, in a constant ravishing view of the glory of God and Christ, having enjoyed as much as her life could bear. Once, as her brother was speaking of the dying love of Christ, she told him, she had such a sense of it, that the mere mentioning of it was ready to overcome her.

Once, when she came to me, she said,-that at such and such a time, she thought she saw as much of God, and had as much joy and pleasure, as was possible in this life; and that yet, afterwards, God discovered Himself far more abundantly. She saw the same things as before, yet more clearly, and in a far more excellent and delightful manner; and was filled with a more exceeding sweetness. She likewise gave me such an account of the sense she once had, from day to day, of the glory of Christ, and of God, in His various attributes, that it seemed to me she dwelt for days together in a kind of beatific vision of God; and seemed to have, as I thought, as immediate a fellowship with Him, as a child with a father. At the same time, she appeared most remote from any high thought of herself, and of her own sufficiency; but was like a little child, and expressed a great desire to be instructed, telling me that she longed very often to come to me for instruction, and wanted to live at my house, that I might tell her what was her duty.

She often expressed a sense of the glory of God appearing in the trees, the growth of the fields, and other works of God's hands. She told her sister who lived near the heart of the town, that she once thought it a pleasant thing to live in the middle of the town, but now, says she, I think it much more pleasant to sit and see the wind blowing the trees, and to behold in the country what God has made. She had sometimes the powerful breathings of the Spirit of God on her soul, while reading the Scripture; and would express her sense of the certain truth and divinity thereof. She sometimes would appear with a pleasant smile on her countenance; and once, when her sister took notice of it, and asked why she smiled, she replied, I am brim-full of a sweet feeling within. She often used to express how good and sweet it was to lie low before God, and the lower (says she) the better! and that it was pleasant to think of lying in the dust, all the days of her life, mourning for sin. She was wont to manifest a great sense of her own meanness and dependence. She often expressed an exceeding compassion, and pitiful love, which she found in her heart towards persons in a Christless condition. This was sometimes so strong, that, as she was passing by such in the streets, or those that she feared were such, she would be overcome by the sight of them. She once said, that she longed to have the whole world saved; she wanted, as it were, to pull them all to her, she could not bear to have one lost.

She had great longings to die, that she might be with Christ: which increased until she thought she did not know how to be patient to wait till God's time. But once, when she felt those longings, she thought with herself, If I long to die, why do I go to physicians? Whence she concluded that her longings for death were not well regulated. After this she often put it to herself, which she should choose, whether to live or to die, to be sick or to be well; and she found she could not tell, till at last she found herself disposed to say these words: I am quite willing to live, and quite willing to die; quite willing to be sick, and quite willing to be well; and quite willing for anything that God will bring upon me! And then, said she, I felt myself perfectly easy, in a full submission to the will of God. She then lamented much, that she had been so eager in her longings for death, as it argued want of such a resignation to God as ought to be. She seemed henceforward to continue in this resigned frame till death.

After this, her illness increased upon her: and once after she had before spent the greater part of the night in extreme pain, she waked out of a little sleep with these words in her heart and mouth; "I am willing to suffer for Christ's sake, I am willing to spend and be spent for Christ's sake; I am willing to spend my life, even my very life, for Christ's sake!" And though she had an extraordinary resignation with respect to life or death, yet the thoughts of dying were exceeding sweet to her. At a time when her brother was reading in Job, concerning worms feeding on the dead body, she appeared with a pleasant smile; and being asked about it, she said, It was sweet to her to think of her being in such circumstances. At another time, when her brother mentioned the danger there seemed to be, that the illness she labored under might be an occasion of her death, it filled her with joy that almost overcame her. At another time, when she met a company following a corpse to the grave, she said, it was sweet to her to think that they would in a little time follow her in like manner.

Her illness, in the latter part of it, was seated much in her throat; and an inward swelling filled up the pipe, so that she could swallow nothing but what was perfectly liquid and but very little of that, with great and long strugglings. That which she took in fled out at her nostrils, till at last she could swallow nothing at all. She had a raging appetite for food; so that she told her sister, when talking with her about her circumstances, that the worst bit would be sweet to her; but yet, when she saw that she could not swallow it, she seemed to be as perfectly contented without it, as if she had no appetite. Others were greatly moved to see what she underwent, and were filled with admiration at her unexampled patience. At a time when she was striving in vain to get down a little of something liquid, and was very much spent with it; she looked upon her sister with a smile, saying, O sister, this is for my good! At another time, when her sister was speaking of what she underwent, she told her, that she lived a heaven upon ea

th for all that. She used sometimes to say to her sister, under her extreme sufferings, It is good to be so! Her sister once asked her, why she said so; why, says she, because God would have it so: it is best that things should be as God would have them: it looks best to me. After her confinement, as they were leading her from the bed to the door, she seemed overcome by the sight of things abroad, as showing forth the glory of the Being who had made them. As she lay on her death-bed, she would often say these words, God is my friend! And once, looking upon her sister with a smile, said, O sister, How good it is! How sweet and comfortable it is to consider, and think of heavenly things! and used this argument to persuade her sister to be much in such meditations.

She expressed, on her death-bed, an exceeding longing, both for persons in a natural state, that they might be converted, and for the godly, that they might see and know more of God. And when those who looked on themselves as in a Christless state came to see her, she would be greatly moved with compassionate affection. One in particular, who seemed to be in great distress about the state of her soul, and had come to see her from time to time, she desired her sister to persuade not to come any more, because the sight of her so wrought on her compassions, that it overcame her nature. The same week that she died, when she was in distressing circumstances as to her body, some of her neighbors who came to see her, asked if she was willing to die! She replied, that she was quite willing either to live or die; she was willing to be in pain; she was willing to be so always as she was then, if that was the will of God. She willed what God willed. They asked her whether she was willing to die that night. She answered, Yes, if it be God's will. And seemed to speak all with that perfect composure of spirit, and with such a cheerful and pleasant countenance, that it filled them with admiration.

She was very weak a considerable time before she died, having pined away with famine and thirst, so that her flesh seemed to be dried upon her bones; and therefore could say but little, and manifested her mind very much by signs. She said she had matter enough to fill up all her time with talk, if she had but strength. A few days before her death, some asked her, Whether she held her integrity still? Whether she was not afraid of death? She answered to this purpose, that she had not the least degree of fear of death. They asked her why she would be so confident? She answered, If I should say otherwise, I should speak contrary to what I know. There is, said she, indeed, a dark entry, that looks something dark, but on the other side there appears such a bright shining light, that I cannot be afraid! She said not long before she died, that she used to be afraid how she should grapple with death; but, says she, God has showed me that He can make it easy in great pain. Several days before she died, she could scarcely say anything but just Yes, and No, to questions that were asked her; for she seemed to be dying for three days together. But she seemed to continue in an admirably sweet composure of soul, without any interruption, to the last, and died as a person that went to sleep, without any struggling, about noon, on Friday, June 27, 1735.

She had long been infirm, and often had been exercised with great pain; but she died chiefly of famine. It was, doubtless, partly owing to her bodily weakness, that her nature was so often overcome, and ready to sink with gracious affection; but yet the truth was, that she had more grace, and greater discoveries of God and Christ, than the present frail state did well consist with. She wanted to be where strong grace might have more liberty, and be without the clog of a weak body; there she longed to be, and there she doubtless now is. She was looked upon amongst us, as a very eminent instance of Christian experience; but this is but a very broken and imperfect account I have given of her: her eminency would much more appear, if her experiences were fully related, as she was wont to express and manifest them, while living. I once read this account to some of her pious neighbors, who were acquainted with her, who said, to this purpose, that the picture fell much short of the life; and particularly that it much failed of duly representing her humility, and that admirable lowliness of heart, that all times appeared in her. But there are, blessed be God! many living instances, of much the like nature, and in some things no less extraordinary.

But I now proceed to the other instance, that of the little child before mentioned. Her name is Phebe Bartlet, [She was living in March, 1789, and maintained the character of a true convert.] daughter of William Bartlet. I shall give the account as I took it from the mouth of her parents, whose veracity none who know them doubt of.

She was born in March, 1731. About the latter end of April, or beginning of May, 1735, she was greatly affected by the talk of her brother, who had been hopefully converted a little before, at about eleven years of age, and then seriously talked to her about the great things of religion. Her parents did not know of it at that time, and were not wont, in the counsels they gave to their children, particularly to direct themselves to her, being so young, and, as they supposed, not capable of understanding. But after her brother had talked to her, they observed her very earnestly listen to the advice they gave to the other children; and she was observed very constantly to retire, several times in a day, as was concluded, for secret prayer. She grew more and more engaged in religion, and was more frequent in her closet; till at last she was wont to visit it five or six times a day: and was so engaged in it, that nothing would at any time divert her from her stated closet exercises. Her mother often observed and watched her, when such things occurred as she thought most likely to divert her, either by putting it out of her thoughts, or otherwise engaging her inclinations; but never could observe her to fail. She mentioned some very remarkable instances.

She once of her own accord spake of her unsuccessfulness, in that she could not find God, or to that purpose. But on Thursday, the last day of July, about the middle of the day, the child being in the closet, where it used to retire, its mother heard it speaking aloud; which was unusual, and never had been observed before. And her voice seemed to be as of one exceedingly importunate and engaged; but her mother could distinctly hear only these words, spoken in a childish manner, but with extraordinary earnestness, and out of distress of soul, pray, blessed Lord, give me salvation! I pray, beg, pardon all my sins! When the child had done prayer, she came out of the closet, sat down by her mother, and cried out aloud. Her mother very earnestly asked her several times what the matter was, before she would make any answer; but she continued crying, and writhing her body to and fro, like one in anguish of spirit. Her mother then asked her, whether she was afraid that God would not give her salvation. She then answered, Yes, 1 am afraid I shall go to hell! Her mother then endeavored to quiet her, and told her she would not have her cry, she must be a good girl, and pray every day, and she hoped God would give her salvation. But this did not quiet her at all; she continued thus earnestly crying, and taking on for some time, till at length she suddenly ceased crying, and began to smile, and presently said with a smiling countenance, Mother, the kingdom of heaven is come to me! Her mother was surprised at the sudden alteration, and at the speech; and knew not what to make of it; but at first said nothing to her. The child presently spake again, and said, There is another come to me, and there is another, there is three; and being asked what she meant, she answered, One is, Thy will be done, and there is another, Enjoy Him for ever; by which it seems, that when the child said, There is three come to me; she meant three passages of her catechism that came to her mind.

After the child had said this, she retired again into her closet, and her mother went over to her brother's, who was next neighbor; and when she came back, the child, being come out of the closet, meets her mother with this cheerful speech; I can find God now! referring to what she had before complained of, that she could not find God. Then the child spoke again and said, I love God! Her mother asked her, how well she loved God, whether she loved God better than her father and mother. She said, Yes. Then she asked her, whether she loved God better than her little sister Rachel. She answered, Yes, better than anything! Then her elder sister, referring to her saying she could find God now, asked her, where she could find God. She answered, In heaven. Why, said she, have you been in heaven? No, said the child. By this it seems not to have been any imagination of anything seen with bodily eyes, that she called God, when she said, I can find God now. Her mother asked her, whether she was afraid of going to hell, and if that had made her cry? She answered, Yes, I was; but now I shan't. Her mother asked her, whether she thought that God had given her salvation: she answered, Yes. Her mother asked her. When? She answered, Today. She appeared all that afternoon exceeding cheerful and joyful. One of the neighbors asked her, how she felt herself. She answered, I feel better than I did. The neighbor asked her, what made her feel better. She answered, God makes me. That evening, as she lay a-bed, she called one of her little cousins to her, who was present in the room, as having something to say to him; and when he came, she told him, that heaven was better than earth. The next day, her mother asked her what God made her for? She answered, To serve him; and added, Everybody should serve God, and get an interest in Christ.

The same day the elder children, when they came home from school, seemed much affected with the extraordinary change that seemed to be made in Phebe. And her sister Abigail standing by, her mother took occasion to counsel her, now to improve her time, to prepare for another world. On which Phebe burst out in tears, and cried out, Poor Nabby! Her mother told her, she would not have to cry; she hoped that God would give Nabby salvation; but that did not quiet her, she continued earnestly crying for some time. When she had in a measure ceased, her sister Eunice being by her, she burst out again, and cried, Poor Eunice! and cried exceedingly; and when she had almost done, she went into another room, and there looked upon her sister Naomi: and burst out again, crying, Poor Amy! Her mother was greatly affected at such a behavior in a child, and knew not what to say to her. One of the neighbors coming in a little after, asked her what she had cried for. She seemed at first backward to tell the reason: her mother told her she might tell that person, for he had given her an apple: upon which she said, she cried because she was afraid they would go to hell.

At night, a certain minister, who was occasionally in the town, was at the house, and talked with her of religious things. After he was gone, she sat leaning on the table, with tears running from her eyes; and being asked what made her cry, she said, I was thinking about God. The next day, being Saturday, she seemed a great part of the day to be in a very affectionate frame, had four turns of crying and seemed to endeavor to curb herself, and hide her tears, and was very backward to talk of the occasion. On the Sabbath-day she was asked, whether she believed in God; she answered, Yes. And being told that Christ was the Son of God, she made ready answer, and said, I know it.

From this time there appeared a very remarkable abiding change in the child. She has been very strict upon the Sabbath; and seems to long for the Sabbath-day before it comes, and will often in the week time be inquiring how long it is to the Sabbath-day, and must have the days between particularly counted over, before she will be contented. She seems to love God's house, and is very eager to go thither. Her mother once asked her, why she had such a mind to go? whether it was not to see fine folks? She said, No, it was to hear Mr. Edwards preach. When she is in the place of worship, she is very far from spending her time there as children at her age usually do, but appears with an attention that is very extraordinary for such a child. She also appears very desirous at all opportunities to go to private religious meetings; and is very still and attentive at home, during prayer, and has appeared affected in time of family-prayer. She seems to delight much in hearing religious conversation. When I once was there with some strangers, and talked to her something of religion, she seemed more than ordinarily attentive; and when we were gone, she looked out very wistfully after us, and said, I wish they would come again! Her mother asked her, Why? Says she, I love to hear 'em talk.

She seems to have very much of the fear of God before her eyes, and an extraordinary dread of sinning against Him; of which her mother mentioned the following remarkable instance. Some time in August, the last year, she went with some bigger children to get some plums in a neighbor's lot, knowing nothing of any harm in what she did; but when she brought some of the plums into the house, her mother mildly reproved her, and told her that she must not get plums without leave, because it was sin: God had commanded her not to steal. The child seemed greatly surprised, and burst out in tears, and cried out, I won't have these plums! and turning to her sister Eunice, very earnestly said to her, Why did you ask me to go to that plum tree? I should not have gone, if you had not asked me. The other children did not seem to be much affected or concerned; but there was no pacifying Phebe. Her mother told her, she might go and ask leave, and then it would not be sin for her to eat them; and sent one of the children to that end; and, when she returned, her mother told her that the owner had given leave, now she might eat them, and it would not be stealing. This stilled her a little while; but presently she broke out again into an exceeding fit of crying. Her mother asked her, What made her cry again? Why she cried now, since they had asked leave? What it was that troubled her now? And asked her several times very earnestly, before she made any answer; but at last said, It was because, because it was sin. She continued a considerable time crying; and said she would not go again if Eunice asked her an hundred times; and she retained her aversion to that fruit for a considerable time, under the remembrance of her former sin.

She sometimes appears greatly affected, and delighted with texts of Scripture that come to her mind. Particularly about the beginning of November, that text came to her mind, Rev. 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in, and sup with him, and he with me." She spoke of it to those of the family with a great appearance of joy, a smiling countenance, and elevation of voice; and afterwards she went into another room, where her mother overheard her talking very earnestly to the children about it; and particularly heard her say to them, three or four times over, with an air of exceeding joy and admiration, Why, it is to sup with God. Some time about the middle of winter, very late in the night, when all were a-bed, her mother perceived that she was awake, and heard her, as though she was weeping. She called to her, and asked her what was the matter. She answered with a low voice, so that her mother could not hear what she said; but thinking that it might be occasioned by some spiritual affection, said no more to her: but perceived her to lie awake, and to continue in the same frame, for a considerable time. The next morning she asked her, whether she did not cry the last night. The child answered, Yes, I did cry a little, for I was thinking about God and Christ, and they loved me. Her mother asked her, whether to think of God and Christ loving her made her cry? She answered, Yes, it does sometimes.

She has often manifested a great concern for the good of others' souls: and has been wont many times affectionately to counsel the other children. Once, about the latter end of September, the last year, when she and some others of the children were in a room by themselves, husking Indian corn, the child, after a while, came out and sat by the fire. Her mother took notice that she appeared with a more than ordinary serious and pensive countenance; but at last she broke silence, and said, I have been talking to Nabby and Eunice. Her mother asked her what she had said to them. Why, said she, I told them they must pray, and prepare to die; that they had but a little while to live in this world, and they must be always ready. When Nabby came out, her mother asked her, whether she had said that to them. Yes, said she, She said that, and a great deal more. At other times, the child took opportunities to talk to the other children about the great concern of their souls, so as much to affect them. She was once exceeding importunate with her mother to go with her sister Naomi to pray: her mother endeavored to put her off; but she pulled her by the sleeve, and seemed as if she would by no means be denied. At last her mother told her, that Amy must go and pray by herself; but, says the child, she will not go; and persisted earnestly to beg of her mother to go with her. She has discovered an uncommon degree of a spirit of charity, particularly on the following occasion. A poor man that lives in the woods, had lately lost a cow that the family much depended on; and being at the house, he was relating his misfortune, and telling of the straits and difficulties they were reduced to by it. She took much notice of it, and it wrought exceedingly on her compassion. After she had attentively heard him awhile, she went away to her father, who was in the shop, and entreated him to give that man a cow: and told him, that the poor man had no cow! that the hunters, or something else, had killed his cow! and entreated him to give him one of theirs. Her father told her that they could not spare one. Then she entreated him to let him and his family come and live at his house: and had much more talk of the same nature, whereby she manifested bowels of compassion to the poor.

She has manifested great love to her minister: particularly when I returned from my long journey for my health, the last fall. When she heard of it, she appeared very joyful at the news, and told the children of it, with an elevated voice, as the most joyful tidings; repeating it over and over. Mr. Edwards is come home! Mr. Edwards is come home! She still continues very constant in secret prayer, so far as can be observed, for she seems to have no desire that others should observe her when she retires, being a child of a reserved temper. Every night, before she goes to bed, she will say her catechism, and will by no means miss. She never forgot it but once, and then, after she was a-bed, thought of it, and cried out in tears, I han't said my catechism! and would not be quieted till her mother asked her the catechism as she lay in bed. She sometimes appears to be in doubt about the condition of her soul; and when asked, whether she thinks that she is prepared for death, speaks something doubtfully about it. At other times she seems to have no doubt, but when asked, replies, Yes, without hesitation. In the former part of this great work of God amongst us, till it got to His height, we seemed to be wonderfully smiled upon and blessed in all respects. Satan seemed to be unusually restrained; persons who before had been involved in melancholy, seemed to be as it were waked up out of it; and those who had been entangled with extraordinary temptations, seemed wonderfully freed. And not only so, but it was the most remarkable time of health that ever I knew since I have been in the town. We ordinarily have several bills put up, every Sabbath, for sick persons; but now we had not so much as one for many sabbaths together. But after this it seemed to be otherwise.

When this work of God appeared to be at its greatest height, a poor weak man who belongs to the town, being in great spiritual trouble, was hurried with violent temptations to cut his own throat, and made an attempt, but did not do it effectually. He, after this, continued a considerable time exceedingly overwhelmed with melancholy; but has not for a long time been very greatly delivered, by the light of God's countenance lifted up upon him, and has expressed a great sense of his sin in so far yielding to temptation; and there are in him all hopeful evidences of his having been made a subject of saving mercy.

In the latter part of May, it began to be very sensible that the Spirit of God was gradually withdrawing from us, and after this time Satan seemed to be more let loose, and raged in a dreadful manner. The first instance wherein it appeared, was a person putting an end to his own life by cutting his throat. He was a gentleman of more than common understanding, of strict morals, religious in his behavior, and a useful and honorable person in the town; but was of a family that are exceedingly prone to the disease of melancholy, and his mother was killed with it. He had, from the beginning of this extraordinary time, been exceedingly concerned about the state of his soul, and there were some things in his experience that appeared very hopeful; but he durst entertain no hope concerning his own good estate. Towards the latter part of his time, he grew much discouraged, and melancholy grew again upon him, till he was wholly overpowered by it, and was in a great measure past a capacity of receiving advice, or being reasoned with to any purpose. The devil took the advantage, and drove him into despairing thoughts. He was kept awake at nights, meditating terror, so that he had scarce any sleep at all for a long time together; and it was observed at last, that he was scarcely well capable of managing his ordinary business, and was judged delirious by the coroner's inquest. The news of this extraordinarily affected the minds of people here, and struck them as it were with astonishment. After this, multitudes in this and other towns seemed to have it strongly suggested to them, and pressed upon them, to do as this person had done. And many who seemed to be under no melancholy, some pious persons who had no special darkness or doubts about the goodness of their state-nor were under any special trouble or concern of mind about anything spiritual or temporal-had it urged upon them as if somebody had spoke to them, Cut your throat, now is a good opportunity. Now! now! So that they were obliged to fight with all their might to resist it, and yet no reason suggested to them why they should do it.

About the same time, there were two remarkable instances of persons led away with strange enthusiastic delusions; one at Suffield, and another at South Hadley. That which has made the greatest noise in the country was the conduct of the man at South Hadley, whose delusion was, that he thought himself divinely instructed to direct a poor man in melancholy and despairing circumstances, to say certain words in prayer to God, as recorded in Psalm cxvi. 4, for his own relief. The man is esteemed a pious man. I have seen this error of his, had a particular acquaintance with him, and I believe none would question his piety who had such acquaintance. He gave me a particular account of the manner how he was deluded, which is too long to be here inserted; but, in short, he exceedingly rejoiced, and was elevated with the extraordinary work carried on in this part of the country; and was possessed with an opinion, that it was the beginning of the glorious times of the church spoken of in Scripture. He had read it as the opinion of some divines, that many in these times should be endued with extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, and had embraced the notion, though he had at first no apprehensions that any besides ministers would have such gifts. But he since exceedingly laments the dishonor he has done to God, and the wound he has given religion in it, and has lain low before God and man for it.

After these things, the instances of conversion were rare here in comparison of what they had before been, though that remarkable instance before noticed of the little child, was after this. The Spirit of God, not long after this time, appeared very sensibly withdrawing from all parts of the country, though we have heard of the work going on in some places of Connecticut, and that it continues to be carried on even to this day. But religion remained here, and I believe in some other places, the main subject of conversation for several months after. And there were some turns, wherein God's work seemed to revive, and we were ready to hope that all was going to be renewed again; yet, in the main, there was a gradual decline of that general, engaged, lively spirit in religion, which had been. Several things have happened since, which have diverted people's minds, and turned their conversation more to other affairs; particularly his Excellency the Governor's coming up, and the Committee of general court, on the treaty with the Indians. -Afterwards, the Springfield controversy; and since that, our people in this town have been engaged in the building of a new meeting-house. Some other occurrences might be mentioned, that have seemed to have this effect. But as to those who have been thought converted at this time, they generally seem to have had an abiding change wrought on them. I have had particular acquaintance with many of them since; and they generally appear to be persons who have a new sense of things, new apprehensions and views of God, of the divine attributes of Jesus Christ, and the great things of the gospel. They have a new sense of their truth, and they affect them in a new manner; though it is very far from being always alike with them, neither can they revive a sense of things when they please. Their hearts are often touched, and sometimes filled, with new sweetnesses and delights; there seems to express an inward ardor and burning of heart, like to which they never experienced before; sometimes, perhaps, occasioned only by the mention of Christ's name, or some one of the divine perfections. There are new appetites, and a new kind of breathings and pantings of heart, and groanings that cannot be uttered. There is a new kind of inward labor and struggle of soul towards heaven and holiness.

Some who before were very rough in their temper and manners, seemed to be remarkably softened and sweetened. And some have had their souls exceedingly filled, and overwhelmed with light, love, and comfort, long since the work of God has ceased to be so remarkably carried on in a general way; and some have had much greater experiences of this nature than they had before. There is still a great deal of religious conversation continued in the town, amongst young and old; a religious disposition appears to be still maintained amongst our people, by their holding frequent private religious meetings; and all sorts are generally worshipping God at such meetings on Sabbath-nights, and in the evening after our public lecture. Many children in the town still keep up such meetings among themselves. I know of no one young person in the town who has returned to former ways of looseness and extravagance in any respect; but we still remain a reformed people, and God has evidently made us a new people.

I cannot say that there has been no instance of any one person who has conducted himself unworthily; nor am I so vain as to imagine that we have not been mistaken in our good opinion concerning any; or that there are none who pass amongst us for sheep, that are indeed wolves in sheep's clothing; and who probably may, some time or other, discover themselves by their fruits. We are not so pure, but that we have great cause to be humbled and ashamed that we are so impure; nor so religious, but that those who watch for our halting, may see things in us, whence they may take occasion to reproach us and religion. But in the main, there has been a great and marvellous work of conversion and sanctification among the people here; and they have paid all due respect to those who have been blest of God to be the instruments of it. Both old and young have shown a forwardness to hearken not only to my counsels, but even to my reproofs, from the pulpit.

A great part of the country have not received the most favorable thoughts of this affair; and to this day many retain a jealousy concerning it, and prejudice against it. I have reason to think that the meanness and weakness of the instrument, that has been made use of in this town, has prejudiced many against it; nor does it appear to me strange that it should be so. But yet the circumstances of this great work of God is analogous to other circumstances of it. God has so ordered the manner of the work in many respects, as very signally and remarkably to show it to be His own peculiar and immediate work; and to secure the glory of it wholly to His almighty power, and sovereign grace. And whatever the circumstances and means have been, and though we are so unworthy, yet so hath it pleased God to work! And we are evidently a people blessed of the Lord! For here, in this corner of the world, God dwells, and manifests His glory.

Thus, Reverend Sir, 1 have given a large and particular account of this remarkable affair; and yet, considering how manifold God's works have been amongst us, it is but a very brief one. I should have sent it much sooner, had I not been greatly hindered by illness in my family, and also in my own person. It is probably much larger than you expected, and, it may be, than you would have chosen. I thought that the extraordinary nature of the thing, and the innumerable misrepresentations which have gone abroad of it, many of which, doubtless, have reached your ears, made it necessary that I should be particular. But I would leave it entirely with your wisdom to make what use of it you think best, to send a part of it to England, or all, or none, if you think it not worthy; or otherwise to dispose of it as you may think most for God's glory, and the interest of religion. If you are pleased to send anything to the Rev. Dr. Guyse, I should be glad to have it signified to him, as my humble desire, that since he and the congregation to which he preached, have been pleased to take so much notice of us, as they have, that they would also think of us at the throne of grace, and seek there for us, that God would not forsake us, but enable us to bring forth fruit answerable to our profession, and our mercies; and that our "light may so shine before men, that others seeing our good works, may glorify our Father which is in heaven."

When I first heard of the notice the Rev. Dr. Watts and Dr. Guyse took of God's mercies to us, I took occasion to inform our congregation of it in a discourse from these words-A city that set upon a hill cannot be hid. And having since seen a particular account of the notice which the Rev. Dr. Guyse and his congregation took of it, in a letter you wrote to my honored uncle Williams, I read that part of your letter to the congregation, and labored as much as in me lay to enforce their duty from it. The congregation were very sensibly moved and affected at both times.

I humbly request of you, Reverend Sir, your prayers for this county, in its present melancholy circumstances, into which it is brought by the Springfield quarrel; which, doubtless, above all things that have happened, has tended to put a stop to the glorious work here, and to prejudice this country against it, and hinder the propagation of it. I also ask your prayers for this town, and would particularly beg an interest in them for him who is,

Honored Sir, With humble respect,

Your obedient Son and Servant,

Jonathan Edwards.

Northampton, November 6, 1736.

* * * * * * * * * *

If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

- 7 Classics on PRAYER

- 7 Classics on HOLINESS

- 7 Classics on EVANGELISM and SOUL-WINNING

- 7 Catholic Classics

- 5 Classics on the HOLY SPIRIT

- 5 Classics on POWER

PREACHERS AND REVIVALISTS:

- The Azusa Street Papers

- Charles Spurgeon: 40 sermons on Prayer

- Charles Spurgeon: Lectures to My Students

- The George Muller Collection

- The Revival Writings of Jonathan Edwards (7-in-1)

- The Works of Catherine Booth (7-in-1)

- The Works of Charles Finney

- The Works of D. L. Moody

- The Works of R. A. Torrey

- The Works of William Booth

- Biography of John Wesley Collection: 4-in-1

- Amy Carmichael 8-in-1

- Samuel Zwemer 7-in-1(Missions in Arabia)

2.  LECTURES ON REVIVALS OF RELIGION (1868) – Charles Finney

(Revival Lectures)

BY THE

REV. CHARLES G. FINNEY,

-- 1868 --

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY. Publishers

Old Tappan, New Jersey

Printed in the

United States of America

Preface.

Let it be remembered, that these Lectures were delivered to my own congregation. They were entered upon, without my having previously marked out any plan or outline of them, and have been pursued, from week to week, as one subject naturally introduced another, and as, from one lecture to another, I saw the state of our people seemed to require.

I consented to have the Editor of the Evangelist report them, upon his own responsibility, because he thought that it might excite a deeper interest in, and extend the usefulness of, his paper. And as I am now a Pastor, and have not sufficient health to labor as an Evangelist, and as it has pleased the Head of the Church to give me some experience in revivals of religion, I thought it possible that, while I was doing the work of a Pastor in my own church, I might, in this way, be of some little service to the churches abroad.

I found a particular inducement to this course, in the fact that on my return from the Mediterranean, I learned, with pain, that the spirit of revival had greatly declined in the United States, and that a spirit of jangling and controversy alarmingly prevailed.

The peculiar circumstances of the church, and the state of revivals, was such, as unavoidably to lead me to the discussion of some points that I would gladly have avoided, had the omission been consistent with my main design, to reach and arouse the church, when she was fast settling down upon her lees.

I am far from setting up the claim of infallibility upon this or any other subject. I have given my own views, so far as I have gone, without pretending to have exhausted the subject, or to have spoken in the best possible manner upon the points I have discussed.

I am too well acquainted with the state of the church, and especially with the state of some of its ministers, to expect to escape without censure. I have felt obliged to say some things that I fear will not, in all instances, be received as kindly as they were intended. But whatever may be the result of saying the truth as it respects some, I have reason to believe, that the great body of praying people will receive and be benefited by what I have said.

What I have said upon the subject of prayer, will not, I am well aware, be understood and received by a certain portion of the church and all I can say is, “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear.”

I had not the most distant idea until recently, that these Lectures, in this, or any other form, would ever grow into a book; but the urgent call for their publication, in a volume, and the fact that I have had repeated assurances that the reading of them in the Evangelist, has been owned and blessed, to the quickening of individuals and churches, and has resulted in the conversion of many sinners, have led me to consent to their publication in this imperfect form.

The Reporter has succeeded, in general, in giving an outline of the Lectures, as they were delivered. His report, however, would, in general, make no more than a full skeleton of what was said on the subject at the time. In justice to the Reporter, I would say, that on reading his reports, in his paper, although there were some mistakes and misapprehensions, yet I have been surprised that, without stenography, he could so nearly report my meaning.

As for literary merit, they have none; nor do they lay claim to any.  It was no part of my design to deliver elegant Lectures. They were my most familiar Friday evening discourses; and my great, and I may add my only object, was to have them understood and felt.

In correcting the Lectures for a volume, I have not had time, nor was it thought advisable to remodel them, and change the style in which they had been reported. I have, in some few instances, changed the phraseology, when a thought had been very awkwardly expressed, or when the true idea had not been given. But I have, in nearly every instance, left the sentences as they were reported when the thought was perspicuously expressed, although the style might have been improved by emendation. They were the editor’s reports, and as such they must go before the public, with such little additions and alterations, as I have had time to make. Could I have written them out in full, I doubt not but they might have been more acceptable to many readers. But this was impossible, and the only alternative was, to let the public have them as they are, or refuse to let them go out in the form of a volume at all. I am sorry they are not better Lectures, and in a more attracting form; but I have done what I could under the circumstances; and, as it is the wish of many whom I love, and delight to please and honor, to have them, although in this imperfect form, they must have them.

C. G. FINNEY.

Lecture 1: What A Revival Of Religion Is

O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. - Habakkuk 3:2.

It is supposed that the prophet Habakkuk was contemporary with Jeremiah, and that this prophecy was uttered in anticipation of the Babylonish captivity. Looking at the judgments which were speedily to come upon his nation, the soul of the prophet was wrought up to an agony, and he cried out in his distress: "O Lord, revive Thy work." As if he had said: "O Lord, grant that Thy judgments may not make Israel desolate. In the midst of these awful years let the judgments of God be made the means of reviving religion among us. In wrath remember mercy."

Religion is the work of man. It is something for man to do. It consists in obeying God. It is man's duty. It is true God induces him to do it. He influences him by His Spirit, because of his great wickedness and reluctance to obey. If it were not necessary for God to influence men, if men were disposed to obey God, there would be no occasion to pray: "O Lord, revive Thy work." The ground of necessity for such a prayer is that men are wholly indisposed to obey; and unless God interpose the influence of His Spirit, not a man on earth will ever obey the commands of God.

A "Revival of Religion" presupposes a declension. Almost all the religion in the world has been produced by revivals. God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in mankind, to produce powerful excitements among them, before He can lead them to obey. Men are so sluggish, there are so many things to lead their minds off from religion and to oppose the influence of the Gospel, that it is necessary to raise an excitement among them, till the tide rises so high as to sweep away the opposing obstacles. They must be so aroused that they will break over these counteracting influences, before they will obey God.

Look back at the history of the Jews, and you will see that God used to maintain religion among them by special occasions, when there would be a great excitement, and people would turn to the Lord. And after they had been thus revived, it would be but a short time before there would be so many counteracting influences brought to bear upon them, that religion would decline, and keep on declining, till God could have time, so to speak, to convict them of sin by His Spirit, and rebuke them by His providence, and thus so gain the attention of the masses to the great subject of salvation, as to produce a widespread awakening. Then the counteracting causes would again operate, religion would decline, and the nation would be swept away in the vortex of luxury, idolatry, and pride. There is so little principle in the Church, so little firmness and stability of purpose, that unless it is greatly excited, it will go back from the path of duty, and do nothing to promote the glory of God. The state of the world is still such, and probably will be till the millennium is fully come, that religion must be mainly promoted by means of revivals. How long and how often has the experiment been tried, to bring the Church to act steadily for God, without these periodical excitements! Many good men have supposed, and still suppose, that the best way to promote religion is to go along uniformly, and gather in the ungodly gradually, and without excitement. But however sound such reasoning may appear in the abstract, facts demonstrate its futility. If the Church were far enough advanced in knowledge, and had stability of principle enough to keep awake, such a course would do. But the Church is so little enlightened, and there are so many counteracting causes, that the Church will not go steadily to work without a special excitement. As the millennium advances, it is probable that these periodical excitements will be unknown. Then the Church will be enlightened, and the counteracting causes removed, and the entire Church will be in a state of habitual and steady obedience to God. Children will be trained up in the way they should go, and there will be no such torrents of worldliness, and fashion, and covetousness, to bear away the piety of the Church, as soon as the excitement of a revival is withdrawn. It is very desirable that the Church should go on steadily in a course of obedience without these excitements. Our nervous system is so strung that any powerful excitement, if long continued, injures our health, and unfits us for duty. If religion is ever to have a pervading influence in the world, this spasmodic religion must be done away with. Indeed, it will then be uncalled for. Christians will not sleep the greater part of the time, and once in a while wake up, and rub their eyes, and bluster about, and vociferate a little while, and then go to sleep again. Then there will be no need that ministers should wear themselves out and kill themselves, by their efforts to roll back the flood of worldly influence that sets in upon the Church. But as yet the state of the Christian world is such, that to expect to promote religion without excitements is unphilosophical and absurd. The great political and other worldly excitements that agitate Christendom, are all unfriendly to religion, and divert the mind from the interests of the soul. Now, these excitements can only be counteracted by religious excitements. And until there is sufficient religious principle in the world to put down irreligious excitements, it is in vain to try to promote religion, except by counteracting excitements. This is true in philosophy, and it is a historical fact.

It is altogether improbable that religion will ever make progress among heathen nations except through the influence of revivals. The attempt is now in making to do it by education, and other cautious and gradual improvements. But so long as the laws of mind remain what they are, it cannot be done in this way. There must be excitement sufficient to wake up the dormant moral powers, and roll back the tide of degradation and sin. And precisely so far as our land approximates to heathenism, it is impossible for God or man to promote religion in such a state of things but by powerful excitements. This is evident from the fact that this has always been the way in which God has done it. God does not create these excitements, and choose this method to promote religion, for nothing, or without reason. Men being so reluctant to obey God, will not act until they are excited. For instance, how many there are who know that they ought to be religious, but they are afraid that if they become pious they will be laughed at by their companions. Many are wedded to idols; others are procrastinating repentance until they are settled in life, or until they have secured some favorite worldly interest. Such persons never will give up their false shame, or relinquish their ambitious schemes, till they are so excited by a sense of quiet and danger they cannot hold back any longer.

These remarks are designated only as an introduction. I shall now proceed with the main design, to show:

I. What a revival of religion is not.

II. What it is. And,

III. The agencies employed in promoting it.

I. A REVIVAL IS NOT A MIRACLE.

1. A miracle has been generally defined to be a Divine interference, setting aside, or suspending, the laws of nature. A revival is not a miracle in this sense. All the laws of matter and mind remain in force. They are neither suspended nor set aside in a revival.

2. A revival is not a miracle according to another definition of the term "miracle" - something above the powers of nature. There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature. It consists entirely in the right exercise of the powers of nature. It is just that, and nothing else. When mankind become religious, they are not enabled to put forth exertions which they were unable before to put forth. They only exert powers which they had before, in a different way, and use them for the glory of God.

3. A revival is not a miracle, nor dependent on a miracle, in any sense. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means - as much so as any other effect produced by the application of means. There may be a miracle among its antecedent causes, or there may not. The apostles employed miracles simply as a means by which they arrested attention to their message, and established its Divine authority. But the miracle was not the revival. The miracle was one thing; the revival that followed it was quite another thing. The revivals in the apostles' days were connected with miracles, but they were not miracles.

I said that a revival is the result of the right use of the appropriate means. The means which God has enjoined for the production of a revival, doubtless have a natural tendency to produce a revival. Otherwise God would not have enjoined them. But means will not produce a revival, we all know, without the blessing of God. No more will grain, when it is sown, produce a crop without the blessing of God. It is impossible for us to say that there is not as direct an influence or agency from God, to produce a crop of grain, as there is to produce a revival. What are the laws of nature according to which it is supposed that grain yields a crop? They are nothing but the constituted manner of the operations of God. In the Bible, the Word of God is compared to grain, and preaching is compared to sowing the seed, and the results to the springing up and growth of the crop. A revival is as naturally a result of the use of the appropriate means as a crop is of the use of its appropriate means.

I wish this idea to be impressed on your minds, for there has long been an idea prevalent that promoting religion has something very peculiar in it, not to be judged of by the ordinary rules of cause and effect; in short, that there is no connection of the means with the result, and no tendency in the means to produce the effect. No doctrine is more dangerous than this to the prosperity of the Church, and nothing more absurd.

Suppose a man were to go and preach this doctrine among farmers, regarding their sowing of grain. Let him tell them that God is a Sovereign, and will give them a crop only when it pleases Him, and that for them to plow, and plant, and labor, as if they expected to raise a crop, is very wrong, that it amounts to taking the work out of the hands of God, that it is an interference with His Sovereignty, and that there is no connection between the means and the result on which they can depend. Suppose the farmers should believe such a doctrine? Why, they would starve the world to death.

Just such results would follow on the Church being persuaded that promoting religion is somehow so mysteriously a subject of Divine Sovereignty, that there is no natural connection between the means and the end. In fact, what are the results? Why, generation after generation has gone to hell, while the Church has been dreaming and waiting for God to save them without the use of the means. It has been the devil's most successful means of destroying souls! The connection is as clear in religion as it is when the farmer sows his grain.

There is one fact under the government of God worthy of universal notice and of everlasting remembrance; which is, that the most useful and important things are most easily and certainly obtained by the use of the appropriate means. This is evidently a principle in the Divine administration. Hence, all the necessaries of life are obtained with great certainty by the use of the simplest means. The luxuries are more difficult to obtain; the means to procure them are more intricate, and less certain in their results; while things absolutely hurtful and poisonous, such as alcohol and the like, are often obtained only by torturing nature and making use of a kind of infernal sorcery to procure death-dealing abominations.

This principle holds true in moral government, and as spiritual blessings are of surpassing importance, we should expect their attainment to be connected with great certainly with the use of the appropriate means; and such we find to be the fact. And I fully believe that, could facts be known, it would be found that when the appointed means have been rightly used, spiritual blessings have been obtained with greater uniformity than temporal ones.

II. WHAT A REVIVAL IS.

It presupposes that the Church is sunk down in a backslidden state, and a revival consists in the return of the Church from her backslidings, and in the conversion of sinners.

1. A revival always includes conviction of sin on the part of the Church. Backslidden professors cannot wake up and begin right away in the service of God, without deep searchings of heart. The fountains of sin need to be broken up. In a true revival, Christians are always brought under such conviction; they see their sins in such a light that often they find it impossible to maintain a hope of their acceptance with God. It does not always go to that extent, but there are always, in a genuine revival, deep convictions of sin, and often cases of abandoning all hope.

2. Backslidden Christians will be brought to repentance. A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God. Just as in the case of a converted sinner, the first step is a deep repentance, a breaking down of heart, a getting down into the dust before God, with deep humility, and a forsaking of sin.

3. Christians will have their faith renewed. While they are in their backslidden state they are blind to the state of sinners. Their hearts are hard as marble. The truths of the Bible appear like a dream. They admit it to be all true; their conscience and their judgment assent to it; but their faith does not see it standing out in bold relief, in all the burning realities of eternity. But when they enter into a revival, they no longer see "men as trees, walking," but they see things in that strong light which will renew the love of God in their hearts. This will lead them to labor zealously to bring others to Him. They will feel grieved that others do not love God, when they love Him so much. And they will set themselves feelingly to persuade their neighbors to give Him their hearts. So their love to men will be renewed. They will be filled with a tender and burning love for souls. They will have a longing desire for the salvation of the whole world. They will be in an agony for individuals whom they want to have saved - their friends, relations, enemies. They will not only be urging them to give their hearts to God, but they will carry them to God in the arms of faith, and with strong crying and tears beseech God to have mercy on them, and save their souls from endless burnings.

4. A revival breaks the power of the world and of sin over Christians. It brings them to such vantage ground that they get a fresh impulse towards heaven; they have a new foretaste of heaven, and new desires after union with God; thus the charm of the world is broken, and the power of sin overcome.

5. When the Churches are thus awakened and reformed, the reformation and salvation of sinners will follow. Their hearts will be broken down and changed. Very often the most abandoned profligates are among the subjects. Harlots, and drunkards, and infidels, and all sorts of abandoned characters, are awakened and converted. The worst of human beings are softened and reclaimed, and made to appear as lovely specimens of the beauty of holiness.

III. THE AGENCIES EMPLOYED.

Ordinarily, there are employed in the work of conversion three agents and one instrument. The agents are God; some person who brings the truth to bear on the mind; and the sinner himself. The instrument is the truth. There are always two agents, God and the sinner, employed and active in every case of genuine conversion.

1. The agency of God is twofold: by His Providence and by His Spirit.

By His providential government He so arranges events as to bring the sinner's mind and the truth in contact. He brings the sinner where the truth reaches his ears or his eyes. It is often interesting to trace the manner in which God arranges events so as to bring this about, and how He sometimes makes everything seem to favor a revival. The state of the weather and of the public health and other circumstances concur to make everything just right to favor the application of truth with the greatest possible efficacy. How He sometimes sends a minister along just at the time he is wanted! How He brings out a particular truth just at the particular time when the individual it is fitted to reach is in the way to hear!

God's special agency by His Holy Spirit. Having direct access to the mind, and knowing infinitely well the whole history and state of each individual sinner, He employs that truth which is best adapted to his particular case, and then drives it home with Divine power. He gives it such vividness, strength, and power that the sinner quails, and throws down his weapons of rebellion, and turns to the Lord. Under His influence the truth burns its way like fire. He makes the truth stand out in such aspects that it crushes the proudest man down with the weight of a mountain. If men were disposed to obey God, the truth is given with sufficient clearness in the Bible; and from preaching they could learn all that is necessary for them to know. But because they are wholly disinclined to obey it, God makes it clear before their minds, and pours in upon their souls a blaze of convincing light which they cannot withstand; and they yield to it, obey God, and are saved.

2. The agency of men is commonly employed. Men are not mere instruments in the hands of God. Truth is the instrument. The preacher is a moral agent in the work: he acts; he is not a mere passive instrument; he is voluntary in promoting the conversion of sinners.

3. The agency of the sinner himself. The conversion of a sinner consists in his obeying the truth. It is therefore impossible it should take place without his agency, for it consists in acting right. He is influenced to this by the agency of God and by the agency of men. Men act on their fellow-men, not only by language, but by their looks, their tears, their daily deportment. See that impenitent man, who has a pious wife. Her very looks, her tenderness, her solemn, compassionate dignity, softened and molded-into the image of Christ, are a sermon to him all the time. He has to turn his mind away, because it is such a reproach to him. He feels a sermon ringing in his ears all day long.

Mankind are accustomed to read the countenances of their neighbors. Sinners often read the state of a Christian's mind in his eyes. If his eyes are full of levity, or worldly anxiety and contrivance, sinners read it. If they are full of the Spirit of God, sinners read it. The ungodly are often led to conviction simply by, seeing the countenance of Christians. An individual once went into a manufactory to see the machinery. His mind was solemn, as he had been where there was a revival. The people who labored there all knew him by sight, and knew who he was. A young lady who was at work saw him, and whispered some foolish remark to her companion, and laughed. The person stopped and looked at her with a feeling of grief. She stopped; her thread broke - and she was so much agitated that she could not join it. She looked out at the window to compose herself, and then tried again; again and again she strove to recover her self-command. At length she sat down, overcome by her feelings. The person then approached and spoke with her; she soon manifested a deep sense of sin. The feeling spread through the establishment like fire, and in a few hours almost every person employed there was under conviction; so much so that the owner, though a worldly man, was astounded, and requested to have the works stopped and a prayer-meeting held; for he said it was a great deal more important to have these people converted than to have the works go on. And in a few days the owner and nearly all the persons employed in the establishment were hopefully converted. The eye of this individual, his solemn countenance, his compassionate feeling, rebuked the levity of the young woman, and brought her under conviction of sin; and probably in a great measure this whole revival followed from so small an incident.

If Christians themselves have deep feeling on the subject of religion, they will produce deep feeling wherever they go. And if they are cold, or light and trifling, they inevitably destroy all deep feeling, even in awakened sinners.

I knew a case once of an individual who was very anxious, but one day I was grieved to find that her convictions seemed to be all gone. I asked her what she had been doing. She told me she had been spending the afternoon at a certain place, among some professors of religion - not thinking that it would dissipate her convictions to spend an afternoon with professors of religion! But they were trifling and vain people, and her convictions were lost. And no doubt those professors of religion, by their folly, destroyed a soul, for her convictions did not return.

The Church is required to use the means for the conversion of sinners. Sinners cannot properly be said to use the means for their own conversion. The Church uses the means. What sinners do is to submit to the truth, or to resist it. It is a mistake of sinners, to think they are using means for their own conversion. The whole drift of a revival, and everything about it, is designed to present the truth to your mind, for your obedience or resistance.

REMARKS.

1. Revivals were formerly regarded as miracles. And it has been so by some even in our day. And others have ideas on the subject so loose and unsatisfactory, that if they would only think, they would see their absurdity. For a long time it was supposed by the Church that a revival was a miracle, an interposition of Divine power, with which they had nothing to do, and which they had no more agency in producing than they had in producing thunder, or a storm of hail, or an earthquake. It is only within a few years that ministers generally have supposed revivals were to be promoted, by the use of means designed and adapted specially to that object. It has been supposed that revivals came just as showers do, sometimes in one town, and sometimes in another, and that ministers and Churches could do nothing more to produce them than they could to make showers of rain come on their own town, when they were falling on a neighboring town.

It used to be supposed that a revival would come "about once in fifteen years, when all would be converted that God intended to save," after which the Church must wait until another crop came forward on the stage of life. Finally, the time got shortened down to five years; it was supposed there might be a revival about as often as that!

I have heard a fact in relation to a pastor who entertained this supposition - that a revival might come about once in five years. There had been a revival in his congregation. The next year there was a revival in a neighboring town, and he went there to preach, staying several days, till he became engrossed in the work. He returned home on a Saturday, and went into his study to prepare for the Sabbath. His soul was in agony. He thought how many adult persons there were in his congregation at enmity with God. He reasoned thus: "There are so many still unconverted; so many persons die yearly - such a portion of them unconverted; if a revival does not come under five years, so many adult heads of families will be lost." He put down his calculations on paper, and embodied them in his sermon for the next day, with his heart bleeding at the dreadful picture. As I understood it, he did not do this with any expectation of a revival; but he felt deeply, and poured out his heart to his people; and that sermon awakened forty heads of families, and a powerful revival followed; and so his theory about a revival once in five years was exploded. Thus God has overthrown, generally, the theory that revivals are miracles.

2. Revivals have been greatly hindered by mistaken notions concerning the Sovereignty of God. Many people have supposed God's Sovereignty to be something very different from what it is. They have supposed it to be such an arbitrary disposal of events, and particularly of the gift of His Spirit, as precluded a rational employment of means for promoting a revival. But there is no evidence from the Bible that God exercises any such sovereignty. There are no facts to prove it, but everything goes to show that God has connected means with the end, through all the departments of His government, in nature and in grace. There is no natural event in which His own agency is not concerned. He has not built the creation like a vast machine that will go on alone, without His further care. He has not retired from the universe, to let it work for itself. That is mere Deism. He exercises a universal superintendence and control. And yet every event in nature has been brought about by means. He administers neither providence nor grace with that sort of sovereignty that dispenses with the use of means. There is no more sovereignty in the one than in the other.

And yet some people are terribly alarmed at all direct efforts to promote a revival, and they cry out: "You are trying to get up a revival in your own strength. Take care, you are interfering with the Sovereignty of God. Better keep along in the usual course, and let God give a revival when He thinks it is best. God is a Sovereign, and it is very wrong for you to attempt to get up a revival, just because you think a revival is needed."

This is just such preaching as the devil wants. And men cannot do the devil's work more effectually than by preaching up the Sovereignty of God as a reason why we should not put forth efforts to produce a revival.

3. You see the error of those who are beginning to think that religion can be better promoted in the world without revivals, and who are disposed to give up all efforts to produce religious awakenings. Because there are evils arising in some instances out of great excitements on the subject of religion, they are of opinion that it is best to dispense with them altogether. This cannot, and must not be. True, there is danger of abuses. In cases of great religious as well as in other excitements, more or fewer incidental evils may be expected, of course. But this is no reason why revivals should be given up. The best things are always liable to abuses. Great and manifold evils have originated under (but not because of) the providential and moral governments of God. So in revivals of religion, it is found by experience, that in the present state of the world, religion cannot be promoted to any considerable extent without them. The evils which are sometimes complained of, when they are real, are accidental, and of small importance when compared with the amount of good produced by revivals. The sentiment should not be admitted by the Church for a moment, that revivals may be given up. It is fraught with all that is dangerous to the interests of Zion, is death to the cause of missions, and brings in its train the damnation of the world.

4. Finally: I have not commenced this course of Lectures on Revivals to get up a curious theory of my own on the subject. I would not spend my time and strength merely to give instructions, to gratify curiosity, and furnish people with something to talk about. I have no idea of a preaching about revivals. It is not my design to preach so as to have you able to say at the close: "We understand all about revivals now," while you do nothing. Will you follow the instructions I shall give you from the Word of God, and then put them in practice in your own lives? Will you bring them to bear upon your families, your acquaintance, neighbors, and through the city? Or will you spend the time in learning about revivals, and do nothing for them? I want you as fast as you learn anything on the subject of revivals, to put it in practice, and go to work and see if you cannot promote a revival among sinners here. If you will not do this, I wish you to let me know at the beginning, so that I need not waste my strength. You ought to decide now whether you will do this or not. You know that we call sinners to decide on the spot whether they will obey the Gospel. And we have no more authority to let you take time to deliberate whether you will obey God, than we have to let sinners do so. We call on you to unite now in a solemn pledge to God, that you will do your duty as fast as you learn what it is, and to pray that He will pour out His Spirit upon this Church and upon all the city.

Lecture 2: When A Revival Is To Be Expected

Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee? - Psalm 85:6.

The Psalmist felt that God had been very favorable to the people, and while contemplating the goodness of the Lord in bringing them back from the land whither they had been carried away captive, and while looking at the prospects before them, he breaks out into a prayer for a revival of religion: "Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" Since God in His providence had re-established the ordinances of His house among them, he prays that there may be a revival of religion to crown the work.

In my first Lecture I attempted to show what a revival of religion is not, what a revival is, and the agencies to be employed in promoting it. The topics to which I now wish to call attention are:

I. When a revival of religion is needed.

II. The importance of a revival when it is needed.

III. When a revival of religion may be expected.

I. WHEN A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS NEEDED.

1. When there is a want of brotherly love and Christian confidence among professors of religion, then a revival is needed. Then there is a loud call for God to revive His work. When Christians have sunk down into a low and backslidden state, they neither have, nor can have, the same love and confidence toward each other, as when they are all alive, and active, and living holy lives. God loves all men with the love of benevolence, but He does not feel the love of complacency toward any but those who live holy. Christians love each other with the love of complacency, only in proportion to their holiness. If Christian love is the love of the image of Christ in His people, then it can be exercised only where that image really or apparently exists. A person must reflect the image of Christ, and show the spirit of Christ before other Christians can love him with the love of complacency. It is in vain to call on Christians to love one another with the love of complacency, as Christians, when they are sunk down in stupidity. They see nothing in each other to produce this love. It is next to impossible that they should feel otherwise toward each other than they do toward sinners. Merely knowing that they belong to the Church, or seeing them occasionally at the Communion table, will not produce Christian love, unless they see the image of Christ.

2. When there are dissensions, and jealousies, and evil speakings among professors of religion, then there is a great need of a revival. These things show that Christians have got far from God, and it is time to think earnestly of a revival. Religion cannot prosper with such things in the Church, and nothing can put an end to them like a revival.

3. When there is a worldly spirit in the Church. It is manifest that the Church has sunk down into a low and backslidden state, when you see Christians conform to the world in dress, equipage, and "parties," in seeking worldly amusements, and reading novels, and other books such as the world reads. It shows that they are far from God, and that there is great need of a revival of religion.

4. When the Church finds its members falling into gross and scandalous sins, then it is time to awake and cry to God for a revival of religion. When such things are taking place as give the enemies of religion an occasion for reproach, it is time to ask of God: "What will become of Thy great Name?"

5. When there is a spirit of controversy in the Church or in the land, a revival is needful. The spirit of religion is not the spirit of controversy. There can be no prosperity in religion where the spirit of controversy prevails.

6. When the wicked triumph over the Churches, and revile them, it is time to seek for a revival of religion.

7. When sinners are careless and stupid, it is time Christians should bestir themselves. It is as much their duty to awake as it is for the firemen to do so when a fire breaks out in the night in a great city. The Church ought to put out the fires of hell which are laying hold of the wicked. Sleep! Should the firemen sleep and let the whole city burn down, what would be thought of such firemen? And yet their guilt would not compare with the guilt of Christians who sleep while sinners around them are sinking stupidly into the fires of hell.

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF A REVIVAL IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES.

1. A revival of religion is the only possible thing that can wipe away the reproach which covers the Church, and restore religion to the place it ought to have in the estimation of the public. Without a revival, this reproach will cover the Church more and more, until it is overwhelmed with universal contempt. You may do anything else you please, and you may change the aspects of society in some respects, but you will do no real good; you only make it worse without a revival of religion. You may go and build a splendid new house of worship, and line your seats with damask, put up a costly pulpit, and get a magnificent organ, and everything of that kind, to make a show and dash, and in that way you may procure a sort of respect for religion among the wicked, but it does no good in reality. It rather does hurt. It misleads them as to the real nature of religion; and so far from converting them, it carries them farther away from salvation. Look wherever they have surrounded the altar of Christianity with splendor, and you will find that the impression produced is contrary to the true nature of religion. There must be a waking up of energy on the part of Christians, and an outpouring of God's Spirit, or the world will laugh at the Church.

2. Nothing else will restore Christian love and confidence among Church members. Nothing but a revival can restore it, and nothing else ought to restore it. There is no other way to wake up that love of Christians for one another which is sometimes felt, when they have such love as they cannot express. You cannot have such love without confidence; and you cannot restore confidence without such evidence of piety as is seen in a revival. If a minister find he has lost in any degree the confidence of his people, he ought to labor for a revival as the only means of regaining their confidence.

I do not mean that his motive in laboring for a revival should be merely to regain the confidence of his people, but that a revival through his instrumentality (and ordinarily nothing else) will restore to him the confidence of the praying part of his people. So if an elder or private member of the Church finds his brethren cold towards him, there is but one way to restore it. It is by being revived himself, and pouring out from his eyes and from his life the splendor of the Image of Christ. This spirit will catch and spread in the Church; confidence will be renewed, and brotherly love prevail again.

3. At such a time a revival of religion is indispensable to avert the judgments of God from the Church. I his would be a strange preaching if revivals were only miracles. and if the Church has no more agency in producing them than it has in producing a thunderstorm. We could not then say to the Church: "Unless there is a revival you may expect judgments." The fact is, Christians are more to blame for not being revived, than sinners are for not being converted. And if they are not awakened, they may know assuredly that God will visit them with His judgments.

How often God visited the Jewish Church with judgments because they would not repent and be revived at the call of His prophets! How often have we seen Churches, and even whole denominations, cursed with a curse, because they would not wake up and seek the Lord, and pray: "Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?"

4. Nothing but a revival of religion can preserve such a Church from annihilation. A Church declining in this way cannot continue to exist without a revival. If it receives new members, they will, for the most part, be made up of ungodly persons. Without revivals there will not ordinarily be as many persons converted as will die off in a year. There have been Churches in this country where the members have died off, and, since there were no revivals to convert others in their place, the Church has "run out," and the organization has been dissolved.

A minister told me he once labored as a missionary in Virginia, on the ground where such a man as Samuel Davies once shone like a flaming torch; and that Davies' Church was so reduced as to have but one male member, and he, if I remember right, was a colored man. The Church had got proud, and was "run out." I have heard of a Church in Pennsylvania, that was formerly flourishing, but neglected revivals, and it became so reduced that the pastor had to send to a neighboring Church for a ruling elder when he administered the Communion.(Why not, in such a case, let any member of the Church, male or female, distribute the elements? Is it indispensable to have an elder?)

5. Nothing but a revival of religion can prevent the means of grace from doing a great injury to the ungodly. Without a revival they will grow harder and harder under preaching, and will experience a more horrible damnation than they would if they had never heard the Gospel. Your children and your friends will go down to a much more horrible fate in hell, in consequence of the means of grace, if there are no revivals to convert them to God. Better were it for them if there were no means of grace, no sanctuary, no Bible, no preaching, than to live and die where there is no revival. The Gospel is the savor of death unto death, if it is not made a savor of life unto life.

6. There is no other way in which a Church can be sanctified, grow in grace, and be fitted for heaven. What is "growing in grace"? Is it hearing sermons and getting some new notions about religion? No; no such thing.

The Christian who does this, and nothing more, is getting worse and worse, more and more hardened, and every week it is more difficult to rouse him up to duty.

III. WHEN A REVIVAL MAY BE EXPECTED.

1. When the providence of God indicates that a revival is at hand. The indications of God's providence are sometimes so plain as to amount to a revelation of His will. There is a conspiring of events to open the way, a preparation of circumstances to favor a revival, so that those who are looking out can see that a revival is at hand, just as plainly as if it had been revealed from heaven. Cases have occurred in this country where the providential manifestations were so plain that those who were careful observers felt no hesitation in saying that God was coming to pour out His Spirit and grant a revival. There are various ways for God so to indicate

His will to a people; sometimes by giving them peculiar means, sometimes by peculiar and alarming events, sometimes by remarkably favoring the employment of means, or by the state of the public health.

2. When the wickedness of the wicked grieves and humbles and distresses Christians. Sometimes Christians do not seem to mind anything about the wickedness around them. Or, if they do talk about it, it is in a cold, and callous, and unfeeling way, as if they despaired of a reformation: they are disposed to scold sinners - not to feel the compassion of the Son of God for them. But sometimes the conduct of the wicked drives Christians to prayer, breaks them down, and makes them sorrowful and tender-hearted, so that they can weep day and night, and instead of scolding the wicked they pray earnestly for them. Then you may expect a revival. Indeed, it is begun already.

Sometimes the wicked will get up an opposition to religion. And when this drives Christians to their knees in prayer to God, with strong crying and tears, you may be certain there is going to be a revival. The prevalence of wickedness is no evidence at all that there is not going to be a revival. That is often God's time to work. When the enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him. Often the first indication of a revival is that the devil gets up something new in opposition. This will invariably have one of two effects. It will either drive Christians to God, or it will drive them farther away from God, to some carnal policy or other that will only make things worse. Frequently the most outrageous wickedness of the ungodly is followed by a revival. If Christians are made to feel that they have no hope but in God, and if they have sufficient feeling left to care for the honor of God and the salvation of the souls of the impenitent, there will certainly be a revival. Let hell boil over if it will, and spew out as many devils as there are stones in the pavement, if it only drives Christians to God in prayer - it cannot hinder a revival. Let Satan "get up a row," and sound his horn as loud as he pleases; if Christians will only be humbled and pray, they shall soon see God's naked arm in a revival of religion. I have known instances where a revival has broken in upon the ranks of the enemy, almost as suddenly as a clap of thunder, and scattered them, taken the ringleaders as trophies, and broken up their party in an instant.

3. A revival may be expected when Christians have a spirit of prayer for a revival. That is, when they pray as if their hearts were set upon it.

Sometimes Christians are not engaged in definite prayer for a revival, not even when they are warm in prayer. Their minds are upon something else; they are praying for something else - the salvation of the heathen and the like - and not for a revival among themselves. But when they feel the want of a revival, they pray for it; they feel for their own families and neighborhoods; they pray for them as if they could not be denied. What constitutes a spirit of prayer? Is it many prayers and warm words? No.

Prayer is the state of the heart. The spirit of prayer is a state of continual desire and anxiety of mind for the salvation of sinners. It is something that weighs them down. It is the same, so far as the philosophy of mind is concerned, as when a man is anxious for some worldly interest. A Christian who has this spirit of prayer feels anxious for souls. It is the subject of his thoughts all the time, and makes him look and act as if he had a load on his mind. He thinks of it by day, and dreams of it by night.

This is properly "praying without ceasing." His prayers seem to flow from his heart liquid as water: "O Lord, revive Thy work." Sometimes this feeling is very deep; persons have been bowed down so that they could neither stand nor sit. I can name men in this State, of firm nerves, who stand high in character, who have been absolutely crushed with grief for the state of sinners. The feeling is not always so great as this, but such things are much more common than is supposed. In the great revivals in 1826, they were common.

This is by no means enthusiasm. It is just what Paul felt when he said: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth." This travail of soul is that deep agony which persons feel when they lay hold on God for such a blessing, and will not let Him go till they receive it. I do not mean to be understood that it is essential to a spirit of prayer that the distress should be so great as this. But this deep, continual, earnest desire for the salvation of sinners is what constitutes the spirit of prayer for a revival.

When this feeling exists in a Church, unless the Spirit is grieved away by sin, there will infallibly be a revival of Christians generally, and it will involve the conversion of sinners to God. A clergyman once told me of a revival among his people, which commenced with a zealous and devoted woman in the Church. She became anxious about sinners, and gave herself to praying for them; she prayed, and her distress increased; and she finally came to her minister and talked with him asking him to appoint an anxious inquirers' meeting, for she felt that one was needed. The minister put her off, for he felt nothing of any such need. The next week she came again, and besought him again to appoint such a meeting. She knew there would be somebody to come, for she felt as if God was going to pour out His Spirit. The minister once more put her off. And finally she said to him: "If you do not appoint the meeting I shall die, for there is certainly going to be a revival." The next Sabbath he appointed a meeting, and said that if there were any who wished to converse with him about the salvation of their souls, he would meet them on such an evening. He did not know of one, but when he went to the place, to his astonishment he found a large number of anxious inquirers. Now, do not you think that woman knew there was going to be a revival? Call it what you please, a new revelation or an old revelation, or anything else. I say it was the Spirit of God that taught that praying woman there was going to be a revival. "The secret of the Lord" was with her, and she knew it. She knew God had been in her heart, and filled it so full that she could contain no longer.

Sometimes ministers have had this distress about their congregations, so that they felt as if they could not live unless they saw a revival.

Sometimes elders and deacons, or private members of the Church, men or women, have the spirit of prayer for a revival of religion, so that they will hold on and prevail with God, till He pours out His Spirit. The first ray of light that broke in upon the midnight which rested on the Churches in Oneida County, in the fall of 1825, was from a woman in feeble health, who, I believe, had never been in a powerful revival. Her soul was exercised about sinners. She was in an agony for the land. She did not know what ailed her, but she kept praying more and more, till it seemed as if her agony would destroy her body. At length she became full of joy, and exclaimed. "God has come! God has come! There is no mistake about it, the work is begun, and is going all over the region." And sure enough the work began, and her family were all converted, and the work spread all over that part of the country. Now, do you think that woman was deceived? I tell you, no. She knew she had prevailed with God in prayer.

Generally there are but few professors of religion who know anything about this spirit of prayer which prevails with God. I have been amazed to see such accounts as are often published about revivals, as if the revival had come without any cause - nobody knew why or wherefore. I have sometimes inquired into such cases; when it had been given out that nobody knew anything about it until one Sabbath they saw by the faces of the congregation that God was there, or they saw it in their conference-room, or prayer-meeting, and were astonished at the mysterious Sovereignty of God in bringing in a revival without any apparent connection with means.

Now mark me. Go and inquire among the obscure members of the Church and you will always find that somebody had been praying for a revival, and was expecting it - some man or woman had been agonizing in prayer for the salvation of sinners, until the blessing was gained. It may have found the minister and the body of the Church fast asleep, and they would wake up all of a sudden, like a man just rubbing his eyes open, running round the room, pushing things over, and wondering where all the excitement comes from. But though few knew it, you may be sure there had been somebody on the watch-tower, constant in prayer till the blessing came. Generally, a revival is more or less extensive, as there are more or less persons who have the spirit of prayer.

4. Another sign that a revival may be expected is when the attention of ministers is especially directed to this particular object, and when their preaching and other efforts are aimed particularly at the conversion of sinners. Most of the time the labors of ministers are, it would seem, directed to other objects. They seem to preach and labor with no particular design to effect the immediate conversion of sinners, and then it need not be expected that there will be a revival under their preaching. There never will be a revival till somebody makes particular efforts for this end. But when the attention of a minister is directed to the state of the families in his congregation, and when his heart is full of feeling of the necessity of a revival, and he puts forth the proper efforts for this end, then you may be prepared to expect a revival. As I have explained, the connection between the right use of means for a revival, and a revival, is as philosophically sure as between the right use of means to raise grain, and a crop of wheat. I believe, in fact, it is more certain, and that there are fewer instances of failure. The effect is more certain to follow. Probably the law connecting cause and effect is more undeviating in spiritual than in natural things, and so there are fewer exceptions. The paramount importance of spiritual things makes it reasonable that it should be so.

Take the Bible, the nature of the case, and the history of the Church all together, and you will find fewer failures in the use of means for a revival than in farming or any other worldly business. In worldly affairs there are sometimes cases where counteracting causes annihilate all a man can do. In raising grain, for instance, there are cases which are beyond the control of man, such as drought, hard winter, worms, and so on. So in laboring to promote a revival, there may things occur to counteract it, something or another suddenly diverting the public attention from religion, which may baffle every effort. But I believe there are fewer such cases in the moral than in the natural world. I have seldom seen an individual fail when he used the means for promoting a revival in earnest, in the manner pointed out in the Word of God. I believe a man may enter on the work of promoting a revival with as reasonable an expectation of success as he can enter on any other work with an expectation of success - with the same expectation as the farmer has of a crop when he sows his grain. I have sometimes seen this tried and succeed under circumstances the most forbidding that can be conceived.

The great revival at Rochester 10 began under the most disadvantageous circumstances that could well be imagined. It seemed as though Satan had interposed every possible obstacle to a revival. The three Churches were at variance. One had no minister: one was divided and was about to dismiss its minister. An elder of the third Presbyterian Church had brought a charge against the pastor of the first Church. After the work began, one of the first things was, the great stone Church gave way and created a panic. 11 Then one of the Churches went on and dismissed their minister right in the midst of it. Many other things occurred, so that it seemed as if the devil were determined to divert public attention from the subject of religion. But there were a few remarkable cases of the spirit of prayer, which assured us that God was there, and we went on; and the more Satan opposed, the Spirit of the Lord lifted up the standard higher and higher, till finally a wave of salvation rolled over the place.

5. A revival of religion may be expected when Christians begin to confess their sins to one another. At other times they confess in a general manner, as if they are only half in earnest. They may do it in eloquent language, but it does not mean anything. But when there is an ingenuous breaking down, and a pouring out of the heart in confession of sin, the flood-gates will soon burst open, and salvation will flow over the place.

6. A revival may be expected whenever Christians are found willing to make the sacrifices necessary to carry it on. They must be willing to sacrifice their feelings, their business, their time, to help forward the work.

Ministers must be willing to lay out their strength, and to jeopardize their health and life. They must be willing to offend the impenitent by plain and faithful dealing, and perhaps offend many members of the Church who will not come up to the work. They must take a decided stand with the revival, be the consequences what they may. They must be prepared to go on with the work even though they should lose the affections of all the impenitent, and of all the cold part of the Church. The minister must be prepared, if it be the will of God, to be driven away from the place. He must be determined to go straight forward, and leave the entire event with God.

I knew a minister who had a young man laboring with him in a revival. The young man preached pretty plain truth and the wicked did not like him.

They said: "We like our minister and we wish to have him preach." They finally said so much that the minister told the young man: "Such and such a person, who gives so much towards my support, says so-and-so; Mr. A. also says so, and Mr. B. likewise. They think it will break up the society if you continue to preach, and I think you had better not preach any more." The young man went away, but the Spirit of God immediately withdrew from the place and the revival stopped short. The minister, by yielding to the wicked desires of the ungodly, drove Him away, being afraid that the devil would drive him away from his people. So by undertaking to satisfy the devil he offended God. And God so ordered events that in a short time the minister had to leave his people after all. He undertook to go between the devil and God, and God dismissed him.

So the people, also, must be willing to have a revival, let the sacrifice be what it may. It will not do for them to say: "We are willing to attend so many meetings, but we cannot attend any more." Or: "We are willing to have a revival if it will not disturb our arrangements about our business, or prevent our making money." I tell you, such people will never have a revival till they are willing to do anything, and sacrifice anything, that God indicates to be their duty. Christian merchants must feel willing to lock up their stores for six months, if it is necessary to carry on a revival. I do not mean that any such thing is called for, or that it is their duty to do so. But if there should be such a state of feeling as to call for it, then it would be their duty and they ought to be willing to do it. They ought to be willing to do it at the call of God, for He can easily burn down their stores if they do not. In fact, I should not be sorry to see such a revival in New York, as would make every merchant in the city lock up his store till spring, and say that he had sold goods enough and would now give up his whole time to leading sinners to Christ.

7. A revival may be expected when ministers and professors are willing to have God promote it by whatsoever instruments He pleases. Sometimes ministers are not willing to have a revival unless they can have the management of it, or unless their agency can be conspicuous in promoting it. They wish to prescribe to God what He shall direct and bless, and what men He shall put forward. They will have no new measures. They cannot have any of this "new-light" 12 preaching, or of these evangelists that go about the country preaching! They have a good deal to say about God being a Sovereign, and that He will have revivals come in His own way and time. But then He must choose to have it just in their way or they will have nothing to do with it. Such men will sleep on until they are awakened by the judgment trumpet, without a revival, unless they are willing that God should come in His own way - unless they are willing to have anything or anybody employed that will do the most good.

8. Strictly I should say that when the foregoing things occur, a revival, to some extent, already exists. In truth a revival should be expected whenever it is needed. If we need to be revived it is our duty to be revived. If it is duty it is possible, and we should set about being revived ourselves, and, relying on the promise of Christ to be with us in making disciples always and everywhere, we ought to labor to revive Christians and convert sinners, with a confident expectation of success. Therefore, whenever the Church needs reviving, it ought and may expect to be revived, and to see sinners converted to Christ. When those things are seen which are named under the foregoing heads, let Christians and ministers be encouraged and know that a good work is already begun. Follow it up.

REMARKS.

1. Brethren, you can tell from our subject, whether you need a revival or not, in your Church or in your city, and whether you are going to have one or not. Elders of the Church, men, women, any of you, and all of you - what do you say? Do you need a revival? Do you expect to have one?

Have you any reason to expect one? You need not be in any mist about it, for you know, or can know if you will, whether you have any reason to look for a revival.

2. You see why you have not a revival. It is only because you do not want one. Because you are neither praying for it, nor feeling anxious for it, nor putting forth efforts for it. I appeal to your own consciences: Are you making these efforts now, to promote a revival? You know, brethren, what the truth is about it. Will you stand up and say that you have made efforts for a revival and have been disappointed - that you have cried to God: "Wilt Thou not revive us?" and that God would not do it?

3 Do you wish a revival? Will you have one?  If God should ask you this moment, by an audible voice from heaven, "Do you want a revival?" would you dare to say: "Yes"? If He were to ask: "Are you willing to make the sacrifices?" would you answer: "Yes"? And if He said: "When shall it begin?" would you answer: "Let it begin tonight - let it begin here - let it begin in my heart NOW"? Would you dare to say so to God, if you should hear His voice tonight?

Lecture 3: How To Promote A Revival

Break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you. - Hosea 10:12.

The Jews were a nation of farmers, and it is therefore a common thing in the Scriptures to refer for illustrations to their occupation, and to the scenes with which farmers and shepherds are familiar. The prophet Hosea addresses them as a nation of backsliders; he reproves them for their idolatry, and threatens them with the judgments of God. I have shown in my first Lecture what a revival is not, what it is, and what are the agencies to be employed in promoting it; and in my second, when it is needed, its importance, and when it may be expected. My design in this Lecture is to show how a revival is to be promoted.

A revival consists of two parts: as it respects the Church, and as it respects the ungodly. I shall speak on this occasion of a revival in the Church. Fallow ground is ground which has once been tilled, but which now lies waste, and needs to be broken up and mellowed, before it is suited to receive grain. I shall show, as it respects a revival in the Church:

I. What it is to break up the fallow ground, in the sense of the text.

II. How it is to be performed.

I. WHAT IS IT TO BREAK UP THE FALLOW GROUND?

To break up the fallow ground is to break up your hearts, to prepare your minds to bring forth fruit unto God. The mind of man is often compared in the Bible to ground, and the Word of God to seed sown therein, the fruit representing the actions and affections of those who receive it. To break up the fallow ground, therefore, is to bring the mind into such a state that it is fitted to receive the Word of God. Sometimes your hearts get matted down, hard and dry, till there is no such thing as getting fruit from them till they are broken up, and mellowed down, and fitted to receive the Word. It is this softening of the heart, so as to make it feel the truth, which the prophet calls breaking up your fallow ground.

II. HOW IS THE FALLOW GROUND TO BE BROKEN UP?

It is not by any direct efforts to feel. People fall into a mistake on this subject, from not making the laws of mind the object of thought. There are great errors on the subject of the laws which govern the mind. People talk about religious feeling as if they could, by direct effort, call forth religious affection. But this is not the way the mind acts. No man can make himself feel in this way, merely by trying to feel. The feelings of the mind are not directly under our control. We cannot by willing, or by direct volition, call forth religious feelings. We might as well think to "call spirits from the vastly deep." They are purely involuntary states of mind. They naturally and necessarily exist in the mind under certain circumstances calculated to excite them. But they can be controlled indirectly. Otherwise there would be no moral character in our feelings, if there were not a way to control them. One cannot say: "Now I will feel so-and-so towards such an object." But we can command our attention to it, and look at it intently, till the proper feeling arises. Let a man who is away from his family bring them up before his mind, and will he not feel? But it is not by saying to himself: "Now I will feel deeply for my family." A man can direct his attention to any object, about which he ought to feel and wishes to feel, and in that way he will call into existence the proper emotions. Let a man call up his enemy before his mind, and his feelings of enmity will rise. So if a man thinks of God, and fastens his mind on any parts of God's character, he will feel - emotions will come up by the very laws of mind.

If he is a friend of God, let him contemplate God as a gracious and holy Being, and he will have emotions of friendship kindled in his mind. If he is an enemy of God, only let him get the true character of God before his mind, and look at it, and fasten his attention on it, and then his bitter enmity will rise against God, or he will break down and give his heart to God.

If you mean to break up the fallow ground of your hearts, and make your minds feel on the subject of religion, you must go to work just as you would to feel on any other subject. Instead of keeping your thoughts on everything else, and then imagining that by going to a few meetings you will get your feelings enlisted, go the common-sense way to work, as you would on any other subject. It is just as easy to make your minds feel on the subject of religion as it is on any other. God has put these states of mind under your control. If people were as unphilosophical about moving their limbs as they are about regulating their emotions, you would never have reached this meeting.

If you mean to break up the fallow ground of your hearts, you must begin by looking at your hearts: examine and note the state of your minds, and see where you are. Many never seem to think about this. They pay no attention to their own hearts, and never know whether they are doing well in religion or not; whether they are gaining ground or going back; whether they are fruitful, or lying waste. Now you must draw off your attention from other things, and look into this. Make a business of it. Do not be in a hurry. Examine thoroughly the state of your hearts, and see where you are: whether you are walking with God every day, or with the devil; whether you are serving God or serving the devil most; whether you are under the dominion of the prince of darkness, or of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To do all this, you must set yourself to work to consider your sins. You must examine yourselves. And by this I do not mean that you must stop and look directly within to see what is the present state of your feelings.

That is the very way to put a stop to all feeling. That is just as absurd as it would be for a man to shut his eyes on the lamp, and try to turn his eyes inward to find whether there was any image painted on the retina.

The man complains that he does not see anything! And why? Because he has turned his eyes away from the objects of sight. The truth is, our moral feelings are as much an object of consciousness as our senses. And the way to find them out is to go on acting, and employing our minds. Then we can tell our moral feelings by consciousness, just as I could tell my natural feelings by consciousness if I should put my hand in the fire.

Self-examination consists in looking at your lives, in considering your actions, in calling up the past, and learning its true character. Look back over your past history. Take up your individual sins one by one, and look at them. I do not mean that you should just cast a glance at your past life, and see that it has been full of sins, and then go to God and make a sort of general confession, and ask for pardon. That is not the way. You must take them up one by one. It will be a good thing to take a pen and paper, as you go over them, and write them down as they occur to you. Go over them as carefully as a merchant goes over his books; and as often as a sin comes before your memory, add it to the list. General confessions of sin will never do. Your sins were committed one by one; and as far as you can come at them, they ought to be reviewed and repented of one by one. Now begin, and take up first what are commonly, but improperly, called Sins of Omission.

1. Ingratitude. Take this sin, for instance, and write down under that head all the instances you can remember wherein you have received favors from God for which you have never exercised gratitude. How many cases can you remember? Some remarkable providence, some wonderful turn of events, that saved you from ruin. Set down the instances of God's goodness to you when you were in sin, before your conversion, for which you have never been half thankful enough; and the numerous mercies you have received since. How long the catalogue of instances, where your ingratitude has been so black that you are forced to hide your face in confusion! Go on your knees and confess them one by one to God, and ask forgiveness. The very act of confession, by the laws of suggestion, will bring up others to your memory. Put down these. Go over them three or four times in this way, and see what an astonishing number of mercies there are for which you have never thanked God.

2. Want of love to God. Think how grieved and alarmed you would be if you discovered any flagging of affection for you in your wife, husband, or children; if you saw another engrossing their hearts, and thoughts, and time. Perhaps in such a case you would well-nigh die with a just and virtuous jealousy. Now, God calls Himself a jealous God; and have you not given your heart to other loves and infinitely offended Him?

3. Neglect of the Bible. Put down the cases when for perhaps weeks, or longer, God's Word was not a pleasure. Some people, indeed, read over whole chapters in such a way that they could not tell what they had been reading. If so, no wonder that your life is spent at random, and that your religion is such a miserable failure.

4. Unbelief. Recall the instances in which you have virtually charged the God of truth with lying, by your unbelief of His express promises and declarations. God has promised to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Now, have you believed this? Have you expected Him to answer?

Have you not virtually said in your hearts, when you prayed for the Holy Spirit: "I do not believe that I shall receive?" If you have not believed nor expected to receive the blessing which God has expressly promised, you have charged Him with lying.

5. Neglect of prayer. Think of the times when you have neglected secret prayer, family prayer, and prayer meetings; or have prayed in such a way as more grievously to offend God than to have omitted it altogether.

6. Neglect of the means of grace. When you have suffered trifling excuses to prevent your attending meetings, have neglected and poured contempt upon the means of salvation, merely from disrelish of spiritual duties.

7. The manner in which you have performed those duties. That is, with want of feeling and want of faith, in a worldly frame of mind, so that your words were nothing but the mere chattering of a wretch who did not deserve that God should feel the least care for him. When you have fallen down upon your knees and "said your prayers" in such an unfeeling and careless manner that if you had been put under oath five minutes after you could not have said for what you had been praying.

8. Want of love for the souls of your fellow-men.. look round upon your friends and relatives, and remember how little compassion you have felt for them. You have stood by and seen them going right to hell, and it seems as though you did not care if they did go. How many days have there been, in which you did not make their condition the subject of a single fervent prayer, or evince an ardent desire for their salvation?

9. Want of care for the heathen. Perhaps you have not cared enough for them to attempt to learn their condition; perhaps not even to take a missionary magazine. Look at this, and see how much you really care for the heathen, and set down honestly the real amount of your feelings for them, and your desire for their salvation. Measure your desire for their salvation by the self-denial you practice, in giving of your substance to send them the Gospel. Do you deny yourself even the hurtful superfluities of life, such as tea, coffee, and tobacco? Do you retrench your style of living, and scruple not to subject yourself to any inconvenience to save them? Do you daily pray for them in private? Are you laying by something to put into the treasury of the Lord when you go up to pray? If you are not doing these things, and if your soul is not agonized for the poor benighted heathen, why are you such a hypocrite as to pretend to be a Christian? Why, your profession is an insult to Jesus Christ!

10. Neglect of family duties. Think how you have lived before your family, how you have prayed, what an example you have set before them.

What direct efforts do you habitually make for their spiritual good? What duty have you not neglected?

11. Neglect of social duties.

12. Neglect of watchfulness over your own life. In how many instances you have hurried over your private duties, and have neither taken yourself to task, nor honestly made up your accounts with God; how often have you entirely neglected to watch your conduct, and, having been off your guard, have sinned before the world, and before the Church, and before God!

13. Neglect for watch over your brethren. How often have you broken your covenant that you would watch over them in the Lord! How little do you know or care about the state of their souls! And yet you are under a solemn oath to watch over them. What have you done to make yourself acquainted with them? In how many of them have you interested yourself, to know their spiritual state? Go over the list, and wherever you find there has been a neglect, write it down. How many times have you seen your brethren growing cold in religion, and have not spoken to them about it?

You have seen them beginning to neglect one duty after another, and you did not reprove them, in a brotherly way. You have seen them falling into sin, and you let them go on. And yet you pretend to love them. What a hypocrite! Would you see your wife or child going into disgrace, or into the fire, and hold your peace? No, you would not. What do you think of yourself, then, to pretend to love Christians, and to love Christ, while you can see them going into disgrace, and say nothing to them?

14. Neglect of self -denial. There are many professors who are willing to do almost anything in religion, that does not require self-denial. But when they are required to do anything that requires them to deny themselves - oh, that is too much! They think they are doing a great deal for God, and doing about as much as He ought in reason to ask, if they are only doing what they can do just as well as not; but they are not willing to deny themselves any comfort or convenience whatever for the sake of serving the Lord. They will not willingly suffer reproach for the name of Christ.

Nor will they deny themselves the luxuries of life, to save a world from hell. So far are they from remembering that self-denial is a condition of discipleship that they do not know what self-denial is. They never have really denied themselves a riband or a pin for Christ and the Gospel. Oh, how soon such professors will be in hell! Some are giving of their abundance, and are giving much, and are ready to complain that others do not give more; when, in truth, they do not themselves give anything that they need, anything that they could enjoy if they kept it. They only give of their surplus wealth; and perhaps that poor woman who puts in her mite, has exercised more self-denial than they have in giving thousands

From these we now turn to Sins of Commission.

1. Worldly mindedness. What has been the state of your heart in regard to your worldly possessions? Have you looked at them as really yours - as if you had a right to dispose of them as your own, according to your own will? If you have, write that down. If you have loved property, and sought after it for its own sake, or to gratify lust or ambition, or a worldly spirit, or to lay it up for your families, you have sinned, and must repent.

2. Pride. Recollect all the instances you can, in which you have detected yourself in the exercise of pride. Vanity is a particular form of pride. How many times have you detected yourself in consulting vanity about your dress and appearance? How many times have you thought more, and taken more pains, and spent more time about decorating your body to go to Church, than you have about preparing your mind for the worship of God? You have gone caring more as to how you appeared outwardly in the sight of mortal man, than how your soul appeared in the sight of the heart-searching God. You have, in fact, set up yourself to be worshiped by them, rather than prepared to worship God yourself. You sought to divide the worship of God's house, to draw off the attention of God's people to look at your pretty appearance. It is in vain to pretend now, that you do not care anything about having people look at you. Be honest about it. Would you take all this pains about your looks if every person were blind?

3. Envy. Look at the cases in which you were envious of those whom you thought were above you in any respect. Or perhaps you have envied those who have been more talented or more useful than yourself. Have you not so envied some, that you have been pained to hear them praised? It has been more agreeable to you to dwell upon their faults than upon their virtues, upon their failures than upon their success. Be honest with yourself; and if you have harbored this spirit of hell, repent deeply before God, or He will never forgive you.

4. Censoriousness. Instances in which you have had a bitter spirit, and spoken of Christians in a manner devoid of charity and love; of charity, which requires you always to hope the best the case will admit, and to put the best construction upon any ambiguous conduct.

5. Slander. The times you have spoken behind people's backs of the faults, real or supposed, of members of the Church or others, unnecessarily, or without good reason. This is slander. You need not lie to be guilty of slander: to tell the truth with the design to injure is to slander.

6. Levity. How often have you trifled before God as you would not have dared to trifle in the presence of an earthly sovereign? You have either been an atheist, and forgotten that there was a God, or have had less respect for Him, and His presence, than you would have had for an earthly judge.

7. Lying. Understand now what lying is. Any species of designed deception. If the deception be not designed, it is not lying. But if you design to make an impression contrary to the naked truth, you lie. Put down all those cases you can recollect. Do not call them by any soft name.

God calls them LIES, and charges you with LYING, and you had better charge yourself correctly. How innumerable are the falsehoods perpetrated every day in business, and in social fellowship, by words, and looks, and actions, designed to make an impression on others, for selfish reasons that is contrary to the truth!

8. Cheating. Set down all the cases in which you have dealt with an individual, and done to him that which you would not like to have done to you. That is cheating. God has laid down a rule in the case: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."

That is the rule. And if you have not done so you are a cheat. Mind, the rule is not that you should do "what you might reasonably expect them to do to you": for that is a rule which would admit of every degree of wickedness. But it is: "As ye WOULD they should do to you."

9. Hypocrisy. For instance, in your prayers and confessions to God. Set down the instances in which you have prayed for things you did not really want. And the evidence is, that when you have done praying, you could not tell for what you had prayed. How many times have you confessed sins that you did not mean to break off, and when you had no solemn purpose not to repeat them? Yes, have confessed sins when you knew you as much expected to go and repeat them, as you expected to live.

10. Robbing God. Think of the instances in which you have misspent your time, squandering the hours which God gave you to serve Him and save souls, in vain amusements or foolish conversation, in reading novels or doing nothing; cases where you have misapplied your talents and powers of mind; where you have squandered money on your lusts, or spent it for things which you did not need, and which did not contribute to your health, comfort, or usefulness. Perhaps some of you have laid out God's money for tobacco. I will not speak of intoxicating drink, for I presume there is no professor of religion here that would drink it, and I hope there is not one that uses that filthy poison, tobacco. Think of a professor of religion using God's money to poison himself with tobacco!

11. Bad temper. Perhaps you have abused your wife, or your children, or your family, or servants, or neighbors. Write it all down.

12. Hindering others from being useful. Perhaps you have weakened their influence by insinuations against them. You have not only robbed God of your own talents, but tied the hands of somebody else. What a wicked servant is he who not only loiters himself but hinders the rest! This is done sometimes by taking their time needlessly; sometimes by destroying Christian confidence in them. Thus you have played into the hands of Satan, and not only showed yourself an idle vagabond, but prevented others from working.

If you find you have committed a fault against an individual and that individual is within your reach, go and confess it immediately, and get that out of the way. If the individual you have injured is too far off for you to go and see him, sit down and write him a letter and confess the injury. If you have defrauded anybody, send the money, the full amount and the interest.

Go thoroughly to work in all this. Go now. Do not put it off; that will only make the matter worse. Confess to God those sins that have been committed against God, and to man those sins that have been committed against man. Do not think of getting off by going round the stumbling-blocks. Take them up out of the way. In breaking up your fallow ground, you must remove every obstruction. Things may be left that you think little things, and you may wonder why you do not feel as you wish to feel in religion, when the reason is that your proud and carnal mind has covered up something which God required you to confess and remove. Break up all the ground and turn it over. Do not "balk" it, as the farmers say; do not turn aside for little difficulties; drive the plow right through them, beam deep, and turn the ground up, so that it may all be mellow and soft, and fit to receive the seed and bear fruit "an hundredfold."

When you have gone over your whole history in this way, thoroughly, if you will then go over the ground the second time, and give your solemn and fixed attention to it, you will find that the things you have put down will suggest other things of which you have been guilty, connected with them, or near them. Then go over it a third time, and you will recollect other things connected with these. And you will find in the end that you can remember can amount of history, and particular actions, even in this life, which you did not think you would remember in eternity. Unless you take up your sins in this way, and consider them in detail, one by one, you can form no idea of the amount of them. You should go over the list as thoroughly, and as carefully, and as solemnly, as you would if you were just preparing yourself for the Judgment.

As you go over the catalogue of your sins, be sure to resolve upon present and entire reformation. Wherever you find anything wrong, resolve at once, in the strength of God, to sin no more in that way. It will be of no benefit to examine yourself, unless you determine to amend in every particular that which you find wrong in heart, temper, or conduct.

If you find, as you go on with this duty, that your mind is still all dark, cast about you, and you will find there is some reason for the Spirit of God to depart from you. You have not been faithful and thorough. In the progress of such a work you have got to do violence to yourself and bring yourself as a rational being up to this work, with the Bible before you, and try your heart till you do feel. You need not expect that God will work a miracle for you to break up your fallow ground. It is to be done by means.

Fasten your attention to the subject of your sins. You cannot look at your sins long and thoroughly and see how bad they are, without feeling, and feeling deeply. Experience fully proves the benefit of going over our history in this way. Set yourself to the work now; resolve that you never will stop till you find you can pray. You never will have the Spirit of God dwelling in you till you have unraveled this whole mystery of iniquity, and spread out your sins before God. Let there be this deep work of repentance and full confession, this breaking down before God, and you will have as much of the spirit of prayer as your body can bear up under.

The reason why so few Christians know anything about the spirit of prayer is because they never would take the pains to examine themselves properly, and so never knew what it was to have their hearts all broken up in this way.

You see I have only begun to lay open this subject. I want to lay it out before you, in the course of these lectures, so that if you will begin and go on to do as I say, the results will be just as certain as they are when a farmer breaks up a fallow field, and mellows it, and sows his grain. It will be so, if you will only begin in this way and hold it on till all your hardened and callous hearts break up.

REMARKS.

1. It will do no good to preach to you while your hearts are in this hardened, and waste, and fallow state. The farmer might just as well sow his grain on the rock. It will bring forth no fruit. This is the reason why there are so many fruitless professors in the Church, and why there is so much outside machinery and so little deep-toned feeling. Look at the Sabbath-school, for instance, and see how much machinery there is and how little of the power of godliness. If you go on in this way the Word of God will continue to harden you, and you will grow worse and worse, just as the rain and snow on an old fallow field make the turf thicker and the clods stronger.

2. See why so much preaching is wasted, and worse than wasted. It is because the Church will not break up their fallow ground. A preacher may wear out his life, and do very little good, while there are so many "stony-ground" hearers, who have never had their fallow ground broken up. They are only half converted, and their religion is rather a change of opinion than a change of the feeling of their hearts. There is mechanical religion enough but very little that looks like deep heart-work.

3. Professors of religion should never satisfy themselves, or expect a revival, just by starting out of their slumbers, and blustering about, and talking to sinners. They must get their fallow ground broken up. It is utterly unphilosophical to think of getting engaged in religion in this way.

If your fallow ground is broken up, then the way to get more feeling is to go out and see sinners on the road to hell, and talk to them, and guide inquiring souls, and you will get more feeling. You may get into an excitement without this breaking up; you may show a kind of zeal, but it will not last long, and it will not take hold of sinners, unless your hearts are broken up. The reason is, that you go about it mechanically, and have not broken up your fallow ground.

4. And now, finally, will you break up your fallow ground? Will you enter upon the course now pointed out and persevere till you are thoroughly awake? If you fail here, if you do not do this, and get prepared, you can go no farther with me. I have gone with you as far as it is of any use to go until your fallow ground is broken up. Now, you must make thorough work upon this point, or all I have further to say will do you little good.

Nay, it will only harden, and make you worse. If, when next Lecture-night arrives it finds you with unbroken hearts, you need not expect to be benefitted by what I shall say. If you do not set about this work immediately I shall take it for granted that you do not mean to be revived, that you have forsaken your minister, and mean to let him go up to battle alone. If you do not do this, I charge you with having forsaken Christ, with refusing to repent and do your first works. But if you will be prepared to enter upon the work, I propose, God willing, in the next Lecture, to lead you into the work of saving sinners.

Lecture 4: Prevailing Prayer

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.- James 5:16.

There are two kinds of means requisite to promote a revival: the one to influence man, the other to influence God. The truth is employed to influence men, and prayer to move God. When I speak of moving God, I do not mean that God's mind is changed by prayer, or that His disposition or character is changed. But prayer produces such a change in us as renders it consistent for God to do as it would not be consistent for Him to do otherwise. When a sinner repents, that state of feeling makes it proper for God to forgive him. God has always been ready to forgive him on that condition, so that when the sinner changes his feelings and repents, it requires no change of feeling in God to pardon him. It is the sinners repentance that renders His forgiveness proper, and is the occasion of God's acting as he does. So when Christians offer effectual prayer, their state of feeling renders it proper for God to answer them. He was never unwilling to bestow the blessing - on the condition that they felt aright, and offered the right kind of prayer.

Prayer is an essential link in the chain of causes that lead to a revival, as much so as truth is. Some have zealously used truth to convert men, and laid very little stress on prayer. They have preached, and talked, and distributed tracts with great zeal, and then wondered that they had so little success. And the reason was, that they forgot to use the other branch of the means, effectual prayer. They overlooked the fact that truth, by itself, will never produce the effect, without the Spirit of God, and that the Spirit is given in answer to prayer.

Sometimes it happens that those who are the most engaged in employing truth are not the most engaged in prayer. This is always unhappy. For unless they have the spirit of prayer (or unless someone else has), the truth, by itself will do nothing but harden men in impenitence. Probably in the Day of Judgment it will be found that nothing is ever done by the truth, used ever so zealously, unless there is a spirit of prayer somewhere in connection with the presentation of truth.

Others err in the reverse direction. Not that they lay too much stress on prayer. But they overlook the fact that prayer might be offered for ever, by itself, and nothing would be done. Because sinners are not converted by direct contact of the Holy Ghost, but by the truth, employed as a means.

To expect the conversion of sinners by prayer alone, without the employment of truth, is to tempt God.

Our subject being Prevailing Prayer, I propose: -

I. To show what is effectual or prevailing prayer.

II. To state some of the most essential attributes of prevailing prayer.

III. To give some reasons why God requires this kind of prayer.

IV. To show that such prayer will avail much.

I. WHAT PREVAILING PRAYER IS.

Effectual, prevailing prayer, does not consist in benevolent desires alone

1. Benevolent desires are doubtless pleasing to God. Such desires pervade heaven and are found in all holy beings. But they are not prayer. Men may have these desires as the angels and glorified spirits have them. But this is not the effectual, prevailing prayer spoken of in the text. Prevailing prayer is something more than this.

2. Prevailing, or effectual prayer, is that prayer which attains the blessing that it seeks. It is that prayer which effectually moves God. The very idea of effectual prayer is that it effects its object.

II. ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTES OF PREVAILING PRAYER.

I cannot detail in full all the things that go to make up prevailing prayer.

But I will mention some things that are essential to it; some things which a person must do in order to prevail in prayer.

1. He must pray for a definite object. He need not expect to offer such prayer if he prays at random, without any distinct or definite object. He must have an object distinctly before his mind. I speak now of secret prayer. Many people go away into their rooms alone "to pray," simply because "they must say their prayers." The time has come when they are in the habit of going by themselves for prayer - in the morning, or at noon, or at whatever time of day it may be. But instead of having anything to say, any definite object before their mind, they fall down on their knees and pray for just what comes into their minds - for everything that floats in the imagination at the time, and when they have done they can hardly tell a word of what they have been praying for. This is not effectual prayer. What should we think of anybody who should try to move a Legislature so, and should say: "Now it is winter, and the Legislature is in session, and it is time to send up petitions," and should go up to the Legislature and petition at random, without any definite object? Do you think such petitions would move the Legislature?

A man must have some definite object before his mind. He cannot pray effectually for a variety of objects at once. The mind is so constituted that it cannot fasten its desires intensely upon many things at the same time.

All the instances of effectual prayer recorded in the Bible are of this kind.

Wherever you see that the blessing sought for in prayer was attained, you will find that the prayer which was offered was prayer for that definite object.

2. Prayer, to be effectual, must be in accordance with the revealed will of God. To pray for things contrary to the revealed will of God, is to tempt God. There are three ways in which God's will is revealed to men for their guidance in prayer.

(a) By express promises or predictions in the Bible, that He will give or do certain things; promises in regard to particular things, or in general terms, so that we may apply them to particular things. For instance, there is this promise: "What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24).

(b) Sometimes God reveals His will by His Providence. When He makes it clear that such and such events are about to take place, it is as much a revelation as if He had written it in His Word. It would be impossible to reveal everything in the Bible. But God often makes it clear to those who have spiritual discernment that it is His will to grant such and such blessings.

(c) By His Spirit. When God's people are at a loss what to pray for, agreeable to His will, His Spirit often instructs them. Where there is no particular revelation, and Providence leaves it dark, and we know not what to pray for as we ought, we are expressly told that "the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities," and "the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26). A great deal has been said on the subject of praying in faith for things not revealed. It is objected that this doctrine implies a new revelation. I answer that, new or old, it is the very revelation that Jehovah says He makes. It is just as plain here as if it were now revealed by a voice from heaven, that the Spirit of God helps the people of God to pray according to the will of God, when they themselves know not what they ought to pray for. "And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:27); and He leads Christians to pray for just those things, "with groanings which cannot be uttered." When neither the Word nor Providence enables them to decide, let them be "filled with the Spirit," as God commands them to be. He says: "Be filled with the Spirit"

(Ephesians 5:18). And He will lead their minds to such things as God is willing to grant.

3. To pray effectually you must pray with submission to the will of God.

Do not confound submission with indifference. No two things are more unlike. I once knew an individual come where there was a revival. He himself was cold, and did not enter into the spirit of it, and had no spirit of prayer; and when he heard the brethren pray as if they could not be denied, he was shocked at their boldness, and kept all the time insisting on the importance of praying with submission; when it was as plain as anything could be that he confounded submission with indifference.

Again, do not confound submission in prayer with a general confidence that God will do what is right. It is proper to have this confidence that God will do right in all things. But this is a different thing from submission. What I mean by submission in prayer is, acquiescence in the revealed will of God. To submit to any command of God is to obey it.

Submission to some supposable or possible, but secret, decree of God is not submission. To submit to any dispensation of Providence is impossible till it comes. For we never can know what the event is to be, till it takes place.

Take a case: David, when his child was sick, was distressed, and agonized in prayer, and refused to be comforted. He took it so much to heart that when the child died his servants were afraid to tell him. But as soon as he heard that the child was dead, he laid aside his grief, and arose, and asked for food, and ate and drank as usual. While the child was yet alive he did not know what was the will of God, and so he fasted and prayed, and said: "Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that my child may live"? He did not know but that his prayer, his agony, was the very thing on which it turned, whether the child was to live or not. He thought that if he humbled himself and entreated God, perhaps God would spare him this blow. But as soon as God's will appeared, and the child was dead, he bowed like a saint. He seemed not only to acquiesce, but actually to take a satisfaction in it. "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me"(2 Samuel 12:15-23). This was true submission. He reasoned correctly in the case. While he had no revelation of the will of God he did not know but that the child's recovery depended on his prayer. But when he had a revelation of the will of God he submitted. While the will of God is not known, to submit, without prayer, is tempting God. Perhaps, and for aught you know, the fact of your offering the right kind of prayer may be the thing on which the event turns. In the case of an impenitent friend, the very condition on which he is to be saved from hell may be the fervency and importunity of your prayer for that individual.

4. Effectual prayer for an object implies a desire for that object commensurate with its importance. If a person truly desires any blessing, his desires will bear some proportion to the greatness of the blessing. The desires of the Lord Jesus Christ for the blessing He prayed for were amazingly strong, amounting even to agony. If the desire for an object is strong, and is a benevolent desire, and the thing is not contrary to the will and providence of God, the presumption is that it will be granted. There are two reasons for this presumption:

(a) From the general benevolence of God. If it is a desirable object; if, so far as we can see, it would be an act of benevolence in God to grant it, His general benevolence is presumptive evidence that He will grant it.

(b) If you find yourself exercised with benevolent desires for any object, there is a strong presumption that the Spirit of God is exciting these very desires, and stirring you up to pray for that object, so that it may be granted in answer to prayer. In such a case no degree of desire or importunity in prayer is improper. A Christian may come up, as it were, and take hold of the hand of God. See the case of Jacob, when he exclaimed, in an agony of desire: "I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me" (Genesis 32:26) Was God displeased with his boldness and importunity? Not at all; but He granted him the very thing he prayed for.

So in the case of Moses. God said to him: "Let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation" (Exodus 32:10). What did Moses do? Did he stand aside and let God do as He said? No; his mind runs back to the Egyptians, and he thinks how they will triumph. "Wherefore should the Egyptians say, For mischief did He bring them out?" It seemed as if he took hold of the uplifted hand of God, to avert the blow. Did God rebuke him and tell him he had no business to interfere? No; it seemed as if He was unable to deny anything to such importunity, and so Moses stood in the gap, and prevailed with God.

Prevailing prayer is often offered in the present day, when Christians have been wrought up to such a pitch of importunity and such a holy boldness afterwards when they looked back upon it, they were frightened and amazed at themselves, to think they should have dared to exercise such importunity with God. And yet these prayers have prevailed, and obtained the blessing. And many of these persons, with whom I am acquainted, are among the holiest persons I know in the world

5. Prayer, to be effectual, must be offered from right motives. Prayer should not be selfish, but should be dictated by a supreme regard for the glory of God. A great deal is offered from pure selfishness. Women sometimes pray for their husbands, that they may be converted, because, they say: "It would be so much more pleasant to have my husband go to Church with me," and all that. And they seem never to lift up their thoughts above self at all. They do not seem to think how their husbands are dishonoring God by their sins, nor how God would be glorified in their conversion. So it is very often with parents. They cannot bear to think that their children should be lost. They pray for them very earnestly indeed. But if you talk with them upon the subject they are very tender about it and tell you how good their children are - how they respect religion, and how they are, indeed, "almost Christians now"; and so they talk as if they were afraid you would hurt their children by simply telling them the truth. They do not think how such amiable and lovely children are dishonoring God by their sins; they are only thinking what a dreadful thing it will be for them to go to hell. Unless their thoughts rise higher than this, their prayers will never prevail with a holy God.

The temptation to selfish motives is so strong that there is reason to fear a great many parental prayers never rise above the yearnings of parental tenderness. And that is the reason why so many prayers are not answered and why so many pious, praying parents have ungodly children. Much of the prayer for the heathen world seems to be based on no higher principle than sympathy. Missionary agents and others are dwelling almost exclusively upon the six hundred millions of heathens going to hell, while little is said of their dishonoring God. This is a great evil, and until the Church learns to have higher motives for prayer and missionary effort than sympathy for the heathen, her prayers and efforts will never amount to much.

6. Prayer, to be effectual, must be by the intercession of the Spirit. You never can expect to offer prayer according to the will of God without the Spirit. In the first two cases, it is not because Christians are unable to offer such prayer, where the will of God is revealed in His Word or indicated by His providence. They are able to do it, just as they are able to be holy. But the fact is, that they are so wicked that they never do offer such prayer, unless they are influenced by the Spirit of God. There must be a faith, such as is produced by the effectual operation of the Holy Ghost.

7. It must be persevering prayer. As a general thing, Christians who have backslidden and lost the spirit of prayer, will not get at once into the habit of persevering prayer. Their minds are not in a right state, and they cannot fix their thoughts so as to hold on till the blessing comes. If their minds were in that state in which they would persevere till the answer came, effectual prayer might be offered at once, as well as after praying ever so many times for an object. But they have to pray again and again, because their thoughts are so apt to wander away and are so easily diverted from the object.

Most Christians come up to prevailing prayer by a protracted process. Their minds gradually become filled with anxiety about an object, so that they will even go about their business sighing out their desires to God.

Just as the mother whose child is sick goes round her house sighing as if her heart would break. And if she is a praying mother, her sighs are breathed out to God all the day long. If she goes out of the room where her child is, her mind is still on it; and if she is asleep, still her thoughts are on it, and she starts in her dreams, thinking that perhaps it may be dying. Her whole mind is absorbed in that sick child. This is the state of mind in which Christians offer prevailing prayer.

For what reason did Jacob wrestle all night in prayer with God? He knew that he had done his brother Esau a great injury, in getting away the birthright, a long time before. And now he was informed that his injured brother was coming to meet him with an armed force, altogether too powerful to contend with. And there was great reason to suppose that Esau was coming with a purpose of revenge. There were two reasons then why Jacob should be distressed. The first was that he had done this great injury and had never made any reparation. The other was that Esau was coming with a force sufficient to crush him. Now what does he do? He first arranges everything in the best manner he can to placate and meet his brother: sending his present first, then his property, then his family, putting those he loved most farthest behind. And by this time his mind was so exercised that he could not contain himself. He goes away alone over the brook and pours out his very soul in an agony of prayer all night.

And just as the day was breaking, the Angel of the Covenant said: "Let me go"; and Jacob's whole being was, as it were, agonized at the thought of giving up, and he cried out: "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me."

His soul was wrought up into an agony, and he obtained the blessing, but he always bore the marks of it, and showed that his body had been greatly affected by this mental struggle. This is prevailing prayer.

Now, do not deceive yourselves with thinking that you offer effectual prayer, unless you have this intense desire for the blessing. I do not believe in it. Prayer is not effectual unless it is offered up with an agony of desire. The apostle Paul speaks of it as a travail of the soul. Jesus Christ, when he was praying in the garden, was in such an agony that "His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44). I have never known a person sweat blood; but I have known a person pray till the blood started from his nose. And I have known persons pray till they were all wet with perspiration, in the coldest weather in winter. I have known persons pray for hours, till their strength was all exhausted with the agony of their minds. Such prayers prevailed with God.

This agony in prayer was prevalent in President Edwards' day, in the revivals which then took place. It was one of the great stumbling blocks in those days to persons who were opposed to the revival, that people used to pray till their body was overpowered with their feelings. I will give a paragraph of what President Edwards says on the subject, to let you see that this is not a new thing in the Church, but has always prevailed wherever revivals prevailed with power. It is from his "Thoughts on Revivals":

"We cannot determine that God shall never give any person so much of a discovery of Himself, not only as to weaken their bodies, but to take away their lives. It is supposed by very learned and judicious divines, that Moses' life was taken away after this manner, and this has also been supposed to be the case with some other saints.

"If God gives a great increase of discoveries of Himself and of love to Him, the benefit is infinitely greater than the calamity, though the life should presently after be taken away....

"There is one particular kind of exercise and concern of mind that many have been empowered by, that has been especially stumbling to some; and that is, the deep concern and distress that they have been in for the souls of others. I am sorry that any put us to the trouble of doing that which seems so needless, as defending such a thing as this. It seems like mere trifling in so plain a case, to enter into a formal and particular debate, in order to determine whether there be anything in the greatness and importance of the case that will answer and bear a proportion to the greatness of the concern that some have manifested. Men may be allowed, from no higher a principle than common ingenuousness and humanity, to be very deeply concerned, and greatly exercised in mind, at seeing others in great danger of no greater a calamity than drowning or being burned up in a house on fire. And if so, then doubtless it will be allowed to be equally reasonable, if they saw them in danger of a calamity ten times greater, to be still much more concerned: and so much more still, if the calamity were still vastly greater. And why, then, should it be thought unreasonable and looked upon with a very suspicious eye, as if it must come from some bad cause, when persons are extremely concerned at seeing others in very great danger of suffering the wrath of Almighty God to all eternity? And besides, it will doubtless be allowed that those that have very great degrees of the Spirit of God, that is, a spirit of love, may well be supposed to have vastly more of love and compassion to their fellow creatures than those that are influenced only by common humanity.

"Why should it be thought strange that those that are full of the Spirit of Christ should be proportionally in their love to souls, like Christ? - who had so strong a love for them, and concern for them, as to be willing to drink the dregs of the cup of God's fury for them; and at the same time that He offered up His blood for souls, offered up also, as their High Priest, strong crying and tears, with an extreme agony, wherein the soul of Christ was, as it were, in travail for the souls of the elect; and, therefore in saving them He is said to 'see of the travail of His soul.' As such a spirit of love to, and concern for, souls was the spirit of Christ, so it is the spirit of the Church; and therefore the Church, in desiring and seeking that Christ might be brought forth in the world, and in the souls of men, is represented (Revelation 12:1, 2) as 'a woman crying, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.' The spirit of those that have been in distress for the souls of others, so far as I can discern, seems not to be different from that of the apostle, who travailed for souls, and was ready to wish himself accursed from Christ for others (Romans 9:3). Nor from that of the Psalmist (Psalm 119:53): 'Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake Thy law.' And (ver. 136): 'Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not Thy law.' Nor from that of the prophet Jeremiah (4:19): 'My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me: I cannot hold my peace, because Thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.' And so chapter 9:1, and 13:17, and Isaiah 22:4. We read of Mordecai, when he saw his people in danger of being destroyed with a temporal destruction (Esther 4:1), that he 'rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry.' And why then should persons be thought to be distracted when they cannot forbear crying out at the consideration of the misery of those that are going to eternal destruction?

I have quoted this to show that this thing was common in the great revivals of those days. It has always been so in all great revivals, and has been more or less common in proportion to the greatness, and extent, and depth of the work. It was so in the great revivals in Scotland, and multitudes used to be overpowered, and some almost died, by the depth of their agony.

So also, prayer prevailed at Cambuslang, 1741-2, in the revival under William McCulloch and Whitefield. When Whitefield reached Cambuslang he immediately preached, on the braeside, to a vast congregation (on a Tuesday at noon). At six o'clock he preached again, and a third time at nine. Then McCulloch took up the parable and preached till one in the morning, and still the people were unwilling to leave. So many were convicted, crying to God for mercy, that Whitefield described the scene as "a very field of battle." On the ensuing Communion Sunday, Whitefield preached to twenty thousand people; and again on the Monday, when, he said: "you might have seen thousands bathed in tears, some at the same time wringing their hands, others almost swooning, and others crying out and mourning over a pierced Savior. It was like the Passover in Josiah's time." On the voyage from London to Scotland, prior to this campaign, Whitefield had "spent most of his time on board ship in secret prayer." (See Gledstone's "George Whitefield, M.A., Field Preacher.")

8. If you mean to pray effectually, you must pray a great deal. It was said of the Apostle James that after he was dead it was found that his knees were callous, like a camel's knees, by praying so much. Ah, here was the secret of the success of those primitive ministers! They had callous knees!

9. If you intend prayer to be effectual, you must offer it in the name of Christ. You cannot come to God in your own name. You cannot plead your own merits. But you can come in a name that is always acceptable.

You all know what it is to use the name of a man. If you should go to the bank with a draft or note, endorsed by John Jacob Astor, that would be giving you his name, and you know you could get the money from the bank just as well as he could himself. Now, Jesus Christ gives you the use of His name. And when you pray in the name of Christ the meaning of it is, that you can prevail just as well as He could Himself, and receive just as much as God's well beloved Son would if He were to pray Himself for the same things. But you must pray in faith.

10. You cannot prevail in prayer without renouncing all your sins. You must not only recall them to mind, and repent of them, but you must actually renounce them, and leave them off, and in the purpose of your heart renounce them all for ever.

11. You must pray in faith. You must expect to obtain the things for which you ask. You need not look for an answer to prayer, if you pray without any expectation of obtaining it. You are not to form such expectations without any reason for them. In the cases I have supposed, there is a reason for the expectation. In case the thing is revealed in God's Word, if you pray without an expectation of receiving the blessings, you just make God a liar. If the will of God is indicated by His providence, you ought to depend on it, according to the clearness of the indication, so far as to expect the blessing if you pray for it. And if you are led by His Spirit to pray for certain things, you have as much reason to expect those things to be done as if God had revealed it in His Word.

But some say: "Will not this view of the leadings of the Spirit of God lead people into fanaticism?" I answer that I know not but many may deceive themselves in respect to this matter. Multitudes have deceived themselves in regard to all the other points of religion. And if some people should think they are led by the Spirit of God, when it is nothing but their own imagination, is that any reason why those who know that they are led by the Spirit should not follow the Spirit? Many people suppose themselves to be converted when they are not. Is that any reason why we should not cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ? Suppose some people are deceived in thinking they love God, is that any reason why the pious saint who knows he has the love of God shed abroad in his heart should not give vent to his feelings in songs of praise? Some may deceive themselves in thinking they are led by the Spirit of God. But there is no need of being deceived. If people follow impulses, it is their own fault. I do not want you to follow impulses. I want you to be sober minded, and follow the sober, rational leadings of the Spirit of God. There are those who understand what I mean, and who know very well what it is to give themselves up to the Spirit of God in prayer.

III. WHY GOD REQUIRES SUCH PRAYER.

I will state some of the reasons why these things are essential to effectual prayer. Why does God require such prayer, such strong desires, such agonizing supplications?

1. These strong desires strongly illustrate the strength of God's feelings.

They are like the real feelings of God for impenitent sinners. When I have seen, as I sometimes have, the amazing strength of love for souls that has been felt by Christians, I have been wonderfully impressed with the amazing love of God, and His desires for their salvation. The case of a certain woman, of whom I read, in a revival, made the greatest impression on my mind. She had such an unutterable compassion and love for souls, that she actually panted for breath. What must be the strength of the desire which God feels, when His Spirit produces in Christians such amazing agony, such throes of soul, such travail - God has chosen the best word to express it: it is travail - travail of the soul.

I have seen a man of as much strength of intellect and muscle as any man in the community fall down prostrate, absolutely overpowered by his unutterable desires for sinners. I know this is a stumbling block to many; and it always will be as long as there remain in the Church so many blind and stupid professors of religion. But I cannot doubt that these things are the work of the Spirit of God. Oh, that the whole Church could be so filled with the Spirit as to travail in prayer, till a nation should be born in a day!

It is said in the Word of God that "as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth" (Isaiah 66:8). What does that mean? I asked a professor of religion this question once. He was taking exception to our ideas of effectual prayer, and I asked what he supposed was meant by Zion's travailing.

"Oh," said he, "it means that as soon as the Church shall walk together in the fellowship of the Gospel, then it will be said that Zion travels! This walking together is called traveling." Not the same term, you see.

2. These strong desires that I have described are the natural results of great benevolence and clear views regarding the danger of sinners. It is perfectly reasonable that it should be so. If the women who are present should look up yonder and see a family burning to death in a fire and hear their shrieks, and behold their agony, they would feel distressed, and it is very likely that many of them would faint away with agony. And nobody would wonder at it, or say they were fools or crazy to feel so much distressed at such an awful sight. It would be thought strange if there were not some expressions of powerful feeling. Why is it any wonder, then, if Christians should feel as I have described when they have clear views of the state of sinners, and the awful danger they are in? The fact is, that those individuals who never have felt so have never felt much real benevolence, and their piety must be of a very superficial character. I do not mean to judge harshly, or to speak unkindly, but I state it as a simple matter of fact; and people may talk about it as they please, but I know such piety is superficial. This is not censoriousness, but plain truth.

People sometimes "wonder at Christians having such feelings." Wonder at what? Why, at the natural, and philosophical, and necessary results of deep piety towards God, and deep benevolence towards man, in view of the great danger they see sinners to be in.

3. The soul of a Christian, when it is thus burdened, must have relief. God rolls this weight upon the soul of a Christian, for the purpose of bringing him nearer to Himself. Christians are often so unbelieving that they will not exercise proper faith in God till He rolls this burden upon them so heavily that they cannot live under it, but must go to Him for relief. It is like the case of many a convicted sinner. God is willing to receive him at once, if he will come right to Him, with faith in Jesus Christ. But the sinner will not come. He hangs back, and struggles, and groans under the burden of his sins, and will not throw himself upon God, till his burden of conviction becomes so great that he can live no longer; and when he is driven to desperation, as it were, and feels as if he were ready to sink into hell, he makes a mighty plunge, and throws himself upon God's mercy as his only hope. It was his duty to come before. God had no delight in his distress, for its own sake.

So, when professors of religion get loaded down with the weight of souls, they often pray again and again, and yet the burden is not gone, nor their distress abated, because they have never thrown it all upon God in faith.

But they cannot get rid of the burden. So long as their benevolence continues, it will remain and increase; and unless they resist and quench the Holy Ghost, they can get no relief, until, at length, when they are driven to extremity, they make a desperate effort, roll the burden upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and exercise a child-like confidence in Him. Then they feel relieved; then they feel as if the soul they were praying for would be saved. The burden is gone, and God seems in kindness to soothe the mind with a sweet assurance that the blessing will be granted. Often, after a Christian has had this struggle, this agony in prayer, and has obtained relief in this way, you will find the sweetest and most heavenly affections flow out - the soul rests sweetly and gloriously in God, and rejoices "with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

Do any of you think that there are no such things now in the experience of believers? If I had time, I could show you, from President Edwards and other approved writers, cases and descriptions just like this. Do you ask why we never have such things here? I tell you it is not at all because you are so much wiser than Christians are in rural districts, or because you have so much more intelligence or more enlarged views of the nature of religion, or a more stable and well regulated piety. I tell you, no; instead of priding yourselves in being free from such extravagances, you ought to hide your heads, because Christians in the city are so worldly, and have so much starch, and pride, and fashion, that they cannot come down to such spirituality as this. I wish it could be so. Oh, that there might be such a spirit in this city and in this Church! I know it would make a noise if we had such things done here. But I would not care for that. Let them say, if they please, that the folks in Chatham Chapel 20 are getting deranged. We need not be afraid of that, if we live near enough to God to enjoy His Spirit in the manner I have described.

4. These effects of the spirit of prayer upon the body are themselves no part of religion. It is only that the body is often so weak that the feelings of the soul overpower it. These bodily effects are not at all essential to prevailing prayer; but are only a natural or physical result of highly excited emotions of the mind. It is not at all unusual for the body to be weakened, and even overcome, by any powerful emotion of the mind, on other subjects besides religion. The doorkeeper of Congress, in the time of the Revolution, fell down dead on the reception of some highly cheering intelligence. I knew a woman in Rochester who was in a great agony of prayer for the conversion of her son-in-law. One morning he was at an anxious meeting, and she remained at home praying for him. At the close of the meeting he came home a convert, and she was so rejoiced that she fell down and died on the spot. It is no more strange that these effects should be produced by religion than by strong feeling on any other subject.

It is not essential to prayer, but is the natural result of great efforts of the mind.

5. Doubtless one great reason why God requires the exercise of this agonizing prayer is, that it forms such a bond of union between Christ and the Church. It creates such a sympathy between them. It is as if Christ came and poured the overflowings of His own benevolent heart into His people, and led them to sympathize and to cooperate with Him as they never do in any other way. They feel just as Christ feels - so full of compassion for sinners that they cannot contain themselves. Thus it is often with those ministers who are distinguished for their success in preaching to sinners; they often have such compassion, such overflowing desires for their salvation, that these are shown in their speaking, and their preaching, just as though Jesus Christ spoke through them. The words come from their lips fresh and warm, as if from the very heart of Christ. I do not mean that He dictates their words; but He excites the feelings that give utterance to them. Then you see a movement in the hearers, as if Christ Himself spoke through lips of clay.

6. This travailing in birth for souls creates also a remarkable bond of union between warm-hearted Christians and the young converts. Those who are converted appear very dear to the hearts that have had this spirit of prayer for them. The feeling is like that of a mother for her first-born. Paul expresses it beautifully when he says: "My little children!" His heart was warm and tender to them. "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again" - they had backslidden, and he has all the agonies of a parent over a wandering child - "I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you"

(Galatians 4:19); "Christ, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). In a revival, I have often noticed how those who had the spirit of prayer, loved the young converts. I know this is all so much algebra to those who have never felt it. But to those who have experienced the agony of wrestling, prevailing prayer, for the conversion of a soul, you may depend upon it, that soul, after it is converted, appears as dear as a child is to the mother. He has agonized for it, received it in answer to prayer, and can present it before the Lord Jesus Christ, saying: "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me" (Isaiah 8:18. See also Hebrews 2:13).

7. Another reason why God requires this sort of prayer is, that it is the only way in which the Church can be properly prepared to receive great blessings without being injured by them. When the Church is thus prostrated in the dust before God, and is in the depth of agony in prayer, the blessing does them good. While at the same time, if they had received the blessing without this deep prostration of soul, it would have puffed them up with pride. But as it is, it increases their holiness, their love, their humility.

IV. SUCH PRAYER WILL AVAIL MUCH.

The prophet Elijah mourned over the declensions of the house of Israel, and when he saw that no other means were likely to be effectual, to prevent a perpetual going away into idolatry, he prayed that the judgments of God might come upon the guilty nation. He prayed that it might not rain, and God shut up the heavens for three years and six months, till the people were driven to the last extremity. And when he sees that it is time to relent what does he do? See him go up to the mountain and bow down in prayer. He wished to be alone; and he told his servant to go seven times, while he was agonizing in prayer. The last time, the servant told him that a little cloud had appeared, like a man's hand, and he instantly arose from his knees - the blessing was obtained. The time had come for the calamity to be turned back. "Ah, but," you say, "Elijah was a prophet." Now, do not make this objection. They made it in the apostle's days, and what does the apostle say? Why he brought forward this very instance, and the fact that Elijah was a man of like passions with ourselves, as a case of prevailing prayer, and insisted that they should pray so too ( 1 Kings 17:1; 18:41-5; James 5:17).

John Knox was a man famous for his power in prayer, so that Queen Mary of England used to say that she feared his prayers more than all the armies of Europe. And events showed that she had reason to do it. He used to be in such an agony for the deliverance of his country, that he could not sleep. He had a place in his garden where he used to go to pray.

One night he and several friends were praying together, and as they prayed, Knox spoke and said that deliverance had come. 21 He could not tell what had happened, but he felt that something had taken place, for God had heard their prayers. What was it? Why, the next news they had was, that Mary was dead!

Take a fact which was related in my hearing by a minister. He said that in a certain town there had been no revival for many years; the Church was nearly extinct, the youth were all unconverted, and desolation reigned unbroken. There lived in a retired part of the town, an aged man, a blacksmith by trade, and of so stammering a tongue that it was painful to hear him speak. On one Friday, as he was at work in his shop, alone, his mind became greatly exercised about the state of the Church and of the impenitent. His agony became so great that he was induced to lay by his work, lock the shop door, and spend the afternoon in prayer.

He prevailed, and on the Sabbath called on the minister and desired him to appoint a "conference meeting." After some hesitation, the minister consented; observing however, that he feared but few would attend. He appointed it the same evening at a large private house. When evening came, more assembled than could be accommodated in the house. All were silent for a time, until one sinner broke out in tears, and said, if any one could pray, would he pray for him? Another followed, and another, and still another, until it was found that persons from every quarter of the town were under deep conviction. And what was remarkable was, that they all dated their conviction at the hour that the old man was praying in his shop. A powerful revival followed. Thus this old stammering man prevailed, and as a prince had power with God.

REMARKS.

1. A great deal of prayer is lost, and many people never prevail in prayer, because, when they have desires for particular blessings, they do not follow them up. They may have desires, benevolent and pure, which are excited by the Spirit of God; and when they have them, they should persevere in prayer, for if they turn off their attention, they will quench the Spirit. When you find these holy desires in your minds:

(a) Do not quench the Spirit;

(b) Do not be diverted to other objects. Follow the leadings of the Spirit till you have offered that "effectual fervent prayer" that "availeth much" (James 5:16).

2. Without the spirit of prayer, ministers will do but little good. A minister need not expect much success unless he prays for it. Sometimes others may have the spirit of prayer and obtain a blessing on his labors. Generally, however, those preachers are the most successful who have most of the spirit of prayer themselves.

3. Not only must ministers have the spirit of prayer, but it is necessary that the Church should unite in offering that effectual fervent prayer which can prevail with God. "I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it" (Ezekiel 36:37).

Now I have only to ask you, in regard to what I have set forth: "Will you do it?" Have you done what I said to you at the last Lecture? Have you gone over your sins, and confessed them, and got them all out of the way?

Can you pray now? And will you join and offer prevailing prayer that the Spirit of God may come down here?

Lecture 5: The Prayer Of Faith

Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. - MARK 11:24.

These words have been by some supposed to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles. But there is not the least evidence of this. That the text was not designed by our Savior to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles, is proved by the connection in which it stands. If you read the chapter, you will see that Christ and His apostles, as they returned from their place of retirement in the morning, faint and hungry, saw a fig tree at a little distance. It looked very beautiful, and doubtless gave signs of having fruit on it; but when they came nigh, they found nothing on it but leaves. And Jesus said: "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And His disciples heard it" (Mark 11:14).

"And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig-tree dried up from the roots.

"And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto Him, Master, behold, the fig-tree which Thou cursed is withered away.

"And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith"(20-23).

Then follow the words of the text: "Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

Our Savior was desirous of giving His disciples instructions respecting the nature and power of prayer, and the necessity of strong faith in God. He therefore stated a very strong case, a miracle - one so great as the removal of a mountain into the sea. And He tells them, that if they exercise a proper faith in God, they might do such things. But His remarks are not to be limited to faith merely in regard to working miracles, for he goes on to say:

"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses" (25, 26).

Does that relate to miracles? When you pray, you must forgive. Is that required only when a man wishes to work a miracle? There are many other promises in the Bible nearly related to this, and speaking nearly the same language, which have been all disposed of in this way, as referring to the faith employed in miracles. Just as if the faith of miracles was something different from faith in God!

In my last Lecture I dwelt upon the subject of Prevailing Prayer; and you will recollect that I passed over the subject of faith in prayer very briefly, because I wished to reserve it for a separate discussion. The subject of the present Lecture, then, is The Prayer of Faith. I propose to show:

I. That faith is an indispensable condition of prevailing prayer.

II. What it is that we are to believe when we pray.

III. When we are bound to exercise this faith, or to believe that we shall receive the thing we ask for

IV. That this kind of faith in prayer always does obtain the blessing sought.

I also propose:

V. to explain how we are to come into the state of mind in which we can exercise such faith; and,

VI. to answer several objections, which are sometimes alleged against these views of prayer.

I. FAITH AN INDISPENSABLE CONDITION.

That this is so will not be seriously doubted. There is such a thing as offering benevolent desires, which are acceptable to God as such, that do not include the exercise of faith in regard to the actual reception of those blessings. But such desires are not prevailing prayer, the prayer of faith.

God may see fit to grant the things desired, as an act of kindness and love, but it would not be properly in answer to prayer. I am speaking now of the kind of faith that ensures the blessing. Do not understand me as saying that there is nothing in prayer that is acceptable to God, or that even obtains the blessing sometimes, without this kind of faith. But I am speaking of the faith which secures the very blessing it seeks. To prove that faith is indispensable to prevailing prayer, it is only necessary to repeat what the apostle James expressly tells us: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed" (James. 1:5, 6).

II. WHAT WE ARE TO BELIEVE WHEN WE PRAY.

1. We are to believe in the existence of God. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is" - and in His willingness to answer prayer - "that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). There are many who believe in the existence of God, but do not believe in the efficacy of prayer. They profess to believe in God, but deny the necessity or influence of prayer.

2. We are to believe that we shall receive - something - what? Not something, or anything, as it happens; but some particular thing we ask for. We are not to think that God is such a Being, that if we ask a fish He will give us a serpent; or if we ask bread, He will give us a stone. But he says: "What things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." With respect to the faith of miracles, it is plain that the disciples were bound to believe they should receive just what they asked for - that the very thing itself should come to pass.

That is what they were to believe. Now, what ought men to believe in regard to other blessings? Is it a mere loose idea, that if a man prays for a specific blessing, God will by some mysterious Sovereignty give something or other to him, or something to somebody else, somewhere?

When a man prays for his children's conversion, is he to believe that either his children will be converted or somebody else's children - it is altogether uncertain which? No, this is utter nonsense, and highly dishonorable to God. We are to believe that we shall receive the very things that we ask for.

III. WHEN ARE WE BOUND TO MAKE THIS PRAYER?

When are we bound to believe that we shall have the very things we pray for? I answer "When we have evidence of it." Faith must always have evidence. A man cannot believe a thing, unless he sees something which he supposes to be evidence. He is under no obligation to believe, and has no right to believe, a thing will be done, unless he has evidence. It is the height of fanaticism to believe without evidence. The kinds of evidence a man may have are the following:

1. Suppose that God has especially promised the thing. As, for instance, when God says He is more ready to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, than parents are to give bread to their children. Here we are bound to believe that we shall receive it when we pray for it. You have no right to put an if, and say, "Lord, if it be Thy will, give us Thy Holy Spirit." This is to insult God. To put an if into God's promise, where God has put none, is tantamount to charging God with being insincere. It is like saying: "O God, if Thou art in earnest in making these promises, grant us the blessing we pray for."

I heard of a case where a young convert was the means of teaching a minister a solemn truth on the subject of prayer. She was from a very wicked family, but went to live at a minister's house. While there she was hopefully converted. One day she went to the minister's study while he was there - a thing she was not in the habit of doing; and he thought there must be something the matter with her. So he asked her to sit down, and kindly inquired into the state of her religious feelings. She then told him that she was distressed at the manner in which the older Church members prayed for the Spirit. They would pray for the Holy Spirit to come, and would seem to be very much in earnest, and plead the promises of God, and then say: "O Lord, if it be Thy will, grant us these blessings for Christ's sake." She thought that saying "If it be Thy will," when God had expressly promised it was questioning whether God was sincere in His promises. The minister tried to reason her out of it, and he succeeded in confounding her. But she was distressed and filled with grief, and said: "I cannot argue the point with you, sir, but it is impressed on my mind that it is wrong, and dishonoring to God." And she went away, weeping with anguish. The minister saw she was not satisfied, and it led him to look at the matter again; and finally he saw that it was putting in an if where God had put none, but where He had revealed His will expressly; and he saw that it was an insult to God. Thereupon he went and told his people they were bound to believe that God was in earnest when He made them a promise. And the spirit of prayer came down upon that Church, and a most powerful revival followed.

2. Where there is a general promise in the Scriptures which you may reasonably apply to the particular case before you. If its real meaning includes the particular thing for which you pray, or if you can reasonably apply the principle of the promise to the case, there you have evidence.

For instance, suppose it is a time when wickedness prevails greatly, and you are led to pray for God's interference. What promise have you? Why, this one: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19). Here you see a general promise, laying down a principle of God's administration, which you may apply to the case before you, as a warrant for exercising faith in prayer. And if the inquiry is made as to the time in which God will grant blessings in answer to prayer, you have this promise: "While they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24).

There are general promises and principles laid down in the Bible which Christians might make use of, if they would only think. Whenever you are in circumstances to which the promises or principles apply, there you are to use them. A parent finds this promise: "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them" (Psalm 103:17, 18). Now, here is a promise made to those who possess a certain character. If any parent is conscious that this is his character, he has a rightful ground to apply it to himself and his family. If you are this character, you are bound to make use of this promise in prayer, and believe it, even to your children's children.

I could go from one end of the Bible to the other, and produce an astonishing variety of texts that are applicable as promises; enough to prove, that in whatever circumstances a child of God may be placed, God has provided in the Bible some promise, either general or particular, which He can apply, that is precisely suited to his case. Many of God's promises are very broad, on purpose to cover much ground. What can be broader than the promise in our text: "What things so ever ye desire when ye pray"? What praying Christian is there who has not been surprised at the length and breadth and fullness, of the promises of God, when the Spirit has applied them to his heart? Who that lives a life of prayer has not wondered at his own blindness, in not having before seen and felt the extent of meaning and richness of those promises, when viewed under the light of the Spirit of God? At such times he has been astonished at his own ignorance, and found the Spirit applying the promises and declarations of the Bible in a sense in which he had never before dreamed of their being applicable.

The manner in which the apostles applied the promises, and prophecies, and declarations of the Old Testament, places in a strong light the breadth of meaning, and fullness, and richness of the Word of God. He that walks in the light of God's countenance, and is filled with the Spirit of God as he ought to be, will often make an appropriation of promises to himself, and an application of them to his own circumstances, and the circumstances of those for whom he prays, that a blind professor of religion would never dream of making.

3. Where there is any prophetic declaration that the thing prayed for is agreeable to the will of God. When it is plain from prophecy that the event is certainly to come, you are bound to believe it, and to make it the ground for your special faith in prayer. If the time is not specified in the Bible, and there is no evidence from other sources, you are not bound to believe that it shall take place now, or immediately. But if the time is specified, or if the time may be learned from the study of the prophecies, and it appears to have arrived, then Christians are under obligation to understand and apply it, by offering the prayer of faith. For instance, take the case of Daniel, in regard to the return of the Jews from captivity. What does he say? "I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem" (Daniel 9:2). Here he learned from books; that is, he studied his Bible, and in that way understood that the length of the captivity was to be seventy years.

What does he do then? Does he sit down upon the promise, and say: "God has pledged Himself to put an end to the captivity in seventy years, and the time has expired, and there is no need of doing anything"? Oh, no.

He says: "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes" (v. 3). He set himself at once to pray that the thing might be accomplished. He prayed in faith. But what was he to believe? What he had learned from the prophecy. There are many prophecies yet unfulfilled, in the Bible, which Christians are bound to understand, as far as they are capable of understanding them, and then make them the basis of believing prayer. Do not think, as some seem to do, that because a thing is foretold in prophecy it is not necessary to pray for it, or that it will come whether Christians pray for it or not. God says, in regard to this very class of events, which are revealed in prophecy: "I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them" (Ezekiel 36:37).

4. When the signs of the times, or the providence of God, indicate that a particular blessing is about to be bestowed, we are bound to believe it. The Lord Jesus Christ blamed the Jews, and called them hypocrites, because they did not understand the indications of Providence. They could understand the signs of the weather, and see when it was about to rain, and when it would be fair weather; but they could not see, from the signs of the times, that the time had come for the Messiah to appear, and build up the house of God. There are many professors of religion who are always stumbling and hanging back whenever anything is proposed to be done.

They always say: "The time has not come - the time has not come"; when there are others who pay attention to the signs of the times, and who have spiritual discernment to understand them. These pray in faith for the blessing, and it comes.

5. When the Spirit of God is upon you, and excites strong desires for any blessing, you are bound to pray for it in faith. You are bound to infer, from the fact that you find yourself drawn to desire such a thing while in the exercise of such holy affections as the Spirit of God produces, that these desires are the work of the Spirit. People are not apt to desire with the right kind of desires, unless they are excited by the Spirit of God. The apostle refers to these desires, excited by the Spirit, in his Epistle to the Romans, where he says: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26, 27). Here, then, if you find yourself strongly drawn to desire a blessing, you are to understand it as an intimation that God is willing to bestow that particular blessing, and so you are bound to believe it. God does not trifle with His children. He does not go and excite in them a desire for one blessing, to turn them off with something else. But He excites the very desires He is willing to gratify. And when they feel such desires, they are bound to follow them out till they get the blessing.

IV. THIS KIND OF FAITH ALWAYS OBTAINS THE OBJECT.

The text is plain here, to show that you shall receive the very thing prayed for. It does not say: "Believe that ye shall receive, and ye shall either have that or something else equivalent to it." To prove that this faith obtains the very blessing that is asked, I observe:

1. That otherwise we could never know whether our prayers were answered. We might continue praying and praying, long after the prayer was answered by some other blessing equivalent to the one for which we asked.

2. If we are not bound to expect the very thing we ask for, it must be that the Spirit of God deceives us. Why should He excite us to desire a certain blessing when He means to grant something else?

3. What is the meaning of this passage: "If his son ask bread, will he give him a stone"? (Matthew 7:9). Does not our Savior rebuke the idea that prayer may be answered by giving something else? What encouragement have we to pray for anything in particular, if we are to ask for one thing and receive another? Suppose a Christian should pray for a revival here - he would be answered by a revival in China! Or he might pray for a revival, and God would send the cholera or an earthquake! All the history of the Church shows that when God answers prayer He gives His people the very thing for which their prayers are offered. God confers other blessings, on both saints and sinners, which they do not pray for at all. He sends His rain both upon the just and the unjust. But when He answers prayer, it is by doing what they ask Him to do. To be sure, He often more than answers prayer. He grants them not only what they ask, but often connects other blessings with it.

4. Perhaps a difficulty may be felt about the prayers of Jesus Christ.

People may ask: "Did not He pray in the garden for the cup to be removed, and was His prayer answered?" I answer that this is no difficulty at all, for the prayer was answered. The cup He prayed to be delivered from was removed. This is what the apostle refers to when he says: "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, was heard in that He feared" (Hebrews 5:7).

Some have supposed that He was praying against the cross, and begging to be delivered from dying on the cross! Did Christ ever shrink from the cross? Never. He came into the world on purpose to die on the cross, and He never shrank from it. But He was afraid He should die in the garden before He came to the cross. The burden on His soul was so great, and produced such an agony that He felt as if He was at the point of dying.

His soul was sorrowful even unto death. But the angel appeared unto Him, strengthening Him. He received the very thing for which He asked; as He says: "I knew that Thou hearest Me always" (John 11:42). 22 But there is another case which is often brought up, that of the apostle Paul praying against the "thorn in the flesh." He says: "I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." And the Lord answered him: "My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). It is the opinion of Dr. Clarke and others, that Paul's prayer was answered in the very thing for which he prayed; that "the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan," of which he speaks, was a false apostle who had distracted and perverted the Church at Corinth; that Paul prayed against his influence, the Lord answering him by the assurance: "My grace is sufficient for thee."

But admitting that Paul's prayer was not answered by the granting of the particular thing for which he prayed, in order to make out this case as an exception to the prayer of faith, they are obliged to assume the very thing to be proved; and that is, that the apostle prayed in faith. There is no reason to suppose that Paul would always pray in faith, any more than that any other Christian does. The very manner in which God answered him shows that it was not in faith. He virtually tells him: "That thorn is necessary for your sanctification, and to keep you from being exalted above measure, I sent it upon you in love, and in faithfulness, and you have no business to pray that I should take it away. LET IT ALONE.

There is not only no evidence that Paul prayed in faith, but a strong presumption that he did not. From the record it is evident that he had nothing on which to repose faith. There was no express promise, no general promise that could be applicable - no providence of God, no prophecy, no teaching of the Spirit, that God would remove this thorn; but the presumption was that God would not remove it, since He had given it for a particular purpose. The prayer appears to have been selfish, praying against a mere personal influence. This was not any personal suffering that retarded his usefulness, but, on the contrary, it was given him to increase his usefulness by keeping him humble; and because on some account he found it inconvenient and mortifying, he set himself to pray out of his own heart, evidently without being led to do so by the Spirit of God. Could Paul pray in faith without being led by the Spirit of God, any more than any other man? And will any one undertake to say that the Spirit of God led him to pray that this might be removed, when God Himself had given it for a particular purpose, which purpose could be answered only as the "thorn" continued with him?

Why, then, is this made an exception to the general rule laid down in the text, that a man shall receive whatsoever he asks in faith? I was once amazed and grieved, at a public examination at a Theological Seminary, to hear them "darken counsel by words without knowledge" on this subject.

This case of Paul, and that of Christ just adverted to, were both of them cited as instances to prove that the prayer of faith would not be answered in the particular thing for which they prayed. Now, to teach such sentiments as these, in or out of a Theological Seminary, is to trifle with the Word of God, and to break the power of the Christian ministry. Has it come to this, that our grave doctors in our seminaries are employed to instruct Zion's watchmen to believe and teach that it is not to be expected that the prayer of faith is to be answered in the granting of the object for which we pray? Oh, tell it not in Gath, nor let the sound reach Askelon!

What is to become of the Church while such are the views of its gravest and most influential ministers? I would be neither unkind nor censorious, but, as one of the ministers of Jesus Christ, I feel bound to bear testimony against such a perversion of the Word of God.

5. It is evident that the prayer of faith will obtain the blessing, from the fact that our faith rests on evidence that to grant that thing is the will of God. Not evidence that something else will be granted, but that this particular thing will be. But how, then, can we have evidence that this thing will be granted, if another thing is to be granted? People often receive more than they pray for. Solomon prayed for wisdom, and God granted him riches and honor in addition. So, a wife sometimes prays for the conversion of her husband, and if she offers the prayer of faith, God may not only grant that blessing, but convert her child, and her whole family

Blessings seem sometimes to "hang together," so that if a Christian gains one he gets them all.

V. HOW WE ARE TO COME INTO THIS STATE OF MIND.

That is to say, the state of mind in which we can offer such prayer. People often ask: "How shall I offer such prayer? Shall I say: 'Now I will pray in faith for such and such blessings'?" No, the human mind is not moved in this way. You might just as well say: "Now I will call up a spirit from the bottomless pit."

1. You must first obtain evidence that God will bestow the blessing. How did Daniel make out to offer the prayer of faith? He searched the Scriptures. Now, you need not let your Bible lie on a shelf, and expect God to reveal His promises to you. "Search the Scriptures," and see where you can get either a general or special promise, or a prophecy, on which you can plant your feet. Go through your Bible, and you will find it full of such precious promises, which you may plead in faith.

A curious case occurred in one of the towns in the western part of the State of New York. There was a revival there. A certain clergyman came to visit the place, and heard a great deal said about the Prayer of Faith. He was staggered at what they said, for he had never regarded the subject in the light in which they did. He inquired about it of the minister that was laboring there. The minister requested him, in a kind spirit, to go home and take his Testament, look out the passages that refer to prayer, and go round to his most praying people and ask them how they understood these passages. He did so, going to his praying men and women, reading the passages, without note or comment, and asking what they thought. He found that their plain common sense had led them to understand these passages and to believe that they meant just what they say. This affected him; then, the fact of his presenting the promises before their minds awakened the spirit of prayer in them, and a revival followed.

I could name many individuals who have set themselves to examine the Bible on this subject, who, before they got half through with it, have been filled with the spirit of prayer. They found that God meant by His promises just what a plain, common-sense man would understand them to mean. I advise you to try it. You have Bibles; look them over, and whenever you find a promise that you can use, fasten it in your mind before you go on; and you will not get through the Book without finding out that God's promises mean just what they say.

2. Cherish the good desires you have. Christians very often lose their good desires by not attending to this; and then their prayers are mere words, without any desire or earnestness at all. The least longing of desire must be cherished. If your body were likely to freeze, and you had even the least spark of fire, how you would cherish it! So, if you have the least desire for a blessing, let it be ever so small, do not trifle it away. Do not lose good desires by levity, by censoriousness, by worldly-mindedness. Watch and pray.

3. Entire consecration to God is indispensable to the prayer of faith. You must live a holy life, and consecrate all to God - your time, talents, influence - all you have, and all you are, to be His entirely. Read the lives of pious men, and you will be struck with this fact, that they used to set apart times to renew their covenant, and dedicate themselves anew to God; and whenever they have done so, a blessing has always followed immediately. If I had President Edwards' works here, I could read passages showing how it was in his days.

4. You must persevere. You are not to pray for a thing once and then cease, and call that the prayer of faith. Look at Daniel. He prayed twenty-one days, and did not cease till he had obtained the blessing. He set his heart and his face unto the Lord, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes; and he held on three weeks, and then the answer came. And why did not it come before? God sent an Archangel to bear the message, but the devil hindered him all this time. See what Christ says in the Parable of the Unjust Judge, and the Parable of the Loaves. What does He teach us by them? Why, that God will grant answers to prayer when it is importunate. "Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him?" (Luke 18:7.)

5. If you would pray in faith, be sure to walk every day with God. If you do, He will tell you what to pray for. Be filled with His Spirit, and He will give you objects enough to pray for. He will give you as much of the spirit of prayer as you have strength of body to bear.

Said a good man to me: "Oh, I am dying for the want of strength to pray!

My body is crushed, the world is on me, and how can I forbear praying?" I have known that man go to bed absolutely sick, for weakness and faintness, under the pressure. And I have known him pray as if he would do violence to Heaven, and then have seen the blessing come as plainly in answer to his prayer as if it were revealed, so that no person would doubt it any more than if God had spoken from heaven. Shall I tell you how he died? He prayed more and more; he used to take the map of the world before him, and pray, and look over the different countries and pray for them, till he absolutely expired in his room, praying. Blessed man! He was the reproach of the ungodly, and of carnal, unbelieving professors; but he was the favorite of Heaven, and a prevailing prince in prayer.

VI. OBJECTIONS BROUGHT AGAINST THIS DOCTRINE.

1. "It leads to fanaticism and amounts to a new revelation." Why should this be a stumbling-block? They must have evidence to believe, before they can offer the prayer of faith. And if God should give other evidence besides the senses, where is the objection? True, there is a sense in which this is a new revelation; it is making known a thing by His Spirit. But it is the very revelation which God has promised to give. It is just the one we are to expect, if the Bible is true; that when we know not what we ought to pray for, according to the will of God, His Spirit helps our infirmities, and teaches us. Shall we deny the teaching of the Spirit?

2. It is often asked: "Is it our duty to offer the prayer of faith for the salvation of all men?" I answer: "No," for that is not a thing according to the will of God. It is directly contrary to His revealed will. We have no evidence that all will be saved. We should feel benevolently to all, and, in itself considered, desire their salvation. But God has revealed that many of the human race shall be damned, and it cannot be a duty to believe that all shall be saved, in the face of a revelation to the contrary. In Christ's prayer in John 17, He expressly said: "I pray not for the world, but for those Thou hast given me" (v. 9).

3. But some ask: "If we were to offer this prayer for all men, would not all be saved?" I answer: "Yes, and so they would be saved, if they would all repent. But they will not."

4. But you ask: "For whom are we to pray this prayer? We want to know in what cases, for what persons, and places, and at what times, we are to make the prayer of faith." I answer, as I have already answered: "When you have evidence - from promises, or prophecies, or providences, or the leadings of the Spirit - that God will do the things for which you pray."

5 "How is it that so many prayers of pious parents for their children are not answered? Did you not say there was a promise which pious parents may apply to their children? Why is it, then, that so many pious, praying parents have had impenitent children, who have died in their sins?" Grant that it is so, what does it prove? "Let God be true, but every man a liar"

(Romans 3:4). Which shall we believe, that God's promise has failed, or that these parents did not do their duty? Perhaps they did not believe the promise, or did not believe there was any such thing as the prayer of faith.

Wherever you find a professor who does not believe in any such prayer, you find, as a general thing, that he has children and domestics yet in their sins.

6. "Will not these views lead to fanaticism? Will not many people think they are offering the prayer of faith when they are not?" That is the same objection that Unitarians make against the doctrine of regeneration - that many people think they have been born again when they have not. It is an argument against all spiritual religion whatever. Some think they have it when they have not, and are fanatics. But there are those who know what the prayer of faith is, just as there are those who know what spiritual experience is, though it may stumble cold-hearted professors who know it not. Even ministers often lay themselves open to the rebuke which Christ gave to Nicodemus: "Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?" (John 3:10.)

REMARKS.

1. Persons who have not known by experience what the prayer of faith is, have great reason to doubt their own piety. This is by no means uncharitable. Let them examine themselves. It is to be feared that they understand prayer as little as Nicodemus did the New Birth. They have not walked with God, and you cannot describe it to them, any more than you can describe a beautiful painting to a blind man.

2. There is reason to believe that millions are in hell because professors have not offered the prayer of faith. When they had promises under their eye, they have not had faith enough to use them. The signs of the times, and the indications of Providence, were favorable, perhaps, and the Spirit of God prompted desires for their salvation. There was evidence enough that God was ready to grant a blessing, and if professors had only prayed in faith, God would have granted it; but He turned it away, because they could not discern the signs of the times.

3. You say: "This leaves the Church under a great load of guilt." True, it does so; and no doubt multitudes will stand up before God, covered all over with the blood of souls that have been lost through their want of faith. The promises of God, accumulated in their Bibles, will stare them in the face, and weigh them down to hell.

4. Many professors of religion live so far from God, that to talk to them about the prayer of faith, is all unintelligible. Very often the greatest offense possible to them, is to preach about this kind of prayer.

5. I now want to ask professors a few questions. Do you know what it is to pray in faith? Did you ever pray in this way? Have you ever prayed till your mind was assured the blessing would come - till you felt that rest in God, that confidence, as if you saw God come down from heaven to give it to you? If not, you ought to examine your foundation. How can you live without praying in faith? How do you live in view of your children, while you have no assurance whatever that they will be converted? One would think you would go deranged. I knew a father who was a good man, but had erroneous views respecting the prayer of faith; and his whole family of children were grown up, without one of them being converted. At length his son sickened, and seemed about to die. The father prayed, but the son grew worse, and seemed sinking into the grave without hope. The father prayed, till his anguish was unutterable. He went at last and prayed (there seemed no prospect of his son surviving) so that he poured out his soul as if he would not be denied, till at length he got an assurance that his son would not only live but be converted; and that not only this one, but his whole family would be converted to God. He came into the house, and told his family his son would not die. They were astonished at him. "I tell you," said he, "he will not die. And no child of mine will ever die in his sins." That man's children were all converted, years ago.

What do you think of that? Was that fanaticism? If you believe so, it is because you know nothing about the matter. Do you pray so? Do you live in such a manner that you can offer such prayer for your children? I know that the children of professors may sometimes be converted in answer to the prayers of somebody else. But ought you to live so? Dare you trust to the prayers of others, when God calls you to sustain this important relation to your children?

Finally; see what combined effort is made to dispose of the Bible. The wicked are for throwing away the threatenings of the Bible, and the Church the promises. And what is there left? Between them, they leave the Bible a blank. I ask it in love: "What is our Bible good for, if we do not lay hold of its precious promises, and use them as the ground of our faith when we pray for the blessing of God?" You had better send your Bibles to the heathen, where they will do some good, if you are not going to believe and use them. I have no evidence that there is much of this prayer now in this Church, or in this city. And what will become of them? What will become of your children? - your neighbors? - the wicked?

Lecture 6: The Spirit Of Prayer

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. - Romans 8:26, 27.

My last Lecture but one was on the subject of Effectual Prayer; in which I observed that one of the most important attributes of effectual or prevailing prayer is FAITH. This was so extensive a subject that I reserved it for a separate discussion. And accordingly my last Lecture was on the subject of Faith in Prayer, or, as it is termed, the Prayer of Faith. It was my intention to discuss the subject in a single Lecture. But as I was under the necessity of condensing so much on some points, it occurred to me, and was mentioned by others, that there might be some questions which people would ask, that ought to be answered more fully, especially as the subject is one on which there is so much darkness. One grand design in preaching is to exhibit the truth in such a way as to answer the questions which would naturally arise in the minds of those who read the Bible with attention, and who want to know what it means, so that they can put it in practice. In explaining the text, I propose to show:

I. What Spirit is here spoken of: "The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities."

II. What that Spirit does for us.

III. Why He does what the text declares Him to do.

IV. How He accomplishes it.

V. The degree in which He influences the minds of those who are under His influence.

VI. How His influences are to be distinguished from the influences of evil spirits. or from the suggestions of our own minds.

VII. How we are to obtain this agency of the Holy Spirit.

VIII. Who have a right to expect to enjoy His influences in this matter - or for whom the Spirit does the things spoken of in the text.

I. WHAT SPIRIT IS SPOKEN OF.

Some have supposed that the Spirit spoken of in the text means our own spirit - our own mind. But a little attention to the text will show plainly that this is not the meaning. "The Spirit helpeth our infirmities" would then read, "Our own spirit helpeth the infirmities of our own spirit" - and "Our own spirit maketh intercession for our own spirit." You can make no sense of it on that supposition. It is evident from the manner in which the text is introduced that the Spirit referred to is the Holy Ghost.

"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:13-16). And the text is plainly speaking of the same Spirit.

II. WHAT THE SPIRIT DOES.

He intercedes for the saints. "He maketh intercession for us," and "helpeth our infirmities," when "we know not what to pray for as we ought." He helps Christians to pray "according to the will of God," or for the things that God desires them to pray for.

III. WHY IS THE HOLY SPIRIT THUS EMPLOYED?

Because of our ignorance. Because we know not what we should pray for as we ought. We are so ignorant both of the will of God, revealed in the Bible, and of His unrevealed will, as we ought to learn it from His providence.

Mankind are vastly ignorant both of the promises and prophecies of the Bible, and blind to the providence of God. And they are still more in the dark about those points of which God has said nothing but through the leadings of His Spirit. I have named these four sources of evidence on which to ground faith in prayer - promises, prophecies, providences, and the Holy Spirit. When all other means fail of leading us to the knowledge of what we ought to pray for, the Spirit does it.

IV. HOW DOES HE MAKE INTERCESSION?

In what mode does He operate, so as to help our infirmities?

1. Not by superseding the use of our faculties. It is not by praying for us, while we do nothing. He prays for us by exciting our faculties. Not that He immediately suggests to us words, or guides our language. But He enlightens our minds, and makes the truth take hold of our souls. He leads us to consider the state of the Church, and the condition of sinners around us. The manner in which He brings the truth before the mind, and keeps it there till it produces its effect, we cannot tell. But we can know as much as this - that He leads us to a deep consideration of the state of things; and the result of this, the natural and philosophical result, is, deep feeling.

When the Spirit brings the truth before a man's mind there is only one way in which he can keep from deep feeling. That is, by turning away his thoughts, and leading his mind to think of other things. Sinners, when the Spirit of God brings the truth before them, must feel. They feel wrong, as long as they remain impenitent. So, if a man is a Christian, and the Holy Spirit brings the subject into warm contact with his heart, it is just as impossible he should not feel as it is that your hand should not feel if you put it into the fire. If the Spirit of God leads a man to dwell on things calculated to excite overpowering feelings regarding the salvation of souls, and he is not excited thereby, it proves that he has no love for souls, nothing of the Spirit of Christ, and knows nothing about Christian experience.

2. The Spirit makes the Christian feel the value of souls and the guilt and danger of sinners in their present condition. It is amazing how dark and stupid Christian often are about this. Even Christian parents let their children go right down to hell before their eyes, and scarcely seem to exercise a single feeling, or put forth an effort to save them. And why?

Because they are so blind to what hell is, so unbelieving about the Bible, so ignorant of the precious promises which God has made to faithful parents. They grieve the Spirit of God away - and it is in vain to make them pray for their children, while the Spirit of God is away from them.

3. He leads Christians to understand and apply the promises of Scripture.

It is wonderful that in no age have Christians been able fully to apply the promises of Scripture to the events of life, as they go along. This is not because the promises themselves are obscure. But there has always been a wonderful disposition to overlook the Scriptures, as a source of light respecting the passing events of life. How astonished the apostles were at Christ's application of so many prophecies to Himself! They seemed to be continually ready to exclaim: "Astonishing! Can it be so? We never understood it before!" Who, that has witnessed the manner in which the apostles, influenced and inspired by the Holy Ghost, applied passages of the Old Testament to Gospel times, has not been amazed at the richness of meaning which they found in the Scriptures? So it has been with many a Christian; while deeply engaged in prayer he has seen that passages of Scripture are appropriate which he never thought of before as having any such application.

I once knew an individual who was in great spiritual darkness. He had retired for prayer, resolved that he would not desist till he had found the Lord. He kneeled down and tried to pray. All was dark, and he could not pray. He rose from his knees, and stood awhile; but he could not give it up, for he had promised that he would not let the sun go down before he had given himself to God. He knelt again; but was all dark, and his heart was as hard as before. He was nearly in despair, and said in agony: "I have grieved the Spirit of God away, and there is no promise for me. I am shut out from the presence of God." But his resolution was formed not to give over, and again he knelt down. He had said but a few words when this passage came into his mind, as fresh as if he had just read it: "Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). He saw that though this promise was in the Old Testament, and addressed to the Jews, it was still as applicable to him as to them. And it broke his heart, like the hammer of the Lord, in a moment.

And he prayed, and rose up happy in God.

Thus it often happens when professors of religion are praying for their children. Sometimes they pray, and are in darkness and doubt, feeling as if there were no foundation for faith, and no special promises for the children of believers. But while they have been pleading, God has shown them the full meaning of some promise, and their soul has rested on it as on His mighty arm. I once heard of a widow who was greatly exercised about her children, till this passage was brought powerful to her mind: "Thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let Thy widows trust in Me" (Jeremiah 49:11). She saw it had an extended meaning, and she was enabled to lay hold of it, as it were, with her hands. She prevailed in prayer, and her children were converted. The Holy Spirit was sent into the world by the Savior to guide His people, and instruct them and bring things to their remembrance, as well as to convince the world of sin.

4. The Spirit leads Christians to desire and pray for things of which nothing is specifically said in the Word of God. Take the case of an individual. That God is willing to save is a general truth. So it is a general truth that He is willing to answer prayer. But how shall I know the will of God respecting that individual - whether I can pray in faith according to the will of God for the conversion and salvation of that individual, or not?

Here the agency of the Spirit comes in to lead the minds of God's people to pray for those individuals, and at those times, when God is prepared to bless them. When we know not what to pray for, the Holy Spirit leads the mind to dwell on some object, to consider its situation, to realize its value, and to feel for it, and pray, and "travail in birth," till the person is converted. This sort of experience, I know, is less common in cities than it is in some parts of the country, because of the infinite number of things which in cities divert the attention and grieve the Spirit.

I have had much opportunity to know how it has been in some districts. I was acquainted with an individual who used to keep a list of persons for whom he was especially concerned; and I have had the opportunity to know a multitude of persons, for whom he became thus interested, who were immediately converted. I have seen him pray for persons on his list when he was literally in an agony for them; and have sometimes known him call on some other person to help him pray for such a one. I have known his mind to fasten thus on an individual of hardened, abandoned character, and who could not be reached in any ordinary way. In a town in a north part of this State, where there was a revival, there was a certain individual who was a most violent and outrageous opposer. He kept a tavern, and used to delight in swearing at a desperate rate, whenever there were Christians within hearing, on purpose to hurt their feelings. He was so bad that one man said he believed he should have to sell his place, or give it away, and move out of town, for he could not live near a man who swore so. This good man of whom I was speaking passed through the town, and, hearing of the case, was very much grieved and distressed for the individual. He took him on his praying list. The case weighed on his mind when he was asleep and when he was awake. He kept thinking about the ungodly man, and praying for him for days. And, the first we knew of it, the tavern keeper came into a meeting, got up and confessed his sins, and poured out his soul. His barroom immediately became the place where they held prayer meetings. In this manner the Spirit of God leads individual Christians to pray for things which they would not pray for, unless they were led by the Spirit; and thus they pray for things "according to the will of God."

Great evil has been done by saying that this kind of influence amounts to a new revelation. Many people will be so afraid of it, if they hear it called a new revelation, that they will not stop to inquire what it means, or whether the Scriptures teach it or not. The plain truth of the matter is, that the Spirit leads a man to pray; and if God leads a man to pray for an individual, the inference from the Bible is, that God designs to save that individual. If we find, by comparing our state of mind with the Bible, that we are led by the Spirit to pray for an individual, we have good evidence to believe that God is prepared to bless him.

5. By giving to Christians a spiritual discernment respecting the movements and developments of Providence. Devoted, praying Christians often see these things so clearly, and look so far ahead, as greatly to stumble others. They sometimes almost seem to prophesy. No doubt persons may be deluded, and sometimes are, by leaning to their own understanding when they think they are led by the Spirit. But there is no doubt that a Christian may be made to discern clearly the signs of the times, so as to understand, by Providence, what to expect, and thus to pray for it in faith. Thus they are often led to expect a revival, and to pray for it in faith, when nobody else can see the least signs of it.

There was a woman in New Jersey, in a place where there had been a revival. She was very positive there was going to be another. She wanted to have "conference meetings" appointed. But the minister and elders saw nothing to encourage it, and would do nothing. She saw they were blind, and so she went forward, and got a carpenter to make seats for her, for she said she would have meetings in her own house; there was certainly going to be a revival. She had scarcely opened her doors for meetings, before the Spirit of God came down with great power, and these sleepy Church members found themselves surrounded all at once with convicted sinners.

They could only say: "Surely the Lord is in this place; and we knew it not" (Genesis 28:16). The reason why such persons as this praying woman understand the indication of God's will is not because of the superior wisdom that is in them, but because the Spirit of God leads them to see the signs of the times. And this, not by revelation; but they are led to see that converging of providences to a single point which produces in them a confident expectation of a certain result.

V. THE DEGREE OF INFLUENCE.

In what degree are we to expect the Spirit of God to affect the minds of believers? The text says: "The Spirit maketh intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered." The meaning of this I understand to be, that the Spirit excites desires too great to be uttered except by groans - making the soul too full to utter its feelings by words, so that the person can only groan them out to God, who understands the language of the heart.

VI. DISTINGUISHING THE INFLUENCES.

How are we to know whether it is the Spirit of God that influences our minds, or not?

1. Not by feeling that some external influence or agency is applied to us.

We are not to expect to feel our minds in direct physical contact with God.

If such a thing can be, we know of no way in which it can be made sensible. We know that we exercise our minds freely, and that our thoughts are exercised on something that excites our feelings. But we are not to expect a miracle to be wrought, as if we were led by the hand, sensibly, or like something whispered in the ear, or any miraculous manifestation of the will of God.

Individuals often grieve the Spirit away, because they do not harbor Him and cherish His influences. Sinners often do this ignorantly. They suppose that if they were under conviction by the Spirit, they should have such-and-such mysterious feelings - a shock would come upon them which they could not mistake. Many Christians are so ignorant of the Spirit's influences, and have thought so little about having His assistance in prayer, that when they have such influences they do not know it, and so do not yield to them, and cherish them. We are sensible of nothing in the case, only the movement of our own minds. There is nothing else that can be felt. We are merely sensible that our thoughts are intensely employed on a certain subject.

Christians are often unnecessarily misled and distressed on this point, for fear they have not the Spirit of God. They feel intensely, but they know not what makes them feel. They are distressed about sinners; but should they not be distressed, when they think of their condition? They keep thinking about them all the time, and why should they not be distressed?

Now the truth is, that the very fact that you are thinking upon them is evidence that the Spirit of God is leading you. Do you not know that the greater part of the time these things do not affect you so? The greater part of the time you do not think much about the case of sinners. You know their salvation is always equally important. But at other times, even when you are quite at leisure, your mind is entirely dark, and vacant of any feeling for them. But now, although you may be busy about other things, you think, you pray, and feel intensely for them, even while you are about business that at other times would occupy all your thoughts. Now, almost every thought you have is: "God have mercy upon them!" Why is this?

Why, their case is placed in a strong light before your mind. Do you ask what it is that leads your mind to exercise benevolent feelings for sinners, and to agonize in prayer for them? What can it be but the Spirit of God?

There are no devils that would lead you so. If your feelings are truly benevolent, you are to consider it as the Holy Spirit leading you to pray for things according to the will of God.

2. "Try the spirits" by the Bible. People are sometimes led away by strange fantasies and crazy impulses. If you compare them faithfully with the Bible, you never need be led astray. You can always know whether your feelings are produced by the Spirit's influences, by comparing your desires with the spirit and temper of religion, as described in the Bible.

The Bible commands you to "try the spirits." "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God" (1 John 4-1).

VII. HOW SHALL WE GET THIS INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT?

1. It must be sought by fervent, believing prayer. Christ says: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:13). Does anyone say, I have prayed for it, and it does not come? It is because you do not pray aright. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). You do not pray from right motives. A professor of religion, and a principal member in a Church, once asked a minister what he thought of his case; he had been praying week after week for the Spirit, and had not found any benefit. The minister asked: what was his motive in praying?

He replied that "he wanted to be happy." He knew those who had the Spirit were happy, and he wanted to enjoy his mind as they did. Why, the devil himself might pray so! That is mere selfishness. The man, when this was shown him, at first turned away in anger. He saw that he had never known what it was to pray. He was convinced he was a hypocrite, and that his prayers were all selfish, dictated only by a desire for his own happiness. David prayed that God would uphold him by His free Spirit, that he might teach transgressors and turn sinners to God. A Christian should pray for the Spirit that he may be the more useful and glorify God more; not that he himself may be more happy. This man saw clearly where he had been in error, and he was converted. Perhaps many here have been making just the same mistake. You ought to examine and see if your prayers are not tinctured with selfishness.

2. Use the means adapted to stir up your minds on the subject, and to keep your attention fixed there. If a man prays for the Spirit, and then diverts his mind to other objects; if he uses no other means, but goes away to worldly objects, he tempts God, he swings loose from his object, and it would be a miracle if he should get what he prays for. How is a sinner to get conviction? Why, by thinking of his sins. That is the way for a Christian to obtain deep feeling - by thinking upon the object. God is not going to pour these things on you without any effort of your own. You must cherish the slightest impressions. Take the Bible, and go over the passages that show the condition and prospects of the world. Look at the world, look at your children, and your neighbors, and see their condition while they remain in sin; then, persevere in prayer and effort till you obtain the blessing of the Spirit of God to dwell in you. This was the way, doubtless, that Dr. Watts came to have the feelings which he has described in his hymn:

My thoughts on awful subjects dwell,

Damnation and the dead;

What horrors seize the guilty soul

Upon a dying bed!

Lingering about these mortal shores,

She makes a long delay,

Till, like a flood, with rapid force

Death sweeps the wretch away.

Then, swift and dreadful, she descends

Down to the fiery coast,

Amongst abominable fiends,

Herself a frighted ghost.

There endless crowds of sinners lie,

And darkness makes their chains;

Tortured with keen despair they cry,

Yet wait for fiercer pains.

Not all their anguish and their blood

For their past guilt atones,

Nor the compassion of a God

Shall hearken to their groans.

Amazing grace, that kept my breath,

Nor bid my soul remove,

Till I had learned my Saviour's death,

And well insured his love!

Look, as it were, through a telescope that will bring it up near to you; look into hell, and hear them groan; then turn the glass upwards and look into heaven, and see the saints there, in their white robes, with their harps in their hands, and hear them sing the song of redeeming love; and ask yourself: "Is it possible that I should prevail with God to elevate the sinner there?" Do this, and if you are not a wicked man, and a stranger to God, you will soon have as much of the spirit of prayer as your body can sustain.

3. You must watch unto prayer. You must keep a look-out, and see if God grants the blessing when you ask Him. People sometimes pray, and never look to see if the prayer is granted. Be careful also, not to grieve the Spirit of God. Confess and forsake your sins. God will never lead you as one of His hidden ones, and let you into His secrets, unless you confess and forsake your sins. Be not always confessing and never forsaking, but confess and forsake too. Make redress wherever you have committed an injury. You cannot expect to get the spirit of prayer first, and repentance afterwards. You cannot fight it through so. Professors of religion, who are proud and unyielding, and justify themselves, never will force God to dwell with them.

4. Aim to obey perfectly the written law. In other words, have no fellowship with sin. Aim at being entirely above the world; "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). If you sin at all, let it be your daily grief. The man who does not aim at this, means to live in sin. Such a man need not expect God's blessing, for he is not sincere in desiring to keep all His commandments.

VIII. FOR WHOM DOES THE SPIRIT INTERCEDE.

The answer is that "He maketh intercession for the saints," for all saints, for any who are saints.

REMARKS.

1. Why do you suppose it is that so little stress is laid on the influences of the Spirit in prayer, when so much is said about His influences in conversion? Many people are amazingly afraid the Spirit's influences will be left out. They lay great stress on the Spirit's influences in converting sinners. But how little is said, how little is printed, about His influence in prayer! How little complaining there is that people do not make enough of the Spirit's influence in leading Christians to pray according to the will of God! Let it never be forgotten that no Christian ever prays aright, unless led by the Spirit. He has natural power to pray, and so far as the will of God is revealed, is able to do it; but he never does, unless the Spirit of God influences him; just as sinners are able to repent, but never do, unless influenced by the Spirit.

2. This subject lays open the foundation of the difficulty felt by many persons on the subject of the Prayer of Faith. They object to the idea that faith in prayer is a belief that we shall receive the very things for which we ask, and insist that there can be no foundation or evidence upon which to rest such a belief.

In a sermon upon this subject a writer brings toward this difficulty, and presents it in its full strength. "I have," says he, "no evidence that the thing prayed for will be granted, until I have prayed in faith; because, praying in faith is the condition upon which it is promised. And, of course, I cannot claim the promise, until I have fulfilled the condition.

Now, if the condition is that I am to believe I shall receive the very blessing for which I ask, it is evident that the promise is given upon the performance of an impossible condition, and is, of course, a mere nullity.

The promise would amount to just this: You shall have whatsoever you ask, upon the condition that you first believe that you shall receive it.

Now I must fulfill the condition before I can claim the promise. But I can have no evidence that I shall receive it until I have believed that I shall receive it. This reduces me to the necessity of believing that I shall receive it, before I have any evidence that I shall receive it - which is impossible."

The whole force of this objection arises out of the fact that the Spirit's influences are entirely overlooked, which He exerts in leading an individual to the exercise of faith. It has been supposed that the passage in Mark 11:22-24, with other kindred promises on the subject of the Prayer of Faith, relate exclusively to miracles. But suppose this were true. I would ask: "What were the apostles to believe, when they prayed for a miracle?

Were they to believe that the precise miracle would be performed for which they prayed?" It is evident that they were. In the verses just alluded to, Christ says: "For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Here it is evident, that the thing to be believed, and which they were not to doubt in their heart, was that they should have the very blessing for which they prayed. Now the objection above stated, lies in all its force against this kind of faith, when praying for the performance of a miracle. If it be impossible to believe this in praying for any other blessing, it was equally so in praying for a miracle. I might ask: "Could an apostle believe that the miracle would be wrought, before he had fulfilled the condition, inasmuch as the condition was, that he should believe that he should receive that for which he prayed?" Either the promise is a nullity and a deception, or there is a possibility of performing the condition.

Now, as I have said, the whole difficulty lies in the fact that the Spirit's influences are entirely overlooked, and that faith which is of the operation of God, is left out of the question. If the objection is goods against praying for any object, it is as good against praying in faith for the performance of a miracle. The fact is, that the Spirit of God could give evidence, on which to believe that any particular miracle would be granted; could lead the mind to a firm reliance upon God, and trust that the blessing sought would be obtained. And so at the present day He can give the same assurance, in praying for any blessing that we need.

Praying is the same thing, whether you pray for the conversion of a soul, or for a miracle. Faith is the same thing in the one case as in the other; it only terminates on a different object; in the one case on the conversion of a soul, and in the other on the performance of a miracle. Nor is faith exercised in the one more than in the other without reference to a promise; and a general promise may with the same propriety be applied to the conversion of a soul as to the performance of a miracle. And it is equally true in the one case as the other, that no man ever prays in faith without being influenced by the Spirit of God. And if the Spirit could lead the mind of an apostle to exercise faith in regard to a miracle, He can lead the mind of another Christian to exercise faith in regard to receiving any other blessing, by a reference to the same general promise.

Should any one ask: "When are we under an obligation to believe that we shall receive the blessing for which we ask?" I answer -

(a) When there is a particular promise, specifying the particular blessing: as where we pray for the Holy Spirit. This blessing is particularly named in the promise, and here we have evidence, and we are bound to believe, whether we have any Divine influence or not: just as sinners are bound to repent whether the Spirit strives with them or not, their obligation resting not upon the Spirit's influences, but upon the powers of moral agency which they possess; upon their ability to do their duty. And while it is true that not one of them ever will repent without the influences of the Spirit, still they have power to do so, and are under obligation to do so whether the Spirit strives with them or not. So with the Christian. He is bound to believe where he has evidence. And although he never does believe, even where he has an express promise, without the Spirit of God, yet his obligation to do so rests upon his ability, and not upon the Divine influence.

(b) Where God makes a revelation by His providence, we are bound to believe in proportion to the clearness of the providential indication.

(c) So where there is a prophecy, we are bound also to believe. But in neither of these cases do we, in fact, believe, without the Spirit of God.

But where there is neither promise, providence, nor prophecy, on which we are to repose our faith, we are under no obligation to believe, unless, as I have shown in this discourse, the Spirit gives us evidence, by creating desires, and by leading us to pray for a particular object. In the case of those promises of a general nature, where we are honestly at a loss to know in what particular cases to apply them, it may be considered rather as our privilege than as our duty, in many instances, to apply them to particular cases; but whenever the Spirit of God leads us to apply them to a particular object, then it becomes our duty so to apply them. In this case, God explains His own promise, and shows how He designed it should be applied. Our obligation, then, to make this application, and to believe in reference to this particular object, remains in full force.

3. Some have supposed that Paul prayed in faith for the removal of the thorn in the flesh, and that it was not granted. But they cannot prove that Paul prayed in faith. The presumption is all on the other side, as I have shown in a former Lecture. He had neither promise, nor prophecy, nor providence, nor the Spirit of God, to lead him to believe. The whole objection goes on the ground that the apostle might pray in faith without being led by the Spirit. This is truly a short method of disposing of the Spirit's influences in prayer. Certainly, to assume that he prayed in faith, is to assume, either that he prayed in faith without being led by the Spirit, or that the Spirit of God led him to pray for that which was not according to the will of God.

I have dwelt the more on this subject, because I want to have it made so plain that you will be careful not to grieve the Spirit. I want you to have high ideas of the Holy Ghost, and to feel that nothing good will be done without His influences. No praying or preaching will be of any avail without Him. If Jesus Christ were to come down here and preach to sinners, not one would be converted without the Spirit. Be careful, then, not to grieve Him away, by slighting or neglecting His heavenly influences when He invites you to pray.

4. In praying for an object, it is necessary to persevere till you obtain it.

Oh, with what eagerness Christians sometimes pursue a sinner in their prayers, when the Spirit of God has fixed their desires on him! No miser pursues gold with so fixed a determination.

5. The fear of being led by impulses has done great injury, by not being duly considered. A person's mind may be led by an ignis fatuus [editor’s note: an illusion]. But we do wrong if we let the fear of impulses lead us to resist the good impulses of the Holy Ghost. No wonder Christians have not the spirit of prayer, if they are unwilling to take the trouble to distinguish; but will reject or resist all impulses, and all leadings of invisible agents. A great deal has been said on the subject of fanaticism, that is very unguarded, and that causes many minds to reject the leadings of the Spirit of God. "As many as are led by the Spirit or God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). And it is our duty to "try the spirits whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1). We should insist on a close scrutiny, and an accurate discrimination. There must be such a thing as being led by the Spirit. And when we are convinced it is of God, we should be sure to follow - follow on, with full confidence that He will not lead us wrong.

6. We see from this subject the absurdity of using set forms of prayer. The very idea of using a form rejects, of course, the leadings of the Spirit.

Nothing is more calculated to destroy the spirit of prayer, and entirely to darken and confuse the mind, as to what constitutes prayer, than to use forms. Forms of prayer are not only absurd in themselves, but they are the very device of the devil to destroy the spirit and break the power of prayer. It is of no use to say the form is a good one. Prayer does not consist in words. And it matters not what the words are if the heart is not led by the Spirit of God. If the desire is not enkindled, the thoughts directed, and the whole current of feeling produced and led by the Spirit of God, it is not prayer. And set forms are, of all things, best calculated to keep an individual from praying as he ought.

7. The subject furnishes a test of character. "The Spirit maketh intercession" - for whom? For the saints. Those who are saints are thus exercised. If you are saints you know by experience what it is to be thus exercised; or, if you do not, it is because you have grieved the Spirit of God so that He will not lead you. You live in such a manner that this Holy Comforter will not dwell with you, nor give you the spirit of prayer. If this is so, you must repent. Do not stop to settle whether you are a Christian or not, but repent, as if you never had repented. Do your first works. I do not take it for granted that you are a Christian, but go, like a humble sinner, and pour out your heart unto the Lord. You never can have the spirit of prayer in any other way.

8. It is important to understand this subject:-

(a) In order to be useful. Without this spirit there can be no such sympathy between God and you, that you can either walk with God or work with God. You need to have a strong beating of your heart with His, or you need not expect to be greatly useful.

(b) As being important to your sanctification. Without such a spirit you will not be sanctified, nor will you understand the Bible, and therefore you will not know how to apply it to your case. I want you to feel the importance of having God with you all the time. If you live as you ought, He says He will come unto you, and make His abode with you, and sup with you, and you with Him.

9. If people know not the spirit of prayer, they are very apt to be unbelieving in regard to the results of prayer. They do not see what takes place, or do not see the connection, or do not see the evidence. They are not expecting spiritual blessings. When sinners are convicted, they conclude that such are merely frightened by terrible preaching. And when people are converted, they feel no confidence, saying: "We will see how they turn out."

10. Those who have the spirit of prayer know when the blessing comes. It was just so when Jesus Christ appeared. Those ungodly doctors did not know Him. Why? Because they were not praying for the redemption of Israel. But Simeon and Anna knew Him. How was that? Mark what they said, how they prayed, and how they lived. They were praying in faith, and so they were not surprised when He came (Luke 2:25-38). So it is with the Christians of whom I speak. If sinners are convicted or converted, they are not surprised at it. They are expecting just such things. They know God when He comes, because they are looking out for His visits.

11. There are three classes of persons in the Church who are liable to error, or have left the truth out of view, on this subject.

(a) Those who place great reliance on prayer, and use no other means.

They are alarmed at any special means, and talk about your "getting up a revival."

(b) Over against these are those who use means, and pray, but never think about the influences of the Spirit in prayer. They talk about prayer for the Spirit, and feel the importance of the Spirit in the conversion to sinners, but do not realize the importance of the Spirit in prayer. And their prayers are all cold talk, nothing that anybody can feel, or that can take hold of God.

(c) Those who have certain strange notions about the Sovereignty of God, and are waiting for God to convert the world without prayer or means.

There must be in the Church a deeper sense of the need of the spirit of prayer. The fact is, that, generally, those who use means most assiduously, and make the most strenuous efforts for the salvation of men, and who have the most correct notions of the manner in which means should be used for converting sinners, also pray most for the Spirit of God, and wrestle most with God for His blessing. And what is the result?

Let facts speak, and say whether these persons do or do not pray, and whether the Spirit of God does not testify to their prayers, and follow their labors with His power.

12. Nothing will produce an excitement and opposition so quickly as the spirit of prayer. If any person should feel burdened with the case of sinners, so as to groan in his prayer, some become nervous, and he is visited at once with rebuke and opposition! From my soul I abhor all affectation of feeling where none exists, and all attempts to work one's self up into feeling, by groans. But I feel bound to defend the position, that there is such a thing as being in a state of mind in which there is but one way to keep from groaning; and that is, by resisting the Holy Ghost. I was once present where this subject was discussed. It was said that "groaning ought to be discountenanced." The question was asked, in reply: Whether God cannot produce such a state of feeling, that to abstain from groaning is impossible? The answer was: "Yes, but He never does." Then the apostle Paul was egregiously deceived when he wrote about groanings that cannot be uttered. Edwards was deceived when he wrote his book upon revivals.

Revivals are all in the dark. Now, no man who reviews the history of the Church will adopt such a sentiment. I do not like this attempt to shut out, or stifle, or keep down, or limit, the spirit of prayer. I would sooner cut off my right hand than rebuke the spirit of prayer, as I have heard of its being done by saying: "Do not let me hear any more groaning!"

I hardly know where to end this subject. I should like to discuss it a month, indeed, till the whole Church could understand it, so as to pray the prayer of faith. Beloved, I want to ask you: Do you believe all this? Or do you wonder that I should talk so? Perhaps some of you have had some glimpses of these things. Now, will you give yourselves up to prayer, and live so as to have the spirit of prayer, and have the Spirit with you all the time? Oh, for a praying Church! I once knew a minister who had a revival fourteen winters in succession. I did not know how to account for it, till I saw one of his members get up in a prayer meeting and make a confession.

"Brethren," said he, "I have been long in the habit of praying every Saturday night till after midnight, for the descent of the Holy Ghost among us. And now, brethren," and he began to weep, "I confess that I have neglected it for two or three weeks." The secret was out. That minister had a praying Church. Brethren, in my present state of health, I find it impossible to pray as much as I have been in the habit of doing, and yet continue to preach. It overcomes my strength. Now, shall I give myself up to prayer, and stop preaching? That will not do. Now, will not you, who are in health, throw yourselves into this work, and bear this burden, and give yourselves to prayer, till God shall pour out His blessing upon us?

Lecture 7: On Being Filled With The Spirit.

Be filled with the Spirit. - Ephesians 5:18.

Several of my Lectures have been on the subject of Prayer, and the importance of having the spirit of prayer - of the intercession of the Holy Ghost. Whenever the necessity and importance of the Spirit's influences are held forth, there can be no doubt that persons are in danger of abusing the doctrine, and perverting it to their own injury. For instance: when you tell sinners that without the Holy Spirit they never will repent, they are very liable to pervert the truth, and understand by it that they cannot repent, and therefore are under no obligation to do it until they feel the Spirit. It is often difficult to make them see that all the "cannot" consists in their unwillingness, and not in their inability. So again, when we tell Christians that they need the Spirit's aid in prayer, they are very apt to think they are under no obligation to pray the prayer of faith until they feel the influences of the Spirit. They overlook their obligation to be filled with the Spirit, and wait for the spirit of prayer to come upon them without asking, and thus they tempt God.

Before we come to consider the other department of means for promoting a revival - that is, the means to be used with sinners - I wish to show that, if you live without the Spirit, you are without excuse. Obligation to perform duty never rests on the condition that we shall have the influence of the Spirit, but on the powers of moral agency. We, as moral agents, have the power to obey God, and are perfectly bound to obey; and the reason that we do not is, that we are unwilling. The influences of the Spirit are wholly a matter of grace. If they were indispensable to enable us to perform duty, the bestowment of them would not be a gracious act, but a mere matter of common justice. Sinners are not bound to repent because they have the Spirit's influence, or because they can obtain it, but because they are moral agents, and have the powers which God requires them to exercise. So in the case of Christians. They are not bound to pray in faith because they have the Spirit (except in those cases where His influences in begetting the desire constitute the evidence that it is God's will to grant the object of desire), but because they have evidence. They are not bound to pray in faith at all, except when they have evidence as the foundation of their faith. They must have evidence from promises, or principles, or prophecy, or providence. And where they have evidence independent of His influences, they are bound to exercise faith, whether they have the Spirit's influence or not. They are bound to see the evidence, and to believe. The Spirit is given, not to enable them to see or believe, but because without the Spirit they will not look, or feel, or act, as they ought.

I purpose to show, from the text:

I. That Christians may be filled with the Spirit of God

II. That it is their duty to be filled with the Spirit.

III. Why they are not filled with the Spirit.

IV. The guilt of those who have not the Spirit of God, to lead their minds in duty and prayer.

V. The consequence that will follow if they are filled with the Spirit.

VI. The consequences if they are not.

I. YOU MAY HAVE THE SPIRIT.

Not because it is a matter of justice for God to give you His Spirit, but because He has promised to give His Spirit to those that ask. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:13) If you ask for the Holy Spirit, God has promised to answer.

But again, God has commanded you to have the Spirit. He says in the text: "Be filled with the Spirit." When God commands us to do a thing, it is the highest possible evidence that we can do it. For God to command is equivalent to an oath that we can do it. He has no right to command, unless we have power to obey. There is no stopping short of the conclusion that God is tyrannical, if He commands that which is impracticable.

II. IT IS YOUR DUTY TO BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.

1. It is your duty because you have a promise of it.

2. Because God has commanded it.

3. It is essential to your own growth in grace that you should be filled with the Spirit.

4. It is as important as it is that you should be sanctified.

5. It is as necessary as it is that you should be useful and do good in the world.

6. If you do not have the Spirit of God in you, you will dishonor God, disgrace the Church, and be lost.

III. WHY MANY DO NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT.

There are some, even professors of religion, who will say: "I do not know anything about all this, I never had any such experience; either it is not true, or I am all wrong." No doubt you are all wrong, if you know nothing about the influence of the Spirit. I want to present you with a few of the reasons that may prevent you from being filled with the Spirit.

1. It may be that you live a hypocritical life. Your prayers are not earnest and sincere. Not only is your religion a mere outside show, without any heart, but you are insincere in your fellowship with others. Thus you do many things to grieve the Spirit, so that He cannot dwell with you.

A minister was once boarding in a certain family, and the lady of the house was constantly complaining that she did not "enjoy" religion, and nothing seemed to help her. One day some ladies called to see her, and, protesting that she was very much offended because they had not called before, she pressed them to stay and spend the day, and declared she could not consent to let them go. They excused themselves, and left the house; and as soon as they were gone she told her servant that she wondered these people had so little sense as to be always troubling her and taking up her time! The minister heard it, and immediately rebuked her, and told her she ought to see why she did not "enjoy" religion. It was because she was in the daily habit of insincerity that amounted to downright lying. And the Spirit of Truth could not dwell in such a heart.

2. Others have so much levity that the Spirit will not dwell with them.

The Spirit of God is solemn, and serious, and will not dwell with those who give way to thoughtless levity.

3. Others are so proud that they cannot have the Spirit. They are so fond of dress, high life, equipage, fashion, etc., that it is no wonder they are not filled with the Spirit. And yet such persons will pretend to be at a loss to know why it is that they do not "enjoy" religion!

4. Some are so worldly minded, love property so well, and are trying so hard to get rich, that they cannot have the Spirit. How can He dwell with them when all their thoughts are on things of the world, and all their powers absorbed in procuring wealth? And when they get money they are pained if pressed by conscience to do something with it for the conversion of the world. They show how much they love the world in all their fellowship with others. Little things show it. They will screw down a poor man, who is doing a little piece of work for them, to the lowest penny. If they are dealing on a large scale, very likely they will be liberal and fair, because it is for their advantage. But if it is a person they care not about a laborer, or a mechanic, or a servant - they will grind him down to the last fraction, no matter what the work is really worth; and they actually pretend to make it a matter of conscience, that they cannot possibly give any more. Now, they would be ashamed to deal so with people of their own rank, because it would be known and injure their reputation; but God knows it, and has it all written down, that they are covetous and unfair in their dealings, and will not do right, only when it is for their interest. Now, how can such professors have the Spirit of God? It is impossible.

There are multitudes of such things, by which the Spirit of God is grieved. People call them "little" sins, but God will not call them little. I was struck with this thought, when I saw a little notice in The Evangelist. The publishers stated that they had many thousands of dollars in the hands of subscribers, which sums were justly due, but that it would cost them as much as it was worth to send an agent to collect the money. I suppose it is so with other religious papers, that subscribers either put the publisher to the trouble and expense of sending an agent to collect his due, or else they cheat him out of it. There is, doubtless, a large amount of money held back in this way by professors of religion, just because it is in such small sums, or because they are so far off that they cannot be sued. And yet these people will pray, and appear very pious, and wonder why they do not "enjoy" religion, and have the Spirit of God! It is this looseness of moral principle, this want of conscience about little matters, that grieves away the Holy Ghost.

5. Others do not fully confess and forsake their sins, and so cannot enjoy the Spirit's presence. They will confess their sins in general terms, perhaps, and are ready always to acknowledge that they are sinners. Or they will confess partially some particular sins. But they do it reservedly, proudly, guardedly, as if they were afraid they should say a little more than is necessary; that is, when they confess to men. They do it in a way which shows that, instead of bursting forth from an ingenuous heart, the confession is wrung from them, by conscience gripping them. If they have injured any one, they will make a partial recantation, which is hard-hearted, cruel, and hypocritical, and then they will ask: "Now, brother, are you satisfied?" We know that it is very difficult for a person who has been wronged to say, in such a case, that he is not satisfied even if the confession is cold and heartless. But I tell you, God is not satisfied.

He knows whether you have gone to the full length of honest confession, and taken all the blame that belongs to you. If your confessions have been constrained and wrung from you, do you suppose you can cheat God?

"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke 14:11). Unless you come quite down, and confess your sins honestly, and remunerate where you have done injury, you have no right to expect the spirit of prayer.

6. Others are neglecting some known duty, and that is the reason why they have not the Spirit. One does not pray in his family, though he knows he ought to do so, and yet he is trying to get the spirit of prayer!

There is many a young man who feels in his heart he ought to prepare for the ministry, but who has not the spirit of prayer because he has some worldly object in view which prevents his devoting himself to the work.

He has known his duty, refuses to do it, and yet is praying for direction from the Spirit of God! He cannot have it.

Another has neglected to make a profession of religion. He knows his duty, but he refuses to join the Church. He once had the spirit of prayer, but, neglecting his duty, he grieved the Spirit away. And now he thinks, if he could once more enjoy the light of God's countenance, and have his evidences renewed, he would do his duty, and join the Church. And so he is trying to bring God over to his terms, to grant him His presence. He need not expect it. You will live and die in darkness, unless you are willing first to do your duty, before God manifests Himself as reconciled to you.

It is in vain to say, you will come forward if God will first show you the light of His countenance. He never will do it as long as you live; He will let you die without it, if you refuse to do your duty.

I have known women who felt that they ought to talk to their unconverted husbands, and pray with them; but they neglected it, and so they got into the dark. They knew their duty and refused to do it; they "went round it," and there they lost the spirit of prayer.

If you have neglected any known duty, and thus lost the spirit of prayer, you must yield first. God has a controversy with you; you have refused obedience to God, and you must retract. You may have forgotten it, but God has not, and you must set yourself to recall it to mind and repent.

God never will yield or grant you His Spirit, till you repent. Had I an omniscient eye now, I could call the names of the individuals in this congregation, who have neglected some known duty, or committed some sin, that they have not repented of, and now they are praying for the spirit of prayer, but they cannot succeed in obtaining it.

To illustrate this I will relate a case. A good man - an elder in the western part of this State, had been a long time an earnest Christian, and he used to talk to the sleepy Church with which he was connected. Presently the Church grew offended and got out of patience, so that many told him they wished he would let them alone, and that they did not think he could do them any good. He took them at their word, and they all "went to sleep" together, remaining so two or three years. Then a minister came among them, and a revival commenced; but this elder seemed to have lost his spirituality. He who used to be forward in a good work now held back.

Everybody thought it unaccountable. Finally, as he was going home one night, the truth of his situation flashed upon his mind, and, for a few minutes, he went into absolute despair. At length his thoughts were directed back to that sinful resolution to let the Church alone in her sins.

He felt that no language could describe the blackness of that sin. He realized at that moment what it was to be lost, and to find that God had a controversy with him. He saw that it was a bad spirit which had led him to that weak resolution; the same that caused Moses to say: "Ye rebels" (Numbers 20:10). He humbled himself on the spot, and God poured out His Spirit on him. Perhaps some of you are just in this situation. You have said something provoking or unkind to some person. Perhaps it was peevishness to a servant who was a Christian. Or perhaps it was speaking censoriously of a minister or some other person. Perhaps you have been angry because your opinions have not been taken, or your dignity has been encroached upon. Search thoroughly, and see if you cannot find out the sin. Perhaps you have forgotten it. But God has not forgotten it, and never will forgive your unchristian conduct until you repent. God cannot overlook it. What good would it do to forgive while the sin is rankling in your heart?

7. Perhaps you have resisted the Spirit of God. Perhaps you are in the habit of resisting the Spirit. You resist conviction. In preaching, when something has been said that reached your case, your heart has risen up against it. Many are willing to hear plain and searching preaching, so long as they can apply it all to other people; a misanthropic spirit makes them take a satisfaction in hearing others searched and rebuked; but, if the truth touches them, they directly cry out that the preaching is "personal" and "abusive." Is this your case?

8. The fact is that you do not, on the whole, desire the Spirit. This is true in every case in which you do not have the Spirit. Let me not be mistaken here. I want that you should carefully discriminate. Nothing is more common than for people to desire a thing on some accounts, which they do not choose on the whole. A person may see, in a shop window, an article which he desires to purchase; accordingly he goes in and asks the price, and thinks of it a little, yet on the whole concludes not to purchase it. He desires the article, but does not like the price, or does not like to be at the expense, so that, upon the whole, he prefers not to purchase it. So, persons may on some accounts desire the Spirit of God; from a regard to the comfort and joy of heart which He brings. If you know what it is by former experience to commune with God, and how sweet it is to dissolve in penitence and to be filled with the Spirit, you cannot but desire a return of those joys. And you may set yourself to pray earnestly for it, and to pray for a revival of religion. But, on the whole, you are unwilling it should come. You have so much to do that you cannot attend to it. Or it will require so many sacrifices that you cannot bear to have it. There are some things you are not willing to give up. You find that if you wish to have the Spirit of God dwell with you, you must lead a different life; you must give up the world; you must make sacrifices; you must break off from your worldly associates, and make confession of your sins. And so, on the whole, you do not wish to have the Spirit come, unless He will consent to dwell with you and let you live as you please. But that He will never do.

9. Perhaps you do not pray for the Spirit; or you pray and use no other means, or pray and do not act consistently with your prayers. Or you use means calculated to resist them. Or you ask, and as soon as He comes and begins to affect your mind, you grieve Him right away, and will not walk with Him.

IV. THE GREAT GUILT OF NOT HAVING THE SPIRIT.

1. Your guilt is just as great as the authority of God is great, which commands you: "Be filled with the Spirit. God commands it, and it is just as much a disobedience of God's commands, as it would be to swear profanely, or steal, or commit adultery, or break the Sabbath. Think of that. And yet there are many people who do not blame themselves at all for not having the Spirit. They even think themselves quite pious Christians, because they go to prayer meetings, and partake of the sacrament, and all that, though they live year after year without the Spirit of God. Now you see that the same God who says: "Do not get drunk," says also: "Be filled with the Spirit."

You all say, if a man is a habitual murderer, or a thief, he is no Christian.

Why? Because he lives in habitual disobedience to God. So, if he swears, you have no charity for him. You will not allow him to plead that his heart is right, and that words are nothing; that God does not care anything about words. You would think it outrageous to have such a man in the Church, or to have a company of such people pretend to call themselves a Christian Church. And yet they are not a whit more absolutely living in disobedience to God than you are, who live without the spirit of prayer and without the presence of God.

2. Your guilt is equal to all the good you might do if you were possessed by the Spirit of God in as great a measure as it is your duty to be, and as you might be. You, elders of this Church, how much good might you do if you had the Spirit! And you, Sunday school teachers, how much good you might do; and you, Church members, too, if you were filled with the Spirit you might do vast good, infinite good. Well, your guilt is just as great.

Here is a blessing promised, and you can have it by doing your duty. You are entirely responsible to the Church and to God for all this good that you might do. A man is responsible for all the good he can do.

3. Your guilt is further measured by all the evil which you do in consequence of not having the Spirit. You are a dishonor to religion. You are a stumbling block to the Church, and to the world; and your guilt is enhanced by all the various influences you exert. And it will prove so in the Day of Judgment.

V. THE CONSEQUENCES OF HAVING THE SPIRIT.

1. You will be called eccentric; and probably you will deserve it. Probably you will really be eccentric. I never knew a person who was filled with the Spirit that was not called eccentric. And the reason is that such people are unlike other folk. There is therefore the best of reasons why such persons should appear eccentric. They act under different influences, take different views, are moved by different motives, led by a different spirit. You are to expect such remarks. How often I have heard the remark respecting such-and-such persons: "He is a good man - but he is rather eccentric." I have sometimes asked for the particulars; in what does his eccentricity consist? I hear the catalogue, and it amounts to this, that he is spiritual.

Make up your mind for this, to be "eccentric." There is such a thing as affected eccentricity. Horrible! But there is such a thing as being so deeply imbued with the Spirit of God that you must and will act so as to appear strange and eccentric, to those who cannot understand the reasons of your conduct.

2. If you have much of the Spirit of God, it is not unlikely you will be thought deranged, by many. We judge men to be deranged when they act differently from what we think to be according to prudence and common sense, and when they come to conclusions for which we can see no good reasons. Paul was accused of being deranged by those who did not understand the views of things under which he acted. No doubt Festus thought the man was crazy, that "much learning had made him mad." But Paul said: "I am not mad, most noble Festus" (Acts 26:24, 25). His conduct was so strange, so novel, that Festus thought it must be insanity.

But the truth simply was, he saw the subject so clearly that he threw his whole soul into it. Festus and the rest were entirely in the dark in respect to the motive by which he was actuated. This is by no means uncommon.

Multitudes have appeared, to those who had no spirituality, as if they were deranged. Yet they saw good reasons for doing as they did. God was leading their minds to act in such a way that those who were not spiritual could not see the reasons. You must make up your mind to this, and so much the more, as you live the more above the world and walk with God.

3. If you have the Spirit of God, you must expect to feel great distress in view of the condition of the Church and of the world. Some spiritual epicures ask for the Spirit because they think He will make them so perfectly happy. Some people think that spiritual Christians are always free from sorrow. There never was a greater mistake. Read your Bibles, and see how the prophets and apostles were always groaning and distressed, in view of the state of the Church and of the world. The apostle Paul says he was "always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus" (2 Corinthians 4:10). "I protest," says he, "I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31). You will know what it is to sympathize with the Lord Jesus Christ, and be baptized with the baptism that He was baptized with. Oh, how He agonized in view of the state of sinners! How He travailed in soul for their salvation! The more you have of His spirit, the more clearly will you see the state of sinners, and the more deeply you will be distressed about them. Many times you will feel as if you could not live in view of their situation; your distress will be unutterable.

4. You will be often grieved with the state of the ministry. Some years since I met a woman belonging to one of the Churches in this city. I inquired of her the state of religion here. She seemed unwilling to say much about it, made some general remarks, and then choked, and her eyes filled, and she said: "Oh, our minister's mind seems to be very dark!" Spiritual Christians often feel like this, and often weep over it. I have seen much of it, having often found Christians who wept and groaned in secret, to see the darkness in the minds of ministers in regard to religion, the earthliness, and fear of man; but they dared not speak of it lest they should be denounced and threatened, and perhaps turned out of the Church. I do not say these things censoriously, to reproach my brethren, but because they are true. And ministers ought to know that nothing is more common than for spiritual Christians to feel burdened and distressed at the state of the ministry. I would not wake up any wrong feelings towards ministers, but it is time it should be known that Christians do often get spiritual views of things, and their souls are kindled up, and then they find that their minister does not enter into their feelings, that he is far below the Standard of what he ought to be, and in spirituality is far below some of the members of his Church.

This is one of the most prominent and deeply-to-be-deplored evils of the present day. The piety of the ministry, though real, is so superficial, in many instances, that the spiritual people of the Church feel that ministers do not, cannot, sympathize with them, The preaching does not meet their wants; it does not feed them. The ministers have not depth enough of religious experience to know how to search and wake up the Church; how to help those under temptation, to support the weak, to direct the strong.

When a minister has gone with a Church as far as his experience in spiritual exercises goes, there he stops; and until he has a renewed experience, until he is reconverted, his heart broken up afresh, and he set forward in the Divine life and Christian experience, he will help them no more. He may preach sound doctrine, and so may an unconverted minister; but, after all, his preaching will want that searching pungency, that practical bearing, that unction which alone will reach the case of a spiritually minded Christian. It is a fact over which the Church is groaning, that the piety of young men suffers so much in the course of their education, that when they enter the ministry, however much intellectual furniture they may possess, they are in a state of spiritual babyhood.

They want nursing; they need rather to be fed, than to undertake to feed the Church of God.

5. If you have much of the Spirit of God, you must make up your mind to have much opposition, both in the Church and the world. Very likely the leading men in the Church will oppose you. There has always been opposition in the Church. So it was when Christ was on earth. If you are far above their state of feeling, Church members will oppose you. If any man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he must expect persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Often the elders and even the minister will oppose you, if you are filled with the Spirit of God.

6. You must expect very frequent and agonizing conflicts with Satan. Satan has very little trouble with those Christians who are not spiritual, but lukewarm, and slothful, and worldly-minded. And such do not understand what is said about spiritual conflicts. Perhaps they will smile when such things are mentioned. And so the devil lets them alone. They do not disturb him, nor he them. But spiritual Christians, he understands very well, are doing him a vast injury, and therefore he sets himself against them. Such Christians often have terrible conflicts. They have temptations that they never thought of before: blasphemous thoughts, atheism, suggestions to do deeds of wickedness, to destroy their own lives, and the like. And if you are spiritual you may expect these terrible conflicts.

7. You will have greater conflicts with yourself than you ever thought of.

You will sometimes find your own corruptions making strange headway against the Spirit. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh" (Galatians 5:17). Such a Christian is often thrown into consternation at the power of his own corruptions. One of the Commodores in the United States Navy was, as I have been told, a spiritual man; his pastor told me he had known that man lie on the floor and groan a great part of the night, in conflict with his own corruptions, and to cry to God, in agony, that He would break the power of the temptation. It seemed as if the devil was determined to ruin him, and his own heart, for the time being, was almost in league with the devil.

8. But, you will have peace with God. If the Church, and sinners, and the devil, oppose you, there will be One with whom you will have peace. Let you who are called to these trials. and conflicts. and temptations, and who groan, and pray, and weep, and break your hearts, remember this consideration: your peace, so far as your feelings towards God are concerned, will flow like a river.

9. You will likewise have peace of conscience, if you are led by the Spirit.

You will not be constantly goaded and kept on the rack by a guilty conscience. Your conscience will be calm and quiet, unruffled as the summer's lake.

10. If filled with the Spirit, you will be useful. You cannot help being useful. Even if you were sick and unable to go out of your room, or to converse, and saw nobody, you would be ten times more useful than a hundred of those common sort of Christians who have no spirituality. To give you an idea of this, I will relate an anecdote. A pious man in the western part of this State, was suffering from consumption. He was a poor man, and was ill for years. An unconverted merchant in the place, who had a kind heart, used to send him now and then some things for his comfort, or for his family. He felt grateful for the kindness, but could make no return, as he wanted to do. At length he determined that the best return he could make would be to pray for the man's salvation. So he began to pray, and his soul kindled, and he got hold of God. No revival was taking place there, but, by and by, to the astonishment of everybody, this merchant came right out on the Lord's side. The fire kindled all over the place; a powerful revival followed, and multitudes were converted.

This poor man lingered in this way for several years, and died. After his death, I visited the place, and his widow put into my hands his diary.

Among other entries was this: "I am acquainted with about thirty ministers and Churches." He then went on to set apart certain hours in the day and week to pray for each of these ministers and Churches, and also certain seasons for praying for different missionary stations. Then followed, under different dates, such facts as these: "Today I have been enabled to offer what I call the prayer of faith for the outpouring of the Spirit on - Church, and I trust in God there will soon be a revival there."

Under another date he had written: "I have today been able to offer what I call the prayer of faith for - Church, and trust there will soon be a revival there." Thus he had gone over a great number of Churches, recording the fact that he had prayed for them in faith that a revival might soon prevail among them.

Of the missionary stations, if I recollect right, he mentioned in particular one at Ceylon. I believe the last place mentioned in his diary, for which he offered the prayer of faith, was the place in which he lived. Not long after, the revival commenced, and went over the region of country, nearly, I believe, if not quite, in the order in which the places had been mentioned in his diary; and in due time news came from Ceylon that there was a revival of religion there. The revival in his own town did not commence till after his death. Its commencement was at the time when his widow put into my hands the document to which I have referred. She told me that he was so exercised in prayer during his sickness, that she often feared he would "pray himself to death." The revival was exceedingly great and powerful in all the region, and the fact that it was about to prevail had not been hidden from this servant of the Lord. According to His Word, "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him" (Psalm 25:14). Thus, this man, too feeble in body to go out of his house, was yet more useful to the world and the Church of God than all the heartless professors in the country. Standing between God and the desolations of Zion, and pouring out his heart in believing prayer, "as a prince he had power with God and with men, and prevailed" (Genesis 32:28).

11. If you are filled with the Spirit, you will not find yourselves distressed, and galled, and worried, when people speak against you. When I find people irritated and fretting at any little thing that touches them, I am sure they have not the Spirit of Christ. Jesus Christ could have everything said against Him that malice could invent, and yet not be in the least disturbed by it. If you mean to be meek under persecution, and exemplify the temper of the Savior, and honor religion in this way, you need to be filled with the Spirit.

12. You will be wise in using means for the conversion of sinners. If the Spirit of God is in you, He will lead you to use means wisely, in a way adapted to the end, and to avoid doing hurt. No man who is not filled with the Spirit of God is fit to be employed in directing the measures adopted in a revival. His hands will be "all thumbs," unable to take hold, and he will act as if he had not common sense. But a man who is led by the Spirit of God will know how to time his measures aright, and how to apportion Divine truth so as to make it tell to the best advantage.

13. You will be calm under affliction; not thrown into confusion or consternation when you see the storm coming over you. People around will be astonished at your calmness and cheerfulness under heavy trials, not knowing the inward supports of those who are filled with the Spirit.

14. You will be resigned in death; you will always feel prepared to die, and not afraid to die; and after death you will be proportionately more happy for ever in heaven.

VI. THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.

1. You will often doubt, in such a case, and reasonably so whether you are a Christian. You will have doubts, and you ought to have them, for the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God, and if you are not led by the Spirit, what reason have you to think that you are a son? You will try to make a little evidence go a great way to bolster up your hopes; but you cannot do it, unless your conscience is seared as with a hot iron. You cannot help being plunged often into painful doubt about your state (Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 13:5).

2. You will always be unsettled in your views about the prayer of faith.

The prayer of faith is something so spiritual, so much a matter of experience and not of speculation, that unless you are spiritual yourselves you will not understand it fully. You may talk a great deal about the prayer of faith, and for the time get thoroughly convinced regarding it. But you will never feel so settled on it as to retain the same position of mind concerning it, and in a little while you will be all uncertainty again. I knew a curious instance in a brother minister. He told me: "When I have the Spirit of God and enjoy His presence, I believe firmly in the prayer of faith; but when I have Him not, I find myself doubting whether there is any such thing, and my mind is full of objections." I know, from my own experience, what this is, and when I hear persons raising objections to that view of prayer which I have presented in these Lectures, I understand very well what their difficulty is, and have often found it impossible to satisfy their minds, while they are so far from God; when, at the same time, they would understand it themselves without argument, whenever they experienced it.

3. If you have not the Spirit, you will be very apt to stumble at those who have. You will doubt the propriety of their conduct. If they seem to feel a good deal more than yourself, you will be likely to call it "animal feeling."

You will perhaps doubt their sincerity when they say they have such feelings You will say: "I don't know what to make of Brother Such-a-one; he seems to be very pious, but I do not understand him, I think he has a great deal of animal feeling." Thus you will be trying to censure them, for the purpose of justifying yourself.

4. You will be had in reputation with the impenitent, and with carnal professors. They will praise you, as "a rational, orthodox, consistent Christian." You will be just in the frame of mind to walk with them, because you are agreed.

5. You will be much troubled with fears about fanaticism. Whenever there are revivals, you will see in them "a strong tendency to fanaticism," and will be full of fears and anxiety.

6. You will be much disturbed by the measures that are used in revivals. If any measures are adopted, that are decided and direct, you will think they are all "new," and will stumble at them just in proportion to your want of spirituality. You do not see their appropriateness. You will stand and cavil at the measures, because you are so blind that you cannot see their adaptedness, while all heaven is rejoicing in them as the means of saving souls.

7. You will be a reproach to religion. The impenitent will sometimes praise you because you are so much like themselves, and sometimes laugh about you because you are such a hypocrite.

8. You will know but little about the Bible.

9. If you die without the Spirit, you will fall into hell. There can be no doubt about this. Without the Spirit you will never be prepared for heaven.

REMARKS.

1. Christians are as guilty for not having the Spirit, as sinners are for not repenting.

2. They are even more so. As they have more light, they are so much the more guilty.

3. All beings have a right to complain of Christians who have not the Spirit. You are not doing work for God, and He has a right to complain. He has placed His Spirit at your disposal, and if you have not the Spirit, God has a right to look to you and to hold you responsible for all the good you might otherwise do. You are sinning against all heaven, for you ought to be adding to the happy ranks of the redeemed. Sinners, the Church, and ministers, all have a right to complain.

4. You are an obstacle in the way of the work of the Lord. It is in vain for a minister to try to work over your head. Ministers often groan and struggle, and wear themselves out in vain, trying to do good where there is a people who live so that they do not have the Spirit of God. If the Spirit is poured out at any time, the Church will grieve Him right away. Thus, you may tie the hands and break the heart of your minister, and break him down, and perhaps kill him, because you will not be filled with the Spirit.

5. You see the reason why Christians need the Spirit, and the degree of their dependence upon Him.

6. Do not tempt God by "waiting" for His Spirit, while using no means to procure His presence.

7. If you mean to have the Spirit, you must be childlike, and yield to His influences - just as yielding as air. If He is drawing you to prayer, you must quit everything to yield to His gentle strivings. No doubt you have sometimes felt a desire to pray for some object, and you have put it off and resisted, until God left you. If you wish Him to remain, you must yield to His softest leadings, watch to learn what He would have you do and yield yourself up to His guidance.

8. Christians ought to be willing to make any sacrifice to enjoy the presence of the Spirit. Said a woman in high life (a professor of religion): "I must either give up hearing such-and-such a minister [naming him] preach, or I must give up my carefree company." She gave up the preaching and stayed away. How different from another case - that of a woman in the same rank of life - who heard the same minister preach, and went home resolved to abandon her carefree and worldly manner of life. She changed her whole mode of dress, of equipage, of living, and of conversation; so that her carefree and worldly friends were soon willing to leave her to the enjoyment of communion with God, and free to spend her time in doing good.

9. You see from this, that it must be very difficult for those in fashionable life to go to heaven. What a calamity to be in such circles! Who can enjoy the presence of God in them?

10. See how crazy those are who are scrambling to get up to these circles, enlarging their houses, changing their style of living, their dress, and their furniture. It is like climbing up to the mast-head to be thrown off into the ocean. To enjoy God, you must come down, not go up there. God is not there, among all the starch and flattery of high life.

11. Many professors of religion are as ignorant of spirituality as Nicodemus was of the New Birth. They are ignorant, and I fear unconverted. If anybody talks to them about the spirit of prayer, it is all algebra to them. The case of such professors is awful. How different was the character of the apostles! Read the history of their lives, read their letters, and you will see that they were always spiritual, and walked daily with God. But now how little is there of such religion! "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8.) Set some of these professors to work in a revival, and they do not know what to do, for they have no energy, no skills and make no impression. When will professors of religion set themselves to work, filled with the Spirit? If I could see this Church filled with the Spirit, I would ask nothing more to move this whole mighty mass of minds around us. Not two weeks would pass before the revival would spread all over this city.

Lecture 8: Meetings For Prayer

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that these shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. - Matthew 18:19.

HITHERTO , in treating of the subject of PRAYER, I have confined my remarks to secret prayer. I am now to speak of social prayer, or prayer offered in company, where two or more are united in praying. Such meetings have been common from the time of Christ, and it is probable that God's people have always been in the habit of making united supplication, whenever they had the privilege. The propriety of the practice will not be questioned here. I need not dwell now on the duty of social prayer. Nor is it my design to discuss the question, whether any two Christians agreeing to ask any blessing, will be sure to obtain it. My object is to make some remarks on Meetings for Prayer, noting:

I. The design of prayer meetings.

II. The manner of conducting them.

III. Several things that will defeat the design of holding them.

I. THE DESIGNS OF PRAYER MEETINGS.

1. One design of assembling several persons together for united prayer, is to promote union among Christians. Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other's hearts in prayer. Their spirituality begets a feeling of union and confidence, highly important to the prosperity of the Church. It is doubtful whether Christians can ever be otherwise than united, if they are in the habit of really praying together. And where they have had hard feelings and differences among themselves, these are all done away by uniting in prayer. The great object is gained, if you can bring them really to unite in prayer; if this can be done, the difficulties vanish.

2. To extend the spirit of prayer. God has so constituted us, and such is the economy of His grace, that we are sympathetic beings, and communicate our feelings to one another. A minister, for instance, will often, as it were, breathe his own feelings into his congregation. The Spirit of God that inspires his soul, makes use of his feelings to influence his hearers, just as much as He makes use of the words he preaches. So He makes use of the feelings of Christians. Nothing is more calculated to beget a spirit of prayer than to unite in social prayer with one who has the spirit himself; unless this one should be so far ahead that his prayer will repel the rest. His prayer will awaken them, if they are not so far behind as to revolt at it and resist it. If they are anywhere near the standard of his feelings, his spirit will kindle, and burn, and spread all around. One individual who obtains the spirit of prayer will often arouse a whole Church, and extend the same spirit through the whole, so that a general revival follows.

3. Another grand design of social prayer, is to move God. Not that it changes the mind and feelings of God. When we speak of "moving" God, as I have said in a former Lecture, we do not mean that prayer alters the will of God. But when the right kind of prayer is offered by Christians, they are in such a state of mind that it becomes proper for God to bestow a blessing. They are then prepared to receive it, and He gives because He is always the same, and always ready and happy to show mercy. When Christians are united, and praying as they ought, God opens the windows of heaven, and pours out His blessing till there is not room to receive it (Malachi 3:10).

4. Another important design of prayer meetings is the conviction and conversion of sinners. When properly conducted, they are eminently calculated to produce this effect. Sinners are apt to be solemn when they hear Christians pray. Where there is a spirit of prayer, sinners must feel.

An ungodly man (a universalist) once said respecting a certain minister: "I can bear his preaching very well; but when he prays, I feel awfully - as if God were coming down upon me." Sinners are often convicted by hearing prayer. A young man of distinguished talents said, concerning a certain minister to whom, before his conversion, he had been very much opposed:

"As soon as he began to pray, I began to be convicted; and if he had continued to pray much longer, I should not have been able to hold myself back from Christ." Just as soon as Christians begin to pray as they ought, sinners then know that they pray, and begin to feel awfully. They do not understand what spirituality is, because they have no experience of it. But when such prayer is offered, they know there is something in it; they know God is in it, and it brings them near to God; it makes them feel awfully solemn, and they cannot bear it. And not only is it calculated to impress the minds of sinners, but when Christians pray in faith, the Spirit of God is poured out, and sinners are melted down and converted on the spot.

II. THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING PRAYER MEETINGS.

1. It is often well to open a prayer meeting by reading a short portion of the Word of God, especially if the person who takes the lead of the meeting, can call to mind any portion that will be applicable to the object or occasion, and that is impressive, and to the point. If he has no passage that is applicable, he had better not read any at all. Do not drag in the Word of God to make up part of the meeting as a mere matter of form.

This is an insult to God. It is not well to read any more than is applicable to the subject before the meeting or the occasion. Some people think it always necessary to read a whole chapter, though it may be ever so long, and have a variety of subjects. It is just as impressive and judicious to read a whole chapter as it would be for a minister to take a whole chapter for his text, when his object was to make some particular truth bear on the minds of his audience. The design of a prayer meeting should be to bring Christians to the point, to pray for a definite object. Wandering over a large field hinders and destroys this design.

2. It is proper that the person who leads should make some short and appropriate remarks, calculated to explain the nature of prayer, and the encouragements we have to pray, and to bring the object to be prayed for directly before the minds of the people.

A man can no more pray without having his thoughts concentrated than he can do anything else. The person leading should therefore see to this, by bringing up before their minds the object for which they came to pray. If they came to pray for any object, he can do this. And if they did not, they had better go home. It is of no use to stay there and mock God by pretending to pray when they have nothing on earth to pray for.

After stating the object, he should bring up some promise or some principle, as the ground of encouragement to expect an answer to their prayers. If there is any indication of Providence, or any promise, or any principle in the Divine government, that affords a ground of faith, let him call it to mind, and not let them be talking out of their own hearts at random, without knowing any solid reason for expecting an answer. One reason why prayer meetings mostly accomplish so little, is because there is so little common sense exercised about them. Instead of looking round for some solid footing on which to repose their faith, people come together and pour forth words, and neither know nor care whether they have any reason to expect an answer. If they are going to pray about anything concerning which there can be any doubt or any mistake, in regard to the ground of faith, they should be shown the reason there is for believing that their prayers will be heard and answered. It is easy to see that, unless something like this is done, three-fourths of them will have no idea of what they are doing, or of the ground on which they should expect to receive what they pray for.

3. In calling on persons to pray it is always desirable to let things take their own course, wherever it is safe. If it can be left so with safety, let those pray who are most inclined to pray. It sometimes happens that even those who are ordinarily the most spiritual, and most proper to be called on, are not, at the time, in a suitable frame; they may be cold and worldly, and only freeze the meeting. But if you let those pray who desire to pray, you avoid this. But often this cannot be done with safety, especially in large cities, where a prayer meeting might be liable to be interrupted by those who have no business to pray; some fanatic or crazy person, some hypocrite or enemy, who would only make a noise. In most places, however, the course may be taken with perfect safety. Give up the meeting to the Spirit of God. Those who desire to pray, let them pray. If the leader sees anything that needs to be set right, let him remark, freely and kindly, and put it right, and then go on again. Only he should be careful to time his remarks, so as not to interrupt the flow of feeling, or to chill the meeting, or to turn the thoughts of the people from the proper subject.

4. If it is necessary to name the individuals who are to pray, it is best to call first on those who are most spiritual; and, if you do not know who they are, then choose those whom you would naturally suppose to be most "alive." If they pray at the outset, they will be likely to spread the spirit of prayer through the meeting, and elevate the tone of the whole.

Otherwise, if you call on those who are cold and lifeless, they will be likely to diffuse a chill. The only hope of having an efficient prayer meeting is when at least a part of the Church is spiritual, and infuses its spirit into the rest. This is the very reason why it is often best to let things take their course, for then those who have the most feeling are apt to pray first, and give character to the meeting.

5. The prayers should always be very short. When individuals suffer themselves to pray long they forget that they are only the mouth of the congregation, and that the congregation cannot be expected to sympathize with them, so as to feel united in prayer, if they are long and tedious, and go all around the world, and pray for everything they can think of.

Commonly, those who pray long in a meeting do so, not because they have the spirit of prayer, but because they have not. Some men will spin out a long prayer in telling God who and what He is, or they pray out a whole system of divinity. Some preach; others exhort the people - till everybody wishes they would stop, and God wishes so, too, most undoubtedly. They should keep to the point, and pray for what they came to pray for, and not follow the imagination of their own foolish hearts all over the universe.

6. Each one should pray for someone object. It is well for every individual to have one object for prayer; two or more may pray for the same thing, or each for a separate object. If the meeting is convened to pray for some specific thing, let them all pray for that. If its object is more general, let them select their subjects, according as they feel interested. If one feels particularly disposed to pray for the Church, let him do it. If the next feels disposed to pray for the Church, he may do so, too. Perhaps the next will feel inclined to pray for sinners; let him do it, and as soon as he has got through let him stop. Whenever a man has deep feeling, he always feels on some particular point, and if he prays about that, he will speak out of the abundance of his heart, and then he will naturally stop when he is done.

7. If, in the progress of the meeting, it becomes necessary to change the object of prayer, let the leader state the fact, and explain it in a few words.

If the object is to pray for the Church, or for backsliders, or sinners, or the heathen, let him state it plainly, and then turn it over and hold it up before them, till he brings them to think and feel deeply before they pray. Then he should state to them the grounds on which they may repose their faith in regard to obtaining the blessings for which they pray, if any such statement is needed, and so lead them right up to the Throne, and let them take hold of the hand of God. This is according to the philosophy of the mind. People always do it for themselves when they pray in secret, if they really mean to pray to any purpose. And so it should be in prayer meetings.

8. It is important that the time should be fully occupied, so as not to leave long seasons of silence, which make a bad impression, and chill the meeting. I know that sometimes Churches have seasons of silent prayer.

But in those cases they should be specially requested to pray in silence, so that all may know why they are silent. This often has a most powerful effect, where a few moments are spent by a whole congregation in silence, while all lift up their thoughts to God. This is very different from having long intervals of silence because there is nobody to pray. Everyone feels that such a silence is like the cold damp of death over the meeting.

9. It is exceedingly important that he who leads the meeting should press sinners who may be present to immediate repentance. He should earnestly urge the Christians who are present, to pray in such a way as to make sinners feel that they are expected to repent immediately. This tends to inspire Christians with compassion and love for souls. The remarks made to sinners are often like pouring fire upon the hearts of Christians, to awaken them to prayer and effort for the conversion of the unsaved. Let them see and feel the guilt and danger of sinners right among them, and then they will pray.

III. THINGS WHICH MAY DEFEAT THE PRAYER MEETING.

1. When there is an unhappy want of confidence in the leader, there is no hope of any good. Whatever may be the cause, whether he is to blame or not, the very fact that he leads the meeting will cast a damp over it, and prevent all good. I have witnessed it in Churches, where there was some offensive elder or deacon (perhaps justly deemed offensive; perhaps not) set to lead, and the meeting would die under his influence. If there is a want of confidence in regard to his piety, or in his ability, or in his judgment, or in anything connected with the meeting, everything he says or does will fall to the ground. The same thing often takes place where the Church has lost confidence in the minister.

2. Where the leader lacks spirituality, there will be a dryness and coldness in his remarks and prayers; everything will indicate his want of unction, and his whole influence will be the very reverse of what it ought to be. I have known Churches where a prayer meeting could not be sustained, and the reason was not obvious, but those who understood the state of things knew that the leader was so notorious for his want of spirituality that he would inevitably freeze a prayer meeting to death. In many Churches the elders are so far from being spiritual men that they always freeze a prayer meeting. And at the same time they are often amazingly jealous for their dignity, and cannot bear to have anybody else lead the meeting. If any member that is spiritual takes the lead, they will take him to task for it, saying: "Why, you are not an elder; you ought not to lead a prayer meeting in the presence of an elder!" And thus they stand in the way, while the whole Church is suffering under their blighting influence.

A man who knows he is not in a spiritual frame of mind has no business to conduct a prayer meeting - he will kill it. There are two reasons. First, he will have no spiritual discernment, and will know neither what to do, nor when to do it. A person who is spiritual can see the movements of Providence, and can feel the Spirit of God, and understand what He is leading them to pray for, so as to time his subjects, and take advantage of the state of feeling among Christians. He will not overthrow all the feeling in a meeting by introducing things that are incongruous or ill-timed. He has spiritual discernment to understand the leadings of the Spirit, and His workings on those who pray; and to follow on as the Spirit leads. Suppose an individual leads who is not spiritual, that there are two or three prayers, and the spirit of prayer arises, but the leader, having no spiritual discernment to see it, makes some remarks on another point, or reads a piece out of some book that is as far from the feeling of the meeting as the North Pole! What they are called to pray for may be just as evident to the praying people present as if the Son of God Himself had come into the meeting and named the subject; but the leader will overthrow it all, because he is so stupid that he does not know the indications of the meeting.

And then, if the leader is not spiritual, he will very likely be dull and dry in his remarks, and in all his exercises. He will give out a long hymn in a dreamy manner, and then read a long passage of Scripture, in a tone so cold that he will spread a wintry pall over the meeting, and it will be dull, as long as his cold heart is placed in front of the whole thing.

3. A want of suitable talents in the leader. If he is wanting in the talents which are fitted to make a meeting useful, if he can say nothing, or if his remarks are so out of the way as to produce levity or contempt, or if they have nothing in them that will impress the mind, or are not guided by good sense, or are not appropriate, he will injure the meeting. A man may be pious, but so weak that his prayers do not edify, but rather disgust. When this is so, he had better keep silence.

4. Sometimes the benefit of a prayer meeting is defeated by a bad Spirit in the leader. For instance, where there is a revival, and great opposition, if a leader gets up in a prayer meeting and speaks of instances of opposition, and comments upon them, and thus diverts the meeting away from the object, he knows not what spirit he is of. Its effect is always ruinous to a prayer meeting. Let a minister in a revival come out and preach against the opposition, and he will infallibly destroy the revival, and turn the hearts of Christians away from their proper object. Let the man who is set to lead the Church be careful to guard his own spirit, lest he should mislead the Church, and diffuse a wrong temper. The same will be true, if any one who is called upon to speak or pray, introduces in his remarks or prayers anything controversial, impertinent, unreasonable, unscriptural, ridiculous, or irrelevant. Any of these things will quench the tender breathings of the spirit of prayer, and destroy the meeting.

5. Persons coming late to the meeting. This is a very great hindrance. When people have begun to pray, and their attention is fixed, and they have shut their eyes and closed their ears, to keep out everything from their minds, in the midst of a prayer somebody will come bolting in and walk through the room. Some will look up, and all have their minds interrupted for the moment. Then they all get fixed again, and another comes in, and so on. I suppose the devil would not care how many Christians went to a prayer meeting, if they would only go after the meeting had begun. He would be glad to have ever so many go "scattering along" in such a way, dodging in very piously and distractingly.

6. When persons make cold prayers and cold confessions of sin, they are sure to quench the spirit of prayer. When the influences of the Spirit are enjoyed, in the midst of the warm expressions that are flowing forth, let an individual come in who is cold, and pour out his cold breath like the damp of death, and it will make every Christian who has any feeling want to get out of the meeting.

7. In some places it is common to begin a prayer meeting by reading a tong portion of Scripture. Then the deacon or elder gives out a long hymn. Next, they sing it. Then he prays a long prayer, praying for the Jews, and the fullness of the Gentiles, and many other objects that have nothing to do with the occasion of the meeting. After that perhaps he reads a long extract from some book or magazine. Then they have another long hymn and another long prayer, and then they go home.

I once heard an elder say that a Church had kept up a prayer meeting so many years, and yet had experienced no revival. The truth was, that the officers of the Church had been accustomed to carry on the meetings in just such a dignified way, and their dignity would not allow anything to be altered. No wonder there was no revival! Such prayer meetings are enough to hinder a revival. And if ever so many revivals should commence, the prayer meeting would destroy them. There was a prayer meeting once in this city, as I have been told, where there appeared to be some feeling, and some one every reasonably proposed that they should have two or three prayers in succession, without rising from their knees. One dignified man present opposed it, and said that they never had done so, and he hoped there would be no innovations! He did not approve of innovations. That was the last of the revival! Such persons have their prayer meetings stereotyped, and are determined not to turn out of their track, whether they receive blessing or not. To allow any such thing would be "a new measure," and they never like "new measures"!

8. A great deal of singing often injures a prayer meeting. The agonizing spirit of prayer does not lead people to sing. There is a time for everything; a time to sing, and a time to pray. But if I know what it is to travail in birth for souls, Christians never feel less like singing than when they have the spirit of prayer for sinners.

When singing is introduced in a prayer meeting, the hymns should be short, and so selected as to bring out something solemn; some striking words, such as the Judgment Hymn, and others calculated to produce an effect on sinners; or something that will produce a deep impression on the minds of Christians; but not that joyful kind of singing that makes everybody feel comfortable, and turns off the mind from the object of the prayer meeting.

I once heard a celebrated organist produce a remarkable effect in a protracted meeting. The organ was a powerful one, and the double bass pipes were like unto thunder. The hymn was given out that had these lines:

See the storm of vengeance gathering over the path you dare to tread; Hear the awful thunder rolling, Loud and louder over your head.

When he came to these words, we first heard the distant roar of thunder; then it grew nearer and louder, till at the word "louder," there was a crash that seemed almost to overpower the congregation. Such things in their proper place do good. But common singing dissipates feeling. It should always be such as will not take away feeling, but deepen it.

Often a prayer meeting is injured by calling on the young converts to sing joyful hymns. This is highly improper in a prayer meeting. It is no time for them to let feeling flow away in joyful singing, while so many sinners around them, and their own former companions, are going down to hell. A revival is often put down by the Church and the minister giving themselves up to singing with young converts. Thus, by stopping to rejoice when they ought to feel more and more deeply for sinners, they grieve away the Spirit of God, and they soon find that their agony and travail of soul are gone.

9. Introducing subjects of controversy into prayer will defeat a prayer meeting. Nothing of a controversial nature should be introduced into prayer, unless it is the object of the meeting to settle that thing.

Otherwise, let Christians come together in their prayer meetings, on the broad ground of offering united prayer for a common object. And let controversies be settled somewhere else.

10. Great pains should be taken, both by the leader and others, to watch narrowly the leadings of the Spirit of God. Let them not quench the Spirit for the sake of praying according to the regular custom. Avoid everything calculated to divert attention away from the object. All affectation of feeling should be particularly guarded against. If there is an affectation of feeling, most commonly others see and feel that it is affectation, not reality. At any rate, the Spirit of God knows it, and will be grieved. On the other hand, all resistance to the Spirit will equally destroy the meeting.

Not infrequently it happens that there are some so cold that if anyone should break out in the spirit of prayer, they would call it fanaticism, and perhaps display opposition.

11. If individuals refuse to pray when they are called upon, it injures a prayer meeting. There are some people who always pretend they have no gift. Women sometimes refuse to take their turn in prayer, and pretend they have not ability to pray. But if anyone else should say so, they would be offended! Suppose they should learn that any other person had made such a remark as this: "Do not ask her to pray, she cannot pray, she has not talent enough": would they like it? So with a man who pretends he has no gift; let anyone else report that "he has not talent enough to make a decent prayer," and see if he will like it. The pretense is not sincere; it is all a sham.

Some say they cannot pray in their families; they have no gift. But a person could not offend one of them more than to say: "He cannot pray a decent prayer before his own family." The retort would be: "Why, So-and-so talks as if he thought nobody else had any gifts but himself."

People are not apt to have such a low opinion of themselves. I have often seen the curse of God follow such professors. They have no excuse. God will take none. The man has got a tongue to talk to his neighbors, and he can talk to God if he has any heart for it. You will see their children unconverted: their son has a curse; their daughter - tongue cannot tell.

God says He will pour out His fury on the families that call not on His name. I could mention a host of facts to show that God MARKS with His disapprobation and curse those who refuse to pray when they ought.

Until professors of religion will repent of this sin, and take up this cross (if they choose to call praying "a cross"), they need not expect a blessing.

12. Prayer meetings are often too long. They should always be dismissed while Christians have feeling, and not be spun out until all feeling is exhausted, and the spirit of prayer is gone.

13. Heartless confessions injure a meeting. People confess their sins but do not forsake them. Every week they will make the same confession. Why, they have no intention to forsake their sins! It shows plainly that they do not mean to reform. All their religion consists in these confessions. Instead of getting a blessing from God thereby they will get only a curse.

14. Injury is also done when Christians spend all the time in praying for themselves. They should have done this in their own homes. When they come to a prayer meeting, they should be prepared to offer effectual intercessions for others. If Christians pray at home as they ought, they will feel like praying for sinners. If, however, their private prayers are exclusively for themselves, they will not get the spirit of prayer. I have known men shut themselves up for days to pray for themselves, and never get any life, because their prayers were all selfish. But if such people will just forget themselves, and throw their hearts abroad, and pray for others, it will wake up such a feeling, that they will be able to pour forth their hearts in prayer. And then they can go to work for souls. I knew an individual in a revival, who shut himself up seventeen days, and prayed as if he would have God come to his terms; but it would not do, and therefore he went out to work, and immediately he had the Spirit of God in his soul.

It is well for Christians to pray for themselves, and confess their sins, and then throw their hearts abroad, till they feel as they ought.

15. Prayer meetings are often defeated by the want of appropriate remarks. The things are not said which are calculated to lead them to pray.

Perhaps the leader has not prepared himself; or perhaps he has not the requisite talents to lead the Church out in prayer, or he does not lead their minds to dwell on the appropriate topics of prayer.

16. It is a hindrance, when individuals who are justly obnoxious are forward in speaking and praying. Such persons are sometimes very much set upon taking part. They say it is their duty to get up and testify for God on all occasions. They will say, they know they are not able to edify the Church, but nobody else can do their duty, and they wish to testify.

Perhaps the only place they ever did testify for God was in a prayer meeting; their lives, out of the meeting, testify against God. They had better keep still.

17. When persons take part whose illiteracy is so pronounced as to cause disgust among people of taste and intelligence, attention is diverted. I do not mean to imply that it is necessary that a person should have a liberal education, in order to lead in prayer. All persons of common education, especially if they are in the habit of praying, can lead in prayer, if they have the spirit of prayer. But there are some persons who use expressions so absurd and illiterate as to disgust every intelligent mind. The feeling of disgust is an involuntary thing, and when a disgusting object is before the mind, the feeling is irresistible. Piety will not keep a person from feeling it. The only way is to take away the object. Such persons may feel grieved at not being called upon to take part, but it is better that they should be kindly told the reason, than that the prayer meeting should be regularly injured, and rendered ridiculous.

18. A want of union in prayer mars the meeting; that is, when one leads, but the others do not follow, for they are thinking of something else. Their hearts do not unite, do not say: "Amen." It is as bad as if one person should make a petition and another remonstrate against it. It is as though one asks God to do a thing, and the others ask Him not to do it, or to do something else.

19. Neglect of secret prayer is yet another hindrance. Christians who do not pray in secret cannot unite with power in a prayer meeting, and cannot have the spirit of prayer.

REMARKS.

1. A badly conducted prayer meeting often does more hurt than good. In many Churches, the general manner of conducting prayer meetings is such that Christians have not the least idea of the design or the power of such meetings. It is such as tends to keep down rather than to promote pious feeling and the spirit of prayer.

2. A prayer meeting is an index to the state of religion in a Church. If the prayer meeting is neglected, or the spirit of prayer is not manifested, you know of course that religion is in a low condition. Let me go into the prayer meeting, and I can always see the state of religion which prevails in the Church.

3. Every minister ought to know that if the prayer meetings are neglected, all his labors are in vain. unless he can get Christians to attend the prayer meetings, all else that he can do will not improve the state of religion.

4. A great responsibility rests on him who leads a prayer meeting. If the meeting be not what it ought to be, if it does not elevate the state of religion, he should go seriously to work and see what is the matter, and get the spirit of prayer, and prepare himself to make such remarks as are calculated to do good and set things right. A leader has no business to lead prayer meetings, if he is not prepared, both in head and heart, to do this.

5. Prayer meetings are the most difficult meetings to sustain - as, indeed, they ought to be. They are so spiritual that unless the leader be peculiarly prepared, both in heart and mind, they will dwindle. It is in vain for the leader to complain that members of the Church do not attend. In nine cases out of ten it is the leader's fault that they do not attend. If he felt as he ought, they would find the meeting so interesting that they would attend as a matter of course. If he is so cold, and dull, and lacking in spirituality, as to freeze everything, no wonder people do not come to the meeting.

Church officers often complain and scold because people do not come to the prayer meeting, when the truth is, they themselves are so cold that they freeze to death everybody who does come.

6. Prayer meetings are most important meetings for the Church. It is highly important for Christians to sustain the prayer meetings, in order to

(a) promote union, (b) increase brotherly love, (c) cultivate Christian confidence, (d) promote their own growth in grace, and (e) cherish and advance spirituality.

7. Prayer meetings should be so numerous in the Church, and be so arranged, as to exercise the gifts of every member - man or woman. Everyone should have the opportunity to pray, and to express the feelings of his heart. The sectional prayer meetings are designed to do this. And if they are too large to allow of it, let them be divided, so as to bring the entire mass into the work, to exercise all gifts, and diffuse union, confidence, and brotherly love, through the whole.

8. It is important that impenitent sinners should attend prayer meetings. If none come of their own accord, go out and invite them. Christians ought to take great pains to induce their impenitent friends and neighbors to come to prayer meetings. They can pray better for impenitent sinners when they have them right before their eyes. I have known women's prayer meetings exclude sinners from the meetings. And the reason was, they were so proud that they were ashamed to pray before sinners. What a spirit! Such prayers will do no good. They insult God. You have not done enough, by any means, when you have gone to the prayer meeting yourself. You cannot pray if you have invited no sinner to go. If all the members have neglected their duty so, and have gone to the prayer meeting, and taken no sinners along with them, no subjects of prayer - what have they come for?

9. The great object of all the means of grace is to aim directly at the conversion of sinners. You should pray that they may be converted there.

Do not pray that they may be merely awakened and convicted, but that they may be converted on the spot. No one should either pray or make any remarks, as if he expected a single sinner would go away without giving his heart to God. You should all make the impression on his mind, that NOW he must submit. And if you do this, while you are yet speaking God will hear.

If Christians made it manifest that they had really set their hearts on the conversion of sinners, and were bent upon it, and prayed as they ought, there would rarely be a prayer meeting held without souls being converted; and sometimes every sinner in the room. That is the very time, if ever, that sinners should be converted in answer to those prayers. I do not doubt but that you may have sinners converted in every sectional prayer meeting, if you do your duty. Take them there, take your families, your friends, or your neighbors there with that design; give them the proper instruction, if they need instruction, and pray for them as you ought, and you will save their souls. Rely upon it, if you do your duty, in a right manner, God will not keep back His blessing, but the work will be done.

Lecture 9: Means To Be Used With Sinners

Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen . - Isaiah. 43:10.

I the text it is affirmed of the children of God, that they are His witnesses. In several preceding Lectures I have been dwelling on the subject of prayer, or on that department of means for the promotion of a revival, which is intended to move God to pour out His Spirit. I am now to commence the other department, dealing with the means to be used for the conviction and conversion of sinners.

It is true, in general, that persons are affected by the subject of religion in proportion to their conviction of its truth. Inattention to religion is the great reason why so little is felt concerning it. No being can look at the great truths of religion, as truths, and not feel deeply concerning them. The devil cannot. He believes and trembles. Angels in heaven feel, in view of these things. God feels! An intellectual conviction of truth is always accompanied with feeling of some kind.

One grand design of God in leaving Christians in the world after their conversion is that they may be witnesses for God. It is that they may call the attention of the thoughtless multitude to the subject, and make them see the difference in the character and destiny of those who believe the Gospel and those who reject it. This inattention is the grand difficulty in the way of promoting religion. And what the Spirit of God does is to awaken the attention of men to the subject of their sin and the plan of salvation. Miracles have sometimes been employed to arrest the attention of sinners, and in this way miracles may become instrumental in conversion - although conversion is not itself a miracle, nor do miracles themselves ever convert anybody. They may be the means of awakening.

Miracles are not always effectual even in that. And if continued or made common, they would soon lose their power. What is wanted in the world is something that can be a sort of omnipresent miracle, able not only to arrest attention but to fix it, and keep the mind in warm contact with the truth, till it yields.

Hence we see why God has scattered His children everywhere, in families and among the nations. He never would suffer them to be altogether in one place, however agreeable it might be to their feelings. He wishes them scattered. When the Church at Jerusalem herded together, neglecting to go forth as Christ had commanded, to spread the Gospel all over the world, God let loose a persecution upon them and scattered them abroad, and then they "went everywhere preaching the Word" (Acts 8:4).

In examining the text, I purpose to inquire:

I. On what particular points Christians are to testify for God.

II. The manner in which they are to testify.

I. ON WHAT POINTS ARE CHRISTIANS TO TESTIFY?

Generally, they are to testify to the truth of the Bible. They are competent witnesses to this, for they have experience of its truth. The experimental Christian has no more need of external evidence to prove the truth of the Bible to his mind, than he has to prove his own existence. The whole plan of salvation is so fully spread out and settled in his conviction, that to undertake to reason him out of his belief in the Bible would be a thing as impracticable as to reason him out of the belief in his own existence. Men have tried to awaken a doubt of the existence of the material world, but they cannot succeed. No man can doubt the existence of the material world. To doubt it is against his own consciousness. You may use arguments that he cannot answer, and may puzzle and perplex him, and shut his mouth; he may be no logician or philosopher, and may not be able to detect your fallacies. But, what he knows, he knows.

So it is in religion. The Christian is conscious that the Bible is true. The veriest child in religion knows by his experience the truth of the Bible. He may hear objections from infidels, that he never thought of, and that he cannot answer, and he may be confounded; but he cannot be driven from his ground. He will say: "I cannot answer you, but I know the Bible is true." It is as if a man should look in a mirror, and say: "That is my face."

The question is put to him: "How do you know it is your face?" "Why," he replies, "by its looks." So when a Christian sees himself drawn and pictured forth in the Bible, he sees the likeness to be so exact, that he knows it is true.

More particularly, Christians are to testify to:

1. The immortality of the soul. This is clearly revealed in the Bible.

2. The vanity and unsatisfying nature of all earthly good.

3. The satisfying nature and glorious sufficiency of religion.

4. The guilt and danger of sinners. On this point they can speak from experience as well as from the Word of God. They have seen their own sins, and they understand more of the nature of sin, and the guilt and danger of sinners.

5. The reality of hell, as a place of eternal punishment for the wicked.

6. The love of Christ for sinners.

7. The necessity of a holy life, if we think of ever getting to heaven.

8. The necessity of self-denial, and of living above the world.

9. The necessity of meekness, heavenly mindedness, humility, and integrity.

10. The necessity of an entire renovation of character and life, for all who would enter heaven.

These are the subjects on which they are to be witnesses for God. And they are bound to testify in such a way as to constrain men to believe the truth.

II. HOW ARE THEY TO TESTIFY?

By precept and example. On every proper occasion by their lips, but mainly by their lives. Christians have no right to be silent with their lips; they should "reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine"

(2 Timothy 4:2). But their main influence as witnesses is by their example.

They are required to be witnesses in this way, because example teaches with so much greater force than precept. This is universally known.

"Actions speak louder than words." But where both precept and example are brought to bear, the greatest amount of influence is brought to bear upon the mind. As to the manner in which they are to testify; the way in which they should bear witness to the truth of the points specified; in general - they should live in their daily walk and conversation, as if they believed the Bible.

1. As if they believed the soul to be immortal, and as if they believed that death was not the termination of their existence, but the entrance into an unchanging state. They ought to live so as to make this impression upon all around them. It is easy to see that precept without example will do no good. All the arguments in the world will not convince mankind that you really believe this, unless you live as if you believe it. Your reasoning may be unanswerable, but if you do not live accordingly, your practice will defeat your arguments. They will say you are an ingenious sophist, or an acute reasoner, and perhaps admit that they cannot answer you; but then they will say: it is evident that your reasoning is all false, and that you know it is all false, because your life contradicts your theory. Or they will say that, if it is true, you do not believe it, at any rate. And so all the influence of your testimony goes to the other side.

2. Against the vanity and unsatisfying nature of the things of this world.

The failure to testify in this is the great stumbling block in the way of mankind. Here the testimony of God's children is needed more than anywhere else. Men are so struck with the objects of sense, and so constantly occupied with them, that they are very apt to shut out eternity from their minds. A small object that is held close to the eye, may shut out the distant ocean. So the things of the world, that are near, appear so magnified in their minds, that they overlook everything else. One important design in keeping Christians in the world is, to teach people on this point, practically. But suppose professors of religion teach the vanity of earthly things by precept, and contradict it in practice? Suppose the women are just as fond of dress, and just as particular in observing all the fashions, and the men as eager to have fine houses and equipages, as the people of the world; who does not see that it would be quite ridiculous for them to testify with their lips, that this world is all vanity, and its joys unsatisfying and empty? People feel the absurdity, and this shuts up the lips of Christians. They are ashamed to speak to their neighbors, while they cumber themselves with these gewgaws, because their daily conduct testifies, to everybody, the very reverse. How it would look for certain Church members, men or women, to go about among the common people, and talk to them about the vanity of the world! Who would believe what they said?

3. To the satisfying nature of religion. Christians are bound to show, by their conduct, that they are actually satisfied with the enjoyments of religion, without the pomps and vanities of the world; that the joys of religion and communion with God keep them above the world. They are to manifest that this world is not their home. Their profession is, that heaven is a reality and that they expect to dwell there for ever. But suppose they contradict this by their conduct, and live in such a way as to prove that they cannot be happy unless they have a full share of the fashion and show of the world; and that as for going to heaven, they would much rather remain on earth than die and go there! What does the world think, when it sees a professor of religion just as much afraid to die as an infidel?

Such Christians perjure themselves - they swear to a lie, since their testimony amounts to this, that there is nothing in religion for which a person can afford to live above the world.

4. Regarding the guilt and danger of sinners. Christians are bound to warn sinners of their awful condition, and exhort them to flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on everlasting life. But who does not know that the manner of doing this is everything? Sinners are often struck under conviction by the very manner of doing a thing. There was a man once very much opposed to a certain preacher. On being asked to specify some reason, he replied: "I cannot bear to hear him, for he says the word 'HELL' in such a way that it rings in my ears for a long time afterwards."

He was displeased with the very thing that constituted the power of speaking that word. The manner may be such as to convey an idea directly opposite to the meaning of the words. A man may tell you that your house is on fire in such a way as to make directly the opposite impression, and you will take it for granted that it is not your house that is on fire. The watchman might cry out: "Fire! fire!" in such a way that everybody would think he was either drunk or talking in his sleep.

Go to a sinner, and talk with him about his guilt and danger; and if in your manner you make an impression that does not correspond, you in effect bear testimony the other way, and tell him he is in no danger. If the sinner believes at all that he is in danger of hell, it is wholly on other grounds than your saying so. If you live in such a way as to show that you do not feel compassion for sinners around you; if you show no tenderness, by your eyes, your features, your voice; if your manner is not solemn and earnest, how can they believe you are sincere?

Woman, suppose you tell your unconverted husband, in an easy, laughing way: "My dear, I believe you are going to hell"; will he believe you? If your life is carefree and trifling, you show that you either do not believe there is a hell, or that you wish to have him go there, and are trying to keep off every serious impression from his mind. Have you children that are unconverted? Suppose you never say anything to them about religion, or when you talk to them it is in a cold, hard, dry way, conveying the impression that you have no feeling in the matter; do you suppose they believe you? They do not see the same coldness in you in regard to other things. They are in the habit of seeing all the mother in your eye, and in the tones of your voice, your emphasis, and the like, and feeling the warmth of a mother's heart as it flows out from your lips on all that concerns them. If, then, when you talk to them on the subject of religion, you are cold and trifling, can they suppose that you believe it? If your deportment holds up before your child this careless, heartless, prayer less spirit, and then you talk to him about the importance of religion, the child will go away and laugh, to think you should try to persuade him there is a hell.

5. To the love of Christ. You are to bear witness to the reality of the love of Christ, by the regard you show for His precepts, His honor, His kingdom. You should act as if you believed that He died for the sins of the whole world, and as if you blamed sinners for rejecting His great salvation.

This is the only legitimate way in which you can impress sinners with the love of Christ. Christians, instead of this, often live so as to make the impression on sinners that Christ is so compassionate that they have very little to fear from Him. I have been amazed to see how a certain class of professors want ministers to be always preaching about the love of Christ.

If a minister urges Christians to be holy, and to labor for Christ, they call it "legal" preaching. They say they want to hear the Gospel. Well, suppose you present the love of Christ. How will they bear testimony in their lives? How will they show that they believe it? Why, by conformity to the world they will testify, point-blank, that they do not believe a word of it, and that they care nothing at all for the love of Christ, only to have it for a cloak, that they can talk about it, and so cover up their sins. They have no sympathy with His compassion, and no belief in it as a reality, and no concern for the feelings of Christ, which fill His mind when He sees the condition of sinners.

6. To the necessity of holiness in order to enter heaven. It will not do to depend on talking about this. They must live holy. The idea has so long prevailed that we "cannot be perfect here," that many professors do not so much as seriously aim at a sinless life. They cannot honestly say that they even so much as really meant to live without sin. They drift along before the tide, in a loose, sinful, unhappy, and abominable manner, at which, doubtless, the devil laughs, because it is, of all others, the surest way to hell.

7. To the necessity of self-denial, humility, and heavenly-mindedness.

Christians ought to show, by their own example, what the religious walk is which is expected of men. That is the most powerful preaching, after all, and the most likely to have influence on the impenitent, which shows them the great difference between themselves and Christians. Many people seem to think they can make men fall in with religion best by bringing religion down to their standard. As if the nearer you bring religion to the world, the more likely the world will be to embrace it. Now all this is as wide as the poles are asunder from the true philosophy about making Christians. But it is always the policy of carnal professors. And they think they are displaying wonderful sagacity, and prudence, by taking so much pains not to scare people at the mighty strictness and holiness of the Gospel. They argue that if you exhibit religion to mankind as requiring such a great change in their manner of life, such innovations upon their habits, such a separation from their old associates, why, you will drive them all away. This seems plausible at first sight. But it is not true. Let professors live in this lax and easy way, and sinners say: "Why, I do not see but I am about right, or at least so near right that it is impossible God should send me to hell only for the difference between me and these professors. It is true, they do a little more than I do; they go to the Communion table, and pray in their families, and a few suchlike little things, but these details cannot make any such great difference as between heaven and hell." No, the true way is, to exhibit religion and the world in strong contrast, or you can never make sinners feel the necessity of a change. Until the necessity of this fundamental change is embodied and held forth in strong light, by example, how can you make men believe they are going to be sent to hell if they are not wholly transformed in heart and life?

This is not only true in philosophy, but it has been proved by the history of the world. Now, I was reading a letter from a missionary in the East, who writes to this effect: that "a missionary must be able to rank with the English nobility, and so recommend his religion to the respect of the natives." He must get away up above them, so as to show a superiority, and thus impress them with respect! Is this the way to convert the world?

You can no more convert the world in this way than by blowing a ram's horn. What did the Jesuits do? They went about among the people in the daily practice of self-denial, teaching, and preaching, and praying, and laboring; mingling with every caste and grade, and bringing down their instructions to the capacity of every individual. In that way their religion spread over the vast empire of Japan. I am not saying anything in regard to the religion they taught. I speak only of their following the true policy of missions, by showing, by their lives, a wide contrast with a worldly spirit.

If Christians attempt to accommodate religion to the worldliness of men, they render the salvation of the world impossible. How can you make people believe that self-denial and separation from the world are necessary, unless you practice them?

8. Again, they are to testify by meekness, humility, and heavenly-mindedness. The people of God should always show a temper like the Son of God, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again. If a professor of religion is irritable, ready to resent an injury, to fly in a passion, and to take the same measures as the world does to get redress, by going to law and the like - how is he to make people believe there is any reality in a change of heart! He cannot recommend religion while he has such a spirit.

If you are in the habit of resenting injurious conduct; if you do not bear it meekly, and put the best construction upon it, you contradict the Gospel.

Some people always show a bad spirit, ever ready to put the worst construction upon what is done, and to take fire at any little thing. This shows a great want of that charity which "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7). But if a man always shows meekness under injuries, it will confound gainsaying.

Nothing makes so solemn an impression upon sinners, and bears down with such tremendous weight on their consciences, as to see a Christian, truly Christ-like, bearing affronts and injuries with the meekness of a lamb.

It cuts like a two-edged sword.

I will mention a case to illustrate this. A young man abused a minister to his face, and reviled him in an unprecedented manner. The minister possessed his soul in patience, and spoke mildly in reply, telling him the truth pointedly, but yet in a very kind manner. This only made him the more angry, and at length he went away in a rage, declaring that he was "not going to stay and bear this vituperation," as if it were the minister, instead of himself, that had been scolding. The sinner went away, but with the arrows of the Almighty in his heart; and in less than half an hour he followed the minister to his lodgings in intolerable agony, wept, begged forgiveness, and broke down before God, and yielded up his heart to Christ. This calm and mild manner was more overwhelming to him than a thousand arguments. Now, if that minister had been thrown off his guard, and answered harshly, no doubt he would have ruined the soul of that young man. How many of you have defeated every future effort you may make with your impenitent friends or neighbors, in some such way as this? On some occasion you have shown yourself so irascible that you have sealed up your own lips, and laid a stumbling block over which that sinner will stumble into hell. If you have done it in any instance, do not sleep till you have done all you can to retrieve the mischief.

9. Finally, they are to testify to the necessity for entire honesty in a Christian. Oh, what a field opens here for remark! It extends to all the departments of life. Christians need to show the strictest regard to integrity in every department of business, and in all their fellowship with their fellow men. If every Christian would pay a scrupulous regard to honesty, and always be conscientious to do exactly right, it would make a powerful impression, on the minds of people, of the reality of religious principle.

A lady was once buying some eggs in a store, and the clerk made a miscount and gave her one more than the number. She saw it at the time, but said nothing, and after she got home it troubled her. Feeling that she had acted wrongly, she went back to the young man and confessed it, and paid the difference. The impression of her conscientious integrity went to his heart like a sword. It was a great sin in her in concealing the miscount, because the temptation was so small; for if she would cheat him out of an egg, it showed that she would cheat him out of his whole store, if she could do it without being found out. But her prompt and humble confession showed an honest conscience.

I am happy to say, there are some men who conduct their business on this principle of integrity. The wicked hate them for it, railing against them, and vociferating in barrooms that they will never buy goods of such-and-such individuals; that such a hypocrite shall never touch a dollar of their money, and all that; and then they will go right away and buy of them, because they know they will be honestly dealt with. Suppose that all Christians could be equally trusted: what would be the consequence?

Christians would run away with the business of the city. The Christians would soon do the business of the world. The great argument which some professed Christians urge, that if they do not do business upon the common principle, of stating one price and taking another, they cannot compete with men of the world, is all false - false in philosophy, false in history. Only make it your invariable rule to do right, and do business upon principle, and you control the market. The ungodly will be obliged to conform to your standard. It is perfectly in the power of Christians to regulate the commerce of the world, if they will only themselves maintain perfect integrity.

Again, if Christians will do the same in politics they will sway the destinies of nations, without involving themselves at all in the base and corrupting strife of parties. Only let Christians generally determine to vote for no man who is not an honest man, and a man of pure morals; only let it be known that Christians are united in this, whatever may be their difference in political sentiments, and no man would be put up for election who was not such a character. In three years it would be talked about in taverns, and published in newspapers, when any man set up as a candidate for office: "What a good man he is - how moral - how pious!" and the like. And any political party would no more set up a known Sabbath-breaker, or a gambler, or a profane swearer, or a rum-seller, as their candidate for office, than they would set up the devil himself for President of the United States. The carnal policy of many professors, who undertake to correct politics by such means as wicked men employ, and who are determined to vote with a party, let the candidate be ever so profligate, is all wrong - wrong in principle, contrary to philosophy and common sense, and ruinous to the best interests of mankind. The dishonesty of the Church is cursing the world. I am not going to preach a political sermon; but I want to show you that if you mean to impress men favorably to your religion by your lives, you must be honest, strictly honest, in business, politics, and everything you do. What do you suppose those ungodly politicians, who know themselves to be playing a dishonest game in carrying an election, think of your religion, when they see you uniting with them? They know you are a hypocrite!

REMARKS.

1. It is unreasonable for professors of religion to wonder at the thoughtlessness of sinners. Everything considered, the carelessness of sinners is not wonderful. We are affected by testimony, and only by that testimony which is received by our minds. Sinners are so taken up with business, pleasure, and the things of the world, that they will not examine the Bible to find what religion is. Their feelings are excited only on worldly subjects, because these only are brought into warm contact with their minds. The things of the world make, therefore, a strong impression. But there is so little to make an impression on their minds in respect to eternity, and to bring religion home to them, that they do not feel on the subject. If they examined the subject, they would feel. But they do not examine it, nor think upon it, nor care for it. And they never will, unless God's witnesses rise up and testify. But inasmuch as the great body of Christians so live, as, by their conduct, to testify on the other side, how can we expect that sinners will feel rightly upon the subject? Nearly all the testimony and all the influence that comes to their minds tends to make them feel the other way. God has left His cause here before the human race, and left His witnesses to testify in His behalf; and, behold, they turn round and testify the other way! Is it any wonder that sinners are careless?

2. We see why it is that preaching does so little good; and how it is that so many sinners get Gospel-hardened. Sinners that live under the Gospel are often supposed to be Gospel-hardened; but only let the Church wake up and act consistently, and they will feel. If the Church were to live one week as if they believed the Bible, sinners would melt down before them.

Suppose I were a lawyer, and should go into court and spread out my client's case. The issue is joined; I make my statements, tell what I expect to prove, and then call my witnesses. The first witness takes his oath, and then rises up and contradicts me to my face. What good will all my pleading do? I might address the jury for a month, and be as eloquent as Cicero; but so long as my witnesses contradict me, all my pleading will do no good. Just so it is with a minister who is preaching in the midst of a cold, stupid, and God-dishonoring Church. In vain does he hold up to view the great truths of religion, when every member of the Church is ready to witness that he lies. Why, in such a Church, the very manner of the people in going out of the aisles contradicts the sermon. They press out as cheerful and as easy, bowing to one another, and whispering together, as if nothing were the matter. If the devil should come in and see the state of things, he would think he could not better the business for his interest.

Yet there are ministers who will go on in this way for years, preaching to a people who, by their lives, contradict every word that is said. And these ministers think it their duty to do so. Duty! For a minister to preach to a Church that is undoing all his work, contradicting all his testimony, and that will not alter! No. Let him shake off the dust from his feet for a testimony, and go to the heathen, or to new settlements. The man is wasting his energies, and wearing out his life, and just rocking the cradle for a sleepy Church, which is testifying to sinners that there is no danger.

Their whole lives are a practical assertion that the Bible is not true. Shall ministers continue to wear themselves out so? Probably not less than ninety-nine-hundredths of the preaching in this country is lost, because it is contradicted by the Church. Not one truth in a hundred, that is preached, takes effect, because the lives of the professors declare that it is not so.

3. It is evident that the standard of Christian living must be raised, or the world will never be converted. If we had, scattered all over the world, a minister to every five hundred souls, and every child in a Sabbath school, and every young person in a Bible class, you might have all the machinery you want; but, if the Church members should contradict the truth by their lives, no revival would be produced.

They never will have a revival in any place while the whole Church in effect testifies against the minister. Often it is the case that where there is the most preaching, there is the least religion, because the Church contradicts the preaching. I never knew means fail of a revival where Christians live consistently. One of the first things is to raise the standard of religion, so as to embody the truth of the Gospel in the sight of all men.

Unless ministers can get their people to wake up, and act as if religion were true, and back their testimony by their lives, in vain will be the attempt to promote a revival.

Many Churches are depending on their minister to do everything. When he preaches, they will say: "What a great sermon that was! He is an excellent minister. Such preaching must do good. We shall have a revival soon, no doubt." And all the while they are contradicting the preaching by their lives. I tell you, if they are depending on preaching alone to carry on the work, they must fail. Let an apostle rise from the dead, or an angel come down from heaven and preach, without the Church to witness for God, and it would have no effect. The novelty might produce a certain kind of interest for a time, but as soon as the novelty was gone, the preaching would have no saving effect, while contradicted by the witnesses.

4. Every Christian makes an impression by his conduct, and witnesses either for one side or the other. His looks, dress, whole demeanor, make a constant impression on one side or the other. He cannot help testifying for or against religion. He is either gathering with Christ, or scattering abroad.

At every step you tread on chords that will vibrate to all eternity. Every time you move, you touch keys whose sound will re-echo all over the hills and dales of heaven, and through all the dark caverns and vaults of hell.

Every movement of your lives, you are exerting a tremendous influence that will tell on the immortal interests of souls all around you. Are you asleep, while all your conduct is exerting such an influence?

Are you going to walk in the street? Take care how you dress. What is that on your head? What does that gaudy ribbon, and those ornaments upon your dress, say to everyone who meets you? They make the impression that you wish to be thought pretty. Take care! You might just as well write on your clothes; "No truth in religion!" They say: "Give me dress; Give me fashion; Give me flattery, and I am happy!" The world understands this testimony as you walk the streets. You are living "epistles, known and read of all men" (2 Corinthians 3:2). If you show pride, levity, bad temper, it is like tearing open the wounds of the Savior.

How Christ might weep to see professors of religion going about hanging up His cause to contempt at the corners of streets. Only let the "women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works" (1 Timothy 2:9, 10); only let them act consistently, and their conduct will tell on the world - heaven will rejoice and hell groan at their influence. But oh! let them display vanity; try to be pretty; bow down to the goddess of fashion; fill their ears with ornaments, and their fingers with rings: let them put feathers in their hats and clasps upon their arms; lace themselves up till they can hardly breathe; let them put on their "round tires like the moon," "walking and mincing as they go" (Isaiah 3:18, 16), and their influence is reversed: heaven puts on the robes of mourning, and hell may hold a jubilee!

5. It is easy to see why revivals do not prevail in a great city. How can they? Just look at God's witnesses, and see what they are testifying to!

They seem to be agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord, and to lie to the Holy Ghost! They make their vows to God, to consecrate themselves wholly to Him, then they go bowing down at the shrine of fashion - and next they wonder why there are no revivals! It would be more than a miracle to have a revival under such circumstances. How can a revival prevail here? Do you suppose I have such a vain imagination of my own ability, as to think I can promote a revival by my preaching, merely, while you live on as you do? Do you not know that so far as your influence goes, many of you are right in the way of a revival? Your spirit and deportment produce an influence on the world against religion. How shall the world believe religion, when the witnesses are not agreed among themselves? You contradict yourselves; you contradict one another; you contradict your minister; and the sum of the whole testimony is, there is no need of being pious.

Do you believe the things I have been preaching are true, or are they the ravings of a disturbed mind? If they are true, do you recognize the fact that they have reference to you? You say, perhaps: "I wish some of the rich Churches could hear it!" But I am not preaching to them; I am preaching to you. My responsibility is to you, and my fruits must come from you.

Now, are you contradicting it? What is the testimony on the leaf of the record that is now sealed for the Judgment, concerning this day? Have you manifested a sympathy with the Son of God, when His heart is bleeding in view of the desolations of Zion? Have your children, your clerks, your servants seen it to be so? Have they seen a solemnity on your countenance, and tears in your eyes, in view of perishing souls?

Finally, I remark that God and all moral beings have great reason to complain of this false testimony. There is ground to complain that God's witnesses turn and testify point-blank against Him. They declare by their conduct that there is no truth in the Gospel. Heaven might weep and hell rejoice to see this. Oh, how guilty! Here you are, going to the Judgment, red all over with blood. Sinners are to meet you there; those who have seen how you live, many of them already dead, and many others whom you will never see again upon earth. What an influence you have exerted!

Perhaps hundreds of souls will meet you in the Judgment Day and curse you (if they are allowed to speak) for leading them to hell, by practically denying the truth of the Gospel. What will become of this city, and of the world, when the Church is united in practically testifying that God is a liar? They testify by their lives, that if they make a profession and live a moral life, that is religion enough. Oh, what a doctrine of devils is that! It is enough to ruin the whole human race!

Lecture 10: To Win Souls Requires Wisdom

He that winneth souls is wise. - Proverbs 11:30.

T HE most common definition of wisdom is, that it is the choice of the best end and the selection of the most appropriate means for the accomplishment of that end. "He that winneth souls," God says, "is wise." The object of this Lecture is to direct Christians in the use of means for accomplishing their infinitely desirable end, the salvation of souls. I shall confine my attention to the private efforts of individuals for the conversion and salvation of men. On another occasion, perhaps, I shall use the same text in speaking of what is wise in the public preaching of the Gospel, and the labors of ministers. In giving some directions to aid private Christians in this work, I propose to show Christians:

I. How they should deal with careless sinners.

II. How they should deal with awakened sinners.

III. How they should deal with convicted sinners.

I. DEALING WITH CARELESS SINNERS.

1. In regard to the time. It is important that you should select a proper time to try to make a serious impression on the mind of a careless sinner.

For if you fail of selecting the most proper time, very probably you will be defeated. True, you may say that it is your duty at all times to warn sinners, and try to awaken them to think of their souls. And so it is; yet if you do not pay due regard to the time and opportunity, your hope of success may be very doubtful.

(a) It is desirable, if possible, to address a person who is careless, when he is disengaged from other employments. In proportion as his attention is taken up with something else, it will be difficult to awaken him to religion.

People who are careless and indifferent to religion are often offended, rather than benefitted by being called off from important and lawful business. For instance, a minister perhaps goes to visit the family of a merchant, or mechanic, or farmer, and finds the man absorbed in his business; perhaps he calls him off from his work when it is urgent, and the man is uneasy and irritable, and feels as if it were an intrusion. In such a case, there is little room to expect any good. Notwithstanding it is true that religion is infinitely more important than all his worldly business, and he ought to postpone everything to the salvation of his soul, yet he does not feel it; for if he did, he would no longer be a careless sinner; and therefore he regards it as unjustifiable, and gets offended. You must take him as you find him, a careless, impenitent sinner, and deal with him accordingly. He is absorbed in other things, and very apt to be offended, if you select such a time to call his attention to religion.

(b) It is important to take a person, if possible, at a time when he is not strongly excited with any other subject. Otherwise he will be in an unfit frame to be addressed on the subject of religion. In proportion to the strength of that excitement would be the probability that you would do no good. You may possibly reach him. Persons have had their minds arrested and turned to religion in the midst of a powerful excitement on other subjects. But it is not likely.

(c) Be sure that the person is perfectly sober. It used to be more common than it is now for people to drink spirits every day, and become more or less intoxicated. Precisely in proportion as they are so, they are rendered unfit to be approached on the subject of religion. If they have been drinking beer, or cider, or wine, so that you can smell their breath, you may know there is but little chance of producing any lasting effect on them. I have had professors of religion bring to me persons whom they supposed were under conviction (people in liquor are very fond of talking upon religion); but as soon as I came near enough to smell the breath of such persons, I have asked: "Why do you bring this drunken man to me?"

"Why," they have replied, "He is not drunk, he has only been drinking a little." Well, that little has made him a little drunk! The cases are exceedingly rare where a person has been truly convicted, who had any intoxicating liquor in him.

(d) If possible, where you wish to converse with a man on the subject of salvation, take him when he is in a good temper. If you find him out of humor, very probably he will get angry and abuse you. Better let him alone for that time, or you will be likely to quench the Spirit. It is possible you may be able to talk in such a way as to cool his temper, but it is not likely. The truth is, men hate God; and though their hatred be dormant, it is easily excited; and if you bring God fully before their minds when they are already excited with anger, it will be so much the easier to arouse their enmity to open violence.

(e) If possible, always take an opportunity to converse with careless sinners when they are alone. Most men are too proud to be conversed with freely respecting themselves in the presence of others, even their own family. A man in such circumstances will brace up all his powers to defend himself, while, if he were alone, he would melt down under the truth. He will resist the truth, or try to laugh it off, for fear that, if he should manifest any feeling, somebody will go and report that he is thinking seriously about religion.

In visiting families, instead of calling all the family together at the same time to be talked to, the better way is to see them all, one at a time. There was a case of this kind. Several young ladies, of a proud, carefree, and fashionable character, lived together in a fashionable family. Two men were strongly desirous to get the subject of religion before them, but were at a loss how to accomplish it, for fear the ladies would combine to resist every serious impression. At length they took this course: they called and sent up their card to one of the young ladies by name. She came down, and they conversed with her on the subject of her salvation, and, as she was alone, she not only treated them politely, but seemed to receive the truth with seriousness. A day or two after they called, in like manner, on another; and then on another; and so on, till they had conversed with every one separately. In a little time the ladies were all, I believe, hopefully converted. The impression made on one was followed up with the others; so that one was not left to exert a bad influence over the rest.

There was a pious woman who kept a boardinghouse for young gentlemen; she had twenty-one or two of them in her house, and at length she became

very anxious for their salvation. She made it a subject of prayer, but saw no seriousness among them. At length she saw that there must be something done besides praying, and yet she did not know what to do.

One morning, after breakfast, as the rest were retiring, she asked one of them to stop a few minutes. She took him aside, and conversed with him tenderly on the subject of religion, and prayed with him. She followed up the impression made, and pretty soon he was hopefully converted. Then she spoke to another, and so on, taking one at a time, and letting none of the rest know what was going on, so as not to alarm them, till all these young men were converted to God. Now, if she had brought the subject before the whole of them together, very likely they would have turned it all into ridicule; or perhaps they would have been offended and left the house, and then she could have had no further influence over them. But taking one alone, and treating him respectfully and kindly, he had no such motive for resistance as arises out of the presence of others.

(f) Try to seize an opportunity to converse with a careless sinner, when the events of Providence seem to favor your design. If any particular event should occur, calculated to make a serious impression, be sure to improve the occasion faithfully.

(g) Seize the earliest opportunity to converse with those around you who are careless. Do not put it off from day to day, thinking a better opportunity will come. You must seek an opportunity, and if none offers, make one. Appoint a time or place, and get an interview with your friend or neighbor, where you can speak to him freely. Send him a note; go to him on purpose; make it look like a matter of business - as if you were in earnest in endeavoring to promote his soul's salvation. Then he will feel that it is a matter of importance, at least in your eyes. Follow it up till you succeed, or become convinced that, for the time, nothing more can be done.

(h) If you have any feeling for a particular individual, take an opportunity to converse with that individual while this feeling continues. If it is a truly benevolent feeling, you have reason to believe the Spirit of God is moving you to desire the salvation of his soul, and that God is ready to bless your efforts for his conversion. In such a case, make it the subject of special and importunate prayer, and seek an early opportunity to pour out all your heart to him, and bring him to Christ.

2. In regard to the manner of doing all this:

(a) When you approach a careless individual, be sure to treat him kindly.

Let him see that you address him, not because you seek a quarrel with him, but because you love his soul, and desire his best good in time and eternity. If you are harsh and overbearing in your manner, you will probably offend him, and drive him farther off from the way of life.

(b) Be solemn. Avoid all lightness of manner or language. Levity will produce anything but a right impression. You ought to feel that you are engaged in a very solemn work, which is going to affect the character of your friend or neighbor, and probably determine his destiny for eternity.

Who could trifle and use levity in such circumstances, if his heart were sincere?

(c) Be respectful. Some seem to suppose it necessary to be abrupt, and rude, and coarse, in their fellowship with the careless and impenitent. No mistake can be greater. The apostle Peter has given us a better rule on the subject, where he says: "Be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing" (1 Peter 3:8, 9). A rude and coarse style of address is only calculated to create an unfavorable opinion both of yourself and of your religion.

(d) Be sure to be very plain. Do not suffer yourself to cover up any circumstance of the person's character, and his relations to God. Lay it all open, not for the purpose of offending or wounding him, but because it is necessary. Before you can cure a wound, you must probe it to the bottom.

Keep back none of the truth, but let it come out plainly before him.

(e) Be sure to address his conscience. Unless you address the conscience pointedly, you get no hold of the mind at all.

(f) Bring the great and fundamental truths to bear upon the person's mind.

Sinners are very apt to run off upon some pretext, or some subordinate point, especially one of sectarianism. For instance, if the man is a Presbyterian, he will try to turn the conversation on the points of difference between Presbyterians and Methodists. Or he will fall foul of "old school" divinity. Do not talk with him on any such point. Tell him the present business is to save his soul, and not to settle controverted questions in theology. Hold him to the great fundamental points, by which he must be saved or lost.

(g) Be very patient. If he has a real difficulty in his mind, be very patient till you find out what it is, and then clear it up. If what he alleges is a mere cavil, make him see that it is a cavil. Do not try to answer it by argument, but show him that he is not sincere in advancing it. It is not worth while to spend your time in arguing against a cavil; make him feel that he is committing sin to plead it, and thus enlist his conscience on your side.

(h) Be careful to guard your own spirit. There are many people who have not good temper enough to converse with those who are much opposed to religion. And such a person wants no better triumph than to see you angry. He will go away exulting because he has "made one of these saints mad."

(i) If the sinner is inclined to entrench himself against God, be careful not to take his part in anything. If he says he cannot do his duty, do not take sides with him, or say anything to countenance his falsehood; do not tell him he cannot, or help him to maintain himself in the controversy against his Maker. Sometimes a careless sinner will commence finding fault with Christians; do not take his part, do not side with him against Christians.

Just tell him he has not their sins to answer for: he had better see to his own concerns. If you agree with him, he feels that he has you on his side.

Show him that it is a wicked and censorious spirit that prompts him to make these remarks, and not a regard for the honor of the religion or the laws of Jesus Christ.

(j) Bring up the individual's particular sins. Talking in general terms against sin will produce no results. You must make a man feel that you mean him. A minister who cannot make his hearers feel that he means them, cannot expect to accomplish much. Some people are very careful to avoid mentioning the particular sins of which they know the individual to be guilty, for fear of hurting his feelings. This is wrong. If you know his history, bring up his particular sins; kindly, but plainly; not to give offense, but to awaken conscience, and give full force to the truth.

(k) It is generally best to be short, and not spin out what we have to say.

Get the attention as soon as you can to the very point; say a few things and press them home, and bring the matter to an issue. If possible, get them to repent and give themselves to Christ at the time. This is the proper issue. Carefully avoid making an impression that you do not wish them to repent NOW.

(l) If possible, when you converse with sinners, be sure to pray with them. If you converse with them, and leave them without praying, you leave your work undone.

II. THE MANNER OF DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS.

Be careful to distinguish between an awakened sinner, and one who is under conviction. When you find a person who feels a little on the subject of religion, do not take it for granted that he is convicted of sin, and thus omit to use means to show him his sin. Persons are often awakened by some providential circumstance; as sickness, thunderstorm, pestilence, death in the family, disappointment, or the like; or directly by the Spirit of God; so that their ears are open, and they are ready to hear on the subject of religion with attention and seriousness, and some feeling. If you find a person awakened, no matter by what means, lose no time to pour in light upon his mind. Do not be afraid, but show him the breadth of the Divine law, and the exceeding strictness of its precepts. Make him see how it condemns his thoughts and life. Search out his heart, find what is there, and bring it up before his mind, as far as you can. If possible, melt him down on the spot. When once you have got a sinner's attention, very often his conviction and conversion are the work of a few moments. You can sometimes do more in five minutes, than in years - or a whole lifetime - while he is careless or indifferent.

I have been amazed at the conduct of those cruel parents, and other heads of families, who will let an awakened sinner be in their families for days and weeks, and not say a word to him on the subject. They say: "If the Spirit of God has begun a work in him, He will certainly carry it on!"

Perhaps the person is anxious to converse, and puts himself in the way of Christians, as often as possible, expecting they will converse with him, and they do not say a word. Amazing! Such a person ought to be looked out immediately, as soon as he is awakened, and a blaze of light be poured into his mind without delay. Wherever you have reason to believe that a person within your reach is awakened, do not sleep till you have poured in the light upon his mind, and have tried to bring him to immediate repentance. Then is the time to press the subject with effect.

In revivals, I have often seen Christians who were constantly on the look-out to see if any persons appeared to be awakened; as soon as they saw any one begin to manifest feeling under preaching they would mark him, and (as soon as the meeting was over) invite him to a room, and converse and pray with him - if possible not leaving him till he was converted.

A remarkable case of this kind occurred in a town at the West. A merchant came to the place from a distance, to buy goods. It was a time of powerful revival, but he was determined to keep out of its influence; and so he would not go to any meeting at all. At length he found everybody so much engaged in religion that it met him at every turn; and he got vexed, and vowed that he would go home. There was so much religion there, he said, that he could do no business, and would not stay. Accordingly he booked his seat for the coach, which was to leave at four o'clock the next morning.

As he spoke of going away, a gentleman belonging to the house, who was one of the young-converts, asked him if he would not go to a meeting once before he left town. He finally consented, and went to the meeting. The sermon took hold of his mind, but not with sufficient power to bring him into the Kingdom. He returned to his lodgings, and called the landlord to bring his bill. The landlord, who had himself recently experienced religion, saw that he was agitated. He accordingly spoke to him on the subject of religion, and the man burst into tears. The landlord immediately called in three or four young converts, and they prayed, and exhorted him; and at four o'clock in the morning, when the coach called, he went on his way rejoicing in God! When he got home he called his family together, confessed to them his past sins, avowed his determination to live differently, and prayed with them for the first time. It was so unexpected that it was soon noised abroad; people began to inquire, and a revival broke out in the place. Now, suppose these Christians had done as some do, been careless, and let the man go off, slightly impressed? It is not probable he ever could have been saved. Such opportunities are often lost for ever, when once the favorable moment is passed.

III. THE MANNER OF DEALING WITH CONVICTED SINNERS.

By a convicted sinner, I mean one who feels himself condemned by the law of God, as a guilty sinner. He has so much instruction as to understand something of the extent of God's law, and he sees and feels his guilty state, and knows what his remedy is. To deal with these often requires great wisdom.

1. When a person is convicted, but not converted, and remains in an anxious state, there is generally some specific reason for it. In such cases it does no good to exhort him to repent, or to explain the law to him. He knows all that; he understands these general points; but still he does not repent. There must be some particular difficulty to overcome. You may preach, and pray, and exhort, till doomsday, and not gain anything.

You must, then, set yourself to inquire what is that particular difficulty. A physician, when he is called to a patient, and finds him sick with a particular disease, first administers the general remedies that are applicable to that disease. If they produce no effect, and the disease still continues, he must examine the case, and learn the constitution of the individual, and his habits, diet, manner of living, etc., and see what the matter is that the medicine does not take effect. So it is with the case of a sinner convicted but not converted. If your ordinary instructions and exhortations fail, there must be a difficulty. The particular difficulty is often known to the individual himself, though he keeps it concealed. Sometimes, however, it is something that has escaped even his own observation.

(a) Sometimes the individual has some idol, something which he loves more than God, which prevents him from giving himself up. You must search out and see what it is that he will not give up. Perhaps it is wealth; perhaps some earthly friend; perhaps carefree dress or carefree company, or some favorite amusement. At any rate, there is something on which his heart is so set that he will not yield to God.

(b) Perhaps he has done an injury to some individual that calls for redress, and he is unwilling to confess it, or to make a just recompense. Now, until he will confess and forsake this sin, he can find no mercy. If he has injured the person in property or character, or has abused him, he must make it up. Tell him frankly that there is no hope for him till he is willing to confess it, and to do what is right.

(c) Sometimes there is some particular sin which he will not forsake. He pretends it is only a small one; or tries to persuade himself it is no sin at all. No matter how small it is, he can never get into the Kingdom of God till he gives it up. Sometimes an individual has seen it to be a sin to use tobacco, and he can never find true peace till he gives it up. Perhaps he is looking upon it as a small sin. But God knows nothing about small sins in such a case. What is the sin? It is injuring your health, and setting a bad example; and you are taking God's money (which you are bound to employ in His service) and spending it for tobacco. What would a merchant say if he found one of his clerks in the habit of going to the money drawer, and taking money enough to keep him in cigars? Would he call it a small offense? No; he would say the clerk deserved to be sent to the State prison. I mention this particular sin, because I have found it to be one of the things to which men who are convicted will hold on, although they know it to be wrong, and then wonder why they do not find peace.

(d) See if there is some work of restitution which he is bound to do.

Perhaps he has defrauded somebody in trade, or taken some unfair advantage, contrary to the golden rule of doing as you would be done by, and is unwilling to make satisfaction. This is a very common sin among merchants and men of business. I have known many melancholy instances, where men have grieved away the Spirit of God, or else have been driven well-nigh to absolute despair, because they were unwilling to give satisfaction where they have done such things. Now it is plain that such persons never can have forgiveness until they make restitution.

(e) They may have entrenched themselves somewhere, and fortified their minds in regard to some particular point, which they are determined not to yield. For instance, they may have taken strong ground that they will not do a particular thing. I knew a man who was determined not to go into a certain grove to pray. Several other persons during the revival had gone into the grove, and there, by prayer and meditation, given themselves to God. His own clerk had been converted there. The lawyer himself was awakened, but he was determined that he would not go into that grove. He had powerful convictions, and went on for weeks in this way, with no relief. He tried to make God believe that it was not pride that kept him from Christ; and so, when he was going home from meeting he would kneel down in the street and pray. And not only that, but he would look round for a mud-puddle in the street, in which he might kneel, to show that he was not proud. He once prayed all night in his parlor - but he would not go into the grove. His distress was so great, and he was so wroth with God, that he was strongly tempted to make away with himself, and actually threw away his knife for fear he should cut his throat. At length he concluded he would go into the grove and pray; and as soon as he got there he was converted, and poured out his full heart to God.

So, individuals are sometimes entrenched in a determination that they will not go to a particular meeting (perhaps the inquiry meeting, or some prayer-meeting); or they will not have a certain person to pray with them; or they will not take a particular seat, such as the "anxious seat." They say they can be converted just as well without yielding this point, for religion does not consist in going to a particular meeting, or taking a particular attitude in prayer, or a particular seat. This is true; but by taking this ground they make it the material point. And so long as they are entrenched there, and determined to bring God to their terms, they never can be converted. Sinners will often yield anything else, and do anything else, and do anything in the world, but yield the point upon which they have taken a stand against God. They cannot be humbled, until they yield this point, whatever it is. And if, without yielding, they get a hope, it will be a false hope.

(f) Perhaps he has a prejudice against some ne (a member of the Church, perhaps), on account of some faithful dealing with his soul; and he hangs on this, and will never be converted till he gives it up. Whatever it be, you should search it out, and tell him the truth, plainly and faithfully.

(g) He may feel ill-will towards someone, or be angry, and cherish strong feelings of resentment, which prevent him from obtaining mercy from God. "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25, 26).

(h) Perhaps he entertains some errors in doctrine, or some wrong notions respecting the thing to be done, or the way of doing it, which may be keeping him out of the Kingdom. Perhaps he is waiting for God to do something to him before he submits - in fact, is waiting for God to do for him what God has required the sinner to do himself.

He may be waiting for more conviction. People often do not know what conviction is, and think they are not under conviction when in fact they are under powerful conviction. They often think nothing is conviction unless they have great fears of hell. But the fact is, individuals often have strong convictions, who have very little fear of hell. Show them what is the truth, and let them see that they have no need to wait.

Perhaps he may be waiting for certain feelings, which he has heard somebody else had before obtaining mercy. This is very common in revivals where some one of the first converts has told of remarkable experiences. Others who are awakened are very apt to think they must wait for just such feelings. I knew a young man thus awakened; his companion had been converted in a remarkable way, and this one was waiting for just such feelings. He said he was "using the means, and praying for them," but he finally found that he was a Christian, although he had not been through the course of feeling which he expected.

Sinners often lay out a plan of what they expect to feel, and how they expect to be converted, and in fact lay out the work for God, determined that they will go in that path or not at all. Tell them this is all wrong; they must not lay out any such path beforehand, but let God lead them as He sees to be the best. God always leads the blind by a way they know not.

There never was a sinner brought into the Kingdom through such a course of feeling as he expected. Very often they are amazed to find that they are in, and have had no such exercises as they expected.

It is very common for persons to be waiting to be made subjects of prayer, or for some other particular means to be used, or to see if they cannot make themselves better. They are so wicked, they say, that they cannot come to Christ. They want to try, by humiliation, and suffering, and prayer, to fit themselves to come. You will have to hunt them out of all these refuges. It is astonishing into how many corners they will often run before they will go to Christ. I have known persons almost deranged for the want of a little correct instruction.

Sometimes such people think their sins are too great to be forgiven, or that they have grieved the Spirit of God away, when that Spirit is all the while convicting them. They pretend that their sins are greater than Christ's mercy, thus actually insulting the Lord Jesus.

Sometimes sinners get the idea that they are given up of God, and that now they cannot be saved. It is often very difficult to beat persons off from this ground. Many of the most distressing cases I have met with have been of this character.

In a place where I was laboring in a revival, one day before the meeting commenced, I heard a low, moaning, distressing, unearthly noise. I looked and saw several women gathered round the person who made it. They said she was a woman in despair. She had been a long time in that state. Her husband was a drunkard. He had brought her to the meeting-place, and had gone himself to the tavern. I conversed with her, saw her state, and realized that it was very difficult to reach her case. As I was going to commence the meeting she said she must go out, for she could not bear to hear praying or singing. I told her she must not go, and asked the ladies to detain her, if necessary, by force. I felt that, if the devil had hold of her, God was stronger than the devil, and could deliver her. The meeting began, and she made some noise at first. But presently she looked up. The subject was chosen with special reference to her case, and as it proceeded her attention was gained, her eyes were fixed - I never shall forget how she looked - her eyes and mouth open, her head up - and how she almost rose from her seat as the truth poured in upon her mind. Finally, as the truth knocked away every foundation on which her despair had rested, she shrieked out, put her head down, and sat perfectly still till the meeting was over. I went to her, and found her perfectly calm and happy in God. I saw her long afterwards, and she still remained in that state of rest. Thus Providence led her where she never expected to be, and compelled her to hear instruction adapted to her case. You may often do incalculable good by finding out precisely where the difficulty lies, and then bringing the truth to bear on that point.

Sometimes persons will strenuously maintain that they have committed the unpardonable sin. When they get that idea into their minds, they will turn everything you say against themselves. In some such cases, it is a good way to take them on their own ground, and reason with them in this way: "Suppose you have committed the unpardonable sin, what then? It is reasonable that you should submit to God, and be sorry for your sins, and break off from them, and do all the good you can, even if God will not forgive you. Even if you go to hell, you ought to do this." Press this thought until you find they understand and consent to it.

It is common for persons in such cases to keep their eyes on themselves; they will shut themselves up, and keep looking at their own darkness, instead of looking away to Christ. Now, if you can take their minds off from themselves, and get them to think of Christ, you may draw them away from brooding over their own present feelings, and get them to lay hold on the hope set before them in the Gospel.

2. Be careful, in conversing with convicted sinners, not to make any compromise with them on any point where they have a difficulty. If you do, they will be sure to take advantage of it, and thus get a false hope.

Convicted sinners often get into a difficulty, in regard to giving up some darling sin, or yielding some point where conscience and the Holy Ghost are at war with them. And if they come across an individual who will yield the point, they feel better, and are happy, and think they are converted.

The young man who came to Christ was of this character. He had one difficulty, and Jesus Christ knew just what it was. He knew he loved his money; and instead of compromising the matter and thus trying to comfort him, he just put His finger on the very place and told him: "Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow Me" (Matthew 19:21). What was the effect? Why, the young man "went away sorrowful." Very likely, if Christ had told him to do anything else, he would have felt relieved, and would have got a hope; would have professed himself a disciple, joined the Church, and gone to hell.

People are often amazingly anxious to make a compromise. They will ask such questions as this: Whether you do not think a person may be a Christian, and yet do such-and-such things? Or: If he may be a Christian and not do such-and-such things? Now, do not yield an inch to any such questions. The questions themselves may often show you the very point that is laboring in their minds. They will show you that it is pride, or love of the world, or something of the kind, which is preventing them from becoming Christians.

Be careful to make thorough work on this point - the love of the world. I believe there have been more false hopes built on wrong instructions here, than in any other way. I once heard a Doctor of Divinity trying to persuade his hearers to give up the world; but he told them: "If you will only give it up, God will give it right back to you. He is willing that you should enjoy the world." Miserable! God never gives back the world to a Christian, in the same sense that He requires a convicted sinner to give it up. He requires us to give up the ownership of everything to Him, so that we shall never again for a moment consider it as our own. A man must not think he has a right to judge for himself how much of his property he shall lay out for God. One man thinks he may spend seven thousand dollars a year to support his family; he has a right to do it, because he has the means of his own. Another thinks he may lay up fifty or a hundred thousand dollars. One man said, the other day, that he had promised he never would give any of his property to educate young men for the ministry; so, when he is applied to, he just answers: "I have said I never will give to any such object, and I never will." Man! did Jesus Christ ever tell you to act so with His money? Has he laid down any such rule?

Remember, it is His money you are talking about, and if He wants it to educate ministers, you withhold it at your peril. Such a man has yet to learn the first principle of religion, that he is not his own, and that the money which he "possesses" is Jesus Christ's.

Here is the great reason why the Church is so full of false hopes. Men have been left to suppose they could be Christians while holding on to their money. And this has served as a clog to every enterprise. It is an undoubted fact, that the Church has funds enough to supply the world with Bibles, and tracts, and missionaries, immediately. But the truth is, that professors of religion do not believe that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof." Every man supposes he has a right to decide what appropriation he shall make of his own money. And they have no idea that Jesus Christ shall dictate to them on the subject.

Be sure to deal thoroughly on this point. The Church is now filled up with hypocrites, because people were never made to see that unless they made an entire consecration of all to Christ - all their time, all their talents, all their influence - they would never get to heaven. Many think they can be Christians, and yet dream along through life, and use all their time and property for themselves, only giving a little now and then, just to save appearances, and when they can do it with perfect convenience. But it is a sad mistake, and they will find it so, if they do not employ their energies for God. And when they die, instead of finding heaven at the end of the path they are pursuing, they will find hell there.

In dealing with a convicted sinner, be sure to drive him away from every refuge, and not leave him an inch of ground to stand on so long as he resists God. This need not take a long time to do. When the Spirit of God is at work striving with a sinner, it is easy to drive him from his refuges.

You will find the truth will be like a hammer, crushing wherever it strikes.

Make clean work with it, so that he shall give up all for God.

Make the sinner see clearly the nature and extent of the Divine law, and press the main question of entire submission to God. Bear down on that point as soon as you have made him clearly understand what you aim at, and do not turn off upon anything else.

Be careful, in illustrating the subject, not to mislead the mind so as to leave the impression that a selfish submission will answer, or a selfish acceptance of the Atonement, or a selfish giving up to Christ and receiving Him, as if a man were making a good bargain, giving up his sins, and receiving salvation in exchange. This is mere barter, and not submission to God. Leave no ground in your explanations or illustrations, for such a view of the matter. Man's selfish heart will eagerly seize such a view of religion, if it be presented, and very likely close in with it, and thus get a false hope.

REMARKS.

1. Make it an object of constant study, and of daily reflection and prayer, to learn how to deal with sinners so as to promote their conversion. It is the great business on earth of every Christian, to save souls. People often complain that they do not know how to take hold of this matter. Why, the reason is plain enough; they have never studied it. They have never taken the proper pains to qualify themselves for the work. If people made it no more a matter of attention and thought to qualify themselves for their worldly business, than they do to save souls, how do you think they would succeed? Now, if you are thus neglecting the main business of life, what are you living for? If you do not make it a matter of study, how you may most successfully act in building up the Kingdom of Christ, you are acting a very wicked and absurd part as a Christian.

2. Many professors of religion do more harm than good, when they attempt to talk to impenitent sinners. They have so little knowledge and skill, that their remarks rather divert attention than increase it.

3. Be careful to find the point where the Spirit of God is pressing a sinner, and press the same point in all your remarks. If you divert his attention from that, you will be in great danger of destroying his convictions. Take pains to learn the state of his mind, what he is thinking of, how he feels, and what he feels most deeply upon, and then press that chief point thoroughly. Do not divert his mind by talking about anything else. Do not fear to press that point for fear of driving him to distraction. Some people fear to press a point to which the mind is tremblingly alive, lest they should injure the mind, notwithstanding that the Spirit of God is evidently debating that very point with the sinner. This is an attempt to be wiser than God. You should clear up the point, throw the light of truth all around it, and bring the soul to yield, and then the mind will be at rest.

4. Great evils have arisen, and many false hopes have been created, by not discriminating between an awakened, and a convicted, sinner. For the want of this, persons who are only awakened are immediately pressed to submit - "you must repent," "submit to God" - when they are in fact neither convinced of their guilt, nor instructed so far as even to know what submission means. This is one way in which revivals have been greatly injured - by indiscriminate exhortations to repent, unaccompanied by proper instruction.

5. Anxious sinners are to be regarded as being in a very solemn and critical state. They have, in fact, come to a turning-point. It is a time when their destiny is likely to be settled for ever. Christians ought to feel deeply for them. In many respects their circumstances are more solemn than those of the Judgment. Here their destiny is settled. The Judgment Day reveals it.

And the particular time when It is done is when the Spirit is striving with them. Christians should remember their awful responsibility at such times.

The physician, if he knows anything of his duty, sometimes feels himself under a very solemn responsibility. His patient is in a critical state, where a little error will destroy life, and hangs quivering between life and death. If such responsibility should be felt in relation to the body, what awful responsibility should be felt in relation to the soul, when it is seen to hang trembling on a point, and its destiny is now to be decided. One false impression, one indiscreet remark, one sentence misunderstood, a slight diversion of mind, may wear him the wrong way, and his soul be lost.

Never was an angel employed in a more solemn work, than that of dealing with sinners who are under conviction. How solemnly and carefully then should Christians walk, how wisely and skillfully work, if they do not wish to be the means of the loss of a soul!

Finally, if there is a sinner in this house, let me say to him: "Abandon all your excuses. You have been told tonight that they are all in vain. This very hour may seal your eternal destiny. Will you submit to God tonight - NOW?"

Lecture 11: A Wise Minister Will Be Successful

He that winneth souls is wise. - Proverbs 11:30.

I lectured last, from the same text, on the methods of dealing with sinners by "private" Christians. My object at this time is to take up the more public means of grace, with particular reference to the duties of Ministers.

As I observed in my last Lecture, wisdom is the choice and pursuit of the best end by the most appropriate means. The great end for which the Christian ministry is appointed, is to glorify God in the salvation of souls.

In speaking on this subject I propose to show:

I. That a right discharge of the duties of a minister requires great wisdom.

II. That the amount of success in the discharge of his duties (other things being equal) decides the amount of wisdom employed by him in the exercise of his office.

I. THE RIGHT DISCHARGE OF MINISTERIAL DUTY.

1. A right discharge of the duties of a minister requires great wisdom: I. On account of the opposition it encounters. The very end for which the ministry is appointed is one against which is arrayed the most powerful opposition of sinners themselves. If men were willing to receive the Gospel, and there were nothing needed to be done but to tell the story of Redemption, a child might convey the news. But men are opposed to the Gospel. They are opposed to their own salvation, in this way. Their opposition is often violent and determined. I once saw a maniac who had formed designs against his own life, and he would exercise the utmost sagacity and cunning to effect his purpose. He would be so artful as to make his keepers believe he had no such design, that he had given it all up; he would appear mild and sober, but the instant the keeper was off his guard he would lay hands on himself. So, sinners often exercise great cunning in evading all the efforts that are made to save them. In order to meet this dreadful cunning, and overcome it, so as to save men, ministers need a great amount of wisdom.

2. The particular means appointed to be employed in the work, show the necessity of great wisdom in ministers. If men were converted by an act of physical omnipotence, creating some new taste, or something like that, and if sanctification were nothing but the same physical omnipotence rooting out the remaining roots of sin from the soul, it would not require so much sagacity and skill to win souls. Nor would there then be any meaning in the text. But the truth is that regeneration and sanctification are to be effected by moral means - by argument, and not by force. There never was, and never will be, any one saved by anything but truth as the means.

Truth is the outward means, the outward motive presented first by man and then by The Holy Spirit. Take into view the opposition of the sinner himself, and you see that nothing, after all, short of the wisdom of God and the moral power of the Holy Spirit, can break down this opposition, and bring him to submit Still, the means are to be used by men - means adapted to the end, and skillfully used. God has provided that the work of conversion and sanctification shall in all cases be done by means of that kind of truth, applied in that connection and relation, which is fitted to produce such a result.

3. He has the powers of earth and hell to overcome, and that calls for wisdom. The devil is constantly at work, trying to prevent the success of ministers, laboring to divert attention from the subject of religion, and to get the sinner away from God and lead him down to hell. The whole framework of society, almost, is hostile to religion. Nearly all the influences which surround a man, from his cradle to his grave, are calculated to defeat the design of the ministry. Does not a minister, then, need great wisdom to conflict with the powers of darkness and the whole influence of the world, in addition to the sinner's own opposition?

4. The same is seen from the infinite importance of the end itself. The end of the ministry is the salvation of the soul. When we consider the importance of the end, and the difficulties of the work, who will not say with the apostle: "Who is sufficient for these things?" (2 Corinthians 2:16.)

5. He must understand how to wake up the professing Christians, and thus prevent them from hindering the conversion of sinners. This is often the most difficult part of a minister's work, and requires more wisdom and patience than anything else. Indeed, to do this successfully, is a most rare qualification in the Christian ministry. It is a point where almost all ministers fail. They know not how to wake up the Church, and raise the tone of piety to a high standard, and thus clear the way for the work of conversion. Many ministers can preach to sinners very well, but gain little success, while the counteracting influence of the Church resists it all, and they have not skill enough to remove the difficulty. There is only here and there a minister in the country who knows how to probe the Church when it is in a cold, backslidden state, so as effectually to awaken the members and keep them awake. The members of the Church sin against such light, that when they become cold it is very difficult to rouse them up. They have a form of piety which wards off the truth, while at the same time it is just that kind of piety which has no power or efficiency. Such professors are the most difficult individuals to arouse from their slumbers. I do not mean that they are always more wicked than the impenitent. They are often employed about the machinery of religion, and pass for very good Christians, but they are of no use in a revival.

I know ministers are sometimes amazed to hear it said that Churches are not awake. No wonder such ministers do not know how to wake a sleeping Church. There was a young licentiate heard Brother Foote the other day, in this city, pouring out truth, and trying to waken up the Churches; and he knew so little about it that he thought Mr. Foote was abusing the Churches. So perfectly blind was he that he really thought the Churches in New York were all awake on the subject of religion. So, some years ago, there was a great controversy and opposition raised, because so much was said about the Churches being asleep. It was all truth, yet many ministers knew nothing about it, and were astonished to hear such things said. When it has come to this, that ministers do not know when the Church is asleep, no wonder we have revivals! I was invited once to preach at a certain place. I asked the minister what was the state of the

Church. "Oh," said he, "to a man they are awake." I was delighted at the idea of laboring in such a Church, for it was a sight I had never yet witnessed, to see every single member awake in a revival. But when I got there I found them sleepy and cold, and I doubt whether one of them was awake.

Here is the great difficulty in keeping up revivals, to keep the Church thoroughly awake and engaged. It is one thing for members to get up in their sleep and bluster about and run over each other; and a widely different thing for them to have their eyes open, and their senses about them, and be wide awake, so as to know how to work for Christ.

6. He must know how to see the Church to work, when it is awake. If a minister attempts to go to work singly, calculating to do it all himself, it is like attempting to roll a great stone up a hill, alone. The Church can do much to help forward a revival. Churches have sometimes had powerful revivals without any minister. But when a minister has a Church that is awake, and knows how to set his people to work, and how to sit at the helm, and guide them, he may feel strong, and oftentimes may find that they do more than he does himself in the conversion of sinners.

7. In order to be successful, a minister needs great wisdom to know how to keep the Church to the work. Often the Church seems just like an assembly of children. You set children to work, and they appear to be all occupied, but as soon as your back is turned, they will stop and go to play. The great difficulty in continuing a revival, lies here. And to meet it requires great wisdom. To know how to break them down again, when their hearts get lifted up because they have had such a great revival; to wake them up afresh when their zeal begins to flag; to keep their hearts full of zeal for the work; these are some of the most difficult things in the world. Yet if a minister would be successful in winning souls, he must know when they first begin to get proud, or to lose the spirit of prayer; when to probe them, and how to search them; in fact, how to keep the Church in the field, gathering the harvest of the Lord.

8. He must understand the Gospel. But you will ask: "Do not all ministers understand the Gospel?" I answer that they certainly do not all understand it alike, for they do not all preach alike.

9. He must know how to divide it, so as to bring forward the particular truths, in that order, and at such times, as will be calculated to produce a given result. A minister should understand the philosophy of the human mind, so as to know how to plan and arrange his labors wisely. Truth, when brought to bear upon the mind, is in itself calculated to produce corresponding feelings. The minister must know what feelings he wishes to produce, and how to bring to bear such truth as is calculated to produce those feelings. He must know how to present truth which is calculated to humble Christians, or to make them feel for sinners; or to awaken sinners, or to convert them.

Often, when sinners are awakened, the ground is lost for want of wisdom in following up the blow. Perhaps a rousing sermon is preached Christians are moved, and sinners begin to feel, and yet, the next Sabbath, something will be brought forward that has no connection with the state of feeling in the congregation, and that is not calculated to lead the mind on to the exercise of repentance, faith, or love. It shows how important it is that a minister should understand how to produce a given impression, at what time it may and should be done, and by what truth, and how to follow it up till the sinner is broken down and brought in.

A great many good sermons that are preached, are lost for the want of a little wisdom on this point. They are good sermons, and calculated, if well timed, to do great good; but they have so little connection with the actual state of feeling in the congregation, that it would be more than a miracle if they should produce a revival. A minister may preach in this random way till he has preached himself to death, and never produce any great results.

He may convert here and there a scattered soul; but he will not move the mass of the congregation unless he knows how to follow up his impressions - so to execute a general plan of operations as to carry on the work when it is begun. He must not only be able to blow the trumpet so loud as to start the sinner up from his lethargy, but when he is awakened, he must lead him by the shortest way to Jesus Christ; and not, as soon as sinners are roused by a sermon, immediately begin to preach about some remote subject that has no tendency to carry on the work.

10. To reach different classes of sinners successfully requires great wisdom on the part of a minister. For instance, a sermon on a particular subject may impress a particular class of persons among his hearers.

Perhaps they will begin to look serious, or to talk about it, or to cavil about it. Now, if the minister is wise, he will know how to observe those indications, and to follow right on, with sermons adapted to this class, until he leads them into the Kingdom of God. Then, let him go back and take another class, find out where they are hid, break down their refuges, and follow them up, till he leads them also, into the Kingdom. He should thus beat about every bush where sinners hide themselves, as the voice of God followed Adam in the garden: ADAM, WHERE ART THOU? till one class of hearers after another is brought in, and so the whole community converted. Now, a minister must be very wise to do this. It never will be done till a minister sets himself to hunt out and bring in every class of sinners in his congregation - the old and young, male and female, rich and poor.

11. A minister needs great wisdom to get sinners away from their present refuge of lies, without forming new hiding-places for them. I once sat under the ministry of a man who had contracted a great alarm about heresies, and was constantly employed in confuting them. And he used to bring up heresies that his people had never heard of. He got his ideas chiefly from books, and mingled very little among the people to know what they thought. And the result of his labors often was, that the people would be taken with the heresy, more than with the argument against it.

The novelty of the error attracted their attention so much that they forgot the answer. And in that way he gave many of his people new objections against religion, such as they had never thought of before. If a man does not mingle enough with mankind to know how people think nowadays, he cannot expect to be wise to meet their objections and difficulties.

I have heard a great deal of preaching against Universalists, that did more harm than good, because the preachers did not understand how Universalists of the present day reason. When ministers undertake to oppose a present heresy, they ought to know what it actually is, at present. It is of no use to misrepresent a man's doctrines to his face, and then try to reason him out of them. He will say of you: "That man cannot argue with me on fair grounds; he has to misrepresent my doctrines in order to confute me." Great harm is done in this way. Ministers do not intend to misrepresent their opponents; but the effect of it is, that the poor miserable creatures who hold these errors go to hell because ministers do not take care to inform themselves what are their real errors. I mention this to show how much wisdom a minister must have to meet the cases that occur.

12. Ministers ought to know what measures are best calculated to aid in accomplishing the great end of their office, the salvation of souls. Some measures are plainly necessary. By measures, I mean the things which should be done to secure the attention of the people, and bring them to listen to the truth. Erecting buildings for worship, visiting from house to house, etc., are "measures," the object of which is to get the attention of people to the Gospel. Much wisdom is requisite to devise and carry forward all the various measures that are adapted to favor the success of the Gospel.

What do politicians do? They get up meetings, circulate handbills and pamphlets, blaze away in the newspapers, send ships about the streets on wheels with flags and sailors, send conveyances all over the town, with handbills, to bring people up to the polls - all to gain attention to their cause, and elect their candidate. All these are their "measures," and for their end they are wisely calculated. The object is to get up an excitement, and bring the people out. They know that unless there can be an excitement it is in vain to push their end. I do not mean to say that their measures are pious, or right, but only that they are wise, in the sense that they are the appropriate application of means to the end.

The object of the ministry is to get all the people to feel that the devil has no right to rule this world, but that they ought all to give themselves to God, and "vote in" the Lord Jesus Christ as the Governor of the universe.

Now, what shall be done? What measures shall we take? Says one: "Be sure and have nothing that is new." Strange! The object of our measure is to gain attention, and you must have something new. As sure as the effect of a measure becomes stereotyped, it ceases to give attention, and then you must try something new. You need not make innovations in everything. But whenever the state of things is such that anything more is needed, it must be something new, otherwise it will fail. A minister should never introduce innovations that are not called for. If he does, they will embarrass him. He cannot alter the Gospel; that remains the same. But new measures are necessary, from time to time, to awaken attention, and bring the Gospel to bear upon the public mind. And a minister ought to know how to introduce new things, so as to create the least possible resistance or reaction. Mankind are fond of form in religion. They love to have their religious duties stereotyped, so as to leave them at ease; and they are therefore inclined to resist any new movement designed to rouse them up to action and feeling. Hence it is all-important to introduce new things wisely, so as not to give needless occasion for resistance.

13. Not a little wisdom is sometimes needed by a minister to know when to put a stop to new measures. When a measure has novelty enough to secure attention to the truth, ordinarily no other new measure should be introduced. You have secured the great object of novelty. Anything more will be in danger of diverting the public mind away from the great object, and fixing it on the measures themselves. And then, if you introduce novelties when they are not called for, you will go over so large a field that, by and by, when you really want something new, you will have nothing else to introduce, without doing something that will give too great a shock to the public mind. The Bible has laid down no specific course of measures for the promotion of revivals of religion, but has left it to ministers to adopt such as are wisely calculated to secure the end. And the more sparing we are of our new things, the longer we can use them, to keep public attention awake to the great subject of religion. By a wise course this may undoubtedly be done for a long series of years, until our present measures will, by and by, have sufficient novelty in them again to attract and fix public attention. And so we shall never want for something new.

14. A minister, to win souls, must know how to deal with careless, with awakened, and with anxious sinners, so as to lead them right to Christ in the shortest and most direct way. It is amazing to see how many ministers there are who do not know how to deal with sinners, or what to say to them in their various states of mind. A good woman in Albany told me, that when she was under concern she went to her minister, and asked him to tell her what she must do to get relief. He said that God had not given him much experience on the subject, and advised her to go to a certain deacon, who perhaps could tell her what to do. The truth was, he did not know what to say to a sinner under conviction, although there was nothing peculiar in her case. Now, if you think this minister a rare case, you are quite deceived. There are many ministers who do not know what to say to sinners.

A minister once appointed an anxious meeting, which he duly attended, but instead of going round to speak to the individuals, he began to ask them the catechism question: "Wherein doth Christ execute the office of a priest?" About as much in point to a great many of their minds as anything else.

I know a minister who held an anxious meeting, and went to attend it with a written discourse, which he had prepared for the occasion. This was just as wise as it would be if a physician, going out to visit his patients, should sit down at leisure and write all the prescriptions beforehand. A minister needs to know the state of mind of individuals, before he can know what truth it will be proper and useful to administer. I say these things, not because I love to do it, but because truth and the object before me, require them to be said. And such instances as I have mentioned are by no means rare.

A minister should know how to apply truth to all the situations in which he may find dying sinners going down to hell. He should know how to preach, how to pray, how to conduct prayer meetings, and how to use all the means for bringing the truth of God to bear upon the kingdom of darkness. Does not this require wisdom? And who is sufficient for these things?

II. SUCCESS PROPORTIONATE TO WISDOM.

The amount of a minister's success in winning souls (other things being equal) invariably decides the amount of wisdom he has exercised in the discharge of his office.

1. This is plainly asserted in the text. "He that winneth souls is wise."

That is, if a man wins souls, he does skillfully adapt means to the end, which is, to exercise wisdom. He is the more wise, by how much the greater is the number of sinners that he saves. A blockhead may, indeed, now and then, stumble on such truth, or such a manner of exhibiting it, as to save a soul. It would be a wonder indeed if any minister did not sometimes have something, in his sermons that would meet the case of some individual. But the amount of wisdom is to be decided, other things being equal, by the number of cases in which he is successful in converting sinners.

Take the case of a physician. The greatest quack may now and then stumble upon a remarkable cure, and so get his name up with the ignorant.

But sober and judicious people judge of the skill of a physician by the uniformity of his success in overcoming disease, the variety of diseases he can manage, and the number of cases in which he is successful in saving his patients. The most skillful saves the most. This is common sense. It is the truth. And it is just as true in regard to success in saving souls, and true in just the same sense.

2. This principle is not only asserted in the text, but it is a matter of fact, a historical truth, that "He that winneth souls is wise." He has actually employed means adapted to the end, in such a way as to secure the end.

3. Success in saving souls is evidence that a man understands the Gospel, and understands human nature; that he knows how to adapt means to his end; that he has common sense, and that kind of tact, that practical discernment, to know how to get at people. And if his success is extensive, it shows that he knows how to deal, in a great variety of circumstances, with a great variety of characters, who are all the enemies of God, and to bring them to Christ. To do this requires great wisdom.

And the minister who does it shows that he is wise.

4. Success in winning souls shows that a minister not only knows how to labor wisely for that end, but also that he knows where his dependence is.

Fears are often expressed respecting those ministers who are aiming most directly and earnestly at the conversion of sinners. People say: "Why, this man is going to work in his own strength; one would imagine he thinks he can convert souls himself." How often has the event showed that the man knew very well what he was about, and knew where his strength was, too.

He went to work to convert sinners so earnestly, just as if he could do it all himself; but that was the very way he should do. He ought to reason with sinners and plead with them, as faithfully and as fully as if he did not expect any interposition of the Spirit of God. But whenever a man does this successfully, it shows that, after all, he knows he must depend for success upon the Spirit of God alone.

There are many who feel an objection against this subject, arising out of the view they have taken of the ministry of Jesus Christ. They ask us: "What will you say of the ministry of Jesus Christ - was not He wise?"

I answer: "Yes, infinitely wise." But in regard to His alleged "want of success" in the conversion of sinners, you will observe the following things:

(a) That His ministry was vastly more successful than is generally supposed. We read in one of the sacred writers, that after His resurrection and before His ascension, "He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once" (1 Corinthians 15:6). If so many as five hundred brethren were found assembled together at one place, we judge that there must have been a vast number of them scattered over the country.

(b) Another circumstance to be observed is that His public ministry was very short, less than three years.

(c) Consider, too, the peculiar design of His ministry. His main object was to make Atonement for the sins of the world. It was not aimed so much at promoting revivals. The "dispensation of the Spirit" was not yet given. He did not preach the Gospel so fully as His apostles did afterwards. The prejudices of the people were so fixed and violent that they would not bear it. That He did not, is plain from the fact that even His apostles, who were constantly with Him, did not understand the Atonement. They did not get the idea that He was going to die; and consequently, when they heard that He was actually dead, they were driven to despair, and thought the thing was all gone by, and their hopes blown to the winds. The fact was that He had another object in view, to which everything else was made to yield; and the perverted state of the public mind, and the obstinate prejudices prevailing, showed why results were not seen any more in the conversion of sinners. The state of public opinion was such that they finally murdered Him for what He did preach.

Many ministers who have little or no success are hiding themselves behind the ministry of Jesus Christ, as if He were an unsuccessful preacher.

Whereas, in fact, He was eminently successful, considering the circumstances in which He labored. This is the last place, in all the world, where a minister who has no success should think of hiding himself.

REMARKS.

1. A minister may be very learned and yet not wise. There are many ministers possessed of great learning; they understand all the sciences, physical, moral, and theological; they may know the dead languages, and possess all learning, and yet not be wise in relation to the great end about which they are chiefly employed. Facts clearly demonstrate this. "He that winneth souls is wise."

2. An unsuccessful minister may be pious as well as learned, and yet not wise. It is unfair to infer that because a minister is unsuccessful, therefore he is a hypocrite. There may be something defective in his education, or in his mode of viewing a subject, or of exhibiting it, or such a want of common sense, as will defeat his labors, and prevent his success in winning souls, while he himself may be saved, "yet so as by fire."

3. A minister may be very wise, though he is not learned. He may not understand the dead languages, or theology in its common acceptation; and yet he may know just what a minister of the Gospel wants most to know, without knowing many other things. A learned minister, and a wise minister, are different things. Facts in the history of the Church in all ages prove this. It is very common for Churches, when looking out for a minister, to aim at getting a very learned man. Do not understand me to disparage learning. The more learned the better, if he is also wise in the great matter he is employed about. If a minister knows how to win souls, the more learning he has the better. But if he has any other kind of learning, and not this, he will infallibly fail of achieving that which should be the end of his ministry.

4. Want of success in a minister (other things being equal) proves

(a) That he never was called to preach, but has taken it up out of his own head; or

(b) That he was badly educated, and was never taught the very things he needs most to know; or

(c) If he was called to preach, and knows how to do his duty, he is too indolent and too wicked to do it.

5. Those are the best educated ministers who win the most souls.

Ministers are sometimes looked down upon, and called very ignorant, because they do not know the sciences and languages; although they are very far from being ignorant of the great thing for which the ministry is appointed. This is wrong. Learning is important, and always useful. But after all, a minister may know how to win souls to Christ, without great learning; and he has the best education for a minister, who can win the most souls to Christ.

6. There is evidently a great defect in the present mode of educating ministers. This is a SOLEMN FACT, to which the attention of the whole Church should be distinctly called, that the great mass of young ministers who are educated accomplish very little.

When young men come out of the seminaries, are they fit to go into a revival? Look at a place where there has been a revival in progress, and a minister is wanted. Let them send to a theological seminary for a minister.

Will he enter into the work, and sustain it, and carry it on? Seldom. Like David with Saul's armor, he comes in with such a load of theological trumpery, that he knows not what to do. Leave him there for two weeks, and the revival is at an end. The Churches know and feel that the greater part of these young men do not know how to do anything that needs to be done for a revival, and the complaint is made that the young ministers are so far behind the Church. You may send all over the United States, to theological seminaries, and find but few young ministers fitted to carry forward the work. What a state of things!

There is a great defect in educating ministers. Education ought to be such, as to prepare young men for the peculiar work to which they are destined.

But instead of this, they are educated for anything else. The grand mistake is this: that the mind is directed too much to irrelevant matters; it is carried over too wide a field, so that attention is diverted from the main thing and the young men get cold in religion. When, therefore, they get through their course, instead of being fitted for their work, they are unfitted for it.

Under a pretense of disciplining the mind, attention is in fact scattered, so that when the young men come to their work, they are awkward, and know not how to take hold, or how to act, to win souls. This is not universally the case, but too often it is so.

It is common for people to talk loudly and largely about "an educated ministry." God forbid that I should say a word against an educated ministry! But what do we mean by an education for the ministry? Do we mean that they should be so educated, as to be fitted for the work? If they are so educated, the more education the better. Let education be of the right kind, teaching a young man the things he needs to know, and not the very things he does not need to know. Let them be educated for the work.

Do not let education be such, that when young men come out, after spending six, eight, or ten years in study, they are not worth half as much as they were before they went. I have known young men come out after what they call "a thorough course," who could not manage a prayer meeting, so as to make it profitable or interesting. An elder of a Church in a neighboring city, informed me of a case in point. A young man, before he went to the seminary, had labored as a layman with them, conducting their prayer meetings, and been exceedingly useful among them. After he had been to the seminary, they sent for him and desired his help; but, oh, how changed! He was so completely transformed, that he made no impression; the members soon began to complain that they would "die" under his influences; and he left, because he was not prepared for the work.

It is common for those ministers who have been to the seminaries, and are now useful, to affirm that their course of studies there did them little or no good, and that they had to unlearn what they had there learned, before they could effect much. I do not say this censoriously, but it is a solemn fact, and in love I must say it.

Suppose you were going to make a man a surgeon in the navy. Instead of sending him to the medical school to learn surgery, would you send him to the nautical school, to learn navigation? In this way, you might qualify him to navigate a ship, but he is no surgeon. Ministers should be educated to know what the Bible is, and what the human mind is, and how to bring the one to bear on the other. They should be brought into contact with mind, and made familiar with all the aspects of society. They should have the Bible in one hand, and the map of the human mind in the other, and know how to use the truth for the salvation of men.

7. A want of common sense often defeats the ends of the Christian ministry. There are many good men in the ministry, who have learning, and talents of a certain sort, but they have no common sense to win souls.

8. We see one great defect in our theological schools. Young men are confined to books, and shut out from fellowship with the common people, or contact with the common mind. Hence they are not familiar with the mode in which common people think. This accounts for the fact that some plain men, who have been brought up to business, and are acquainted with human nature, are ten times better qualified to win souls than those who are educated on the present principle, and are in fact ten times as well acquainted with the proper business of the ministry. These are called "uneducated men." This is a grand mistake. They are not learned in science, but they are learned in the very things which they need to know as ministers. They are not ignorant ministers, for they know exactly how to reach the mind with truth. They are better furnished for their work, than if they had all the machinery of the schools.

I wish to be understood. I do not say, that I would not have a young man go to school. Nor would I discourage him from going over the field of science. The more the better, if together with it he learns also the things that the minister needs to know, in order to win souls - if he understands his Bible, and understands human nature, and knows how to bring the truth to bear, and how to guide and manage minds, and to lead them away from sin and lead them to God.

9. The success of any measure designed to promote a revival of religion, demonstrates its wisdom; with the following exceptions:

(a) A measure may be introduced for effect, to produce excitement, and be such that when it is looked back upon afterwards, it will seem nonsensical, and appear to have been a mere trick. In that case, it will react, and its introduction will have done more harm than good.

(b) Measures may be introduced, and the revival be very powerful, and the success be attributed to the measures, when in fact, it was other things which made the revival powerful, and these very measures may have been a hindrance. The prayers of Christians, and the preaching, and other things, may have been so well calculated to carry on the work, that it has succeeded in spite of these measures.

(c) But when the blessing evidently follows the introduction of the measure itself, the proof is unanswerable, that the measure is wise. It is profane to say that such a measure will do more harm than good. God knows about that. His object is, to do the greatest amount of good possible. And of course He will not add His blessing to a measure that will do more harm than good. He may sometimes withhold His blessing from a measure that is calculated to do some good, because it will be at the expense of a greater good. But he never will bless a pernicious proceeding. There is no such thing as deceiving God in the matter. He knows whether a given measure is, on the whole, wise or not. He may bless a course of labors notwithstanding some unwise or injurious measures. But if He blesses the measure itself, it is rebuking God to pronounce it unwise. He who undertakes to do this, let him look to the matter.

10. It is evident that much fault has been found with measures which have been pre-eminently and continually blessed of God for the promotion of revivals. If a measure is continually or usually blessed, let the man who thinks he is wiser than God, call it in question. TAKE CARE how you find fault with God!

11. Christians should pray for ministers. Brethren, if you felt how much ministers need wisdom to perform the duties of their great office with success, and how insufficient they are of themselves, you would pray for them a great deal more than you do; that is, if you cared anything for the success of their labors. People often find fault with ministers, when they do not pray for them. Brethren, this is tempting God; for you ought not to expect any better ministers, unless you pray for them. And you ought not to expect a blessing on the labors of your minister, or to have your families converted by his preaching, when you do not pray for him. And so for others, for the waste places, and the heathen: instead of praying all the time, only that God would send out more laborers, you have need also to pray that God would make ministers wise to win souls, and that those He sends out may be properly educated, so that they shall be scribes well instructed in the kingdom of God.

12. Those laymen in the Church who know how to win souls are to be counted wise. They should not be called "ignorant laymen"; and those Church members who do not know how to convert sinners, and who cannot win souls, should not be called wise - as Christians. They are not wise Christians; only "he that winneth souls is wise." They may be learned in politics, in all sciences, or they may be skilled in the management of business, or other things, and they may look down on those who win souls, as nothing but plain, simple-hearted and ignorant men. If any of you are inclined to do this, and to undervalue those who win souls, as being not so wise and cunning as you are, you deceive yourselves. They may not know some things which you know; but they know those things which a Christian is most concerned to know, and which you do not.

It may be illustrated by the case of a minister who goes to sea. He may be learned in science, but he knows not how to sail a ship. And he begins to ask the sailors about this thing and that, and what this rope is for, and the like. "Why," say the sailors, "these are not ropes, we have only one rope in a ship; these are the rigging; the man talks like a fool." And so this learned man becomes a laughing-stock, perhaps, to the sailors, because he does not know how to sail a ship. But if he were to tell them one half of what he knows about science, perhaps they would think him a conjurer, to know so much. So, learned students may understand their Latin very well, and may laugh at the humble Christian, and call him ignorant, although he may know how to win more souls than five hundred of them.

I was once distressed and grieved at hearing a minister bearing down upon a young preacher, who had been converted under remarkable circumstances, and who was licensed to preach without having pursued a regular course of study. This minister, who was never, or at least very rarely, known to convert a soul, bore down upon the young man in a very lordly, censorious manner, depreciating him because he had not had the advantage of a liberal education - when, in fact, he was instrumental in converting more souls than any five hundred ministers like the one who criticized him.

I would say nothing to undervalue, or lead any to undervalue, a thorough education for ministers. But I do not call that a thorough education, which they receive in our colleges and seminaries. It does not fit them for their work. I appeal to all experience, whether our young men in seminaries are thoroughly educated for the purpose of winning souls.  DO THEY DO IT?

Everybody knows they do not. Look at the reports of the Home Missionary Society. If I recollect right, in 1830, the number of conversions in connection with the labors of the missionaries of that society did not exceed five to each missionary. I believe the number has increased since, but is still exceedingly small to what it would have been had they been fitted, by a right course of training, for their work. I do not say this to reproach them, for, from my heart, I pity them; and I pity the Church for being under the necessity of supporting ministers so trained, or of having none at all. They are the best men the Missionary Society can obtain.

I suppose I shall be reproached for saying this. But it is too true and too painful to be concealed. Those fathers who have the training of our young ministers are good men, but they are ancient men, men of another age and stamp from what is needed in these days, when the Church and world are rising to new thought and action. Those dear fathers will not, I suppose, see with me in this; and will perhaps think hardly of me for saying it; but it is the cause of Christ. Some of them are getting back toward second childhood, and ought to resign, and give place to younger men, who are not rendered physically incapable, by age, of keeping pace with the onward movements of the Church. And here I would say, that to my own mind it appears evident, that unless our theological professors preach a good deal, mingle much with the Church, and sympathize with her in all her movements, it is morally, if not naturally, impossible, that they should succeed in training young men to the spirit of the age. It is a shame and a sin, that theological professors, who preach but seldom, who are withdrawn from the active duties of the ministry, should sit in their studies and write their Letters, advisory or dictatorial, to ministers and Churches who are in the field, and who are in circumstances to judge what needs to be done. The men who spend all, or at least a portion, of their time in the active duties of the ministry, are the only men who are able to judge of what is expedient or inexpedient, prudent or imprudent, as to measures, from time to time. It is as dangerous and ridiculous for our theological professors, who are withdrawn from the field of conflict, to be allowed to dictate, in regard to the measures and movements of the Church, as it would be for a general to sit in his bedchamber and attempt to order a battle.

Two ministers were one day conversing about another minister, whose labors were greatly blessed - in the conversion of some thousands of souls. One of them said: "That man ought not to preach anymore; he should stop and go to - (a theological seminary which he named), and proceed through a regular course of study." He said the man had "a good mind, and if he were thoroughly educated, he might be very useful." The other replied: "Do you think he would be more useful for going to that seminary? I challenge you to show by facts that any are more useful who have been there. No, sir, the fact is, that since this man has been in the ministry, he has been instrumental in converting more souls than all the young men who have come from that seminary in the time."

Finally: I wish to ask, who among you can lay any claim to the possession of this Divine wisdom? Who among you, laymen? Who among you, ministers? Can any of you? Can I? Are we at work, wisely, to win souls?

Or are we trying to make ourselves believe that success is no criterion of wisdom? It is a criterion. It is a safe criterion for every minister to try himself by. The amount of his success, other things being equal, measures the amount of wisdom he has exercised in the discharge of his office.

How few of you have ever had wisdom enough to convert so much as a single sinner? Do not say: "I cannot convert sinners. How can I convert sinners? God alone can convert sinners." Look at the text: "He that winneth souls is wise," and do not think you can escape the sentence. It is true that God converts sinners. But there is a sense, too, in which ministers convert them. And you have something to do; something which, if you do it wisely, will ensure the conversion of sinners in proportion to the wisdom employed. If you never have done this, it is high time to think about yourselves, and see whether you have wisdom enough to save even your own souls.

Men! Women! You are bound to be wise in winning souls. Perhaps already souls have perished, because you have not put forth the wisdom which you might, in saving them. The city is going to hell. Yes, the world is going to hell, and must go on, till the Church finds out what to do, to win souls. Politicians are wise. The children of this world are wise; they know what to do to accomplish their ends, while we are prosing about, not knowing what to do, or where to take hold of the work, and sinners are going to hell.

Lecture 12: How To Preach The Gospel

He that winneth souls is wise. - Proverbs. 11:30.

One of the last remarks in my last Lecture was this, that the text ascribes conversion to men. Winning souls is converting men. I now design to show that:

I. Several passages of Scripture ascribe conversion to men; and that:

II. This is consistent with other passages which ascribe conversion to God.

III. I also purpose to discuss several further particulars which are deemed important, in regard to the preaching of the Gospel, and which show that great practical wisdom is necessary to win souls to Christ.

I. THE BIBLE SCRIBES CONVERSION TO MEN.

There are many passages which represent the conversion of sinners as the work of men. In Daniel 12:3 it is said: "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Here the work is ascribed to men. So also in 1 Corinthians 4:15: "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel." Here the apostle explicitly tells the Corinthians that he made them Christians, with the Gospel, or truth, which he preached.

Again, in James 5:19, 20, we are taught the same thing. "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."

I might quote many other passages, equally explicit. But these are sufficient abundantly to establish the fact, that the Bible does actually ascribe conversion to men.

II. THE BIBLE ASCRIBES CONVERSION TO GOD.

Here let me remark that to my mind it often appears very strange that men should ever suppose there was an in consistency here, or that they should ever have overlooked the plain common sense of the matter. How easy it is to see that there is a sense in which God converts them, and another sense in which men convert them.

The Scriptures ascribe conversion to four different agencies - to men, to God, to the truth, and to the sinner himself. The passages which ascribe it to the truth are the largest class. That men should ever have overlooked this distinction, and should have regarded conversion as a work performed exclusively by God, is surprising. So it is that any difficulty should ever have been felt on the subject, or that people should ever have professed themselves unable to reconcile these several classes of passages.

The Bible speaks on this subject, precisely as we speak on common subjects. There is a man who has been very ill. How natural it is for him to say of his physician: "That man saved my life." Does he mean to say that the physician saved his life without reference to God? Certainly not, unless he is an infidel. God made the physician, and He made the medicine too. And it never can be shown but that the agency of God is just as truly concerned in making the medicine take effect to save life, as it is in making the truth take effect to save a soul. To affirm the contrary is downright atheism. It is true, then, that the physician saved him; and it is also true that God saved him.. It is equally true that the medicine saved his life, and also that he saved his own life by taking the medicine; for the medicine would have done no good if he had not taken it.

In the conversion of a sinner, it is true that God gives the truth efficiency to turn the sinner to God. He is an active, voluntary, powerful agent, in changing the mind. But the one who brings the truth to the sinner's notice is also an agent. We are apt to speak of ministers and other men as only instruments in converting sinners. This is not exactly correct. Man is something more than an instrument. Truth is the mere unconscious instrument. But man is more: he is a voluntary, responsible agent in the business. In a sermon, I have illustrated this idea by the case of an individual standing on the banks of Niagara.

"Suppose yourself to be standing on the banks of the Falls of Niagara. As you stand upon the verge of the precipice, you behold a man, lost in deep reverie, approaching its verge, unconscious of his danger. He approaches nearer and nearer, until he actually lifts his foot to take the final step that shall plunge him in destruction. At this moment, you lift your warning voice above the roar of the foaming waters, and cry out: 'Stop!' The voice pierces his ear, and breaks the charm that binds him; he turns instantly upon his heel; all pale and aghast he retires, quivering, from the verge of death. He reels and almost swoons with horror; turns, and walks slowly to the hotel; you follow him; the manifest agitation in his countenance calls numbers around him; and on your approach he points to you, and says: 'That man saved my life.' Here he ascribes the work to you; and certainly there is a sense in which you had saved him. But, on being further questioned, he says: "'Stop!" How that word rings in my ears. Oh, that was to me the word of life!' Here he ascribes it to the word that aroused him, and caused him to turn.

"But on conversing still further, he says: 'Had I not turned at that instant, I should have been a dead man.' Here he speaks of it (and truly) as his own act. But you directly hear him say: 'Oh, the mercy of God! If God had not interposed, I should have been lost!' Now, the only defect in this illustration is this: In the case supposed, the only interference on the part of God was a providential one; and the only sense in which the saving of the man's life is ascribed to Him, is in a providential sense. But in the conversion of a sinner there is something more than the providence of God employed; for here, not only does the providence of God so order it, that the preacher cries: 'Stop!' but the Spirit of God urges the truth home upon him with such tremendous power as to induce him to turn."

Not only does the minister cry: "Stop!" but through the living voice of the preacher, the Spirit cries: "Stop!" The preacher cries: "Turn ye, why will ye die?" The Spirit sends the expostulation home with such power that the sinner turns. Now, in speaking of this change, it is perfectly proper to say, that the Spirit turned him; just as you would say of a man who had persuaded another to change his mind on the subject of politics, that he had converted him, and brought him over. It is also proper to say that the truth converted him; as, in a case when the political sentiments of a man were changed by a certain argument, we should say that argument brought him over. So, also, with perfect propriety, may we ascribe the change to the preacher, or to him who had presented the motives; just as he would say of a lawyer who had prevailed in his argument with a jury: "He has won his case; he has converted the jury." It is also with the same propriety ascribed to the individual himself whose heart is changed; we should say that he has changed his mind, he has come over, he has repented. Now it is strictly true, and true in the most absolute and highest sense; the act is his own act, the turning is his own turning, while God by the truth has induced him to turn; still it is strictly true that he has turned, and has done it himself. Thus you see the sense in which it is the work of God; and also the sense in which it is the sinner's own work.

The Spirit of God, by the truth, influences the sinner to change, and in this sense is the efficient Cause of the change. But the sinner actually changes, and is therefore himself, in the most proper sense, the author of the change. There are some, who, on reading their Bibles, fasten their eyes on those passages that ascribe the work to the Spirit of God, and seem to overlook those which ascribe it to man, and speak of it as the sinner's own act. When they have quoted Scripture to prove it is the work of God, they seem to think they have proved that it is that in which man is passive, and that it can in no sense be the work of man.

Some time ago a tract was written, the title of which was, "Regeneration, the Effect of Divine Power." The writer goes on to prove that the work is wrought by the Spirit of God; and there he stops. Now it had been just as true, just as philosophical, and just as scriptural, if he had said that conversion was the work of man. It is easy to prove that it is the work of God, in the sense in which I have explained it. The writer, therefore, tells the truth, so far as he goes; but he has told only half the truth. For while there is a sense in which it is the work of God, as he has shown, there is also a sense in which it is the work of man, as we have just seen. The very title to this tract is a stumbling block. It tells the truth, but it does not tell the whole truth. And a tract might be written upon this proposition that "Conversion, or regeneration, is the work of man" which would be just as true, just as Scriptural, and just as philosophical, as the one to which I have alluded. Thus the writer, in his zeal to recognize and honor God as concerned in this work, by leaving out the fact that a change of heart is the sinner's own act, has left the sinner strongly entrenched, with his weapons in his rebellious hands, stoutly resisting the claims of his Maker, and waiting passively for God to make him a new heart. Thus you see the consistency between the requirement of the text, and the declared fact that God is the author of the new heart. God commands you to make you a new heart, expects you to do it; and, if ever it is done, you must do it.

And let me tell you, sinner, if you do not do it you will go to hell; and to all eternity you will feel that you deserved to be sent there for not having done it.

III. GOSPEL PREACHING AND SOUL WINING.

I shall now advert to several important particulars growing out of this subject, as connected with preaching the Gospel, and which show that great practical wisdom is indispensable to win souls to Christ.

1. In regard to the matter of preaching.

(a) First, all preaching should be practical. The proper end of all doctrine is practice. Anything brought forward as doctrine, which cannot be made use of as practical, is not preaching the Gospel. There is none of that sort of preaching in the Bible. That is all practical. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16:17).

A vast deal of preaching in the present day, as well as in past ages, is called doctrinal, as opposed to practical preaching. The very idea of making this distinction is a device of the devil. And a more abominable device Satan himself never devised. You sometimes hear certain men talk a wonderful deal about the necessity of "indoctrinating the people." By which they mean something different from practical preaching; teaching them certain doctrines, as abstract truths, without any particular reference to practice. And I have known a minister in the midst of a revival, while surrounded with anxious sinners, leave off laboring to convert souls, for the purpose of "indoctrinating" the young converts, for fear somebody else should indoctrinate them before him. And there the revival stops!

Either his doctrine was not true, or it was not preached in the right way.

To preach doctrines in an abstract way, and not in reference to practice, is absurd. God always brings in doctrine to regulate practice. To bring forward doctrinal views for any other object is not only nonsense; it is wicked.

Some people are opposed to doctrinal preaching. If they have been used to hear doctrines preached in a cold, abstract way, no wonder they are opposed to it. They ought to be opposed to such preaching. But what can a man preach, who preaches no doctrine? If he preaches no doctrine, he preaches no Gospel. And if he does not preach it in a practical way, he does not preach the Gospel. All preaching should be doctrinal, and all preaching should be practical. The very design of doctrine is to regulate practice. Any preaching that has not this tendency is not the Gospel. A loose, exhortatory style of preaching may affect the passions, and may produce excitement, but will never sufficiently instruct the people to secure sound conversions. On the other hand, preaching doctrine in an abstract manner may fill the head with notions, but will never sanctify the heart or life.

(b) Preaching should be direct. The Gospel should be preached to men, and not about men. The minister must address his hearers. He must preach to them about themselves, and not leave the impression that he is preaching to them about others. He will never do them any good, further than he succeeds in convincing each individual that he is the person in question.

Many preachers seem very much afraid of making the impression that they mean anybody in particular. They are preaching against certain sins - not that these have anything to do with the sinner; they would by no means speak as if they supposed any of their hearers were guilty of these abominable practices. Now this is anything but preaching the Gospel.

Thus did not the prophets, nor Christ, nor the apostles. Nor do those ministers do this, who are successful in winning souls to Christ.

(c) Another very important thing to be regarded in preaching is, that the minister should hunt after sinners and Christians, wherever they may have entrenched themselves in inaction. It is not the design of preaching to make men easy and quiet, but to make them ACT. It is not the design, in calling in a physician, to have him give opiates, and so cover up the disease and let it run on till it works death; but to search out the disease wherever it may be hidden, and to remove it. So, if a professor of religion has backslidden, and is full of doubts and fears, it is not the minister's duty to quiet him in his sins, and comfort him, but to hunt him out of his errors and backslidings, and to show him just where he stands, and what it is that makes him full of doubts and fears.

A minister ought to know the religious opinions of every sinner in his congregation. Indeed, a minister in the country is inexcusable if he does not. He has no excuse for not knowing the religious views of all his congregation, and of all that may come under his influence. How otherwise can he preach to them? How can he know how to bring forth things new and old, and adapt truth to their case? How can he hunt them out unless he knows where they hide themselves? He may ring changes on a few fundamental doctrines - Repentance and Faith, and Faith and Repentance - till the Day of Judgment, and never make any impression on many minds. Every sinner has some hiding place, some entrenchment, where he lingers. He is in possession of some darling LIE, with which he is quieting himself. Let the minister find it out, and get it away, either in the pulpit or in private, or the man will go to hell in his sins, and his blood will be found on the minister's skirts.

(d) Another important thing to observe is, that a minister should dwell most on those particular points which are most needed. I will explain what I mean.

Sometimes he may find a people who have been led to place great reliance on their own resolutions. They think they can consult their own convenience, and by-and-by they will repent, when they are ready, without any concern about the Spirit of God. Let him take up these notions, and show that they are entirely contrary to the Scriptures. Let him show that if the Spirit of God is grieved away, by and by, when it shall be convenient for the sinner to repent, he will have no inclination.

The minister who finds these errors prevailing, should expose them. He should hunt them out, and understand just how they are held, and then preach the class of truths which show the fallacy, the folly, and the danger of these notions.

So, on the other hand, he may find a people who have such views of Election and Sovereignty, as to think they have nothing to do but to wait for "the moving of the waters." Let him go right over against them, urge upon them their ability to obey God, show them their obligation and duty, and press them with that until he brings them to submit and be saved.

They have got behind a perverted view of these doctrines, and there is no way to drive them out of the hiding place, but to set them right on these points. Wherever a sinner is entrenched, unless you pour light upon him there, you will never move him. It is of no use to press him with those truths which he admits, however plainly they may in fact contradict his wrong notions. He supposes them to be perfectly consistent, and does not see the inconsistency, and therefore it will not move him, or bring him to repentance.

I have been informed of a minister in New England, who was settled in a congregation which had long enjoyed little else than Armenian preaching, and the congregation themselves were chiefly Armenians. Well, this minister, in his preaching, strongly insisted on the opposite points, Election, Divine Sovereignty, Predestination, etc. The consequence was, as might have been expected where this was done with ability, that there was a powerful revival. Some time afterwards this same minister was called to labor in another field, in this State, where the people were all on the other side, and strongly tinctured with Antinomianism. They had got such perverted views of Election and Divine Sovereignty, that they were continually saying they had no power to do anything, but must wait God's time. Now, what does the minister do, but immediately go to preaching the doctrine of Election. And when he was asked how he could think of preaching the doctrine of Election so much to that people, when it was the very thing that lulled them to a deeper slumber, he replied: "Why, that is the very class of truths by which I had such a great revival in -"; not considering the difference in the views of the people. You must take things as they are; find out where sinners lie, pour in truth upon them there, and START THEM OUT from their refuges of lies. It is of vast importance that a minister should find out where the congregation is, and preach accordingly.

I have been in many places in times of revival, and I have never been able to employ precisely the same course of preaching in one as in another.

Some are entrenched behind one refuge, and some behind another. In one place, Christians will need to be instructed; in another, sinners. In one place, one set of truths; in another, another set. A minister must find out where people are, and preach accordingly. I believe this is the experience of all preachers who are called to labor from field to field.

(e) If a minister means to promote a revival, he should be very careful not to introduce controversy. He will grieve away the Spirit of God. In this way, probably, more revivals are put down than in any other. Look back upon the history of the Church from the beginning, and you will see that ministers are generally responsible for grieving away the Spirit and causing declensions by controversy. It is the ministers who bring forward controversial subjects for discussion, and by and by they get very zealous on the subject, and then get the Church into a controversial spirit, and so the Spirit of God is grieved away.

If I had time to go over the history of the Church from the days of the apostles, I could show that all the controversies that have taken place, and all the great declensions in religion, too, are chargeable upon ministers. I believe the ministers of the present day are responsible for the present state of the Church, and it will be seen to be true at the judgment. Who does not know that ministers have been crying out "Heresy," and "New Measures," and talking about the "Evils of Revivals," until they have got the Church all in confusion? Oh, God, have mercy on ministers! They talk about their days of fasting and prayer, but are these the men to call on others to fast and pray? They ought to fast and pray themselves. It is time that ministers should assemble together, and fast and pray over the evils of controversy, for they have caused it. The Church itself would never get into a controversial spirit, unless led into it by ministers. The body of Church members are always averse to controversy, and would keep out of it, only they are dragged into it by ministers. When Christians are revived they are not inclined to meddle with controversy, either to read or hear it.

But they may be told of such and such "damnable heresies" that are afloat, till they get their feelings enlisted in controversy, and then farewell to the revival. If a minister, in preaching, finds it necessary to discuss particular points about which Christians differ in opinion, let him BY ALL MEANS avoid a controversial spirit and manner of doing it.

(f) The Gospel should be preached in those proportions, that the whole Gospel may be brought before the minds of the people, and produce its proper influence. If too much stress is laid on one class of truths, the Christian character will not have its due proportions. Its symmetry will not be perfect. If that class of truths be almost exclusively dwelt upon, that requires great exertion of intellect, without being brought home to the heart and conscience, it will be found that the Church will be indoctrinated in those views, but will not be awake, and active, and efficient in the promotion of religion. If, on the other hand, the preaching be loose, indefinite, exhortatory, and highly impassioned, the Church will be like a ship with too much sail for her ballast. It will be in danger of being swept away by a tempest of feeling, when there is not sufficient knowledge to prevent its being carried away with every wind of doctrine. If Election and Sovereignty are too much preached, there will be Antinomianism in the Church, and sinners will hide themselves behind the delusion that they can do nothing. If, on the other hand, doctrines of ability and obligation be too prominent, they will produce Arminianism, and sinners will be blustering and self-confident.

When I entered the ministry, there had been so much said about Election and Sovereignty, that I found it was the universal hiding place, both of sinners and of Christians, that they could not do anything, or could not obey the Gospel. And wherever, I went, I found it indispensable to demolish these refuges of lies. And a revival would in no way have been produced or carried on, but by dwelling on that class of truths, which hold up man's ability, and obligation, and responsibility.

It was not so in the days when President Edwards and Whitefield labored.

Then, the Churches in New England had enjoyed little else than Armenian preaching, and were all resting in themselves and their own strength. These bold and devoted servants of God came out and declared those particular doctrines of grace, Divine Sovereignty and Election, and they were greatly blessed. They did not dwell on these doctrines exclusively, but they preached them very fully. The consequence was that because in those circumstances revivals followed from such preaching, the ministers who followed continued to preach these doctrines almost exclusively. And they dwelt on them so long that the Church and the world got entrenched behind them, waiting for God to come and do what He required them to do; and so revivals ceased for many years.

Now, and for years past, ministers have been engaged in hunting them out from these refuges. And here it is all-important for the ministers of this day to bear in mind that if they dwell exclusively on Ability and Obligation, they will get their hearers back on the old Armenian ground, and then they will cease to promote revivals. Here are ministers who have preached a great deal of truth, and have had great revivals, under God.

Now, let it be known and remarked, that the reason is, they have hunted sinners out from their hiding places. But if they continue to dwell on the same class of truths till sinners hide themselves behind such preaching, another class of truths must be preached. And then if they do not change their mode, another pall will hang over the Church, until another class of ministers shall arise and hunt sinners out of those new retreats.

A right view of both classes of truths, Election and Free-agency, will do no hurt. They are eminently calculated to convert sinners and strengthen saints. It is a perverted view that chills the heart of the Church, and closes the eyes of sinners in sleep. If I had time, I would remark on the manner in which I have sometimes heard the doctrines of Divine Sovereignty, Election, and Ability preached. They have been exhibited in irreconcilable contradiction, the one against the other. Such exhibitions are anything but the Gospel, and are calculated to make a sinner feel anything rather than his responsibility to God.

By preaching truth in proper proportions, I do not mean mingling all things together in the same sermon, in such a way that sinners will not see their connection or consistency. A minister once asked another: "Why do you not preach the doctrine of Election?" "Because," said the other, "I find sinners here are entrenched behind Inability." The first then said he once knew a minister who used to preach Election in the forenoon and Repentance in the afternoon. But, bringing things together that confound the sinner's mind, and overwhelm him with a fog of metaphysics, is not wise preaching. When talking of Election, the preacher is not talking of the sinner's duty. It has no relation to the sinner's duty. Election belongs to the government of God. It is a part of the exceeding richness of the grace of God. It shows the love of God - not the duty of the sinner. And to bring Election and Repentance together in this way is diverting the sinner's mind away from his duty. It has been customary, in many places, for a long time, to bring the doctrine of Election into every sermon. Sinners have been commanded to repent, and told that they could not repent, in the same sermon. A great deal of ingenuity has been exercised in endeavoring to reconcile a sinner's "inability" with his obligation to obey God.

Election, Predestination, Free-agency, Inability, and Duty, have all been thrown together in one promiscuous jumble. And, with regard to many sermons, it has been too true, as has been objected, that ministers have preached: "You can and you cannot, you shall and you shall not, you will and you will not, and you will be lost if you do not!" Such a mixture of truth and error, of light and darkness, has confounded the congregation, and been the fruitful source of Universalism and every species of infidelity and error.

(g) It is of great importance that the sinner should be made to feel his guilt, and not left to the impression that he is unfortunate. I think this is a very prevalent fault, particularly in books on the subject. They are calculated to make the sinner think more of his sorrows than of his sins, and feel that his state is rather unfortunate than criminal. Perhaps most of you have seen a lovely little book, recently published, entitled "Todd's Lectures to Children." It is exquisitely fine, and happy in some of its illustrations of truth. But it has one very serious fault. Many of its illustrations, I may say most of them, are not calculated to make a correct impression respecting the guilt of sinners, or to make them feel how much they have been to blame. This is very unfortunate. If the writer had guarded his illustrations on this point, so as to make them impress sinners with a sense of their guilt, I do not see how a child could have read through that book and not have been converted. Multitudes of the books written for children, and for adults too, within the last twenty years, have run into this mistake to an alarming degree. They are not calculated to make the sinner condemn himself. Until you can do this, the Gospel will never take effect.

(h) A prime object with the preacher must be to make present obligation felt. I have talked, I suppose, with many thousands of anxious sinners.

And I have found that they had never before felt the pressure of present obligation. The impression is not commonly made by ministers in their preaching that sinners are expected to repent NOW. And if ministers suppose they make this impression, they deceive themselves. Most commonly any other impression is made upon the minds of sinners by the preacher than that they are expected now to submit. But what sort of a Gospel is this? Does God authorize such an impression? Is this according to the preaching of Jesus Christ? Does the Holy Spirit, when striving with the sinner, make the impression upon his mind that he is not expected to obey now? Was any such impression produced by the preaching of the apostles? How does it happen that so many ministers now preach, so as, in fact, to make an impression on their hearers that they are not expected to repent now? Until the sinner's conscience is reached on this subject, you preach to him in vain. And until ministers learn how to preach so as to make the right impression, the world never can be converted. Oh, to what an alarming extent does the impression now prevail among the impenitent, that they are not expected to repent now, but must wait God's time!

(i) Sinners ought to be made to feel that they have something to do, and that is, to repent; that it is something which no other being can do for them, neither God nor man; and something which they can do, and do now. Religion is something to do, not something to wait for. And they must do it now, or they are in danger of eternal death.

(j) Ministers should never rest satisfied, until they have ANNIHILATED every excuse of sinners. The plea of "inability" is the worst of excuses. It slanders God so, charging Him with infinite tyranny, in commanding men to do that which they have no power to do. Make the sinner see and feel that this is the very nature of his excuse. Make the sinner see that All pleas in excuse for not submitting to God are acts of rebellion against Him.

Tear away the last LIE which he grasps in his hand, and make him feel that he is absolutely condemned before God.

(k) Sinners should be made to feel that if they now grieve away the Spirit of God, it is very probable that they will be lost forever. There is infinite danger of this. They should be made to understand why they are dependent on the Spirit, and that it is not because they cannot do what God commands, but because they are unwilling. They are so unwilling that it is just as certain they will not repent without the Holy Ghost, as if they were now in hell, or as if they were actually unable. They are so opposed and so unwilling, that they never will repent in the world, unless God sends His Holy Spirit upon them.

Show them, too, that a sinner under the Gospel, who hears the truth preached, if converted at all, is generally converted young; and if not converted while young, he is commonly given up of God. Where the truth is preached, sinners are either Gospel-hardened or converted. I know some old sinners are converted, but they are rather exceptions, and by no means common.

2. I wish to make a few remarks on the manner of preaching.

(a) It should be conversational. Preaching, to be understood, should be colloquial in style. A minister must preach just as he would talk, if he wishes fully to be understood. Nothing is more calculated to make a sinner feel that religion is some mysterious thing that he cannot understand than this formal, lofty style of speaking which is so generally employed in the pulpit. The minister ought to do as the lawyer does when he wants to make a jury understand him perfectly. He uses a style perfectly colloquial.

This lofty, swelling style will do no good. The Gospel will never produce any great effects until ministers talk to their hearers, in the pulpit, as they talk in private conversation.

(b) It must be in the language of common life. Not only should it be colloquial in its style, but the words should be such as are in common use.

Otherwise they will not be understood. In the New Testament you will observe that Jesus Christ invariably uses words of the most common kind.

The language of the Gospel is the plainest, simplest, and most easily understood of any language in the world.

For a minister to neglect this principle is wicked. Some ministers use language that is purely technical in preaching. They think to avoid the mischief by explaining the meaning fully at the outset; but this will not answer. It will not effect the object in making the people understand what he means. If he should use a word that is not in common use and that people do not understand, his explanation may be very full, but the difficulty is that people will forget his explanations, and then his words are so much Greek to them. Or if he uses a word in common use, but employs it in an uncommon sense, giving his special explanations, it is no better; for the people will soon forget his special explanations, and then the impression actually conveyed to their minds will be according to their common understanding of the word. And thus he will never convey the right idea to his congregation. It is amazing how many men of thinking minds there are in congregations, who do not understand the most common technical expressions employed by ministers, such as regeneration, sanctification, etc.

Use words that can be perfectly understood. Do not, for fear of appearing unlearned, use language which the people do not understand. The apostle says: "If I know not the meaning... he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me" (1 Corinthians 14:11). And: "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" (v. 8). In the apostle's days there were some preachers who were marvelously proud of displaying their command of language, and showing off the variety of tongues they could speak, which the common people could not understand. The apostle rebukes this spirit sharply, and says: "I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue" (v. 19).

I have sometimes heard ministers preach, even when there was a revival, when I have wondered what that part of the congregation would do, who had no dictionary. So many phrases were brought in, manifestly to adorn the discourse, rather than to instruct the people, that I have felt as if I wanted to tell the man: "Sit down, and do not confound the people's minds with your barbarian preaching, that they cannot understand."

(c) Preaching should be parabolical. That is, illustrations should be constantly used, drawn from incidents, real or supposed. Jesus Christ constantly illustrated His instructions in this way. He would either advance a principle and then illustrate it by a parable - that is, a short story of some event, real or imaginary - or else He would bring out the principle in the parable. There are millions of facts that can be used to advantage, and yet very few ministers dare to use them, for fear somebody will reproach them. "Oh," says somebody, "he actually tells stories!"

Tells stories! Why, that is the way Jesus Christ preached. And it is the only way to preach. Facts, real or supposed, should be used to show the truth. Truths not illustrated, are generally just as much calculated to convert sinners as a mathematical demonstration. Is it always to be so?

Shall it always be a matter of reproach, when ministers follow the example of Jesus Christ in illustrating truths by facts? Let them still do it, however much the foolish reproach them as story-telling ministers! They have Jesus Christ and common sense on their side.

(d) The illustrations should be drawn from common life, and the common business of society. I once heard a minister illustrate his ideas by the manner in which merchants transact business. Another minister who was present made some remarks to him afterwards. He objected to this illustration particularly, because, he said, it was too familiar, and was "letting down the dignity of the pulpit." He said all illustrations in preaching should be drawn from ancient history, or from an elevated source, that would keep up the dignity of the pulpit. Dignity indeed! Just the language of the devil. He rejoices in it. Why, the object of an illustration is to make people see the truth, not to bolster up pulpit dignity.

A minister whose heart is in the work does not use an illustration in order to make people stare, but to make them see the truth. If he brought forward his illustrations from ancient history, it could not make the people see; it would not illustrate anything. The novelty of the thing might awaken their attention, but they would lose the truth itself. For if the illustration itself be a novelty, the attention will be directed to this fact as a matter of history, and the truth itself, which it was designed to illustrate, will be lost sight of. The illustration should, if possible, be a matter of common occurrence, and the more common the occurrence the more sure it will be not to fix attention upon itself, but to serve as a medium through which the truth is conveyed.

The Savior always illustrated His instructions by things that were taking place among the people to whom He preached, and with which their minds were familiar. He descended often very far below what is now supposed to be essential to support the dignity of the pulpit. He talked about hens and chickens, and children in marketplaces, and sheep and lambs, and shepherds and farmers, and husbandmen and merchants. And when He talked about kings (as in the marriage of the King's son, and the nobleman that went into a far country to receive a Kingdom), He made reference to historical facts that were well known among the people at the time. The illustration should always be drawn from things so common that the illustration itself will not attract attention away from the subject, but that people may see, through it, the truth illustrated.

(e) Preaching should be repetitious. If a minister wishes to preach with effect, he must not be afraid of repeating whatever he may see is not perfectly understood by his hearers. Here is the evil of using a written sermon. The preacher preaches right along just as he has written it down, and cannot observe whether he is understood or not. If he should interrupt his reading, and attempt to catch the countenances of his audience, and to explain where he sees they do not understand, he grows confused. If a minister has his eyes on the people to whom he is preaching, he can commonly tell by their looks whether they understand him. If he sees that they do not understand any particular point, let him stop and illustrate it; and if they do not understand one illustration, let him give another, and make it clear to their minds before he goes on. But those who write their sermons go right on, in a regular consecutive train, just as in an essay or a book, failing, through want of repetition, to make the audience fully comprehend their points.

During a conversation with one of the first advocates in America, he expressed the view that when preachers experience difficulty in making themselves understood, it arises from the fact that they do not repeat their points sufficiently. Said he: "In addressing a jury, I always expect that whatever I wish to impress upon their minds, I shall have to repeat at least twice; and often I repeat it three or four times, and even as many, times as there are jurymen before me. Otherwise, I do not carry their minds with me, so that they can feel the force of what comes afterwards." If a jury, under oath, called to decide on the common affairs of this world, cannot apprehend an argument, unless there is so much repetition, how is it to be expected that men will understand the preaching of the Gospel without it?

In like manner the minister ought to turn an important thought over and over before his audience, till even the children understand it perfectly. Do not say that so much repetition will create disgust in cultivated minds. It will not disgust. This is not what disgusts thinking men. They are not weary of the efforts a minister makes to be understood. The fact is, the more simple a minister's illustrations are, and the more plain he makes everything, the more men of mind are interested. I know, in fact, that men of the first minds often get ideas they never had before, from illustrations which were designed to bring the Gospel down to the comprehension of a child. Such men are commonly so occupied with the affairs of this world, that they do not think much on the subject of religion, and they therefore need the plainest preaching, and they will like it.

(f) A minister should always feel deeply upon his subject, and then he will suit the action to the word, and the word to the action, so as to make the full impression which the truth is calculated to make. He should be in solemn earnest in what he says. I heard a most judicious criticism on this subject: "How important it is that a minister should feel what he says.

Then his actions will, of course, correspond to his words. If he undertakes to make gestures, his arms may go like a windmill, and yet make no impression." It is said to require the utmost stretch of art on the stage for the actors to make their hearers feel. The design of elocution is to teach this skill. But if a man feels his subject fully, he will naturally do it. He will naturally do the very thing that elocution laboriously teaches. See any common man in the streets who is earnest in talking; see with what force he gestures. See a woman or a child in earnest - how natural! To gesture with their hands is as natural as it is to move their tongue and lips: it is the perfection of eloquence.

No wonder that a great deal of preaching produces so little effect. Gestures are of more importance than is generally supposed. Mere words will never express the full meaning of the Gospel. The manner of saying it is almost everything. I once heard a remark made, respecting a young minister's preaching, which was instructive. (He was uneducated, in the common sense of the term, but well educated to win souls.) It was said of him: "The manner in which he comes in, and sits in the pulpit, and rises to speak, is a sermon of itself. It shows that he has something to say that is important and solemn." That man's manner of saying some things I have known to move the feelings of a whole congregation, when the same things said in a prosy way would have produced no effect at all.

A fact which was stated upon this subject by one of the most distinguished professors of elocution in the United States, ought to impress ministers. (The man was an unbeliever.) He said: "I have been fourteen years employed in teaching elocution to ministers, and I know they do not believe the Christian religion. Whether the Bible is true or not, I know these ministers do not believe it. I can demonstrate that they do not. The perfection of my art is to teach them to speak naturally on this subject. I go to their studies, and converse with them, and they speak eloquently. I say to them: 'Gentlemen, if you will preach naturally, just as you speak on any other subject in which you are interested, you do not need to be taught. That is just what I am trying to teach you. I hear you talk on other subjects with admirable force and eloquence. Then I see you go into the pulpit, and you speak and act as if you do not believe what you are saying.' I have told them, again and again, to talk in the pulpit as they naturally talk to me. Yet I cannot make them do it; and so I know they do not believe the Christian religion."

I have mentioned this to show how universal it is, that men will gesture right, if they feel right. The only thing in the way of ministers being natural speakers is, that they do not DEEPLY FEEL. How can they be natural in elocution, when they do not feel?

(g) A minister should aim to convert his congregation. But, you will ask: Does not all preaching aim at this? No. A minister always has some aim in preaching, but most sermons were never aimed at converting sinners. And if sinners were converted under them, the preacher himself would be amazed. I once heard a story bearing on this point. There were two young ministers who had entered the ministry at the same time. One of them had great success in converting sinners; the other, none. The latter inquired of the other, one day, what was the reason of this difference. "Why," replied his friend, "the reason is, that I aim at a different end from you in preaching. My object is to convert sinners, but you aim at no such thing; and then you put it down to the Sovereignty of God that you do not produce the same effect, when you never aim at it. Take one of my sermons and preach it, and see what the effect will be." The man did so, and preached the sermon, and it did produce effect. He was frightened when sinners began to weep; and when one came to him after meeting to ask what he should do, the minister apologized to him, and said: "I did not aim to wound you, I am sorry if I have hurt your feelings!" Oh, horrible!

(h) A minister must anticipate the objections of sinners, and answer them.

What does the lawyer do, when pleading before a jury? (Oh, how differently from human causes is the cause of Jesus Christ pleaded!) It was remarked by a lawyer, that the cause of Jesus Christ had the fewest able advocates of any cause in the world. And I partly believe it. Does not a lawyer go along in his argument in a regular train, explaining anything that is obscure, and anticipating the arguments of his antagonist? If he did not, he would lose his case, to a certainty. But ministers often leave one difficulty and another untouched. Sinners who hear them feel a difficulty, and never know how to remove it, and perhaps the minister never takes the trouble to know that such a difficulty exists. Yet he wonders why his congregation is not converted, and why there is no revival. How can he wonder at it, when he has never hunted up the difficulties and objections that sinners feel, and removed them?

(i) If a minister means to preach the Gospel with effect, he must be sure not to be monotonous. If he preaches in a monotonous way, he will preach the people to sleep. Any monotonous sound, great or small, if continued, disposes people to sleep. The falls of Niagara, the roaring of the ocean, or any sound ever so great or small, has this effect naturally on the nervous system. And a minister cannot be monotonous in preaching, if he feels what he says.

(j) A minister should address the feelings enough to secure attention, and then deal with the conscience, and probe to the quick. Appeals to the feelings alone will never convert sinners. If the preacher deals too much in these, he may get up an excitement, and have wave after wave of feeling flow over the congregation, and people may be carried away as with a flood, and rest in false hopes. The only way to secure sound conversions, is to deal faithfully with the conscience. If attention flags at any time, appeal to the feelings again, and rouse it up; but do your work with conscience.

(k) If he can, it is desirable that a minister should learn the effect of one sermon, before he preaches another. What would be thought of the physician who should give medicine to his patient, and then give it again and again, without trying to learn the effect of the first? A minister never will be able to deal with sinners as he ought, till he can find out whether his instruction has been received and understood, and whether the difficulties in sinners' minds are cleared away, and their path open to the Savior, so that they need not go on stumbling and stumbling till their souls are lost.

REMARKS.

1. We see why so few of the leading minds in many communities are converted.

Until the late revivals, professional men were rarely reached by preaching, and they were almost all infidels at heart. People almost understood the Bible to warrant the idea that they could not be converted. The reason is obvious. The Gospel had not been commended to the conscience of such men. Ministers had not reasoned so as to make that class of mind see the truth of the Gospel, and feel its power; consequently such persons had come to regard religion as something unworthy of their notice.

Of late years, however, the case is altered, and in some places there have been more of this class of persons converted, in proportion to their numbers, than of any other. That is because they were made to understand the claims of the Gospel. The preacher grappled with their minds, and showed them the reasonableness of religion. And when this is done, it is found that this class of mind is more easily converted than any other.

They have so much better capacity to receive an argument, and are so much more in the habit of yielding to the force of reason, that as soon as the Gospel gets a fair hold of their minds, it breaks them right down, and melts them down at the feet of Christ.

2. Before the Gospel takes general effect, we must have a class of extempore preachers, for the following reasons:

(a) No set of men can stand the labor of writing sermons and doing all the preaching which will be requisite.

(b) Written sermons are not calculated to produce the requisite effect. Such preaching does not present the truth in right shape.

It is impossible for a man who writes his sermons to arrange his matter, and turn and choose his thoughts, so as to produce the same effect as when he addresses the people directly, and makes them feel that he means them. Writing sermons had its origin in times of political difficulty. The practice was unknown in the apostles' days. No doubt written sermons have done a great deal of good, but they can never give to the Gospel its great power.

Perhaps many ministers have been so long trained in the use of notes, that they had better not throw them away. Perhaps they would make bad work without them. The difficulty would not be for want of mind, but from wrong training. The bad habit is begun with the schoolboy, who is called to "speak his piece." Instead of being set to express his own thoughts and feelings in his own language, and in his own natural manner, such as Nature herself prompts, he is made to commit another person's writing to memory, and then he mouths it out in a stiff and formal way. And so when he goes to college, and to the seminary, instead of being trained to extempore speaking, he is set to write his piece, and commit it to memory.

I would pursue the opposite course from the beginning. I would give him a subject, and let him first think, and then speak his thoughts. Perhaps he will make mistakes. Very well, that is to be expected in a beginner. But he will learn. Suppose he is not eloquent, at first. Very well, he can improve.

And he is in the very way to improve. This kind of training alone will raise up a class of ministers who can convert the world.

But it is objected to extemporaneous preaching, that if ministers do not write, they will not think. This objection will have weight with those men whose habit has always been to write down their thoughts. But to a man of different habit, it will have no weight at all.

The mechanical labor of writing is really a hindrance to close and rapid thought. It is true that some extempore preachers have not been men of thought. But so it is true that many men who write sermons are not men of thought. A man whose habits have always been such, that he has thought only when he has put his mind on the end of his pen, will, of course, if he lays aside his pen, at first find it difficult to think; and if he attempts to preach without writing, will, until his habits are thoroughly changed, find it difficult to throw into his sermons the same amount of thought, as if he conformed to his old habit of writing. But it should be remembered that this is only on account of his having been trained to write, and having always habituated himself to it. It is the training and habit that render it so difficult for him to think without writing. Will anybody pretend to say that lawyers are not men of thought? That their arguments before a court and jury are not profound and well digested? And yet everyone knows that they do not write their speeches.

I have heard much of this objection to extempore preaching ever since I entered the ministry. It was often said to me then, in answer to my views of extempore preaching, that ministers who preached extemporaneously would not instruct the Churches, that there would be a great deal of sameness in their preaching, and they would soon become insipid and repetitious for want of thought. But every year's experience has ripened the conviction on my mind, that the reverse of this objection is true. The man who writes least, may, if he pleases, think most, and will say what he does think in a manner that will be better understood than if it were written; and that, just in the proportion that he lays aside the labor of writing, his body will be left free to exercise, and his mind to vigorous and consecutive thought.

The great reason why it is supposed that extempore preachers more frequently repeat the same thoughts in their preaching, is because what they say is, in a general way, more perfectly remembered by the congregation, than if it had been read. I have often known preachers who could repeat their written sermons once in a few months, without the fact being recognized by the congregation. But the manner in which extempore sermons are generally delivered is so much more impressive, that the thoughts cannot in general be soon repeated without being remembered.

We shall never have a set of men in our halls of legislation, in our courts of justice, and in our pulpits, who are powerful and overwhelming speakers, and can carry the world before them, till our system of education teaches them to think, closely, rapidly, consecutively, and till all their habits of speaking in the schools are extemporaneous. The very style of communicating thought, in what is commonly called a good style of writing, is not calculated to leave a deep impression. It is not laconic, direct, pertinent. It is not the language of nature.

In delivering a sermon in this essay style of writing, it is impossible that nearly all the fire of meaning, and power of gesture, and looks, and attitude, and emphasis, should not be lost. We can never have the full meaning of the Gospel, till we throw away our written sermons.

3. A minister's course of study and training for his work should be exclusively theological.

I mean just as I say. I am not now going to discuss the question whether all education ought not to be theological. But I say education for the ministry should be exclusively so. But you will ask: Should not a minister understand science? I would answer: Yes; the more the better. I would that ministers might understand all science. But it should all be in connection with theology. Studying science is studying the works of God. And studying theology is studying God.

Let a scholar be asked, for instance, this question: "Is there a God?" To answer it, let him ransack the universe, let him go out into every department of science to find the proofs of design, and in this way to learn the existence of God. Let him ransack creation to see whether there is such a unity of design as evinces that there is one God. In like manner, let him inquire concerning the attributes of God, and His character. He will learn science here, but will learn it as a part of theology. Let him search every field of knowledge to bring forward his proofs. What was the design of this plan? What was the end of that arrangement? See whether everything you find in the universe is not calculated to produce happiness, unless perverted.

Would the student's heart get hard and cold in study, as cold and hard as college walls, if science were pursued in this way? Every lesson brings him right up before God, and is, in fact, communion with God, which warms his heart, and makes him more pious, more solemn, more holy. The very distinction between classical and theological study is a curse to the Church, and a curse to the world. The student spends four years in college at classical studies, with no God in them; and then three years in the seminary, at theological studies; and what then? Poor young man! Set him to work, and you will find that he is not educated for the ministry at all.

The Church groans under his preaching, because he does not preach with unction, or with power. He has been spoiled in training.

4. We learn what revival preaching is. All ministers should be revival ministers, and all preaching should be revival preaching; that is, it should be calculated to promote holiness. People say: "It is very well to have some men in the Church, who are revival preachers, and who can go about and promote revivals; but then you must have others to indoctrinate the Church." Strange! Do they know that a revival indoctrinates the Church faster than anything else? And a minister will never produce a revival if he does not indoctrinate his hearers. The preaching I have described is full of doctrine, but it is doctrine to be practiced. And that is revival preaching.

5. There are two objections sometimes brought against the kind of preaching which I have recommended.

(a) That it is letting down the dignity of the pulpit to preach in this colloquial, lawyer-like style. They are shocked at it. But it is only on account of its novelty, and not for any impropriety there is in the thing itself. I heard a remark made by a leading layman in regard to the preaching of a certain minister. He said it was the first preaching he had ever heard, that he understood, and the minister was the first he had heard who spoke as if he believed his own doctrine, or meant what he said. The layman further said that when first he heard the minister preach - as if he really meant what he said - he came to the conclusion that such a preacher must be crazy! But, eventually, he was made to see that it was all true, and then he submitted to the truth, as the power of God for the salvation of his soul.

What is the dignity of the pulpit? What an idea, to see a minister go into the pulpit to sustain its dignity! Alas, alas! During my foreign tour, I heard an English missionary preach exactly in that way. I believe he was a good man, and out of the pulpit he would talk like a man who meant what he said. But no sooner was he in the pulpit than he appeared like a perfect automaton - swelling, mouthing, and singing, enough to put all the people to sleep. And the difficulty seemed to be that he wanted to maintain the dignity of the pulpit.

(b) It is objected that this preaching is theatrical. The Bishop of London once asked Garrick, the celebrated actor, why it was that actors, in representing a mere fiction, should move an assembly, even to tears, while ministers, in representing the most solemn realities, could scarcely obtain a hearing. The philosophical Garrick well replied: "It is because we represent fiction as reality, and you represent reality as a fiction." This is telling the whole story. Now, what is the design of the actor in a theatrical representation? It is so to throw himself into the spirit and meaning of the writer, as to adopt his sentiments, and make them his own: to feel them, embody them, throw them out upon the audience as a living reality.

Now, what is the objection to all this in preaching? The actor suits the action to the word, and the word to the action. His looks, his hands, his attitudes, and everything, are designed to express the full meaning of the writer.

Now, this should be the aim of the preacher. And if by "theatrical" be meant the strongest possible representation of the sentiments expressed, then the more theatrical the sermon is, the better. And if ministers are too stiff, and the people too fastidious, to learn even from an actor, or from the stage, the best method of swaying mind, of enforcing sentiment, and diffusing the warmth of burning thought over a congregation, then they must go on with their prosing, and reading, and sanctimonious starch. But let them remember, that while they are thus turning away and decrying the art of the actor, and attempting to support the "dignity of the pulpit," the theaters can be thronged every night. The common sense of the people will be entertained with that manner of speaking, and sinners will go down to hell.

6. A congregation may learn how to choose a minister. When a vacant Church is looking out for a minister, there are two leading points on which attention is commonly fixed:

1. That he should be popular.

2. That he should be learned. These are very well. But the point that should be the first in their inquiries is: "Is he wise to win souls?" No matter how eloquent a minister is or how learned, no matter how pleasing and how popular is his manners, if it is a matter of fact that sinners are not converted under his preaching, it shows that he has not this wisdom, and your children and neighbors will go down to hell under his preaching.

I am happy to know that many Churches will ask this question about ministers, and if they find that a minister is destitute of this vital quality, they will not have him. And if ministers can be found who are wise to win souls, the Churches will have such ministers. It is in vain to contend against it, or to pretend that they are not well educated, or not learned, or the like. It is in vain for the schools to try to force down the throats of the Churches a race of ministers who are learned in everything but what they most need to know.

It is very difficult to say what needs to be said on this subject, without being in danger of begetting a wrong spirit in the Church towards ministers. Many professors of religion are ready to find fault with ministers when they have no reason; insomuch, that it becomes very difficult to say of ministers what is true, and what needs to be said, without one's remarks being perverted and abused by this class of professors. I would not, for the world, say anything to injure the influence of a minister of Christ, who is really endeavoring to do good. But, to tell the truth will not injure the influence of those ministers who, by their lives and preaching, give evidence to the Church that their object is to do good, and win souls for Christ. This class of ministers will recognize the truth of all that I have said, or wish to say. They see it all and deplore it. But if there be ministers who are doing no good, who are feeding themselves and not the flock, such ministers deserve no influence. If they are doing no good, it is time for them to betake themselves to some other profession.

They are but leeches on the very vitals of the Church, sucking out its heart's blood. They are useless, and worse than useless. And the sooner they are laid aside and their places filled with those who will exert themselves for Christ, the better.

7. Finally. It is the duty of the Church to pray for us, ministers. Not one of us is such as he ought to be. Like Paul, we can say: "Who is sufficient for these things?" ( 2 Corinthians 2:16.) But who among us is like Paul? Where will you find such ministers as Paul? They are not here. We have been wrongly educated, all of us. Pray for the schools, and colleges, and seminaries. And pray for young men who are preparing for the ministry.

Pray for ministers, that God would give them this wisdom to win souls.

And pray that God would bestow upon the Church the wisdom and the means to educate a generation of ministers who will go forward and convert the world. The Church must travail in prayer, and groan and agonize for this. This is now the pearl of price to the Church - to have a supply of the right sort of ministers. The coming of the millennium depends on having a different sort of ministers, who are more thoroughly educated for their work. And this we shall have so sure as the promise of the Lord holds good. Such a ministry as is now in the Church will never convert the world, but the world is to be converted, and therefore God intends to have ministers who will do it. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest" (Luke 10:2).

Lecture 13: How Churches Can Help Ministers

And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword . - Exodus 17:11-13.

You who read your Bibles will recollect the connection in which these verses stand. The people of God, in subduing their enemies, came to battle against the Amalekites, and these incidents took place. It is difficult to conceive why importance should be attached to the circumstance of Moses holding up his hands, unless the expression is understood to denote the attitude of prayer. But then his holding up his hands, and the success attending it, will teach us the importance of prayer to God, for His aid in all our conflicts with His enemies. The cooperation and support of Aaron and Hur have been generally understood to represent the duty of Churches to sustain and assist ministers in their work, and the importance of this cooperation to the success of the preached gospel. I shall make this use of it on the present occasion. As I have spoken of the duty of ministers to labor for revivals, I shall now consider the importance of the cooperation of the Church in producing and carrying on a revival.

There are various things, the importance of which in promoting a revival have not been duly considered by Churches or ministers - things which, if not attended to, will make it impossible that revivals should extend, or even continue for any considerable time. In my last two Lectures, I have been dwelling on the duties of ministers, for it was impossible for me to deliver a course of lectures on revivals, without entering more or less extensively into that department of means. I have not done with that part of the subject, but have thought it important here to step aside and discuss some points, in which the members of the Church must stand by and aid the minister, if they expect to enjoy a revival. In discussing the subject, I propose to mention:

I. Several things which Christians must avoid, if they would support ministers.

II. Some things to which they must attend.

I. THINGS THAT MUST BE AVOIDED.

1. By all means keep clear of the idea, both in theory and practice, that a minister alone is to promote revivals. Many professing Christians are inclined to take a passive attitude on this subject, and feel as if they had nothing to do. They have employed a minister, and paid him to feed them with instruction and comfort, and now they have nothing to do but to sit and swallow the food he gives. They are to pay his salary and attend on his preaching - and they think that is doing a great deal. And he, on his part, is expected to preach good, sound, comfortable doctrine, to bolster them up, and make them feel comfortable. So, they expect to go to heaven.

I tell you THEY WILL GO TO HELL if this is their religion! That is not the way to heaven!

Rest assured that where this spirit prevails in the Church, however good the minister may be, the Church has taken the course to prevent a revival.

Be the minister ever so faithful, ever so devoted, ever so talented and eloquent, though he may wear himself out, and perhaps destroy his life, he will have little or no revival.

Where there are very few members, or none, a revival may be promoted without any organized effort of the Church, because there is no Church to organize; and in such a case, God accommodates His grace to the circumstances, as He did when the apostles went out, single-handed, to plant the Gospel in the world. I have seen instances of powerful revivals where such was the case. But where there are means, God will have them used. I had rather have no Church in a place, than attempt to promote a revival in a place where there is a Church which will not work. God will be inquired of by His people, to bestow His blessings. The counteracting influence of a Church that will not work, is worse than infidelity. There is no possibility of occupying neutral ground, in regard to a revival, though some professors imagine they are neutral. If a professor will not give himself to the work, he opposes it. Let such a one attempt to take middle ground, and say he is "going to wait and see how affairs shape" - why, that is the very ground the devil wants him to take. Professors can in this way do his work a great deal more effectually than by open opposition. If they should take open ground in opposition, everybody will say they have no religion. But, by taking this middle course they retain their influence, and thus do the devil's work more effectually.

In employing ministers Churches must remember that they have only employed leaders to lead them on to action in the cause of Christ. People would think it strange if any country should propose to support a general, and then let him go and fight alone! This is no more absurd, or destructive, than for a minister to attempt to go forward alone. The Church misconceives the design of the ministry, if the minister is left to work alone. It is not enough that they should hear his sermons. That is only the word of command, which the Church is bound to follow.

2. Do not complain of your minister because there is no revival, if you are not doing your duty, for if you are not doing your duty, that alone is a sufficient reason why there should be no revival. It is a most cruel and abominable thing for Church members to complain of their minister, when they themselves are fast asleep. It is very common for professors of religion to take great credit to themselves, and quiet their own consciences, by complaining of their ministers. And when the importance of ministers being awake is spoken of, such people are always ready to say: "We never shall have a revival with such a minister"; when the fact is that their minister is much more awake than they are themselves.

Another thing is true in regard to this point, and worthy of notice. When the Church is sunk down in a low state, professors of religion are very apt to complain of the Church, and of the low state of religion. That intangible and irresponsible being, the "Church," is greatly complained of by them, for being asleep. Their complaints of the low state of religion, and of the coldness of the Church or of the minister, are poured out dolefully, without any seeming realization that the Church is composed of individuals, and that until each one will take his own case in hand, complain of himself, and humble himself before God, and repent, and wake up, the Church can never have any efficiency, and there never can be a revival. If, instead of complaining of your minister, or of the Church, you would wake up as individuals, and not complain of him or them until you can say you are pure from the blood of all men, and are doing your duty to save sinners, the minister would be apt to feel the justice of your complaints, and if he would not, God would either wake him up or remove him.

3. Do not let your minister kill himself by attempting to carry on the work alone, while you refuse to help him. It sometimes happens that a minister finds the ark of the Lord will not move unless he lays out his utmost strength, and he has been so desirous of a revival that he has done this, and has died. And he was willing to die for it. I could mention cases in which ministers have died in consequence of their labors to promote a revival where the Church hung back from the work.

A minister, some years since, was laboring where there was a revival; and was visited by an elder of a Church at some distance, who wanted him to go and preach there. There was no revival there, and never had been. The elder complained about their state, and said they had two excellent ministers, one of whom had worn himself completely out, and died; and the other had exhausted himself, grown discouraged, and left them. They were a poor and feeble Church, and their prospects very dark, unless they could have a revival, and so he begged this minister to go and help them.

The minister at last replied by asking: "Why did you never have a revival?" "I do not know," said the elder; "our minister labored very hard, but the Church did not seem to wake up, and somehow there seemed to be no revival." "Well, now," said the minister, "I see what you want; you have killed one of God's ministers, and broke down another so that he had to leave you; and now you want to get another there and kill him; and the devil has sent you here to get me to go and rock your cradle for you. You had one good minister to preach for you, but you slept on, and he exerted himself till he absolutely died in the work. Then the Lord let you have another, and still you lay and slept, and would not wake up to your duty.

And now you have come here in despair, and want another minister, do you? God forbid that you should ever have another while you do as you have done. God forbid that you should ever have a minister till the Church will wake up to duty."

The elder was affected, for he was a good man. The tears came into his eyes, and he said it was no more than they deserved. "And now," said the minister, "will you be faithful, and go home and tell the Church what I say? If you will, and they will be faithful, and wake up to duty, they shall have a minister, I will warrant them that." The elder said he would, and he was true to his word; he went home and told the members how cruel it was for them to ask another minister to come among them, unless they would wake up. They felt it, and confessed their sins, and wakened up to duty, and a minister was sent to them, and a precious and powerful revival followed.

Churches do not realize how often their coldness and backwardness may be absolutely the cause of the death of ministers. The state of the people, and of sinners, rests upon their mind; they travail in soul night and day; and they labor in season and out of season, beyond the power of the human constitution to bear, till they wear out and die. The Church knows not the agony of a minister's heart, when he travails for souls, and labors to wake up the members to help, but still sees them in the slumber of death. Perhaps they will sometimes rouse up to spasmodic effort for a few days, and then all is cold again. And so many a faithful minister wears himself out and dies, and then these heartless professors are the first to blame him for doing so much.

I recollect a case of a good minister, who went to a place where there was a revival, and while there heard a pointed sermon to ministers. He received it like a man of God; he did not rebel against God's truth, but he promised God that he never would rest until he saw a revival among his people. He returned home and went to work; the Church would not wake up, except a few members, and the Lord blessed them, and poured out His Spirit; but the minister laid himself down on his bed and died, in the midst of the revival.

4. Be careful not to complain of plain, pointed preaching, even when its reproofs fasten on yourselves. Churches are apt to forget that a minister is responsible only to God. They want to make rules for a minister to preach by, so as to have his discourses fit them. If he bears down upon the Church, and exposes the sins that prevail among the people, they call it "personal," and rebel against the truth. Or they say: "He should not preach so plainly to the Church before the world, for it exposes religion; he ought to take members by themselves and preach to the Church alone, and not tell sinners how bad Christians are." But there are cases where a minister can do no less than show the house of Jacob their sins. If you ask: "Why not do it when we are by ourselves?" I answer: "Just as if sinners do not know you do wrong! I will preach to you by yourselves, about your sins, when you will get together by yourselves to sin. But as the Lord liveth, if you sin before the world, you shall be rebuked before the world. Is it not a fact that sinners do know how you live, and that they stumble over you into hell? Then do not blame ministers, when they see it to be their duty to rebuke the Church openly, before the world. If you are so proud that you cannot bear this, you need not expect a revival. Do not call the preaching 'too plain,' simply because it exposes the faults of the Church. There is no such thing as preaching too plainly."

5. Sometimes professors take alarm lest the minister should offend the ungodly by plain preaching. And they will begin to caution him against it, and ask him if he had not better alter a little so as to avoid giving offense, and the like. This fear is especially excited if some of the more wealthy and influential members of the congregation are offended, lest they should withdraw their support, no longer give their money to help to pay the minister's salary, and so cause the burden to come the heavier on the Church. They can never have a revival in such a Church. Why, the Church ought to pray, above all things, that the truth may come on the ungodly like fire. What if they are offended? Christ can get along very well without their money. Do not blame your minister, or ask him to change his mode of preaching so as to please and conciliate the ungodly. It is of no use for a minister to preach to the impenitent, unless he can preach the truth to them. And it will do no good for f hem to pay for the support of the Gospel, unless it is preached in such a way that they may be searched and saved.

Sometimes Church members will talk among themselves about the minister's imprudence, and create a party, and get into a very wrong spirit, because the wicked are displeased. There was a place where there was a powerful revival, and great opposition. The Church became alarmed, for fear that if the minister was not less plain and pointed, some of the impenitent would go and join some other congregation. And so one of the leading men in the Church was appointed to go to the minister, and ask him not to preach quite so hard, for, if he continued to do so, such-and-such persons would leave the congregation. The minister asked: "Is not the preaching true?" "Yes." "Does not God bless it?" "Yes." "Did you ever see the like of this work before in this place?" "No, I never did."

"Then, 'get thee behind me, Satan.' You have come upon the devil's errand! You see God is blessing the preaching, the work is going on, and sinners are converted every day; and now you come to get me to let down the tone of preaching, so as to ease the minds of the ungodly." The man felt the rebuke, and took it like a Christian; he saw his error and submitted, and never again was heard to find fault with plainness in preaching.

In another town where there was a revival, a woman who had some influence (not pious) complained very much about "plain, pointed, personal preaching," as she called it. But, by and by, she herself became a subject of the work. After this some of her impenitent friends reminded her of what she used to say against the preacher for "preaching so hot."

She said her views were altered now, and she did not care how hot the truth was preached; not even if it was red hot!

6. Do not take part with the wicked in any way. If you do it at all, you will strengthen their hands. If the wicked should accuse the minister of being imprudent or personal; and if the Church members, without admitting that the minister is so, should merely agree that "personal preaching is wrong," and talk about "the impropriety of personal preaching," the wicked would feel themselves strengthened by such remarks. Do not unite with them at all, for they will feel that they have you on their side against the minister; you adopt their principles, use their language, and are understood as sympathizing with them. What is personal preaching? No individual is ever benefitted by preaching until he is made to feel that it means him. Such preaching is always personal. It often appears so personal to wicked men that they feel as if they were just going to be called out by name before the congregation. A minister was once preaching to a congregation, and, when describing certain characters, he said: "If I were omniscient, I could call out by name the very persons that answer to this picture." A man cried out: "Name me!" And he looked as if he were going to sink into the earth. He afterwards said that he had no idea of speaking out; but the minister described him so perfectly that he really thought he was going to call him by name. The minister did not actually know that there was such a man. It is common for men to think their own conduct is described, and they complain: "Who has been telling him about me? Somebody has been talking to him about me, and getting him to preach at me!" I suppose I have heard of five hundred or a thousand just such cases. Now, if the Church members will admit that it is wrong for a minister to mean anybody in his preaching, how can he do any good? If you be not willing your minister should mean anybody, or preach to anybody, you had better dismiss him. To whom must he preach, if not to the persons, the individuals before him? And how can he preach to them, when he does not mean them?

7. If you wish to stand by your minister in promoting a revival, do not, by your lives contradict his preaching. If he preaches that sinners are going to hell, do not give the lie to it, and smile it all away, by your levity and unconcern. I have heard sinners speak of the effect produced on their minds by levity in Christians after a solemn and searching discourse. They feel solemn and tender, and begin to feel alarmed at their condition; and they see these professors, instead of weeping over them, all light and easy: as much as to say: "Do not be afraid, sinners, it is not so bad, after all; keep cool and you will do well; do you think we would laugh and joke if you were going to hell so fast? We would not laugh if only your house were on fire; still less if we saw you burning in it!" Of what use is it for a minister to preach to sinners in such a state of things?

8. Do not needlessly take up the time of your minister. Ministers often lose a great deal of time by individuals calling on them, to talk, when they have nothing of importance to talk about, and have come on no particular errand. The minister, of course, is glad to see his friends, and often too willing to spend time in conversation with his people, as he loves and esteems them. Professors of religion should remember, however, that a minister's time is worth more than gold, for it can be employed in that which gold can never buy. If the minister be kept from his knees, or from his Bible, or from his study, that they may indulge themselves in his conversation, they do a great injury. When you have a good reason for it, you should never be backward to call upon him, and even take up all the time that is necessary. But if you have nothing in particular to say that is important, keep away.

9. Be sure not to sanction anything that is calculated to divert public attention from the subject of religion. Often, when it comes the time of year to work, when the evenings are long, and business is light, and the very time to make an extra effort; at this moment somebody in the Church will "give a party," and invite some Christian friends, so as to have it a religious party. And then some other family must do the same, to return the compliment. Then another, and another, till it grows into an organized system of parties that consumes the whole winter. Abominable! This is the grand device of the devil, because it appears so innocent, and so proper, to promote good feeling, and increase the acquaintance of Christians with each other. And so, instead of prayer meetings, they will have these parties.

The evils of these parties are very great. They are often got up at great expense; and the most abominable gluttony is practiced in them. I have been told that in some instances professed Christians have made great entertainments, and excused the ungodly prodigality in the use of Jesus Christ's money, by giving what was left, after the feast was ended, to the poor! Thus making it a virtue to feast and riot, even to surfeiting, on the bounties of God's providence, under pretense of benefitting the poor. This is the same in principle with a splendid ball which was given some years ago, in a neighboring city. The ball was got up for the benefit of the poor, and each gentleman was to pay a certain sum, and after the ball was ended, whatever remained of the funds thus raised, was to be given to the poor.

Truly this is strange charity: to eat, and drink, and dance, and when they have rioted and feasted until they can enjoy it no longer, they deal out to the poor the crumbs that have fallen from the table. I do not see, however, why such a ball is not quite as pious as such Christian parties. The evil of balls does not consist simply in the exercise of dancing, but in the dissipation, and surfeiting, and temptations connected with them.

But it is said they are Christian parties, and that they are all, or nearly all, professors of religion, who attend them. And furthermore, that they are concluded, often, with prayer. Now I regard this as one of the worst features about them; that after the waste of time and money, the excess in eating and drinking, the vain conversation, and nameless fooleries, with which such a season is filled up, an attempt should be made to sanctify it, and palm it off upon God, by concluding it with prayer. Say what you will, it would not be more absurd or incongruous, or impious, to close a ball, or a theatrical performance, or a card party with prayer.

Has it come to this; that professors of religion (who profess to desire the salvation of the world), when calls are made upon them from the four winds of heaven, to send the Gospel, to furnish Bibles, and tracts, and missionaries, to save the world from death, should waste large sums of money in an evening, and then go to the Missionary Meeting and pray for the heathen?

In some instances, I have been told, they find a salve for their consciences in the fact that their minister attends their parties. This, of course, would give weight to such an example; for if one professor of religion made a party and invited the minister, others would do the same. The next step they take may be for each to give a ball, and appoint their minister a manager! Why not? And perhaps, by and by, he will do them the favor to play the fiddle. In my estimation he might quite as well do it, as go and conclude such a party with prayer. I should advise any congregation that is calculating to have a circle of parties, in the meantime to dismiss their minister, and let him go and preach where the people would be ready to receive the Word and profit by it, rather than have him stay and be grieved, and killed, by attempting to promote religion among them, while they are engaged, heart and hand, in the service of the devil.

Professors of religion should never arrange anything that may divert public attention from religion, without having first consulted their minister, and made it a subject of special prayer. And if they find it will have an adverse effect, they ought never to do it. Subjects will often come up before the public which have this tendency; some course of Lectures, some show, or the like. Professors ought to be wise, and understand what they are about, and not give countenance to any such thing until they see what influence it will have, and whether it will hinder a revival. If it will do that, let them have nothing to do with it. Every such thing should be estimated by its bearing upon Christ's Kingdom.

II. SEVERAL THINGS WHICH CHURCHES MUST DO.

That is to say, things which they must do if they would promote a revival and aid their minister.

1. They must attend to his temporal wants. A minister who gives himself wholly to his work cannot be engaged in worldly employments, and of course is entirely dependent on his people for the supply of his temporal wants, including the support of his family. I need not argue this point here, for you all understand this perfectly. It is the command of God, that "they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:14). But now look around and see how many Churches do in this matter.

For instance, when they want a minister, they will cast about and see how cheaply they can get one. They will calculate to a farthing how much his salt will cost, and how much his flour, and then set his salary so low as to subject him to extreme inconvenience to pay his way and keep his family.

A minister must have his mind at ease, to study and labor with effect, and he cannot screw down prices, and barter, and look out for the best chances to buy to advantage what he needs. If he be obliged to do this, his mind is embarrassed. Unless his temporal wants are so supplied, that his thoughts may be abstracted from them, how can he do his duty?

2. Be honest with your minister. Do not measure out and calculate with how much salt and how many bushels of grain he can possibly get along.

Remember, you are dealing with Christ, and He calls you to place His ministers in such a situation, that, with ordinary prudence, temporal embarrassment may be out of the question.

3. Be punctual with him. Sometimes Churches, when they are about to welcome a minister, have a great deal of pride about giving a salary, and they will get up a subscription list, and make out, in the total, an amount which they never do pay, and very likely never expected to pay. And so, after one, two, three, or four years, the society gets three or four hundred dollars in debt to the minister, and then they expect him to forego it. And all the while they wonder why there is no revival! This may be the very reason - because the Church has LIED. They have faithfully promised to pay so much, and have not done it. God cannot consistently pour out His Spirit on such a Church.

4. Pay him his salary without being asked. Nothing is so embarrassing to a minister as to be obliged to dun his people for his salary. Often he creates enemies and gives offense by being obliged to call, and call, for his money - even then not getting it as he was promised. They would have paid it if their credit had been at stake; but when it is nothing but conscience and the blessing of God, they "let it lie along." If any one of them had a note due at the bank, you would see him careful and prompt to be on the ground before three o'clock, lest he should lose his character. But they know the minister will not ask them for his salary, so they are careless, and then let it run into arrears, and he must suffer the inconvenience. This is not so common in the city as it is in the country. But in the country I have known some heartrending cases of distress and misery, by the negligence and cruelty of congregations in withholding that which was due. Churches live in habitual lying and cheating, and then wonder why they have no revival. How can they wonder?

5. Pray for your minister. Even the apostles used to urge the Churches to pray for them. This is more important than you imagine. Ministers do not ask people to pray for them simply as men, nor that they may be filled with an abundance of the Spirit's influences, merely to promote their own personal enjoyment. But they know that unless the Church greatly desires a blessing upon the labors of a minister, it is tempting God for him to expect it. How often does a minister go into his pulpit, feeling that his heart is ready to break for the blessing of God, while he also feels that there is no room to expect it, for there is no reason to believe that the Church desires it! Perhaps he has been for hours on his knees in supplication, and yet, because the Church does not desire a blessing, he feels as if his words would bound back in his face.

I have seen Christians who would be in an agony, when the minister was going into the pulpit, for fear his mind should be in a cloud, or his heart cold, or he should have no unction, and so a blessing should not come. I have labored with a man of this sort. He would pray until he got an assurance in his mind that God would be with me in preaching, and sometimes he would pray himself ill. I have known the time when he has been in darkness for a season, while the people were gathering, and his mind was full of anxiety, and he would go again and again to pray, till finally he would come into the room with a placid face, and say: "The Lord has come, and He will be with us." And I do not know that I ever found him mistaken.

I have known a Church bear up their minister in prayer from day to day, and watch with anxiety unutterable, to see that he had the Holy Ghost with him in his labors! When Christians feel and pray thus, oh, what feelings and what looks are manifest in the congregation! They have felt anxiety unutterable to have the Word come with power and take effect; and when they see their prayer answered, and when they hear a word or a sentence come WARM from the heart, taking effect among the people, you can see their whole souls look out of their eyes! How different is the case where the Christians feel that the Minster is praying, and so there is no need for them to do so. They are mistaken. The Church must desire and pray for the blessing. God says He will be inquired of by the house of Israel. I wish you to feel that there can be no substitute for this.

I have seen cases in revivals, where the Church was kept in the background in regard to prayer, and persons from abroad were called on to pray in all the meetings. This is always unhappy, even if there should be a revival, for the revival must be less powerful and less salutary in its influences upon the Church. I do not know but that I have sometimes offended Christians and ministers from other places, by continuing to call on members of the Church to pray, and not on visitors. It was not from any disrespect, but because the object was to get that Church which was chiefly concerned, to desire, and pray, and agonize for a blessing.

In a certain place, a "protracted meeting" was held, with no good results; but, on the contrary, great evils were produced. I was led to make inquiry for the reason, and it came out that throughout their meetings not one member of their own Church was called on to pray, but all the prayers were made by persons from elsewhere. No wonder there was no good done. The leader of the meeting meant well, but he undertook to promote a revival without getting the Church into the work. He let a lazy Church lie still and do nothing, and so there could be no good result.

Churches should pray for ministers as the agents for breaking down sinners with the word of truth. Prayer for a minister is often made in a set and formal way, and confined to the prayer meetings. They will say their prayers in the old way, as they have always done: "Lord, bless Thy ministering servant whom Thou hast stationed on this part of Zion's walls!" and so on; and it amounts to nothing, because there is no heart in it. The fact often is that they never thought of praying for him in secret; they never have agonized in private for a blessing on his labors. They may not omit it wholly in their meetings, for if they do that, it becomes evident that they care very little indeed about the labors of their minister. But that is not the most important place. The way to present effectual prayer for your minister is, when you are in secret, to wrestle with God for success to attend his labors.

I knew a case of a minister in ill-health, who became depressed and cast down in his mind, and was very much in darkness, so that he did not feel as if he could preach any longer. An individual of the Church was awakened to feel for the minister in such a situation, and to pray that he might have the Holy Ghost to attend his preaching. One Sabbath morning, this person's mind was very much exercised, so that he began to pray as soon as it was light, and prayed again and again for a blessing that day.

And the Lord in some way directed the minister within hearing of his prayer. The person was telling the Lord just what he thought of the minister's situation and state of mind, and pleading, as if he would not be denied, for a blessing. The minister went into the pulpit and preached, and the light broke in upon him, and the Word was with power, and a revival commenced that very day.

6. A minister should be provided for by the Church, and his support guaranteed, irrespective of the ungodly. Otherwise he may be obliged either to starve his family, or to keep back a part of the truth so as not to offend sinners. I once expostulated with a minister whom I found was afraid to come out fully with the truth. I told him I was surprised he did not bear upon certain points. He told me he was so situated that he must please certain men, who would be touched thereby. It was the ungodly that chiefly supported him, and this made him dependent and temporizing.

And yet perhaps that very Church which left the minister dependent on the ungodly for his bread, would turn round and abuse him for his want of faith, and his fear of men. The Church ought always to say to the minister: "We will support you; go to work; let the truth pour down on the people, and we will stand by you."

7. See that everything is so arranged that people can sit comfortably in the meeting. If people do not sit in ease, it is difficult to get or to keep their attention. And if they are not attentive, they cannot be converted. They have come to hear for their lives, and they ought to be so situated that they can hear with all their souls, and have nothing in their bodily position to call for attention. Churches do not realize how important it is that the place of meeting should be made comfortable. I do not mean showy. All your glare and glory of rich chandeliers, and rich carpets, and splendid pulpits, make for the opposite extreme, taking off the attention just as effectually, and defeating every object for which a sinner should come to a meeting. You need not expect a revival there.

8. See that the house of God is kept clean. The house of God should be kept as clean as you want your own house to be kept. Churches are often kept excessively slovenly. I have seen them where people used so much tobacco, and took so little care about neatness, that it was impossible to preach with comfort. Once, in a protracted meeting, the thing was charged upon the Church (and they had to acknowledge it), that they paid more money for tobacco than they did for the cause of Missions. There is an importance in these things, which is not realized. See that man! What is he doing? I am preaching to him about eternal life, and he is thinking about the dirty pew.

9. It is important that the house should be just warm enough, but not too warm. Suppose a minister comes into a house and finds it cold; he sees, as soon as he gets in, that he might as well have stayed at home; the people are shivering, their feet are chilled, and they feel as if they should take cold; and the minister wishes he were at home, for he knows he cannot do anything; but he must preach, or the congregation will be disappointed.

Or, he may find the house too warm, and the people, instead of listening to the truth, are fanning themselves and panting for breath. By and by a woman faints, and makes a stir, and the train of thought and feeling is all lost, and so a whole sermon is wasted. These little things take off the attention of people from the words of eternal life. And very often it is so, that if you drop a single link in the chain of argument, you lose the whole, and the people are damned, just because the careless Church does not see to the proper regulation of these little matters.

10. The house should be well ventilated. Of all houses, a church should be the most perfectly ventilated. If there be no change of the air, it passes through so many lungs that it becomes bad; its vitality is exhausted, and the people pant, they know not why, and feel an almost irresistible desire to sleep; the minister preaches in vain; the sermon is lost, and worse than lost. I have often wondered that this matter should be so little the subject of thought. The elders and officials will sit and hear a whole sermon, while the people are all but ready to die for the want of air, and the minister is wasting his strength in preaching where the room is just like an exhausted receiver; there they sit and never think to do anything in the matter. They should take it upon themselves to see that this is regulated rightly; that the house is just warm enough, and the air kept pure. How important it is that they should be awake on this subject; that the minister may labor to the best advantage, and the people give their undivided attention to the truth which is to save their souls.

It is very common, when things are wrong, to have it all laid to the sexton, or caretaker. Often, however, the sexton is not to blame. If the building is cold and uncomfortable, very often it is because the fuel is not good, or the stoves not suitable, or the place is so open it cannot be warmed. If it is warm, perhaps somebody has intermeddled, and heaped on fuel without discretion. Or, if the sexton is in fault, perhaps it is because the Church does not pay him enough for his services, and he cannot afford to give the attention necessary to keep the place in order. Churches sometimes screw down the sexton's salary to the lowest point, so that he is obliged to slight his work. Or they will select one who is incompetent, for the sake of getting him cheap. Let an adequate payment be made for the work, and it can be done, and done faithfully. If one sexton will not do it rightly, another will, and the Church must see that it is done aright. What economy! To pay a minister's salary, and then, for the want of a small sum added to the sexton's wages, everything is so out of order that the minister's labors are all lost, souls are lost, and your children and neighbors go down to hell!

Sometimes this uncleanliness, and negligence, and confusion, are chargeable to the minister. Perhaps he uses tobacco, and sets the example of defiling the house of God. Perhaps the pulpit will be the filthiest place in the house. I have sometimes been in pulpits that were too loathsome to be occupied by human beings. If a minister has no more piety and decency than this, no wonder things are "at loose ends" in the congregation. And generally it is even so.

11. People should leave their very young children at home. I have often known children to cry just at that stage of the services that would most effectually destroy the effect of the meeting. If children weep, they should instantly be removed. I have sometimes known a mother, or a nurse, sit and toss her child, while its cries were diverting the attention of the whole congregation.

12. The members of the Church should aid the minister by visiting from house to house, and trying to save souls. Do not leave all this to the minister. It is impossible he should do it, even if he were to give all his time, and neglect his study and private prayer. Church members should take pains and qualify themselves for this duty, so that they can be useful in it.

13. They should hold Bible classes. Suitable individuals should be selected to hold Bible classes, for the instruction of the young people, and where those who are awakened or affected by the preaching, can be received and be converted. As soon as persons are seen to be touched, let them be invited to join the Bible class, where they will be properly treated, and probably they will be converted. The Church should select the best men for this service, and should all be on the lookout to fill up the Bible classes. It has been done in this congregation. It is a very common thing when persons are impressed, that they are observed by somebody, and invited to join the Bible class. They accept the invitation, and there they are converted. We want more teachers, able and willing to take charge of such classes.

14. Churches should sustain Sabbath Schools, and in this way aid their minister in saving souls. How can a minister attend to this and preach?

Unless the Church will take off these responsibilities, and cares, and labors, he must either neglect them, or be crushed. Let the members be WIDE AWAKE, let them watch and bring in children to the school, teach them faithfully, and lay themselves out to promote a revival in the school.

15. They should watch over the members of the Church. They should visit each other, in order to stir each other up, know each other's spiritual state, and "consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works"

(Hebrews 10:24). The minister cannot do it, he has not time; it is impossible he should study and prepare sermons, and at the same time visit all the members of the Church as often as is necessary to keep them advancing. The members are bound to watch over each other's spiritual welfare. But how is this done? Many do not know one another. They meet and pass as strangers, and never ask about one another's spiritual condition. But if they hear anything bad of one, they go and tell it to others. Instead of watching over them for their good, they watch for their halting. How can they watch for good when they are not even acquainted with each other?

16. The Church should watch for the elect of preaching. If the members are praying for the success of the preached Word, they will watch for it, of course. They should keep a look-out, and when any in the congregation give evidence that the Word of God has taken hold of them, they should follow it up. Wherever there are any exhibitions of feeling, those persons should be attended to, instantly, and not left till their impressions wear off. They should be spoken to, or visited, or got into the anxious meeting, or into the Bible class, or brought to the minister. If the members do not attend to this, they neglect their duty. If they attend to it, they may do incalculable good.

There was a pious young woman, who lived in a very cold and wicked place. She alone had the spirit of prayer, and she had been praying for a blessing upon the Word. At length she saw an individual in the congregation who seemed to be affected by the preaching, and as soon as the minister came from the pulpit, she came forward, agitated and trembling, and begged him to go and converse with the person immediately. He did so, the individual was soon converted, and a revival followed. Now, one of your stupid professors would not have seen that that individual was awakened, but would have stumbled over half a dozen such without noticing. Professors should watch every sermon, and see how it affects the congregation. I do not mean that they should be stretching their necks and staring about the house; but they should observe, as they may, and if they find any person affected by preaching, they should put themselves in his way, and guide him to the Savior.

17. Beware, and do not give away all the preaching to others. If you do not take your portion, you will starve, and become like spiritual skeletons.

Christians should take their portion to themselves. Though the sermon should be quite searching to them, they should still make the honest application, lay it alongside their heart, and practice it, and live by it.

Otherwise, the preaching will do them no good.

18. Be ready to aid your minister in carrying out his plans for doing good.

When the minister is wise to devise plans for usefulness, and the Church ready to execute them, they may carry all before them. But when the members hang back from every enterprise until they are actually dragged into it - when they are opposing every proposal, because it will cost something, they are a dead weight upon a minister.

I was once attending a "protracted meeting," where we were embarrassed because there were no lamps to the building. I urged the people to get them, but they thought the expense would be too much! I then proposed to get them myself, and was about to do it, but found it would give offense, and we went without. But the blessing did not come, to any great extent. How could it? The Church began by calculating to a nicety how much it would cost, and they would not go beyond that exact figure to save souls from hell.

So, where a minister appoints such a meeting, such people object, because it will cost something. If they can offer unto the Lord that which costs nothing, they will do it. Miserable helpers they are! Such a people can have no revival. A minister might as well have a millstone about his neck, as such a Church. He had better leave them, if he cannot teach them better, and go where he will not be so hampered.

19. Church members should make it a point to attend prayer meetings, and attend in time. Some will always attend the preaching, because they have nothing to do but to sit and hear and be entertained, but they will not attend prayer meetings for fear they should be called on to do something.

Such members tie up the hands of the minister, and discourage his heart.

Why do they employ a minister? Is it to amuse them by preaching? Or is it that he may teach them the will of God, that they may do it?

20. Church members ought to study and inquire what they can do, and then do it. Christians should be trained like a band of soldiers. It is the duty and office of a minister to train them for usefulness, to teach and direct them, and lead them on in such a way as to produce the greatest amount of moral influence. And then the Christians should stand their ground and do their duty, otherwise they will be right in the way. But I could write a book as large as this Bible before me, in detailing the various particulars which ought to be attended to.

REMARKS.

1. You see that a minister's want of success may not be wholly on account of a want of wisdom in the exercise of his office. I am not excusing negligent ministers; I never will spare ministers from the naked truth, nor apply flattering titles to men. If they are blameworthy, let them be blamed. And, no doubt, they are always more or less to blame when the Word produces no effect. But it is far from being true that they are always the principal persons to blame. Sometimes the Church is much more to blame than the minister; if an apostle or an angel from heaven, were to preach, he could not produce a revival of religion in that Church. Perhaps they are dishonest to their minister, or covetous, or careless about the conveniences of public worship. Alas! what a state many country churches are in, where, for the want of a small expenditure, everything is inconvenient and uncomfortable, and the labors of the preacher are lost.

They "dwell in paneled houses" themselves, and let "the house of God lie waste" (Haggai 1:4). Or the professors of religion counteract all the influence of the preaching by their ungodly lives. Or perhaps their worldly show (as in most of the Churches in this city) annihilates the influence of the Gospel.

2. Churches should remember that they are exceedingly guilty, to employ a minister and then not aid him in his work. The Lord Jesus Christ has sent an ambassador to sinners, to turn them from their evil ways, and he fails of his errand, because Churches refuse to do their duty. Instead of recommending his message, and seconding his entreaties, and holding up his hands in all the ways that are proper, they stand right in the way, and contradict his message, and counteract his influence, and souls perish. No doubt, in most of the congregations in the United States, the minister is often hindered so much that for a great part of the time he might as well be on a foreign mission as be there, for any effect of his preaching in the conversion of sinners, for he has to preach over the heads of an inactive and stupid Church.

Yet these very Churches are not willing to have their minister absent a few days to attend a "protracted meeting." "We cannot spare him; he is our minister, and we like to have our minister here"; while at the same time, they hinder all he can do at home. If he could, he would tear himself right away, and go where there is no minister, and where the people would be willing to receive the Gospel. But there he must stay, though he cannot get the Church into a state to have a revival once in three years, to last three months at a time. It. might be well for him to say to the Church: "Whenever you are determined to take one of these long naps, I wish you would let me know it, so that I can go and labor somewhere else in the meantime, till you are ready to wake again."

3. Many Churches cannot be blessed with a revival, because they are "sponging" out of other Churches, and out of the treasury of the Lord, for the support of their minister, when they are abundantly able to support him themselves. Perhaps they are depending on the Home Missionary Society, or on other Churches, while they are not exercising any self -denial for the sake of the Gospel. I have been amazed to see how some Churches live. One Church, as I have said, actually confessed that the members spent more money for tobacco than they gave for Missions. And yet they had no minister, because "they were not able to support one"!

There is actually one man in that Church who is himself able to support a minister, but still they have no minister and no preaching!

The Churches have not been instructed in their duty on this subject. I stopped in a place where there was no preaching. I inquired of an elder in the Church why it was so, and he said it was "because they were so poor." I asked him how much he was worth; he did not give me a direct answer, but said that another elder's income was about five thousand dollars a year; and I finally found out that this man's was about the same.

"Here," said I, "are two elders, each of you able to support a minister, and because you cannot get outside help, you have no preaching. 'Why, if you had preaching' it would not be blessed." Finally, he confessed that he was able to support a minister, and the two together agreed that they would do it.

It is common for Churches to ask for help, when in fact they do not need any help, and when it would be a great deal better for them to support their own minister. If they get funds from the Home Missionary Society, when they ought to raise sufficient themselves, they may expect the curse of the Lord upon them, and this will be a sufficient reason for the Gospel proving to them a curse, rather than a blessing. Of how many might it be said: "Ye have robbed God, even this whole Church (Malachi. 3:9).

I know a Church which employed a minister for half the time, and felt unable to pay his salary for that. A Women's Working Society in a neighboring town appropriated their funds to this object, and assisted this Church in paying the minister's salary. The result was, as might be expected; he did them little or no good. They had no revival under his preaching, nor could they ever expect any, while acting on such a principle. There was one m an in that congregation who could support a minister all the time. I was informed by a member, that the Church members were supposed to be worth two hundred thousand dollars. Now if this be true, here is a Church with an income, at seven per cent., of fourteen thousand dollars a year, who felt themselves too poor to pay two hundred dollars for the support of a minister to preach half the time, but would suffer the women of a neighboring town to work with their own hands to aid them in paying the sum. Among the elders of this Church, I found, too, that several used tobacco; two of them, however, subsequently signed a covenant, written on the blank leaf of their Bible, in which they pledged themselves to abandon that sin for ever.

It was in a great measure simply for want of right instruction that this Church was pursuing such a course, for, when the subject was taken up, and their duty laid before them, the wealthy man of whom I am speaking said that he would pay the whole salary himself, if he thought it would not be resented by the congregation, and do more hurt than good; and that if the Church would procure a minister, and go ahead and raise a part of his salary, he would make up the remainder. They can now not only support a minister half the time, but all the time, and pay his salary themselves.

And they will find it good and profitable to do so.

As I have gone from place to place laboring in revivals, I have always found that Churches were blessed in proportion to their liberality. Where they have manifested a disposition to support the Gospel, and to pour out their substance liberally into the treasury of the Lord, they have been blessed both in spiritual and in temporal things. But where they have been parsimonious, and let the minister preach for them for little or nothing, these Churches have been cursed instead of blessed. And, as a general thing, in revivals of religion, I have found it to be true that young converts are most inclined to join those Churches which are most liberal in making efforts to support the Gospel.

The Churches are very much in the dark on this subject. They have not been taught their duty. I have, in many instances, found an exceeding readiness to respond, when the subject was laid before them. I knew an elder who was talking about getting a minister for half the time, because the Church was poor, although his own income was considerable. I asked him whether his income would not enable him alone to support a minister all the time? He said it would. And on being asked what other use he could make of the Lord's money which he possessed, that would prove so beneficial to the interest of Christ's Kingdom, as to employ a minister not only half, but all the time, in his own town, he concluded to set himself about it. A minister has been obtained accordingly, and I believe they find no difficulty in paying him his full salary.

The fact is, that a minister can do but little by preaching only half the time. If on one Sabbath an impression be made, it is lost before a fortnight comes round. As a matter of economy, a Church should lay itself out to support the Gospel all the time. If they get the right sort of a minister, and keep him steadily at work, they may have a revival, and thus the ungodly will be converted, and come in and help them; so that in one year they may have a great accession to their strength. But if they employ a minister only half the time, year after year may roll away, while sinners are going to hell, and no accession be made to the strength of the Church from the ranks of the ungodly.

The fact is, that professors of religion have not been made to feel that all their possessions are the Lord's. Hence they have talked about giving their property for the support of the Gospel! As if the Lord Jesus Christ were a beggar, and they were called upon to support His Gospel as an act of almsgiving!

A certain merchant was paying a large part of his minister's salary: one of the members of the Church was relating the fact to a minister from another place, and spoke of the sacrifice which this merchant was making. At this moment the merchant came in. "Brother," said the minister, "you are a merchant. Suppose you employ a clerk to sell goods, and a schoolmaster to teach your children; and you order your clerk to pay your schoolmaster, out of the store, such an amount, for his services in teaching.

Now, suppose your clerk gave out that he had to pay this schoolmaster his salary, and should speak of the sacrifices that he was making to do it: what would you say to this?" "Why," said the merchant, "I should say it was ridiculous." "Well," said the minister, "God employs you to sell goods as His clerk, and your minister He employs to teach His children, and He requires you to pay the salary out of the income of the store.

Now, do you call this your sacrifice, and say that you are making a great sacrifice to pay this minister's salary? No: you are just as much bound to sell goods for God as he is to preach for God. You have no more right to sell goods for the purpose of laying up money than he has to preach the Gospel for the same purpose. You are bound to be as pious, and aim as singly at the glory of God, in selling goods, as he is in preaching the Gospel. And thus you are as fully to give up your whole time for the service of God as he does. You and your family may lawfully live out of the profits of this store, and so may the minister and his family, just as lawfully, If you sell goods from these motives, selling goods is just as much serving God as preaching; and a man who sells goods on these principles, and acts in conformity to them, is just as pious - just as much in the service of God - as he is who preaches the Gospel. Every man is bound to serve God in his calling; the minister by teaching; the merchant by selling goods; the farmer by tilling his fields; and the lawyer and the physician by plying the duties of their professions. It is equally unlawful for any one of these to labor for the meat that perisheth. All they do is to be for God, and all they earn, after comfortably supporting their families, is to be dedicated to the spread of the Gospel and the salvation of the world."

It has long enough been supposed that ministers must be more pious than other men, that they must not love the world, that they must labor for God: that they must live as frugally as possible, and lay out their whole time, and health, and strength, and life, to build up the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is true. But although other men are not called to labor in the same field, and to give up their time to public instruction, yet they are just as absolutely bound to consider their whole time as God's; and have no

more right to love the world, or accumulate wealth, or lay it up for their children, or spend it upon their lusts, than ministers have.

It is high time for the Church to be acquainted with these principles. The Home Missionary Society may labor till the Day of Judgment to convert people, but will never succeed, till the Churches are led to understand and feel their duty in this respect. Why, the very fact that they are asking and receiving aid in supporting their minister from the Society while they are able to support him themselves, is probably the very reason why his labors among them are not more blessed.

I would that the American Home Missionary Society possessed a hundred times the means that it now does, of aiding feeble Churches that are unable to help themselves. But it is neither good economy nor piety to give funds to those who are able, but unwilling, to support the Gospel. For it is in vain to attempt to help them, while they are able, but unwilling, to help themselves.

If the Missionary Society had a ton of gold, it would be no charity to give it to such a Church. But let the Church bring in all the tithes to God's storehouse, and He will open the windows of heaven and pour down a blessing (Malachi 3:10). But let the Churches know assuredly that, if they are unwilling to help themselves to the extent of their ability, they show the reason why such small success attends the labors of their ministers.

Here they are, "sponging" their support from the Lord's treasury! How many Churches lay out their money for tea, and coffee, and tobacco, and then come and ask aid from the Home Missionary Society! I will protest against aiding a people who use tea and tobacco, and live without the least self-denial, wanting to offer God only that which costs them nothing (2 Samuel 24:24).

Finally: if they mean to be blessed, let them do their duty - all their duty, put their shoulder to the wheel, gird on the Gospel armor, and come up to the work. Then, if the Church is in the field, the car of salvation will move on, though all hell oppose, and sinners will be converted and saved. But if a Church will leave all the labor to the minister, and sit still and look on while he is working, and themselves doing nothing but complain of him, they will not only fail of a revival of religion, but, if they continue slothful and censorious, will, by and by, find themselves in hell for their disobedience and unprofitableness in the service of Christ.

Lecture 14: Measures To Promote Revivals

These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. - Acts 16:20, 21.

"These men," here spoken of, were Paul and Silas, who went to Philippi to preach the Gospel, and very much disturbed the people of that city, who supposed that the preaching would interfere with their worldly gains.

And so they arraigned the preachers of the Gospel before the magistrates of the city, as culprits, and charged them with teaching doctrines, and especially employing measures, that were not lawful.

In discoursing from these words I design to show:

I. That, under the Gospel dispensation, God has established no particular system of measures to be employed, and invariably adhered to, in promoting religion.

II. That our present forms of public worship, and everything, so far as measures are concerned, have been arrived at by degrees, and by a succession of New Measures.

I. GOD HAS ESTABLISHED NO PARTICULAR MEASURES.

Under the Jewish dispensation, there were particular forms enjoined and prescribed by God Himself, from which it was not lawful to depart. But these forms were all typical, and were designed to shadow forth Christ, or something connected with the new dispensation that Christ was to introduce. And therefore they were fixed, and all their details particularly prescribed by Divine authority. But it was never so under the Gospel.

When Christ came, the ceremonial or typical dispensation was abrogated, because the design of those forms was fulfilled, and they were therefore of no further use. He being the Antitype, the types were of course done away at His coming. THE GOSPEL was then preached as the appointed means of promoting religion; and it was left to the discretion of the Church to determine, from time to time, what measures should be adopted, and what forms pursued, in giving the Gospel its power.

We are left in the dark as to the measures pursued by the apostles and primitive preachers, except so far as we can gather from occasional hints in the Book of Acts. We do not know how many times they sang, how many times they prayed, in public worship, nor even whether they sang or prayed at all in their ordinary meetings for preaching. When Jesus Christ was on earth, laboring among His disciples, He had nothing to do with forms or measures. He did from time to time in this respect just as it would be natural for any man to do in such cases, without anything like a set form or mode. The Jews accused Him of disregarding their forms. His object was to preach and teach mankind the true religion. And when the apostles preached afterwards, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, we hear nothing about their having a particular system of measures for carrying on their work; nor do we hear of one apostle doing a thing in a particular way because others did it in that way. Their commission was: "Go and preach the Gospel, and disciple all nations." It did not prescribe any forms. It did not admit any. No person can pretend to get any set of forms or particular directions as to measures, out of this commission. Do it - the best way you can; ask wisdom from God; use the faculties He has given you; seek the direction of the Holy Ghost; go forward and do it.

This was their commission. And their object was to make known the Gospel in the most effectual way, to make the truth stand out strikingly, so as to obtain the attention and secure the obedience of the greatest number possible. No person can find any form of doing this laid down in the Bible. It is preaching the Gospel which there stands out prominently as the great thing. The form is left out of the question.

It is manifest that in preaching the Gospel there must be some kind of measures adopted. The Gospel must be presented before the minds of the people, and measures must be taken so that they can hear it, and be induced to attend to it. This is done by building churches, holding stated or other meetings, and so on. Without some measures, the Gospel can never be made to take effect among men.

II. PRESENT FORMS ARRIVED AT BY DEGREES.

Our present forms of public worship, and everything so far as measures are concerned, have been arrived at by degrees, and by a succession of New Measures.

1. I will mention some things in regard to the ministry.

Many years ago, ministers were accustomed to wear a peculiar habit. It is so now in Roman Catholic countries. It used to be so here. Ministers had a peculiar dress as much as soldiers. They used to wear a cocked hat, bands (instead of a cravat or stock), small clothes, and a wig. No matter how much hair a man had on his head, he must cut it off and wear a wig. And he must wear a gown. All these things were customary, and every clergyman was held bound to wear them, and it was not considered proper for him to officiate without them. All these had doubtless been introduced by a succession of innovations, for we have no good reason for believing that the apostles and primitive ministers dressed differently from other men.

But now all these things have been given up, one by one, in America, by a succession of innovations or new measures, until now, in many places, a minister can go into the pulpit and preach without attracting special notice, although dressed like any other man. And in regard to each of these alterations the Church complained as much as if it had been a Divine institution given up. It was denounced as an innovation. When ministers began to lay aside their cocked hats, and wear headgear like other men's, it grieved the elderly people very much; it looked so "undignified," they said, for a minister to wear a round hat. When, in 1827, I wore a fur cap, a minister said: "That is too bad, for a minister."

When ministers first began, a few years since, to wear white hats, it was thought by many to be a sad and very undignified innovation. And even now they are so bigoted in some places that a clergyman lately told me how, in traveling through New England last summer, with a white hat, he could perceive that it injured his influence. This spirit should not be looked upon as harmless; I have good reason to know that it is not harmless. There is at this day scarcely a minister in the land who does not feel himself obliged to wear a black coat, as much as if it were a Divine institution. The Church is yet filled with a kind of superstitious reverence for such things. Thinking men see this to be mere bigotry, and are exceedingly in danger of viewing everything about religion in the same light on this account.

So, in like manner, when ministers laid aside their bands, and wore cravats or stocks, it was said they were becoming secular, and many found fault.

Even now, in some places, a minister would not dare to be seen in the pulpit in a cravat or stock. The people would feel as if they had no clergyman, if he had no bands. A minister in this city asked another, but a few days since, "if it would do to wear a black stock in the pulpit?" He wore one in his ordinary fellowship with his people, but doubted whether it would do to wear it in the pulpit.

So in regard to small clothes: they used to be thought essential to the ministerial character. Even now, in Roman Catholic countries, every priest wears small clothes. Even the little boys there, who are training for the priest's office, wear their cocked hats, and black stockings, and small clothes. This would look ridiculous amongst us. But it used to be practiced in America. The time was when good people would have been shocked if a minister had gone into the pulpit wearing pantaloons instead of small clothes. They would have thought he was certainly going to ruin the Church by his innovations. I have been told that, some years ago, in New England, a certain elderly clergyman was so opposed to the "new measure" of a minister's wearing pantaloons that he would, on no account, allow them in his pulpit. A young man who was going to preach for him had no small clothes, and the old minister would not let him officiate in pantaloons, but said: "My people would think I had brought a fop into the pulpit, if they saw a man there with pantaloons on; and it would produce an excitement among them." And so, finally, the young man was obliged to borrow a pair of the old gentleman's clothes, and they were too short for him, and he made a ridiculous figure enough. But anything was better than such a terrible innovation as preaching in pantaloons! Reason, however, has triumphed.

Just so it was in regard to wigs. I remember one minister, who, though quite a young man, used to wear an enormous white wig. And the people talked as if there were a Divine right about it, and it was as hard to give it up, almost, as to give up the Bible itself. Gowns also were considered essential to the ministerial character. And even now, in many congregations in this country, the people will not tolerate a minister in the pulpit, unless he has a flowing silk gown, with enormous sleeves as big as his body. Even in some of the Congregational churches in New England, they cannot bear to give it up.

Now, how came people to suppose a minister must have a gown or a wig, in order to preach with effect? Why was it that every clergyman was held obliged to use these things? How is it that not one of these things has been given up in the Churches, without producing a shock among them? They have all been given up, one by one, and many congregations have been distracted for a time by the innovation. But will anyone pretend that the cause of religion has been injured by it? People felt as if they could hardly worship God without them, but plainly their attachment to them was no part of their religion, that is, no part of the Christian religion. It was mere superstition. And when these things were taken away, they complained, as Micah did: "Ye have taken away my gods" (Judges 18:24). No doubt, however, religious character was improved by removing these objects of superstitious reverence. So that the Church, on the whole, has been greatly the gainer by the innovations. Thus you see that the present mode of a minister's dress has been gained by a series of new measures.

2. In regard to the order of public worship.

The same difficulties have been met in the effecting of every change, because the professing Christians have felt as if God had established just the mode which they were used to.

(a) Psalm Books. Formerly it was customary to sing the Psalms. By and by there was introduced a version of the Psalms in rhyme. This was "very bad," to be sure. When ministers tried to introduce them, the Churches were distracted, the people displayed violent opposition, and great trouble was created by the innovation. But the new measure triumphed.

Yet when another version was brought forward, in a better style of poetry, its introduction was opposed, with much contention, as yet a further new measure. Finally came Watts's version, which is still opposed in many Churches. No longer ago than 1828, when I was in Philadelphia, I was told that a minister there was preaching a course of Lectures on Psalmody, to his congregation, for the purpose of bringing them to use a better version of psalms and hymns than the one they were accustomed to. And even now, in a great many congregations, there are people who will rise and leave, if a psalm or hymn is given out from a new book. If Watts's version of the Psalms should be adopted, they would secede and form a new congregation, rather than tolerate such an innovation! The same sort of feeling has been excited by introducing the "Village Hymns" in prayer meetings. In one Presbyterian congregation in New York, within a few years, the minister's wife wished to introduce the Village Hymns into the women's prayer meetings, not daring to go any further. She thought she was going to succeed. But some of the careful souls found out that it was "made in New England," and refused to admit it.

(b) "Lining" the hymns. Formerly, when there were but few books, it was the custom to "line" the hymns, as it was called. The deacon used to stand up before the pulpit, and read the psalm or hymn, a line at a time, or two lines at a time, when then the rest would join in. By and by, they began to introduce books, and let every one sing from his own book. And what an innovation! Alas, what confusion and disorder it made! How could the good people worship God in singing without having the deacon to "line" the hymn in a "holy" tone; for the holiness of it seemed to consist very much in the tone, which was such that you could hardly tell whether he was reading or singing.

(c) Choirs. Afterwards, another innovation was brought in. It was thought best to have a select choir of singers sit by themselves, so as to give an opportunity to improve the music. But this was bitterly opposed. How many congregations were torn and rent in sunder by the desire of ministers

and some leading individuals, to bring about an improvement in the cultivation of music, by forming choirs! People talked about "innovations," and "new measures," and thought great evils were coming to the Churches, because the singers were seated by themselves, and cultivated music, and learned new tunes that the old people could not sing.

It used not to be so when they were young, and they would not tolerate such novelties in the Church.

(d) Pitchpipes. When music was cultivated, and choirs seated together, then the singers wanted a pitchpipe. Formerly, when the lines were given out by the deacon or clerk, he would strike off into the tune, and the rest would follow as well as they could. But when the leaders of choirs began to use pitchpipes for the purpose of pitching all their voices on precisely the same key, what vast confusion it made! I heard a clergyman say that an elder in the town where he used to live, would get up and leave the service whenever he heard the chorister blow his pipe. "Away with your whistle," said he; "what, whistle in the house of God!" He thought it a profanation.

(e) Instrumental music By and by, in some congregations' various instruments were introduced for the purpose of aiding the singers, and improving the music. When the bass viol was first introduced, it made a great commotion. People insisted they might just as well have a fiddle in the house of God. "Why, it is a fiddle, it is made just like a fiddle, only a little larger; and who can worship where there is a fiddle? By and by you will want to dance in the meeting-house." Who has not heard these things talked of as though they were matters of the most vital importance to the cause of religion and the purity of the Church? Ministers, in grave ecclesiastical assemblies, have spent days in discussing them. In a synod in the Presbyterian Church, it was seriously talked of by some, as a matter worthy of discipline in a certain Church, that "they had an organ in the house of God." This was only a few years ago. And there are many Churches now that would not tolerate an organ. They would not be half so much excited on being reminded that sinners are going to hell, as on hearing that "there is going to be an organ in the meeting-house." In how many places is it easier to get the Church to do anything else than work in a natural way to do what is needed, and wisest, and best, for promoting religion and saving souls? They act as if they had a "Thus saith the Lord"

for every custom and practice that has been handed down to them, or that they have long followed themselves, even though it is absurd and injurious.

(f) Extemporary prayers. How many people are there who talk just as if the Prayer Book was of Divine institution! And I suppose multitudes believe it is. And in some parts of the Church a man would not be tolerated to pray without his book being before him.

(g) Preaching without notes. A few years since a lady in Philadelphia was invited to hear a certain minister preach, and she refused, because he did not read his sermons. She seemed to think it would be profane for a man to go into the pulpit and talk, just as if he were talking to the people about some interesting and important subject. Just as if God had enjoined the use of notes and written sermons. They do not know that notes themselves are an innovation, and a modern one too. They were introduced in a time of political difficulty in England. The ministers were afraid they should be accused of preaching something against the Government unless they could show what they had preached, by having all written beforehand. And, with a time-serving spirit, they yielded to political considerations, and imposed a yoke of bondage upon the Church. And now, in many places, extempore preaching is not tolerated.

(h) Kneeling in prayer. This has made a great disturbance in many parts of the country. The time has been in the Congregational Churches in New England, when a man or woman would be ashamed to be seen kneeling at a prayer meeting, for fear of being taken for a Methodist. I have prayed in families where I was the only person that would kneel. The others all stood. Others, again, talk as if there were no other posture but kneeling, that could be acceptable in prayer.

3. In regard to the labors of laymen.

(a) Lay prayers. Much objection was formerly made against allowing any man to pray or to take a part in managing a prayer meeting, unless he was a clergyman. It used to be said that for a layman to pray in public, was interfering with the dignity of ministers, and was not to be tolerated. A minister in Pennsylvania told me that a few years ago he appointed a prayer meeting in the Church, and the elders opposed it and "turned it out of house." They said they would not have such work; they had hired a minister to do the praying, and he should do it; and they were not going to have common men praying.

Ministers and many others have very extensively objected against a layman's praying in public, especially in the presence of a minister; that would let down the authority of the clergy, and was not to be tolerated. At a synod held in this State, there was a synodical prayer meeting appointed. The committee of arrangements, as it was to be a formal thing, designated beforehand the persons who were to take part, and named two clergymen and one layman. The layman was a man of talent and information equal to most ministers. But a Doctor of Divinity got up and seriously objected to a layman being asked to pray before that synod. It was not usual, he said; it infringed upon the rights of the clergy, and he wished no innovations! What a state of things!

(b) Lay exhortation. This has been made a question of vast importance, one which has agitated all New England and many other parts of the country, whether laymen ought to be allowed to exhort in public meetings.

Many ministers have labored to shut up the mouths of laymen entirely. Such persons overlooked the practice of the primitive Churches. So much opposition was made to this practice, nearly a hundred years ago, that President Edwards had actually to take up the subject, and write a labored defense of the rights and duties of laymen. But the opposition has not entirely ceased to this day. "What, a man that is not a minister, to talk in public! It will create confusion; it will let down the ministry: what will people think of ministers, if we allow common men to do the same things that we do?" Astonishing!

But now all these things are gone by in most places, and laymen can preach and exhort without the least objection. The evils that were feared, from the labors of laymen, have not been realized, and many ministers are glad to induce laymen to exercise their gifts in doing good.

4. Women's prayer meetings. Within the last few years women's prayer meetings have been extensively opposed. What dreadful things! A minister said that when he first attempted to establish these meetings, he had all the clergy around opposed to him. "Set women to pray? Why, the next thing, I suppose, will be to set them to preach!" Serious apprehensions were entertained for the safety of Zion if women should be allowed to get together to pray, and even now it is not tolerated in some Churches.

So it has been in regard to all the active movements of the Church.

Missions and Sunday Schools have been opposed, and have gained their present hold only by a succession of struggles and a series of innovations.

A Baptist Association in Pennsylvania, some years since, disclaimed all fellowship with any minister that had been liberally educated, or that supported Missions, Bible Societies, Sabbath Schools, Temperance Societies, etc. All these were denounced as New Measures, not found in the Bible, and that would necessarily lead to distraction and confusion in the Churches. The same thing has been done by some among the German Churches. And in many Presbyterian Churches there are found those who will take the same ground, and denounce all these things, with the exception, perhaps, of an educated ministry, as innovations, new measures, "going in your own strength," and the like, and as calculated to do great evil.

5. I will mention several men who, in Divine providence, have been set forward as prominent in introducing innovations.

(a) The apostles - who were great innovators, as you all know. After the Resurrection, and after the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, they set out to remodel the Church. They broke down the Jewish system of measures, and rooted it out, so as to leave scarcely a vestige.

(b) Luther and the Reformers. You all know what difficulties they had to contend with, and the reason was, that they were trying to introduce new measures - new modes of performing the public duties of religion, and new expedients to bring the Gospel with power to the hearts of men. All the strange and ridiculous things of the Roman Catholics were held to by Rome with pertinacious obstinacy, as if they were of Divine authority; and such an excitement was raised by the attempt to change them, as well- nigh involved all Europe in bloodshed.

(c) Wesley and his coadjutors. Wesley did not, at first, break from the Established Church in England, but formed little classes everywhere, which grew into a Church within a Church. He remained in the Episcopal Church; but he introduced so much of new measures as to fill all England with excitement, and uproar, and opposition; and he was everywhere denounced as an innovator and a stirrer up of sedition - a teacher of new things which it was not lawful to receive.

Whitefield was a man of the same school, and, like Wesley, was an innovator. I believe he and several individuals of his associates were expelled from College for getting up such a new measure as a social prayer meeting. They would pray together and expound the Scriptures, and this was such a daring novelty that it could not be borne. When Whitefield came to America what an astonishing opposition was raised! Often he well nigh lost his life, and barely escaped by the skin of his teeth. Now, everybody looks upon him as the glory of the age in which he lived. And many of our own denomination have so far divested themselves of prejudice as to think Wesley not only a good, but a wise and pre-eminently useful man. Then, almost the entire Church viewed them with animosity, fearing that the innovations they introduced would destroy the Church.

(d) President Edwards. This great man was famous in his day for new measures. Among other innovations, he refused to baptize the children of impenitent parents. The practice of baptizing the children of the ungodly had been introduced into the New England Churches in the preceding century, and had become nearly universal. President Edwards saw that the practice was wrong, and he refused to do it, and the refusal shook all the Churches of New England. A hundred ministers joined and determined to put him down. He wrote a book on the subject, and defeated them all. It produced one of the greatest excitements there ever was in New England.

Nothing, unless it was the Revolutionary War, ever produced an equal excitement.

The General Association of Connecticut refused to countenance Whitefield, he was such an innovator. "Why, he will preach out of doors, and anywhere!" Awful! What a terrible thing that a man should preach in the fields or in the streets! Cast him out!  All these were devoted men, seeking out ways to do good and save souls.

6. And precisely the same kind of opposition was experienced by all, obstructing their path and trying to destroy their character and influence.

A book, still extant, was written in President Edwards' time, by a doctor of divinity, and signed by a multitude of ministers, against Whitefield and Edwards, their associates and their measures. A letter was published in this city by a minister against Whitefield, which brought up the same objections against innovations that we hear now. In the time of the late opposition to revivals in the State of New York, a copy of this letter was taken to the editor of a religious periodical with a request that he would publish it. He refused, and gave for a reason, that if published, many would apply it to the controversy that is going on now. I mention it merely to show how identical is the opposition that is raised in different ages against all new measures designed to advance the cause of religion. In the present generation, many things have been introduced which have proved useful, but have been opposed on the ground that they were innovations. And as many are still unsettled in regard to them, I have thought it best to make some remarks concerning them. There are three things, in particular, which have chiefly attracted remark, and therefore I shall speak of them. They are: anxious meetings, protracted meetings, and the anxious seat. These are all opposed, and are called " new measures."

(a) Anxious meetings. The first that I ever heard of under that name were in New England, where they were appointed for the purpose of holding personal conversation with anxious sinners, and to adapt instruction to the cases of individuals, so as to lead them immediately to Christ. The design of them is evidently philosophical, but they have been opposed because they were new. There are two modes of conducting an anxious meeting, either of which may affect the object in view.

(1) By spending a few moments in personal conversation, in order to learn the state of mind of each individual, and then, in an address to the whole meeting, to take up their errors and remove their difficulties.

(2) By going round to each, and taking up each individual case, and going over the whole ground with each one separately, and getting them to promise to give their hearts to God. Either way the meetings are important, and have been found most successful in practice. But multitudes have objected against them because they were new.

(b) Protracted meetings. These are not new, but have always been practiced, in some form or another, ever since there was a Church on earth.

The Jewish festivals were nothing else but protracted meetings. In regard to the manner, they were conducted differently from what they are now.

But the design was the same: to devote a series of days to religious services, in order to make a more powerful impression of Divine things on the minds of the people. All denominations of Christians, when religion prospers among them, hold protracted meetings. In Scotland they used to begin on Thursday, at all their Communion seasons, and continue until after the Sabbath. The Episcopalians, Baptists, and Methodists, all hold protracted meetings. Yet now, in our day, they have been opposed, particularly among Presbyterians, and called "new measures," and regarded as fraught with all manner of evil, notwithstanding that they have been so manifestly and so extensively blessed. I will suggest a few things that ought to be considered in regard to them.

(1) In appointing them, regard should be had for the circumstances of the people; whether the Church is able to give attention and devote time to carrying on the meeting. In some instances this rule has been neglected.

Some have thought it right to break in upon the necessary business of the community. In the country they would appoint the meeting in the harvest-time, and in the city in the height of the business season, when all the men are necessarily occupied, and pressed with their temporal labors.

In defense of this course it is said, that our business should always be made to yield to God's business; that eternal things are of so much more importance than temporal things, that worldly business of any kind, and at anytime, should be made to yield and give place to a protracted meeting.

But the worldly business in which we are engaged is not our business. It is as much God's business, and as much our duty, as our prayers and protracted meetings are. If we do not consider our business in this light, we have not yet taken the first lesson in religion; we have not learned to do all things to the glory of God. With this view of the subject - separating our business from religion, we are living six days for ourselves, and the seventh for God. REAL DUTIES NEVER INTERFERE WITH EACH OTHER.

Weekdays have their appropriate duties, and the Sabbath its appropriate duties, and we are to be equally pious on every day of the week, and in the performance of the duties of every day. We are to plow, and sow, and sell our goods, and attend to our various callings, with the same singleness of view to the glory of God, with which we go to Church on the Sabbath, and pray in our families, and read our Bibles. This is a first principle in religion. He that does not know and act on this principle, has not learned the "A B C" of piety, as yet. Now, there are particular seasons of the year, in which God, in His providence, calls upon men to attend to business, because worldly business at the time is particularly urgent, and must be done at that season, if done at all; seed-time and harvest for the farmer, and the business seasons for the merchant. And we have no right to say, in those particular seasons, that we will quit our business and have a protracted meeting. The fact is, the business is not ours. And unless God, by some special indication of His providence, shows it to be His pleasure that we should turn aside and have a protracted meeting at such times, I look upon it as tempting God to appoint one. It is saying: "O God, this worldly business is our business, and we are willing to lay it aside for Thy business." Unless God has indicated it to be His pleasure to pour out His Spirit, and revive His work at such a season, and has thus called upon His people to quit, for the time being, their ordinary employments, and attend especially to a protracted meeting, it appears to me that God might say to us in such circumstances: "Who hath required this at your hand?"

God has a right to dispose of our time as He pleases, to require us to give up any portion of our time, or all our time, to duties of instruction and devotion. And when circumstances plainly call for it, it is our duty to lay aside every other business, and make direct and continuous efforts for the salvation of souls. If we transact our business upon right principles, and from right motives, and wholly for the glory of God, we shall never object to go aside to attend a protracted meeting, whenever there appears to be a call for it in the providence of God.

A man who considers himself a steward or a clerk, does not consider it a hardship to rest from his labors on the Sabbath, but a privilege. The selfish owner may feel unwilling to suspend his business on the Sabbath. But the clerk who transacts business, not for himself, but for his employer, considers it a privilege to rest on the Sabbath. So we, if we do our business for God, will not think it hard if He makes it our duty to suspend our worldly business and attend a protracted meeting. We should rather consider it in the light of a holiday. Whenever, therefore, you hear a man pleading that he cannot leave his business to attend a protracted meeting - that it is his duty to attend to business, there is reason to fear that he considers the business as his own, and the meeting as God's business. If he felt that the business of the store or the farm was as much God's business as attending a protracted meeting, he would, doubtless, be very willing to rest from his worldly toils, and go up to the house of God and be refreshed, whenever there was an indication on the part of God, that the community was called to that work. It is highly worthy of remark, that the Jewish festivals were appointed at those seasons of the year when there was the least pressure of indispensable worldly business.

In some instances, such meetings have been appointed in the very pressure of business seasons, and have been followed with no good results, evidently for the want of attention to the rule here laid down. In other cases, meetings have been appointed in seasons when there was a great pressure of worldly business, and have been signally blessed. But in those cases the blessing followed because the meeting was appointed in obedience to the indications of the will of God, and by those who had spiritual discernment, and understood the signs of the times. In many instances, doubtless, individuals have attended who really supposed themselves to be giving up their own business to attend to God's business, and in such cases they made what they supposed to be a real sacrifice, and God in mercy granted them the blessing.

(2) Ordinarily, a protracted meeting should be conducted throughout, and the labor chiefly performed, by the same minister, if possible. Sometimes protracted meetings have been held, and dependence placed on ministers coming in from day to day, and there has been no blessing. The reason has been obvious. They did not come in a state of mind which was right for entering into such work; and they did not know the state of people's minds, so as to know what to preach. Suppose a person who is sick should call a different physician every day. Neither would know what the symptoms had been, what was the course of the disease or of the treatment, what remedies had been tried, or what the patient could bear.

The method would certainly kill the patient. Just so in a protracted meeting, carried on by a succession of ministers. None of them get into the spirit of it, and generally they do more harm than good.

A protracted meeting should not, ordinarily, be appointed, unless they can secure the right kind of help, and get a minister or two who will agree to stay on the ground till the meeting is finished. Then they will probably secure a rich blessing.

(3) There should not be so many public meetings as to interfere with the duties of private prayer and of the family. Otherwise Christians will lose their spirituality and let go their hold of God; and the protracted meeting will prove a failure.

(4) Families should not put themselves out so much, in entertaining strangers, as to neglect prayer and other duties. It is often the case that when a protracted meeting is held, some of the principal families in the Church, I mean those who are principally relied on to sustain the meetings, do not get into the work at all. And the reason is, that they are "cumbered with much serving." They often take needless trouble to provide for guests who come from a distance to the meeting, and lay themselves out very foolishly to make an entertainment, not only comfortable but sumptuous.

It should always be understood that it is the duty of families to have as little working and parade as possible, and to get along with their hospitality in the easiest way, so that they may all have time to pray, and go to the meeting, and to attend to the things of the Kingdom.

(5) By all means guard against unnecessarily keeping late hours. If people keep late hours, night after night, they will inevitably wear out the body; their health will fail, and there will be a reaction. They sometimes allow themselves to get so excited as to lose their sleep, and become irregular in their meals, till they break down. Unless the greatest pains are taken to keep regular, the excitement will get so great, that nature will give way, and the work will stop.

(6) All sectarianism should be carefully avoided. If a sectarian spirit breaks out, either in the preaching, or praying, or in conversation, it will counteract all the good of the meeting.

(7) Be watchful against placing dependence on a protracted meeting, as if that of itself would produce a revival. This is a point of great danger, and has always been so. This is the great reason why the Church in successive generations has always had to give up her measures - because Christians had come to rely on them for success. So it has been in some places, in regard to protracted meetings. They have been so blessed, that in some places the people have thought that if they could only have a protracted meeting, they would have a blessing, and sinners would be converted of course. And so they have appointed their meeting, without any preparation in the Church, and have just sent for some minister of note and set him to preaching, as if that, would convert sinners. It is obvious that the blessing would be withheld from a meeting got up in this way.

(8) Avoid adopting the idea that a revival cannot be enjoyed without a protracted meeting. Some Churches have got into a morbid state of feeling on this subject. Their zeal has become all spasmodic and feverish, so that they never think of doing anything to promote a revival, only in that way.

When a protracted meeting is held, they seem to be wonderfully zealous, but then sink down to a torpid state till another protracted meeting produces another spasm. And now multitudes in the Church think it is necessary to give up protracted meetings because they are abused in this way. This ought to be guarded against, in every Church, so that they may not be driven to give them up, and lose all the benefits that protracted meetings are calculated to produce.

7. The anxious seat

By this I mean the appointment of some particular seat in the place of meeting, where the anxious may come and be addressed particularly, and be made subjects of prayer, and sometimes be conversed with individually. Of late, this measure has met with more opposition than any of the others.

What is the great objection? I cannot see it. The design of the anxious seat is undoubtedly philosophical, and according to the laws of mind. It has two bearings:

(a) When a person is seriously troubled in mind, everybody knows there is a powerful tendency to conceal it. When a person is borne down with a sense of his condition, if you can get him willing to have it known, if you can get him to break away from the chains of pride, you have gained an important point towards his conversion. This is agreeable to the philosophy of the human mind. How many thousands are there who will bless God to eternity, that, when pressed by the truth, they were ever brought to take this step, by which they threw off the idea that it was a dreadful thing to have anybody know that they were serious about their souls.

(b) Another bearing of the anxious seat is to detect deception and delusion, and thus prevent false hopes. It has been opposed on the ground that it was calculated to create delusion and false hopes. But this objection is unreasonable. The truth is the other way.

Suppose I were preaching on the subject of Temperance; and that I should first show the evils of intemperance, and bring up the drunkard and his family, and show the various evils produced, till every heart were beating with emotion. Then I portray the great danger of moderate drinking, and show how it leads to intoxication and ruin, and that there is no safety but in TOTAL ABSTINENCE, till a hundred hearts are ready to say: "I will never drink another drop of ardent spirit in the world; if I do, I may expect to find a drunkard's grave." Now I stop short, and let the pledge be circulated, and every one that is fully resolved is ready to sign it. But how many will begin to draw back and hesitate, when you call on them to sign a pledge of total abstinence! One says to himself: "Shall I sign it or not? I thought my mind was made up, but this signing a pledge never to drink again - I do not know about that." Thus you see that when a person is called upon to give a pledge, if he is found not to be decided, he makes it manifest that he was not sincere. That is, that he never came to that resolution on the subject, which could be relied on to control his future life.

Just so with the awakened sinner. Preach to him, and, at the moment, he thinks he is willing to do anything; he thinks he is determined to serve the Lord; but bring him to the test; call on him to do one thing, to take one step, that shall identify him with the people of God or cross his pride, and his pride comes up, and he refuses; his delusion is brought out, and he finds himself a lost sinner still; whereas, if you had not done it, he might have gone away flattering himself that he was a Christian. If you say to him: "There is the anxious seat, come out and avow your determination to be on the Lord's side," and if he is not willing to do so small a thing as that, then he is not willing to do anything, and there he is, brought out before his own conscience. It uncovers the delusion of the human heart, and prevents a great many spurious conversions, by showing those who might otherwise imagine themselves willing to do anything for Christ that in fact they are willing to do nothing.

The Church has always felt it necessary to have something of the kind to answer this very purpose. In the days of the apostles baptism answered this purpose. The Gospel was preached to the people, and then all those who were willing to be on the side of Christ were called on to be baptized.

It held the precise place that the anxious seat does now, as a public manifestation of a determination to be a Christian.

In modern times, even those who have been violently opposed to the anxious seat, have been obliged to adopt some substitute, or they could not get along in promoting a revival. Some have adopted the expedient of inviting the people who are anxious for their souls, to stay, for conversation, after the rest of the congregation have retired. But what is the difference? This is as much setting up a test as the other. Others, who would be much ashamed to employ the anxious seat, have asked those who have any feeling on the subject, to retain their seats when the rest retire. Others have called the anxious to withdraw into a Lecture-room.

The object of all these is the same, and the principle is the same - to bring people out from the refuge of false shame. One man I heard of, who was very far gone in his opposition to new measures. In one of his meetings he requested all those who were willing to submit to God, or desired to be made subjects of prayer, to signify it by leaning forward and putting their heads down upon the pew before them. Who does not see that this was a mere evasion of the anxious seat, that it was designed to answer the same purpose, and that the plan was adopted because it was felt that something of the kind was important?

Now, what objection is there against taking a particular seat, or rising up, or going into the Lecture room? They all mean the same thing; and they are not novelties in principle at all. The thing has always been done in substance. In Joshua's day he called on the people to decide what they would do, and they spoke right out in the meeting: "The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey" (Joshua 24:24).

REMARKS.

1. If we examine the history of the Church we shall find that there never has been an extensive reformation, except by new measures. Whenever the Churches get settled down into a norm of doing things, they soon get to rely upon the outward doing of it, and so retain the form of religion while they lose the substance. And then it has always been found impossible to arouse them so as to bring about a reformation of the evils, and produce a revival of religion, by simply pursuing that established form. Perhaps it is not too much to say, that it is impossible for God Himself to bring about reformations but by new measures. At least, it is a fact that God has always chosen this way, as the wisest and best that He could devise or adopt. And although it has always been the case, that the very measures which God has chosen to employ, and which He has blessed in reviving His work, have been opposed as new measures, and have been denounced, yet He has continued to act upon the same principle. When He has found that a certain mode has lost its influence by having become a form, He has brought up some new measure, which would BREAK IN upon lazy habits, and WAKE UP a slumbering Church. And great good has resulted.

2. The same distinctions, in substance, that now exist, have always existed, in all seasons of reformation and revival of religion. There have always been those who particularly adhered to their forms and notions, and precise way of doing things, as if they had a "Thus saith the Lord" for every one of them. They have called those that differed from them, who were trying to roll the ark of salvation forward, "Methodists," "New Lights," "Radicals," "New School," "New Divinity," and various other opprobrious names. And the declensions that have followed have been uniformly owing to two causes, which should be by no means overlooked by the Church.

(a) The Old School, or Old Measure party, have persevered in their opposition, eagerly seizing hold of any real or apparent indiscretions in the friends of the work In such cases the Churches have gradually lost their confidence in the opposition to new measures, and the cry of "innovation" has ceased to alarm them. Thus the scale has turned.

(b) But now mark me: right here, in this state of things, the devil has, again and again, taken the advantage. When the battle has been fought and the victory gained, the rash zeal of some well-meaning, but headstrong individuals, has brought about a reaction, that has spread a pall over the Churches for years. This was the case, as is well known, in the days of President Edwards. Here is a rock, upon which a lighthouse is now built, and upon which if the Church now run aground, both parties are entirely without excuse. It is now well known, or ought to be known, that the declension which followed the revival in those days, together with the declensions which have repeatedly occurred, were owing to the combined influence of the continued and pertinacious opposition of the old School, and the ultimate bad spirit and recklessness of some individuals of the New School.

The note of alarm should be distinctly sounded to both parties, lest the devil should prevail against us at the very point, and under the very circumstances where he has so often prevailed. Will the Church never learn wisdom from experience? When will it come to pass that the Church will be revived, and religion prevail, without exciting such opposition in the Church as eventually brings about a reaction?

3. It is truly astonishing that grave ministers should really feel alarmed at the new measures of the present day, as if new measures were something new under the sun, and as if the present form and manner of doing things had descended from the apostles, and were established by a "Thus saith the Lord"; when the truth is, that every step of the Church's advance from the gross darkness of Popery, has been through the introduction of one new measure after another. We now look with astonishment, and are inclined to look almost with contempt, upon the cry of "innovation" that has preceded our day; and as we review the fears that multitudes in the Church have entertained in bygone days, with respect to innovation, we find it difficult to account for what appear to us the groundless and absurd, at least, if not ridiculous, objections and difficulties which they made. But, is it not wonderful, at this late day, after the Church has had so much experience in these matters, that grave and pious men should seriously feel alarmed at the introduction of the simple, the philosophical, and greatly-prospered measures of the last ten years? As if new measures were something not to be tolerated, of highly disastrous tendency, that should wake the notes and echoes of alarm in every nook and corner of the Church.

4. We see why it is that those who have been making the ado about new measures have not been successful in promoting revivals.

They have been taken up with the evils, real or imaginary, which have attended this great and blessed work of God. That there have been evils, no one will pretend to deny. But I believe that no revival ever existed since the world began, of as great power and extent as the one that has prevailed for the last ten years, which has not been attended with as great or greater evils. Still, a large portion of the Church have been frightening themselves and others, by giving constant attention to the evils of revivals. One of the professors in a Presbyterian Theological Seminary felt it his duty to write a series of letters to Presbyterians, which were extensively circulated, the object of which seemed to be to sound the note of alarm through all the borders of the Church, in regard to the evils attending revivals. While men are taken up with the evils instead of the excellences following a blessed work of God, how can it be expected that they will be useful in promoting it? I would say all this in great kindness, but it is a point upon which I must not be silent.

5. Without new measures it is impossible that the Church should succeed in gaining the attention of the world to religion. There are so many exciting subjects constantly brought before the public mind, such a running to and fro, so many that cry "Lo here!" and "Lo there!" that the Church cannot maintain her ground without sufficient novelty in measures, to get the public ear. The measures of politicians, of infidels, and heretics, the scrambling after wealth, the increase of luxury, and the ten thousand exciting and counteracting influences that bear upon the Church and upon the world, will gain men's attention, and turn them away from the sanctuary and from the altars of the Lord, unless we increase in wisdom and piety, and wisely adopt such new measures as are calculated to get the attention of men to the Gospel of Christ. I have already said that novelties should be introduced no faster than they are really called for; they should be introduced with the greatest wisdom, and caution, and prayerfulness, and in a manner calculated to excite as little opposition as possible. But new measures we must have. And may God prevent the Church from settling down in any set of forms, or getting the present or any other edition of her measures stereotyped.

6. It is evident that we must have more arousing preaching, to meet the character and wants of the age. Ministers are generally beginning to find this out. And some of them complain of it, and suppose it to be "owing to new measures," as they call them. They say that such ministers as our fathers would have been glad to hear, cannot now be heard, cannot get a pastorate, nor secure an audience. And they think that new measures have perverted the taste of the people. But this is not the difficulty. The character of the age is changed, but these men retain the same stiff, dry, prosing style of preaching, that answered half a century ago.

Look at the Methodists. Many of their ministers are unlearned, in the common sense of the term - many of them taken right from the shop or farm, and yet they have gathered congregations, and pushed their way, and won souls everywhere. Wherever the Methodists have gone, their plain, pointed and simple, but warm and animated, mode of preaching has always gathered congregations. Few Presbyterian ministers have gathered such large assemblies, or won so many souls. Now, are we to be told that we must pursue the same old, formal mode of doing things, amidst all these changes? As well might the North River be rolled back, as the world converted under such preaching. Those who adopt a different style of preaching, as the Methodists have done, will run away from us. We must have powerful preaching, or the devil will have the people, except what the Methodists can save! Many ministers are finding out already, that a Methodist preacher, without the advantages of a liberal education, will draw a congregation around him which a Presbyterian minister, with perhaps ten times as much learning, cannot equal, because he has not the earnest manner of the other, and does not pour out fire upon his hearers when he preaches.

7. We see the importance of having young ministers obtain right views of revival. In a multitude of cases I have seen that great pains are taken to frighten our young men, who are preparing for the ministry, about "the evils of revivals," and the like. Young men in some theological seminaries are taught to look upon new measures as if they were the very inventions of the devil. How can such men have revivals? So when they come out, they look about and watch, and start, as if the devil were there. Some young men in Princeton a few years ago came out with an essay upon the "Evils of Revivals." I should like to know, now, how many of those young men have enjoyed revivals among their people, since they have been in the ministry; and if any have, I should like to know whether they have not repented of that piece about "the evils of revivals"?

If I had a voice so loud as to be heard at Princeton, I would speak to those young men on this subject. It is high time to talk plainly. The Church is groaning in all her borders for the want of suitable ministers. Good men are laboring, and are willing to labor night and day, to assist in educating young men for the ministry, to promote revivals of religion; and yet when young men come out of the seminary some of them are as shy of all the measures that God blesses as they are of Popery itself.

Shall it be so always? Must we educate young men for the ministry, and have them come out frightened to death about new measures? They ought to know that new measures are no new thing in the Church. Let them go to work, and keep at work, and not be frightened. I have been pained to see that some men, in giving accounts of revivals, have evidently felt it necessary to be particular in detailing the measures used, to avoid the inference that new measures were introduced; evidently feeling that even the Church would undervalue the revival unless it appeared to have been promoted without new measures. Besides, this caution in detailing the measures in order to demonstrate that there is nothing new, looks like admitting that new measures are wrong because they are new, and that a revival is more valuable when it is not promoted by new measures. In this way, I apprehend that much evil has been done; and if the practice is to continue, it must come to this, that a revival must be judged of by the fact that it occurred in connection with new, or with old, measures. I never will countenance such a spirit, or condescend to guard an account of a revival against the imputation of old or new measures. I believe new measures are right; that is, that it is no objection to a measure, that it is new, or old.

Let a minister enter fully into his work, and pour out his heart to God for a blessing, and whenever he sees the want of any measure to bring the truth more powerfully before the minds of the people, let him adopt it and not be afraid, and God will not withhold His blessing. If ministers will not go forward, if they will not preach the Gospel with power and earnestness, if they will not turn out of their tracks to do anything new for the purpose of saving souls, they will grieve the Holy Spirit away, and God will visit them with His curse, and raise up other ministers to do His work in the world.

8. It is the right and duty of ministers to adopt new measures for promoting revivals. In some places the Church members have opposed their minister when he has attempted to employ those measures which God has blessed for a revival, and have gone so far as to give up their prayer meetings, and give up laboring to save souls, and stand aloof from everything, because their minister has adopted what they call "new measures" - no matter how reasonable the measures are in themselves, nor how seasonable, nor how much God may bless them. It is enough that they are called "new"; they will not have anything to do with new measures, nor will they tolerate them among the people. And thus they fall out by the way, and grieve away the Spirit of God, and put a stop to the revival, when the world around them is going to hell.

9. Finally, this zealous adherence to particular forms and modes of doing things, which has led the Church to resist innovations in measures, savors strongly of fanaticism. And what is not a little singular, is, that fanatics of this stamp are always the first to cry out "fanaticism." What is that but fanaticism in the Roman Catholic Church, which causes them to adhere with such pertinacity to their particular modes, and forms, and ceremonies, and fooleries? They act as if all these things were established by Divine authority; as if there were a "Thus saith the Lord" for every one of them. Now, we justly style this a spirit of fanaticism, and esteem it worthy of rebuke. But it is just as absolutely fanatical for the Presbyterian Church, or any other, to be sticklish for her particular forms, and to act as if they were established by Divine authority. The fact is that God has established, in no Church, any particular form, or manner of worship, for promoting the interests of religion. The Scriptures are entirely silent on these subjects, under the Gospel dispensation, and the Church is left to exercise her own discretion in relation to all such matters. And I hope it will not be thought unkind, when I say again, that to me it appears that the unkind, angry zeal, for a certain mode and manner of doing things, and the overbearing, exterminating cry against new measures, SAVOR STRONGLY OF FANATICISM.

The only thing insisted upon under the Gospel dispensation, in regard to measures, is that there should be decency and order. "Let all things be done decently and in order"(1 Corinthians 14:40). We are required to guard against all confusion and disorderly conduct. But what is meant by decency and order? Will it be said that an anxious meeting, or a protracted meeting, or an anxious seat, is inconsistent with decency and order? I should most sincerely deprecate, and most firmly resist, whatever was indecent and disorderly in the worship of God's house. But I do not suppose that by "order," we are to understand any particular set mode, in which any Church may have been accustomed to perform its service.

Lecture 15: Hindrances To Revivals

I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? - Nehemiah 6:3.

This servant of God had come down from Babylon to rebuild the temple and re-establish the worship of God at Jerusalem, the city of his fathers' sepulchers. When it was discovered by Sanballat and certain individuals who were his allies, who had long enjoyed the desolations of Zion, that the temple and the holy city were about to be rebuilt, they raised a great opposition. Sanballat and the other leaders tried, in several ways, to divert Nehemiah and his friends, and prevent them from going forward in their work; at one time they threatened them, and then complained that they were going to rebel against the king. They found, however, that they could not frighten Nehemiah, and then they sought to delude him by artifice and fraud, and draw him off from the vigorous prosecution of his work. But the words sum up his position: "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?"

It has always been the case, whenever any of the servants of God do anything in His cause, and there appears to be a probability that they will succeed, that Satan by his agents regularly attempts to divert their minds and nullify their labors. So it has been during the last ten years, in which there have been such remarkable revivals through the length and breadth of the land. These revivals have been very great and powerful, and extensive.

It has been estimated that not less than TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND persons have been converted to God in that time. And the devil has been busy in his devices to divert and distract the people of God, and turn off their energies from pushing forward the great work of salvation.

In remarking upon the subject, I propose:

I. To show that a revival of religion is a great work.

II. To mention several things which may put a stop to it.

III. To show what must be done for the continuance of this great revival.

I. A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS A GREAT WORK.

It is a great work, because in it are great interests involved. In a revival of religion, there are involved both the glory of God, so far as it respects the government of this world, and the salvation of men; two things, therefore, that are of infinite importance are involved in it. The greatness of a work is to be estimated by the greatness of the consequences depending on it; this is the measure of its importance.

II. THINGS WHICH MAY STOP A REVIVAL.

Some have talked very foolishly on this subject, as if nothing could hinder a genuine revival. They say: "If your revival is a work of God, it cannot be stopped: can any created being stop God?" Now I ask if this is common sense? Formerly, it used to be the established belief that a revival could not be stopped, because it was the work of God. And so they supposed it would go on, whatever might be done to hinder it, in the Church or out of it. But the farmer might just as well reason so, and think he could go and cut down his wheat and not hurt the crop, because it is God that makes grain grow. A revival is the work of God, and so is a crop of wheat; and God is as much dependent on the use of means in one case as the other.

And therefore a revival is as liable to be injured as a wheat field.

1. A revival will stop whenever the Church believes it is going to cease.

The Church is the instrument with which God carries on this work, and Christians are to work in it voluntarily and with their hearts. Nothing is more fatal to a revival than for its friends to predict that it is going to stop.

No matter what the enemies of the work may say about it, predicting that it will come to nothing, they cannot stop it in this way; but the friends must labor and pray in faith to carry it on. It is a contradiction to say they are laboring and praying in faith to carry on the work, and yet believe that it is going to stop. If they lose their faith, it will stop, of course. Whenever the friends of revivals begin to prophesy that the revival is going to stop, they should be instantly rebuked, in the name of the Lord. If the idea should once begin to prevail, and if you cannot counteract it and root it out, the revival will infallibly cease; for it is indispensable to the work that Christians should labor and pray in faith to promote it, and it is a contradiction to say that they can labor in faith for its continuance while they believe that it is about to cease.

2. A revival will cease when Christians consent that it should cease.

Sometimes Christians see that the revival is in danger of ceasing, and that if something effectual is not done, it will come to a standstill. If this should distress them, and drive them to prayer, and to fresh efforts, the work will not cease. When Christians love the work of God and the salvation of souls so well that they are distressed at a mere apprehension of a decline, it will drive them to agony and effort to prevent its ceasing; but if they see the danger, and do not try to avert it, or to renew the work, they consent that it Should stop. There are many people who see revivals declining, and that they are in great danger of ceasing altogether, and yet they manifest but little distress, and seem to care but little about it. Whole Churches see the position that must ensue unless there can be an awakening; and yet they are at ease, and do not groan and agonize in prayer that God would revive His work. Some are even predicting that there is now going to be a great reaction, and a great dearth come over the Church, as there did after the day of Whitefield and Edwards. And yet they are not startled at their own foreboding. THEY CONSENT TO IT. It seems as if they were the devil's trumpeters, sent out to scatter dismay throughout the ranks of God's elect.

3. A revival will cease whenever Christians become mechanical in their attempts to promote it. When their faith is strong, and their hearts are warm and mellow, and their prayers full of holy emotion, and their words with power, then the work goes on. But when their prayers begin to be cold and without emotion, and they begin to labor mechanically, and to use words without feeling, then the revival will cease.

4. The revival will cease, whenever Christians get the idea that the work will go on without their aid. They are co-workers with God in promoting a revival, and the work can be carried on just as far as the Church will carry it on, and no farther. God has been for one thousand eight hundred years trying to get the Church into the work. He has been calling and urging, commanding, entreating, pressing and encouraging, to get Christians to take hold. He has stood all this while ready to make bare his arm to carry on the work with them. But the Church has been unwilling to do her part, seeming determined to leave it to God alone to convert the world, and saying: "If He wants the world converted, let Him do it." The Church ought to know that this is impossible. Sinners cannot be converted without their own agency, for conversion consists in their voluntary turning to God. Nor can sinners be converted without the appropriate moral influences to turn them; that is, without truth and the reality of things being brought full before their minds either by direct revelation or by men. God cannot convert the world by physical omnipotence, but He is dependent on the moral influence of the Church.

5. The work will cease when the Church prefers to attend to selfish concerns rather than God's business. I do not admit that men have any business which is properly their own, but they think so, and in fact prefer to attend to what they consider as their own, rather than work for God.

They begin to think they canoe afford sufficient time from their worldly employments, to carry on a revival. They pretend they are obliged to give up attending to religion, and they let their hearts go out again after the world. And the work must cease, of course.

6. When Christians get proud of their "great revival," it will cease. I mean those Christians who have been instrumental in promoting it. It is almost always the case in a revival, that a part of the Church proves too proud or too worldly to take any part in the work. They are determined to stand aloof, and wait, and see what it will come to. The pride of this part of the Church cannot stop the revival, for the revival never rested on them. It began without them, and it can go on without them. They may fold their arms and do nothing but look out and find fault; and still the work may go on. But when the part of the Church that does the work begins to think what a great revival they have had, how they have labored and prayed, how bold and how zealous they have been, and how much good they have done, then the work will be likely to decline. Perhaps it has been published in the papers what a revival there has been in that Church, and how absorbed the members have been, so they think how high they will stand in the estimation of other Churches, all over the land, because they have had such a great revival. And so they get puffed up, and vain, and they can no longer enjoy the presence of God. The Spirit withdraws from them, and the revival ceases.

7. The revival will stop when the Church gets exhausted by labor.

Multitudes of Christians commit a great mistake here in time of revival.

They are so thoughtless, and have so little judgment, that they will break up all their habits of living, neglect to eat and sleep at the proper hours, and let the excitement run away with them, so that they overdo their bodies, and are so imprudent that they soon become exhausted, and it is impossible for them to continue in the work. Revivals often cease from negligence and imprudence, in this respect, on the part of those engaged in carrying them on, and declensions follow.

8. A revival will cease when the Church begins to speculate about abstract doctrines, which have nothing to do with practice. If the Christians turn their attention away from the things of salvation, and go to studying or disputing about abstract points, the revival will cease, of course.

9. When Christians begin to proselytize. When the Baptists are so opposed to the Presbyterians, or the Presbyterians to the Baptists, or both against the Methodists, or Episcopalians against the rest, that they begin to make efforts to get the converts to join their Church, you soon see the last of the revival. Perhaps a revival will go on for a time, and all sectarian difficulties are banished, till somebody circulates a book, privately, to gain proselytes. Perhaps some over-zealous deacon, or some mischief-making woman, or some proselytizing minister, cannot keep still any longer, but begins to work the work of the devil, by attempting to gain proselytes, and so stirs up bitterness; and, raising a selfish strife, grieves away the Spirit, and drives Christians into parties. No more revival there!

10. When Christians refuse to render to the Lord according to the benefits received. This is a fruitful source of religious declensions. God has opened the windows of heaven to a Church, and poured them out a blessing, and then He reasonably expects them to bring in the tithes into His storehouse, and devise and execute liberal things for Zion; but they have refused; they have not laid themselves out accordingly to promote the cause of Christ, and so the Spirit has been grieved, and the blessing withdrawn, and in some instances a great reaction has taken place, because the Church would not be liberal, when God had been so bountiful. I have known Churches which were evidently cursed with barrenness for such a course. They had a glorious revival, and afterwards perhaps their buildings needed repairing, or something else was needed which would cost a little money, and they refused to do it, and so for their niggardly spirit God gave them up.

11. When the Church, in any way, grieves the Holy Spirit.

(a) When Christians do not feel their dependence on the Spirit. Whenever they get strong in their own strength, God curses their blessings. In many instances, their sin against their own mercies, because they get lifted up with their success, and take the credit to themselves, and do not give all the glory to God. As He says: "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart" (Malachi 2:2). There has been a great deal of this, undoubtedly. I have seen many things in the newspapers that suggested a disposition in men to take credit for success in promoting revivals. There is doubtless a great temptation to this, and it requires the utmost watchfulness, on the part of ministers and Churches, to guard against it and not to grieve the Spirit away by vainglorying in men.

(b) The Spirit may be grieved by a Spirit of boasting of the revival.

Sometimes, as soon as a revival commences, you will see it blazed out in the newspapers. And most commonly this will kill the revival. There was a case in a neighboring State, where a revival commenced, and instantly there came out a letter from the pastor, telling that he had a revival. I saw the letter, and said to myself, "That is the last we shall hear of this revival." And so it was. In a few days the work totally ceased. I could mention cases and places, where persons have published such things as to puff up the Church, and make the people so proud that little more could be done for the revival.

Some, under pretense of publishing things to the praise and glory of God, have published things that savored so strongly of a disposition to exalt themselves - making their own agency stand out conspicuously - as were evidently calculated to make an unhappy impression. At a protracted meeting held in this Church, a year ago last fall, there were five hundred hopefully converted, whose names and places of residence we knew. A considerable number of them joined this Church. Many of them united with other Churches. Nothing was said of this in the papers. I have several times been asked why we were so silent on the subject. I could only reply, that there was such a tendency to self-exaltation in the Churches, that I was afraid to publish anything on the subject. Perhaps I erred. But I have so often seen mischief done by premature publications, that I thought it best to say nothing about it. In the revival in this city, four years ago, so much was said in the papers that appeared so much like self-exaltation, that I was afraid to publish. I am not speaking against the practice itself, of publishing accounts of revivals. But the manner of doing it is of vast importance. If it be done so as to excite vanity, it is always fatal to the revival.

So, too, the Spirit is grieved by saying or publishing things that are calculated to undervalue the work of God. When a blessed work of God is spoken lightly of, not rendering to God the glory due to His Name, the Spirit is grieved. If anything be said about a revival, give only the plain and naked facts, just as they are, and let them pass for what they are worth.

12. A revival may be expected to cease, when Christians lose the spirit of brotherly love. Jesus Christ will not continue with people in a revival any longer than they continue in the exercise of brotherly love. When Christians are in the spirit of a revival, they feel this love, and then you will hear them call each other "Brother" and "Sister," very affectionately.

But when they begin to get cold, they lose this warmth and glow of affection for one another, and then this calling "Brother" and "Sister" will seem silly, and they will leave it off. In some Churches they never call each other so; but where there is a revival Christians naturally do it. I never saw a revival, and probably there never was one, in which they did not do it. But as soon as this begins to cease, the Spirit of God is grieved, and departs from among them.

13. A revival will decline and cease, unless Christians are frequently re-converted. By this I mean, that Christians, in order to keep in the spirit of revival, commonly need to be frequently convicted, and humbled and broken down before God, and "re-converted." This is something which many do not understand, when we talk about a Christian being re-converted. But the fact is, that in a revival, the Christian's heart is liable to get crusted over, and lose its exquisite relish for Divine things; his unction and prevalence in prayer abate, and then he must be converted over again. It is impossible to keep him in such a state as not to do injury to the work, unless he passes through such a process every few days. I have never labored in revivals in company with any one who would keep in the work and be fit to manage a revival continually, who did not pass through this process of breaking down as often as once in two or three weeks.

Revivals decline, commonly, because it is found impossible to make Christians realize their guilt and dependence, so as to break down before God. It is important that ministers should understand this, and learn how to break down the Church, and break down themselves when they need it, or else Christians will soon become mechanical in their work, and lose their fervor and their power of prevailing with God. This was the process through which Peter passed, when he had denied the Savior, and by which breaking down, the Lord prepared him for the great work on the day of Pentecost. I was surprised, a few years since, to find that the phrase "breaking down" was a stumbling block to certain ministers and professors of religion. They laid themselves open to the rebuke administered to Nicodemus: "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?"

(John 3:10.) I am confident that until some of them know what it is to be "broken down," they will never do much more for the cause of revival.

14. A revival cannot continue when Christians will not practice self-denial.

When the Church has enjoyed a revival, and begins to grow fat upon it, and to run into self-indulgence, the revival will soon cease. Unless they sympathize with the Son of God, who gave up all to save sinners; unless they are willing to give up their luxuries, and their ease, and devote themselves to the work, the Christians need not expect that the Spirit of God will be poured out upon them. This is undoubtedly one of the principal causes of personal declension. Let Christians in a revival BEWARE, when they first find an inclination creeping upon them to shrink from self-denial, and to give in to one self-indulgence after another.

It is the device of Satan, to "bait" them off from the work of God, and make them dull and gross, lazy and fearful, useless and sensual; and so drive away the Spirit and destroy the revival.

15. A revival will be stopped by controversies about new measures.

Nothing is more certain to overthrow a revival than this.

16. Revivals can be put down by the continued opposition of the Old School, combined with a bad spirit in the New School. If those who do nothing to promote revivals continue their opposition, and if those who are laboring to promote them allow themselves to get impatient, and get into a bad spirit, the revival will cease. When the Old School write letters in the newspapers, against revivals or revival men, and the New School write letters back again, in an angry, contentious spirit, revivals will cease.

LET THEM KEEP ABOUT THEIR WORK, and neither talk about the opposition, nor preach upon it, nor rush into print about it. If others choose to publish "slang," let the Lord's people keep to their work. None of the slander will stop the revival, while those who are engaged in it mind their business, and keep to the work.

In one place where there was a revival, certain ministers formed a combination against the pastor of the Church, and a plan was set on foot to ruin him, and they actually got him prosecuted before his Presbytery, and had a trial that lasted six weeks, right in the midst of the revival; but the work still went on. The praying members of the Church laid themselves out so in the work, that it continued triumphantly throughout the whole scene. The pastor was called off, to attend his trial, but there was another minister that labored among the people, and the members did not even go to the trial, but kept praying and laboring for souls, and the revival rode out the storm. In many places, opposition has risen up in the Church, but a few humble souls have kept at their work, and our gracious God has stretched out His naked arm and made the revival go forward in spite of all opposition.

But whenever those who are actively engaged in promoting a revival get excited at the unreasonableness and pertinacity of the opposition, and feel as if they must answer the cavils, and refute the slanders, then they get down to the plain of Ono (Nehemiah 6:2) and the work must cease.

17. Any diversion of the public mind will hinder a revival. In the case I have specified, where the minister was put on trial before his Presbytery, the reason why it did not ruin the revival was, that the praying members of the Church would not suffer themselves to be diverted. They kept on praying and laboring for souls, and so public attention was kept to the revival, in spite of all the efforts of the devil.

But whenever Satan succeeds in absorbing public attention in any other subject, he will put an end to the revival. No matter what the subject is. If an angel from heaven were to come down, and preach, or pass about the streets, it might be the worst thing in the world for a revival, for it would turn sinners off from their own sins, and turn the Church off from praying for souls, to follow this glorious being, and gaze upon him, and the revival would cease.

18. Resistance to the Temperance reformation will put a stop to revivals in a Church. The time has come that it can no longer be innocent in a Church to stand aloof from this glorious reformation. The time was when this could be done ignorantly. The time has been when ministers and Christians could enjoy revivals, notwithstanding that ardent spirit was used among them. But since light has been thrown upon the subject, and it has been found that the use is injurious, no member or minister can be innocent and stand neutral in the cause. They must speak out and take sides. And if they do not take ground on one side, their influence is on the other. Show me a minister that has taken ground against the Temperance reformation who has had a revival. Show me one who now stands aloof from it who has a revival. Show me one who now temporizes upon this point, who does not come out and take a stand in favor of Temperance, who has a revival. It used not to be so. But now the subject has come up, and has been discussed, and is understood, no man can shut his eyes upon the truth. The man's hands are RED WITH BLOOD who stands aloof from the Temperance cause. And can he have a revival?

19. Revivals are hindered when ministers and Churches take wrong ground in regard to any question involving human rights. Take the subject of SLAVERY, for instance. The time was when this subject was not before the public mind. John Newton continued in the slave trade after his conversion. And so had his mind been perverted, and so completely was his conscience seared, in regard to this most nefarious traffic, that the sinfulness of it never occurred to his thoughts until some time after he became a child of God. Had light been poured upon his mind previously to his conversion, he never could have been converted without previously abandoning this sin. And after his conversion, when convinced of its iniquity, he could no longer enjoy the presence of God without abandoning the sin for ever.

So, doubtless, many slave dealers and slave holders in our country have been converted, notwithstanding their participation in this abomination, because the sinfulness of it was not apparent to their minds. So ministers and Churches, to a great extent throughout the land, have held their peace, and borne no testimony against this abomination, existing in the Church and in the nation. But recently, the subject has come up for discussion, and the providence of God has brought it distinctly before the eyes of all men. Light is now shed upon this subject, as it has been upon the cause of Temperance. Facts are exhibited, and principles established, and light thrown in upon the minds of men, and this monster is dragged from his horrid den, and exhibited before the Church, and it is demanded of Christians: "IS THIS SIN?" Their testimony must be given on this subject.

They are God's witnesses. They are sworn to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." It is impossible that their testimony should not be given, on one side or the other. Their silence can no longer be accounted for upon the principle of ignorance, that they have never had their attention turned to the subject. Consequently, the silence of Christians upon the subject is virtually saying that they do not consider slavery as a sin.

The truth is, this is a subject on which they cannot be silent without guilt.

The time has come, in the providence of God, when every southern breeze is loaded down with the cries of lamentation, mourning, and woe. Two millions of degraded heathen in our own land stretch their hands, all shackled and bleeding, and send forth to the Church of God the agonizing cry for help. And shall the Church, in her efforts to reclaim and save the world, deafen her ears to this voice of agony and despair? God forbid! The Church cannot turn away from this question. It is a question for the Church and for the nation to decide, and God will push it to a decision. It is in vain for us to resist it for fear of distraction, contention, and strife. It is in vain to account it an act of piety to turn away the ear from hearing this cry of distress.

The Church must testify, and testify "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," on this subject, or she is perjured, and the Spirit of God departs from her. She is under oath to testify, and ministers and Churches who do not pronounce it sin, bear false testimony for God. It is doubtless true, that one of the reasons for the low state of religion at the present time is that many Churches have taken the wrong side on the subject of slavery, have suffered prejudice to prevail over principle, and have feared to call this abomination by its true name.

20. Another thing that hinders revivals is, neglecting the claims of Missions. If Christians confine their attention to their own Church, do not read even their Missionary Magazine, or use any other means to inform themselves on the subject of the claims of the world, but reject the light, and will not do what God calls them to do in this cause, the Spirit of God will depart from them.

21. When a Church rejects the calls of God upon it for educating young men for the ministry, it will hinder and destroy a revival. Look at the Presbyterian Church. Look at the two hundred thousand souls converted within ten years: consider that there are resources sufficient to fill the world with ministers, and yet observe that the ministry is not increasing so fast as the population of our own country; so that unless something more can be done to provide ministers, we shall become heathen ourselves.

The Churches do not press upon young men the duty of going into the ministry. God pours His Spirit on the Churches, and converts hundreds of thousands of souls, and if then the laborers do not come forth into the harvest, what can be expected but that the curse of God will come upon the Churches, and His Spirit will be withdrawn, and revivals will cease?

Upon this subject no minister, no Church, should be silent or inactive.

22. Slandering revivals will often put them down. The great revival in the days of President Edwards suffered greatly by the conduct of the Church in this respect. It is to be expected that the enemies of God will revile, misrepresent, and slander revivals. But when the Church herself engages in this work, and many of her most influential members are aiding and abetting in calumniating and misrepresenting a glorious work of God, it is reasonable that the Spirit should be grieved away. It cannot be denied that this has been done to a grievous and God-dishonoring extent. It has been estimated that in one year, since the revival commenced, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND SOULS were converted to God in the United States. This is undoubtedly the greatest number that were ever converted in one year, since the world began. It could not be expected that, in an excitement of this extent, among human beings, there should be nothing to deplore. To expect perfection in such a work as this, of such extent, and carried on by human instrumentality, is utterly unreasonable and absurd.

Evils doubtless did exist and have existed. They were to be expected of course, and guarded against as far as possible. But I do not believe the world's history can furnish one instance in which a revival, approaching to this in extent and influence, has been attended with so few evils, and with so little that is honestly to be deplored.

But how has this blessed work of God been treated! Admitting all the evils complained of to be real, which is far from being true, they would only be like spots upon the disc of the glorious sun; things hardly to be thought of in comparison with the infinite greatness and excellence of the work. And yet how has a great portion of the Presbyterian Church received and treated this blessed work of God? At the General Assembly, that grave body of men that represent the Presbyterian Church, in the midst of this great work, instead of appointing a day of thanksgiving, instead of praising and glorifying God for the greatness of His work, we hear from them the voice of rebuke. From the reports that were given of the speeches, it appears that the house was filled with complainings. Instead of devising measures to forward the work, their attention seemed to be taken up with the comparatively trifling evils that were incidental to it. And after much complaining, they absolutely appointed a committee, and sent forth a "Pastoral Letter," calculated to excite suspicion, to quench the zeal of God's people, and to turn them from giving glory to God for the greatness of the blessing into finding fault and carping about "the evils." When I heard what was done at that General Assembly, when I read their speeches, when I saw their Pastoral Letter, my soul was sick, an unutterable feeling of distress came over my mind, and I felt that God would "visit" the Presbyterian Church for conduct like this. And ever since, the glory has been departing, and revivals have been becoming less and less frequent - less and less powerful.

And now I wish it could be known whether those ministers who poured out those complainings on the floor of the General Assembly, and who were instrumental in getting up that Pastoral Letter, have since been blessed in promoting revivals of religion; whether the Spirit of God has been upon them; and whether their Churches can witness that they have an unction from the Holy One.

23. Ecclesiastical difficulties are calculated to grieve away the Spirit, and destroy revivals. It has always been the policy of the devil to turn off the attention of ministers from the work of the Lord to disputes and ecclesiastical litigations. President Edwards was obliged to be taken up for a long time in disputes before ecclesiastical councils; and in our days, and in the midst of these great revivals of religion, these difficulties have been alarmingly and shamefully multiplied. Some of the most efficient ministers in the Church have been called off from their direct efforts to win souls to Christ, to reply to charges preferred against them, or against their fellow-laborers in the ministry, which could never be sustained. Oh, tell it not in Gath! When will those ministers and professors of religion, who do little or nothing themselves, let others alone, and let them work for God?

24. Another thing by which revivals may be hindered is censoriousness, on either side, and especially in those who have been engaged in carrying forward a revival. It is to be expected that the opposers of the work will watch for the halting of its friends, and be sure to censure them for all that is wrong, and not infrequently for that which is right, in their conduct.

Especially is it to be expected that many censorious and unchristian remarks will be made about those who are the most prominent instruments in promoting the work. This censoriousness on the part of the opposers of the work, whether in or out of the Church, will not, however, of itself put a stop to the revival. While its promoters keep humble, and in a prayerful spirit, while they do not retaliate, but possess their souls in patience, while they do not suffer themselves to be diverted, to recriminate, and grieve away the spirit of prayer, the work will go forward.

Censoriousness in those who are opposed to the work is but little to be dreaded, for they have not the Spirit, and nothing depends on them, for they can hinder the work only just so far as they themselves have influence personally. But the others have the power of the Holy Spirit, and the work depends on their keeping in a right temper. If they get wrong, and grieve away the Spirit, there is no help: the work must cease.

Whatever provocation, therefore, the promoters of the blessed work may have had, if it ceases, the responsibility will be theirs. And one of the most alarming facts in regard to this matter is that, in many instances, those who have been engaged in carrying forward the work appear to have lost the Spirit. They are becoming diverted; are beginning to think that the opposition is no longer to be tolerated, and that they must come out and reply in the newspapers. It should be known, and universally understood, that whenever the friends and promoters of this greatest of revivals suffer themselves to be called off to newspaper janglings, to attempt to defend themselves, and reply to those who write against them, the spirit of prayer will be entirely grieved away, and the work will cease. Nothing is more detrimental to revivals of religion (and so it has always been found) than for the promoters of it to listen to the opposition, and begin to reply.

This was found to be true in the days of President Edwards, as those who are acquainted with his book on Revivals are well aware.

II. THINGS WHICH OUGHT TO BE DONE.

I proceed to mention some things which ought to be done to continue this great and glorious revival of religion, which has been in progress for the last ten years.

1. There should be great and deep repentings on the part of ministers. WE, my brethren, must humble ourselves before God. It will not do for us to suppose that it is enough to call on the people to repent. We must take the lead in repentance, and then call on the Churches to follow.

Especially must those repent who have taken the lead in producing feelings of opposition and distrust in regard to revivals. Some ministers have confined their opposition against revivals and revival measures to their own congregations, and have created such suspicions among their own people as to prevent the work from spreading and prevailing among them. Such ministers will do well to consider the remarks of President Edwards on this subject:

"If ministers preach never so good doctrine, and are never so painful and laborious in their work, yet, if at such a day as this, they show to their people that they are not well-affected to this work, but are very doubtful and suspicious of it, they will be very likely to do their people a great deal more hurt than good; for the very fame of such a great and extraordinary work of God, if their people were suffered to believe it to be His work, and the example of other towns, together with what preaching they might hear occasionally, would be likely to have a much greater influence upon the minds of their people, to awaken and animate them in religion, than all their labors with them. And besides, their minister's opinion would not only beget in them a suspicion of the work they hear of abroad, whereby the mighty hand of God that appears in it loses its influence upon their minds, but it will also tend to create a suspicion of everything of the like nature, that shall appear among themselves, as being something of the same distemper that has become so epidemical in the land; and that is, in effect, to create a suspicion of all vital religion, and to put the people upon talking against it, and discouraging it, wherever it appears, and knocking it on the head as fast as it rises. And we that are ministers, by looking on this work, from year to year, with a displeased countenance, shall effectually keep the sheep from their pasture, instead of doing the part of shepherds to them by feeding them; and our people had a great deal better be without any settled minister at all at such a day as this." Others have been more public, having aimed at exerting a wider influence.

Some have written pieces for the public papers. Some men, in high standing in the Church, have circulated letters which were never printed; others have had their letters printed and circulated. There seems to have been a system of letter-writing about the country calculated to create distrust. In the days of President Edwards, substantially the same course was pursued, in view of which he says, in his work on Revivals:

"Great care should be taken that the press should be improved to no purpose contrary to the interest of this work. We read that when God fought against Sisera, for the deliverance of His oppressed Church, they that handled the pen of the writer came to the help of the Lord (Judges 5:14). Whatever class of men in Israel they were that are intended, yet as the words were indicted by a Spirit that had a perfect view of all events to the end of the world, it is not unlikely that they have respect to authors, those that should fight against the kingdom of Satan with their pens.

Those, therefore, that publish pamphlets to the disadvantage of this work, and tending either directly or indirectly to bring it under suspicion, and to discourage or hinder it, would do well thoroughly to consider whether this be not indeed the work of God; and whether, if it be, it is not likely that God will go forth as fire, to consume all that stand in His way, and so burn up those pamphlets; and whether there be not danger that the fire that is kindled in them will scorch the authors."

All these must repent. God never will forgive them, nor will they ever enjoy His blessing on their preaching, or be honored to labor in revivals, till they repent. This duty President Edwards pressed upon ministers in his day, in the most forcible terms. There doubtless have been now, as there were then, faults on both sides. And there must be deep repentance, and mutual confessions of faults on both sides.

"There must be a great deal done at confessing of faults on both sides: for undoubtedly many and great are the faults that have been committed, in the jangling and confusions, and mixtures of light and darkness, that have been of late. There is hardly any duty more contrary to our corrupt dispositions and mortifying to the pride of man; but it must be done.

Repentance of faults is, in a peculiar manner, a proper duty, when the kingdom of heaven is at hand, or when we especially expect or desire that it should come; as appears by John the Baptist's preaching. And if God does now loudly call upon us to repent, then He also calls upon us to make proper manifestations of our repentance.

"I am persuaded that those who have openly opposed this work, or have from time to time spoken lightly of it, cannot be excused in the sight of God, without openly confessing their fault therein: especially if they be ministers. If they have in any way, either directly or indirectly, opposed the work, or have so behaved in their public performances or private conversation as to prejudice the minds of their people against the work; if, hereafter, they shall be convinced of the goodness and divinity of what they have opposed, they ought by no means to palliate the matter, and excuse themselves, and pretend that they always thought so, and that it was only such and such imprudences that they objected against; but they ought openly to declare their conviction, and condemn themselves for what they have done; for it is Christ that they have spoken against, in speaking lightly of, and prejudicing others against, this work. And though they have done it ignorantly and in unbelief, yet when they find out Who it is that they have opposed, undoubtedly God will hold them bound publicly to confess it.

"And on the other hand, if those who have been zealous to promote the work have, in any of the aforementioned instances, openly gone much out of the way, and done that which was contrary to Christian rules, whereby they have openly injured others or greatly violated good order, and so done that which has wounded religion, they must publicly confess it, and humble themselves, as they would gather out the stones, and prepare the way of God's people. They who have laid great stumbling-blocks in others' way by their open transgression, are bound to remove them by their open repentance."

There are ministers in our day, I say it not in unkindness, but in faithfulness, and I would that I had them all here before me while I say it, who seem to have been engaged much of their time, for years, in doing little else than acting and talking and writing in such a way as to create suspicion in regard to revivals. And I cannot doubt that their Churches would, as President Edwards says, be better with no minister at all, unless they will repent and regain God's blessing.

2. Those Churches which have opposed revivals must humble themselves and repent. Churches which have stood aloof, or hindered the work, must repent of their sin, or God will not go with them. Look at those Churches which have been throwing suspicion upon revivals. Do they enjoy revivals? Does the Holy Ghost descend upon them, to enlarge them and build them up? There is one of the Churches in this city, where the Session has been publishing in the newspapers what it calls its "Act and Testimony," calculated to excite an unreasonable and groundless suspicion against many ministers who are laboring successfully to promote revivals.

And what is the state of that Church? Have they had a revival? Why, it appears from the official report, that it has dwindled in one year twenty-seven per cent. And all such Churches will continue to dwindle, in spite of everything else that can be done, unless they repent and have a revival. They may pretend to be mighty pious, and jealous for the honor of God, but God will not believe they are sincere. And He will manifest His displeasure by not pouring out His Spirit. If I had a voice loud enough, I should like to make all those Churches and ministers that have slandered revivals, hear me, when I say that I believe they have helped to bring the pall of death over the Church, and that the curse of God is on them already, and will remain unless they repent. God has already sent leanness into their souls, and many of them know it.

3. Those who have been engaged in promoting the work must also repent.

Whenever a wrong spirit has been manifested, or they have got irritated and provoked at the opposition, and lost their temper, or mistaken Christian faithfulness for hard words and a wrong spirit, they must repent.

Those who are opposed can never stop a revival alone, unless those who promote it get wrong. So we must repent if we have said things that were censorious, or proud, or arrogant, or severe. Such a time as this is no time to stand justifying ourselves. Our first call is to repent. Let each one repent of his own sins, and not fall out about who is most to blame.

4. The Church must take right ground in regard to politics. Do not suppose that I am going to preach a political sermon, or that I wish to have you join in getting up a Christian party in politics. No, you must not believe that. But the time has come that Christians must vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics. They must let the world see that the Church will uphold no man in office who is known to be a knave, or an adulterer, or a Sabbath-breaker, or a gambler, or a drunkard. Such is the spread of intelligence and the facility of communication in our country, that every man can know for whom he gives his vote. And if he will give his vote only for honest men, the country will be obliged to have upright rulers. All parties will be compelled to put up honest men as candidates.

Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has come when they must act differently. As on the subjects of Slavery and Temperance, so on this subject the Church must act rightly or the country will be ruined. God cannot sustain this free and blessed country, which we love and pray for, unless the Church will take right ground. Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. It seems sometimes as if the foundations of the nation are becoming rotten, and Christians seem to act as if they think God does not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it, and He will bless or curse this nation, according to the course they take.

5. The Churches must take right ground on the subject of Slavery. Here the question arises, What is right ground?

(a) I will state some of the things that should be avoided.

(1) First of all, a bad spirit should be avoided. Nothing is more calculated to injure religion, and to injure the slaves themselves, than for Christians to get into an angry controversy on the subject. It is a subject upon which there needs to be no angry controversy among Christians. Slave-holding professors, like rum-selling professors, may endeavor to justify themselves, and may be angry with those who press their consciences, and call upon them to give up their sins. Those proud professors of religion, who think a man to blame, or think it is a shame to him, to have a black skin, may allow their prejudices so far to prevail, as to shut their ears and be disposed to quarrel with those who urge the subject upon them. But I repeat it, the subject of Slavery is a subject upon which Christians, praying men, need not and must not differ.

(2) Another thing to be avoided is an attempt to take neutral ground on this subject. Christians can no more take neutral ground on this subject, since it has come up for discussion, than they can take neutral ground on the subject of the sanctification of the Sabbath. It is a great national sin. It is a sin of the Church. The Churches, by their silence, and by permitting shareholders to belong to their communion, have been consenting to it. All denominations have been more or less guilty, although the Quakers have of late years washed their hands of it. It is in vain for the Churches to pretend it is merely a political sin. I repeat, it is the sin of the Church, to which all denominations have consented. They have virtually declared that it is lawful. The very fact of suffering slave-holders quietly to remain in good standing in their Churches, is the strongest and most public expression of their view that it is not sin. For the Church, therefore, to pretend to take neutral ground on the subject, is perfectly absurd. The fact is that she is not on neutral ground at all. While she tolerates slave-holders in her communion SHE JUSTIFIES THE PRACTICE:. And as well might an enemy of God pretend that he was neither a saint nor a sinner, that he was going to take neutral ground, and pray, "good Lord and good devil," because he did not know which side would be the most popular!

(3) Great care should be taken to avoid a censorious spirit on either side. It is a subject on which there has been, and probably will be for some time to come, a difference of opinion among Christians, as to the best method of disposing of the question: and it ought to be treated with great forbearance.

(b) I will mention several things that, in my judgment, the Church is imperatively called upon to do, on this subject:

(1) Christians, of all denominations, should lay aside prejudice, and inform themselves on this subject, without any delay. Vast multitudes of professors of religion have indulged prejudice to such a degree, as to be unwilling to read and hear, and come to a right understanding of the subject. But Christians cannot pray in this state of mind. I defy anyone to possess the spirit of prayer while he is too prejudiced to examine this or any other question of duty. If the light did not shine, Christians might remain in the dark upon this point, and still possess the spirit of prayer.

But if they refuse to come to the light, they cannot pray. Where ministers, individual Christians, or whole Churches, resist truth upon this point, when it is so extensively diffused and before the public mind, I do not believe they will or can enjoy a revival of religion.

(2) Writings, containing temperate and judicious discussions on this subject, and such developments of facts as are before the public, should be quietly and extensively circulated, and should be carefully and prayerfully examined by the whole Church. I do not mean by this, that the attention of the Church should be so absorbed by this as to neglect the main question of saving souls in the midst of them; I do not mean that such premature movements on this subject should be made, as to astound the Christian community, and involve them in a broil; but that praying men should act judiciously, and that, as soon as sufficient information can be diffused through the community, the Churches should meekly, but firmly, take decided ground on the subject, and express, before the whole nation and the world, their abhorrence of this sin.

The anti-Masonic excitement which prevailed a few years since made such desolations in the Churches, and produced so much alienation of feeling and ill-will among ministers and people, and the introduction of this subject has been attended with such commotions, that many good ministers, who are themselves entirely opposed to slavery, dread to introduce the subject, through fear that their people have not religion enough to consider it calmly, and decide upon it in the spirit of the Gospel. I know there is danger of this. But still, the subject must be presented to the Churches. Let there be no mistake here. William Morgan's expose of freemasonry was published in 1826; the subsequent discussion continued until 1830. In the meantime the Churches had very generally borne testimony against freemasonry, and resolved that they could not have adhering masons in fellowship. As a consequence, the Masonic lodges generally disbanded. There was a general stampede of Christians from the lodges. This prepared the way, and in 1830 the greatest revival the world had then seen commenced in the center of the anti-Masonic region, and spread over the whole field where the Church action had been taken.

Perhaps no Church in this country has had a more severe trial upon this subject, than this, which was a Church of young, and for the most part, inexperienced Christians. And many circumstances conspired, in my absence, to produce confusion and wrong-feeling among them. But so far as I am now acquainted with the state of feeling in this Church, I know of no ill-will among the members on this subject. There are doubtless those who feel upon this subject, in very different degrees: and yet I can honestly say that I am not aware of the least difference in sentiment among them. We have from the beginning taken the same ground on the subject of Slavery that we have on Temperance. We have excluded slave-holders, and all concerned in the traffic, from our communion. By some, out of this Church, this course has been censured as unwarrantable and uncharitable, and I would by no means make my own judgment, or the example of this Church, a rule for the government of other ministers and Churches. Still, I conscientiously believe that the time is not far distant, when the Churches will be united in this expression of abhorrence against this sin. If I do not baptize slavery by some soft and Christian name, if I call it SIN, both consistency and conscience conduct to the inevitable conclusion, that while this sin is persevered in, its perpetrators cannot be fit subjects for Christian communion and fellowship.

To this it is objected that there are many ministers in the Presbyterian Church who are shareholders. And it is said to be very inconsistent that we should refuse to suffer slave-holders to come to our Communion, and yet belong to the same Church with them, sit with them in ecclesiastical bodies, and acknowledge them as ministers. To this I answer, that I have not the power to deal with those ministers, and certainly I am not to withdraw from the Church because some of its ministers or members are slave-holders. My duty is to belong to the Church, even if the devil should belong to it. When I have authority, I exclude slave-holders from the Communion, and I always will as long as I live. But where I have no authority, if the table of Christ be spread, I will sit down to it in obedience to His commandment, whoever else may sit down or stay away.

I do not mean, by any means, to denounce all those slave-holding ministers and professors as hypocrites, and to say that they are not Christians. But this I say, that while they continue in this attitude, the cause of Christ and of humanity demands that they should not be recognized as such, unless we mean to be partakers of other men's sins. It is no more inconsistent to exclude shareholders because they belong to the Presbyterian Church, than it is to exclude persons who drink or sell ardent spirit. For there are many rum-sellers belonging to the Presbyterian Church.

I believe the time has come - although I am no prophet, I believe it will be found to have come, that the revival in the United States will prevail no further and no faster than the Church takes right ground upon this subject.

The Church is God's witness. The fact is, that Slavery is, pre-eminently, the sin of the Church. It is the very fact that ministers and professors of religion of different denominations hold slaves, which sanctifies the whole abomination, in the eyes of ungodly men. Who does not know that on the subject of Temperance, every drunkard in the land will skulk behind some rum-selling deacon, or wine-drinking minister? It is the most common objection and refuge of the intemperate, and of moderate drinkers, that it is practiced by professors of religion. It is this that creates the imperious necessity for excluding traffickers in ardent spirit, and rum-drinkers, from the Communion. Let the Churches of all denominations speak out on the subject of Temperance; let them close their doors against all who have anything to do with the death-dealing abomination, and the cause of Temperance is triumphant. A few years would annihilate the traffic. Just so with Slavery.

It is the Church that mainly supports this sin. Her united testimony upon the subject would settle the question. Let Christians of all denominations meekly, but firmly, come forth, and pronounce their verdict; let them wash their hands of this thing; let them give forth and write on the head and front of this great abomination, "SIN," and in three years, a public sentiment would be formed that would carry all before it, and there would not be a shackled slave, nor a bristling, cruel slavedriver, in this land.

Still it may be said, that in many Churches, this subject cannot be introduced without creating confusion and ill-will. This may be. It has been so on the subject of Temperance, and upon the subject of revivals too. In some Churches, neither Temperance nor revivals can be introduced without producing dissension. Sabbath Schools, and missionary operations, and everything of the kind, have been opposed, and have produced dissensions in many Churches. But is this a sufficient reason for excluding these subjects? And where Churches have excluded these subjects for fear of contention, have they been blessed with revivals?

Everybody knows that they have not. But where Churches have taken firm ground on these subjects, although individuals, and sometimes numbers, have opposed, still they have been blessed with revivals. Where any of these subjects are carefully and prayerfully introduced; where they are brought forward with a right spirit, and the true relative importance is attached to each of them; if in such cases, there are those who will make disturbance and resist, let the blame fall where it ought. There are some individuals, who are themselves disposed to quarrel with this subject, who are always ready to exclaim: "Do not introduce these things into the Church, they will create opposition." And if the minister and praying people feel it their duty to bring the matter forward, they will themselves create a disturbance and then say: "There, I told you so; now see what your introducing this subject has done; it will tear the Church all to pieces." And while they are themselves doing all they can to create a division, they are charging the division upon the subject, and not upon themselves. There are some such people in many of our Churches. And neither Sabbath Schools, nor Missions, nor Antislavery, nor anything else that honors God or benefits the souls of men, will be carried on in the Churches, without these careful souls being offended by it.

There might infinitely better be no Church in the world, than that she should attempt to remain neutral, or give a false testimony on a subject of such importance as Slavery, especially since the subject has come up, and it is impossible, from the nature of the case, that her testimony should not be in the scale, on the one side or the other.

Do you ask: "What shall be done? Shall we make it the all-absorbing topic of conversation, and divert attention from the all-important subject of the salvation of souls in the midst of us?" I answer: "No." Let a Church express its opinion upon the subject, and be at peace. So far as I know, we are entirely at peace upon this subject. We have expressed our opinion; we have closed our Communion against slave-holders, and are attending to other things. I am not aware of the least unhealthy excitement among us on this subject. And where it has become an absorbing topic of conversation in places, in most instances, I believe, it has been owing to the pertinacious and unreasonable opposition of a few individuals against even granting the subject a hearing.

6. If the Church wishes to promote revivals, she must sanctify the Sabbath. There is a vast deal of Sabbath breaking in the land. Merchants break it, travelers break it, the Government breaks it. A few years ago an attempt was made in the western part of this State, to establish and sustain a Sabbath-keeping line of boats and coaches. But it was found that the Church would not sustain the enterprise. Many professors of religion would not travel in these coaches, and would not have their goods forwarded in canal-boats that would be detained from traveling on the Sabbath. At one time, Christians were much engaged in petitioning Congress to suspend the Sabbath mails, and now they seem to be ashamed of it. But one thing is most certain, that unless something is done, and done speedily, and done effectually, to promote the sanctification of the Sabbath by the Church, the Sabbath will go by the board, and we shall not only have our mails running on the Sabbath, and post-offices open, but, by and by, our courts of justice, and halls of legislation, will be kept open on the Sabbath. And what can the Church do, what will this nation do, without any Sabbath?

7. The Church must take right ground on all the subjects of practical morality which come up for discussion from time to time.

There are those in the Churches who are standing aloof from the subject of moral reform, and who are afraid to have anything said in the pulpit against lewdness. On this subject, the Church need not expect to be permitted to take neutral ground. In the providence of God, it is up for discussion. The evils have been exhibited; the call has been made for reform. And what is to reform mankind but the truth? And who shall present the truth if not the Church and the ministry? Away with the idea, that Christians can remain neutral, and yet enjoy the approbation and blessing of God!

In all such cases, the minister who holds his peace is counted among those on the other side. Everybody knows that it is so in a revival. It is not necessary for a person to rail out against the work. If he will only keep still and take neutral ground, the enemies of the revival will all consider him as on their side. So on the subject of Temperance. It is not needful that a person should rail at the Cold-water Society, in order to be on the best terms with drunkards and moderate drinkers. Only let him plead for the moderate use of wine, only let him continue to drink it as a luxury, and all the drunkards account him on their side. On all these subjects, when they come up, the Churches and ministers must take the right ground, and take it openly, and stand to the cause, and carry it through, if they expect to enjoy the blessing of God in revivals. They must cast out from their communions such members as, in contempt of the light that is shed upon them, continue to drink or traffic in ardent spirit.

8. There must be more done for all the great objects of Christian benevolence. There must be much greater effort for the cause of Missions, and Education, and the Bible, and all other branches of religious enterprise, or the Church will displease God. Look at it. Think of the mercies we have received, of the wealth, numbers, and prosperity of the Church. Have we rendered unto God according to the benefits we have received, so as to show that the Church is bountiful, and willing to give money, and to work for God? No. Far from it. Have we multiplied our means and enlarged our plans, in proportion as the Church has increased? Is God satisfied with what has been done, or has He reason to be? After such a revival as has been enjoyed by the Churches of America for the last ten years, we ought to have done ten times as much as we have for Missions, Bibles, Education, Tracts, Churches, and for all causes that are designed to promote religion and save souls. If the Churches do not wake up on this subject, and lay themselves out on a larger scale, they may expect that the revival in the United States will cease.

9. If Christians expect revivals to spread and prevail, till the world is converted, they must give up writing letters and publishing pieces calculated to excite suspicion and jealousy in regard to revivals, and must take hold of the work themselves. If the whole Church, as a body, had gone to work ten years ago, and continued it as a few individuals, whom I could name, have done, there might not now have been an impenitent sinner in the land. The millennium would have fully come into the United States before this day. Instead of standing still, or writing letters, let ministers who think we are going wrong, just buckle on the harness and go forward, and show us a more excellent way. Let them teach us by their example how to do better. I do not deny that some may have made mistakes and committed errors. I do not deny that many things which are wrong have been done in revivals. But is that the way to correct them, brethren? So did not Paul. He corrected his brethren by telling them kindly that he would show them a more excellent way. Let our brethren take hold and go forward. Let us hear the cry from all their pulpits: "To the work!"

Let them lead on where the Lord will go with them and make bare His arm, and I, for one, will follow. Only let them GO ON, and let us have the people converted to God, and let all minor questions cease.

If not, and if revivals do cease in this land, the ministers and Churches will be guilty of all the blood of all the souls that shall go to hell in consequence of it. There is no need that the work should cease. If the Church will do all her duty, the millennium may come in this country in three years. But if it is to be always so, that in the time of revival, two-thirds of the Church will hang back and do nothing but find fault, the curse of God will be on this nation, and that before long.

REMARKS.

1. It is high time there should be great searchings of heart among Christians and ministers. Brethren, this is no time to resist the truth, or to cavil and find fault because the truth is spoken out plainly. It is no time to recriminate or to strive, but we must search our own hearts, and humble ourselves before God.

2. We must repent and forsake our sins, and amend our ways and our doings, or the revival will cease. Our ecclesiastical difficulties MUST CEASE, and all minor differences must be laid aside and given up, to unite in promoting the great interests of religion. If not, revivals will cease from among us, and the blood of lost millions will be found on our skirts.

3. If the Church would do all her duty, she would soon complete the triumph of religion in the world. But if a system of insinuation and denunciation is to be kept up, not only will revivals cease, but the blood of millions who will go to hell before the Church will get over the shock, will be found on the skirts of the men who have got up and carried on this dreadful contention.

4. Those who have circulated slanderous reports in regard to revivals, must repent. A great deal has been said about heresy, and about some men's denying the Spirit's influence, which is wholly groundless, and has been made up out of nothing. And those who have made up the reports, and those who have circulated them against their brethren, must repent and pray to God for His forgiveness.

5. We see the constant tendency there is in Christians to declension and backsliding. This is true in all converts of all revivals. Look at the revival in President Edwards' day. The work went on till thirty thousand books and pamphlets, on one side and the other, that they carried all by the board, and the revival ceased. Those who had opposed the work grew obstinate and violent, and those who promoted it lost their meekness, and got ill-tempered, and were then driven into the very evils that had been falsely charged upon them.

And now, what shall we do? This great and glorious work of God seems to be indicating a decline. The revival is not dead - blessed be God for that - it is not dead! Now, we hear from all parts of the land that Christians are reading on the subject, and inquiring about the revival. In some places there are now powerful revivals. And what shall we do, to lift up the standard, to move this entire nation and turn all this great people to the Lord? We must DO RIGHT. We must all have a better spirit, we must get down in the dust, we must act unitedly, we must take hold of this great work with all our hearts, and then God will bless us, and the work will go on.

What is the condition of this nation? No doubt God is holding the rod of WAR over the heads of this nation. He is waiting, before He lets loose His judgments, to see whether the Church will do right. The nation IS under His displeasure, because the Church has acted in such a manner with respect to revivals. And now suppose war should come, where would be our revivals? How quickly would war swallow up the revival spirit. The spirit of war is anything but the spirit of revival Who will attend to the claims of religion when the public mind is engrossed by the all absorbing topic of war. See now how this nation is, all at once, brought upon the brink of war. God brandishes His blazing sword over our heads. Will the Church repent? It is THE CHURCH that God chiefly has in view. How shall we avoid the curse of war? Only by a reformation in the Church. It is in vain to look to politicians to avert war. Perhaps they would generally be in favor of war. Very likely the things they would do to avert it would run us right into it. If the Church will not feel, will not awaken, will not act, where shall we look for help? If the Church absolutely will not move, will not tremble in view of the just judgments of God hanging over our heads, we are certainly nigh unto cursing, as a nation.

6. Whatever is done must be done quickly. The scales are on a poise. If we do not go forward, we must go back. Things cannot remain as they are. If we do not have a more powerful revival than we have had, very soon we shall have none at all. We have had such a great revival that now small revivals do not interest the public mind. You must act as individuals. Do your own duty.

7. It is common, when things get all wrong in the Church, for each individual to find fault both with the Church, and with his brethren, and to overlook his own share of the blame. But, as individual members of the Church of Christ, let each one act rightly, and get down in the dust, and never speak proudly, or censoriously. GO FORWARD. Who would leave such a work, and go down into the plain of Ono? Let us mind our work, and leave the issue with God.

Lecture 16: The Necessity And Effect Of Union.

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. - Matthew 18:19.

I have already used this text in preaching upon the subject of prayer meetings. At present I design to enter more into the spirit and meaning of the words. The evident design of our Lord, in this text, was to teach the importance and influence of union in prayer and effort to promote religion.

He states the strongest possible case, by taking the number "two," as the least number between whom there can be an agreement, and says that "where two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven." It is the fact of their agreement upon which He lays the stress; and mentioning the number "two" appears to have been designed merely to afford encouragement to the smallest number between whom there can be an agreement. But what are we to understand by being "agreed as touching" the things we shall ask? I will answer this question under the two following heads:

I. We are to be agreed in prayer.

II. We are to be agreed in everything that is essential to obtaining the blessing that we seek.

I. AGREEING IN PRAYER.

In order to come within the promise, we are to be agreed in prayer.

1. We should agree in our desires for the object. It is necessary to have desires for the object, and to be agreed in those desires. Very often individuals pray in words for the same thing, when they are by no means agreed in desiring that thing. Nay, perhaps some of them, in their hearts, desire the very opposite. People are called on to pray for an object, and they all pray for it in words, but God knows they often do not desire it; and perhaps He sees that the hearts of some are, all the while, resisting the prayer.

2. We must agree in the motive from which we desire the object. It is not enough that our desires for an object should be the same, but the reason why must be the same. An individual may desire a revival, for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. Another member of the Church may also desire a revival, but from very different motives. Some, perhaps, desire a revival in order to have the congregation built up and strengthened, so as to make it more easy for them to pay their expenses in supporting the Gospel. Another desires a revival for the sake of having the Church increased so as to be more numerous and more respectable. Others desire a revival because they have been opposed or evil spoken of, and they wish to have it known that whatever may be thought or said, God blesses them.

Sometimes people desire a revival from mere natural affection, so as to have their friends converted and saved. If they mean to be so united in prayer as to obtain a blessing, they must not only desire the blessing, and be agreed in desiring it, but they must also agree in desiring it for the same reasons.

3. We must be agreed in desiring it for good reasons. These desires must not only be united, and from the same motives, but they must be from good motives. The supreme motive must be to honor and glorify God.

People may even desire a revival, and agree in desiring it, and agree in the motives, and yet if these motives are not good, God will not grant their desires. Thus, parents may be agreed in prayer for the conversion of their children, and may have the same feelings and the same motives, and yet if they have no higher motives than because they are their children, their prayers will not be granted. They are agreed in the reason, but it is not the right reason.

In like manner, any number of persons might be agreed in their desires and motives, but if their motives are selfish, their being agreed in them will only make them more offensive to God. "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" (Acts 5:9). I have seen a great deal of this, where Churches have been engaged in prayer for an object, and their motives were evidently selfish. Sometimes they are engaged in prayer for a revival, and you would think by their earnestness and union that they would certainly move God to grant the blessing, till you find out their reason. And what is it? Why, they see their congregation is about to be broken up, unless something can be done. Or they see some other denomination gaining ground, and there is no way to counteract this but by having a revival in their Church. All their praying is therefore only an attempt to get the Almighty to help them out of their difficulty; it is purely selfish and therefore offensive to God. A woman, in Philadelphia, was invited to attend a women's prayer meeting at a certain place. She inquired what they met there for, and for what they were going to pray?

She was answered that they were going to pray for the outpouring of the Spirit upon the city. "Well," she said, "I shall not go; if they were going to pray for our congregation, I would go, but I am not going there to pray for other Churches!" Oh, what a spirit!

I have had a multitude of letters and requests that I would visit such-and-such places, and endeavor to promote a revival, and many reasons have been urged why I should go; but when I came to weigh their reasons, I have sometimes found every one of them to be selfish. And God would look upon every one with abhorrence.

In prayer meetings, too, how often do we hear people offer such reasons why they desire certain blessings, as are not right in the sight of God; reasons which, if they are the true ones, would render their prayers not acceptable to God, because their motive was not right.

There are many things said in favor of the cause of Foreign Missions, which are of this character, appealing to wrong motives. How often are we told of six hundred millions of heathens, who are in danger of going to hell, and how little is said of the guilt of six hundred millions engaged as rebels against God, or of the dishonor and contempt poured upon God our Maker by such a world of outlaws. Now, I know that God refers to those motives which appeal to our mere natural sympathies, and compassion, and uses them, but always in subordination to His glory. If these lower motives be placed foremost, it must always produce a defective piety, and a great deal that is false. Until the Church will look at the dishonor done to God, little will be done. It is this which must be made to stand out before the world, it is this which must be deeply felt by the Church, it is this which must be fully exhibited to sinners, before the world can ever be converted.

Parents never agree in praying for the conversion of their children in such a way as to have their prayers answered, until they feel that their children are rebels. Parents often pray very earnestly for their children, because they wish God to save them, and they almost think hardly of God if He does not save their children. But if they would have their prayers prevail, they must come to take God's part against their children, even though for their perverseness and incorrigible wickedness He should be obliged to send them to hell. I knew a woman who was very anxious for the salvation of her son, and she used to pray for him with agony, but still he remained impenitent, until at length she became convinced that her prayers and agonies had been nothing but the fond yearnings of parental feeling, and were not dictated at all by a just view of her son's character as a willful and wicked rebel against God. And there was never any impression made on his mind until she was made to take strong ground against him as a rebel, and to look on him as deserving to be sent to hell. And then he was converted. The reason was, she never before was influenced by the right motive in prayer - desiring his salvation with a supreme regard to the glory of God.

4. If we would be so united as to prevail in prayer, we must agree in faith.

That is, we must concur in expecting the blessing prayed for. We must understand the reason why it is to be expected, we must see the evidence on which faith ought to rest, and must absolutely believe that the blessing will come, or we do not bring ourselves within the promise. Faith is always understood as an indispensable condition of prevailing prayer. If it is not expressed in any particular case, it is always implied, for no prayer can be effectual but that which is offered in faith. And in order that united prayer may prevail, there must be united faith.

5. So, again, we must be agreed as to the time when we desire the blessing to come. If two or more agree in desiring a particular blessing, and one of them desires to have it come now, while others are not quite ready to have it yet, it is plain they are not agreed. They are not united in regard to one essential point. If the blessing is to come in answer to their united prayer, it must come as they prayed for it. And if it comes, it must come at some time. But if they disagree as to the time when they shall have it, plainly it can never come in answer to their prayer.

Suppose a Church should undertake to pray for a revival, and should all be agreed in desiring a revival, but not as to the time when it shall be.

Suppose some wish to have the revival come now, and are all prepared, with their hearts waiting for the Spirit of God to come down, and are willing to give time and attention and labor to it NOW. But others are not quite ready, they have something else to attend to just at present, some worldly object which they want to accomplish, some piece of business in hand, wanting just to finish this thing, and then they would have the revival come. They cannot possibly find time to attend to it now; they are not prepared to humble themselves, to search their hearts, and break up their fallow ground, and put themselves in a posture to receive the blessing. Is it not plain that there is no real union, for they are not agreed in that which is essential? While some are praying that the revival may come now, others are praying, with equal earnestness, that it may not.

Suppose the question were now put to this Church, whether you are agreed in praying for a revival of religion here? Do you all desire a revival, and would you all like to have it now? Would you be heartily agreed now to break down in the dust, and open your hearts to the Holy Ghost, if He should come tonight? I do not ask what you would say, if I should propose the question. Perhaps if I should put it now, you would all rise up and vote that you were agreed in desiring a revival, and agreed to have it now. You know how you ought to feel, and what you ought to say, and you know you ought to be ready for a revival now. But, I ask: "Would GOD see to it to be so in your hearts that you are agreed on this point?

Have any two of you agreed on this point, and prayed accordingly? If not, when will you be agreed to pray for a revival? And if this Church cannot be agreed among themselves, how can you expect a revival? It is of no use for you to stand up here and say you are agreed, when God reads the heart, and sees that you are not agreed. Here is the promise: 'Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.' Now this is either true or false. Which ground will you take? If it is true, then it is true that you are not agreed, and never have been, except in those cases where you have had a revival."

But we must agree, not only on a time, but it must be the present time, or we are not agreed in everything essential to the work. Unless we agree to have a revival now, we shall not now use the means, and until the means are used it cannot come. It is plain, then, that we must be agreed on the present time; that is, we are not agreed, in the sense of the text, until we are agreed that now we will have the blessing, and act accordingly. To agree upon a future time is of no use, for when that future time comes we must then be agreed upon that present time, and use means accordingly; so that you see you are never properly agreed, until you agree that now is the time.

II. AGREEMENT IN ESSENTIAL THINGS.

You see the language of the text: "If two of you shall agree as touching anything that they shall ask." Many people seem to read it as if it referred merely to an agreement in asking, and they understand it to promise, that whenever two are agreed in asking for any blessing, it shall be given. But Christ says there must be an agreement "as touching" the thing prayed for.

That is, the agreement or union must comprise everything that is essential to the endowment and reception of the blessing.

1. If Christians would enjoy the benefits of this promise in praying for a revival, they must be agreed in believing revivals of religion to be realities.

There are many individuals, even in the Church, who do not in their hearts believe that the revivals which take place are the work of God. Some of them may pray in words for an outpouring of the Spirit and a revival of religion, while in their hearts they doubt whether there are any such things known in modern times. In united prayer there must be no hypocrisy.

2. They must agree in feeling the necessity of revivals. There are some who believe in the reality of revivals, as a work of God, while at the same time, they are unsettled as to the necessity of having them in order to the success of the Gospel. They think there is a real work of God in revivals, but, after all, perhaps it is quite as well to have sinners converted and brought into the Church in a more quiet and gradual way, and without so much excitement. Whenever revivals are abroad in the land, and prevail, and are popular, they may appear in favor of them, and may put up their cold prayers for a revival, while at the same time they would be sorry, on the whole, to have a revival come among them. They think it is so much safer and better to indoctrinate the people, and spread the matter before them in a calm way, and so bring them in gradually, and not run into the danger of having "animal feeling" or "wild fire" in their congregations!

3. They must be agreed in regard to the importance of revivals. Men are not blessed with revivals, in answer to prayers that are not half in earnest.

They must feel the infinite importance of a revival, before they will pray so as to prevail. Blessings of this kind are not granted but in answer to such prayers as arise from a sense of their importance. As I have shown before, on the subject of prevailing prayer, it is when men desire the blessing with UNUTTERABLE AGONY, that they offer such prayer as will infallibly prevail with God. Those who feel less as to the importance of a revival may pray for it in words, but they will never have the blessing.

But when a Church has been united in prayer, and really felt the importance of a revival, it has never failed of having one. I do not believe a case can be found, of such a Church being turned empty away. Such an agreement, when sincere, will secure an agreement also on all other subjects that are indispensable.

4. They must be agreed also, in having correct Scriptural views about several things connected with revivals.

(a) The necessity of Divine agency to produce a revival. It is not enough that they all hold this in theory, and pray for it in words. They must fully understand and deeply feel this necessity; they must realize their entire dependence on the Spirit of God, or the whole will fail.

(b) Why Divine agency is necessary. There must be an agreement on correct principles in regard to the reason that Divine agency is so indispensable. If they get wrong ideas on this point they will be hindered.

If Christians get the idea that this necessity of Divine influence lies in the inability of sinners, or if they feel as if God were under obligation to give the Holy Spirit, in order to make sinners able to obey the Gospel, they insult God, and their prayers will not avail. For in that case they must feel that it is a mere matter of common justice for God to pour out His Spirit, before He can justly require Christians to work, or sinners to repent.

Suppose a Church gets the idea that sinners are poor unfortunate creatures, who come into the world with such a nature that they cannot help sinning, and that sinners are just as unable to repent and believe the Gospel as they are to fly to the moon, how can it be felt that the sinner is a rebel against God, and that he deserves to be sent to hell? How can they feel that the sinner is to blame? And how can they take God's part when they pray? If they do not take God's part against the sinner, they cannot expect God will regard their prayers, for they do not pray with right motives. No doubt one great reason why so many prayers are not answered, is, that those who pray do in fact take the sinner's part against God. They pray as if the sinner were a poor unfortunate being, to be pitied, rather than as if he were a guilty wretch, to be blamed. And the reason is, that they do not believe sinners are able to obey God. If a person does not believe that sinners are able to obey their Maker, and really believes that the Spirit's influences are necessary to make them able, it is impossible, with these views, to offer acceptable and prevailing prayer for the sinner; and it is not wonderful that persons with these views should not prevail with God, and should doubt about the efficacy of the prayer of faith.

How often do you hear people pray for sinners in this style: "O Lord, help this poor soul to do what he is required to do; O Lord, enable him to do so-and-so." Now this language implies that they take the sinner's part, and not God's. If it were understood by those who use it, as it is sometimes explained, and if people meant by it what they ought to mean when they plead for sinners, I would not find so much fault with it. The truth is, that when people use this language, they often mean just what the language itself would be naturally, at first sight, understood to mean, which is just as if they should pray: "Lord, Thou command these poor sinners to repent, when, O Lord, Thou knowest they cannot repent, unless Thou givest them Thy Spirit to enable them to do so, though Thou hast declared that Thou wilt send them to hell if they do not, whether they ever receive Thy Spirit or not; and now, Lord, this seems very hard, and we pray Thee to have pity upon these poor creatures, and do not deal so hardly with them, for Christ's sake."

Who does not see that such a prayer, or a prayer which means this, in whatever language it may be couched, is an insult to God, charging Him with infinite injustice, if He should continue to exact from sinners a duty which they are unable to perform without that aid which He will not grant! People may pray in this way till the Day of Judgment, and never obtain a blessing, because they take the sinner's part against God. They cannot pray successfully, until they understand that the sinner is a rebel, and obstinate in his rebellion - so obstinate, that he never will, without the Holy Spirit, do what he might, as well as not, instantly do, and that this obstinacy is the reason, and the only reason, why he needs the influence of the Holy Spirit for his conversion. The only ground on which the sinner needs Divine agency is, to overcome his obstinacy, and make him willing to do what he can do, and what God justly requires him to do.

And Christians are never in an attitude in which God can hear their united prayers, unless they are agreed in so understanding their dependence on God, as to feel it in perfect consistency with the sinner's blame. If it is the other way, they are agreed in understanding it wrongly, and their prayers for Divine help to the unfortunate, instead of Divine favor to make a rebel submit, are wide of the mark, are an insult to God, and they never will obtain favor in heaven.

(c) They must be agreed in understanding that revivals are not miracles, but that they are brought about by the use of means, like other events. No wonder revivals formerly came so seldom and continued so short a time, when people generally regarded them as miracles, or like a mere shower of rain, that will come on a place, continue a little while, and then blow over; that is, as something over which we have no control. For what can people do to get a shower of rain? Or how can they make it rain any longer than it does rain? It is necessary that those who pray should be agreed in understanding a revival as something to be brought about by means, or they never will be agreed in using them.

(d) They must be agreed in understanding that human agency is just as indispensable to a revival as Divine agency. Such a thing as a revival of religion, I venture to say, never did occur without Divine agency, and never did occur without human agency. How often do people say: "God can, if He pleases, carry on the work without means." But I have no faith in it, for there is no evidence for it. What is religion? Obedience to God's law. But the law cannot be obeyed unless it is known. And how can God make sinners obey but by making known His commandments? And how can He make them known but by revealing them Himself, or sending them to others - that is, by bringing THE TRUTH to bear on a person's mind till he obeys it? God never did, and never can, convert a sinner, except with the truth. What is conversion? Obeying the truth. He may Himself directly communicate it to the sinner; but then, the sinner's own agency is indispensable, for conversion consists in the right employment of the sinner's own agency. And ordinarily, He employs the agency of others also, in printing, writing, conversation, and preaching. God has put the Gospel treasure in earthen vessels. He has seen fit to employ men in preaching the Word; that is, He has seen that human agency is that which He can best employ in saving sinners. And if there ever was a case (of which we have no evidence), there is not one in a thousand, if one in a million, converted in any other way than through the truth, made known and urged by human instrumentality. And as Christians must be united in using those means, it is plainly necessary that they should be united in understanding the true reason why means are to be used, and the true principles on which they are to be governed and applied.

5. It is important that there should be union in regard to the measures essential to the promotion of a revival. Let individuals agree to do anything whatever, yet if they are not agreed in their measures, they will run into confusion, and counteract one another. Set them to sail a ship, and they never can get along without agreement. If they attempt to do business, as merchants, when they are not agreed in their measures, what will they do?

Why, they will only undo each other's work, and thwart the whole business of the concern. All this is pre-eminently true in regard to the work of promoting a revival. Otherwise, the members of the Church will counteract each other's influence, and they need not expect a revival.

(a) The Church must be agreed in regard to the meetings which are held, as to what meetings, and how many, and where and when they shall be held.

Some people always desire to multiply meetings in a revival, as if the more meetings they had, the more religion there would be. Others are always opposed to any new meetings in a revival. Some are always for having a protracted meeting; and others are never ready to hold a protracted meeting at all. Whatever difference there may be, it is essential that the Church should come to a good understanding on the subject, so that they can go on together in harmony, and labor with zeal and effect.

(b) They must be agreed as to the manner of conducting meetings. It is necessary that the Church should be united and cordial on this subject, if it is expected to offer united prayer with effect. Sometimes there are individuals who want to adopt every new thing they can hear of or imagine, while others are totally unwilling to have anything altered in regard to the management of the meetings, but would have everything done precisely in the way to which they are accustomed. They ought to be agreed in some way, either to have the meetings altered, or to keep them on in the old way. The best possible way is, for the Church to agree in this, that they will let the meetings go on and take their course, just as the Spirit of God shapes them, and not even attempt to make the two meetings just alike. The Church never will give the fullest effect to the truth, until there is agreement in this principle: That, in promoting a revival, they will accommodate their measures to circumstances, and not attempt to interrupt the natural course which pious feeling and sound judgment indicate, but cast themselves entirely upon the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, introducing any measure, at any time, that shall seem called for in the Providence of God, without laying any stress upon its being new or old.

6. They must be agreed in the manner of dealing with impenitent sinners.

It is a point immensely important that the Church should be agreed as to the treatment of sinners. Suppose that there is no agreement, so that one will tell a sinner one thing and another. What confusion! How can they agree in prayer, when it is plain that they are not agreed as to the things for which they shall pray? Go among such a people, and hear them pray for sinners; attend a prayer meeting and listen. Here is one man who prays that the sinners present may repent. Another prays that they may be convicted; and perhaps, if he be very much concerned, will go so far as to pray that they may be deeply convicted. Another prays that sinners may go home solemn and pensive, and silent, meditating on the truths they have heard. Another prays in such a manner that you can see he is afraid to have them converted now. Another prays very solemnly that they may not attempt to do anything in their own strength. And so on. How easy it is to see that the Church is not agreed as touching the things they ask for; hence they have no interest in the promise.

If you set such people to talk with sinners, they will be just as discordant, for it is plain that they are not agreed, and have no clear views in regard to what a sinner must do to be saved, or of what ought to be said to sinners in order to bring them to repent. The consequence is, that sinners who are awakened and anxious presently get confounded, and do not know what to do; and perhaps they give up in despair, or conclude that in reality there is nothing rational or consistent in religion. One will tell the sinner he must repent immediately. Another will give him a book (Doddridge's "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," perhaps), and tell him to read it. Another will tell him to pray and persevere, and then, in God's time, he will obtain the blessing. A revival can never go on for any length of time, amidst such difficulties. Even if it should begin, it must soon run out; unless, perhaps, the body of the Church will keep still and say nothing, letting others carry on the work. And even then the work will suffer materially for want of cooperation and support. A Church ought to be agreed. Christians ought to have a clear understanding of this subject, and all speak the same thing and give the same directions; then, the sinner will find no one to take his part, but will get no relief or comfort till he repents.

7. They must be agreed in removing the impediments to a revival. If a Church expects a revival, it must clear the stumbling blocks out of the way.

(a) In the exercise of discipline. If there are rotten members in the Church, they should be removed, and the Church should agree to cut them off. If they remain, they are such a reproach to religion as to hinder a revival.

Sometimes when an attempt is made to cast them out, this creates a division, and thus the work is stopped. Sometimes the offenders are persons of influence, or they have family friends who will take their part, and make a party, and thus create a bad spirit, and prevent a revival.

(b) In mutual confessions. Whenever wrong has been done to any, there should be a full confession. I do not mean a cold and forced acknowledgment, such as saying: "If I have done wrong, I am sorry for it;" but a hearty confession, going the full length of the wrong, and showing that it comes out of a broken heart.

(c) Forgiveness of enemies. A great obstruction to revivals is often found in the fact that active and leading individuals harbor a revengeful and unforgiving spirit towards those who have injured them, which destroys their spirituality, makes them harsh and disagreeable in their manner, and prevents them from enjoying either communion with God in prayer, or the blessing of God to give them success in labor. But let the members of the Church be truly agreed, in confessing their faults, and in cherishing a tender, merciful, forgiving, Christ-like spirit toward any who, they think, have done them wrong, and then the Spirit will come down upon them not by measure.

8. They must be agreed in making all the necessary preparations for a revival. They should be agreed in having all necessary preparation made, and in bearing their part of the labor or expense involved. There should be an equality, a few should not be burdened while the rest do little or nothing, but everyone should bear his proportion, according to his ability.

Then there will be neither envying nor jealousy, nor any of those mutual recriminations and altercations and disrespectful remarks about one another, which are so inconsistent with brotherly love, and put such a stumbling block in the way of sinners.

9. They must be agreed in doing heartily whatever is necessary to be done for the promotion of the revival. Sometimes a slight disagreement about a very little thing will be allowed to break in and destroy a revival. A minister told me that he once went to labor in a place as an evangelist, and the Spirit of God was evidently present, and sinners began to inquire, and things looked quite favorable, until some of the members of the Church began to agitate the inquiry: how they should pay the evangelist. They said: "If he stays among us any longer, he will expect us to give him something"; and they did not see how they could afford to do so. And they talked about it, until the minds of the brethren got distracted and divided, and the preacher went away. Look at it. There God stood in the door of that Church, with His hands full of mercies, but these parsimonious and wicked professors thought it would cost something to have a revival, and their expenses were about as much as they felt willing or able to bear; and so they let the preacher depart, and the work ceased.

He would not have left, at the time, whether they gave him anything or not; for what he should receive, or whether he should receive anything from them, was a question about which he felt no concern. But the Church, by its parsimonious spirit, got into such a state as to grieve the Spirit, and he saw that to stay longer with them would do no good. Oh, how will those professors feel when they meet sinners from that town in judgment, when it will all come out, that God was ready and waiting to grant them a blessing, but they allowed themselves to get agitated and divided by inquiring how much they should have to pay!

10. They must be agreed in laboring to carry on the work. It is not enough that they should agree to pray for a revival, but they should agree also in laboring to promote it. They should set themselves to it systematically, to visit and converse and pray with their neighbors; to look out for opportunities of doing good; to watch the effect of the preaching, and watch the signs of the times, that they may know when anything needs to be done, and do it. They should be agreed to labor: they should be agreed how to labor: they should be agreed to live accordingly.

11. They must agree in a determination to persevere. It will not answer for some members to begin to move and bluster about, and then as soon as the least thing happens that seems unfavorable, to get discouraged, and faint, and one-half of them give over. They should be all united, and agreed to persevere, and labor, and pray, and hold on, until the blessing comes. In a word, if Christians expect to unite in prayer and effort, so as to prevail with God, they must be agreed in speaking and doing the same things, in walking by the same rule, and maintaining the same principles, and in persevering till they obtain the blessing, so as not to hinder or thwart each other's efforts. All this is evidently implied in being agreed as touching the things for which they are praying.

REMARKS.

1. We see why it is that so many of the children of professing parents are not converted.

It is because the parents have not been agreed as touching the things they should pray for in behalf of their children. Perhaps they never had any kind of agreement respecting them. Perhaps they were never agreed even as to what was the very best thing they could ask for them. Sometimes parents are not agreed in a anything, but their opinions clash, and they are perpetually disagreeing, and their children see it. Then it is no wonder that the children remain unconverted.

Or perhaps they may not be agreed as touching the salvation of their children. Are they sincere in desiring it? Do they agree to seek it, and agree from right motives? Do they agree in regard to the importance of it? Are they agreed how the children ought to be dealt with, so as to affect their conversion; what shall be said to them; how it shall be said; when; and by whom? Probably few cases will be found where children remain unconverted, but where inquiry would prove that the parents were never truly agreed as touching these things. In many cases, indeed, it is quite evident that they are not agreed.

Often there is such disagreement that we could not expect any good to result, or, indeed, anything but ruin to the children. The husband and wife often disagree entirely and fundamentally in regard to the manner of bringing up their children. Perhaps the wife is fond of dress, and display, and visiting; while the husband is plain and humble, and is grieved and distressed, and mourns and prays to see how his children are puffed up with vanity. Or it may be that the father is ambitious, and wants to have his daughters fashionably educated and make a display, and his sons become great men; so he will send his daughters to a fashionable school, where they may learn anything but their duty to God, and will be all the while pushing his sons forward, and goading their ambitions; while the mother grieves and weeps in secret to see her dear children hurried on to destruction, her influence counteracted, and her sons and daughters trained up to serve the God of this world, and to go to hell.

2. We see the hypocrisy of those who profess to be praying for a revival while they are doing nothing to promote it. There are many who appear to be very zealous in praying for a revival, while they are not doing anything at all to bring it about. What do they mean? Are they agreed as touching the things they ask for? Certainly not. They cannot be agreed in offering acceptable prayer for a revival until they are prepared to do what God requires them to do to promote it. What would you think of the farmer who should pray for a crop and neither plow nor sow? Would you think such prayers pious, or an insult to God?

3. We see why so many prayers that are offered in the Church are never answered. It is because those who offered them never were agreed as touching the things they asked for. Perhaps the minister never laid the subject before them, never explained what it is to be agreed, nor showed them its importance, nor set before them the great encouragement which the promise before us affords to Churches that will agree. Perhaps the members have never conferred together, to compare views, to see whether they understood the subject alike - whether they were agreed in regard to the motives, grounds, and importance of being united in prayer and labor for a revival. Suppose you were to go through the Churches and learn the precise views and feelings of the members on this subject. How many would you find who are agreed even in regard to the essential and indispensable things, concerning which it is necessary Christians should be agreed in order to unite in prevailing prayer? Perhaps no two could be found who are agreed, and if two were found whose views and desires are alike, it would probably be ascertained that they are unacquainted with each other, and, of course, neither act nor pray together.

4. We see why it is that the text has been generally understood to mean something different from what it says. People have first read it wrongly.

They have read as if it were: "If any two of you shall agree to ask anything, it shall be done." And as they have often agreed to ask for things, and the things were not done, they have said: "The literal meaning of the text cannot be true, for we have tried it and know it is not true. How many prayer meetings have we held, and how many petitions have we put up, in which we have perfectly agreed in asking for blessings, and yet they have not been granted." Now the fact is, that they have never yet understood what it is to be agreed as touching the things they are to ask for. I am sure this is no strained construction of the text, but is its true and obvious meaning, as a plain, pious reader would understand it, if he inquired seriously and earnestly the true import. They must be agreed not only in asking, but in everything else that is indispensable to the existence of the thing prayed for. Suppose two of you agree in desiring to go to London together. If you are not agreed in regard to the means, what route you shall take, and what ship you will go in, you will never get there together. Just so in praying for a revival: you must be agreed in regard to the means and circumstances, and everything essential to the existence and progress of a revival.

5. We may ordinarily expect a revival of religion to prevail and extend among those without the Church, just in proportion to the union of prayer and effort within. If there is a general union within the Church, the revival will be general. If the union continues so will the revival. If anything outside breaks in upon this perfect union in prayer and effort, it will limit the revival. How great and powerful would be the revival in a city, if all the Churches in the city were thus united in promoting it.

Here is another fact, which I have witnessed, worthy of notice. I have observed that a revival will prevail outside the Church, among persons in that class of society, amongst whom it prevails within the Church. If the women in the Church are most awake and prayerful. the work may ordinarily be expected to prevail mostly amongst women out of the Church, and more women will be converted than men. If the young people in the Church are most awake, then assuredly the work is most likely to prevail among the youth. If the heads of families and the principal men in the Church are awake, the revival is, I have observed, more likely to prevail among that class out of the Church. I have known a revival mostly confined to women, with few men converted, apparently because the men within the Church did not take active part. Again, I have repeatedly known the greatest number of converts to be among men, owing apparently to the fact that the men within the Church were the most active. When the revival does not reach a particular class of the impenitent, pains should be taken to arouse that portion of the Church who are of their own age and standing, to make more direct efforts for their conversion.

There seems to be a philosophy in this fact, which has often been illustrated. Different classes of professors naturally feel a sympathy for the impenitent of their own sex and age and rank, and more naturally pray for them, and for more influence over them; and this seems to be at least one of the reasons why revivals are apt to be the most powerful and general in that class without the Church who are most awake within the Church. Christians should understand this, and feel their responsibility.

One great reason why, in revivals, so few of the principal men are converted, doubtless is that class in the Church are often so worldly that they cannot be aroused. The revival will generally prevail mostly in those families where the professors belonging to them are awake; and the impenitent belonging to those families where the professors are not awake are apt to be left unconverted. One principal reason obviously is that when the professors in a family or neighborhood are awake, there is not only prayer offered for sinners in the midst of them, but there are corresponding influences acting on the impenitent among them. If they are awake, their looks and lives and warnings all tend to promote the conversion of their impenitent friends. But if they are asleep, all their influence tends to prevent such conversions. Their coldness grieves the Spirit, their worldliness contradicts the Gospel, and all their fellowship with their impenitent friends is in favor of impenitence, and calculated to perpetuate it.

6. We see why different denominations have been suffered to spring up in the Church, and under the government of God.

Christians often see and deplore the evils that have arisen to the Church of God, from the division of His people into jarring sects; and they have wondered and been perplexed to think that God should suffer it to be so.

But in the light of this subject we can see that, considering what diversities of opinions and feelings and views actually exist in the Church, much good results from this division. Considering this diversity of opinion, many would never agree to pray and labor together, so as to do it with success, and so it is better they should separate, and let those unite who are agreed.

In all cases where there cannot be a cordial agreement in labor, it is better that each denomination should labor by itself, so long as the difference exists. I have sometimes seen revivals broken up by attempting to unite Christians of different denominations in prayer and labor together, while they were not agreed as to the principles or measures by which the work was to be promoted. They would undo each other's work, destroy each other's influence, perplex the anxious, and give occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme; and soon their feelings would get soured, and, the Spirit being grieved away, the work would stop, and perhaps painful confusion and controversy follow.

7. We see why God sometimes suffers Churches to be divided. It is because He finds that the members are so much at variance that they will not pray and labor together with effect. Sometimes Church communities that are in such a state will still keep together from worldly considerations and worldly policy, because it is so much easier for the whole to support public worship; and so they continue, jealous and jangling, for years, accomplishing little or nothing for the salvation of sinners. In such cases God has often let something occur among them, that would tear them asunder, and then each party would go to work in its own way, and perhaps both would prosper. As soon as they were separated, everything settled down in peace. I have known some cases where this has been done with the happiest results, and both Churches have been speedily blessed with revivals.

8. It is evident that many more Churches need to be divided. How many there are that hold together, and yet do no good, for the simple reason that they are not sufficiently agreed. They do not think alike, nor feel alike, on the subjects connected with revivals, and while this is so, they never can work together. Unless they can be brought to such a change of views and feelings on the subject as will unite them, they are only a hindrance to each other and to the work of God. In many cases they see and feel that this is so, and yet they keep together, conscientiously, for fear a division should dishonor religion, when in fact the division that now exists may be making religion a by-word and a reproach. Far better would it be if they would agree to divide amicably, like Abraham and Lot. "If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left" (Genesis 13:9). Let them separate, and each party work in its own way; and they may both enjoy the blessing.

9. We see why a few individuals, who are perfectly united, may be successful in gathering and building up a new Church, and may prosper much more than a much larger number who are not agreed among themselves. If I were going to gather a new Church, I would rather have five persons, or three, or even two, who were perfectly agreed as to the things they were to pray for, and the manner in which they should labor for all that is essential to the prosperity of a Church, and who would stand by me, and stand by each other, than begin with a Church of five hundred members, who were not agreed.

10. We see what glorious things may be expected for Zion, whenever the Churches generally shall be agreed on these subjects. When ministers shall lay aside their prejudices, and their misconstructions, and their jealousies, and shall see eye to eye; and when the Churches shall understand the Bible alike, and see their duty alike, and pray alike, and shall be "agreed as touching the things that they shall ask," a nation shall be born in a day.

Only let them feel as the heart of one man, and be agreed as to what ought to be done for the salvation of the world, and the millennium will come at once.

11. There is vast ignorance in the Churches on the subject of revivals.

After all the revivals that have been enjoyed, and all that has been said and written and printed concerning revivals, there are very few who have any real, consistent knowledge on the subject. And when there is a revival, how few are there who can take hold to labor and promote it as if they understood what they were about. How few persons are to be found who have ever taken up revivals of religion as a subject to be studied and understood. Everybody knows that in a revival Christians must pray, and do some things which they have not been in the habit of doing. But multitudes know nothing of the REASON WHY they should do this, or why one thing is better than another, and, having no principles to guide them, when anything occurs which they did not expect, they are all at fault, and know not what to do.

If men should go to work to build a house of worship, and know as little how to proceed as many ministers and professors know how to build the spiritual temple of God, they never would get a house up; and yet people make themselves believe that they are building the Church of God, when they know not what they are about, but are utterly unable to give a reason why they are doing as they do, or why one thing should be done rather than another. There are multitudes in the Church who never seem to suppose that the work of promoting revivals of religion is one that requires study, and thought, and knowledge of principles, and skill in applying the Word of God so as to give every one his portion in season.

And so they go on, generally doing little or nothing, because they are attempting nothing; and if they ever do awaken, they go headlong to work, without any system or plan, as if God had left this part of our duty out of the reach of sound judgment and good sense.

12. There is vast ignorance among ministers upon this subject, and one great reason of this ignorance is that many get the idea that they already understand all about revivals, when in reality they know next to nothing about them. I once knew a minister come in where there was a powerful revival, and bluster about and find fault with many things, speaking of his "knowledge of revivals," that he had "been in seventeen of them," and so on, when it was evident that he knew nothing as he ought of revivals.

13. How important it is that the Church should be trained and instructed, so as to know what to do in a revival. Members should be trained and disciplined like an army; each one having a place to fill, and something to do, knowing where he belongs, and what he has to do, and how to do it.

Instead of this, how often do you see a Church in a time of revival take hold of the work to promote it, just like a troop of children thinking to build a house. How few there are who really know how to do - what?

Why, the very thing for which God suffers Christians to live in this world, the very thing for which ALONE He would ever let them remain away from heaven a day; and this is the very thing, of all others, that they do not study, and do not try to understand.

14. We see why revivals are often so short, and why they so often produce a reaction. It is because the Church does not understand the subject. Revivals are short, because professors have been stirred up to a kind of spasmodical action. They have gone to work by impulse, rather than from deliberate conviction of duty, and have been guided by their feelings rather than by a sound understanding of what they ought to do; they did not know either what to do, what they could do, what they could not, or how to husband their strength, or what the state of things would bear. Perhaps their zeal led them into some indiscretions, and they lost their hold on God, and so the enemy prevailed. The Church ought to be so trained as to know what to do, so as never to fail, and never to suffer defeat or reaction, when an attempt is made to promote a revival.

Christians should understand all the tactics of the devil, and know where to guard against his devices, so that they may know him when they see him - and not mistake him for an angel of light come to give them lessons of wisdom in promoting the revival - and so that they can cooperate wisely with the minister, and with one another, and with the Holy Ghost, in carrying on the work. No person who has been conversant with revivals can overlook the fact that the ignorance of professors of religion concerning revivals, and their blunders in the matter, are among the common things that put revivals down, and bring back a fearful reaction upon the Church. How long shall this be so? It ought not to be so; it need not be so; shall it always be so?

15. We see that every Church is justly responsible for the souls that are in its charge. If God has given such a promise, and if it is true that where so many as two are agreed, as touching the things they ask for, it shall be done, then certainly Christians are responsible, and if sinners are lost, their blood will be found upon the Church.

16. We see the guilt of ministers, in not informing themselves, and rightly and speedily instructing the Churches, upon this momentous subject.

Why, what is the end of the Christian ministry? What have they to do, but to instruct and marshal the sacramental host, and lead them on to conquest? What, will they let the Church remain in ignorance on the very subject, and the only point of duty, for the performance of which they are in the world - the salvation of sinners? Some ministers have acted as mysteriously about revivals as if they thought Christians were either incapable of understanding how to promote them, or that it was of no importance that they should know. But this is all wrong. No minister has yet begun even to understand his duty, if he has neglected to teach his people to work for God in the promotion of revivals. What is he about?

What does he mean? Why is he a minister? To what end has he taken the sacred office? Is it that he "may eat a piece of bread"? (1 Samuel 2:36).

17. We see that pious parents can render the salvation of their children certain. Only let them pray in faith, and be agreed as touching the things they shall ask for, and God has promised them the desire of their hearts.

Who can be agreed so well as parents? Let them be agreed in prayer, and agreed what to do, and agreed in doing all their duty; let them thus train up their children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.

And now, do you believe you are agreed, according to the meaning of this promise? I know that where a few individuals may be agreed in some things, they may produce some effect. But while the body of the Church is not agreed, there will always be so many things to counteract, that they will accomplish but little. THE CHURCH MUST BE AGREED. Oh, if we could find but one Church perfectly and heartily agreed in all these points, so that they could pray and labor together, all as one, what good would be done! Oh, what do Christians think, how can they keep still, when God has brought down His blessings so that if any two were agreed as touching the things they ask for, it would be done? Alas! alas! how bitter will be the remembrance of the jangling in the Church, when Christians come to see the crowds of lost souls that have gone down to hell, because we were not agreed to labor and pray for their salvation.

18. Finally, in the light of this promise we see the awful guilt of the Church.

God has given it to be the precious inheritance of His people at all times, and in all places, that, if His people agree, their prayers will be answered.

We see the awful guilt of the members of this Church, who listen to Lectures about revivals, and then go away and have no revival; and also the guilt of members of other Churches who hear and go home and refuse to do their duty. How can you meet the thousands of impenitent sinners around you at the bar of God, and see them sink away into everlasting burning?

Have you been united in heart to pray for them? If you have not, why have you disagreed? Why have you not prayed with this promise until you have prevailed?

You will now either be agreed, and pray for the Holy Ghost, and receive Him before you leave the place, or the anger of the Lord will be upon you.

Should you now agree to pray in the sense of this promise, for the Spirit of God to come down on this city, the Heavenly Dove would fly through this city in the midst of the night and would rouse the consciences and break up the guilty slumbers of the wicked. What, then, is the crimson guilt of those professors of religion who are sleeping in sight of such a promise? They seem to have skipped over it, or entirely to have forgotten it. Multitudes of sinners are going to hell in all directions, and yet this blessed promise is neglected; yea, more, is practically despised by the Church, There it stands in the solemn record, and the Church might take hold of it in such a manner that vast numbers might be saved - but they are not agreed, therefore souls will perish. And where is the responsibility? Who can take this promise and look the perishing in the face at the Day of Judgment?

Lecture 17: False Comforts For Sinners

How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood? - Job 21:34.

Jobs ' three friends insisted that the afflictions which he suffered were sent as a punishment for his sins, and were evidence conclusive that he was a hypocrite, and not a good man, as he professed to be. A lengthy argument ensued, in which Job referred to all past experience, to prove that men are not dealt with in this way according to their character; that the distinction is not observed in the allotments of Providence. His friends maintained the opposite, and intimated that this world is also a place of rewards and punishments, in which men receive good or evil, according to their deeds.

In this chapter, Job urges, by appealing to common sense and common observation and experience, that this cannot be true, because it is a matter of fact that the wicked are often prosperous in this world and throughout life, and hence he infers that their judgment and punishment must be reserved for a future state. "The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction," and "they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath" (v. 30).

And inasmuch as the friends who came to comfort him, being in the dark on this fundamental point, had not been able to understand his case, and so could not afford him any comfort, but rather aggravated his grief, Job insisted upon it that he would still look to a future state for consolation.

He rebuked them by exclaiming, in the bitterness of his soul:

"How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?"

My present purpose is to make some remarks upon the various methods employed in comforting anxious sinners; and I design:

I. To notice briefly the necessity and design of instructing anxious sinners.

II. To show that anxious sinners are always seeking comfort. Their supreme object, indeed, is to get comfort in their distress.

III. To notice some of the false comforts often administered.

IV. Errors made in praying for sinners.

I. INSTRUCTING ANXIOUS SINNERS.

The very idea of anxiety implies some instruction. A sinner will not be anxious at all about his future state, unless he has light enough to know that he is a sinner, and that he is in danger of punishment and needs forgiveness. But men are to be converted, not by physical force, nor by a change wrought in their nature or constitution by creative power, but by the truth, made effectual by the Holy Spirit. Conversion is yielding to the truth. Therefore, the more the truth can be brought to bear on the mind, other things being equal, so much the more probable is it that the individual will be converted. Unless the truth is brought to bear upon him, it is certain he will not be converted. If it be brought to bear, it is not absolutely certain that it will be effectual, but the probability is in proportion to the extent to which the truth is brought to bear.

The great design of dealing with an anxious sinner is to clear up all his difficulties and darkness, do away with all his errors, sap the foundation of his self-righteous hopes, and sweep away every vestige of comfort that he can find in himself. There is often much difficulty in all this, and much instruction is required. Sinners often cling with a death-grasp to their false dependencies. The last place to which a sinner ever betakes himself for relief is to Jesus Christ. Sinners had rather be saved in any other way in the world. They had rather make any sacrifice, go to any expense, or endure any suffering, than just throw themselves as guilty and lost rebels upon Christ alone for salvation. This is the very last way in which they are ever willing to be saved. It cuts up all their self-righteousness, and annihilates their pride and self-satisfaction so completely that they are exceedingly unwilling to adopt it. But it is as true in philosophy as it is in fact, that this is, after all, the only way in which a sinner could find relief. If God should attempt to relieve sinners and save them without humbling their pride and turning them from their sins, He could not do it.

Now, the object of instructing an anxious sinner should be to bring his mind, by the shortest route, to the practical conclusion that there is, in fact, no other way in which he can be relieved and saved, but to renounce himself, and rest in Christ alone. To do this with effect requires great skill.

It requires a thorough knowledge of the human heart, a clear understanding of the plan of salvation, and a precise and definite idea of the very thing that a sinner MUST DO in order to be saved. The ability to impart such instruction effectually is one of the rarest qualifications in the ministry. It is distressing to see how few ministers and how few professors of religion there are who have in their own mind so distinct an idea of the thing to be done, that they can go to an anxious sinner and tell him exactly what he has to do, and how to do it, and can show him clearly that there is no possible way for him to be saved, but by doing that very thing which they tell him, and can make him feel the certainty that he must do it, and that unless he does that very thing he will be lost.

II. ANXIOUS SINNERS ARE ALWAYS SEEKING COMFORT.

Sinners often imagine they are seeking Jesus Christ, and seeking religion, but this is a mistake. No person ever sought religion, and yet remained irreligious. What is religion? It is obeying God. Seeking religion is seeking to obey God. The soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness is the soul of a Christian. To say that a person can seek to obey God, and yet not obey Him, is absurd; for, if he is seeking religion, he is not an impenitent sinner. To seek religion implies a willingness to obey God, and a willingness to obey God is religion. It is a contradiction to say that an impenitent sinner is seeking religion. It is the same as to say that he seeks and actually longs to obey God, and God will not let him; or that he longs to embrace Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ will not let him come. The fact is, the anxious sinner is seeking a hope, he is seeking pardon, and comfort, and deliverance from hell. He is anxiously looking for someone to comfort him and make him feel better, without being obliged to conform to such humiliating conditions as those of the Gospel. And his anxiety and distress continue, only because he will not yield to these terms. Unfortunately, anxious sinners find comforters enough to their liking. Miserable comforters they are, too, "seeing in their answers there remaineth falsehood." No doubt, millions and millions are now in hell, because there were those around them who gave them false comfort, who had so much false pity, or were themselves so much in the dark, that they would not let sinners remain in anxiety till they had submitted their hearts to God, but administered falsehood.

III. WAYS IN WHICH FALSE COMFORT IS GIVEN.

There is an endless variety of ways in which false comfort is given to anxious sinners. The more I observe the ways in which even good people deal with anxious sinners, the more I feel grieved at the endless falsehoods with which they attempt to comfort their anxious friends, and thus, in fact, deceive them and beguile them out of their salvation. It often reminds me of the manner in which people act when any one is ill. Let any one of you be ill, with almost any disease in the world, and you will find that every person you meet with has a remedy for that disorder, a certain cure, a specific, a panacea; and you will find such a world of quackery all around you that if you do not take care and SHUT IT ALL OUT, you will certainly lose your life. A man must exercise his own judgment, for he will find as many remedies as he has friends, and each one is tenacious of his own medicine, and perhaps will think it hard if it is not taken. And no doubt this miserable system of quackery kills a great many people.

This is true to no greater extent respecting the diseases of the body than respecting the diseases of the mind. People have their specifics and their panaceas, to comfort distressed souls; and whenever they begin to talk with an anxious sinner, they will bring in their false comforts - so much that if he does not TAKE CARE, and mind the Word of God, he will infallibly be deceived to his own destruction. I propose to mention a few of the falsehoods that are often brought forward in attempting to comfort anxious sinners. Time would fail me even to name them all.

The direct object of many persons is to comfort sinners; and they are often so intent upon this that when they see their friends distressed, they pity them, they feel very compassionate: "Oh, oh, I cannot bear to see them so distressed, I must comfort them somehow"; and so they try one way, and another, and all to comfort them! Now, God desires they should be comforted. He is benevolent, and has kind feelings, and His heart yearns over them, when He sees them so distressed. But He sees that there is only one way to give a sinner real comfort. He has more benevolence and compassion than all men, and wishes to comfort them. But He has fixed the terms, as unyielding as His Throne, on which He will give a sinner relief. He will not alter. He knows that nothing else will do the sinner effectual good, for nothing can make him happy, until he repents of his sins and forsakes them, and turns to God. And therefore God will not yield. Our object should be the same as that of God. We should feel compassion and benevolence just as He does, and be as ready to give comfort, but we should also be sure that it is of the right kind.

Our prime object should be to induce the sinner to obey God. His comfort ought to be, both with us and with himself, only a secondary object; and while we are more anxious to relieve his distress than to have him cease to abuse and dishonor God, we are not likely, by our instructions, to do him any real good. This is a fundamental distinction in dealing with anxious sinners, but it is evidently overlooked by many, who seem to have no higher motives than sympathy or compassion for the sinner. If in preaching the Gospel or instructing the anxious, we are not actuated by a high regard to the honor of God, and rise no higher than to desire to relieve the distressed; this is going no farther than a constitutional sympathy, or compassion, would carry us. The overlooking of this principle has often misled professors of religion, and when they have heard others dealing faithfully with anxious sinners, they have accused them of cruelty. I have often had professors bring anxious sinners to me, and beg me to comfort them; and then, when I have probed the conscience of the sinner to the quick, they have shuddered, and sometimes taken his part. It is sometimes impossible to deal effectually with young people who are anxious, in the presence of their parents, because the parents have so much more compassion for their children than regard to the honor of God. This is a position which is all wrong; and with such views and feelings you had better hold your tongue than say anything to the anxious.

1. One of the ways in which people give false comfort to distressed sinners is by asking them: "What have you done? You are not so bad!"

They see them distressed and cry out: "Why, what have you done?" as if they had never done anything wicked, and had in reality no occasion to feel distressed at all. A fashionable lady was spiritually awakened, and she was going to see a minister, to converse with him, when she was met by a friend, who turned her back, and drove off her anxiety by the cry: "What have you done to make you feel so? I am sure you have never committed any sin that need make you feel so!"

I have often met with cases of this kind. A mother will tell her son, who is anxious, what an obedient child he has always been, how good and how kind, and she begs him "not to take on so." So a husband will tell his wife, or a wife her husband: "How good you are!" and say: "Why, you are not so bad. You have been to hear that frightful minister, who frightens people, and you have got excited. Be comforted, for I am sure you have not been bad enough to justify such distress." When the truth is, they have been a great deal worse than they think they have. No sinner ever has an idea of his sins greater than they really are. No sinner ever has an adequate idea of how great a sinner he is. It is not probable that any man could live under a full sight of his sins. God has, in mercy, spared all His creatures on earth that worst of sights, a naked human heart. The sinner's guilt is much more deep and damning than he thinks, and his danger is much greater than he thinks it is; and if he should see his sins as they are, probably he would not live one moment. True, a sinner may have false notions on the subject, which may create distress, but which have no foundation. He may think he has committed the unpardonable sin, or that he has grieved away the Spirit, or sinned away his day of grace. But to tell the most moral and naturally amiable person in the world that he is good enough, or that he is not so bad as he thinks he is, is not giving him rational comfort, but is deceiving him and ruining his soul. Let those who do it, beware.

2. Others tell awakened sinners that "conversion is a progressive work," and in this way ease their anxiety. When a man is distressed, because he sees himself to be such a sinner, and that unless he turns to God he will be lost, it is a great relief to have some friend hold out the idea that he can get better by degrees, and that he is now "coming on," little by little. They tell him: "You cannot expect to get along all at once; I do not believe in these sudden conversions, you must wait and let it work; you have begun well, and, by and by, you will get comfort." All this is false as the bottomless pit. The truth is, regeneration, or conversion, is not a progressive work.

What is regeneration? What is it but the beginning of obedience to God?

And is the beginning of a thing progressive? It is the first act of genuine obedience to God - the first voluntary action of the mind, that is what God approves, or that can be regarded as obedience to God. That is conversion. When persons talk about conversion as a progressive work, it is absurd. They show that they know just as much about regeneration or conversion as Nicodemus did. They know nothing about it as they ought to know, and are no more fit to conduct an anxious meeting, or to advise or instruct anxious sinners, than Nicodemus was.

3. Another way in which anxious sinners are deceived with false comfort is by being advised to "dismiss the subject for the present." Men who are supposed to be wise and good have assumed to be so much wiser than God, that when God is dealing with a sinner, by His Spirit, and is endeavoring to bring him to an immediate decision, they think God is crowding too hard, and that it is necessary for them to interfere. They will advise the person to take a ride, or to go into company, or engage in business or do something that will relieve his mind a little, at least for the present. They might just as well say to God in plain words: "O God, Thou art too hard, Thou goest too fast, Thou wilt make him crazy, or kill him; he cannot stand it, poor creature; if he be so pressed he will die." Just so they take sides against God, and practically tell the sinner himself: "God will make you crazy if you do not dismiss the subject, and resist the Spirit, and drive Him away from your mind."

Such advice, if it be truly conviction of sin that distresses the sinner, is, in no case, either safe or lawful. The strivings of the Spirit, to bring the sinner to Christ, will never hurt him, nor drive him crazy. He may make himself deranged by resisting; but it is blasphemous to think that the blessed, wise, and benevolent Spirit of God would ever act with so little care, as to derange and destroy the soul which He came to sanctify and save. The proper course to take with a sinner, when the striving of the Spirit throws him into distress, is, to instruct him, clear up his views, correct his mistakes, and make the way of salvation so plain, that he may see it right before him. Not to dismiss the subject, but to fall in with the Spirit, and thus hush all those dreadful agonies which are produced by resisting the Holy Ghost. REMEMBER, if an awakened sinner should voluntarily dismiss the subject once, probably he will never take it up again.

4. Sometimes an awakened sinner is comforted by being told that "religion does not consist in feeling bad." I once heard of a Doctor of Divinity giving an anxious sinner such counsel, when he was actually writhing under the arrows of the Almighty. Said he: "Religion is cheerful, religion is not gloomy; do not be distressed, but dismiss your fears; be comforted, you should not feel so bad," and such like miserable comforts, when, in fact, the man had infinite reason to be distressed, for he was resisting the Holy Ghost, and was in danger of grieving Him away for ever.

It is true, religion does not consist in "feeling bad"; but the sinner has reason to be distressed, because he has no religion. If he had religion, he would not feel so. Were he a Christian, he would rejoice. But to tell an impenitent sinner to be cheerful! Why, you might as well preach this doctrine in hell, and tell them there: "Cheer up here, cheer up: do not feel so bad!"

The sinner is on the very verge of hell, he is in rebellion against God, and his danger is infinitely greater than he imagines. Oh, what a doctrine of devils it is to tell a rebel against Heaven not to be distressed! What is all his distress but rebellion itself? He is not comforted, because he refuses to be comforted. God is ready to comfort him. You need not think to be more compassionate than God. He will fill the sinner with comfort, in an instant, on submission. There stands the sinner, struggling against God, and against the Holy Ghost, and against conscience, until he is distressed almost to death, but still he will not yield; and now someone comes in, saying: "Oh, I hate to see you feel so bad, do not be so distressed; cheer up, cheer up; religion does not consist in being gloomy; be comforted."

Horrid!

5. Whatever involves the subject of religion in mystery is calculated to give a sinner false comfort. When a sinner is anxious on the subject of religion, very likely, if you becloud it in mystery, he will feel relieved. The sinner's distress arises from the pressure of present obligation. Enlighten him on this point, and clear it up, and if he will not yield, it will only increase his distress. But tell him that regeneration is all a mystery, something he cannot understand, and, by leaving him all in a fog, you relieve his anxiety.

It is his clear view of the nature and duty of repentance, that produces his distress. It is the light that brings agony to his mind, while he refuses to obey. It is that which makes up the pains of hell. And it will almost make hell in the sinner's breast here, if only made clear enough. Only cover up this light, and his anxiety will immediately become far less acute and thrilling, but if you take up a clear light, and flash it broadly upon his soul, then, if he will not yield, you kindle up the tortures of hell in his bosom.

6. Whatever relieves the sinner from a sense of blame is calculated to give him false comfort. The more a man feels himself to blame, the deeper is his distress; so, anything that lessens his sense of blame, of course lessens his distress - but it is a comfort full of death. If anything will help him to divide the blame, and throw a part of it upon God, it will afford him comfort, but it is a relief that will destroy his soul.

7. To tell him of his inability is false comfort. Suppose you say to an anxious sinner: "What can you do? You are a poor feeble creature, you can do nothing." You will thereby make him feel a kind of despondency, but it is not that keen agony of remorse with which God wrings the soul when He is laboring to bring the sinner to repentance.

If you tell him he is unable to comply with the Gospel, he naturally falls in with that relief. He says to himself: "Yes, I am unable, I am a poor, feeble creature, I cannot do this, and certainly God cannot send me to hell for not doing what I cannot do." Why, if I believed that a sinner was unable, I would tell him plainly: "Do not be afraid, you are not to blame for not complying with the call of the Gospel: for you are unable, and God will not send you to hell for not doing what you have no strength to do - 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?'" I know it is not common for those who talk about the sinner being "unable," to be so consistent, and carry out their theory. But the sinner infers all this, and so he feels relieved. It is all false, and all the comfort derived from it is only treasuring up wrath against the Day of Wrath.

8. Whatever makes the impression on a sinner's mind that he is to be passive in religion is calculated to give him false comfort. Give him the idea that he has nothing to do but to wait God's time; tell him conversion is the work of God, and he ought to leave it to Him; and that he must be careful not to try to take the work out of God's hand; and he will infer as before, that he is not to blame, and will feel relieved. If he has only to stand still, and let God do the work, just as a man holds still to have his arm amputated, he feels relieved. But such instruction as this, is all wrong. If the sinner is thus to stand still, and let God do it, he instantly infers that he is not to blame for not doing it himself; and the inference is not only natural but legitimate.

It is true that there is a sense in which conversion is the work of God. But it is false, as it is often represented. It is also true that there is a sense in which conversion is the sinner's own act. It is ridiculous, therefore, to say that a sinner is passive in regeneration, or passive in being converted, for conversion is his own act. The thing to be done is that which cannot be done for him. It is something which he must do, or it will never be done.

9. Telling a sinner to wait God's time. Some years ago, in Philadelphia, I met a woman who was anxious about her soul, and had been a long time in that state. I conversed with her, and endeavored to learn her state. She told me a good many things, and finally said she knew she ought to be willing to wait on God as long as He had waited upon her. She said that God had waited on her a great many years before she would give any attention to His call, and now she believed it was her duty to wait God's time to show mercy to her and convert her soul. And she said this was the instruction she had received. She must be patient, she thought, and wait God's time, and, by and by, He would give her relief. Oh, amazing folly!

Here is the sinner in rebellion. God comes with pardon in one hand and a sword in the other, and tells the sinner to repent and receive pardon, or refuse and perish. And now here comes a minister of the Gospel and tells the sinner to "wait God's time." Virtually he says that God is not ready to have him repent now, and is not ready to pardon him now, and thus, in fact, throws off the blame of his impenitence upon God. Instead of pointing out the sinner's guilt, in not submitting at once to God, he points out God's "insincerity" - in making an offer, when, in fact, He was not ready to grant the blessing!

I have often thought such teachers needed the rebuke of Elijah, when he met the priests of Baal. "Cry aloud: for he is a God; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked" (1 Kings 18:27). The minister who ventures to intimate that God is not ready, and tells the sinner to wait God's time, might almost as well tell him that God is asleep, or gone on a journey, and cannot attend to him at present. Miserable comforters, indeed! It is little less than outrageous blasphemy of God. How many have gone to the judgment, red all over with the blood of souls that they have deceived and destroyed - by telling them God was not ready to save them, and that they must wait God's time. No doubt such a doctrine is exceedingly calculated to afford present relief to an anxious sinner. It warrants him to say: "God is not ready, I must wait God's time, and so I can live in sin a while longer, till He gets ready to attend to me, and then I will get religion."

10. It is false comfort to tell an anxious sinner to do anything for relief, which he can do, and not submit his heart to God. An anxious sinner is often willing to do anything else, but the very thing which God requires him to do. He is willing to go to the ends of the earth, or to pay his money, or to endure suffering, or do anything but make full and instantaneous submission to God. Now, if you will compromise the matter with him, and tell him of something else that he may do, and yet evade that point, he will be very much comforted. He likes that instruction. He says: "Oh, yes, I will do that; I like that minister, he is not so severe as others, he seems to understand my particular case, and knows how to make allowances."

It often reminds me of the conduct of a patient who is very sick, but has a great dislike for a certain physician and a particular medicine, but that is the very physician who alone understands treating his disease, and that the only remedy for it. Now, the patient is willing to do anything else, and call in any other physician. He is anxious and in distress, is asking all his friends if they cannot tell him what he shall do. He will take all the nostrums and quack medicines in the country - before he will submit to the only course that can bring him relief. By and by, after he has tried everything without receiving any benefit, if he survives the experiment he gives up this unreasonable opposition, calls in the physician, takes the proper medicine, and is cured. Just so it is with sinners. They will eagerly do anything, if you will only let them off from this intolerable pressure of present obligation to submit to God.

I will mention a few of the things the telling of which to sinners distracts their attention from the point of immediate submission.

(a) Telling a sinner he must use the means - attend meetings and pray.

Tell an anxious sinner this: "You must use the means"; and he is relieved.

"Oh, yes, I will do that, if that be all. I thought that God required me to repent and submit to Him now. But if 'using the means' will answer, I will do that with all my heart." He was distressed before, because he was cornered, and did not know which way to turn. Conscience had beset him, like a wall of fire, and urged him to repent NOW. But this relieves him at once; he feels better, and is very thankful that he has found such a good adviser in his distress! But he may "use the means," as he says, till the Day of Judgment, and not be a particle the better for it, but only hasten his way to death. What is the sinner's use of means, but rebellion against God? God uses means - the Church uses means, to convert and save sinners, to impress them, and bring them to submission. But what has the sinner to do with such means? It is just telling him: "You need not submit to God now, but just use the means awhile, and see if you cannot melt God's heart down to you, so that He will yield this point of unconditional submission." It is a mere cavil to evade the duty of immediate submission to God. It is true that sinners, actuated by a regard to their own happiness, often give attention to the subject of religion, attend meetings, and pray, and read, and many such things. But in all this they have no regard to the honor of God, nor do they so much as intend to obey Him. Their design is not obedience, for if it were, they would not be impenitent sinners. They are not, therefore, using means to be Christians, but to obtain pardon, and a hope. It is absurd to say that an impenitent sinner is using means to repent, for this is the same as to say he is willing to repent; or, in other words, that he does repent, and so is not an impenitent sinner. So, to say that an unconverted sinner uses means with the design to become a Christian, is a contradiction; for it is saying that he is willing to be a Christian, which is the same as to say he is a Christian already.

(b) Telling a sinner to pray for a new heart. I once heard a celebrated Sunday-school teacher do this. He was almost the father of Sunday Schools in America. He called a little girl up to him, and began to talk to her. "My little girl, are you a Christian?" "No, sir." "Well, you cannot be a Christian yourself, can you?" "No, sir." "No, you cannot be a Christian yourself, you cannot change your heart yourself, but you must pray for a new heart, that is all you can do; pray to God, God will give you a new heart." He was an aged and venerable man, but I almost felt disposed to rebuke him in the name of the Lord; I could not bear to hear him deceive that child, telling her, practically, she could not be a Christian. Does God say: "Pray for a new heart"? Never. He says: "Make you a new heart"

(Ezekiel 18:31). The sinner is not to be told to pray to God to do his duty for him, but to go and do it himself. I know the Psalmist prayed: "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). He had faith, and prayed in faith. But that is a very different thing from setting an obstinate rebel to pray for a new heart. An anxious sinner will be delighted with such instruction, saying: "I knew I needed a new heart, and that I ought to repent, but I thought I must do it myself. I am very willing to ask God to do it; I hated to do it myself, but have no objection that God should do it, if He will, and I will pray for it, if that is all that is required."

(c) Telling the sinner to persevere. And suppose he does persevere? He is as certain to be lost as if he had been in hell ever since the foundation of the world. His anxiety arises only from his resistance; and if he would submit, it would cease; and will you tell him to persevere in the very thing that causes his distress? Suppose my child should, in a fit of passion, throw a book or something on the floor. I tell him: "Take it up," but instead of minding what I say, he runs off and plays. "Take it up!" He sees I am in earnest, and begins to look serious. "Take it up, or I shall get a rod." And I put up my arm to get the rod. He stands still. "Take it up, or you must be whipped." He comes slowly along to the place, and begins to weep. "Take it up, my child, or you will certainly be punished." Now he is in distress, and sobs and sighs as if his bosom would burst; but he still remains as stubborn as if he knew I could not punish him. Now I begin to press him with motives to submit and obey, but there he stands, in agony, and at length bursts out: "Oh, father, I do feel so bad, I think I am growing better." And now, suppose a neighbor to come in and see the child standing there, in all his agony and stubbornness. The neighbor asks him what he is standing there for, and what is he doing. "Oh, I am using means to pick up that book." If this neighbor should tell the child: "Persevere, persevere, my boy, you will get it by and by," what should I do? Why, I would ask him to leave the house; what does he mean by encouraging my child in rebellion?

Now, God calls the sinner to repent, He threatens him, He draws the glittering sword, He persuades him, He uses motives, and the sinner is distressed to agony, for he sees himself driven to the dreadful alternative of giving up his sins or going to hell. He ought instantly to lay down his weapons, and break his heart at once. But he resists, and struggles against conviction, and that creates his distress. Now, will you tell him to persevere? Persevere in what? In struggling against God! That is just the direction the devil would give. All the devil wants is, to see him persevere just in the way he is going on, and his destruction is sure.

(d) Telling a sinner to press forward. That is, to say to him: "You are in a good way, only press forward, and you will get to heaven." This is on the supposition that his face is toward heaven, when in fact his face is toward hell, and he is pressing forward, and never more rapidly than now, while he is resisting the Holy Ghost. Often have I heard this direction given, when the sinner was in as bad a way as he could be. What you ought to tell him is: "STOP, sinner, stop, do not take another step that way, it leads to hell." God tells him to stop, and because he does not wish to stop, he is distressed. Now, why should you attempt to comfort him in this way?

(e) Telling a sinner that he must "try" to repent and give his heart to God.

"Oh, yes," says the sinner, "I am willing to try, I have often tried to do it, and I will try again." Does God tell you to "try" to repent?

All the world would be willing to "try" to repent, in their way. Giving this direction implies that it is very difficult to repent, and perhaps impossible, and that the best thing a sinner can do is, to try and see whether he can do it or not. What is this, but substituting your own commandment in the place of God's. God requires nothing short of repentance and a holy heart; anything short of that is comforting the sinner in vain, "seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood."

(f) Telling him to pray for repentance. "Oh, yes, I will pray for repentance, if that is all. I was distressed because I thought God required me to repent; but I can wait." And so he feels relieved, and is quite comfortable.

(g) Telling a sinner to pray for conviction, or pray for the Holy Ghost to show him his sins, or to labor to get more light on the subject of his guilt, in order to increase his conviction.

All this is just what the sinner wants, because it lets him off from the pressure of present obligation. He wants just a little more time. Anything that will defer that present pressure of obligation to repent immediately, is a relief. What does he want more conviction for? Does God give any such direction to an impenitent sinner? God takes it for granted that he has conviction enough already. And so he has. Do you say he cannot realize all his sins? If he can realize only one of them, let him repent of that one, and he is a Christian. Suppose he could see them all, what reason is there to think he would repent of them all, any more than he would repent of that one that he does see? All this is comforting the sinner by setting him to do that which he can do, and yet not submit his heart to God.

11. Another way in which false comfort is given to anxious sinners is, to tell them God is trying their faith by keeping them in the furnace, and they must wait patiently upon the Lord. Just as if God were in fault, or stood in the way of a sinner becoming a Christian. Or as if an impenitent sinner had faith! What an abomination! Suppose somebody should tell my child, while he was standing by the book as I have described: "Wait patiently, my boy, your father is trying your faith." No. The sinner is trying the patience and forbearance of God. God is not setting Himself to torture a sinner, and teach him a lesson of patience. But He is waiting upon him, and laboring to bring him at once into such a state of mind as will render it consistent to fill his soul with the peace of heaven. And shall the sinner be encouraged to resist, by the idea that God is bantering? TAKE CARE!

God has said His Spirit shall not always strive.

12. Another false comfort is, saying to the sinner: "Do your duty, and leave your conversion with God." I once heard an elder of a Church say to an anxious sinner: "Do your duty, and leave your conversion to God; He will do it in His own time and way." That was just the same as telling him, that it was not his duty to be converted NOW. He did not say: "Do your duty, and leave your salvation with God." That would have been proper enough, for it would have been simply telling him to submit to God, and would have included conversion as the first duty of all. But he told him to leave his conversion to God. And this elder, that gave such advice, was a man of liberal education too. How absurd! As if the sinner could do his duty and not be converted! God has required him: "Make you a new heart" (Ezekiel 18:31); and do you beware how you comfort him with an answer of falsehood.

13. Sometimes professors of religion will try to comfort a sinner, by telling him: "Do not be discouraged; I was a long time in this way before I found comfort." They will tell him: "I was under conviction so many weeks - or perhaps so many months, or sometimes years - and have gone through all this, and know just how you feel; your experience is the same as mine precisely. After so long a time I found relief; and I doubt not you will find it by and by. Do not despair, God will comfort you soon." Tell a sinner to take courage in his rebellion! Oh, horrible! Such professors ought to be ashamed. Suppose you were under conviction so many weeks, and afterwards found relief, it is the very last thing you ought to tell an anxious sinner.

What is it but encouraging him to hold out, when his business is to submit? Did you hold out so many weeks while the Spirit was striving with you? You only deserved so much the more to be lost, for your obstinacy and stupidity.

Sinner! it is no sign that God will spare you so long, or that His Spirit will remain with you to be resisted. And remember, if the Spirit is taken away, you will be sent to hell.

14. Another false comfort is to say: "I have faith to believe you will be converted." You have faith to believe? On what does your faith rest? On the promise of God? On the influences of the Holy Ghost? Then you are counteracting your own faith. The very design and object of the Spirit of God is to tear away from the sinner his last vestige of a hope while remaining in sin; to annihilate every crag and twig he may cling to. And the object of your instruction should be the same. You should fall in with the plan of God. It is only in this way that you can ever do any good - by urging him to submit at once, and leave his soul in the hands of God. But when one that he thinks is a Christian, tells him: "I have faith to believe you will be converted," it upholds him in a false expectation. Instead of tearing him away from his false hopes, and throwing him upon Christ, you just turn him aside to depend upon your faith, and to find comfort because you have faith for him. This is all false comfort, that worketh death.

15. Sometimes professors of religion try to comfort an anxious sinner by telling him: "I will pray for you." This is false comfort, for it leads the sinner to trust in those prayers, instead of trusting in Christ. The sinner says "He is a good man, and God hears the prayers of good men; no doubt his prayers will prevail, some time, and I shall be converted: I do not think I shall be lost." And his anxiety, his agony, is all gone. A woman said to a minister: "I have no hope now, but I have faith in your prayers." Just such faith is this as the devil wants them to have - faith in prayers instead of faith in Christ.

16. It is equally false comfort to say: "I rejoice to see you in this way, and I hope you will be faithful, and hold out." What is this but rejoicing to see him in rebellion against God? For that is precisely the ground on which he stands. He is resisting conviction, and resisting conscience, and resisting the Holy Ghost, and yet you rejoice to see him in this way, and hope he will be faithful, and hold out! There is a sense, indeed, in which it may be said that his situation is more hopeful than when he was in stupidity. For God has convinced him, and may succeed in turning and subduing him. But that is not the sense in which the sinner himself will understand it. He will suppose that you think him in a hopeful way, because he is doing better than formerly; when, in fact, his guilt and danger are greater than they ever were before. Instead of rejoicing, you ought to be distressed and in agony, to see him thus resisting the Holy Ghost, for every moment he does this, he is in danger of being left of God, and given up to hardness of heart and to despair.

17. Again, it is said: "You will have your pay for this, by-and-by: God will reward you." I once heard a sinner say: "I feel very bad, I have strong hopes that I shall get my reward." But that individual afterwards said: "Nowhere can there be found so black a sinner as I am, and no sin of my life seems so black as that expression." He was overwhelmed with contrition, that he should ever have had such an idea, as to think that God should reward him for suffering so much distress, when he had brought it all upon himself, needlessly, by his wicked resistance to the truth. The truth is, what such "instructors" are seeking is, to comfort the sinner; being all in the dark themselves on the subject of religion, they, of course, give him false comfort.

18. Another false comfort is, to tell the sinner he has not repented enough.

The truth is, he has not really repented at all. As soon as the sinner repents, God always comforts him. This direction implies that his feelings are right as far as they go. To tell him that he has any repentance, is to tell him a lie, and cheat him out of his soul.

19. People sometimes comfort a sinner by telling him: "If you are elected, you will be brought in." I once heard of a case where a person under great distress of mind was sent to converse with a neighboring minister. They talked for a long time. As the person went away, the minister said to him: "I should like to send a line by you to your father." His father was a pious man. The minister wrote the letter, and forgot to seal it. As the sinner was going home, he saw that the letter was not sealed, and he thought to himself, that probably the minister had written about him, and his curiosity at length led him to open and read it. And there he found it written to this purport: "Dear Sir, - I found your son under conviction, and in great distress, and it seems not easy to say anything to give him relief. But, if he is one of the elect, he is sure to be brought in." He had wanted to say something to comfort the father; but now, mark: that letter had well-nigh ruined the son's soul; for he settled down on the doctrine of Election, saying: "If I am elected, I shall be brought in;" and his conviction was gone. Years afterwards he was awakened and converted, but only after a great struggle, and never until that false impression had been obliterated from his mind, and he had been made to see that he had nothing at all to do with the doctrine of Election, but that if he did not repent he would be lost.

20. It is very common for some people to tell an awakened sinner: "You are in a very prosperous way. I am glad to see you so, and feel encouraged about you." It sometimes seems as if the Church were in league with the devil to help sinners to resist the Holy Ghost. The thing that the Holy Ghost wants to make the sinner feel is, that all his ways are wrong, and that they lead to hell. And everybody is conspiring to make the opposite impression! The Spirit is trying to discourage him, and they are trying to encourage him; the Spirit to distress him by showing him that he is all wrong, and they to comfort him by saying he is doing well. Has it come to this, that the worst counteraction to the truth and the greatest obstacle to the Spirit, shall spring from the Church. Sinner, do not believe them! You are not in a hopeful way. You are not doing well, but ill - as ill as you can, while resisting the Holy Ghost.

21. Another fatal way in which false comfort is given to sinners, is by applying to them certain Scripture promises which were designed only for saints. This is a grand device of the devil. It is much practiced by the Universalists. But Christians often do it. For example:

(a) "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4). How often has this passage been applied to anxious sinners, who were in distress because they would not submit to God. "Blessed are they that mourn." That is true, where they mourn with godly sorrow. But what is this sinner mourning about? He is mourning because God's law is holy, and the terms of salvation so fixed that he cannot bring them down to his mind. Will you tell such a rebel: "Blessed are they that mourn"? You might just as well apply it to those that are in hell! There is mourning there, too.

The sinner is mourning because there is no other way of salvation, because God is so holy that He requires him to give up all his sins, and he feels that the time has come, that he must either give them up, or be lost. Shall we tell him, he shall be comforted? Shall we tell the devil: "You mourn now; but the Bible says, you are blessed if you mourn; and you shall be comforted by and by!"

(b) "Seek, and ye shall find" (Matthew 7:7). This is said to sinners in such a way as to imply that the anxious sinner is seeking religion. This promise was made in reference to Christians, who ask in faith, and seek to do the will of God, and it is not applicable to those who are seeking hope or comfort; but to holy seeking. To apply it to an impenitent sinner is only to deceive him, for his seeking is not of this character. To tell him: "You are seeking, are you? Well, seek, and you shall find," is to cherish a fatal delusion. While he remains impenitent, he has not a desire which the devil might not have, and yet remain a devil still.

If the sinner had a desire to do his duty, if he were seeking to do the will of God, and give up his sins, he would be a Christian. But to comfort an impenitent sinner with such a promise - you might just as well comfort Satan!

(c) "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9). To apply this for a sinner's comfort, is absurd.

As if he were doing something to please God! He has never done well, and never has done more ill than now. Suppose my neighbor, who came in while I was trying to subdue my child, should say to the child, "In due season you shall reap, if you faint not," what should I say? "Reap? Yes, you shall reap; if you do not give up your obstinacy, you shall reap indeed, for I will apply the rod." So the struggling sinner shall reap the damnation of hell, if he does not give up his sins.

22. Some professors of religion, when they attempt to converse with awakened sinners, are very fond of saying: "I will tell you my experience."

This is a dangerous snare, and often gives the devil a handle to lead the sinner to hell, by getting him to copy your experience. If you tell it to the sinner, and he thinks it is a Christian experience, he will almost infallibly be trying to imitate it, so that, instead of following the Gospel, or the leadings of the Spirit in his own soul, he is following your example. This is absurd as well as dangerous. No two were ever exercised just alike. Men's experiences are as much unlike as are their countenances. Such a course is likely to mislead him. The design is, often, to encourage him at the very point where he ought not to be encouraged, before he has submitted to God. And it is calculated to impede the work of God in his soul.

23. How many times will people tell an awakened sinner that God has begun a good work in him, and will carry it on. I have known parents talk so with their children, and, as soon as they have seen their children awakened, give up all anxiety about them, and settle down at ease, thinking that now God had begun a work in their children He would carry it on. It would be just as rational for a farmer to say about his grain, as soon as it comes up out of the ground: "Well, God has begun a good work in my field, and He will carry it on." What would be thought of a farmer who should neglect to put up his fence, because God has begun the work of giving him a crop of grain? If you tell a sinner so, and he believes you, it will certainly be his destruction, for it will prevent his doing that which is absolutely indispensable to his being saved. If, as soon as the sinner is awakened, he is taught that, God having begun a good work, that only needs to be carried on, He will surely carry it on, he sees that there is no further occasion to be anxious, for, in fact, he has nothing more to do. And so he will be relieved from that intolerable pressure of present obligation to repent and submit to God. And if he is relieved from his sense of obligation to do it, he will never do it.

24. Some will tell the sinner: "Well, you have broken off your sins, have you?" "Oh, yes," says the sinner; when it is all false; he has never forsaken his sins for a moment, he has only exchanged one form of sin for another; only placed himself in a new attitude of resistance. And to tell him that he has broken them off is to give him false comfort.

25. Sometimes this direction is given for the purpose of relieving the agony of an anxious sinner: "Do what you can, and God will do the rest"; or: "Do what you can, and God will help you." This is the same as telling a sinner: "You cannot do what God requires you to do, but if you do what you can, God will help you as to the rest." Now, sinners often get the idea that they have done all they can, when, in fact, they have done nothing at all, except that they have resisted God with all their might. I have often heard them say: "I have done all I can, and I get no relief, what can I do more?" Now, you can see how comforting it must be to such a one to have a professor of religion come in and say: "If you will do what you can, God will help you." It relieves all his keen distress at once. He may be uneasy, and unhappy, but his agony is gone.

26. Again, they say: "You should be thankful for what you have, and hope for more." If the sinner is convicted, they tell him he should be thankful for conviction, and hope for conversion. If he has any feeling, he should be thankful for what feeling he has, just as if his feeling were religious feeling, when he has no more religion than Satan. He has reason to be thankful, indeed: thankful that he is out of hell, and thankful that God is yet waiting on him. But it is ridiculous to tell him that he should be thankful in regard to the state of his mind, when he is all the while resisting his Maker with all his might.

IV. ERRORS MADE IN PRAYING FOR SINNERS.

I will here mention a few errors that are made in praying for sinners, by which an unhappy impression is made on their minds, in consequence of which they often obtain false comfort in their distress.

1. People sometimes pray for sinners as if they deserved TO BE PITIED more than BLAMED. They pray for them as "MOURNERS": "Lord, help these pensive mourners"! As if they were just mourners, like one that had lost a friend, or met with some other calamity, which he could not help, and so were greatly to be pitied, sitting there, sad, pensive, and sighing. The Bible never talks so. It pities sinners, but it pities them as mad and guilty rebels, deserving to go to hell; not as poor pensive mourners, who want to be relieved, but can do nothing but sit and mourn.

2. Praying for them as "poor sinners." Does the Bible ever use such language as this? The Bible never speaks of them as "poor sinners," as if they deserved to be pitied more than blamed. Christ pities sinners in His heart. And so does God pity them. He feels in His heart all the gushings of compassion for them, when He sees them going on, obstinate and willful in gratifying their own lusts, at the peril of His eternal wrath. But He never lets an impression escape from Him, as if the sinner were just a "poor creature" - to be pitied, as if he could not help his position. The idea that he is poor, rather than wicked; unfortunate, rather than guilty, relieves the sinner greatly. I have seen the sinner writhe with agony under the truth, in a meeting, until somebody began to pray for him as a "poor" creature. And then he would gush out into tears, and weep profusely, and think he was greatly benefitted by such a prayer, saying: "Oh, what a good prayer that was!" If you go now and converse with that sinner, you will probably find that he is still pitying himself as a poor unfortunate creature - perhaps even weeping over his unhappy condition; but his conviction of sin, his deep impressions of awful guilt, are all gone.

3. Praying that God would "help the sinner to repent." "O Lord, enable this poor sinner to repent now." This conveys the idea to the sinner's mind, that he is now trying with all his might to repent, and that he cannot do it, and therefore Christians are calling on God to help him, and enable him to do it. Most professors of religion pray for sinners, not that God would make them willing to repent, but that He would enable them, or make them able. No wonder their prayers are not heard. They relieve the sinner of his sense of responsibility, and that relieves his distress. But it is an insult to God, as if God had commanded a sinner to do what He could not do.

4. People sometimes pray: "Lord, these sinners are seeking Thee, sorrowing." This language is an allusion to what took place at the time when Jesus was a little boy, and went into the Temple to talk with the rabbis and doctors. His parents, you recollect, went a day's journey towards home before they missed him; then they turned back, and, after looking all around, they found the little Jesus standing in the Temple disputing with the learned men. Then "His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing" (Luke 2:48). And so this prayer represents sinners as seeking Jesus, but He hides Himself from them, and they look all around, and hunt, and try to find Him, and wonder where He is, and say: "Lord, we have sought Jesus these three days sorrowing." It is a LIE! No sinner ever sought Jesus with all his heart three days, or three minutes, and could not find Him. Jesus "stands at the door, and knocks" (Revelation 3:20).

He is right before the sinner, pleading with him, and facing him with all his false pretenses. Seeking Jesus! The sinner may cry: "Oh, how I am sorrowing, and seeking Jesus," but it is no such thing; Jesus is seeking him.

And yet how many oppressed consciences are relieved and comforted by hearing one of these prayers.

5. "Lord, have mercy on these sinners, who are seeking Thy love to know." This is a favorite expression with many; as if sinners were seeking to know the love of Christ, and could not. No such thing. They are not seeking the love of Christ, but seeking to get to heaven without Jesus Christ. As if they were seeking it, and He was so hard-hearted that He would not let them have it!

6. "Lord, have mercy on these penitent souls"; calling anxious sinners "penitent souls"! If they are truly penitent, they are Christians. To make the impression on an unconverted sinner that he is penitent, is to make him believe a lie. But it is very comforting to the sinner, and he likes to take it up, and pray it over again: "O Lord, I am a poor penitent soul, I am very penitent, I am so distressed, Lord, have mercy on a poor penitent."

Dreadful delusion, to lead an impenitent sinner to pray as a penitent!

7. Sometimes people pray for anxious sinners as "humble souls." "O Lord, these sinners have humbled themselves." But that is not true, they have not humbled themselves; if they had, the Lord would have raised them up and comforted them, as He has promised. There is a hymn of this character that has done much mischief. It begins:

Come, HUMBLE sinner, in whose breast A thousand thoughts revolve.

This hymn was once given by a minister to an awakened sinner, as one applicable to his case. He began to read: "Come, humble sinner." He stopped: "Humble sinner: that is not applicable to me, I am not a humble sinner." Ah, how well was it for him that the Holy Ghost had taught him better than the hymn! If the hymn had said: "Come, anxious sinner," or "guilty sinner," or "trembling sinner," it would have been well enough, but to call him a "humble" sinner would not do. There are vast numbers of hymns of the same character. It is very common to find sinners quoting the false sentiments of some hymn, to excuse themselves in rebellion against God.

A minister told me he heard a prayer, quite lately, in these words: "O Lord, these sinners have humbled themselves, and come to Thee as well as they know how; if they knew any better, they would do better; but, O Lord, as they have come to Thee in the best manner they can, we pray Thee to accept them and show mercy." Horrible!

8. Many pray: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). This is the prayer which Christ made for His murderers; and, in their case, it was true; they did not know what they were doing, for they did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. But it cannot be said of sinners under the Gospel that they do not know what they are doing. They do know what they are doing. They do not see the full extent of it; but they do know that they are sinning against God, and rejecting Christ; and the difficulty is that they are unwilling to submit to God. But such a prayer is calculated to make the sinner feel relieved, and make him say: "Lord, how canst Thou blame me so? I am a poor ignorant creature, I do not know how to do what is required of me; if I knew how, I would do it."

9. Another expression is: "Lord, direct these sinners, who are inquiring the way to Zion with their faces thitherward." But this language is only applicable to Christians. Sinners have not their faces towards Zion; their faces are set towards hell! And how can a sinner be said to be "inquiring the way" to Zion, when he has no disposition to go there? The real difficulty is that he is unwilling to WALK in the way in which he knows he ought to go.

10. People pray that sinners "may have more conviction." Or, they pray that sinners may "go home solemn and tender, and take the subject into consideration," instead of praying that they may repent now. Or, they pray as if they supposed the sinner to be willing to do what is required.

All such prayers are just such prayers as the devil wants; he wishes to have such prayers, and I dare say he does not care how many such are offered.

Sometimes, in an anxious meeting, or when sinners have been called to the anxious seats, after the minister has made plain the way of salvation, and taken away all stumbling blocks out of the path, just when the sinners are ready to YIELD someone will be called on to pray, and instead of praying that they may repent now, he begins: "O' Lord, we pray that these sinners may be solemn, that they may have a deep sense of their sinfulness, that they may go home impressed with their lost condition, that they may attempt nothing in their own strength, that they may not lose their convictions, and that, in Thine own time and way, they may be brought into the glorious light and liberty of the sons of God."

Instead of bringing them right up to the point of immediate submission, on the spot, it gives them time to breathe, it lessens the pressure of conviction, so that a sinner breathes freely again, and feels relieved, and sits down at his ease. Thus, when the sinner is brought up, as it were, and stands at the gate of the Kingdom, such a prayer, instead of pushing him in, sets him back again: "There, poor thing, sit there till God helps you."

11. Christians sometimes pray in such a manner as to make the impression that CHRIST IS THE SINNER'S FRIEND in a different sense from that in which God the Father is his Friend. They pray to Christ: "O Thou Friend of sinners," as if God were full of vengeance, just going to crush the poor wretch, till Jesus Christ comes in and takes his part, and delivers him. Now, this is all wrong. The Father and the Son are perfectly agreed, their feelings are all the same, and both are equally disposed to have sinners saved. And to make such an impression deceives the sinner, and leads to wrong feelings towards God. To represent God the Father as standing over him, with the sword of justice in His hand, eager to strike the blow, till Christ interposes, is not right. The Father is as much the sinner's Friend as the Son. His compassion is equal. But if the sinner get this unfavorable idea of God the Father, how is he ever to love Him with all his heart, so as to say: "Abba, Father"?

12. The impression is often made, by the manner of praying, that you do not expect sinners to repent now, or that you expect God to fulfill what is their duty, or that you wish to encourage them to trust in your prayers.

And so, sinners are ruined. Never pray so as to make the impression on sinners, that you secretly hope they are Christians already, or that you feel strong confidence they will be, by and by, or that you half believe they are converted now. This is always unhappy. In this way, multitudes are deceived with false comfort, and prevented, just at the critical point, from making the final surrender of themselves to God.

REMARKS.

1. Many persons who deal in this way with anxious sinners, do so from false pity. They feel so much sympathy and compassion, that they cannot bear to tell sinners the truth which is necessary to save them. As well might a surgeon, when he sees that a man's arm must be amputated, or death must result, indulge this feeling of false pity, and just put on a plaster, and give him an opiate. There is no benevolence in that. True benevolence would lead the surgeon to be cool and calm, and, with a keen knife, cut the limb off, and save the life. It is false tenderness to do anything short of that. I once saw a woman under distress of mind, who for months had been driven well nigh to despair. Her friends had tried all the false comforts without effect, and they brought her to see a minister.

She was emaciated, and worn out with agony. The minister set his eye upon her, and poured in the truth upon her mind, and rebuked her in a most pointed manner. The woman who was with her interfered: she thought it cruel, and said: "Oh, do comfort her, she is so distressed, do not trouble her any more, she cannot bear it." Whereupon the minister turned, and rebuked her, and sent her away, and then poured in the truth upon the anxious sinner like fire, so that in five minutes she was converted, and went home full of joy. The plain truth swept all her false notions away, and in a few moments she was joyful in God.

2. The treatment of anxious sinners, which ministers such false comforts is, in fact, cruelty. It is cruel as the grave, as cruel as hell, for it is calculated to send the sinner down to the burning abyss. Christians feel compassion for the anxious, and so they ought. But the last thing they ought to do is to flinch just at the point where it comes to a crisis. They should feel compassion, but they should show it just as the surgeon does, when he deliberately goes to work, in the right and best way, and cuts off the man's arm, and thus cures him and saves his life. Just so Christians should let the sinner see their compassion and tenderness, but they should take God's part, fully and decidedly. They should lay open to the sinner the worst of his case, expose his guilt and danger, and then lead him right up to the cross, and insist on instant submission. They must have firmness enough to do this work thoroughly; and, if they see the sinner distressed and in agony, still they must press him right on, and not give way in the least till he yields.

To do this often requires nerve. I have often been placed in circumstances where I have realized this. I have found myself surrounded with anxious sinners, in such distress as to make every nerve tremble; some overcome with emotion and lying on the floor; some applying camphor to prevent their fainting; others shrieking out as if they were just going to hell. Now, suppose any one should give false comfort in such a case as this? Suppose he had not nerve enough to bring them right up to the point of instant and absolute submission? How unfit would such a man be, to be trusted in such a case!

3. Sometimes sinners become deranged through despair and anguish of mind. Whenever this is the case, it is almost always because those who deal with them try to encourage them with false comfort, and thus lead them to such a conflict with the Holy Ghost. They try to hold them up, while God is trying to break them down. And, by and by, the sinner's mind gets confused with this contrariety of influences, and he either goes deranged, or is driven to despair.

4. If you are going to deal with sinners, remember that you are soon to meet them in Judgment, therefore be sure to treat them in such a way that if they are lost, it will be their own fault. Do not try to comfort them with false notions now, and have them reproach you with it then. Better to suppress your false sympathy, and let the naked truth "pierce even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow" (Hebrews 4:12), than to soothe them with false comfort, and beguile them away from God!

5. Sinner, if you converse with any Christians, and they tell you to do anything, first ask: "If I do that, shall I be saved?" You may be anxious, and not be saved. You may pray, and not be saved. You may read your Bible, and not be saved. You may use means, in your own way, and not be saved. Whatever they tell you to do, if you can do it and not be saved, do not attend to such instructions. They are calculated to give you false comfort, and divert your attention from the main thing to be done, and beguile you down to hell. Do not follow any such directions, lest you should die while doing so, for then there is no retrievement.

6. Finally; let a Christian never tell a sinner anything, or give him any direction, that will lead him to stop short of, or that does not include, submission to God. To let him stop at any point short of this, is infinitely dangerous. Suppose you are at an anxious meeting, or a prayer meeting, and you tell a sinner to pray, or to read, or to do anything that comes short of saving repentance, and he should fall and break his neck that night, of whom would his blood be required? A youth in New England once met a minister in the street, and asked him "what he should do to be saved?"

The minister told him to go home, and go into his room, and kneel down and give his heart to God. "Sir," said the boy, "I feel so bad, I am afraid I shall not live to get home." The minister saw his error, felt the rebuke thus unconsciously given by a youth, and then told him: "Well, then, give your heart to God here, and then go home to your room and tell Him of it."

It is enough to make one's heart bleed to see so many miserable comforters for anxious sinners "in whose answers there remaineth falsehood." What a vast amount of spiritual quackery there is in the world, and how many "forgers of lies" there are, "physicians of no value" (Job 13:4) who know no better than to comfort sinners with false hopes, and delude them with their "old wives' fables" (1 Timothy 4:7) and nonsense, or who give way to false tenderness and sympathy, till they have not firmness enough to see the sword of the Spirit applied, cutting men to the soul, and laying open the sinner's naked heart. Alas, that so many are ever put into the ministry, who have not skill enough to stand by and see the Spirit of God to do His work, in breaking up the old foundations, and crushing all the rotten hopes of a sinner, and breaking him down at the feet of Jesus.

Lecture 18: Directions To Sinners

What must I do to be saved? - Acts 16:30.

These are the words of the jailer at Philippi - the question which he put to Paul and Silas, who were then under his care as prisoners. Satan had, in many ways, opposed these servants of God in their work of preaching the Gospel, and had been as often defeated and disgraced. But here he devised a new and peculiar project for frustrating their labors. There was a certain woman at Philippi, who was possessed with a spirit of divination, or, in other words, the spirit of the devil, and brought her masters much gain by her soothsaying. The devil set this woman to follow Paul and Silas about the streets, and as soon as they had begun to gain the attention of the people, she would come in and cry: "These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation" (v. 17). That is, she undertook to second the exhortations of the preachers, and added her testimony, as if to give additional weight to their instructions.

The effect of it was just what Satan desired. The people all knew that this was a wicked, base woman; and when they heard her attempting to recommend this new preaching, they were disgusted, and concluded that it was all of a piece. The devil knew that it would not do him any good to set such a person to oppose the preaching of the apostles, or to speak against it. The time had gone by for that to succeed. And, therefore, he takes the opposite ground, and by setting her to praise them as the servants of God, and to bear her polluted testimony in favor of their instructions, he led people to suppose the apostles were of the same character with her, and had the same spirit that she had. Paul saw that if things went on so, he would be totally baffled, and could never succeed in establishing a Church at Philippi. So he turns round upon her, and commands the foul spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. "When her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone" they raised a great persecution, and "caught Paul and Silas," and made a great ado, and brought them before the magistrates, and raised such a clamor that the magistrates shut up the messengers of the Gospel in prison, and the jailer "made their feet fast in the stocks."

Thus, the enemy thought they had put down the excitement. But "at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them" (v. 25). This old prison, that had so long echoed to the voice of blasphemy and oaths, now resounded with the praises of God; and these walls, that had stood so firm, now trembled under the power of prayer. The stocks were unloosed, the gates thrown open, and every one's bands broken. The jailer was aroused from his sleep, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword, knowing that if the prisoners had escaped he must pay for it with his life, and was about to kill himself. But Paul, who had no notion of escaping clandestinely, cried out to him instantly: "Do thyself no harm: for we are all here." And the jailer "called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before his prisoners, Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

In my last Lecture, I dwelt at some length on the false instructions given to sinners under conviction, and the false comforts too often administered, and the erroneous instructions which such persons receive. It is my design now, to show what are the instructions that should be given to anxious sinners in order to their speedy and effectual conversion; or, in other words, to explain to you, what answer should be given to those who make the inquiry: "What must I do to be saved?" I propose:

I. To show what is not a proper direction to be given to sinners, when they make the inquiry in the text.

II. To show what is a proper answer to the inquiry.

III. To specify several errors into which anxious sinners are apt to fall.

I. WHAT ARE NOT PROPER DIRECTIONS.

No more important inquiry was ever made than this: "What must I do to be saved?" Mankind are apt enough to inquire: "What shall I eat, and what shall I drink?" and the question may be answered in various ways, with little danger. But when a sinner asks in earnest: "What must I do to be saved?" it is of infinite importance that he should receive the right answer.

1. No direction should be given to a sinner that will leave him still "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (Acts 8:23). No answer is proper to be given, by complying with which he would not go to heaven, if he should die the next moment.

2. No direction should be given that does not include a change of heart, or a right heart, or hearty obedience to Christ. In other words, nothing is proper which does not imply actually becoming a Christian. Any other direction that falls short of this, is of no use. It will not bring him any nearer to the Kingdom, it will do no good, but will lead him to defer the very thing which he must do in order to be saved. The sinner should be told plainly, at once, what he must do if he would not be lost; and he should be told nothing that does not include a right state of heart.

Whatever you may do, sinner, that does not include a right heart, is sin.

Whether you read the Bible or not, you are in sin, so long as you remain in rebellion. Whether you go to religious services or stay away; whether you pray or not, it is nothing but rebellion, every moment. It is surprising that a sinner should suppose himself to be doing service to God when he prays, and reads his Bible. Should a rebel against the Government read the statute-book while he continues in rebellion, and has no design to obey; should he ask for pardon while he holds on to his weapons of resistance and warfare; would you think him doing his country a service, and lay it under obligation to show him favor? No; you would say that all his reading and praying were only an insult to the majesty both of the lawgiver and the law. So you, sinner, while you remain in impenitence, are insulting God, and setting him at defiance, whether you read His Word, and pray, or let it alone. No matter what place or what attitude your body is in, on your knees or in the house of God; so long as your heart is not right, so long as you resist the Holy Ghost, and reject Christ, you are a rebel against your Maker.

II. WHAT IS A PROPER ANSWER.

Generally, you may give the sinner any direction, or tell him to do anything, that includes a right heart; and if you make him understand, and he follows the directions, he will be saved. The Spirit of God, in striving with sinners, suits His strivings to the state of mind in which He finds them. His great object in striving with them is, to dislodge them from their hiding-places, and bring them to submit to God at once. These objections, difficulties, and states of mind, are as various as the circumstances of mankind - as many as there are individuals. The characters of individuals afford an endless diversity. What is to be done with each one, and how he is to be converted, depends on his particular errors. It is necessary to ascertain his errors; to find out what he understands, and what he needs to be taught more perfectly; to see what points the Spirit of God is pressing upon his conscience, and to press the same things, and thus bring him to Christ.

The most common directions are the following:

1. It is generally in point, and a safe and suitable direction, to tell a sinner to repent. I say, generally. For sometimes the Spirit of God seems not so much to direct the sinner's attention to his own sins as to some other thing. In the days of the apostles, the minds of the people seem to have been agitated mainly on the question, whether Jesus was the true Messiah.

And so the apostles directed much of their instruction to this point, to prove that he was the Christ. And whenever anxious sinners asked them what they must do, they most commonly exhorted them to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." They bore down on this point, because here was where the Spirit of God was striving, and this was the subject that especially agitated the minds of the people, and, consequently, this would probably be the first thing a person would do on submitting to God. It was the grand point at issue between God and the Jew and Gentile of those days, whether Jesus Christ was the Son of God. It was the point in dispute. To bring the sinner to yield this controverted question was the way the most effectually to humble him.

At other times, it will be found that the Spirit of God is dealing with sinners chiefly in reference to their own sins. Sometimes He deals with them in regard to a particular duty, as prayer - perhaps family prayer.

The sinner will be found to be contesting that point with God, whether it is right for him to pray, or whether he ought to pray in his family. I have known striking cases of this kind, where the individual was struggling on this point, and as soon as he fell on his knees to pray, he yielded his heart, showing that this was the very point which the Spirit of God was contesting, and the hinge on which his controversy with God all turned.

That was conversion.

The direction to repent is always proper, but will not always be effectual, for there may be some other thing that the sinner needs to be told also.

And where it is the pertinent direction, sinners need not only to be told to repent, but to have it explained to them what repentance is. Since there has been so much mysticism, and false philosophy, and false theology, thrown round the subject, it has become necessary to tell sinners not only what you mean by repentance, but also to tell them what you do not mean.

Words that used to be plain, and easily understood, have now become so perverted that they need to be explained to sinners, or they will often convey a wrong impression to their minds. This is the case with the word "repentance." Many suppose that remorse, or a sense of guilt, is repentance. Then, hell is full of repentance, for it is full of remorse, unutterable and eternal. Others feel regret that they have done such a thing, and they call that repenting. But they only regret that they have sinned, because of the consequences, and not because they abhor sin. This is not repentance. Others suppose that convictions of sin and strong fears of hell are repentance. Others consider the remonstrances of conscience as repentance; they say: "I never do anything wrong without repenting and feeling sorry I did it." Sinners must be shown that all these things are not repentance. They are not only consistent with the utmost wickedness, but the devil might have them all and yet remain a devil. Repentance is a change of mind, as regards God and towards sin. It is not only a change of views, but a change of the ultimate preference or choice of the soul. It is a voluntary change, and by consequence involves a change of feeling and of action toward God and toward sin. It is what is naturally understood by a change of mind on any subject of interest and importance. We hear that a man has changed his mind in politics; everybody understands that he has undergone a change in his views, his feelings, and his conduct. This is repentance, on that subject: it is a change of mind, but not toward God.

Evangelical repentance is a change of willing, of feeling, and of life, in respect to God.

Repentance always implies abhorrence of sin. It of course involves the love of God and the forsaking of sin. The sinner who truly repents does not feel as impenitent sinners think they should feel at giving up their sins, if they should become religious. Impenitent sinners look upon religion in this way: that if they become pious, they should be obliged to stay away from balls and parties, and obliged to give up theatres, or gambling, or other things that they now take delight in. And they see not however they could enjoy themselves, if they should break off from all those things. But this is very far from being a correct view of the matter, Religion does not make them unhappy, by shutting them out from things in which they delight, because the first step in it, is, to repent, to change their mind in regard to all these things. They do not seem to realize, that the person who has repented has no disposition for these things; he has given them up, and turned his mind away from them. Sinners feel as if they should want to go to such places, and want to mingle in such scenes, just as much as they do now, and that it will be such a continual sacrifice as to make them unhappy. This is a great mistake.

I know there are some professors, who would be very glad to betake themselves to their former practices, were it not that they feel constrained, by fear of losing their character, or the like. But, mark me: if they feel so, it is because they have no religion; they do not hate sin. If they desire their former ways, they have no religion, they have never repented; for repentance always consists in a change of views and feelings. If they were really converted, instead of choosing such things, they would turn away from them with loathing. Instead of lusting after the flesh-pots of Egypt, and desiring to go into their former circles, parties, balls, and the like, they would find their highest pleasure in obeying God.

2. Sinners should be told to believe the Gospel. Here, also, they need to have it explained to them, and to be told what is not faith, and what is.

Nothing is more common, than for a sinner, when told to believe the Gospel, to say: "I do believe it." The fact is, he has been brought up to admit the fact that the Gospel is true, but he does not believe it: he knows nothing about the evidence of it, and all his faith is a mere admission without evidence. He holds it to be true, in a kind of loose, indefinite sense, so that he is always ready to say: "I do believe the Bible." It is strange that they do not see that they are deceived in thinking that they believe, for they must see that they have never acted upon these truths, as they do upon those things which they do believe. Yet it is often quite difficult to convince them that they do not believe.

But the fact is, that the careless sinner does not believe the Gospel at all.

The idea that the careless sinner is an intellectual believer, is absurd. The devil is an intellectual believer, and that is what makes him tremble. What makes a sinner anxious is, that he begins to be an intellectual believer, and that makes him feel. No being in heaven, earth, or hell, can intellectually believe the truths of the Gospel, and not feel on the subject. The anxious sinner has faith of the same kind with devils, but he has not so much of it, and, therefore, he does not feel so much. The man who does not feel or act at all, on the subject of religion, is an infidel, let his professions be what they may. He who feels nothing, and does nothing, believes nothing. This is a philosophical fact.

Faith does not consist in an intellectual conviction that Christ died for you in particular, or in a belief that you are a Christian, or that you ever shall be, or that your sins are forgiven. But faith is that trust or confidence in God, and in Christ, which commits the whole soul to Him in all His relations to us. It is a voluntary trust in His person, His veracity, His word. This was the faith of Abraham: he had that confidence in what God said, which led him to act as accepting its truth. This is the way the apostle illustrates it in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (v. 1). And he goes on to illustrate it by various examples. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed" (v. 3); that is, we believe this, and act accordingly.

Take the case of Noah. Noah was warned of God of things not seen as yet, that is, he was assured that God was going to drown the world, and he believed it, and acted accordingly; he prepared an ark to save his family, and by so doing, he condemned the world that would not believe; his actions gave evidence that he was sincere. Abraham, too, was called of God to leave his country, with the promise that he should be the gainer by it; and he obeyed and went out, without knowing whither he went. Read the whole chapter, and you will find many instances of the same kind. The whole design of the chapter is to illustrate the nature of faith, and to show that it invariably results in action. The sinner should have it explained to him, and be made to see that the faith which the Gospel requires, is just that confidence in Christ which leads him to act on what He say as being a certain fact. This is believing in Christ.

3. Another direction, proper to be given to the sinner, is, that he should give his heart to God. God says: "My son, give Me thine heart" (Proverbs 23:26). But here also there needs to be explanation, to make him understand what it is. It is amazing that there should be any darkness here.

It is the language of common life, in everybody's mouth, and everybody understands just what it means, when we use it in regard to anything else.

But when it comes to religion, they seem to be all in the dark. Ask a sinner, no matter what may be his age, or education, what it means to give the heart to God, and, strange as it may appear, he is at a loss for an answer. Ask a woman, what it is to give her heart to her husband; or a man, what it is to give his heart to his wife; and they understand it. But then they are totally blind as to giving their hearts to God. I suppose I have asked more than a thousand anxious sinners this question. When I have told them, they must give their hearts to God, they have always said that they were willing to do it, and sometimes, that they were anxious to do it, and they have even seemed to be in an agony of desire about it. Then I have asked them, what they understood to be meant by giving their hearts to God, since they were so willing to do it. And very seldom have I received a correct or rational answer from a sinner of any age. I have sometimes had the strangest answers that could be imagined.

Now, to give your heart to God is the same thing as to give your heart to anybody else; the same as for a woman to give her heart to her husband.

Ask that woman if she understands this. "Oh, yes, that is plain enough; it is to place my affections with him, and strive to please him in everything."

Very well, place your affections on God, and strive to please Him in everything. But when they come to the subject of religion, people suppose there is some wonderful mystery about it. Some talk as if they suppose it means taking out this bundle of muscles, or fleshy organ, in their bosom, and giving it to God. Sinner, what God asks of you, is, that you should love Him supremely.

4. "Submit to God," is also a proper direction to anxious sinners. And oh, how dark sinners are here, too! Scarcely a sinner can be found who will not tell you that he is willing to submit to God. But they do not understand.

They need to be told what true submission is. Sometimes they think it means that they should be willing to be sent to perdition. Sometimes they place themselves in this attitude, and call it submission; they say that, if they are elected they will be saved; and if not, they will be lost. This is not submission. True submission is yielding obedience to God. Suppose a rebel, in arms against the Government, is called on to submit, what would he understand by it? Why, that he should yield the point, and lay down his arms, and obey the laws. That is just what it means for a sinner to submit to God. He must cease his strife and conflict against his Maker, and take the attitude of a willing and obedient child, willing to be and do whatever God requires. "Here am I" (1 Samuel 3:8); "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6.)

Suppose a company of soldiers had rebelled, and the Government had raised an army to put them down, and had driven them into a stronghold, where they were out of provisions, and had no way to escape. Suppose the rebels to have met, in this extremity, to consider what should be done; and one rises up, saying: "Well, comrades, I am convinced we are all wrong from the beginning, and now the reward of our deeds is likely to overtake us, and we cannot escape; and as for remaining here to die, I am resolved not to do it; I am going to throw myself on the mercy of the commander in chief." That man submits. He ceases from that moment to be a rebel in his heart, just as soon as he comes to this conclusion. So it is with the sinner when he yields the point, and consents in his heart to do, and be, whatever God shall require. The sinner may be in doubt what to do, and may feel afraid to put himself in God's hands, thinking that if he does, perhaps God will send him down to hell, as he deserves. But it is his business to leave all that question with God, to resist his Maker no longer, to make no conditions, but to trust wholly to God's benevolence and wisdom to appoint his future condition. Until he has done this, he has done nothing to the purpose.

5. Another proper direction to be given to sinners, is to confess and forsake their sins. They must confess to God their sins against God, and confess to men their sins against men; and forsake them all. A man does not forsake his sins till he has made all the reparation in his power. If he has stolen money, or defrauded his neighbor out of property, he does not forsake his sins by merely resolving not to steal any more, not to cheat again; he must make reparation to the extent of his power. So, if he has slandered any one, he does not forsake his sin by merely saying he will not do so again; he must make reparation. So, in like manner, if he has robbed God, as all sinners have, he must make reparation, as far as he has power.

Suppose a man has made money in rebellion against God, and has withheld from Him his time, talents, and service, has lived and rioted upon the bounties of His providence, and refused to lay himself out for the salvation of the world; he has robbed God. Now, if he should die, feeling this money to be his own, and should he leave it to his heirs without consulting the will of God - why, he is just as certain to go to hell as a highway robber. He has never made any satisfaction to God. With all his whining and pious talk, he has never confessed HIS SIN to God, nor forsaken his sin, for he has neither felt nor acknowledged himself to be the steward of God. If he refuses to hold the property in his possession as the steward of God; if he accounts it his own, and as such gives it to his children, he says in effect, to God: "That property is not Thine, it is mine, and I will give it to my children." He has continued to persevere in his sin, for he does not relinquish the ownership of that of which he has robbed God.

What would a merchant think if his clerk should take all the capital and set up a store of his own, and die with it in his hands? Will such a man go to heaven? "No," you say. God would prove Himself unjust, to let such a character go unpunished. What, then, shall we say of the man who has robbed God all his life? God sent him to be His clerk, to manage some of His affairs, but he has stolen all the money, and says it is his: he keeps it, and, dying, leaves it to his children, as if it were all his own lawful property. Has that man forsaken sin? I tell you, No. If he has not surrendered himself and all he has to God, he has not taken the first step in the way to heaven.

6. Another proper direction to be given to sinners is: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua 24:15). Under the Old Testament dispensation, this, or something equivalent to it, was the most common direction given. It was not common to call on men to believe in Christ until the days of John the Baptist. He baptized those who came to him, with the baptism of repentance, and directed them to believe on Him who should come after him. Under Joshua, the text was something which the people all understood more easily than they would a call to believe on the distant Messiah; it was: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." On another occasion, Moses said to them: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19). The direction was accommodated to the people's knowledge. And it is as good now as it was then. Sinners are called upon to choose - what? Whether they will serve God or the world; whether they will follow holiness or sin. Let them be made to understand what is meant by choosing, and what is to be chosen, and then if the thing be done from the heart, they will be saved.

Any of these directions, if complied with, will constitute true conversion.

The particular exercises may vary in different cases. Sometimes the first exercise in conversion is submission to God, sometimes repentance, sometimes faith, sometimes the choice of God and His service; in short, whatever their thoughts are taken up with at the time. If their thoughts are directed to Christ at the moment, the first exercise will be faith. If to sin, the first exercise will be repentance. If to their future course of life, it is choosing the service of God. If to the Divine government, it is submission.

It is important to find out just where the Holy Spirit is pressing the sinner at the time, and then take care to push that point. If it is in regard to Christ, press that; if it is in regard to his future course of life, push him right up to an immediate choice of obedience to God.

It is a great error to suppose that any one particular exercise is always foremost in conversion, or that every sinner must have faith first, or submission first. It is not true, either in philosophy or in fact. There is a great variety in people's exercises. Whatever point is taken hold of between God and the sinner, when the sinner YIELDS that, he is converted. Whatever the particular exercise may be, if it includes obedience of heart to God on any point, it is true conversion. When he yields one point to God's authority, he is ready to yield all. When he changes his mind, and obeys in one thing, because it is God's will, he will obey in other things, so far as he sees it to be God's will. Where there is right choice, then, whenever the mind is directed to any one point of duty, he is ready to follow. It matters very little which of these directions be given, if it is only made plain, and if it is to the point, so as to serve as a test of obedience to God. If it is to the point that the Spirit of God is debating with the sinner's mind, so as to fall in with the Spirit's work, and not to divert the sinner's attention from the very point in controversy, let it be made perfectly clear, and then pressed till the sinner yields, and he will be saved.

III. ERRORS INTO WHICH ANXIOUS SINNERS ARE APT TO FALL

1. The first error is, in supposing that they must make themselves better, or prepare themselves, so as in some way to recommend themselves to the mercy of God. It is marvelous that sinners will not understand that all they have to do is to accept salvation, all prepared to their hands, from God. But they all, learned or unlearned, at first betake themselves to a legal course to get relief. This is one principal reason why they will not become Christians at once. They imagine that they must be, in some way or other, prepared to come. They must change their dress, and make themselves look a little better; they are not willing to come just as they are, in their rags and poverty. They must have something more on, before they can approach God. They should be shown, at once, that it is impossible they should be any better until they do what God requires. Every pulse that beats, every breath they draw, they are growing worse, because they are standing out in rebellion against God, so long as they do not do the very thing which God requires of them as the first thing to be done.

2. Another error is, in supposing that they must suffer a considerable time under conviction, as a kind of punishment, before they are properly ready to come to Christ. So they will pray for conviction; and they think that if they are ground down to the earth with distress, for a sufficient time, then God will pity them, and be more ready to help them when He sees them so very miserable! They should be made to understand clearly that they are thus unhappy and miserable, merely because they refuse to accept the relief which God offers.

3. Sometimes sinners imagine they must wait for different feelings before they submit to God. They say: "I do not think I feel right yet, to accept Christ; I do not think I am prepared to be converted yet." They ought to be made to see that what God requires of them is to will right. If they obey and submit with the will, the feelings will adjust themselves in due time. It is not a question of feeling, but of willing and acting.

The feelings are involuntary, and have no moral character except what they derive from the action of the will, with which action they sympathize.

Before the will is right, the feelings will not be, of course. The sinner should come to Christ by accepting Him at once; and this he must do, not in obedience to his feelings, but in obedience to his conscience. Obey, submit, trust. Give up all instantly, and your feelings will come right. Do not wait for better feelings, but commit your whole being to God at once, and this will soon result in the feelings for which you are waiting. What God requires of you is the present act of your mind, in turning from sin to holiness, and from the service of Satan to the service of the living God.

4. Another error of sinners is to suppose that they must wait till their hearts are changed. "What?" say they, "am I to believe in Christ before my heart is changed? Do you mean that I am to repent before my heart is changed?" Now, the simple answer to all this is that the change of heart is the very thing in question. God requires sinners to love Him: that is to change their hearts. God requires the sinner to believe the Gospel. That is to change his heart. God requires him to repent. That is to change his heart. God does not tell him to wait till his heart is changed, and then repent and believe, and love God. The very word itself, repent, signifies a change of mind or heart. To do either of these things is to change your heart, and to "make you a new heart" (Ezekiel 18:31), just as God requires.

5. Sinners often get the idea that they are perfectly willing to do what God requires. Tell them to do this thing, or that, to repent, or believe, or give God their hearts, and they say: "Oh, yes, I am perfectly willing to do that; I wish I could do it, I would give anything if I could do it." They ought to understand that being truly willing is doing it, but there is a difference between willing and desiring. People often desire to be Christians, when they are wholly unwilling to be so. When we see anything which appears to be a good, we are so constituted that we desire it. We necessarily desire it when it is before our minds. We cannot help desiring it in proportion as its goodness is presented to our minds. But yet we may not be willing to have it, under all the circumstances. A man may desire on many accounts to go to Philadelphia, while, for still more weighty reasons, he chooses not to go there. So the sinner may desire to be a Christian. He may see that if he were a Christian he would be a deal more happy, and that he should go to heaven when he dies; but yet he is not willing to be a Christian.

WILLING to obey Christ is to be a Christian. When an individual actually chooses to obey God, he is a Christian. But all such desires as do not terminate in actual choice, are nothing.

6. The sinner will sometimes say that he offers to give God his heart, but he intimates that God is unwilling. But this is absurd. What does God ask?

Why, that you should love Him. Now for you to say that you are willing to give God your heart, but that God is unwilling, is the same as saying that you are willing to love God, but God is not willing to be loved by you, and will not suffer you to love Him. It is important to clear up all these points in the sinner's mind, that he may have no dark and mysterious corner to rest in, where the truth will not reach him.

7. Sinners sometimes get the idea that they repent, when they are only convicted. Whenever the sinner is found resting in any LIE let the truth sweep it away, however much it may pain and distress him. If he has any error of this kind, you must tear it away from him.

8. Sinners are often wholly taken up with looking at themselves, to see if they cannot find something there, some kind of feeling or other, that will recommend them to God. Evidently for want of proper instruction, David Brainerd was a long time taken up with his state of mind, looking for some feelings that would recommend him to God. Sometimes he imagined that he had such feelings, and would tell God, in prayer, that now he felt as he should, in order to receive His mercy; and then he would see that he had been all wrong. Thus the poor man, for want of correct instruction, was driven almost to despair, and it is easy to see that his Christian exercises through life were greatly modified, and his comfort and usefulness much impaired, by the false philosophy he had adopted on this point. You must turn the sinner away from himself.

REMARKS.

1. The labor of ministers is greatly increased, and the difficulties in the way of salvation are greatly multiplied, by the false instructions that have been given to sinners. The consequence has been that directions which used to be plain are now obscure. People have been taught so long that there is something awfully mysterious and unintelligible about conversion, that they do not try to understand it.

It was once sufficient, as we learn from the Bible, to tell sinners to repent, or to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; but now, faith has been talked about as a principle, instead of an act; and repentance as something put into the mind, instead of an exercise of the mind; and sinners are perplexed.

Ministers are charged with preaching heresy, because they presume to teach that faith is an exercise, and not a principle; and that sin is an act, and not a part of the constitution of man. And sinners have become so sophisticated, that you have to be at great pains in explaining, not only what you do mean, but what you do not mean, otherwise they will be almost sure to misunderstand you, and either gain a false relief from their anxiety, by throwing their duty off upon God, or else run into despair from the supposed impracticability of doing what is requisite for their salvation. It is often a matter of the greatest difficulty to lead sinners out of the theological labyrinths and mazes into which they have been deluded, and to lead them along the straight and simple way of the Gospel. It seems as if the greatest ingenuity had been employed to mystify the minds of the people, and to weave a most subtle web of false philosophy, calculated to involve a sinner in endless darkness. It is necessary to be as plain as A B C, and the best educated have to be talked to like children. Tell a sinner to believe, and he stares, saying: "Why, how you talk! Is not faith a principle? And how am I to believe till I get this principle?" So, if a minister tells a sinner, in the very words that the apostle used in the great revival on the Day of Pentecost: "Repent, every one of you" (Acts 2:38), he is answered: "Oh, I guess you are an Arminian; I do not want any of your Arminian teaching; do you not deny the Spirit's influences?" It is enough to make humanity weep, to see the fog and darkness that have been thrown around the plain directions of the Gospel.

2. These false instructions to sinners are infinitely worse than none. The Lord Jesus Christ found it more difficult to get the people to yield up their false notions of theology than anything else. This has been the great difficulty with the Jews to this day, that they have received false notions in theology, have perverted the truth on certain points, and you cannot make them understand the plainest points in the Gospel. So it is with sinners: the most difficult thing to be done is to get them away from these "refuges of lies," which they have found in false theology. They are so fond of holding on to these refuges (because they excuse the sinner, and condemn God), that it is found to be the most perplexing, and difficult, and discouraging part of a minister's labor, to drive them out.

3. No wonder the Gospel has taken so little effect, encumbered as it has been with these strange dogmas. The truth is, that very little of the Gospel has come out upon the world, for these hundreds of years, without being clogged and obscured by false theology. People have been told that they must repent, and, in the same breath, told that they could not repent, until the truth itself has been all mixed up with error, so as to produce the same practical effect with error. The Gospel that was preached has been another gospel, or no gospel at all.

4. You can understand what is meant by "healing slightly the hurt of the daughter of God's people" (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11), and the danger of doing it. It is very easy, when sinners are under conviction, to say something that shall smooth over the case, and relieve their anxiety, so that they will either get a false hope, or will be converted with their views so obscure, that they will always be poor, feeble, wavering, doubting, inefficient Christians.

5. Much depends on the manner in which a person is dealt with, when under conviction. Much of his future comfort and usefulness depends on the clearness, strength, and firmness with which the directions of the Gospel are given, when he is under conviction. If those who deal with him are afraid to use the probe thoroughly, he will always be a poor, sickly, doubting Christian. The true mode is to deal thoroughly and plainly with the sinner, to tear away every excuse he can offer, and to show him plainly what he is and what he ought to be; then he will bless God to all eternity that he fell in with those who would be so faithful with his soul. For the want of this thorough and searching management, many are converted who seem to be stillborn; and the reason is, they never were faithfully dealt with. We may charitably hope they are Christians, but still it is uncertain and doubtful: their conversion seems rather a change of opinion than a change of heart. But if, when sinners are under conviction, you pour in the truth, put in the probe, break up the old foundations, sweep away their "refuges of lies," and use the Word of God like fire and like a hammer, you will find that they will come out with clear views, and strong faith, and firm principles - not doubting, halting, irresolute Christians, but such as follow the Lord wholly. That is the way to make strong Christians. This has been eminently the case in many revivals of modern days.

I have heard old Christians say of the converts: "These converts have, at the very outset, all the clearness of view, and strength of faith, of old Christians. They seem to understand the doctrines of religion, and to know what to do, and how to promote revivals, better than one in a hundred of the old members in the Church."

I once knew a young man who was converted away from home. The place where he lived had no minister, and no preaching, and no religion. He went home three days after he was converted, and immediately set himself to work to labor for a revival. He set up meetings in his neighborhood, and prayed and labored, and a revival broke out - of which he had the principal management throughout a powerful work, in which most of the principal men of the place were converted. The truth was, he had been so dealt with that he knew what he was about. He understood the subject and knew where he stood himself. He was not all the while troubled with doubts, whether he was himself a Christian. He knew that he was serving God, and that God was with him, and so he went boldly and resolutely forward to his object. But if you undertake to make converts, without clearing up all their errors and tearing away their false hopes, you may make a host of hypocrites, or of puny, dwarfish Christians, always doubting and easily turned back from a revival spirit, and worth nothing.

The way is, to bring them right out to the light. When a man is converted in this way, you can depend on him, and will know where to find him.

6. Protracted seasons of conviction are generally owing to defective instruction. Wherever clear and faithful instructions are given to sinners, there you will generally find that convictions are deep and pungent, but short.

7. Where clear and discriminating instructions are given to convicted sinners, if they do not soon submit, their convictions will generally leave them. Convictions in such cases are generally short. Where the truth is brought to bear upon the sinner's mind, and he directly resists the very truth that must convert him, there is nothing more to be done. The Spirit will soon leave him, for the very weapons He uses are resisted. Where instructions are not clear, but are mixed up with errors, the Spirit may strive, even for years, in great mercy, to get sinners through the fog of false instruction; but not so where their duty is clearly explained to them, and they are brought right up to the single point of immediate submission, all their false pretenses being exposed, and the path of duty made perfectly plain. Then, if they do not submit, the Spirit of God forsakes them, and their state is well-nigh hopeless.

If there be sinners in this house, and you see your duty clearly, TAKE CARE how you delay. If you do not submit, you may expect the Spirit of God will forsake you, and you are LOST.

8. A vast deal of the direction given to anxious sinners amounts to little less than the popish doctrine of indulgences. The Pope used to sell indulgences to sin, and this led to the Reformation under Luther.

Sometimes people would purchase an indulgence to sin for a certain time, or to commit some particular sin, or a number of sins. Now, there is a vast deal in Protestant Churches which is little less than the same thing. What does it differ from this, to tell a sinner to wait? It amounts to telling him to continue in sin for a while longer, while he is waiting for God to convert him. And what is that but an indulgence to commit sin? Any direction given to sinners that does not require them immediately to obey God is an indulgence to sin. It is in effect giving them liberty to continue in sin against God. Such directions are not only wicked, but ruinous and cruel. If they do not destroy the soul, as no doubt they often do, they defer, at all events, the sinner's enjoyment of God and of Christ, and he stands a great chance of being lost for ever, while listening to such instructions. Oh, how dangerous it is to give a sinner reason to think he may wait a moment, before giving his heart to God!

9. So far as I have had opportunity to observe, those persons with whom conversion was most sudden have commonly turned out to be the best Christians. I know the reverse of this has often been held and maintained.

But I am satisfied there is no reason for it, although multitudes, even now, regard it as a suspicious circumstance, if a man has been converted very suddenly. But the Bible gives no warrant for this supposition. There is not a case of protracted conviction recorded in the whole Bible. All the conversions recorded there are sudden conversions. And I am persuaded there never would be such multitudes of tedious convictions which often end in nothing, after all, if it were not for those theological perversions which have filled the world with Cannot-ism. In Bible days, sinners were told to repent, and they did it then. Cannot-ism had not been broached in that day. It is this speculation about the inability of sinners to obey God, that lays the foundation for all the protracted anguish and distress, and perhaps ruin, into which so many are led. Where a sinner is brought to see what he has to do, and he takes his stand at once, AND DOES IT, you generally find that such a person proves a decided character. You will not find him one of those that you always have to warp up to duty, like a ship, against wind and tide. Look at those professors who always have to be dragged forward in duty, and you will generally find that they had not clear and consistent directions when they were converted. Most likely, too, they will be very much "afraid of these sudden conversions."

Afraid of sudden conversions! Some of the best Christians of my acquaintance were convicted and converted in the space of a few minutes.

In one-quarter of the time that I have been speaking, many of them were awakened, and came right out on the Lord's side, and have been shining lights in the Church ever since, and have generally manifested the same decision of character in religion that they did when they first came out and took a stand on His side.

Lecture 19: Instructions To Converts

Feed My lambs. - John 2:15.

Those who read their Bibles will recollect the connection in which these words occur, and by whom they were spoken. They were addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ to Peter, after he had denied his Lord, and had subsequently professed repentance. Our Lord asked him this question, to remind him, in an affecting manner, at once of his sin and of the love of Christ: "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?" - strongly implying a doubt whether he did love Him. Peter answers: "Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee." Then Christ said unto Him: "Feed My lambs"; and repeated the question, as if He would read his inmost soul: "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?" Peter was still firm, and promptly answered again: "Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee."

Jesus still asked him the question again, the third time, emphatically. He seemed to urge the point, as if He would search his inmost thoughts, to see whether Peter would ever deny Him again. Peter was touched; he was "grieved," it is said; he did not fly into a passion, nor did he boast, as formerly: "Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee"

(Matthew 26:35); but he was grieved; he was subdued; he spoke tenderly; he appealed to the Savior Himself, as if he would implore Him not to doubt his sincerity any longer: "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee." Christ then gave him his final charge: "Feed My sheep" (v. 17).

By the terms "sheep" and "lambs" the Savior undoubtedly designated Christians, members of His Church; the lambs probably represent young converts, those that have but little experience and but little knowledge of religion, and therefore need to have special attention and pains taken with them, to guard them from harm, and to train them for future usefulness.

And when our Savior told Peter to feed His sheep, He doubtless referred to the important part which Peter was to perform in watching over the newly-formed Churches in different parts of the world, and in training the young converts, and leading them along to usefulness and happiness.

My last Lecture was on the subject of giving right instruction to anxious sinners; this naturally brings me to consider the manner in which young converts should be treated, and the instructions that should be given to them.

In speaking on this subject it is my design to state:

I. Several things that ought to be considered, in regard to the hopes of young converts.

II. Several things respecting their making a profession of religion, and joining the Church.

III. The importance of having correct instruction given to young converts.

IV. What should not be taught to young converts.

V. What particular things are specially necessary to be taught to young converts.

I. THE HOPES OF YOUNG CONVERTS.

1. Nothing should be said to create a hope. That is to say, nothing should ordinarily be intimated to persons under conviction calculated to make them think they have experienced religion, till they find it out themselves.

I do not like this term, "experienced religion," and I use it only because it is a phrase in common use. It is an absurdity in itself What is religion?

Obedience to God. Suppose you should hear a good citizen say he had experienced obedience to the Government of the country! You see that it is nonsense. Or suppose a child should talk about experiencing obedience to his father. If he knew what he was saying, he would say he had obeyed his father; just as the apostle Paul says to the Roman believers: "Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you" (Romans. 6:17).

What I mean to say is that ordinarily it is best to let their hope or belief that they are converted spring up spontaneously in their own minds.

Sometimes it will happen that persons may be really converted, but, owing to some notions which they have been taught about religion, they do not realize it. Their views of what religion is, and its effect upon the mind, are so entirely wide of the truth that they do not think they have it.

I will give you an illustration on this point.

Some years since, I labored in a place where a revival was in progress, and there was in the place a young lady from Boston. She had been brought up a Unitarian. She was a person of considerable education, and was intelligent on many subjects; but on the subject of religion she was very ignorant. At length she was convicted of sin. She became awfully convinced of her horrible enmity against God. She had been so educated as to have a sense of propriety; but her enmity against God became so great, and broke out so frightfully, that it was horrible to hear her talk. She used to come to the anxious meetings, where we conversed with each person separately; and her feelings of opposition to God were such that she used to create disturbance. By the time I came within two or three seats of her, where she could hear what I said in a low voice to the others, she would begin to make remarks in reply, so that they could be heard. And she would say the most bitter things against God, against His providence, and His method of dealing with mankind, as if God were an infinite tyrant. I would try to hush her, and make her keep still, because she distracted the attention of others. Sometimes she would stop and command her temper for a time, and sometimes she would rise and go out. I have seldom seen a case where the enmity of the heart rose so high against God. One night, at the anxious meeting, after she had been very restless, as I went towards her, she began as usual to reply, but I hushed her, and told her I could not converse with her there. I invited her to see me the next morning, when I told her I would talk with her. She promised to come; but, said she: "God is unjust - He is infinitely unjust. Is He not almighty? Why, then, has He never shown me my enmity before? Why has He let me run on so long?

Why does He let my friends at Boston remain in this ignorance? They are the enemies of God as much as I am, and they are going to hell. Why does He not show them the truth in regard to their condition?" And in this temper she left the room.

The next morning she came to see me, as she had promised. I saw, as soon as she came in, that her countenance was changed, but I said nothing about it. "Oh," said she, "I have changed my mind, as to what I said last night about God; I do not think He has done me any wrong, and I think I shall 'get religion' some time, for now I love to think about God. I have been all wrong; the reason why I had never known my enmity before was that I would not. I used to read the Bible, but I always passed over the passages that would make me feel as if I were a lost sinner; and those passages that spoke of Jesus Christ as God I passed over without consideration; but now I see that it was my fault, not God's fault, that I did not know any more about myself; I have changed my mind now." She had no idea that this was religion, but she was encouraged now to expect religion at some future time, because she loved God so much. I said nothing to make her imagine that I thought her a Christian, but left her to find it out. And, for a time, her mind was so entirely occupied with thinking about God that she never seemed to ask whether she "had religion" or not.

It is a great evil, ordinarily, to encourage persons to hope they are Christians. Very likely you may judge prematurely. Or if not, it is better, in any case, that they should find it out for themselves - that is, supposing they do not see it at once.

2. When persons express a hope, and yet express doubts, too, it is generally because the work is not thorough. If they are converted, they need breaking up. They are still lingering around the world, or they have not broken off effectually from their sins, and they need to be pushed back, rather than urged forward. If you see reason to doubt, or if you find that they have doubts, most probably there is some good reason to doubt.

Sometimes persons express a hope in Christ, and afterwards remember some sin that needs to be confessed to men; or some case where they have slandered, or defrauded, where it is necessary to make satisfaction, and where either their character, or their purse, is so deeply implicated that they hesitate, and refuse to perform their duty. This grieves the Spirit, brings darkness over their minds, and justly leads them to doubt whether they are truly converted. If a soul is truly converted, it will generally be found that, where there are doubts, there is on some point a neglect of duty. They should be searched as with a lighted candle, and brought up to the performance of duty, and not suffered to hope until they do it.

Ordinarily, it is proper just there to throw in some plain and searching truth, that will go through them, something that will wither their false hopes. Do it while the Spirit of God is dealing with them, and do it in a right way, and there is no danger of its doing harm.

To illustrate this: I knew a person who was a member of the Church, but an abominable hypocrite - proved to be so by her conduct, and afterwards fully confessed to be so. In a revival of religion she was awakened and deeply convicted, and after a while she got a hope. She went to a minister to talk with him about her hope, and he poured the truth into her mind in such a manner as to annihilate all her hopes. She then remained under conviction many days, and at last she broke out in hope again. The minister knew her temperament, and knew what she needed, and he tore away her hope again. Then she broke down. So deeply did the Spirit of God PROBE her heart that, for a time, it took away all her bodily strength. Then she came out subdued. Before, she had been one of the proudest of rebels against God's government, but now she became humbled, and was one of the most modest, tender, and lovely of Christians. No doubt that was just the way to deal with her. It was just the treatment that her case required.

It is often useful to deal with individuals in this way. Some persons are naturally unamiable in their temper, and unlovely in their deportment. And it is particularly important that such persons should be dealt with most thoroughly whenever they first begin to express hope in Christ. Unless the work with them is, in the first place, uncommonly deep and thorough, they will be vastly less useful, and interesting, and happy, than they would have been had the probe been thoroughly and skillfully applied to their hearts. If they are encouraged at first, without being thoroughly dealt with; if they are left to go on as though all were well; if they are not sufficiently probed and broken down, these unlovely traits of character will remain unsubdued, and will be always breaking out, to the great injury both of their personal peace and their general influence and usefulness as Christians.

It is important to take advantage of such characters while they are just in these peculiar circumstances, so that they can be molded into proper form.

Do not spare, though it should be a child, or a brother, or a husband, or a wife. Let it be a thorough work. If they express a hope, and you find they bear the image of Christ, they are Christians. But if it should appear doubtful - if they do not appear to be fully changed, just tear away their hope, by searching them with discriminating truth, and leave the Spirit to do the work more deeply. If still the image is not perfect, do it again - break them down into a childlike spirit, and then let them hope. They will then be clear and thorough Christians. By such a mode of treatment I have often known people of the crookedest and most hateful natural character so transformed, in the course of a few days, that they appeared like different beings. You would think the work of a whole life of Christian cultivation had been done at once. Doubtless this was the intent of our Savior's dealing with Peter. He had been converted, but became puffed up with spiritual pride and self-confidence, and then he fell. After that, Christ broke him down again by three times searching him with the inquiry: "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?" After which he seems to have been a stable and devoted saint the rest of his days.

3. There is no need of young converts having or expressing doubts as to their conversion. There is no more need of a person doubting whether he is now in favor of God's government than there is for a man to doubt whether he is in favor of our Government or another. It is, in fact, on the face of it, absurd for a person to talk of doubting on such a point, if he is intelligent and understands what he is talking about. It has long been supposed to be a virtue, and a mark of humility, for a person to doubt whether he is a Christian, but this notion that there is virtue in doubting is a device of the devil. "I say, neighbor, are you in favor of our Government, or do you prefer that of Russia?" "Why, I have some hopes that I love our own Government, but I have many doubts." Wonderful! "Woman, do you love your children?" "Why, sir, I sometimes have a trembling hope that I love them, but you know the best have doubts." "Wife, do you love your husband?" "I do not know - I sometimes think I do, but you know the heart is deceitful, and we ought to be careful and not be too confident."

Who would have such a wife? "Man, do you love your wife, do you love your family?" "Ah, you know we are poor creatures, we do not know our own hearts. I think I do love them, but perhaps I am deceived."

Ridiculous!

Ordinarily, the very idea of a person expressing doubts renders his piety truly doubtful. A real Christian has no need to doubt; and when one is full of doubts, ordinarily you ought to doubt for him and help him doubt.

Affection to God is as much a matter of consciousness as any other affection. A woman knows she loves her child. How? By consciousness.

She is conscious of the exercise of this affection. And she sees it carried into action every day. In the same way a Christian may know that he loves God; by his consciousness of this affection, and by seeing that it influences his daily conduct.

In the case of young converts, truly such, these doubts generally arise from their having been wrongly dealt with, and not sufficiently taught, or not thoroughly humbled. In any case they should never be left in such a state, but should be brought to such a thorough change that they will doubt no longer.

It is inconsistent with usefulness for a Christian to be always entertaining doubts; it not only makes him gloomy, but it makes his religion a stumbling block to sinners. What do sinners think of such a religion? They say: "These converts are afraid to think they have got anything real; they are always doubting whether it is a reality, and they ought to know whether there is anything in it or not. If it is anything, these people seem to have it, but I am inclined to think it rather doubtful. At any rate, I will let it pass for the present; I do not believe God will condemn me for not attending to that which appears so uncertain." No, a settled hope in Christ is indispensable to usefulness; and therefore you should deal so with young converts, as to lead them to a consistent, well-grounded, stable hope. Ordinarily, this may be done, if pursued wisely, at the proper time, and that is at the commencement of their religious life. They should not be left till it is done.

I know there are exceptions; there are cases where the best instructions will be ineffectual; but these depend on the state of the health, and the condition of the nervous system. Sometimes you find a person incapable of reasoning on a certain topic, and so his errors will not yield to instruction. But most commonly they mistake the state of their own hearts, because they judge under the influence of a physical disease.

Sometimes persons under a nervous depression will go almost into despair. Persons who are acquainted with physiology would easily explain the matter. The only way to deal with such cases is first to recruit their health, and get their nervous system into a proper tone, and thus remove the physical cause of their gloom and depression; then they will be able to receive and apply your instructions. But if you cannot remove their gloom and doubts and fears in this way, you can at least avoid doing the positive harm that is wrought by giving wrong instructions.

I have known even experienced Christians to have fastened upon them the error of thinking it was necessary, or was virtuous, or a mark of humility, to be always in doubt; and Satan would take advantage of it, and of the state of their health, and drive them almost to despair. You ought to guard against this, by avoiding the error when teaching young converts. Teach them that instead of there being any virtue in doubting, it is a sin to have any reason to doubt, and a sin if they doubt without any reason, and a sin to be gloomy and to disgust sinners with their despondency. And if you teach them thoroughly what religion is, and make them SEE CLEARLY what God wishes to have them do, and lead them to do it promptly and decidedly, ordinarily they will not be harassed with doubts and fears, but will be clear, openhearted, cheerful, and growing Christians - an honor to the religion they profess, and a blessing to the Church and the world.

II. MAKING A PROFESSION OF RELIGION.

I proceed to mention some things worthy of consideration in regard to young converts making a profession of religion, or joining the Church.

1. Young converts should, ordinarily, offer themselves for admission to some Church of Christ immediately. By "immediately," I mean that they should do it the first opportunity they have. They should not wait. If they set out in religion by waiting, most likely they will always be waiting, and never do anything to much purpose. If they are taught to wait under conviction, before they give themselves to Christ; or if they are taught to wait after conversion, before, by joining the Church, they give themselves publicly to God, they will probably go halting and stumbling through life. The first thing they should be taught, always is: NEVER WAIT, WHERE GOD HAS POINTED OUT YOUR DUTY. We profess to have given up the waiting system; let us carry it through and be consistent.

2. While I say it is the duty of young converts to offer themselves to the Church immediately, I do not say that, in all cases, they should be received immediately. The Church has an undoubted right to assume the responsibility of receiving them immediately or not. If the Church is not satisfied in the case, it has the power to bid candidates wait till inquiries can be made as to their character and their sincerity. This is more necessary in large cities than it is in the country, because so many applications are received from persons who are entire strangers. But if the Church thinks it necessary to postpone an applicant, the responsibility is not his. He has not postponed obedience to the dying command of Christ, and so he has not grieved the Spirit, and so he may not be essentially injured if he is faithful in other respects. Whereas, if he had neglected the duty voluntarily, he would soon have got into the dark, and would very likely have backslidden.

If there is no particular reason for delay, ordinarily the Church ought to receive them when they apply. If they are sufficiently instructed on the subject of religion to know what they are doing, and if their general character is such that they can be trusted as to their sincerity and honesty in making a profession, I see no reason why they should be delayed. But if there are sufficient reasons, in the view of the Church, for making them wait a reasonable time, let the Church so decide, on its responsibility to Jesus Christ. It should be remembered, however, what is the responsibility which the Church thereby assumes, and that if those are kept out of the Church who ought to be in it, the Holy Spirit is grieved.

It is impossible to lay down particular rules on this subject, applicable to all cases. There is so great a variety of reasons which may warrant keeping persons back, that no general rules can reach them all. Our practice, in this Church, is to propound persons for a month after they make application, before they are received into full communion. The reason of this is, that the Session may have opportunity to inquire respecting individuals who offer themselves, as so many of them are strangers. But in the country, where there are regular congregations, and all the people have been instructed from their youth in the doctrines of religion, and where everybody is perfectly known, the case is different, and ordinarily I see no reason why persons of good character should not be admitted immediately. If a person has not been a drunkard, or otherwise of bad character, let him be admitted at once, as soon as he can give a rational and satisfactory account of the hope that is in him.

That is evidently the way the apostles did. There is not the least evidence in the New Testament that they ever put off a person who wanted to be baptized and to join the Church. I know this does not satisfy some people, because they think the case is different. But I do not see it so.

They say the apostles were inspired. That is true; but it does not follow that they were so inspired to read the characters of men, as to be prevented from making mistakes in this matter. On the other hand, we know they were not inspired in this way, for we know they did make mistakes, just as ministers may do now; and, therefore, it is not true that their being inspired men alters the case on this point. Simon Magus was supposed to be a Christian, and was baptized and admitted into communion, remaining in good standing until he undertook to purchase the Holy Ghost with money.

The apostles used to admit converts from heathenism immediately, and without delay. If they could receive persons who, perhaps, never heard more than one Gospel sermon, and who never had a Bible, nor ever attended a Sabbath School or Bible Class in their lives, surely it is not necessary to create an outcry and alarm, if a Church should think proper to receive persons of good character, who have had the Bible all their lives, and have been trained in the Sabbath School, and have sat under the preaching of the Gospel, and who, therefore, may be supposed to understand what they are about, and not to profess what they do not feel.

I know it may be said that persons who make a profession of religion now, are not obliged to make such sacrifices for their religion as the early believers were, and, consequently, people may be more ready to play the hypocrite. And, to some extent, that is true. But then, on the other hand, it should be remembered that, with the instructions which they have on the subject of religion, they are not so easily led to deceive themselves, as those who were converted without the precious advantages of a religious education. They may be strongly tempted to deceive others, but I insist that, with the instructions which they have received, the converts of these great revivals are not half so liable to deceive themselves, and take up with a false hope, as were those in the days of the apostles. And on this ground I believe that those Churches that are faithful in dealing with young converts, and that exhibit habitually the power of religion, are not likely to receive so many unconverted persons as the apostles did.

It is important that the Churches should act wisely on this point. Great evil has been done by this practice of keeping persons out of the Church a long time in order to see if they were Christians. This is almost as absurd as it would be to throw a young child out into the street, to see whether it will live; to say: "If it lives, and promises to be a healthy child, we will take care of it," when that is the very time it wants nursing and taking care of, the moment when the scale is turning whether it shall live or die. Is that the way to deal with young converts? Should the Church throw her new-born children out to the winds, and say: "If they live there, let them be taken care of; but if they die there, then they ought to die"? I have not a doubt that thousands of converts, in consequence of this treatment, have gone through life without joining any Church, but have lingered along, full of doubts and fears, and darkness, and in this way have spent their days, and gone to the grave without the comforts and usefulness which they might have enjoyed, simply because the Church, in her folly, has suffered them to wait outside the pale, to see whether they would grow and thrive, without those ordinances which Jesus Christ established particularly for their benefit.

Jesus Christ says to His Church: "Here, take these lambs, and feed them, and shelter them, and watch over them, and protect them": and what does the Church do? Why, turn them out alone upon the cold mountains, among the wild beasts, to starve or perish, to see whether they are alive or not!

The whole system is as unphilosophical as it is unscriptural. Did Jesus Christ tell His Churches to do so? Did the God of Abraham teach any such doctrine as this, in regard to the children of Abraham? Never. He never taught us to treat young converts in such a barbarous manner. The very way to lead them into doubts and darkness, is to keep them away from the Church, from its fellowship, and its ordinances.

I have understood there is a Church which has passed a resolution that no young converts shall be admitted till they have "had a hope" for at least six months. Where did they get any such rule? Not from the Bible, nor from the example of the early Churches.

3. In examining young converts for admission their consciences should not be ensnared by examining them too extensively or minutely on doctrinal points. From the manner in which examinations are conducted in some Churches, it would seem as if they expected that young converts would be all at once acquainted with the whole system of divinity, and able to answer every puzzling question in theology. The effect of it is that young converts are perplexed and confused, and give their assent to things they do not understand, and thus their conscience is ensnared, and consequently weakened. Why, one great design of receiving young converts into the Church is to teach them doctrines; but if they are to be kept out of the Church until they understand the whole system of doctrines, this end is defeated. Will you keep them out till one main design of receiving them is accomplished by other means? It is absurd. There are certain cardinal doctrines of Christianity, which are embraced in the experience of every true convert; and these young converts will testify to them, on examination, if questioned in such a way as to draw out knowledge, and not in such a way as to puzzle and confound. The questions should be such as are calculated to draw out from them what they have learned by experience, and not what they may have got in theory before or since their conversion. The object is, not to find out how much they know, or how good scholars they are in divinity, as you would examine a school; it is to find out whether they have a change of heart, to learn whether they have experienced the great truths of religion by their power in their own souls. You see therefore how absurd, and injurious too, it must be, to examine, as is sometimes done, like a lawyer at the bar cross-examining a suspicious witness. It should rather be like a faithful physician anxious to find out his patient's true condition, and therefore leading him, by inquiries and hints, to disclose the real symptoms of the case.

You will always find, if you put your questions rightly, that real converts will see clearly those great fundamental points - the Divine authority of the Scriptures, the necessity of the influences of the Holy Spirit, the Deity of Christ, the doctrines of total depravity and regeneration, the necessity of the atonement, justification by faith, and the justice of the eternal punishment of the wicked. By a proper course of inquiries you will find all these points come out, if you put your questions in such a way that they are understood.

A Church Session in this city has, as we are informed, passed a vote, that no person shall join that Church till he will give his assent to the whole Presbyterian Confession of Faith, and adopt it as his "rule of faith and practice and Christian obedience." That is, they must read the book through, which is about three times as large as this hymn-book which I hold, and must understand it, and agree to it all, before they can be admitted to the Church, before they can make a profession of religion, or obey the command of Christ. By what authority does a Church say that no one shall join their communion till he understands all the points and technicalities of this long Confession of Faith? Is that their charity, to cram this whole Confession of Faith down the throat of a young convert, before they let him so much as come to the Communion? He says: "I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and wish to obey His command." "Very well, but do you understand and adopt the Confession of Faith?" He says: "I do not know, for I never read that, but I have read the Bible, and I love that, and wish to follow the directions in it, and to come to the table of the Lord."

"Do you love the Confession of Faith? If not, you SHALL NOT COME,"

is the reply of this charitable Session; "you shall not sit down at the Lord's table till you have adopted all this Confession of Faith." Did Jesus Christ ever authorize a Church Session to say this - to tell that child of God, who stands there with tears, and asks permission to obey his Lord, and who understands the grounds of his faith, and can give a satisfactory reason of his hope - to tell him he cannot join the Church till he understands the Confession of Faith? Shut the door against young converts till they swallow the Confession of Faith! Will such a Church prosper? Never!

No Church on earth has a right to impose its extended Confession of Faith on a young convert who admits the fundamentals of religion. They may let the young convert know their own faith on ever so many points, and they may examine him, if they think it necessary, as to his belief; but suppose he has doubts on some points not essential to Christian experience, - the doctrine of Infant Baptism, or of Election, or the Perseverance of the Saints; and suppose he honestly and frankly tells you he has not made up his mind concerning these points? Has any minister or Church a right to say, he shall not come to the Lord's table till he has finished all his researches into these subjects, that he shall not obey Christ till he has fully made up his mind on such points, on which Christians, and devoted ones too, differ among themselves? I would sooner cut off my right hand than debar a convert under such circumstances. I would teach a young convert as well as I could in the time before he made his application, and I would examine him candidly as to his views, and after he was in the Church I would endeavor to make him grow in knowledge as he grows in grace. And by just as much confidence as I have that my own doctrines are the doctrines of God, I should expect to make him adopt them, if I could have a fair hearing before his mind. But I never would bid one whom I charitably believed to be a child of God, to stay away from his Father's table, because he did not see all I see, or believe all I believe, through the whole system of divinity. The thing is utterly irrational, ridiculous, and wicked.

4. Sometimes persons who are known to entertain a hope dare not make a profession of religion for fear they should be deceived. I would always deal decidedly with such cases. A hope that will not warrant a profession of religion is manifestly worse than no hope, and the sooner it is torn away the better. Shall a man hope he loves God, and yet not obey Jesus Christ? Preposterous! Such a hope had better be given up at once.

5. Sometimes persons professing to be converts will make an excuse for not joining the Church, that they can enjoy religion just as well without it.

This is always suspicious. I should look out for such characters. It is almost certain they have no religion. Ordinarily, if a person does not desire to be associated with the people of God, he is rotten at the foundation. It is because he wants to keep out of the responsibilities of a public profession. He has a feeling within him that he had rather be free, so that he can, by and by, go back to the world again, if he likes, without the reproach of instability or hypocrisy. Enjoy religion just as well without obeying Jesus Christ! It is false on the face of it. He overlooks the fact that religion consists in obeying Jesus Christ.

III. THE IMPORTANCE OF GIVING RIGHT INSTRUCTION.

Ordinarily, the Christian character of converts throughout life is molded and fashioned according to the manner in which they are dealt with when first converted. There are many who have been poorly taught at first, but have been afterwards re-converted, and if they are then properly dealt with, they may be made something of. But the proper time to do this is when they are first brought in, when their minds are soft and tender, and easily yield to the truth. Then they may be led with a hair, if they think it is the truth of God. And whatever notions in religion they then get, they are apt to cleave to forever afterwards. It is almost impossible to get a man away from the notions he acquires when he is a young convert. You may reason him down, but he cleaves to them. How often is it the case where persons have been taught certain things when first converted, that if they afterwards get a new minister who teaches somewhat differently, they will rise up against him as if he were going to subvert the faith, carry away the Church into error, and throw everything into confusion. Thus you see that young converts are thrown into the hands of the Church, and it devolves upon the Church to mold them, and form them into Christians of the right stamp. To a large extent, their future comfort and usefulness depend on the manner in which they are instructed at the outset. The future character of the Church, the progress of revivals, the coming of the millennium, depend on right instruction being imparted, and a right direction of thought and life given, to those who are young converts.

IV. THINGS WHICH SHOULD NOT BE TAUGHT.

1. "You will not always feel as you do now." When the young convert is rejoicing in his Savior, and calculating to live for the glory of God and the good of mankind, how often is he met with this reply: "You will not always feel so." Thus, his mind is prepared to expect that he shall backslide, and not to be much surprised when he does. This is just the way the devil wants young converts dealt with, to have old Christians tell them: "Your feelings will not last, but, by and by, you will be as cold as we are." It has made my heart bleed to see it. When the young convert has been pouring out his warm heart to some old professor, and expecting the warm burstings of a kindred spirit responding to his own, what does he meet with? This cold answer, coming like a northern blast over his soul: "You will not always feel so." SHAME! Just preparing the young convert to expect that he shall backslide as a matter of course; so that when he begins to decline, as under the very influences of this instruction it is most likely he will, it produces no surprise or alarm in his mind, but he looks at it just as a thing of course, doing as everybody else does.

I have heard it preached as well as expressed in prayer, that seasons of backsliding are "necessary to test the Church." They say: "When it rains, you can find water anywhere: it is only in seasons of drought that you can tell where the deep springs are." Wonderful logic! And so you would teach that Christians must get cold and stupid, and backslide from God - and for what reason? Why, forsooth, to show that they are not hypocrites.

Amazing! You would prove that they are hypocrites in order to show that they are not.

Such doctrine as this is the very last that should be taught to young converts. They should be told that they have only begun the Christian life, and that their religion is to consist in going on in it. They should be taught to go forward all the time, and "grow in grace" continually. Do not teach them to taper off their religion - to let it grow smaller and smaller till it comes to a point. God says: "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18). Now, whose path is that which grows dimmer and dimmer into the perfect night? They should be brought to such a state of mind that the first indications of decay in spirituality or zeal will alarm them and spur them up to duty. There is no need that young converts should backslide as they do. Paul did not backslide. And I do not doubt that this very doctrine: "You will not always feel so," is one of the grand devices of Satan to bring about the result which it predicts.

2. "Learn to walk by faith and not by sight." This is sometimes said to young converts in reference to their continuing to exhibit the power of religion, and is a manifest perversion of Scripture. If they begin to lose their faith and zeal, and get into darkness, some old professor will tell them: "Ah, you cannot expect to have the Savior always with you, you have been walking by sight; you must learn to walk by faith and not by sight." That is, you must learn to get as cold as death, and then hang on to the doctrine of the Saints' Perseverance, as your only ground of hope that you shall be saved. And that is walking by faith! Cease to persevere, and then hold on to the doctrine of Perseverance! "One of guilt's blunders, and the loudest laugh of hell." Living in the enjoyment of God's favor and the comforts of the Holy Ghost is what they call "walking by sight"! Do you suppose young converts see the Savior at the time they believe on Him?

When they are so full of the enjoyments of heaven, do you suppose they see heaven, and so walk by sight? It is absurd on the face of it. It is not faith, it is presumption, that makes the backslider hold on to the doctrine of Perseverance, as if that would save him, without any sensible exercises of godliness in his soul. Those who attempt to walk by faith in this way had better take care, or they will walk into hell with their "faith." Faith indeed! "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20). Can dead faith make the soul live?

3. "Wait till you see whether you can hold out." When a young convert feels zealous and warm-hearted, and wants to lay himself out for God, some prudent old professor will caution him not to go too fast. "You had better not be too forward in religion, till you see whether you can hold out; for if you take this high ground and then fall, you will disgrace religion."

That is, in plain English: "Do not do anything that constitutes religion, till you see whether you have religion." Religion consists in obeying God.

Now, these wise teachers tell a young convert: "Do not obey God till you see" - what? - till you see whether you have obeyed Him - or, till you see whether you have obtained that substance, that mysterious thing which they imagine is created and put into man, like a lump of new flesh, and called "religion." This waiting system is all wrong. There is no Scripture warrant for telling a person to wait, when the command of God is upon him, and the path of duty is before him. Let him go ahead.

Young converts should be fully taught that this is the only consistent way to find out whether they have any religion, to find that they are heartily engaged in doing the will of God. To tell the convert to wait, therefore, before he does these things, till he first gets his evidence, is reversing the matter, and is absurd.

4. "Wait till you get strength, before you take up the cross." This is applied to various religious duties. Sometimes it is applied to prayer: just as if prayer were a cross. I have known young converts advised not to attempt to pray in their families, or "not to attempt quite yet" to pray in meetings and social circles. "Wait till you get strength." Just as if they could get strength without exercise. Strength comes by exercise. You cannot get strength by lying still. Let a child lie in a cradle continually, and he would never have any strength; he might grow in size, but he never could be anything more than a great baby. This is a law of nature. There is no substitute for exercise in producing strength. It is so in the body; and it is just so with the mind. It is so with the affections; so with the judgment; so with conscience. All the powers of the soul are strengthened by exercise. I need not now enter into the philosophy of this. Everybody knows it is so. If the mind is not exercised, the brain will not grow, and the man will become an idiot. If the affections are not exercised, he will become a stoic. To talk to a convert about neglecting Christian action till he gets strength, is absurd. If he wants to gain strength, let him go to work.

5. Young converts should not be made sectarian in their feelings. They should not be taught to dwell upon sectarian distinctions, or to be sticklish about sectarian points. They ought to examine these points, according to their importance, at a proper time, and in a proper way, and make up their minds for themselves. But they should not be taught to dwell upon them, or to make much of them at the outset of their religious life. Otherwise there is great danger that their whole religion will run into sectarianism. I have seen most sad and melancholy exhibitions of the effects of this upon young converts. And whenever I see professed converts taking a strong hold of sectarian peculiarities, no matter of what denomination of Christians, I always feel in doubt about them. When I hear them asking: "Do you believe in the doctrine of Election?" or: "Do you believe in sprinkling?" or: "Do you believe in immersing?" I feel sad. I never knew such converts to be worth much. Their sectarian zeal soon sours their feelings, eats out all the heart of their religion, and molds their whole character into sinful, sectarian bigotry. They generally become mighty zealous for the traditions of the elders, and very little concerned for the salvation of souls.

V. THINGS WHICH IT IS IMPORTANT SHOULD BE TAUGHT.

1. One of the first things young converts should be taught is to distinguish between emotion and principle in religion. I want you to get hold of the words, and have them fixed in your mind; to have you distinguish between emotion and principle.

By emotion, I mean that state of mind of which we are conscious, and which we call feeling - an involuntary state of mind, that arises, of course, when we are in certain circumstances or under certain influences.

There may be high-wrought feelings, or they may subside into tranquillity, or disappear entirely. But these emotions should be carefully distinguished from religious principle. By principle, I do not mean any substance or root or seed or sprout implanted in the soul. But I mean the voluntary decision of the mind, the firm determination to fulfill duty and to obey the will of God, by which a Christian should always be governed.

When a man is fully determined to obey God, because it is RIGHT that he should obey God, I call that principle. Whether he feels any lively religious emotion at the time or not, he will do his duty cheerfully, readily, and heartily, whatever may be the state of his feelings. This is acting upon principle, and not from emotion. Many young converts hold mistaken views upon this subject, and depend almost entirely on the state of their feelings to go forward in duty. Some will not lead a prayer meeting, unless they feel as if they could make an eloquent prayer. Multitudes are influenced almost entirely by their emotions, and they give way to this, as if they thought themselves under no obligation to duty, unless urged on by some strong emotion. They will be very zealous in religion when they feel like it, when their emotions are warm and lively, but they will not act out religion consistently, and carry it into all the concerns of life. They are religious only as they are impelled by a gush of feeling. But this is not true religion.

Young converts should be carefully taught that when duty is before them they are to do it. However dull their feelings may be, if duty calls, DO IT.

Do not wait for feeling, but DO IT. Most likely the very emotions for which you would wait will be called into exercise when you begin to do your duty. If the duty be prayer, for instance, and you have not the feelings you would wish, do not wait for emotions before you pray, but pray, and "open thy mouth wide" (Psalm 81:10); and in doing it, you are most likely to have the emotions for which you were inclined to wait, and which constitute the conscious happiness of religion.

2. Young converts should be taught that they have renounced the ownership of all their possessions, and of themselves, and that if they have not done this they are not Christians. They should not be left to think that anything is their own; their time, property, influence, faculties, body or soul. "Ye are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19); they belong to God; and when they submitted to God they made a free surrender of all to Him, to be ruled and disposed of at His pleasure. They have no right to spend one hour as if their time were their own; no right to go anywhere, or do anything, for themselves, but should hold all at the disposal of God, and employ all for the glory of God. If they do not, they ought not to call themselves Christians, for the very idea of being a Christian is to renounce self and become entirely consecrated to God. A man has no more right to withhold anything from God than he has to rob or steal. It is robbery in the highest sense of the term. It is an infinitely higher crime than it would be for a clerk in a store to go and take the money of his employer, and spend it on his own lusts and pleasures. I mean, that for a man to withhold from God is a higher crime against HIM than a man can commit against his fellow-man, inasmuch as God is the Owner of all things in an infinitely higher sense than man can be the owner of anything. If God calls on them to employ anything they have, their money, or their time, or to give their children, or to dedicate themselves in advancing His Kingdom, and they refuse, because they want to use them in their own way, or prefer to do something else, it is vastly more blamable than for a clerk or an agent to go and embezzle the money that is entrusted him by his employer.

God is, in an infinitely higher sense, the Owner of all, than any employer can be said to be the owner of what he has. And the Church of Christ never will take high ground, never will be disentangled from the world, never will be able to go forward without these continual declensions and backslidings, until Christians, and the Churches generally, take the ground, and hold to it, that it is just as much a matter of discipline for a Church member practically to deny his stewardship as to deny the Deity of Christ; and that covetousness, fairly proved, shall just as soon exclude a man from the Communion as adultery.

The Church is mighty orthodox in notions, but very heretical in practice; but the time must come when the Church will be just as vigilant in guarding orthodoxy in practice as orthodoxy in doctrine, and just as prompt to turn out heretics in practice, as heretics that corrupt the doctrines of the Gospel. In fact, it is vastly more important. The only design of doctrine is to produce practice, and it does not seem to be understood by the Church that true faith "works by love and purifies the heart," that heresy in practice is proof conclusive of heresy in sentiment.

The Church is very sticklish for correct doctrine, but very careless about correct living. This is preposterous. Has it come to this, that the Church of Jesus Christ is to be satisfied with correct notions on some abstract points, and never reduce her orthodoxy to practice? Let it be so no longer.

It is high time these matters were set right. And the only way to set them right is to begin with those who are just entering upon religion. Young converts must be told that they are just as worthy of condemnation (and that the Church can hold no fellowship with them), if they show a covetous spirit, and turn a deaf ear when the whole world is calling for help, as if they were living in adultery, or in the daily worship of idols.

3. Teach them how to cultivate a tender conscience. I am often amazed to find how little conscience there is even among those whom we hope are Christians. And here we see the reason of it. Their consciences were never cultivated. They never were taught how to cultivate a tender conscience.

They have not even a natural conscience. They have dealt so rudely with their conscience, and resisted it so often, that it has got blunted, and does not act. The usefulness of a Christian greatly depends on his knowing how to cultivate his conscience. Young converts should be taught to keep their conscience just as tender as the apple of the eye. They should watch their conduct and their motives, and let their motives be so pure and their conduct so disinterested as not to offend, or injure, or stifle conscience.

They should maintain such a habit of listening to conscience, that it will always be ready to give forth a stern verdict on all occasions.

It is astonishing to see how much the conscience may be cultivated by a proper course. If rightly attended to, it may be made so pure, and so powerful, that it will always respond exactly to the Word of God. Present any duty to such a Christian, or any self-denial, or suffering, and only show him the Word of God, and he will do it without a word of objection.

In a few months, if properly taught, young converts may have a conscience so delicately poised that the weight of a feather will turn them.

Only bring a "Thus saith the Lord," and they will be always ready to do that, be it what it may.

4. Young converts should be taught to pray without ceasing. That is, they should always keep a watch over their minds, and be all the time in a prayerful spirit. They should be taught to pray always, whatever may take place. For the want of right instruction on this point many young converts suffer loss and get far away from God. For instance, sometimes it happens that a young convert will fall into some sin, and then he feels as if he could not pray, and instead of overcoming this he feels so distressed that he waits for the keen edge of his distress to pass away. Instead of going right to Jesus Christ in the midst of his agony, and confessing his sin out of the fullness of his heart, and getting a renewed pardon, and peace restored, he waits till all the keenness of his feelings has subsided; and then his repentance, if he does repent, is cold and half-hearted. Let me tell you, beloved, never to do this; but when your conscience presses you, go then to Christ, confess your sin fully, and pour out your heart to God.

Sometimes people will neglect to pray because they are in the dark, and feel no desire to pray. But that is the very time when they need prayer.

That is the very reason why they ought to pray. You should go right to God and confess your coldness and darkness of mind. Tell Him just how you feel. Tell Him: "O Lord, I have no desire to pray, but I know I ought to pray." And immediately the Spirit may come and lead your heart out in prayer, and all the dark clouds will pass away.

5. Young converts should be faithfully warned against adopting a false standard in religion. They should not be left to fall in behind old professors, or keep such before their minds as a standard of holy living.

They should always look at Christ as their model. Not aim at being as good Christians as the old Church members, and not think they are doing pretty well because they are as much awake as the old members of the Church; but they should aim at being holy. The Church has been greatly injured for the want of attention to this matter. Young converts have come forward, and their hearts were warm, and their zeal ardent enough to aim at a high standard, but they were not directed properly, and so they soon settled down into the notion that what was good enough for others was good enough for them, and therefore they ceased to aim higher than those who were before them. And in this way the Church, instead of rising, with every revival, higher and higher in holiness, is kept nearly stationary.

6. Young converts should be taught to do all their duty. They should never make a compromise with duty, nor think of saying: "I will do this as an offset for neglecting that." They should never rest satisfied till they have done their duties of every kind, in relation to their families, the Church, Sabbath Schools, the impenitent around them, the disposal of their property, and the conversion of the world. Let them do their duty, as they feel it when their hearts are warm; and never attempt to pick and choose among the commandments of God.

7. They should be made to feel that they have no separate interest. It is time Christians were made actually to feel that they have no interest whatever, separate from the interests of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.

They should understand that they are incorporated into the family of Jesus Christ, as members in full, so that their whole interest is identified with His. They are embarked with Him, they have gone on board, and taken their all; and henceforth they have nothing to do, nor anything to say, except as it is connected with this interest, and bearing on the cause and Kingdom of Christ.

8. They should be taught to maintain singleness of motive. Young converts should not begin to have a double mind on any subject, nor let selfish motives mingle with good motives in anything they do. But this can never be so long as Christians are allowed to hold a separate interest of their own, distinct from the interest of Jesus Christ. If they feel that they have a separate interest, it is impossible to keep them from regarding it, and having an eye to it as well as to Christ's interest, in many things that they do. It is only by becoming entirely consecrated to God, and giving up all to His service, that they can ever keep their eye single and their motives pure.

9. They should set out with a determination to aim at being useful in the highest degree possible. They should not rest satisfied merely with being useful, or remaining in a situation where they can do some good. But if they see an opportunity where they can do more good, they must embrace it, whatever may be the sacrifice to themselves. No matter what it may cost them; no matter what danger or what suffering may be involved; no matter what change in their outward circumstances, or habits, or employments, it may lead to; if they are satisfied that they will on the whole do more good, they should not even hesitate. How else can they be like God? How can they think to bear the image of Jesus Christ, if they are not prepared to do all the good that is in their power? When a man is converted he comes into a new world, and should consider himself as a new man. If he finds he can do most good by remaining in his old employment, let it be so; but if he can do more good in some other way, he is bound to change. It is for the want of attention to this subject, at the outset, that Christians have got such low ideas on the subject of duty; and that is the reason why there are so many useless members in our Churches.

10. They must be taught, not to aim at comfort but usefulness, in religion.

There are a great many spiritual epicures in the Churches, who are all the while seeking to be happy in religion, white they are taking very little pains to be useful. They had much rather spend their time in singing joyful hymns, and pouring out their happy feelings in a gushing tide of exultation and triumph, than in an agonizing prayer for sinners, or in going about pulling dying men out of the fire. They seem to feel as if they were born to enjoy themselves. But I do not think such Christians show such fruits as to make their example one to be imitated. Such was not the temper of the apostles; they travailed for souls; they labored in weariness and painfulness, and were "in deaths oft," to save sinners (2 Corinthians 11:23). Ordinarily, Christians are not qualified to drink deep at the fountain of joy. In ordinary cases, a deep agony of prayer for souls is more profitable than high flights of joy. Let young converts be taught plainly not to calculate upon a life of joy and triumph. They may be called to go through fiery trials; Satan may sift them like wheat. But they must go forward, not calculating so much to be happy as to be useful; not talking about comfort but duty; not desiring flights of joy and triumph, but hungering and thirsting after righteousness; not studying how to create new flights of rapture, but how to know the will of God and do it. They will be happy enough in heaven. There they may sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. And they will in fact enjoy a more solid and rational happiness here, by thinking nothing about it, but patiently devoting themselves to do the will of God.

11. They should be taught to have moral courage, and not to be afraid of going forward in duty. The Bible insists fully on Christian boldness and courage in action, as a duty. I do not mean that they should indulge in bravado, like Peter, telling what they will do, and boasting of their courage.

The boaster is generally a coward at heart. But I mean moral courage - a humble and fixed decision of purpose, that will go forward in any duty, unangered and unawed, with the meekness and firmness of the Son of God.

12. They should be so instructed as to be sound in the faith. That is, they should be early made, as far as possible, complete and correct in regard to their doctrinal belief. As soon as may be, without turning their minds off from their practical duties in promoting the glory of God and the salvation of men, they should be taught fully and plainly all the leading doctrines of the Bible. Doctrinal knowledge is indispensable to growth in grace.

Knowledge is the food of the mind. "That the soul be without knowledge," says the wise man, "it is not good" (Proverbs 19:2). The mind cannot grow without knowledge any more than the body without food. And therefore it is important that young converts should be thoroughly indoctrinated, and made to understand the Bible. By "indoctrinating," I do not mean teaching them the catechism, but teaching them to draw knowledge from the fountain-head. Create in their minds such an appetite for knowledge that they will eat the Bible up - will devour it - will love it, and love it all. "All Scripture... is profitable,... that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).

13. Great pains should be taken to guard young converts against censoriousness. Young converts, when they first come out on the Lord's side, and are all warm and zealous, sometimes find old professors so cold and dead, that they are strongly tempted to be censorious. This should be corrected immediately, otherwise the habit will poison their minds and destroy their religion.

14. They must learn to say "NO." This is a very difficult lesson to many.

See that young woman. Formerly she loved the social circle, and took delight in its pleasures; she joined the Church, and then found herself aloof from all her old associates. They do not ask her now to their balls and parties, because they know she will not join them; and perhaps they keep entirely away for a time, for fear she should converse with them about their souls.

But, by and by, they grow a little bold, and some of them venture to ask her just to take a ride with a few friends. She does not like to say "No."

They are her old friends, only a few of them are going, and surely a ride is so innocent a recreation that she may accept the invitation. But, now she has begun to comply, the ice is broken, and they have her again as one of them. It goes on, and she begins to attend their social visits - "only a few friends, you know," - till, by and by, the carpet is taken up for a dance; and the next thing, perhaps, she has gone for a sleigh ride on Saturday night, coming home after midnight, and then sleeping all the forenoon on the Sabbath to make up for it - perhaps Communion Sabbath, too. All for the want of learning to say "No."

See that young man. For a time he was always in his place in the Sabbath School and in the prayer meeting. But, by and by, his old friends begin to treat him with attention again, and they draw him along, step by step.

He reasons that if he refuses to go with them in things that are innocent, he will lose his influence with them. And so he goes on, till prayer meeting, Bible class, and even private Bible reading and prayer are neglected. Ah, young man, stop there! If you do not wish to expose the cause of Christ to scorn and contempt, learn to resist the beginnings of temptation.

15. They should be taught, what is, and what is not, Christian experience.

It is necessary, both for their comfort and their usefulness, that they should understand this, so that they need not run themselves into needless distress for the want of that which is by no means essential to Christian experience, nor flatter themselves that they have more religion than they really exercise.

16. Teach them not to count anything a sacrifice which they do for God.

Some persons are always telling about the sacrifices they make in religion.

I have no confidence in such piety. Why keep telling about their sacrifices, as if everything they do for God is a sacrifice? If they loved God they would not talk so. If they considered their own interests and the interest of Christ identical, they would not talk of making sacrifices for Christ: it would be like talking of making sacrifices for themselves.

17. It is of great importance that young converts should be taught to be strictly honest. I mean more by this than perhaps you would think. It is a great thing to be strictly honest. It is being very different from the world at large, and different even from the great body of professors of religion. The holiest man I ever knew, and one who had been many years a Christian and a minister, once made the remark to me: "Brother, it is a great thing to be strictly honest and straight in everything, so that God's pure eye can see that the mind is perfectly upright."

It is of great importance that young converts should understand what it is to be strictly honest in everything, so that they can maintain "a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men" (Acts 24:16). Alas, alas, how little conscience there is! How little of that real honesty, that pure, simple uprightness, which ought to mark the life of a child of God. How little do many regard even an express promise. I heard the other day that of a number of individuals who subscribed to the Anti-Slavery Society, not half will pay their subscriptions. The plea is, that they signed when they were under excitement, and do not choose to pay. Just as if their being excited released them from the obligation to keep their promise.

Why, it is just as dishonest as it would be to refuse payment of a note of hand. They promised, signed their names, and now will not pay? And they call that honesty!

I have heard that a number of men signed for hundreds of dollars for the Oneida Institute, promising to pay the money when called on; and when they were called on, they refused to pay the money. And the reason is that all in the Institute have turned Abolitionists! Very well. Suppose they have. Does that alter your promise? Did you sign on the condition that if abolitionism were introduced you should be clear? If you did, then you are clear. But if you gave your promise without any condition, it is just as dishonest to refuse as if you had given a note of hand. And yet some of you might be almost angry if anybody were to charge you with refusing to pay money that you had promised.

Look at this seriously. Who does God say will go to heaven? Read the fifteenth psalm, and see. "He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." What do you think of that? If a man has promised anything, except it be to commit sin, let him keep his promise, if he means to be honest and to go to heaven. But these people will make promises, and because they cannot be prosecuted, will break them as if they were nothing. They would not let a cheque of theirs be returned from the bank. Why? Because they would lose credit, and would be sued. But the Oneida Institute, and the Anti-Slavery Society, and other societies, will not sue for the money, and therefore these people take offense at something, and refuse to pay. Is this honest? Will such honesty as this get them admitted to heaven? What?

Break your promises, and go up and carry a lie in your hand before God?

If you refuse or neglect to fulfill your promises, and go up and carry a lie in your hand before God? If you refuse or neglect to fulfill your promise you are a liar; and if you persist in this, you shall have your part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. I would not for ten thousand worlds die with money in my hands that I had unrighteously withheld from any object to which I had promised it. Such money will "eat as doth a canker" (2 Timothy 2:17).

If you are not able to pay the money, that is a good excuse. But then, say so. But if you refuse to pay what you have promised, because you have altered your mind, rely upon it, you are guilty. You cannot pray till you pay that money. Will you pray: "O Lord, I promised to give that money, but I altered my mind, and broke my promise; but still, O Lord, I pray Thee to bless me, and forgive my sin, although I keep my money, and make me happy in Thy love"? Will such prayers be heard? Never.

Lecture 20: Instructions To Converts- (Continued)

Feed My lambs. - John 21.15.

I Propose to continue the subject by:

I. Noticing several other points upon which young converts ought to be instructed.

II. Showing the manner in which young converts should be treated by the Church.

III. Mentioning some of the evils which naturally result from defective instructions given in that stage of Christian experience.

I. FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS.

1. It is of great importance that young converts should early be made to understand what religion consists in. Perhaps you will be surprised at my mentioning this. "What! Are they converts, and do not know what religion consists in?" I answer: "They would know, if they had had no instruction but such as was drawn from the Bible." But multitudes of people have imbibed such notions about religion, that not only young converts, but a great part of the Church members do not know what religion consists in, so as to have a clear and distinct idea of it. There are many ministers who do not. I do not mean to say that they have no religion, for it may be charitably believed they have; but what I mean is, that they cannot give a correct statement of what does, and what does not, constitute real religion.

It is important that young converts should be taught: Negatively, what religion does not consist in.

(a) Not in doctrinal knowledge. Knowledge is essential to religion, but it is not religion. The devil has doctrinal knowledge, but he has no religion. A man may have doctrinal knowledge to any extent, without a particle of religion. Yet some people have very strange ideas on this subject, as though an increase of doctrinal knowledge indicated an increase of piety. In a certain instance, where some young converts had made rapid progress in doctrinal knowledge, a person who saw it remarked: "How these young converts grow in grace!" Here he confounded improvement in knowledge with improvement in piety. The truth was, that he had no means of judging of their growth in grace, and it was no evidence of it because they were making progress in doctrinal knowledge.

(b) They should be taught that religion is not a substance. It is not any root, or sprout, or seed, or anything else, in the mind, as a part of the mind itself. Persons often speak of religion as if it were something which is covered up in the mind, just as a spark of fire may be covered up in the ashes, which does not show itself, and which produces no effects, but yet lives, and is ready to act as soon as it is uncovered. And in like manner they think they may have religion, as something remaining in them, although they do not manifest it by obeying God. But they should be taught that this is not of the nature of religion. It is not part of the mind itself, nor of the body; nor is it a root, or seed, or spark, that can exist, and yet be hid and produce no effects.

(c) Teach them that religion does not consist in raptures, or ecstasies, or high flights of feeling. There may be a great deal of these where there is religion. But it ought to be understood that they are all involuntary emotions, and may exist in full power where there is no religion. They may be the mere workings of the imagination, without any truly religious affection at all. Persons may have them to such a degree as actually to swoon away with ecstasy, even on the subject of religion, without having any religion. I have known a person almost carried away with rapture, by a mere view of the natural attributes of God, His power and wisdom, as displayed in the starry heavens, and yet the person had no religion.

Religion is obedience to God, the voluntary submission of the soul to His will.

(d) Neither does religion consist in going to services, or reading the Bible, or praying, or any other of what are commonly called religious duties. The very phrase, "religious duties," ought to be struck out of the vocabulary of young converts. They should be made to know that these acts are not religion. Many become very strict in performing certain things, which they call "religious duties," and suppose that is being religious; while they are careless about the ordinary duties of life, which, in fact, constitute A LIFE OF PIETY. Prayer may be an expression and an act of piety, or it may not be. Going to church or to a prayer meeting, may be considered either as a means, an act, or an expression of pious sentiment; but the performance of these does not constitute a man a Christian; and there may be great strictness and zeal in these, without a particle of religion. If young converts are not taught to discriminate, they may be led to think there is something peculiar in what are called religious duties, and to imagine they have a great deal of religion because they abound in certain actions that are commonly called "religious duties," although they may at the same time be very deficient in honesty, or faithfulness, or punctuality, or temperance, or any other of what they choose to call their common duties. They may be very punctilious in some things, may "pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin" (Matthew 23:23), and yet neglect "the weightier matters of the law"; justice and the love of God.

(e) Religion does not consist in desires to do good actions. Desires that do not result in choice and action are not virtuous. Nor are such desires necessarily vicious. They may arise involuntarily in the mind, in view of certain objects; but while they produce no voluntary act, they are no more virtuous or vicious than the beating of the pulse, except in cases where we have indirectly willed them into existence, by voluntarily putting ourselves under circumstances calculated to excite them. The wickedest man on earth may have strong desires after holiness. Did you ever think of that? He may see clearly that holiness is the only and indispensable means of happiness. And the moment he apprehends holiness as a means of happiness, he naturally desires it. It is to be feared that multitudes are deceiving themselves with the supposition that a desire for holiness, as a means of happiness, is religion. Many, doubtless, give themselves great credit for desires that never result in choosing right. They feel desires to do their duty, but do not choose to do it, because, upon the whole, they have still stronger desires not to do it. In such desires there is no virtue. An action or desire, to be virtuous in the sight of God, must be an act of the will. People often talk most absurdly on this subject, as though their desires had anything good, while they remain mere desires. "I think I desire to do so-and-so." But do you do it? "Oh, no, but I often feel a desire to do it." This is practical atheism.

Whatever desires a person may have, if they are not carried out into actual choice and action, they are not virtuous. And no degree of desire is itself virtuous. If this idea could be made prominent, and fully riveted in the minds of men, it would probably annihilate the hopes of half the members of the Churches, who are living on their good desires, while doing nothing for God.

(f) They should be made to understand that nothing which is selfish, is religion. Whatever desires they may have, and whatever choices and actions they may put forth, if, after all, the reason of them is selfish, there is no religion in them. A man may just as much commit sin in praying, or reading the Bible, or going to a religious service, as in anything else, if his motive is selfish. Suppose a man prays simply with a view to promote his own happiness. Is that religion? What is it but attempting to make God his Almighty Servant? It is nothing else but to attempt a great speculation, and to put the universe, God and all, under contribution to make him happy. It is the sublime degree of wickedness. It is so far from being piety that it is in fact superlative wickedness.

(g) Nothing is acceptable to God, as religion, unless it is performed heartily, to please God. No outward action has anything good, or anything that God approves, unless it is performed from right motives and from the heart. Young converts should be taught fully and positively that all religion consists in obeying God from the heart. All religion consists in voluntary action. All that is holy, all that is lovely, in the sight of God, all that is properly called religion, consists in voluntary action, in voluntarily obeying the will of God from the heart.

2. Young converts should be taught that the duty of self-denial is one of the leading features of the Gospel. They should understand that they are not pious at all, any further than they are willing to take up their cross daily, and deny themselves for Christ. There is but little self-denial in the Church, and the reason is that the duty is so much lost sight of, in giving instruction to young converts. How seldom are they told that self-denial is the leading feature in Christianity! In pleading for benevolent objects, how often will you find that ministers and agents do not even ask Christians to deny themselves for the sake of promoting the object! They only ask them to give what they can spare as well as not; in other words, to offer unto the Lord that which costs them nothing. What an abomination! They only ask for the surplus, for what is not wanted, for what can just as well be given as not.

There is no religion in this kind of giving. A man might give a very large sum to a benevolent object, and there would be no religion in his doing so, if he could give the money as well as not; nor would there be any self-denial in it. Jesus Christ exercised self-denial to save sinners. So has God the Father exercised self-denial in giving His Son to die for us, and in sparing us, and in bearing with our perverseness. The Holy Ghost exercises self-denial, in condescending to strive with such unholy beings to bring them to God. The angels exercise self-denial, in watching over this world. The apostles planted the Christian religion among the nations by the exercise of self-denial. And are we to think of being religious without any self-denial? Are we to call ourselves Christians, the followers of Christ, the "temples of the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 6:19), and to claim fellowship with the apostles, when we have never deprived ourselves of anything that would promote our personal enjoyment for the sake of promoting Christ's kingdom? Young converts should be made to see that unless they are willing to lay themselves out for God, and ready to sacrifice life and everything else for Christ, they "have not the Spirit of Christ, and are none of His" (Romans 8:9).

3. They must be taught what sanctification is. "What!" you will say, "do not all who are Christians know what sanctification is?" No, many do not.

Multitudes would be as much at a loss to tell intelligibly what sanctification is, as they would be to tell what religion is. If the question were asked of every professor of religion in this city: "What is sanctification?" I doubt if one in ten would give a right answer. They would blunder just as they do when they undertake to tell what religion is, and speak of it as something dormant in the soul, something that is put in, and lies there, something that may be practiced or not, and still be in them.

So they speak of sanctification as if it were a sort of washing off of some defilement, or a purging out of some physical impurity. Or they will speak of it as if the faculties were steeped in sin, and sanctification is taking out the stains. This is the reason why some people will pray for sanctification, and practice sin, evidently supposing the sanctification is something that precedes obedience. They should be taught that sanctification is not something that precedes obedience, some change in the nature or the constitution of the soul. But sanctification is obedience, and as a progressive thing consists in obeying God more and more perfectly.

4. Young converts should be taught so as to understand what perseverance is. It is astonishing how people talk about perseverance. As if the doctrine of perseverance is: "Once in grace, always in grace"; or, "Once converted, sure to go to heaven." This is not the idea of perseverance. The true idea is, that if a man is truly converted, he will CONTINUE to obey God; and as a consequence, he will surely go to heaven. But if a person gets the idea that because he is "converted," therefore he will assuredly go to heaven, that man will almost assuredly go to hell.

5. Young converts should be taught to be religious in everything. They should aim to be religious in every department of life, and in all that they do. If they do not aim at this, they should understand that they have no religion at all. If they do not intend and aim to keep all the commandments of God, what pretense can they make to piety? "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).

He is justly subject to the whole penalty. If he disobeys God habitually in one particular, he does not, in fact, obey Him in any particular. Obedience to God consists in the state of the heart. It is being willing to obey God; willing that God should rule in all things. But if a man habitually disobeys God, in any one particular, he is in a state of mind that renders obedience in anything else impossible. To say that in some things a man obeys God, out of respect to His authority, and that in some other things he refuses obedience, is absurd. The fact is, that obedience to God consists in an obedient state of heart, a preference of God's authority and commandments to everything else. If, therefore, an individual appears to obey in some things, and yet perseveringly and knowingly disobeys in any one thing, he is deceived. He offends in one point, and this proves that he is guilty of all; in other words, that he does not, from the heart, obey at all. A man may pray half of his time and have no religion; if he does not keep the commandments of God, his very prayer will be hateful to God. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination" (Proverbs 28:9). Do you hear that? If a man refuses to obey God's law, if he refuses to comply with any one duty, he cannot pray, he has no religion, his very devotions are hateful.

6. Young converts, by proper instructions, are easily brought to be "temperate in all things" (1 Corinthians 9:25). Yet this is a subject greatly neglected in regard to young converts, and almost lost sight of in the Churches. There is a vast deal of intemperance in the Churches. I do not mean intemperate drinking, in particular, but intemperance in eating and in living generally. There is, in fact, but little conscience about it in the Churches, and, therefore, the progress of reform in the matter is so slow.

Nothing but an enlightened conscience can carry forward a permanent reform. Ten years ago, most ministers used ardent spirit, and kept it in their houses to treat their friends and their ministering brethren with. And the great body of the members in the Churches did the same. Now, there are but few, of either, who are not actual drunkards, that will do so. But still there are many that indulge, without scruple, in the use of wine.

Chewing and smoking tobacco, too, are acts of intemperance. If they use these mere stimulants when there is no necessity for them, what is that but intemperance? That is not being "temperate in all things." Until Christians shall have a conscience on this subject, and be made to feel that they have no right to be intemperate in anything, they will make but little progress in religion. It is well known, or ought to be, that tea and coffee have no nutrients in them. They are mere stimulants. They go through the system without being digested. The milk and sugar you put in them are nourishing; and so they would be, just as much so, if you mixed them with rum, and made milk punch; but the tea and coffee afford no nourishment; and yet I dare say, that a majority of the families in this city give more in a year for their tea and coffee than they do to save the world from hell.

Probably this is true respecting entire Churches. Even agents of benevolent societies will dare to go through the Churches soliciting funds, for the support of missionary and other institutions, and yet use tea, coffee, and, in some cases, tobacco. Strange! No doubt many are giving five times as much for mere intemperance as they give for every effort to save the world.

If professing Christians could be made to realize how much they spend for what are mere poisons, and nothing else, they would be amazed. Many persons will strenuously maintain that they cannot get along without these stimulants, these poisons, and they cannot give them up, no, not to redeem the world from eternal damnation. And very often they will absolutely show anger, if argued with, just as soon as the argument begins to pinch their consciences. Oh, how long shall the Church show her hypocritical face at the missionary meeting, and pray God to save the world, while she is actually throwing away five times as much for sheer intemperance, as she will give to save the world! Some of you may think these are little things, and that it is quite beneath the dignity of the pulpit to lecture against tea and coffee. But I tell you it is a great mistake of yours if you think these are little things, when they make the Church odious in the sight of God, by exposing her hypocrisy and lust. Here is an individual who pretends he has given himself up to serve Jesus Christ, and yet he refuses to deny himself any darling lust, and then he will go and pray: "O Lord, save the world; O Lord, Thy Kingdom come!" I tell you it is hypocrisy. Shall such prayers be heard? Unless men are willing to deny themselves, I would not give a groat for the prayers of as many such professors as would cover the whole of the United States.

These things must be taught to young converts. It must come to this point in the Church, that men shall not be called Christians, unless they will cut off the right hand, and pluck out the right eye, and deny themselves for Christ's sake. A little thing? See it poison the spirit of prayer! See it debase and sensualize the soul! Is that a trifle beneath the dignity of the pulpit, when these intemperate indulgences, of one kind and another, cost the Church five times, if not fifty times, more than all she gives for the salvation of the world?

An estimate has recently been made, showing that in the United States seven millions of dollars' worth of coffee is consumed yearly; and who does not know, that a great part of this is consumed by the Church. And yet grave ministers and members of Christian Churches are not ashamed to be seen countenancing this enormous waste of money; while at the same time the poor heathens are sending upon every wind of heaven their agonizing wail for help. Heaven calls from above: "Go... preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Hell groans from beneath, and ten thousand voices cry out from heaven, earth, and hell: "Do something to save the world!" Do it now Oh, NOW, or millions more are in hell through your neglect. And oh, tell it not in Gath, the Church, the ministry, will not deny even their lusts to save a world. Is this Christianity? What business have you to use Christ's money for such a purpose? Are you a steward?

Who gave you this liberty? Look to it, lest it should be found at last, that you have preferred self-gratification to obedience, and made a "God of your belly" (Philippians 3:19).

The time to teach these things with effect is, when the converts are young.

If converts are not properly taught then, if they get a wrong habit, and begin with an easy, self-indulgent mode of living, it rarely happens that they become thoroughly reformed. I have conversed with old professors on these subjects, and have been astonished at their pertinacious obstinacy in indulging their lusts. And I am satisfied that the Church never can rise out of this sloth until young converts are faithfully taught, at the outset of their religious course, to be temperate in all things.

7. They should be taught to have just as much religion in all their business as they have in prayer, or in going to a religious service. They should be just as holy, just as watchful, aim just as singly at the glory of God, be just as sincere and solemn in all their daily employments, as when they come to the Throne of Grace. If they are not, their Sabbath performances will be an abomination.

8. They should be taught that it is necessary for them to be just as holy as they think ministers ought to be. There has for a long time been an idea that ministers are bound to be holy and practice self-denial. And so they are. But it is strange they should suppose that ministers are bound to be any more holy than other people. They would be shocked to see a minister showing levity, or running after the fashions, or getting out of temper, or living in a fine house, or riding in a coach. Oh, that is dreadful!

It does not look well in a minister. Indeed! For a minister's wife to wear such a fine bonnet, or such a silk shawl - oh no, it will never do! But they think nothing of these things in a layman, or a layman's wife! That is no offense at all! I am not saying that these things do look well in a minister; I know they do not. But they look, in God's eyes, just as well in a minister as they do in a layman. You have no more right to indulge in vanity, and folly, and pride, than a minister. Can you go to heaven without being sanctified? Can you be holy without living for God, and doing all that you do to His glory? I have heard professedly good men speak against ministers having large salaries, and living in an expensive style, when they themselves were actually spending a great deal more money for the support of their families than any minister. What would be thought of a minister living in the style in which many professors of religion and elders of Churches are living in this city? Why, everybody would say they were hypocrites. But it is just as much an evidence of hypocrisy in a layman to spend God's money to gratify his lusts, or to please the world, or his family, as it is for a minister to do so.

It is distressing to hear some of our foremost laymen talk of its being dishonorable to religion, to give ministers a large salary, and let them live in an expensive style, when it is a fact that their own expenses are, for the number of their families, and the company they have to receive, far above those of almost any minister. All this arises out of fundamentally wrong notions imbibed while they were young converts. Young converts have been taught to expect that ministers will have all the religion - especially all the self-denial. So long as this continues there can be no hope that the Church will ever do much for the glory of God, or for the conversion of the world. There is nothing of all this in the Bible. Where has God said: "You ministers, love God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength"? Or, "You ministers, do all to the glory of God"? No, these things are said to all alike, and he who attempts to excuse himself from any duty or self-denial, from any watchfulness or sobriety, by putting it off upon ministers, or who ventures to adopt a lower scale of holy living for himself than he thinks is proper for a minister, is in great danger of proving himself a hypocrite, and paying in hell the forfeit of his foolishness.

Much depends on the instructions given to young converts. If they once get into the habit of supposing that they may indulge in things which they would condemn in a minister, it is extremely unlikely that they will ever get out of it.

9. They should aim at being perfect. Every young convert should be taught that if it is not his purpose to live without sin, he has not yet begun to be religious. What is religion but a supreme love to God and a supreme purpose of heart or disposition to obey God? If there is not this, there is no religion at all. It is one thing to profess to be perfect, and another thing to profess and feel you ought to be perfect. It is one thing to say that men ought to be perfect, and can be, if they are so disposed, and another thing to say that they are perfect. If any are prepared to say that they are perfect, all I have to say is: "Let them prove it." If they are so I hope they will show it by their actions, otherwise we can never believe they are perfect.

But it is the duty of all to be perfect, and to purpose entire, perpetual, and universal obedience to God. It should be their constant purpose to live wholly to God, and obey all His commandments. They should live so that if they should sin it would be an inconsistency, an exception, an individual case, in which they act contrary to the fixed and general purpose and tenor of their lives. They ought not to sin at all; they are bound to be as holy as God is; and young converts should be taught to set out in the right course, or they will never be right.

10. They should be taught to exhibit their light. If the young convert does not exhibit his light, and hold it up to the world, it will go out. If he does not bestir himself, and go forth and try to enlighten those around him, his light will go out, and his own soul will soon be in darkness. Sometimes young converts seem disposed to sit still and not do anything in public till they get a great deal of light, or a great deal of religion. But this is not the way. Let the convert use what he has; let him hold up his little twinkling light, boldly and honestly, and then God will make it like a blazing torch. But God will not take the trouble to keep a light burning that is hid.

Why should He? Where is the use?

This is the reason why so many people have so little enjoyment in religion. They do not exert themselves to honor God. They keep what little they do enjoy so entirely to themselves, that there is no good reason why God should bestow blessings and benefits on them.

11. They should be taught how to win souls to Christ. Young converts should be taught particularly what to do to accomplish this, and how to do it; and then taught to live for this end as the great leading object of life.

How strange has been the course sometimes pursued! These persons have been converted, and - there they are. They get into the Church, and then they are left to go along just as they did before; they do nothing, and are taught to do nothing, for Christ; and the only change is that they go more regularly to church on the Sabbath, and let the minister feed them, as it is called. But suppose he does feed them, they do not grow strong, for they cannot digest it, because they take no exercise. They become spiritual dyspeptics. Now, the great object for which Christians are converted and left in this world is, to pull sinners out of the fire. If they do not effect this, they had better be dead. And young converts should be taught this as soon as they are born into the Kingdom. The first thing they do should be to go to work for this end - to save sinners.

II. HOW THE CHURCH SHOULD TREAT YOUNG CONVERTS.

1. Old professors ought to be able to give young converts a great deal of instruction, and they ought to give it. The truth is, however, that the great body of professors in the Churches do not know how to give good instruction to young converts; and, if they attempt to do so, they give only that which is false. The Church ought to be able to teach her children; and when she receives them she ought to be as busy in training them to act, as mothers are in teaching their little children such things as they will need to know and do hereafter. But this is far enough from being the case generally. And we can never expect to see young converts habitually taking right hold of duty, and going straight forward without declension and backsliding, until the time comes when all young converts are intelligently trained by the Church.

2. Young converts should not be kept back behind the rest of the Church.

How often is it found that the old professors will keep the young converts back behind the rest of the Church, and prevent them from taking any active part in religion, for fear they should become spiritually proud.

Young converts in such Churches are rarely or never called on to take a part in meetings, or set to any active duty, or the like, for fear they should become lifted up with spiritual pride. Thus the Church becomes the modest keeper of their humility, and teaches them to file in behind the old, stiff, dry, cold members and elders, for fear that if they should be allowed to do anything for Christ, it will make them proud. Whereas, the very way to make young converts humble and keep them so, is to put them to their work and keep them there. That is the way to keep God with them, and as long as God is with them, He will take care of their humility. Keep them constantly engaged in religion, and then the Spirit of God will dwell in them, and so they will be kept humble by the most effectual process. But if young converts are left to fall in behind the old professors, where they can never do anything, they will never know what spirit they are of, and this is the very way to run them into the danger of falling into the worst species of spiritual pride.

3. They should be watched over by the Church, and warned of their dangers, just as a tender mother watches over her young children. Young converts do not know at all the dangers by which they are surrounded.

The devices of the devil, the temptations of the world, the power of their own passions and habits, and the thousand forms of danger, they do not know; and if not properly watched and warned, they will run right into such dangers. The Church should watch over and care for her young children - just as mothers watch their little children in this great city, lest the carts run over them, or they stray away; or as they watch over them while growing up, for fear they may be drawn into the whirlpools of iniquity. The Church should watch over all the interests of her young members, know where they are, and what are their habits, temptations, dangers, privileges - the state of religion in their hearts, and their spirit of prayer. Look at that anxious mother, when she sees paleness gather round the brow of her little child. "What is the matter with you, my child? Have you eaten something improper? Have you taken cold? What ails you?"

Oh, how different it is with the children of the Church, the lambs that the Savior has committed to the care of His Church! Alas! instead of restraining her children, and taking care of them, the Church lets them go anywhere, and look out for themselves. What should we say of a mother who should knowingly let her children totter along to the edge of a precipice? Should we not say she was horribly guilty for doing so, and that if the child should fall and be killed, its blood would rest on the mother's head? What, then, is the guilt of the Church, in knowingly neglecting her young converts? I have known Churches where young converts were totally neglected, and regarded with suspicion and jealousy; nobody went near them to strengthen or encourage or counsel them; nothing was done to lead them to usefulness, to teach them what to do or how to do it, or to open to them a field of labor. And then - what then?

Why, when they find that young converts cannot stand everything, when they find them growing cold and backward under such treatment, they just turn round and abuse them, for not holding out!

4. Be tender in reproving them. When Christians find it necessary to reprove young converts, they should be exceedingly careful in their manner of doing it. Young converts should be faithfully watched over by the elder members of the Church, and when they begin to lose ground, or to turn aside, they should be promptly admonished, and, if necessary, reproved.

But to do it in a wrong manner is worse than not to do it at all. It is sometimes done in a manner which is abrupt, harsh, and apparently censorious, more like scolding than like brotherly admonition. Such a manner, instead of inspiring confidence, or leading to reformation, is just calculated to harden the heart of the young convert, and confirm him in his wrong courses, while, at the same time, it closes his mind against the influence of such censorious guardians. The heart of a young convert is tender, and easily grieved, and sometimes a single unkind look will set him into such a state of mind as will fasten his errors upon him, and make him grow worse and worse.

You who are parents know how important it is when you reprove your children, that they should see that you do it from the best of motives, for their benefit, because you wish them to be good, and not because you are angry. Otherwise they will soon come to regard you as a tyrant, rather than a friend. Just so with young converts. Kindness and tenderness, even in reproof, will win their confidence, and attach them to you, and give an influence to your brotherly instructions and counsels, so that you can mold them into finished Christians. Instead of this, if you are severe and critical in your manner, that is the way to make them think you wish to Lord it over them. Many persons, under pretense of being faithful, as they call it, often hurt young converts by such a severe and overbearing manner, as to drive them away, or perhaps crush them into despondency and apathy. Young converts have but little experience, and are easily thrown down. They are just like a little child when it first begins to walk. You see it tottering along, and it stumbles over a straw. You see the mother take everything out of the way, when her little one is going to try to walk. Just so with young converts. The Church ought to take up every stumbling block, and treat converts in such a way as to make them see that if they are reproved, Christ is in it. Then they will receive it as it is meant, and it will do them good.

5. Kindly point out things that are fault in the young convert, which he does not see. He is but a child, and knows so little about religion, so that there will be many things that he needs to learn, and a great many that he ought to mend. Whatever there is that is wrong in spirit, unlovely in his deportment, or uncultivated in manner, that will impede his usefulness or impair his influence as a Christian, ought to be kindly pointed out and corrected. To do this in the right way, however, requires great wisdom.

Christians ought to make it a subject of much prayer and reflection, that they may do it in such a way as not to do more hurt than good. If you rebuke him merely for the things that he did not see, or did not know to be improper, it will grieve and disgust him. Such instruction should be carefully timed. Often, it is well to take the opportunity after you have been praying together, or after a kind conversation on religious subjects which has been calculated to make him feel that you love him, seek his good, and earnestly desire to promote his sanctification, his usefulness, and his happiness. Then, a mere hint will often do the work. Just suggest that "Such a thing in your prayer," or "your conduct in so-and-so, did not strike me pleasantly; had you not better think of it, and perhaps you will judge it better to avoid a recurrence of it?" Do it rightly, and you will help him and do him good. Do it in the wrong way, and you will do ten times more hurt than good. Often, young converts will err through ignorance; their judgment is unripe, and they need time to think and make up an enlightened judgment on some point that at first appears to them doubtful.

In such cases the older members should treat them with great kindness and forbearance; should kindly instruct them, and not denounce them at once for not seeing, at first, what perhaps they themselves did not understand until years after they were converted.

6. Do not speak of the faults of young converts behind their backs. This is too common among old professors; and, by and by, the converts hear of it; and what an influence it must exercise to destroy the confidence of young converts in their elder brethren, to grieve their hearts and discourage them, and perhaps to drive them away from the good influence of the Church.

III. SOME OF THE EVILS OF DEFECTIVE INSTRUCTION.

1. If not fully instructed, they will never be fully grounded in right principles. If they have right fundamental principles, this will lead them to adopt a right course of conduct in all particular cases. In forming a Christian character a great deal depends on establishing those fundamental principles which are correct on all subjects. If you look at the Bible, you will see there that God teaches right principles which we can carry out, in detail, in right conduct. If the education of young converts is defective, either in kind or degree, you will see the result in their character all their lives. This is the philosophical result - just what might be expected, and just what will always follow. It could be shown that almost all the practical errors that have prevailed in the Church are the natural results of certain false dogmas which have been taught to young converts, and which they have been made to swallow, as the truth of God, at a time when they were so ignorant as not to know any better.

2. If the instruction given to young converts is not correct and full, they will not grow in grace, but their religion will dwindle away and decay.

Their course, instead of being like the path of the just, growing brighter and brighter unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18), will grow dimmer and dimmer, and finally, perhaps, go out in darkness. Wherever you see young converts let their religion taper off till it comes to nothing, you may understand that it is the natural result of defective instruction. The philosophical result of teaching young converts the truth, and the whole truth, is that they grow stronger and stronger. Truth is the food of the mind - it is what gives the mind strength. And where religious character grows feeble, rely upon it, in nine cases out of ten it is owing to their being neglected, or falsely instructed, when they were young converts.

3. They will be left in doubt, justly, as to whether they are Christians. If their early instruction is false, or defective, there will be so much inconsistency in their lives, and so little evidence of real piety, that they themselves will finally doubt whether they have any. Probably they will live and die in doubt. You cannot make a little evidence go a great way. If they do not see clearly, they will not live consistently; if they do not live consistently, they can have but little evidence; and if they have not evidence, they must doubt, or live in presumption.

4. If young converts are rightly instructed and trained, it will generally be seen that they will take the right side on all great subjects that come before the Church. Subjects are continually coming up before the Churches, on which they have to take ground, and on many matters there is often no little difficulty in making the members take right ground. Take the subject of tracts, or missions, or Sabbath Schools, or temperance, for instance - what cavils, and objections, and resistance, and opposition, have been encountered from members of the Churches in different places. Go through the Churches, and where you find young converts have been well taught, you never find them making difficulty, or raising objections, or putting forth cavils. I do not hesitate to charge it upon pastors and older members of Churches, that there are so many who have to be dragged up to the right ground on all such subjects. If they had been well grounded in the principles of the Gospel at the outset, when they were first converted, they would have seen the application of their principles to all these things.

It is curious to see how ready young converts are to take right ground on any subject that may be proposed. See what they are willing to do for the education of ministers, for missions, moral reform, or for the slaves! If the great body of young converts from the late revivals had been well grounded in Gospel principles, you would have found in them, throughout the Church, but one heart and one soul in regard to every question of duty.

Let their early education be right, and you have got a body of Christians that you can depend on. If it had been general in the Church, how much more strength there would have been in all her great movements for the salvation of the world!

5. If young converts are not well instructed, they will inevitably backslide.

If their instruction is defective, they will probably live in such a way as to disgrace religion. The truth, kept steadily before the mind of a young convert, in proper proportions, has a natural tendency to make him grow "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). If any one point is made too prominent in the instruction given, there will probably be just that disproportion in his character. If he is fully instructed on some points and not on others, you will find a corresponding defect in his life and character.

If the instruction of young converts is greatly defective, they will press on in religion no farther than they are strongly propelled by the first emotions of their conversion. As soon as that is spent they will come to a stand, and then they will decline and backslide. And ever after you will find that they will go forward only when aroused by some powerful excitement. These are your "periodical" Christians, who are so apt to wake up in a time of revival, and bluster about as if they had the zeal of angels, for a few days, and then die away as dead and cold as a northern winter. Oh, how desirable, how infinitely important it is, that young converts should be so taught that their religion will not depend on impulses and excitements, but that they will go steadily onward in the Christian course, advancing from. strength to strength, and giving forth a clear and safe and steady light all around.

REMARKS.

1. The Church is verily guilty for her past neglect, in regard to the instruction of young converts.

Instead of bringing up their young converts to be working Christians, the Churches have generally acted as if they did not know how to employ young converts, or what use to make of them. They have acted like a mother who has a great family of daughters, but knows not how to set them to work, and so suffers them to grow up idle and untaught, useless and despised, and to be the easy prey of every designing villain.

If the Church had only done her duty in training up young converts to work and labor for Christ, the world would have been converted long ago.

But instead of this, how many Churches actually oppose young converts who attempt to set themselves to work for Christ. Multitudes of old professors look with suspicion upon every movement of young converts, and talk against them, saying: "They are too forward, they ought not to put themselves forward, but wait for those who are older." There is waiting again! Instead of bidding young converts "Godspeed," and cheering them on, very often they hinder them, and perhaps put them down. How often have young converts been stopped from going forward, and turned into rank behind a formal, lazy, inefficient Church, till their spirit has been crushed, and their zeal extinguished; so that after a few ineffectual struggles to throw off the cords, they have concluded to sit down with the rest, and WAIT. In many places young converts cannot even attempt to hold a prayer meeting by themselves, without being rebuked by the pastor, or by some deacon, for being so forward, and upbraided with spiritual pride. "Oho," it is said, "you are young converts, are you? And so you want to get together, and call all the neighbors together to look at you, because you are young converts. You had better turn preachers at once!" A celebrated Doctor of Divinity in New England boasted, at a public table, of his success in keeping all his converts still. He had great difficulty, he said, for they were in a terrible fever to do something, to talk, or pray, or get up meetings, but by the greatest vigilance he had kept it all down, and now his Church was just as quiet as it was before the revival. Wonderful achievement for a minister of Jesus Christ! Was that what the blessed Savior meant when he told Peter: "Feed My lambs"?

2. Young converts should be trained to labor just as carefully as young recruits in an army are trained for war. Suppose a captain in the army should get his company enlisted, and then take no more pains to teach and train, and discipline them, than are taken by many pastors to train and lead forward their young converts. Why, the enemy would laugh at such an army. Call them soldiers! Why, as to any effective service, they would not know what to do nor how to do it, and if you brought them up to the CHARGE, how would they fare? Such an army would resemble the Church that does not train her young converts. Instead of being trained to stand shoulder to shoulder in the onset, they feel no practical confidence in their leaders, no confidence in their neighbors, and no confidence in themselves; hence they scatter at the first shock of battle. Look at the Church now. Ministers are not agreed as to what shall be done, and many of them will fight against their brethren, quarreling about "new measures," or something. As to the members, they cannot feel confidence when they see the leaders so divided. And then if they attempt to do anything - alas! what ignorance, what awkwardness, what discord, what weakness we see, and what miserable work they make of it! And so it must continue, until the Church shall train up young converts to be intelligent, single-hearted, self-denying, working Christians. Here is an enterprise now going on in this city, which I rejoice to see. I mean the tract enterprise - a blessed work. And the plan is to train up a body of devoted Christians to do - what? Why, to do what all the Church ought to have been trained to do long ago: to know how to pray, and how to converse with people about salvation, and how to act in anxious meetings, and how to deal with inquirers, and how to SAVE SOULS.

3. The Church has entirely mistaken the manner in which she is to be sanctified. The experiment has been carried on long enough, of trying to sanctify the Church, without finding anything for the members to do. But holiness consists in obeying God, and sanctification, as a process, means obeying Him more and more perfectly. And the way to promote it in the Church, is to give every one something to do. Look at these great Churches, where they have five hundred or seven hundred members, and have a minister to feed them from Sabbath to Sabbath, while there are so many of them together that the greater part have nothing at all to do, and are never trained to make any direct efforts for the salvation of souls. And in that way they are expecting to be sanctified and prepared for heaven!

They never will be sanctified so. That is not the way God has appointed. Jesus Christ has made His people co-workers with Him in saving sinners, for this very reason, because sanctification consists in doing those things which are required to promote this work. This is one reason why He has not employed angels in the work, or carried it on by direct revelation of truth to the minds of men. It is because it is necessary as a means of sanctification, that the Church should sympathize with Christ in His feelings and His labors for the conversion of sinners. And in this way the entire Church must move, before the world will be converted. When the day comes that the whole body of professing Christians shall realize that they are here on earth as a body of missionaries, and when they shall live and labor accordingly, then will the day of man's redemption draw nigh.

Christian, if you cannot go abroad to labor, why are you not a missionary in your own family? If you are too feeble even to leave your room, be a missionary there in your bedchamber. How many unconverted servants have you in your house? Call in your unconverted servants, and your unconverted children, and be a missionary to them. Think of your physician, who, perhaps, is laying himself out to save your body; think that you receive his kindness and never make him the greatest return in your power.

It is necessary that the Church should take hold of her young converts at the outset, and set them to work in the right way. The hope of the Church is in the young converts.

4. We see what a responsibility rests on ministers and elders, and on all who have opportunity to assist in training young converts. How distressing is the picture which often forces itself upon the mind, where multitudes are converted, and yet so little pains are taken with young converts, that in a single year you cannot tell the young converts from the rest of the Church. And then we see the old Church members turn round and complain of these young converts, and perhaps slander them, when in truth these old professors themselves are most to blame - oh, it is too bad! This reaction that people talk so much about after a revival, as if reaction was the necessary effect of a revival, would never come, and young converts never would backslide as they do, if the Church would be prompt and faithful in attending to their instruction. If they are truly converted, they can be made thorough and energetic Christians. And if they are not made such, Jesus Christ will require it at the hands of the Church.

Lecture 21: The Backslider In Heart

The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways. - Proverbs 14:14.

I cannot conclude this course of lectures, without warning converts against backsliding. In discussing this subject, I will show:

I. What backsliding in heart is not.

II. What backsliding in heart is.

III. What are evidences of backsliding in heart.

IV. What are consequences of backsliding in heart.

V. How to recover from this state.

I. WHAT A BACKSLIDING HEART IS NOT.

1. It does not consist in the subsidence of highly excited religious emotions. The subsidence of religious feeling may be an evidence of a backslidden heart, but it does not consist in the cooling off of religious feeling.

II. WHAT BACKSLIDING IN HEART IS.

1. It consists in taking back that consecration to God and His service, that constitutes true conversion.

2. It is the leaving, by a Christian, of his first love.

3. It consists in the Christian withdrawing himself from that state of entire and universal devotion to God, which constitutes true religion, and coming again under the control of a self-pleasing spirit.

4. The text implies that there may be a backslidden heart, when the forms of religion and obedience to God are maintained. As we know from consciousness that men perform the same, or similar, acts from widely different, and often from opposite, motives, we are certain that men may keep up all the outward forms and appearances of religion, when in fact, they are backslidden in heart. No doubt the most intense selfishness often takes on a religious type, and there are many considerations that might lead a backslider in heart to keep up the forms, while he had lost the power of godliness in his soul.

III. WHAT ARE EVIDENCES OF A BACKSLIDDEN HEART.

1. Manifest formality in religious exercises. A stereotyped, formal way of saying and doing things, that is clearly the result of habit, rather than the outgushing of the religious life. This formality will be emotionless and cold as an iceberg, and will evince a total want of earnestness in the performance of religious duty. In prayer and in religious exercises the backslider in heart will pray or praise, or confess, or give thanks with his lips, so that all can hear him, perhaps, but in such a way that no one can feel him. Such a formality would be impossible where there existed a present, living faith and love, and religious zeal.

2. A want of religious enjoyment is evidence of a backslidden heart. We always enjoy the saying and doing of those things that please those whom we most love; furthermore, when the heart is not backslidden, communion with God is kept up, and therefore all religious duties are not only performed with pleasure, but the communion with God involved in them is a source of rich and continual enjoyment. If we do not enjoy the service of God, it is because we do not truly serve Him. If we love Him supremely, it is impossible that we should not enjoy His service at every step. Always remember then, whenever you lose your religious enjoyment, or the enjoyment of serving God, you may know that you are not serving Him aright.

3. Religious bondage is another evidence of a backslidden heart. God has no slaves. He does not accept the service of bondsmen, who serve Him because they must. He accepts none but a love service. A backslider in heart finds his religious duties a burden to him. He has promised to serve the Lord. He dare not wholly break off from the form of service, and he tries to be dutiful, while he has no heart in prayer, in praise, in worship, or in any of those exercises which are so spontaneous and delightful, where there is true love to God. The backslider in heart is often like a dutiful, but unloving wife. She tries to do her duty to her husband, but fails utterly because she does not love him. Her painstaking to please her husband is constrained, not the spontaneous outburst of a loving heart; and her relationship and her duties become the burden of her life. She goes about complaining of the weight of care that is upon her, and will not be likely to advise young ladies to marry. She is committed for life, and must therefore perform the duties of married life, but it is such a bondage! Just so with religious bondage. The professor must perform his duty. He drags painfully about it, and you will hear him naturally sing backslider's hymns:

Reason I hear, her counsels weigh, And all her words approve And yet I find it hard to obey, And harder still, to love.

4. An ungoverned temper. While the heart is full of love, the temper will naturally be chastened and sweet, or at any rate, the will keep it under, and not suffer it to break out in outrageous abuse, or if at any time it should so far escape from the control of the will as to break loose in hateful words, it will soon be brought under, and by no means suffered to take control and manifest itself to the annoyance of others. Especially will a loving heart confess and break down, if at any time bad temper gets the control.

Whenever, therefore, there is an irritable, uncontrolled temper allowed to manifest itself to those around, you may know there is a backslidden heart.

5. A spirit of uncharitableness is evidence of a backslidden heart. By this, I mean a want of that disposition that puts the best construction upon every one's conduct that can be reasonable - a want of confidence in the good intentions and professions of others. We naturally credit the good professions of those whom we love. We naturally attribute to them right motives, and put the best allowable construction upon their words and deeds. Where there is a want of this there is evidence conclusive of a backslidden or unloving heart.

6. A censorious spirit is conclusive evidence of a backslidden heart. This is a spirit of fault-finding, of impugning the motives of others, when their conduct admits of a charitable construction. It is a disposition to fasten blame upon others, and judge them harshly. It is a spirit of distrust of Christian character and profession. It is a state of mind that reveals itself in harsh judgments, harsh sayings, and the manifestation of uncomfortable feelings toward individuals. This state of mind is entirely incompatible with a loving heart, and whenever a censorious spirit is manifested by a professor of religion, you may know there is a backslidden heart.

7. A want of interest in God's Word, is also an evidence of a backslidden heart. Perhaps nothing more conclusively proves that a professor has a backslidden heart, than his losing his interest in the Bible. While the heart is full of love, no book in the world is so precious as the Bible. But when the love. is gone, the Bible becomes not only uninteresting but often repulsive. There is no faith to accept its promises, but conviction enough left to dread its threatening. But in general the backslider in heart is apathetic as to the Bible. He does not read it much, and when he does read it, he has not interest enough to understand it. Its pages become dark and uninteresting, and therefore it is neglected.

8. A want of interest in secret prayer is also an evidence of a backslidden heart. Young Christian, if you find yourself losing your interest in the Bible and in secret prayer, stop short, return to God, and give yourself no rest, till you enjoy the light of His countenance. If you feel disinclined to pray, or to read your Bible; if when you pray and read your Bible, you have no heart; if you are inclined to make your secret devotions short, or are easily induced to neglect them; or if your thoughts, affections, and emotions wander, you may know that you are a backslider in heart, and your first business is to be broken down before God, and to see that your love and zeal are renewed.

9. A want of interest in the conversion of souls and in efforts to promote revivals of religion. This of course reveals a backslidden heart. There is nothing in which a loving heart takes more interest than in the conversion of souls - in revivals of religion, and in efforts to promote them.

10. A want of interest in published accounts or narratives of revivals of religion, is also an evidence of a backslidden heart. While one retains his interest in the conversion of souls, and in revivals of religion he will, of course, be interested in all accounts of revivals of religion anywhere. If you find yourself, therefore, disinclined to read such accounts, or find yourself not interested in them, take it for granted that you are backslidden in heart.

11. The same is true of missions, and missionary work and operations. If you lose your interest in the work, and in the conversion of the heathen, and do not delight to read and hear of the success of missions, you may know that you are backslidden in heart.

12. The loss of interest in benevolent enterprises generally is an evidence of a backslidden heart. I say, "the loss of interest," for surely, if you were ever converted to Christ, you have had an interest in all benevolent enterprises that came within your knowledge. Religion consists in disinterested benevolence. Of course, a converted soul takes the deepest interest in all benevolent efforts to reform and save mankind; in good government, in Christian education, in the cause of temperance, in the abolition of slavery, in provision for the needs of the poor, and in short, in every good word and work. Just in proportion as you have lost your interest in these, you have evidence that you are backslidden in heart.

13. The loss of interest in truly spiritual conversation is another evidence of a backslidden heart. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34). This our Lord Jesus Christ announced as a law of our nature. No conversation is so sweet to a truly loving heart, as that which relates to Christ, and to our living Christian experience. If you find yourself losing interest in conversing on heart religion, and of the various and wonderful experiences of Christians, if you have known what the true love of God is, you have fallen from it, and are a backslider in heart.

14. A loss of interest in the conversation and society of highly spiritual people, is an evidence of a backslidden heart. We take the greatest delight in the society of those who are most interested in the things that are most dear to us. Hence, a loving Christian heart will always seek the society of those who are most spiritually minded, and whose conversation is most evangelical and spiritual. If you find yourself wanting in this respect, then know for certain that you are backslidden in heart.

15. The loss of interest in the question of sanctification is an evidence of a backslidden heart. I say again, the loss of interest, for, if you ever truly knew the love of God, you must have had a great interest in the question of entire consecration to God, or of entire sanctification. If you are a Christian, you have felt that sin was an abomination to your soul. You have had inexpressible longings to be rid of it forever, and everything that could throw light upon that question of agonizing importance was most intensely interesting to you. If this question has been dismissed, and you no longer take an interest in it, it is because you are backslidden in heart.

16. The loss of interest in those newly converted, is also an evidence of a backslidden heart. The Psalmist says: "They that fear Thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in Thy word" (Psalm 119:74).

This he puts into the mouth of a convert, and who does not know that this is true? There is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth, and is there not joy among the saints on earth, over those that come to Christ, and are as babes newly born into the Kingdom? Show me a professor of religion who does not manifest an absorbing interest in converts to Christ, and I will show you a backslider in heart, and a hypocrite; he professes religion, but has none.

17. An uncharitable state of mind in regard to professed converts, is also an evidence of a backslidden heart. Charity, or love, "believeth all things, hopeth all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7), is very ready to judge kindly and favorably of those who profess to be converted to Christ, and will naturally watch over them with interest, pray for them, instruct them, and have as much confidence in them as it is reasonable to have. A disposition, therefore, to pick at, criticize, and censure them, is an evidence of a backslidden heart.

18. The want of the spirit of prayer is evidence of a backslidden heart.

While the love of Christ remains fresh in the soul, the indwelling Spirit of God will reveal Himself as the Spirit of grace and supplication. He will beget strong desires in the soul for the salvation of sinners and the sanctification of saints. He will often make intercessions in them, with great longings, strong crying and tears, and with groanings that cannot he uttered in words, for those things that are according to the will of God. Or, to express it in Scripture language, according to Paul: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26, 27). If the spirit of prayer departs, it is a sure indication of a backslidden heart, for while the first love of a Christian continues he is sure to be drawn by the Holy Spirit to wrestle much in prayer.

19. A backslidden heart often reveals itself by the manner in which people pray. For example, praying as if in a state of self-condemnation, or very much like a convicted sinner, is an evidence of a backslidden heart. Such a person will reveal the fact, that he is not at peace with God. His confessions and self-accusations will show to others what perhaps he does not well understand himself. His manner of praying will reveal the fact that he has not communion with God; that instead of being filled with faith and love, he is more or less convicted of sin, and conscious that he is not in a state of acceptance with God. He will naturally pray more like a convicted sinner than like a Christian. It will be seen by his prayer that he is not in a state of Christian liberty - that he is having a Seventh of Romans experience, instead of that which is described in the Eighth.

20. A backslidden heart will further reveal itself in praying almost exclusively for self, and for those friends that are regarded almost as parts of self. It is often very striking and even shocking to attend a backsliders' prayer meeting, and I am very sorry to say that many prayer meetings of the Church are little else. Their prayers are timid and hesitating, and reveal the fact that they have little or no faith. Instead of surrounding the Throne of Grace and pouring their hearts out for a blessing on those around them, they have to be urged up to duty, to "take up their cross." Their hearts do not, will not, spontaneously gush out to God in prayer. They have very little concern for others, and when they do, as they say, "take up their cross and do their duty," and pretend to lead in prayer, it will be observed that they pray just like a company of convicted sinners, almost altogether for themselves. They will pray for that which, should they obtain it, would be religion, just as a convicted sinner would pray for a new heart; and the fact that they pray for religion as they do, manifests that they have none, in their present state of mind. Ask them to pray for the conversion of sinners, and they will either wholly forget to do so, or just mention sinners in such a way as will show that they have no heart to pray for them.

I have known professed Christian parents to get into such a state that they had no heart to pray for the conversion of their own children, even when those children were under conviction. They would keep up family prayer, and attend a weekly prayer meeting, but would never get out of the rut of praying round and round for themselves. A few years since I was laboring in a revival in a Presbyterian Church. At the close of the evening sermon I found that the daughter of one of the elders of the Church was in great distress of mind. I observed that her convictions were very deep. We had been holding a meeting with inquirers in the vestry, and I had just dismissed the inquirers, when this young lady came to me in great agitation and begged me to pray for her. The people had mostly gone, except a few who were waiting in the body of the church for those friends who had attended the meeting of inquiry. I called the father of this young lady into the vestry that he might see the very anxious state of his daughter's mind.

After a short personal conversation with her in the presence of her father, I called on him to pray for her, and said that I would follow him, and I urged her to give her heart to Christ. We all knelt, and he went through with his prayer, kneeling by the side of his sobbing daughter, without ever mentioning her case. His prayer revealed that he had no more religion than she had, and that he was very much in her state of mind - under an awful sense of condemnation. He had kept up the appearance of religion. As an elder of the Church, he was obliged to keep up appearances. He had gone round and round upon the treadmill of his duties, while his heart was utterly backslidden. It is often almost nauseating to attend a prayer meeting of the backslidden in heart. They will go round, round, one after the other, in reality praying for their own conversion. They do not so express it, but that is the real import of their prayer. They could not render it more evident that they are backsliders in heart.

21. Absence from stated prayer meetings for slight reasons, is a sure indication of a backslidden heart. No meeting is more interesting to Christians than the prayer meeting, and while they have any heart to pray, they will not be absent from prayer meeting unless prevented from attending by the providence of God. If a call from a friend at the hour of meeting can prevent their attendance, unless the call is made under very peculiar circumstances, it is strong evidence that they do not wish to attend, and hence, that they are backsliders in heart. A call at such a time would not prevent their attending a wedding, a party, a picnic, or an amusing lecture. The fact is, it is hypocrisy for them to pretend that they really want to go, while they can be kept away for slight reasons.

22. The same is true of the neglect of family prayer, for slight reasons.

While the heart is engaged in religion, Christians will not readily omit family devotions, and whenever they are ready to find an excuse for the omission, it is a sure evidence that they are backslidden in heart.

23. When secret prayer is regarded more as a duty than as a privilege, it is because the heart is backslidden. It has always appeared to me almost ridiculous, to hear Christians speak of prayer as a "duty." It is one of the greatest of earthly privileges. What should we think of a child coming to its parent for its dinner, not because it is hungry, but as a duty. How would it strike us to hear a beggar speak of the "duty" of asking alms of us. It is an infinite privilege to be allowed to come to God, and ask for the supply of all our wants. But to pray because we must, rather than because we may, seems unnatural. To ask for what we want, and because we want it, and because God has encouraged us to ask, and has promised to answer our request, is natural and reasonable. But to pray as a duty and as if we were obliging God by our prayer, is quite ridiculous, and is a certain indication of a backslidden heart.

24. Pleading for worldly amusements is also an indication of a backslidden heart. The most grateful amusements possible, to a truly spiritual mind, are those engagements that bring the soul into the most direct communion with God. While the heart is full of love and faith, an hour, or an evening, spent alone in communion with God, is more delightful than all the amusements which the world can offer. A loving heart is jealous of everything that will break up or interfere with its communion with God.

For mere worldly amusements it has no relish. When the soul does not find more delight in God than in all worldly things, the heart is sadly backslidden.

25. Spiritual blindness is another evidence of a backslidden heart. While the eye is single the whole body will be full of spiritual light, but if the eye be evil (which means a backslidden heart) the whole body will be full of darkness.

Spiritual blindness reveals itself in a want of interest in God's Word, and in religious truth generally. It will also manifest a want of spiritual discrimination, and will be easily imposed upon by the insinuations of Satan. A backslidden heart will lead to the adoption of lax principles of morality. It does not discern the spirituality of God's law, and of His requirements generally. When this spiritual blindness is manifest it is a sure indication that the heart is backslidden.

26. Religious apathy, with worldly wakefulness and sensibility, is a sure indication of a backslidden heart. We sometimes see persons who feel deeply and quickly on worldly subjects, but who cannot be made to feel deeply on religious subjects. This clearly indicates a backslidden state of mind.

27. A self-indulgent spirit is a sure indication of a backslidden heart. By self-indulgence, I mean a disposition to gratify the appetites, passions, and propensities, to "fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (Ephesians 2:3).

This, in the Bible, is represented as a state of spiritual death. I am satisfied that the most common occasion of backsliding in heart is to be found in the clamor for indulgence of the various appetites and propensities. The appetite for food is frequently, and perhaps more frequently than any other, the occasion of backsliding. Few Christians, I fear, apprehend any danger in this direction. God's injunction is: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). Christians forget this, and eat and drink to please themselves, consulting their appetites instead of the laws of life and health. More persons are ensnared by their tables than the Church is aware of. The table is a snare of death to multitudes that no man can number. A great many people who avoid alcoholic drinks altogether, will indulge in tea and coffee, and even tobacco, and in food that, both in quantity and quality, violates every law of health. They seem to have no other law than that of appetite, and this they so deprave by abuse that, to indulge it, is to ruin body and soul together. Show me a gluttonous professor, and I will show you a backslider.

28. A seared conscience is also an evidence of a backslidden heart. While the soul is wakeful and loving, the conscience is as tender as the apple of the eye. But when the heart is backslidden, the conscience is silent and seared, on many subjects. Such a person will tell you that he is not violating his conscience, in eating or drinking, or in self-indulgence of any kind. You will find a backslider has but little conscience. The same will very generally be true in regard to sins of omission. Multitudes of duties may be neglected and a seared conscience will remain silent. Where conscience is not awake, the heart is surely backslidden.

29. Loose moral principles are a sure indication of a backslidden heart. A backslider in heart will write letters on the Sabbath, engage in secular reading, and in much worldly conversation. In business, such a person will take little advantages, play off business tricks, and conform to the habits of worldly business men in the transaction of business; he will be guilty of deception and misrepresentation in making bargains, will demand exorbitant interest, and take advantage of the necessities of his fellow-men.

30. Prevalence of the fear of man is an evidence of a backslidden heart.

While the heart is full of the love of God, God is feared, and not man. A desire for the applause of men is kept down, and it is enough to please God, whether men are pleased or displeased. But when the love of God is abated, "the fear of man," that "bringeth a snare" (Proverbs 29:25), gets possession of the backslider. To please man rather than God, is then his aim. In such a state he will sooner offend God than man.

31. A sticklish ness about forms, ceremonies, and nonessentials, gives evidence of a backslidden heart. A loving heart is particular only about the substance and power of religion, and will not stickle about its forms.

32. A captiousness about measures in promoting revivals of religion, is a sure evidence of a backslidden heart. Where the heart is fully set upon the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of believers, it will naturally approach the subject in the most direct manner, and by means in the highest degree calculated to accomplish the end. It will not object to, nor stumble at, measures that are evidently blessed of God, but will exert the utmost sagacity in devising the most suitable means to accomplish the great end on which the heart is set.

IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF BACKSLIDING IN HEART.

The text says, that "the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways."

1. He shall be filled with his own works. But these are dead works, they are not works of faith and love, which are acceptable to God, but are the filthy rags of his own righteousness. If they are performed as religious services, they are but loathsome hypocrisy, and an abomination to God; there is no heart in them. To such a person God says: "Who hath required this at your hand?" (Isaiah 1:12). "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). "I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you" (John 5:42).

2. He shall be filled with his own feelings. Instead of that sweet peace and rest, and joy in the Holy Ghost, that he once experienced, he will find himself in a state of unrest, dissatisfied with himself and everybody else, his feelings often painful, humiliating, and as unpleasant and unlovely as can be well conceived. It is often very trying to live with backsliders. They are often peevish, censorious, and irritating, in all their ways. They have forsaken God, and in their feelings there is more of hell than of heaven.

3. They will be filled with their own prejudices. Their willingness to know and do the truth has gone. They will very naturally commit themselves against any truth that bears hardly upon a self-indulgent spirit. They will endeavor to justify themselves, will neither read nor hear that which will rebuke their backslidden state, and they will become deeply prejudiced against every one that shall cross their path, who shall reprove them, accounting him as an enemy. They hedge themselves in, and shut their eyes against the light; stand on the defensive, and criticize everything that would search them out.

4. A backslider in heart will be filled with his own enmities. He will chafe in almost every relation of life, will allow himself to be vexed, and to get into such relations with some persons, and perhaps with many, that he cannot pray for them honestly, and can hardly treat them with common civility. This is an almost certain result of a backslidden heart.

5. The backslider in heart will be full of his own mistakes. He is not walking with God. He has fallen out of the Divine order. He is not led by the Spirit, but is walking in spiritual darkness. In this state he is sure to fall into many and grievous mistakes, and may get entangled in such a way as to mar his happiness, and, perhaps, destroy his usefulness for life.

Mistakes in business, mistakes in forming new relations in life, mistakes in using his time, his tongue, his money, his influence; indeed, all will go wrong with him as long as he remains in a backslidden state.

6. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own lustings. His appetites and passions, which had been kept under, have now resumed their control, and having been so long suppressed, they will seem to avenge themselves by becoming more clamorous and despotic than ever.

The animal appetites and passions will burst forth, to the astonishment of the backslider, and he will probably find himself more under their influence and more enslaved by them than ever before.

7. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own words. While in that state, he will not, and cannot, control his tongue. It will prove itself to be an unruly member, full of deadly poison. By his words he will involve himself in many difficulties and perplexities, from which he can never extricate himself until he comes back to God.

8. He will be full of his own trials. Instead of keeping out of temptation, he will run right into it. He will bring upon himself multitudes of trials that he never would have had, had he not departed from God. He will complain of his trials, but yet will constantly multiply them. A backslider feels his trials keenly, but, while he complains of being so tried by everything around him, he is constantly aggravating them, and, being the author of them, he seems industrious to bring them upon himself like an avalanche.

9. The backslider in heart shall be full of his own folly. Having rejected the Divine guidance, he will evidently fall into the depths of his own foolishness. He will inevitably say and do multitudes of foolish and ridiculous things. Being a professor of religion, these things will be all the more noticed, and of course bring him all the more into ridicule and contempt. A backslider is, indeed, the most foolish person in the world.

Having experimental knowledge of the true way of life, he has the infinite folly to abandon it. Knowing the fountain of living waters, he has forsaken it, and "hewed out to himself cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). Having been guilty of this infinite folly, the whole course of his backslidden life must be that of a fool, in the Bible sense of the term.

10. The backslider in heart will be full of his own troubles. God is against him, and he is against himself. He is not at peace with God, with himself, with the Church, nor with the world. He has no inward rest. Conscience condemns him. God condemns him. All that know his state condemn him.

"There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:21). There is no position in time or space in which he can be at rest.

11. The backslider in heart will be full of his own cares. He has turned back to selfishness. He counts himself and his possessions as his own. He has everything to care for. He will not hold himself and his possessions as belonging to God, and lay aside the responsibility of taking care of himself and all that he possesses. He does not, will not, cast his cares upon the Lord, but undertakes to manage everything for himself, and in his own wisdom, and for his own ends. Consequently, his cares will be multiplied, and come upon him like a deluge.

12. The backslider in heart will be full of his own perplexities. Having forsaken God, having fallen into the darkness of his own folly, he will be filled with perplexities and doubts in regard to what course he shall pursue to accomplish his selfish ends. He is not walking with, but contrary to God. Hence, the providence of God will constantly cross his path, and baffle all his schemes. God will frown darkness upon his path, and take pains to confound his projects, and blow his schemes to the winds.

13. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own anxieties. He will be anxious about himself, about his business, about his reputation, about everything. He has taken all these things out of the hands of God, and claims them and treats them as his own. Hence, having faith in God no longer, and being unable to control events, he must of necessity be filled with anxieties with regard to the future. These anxieties are the inevitable result of his madness and folly in forsaking God.

14. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own disappointments.

Having forsaken God, and taken the attitude of self-will, God will inevitably disappoint him as he pursues his selfish ends. He will frame his ways to please himself, without consulting God. Of course God will frame his ways so as to disappoint him. Determined to have his own way, he will be greatly disappointed if his plans are frustrated; yet the certain course of events under the government of God must of necessity bring him a series of disappointments.

15. The backslider in heart must be full of his own losses. He regards his possessions as his own, his time as his own, his influence as his own, his reputation as his own. The loss of any of these, he accounts as his own loss. Having forsaken God, and being unable to control the events upon which the continuance of those things is conditioned, he will find himself suffering losses on every side. He loses his peace. He loses his property.

He loses much of his time. He loses his Christian reputation. He loses his Christian influence, and if he persists he loses his soul.

16. The backslider in heart will be full of his own crosses. All religious duty will be irksome, and, therefore, a cross to him. His state of mind will make multitudes of things crosses that in a Christian state of mind would have been pleasant in a high degree. Having lost all heart in religion, the performance of all religious duty is a cross to his feelings. There is no help for him, unless he returns to God. The whole course of Divine providence will run across his path, and his whole life will be a series of crosses and trials. He cannot have his own way. He cannot gratify himself by accomplishing his own wishes and desires. He may beat and dash himself against the everlasting rocks of God's will and God's way, but break through and carry all before him he cannot. He must be crossed and recrossed, and crossed again, until he will fall into the Divine order, and sink into the will of God.

17. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own tempers. Having forsaken God, he will be sure to have much to irritate him. In a backslidden state, he cannot possess his soul in patience. The vexations of his backslidden life will make him nervous and irritable; his temper will become explosive and uncontrollable.

18. The backslider in heart will be full of his own disgraces. He is a professor of religion. The eyes of the world are upon him, and all his inconsistencies, worldly-mindedness, follies, bad tempers, and hateful words and deeds, disgrace him in the estimation of all men who know him.

19. The backslider in heart will be full of his own delusions. Having an evil eye, his whole body will be full of darkness. He will almost certainly fall into delusions in regard to doctrines and in regard to practices. Wandering on in darkness, as he does, he will, very likely, swallow the grossest delusions. Spiritism, Mormonism, Universalism, and every other ism that is wide from the truth, will be very likely to gain possession of him. Who has not observed this of backsliders in heart?

20. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own bondage. His profession of religion brings him into bondage to the Church. He has no heart to consult the interests of the Church, or to labor for its up-building, and yet he is under covenant obligation to do so, and his reputation is at stake. He must do something to sustain religious institutions, but to do so is a bondage. If he does it, it is because he must, and not because he may.

Again, he is in bondage to God. If he performs any duty that he calls religious, it is rather as a slave than as a freeman. He serves from fear or hope, just like a slave, and not from love. A gain, he is in bondage to his own conscience. To avoid conviction and remorse, he will do or omit many things, but it is all with reluctance, and not at all of his own cordial goodwill.

21. The backslider in heart is full of his own self condemnation. Having enjoyed the love of God, and forsaken Him, he feels condemned for everything. If he attempts religious duty, he knows there is no heart in it, and hence condemns himself. If he neglects religious duty, he of course condemns himself. If he reads his Bible, it condemns him. If he does not read it, he feels condemned. If he goes to religious meetings, they condemn him; and if he stays away, he is condemned also. If he prays in secret, in his family, or in public, he knows he is not sincere, and feels condemned.

If he neglects or refuses to pray, he feels condemned. Everything condemns him. His conscience is up in arms against him, and the thunders and lightnings of condemnation follow him, whithersoever he goes.

V. HOW TO RECOVER FROM A STATE OF BACKSLIDING.

1. Remember whence you are fallen. Take up the question at once, and deliberately contrast your present state with that in which you walked with God.

2. Take home the conviction of your true position. No longer delay to understand the exact situation between God and your soul.

3. Repent at once, and do your first works over again.

4. Do not attempt to get back, by reforming your mere outside conduct.

Begin with your heart, and at once set yourself right with God.

5. Do not act like a more convicted sinner, and attempt to recommend yourself to God by any impenitent works or prayers. Do not think that you must "reform, and make yourself better" before you can come to Christ, but understand distinctly, that coming to Christ, alone, can make you better. However much distressed you may feel, know for a certainty that until you repent and accept His will, unconditionally, you are no better, but are constantly growing worse. Until you throw yourself upon His sovereign mercy, and thus return to God, He will accept nothing at your hands.

6. Do not imagine yourself to be in a justified state, for you know you are not. Your conscience condemns you, and you know that God ought to condemn you, and if He justified you in your present state, your conscience could not justify Him. Come, then, to Christ at once, like a guilty, condemned sinner, as you are; own up, and take all the shame and blame to yourself, and believe that notwithstanding all your wanderings from God, He loves you still - that He has loved you with an everlasting love, and, therefore, with loving-kindness is drawing you.

Lecture 22: Growth In Grace

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.- 2 Peter 3:18.

I MUST conclude this Course of Lectures by giving converts instructions on the subject of Growth in Grace. I shall pursue the following method, showing:

I. What grace is, as the term is here used.

II. What the injunction to "grow in grace" does not mean.

III. What it does mean.

IV. The conditions of growth in grace.

V. What is not proof of growth in grace.

VI. What is proof of growth in grace.

VII. How to grow in grace.

I. WHAT GRACE IS.

Grace is favor. The word is often used in the Bible to signify a free gift.

The grace of God is the favor of God.

II. WHAT TO "GROW IN GRACE" DOES NOT MEAN.

It does not enjoin the gradual giving up of sin. Strange to tell, it would seem that some have so understood it; but we are nowhere in the Bible commanded to give up sin gradually, we are everywhere commanded to give it up instantly and wholly.

III. WHAT IT DOES MEAN.

It enjoins upon us the duty of growing in the favor of God, of growing in His esteem - in a worthiness of His favor.

IV. CONDITIONS OF GROWTH IN GRACE.

1. Growth or increase in anything implies a beginning. Growth in the favor of God implies that we have already found favor in His sight, that we are already indebted for grace received, and that we are already in grace, in the sense of having a place among His favored ones.

2. Consequently, growth in grace implies that we have already repented of our sin, have actually and practically abandoned all known sin. It cannot be that we are in favor with God if we are still indulging in known sin against Him. Being in favor with God implies, of course, that we are pardoned and favored by Him, for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Pardon is favor, and implies the renunciation of rebellion against God. The conditions of the Divine favor, as revealed in the Bible, are repentance and abandonment of all known sin, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I said, as a condition of growth in grace we must have the commencement of grace; in other words, we must be already Christians, must be in a state of acceptance with God, must have accepted Christ, so far as He is understood, must be in a state of obedience to all the recognized will of God. Without this, we cannot be in a state of grace, or in the favor of God. But being in this state, there is room for everlasting growth. As we know more of God, we shall be capable of loving Him more, of having a more universal and implicit confidence in Him. And there can be no end to this while we have any being, either in this or any other world. Our love and confidence in Him may be complete, so far as we know Him. This love and confidence will secure His favor; but there will be no end to our growth in knowledge of Him, and, consequently, there is room for eternal growth in grace. The more we love God, the more we believe, the more we know of Him, if we conform to this knowledge, the more God must be pleased with us, the higher shall we stand in His favor, and more and greater gifts He will continue to bestow upon us.

3. Of course, growth in the knowledge of God is a condition of growth in His favor. We might grow in knowledge, without growing in His favor, because we might not love and trust Him in accordance with this increased knowledge. But we cannot love and trust Him more perfectly, unless we become more perfectly acquainted with Him. If our love and faith keep pace with our growing knowledge, we must grow in His favor. But growth in knowledge must be a condition of growth in love and faith.

4. Growth in the knowledge of God, as revealed in Christ Jesus, must be a condition of growth in His favor. It is in and through Christ Jesus that God reveals Himself to man. It is in Christ Jesus that we get the true idea of the personality of the infinite God. Hence, the text says: "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

5. Growth in grace is conditioned on increased knowledge of what is involved in entire consecration to God.

True conversion to God involves the consecration of ourselves and of all that we have to Him, so far as we understand what is implied in this. But, at first, converts are by no means aware of all that is involved in the highest forms of consecration. They will soon learn that there are certain things that they did not think of, and that they did not give up to God. At first, perhaps, all that was in their thought was, to lay their naked soul upon the altar, and give up their whole heart to God. But soon they may learn that they did not think of all their possessions, of everything that was dear to them; they did not surrender all, leaving "not an hoof behind" (Exodus 10:26). They surrendered all of which they thought, but they were not fully enlightened, they did not think, nor could they think, at the time, of every appetite, passion, propensity, of every desire and affection, and of everything dear to them, in the whole creation, to make a thorough surrender and delivery of these to God.

To gain such knowledge is a work of time; and growth in the favor of God is conditioned on making a full surrender and consecration to God of everything we are, and have, and desire, and love, as fast as these objects are presented to thought. As long as we exist, and knowledge increases, there is no doubt that we shall be called upon to grow in grace, by consecrating to God every new object of knowledge, of desire, and of affection, that we may come to know, and desire, and love, to all eternity.

As you get new light, you must enlarge your consecration from day to day, and from hour to hour, or you will cease to grow in grace. Whenever you stop short, and do not lay and leave everything that you are, that you possess, or that you love, upon the altar of consecration, that moment you cease to grow in grace. I pray you to let this saying sink deep into your hearts.

6. Another condition of growth in grace is intense earnestness and constancy in seeking increased religious light, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit. You will gain no effectual religious light except by the inward showing and teaching of the Holy Spirit. This you will not obtain unless you continue in the true attitude of a disciple of Christ. Remember, He says: "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:33). He will not, by His Holy Spirit, be your Divine Teacher unless you renounce self, and live in a state of continual consecration to Him. To obtain and preserve the teachings of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, you must continually and earnestly pray for this Divine teaching of the Spirit, and watch against resisting and grieving Him.

7. Another condition of growth in grace is a constant conformity to all the teachings of the Holy Spirit, keeping up with our convictions of duty and with our growing knowledge of the will of God.

8. A more and more implicit faith in God is a condition of growth in grace.

By implicit, I mean an unreasoning faith, a confidence in God's character so profound that we trust Him in the dark as well as in the light, as well when we do not understand the reasons of His dealings with us, or of His requirements, as when we do; a faith like that of Abraham, who "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief" (Romans 4:20), though the thing promised seemed irrational and impossible. An implicit faith is an unwavering, unquestioning faith, a state of mind that will rest in God, in His promises, in His faithfulness, in His love, whatever appearances may be and however trying and apparently unreasonable His commands or providential dealings may be. Abraham's faith is often commended in the Bible. God had promised him a son, but did not give him the promised seed until he was a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety. But notwithstanding, Sarah was past age, and he as good as dead, he believed that God was able to fulfill His promise. Then, when he had received his beloved son, with the assurance that this was to be his heir, and that through him the promise was to be fulfilled through all generations, God tried his faith severely, by commanding him to offer his Isaac as a burnt sacrifice. Yet he obeyed, without the least hesitation, believing "that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead" (Hebrews 11:19). He made all his arrangements to obey this trying command, with such calmness that neither Sarah nor Isaac suspected that any such thing was in contemplation. This was an instance of the exercise of implicit faith.

Growth in grace, or in the favor of God, is conditioned upon growth in implicit confidence in Him.

9. A more thoroughly sanctified sensibility is a condition of growth in the favor of God. By the sensibility, I mean that department of our nature that feels and desires, to which belongs all that we call desire, affection, emotion, feeling, appetite, passion, propensity, lust. The sensibility is an involuntary power, and moral actions and qualities cannot, with strict propriety, be predicated of it. The states of the sensibility have moral character only as they derive it, directly or indirectly, from the action of the will. The nature of man, as a whole, in his depraved condition, is in a very unlovely state, and although the will may be given up to God, the sensibility may be in such a state as to be very unlovely in the sight of One that looks directly upon it, and knows perfectly every excited desire, passion, propensity, lust. It is through the sensibility, mainly, that we are assailed with temptations. It is through this that the Christian warfare is kept up. The Christian warfare consists in the battle of the will with these various appetites, passions, propensities, and lusts, to keep them in subjection to the will of God. If the will maintains its integrity, and cleaves to the will of God, the soul does not sin in its battle with the excited states of the sensibility. But these rebellious propensities embarrass the will in the service it renders to God. To keep them under occupies much time, and thought, and strength. Hence the soul cannot render to God so complete a service, while exerting the full strength of the will to subjugate these propensities, as it otherwise might and would render.

These appetites, passions, and propensities, although not sinful in themselves, have been regarded and spoken of as indwelling sin. Strictly, they cannot be sin, because they are involuntary. But they are often a great hindrance to our growth in the favor of God. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Galatians 5:17). This means that we cannot do for God what we otherwise would, because we have to battle so much with the states of the sensibility, to keep them under. As the sensibility becomes more and more subdued and in harmony with the will's devotion to God, we are left free to render to God a more unembarrassed service. Therefore, the more thorough the sanctification of the sensibility, the more thoroughly we are in favor with God.

10. A growing thoroughness and universality of consecration, of spirit, soul, and body, is the condition of more and more growth in the favor of God. It is common, at first, for the steadfastness of the will's devotion to God to be overcome by the clamor of the excited appetites, passions, and propensities, or by the various states of the sensibility. Whenever the will yields to these excited states, you sin. But, in such cases, the sin is not willful, in the sense of being deliberate and intentional; it is rather a slip, an inadvertency, a momentary yielding under the pressure of highly excited feeling. Nevertheless, this yielding is sin. However excited the states of the sensibility may be, if the will does not yield, there is strictly no sin. Still, while the will is steadfast, maintaining its consecration and obedience to God, the appetites originating in the body, and the various propensities of the soul, which inhere in the sensibility, may be so ajar, in such confusion, and in such a state of morbid development, that the soul may be unfitted for the employments and enjoyments of heaven.

11. Hence, the taking on of a greater fullness of the Divine nature is a condition of growth in the favor of God. Both the will and the sensibility of God must be in a state of utmost perfection and accord. All of His desires and feelings must be in perfect harmony with His intelligence and His will. Not so with us, in our state of physical depravity. The depravity of sensibility must be physical, because it is involuntary. Still, it is depravity, it is a lapsed or fallen state of the sensibility. This lapsed department of our nature must be recovered, sanctified, or completely restored to harmony with a consecrated will, and an enlightened intelligence, or we are never fitted for heaven. As we become more and more the partakers of the Divine nature, and of the Divine holiness, we are more fully sanctified in spirit, soul, and body, and of course grow more and more in the favor of God.

12. A greater and more all-pervading fullness of the Holy Spirit's residence is another condition of growth in the favor of God. You cannot have it too thoroughly impressed upon you that every step in the Christian life is to be taken under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The thing to be attained is the universal teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that in all things you shall be led by the Spirit of God. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live"(Romans 8:13). "To be carnal minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Romans 8:6). Always remember, therefore, that to grow in grace, you must grow in the possession of the fullness of the Holy Ghost in your heart.

13. A deeper personal acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ, in all His official work and relations, is a condition of growth in grace. His nature, work, and relations are the theme of the Bible. The Bible presents Him to us in a great variety of relations. In my "Systematic Theology" I have considered some sixty or more of these official relations of Christ to the human race, and these are presented rather as specimens and illustrations than as covering the whole ground of His relations to us. Now, it is one thing to know Christ simply on paper, and as spoken of in the Bible, by reading or hearing of Him, and quite another thing to know Him personally, in these relations. The Bible is the medium of introduction to Him personally. What is there said of Him is designed to lead us to seek after a personal acquaintance with Him. It is by this personal acquaintance with Him that we are made like Him. It is by direct, personal fellowship with His Divine mind that we take on His image. "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). "Faith cometh by hearing" (Romans 10:17) and faith secures for us a personal acquaintance with Christ. Christ has promised to manifest Himself personally to those who love and obey Him. Do not stop short of securing this personal manifestation of Christ to your souls.

Your growth in grace will depend upon this. Think not of stopping short of personally knowing Christ, not only in all these relations, but in the fullness of these relations. Do not overlook the fact that the appropriation of Christ, in each of these relations, is a personal act of faith. It is a putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ, a taking of Him as yours, in each of these relations, as your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; as your Prophet, to teach you, your King, to govern you, your High Priest, to atone for you, your Mediator, your Advocate, your Strength, your Savior, your Hiding place, your High Tower, your Captain and Leader, your Shield, your Defense, your Exceeding Great Reward. In each of these relations, and in all other of His official relations, you need to appropriate Him by faith so as to secure to you personal fellowship with Him in these relations. Growing in a personal acquaintance with Him, in these relations, is an indispensable condition of growth in His favor.

V. SOME SIGNS THAT ARE NOT PROOF OF GROWTH.

1. Growth in knowledge is not conclusive evidence of growth in grace.

Some degree of knowledge is indispensable to our being in favor with God; and growth in knowledge, as I have shown, is a condition of growth in grace; but knowledge is not grace, and growth in knowledge does not constitute growth in grace. A person may grow ever so much in knowledge, and have no grace at all. In hell, they cannot but grow in knowledge, as they grow in experience, and in the knowledge of God's justice. But there, their growth in knowledge but aggravates the guilt and misery of hell. They know more and more of God and His law, and their own guilt, and the more they know, the more wretched they are. From their increased knowledge they never learn piety.

2. It is not certain evidence that an individual grows in grace, because he grows in gifts. A professor of religion may increase in gifts, that is, he may become more fluent in prayer, and more eloquent in preaching, or more pathetic in exhortation, without being any more holy. We naturally increase in that in which we exercise ourselves. And if any person often exercises himself in exhortation, he will naturally, if he makes any effort or lays himself out, increase in fluency and pungency.

But he may do all this, and yet have no grace at all. He may pray ever so engagedly, and increase in fluency and apparent pathos, and yet have no grace. People who have no grace often do so. It is true, if he has grace, and exercises himself in these things, as he grows in grace, he will grow in gifts.

No person can exercise himself in obeying God, without improving in those exercises. If he does not improve in gifts, it is a true sign he does not grow in grace. But, on the other hand, it is not sure evidence that he grows in grace because he improves in certain exercises, for he will naturally improve by practice, whether he is a Christian or a hypocrite.

3. It is not proof that a person grows in grace because he thinks he is doing so. One may be very favorably impressed with regard to his own progress in religion, when it is evident to others that he is not only making no progress, but is, in fact, declining. An individual who is growing worse and worse, is not ordinarily well aware of the fact. It is not uncommon for both impenitent sinners and Christians to think they are growing better, when they are growing no better.

This results from the very nature of the case. If any person is growing worse, his conscience will, for the time being, become more and more seared, and his mind more and more dark, as he stifles conscience and resists the light. Then he may imagine he is growing better, just because he has less sense of sin; and while his conscience continues to sleep he may continue under the fatal delusion. A man will judge of his own spiritual state as he compares himself with a high or low standard. If he keeps Christ before him, in His fullness, as his standard, he will doubtless always, at least in this state of existence, have but a low estimate of his own attainments. While at the same time, if he sets before himself the Church, or any member of the Church, as a standard, he will be very likely to form a high estimate of his progress in religion, and be very well satisfied with himself. This is the reason why there is such a difference in people's views of their own state arid of the state of the Church. They compare themselves and the state of the Church with different standards.

Hence, one takes a very humbling view of his own state, and complains of that of the Church; another thinks such complaints of the Church censorious, for to him the Church appears to be doing very well. The reason why he does not think the Church cold, and in a low state, is that

Christ is not his standard of comparison. If a man shuts his eyes, he will not see the defilement on him, and may think he is clean, while to all around he appears loathsome.

VI. WHAT IS PROOF OF GROWTH.

1. The manifestation of more implicit and universal trust in God is an evidence of growth in grace. The exercise of greater and more implicit confidence, as I have said, is the condition of growing in the favor of God.

The manifestation of this implicit and universal confidence is proof that this growing confidence exists, and is, therefore, satisfactory evidence of growth in the favor of God. If you are conscious in your own soul that you do exercise more implicit and universal confidence in God, this is conclusive proof to you that you are growing in grace, and as you manifest in your life, and temper, and spirit, this growing confidence, you prove to yourself and to others that you are growing in the favor of God. For as you grow in implicit confidence in Him you must grow in His favor.

2. Another evidence of growth in grace, is an increasing weanedness from the world. The will may be in an attitude of devotion to God, while the world's seductive charms very much embarrass the healthy action of the Christian life. As the soul becomes crucified and dead to the world, it grows in the favor of God.

3. Less reluctance of feeling, when called to the exercise of self-denial, is an evidence of growth in grace. It shows that the feelings are becoming less and less despotic, that the will is getting more the mastery of them, that the sensibility is getting more into harmony with the devotion of the will and the dictates of the intelligence.

4. Less temptation to sins of omission, is another evidence of growth in grace, e.g., less temptation to shun the cross, to neglect unpleasant duties; less temptation to indolence, to the shirking of responsibility, to neglect of prayer, to reading the Scriptures, and. to private and family devotions; in short, less and less temptation to shun the performance of any duty is evidence of growth in grace. These temptations consist in the excited states of the sensibility. As these become less in strength and frequency, we learn that our sensibility is becoming more completely subjugated to the law of the intelligence and the decisions of the will, and consequently, that the work of the sanctification of the spirit, soul, and body is progressing, and that therefore we are growing in the favor of God.

5. A growing intensity and steadiness of zeal in promoting the cause of God, is evidence of growth in the favor of God. Sometimes Christian zeal is comparatively cool, at other times deep and intense; sometimes it will be steady, at other times fitful and evanescent. As Christians grow in piety, their zeal becomes deep, intense, and steady, and as you are conscious of this, and in your life and spirit give evidence of it to others, you have, and give, proof that you are growing in the favor of God.

6. Losing more and more the consciousness of self, and respect to self, in every action of life, is an evidence of growth in the favor of God. Some have so much consciousness of self in everything, and so much respect to self in everything they say and do, as to be embarrassed in all their Christian life, whenever they attempt to act or speak in the presence of others. As they lose this self-consciousness, and have less respect to self, their service of God becomes more free and unembarrassed, and they are all the better servants by how much less they think of self. Sometimes young converts cannot speak or pray, or perform any public duty, without being either proud or ashamed, as they think themselves to have performed their duties with more or less acceptance to those around them.

While this is so, their piety is in a feeble state. They must lose sight of their own glory, and have a single eye to the glory of God, to find acceptance with Him. But as they lose sight of self, and set God always before them, having an eye single to His glory they grow more and more in His favor.

7. Consequently, a growing deadness to the flattery or censure of men, is an evidence of growth in grace. Paul had grown in grace so much that he counted it a light thing to be judged of man, he only sought to commend himself to God (1 Corinthians 4:3, 4). As you find yourself growing in this state of deadness to the flatteries or censures of men, you have evidence that you grow in grace.

8. A growing cordiality in the acceptance of the whole will of God is evidence of growth in His favor. Some rebel against His will as revealed in His Word and in His providence. Others, under trying circumstances, will barely tolerate His will; but those who are growing in grace find it more natural to embrace His whole revealed will with greater and greater cordiality.

9. Growing calmness and quietness under great afflictions give an evidence of growth in the favor of God. There is evinced a more explicit faith, a fuller and more cordial acceptance of the will of God, as revealed in these afflictions; the soul is shown to be more steadily and firmly at anchor upon its rock, Christ.

10. A growing tranquillity under sudden and crushing disasters and bereavements, is an evidence of growth in grace. The more tranquil the soul can remain, when sudden storms of providence come upon it, sweeping away loved ones, and blighting earthly hopes, the greater is its evidence of being under the particular favor of God. The tranquillity is both a result and an evidence of the favor of God.

11. Growing patience under much provocation, is an evidence of growth in the favor of God.

12. "Longsuffering with joyfulness" (Colossians 1:11) is an evidence of growing in favor with God. When you cannot only tolerate, but accept, the will of God, as revealed in calling you to suffer; and especially when you can accept these sufferings, and endure them long and with joyfulness, you have evidence that you are growing in the favor of God.

13. A growing cordiality and joyfulness under crosses and disappointments and severe pain, is evidence of growth in the favor of God.

14. An increasing deadness to all that the world has to offer, or to threaten, is an evidence of growth in the favor of God.

15. A growing repose in, and satisfaction with, all the allotments of Providence, is evidence of growth in grace.

16. Less temptation to murmur or repine at any allotment of Providence, is evidence of growth in grace.

17. Less temptation to fret, when we are crossed or disappointed in any respect, is an evidence of growth in grace.

18. Less and less temptation to resentment, and the spirit of retaliation, when we are in anywise insulted or abused, is evidence that the sensibility is becoming more and more thoroughly subdued, and consequently, that we are growing in favor with God.

19. Less temptation to dwell upon, and to magnify our trials and troubles, to think of them, and speak of them to others, is evidence that we think less and less of self, and accept our trials and troubles with more and more complacency in God. It is sad to hear some professedly good people, dwelling ever upon, and magnifying, their own troubles and trials. But, if they grow in grace, they will think less and less of these, and be more inclined to think of them as "light afflictions." The more we grow in grace, the less stress we lay upon the evils we meet with in the way. Said a good man to me once, who was really passing through what the world would call very severe trials and afflictions (he had lost a beloved wife, and his children had died one after another): "I have many mercies, and few afflictions." When, under such circumstances, a man can say, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage" (Psalm 16:6) he has the most satisfactory evidence that he is growing in the favor of God. For this state of mind is both a result and an evidence of the favor of God.

20. A growing disposition to make light of our trials and to magnify our blessings, is an evidence that we are growing in the favor of God.

21. Less and less anxiety and carefulness about the events of Providence, and especially about the things that nearly and deeply affect ourselves, is evidence of growth in grace. This is an evidence of a broader and more implicit faith, of a more submissive will, and of a diminishing tendency to self-seeking; and is, therefore, an evidence of growing favor with God.

22. Being less and less disturbed and troubled by the events of life, especially those that go counter to our own plans, and hopes, and expectations, and desires, and that thwart our most cherished aims, is an evidence of growth in grace.

23. A growing and realizing confidence in the wisdom, benevolence, and universality of the providence of God, a state of mind that sees God in everything, is evidence of growth in grace. Some minds become so spiritual that they hardly seem to reside in the body, but appear continually to perceive the presence of God in every event, almost as if they were disembodied, and beheld God face to face. They seem to dwell, live, move, and have their being, rather in the spiritual than in the natural world. They are continually under such a sense of the Divine presence, agency, and protection, as hardly to appear like inhabitants of earth. They are a living, walking mystery to those in the midst of whom they dwell. The springs of their activity are so Divine, their life is so much hidden in God, they act under influences so far above the world, that they cannot be judged by the same standards as other men. Carnal minds cannot understand them. Their hidden life is so unknown and so unknowable to those who are far below them in their spiritual life, that they are necessarily regarded as quite eccentric, as being mystics or monomaniacs, as having very peculiar religious views, as being enthusiasts, and perhaps fanatics. These persons are in the world, but they live above the world. They have so far escaped from the pollutions that are in the world, that they can truly and understandingly say, with Paul: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14). Such persons are evidently growing in the grace of God.

24. Being less and less disposed to dwell upon the faults and foibles of others, is an evidence of growth in grace.

25. Being less and less disposed to speak severely, or to judge uncharitably of others. A growing delicacy, or tenderness, in speaking of their real or supposed faults, behind their back, is an evidence of growth in grace.

26. An increasing reluctance to regard or treat any one as an enemy, and an increasing ease and naturalness in treating them kindly, in praying for them heartily, and in efforts to do them good, is an evidence of growth in grace.

27. Less and less temptation to remember an injury, and the abatement of all desire to retaliate when injured, is an evidence of growth in grace.

28. A growing readiness and cordiality in forgiving and burying an injury out of sight, and a kind of moral inability to do otherwise than seek the highest good of those who have injured us most deeply, is an evidence of growth in grace.

29. When we find in our own experience, and manifest to others, that it is more and more natural to regard all men as our brethren, especially to drop out of view all sectarian discriminations, all ideas and prejudices of caste, and of color, of poverty, and of riches, of blood relation, and of natural, rather than of spiritual ties, and to make common cause with God, in aiming to do good to all men, to enemies and friends alike, we have then ourselves, and give to others, the highest evidence of our growing in the favor of God.

30. Especially is it true, when we find ourselves very cordial and full-hearted in making great sacrifices for those that hate us, and having a willingness to lay down our lives for the promotion of their eternal salvation, that we have evidence of growth in grace.

31. Still more especially, when we find ourselves less and less inclined to account anything a sacrifice that we can do for God, or for the souls of men. When we can account our lives not dear unto us, if called to lay them down to save the souls of enemies; when, for the joy of saving them, we can "endure the cross, and despise the shame," or any sacrifice that we are called to make, we have evidence that we are growing in favor with God.

32. Again, when we find ourselves more and more inclined to "count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations" (James 1:2), and when we are disposed to look upon our trials, vexations, losses, and crosses in such a light as to lay less and less stress upon them, we have evidence that we are growing in patience, and therefore in favor with God.

33 When we find less and less reluctance to making full confession to those whom we have injured, when with increasing readiness we lay our hearts open to be searched, when we take home conviction of wrong-doing, when, in such cases, we cannot rest till we have made the fullest confession and reparation within our power, and when to "own up," and confess, and make the fullest satisfaction, is a luxury to us, rather than a trial and a cross, we have evidence that we are growing in the favor of God.

34. When we are more and more impressed and affected by the mercies of God, and by the kindnesses of our fellow-men and those around us, when we more deeply and thoroughly appreciate manifestations of kindness in God, or in any one else, when we are more and more humbled and affected by these kindnesses, and find it more and more natural "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly" (Micah 6:8), and live gratefully, we have evidence that we are growing in favor with God.

35. When we find ourselves drawn, with increasing earnestness, to follow on to know more of the Lord, we have evidence of growth in grace.

36. When we find ourselves more and more readily impressed and affected, quickened and stimulated by religious truth, and when we find an increasing harmony in the action of all our powers, intellectual, voluntary, and sensitive, in accepting, and resting in, the whole will and providence of God, however afflictive they may at present be, we have evidence that we are growing in grace.

37. A growing jealousy for the honor of God, for the purity and honor of His Church, for the rights of God, and for the rights of all men, is evidence of growing in conformity to God, and, of course, of growing in His favor.

VII. HOW TO GROW IN GRACE.

1. Fulfill the conditions noticed under the fourth head of this Lecture.

2. Remember that every step of progress must be made by faith, and not by works. The mistakes that some good men have made upon this subject is truly amazing. The custom has been almost universal, to represent growth in grace as consisting in the formation of habits of obedience to God. Now, it is quite surprising that so many good men have fallen into this mistake. The fact is, that every step of progress in the Christian life is taken by a fresh and fuller appropriation of Christ by faith, a fuller baptism of the Holy Spirit. As our weaknesses, infirmities, besetting sins, and necessities are revealed to us, by the circumstances of temptation through which we pass, our only efficient help is found in Christ, and we grow only as we step by step more fully appropriate Him, in one relation or another, and more fully "put Him on" (Romans 13.: 4). As we are more and more emptied of self-dependence, as we more and more renounce all expectation of forming holy habits by any obedience of ours, and as by faith we secure deeper and deeper baptisms of the Holy Ghost, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, more and more thoroughly, and in more of His official relations, by just so much the faster do we grow in the favor of God. Nothing can be more erroneous and dangerous than the commonly received idea of growing in grace by the formation of holy habits. By acts of faith alone, we appropriate Christ, and we are as truly sanctified by faith as we are justified by faith. In my "Systematic Theology," in pointing out the conditions of entire or permanent sanctification, I have noticed some sixty of the official relations of Christ, as I have before said, and have there insisted, as I here insist, that growth in holiness, and consequently, in the favor of God, is secured only by fresh, fuller, and more thorough appropriations of Christ, in all these official relations. If you would grow in grace you must do it through faith. You must pray in faith for the Holy Spirit. You must appropriate and put on Christ through the Holy Spirit. At every forward step in your progress, you must have a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through faith.

REMARKS.

1. We see, from this subject, the vast importance of rightly instructing young converts. In many cases, they have very little instruction suited to their experience and degree of Christian intelligence. By some, such views are taken of the Perseverance of the Saints, that it is assumed that babes in Christ will grow without nursing, and without that sincere milk of the Word, by means of which they must grow. Some, taking it for granted that they need instruction, unwittingly give them false instruction, and set them to work outwardly and zealously, without paying much regard to the strengthening and developing of the inward life. They do not teach them how to appropriate and live on Christ as their life, but continually press them to "do their duty, to labor for God, and labor for souls," while not sufficiently impressing upon them the idea that their doing is of no account, unless it proceeds from the life of God in their own souls. The result of this is a bustling, outward activity, while the inward spiritual life is decaying. This must end in disgust at one's own want of heart, and a settling back into apathy and neglect.

2. Sometimes there is a mistake made in the opposite direction. They are taught to rest in Christ, in such a sense as to take on a type of quietism and antinomian inactivity. They are exhorted to exercise faith, but they are not earnestly impressed with the conviction that it must be a faith that works, and works by love, that purifies the heart, and overcomes the world. The result is, they do nothing in religion. Sinners are allowed to sleep on in their midst, and go to hell, and they make no effort to save them.

3. We see the importance of a Holy Ghost anointed ministry. The great want of the Church is a minister so thoroughly anointed by the Holy Ghost as to know how to lead the Church onward and upward, to the, fullest development of Christian piety. In order to instruct converts, and keep the Church progressing in holiness, the minister must progress himself. He must be a truly living, growing Christian. I have good reason to know that the Churches in many places are deeply pained by the want of living piety and growth in their ministers. Their ministers are intellectual, literary, philosophical, theological, in their teaching, but they are sadly deficient in unction. They have but little power with God or with man.

They instruct the intellect to a certain extent, but they do not meet the wants of the heart. Converts starve under their preaching. They preach an intellectual, rather than a spiritual Gospel They preach religion as a theory, a doctrine, a philosophy and not as a real living experience. It is often exceedingly painful to hear ministers preach who manifestly do not know what they say, or whereof they affirm They speak of religion as an inward sentiment, instead of heart devotion to God; as an emotion, a feeling instead of an all-embracing and efficient love, a voluntary state and attitude of the mind, from which necessarily proceeds a holy life. They speak of faith as; mere intellectual state or conviction, and not as an act of trust, and of committal of the whole being, to do and suffer all the will of God. They speak of repentance as if were a mere involuntary sorrow for sin They do not teach that repentance is a change of mind toward God, a renunciation of the self-seeking spirit, and a turning of the whole mind to God. They speak of holiness as if it were a state utterly unattainable in this life. Indeed, I say it with sorrow, but I must say it, the teaching of a great many ministers is but a stumbling block to the Church. Under their instruction, converts do not, and cannot get so established in grace as to be greatly useful, or to live lives that are honorable to Christ. Just think that in the Nineteenth Century ministers preach to converts that they must grow in grace by works. Be heaven and earth amazed at this! Such teachers do not know how to grow in grace themselves. Shall I be accounted harsh if I say: "They be blind leaders of the blind"?

4. We see the reason of so much backsliding. Converts will of course backslide who are led by false instruction. If, on the one hand, they are set to work out sanctification by works, their works will soon become dead works, and not be the result of that faith that works by love. If, on the other hand, they are crammed with abstract notions and doctrines, and taught to rest in an antinomian faith, they will sink into supineness and inactivity. I fully believe that in nearly all cases where there has been disastrous reaction after a revival, it has been owing to the want of timely and proper instruction. But to be timely and proper, it must be anointed instruction.

5. The Theological Seminaries need to pay vastly more attention to the growth in grace of their students. They need a professor of experimental religion, who has experience and power enough to press them along into those higher regions of Christian experience which are essential to their being able to lead the Church on to victory. It is amazing to see how little effort is made to cultivate the heart of young men studying for the ministry. We must have a change in this respect. A much higher standard of Christian experience must be required as a condition of ordination. It is painful to see how carefully men will be examined in regard to their intellectual attainments, while the accounts they give of their Christian experience will barely allow us to hope that they have been converted.

How sad it is to set such young men to feed the Church of God.. How do old Christians mourn, when they see the appointed leaders in the Church of God but spiritual babes.

6. I have never been present at the examination of a candidate for ordination where anything more than simple evidence of conversion was required of him. I never heard them questioned touching their progress in Christian experience, and regarding their spiritual ability to lead the flock of God into green pastures and beside still waters. I never heard them questioned in a manner that manifested the slightest conception of what are the indispensable spiritual qualifications of a man who is to stand forth as the leader and spiritual instructor of the Church of God. More hours are spent in ascertaining the intellectual attainments of a candidate than minutes to ascertain his spiritual and experimental attainments. The whole examination will plainly indicate that the ordaining body lay very little stress on this part of a minister's education. Is it any wonder that the Church of God is so feeble and inefficient, while the leaders and teachers are, many of them, mere children in spiritual knowledge, while a ripe Christian experience is made no part of the indispensable education of a minister? Why, this is infinitely more dangerous and ridiculous than to entrust men to lead an army in the field, while they merely understand mathematics, and never have had any training or experience in military matters.

In this respect, too, there must be a great change. Churches should refuse to ordain and receive pastors, unless they are fully satisfied of their having made much progress in Christian experience, so as to be able to lead on, and keep the Church awake.

They should insist upon the education of his heart as well as his head; upon his ability to take young converts, and conduct them on to those deep experiences that will make them stable and efficient workers in the cause of God. Think of Theological Seminaries, where the leaders of the Church of God are taught that sanctification or growth in grace is attained by works and not by faith! Tell it not in Gath! Alas for Zion, when her great and good men fall into such mistakes!

-- END OF THE LECTURES --

* * * * * * * * * *

If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

- 7 Classics on PRAYER

- 7 Classics on HOLINESS

- 7 Classics on EVANGELISM and SOUL-WINNING

- 7 Catholic Classics

- 5 Classics on the HOLY SPIRIT

- 5 Classics on POWER

PREACHERS AND REVIVALISTS:

- The Azusa Street Papers

- Charles Spurgeon: 40 sermons on Prayer

- Charles Spurgeon: Lectures to My Students

- The George Muller Collection

- The Revival Writings of Jonathan Edwards (7-in-1)

- The Works of Catherine Booth (7-in-1)

- The Works of Charles Finney

- The Works of D. L. Moody

- The Works of R. A. Torrey

- The Works of William Booth

- Biography of John Wesley Collection: 4-in-1

- Amy Carmichael 8-in-1

- Samuel Zwemer 7-in-1(Missions in Arabia)

3.  HANDBOOK OF REVIVALS FOR THE USE OF SOUL-WINNERS (1874) – Henry Fish

by

Henry C. Fish

THAT DAY which shall convince the great body of professing Christians of the reality and desirableness of revivals, will constitute a new era in the history of religion; and will precede manifestations of power like that of Pentecost.

ALBERT BARNES.

WHATEVER I possess of religion began in a revival. The most precious, steadfast and vigorous fruits of my ministry have been the fruits of revivals.

CHARLES P. McILVAINE.

LET YOUR hearts be much set on revivals of religion. Never forget that the churches have hitherto existed and prospered by revivals; and that if they are to exist and prosper in time to come, it must be by the same cause which has from the first been their glory and defence.

JOEL HAWES.

I DO not believe that my desires for a revival were ever half so strong as they ought to be; nor do I see how a minister can help being in a "constant fever" in such a town as this, where his Master is dishonored and souls are destroyed in so many ways.

EDWARD PAYSON.

REVIVALS OF religion are pre-eminently desirable, because they arouse the impenitent; because they carry up Christians to a higher pitch of experience; because they renovate the churches; and because they do a work for scattered populations in outlying communities which would never otherwise be done.

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

OUR STRONG men and strong congregations are fruits of revivals; and ten years without these special refreshings would show a positive decline in the churches.

MATTHEW SIMPSON.

IF ANY minister can be satisfied without conversions, he shall have no conversions.

CHARLES. H. SPURGEON.

Preface

THREE THINGS have led to the preparation of this volume.

1. The obvious need of a fresh work on Revivals of religion.

2. A deep and earnest conviction of the momentous importance of the subject discussed.

3. The wish to furnish, both for inspiration and guidance, such facts, examples, arguments, directions and suggestions, touching the whole matter of revivals, as might lead to their greater appreciation and promotion.

Indebtedness is here acknowledged to the following authorities: Stevens' History of Methodism; Tracy's Great Awakening; Barnes’, Sprague's, and Finney’s Lectures on Revivals; Humphrey’s Revival Manual; Headley’s Harvest Work of the Spirit; Earless Bringing in Sheaves; Alexander's Revival and its Lessons; Narratives and Revival Incidents, by Wm. C. Conant; Newcomb's Harvest and Reapers; Lectures on Revivals by Ministers of Scotland; Revivals of the 18th Century; Humphrey's Letters to his Son in the Ministry; Memoir of Nettleton; Edwards on Revivals; Revival Miscellanies, by Caughey; Porter's Letters on Revivals; Tyler's Prayer for Colleges; Prime's Power of Prayer; Chambers' Noon-Day PrayerMeeting; Hovey's Life and Times of Isaac Backus; Gibson's Year of Grace; Hawes' Tribute to the Pilgrims; The New England Memorial; Martin Moore's Boston Revival in 1842; Autobiography of Lyman Beecher; Revival in Plymouth Church; Bushnell's and Skinner's Christian Spectator Articles; and History of Revivals in the British Isles. This general reference must suffice, instead of encumbering the pages of the work with numerous particular citations.

Thanks are especially due to Rev. Drs. Stephen H. Tyng, Richard Fuller, E. S. Atwood, E. P. Goodwin, E. B. Webb, S. D. Burchard, and S. S. Cutting, for their valuable contributions on Child-Piety, and the Training of Converts,

Grateful for the privilege of making this slight contribution to the cause of genuine religious awakenings, it is humbly committed to the Divine favor.

H. C. F.

Newark f N. J., December, 1873.

Chapter 1: WHAT IS A REVIVAL?

MUCH of existing indifference and opposition to revivals comes from a confusion of terms. There attaches to the word revival what does not belong to it. Exception is not so much taken to that which is inherent and essential, as to that which is accidental and contingent.

This shows the importance of having a clear conception of the thing meant. We must carefully separate the revival from its adjuncts and accessories. We must distinguish it from false and dangerous excitements, which have usurped its name; for, common and almost technical as the word revival has become it is often understood by those who oppose all earnestness in religion, and all true religion itself, to denote every species of religious extravagance. Even the wildest out breaking of fanaticism and superstition are dignified by the name of revivals.

And yet the term is properly used with some latitude of meaning. Words often become broadened in their signification. It is so with the word revive. Strictly speaking, it means to bring again to life, to re-animate. While, then, we may speak of Christians as being revived, it could not be said of the unregenerate. As they are "dead in trespasses and sins," there could be no reviving. That which has never lived could not be re-animated.

In popular use, however, the word revival embraces the idea of the conversion of sinners as well as the awakening of saints. Perhaps no better word could be employed. Certainly it is not improperly used; for it is applicable alike to the quickening of the individual soul, and the community. Indeed, when Christians are revived, there will always be the conversion of men.

Hence the word has a two-fold meaning: implying the renewal of spirituality and vigour among Christians, and the conversion of sinners in considerable numbers to God. The terms "reformation," "awakening," etc., mean the same thing.

Dr. Hetherington, of Scotland, gives the following very just criticism upon the term revival. "The word itself (in some of its forms) is often used in Scripture; and, as so used, it generally implies the reproduction of a spiritual life which had almost died away. It is not, however, strictly synonymous with the term conversion; for while revival implies the renewal of a life which had almost died away, conversion strictly means the conferring of a spiritual life not before existing. In truth, it so happens that revivals and conversions commonly accompany each other; so that, where conversions are frequent and striking, many will be re-quickened or revived."

Revivals are then seasons when Christians are waked to a more spiritual frame, to more fervent prayer, and to more earnest endeavours to promote the cause of Christ and redemption; and consequent upon this, seasons when the impenitent are aroused to the concerns of the soul and the work of personal religion. They are times when the Spirit of the Lord again moves on the face of the waters, and the freshness and beauty of the new creature come forth. Nature itself seems more full of God; the very words of Scripture seem thereby invested with a new light and glory and fullness and meaning. As Edwards says: "All things abroad, the sun, moon, and stars, the heavens and the earth, appear as it were with a cast of divine glory and sweetness upon them."

The most prominent idea generally associated with the word revival is the regeneration of many souls. Multiplied conversions is the great outstanding characteristic of a time of revival. Multitudes lying dead in the valley of vision find that it becomes to them the valley of decision. Mr. Barnes says, take the case of a single true conversion to God, and extend it to a community--to many individuals passing through that change, and you have all the theory of a revival of religion. It is bringing together many conversions; arresting simultaneously many minds; perhaps condensing into a single place, and into a few weeks, the ordinary work of many places and many years.

It hardly need be added, that this true view of revivals is to be disassociated from the idea of means and measures. These have nothing whatever to do with the pure signification of the term and confusion here should be avoided.

Revivals may be either false or genuine. Under the former are to be classed mere religious excitements, extemporised by human agency, and subsiding without permanent results. There may be a whirlwind of agitation and no real revival.

And these spurious movements have done much to harm the cause of true revivals. Artifices to catch attention; devices to entrap the careless; representations to create impressions; an exaggerated style of preaching to produce alarm and shake suspicious hopes, and to raise a furore, no matter of what kind, these have in some cases been put into requisition, over which truth, and reverence, and humility must weep, and which have done more to injure revivals than all opposition and unbelief on the part of those making no professions of piety.

Genuine revivals are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. "Until the Spirit be poured out from on high," saints are neither quickened nor sinners saved. The effective cause in all true revivals is the life-giving, light-imparting, quickening, regenerating and sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit, converting the hardened sinner and reclaiming the back-slidden and dormant believer. The quaint old Thomas Adams says: No means on earth can soften the lie art; whether you anoint it with the supple balms of entreaties, or thunder against it the belts of menaces, or beat it with the hammer of mortal blows. Behold God showers his rain from heaven, and it is suddenly softened. One sermon may prick to the heart. One drop of a Saviour's blood distilled on it by the Spirit, in the preaching of the word, melts it like wax. The drunkard is made sober, the adulterer chaste, Zaccheus merciful, and raging Paul as tame as a lamb."

Again, diversities of aspect attach to revivals. The principle should not be forgotten, says Dr. J. W. Alexander, that, while the great laws of the divine government and the dispensation of grace remain the same, the Supreme Giver varies his modes of bounty with reference to differences of country and period. Apostolic awakenings were in some things unlike those of the Reformation day. The quiet, spring-like renewal of vital godliness, under Spener, Francke, and the Pietists, bore little external resemblance to the prodigious revolution under the Wesleys, Whitefield, Edwards, the Tennents and the Blairs. The very remarkable awakenings in which Dr. Nettleton and his friends were instrumental differ again from the times of refreshing in which we live.

Revivals are unlike in their beginnings. Some particular sermon, some sickness or death in the community.

Some appalling providence, some awakening near by, the visit of some pastor or evangelist, and the like may be the apparent cause of a revival. Or it may come mysteriously. A deep and wide spread solemnity may suddenly seize a congregation or community, and the manifestation of an increased interest may spring up, as without cause, in the Sunday school, the prayer meeting, the factory, or the school district.

So do revivals differ in their phenomena. The subjects of them are variously wrought upon. In some cases they readily and gently yield to the sweet pleadings of love; in others there are resistance and marked outward manifestations.

In some cases, too, the work may progress quietly in others it comes with observation. Dr. Griffin says of a work in his day in Newark, N. Jersey. In point of power and stillness, it exceeds all that I have ever seen. While it bears down everything with irresistible force and seems almost to dispense with human instrumentality, it moves with so much silence, that unless we attentively observe its effects, we are tempted at times to doubt whether anything uncommon is taking place. But revivals ' were progressing at that very time, in different localities, with marked peculiarities of just the contrary character. It was no uncommon thing in the days of the Tennents, says Tracy, "to see persons, in the time of hearing, sobbing as if their hearts would break, but without any public outcry and some have been carried out of the assembly, (being overcome,) as if they had been dead." Gillies, mentions faintings, so that a number were carried out in a state of insensibility.

Under the preaching of Rowland, in a Baptist church, probably at Philadelphia; but he gives no date. Gilbert Tennent was present; and at his suggestion, Rowland changed the style of his discourse, and the faintings ceased. In Finley's Nottingham sermon, "Christ triumphing and Satan raging,"--"wherein is proved that the kingdom of God is come unto us at this day," which was printed at Philadelphia, Boston, and London, in 1741, we are told that opposers of the revival, "without observing the deep concern that souls seem to be under, only ask about the fits and convulsions that their sorrow throws them into."

The nervous excitements connected with the revivals under the Wesleys and Tennents, and Whitfield, and Edwards, and those of later days, are well known. Persons often involuntarily fell down, fainted, and went into convulsions.

Among the most remarkable of these cases of physical manifestations were those in the "Kentucky revival," which commenced in 1800. Accounts were given by learned men, physicians, divines, and others, who were eye-witnesses and careful observers; but the most graphic and instructive seems to be that of the shrewd, though eccentric, Lorenzo Dow. He preached in the Court-house at Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1805, when about one hundred and fifty of his hearers were exercised with "the jerks;" that is, with violent spasmodic contractions of the muscles, which sometimes turned the head quickly from right to left and back again and sometimes threw person on the ground, where he rolled about strangely. He says, "I have seen all denominations of religion with the jerks, gentleman and lady, black and white, young and old, without exception. I have passed a meeting-house where I observed the undergrowth had been cut for a camp-meeting, and from fifty to a hundred saplings were left, breast high, on purpose for the people who were jerked to hold on by. I observed, where they had held on, they had kicked up the earth as a horse stamping flies. A Presbyterian minister told me that while preaching the day before some had the jerks. I believe it does not affect those naturalists, who wish and try to get it to philosophize upon it; and rarely those who are the most pious; but the lukewarm, lazy professor is subject to it. The wicked fear it, and are subject to it; but the persecutors are more subject to it than any, and they have sometimes cursed and swore and damned it, while jerking."

Dr. Robertson, an eye-witness, says, in his Inaugural Essay before the Medical Faculty at Philadelphia:

"It attacks both sexes, and every constitution; but evidently more readily those who are enthusiasts in religion." Dr. Alexander says that the phenomena "were common to all ages and sexes, and to all sorts of characters." Dow says that "persecutors" had it, without relaxing their open hatred of religion. Others testify that they have been thrown into "the jerks" by hearing a description of the jerking of others, and without any religious impression either attending or following the attack. Cartwright mentions one fatal case of the "jerks." "This large man cursed the jerks and all religion. Shortly afterward he took the jerks and started to run, but he jerked so powerfully he could not get away. He halted among some saplings, and although he was violently agitated, he took out his bottle of whiskey, and swore he would drink the jerks to death; but he jerked at such a rate that he could not get the bottle to his mouth, though he tried hard. At length he fetched a sudden jerk, and the bottle struck a sapling and was broken to pieces, and spilled his whiskey on the ground. He became very much enraged, and cursed and swore very profanely, his jerks still increasing. At length he fetched a violent jerk, snapped his neck, fell, and soon expired, with his mouth full of cursing and bitterness.

John Wesley looked upon these physical agitations as proofs of the divine presence. Charles Wesley suspected and discouraged them. Whitfield was incredulous. Edwards puts in an apology for them. But very few ministers favoured them. Finding, by careful examination that they were often accompanied with rational conviction and sound conversion, they treated them gently, but did not ascribe them to divine influence, nor hold them to be parts of a revival. It were better, no doubt, had there been a more decided discouragement of them. Even with the aids of science in its present advanced state, it is not possible to account for these physical effects; nor is it important. Agitations, quite as marked have occurred when in no way connected with religion, and also with fanatical heresies. A writer is probably correct in defining them to be "a catalepsy, or a suspension, more or less, of the functions of the cerebrum, attended by an abnormal activity, of those of the cerebellum. (Footnote:This subject is ably illustrated in an Essay upon the Influence of the imagination on the Nervous System, contributing to a False Hope in Religion, by Rev. Grant Powers. Andover, Flagg and Gould, 1828. Also in Religious Catalepsy, by Rev. Silas Comfort, in Methodist Quarterly Review for April, 1859. Also, Gibson's Year of Grace, p. 380. The account given by the Rev. Dr. Alexander may be found in the Connecticut Evan. Mag. Vol. II. p. 364.)The 'rational powers--the will, judgment or reason--are thus temporarily put in abeyance, and the involuntary susceptibilities left subject to the prevailing impression or influence."

As to these and other aspects attendant upon revivals, it is not for us to limit the Holy One of Israel. There are diversities of operations by the same Spirit, suited to differences of country and time. The awakenings of the past were in sonic things unlike those of the present. And it may please God to change still farther the modes of his bounty in the days to come. Nevertheless, true religion is the same in all times and places, and genuine revivals, in their essential features, are the same. To show his sovereignty and fulfil his plans, and from other causes, the Most High may in one case bestow the Spirit gently like the falling dew; and in another, amid thunderings and quakings. In one case lie may bring in hundreds and thousands, and in others only a few. In one case the revival takes in persons of all classes, and in another it reaches one or two classes, leaving the rest as it found them. In one case it pervades the whole town, while in another it is confined mainly to the centre, or the out-districts. In one case it begins among the higher classes, and another among the lower; in one with the young men, in another with the young women, and, in another with one or both sexes in middle life. But wherever and however, it is the same Holy Spirit "turning men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God."

Nor is it difficult to designate the essential features of a genuine revival of religion. For one thing we may be sure that "the truth as it is in Jesus" accompanies a real work of grace. To borrow an example, suppose there were to be a powerful excitement on the subject of religion produced by means which are at war with the spirit of the gospel -suppose doctrines were to be preached which the gospel does not recognize, and doctrines omitted which the gospel regards fundamental. Suppose that for the simple, and honest, and faithful use of the sword of the Spirit, there should be substituted a mass of machinery designed to produce its effect on the animal passions; suppose the substance of religion, instead of being made to consist in repentance, and faith, and holiness, should consist of falling, and groaning, and shouting;-we should say unhesitatingly that that could not be a genuine work of divine grace; or, if there were some pure wheat, there must be a vast amount of chaff and stubble.

On the other hand, where there is an attention to religion excited by the plain and faithful preaching of God's truth in all its length and breadth, and .by the use of those simple and honest means which God's word either directly prescribes or fairly sanctions, we cannot reasonably doubt that there is a genuine work of the Holy Spirit.

Again, there will not be simple excitement of feeling in a true work of grace, but knowledge and reflection, as well. Truth enters the heart through the understanding, and if the feelings manifested, whether of peace or distress, be the effect of an enlightened apprehension, and intelligent conviction, there is reason to hope that God's Spirit is really at work. But where the mind is in a great degree blind and passive while yet the sensibilities are wrought to a high pitch, there is reason to doubt the genuineness of the supposed conversions, and that which claims to be a revival is pretty surely not a genuine but a spurious one.

Again, the genuineness of a work is to be suspected unless the holiness, zeal, and devotedness of Christians are increased. Where they awake to a sense of neglected obligations, and mourn over and confess them; where they in earnestness implore the descent of the Holy Spirit, taking heed, themselves, lest they grieve and quench that Spirit; where their conversation becomes spiritual and they put each other in remembrance of the covenant vows; where they tenderly speak to the unrenewed, beseeching them to be reconciled to God; and where, as the result, conviction seizes upon the careless, and multitudes are inquiring what they shall do to be saved, there is no room. to doubt that a true work of grace is in progress.

In the absence of all this, no matter by what name a work is called, it is not a real revival of religion.

Farther; where the work is genuine there will be abiding results. If an excitement on the subject of religion, no matter how great it may have been, passes away and leaves behind little or no substantial and enduring good. If most of those who profess to have been converted return speedily or gradually to the world, living a careless and godless life, then we may know that a revival had in it little more than the name. On the other hand, let religion be acted out in the life; let those professing a change illustrate, daily, the Christian virtues, and graces, and one need not ask for farther evidence of the agency of the Spirit of God.

It is not difficult to see in President Edwards' description of Northampton, at the time of the great awakening there, the marks of a genuine work of grace. "This work soon made a glorious alteration in the town; so that in the spring and summer following, it seemed to big full of the presence of God: it never was so full of love, nor so full of joy, and yet so full of distress as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in families on account of salvation being brought to them; parents rejoicing over their children as new born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The goings of God were then seen in his sanctuary. God's day was a delight, and his tabernacles were amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautiful; the congregation was alive in God's service, every one earnestly intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth. The assembly in general were, from time to time, in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbours."

Chapter 2: HISTORICAL VIEW OF REVIVALS

THE history of revivals is the history of religion.

If we consult the Bible we shall find awakenings from the earliest times. Thus, in the days of Samuel, when the people had clone evil a long time, serving Baalim, it is said, “Israel lamented after the Lord, and Samuel said, “If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, and serve him only, he will deliver you.” Upon doing it the blessing came. Drawing near to battle, “the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited them, and. they were smitten before Israel.” Then they came together and “drew water, and poured it out before the Lord;”—an emblem, perhaps, of the fullness of their penitent sorrow, and of the felt blessings of the Most High. The narrative is short, but there was here an effective revival.

Often in the succeeding ages hope almost expired; but “a remnant was left of those that feared the Lord;” and in the reigns of David and Solomon, and Asa and Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah and Josiah, seasons of recovery and refreshing were not withheld.

Soon after the return from the captivity there was a great reformation. The people gathered themselves together in Jerusalem as one man, and called upon Ezra to bring out the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel; and he read therein from morning till midday; “and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.” For when he opened the book in the sight of all the people, they all stood up. Arid when he blessed the Lord, the great God, “all the people answered, Amen, amen, lifting up their hands, and worshipping the Lord with their faces on the ground.” And they proved their” sincerity by hastening to do works meet for repentance. For they restored the worship of God which had fallen into disuse, and separated themselves from heathen alliances, and contributed regularly to the support of the temple services.

Dark days came on. From the time of Malachi we hear of no true prophets to warn the people; and corruption spread “from the sole of the foot even unto the head.” Then came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent ye, for the, kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He was no ordinary preacher. The truth was searching, arousing, and pungent. The spirit of Elijah burned in his breast and thundered in his voice. And a powerful revival ensued. For “there went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptised in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Exalted at the right hand of the Father, the Redeemer was to vouchsafe his grand coronation gift. It came. The star-light falling upon a solitary people became the splendor of the all-warming, all-vivifying sun. The narrow, pent-up stream became the majestic river, rolling health and gladness through all the lands. Brief and pregnant is the record: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came too and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in I his own language. And they were all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak, Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers ml Mesopotainia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, andi. Painphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, about Cyrene, and strangers of I Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, “These men are full of new wine.”

Peter explained the strange phenomena, pointing to the prediction here fulfilled, that God would “pour out his Spirit upon all flesh,” and likewise charged home upon his hearers their awful guilt in rejecting and crucifying the Lord. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren; what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they that gladly received his word were baptised and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

Now, although the effects of this stupendous manifestation of Messiah’s kingly power and munificence were beyond comparison grand and glorious, the scene was strictly of the nature of a revival. In all its essential features it was nothing more. Says Rev. Albert Barnes, “I am aware that some have supposed that that whole scene was miraculous, and that it cannot be expected again to occur, since the days of miracles have ceased. But I am ignorant of the arguments which demonstrate that there was aught of miracle in this, except in the power of speaking in foreign languages, conferred on the apostles—a power which of itself converted no one of the three thousand who on that day gave their hearts to the Saviour. The power of speaking foreign languages had but two effects, one was to furnish evidence that the religion was from God; the other to enable them to make known its truths in the ears of the multitude assembled from different parts of the world. It was by the proper influence of truth that the multitudes were alarmed and awakened. And why should not the same truth produce the same effect now?

It was indeed by the power of God. But that same power is expected in the conversion of every sinner and why may it not now be employed in converting many simultaneously? It was indeed by the Holy Ghost; but no sinner is awakened or converted now without his power, and why may not that be exerted still on many as well as on one? The great fact in the case was, that several thousands were converted under the preaching of the truth by the influence of the Holy Ghost. Miracles change no one. The laws of mind were violated in the case of no one. No effect was produced which the truth was not adapted to produce. And why should not the same effect be again produced by the preaching of the same truth, and by the power of the same sacred Spirit?”

With tongues and hearts of heavenly fire, the chosen heralds went forth from the scene, everywhere to publish peace. And multitudes laid hold of the hope set before them. For we are told that the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved; and again, the number of the men was about five thousand; and again multitudes of believers, both men and women, were added to the Lord; the number of the disciples was multiplied at Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. All this took place within two years of the descent of the Spirit. Eight years more had not elapsed before the gospel was preached with saving power to the Gentiles at Ceasarea, and at Antioch, were much people were added to the Lord. With what rapidity its triumphs were multiplied, both among them and the Jews scattered abroad, the following testimonies relating to the next eight years of the new dispensation are witness. At Iconium, a great multitude both of Jews and also of the Greeks believed; the converts of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia were confirmed in the faith, and increased in number daily. In Thessalonica some of the Jews believed, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. At Berea, many of the Jews believed, also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men not a few. Many at Corinth believed and were baptised. The word of God grew mightily at Ephesus and prevailed. At Athens, certain men gave unto Paul, and Demetrius complained that throughout all Asia Paul had preached, and turned away much people. What a series of glorious revivals we have here recorded!

And it is interesting to observe that this blessed work continued on through the post-apostolic age. It was by a succession of marvellous revivals, as we should call them, rather than by the gradual addition of a few souls at a time, that the churches during the first few centuries made their triumphant onsets upon the powers of darkness. Hence the amazing progress of which the early writers speak.

Pliny the younger, who was some time governor of Bithynia under the bloody emperor Trajan, earnestly dissuaded him from persisting in his persecuting edicts against the Christians in that province, not only by assuring him that they were a harmless people chargeable with no crime, “meeting together to sing hymns and worship Christ as God,” but that they were very numerous all over the province, and that the more they were punished the more they increased. Tertullian, who lived a century later, and died in 216, writing to the Roman government in vindication of the new religion, as it was called, says, “Though we are strangers of no long standing, yet we have filled all places of your dominions, cities, islands, corporations, councils, armies, tribes, the senate, the palace, the courts of judicature. If the Christians had a mind, to revenge themselves; their numbers are abundant, for they have a party, not in this or that province only, but in all quarters of the world. Nay, if they were to combine and forsake the Roman Empire how vast would be the loss! The world would be amazed at the solitude which would ensue."

Such an extension of Christianity, as a historian has remarked, presupposes a progress of the work of conversion immensely more rapid than what we now observe. The very persecutions also prove this. There must have been a great amount of fuel to support such fires. Even in regions of Africa, which are now desolation, there were cities and provinces of Christians. The writer just cited, in an appeal to the persecuting governor of Africa, says, “If you persevere in your persecution, what will you do with these many thousands, both men and women, of every rank and every age, who will promptly offer themselves? Carthage itself must be decimated.” And again, enumerating the nations who have believed in Christ, he declares that the gospel has penetrated to regions which were inaccessible even to the eagles of imperial Rome, and that the church had already spread itself more widely than the four great monarchies. “Excellent governors,” says Tertullian, “you may torment, afflict, and vex us; your wickedness puts our meekness to the test; but your cruelty is of no avail. It is but a stronger invitation to bring others to our persuasion. The more we are mowed down, the more we spring up again. The blood of the Christians is seed."

Here we have proof of the spread of Christianity by extensive and powerful reformations, — the turning of multitudes, on a vast scale, almost simultaneously, from sin and Satan unto God. In no other way could the work have progressed as it did.

How superstition arose, and the “Man of Sin” gained the ascendancy, and true piety languished during the long succeeding centuries, it is not our province here to depict. All this time God had a true people; but their history is almost illegible.

In sketching the modern revivals, it will be convenient to speak of them under several epochs. The periods may be designated thus:

1st, The great Reformation, properly beginning in the fourteenth century, and extending into the sixteenth century, in the days of Luther, who died 1546.

2nd, The work of God of the seventeenth century, in the days of Owen, Leighton, Bunyan, Baxter, Flavel; the last of whom died in 1691.

3rd, The Great Awakening in the eighteenth century, about 1740, in the days of Whitfield, Wesley, Edwards, Brainerd, and the Tennents.

4th. the revival of the nineteenth century, beginning about 1790, and extending, say, to the year 1840.

5th, The revival of 1857 to 1860.

FIRST REVIVAL PERIOD: 1310-1560.

We find traces of God’s gracious work even throughout that long and horrible night when Popery was holding almost universal empire. There arose, at intervals, within her pale, individuals protesting against her monstrous abominations. Doubtless, too, beyond her pale there existed an unbroken succession of faithful and incorruptible witnesses for the truth: so that when scornfully asked where was the religion of Protestants before Luther, we may answer “in the Bible,” and “in the valleys of Piedmont."

In the fourteenth century there must have been great revivals; for in Bohemia alone, where the gospel had won its way, there were reckoned, in 1315, no less than 80,000 witnesses for the religion of Jesus.

So, again, in the same century, John Wyckliffe, the morning-star of the Reformation,” heralded the day-spring, and many turned to the Lord. He died in 1384; but John Huss (born 276) was converted by his writings and, after exerting a mighty influence for the truth, sealed his testimony amid the flames of martyrdom in 1415. Jerome of Prague embraced the doctrines of Huss (his friend and master), and also died at the stake a year later.

Born in 1483, Martin Luther, with his coadjutors, shook the papal throne to its foundations. And that most remarkable work was, strictly speaking, a revival of religion. Says Dr. J.W. Alexander, with the greatest propriety, “It is a deplorable error to consider this moral convulsion as a mere change of speculative tenents, or a mere struggle for liberty of conscience. Both these it did involve, undoubtedly; but beneath these, vivifying and nerving these, was the sense of spiritual things, the experience of conviction, conversion, holy awe, and holy joy, the gracious affections of the new creature, which pervaded countries and traversed a whole continent. It was the personal interest of souls in agony about escape from the wrath to come, which gave interest to the re at questions between Popery and Reform. The sudden unveiling of the long hidden Bible before the laity was like the return of the sun upon a Greenland night. The entrance of the ray gave understanding to the simple; and in thou, sands of instances, the rejection of Pelagian error and the acceptance of Christ were contemporaneous and undistinguishable exercises. Never, certainly singe the days of the early Christians, was there so wide--spread a concern about religion; never were there so many conversions. The published correspondence of the reformers, and particularly of Martin Luther and John Calvin, shows that a large part of their time was employed in giving counsel and’ consolation to inquiring, convinced, and tempted individuals; and of their published works considerable portions are wholly employed in discussing those very points which have paramount interest in a season of general awakening in our day."

Such was the progress of this amazing revival, that in face of the united opposition of the church and the empire, against all proscription, in spite of rack and fagot, the principles of evangelical religion soon over--spread Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland, and the British Isles. First came Lefevre, Farel, Briconnet, Chatelain, and their friends, in France; then Zuinglius, in Switzerland, and almost at the same moment the giant of the reformation, Martin Luther, in Germany—each attended by a host of zealous and able coadjutors, both in church and state—Ecolampadius, Melancthon, Calvin—preachers, scholars, princes, and nobles. Soon came Tyndale, with his printed English Testament, in England; Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, and John Knox, in Scotland; John Taussen, in Denmark; John Laski, in Poland; Olaus Petri and Laurentius in Sweden, and humbler names without number, in every quarter. All these arose at once, or within little more than a quarter of a century, by the mysterious Spirit and providence of God, and triumphantly established the truth of the Gospel in the countries now Protestant.

In Scotland, says Kirkton, “the whole nation was converted by lump. Lo! Here a nation born in one day; yea, moulded into one congregation, and sealed as a fountain with a solemn oath and covenant.” To the same purpose are the following reflections of Fleming, in his Fulfilling of Scripture: “It is astonishing and should be matter of wonder and praise for after ages, to consider that solemn time of the Reformation (in Scotland), when the Lord began to visit his church. What a swift course the spreading of the kingdom of Christ had; and how professors of the truth thronged” in amidst the greatest threatenings of those on whose side authority and power then was.” The testimony of Knox is not less decisive: “Our very enemies can witness in how great purity God did establish his true religion among us."

In Holland the work was with power, especially in connection with some of the Baptist Reformers. Admitting the presence of errors and excesses, many of the men of this class were “full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” and much people were by them “added unto the Lord.” Leonard Bouwens, an eminent Baptist minister in Holland, who died in 1578, left in writing a list of upwards of ten thousand persons whom he had baptized. Menno Simon, and other labourers, introduced to the churches great multitudes of disciples, thousands of whom, after being unjustly reviled and persecuted, became martyrs in attestation of the truth; And thus everywhere the doctrine of justification without works “grew mightily and prevailed.”

It is to be said, however, that this work to a great extent receded. The Reformation itself needed reforming; and inhering remnants of the papacy brought forth their legitimate fruits. Persecution also acted a painful part. The fires of martyrdom were frequently lighted in France, Holland, and Switzerland; while in England the severity of Elizabeth’s government was so great that the separatists of all classes were scattered, and forced to hold their meetings in the utmost privacy. James I., though affecting zeal for Presbyterianism” while in Scotland, was as bigoted and despotic as Elizabeth. “I will make them conform” said he [of the Puritans] “or I will hurry them out of the land, or else worse.” And they either fled or kept themselves quiet, hoping almost against hope for the better times to come.

How truly God remembered his cause, and again revived the work which had thus suffered a partial decline, we shall see in the next revival period.

SECOND REVIVAL PERIOD: —1600-1688.

Two years previous to this first date (1598) the famous Edict of Nantes, by Henry IV., was promulgated, securing religious liberty to the French Protestants. Within these two dates fall the active lives of Richard Baxter, Robert Leighton, John Milton, John Owen, John Flavel, John Bunyan, John Howe, John Tillotson, and Philip James Spener, founder of the sect of the Pietists of Halle. With the latter laboured the devoted Augustus Franke; and there was a great and rapid spread of religion in some parts of the continent through their efforts.

During this period also falls the working of the Act of Uniformity, passed in 1662, and in force about 25 years. By it some two thousand ministers were ejected from their pulpits. In 1664 the Conventicle Act was passed and the next year the Five-Mile Act. These inhuman decrees but testify to the zeal and piety of the men against whom they were intended to operate.

Because they were “burning and shining ‘lights,” whose influence in converting the people to Christ was so great, these measures were instigated by the enemy of all good.

The remarkable condition of things among our American ancestors was the simple consequence of the works of grace prevalent during this period. These men came out from amid great awakenings; and after the first plantations. Every arrival from the old country brought them news of the revivals which took place under the Bunyans and Baxters of England. It is worth mentioning that Richard Baxter was born in 1616, John Owen in 1616, John Bunyan in 1628, and John Howe in 1630; while the landing of the pilgrims on our shore occurred in 1620. The connection between the great facts here referred to is not less obvious than instructive. Pursuing the work still in the old world, it is refreshing indeed to read the annals of God’s grace in connection with the persecutions of the saints, especially in Scotland, in the attempts to enforce the Uniformity Act. The holy fire burning in the breast of Knox in the preceding century was rekindled, and its heat and light could not be hid. Thus in Stewarton, in 1625, a revival spread. Called by the profane rabble “Stewarton Sickness,” of which Fleming said, “Truly the great spring tide, as I may call it, of the gospel, was not of a short time, but of some years’ continuance; yea, thus, like a spreading moor-burn, the power of Godliness did advance from one place to another, which put a marvellous lustre on those parts of the country, the savor whereof brought many from other parts of the land to see its truth. Another token for good to the suffering church of Scotland, occurred in the year 1628. At a meeting of the Synod of Edinburgh, in the spring of that year, it had been agreed to apply to his majesty that a general fast might be held all over the kingdom.”

A great blessing followed—most marked, perhaps, in the Kirk of Shotts, in June 1630, under the preaching of John Livingston, when a convocation of ministers and people, for several days, was being held. Towards the close of the sermon, the audience, and even the preacher himself, were affected with a deep, unusual awe, melting their hearts and subduing their minds, stripping off inveterate prejudices, awaking the impenitent, producing conviction in the hardened, bowing down the stubborn, and imparting to many an enlightened Christian a large increase of grace and spirituality. “It was known,” says Fleming, “as I can speak on sure ground, that nearly five hundred had at that time a discernible change wrought on them, of whom most proved lively Christians afterwards. It was the sowing of a seed through Clydesdale, so that many of the most eminent Christians of that country could date their conversion, or some remarkable confirmation of their case, from that day."

In 1625, there was also a remarkable revival in the North of Ireland. It took place under the labors of a band of faithful ministers, most of whom went over from Scotland —Brice, Glendenning, Ridge, Blair and others; beginning in the province of Ulster, which has ever since been the brightest spot on the map of Ireland. These preachers went forth in companies, laboring with apostolic zeal to evangelize the land—and the Lord wrought through them mightily. This revival in the north of Ireland may with propriety be said to have been one of the most remarkable outpourings of the Spirit upon record. Says Stewart, “these religious agitations continued for a considerable time.”

The ministers were indefatigable in improving the favourable opportunities thus offered for extending the knowledge and influence of the gospel. The people awakened and inquiring, many of them desponding and alarmed, both desired and needed guidance and instruction. The judicious exhibition of evangelical doctrines and promises by these faithful men, was in due time productive of those happy and tranquilizing effect which were early predicted, as the characteristics of gospel times. Adopting the beautiful imagery of the prophets, the broken-hearted were bound up and comforted, the spirit of bondage and of fear gave way to al spirit of freedom and of love, the oil of joy was poured forth instead of mourning, and the spirit of heaviness exchanged for the garments of praise and thankfulness.”

It would be gratifying to dwell upon God’s revival work in England while his Spirit was being thus poured out in Ireland and Scotland. How much like a description of some of our blessed modern revivals does the pen-picture of Baxter’s work in Kidderminster seem, as drawn in his writings. He tells of preaching twice on Lord’s day, and on Thursday evening at his own private house, besides occasional sermons; of “resolving the doubts” of inquirers; of praying with the awakened in little companies; of a “three hours “prayer-meeting with the young; of the converts holding a Saturday evening prayer-meeting for the success of the word on the following day; of once in a few weeks having a day of humiliation; of going through the parish (with the help of his brethren) and visiting all the people, and instructing them in the scriptures, and urging them, “with all possible engaging reason and vehemence to answerable affection and practice.” He spent an hour with a family, —occupying “all the afternoon of Mondays and Tuesdays in this way.”

As to results, let him give his own story. “The congregation was usually full, so that we were led to build five galleries after my coming hither, the church itself being very capacious, the most commodious and convenient that ever I was in. Our private meetings also were full. On the Lord’s day there was no disorder to be seen in the streets, but you might hear a hundred families singing psalms and repeating sermons as you passed through the streets. In a word, when I came thither first, there was about one family in a street that worshipped God and called on his name; and when I came away, there were some streets where there was not more than one family in the side of a street that did not so, and that did not, in professing serious godliness, give us hopes of their sincerity. And of those families which were the worst, being inns and ale-houses, usually some persons in each did seem to be religious. Though our administration of the Lord’s supper was so orderly as displeased many, and the far greater part kept themselves away, yet we had six hundred that were communicants, of whom there were not twelve that I had not good hopes of as to their sincerity; and those few that came to our communion and yet lived scandalously, were excommunicated afterwards."

We cannot farther sketch the refreshings from God’s presence during this second period.

THIRD REVIVAL PERIOD: 1730—1750.

John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards were born the same year (1703). Charles Wesley was born two years after (1705), and. George Whitfield nine years still later (1714).

The appearance of these names on the scroll of history marks a revival period of wonderful interest.

To go back a little, and accept the resumé of another, the English church had been “reformed” by act of Parliament under Edward VI., counter-reformed in the same way under Queen Mary, and re-reformed by Queen Elizabeth— the great body of the clergy holding fast their benefices with unscrupulous tenacity throughout these vicissitudes. Nineteen-twentieths of Queen Mary’s clergy became Queen Elizabeth’s clergy without compunction, and certainly without conversion. It is not surprising, therefore, that generally speaking both religious knowledge and morals, among people and clergy, remained at the lowest ebb; and that the church establishment, after being purged of the most of its piety and learning by the Act of Uniformity, continued to descend in the moral scale, carrying the people with it, until, after the accession of the house of Hanover, the scandalous condition of the country was perhaps unequalled in Europe. Bishop Burnet says that candidates for ordination were commonly quite unacquainted with the Bible and unable even to give an account of the statements in the church catechism. When they re-appeared before him to obtain institution to a living, it was still apparent in many that they had not “read the Scriptures nor any other good book since they were ordained.” “Of all the ministers of religion he had seen in the course of his extensive travels —Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Dissenters—they were the most remiss in their labours, and the least severe in their lives."

The infidel works of Hobbes, Tindal, Collins, Shaftesbiury, and Chubb were in full circulation, and were re-enforced by the appearance of the three greatest giants in the cause of skeptical error which modern times have produced—Bolingbroke, Hume, and Gibbon. The Encyclopedists had attempted the design of eradicating from the circle of the sciences every trace of Christian truth; and the polite writers of France, headed by Voltaire and Rousseau, had decked the corrupt doctrines of the day with the attractions of eloquence and poetry, humour and satire, until they swept over the nation like a sirocco, withering not only the sentiments of religion, but the instincts of humanity, and subverting at last, in common ruin, the altar, the throne, and the moral protections of domestic life.

Lady Mary Wortley wrote, in 1710, that there were “more atheists among the fine ladies than among the loosest sort of rakes.” Ignorance and drunkenness, it is stated, were the predominant qualities of the working classes; licentiousness and infidelity of the higher. Montesquieu, who visited England in 1729-31, protested that the English had no religion at all. “If any one,” he said, “spoke of it, everybody laughed.” Low as religion had sunk in France, he confessed that he himself had not enough of it to satisfy his countrymen; and yet he found that he had too much to suit English society.

Rev. Mr. Ryle, of the Church of England, says: “These times were the darkest age that England has passed through in the last three hundred years. Anything more deplorable than the condition of the country as to religion, morality, and high principle, it is very difficult to conceive. As to preaching the gospel, the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity—the atonement, the work and office of Christ and the Spirit— were comparatively lost sight of. The vast majority of sermons were miserable moral essays, utterly devoid of anything calculated to awaken, convert, sanctify, or save souls."

And Isaac Taylor, in his history of Methodism, says that when Wesley appeared, “the Anglican Church was an ecclesiastical system under which the people of England had lapsed into heathenism, or a state hardly to be distinguished from it.”

In America the religious condition was not much better. The primitive standard of morals and piety among the colonies of New England had sadly declined. From the first, isolated revivals had been enjoyed; but there prevailed at this time a lamentable ignorance of the essentials of practical religion.

Dr. Increase Mather, in a book entitled, “The Glory Departing from New England,” printed in 1702, says, “We are the posterity of the good old Puritan Nonconformists in England, who were a strict and holy people. Such were our fathers who followed the Lord into this wilderness. Oh, New England, New England, look to it that the glory be not removed from thee, for it begins to go. Oh, degenerate New England, what art thou come to at this day! How are those sins become common in thee that once were not so much as heard of in this land!”

In a public lecture printed in 1706, Dr. Cotton Mather says, “It is confessed by all who know anything of the matter—and oh, why not with rivers of tears bewailed? —that there is a general and horrible decay of Christianity among the professors of it.” And Rev. Samuel Blair, speaking of the state of things in Pennsylvania previous to 1740, declares that “religion lay a-dying and ready to expire its last breath of life.”

The causes of this degeneracy are but too apparent. They are well told by Rev. Joseph Tracy, in his excellent and standard “history of the Great Awakening.” He says:

“The New England churches had receded from the original standard. The Synod of 1662 had decided that persons baptized in infancy, understanding the doctrine of faith, and publicly professing their assent thereunto, not scandalous in life, and solemnly owning the covenant before the church wherein they give up themselves and their children to the Lord, and subject themselves to the government of Christ in the church, --their children are to be baptized, though the parent, thus owning the covenant, be avowedly yet unregenerate, and as such excluded from the Lord’s Supper. This practice was immediately adopted by many churches, and, after a violent controversy, became general. This was very naturally followed by a still further innovation. In 1707, “the venerable Stoddard,” of Northampton, published a sermon in which he maintained “That sanctification is not a necessary qualification to partaking of the Lord’s Supper,” and “that the Lord’s Supper is a converting ordinance.” To this Dr. Increase Mather replied the next year; and in 1709, Mr. Stoddard published his “Appeal to the Learned; being a Vindication of the Right of Visible Saints to the Lord’s Supper, though they be destitute of a Saving Work of God’s Spirit on their hearts.” The third book of the Appeal contains “Arguments to prove that sanctifying grace is not necessary in order to a lawful partaking of the Lord’s Supper.” Mr. Stoddard, in his sermon, enforced his arguments with the assertion, “That no other country does neglect this ordinance as we in New England; and that in our own nation at home, [England,] so in Scotland, Holland, Denmark, Sweedland, Germany, and France, they do generally celebrate the memorials of Christ’s death.” There had been strong tendencies towards such a practice for many years, and probably some instances of its virtual adoption; but it now, for the first time, found an open and able advocate. It was strenuously opposed; but the desire to enjoy the credit and advantages of church membership, aided by Mr. Stoddard’s influence, earned the day at Northampton, and the practice soon spread extensively in other parts of New England."

Thus, also, Mr. Williams, a defender of the Halfway Covenant, in opposition to Jonathan Edwards, mentions two ends contemplated by Christ in appointing the communion: viz. “That such as have grace already should be under proper advantages to gain more, and that those who have none should be under proper advantages to attain grace.” And Edwards himself, who utterly repudiated this view, was forced to lament, that “owning the covenant, as it is called, has in New England, it is to be feared, too much degenerated into a matter of mere form and ceremony; it being visibly a prevailing custom for persons to neglect this until they come to be married, and then to do it for their credit’s sake, and that their children may be baptized.” In a word, it was held that the Christian church is but a continuation of the. Jewish, the terms of admission remaining unchanged. The position laid down by Mr. Stoddard was practically maintained, viz.: “That if unsanctified persons might lawfully come to the Passover, then such may lawfully come to the Lord’s Supper, —and they who convey to their children a right to baptism, have a right themselves to the Lord’s Supper, provided they carry inoffensively.”

One obvious tendency of this practice was to destroy church discipline; for unconverted members, generally would not be strict in calling others to account for error of doctrine or practice. And in his reply to Mr. Fish, Isaac Backus testifies, “that it is a professed rule with many ministers, not to deal with any person in the church for moral evil till he is convicted in the state.

It is easy to see that this system favored the entrance of unconverted men into the ministry. If one was fit to be a member of the church; if he was actually a member in good standing, why should he be excluded from the ministry? It could not be. The form of examining candidates as to their piety was still retained, but the spirit of it was dying away; and Mr. Stoddard in his “Appeal to the Learned,” argued from the fact which he took for granted, that “unconverted ministers have certain official duties which they may lawfully perform."

Amid scenes of such moral desolation in the old world and the new, it pleased God suddenly to appear in great mercy. And it is worthy of remark, that the blessing came almost simultaneously on America and Europe.

First in the order of time there was a revival of considerable power in Freehold, N.J., in 1730, and in the three following years, under the labors of the Tennents.

Next commenced the wonderful work in Northampton, Mass., under Edwards, in the autumn of 1734. Then, says Edwards, “the Spirit of God began extraordinarily to set in and wonderfully to work among us; and there were very suddenly, one after another, five or six persons, who were, to all appearance; savingly converted, and some of them wrought upon in a very remarkable manner.” The news spread “like a flash of lightning” and there was a general concern in all parts of the town; and “souls did come, as it were, by flocks to Jesus Christ.” The report of the state of things at Northampton spread into other towns, where many “seemed not to know what to make of it.” Many ridiculed, “and some compared what we call conversion to certain distempers.” Great numbers, however, who came to Northampton and saw for themselves, were differently affected, and not a few of them, from various places, were awakened and apparently brought to repentance. In March 1735, the revival began to be general in South Hadley, and about the same time in Suffield. It next appeared in Sunderland, Beerfield, and Hatfield; and afterwards at West Springfield, Long Meadow, and En-field; and then in Hadley Old Town, and in North-field. In Connecticut the work commenced in the first parish in Windsor, about the same time as at Northampton. It was remarkable at East Windsor, and “wonderful” at Coventry. Similar scenes were witnessed at Lebanon, Durham, Stratford, Ripton, New Haven, Guildford, Mansfield, Tolland, Hebron, Bolton, Preston, Groton, and Woodbury.

Edwards hoped that more than 300 in his parish were converted in the space of half a year.

About the month of May, 1735, the work began sensibly to decline; although for months after frequent conversions continued. This awakening excited a lively interest among the friends of vital piety at a distance. Dr. Colman, of Boston, wrote to Mr. Edwards for an account of it. Having obtained one he published it, and forwarded it to Dr. Watts and Dr. Guise in London, where its publication exerted a strong influence for good.

A longing existed in many places for similar awakenings; and in the few next succeeding years they began to multiply in different parts of the country. Thus in 1739, in Newark, N. J., “the whole town in general was brought under an uncommon concern about their eternal interests.” In Harvard, Mass., the same year, a revival much like that at Northampton (only not so extensive) occurred, resulting in “near a hundred” hopeful conversions.

About the same time the work re-appeared in Northampton; and gentle refreshings were experienced in Pennsylvania (particularly at Londonderry), and in New Brunswick, N. J., and some other places.

Such, properly speaking, was the commencement of the “Great Awakening.” But it did not assume its peculiar power until George Whitfield arrived in Philadelphia in the early part of November, 1739.

In that city, and in New York and New Jersey, where he at once began preaching, as well as in Georgia and South Carolina, thousands flocked together, anxious about their souls, and multitudes were added unto the Lord.

In September 1740, Whitfield visited New England, whither his fame had spread; and here all the people were anxious to hear him. Arriving at Newport, R. I., he began immediately his usual course of incessant preaching. His sermons on his way to Boston spread his reputation, and when within ten miles’ distance lie was met by the governor’s son and a train of the clergy and chief citizens, who escorted him into the city. Belcher, the governor, received him heartily, and became his warm friend. He was denied “King’s Chapel,” the English Church; but Webb, Foxcroft, Prince, Sewall and all the other Puritan divines, welcomed him. His preaching had its usual effect. “It was Puritanism revived,” said old Mr. Walter, the successor of Eliot, the apostle to the Indians. “It was the happiest day I ever saw in my life,” exclaimed Colman, after his first sermon. He “itinerated” who traced his course northward from Boston travelling one hundred and seventy times in about a week On his return the whole city seemed moved. High and low, clergymen and municipal officers, professors and students from the neighbouring college of Cambridge, and people from the country towns, thronged to hear him, and appeared ready to “pluck out their eyes for him.” Twenty thousand hearers crowded around him when he delivered his farewell discourse under the trees of the large Common. “Such a power and presence of God with a preacher,” wrote one who heard him, “I never saw before. Our governor has carried him from place to place in his coach, and could not help following him fifty miles out of town.”

He directed his course westward to Northampton, where he met a congenial spirit in Jonathan Edwards. Pulpits were open to him on all the route, and a “divine unction” attended his preaching. From Northampton he passed down to New Haven, addressing as he journeyed vast and deeply affected congregations. He arrived there October 23, when the Colonial Legislature was in session, and on the Sabbath preached before them and an immense throng, some of whom had come twenty miles to hear him. The aged governor was so deeply affected that he could speak but few words. With tears trickling down his cheeks like drops of rain, he exclaimed: “Thanks be to God for such refreshings on our way to heaven!”

By November 8th he was again in Philadelphia, preaching in a house which had been erected for him during his absence. On the 14th of December he reached the Orphan house, near Savannah. In seventy-five clays he had preached a hundred and seventy-five sermons. “Never,” he writes, “did I see such a continuance of the divine presence in the congregations to which I have preached."

On the 16th of January, 1741, he again embarked at Charleston for England.

Of course it is impossible to trace the progress of the revivals that sprang up in these years, all through New England and the Middle and Southern States. A large number of pastors in Eastern Massachusetts, in 1745, printed and sent out a “Testimony” to its blessed effects. It was estimated that at that time the population of all the colonies was about 2,000,000; and it was believed that the number of converts amounted to not less than fifty thousand. If so, they bore as great a proportion to the whole number of inhabitants, and would as much change the relative proportion of the religious and irreligious, as the conversion of six or eight hundred thousand would now. As one result, not less than 150 new Congregational churches were established in twenty years. The increase of Baptist churches was still more wonderful, rising from a few to upwards of 400 in number, with a total of 30,000 members. The increase of the Presbyterians and other denominations in the Middle States appears to be less distinctly marked, but it was very great.

Particularly towards the close of the above period, there were most objectionable outbreaks of animal excitement, and also of untempered religious controversy, marring the gracious fruitage; but, making every reasonable abatement, the awakening was a most merciful visitation from the Lord in its immediate and lasting influence upon the young colonies of America.

In England the work began in 1739. On Feb. 17th of that year, Mr. Whitfield preached his first field sermon, at a place called Rose Green. He held open-air meetings there and at Kingswood for several days, and was listened to by thousands and tens of thousands of astonished hearers. The first evidence he observed of having made any impression on his rude auditors, was their deep silence; the next, and still more convincing, was his observation of the white gutters made by the tears which fell plentifully down their cheeks, black and unwashed from the coal—pits. John Wesley, [by whom, on his going to America, Whitfield was succeeded in this most interesting field of labour,] speaking of the harvest which it yielded in return to their conjoint prayers and labors, says, “Few persons have lived long in the west of England, who have not heard of the colliers of Kingswood as those neither fearing God nor regarding man. But now we see that in the middle of February, Kingswood was a wilderness, and that when the month of June arrived, it was already blossoming like the rose.”

After a short visit to the north of Wales, where he fell in with that wonderful Welsh preacher Howell Harris, who had been for three years ringing out the gospel notes from “tables, wells, and hillocks,” Whitfield traversed a great portion of England, preaching in bowling-greens, at market-crosses and on the highways; thus preparing the way for those remarkable field operations of the Wesleys, in connection with whom the arm of the Lord was so mightily revealed in the founding of Methodism.

During the years 1740 and 1741 Wesley traversed many parts of the kingdom, preaching almost daily, and sometimes four sermons on the Sabbath. Ingham, his companion in America, was abroad also, itinerating in Yorkshire, where he formed many societies. Howell Harris pursued his labours successfully in Wales, and. John Bennet preached extensively in Derbyshire and its surrounding counties. David Taylor, a man of signal usefulness, also began to travel and preach about this time.

As to Whitfield, he thirteen times crossed the Atlantic; and many thousands hung upon his lips, whether he was in London or other parts of England; in Wales, Scotland, or Ireland; in Georgia, or New Hampshire; in Charleston, Philadelphia, New York or Boston, or the country intervening. In some cases ten, and in others even twenty thousand, listened to his impassioned appeals; and fruits unto eternal life were gathered all along his course; until “he was not, for God took him.”

Of the gracious work of God in Scotland (particularly at Cambuslang) in 1742, when the Lord sent plenteous rains upon many of the parishes, the annals of those times give most interesting narratives.

In reading the “History of Revivals in the British Isles” (by Mrs. Duncan of Ruthwell) and the lives of Whitfield Wesley, Lady Huntingdon, etc., one will see how truly upon those who sat in the shadow of death, the light suddenly arose, and “the thirsty land’ became springs of water."

FOURTH REVIVAL PERIOD: 1790—1842.

It has very properly been said that the year 1790 ushered in a new era, particularly for the United States. In the old country the fearful inroads of French infidelity had sapped the foundations of faith and hope in God, and, combined with other untoward influences, had made the hearts of the faithful fail them for fear. The overspreading gloom about 1790 aroused Hannah More, Bishop Porteus, Drs. Bogue, Andrew Fuller, Burder, and Rowland Hill, and kindred spirits in England, to noble evangelical efforts which greatly blessed the world. There was also a simultaneous work in Scotland, connected with the Haldanes and others. This was the direct cause of the formation of the Religious Tract Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the London Missionary, and the Church Missionary (local) Societies. Also the first society for evangelizing the heathen—the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. All these, and other kindred movements, were the fruits of the revivals about 1790 to 1792.

The names of the two brothers referred to above, Robert and James Alexander Haldane, of Scotland, will be had in everlasting remembrance for their burning zeal and untiring labours in the service of Christ, and for the cheerfulness with which they consecrated their wealth, time, and talents in building churches—tabernacles they were called—for the poor, and providing in every practicable way for their religious instruction.

In the north of Wales, under the labors of Charles of Bala, “the apostle of North Wales,” a “great revival” occurred in the beginning of 1791.

In America the vast extent of the revival blessings of this period can only be appreciated by considering the deplorable condition into which we had fallen. It is true there were occasional “streams in the desert” during the previous half century. But the Half Way Covenant still lingered in many of the Congregational churches, and Unitarianism had spread so generally that “at the beginning of the present century all the Congregational churches in Boston, with a single exception, had renounced the faith of the Puritans.”

It must be remembered, too, that the political condition of the country was such as constantly to agitate the public mind, and divert attention from spiritual things. A war between France and Spain and England lasted from 1744 to 1748. Soon after this, the controversy commenced between the colonies and the mother country, and continued until it finally broke out into open war in 1776. During the eight years of the revolutionary war every nerve of the country was strained to maintain the national conflict. Thus from 1744 to 1783, during a period of almost 40 years, the public mind was continually agitated by political questions. These successive wars did much to break down the sanctity of the Sabbath, and corrupt the Morals of the community.

In the meantime, as might have been expected, French Infidelity, aided by Paine’s “Age of Reason,” Voltaire’s assaults upon Christianity, Volney’s Ruins, and other blasphemous publications, had spread rapidly, especially among the upper classes. The illuminati, so called, of France and Germany, who were secretly associated for the overthrow of all existing religious institutions, had their affiliated societies in this country, enrolling not a few men of high social and political standing and influence. “It became fashionable, in high places and low places, flippantly to prate against the Bible, and sneer at things sacred and divine. Instead of the Scriptures, French philosophy claimed to be the rule of faith and life, and ignoring all the rights of God, was to usher in the glorious millennium of the rights of man.”

But when the enemy was thus coming in like a flood, the Lord lifted up a standard against him. About 1790 there were quite extensive works of grace in Western Pennsylvania and Southern and Western Virginia; and a little later the work began in the Eastern States. In these times we meet with the names of Bellamy, Griffin, the younger Edwards, Backus, Robbins, Mills, Perkins, Strong, Porter, Hooker, Williams, Hawley, Manning, Dwight, Hyde, Emmons, Baldwin, Mason, Stillman, Liviingston, Furman, Marshall, Nettleton, Lyman Beecher, and many others, who did not shun to declare all the counsel of God.

In 1790 the first Baptist church in Boston was graciously revived, and two hundred were added in the course of a few years. (Footnote: Moore, in his History, says: “The revival in the First and Second Baptist churches was the first in that series of revivals wherewith God blessed Boston in the present generation. The tide of error with which this city had been for half a century flooded then began to turn,”

In 1792, “or the year before,” says Dr. Griffin, “began the unbroken series of American revivals. There was a revival in North Yarmouth, Me., in 1791. In the summer of 1792 one appeared in Lee, in the county of Berkshire. The following November the first that I had the privilege of witnessing showed itself on the borders of East Haddam and Lyme, Conn., which apparently brought to Christ a hundred souls. I saw a continued succession of heavenly sprinklings at New Salem, Farmington, Middlebury, and New Hartford, (all in Connecticut,) until, in 1799, I could stand at my door in New Hartford, Litchfield county, and number fifty or sixty congregations laid down in one field of divine wonders, and as many more in different parts of New England.” By 1802 remarkable revivals had spread through most of the western and southern States. And Dr. Nettleton says, “during a period of four or five years, commencing with 1798, no less than one hundred and fifty churches in New England were favoured with the special effusions of the holy Spirit; and thousands of souls, in the judgment of charity, were translated from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.”

Distinct mention should here be made of that honoured instrument in revivals just mentioned. Certainly no other man did so much, under God, to promote them as Asahel Nettleton; who began to preach as an evangelist in 1812, and continued his labours for upwards of twenty years. To him not ineptly apply Pollock’s lines:—

A skilful workman he,

In God’s great moral vineyard: what to prune

With cautious hand he knew, what to uproot;

What were mere weeds, and what celestial plants

Which had immortal vigor in them, knew.

Oh, who can speak his praise! Great humble man!

He in the current of destruction stood,

And warned the sinner of his woe; led on

Immanuel’s soldiers in the evil day,

And with the everlasting arms embracing

Him around, stood in the dreadful front

Of battle high, and warred victoriously

With death and hell.

How wondrously the Lord carried forward his work during almost the whole period now under review, it is not in language to describe. There are extant particular narratives of local revivals in nearly all the States, even an epitome of which cannot here be given. Dr. Porter examined, in the preparation of his “Letters on Revivals,” the written or printed accounts of over one hundred and seventeen churches; while sonic of these accounts speak of other places that were revived—one says in fifty or sixty adjacent towns—of which, of course, no particulars are given. And still greater numbers were never reported at all. No part of the country, in proportion to its extent, shared so largely in these, “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,” as Connecticut; but other parts of New England enjoyed precious showers of grace; and during the same period powerful revivals prevailed, more or less extensively, in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, the two Carolinas, and Georgia.

Dr. Griffin tells of a revival in Newark, N. J., in 1803, under his ministry, when “twenty contiguous congregations experienced the mighty power of God.” In 1807 he says he was all the while going from house to house, but felt that he was only “holding’ a torch to the tinder which God had prepared."

Dr. Robbins says of Norfolk, Conn., in 1799, “the marvellous displays of divine power and grace were conspicuous beyond anything of the kind we had ever witnessed. A universal solemnity spread over the town, and seized the minds of almost, all, both old and young, great numbers were bowed with a sense of the presence of the Lord; some rejoicing and praising god, others crying out in anguish of soul, ‘What must we do?”

A writer from New hampshire, in 1791, speaks of “a glorious revival” there “which began a year ago last spring, and has extended through several towns. The Rev. Samuel Shephard has baptized more than an hundred and fifty, and the work still goes on. There I have been also very considerable revivals in many churches of other denominations.”

Dr. Hyde says of Lee, Mass., that in 1792, a marvellous work was begun, and it bore the decisive marks of being God’s work. “So great was the excitement, though not yet known abroad, that into whatever section of the town I now went, the people in that immediate neighbourhood would leave their worldly employment at any hour of the day, and soon fill a large room. Before I was aware, and without any previous appointment, I found myself in the midst of a solemn and anxious assembly."

In Boscawen, N. H., Halifax and Rutland and Rupert, Vt., and other towns, “surprising manifestations of the Lord” were reported about the same time.

Drs. Dewitt and Mason, of N. Y., with others, tell of gracious works in that city in their charges; and says Harlan Page, under date of January 24, 1831: “The Lord appears now to be coming down on all parts of this great city, to arouse his children and to awaken sinners. Thousands of Christians here are, I think, praying as they never prayed before. Public general meetings commenced yesterday afternoon, and are to be continued through the week. Conversions are occurring in all parts of the city Churches are daily crowded to overflowing, and a most fixed and. solemn attention is given to the dispensation of the truth.”

That year the old Chatham Street Theatre (a haunt of obscenity, blasphemy, and vice) was purchased by a committee for purposes of worship. Two gentlemen called on the lessee of the theatre and proposed to buy his lease. “What for?” said he. “For a church.” The astonished man broke into tears, and exclaimed,.“ You may have it, and I will give 1,000 dollars towards it,” The arrangement was completed. At the close of the morning rehearsal, the beautiful hymn, “The Voice of Free Grace,” was sung, and Mr. Tappan announced to the actors that that evening there would be preaching on that stage. A pulpit was placed on the spot where dying agonies had often been counterfeited in tragic mockery; and in front of the footlights of the stage were seats for the inquirers.

The first prayer-meeting in the theatre was attended by 800 persons. On the 6th of May the house was dedicated to the service of God. Mr. Finney preached from the text, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” For seventy successive nights he preached there to immense audiences. The bar-room was changed into a prayer-room, and the first man who knelt there poured forth these words, “O Lord, forgive my sins: the last time I was here thou knowest that I was a wicked actor on this stage; O Lord, have mercy on me!” For three years this building was used for revival meetings.

That revival brought into the churches of New York 2,000 souls, many of whom became prominent in great benevolent movements.

Passing to other localities, we find Dr. Furman, of S. C., telling of revivals there in the early part of the century. Rev. Mr Stevenson describes mighty works in Pennsylvania, and Mr Woodward embodies in a publication “surprising accounts “ of revivals in Kentucky and Tennessee, while others write of the same in Georgia, North Carolina, and almost all sections of the country, about the same time. And so “The word of the Lord grew and multiplied.”

Interruptions there were during the long period now under our notice; and at some seasons [e.g. 1814 and 1831], the spiritual harvest was more abundant than at others but upon the field as a whole Christ was triumphing gloriously. As Dr. Gardiner Spring, of N.Y. remarks, the period commencing with the year 1792 and terminating with 1842 was a memorable period in the history of the American church. Scarcely any portion of it but was graciously visited by copious effusions of the Holy Spirit. At this last mentioned date (with the previous year) the city of Boston wonderfully blessed, and four thousand converts were added to the evangelical churches.

It has been estimated that from 1815 to 1840, the Spirit was poured out upon from four to five hundred churches and congregations, on an average, annually; and that during some particular years “from forty to fifty thousand were added by profession in a single twelvemonth."

Thus, whatever view we take of the work, this was a most gracious period in the religious history of Christendom. Besides the rich harvests of priceless souls then gathered, these revivals stand directly connected, as we shall see in the next chapter, with all those aggressive movements which are turning the world’s wildernesses into fruitful fields.

FIFTH REVIVAL PERIOD: 1857-1860.

It is an interesting fact in revivals that they frequently succeed some great calamity;—a prevailing epidemic, a general financial embarrassment, or the like.

It was so with the wonderful work of grace to which we now come. The churches in this country were, to an alarming extent, characterized by coldness and conformity to the world. The greed of gain amounted to a mania; and it filled not only the commercial centres, but the villages; in fact, the whole land. Speculation was at fever-heat, and the wildest projects turned men’s brains, and drove them recklessly on in the race for riches. As a natural result, frauds, defalcations, and failures became common; until finally the crash came, and the castles in the air, as well as the solid accumulations, were seen everywhere toppling to the fall. As with the twinkling of an eye, golden dreams vanished and millionaires became bankrupts.

God meant it for good. He would drive out mammon that himself might reign. He made poor the merchant princes that they might be rich in heavenly gain.

And now that the wheels of industry stood still and the counting-houses in the metropolis were deserted and gloom and disappointment settled down like a pall, a voice was heard whispering to the men of weary brain, “Come ye yourselves apart, and rest awhile.” “Is any man afflicted, let him pray.” Subdued, broken, tender, they answered, “Yes, for he hath wounded, and he can heal.”

A little room in the lower part of NewYork, and immediately in the drifts of trade, on the third floor of the “Consistory” of the old Reformed Dutch Church, Fulton-street, was thrown open for a weekly noon-day prayer meeting. It was one of the earliest manifestations of a special religious interest.

At first the good down-town city missionary, Mr. Lamphier, who made the appointment met there three persons; then six, then twenty. Next week they assembled on the floor below, and the Business Men’s Prayer-meeting began to attract attention. One man (speaking for many) said: “Prayer never was so great a blessing to me as it is in this time; I should certainly either break down or turn rascal, except for it. If I could not get some half hours every clay to pray myself into a right state of mind, I should certainly either be overburdened and disheartened, or do such things as no Christian man ought to do."

A call was now made for a daily meeting. It was received with enthusiasm, and the meeting-room overflowed, and filled a second, and eventually a third room, in the same building; making three crowded prayer-meetings, one above another, in animated progress at one and the same hour. The seats were all filled, and the passages and entrances began to be choked with numbers, rendering it scarcely possible to pass in or out. The hundreds who daily went away disappointed of admission, created a visible demand for more room; and the John Street Methodist Church and. lecture-room were both opened for daily noon prayer—meetings, by a committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and were crowded at once with attendants. Meetings were multiplied in other parts of the city; and the example spread to Philadelphia, to Boston, and to other cities, until there was scarcely a town of importance in the United States, (save a few in the South,) in which the Business Men’s Daily Prayer-meeting was not a flourishing institution, and a leading agency in awakening public interest to religion.

These morning or noon-day prayer-meetings were a marked feature of the revival. And it should be added, that they were union prayer-meetings, attended by all classes, without respect to denominational differences. The middle walls of partition were never before so broken down; and evangelical Christians of every name found they could come together and pray for the outpouring of the Spirit without any sacrifice of church order.

Request for prayer were another marked feature. There was scarcely a meeting anywhere without such being sent forward; and often scores of them were presented. The following are samples:

“Prayers are requested for a young man who has thus far resisted all persuasions to attend these meetings, and who is in these rooms to-day for the first time.”

“A sister, who has been praying daily three years for the conversion of an only brother, asks an interest in your prayers.”

“A brother requests the earnest prayers of this meeting in behalf of a loved but thoughtless sister.”

“Prayers are requested for a sister who is given to intemperance.”

“A few praying souls in Spring-street Presbyterian Church, deeply bewailing the spiritual desolation of that Zion, beseech you to unite with them in wrestling and importuning on her behalf. Brethren and sisters, pray for us, and if you can, come over and help us.”

The aid of the newspapers was another feature of this great work. The secular papers all spoke of it; and some of them made it a point to report the meetings fully. A pastor wrote to one of the papers thus: “The glorious summary, with the editorial remarks on the ‘Great Revivals,’ in your paper of the 4th instant, stirred my soul so powerfully that I felt something more must be done in our village; and I have called on the other ministers, and we have started a meeting, and the dews are falling on us.”

The telegraph was also called into requisition. The reader can imagine the effect of such dispatches as these:

NEW YORK, March 12, 1858, 12¼ o’clock, p.m.

To the Philadelphia Union Prayer-meeting in Jayne’s hall:

CHRISTIAN BRETHREN—The New York John-street Union Meeting sends you greeting in brotherly love. “The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts—I will go also.” “Praise the Lord—call upon his name—declare his doings among the people—make mention that his name is exalted."

BENJ. F. MANIERRE,} Leaders.

CEPHAS BRAINARD

To this dispatch the following reply was received, and read to the meeting in John—S

Street:

PHILADELPHIA, March 12, 12½ o’clock, p.m.

Jayne’s Hall Daily Prayer-Meeting is crowded; upwards of 3,000 present. With one mind and heart they glorify our Father in heaven for the mighty work he is doing in our city and country, in the building up of saints and the conversion of sinners. The Lord hath done great things for us, whence joy to us is brought. May he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, and who walks in the midst of the churches, be with you by his Spirit this day.

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you.

GEO. H. STUART, Chairman of Meeting.

The telegraph offices sent messages to all parts of the country, announcing conversions. Many of them were exceedingly tender and touching. These are samples: “Dear mother, the revival continues, and I, too, have been converted.” “My dear parents, you will rejoice to hear that I have found peace with God."

Tell my sister that I have come to the cross of Christ.” “At last I have obtained faith and peace.”

The lay element was prominent in this revival. The workers, mostly, were laymen. From the beginning, ministers of the gospel cheerfully stood by and saw the principal share of labour in the hands of their lay brethren.

The pervasiveness of the work was striking. In manufactories, counting-rooms, jobbing-houses, and business firms of all kinds, prayer-meetings were established and souls converted. New churches were springing up, and old ones were strengthened. The substance of letters received from every State of the Union was revivals, glorious and wide—spread revivals! In some places day-schools were suspended, and teachers scholars, and parents occupied the school-houses daily for worship.

Again; great sobriety characterized the work. There were few wild and fanatical excitements to mar the beautiful and blessed work of the Spirit. “The majesty of a just God overshadowed the cross, and though the way to that cross was open and free, it was yet a solemn way for the guilty sinner to tread in.”

Another characteristic of the work was—that sinners seemed readily to find peace in Christ. Those deep, long-continued, despairing convictions of sin which arise from a profound view of the holiness of God’s law and the strictness of his claims upon us, were not prominent in this work. The love of Christ was the constraining power. Almost before they called he answered.

The, rapidity and power of this revival formed another glorious feature. Certainly never before were our great cities such radiating centres of spiritual light and heat. God seemed everywhere to go before his people, and prepare the way; and hence revivals instantaneously sprang up in city, town, and hamlet, throughout the land.

The results, of course, cannot be recorded; not even the number of conversions. In New York State 200 towns were reported as having revivals, with 6,000 conversions. In the city, all the churches were Iargely increased in membership, in some cases 50, 100, 200, 350, being received upon profession. Rev. George Duffield, Jr., of Philadelphia, communicated some very interesting facts to the Fulton Street prayer meeting. He had been employed, as one of a committee, to compile the facts of the revival as pertaining to that city.

He found that 3,010 had been added by profession to one denomination, 1,800 to another, 1,500 to another, 1,200 to another, and so on, till the aggregate was above 9,000. He believed there had been in that city 10,000 conversions within that current year.

In New Jersey the work was very extensive. The writer of this volume had the joy of receiving into the church of his charge (First Baptist) 236 souls upon profession. He wrote thus to the Newark Daily Advertiser: “As a matter of permanent record and grateful remembrance, I have thought it well to ascertain facts on this point as fully as possible. Inquiries have been addressed to thirty pastors and teachers in the city, as to the probable number of conversions, within the limits of their respective congregations. The figures show an aggregate of 2,685. Several ministers have not been reached; and it is fair to put the number unreported at 100; which would make an aggregate of some 2,800 hopeful conversions.”

Rev. Dr. Scott (First Reformed Church) stated that the conversion of persons of the strongest and maturest mind in the community was among the characteristics of the work in Newark. If he had attempted to select from his congregation forty-five of its strongest minds, he would have generally taken the forty-five who had united with his church by profession. Sixty towns in the State reported revivals, with 5,000 to 6,000 conversions.

Statistics from other States need not be given, as these are but examples. It is estimated that 100,000 conversions occurred in the short space of four months; and that during a year from the commencement of the work, not less than 400,000 souls were brought to Christ. Some writers have added one quarter to the above numbers. Thus much for the United States.

Abroad, the work was also extensive and powerful. Dr. J.W. Alexander writes that he was in Great Britain before the work arose here; and that the increase of endeavours to carry the gospel to the poor, in their most abject retreats—the continual rise of open-air preaching—the rise of several evangelical ministers upon whose words the multitude were disposed to hang the services in Exeter Hall, and even the opening of Westminster Abbey, spoke of zeal on one hand, and roused attention on the other. He once saw an assembly of ten thousand souls giving rapt attention at the Surrey Gardens to the great truths of salvation.

Such paragraphs as these appeared in the English papers: “A meeting for prayer is now held daily at two o’clock, p.m, in the County Rooms, Aberdeen, specially with a view to plead for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; it is said that it is attended by above a thousand persons daily.” The year 1859 will be remembered as a year of a fruitful harvest of souls in many countries in Europe. In Wales, it is estimated that the number of converts in the various denominations of orthodox Christians was from 30,000 to 35,000, a large number out of a population of a little over a million. It is known that 25,000 were added to the Welsh Calvinistic Church. The instances of backsliding, in both Wales and Ireland, have been very rare, though many of the converts were from the lowest orders of society. The good effects of the revival in Ireland, witnessed in the remarkable freedom from lawsuits and crime, are testified to by many public men connected with the courts, who attribute it to the moral and religious movements of last year. At the last assizes in the county Antrim, there was not a single prisoner for trial.”

Rev. Dr. Baron Stow, of Boston, in 1860, wrote thus as to Ireland, which he had just the year before visited: It has been estimated that in Belfast, a city of 130,000 souls, there are ten thousand converts. These are being received slowly and cautiously into the churches. God has distinguished this work in the North of Ireland by extraordinary manifestations of his own sovereign, mysterious agency. There were at many points the usual antecedents of faithful teaching and earnest prayer; but the blessing came in unexpected forms, lighted down in uninviting places, and produced unanticipated effects; and few, either of the ministry or the laity, were prepared to deal intelligently with the cases which were suddenly multiplied. In almost every place the work commenced among the less instructed and more degraded classes, and was characterized, in its incipient stage, by physical accompaniments that amazed the inexperienced, alarmed the timid, and impressed with an indefinable awe nearly the whole community. But the changes wrought in. character, speech, and conduct, soon became too demonstrative to admit a doubt as to the Higher Agency that had produced them; and when God had made himself known as the author of the moral transformations, and had thoroughly awakened attention to his claims, he gradually withdrew the physical operations, and the work assumed a more purely spiritual type. His design evidently comprehended more than the religious improvement of a province, or the salvation of thousands of its people. He would make a demonstration of his supremacy and power that should affect Christendom, and bring glory, on a broad field, to the riches of his grace. Many hundreds, not only from the unblessed districts of Ireland, but also from England and Scotland, and even from the Continent, hastened to the scene of the Spirit’s wonder-working; and, while many remained longer than they intended, co-operating with the overtasked laborers, few returned without the conviction that Ulster was pervaded by the power of the Highest.

The bishop of Hereford (Dr. Hampden) the same year, in his triennial charge to his clergy, warns them against “the movement in the North of Ireland,” and against “similar agitation in his own county; and neighbourhood,” adding that “he greatly distrusts the work, and he is strengthened in this feeling by the recollection of the scenes which took place during the agitation which was commenced and carried on by John Wesley.” “Many instances of insincerity,” the Bishop says, “were found among the followers of Wesley.” And the Saturday Review ridiculed the work (thus acknowledging its extent) in saying, “Undoubtedly the thing is catching. An enthusiast, we suppose, emits some subtle aura which falls upon the nerves, or the gastric plexus, or the hysteric organs, which are predisposed for receiving or imbibing the poison.”

On the other hand, in Dr. Gibson’s “Year of Grace,” (a carefully prepared work,] we have abundant evidence of the power and genuineness of these awakenings in Ireland and Scotland.

The following abstract shows the comparative number, both of congregations visited by the revival, and of individuals added to the Church in connection with them, in the several counties of Ulster:

Congregations

Additional Communicants.

Antrim.

81

4353

Down

68

2107

Derry

36

1258

Tyrone

42

1189

Armagh

27

625

Donegal

23

502

Monaghan

18

412

Cavan

10

169

Fermanagh

1

21

306

10,636

America, however, was most favoured in this gracious visitation, and many will recognize in the following pen-picture, taken from one of the religious journals of March, 1858, an accurate portraiture of the well remembered scenes of those days:

“Such a time as the present was never known since the days of the Apostles for revivals. The prostration of business, the downfall of Mammon, the great god of worship to the multitudes in this land, both in and out of the church, the sinfulness and vanity of earthly treasures, as the supreme good, have come home to the hearts and consciences of the millions in our land with a power that seems irresistible. Revivals now cover our very land, sweeping all before them, as on the day of Pentecost, exciting the earnest and simultaneous cry from thousands, “What shall we do to be saved?” They have taken hold of the community at large to such an extent that now they are the engrossing theme of conversation in all circles of society. Ministers seem baptized with the Holy Ghost and preach with new power and earnestness, bringing the truth home to the conscience and life as rarely before. Meetings are held for prayer, for exhortation, and for conversation, with the deepest interest, and the most astonishing results. Not only are they held in the church and from house to house, but in the great marts of trade and centres of business. Halls are selected, where men may leave their worldy cares for an hour, and by multitudes, without form or ceremony, drop in, fall on their knees and pray, with a few words of exhortation and entreaty, and then go about their usual business. In New York there is a most astonishing interest in all the churches, seeming as if that great and populous and depraved city was enveloped in one conflagration of divine influence. Union prayer meetings are held in the principal centres, and here thousands on thousands gather daily. Prayer and conference meetings are held in retired rooms connected with large commercial houses, and with the best effects. The large cities and towns generally from Maine to California are sharing in this great and glorious work. There is hardly a village or town to be found where a special divine power does not appear to be displayed. It really seems as if the Millennium was upon us in its glory.”

At one of the great meetings for prayer, held at mid-day in the city of New York, a gentleman from Philadelphia rose and read, with thrilling effect, the following hymn. It was but another indication of the times:

Where’er we meet, you always say

What’s the news? What’s the news?

Pray what’s the order of the day?

What’ the news? What’s the news?

Oh! I have got good news to tell;

My saviour hath done all things well,

And triumphed over death and hell,

That’s the news! That’s the news!

The Lamb was slain on Calvary,

That’s the news! That’s the news!

To set a world of sinners free,

That’s the news! That’s the news!

‘Twas there His precious blood was shed,

‘Twas there He bowed His sacred head;

But now He’s risen from the dead,

That’s the news! That’s the news!

To heav’n above the Conqueror’s gone,

That’s the news! That’s the news I

He’s passed triumphant to His throne,

That’s the news! That’s the news!

And on that throne He will remain

Until as Judge He comes again, attended by a dazzling train,

That’s the news! That’s the news!

His work’s reviving all around—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

And many have redemption found—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

And since their souls have caught the flame

They shout Hosanna to His name;

And all around they spread His fame—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

The Lord has pardoned all my sin—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

I feel the witness now within—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

And since He took my sins away,

And taught me how to watch and pray,

I’m happy now from day to day—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

And Christ the Lord can save you, too—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

Your sinful heart he can renew—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

This moment, if for sins you grieve,

This moment, if you do believe,

A full acquittal you’ll receive—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

And now if any one should say,

What’s the news! What’s the news!

Oh, tell him you’ve begun to pray—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

That you have joined the conquering band,

And now with joy at God’s command,

You’re marching to the better land—

That’s the news! That’s the news!

It would be pleasant to dwell still longer on God’s wondrous works during this last revival period; but our limits forbid.

In the chapter that follows are crystallized some of the more marked results of the several seasons of grace which have now been brought under review.

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!”

Chapter 3: WHAT WE OWE TO REVIVALS

No one can study the history of revivals and not be impressed with their mighty influence upon the destiny of the race. Not to speak of those of primitive times, what would have been the condition, of the world today but for the great Reformation, the spirit of which, as we have seen, was but a series of revivals of religion? And what had been the state of this country, and of other lands, had not the Holy Ghost been poured down in those gracious revival periods recorded in the previous chapter? Let us, under several particulars, see what we owe to these refreshings from the presence of the Lord.

1. Society at large has been uplifted by revivals. Godliness has the promise of this life, as well as of that to come. When the divine grace is abundantly downpoured it is felt at the very springs of society, and there cannot but be a corresponding elevation. Exalted to be the sons of God, and thrilled with new impulses, men burst asunder the chains of superstition, tyranny, and vice, and come into a higher and broader development. The fountains of life are purified, and a social and civil renovation is the result. It is impossible that the heart be turned from the love of sin to the love of holiness without an external reformation.

Hence the wonderful changes for good which are reported in pagan or papal lands, where the gospel takes effect. And hence the cases under our eyes where revivals have renovated, not only the moral but physical aspect of a community; driven away vice, encouraged industry, promoted intelligence, and caused the social virtues to prevail where before were discord and unblushing crime.

We boast of the progress of this age; and nothing is more astonishing than the recent advancement in science, philosophy, invention, learning, philanthropy, and civil jurisprudence. But it would be an interesting line of thought to show how this is attributable, in great part, to the religious awakenings of the last three hundred years. Our limits forbid it here; but let it be noted that aroused intellect has been back of all this: and that revivals of religion are favorable to intellectual action, not only as they bring the mind at the time into vigorous exercise, and into contact with the mighty truths of God’s word, but as they originate in the subjects of them moral feelings and habits which are peculiarly favorable to the acquisition of useful knowledge.

When Wickliffe and his successors reopened the Bible, the revival of letters took place. Twenty-four universities arose in less than a hundred years. In the midst of this movement, the discovery of the art of printing gave a new impetus to literature, and provided the swift and subtle agent by which the infant reformation was to surprise and overpower its great adversary unawares. At the same juncture the Mohammedan power, overwhelming the Eastern metropolis, swept the remnant of Greek learning into Europe. Finally, about the last half of the same memorable century, Luther, Zuinglius, Cranmer, Melancthon, Knox, and Calvin, with other mighty champions of truth, stepped forward to blow the trumpet of salvation and summon to new action the world’s thought.

In due time Owen, Bunyan, Baxter, Milton, Leighton, Flavel, and other luminaries of the seventeenth century, burning with the love of God, gave to the world for the first time an evangelical literature, and thereby a mighty acceleration to human progress. We hazard little, remarks an authority, in saying that for doctrinal, practical, and experimental religious instruction and authorship, it was the golden age in the fatherland. What other age has produced so many volumes full of the marrow of the gospel, and indited as it were so close on the verge of heaven? What thousands have been guided in the Way of Life by Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and his “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners;” and what thousands more have had the fulness of Christ revealed to them in Flavel’s “Fountain of Life” and “Method of Grace.”

What would our own land, as well as Great Britain, have been but for this revival period in the seventeenth century?

Then came that great uplifting of the English people by the revival under Whitfield and the Wesleys. John Wesley wrote theology, Charles Wesley put it into song and Whitfield preached it to the masses. There was need enough of their best efforts; for the Establishment, with all its learning, opulence and dignity, was doing next to nothing for the elevation of the ignorant communities.

In Howitt’s Rural Life of England is the following, with reference to the times under remark, which shows the elevating influence of revivals of religion:

“It is in the rural districts into which manufactories have spread—that are partly manufacturing and partly agricultural—that the population assumes its worst shape. And the Methodists have done much to check the progress of demoralization in these districts. They have given vast numbers education; they have taken them away from the pot-house and the gambling-house; from low haunts and low pursuits. They have placed them in a certain circle, and invested them with a degree of moral and social importance. They have placed them where they have a character to sustain, and higher objects to strive after; where they have ceased to be operated upon by a perpetual series of evil influences, and have been brought under the regular operation of good ones. They have rescued them from brutality of mind and manners, and given them a more refined association on earth, and a warm hope of a still better existence hereafter. If they have not done all that could be desired, with such materials, they have done much, and the country owes them much.”

This is a striking attestation to the beneficent influences of genuine revivals. And impartial history justifies the award. For the methods and means of education were improved, and the masses hungering for knowledge soon found their appetite gratified by public libraries, and the rapid issue of hymns and sermons, and treatises upon questions of current interest, and upon science and literature in a popularized form. In fine, the trumpets of a grand moral, intellectual, and social resurrection were sounded throughout the realm by this spiritual awakening; and the people uprose to higher aims and destinies.

It would be impossible to describe how much we in this country owe to the same revivals for our high position. The American Colonies felt the impulse of the intellectual advancement resulting from the awakenings in the old world, and were vastly indebted to them. Nor in the absence of such revivals could it have been said,

“When driven by oppression’s rod

Our fathers fled beyond the sea,

Their care was first to honor God,

And next to leave their children free.

Above the forest’s gloomy shade

The alter and the school appeared:

On that the gifts of faith were laid,

On this their precious hopes were reared.”

In fact, the Pilgrims and Puritans were themselves the product of those heavenly visitations. So that but for them we had not had such forefathers, of brain force, and conscience, and courage, and adamantine faith, and heroic virtue. And consequently we should not have had those, institutions which have been bequeathed to us.

Not to insist on this, however, let it be remembered, that while the next subsequent great awakenings in the old and new world were progressing, the political agitations in this country were taking place. And who can doubt that they were coincident in purpose as well as in time? The first mentioned were designed, beyond question, to act upon the last mentioned, and both to coalesce in the elevation of man for the divine glory. And so while a popular government was to be planted, and the resources of the continent were making ready for development constituting this the home of the nations, it was made sure that there should be special religious activities on the part of God’s people. Thus were the moulding influences of Christianity operative in just that emergency,—the formative state of society— blending its sanctified forces with the vigor of the youthful republic.

2. Missionary movements came from revival. All those great benevolent enterprises which are the glory of this age originated thence.

Confining our view to the fourth revival period, 1790—1842, how apparent is the fact stated.

In 1784 at a Baptist Association held in Nottingham, England, it was determined “that one hour, in the first Monday evening of every month should be devoted to solemn and special intercession for the Redeemer’s kingdom throughout the Earth.” In the spring of 1791, at a meeting of ministers held at Clipston, in Northamptonshire, Messrs. Sutcliff and Fuller delivered discourses adapted to fan into a flame the latent sparks of missionary zeal. At the annual association held that autumn at Nottingham, William Carey preached his famous sermon “Enlarge the place of thy tent, etc.,” urging that we were to “Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.”

On the 2nd day of October, 1792, the ministers met at Kettering, and after the public services of the day, retired for prayer. Then they solemnly pledged themselves to God and to each other to make a trial for introducing the gospel among the heathen, subscribing as a fund for that purpose £13. 2s. 6d. A plan was adopted, and a society formed, designated “The Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen.” The names of the twelve were John Ryland, Reynold Hogg, John Sutcliff, Andrew Fuller, Abraham Greenwood, Edward Sharman, Joshua Burton, Samuel Pearce, Thomas Blundel, William Heighton, John Eayres, Joseph Timms. William Carey immediately offered himself as a missionary. Mr. John Thomas, who had already performed some Christian labor in Calcutta, while practicing there as a surgeon, and was then in England, joined him. They sailed from England June 13, 1793 John Fountain followed them in 1796; and in 1799 Messrs. Ward, Brundson, Grant and Marshman, were added to the little band.

Thus was laid on a solid basis the first of the modern evangelical societies for the conversion of the pagans. Kindred societies, for home and foreign work, and for a variety of specific objects, (as we have seen in the previous chapter) were established in England about this time. Still more visibly, if possible, were the great missionary movements of our own country connected with the revival period of which we now speak.

In the words of Dr. Heman Humphrey, as to this era, when it dawned, there were no Missionary societies, foreign domestic, no Bible societies, no Tract societies, no Education societies, no onward movements in the churches of any sort for the conversion of the world. At home it was deep spiritual apathy; abroad, over all the heathen lands, the calm of the Dead Sea—death, death, nothing but death.

All the first foreign missionaries, Hall, Newell, Mills, Judson, Nott, Rice, Bingham, King, Thruston, and others who entered the field a little later, were converted and received their missionary baptism in revivals. The American Board of Foreign Missions was formed in 1810, at the urgency of the first band that went out from this country to India. But for their earnest solicitation to be sent forth with the glad tidings of the gospel upon their tongues, no such Board would have been formed; certainly not at that time; and if it had, it could not have done anything: there would have been no missionaries to send if God had not poured out his Spirit, and raised them up and prepared them to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. In these revivals the holy fire was kindled which waked up and warmed the churches to an onward aggressive movement such as had never been known in this country before. Other missionaries soon followed under the same Board. And about the same time the American Baptist Foreign Mission Board was organized, to sustain Judson and Rice who had changed their communion and commenced a mission in Burmah.

From the same revival source, moreover, sprang home missions. It began to be felt that we have a wide and fast-spreading population that must be cared for, and then domestic missionary societies were formed to meet the want. Nor was this enough. The churches having once waked up from their long slumbers, could not rest here. The destitute at home must have the word of God put into their hands, and it must be sent abroad with the missionaries, and translated into the tongues wherein the heathen were born, that they might read the wonderful works of God and be turned from darkness to light, from the worship of dumb idols to the worship of him who made the world. Hence sprang the American Bible Society, and in succession its branches, and other kindred institutions.

Nor yet again could the yearnings of Christian benevolence, once excited, rest without still further expansion. A Christian literature, in a cheap and attractive form, must be created and diffused. Small religious tracts must be written, printed, and scattered over the land. And to this end Tract and other societies were organized.

If we would see more minutely the exact relation which revivals bore to these benevolent movements, we have but to consider such facts as these:

In the spring of 1806 Samuel John Mills joined Williams College, Mass. Of him Dr. Griffin says he “had been prepared by the revival of Torringford, Litchfield county, in 1798-9.” Through Mr. Mills, in great part, revival influences prevailed in the town and college, and among the converts was Gordon Hall. Says Dr. Griffin, “Mills had devoted himself to the cause of missions from the commencement of his new existence, and by the influence of that revival he was enabled to diffuse his spirit through a choice circle who raised this college to the distinction of being the birthplace of American missions. In the spring of 1808 they formed a secret society, to extend their influences to other colleges, and to distinguished individuals in different parts of the country. One of them first roused the missionary energies of Pliny Fisk, who afterwards died in Palestine. In the autumn of that year, in a beautiful meadow on the banks of the Hoosack, these young Elijahs prayed into existence the embryo of American missions. In the fall of 1809, Mills and Richards and Robbins carried this society to Andover, where it roused the first missionary band that went out to India in 1812, and where it is still exerting a mighty influence on the interests of the world. In that band were Gordon Hall and Luther Rice, of this college [and Adoniram Judson, converted at Andover]. Richards soon followed and laid his bones in India. Mills and his coadjutors were the means of forming the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the American Bible Society, the United Foreign Missionary Society, and the African School under the care of the Synod of New York and New Jersey; besides all the impetus given to domestic missions, to the Colonization Society, and to the general cause of benevolence in both hemispheres.” Such were some of the fruits of the revivals of those times, regarded in the light of the benevolent enterprises to which they led.

In this survey we have not alluded to missionary movements among the Indians, resulting from the revivals in the time of the elder Edwards; nor to incipient organisations (such as the Massachusetts Missionary Society formed in Boston in 1799, and the Baptist Missionary Society of Massachusetts, formed in 1803, etc.,) which were among the first fruits of the powerful awakenings about the beginning of the present century. But enough has been said to show the connection between missions and revivals.

It must be added, however, that the funds for the prosecution of these enterprises of benevolence would never have been forthcoming except for revivals. It is when God’s people are vivified by the special power of the Spirit, that their hearts and their hands are open in behalf of those sitting in the region and shadow of death.

3. An efficient ministry has come from revivals. We hardly dare lift the curtain to see what the ministry was previous to some of the great historic revivals; as in the days of Wickliffe, Huss, and Luther; or when Whitfield began his career. The character of the English clergy of those times is but too well known. Many of them could not even read the Bible. Of the clergy, even as late as 1781, Cowper could write without fear of contradiction:

“Except a few with Eli’s spirit blest,

Hophni and Phineas may describe the rest.”

It is well known that great numbers of the American Congregational clergy in the early part and about the middle of the eighteenth century, were not converted, nor even pretended to be. We are told that as many as twenty ministers were converted in and around Boston under Mr. Whitfield’s preaching, upon his third visit to America. Indeed, some men of eminence, (like Mr. Stoddard at Northampton,) maintained that “unconverted ministers have certain official duties which they may lawfully perform.” Says Tracy (in his Great Awakening) “a large majority in the Presbyterian Church, and many, if not most, in New England, held that the ministrations of unconverted men, if neither heretical in doctrine nor scandalous for immorality, were valid, and their labors useful. For years afterwards, this doctrine was publicly and furiously maintained.”

The prodigious excitement created by Mr. Tennent’s famous Nottingham (N. J.) sermon, “On the danger of an unconverted ministry,” is another indication of the times.

In the “improvement” part of the sermon he cries out, “what a scrole and scene of mourning, lamentation, and woe is opened, because of the swarms of locusts, the crowds of Pharisees, that have as covetously as cruelly crept into the ministry in this adulterous generation! who as nearly resemble the character given of the old Pharisees, in the doctrinal part of this discourse, as one crow’s egg does another! It is true, some of the modern Pharisees have learned to prate a little more orthodoxly about the new birth, than their predecessor Nicodemus, who are, in the meantime, as great strangers to the feeling experience of it, as he. They are blind who see not this to be the case of the body of the clergy of this generation.”

There was no doubt somewhat of exaggeration, as well as undue severity of expression, in this sermon; but it is certain that plain words were called for; and an unquestionable authority states that “to no other human agency as much as to this sermon is it owing that Presbyterian ministers at the present day are generally pious.” Thus much as to the revivals of those times as related to a soundly converted ministry.

But there is a higher ministerial qualification than bare conversion: namely, the possession of a large measure of the Holy Spirit. And how many a minister has had his whole character and style of preaching remodelled by precious revival experiences. It has been remarked with truth that a minister can learn in a revival that which he can scarcely learn in any other circumstances. There he enjoys advantages which he can have nowhere else for becoming acquainted with the windings of the human heart; for ascertaining the influence of different truths upon different states of feeling; for learning how to detect false hopes, and to ascertain and confirm good hopes; and for getting his own soul deeply imbued with the true spirit of his work. Hence ministers, after having passed through a revival, have preached and prayed, and done their whole work with far more earnestness and effect than before; and they themselves have not unfrequently acknowledged that what they had gained, during such a season has been worth more to them than the study of years.

It must be remembered, too, that revivals mightily increase the number of ministers. It is when thousands of youth are gathered into the churches that our young men come forward saying, “Here am I, send me.” What an exhibit that would be if we were able to give the names of all the ministers of the last hundred years who were converted in revivals! We believe that nine tenths of them were the children of revivals. Nor, if the repetition of such visitations were to cease, do we see any alternative except that the great work of the age must stand still for want of laborers, or be prosecuted by men lacking the most essential of all qualifications.

4. Institutions of learning owe much to revivals. Many of them originated directly in revivals. We have already seen that 24 universities sprang up within a century in the old world succeeding the labors of Wickliffe. And the founding of Princeton College in this country is but one case of many where the beginnings were in revivals, It may also be mentioned that the same revival was the parent of Dartmouth College. Among the Mohegans converted in 1741, was Samson Occum, then seventeen years of age. In December, 1743, Mr. Wheelock, of Lebanon, received him as a pupil, and he pursued his studies in the family for several years. In 1748, Wheelock determined to commence a school for the education of Indian preachers, and a donation from Joshua Moor, a farmer in Mansfield, in 1754, gave it a permanent foundation. The influence of the revival on several Indian tribes helped to furnish him with pupils, and in 1762 he had more than twenty under his care. In 1766, Rev Nathaniel Whitaker, and Occum, who had become preacher of some distinction, went to England to solicit funds for the institution. Occum attracted unusual attention, Whitfield aided them, and a large amount of funds was obtained. The school was afterwards removed to its present location, in N. H., and Dartmouth College was added to it. And with the founding of the college there, a series of revivals commenced, extending through several years.

But, viewed in any aspect, what had been the fate of colleges without revivals? Take such facts as these as to the absence of revivals.

During the first seven years of the existence of Williams College—in which ninety three graduated in six classes—there were but five professors of religion in the institution, exclusive of two who, seven months before the close of that period, were brought into the church by the revivals in Litchfield county. In three of those six classes there was not a single professor. From the commencement in 1798 till February, 1800, there was but one professor of religion in the college.

Dr. Green, President of Princeton College, says that when in 1782 he entered the institution, there were but two professors of religion among the students, and not more than five or six who scrupled to use profane language in common conversation. The open and avowed infidelity of Paine, and other writers of the same character, produced incalculable injury to religion and morals throughout our whole country; and its effect on young men who valued themselves for genius and were fond of novel speculations, was the greatest of all. And he says, “Dr. Smith, then President of the college, told me that one man who sent his son, stated explicitly in a letter that not a word was ever to be said to him on the subject of religion.”

In some of the early years of Yale College there were not four in a year studying for the ministry. When Dr. Dwight came to the presidency (in 1795), many of the leading students were tinctured with the French infidelity, and its bold champions.

Alas for college life if it had been thus barren of religious influence!

But take such facts as the following. Speaking for Brown University, Providence, R. I., President Manning [also pastor of the Baptist church there], wrote thus: “In the beginning of 1774 it pleased the Lord in a most remarkable manner to revive his work in the town of Providence, and more especially among the people of my charge. Such a time I never before saw. Our public assemblies by day and by night were crowded, and the auditors seemed to hear as for the life of their souls. It was frequently an hour before I could get from the pulpit to the door, on account of the numbers thronging to have an opportunity of stating the condition of their minds. And what added to my happiness was, that the Lord visited the college as remarkably as the congregation. Frequently, when I went to the recitation room, I would find nearly all the students assembled, and joining in prayer and praise to God. Instead of my lectures on logic and philosophy, they would request me to speak to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. In the space of six months I baptized more than a hundred persons.”

In 1802 a revival in Yale shook the whole college, and “it seemed for the time that the whole mass of the students would press into the kingdom.” And “nearly all the converts entered the ministry.” No less than four revivals occurred under Dr. Dwight’s’ presidency, resulting in the conversion of two hundred and ten young men, who, in their turn, were the instruments of the salvation of thousands of souls.

In 1832, President Humphrey, of Amherst College, writing as to revivals there up to his time, says: “These times of refreshing have been of inestimable advantage to the college, by raising the standard of morals, and diffusing a strong religious influence throughout our whole youthful community. During the ten years that the institution has now existed, there has been a decided average majority of professed Christians in the four classes. In some years more than two-thirds have been professors. Two hundred and seventy have graduated— more than two hundred of whom are hopefully pious; and about one-half of the number of students who have entered college without piety, since it was established, have, as we trust, found the pearl of great price before completing their academical course.”

Says Dr. Tyler, in his “Prayer for Colleges and Seminaries:“ “In the space of ninety six years, beginning with the great revival of 1741, and ending in 1837, there were twenty revivals in Yale College, in fourteen of which five hundred students were hopefully converted; and during the last twenty-five years of this same period, there were thirteen special revivals, or one every two years, besides several other seasons of more than usual religious interest.”

Middlebury College has been blessed in forty years with ten revivals—some of them of great power. During the first twenty-five years of its history, every class but one was permitted to share in a religious awakening, and some classes received three or four such visits of mercy while in college. No class has ever yet left Amherst College without witnessing a powerful revival: and of the converts more than one hundred have been ministers, fifteen have been missionaries, twenty-eight officers of colleges and theological seminaries; and several were young men of genius and great promise, who died before entering upon a profession.

Nor must we forget to magnify the grace of God in the effusions of his Spirit upon our academies, high-schools, and other kindred educational seminaries, both male and female, where there have been hundreds upon hundreds of these revivals, making these schools emphatically nurseries of the churches.

In view of all this, who can calculate the influence of revivals upon our seats of learning? And from what source could faithful ministers have been obtained if these institutions had not thus been blessed?

5. Once more: Strong churches have come from revivals. The numerical aspect is one view of the case. It is of the very nature of revivals that multitudes flock into the kingdom. And what an accession to the praying and working force of the churches in the estimated 50,000 converts in this country during the awakening of 1730-1745; and the 40,000 to 50,000 annually for many years between 1790 and 1840; and the 400,000 additions in the revival of 1857-8. And what numbers of new churches during those seasons were organised.

It must also be taken into account, that in those earlier revivals great numbers of church members were converted, and not put down among reported conversions. Says Tracy of the work at the time of Edwards, “the practice of admitting to the communion all persons neither heretical nor scandalous, was general in the Presbyterian church, and prevailed extensively among the Congregational churches. In consequence, a large proportion of the communicants in both were unconverted persons. Multitudes of these were converted. In some cases the revival seems to have been almost wholly within the church, and to have resulted in the conversion of nearly all the members.” A large addition ought to be made, on this score, to the estimated number of conversions.

And of the work fifty years later an equally good authority says: “In New England, the old so-called half way covenant system, by which many claimed for themselves and their children a visible relation to the church, while living in worldliness and neglecting the Lord’s table, was still widely prevalent, and though a large number of churches continued evangelical and spiritual the great body had sunk into apathy and formality. As an illustration of the state of many churches, we have in mind one, now evangelical, in which, when a godly man was called to it, no prayer meeting had been held for thirty years; family worship was maintained by very few; and the terms of admission to the church were little more than an assent to the truth of the Christian religion, and a wish to join.”

Here was, then, a twofold gain by the revivals— additions from within, as well as from without. And this re-conversion of the churches was far more important than mere numerical accessions. Unconverted members are a dead weight, which no church can afford to carry: and the bodies were thus relieved from these incumbrances.

Again, a converted church membership was after this insisted upon; and had the opposite practice been continued, and become universal, it would have been more than a paralysis. The churches might have retained their names, but as true churches of Christ they would not have survived.

Another, and a most important advantage from the revivals was, that the preaching became more spiritual and discriminating, and the doctrines more evangelical. It was felt that every man is a “child of wrath” unless “born of the Spirit.” Each individual saw that his most endeared friend, wife or husband, son or daughter, neighbour or acquaintance, was on the road to death unless created anew in Christ Jesus. Hence the latent Christian energies were called out.

Another result was the abolition of the union of church and state. The government of the founders of New England was a Theocracy, and it worked disastrously. In the words of the biographer of John Cotton, “it served both to embroil the state, and to secularize the church; and laid a foundation for that lamentable apostasy, in which not a few of the Pilgrim churches are sunk.”

And yet the theory was clung to by very many. They shrunk from the application of the principle of soul-liberty, now so common. Even to such men as Timothy Dwight and Lyman Beecher, it seemed dangerous to the interests of piety to disunite the churches from civil jurisdiction and support;—the latter, as he said, being at first so unreconciled to it that he grieved and troubled himself over it day and night. Nor was it until a late day that the last link connecting church and state was broken by abolishing the assessments of church-rates. This was effected not alone by the great increase of the Baptists, who from the first heartily advocated it, but also by the increase of the spiritual element in all the religious bodies, which naturally found expression in this direction.

From these several points of observation, one cannot fail to be impressed with the conviction of an augmented church-power from revivals. Thence have come the vast majority of our Sunday school teachers and Christian workers, our most laborious and successful ministers and missionaries, and the most enterprising and influential churches.

In 1829 a letter was addressed to the Congregational ministers of Connecticut, proposing among other inquiries, the following:—

“1. What was the whole number of professors of religion in your church at the commencement of the year 1820?

2. What number were added to your church by profession during the years 1820,-1-2-3-4?

3. Of those who are now members of your church, what proportion may be considered as the fruit of a revival, and what is their comparative standing for piety and active benevolent enterprise?”

And it appeared that a very large proportion of all who were members of the Congregational churches in that State, became such in consequence of revivals; that the relative proportion of such as revivals had been multiplying, had been continually increasing; that the most active and devoted Christians were among those who came into the church as fruits of revivals; that those churches in which revivals had been most frequent and powerful were the most numerous and flourishing, and that in all the churches thus visited with divine influence, there had been a great increase of Christian enterprise, and benevolent action.

Says Dr. Joel Hawes, [in 1832,] “It is now my sober judgment, that if there is among the people of my charge any cordial belief and love of the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel; any serious practical regard to the duties of the Christian life; any self-denial and bearing of the cross and following Christ according to his commands; any active benevolence and engagedness in doing good; in short, any pious efficient concern for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners, either at home or abroad, in Christian or in heathen lands,—all this is to be traced, in no small part, to the influence of revivals of religion; and it is to be found, in an eminent degree, among those who have been added to the church as fruits of revivals.”

The writer has been at considerable pains to verify this judgment of Dr. Hawes as a general rule, by examining into the history of some of the strong churches of today. And the result is deeply interesting and instructive.

Beginning immediately under his personal observation, he finds that the first Presbyterian church here, [Newark, N. J.]—one of the oldest and strongest in the denomination, and from which have originated a goodly number of other bodies—is emphatically the offspring of revivals. Thus we read in a letter from Dr. Griffin, that in 1806 “we were encouraged with symptoms of a revival in this village;” and that in 1807 “secret anxieties were preying upon a number of persons, and the desire for a revival was spreading rapidly through the church,” and “the agonies of parents were such as to drive sleep from their eyes.” Soon he tells of “the triumphs of the Prince of peace,” and of “two hundred and thirty to two hundred and fifty” hopeful conversions. And Dr. Stearns (the present pastor), in his history of this body, narrates other mighty works of grace at various intervals. What would that congregation (and the denomination in Newark) have been today but for those revivals? Almost all the strong men in these societies were the subjects of these revivals, twenty, thirty, forty, and some of them sixty years ago.

The history of the first Baptist church is much to the same effect. To the personal knowledge of the writer the main strength of this body is the direct fruit of revivals. Thus the 23 persons received in a gentle refreshing in 1810; the 28 in 1818; the 14 in 1833; the 23 in 1836; the 48 in 1840; the 30 in 1847 and 1850; and the one thousand souls added by profession since the last mentioned date (230 in one revival), these additions have been the very life-blood of the church. And other churches of this denomination, as well as of the Methodist, Congregational, and Reformed churches, have had a similar experiences.

Passing to Elizabeth (the same State), we find two old and very strong Presbyterian congregations. Trace their history back, and we meet such facts as these:— In 1772, 1774, 1784, 1803, 1812, 1817, 1819, and 1825 there were revivals, when large numbers were added. “The young, and many of them children,” added from 1817 to 1826, have been, chiefly, the strength of this denomination for many years. What a different aspect would those bodies wear today had there not been these great ingatherings.

Passing on to New Brunswick (same State) we find there substantial Christian bodies, —Reformed, Baptist, Presbyterian; and it is ascertained that revivals have chiefly made them what they are.

We visit Hartford, and New Haven, Conn.; and turning to the narratives of wonderful works of grace in that State, we find that two hundred were added to the Congregational body in the former place in 1821: and, says the pastor in 1832 [Dr. Hawes], “During the time I have been connected with the church, about five hundred and fifty have been added to its communion, not less than four-fifths of whom are to be regarded as the fruits of revivals.”

In New Haven 300 were added to the Congregationalist church in 1820; and of 31 congregations in the county of New Haven, at least twenty-five were visited, during the winter and spring, with the special presence of the Lord; and it was estimated that within these limits between fifteen hundred and two thousand souls were called out of nature’s darkness into light. Who fails to see that Congregationalism on those fields owes its strength today to those revivals.

In Boston and Providence, facts of the same nature might be abundantly gathered. Also in Pittsfield, Troy, Albany, and other cities.

Coming to New York, it is well known that the “old Brick Church” has been for long years a tower of strength there. And now hear Dr. Spring, for three-score years its pastor, tell how he felt in 1814, when it seemed that he “must abandon” his post through discouragement; until the time he had his first revival; and the ingathering, “though not great, was the finest of the wheat.” And how in 1815, and five special seasons after that up to 1834, God graciously revived them—the converts added by profession being thirty, forty, or seventy, “filling the broad aisle of the church— a lovely spectacle to God, angels and men.” What were that body today, and what had been its influence,, but for such revivals?

Drs. Dewitt and Mildoller tell us how the roots of the power of the Reformed churches struck deep in New York in such refreshings. And Dr. Archibald Maclay narrates how the Baptists there had those growths which made them strong in after years, in blessed revival seasons.

Dr. McIlvaine testifies (in 1832, and also in 1858), to blessed works of grace “widely and wonderfully vouchsafed,” which gave great strength to the Episcopal body. It would be easy to mention the names of some of the most influential Churchmen who were converted in a revival at West Point, when Dr. Mcllvaine was chaplain there

This must suffice. And it but faintly shows what we owe to revivals. Revivals! What blessings have they brought to families, to neighbourhoods, and communities! What myriads of souls have they introduced into glory! What impulses have they given to Christian exertion, in home and foreign work! They have been the life of all the aggressive movements, evangelistic achievements, victories, conquests of the churches. They have made encroachments on the domains of darkness, turning the slaves of sin into soldiers of Jesus, and hastening the time of the millennium. They have made good citizens, good neighbors, faithful friends, useful laborers, wise parents, and dutiful children.

Blot out what God has done by revivals, and our sky would be shrouded in gloom; our sanctuaries would be vacant; our missionary agencies things unknown, and languor and death would be about us on every side.

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!”

Chapter 4: DIVINE ECONOMY OF REVIVALS

ARE revivals a part of God’s plan? Are they ordained as one of the methods of the world’s conversion? Do they enter into the economy of redemption?

For several reasons we believe this to be the case.

And first of all, because from the beginning God has wrought prominently through revivals. As we have seen in a previous chapter, the kingdom of Christ has thus far advanced chiefly by special seasons of gracious and rapid accomplishment of the work of conversion. And can any reason be found why God should work in that way in primeval and not in subsequent times? We question if the most ingenious opponent of these seasons, or if any Christian doubter can invent any tolerably plausible reason for this,—that God should work thus then, and not work thus now.

Again: many scriptural utterances assume the existence of revivals, and anticipate them. We refer to such as these: “Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.” “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.” This prophecy is an exquisite representation of a revival, wherein newly converted souls are openly professing loyalty to their King. And these are but a few scriptures which encourage the expectation of revivals.

God’s providences are adapted to move people in masses. Thus, often one member of a family falling in death is the means of the conversion of a household. So when pestilence spreads among a people, and thousands die; or famine is abroad on the earth, there is an appeal made to communities; and the thoughts of men, if any suitable impression were made, would be directed to God and to a better world. The times and seasons also preach to communities, as well as to men singly. There is neither a judgment of the Almighty, nor a blessing that comes from our great Father’s hand, that is not fitted to impress communities with the importance of religion, and to lead alienated, social man, back to God. Thus threatening ruin roused Nineveh to repentance; and thus God visits the earth alike with judgment and mercy, to rouse the attention of whole communities, and direct their thoughts to eternity and to heaven.

Moreover, the social character of man must be taken into account. The world is not made up of independent individuals, but is bound together in tribes, communities, families. There is a brotherhood of feeling and interest. If, then, religion is to exist in the world, we should, expect to see it, at times, exerting a more widespread and potent influence over men’s minds than at other times, and large masses of society moved as by a common influence. We think it would be rational beforehand to look for just such spiritual phenomena as every revival presents. We should expect that one mind, becoming strongly interested in the subject of salvation, would be the occasion of another mind being aroused to attend to the subject; and that this would lead to the same result in the case of another; and thus that the interest on this momentous subject, which perhaps began with an individual, would be, or easily might be extended through a large community, until there should be but one paramount and absorbing object of pursuit throughout the whole body. And the denser the population in that community, and the more numerous the points of mutual contact among the members of that community, the more general and powerful (should we expect) the revival would become. It would be strange if mankind, being placed together in organized society, and possessing such sameness of susceptibilities of being acted upon one by the other, should be serious and anxious about their salvation only one at a time, and each separately.

Again, how are God’s purposes of grace to be fulfilled without this extensive moving of the masses? We do not see that the world can otherwise be converted. In the ordinary way of gaining converts to the Redeemer, without any such excitement of the public attention to the subject of religion as constitutes a revival, it would seem that the race could not be recovered from its ruined condition. The occurring of here and there a single solitary instance of conversion, will never bring about the conversion of the world. The common mass of the population, in any and every part of the world must be moved. Thus, and thus only, can we reasonably expect that the inhabitants of this globe will be brought to give up their sins and lying vanities, and turn to the living God.

Again: by revivals the atheistic spirit is rebuked. Look at Christians. How apt are they to think that they can get along without God, even in the world’s conversion. But leanness follows this self-consequence. And the churches finally come to see and feel that souls are not being saved; and they mourn over it, and in distress confess their pride and reliance on human agencies: upon which the Lord graciously appears to save. Thus are his creatures taught their dependence. When they are thrown upon the efficiency of their own efforts, they very soon find that their best strength and proudest doings avail nothing at all. In this way he glorifies his own great name. It is felt, and most heartily acknowledged, that the power is God’s. Thus a discourse which a short time ago apparently accomplished no good, now goes with life and salvation to numerous hearts. Once no truth, no effort took effect. Now every word and work, in Christ’s name, is charged with a benignly subduing efficacy. These very alternations produce more profoundly the conviction, and bring out more fully the declaration—it is the work of God, —and more loudly the ascription— “to him be all the Glory.”

Then look at Christless men. The best answer to their sneer, “Where is thy’ God?” is a glorious revival. The Most High takes this matter in hand. He comes in his great power. Seriousness settles on a community. Anxious inquiry and earnest prayer spread among the people with the rapidity of an electric shock. Every eye is open, every ear attentive, conscience awake, every heart alive to the engrossing interests Dissipation ceases; amusement is forgotten; the drinking saloons are less frequented; and where the wicked still congregate, perhaps to make sport of these sacred things, they yet see the handwriting on the wall, and their knees smite together like Belshazzar’s; and, perhaps, next day they are found penitent and believing. The very atmosphere of the community seems charged with Divinity. Eternity is near. The world for the time is nothing. The soul is all. The invisible is seen. Spiritual things, before shadowy and distant, are real, and near, and urgent. It is as if the boundaries of earth and heaven were broken, and the veil of flesh removed,—as if earth and seas had fled, and men were already standing before the throne of God.

These things are more potent than a thousand arguments to prove the divine existence. There is a God! There is no one but knows it, and feels it; and the whole ground of popular doubt is shaken, if not removed.

Thus does God by revivals rebuke atheism and infidelity. Scenes like these, scenes, we believe, yet to come with great and still greater power, are to be God’s main argument upon an infidel age, — ever growing more infidel and arrogant from the delay of his power;—a mighty argument, an arresting, penetrating force, a fiery logic, writing in the inmost soul, the demonstration that a God and a gospel, and a heaven and a hell, are tremendous realities.

Particularly, is Christ honored by revivals. Says Rev. Wm. Reid, “the quiet conversion of one sinner after another, under the ordinary ministry of the gospel, must always be regarded with feelings of satisfaction and gratitude by the ministers and disciples of Christ; but a periodical manifestation of the simultaneous conversion of thousands is also to be desired, because of its adaptation to afford a visible and impressive demonstration that God has made that same Jesus who was rejected and crucified, both Lord and Christ; and that, in virtue of his divine Mediatorship, he has assumed the royal sceptre of universal supremacy, and “must reign till all his enemies be made his footstool.” It is therefore reasonable to expect that, from time to time, he will repeat that which on the day of Pentecost formed the conclusive and crowning evidence of his Messiahship and Sovereignty; and, by so doing, startle the slumbering souls of careless worldlings, gain the attentive ear of the unconverted, and, in a remarkable way, break in upon those brilliant dreams of earthly glory, grandeur, wealth, power and happiness, which the rebellious and God-forgetting multitude so fondly cherish. Such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, forms at once a demonstrative proof of the completeness and acceptance of his once offering of himself as a sacrifice for sin, and a prophetic “earnest” of the certainty that he “shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation,” to judge the world in righteousness.

So is the Spirit honored by revivals. One way this is done is by making effective in conversion the weakest instrumentalities. Said one as to the great revival in Dundee, Scotland: “The wonderful thing is, not only that the people come—that laborers from a distance come night after night, but that the simplest statement of the truth in the simplest language seems to fall with power, and be listened to with the deepest interest.” And ministers have often observed the same thing in revivals.

During the revival in Boston in 1842, it was often remarked how independent of ordinary agencies the Holy Spirit operated. A man in middle life a Sabbath breaker and a lover of pleasure, was awakened by shooting a pigeon on the wing. “There,” said he to himself, “how quick that creature went out of existence! And I may go as suddenly and unexpectedly, and where would then my spirit be?”

One man was converted by observing that his dog after being fed seemed grateful. The thought came in his mind, “I am not so good as my dog: he is grateful to me for kindness, but God has always fed, clothed and taken care of me, and I have never been grateful at all.” This discovered to him his heart, and brought him to repentance.

Thus by the use of insignificant means does the Holy Spirit manifest his being and power.

So does he do it by the quickness and the extent of the work. What weak men fail to do in years, the Spirit does instantly; and he does it on so grand a scale as to widely command attention. It was the greatness of the day, the prodigies of manifestation and power on the Pentecost, that brought the surrounding multitudes to a stand, rugged, resisting, defiant, as they were; and the Holy Ghost, through the truth, brought them down. The same holds all along in the history of the church. Some of the greatest prodigies of conviction and subjugation, the greater part of them,—the all but miraculous making over of opposers and haters, have occurred in connection with special revival seasons.

These are some of the reasons why we may believe that revivals are a part of the divine economy. Dr. Busnell (Footnote: The Quarterly Christian Spectator for 1838) has very ably presented several points which we summarize in the few following pages, leaving him, in the main, to speak in his own felicitous manner. Remarking upon an objection above referred to,—the uneven character of the divine influence, he says it is instructing to advert to the various and periodical changes of temperament which affect men in other matters than religion. Sometimes one subject has a peculiar interest to the mind, sometimes another. Sometimes the feeling chimes with music, which at others is not agreeable. Society of a given tone is shunned to-day though eagerly sought yesterday. These fluctuations are epidemical, too, extending to whole communities, and affecting them with an ephemeral interest in various subjects, which afterwards they wonder at themselves, and can no way recall. No public speaker of observation ever failed to be convinced that man is a being, mentally, of moods and phases, which it were as vain to attempt the control of, as to push aside the stars.

These fluctuations, or mental tides, are due, perhaps, to physical changes, and perhaps not. They roll round the earth like invisible waves, and the chemist and physician tax their skill in vain to find the subtle powers that sway us. We only know that God is present in those fluctuations, whatever their real nature,— and that they are all inhabited by the divine power. Is it incredible, then, that this same divine power should produce periodical influences in the matters of religion—times of peculiar, various and periodical interest? For ourselves we are obliged to confess that we strongly suspect that sort of religion which boasts of no excitements, no temporary and changing states; for we observe that it is only toward nothing, or about nothing, that we have always the same feeling.

Need we say, again, that progress, which is the law of all God’s works and agencies, necessarily involves variety and change. Spring, for example, is the first stage of a progress. The newness thereof, the first beginnings of growth, must wax old and change their habit. So it is morally impossible that the first feelings of religious interest in the breast should remain. There is a degree of excitation in the strangeness of new feelings, and so likewise in the early scenes of a revival of religion, which belongs to their novelty, and which is by no means inconsiderable or improper. Such is human nature that it could not be otherwise.

In fact, there is no reason to doubt that God, in framing the plan or system of his spiritual agencies, ordained fluctuations and changing types of spiritual exercise, that he might take advantage, at intervals, of novelty in arresting and swaying the minds of men.

These are the spring-times of his truth, otherwise in danger of uniform staleness. Thus he rouses the spiritual lethargy of men and communities, and sways their will to himself by aid of scenes and manifestations not ordinary or familiar. Nor is it anything derogatory to the divine agency in the case that the spiritual spring cannot remain perpetual; for there is a progress in God’s works, and he goes on through change and multiform culture to ripen his ends. Doubtless, too, there may be a degree of sound feeling, apart from all novelty in a revival of religion, which human nature is incompetent permanently to sustain; just as one may have a degree of intellectual excitement and intensity of operation, which he cannot sustain, but which is nevertheless a sound and healthy activity. In writing a sermon, for example, every minister draws on a fund of excitability which he knows cannot be kept up beyond a certain bound, and this without any derogation from his proper sanity.

Again: God has a given purpose to execute in those who have entered on the religious life, viz., to produce character in them. To this end he dwells in them, and this is the object of this spiritual culture, and here he meets, at the very beginning, this grand truth, that varieties of experience and exercise are necessary to the religious character. How then shall he adjust the scale of his action, if not to produce all such varieties as are necessary for his object? We have just remarked on the changes of temperament in men and communities, by which now one now another theme is brought to find a responsive note of interest. What is the end of this? Obviously it is, that we may be protected in all the many colored varieties of feeling, and led over a wide empire of experience. Were it not for this,—or if men were to live on, from childhood to the grave, in the same mood of feeling, and holding fast to the same unvarying topic of interest, they would grow to be little more than animals of one thought. To prevent which, and ripen what we call natural character to extension and maturity, God is ever leading us round and round invisibly, by new successions of providence and new affinities of feeling.

Precisely the same necessity requires that religious character be trained up under varieties of experience, and shaped on all sides by manifold workings of the spirit. Now excitements must be applied; now checks to inspire caution or invigorate dependence. Now the intellect must be fed by a season of study and reflection; now the affections freshened by a season of social and glowing ardor. By one means bad habits are to be broken up, by another good habits consolidated. Love, it is true, must reign in the heart through all such varieties; but the principle of supreme love is one that can subsist in a thousand different connections of interest and temperaments of feeling. At one time it demands for its music a chorus of swelling voices, to bear aloft its exulting testimony of praise; at another it may chime rather with the soft and melancholy wail just dying on its ear.

And so, in like manner, it needs a diversity of times, exercises, duties, and pleasures. It needs, and for that reason it has, not only revivals and times of tranquility, but every sort of revival, every sort of tranquility. Sometimes we are revived individually, sometimes as churches, sometimes as a whole people; and we have all degrees of excitation, all manner of incidents. Our more tranquil periods are sometimes specially occupied, or ought to be, in the correction of evil habits; or we are particularly interested in the study of religious doctrines necessary to the vigor of our growth and usefulness; or we are interested to acquire useful knowledge of a more general nature, in order to our public influence, and the efficient discharge of our offices. In revivals we generally prefer the more social spheres of religious exercise; afterwards the more private and solitary experiences may be cultivated. Such is the various travail which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

Besides, through these changes the churches make a deeper impression on the minds of men. God is manifested in nature by the wheeling spheres, light, shade, tranquility, storm, — all the beauties and terrors of time. So the Spirit will reveal his divine presence through the churches by times of holy excitement, times of reflection, times of solitary communion, and times of patient hope. A church standing always in the same exact posture and mould of aspect, would be only a pillar of salt in the eyes of men; it would attract no attention, reveal no inhabitation of God’s power. But suppose that now, in a period of no social excitement, it is seen to be growing in attachment to the Bible and the house of God, storing itself with divine or useful knowledge, manifesting a heavenly-minded habit in the midst of a general rage for gain, devising plans of charity to the poor and afflicted, reforming offensive habits, chastening bosom sins,— suppose, in short, that principles adopted in a former revival are seen to hold fast as principles to prove their reality and unfold their beauty, when there is no longer any excitement to sustain them,— here the worth and reality of religious principles are established. And now let the Spirit move this solid enginery once more into glowing activity, let the church thus strengthened, be lifted into spiritual courage and exaltation, and its every look and act will seem to be inhabited by divine power,—it will be as the chariot of God, and before it the enemies will tremble.

There is one more advantage in periodical or temporary dispensations; in the very fact that they are temporary. We often see that the certainty felt by those who are at any time enlightened and drawn by the Spirit that they will not long be dealt with as now,—that by delay they may miss the grace of God and lose the favored moment,—is the strongest and most urgent of all motives to immediate repentance. This, in fact, is absolutely requisite to the stress and cogency of all means and agencies. Such is the procrastinating spirit of men; so fast bound are they in the love of sin, that however deeply they may feel their own guilt and lost estate, nothing but the fact that God is now giving them an opportunity and aid which are temporary, would ever foreclose them from delay. We need look no farther to see the folly of supposing that God must not act periodically or variously, if he act at all, in renewing men. Why act uniformly when it would defeat all the ends of action.

We should be sorry if in what has been advanced a shadow of countenance has been given to the impression that the Christian is allowed, at some times, to be less religious than at others. He is under God’s authority and bound by his law at all times. He must answer to God for each moment and thought of his life. His covenant oath consecrates all his life to God, and stipulates for no intermission of service. At no time can he shrink from religious obligation, without dishonor to his good faith, together with a loss of character and of God’s manifest favor. Furthermore still, it is his duty and privilege ever to be filled with the Spirit. The believer is one chosen for his indwelling. He is consecrated to be the divine temple, and God will never leave his temple, except he is driven away by profanation—grieved away. “I have somewhat against thee,” said the Saviour, “because thou hast left thy first love.” He did not require, of course, that the novelty and first excitement of feeling should last; but that love, the real principle of love, should lose ground in them was criminal.

If it be asked how can this be harmonized with the alternations of revivals? the answer is this:— God favors and appoints ,different moods or kinds of religious interest, but not backslidings, or declensions of religious principle. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of operation, but it is the same God who worketh all and in all. There is a common mistake in supposing that the Spirit of God is present in times only of religious exaltation; or if it be true, that such need be the case. It is conceivable that he may be doing as glorious a work in the soul when there is but a very gentle, or almost no excitement of feeling. He may now be leading the mind after instruction, teaching the believer to collect himself and establish a regimen over his lawless will and passions, searching the motives, inducing a habit of reflection, teaching how to carry principles without excitement, drawing more into communion perhaps with God, and less for the time with men; and while he conducts the disciple through these rounds of heavenly discipline, we are by no means to think that he is, of course, less religious, or has less of supreme love to God than he had in the more fervid season of revival. A soldier is as much a soldier when he encamps as when he fights, when he stands with his loins girt about, and his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel as when he quenches the fiery darts. The Christian warfare is not all battle. There are times in it for polishing the armor; forming the tactics, and feeding the vigor of the host.

Hence we conclude that there is in what we call revivals of religion something of a divinely appointed periodical nature. But as far as they are what the name imports, revivals of religion, that is, of the principle of love and obedience, they are linked with dishonor; for they are made necessary by the instability and bad faith of Christ’s disciples. But here it must be noted, that the dishonor does not belong to the revival, but to the decay of principles in the disciple which need reviving. There ought to be no declension of real principle; but if there is, no dishonor attaches to God in recovering his disciple from it, but the more illustrious honor is his due. Thus it is very often true, when a revival seems to have an extreme character, that the fact is due, not to the real state produced, but to the previous fall, the dearth and desolation with which it is contrasted. And generally, if the ridicule thrown upon a revival were thrown upon the worldliness, the dishonorable looseness of life and principle which preceded, it would not be misplaced.

We see then that revivals are in no degree desultory, except as they partake of human errors and infirmities. They lie embedded in that great system of universal being and event which the divine omnipresence fills, actuates and warms. As the gospel is enlarged in the world, and the Christian mind enlightened, they will gradually lose their extremes and dishonorable incidents, and will constitute an ebb and flow measured only by the pulses of the Spirit. The church will then make a glowing, various and happy impression. Her armor, though modified, will always shine, and will have a celestial temper in it. Changing her front, she will yet always present a host clad in the full panoply of God.

“O LORD REVIVE THY WORK!”

Chapter 5: OBJECTIONS TO REVIVALS

OBJECTIONS to revivals are no new thing, even from the friends of godliness. The primitive awakenings encountered them; and President Edwards complained of those in his day ready to say, “There is but little sober, solid religion in this work; it is little else but flash and noise.” And he asks, “Is it not a shame to New England that such a work should be much doubted of here?” adding, “I suppose there is scarcely a minister in this land but from Sabbath to Sabbath used to pray that God would pour out his Spirit and work a reformation and a revival of religion in the country, and turn us from our intemperance, profaneness, uncleanness, worldliness and other sins. And we have kept, from year to year, days of public fasting and prayer to God, to acknowledge our backslidings and humble ourselves for our sins, and to seek of God forgiveness and reformation and now when so great and extensive a reformation is so suddenly and wonderfully accomplished in those very things that we have sought to God for, shall we not acknowledge it?” Whitfield preached to audiences in Boston, in 1740, that would be called great even at this day. At his farewell sermon on the 12th of October, on the Common, he had twenty thousand hearers; an assembly as large as two hundred thousand would now be, if regard be had to the population at the two dates. He had his enemies, however; and one writer gives it as his opinion that “every exhortation given here by Whitfield costs the people of Boston a thousand pounds?” The same writer described the preacher as a “vagrant enthusiast, with an ill-pointed zeal.”

At a meeting of the General Association of the Colony of Connecticut, at Newington, June 18, 1745, the following action was had:

“Voted, Whereas there have of late years been many errors in doctrine and disorders in practice prevailing in the churches of this land, which seem to have a threatening aspect on these churches; and whereas Mr. George Whitfield has been the promoter, or at least the faulty occasion of these errors and disorders; this Association thinks it needful to declare that if the said Mr. Whitfield should make his progress through this government, it would by no means be advisable for any of our ministers to admit him into their pulpits, or for any people to attend on his preaching.”

Although in our day he terms “religious excitement,” “spasmodic effort,” and the like are less frequently bandied than formerly, still there are many who gravely shake their heads when revivals are commended, and recoil at the mention of the very name, as if some evil inevitably lurked behind that designation.

Perhaps there is this poor apology for most of such persons, that they are constitutionally timid, or excessively conservative; or they may not have witnessed revivals, unless it be the most unfavourable specimens.

It is sad to be compelled to say that strong churches (using a popular term) oftenest object to revivals; and that, too, when they owe their present strength to revivals. In conversation with Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the writer was struck with the remark, that the wealthiest churches in that denomination, in New York and the other cities, were indebted to revivals for their independence; and that he extremely regretted the tendency often witnessed on the part of such churches, to think lightly of, and labor little for special outpourings of the Spirit.

In referring to the great benefits which the Presbyterian churches of Philadelphia have derived from revivals in the past, the Presbyterian of that city says: “But are any inclined to think that we have reached a stage to which such things are not adapted, especially that revivals belong to the less cultivated, refined, wealthy, fashionable congregations? Let it be remembered that the most intellectual ministers of our Church were converted through revival services; that in every revival period the ablest of judges, lawyers, and physicians in the neighborhood, are numbered among the converts; that our continued salvation is worked out by awakenings in our colleges, in connection with which, through the labors of talented and refined Professors, the intellectual young men are brought into the ministry of reconciliation. It is a great pity if any of our people who have risen in the scale of wealth, and desire to be considered especially respectable and fashionable, consider themselves above such precious influences, and unadvisedly imagine that these are only appropriate to the poorer and the less pretentious.”

It may be asked at the outset, “Do not revivals presuppose corresponding periods of declension?” Suppose it be so and that God foresaw these wicked backslidings of his people, and planned revivals to overbalance them. Is there any objection to this view? Another answer is this: It is not in contrast with religious declension, but religious activity specially directed to other ends-to the cultivation of Christian gifts and graces within the church itself—that we speak of this more direct and engrossing activity of the churches. Suppose we say, again, that God by thus doing adjusts himself to the great law of change, — the law and love of variety wrought, as it would seem, into the very substance and texture of the human mind. We see it to be the case that an equable perpetuity of interest is not according to man’s nature. The mind freshens, then it flags; now moves more earnestly in this direction, now in that. It demands a certain sort of variety even in its religious interests and labors; now in the work of conversion; then in the work of edification, preparing Christians for the trials of their profession and the work of their calling. Suppose we say, too, that business has its revivals; — politics its revivals; — and pleasure its revivals. And cannot God rise higher than they, and put them down by giving better things the ascendancy?

We do not see why these considerations do not meet the difficulty. The term special effort is odious to some. It is enough to disturb their nerves. Anything new is terrifying. With them the extraordinary is the extravagant. But we might show them how fertile in invention the men of the world are in carrying their points; quickly trying another measure where one does not succeed; and ask, Should not “the children of light be equally wise? Such persons would do well to remember that without change there could be no progress. True conservatism is cautious, and not rash; but those who are ever bringing forward the past as a precedent for to-day, would do well to remember that the present itself was founded on the alteration of some past that went before it. Where had the churches been to-day had not Christian effort been breaking forth in new directions?

Excesses are pleaded as sufficient ground for being cautious as to revivals. We are sorry to admit that these have existed; and probably they will exist, to a greater or less extent, as long as men are what they are.

But is not a storm preferable to a parching drought? The economy of nature admits of the possibility of fearful torrents if it rain, — brawling down the mountain sides, tearing up the meadows, and leaving sand instead of fertility on the plain. Why not, therefore, object to rain? Doubtless, on the whole, the atmospheric arrangement is a good one. Let us not, then, oppose revivals because occasionally the religious impulse rises above the usual level, and flows over the ordinary channels, and does some incidental mischief. Better have noisy animal excitement than that the sterile wastes of worldliness should not be transformed into fruitful gardens of the Lord. The greatest possible evil is a deadly insensibility. When the house is on fire and the family asleep, better that they be awakened by violence than consumed. Better rouse them even at the expense of insanity than let them perish in the flames.

We must also remember that the greatest and best actions have ever been performed in stages of excited feeling and high personal exaltation. And it is Dr. Bushnell, we believe, who says “If any one expects to carry on the cause of salvation by a steady rolling on the same dead level, and fears continually lest the axles wax hot and kindle into a flame, he is too timorous to hold the reins in the Lord’s chariot.”

There is also this reply to be made to those who decry revivals because they produce agitation. They do not condemn excitement in other things. They will see as much enthusiasm in a political cabal, or in an election of civil officers, or in a commercial speculation, or even in the pursuits of science, as in a revival of religion, and not object to it. They will allow and demand excitement in the orator, the poet, the statesman, the warrior; a man may be ardent on any subject but religion, while on this subject they denounce fervor as fanaticism. Nobody complains of excitement when a ship is going down, or when half a city is on fire, or in political revolutions. And can any good reason be given, why, when the great majority of a congregation are slumbering on the brink of eternal ruin, they should not, if possible, be alarmed and excited “to flee from the wrath to come?” Mr. Barnes once said, “From whence comes the objection that revivals are mere scenes of excitement? From that man excited throughout the whole week in pursuit of gain, feverish and restless and unacquainted for one whole hour at a time with calm thought and repose; from that man whose life is spent in the whirlwind of political controversy or in the career of ambition; from that calm and interesting group preparing for the splendid party and the dance! O there all is calm and serene; but in religion all is excitement and commotion! Well may this objection be heard from the excited, agitated, tumultuous population of a city; a population more than any other on earth living in scenes of excitement; unhappy when they are not excited; fostering everywhere the means of excitement; and resisting all the means which the friends of religion can use to bring them to sober thought and calm reflection. What we aim at is that this excitement may be laid aside, and that the now busy multitude may be brought to think soberly about the immortal destiny beyond the tomb. We aim that they may hay down the exciting romance or novel, and take up the Bible—full of sober truth; they may forsake the theatre—a place of mere excitement, and find happiness in the calmness of the closet, and the sober employments of the fireside; that they may turn away from the agitating scenes of political strife, and from the exciting of envy, and malice, and green-eyed jealousy, and ambition, and from the intoxicating bowl and the dance of pleasure, and devote themselves to the sober business of religion.”

Farther. Is the good to be denounced with the bad? Because there is undue enthusiasm, sometimes, in revivals, are we to be indifferent toward them? To borrow an illustration, if you should hear a lecture on science, or politics, or religion, in which you should discover a few mistakes, while nearly the whole of it was sound, and practical, and in a high degree instructive, would you condemn the whole for these trifling errors, and say it was all a mass of absurdity; or would you not rather treasure it up in your memory as in the main excellent, though you felt that, like everything human, it was marred by imperfection? And why should not the same principle be admitted in respect to revivals? Is it right, is it honest, because there may be in them a small admixture of enthusiasm, to treat them as if they were made up of enthusiasm and nothing else? Would it not be more equitable and more candid to separate the precious from the vile, rather than to lump together the devil’s dross and the God-given ore? And we may say of the blessed works which we have traced in previous chapters, with Edwards, “If such things are enthusiasm, and the fruits of a distempered brain, let my brain be evermore possessed of that happy distemper! If this be distraction, I pray God that the world of mankind may be all seized with this benign, meek, beneficent, beatifical, glorious distraction!”

Spurious conversions, it is alleged, come of this excitement. But we may say “What is the chaff to the wheat?” Spurious conversions there no doubt are in revivals. So are there in seasons of coldness. And it is by no means clear that the proportion of false hopes cherished in revivals is greater than in other seasons.

Dr. Humphrey tells of 85 converts added in one revival; and he “is able to say that now at the end of thirty-seven years from the time of their public espousals to Christ, there has not, so far as I can learn, been a single case of apostasy from the faith once delivered to the saints, nor of yielding to the mastery of any of those habits which disgrace the Christian name, and drown men in destruction and perdition.”

Dr. Nettleton said: “During the leisure occasioned by my late illness, I have been looking over the regions where God has revived his work for the two years past. The thousands who have professed Christ in this time, in general, appear to run well. Hitherto think they have exhibited more of the Christian temper, and a better example than the same number who have professed religion when there was no revival. If genuine religion is not found in revivals I have no evidence that it exists in our world.” This is strong testimony, but no stronger than numerous pastors could present. And it confirms the view we would naturally receive of a powerful work of grace, namely, that just then we should have the best fruits; less of men’s work, and more of God’s; less of calculation, and more of conviction; less of head-work, and more of heart-work; less of theoretical persuasion, and more of direct, practical, moral earnestness; and so developing a purer, more vigorous, and more highly vitalized Christian character than in times when there is less of “the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”

It is often objected to revivals that the sympathies are liable to be wrought upon. Now, as we have elsewhere insisted, it is of vast importance that in religious awakenings solid instruction be given, and the understanding be addressed. And if there be these clear and vivid exhibitions of divine truth upon what ground is the excitement of the sympathies to be objected to? As God moves the mind according to its nature, why may he not employ the sympathetic principle to awaken, soften and prepare the way for conversion? “I have yet to learn,” remarks Mr. Barnes, “why religion is to be regarded as suspicious and tarnished because the pleadings of a father or mother, or the tears of a sister have been the occasion, though amidst deep excitement, of directing the thoughts to eternity. To me it seems there is a peculiar loveliness in the spread of religion in this way; and I love to contemplate Christianity calling to its aid whatever of tenderness, kindness, and love there may be existing in the bosom of falling and erring man. These sympathies are the precious remains of the joys of paradise lost; they may be made invaluable aids in the work of securing paradise again. They serve to distinguish man, though fallen, from the dis-social and unsympathizing apostasy of beings of pure malignancy in hell, and their existence in man may have been one of the reasons why he was selected for redemption, while fallen angels were passed by in their sins. On no subject have we so many common interests at stake as in religion. I look upon a family circle. What tender feelings! What mutual love! What common joys! What united sorrows! The blow that strikes one member strikes all. The joy that lights up one countenance diffuses its smiles over all. Together they kneel by the side of the one that is sick; together they rejoice at his recovery; or they bow their heads and weep when he dies, and put on the same sad habiliments of grief and walk to his grave. Nor are these all their common joys and woes. They are plunged into the same guilt and danger. They are together under the fearful visitations of that curse which has travelled down from the first apostasy of man. They are going to a common abode beneath the ground. And that guilty and suffering circle, too, may be irradiated with the same beam of hope, and the same balm of Gilead, and the same great Physician may impart healing there. Now we ask why they may not become Christians together? Sunk in the same woes, why may they not rise to the same immortal hope? When one member is awakened, why should not the same feeling run through the united group? When one is impressed with the great thoughts of immortality, why should not the same thoughts weigh on each spirit? And when the eyes of one kindle with the hope of eternal life, why should not every eye catch the immortal radiance, and every heart be filled with the hope of heaven? And why may we not appeal to them by all the hopes of sitting down together in a world of bliss, and by all the fears of being separated to different destinies in an eternal heaven or hell?

In fact, it is one strong argument for revivals that this principle of sympathy is then brought into exercise. A parent, brother, sister, child, sees another member of the family weeping with a sense of sin, and asking prayers, or rejoicing in a new found hope, or separating, by profession, from the world and entering into the company of believers. The sight of the eye affects the heart, and the inquiry starts, “Am I to go to hell, while that dear one goes to heaven? Do not I need religion, too?” And thus the current of thoughtlessness is interrupted, and the mind becomes impressible and attentive: and this gained, there is reason to hope that further progress will be made.

Thus viewed, an objection to revivals becomes an argument in their favor.

It is sometimes said that to expect revivals prevents uniform effort. We answer that it is only so with those who are not well instructed. If the minister will keep prominent the duty of uniform effort, most of his people will respond to his views. And there is no question but that, as a rule, those ready to labor in revivals are just the persons engaged in steady work; while those who cry out “excitement” find it convenient, somehow, to be idlers in God’s vineyard.

“But the excitement soon subsides, and then there is a reaction.” True, the special excitement is only temporary. In the nature of the case it could not be otherwise. And farther, there may be reaction. Is there not in all special work, of every kind? But does the pastor, the politician, or the farmer decline special effort at special times from fear there will be reaction in the overworked brain, or body? What folly to plead the law of rust against the law of special work.

Let us add here the words of Rev. T. L. Cuyler: “It is made an objection to revivals of religion that they are ‘mere temporary excitements.’ True enough. Pentecost lasted one day, but that one day changed the moral face of the globe. Luther’s Reformation work was comprised within a few years; Europe and the world feel it to this hour. The memorable revival of 1857 began with a few praying hearts in New York— it culminated in a few weeks; its outward phenomena ceased in a twelvemonth. The influence spread across the seas, and round the globe. Did the results end with the end of the excitement? Have its converts all gone back to unbelief and ungodliness? No! That revival has its enduring monuments in nearly every church on this continent. Its history will blaze on one of the brightest pages of God’s record books, which shall be opened on the Day of Judgment. Revivals are temporary in duration. This is partly to be accounted for through God’s sovereignty, and partly through human imperfection. Revivals are commonly short-lived, and they often are attended with a few excesses and false conversions. But would any sane man object to copious rain because it did not continue to rain on forever? Would he object to it, either, because it had swelled a few streams into a freshet, and carried off a few mill-dams and bridges? Shall we do away with steam power simply because the boiler of the “St. John” exploded and blew a dozen human beings into eternity? Revivals are indeed attended with incidental dangers; but they are only such as belong to the constitution of imperfect human nature. They are in accordance with the divine plan. They are in harmony with church-agency in the best days of the church’s history.”

And it must farther be said, that revivals are not followed by the same coldness and levity that preceded them. They leave an impression in the moral feelings of the community, which is not soon effaced. But, if it were true, as it regards the unconverted, it is what might be expected. It is only the relapse of minds ever averse to seriousness, and anxious for relief from the inquietudes of conscience, into their old and settled courses. Revivals do not produce the levity of worldly minds. They powerfully interrupt it. For the time being, and commonly long after, the ball-room and bar-room are deserted, comparatively, if not entirely, and Sabbath-breakers find their way to the house of God. Is it any argument against revivals, that the depraved heart, though awed for the time by the manifest tokens of divine presence, can at last resist their influence and turn like the children of Israel before the mount of God, to idols of their own choosing?

But “Is it not better to have conversions all the while?” Certainly. Labor for them, and be not satisfied without them. And we admit that in an important sense that is a wrong state of things which needs a revival. Possibly the time will come when revivals will not be needed; when, as we might say, there will be a perpetual revival. But we are not to prescribe modes of operation to the Almighty. And if he choose to water his church by occasional showers, rather than with the perpetual dew of his grace; and this more at one period, and on one continent, than at other times and places, we should rejoice and be grateful for the rich effusions of his Spirit in any form and manner; and should endeavour to avail ourselves of these precious seasons for the conversion of sinners. We know that many good men have supposed, and still suppose, that the best way to promote religion, is to go along uniformly, and gather in the ungodly gradually, and without excitement. But however sound such reasoning may appear in the abstract, facts demonstrate its futility. If churches were far enough advanced in knowledge, and had stability of principle enough to keep awake, such a course would do; but most Christians are so little enlightened, and there are so many counteracting causes, that they will not go steadily forward, and so must be impelled by special influences.

“But, Is not a periodical and special divine influence on men for their conversion derogatory to God? Is he not always present and ready to less?” Yes; but our sins may separate between him and us. And again, he may be as truly blessing the world in the edification of his people as by the direct conversion of sinners. But not to insist on this here, let it be observed that this objection is easily seen to be superficial. On this principle there ought to be no intervals of drought or rain; — no revolving cycles of change, but either continuous drenching rains or ever-scorching suns. Instead of this, we see that while God is unchangeable in his purpose, he is various in his methods. Revivals are in accordance with the analogy of nature, which has its seasons of revivification and rapid growth followed by seasons of ripening fruit and maturing strength. They are in harmony with the nature of man, who requires alternate seasons of activity and repose; of stirring labor and excitement on the one hand and on the other of tranquil enjoyment and sober reflection; each in turn preparing the body and the mind for the other and both in their due season imparting health and vigor to the system and conspiring to produce the largest possible results. Revivals accord especially with the habits and spirit of the present age, which is an age of excitement, of division of labor, of associated feeling and action, of concentrated effort, and hurried enterprise and rapid locomotion.

“But why not be content with a moderate growth instead of great and rapid ingatherings?” Because it is not primitive; not after God’s plan. In the early churches conversions were by the hundred and the thousand. The word spread, not with that moderation insisted on by those who are always afraid of being charged with extravagance, but with the sweep and power of a divine movement. And the agents were borne onward as on the wings of the wind, willing to be a laughing-stock to men; willing to hear an outcry from the world, which they were turning upside down.

But one sufficient answer is, that this “going on steadily” (i.e. slowly) leaves the great mass of men in their sins, and coolly consigns whole generations to hell! For death does not wait for our slow processes!

But “why do you have revivals at particular seasons, as in the winter for example?” Suppose we ask in reply, “Why do you have your Lecture seasons in the winter, rather than summer? And your social entertainments, and the like?” Is it unreasonable or arrogant to suppose that there are with God prudential considerations leading to this choice of times and seasons for his special and signal working, based upon this fact, that certain times are more favorable than others for his works?

We have thus alluded to some of the common objections to revivals. No doubt it is generally rather to some of their incidental features that objection is made than to revivals themselves. It is unfair and unreasonable, however, to hold revivals accountable for the evils that sometimes attach to them. When Whitfield was once preaching in Boston, a meeting house was so packed that the gallery was supposed to be giving away, and there was a panic in which several persons were trampled to death. Did the blame attach to the revival? Persons sometimes take cold in a revival. Is that the fault of the revival?

This is a painful object to write upon. One might suppose that anything fraught with such blessings as are revivals would be welcomed universally; that churches long praying for such a time would gladly mark the first appearance of it, and that ministers long mourning their own and their people’s deadness would rejoice in its approach. But alas! It is otherwise. “It is no new thing” says one, “for the world to spit upon Christ and revile Him, — no new thing for unregenerate and foolish men to blaspheme the work of the Spirit; but sad indeed is it that any that are his should hide their faces from him and from his work!”

Are none who ought to be leaders in the world’s conquest, from this very cause failing of influence? Are no preachers open to the censure conveyed in the remark of a hearer, that his minister, apparently, would rather that souls should remain unconverted than be converted in any way except his?

Not far from the scene of a revival, one cold day stood two men in conversation. They belonged to different churches, and the following was the substance of their discourse:

“What is the state of religion in your church?”

“Very cold, indeed, sir: it is as far below the freezing point as is the temperature of the atmosphere.”

“And what is your minister preaching about?”

“He is laboring to show the danger of animal excitement in religion.”

The conversation closed with the exclamation, “The danger of animal excitement! Why, surely the man’s sermons would be better adapted to the state of his congregation if he were to preach on the danger of being spiritually frost-bitten!”

The pungent Mr. Ryle, in one of his tracts, gives these utterances: “The plain truth is, that many believers in the present day seem so dreadfully afraid of doing harm that they hardly ever dare to do any good. There are many who are fruitful in objections, but barren in actions; rich in wet blankets, but poor in anything like Christian fire. They are like the Dutch deputies, who would never allow Marlborough to venture anything, and by their excessive caution, prevented many a victory from being won.” It must be confessed that this representation is but too true.

A home missionary in the West wrote some time since as follows: “If Christians were half as much excited about a heavenly inheritance as the people here are, and have been for a few months past, about Government land, village lots, mill sites, cultivated farms, etc., etc., they would be branded at once with the wildest kind of fanaticism. How strange that professors of religion are fairly beside themselves in the anxiety to secure a little of this world’s goods, and yet that some of them, if they chance to hear a poor sinner cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” or witness deep anxiety for a lost world, are ready to cry, “Excitement! Excitement! It is all excitement.”

The very orthodoxy of some is made an occasion for inactivity. They cry out, “You are trying to get up a revival in your own strength: take care, you are interfering with the sovereignty of God: better keep along in the usual course, and let God give a revival when he thinks it is best: God is a sovereign, and it is very wrong for you to attempt to have a revival, just because you think a revival is needed!” Now no fact (as we have elsewhere taken occasion to show) is more apparent in revivals than that of the divine sovereignty. But such talk as this is just what Satan likes, and men cannot do his work more effectually than by thus preaching up the sovereignty of God as a reason why we should not put forth revival efforts.

An actual participation and personal experience in precious revivals would dissipate many a man`s objections. It makes a vast difference in ones estimate of a revival whether he enter into it or look at it. In the Memoirs of the late Mr. William Dawson is the following anecdote:

Mr. Dawson was one day accosted by an individual who said he had been present at a certain meeting; that he liked the preaching very well, but was much dissatisfied with the prayer-meeting; adding, that he usually lost all the good he had received during the sermon by remaining in these noisy meetings. Mr. D. replied that he should have united with the people of God in the prayer-meeting, if he desired to profit by it. “Oh!” said the gentleman, “I went into the gallery, where I leaned over the front, and saw the whole. But I could get no good; lost, all the benefit I received during the sermon.”

“It is easy to account for that,” rejoined Mr. Dawson.

“How so?” inquired the other.

“You mounted to the top of the house, and on looking down your neighbor’s chimney to see what kind, of a fire he kept, you got your eyes filled with smoke. Had you entered by the door and gone into the room and mingled with the family around the household hearth, you would have enjoyed the benefit of the fire as well as they. Sir, you have got the smoke in your eyes!”

The writer would most earnestly entreat all opponents of revivals to look more thoroughly into the matter, —to ascertain, as far as possible, in what a revival really consists,— and to prove their own selves lest it be found in the great day that they have been “fighting against God.”

That man takes an awful responsibility who assumes to utter a word in disparagement of revivals of religion.

There are few names in our country’s annals more conspicuous, for good or for evil, than that of Aaron Burr. Of his talents none can doubt. His defects were moral rather than intellectual, consisting in a total apostasy from the religion of his fathers, and in the lawlessness of one who had deliberately cast off fear and restrained prayer before God. His father was an earnest Christian minister; his mother one of the most devout women of her times, the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, and the off-shoot of a domestic circle which has been represented as more nearly resembling the life of heaven than any other on earth. Mr. Parton, in his Life of Aaron Burr, perhaps without intending it, tells how this apostasy came about. During his last year in college (at Princeton) there was a revival in the institution. “Burr confessed that he was moved by the revival. He respected the religion of his mother; he had taken for granted the creed in which he had been educated. Therefore, though he was repelled by the wild excitement, which prevailed, and disgust by the means employed to excite terror, his mind was not at ease. He consulted Dr. Witherspoon in this perplexity.

The clergymen of the time were divided in opinion upon the subject of revivals; those educated in the old country being generally opposed to them. President Witherspoon was of that number, and he accordingly told the anxious student that the raging excitement was fanatical, not truly religious, and Burr went away relieved.” This is believed to be the key to Burr’s apostate career.

Assuming that that opinion of the revival was the real cause of his going away “relieved,” what terrible consequences followed that advice. For Burr proceeded to drink in with avidity the reasonings of the French and English infidels, which were much in vogue at the time. These prepared him for the profligate habits which distinguished him through life, which procured his arraignment at the bar of his country for high treason, which involved him in his fatal duel with Hamilton, and which made him ever after an outcast and a vagabond in the earth. It causes a shudder to think that possibly that depreciating remark as to the revival made him the libertine, the duellist, the plotter against his government, the heartless seducer, and the victim of a supreme selfishness that he was. And it is an illustration of the sad consequences that may follow the utterance of one word against revivals.

It will be remembered that our Saviour claimed for his miracles that they were wrought by the Spirit of God. The Pharisees attributed them to the agency of Satan. What that sin was the context tells us. “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Revivals also claim to be wrought by the Spirit of God. If they are so, what the sin of speaking against them is, it is not for us to say—farther than that it is in some sense, at least, the sin of “speaking against the Holy Ghost.” The degree of the guilt depends on the means of knowledge and the malignity of purpose. We would neither presume nor wish to say, that in any case it is unpardonable; but who would not shun the possibility of speaking contemptuously of the work of the Spirit? “Beware therefore,” says an apostle, “lest that come upon you which is spoken in the prophets; behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish: for I work a work in your day, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” He that will speak lightly of revivals, should ponder these words deeply, and remember that he will be called upon in the great day to confront the fact that he took it upon himself to condemn those scenes of religious awakening which brought such gladness to such multitudes of souls. Nor let it be forgotten, that one may be secretly doubtful and indifferent as to revivals; and so, though not openly opposing them, be practically against them. Such persons cannot be relieved of the responsibility of being opposed, in spirit and in practice, to revivals by their silent and negative course regarding them. To have no positive faith in revivals is to be averse and contrary to them. Revivals are so big with consequences, so instinct with life and rower, that they cannot be objects of attention without moving the mind one way or another, without being hated where they are not loved, dreaded where they are not desired, though peculiar circumstances of expediency may repress positive expressions of aversion. Such persons will not only do nothing in favor of revivals, but amidst studied silence and reserve will do much against them. Can the preaching of ministers be otherwise than essentially hostile to revivals, who are not without doubts whether revivals are not the work of man, or perhaps of man and Satan united? The state of mind which dictates such a strain of preaching cannot but dictate a similar strain of conversation; and though direct unfriendliness may not be intended, yet it will be exerted, and exerted in the most decisive and effectual manner.

And this thought must be added; that ministers may believe in revivals, and still be practically opposed to them, because their one great, earnest aim is not to bring sinners to immediate ‘repentance; which is the very spirit of revivals.

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!”

Chapter 6: POSITION OF EVANGELISTS.

"WE may define evangelists as preachers without pastoral charges. As thus defined, the apostles were evangelists, — tellers of the good tidings to the people at large.

Paul was the prince of evangelists. In five and twenty years he travelled three times over a great part of Asia and Europe. Twice he spent two years as a prisoner, preaching to all who came to him, as well as to successive soldiers to whom he was chained. At one place he wintered, at another he spent a year and a half, at a third two whole years, so preaching "that all they that dwell in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus."

Our blessed Lord went from place to place preaching and performing his mighty works. In the three years of his public life he travelled three times over Galilee. Three times he visited Jerusalem. For weeks together he preached at Capernaum, a border town where many were coming and going. Six months he labored beyond Jordan, and twice he sent out disciples to extend his work. He came not mainly to teach, and yet through his public life he labored as an itinerant. It was thus that he spread his gospel among perhaps three millions of people.

Modern missionaries, in the main, are evangelists. So were many of the earnest preachers of early days. Whitfield spent most of his life as an evangelist. So did John Wesley, who rode horseback 100,000 miles in his visits from place to place.

In this country from the earliest times, there have been men acting as evangelists. More than a hundred years ago the Philadelphia Baptist Association appointed Rev. Messrs. Edwards and Gano to visit and preach as evangelists. Dr. Nettleton, in the first half of the present century, was a famous evangelist. Inspired with the earnest wish to give himself to the foreign mission service, but prevented from so doing, he gave himself to the work of an evangelist; first among destitute churches, and then, upon the calls of his brethren, to the visitation of churches with pastors. And everywhere the Lord went with him and wonderfully blessed his labors. Eternity alone will tell the multitudes led to Christ in connection with his itinerant services. The names of others might be mentioned who were also much blessed in this work.

And yet such labors in our day are not looked upon with favor. A chief cause is found in the imprudence of some evangelists. Great scandal was brought upon this class of preachers by one James Davenport, more than a century ago. His excesses caused the ministry to look with suspicion upon this style of service, and to dread even the name evangelist.

Rev. Joseph Fish, of Stonington, Conn., in a sermon which he published in 1763, informs us of the visit of Mr. Davenport to his church some twenty years previously. Speaking of the revivals of that day, he says, “In these strange operations, there was a marvellous mixture of almost everything good and bad— truth and error, chaff and wheat. For while the spirit of God wrought powerfully, Satan raged maliciously, and acted his old subtle part to deceive. This happened, or at least was carried to the highest pitch, under the preaching and ministrations of a wonderful, strange, good man, (the Rev. James Davenport, of Long Island,) who visited these parts in the time of our religious concern and awakening; a young man of undoubted real piety, fervent zeal for God, love to souls, and ardent desire to advance the Redeemer's kingdom. But, (thus it was permitted,) a man, while with us, under the powerful influence of a false spirit in a great part of his conduct, as many then told him, and as he himself did afterwards acknowledge with deep abasement. Satan taking the advantage of his zeal in religion, transformed himself into an angel of light, and hurried him into extremes; yea, artfully carried him beside the truth and duty, and beyond the bounds of decency.”

It is not difficult to trace the effects of the misguided zeal of this man in the existing coldness towards itinerating ministers.

And this has been enhanced by men since his time. Anyone familiar with the religious history of the churches for the last forty years, can recall the names of evangelists who have not commended themselves to the good judgment, (if indeed to the confidence) of their brethren generally. Dr. Humphrey, in his Revival Sketches, says: "The great demand for preaching in western revivals, brought out a number of zealous young men with but little experience, who felt it their duty to enter into the work and help the pastors wherever their services were desired. They soon took the name of evangelists, or revivalists, as they were more commonly called. Some of them, in process of time, became zealous overmuch. They introduced measures which many pastors of riper judgment and more experience in revivals could not approve. And as their zeal increased, they wanted to go to places where they were not sent for. Nor would they be hindered for want of regular invitations. Influential members of the churches who sympathized with them were approached, and enlisted to overrule the judgment of their ministers, and wring from them a reluctant consent. If the ministers would not yield, they must be broken down, as the phrase was. This was often attempted, and sometimes succeeded. Nor would the evangelist long consent to labor under the advice and direction of the pastor. He must give up the reins, and stand aside and look on, or take a subordinate part in the revival. The consequence was, that divisions were created in the churches, part holding with the pastors and part with the evangelists; and though scores of converts might be announced, some churches were actually weakened, and to such a degree that if not quite broken up, in what has since been called the ' burnt district,' they have scarcely recovered to this day. Not only were good ministers driven from their congregations in this manner, but such prejudices against revivals were created by these extreme measures, that it has taken a whole generation to remove them."

But while eccentricities and rashness are justly chargeable to some who have acted as evangelists, it should not operate as an argument against this class of laborers. Richard Baxter remarks that though the word of God is divine, our mode of dispensing it is human; and there is scarcely anything we have the handling of but we leave on it the print of our fingers. Imperfection attaches to our best endeavors; and why should we be suspicious of a particular kind of labor because of the extravagance or unworthiness of some who have undertaken it? God knows more than we know; and it becomes us to be slow to denounce that upon which he bestows his blessing, even though it seem not to deserve our approval.

Much can be said in favor of this particular instrumentality. Undoubtedly it is of divine appointment, for “he gave some evangelists." And if it be insisted that their functions in primitive times were unlike those performed now, it devolves upon the objector to show the essential difference. True, they did not labor chiefly with churches, but outside of them; although this is not clear as to Apollos, at least, whose fame as an evangelist was in all the churches. But at first there were no churches with whom evangelists could labor. It was needful that they preach in new localities, like our modern missionaries. This carrying the gospel into “the regions beyond” engrossed all their time and attention; a prominent exception, however, being found in the apostle Paul, who, with other labors, visited and strengthened the churches, — cooperating with the pastors. To reason from the early practice therefore, as against the present, seems scarcely allowable. We doubt whether an argument against modern evangelism can be drawn from New Testament order.

Again: experience attests to the great usefulness of this agency. We have spoken of Whitfield and Wesley. It is also well known that Luther and his fellow-laborers carried forward the work more as evangelists than as pastors. Hosts of itinerant preachers and colporteurs went everywhere conveying the word of life to the homes and hearts of the people.

The early revivals in this country were directly connected with the labors of Edwards, the Tennents, Wheelock, Pomroy, Pendleton, and many others, who either had no pastoral charges, or gave them up for the time, and went out as evangelists to places far and near, arousing the churches and warning men to repent. The same was true of the later revivals; as remarked above in regard to Nettleton and others.

It were not difficult to point to some men now who are honored and beloved as the helpers of pastors in “ bringing in sheaves," and the extent of whose usefulness it is impossible to overestimate. What multitudes of souls, both among those in glory and those toiling for Christ, are witnesses to the good accomplished by the untiring energies of men whose names might be mentioned.

We are fully aware of the unfavorable opinion of many, as to some of the men and measures connected with evangelism during the last half century. Nor do we say there is no good ground for it. But it may well be asked, what had been the condition of the churches to-day without that class of labor to which exception is taken? Certainly the churches never made greater progress than within the period of modern evangelism. And who will undertake to say that it is not owing, largely, to the new impulses given through this particular branch of effort?

Farther. We can easily see some peculiar advantages in evangelistic labor. For one thing, it stimulates expectation and hope, and impels to prayer and readiness for a blessing. Speaking of the great revivals at the beginning of this century, Baird says, “As one means of extending the work, ministers who had enjoyed the presence of God among their own people, were selected by some ecclesiastical body and sent forth, generally two together, on preaching tours among the neighboring churches. The expectation of their coming drew large audiences wherever they preached."

“The churches which they visited being, in most cases, prepared to receive them by a previous season of fasting and prayer, and animated by their presence and labors to redoubled fervor of supplication, were, in many cases favored with an immediate outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Under these and similar influences the work of God spread into more than one hundred towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and into a still greater number of places in the new settlements of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and New York, which had but recently formed a wide-spread field of missionary labor."

For the time being, as we see, these men were evangelists; and the facts alleged were what would have been expected. For, if a minister and church know of the speedy coming of an evangelist, the feeling is that they must bestir themselves. Sluggishness and procrastination are put away. The preaching is more earnest. Responsibility for the success of the proposed special effort is felt; prayers are more fervent and direct; and thus the way of the Lord is prepared.

Still farther: expectation is awakened in the community, and the people are ready to come together, at least to hear the strangers, and to witness 'what occurs. And the first thing in saving men is to gain a hearing. A principal reason why the masses perish is because they never hear preaching.

Again: through the labors of evangelists the various gifts of the ministry are in a measure diffused. One man has specially the gift to teach, another to incite. Or, as we may say, the one prepares fuel, and the other kindles it. One preacher, too, may have no aptness in revival work, and another may excel in this, and in little else. Thus one class of talent is supplemented by the other.

Dr. Geo. B. Ide, of Massachusetts, after a great revival among his people in connection with the labors of Mr. Earle, said that his parish was like a garden in the spring with the beds all laid out, and the seeds all planted in them; and that it only needed the additional sunshine that came along with the evangelist to make the seeded rows shoot forth. So in multitudes of cases. One man plants, and another waters; while it is God that giveth the increase. One sows, (he is specially fitted for that) and another reaps (he is specially fitted for that). And again one man excels in winning souls to Christ, and another in building them up in the faith. And why should not all the gifts of the ministry be brought into requisition, and diffused far as possible among the churches for their edification?

How often, too, does a disheartened minister find cheer and strength in the coming of an evangelist. His work may drag heavily; and yet a little added power would accomplish wonders. Mr. Earle once likened himself to the additional horse with whiffletree attached to hitch on and help pull the load up the hill. The disciples went forth two by two. But the pastor labors on alone; and like "the coming of Titus" of old, may be the visit of a brother minister. Iron sharpeneth iron; countenance cheers countenance; and so the feeble hands become strong, and the work goes bravely on. Often Is a single visit of an evangelist the very 4;hing that saves a church, and insures a long and successful pastorate. But for this many a man had quitted his field, and let the interest die.

Hundreds upon hundreds of feeble churches, too, without settled pastors, have been saved from extinction by such visits of God's servants; and after that have been able to support a minister.

Farther still: a pastor may be overworked; and a failure of health at the beginning of a revival among his people, may make the labors of an evangelist highly desirable for a few weeks or months. Anticipating this state of things. Dr. Porter said: “Such help has often been furnished by the occasional labors of other pastors, who have had a short leave of absence from their own flocks. But perhaps the only adequate provision for such emergencies would be, that a few men, of rare endowments for this particular service, — men of God, distinguished for judgment, fervor of piety and suavity of temper, — should be held in reserve to labor where they are most needed, as assistants to stated pastors. These men, of course, should be ordained ministers, and hold themselves accountable to some regular ecclesiastical body."

Once more. There is no reason to doubt that it pleases God to bestow his converting grace in special measure in connection with the labors of some evangelists. It is undeniable that through them great numbers of souls are gathered into the Christian ranks; and there is no conceivable way of accounting for this acknowledged success but on the ground here indicated. It seems good to the Most High, in the sovereignty of his operations, to accompany with the extraordinary power of the Holy Ghost the preaching and the means, which are in themselves simple and in no wise remarkable, of men whom he has evidently raised up for this particular work. The names of Whitfield, Nettleton, the Tennents, Finney, Knapp, Inskip, Earle, Hammond, Dewitt, Graves, Caughey, and others, illustrate this remark. And we hold this to be a sufficient warrant for the employment of the agency in question.

Say what we will, God sets the seal of his approval on these labors; and what “he hath cleansed, that call thou not common or unclean."

Nor is it by any means certain that one reason for the infrequency of revivals is not to be found in the neglect of this instrumentality. And if churches generally, instead of viewing all evangelists with suspicion, and speaking evil of their work and their office, were to pray for more and better men of this class, it were a mighty gain to the cause of Christ. And when the harvest is so plenteous, and the laborers so few, it is little less than appalling to witness the frequent indiscriminate denunciation of a means which has been, and is, such a power for good.

In saying this we are not depreciating the pastorate; far from it. Nor would we be understood to hold that the system of evangelism has not its drawbacks, and could not be improved. There is danger on the part of churches of a distrust of the established means of grace, and a morbid craving for extraordinary measures: and on the part of the evangelists, a longing for immediate rather than permanent results; an adoption of doubtful measures and management to hurry such results; and an unhealthy love of notoriety through the press, and the like. These, and perhaps other tendencies are to be guarded against. But such tendencies are not sound objections to the system itself; for there is nothing perfect beneath the sun. The field is wide for evangelistic labor, and in the time when many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased, likely it will be more extensively called into requisition than now.

In just this connection some words of caution are appropriate. If reliance is placed upon foreign aid to such an extent as to diminish the sense of responsibility on the part of the church or the pastor, it is a serious evil. Sometimes the feeling is that without an evangelist nothing can be done; and so nothing is attempted. Sometimes the people wait (in comparative indolence and hopelessness) until the promised visitation is realized. And sometimes the visit of the evangelist having come, it is felt that the work will go forward anyhow, as a necessary consequence.

All this is wrong. The pastor and his charge must feel that it devolves on them, not on him, to insure success, in its human aspect. If the impression prevail that they are now relieved from obligation, and may be lookers-on, no good can come.

The pressure must still lie upon their hearts. No aid from abroad is useful which tends to release the church and the stated ministry from a full, undivided sense of responsibility for earnest, active, personal effort to carry on the revival.

Yet it should be added, that if a church and minister will not labor together without assistance, let them send for it. Better so than that the wise and foolish slumber on, and both perish together.

And the evangelist himself will need grace to act with discretion, in order to secure the greatest benefit. If wise, he will never use a style of preaching that is vulgar in diction or manner, or in any way offensive to good taste. He will be solemn and not trifling; always courteous, and never abrupt, rude, or coarse. He will everywhere be the Christian gentleman.

Moreover, he will be exceedingly careful in all his ways; and especially in his fellowship with the other sex will avoid even the very appearance of evil; for the eyes of gainsayers are upon him.

He will be patient, "not rendering railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing." He will be much in prayer; will watch his own heart; will keep humble before God; will study to show himself approved of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word, and not handling the word of God deceitfully. He will be thoroughly honest, not using aught of "pious fraud," or artifice of any kind to gain a present end, as is sometimes the case with revival laborers.

The good evangelist will also in every way help, and not harm the pastor. The pastor is the head of the flock, and cannot even temporarily abandon his post. He is responsible for results more than anyone else; and therefore his opinion and wishes are to be respected. Said Nettleton, "Settled pastors have, and ought to have, the entire management in their own congregations. Each one has a right to pursue his own measures, within his own limits; and no itinerant has any business to interfere or dictate. It will ever be regarded as intermeddling in other men's matters.”

Good evangelists will not be ready to denounce those Christians and those ministers as enemies of revivals, who will not yield up to them the reins, nor sanction all their movements. There is danger of this from the nature of the case. Their minds are awake to the soul's salvation; and they are oppressed by its amazing importance. They feel that something efficient ought to be done — must be done to wake up a slumbering world; and they naturally desire that all Christians should go along with them in their efforts. In this state of mind they expect nothing but cordial co-operation; and where they do not find it, corrupt nature takes advantage of the excitement they have reached, and the disappointment they feel, (and perhaps withal of a naturally ardent temperament,) to discharge itself not only in grievous complaints, but sometimes even bitter invective. All this should be guarded against with the greatest care.

It is a most delicate service for an itinerant preacher to go in and labor with a pastor of ordinary standing in a revival. And it requires great wisdom, prudence, and self-forgetfulness, lest the latter be thrown into the background, and his influence unintentionally impaired. The biographer of Nettleton bestows a high praise in saying, that an instance probably cannot be mentioned in which his influence led to the dismission of a pastor; but many instances might be mentioned in which he was instrumental in strengthening the hands of pastors. He would treat ministers with such kindness, and speak of them with such respect, as to make the impression on the minds of their people that they were worthy of their confidence; and thus not a few who had almost lost their influence, were firmly reinstated in the affections of their people.

Of course the true evangelist, as we have intimated, will watch his own heart, and be right before God. He will not act an assumed part; affecting a measure of sincerity and godliness that does not belong to him. How holy a man does it become him to be! How much on his knees! How intimate and uninterrupted his transactions with the Throne! If Luther trembled every time he entered the pulpit, well may an evangelist tremble as he sets foot on new ground, and puts himself into vital connection with a special work in behalf of God and men! His very zeal and success expose him to peril. Human passions, hateful pride, and uncharitable bitterness may be mixed with his zeal for the Lord; and when abundant blessings are showering down, the enemy of his soul is sure to attempt to puff him up with the idea that he has eminent gifts, and the highest tokens of God's favor, and so he may go forth and act among his fellow creatures as if peculiarly wise and strong and good.

President Edwards' words on this point are much in place; and no doubt they were called forth by some of the revival preachers of his time. He says: "There is also great temptation to an assuming behavior in some persons. When a minister is greatly succeeded from time to time, and so draws the eyes of the multitude upon him, and he sees himself flocked after and resorted to as an oracle, and people are ready to adore him and to offer sacrifice to him, as it was with Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, it is almost impossible for a man to avoid taking upon him the airs of a master. All young ministers in this day of bringing up the ark of God should take warning by the example of a young Levite in Israel, Uzzah the son of Abinadab. He seemed to have a real concern for the ark of God, and to be zealous and engaged in his mind; but God smote him for his want of humility and taking too much upon himself."

Doubtless this is one reason why God subjects these his servants to so many humiliations, and defeats, and trials. In this way they are kept where he can consistently bestow upon their labors his blessing.

It must be added, that if the evangelist should respect the position of the pastor, so should the pastor respect the position of the evangelist. Obligations are not all on one side. It not unfrequently happens that the evangelist is assailed, publicly or privately, and perhaps by those from whom better things should be expected. In such cases, the pastor, above all others, should "hold such in reputation." Sometimes it may .be necessary (not often) to resort to the public press to expose a base slander or a lurking insinuation. Possibly it may have to be done in the open assembly. Except in extreme cases, however, it is decidedly better that neither the assailed party nor the pastor take any notice of the matter. If the brethren of the church, including the minister, give to the evangelist their hearty and persevering support, all will be well. The “strife of tongues" will in this way be silenced; and God will take care of both the workman and the work.

But a pastor who is not ready to be the ^rue brother to the evangelist, acts a very unworthy part in inviting him to come to his assistance.

In this connection we must record the belief, that the habit of some excellent brethren in the ministry of passing indiscriminate censure upon evangelists and their work, is a sin that ought to be repented of. Did not our Lord teach that speaking lightly of one of his servants was to “ despise him that sent him?” If ministers denounce their brethren (who at least have a conscience in pursuing their often thankless task) what must be expected of the world? We commend the thought to all preachers and theological teachers.

The following resolutions, adopted by an association in Maine, after a season of rich spiritual harvesting, embody sound views upon the topic under remark:

"1. God honors the established ministry of the Christian religion by employing, in the conversion of sinners, usually, the truth as preached by his faithful ministers.

"2. The establishment of such a ministry, however efficient and successful in any branch of the church, has by no means exhausted the instrumentalities of salvation; the prerogative being still the Lord's to project, even into the most cultivated portions of his vineyard, new and additional means.

“3. Masses of precious truth, imparted by many an able and faithful pulpit, sometimes lie inoperative, at least in that which is most essential, because unquickened by the Spirit — by importunity of prayer — by devout ardor of sympathy — by fervor of appeal — and by variety of motive made intense and almost irresistible. To do this may demand, for a time, men and measures not usually employed.

"4. Evangelists are of divine appointment, and have their peculiar work. That work is never in derogation of, but always collateral and auxiliary to, the established ministry; being designed merely to supplement its officers and labors, and thus be tributary to the conversion of souls, the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom, and the glory of his name.”

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!”

Chapter 7: CHILD-PIETY AND PROFESSION.

CHILDREN have formed a large proportion of professed converts in the more recent revivals. Some look with favor upon this, and some with disfavor; but it certainly gives increased interest to the subject of child-piety and profession.

We take up the two points separately; and first ask as to the possibility of child-piety. Happily there is not ground for much discussion -here. The very words of our Lord, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven,” make it sure that there is nothing on the part of God preventing the conversion of young children.

Is there anything on their part? We ask what is there in the gospel, and in the mind of the child, to prevent the apprehension of all saving truth? The gospel is comprehended in these two facts: — man a sinner, and Christ a Saviour. Undoubtedly poor Jack, of whom we have read, had the whole of the gospel when he could repeat (and this was all he knew):

"I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all,

And Jesus Christ is my all and in all.”

He who knows as much as that has the core of all Scripture. And cannot a child comprehend these two simple facts? When an infant it understands what it is to disobey and displease a parent, and to feel sorry for it. Is it difficult to impart the idea that God may be disobeyed, and what it is to be penitent in view of it? A very young child may understand this.

And why not, also, that Christ is a Saviour? Children know much more than they are often supposed to know. Dr. Archibald Alexander said that at four years of age he was interested to know the meaning of the words anathema, maranatha, as a minister was preaching on the text containing them; and that he watched for the explanation, and understood it, and never forgot it.

Besides the fact of the extreme simplicity of what is essentially the gospel, we add this thought; that Sunday school instruction, and Sunday school singing, and children's books and papers, have rendered intelligent the masses of children upon religious subjects to a very great extent; and that therefore they cannot be considered so ignorant of scripture truth as to prevent their conversion. No: the blessed Spirit can find truth enough to work with in almost any child's mind. The prophecy is becoming fulfilled, that "There shall be no more an infant of days (in respect to knowledge) for the child shall die an hundred years old.”

Advancing a step, we remark that childhood is the most hopeful period of conversion. Consider this circumstance, which is a decided advantage on the part of the child over the adult; viz., that it has already many of the qualities that enter largely into the religious character and life. Our Lord meant at least this when he said, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven,” for it is added, “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not enter therein." And he once took to him a child to illustrate to his followers some of the qualities which they must possess.

These are readily seen. For instance, love is a marked feature in childhood; and so are humility (or the want of ambition,) and teachableness, and submission to authority, and hope, and faith. And these are features of true piety. Now it is a gain to possess beforehand these features, though yet unsanctified. Other things being equal, a child will more readily believe than an adult; because, as we say, it is more natural to it.

A child will also be more ready to submit to God's authority because used to submit to parental authority; and the naturally loving and less selfish heart, will be more ready to attach itself to the dear Parent in heaven, than will be the heart of an adult. And so we might speak of other qualities. This being the case, if there is anything in being fit subjects for conversion, we should conclude that children are such.

And this is still more apparent if we remember the extreme susceptibility of childhood.

Human nature is then very plastic and ductile. It is yielding and shapeable. God may bless human efforts to the conversion of the most hardened: with him nothing is impossible. But how much more reasonable to expect success in our trying to shape impressible childhood and youth into “vessels of honor," than in attempting it with those who have long been burnt and bronzed in the fires of passion and sin.

The difference between childhood and age, in regard to susceptibility, is like that between a page of type just set up, and a page that has been stereotyped. In the former case it is easy to make alterations; but how difficult in the latter. You may nearly as well break up the plate altogether as to attempt to alter it much. Or, the difference is like that between a young tree, and that same tree after many years' growth. The weight of a sparrow had bowed it when a sapling; now the strength of a Hercules cannot bend it. Or, the difference is like that between a wooden sailing craft and an iron-clad. The one is easily pierced, the other resists the heaviest shots.

Rev. Dr. Burchard (whose letter Is appended to this chapter) says on this matter of child-nature, “The skillful husbandman selects first a good farm, the freest from rocks and noxious roots, a deep, loamy soil, not overworked, susceptible, under proper culture, of the largest fruitage and abundance. Now our position is, that in all this wide extended and various field—" the world,” — the best soil, the easiest cultivated, yielding the largest increase, is the heart of childhood. This is confirmed by the parable of the sower, in which some seed is represented as falling by the wayside, some upon stony places where there was not much earth, and some among thorns, and the result was there was no fruit. Whatever classes of persons may there be represented — the carefree, the frivolous, the hardened, the overburdened with care, — surely this part of the parable is not intended to represent the child's character, or any obstacles therein to the growth of the spiritual seed. Who so free as children from temptation, from the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and all those hurtful influences which so effectually counteract the impressions of truth upon the mind? Their ardent sensibilities, their sensitive conscience unused to the process of moral hardening, render them pre-eminently the good ground of the parable; and here, if anywhere, may we look for an hundred fold increase. Childhood is therefore peculiarly and emphatically the age designed by God in the constitution and condition of things, designated by the Scriptures, and demonstrated by experience, as the time for the successful application of the means of grace; the spring time, the time for sowing the good seed of the word, the time which, above all others, invites effort, and gives promise of success.”

We conclude, then, that little children can be converted, and that many circumstances strongly favor it. Scripture and analogy justify this belief. It requires no more intellect to love Christ, than to hate him; to please than to displease him, to serve than to disobey him. As a little child can take its spoonful of milk, and be sustained by it as surely as the man is sustained by his strong meat, so the little child with its hand of faith can take as true a hold of Christ, and get life and salvation from him as surely as an aged Christian. If old enough to sin, and be punished for it, why not old enough to repent and be saved? If old enough to hear the parental voice, why not God’s voice?

We have seen little lambs in the fields run toward the keeper at his call; perhaps the quickest to catch his voice and be at his side. And

"When Israel's gentle Shepherd stands,

With all-engaging charms,

And sweetly calls the tender lambs

To fold them in his arms,"

shall we doubt whether they are old enough to know his voice? Shall we be suspicious of their coming? Shall we imitate those in Christ's day who forbade them to come? Let it not be. It is safe to follow in Christ's steps; and he said, “Suffer them to come and forbid them not."

We come to another point, — the fact of child-piety. Very little children do come to Christ. It is commonly held that Jeremiah and John the Baptist, who are spoken of in Scripture as sanctified from their birth, were early the children of grace: and also that King Josiah at the age of eight years (when he began to reign) feared the Lord. There certainly were children among Christ's followers when on earth. Take this scene in his life: “When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them Yea; have ye never read. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" And then take this record concerning him: “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so. Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight." Were there not then some "babes," i. e., very small children among those that received his gospel?

The early Christians embraced pious children. Thus Polycarp, martyred at the age of 95, declares he had served God 86 years; showing that he was converted at the age of nine years. And Justin Martyr testifies of many of both sexes “who had been made disciples to Christ from their infancy, and continued uncorrupted all their lives.”

And coming to more modern times, it were easy to name many eminent servants of God who began to serve him in childhood: as Baxter for instance, who said he did not recollect the time when he did not love God and all that was good. Matthew Henry was converted before 11 years old, Mrs. Isabel Graham at 10; President Edwards probably at 7, Dr. Watts at 9, Bishop Hall and Robert Hall at 11 or 12.

Pres. Edwards, in his "narrative" says, “It has heretofore been looked on as a strange thing, when any have seemed to be savingly wrought upon, and remarkably changed in their childhood; but now, I suppose, near thirty were to appearance so wrought upon between ten and fourteen years of age, and two between nine and ten, and one about four years of age; and because, I suppose, this last will be with most difficulty believed, I shall hereafter give a particular account of it. The influences of God's Spirit have also been very remarkable on children in some other places, particularly at Sunderland and South Hadley, and the west part of Suffield. There are several families in this town that are all hopefully pious; yea, there are several numerous families, in which, I think, we have reason to hope that all the children are truly godly, and that most of them have lately become so." He also remarks “ God in this work has shown a remarkable regard to little children; never was there such a glorious work amongst persons in their childhood, as has been of late in New England; he has been pleased in a wonderful manner to perfect praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings; and many of them have more of that knowledge and wisdom that pleases him, and renders their religious worship acceptable, than many of the great and learned men of the world.”

To these utterances of Mr. Edwards, we add other testimony as to child-piety and revivals.

Dr. Griffin wrote the following as to a revival in Newark, N. J., under his ministry: "The appearance was as if a collection of waters long suspended over the town had fallen at once, and deluged the whole place. One Sabbath after the second service, when I had catechized and dismissed the little children, they gathered around me weeping and inquiring what they should do. I know not but a hundred were in tears at once. The scene was as affecting as it was unexpected.”

Dr. Archibald Maclay, of New York, thus speaks of the converts under his ministry: “Many of those who embraced the gospel at this period were young. One was only seven years old. She came to me in my study in great distress, asking if God could save her, for she had lived seven years without loving him, and all the time sinning against him. She united with the church, and has lived to train up a large family in the fear of God. Moreover, the great body of those who made a profession of religion have continued in the faith, rooted and grounded in love, and have not been moved away from the hope of the gospel."

One Mr. Halley, in 1753, wrote thus of a work in Scotland: “Thirteen societies for prayer have been recently instituted, and a new one is about to be established. I cannot express how much I am charmed with the young people. Oh, to hear the young lambs crying after the great Shepherd, — to hear them pouring out their souls with such fervor, with such beautiful expressions, with such copiousness and fullness, did not only strike me with admiration, but melted me into tears. I wished in my heart that all contradictors, gainsayers, and blasphemers of this work of God had been where I was that night."

The writer loves to recall the case of a little girl of nine years who had a very distinct perception of sin, and pleaded with God, in her room by herself, the promise, “Those that seek me early shall find me;" and then reassured her soul, saying "Shall find me! It does not say, (she said) may find me, but shall find me;" and finding the Saviour, truly, she became a bright ornament in the church. A child in Bridgeport, Conn., of some eight years, was asked why she thought she was a Christian; and she answered, “Because I believe all the words of the Lord Jesus." Could any person have given a better answer?

A sick girl of ten years of age was asked, “Is the matter settled between you and God?"

"Oh! yes," was the calm reply.

"How did you get it settled?"

“Why, the Lord Jesus Christ settled it for me.”

“And when did he do that for you?"

“When he died on the cross for my sins?"

“How long is it since you knew this blessed and consoling fact?"

“About twelve months ago."

“How did you know that the work which Christ accomplished on the cross for sinners was done for you?"

She at once replied, “I read it in the Bible, and believed that it was just so.”

Who could ask for a better experience than this?

An eminent Scotch minister (Dr. W. L. Alexander) had doubted the genuineness of the great work going on near him among children, until he was once in a prayer-room where many little ones were praying; and he says of that scene: “I stood listening and the tears rushed down my cheeks as I listened. I could not help it, because I felt that I was reproved that I had doubted the work of God in that particular, and now he had brought me face to face with the work itself"

Would anyone want a better Christian experience than this from a little child in Boston: “I listened to the sermon and felt more sorry and more sorry for my sins; and a kind lady took me by the hand, and showed me the way to the blessed Saviour, and then, when I got home, I went straight to my bed-side, and prayed to God to give me a new heart and take Satan out of my heart, and to make me his child. And then I went and asked my mother's and father's forgiveness; and then I felt better. And then I prayed to God again, and then went to sleep. The next day I felt so happy that I felt like singing all the time. And now I feel as if I had given my heart to Christ."

If it be asked how early should we expect the conversion of our children? We answer, just as early as we begin to labor and pray in earnest for it.

And should parents and Sunday school teachers do their full duty to children in this regard, adult conversion would become the rare exception, and early conversion the rule. There is a vast amount of skepticism on this subject among the churches, which must be removed before this world is given to Christ. As McCheyne has said, “Jesus has reason to complain of us that he can do no mighty works in our Sunday schools because of our unbelief."

Approaching now the other part of our topic, child-profession, we are aware that it is controverted ground. A hesitancy to receive quite young children to a public profession of religion is very general in all the churches.

In his "Letters to a Son in the Ministry," Dr. Heman Humphrey gives endorsement to this conservative view, as follows:

“You do not tell me whether the revival in L —  embraces children or not. This is not unfrequently the case, and I have no doubt that many are renewed at a very tender age. But if there is any considerable number of the children of your congregation excited to make the great inquiry, “what shall we do," I am sure, that while you rejoice to see them flocking around for advice, it will occasion you a great deal of solicitude. You will find it extremely difficult to determine how much of the interest which they manifest arises from mere sympathy, and how much from the striving of the Spirit — how much they talk and exhort and pray from imitation, and how much from the impulse of religious feeling. You will often be astonished at the apparent maturity of their views and genuineness of their experience, and will probably look upon many more of them as truly converted than really are so. A few months will convince you that much of what appeared so promising was "the morning cloud and the early dew." "Some however, will, it is to be hoped, give increasing evidence of a real change of heart, and the question of receiving them into the church will come up at no distant day. They may wish very much to be admitted, and their friends perhaps will urge it; but I hope you will take time and look at the question in all its bearings, before you give your consent. A great many young people in some parts of the land are now in the churches, who are quite sure they never had any religion, and who exceedingly regret that they were encouraged, or allowed to make a profession at so early an age. It appears to me the cases are very rare, in which children should be received under fourteen; and that it is not safe to admit many, till they are still older. The true way, I cannot help thinking is, to form them into a class of catechumens, under such a course of religious instruction, as is best calculated to imbue their minds with the essential doctrines of the gospel; to make them acquainted with the nature and evidences of true piety, and to prepare them for admission to the Lord's table, after a suitable probation. Precisely how long they should be kept in the class of catechumens, I am not prepared to say.  Doubtless some may be admitted into the church earlier than others; but I think there is more danger of moving too fast, than too slow."

We fail to see, however, why there is not here a false distinction between what is, after all, but a question of evidence. Why be so cautious as to the testimony of a child? Is it merely because the subject is a child? That were folly indeed. Since, then, it is a question of validity of evidence, why not frankly weigh the testimony and act accordingly? Why give credence to the experience of the adult and reject or refuse to accept, the experience of the child?

Certainly there is no foundation for this hesitancy in the Scriptures; and we cannot see why it is not unfairness to the child, and every way unwise. If a babe ever needs the mother's breast, it is just after it is born: and the same must be true of spiritual babes. And if one class more than another needs the church's embrace, it is those young in years. How unphilosophical (as well as unfair) to keep the child outside the church till piety be proved^ when this is not exacted of adults?

We are told that the church of which Dr. Cox was pastor for a long time, in Brooklyn, once had a rule prohibiting children under fourteen years of age from becoming members of the church. At that time a very intelligent girl asked for admittance. The session did not wish to tell her that they could not receive her. They made excuses and put her off from time to time, until at last the pastor was obliged to tell her that she could not be received. She was familiarly acquainted with Dr. Cox, and for a moment she laid her head upon his shoulder and wept. Then lifting her eyes pathetically to his, she said, “Dr. Cox, Jesus Christ would not treat me so; he says, 'suffer little children to come unto me.’"  Upon which the pastor exclaimed, “Away with all church rules that conflict with Christ's word."

It is related that a certain deacon in Maine would not let his converted boy join the church because he was "too young.” "Wait,” said he, “till you show that you are pious.” The minister, who did not share in his views, found the deacon one cold spring day toward night, getting the sheep and lambs into the barn. "Why do you do this?” he asked. “Because I fear these lambs will freeze to death if I leave them out overnight," replied the deacon. "But," said the minister, "would it not be as well to leave them out till they show that they are going to live, and then get them in?" The deacon took the hint; and said, "I shan't prevent my boy's joining the church any longer!" It were well for all objectors to ponder and apply the narrative.

We talk to our children in the family and Sunday-school about Jesus' loving little children, and being ready to receive them. We urge them to begin now to love him, repeating "I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me." We tell them they may die early, and that that is a reason why they should repent now. And we pray for their immediate conversion, and teach them to sing of the loveliness of infant piety. But when they tell us they love Jesus, and would like to profess their love for him, we hesitate, and advise caution and delay. Even where parents are compelled to acknowledge a great change in the child, and see better evidence of piety (as they admit) in the child than in themselves, they oppose the idea of joining the church.

Alas, for such inconsistency. Do we not thus show that our prayers for their speedy conversion were faithless?  Do we not depreciate and undo our own teaching? And do we not cast discredit upon the work of the Holy Spirit, and discourage all efforts on the part of the child to follow the divine requirements?

It is astonishing that the teaching and the practice of Christians here are so at variance. Why not cease this perpetual talk about child-piety, or else accept its consequences? If we believe what we preach, namely, that the children ought to love Christ, and should now, at once, give their little hearts to him, (the staple of Sunday school addresses) then why not acknowledge child-piety where it is apparent? Why try to lead the children to Christ, and then shut the door of Christ's church against them? Why in our homes and sanctuaries entreat them with tears and loving words to be Christians now, and then doubtfully shake the head when the question comes of their admission to the communion?

Many a parent perusing these lines may remember how a dear child spoke of having found Jesus. You heard the simple tale with tearful interest, and said, “I am glad of it, darling." You gave thanks for it in the closet; and felt unspeakable joy at seeing the new sweetness of temper in the child, the increased dutifulness, and lovingness, and prayerfulness.

Then the child said, “May I join the church?" You said, “Wait a little, my dear." The child submitted (though with disappointment) to your superior judgment.

Months passed. Again the child said, “What do you think about my joining the church now? I would like to do it if you approve of it." You said, “You know you are very young; hadn't you better wait a little longer?" So it passed on.

At length, years after, (if God did not take the precious one to himself,) the minister, upon exhorting this youth to become pious, finds traces of existing godliness. “How long have you felt so?" “Why, for years.” The pastor calls to see you as to the child's profession. You consent, and the child is taken into the church. But oh, what a loss has already been experienced! Darkness and doubt gathered upon the young mind, from the fact that you seemed to question the reality of the change. Perplexity arose on a thousand points. Coldness ensued, and wanderings in evil ways; until at last in another work of grace, that poor thing again through fearful struggles came into the light; — to regret till a dying day that there had not been experienced during those years the warm sympathies of the church, instead of the chilling influences of the world.

This is by no means an overdrawn or unusual case. There are thousands of Christians who might have sat for the picture. And in this light how much is the practice under remark to be deprecated.

A minister of much observation says: “I have not a doubt that thousands of child-converts have gone through life and never joined any church, but lingered along, full of doubts and fears and darkness, and in this way have spent their days, and gone to the grave without the comforts or the usefulness which they might have enjoyed, simply because the church, in her folly, suffered them to wait outside of her pale, to see whether they would grow and thrive without those ordinances which Jesus Christ established particularly for their benefit. Why thus turn them out alone upon the cold mountains, among the wild beasts, to starve or perish, to see whether they are alive or not? This whole system is as unphilosophical as it is unscriptural. It is almost as absurd as it would be to throw out a young child into the street, to see whether it will live; — to say, “If it lives and promises to be a healthy child, we will take care of it; "when that is the very time it wants nursing. Should the church throw her new-born children out to the winds, and say, if they live there, let them be raised; but if they die, they ought to die. We earnestly pray that the time may speedily come when such folly shall cease."

Abundant testimony could here be introduced as to the worthy lives of professors received into fellowship in childhood. An able minister once affirmed in public, that in his ministry he had admitted three or four hundred persons to the church. Of these, one hundred were children; and he believed that fewer mistakes had been made in admitting them than in the case of the adults.

Another experienced pastor says, “I may safely say that the most satisfactory cases have been those of children and quite young persons." "For myself," says another pastor, “I have reason to thank God for permitting me the joy of seeing scores of children coming to Christ. No more satisfactory cases of conversion have ever come under my observation than among children."

And another says, “I here record the gratifying fact, that under my pastorate I do not recall an instance where the church has been compelled to exclude a member received in early childhood; while among the most active and useful persons in my charge are many who came in as children." Mr. Spurgeon, also, lately used almost these very words. These are but samples of many that might be given.

The writer recently addressed a communication to several distinguished ministers of different denominations, requesting their views upon three points:

1. The fact of child-piety as a thing to be expected and labored for.

2. The wisdom of early profession; especially the results under their own observation.

3. Is the prevailing hesitancy as to receiving young but apparently pious children to a public profession, to be approved and encouraged, or otherwise?

The following responses will be read with interest:

From Rev. Dr. Goodwin, Chicago, Ill,

MY DEAR BROTHER:

I am only too glad to note, in a most hasty way, such replies to the inquiries you raise as my experience and observation suggest.

1. I have no doubt whatsoever as to the possibility of early piety, and none as to the duty, and that a most imperative one of laboring to secure such piety in the very earliest years.

And I believe further, that one of the grand mistakes made in many of our churches, and almost generally throughout the range of our Protestant faith, is that we forget that, “of such is the kingdom of heaven.” We perpetually lay out all our strength, marshal all our arguments, and multiply all our agencies to reach adults, and bring them to a knowledge of the truth; while the real development and exquisite power of the gospel does not lie that way, but lies rather in the " nurture and admonition of the Lord."

2. I believe fully in the wisdom of early professions'. — such being always made upon evidence satisfactory to parents (who believe of course, in the piety of children — as alas! how many do not). I would not encourage such professions, in any case, without someone — either a parent, or warm, earnest disciple in the household, or faithful teacher — to watch over the child, and lead it lovingly in the way. My experience is — and I have received a large number — that such young persons give as clear and satisfactory proof of the leadings of the Spirit, and just as truly and consistently honor their professions, as do older disciples. Indeed, as concerns pliability, readiness to receive and to put in practice Christian instruction, sincerity of motive, simplicity and conscientiousness of conduct — I have always found the youth, the children, far in advance of older people.

I think they ought not to be received, (as is so often done,) and then all instruction or attempts to shape their character be dropped. There is clear need that catechetical classes, children's meetings or circles, or some method, by either the pastor or a competent Sabbath school superintendent — or better still, a wise and loving woman — shall help them to know Christ, and to put him 07i in daily life, and grow up into him in all things.

3. As I have intimated, I strongly disapprove the existing hesitancy on the part of many as to receiving children into the church. If the church is Christ's school, then why leave the children to pick up Christ's teaching by such chance-instruction as they may happen upon? If the church is God's family, and the children have any relation to it, why keep them out when they need most nursing? Must they prove that they can go alone without help before we are ready to give them the atmosphere and encouragement of the household? I am glad you have taken so good a work in hand; it is greatly needed.

Very truly yours,

E. P. Goodwin.

From Dr, Stephen H, Tyng, New York,

REV. AND DEAR BROTHER:

My intense occupations have prevented a due notice of your communication and request. I have not time to go into any discussion or exposition of views upon the general subject of your note, in theory. It has been my constant practice to make no objection to age in a Christian profession, if I am satisfied on the two points of actual personal conversion and intelligence. When the Spirit of God anoints a soul to Christ, and gives his witness of personal ability to love and serve the Saviour, in reality and truth, who am I that my unbelieving fears should be interposed as an obstacle to his work and will? I have received a profession at eight years of age; I think no instance has occurred to me younger,

Yours fraternally,

Stephen H. Tyng.

From Rev. Dr. Webb, Boston, Mass.

MY DEAR BROTHER:

You wish in reply to your questions, I suppose, not the most, but the least I can say. My belief is that piety in the children of Christian parents is to be expected.

My experience does not disappoint my theory. And children giving evidence of piety must be taken into the church.

But as to the evidence, I wait for it to' be developed somewhat. The Christian family is a sort of room in the church, and the child is not going to lose his regeneration there. I make the time between the beginning of evidence, and the entrance into the church, longer in case of children than of adults. I have weekly meetings, and all hopeful converts are formed into a kind of class; and I instruct them in our articles of faith — in experimental religion, etc. And from this class I select, from time to time, such as seem to me qualified to take upon them church responsibilities.

With all our machinery, the great want is, on the part of those who come into our churches, old and young, a better, deeper understanding of the truths and doctrines of religion, and a deeper, surer heart-acquaintance, or experience.

In case of an adult, having been subjected to the influences and temptations of the world, he knows himself better; and uniting with the church is a change of relations, and an assumption of responsibilities, that he will ponder and feel.

A child in a Christian family, however, comes along without any such break or turn, and therefore is not likely to ponder the matter so sharply.

But children well instructed by the minister, encouraged to open all their mind to him, tell their temptations and purposes, and ask questions, — children thus developed and matured under my eye, — I receive joyfully.

I hope this forthcoming book will be as good and timely as “'Primitive Piety Revived."

Yours cordially,

E. B. Webb.

From Rev. Dr. Richard Fuller, Baltmtore, Md,

DEAR BROTHER:

I comply with your request the more readily, because I once thought I was doing God's service in opposing the reception of young children into the church, and was most thoroughly and touchingly corrected by my own first-born. At the age of ten she told me of her conversion, and desired baptism. "My darling child," I replied, “you are young and your carefree relatives and companions may lead you into the world." "My father," she said, “am I too young to love you and my mother and ought I not to love Jesus before all and above all? " — Since then I have rejoiced to welcome children to him who says, “Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not," — thus rebuking in his apostles the very prejudice we now encounter. I may add, that the death-bed of this precious daughter, at the age of twenty-three, was so triumphant a termination to a life of purity and love, that Dr. Wayland wrote to ask me if angels really appeared in her room. Never have I known or read of such bodily suffering, but of such exultation in Jesus. — Forgive a father's feelings.

As to the questions you propose, I answer thus, after much experience and prayer:

First. We believe in a change of heart by which "a child of wrath" becomes " a child of God." Let us hold fast to this, especially at this day. If there be conversion, the earlier the better. Paul speaks with a holy envy of those who “were in Christ before" him. To say nothing of the larger term for service, how many painful conflicts are we spared by conversion in our first years!

Second. For worlds we would do nothing which Jesus has not commanded; but for worlds we would not omit anything which he has commanded. And a convert ought to be a^ once baptized: — it is the voluntary obedience of an intelligent believer.

But as to the reality of the change, the church must decide each case as it does in the examination of grown persons; with this difference, that the testimony of the parents ought to go very far in deciding the question, and the opinion of the Sabbath school teacher ought to be almost conclusive.

Sunday schools have changed almost wholly the economy of churches belonging to a former age; but teachers have yet to feel that their one great business is the conversion of their scholars. When we consider this advantage in dealing with docile minds, and tender consciences, and susceptible hearts, it is a lamentation, and should be for a lamentation, that more children are not savingly united to Jesus. Affectionately in the Redeemer,

R. Fuller.

From Rev. Dr. Burchard., New York.

MY DEAR BROTHER:

The early conversion of children is a subject of deep and growing interest. Doubt and indifference have lamentably characterized the past. Christians, from the early disciples downward, seem to have discouraged any attempt to bring young children to Christ. Even the most earnest of them have not labored in faith for their conversion. While they have sowed the seed on the mellowest and best soil, they have felt that they must wait through many long years, before there could be any real germination, any positive fruit.

With this prevailing view, the conversion of children has been infrequent, and if occasionally real, regarded rather as a marvel than the natural effect of God's fidelity and gracious promise to his believing people; and if such converted children were finally received to the communion of the church, it was usually after the test and tutelage of years.

This, however, amid the culminating light of modern revivals, and a better interpretation of Scripture, has come to be regarded as a most dangerous heresy. The efforts and prayers of Christians are now turned to the young, as the most hopeful field, as furnishing the best soil for the seed which is to produce an hundred fold.

Some of the most active and spiritual members of our churches were regenerated in childhood.

One of the most useful and prominent pastors in the city of New York, was received into full fellowship of the church at the early age of eight years, and was hopefully converted at a much earlier period. The intimation of Paul is that Timothy became the subject of grace, and a student of Scripture, when quite a youth.

During a ministry of more than thirty years, I have received a goodly number to the church between the ages of nine and twelve, and they "have run well," giving good evidence that the work was thorough, and that they were born of the Spirit.

Why should not such cases of conversion be more frequent, and more generally expected? Why should the sunniest portion of life be given to the service of Satan? Why should sin be suffered to propagate itself? Why should the seeds of the apostasy be permitted even to germinate, much less to produce a full harvest of vice and crime? Why should not the proclivities to evil in childhood be counteracted by those moral forces implied and involved in the gospel plan of mercy? In the atoning blood of Jesus there is the needed element for changing the original character of the soil, and making it good ground for the reception of the spiritual seed-grain. We have in the “exceedingly rich and precious promises," and in the influences of the divine Spirit, the glorious sunshine and showers, so essential to healthy germination, efflorescence and fruitage.

If, then, children may be converted, why should they not be received to the care and fellowship of the church? The church is God's seminary of instruction and preparation for the higher honors of heaven; and should she not take under her tutelage the younger disciples, the very “babes in Christ,” who more than any other, need the “sincere milk of the word," as well as the tender care of our common mother, the church? They are members with us of the household of faith, and they should not be exiled from the family board or disinherited of their birthright. They are lambs of Christ's flock, and his charge to Peter is still imperative, “Feed my lambs." They, more than all others, need protection from the storms of this world, the pitfalls and perils of the wilderness, the fury of wild beasts; and to this end, they must be gathered into the fold, under the care of the good Shepherd. The idea of keeping them out of the church in their weakness and helplessness, when they most need shelter and protection, is simply absurd.

In my early Christian life, I witnessed a scene which opened a full fountain of sympathy for the young and tender lambs of the flock. Little Martha, the granddaughter of the officiating clergyman, appeared before the proper officers of the church to be examined for admission to its communion. She was examined thoroughly, and the examination showed satisfactorily that she had met with a change; and yet the officers, said, “Martha, you are very young, and had better wait till you are older before you make a public profession of religion." She did wait patiently for three months, and then appeared again, telling the same sweet story of Jesus and his love; and yet she was advised to wait. Again she appeared, hopeful now, but was again disappointed. And when a whole year had passed, and she was again advised to wait, her breaking heart sobbed out, “Oh! grandpapa, how old must I be before I may love Jesus, and sit with him at his table?" The old prejudice gave way. She was received, and became an ornament and a blessing to the church.

Whom Christ has received, however young, the church may not reject; and those who are fitted for his church above are surely fitted for its fellowship here.

Yours in the gospel,

S. D. BURCHARD.

In view of the foregoing, let all join the more heartily in the prayer of Dr. Bonar, of Scotland: “Lord, sharpen our sickles when we go to reap thy harvest among the young. For we have heard thee say, “Have ye not read. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? “

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!"

Chapter 8: INDICATIONS OF A REVIVAL.

BEFORE a copious rain we may expect the "little cloud like a man's hand.”

A determination to have, by God's help, a better state of things, must be set down as a first indication of a revival. We must desire a thing before having it. It is when we stir up ourselves to call on God, and to put forth effort, because we are tired of the present and intent on improvement, that the blessing may be expected, — not before. Said an eminent divine, “I never had a revival under my ministry without laboring for it, and expecting it."

Distress of soul over prevailing desolations must accompany this desire for improvement. "As soon as Zion travailed she brought forth children," said the Prophet Isaiah. Soul-savers are not ignorant of birth-pangs. This is imaged to us in our Master's character. He is the great Saviour of men; but before he could save others he learned in their flesh to sympathize with them. He wept over Jerusalem. He sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane. He was, and is, a high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. As the Captain of our salvation, in bringing many sons unto glory, he was made perfect by sufferings. Even he went not forth to rescue the perishing until he had spent nights in intercessory prayer, and uttered strong crying and tears for their salvation.

We have heard Mr. Earle urge God's people to go down into Gethsemane with Christ; and insist, most tenderly, that they must feel something of these agonies before souls would be brought in; and our own pastoral experience is in the same direction. We well remember the mountain weight more than once pressing down on the soul, so that the feet seemed to stagger on the pavements, and sleep departed from the eyes at night time.

The power in the hand of God for conversions is heart coming into contact with heart. This is God's battle-axe and weapon of war, in his crusade. He is pleased to use the yearnings, longings, and sympathies of Christian men, as the means of compelling the careless to think, constraining the hardened to feel, and driving the unbelieving to consider. "I have little confidence in elaborate speech and polished sentences," says Spurgeon, “as the means of reaching men's hearts; but I have great faith in that simple-minded Christian woman, who must have souls converted or she will weep her eyes out over them; and in that humble Christian who prays day and night in secret, and then avails himself of every opportunity to address a loving word to sinners. The emotion we feel, and the affection we bear, are the most powerful implements of soul-winning.  God the Holy Ghost usually breaks hard hearts by tender hearts."

There is a deep philosophy in this soul-yearning before conversions. One reason for it, doubtless, is that the travail qualifies for the proper taking care of the offspring. God does not commit his new-born children to people who do not care to see conversions. If he ever allows them to fall into such hands, they suffer very serious loss thereby. Who is so fit to encourage a new-born believer as the man who first anguished before the Lord for that conversion? Those whom you have wept over, and prayed for, you will be sure to love and assist. The church that never travailed, should God send her converts, would be unfit to train them. She would not know what to do with them. Another reason is, that God's glory is thereby promoted. In our extremity we are ready to ascribe all to the sovereign Spirit; and not till then can God help us; for he will not give his glory to another.

Again: the providence of God sometimes indicates that a revival is at hand. There is a conspiring of events to open the way, a preparation of circumstances to favor a revival, so that those who are looking out can see that one is at hand almost as plainly as if it had been revealed from heaven. Cases have occurred in this country, says one of experience, where the providential manifestations were so plain that those who were careful observers felt no hesitation in saying that God was coming to pour out his Spirit.

The praying meeting will improve when a revival commences. The “two or three" are pressed in spirit, and speak often to one another about it. A passion to see the church revived rules them. By degrees, individuals are drawn together by sacred affinity, and the prayer-meetings become very different. The brother who talked twenty minutes in what he called prayer, gives up his oration, and falls to pleading with tears and broken sentences; while the friend who used to relate his experience, and go through the doctrines of grace, and call that a prayer, forgets that, and begins agonizing before the throne. And not only this, but little knots here and there come together in their cottages, and in their quiet rooms cry mightily to God. The result will be that the minister, even if he does not know of this feeling in the hearts of his people, will grow fervent himself. He will preach more tenderly and earnestly.

A thirst for the preached word and a deep interest in it, is a revival indication. In a declension there is nothing resembling an appetite, a thirst for the word; there is no deep, soul-penetrating, soul-subduing interest felt in hearing it. The whole of this is reversed in a revived, living church. The souls of the people open at once to the word of God, and melt and bend beneath the most simple truths presented in the simplest scripture dress. In an account from the island of Arran, dated 1812, we read: “For some months after the commencement of the awakening, the subjects of it manifested an uncommon thirst after the means of grace. Both old and young flocked in multitudes to hear the word of God. The house, and the place employed for private meetings, were frequently so crowded that the people, as it were, trod one upon another. To travel ten or fifteen miles to hear a sermon was considered as a very small matter." So, too, when the returning captives lingered about the ruins of Jerusalem and the temple, and the very stones of the fallen walls and buildings appeared to them dear as jewels, and even the dust in the deserted streets seemed to them precious, the period of prophecy was almost determined; the time to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple was well nigh come. Thus, while a decline of interest in even the external order of religion supposes commensurate spiritual declension, a quickened interest in that order argues spiritual revival.

Sorrow and shame for backsliding are a symptom of improvement. The Scriptures are clear and explicit on this point. "I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication." And what shall be the fruit, — what the result of this outpouring of the Holy Ghost? Is it joy simply? Is it change of conduct and life simply? Nay, joy were but delusion in this case apart from sorrow. Change of conduct were but hypocrisy without grief and shame for conduct past. "I will pour upon them the Spirit of grace — and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him,” — not believe on him simply, but mourn for him, — mourn for him, for dishonors done to him, — for ignominy cast upon him, — for their wicked unbelief, impenitence, and estrangement from God in time past.

With this there will be mutual confessions, and restitutions. The command to "confess your faults one to another” is not neglected; but where hardness and estrangement have existed, it is acknowledged, and the alienated ones beg pardon of each other, and the breaches are healed.

Especially will there be a readiness to make amends for injury or injustice. It is a rule in the isles of the Hebrides, that when a man meets a stray sheep on the moor, he is entitled to carry it home as his own, and obliged to make an equivalent offering in the collection for the poor on the Sabbath day. After the commencement of the revival in the Lewis, says a writer, “many came to confess to their minister the trouble of conscience they experienced by reason of having what they called a black sheep in their flocks — some having had them for several winters. The minister always directed them to make restitution now in the appointed way; and in one season, the sum of £16 was deposited in the plate. The number of sheep annually lost has wonderfully diminished since the commencement of the revival, leading to the conclusion that the loss imputed to accident arose from dishonesty.”

Together with this will there be hearty renunciation of sin, and a new dedication to God. If the Lord is near, the “idols" are put away, and the appeal has not been without response, “Who will consecrate himself this day unto the Lord?"

Importunate prayer for a revival, and readiness to work in it, is evidence of its commencement. Sometimes Christians are not engaged in prayer for a revival, not even when they are engaged generally in prayer. Their minds are upon something else; they are praying for something else — the salvation of the heathen and the like — and not for a revival among themselves. But when they feel the want of a revival they pray as if their hearts were set upon it, and as if they could not be denied. And they are willing to sacrifice for the success of the work.

Hence, an immediate and earnest coming up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, is evidence of the special presence of the Spirit. Mr. Nettleton wrote in 1822, of his preaching in Somers, Conn., and seeing no such indications. He tells of the “turning point” thus: I said, “When will you take up the great subject of a revival in earnest? I alluded to what I had often been informed had been the state of things in this place for several years past. They had often imagined themselves on the very eve of a revival; appearances seemed to justify this expectation; but they have uniformly subsided, and no general revival had been witnessed; and at this moment I hear the sound of something, (I observed.) Is it the abundance of rain? I cannot tell; this awful suspense will not continue long." That afternoon the great question about a revival was graciously settled, for the people put away indifference and procrastination.

Another revival indication is zeal for the conversion of others. When the Christians of the Pentecostal church were scattered abroad in the persecution upon the death of Stephen, we are told that " they went everywhere preaching the word." Most of them, doubtless, were private Christians; yet wherever they went it seems they carried the news of Christ along with them. “The love of Christ constrained them." “They could not but speak the things which they had seen and heard." They could not but say to men — "Come with us and we will do you good: “" We have found the Messiah:” " Come see a man that told me all that ever I did; is not this the Christ?" And so it will be with Christians now if the revival spirit has kindled upon them.

Finally: Conviction of sinners in considerable numbers indicates the beginning of a revival. Sometimes the change in this respect is very gradual; and for a considerable time nothing more can be said than that there is a more listening ear, and a more serious aspect than usual under the preaching of the word; and this increased attention is gradually matured into deep solemnity and pungent conviction. In other cases, the reigning lethargy is suddenly broken up, as if there had come a thunderbolt from eternity; and multitudes are heard simultaneously inquiring what they shall do to be saved.

Some of the foregoing views are confirmed in a sentence from Dr. Humphrey's Letters to his Son; which is here reproduced. “Favorable indications may pass away as the morning cloud and the early dew. I have myself experienced several such alternations of hope and discouragement before the revival actually came. There are, however, signs and evidences on which you may rely. If there are great searchings of heart in the church; if old hopes are shaken; if differences of long standing are healed by mutual confessions; if Christians are remarkably humble and prayerful; if they speak often one to another, and if their bowels yearn over the impenitent, then is a revival begun. There can be no doubt of it. And when in connection with such a state of things in the church, sinners in considerable numbers are awakened, when you find here and there cases of genuine conviction, and some individuals giving striking evidence that they have been born again, you need not doubt that a real work of grace has commenced in the congregation as well as in the church. But even then you should guard against expressing yourself too sanguinely, when you speak on the subject, and should exhort the church to “rejoice with trembling.”  It is not certain that because God has begun to revive his work he will carry it on; that because a few have been converted many more will be. The Holy Spirit may be grieved and may depart ere you have sung out your first song.”

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK.”

Chapter 9: REVIVALS HINDERED AND ARRESTED.

IF there be one momentous question, it is this;

Why are not revivals more general, more permanent, more extensive?

And the answer must be, that there are hindrances to their commencement, and that they are often arrested after they have begun. We take the two points separately.

There are hindrances preventing the existence of revivals.

The great hindering cause is that the churches are not living in keeping with their chief design. They do not make the conversion of the ungodly their one grand aim. The very intention of the church of the Lord Jesus, as a converting agency, seems lost sight of.

The followers of Christ are chiefly engaged about other business than that which ought to absorb their attention. That business, unquestionably, is the salvation of men, the conversion of the world. This was the mission which brought Christ himself into the world, and which, when he was about to leave the world, he committed to the hands of his disciples of all generations, as the high purpose of their existence. His first disciples, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, entered on this work, and spent their lives and their all in performing it. They planted churches in almost every part of the civilized world. But nearly eighteen centuries have elapsed since they fell asleep, and there has "scarcely been, until of late, any enlargement of Christianity beyond the bounds to which they carried it; while within these bounds it has been, for the most part, in a state of deplorable infirmity or monstrous perversion.

The reason was, that succeeding generations of Christians ceased from the work to which the first disciples devoted their lives. Christians have recently had a partial awakening from this mighty infatuation; but partial it truly is. Anyone who will lift up his eyes and look, in the spirit of Christ, over the length and breadth of the most evangelical countries, will see the vast multitude of professed Christians engaged about almost everything rather than fulfilling the unrevoked command of their Lord, to teach all nations, and preach the gospel to every creature.

This, with the love of ease, money, pleasure, honor, among professors of religion, rather than an ardent and laborious desire for the conversion of perishing sinners, and a lack of holiness, humility, and dependence upon God on the part of preachers, most certainly is the greatest hindrance to revivals; — the mighty mountain which stands in the way of the church's enlargement.

Distrust of revivals is another hindering cause.  Sometimes this takes the shape of positive opposition; and the solemn words of Dr. Porter deserve to be rung out in awful tones in the ears of opposers. Speaking of the revivals in the early part of this century, he says; “In a few instances the Holy Spirit was hindered among a people by decided opposition on the part of the pastor, or leading members of a church. As there is a sin which shall never have forgiveness, when committed by obdurate contemners of God and his grace, — a sin that is unpardonable, not because it transcends the mercy of God or the merits of Christ, but because the sinner will be left to himself, and therefore will never repent, — so a church whose minister or members revile the special work of the Holy Spirit, ascribing it to fanaticism, or Satanic agency, are sometimes left to wither under a judicial dereliction, like the mountains of Gilboa on which there was neither rain nor dew. Some awful examples of this sort are upon record in the history of New England.”

But there may be feelings of distrust when there is no open opposition. And where these feelings prevail, it cannot be a matter of surprise that no extended and powerful revivals should exist. For there the means ordinarily essential to their existence will not be used, but on the contrary will be carefully avoided. If at any time symptoms should be discovered of the public mind becoming more than usually interested on the subject of religion, efforts would then be made to guard against the incipient and dreaded evil. Who can reasonably wonder that under such circumstances there should be no revivals? Would it not rather be strange if the fact were otherwise? Is there evidence that God ever revives his work where it is not wished for?  “If I knew," says one, “that anywhere revivals were not desired, but rather dreaded, I should want no other explanation of the fact that they are not enjoyed; this is reason enough.”

We greatly fear that a distrust of revivals in the minds of some, even of pastors, and a doubt, on the whole, of their desirableness, has grieved the gracious Spirit, and hindered his visits to cheer and bless the churches of the land. Undoubtedly it is one of the most serious impediments to revivals. The obstructions with which they meet from open opposers are trifling compared with the cold indifference of those who ought to be their friends and helpers. The plants of a greenhouse can endure the storms without, but when masses of ice are in the enclosure, how can they grow?

Hence it is a solemn duty of each objector that he examine his own heart, and the grounds of his indifference or opposition to revivals. If they are the genuine work of God; if they accord with the statements of the Bible; if they are such results as he has a right to expect under the preaching of the gospel, he is bound, by all the love which he bears to his Saviour, and to the souls of men, to desire and pray for their increase and extension.

It is much, it is everything, when Christians intelligently, and on settled grounds, believe in the existence and value of revivals of religion; and we cannot hope for these descending influences until they shall think on this subject as the Saviour thought, and feel as he felt.

Mr. Barnes once put to his congregation some questions which any pastor might press home upon all his hearers. They were like these: Are there none of you who start back at the word revival, and who feel an instinctive dislike to the name? Are there none in whose minds the word suggests the idea of mere excitement; of scenes of enthusiasm and disorder; of irregularity and wildfire? Are there none who, when they pray, and with very honest intentions in the main, for a revival, do it with many qualifications and mental reservations, and with an apprehension or fear that the prayer may be answered; — who pray from the custom of using such language, rather than from any intelligent and sincere wish that such scenes may be witnessed? When prayers are offered for revivals, are there, practically no prayers against them? While the fervent petitions of a portion of an assembled church ascend to heaven for the descent of the Holy Spirit like floods and showers, are there no counter petitions that cross and recross the prayers of those who love revivals, as they ascend up to God?

On this theme of such incalculable importance to the churches, we subjoin a passage from a discourse by Dr. Skinner, which is worthy of prayerful consideration. "No man should allow himself in any distrust or misgiving of religious revivals, such as have rendered our land almost peculiar in the eyes of the old world. If some of the evils of the day are to be referred to them as the occasion, what good or desirable thing is there among us which is not indebted to them, under God, as the chief support and encouragement, if not the origin? If we stand in doubt whether these remarkable effusions of the Spirit be desirable or not, should we not, in order to be consistent with ourselves, begin to question the ultimate success of Christianity? What manner of persons must they be, in heaviness and sorrow, or else in hardness of heart, who can allow themselves in distrustful thoughts concerning the desirableness of religious revivals? Evils, it is true, are incidental to revivals; but all is ultimately lost without them. And when one begins to object to good and necessary things because of the evils of which they may be the occasion, where will he find a stopping-place until he has objected to the incarnation of Christ, the preaching of the gospel, the government of God, his own existence, and even the creation of the world?"

To proceed: a pastor may prevent the beginning of a revival. History is instructive on this point. A writer upon the progress of the churches in New England some half century ago, states that there were congregations amid the surrounding showers of divine influence which were entirely passed by; and that “the pastor was the greatest obstacle to a revival among his people. And this was true, though he was not chargeable with any heresy, or immorality, or hostility to revivals." He specifies that brother A. was of a sluggish temperament. Brother B. was of a literary taste, an idolater of books, especially of popular literature, by which his spirituality was impaired. Brother C. was fond of social and fashionable entertainments, and in the habit of jesting and story-telling, which destroyed the savor of godliness and unfitted him for revival work. Brother D. hurt his usefulness by the multiplicity of worldly things that filled his hands, and he had not time or heart to help forward special services. Brother E. was so ambitious of a classical style that he sacrificed pungency and power to rhetorical embellishment. And brother F. was one of the "moral preachers," who condemned vices and extolled the virtues, but did not preach sin and redemption. “These ministers saw no revivals, and themselves were the principal cause of it."

Further. Want of action at the right time may occasion the loss of a revival. Especially if God is pouring out his Spirit around us, it is the time for us to work. If one sigh of a true Christian, says an old divine, wafts the bark to the desired haven, or stirreth Zion's ship, how much more a gale of sighs breathed by hundreds of believers! If one trumpet sounds so loudly in the ears of God, how much more a concert of all the silver trumpets in Zion sounding together I Where so many hands are lifted up, how many blessings may they not pull down from heaven!

Often have I observed, says an experienced winner of souls, a time when "the heavens were big with rain," and yet the thirsty land remained unwatered because we were slothful to do God's work in his time.

We read that the dying Elisha commanded King Joash to take a bunch of arrows, and smite the ground with them. — 2 Kings, 13: 18, 19. “And he smote thrice, and stayed." The dying prophet was deeply grieved in spirit, and said, “Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times; then thou hadst smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas, now, thou shalt smite Syria but thrice." He finally obtained only three victories over the enemies of Israel, when it would appear that God intended to have given him five or six signal victories, — quite to the overthrow of Syria. Upon which it has been remarked that his three strokes indicated his tendency to slackness or indolence, and also were an intimation that a few victories over the enemies of his God would satisfy a soul fond of ease and quiet, and these were all the Lord gave him. This but illustrates how a church may from irresolution and lack of promptness lose a splendid victory.

In a time of general awakening, Dr. Nettleton wrote in the following strain to one of his brethren in the ministry:

“It becomes every friend of Zion to prepare the way of the Lord through all the towns in this region. The fields are whitening all around us; and though God can create and gather the harvest without human instrumentality, yet we do not expect it. A revival begun is likely to subside without the constant pressure of gospel motives on the consciences of the awakened. It is obvious from experience, that God generally blesses far more extensively the means for extending his work, than he does for commencing it in the midst of surrounding darkness. As the conversion of one sinner is often the means of awakening every member of the family, and the impulse is again felt through every kindred branch, and through the village and town; so one town may be the means of revival in another, and that in another. Though some ministers feel the truth of this remark, yet few, if any, realize it in its full force. There is as really a season of harvest in the moral as in the natural world. Now every hand that can hold a sickle needs all its strength. The harvest fully ripe, neglected a few days is forever lost. Other fields may whiten, and the same field a second time, but the former neglected harvest is lost forever. There is a crisis in the feelings of a people, which, if not improved, the souls of that generation will not be gathered. In the season of a revival more may be done — more is often done to secure the salvation of souls, in a few days, or weeks, than in years spent in preaching at other times. One sermon, in a revival, often does more execution than a hundred equally good out of it. And I verily believe that more good may be lost for the want of that one, than can be done with it, and with a thousand like it, when the crisis is past."

Again: inactivity in the church may prevent a revival. Mr. Edwards, In the great revival under his eye, complained of those, “standing at a distance, and keeping silence;" and he declared that such exposed themselves to the curse of Meroz, for not “coming up to the help of the Lord against the mighty." Commenting upon this curse of old, Mr. Spurgeon forcibly says that some such curse will assuredly come upon every professing Christian who is backward in helping the church in the day of her soul's travail. "And we shall be hindering the travail of the church if we do not share in it. Many church-members think that if they do nothing wrong, and make no trouble, then they are all right. Not at all, sir; not at all. Here is a chariot, and we are all engaged to drag it. Some of you do not put out your hands to pull; well then, the rest of us have to labor so much the more; and the worst of it is, we have to draw you also. While you do not add to the strength which draws, you increase the weight that is to be drawn. It is all very well for you to say, “but I do not hinder;" you do hinder, you cannot help hindering. If a man's leg does not help him in walking, it certainly hinders him. Oh, I cannot bear to think of it. That I should be a hindrance to my own soul's growth is bad indeed; but that I should stand in the way of the people of God and cool their courage, and damp their ardor — my Master, let it never be! Sooner let me sleep among the clods of the valley than be a hindrance to the meanest work that is done for thy name."

Many an earnest minister, with a soul panting for conversions, has lamented this lack of cooperation on the part of his brethren, and been nearly killed by it. An inert, inefficient church, or one self-willed and sluggish church-member, will often defeat the best-directed efforts of the wisest and best minister.

But revivals may be arrested. Let us turn to this thought. There is a sense in which, after they have been in progress for a season, they may be expected to decline, and probably will decline, — perhaps must decline. They will decline in respect to the degree of vividness and force with which truth will blaze upon the mind, and get hold of the feelings of the heart. As man is now constituted, and amid the objects by which he is now surrounded, perhaps it is not possible that the mind should have, for any great length of time together, those vivid and impressive views of spiritual objects which for a season it may have, and which in a revival of religion it often does have. We are inclined to think that the laws of mind, as man is in the present world, forbid it. In this sense, then, it may be expected that revivals will, (perhaps in some degree must) decline. They may be expected to decline, also, in regard to the number of minds simultaneously affected by them. There will be a season during which the number of the anxious and the rejoicing will increase; and after a while that number will reach its highest point and begin to decline, and then the revival in this respect will be at stand, or begin to decline. And this, we think, is a result which no human power or skill in the use of means can prevent.

Conversions ought to be expected to continue. In fact, we have no right to be satisfied unless they are perpetually occurring. Moreover, the quickened graces of the children of God are to be kept alive, and more and more operative. So that, in a sense, the work goes on, though less as a specialty, and more in another channel or direction.

It is only in a narrow sense then that we can justify any decline in a revival. And yet the fact in question is not to be overlooked.

Dr. Lyman Beecher's remarks are judicious. He says of the special sense of rapid soul-saving, and of highly excited Christian feeling in that one direction, “It is never worthwhile to chase a revival after it is gone by. The laws of mind and of divine sovereignty are in unison, and after the greater stimulus has been applied and failed, it will do no good to apply the less. After one battle and victory, it remains to clear the decks and prepare for another. We often see an opposite policy followed. A pastor deplores that many in whom he is deeply interested are not converted; Christians mourn that the large results which seemed within reach are not attained; and they combine in the use of convulsive efforts to protract the interest and to awaken and convert the unsaved. The consequences are almost uniformly the same; the renewed efforts fail, and pastor and people, instead of rejoicing over the harvest gathered, are filled with despondency.'

When we speak of a revival being arrested, then, we refer to its being stopped in its inception; or where it ought to go on to the gathering of many more souls. This frequently occurs; and it is a result to be most anxiously guarded against. We specify some of the causes.

Discouragement at the outset is a frequent cause. This may come from not seeing the whole church alive; perhaps but a very small part of the church. But as a rule the whole body is never awake, — not even in the most extensive revivals. We are not to wait for this unanimous or general movement.

The writer once said to some brethren who were half-hearted from the inactivity of the body, “I never expect to see this whole church waked up till startled by the trump of the Archangel; let us do our duty, and not wait for others." And he here puts it upon record that in all the blessed revivals he has passed through he has never seen the whole of the church once thoroughly aroused. And this is a common experience with pastors.

Let not Christians spend their time, and divert their attention, by complaining to one another of those who stand back. It is not their business to censure them; neither to wait for them; but to go forward in the strength of the Lord. If but two of them become truly revived themselves, and agree together, and offer up the prayer of faith for a revival of religion, they may expect that the blessing will be granted.

Other causes may conspire to produce discouragement; such as the state of the weather; thinness of audiences; disability of working members, and the like. Hence it is peculiarly requisite in God's people to exercise great patience in waiting on God under special difficulties and disadvantages.

In fact, it often occurs that in this way or some other, the pastor, or the evangelist, is awfully tried and humbled at the beginning of a revival; thus being prepared for a rich blessing.

An experience of Dr. Edward Payson, which he gives in his journal under date of Feb. 21, 1815, is in place here. He says, of some revival efforts, “I expected severe trials, but had few fears of the event. The trials came, but they did not come in the way that I expected, and therefore I was surprised and overcome by them. The day of the fast was the most dreadful day of my life — the day in which I had most dreadful proofs of more than diabolical depravity of heart. The meeting-house was full, but things did not go on in the manner I had hoped and expected. I thought all was lost; and I now wonder that I lived through it — that a broken heart (as Mr. Newton says disappointed pride and madness are called), was not the consequence. For some days I saw and heard nothing encouraging, and my distress was unabated; but at the next inquiry meeting I found more than sixty inquirers.” From that time the work went on.

Unbelief is a chief cause of the cessation of revivals. No sin is more dishonoring to God. It is discrediting the word of the Almighty. We have the most awful warnings in his word against indulging it. We read of one place where Jesus did not many mighty works because of the unbelief of the people. If he did not work miracles on account of their unbelief, will he revive his work and convert souls while his people are filled with unbelief? It has been found by universal experience that just in proportion as this prevails, the sinews of moral effort are severed. Let doubt and unbelief take the place of faith, and the Spirit is gone, courage is gone; men beat the air, or sit down in indifference, and the work wanes.

Cessation of a felt dependence on God will arrest a revival. We have a most striking illustration of the importance of this reliance on God in the experience of Dr. Griffin; which we give in his own words:

“I preached my first sermon at New Hartford Oct. 26, 1794. In the fall of 1795 a revival commenced which in the course of the winter apparently brought about fifty to the knowledge of the truth. The neighboring towns were not then visited: but in October 1798 a great revival began at West Simsbury on the east, and soon extended to Torringford on the west, and we were left like a parched island in the midst of surrounding floods. The agonies of that hour can never be told. First one, and then two, and afterwards more, met me in my study for prayer, and the wrestlings were such as I had never witnessed in a meeting before. On the 4th of November I went to the house of God, saying as I went,

“My soul, wait thou only, only, ONLY upon God, for my expectation is from him.." During the morning service I scarcely looked at the audience, and cared not whether they were asleep or awake, feeling that the question of a revival did not lie between me and them, but was to be settled in heaven. In the afternoon, in alluding to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by and we were left, and could hardly hope for another visit soon, and to the awful prospects of sinners in the middle of life if another revival should not come in twelve or fifteen years, I seemed to take an eternal leave of heads of families out of Christ. I came near falling. I thought I should be obliged to stop, but was carried through. The next day it was apparent that a revival had commenced. A dozen heads of families of the most respectable class were under conviction; and in the course of the winter and the following year a hundred were hopefully added to the Lord. The last time I heard that 4th of November referred to at New Hartford, I was told that between forty and fifty of those converted dated their convictions to that day."

One who does not know something of this experience has not been much in revivals. While this sense of utter dependence exists, God can consistently bless. When it ceases, the work ceases. Let the example never be forgotten.

Hence, resting on men or measures will stop a revival. When an evangelist comes, or the pastor is specially engaged, or special meetings are commenced, the extreme danger is that private duties will be neglected, — such as heart-searching humiliation, and communion with God. The unconscious feeling is, that we can do without these now; and so we part company with God our strength. Just here ministers and workers commit a serious evil. Engaged from day to day, and from evening to evening, in exhorting sinners to repent, and in praying for and comforting the penitent, they are very liable to excuse themselves from the duties of self-examination, and family and private prayer. They thus lose their spirituality, and consequently their energy and efficiency. Having put the car in motion, they leap on, and it ceases to move. We may backslide during the progress of a revival! Let it never be forgotten, that a time of great blessing is a time of great peril!

This resting on particular measures has another evil worthy of distinct mention. We often see revivals decline as soon as the special means are withdrawn; indicating that the instrumentality was made too prominent, and too much trusted in, to the exclusion of the Spirit and power of God and the simple exhibition of divine truth. God, having been overlooked, overlooks us. In the effort to bless ourselves we have lost the blessing of heaven.

Decline of prayerfulness will arrest a revival. Of the 'taking hold on God" in times of a revival, Dr. Lyman Beecher says that no one who ever felt it can fail to recognize it, as kindred cords are made to vibrate by each other's motion. It is a deep, constant, unutterable desire that God may be glorified in the salvation of souls, — it is love to God, — it is compassion for man, — it is gratitude, — it is broken-hearted, child-like desire, flowing from a full fountain, day and night, in ejaculations and protracted wrestlings at the throne of grace. And he says, “I bear testimony to the glory of God and the truth of his promises, that I have never known him to say to a church in which such a spirit of prayer prevailed, ' Seek ye me in vain.' But without this spirit of prayer a revival cannot be sustained; and when it declines, the glorious work must stop. Whenever the humble boldness, the brokenness of heart, the prostration of spirit in the dust, are gone; the tender inimitable pathos of the soul evaporated; and the still small voice of simple unaffected importunity is exchanged for earnest, loud, confident, unhumbled supplication, we will soon witness the gradual suspension of divine influence." '

Undue and premature rejoicing may hinder the progress of a revival. “Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off." A great general cried, “No shouting!" as some new recruits gained a slight victory. The writer has" often said in the beginning of a revival, “Let it be headed in," — referring to cutting in trees to compel them to get roots. A revival must have bottom; and exulting belongs to the flowers and the leaves, not the roots.

No doubt incipient revivals are often checked by the confident and even boastful way in which they are regarded and spoken of. Wise leaders will watch this. The biographer of Mr. Nettleton tells us that when things began to assume a favorable appearance, he did not like to see professors of religion elated, and disposed to talk about it with an air of exultation. He knew that flattering appearances often suddenly vanish, and he had learned that it is apt to be so when Christians begin to rejoice prematurely. He frowned upon everything like ostentation, and discouraged the disposition which too often prevails, to proclaim a revival upon the first indication of unusual seriousness.

And it must be added, that some, while publishing things to the praise and glory of God, have published things that savored so strongly of a disposition to exalt themselves, and to make their own agency stand out conspicuously, as to create unhappy impressions and injure the work.

Satisfaction with present results may be in the way of progress. If it be felt that the harvest in the sheaf is all that can be gathered, Christians will be less on their knees with their faces in the dust, and less consecrated to the service of soul-saving.

A pastor of considerable experience in revivals, states that he thinks this a common cause of the cessation of the work. The impression is something like this: The blessing has already been larger than we could have hoped for, considering our infinite unworthiness, and we regard it as a rich earnest of what God will do for us when he shall be pleased to come and revive us again; but we must wait God's time for the conversion of the many who are left. In this way Satan gains an advantage over us.

Diversion of the public mind by any counter excitement is hurtful to a revival. It is something to keep up the train of sacred associations; and whatever comes in to distract attention is to be avoided.

Hence sectarian discussions are hurtful. When these arise, especially if there be unhappy wranglings, the Spirit is grieved, and the revival may be considered at end.

Indiscretions, wild excitement, and excesses of any kind harm and hinder a work. President Edwards says, “It has been a common device of the devil to overset a revival of religion, when he finds he can keep men quiet and secure no longer, by driving them to excesses and extravagances. He holds them back as long as he can, but when he can do it no longer, then he will push them on, and if possible run them upon their heads. And it has been by this means chiefly that he has been successful, in several instances, to overthrow most promising works.”

In fine, whatever grieves the Spirit must tend to arrest a work of grace. And if it seems to come to a stand, it ought to alarm Christians, and prompt them to detect and correct the hindering cause.

Happy is that people with whom is found no hindrance to the commencement of a revival! And happy is that people, who, when it has begun, opposes no barrier to its progress!

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!"

Chapter 10: REVIVAL MEANS AND METHODS.

DIVINE sovereignty is nowhere more conspicuous than in revivals of religion. In very many respects, such as their origin, progress, instrumentalities, time, locality, continuance, occurrence here and not there, and the like, all we can say is, “Even so. Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight."

And hence lo many persons there is something offensive in the language commonly used respecting revivals. When they hear or read of directions "how to promote a revival," and “how to conduct a revival," they are apt to feel as if there was of necessity something profane, if not positively impious, in such language. It seems as if man were presuming to attempt, by his own devices and arrangements, to originate and guide the operations of the Holy Spirit. Yet there is no real ground for such an idea. All will admit that even in the economy of grace the law of cause and effect prevails, though not always discoverable.

And God, in accomplishing his purposes, not only makes use of means, but adapts means to ends. He raises up instruments, and fits them for the work which they are destined to perform. Although no labor of the husbandman will insure to him a harvest, yet he has no reason to expect a harvest without labor: nor has he a right to conclude that it is a matter of indifference what kind of labor he employs. He knows it to be important to till his ground, and to sow in it good seed. So in the moral world must means be adapted to the end. Although Paul plant and Apollos water, while God alone gives the increase, yet we are not to suppose that it is of no consequence what seed is planted, or how it is planted and watered. It is true God might bring to pass different results when the same means are used, yet ordinarily when the results are different there is some difference in the means or the manner of employing them.

With reference to the revival in his day, Mr. Edwards affirms that it is the work of God, and not of man. “Its beginning has not been of man's power or device, and its being carried on depends not on our strength or wisdom." But he adds: “God yet expects of all that they use their utmost endeavors to promote it, and that the hearts of all should be greatly engaged in it, and that we should improve our utmost strength in it, however vain human strength is without the power of God.”

This is the true view in respect to all revivals. Here, as everywhere, there are to be specific adaptations of means to ends. And we are to labor as though the work were entirely our own, and feel as if it were God's work alone.

As another general remark, it may be observed that particular revival means and measures greatly change in effectiveness, and often cease to be operative. What was once useful seems worn out, and has to be laid aside. And this is so ordered, probably, that reliance should not be placed on the instrumentality rather than on God.

It is unsafe therefore to predict how revivals will be best carried on in the after time; though of their existence and great extension there cannot be a doubt. Agencies are at God's disposal; and he will shift them as often as he sees fit. We speak here, of course, of special agencies; for to the end of the world the ordinary means of grace, properly so-called, will remain the same.

The question may here arise whether we are justified in going about to produce a revival spirit: — whether, in the absence of any signs of a revival, special means may be entered upon to secure a better state of things. Shall we wait for indications of a revival before any particular means are used; or shall we rather use special means to bring into existence those indications?

Different views would be taken of this question. Generally there would be a hesitancy as to employing specific agencies to produce a revival spirit. Some would be ready to attach to this the odious term of "getting up" a revival. And yet much can be said in favor of the opposite view. Who would object, for instance, to praying more when the state of religion is low? Who would object to preaching with more pungency, and perhaps more frequency? Who would object to the ' two or three; ' getting together oftener for crying out with one heart and voice, “Spare, Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach! "

But in such a case special means and measures are already being employed to produce a better state of things. We see, then, that it is a matter of methods, rather than the thing itself, about which there would be hesitancy.

How, then, are revivals to be promoted? We know not where to find a more comprehensive answer than in the words of a missionary in the West, who wrote thus respecting his people: "We are obediently waiting, anxiously looking, fervently praying, confidently hoping, and everyday living, for a revival of the work of God in our charge."

Dr. Francis Wayland, in 1832, says of the revival about that period, “The means most successfully used for the obtaining of this blessing are these:

1. On the part of the church, putting away all known sin. The enforcement of strict discipline, the universal engagement in behalf of temperance, the renewal of covenants with God, more universal separation from the world, have all been frequently followed by seasons of revival.

2. Setting apart seasons of fasting, and prayer, and humiliation, both individually and collectively, has very commonly been attended with a blessing. Those seasons which have been followed by most powerful revivals have been marked by unusual confession of sin, deep humility, earnest longing for the salvation of others, specially of parents for children and of relatives for relatives. In innumerable cases, such prayers have been in a remarkable manner answered.

3. The more frequent and more faithful preaching of the gospel has been generally followed by increase of religious attention in a congregation. Meetings for conference, or for exhortation and prayer, by lay brethren, have been very common, and have been very useful.

As an instance of getting ready, or preparing the way for a revival, when as yet there were no indications of one, we mention the great work in Salem, N. J., a few years since; the particulars of which are given by Rev. Dr. Murphy, then the pastor. He says, “Early in last summer the church resolved to hold a series of meetings, to commence in autumn. From that time many in the church were constantly looking forward to the anticipated meetings, and earnestly praying that God would open the way and prepare his people for the work. The city and vicinity was divided into convenient districts for tract distribution, and personal visiting and conversation on the subject of religion. The sermons and lectures of the pastor, for months, were prepared in view of this special work, and often the burden of prayer in our social meetings had reference to the same end. The condition of the church at that time did not promise any great results. While there were no great difficulties in the way, yet there was a very general apathy and coldness. The pastor canvassed the families connected with the church, taking down the names of the unconverted, and reported to the church that there were more than two hundred of this class. We tried to hold these facts before us. We talked them over in our personal and social fellowship. We laid them before God as we knelt in private and social prayer. Special meetings were appointed to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These grew in interest and attendance. As our hearts grew warm under these influences, words of confession and of renewed consecration to God were frequently heard. Just before our special meetings commenced, we had a notice of the meetings printed on the back of one-page tracts, cordially inviting all to attend; requesting the sympathies and prayers of Christians in our efforts, and kindly urging the unconverted to prepare to meet God. One of these, with a suitable four-page tract, was enclosed in an envelope, bearing the printed inscription: “Please take this home; read the enclosed carefully; think about the subject earnestly; act honestly and promptly. Time is short.” Packages of these were placed in the hands of distributors, with instructions how to distribute them. Hundreds of them were distributed in the city and surrounding country. Frequently a written note was added, and the whole enclosed in another envelope, directed to some friend, and sent through the post-office, or by the hand of a messenger. Thus we sought to prepare the way of the Lord. Special meetings commenced on Sabbath, November 8th, and continued on till Sabbath, March 20th. During this entire time, of 134 days, there were meetings every evening except six. There were also frequent afternoon meetings for prayer and conference, or to meet inquirers, or hear the experience of candidates for baptism. From the very first there was a good attendance, and soon there were anxious inquirers. Rev. H. G. DeWitt, evangelist, of Canandaigua, N. Y., had been engaged to assist us. He came on the second week of our meetings, and remained nearly four weeks, preaching every evening. His labors were greatly blessed to both the church and community."

Two hundred and fifty were added to the church upon profession in connection with this revival. All would be ready to say, if this be in any sense a going to work to “get up a revival," more of it would be desirable.

The following excellent suggestions were compiled and printed in view of special meetings, by Rev. Dr. S. H. Hall; and were a means of good to his people, among whom they were freely distributed.

1. If these meetings are not blessed, not only are the fairest opportunities and the most promising means for the conversion of sinners lost, but the hearts of sinners are rendered more callous to the truth. — Therefore resolve^ before God, to avoid every sin by which the usefulness of these meetings may be prevented, and perform every duty devolving on you to render them successful.

2. Some meetings are not blessed for the want of earnest, importunate, believing prayer. — Therefore resolve to “pray without ceasing," and to present your prayers in humility and faith.

3. Some meetings are not blessed because men rely too much upon an arm of flesh. — Therefore resolve to cherish constantly the conviction that without the Holy Spirit no good effects can be expected.

4. These meetings are sometimes unsuccessful because the people of God make such a reliance on divine sovereignty that they neglect to pray or labor with earnestness and fervor, forgetting the uniform and necessary connection between the means and the end. — Therefore resolve faithfully to use those means which God has promised to bless, viz.. Christian example, direct personal conversation, believing prayer.

5. Sometimes these meetings fail of the greatest usefulness because the lay members of the church depend too much upon the minister, or upon each other. — Therefore resolve to cherish a sense of your personal responsibility; and remember that to labor for the salvation of souls is a common Christian duty.

6. Sometimes these meetings are not blessed because they are not well attended. — Therefore resolve to attend as much as practicable yourself; to arrange your domestic concerns so as to permit your family to attend, and to endeavor to persuade your friends and neighbors to attend.

7. Sometimes the cause of sinners' remaining unconverted is, that nothing is said to them but from the pulpit. — Therefore resolve to embrace every proper opportunity to converse with them on the subject of their souls' salvation.

8. Prayers and exhortations that are too long, or on subjects too various, prevent the impression of divine truth, or tend to dissipate impression when made. — Therefore resolve that when called upon to pray or speak, you will have your prayers or exhortation short and bearing upon the express object of the meeting.

9. The harboring of unkind feelings, the want of charity and forbearance, ill will, the indulgence of former prejudices or animosities, may prevent the outpouring of God's Spirit. — Therefore resolve that no such unholy feeling shall find a place in your bosom for a moment. Seek reconciliation where you have given or taken offence, and endeavor to cherish toward all your brethren a spirit of Christian fellowship and kindness, and toward every enemy a spirit of forgiveness and affection.

10. Though "hand join in hand," the united efforts of thousands of impenitent sinners cannot prevent a blessing; yet one lukewarm, sinful child of God may do it. — Therefore resolve to be free from this sin. Renew your covenant engagement. Return to your first love. Come up with greater zeal to “the help of the Lord," that the blood of souls may not be found in your skirts. Remember Achan, 1 Chron. 2:7.

This was a wise method of preparing the way of the Lord; and may well be followed.

There is a large amount of practical common sense In an article which appeared some years ago in a religious weekly, from a pastor whose name was not given. He says, as to preparing for a revival, “I would endeavor to gain clear views of the soul's immense value, by contemplating its nature, its capabilities, what it cost to procure redemption for it, what God is doing to try to save it, what evil angels are doing to try to ruin it, and where.it will be ten thousand years hence if saved, or if lost. Remember that each man, and woman, and child in your congregation is the owner of such a soul, and is to have the disposing of it for a long eternity. Ask yourself, can nothing more be done to arouse these immortal beings from their death slumbers? Have I preached to them faithfully, affectionately, plainly? Have I brought the truth on their consciences in private conversation as well as in public? Can I honestly and truthfully say, I am free from all their blood? If you see short-comings — and doubtless you will see many of them — humble yourself at the foot of the cross, and obtain a fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost. If God has restored to you the joy of his salvation, and imparted a fresh unction from on high, go to the best brother you have in your church, take him alone, and lay open your whole heart to him. Tell him the anxiety you feel for souls, and the desire you have for their salvation. Cordially counsel together, and unite in prayer. If this brother sympathizes with you in your views and feelings, invite one or two others to join you, and let them into your secret feelings and purposes. Should you and they think it advisable to have a protracted meeting, then consult whether you will be likely to need any ministerial aid.

“As many people within the bounds of your parish live at a distance from church, special pains should be taken to inform them of the contemplated meeting, and to invite them to attend. That this business may be done thoroughly, it may be well to hold meetings in the different out-neighborhoods a few days before the services in the church are to commence. Each family in the respective neighborhoods should be visited by the minister and one of the brethren, or by two brethren in company, and invited to the meeting that evening in their school-house, and also to the contemplated protracted meeting. The evening meeting should be as interesting and solemn as you can possibly make it. Testify to the hearers like one pressed in spirit. Tell them that now is the accepted time, and day of salvation. Tell them that the opportunity about to be afforded them is like the harvest time to the farmer, and that those who let the opportunity pass without improving it, will be likely to take up the bitter lamentation hereafter: "The harvest is past; the summer is ended; and we are not saved." Urge them to come up to the Lord's house during the special effort, and to come regularly.

“On the Sabbath on which, or before which, the protracted meeting is to commence, you should be sure to go into the pulpit full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and preach as though you never expected to preach again — preach as Paul and Barnabas did in Iconium, where they so spake that a multitude believed. And let your prayers show that you have just come down from the mount. Let the love of souls fill your heart, and fire your tongue. Let your eyes run down with weeping — let your cheeks be wet with tears. Endeavor to lead the church to feel that fearful responsibility rests upon them in the coming struggle. Tell them about Meroz, which received a curse instead of a blessing, because she came not up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. In giving the invitation to the unconverted, affectionately urge them to attend the meetings as much as possible, and tell them it may be their last opportunity. Tell them it is a time of merciful visitation, and exhort them not to be like the Jews over whom the Saviour wept because they knew not the time of their visitation, till the things which belonged to their peace were hid from their eyes.

“Having thus prepared the way for commencing a protracted meeting, you need not fear to begin it. I have been in some sixty protracted meetings, and not one of this number which was commenced under anything like the above favorable circumstances, has failed of resulting in a good number of conversions."

Coming to particulars, the first thing as to revival means and methods is, to have our own heart right. Says Mr. Earle, whose extensive experience enables him to speak intelligently here, “A revival of religion, like a fire, must begin somewhere: ' Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! ' A fire often begins with a little match, and works its way through the combustible material about it until it has swept over an extensive region. So a work of grace often commences with a single Christian — never with the whole church. As soon as that one Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit, he goes after others, to lead them to the Saviour, or to induce believers to join him in efforts for a revival. Jesus fulfils his promise, 'Lo, I am with you;' and others are soon moved and melted, and the work begins to widen. So that whoever would promote a revival of religion should begin with his own heart, and pray, and confess, and believe, until he feels his heart all subdued and melted by the Holy Spirit, — until his love to Christ is glowing, fervid, burning, — until he finds himself groaning over the lost condition of men, and, like Jesus, being in an agony, prays more earnestly."

Especially should the minister first be right. The reservoir will not rise higher than the fountain. A cold heart will never make other hearts hot. Nor will any feigned heat suffice. It must be the fire of the Holy Ghost. Says -Edwards, “especially we that are ministers not only have need of some true experience of the saving influence of the Spirit of God upon our heart, but we need a double portion of the Spirit of God at such a time as this. We have need to be as full of light as a glass held out in the sun; and with respect to love and zeal, to be like the angels that are a flame of fire. The state of the times requires d, fulness of the divine Spirit in ministers, and we ought to give ourselves no rest until we have obtained it."

It is a grave mistake that many a minister makes just at this point. If, instead of trying to " marshal a movement," he were reviewing his own deficiencies of heart and duty, charging himself anew with his responsibilities, and devoting himself more faithfully to his people and to God's whole truth, it were far better. A secret work thus begun, is enough to heave in due time a whole community; and it is the more powerful, because it moves in the legitimate order of action. It begins, bowing to duty first and chief, and leaves results for the most part to come in their natural shape. It works in the hand of God, trustfully, humbly, pertinaciously, and following whithersoever he leads. And when God leads his servant into a crisis of great moment, he is in it naturally^ he moulds it to himself as if constituted for the time to be its presiding power.

Family work is next to be done. This is the divine order; first the individual, then the household.

Next, the church is to be right. Perhaps discipline will need to be resorted to before a revival can be expected. Dr. Porter, in his Lectures, states that with churches in New England where discipline was neglected, and immorality countenanced, refreshings were not enjoyed. We are to "take up the stumbling-blocks out of the way.” Where great obstacles exist, they must be removed. This is the first step.

Fasting and prayer have always been resorted to in order that the church might be in a right state. Dr. Payson says: “We have found no means so much blessed to keep religion alive in the church as fasting and prayer. Ever since my settlement, the church has set apart one day quarterly for this purpose." Plainly, such setting apart of whole days for prayer and humiliation before God must be of great advantage. As one result, it tends most forcibly to arrest incipient declension in the church when such declension has begun, and to bring them up anew to the work; and it is like barbed arrows in the hearts of the impenitent sinners. Cases have been known in which they have been awakened while barely passing the place where such meetings were held.

Let Christians also abound in moral practices, such as acts of righteousness, truth, meekness, forgiveness, and love towards our neighbor; which are of much greater importance in the sight of God than all the externals of his worship. Let them also be filled with contrition. The command of God is to “break up the fallow ground." i. e. to break up our hearts to prepare our minds to bring forth fruit unto God.

In these ways, and others, should the church strive after nearness to God, and fitness to carry on his work.

An excellent deacon once said to his pastor, after a powerful revival, “I wondered, before the work commenced, why you preached so long and pointedly to the church. I knew we were in a cold state, and needed to be waked up; but at the time it seemed almost cruel in you to lay the blame of our never having had a general revival so heavily upon the church. I now see that we needed it, and bless God that he moved you to deal so faithfully with us, both in the pulpit and out of it." If we had all the facts, it would no doubt be found that nearly all of the most powerful revivals have been immediately preceded by a loud and earnest sounding of alarm in the ears of the churches. What a record is this: “When Jesus returned, the people gladly received him; for they were all waiting for him”

We cannot but give here some weighty words of Mr. Earle: “It is not enough for those of us who preach, that our sermons be able, sound, and well delivered, or that we preach what are sometimes called revival sermons, and that we also visit and converse with men about their souls' interest. It is not enough that the church be aroused and go to work actively for a revival: all this can be done, and but few souls be saved. Nothing can be a substitute for real ‘power from on high' No amount of study or talent, no effort, however untiring, can take the place of the fulness of Christ's love; ' Not by might nor by power [human], but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.' I have known ministers to preach, and their churches to unite with them, day after day, for weeks together, for a revival, and yet very little to be accomplished. The failure was not because the Spirit was unwilling to work with them and bless their efforts, nor because a continued meeting is not of divine appointment, but because they had not the needed power with God. I am often invited to assist pastors and churches in a series of meetings, with a view of gathering in the multitudes, who are unreached by the ordinary means of grace. Important as it is to reach this class, I have never found any way of doing so, or of reaching the unconverted in the regular congregations, until Christians were filled with the Spirit, and humbled in the dust in agonizing prayer."

“Let me say, then, to pastors and to the churches: If you believe the glory of God demands a revival in your midst, and you desire to be instrumental in advancing the work and bringing sinners to the Saviour, first see that your own hearts are thoroughly melted and subdued under a deep sense of the condition of lost men, and that you are filled with the Spirit. Spend days and nights, if necessary, in humiliation, fasting, and prayer, until the Spirit comes down upon you, and you feel that you have power with God; then you will have power with men."

We add a few other particulars:

Contact with revivals is a means of spreading the heavenly flame. Edwards says of the work in Northampton: “There is no one thing that I know of, that God has made such a means of promoting his work among us as the news of others' conversion in the awakening of sinners, and engaging them earnestly to seek the same blessing, and in the quickening of saints."

Pastors, therefore, will do well to read of revivals and visit revival scenes, and talk of them; and to get their brethren and sisters to do the same.

Suitable tracts and books are useful in promoting a revival. The writer well remembers how a youth under his charge (now a distinguished professor in one of our colleges) was finally brought to repentance through the “Great Inquiry," which he gave to him, accompanying it with an affectionate letter and many prayers. And in all the revivals among his people, he has freely used such tracts as “Don't put it off;" "What is it to believe on Christ?” "Come to Jesus" (by Newman Hall) and his own "Two Questions" [“Is your soul safe?" and "How can I be saved?"] He can safely say that he has known of hundreds of conversions as the consequence.

Personal visitation and conversation should not be neglected. It should be entered upon systematically by the pastor and members, and kept up as far as possible.

Protracted meetings are prominent among revival means and methods. Daily meetings were held in apostolic times. The primitive churches considered this example of Christ and the apostles as authority for them; and they continued, down into the fourth century, to make daily, direct and earnest efforts for the conversion of men. Dr. Lardner, in his Ecclesiastical History, says: “At first the churches assembled every day; and traces of this are found in later times." Bingham, in his Antiquities of the Church, says: “The most noted and usual times of meeting, besides the Lord's day, were the morning and evening of every day, which in times of peace were constantly and regularly observed.”

In 1866, a paper upon special revival efforts was issued in Boston over the signatures of some sixty well-known ministers, of the different evangelical denominations, which deserves to be incorporated in this volume. They say that it is abundantly evident that the conversion of the world was advancing far more rapidly during the first three centuries, and was prospectively much nearer its final completion fifteen hundred years ago than it is to-day. "Why this difference in the success of the primitive and the modern churches? Our answer is, few modern churches make all the effort that primitive churches made; and that but occasionally. Look at the reformation in the sixteenth century. That glorious revival of religion, which spread over Western Europe, was begun and carried on by labors not unlike those of the apostolic and primitive churches. It was not by Sabbath service merely. It was by daily, direct and earnest efforts for that special purpose, that that great work was promoted. Moreover, the great and powerful revivals for which our own country has been distinguished, in former years, were the results of special efforts. In the revival of 1735, which extended through Western Massachusetts, and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey, bringing many thousands into the church, Pres. Edwards, Mr. Enfield, Wheelock, Pomroy and others, left their own pulpits for months together, and labored as evangelists in distant places, preaching several times a week, or daily. Their preaching was direct and pungent, and aimed at the immediate conversion of sinners; and was attended with great success. In 1740, Mr. Whitfield, Pendleton, the Tennents and others, went on preaching tours through the country, from Maine to Philadelphia, arousing the churches and sinners to repentance; and the result was, that in eighteen months, probably not less than forty thousand souls were added to the Lord, or about one-sixth part of the whole population in this section of the country.

The great revival of 1797, which lasted five or six years, was promoted by preaching tours, ministers being sent out by the associations, two and two, for six months at a time, performing the work of evangelists. The churches prepared for their coming by fasting and prayer, renewal of covenant, etc., and a revival almost always followed. The powerful work which extended from Ohio, through Kentucky, to the Carolinas and Georgia, in 1 802-3, was promoted by similar efforts of the different denominations united. Next comes a period of continuous revivals for twenty-five years, beginning about 1807, which spread over the whole country. Here we need not detail facts which are familiar to all. It is well known that the labors of such men as Messrs. Nettleton, Finney, Smith, Parmerlee, Foot, Saxton, McAuley, Kirk and many others, were intimately connected with these extensive triumphs of the gospel.

Again; the importance of supplementing the labors of the Sabbath with direct and earnest efforts during the week was also clearly evinced in the great revival of 1857-8. Dr. Prime, in his “authentic account" of the rise and progress of that work, says, that " in New York and Brooklyn there were not less than one hundred and fifty daily prayer-meetings established, many extra places being fitted up for that purpose." He also says, that “a thoroughly organized plan of systematic visitation, adopted and carried out by these two cities, had much to do with the beginning, spread and continuance of this revival.” A convention on revivals was held at Pittsburgh, in the autumn of 1857. This convention continued in session three days, for the purpose of considering the necessity of a general revival in all the churches. A plan of personal visitation was adopted, by which every family should be visited by the pastor and some experienced member, and on the first Sabbath in January, multitudes of ministers delivered discourses on the necessity and practicability of revivals; and the following Thursday was observed" as a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. All these arrangements powerfully affected the country. Immediately after this convention at Pittsburgh, another was called at Cincinnati, having the same object in view. It was largely attended, and followed by similar results. Thus the public mind was thoroughly aroused. And it is to be noticed, that churches which made no special effort at that time added comparatively few to their numbers by profession; as may be seen by referring to the “Congregational Quarterly," January numbers, for the years 1858 and 1859.

Again; during the last four or five years, churches that have connected “special efforts" with the ordinary means, though only for short periods, have added converts by scores and hundreds; while those churches that have not made such efforts have not averaged two conversions a year. Statistics show that the Orthodox churches in the United States have not made an average net gain of one and one-half members a year for the last eight years; and probably not for the last twenty-five years. Aside from the results of " special revival efforts “ made by a few churches, the body of Orthodox churches have not made a net gain of one member each, for the last eight years; and probably not for the last thirty years. So far as can be ascertained from their statistical reports, the churches of the other evangelical denominations have not averaged a greater number of additions by profession during this period. Whoever will examine the reports of additions by profession to those churches that make no "special revival efforts," and compare them with those churches known to make such efforts, will be satisfied as to the comparative value of the two systems of means for the conversion of men.

Again; an examination of these statistical reports will show, that the great mass of churches that rely on the ordinary means alone, barely hold their own from year to year. Dr. E. Porter, in his Letters on Revivals, (page 2,) says: “With no greater degree of sanctifying influence than has been enjoyed for the last half century, (ending 1832,) which has been a comparatively favored period, the church could scarcely hold her own." How much less, then, in ordinary times. These statistics further show that many churches, in cities especially, lose more by death from year to year, than they add by profession; and are sustained chiefly by additions by letter. They are among those churches which make no special effort for the conversion of men. Sixty-one churches in the nine principal cities of New England, in 1864, lost by death more than they gained upon profession. The body of Orthodox churches of Connecticut, lost in five years, ending 1864,480 by death more than they gained by profession.

The General Conference of Maine in 1864, reported two hundred and thirty-seven churches, with a gain of only one hundred and sixty-two members over losses, or less than one to a church; while the other ten churches, by extra efforts for a few weeks, added two hundred and seventy-two by profession, or twenty-seven to a church.

The General Association of New Hampshire in 1864, reported one hundred and eighty churches, with a gain of only twenty-three over losses, or one to every seven churches; while the other three churches, by extra efforts^ gained by profession one hundred and forty-three over losses, which is more than three hundred per cent, in favor of " extra efforts."

The General Convention of Vermont, in 1864, reported one hundred and ninety-two churches, with a gain of only nineteen over losses, or one to every ten churches.

The General Association of Massachusetts in 1864, reported four hundred and seventy-four churches, with a loss of eighty-four by death more than they gained by profession, while fifteen churches, that made extra efforts, added, by profession, three hundred and seventy-seven over losses.

The General Association of Connecticut, in 1864, reported a loss in five years, ending 1864, of four hundred and eighty more than they gained by profession, there having been little or no “ extra efforts^

According to statistics given in the tract of Dr. A. Wilbur, of Boston, a quarter of a century ago, and subsequently published in the appendix of Rev, Jacob Knapp's Autobiography, five Baptist churches in Boston, which employed the labors of an evangelist, and held special meetings at that time, gained, during four years, fifty-one per cent, on their membership; and excluded fifteen per cent. All the rest of the churches of the city gained thirteen and a half per cent., and excluded nineteen per cent. Statistics of the whole State of Massachusetts, covering a period of eight years, showed a gain of membership in eleven Baptist churches employing an evangelist, of thirty-one, and an exclusion of twenty-three per cent.; the rest of the churches of the State gaining a trifle over one per cent., and excluding twenty-eight and one-third per cent.[1]

From this brief survey, it is sufficiently evident that Sabbath services, in connection with frequent and protracted “special efforts," is the true gospel system of means for the conversion of men; and, that all theories and opinions to the contrary, and all objections to such efforts, are set aside by the authority of Christ and the apostles, and by the example of the primitive churches for three hundred years, and by the simple evidence of facts occurring among us at the present day. If these things are so, is it not the duty of the churches to address themselves to more continuous endeavors for the conversion of perishing mankind?

Having said thus much, some cautions are in place as to all protracted effort. The immediate aim should not be an excitement. Sad results have followed upon the track of preachers who have felt bound to get up a sensation, by foul means if they could not do it by fair. Oddity, noise, denunciation, attacks on private character, and everything to kindle the passions and set tongues in motion, are sometimes resorted to, to accomplish their object. The most deplorable effects have followed from such a policy.

Dr. Porter makes some good points. "Let protracted meetings never supercede the stated, ordinary means of grace. Let them not disturb the customary worship of the Sabbath, nor impede the regular action of a local ministry. Let churches beware that they do not contract a false taste for preaching from love of novelty and excitement; and after having heard a few extra sermons, complain of ordinary discourses, such as their own pastors can prepare amid the pressing engagements of a revival. And let them beware, too, that their religion does not degenerate into mere alternations of zeal and apathy."

Very sensible and weighty is a caution from Dr. Griffin as to neglect of prayer. He says: “God forbid that I should speak against protracted meetings; but I will speak against their abuse. In this imperfect world, it is almost impossible that such a stimulating institution should not be abused. It is so much easier to enter into the excitements of a protracted meeting than to " tug at the oar of prayer" in secret, or even to exercise a holy heart, — so much easier to move the people by these impassioned forms than to bring down the Holy Ghost by the struggles of faith, — that there is the utmost danger that these meetings will be put in the room of secret prayer, and of the Holy Ghost, and even of personal religion. When I see them relied on to produce revivals without previous prayer, and a boast made that Christians were stupid when they began; when I see a revival of ten days produce its hundred converts, and the people who were stupid before relapse into the same stupidity at the end of the protracted meeting, I cannot but say. How different are these from the revivals of the last forty years, which were preceded by long agonies of desire and prayer, and which transmitted their spirit to many succeeding months."

Many questions may arise as to conducting revival meetings which cannot in this place be noticed.[2]  Scripture truth should be very largely, and every way, inculcated. The more interest, the more instruction, should be the rule. When Bible truth is shunned or rejected, then, neither noise nor excitement, the thronged assembly nor the crowded anxious seat, can be relied upon as an evidence of a work of grace.

Much more depends upon little things in revivals than is commonly supposed. As an illustration: Mr. Nettleton, used to advise the people at the close of his meetings to go home as still as possible — to say nothing to each other on the way about the sermon, or anything else, but to "commune with their own hearts and be still.”

Requests for prayer should always be encouraged. As we have seen elsewhere, in great revivals, such requests have been a prominent feature.

Prayer meetings should hold a foremost place in all revival movements. It may be said that the revival of 1857-8 was mainly carried on by means of them. And the good sense exhibited in their management is worthy of imitation.

The converts may be helpful in carrying on a revival. On suitable occasions, let them relate briefly their religious exercises, exhort their impenitent companions, and lead in prayer in social meetings. This should, indeed, be managed with caution and skill; but when it is properly conducted, it is a powerful auxiliary in extending a work of grace.

Concluding this chapter, we say of those called to lead in revivals, let them enter into their work pouring out the heart to God for a blessing. And whenever they see the want of any special means and methods to bring the truth more powerfully before the minds of the people, let them adopt them and not be afraid; and God will not withhold his blessing. Many a man has formed his plans in anticipation of a wished-for revival, but when it came, these were all swept away, and he felt he was just forced to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way. Christ will plead his own cause, and " Wisdom is justified of her children." There is no end to the objections of an ungodly world, and of carnal worldly professors. And one of the greatest errors to be dreaded, and watched and prayed against, is that of an excessive caution under the guise of prudence.

Obviously, we are justified in being intent "by all means “ on "saving some, pulling them out of the fire." The great thing is to work while God works. The sunshine, while it lasts, must be fervidly improved. The tide must be waited on, and all hands must be at work. The Philippian jailor was converted at midnight; and Paul, once at least, continued his speech until the same hour. So even by extraordinary measures we must be anxious that men be saved from “the wrath to come."

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK."

Chapter 11: PREACHING AND REVIVALS.

FOREMOST among the instrumentalities for saving men is the pulpit. "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

But preaching is not alike effective. When God called Aaron to be high-priest, he said, as a reason, “I know that he can speak well." Of Paul and Barnabas it is written that “they so spake that a great multitude believed." Though a sovereign, yet the divine Being is not an arbitrary sovereign; and it cannot be denied that there is some connection between the means and the end in powerful preaching. What would affect a man without the Spirit, we might expect to be employed by the Spirit to carry conviction to the heart. Otherwise the kind of preaching were a matter of entire indifference.

Of Luther it was said each word was a thunderbolt. We are told that when Venn preached men fell before the word like slacked lime. Baxter affirmed that he had reason to believe he never preached one sermon in vain.

A prevailing defect in preaching is that it is not aimed at the conversion of men. Doubtless there are other legitimate ends; but this is not sufficiently a chief end. The thought may seem surprising, but there are multitudes of ministers, and deeply pious ones too, who never once in all their lives distinctly concentrated their purposes to the single point of converting men. It is related of two preachers that one had great success in bringing men to Christ; the other converting none. The latter inquired of the former what was the reason of this difference. “Why," replied the other, “the reason is that I aim at a different end from you in preaching. My object is to convert sinners, but you aim at no such thing; and then you lay it to sovereignty in God that you do not produce the same effect. Take one of my sermons, and preach it to your people, and see what the effect will be.”  The man did so, and preached the sermon, and it did produce effect; and he was almost frightened when sinners became concerned.

If one would be successful in soul-saving, there must be that home-dealing which means conversion. The people must be plied from day to day with plain, faithful, scriptural preaching to them, and not merely before them. The conviction must be wrought on the mind that the preacher is in earnest; that he means and feels what he says; that, in the words of Baxter, he "never expects to meet one of them in heaven unless they be truly converted.”

The aim at bringing men to repentance, therefore, would greatly intensify the power of our pulpits. It is more needed than anything else. The defensive outworks of Christianity are strong enough, and the thing to do is to assume the offensive, and advance on the enemy, and “shell,” him out of his entrenchments. Edwards said in his day: “Men may abound in light and have no heat. How much has there been of this sort in the Christian world in this age! Was there ever an age wherein strength and penetration of reason, extent of learning, exactness of distinction, correctness of style, and clearness of expression did so abound? And yet was there ever an age wherein there has been so little sense of the evil of sin, so little love to God? Our people do not so much need to have their heads stored, as to have their hearts touched."

More sermons are needed which are made and meant to do execution: — sermons which grasp and make bare and wield some mighty idea, holding it up, and turning it around, and repeating it, if need be, as does Demosthenes the one main point in his oration on the Crown, until it becomes a palpable thing, and the audience feel its form and pressure: — sermons having the "agonistical,” the wrestling element in them, as Aristotle calls it: — sermons put together on the principle that “ force in writing consists in the maximum of sense with the minimum of words," whose sentences are pounded together until they crack; and where figure, trope, allegory, metaphor, antithesis, interrogation, anecdote — anything that can awaken interest and deepen impression is resorted to: — sermons supported and sinewed with the "thus saith the Lord," and then charged with living truth and aimed directly at the conscience and the heart, singling out each hearer, and saying, "Thou art the man,” and "I have a message from God unto thee;" and then making pursuit after that man, in clear, rapid, concentrated utterances, and pressing upon him, and narrowing his way, and hemming him in, and smiting him down with terrible volleys, until, quivering and breathless, he crouches between the law that condemns and the cross that saves.

Before the world is converted to Christ there will be much more of this sort of preaching.

It is highly instructive, in this connection, to study the preachers and preaching most blessed in revivals. These salient points are everywhere seen: — scripturalness in matter, and plainness, earnestness, directness and fervency in application and appeal.

The Reformers found the world in ignorance of scripture doctrine; — especially of free salvation through Christ. Their power was in wielding the cross. Luther, in Germany, preached justification by faith. Calvin taught it in Switzerland, and parts of France and Italy. Knox in this way extended the Reformation in Scotland. And wherever a spiritual change was wrought in England, it was effected through grace by the doctrine of "Christ and him crucified." Whatever external form of organization “the church" received, whether walking with the Establishment, or choosing to fall into the ranks of Dissent, its spiritual renovation occurred under the same truths. These were the truths which the English reformers and their successors, for more than a hundred years inculcated on their hearers, and by them spiritual religion made conquests, and converts were multiplied.

Whitfield and the Wesleys, at a later day, In the rise of "Methodism" magnified these same doctrines, and by them wrought their glorious victories for Christ.

The American preachers, in the early revivals, found the cardinal facts of regeneration by the Holy Ghost, and the necessity of a converted church-membership, fallen into comparative neglect or contempt; and their power was in giving them prominence. This was the mighty upheaving force in those great revivals. Edwards, with the clearness of a sunbeam, insisted much on justification by faith alone. And he says, “The beginning of the late work of God in this place was so circumstanced, that I could not but look upon it as a remarkable testimony of God's approbation of the doctrine of justification by faith alone here asserted and vindicated. At that time^ while I was greatly reproached for defending this doctrine in the pulpit, and just upon my suffering a very open abuse for it, God's work wonderfully broke forth amongst us, and souls began to flock to Christ as the Saviour in whose righteousness alone they hoped to be justified."

Seizing upon a resultant fact of this doctrine of justification by faith, Mr. Edwards wrote that terrible sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God." He went down to Enfield and preached it there July 8th, 1741. While the people of the neighboring towns, says Trumbull, were in great distress about their souls, the inhabitants of Enfield were very secure, loose and vain. A lecture had been appointed there, and the neighboring people were so affected at the thoughtlessness of the inhabitants, and had so much fear that God would, in his righteous judgment, pass them by, that many of them were prostrate before him a considerable part of the previous evening, supplicating the mercy of heaven in their behalf. And when the time appointed for the lecture came, a number of the surrounding ministers were present, as well as some from a distance — a proof of the prayerful interest felt on behalf of the town. Mr. Edwards chose for his text, the words, 'Their feet shall slide in due time.' — Deut. xxxii. 35. When they went into the meeting-house, the appearance of the assembly was thoughtless and vain; the people scarcely conducted themselves with common decency. But as the sermon proceeded, the audience became so overwhelmed with distress and weeping, that the preacher was obliged to speak to the people and desire silence, that he might be heard. The excitement soon became intense; and it is said that a minister who sat in the pulpit with Mr. Edwards, in the agitation of his feelings, caught the preacher by the skirt of his dress, and said, “Mr. Edwards! Mr. Edwards! is not God a God of mercy?" Many of the hearers were seen unconsciously clinging by their hands to the posts, and the sides of the pews, as though they already felt themselves sliding into the pit. This fact has often been mentioned as a proof of the strong and scriptural character of Edwards' peculiar eloquence — the eloquence of truth attended by the influence from heaven; — for his sermons were read without gestures.[3]

Davies, of Virginia, saw more conversions under his ministry than did Edwards. He preached the same truths, however, and with the same intense earnestness and unflinching fidelity. No one can read his published sermons without having his spirit stirred as with the sound of a trumpet. And under such breathing thoughts and burning words, multitudes bowed as before the majesty of God.

It has been remarked upon as an interesting fact, that three such men as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, and Samuel Davies should have been cotemporary. They differed widely in their characteristics; but they were all "sons of thunder.”  Davies was less logical than Edwards, and had less extemporaneous fluency than Whitfield; but he exceeded them both in true eloquence. Edwards acted upon men through their understanding; Whitfield through their imagination and passions; Davies through all the soul's avenues. He had such command of every faculty and affection, that he swept the whole field of intellect and feeling. By fact, by argument, by description, by appeal, by entreaty, by expostulation, he addressed man's entire spiritual nature, and roused it from its lowest depths. Edwards caused men to think deeply, and Whitfield" made them feel strongly. But Davies accomplished both; — awakening at once thought and emotion.

The successful preachers in later revivals, pressed the consciences of men with the same truths and terrible earnestness as did their predecessors. Dr. Lyman Beecher, speaking of his preaching before a work of grace, says, “My object was to cut and thrust, hip and thigh, and not to ease off. I had been working a good part of a year with my heart burning, and my people feeling nothing. Now I took hold without mittens."

Says one, speaking from experience concerning the preaching of that day, “Oh how we smarted under it. I remember it well in my own case. We complained of some of Paul's hard sayings, and wondered why our ministers dwelt so much upon them. We wanted to get to heaven in some easier way. But instead of abating one jot or tittle to relieve us, they pressed harder and harder, driving us from one refuge to another, till there was no hiding-place left. The law, which we had broken times without number, we were made to feel was just; its fiery penalty hung over our heads, and we must submit or die."

Dr. Griffin's statement on this point is worthy of careful study: — the more so as he was a prince in pulpit oratory, and greatly blessed in revivals. He says: “Sinners have been constantly urged to immediate repentance, and every excuse has been taken away. At the same time we have not denied or concealed their dependence for the sake of convincing them of their obligations. On the contrary, we have esteemed it vital to urge their dependence in order to drive them from all reliance on their own strength, and to make them die to every hope from themselves. All that you can possibly gain by flattering their independence, is to extort a confession of their obligations; for as to matter of fact, they will not submit until they are made willing in the day of God's power. And if you can fasten upon them their obligations without that falsehood which robs God of his glory, pray let it be done. This we have found it possible to do. We have shown them that their obligations rest on their faculties, and are as reasonable and as complete as though the thing required was merely to walk across the floor; that their faculties constitute a natural ability, that is, a full power to love and serve God, if their hearts were well disposed, leaving nothing in the way but a bad heart, for which they are wholly to blame if there is any blame in the universe; that sin can rest nowhere but in the heart, and that if you drive it beyond the heart you drive it out of existence; that they alone create the necessity for God to conquer them, and to decide whether he will conquer them or not; that it is an everlasting blot on creation that God has to speak a second time to induce creatures to love him, much more that he has to constrain them by his conquering power; and yet after all his provisions and invitations, — after he has sent his Son and his Spirit to save them, — after he has opened the door wide and stands with open arms to receive them, — they will still break their way to perdition if his almighty power do not prevent; that by their own fatal obstinacy they are cast entirely upon his will; that they are wholly in his hands, — that if he frown they die, if he smile they live forever. This is the grandest of all means to press them out of themselves, to cast them dead and helpless upon God, to make them die that they may be made alive."

At a later day came Nettleton, so highly honored of God in soul-saving. In 1825 Rev. Mr. Cobb, (of Taunton, Mass.,) who heard him preach sixty times, gave a description of the man and his preaching to this effect: “His sermons were clear, sound, able, full of thought, direct and simple, with unity of design. He seemed to be destined to be understood. As the revival progressed, he preached more and more closely and doctrinally. The great truths of the gospel were the weapons of his warfare, and were wielded with a spirit and an energy which the people were unable to gainsay or resist. He was remarkably clear and forcible in his illustrations of the sinner's total depravity, and his utter inability to procure salvation by unregenerate works, or any desperate efforts. He showed the sinner that his unregenerate prayers for a new heart, his impenitent seeking, striving and knocking would be of no avail; and that absolute, unconditional submission to a sovereign God was the first thing to be done."

In another description we are told that he was solemn, affectionate, and remarkably plain. His style was simple, perspicuous and energetic. His illustrations were familiar and striking; such as rendered his discourses intelligible to persons of the weakest capacity, and at the same time interesting to persons of the most cultivated intellect. He always commanded the attention of the audience. There was an earnestness in his manner which carried conviction to the minds of his hearers that he believed what he spoke, and that he believed it to be truth of everlasting moment, and there was also a directness in his preaching, which made the hearers feel that they were the persons addressed.

While on a visit to Scotland, Dr. Nettleton preached in Edinburgh; and during the sermon, while pressing home the high claims of the Almighty, a woman who sat in a remote part of the house was so affected that, leaving her seat, and walking up in front of the pulpit, she spoke aloud, “Dear sir, don't forget, that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life.' "

Among living preachers who are successful in leading souls to Christ, few are more blessed of God than Rev. A. B. Earle. It has been the writer's privilege to be with him in a series of meetings, and to know him intimately as a brother beloved. He has travelled in almost all parts of the country, and preached seventeen thousand sermons. On the matter of "Preaching and Revivals," such an example is deserving of study. It is often asked, “Where is his power?" We answer, obviously from God.

Like all good ministers of Jesus Christ, he lives in communion with the skies, and is invested with an energy more than human. As has been remarked of him, one can hardly be with him long without a persuasion that he loves God, and loves the gospel, and loves the souls of men — without a persuasion that with him “religion is the chief concern,” and that it possesses his mind and heart and life.

But he is also skilled in the work of an evangelist; and his preaching, while apparently deficient in some elements of power, is eminently powerful. “It would be difficult,” writes Rev. Dr. Yerkes, of New Jersey, with whom he has labored successfully, “to analyze his preaching; yet considering its power I esteem it worthy of study. Doubtless it is largely adapted to revival work; yet there is an element in it that would give power to all preaching. Where is that power? We do not find it if we judge the preacher according to the schools; and yet there are, I presume, men who have been trained in our schools, and possessed of scholastic attainments of the highest order, who confess his power as a preacher of the gospel. He would not, perhaps, be regarded as a logical preacher, and yet no arrangement of logic could be better adapted to secure the results contemplated. The right thing is said in the right place and at the right time. His discourses are rarely marked by that thoroughness of treatment which presents a complete picture, but they do impress the hearer with the greatness of the truth preached, in a way that makes them thoroughly effective. Nor would Mr. Earle be considered an eloquent preacher; yet he moves men as they are not often moved by public discourse. If we are not charmed by eloquence of speech, we must confess the effects of true eloquence. Pascal says that eloquence makes the hearer feel the theme as the orator himself feels it. Mr. Earle's preaching does produce that feeling. It is not an excitement, but deep feeling upon the most important subject which can engage the attention of mortals. Without the coherency of logic, his sermons are forceful. Without the appearance of thoroughness, they are complete when considered in their adaptation to the end of preaching — which is not merely to mouth truth, but to impress it upon the heart."

An eminent Methodist clergyman (Rev. Dr. Steele, of Mass.), writes, “Having recently heard him preach thirty sermons in two weeks, and closely watched in order that I might find the secret of his power, I deem it due to the cause of Christ, especially to his ministry, to report my observations. The hidings of his strength lie in his faith and philosophy. He has faith in God, simple, childlike, mighty trust. He is always praying. Previous to every sermon he would call me into his room to kneel down by his side at Jesus' feet and seek power from on high. Often in the public assembly he would call on all the people to bow down in prayer for himself, that the Spirit would attend the word. He has faith in the truth, reading and expounding some portion of the Scriptures at every meeting.

He reads the Bible as if he believed every syllable and comma to be inspired of God. He dwells much upon the historical parts of the Old Testament and extracts the marrow of the gospel from what many modern preachers regard as dry bones. His simple aim is to set the unadorned truth before the mind utterly regardless of elegance of style. Though naturally witty, he conscientiously suppresses everything which would divert from the clearest and most impressive exhibition of divine truth. His illustrations are almost always drawn from the incidents of his own long experience as an evangelist. He dwells upon the tenors of the Lord, and never speaks of hell as "the great elsewhere." Yet he holds up the sterner truths of the gospel no more frequently than did his Great Exemplar. In listening to him, one is strikingly convinced that the modern evangelical pulpit has, within a generation, largely dropped out the law and its penalties, under the influence an excessive sentimentalism which is leaking insensibly into the minds of Christians from the subtle skepticism which pervades the atmosphere. His fearless proclamation of the painful, and hence neglected truths of the Gospel, in contrast with that insensible softening down of these truths prevalent in the modem pulpit, is no small element of brother Earle's power."

Rev. Dr. Richard Fuller, in the Religious Herald, Richmond, Va., in 1870, gave the following vivid description of Mr. Earle and his preaching:

“We have heard Mr. Earle three times, and do not hesitate to pronounce him one of the ablest men we ever listened to. Some say, "The secret of his power is in prayer.” Certainly, and the secret of all spiritual power with men, is power with God. This was true not only of Paul, but of Jesus, the only perfect preacher. To the prayer of faith we apply what the apostle says of charity, “Though I speak with the tongues of men or angels, and though I have all knowledge that can explain all mysteries and do not pray with faith,” it is all sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. “He leads a holy life." Yes, but the success of one's ministry is no proof of holiness; it may be a fatal snare to the soul, as it was to those who said, “Have we not prophesied," etc. A blind man may hold up a torch for others to walk by.

“If these things are said as meaning that power in prayer and holiness are less than eloquence, they are even more wicked than foolish. If they are intended as deductions from Mr. Earle's character as a sacred orator, they betray a sad misconception, we humbly conceive, as to the real elements of power in a preacher. His very appearance draws reverent attention. There is not a particle of that self-consciousness which sometimes shows itself in an affected simplicity and naturalness, in the awkward attempt to be easy, to put out the hand gracefully, to modulate the voice artistically. He plainly forgets himself; and before he has uttered twenty words, the people forget the man as completely as Peter was forgotten on the day of Pentecost; they are engrossed with the truths he is proclaiming.

“Brother Earle's intellectual endowments are remarkable; and would at once be felt were heat the bar or in Congress.. The closest reasoning, the most natural wit and humor; a lively imagination, a correct taste; an intuitive insight into human nature; resources of strong native Saxon, of warm, gushing emotions, of incident and narrative and illustration drawn from every quarter — these attributes and advantages he possesses and uses without any effort, and with the entire self-possession which ever accompanies the sense of power. And even all this is comparatively little. The one grand peculiarity in all truly great men is thorough earnestness. On some summer's afternoon we have sat admiring the beautiful sheets of lightning which, now with one broad rosy suffusion, and then with white and yellow corruscations, illumined the sombre clouds piled up along the horizon. Afterwards the heavens have gathered blackness, and the living thunder has leaped from crag to crag, and the flowing bolt has shivered the solid oak in its resistless course. The difference between the electric fluid in its cold, ineffectual splendors, and that same element in its concentrated energy, is not too strong an illustration of the force of real earnestness in a preacher, compared with those graces and accomplishments which are often called sacred eloquence.

“Of McCheyne, a Scotch woman said, “He preaches as if he is a dyin' a'most to have ye converted." Mr. Earle preaches just in that way. A man who believes what he says must be powerful. Our brother believes what he says. Do ministers read the Bible much? We fear not. Mr. Earle studies the Bible, and really believes God's testimony. Hence he is full of" divine simplicity." Hence too his soul is ever at a white heat, and yet perfectly calm. And all this earnestness is inwrought in his heart and diffused through his pulses to the finger-ends, by a faith which never falters, by a love, a sympathy which often melts him into an agony of tears, and by the power of the Holy Spirit who never disappoints the soul which hangs in utter dependence on him." '

From the foregoing, we have already an idea of the preaching which is adapted to awaken and save souls. For this reason the above examples are given. We may crystallize the essential elements of effective revival preaching into a few points.

God is honored in all powerful preaching. “He makes God look big;" was the remark of a plain parishioner of one of the old style of New England divines. Evidently, God will honor that which honors him. " I have found," says Edwards, “that no discourses have been more remarkably blessed than those in which the doctrine of God’s absolute sovereignty with regard to the salvation of sinners, and his just liberty with regard to answering the prayers or succeeding the pains of mere natural men, continuing such, have been insisted on.'

The truth is honored in effective preaching. We find an illustration of this in the labors of Rev. E. P. Hammond, evangelist. It is a marked feature in his meetings that he reads and comments upon the Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments; often giving a wonderful freshness and vividness to scenes and incidents and utterances there recorded. In his sermons, too, he deals largely in the true sayings of God. Rev. Jacob Knapp's heavy blows are often simply solid Scripture utterances. The same is true of Rev. J. S. Inskip, the Methodist evangelist.

We have already seen the same thing in the preachers of other days. Strong preachers have ever been Bible-preachers. The sermons of Bunyan, and Baxter, and Flavel, and men of their stamp, were full of God — instinct with living doctrines. Their very garb was after the Scripture pattern. Of Chalmers it has been said that, his sermons " held the Bible in solution." A peculiar energy attends the divine word. It is the "sword of the Spirit;" the "fire, and the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." It is "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." It is “perfect, converting the soul," and " making wise the simple.” "I will hazard the assertion," says Fisher Ames, “that no man ever did, or ever will become truly eloquent without being a constant reader of the Bible, and an admirer of the purity and sublimity of its language."

The Bible is the battery through which the Holy Spirit illuminates and saves. If one would have a felt power, let him keep these thunders rolling through the souls of the auditory.

Timeliness and adaptation are necessary to effectiveness in preaching. It needs special preaching to secure special ends. At the beginning of a revival, the preaching especially should be to Christians, urging upon them their obligations. Suppose a minister at such a time to bring before his people that fundamental truth in all religion — the existence of God, and to attempt, by a process of reasoning, to vindicate it against the objections of atheism; or suppose he were to discuss, in an elaborate manner, the historical evidence of Christianity; — this, in certain circumstances, would be very proper; but it would be ill adapted to awaken saints and guide souls to Christ: and so out of place now.

All successful revival preachers are thorough with the church in what may be called preparatory work. And as a rule, revivals are deep and thorough in proportion to the thoroughness of the preaching at the outset.

While, however, there should' be great plainness in preaching to Christians, there should be great ki7idness and tenderness in doing it. President Edwards deplored a style of preaching which censured professed Christians as unconverted because they did not come up to the work. He terms it "the worst disease" that attended the revival, and altogether contrary to the spirit of the gospel. Mr. Earle tells of a most interesting experience which he once had on this point. In beginning a series of union meetings, he thought himself fully prepared, and expected immediate results. “My first aim," he says, “was to preach so as to lead the churches nearer to Christ. Accordingly, I prepared five sermons for Christians, as clear and pointed as I knew how to make them. The first four had no apparent effect. I wondered at it. The fifth was prepared with a scorpion in the lash. It was a severe one, and the last harsh sermon I have preached, and the last I ever expect to preach: but this, too, was powerless. I then went to my closet, and there on my knees asked Jesus what could be the difficulty with those Christians. It did not enter my mind that the trouble could be anywhere else than among them. I had preached with tears in my eyes, and been anxious to see a revival, and had no thought but that the preacher was in a right state. But there in my closet God revealed to me my own heart, showing me that the difficulty was with myself, and not with the church; I found myself as cold as those I was trying to benefit. My tears, even in the pulpit, had been like water running from the top of a cake of ice when the warm rays of the sun are falling upon its surface, but which becomes hard and cold again as soon as the sun goes down. I told the pastor of what I had discovered, and asked him the condition of his own heart. He frankly confessed that he was in the same state as myself.

“We prayed together several times. I felt that I could not live in that state and accomplish much.  Accordingly, I went home and shut myself in my room, resolved to spend the night in prayer if necessary. O, the struggle of that night! Hour after hour I wrestled alone with God. My heart had been full of coldness, and I not aware of it. No wonder the churches had not come up to the work! I renewedly and repeatedly gave myself to the Saviour, determined not to let the angel depart until my heart was filled and melted with the love of Jesus. Towards morning the victory came. The ice was all broken, melted, and carried away; the warmth and glow of my “first love " filled my heart; the current of feeling was changed and deepened; the joy of salvation was restored. In the morning I went out, took the unconverted by the hand, and said the same things as on days previous; but now they were melted to tears over their sin and danger. I prepared and preached another sermon to the churches — no lash, nothing harsh about it. They broke down, confessed their own need of a special preparation of heart, and gave themselves anew to the work, which, from that hour, went forward rapidly and successfully.'*

Wisdom and skill are elements of effective preaching. "He that wjnneth souls is wise.” For example, it is important to see when a point is made, and to follow up an impression — blow upon blow. It was said of a great commander, “he knew how to take advantage of a victory." A successful leader in revivals will both know how to make opportunities (under God) and to take advantage of them. He will both make the iron hot by striking, and strike while it is hot.

Moreover, in his sermons and in the general management of the work, while he does not wait for happy junctures, he will yet be quick to improve them when they offer.

On one occasion as Mr. Whitfield was preaching in Boston a violent storm of thunder and lightning came on. In the midst of the sermon, it attained so alarming a height that the congregation sat in almost breathless awe. The preacher closed his note-book, and stepping into one of the wings of the desk, fell on his knees, and with much feeling and fine taste repeated:

“Hark, the Eternal rends the sky!

A mighty voice before him goes

A voice of music to his friends,

But threatening thunder to his foes.

Come, children, to your Father's arms;

Hide in the chambers of his grace,

Till the fierce storm be overblown.

And the avenging fury cease! "

Then he said, “Let us devoutly sing to the praise and glory of God this hymn, to Old Hundred." The whole congregation instantly rose, and poured forth the sacred song> in which they were accompanied by the organ, in a style of simple grandeur and heartfelt devotion that was probably never surpassed. By the time the hymn was finished the storm was hushed. The remainder of the services were well adapted to sustain the elevated feeling which had been produced; and the benediction with which the good man dismissed the flock was universally received with streaming eyes, and hearts overflowing with tenderness and love.

Rev. James Caughey, a noted Methodist evangelist, relates a case where he was preaching day after day, with no distinct results, until one night, just as the audience were about to retire, a terrific thunderstorm burst upon the place. The windows of the church were unusually large, and they appeared all in a blaze, from the effect of the lightning. The storm raged in fury; and one of the preachers began to exhort, and wielded with power that passage in the eleventh Psalm, — "Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup.” Thus, while God thundered and lightened outside, his minister did the same within. It was a scene of terror and awful grandeur, and sinners began to tremble and weep and pray. Still the storm continued, with peals of loudest thunder, which were re-echoed by successive appeals to the consciences of men. Nothing was heard but, —

“See the storm of vengeance gathering

O'er the path you dare to tread;

Hear the awful thunder rolling.

Loud and louder, o'er your head!”

And this was attended by the deep and subdued groans of sinners, slain by the sword of the Spirit. It was a help in time of need; and victory from the Lord of hosts began with that hour.

It has been said of Dr. Nettleton that he was pre-eminently a wise man; able to see the relations and tendencies of things, and to adapt means to ends, so as seldom to fail of an object desired. A distinguished clergyman who had been intimately acquainted with his history for several years, and who had noticed with admiration the skill with which he formed and executed his plans for doing good, exclaimed, “He is the wisest man I ever knew."

Intense yearning for souls is a condition of powerful preaching. Whitfield was remarkable for this. It spoke in his manner, his looks, his words. "I love those that thunder out the word," he said; " the Christian world is in a deep sleep, and nothing but a loud voice can awaken them out of it.” A certain baronet said to a friend, “Mr. B., this Whitfield is truly a great man, — he is the founder of a new religion."

“A new religion, sir!” exclaimed Mr. B.

“Yes," said the baronet, “what do you call it?"

“Nothing," rejoined the other, "but the old religion revived with energy, and heated as if the minister really meant what he said.”

It is said that Whitfield would sometimes rise in the pulpit, and for a minute or two, looking in silence around his vast audience, as if salvation or perdition teemed in every cast of his eye, would burst into tears; while the swift contagion reached every heart that could feel, and dimmed every eye that could weep. There was pleading for souls in his very looks. And it was the gushing of a full heart.

Of Rowland Hill it is related that while once preaching, he was carried away by the impetuous rush of his feelings, and raising himself to his full stature, he exclaimed, “Beware! I am in earnest! Men call me an enthusiast; but I am not; mine are words of truth and soberness. When I first came into this part of the country, I was walking on yonder hill. I saw a gravel pit fall in and bury three human beings alive. I lifted up my voice for help, so loud that 1 was heard in the town below, a distance of a mile. Help came and rescued two of the poor sufferers. No one called me an enthusiast then. And when I see eternal destruction ready to fall upon poor sinners, and about to entomb them irrecoverably in an . eternal mass of woe, and call on them to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast? "

In Vincent's little book "God's terrible Voice in the City," is a description of the preaching of the few faithful ministers who stayed at their posts during the great plague and fire in London. These men lifted up their voices like a trumpet, and spared not. Every sermon might be their last. Graves were lying open around them; life seemed now not merely a handbreadth, but a hairbreadth; death was nearer now than ever; eternity stood out in all its vast reality; souls were felt to be precious; opportunities were no longer to be trifled away; every hour possessed a value beyond the wealth of kingdoms; the world was now a passing, vanishing shadow; and man's days on earth had been cut down from threescore years and ten into the twinkling of an eye.

“Oh, how they preached! No polished periods, no learned arguments, no labored paragraphs chilled their appeals, or rendered their discourses unintelligible. No fear of man, no love of popular applause, no over-scrupulous dread of strong expressions, no fear of excitement or enthusiasm, prevented them ,from pouring out the whole fervor of their hearts, that yearned with tenderness unutterable over dying souls." "Old Time," says Vincent, “seemed to stand at the head of the pulpit, with his great scythe, saying, with a hoarse voice, ' Work while it is called today: at night I will mow thee down!‘ Grim Death seemed to stand at the side of the pulpit with his sharp arrow, saying, 'Do thou shoot God's arrows, or I will shoot mine!' The Grave seemed to lie open at the foot of the pulpit, saying —

“Here thou must lie —

Mouth stopped,

Breath gone,

And silent in the dust.”

Truly were ministers in earnest then — no coldness, no languor, no studied oratory. They preached as dying men to dying men, in very deed. And what an added power there would be in our pulpits if all ministers preached like this!

If a minister, then, through the blessing of God, would be powerful in converting men, let him eschew the idea of preaching for the mere purpose of preaching. Let him prepare and preach his discourses with a straight aim! Prettiness is not in place in the pulpit; certainly not in a revival. It is not the highest ideal of a sermon that it is precise and dignified, and offends nobody's taste! Foster complained of Blair that he kept his thoughts so long standing to be dressed, that they were chilled through before leaving his hands. Sermons may be elaborated till they are spoiled. They may be so "perfect" as to be perfectly worthless! They may be

“…correctly cold, and correctly dull,

Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null.”

Tholuck would call these literary properties “dried sweetmeats in a glass jar." Such sermons are good enough to lay away as embalmed beauties, but they are totally unfit to be preached to a living congregation. Souls never cry out under them. When ministers are full of the Holy Ghost they do not preach thus. They cannot do it. The moment they are in earnest they preach in any way rather than this. And many a revival has been checked, and prematurely brought to a close, by not preaching plain, and homely, and solemn truths in a weighty and downright earnest manner.

Especially will one skilled in soul-saving press the consciences of his hearers. Rather than

“Smooth down the stubborn text to ears polite,

And snugly keep damnation out of sight,"

he will rally all his strength and lay siege to the sinner, and thunder at the door of the heart. When Popilius, by order of the Roman senate, required Antiochus to withdraw his army from the King of Egypt, and he desired time to deliberate, the haughty Roman drew a circle about him with his wand, and said, “In hoc stans delibera;" — “In this standing-place deliberate!" i. e., Answer before you move! Thus must men be pressed to an immediate surrender to the demands of Almighty God.

Above all, if one would have power over men he must himself be holy. He must hold himself in close contact with the Source of power. A sermon may be constructed after the best models; it may conform to all the rules of homiletics; the text may be suitable and fruitful; the plan may be faultless; the execution may discover genius and judgment; there may be accurate analysis and strong reasoning; proof and motive; solidity and beauty; logic and passion; argument direct and indirect; perspicuity, purity, correctness, propriety, precision; description, antithesis, metaphor, allegory, comparison; motives from goodness, motives from happiness, motives from self-love; appeals to the sense of the beautiful, the sense of right, to the affections, the passions, the emotions; — a sermon may be all this, and yet that very sermon, even though it fell from the lips of a prince of pulpit oratory, were as powerless in the renewal of a soul as in raising the dead, if unaccompanied by the omnipotent energy of the Holy Ghost.

"O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!"

Chapter 12: PRAYER AND REVIVALS.

REVIVALS are born of prayer.  The prayers of Elijah wrought a reformation in Israel, and prevented a perpetual going away into idolatry. Mourning over the prevailing declension, and seeing that nothing short of severe judgments would save the guilty nation, he prayed that it might not rain; and God shut up the heavens for the space of three years and six months. When the people relented and were properly humbled, he prayed again, and the awful calamity was turned back.

At a later day, the prayers of the good King Hezekiah were the means of reclaiming the nation from the brink of destruction. The monstrous impieties of his father Ahaz, had culminated in cutting to pieces the sacred utensils of the house of God, and shutting up its doors; while idol shrines were built in every city of Judah. These Hezekiah destroyed. And then he opened the house of God, and had the priests reconsecrated, and assembled all Israel, and they held a fourteen days' meeting, and separated themselves from their sins. Thus the Lord "hearkened unto Hezekiah, and healed the people."

Coming to the Pentecostal refreshing, we find it preceded by more than a week's special and earnest supplications to God for the promised Spirit.

There is also a volume of meaning in that proposal of the apostles to the first Christians, when they called them to the choice of deacons: “But we will give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Prayer, they doubtless meant, in the high and holy sense of the word. They sought strength for their work, and wisdom rightly to divide the word of truth to every man, and holy love to give fervency, fidelity, and power to their ministrations.

The first ministers, therefore, were eminently men of prayer; they lived at the footstool of the throne of grace. Of the apostle James it is said that after his death his knees were found to be callous, like a camel's knees, from his much kneeling. The patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, reformers, were the mighty men they were because they had callous knees.

Gregory of Nazianzen speaks for the early Christians, in his exclamation touching the defeat of the emperor's wicked schemes: “How many myriads and squadrons of men were there whom we, by our simple praying, and God willing, discomfited."

“From our closet to the church: from our knees to the pulpit," was the motto of several of the Reformers.

John Knox was a man so famous for his power in prayer that bloody Queen Mary used to say she feared his prayers more than all the armies of Europe. And events showed that she had reason to do it. He often was in such an agony for the deliverance of his country that he could not sleep. He had a place in his garden where he used to go to pray. One night he and several friends were praying together, and as they prayed, Knox spoke and said that deliverance had come. He could not tell what had happened, but he felt that something had taken place, for God had heard their prayers. The next news they had was that Mary was dead.

Here is an example of how John Knox prayed: “O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die! “ Then a pause of hushed stillness; when again the petition broke forth: “O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die!" Once more all was voiceless; when, with a yet intenser pathos, the thrice-repeated intercession struggled forth: “O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die!” And God gave him Scotland, a land and church of noble Christian loyalty to Christ and his crown.

Luther would sometimes pray with such humble boldness as to lead him to lay down a promise before God, and say, “Now Lord, there is thy word; if thou dost not keep it I will never believe thee again!“  A spy upon Luther followed him to a hotel, and slept in a room adjacent to that of the Reformer. He told his employer next day that Luther prayed nearly all night, and that he could never conquer a man who prayed like that.

On a certain occasion, a messenger was sent to Luther to inform him that Melancthon was dying.

He at once hastened to his sick-bed, and found him presenting the usual premonitory symptoms of death. He mournfully bent over him; and sobbing, gave utterance to a sorrowful exclamation. It roused Melancthon from his stupor; he looked into the face of Luther, and said, “O Luther, is this you? Why don't you let me depart in peace?" "We can't spare you yet, Philip," was the reply. And turning round, he threw himself upon his knees, and wrestled with God for his recovery for upwards of an hour. He went from his knees to the bed, and took his friend by the hand. Again, he said, “Dear Luther, why don't you let me depart in peace?" " No, no, Philip, we cannot spare you yet from the field of labor,” was the reply. He then ordered some soup, and when pressed to take it, he declined, saying again: “Dear Luther, why will you not let me go home, and be at rest?" "We cannot spare you yet, Philip," was the reply. He then added: “Philip, take this soup, or I will excommunicate you!" He took the soup, and soon commenced to grow better; and finally regained his wonted health, and labored for years afterwards in the cause of the Reformation. When Luther returned home he said to his wife, “God gave me back my brother Melancthon in direct answer to prayer.”

The good John Welsh, of Ayr, Scotland, whose harvests of souls were so great, from the beginning of his ministry to its close, reckoned the day ill-spent if he staid less than seven or eight hours before the throne in fervent prayer. On going to rest he used to lay a plaid above his bedclothes, so that when he arose to his night-prayers he might cover himself with it. Sometimes he would retire to the church, which was at a little distance from the town, and “not find it an irksome solitude to pass the whole night there in prayer."

Mr. Bruce, about the time of Welsh's removal to Ayr, commenced his ministry in Edinburgh. Kirkton describes the power of his preaching in the following words: “He made always an earthquake under his hearers, and rarely preached but to a weeping auditory," A little incident lets us at once into the secret of Bruce's power and pathos in the pulpit. At Larbot, where he frequently preached, he used after the first service to retire to a chamber near the church. Some noblemen having once come far to hear him, became impatient from his delay in returning to church, and sent the bell-man to hearken at his door if there were any appearance of his coming. The bell-man returned and said, “I think he will not come out this day, at all; for I hear him always saying to another, that he cannot go except the other go with him; and I don't hear the other answer him a word.”

In other places in this book we have referred to the wonderful revival in Shotts, (Scotland) in 1630. We recur to it for the purpose of showing the relation which prayer had to it. The circumstance that several of the then persecuted ministers would take a part in the solemn services having become generally known, a vast concourse of godly persons assembled on this occasion from all quarters of the country, and several days were spent in social prayer, preparatory to the service. In the evening, instead of retiring to rest, the multitude divided themselves into little bands, and spent the whole night in supplication and praise. The Monday was consecrated to thanksgiving, a practice not then common, and proved the great day of the feast. After much entreaty, John Livingston, chaplain to the Countess of Wigtown, a young man and not ordained, agreed to preach. He had spent the night in prayer and conference — but as the hour of assembling approached, his heart quailed at the thought of ad dressing so many aged and experienced saints, and he actually fled from the duty he had undertaken. But just as the kirk of Shotts was vanishing from his view, these words, “Was I ever a barren wilderness or a land of darkness?" were borne in upon his mind with such force as compelled him to return to the work. He took for his text Ezekiel, xxxvi. 25, 26 — and discoursed with power for about two hours. Five hundred conversions were believed to have occurred under that one sermon, thus prefaced by prayer.

Of Richard Baxter it has been said that he stained his study-walls with praying breath; and after becoming thus anointed with the unction of the Holy Ghost, he sent a river of living water over Kidderminster.

Whitfield once thus prayed, “O Lord, give me souls or take my soul." After much closet-pleading “he once went to the devil's fair and took more than a thousand souls out of the paw of the lion in a single day."

In reading the marvels wrought by Whitfield, the Wesleys, and their co-workers, we do not sufficiently appreciate the straits to which they were driven, and how utterly they were thrown back on the Almighty, and made to take hold upon his strength. Denied the pulpits, and discarded by all except “ the common people," their souls caught new zeal and devotion from new extremities and new trials. Wesley describes a scene which reminds us of the preparatory Pentecostal baptism by which the apostles were “endued with power from on high" for their mission. He says, January 1, 1739, that Messrs. Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitfield, and his brother Charles were present with him at a love-feast in Fetter-lane, with about sixty of their brethren. About three in the morning, as they were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon them, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as they had recovered a little from the awe and amazement which the presence of the divine Majesty had inspired, they broke out with one voice, “We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord." Whitfield exclaims: “It was a Pentecostal season, indeed." And he adds respecting these “Society meetings," that "sometimes whole nights were spent in prayer. Often have we been filled as with new wine, and often have I seen them overwhelmed with the divine Presence, and cry out, “Will God, indeed, dwell with men upon earth? How dreadful is this place! This is no other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven!”

Edwards' powerful sermon at Enfield is remarked upon in the next previous chapter of this work. Bishop Simpson once asked the writer for an opinion as to the secret of that sermon's astonishing effect upon the audience. The same question has often been asked. Upon a careful analysis it is not difficult to point out several elements of the highest effectiveness. But back of this there was a mighty agency, discoverable in the fact that some Christians in the vicinity had become alarmed lest while God was blessing other places, he should in anger pass them by; and so they met on the evening preceding the preaching of that sermon and spent the whole night in agonizing prayer.

And Edwards himself reveals the same source of power in those days, when he says, “The spirit of those that have been in distress for the souls of others, so far as I can discern, seems not to be different from that of the apostle who travailed for souls, and was ready to wish himself accursed from Christ for them: and that of the Psalmist in saying, ' Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law.’"

Prayers like these would be expected to produce astonishing results.

The connection between prayer and the more modern revivals is equally apparent. About 1705, a quarterly concert of prayer began to be observed by some churches in Connecticut and New Jersey. At a later period, a family concert of prayer was adopted somewhat extensively, and attended weekly, from September to March, on Saturday evening, the hour after sun-setting; and from March to September, on Sabbath evening, the hour before sun-setting. And later still, was observed a sacramental concert which returned with the regular seasons of preparation for the Lord's Supper; and the female prayer-meetings which are now so common, and which have been attended with most important results to the church. These meetings for prayer, in the forms above mentioned, were adapted to inspire Christians with that spirit which Mr. Mills so often enjoined, "Let us live looking upwards.”

Drs. Griffin, of N. J., Spring, of N. Y., and Hyde, of Massachusetts, about this time narrative the power of prayer in connection with revivals.

Dr. Lyman Beecher thus writes from Connecticut: “One day, old Deacon Miller, a holy man, sent for me. He was sick in bed. 'I am glad to see you,' he said. ‘I know how you feel. You must not be discouraged. I lie on my bed at night and pray for you. I've been praying for all in the village. I begin at one end, and go into the next house, and then into the next, till I have gone round; and then I have not prayed enough, so I begin and go round again.' I went home expecting; and word was sent from the Springs that the Lord had come down on the previous Sunday, and that a meeting was appointed for Tuesday evening, and that I must not disappoint them.. Then I went to the Northwest, and the Lord was there; then to Ammigansett, and the Lord was there; and the flood was rolling all around. Oh what a time that was! There were a hundred converts, nearly, who most of them stood fast."

It is well known that many of the most successful evangelists, since the time of Whitfield and the Wesleys, have been noted for their prayerfulness. One says of Nettleton that he was eminently a man o{ prayer. Entering the pulpit, or the inquiring meeting, one could witness a holy calm, and indescribable, almost unearthly solemnity and earnestness of manner, which gave evidence of his having come directly from the "mount of communion." Jabez Swan, and Jacob Knapp, and others, will recur to many minds as examples of power in prayer

Rev. Dr. Steele, (of Boston) says of Mr. Earle: “His philosophy of conversion is exactly that of Dr. Durbin. No soul is ever converted except as some believer has painfully travailed in birth for that soul. Hence, there will be simultaneous conversions when many Christians are pleading with God in pain and distress of soul. The church is the bride of Christ and the mother of his children. Hence Christians are exhorted to wrestle with God till they are bowed to the dust with a burden for the salvation of lost men. They are told, even though they talk much of "the higher life," and " rest in Jesus," that there is a radical defect in their piety if they are content with easy prayers and with the delicious ecstasies of divine love, and are not in tears and pain of heart, pulling souls out of the fire. And Mr. Earle himself lives in keeping with that which he enjoins upon others.”

We mention several other specific cases showing how revivals originate in prayer. An aged saint once came to his pastor at night and said, “We are about to have a revival." He was asked why he knew so. His answer was, “I went into the stable, to take care of my cattle two hours ago, and there the Lord has kept me in prayer until just now. And I feel that we are going to be revived." It was the commencement of a revival. Says a pastor, “an aged man, venerated for piety, once came to my study. Though poor in this world, he was rich in faith. In prayer he seemed to converse with God.  “I have called to say to you, my dear pastor,” said he, “that the Lord is in the midst of us, and we shall all soon see the effect of his presence." I had observed a marked solemnity in the congregation, but nothing more. I asked the venerable man why he felt so. His reply was as follows: “Since twelve o'clock last night the Spirit of God has been so upon me that I have been unable to do anything but pray, and to rejoice in the prospect of a blessed refreshing from the presence of the Lord." And that was the commencement of the first revival in my present field of labor; a field which has been very often watered with the rain and dew of heaven."

Mr. Finney says, “I once knew a minister who had a revival fourteen winters in succession. I did not know how to account for it till I saw one of his members get up in a prayer meeting and make a confession. 'Brethren,' said he, 'I have been long in the habit of praying every Saturday night till after midnight, for the descent of the Holy Ghost among us. And now, brethren, (and he began to weep) I confess that I have neglected it for two or three weeks.' The secret was out. That minister had a praying church."

A minister once stated that in a certain town there had been no revival for many years, and the church was nearly run out, and desolation reigned unbroken. There lived in a retired part of the town, an aged man, a blacksmith by trade, and of so stammering a tongue that it was painful to hear him speak. On one Friday, as he was at work in his shop, his mind became greatly exercised about the state of the church, and of the impenitent. His agony became so great that he was induced to lay by his work, lock the shop door, and spend the afternoon in prayer. He prevailed, and on the Sabbath called on the minister, and desired him to appoint a conference meeting. After some hesitation the minister consented, observing, however, that he feared but few would attend. He appointed it at a large private house. When the evening came, more assembled than could be accommodated in the house. All was silent for a time, until one man broke out in tears, and said, if anyone could pray he begged him to pray for him. Another followed, and another, and still another, until it was found that persons from every quarter of the town, were under deep conviction. And what was remarkable, they all dated their conviction at the hour when the old man was praying in his shop. A powerful revival followed. Thus this old stammering man prevailed, and, as a prince, had power with God.

A pious sick man in the western part of New York used to pray for the preachers and churches of his acquaintance daily, at set hours. In his diary were found entries like this, “Today I have been enabled to offer the prayer of faith for a revival in such a church.” So through the list. It is said that each church was soon enjoying a revival, and nearly in the order of time named in the diary.

A revival often springs up without any apparent cause. But if inquiry were duly made, among perhaps the obscure members of the church, it would be found that some man or woman or child had been agonizing for that revival, and was expecting it. A writer in one of the religious journals gives the following fact: “A brother in the ministry, whose parish was some ten miles from mine, once called on me and gave me an account of a remarkable revival among his people. Scores had been converted, and many were awakened. Having detailed facts and incidents full of interest, he added, “What is most singular is, the work is wholly unaccountable." He had himself felt no unusual solicitude, nor been moved to special fervor in prayer or preaching; nor did he know that any member of his church had been specially quickened. All at once this cloud overhung his people, and the rain began to descend. “I have seen," said he, “many revivals, but never one like this, preceded by no sign. It is," he added, “an unaccountable revival." The work continued and increased till more than a hundred were added to the church. From time to time I saw him, and heard of the progress of the work. Months passed away; the revival had ceased; the converts had been baptized; and that pastor called on me again. "I have found," said he, “the secret of the revival." “Ah," said I, full of curiosity; “what is it?" "There is,” he replied, “a sister in my church who has been for years an invalid, confined to her bed. She lives several miles from the village, and the other day I rode out to see her. As I sat by her bed-side, she said, 'You have had a precious revival.' 'We have,' I answered. 'I knew it was coming,’ said she.” And then she proceeded to give her pastor an account of the burden that had been upon her heart for weeks, and of the manner in which her soul had gone forth in prayer for the unconverted, in midnight hours; and before the interview closed, the pastor felt that the unaccountable revival was accounted for.

The vital relation between prayer and revivals has often been illustrated in our institutions of learning. We have elsewhere spoken of colleges and seminaries as connected with revivals. An instance is here appended of the earnest prayers amid which such institutions were founded. It is also worthy of record as an example of the power of prayer. We find the fact stated in the life of Dr. Nathaniel Kendrick, as connected with the early struggles of the institution at Hamilton, N. Y., now Madison University. The Board meetings were not so much seasons for the dry discussion of business as of prayer, inasmuch as from their great extremity they were driven to ask counsel of God, and implore deliverance from embarrassment through his interposition. At one meeting of the Board, which probably occurred in 1826, most of the time was spent in earnest prayer and strong crying to God for direction. The Board felt the need of a suitable edifice to accommodate the growing school; and besides, it was in a great measure destitute of funds to aid those whom they had received as beneficiaries. At the meeting now referred to, the only vote passed was one appointing a day of fasting and prayer some weeks from that session. It was a dark hour, but just the darkness that precedes the cheerful light of day. For those prayers were taking effect. They disturbed the sleep of Mr. Nicholas Brown, of Providence, R. I., and he dreamed nightly about Hamilton. And so he came to his pastor. Dr. Gano, and said, ' They are in trouble at Hamilton, I think; for I can't sleep nights; my dreams about them disturb me; do you know their condition? ' Upon being told that he was ignorant of their exact condition, Mr. Brown said, you must go and see; and upon this Dr. Gano made the journey to Hamilton, at Mr. Brown's expense; and finding out their great strait, and reporting it to Mr. Brown, he at once sent them $1000, which relieved their perplexity. Thus much for Hamilton. We mention some other cases.

Mary Lyon had faith enough to found Holyoke Seminary; and she followed it with prayer enough to secure a special revival of religion in it every year of her life. The secret of those wonderful revivals was never understood till after her death; when they were found, in almost every instance, to have been preceded by special seasons of persevering secret prayer.

In the year 1823, chiefly as the result of extensive correspondence, the last Thursday of February in each year was agreed upon "as the day for special supplication that God would pour from on high his Spirit upon our Colleges and Seminaries of learning." And what have been some of the results? In the years 1824 and 1825 revivals were experienced in five different Colleges; in 1826, in six Colleges; in 1831, in nineteen, resulting in the conversion of more than three hundred and fifty students. In one of the Colleges it is stated that a revival commenced on the very day of the Concert. In 1835, not less than eighteen revivals were reported by different Colleges, and some one hundred and fifty or two hundred hopeful conversions. Fourteen Colleges, a few years since, experienced revivals commencing just subsequent to the last Thursday of February, and it is particularly observable that those reported occur usually about this time. It has been estimated that fifteen hundred students were converted during the first fifteen years subsequent to the observance of the Concert of prayer for Colleges and Seminaries of learning.

The Week of Prayer, with the beginning of every year, in which the churches throughout Christendom now quite generally unite, also furnishes most striking exemplifications of the revival results of prayer. Nothing is more obvious than the marked increase of religious interest following this worldwide concert of prayer.

The revival of 1857-8 originated and progressed, to a most remarkable extent, through the instrumentality of prayer. It was, eminently, a revival of prayer. This was perhaps the leading characteristic. It was repeatedly noticed that assemblies were more interested in the prayers than the addresses. They came together, not to hear learned, elegant, or eloquent appeals, but to unite in prayer. The great attraction was prayer. The great business was intercession.

We have thus noticed some few points of obvious connection between prayer and revivals; and are prepared to endorse the words of one who says, “I very much doubt whether, if we could see the connection between prayer and the glorious revivals that have blessed this land, we should find one that was not definitely prayed for by some earnest wrestlers, or wrestler, at the throne of grace."

The conclusion is patent and important. If there are to be more revivals there must be more prayer. Writing of the revival of 1857 and 8, Dr. J. W. Alexander says, the lesson which it should teach us is the duty of being instant in supplication for the larger and more glorious effusion of the Holy Spirit. Acting on this, we shall behold new marvels of love." And he adds that we must pray as we have never yet prayed. "Our want of success is due to our coldness of desire and niggardliness of request. If we were but under a deep and solemn impression of the divine power, bounty, and faithfulness, how should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight! "

We need yet to learn, for all we talk so much about it, the power there is in prayer. God indeed purposed the prevalence of revivals, but it is also his purpose to bestow these manifold blessings upon the condition of his being " inquired of" to do it for us. Prayer, thus, is of the nature of cause and effect. It enters into the plan and structure of the universe. The remark of some one is not too strong, that God would as soon give rain without the clouds or the electric fluid, as revivals without the prayers of his people. To dispense with either the material or the moral instrumentality, were alike to sever the established order of sequences, and violate the ordinances of heaven.

What a privilege is here placed in the hands of believers! And what a responsibility! How awful our guilt if this power of prayer be slighted and neglected! What right have we to leave unappropriated and unapplied, a power which God has appointed for the salvation of men, and which heaven and earth now wait to see us put forth for the world's redemption? What “inhumanity to man," and what want of sympathy with Christ, are chargeable upon us if we fail to offer the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous in such manner and measure as God requires!

From this time forth, then, let us more than ever "give ourselves to prayer." Let us learn over again, with the teachableness of little children, what is believing prayer, and persevering prayer, and importunate prayer, and united prayer, and consistent prayer.

Dr. Backus, former President of Hamilton College, when on his death-bed, was told that he could not live to exceed half an hour. " Is that so? " said the great and good man, “then take me out of my bed, and place me upon my knees, and let me spend that time in calling on God for the salvation of the world!“ His request was complied with, and his last breath was spent in praying for the conversion of his fellowmen. He died upon his knees. This is the earnest, heart-absorbing spirit of prayer that the church needs to have. And why should not all Christian’s feel the same interest in a great gathering in of souls as was felt by this dying saint? Where there is such praying, a benediction is on the way.

"O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!"

Chapter 13: SINGING AND REVIVALS.

LET it not be thought that this is an unimportant topic. Singing is an auxiliary to prayer, and to all Christian work.

The power of music all acknowledge. At a critical moment during the battle of Waterloo, Wellington discovered that the Forty-second Highlanders began to waver. On inquiry as to the cause of an occurrence so unusual, he was informed that the band had ceased to play. Instantly he gave the command that the pipes be played in full force. The effect was magical. The wavering Highlanders rallied; and solid and impregnable as the fort of Gibraltar, with tattered colors and blood-drenched swords, they went forth to win the hard-contested field.

There are reasons for the effectiveness of music. One is found in the well-known influence of mental associations. Cowper says:

“Wherever I have heard

A kindred melody, the scene revives,

And with it all its pleasures and its pains."

This is not poetic exaggeration, but simple truth. The power of such associations can scarcely be overestimated. We all understand it. There are melodies which enter into the tenderest memories of childhood, and have gone singing to us in all life's way, like the airy voice of some guardian angel. They sigh in our sickness, and syllable our joy.

We could specify some special hymns which have grown in our hearts. We sang this one, perhaps, the morning that our child died. We sang that one on the Sabbath evening, when, after many years, the family were once more all together. “There be hymns that were sung while the mother lay a dying; that were sung when the child, just converted, was filling the family with the joy of Christ new-born, and laid not now in a manger, but in a heart. And thus, sprung from a wondrous life, they lead a life yet more wonderful. When they first come to us they are like the single strokes of a bell, ringing down to us from above; but, at length, a single hymn becomes a whole chime of bells, mingling and discoursing to us the harmonies of a life's Christian experience."

In this stirring of the mind by the force of mental associations, we see a reason for the power of song.

There is a deeper philosophy in it. God is pleased to accompany it with the energy of the Holy Spirit. He made us to be moved by singing. The soul is a many-stringed lyre, which he touches while working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Hence, the influence of sacred song is to refresh, stimulate, and ennoble the mind. It is calculated, in a very eminent degree, to lift above mean associations, and inspire emotions which are felt in their full intensity where the Lord is worshipped in the beauty of holiness.

Moreover; God often employs it to send conviction to a soul. A wild boy in the streets of London was one day arrested by the voice of singing. He turned aside, and found two or three Christians singing religious hymns. One line struck his mind, and hung to it, so that he went away repeating it. That line was, “Stop, poor sinner, stop and think, before you farther go.”  Years afterward, in the city of New York, he tried to be an infidel; and for this purpose went to hear Robert Dale Owen. But still there rung in his ears, “Stop, poor sinner, stop and think.” Never could he forget those words. That man is now a Christian, and an earnest worker for the souls of others."

Accordingly, God has always sanctioned the service of song. When at his fiat the world sprang into existence, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” When Israel had passed through the Red Sea on dry land, and saw their, enemies engulfed in the returning waves, they all sang praises in an anthem composed by Miriam, the sister of Moses. On the seventh day of compassing the walls of Jericho, when the priests blew with the trumpets in an extraordinary manner, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall of the city fell down flat. The ark was brought back from its banishment with extraordinary shouting and singing of the whole congregation of Israel.

How joyfully does David cry, “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King, sing praises; for God is the King of all the earth, sing ye praises with understanding. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee!" Nor did either David or Solomon, the two most illustrious monarchs that ever sat upon the Jewish throne, deem it beneath their dignity to take music under their personal management. It is plain to see what interest was attached to exercises of praise, in the dedication of the first temple. The glorious symbol of the divine presence was not given when the ark was deposited in the holy of holies, but at the glad moment when the song arose, “For his mercy endureth forever!" Then it was that the "glory of the Lord filled the house,” and shone so transcendently that even "the priests Could not stand to minister." This is not to be regarded merely as a part of the splendid ceremonies of a typical dispensation. There is a moral lesson in it as distinct and significant as that which attends the dedicatory prayer.

With the introduction of the new economy, most of the ancient forms of divine worship were abolished; but singing, though simplified and cast in a new mould, was still retained. Our Saviour gave it the sanction of his own example, no doubt, in his ministry; and at the institution of -the Supper they sang a hymn, (including himself,) before he went out to the agonies of the garden and the cross. "Oh! but for one moment even, to have sat transfixed, and to have listened to the hymn that Christ sang, and to the singing! But the olive-trees did not hear his murmured notes more clearly than, rapt in imagination, we have heard them!"

We may be sure that there was singing at that meeting of days before the outpouring of the Pentecostal blessing. And we can see the exceeding fitness in their chanting under such circumstances, the second psalm, for example: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The Kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings: be instructed, ye Judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little: Blessed are all they that put their trust in him!"

After the Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit, the infant church is seen daily in the temple praising God. A little onward, we hear the Apostle Paul exhorting the churches “to sing with the Spirit and with the understanding;"  “to be filled with the Spirit, speaking to themselves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, singing and making melody in their hearts unto the Lord; " and to " sing with grace in their hearts; " thus “teaching and admonishing” one another, and in “everything giving thanks.”

Singing will also be prominent in heaven. There, in the world of perfection, they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvellous are thy works. Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints!” The ascriptions of rapt souls, throughout the Apocalypse, take the form of musical utterance. Those vocal acclamations of palm-bearing saints must be regarded as psalms, songs, hymns, or anthems. Thus must we judge of the Four, and the Four-and-twenty. They sing a “new song,” saying, “Thou art worthy," "for thou wast slain!" The subsequent voice of the “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands," is the voice of song. The angels and elders, and four living ones, who fall before the throne on their faces, and worship God, cannot but utter the voice of celestial psalmody, as they say: “Amen, Blessing and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto God forever and ever."

Though we have no specimens of the Hymns and Spiritual Songs sung in the primitive times, except the occasional doxologies of the redeemed in the book of Revelation, it cannot be doubted that the Christians used, not only the Psalms of the Old Testament literally, or accommodated to the circumstances of a new and rising church, — but that they had original lays of their own, in which they celebrated the praises of Christ as the Saviour of the world.

In the middle ages, the Roman Catholic and Greek churches adopted singing as an essential part of public worship; but this, like the reading of the Scriptures, was too frequently in an unknown tongue, by an affectation of wisdom to excite the veneration of ignorance, when the learned in their craftiness taught that " Ignorance is the mother of Devotion; " and ignorance was very willing to believe it. And yet there are hymns which, (as one has it,) rose up like birds in the early centuries, and have come flying and singing all the way down to us. Their wing is untired yet, nor is the voice less sweet now than it was a thousand years ago. Though they sometimes disappeared, they never sank; but as engineers for destruction send bombs that, rising high up in wide curves, overleap great spaces and drop down in a distant spot, so God, in times of darkness, seems to have caught up these hymns, spanning long periods of time, and letting them fall at distant eras, not for explosion and wounding, but for healing and consolation. There are crusaders' hymns, that rolled forth their truths upon the oriental air, while a thousand horses' hoofs kept time below, and ten thousand palm-leaves whispered and kept time above! Other hymns, fulfilling the promise of God that his saints should mount up with wings as eagles, have borne up the sorrows, the desires, and the aspirations of the poor, the oppressed, and the persecuted, of Huguenots, of Covenanters, and of Puritans, and winged them to the bosom of God.

At the era of the Reformation, Psalms and Hymns in the native tongue were revived in Germany, England and elsewhere, among the other means of grace of which the people had been for centuries defrauded. Luther was exceedingly fond of music. He would often say to his despondent fellow-workers, “Come, brethren, let us sit down and sing the forty-sixth psalm:  — God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," etc. Bishop Jewell, (1560) speaking of the Reformation and its visible effects, says that nothing helped it more than inviting the people to sing psalms. "Sometimes at Paul's Cross, six thousand persons were sitting together, which was very grievous to the papists.' Richard Baxter says, “It was not the least comfort that I had in the converse of my late dear wife, that our first exercise in the morning and the last in bed at night, was a psalm of praise, till the hearing of others interrupted it. Let those who savor not melody leave others to their different appetites, and be content to be so far strangers to their delights."

John Wesley prided himself upon the singing in his meeting-houses. His brother Charles was a born hymnist. He wrote about 7,000 hymns, nearly all for special occasions. Many were called out by some great public event, some startling religious experience, or some feeling of sorrow or joy. He was habitually indulging his love of lyric poetry. He composed immortal odes as he rode along the highways from town to town, and mob to mob. The whole soul of Charles Wesley, says one, was imbued with poetic genius. His thoughts seemed to bask and revel in rhythm. The variety of his metres (said to be unequalled by any English writer whatever) shows how impulsive were his poetic emotions, and how wonderful his facility in their spontaneous and varied utterance. In the Wesleyan Hymn-book alone they amount to at least twenty-six, and others are found in his other productions. “They march at times like lengthened processions with solemn grandeur; they sweep at other times like chariots of fire through the heavens; they are broken like the sobs of grief at the grave-side, play like the joyful affections of childhood at the hearth, or shout like victors in the fray of the battle-field."

Dr. Curry, in his Life of John Wesley, says, “Aware of the great advantage to be derived from psalmody, he made it an essential part of the devotional service in his chapels. He especially enjoined that the whole congregation should sing; and that (to use his own words) not lolling at ease, or in the indecent posture of sitting, drawling out one word after another, but standing before God, and praising him lustily with a good courage."

Dr. Stevens, in his History of Methodism, says, “It was a necessary condition of the evangelical reformation of the eighteenth century that an improved psalmody should be provided. The necessary psalmody was not only provided as a result of the new movement, but was begun even in anticipation of it. The Wesleys published their first hymnbook as early as 1738, the year in which they date their regenerated life; and the next year, the epoch of Methodism, was signalized by the appearance of their “Hymns and Sacred Poems," two editions of which appeared before its close. And now rapidly followed, year after year, sometimes twice a year, not only new editions of these volumes but new poetic works, which were scattered more extensively than any other of their publications through England, Wales, Ireland, the British West Indies, the North American Provinces, and the United States, till not less than forty-nine poetical publications were enumerated among their literary works; and before Wesley's death a common psalmody, sung mostly to a common music, resounded through all the Methodist chapels of the English and American world. The achievement accomplished by Methodism in this respect is alone one of the most extraordinary historical facts of the last century. Its influence on the popular taste, intellectual as well as moral, could not fail to be incalculably great."

While giving the masses divine songs, continues Stevens, Wesley also endeavored to make them sing. He was continually urging his preachers to set the example, and not only exhort the people to follow it, but to induce them to learn the science of music.

“Preach frequently on singing," he said, in the Minutes of the Conference; “suit the tune to the words;” "do not suffer the people to sing too slow; let the women sing their parts alone; let no man sing with them, unless he understands the notes, and sings the bass." “Exhort everyone in the congregation to sing; in every large society let them learn to sing; recommend our Tune-book everywhere.” As early as 1742 he issued "A collection of Tunes set to Music, as sung at the Foundry." He published a small work on "The Grounds of Vocal Music." Three other publications followed these, at intervals, on “Sacred Harmony," adapted to " the voice, harpsichord, and organ."

This Wesleyan singing was a source of great power to early Methodism. Hundreds of hearers who cared not for the preaching, were charmed to the Methodist assemblies by their music. The singing was sometimes heard two miles off.

Whitfield, when once censured for having some of his hymns set to music which was not regarded as sacred, said, “Would you have the devil keep all the good tunes to himself?"

Mrs. Sherwood, who knew Henry Martyn in India, says of him, “He had an uncommonly fine voice, and fine ear; he could sing many fine chants, and a vast variety of hymns and psalms. He would insist upon it that I should sing with him, and he taught me many tunes, all of which were afterwards brought into requisition; and when fatigued himself, would make me sit by his couch and practice these hymns."

Jonathan Edwards, at Northampton, writes "There has of late been a great increase of singing.” Again he says, “I believe it to have been one fruit of the extraordinary degrees of the sweet and joyful influences of the Spirit of God which have been lately given, that there has appeared such a disposition to abound in that duty, (of singing) and frequently to fall into this divine exercise, not only in appointed solemn meetings, but when Christians occasionally meet together at each other's houses." And when objectors found fault with this abounding in singing, he said, “To complain of this, is to be much like the Pharisees, who were disgusted when the multitude of the disciples began to rejoice, and with loud voices to praise God, and cry Hosanna when Christ was entering into Jerusalem."

One who was a hearer at Kilsyth, (Scotland), in a revival, said, “When the notes of the congregation began to swell in a psalm of confession, I felt as if it would have hearted me, — as if I must give way altogether."

The singing in Dr. Nettleton's meetings was a marked feature. The same might be said of those of later evangelists.

Rev. E. P. Hammond makes much of hymns. In all his meetings hymn-singing is prominent; all of the hymns setting forth the truth. This hymn-singing attracts the young to the meetings; it rivets the truths on their minds; it adds greatly to the liveliness of the meetings.

During the revival of 1857 the demand for cheap hymn books was enormous; and in the meetings there was no dragging, but all sang with the Spirit; and the excellent effect was often remarked upon.

Numerous examples might be cited illustrative of the power of singing in revivals. Here is one which came under the writer's observation during a series of meetings in his church. Two worldly young men, who were acting as clerks in a post-office close to the meeting-house, often spoke to each other of the sweet music ringing out on the evening air. "Let us go in and hear the singing,” said one. "Agreed," said the other; and entering, both were converted.

An actress in one of the English provincial theatres, was one day passing through the streets of the town, when her attention was attracted by the sound of voices. Curiosity prompted her to look in at an open door. It was a social meeting; and at the moment of her observation they were singing:

“Depth of mercy! can there be

Mercy still reserved for me?"

The tune was sweet and simple, and the words riveted her attention. She stood motionless during a prayer which was offered. But the words of the hymn followed her. She could not banish them from her mind, and at last she resolved to procure the book which contained it. She did so, and the more she read it, the more decided her serious impressions became. She attended the ministry of the gospel, read her hitherto neglected and despised Bible, and bowed herself in humility and faith before him whose mercy she now felt she needed. She determined at once and forever to renounce her profession; and for some little time excused herself from appearing on the stage, without, however, disclosing her change of sentiments, or making known her resolution finally to leave it. The manager of the theatre called upon her one morning, and requested her to sustain the principal character in a new play which was to be performed the next week for his benefit. Unable to resist his solicitations, she promised to appear, and on the appointed evening went to the theatre. The character she assumed required her, on her first entrance, to sing a song; and when the curtain drew up, the orchestra immediately began the accompaniment. But she stood as if lost in thought, and as one forgetting all around her, and her own situation. The music ceased, but she did not sing; and supposing her to be overcome by embarrassment, the band again commenced. A second time they paused for her to begin, and still she did not open her lips. A third time the air was played, and then, with clasped hands, and eyes suffused with tears, she sang, not the words of the song, but

“Depth of mercy! can there be

Mercy still reserved for me? "

The performance was suddenly ended. Many ridiculed, though some were induced from that memorable night to “consider their ways," and to reflect on the wonderful power of that religion which changed her heart and her life.

It is related that as a revival was in progress in a certain village, a profane tavern-keeper swore he would never be found among the fools who were running to the meetings. On hearing, however, of the particularly pleasing mode of singing, his curiosity was excited, and he said he did not know but he might go and hear the singing, but, with an imprecation, that he would never hear a word of the sermon. As soon as the hymn before sermon was sung, he leaned forward and secured both ears against the sermon with his forefingers. Happening to withdraw one of his fingers, the words “he that hath ears to hear let him hear," pronounced with great solemnity, entered the ear that was open and struck him with irresistible force. He kept his hand from returning to the ear, and, feeling an impression he had never known before, presently withdrew the other finger, and hearkened with deep attention to the discourse which followed. He became truly pious, and after some years' faithful service, died rejoicing in the hope of glory.

While a powerful revival meeting was progressing in the main room of “Burton's Theatre," N. Y., and just as the prayer had concluded, and all was silence, the sound of distant singing was heard; when the leader, (Mr. Beecher) said, “Brethren, do you hear that? Stop a moment and listen to that: that is the singing in the old bar-room of this theatre!  Let us spend two minutes in silent prayer and thanksgiving!" With one accord 3,000 heads were bowed; and for two minutes no sound was heard save the singing from the old bar-room, and the ripple of the gas at the footlights. No more impressive scene was ever witnessed within those walls.

It is probable that during the revival of 1857-8, the hymn beginning,

“Just as I am, without one plea,"

was the means of bringing peace to many hundreds of troubled souls. In Mr. Hammond's meetings, the hymn,

“Nothing either great or small.

Nothing, sinner, no,"

has been equally blessed of the Spirit.

Probably there are thousands in our churches who can recall the effect upon their minds, many years ago, of the singing of such hymns as these:

“O turn ye, O turn ye, for why will ye die:”

“Now the Saviour standeth pleading:“

“O, there will be mourning:“

“Come trembling sinner in whose breast, etc,"

Who can estimate the influence, in seasons of declension, of such hymns as the following:

“Saviour, visit thy plantation;"

“The Lord into his garden comes:”

" Is this the kind return;"

"Return, O wanderer, to thy home.”

Of more modern hymns, mention may be made of such as these, which have been greatly beneficial in the awakening or guidance of souls;

“Lord, I hear of showers of blessings:”

“Come to Jesus:”

“I am coming to the cross:”

“Weeping soul, no longer mourn:”

"What means this eager anxious throng;"

“Today the Saviour calls."

We answer a few questions which may arise as to singing in revivals.

Should there be much singing in the incipient stages of a revival? No. The meetings then are for confession and contrition. A bowed, self-abased, aching heart cannot sing. Neither can one that is in an agony for the souls of others. Singing then is an impertinence. In Gethsemane there were but tears, and sighs and groans. Mr. Finney has some excellent remarks here: “I never knew a singing revival to amount to much. It dissipates feeling. The agonizing spirit of prayer does not lead people to sing. There is a time for everything; a time to sing, and a time to pray. But if I know what it is to travail In birth for souls, Christians never feel less like singing than when they have the spirit of prayer for sinners."

Are special singing-books desirable? On some accounts they are. All the congregation should be supplied with the hymns and tunes, and it can be done more cheaply by little books. The particular hymn, too, is readily and quickly found; which is quite important.

Should the choir be expected to sing? If the services are in the main audience-room, it may be desirable. But they should act only as leaders of the congregation, — not as monopolizers of the singing. The leader, also, should be thoroughly in sympathy with the preacher, and discard all idea of exhibitions of skill. It is important, in all revival meetings, that at the outset there should be a mutual understanding as to the matter of choir-help.

Should the organ be used? A melodeon is better, as being generally closer to the audience, and more readily handled. As a rule, perhaps, it is better to dispense with instrumental music.

What should be the character of the singing? This depends much upon the circumstances. If it is in a low state of the church, it should generally be grave, penitential and subdued. If the feeling is high, and converts are multiplying, it may be more joyous and demonstrative. It should always, however, be prompt and spirited, never dull and prosy. Above all, let those who sing feel what they utter, and so plainly speak the words as to edify one another; — as Paul says, singing "with the understanding;" i. e., so as to be understood. We append a few other hints.

Let the leader be in front of the congregation, before the pulpit, and nearly on a level with the pews.

Use a given hymn always with the same tune.

Use a book in which the hymn and tune are upon one page.

The connection of the hymn should not be broken by interludes, or long pauses.

The verses in any one singing should be few; seldom more than two or three.

The singing of a familiar hymn will often be more spirited if the reading of it be omitted.

Use tunes that are strictly congregational in their structure.

If new tunes cannot be learned, use such as are already familiar.

Let the sentiment of the hymns, in any given meeting, be uniform from beginning to end. Keep to the "key note," in this respect, throughout; otherwise the mind is turned off from the main point of the meeting.

Let everything bend to the one object of awakening, edifying and saving men; and do it " heartily, as unto the Lord."

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!"

Chapter 14: PERSONAL EFFORT AND REVIVALS.

EVERY attentive reader of the New Testament perceives how the gospel at first won its way. The converts told the good news to their friends, who, in turn, believed and influenced others.

Take this narrative: "John stood, and two of his disciples: and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God ! and they followed Jesus. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, we have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him. Follow me. Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? Philip saith unto him, come and see.''

Thus a company of believers gathered about our Lord Jesus, and from him radiated abroad throughout Judea. The absence of any distinct organization is most observable. And in the formation of the church at Jerusalem, how plain that everything centred, not in an organic body, but in the individual convert.

Speaking of this first church organization. Dr. William Adams says, "It formed itself, as it were. It was a collection of believing men and women who were baptized in testimony of their Christian belief. All the organization there was about it, appears to have been as exigencies arose, necessities required, and proprieties prompted. What Christ enjoined, was that every creature should believe on him as a personal Redeemer ; and that all who believe on him should observe his ordinances, baptism and the Lord's supper. Nothing beyond this do we find in the record. Our Lord always individualizes men. Faith in the heart of the particular man is the essential thing. AH those who believed on him after this manner, gravitating towards a common centre, naturally and voluntarily associated together; and so particular churches were formed and organized, by the election of their own officials, and the administration of their own rules. So simply lies the whole matter in the New Testament. The first Christian church was in that city where the gospel was first preached. It consisted of those resident in that place who, in the comprehensive but laconic phrase of Scripture, called on the name of the Lord Jesus."

When persecution burst upon this society of believers, they were all scattered abroad except the apostles, who remained at Jerusalem. And we read that " they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.'' We are also told of a few years' results of this individual heralding of the new faith. '' Now they that were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Gyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord."

The great commission is virtually repeated in the last chapter of Revelation, and in how broad a form!” The Spirit and the bride say come; and let him that heareth say come." The idea is that of a crier, proclaiming good news as he runs; and every one that hears, takes up and repeats the tidings, the sound echoing from hill to valley, till all do hear. Here, then, is a universal command to every one that receives the gospel, to make it known to others.

Soon after this, the simple apostolic idea of an associated company of believers, was lost in a "clergy- churchy The church idea of Christianity culminated in ripe Romanism. Henceforward, religion was sacerdotal; and there was a monopoly of the word of life. Ecclesiastics were everything; the laity nothing. A masterpiece of organism, known as THE Church, assumes the care of souls, and dispenses salvation. As Isaac Taylor has it, this 'church idea,' lays its hold on all that are born within its circle, and it seals them as the property of the church, and treats them as passive subjects — not individually indeed, but seriatim rather — in its own appointed manner, as they arrive at each epoch of their mortal journey from the womb to the grave. It daily engages for their safety and welfare, (certain conditions complied with,) and it sends them along authoritatively countersigned and endorsed, into the unseen world.

With the first of the revival periods which we have chronicled, there was a return, in part, to the primitive idea of a church of Christ. Individual Christians began again to stand forth. After a while, however. Protestantism crystallized into Formalism; and “Churchianity” instead of Christianity again prevailed. Then came the reformers of the Reformation ; and a religion began to be preached, by which individuals should be saved, instead of being " left to freeze to death in the arms of an establishment."

Here, as one has remarked, is the core of all modern evangelism: self-conviction on the part of individual members of Christ's church, prompting to produce the same convictions in others. And from this centre have sprung all those achievements by which Christianity has been so rapidly and extensively diffused in our times. Two things cannot be conceived In more decided contrast than the church idea of Christianity in mediaeval history, and the true idea so potent in the primitive churches, and greatly restored in these last days.

Nor can one fail to see a deep divine philosophy in the arrangement by which men are individualized in all the things of salvation. Plainly this is after God's order. It is no disparagement of the ministry to make prominent the laity. True, the churches must have leaders; but a general is not to be left to fight alone. Men must be specially commissioned and ordained to dispense the word and ordinances; but there is abundant room for all non-commissioned officers, — the great body of believers. When a house is on fire, it were a poor plea for inaction in a by- stander to say "I am not a regular fireman; I have no commission ; putting out fires does not devolve on me." His business is to rush in and by all means deliver those in peril.

The truth is, since a church is only a company of individuals, the obligation to reclaim a lost world presses on all alike. It is not the work of a great corporate body, but of believers personally. The pastor is to act; but so must the church-members. Each one is responsible for the duties of the station where he is placed. He cannot work by proxy. His own growth in grace and spiritual enjoyment depend upon his fidelity and activity. The eye and the hand, the brain and the lungs, have different offices. But by what reason or law is the hand expected to be more faithful than the foot, or the ear, or the tongue? And there is no reason why an apostle, an evangelist, a pastor should be more faithful in his official way than a merchant, a physician, a lawyer, a housewife should be in their sphere. All alike are to act with prime reference to the honor of Christ in the extension of his church through the earth.

In all the revivals which we have sketched, this lay element was effective. Is it to be supposed that Baxter accomplished the great work we have spoken of without helpers? Let him speak on this point: "One advantage which I had was through the zeal and diligence of the godly people of the place who thirsted after the salvation of their neighbors, and were in private my assistants ; and being dispersed through the town, they were ready in almost all companies, to repress seducing words, and to justify godliness, and convince, reprove, and exhort men according to their needs; and also to teach them how to pray, and to help them to sanctify the Lord's day. Those people that had none in their families who could pray or repeat the sermons, went to the houses of their neighbors who could do it, and joined with them." Should we expect anything less than a great work in such a case?

What worlds of self-help were in those words which formed the hope and motto of the first Methodists: — "All at it; always at it ;altogether at it!"

It has often been observed that a chief element in John Wesley's power was in organizing and inspiring his fellow helpers. What could he have done without them? Stevens says, with reference to the year 1742: ''The evangelical itinerants directed their course toward the mining populations of the north and west, prepared for mobs, and, if need be, for martyrdom. Hitherto Wesley's lay “helpers” had been but "exhorters!' and readers and " expounders” of the Scriptures ; but “lay preaching” was now formally begun.''

Half a century later, we meet a fine example in the unofficial personal exertion of the brothers Robert and James Alexander Haldane, of Scotland. Robert sold his princely estate for seventy thousand guineas, and appropriated the avails to the promotion of religion, excepting only his family expenses, which he limited to five hundred pounds annually.

In May, 1801, James Haldane proceeded on a preaching tour in the south of Scotland, and for four months preached every Lord's day to large congregations in the open air, and under a tent, and every day in the neighboring towns and villages. And everywhere his preaching was acceptable, and often was it seen that the word was with power. He was for half a century a revival lay-preacher, in the best sense of the term. Eternity alone will disclose the fruits of the loving spontaneous labors of these men.

In more modern revivals this element of voluntary effort is observable. Dr. E. Porter, in his Letters on Revivals, says: — “During the revivals of religion which prevailed at the beginning of this century, there was but one sentiment among ministers respecting the indispensable importance of using more than the ‘ordinary means' for the conversion of sinners. In Connecticut several intelligent and pious laymen, fired with a passion for saving souls, united and went from town to town holding protracted meetings for prayer and exhortation, several days in a place. They visited fifty places, in each of which a precious work of grace followed, and many souls were hopefully converted."

The lay element may be said to have been the feature of the revival of 1857-60. In a letter from Scotland, Rev. A. Robinson has the following: "It has been said that lay agency has done more harm than good in the successful promotion of revival work. My experience is the reverse. I have seen indisputable proof that the Lord greatly honored and blessed the zealous self-denying efforts of the Christian people. These young men deserve the highest praise, and I bear this testimony, that I have seen literally nothing of that overweening conceit and spiritual pride, so natural, and so much feared by some good men. It was said the church would be inundated by a very deluge of heresies, as the fruit of such promiscuous and uneducated exhortation. It was more practiced here than elsewhere, and yet we have been troubled with no heresies."

It is well known that the Fulton street prayer-meeting, N. Y., was a movement of business men, the same being true of similar meetings all through the land.

In a letter of that date. Rev. Theo. L. Cuyler thus refers to another form of lay-work, which was common: “Since the revival commenced, our active members have arranged a systematic visiting of the impenitent, conversing with them or addressing them by kind letters. Each one selects one or more to look after. He makes himself responsible for those persons. The best Sabbath school teachers visit their scholars during the week. In this way the pastor is powerfully aided — the working piety of the church is developed, and many are reached and brought to the evening services for prayer. Every evening meeting witnesses new cases of inquiry, and new converts to Christ. I earnestly wish that every church would adopt these two lines of action and carry them both out far more thoroughly than we have done. Are not fighting sin and saving souls the two great purposes for which churches exist?"

It is important to remark that lay-effort ought to be intelligently employed. It is every one's duty to be "wise" in winning souls, to the greatest possible extent.

We give a few hints and suggestions which may help those anxious to do most good in the Master's work.

Parents should influence their children. Especially in a revival should they earnestly and lovingly converse and pray with them. If they show anxiety, they should carefully guard it from being dissipated. If they rejoice in hope, they should instruct and encourage them. Never is paternal neglect more culpable than during a revival of religion.

Sisters and brothers may exert a blessed influence. A young man on examination for ordination, stated that he was converted in a revival. Upon being asked as to the special means, he replied: “My sister's tears broke my heart; she was so anxious for my salvation.”

Family visitation is another means of usefulness. Even the apostles "ceased not to teach and to preach in every house," as well as “ in the temple."

Religions conversation is a means which all can use. And the power of "words fitly spoken" is often exemplified in revivals of religion.

Prayer is an instrumentality available to all. A feeble sick man, on his bed, can draw down a revival. When every other expedient fails, supplications to the Almighty are still left to us.

Watch the best opportunity to approach one; especially waiting till disengaged from any employment, so as not to be deemed obtrusive; and when the person is in good temper.

In the main, speak to one when alone. Most persons are timid, or too proud, to converse on religion in the company of others.

Seize the time when some providence favors your designs; as sickness, or any affliction.

Do not procrastinate. Make an opportunity if you cannot find one. Death, and God's blessed Spirit, may not wait for your "right time“ to come.

Aim constantly at saving men. It is a great enterprise to win souls to Christ; and when it ceases to be of secondary importance to the mass of professing Christians, salvation will come out of Zion.

Realize the worth of souls. A soul! a soul! Think of its capacity, duration, value. Look upon sinners as under sentence of death. Ask when you see the vast procession of mankind moving toward the grave, where will they be a few years hence? — and then go out to try to save them.

Be filled with the Spirit. This will make one's face to shine as did Moses'. Men will see and feel that we have been with God. A man once went from a revival-meeting into a manufactory, to speak to some of the operatives. All felt that he was there on solemn business. A young lady made a trifling remark, and laughed. He looked at her with a feeling of grief. She stopped, her thread broke, she became agitated, and soon sat down overcome with emotion. She had been stricken with a sense of sin; and conviction seized the rest of the hands, so that the astonished owner proposed to stop work and have a prayer-meeting; and nearly all in the establishment were converted.

Especially work while the Lord works. President Edwards says of the revival in his time, that more was done in one week then, than in seven years before.

And yet, if believers will but arouse themselves to God's work, the lack of revivals will not be complained of They will exist already.

This lack of personal exertion, is the great want of the time. The vast majority of professors of religion are ready to fortify themselves with excuses against all appeals to a positive Christian life. A minister once urged a good farmer in his church to come out and cooperate in the meetings; and now, particularly, to be at one of special appointment. He assented; and as the pastor left, thinking he had gained a point, the farmer shouted, “If I do not come I'll send a hand!" This suits very many. Here is a man who has plenty of money, and is disposed to take life easy; and he says "I'll give money; but you do the work: — I'll send a hand.” Here is a woman with plenty of time at her command, and when you urge her to visit the poor and sick, she says, “O, I do not exactly like to go myself; I'll subscribe, — I'll send a hand!" Christian parents lay over on the Sunday school teachers the work of praying with and for their children: saying, “It's a trial to me; a cross; but you do it. — I'll send a hand." And here is a man of wealth whose son God evidently calls to preach, or to go a missionary: but the fatherly pride choosing for that son some lucrative profession, the parent answers, “I cannot give up my son; but I'll give money to educate some other one for the ministry: — I'll send a hand." And so this excusing goes on; forgetful of the fact that God never yet delegated one man to do another's work; but everywhere, and in every way, calls for personal service.

The most frequent plea is want of ability; to which we answer, there are many ways in which you can exert a positive influence for Christ, and within your present capacity. In the days of Bonaparte the yeomanry of a certain district of France came together with their muskets and swords to repel an invasion; and an old woman was seen among them with a broomstick. “Janet," said the colonel, “what are you doing here with that?" She replied, “I am come to take part with the volunteers.” “But how can you take part with a broomstick?" inquired the colonel. “Sir," said she, “I can show which side I am on."

Who has not the ability in many ways of showing what side he is on?

It is worthwhile for the reader to ask, “Is my influence for or against a revival?" Mr. Cuyler somewhere asks, “Who votes against a revival?" And this is his forcible answer: The Christian who neglects his duty practically votes against a revival. He who is more busy in making money than in doing good, is opposing the advent of Christ into our churches. When I see a vacant seat in the prayer-meeting, or an empty pew on an unpleasant Sabbath, I say to myself, "There is a vote against a revival." When I see a Sunday school class left without a teacher, I say, “There is a vote against a revival!" When I hear of church-members quitting their places of prayer for the opera-house or the ball-room, I count up so many votes against God's coming among us. Drinking usages hinder revivals. Injustice to God's poor hinders a revival. Inconsistent Christians are just so many dams to obstruct the river of salvation. O, for less voting against revivals, and more of decided purpose, under God, to turn many unto righteousness!

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!"

Chapter 15: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND REVIVALS.

SUNDAY schools are the most encouraging fields of revival effort. They have been so regarded from the date of their origin.

During the last half of the i8th century they arose in England, and became an ally in evangelistic movements. As early as 1769, a young Methodist, Hannah Ball, established a Sunday school in Wycombe, and was instrumental in training many children in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Doubtless similar attempts were made before that time, but they were only anticipations of the modern institution of Sunday schools. In 1781, while another Methodist young woman (afterwards the wife of the celebrated lay preacher, Samuel Bradburn) was conversing in Gloucester with Robert Raikes, (a benevolent citizen of that town and publisher of the Gloucester Journal), he pointed to groups of neglected children in the street, and asked: “What can we do for them?" She answered: “Let us teach them to read, and take them to church!" They immediately proceeded to try the suggestion, and he and his female friend attended the first company of Sunday scholars to the church, exposed to the comments and laughter of the populace as they passed along with their ragged procession.

Wesley's earliest notice of Sunday schools is in his Journal for July 18, 1784, the year of Raikes’ published account of them. He speaks of them prophetically: "I find these schools springing up wherever I go; perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of; who knows but some of these schools may be nurseries for Christians? " They were introduced into the metropolis by Rowland Hill, in 1786. Wesley mentions in 1786, that five hundred and fifty children were taught in the Sunday school of his society at Bolton, and the next year he found there eight hundred, taught by eighty "masters." Richard Rodda, one of his preachers, records that, in 1786, he formed a Sunday school in Chester, and soon had nearly seven hundred children "under regular masters." Wesley wrote to him in the beginning of 1787:" I am glad you have taken in hand that blessed work of setting up Sunday schools in Chester. It seems these will be one great means of reviving religion throughout the nation, I wonder Satan has not yet sent out some able champion against them."

A Presbyterian minister in Scotland, narrating the means blessed in the modern revivals there, says, with reference to Sunday schools, “On these the blessing of God has abundantly rested. Frequently has it been observed that in revivals the Bible classes and Sunday schools have been deeply affected; they have felt the first influence of God's grace, and the great work has sometimes commenced with them."

Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, in his “Forty Years in Sunday Schools," has furnished some very interesting facts as to the agency of Sunday schools in gathering souls to Christ. Looking back to the commencement of his ministry in Philadelphia, he says, “five years' ministry at St. Paul's prepared me with a knowledge and experience which were brought into operation in the successful founding and establishment of the Church of the Epiphany in the same city. That church was founded upon the Sunday-school. Its energy and strength were given to the schools. And they were blessed with many very precious evidences of the Lord's presence and grace, and large numbers from them were gathered to the table of the Lord, and already many young ministers are in the Lord's work who have gone forth from them."

He farther says: “In the 31 years that I have been a city pastor, I have received to the Lord's table over three hundred youth of both sexes directly from the Sunday school. And I have no doubt I might with equal truth add two hundred more, uniting with us from the resulting influence of previous Sunday school instruction. An early revival in St. Paul's church in Philadelphia commenced in our weekly Sunday school prayer-meeting. The exercises closed, and the people were dismissed, when, rising from my place, I counted sixteen of our youth still on their knees on the floor. I went from one to the other with a few words of affectionate and pastoral conversation, and appointed Monday evening as an occasion for their special assembly. On the next day I gave notice of this appointment, and over seventy youth met me for instruction and prayer. It was the divine commencement of a very remarkable work of mercy. The result was the addition of over one hundred, mostly from the Sunday school, to the communion of the church. The subjects of that work are now active and earnest Christians, in the maturity of grace."

In the United States the wonderful revivals at the beginning of the present century were closely identified with Sunday schools. Rev. Archibald Maclay, pastor of the Mulberry street Baptist church, New York, states that a year after that church was formed (in 1809) a Sunday school was established; and a little later three others. He says that for ten years they had almost a perpetual revival, and that at least 500 souls were hopefully converted during that time. The connection between this Sunday school movement and the large ingathering is most suggestive. Eighteen of the converts from the school were licensed to preach, and become ministers of the gospel.

Dr. Francis Wayland wrote, in 1842, "Perhaps few means have been attended with more invariably good effect than the establishment of Bible classes. I perhaps should not err in saying that revivals have more commonly commenced in Bible classes than anywhere else,"

Dr. W. B. Sprague, about the same time says, “Revivals have of late more frequently commenced in Bible classes and Sunday schools than anywhere else; and not a few instances have occurred, in which all or nearly all the members of a class have become hopefully the subjects of renewing grace; while the work, which had its beginning here, has extended on the right hand and on the left, till multitudes have experienced its quickening and renovating influence." "It is a well-known fact," he adds, “that the records of Sabbath schools and the records of revivals are to a great extent identified — that the noblest triumphs of God's grace have often been found in these nurseries of knowledge, virtue and piety.”

In a certain school in New England, in 1832, sixty-one out of fifteen classes of 160 pupils, under sixteen years of age, became hopefully pious. In six classes, embracing seventy-one young persons over sixteen years of age, sixty indulged hope that they had passed from death unto life, making in all one hundred and twenty-one who became hopefully pious in a school of 231 scholars. In a County Sabbath-school Society, in Mass., embracing ten parishes, and the same number of schools, the Lord smiled upon this institution, in 1834-5, and shed down upon it the influence of his Holy Spirit. Six schools were blessed with powerful revivals of religion. Three hundred scholars from these ten schools made a profession during the year. It was supposed the whole number that passed from death to life was over four hundred.

It is an interesting circumstance that special efforts to establish Sunday schools all through New York and Brooklyn, were in active progress when the revival of 1857 and 1858 commenced. Up to this time there was no organized systematic effort to establish and sustain mission schools. It was the spontaneous effort of individuals. A Sunday school Union had existed for years; but it contemplated little more than a bond of union among the schools, and made no aggressive movements. Early in the year 1855, this organization was given up, and a new one formed, with special reference to the missionary work; and it became an important element in the revival that soon followed.

The intimate connection between Sunday schools and revivals is obvious upon the least reflection. Probably there are in the United States some four millions of scholars in Sunday schools, with some eight hundred thousand teachers. Can anything be more important for the cause of the Redeemer than revivals of pure religion among these mighty hosts of children and youth? What an amount of sanctified influence were thereby secured!

Several things are necessary in order to the greatest efficiency of the Sunday school movement. There must be an adequate teaching force; the attendance and improvement of the young; and purity of doctrine in the instruction given. Now only by revivals can we have a sufficient number of competent teachers, — themselves taught of God, and full of the Spirit, able and willing to discharge their high trusts. Revivals give to teachers a tender concern for their pupils, right views of their relations, and the power of a constraining love.

They also serve greatly to increase the number of those taught. Under a strong heavenly influence, teachers go out into the highways and hedges and compel the wanderers to come in; and parents gladly cooperate in filling up the school; while the true end of all instruction, the conversion and sanctification of those who are taught, is gained by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the truth "as it is in Jesus " is imparted; for it is in a cold, not a revived state of the churches, that doctrines are corrupted.

It must also be remembered, that the pupils in the Sabbath schools are generally in the morning of life, and that a revival in numbering them as its subjects, secures the influence of nearly a whole life to the cause of truth and piety. When an individual comes into the kingdom with the full freshness and vigor of youth, there is occasion for joy not merely because, from an heir of hell one has become an heir of heaven, but because there is reason to hope for a useful life in the advancement of the cause of Christ. When, therefore, the dews ,of divine grace descend copiously upon Sabbath schools, there is an amount of influence secured in favor of the interests of the church which outruns all calculation.

Then look upon the Sunday school as an auxiliary in the cause of revivals. We hesitate not to say that a more important influence for good, or one more actually effective upon the character of men, (except always the ministry and the churches, as such,) cannot be found than is seen to-day in the organized and active Sunday school forces of Christendom. Here is at once the material and the enginery of revivals.

What wise pastor, if he desire a revival, does not look first to his Sunday school? There are the hearts most apt to catch anew the heavenly flame, and hands most ready for sanctified service. And there are found scores and hundreds of souls in the most impressible and hopeful condition of life. The present generation of youthful pastors, missionaries, teachers, and earnest workers of any kind, are chiefly the precious fruits of that which was scattered as a handful of corn in early Sunday school efforts.

There is another point of view in which the influence of Sabbath schools is helpful to revivals. We refer to the fact that they contribute to right views of religious truth, and to the purity of revivals. Dr. Archibald Alexander has somewhere said: “In a revival, it makes the greatest difference in the world whether the people have been carefully taught, or are ignorant of the truths of the Bible. The impression on the minds of the people in such a work is the exact counterpart of the truth; just as the impression on the wax corresponds to the seal.” In this respect the results of Sunday schools are invaluable.

Viewed in whatever light, then, who can resist the conviction that through our Sunday schools are to be gathered the largest harvests of glory in the salvation of men? There is no rival operation. There is no comparable instrument. There is no agency to take the place of this great work, even in the most partial degree.

As to the conditions of increased effectiveness in soul-saving, on the part of the Sunday school, several things must be secured.

First of all, ministers and churches must have a more lively interest in this department of Christian activity. The churches, as such, must come to feel that this is the most hopeful scheme for the welfare of the people; and so give to it their sympathies, prayers and co-operation.

And ministers must view Sunday school work as not separable from, but a part of their appointed ministry. " The teachers of my school," remarked a pastor, “are but parts of myself: like the fingers of a power-press, they take up the very pages which I desire to impress, and smoothly and quietly spread them out before me, prepared to receive the blessed communications from on high which I long to stamp on their minds and hearts forever." This is a correct view. Thus the minister reaches out the arms of his strength over his congregation, inciting all the members to activity, and bringing them into harmony and mutual, affection.

Thus, too, is the minister himself benefited. There is great force in what has been remarked as to the personal advantage coming to the pastor who is closely linked with his school. It makes him more effective and real in every other department of his duty. It is the very manufacture which the raw material of a multitude of ministers requires to transform them into useful, appropriate, and practical agents in the Lord's house. It mortalizes their ministry, by bringing them down to a practical shape and compelling the cultivation of a common-sense habit of teaching and address. It converts their abstractions into realities, and by making them the "teachers of babes" makes them the more intelligible and useful teachers for all. "When will ministers cease to try to feed their sheep out of horse-racks?" said a plain man once, in expressing his dissatisfaction with a sermon which he could not understand. There would be less of this if they were used to feeding the lambs.

There must be more of the aggressive spirit in our Sunday schools. It is too often the case that a .school is making no earnest efforts, to lengthen its borders; it is content in its own sweet enjoyment, which is foreign to the spirit of the gospel.

Every Sunday school should feel bound to "go up and possess the land,” and rest not so long as one child is unembraced in the arms of this comprehensive effort. Where children cannot be gathered into the church schools proper, mission schools should be established. Indeed, this is a mighty Sunday school agency, and not yet half developed.

Were the aggressive spirit fully to seize our schools, what extensive revivals would follow!

As another condition of increased efficiency, doctrinal truth must be more thoroughly taught in our schools. It is alarming to think what an amount of crude and false instruction is given to classes every week. We fear that even the three “R’s” of Wm. Jay, are not insisted upon; — R, — ruined by sin: R, — redeemed by Christ: R, — regenerated by the Spirit.

At a Sunday school Convention the following conversation occurred between Mr. A. and Mr. B.

A. What does that text, “Feeding lambs," mean?

B. I suppose it refers to the little children.

A. To all little children?

B. Yes, I have so regarded it.

A. If you call them the lambs of Christ, do you not imply that they are either regenerate ones, or that they are holy, or in a saved state, without regeneration?

B. It strikes me you are correct.

A. Lambs are simply young sheep: they are sheep, and Christ applies that term to regenerate ones. You might call children kids, but certainly until made Christians by God's renewing spirit, they are not lambs.

B. What, then, did Christ mean when he directed Peter to feed his lambs?

A. Evidently the weak, uninstructed, inexperienced ones of his flock, including of course those of tender

years. One recently converted is a lamb, be the age what it may. A lamb is one young in experience — not necessarily young in years.

Here the conversation ended. Mr. A. was correct; but how often does Mr. B. find embodiment in Sunday school "talks," not to say instructions, even from those who are "leaders" in this branch of effort! How easy, as we see from this, to inculcate the idea that children are little “innocent" things, and not needing conversion! And worse yet, that if they are "good" they will go to heaven! — pure legalism!

Just now doctrinal teaching is decried, and the demand is, "Teach practical truths!" But what reliance can be placed upon practical teaching that has not its origin in a clear, strong, sharply cut system of doctrine? Who will vouch for its orthodoxy?

And all this outcry against teaching the “dry dogmas" of religion is as utterly unphilosophical as it is mischievous. As Dr. Gulliver remarks, if this talk were to be taken literally, it would show about as much sense as a demand that shipmasters should never be taught the principles' of navigation; that farmers should only be anxious to learn what their grandfathers did; that physicians should practice by a “ Dispensatory; " and parents govern their children according to "The Mother's Own Book.”

Dr. Arnot, of Scotland, in his Evangelical Alliance address, in N. Y. in 1873, says with reference to the modern theorizers, “For our convenience they have compressed the essence of their system into a phrase that is compact and portable. 'A grain of charity is worth a ton of dogma.' The maxim is well constructed, and its meaning is by no means obscure. If it were true I should have no fault to find with it. But as I have seen a mechanic, after the rule applied to his work gave unequivocal decision on its form, turning the rule round and trying it the other way, lest some mistake should occur; so in this important matter before us, it may be of use to express the same maxim in another form, lest any fallacy should be left lurking unobserved in its folds; thus " a small stream flowing on the ground is worth acres of clouds careering in the sky." In this form the maxim is arrant nonsense; but the two forms express an identical meaning, like the opposite terms of an algebraic equation. Wanting clouds above us, there could be no streams, great or small, flowing at our feet; so, wanting dogma — that is, doctrine revealed by God and received by man — there could be no charity. They scorn dogma and laud charity^ — that is, they vilify the clouds and sing paeans to running streams!”

Again; there must be better aims and the wiser use of means, in our Sunday schools in order to their greater effectiveness in soul-saving. The teacher's thought and plan must be that of a real and living messenger of Christ to a little congregation, whose eternity may depend upon this immediate relation and opportunity.

And the expectation should be that the pupil will be converted. This expectation is the teacher's right; because it is the subject of the divine promise; and what God has promised we have a right to expect.

Of course this assumes the piety, and the deep piety, of the teacher. The piety, we say, for what is a Sunday school teacher but a minister of God? In the very nature of the employment it is a work for Christians and for them alone. It is really a ministry for souls in eternal things, and at a period of life when the impressions received are very permanent and effectual. As well have unconverted ministers as unconverted Sunday school teachers. In either case it would be the blind leading the blind. Of all qualifications in a teacher, certainly the essential one is regeneration.

It also assumes that there is deep piety on the part of the teacher. Teachers should not only be alive to God, but lively for God. They imperatively need a real living experience of the power of the truth, and the love of the word of God, and an earnest desire for the salvation of those to whom it is offered, with a real behef that they can be, and ought to be saved, under Its ministration. This constitutes the adaptation of the ministry in the pulpit, and is equally the instrument of blessing for precious souls In the Sunday school.

Besides this right aim, there must be the wise use of means for the conversion of the unrenewed.

Personal conversation is one of these means. There is much talking at scholars that is not adapted to their conversion; but the wise use of personal appeal is a most cogent and effective agency.

Letter writing is often still better. Where, from many causes, conversation cannot be had under favorable circumstances, a loving, earnest, tender epistle directed to the pupil will produce the desired result. No teacher should leave this method untried.

Visiting from house to house not only their own scholars, but the family and the neighbors also, is a method which wise and earnest teachers will not neglect. There are hundreds upon hundreds of country towns, thinly settled, and with perhaps not population enough to sustain preaching, where Sunday school teachers are the only human reliance for the salvation of the inhabitants. God grant them grace to be missionaries to the destitute I

Positive identification with the pupils is a mighty advantage. The scholars will then feel that their teachers are their true friends, and will be ready to yield to their influence.

Prayer with the classes is a powerful instrumentality. Are there not many classes who never heard the voice of their teacher in supplication in their behalf? Are there not many pastors who never knelt with their Sunday school classes and prayed with them? What an agency is here unused! The writer of this work has few more pleasant memories than of those seasons when he has bowed with his Sunday school, class by class, so far as time would allow, while they knelt around him. At times he has requested the scholars, at the close of the lesson, to come around him near the platform, and kneel in prayer: almost the whole school complying with the request. On such occasions heaven has come nigh to earth!

Bringing the scholars to the pastor is an incalculable advantage. Especially in times of a revival, when many are awakened, is the pastor by this means very greatly assisted, and the teacher's influence is greatly extended. A good minister will always encourage this practice, and wise teachers will use their best endeavors towards the same end.

Meetings for conversation and prayer can hardly be held too often. Frequently when it is not suspected religious concern is felt by a scholar; and in this way it is developed. Many a revival in the writer's congregation has begun thus. At first, perhaps, there was but one inquirer; but that was a living coal, and though a little matter, it kindled a great fire.

The Sunday school and Revivals! How interesting a topic! What glory from thence already fills the heavenly courts! What numbers of teachers and scholars are there rejoicing together before God! What numbers are on their way thither! And what encouragements to hope that, as the ages go on, the church of Christ will more and more, through this source clothe herself with souls “ as with an ornament, and bind them on her as a bride doeth!"

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!”

Chapter 16: TREATMENT OF INQUIRERS.

"PASTORS of inexperience, and even skilled workers, are often perplexed as to the treatment of inquirers. And the matter is one of exceeding importance. Most responsible is the office of an adviser under such interesting circumstances. It is perhaps the crisis of a soul. The mind is in a state to be easily influenced, and the subject is one involving all the interests of eternity. Of what vast consequence may a word, a suggestion, an item of advice now be!

The condition of a soul then is like that of a sick person when in the critical period, and the case is balancing between life and death. And the concern of the spiritual adviser may well be greater than that of the physician, who watches each symptom, and anxiously counts the number of the pulse-beats in a minute!

Nor can it be doubted that false instruction is often given, even by those who have been taught of God. Not every Christian is fit to talk to inquirers. The warm-hearted and enthusiastic may mislead; and if inexperienced and unintelligent, it were well for them to leave this service to other hands. A master workman in spiritual things, once said, “the more experience I have, and the more I observe the workings of things, the more suspicious I am of the attempts of even good people to direct their anxious friends."

Yet directions to inquirers should be given. It IS an error of some to limit all advice to this: “Repent and believe." Can the sinner do this before understanding at least something of what it is? A large part of the conduct of a revival consists in counselling the awakened; and on the manner in which this duty is performed, as much as anything, depend both the character of the work and its results. How important, therefore, that ministers and members be so enlightened as to be safe guides on this momentous subject; that thus they may never put in jeopardy the interests of those whom they attempt to direct.

Perhaps we can best discuss the subject by proposing and answering several questions.

1. What are some of the methods of ascertaining and approaching inquirers?

Requesting them to call upon the pastor is one of these. Good ministers have always encouraged the anxious to make it known by coming to them for conversation and advice, either singly or together. The practice is every way desirable.

Written requests for prayer, either sent to the pastor at his home, or handed in for presentation at meetings, is another method. This does not identify the inquirers, to a great extent, but it is a useful custom, and greatly resorted to of late in almost all revival meetings. Dr. Payson adopted the plan of having a box at the church-door, in which written requests for prayer were deposited.

Rising for prayer is another method. Half a century ago this became quite common, though some strongly objected to it, especially in large assemblies. The practice, however, has secured quite general sanction, and is common in almost all meetings in times of special interest.

Anxious seats (as they were unfortunately called) became common about the same time. It cannot be said that they met with general approval; and the more conservative pastors strongly discountenanced them.

Coming forward for prayer, {which, is little else than the above,) is very general in revival meetings. We do not see that exception can' be taken to the thing itself, though methods sometimes used to persuade, urge, and almost force attendants thus to present themselves, should not be countenanced. The advantage here claimed is that the person is thus committed to serious things. The objection that “there is great danger, when you persuade a man who is not yet converted, publicly to commit himself, that he will be induced by other than religious feelings and motives to persevere and come into the church, and hang as a dead weight upon the cause,” does not seem to have force. Nor yet again, another, sometimes urged, that this encourages forwardness, ostentation, and rashness. Where discretion is used, we do not see how harm can come from the practice, provided the state of things seems to call for it. It is in place to state that Dr. Nettleton never adopted the anxious seat, nor requested persons to rise in the assembly to be prayed for, or to signify that they had given their hearts to God, or that they had made up their minds to attend to the subject of religion.

Inquiry meetings are now almost universally approved. Dr. Humphrey writes thus: “Among the means which God has signally blessed in carrying forward revivals of religion, meetings for personal conversation with the awakened are found to hold an important place. These meetings are by common consent called inquiry meetings, in distinction from all others — a better name, I think, could not be given them. And in the progress of a powerful revival, when large numbers are in the several stages of alarm and inquiry, they are so essential, that no pastor who would make the most of his strength, can dispense with them. When they were first introduced among the means which God has been pleased to own in the glorious "times of refreshing from his presence," I do not know. In the great revivals at the beginning of the present century, I neither saw nor heard of such inquiry meetings. Indeed, my first acquaintance with them was about 1817, it might be a little earlier, when Mr. Nettleton was in the midst of his remarkable career, going from place to place in the shining armor of his mission, “the Lord working mightily with him," wherever he went. He held inquiry meetings, (anxious meetings as he called them,) and felt that in the midst of a large revival he could not do without them. Other highly favored servants of the Lord, ever since his day, have felt so; and such inquiry meetings as he held are now almost as firmly established, where God pours out his Spirit, as special meetings for prayer."

“The two great objects of an inquiry meeting are, to ascertain the actual state of the revival, and in a very few words to drop into the ear of the inquirer, such advice as seems to be wanted at the moment. Where the number is large, there is no time for extended conversation; but as he passes round, the pastor will ascertain where it is needed, and will reserve such cases for personal interviews elsewhere. The meeting should always be opened with a short prayer, and all should be requested to kneel. Some may regard the posture as a matter of very little consequence; but it is “much every way." It brings down stiff knees, that perhaps have never kneeled before; begets a sacred awe and reverence which pertains to no other posture; and no other posture should be encouraged at such a meeting, where there is room to kneel. In passing round, the minister may either speak to each individual, in a voice not so low but that those who sit next can hear at least a part of what is said, or lower it down to a whisper, so that the individual alone can hear."

What we consider the best method of conducting inquiry meetings is brought out in the above. We add an item or two. The pastor, in these meetings may well make a memorandum of the names of the inquirers; and endeavor to be able to identify each one. It is also an excellent practice when all are kneeling, for the leader to give, to the inquirers words to repeat after him, in the simplest and most direct form of supplication, confession, and self-dedication. We have found this of very great advantage. When any important thought is suggested by the answers elicited, it is well to throw it out to the meeting, as briefly as possible, and then pass on. We always make it a practice, too, to give to inquirers tracts, or pamphlets, adapted either to awaken, or direct, as the case may seem to require. This is of great importance; as reading will tend to fix upon the mind the impression which the conversation may have made, and lead to clearer views of truth and duty.

Invitations to remain after the assembly is dismissed is another method of access to inquirers; though it is apt to lead to the continuance of meetings to unreasonable hours, which, except in the most extreme cases, should be avoided.

The above are some available methods of coming into contact with inquirers.

2. What should be some of the primary objects in dealing with inquirers?

First of all to obtain an exact knowledge of their mental condition. Such points as these should receive attention: What is the true cause of the apparent concern? What has produced it? How long has it been felt? Is there real sincerity? Is there a sense of sin? How much knowledge has this person of scripture truth? Upon what subject is light most needed? Is there genuine conviction, or is it only the temporary excitement of the sympathies and feelings? And is there a fixed determination, or otherwise?

Careful instruction should be another chief object. Truth is the instrument in conversion. Therefore the great thing is to bring truth to bear upon the mind. Difficulties must be cleared up; darkness dissipated; errors removed. Light, light, — this is the great thing required.

Genuine conviction should be a chief object aimed at. There may be conviction enough to bring the sinner to you for counsel, when there is not enough to bring him to Christ for salvation. There should be no superficial work here. Let sin be spread out before the mind. Let the length and breadth of the law be enlarged upon. Get at the conscience; never be drawn aside into either speculations, or doctrinal discussions. Charge home guilt. Show a present condemnation, and an impending peril. Press the duty of immediate repentance, and set forth the awful guilt of unbelief and the rejection of Christ.

The following statement by Dr. Payson, of his aims in meeting inquirers, answers very happily, in its main aspects, the question under consideration. He says: “We should endeavor to bring sinners to the same point to which God would bring them. This point is a complete self-despair and hope in Christ. The former is a pre-requisite to the latter. I therefore aim in the first place to increase their convictions of sins, especially of the great damning sin of unbelief. If they ask, What shall we do? I never dare give them any other answer than that given by Christ, and his apostles: ' Repent, and believe the Gospel.’ I insist much on the character of God; the strictness, extent, and spirituality of his law; the various artifices, deceptions, and excuses of the heart; the false hopes of sinners and hypocrites; the nature of true and false conversion; and the great danger of being deceived. I also frequently warn them of the dreadful consequences of delaying repentance, grieving the Spirit, losing their convictions, or resting on false hopes, like the stony-ground hearers. I labor especially to convince them that all the difficulties which oppose their salvation lie in their own hearts — that Christ is willing to save them — but they are unwilling to be saved in his way and are therefore without excuse. This is a very important point. I have seen none go back who appeared to be truly convinced of this. In addition to this, I say much of the glory, beauty, and sufficiency of Christ, and of the perfect freeness of the blessings which he offers, and endeavor to show them the horrid pride, ingratitude, etc., of neglecting to accept of them."

3. What are some of the errors and obstacles common to inquirers? A prominent one is, that they must make themselves better, and so recommend themselves, in some sense, to the favor of God. They are slow to apprehend that they have but to accept the proffers made in the Gospel.

Hence the legal way of seeking, salvation is universal in the early stages of awakening. For this reason inquirers must be shown the utter futility of their works, and the duty of accepting the finished work of Christ.

Waiting for feeling is another error with inquirers. They often imagine that if only they could have some overwhelming sense of sin, some awful terror, and shed copious tears, then they would be saved. Hence they must be shown that there is no virtue whatever in all their bad feelings. We sometimes put it in this way: Were you in a house on fire, would you make no effort to escape from the devouring element until you felt the flames? If bitten by a rabid animal, would you wait until you felt the spasms before you sought a remedy? If a sick man has enough of pain and a sense of danger to make him willing to take the proffered remedy, he has feeling enough. So if you have feeling enough to cause you to wish to be a Christian, to feel your need of a Saviour, that is feeling enough.

Desiring deeper convictions is similar to the above. And here the sinner must be made to see that all this is but a species of self-righteousness: that he fancies, perhaps unconsciously, that there is some merit in pangs of repentance. Should a stubborn child imagine he is gaining anything by his agony? Shall he pray for more conviction? Does that make him any better? Does his father pity him anymore because he stands out?

Protracted sorrows of mind are often considered necessary by inquirers. They are fearful of finding salvation too soon. It is well, then, to point to the scriptures, and ask: Did you ever find in the Bible a command that you must have this feeling or that feeling before you could believe on Christ? Did our Lord tell Nicodemus to go home and wait until his heart was broken, and then come again and receive life? Did the apostles tell the thousands who were awakened by Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, to wait for further light or further conviction? And have you not erred in supposing that salvation is an emotion, or a feeling, or a series of these, rather than a new life begun in faith?

Waiting for the heart to be changed is much the same thing, "What?" say they, “am I to repent and believe in Christ before my heart is changed?" Now the simple answer is, that the change of heart is the very thing in question. God requires sinners to love him. That is a change of heart. God requires them to repent. That is a change of heart. God requires the sinner to believe the Gospel. That is a change of heart. God does not tell us to wait till the heart is changed. The very word itself, repent, signifies a change of mind or heart.

Laying out some plan for God to change them in is a frequent thing with inquirers. It must be made plain that this is all wrong; that they must not lay out a path beforehand, but let God lead them as he sees to be best; and that he always leads the blind by a way they know not. Never was a sinner brought into the kingdom through such a course of feeling as he expected.

Among the obstacles often lying in the way of the progress of inquirers are the following:

Expecting some marvellous and sudden change. Often they are anticipating some wondrous appearance, or some tangible impression, as if God would speak to them, or lay hold upon them, or prostrate them, like Saul, to the earth; or something of this kind. They must be told that some have more marked views and exercises than others: but that nothing of this kind is to be expected; and that oftenest the Spirit comes as the " still, small voice." The transition may be like ushering from midnight darkness into noon. But oftenest, the light comes as that of the rising sun: first whitening, and then reddening the eastern sky; and so, little by little, approaching the perfect day.

Dread of having committed the unpardonable sin may hold one back from comfort. In such a case it must be shown that the fact of their concern is evidence of not having thus sinned. “Where this sin is committed God has said, “let him alone," and since you are not let alone, it is proof that mercy is still proffered."

Trying to do too much is a frequent obstacle. Let it be inquired: “In what manner are you striving? Is it not in a self-righteous spirit.  And will you not now stop trying to save yourself, and simply lay hold of the arm of Christ?

A supposed willingness to be saved is often entertained. They say: “Oh, yes, I am perfectly willing to do this, or that; I wish I could do it; I would give anything if I could do it." They must then be made to see that being truly willing is doing it; but there is a difference between willing and desiring. People often desire to be Christians, when they are wholly unwilling to be so.

Leaning upon the minister, or someone else for help, is sometimes a bar to progress. In that case stand out of the way: withdraw for a season, until it is felt that every prop has failed, and that no finite power in the universe can help.

Failing to relinquish what is demanded frequently stands in the way of peace. Ascertain the truth on these points: Is there not some idol, some darling object, some indulgence, that you are not willing to give up? Are you not retaining a prejudice, or ill will, or an angry and unforgiving spirit toward some one? Or is there not some redress or confession to an injured person which you refuse to make?

An idea that they are not converted often prevents peace on the part of those truly changed. Edwards says of some of the converts under his eye: “It does not so much as come into their minds that they are converted: and very often the reason is that they do not see that they do accept of this sufficiency of salvation which they behold in Christ, having entertained a wrong notion of acceptance." And Dr. Hallock remarks, “During my experience in revivals, I have often found that a man who is but recently born of the Spirit would often say, * No sir,' should you ask him if he is converted; and yet I may have much better evidence of his real change than I have of another, who has an early and confident hope." Says Henry Ward Beecher, “A disease may pass its crisis, and for hours and days one may not be conscious of it. My own observation has led me to the conclusion that more persons become true Christians without sudden joy, and without the consciousness, at the time, of transition, or a great change, than with it."

4. What are some of the counsels which are unwisely and injudiciously given to inquirers?

We specify the following:

“Be patient and wait God's time” God's time is now. And is one to be "patient" in his sins? Telling the sinner to wait for God to convert him is telling him to continue in sin a while longer. Any direction given to sinners that does not require them immediately to obey God is an indulgence to sin. It is in effect giving them liberty still to fight against God. Such directions are wicked and cruel. It is pleading the sinner's cause against God.

“Continue to use the means and strive on” is of the same nature. By no means discourage, but rather enjoin, the use of the means of grace; but insist upon an instantaneous surrender to God's claims. To direct one to keep on using the means is to abate the sense of guilt, and lull the soul Into stupidity, or else, to put the inquirer upon a course of self-righteous effort. God calls the sinner to repent; he threatens him; he persuades him; he uses motives; and the sinner is distressed to agony because he sees himself driven to the dreadful alternative of giving up his sins or going to hell. He ought instantly to relent and lay down his weapons. But he resists, and struggles against conviction, and that creates his distress. Now will you tell him to persevere? Persevere in what? In struggling against God? That is just the direction Satan would give. All he wants is to see him persevere in just the way he is going on, and his destruction is sure. The seat of all the trouble is in his own will.

A venerable minister in the West, now in glory, used to relate the following incident with bitter tears: "In my early ministry, a woman came to me to inquire what she should do to be saved. I told her to go home and read the Bible and pray, be careful of her conduct, and attend upon all the means of grace. Sometime after, I saw her, and inquired if she had followed my directions. She said she had, and felt better. But she had settled down into a state of quiet security, from which I could never awaken her. I felt that I had murdered her soul; and I determined from that day forward, that I would never again give a direction to an inquiring sinner, which, if followed, would not save his soul."

“Your condition is encouraging; I hope you will soon be rejoicing” is dangerous language to a distressed soul. Of Dr. Nettleton it is said, he was careful never to allay the fears of inquirers. He never expressed to them the opinion that their condition was hopeful. On the contrary, he gave them to understand, that while they remained impenitent, there was an awful uncertainty whether they would be saved. He urged the duty of immediate repentance, and showed them that they could do nothing short of repentance which would in the least degree improve their condition.

“Try to repent and give your heart to God, and ask him to help you” it objectionable language. "I am willing to try; I have tried, and what more can I do?" is the answer to your counsel. All this is just what a rebellious heart wants. It relaxes the pressure of present obligation, and helps to cast the blame of continued impenitence on God.

Besides the above, there are expressions used in prayer liable to mislead inquirers;— such as these: “Have mercy on these penitent ones,” or — " on those seeking thy love to know,” or — " those who are seeking thee sorrowing” and the like. It is better, on several accounts, to refrain from the use of set phrases like these.

5. What specific directions may with safety be given to inquirers?

It is always safe to urge the sinner to repent. And it should be shown that this is the exercise of godly sorrow for sin. When one truly repents, he sees that God has been in the right, and he in the wrong; that his laws are holy, just, and good, and by those laws he is justly condemned. A sense of the goodness of God affects him; he is ready to cry out, “How could I sin against One so kind, so loving, so patient, so forbearing! Ah, me! wretch that I am! I am undone, I deserve the lowest hell! ‘God be merciful to me a sinner! ' “

It is always safe to urge one to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is important to show what true gospel faith is. The things to be believed must be set before the mind: — particularly, what God has said concerning the work and deservings of his Son. “You are to believe that he satisfied divine justice for human guilt; that he became a propitiation for our sins; that what he did and suffered, is a ground for pardon to sinners; that since he died they need not die; and that however guilty you may be, yet, repenting of sin, and trusting in him, his merit becomes, as it were, yours; and by it you are saved."

Also the act of believing is to be explained: — that it is receiving Christ; trusting in him; fleeing to him; coming to him, looking to him, and the like. Particularly, must appropriating faith be made plain. “ It is the ear of the soul whereby the sinner ' hears the voice of the Son of God and lives; ' the palate of the soul whereby he ^ tastes the good word of God and the powers of the world to come; ' the feeling of the soul, whereby he perceives the presence of him whom he seeks; the hand of the soul whereby he reaches forth and takes all the fullness of Christ to himself.”

It is always safe to exhort one to confess and for sake sin: — to confess it on the knees before God, with all honestness and earnestness, and to loathe and turn away from it.

It is always safe to urge submission to God. “Suppose a rebel in arms against a king was called on to submit. What would he understand by it? Why, that he should yield the point, and lay down his arms. That is just what it means for a sinner to submit to God. He must cease his strife and conflict against his Maker, and be at peace with him."

It is always safe to urge the present as the best time for making salvation sure. "There is a special energy and efficiency in the means of grace: the Spirit is near: ministers preach and Christians pray with unwonted earnestness; and from many causes you may never see so favorable a moment as now."

It is always safe to warn against seeking salvation in a self-righteous spirit. This is so natural, and so subtle a thing, that it should be guarded against at every point.

It is always safe to set forth Christ's willingness and the extreme simplicity of the plan of salvation. During a religious awakening in a factory village in New England, a foreman was awakened, but he could not find peace. His superior sent him a letter, requesting him to call at six o'clock. Promptly he came. "I see you believe me," said his master. The foreman assented. “Well, see; here is another letter sending for you by One who is equally in earnest," said his master, holding up a slip of paper with some texts of Scripture written on it. He took the paper and began to read it slowly, “Come — unto me — all— ye — that — labor” etc. His lips quivered, his eyes filled with tears, and he joyfully said, “I see it: I am to believe that in the same way I believed your letter!"

It is always safe to urge an immediate coming to Christ. "No reformation can be genuine till you come to Christ. No preparation is needed for coming to him; and none can be made.”

It is always safe to tell of Jesus and his dying love. We are told of an old emblem in the shape of a lock, constructed of rings, on each of which was a letter, and which would unlock only when those rings were so arranged as to spell the word Jesus. Apt emblem of the human heart in yielding to the power of the cross! Was one ever known to open except to the name of Jesus?

It is always safe to state that an actual sense of unfitness is true fitness. Mr. Whitfield, brother of the noted preacher, had fallen into a desponding state. In conversation with the Countess of Huntingdon one day, he said, “My lady, I know what you say is true: the mercy of God is infinite: I see it clearly. But, ah! my lady, there is no mercy for me — I am a wretch, entirely lost.” “I am glad to hear it, Mr. Whitfield," said Lady H. “I am glad at my heart that you are a lost man." He looked with great surprise. " What, my lady, glad! glad at your heart that I am a lost man? " "Yes, Mr. Whitfield, truly glad; for Jesus Christ came into the world to save the lost! " He laid down his cup of tea on the table. “Blessed be God for that," " Glory to God for that word," he exclaimed. "Jesus Christ came to save the lost! then I have a ray of hope! "

It is always safe to urge a perpetual looking to Christ, Mr. Spurgeon tells how when in trouble about his soul he heard a sermon on the text " Look unto me, etc." — " Fixing his eyes on me, as I thought, before he began to preach to others, he said: “Young man! look! look! look! You are one of the ends of the earth; you feel you are; you know your need of a Saviour; you are trembling because you think he will never save you. He says this morning, ' Look! ' O how my soul was shaken within me then! What! thought I, does that man know me, and all about me? He seemed as if he did. And it made me ' look! ' Well, I thought, lost or saved, I will try; sink or swim, I will run the risk of it; and in that moment I hope by his grace I looked upon Jesus, and though desponding, downcast, and ready to despair, and feeling that I could rather die than live as I had lived, at that very moment it seemed as if a young heaven had had its birth within my conscience."

It is always safe to urge approach to God in Christ’s name. "A beggar comes to you for charity. You have no ready money, but you give him a check on the bank. He enters the door, the bank officers stare at him as he enters — poor, ragged, filthy, wretched — they think that he is naught but a common beggar seeking alms, perhaps, but he goes to the counter, he presents his check. The cashier does not look at the beggar or his rags any more; he looks at the name at the bottom of the check, and if that is genuine the money is handed the bearer. It is the name that does it — that and nothing more. So it is in salvation."

It is always safe to set forth the freeness and fullness of Christ's righteousness. As John Wesley had come to life's close, a group of friends around him knelt in prayer. He responded the amen with unusual fervor. Soon after he exclaimed: “There is no need for more than what I said at Bristol; my words then were:

'I the chief of sinners am, But Jesus died for me.’

“Is this the present language of your heart?" asked one of his friends, "and do you now feel as you did then?" "Yes," he replied. “'Tis enough," rejoined his friend; "He, our precious Immanuel, has purchased, has promised all." “He is all! he is all! I will go! " responded the dying man.

6. What are the evidences of conversion that may safely be put before inquirers? No question could be more momentous. O what a responsibility to undertake to give directions here! Never was an angel employed in a more solemn work than are we in telling a sinner when he may safely entertain a hope! The judgment fires will reveal our work, of what sort it is! One thing it is always safe to do, namely, to be sure that the work is deep and thorough. Our fathers and mothers used to talk of "experiencing religion,” and no term could be better. To-day we hear the objectionable expression, “getting religion,” or, “has got religion." Let us be satisfied that there is a real experience of the change of heart by the power of God.

Mr. Earle has given away many thousands of little cards on which are printed the following “Evidences of conversion for young Christians.”

1. A full surrender of the will to God.

2. The removal of a burden of sin gradually or suddenly.

3. A new love to Christians and to Jesus.

4. A new relish for the word of God.

5. Pleasure in secret prayer, at least at times.

6. Sin or sinful thoughts will cause pain.

7. Desire and efforts for the salvation of others.

8. A desire to obey Christ in his commands and ordinances.

9. Deep humility and self-abasement.

10. A growing desire to be holy and like Christ. It is safe to hold such language as this in conversation with those inclined to entertain a hope: “By fervent prayer for divine illumination, and by searching the Scriptures, you may know in whom you have believed. You may have the witness in yourselves, more or less clear according to the earnestness of your seeking in reliance upon the aid of the Holy Spirit, who alone can take of the things of Christ, and show them unto you. What, then, do you say for yourself? You know where you were once, sinking in the horrible pit and the miry clay. Where do you now stand? Has Christ brought you up and placed your feet upon a rock? Do you begin to feel its firmness, and rest upon it? Can you say, “One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see? Have you seen the plague of your own heart, and heartily repented of all your sins? Have you new views and new desires? Do you approve of the law of God, which is holy, just, and good? Have you been brought to see the impossibility of saving yourselves, and have you by the grace of God fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you in the gospel? Has your mind within these few weeks passed through a great change? Do you love that which you before hated, and hate that which you loved? Do you love the Bible; do you love the prayer-meeting; do you love the house of God; do you love the brethren? Time was when you saw no beauty in the Saviour, that you should desire him. How is it now? Is he precious to your soul? And on him do you rest all your hope?"

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!"

Chapter 17: TRAINING THE CONVERTS.

GAINING converts is one thing; training them is another thing. Failing properly to appreciate this fact, many pastors fail to build up the churches. The list of communicants is not always an index of church-power. Strength consists not in numbers, but in character. When Gideon had mustered all his soldiers for the war with Midian and Amalek, “The Lord said unto him, the people that are with thee are too many." With the number reduced there was more effectiveness.

A revival brings with it tremendous responsibilities. It loads the pastor and members with new obligations. With the accession of converts there come the questions, “What is to be done with these fresh professors? How much of this material shall turn out to be little less than dross and chaff, and how much of it solid substance?"

If revivals are graduated in their value only by the number of supposed converts; if all the attention of the church is drawn to the single point of securing conversions, without any regard to the ripening of them; if it be supposed that nothing is of course doing when there are no conversions; if there is no thought of cultivation, no valuation of knowledge and character, no conviction of the fact that one Christian well taken care of and developed is worth a hundred mere beginners, a most inadequate and pernicious opinion prevails.

Indeed, as matter of fact, how distressing is the picture which often forces itself upon the mind, where multitudes are hopefully converted, and yet so little pains taken with the converts, that in a single year one can hardly tell them from those not professing conversion!

On this very account the whole theory of revivals is reproached. And if we answer, “It is not the fault of the revival that the fruits are not permanently good, but because there is lack of cultivation,” still, the circumstance has its influence, and operates to produce a suspicion of all special ingatherings.

It will hardly be too much to say, that if the churches had done their full duty to the converts, the world would have been given to Christ before now. “Feed my sheep; feed my lambs,” — i. e., ' act toward them the part of the shepherd, — guiding them, protecting them, nourishing them,' — this is a command to all Christian leaders. And we question whether the churches yet fairly begin to apprehend the duty of bestowing culture upon the young members of the flock, — the lambs of Jesus. From this cause half the benefit of revivals is lost.

The force of this thought is enhanced by considering that the convert only is in the ductile, shapeable period. The wax is now warm, and readily takes the seal; the clay is moist, and the hand of the potter may form it as he wills. There is but one convert-period, as there is but one child-period, and whatever is done then to mould the character, will exert a far more decisive influence than anything done at a future period; and upon the counsels and directions which an individual receives at such a moment, depends in a very great degree the amount of good which he is to accomplish during his whole life.

We condense what is to be said here into a few suggestions, suitable, first, for instructors; second, for converts themselves.

I. Duties on the part of pastor and people.

Acquaintanceship is a first duty. In large congregations, especially in cities, it is not easy to know intimately a company of new comers. Shall we say that to a great extent such acquaintance is never formed? Shall we say that members of the same church do not know each other, — not even sufficiently to recognize one another on the street? Such is the case; and if the church is a family, what a strange family that is, and how is it possible that there be reciprocal duties and affections?

The pastor then, especially, will seek an acquaintance with all the converts, and the more intimate the better. It will be well to carry with him a list of the names of these, which he will look over occasionally to facilitate identification and recognition. And the same should be true of the older members generally, as far as possible.

Instruction is another duty. The babes need teaching; and the church is the appointed teacher, particularly through the pastor. Converts' meetings will therefore be held; not only for their own mutual edification, but for pastoral counsel and direction. It is the sacred duty of the minister to meet the young disciples there, and instruct them fully in the things of the kingdom. He will also see that they are in the Sunday school, or in Bible classes, still farther to be taught. We always enjoin this upon converts, and see that it is done! If not already in the Sunday school, the right time to introduce them is when they are setting out in the new life. It is said of Nettleton that he took great pains to instruct young converts in the fundamental principles of the Christian religion. He would often appoint meetings for their special benefit. In these meetings he was wont to explain and enforce in a familiar manner, the doctrines of the gospel. Hence the young converts became rooted and grounded in the truth and continued steadfast in the faith. In this way also, they became acquainted with one another, and receiving the same doctrines and drinking into the same spirit, they became united as a band of brethren.

The remark was made by Rev. Daniel A. Clark, as to some converts, that "they would not have known when they were converted, who converted them, or what they were converted for." Accessions of this sort, certainly if allowed to remain such, would only weaken a church. Defective instruction must dwarf the new nature, since truth is the food upon which it grows. Where religious character is feeble, it is generally because neglected, or wrongly instructed, at the outset. And there is an awful criminality here, on the part of very many pastors. It is simply alarming to see how little careful instruction is given to converts.

It were well if pastors, subsequent to revival ingatherings, should lay out and pursue a plan of systematic instruction for the converts, embracing the evidences of Christianity, the principal Scripture doctrines, the confession or articles of faith held by the church, and the covenant engagements entered into upon profession. No member of a church should have it in his power to say, “The confession of faith was never explained to me before I joined the church. There are some things in it which I do not believe; and if I had known how they were understood by the church, I should not have come in."

Reception to membership is another duty on the part of the church. Every convert should be encouraged, at a proper time, to make a public profession of religion. Opinion differs as to how soon after hopeful conversion a profession should generally be made. That is a question for each church to decide for itself, and no one rule is applicable in all cases. There may be rash and premature admissions; and there may be too much delay.

Watch care is another duty. A church should watch over all the interests of her young members; know where they are; and what are their habits, temptations, dangers, privileges, state of religion in their hearts, spirit of prayer, and the like. If they are seen to be going astray, they are to be exhorted and admonished. But this should be done with all kindness, considerateness, and affection. The heart of a young convert is tender and easily grieved, and sometimes a single unkind look or word will cast a cloud over the mind, and throw one back for a lifetime.

As a rule, sufficient allowance is not made for those young in experience; and the too frequent habit oicomplaining of them, is much to be regretted. Converts are but children, at best, and if those who are ever ready to speak of the deficiencies of the "young members of the church," were as attentive to watch over and help them, as they are to condemn them, it were at once more beneficial and more pleasing to God.

II. Things profitable to be kept before the mind of converts.

1. That the religious character is now taking shape. First steps are usually most decisive. Urge upon them this thought; — that the tone of piety and of action which they adopt during the first few months will likely go with them through life. The first six months of a convert's experience generally tells what he is to be. "Answer to me for his being right that time, and I will answer for the rest."

2. That he should be in the Sunday school.

3. That the beginning of decline be watched against.

4. That besetting sins, from former bad habits, be particularly guarded against.

5. That growth is the great law of life, animal or vegetable; and that he is to "grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ." At conversion the great work is but begun; and it is the growing of the new life which proves the new birth a real birth, and not an abortion; a birth of life, and not of death. And this growth must continue day by day, and year by year. " It is not a dead past, but a living present which must testify for you before God."

6. That self-denial is to be exercised.  “The sins which most easily beset you will again lift their bruised heads; broken tempers will again clamor for mastery; your weak points will again be assailed by the great enemy of souls; duty-posts will again look dangerous and forbidding; ease will beckon you to her flowery beds, and to the Lord's calls unbelieving timidity will whisper her excusing petitions."

7. That they have been converted for usefulness, for work, for bringing others to Christ. “A profession of religion is no sinecure. If Christ in the abounding riches of his grace has called you into his kingdom, it is that you at once enter into his service; and your first inquiry should be, Lord what will thou have me to do? He wants no idlers among his professed followers; and other professors are no standard for you."

8. They are to aim high. They should look to the Scriptures for their standard, and to Christ for their model. "If, having got into the church, you take a low stand at first, instead of rising you will invariably decline, till your brethren will be constrained to stand in doubt of you, and the world will ask, What do ye more than others? But if you set your mark high, remembering that " ye are not your own," but “bought with a price,' even the precious blood of Christ, you will, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, witness a good profession, and bring forth much fruit to God's glory."

9. That principle, not feeling, or emotion, is to govern them.  Many will be zealous in religion when they feel like it, when their emotions are warm and lively; but they will not act out religion consistently, and carry it into all the concerns of life. They are religious only as they are impelled by a gush of feeling. This is not true religion. Let the converts be taught that true piety does not consist, chiefly, in high-wrought frames of feeling. But that it consists rather, in a fixed choice and purpose of heart to serve God; in a settled principle of obedience to his will.

10. That they have renounced all ownership of themselves or their possessions. They should not be left to think that anything is their own, their time, property, influence, faculties, bodies or souls. “When you submitted to God, you made a free surrender of all to him, to be ruled and disposed of at his pleasure. You have no right to spend one hour as if your time was your own; no right to go anywhere, or do anything, for yourselves, but should hold all at the disposal of God, and employ all for his glory. If you do not, you rob God, and cannot be expected to prosper in the divine life."

11. That they should keep their consciences just as tender as they are now. In a few months, if properly taught and, attended to, young converts may have a conscience so delicately poised that the weight of a feather will turn them. Only bring a “Thus saith the Lord," and they will be always ready to do that, be it what it may.

12. That they should be “temperate in all things:" — It were better to give up, (if used) tobacco; certainly all strong drinks. Dr. Nettleton said: "I have made particular inquiry, and find that the declension of some has commenced with an undue conformity to the world. But the sin of intemperance has caused more trouble, and done more dishonor to the cause of Christ than any other that can be named." By all means induce converts to “sign the pledge,” if they have not already done it. If pastors begin right just here, wrong habits can be rooted out thoroughly. If they neglect it now, they may lament it when it is too late.

13. That they should carry their religion into their business. "You should be just as holy, just as watchful, aim just as singly at the glory of God, and be just as sincere and solemn in all your daily employments, as in the act of coming to the throne of grace. This God demands."

14. That they be regular in all the church services; on Sabbath, and the weekly meetings.

15. That they should allow no day to pass without secret prayer. “In the closet the battle is lost or won.”

16. That they take heed as to worldly companionship, and worldly amusements — "Can one take coals of fire in his bosom and not be burned?"

17. That they be not conformed to the world.

18. That they neglect not to search the Scriptures. “Christ is now putting you to school, not under the law, but under the Gospel, that you may be trained up for his service. And the Bible is your text-book. Read it. Study it. It will take but a moment or two to commit a text to memory every morning, which may be kept in mind through the day. Do this, and you will have treasured up three hundred and sixty-five verses at the end of the year. How many in ten years?  No less than three thousand six hundred and fifty! "

We are happy in being able to append here the views of two ministers of the gospel, of ripe experience and sound judgment, in a matter of such moment as the training of converts. The first of the two has been in the ministry sixteen years, — a quarter part of which has been passed in revivals: and the topic of his letter is one in which he has very great interest. The writer of the second letter is widely known for his ability, and the wisdom of his opinions.

From Rev. E. S. Atwood, Salem, Mass,

MY DEAR BROTHER:

I have a firm belief in the necessity and helpfulness of the systematic religious culture of the converts, and if I have had any success in revivals it is mainly owing to the time and effort spent in this direction.

A competent gardener, when his choice seeds have germinated, and the shoots are fairly above ground, feels that the real difficulties of his work have only just commenced. Possibly the very life of the plants, certainly the symmetry of their growth and blossoming, depends upon the care and culture which they now receive. Nature has done her part well, as she always does; the question of further success is conditioned upon the fidelity and skill with which man discharges his share of the responsibility which now accrues.

Practically, this element essential to success in revival work, is largely overlooked. It is a common odium cast upon revival measures, that their results are largely evanescent; that the ultimate and permanent receipts are lamentably meagre when compared with the effort expended, and the promise which the work gave at certain stages of its progress. As the easiest way out of the difficulty, the responsibility for this unsatisfactory state of things is laid upon revival preachers and their "injudicious " methods. A great deal of cheap sarcasm is wasted upon the folly of religious spasms. The evangelist, or the earnest pastor, is characterized as a mountebank, who succeeds only in stirring up a little whirl of excitement, that very soon subsides into more complete stagnation than before: and the world, and too often the church, furnishes itself with a new argument against revival measures.

Now this commonly accepted explanation of the comparative fruitlessness of revivals, is utterly baseless and bad. Let the responsibility rest where it belongs. The mischief does not have its root in the unusual fervency with which truth is pressed by the preacher — nor in the unusual methods which are employed to drive men to religious decisions. If the truth lay here, the criticism would hold with vastly more force against the day of Pentecost and the day of Judgment, as having a tendency to blunt the religious sensibilities of men and stale the power of the great truths of God. No exception can rightly be taken to fiery preaching, or to the most intense pressure brought to bear upon the soul to force it to decision. Excitement produced in this way is neither delirium nor intoxication. If it comes to nothing, or worse than nothing, the fault lies with those who neglect the work, or do not know how to push it to its legitimate issue. The processes of religious life, in many important particulars, are so identical with the processes of natural growth, that what is imperative in one case is equally imperative in the other. What would be folly in the management of a garden, is a similar and a greater folly in the training of a soul.

Convert-culture ought to be recognized as a distinct and indispensable department of revival work. Every minister who has had much experience in revivals, notices that after a season of religious interest, he generally finds himself with three distinct classes of hopeful cases on his hands. There is, first, a small number who have been quietly led of the Spirit to an intelligent comprehension of their spiritual wants, and an intelligent acceptance of Christ as their Saviour. Their emotional nature has not been greatly stirred. They have not been down into Gethsemane, nor up upon the heights of Tabor. They have simply been made to see their need of redemption, and simply accepted the offered Redeemer. They have been found of the "still small Voice,” and have bowed their heads to his utterances. Then comes a larger class on whom the earthquake, and wind and fire have done their work. Their moral nature has been convulsed to its lowest depths. They have been rent and torn with the consciousness of sin. They have looked into the open doors of hell. Their faces have grown white with fear. And when relief came, the ecstasy has been as extravagant as the depression. Their ideal of religious life is a life lifted on the flood-tide of blissful emotion. They are contented only so long as the New Jerusalem is in full view. They are in the strict sense of the term emotional Christians. And then there is a third class in whom the law-work has been thoroughly done, but in whom the gospel-work has been feebly done. They see their sins much more clearly than they see their Saviour. Sinai is an overhanging reality — Calvary a dim outline on the far horizon. Faith is timid, hope weak, assurance a thing that comes and goes with shift of circumstances and varying moods of thought. Now it is evident, that between these several classes of converts there is a wide margin of difference, and equally evident that if left to themselves, they will drift wider and wider apart. The real problem which the church has to solve is — how best to assimilate all these varieties of spiritual life, so that the defects of each shall be remedied, and what is vital in each shall accrue to the benefit of all the rest.

It must be admitted that this involves no small amount of work. It requires time and thought, and prayer and effort. But it is work that can be done, and that ought to be done. The intellectual Christian may and ought to be lifted up to a level where he will feel more of the inspiration of the great hopes of the gospel, and have the experience of the heart added to the conviction of the will. The emotional Christian may and ought to be led to the apprehension that principle is a more important factor in religious life than mere feeling; and without diminishing his ardor, be shown how to put more substance into his piety. And the timid and doubting ones may and ought to be braced with strength — taught a larger trust, and be shown the way to serener experiences. The effort necessary in order to reach these several results is arduous, but it is rewarding. No Christian work pays better. If rightly managed, no other is so sure of success.

The methods of this work will vary somewhat with localities and circumstances. There is no rigid rule of procedure that will fit every case. Each pastor must decide for himself what plan of operations will accomplish the most in his particular community. And yet, as in processes of general education certain data have been determined by experiment, and the proper order of instruction for producing the most satisfactory results defined, so in this training of converts. While the utmost flexibility of method is allowable, observation has shown that there is a sort of natural order in the steps to be successively taken in endeavoring to build up a symmetrical Christian character. Without attempting to sweep exhaustively over so wide a field, it may not be amiss to indicate the general outlines of a plan of procedure that has been found to work successfully.

The training of converts naturally begins with an examination of the real evidences of conversion. The foundation must be fixed before we commence to build the house. Experience shows, that the views of young converts on this point are as vague as they are varied. Some put the standard too high, others too low. One man is in the heaven of assurance because of a certain glow of feeling which he experiences; another is desponding because his emotions do not match with those of some he has read or heard of. The only way of reconciling these diversities, is to press the scripture test upon each man's notice. Judicious training will have it for its endeavor to set aside everything else offered in evidence, and line out, barely and sharply, repentance and faith as the only conditions and proofs of conversion. Such a test strongly pressed will be found a sword of double edge that cuts both ways. It will lead the over-confident to a more serious self-examination, while it will give the doubting a ground of assurance. Time cannot be better spent with young converts, than in helping them to intelligent views on this point. Half the weaknesses of Christian life root back into false ideas of what constitutes a child of God. Let that question be settled at the beginning, and once for all. If the matter is properly managed it may be. It certainly ought to be. It is indispensable to the success of the voyage that we should know at the start that the vessel is seaworthy. No pastor should grudge the time, and patience, and tenderness that may be found necessary for perfecting this work. If it is done thoroughly at the outset, it is done for all time, and men and women who are able to give to themselves and others “a reason for the hope that is in them," are in a condition to grow strongly and continuously.

Next in order comes a proper understanding of the helps to Christian growth. In regard to this matter there is commonly great ignorance. Certain traditional views of the efficacy of prayer, and the usefulness of Bible study, held previous to conversion, are very apt to pass over into superstitions after conversion. A searching inquiry into the real form in which these matters lie in the minds of young converts, will usually disclose the fact that their conceptions are crude and faulty. Men very largely need to be schooled into the right use of these instruments of spiritual growth. How to read the Bible to the best advantage, how to pray, how to secure answers to prayer, are questions covering points in which a great deal of instruction is wanted. And almost every case will be found to be special in some particulars, requiring special treatment. It is never safe to take anything for granted in this department. Those men who are counted wisest are often the most ignorant. Beginners in the Christian life need the assistance of maturer Christian experience to help them out of the practical difficulties with which they find themselves face to face. Haphazard prayer and scripture study have little efficacy. There is an art of using these means which intuition seldom if ever masters. It is to be taught by experts, and careful explanation and instruction on this point, suiting the teaching to individual exigencies, will be abundantly rewarded.

Then let there follow a consideration of the scope of the Christian doctrines, and their relations to practical life. Here again experience shows that a very common misapprehension exists. There is an almost universal tendency in the minds of young converts to dwell too exclusively on what they have felt. A system of truth is something to which they are called to intellectually assent, but which is not recognized as having vital relations to spiritual growth. The creed is held to be something ecclesiastical rather than Christian. It is of the first importance that this false impression should be corrected. The great doctrines of the faith should be simply stated, and their bearing upon religious life unfolded. The creed should be emphasized as doing, in its way, just what prayer does in its way. And especially in this day when the drift of popular thought is so strongly towards a contempt of doctrine, and piety is so feebly differentiated from some things that pass for it, is it imperative that we insist upon the vital influence of Christian believing upon Christian living. Converts should be trained into the conviction that the great truths of Scripture are the "trees of the Lord that are full of sap," and their " leaves for the healing of the nations." Intelligent piety is the great want of the times, and the best way to secure it, is to show men in the beginning that belief and life are inseparably linked together.

And finally, and in fact all along In this process of training, an effort should be made to create the sense of personal responsibility for Christian work. Piety needs air and exercise. Give every convert from the start something to do, suiting the work to the talents and opportunities of the individual. Insist upon it that no drones can live in the Christian hive; that anything that is not working piety is worthless piety. The importance of developing this sense of responsibility at the outset cannot be too strongly stated. The beginning of the Christian life is the hopeful time. The soul always carries its birth-marks. Give piety something to do in the cradle, and you secure at least the probability of permanent religious activity. Our churches are suffering from a dearth of Christian workers. New responsibilities are continually rolling up, and there is nobody to meet them. The fault lies in the early training of the membership. They are allowed a honeymoon of inaction, which is liable to be indefinitely prolonged. The inertia of first experiences is hard to overcome, and the loss is individual as well as general. It reports itself in the type of piety as well as in the aggregate of work. An active Christianity is the ideal of the gospel. The religion that does not subsidize all the energies of the soul, can never be satisfactory to its possessor. It should be specially impressed upon the new-born child of God, that his future happiness as well as usefulness is conditioned upon his fidelity as a Christian worker.

And how are all the ends contemplated in this process of training best reached? That, so far as methods are concerned, must be left to the judgment of the individual pastor. But this much may be said, whatever the methods selected, they must be discriminating, specific, personal in their character. Preaching will do something, the freer form of lecture-room address will do more, but neither are adequate to the exigencies of the case. As a general rule, no expedient has proved more efficient than the plan of convert classes, meeting week by week, and following the Socratic method of question and answer. Personal views are thus elicited, and personal misapprehensions corrected, while each secures the benefit of the experience of all the rest. Until experience shows some better method to be practicable, this must stand as the most serviceable, the fullest of promise, and ordinarily the richest in results of any that has yet been tried.

And now, if any overworked pastor objects that this training process lays too heavy a tax upon his time and energies, it may be answered, that inspiration sufficient to attempt and carry it out to success may be gathered from the consideration of the certain results of work like this. It is written in the annals of art, that sculptors have spent months in wandering from quarry to quarry in search of a block fleckless and crystalline enough to worthily embody their ideal; and then have given months and years to the slow shaping of the crudeness of the stone into the grace of outline and loveliness of feature, that reproduced in the imperishable whiteness of the marble the dream of beauty which filled their thought. And surely this work of shaping immortal souls into the symmetry of Christ-likeness has its greater inspirations. The hope of at last presenting those whom we have in charge “perfect and complete, without spot or wrinkle, before the face of the Father," is enough to encourage us to weariness and toil however prolonged. And if, in the perplexity of difficulties, and in the infirmity of human nature, we often find ourselves asking " who is sufficient for these things?” close upon the question of self-distrust, follows the sweet assertion of Christian assurance, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Trusting that the "HANDBOOK" may be a great success, and help the church of God to a better understanding of the philosophy of revivals, I am

Very truly yours,

E. S. ATWOOD.

From Rev. Dr. Cutting, Brooklyn, N.Y.

MY DEAR DR. FISH: — I have strong convictions as to the instruction to be given to converts preparatory to their coming into the communion of the church; and I am not unwilling to urge these convictions, whether by my example or in any other way, upon all who are charged with the care of souls.

I was ordained at West Boylston, Mass., in March, 1836. During my brief pastorate there, (for I went to Southbridge at the end of the summer of 1837,) I had the pleasure of baptizing a considerable number, a large part of whom were young. It seemed to me that before I took the responsibility of bringing them into the church, I should know for myself that they were instructed concerning the nature, the objects, and the ends of Christian profession. I did not expect them to be theologians, I did not suppose them to be Christians ripened by experience, I did not imagine that all which is embodied in the articles of faith of evangelical churches could be comprehended by them. I did suppose, however, that a beginning could be made in indoctrination, that the breadth and force of Christian experience could be better understood by contemplating it, and that it was not becoming to ask the assent of young converts to articles of which they knew nothing.

I began, therefore, with the Articles, and grouped all which I had to say to them around instruction on these. I met them, and taught them on the basis of these Articles, that they might know, as well as possible, what they were professing, how much was implied, and the duties to which they were binding themselves by the most solemn of obligations. Imperfectly as the service was performed, I am certain that I was not mistaken in attempting it, and if I am pastor again, I shall not content myself with even this. I would begin earlier. I would have in part the instruction of the young under my personal care from the beginning, meeting the children of my congregation at least once a month, in some simple service, rendered as attractive as possible consistently with its ends, in which I would make myself certain that the foundations of Christian knowledge were properly laid in their youthful minds.

I have great respect for catechetical instruction, and do not doubt that, accompanied with wise illustrative teaching, it may be made most captivating to the young, and as permanent as the mind itself in its happy influences. The Sunday school, excellent and important as it is, should never replace parental instruction on the one hand, nor pastoral instruction on the other.

In the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris, I saw a large number of young girls who were engaged in a responsive service. I did not approach very near them, but I judged them to be receiving instruction preparatory to Confirmation. In such matters, Rome will never fail. Why should we fail who teach that which we hold to be so much nearer the truth as it is in Jesus?

Yours very truly,

S. S. CUTTING.

We commend the above thoughts, and this whole subject of convert-culture, to the most earnest heed of all winners of souls. Leave not the work half done! Truly, it is a great thing to save men, even though it be only “as by fire." But is it not also a great thing to have them "rooted and grounded in the truth," instead of being "children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine?" Surely it is of inconceivable importance that converts come unto “perfect men, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: — from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love."

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!"

Chapter 18: REVIVALS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD.

HOW this world is soonest to be given to Christ, is a question that should concern every one of his followers. Our object is to show that it will not be done apart from extensive and frequent revivals of religion.

The argument from the past is in place. Coleridge has likened experience to the stern-light of a ship, which illumines the track it has passed over. And Sir Philip Sydney affirmed that all is lip-wisdom which wants experience. The lessons of the thousands of gone-by years are here before us for instruction.

What we are to-day is attributable to revivals. This is a strong assertion; and yet the pages of this book abundantly confirm it. Let anyone read but the two chapters, “Historical View of Revivals," and " What we owe to Revivals," and our language will not be deemed extravagant. Nor is there the least ground for believing that God will essentially change the methods of his operations in the time to come. As he has hitherto carried forward his work by revivals, we may expect that he will continue to do the same, only on a much grander scale.

The present slow progress of religion comes in as an argument. There appeared some years ago in a leading religious paper, the following: “From the statistical report of the American Congregational Orthodox churches for 1862, it is seen that out of the fourteen hundred and eighteen churches of New England, seven hundred and thirty-eight, or more than one half, had not a single conversion, or addition by profession, during the year. One hundred and eighty-two other churches had but one conversion each. And only sixty-six churches had as many as ten each. Excepting the churches with which evangelists had labored, there was an average of less than two conversions to a minister for the year; and for all the United States and Canada, probably not over two. The results for the last four years do not vary greatly from these numbers. Many of these churches have not been blessed with a revival for periods of fifteen, twenty, and even thirty years together; and some of them not with a single conversion. It further appears that the whole number of converts gathered at home and abroad, under the entire auspices of the American Congregational Orthodox churches, over the number of deaths and excommunications, was but two thousand and sixteen; which, divided among the three thousand and fifty-six churches of the denomination, gives an average gain of less than three-fourths of one to a church for the year. Or, otherwise stated, two thousand and sixteen churches had a net gain of one soul each for the year, and one thousand and forty churches had not one addition."

The article, no doubt, was based upon facts and statistics taken from the “Congregational Quarterly," and published in a tract form in 1867. We give that part of the statement bearing on the point before us.

“There are about one thousand four hundred and twenty Orthodox Congregational churches in New England. The number of conversions, or additions by profession over losses by death and excommunication, reported by them for the year, —

1860 was 385, or about one-fourth of one to each church.

1861 was 117, or about one-twelfth of one to each church.

1862 a loss of 284 over all additions.

1863 a gain of 318, or less than one-fourth of one to each church.

1864 a gain of 1,412, or nearly one to each church.

1865 a gain of 2,416, or nearly two to each church.

1866 about 1,257, or nearly one to each church.

“Nearly one-half of these churches reported, in each of these seven years, not a single conversion, or addition by profession.

“About two hundred other churches reported, in each of these seven years, only one addition each. A majority of the remaining churches reported little over two additions each. Nearly all the larger gains were made by those few churches that have made “extra efforts," for the conversion of men.

“Such is New England's record for the last seven years, and probably for the last thirty years it has been little or no better.

“The average number of the Orthodox Congregational Churches of the United States and Canada for these seven years was about two thousand eight hundred. Their gain over losses for the year, —

1860 was less than one-half of one to each church.

1861 was less than two-thirds of one to each church.

1862 was less than one and one-twenty-seventh to each church.

1863 was less than one and one-half to each church.

1864 was less than one and one-third to each church,

1865 was about two and one-tenth to each church,

1866 about the same as last year.

“So far as can be gathered from their statistical reports, the churches of the other denominations, have not been more successful in gathering converts from the world during this period than the Congregational Churches have been.”

“As the churches average less than one hundred members, and make a net gain of less than one member a year, at this rate of increase it will take one hundred years for them to double the present membership. While the population of the country will probably double four times in this period, and become one hundred and fifty millions, the churches will be only about eight millions. Without more general and powerful revivals than ever have been, how soon the churches will be overwhelmed and lost in the world!"

In view of such considerations, the remarks of an eminent Christian writer[4] are worthy of the deepest thought. "At our present rate of march, we can scarcely keep in sight of the army of aliens whom we would subdue to Christ. I see the cause of human salvation to be altogether hopeless without the special interposition of the Holy Spirit. Should this interposition be granted only to one individual in ten (which has been, perhaps, about the average of saving conversions in our evangelical congregations), nine tenths of the population, even in New England would remain "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel." Darker still is the prospect in those sections of our country where scarcely one in fifty exhibits any evidence, or makes any profession, of piety. The hope of the church, then, is in revivals of religion – continued, powerful, general revivals.”

The moral condition of society at large strengthens this view. It is easy to boast of a great country; of a good government; of a common language; of Christian churches and religious liberty; of rapid intercommunication; of unbounded wealth; of numerical growth, and the like. But no one pretends that all this can insure a people's welfare. With all this society may be corrupt from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. And few intelligent Christians will claim that the mass of the population, with all we are doing, is being thoroughly leavened with saving truth. It were pleasant to think so; but such is not the case, even in the most favored communities.

The old processes of Christian education are a laughing-stock to the present generation. Catechising, exact "definitions of doctrines, creed-statements,  — these are scouted as things fit only for a “Puritanical “ age. As someone has it, that charity which believeth all things but God's truth, has opened the doors to a fatal religious literature, in which, by a sort of universal solvent, all the doctrinal bones of theology are reduced to a gelatinous mass of ambiguous sentiment. And the consequence is, that the people are losing all sense of the diversities of creeds, become looser and more ignorant as falsehood grows familiar, and are led off to skepticism and universalism on one side, and to popery on the other; or not less degrading and ruinous, to Socinus, Swedenborg, familiar spirits, and the Mormons.

Even Christian teachers, and those claiming to be orthodox, from their pulpits and editorial chairs, join in the cry against "the stringency of formulated creeds," and are so much more liberal than loyal as to forget that truth makes no compromises.  Perceiving diversities of doctrines and opinions they would help the people out of their difficulties in knowing what to hold, by telling them that all beliefs are equally valid — that some doctrines are not essential, even admitting that they are truths! — and that "it does not matter what the creed is if the practice be right! " Dr. Guthrie once said "the more that ‘works' are preached up instead of 'faith,' the worse are the 'works' that men do." Might it not be claimed with equal force, that the more men clamor for "life" in place of "doctrine," the more corrupt are the lives of many who subsist on such preaching?

Farther: are the numerous evangelical churches positively putting forth their power upon the communities? Forms and ceremonies, yea, and sound doctrines, may exist, where the church is spiritually prostrate. Indeed it often occurs that the " ability " of churches lead to extravagance and indolence; so that a body boasting that she "is rich, and increased with goods, and has need of nothing," is really “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." And what do the above facts and figures show as to the actual power of the churches upon the communities!

Noticing so impresses the thoughtful mind as the possibilities of influence on the part of the churches. But it is like the power of steam before it was evoked and applied to man's service; like that of electricity before science climbed the height of the skies, and seized the spirit: of thunder, and chained it to the chariot of human progress. It is latent power.

Capital that is unused is called dead capital; and a man might have a shop or storehouse full of it and still not get ahead. O, the amount of dead capital in the churches! O, what numbers of them are dying of inertia, — dying of the dry-rot of formalism! dying of decency and respectability!

Now it is specifically the effect of revivals to increase church-power. This is not a thing of organism. Undoubtedly Christianity would be advantaged by consolidating her resources. But will a grand, imposing organization furnish the power that converts bad men into good ones? Will it enable them, when converted, to lead holy and spotless lives? Will “a strong Church," in popular acceptation, give greater effect to sermons, more unction to exhortations, more success to the instruction of the young, and richer answers to prayer? Will it make Christians more humble, more contented, more charitable? Will it make the covetous liberal, and bring the Lord's portion into his treasury? This is not the solution of the problem of church-power! It is the “power of the Highest“ that we need!

Consider what revivals would do for the rural districts. In 1802 Rev. Jesse Edson wrote from Halifax, Vermont, thus: “The Holy Spirit seemed to come down like a rushing, mighty wind, to melt the souls of God's children, to cause sinners to tremble, stubborn wills to bow, and hard hearts to relent. Numbers flocked to Christ as a cloud, and as doves to their windows. Fifteen were received the next communion, twenty-one the communion following; about sixty, in the whole." In later years, and especially under the labors of Rev. Samuel Fish, frequent and blessed revivals were experienced in that town, among the fruits of which were not less than twelve or fifteen missionaries and ministers of the gospel, besides great numbers of efficient Christian workers; most of whom, however, have either deceased, or removed to places of greater social or business advantages.

Years ago the church of Mr. Edson (Congregational) died out. That of Mr. Fish (Baptist) barely survives (in two localities) to keep the gospel banner flying on those hills. The extinct church lived for fifty years by virtue of the revival referred to; and on account of the later awakenings the surviving society has not expired. Now, one powerful revival in that town would put the feeble interest on its feet for another whole generation, and save the community from being given over to religious indifferentism and social barbarism. We see no hope for the cause, whatever, except in such a special awakening. And this is but a picture of thousands of rural districts, especially in the inland parts of New England, where the population is depreciating. Will anyone tell us what is to save such places from godlessness except gracious revivals?

Consider, too, what revivals would do for the cities. In the absence of strong remedial agencies, great cities are great sores. With such influences they are centres of gracious influence. Our Lord, and after him the apostles, bestowed effort chiefly upon cities, “beginning at Jerusalem," the capital of the nation. They acted on the principle on which Alexander and Caesar, and all the great conquerors of all times act, that of seizing upon the strong places of power, and holding them in subjection, with the assurance that all other places will then become an easy conquest. For in cities are accumulated wealth, and talent, and energy and enterprise; and if this be consecrated it is a mighty gain. Besides, men are in masses there, and therefore ought to be more readily reached and moved; and carrying these, the surrounding villages and all parts of the country are reached.

Now there is no way of doing it but by powerful revivals. Look at things as they exist. City churches are not really reaching the dense masses of population. Strong in their wealth and social position, they are too much like polished shafts whirling on their bearings, but without cogs interlocking them into anything. They are not linked with society, and moving it with a magnificent influence. Even with all their appliances of Sunday schools, city missions, tract operations, ragged schools and the like, the churches only touch the rim of the surrounding wickedness. Not one quarter part of the population of the great cities ever hear the gospel! A large proportion of the people are practically heathens, — as much so as are the dwellers in absolutely pagan lands.

By present processes, then, these masses of immortals will never be reached and rescued. Multitudes of them have no Bible; or if they had, they could not read it, or would immediately pawn it. They spurn a tract, or if they do not, it would be useless to them. Multitudes of them study concealment; practice crimes which cannot be exposed to the light of day; and alike shrink away from police officers and friends of religion. Here and there some Christian effort picks off one soul from the godless mass; but nothing is making anything like an inroad upon it.

What is wanted is an awakening that would shake the dry bones in even the lowest stratum of society, rousing them from filth and drunkenness, and raising them into a great army to fight the battles of the Lord. What is needed are mighty revival impulses, urging them toward inquiry, and urging godly men and women to carry the heavenly light to those who will not come to it, and to compel the wanderers to come in that the divine guest-chamber may be full. And what short of powerful revivals can accomplish this? Is there any conceivable way except that by which God thus suddenly arouses the churches, and moves simultaneously the hearts of great multitudes?

A succession of such revivals as have occasionally been witnessed, sweeping all through the great cities of Christendom, would secure every condition of the moral elevation of these myriads of inhabitants. And without them the case appears hopeless indeed.

Again: the relation of the ministry to revivals is to be taken into account. As we have seen in a previous chapter,[5] the large part of good ministers of Jesus Christ have hitherto come from revivals; and in the mere point of numerical supply, whence but from this source can they be expected in the future? Without revivals, the hosts of young men necessary for home and foreign work, glowing with love to Christ, and ready to sacrifice for his cause, cannot be expected to come forward, but will continue to be drawn into business and the other professions.

Besides: those converted in revivals may be expected to be the most efficient winners of souls. They possess the same revival spirit, and adopt the same style of preaching, and substantially the same means, as they had felt and witnessed to be mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

Moreover, actual contact with revival work wonderfully intensifies a preacher's power. In. a revival a pastor is thrown upon his own resources. His energies and ingenuity are taxed to the utmost. And thus new ideas are created, and new methods of illustrating and applying divine truth are acquired. His soul is aflame; and his words go blazing from his lips, and falling like fire upon the consciences of men, and lookers on are amazed at his added pathos, energy and power. For the ministry’s sake, then we must have revivals.

Again: the great benevolent movements of the age cannot progress without revivals. Every outpouring of the Spirit raises up new friends to the cause of missions, increases the amount of funds devoted to that cause, and wafts to heaven more numerous and fervent desires that the kingdom of God may come. Let but revivals cease, and what would become of the great enterprises for converting mankind to God? What would become of our benevolent associations, of various kinds at home? And how could our foreign work go forward? A general and lasting declension of religion would dry up all the sources of supply, both of men and money, upon which such operations depend.

We forget that each generation of the modern world consists of 30,000,000 of children; so that to christianize this added population alone there must be one million conversions per year!  In this view of the case, what a prodigious work is before us! And how can it be accomplished without remarkable and wonderful and sudden effusions of the Spirit of God?

Revivals, then, are emphatically the hope of the world. From every estimate we can form on this subject, it would seem clear beyond a doubt that we must have them, and of a still more powerful character than we have hitherto had, or else the work of this world's conversion to God can never be consummated. It is impossible to see how 800,000 000 souls, or any considerable part of this number, can be washed from their sins, within the most distant time to which the millennium can be deferred, by the single drops of converting grace falling as now. Mighty revivals must become yet more and more frequent, until there shall cease to be intervals between them, and they shall run into each other, and flow together in one long and still spreading river of salvation.

And why not have such revivals? We do not see why they are not to be looked for; — those of far greater power and wider extent than have hitherto been experienced. Where is the improbability of supposing that whole nations, the largest associated bodies of men on the globe, are to feel the power of the Spirit in one general and simultaneous effusion, and to evince that they feel it by a general and simultaneous turning to God, — even as the whole army of dry bones in the prophet's vision were re-animated and stood upon their feet at once, when the Spirit from the four winds came upon them?

Not less apposite than animating, just in this connection, are some words of the late Dr. J. W. Alexander, of N. Y. “ Imagine a shower of grace in this single city; every house filled with worshippers, every place of business made solemn or joyful by the presence of religious emotion. Think of seasons during which religion should be the great matter of interest with every young person. Think of the effect on ministers, on professing Christians, on sinners. Imagine, if you can, a universal work over the whole country and world! My brethren, what visions arise before the eye of faith in the expectation of such a blessing! Oh that I could impress, and be possessed myself with a due sense of the loveliness, the glory, the indispensableness of such a gift! If I judge aright, all other pursuits are nothing to the pursuit of this! Here is the great work of philanthropy, the only thing worth living for!"

"O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!”

Chapter 19: ARE YOU REVIVED?

UNDER the pressure of deep feelings we pen these last hues. It arises, particularly, from the attempt to say a few things to the official teachers of God's word. Ministers and Revivals! What a conjunction of terms! Ministers, how weighty their obligations! Revivals, how fraught with the mightiest consequences!

Is it not lamentable that students for the ministry are not more instructed upon the all-important subject of revivals? In what Theological Seminary does this hold even a subordinate place in the course of study, or the class-room exercise? Were it not well, among other provisions, to establish a Revival Professorship, or a Chair on Soul-Saving? Says Dr. Noah Porter: “I deem it all-important that ministers, and those who are preparing to become ministers, should be revival men. I mean, men who understand the subject of revivals, who enter into it with a warm and decided interest, and whose preaching and influence in all respects shall be adapted to promote revivals. To cherish the spirit of revivals, then, in our Theological Seminaries, is the direct way to multiply revival ministers."

Precisely at this point is to be found a radical defect. The evil lies in the process of training. In the absorbing attention given to the science of theology, that which should be the chief aim in all ministerial preparation is comparatively lost sight of; and the young preachers do not enter upon their pastorates as proselyters of men. They are skilled, it may be, in sermon-writing, and in the niceties of metaphysical and theological distinctions; but they are not skilled in the holy art of winning souls — if, indeed, they have any right appreciation of this as their work. We earnestly commend the thought to the leaders of the Lord's hosts.

If in any one thing more than in others the proverb, “Like priest like people," holds true, it is in respect to revivals of religion. Rarely, perhaps never, is the standard of piety in a church higher than that of its ministry, while the fruitage of a lifeless ministry is almost invariably a dead or lukewarm church. On the other hand, it is a rare fact to find a dead church under a living ministry. Look at all those great revivals whose record gilds the page of church history with its brightest glory. Were not the ministry the first to receive the hallowed quickening in every instance? Was not Pentecost preceded by a baptism of fire on the apostles? Did not the Reformation owe its existence to the spiritual power of Luther in Germany, and Zwingle in Switzerland?  So in America and in Great Britain, Edwards and Tennent, Whitfield and Wesley, were the first to be filled with quickening power. And thus it has continued to our day.

How evident, therefore, the fact that it is not the getting of men for the ministry that is the question now. Nor is it, ' How may we secure learned, able, eloquent, polished, educated men?' These may be very needful matters; but they are of the second grade. They are not the essentials; they are not indispensable. The question now is, ' How may we secure men full of the Holy Ghost and of faith?'  How shall we bring forward a great army of soul-savers?” It is high time that a different standard and different balances came into use, — the standard — not of literature and eloquence — but of the apostles, the balances of the sanctuary.

What an impressive lesson, too, does this teach us who are now the ministers of Christ. If the pulpit first receives, and then conveys, the quickening flame, is not an inert church largely due to ourselves? We cannot shun responsibility. It always goes with privilege, with leadership. (Responsibility is measured by opportunity. God holds every man accountable for the use he makes of the power committed to his trust; and if one fail of fulfilling his obligations, he must answer both for that failure and for all the evil ensuing therefrom. Surely, then, the thought of our responsibility is enough to make us tremble! For with us is lodged a measureless power of good or evil.

Just here the question is in place, Do we not often attempt to shirk responsibility by casting it upon God? Thus one has written — "The language we have been accustomed to adopt is this; we must use the means, and leave the event to God; we can do no more than employ the means; this is our duty, and having done this, we must entrust the rest to him who is the disposer of all things." Now such language sounds well, for it seems to be an acknowledgment of our own nothingness, and to savor of submission to God's sovereignty; but it is often only sound. It has not really any substance in it. Though there is truth stamped on the face of it, there is falsehood at the root of it. For it is only an attempt to cover our indolence. It is a way we have of blinking responsibility. We may be altogether too resigned in seeing no souls converted. Our orthodoxy may be a shield for our inactivity. Instead of acquiescing in the low state of Zion, it were better if, like the good Payson, we were in a “constant fever” over it.

Are we not rebuked by some of the great examples set before us in the preceding pages? Do we know a prayerfulness like that of Luther, who once said, “I have so much business to do to-day that I shall not be able to get through it with less than three hours' prayer." It is John Angel James who said " we are weak in the pulpit because weak in the closet." Edward Payson thus writes to a brother minister: “Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, and the third thing necessary for a minister, especially if he have revivals. Pray, then, my dear brother, pray, pray, pray."

And Rev. Wm. Reid, in his admirable "Words to Winners of Souls," speaks thus to his brethren: “Why is there so little anxiety to get time to pray? Why is there so little forethought in the laying out of time and employments, so as to secure a large portion of each day for prayer? Why is there so much speaking, yet so little prayer? Why is there so much running to and fro, yet so little prayer? Why so much bustle and business, yet so little prayer? Why so many meetings with our fellow-men, yet so few meetings with God? Why so little being alone, so little thirsting of the soul for the calm, sweet hours of unbroken solitude, when God and his child hold fellowship together, as if they could never part? It is this want that not only injures our own growth in grace, but makes us such unprofitable servants of Christ."

Do we know a tireless industry like that of Whitfield, who, true to the symbol on his seal, — a winged heart and the inscription “Astra Petimus,” " We seek the stars," — preached 18,000 sermons in his 34 years' ministry, — over ten per week: or like that of Wesley, who preached 42,400, — over fifteen per week, — in the 53 years of his ministry?

Do we know an engrossment in the master’s business like that of Brainard? — who could say of himself, on more than one occasion, “I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went through, so I could but gain souls to Christ. While I was asleep, I dreamed of these things; and when I waked, the first thing I thought of was this great work."

Do we know a travail of soul for the ungodly like that of Paul? — who could affirm, “I say the truth in Christ, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and co7itinual sorrow in my heart; for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

Do we know a singleness of purpose like that to which the sainted Brown, of Haddington, exhorted his sons?-" O labor, labor, to win souls to Christ! "Can we satisfactorily answer the question, “Is this my aim in every sermon I preach, in every visit I pay? Is it under the influence of this feeling that I continually live and walk and speak? Is it for this I pray and toil and fast and weep? Is it for this I spend and am spent, counting it, next to the salvation of my own soul, my chiefest joy to be the instrument of saving others? Is it for this that I exist? And to accomplish this would I gladly die?"

Do we know a sincerity and engagedness like that of Mr. Shepherd? — who declared on his death-bed that the studying every sermon cost him prayers with strong crying and tears; that before he preached any sermon he got good from it himself; and that he always went up into his pulpit as if he were going to give up his account to his God."

Do we know a reverent and earnest study of the word like that of Whitfield, who read the whole of Henry's Exposition of the Bible on his knees?

Of Richard Baxter it was said by one of his contemporaries, that when he spoke of the soul's weighty concerns, “his spirit was drenched therein^ And yet he confesses, “I seldom come out of the pulpit but my conscience smiteth me that I have been no more serious and fervent in such a case. It accuseth me, not so much for want of ornaments and elegancy, nor for letting fall an unhandsome word; but it asketh me: “How couldst thou speak of life and death with such a heart? How couldst thou preach of heaven and hell in such a careless, sleepy manner? Dost thou believe what thou sayest? Art thou in earnest, or in jest? How canst thou tell people that sin is such a thing, and that so much misery is upon them and before them, and be no more affected with it?'" If he could say that, what might our confession be?

And, now, can we really say that while we admire the character of such men as we have referred to, and are ready to exclaim, “Would that I were such a minister; that such a grace might dwell, and rule, and shine in me; and make me thus faithful, and bring me to such blessedness;" — while we are ready to say this, — are we willing to use the means which they used for obtaining such holiness? Edwards says, “Often I have had very affecting views of my own sinfulness and vileness; very frequently to such a degree as to hold me in a kind of loud weeping, sometimes for a considerable time together, so that I have often been forced to shut myself up." And Archbishop Usher used, at one period of his life, on Saturday afternoon, to go alone to a riverside, and there recount his sins, and confess and bewail them to the Lord with floods of tears? Are we willing to live up to the Scripture precepts for the ministry as they did? Are we willing to watch and pray, and fast, and study, and keep our hearts, and fight with our sins; — willing to deny ourselves, take up the cross, daily, and follow Christ," — as they did? The Lord knoweth!

Let us admit it: if we who are ministers were nearer right, the churches and the world would be nearer right. If we were properly revived, the people around us would not long remain dull. We say properly revived, for all attempts to promote a revival till our own hearts are right, is mere beating the air. With a fervent state in our own mind, how full of unction will be our prayers, how deep the sincerity of our exhortations, how earnest and powerful the pleadings of our sermons! But in the absence of this all our effort will be empty and vain.

Alas, it is but too true that while we may not be chargeable with unsoundness in faith, nor outward negligence of duty, nor inconsistency of life, yet we may be the most grievous obstructions to revivals. As William Reid says, “One may be a dry and empty cistern, notwithstanding his orthodoxy; he may be freezing up and blasting life at the very time that he is speaking of the way of life. He may be repelling men from the cross even when he is in words proclaiming it: he may be standing between his flock and the blessing, even when he is calling it down from heaven!"  These are terrible considerations, but they are only too true.

And how true also, these other words from the same source: “It is easier to speak or write about a revival than to set about it. There is so much rubbish to be swept out; so many self-raised hindrances to be dealt with; so many old habits to be overcome; so much sloth and easy-mindedness to be contended with; so much of ministerial routine to be broken through; and so much crucifixion, both of self and of the world, to be undergone, that we recoil from it. As Christ said of the unclean spirit which the disciples could not cast out, so we say here: This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”

Certainly, dear brethren, we are feeble as preachers because we are feeble as Christians. And our very profession exposes us to this shallowness of piety. Because we are engaged in holy things, the people may think, and we may think, that we are holy: — forgetting that a holy office does not make one holy; —forgetting that he may be spiritual in his pulpit and not in his closet; — forgetting that he may be the keeper of others' vineyards, without keeping his own;— forgetting that it is easier to declaim against sins in others than to mortify them in himself; — aye forgetting that he may be the instrument of grace to others, and yet himself be lost!

O, let us take heed to these things. Let the startling language of John Owen ring in our ears: “He that would go down to the pit in peace, let him obtain a great repute for religion; let him preach and labor to make others better than he is himself, and in the meantime neglect to humble his heart, to walk with God in a manifest holiness and usefulness." And equally startling are the words of Swinnock: “It is a doleful thing to fall into hell from under the pulpit; but O how dreadful a thing to drop thither out of the pulpit! “

Nor let us attempt to shun our responsibility for revivals. Again we say: If the churches are not revived, it is largely our fault. There is no question of it. And what a thought, that we are chargeable with the absence of revivals! — that because we do not act, no revival commences! Who is expected to be first in a reformation if not ourselves? Whose duty is it to lead the way but ours? God forbid that we lack either the requisite Courage or consecration! God forbid that the blood of the impenitent be found on. our garments!

And of the churches we would ask each one. How long is it since you have been refreshed from on high? How long have you been mourning the Saviour's absence? And are you now waiting anxiously, prayerfully, for his return? — showing, also, by your works, that you desire his return speedily.

It is a great question for each church to ask, Are we doing our part towards the world's conversion? Are we “daily adding" to us such as shall be saved? And it is a poor reflection if you are barren that other churches around you are so likewise. If a drought were consuming your crops, and the same were the case with the region around, would it give you comfort to know that you were no worse off than your neighbors? Or, if the showers were refreshing their parched fields, would it not awaken and increase your anxiety for equally copious rains? If others are dormant, surely that is a greater reason ^N\iy you should be active.

Nor forget, that it is a fearful thing to be to merely maintaining the proper and decorous service of God's house. Christianity is not simply a power of conservation, but of aggression. It must not merely live, but increase and cover the earth. It is not an outpost garrison, fixed and stationary in its defences, but an army burning for conquest, and going on by rapid marches and increasing victories. Indeed, if a church be not thus aggressive, it must dwindle and spiritually die. Staid and wealthy, but indolent churches, would do well to heed what Mr. Spurgeon says: “While a church is not bringing others in, her own heart is becoming weak in its pulsations, and her entire constitution is becoming a prey to decline. The church must either bring forth children unto God, or die of consumption; she has no alternative but that. A church must either be fruitful or rot; and of all things a rotting church is the most offensive. Would God we could -bury our dead churches out of our sight, as Abraham buried Sarah — for above ground they breed a pestilence of skepticism and moral death! "

To individual Christians we would say, Have you apprehended the fact that formalism, — the having “a name to live while you are dead," — is your greatest peril?  “I am not afraid," said one, “so much for my children that they fall into open vice — that they should become drunkards, thieves, or extortioners — as I am afraid that they shall get into that formal state which speaks about religion, professes it, and is yet destitute of it: if this should be their state, I would indeed fear for their eternal salvation." Well might one most dread this state; and yet perhaps in that very state may you at this moment be found!

When you consecrated yourself to Christ, you laid yourself on his altar. You presented your being a living, not a dead sacrifice. You declared yourself to be Christ's; having no right or title to your body, soul, property, time or talent. You professed to be dead unto sin, and alive unto God. And you set out with the inquiry, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

How has your life corresponded with that profession? How, in the matter of separateness from sin? Time was, in the days of the martyrs, when a female trained in the refinements of the Roman capital, would not throw a grain of incense on a pagan altar to save herself from the flames. Are you ready thus to resist every form of evil— if need be, even unto blood?

How has your life been In the matter of Christ-like devotion to others' good? There are many professing Christians who have never in their lives been the means of converting one soul! But who might not rationally hope, by humble, prayerful, faithful prosecution of every opening and opportunity for personal Christian influence, to be the means of leading to Christ at least one soul every year? Now consider what will be the result whenever this shall be the earnest aim of every Christian —taking their present number as the basis. The church would be doubled annually; and in less than three years, this whole nation, or an equivalent population, would be gathered into the fold of the Good Shepherd! — prepared to go out and unfurl the gospel banner in every nation town and hamlet under heaven, proclaiming in every tongue the wonders of redeeming grace! And if but the same ratio of increase were continued for nine years, the whole world would be converted to God!

How entirely practicable, therefore, the world's conversion, if but individual Christians were alive to their duty. All that is wanted is a real absorption, a genuine enthusiasm, in this work of soul-saving. Said Mr. Moody, of Chicago, when in England, and addressing a large crowd, with scholars and noblemen in it: “We want enthusiasm in God's work.  We find it in the world. Men are desperately in earnest in business circles.  Hell is earnest. Why should we not be? We talk about infidelity, and all the isms that are creeping over the world; but I am more afraid of a cold formalism than anything else. One thing I admire in Garibaldi — his enthusiasm. In 1867, when on his way to Rome, he was told that if he got there he would be imprisoned. Said he, 'If fifty Garibaldis are imprisoned, let Rome be free! ' And when the cause of Christ is buried so deep in our hearts that we do not think of ourselves, and are willing to die for it, then we will reach our fellow-men! "

This was well and nobly said. For an engagedness like that would transform one's whole being into a living power for good. The whole depends, under God, upon whether we will act, henceforth, under the constant presence of a high purpose to live, not unto ourselves, but unto the Lord. From a thousand wires welded into one they forge the Damascus blade, that can divide the gossamer, or cut an iron bar asunder. So only let the manifold energies of one's being be molten into a single force, by the potent heat of a mighty purpose to serve God always and in all, and that holy and steady resolve will shape a life invincible by aught except almightiness itself.

And is not the single consideration of the peril of men's souls, of a dying race, enough to produce such engagedness? A heathen king once put on sackcloth over the sin and ruin of a single city. Another heathen monarch, at the head of two millions of men, sat down and wept because in a hundred years all that host would be dead. And still other heathens cried out to one of God's unfaithful servants, “What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise! call upon thy God! "Would that a louder cry of perishing millions would wake our guilty slumbers! O, where will they all soon be? Dead! dead! And yet where are our tears and loud weeping, both for ourselves and for our fellows? Alas! that we can see thousands perish around us, and our sleep never be disturbed! — no vision of their awful doom ever scaring us! — no cry from their lost souls ever turning our peace into bitterness!

Was Dr. Arnot too enthusiastic when he exclaimed: “I see men and women perishing. The number is so great that it overwhelms me. My brain is burning; my heart is breaking. The church is asleep, and the world, too, and they are hugging each other. I am weary with holding in. I must cry out; and I would rather be counted singular in the judgment of man than be unfaithful in the judgment of God! "

Dear reader; bring all this home to your own conscience. You are neglecting souls I And can you let another day pass without an effort to save at least 07ie? Choose whom you will try to influence; and then go to your closet and cry mightily to God for his blessing upon your endeavor; and next go to that soul, with tract, or book, or loving epistle, or broken sobs, and tears; — and it may prove to be an arrow in God's bow to bring down one of his enemies.

Then try to stir up a revival spirit in the church to which you belong. Do not wait for a large number to move. What evidence can be drawn, either directly or indirectly from the Scriptures, that a great many must unite in prayer before God will hear and answer? We do verily believe it to be a device of the enemy of revivals, to persuade Christians who begin to feel anxious for their return, that there is no use in the prayers and efforts of a few, as long as there is no general waking up of the church. Instead of this, ask, “Am I right in this matter?" “Do not I need in this respect a great revival?” "Have I felt and acted on these points as I ought to have done?" And when you are truly revived, unite with the few others of like feeling and resolve never to give up without a blessing. Go to your pastor with that feeling, and tell him of it. Ministers are greatly influenced by their members. The writer has often been stirred to thought and effort by someone in his flock saying, “Pastor, is it not time that we had a revival?" Speak to others also, of your feelings, and mention it in the prayer-meetings, and so work on; and you will be the means of a great awakening.

Who, in laying down this volume, will not join in these "reasons why I desire a revival? “

God loves revivals. A revival is not a questionable good. It bears the superscription of heaven.

There is great need of a revival. Zion languishes. Christians are asleep. Iniquity is coming in like a flood. Sinners are perishing. Christ is dishonored.

God comes near in a revival. Our sins have hid his face from us. He seems far distant. If he deign to revive his work he will return. He will hover near. He will cause his face to shine, and we shall be saved.

I wish my own spirit to be refreshed. "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."

A revival of religion would be a precious evidence that God accepts my poor endeavors. Often am I ready to cry out, “Who is sufficient for these things? Am I in the way of God's working here? Oh for some tokens of my Master's favor!"

A revival would be a great blessing to this church. Why are these followers of Christ so negligent in prayer, so worldly, so barren? I long to see Zion put on strength. O Lord, quicken thy people, and make Jerusalem a praise!

In granting a revival God would glorify himself. He manifests his glory more especially in revivals of religion. He glorifies his sovereignty, his power, his truth, and his grace. If he pour out on us a Pentecostal blessing how would men and angels praise him!

A revival would add glory to the crown of Christ. Souls are Christ's choicest jewels. They are “the joy set before him.” I faint to see his kingdom come. The bowing of sinners at the foot of his cross is the rumbling of his chariot wheels. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

“O LORD, REVIVE THY WORK!”

* * * * * * * * * *

If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

- 7 Classics on PRAYER

- 7 Classics on HOLINESS

- 7 Classics on EVANGELISM and SOUL-WINNING

- 7 Catholic Classics

- 5 Classics on the HOLY SPIRIT

- 5 Classics on POWER

PREACHERS AND REVIVALISTS:

- The Azusa Street Papers

- Charles Spurgeon: 40 sermons on Prayer

- Charles Spurgeon: Lectures to My Students

- The George Muller Collection

- The Revival Writings of Jonathan Edwards (7-in-1)

- The Works of Catherine Booth (7-in-1)

- The Works of Charles Finney

- The Works of D. L. Moody

- The Works of R. A. Torrey

- The Works of William Booth

- Biography of John Wesley Collection: 4-in-1

- Amy Carmichael 8-in-1

- Samuel Zwemer 7-in-1(Missions in Arabia)

4.  THE AWAKENING IN WALES AND SOME OF THE HIDDEN SPRINGS (1905) – Jessie Penn-Lewis

By JESSIE PENN-LEWIS

1905

Preface

IN the days of the primitive Church it was considered necessary that a full and authentic record should be written concerning the coming of the Holy Ghost, and all the mighty workings which followed His descent into the upper room at Jerusalem.

When the right time comes such a treatise concerning the outpouring of the Holy Ghost in Wales in 1904-1905 will be found necessary, for Wales is “making history “—Divine history—these days. Doubtless, also, the Lord Himself is preparing a “Luke” for this service !

In view, then, of future history, it becomes the bounden duty of each one with authentic information to contribute his or her quota to the common fund. Such a duty lies on me because I have for the past few years been on the “watch-tower,” watching the movements of God, and I may not withhold from the Church of God what my eyes have seen of His “mighty works” preparing and leading up to this awakening, which we trust and pray may be the beginning of the wider fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel.

The greater part of all that I have written in the following pages is from first-hand information, which has come in such a way that I could not fail to see the Lord directing it to me for the purpose of this story, and I am greatly indebted to the clergy, ministers, and others, who have sent me various accounts of the work, in some instances having to translate from Welsh to English—demanding no little labour and time in the midst of other pressing claims. I have thought it best to omit all names with the exception of those already publicly connected with the Revival, although I recognize that in the days of Pentecost the story was told in all its simplicity of truth— with no thought of honour to the instruments of God as “they rehearsed all things that God had done with them.”

To obtain a wide vision I have also sought to write from the view-point of the Mount of God. The Spouse in Canticles cries to the sister-bride, “Come with Me (and) look from the top.” May we heed His call, and” ascend into the hill of the Lord,” and “stand in His holy place,” whence we may watch in the world” The voice of the Lord hewing out flames of fire,” and “breaking the cedars.” But it is obvious that the following pages cannot possibly unfold all that the Lord has wrought in the prayer-movement, or His inner workings in the Principality of Wales. Indeed, the story of His marvellous workings in each of the few centres I have briefly referred to would easily fill a chapter of themselves.

I have only placed on record what I know of some of the springs of the Revival—springs to a great extent hitherto unseen by the world, and I do this not only for the sake of future history, but because it is of the most vital importance that the people of God should discern the true inwardness of God’s workings, lest they be occupied with the outward manifestations, and seek to copy that which only can be produced by God Himself when His people obey the conditions of blessing. With this special object in view I have chosen, out of the quantity of material in my hands, to record those instances of the working of God which emphasise the aspect I have enlarged upon in my last chapter, i.e., that God works from the midst of a Spirit-filled people out upon the world. If the “Revival Dawn” in Wales is to increase to noon-day power, all who long for world-wide Revival must see to it that they hasten the day by personally entering the Spirit-filled life, whilst congregations must seek—what may never have entered their minds before as possible—to have their “Pentecost.”

As I close I cannot refrain from referring to a “romantic coincidence” which has come to me personally within the last year in the renewal of my childhood’s friendship with Dr. Cynddylan Jones. As a girl of fourteen I was the little companion of Dr. Jones and my father, who together were convalescents in a Hydropathic Establishment near Bath, after serious illness. My father was taken to the heavenly home, and Dr. Jones was left to continue his ministry for God, little dreaming that the child who played around him in those days would, in later years, have the privilege and joy of linked service with him in telling the story of a great revival in their native land

May the Eternal Spirit use the messages toward the fulfilling of His desire to lead the Church of God back to Calvary and to Pentecost. Then shall “the glory of the Lord be revealed, and all flesh see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

Jessie Penn-Lewis

GREAT GLEN, NEAR LEICESTER, April, 1905.

Introduction

Wales is a land of periodic revivals. In the middle of the eighteenth century “a love coal from off the altar” touched the lips of Daniel Rowlands, a clergyman of the Church of England, and inspired him with a fervour which no opposition could quench. The genteel and respectable Christians of the period called him the “cracked clergyman” of Liangeitho. But if he were cracked, the Welsh nation has reason to be for ever grateful, for through the “cracks” he beheld God and Eternity, and the vision filled his soul with boundless enthusiasm. In a few years all Wales was ablaze. People from far and near came to witness the stirring effects of his preaching ; the hearers wept and shouted, thus outraging all the proprieties. Did that marvellous Revival leave anything behind it of permanent value to the nation? Yes. First, as the Revival in England left behind it a new religious Communion, the great Wesleyan Methodist Church, so in Wales it created a new denomination, the Calvinistic Methodist Church, which in numbers, influence, and learning, ranks with the foremost of the denominations in the country. Second, it gave Wales its Hymnology. Till then the nation had no hymns. Now we have a heritage of hymns rich beyond compare. These hymns revitalised the religious life, and as a consequence the nation has moved on a higher level ever since.

That movement in course of time expended its force. But in the beginning of the last century another Revival started. John Elias with his theological sermons, Christmas Evans with his poetical sermons, and Williams of Wern with his philosophical sermons, travelled the country, proclaiming the doctrines of grace, each in his own way, overpowering their hearers, throwing them into a religious ecstasy, and once again the large congregation shouted and sang with joy. All Wales was like a boiling cauldron. Gradually the flames of emotion died out. What was left—ashes? By no means; that convulsion in the spiritual experience of the population raised the national life to a higher level. Emotionalism? Aye; but it fed the roots of intellect, infused new life into the Tree of Knowledge as well as the Tree of Life.

However it be among other nations, in Wales the Life is always the Light. As the first Revival gave us our Hymnology, so the second gave us our Theology. Probably there were not men learned enough to write standard books of their own, but there were many able to translate the standard works of other authors. Accordingly, under the influence of this Revival, were rendered into the vernacular of Wales, Dr. Owen on the “Person of Christ,” “Justification,” and the “Work of the Holy Spirit “; Matthew Henry’s Commentary, and a number of other Puritan books. Under its influence Bunyan’s Pilgrim learned to speak Welsh on his journey to the Celestial City! In the absence of light literature, the farmers and the peasantry spent their long winter evenings pondering over these books, discussing their teaching in their adult Sunday Schools and their week evening meetings, with the inevitable result that they became thoroughly grounded in the fundamental doctrines of Salvation. Puritanism entered the blood of the Welshman, it still colours his every thought, and can never be expelled. Hence his aversion to rites and ceremonies—to all appeals to his aesthetic nature, and his readiness on the other hand to respond to all appeals to his spiritual nature.

In 1850 the enthusiasm of the former days had quite died out. Church life was placid even to torpidity. The elderly men and women were calling to mind the years of the right Hand of the Almighty, and sighing for a wee bit of a breeze. And in 1859 the third Revival broke out. Humphrey Jones, a young Wesleyan minister, catching the fire of the American Revival, crossed the ocean to convey the flame to his native land. He held prayer and preaching meetings; all the countryside in North Cardigan was talking of the young Revivalist. Alas! his bodily frame could not stand the strain, and in three or four months his nervous system broke down, and he could never face a congregation again. But he had not laboured in vain, for before his collapse he had imparted the fire to a neighbour of his, the Rev. David Morgan, a Calvinistic Methodist minister, a man of splendid physique. The transformation wrought in the latter was simply miraculous. That which I know I speak, for I was an eye-witness of it all. He toured the country from Holyhead to Cardiff, spoke as one inspired, towered high above all his compeers during the three years of his strange uplifting. Crowds hung upon his lips, the ungodly cried out in agony of soul, the saints shouted for joy—their noise was like the noise of many waters. All the country was aflame. It is computed that about 100,000 converts were added to the churches.

There were critics and scoffers then as now. “If, therefore, the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? “ (1 Cor. xiv. 23). Literally, will they not say that ye are under the influence of a demon? That probably was the criticism of unbelievers on the revival in Corinth; that certainly was their criticism on the revival of rang in Wales! Fortunately there were others, more sensitive to spiritual influences, who replied, “Well, well, if this be the work of the devil, he must be a very new devil to Wales. The old one sent the people to the public-houses, the new sends them to the churches; the old made them dance and swear, the new makes them leap and praise.”

By their fruits ye shall know them.” Emotionalism, extravagance—yes; but they burnt out the old impurities. Wales was lifted high on the crest of that revival wave; when the wave subsided, what was left—froth? No, but higher aspirations after holiness and an intense love of learning. Since then the number of worshipping places has been doubled, thousands of schools have been built, and three national colleges established— all having their roots in the revivification of the religious life of nearly fifty years ago. The first Revival gave us our Hymnology, the second our Theology, the third our educational system, which competent authorities pronounce to be second to none in the world to-day. Every Revival, like the overflowing of the Nile, leaves a rich deposit behind to fertilize the national character.

That memorable Revival in the roll of the years spent its force. For the last ten years the spiritual life in our churches was becoming more and more depressed. Our best spirits were lamenting the impending lapse of our fatherland into barbarism. Earnest crying was made unto heaven. For months we felt there was a vague, indefinite, mysterious something in the air—a going in the top of the mulberry trees. The godly mothers and maidens were the first to feel the return of the tide, which for the last few months have swept all before it. The story of this fourth Revival will be told in the following pages by one in complete sympathy with all spiritual movements, and possessing the advantage of understanding thoroughly the generous impulses of the Celtic heart and the subtle windings of the Celtic brain. But I may be allowed to indicate two or three of its outstanding features.

1. It is independent of all human organisations – straight from heaven. Missions are revivals. Men can organise the former, not the latter, and it is a pity the distinction should be so often over-looked. Man’s method of saving the world is by costly and complicated machinery-salvation by mechanics; but God’s method is by vital energy-salvation by dynamics. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power, the dynamic, of God unto salvation” (Romans i.16). St. Paul, the missionary, relying upon prayer and the dynamic power of the Gospel, changed the face of the Roman Empire. And in Wales to-day all is spontaneous. The dynamite is working, explosion follows explosion , and already scores of thousands of rough, hard stones have been loosened from the quarry of corrupt humanity, and where explosion frequent and powerful take place, is it to be wondered at that there is tumult and confusion? Better the confusion of the city than the order of the cemetery.

2. Much importance is attached to the work of the Spirit, at least in its initial stages. Heretofore the work of Christ has been the all-important truth, to the exclusion to a large extent of the doctrine of the Spirit. Much emphasis has been laid on receiving Christ, scant stress on receiving the Spirit. Now, however, the question is coming to the forefront, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts xix. 2). There were thousands of believers in our churches, who like the disciples St. Paul met at Ephesus, had received Christ, but had never received the Holy Ghost. The mark of Christ’s blood was upon them, but where was the mark of the Spirit’s anointing? Saved themselves, they made no attempt to save others. The present Revival, however, whilst not obscuring the doctrine of the Cross, has brought into prominence the doctrine of the Spirit. Thousands of Christians, who had received the Christ, have now received the Holy Ghost, and as a consequence they are filled with the spirit of service—no task seems to them too hard for Christ’s sake.

Whilst this doctrine is by no means new to theology, in the present movement it has assumed a new forms at least in experience. Orthodoxy has always conceded that conscience speaks within us; but in practice we have effected too wide a separation between conscience and the Holy Spirit. This Revival has again united these. “ Something tells me to do this and avoid that,” says the man. “Some Thing,” answers the young Revivalist, “why don’t you be honest? Why don’t you say Some One? “ And the Revivalist is right. A Thing can never speak. It is not Some Thing but Some One who speaks, none other than the Third Person in the Holy Trinity. Does not this invest conscience with grand sacredness? We all believe in the need of the Spirit to regenerate and sanctify—— to accomplish the great tasks of life, the works which we know no human power can effect; but alas! we are not in the habit of introducing the Spirit into the common acts of our every day life. But the Scripture teaches us to seek the Spirit’s guidance in all things—He is the source of all prudence and wisdom.

3. The third feature is enthusiasm, a feature common to all Revivals. Many Christians who love gentility and moderation would like to receive the baptism of the Spirit without the baptism of Fire. But what God has joined cannot be sundered. “He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire “ (Matt. iii. II) ; there is the verse—what will you do with it? There is only one preposition in the original, not two as in the English, to show the identity of the two baptisms, or rather that there is but one. Wherever the Spirit descends He brings fire in His train. “There appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Hearts of Fire and Tongues of Flame. Is enthusiasm permissible in every department of life, but forbidden in church life? A thousand times, No. How speaks the Apostle ? “Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” Fervent, literally, boiling. “ Boiling in spirit.” Let none be ashamed of “boiling” in the service of the Saviour. At all events I prefer the congregations that boil over to the congregations that will not boil at all. “The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Literally, the boiling prayer. The cold prayer even of a good man will avail nothing in heaven or on earth, but the boiling prayer of a righteous man has ere now performed wonders, and will perform them again.

How very cold and formal the prayers of the Church have been for many a long year! But for the last four months there has been everywhere a marked change—the prayers have been boiling and whole multitudes have been thrown into a state of extraordinary fervour. It rejoices me to see the rising generation boiling with a great enthusiasm in the service of Christ—the mark of the “ boiling will be on them as long as they live. None are the same after boiling as before. Hundreds of our young men and women had been brought up religiously in the home and the church; but their religion was cold, format, following routine. Hardly any of them had courage enough to bow the knee in public; prayer, with the inevitable consequence that only aged men engaged publicly in the weekly prayer-meetings.

Behold the difference! Now our young people flock to the services, prayers flow spontaneously from their lips like water from the spring, praise ascends to heaven like the carol of birds in spring. No forcing, no inviting— spontaneity characterises the proceedings from beginning to end. No one is ashamed of confessing Christ as his or her Saviour— rather the shame is on the other side. All the chapels are crowded, the valleys and mountains ring with praise. The following story will show how gamblers refuse money won by bets made before conversion, how prize-fighters are now soul winners, how thieves restore stolen goods, how husbands return to their deserted homes, how enemies are made friends. Scores of pages can be filled with as striking conversions as any in the annals of the Christian Church.

Do we justify the extravagances? Not more than Paul justified them at Corinth (I Cor. xiv.)! We know what they mean, are able to interpret the tongues. Out of the confusion will emerge order and beauty and life. All criticisms are met by the prophet’s question, “What is the chaff to the wheat? “ (Jer. xxiii. ~8).

J. CYNDDYLAN JONES.

Chapter 1

THE FIRST PENTECOST IN JERUSALEM AND JOEL’S PROPHECY - THE PRAYER-MOVEMENT - THE PRAYER-CIRCLES IN 1902—THE RENEWED PREACHING OF THE CROSS.

AFTER the tragedy of Calvary, and the glorious Resurrection and Ascension of Him Who is now alive for evermore, the Ascended Lord sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, and received of the Father the “promise of the Holy Ghost” for His redeemed ones as the fruit of His Cross and Passion. He then poured Him forth upon the company of men and women gathered together with one accord in the upper room in Jerusalem—the city where He was crucified.

Giving them commandment “through the Holy Ghost,” almost His last words to them before He ascended had been “I send forth the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high.”

Returning from Mount Olivet to Jerusalem they set themselves to obey, and with one accord continued stedfastly in prayer until at last the day dawned, and the Holy Ghost came as the “rushing of a mighty breath.”

The word used to describe His advent is significant. The breath of the Spirit is spoken of by the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus when He told him that men dead in sin must have a new birth—a birth from above which would come by the breathing of the Spirit of Life upon them, so that they are begotten of God. And “the Spirit breatheth where He listeth! Men could hear and see the effects as with the wind, but not know “whence it cometh and whither it goeth.”

Later on we read that on the first Easter Day the Risen Lord stood in the midst of His disciples, and, showing them His hands and His side scarred with the marks of Calvary, breathed on them, saying “Receive ye,” or, as it is literally, “Take ye the Holy Ghost.”

We cannot doubt that the disciples received the Holy Ghost when the Risen Lord breathed upon them, but their immediate after-life shows that it was not the energising for service and clothing with Divine power, which the Lord so expressly bade them tarry for ere they attempted witnessing for Him. The breathing upon them of the Holy Ghost on the first Easter Day seems to have been the “earnest,” or preparation for the Pentecostal fullness of the Divine Spirit, and they would have sorely failed to enter into His greater purposes for them had they said “But we received the Holy Ghost on the day of His resurrection!” and not waited at Jerusalem until they were “baptised in the Holy Ghost,” or clothed with Him, as the Lord had promised.

But they obeyed and tarried, possibly scarce knowing what the outcome would be, until suddenly there came from heaven a “rushing mighty breath.” The breath of God which gives the new birth to every believer, now came forth with such force and volume that it filled the very atmosphere of the house where they were sitting. The believers were now, so to speak, submerged in the Holy Ghost, as well as indwelt by Him. In this intensely surcharged atmosphere the Divine Spirit became manifest— apparently to sight as well as hearing—and there appeared unto them tongues like as of fire “distributing themselves,” and resting upon each one present, until each—no matter what the temperament, education, training, position, sex, or age might be—” began to speak” as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The city of Jerusalem knew nothing of the little company quietly meeting and praying in the upper room! But now they could not be hid. Hearing the sound of voices the multitude came together, and saw the Spirit-filled company so manifestly under the control of some power which lifted them out of themselves that some said “They are filled with new wine,” whilst all were amazed and marvelled, saying, “Are not all these which speak Galileans? “—untaught, uncultured people from the province of Galilee.

The world had been going on its way, ignorant of all that God was silently working in the spiritual realm to bring about the counsels of the ages.

But now! “What meaneth this? “ cries the gathering multitude. Ah, momentous things had happened in the unseen realm, and all that had been wrought by the death of the God-Man at Calvary must now be made manifest to the world that crucified Him! The Third Person of the Godhead, the Eternal Spirit of the Father, comes forth to bear witness to the Crucified and Risen Lord, and clothe human beings with Divine authority as His messengers.

In answer to the charge of being filled with wine Peter rose to speak—the very man who just a fortnight before had denied his Lord in that same city. Speaking under the constraint of the Divine Spirit, he said, “This is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel:- “And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . . . on My servants, and on My handmaidens in those days will I pour forth of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”

Let us mark the words, for they vitally concern the people of God to-day. “This is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel,” said the Apostle. Not “this is the entire fulfilment of the prophecy.” It is written “ I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh,” and this speaks of a larger circle than one hundred and twenty men and women. Yea, a larger circle than even the three thousand and five thousand souls, and “multitudes” more of men and women so quickly “added to the Lord.” The words undoubtedly foretell a wider fulfilment of the prophecy than took place at Pentecost.

Joel said “in those days will I pour out My Spirit.” The expression “is in the long Hebrew tense, expressing continuance of action, literally an incoming, unfinished, and continuous outpouring.’ It therefore appears that the words ‘‘ in those days cover the whole dispensation of the Spirit, beginning with the day of Pentecost. The purpose of God was manifestly a beginning in the upper room; and a continuing upon wider and wider circles as the overflowing stream of life reached the “uttermost parts of the earth “; but alas, alas, the Church, instead of abiding in a Pentecostal condition, drifted further and further away from it. Nevertheless the Word of God standeth sure. The Church shall be brought back to her Pentecost when she knows her need and turns to the Lord.

In the prophecy of Joel we see foreshadowed under the figure of “rain” the work of the Holy Ghost. Joel speaks of the Lord’s response to the cry of His people, when He would cause to come down for them the “former rain “ and the “latter rain”, then AFTERWARD should come the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh, and a time of such manifestly supernatural workings of the Spirit, that whosoever would simply “call” on the name of the Lord should be delivered. The “former rain” was always given in Palestine to cause the seed sown to germinate and grow into maturity. The “latter rain” was looked for as essential to the plumping out of the grain for its ripening and fitting for harvest. How clear the forecast of the purposes of God toward His people in the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

We need not now attempt to trace the Divine movements in the world preceding the first Pentecost. Were we to do so, we should find them strikingly parallel with those in recent years, when the condition of the professing Christian Church has become similar to the Jewish Church at the close of the dispensation before the Messiah appeared.

It will be sufficient for us to emphasise that Joel’s prophecy clearly sets forth the preparation of the people of God by a seeking unto God in prayer. We read that they are brought by His providential dealings to a consciousness of their need, and are summoned to leave all their interests, and with one accord to seek His face; then would come the Lord’s response in overflow of personal blessing, and the pouring out of His Spirit in such measure that the world should be touched, and sinners call upon the Lord. The first Pentecost at Jerusalem exactly fulfilled this forecast. Bereft of the One Who had been with them in bodily presence as Teacher and Guide; faced with His command to go forth and disciple all nations; conscious of their powerlessness to fulfil this commission, and of their lack of position, culture, knowledge, and all the resources which would command the attention of the world to their message, the little company of disciples gathered with one accord to pray until they were equipped with power from on high.

PRAYER preceded the first Pentecost, and PRAYER must precede the wider outpouring of the Spirit in the last days, therefore the true members of Christ all over the world must be drawn by the Spirit within them into one accord in asking God to pour forth His Spirit according to His word. The extent of the one will govern the extent of the other, for prayer prepares the channels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and flow out through into the world.

The question therefore arises as to whether there has been in recent years any indication of the special preparation of the Church for the wider fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy. If we find this to be so, our faith will be strengthened, and our vision cleared, to see that the Revival in Wales may be the beginning of the “latter rain” which shall prepare the Church of God for the Lord’s appearing, and draw into the kingdom all who willeth to be saved.

To obtain a wide vision, let us in heart and mind now ascend into the secret place of the Most High, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, and look out with Him upon the world, and watch the movings of His Spirit among His people. We may only find the veil lifted here and there, and obtain but glimpses into His workings, but these will suffice to give insight into His preparations over the earth for the fulfilment of His purposes toward men.

We will go in thought back to the year 1898 or 1899, and glancing into an Institute in America see gathered there three to four hundred children of God, meeting every Saturday night to pray for a “world-wide revival.” In this Institute we find men and women from every clime seeking equipment for the preaching of the Gospel. Their hearts yearn over their own lands, and “world-wide” must be the blessing which they seek. After a time a few began to stay in prayer late at night, and ceased not until the early hours of the Sabbath morning. Among them was one who was their Leader. Conscious that they who pray must be ready to be instrumental in answering their own prayers, he offers himself to God for any special service in the bringing about of the prayed-for Revival.

Rapidly we cross in vision to another far-away land, and in Australia find a band of ministers and laymen who have met for eleven whole years every Saturday afternoon, pleading with God for a “big revival.” In the wondrous chain of the Divine workings, we next see a messenger called out from the heart of the praying company in America, to be one of the instruments in Australia, of God answering these prayers—the very one who had laid himself at the feet of the Lord of the harvest, ready for all His commands.

In 1901 we look into the great city of Melbourne, and see fifty missioners holding services in fifty different centres of the city, whilst 40,000 praying souls meet in two thousand homes for “home” prayer meetings, encircling the city with prayer. Many meet for half nights of prayer, and Melbourne is moved from end to end by the mighty movings of the Spirit of God.

We come again in swift thought back to Great Britain, and look in at the huge meetings of five thousand Christians gathered at Keswick in July, 1902. Hark! The story of the “home prayer circles” around Melbourne is being told. Hearts of workers are burdened and sad. Weary of organisation and effort, no fresh “Prayer Union” would appeal to them, but quickly the spark from the fire in Australia falls into many hearts. “Home prayer circles !” The “twos and threes” of those who are truly burdened for “world-wide revival!” Ah, this is the call of God! If a city may be thus girdled with prayer, why not the world? Quickly are the names of those who are drawn of God to pray sent in from all parts of the earth, until thousands of praying hearts were circling the globe with praye:r. It is God’s prayer union gathered and guided by Him, with no organization, no membership fee, no staff, but just the few who register the names as a labour of love for souls. And the prayer was now for the “outpouring of the Spirit !“ In other words, a Pentecost to the Church of God.

Just one month earlier, in far-away India the Divine Spirit laid the same burden upon the servants of God, and guided them—without any conscious connection with the prayer-movement in other lands —to form a prayer-circle of those who would unite to plead for the outpoured Spirit upon that dark and needy land. Manifestly the Spirit of God was simultaneously moving the people of God in various parts of the world to pray for the same thing, and creating the cry for that which He was preparing to do.

Later we shall see how the year 1902, when the circles of prayer were formed, stands out as the time when world-wide the praying people of God—— including, we doubt not, many prayer-groups, and praying hearts, not visibly linked with the world wide circles—united in one accord to ask for the promised Pentecost.

It is significant also that in this year of 1902 a pamphlet entitled “A Revival Call to the Churches” was issued, and obtained a wide circulation, and another pamphlet called “Back to Pentecost,” issued the same year, showed how God was leading the thoughts of His people, and preparing them for His purposes of grace.

Can we discern any immediate effects of the world-girdling prayer? Within a year there began to be signs of awakening in various quarters, and the “Voice of the Lord” was “upon the waters,” but not yet any movement of the Spirit which could be said to bear to the eyes of the world the characteristics of Pentecost.

As in the days of Anna and Simeon, there were many hidden souls in the secret of His counsels. One such was present at Keswick at the time of the call to prayer. She had offered herself to Him some two years before this for the special service of intercession, and the story of His dealings is best told in her own words:-

“I had read words to this effect, ‘If even one life could be fully surrendered to God to use as He wanted for prayer, most wonderful results would follow—and He needs such an one.’ Then I knelt down, and very humbly told Him if He would take me and use me for prayer, I would be willing. When I said fully from my heart, ‘Yes, Lord,’ it seemed as if a hand was placed on me pressing me lower and lower, until I had no life left in me—and I wept.

For some months I was used for prayer in small things, but one day about six months later all was utter darkness. As usual I went to Him, but the darkness continued for about a week. Then one morning, about ten o’clock, the agony became terrible, and I cried, ‘Lord, what is it?’ He answered, ‘Come with Me, and I will show you the sin in this place.’ We seemed to go into all the worst parts of the district, and I saw sin as never before. I cried out for the people. The prayer was, ‘0 Lord, send a Revival into this place.’ Then came perfect peace until the next morning at the same time, when the Lord called me again, and took me further afield. The same thing happened for a whole week until I was agonizing for a ‘ World-wide Revival,’ as He took me into places where the Gospel had never been heard. Then all this ceased.

From this time I was watching for the Revival, and wondering how the Lord would send it. When we heard of any special one being used, I went to the Lord and said, ‘Is this Thine instrument, Lord?’ and He answered, ‘ Only one, child. Again I went about another much-used soul, and the same answer came, with this addition, ‘I have something more than this.’

At Keswick in 1902—the first I had ever attended—‘Prayer Circles’ were announced for a ‘World-wide Revival.’ Then I went to the Lord and cried, ‘Lord, why must they pray for what Thou hast already promised?’ Then He said, ‘This Revival is an accomplished fact in My Kingdom,’ and I said, ‘Why does it not come, Lord, without these Prayer Circles? He replied, ‘I am ready, but My children are not. Before it comes they must preach the word of the Cross—the message of Calvary.’

“I am ready, but My children are not,” shows that the world-wide circles of prayer were mainly necessary for the purpose of creating desire among the people of God, and preparing the channels for the coming “rain.” “They must preach the Cross,” tells us also that God Himself cannot send “Revival” until the Gospel of Calvary is proclaimed.

But now with one accord the cry has ascended to heaven. The Christ upon His Throne is ready to bless. The blood of the Son of God which has been “trodden under foot,” and counted “a common thing,” shall be borne witness to from heaven.

Whither shall we now turn our eyes to see His workings. Can we perceive a marked renewal of the preaching of the Cross? Yea, verily. Early in 1903 the records in the papers showed on every side that the messengers of God were being led by Him to proclaim afresh the message of Calvary. At annual meetings, opening services, and special conferences, the key-note again and again was the “Need for direct preaching of the Cross,” whilst a well-known religious paper remarked that there were “welcome signs of reversal to the old Gospel of Calvary.”

In the light of all this it is significant to find that at the Keswick Convention of 1903, when the windows of heaven were opened, and the Holy Spirit swept as an overflowing stream over the huge gatherings of five thousand men and women—many of them come from distant parts of the earth to seek the power of the Holy Ghost—He unveiled to them in fresh and vivid power the Cross of Calvary, for almost every servant of God entrusted with His messages proclaimed with one accord the “Word of the Cross” as the power of God to save from the bondage as well as the guilt of sin, and “crucified with Christ” as the secret of deliverance was the theme on every hand.*

In 1902 the Holy Ghost had drawn His people to pray for a World-wide Revival, and in 1903 the Eternal Spirit broke forth upon the people of God gathered from the ends of the earth, and leads them back to CALVARY.

Moreover, in this same year of 1903, in far-away India the Spirit of God unveiled to one of His honoured servants the Cross of Calvary in new and vivid power, revealing to him that for forty years He had been preparing him for the work of sending forth the “Word of the Cross to every tongue and tribe and nation,” in millions of booklets containing the full-orbed message of Calvary.

Yes, truly prayer must prepare God’s people for the moving forth of the Spirit in Pentecostal power, and when the Holy Spirit comes forth He bears witness to Calvary, as in the days of the first Pentecost in Jerusalem.

“0! ANFON DI YR YSBRYD GLA N.”

Oh! send Thy Holy Spirit, Lord,

In Jesu’s blessed name,

Oh ! let Thy Spirit now descend

In tongues of sacred flame!

According to Thy promise, Lord,

Shed freely from above

The Holy Spirit in His strength

To manifest Thy love.

Chapter 2

THE PRINCIPALITY OF WALES—THE PROPHET OF THE REVIVAL —HIS LAST MESSAGE TO WALES IN 1903—THE FIRST LLANDRINDOD CONVENTION IN AUGUST, 1903.

“The sound of abundance of rain.” I KINGS xviii. 41.

BUT where in these days can be found the conditions necessary for the mighty working of God? It must be, and can only be, where the Atonement of Christ is proclaimed, and the Scriptures accepted sincerely as the Word of the living God.

We look towards the little Principality of Wales, and find these conditions there. Speaking generally the pulpit has been true to the Evangelical faith in all its essentials, and the gospel of the grace of God has been faithfully preached to the people. The nation has clung, as a whole, to the faith of their fathers—the exception being the few who have been touched by the spirit of criticism and unbelief so prevalent in other lands. True the people may have been living upon the traditions of the past, yet there has not been departure from the “faith once for all delivered to the saints.” Wales has also had special advantages in its Sunday schools, where people of all ages gathered to learn the Word of God, and earnest efforts were directed to make the teaching effectual by systematic study and Scripture examinations. Then, again, we find the congregational festivals for singing placing the words of hymns full of the message of Calvary into the people’s memories. Groups of churches would practice the same selection of hymns through the winter, and then a day would be set apart for a festival under the conductor-ship of a leading musical teacher. The late Joseph Parry, Mus. Doc., said, in conducting one of these festivals not long before he died, that the coming revival would be a singing one! With the Gospel of Calvary in their minds, and the hymns about Calvary in their memories, the nation needed but the breath of God to quicken their traditional faith into living power.

The All-Wise God looks forth upon the world, and finds here in this little country the conditions necessary for the breaking forth of His Spirit in Pentecostal power.

Let us see whether there are traces of the “prayer movement” in the Principality. We do not know whether the story of the world-girdling prayer circles reached many in Wales, but we find the Holy Spirit creating in individuals, and groups of twos and threes, the very same cry He was cal1ing forth all over the world.

In 1901 the Lord drew near to one of His servants in the ministry, and gave him such a revelation of His glory that he cried, like Isaiah, “Woe is me,” and entered on a life in God unknown before. Then, in a quiet spot on the banks of a Welsh river, burdened over the spiritual condition of the country, he spent hours in prayer, pleading with God with many tears that He would come forth in power and work in the land. Again, in a quiet town in the western part of Wales, we hear of two and three women meeting together for prayer during several years, pleading for “Revival” among the women of the town.

We go to the Rhondda Valley, where afterwards the Spirit of God swept with great power, and hear of some who for years had been pleading for a Revival which should “sweep over the whole world.” We do not wonder that such souls are taken in to the secrets of God, the Holy Spirit saying to one of them just three days before the valley was moved by the mighty tide of life, “ Get thee up . . . there is the sound of abundance of rain.”

We find in Monmouthshire the hand of the Lord upon two sisters, one an invalid, who, during 1903-1904, were burdened over the prevalence of sin, and the increase of crime in the county, one sister saying, tearfully, “I cannot sleep day nor night because my dear Lord is despised and set at naught.” Another child of God—a retiring, timid lady— bemoaning the deadness of the churches, said, “I shall die unless God exerts His power, and sends a Revival!”

We hear of three ministers of the Gospel meeting together in May, 1903, for prayer and conference, drawn together by a sense of need; utterly dissatisfied with their own Christian experience, and distressed at the condition of their churches, with worldliness and apathy among their officers and members. Once again we see it is a group of three! They decided to form a “prayer circle,” and fixed 10 o’clock each morning as the time to pray for each other and their churches. This prayer-group we shall refer to again, but just here it throws light upon the Spirit drawing forth prayer in Wales in unconscious accord with the world-wide circles of prayer. The Spirit of God was manifestly brooding over the land, and doubtless there are many names recorded in heaven of others burdened with a similar consciousness of need, who were drawn out in Spirit-taught prayer, both in the ordinary prayer-meetings of the Churches, and Young People’s Societies, as well as alone, with God.

In the momentous year of 1902—the prayer-movement year, we may call it—as we look toward Wales we see also a figure standing out like Moses on Pisgah’s mount, beholding the land of far distances. One who has since been called the “prophet of the Revival.” The late Dean Howell, of St. David’s, or “Llawdden,”—to use his bardic name. A dignitary of the Church of England, like Solomon, he had “largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea-shore!” so that he was beloved of all sections of the people as a saintly man of God, a patriot, preacher-orator, and bard.

In the closing month of 1902, in his far-away home on the extreme western point of the Principality, at the age of 83, “ Llawdden” looks out upon his beloved land. Conscious of standing on the brink of eternity, with earth-born things fading from his gaze, and the light of heaven shining upon him, he sends out a message to his countrymen, since realised to be wondrously prophetic of the Revival.

The Dean first gave a vivid sketch of the spiritual dearth in the land, and then in powerful language emphasised he only remedy to be a spiritual awakening. He appealed to all to “create a circle of implorers” who would cry to God in the words of Isaiah, “Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down.” Then beseeching his readers to consecrate themselves to make a revival the chief end of their desire, he closed with the following memorable words :— “Take notice, if it were known that this was my last message to my fellow-countrymen throughout the length and breadth of Wales before being summoned to judgment, and the light of eternity already breaking over me, and it is this—the chief need of my country, and my dear nation at present is a SPIRITUAL REVIVAL THROUGH A SPECIAL OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY GHOST.”

The message was issued in a Welsh Magazine in January, 1903, and caused a deep impression throughout the Principality. It proved indeed to be his last message, for shortly after its issue the aged Dean passed to his heavenly reward.

“A spiritual revival through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost” was just what God was leading His people all over the world to pray for, and even then beginning to send upon the Principality of Wales. But before we watch the rising of the tide we must again return to the “Prayer Circle,” Keswick, of 1902.

At Keswick that same year were found two Welsh ministers who told how thirteen Welsh people, gathered in 1896 at the Keswick Convention, met together one afternoon for a prayer meeting for Wales, asking God Himself to give to Wales a similar Convention for the deepening of the spiritual life. For six years this petition lay before the Lord, until in the seventh year—which in the Scriptures always speaks of God’s fulness of time—the Lord’s time to answer had come.

Again without using any of the usual “machinery” the Spirit of God immediately began to move toward the arrangement of a Conference for Wales, by a series of steps of such remarkable guidance, and wonderful coincidences, that so far as anything can be said to be wrought of God, with the least touch of human hand, so far can it be said that God Himself arranged, and brought to fruition, the Convention which became one of the channels for the rivers of life to Wales. When in September, 1902, the aged Dean was asked whether, in his judgment, the time was ripe for such a Conference for Wales, he stood, and with his hands raised, and his eyes lifted heavenward, he said, “I am an old man on the edge of eternity, and I say that if such a Conference could take place, God-given and not man-made, it would be an incalculable blessing to Wales.”

From this time on, with much prayer and wise counsels, he entered into all the detailed arrangements for the Conference, giving his very last strength and labours to the furthering of what he believed would tend to bring about the “spiritual high tide” which he, at this very time, urged upon his countrymen as “ the chief need of Wales.”

Meanwhile the Spirit of God was working in the Principality. We have referred to the group of three ministers who banded together for prayer in May, 1903. They were conscious that the first step to blessing for their churches was to get right with God themselves. They agreed to pray daily, but they could not see clearly the way of the better life. In their perplexity they decided to write to a well-known London minister, begging him, if possible, to find time to meet a company of ministers in Glamorganshire to give them spiritual counsel and help. He replied that he could not come just then, but told them of the coming Conference, when he would gladly give them a private interview.

At the very same time—the spring of 1903—in a district in Glamorganshire, four young men, only 18 years of age, were found on a mountain-side holding a prayer-meeting, and pleading with God for a revival in their church, which was in a cold and formal state, converts being few and far between. It transpired that these young men had held their prayer-meeting on the mountain every night for a month past! When this prayer-circle became known, the majority of the church viewed the proceedings with suspicion, and some ignored or mocked the “enthusiasm” of the lads. But they continued to pray on the mountain-side for two whole months, and, to the astonishment of the church, people joined them, and prayed with them, who never visited any place of worship! Some twelve or fourteen were now praying fervently for a revival, until at length the church members were touched, and all became moved with a spirit of prayer and passion for souls. The meetings attended only by four at first now increased to scores, and all testified to the power of God in a special manner.

By this movement among the young people the Pastor himself was drawn to the searching of his own heart and life, asking himself whether he was fully surrendered to Christ, and had received the Holy Ghost. Finally he entered a new plane of spiritual experience and knowledge of the power of God.

There are many other indications of the river of God beginning to rise in the early months of 1903, and unmistakable signs of God working in preparation for some mighty movement of the Spirit. At this crucial point, by the providence of God, came the long-prayed-for Conference, which was held at Llandrindod Wells in August, 1903.

The gatherings were strikingly representative, numbers of clergy and ministers from all parts of the Principality being present, together with some forty of the ministers and evangelists of the “Forward Movement” of the Presbyterian Church of Wales.* So noticeable was the ministerial attendance that a well-known missioner involuntarily remarked, “ Wales may be the cradle of the evangelists for the coming Revival!”

There was no set programme for the meetings. The messages of the Lord’s messengers bore directly upon the experimental aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work in the believer. The putting away of all known sin, deliverance through identification with Christ in His death, and the definite reception of the Holy Ghost as an absolute necessity for all in the service of God, was emphasised, and carried home to hearts by the power of God in such intensity, that on the last two days it was manifest to all that the Spirit of God had come down in the midst.

And what of the group of three who had sought the help of the London minister? One wrote: “Six of us went! [to the Conference.] But the history of that week can never be written—some believed, some doubted, some rebelled! But in a few days each one entered the promised land. We have met once a month ever since, coming from long distances, and we spend a quiet day with God. Our meetings have been indescribable, and we have had a number of Pentecosts.”

Many of the ministers and workers returned to their various spheres of labours with new visions and new hopes. As one said, “a new world” had opened to them—and they could not but lead others in! Local conventions began to be held in various places, and the ministers themselves became channels of blessing to their fellow ministers. One Pastor writes that later in 1903, he came in contact with one of these, and saw at once that he had a spiritual experience which he himself had not, but which he had for months been seeking. It was not long before he, too, received the fullness of the Holy Ghost.

Chapter 3

THE LIFE-STREAM AT NEW QUAY IN FEBRUARY, 1904 — THE SECOND CONVENTION AT LLANDRINDOD, AUGUST, 1904 — A MIDNIGHT PRAYER-MEETING — THE RIVERS RISING IN THE AUTUMN.

“Waters issued out from under the threshold.” — EZEK. xlvii, I.

ON the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem the Spirit of God came upon all the company gathered in the upper room, but when the multitude came together it was Peter whom He chose to interpret to the people what had happened, but Peter could not have reaped the three thousand souls without the co-service of the one hundred and nineteen who, with him, had been filled with the Holy Ghost.

It has been said of the Awakening in Wales that it is the “Acts of the Apostles up-to-date.” And we cannot but think that this is so, not only in its manifestations, but in the way in which the Pentecost has come upon the land. The movement is Divine and Heaven-born—and so was Pentecost. Yet in Jerusalem the Spirit of God did not come first upon the multitudes, but upon the company in the upper room, and through them into the world in exact fulfilment of the Lord’s words, “I will send Him unto you. And He will convict the world.” (John xvi. 7, 8).

The law of the Holy Spirit’s working has not changed, and we should doubtless find, were we able to see all as known to God, that He has had His “120” in Wales, prepared by Him to be channels for the outflowing Spirit in this great awakening. It is important for the children of God in other countries to realise this, so that they may yield themselves to Him, that through them He may send rivers of life to “ all nations” in this day of His power.

Let us look again from the Mount of God, and watch the way that the life-streams began to break out in divers places.

We will turn our eyes first to Cardiganshire, to a little township called New Quay, lying on the fringe of Cardigan Bay, and fifteen miles from a railway station. Here in this out-of-the-way place the Lord had quietly been preparing instruments for the coming Pentecost.

With one of the strange coincidences which makes partnership with the Holy Ghost in service more romantic than any earthly romance, the All-seeing Lord ordained that one of the mightiest rivers should have its rise in the native place, and childhood’s church, of one of the ministers who asked of God at Keswick blessing for his native land!

In the momentous year of 1902 a minister in New Quay—whose great grandfather was one of the first band of preachers organised by Howell Harris—had been aroused to spiritual need by the words of a friend from India, and of another who told him he feared he was “backsliding,” as he noticed the absence of pathos in his voice when preaching! Aroused to a sense of need for greater blessing in his ministry, he sought this through Bible Study and books on prayer, until at last he entered into a fuller life in reading Dr. Andrew Murray’s book, “With Christ in the School of Prayer.”

The conviction grew upon him that the Spirit of God alone must save the church and the world. Meeting another minister in November, 1903, they exchanged confidences over the burden on their hearts about the churches, and their need of more abundant life. Neither of these brethren had attended the Llandrindod Conference, but after prayer they determined to recommend to the Presbytery that a Convention for the deepening of the spiritual life be held. The Missioners chosen were three, who received, to use the words of one, “fresh inspiration at Llandrindod.” In the choice of these messengers God again showed Himself far above the ways of men. The whole district of South Cardiganshire is essentially Welsh, scarcely more than one English chapel being within a radius of twenty to thirty miles, yet one speaker was a minister who rarely preached in anything but English, the other was one who never preached in Welsh, and the third—the wife of one—a lady who had never spoken in public, excepting once at the “ Forward Movement” meetings following the Conference at Liandrindod!

The Convention was for delegates, and there was only one public meeting, but at this meeting, through the words of the handmaid of the Lord, the heart of a young girl was touched, the consequences of which she, or others, little dreamed of at the time.

Meanwhile the Pastor of the church had been moved of God in the same November (1903) to commence a Young People’s Meeting in order to counteract the worldly spirit growing among them. One Sunday evening in January, 1904, the pastor preached from the text “This is the victory that overcometh the world.” He was strangely drawn out to describe the world as he saw it then depicted before his spiritual vision. To his private house that evening the afore-mentioned young girl wended her way. Shy and retiring, she knew not how to tell him the burden on her soul. She walked up and down outside the house for half-an-hour, and then, gaining courage to enter, said, “Oh, how can I tell you! I cannot live like this. I saw the ‘world’ in your sermon to-night. I am under its feet. Help me.” After some conversation the Pastor found that she thought she was saved, but she was afraid to yield entirely to the Saviour, and own Him as Lord. “He may ask me things difficult,” she said, and she would not that night commit herself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

On the following Sunday morning, in February, 1904, the Spirit of God bade the Pastor introduce some new feature into the Young People’s Meeting held after the morning service, and then it came to him to ask for testimony, definite testimony, as to what the Lord had done for their own souls.

One or two rose to speak, but it was not testimony. It was just then that the same young girl— shy, nervous, intelligent—stood up in tears, and with clasped hands simply said with deep pathos, “Oh, I love Jesus Christ with all my heart.” Instantly the Spirit of God appears to have fallen upon the gathering, and all were deluged with tears. It was the beginning of the visible manifestation of the Spirit breaking out in life-streams which afterwards would touch thousands of souls.

As at Pentecost, the blessing was soon noised abroad. Doors began to open on every hand, and the young people, led by their minister, conducted meetings throughout the south of the county, the Lord working with them in manifest power. But as yet the world knew little of what was going on.

In August, 1904, the second Convention at Llandrindod took place, when the testimony meeting revealed how deep a work had been wrought in 1903. A minister, writing to the “Goleuad “—a Welsh paper—said that at the 1904 Conference many saw a door of hope for revival in Wales in the near future.” Referring to the testimony meeting he said :—

“It was a luxury to hear ministers and laymen giving expression to the change that had taken place in their ministry and in their own personal lives since the Convention of 1903. Reference was made to a more intense consecration, to habits set aside, to a fuller dependence on the power of the Holy Ghost, and the many souls born in consequence thereof. Some testified that the Bible was a new book to them; others that prayer was easier and more powerful than it used to be . . . . .It is manifest that better days are about to dawn, and blessed are those believers who are willing now to consecrate themselves as worthy mediums for the Holy Ghost in the next revival.”

The Spirit of God broke forth again in glorious power that momentous week in 1904, and none will ever forget the closing morning meeting, when overcome by the revelation of the fullness of redemption purchased for the sinner by Jesus Christ our Lord, with hands raised and bowed heads, the audience sang again, and again, and again, “Crown Him Lord of all.” Neither will the message that night on ‘‘ Exuberance of life in Jesus Christ ‘‘ ever be forgotten. Truly God was leading His people into open vision of Himself, and preparing them for the exuberant life which He has since shown in object-lesson before the eyes of the world.

All through 1903 and 1904 the underground currents were quietly deepening and sometimes breaking out to the surface, until the time drew near when the flood-gates opened and the Spirit of God broke out upon the land as a “tidal-wave” sweeping all things before it, or, to use another figure, as a “forest fire” consuming all things it touched.

We have seen the beginning of the life-streams in New Quay in February, 1904. Let us follow to their churches some of the ministers who entered into the Spirit-filled life in August, 1903. They tell of a midnight prayer-meeting at the 1904 Conference, when they all consecrated themselves afresh to God for His use, and definitely asked the Lord to raise up someone to usher in the Revival! A month later two of their churches were in the midst of a mighty awakening, when scores were converted!

One returned to his people, and urged upon them the fullness of the Spirit for every believer. This soon aroused attention, and the subject became talked about by the colliers at work. Some opposed, but some yielded, and several young men surrendered to be possessed by the Holy Ghost. At the end of September prayer-meetings began to be held on every week-night, until the schoolroom was filled, and they had to adjourn to the chapel, where again they gathered every night for three weeks longer. The prayer-meetings were then intermingled with testimony meetings, and afterwards special services were held conducted by one of the ministers who had entered the Spirit-filled life. At these fifty found the Saviour, and large numbers of young people received in actual experience their “Pentecost.” By the end of the year one hundred and twenty souls were added to the Lord.

Another minister who entered the Spirit-filled life in 1903 returned to his church fervently praying for an outpouring of the Spirit, and slowly signs began of better things approaching. People in the church who had taken offence with each other were reconciled. Unity prepared the way of the Lord, and then on November 20, 1904, the Spirit of God broke out. The Pastor had been preaching at a mission station in the morning, but passing the mother-church on his way home, he entered, and found the service still on. Something had occurred! There was not a dry eye in the place! The people were shedding tears and smiling at the same time. One of the elders, in a broken voice, said that they had experienced a most wonderful meeting. The Holy Spirit had come in such mighty power that they decided to dispense with Sunday school and sermons and spend the day in prayer and pra1se. “Under normal conditions it would be necessary to give due notice of re-arrangements of this kind, and to have them sanctioned by a church meeting,” writes the Pastor, “ but now the Holy Spirit took possession heeding not our arrangements, and no one had the courage or the desire to protest!” From this time meetings were held every night, and some of the young people became possessed by the Spirit to such a remarkable degree that the “Acts of the Apostles became more intelligible” to all. Many were led into full surrender to Christ as King, and gave soul-stirring testimonies. Those who had hitherto taken but a passive interest in the work of the church sprang forward, and became bold witnesses for Christ. Open-air meetings were organised when even young women raised their voices in testimony, and those who had been too diffident to take part in public service, now did not hesitate to speak even to drunkards coming out of public-houses, and kneel down and pray for them in the open streets.

Another minister returned to his church bearing witness to the Spirit-filled life, and signs of blessing began in September, 1903, as a deep thirst for better things slowly grew among the members. In July, 1904, the Pastor commenced a special meeting after the ordinary evening service, particularly for those who desired to live the Spirit- filled life. The Holy Spirit came upon that meeting in such manifest power that all present were overwhelmed, and remarkable testimonies were afterwards given by many. On a later Sunday evening, the Spirit of God broke forth again in the ordinary service. Strong men were broken down, and said afterwards that they felt as if they must shout to relieve their pent-up feelings. Several young men gave themselves to Christ in this service. Sunday after Sunday the place was filled by the Holy Ghost, and several conversions took place. At the close of one service held in October all who desired to consecrate themselves to the Lord, and go out and seek the lost, were asked to meet in the schoolroom, and here the “Revival” began. Souls were saved night after night for weeks succeeding.

“But,” writes the Pastor, “although we had completed ten weeks of prayer meetings, and many souls were gathered in, I still felt the church as a whole had not received her Pentecost. Early in December, 1904, in a memorable prayer meeting several crossed the line, and entered the promised land. Some men were so literally filled with the Spirit that others could have said ‘They are drunk with new wine.’ A great passion for souls took possession of many hearts from this time, and in one week seventy souls were gathered in. Many made public confession of sins, and consecrated themselves to Christ. After 11 o’clock one Saturday night ten men yielded to the Saviour, and over one hundred and fifty confessed Christ ere 1904 closed. The whole movement without doubt had its origin in my own awakening. After I surrendered all conscious sin and yielded entirely to Christ, a new power was immediately felt in my ministry. Now I have a NEW church, with a large number of men and women who have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and are used to win souls.”

Chapter 4

NEW QUAY IN SEPTEMBER, 1904 -- THE BLAENANERCH CONVENTION -- THE SPIRIT-BAPTISM OF EVAN ROBERTS -- LOUGHOR IN NOVEMBER, 1904 -- THE TIDAL WAVE AND ITS RESULTS

"The waters were risen, waters to swim in." EZEK. xlvii. 5.

We now go back to Cardiganshire to watch the outcome of the blessing given at New Quay in February, 1904. In September, 1904, the Rev. Seth Joshua, the Connexional Evangelist of the "Forward Movement," visited New Quay for a Mission, and found the Holy Spirit working in such a remarkable way that he at once said he felt it betokened a great Revival. The Presence of the Spirit in the meetings was like the "wind" moving upon the people. The singing, prayers, testimonies, and exhortations were all full of vital breath. The meetings would be closed two or three times, but others would cry for mercy or break out in joyful thanksgiving. Strong men and women wept under the power of a young girl's prayer. Many of the young people had manifestly received a baptism of power. The love among the believers was intense, and the tenderness of prayer for others irresistible.

From New Quay the Evangelist went to Newcastle Emlyn, wherein there was a Preparatory School for students for the ministry. At the services conducted by Mr. Joshua some students manifestly received the power of the Holy Ghost, among whom was Sydney Evans, the fellow-student and friend of the one whom God had been preparing as a special instrument for the Pentecost of blessing now close at hand.

In the same Preparatory School was Evan Roberts, a young collier student of twenty-six years of age, preparing to enter the ministry. For eleven years he had prayed for a "Revival," and for thirteen years he had prayed for the fullness of the Spirit.

Just a word dropped by a deacon in a church-meeting thirteen years before, caused him to determine to know the Holy Ghost. "Be faithful," said the deacon. "What if the Spirit descended, and you were absent!" So through all weathers and difficulties, refusing to be tempted by the boys and the boats on the river near his home, the lad wended his way to prayer meeting, and other chapel services, year after year.

Evan Roberts came from a typical Welsh home, and is the son of godly parents. At twelve years old he became his father's right hand in the mine, and shortly afterwards commenced regular work underground in the colliery. He was never without his Bible, which he studied in the intervals of work, and so the time went by, until one night in the spring of 1904 God seems to have drawn near to him in a very special way. He says that as he prayed by his bedside at night, he was taken up into a great expanse--without space or time--into communion with God.

This was manifestly a crisis in his spiritual life, for hitherto, he says, God was to him " a far-away God," and he was afraid of Him. But after this the Lord awakened him night after night, a little after one o'clock, and took him up into Divine fellowship for about four hours. He would sleep until nine o'clock, when again he would be rapt in communion with God until about noon in the day.

Three months this sacred fellowship lasted, and then came the time--September, 1904--for him to go to the Preparatory School at Newcastle Emlyn.

In the providential leadings of God just at this time a Convention was being held at Blaenanerch, some eight miles from Newcastle Emlyn, the messengers with the Loid's message being the same three who had been sent to New Quay at the close of 1903.

The Rev. Seth Joshua had now commenced his Mission, and on the Thursday morning took a party of about twenty young people, including a group from New Quay, Evan Roberts, and Sydney Evans, to Blaenanerch to attend the meetings. The Lord wrought in the brake on that early morning drive as they sung, "It is coming--It is coming--The power of the Holy Ghost--I receive it--I receive it--The power of the Holy Ghost" Singing and praising, they reached Blaenanerch in time for the seven o'clock service which was being conducted by one of the Missioners. Evan Roberts was already deeply moved, but he quite broke down when at the close Mr. Joshua led in prayer, and used the words "Plyg ni, 0 Arglwydd "--" Bend us, O Lord." The soul in travail heard no words but these. "This is what you need," whispered the Spirit of God. "Bend me, 0 Lord," he cried, but even yet the fire had not fallen. At the nine o'clock meeting the Spirit of God led one and the other to pray, and then Mr. Roberts says:-- "I fell on my knees with my arms over the seat in front of me, and the tears freely flowed. I cried, 'Bend me! Bend me! Bend us!' What bent me was God commending His love, and I not seeing anything in it to commend." The Holy Ghost had come and melted his whole being by a revelation of the love of God at CALVARY, for "God commendeth His own love to us in that--Christ died for us."

The young man returned to Newcastle Emlyn and prayed God to give him the seal of six others set on fire of God, and--the six were given. Then the Holy Spirit bade him return to his own people, and speak to them, but he did not obey, although he grew more and more troubled and ill at ease. One Sunday in chapel he could not fix his mind on the service, for always before him--as in a vision--he saw the schoolroom in his own village, and all the young people and his old companions sitting in rows whilst he addressed them. He tells how he shook his head impatiently, and sought to drive all this away, but God would give him no rest; back and back it came whilst the Holy Spirit whispered clearer and clearer, "Go and speak to these people."

At last the pressure grew stronger, until he could no longer resist, and he said he would go. Instantly the glory of the Lord so filled the chapel that he could not "see for the glory of that light."

After this the young man went to an aged minister to ask him whether this was of God or the devil, when he replied that the devil was not given to sending people to work like this--he must obey the heavenly vision.

And to Loughor the young student went in obedience to the voice of God. What God wrought through him we shall see later on. We will first pause a moment to see how God answers prayer. In the brake that morning on the way to Blaenanerch, Mr. Joshua told how it had been laid upon him four years before, to ask the Lord definitely to take a lad from the coal-mine or from the field, even as He took Elisha, to revive His work in Wales. He prayed God to raise an instrument whereby human pride might be humbled--not one from Cambridge, lest it would minister to their pride, nor one from Oxford University lest it would feed the intellectualism of the Church. Not once had this prayer been mentioned until this morning, and it was then revealed, little knowing that the very instrument chosen of God was listening to the words.

Let us recall, too, the midnight prayer meeting at Llandrindod just two months before, when the Lord was asked to raise some special instrument to usher in the Revival. Yes, God answers prayer.

To Loughor, his native place, early in November, 1904, Evan Roberts went. He says that he consulted the Pastor of his church, who told him that he might try and see what he could do, but he would find the ground stony and the task hard!

The young people came together, and they all sat before him as he had been shown by God. At first they did not seem touched, but presently the Spirit of God began to work, and six came out for Christ. Then the "Pentecost" began. Soul after soul came forward, and the most extraordinary results followed. The whole community was shaken. Meetings lasted until four in the morning, and at six the people would be awakened by the sounds of the crowds going to the early morning prayer meeting. The work went on until, a local minister said, the entire population had been transformed into a praying multitude. Men and women of whom he had despaired had voluntarily come to Christ. The lives of hundreds of colliers and tinplate workers were transformed. The men went straight to chapel from the mills, and the public-houses were practically deserted.

On November 10th the first public reference to these remarkable scenes was made in a Welsh secular paper, which, from this time, to the wonderment of all, devoted columns to the reporting of the work, and did much in the providence of God to noise abroad that which God was doing among His people. Other secular papers did the same, and all men marvelled at the sovereign power of God in thus moving the secular Press to report the work of God! From Loughor, the Revivalist, as the young student began to be called, went on to Trecynon and other places, manifestly carried on the crest of a mighty wave of the Spirit, which swept like a cleansing tide along the mining valleys of Glamorganshire.

Everywhere the people thronged in multitudes to hear this Spirit-baptized young student! At Loughor he spoke, it is said, with impassioned oratory, but once the overflowing stream had broken out the Spirit of God appeared to put aside "preaching" and use the voice of testimony. "YE slew, hanging Him on a tree, Him did God exalt," and " we are witnesses," was the burden of the message of the Spirit-possessed souls in the days of Pentecost. And this was the Holy Spirit's message through His people, as He bore co-witness by "signs and wonders" wrought amongst the thronging multitudes.

Under the constraint of an unseen power the chapels were filled with eager people at all hours of the day, and the services took their own course under the control of the Holy Ghost, presiding as the "executive power of the Godhead." Prayers, testimonies, and singing broke out in seeming disorder, yet acknowledged by all to be the most harmonious order. The Revivalist would enter during the meeting, sometimes unknown to those present until he rose with some word to the people. The burden of his message would be, "Obey the Holy Ghost," and when one in the meeting would break out into prayer whilst he was speaking, he would calmly "give place," and show to others his acknowledgement of the presidency of One greater than he.

At some point perhaps Mr. Roberts would "test" the meeting, and put to it the four definite steps necessary to salvation, which, he said, the Holy Spirit had given to him to urge upon the people.

(1)The past must be made clear by sin being confessed to God, and every wrong to man put right. (2) Every doubtful thing in the life must be put away. (3) Prompt and implicit obedience to the Holy Ghost. (4) Public confession of Christ. Forgiveness of others as an essential to receiving the forgiveness of God was often emphasised, as well as the distinction between the Holy Spirit's work in conversion, and in baptising the believer with the Holy Ghost.

In truth, the Revivalist was giving the full Gospel as preached at Pentecost, and like Peter's message, it received the co-witness of the Holy Ghost, and produced Pentecostal results. "Repent "--change your mind toward God, and put away wrong to your neighbour. "Remission" of sins will then be given you, and ye shall "Receive" the Holy Ghost if ye will obey Him, and publicly bear witness to Christ.

Indescribable scenes took place at the meetings. Sometimes a very torrent of prayer, and then of song, would sweep over the audience, and hundreds of souls would rise to declare their surrender to God, the congregation bursting out into joyous thanksgiving in hymns of gladness.

But the Revivalist's special burden always was the "Church." "Bend the Church, and save the world," was his cry." The word "bend" in Welsh conveying the meaning of submission to God, and the taking away of resistance to His will. And his one aim seemed to be first to get the Christians right with God so that the Spirit might break out in converting power upon the unsaved. And CALVARY was the power both for sinner and saved. The Revivalist would break down in heart-anguished sobbing when he touched the theme. "You would not be cold if you had come here by Calvary," he would say. "Thanks, thanks for Calvary," was the burden of many prayers. The hymns rang with Calvary, the one most often sung was "Pen Calfaria "--the Mount of Calvary--an exultant song of triumph telling of Christ's victory over death and hell at the Cross. Another hymn sung with melting power was "Dyma Gariad "--" Here is love vast as the ocean." The people sang without books, for these hymns had been in their memories from childhood, but now quickened and used by the Spirit they rang out as never before. Many of the "sweet singers of Wales" were drawn by the Spirit of God into His service, and often would be heard a sweet warbling voice like a nightingale's trill breaking out into a hymn whilst the people were bowed in prayer. A "Singing Revival" it truly became. Souls were sung to Christ, and exulted over in song when won. The spirit of gladness and praise filled all hearts, as thousands rejoiced in a new-found assurance of salvation. The Spirit of God did His own work of convicting, and many were the evidences of His power working through hymn and testimony. A young man would return his prize medal and diploma because he had gained it unfairly. A grocer would return money picked up in his shop, and kept although knowing the one who dropped it. Long-standing debts were paid. Stolen goods returned. Prize - fighters, gamblers, publicans, rabbit-coursers, and others of the class rarely touched by ordinary means came to Christ, and quickly the world knew the results. Magistrates were presented with white gloves in several places because there were "no cases." Public-houses were forsaken. Rowdiness was changed to soberness. Oaths ceased to be heard, so that, it was said, in the collieries the horses could not understand the language of their drivers. The reading of light literature was exchanged for Bible reading, and shops were cleared of their stocks of Bibles and Testaments. Prayer-meetings were held in collieries underground, in trains and trains and all kinds of places.

All the world bore testimony to these practical evidences of the power of God. "Seeing the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it." "A notable miracle hath been wrought . . and we cannot deny it," said many an one previously sceptical of the practical power of the Christian faith. Managers of works bore witness that the amount of work turned out by the men since the "Revival" had been more than they had known for years, and Magistrates did not hesitate to make known their approval of the ethical fruits of the awakening.

Far and wide the influences spread, affecting all classes. Miners' Associations decided to hold their conferences no longer on licensed premises. Political meetings had to be postponed, and Members of Parliament were found taking part in "Revival meetings." Football teams were disbanded because the men had been converted, and had other attractions now. From one district a Theatrical Company felt it necessary to depart, as there was no hope of audiences, for all the "world" was praying. With one accord the converts put aside the "drink," and the temperance workers saw the Spirit of God accomplish in three months what they had laboured to do for forty years! At the conclusion of a service dozens of young men would be seen marching to the front to sign the pledge.

The mighty tidal wave swept hither and thither-- men knew not how or why. The Spirit of God found His own channels; and districts unvisited by Mr. Evan Roberts had extraordinary manifestations of the power of God. Lists of converts were sent to the newspapers, giving a record of professed conversions of over 70,000 names by December, 1904--just two months only since the life-streams broke out at Loughor, the number reaching over 85,000 by the end of March, 1905! Many of the young people were thrust out by the Lord to share in the service--Mr. Sydney Evans, Mr. Dan Roberts and many others, leading Revival meetings with the manifest blessing of God. Visitors from all parts of Britain and the Continent began to flock to Wales to see the "great sight" of God breaking forth in supernatural power upon the sons of men.

Chapter 5

THE OVERFLOWING STREAMS THROUGH DIVERS CHANNELS--HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT WROUGHT IN MANY CENTRES--THE GENERAL EFFECT ON THE CHURCHES

"Everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh."--Ezek. xlvii. 9.

THE glimpses we have had into the preparatory work of the Spirit explains why the river of God appeared to break out in so many districts at the same time in November, 1904. Taking a bird's-eye view of South Wales, we might go to centre after centre, and watch the rising tide.

In Carmarthen we find the Spirit of God at work in preparation for months beforehand, some of the ministers of the town having entered the Spirit-filled life in 1903, one afterwards being one of the missioners at the New Quay Convention, and in many others in the months that followed, as well as at Blaenanerch in September, 1904.

A drawing together of the Free Churches in unity was the first preparation of the Spirit, until early in November He began to manifest His presence in supernatural power. A Convention for the deepening of the spiritual life had been convened by the united churches, but on the Sabbath evening preceding the Convention, in three places of worship in the town the Spirit of God broke out, strong men weeping, and young and old praying and praising in a most unheard of fashion.

On the Monday night in one church about eighty adults were studying Luke iv. in a Bible Class, when suddenly there grew upon the whole company a vision of Christ unique in His Person and claims. All fell to praying and praising God unaware to themselves, crying with joy and praying, as one said, "as if our souls would escape from our bodies." The Convention was held the same week, and another the week after, in Welsh only, for the benefit of the country churches, when delegates came in large numbers, and here indeed the flood-gates of heaven were opened. Between the meetings that second week, it was said that in every class-room and available corner of the chapel grounds, groups of women, young people, ministers or elderly men were seen in prayer, many sobbing and pleading with God in utter oblivion of all that was around. That night the whole congregation marched in procession to the market square for a jubilant open-air service of praise.

In Morriston we hear of the minister of one church, consisting of over five hundred members, deeply burdened over his people--so burdened that he had sent in his resignation, and determined to seek a secular calling. There had been trouble among the deacons, and a meeting was called to deal with the offending officers. But at this stage the Pastor came across John McNeil's (of Australia) book on "The Spirit-filled life." It was a message from God to him, and revealed his need. Just then he heard of the Revival flame bursting out at Mountain Ash, and he went across to one of the meetings. At the close of the service, alone in a back street, he surrendered fully to God, and on the following Sunday told his people what had happened to him. The Spirit of God at once broke out. The Pastor's resignation was not accepted. The deacons had no need to be dealt with. The overflowing stream reached many souls until, on the last Sunday of 1904, one hundred and thirty-eight were received into church fellowship, one hundred and eighty-five converts being registered in five weeks.

In another district, not far from Loughor, the Vicar of the parish tells of an indefinable influence at work for some time before November, which very quickly rose into full tide when the Spirit of God broke forth in the land. He writes that at the opening services of the parish church on November 14 there was not a single dry eye among the congregation, and yet no Revival services had been held. Two laymen in this church seem to be men filled with the Spirit, having great power in prayer and utterance. About seventy have been led to the Saviour. After-meetings are held, when quite boys and girls, twelve years old and upwards, pray or sing, and a marvellous change is seen in the lives of the people.

In Swansea and district we hear of church after church, both Church of England and Nonconformist, where the Spirit of God broke out in rivers of life. In some cases unexpectedly, and in others after long and faithful preaching of the Gospel of Calvary, and the fulness of the Spirit for every believer as promised by the Lord.

In the Neath district we find the Holy Spirit moving in a large mission hall holding two thousand people. The Pastor received the "anointing" some thirteen years ago, and hence was ready for the tide when it came. Hearing of the blessing at Loughor, early in November, a fortnight's prayer-meetings were at once held asking God to send a Pentecost upon the work. During the fortnight of prayer the Spirit of God dealt with the church members, and then, at the Sunday evening service, the blessing broke out. At the close of his address, ere the Pastor could even ask for decisions, men and women rose from the crowded congregation amidst intense stillness and no excitement, and pressed into the enquiry rooms until they were filled, and one hundred and nineteen souls had found the Lord. Thirty-eight souls were given the next night, and the reaping went on until over a thousand converts were gathered in, amongst whom were many men and women who never went to a place of worship; many who had been to prison; drunkards, prize-fighters, gamblers, and one clog dancer who had won gold medals in his calling. Women quite drunk would stagger into the meetings, and be soundly converted whilst standing in the hall. How truly the work was of God was seen in many cases. One publican offered a convert a fortnight's free "drink" if he would break away, but he answered "No, I have had enough of it, for it kept me in Swansea jail." Another man passing a public-house saw the landlady come out and hold up a pint of beer, saying, "Come along," but the convert held up his Bible and replied, "No, we're going with this now. This is the key to heaven, and that to hell!"

Other churches in this town have also much to tell of the Lord's grace and blessing.

In the Bridgend district we find again the Spirit of God at work many months before the spiritual high-tide came upon the land. Several of the ministers received the power of the Holy Ghost in August, 1903. One was the Pastor of a prominent church, the worldly reputation of which was an almost insuperable obstacle to aggressive Christian work. When he entered the Spirit-filled life his church immediately felt the change. Some members were attracted, whilst many declared the standard of life to be too high. At last in 1904 there commenced remarkable "demonstrations of the Spirit," and the Spirit of God faced the Pastor with the painful duty of dealing personally with the officers of the church. Among the deacons was an able solicitor, a man well-known in his profession, and prominent in the political world, whose whole life (afterwards acknowledged by himself) was an utterly worldly one. A private interview was arranged, when the Lord stood with the faithful Pastor, and spoke through him in such power that the deacon was broken down, and came as a penitent to the foot of the Cross. Not many days after he called together his fellow-deacons, and told them he had found Christ, and was a new man. The same testimony was given to the Bible Class, and afterwards to the public congregation, and each time he spoke of the mercy of the Lord, and the music which filled his heart, his hearers were deeply moved. His fellow-deacons at once consecrated themselves to the Lord, and the effect upon the church was as the "breaking down of an obstructing dam up among the sources of power." A flood-tide of the Spirit broke out among the congregation, and a fervent piety and passion for souls took the place of the former deadness. Not only was the church blessed, but the conversion of such a soul--like Saul of Tarsus-- produced great effect in the district. He publicly confessed that the change meant to him the whole outlook of life transformed, affecting his home and his business, and in the latter sphere his numerous publican clients were requested to find another advocate for their interests.

It was not long after this that the church had its "Pentecost." On a sabbath morning the Pastor had read the second chapter of Acts when a woman rose and said, "Let me seal that with my testimony," and then she told how the Lord had come to her in the night, and told her He had given her a mission to speak for Him.

The husband sat by her side sobbing, as the woman spoke with her face lit up, for the first time in public. Testimonies followed until the whole church was moved. At night the Spirit of God so wrought among the people that in different parts of the building many were falling on their knees crying out, whilst rough men of the town rose from every side, and accepted Christ. This Pentecost Sunday was followed by a steady work of the Spirit among Church members and the unsaved. Scores of enquirers poured in, week by week, drawn by the Spirit of God, many of them characters long ago pronounced as "hopeless," and it has been an affecting sight to see the solicitor and leading politician pleading with rough and fallen men and women, as a brother, and a fellow sinner, God using him mightily in winning souls to Christ. No less than one hundred and fifty converts have been gathered in to this church, giving every token of a deep inward change of heart.

In another district, the river of life broke out some time in the middle of November. Preparatory work was done in July last by the visit of one of the ministers who knew the Indwelling Spirit. Many members of the church then entered the Spirit-filled life, and were prepared to understand the work of the Spirit when He came in Pentecostal power. A marvellous prayer-meeting one Saturday night in November preceded the opening of the flood-gates of heaven, and it was not long before two hundred and sixty converts were added to the church. Added to the blessing among the unsaved, many of the Christians who had opposed the message of the Spirit-filled life in July, now publicly confessed that they had been wrong, and some gave remarkable testimonies of the Holy Spirit's working in their lives.

In Dowlais the river of life had commenced to flow some time back in the summer of 1904 through the visit of some to New Quay. In one Dowlais church, the Pastor writes that for months past the "visits paid" to the church by the Holy Spirit were "wondrously powerful and significant." At several distinct periods the congregation without ~ any apparent reason would simultaneously burst into tears. Often had the Pastor himself sought with tears at the throne of grace a greater influx of power in his own life. At the close of the month of August, 1904, three ministers who knew the Spirit-filled life conducted services in the church, when many received the filling of the Spirit after a definite surrender to Christ, and God at once began to use them powerfully. The Pastor writes that his own life became a radically changed one, the spiritual 7 sphere becoming to him transfigured and very real. The river of life flowed on from that time in August, and conversions took place at every meeting until, by the close of 1904, one hundred and seventy had been added to the Lord, and believers were continually being brought into full surrender to Christ, and the knowledge of the Indwelling Holy Ghost.

Passing on to Monmouthshire the Pastor of one church writes that after his return from the 1904 Llandrindod Conference not a prayer meeting, church meeting, or any other service took place without the message concerning the whole-hearted reception of the Spirit being urged upon his people, until in October two ministers in the experience of the Spirit-filled life came to conduct special services, when the whole church was transformed, the entire diaconate receiving blessing. Seventy-four converts were also gathered in, and in the afternoon meetings for Christians, three women who came from another Church, entered into the fulness of blessing, receiving a baptism of love for souls. These became channels of the life-streams in their own church, where two hundred converts were quickly won to Christ.

In another district we find special services of the same class, when everyone who attended the afternoon meetings surrendered fully to Christ, and received the Holy Ghost, whilst souls were brought to Christ at every meeting. These services were held at the very time that the Spirit of God broke out at Loughor.

In Cardiff, with one of the romantic coincidences so frequently experienced by souls led of the Spirit, we find in October, 1904, a great Mission conducted by the very one called out from the prayer-company in Chicago for the service of God in "world-wide revival," and there is evidence that he was used of God especially to ministers and workers in his messages concerning the Spirit-filled life. Thus was the Lord through many channels preparing His people.

When the high tide came upon the land later on, we find in Cardiff a most unique work of God in one centre, a large chapel being filled night after night with people of all classes, and some of the very hopeless outcasts of the town brought by the power of God into newness of life. Agnostics have given testimony to faith in Jesus Christ, and drunkards have been delivered from their bonds. Midnight meetings have been held revealing the horrors of sin, and the power of Christ to save. Other churches in the town have also been deeply moved by God, whilst at Penarth we find another centre of blessing, over six hundred converts being added to one church, drunkards, thieves, gamblers, and others had been rescued, and are now among the best workers in the service of Christ.

The Spirit broke out in November when no special evangelist had visited the Church, which had been praying for Revival for about two years. The Pastor tells how God prepared him by reading books on the Spirit-filled life, which life he entered upon at the aforesaid Mission in Cardiff in October.

These instances--and they are but instances of the way that the Spirit of God was working in places far distant from each other--show that He was moving in different parts of Wales at the same time, and the life-streams which had been quietly rising appear to have silently joined their currents in November, 1904, and swept in "high tide" over the land. We find all sections of the Church affected by it, for the Holy Ghost is no respecter of denominations any more than persons, and He freely wrought in every place where He was welcomed when He began to work, and was given room.

We have summarized briefly some of the effects upon the masses and upon the world, in watching the course of the mighty river of God which swept from Loughor through the mining districts of South Wales. Let us now look out upon the whole of South Wales, and view the broad effects of the Pentecost upon the people of God.

What has the spiritual high-tide accomplished? It not only swept down the mining valleys as a torrent, cleansing and healing as it went, but it silently enveloped the machinery of the churches, and lifted them, so to speak, into a new spiritual sphere. The traditional bonds of years were broken. Prejudices of the past vanished. Not only in the meetings held by Revivalists, but in ordinary services, the Spirit of God--hitherto often considered but an influence--was honoured as the Third Person of the Trinity, and given His place of presidency over the church. Pastors allowed the services to take any form that might arise from the movement of the Spirit. Anyone might rise to speak or lead in prayer without fear, and sermons were put aside when the need arose.

In the overflowing tide denominational barriers between the people of God were submerged, as when the sea sweeps in upon the shore, and swallows up in its glorious fulness all the pools of sea-water separated far from each other on the sand. Wondrous scenes were witnessed that must have caused the heavenly spheres to ring with the joy of the angels. Churches on unbrotherly terms for many years were reconciled, and united meetings held, in one case the two ministers shaking hands before the people. In some districts--would God we could say all--clergy and their Free Church brethren freely met together in the worship of God. Families were re-united; long-severed friends reconciled; children were restored to parents; offended church members re-took their places among the people of the Lord. And in place after place the "Ministers' fraternal meeting" became fraternal in very truth, for hearts flowed together in true fellowship in the presence of the Lord.

With the spirit of unity and love, came also the spirit of sacrifice. Churches hitherto divided on the question unanimously decided to put away all danger to the weaker brethren in the using of fermented wine at the table of the Lord. In other churches large numbers of old members signed the pledge for the sake of the weaker ones rescued from the drink-fiend, and in another church we read of members vacating their own pews in the body of the building, and retiring to the gallery that the area might be used for the aggressive work of gathering in the souls.

We find, also, a wondrous spirit of liberty, which strikingly bears the marks of Pentecost, for in the surcharged atmosphere in the upper room in Jerusalem, all began to speak! The young people, hitherto shy before their elders, have had their tongues loosed, to speak or pray without fear of rebuke. It is now no uncommon thing to see a young girl of eighteen speaking under the evident control of the Holy Ghost, whilst in the big pew sit ministers and elders, ofttimes with tears coursing down their faces. The servants and handmaidens are prophesying, as foretold by Joel.

Again we find that the prophesying takes the form of witnessing--the special mark of Pentecost. In Wales for many years it has been considered too sacred a thing to speak of the inner dealings of God, yet suddenly we see all changed, and sermons put aside for testimony, and public confession of what the Lord has done for the soul.

Another remarkable change is the attitude to the prayer-meeting! Hitherto shunted, as one said, for any social event, and none but elders, when called upon, solemnly took part! But now social events must stand aside for the prayer-meetings, which are more attractive than all else! The spirit of prayer, too, is given in a very travail for souls, and narrow bounds are swept away, as prayer is made for "all nations."

We have referred elsewhere to the way that the Holy Spirit made Calvary the centre and source of blessing, and there are many traces of a remarkable revelation of the Cross to the "eyes of the heart"-- Ephes. i. 18. An evangelist tells how he was praying with others in a certain house one day, when the Lord revealed himself to the servant-girl in a "clear vision of the Cross with herself at the base," and her "experience and power in the service which followed, was most touching." In a meeting too, at Carmarthen, a worker rose and asked why it was she saw the Cross of Calvary before her vision night and day.

There are other Pentecostal marks discernible in places where the Spirit of God has worked in mighty power, in "signs and wonders" being wrought among the people. "Signs and wonders" in miracles of physical deliverance for souls wrecked by the demon of strong drink. One convert who had been a gambler and drunkard, with his bodily frame shattered by his life, gave testimony that since the day of his conversion he had been perfectly restored to his normal health. Another, who had not been sober one "week-end" for thirty-five years, said he could not now smell alcoholic liquor without sickness--the revulsion was so great.

In this day of His power we find others, too, proving the healing power of God. A minister tells how he was taken ill in the midst of the work, but he appealed to the Lord, and found himself instantly healed! He did not hesitate to bear witness to this in a meeting, when quickly many others sprang to their feet, and said what the Lord had done for them in the same way, one being a minister's wife who entered the Spirit-filled life but a few months before. At one place, too, in a meeting the power of the Spirit was so intense, that the Missioners could not pray for deliverance for souls manifestly held in bondage by the evil one, but were constrained irresistibly to "command" the adversary to release his captives, and numbers were thus set free by the power of God.

If we speak of the converts swept in by the spiritual high-tide, we might describe them in the very words of Scripture! They who have "received the word" have "continued stedfastly" in "fellowship" and in prayers --great numbers being baptized and received to the table of the Lord. All I that "believe " now continue " with one accord" in the various church meetings, and are filled with "gladness" and "singleness of heart," for they have lost the desire for the things of the world which they have come out of, and long to fully serve the Lord! They are "praising God" with "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," and are "having favour with all the people." And the Lord is "adding' to them day by day" others who also are "being saved."

But it must be remembered these converts are but babes, many utterly untaught, although born into the kingdom in this day of Pentecostal power. It remains for the Pastors to lead them on into the fulness of the life in the Spirit so that they become established in the knowledge of God, and the Church of God in Wales be in deed and truth after the pattern of Pentecost.

Chapter 6

THE LIFE STREAMS IN NORTH WALES--SOME TRACES AT PONKEY IN JUNE, 1904--THE TIDAL WAVE AT RHOS, NOVEMBER, 1904--THE HEALING OF THE BREACH AT BETHESDA.

“Northward . . behold there ran out waters."--Ezek. xlvii. 2.

We have watched the rivers of living water breaking out in many directions in South Wales; let us now turn our eyes to North Wales, and see how the Divine Spirit has been working in the northern part of the Principality.

We will look into the district of Rhos, which has been as mightily moved as any part of Glamorganshire. We find that some signs of an awakening occurred as far back as June, 1904, at anniversary services in a church at Ponkey. One of the special preachers two months before had been to South Wales, and had come in contact with two of the ministers who entered into the Spirit-filled life in August, 1903, and returned to his northern home with his heart deeply moved, and fully persuaded that the experimental knowledge of the fulness of the Holy Ghost would usher in a "new era in the history of the Welsh ministry."

The following Sunday will long be remembered in the Church as their "Day of Pentecost." At the Sabbath morning service the Pastor asked for testimony instead of preaching his usual sermon, and a big sturdy man in the congregation rose and asked the minister if he would baptize him there and then on his profession of faith in Christ, and would he do it without doubting? The whole congregation was moved, and, to the music of his mother's prayer, the young man was baptized, shouting, "Praise God for the privilege of following Jesus before the Day of Pentecost is passed."

Another from the crowd followed this one, and an after-meeting was held, when a young man who was the "black sheep" of his family was seen on his knees in tears; whilst two young men in the choir, old friends of his, offered up praise and prayer, mingled with joyous tears. His father, who was present, shouted for joy, and thanked God that the Gospel had done what father and mother had failed to do! The whole congregation were sobbing aloud. At night the service was so extraordinary that the people lost all consciousness of time and place, the minister "lost his sermon," and relying upon the Spirit, was used in a remarkable manner. From this time on, prayer meetings were held every night during July, and the church was ready for the tidal wave which was to burst over the land in November.

In November, 1904, some churches at Rhos invited a South Wales minister to conduct special services for them--one who entered the Spirit-filled life in August 1903!

In giving the account of the extraordinary movement in Rhos, the correspondent of a Liverpool paper says:-

"If I had been asked a month ago whether a revival was probable in Wales I should have answered No. It seemed to me that the Higher Criticism had wrecked the ordinary machinery of a revival, and that until theology had been reshaped . . . nothing could be done to disturb the prevailing apathy, but oddly enough the Revivalist [Rev. R. B. Jones] is one who, according to his own story, was at one time deeply interested in the Higher Criticism, and preached the 'new theology.' He felt, however, emptiness and coldness in his sermons. Attendance at a Convention held in Liandrindod led to a crisis in his life. He felt himself to be a new man, and since then the writings of the higher critics have lost their attraction for him.''

The services at Rhos began on the very day that the Spirit of God broke out at Loughor through the ministry of Mr. Evan Roberts! They were held in the largest church, the united churches giving up their ordinary services for the time. The first week's meetings were devoted to dealing with the professing Christians, leading them to the removal of hindrances in the life, full surrender to Christ, and the reception of the Holy Ghost. At the close of the week Christian workers stood confessing their powerlessness, others their lack of assurance of salvation, and seventy professing Christians rose and walked to the vestry, in token of their full surrender to Christ. After this the flood-gates of heaven were opened, and the Spirit was poured out mightily. The congregations grew and grew until places of worship became unable to accommodate them. Thousands were eager to take part in the meetings. The "revival" had come! Four weeks after the Missioner had left, a Wrexham paper said that "the whole district was in the grip of an extraordinary spiritual force which showed no sign of relaxing its hold! " The meetings were carried on by the people themselves, although the ministers were present. From ten in the morning until six in the evening some meetings went on. From the lips of the humblest and lowliest poured forth passionate appeals in prayer which quickened the whole being. Men and women continually rose, often more than one at a time, to pray with a fervour which was inspiring. In the street, in the train, in the car, even in the public-houses, this strange power upon the town was, in hushed and reverential tones, the theme of conversation.

In the evenings there were great processions, joined in by all classes, marching through the town singing hymns, and occasionally stopping for prayer. The place was visited by great numbers of visitors, and prayer meetings held three times a day were attended by crowds, with souls coming forward to Christ at every meeting.

A minister writes at the end of March, 1905, that the general result has been that the churches are on a far higher level and in a spiritual atmosphere. He says that prize-fighters and the biggest drunkards of the place are among the converts, and many of the now most useful church workers have been lifted from the very depths of degradation; also that large bands of workers are now filled with the Saviour' s passion for souls.

The Vicar of Rhos has thrown himself heart and soul into the work, and the Welsh church at Rhos has been the scene of a unique Revival prayer meeting. Every Free Church minister of the district was present, and the building was full to overflowing. The Vicar said he had attended many meetings, but never felt such a thrill of emotion as he did on this occasion; the walls and hedges of disunion had been broken down; they were now fully united and knew no distinction! The Baptist minister opened with prayer, and the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister closed the service.

At Bangor the Spirit of God broke out in November, 1904, in one of the lowest and poorest parts of the city. Theological students have been at work here, led by a young Baptist student named Morgan Jones, who had been in the South Wales district, where the revival was at its height. In the afternoon the ministerial students from the Baptist and Congregational Colleges met together for prayer, and had wondrous times, and then at night proceeded to Kyffin Square--the "Whitechapel" of the Cathedral City. The Spirit of God has so wrought in this spot, in a little schoolhouse, that it is said that all the poor--very poor--inhabitants will be saved in a short time, and the character of the locality changed. The work of the Spirit in this poor centre has moved the churches of the town, and the people who "sat in darkness" have become the light to lighten the professing people of God.

In February, 1905, special services were held in Bangor by another of the South Wales ministers knowing the Spirit-filled life, when large numbers of professing Christians were brought to full surrender, and found for the first time full assurance of salvation. The Missioner found many of the theological students and others at the University manifestly filled with the Spirit of God. A memorable service was a consecration meeting held after the close of one of the public meetings, commencing about 10.30 and lasting until 2.30 a.m. About eighty believers were present, and the Spirit of God "fell" on everyone with overwhelming power.

It is at Bangor University College that we hear of a prayer-meeting in the "smoke-room," which arose through the humming of the familiar Welsh tune "Aberystwyth." The students present broke out into fervent singing, and all fell on their knees. Others came whistling or shouting to the room, opened the door, and saw the sight, and fled, or knelt among their kneeling comrades.

In Carnarvonshire, the movement of the Spirit appears to have been first manifested at Bethesda, the scene of the historical Peurhyn strike which produced social, domestic, and religious disunion.

"The records of the police-courts showed how families were divided, life-long friendships were shattered, and so bitter was the feeling generated that in a large number of cases men would not worship together. Scenes sometimes occurred on the most solemn occasions, and those qualified to judge unanimously believed peace could not be restored during the present generation. But a week's "Revival" services held by a Wesleyan minister (Rev, Hugh Hughes) were greatly used of God. Old friends have been reconciled. Members of churches have returned to pray by the side of those who had driven them forth. Women who had summoned each other go together to the daily prayer-meeting where five hundred women gather every afternoon. Members of the same family who have not spoken to each other for two years now meet happily together. The meetings last practically from 2.30 in the afternoon until midnight. Visitors from other districts attend and carry back the blessing." (S.W. Daily News)

At Nantile Vale, in the south of the county, prayer-meetings were held, started voluntarily by the young people. Villages followed the example, so that practically by the middle of December the whole county might be said to be one great prayer-meeting.

The Isle of Anglesey was visited in January, 1905, by Rev. R. B. Jones, who conducted meetings at Holyhead, again dealing first with the Christians, and then through the believers brought into harmony with God, seeing the Spirit of God falling in converting power upon the unsaved. The Holy Spirit wrought mightily, and the services became a veritable Pentecost. A deacon confessed he had now received the baptism of the Spirit, which he had sought for ten years. About forty went to the vestry surrendering fully to Christ, and receiving the Holy Ghost. Many were quite prostrated by the intense presence of the Lord. At the close of the week, on the Sabbath morning, every single soul confessed a complete consecration to the Risen Lord, and some unsaved found the Saviour. The closing testimony meeting showed that the entire church had been lifted into a new atmosphere, and many had realised their "Pentecost." God had wrought marvellously in one week, and the church was a "new" church. The Pastor witnessed before his own people that he had entered into the experience of Galatians ii. 20, that the life of Christ might be manifested through him.

At Llanerchymedd the Missioner held only three days' meetings of the united churches. Again he dealt with the Christians, his message being "The Holiness of God." On the first evening sixty-seven souls were brought to Christ, and on the second night remarkable scenes took place. The Missioner, looking from the pulpit, saw a college student full length on the floor of the "big pew." Suddenly the young man arose, and putting his hand in his pocket, he took out his pipe, and publicly handed it to the Missioner. Another student was on his knees groaning aloud and crying "Oh God, give me strength; shall I have strength to do it?" Finally he, too, arose, and took out his pipe and his pouch from his pocket and threw them on to the pulpit desk. Others followed, until the whole of the desk was covered with pipes and pouches of tobacco, yet the Missioner had said no word about these things, but simply proclaimed the Holiness of God which demanded a holy life on the part of those He owned.

Whilst these scenes were occurring the news was noised abroad, and people outside flocked in from their homes, and even the public-houses, until right up to 12.45 at night souls poured in to give themselves to God, no less than one hundred and eleven converts being gathered in at this one meeting.

At a consecration meeting on the Saturday morning two hundred came forward for definite surrender and the reception of the Holy Ghost, after being taught what it meant. Again the Spirit of God descended in power, for whilst they were on their knees in full surrender, the Spirit "fell" upon them, and all broke out in audible prayer at the same time.

At Amlwch three days' united meetings were held, the message again being Isaiah vi., and the people were manifestly convicted by the Holy Ghost. When the messenger came to the "live coal from off the altar "--the cleansing fire from the place where the blood was shed, CALVARY--suddenly, without one word of explanation, the Spirit so unveiled the truth that the majority of the large congregation of twelve hundred people simultaneously sprang to their feet shouting "Dioich Iddo!" (" Thanks be to Him "), whilst the glory of the Lord so shone upon the pulpit that the Missioner fled to the vestry completely overcome.

At Cefnrnawr, near Rhos, the united churches held services in September, 1904, but it does not appear that the Spirit of God broke out in any torrential power until February, 1905, when a South Wales Minister visited the place. On the second night of the February services, the power of the Spirit became so intense that the Missioner was scarcely able to speak at times. Once the whole congregation burst out into singing, and then for a whole hour many gave testimony for the first time in their lives. The climax was reached on the Friday of that week, when sixty to eighty gave themselves wholly to Christ, making a complete surrender, and definitely accepting the Holy Ghost.

The Colleges of Wales have also been greatly moved. At Bala College, Professor Edwards says, that if ever he saw the subduing, melting, abasing, elevating effects of Divine power, he saw them now among his students.

Space forbids our attempting to record the movement in other parts of North Wales. We hear of three weeks' prayer-meetings in Merionethshire in the middle of December, the people uniting in prayer all over the villages and valleys of the county, until, at the Christmas season, a young man came home for his holidays from Glamorganshire--a changed man, praying for his old friends, and telling of the Lord's mighty working, until scarcely an unconverted "hearer" remained all through the valleys.

Other messengers of God have been used by Him, some from South Wales, and others called out and equipped by Him for service in their own districts. We hear of a farmer's wife at Egryn, and a young quarryman, as well as numbers of university students.

Rev. Elvet Lewis says: "I am more than ever convinced that the 'half will never be told.' It is a continual surprise even to those who know the land and the people intimately. There may be a few remote places still untouched, but I have failed to hear of one."

Chapter 7

THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH--THE OBJECT LESSON IN WALES--THE PLACE OF CALVARY IN THE AWAKENING

He that believeth [into] Me . . out of the depths of his life shall pour torrents of living water. JOHN vii. 38, old Syriac.

As we review the story given in the preceding pages the Pentecostal character of the Awakening in Wales is unmistakably clear, and we are encouraged to believe that the wider fulfilment of Joel's prophecy is at hand. Undoubtedly we are in a new era of the world's history, when we may expect supernatural workings of God such as have not been known since the days of the primitive Church.

Dr. Cynddylan Jones points out that the question "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ?" is in the forefront to-day! It is a question loudly ringing out to the Church of God through the Awakening in Wales, with tremendous consequences to the world dependent upon its being truly faced by the people of God. It is the call to the Church, at the close of the dispensation, to arise and receive the Pentecostal clothing of the Spirit which is her birthright, and her need for effectual witness to Christ in the world. What God has done for Wales is an object lesson of what He is prepared to do for His people in every land, if they will seek His face, and obey the conditions for His Pentecostal working. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself in exactly the same outward form as in Wales, nor sweep in seventy thousand converts in two months everywhere; but undoubtedly if true members of Christ in every nation, including missionaries among the heathen--be they few or many--were each to receive what God means by a baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, "signs and wonders" would follow in diversities of workings, according to the circumstances and conditions of the various lands. It has been truly said that the world cannot be "revived," for it is dead! A "world-wide revival" therefore means the quickening of the people of God into abundance of life. Were this to come about in every land the ''overflowing stream of the breath of God would quickly "sift all nations" (Isaiah xxx. 28), and make its own channels everywhere.

But let us turn to Wales for light upon the laws which govern the Spirit's working so that the children of God may intelligently know how to co-operate with Him for the fulfilment of His purposes.

The object-lesson that stands out the clearest, and speaks the loudest, to the Church of God, is the fact that the Spirit of God moved upon the unsaved in converting power as soon as the Christians in a particular church, or specific meeting, were in harmony with God.

The instances we have given emphasise this lesson. We see how in one church after two weeks' prayer, when the Spirit dealt secretly with the professing Christians (as they afterwards testified), and as soon as all were right with God, the Spirit fell upon the public service, and large numbers of unsaved spontaneously arose and pressed in to the enquiry room, without any invitation! In another church we see that the Spirit of God could not work until the Pastor obeyed Him, and personally dealt with the hindrance among his officers, although it meant to him anguish of heart and many tears to obey. We find also in the crowded meetings in various places how the Revivalist was given by the Spirit of God sensitive knowledge of the hindrances to His working. How strange the "block," and cold the service, until the (1) curious spirit, (2) unreal spirit, (3) contentious, or unforgiving, spirit was removed, and how quickly these departed when confession was made, or prayer poured out to God, and how mightily the Holy Spirit would at once fall upon the people, and souls yield to Christ. Again, in the work in North Wales we see how whole districts were stirred after the Christians were brought into full surrender to God, and, entering the Spirit-filled life, were knit in perfect unity and fellowship with each other. "Bend the Church and save the world" is truly the message for today.

In past years God has been using great leaders; special instruments, called out and led into close fellowship with Him to receive His messages for the people, as He used Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, and others; but it was not so at Pentecost. Then for the first time God brought a company of people so into union with Himself, and each other, that He could speak through, and flow out of, a number of souls as one. And on the Day of Pentecost the Lord's ideal--" that they may all be one; even as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee "--began to be fulfilled, and shown to the world. At Pentecost the Spirit of God broke out upon the multitude, through a united company of people, all prepared by prolonged prayer--and nothing unites like prayer--and yielded wholly to Him.

The object-lesson in Wales shows that God works in the world when His people are right with Him. In brief, the members of Christ must be brought by the Spirit into full union with the Risen Head, and with each other--" in one Spirit were we all baptised into one body "--so that the Spirit of life may pour out into the world. In the darkest, loneliest, furthest corners of the earth, the most isolated child of God may share in the world-wide blessing, as the life-currents from Him who is Life eternal circulate freely throughout the Body of Christ, and overflow in exuberance of life on to the world lying in the shadow of death.

"Church of God, awake!" is now the call at the close of the dispensation. Oh, may all be given anointed eyes to see the vision! The secret is open before the people of God. The Spirit flows out upon the world as the people of God are brought into harmony with Him. And the work in Wales shows us that He does not wait for the Church as a whole thus to fall into line, but He will break out through single congregations, or specific gatherings, as they are brought into one accord with Him. In preparation for the rushing mighty breath upon the land, He dealt, as we have seen, with Pastors and people, lifting whole congregations into a spiritual sphere, and bringing large numbers of church members of all ages into the Spirit-filled life.

May God go on to work deeply until, in this day of His power, the whole Church of God in Wales bears the marks of Pentecost, and the overflowing stream of the life of God flow on and on throughout the world, wheresoever it can find channels; channels of individual souls asking for the baptism of fire, and refusing to account the earnest of the Spirit which they have received in Easter Day blessing, as the clothing from on high given at Pentecost; and channels of churches, or groups of believers, seeking with one accord the outpoured Spirit as given to the company in the upper room in Jerusalem.

Again we learn in Wales from this same object lesson the meaning of atmosphere--a surcharged atmosphere. How mightily the Spirit works when the atmosphere is clear; how easy to speak and to pray when the Spirit fills the atmosphere! And this also is Pentecost, for in the upper room that day the rushing mighty breath filled the house, together with the believers, who were then environed by the Spirit, as well as indwelt by Him. It is this characteristic of the clothing, or environing, or covering, of the Spirit, which distinguishes the Pentecostal experience from the Easter Day blessing of "receiving the Holy Ghost." In other words, the Spirit upon for service, as the Spirit within for life. Souls thus environed in God carry with them, so to speak, their own "atmosphere," and quickly know an atmosphere wherein the Spirit is hindered or grieved. We have thought much of changed people, but how little have we understood the power of a changed atmosphere wherein the Holy Ghost may freely work. "There was no result in individual blessing, but a changed atmosphere" may be said after a Convention--yet this is the supreme thing after all, for in the cleansed and cleared atmosphere the Holy Ghost is able to work out His fullest purposes in souls.

Again, as we look to Wales, we see the place the Holy Ghost gives to Calvary, and we may be perfectly sure that no overflowing stream of life will come where the people of God are not in agreement with Him in His estimation of the death of His Son. As we recall the conditions preceding the first Pentecost, we cannot forget that CALVARY WAS A TERRIBLE FACT to each one of the little company in the upper room. There is no Pentecost without a preceding Calvary. The fire that touched Isaiah came from off the altar--Calvary. The fire that fell in answer to Elijah's cry came on the sacrifice on the altar--Calvary! "To-day there is one hill more effectually in sight than Snowdon--a hill 'without a city wall '--and as that hill comes more and more into sight crowned with its redeeming Cross, at times what bursts of song, at times what hush of awe." "What seems to me to lie at the heart is the unveiling of the Cross." "Unchanging Love as it shone and shines from the throbbing mysteries of the Cross." "The Cross stood unveiled and thousands looked, and men and women smitten with the grief and triumph of Calvary rise . . . writes one about the work in Wales. Yea, the Church is "bent" by the revelation of Calvary, and the Holy Ghost in Pentecostal power bears witness to the Cross. Nought but the supernatural working of God could have broken men at the feet of the Lord in the very city where He was crucified as an apparent criminal! And to-day, whilst men were discussing theories of the atonement, the supernatural witness from heaven was no less needed, and, blessed be God, has now been given. The world has seen before its eyes that the preaching of the Cross is in very truth the dynamic of the Gospel, and is the energy of God to actually and really save men from the bonds of sin. And what is of still greater consequence, the Church of God has been rallied, as by a voice from heaven, to the banner of the Cross. "We have been critics of the Bible when we should have been devotees. We have preached Christ as an ideal of sacrifice, but have left out His atonement for sin," said a well-known minister at a Conference in London; "Now, thank God, there is a return to the Book, and to Calvary;" and another said, "The Revival has brought us back to the Cross of Christ.'

We see, too, in Wales, the attractive power and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel to meet the needs of men. No "means of attraction" are necessary when the Holy Ghost fills and presides over the Church.

If these things are so, some will say, "This awakening in Wales should shake the world!" Yea, and it will shake the world within the limitations we see following the first Pentecost. If we carefully read the story in the Scriptures we find first 3,000, then 5,000, then "multitudes of men and women" added to the first few who met in the upper room. The Spirit-filled company grew, and the Holy Spirit presided over them in such intense reality that any sin was at once dealt with, so that "great fear" came upon the Church, and the people, as they realised the holiness of the God in their midst. The witnessing Church filled Jerusalem with the sound of their message, but by no means did all Jerusalem receive it! Many were unwilling to yield, and unprepared to let God have His way and upset their traditions. The "tidal wave" broke out in Jerusalem, and at once swept in all who would yield, but it must flow on to the world outside. That it could not do so without Spirit-filled souls is shown in that, at this point, the Lord had to permit a persecution to scatter His "channels" far and wide, and as they went the rivers flowed on to the nations.

This is a pattern for us as we look at Wales to-day. The Spirit of God has swept through the Principality, and gathered many into the Kingdom--yet by no means has all Wales yielded to the Lord! The day of visitation will end, and the mighty tide pass on, as it passed in a comparatively short time from Jerusalem, leaving behind, as it did then, members of the Church to give their witness, and continue the work of the Lord.

In closing, we cannot too earnestly urge upon the people of God the solemnity of this present visitation--we cannot hear about it, or come in contact with it, without effect upon our spiritual lives. God has shown to His people that He can work the same as at Pentecost in an unbelieving age. Will His people heed the lesson? Or will they turn away, and say, "Oh, yes, in Wales, but not here!

Let me ask my reader personally, "Have you received your Pentecost?" Is it true of you that out of the depths of your life God is pouring torrents of living water? If you answer, "I have sought, but no change has come," I would ask "Is Calvary real to you?" Calvary in its full-orbed meaning of Christ crucified for you, and you crucified with Christ! Again we would repeat, there is no Pentecost in spiritual experience without a preceding Calvary. We have not known our Pentecost because we have not known the full meaning of Calvary. We parted with our sins as the Spirit unveiled the Christ dying for us, but we have kept ourselves, and hence made no room for the Holy Ghost. We may "repent"; confess Christ, and seek to obey the Holy Ghost; yea, ask in faith, and believe we receive; but if we leave out the crucial condition of the Cross--which is the meaning of Peter's words "be baptized" as interpreted in their spiritual significance by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH"--we may know some measure of the Holy Ghost in possession of the life, but not the torrential power of Pentecost which the Lord foreshadowed when He said, "Out of the depths of his life shall pour torrents of living water," (Old Syriac rendering).

And how may this be? Jesus stood and cried saying--" He that believeth into Me--out of--shall flow rivers . ." "At that day--the Day of Pentecost--ye shall know . . ye in Me and I in you." "Oh soul, yield thyself wholly to Me in a faith that will not keep back aught from Me, and the Eternal Spirit shall plant thee into My death," so shall I become thy life, and out of the depths--the deep springs of thy inner life--shall flow rivers, rivers, ankle deep; knee deep; loin deep; yea, even "waters to swim in," which shall bear thee, and submerge thee, as they sweep on and on and on, and "everything shall live whither the river cometh."

"And He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and the Lamb." (Rev. xxii. i).

The hidden springs of the Awakening in Wales lie deep in the heart of God, thence breaking out to a dying world through the Cross of Calvary. O wondrous Cross!

"On the Mount of Crucifixion

Fountains opened deep and wide;

Through the floodgates of God's mercy

Flowed a vast and gracious tide;

Grace and love, like mighty rivers,

Poured incessant from above,

And heaven's peace and perfect justice

Kissed a guilty world in love."

* * * * * * * * * *

If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

- 7 Classics on PRAYER

- 7 Classics on HOLINESS

- 7 Classics on EVANGELISM and SOUL-WINNING

- 7 Catholic Classics

- 5 Classics on the HOLY SPIRIT

- 5 Classics on POWER

PREACHERS AND REVIVALISTS:

- The Azusa Street Papers

- Charles Spurgeon: 40 sermons on Prayer

- Charles Spurgeon: Lectures to My Students

- The George Muller Collection

- The Revival Writings of Jonathan Edwards (7-in-1)

- The Works of Catherine Booth (7-in-1)

- The Works of Charles Finney

- The Works of D. L. Moody

- The Works of R. A. Torrey

- The Works of William Booth

- Biography of John Wesley Collection: 4-in-1

- Amy Carmichael 8-in-1

- Samuel Zwemer 7-in-1(Missions in Arabia)

5.  THE WELSH REVIVAL (1905) – Stead & Morgan

NARRATIVE OF FACTS,

SOURCE OF POWER

by

Rev. W. T. Stead and Rev. G. Campbell Morgan

1905

Chapter 1: From the Author to the Reader

I AM A CHILD OF THE REVIVAL of 1859 - 60. I have witnessed the Revival in South Wales, and it is borne in upon me that I must testify as to what I have seen and know.

I have been urged and entreated to speak in public on the subject. I have refused, although sorely tempted to comply. But though I am not physically strong enough to face the immense strain which public speaking always makes upon my nervous system, I cannot keep silent. Woe is me if I bear not my testimony, and bear it now! For never is it so true as in times of Revival that Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation.

That is not a mere hackneyed text; it is a somewhat awe-inspiring fact. A fact, not a theory. The importance of the psychological moment so much insisted upon by Bismarck is as true in religion as in politics. It is the familiar truth, which all admit in other departments of life.

"There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows, and in miseries."

Let me preface my narrative, as is the custom in all meetings when the awakened soul cries for facts from the experience of living men rather than for things at second-hand, by stating briefly how I came to be able to speak with knowledge of the mysterious force operating upon the heart of men which is in action at times of Revival.

I first woke up to a sense of my own sinfulness when I was a child of eleven. I was a child of the Manse. My father was an Independent minister, and both my parents were earnest, devoted Evangelical Christians. Independents sixty years ago were more Calvinistic than are their present-day representatives, and a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and of the grim reality of the wrath of God permeated the atmosphere of our home. The higher the ideal of life and conduct to which we were taught to aspire, the more bitterly and constantly we were compelled to realize by every childish fault of selfishness or of temper how true it was that we had all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We were condemned by our own consciences. Even when we would do good, evil was present with us. How could we, with all our imperfections, our sins, and our short-comings, think without a shudder of the day when all secrets were revealed, and the soul, stripped bare of all wrappings and pretence, had to render account to its Maker for all the deeds that had been done in the body? It is the fashion of our day to regard such striving after the ideal as morbid; but although the phraseology may need revision, the essential truth remains the same.

It is not surprising, then, that one night, at eleven years of age, when I went to bed, I was seized with an appalling sense of my own unworthiness, my own exceeding sinfulness. God was so good, and I was so bad — I deserved to be damned. I accepted as a postulate the infinite goodness of God, and I knew only too well how often I had done the things I ought not to have done, and left undone the things I ought to have done, and that there was no strength in me. I sobbed and cried in the darkness with a vague sense of my own sin and of the terrible doom which awaited me. I had a passionate longing to escape from condemnation and be forgiven. At last my mother overheard me, took me into her arms, and told me comforting things about the love of God, and how it was made manifest by Jesus Christ, who had suffered in our stead, to save us from condemnation, and make us heirs of heaven. I have no remembrance of anything beyond the soothing caress of my mother’s words. When she left me the terror had gone; and although I had not in any way experienced the change which is called conversion, I felt sufficiently tranquil to go to sleep. When I woke the memory of the previous nights alarm was but as the remembrance of a thunderstorm when it has passed.

This was in the year 1860, when the Revival which had begun in the United States of America in 1857 or 1858 crossed the Atlantic, traversed the north of Ireland in 1858, covered Wales in 1859, and then moved into England, where its influence was felt all through 1860 and 1861.

In luly, 1861, I was sent to a boarding school for Congregational ministers’ sons, to which some sons of laymen were also admitted, at Silcoates Hall, near Wakefield. There were about fifty of us boys, from ten years old to sixteen or seventeen. The tradition of the school in the fifties and in 1860 had not been distinctly religious. All of us came from Christian homes, but as a school it was very much like other schools. About a month after I entered Silcoates some of the lads started a prayer meeting of their own in a summerhouse in the garden. They asked me to join, and I went more out of curiosity, and to oblige my chum, than for any other motive. There were about half-a-dozen of us, perhaps more, none of us over fourteen. We read a chapter in the Bible, and we prayed. No master was present, nor was there any attempt made on the part of the masters to encourage the prayer meeting. One master, indeed, was frankly contemptuous. The majority of the boys had nothing to do with the prayer-meeting fellows. One or two of us were under deep conviction of sin, and we talked among ourselves, and read the Bible, and prayed. Suddenly one day, after the prayer meeting had been going on for a week or two, there seemed to be a sudden change in the atmosphere. How it came about no one ever knew. All that we did know was that there seemed to have descended from the sky, with the suddenness of a drenching thunder shower, a spirit of intense earnest seeking after God for the forgiveness of sins and consecration to His service. The summerhouse was crowded with boys. A deputation waited upon the principal, and told him what was happening. He was very sympathetic and helpful. Preparation class was dispensed with that night; all the evening the prayer meeting was kept going, There was no singing, only Bible reading, a few brief words of exhortation, a confession of sin, and asking for prayers, and ever and anon a joyful acknowledgement of an assurance of forgiveness. Those of us who could not find peace were taken out into the playground by one or two of their happier comrades, who laboured with them to accept Christ. How well to this very day do I remember the solemn hush of that memorable day and night, in the course of which forty out of the fifty lads publicly professed conversion. Only half-a-dozen out of the whole school, and these exclusively of the oldest boys, held aloof from the movement, and were prayed for jointly and severally by name by their converted comrades.

I remember the way in which it came to me that my sins were forgiven, and that from being a rebel against God I was admitted into the family of the redeemed. I had no ecstasy. Alas! my temperament is not subject to ecstasies. My friend, a lad of my own age, was walking by my side plying me diligently with texts, and appealing to me to believe only in Christ. As we walked and talked together it slowly seemed to dawn upon my mind that I had been saved all the time, and had never known it till just then. Saved not by any merit of my own, but because in some mysterious way, positively asserted in the New Testament, and verified by the experience of all the best human beings whom I knew or had heard of, the death of Christ had reconciled the world to God. He had borne my sins, therefore they were no longer on record against me. There was no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. And who were “in Christ Jesus”? The whole human race, excepting those who thrust themselves out of His fold, and would none of Him. In short, it seemed to me that I had always inverted the position. Instead of thinking I had to do some strange spiritual act described as coming to Jesus, when my sins would be forgiven and I should be adopted as a Son of God, I came to see that Christ had already reconciled me to God, had forgiven my sins, thousands of years before they had been committed, and that I had just to accept the position in which He had graciously placed me. Of my own self I could have done nothing. I was a sinner, not only in the sight of God, but in my own inner consciousness. I had been made in the image of God, and had unmade myself into the image of a very ordinary, bad-tempered, selfish lad, not perhaps more bad-tempered or more selfish than other twelve-year old lads, but a very ordinary sinner, not by any means the saint and the hero which I ought to have been. I was a poor wretch, but God in His unspeakable love and mercy had blotted out my sins, and taken me into junior — very junior — partnership with Himself. The terms were, on my side, that I had to do what He told, me, and, on His side, that He would tell me quite clearly what He wanted me to do. And although I had no ecstasy, and was gladdened by no heavenly vision, a sense of great peace and deliverance settled upon me.

I was seized with the longing to tell others of the discovery I had made — that we were saved all the time if we only knew it, and that God was a great deal more anxious to take us into partnership than we were to accept so gracious an offer. Writing was a sore cross to me, at 12, but I wrote to my parents and told them the good news. I wrote to my elder sister, urging her to be converted. We had prayer circles for the conversion of our unconverted comrades. In the fervour of my boyish zeal I decided to be a missionary, and applied myself all the more diligently to my lessons. About twenty of us joined the Church as communicants. Every night during the two years I was at Silcoates the prayer meeting was kept up by the lads. Half an hour after tea, before preparation, was given to the prayer meeting. But — and this brings me to the point of all this confession of personal experience — although the tone of the school was kept up at a high level, and although the prayer meeting was kept going, and the solid fruits of the Revival lasted all the time I was there, we never had another conversion after that strange outpouring of the Spirit which overwhelmed us all, unexpectant, at the beginning of the term. Those who were brought in during the Revival week stood for the most part firm, those who stood out against the Revival never came in afterwards. Neither, so far as I remember, with perhaps one or two exceptions, did the new lads who entered school later on seek or find conversion.

I am not setting forth the conception of the relation between man and his Maker embodied in the foregoing narrative as if it were the truth of God to any other soul excepting my own. And for those who deny both God and the soul, I am willing, for the sake of argument, to admit that the whole episode in my life was nothing more or less than the delusion of something that imagined itself to be a soul as to the reality of its relations with a nullity which it imagined was its Creator. The truth or the falsehood of my notions is, in this immediate connection, quite immaterial. For what I am wanting to insist upon is, first, that these seasons of spiritual exaltation which we call Revivals are realities to those who come under their influence, permanently affecting their whole future lives; and, secondly, that they come like the wind and vanish as mysteriously, and that those who resist them may never again feel so potent a call to a higher life.

It is this sense of the fact that the Revival, when it comes, does not stop but passes on, which fills me with such a sense of the infinite importance of this present time, that I feel I must do what I can to bring to the knowledge of as many persons as I can reach, the glad tidings of great joy that a Revival of Religion is once more in our midst.

The old story of the man who was gathering eggs from the face of a precipitous cliff always recurs to me at such seasons of opportunity. The man, clinging to a rope, had lowered himself from the overhanging edge of a beetling cliff, till he was opposite the ledge where the seabirds laid their eggs. Owing to the extent to which the brow of the cliff overhung the sea, whose waves were dashing 203 feet below, the egg-gatherer found himself some ten feet distant from the ledge of the nests. By swaying to and fro, he was able to make himself swing as a pendulum outward and inward, until at last the extreme inward swing of the rope brought him to the ledge, on to which he sprang. As he did so he lost hold of the rope. There he stood for one awful moment midway between sea and sky. The rope swinging outward after he had quitted his hold was returning like a pendulum. It came, but not so far as to enable him to clutch it from where he stood. Outward it swung again, and he realized with agony that as each time it swayed to and fro it would be further and further off, until at last it would hang stationary far out of his reach. When the rope began slowly to swing inwards, he saw that the next time it would be out of his reach. Breathless, he waited until the rope was just about to pause before swinging back, then, knowing that it was now or never, he leapt into space, caught the rope, and was saved. Another second and he would have lost his chance. It is just so, it seems to me, with Revivals. They come and they go, and if they are not utilized the opportunity goes by — in some cases forever.

For the Churches the Revival is like spring. The good seed sown then springs up and bears fruit, whereas ten times the quantity of seed sown in winter’s frost or summers heat would simply perish. But in these prefatory observations I am not thinking of the Churches so much as of the individual reader who does not believe, who is not converted, and who is only idly curious as to whether there is anything in this Revival business, or whether there is not. It is for them that I have told, for the first time in my life, the story of how a Revival affected me, and what I know of it at first hand. And there is one other point upon which I think I may fairly claim to speak at first hand, and that is as to the effect of that expenence at Silcoates in 186l upon my own life. Whatever may be the objective reality of the altered relations which I then recognized as existing between my soul and its Maker, there is absolutely no question as to the abiding nature of the change it effected in my life. It is forty-three years since that Revival at school. The whole of my life during all these forty-three years has been influenced by the change which men call conversion which occurred with me when I was twelve. My views as to many things have naturally broadened much in these forty-three years. But that was the conscious starting point of everything that there has been in my life of good or of service for my fellow-creatures. It was my first conversion. Other spiritual experiences, involving a wider conception of the reality of God in man, a deeper sense of the need for self-surrender, I have had, and hope yet to have. But the fundamental change, the conscious recognition of the fact that I had been most graciously allotted a junior partnership with God Almighty in the great task of making this world a little bit more like heaven than it is today, came to me then. My life has been flawed with many failures, darkened with many sins, but the thing in it which was good, which has enabled me to resist temptations to which I would otherwise have succumbed, to bear burdens which would otherwise have crushed me with their weight, and which has kept the soul within me ever joyfully conscious that, despite all appearances to the contrary, this is God’s world, and that He and I are fellow-workers in the work of its renovation — that potent thing, whatever you may call it, and however you may explain it, came into my life there, and abides with me to this hour; — my one incentive and inspiration in this life; my sole hope for that which is to come.

Therefore I hope my reader will understand how it is that I, being a child of the Revival of 1858 to 1861, should hail with exceeding great joy the reappearance of the Revival in 1904. For as the mysterious out-powering of the blessing forty-three years ago has been of permanent help and strength and comfort to my own life ever since that time, so will this Revival in the West change, transform, inspire, and glorify the lives of multitudes who at present know nothing and care nothing for the things that make for their own peace and the welfare of their fellowmen.

And the thought that haunts me and will not let me rest until I send out this little hook is that if I do not write it, and write it now, you, my reader, may not hear the bugle call which is sounding in the West; the Revival may pass by, and, too late, you may awake to discover that you have missed the gift of God which it bore for your soul.

Chapter 2: The National Significance of Revivals

Slowly the Bible of the race is writ,

And not on paper leaves nor leaves of stone,

Each age, each kindred adds a verse to it,

Texts of despair or hope, of joy or moan;

While swings the sea, while mists the mountains shroud,

While thunders surges burst on cliffs of cloud,

Still at the prophets feet the nations sit. — Lowell.

ONE OF THESE NEWLY WRITTEN verses is spelling itself out before our eyes in Wales. In order to understand its significance we need to look backward across some centuries to realize what vast issues may be in this upheaval among the Welsh country folk.

The word Revival is not to be found in the index to the latest edition of the ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’. Neither does it figure in the comprehensive index to Baring-Goulds ‘Lives of the Saints’. Yet the Saints were great Revivalists, and the history of the progress of the world is largely made up of the record of successive Revivals. The Revival of Religion has been the invariable precursor of social and political reform. This was very admirably put by the Rev. F. B. Meyer in his Presidential Address to the Ninth National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1904.

Every great Revival of religion has issued in social and political reconstruction. In no history has the effect of the one upon the other been more carefully traced than in Green’s ‘History of the English People’. Take, for instance, his account of the Revival of the twelfth century. “At the close of Henry’s reign,” he says, “and throughout that of Stephen, England was stirred by the first of those great religious movements which it was afterwards to experience in the preaching of the Friars, the Lollardism of Wyclif, the Reformation, the Puritan enthusiasm, and the mission work of the Wesleys. Everywhere, in town and country, men banded themselves together for prayer; hermits flocked to the woods; noble and churl welcomed the austere Cistereians as they spread over the moors and forests of the North. A new spirit of devotion woke the slumbers of the religious houses, and penetrated alike to the homes of the noble and the trader. The power of this Revival eventually became strong enough to wrest England from the chaos of feudal misrule after a long period of feudal anarchy, and laid the foundations of the Great Charta. ” We may go further, and assert that the movements which led to the abolition of the Slave Trade and the Com Laws originated in the evangelistic efforts of Wesley and Whitefield. Even Mr. Benjamin Kidd, in his “Social Evolution,” lays great stress on the religious foundations upon which civilization rests. He tells us that the intellect has always mistaken the nature of religious forces, and regarded them as beneath its notice, though they had within them power to control the course of human development for hundreds and even thousands of years. Discussing the opposition of the educated classes in England to progress, he says: “The motive force behind the long list of progressive measures has not, to any appreciable extent, come from the educated classes — it has come almost exclusively from the middle and lower classes, who have in turn acted, not under the stimulus of intellectual motives, but under the influence of their religious feelings. It is, therefore, on the authority of history and economics that we base our contention that society can only be saved through a great Revival of Religion.

There are certain phenomena which precede and which follow Revivals of Religion. The symptoms premonitory of a Revival are the phenomena of death, corruption, and decay. It is ever the darkest hour before the dawn. The nation always seems to be given over to the Evil One before the coming of the Son of Man. The decay of religious faith, the deadness of the Churches, the atheism of the well-to-do, the brutality of the masses, all these, when at their worst, herald the approach of the Revival. Things seem to get too bad to last. The reign of evil becomes intolerable. Then the soul of the nation awakes.

That the familiar phenomena of the reign of sin are with us and abound, no serious observer will dispute. As a nation we have once more stooped to those depths of bloody mire in which from time to time Britain has wallowed. Drunkenness, gambling, and gluttony, with others of the seven deadly sins, abound. Worldliness is universal. High ideals are eclipsed. Plain living and high thinking are at a discount. To see as in a mirror the vacuous mind of a generation which eschews serious thought you have only to read the popular newspapers and periodicals of the day.

Life has become for the comfortable classes little better than a musical comedy. You look in vain for the strenuous, high-spirited youth who scorn delights and live laborious days in order to achieve some thing of good for their fellowmen. To have a good time is the end-all and be-all of millions. Indolence, indifference, and selfishness so dominate that even the healthy game of football has become little better than a modem substitute for the gladiatorial sports of ancient Rome — the winter gambling bell that replaces the summer racecourse. Our young men do not play themselves, they look on while professionals play.

In politics degradation shows itself chiefly in the indifference to blood-shed and the waste of the resources of our own people in making believe to be ready to slaughter our neighbours. As a condemnation alike of the morality and intellect of the nation, the Army and Navy expenditure of Britain for the last twelve years stands without a parallel. Here we have the very note of the decadence of our time. That way madness lies, and the supreme and crowning demonstration of the criminal lunacy which has overtaken us is afforded by the proposal to tax the bread and sugar of the poor in order to meet the demands of insatiate Mars.

If, therefore, a Revival never comes until the nation has sunk into the slough of luxury and vice, and wallows in brutality and crime, then this precursory symptom is assuredly not wanting in the present situation. It is interesting to turn over the pages of Green’s History of the English People and to note how invariably the Revival is preceded by a period of corruption and followed by a great advance in the direction of national progress.

Take, for instance, what he tells us about the state of England on the eve of the second Revival. The effect of the first Revival had passed away by the middle of the thirteenth century. The second was brought about by the Franciscans and the Dominicans.

Speaking of the coming of the Friars, Mr. Green says:

The religious hold of the priesthood on the people was loosening day by day . . . . . The disuse of preaching, the decline of the monastic orders into rich landowners, the non-residence and ignorance of the parish priests, robbed the clergy of their spiritual influence. The abuses of the times foiled even the energy of such men as Bishop Grosseteste, of Lincoln. To bring the world back again within the pale of the Church was the aim of two religious orders which sprang suddenly into life in the opening of the thirteenth century.

He then describes how the Revival due to the Black Friars of St. Dominic and the Grey Friars of St. Francis swept in a great tide of popular enthusiasm over the land. They carried the Gospel to the poor by the entire reversal of the Older Monasticism by seeking personal salvation in effort for the salvation of their fellowmen. Their fervid appeal, coarse wit, and familiar story brought religion into the fair and the market place. They captured the University of Oxford, and made it stand in the front line in its resistance to Papal ex-actions and its claim of English liberty.

The classes in the towns on whom the influence of the Friars told most directly were the steady supporters of freedom throughout the Barons War. Adam Marsh was the closest friend and confidant both of Grosseteste and Earl Simon of Montfort.

Thus, if the first Revival preceded the signing of the Magna Charta, the second paved the way for the assembly of the first English Parliament.

The third Revival mentioned by Green was that of Wycliffe. The second Revival had spent its force in a hundred years. The Church of the Middle Ages had, at the middle of the fourteenth century, sunk to its lowest point of spiritual decay. The clergy were worldly and corrupt, and paralysed by their own dissensions. The early enthusiasm of the Friars had died away, leaving a crowd of impudent mendicants behind. Then Wycliffe arose. He recalled the ideal of the Kingdom of God before the eyes of mankind, and established his order of Simple Priests or Poor Preachers, who, with coarse speech and russet dress, preached the Gospel throughout the land with such success that the enemy declared in alarm that “every second man one meets is a Lollard”. Wycliffe died, but the seed he had sowed sprang up and bore terrible fruit in the Peasant Revolt, which, although ultimately trampled out in bloodshed, was the first great warning given to the landlords of England that the serf not only had the rights of man, but was capable on occasion of asserting them, even by such extreme measures as the decapitation of an Archbishop.

The fourth Revival was that which preceded the Reformation. Tyndale, with his translation of the Bible, blew upon the smouldering embers of Lollardry and they burst into flame. The new Scriptures were disputed, rimed, sung, and jangled in every tavern and ale-house. From that revival of popular religion among the masses came by tortuous roads the triumph of Protestantism.

After the Reformation and the Renaissance had achieved their culminating glory in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a period of decadence and of corruption set in under the Stuarts. Under James I, Whitehall became an Augean stable of all uncleanness, and a vicious Court assailed the liberties of England. Against this corruption in high places a fierce religious rebellion broke out amongst the serious English folk. The Puritan Revival of the first half of the seventeenth century had two notable offshoots. The first was the founding of New England by the men of the Mayflower; the other was the founding of the English Commonwealth by the Ironsides of Cromwell. The great struggle of the seventeenth century was primarily religious, only secondarily political. As Green remarks, “There was one thing dearer in England than free speech in Parliament, than security for property, or even personal liberty, and that one thing was, in the phrase of the day, the Gospel.” It was the religious Revival that summoned Milton from literature to politics. So long as the question between King and Parliament was purely political, he shut himself up with his books and ‘calmly awaited the issue of the contest, which I trusted to the wise conduct of Providence and to the courage of the people.’ But when men began to demand the reforming of the Church in accordance with the Word of God, Milton tells us in his Second Defence of the People of England:

This awakened all my attention and my zeal. I saw that a way was opening for the establishment of real liberty, that the foundation was laying for the deliverance of man from the yoke of slavery and superstition, that the principles of religion, which were the first objects of our care, would exert a salutary influence on the manners and constitution of the republic: and as I had from my youth studied the distinction between religious and civil rights, I perceived that if I ever wished to be of use I ought at least not to be wanting to my country, to the Church, and to so many of my fellow-Christians in a crisis of so much danger. I therefore determined to relinquish the other pursuits in which I was engaged, and to transfer the whole force of my talents and industry to this one important subject.

Others besides Milton felt the imperious call of the religious movement of his time. Nor did its impulse fail until the death of Oliver Cromwell opened the door to the rabble rout of the Restoration.

Once more England plunged heavily towards the nethermost abyss, and once again a great Revival of Religion took place to save the soul of the nation from perdition. It was partly due to the relentless persecution of the Nonconformists, but it owed much also to the flaming zeal of the Quakers, who were the great Revivalists of the second half of the seventeenth century. The Government had at one time in horrible dungeons as many as four thousand of these excellent men. Professor William James truly says of the Quaker religion that it is something which it is impossible to over praise.

In a day of shams, it was a religion of veracity rooted in spiritual inwardness and a return to something more like the original Gospel truth than men had ever known in England. So far as our Christian sects today are evolving into liberality, they are simply reverting in essence to the position which Fox and the early Quakers so long ago assumed.

The Quaker Revival had as its immediate political result the founding of Pennsylvania, and among its more remote and indirect effects the final expulsion of the Stuarts.

Quakerism, tolerated, lost much of the savoury salt that it possessed when it was kept up to the standard of the apostles by the sufferings of the martyrs. The reversion of the English people, especially of the highest and the lowest, to sheer paganism is one of the most constant phenomena of our history. After the Stuarts had vanished and the Protestant succession secured, the land relapsed into brutality and infidelity in the eighteenth century, as it had done in every century since the Conquest.

Then came the seventh and best known Revival of all under Wesley and Whitefield. Once again England had gone rotten at the head. In the higher circles of society every one laughs, said Montesquien on his visit to England, if one talks of religion. Of the prominent statesmen of the time, the greater part were unbelievers in any form of Christianity, and distinguished for the grossness and immorality of their lives. As at the top, so at the bottom. The masses were brutalized beyond belief. In London, at one time, gin-shops invited every passer-by to get drunk for a penny, and dead drunk for two-pence. But in the midst of this moral wilderness a religious Revival sprang up which carried to the hearts of the people a fresh spirit of moral zeal, while it purified our literature and our manners. “A new philanthropy reformed our prisons, infused clemency and wisdom into our penal laws, abolished the slave trade, and gave the first impulse to popular education.” The Revival then was not without many features which caused the sinner to blaspheme. ‘Women fell down in convulsions; strong men were smitten suddenly to the earth; the preacher was interrupted by bursts of hysteric laughter or hysteric sobbing.’ Very foolish and absurd, no doubt, sniggered the superior persons of that day. But if Mr. Lecky and other observers may be believed, it was that foolishness of the Methodist Revival that saved the children of these superior persons from having their heads sheared off by an outburst of revolutionary frenzy similar to that of the Reign of Terror.

About the same time that Wesley was preaching in England a great Revival broke out in Wales, of which one of the outward and visible signs most plainly perceptible amongst us today is the fact of the Welsh revolt against the Education Act. That the Liberal party commands today a solid majority among the Welsh members is the direct result of the Revival of 1759, which is associated with the name of Howell Harris, a layman of the Church of England, who, while taking part in the Litany in his parish church, became suddenly filled with a fervent zeal, and went forth to preach the Gospel to his fellowmen. At first the movement was within the pale of the Church. Ten beneficed clergymen were among the Revivalists of that day. What would have happened if the Anglican authorities had possessed the wisdom of the serpent and had followed the example of the Church of Rome in utilizing the zeal of her enthusiasts to extend her own borders, who can say? But the problem never arose. The Anglican Church, true to its evil traditions, cast out the Revivalists, and Welsh Nonconformity was born. Modem Wales is the direct product of the Revival of the eighteenth century.

As a leading Baptist minister said, writing on this subject on November 19th:

The Nonconformist bodies of Wales owe their origin to Religious Revivals, two to that of the seventeenth century and two to that of the eighteenth century. Wales has to thank her past Revivals for the greater part of the energy exhibited in her national, political, and social life. In the Revivals with which the people of Wales have been blessed of God, His Spirit engraved upon the conscience of the nation the terribly solemn truths of existence and the things which belong unto her peace. This gave to her men of Conviction and of courage, and taught her to aspire to all that is good and noble, and whatever her achievements are religiously and socially, they are due mainly to the stimulus received during periods of outpouring of the Spirit of God.

In the nineteenth century the Tractarian Movement may be regarded by some as a Revival. But it was neither preceded by great apathy nor followed by vigorous political progress. The most notable Revival of the century was that which broke out in the United States in the latter end of the fifties, and which spread in a few years over Ulster and Wales, and from thence made its way into England and Scotland. The Revival seems to travel in the opposite direction to the sun. The great Revival of 1740, under Jonathan Edwards in New England, preceded by many years the Welsh Revival under Howell Harris and the English Revival under Wesley and Whitefield. In like manner the Revival that touched Wales in 1859 and England in the early sixties had its birth in 1857 or 1858 across the Atlantic, where it was the direct precursor of the great civil war and the emancipation of the slaves. The Revival of 1859 to 1861 coincided with the closing years of Whig domination, and was followed very speedily by a great movement of popular reform. There was no direct connection between the establishment of household suffrage and the penitent forms and prayer meetings of 1859 and 1861. ‘Post hoc’ is not ‘propter hoc’. But when Reform follows Revival, the plain man may be pardoned if he sees some connection between the two other than mere coincidence. The coincidence, if it be such, is surely very remarkable The record of Revivals in English history runs thus: —

REVIVAL.            RESULT.

12th century      The Cistercian      Magna Charta.

13th ,,                   The Friars . . .    Parliamentary Government.

14th ,,                   Wycliffe . . .      The Peasant Revolt.

16th ,,                   Tyndale . . .       The Reformation.

17th ,,                   Puritanism . . .    The Fall of Despotism and the Founding of New England.

17½th ,,                Quakerism . . .     The Revolution of 1688 and Founding of Pennsylvania.

18th ,,                   Methodist . . .     The Era of Reform.

19th ,,                   American . . .      The Era of Democracy.

20th ,,                   Welsh. . . . . .    Who can say?

To the observer of the phenomena of national growth and the evolution of society these periodical Revivals of Religion are as marked a phenomenon in the history of England, possibly of other lands, as the processions of the seasons. To appreciate the prophetic significance of a religious Revival does not necessarily involve any acceptance of the truth of the religion. All that we have to recognize is that the history of human progress in this country has always followed a certain course, which in its main features is as invariable as the great changes which make up our year. Always there is the winter of corruption, of luxury, of indolence, of vice, during which the nation seems to have forgotten God, and to have given itself up to drunkenness, gambling, avarice, and impurity. Men’s hearts fail them for fear, and the love of many grows cold. It is the season when, through most of the day, the sun withholds his beams, and a bitter frost chills all the nobler aspirations of the soul. Through such a period of eclipse we have been passing during the last few years. But as the rainbow in the ancient story stands eternal in the heavens as a proof that summer and winter, seed time and harvest, shall fail not, so after such periods of black and bitter wintry reaction always comes the gracious spring-tide with healing in its wings.

And, as we have seen, the outward and visible sign of the coming of spring in the history of the nation is a great revival of religious earnestness — a sudden and widespread outburst of evangelistic fervour. We may dislike many of its manifestations, as we dislike the winds of March or the showers of April, but they occur in almost identical fashion century after century. The form changes. The preaching of the Friars was not exactly the same as the preaching of the Methodists. Wycliffe’s Poor Preachers and the Early Friends differed both in dialect and in doctrine. But at bottom all the English Revivals have been identical. One and all represent the spring-time of faith in the heart of man, a sudden rediscovery that life is given him not to please his senses, but to serve his Maker, and that time is but the vestibule of Eternity. The sense of the reality of an ever-living God within, around, above, beneath, in whom we live and move and have our being, and the related sense of a never-dying soul, whose destiny throughout numberless eons of the future years will be influenced by the way in which each day of our mortal probation is spent — these two great truths are rediscovered afresh by the English people every century. The truths blossom in the national heart at these times of spiritual spring-tide as the hawthorn blossoms on the hedge in the merry month of May.

That the Revival time passes is true. So passes spring-tide with its flowers. But as spring is followed by summer, so the Revival of Religion in this country has ever been followed by the summer of reform and the harvest of garnered fruit. It is this which ought to make every thoughtful person of all creeds, or of no creed, watch with the keenest interest the symptoms which indicate the coming of a National Revival. Until this nation goes to the penitent form, it never really pulls itself together for any serious work.

Chapter 3: What I Saw In Wales

THE FIRST NOTICE OF THE EXISTENCE of the Revival that appeared in the press was published on Nov. 7th, 1904. It was not until Dec. 10th that I went down to Cardiff, and was joined there by the Rev. Thomas Law, the Organizing Secretary of the National Council, and Gipsy Smith, the Evangelist, whom I had not seen since I bade him farewell at Cape Town. On Sunday we went over to the mining village of Mardy and attended three services at which Mr. Evan Roberts was present. I returned to Cardiff that evening and came on to London next morning.

As I wrote out before leaving Cardiff my report for the Daily Chronicle, where it appeared on December 13th, was interviewed early on Tuesday morning for the Methodist Times of December 15th, and wrote on Tuesday afternoon a report for the Christian World of December 15th, I cannot do better than reprint here these first clear impressions of what I found going on in South Wales. I will quote the interview first because it brings out more abruptly and vividly what seems to me the supernatural side of the Revival.

INTERVIEW IN THE METHODIST TIMES

December 15th.

"Well, Mr. Stead, you've been to the Revival. What do you think of it? "

"Sir," said Mr. Stead, "the question is not what I think of it, but what it thinks of me, of you, and all the rest of us. For it is a very real thing, this Revival: a live thing which seems to have a power and a grip which may get hold of a good many of us who at present are mere spectators."

"Do you think it is on the march, then? "

"A Revival is something like a revolution. It is apt to be wonderfully catching. But you can never say. Look at the way the revolutionary tempest swept over Europe in 1848. But since then revolutions have not spread much beyond the border of the state in which they break out. We may have become immune to Revivals, gospel-hardened or totally indifferent. I don't think so. But I would not like to prophesy."

"But in South Wales the Revival is moving? "

"It reminded me, said Mr. Stead, "of the effect which travellers say is produced on the desert by the winds which propel the sand storms, beneath which whole caravans have been engulfed. The wind springs up, no one knows from whence. Its eddying gusts lick up the sands, and soon the whole desert is filled with moving columns of sand, swaying and dancing and whirling as if they were instinct with life. Woe be to the unprotected traveller whose path the sand storm traverses."

"Then do you feel that we are in the track of the storm? "

"Can our people sing? that is the question to be answered before you can decide that. Hitherto the Revival has not strayed beyond the track of the singing people. It has followed the line of song, not of preaching. It has sung its way from one end of South Wales to the other. But, then, the Welsh are a nation of singing birds."

"You speak as if you dreaded the Revival coming your way? "

"No, that is not so. Dread is not the right word. Awe expresses my sentiment better. For you are in the presence of the unknown. I tell you it is a live thing this Revival, and if it gets hold of the people in London, for instance, it will make a pretty considerable shaking up."

"But surely it will be all to the good? "

"Yes, for the good or for those who are all good."

"But what about those who are not good, or who, like the most of us, are a pretty mixed lot?

"Henry Ward Beecher used to say that if God were to answer the Lord's Prayer and cause His will to be done in earth as it is in heaven, there were streets in New York which would be wrecked as if they had been struck by a tornado. Of course, it may be all to the good that we should be all shaken up; and tornadoes clear the air, and earthquakes are wholesome, but they are not particularly welcome to those who are at ease in Zion."

"Sandstorms in the desert, tornadoes, earthquakes! Really Mr. Stead, your metaphors would imply that your experiences in South Wales have been pretty bad? "

"No," said Mr. Stead. "Not bad at all. Do you remember what the little Quaker child said, when the Scottish express rushed at full speed through the station on the platform on which he was standing? 'Were you not frightened, my boy?' said his father. 'Oh, no,' said the little chap, 'a feeling of sweet peace stole into my mind.' I felt like that rather. But the thing is awesome. You don't believe in ghosts? "

"Not much. I'll believe them when I see one."

"Well, you have read ghost stories, and can imagine what you would feel if you were alone at midnight in the haunted chamber of some old castle, and you heard slow and stealthy steps stealing along the corridor where the visitant from the other world was said to walk. If you go to South Wales and watch the Revival you will feel pretty much like that. There is something there from the Other World. You cannot say whence it came or whither it was going, but it moves and lives and reaches for you all the time. You see men and women go down in sobbing agony before your eyes as the invisible Hand clutches at their heart. And you shudder. It's pretty grim, I tell you. If you are afraid of strong emotions you'd better give the Revival a wide berth."

"But is it all emotion? Is there no teaching? "

"Precious little. Do you think that teaching is what people want in a Revival? These people, all the people in a land like ours, are taught to death, preached to insensibility. They all know the essential truths. They know that they are not living as they ought to live, and no amount of teaching will add anything to that conviction. To hear some people talk you would imagine that the best way to get a sluggard out of bed is to send a tract on astronomy showing him that according to the fixed and eternal law the sun will rise at a certain hour in the morning. The sluggard does not deny it. He is entirely convinced of it. But what he knows is that it is precious cold at sunrise on a winter's morning, and it is very snug and warm between the blankets. What the sluggard needs is to be well shaken, and in case of need to be pulled out of bed. Roused, the Revival calls it. And the Revival is a rouser rather than a teacher. And that is why I think those Churches which want to go on dozing in the ancient ways had better hold a special series of prayer meetings that the Revival may be prevented coming their way."

"Then I take it that your net impressions were favourable? "

"How could they be otherwise? Did I not feel the pull of that unseen Hand? And have I not heard the glad outburst of melody that hailed the confession of some who in very truth had found salvation? There is a wonderful spontaneity about it all, and so far its fruits have been good, and only good."

"Will it last? "

"Nothing lasts for ever in this mutable world, and the Revival will no more last than the blossom lasted in the field in springtime. But if the blossom had not come and gone there would be no bread in the world today. And as it is with the bread which Mr. Chamberlain would tax, so it is with that other bread which is the harvest that will be gathered in long after this Revival has taken its place in history. But if the analogy of all previous Revivals holds good, this religious awakening will be influencing for good the lives of numberless men and women who will be living and toiling and carrying on the work of this God's world of ours long after you and I have been gathered to our fathers."

-----

The report which I wrote for the Christian World was written for people inside the Churches, who might naturally be supposed to be interested in the reality of the spiritual side of the Revival.

THE CHRISTIAN WORLD

December 15th.

Will the Revival in South Wales be like a bonfire on ice? Or will it set the heather afire, kindling a blaze which no man can extinguish? The answer is that no one can prophesy confidently as to what the future may bring to us, excepting that it will always both disappoint and exceed our expectations. The Revival in Wales will, in some places, be like a bonfire on ice, which speedily expires for lack of fuel, and yet in other places it may set the heather on fire and produce quite incalculable results.

I cannot profess to have made any exhaustive study of the Revival. Until last Saturday I had only followed it in the newspapers. But from Saturday night till Monday morning I employed every available moment in observing it and in interviewing those who had been in it from the first. I was accompanied throughout the whole of my brief tour by two men who have had as much experience of mission work of a Revivalist nature as anyone outside the Salvation Army. One of them, Gipsy Smith, had come over the same day as I did on the same errand. The other, the Rev. Thomas Law, Organizing Secretary of the Free Church Federation, has been in Wales for some time, and had excellent opportunities of studying the question in various districts in South Wales. I think I am justified in saying that both Mr. Law and Gipsy Smith are absolutely at one with me in the conclusions which I embodied in my report to the Daily Chronicle of Tuesday. During my stay in Wales I had the advantage of hearing the opinions of Principal Edwards and of Commissioner Nicol, of the Salvation Army, and of several other ministers who have been actively engaged in Christian service in the districts where the Revival has taken place. After my return I had a long consultation with Mr. Bramwell Booth, who knows the district well, and who had visited Cardiff on Saturday, where he met members of his staff from all parts of South Wales, for the express purpose of ascertaining on the spot what was the exact significance of the Revival. I also saw the special emissary despatched by the Rev. F. B. Meyer for the purpose of spying out the land, and heard from him the impression produced on his mind by what he had seen and heard. The reports in the two local newspapers, which occasionally fill five columns and always fill two or three, also supplied additional confirmatory evidence as to the grip which the movement has taken on the Welsh. I attended three protracted meetings on the Sunday, and I had an hour with Mr. Evan Roberts. I am careful to particularise all my sources of information in order that my readers may know exactly what data I have to go upon in drawing up this report for the readers of the Christian World. My own experience may be of the slightest, and my visit was wonderfully brief. But I think that I may claim that there are few Free Churchmen in the United Kingdom who would not admit that I could not possibly have had more expert advisers or dispassionate witnesses than the persons whom I have named. Nor do I think that any one of them would demur in the least to any statement of fact or broad deduction from the facts which will be found in this article. Had time permitted I would have gladly submitted my report to each and all of them in proofs, nor do I think that they would have made any material alteration.

This being so, I take it that the Christian Churches in England may accept it as now being absolutely beyond all serious dispute that the Revival in South Wales is a very real and a very genuine thing. That there may have been here and there instances of un-wisdom and of extravagance is possible. They have been very few and unimportant. The Welsh are an emotional race, and they are apt to demonstrate their feelings more effusively than phlegmatic Saxons. But I certainly saw nothing of that kind that might not be paralleled in mission services in England. The fact is, there has been so little handle given to the enemy whoever is hungering for occasion to blaspheme, that the Revival, so far, lacks that one great testimony in its favour which all good causes have in the furious abuse of those who may compendiously and picturesquely be described as the staff officers of the devil. Woe be unto you when all men speak well of you was true of Revivals as of anything else. The Revival has, so far, had little of that cause for rejoicing that is supplied by persecution and abuse. The testimony in its favour is almost wearisomely monotonous. Magistrates and policemen, journalists and employers of labour, Salvationists and ordained ministers, all say the same thing, to wit, that the Revival is working mightily for good wherever it has broken out.

Of course, the Doubting Thomases of the land will shake their sceptical heads, and, when convinced against their will that the Revival is bearing good fruit, will ask whether it will last. To which I do not hesitate to reply that some of its fruits will last as long as the human soul endures. That a good deal of the seed which, having fallen on stony ground, has sprung up speedily will presently wither away is a matter of course. It was so when the Parable of the Sower was spoken, it is so today. But the cavillers forget that it is a better thing for seed to spring up, even if it does wither, than for it never to spring up at all. Even if the farmer does not get the full corn in the ear, the green stalk with its succulent leaves will make capital fodder for his stock. Most of the seed sown at times when we hear of no showers of blessings to fertilize the soil never springs up at all. Little as the cavillers about the evanescent nature of Revivals realize it, they are appealing to one of the most antiquated notions of a narrow orthodoxy. Those who imagine that the only object of the Christian Gospel is to save a man's soul from the everlasting burnings may reasonably object that a Revival is of no good if, after having roused the sinner, it does not keep him soundly saved until the hour and article of death. It is in that case very much like taking out an insurance policy and letting it lapse by forgetting to pay the premiums regularly till death. But there are very few who regard conversion as an insurance policy against hell fire. Hence every single day or week or month or year is all to the good. It is, of course, best of all when a consecrated life is crowned by a triumphant death. But it is not a bad thing — on the contrary, it is a very good thing — to raise human lives to a higher moral level for a comparatively short period, even if after that time they all slide back. It is better to have lived well for a year than never to have been above the mire at all. As a matter of fact, most of the best men of the older generation in Wales today were brought in when quite youths in the great Revival of 1859.

So far as I could discover, the movement is in very good hands — so far as it is in any hands at all save those of the invisible Spirit to which all the Revivalists constantly appeal. Never was there a religious movement so little indebted to the guiding brain of its leaders. It seems to be going on its own. There is no commanding human genius inspiring the advance. Ministers, each in their own churches, open the meetings. But when once they are started they obey the Spirit. It reminds one of the Quakers in more ways than one. In the seventeenth century the Friends were the Revivalists of the time. With the exception of the singing, they would feel themselves thoroughly at home in South Wales today. In most missions tune is everything. In South Wales the leading rôle is taken by the third Person of the Trinity. So jealous are they of quenching the Spirit that the Tory daily payer — just think of it — the organ of the Established Church and ease and order and all the rest of the conventions — actually fumed and fretted because at one meeting some persons who were giving unbridled rein to their spiritual impulses, to the annoyance of the whole congregation, were asked to restrain their exuberance of their demonstrations! If this thing goes on we shall see the Times and the Guardian reproving General Booth for endeavouring to repress the excesses of excitement at all-night meetings.

I have said that the early Friends would be at home in the Welsh valleys with the exception of the singing. It is a great exception. For the special note of the Revival is that the gospel message is being sung rather than preached. And such singing! The whole congregation sing — as if they were making melody in their hearts to the Lord. The sermon is a poor thing compared with the Psalm and hymn and spiritual song. The Welsh have hymns of their own, which were strange to me. I have no musical ear, but the rhythm and the cadence of some of these Welsh tunes linger in my memory as the murmur of the wave in the convolutions of the shell. There is one beginning with the Welsh equivalent for Holy breezes, which was a great favourite; and so is another which gives thanks to the all merciful God for remembering us poor creatures who are as the dust of the earth. But most of the hymns were the old familiar hymns of every mission service. Occasionally they sang "Lead, kindly Light", but much more frequently "Jesus, Lover of my soul", "I need Thee every hour", "Lord, I hear of showers of blessings", all in Welsh, of course, although very often, after singing the chorus over and over again in Welsh, they would sing it once or twice in English. Among the solos there was Mr. Sankey's "Ninety and nine", which, although turned out of the revised Methodist Hymn Book, is written on the hearts of the Welsh. "Jesus of Nazareth passes by" is another favourite solo. The only new song taken over from the Torrey and Alexander Mission was sung over and over again:

"Tell mother I'll be there

In answer to her prayer,

This message, blessed Saviour, to her bear.

Tell mother I'll be there,

Heavens joys with her to share,

Oh, tell my darling mother I'll be there."

In the Gospel the Prodigal Son comes back to his father. It is perhaps an indication of the swing of the slow pendulum back to the days of the matriarchate that in Wales today the father takes a back seat. It is the mother who is always to the front.

Nor is that the only welcome indication of the toppling of the hateful and unchristian ascendancy of the male. The old objection of many of the Welsh Churches to the equal ministry of women has gone by the board. The Singing Sisters who surround Mr. Evan Roberts are as indispensable as Mr. Sankey was to Mr. Moody. Women pray, sing, testify, and speak as freely as men — no one daring to make them afraid. The Salvation Army has not laboured in vain.

There is no inquiry room, no penitent form. The wrestle with unbelief, the combat with the evil one for the soul of the convicted sinner, goes on in the midst of the people. It is all intensely dramatic. Sometimes unspeakably tragic. At other times full of exultant triumph. Mr. Evan Roberts, towards the close of the meeting, asks all who from their hearts believe and confess their Saviour to rise. At the meetings at which I was present nearly everybody was standing. Then for the sitting remnant the storm of prayer rises to the mercy seat. When one after another rises to his feet, glad strains of jubilant song burst from the watching multitude. No one has a hymn hook; no one gives out a hymn. The congregation seems moved by a simultaneous impulse. It is all very wonderful, sometimes almost eerie in its suggestiveness of the presence of Another Whom no eye can see, but Who moves on the wings of the wind.

Who can say to what this thing may not grow? Who can put bounds to the flood of awakened enthusiasm? One thing is certain — no one could wish to erect a barrier save those who do not love their fellowmen.

-----

The report, which I wrote for the Daily chronicle was written for the general public, who are comparatively indifferent to the spiritual side of the Revival, but who regard its social and psychological aspects with a mild degree of interest.

FROM THE DAILY CHRONICLE

December 13th.

As springtime precedes summer, and seedtime harvest, so every great onward step in the social and political progress of Great Britain has ever been preceded by a national Revival of Religion. The sequence is as unmistakable as it is invariable. It was as constant when England was Catholic as it has been since the Reformation.

Hence it is not necessary to be Evangelical, Christian, or even religious, to regard with keen interest every stirring of popular enthusiasm that takes the familiar form of a Revival. Men may despise it, hate it, or fear it, but there is no mistaking its significance. It is the precursor of progress, the herald of advance. It may be as evanescent as the blossom of the orchard, but without it there would be no fruit.

The question, therefore, which I set out to South Wales to discuss with those who are in the midst of what is called the Welsh Revival was whether this popular stir and widespread awakening might be regarded as the forerunner of a great national — nay, possibly of a still wider — movement, which might bring in its wake social and political changes profoundly improving the condition of the human race. The net conclusion at which I have arrived after twenty-four hours spent in the heart of it is that, while no one can dogmatize and no one can prophesy, it would be advisable for the wide-awake journalists to drop the newspaper headline, "The Welsh Revival", and describe it in future as "‘The Rising Revival in the West".

Nor would I like to venture to predict how long or how short a time it will be before that heading in its turn will have to give way to the simple title of ‘The Revival', which will be neither in the west alone, nor in the east, but which will spread over the whole land as the waters cover the face of the mighty deep. Of course, the signs of the times may be misleading, and that which seems most probable may never happen. But writing today in the midst of it all, I would say with all earnestness, Look out!

The British Empire, as Admiral Fisher is never tired of repeating, floats upon the British Navy. But the British Navy steams on Welsh coal. The driving force of all our battleships is hewn from the mines of these Welsh valleys by the men amongst whom this remarkable religious awakening has taken place. On Sunday morning, as the slow train crawled down the gloomy valleys. — for there was the mirk of coming snow in the air, and there was no sun in the sky — I could not avoid the obvious and insistent suggestion of the thought that Welsh religious enthusiasm may be destined to impart as compelling an impulse to the Churches of the world as Welsh coal supplies to its navies.

Nor was the force of the suggestion weakened when, after attending three prolonged services at Mardy, a village of 5,000 inhabitants, lying on the other side of Pontypridd, I found the flame of Welsh religious enthusiasm as smokeless as its coal. There are no advertisements, no brass bands, no posters, no huge tents. All the paraphernalia of the got-up job are conspicuous by their absence.

Neither is there any organization, nor is there a director, at least none that is visible to the human eye. In the crowded chapels they even dispense with instrumental music. On Sunday night no note issued from the organ pipes. There was no need of instruments, for in and around and above and. beneath surged the all-pervading thrill and throb of a multitude praying, and singing as they prayed.

The vast congregations were as soberly sane, as orderly, and at least as reverent as any congregation I ever saw beneath the dome of St. Paul's, when I used to go to hear Canon Liddon, the Chrysostom of the English pulpit. But it was aflame with a passionate religious enthusiasm, the like of which I have never seen in St. Paul's. Tier above tier, from the crowded aisles to the loftiest gallery, sat or stood, as necessity dictated, eager hundreds of serious men and thoughtful women, their eyes riveted upon the platform or upon whatever other part of the building was the storm centre of the meeting.

There was absolutely nothing wild, violent, hysterical, unless it be hysterical for the labouring breast to heave with sobbing that cannot be repressed, and the throat to choke with emotion as a sense of the awful horror and shame of a wasted life suddenly bursts upon the soul. On all sides there was the solemn gladness of men and women upon whose eyes has dawned the splendour of a new day, the foretaste of whose glories they are enjoying in the quickened sense of human fellowship and a keen glad zest added to their own lives.

The most thorough-going materialist who resolutely and for ever rejects as inconceivable the existence of the soul in man, and to whom the universe is but the infinite empty eye-socket of a dead God, could not fail to be impressed by the pathetic sincerity of these men nor, if he were just, could he refuse to recognize that out of their faith in the creed which he has rejected they have drawn, and are drawing, a motive power that makes for righteousness, and not only for righteousness, but for the joy of living, that he would be powerless to give them.

Employers tell me that the quality of the work the miners are putting in has improved. Waste is less, men go to their daily toil with a new spirit of gladness in their labour. In the long dim galleries of the mine, where once the hauliers swore at their ponies in Welshified English terms of blasphemy, there is now but to be heard the haunting melody of the Revival music. The pit ponies, like the American mules, having been driven by oaths and curses since they first bore the yoke, are being retrained to do their work without the incentive of profanity.

There is less drinking, less idleness, less gambling. Men record with almost incredulous amazement how one football player after another has foresworn cards and drink and the gladiatorial games, and is living a sober and godly life, putting his energy into the Revival. More wonderful still, and almost incredible to those who know how journalism lives and thrives upon gambling, and how Toryism is broad-based upon the drinking habits of the people, the Tory daily paper of South Wales has devoted its columns day after day to reporting and defending the movement which declares war to the death against both gambling and drink.

How came this strange uplift of the earnestness of a whole community? Who can say? The wind bloweth where it listeth. Some tell you one thing, some another. All agree that it began some few months ago in Cardiganshire, eddied hither and thither, spreading like fire from valley to valley, until, as one observer said to me, Wherever it came from, or however it began, all South Wales today is in a flame.

One report says that the first outward and visible sign that there was a new power and spirit among the people was witnessed at a meeting in a country chapel in Cardiganshire. The preacher, after an earnest appeal to the unconverted, besought those of his hearers whose hearts were moved within them to testify before the congregation their decision to serve the Lord. A long and painful pause followed. Again came the solemn appeal. Again the embarrassing silence.

But it was broken after a pause by the rising of a girl, a young Welsh woman, who with trembling accents spoke up and said, "If no one else will, then I must say that I do love my Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart". The ice was broken. One after another stood up and made public confessions with tears and thanksgiving.

So it began. So it is going on. ‘If no one else, then I must.' It is ‘Here I am: send me! This public self-consecration, this definite and decisive avowal of a determination to put under their feet their dead past of vice and sin and indifference, and to reach out towards a higher ideal of human existence, is going on everywhere in South Wales. Nor, if we think of it sanely and look at it in the right perspective, is there a nobler spectacle appealing more directly to the highest instincts of our nature to be seen in all the world today.

At Mardy, where I spent Sunday, the miners are voluntarily taxing themselves this year three half-pence in the pound of their weekly wages to build an institute, public hall, library, and reading room. By their express request the money is deducted from their wages on pay-day. They have created a library of 2,000 books, capitally selected and well used. They have about half-a-dozen chapels and churches, a co-operative society, and the usual appliances of civilization. They have every outward and visible sign of industrial prosperity. It is a mining village pure and simple, industrial democracy in its nakedest primitive form.

In this village I attended three meetings on Sunday — two and a half hours in the morning, two and a half hours in the afternoon, and two hours at night, when I had to leave to catch the train. At all these meetings the same kind of thing went on — the same kind of congregations assembled, the same strained, intense emotion was manifest. Aisles were crowded. Pulpit stairs were packed, and — mirabile dictu! — two-thirds of the congregation were men, and at least one-half young men.

"There," said one, "is the hope and the glory of the movement." Here and there is a grey head. But the majority of the congregation were stalwart young miners, who gave the meeting all the fervour and swing and enthusiasm of youth. The Revival had been going on in Mardy for a fortnight. All the churches had been holding services every night with great results, At the Baptist Church they had to report the addition of nearly fifty members, fifty were waiting for baptism, thirty-five backsliders had been reclaimed.

In Mardy the fortnight's services had resulted in five hundred conversions. And this, be it noted, when each place of worship was going on its own. Mr. Evan Roberts, the so-called boy preacher of the Revival, and his singing sisterhood did not reach Mardy until the Sunday of my visit.

I have called Evan Roberts the so-called boy preacher, because he is neither a boy nor a preacher. He is a tall, graceful, good-looking young man of twenty-six, with a pleading eye and a most winsome smile. If he is a boy, he is a six-foot boy, and six-footers are usually past their boyhood. As he is not a boy, neither is he a preacher. He talks simply, unaffectedly, earnestly, now and then, but he makes no sermons, and preaching is emphatically not the note of this Revival in the West. If it has been by the foolishness of preaching men have been saved heretofore, that agency seems as if it were destined to take a back seat in the present movement.

The Revival is borne along upon billowing waves of sacred song. It is to other Revivals what the Italian Opera is to the ordinary theatre. It is the singing, not the preaching, that is the instrument which is most efficacious in striking the hearts of men. In this respect these services in the Welsh chapel reminded me strangely of the beautiful liturgical services of the Greek Church, notably in St. Isaac of St. Petersburg on Easter morn, — and in the receptions of the pilgrim at the Troitski Monastery, near Moscow.

The most extraordinary thing about the meetings which I attended was the extent to which they were absolutely without any human direction or leadership. We must obey the Spirit, is the watchword of Evan Roberts, and he is as obedient as the humblest of his followers. The meetings open — after any amount of preliminary singing, while the congregation is assembling — by the reading of a chapter or a psalm. Then it is go as you please for two hours or more.

And the amazing thing is that it does go and does not get entangled in what might seem to be inevitable confusion. Three-fourths of the meeting consist of singing. No one uses a hymn hook. No one gives out a hymn. The last person to control the meeting in any way is Mr. Evan Roberts. People pray and sing, give testimony; exhort as the Spirit moves them. As a study of the psychology of crowds, I have seen nothing like it. You feel that the thousand or fifteen hundred persons before you have become merged into one myriad-headed but single-souled personality.

You can watch what they call the influence of the power of the Spirit playing over the crowded congregation as a eddying wind plays over the surface of a pond. If anyone carried away by his feelings prays too long, or if any one when speaking fails to touch the right note, someone — it may be anybody — commences to sing. For a moment there is a hesitation as if the meeting were in doubt as to its decision, whether to hear the speaker, or to continue to join in the prayer, or whether to sing. If it decides to hear and to pray, the singing dies away. If, on the other hand, as it usually happens, the people decide to sing, the chorus swells in volume until it drowns all other sound.

A very remarkable instance of this abandonment of the meeting to the spontaneous impulse, not merely of those within the walls, but of those crowded outside, who were unable to get in, occurred on Sunday night. Twice the order of proceeding, if order it can be called, was altered by the crowd outside, who, being moved by some mysterious impulse, started a hymn on their own account, which was at once taken up by the congregation within. On one of these occasions Evan Roberts was addressing the meeting. He at once gave way, and the singing became general.

The prayers are largely autobiographical, and some of them intensely dramatic. On one occasion an impassioned and moving appeal to the Deity was accompanied throughout by an exquisitely rendered hymn, sung by three of the Singing Sisters. It was like the undertone of the orchestra when some leading singer is holding the house.

The Singing Sisters — there are five of them, one, Mme. Morgan, who was a professional singer — are as conspicuous figures in the movement as Evan Roberts himself. Some of their solos are wonders of dramatic and musical appeal. Nor is the effect lessened by the fact that the singers, like the speakers, sometimes break down in sobs and tears. The meeting always breaks out into a passionate and consoling song, until the soloist, having recovered her breath, rises from her knees and resumes her song.

The praying and singing are both wonderful, but more impressive than either are the breaks which occur when utterance can no more, and the sobbing in the silence momentarily heard is drowned in a tempest of melody. No need for an organ. The assembly was its own organ as a thousand sorrowing or rejoicing hearts found expression in the sacred psalmody of their native hills.

Repentance, open confession, intercessory prayer, and, above all else, this marvellous musical liturgy — a liturgy unwritten but heartfelt, a mighty chorus rising like the thunder of the surge on a rockbound shore, ever and anon broken by the flute-like note of the Singing Sisters, whose melody was as sweet and as spontaneous as the music of the throstle in the grove or the lark in the sky. And all this vast quivering, throbbing, singing, praying, exultant multitude intensely conscious of the all-pervading influence of some invisible reality — now for the first time moving palpable though not tangible in their midst.

They called it the Spirit of God. Those who have not witnessed it may call it what they will; I am inclined to agree with those on the spot. For man, being, according to the Orthodox, evil, can do no good thing of himself, so, as Cardinal Manning used to say, "Where'er you behold a good thing, there you see the working of the Holy Ghost." And the Revival, as I saw it, was emphatically a good thing.

Chapter 4: Evan Roberts

THE REVIVAL IN SOUTH WALES is not the work of any one man or of any number of men, but the most conspicuous figure in this strange religious awakening is undoubtedly that of the young Welsh collier-student, Mr. Evan Roberts.  Until last November no one had heard of him. To-day his name is on every tongue in Wales, and everywhere in all the land people are asking what manner of man this new evangelist may be.

Mr. Evan Roberts is a tall, graceful young man of twenty-six, who, until last year, was at work as a collier in the Broadoak Colliery, Loughor, a Welsh village near which an express train was wrecked a few months ago, with great loss of life. He is the son of Methodist parents, and attended the Movrah Methodist Chapel in Loughor. Like many Welshmen, he is a poet, and contributed many fine verses to the Golofn Gymraag in The Cardiff Times under the name of "Bwlchydd." He was always of a pious disposition, but according to his own account, although he was a church member and a worker in the Sunday-school, he was not a Christian until little more than fifteen months ago.  His own words at Trecynon, on November 14th, were as follows:

Some people had said he was a Methodist. He did not know what he was. Sectarianism melted in the fire of the Holy Spirit, and all men who believed became one happy family. For years he was a faithful member of the church, a zealous worker, and a free giver. But he had recently discovered that he was not a Christian, and there were thousands like him. It was only since he had made that discovery that a new light had come into his life. That same light was shining upon all men if they would but open their eyes and their hearts.

How did he make that discovery? Various accounts have been given of the awakening of Evan Roberts. According to one account, he was present at an address delivered by the Rev. F. B. Meyer at a religious Convention in August, 1903, when a pledge was given by several present, including Roberts, that they would spend a whole day every month praying for a revival. According to Mr. Roberts' own account, he seems to have been chiefly exercised in his devotions by a melancholy conviction of the failure of Christianity. He was then living at Loughor, working in the mine and spending his leisure in studying for the ministry. He used to take his Bible down the mine, and while at work would put it away in some convenient hole or nook near his working place, ready to his hand when he could snatch a moment or two to scan its beloved pages.  A serious explosion occurred one day. The future Welsh revivalist escaped practically unhurt, but the leaves of his Bible were scorched by the fiery blast.

It was during the latter months of his stay at Loughor, before he went to the preparatory school or college at Newcastle Emlyn, that the light dawned upon him in the privacy of his own room. He seems to have been very fervent in prayer. A Mr. Davies, a Newport Baptist, is the authority for the statement that Roberts was turned out of his lodgings by his landlady, who thought that in his enthusiasm he was possessed or somewhat mad. He spent hours praying and preaching in his rooms, until the lady became afraid of him and asked him to leave. The following narrative I had from his own lips when I met him at tea on Sunday afternoon at Mardy. I asked him

"Can you tell me how you began to take to this work?"

"Oh, yes, that I will," said Mr. Roberts, "if you wish to hear of it. For a long, long time I was much troubled in my soul and my heart by thinking over the failure of Christianity.  Oh, it seemed such a failure such a failure and I prayed and prayed, but nothing seemed to give me any relief! But one night, after I had been in great distress praying about this, I went to sleep, and at one o'clock in the morning suddenly I was waked up out of my sleep, and I found myself, with unspeakable joy and awe, in the very presence of Almighty God. And for the space of four hours I was privileged to speak face to face with him as a man speaks face to face with a friend. At five o'clock it seemed to me as if I again returned to earth."[i]

"Were you not dreaming?" I asked.

"No, I was wide awake. And it was not only that morning, but every morning for three or four months. Always I enjoyed four hours of that wonderful communion with God. I cannot describe it. I felt it, and it seemed to change all my nature, and I saw things in a different light, and I knew that God was going to work in the land, and not this land only, but in all the world.” [ii]

"Excuse me," I said, "but, as an old interviewer, may I ask if, when the mystic ecstasy passed, you put on paper all that you remembered of these times of communion?"

"No, I wrote nothing at all,”[iii]  said Mr. Roberts. "It went on all the time until I had to go to Newcastle Emlyn to the college to prepare for the ministry. I dreaded to go, for fear I should lose these four hours with God every morning. But I had to go, and it happened as I feared.  For a whole month he came no more, and I was in darkness.  And my heart became as a stone. Even the sight of the cross brought no tears to my eyes. So it continued until, to my great joy, he returned to me, and I had again the glorious communion. And he said I must go and speak to my people in my own village. But I did not go.  I did not feel as if I could go to speak to my own people."

"May I ask," I said, "if he of whom you speak appeared to you as Jesus Christ?"

"No," said Mr. Roberts, "not so; it was the personal God, not as Jesus."

"As God the Father Almighty?" I said.

"Yes," said Mr. Roberts, "and the Holy Spirit."[iv]

"Pardon me," I said, "but I interrupted you. Pray go on."

"I did not go to my people, but I was troubled and ill at ease. And one Sunday, as I sat in the chapel, I could not fix my mind upon the service, for always before my eyes I saw, as in a vision, the schoolroom in my own village.  And there, sitting in rows before me, I saw my old companions and all the young people, and I saw myself addressing them. I shook my head impatiently, and strove to drive away this vision, but it always came back. And I heard a voice in my inward ear as plain as anything, saying, 'Go and speak to these people.'  And for a long time I would not. But the pressure became greater and greater, and I could hear nothing of the sermon. Then at last I could resist no longer, and I said, 'Well, Lord, if it is thy will, I will go.'  Then instantly the vision vanished, and the whole chapel became filled with light so dazzling that I could faintly see the minister in the pulpit, and between him and me the glory as the light of the sun in heaven."[v]

"And then you went home?"

"No; I went to my tutor, and told him all things, and asked him if he believed that it was of God or of the devil? And he said the devil does not put good thoughts into the mind. I must go and obey the heavenly vision.  So I went back to my own village, and I saw my own minister, and him also I told. And he said that I might try and see what I could do, but that the ground was stony, and the task would be hard."

"Did you find it so?"

"I asked the young people to come together, for I wanted to talk to them. They came, and I stood up to talk to them, and, behold, it was even as I had seen it in the church at Newcastle Emlyn. The young people sat as I had seen them sitting, all together in rows before me, and I was speaking to them even as it had been shown to me. At first they did not seem inclined to listen ; but I went on, and at last the power of the Spirit came down, and six came out for Jesus. But I was not satisfied. ‘O Lord,' I said, 'give me six more I must have six more.'  And we prayed together.  At last the seventh came, and then the eighth and the ninth together, and after a time the tenth, and then the eleventh, and last of all came the twelfth also. But no more. And they saw that the Lord had given me the second six, and they began to believe in the power of prayer."

"Then after that you went on?"

"First I tried to speak to some other young people in another church, and asked them to come. But the news had gone out, and the old people said, 'May we not come too?'  And I could not refuse them.   So they came, and they kept on coming now here, now there, all the time, and I have never had time to go back to college."

Not much chance, indeed, at present. Three meetings every day, lasting, with breaks for meals, from 10 A. M. till 12 p. M., and sometimes later, leave scant leisure for studying elsewhere than in the hearts and souls of men. If only his body will hold out, and his nervous system does not give way, he will have time to study hereafter. At present he has other work in hand.

The story that is told in the papers pieces out Mr. Roberts' own narrative. According to the Rev. Seth Joshua, a mission from the New Quay Christian Endeavor Society came to Newcastle Emlyn, and it was at one of their meetings that Evan Roberts first showed his marvelous power in prayer.

Whatever truth there may be in this link in the chain, there is no doubt that Mr. Evan Roberts began to preach and to pray at the Movrah Methodist Church in Loughor about the beginning of November. The most extraordinary results followed. The whole community was shaken. Meetings were kept up till half-past four, and then at six the villagers would be wakened by the tramp of the crowds going to the early morning prayer-meetings. His energy seemed inexhaustible. In those early days,, said a writer in The South Wales Daily News (November 14th) :

Roberts does not call his hearers to repentance, but speaks of having been called to fulfil the words of the prophet Joel: "Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." He tells the audience that he is speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and he describes what he sees, and it strikes some of the congregation that he is unfathoming unconsciously some of the mysteries of the Book of Revelation. His words have a remarkable effect. He does not speak much, but invites the congregation to sing, or pray, or read the Scripture as the Spirit moves them.

Mr. Roberts frequently describes visions that had appeared to him at prayer. For instance:

He said that when he was before the throne of grace he saw appearing before him a key. He did not understand the meaning of this sign. Just then, however, three members of the congregation rose to their feet and said that they had been converted. “My vision is explained," said Mr. Roberts, ecstatically ; "it was the key by which God opened your hearts."

On another occasion he reverted to his experiences at Newcastle Emlyn, and told them of another vision. He said (The South Wales Daily News, November 19th)

It was a few Sundays ago at Newcastle Emlyn. For days he had been brooding over the apparent failure of modern Christian agencies; and he felt wounded in the spirit that the Church of God should so often be attacked. While in this Slough of Despond he walked in the garden. It was about 4 p.m.  Suddenly, in the hedge on his left, he saw a face full of scorn, hatred and derision, and heard a laugh as of defiance. It was the prince of this world, who exulted in his despondency. Then there suddenly appeared another figure, gloriously arrayed in white, bearing in hand a flaming sword borne aloft. The sword fell athwart the first figure, and it instantly disappeared. He could not see the face of the sword-bearer. "Do you not see the moral?" queried the missioner, with face beaming with delight. "Is it not that the Church of Christ is to be triumphant?"

Significant glances passed between many people in the congregation.  Visions? What does the man mean? He is speaking in parables. So far he has been a sane speaker, and with no trace about him of the fanatic. He cannot mean to convey that. But we are speedily undeceived.  I told the Rev. Evan Phillips of what I had seen, and he answered me that in the state of despondency I was in I might easily have imagined the vision. But" with strong emphasis "I know what I saw. It was a distinct vision.  There was no mistake. And, full of the promise which that vision conveyed, I went to Loughor, and from Loughor to Aberdare, and from Aberdare to Pontycymmer. And what do I see? The promise literally fulfilled. The sword is descending on all hands, and Satan is put to flight.  Amen."

It has been said that Mr. Roberts never preaches. He does, however, or rather he did at the beginning of his career deliver long addresses, which were simple, direct Gospel appeals. Joyousness was the note of all his discourse, the joyousness of a junior partner conscious that his Senior is with him and is entrusting him with a most responsible mission.

He exclaimed once: "Oh, if you only saw Christ, you would love him! How can I repay him for the privilege of going through Wales to proclaim his love?"

At Pyle, November 21, speaking of the work that is being done, Mr. Roberts joyously clapped his hands and shouted, "Aha, aha," but remarked that this sort of thing could not go on forever this fever-heat could not be kept going long; but let them keep it going as long as they could j let them keep it going with a swing (which he illustrated with a swing of his right arm), to raise the churches to a higher level, and then they could "settle down to business." At the end of November he gave it as his conviction that one hundred thousand souls would be won before the end of the revival in Wales. In December he said : "At one time I said I would be satisfied with one hundred thousand converts and then would be willing to die, but now I want the whole world."

Again he says: "Isn't it all wonderful how the Spirit responds? It is not me it is the Spirit, the Spirit."

To describe the address that follows as a sermon would be a misnomer. He is buoyant, joyous, almost bubbling over with merriment. It is "the joy of Christ," he explains, "and you can laugh yes, laugh out of sheer joy at the throne of grace.”

Yet he always shrinks modestly from claiming any of the results that follow his mission; sometimes he declines to let his movements be announced. "People must not rely upon me." This is his constant cry." I have nothing for them. They must rely upon Him who alone can minister to their needs."

When I talked with him, he said:

"The movement is not of me, it is of God. I would not dare to try to direct it. Obey the Spirit, that is our word in everything. It is the Spirit alone which is leading us in our meetings and in all that is done."

"You do not preach, or teach, or control the meetings?"

"Why should I teach when the Spirit is teaching? What need have these people to be told that they are sinners? What they need is salvation. Do they not know it? It is not knowledge that they lack, but decision action. And why should I control the meetings? The meetings control themselves, or rather the Spirit that is in them controls them."

"You find the ministry of the Singing Sisters useful?"

"Most useful. They go with me wherever I go. I never part from them without feeling that something is absent if they are not there. The singing is very important, but not everything. No. The public confession is also important more so than the speaking. True, I talk to them a little. But the meetings go of themselves."

"Do you propose to go to England?"

"No. To North Wales next. They say North Wales is stony cold, but I believe the Holy Spirit will work there also. Oh, yes, God will move North Wales also."

All his movements are governed by the answers he receives to prayer. "Will you go to Cardiff?" they asked him. He paused, and then replied in the negative, the answer to his thought-prayer having been almost instantaneous. He usually speaks in Welsh, but he can speak English, although not with the beauty and polish of his native tongue. The newspapers publish translated scraps rather than reports of his remarks. Here are a few sentences:

"Whilst sect was fighting against sect the devil was clapping his hands with glee, and encouraging the fight. Let all people be one, with one object the salvation of sinners. Men refused to accept the gospel and confess because, they said, of the gloom and uncertainty of the future. They looked to the future without having opened their eyes to the infinite glories of the present."

"All must obey," he declares, “all must work. There is no room in the church for idlers. Are you an idler? Then your place is outside." "Be as simple in your worshiping as possible, the simpler the better. There is no need to shout," he went on, "and no one need be ashamed to confess Christ."

He dwells sometimes on the sufferings of Christ until he falls prone, sobs choking his utterance. While absolutely tolerant of all manifestations of the Spirit, he is stern to check any disorder. At Ferndale, where some persons had been disturbing the meeting by exuberant and unseemly noises, he said: " He who would walk with God must come to his house in a spirit of prayer, of humility, of awe. Joy is permissible in the house, but it must be sanctified joy. For think of the majesty of the Divine Person. Father yes, a Father truly, but we must be even as little children, in humility, remembering that we are sinners. We can, we are taught to entreat for the descent of the Spirit, but beware lest the entreaty becomes a rude, imperious command. If we truly walk with God, there can be no disorder, no indecency."

On another occasion he pleaded for a Service of Silence, to convince the world that the power at work in those gatherings was the power of the Holy Spirit, not that of man. "Let us have five minutes of absolutely silent prayers" an effective reversion to the practice of the Society of Friends.

His method of conducting a meeting is to allow it to conduct itself. But he usually contrives to expound his four principles, and to summon his hearers to make public confession.

The following is the best report which I have been able to piece together after a diligent study of all the papers published since the revival began. He addresses his audience thus:

Do you desire an outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Very well. Four conditions must be observed. They are essential.

(1) Is there any sin in your past life that you have not confessed to God? On your knees at once. Your past must be at peace.

(2) Is there anything in your life that is doubtful? Anything you cannot decide whether it is good or evil? Away with it! There must not be!

(3) Obey the Spirit.

(4) Confess Christ publicly before men."

After the meeting has gone on for some time Roberts proceeds to put his testing questions. I quote the description given by The South Wales Daily News on December 14:

The missioner is now at work. He has three questions to put. He has been told, commanded, imperatively commanded, to put the questions, and he dare not disobey. He could never sleep if he didn't put them.

(1) " Will every member of a Christian Church stand up?"

There is immediate response. Few, very few, are sitting. But a second later we are surprised by the announcement from the gallery that some are standing who are not members. "Come, friends," exclaims the missioner, " have the courage for once to show your side. You will be welcome to come over to our side once you are truly ashamed of your own. Not until then. Let us have no hypocrisy."

(2) "Will all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ stand up? Now, please, be careful. Act conscientiously, lest God's judgment fall upon you. Those who truly love the Lord Jesus and they only."

Again a great crowd responds, and to the query, "Do you really and truly love him?" there comes a loud, triumphant answer, "Yes."

(3) "Now for the question which Christ put to Peter. It is now put to you individually. Do you love Jesus ' more than these ' more than all things?"

It's a crucial moment the query is so startling and unexpected. There is a momentary hesitation, and then once more the congregation is on its feet, and there is a joyful, triumphant rendering of "Diadem."

Bring forth the royal diadem

And crown him Lord of all.

"You have made a great declaration you love him more than all things, all things. We shall presently see how sincere is the declaration. We shall see it in crowded attendances at prayer-meetings, at church-meetings. We shall see it in the daily study of God's own Book. We shall no longer hear the old excuse, 'No time to read the Bible.'  Have you time to eat? The needs of the body are attended to, but, bobol anwyl,  [editor: dear people]  what of the sustenance of the soul that is so much more precious? The soul ever thirsts for God. You must be in touch with God's Word every day, every day, were it only one verse."

Have all obeyed the third command to stand up? No, not all. A few are sitting. The test is too severe. "One has gone out," exclaims a voice in the gallery; "he cannot stand it."

"Bring him back, Lord, bring him back," prays a young fellow of nineteen near the door. "Don't let thy judgment fall upon him. He has felt the Spirit moving he said so but he is fleeing. Bring him back." "He will come back, friend," the missioner assures us, "he will come back; the fact that he has run away is a proof that he will come back."

The next question is one that gives relief

(4) "All those who want to love the Lord Jesus, will they stand up?"

There is now not a single seat occupied. Members, non-members, sceptics, scoffers all, all are on their feet, and the silence that supervenes is oppressive. But the missioner is all happiness and smiles.

Presently we are singing that inspiring hymn of praise

Duw mawr y rhyfeddodau maith

Rhyfeddol yw pob rhan o'th waith,

[Editor’s note: that is, the song by Samuel Davies:

Great God of wonders! All Thy ways

Are matchless, Godlike and divine]

and we are reminded by the missioner that in that hymn we are addressing God himself, and that if we cannot sing with all our hearts we had better be silent.

In the same issue the reporter publishes a special message given him by Mr. Roberts for the public. After emphatically disclaiming any share in the religious upheaval, which he attributed solely to the Holy Spirit, Mr. Roberts said:

"I will give you a message. I should like the people to believe. They wait for me. They should wait only for the Spirit. Some one said they are almost breaking their hearts for me to go. Will they almost break their hearts for the Holy Spirit? Then it must come down. What does the Word say? 'Ask and receive.' It is just that. 'Ask and ye shall receive.' That is the promise. Believe it. Don't wait for me. Some are talking of the share that this denomination or that has in the work. It is not denominational. In Loughor we had all denominations Methodists, Churchmen, Congregationalists, Baptists, every one."

"Give me a message distinct, plain, for the people, Mr. Roberts."

He waited a minute or two before answering, and then said:

"This is the message. Of course I had to pray for it. To ask for guidance how the prophecy of Joel is being fulfilled. There the Lord says, ' I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.' If that be so all flesh must be prepared to receive it. Note the four conditions:

“First. The past must be clear: every sin confessed to God. Any wrong put upon any man must be made right.

“Second. Everything doubtful must be removed once and for all out of our lives.

"Third. Obedience prompt and implicit to the Holy Spirit.

"Fourth. Public confession must be made of Christ.

"These are the four conditions given. If every church will comply with these four conditions, then all will be made one. Once the Spirit comes down and takes possession of a man, he is made one with Christ and one with all men. All denominations are one. You know what Christ said, 'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.' There it is. Christ is all in all."

Mr. Roberts indulges in no invectives against anything or anybody. He does not even denounce the publican. At one meeting, on December 4th, he heard a young fellow declaring, "A week ago I was blind drunk; to-day I am free, and the craving is gone." "Aye, aye," exclaims the missioner, “and there’s no need to preach against the drink; but preach Christ, proclaim Christ unto the people : that is all-sufficient.”

The truth about Evan Roberts is that he is very psychic, with clairvoyance well developed and a strong visualizing gift. One peculiarity about him is that he has not yet found any watch that will keep time when it is carried in his pocket. Many of his visions are merely the vivid visualization of mental concepts, as, for instance, when he says:

"When I go out to the garden I see the devil grinning at me, but I am not afraid of him; I go into the house, and when I go out again to the back I see Jesus Christ smiling at me. Then I know all is well."

This, again, is much the same thing:

While listening to a sermon at Newcastle Emlyn once, he said, he received much more of the Spirit of the gospel from what he saw than from what he heard. The preacher was doing very well, was warming with his work, and sweating by the very energy of his delivery. And when he (Evan Roberts) saw the sweat on the preacher's brow he looked beyond and saw another vision: his Lord sweating the bloody sweat in the garden (and then, as Mr. Roberts thought of the "vision," he utterly broke down).

The missioners go like the Friars of old, or like the Seventy in the gospel, without money and without scrip. As Sir A. Thomas said, the revival finances itself. There are no bills, no halls, no salaries.

Chapter 5: The Rise And Progress Of The Revival

MR. GEORGE MEREDITH ONCE REMARKED that one great secret of the triumph of Christianity over the paganism of imperial Rome was the astonishing discovery made by the Apostle Paul as to the value of women as religious teachers. Before his time women served in the sanctuary indeed, but as creatures of sense, for the degradation rather than as embodiments of souls capable of inspiring and uplifting the human race. Paul, it is true, when introducing so great an innovation, found it necessary, while addressing the Church of Corinth, to draw a very hard and fast line limiting the sphere of female activity; and this limitation, which was local and temporary, being necessitated solely by the corruption of sex morality in Corinth at that time, has been used, no doubt to the apostle's infinite chagrin, to limit the beneficent action of women in the ministry of the Church in other ages and in other climes. Christianity, however, is at last sloughing the Corinthian limitation and asserting the full freedom which Paul secured for women elsewhere. The Quakers began the good work. The Methodists did something in the same direction. It was reserved for the Salvation Army, the only religious organization founded by a husband and wife acting in absolute unity, to make the equality of the sexes a chief corner-stone. Now in South Wales we see the fruits of this devoted testimony. The Welsh, down to the time of the last revival, were in the bonds of the Corinthian limitation. Even in the sixties a lady lecturer on temperance was looked at askance in many parts of Wales.

Now all that has gone by the board. In the present revival women are everywhere to the fore, singing, testifying, praying and preaching. Dr. Henry Rees, who protested publicly in 1866 against the ministry of women, appears to be dead, and his spirit has died with him. At last these good people have realized the great saying that as in Christ there is neither bond nor free, so there is neither male nor female. The change is so marked that it suggests the happy thought that as the revival of 1859 to 1861 led to the enfranchisement of the male householder, the present revival may be crowned by the recognition by the State of the full citizenship of women.

Women came into this revival chiefly as singers, but they soon found that the ministry of sacred song needed to be supplemented by that of prayer and of exhortation. But even if they had done- nothing but sing, they would have had a leading part in this revival. For it is as Dr. Joseph Parry predicted, as long ago as 1891, that it would be a singing revival.

How did it begin, this revival? Where was it nursed into being? What influences nurtured it into the full maturity of its powers?

For a long time past the Welsh Christians had been moved to pray specially for the quickening of religious life in their midst. The impulse appears to have been sporadic and spontaneous. In remote country hamlets, in mining villages buried in distant valleys, one man or one woman would have it laid upon his or her soul to pray that the Holy Spirit might be poured out upon the cause in which they were spiritually concerned. There does not seem to have been much organized effort. It was all individual, local, and strictly limited to the neighborhood.

But prayer circles formed by devout persons who agree to unite together in prayer at a given hour every day have long been a recognized form of prevailing prayer. By these circles there are some thirty or forty thousand people now banded together to pray for a world-wide revival.

All this was general. It was preparing the way. A great longing for revival was abroad in the land. The churches were conscious that there was something in the air. It was at New Quay, in Cardiganshire, that the spark appears to have first fired the charged train of religious emotion. Fortunately, we have from the Rev. Joseph Jenkins, the pastor of the Calvinistic church in which the revival first made its appearance, an authentic account of its beginning. The first person to be awakened was the pastor himself. He was a good man, a devoted Christian, and a faithful minister; but, like Evan Roberts, he felt that there was still something lacking. It was before midsummer, 1903, that the conviction was borne in upon the good pastor's mind that the occasion had come for special services with greater freedom for testifying. It was his own quickened spiritual experience which sought the institution of these meetings as a means of giving expression to the life of the church.

The meetings he had in view were to have no set form. They must be free, each to assume its own peculiar form spontaneously. Those present would be expected to pray, sing, read or speak, according to the impulse of the moment. He longed to pour his spiritual experience into sympathetic ears. He found himself frequently in close communion with his heavenly Father, and seemed to be given everything necessary to efficient service. He related his experience in fear and trembling. He felt that he himself must have been saved many years ago, although he had missed the joy which the knowledge of such a fact brings. He had no doubt that his efforts to preach Christ had been honest, and that he had done his best to obtain for himself also some of the benefits of his preaching. And yet he had never before understood the gospel as he understands it to-day the power of God unto present assurance of full salvation.

Some time ago the preacher was speaking in November, and his sermon was reported in The South Wales Daily News of November 16th, and no more precise date is given the experience occurred which may be regarded as the first outward and visible sign of the revival. I give the story as it is reported. A "Seiat" appears to be a religious meeting for prayer:

Some time ago he had returned from a journey, and found that a "Seiat " had been set aside in favor of a soiree to be held in the town. Somebody rose at one of the church meetings and asked why the "Seiat" was being set aside the soiree was not a sufficient reason. It was decided to hold a "Seiat,” and in that meeting were seen and heard the first indications of the dayspring from on high that was surely dawning upon the church. A young girl prayed, and that prayer was the most wonderful and touching he had ever heard. The response was immediate. All were lifted up into a high plane of spiritual experience. One of the older deacons, who was standing by the door, came forward. Hot tears were rolling down his face when he said, "It's all right, I know him. He is the Holy Spirit."

The minister as he sat marveled at the signs of the new experience that he knew must be coming to the church. Nevertheless, his heart was not perfectly right before the Lord. A brother minister with whom he had spent a night had, in course of conversation upon religious matters, said to him very straightforwardly, "My friend, I am afraid you are backsliding ; there is something in your view of things, and in the cadences of your voice, that betokens serious backsliding in your spiritual life." It was too true, he admitted and the charge went home. The conviction of its truth and of its guilt sank deep into his soul. A bosom friend Mr. Ceredig Evans to whom he told his experience, wept and prayed with him, and promised to continue at the throne of grace on his behalf. He was perfectly convinced that the matter of his soul as between himself and God was not settled altogether in God's way. A Voice within him demanded work of him, demanded the fulfilment of his ministry. He was shown others with humbler talents, as he was told, yet with far better records of real work done in the Master's vineyard. His wife was present, and knew all his private experience in this matter how he prayed all night, and night after night continued to pray and read, until one night in his study, in the small hours of the morning, a vision of the cross arose filling his soul with joy and peace.

Here again we have the vision. "In point of fact," says Professor James, "you will hardly find a religious leader of any kind in whose life there is no record of such things. St. Paul had his visions, his ecstasies, his gift of tongues. The whole array of Christian saints and heresiarchs, including the greatest, the Bernards, the Loyolas, the Luthers, the Foxes, the Wesleys, had these visions, voices, rapt conditions, guiding impressions, and openings. They had these things because they had exalted sensibility, and to such things persons of exalted sensibility are liable."

Pastor Jenkins, having thus entered into a new and fuller relation with the Spirit, summoned his young people to the new kind of meetings which he saw were called for. They were well attended, and were conducted on the principle of leaving every one free to pray, sing, and speak, or sit silent as the Spirit moved him.

One Sunday night he preached from the text, "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."  He had preached before on some phases of that subject, but now he felt his very soul go out in his words, which God blessed immediately. That night a young girl came to his house to consult him concerning the salvation of her soul. She did not know how she should speak to him, and remained walking to and fro outside the house for some time. But she was intensely in earnest, and, courage coming, she entered the house. He advised her to receive Jesus as her Saviour, but that she must receive him as Lord as well as Saviour she must surrender all to him. She must pray until her soul allowed the matter to be settled on God's terms. She promised to follow his advice, and she did, for her soul was moved to its lowest depth. A Christian Endeavor meeting was coming, and he would then see how far they understood spiritual experience. He spoke, explaining it in the best way he could, and with all the force at his command. Others followed with speeches, but he required of them expressions of spiritual experience pure and simple, and then it was that the young girl already referred to stood up, and with beaming face and thrilling voice said, "Oh, I love Jesus with all my heart." After this, spiritual history was made rapidly at the Christian Endeavor meetings, some revealing great depths of emotion, others manifesting the keenest sense of spiritual relations.

That public confession of her faith by the young girl who may be regarded as the first convert of the revival was followed by others. It was evident the revival had come. One Christian Endeavorer, who had prepared a paper to read on the existence of God, could not bring himself to read it for the same reason that Professor James dismisses the arguments of philosophy as a foundation for religion. He said that spiritually the meeting was far in advance of his paper. The Christian Endeavorers had the proofs of his existence in their own hearts. There was no shadow of doubt of his existence. He was there amongst them then, transforming their very lives. In this way their meetings were started. From New Quay, which lies midway been Cardigan and Aberystwyth, the Christian Endeavorers went out to hold meetings elsewhere. Among other places, they went to Newcastle Emlyn, where they met Evan Roberts.

So far as I can fix it from the materials at my disposal, the public confession of the young girl which marks the beginning of the revival occurred in New Quay in February, 1904. It was in September that Evan Roberts prayed at the New Quay Christian Endeavorers' meeting and saw the visions which directed him to Loughor. It was in the beginning of November he began to hold the special services at Loughor, which attracted the attention of the press. After that the full reports of the proceedings in The Western Mail and The Cardiff Daily News spread the revival through the whole of South Wales.

It is worthy of note that the great revival of 1859 also began in Cardiganshire, although somewhat farther to the north than New Quay. The following notes as to the places visited by Mr. Evan Roberts will give those who know the district, but to no one else, some idea how the fire spread along the valleys of Wales.

November 14th and 15th, Trecynon ; November 16th to 18th, Pontycymmer ; November 19th, Bridgend, Pyle, Abergwynfi ; November 20th, Abercynon ; November 21st and 22d, Mountain Ash; November 23d and 24th, Ynysybwl; November 25th, ill; November 26th, Cilfyngdd; November 27th and 28th, Porth ; November 29th, Treorky ; December 2d to 4th, Pentre; December 5th and 6th, Caerphilly; December yth, Senghenydd; December 8th to loth, Ferndale ; December nth, Mardy ; December 12th and Tylorstown; December 14th and 15th, Aberfan ; December 16th and 17th, Hafod (Pontypridd) ; December 18th, Pontypridd ; December 19th and 20th, Clydach Vale; December 21st, Tonypandy; December 22d, Penygraig; December 23d, Treherbert.

"The supreme test of a revival," says the Rev. F. B. Meyer, "is the ethical result." As to this, the testimony of all on the spot is unanimous. Not merely are all the grosser vices reduced to vanishing point, but the subtler sins of unforgiving rancor, non-payment of debts, dishonest work are abated. In nothing is Mr. Evan Roberts clearer and more emphatic than in his insistence upon forgiveness of injuries, unless it be as to the duty of the payment of debts. "It's no use asking God to forgive you," he tells his hearers, "unless you have forgiven all your enemies every one. You will only be forgiven in the same measure as you forgive." Again he says: "How can there be, when there are family feuds and personal animosities, churches torn by little dissensions, members cold towards each other? If you are not prepared to forgive others it is no use going on your knees to-night to ask God to forgive your transgressions. I don't say don't do it; please yourselves, of course ; but one thing is absolutely certain, God will not listen to you."

The result has been excellent everywhere excellent.

However we may explain it, the veriest sceptic must admit that what the revivalist seeks to effect is of all things the most important object of human endeavor. No political or social change can be regarded as having any serious importance, excepting so far as it tends to facilitate indirectly the achievement of the same result which the revivalist seeks directly. The aim of all reformers is the regeneration of the individual. To make a bad man good, a cruel man merciful, a lazy man industrious, a drunkard sober, and to substitute selfless struggle to help others for a selfish scramble to seize everything for oneself that in the aim-all, the be-all, and the end-all of all those who seek the improvement of society and the progress of the world. It makes no difference whether the reformer is called Blatchford or Liddon, Bradlaugh or Price Hughes, John Morley or General Booth, Frederic Harrison or the Archbishop of Canterbury, the President of the Free Thinkers' Congress or the Pope of Rome that is what they are all after that, and in the ultimate, nothing but that. And when it comes to be looked at scientifically, who can deny that a great religious revival often succeeds in achieving the result which we all desire more rapidly, more decisively, and in a greater number of cases, than any other agency known to mankind? We may discount it as much as we like, but the facts are there. It is not necessary to credit the revival with all the results which it reveals, any more than we may credit a day's sunshine in spring with all the flowers it brings to birth. But it brings them out. So does a revival. And if there had been no revival, the latent sainthood of multitudes would never have been born, just as the flowers would never come out in May if there were no sun.

It is often argued that revivalism is ephemeral. But as our brief historical retrospect shows, the fruits of revivals are among the most permanent things in history.

Chapter 6: What Ought I To Do?

SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS, and spread it now! If you can do nothing else, send copies of this pamphlet to any relative, friend or other person whom you think may become interested in the subject. Speak to people about it. Write to your friends about it.

If you belong to a church, try to get the members interested in the revival.

If you are a minister, preach about it, and ask your people to hold prayer-meetings on the subject. For if those who have seen most of the revival are right, there is a great blessing in this movement for each of us, and for all of us, if we but make the most of our present opportunity.

What we have to do is to take time by the forelock and be ready to clutch the boon before the moment has passed. As a start, we might well begin each in our sphere by doing good turns to our enemies, wiping out the memories of old grudges, reconciling offended relatives, and forgiving others, even as we hope to be forgiven.

God or no God, soul or no soul, this earth is made much more like hell than heaven by persisting in these grudges, jealousies, animosities, and unkind feelings one toward another. What a merry Christmas, what a glad New Year it would be if we could begin by being in charity with everybody, in love with every man, woman and child with whom we have a personal acquaintance!

Then when we have cast out from our own souls the evil spirits of bitterness, rancor, unfriendliness, jealousy, and have forgiven all those who have injured us, or, a much harder task, whom we have injured, we shall be better prepared to receive the outpouring of the divine blessing which we all profess to desire.

After the revival has come, as come it will if we but make room for it by ejecting hatred, malice and uncharitableness from our hearts, then a great duty will be laid upon the churches to supply fresh interests for the new converts, who have given up everything that filled their leisure. The Rev. Dr. Morris, of Treorky, and ex-president of the Baptist Union, told an interviewer of The South Wales Daily News that he at least is fully alive to the importance of this subject:

"Do you know," he said, "this revival has thrown a tremendous responsibility upon the churches? Public-houses and football fields are being emptied of young men. What are the churches going to do with them? Unfortunately, we in Wales are lamentably deficient in provision for the development of the body, mind and spirit of a man. I agree absolutely with the leading articles in The South Wales Daily News, when they urge that Christianity should provide for the education and development of the whole of a man, and not merely a part of him. The churches have been brought face to face with a difficult problem. How shall we keep our young people, now that they have been induced to join the church? In small places there is no attraction in the church; no accommodation is attempted for their moral well-being."

"What would you suggest as a means of meeting this contingency?"

"My suggestion would be the provision of an institutional church. There should be young men's and young women's parlors, separate classrooms, lecture-rooms, museums, and libraries. I would also advise the encouragement of physical culture of course, we must guard against extremes but some means must be devised to hold our young people, otherwise a great part of the good effect of the revival will be lost."

Upon this question possibly some hints may be gained from my Christmas story, "Here Am I: Send Me!"

II. THE REVIVAL: ITS POWER AND SOURCE

Chapter 7: The Revival: Its Power And Source

By Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, D. D., London

[We are permitted by Dr. Morgan, who controls the copyright, to

condense into the following article a recent sermon by him to his people at Westminster Chapel, London, and published in the Christian

Commonwealth. EDITORS.]

IT WAS MY HOLY PRIVILEGE to come into the center of this wonderful work and movement. Arriving in the morning in the village, everything seemed quiet, and we wended our way to the place where a group of chapels stood. Oh, these chapels through Wales! Thank God for them! Everything was so quiet and orderly that we had to ask where the meeting was. A lad, pointing to a chapel, said, "In there." Not a single person outside. We made our way through the open door, and just managed to get inside, and found the chapel crowded from floor to ceiling with a great mass of people.

THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MEETINGS

It was a meeting characterized by a perpetual series of interruptions and disorderliness. It was a meeting characterized by a great continuity and an absolute order. You say, "How do you reconcile these things?" I do not reconcile them. They are both there. If you put a man into the midst of one of these meetings who knows nothing of the language of the Spirit, and nothing of the life of the Spirit, one of two things will happen to him. He will either pass out saying, "These men are drunk," or he himself will be swept up by the fire into the kingdom of God. If you put a man down who knows the language of the Spirit, he will be struck by this most peculiar thing. I have never seen anything like it in my life ; while a man praying is disturbed by the breaking out of song, there is no sense of disorder, and the prayer merges into song, and back into testimony, and back again into song for hour after hour, without guidance. These are the three occupations singing, prayer, testimony.

In the afternoon we were at another chapel, and another meeting, equally full, and this time Evan Roberts was present. He came into the meeting when it had been on for an hour and a half. He spoke, but his address if it could be called an address was punctuated perpetually by song and prayer and testimony. Evan Roberts works on that plan, never hindering any one. I venture to say that if that address Evan Roberts gave in broken fragments had been reported, the whole of it could have been read in six or seven minutes. As the meeting went on, a man rose in the gallery and said, "So and So," naming some man, "has decided for Christ," and then in a moment the song began. They did not sing Songs of Praises, they sang Diolch Iddo [“Thanks Be To Him”], and the weirdness and beauty of it swept over the audience. It was a song of praise because that man was born again. There are no inquiry rooms, no penitent forms, but some worker announces, or an inquirer openly confesses Christ, the name is registered and the song breaks out, and they go back to testimony and prayer.

In the evening I stood for three solid hours wedged so that I could not lift my hands at all. That which impressed me most was the congregation. I stood wedged, and I looked along the gallery of the chapel on my right, and there were three women, and the rest were men packed solidly in. If you could but for once have seen the men, evidently colliers, with the blue seam that told of their work on their faces, clean and beautiful. Beautiful, did I say? Many of them lit with heaven's own light, radiant with the light that never was on sea and land. Great rough, magnificent, poetic men by nature, but the nature had slumbered long. To-day it is awakened, and I looked on many a face, and I knew that men did not see me, did not see Evan Roberts, but they saw the face of God and the eternities. I left that evening, after having been in the meeting three hours, at 10:30, and it swept on, packed as it was, until an early hour next morning, song and prayer and testimony and conversion and confession of sin by leading church-members publicly, and the putting of it away, and all the while no human leader, no one indicating the next thing to do, no one checking the spontaneous movement.

THE MAN HIMSELF

Evan Roberts is hardly more than a boy, simple and natural, no orator; with nothing of the masterfulness that characterized such men as Wesley and Whitefield and Dwight Lyman Moody; no leader of men. One of the most brilliant writers in one of our papers said of Evan Roberts, in a tone of sorrow, that he lacked the qualities of leadership, and the writer said if but some prophet did now arise he could sweep everything before him. God has not chosen that a prophet shall arise. It is quite true. Evan Roberts is no orator, no leader. What is he? I mean now with regard to this great movement. He is the mouthpiece of the fact that there is no human guidance as to man or organization. The burden of what he says to the people is this: It is not man ; do not wait for me depend on God ; obey the Spirit. But whenever moved to do so, he speaks under the guidance of the Spirit. His work is not that of appealing to men so much as that of creating an atmosphere by calling men to follow the guidance of the Spirit in whatever the Spirit shall say to them.

God has set his hand upon the lad, beautiful in simplicity, ordained in his devotion, lacking all the qualities that we have looked for in preachers and prophets and leaders. He has put him in the forefront of this movement that the world may see that he does choose the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are, the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty ; a man who lacks all the essential qualities which we say make for greatness, in order that through him in simplicity and power he may move to victory.

PECULIARITIES OF THE MOVEMENT

There is no preaching, no order, no hymn books, no choirs, no organs, no collections and, finally, no advertising. I am not saying these things are wrong. I simply want you to see what God is doing. There were the organs, but silent; the ministers, but among the rest of the people, rejoicing and prophesying with the rest, only there was no preaching. Everybody is preaching. No order, and yet it moves from day to day, week to week, county to county, with matchless precision, with the order of an attacking force. Mr. Stead was asked if he thought the revival would spread to London, and he said, "It depends upon whether you can sing." He was not so wide of the mark. When these Welshmen sing, they sing the words like men who believe them. They abandon themselves to their singing. We sing as though we thought it would not be respectable to be heard by the man next to us. No choir, did I say? It was all choir. And hymns! I stood and listened in wonder and amazement as that congregation on that night sang hymn after hymn, long hymns, sung through without hymn-books.

The Sunday-school is having its harvest now. The family altar is having its harvest now. The teaching of hymns and the Bible among those Welsh hills and valleys is having its harvest now. No advertising. The whole thing advertises itself. You tell me the press is advertising it. They did not begin advertising until the thing caught fire and spread. One of the most remarkable things is the attitude of the Welsh press. I come across instance after instance of men converted by reading the story of the revival in The Western Mail and The South Wales Daily News.

THE ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT

In the name of God let us all cease trying to find it. At least let us cease trying to trace it to any one man or convention. You cannot trace it, and yet I will trace it tonight. Whence has it come? All over Wales I am giving you roughly the result of the questioning of fifty or more persons at random in the week a praying remnant have been agonizing before God about the state of the beloved land, and it is through that the answer of fire has come. You tell me that the revival originates with Roberts. I tell you that Roberts is a product of the revival. You tell me that it began in an Endeavor meeting where a dear girl bore testimony. I tell you that was part of the result of a revival breaking out everywhere. If you and I could stand above Wales, looking at it, you would see fire breaking out here and there, and yonder, and somewhere else, without any collusion or prearrangement. It is a divine visitation in which God let me say this reverently in which God is saying to us: See what I can do without the things you are depending on ; see what I can do in answer to a praying people ; see what I can do through the simplest who are ready to fall in line and depend wholly and absolutely upon me.

A CHURCH REVIVAL

What is the character of this revival? It is a church revival. I do not mean by that merely a revival among church members. It is that, but it is held in church buildings. I have been saying for a long time that the revival which is to be permanent in the life of a nation must be associated with the life of the churches. What I am looking for is that there shall come a revival breaking out in all our regular church life. The meetings are held in the chapels, all up and down the valleys, and it began among church members, and when it touches the outside man it makes him into a church-member at once. I am tremendously suspicious of any mission or revival movement that treats with contempt the Church of Christ, and affects to despise the churches. Within five weeks twenty thousand have joined the churches. I think more than that have been converted, but the churches in Wales have enrolled during the last five weeks twenty thousand new members. It is a movement in the Church and of the Church, a movement in which the true functions and forces of the Church are being exercised and filled.

STRIKING CASES OF PERSONAL INFLUENCE

What effect is this work producing upon men? First of all, it is turning Christians everywhere into evangelists. There is nothing more remarkable about it than that, I think. People you never expected to see doing this kind of thing are becoming definite personal workers. A friend of mine went to one of the meetings, and he walked down to the meeting with an old friend of his, a deacon of the Congregational church, a man whose piety no one doubted, a man who for long years had worked in the life of the church in some of its departments, but a man who never would think of speaking to men about their souls, although he would not have objected to someone else doing it. As my friend walked down with the deacon, the deacon said to him: "I have eighteen young men in an athletic class of which I am president. I hope some of them will be in the meeting tonight.”  There was a new manifestation. This man had had that athletic class for years, and he had never hoped that any one of them would be in any meeting to be saved. Within fifteen minutes he left his seat by my friend and was seen talking to a young man down in front of him. Presently this deacon rose and said, "Thank God for So and So," giving his name; "he has given his heart to Christ right here." In a moment or two he left him, and was with another young man. Before that meeting closed that deacon had led every one of those eighteen young men to Jesus Christ, who never before thought of speaking to men about their souls.

My own friend, with whom I stayed, who has always been reticent of speaking to men, told me how, sitting in his office, there surged upon him the great conviction that he ought to go and speak to another man with whom he had done business for long years. My friend suddenly put down his pen and left his office and went on 'Change, and there he saw the very man ; and going up to him, passing the time of day to him, the man said to him, " What do you think of this revival?" And my friend looked him squarely in the eye and said, "How is it with your own soul?" The man looked back at him and said, "Last night at twelve, for some unknown reason, I had to get out of bed and give myself to Jesus Christ, and I was hungering for someone to come and talk to me." Here is a man turned into an evangelist by supernatural means. If this is emotional, then God send us more of it! Here is a cool, calculating, business ship owner, that I have known all my life, leaving his office to go on 'Change and ask a man about his soul.

Down in one of the mines a collier was walking along, and he came, to his great surprise, to where one of the principal officials in the mine was standing. The official said, "Jim, I have been waiting two hours here for you." "Have you, sir?" said Jim. "What do you want?" "I want to be saved, Jim." The man said, " Let us get right down here”; and there in the mine the colliery official, instructed by the collier, passed into the kingdom of God. When he got up he said, "Tell all the men, tell everybody you meet, I am converted."

The movement is characterized by the most remarkable confession of sin – confessions that must be costly. I heard some of them, men rising who have been members of the church and officers of the church, confessing hidden sin in their heart, impurity committed and condoned, and seeking prayer for its putting away. The whole movement is marvellously characterized by a confession of Jesus Christ, testmony to his power, to his goodness, to his beneficence, and testimony merging forevermore into outbursts of singing.

This whole thing is of God; it is a visitation in which he is making men conscious of Himself, without any human agency. The revival is far more wide-spread than the fire zone. In this sense you may understand that the fire zone is where the meetings are actually held, and where you feel the flame that burns. But even when you come out of it, and go into railway trains, or into a shop, a bank, anywhere, men everywhere are talking of God. Whether they obey or not is another matter. There are thousands not yielded to the constraint of God, but God has given Wales in these days a new conviction and consciousness of himself. That is the profound thing, the underlying truth.

* * * * * * * * * *

If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

·         7 Classics on PRAYER

·         7 Classics on HOLINESS

·         7 Classics on EVANGELISM and SOUL-WINNING

·         7 Catholic Classics

·         5 Classics on the HOLY SPIRIT

·         5 Classics on POWER

PREACHERS AND REVIVALISTS:

·         The Azusa Street Papers

·         Charles Spurgeon: 40 sermons on Prayer

·         Charles Spurgeon: Lectures to My Students

·         The George Muller Collection

·         The Revival Writings of Jonathan Edwards (7-in-1)

·         The Works of Catherine Booth (7-in-1)

·         The Works of Charles Finney

·         The Works of D. L. Moody

·         The Works of R. A. Torrey

·         The Works of William Booth

·         Biography of John Wesley Collection: 4-in-1

·         Amy Carmichael 8-in-1

·         Samuel Zwemer 7-in-1(Missions in Arabia)

6.  AZUSA STREET (1925) – Frank Bartleman

(How Pentecost Came to Los Angeles)

Frank Bartleman

1925

Dedication:

This little book is dedicated to the many precious souls who with the author were privileged to see and experience the early days of blessing of the “Latter Rain” outpouring at the old “power house,” Azusa Street Mission. It is written with the hope and prayer that, where lost, the vision may be renewed to those who once shared with us in the glory of this “former house” of blessing; and also that it may, through this humble little medium, be told “to the generation following.”

FRANK BARTLEMAN

Los Angeles, California

April, 1925

Chapter 1: Trials And Blessings, Revival Begins

The author of the following pages arrived in Los Angeles, Calif., with wife and two daughters, the oldest three and one-half years old, Dec. 22, 1904, after two years' mission work in the north, having crossed the continent previously, by easy stages. (See, "From Plough to Pulpit," price 50c, for previous experiences.)

After stopping one night at Peniel Mission, 227 S. Main St., we rented two unfurnished rooms, upstairs, without heat, of friends at 1055 Temple St. I had little money. I secured some furniture, and we cooked and ate under a tent in the yard. Being cold and rainy, we suffered much. Our youngest child became sick, but God spared her. The harvest was great but the laborers few in those days; there was plenty of mission work all around us, but the question was how were our needs to be supplied.

I started a street meeting, but an officer promptly stopped me. I had no permit, so went to work with the regular missions. Every night found me taking part in services, and my days were spent in personal work. We lived by faith, having no income. I had served the Lord largely on that line since my conversion in 1893, having been called to preach soon after. Wife was one with me.

Dec. 31, we had received but 50 cents since coming to Los Angeles. We were stranded. My health had been poor, from a child. I wrote in my diary at that time: "My health is quite poor, but I believe I shall live to finish my work. Few care to go into the hard places, but my work is to go where others will not go. It seems God can only get a man who has nothing but Heaven to live for to do the work for which a strong man is needed. I am glad to be used up in His service. I would rather wear out than rust out; and rather starve for God, if need be, than fatten for the devil." That was about the spirit of my consecration.

January 2, I testified and helped in an all-day meeting at Boyle Heights M.E. Church, walking there, not having car-fare. Being very tired I asked the Lord for my car-fare home, and found a nickel on the side-walk. I rode home.

I preached at Fifth Street Mission, where the "Burning Bush" had gotten control. God preciously anointed me as I exhorted to a middle-ground between formalism and fanaticism. They were going wild. Jesus was crucified "between two thieves." The devil splits a work in the middle, runs away with the heart, leaving the shell, thus driving the saints to both extremes, and destroys the whole. We are creatures of extremes.

Little Esther, our oldest child, was seized with convulsions, and passed away to be with Jesus January 7, at 4 A.M. She had been a great sufferer all her life, being very frail from birth. This time it seemed God's will to take her. I was constrained to pray that she might be spared from so much suffering. I felt I was holding her by my prayers and prolonging her suffering. God wanted her but would not tear her from me. He made me willing to give her up, and then he took her. She soon passed into the glory world without further struggle. I had kissed her that morning for the last time in consciousness, little realizing it would be the last. Our little ones slip away from us so easily. Let us make the most of them while we have them with us. Deal gently with the children. Life is hard enough for them at best, and we may regret their loss when too late. This is a tremendous universe for the child spirit, and filled with terribly evil forces. We must protect and help them all we can. Wife plead with the unsaved woman in the house to get right with God as little Esther's spirit was departing, so great was the grace given her. We had fondly hoped our little family might never be broken into by death. But He knew best.

I copy the following from my diary, written at this time: "Little Esther slipped away from us early this morning, to be with Jesus. The angels called her, and she went to meet them. They carried her off and left us lonely hearted. Oh, what a void her absence leaves with us! But we sorrow not as those who have no hope. She is safe forevermore. Saved from an unfriendly world and a life of suffering. She was too frail for the long journey of life in this world, and so He spared her. She was as innocent of evil as any one could be. The great ordeal of life is past for her. She has gone on before, ahead of us, saved from the sorrow of parting. She has escaped safely, while we must struggle on. Her work is finished in the cool of the early morning of life, and she has gone home, spared the heat of the journey. The angels will care for her far better than we could, and she will be inconceivably happier. For her own sake I would not recall her if I could. So we lay her body away in the full assurance of a glorious resurrection. Some day her glorified spirit, all radiant and rapturous with the blissful joy of Heaven, will meet us at the 'beautiful gate.' We trust it will not be long."

Little Esther was a veritable "morning glory." It was the flower she loved. I placed one tenderly on her bosom, as she lay in the coffin, ready for burial. But she had gone "where God and the angels are," never to grow "world-weary." We were glad she ever came to us, though she stayed but a little while, and broke our hearts at parting. There is one more soul in Heaven. Should we be called also, before Jesus comes, we will sorrow only for those we must leave behind. We will joy for all those gone before. We only miss our loved ones here. Could we but catch one strain of Heaven's pure melody it would spoil us for earthly sounds forever. Could we but catch one glimpse of departed loved ones, through the "gates ajar," earth could no longer hold us here. We must see things from the Heaven side. Earth's sounds and spirits are so crude and cruel. Heaven is all love, and joy, and peace, and rest. Thank God! Sorrow and parting, there, will never more be known. No more empty chairs, nor graves nor coffins, there.

Sister Frambes, M.E. pastor's wife at Lamanda Park, California, gave me the following true story at this time. The incident occurred over half a century ago in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Old Auntie Mellinger, a wonderful saint, and eye witness, related it many times to Sister Frambes. A poor and obscure family had a little daughter ten years of age. The child had always been precocious in the things of God, and now lay at the point of death. Auntie Mellinger, with others, had gathered to watch her pass away. Soon the child spoke in rapt attention: "Listen! Listen!" They could as yet hear nothing. The child's ears had already been quickened beyond earthly hearing. Soon, however, they also began to hear the most entrancing strains of music, manifestly not of this world, coming from the distance. It rapidly approached, becoming more audible, until it finally ceased for a time just over the house where they were gathered. The child's face lit up with a very halo of glory, and as the presence of God filled the room they realized that a band of heavenly beings encompassed them, and as they seemed almost to hear the rustle of angels' wings, the spirit of the little one passed out of its temple of clay, in a rapture of transcending joy. The heavenly music was again resumed, and soon died away in the distance. The angel band had gone back to the Celestial City, and the spirit of the little one had departed with them. "Come, angel band, come and around me stand! Oh, bear me away on your snowy wings, to my immortal home."

From John Wesley's diary we gather the following, under date of March 29, 1782: "Being Good Friday, I came to Mansfield to assist in the services of the day. While we were administering the sacrament to about thirteen hundred people I heard a low, soft, solemn sound, just like that of an Aeolian harp. It continued five or six minutes, and so affected many that they could not refrain from tears. It then gradually died away." Evidently the angel choir, joining in the services.

Sister Ferguson came from Peniel Mission to comfort us, the next day after Esther's death, but was forced to exclaim as she entered the room, "Why the Comforter is here!" We had no money for the funeral, but Brother Geo. Studd secured a cheap lot from the City for us, in Evergreen Cemetery, among the children's plots. She lies buried among the foreign children. And so she is a little missionary still, as she was in life.

I carried the coffin that contained all that remained on earth of our little darling, on my knees in the carriage. It was raining too hard for wife to go to the cemetery. And so we laid her away on a dark and stormy day, to await the resurrection morn, where there will be no clouds nor sorrow. How pure that morning air will be! And how glorious our loved ones then! And how all creation will sing, as the Sun of Righteousness appears, with healing in His wings! We had no hearse or regular funeral. But God provided, even as He had in life.

Our little "Queen Esther" seemed to have been born "for such a time as this." - (Esther 4:14.) Beside that little coffin, with heart bleeding, I pledged my life anew for God's service. In the presence of death how real eternal issues become. I promised the rest of my life should be spent wholly for Him. He made a fresh covenant with me. I then begged Him to open a door of service quickly, that I might not find time for sorrow.

Just one week after little Esther's departure I began preaching twice a day at the little Peniel Mission in Pasadena. The devil fought hard. He must have sensed what was coming. At times while preaching a hot blast from the "pit" seemed to strike me. More than once I almost fainted, and had to rally my strength before I could proceed. I preached noon and night for almost a month here. One night we had a season of great quietness at the altar for almost an hour. The Lord drew very near. We were stilled before Him. It is good to get quiet. We talk too much. He speaks in the "still, small voice," when we are quiet. Our spirits are too restless. We cannot hear Him. He does not shout and enter into turmoil.

We soon had a breaking up time at the mission. Souls began to weep their way to Calvary. One day while on the way to Pasadena the devil tried to electrocute the motorman. The trolley also jumped the wire a dozen times, and it seemed we would never get there. I had a message burning in my soul, and prayed hard. We finally arrived, just in time for me to deliver the message in the meeting. We had a great victory. But the devil had done all he could to hinder.

We had powerful meetings, with wonderful altar services. The Spirit wrought mightily. February 6, I brought wife and little Ruth to Pasadena, to the mission home. The fight was on. An enemy tried to persuade the Fergusons in Los Angeles to stop the meetings. But God put him to bed with the grippe. I determined not to eat or sleep again until victory came, so I fasted and prayed all one day. That night the Lord broke forth in power. He could not afford to have me die on His hands. I could not preach for the presence of God. The glory played on my face like a hot sun bath. God spoke that night. The altar was full until after midnight with earnest seekers.

My work here seemed finished for the time, so I rented two unfurnished rooms at 213 Grove Street, Pasadena for five dollars per month, and moved my family there, bringing our furniture from Los Angeles. I was very tired and worn in body. My nerves had been worn threadbare from years of previous pioneer mission work in various parts of the country. We had always worked on faith lines, having taken for our motto Isa. 33:16— "Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." We had no money and so it seemed necessary for me to find employment for a season. At that time I had not yet turned my back fully on secular employment, as He led me so clearly to do later, although I had already been preaching for more than ten years.

While souls had been saved during the month's meetings in Peniel Mission, yet the greatest victory gained was the digging out of a company of young men attending there. A number were called out by the Lord for future service. Principal among these were Edward Boehmer, Amil Alien and Orville Tingle. Two of these at least have become very active in the Pentecostal work of today. Sister Mamie Craybill took an active part also in these meetings, especially in the ministry of intercession. She was a very choice vessel of the Lord, later becoming active in the Pentecostal work also.

In much weakness of body I secured work gardening. This provided us with food. I preached frequently on the streets, andhelped in the mission. My next job was picking oranges, from a ladder, but I had to quit at noon the first day. The weight of the fruit and the twisting on the ladder nearly broke my back. That was my weak spot. I got more gardening, and fence building. This was not so hard. Almost every night found me in some meeting, preaching or testifying. It was my life. My first call was to preach.

We suffered much from the cold and rain as we had only a little gas burner in the house, both for heating and cooking. Little Ruth was taken sick with fever, and we were about out of food. Work was scarce. I preached at Peniel Mission, without mentioning our need, but declared my faith in God to stand by the man who would stand by Him. They prayed for Ruth's healing and the Lord touched her at home while we prayed. A brother handed me five dollars after the service. Thus God had stood by me.

I distributed many tracts in Los Angeles, among the harlots and the saloons. My spare time was all spent in tract and personal work, or preaching on the street and in the missions. I only rested when I slept, and then I was often praying. I was greatly burdened for souls. "There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee." (Isa. 64:7.)

Brother Alien, one of the mission boys, gave me work painting. He was a contractor. I worked for some time at this. One day the devil tried to kill me. I was painting the gable end of a barn, from a ladder, which stood on a slanting shed roof. Suddenly, without warning, the ladder slipped and fell. But I landed squarely on my feet on the roof, well balanced. It was done too quickly to realize it. My paint spilled all over the roof. Ps. 91:11, 12, immediately came to me. The angels of the Lord had "borne me up." I could have rolled off the roof and broken my neck.

April 8, I heard F.B. Myer, from London, preach. He described the great revival then going on in Wales, which he had just visited. He had met Evan Roberts. My soul was stirred to its depths, having read of this revival shortly before. I then and there promised God He should have full right of way with me, if He could use me.

Mother Wheaton, the prison evangelist, came to Pasadena and preached in Peniel. She was on fire for God. I longed to be wholly engaged in the work of the Lord once more but knew not how my family should be supported. The obstacles seemed very great, and my strength small. But the call of God was upon me. My family belonged to Him. If He called me I dared not fail.

I distributed tracts in the post office, banks, and public buildings in Los Angeles, and also visited many saloons with tracts. Later I visited about thirty saloons in Los Angeles again. The houses of prostitution were wide open at that time and I gave out many tracts there.

Little Esther's death had broken my heart and I felt I could only live while in God's service. I longed to know Him in a more real way and to see the work of God go forth in power. A great burden and cry came in my heart for a mighty revival. He was preparing me for a fresh service for Him. This could only be brought about by the realization of a deeper need in my own heart for God and a real soul travail for the work of God. This He gave me. Many were being similarly prepared at this time in different parts of the world. The Lord was preparing to visit and deliver His people once more. Intercessors were the need. "He wondered that there was no intercessor." - Isa. 59:16 "I sought for a man to stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none."—Ezek. 22:30.

About the first of May a powerful revival broke out in the Lake Avenue M.E. Church in Pasadena. The young men who had been dug out in the meetings in Peniel Mission most of them attended this church. They had gotten under the burden for a revival there. In fact we had been praying for a sweeping revival for Pasadena. God was answering our prayers. I found a wonderful work of the Spirit going on at Lake Avenue. The altar was full of seeking souls. There was no big preacher there. One night nearly every unsaved soul in the house got saved. It was a clean sweep for God. Conviction was mightily upon the people. In two weeks' time two hundred souls knelt at the altar, seeking the Lord. The Peniel boys were underneath, and wonderfully used of God. We then began to pray for an outpouring of the Spirit for Los Angeles and the whole of Southern California.

I find the following observations in my diary, written at that time: "Some Holiness churches (foremost at that time) are going to be surprised to find God passing them by. He will work in channels where they will yield to him. They must humble themselves for Him to come. We are crying, 'Pasadena for God!' The people are too well satisfied with their own goodness. They have little faith or interest for the salvation of others. God will humble them by passing them by. The Spirit is breathing prayer through us for a mighty, general outpouring. Great things are coming. We are asking largely, that our joy may be full. God is moving. We are praying for the churches and their pastors. The Lord will visit those willing to yield to Him."

And the same is true today of the Pentecostal people. Their ultimate failure or success for God will be realized just at this point. We must keep humble and little in our own eyes. Let us get built up by a sense of our own importance and we are gone. History repeats itself in this connection. God has always sought a humble people. He can use no other. Martin Luther, the great reformer, wrote: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ says repent, he means that the whole life of believers on earth should be a constant and perpetual repentance. Repentance and sorrow—i.e. true repentance—endure as long as a man is displeased with himself—that is, until he passes from this life into eternity. The desire of self-justification is the cause of all the distresses of the heart." There is much need always of heart preparation, in humility and separation, before God can consistently come. The depth of any revival will be determined exactly by the spirit of repentance that obtains. In fact this is the key to every true revival born of God.

May 12, God dealt with me about giving all my time to Him, turning my back finally and for all time on secular employment. He wanted me now to trust Him fully for myself and family. I had just received a little book, "The Great Revival in Wales," written by S.B. Shaw. Taking a little walk before breakfast I was reading this. The Lord had been trying for years to bring me to this decision for His service. We entered into a new contract between us. He was to have the rest of my life fully. And I have never dared to break this contract. I love work, and have been terribly tempted at times, through seeming need. I have always worked harder than my natural strength reasonably allowed.

Wife kept my breakfast for me. But I did not return until noon. I had lost my appetite for food. The Spirit, through the little book, set me on fire. I visited and prayed with three preachers and a number of workers before I returned home, at noon. I had received a new commission and anointing. My burden was for a revival. A brother gave me the money for a new pair of shoes I needed. Thus already the Lord was providing. The devil was tempting me about my contract. I had had no work for three weeks. God had closed the door to work against me.

I visited and prayed with people all day long for some time now, distributing G. Campbell Morgan's pamphlet on the "Revival in Wales." It moved the people strongly. The spirit of prayer was increasing upon me and I determined to be "obedient to the heavenly vision." The "bread question" had faced me down for many years. I prayed the Lord for faith to trust Him fully. "Man shall not live by bread alone."—Matt. 4:4.

The Lord blessed me with a further spirit of exhortation to revival among the churches, giving me articles to write for the Holiness press along the same line also. I began to write particularly for the "Way of Faith" and "God's Revivalist." One night I awoke from my sleep shouting the praises of God. He was getting hold of me more and more. I was now going day and night, exhorting to faith in God for mighty things. The spirit of revival consumed me. The spirit of prophecy came upon me strongly, also. I seemed to receive a definite "gift of faith" for revival. We were evidently in the beginning of wonderful days to come, and I prophesied continually of a mighty outpouring.

I had a real ministry to the religious press, and began to attend prayer meetings at the various churches, to exhort them. We were up against it for money, and the devil tempted me to go back to work. Our rent was due, and I had only 50 cents. But the Lord heard prayer. I was about to sell our stove. We had to have a roof over our heads. Just the exact amount we needed came in, without solicitation. God was faithful.

G. Campbell Morgan's little tract on the "Revival in Wales" spread the fire in the churches wonderfully. I did a great deal of visiting among the saints also, and began to sell S.B. Shaw's little book, "The Great Revival in Wales," among the churches. God wonderfully used it to promote faith for a revival spirit. My tract work was continued among the saloons and business houses.

My clothing by this time was getting quite shabby. In answer to prayer the Lord gave me, through Brother Marsh, a Methodist brother in Pasadena, two secondhand suits of clothes, one light and one heavy, for summer and winter. Both were better than the one I was wearing. So I got a double blessing, twice what I had asked for.

I preached in the M.E. Church at Lamanda Park. Four souls were saved, and others under conviction. One ran out of the meeting to keep from yielding to God. I began to visit more churches, and write more messages for the religious press. The Lord frequently allowed us to be strongly tested financially, but never to make our wants known to the people. We had only a handful of beans in the house on one occasion. But He provided before they were fully consumed. A brother brought us a sack of potatoes as the result of a testimony I gave in the First M.E. Church. It pays to obey God. I preached at Lamanda Park M.E. Church again and the meeting lasted until after midnight. The fire fell. We repaired to the parsonage and were in prayer until near morning.

I owed the landlady for one week's rent. The devil got in her and she ordered me to pay at once, or get out. But God sent the rent. At Lamanda Park I preached a number of times again. The fire fell in a wonderful way. A number of souls were saved. Brother and Sister Frambes, the pastors, were precious children of God. God also began to work at Brother Manley's tent meeting in Pasadena. The burden of prayer was heavy on me for the work in those days. I had little rest day or night, in services and prayer. They were initial days. The fight was on. Both God and the devil were on the move.

May, 1905, I wrote in an article: "My soul is on fire as I read of the glorious work of grace in Wales. The 'seven thousand' in the land, who have kept company with the 'spared ones' (Ezek. 9), and who have been 'crying and sighing' because of the abomination and desolation in the land, the decay of vital piety in the body of Christ, may well be excused for rejoicing at such a time and prospect as this, when God is once more moving in the earth. But where are the men who will 'stir themselves up to take hold on God?' Let our watchword at this time be 'California for Christ.' God is looking for workers, channels, worms of the dust. Remember, He must have worms. Jesus' life was pressed out in prayer at every pore. This kind comes too high for most people. But may not this be our Lord's 'last call'?"

Chapter 2: Pastor Smale Returns From Wales

June 17, I went to Los Angeles to attend a meeting at the First Baptist Church. They were waiting on God for an outpouring of the Spirit there. Their pastor, Joseph Smale, had just returned from Wales. He had been in touch with the revival and Evan Roberts, and was on fire to have the same visitation and blessing come to his own church in Los Angeles. I found this meeting of an exact piece with my own vision, burden, and desire, and spent two hours in the church in prayer, before the evening service. Meetings were being held every day and night there and God was present.

One afternoon I started the meeting in Los Angeles while they were waiting for Smale to appear. I exhorted them not to wait for man, but to expect from God. They were depending on some great one, the same spirit of idolatry that has cursed the church and hindered God in all ages. Like the children of Israel the people must have "some other god before Him." In State Church circles in Europe the pastor is often known as "the little God." I started the service in the evening on the church steps, outside, while we were waiting for the janitor to arrive with the key. We had a season of prayer for the surrounding community. The evening meeting was a steady sweep of victory.

When God's church becomes what it should be, in love and unity, the doors will never be closed or locked. Like the temple of old it will be always open. (We saw this later, at Azusa Mission.) God has not got 666 churches, all of different names. There is no division in a true "Pentecost," neither in true worship. "God is spirit; and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."—John 4:24. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body; and were all made to drink of one Spirit."—1 Cor. 12:13.

Ancient Israel, when right with God, were one. How much more should the Church be? We have priests enough to serve continually. And plenty of seeking, needy people to fill the church at all times. How far have we fallen from the early pattern, and even from the type of the church, Israel? We are so short we scarcely recognize the real thing. Even the Roman Church, though formal, is ahead of us in this. The difficulty and shame is that we are hopelessly divided.

I went to Lamanda Park again, and after preaching, spent the night at the parsonage, praying and sleeping alternately. I wanted a fuller revelation of Jesus to my own soul. Like the full moon that draws clearer and nearer to our vision as we continue to steadfastly gaze at it, so Jesus appears more real to our souls as we continue to contemplate Him. We need a closer, personal, vital relationship, acquaintance, and communion with God. Only the man who lives in fellowship with divine reality can be used to call the people to God.

I went to Smale's church again, and again found them listlessly waiting for the preacher to appear. Many did not seem to have any definite idea what they had come to meeting for. I began to pray aloud and the meeting started off with power. It was in full blast when Brother Smale arrived. God wanted the people to look to Him, and not to man. Those not having the glory of God first in view would naturally resent this. But it is God's plan.

We now moved into a little cottage at 175 ½ N. Vernon Avenue, Pasadena, paying three dollars per month rent, for one room and a small kitchen, unfurnished, without gas or water. I found most Christians did not want to take on a burden of prayer. It was too hard on the flesh. I was carrying this burden now in ever increasing volume, night and day. The ministry was intense. It was "the fellowship of His sufferings," of "travail" of soul, with "groanings that could not be uttered."—Rom. 8:26, 27. Most believers find it easier to criticize than to pray.

One day I was much burdened in prayer. I went to Brother Manley's tent and fell at the altar, there unburdening my soul. A worker ran in from a side tent and begged me to pray for him. I attended another meeting that night and there found a young brother, Edward Boehmer, who had been dug out in the Peniel meetings in the spring, with the same burden of prayer on him. We were wonderfully united in the Spirit from that time on. He was destined to become my prayer helper in the future. We prayed together at the little Peniel Mission until 2 A.M. God wonderfully met and assured us as we wrestled with Him for the outpouring of His Spirit upon the people. My life was by this time literally swallowed up in prayer. I was praying day and night.

I wrote more articles for the religious press, exhorting the saints to prayer, and went to Smale's again in Los Angeles. Here I found the people waiting for the preacher again. I was greatly burdened for the situation and tried to show them they must expect from God. Some resented this, being bound by age old custom, but others responded to it. They were praying for a revival like they had in Wales. This was one of the outstanding features there. In Wales they expected from God. The meetings went on whether the preacher was present or absent. They came to meet God. He met them.

I had written a letter to Evan Roberts in Wales, asking them to pray for us in California. I now received a reply that they were doing so, which linked us up with the revival there. The letter read as follows: "My dear brother in the faith: Many thanks for your kind letter. I am impressed of your sincerity and honesty of purpose. Congregate the people together who are willing to make a total surrender. Pray and wait. Believe God's promises. Hold daily meetings. May God bless you, is my earnest prayer. Yours in Christ, Evan Roberts." We were much encouraged to know that they were praying for us in Wales.

I preached at Lamanda Park again, and one night got so blessed while preaching about Elijah's sacrifice that I leaped for joy. I was informed after the service that some of the people were very much shocked at my undignified action, and that they did not want me any more. And they were Methodists at that. God had blessed my ministry much in that place. The devil did not want me to preach any more there. Church fairs and suppers were all right, and in fact all the rage with them at this time. That was "dignified." But I was encouraged when I remembered the fact that neither Wesley nor Fletcher were often allowed to speak the second time in the churches of their day. Many looked upon Fletcher as a monster, when in fact he was one of the most saintly men of his time. Few people really know God in any time.

I went frequently to Brother Smale's church in Los Angeles, taking part in the meetings with much blessing. The Peniel boys went with me and helped to fan the flame. We were much tested at home along financial lines. Money was very tight. But God did not allow us to really suffer. I wrote some articles for the "Way of Faith," the "Christian Harvester," and for "God's Revivalist" at this time. The following are extracts: "A wonderful work of the Spirit has broken out here in Los Angeles, California, preceded by a deep preparatory work of prayer and expectation. Conviction is rapidly spreading among the people, and they are rallying from all over the city to the meetings at Pastor Smale's church. Already these meetings are beginning to 'run themselves.' Souls are being saved all over the house, while the meeting sweeps on unguided by human hands. The tide is rising rapidly, and we are anticipating wonderful things. Soul travail is becoming an important feature of the work, and we are being swept away beyond sectarian barriers. The fear of God is coming upon the people, a very spirit of burning. Sunday night the meeting ran on until the small hours of the next morning. Pastor Smale is prophesying of wonderful things to come. He prophesies the speedy return of the apostolic 'gifts' to the church. Los Angeles is a veritable Jerusalem. Just the place for a mighty work of God to begin. I have been expecting just such a display of divine power for some time. Have felt it might break out any hour. Also that it was liable to come where least expected, that God might get the glory. Pray for a 'Pentecost.'"—F. Bartleman, June, 1905.

One evening, July 3, I felt strongly impressed to go to the little Peniel Hall in Pasadena to pray. There I found Brother Boehmer ahead of me. He had also been led of God to the hall. We prayed for a spirit of revival for Pasadena until the burden became well nigh unbearable. I cried out like a woman in birth-pangs. The Spirit was interceding through us. Finally the burden left us. After a little time of quiet waiting a great calm settled down upon us. Then suddenly, without premonition, the Lord Jesus himself revealed himself to us. He seemed to stand directly between us, so close we could have reached out our hand and touched Him. But we did not dare to move. I could not even look. In fact I seemed all spirit. His presence seemed more real, if possible, than if I could have seen and touched Him naturally. I forgot I had eyes or ears. My spirit recognized Him. A heaven of divine love filled and thrilled my soul. Burning fire went through me. In fact my whole being seemed to flow down before Him, like wax before the fire. I lost all consciousness of time or space, being conscious only of His wonderful presence. I worshipped at His feet. It seemed a veritable "mount of transfiguration." I was lost in the pure Spirit.

For some time He remained with us. Then slowly He withdrew His presence. We would have been there yet had He not withdrawn. I could not doubt His reality after that experience. Brother Boehmer experienced largely the same thing. We had lost all consciousness of each other's presence while He remained with us. We were almost afraid to speak or breathe when we came back to our surroundings. The Lord had said nothing to us, but only ravished our spirits by His presence. He had come to strengthen and assure us for His service. We knew now we were workers with Him, fellowshippers of his sufferings, in the ministry of "soul travail." Real soul travail is just as definite in the spirit, as natural human birth-pangs. The simile is almost perfect in its sameness. No soul is ever born without this. All true revivals of salvation come this way.

The sun was up next morning before we left the hall. But the night had seemed but half an hour. The presence of God eliminates all sense of time. With Him all is eternity. It is "eternal life." God knows no time. This element is lost in Heaven. This is the secret of time appearing to pass so swiftly in all nights of real prayer. Time is superseded. The element of eternity is there. For days that marvelous presence seemed to walk by my side. The Lord Jesus was so real. I could scarcely take up with human conversation again. It seemed so crude and empty. Human spirits seemed so harsh, earthly fellowship a torment. How far we are naturally from the gentle spirit of Christ!

I spent the following day in prayer, going to Smale's church in the evening, where I had a ministry in intercession. Heavenly peace and joy filled my soul. Jesus was so real. Doubts and fears cannot abide in His presence.

Some one left a load of wood at our door one day, in our absence. We never knew who brought it. We had been praying for wood. I attended Brother Smale's meeting in Los Angeles often and had a blessed ministry in intercession there. God wonderfully poured out his Spirit. Our rent was due again. But a brother wrote out a check for the amount, all unsolicited. We had been praying for it.

I wrote a number of articles to several Holiness papers, describing God's operations among us, and exhorting the saints everywhere to faith and prayer for a revival. The Lord used these articles greatly to bring faith and conviction in many places. I was soon receiving quite a large correspondence, from many places. My concern was chiefly for the Holiness people, that they might not be passed by, and lose the blessing. I wrote in my diary at this time the following observations (a warning to the Pentecostal people): "The Holiness people are loaded down to the water's edge with a spirit of prejudice and pharisaism. But dare we cut ourselves off so easily from other members of the ‘body’? We may cut ourselves off from God by our spiritual pride, while He may cause the weakest to repent, and go through to victory. (Referring to the work in the First Baptist Church, at Brother Smale's.) The work in our own hearts must go deeper than we have ever experienced, deep enough to destroy sectarian prejudice, party spirit, etc., on all sides. The work of revival seems to have started outside of the Holiness churches proper. God can perfect those whom He chooses. The Holiness people are too proud of their standing. (Too confident of their position, and condition also.) He may need to pass them by. They must also repent. God may humble them by working in other places."

And history repeats itself. Let the Pentecostal people beware! The present world-wide revival was rocked in the cradle of little Wales. It was 'brought up' in India, following; becoming full grown in Los Angeles later. I received from God early in 1905 the following keynote to revival: "The depth of revival will be determined exactly by the depth of the spirit of repentance." And this will obtain for all people, at all times.

The revival spirit at Brother Smale's rapidly spread its interest over the whole city, among the spiritual people. Workers were coming in from all parts, from various affiliations, uniting their prayers with us for a general outpouring. The circle of interest widened rapidly. We were now praying for California, for the Nation, and also for a world-wide revival. The spirit of prophecy began to work among us for mighty things, on a large scale. Some one sent me 5000 pamphlets on "The Revival in Wales." These I distributed among the churches. They had a wonderful quickening influence.

I visited Smale's church again, and started the meeting. He had not yet arrived. The meetings were getting wonderful by this time for their spontaneity. Our little Gideon's band was marching on to certain victory, led by the Captain of their salvation, Jesus. I was led to pray at this early date especially for faith, discernment of spirits, healing, prophecy. I felt I needed more wisdom and love also. I seemed to receive a real "gift of faith" for the revival at this time, with a spirit of prophecy to the same end, and began to prophesy of mighty things to come.

When we began to pray in the spring of 1905, no one seemed to have much faith for anything out of the ordinary. Pessimism in regard to the then present conditions seemed to obtain generally among the saints. But this condition had changed. God himself had given us faith for better things. There had been nothing in sight to stimulate to this. It came from nothing. And cannot He do the same today?

I wrote an article at this time for the "Daily News" of Pasadena, describing what I saw in Brother Smale's church. It was published and the manager himself came to see soon after. He was greatly convicted, came to the altar, and sought God earnestly. The article was copied in a number of Holiness papers throughout the country. It was entitled, "What I Saw in a Los Angeles Church." The following are some extracts: "For some weeks special services have been held in the First Baptist Church, Los Angeles. Pastor Smale has returned from Wales, where he was in touch with Evan Roberts, and the revival. He registers his conviction that Los Angeles will soon be shaken by the mighty power of God.

"The service of which I am writing began impromptu and spontaneous, some time before the pastor arrived. A handful of people had gathered early, which seemed to be sufficient for the Spirit's operation. The meeting started. Their expectation was from God. God was there, the people were there, and by the time the pastor arrived the meeting was in full swing. Pastor Smale dropped into his place, but no one seemed to pay any especial attention to him. Their minds were on God. No one seemed to get in another's way, although the congregation represented many religious bodies. All seemed perfect harmony. The Spirit was leading.

"The pastor arose, read a portion of the Scripture, made a few well chosen remarks full of hope and inspiration for the occasion, and the meeting passed again from his hands. The people took it up and went on as before. Testimony, prayer and praise were intermingled throughout the service. The meeting seemed to run itself as far as human guidance was concerned. The pastor was one of them. If one is at all impressionable religiously they must feel in such an atmosphere that something wonderful and imminent is about to take place. Some mysterious, mighty upheaval in the spiritual world is evidently at our doors. The meeting gives one a feeling of 'heaven on earth,' with an assurance that the supernatural exists, and that in a very real sense."—F. Bartleman, in "Daily News," Pasadena.

I wrote another article, for the "Wesleyan Methodist," at the same time, of which the following are extracts: "Mercy rejected means judgment, and on a corresponding scale. In all the history of God's world there has always been first the offer of divine mercy, then judgment following. First comes Christ on the white horse of mercy. Then follows the red, black and pale horses, of war, famine, and death. The prophets ceased not day and night to faithfully warn Israel, but their tears and entreaties for the most part proved in vain. The awful destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70, which resulted in the extermination of a million Jews, and the captivity of multitudes more, was preceded by the offer of divine mercy at the hands of the Son of God himself.

"In 1859, a great revival wave visited our country, sweeping a half million souls into the fountain of salvation. Immediately the terrible carnage of 1861-1865, followed. And so as we anticipate the coming revival, which is already assuming rapidly world-wide proportions, we wonder will not judgment follow mercy, as at other times. And judgment in proportion to the mercy extended. The present warlike attitude and distress of the nations makes us wonder if the judgment to follow may not even plunge us into the 'tribulation,' the Great one."—F. Bartleman, July, 1905.

For "God's Revivalist" I wrote: "Unbelief of every form has come in upon us like a flood. But lo, our God comes also! A standard is being raised against the enemy. The Lord is choosing out His workers. This is a time to realize the vision for service. 'The Lord hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. Gather my saints together unto me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.'—Ps. 50." I used often to declare during 1905, that I would rather live six months at that time than fifty years of ordinary time. It was a day of the beginning of great things. For the grain of corn that was willing to "fall into the ground and die," there was promise of abundant harvest. But for spiritual "flappers," the whole matter was naturally foolishness.

I wrote another letter to Evan Roberts, asking for continued prayer for California. Thus we were kept linked up in prayer with Wales for the revival. In those days real prayer was little understood. It was hard to find a quiet place where one would not be disturbed. Gethsemane experiences with Jesus were rare among the saints in those days. And it is fast getting to be the same condition among our Pentecostal missions. In the Azusa Mission days the first thought for a suitable mission was the prayer room. Now it seems too often to be the last consideration.

At Smale's church one day I was groaning in prayer at the altar. The spirit of intercession was upon me. A brother rebuked me severely. He did not understand it. The flesh naturally shrinks from such ordeals. The "groans" are no more popular in most churches than is a woman in birth-pangs in the home. Soul-travail does not make pleasant company for selfish worldlings. But we cannot have souls born without it. Child bearing is anything but a popular exercise these days. And so with a real revival of new born souls in the churches. Modern society has little place for a child-bearing mother. They prefer society "flappers." And so with the churches regarding soul-travail. There is little burden for souls. Men run from the groans of a woman in travail of birth. And so the church desires no "groans" today. She is too busy enjoying herself.

We were much pressed financially again, but the Lord delivered. We never made our wants known to any one but God, and never begged or borrowed, no matter how pressing the need might seem to be. We believed if the saints were living close enough to God He would speak to them. We trusted Him fully, and went without if He did not send help. I wrote my first tract at this time. It was entitled, "Love Never Faileth." This was the beginning of a large faith tract ministry. I had to trust the Lord for the means. But He never failed me.

I was preaching at various meetings during those days, and had a message on me one day for Brother Manley's meeting. I wanted a quotation of two lines from a volume of Clarke's Commentaries. There were four volumes. Each contained 1000 pages. I only had a few minutes to find it. Prayerfully I chose one of the volumes, closed my eyes and let the book drop open of itself. It was not marked or pressed at that particular page, but wonderful to relate, the book opened exactly at the right place and my eyes fell directly on the quotation that I wanted. This would have been impossible in the natural. I had not at all known where in the book to find it. I only remembered having read it. This strengthened my faith greatly for the message. But I certainly would not, of course, advise this as a practice.

At Brother Smale's church one evening the meeting ran away in the "flesh." He called the people to prayer and the crowd thinned down to one-fourth. Then God came in power. There was too much "religion" there. I ordered a tract printed, "Come Angel Band," and asked the Lord to give me 1000 for a certain price. The printer charged me exactly that amount, knowing nothing of course of my prayer. A sister handed me five dollars. She said the Lord had been talking to her for some time about giving me this. It was the exact amount I had been praying for. I prayed for another five dollars I needed, and a brother soon handed me the exact amount also, without a hint from me on the subject. I trembled to think how wonderfully the Lord was caring for us. My life was wholly at His service. But I dared not be presumptuous.

One evening I went to Brother Manley's tent meeting, without a thought of taking part in the service. I sat in the rear. Soon the Spirit came mightily upon me. I rose and spoke and the power of God fell upon the congregation. The whole company fell on their faces. For three hours the whole tent was an altar service and prayer continued. A number were saved and everybody seemed to get help from God. It was a wonderful visitation of the Spirit. The people were not as rebellious in those days as they are now. They were more willing to have the program broken into, and there were not so many fanatical spirits to hinder. There was a real hunger for God. Almost every night found me taking part in some meeting. The Lord continued to pour out His Spirit.

About this time I had an awful attack of neuralgia of the stomach. I felt I would die. I fasted and prayed a whole day and night and the Lord delivered. It seemed the devil wanted to kill me. I wrote another tract, entitled "That They All May Be One." This stirred the sectarian devil fiercely. But it was Jesus' own prayer—-John 17, "that the world may believe."

A friend paid our expenses at the Holiness camp meeting in the Arroyo for a few days, so we tented there. It was mid-summer. We enjoyed the change and outing. I spent most of my time on my face in the woods, in prayer. In the moonlight evenings I poured out my soul unto God, and He met me there. There was much "empty wagon" rattle in the camp. Most were seeking selfish blessings. They rushed to meeting like a big sponge, to get more blessing. They needed stepping on. And so with the Pentecostal people today, largely.

Our cottage rent was due again and the devil fought hard. But God came to our help. Little Ruth was taken very sick at the camp. The weather was hot. We prayed all one night for her and the Lord touched her. I found my soul crying out for God far beyond the seeming aspirations of the most of the Holiness people. I wanted to go deeper, beneath the mere emotional realm, to something more substantial and lasting that would put a rock in my soul. I was tired of so much evanescent froth and foam, so much religious ranting and bombast. And the Lord did not long disappoint me.

The camp meeting committee now got me on the carpet because of the tracts I was distributing in the camp. They thought I was attacking the Holiness movement. But I was only exhorting them to a deeper place in God. They needed more humility and love. My tract against sectarianism, "That They All May Be One," stirred the camp. Surely man-made movements need to be stirred. God has but one "movement," "one body." This was the message at Azusa Mission in the beginning.

I received a second letter from Evan Roberts, which read as follows: "Loughor, Wales, 7, 8, 1905. Dear brother: I am very thankful to you for your thoughtful kindness. I was exceedingly pleased to learn the good news of how you are beginning to experience wonderful things. Praying God to continue to bless you, and with many thanks repeated for your good wishes, I am yours in the service. Evan Roberts."

One evening at the Holiness camp the Lord told me He wanted me to preach. I went out in the woods and tried to pray for the meeting. But He said, I want you to preach. I told Him they would not let me. They had a dozen of their own itching for the opportunity. Besides they were half afraid of me. I did not belong to their particular branch of religion. But He said preach! I told Him if He would close every other mouth that night I would obey Him. Throwing the responsibility thus on Him I went to the meeting. It was time for the message. They looked at one another, but every tongue was tied. No one looked at me. The Spirit came upon me and I sprang to my feet. God flooded my soul with power. The message came straight from Him and went like an arrow to the mark. It shook the camp.

Little Ruth was now taken with convulsions and the devil tried to kill her. It was very hot and she was teething. This was the devil's pay for me. We moved back to our cottage in Pasadena again. I mailed eighteen separate packages of my tracts to as many missions on the Pacific Coast. Then God gave me another tract, "The Heart of the Matter." In this I sought to set forth the real object of our worship and faith, Jesus Christ, central preaching, without innuendos. Little Ruth grew worse until we had but small hope in the natural for her life. But God heard our cries and spared her. The enemy seemed determined to rob us of our last remaining child. Financially we were in hard straits also. Not a penny was coming in. But help came, just in the nick of time. God did not fail us. We were trusting Him.

One night the devil came very close to me. I awoke suddenly out of my sleep to find his presence almost as real as my own in the room. I cried to God for help and he fled. Wife felt his presence also, just before I awoke. We were going through a furnace of fire. But the "fourth" was with us. Human help seemed to fail us utterly. The enemy seemed determined to drive me from the work. I was spending whole nights and days in prayer. Evidently Satan's kingdom was suffering. The neighbors hearing me groan in prayer thought I must be sick and inquired of my condition. But it was only soul burden.

The Lord had undertaken wonderfully for me on my last tract. The printer miscalculated and took the job for $6.50. It was worth $9.00. He stood by his bargain. Then he spoiled 1000 by a slight misprint. These he gave me for almost nothing. I corrected the mistake with my pen.

At Peniel Mission, Los Angeles, a sister spoke to me after the meeting one day, and then passed on. I felt the Lord wanted her to give me some money. I was much in need. So I silently prayed. She stopped about ten feet from me, came back, and handed me one dollar. I was telling a brother of the incident a few minutes later when he told me to wait a minute for him. He went to his room in the mission, and returned at once with two dollars for me. God had heard my prayer.

I went to Smale's church that night, and he resigned. The meetings had run daily in the First Baptist Church for fifteen weeks. It was now September. The officials of the church were tired of the innovations and wanted to return to the old order. He was told to either stop the revival, or get out. He wisely chose the latter. But what an awful position for a church to take, to throw God out. In this same way they later drove the Spirit of God out of the churches in Wales. They tired of His presence, desiring to return to the old, cold, ecclesiastical order. How blind men are! The most spiritual of Pastor Smale's members naturally followed him, with a nucleus of other workers who had gathered to him from other sources, during the revival. They immediately contemplated organizing a New Testament church. I had a feeling perhaps the Lord was cutting Brother Smale loose for the evangelistic field, at least for a time, to spread the fire in other places. But he did not see it so. I had a conference with him with this object in view, and was able to arrange for him to speak at the Lake Avenue M.E. Church, for Pastor Brink, in Pasadena. This had been the storm center of the revival there.

I walked all day spreading the news of the meeting, not having money for carfare, and was so tired at night I could not sleep. We had not a penny, our rent was due, and yet I was literally pouring out my life in the service of God. We had barely the necessities for living. Surely some one must have been failing God. The Lord was wonderfully with me in the Spirit. Many were being blessed by my ministry. The leaders did not encourage me very much. But the humble, hungry souls heard of Jesus gladly. A revival almost always begins among the laity. The ecclesiastical leaders seldom welcome reformation. History repeats itself. The present leaders are too comfortably situated as a rule to desire innovation that might require sacrifice on their part. And God's fire only falls on sacrifice. An empty altar receives no fire. Cold intellectualism, formal ecclesiasticism, and priestly domination are altogether outside the genius of the Gospel. Thank God there are exceptions among the leaders. But we are saved to serve. The true minister is a servant. Jesus came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Even the mighty evangelist, Chas. G. Finney, was so poor after fifteen years prodigious labors for the Lord that he was obliged to sell his traveling trunk to buy a cow, for the support of his family.

The night before Brother Smale's services at Lake Avenue Church two of us spent the night until after midnight in prayer. Brother Smale preached twice on Sunday. He was wonderfully anointed of God for the occasion. We spent the time between the services in prayer. His message was on the revival in Wales. The people were greatly moved. Brother Smale soon organized a New Testament Church. I became a charter member, as I felt I ought to stay with them, though I did not care very much for the organization.

We got to the point where we had to have money for rent and food, or be turned out to starve. While sitting at my table writing, the Lord spoke and told me to go and see Brother Geo. Crary. The impression was so strong I dropped my pen and went at once. After a season of prayer with Brother Crary and his wife I started to go. I had not said a word about our needs. They handed me $2.50, with the remark that the Lord had sent me there for them to give me this. The devil had tried to run Brother Crary off three times before I got there. But God held him. A little later another brother gave me a dollar. The Lord showed him to do this. So I had three dollars for my rent, and fifty cents to buy food with. We could buy much more for fifty cents in those days than we can now.

One morning soon after this, while we were on our knees praying at home, and in much need of food, the groceryman drove up and left five dollars worth of groceries. He would not tell us who sent it. Some one had paid for it for us. Little Ruth ate a green peach and came near dying again. Prayer saved her. Brother Smale now rented Burbank Hall, and prepared to hold meetings there. I secured the Fourth St. Holiness Hall for him, until Burbank Hall was ready. The Lord gave me another tract, entitled "Pray! Pray! Pray!" I took it to the printer in faith and He sent me the money on time. It was a strong exhortation to prayer. Like the prophets of old we must pray for those who will not pray for themselves. We must confess the sins of the people for them.

At one time while Brother Boehmer and I prayed the Spirit was poured out in a wonderful way in several meetings we were praying for. We felt we had hold of God for them. Following reports proved our convictions. Prayer changes things. There is wonderful power in the proper kind of prayer. Instance Elijah on Mt. Carmel, a man of "like passions" with us. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much in its working." —Jas. 5:16. Confession may also be necessary in this connection. "Confess therefore your faults one to another."

I now had a cottage offered me in Los Angeles, for eight dollars per month. We had felt for some time the Lord wanted us back in Los Angeles. He sent us the first month's rent, and Brother Penfield in Pasadena loaned me his mule team to move with. We located in the rear of the lot at 619 Towne Avenue. The landlady lived in the front house. It was September 27, 1905.

I was strongly impressed one whole night in prayer to go to San Diego, so I wrote Sister Tillie Haefner, in charge of Peniel Mission there. The money came in for my fare without solicitation. It was God's will. I preached in Peniel Mission in San Diego, and held street meetings. The police hindered me much, standing in with the saloons, etc. But God gave strength and victory. I visited and prayed with a number of sick people there also, and took a little run over to old Tia Juana, Mexico.

The Burning Bush had spoiled the spirit of the saints greatly in San Diego. It had made them harsh and hard. There was little love, but much strife and contention. God made me a messenger of peace, as usual. I have always stood for the "one body" of Christ. Sister Haefner expressed herself as being much encouraged by my visit. She had had a very hard fight of it. I was taken very sick before I left there, and lay awake all one night with chills and fever. But I had a remarkable experience in this. I had the grippe. Although racked with pain, and burning up with fever, a tremendous spirit of prayer was upon me. I seemed like two separate persons. My brain seemed separate, and alive for God. I felt all spirit. In my body I was sick enough to die. My suffering but seemed to press my soul outside of my body. It was a peculiar experience. I am sure the devil was the loser by it. My spirit seemed completely lifted above my physical condition.

I spoke at the Friends Church Sunday morning on the revival in Wales, and then returned home to Los Angeles. I was so weak I was afraid I would have to be taken from the train on a stretcher. But I got home safely. I had just enough money to get home with. We were up against it financially again. A brother sent me two dollars in a letter, stating the Lord had shown him we were in need. We were praying hard. What a blessed thing to be living where God can speak to one, even though it may cost us some-thing in obedience. Few seem to be living in this place today. Hence the tremendous suffering among God's workers. I am convinced that many true workers are hated bitterly simply because those who feel their prayers, and to whom God is speaking to help them, will not obey the voice of the Lord. Selfishness is a damning sin. Those who give to God cannot possibly lose by it. In fact the only thing we really save is what we give to God. The rest is all lost eventually.

Almost every day in Los Angeles found me engaged in personal work, tract distribution, prayer, or preaching in some meeting. I was writing articles for the religious press continually. I fasted and prayed before going to a tent meeting in Pasadena. The Lord wonderfully anointed me in preaching and twenty souls came to the altar. By this time the spirit of intercession had so possessed me that I prayed almost day and night. I fasted much also, until my wife almost despaired of my life at times. The sorrows of my Lord had gripped me. I was in the Garden with Him. The "travail of His soul" had fallen in a measure on me. I was led to fear, like Him, that I might not live to realize the answer to my prayers and tears for the revival. But He assured me, sending more than one angel to strengthen me, I am satisfied. I felt I was realizing a little of what Paul meant about "filling up the cup of His sufferings" for a lost world. Some were even afraid that I was losing my mind. They could not understand my tremendous concern. Nor can very many understand these things today. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit." They are "foolishness" unto him. Selfish spirits can never understand such sacrifice. But "he that would save his life shall lose it." "Except a grain of corn fall into the ground and die, etc." Our Lord was a "man of sorrows," as well as of joy.

I frequently went to Pasadena having to trust God for carfare to get home. On one occasion Brother Boehmer had an impression I was coming. He went to the little Peniel Mission and found me there. We spent several hours in prayer. Then he paid my carfare home. We often spent whole nights together in prayer during those days. It seemed a great privilege to spend a whole night with the Lord. He drew so near. We never seemed to get weary on such occasions. Boehmer worked at gardening. I never asked him for a penny but he always gave me something. God finally not only got his money, but his life also, in His service. He was a wonderful man of prayer. God taught us what it means to "know no man after the flesh." He lifted us into such a high relationship that our fellowship seemed only in the Spirit. Beyond that we died to one another.

I wrote Evan Roberts a third time to have them continue to pray for us in Wales. In those days after I had preached I generally called the saints to their knees and we would be for hours in prayer before we could get up. The Lord led me to write many leaders throughout the country to pray for revival. The spirit of prayer was growing continually. The New Testament Church seemed to be losing the spirit of prayer as they increased their organization. They now tried to shift this ministry on a few of us. I knew God was not pleased with that and became much burdened for them. They had taken on too many secondary interests. It began to look as though the Lord would have to find another body. My hopes had been high for this particular company of people. But the enemy seemed to be sidetracking them now, leading them to miss God's best for them at least.

They were now even attempting to organize prayer, a thing impossible. Prayer is spontaneous. I felt it were better not to have organized than to lose the ministry of prayer and spirit of revival as a body. It was for this they had been called in the beginning. They had become ambitious for a church and organization. It seemed hard to them not to be "like the other nations (churches) 'round about them." And right here they surely began to fail. As church work increased the real issue was lost sight of. And the Pentecostal missions appear to be facing the same danger today. Human organization and human programming leave very little room for the free Spirit of God. It means much to be willing to be considered a failure, while we seek to build up a purely spiritual kingdom. God's kingdom cometh not "by observation."

It is very easy to choose second best. The prayer life is needed much more than even buildings or organizations. These are often a substitute for the other. Souls are born into the kingdom only through prayer.

I feared the New Testament Church might develop a party, sectarian spirit. A rich lady offered them the money to build a church edifice with. The devil was bidding high. But she soon withdrew her offer. I confess I was glad she did. They would soon have had no time for anything but building then. It would have been the end of their revival. We had been called out to evangelize Los Angeles, not to build up another sect or party spirit. We needed no more organization nor machinery than what was really necessary for the speedy evangelizing of the city. Surely we had enough separate rival church organizations already on our hands. Each working largely for its own interest, advancement, and glory.

We had nothing to eat in the house but a little dry bread on one occasion about this time, when I received a letter from Brother Boehmer with a dollar in it. He was in close touch with God. Possibly the saints would do better by the true ones if there were not so many frauds to shake their confidence. Every false shepherd and deceiver in the ranks makes it just that much harder for the true ones.

The New Testament Church seemed to be drifting toward Intellectualism. I became much burdened for it. During one meeting I groaned aloud in prayer. It was killing after the meetings we had had. One of the elders rebuked me severely for this. "How are the mighty fallen," kept ringing in my ears. A few of the most spiritual had the same burden with me.

Prayer again seemed to prevail in a measure. We had a great meeting in the church soon after. One hundred knelt at the altar at a single Sunday night service. I met with the Peniel boys in Pasadena for prayer and we had a breaking through time. We felt the Lord would soon work mightily. At Brother Brownley's tent, at Seventh and Spring streets, Los Angeles, we had a deep spirit of prayer and powerful altar services. There was a feeling that God was about to do something extraordinary. The spirit of prayer came more and more heavily upon us. In Pasadena, before moving to Los Angeles, I would lie on my bed in the daytime and roll and groan under the burden. At night I could scarcely sleep for the spirit of prayer. I fasted much, not caring for food while burdened. At one time I was in soul travail for nearly twenty-four hours without intermission. It nearly used me up. Prayer literally consumed me. I would groan all night in my sleep.

Prayer was not formal in those days. It was God breathed. It came upon us, and overwhelmed us. We did not work it up. We were gripped with real soul travail by the Spirit that could no more be shaken off than could the birth-pangs of a woman in travail, without doing absolute violence to the Spirit of God. It was real intercession by the Holy Spirit.

For several days I had an impression another letter was coming from Evan Roberts. It soon came, and read as follows: "Loughor, Wales, Nov. 14, '05. My dear comrade: What can I say that will encourage you in this terrible fight. I find it is a most awful one. The kingdom of the evil one is being besieged on every side. Oh, the millions of prayers—not simply the form of prayer—but the soul finding its way right to the White Throne! People in Wales can pray during the last year. May the Lord bless you with a mighty downpouring. In Wales it seems as if the Holy One rests upon the congregation, awaiting the opening of the hearts of the followers of Christ. We had a mighty downpouring of the Holy Spirit last Saturday night. This was preceded by the correcting of the people's views of true worship. 1.—To give unto God, not to receive. 2.—To please God, not to please ourselves. Therefore looking to God, and forgetting the enemy, and also the fear of men, we prayed, and the Spirit descended. I pray God to hear your prayer, to keep your faith strong, and to save California. I remain, your brother in the fight. Evan Roberts." This was the third letter I had received from Wales, from Evan Roberts, and I feel their prayers had much to do with our final victory in California.

Evan Roberts tells us of his own experience with God: "One Friday night last spring, while praying by my bedside before retiring, I was taken up to a great expanse, without time or space. It was communion with God. Before this I had had a far off God. I was frightened that night, but never since. So great was my shivering that I rocked the bed, and my brother, being awakened, took hold of me, thinking I was ill." This experience took place every night after this with Evan Roberts, for three months, from 1 o'clock until 5. He wrote a message to the world about this time, as follows: "The revival in South Wales is not of men, but of God. He has come very close to us. There is no question of creed or of dogma in this movement. We are teaching no sectarian doctrine, only the wonder and beauty of Christ's love. I have been asked concerning my methods. I have none. I never prepare what I shall speak, but leave that to Him. I am not the source of this revival, but only one agent among what is growing to be a multitude. I wish no personal following, but only the world for Christ. I believe that the world is upon the threshold of a great religious revival, and pray daily that I may be allowed to help bring this about. Wonderful things have happened in Wales in a few weeks, but these are only a beginning. The world will be swept by His Spirit as by a rushing, mighty wind. Many who are now silent Christians will lead the movement. They will see a great light, and will reflect this light to thousands now in darkness. Thousands will do more than we have accomplished, as God gives them power."—Evan Roberts. What beautiful humility! This is the secret of all power.

An English eye-witness writes of the revival in Wales: "Such real travail of soul for the unsaved I have never before witnessed. I have seen young Evan Roberts convulsed with grief, and calling on his audience to pray. 'Don't sing,' he would exclaim, 'it's too terrible to sing.'" (Conviction has often been lifted from the people by too much singing.)

Another writer declares it was not the eloquence of Evan Roberts that broke men down, but his tears. He would break down, crying bitterly for God to bend them, in an agony of prayer, the tears coursing down his cheeks, with his whole frame writhing. Strong men would break down and cry like children. Women would shriek. A sound of weeping and wailing would fill the air. Evan Roberts in the intensity of his agony would fall in the pulpit, while many in the crowd often fainted."

Of the later work in India we read: "The girls in India so wonderfully wrought upon and baptized with the Spirit (in Ramabai's mission), began by terrifically beating themselves, under pungent conviction of their need. Great light was given them. When delivered they jumped up and down for joy, for hours without fatigue, in fact were stronger for it. They cried out with the burning that came into and upon them. Some fell as they saw a great light pass before them, while the fire of God burned the members of the body of sin, pride, anger, love of the world, selfishness, uncleanness, etc. They neither ate nor slept until the victory was won. Then the joy was so great that for two or three days after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit they did not care for food. About twenty girls went into a trance at one time and became unconscious of this world for hours; some for three or four days. During that time they sang, prayed, clapped their hands, rolled about, or sat still. When they became conscious they told of seeing a throne in Heaven, a white robed throng, and a glory so bright they could not bear it. Soon the whole place was aflame. School had to be suspended, they forgot to eat or sleep, and whole nights and days were absorbed in prayer. The Spirit was poured out upon one of the seeking girls in the night. Her companion sleeping next to her awoke, and seeing fire envelope her, ran across the dormitory and brought a pail of water to dash upon her. In less than an hour nearly all the girls in the compound were weeping, praying, and confessing their sins. Many of these girls were invested with a strange, beautiful and supernatural fire."

The spontaneous composition of hymns was a curious feature of some of the meetings in other parts of India. At Kara Camp pictures appeared on the walls to a company of small girls in prayer, supernaturally depicting the life of Christ. The figures moved in the pictures and were in colors. Each view would last from two to ten minutes and then the light would gradually fade away, to reappear in a few moments with a new scene. These appeared for twelve hours, and were not only seen by the native children of the orphanage and eight missionaries, but by native Christians living near, and even heathen coming to see the wonderful sight. These pictures were all depicting faithfully the Bible narration and were entirely supernatural. They had a tremendous effect in breaking up the hard hearts of the heathen. In Wales colored lights were often seen, like balls of fire, during the revival there.

I kept going day and night to different missions, exhorting continually to prayer, and faith for the revival. Spent another whole night with Brother Boehmer in prayer. One night at the New Testament Church, during a deep spirit of prayer on the congregation, the Lord came suddenly so near that we could feel His presence as though he were closing in on us around the edges of the meeting. Two-thirds of the people sprang to their feet in alarm, and some ran hurriedly out of the house, even leaving their hats behind them, almost scared out of their senses. There was no demonstration in the natural out of the ordinary to cause this fright. It was a supernatural manifestation of His nearness. What would such do if they saw the Lord?

I started a little cottage prayer meeting where we could have more liberty to pray and wait on the Lord. The spirit of prayer was being hindered in the meetings. The more spiritual were hungry for this opportunity. But the leaders misunderstood me and opposed me. Then our landlady got the devil in her and wanted to throw us out of our home. She was not right with God. Our rent was paid up. But the enemy tried to use her. The fight was on. They began to oppose my ministry at the New Testament Church. A sister tried to persuade me to discontinue the prayer meetings I had started. I asked the Lord to show me His will in the matter. He came and filled our little cottage with a cloud of glory until I could scarcely bear His presence. That settled it for me. "We ought to obey God rather than men." I suffered much criticism at this time. I think they were afraid I would start another church. But I had no such thought at that time. I only wanted to have freedom to pray. Many a mission and church has gone on the rocks opposing God.

I wrote more articles for the religious press, of which the following are extracts: "Slowly but surely the conviction is coming upon the saints of Southern California that God is going to pour out His Spirit here as in Wales. We are having faith for things such as we have never dreamed of, for the near future. We are assured of no less than a 'Pentecost' for this whole country. But we can never have Pentecostal results without Pentecostal power. And this will mean Pentecostal demonstration. Few care to meet God face to face. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.'—Christian Harvester."

Again I wrote: "The current of revival is sweeping by our door. Will we cast ourselves on its mighty bosom and ride to glorious victory? A year of life at this time, with its wonderful possibilities for God, is worth a hundred years of ordinary life. 'Pentecost' is knocking at our doors. The revival for our country is no longer a question. Slowly but surely the tide has been rising until in the very near future we believe for a deluge of salvation that will sweep all before it. Wales will not long stand alone in this glorious triumph for our Christ. The spirit of reviving is coming upon us, driven by the breath of God, the Holy Ghost. The clouds are gathering rapidly, big with a mighty rain, whose precipitation lingers but a little.

"Heroes will arise from the dust of obscure and despised circumstances, whose names will be emblazoned on Heaven's eternal page of fame. The Spirit is brooding over our land again as at creation's dawn, and the fiat of God goes forth. 'Let there be light.' Brother, sister, if we all believed God can you realize what would happen? Many of us here are living for nothing else. A volume of believing prayer is ascending to the throne night and day. Los Angeles, Southern California, and the whole continent shall surely find itself ere long in the throes of a mighty revival, by the Spirit and power of God."—F. Bartleman, in "Way of Faith," Nov. 16, 1905.

December 14, I was 34 years old. I felt I had done so little in my time for God. I longed to be used for Him more definitely. There was not a penny in the house, and we had no milk for little Ruth. But God got help through us, after a fierce battle in prayer. The answer is often hindered today, even as in Daniel's time. The devil influences the saints to hold back. I went to a tent meeting and preached and the fire fell in the camp. Souls were saved. We had been for some time led to pray for a Pentecost. It seemed almost beginning. Of course we did not realize what a real "Pentecost" was. But the Spirit did, and led us to ask aright.

I had been praying for a fountain pen. A brother found one and gave it to me. He already had one. I wrote thirty letters of exhortation to prayer and faith for a. revival, to as many missions, on the coast and in foreign fields. But I had no postage. While I was writing a sister came in and handed me four dollars. I had asked for a witness if the letter were from Him. I was given several more articles for the religious press. After spending another whole night in prayer with Brother Boehmer I was given a message of exhortation which I delivered in a number of churches and missions.

I felt the New Testament Church was failing God, and was looking to see where the Spirit might come forth. They tried to take the edge off my message in many places. My aim was too straight for them. But I determined the devil should not escape me. The curse everywhere was spiritual pride. Hiding their nakedness from God. But away with everything that will not bear the test of God's Word. And away with party spirit. Souls must be reached and saved. To hinder God's message is like catching lightning bolts in one's hand.

The Lord gave me several new tracts to write at this time. But I saw more clearly than ever that my main work was to go below, out of sight, in prayer. I prayed often that the spirit of intercession might not leave me. Mother Wheaton arrived from the east again. God sent her to help me in prayer. I had a blessed weeping burden for a number of days during which my heart became very tender. I had such a burden one night I could not sleep. I called Mother Wheaton, who was stopping with our landlady in the front, and she helped me pray through. The battle was too hard for me. Many were trying to draw me away from the prayer ministry God had given me. But, "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" kept ringing in my ears. The "fellowship of His sufferings" in prayer is the sweetest ministry of all. The Lord had shown me some days before Mother Wheaton arrived that He was sending her. I was not in touch with her. She told me later she was about to start for Florida for the winter when the Lord told her to go to Los Angeles. She did not understand what for until she found me so burdened in prayer. I lived in the spirit of prayer for many months, momentarily, without a break. It became my native element.

The Lord told Brother Boehmer to stand for the whole of our house rent, so that my mind could be completely free for intercession. This was wonderful. And he was earning only two dollars per day. But he obeyed God. How often I have wished that He could speak to some one today on that line. It would mean so much for the work of the Lord.

I went often at this time to pray for a sick woman in Pasadena, at her urgent request. She had considerable means, and often helped us in a small degree financially. The Lord used this means to supply our temporal needs largely, for a time. I used to ask Him to impress her to give a certain amount, whatever I needed, and on several occasions I received exactly the amount I prayed for. Sometimes it was a battle. She had a powerful will, and loved her money. Besides, she was very deaf. I could not talk with her. I never asked her for a cent, however. She had been a powerful Holiness evangelist, but had gotten out of the order of the Lord. When she died all her money went to ungodly relatives, and the Lord got no more of it. I used to write when I wanted to communicate with her, because of her deafness. Her spirit nearly wore me out. It was so heavy.

One afternoon, after a service in the New Testament Church, seven of us seemed providentially led to join hands and agree in prayer to ask the Lord to pour out His Spirit speedily, with "signs following." Where we got the idea from at that time I do not know. He must Himself have suggested it to us. We did not have "tongues" in mind. I think none of us ever heard of such a thing. This was in February, 1906.

While at a prayer meeting, on my knees, the Lord told me to get up and go to Brother Brownley's tent, at Seventh and Spring streets. He gave me a message for them. I went, greatly burdened, and after speaking we had a real breaking up time, weeping before the Lord. I then wrote a moving tract on "Soul Travail." The Lord was dealing with me much also about the "blood." I spent another all night of prayer with Brother Boehmer and the Lord gave me a blessed ministry at Pasadena, in different meetings. At one meeting I lay for two hours helpless under a burden for souls.

My nerves were getting very worn from constant conflict in prayer with the powers of darkness. Wife was sick all night, and I sat up until morning praying for her. She was about to be confined again. She was delivered of our first baby boy at 1:45 P.M., Sunday, March 4. We named the little one John. Conditions were very critical with the mother before he was born. It was a dry birth. But God had mercy. He also supplied our needs in a precious way at this time.

I mailed fifty packages of my revival tracts to as many Holiness evangelists, in different states, to stir them up to faith and prayer for a revival. Soon after this I mailed eighty more packages, to as many more pastors and evangelists. Some wrote thanking me for the inspiration they had been to them. I spent another all night in prayer, and then went to the Seventh Street tent meeting again. A man jumped up, just as I was about to speak, declaring he had a message he must deliver. He rattled like an empty wagon for a half hour, saying nothing. Then I got up. But up he jumped again, and went at it. Evidently the devil had him there to hinder my message. Finally he got wild, serving his master too well. The Lord enabled me to bring order again, and I delivered my message. The meeting ended in victory. The devil has no conscience, and the flesh has no sense. Many have never learned submission, courtesy, nor anything else, even in the way of common manners. A spirit of self-importance is one of the most disgusting things in the world.

The oil (the Holy Ghost) ceases to flow, as in Elijah's time, when there are no more empty vessels to be filled. People do not sense their need of God. But wherever there is a hungry heart God will fill it. "The rich (full) He hath sent empty away." I had a tremendous burden one night and could not rest at home. I went out, not knowing where to go. The Spirit led me to the Seventh Street tent. There I delivered a message, partly on my knees, and the saints flocked to the altar for prayer. We remained there for two hours, while the Spirit wrought mightily. It was a wonderful visitation. I was given more tracts to write, ordering 34,000, of different kinds, at one time. I had a real tract ministry, with faith for the means to pay for them.

The battle was getting more and more earnest. March 26, I went to a cottage meeting on Bonnie Brae Street. Both white and colored saints were meeting there for prayer. I had attended a cottage meeting shortly before this, at another place, where I first met Brother Seymour. He had just come from Texas. He was a colored man, very plain, spiritual, and humble. He attended the meetings at Bonnie Brae Street. He was blind in one eye.

I needed twenty-five dollars to pay for tracts and was impressed to pray that a certain party might send it to me. She knew nothing of my need. That very afternoon just one letter came in the mail. It was from this very party, with a check for just twenty-five dollars. Before I had prayed He had started the money.

I went with Mother Wheaton to the Bonnie Brae Street meeting again, March 28, and attended an all night of prayer at the New Testament Church. We had been praying for a larger house to live in. We had only two small rooms, and I had no quiet place to pray or write. I had done all this in the past with my family around me. One day I met Brother Fred Shepard on the street. He asked if I knew of a preacher who would like to rent a nice cottage, at half price, with the first month's rent free. It would be only ten dollars per month. I immediately took it myself. We had been praying for just this thing, but he had not known it. So we moved April 13 to 714 East Thirty-First Street. It seemed like a palace after living in two-room shacks and sheds. God was wonderfully providing for us.

The latter part of March the Lord had given me another tract, entitled "The Last Call." This was used mightily to awaken the people. The following are some extracts: "And now, once more, at the very end of the age, God calls. The Last Call, the Midnight Cry, is now upon us, sounding clearly in our ears. God will give this one more chance, the last. A final call, a world-wide Revival. Then Judgment upon the whole world. Some tremendous event is about to transpire, etc."

Chapter 3: The Fire Falls At Azusa

I went to Burbank Hall, the New Testament Church, Sunday morning, April 15. A colored sister was there and spoke in "tongues." This created a great stir. The people gathered in little companies on the sidewalk after the service inquiring what this might mean. It seemed like Pentecostal "signs." We then learned that the Spirit had fallen a few nights before, April 9, at the little cottage on Bonnie Brae Street. They had been tarrying very earnestly for some time for an outpouring. A handful of colored and white saints had been waiting there daily. It was just at Easter season again. For some reason I was not privileged to be present at that particular meeting. A number had spoken in "tongues" there. I went to the Bonnie Brae meeting in the afternoon, and found God working mightily. We had been praying for many months for victory. Jesus was now "showing himself alive" again, to many. The pioneers had broken through, for the multitude to follow.

There was a general spirit of humility manifested in the meeting. They were taken up with God. Evidently the Lord had found the little company at last, outside as always, through whom he could have right of way. There was not a mission in the country where this could be done. All were in the hands of men. The Spirit could not work. Others far more pretentious had failed. That which man esteems had been passed by once more and the Spirit born again in a humble "stable," outside ecclesiastical establishments as usual.

A body must be prepared, in repentance and humility, for every outpouring of the Spirit. The preaching of the Reformation was begun by Martin Luther in a tumble down building in the midst of the public square in Wittenberg. D'Aubigne describes it as follows: "In the middle of the square at Wittenberg stood an ancient wooden chapel, thirty feet long and twenty wide, whose walls, propped up on all sides, were falling into ruin. An old pulpit made of planks, and three feet high, received the preacher. It was in this wretched place that the preaching of the Reformation began. It was God's will that that which was to restore His glory should have the humblest surroundings. It was in this wretched enclosure that God willed, so to speak, that his well-beloved Son should be born a second time. Among those thousands of cathedrals and parish churches with which the world is filled, there was not one at that time which God chose for the glorious preaching of eternal life."

In the revival in Wales the great expounders of England had to come and sit at the feet of crude, hardworking miners, and see the wonderful works of God. I wrote for the "Way of Faith" at this time: "The real thing is appearing among us. The Almighty will again measure swords with Pharaoh's magicians. But many will reject Him and blaspheme. Many will fail to recognize Him, even among His professed followers. We have been praying and believing for a 'Pentecost.' Will we receive it when it comes?"

The present Pentecostal manifestation did not break out in a moment, like a huge prairie fire, and set the world on fire. In fact no work of God ever appears that way. There is a necessary time for preparation. The finished article is not realized at the beginning. Men may wonder where it came from, not being conscious of the preparation, but there is always such. Every movement of the Spirit of God must also run the gauntlet of the devil's forces. The Dragon stands before the bearing mother, ready to swallow up her child.—(Rev. 12:4.) And so with the present Pentecostal work in its beginning. The enemy did much counterfeiting. God kept the young child well hid for a season from the Herods, until it could gain strength and discernment to resist them. The flame was guarded jealously by the hand of the Lord, from the winds of criticism, jealousy, unbelief, etc. It went through about the same experiences that all revivals have. Its foes were both inside and out. Both Luther and Wesley experienced the same difficulties in their time. We have this treasure in "earthen vessels." Every natural birth is surrounded by circumstances not entirely pleasant. God's perfect work is wrought in human imperfection. We are creatures of "the fall." Then why expect a perfect manifestation in this case? We are coming "back to God."

John Wesley writes of his time: "Almost as soon as I was gone two or three began to take their imaginations for impressions from God. Meantime, a flood of reproach came upon me almost from every quarter. Be not alarmed that Satan sows tares among the wheat of Christ. It has ever been so, especially on any remarkable outpouring of the Spirit; and ever will be, until the devil is chained for a thousand years. Till then he will always ape, and endeavor to counteract the work of the Spirit of Christ." D'Aubigne has said: "A religious movement almost always exceeds a just moderation. In order that human nature may make one step in advance, its pioneers must take many."

Another writer says: "Remember with what accompaniments of extravagance and fanaticism the doctrine of justification by faith was brought back under Luther. The wonder was, not that Luther had the courage to face pope and cardinals, but that he had courage to endure the contempt which his own doctrines brought upon him, as espoused and paraded by fanatical advocates. Recall the scandal and offense which attended the revival of heart piety under Wesley. What we denounce as error may be 'the refraction of some great truth below the horizon.' "

John Wesley himself once prayed, after the revival had about died out for the time: "Oh, Lord, send us the old revival, without the defects; but if this cannot be, send it—with all its defects. We must have the revival."

Adam Clark said: "Nature will always, and Satan too, mingle themselves as far as they can, in the genuine work of the Spirit, in order to discredit and destroy it. Nevertheless in great revivals of religion, it is almost impossible to prevent wild-fire from getting in among the true fire."

Dr. Seiss says: "Never, indeed, has there been a sowing of God on earth, but it has been oversown by Satan; or a growth for Christ, which the plantings of the wicked one did not mingle with and hinder. He who sets out to find a perfect church, in which there are no unworthy elements, and no disfigurations, proposes to himself a hopeless task."

Still another writer says: "In the various crises that have occurred in the history of the church, men have come to the front who have manifested a holy recklessness that astonished their fellows. When Luther nailed his theses to the door of the cathedral at Wittenberg, cautious men were astonished at his audacity. When John Wesley ignored all church restrictions and religious propriety and preached in the fields and by-ways, men declared his reputation was ruined. So it has been in all ages. When the religious condition of the times called for men who were willing to sacrifice all for Christ, the demand created the supply, and there have always been found a few who were willing to be regarded reckless for the Lord. An utter recklessness concerning men's opinions and other consequences is the only attitude that can meet the exigencies of the present times." God found His Moses, in the person of Brother Smale, to lead us to the Jordan crossing. But He chose Brother Seymour, for our Joshua, to lead us over.

Sunday, April 15, the Lord called me to ten days of special prayer. I felt greatly burdened but had no idea of what He had particularly in mind. But He had a work for me, and wanted to prepare me for it. Wednesday, April 18, the terrible San Francisco earthquake came, which also devastated the surrounding cities and country. No less than ten thousand lost their lives in San Francisco alone. I felt a deep conviction that the Lord was answering our prayers for a revival in His own way. "When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness."—Isa. 26:9. A tremendous burden of prayer came upon me that the people might not be indifferent to His voice.

Thursday, April 19, while sitting in the noon meeting at Peniel Hall, 227 South Main Street, the floor suddenly began to move with us. A most ugly sensation ran through the room. We sat in awe. Many people ran into the middle of the street, looking up anxiously at the buildings, fearing they were about to fall. It was an earnest time. I went home and after a season of prayer was impressed of the Lord to go to the meeting which had been removed from Bonnie Brae Street to 312 Azusa Street. Here they had rented an old frame building, formerly a Methodist church, in the center of the city, now a long time out of use for meetings. It had become a receptacle for old lumber, plaster, etc. They had cleared space enough in the surrounding dirt and debris to lay some planks on top of empty nail kegs, with seats enough for possibly thirty people, if I remember rightly. These were arranged in a square, facing one another.

I was under tremendous pressure to get to the meeting that evening. It was my first visit to "Azusa Mission." Mother Wheaton, who was living with us, was going with me. She was so slow that I could hardly wait for her. I have always been a "lone wolf" for this very reason. My time is not my own. I am His servant. "The King's business requires haste." We cannot wait all day for some one to get ready who neither has the orders, nor feels the necessity. "Salute no man by the way." God's business is important. He requires obedience. Thus we also keep out of some one else's way. There is too much involved to fail God. Let those take their time and come behind who have no message. The devil can often use them tremendously to hinder those who have.

We finally reached "Azusa" and found about a dozen saints there, some white, some colored. Brother Seymour was there, in charge. The "Ark of God" moved off slowly, but surely, at "Azusa." It was carried "on the shoulders" of His own appointed priests in the beginning. We had no "new cart" in those days, to please the carnal, mixed multitude. We had the devil to fight, but the Ark was not drawn by oxen (dumb beasts). The priests were "alive unto God," through much preparation and prayer. Discernment was not perfect, and the enemy got some advantage, which brought reproach to the work, but the saints soon learned to "take the precious from the vile." The combined forces of hell were set determinedly against us in the beginning. It was not all blessing. In fact the fight was terrific. The devil scraped the country for crooked spirits, as always, to destroy the work if possible. But the fire could not be smothered. Strong saints were gathered together to the help of the Lord. Gradually the tide arose in victory. But from a small beginning, a very little flame.

I gave a message at my first meeting at "Azusa." Two of the saints spoke in "tongues." Much blessing seemed to attend the utterance. It was soon noised abroad that God was working at "Azusa." All classes began to flock to the meetings. Many were curious and unbelieving, but others were hungry for God. The newspapers began to ridicule and abuse the meetings, thus giving us much free advertising. This brought the crowds. The devil overdid himself again. Outside persecution never hurt the work. We had the most to fear from the working of evil spirits within. Even spiritualists and hypnotists came to investigate, and to try their influence. Then all the religious sore-heads and crooks and cranks came, seeking a place in the work. We had the most to fear from these. But this is always the danger to every new work. They have no place elsewhere. This condition cast a fear over many which was hard to overcome. It hindered the Spirit much. Many were afraid to seek God, for fear the devil might get them.

We found early in the "Azusa" work that when we attempted to steady the Ark the Lord stopped working. We dared not call the attention of the people too much to the working of the evil. Fear would follow. We could only pray. Then God gave victory. There was a presence of God with us, through prayer, we could depend on. The leaders had a limited experience, and the wonder is the work survived at all against its powerful adversaries. But it was of God. That was the secret.

A certain writer has well said: "On the day of Pentecost, Christianity faced the world, a new religion—without a college, a people, or a patron. All that was ancient and venerable rose up before her in solid opposition. And she did not flatter or conciliate any one of them. She assailed every existing system, and every bad habit, burning her way through innumerable forms of opposition. This she accomplished with her "tongue of fire" alone.

Another writer has said: "The apostasy of the early church came as a result of a greater desire to see the spread of its power and rule than to see new natures given to its individual members. The moment we covet a large following and rejoice in the crowd that is attracted by our presentation of what we consider truth, and have not a greater desire to see the natures of individuals changed according to the divine plan, we start to travel the same road of apostasy that leads to Rome and her daughters."

I found the earthquake had opened many hearts. I was distributing especially my last tract, "The Last Call." It seemed very appropriate after the earthquake. Sunday, April 22, I took 10,000 of these to the New Testament Church. The workers seized them eagerly and scattered them quickly throughout the city.

Nearly every pulpit in the land was working overtime to prove that God had nothing to do with earthquakes and thus allay the fears of the people. The Spirit was striving to knock at hearts with conviction, through this judgment. I felt indignation that the preachers should be used of Satan to drown out His voice. Just as he later used them to stir up hatred and murder, during the great war. Even the teachers in the schools labored hard to convince the children that God was not in earthquakes. The devil put on a big propaganda on this line.

I had been much in prayer since the earthquake, and had slept little. After the shock in Los Angeles the Lord told me definitely He had a message for me for the people. On the Saturday after, He gave me a part of it. On Monday the rest was given. I finished writing it at 12:30 A.M. Tuesday, ready for the printer. I kneeled before the Lord and He met me in a powerful way, a powerful witness that the message was from Him. I was to have it printed in the morning. From that time until 4 A.M., I was wonderfully taken up in the spirit of intercession. I seemed to feel the wrath of God against the people and to withstand it in prayer. He showed me He was terribly grieved at their obstinacy in the face of His judgment on sin. San Francisco was a terribly wicked city.

He showed me all hell was being moved to drown out His voice in the earthquake, if possible. The message He had given me was to counteract this influence. Men had been denying His presence in the earthquake. Now He would speak. It was a terrific message He had given me. I was to argue the question with no man, but simply give them the message. They would answer to Him. I felt all hell against me in this, and so it proved. I went to bed at 4 o'clock, arose at 7, and hurried with the message to the printer.

The question in almost every heart was, "Did God do that?" But instinct taught men on the spot that He had. Even the wicked were conscious of the fact. The tract was set up quickly. The same day it was on the press, and the next noon I had my first consignment of the tract. I was impressed I must hasten and get them to the people as quickly as possible. I was reminded that the ten days I was called by the Lord to prayer was up the very day I received the first of the tracts. I understood it all now, clearly.

The enemy tried to hinder, by smashing a part of the type in the press. I had warned the printer of this. But it was set up again so that I lost no time through it. I distributed the message speedily in the missions, churches, saloons, business houses, and in fact everywhere, both in Los Angeles and Pasadena. Besides I mailed thousands to workers in nearby towns for distribution. The whole undertaking was a work of faith. I began without a dollar. But He supplied the money, as needed. I worked hard every day. Brother and Sister Otterman distributed them in San Diego. It required courage. Many raved at the message. I went through all the dives with them in Los Angeles. All hell was stirred. A man followed me on the street raving like a maniac. He followed me into a business house, to do me violence. But the Lord protected. He then tore my tract up publicly at the curb, to show his hate. Many threw the message down in a rage, only to pick it up again and read it. It seemed God held them to it. The saddest part was the fact that nearly all the preachers worked with the enemy in the matter. But I was only giving them the Word of God, on earthquakes.

I ordered the tracts in 25,000 lots. A policeman was put on my track. The people were stirred up so. But the Spirit warned me and I saw him coming. I was enabled to dodge him. He would have stopped the circulation of the tract before my work was done. I could feel hell's rage rolling up against me like a cloud. But God gave me courage for the work. Hundreds were distributed in Santa Barbara. A conductor stopped me giving them out on a Pasadena car, though the people were reaching out their hands for them. He threatened to throw me off the car. The devil was stirred. Orders came in for thousands from towns in Southern California, which I mailed to them. Everyone was curious for the tract, though it burned the most of them like fire. Sometimes they would get so excited on the street cars they would get off before they reached their street. My very presence seemed to convict many. My soul was steeped in prayer. The message struck consternation to thousands of souls. I have never written a tract that had so much influence.

God sent Brother Boehmer from Pasadena to help me. He stood outside and prayed while I went into the saloons with them. They were mad enough to kill me in some instances. Business was at a standstill after the news came from San Francisco. The people were paralyzed with fear. This accounted to some extent for the influence of my tract. The pressure against me was terrific. All hell was surging around me, to stop the message. But I never faltered. I felt God's hand upon me continually in the matter. The people were appalled to see what God had to say about earthquakes. He sent me to a number of meetings with a solemn exhortation to repent and seek Him. At "Azusa Mission" we had a powerful time. The saints humbled themselves. A colored sister both spoke and sang in "tongues." The very atmosphere of Heaven was there.

Sunday, May 11, I had finished my "Earthquake" tract distribution. Then the burden suddenly left me. My work was done. Seventy-five thousand had been published and distributed in Los Angeles and Southern California, in less than three weeks' time. At Oakland, Brother Manley, of his own volition, had printed and distributed 50,000 more, in the Bay Cities and 'round about, in about the same space of time. The following are some extracts from the "Earthquake" tract: "But what has God to do with earthquakes? 'When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness'—Isa. 26:9. 'Which removeth the mountains, when He overturneth them in His anger, which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble'—Job 9:5, 6. The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by Him'—Nahum 1:5, 6. 'And I will punish the world for their evil. Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of her place, in the day of His fierce anger'—Isa. 13:11, 13-'Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of the mountains moved, and were shaken, because He was wroth. There went up a smoke in His wrath, and fire out of His mouth devoured. The Lord thundered from Heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. Then the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid bare, by the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His anger'—Ps. 18. 'Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and turneth it upside down (perverteth the face thereof), and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. The foundations of the earth do shake, the earth is utterly broken, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall be moved to and fro. The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it.'—Isa. 24:1, 18, 20. Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with earthquakes, and great noise, and the flame of a devouring fire.'—Isa. 29:6. 'Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, from before the terror of the Lord, when he arises to shake terribly the earth.'—Isa. 2:19- 'And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there was a great earthquake.'—Rev. 16:17, 18. And will you claim there is no God in earthquakes? John Wesley has said, 'Of all the judgments which the righteous God inflicts on sinners here, the most dreadful and destructive is an earthquake.' "—From "Earthquake Tract," April, 1906.

The San Francisco earthquake was surely the voice of God to the people on the Pacific Coast. It was used mightily in conviction, for the gracious after revival. In the early "Azusa" days both Heaven and hell seemed to have come to town. Men were at the breaking point. Conviction was mightily on the people. They would fly to pieces even on the street, almost without provocation. A very "dead line" seemed to be drawn around "Azusa Mission," by the Spirit. When men came within two or three blocks of the place they were seized with conviction. I took a run to San Diego and preached twice a day for Brother and Sister Otterman. The Lord blessed my ministry, and the change was a blessing, after the tremendous strain I had been under. I had asked the Lord for my fare if He wanted me to go, and He gave it. It was now June. Returning home I distributed tracts at the Free Methodist camp meeting. I asked the Lord for ten dollars and he gave me twenty.

The work was getting clearer and stronger at "Azusa." God was working mightily. It seemed that everyone had to go to "Azusa." Missionaries were gathered there from Africa, India, and the islands of the sea. Preachers and workers had crossed the continent, and come from distant islands, with an irresistible drawing to Los Angeles. "Gather my saints together, etc."—Ps. 50:1-7. They had come up for "Pentecost," though they little realized it. It was God's call. Holiness meetings, tents and missions began to close up for lack of attendance. Their people were at "Azusa." Brother and Sister Garr closed the "Burning Bush" hall, came to "Azusa," received the "baptism," and were soon on their way to India to spread the fire. Even Brother Smale had to come to "Azusa," to look up his members. He invited them back home, promised them liberty in the Spirit, and for a time God wrought mightily at the New Testament Church also.

There was much persecution, especially from the press. They wrote us up shamefully, but this only drew the crowds. Some gave the work six months to live. Soon the meetings were running day and night. The place was packed out nightly. The whole building, upstairs and down, had now been cleared and put into use. There were far more white people than colored coming. The "color line" was washed away in the blood. A.S. Worrell, translator of the New Testament, declared the "Azusa" work had rediscovered the blood of Christ to the church at that time. Great emphasis was placed on the "blood," for cleansing, etc. A high standard was held up for a clean life. "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."—Isa. 59:19. Divine love was wonderfully manifest in the meetings. They would not even allow an unkind word said against their opposers, or the churches. The message was the love of God. It was a sort of "first love" of the early church returned. The "baptism" as we received it in the beginning did not allow us to think, speak, or hear evil of any man. The Spirit was very sensitive, tender as a dove. The Holy Spirit is symbolized as a dove. A dove has no gall bladder. We knew the moment we had grieved the Spirit, by an unkind thought or word. We seemed to live in a sea of pure divine love. The Lord fought our battles for us in those days. We committed ourselves to His judgment fully in all matters, never seeking to even defend the work or ourselves. We lived in His wonderful, immediate presence. And nothing contrary to His pure Spirit was allowed there.

The false was sifted out from the real by the Spirit of God. The Word of God itself decided absolutely all issues. The hearts of the people, both in act and motive, were searched to the very bottom. It was no joke to become one of that company. No man "durst join himself to them" except he meant business, to go through. It meant a dying out and cleaning up process in those days, to receive the "baptism." We had a "tarrying" room upstairs, for those especially seeking God for the "baptism," though many got it in the main assembly room also. In fact they often got it in their seats in those days. On the wall of the tarrying room was hung a placard with the words, "No talking above a whisper." We knew nothing of "jazzing" them through at that time. The Spirit wrought very deeply. An unquiet spirit, or a thoughtless talker, was immediately reproved by the Spirit. We were on "holy ground." This atmosphere was unbearable to the carnal spirit. They generally gave this room a wide berth unless they had been thoroughly subdued and burned out. Only honest seekers sought it, those who really meant business with God. It was no "lethal chamber," nor place to throw fits, or blow off steam in. Men did not "fly to their lungs" in those days. They flew to the mercy seat. They took their shoes off, figuratively speaking. They were on "holy ground." "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

Arthur Booth-Clibborn has written the following weighty words for the "Pentecostal" people: "Any cheapening of the price of Pentecost would be a disaster of untold magnitude. The company in the upper room, upon whom Pentecost fell, had paid for it the highest price. In this they approached as near as possible to Him who had paid the supreme price in order to send it. Do we ever really adequately realize how utterly lost to this world, how completely despised, rejected and outcast was that company? Their master and leader had just passed, so to speak, through the 'hangman's rope,' at the hands of the highest civilization of the day. Their Calvary was complete, and so a complete Pentecost came to match it. The latter will resemble the former in completeness. We may, therefore, each of us say to ourselves: As thy cross, so will thy Pentecost be. God's way to Pentecost was via Calvary. Individually it must be so today also. The purity and fullness of the individual Pentecost must depend upon the completeness of the individual Calvary. This is an unalterable principle."

Friday, June 15, at "Azusa," the Spirit dropped the "heavenly chorus" into my soul. I found myself suddenly joining the rest who had received this supernatural "gift." It was a spontaneous manifestation and rapture no earthly tongue can describe. In the beginning this manifestation was wonderfully pure and powerful. We feared to try to reproduce it, as with the "tongues" also. Now many seemingly have no hesitation in imitating all the "gifts." They have largely lost their power and influence because of this. No one could understand this "gift of song" but those who had it. It was indeed a "new song," in the Spirit. When I first heard it in the meetings a great hunger entered my soul to receive it. I felt it would exactly express my pent up feelings. I had not yet spoken in "tongues." But the "new song" captured me. It was a gift from God of high order, and appeared among us soon after the "Azusa" work began. No one had preached it. The Lord had sovereignly bestowed it, with the outpouring of the "residue of oil," the "Latter Rain" baptism of the Spirit. It was exercised, as the Spirit moved the possessors, either in solo fashion, or by the company. It was sometimes without words, other times in "tongues." The effect was wonderful on the people. It brought a heavenly atmosphere, as though the angels themselves were present and joining with us. And possibly they were. It seemed to still criticism and opposition, and was hard for even wicked men to gainsay or ridicule.

Some have condemned this "new song," without words. But was not sound given before language? And is there not intelligence without language also? Who composed the first song? Must we necessarily follow some man's composition, before us, always? We are too much worshippers of tradition. The speaking in "tongues" is not according to man's wisdom or understanding. Then why not a "gift of song?" It is certainly a rebuke to the "jazzy" religious songs of our day. And possibly it was given for that purpose. Yet some of the old hymns are very good to sing, also. We need not despise or treat lightly of them. Some one has said that every fresh revival brings in its own hymnology. And this one surely did.

In the beginning in "Azusa" we had no musical instruments. In fact we felt no need of them. There was no place for them in our worship. All was spontaneous. We did not even sing from hymn books. All the old well known hymns were sung from memory, quickened by the Spirit of God. "The Comforter Has Come," was possibly the one most sung. We sang it from fresh, powerful heart experience. Oh, how the power of God filled and thrilled us. Then the "blood" songs were very popular. "The life is in the blood." Sinai, Calvary, and Pentecost, all had their rightful place in the "Azusa" work. But the "new song" was altogether different, not of human composition. It cannot be successfully counterfeited. The crow cannot imitate the dove. But they finally began to despise this "gift," when the human spirit asserted itself again. They drove it out by hymn books, and selected songs by leaders. It was like murdering the Spirit, and most painful to some of us, but the tide was too strong against us. Hymn books today are largely a commercial proposition, and we would not lose much without most of them. The old tunes, even, are violated by change, and new styles must be gotten out every season, for added profit. There is very little real spirit of worship in them. They move the toes, but not the hearts of men. The spirit of song given from God in the beginning was like the Aeolian harp, in its spontaneity and sweetness. In fact it was the very breath of God, playing on human heart strings, or human vocal cords. The notes were wonderful in sweetness, volume and duration. In fact they were oftentimes humanly impossible. It was "singing in the Spirit."

Brother Seymour was recognized as the nominal leader in charge. But we had no pope or hierarchy. We were "brethren." We had no human program. The Lord Himself was leading. We had no priest class, nor priest craft. These things have come in later, with the apostatizing of the movement. We did not even have a platform or pulpit in the beginning. All were on a level. The ministers were servants, according to the true meaning of the word. We did not honor men for their advantage, in means or education, but rather for their God-given "gifts." He set the members in the "body." Now "A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof."—Jer. 5:30, 31. Also "As for my people, children are their oppressors (sometimes grown up ones), and women rule over them."—Isa. 3:12.

Brother Seymour generally sat behind two empty shoe boxes, one on top of the other. He usually kept his head inside the top one during the meeting, in prayer. There was no pride there. The services ran almost continuously. Seeking souls could be found under the power almost any hour, night and day. The place was never closed nor empty. The people came to meet God. He was always there. Hence a continuous meeting. The meeting did not depend on the human leader. God's presence became more and more wonderful. In that old building, with its low rafters and bare floors, God took strong men and women to pieces, and put them together again, for His glory. It was a tremendous overhauling process. Pride and self-assertion, self-importance and self-esteem, could not survive there. The religious ego preached its own funeral sermon quickly.

No subjects or sermons were announced ahead of time, and no special speakers for such an hour. No one knew what might be coming, what God would do. All was spontaneous, ordered of the Spirit. We wanted to hear from God, through whoever he might speak. We had no "respect of persons." The rich and educated were the same as the poor and ignorant, and found a much harder death to die. We only recognized God. All were equal. No flesh might glory in His presence. He could not use the self-opinionated. Those were Holy Ghost meetings, led of the Lord. It had to start in poor surroundings, to keep out the selfish, human element. All came down in humility together, at His feet. They all looked alike, and had all things in common in that sense at least. The rafters were low, the tall must come down. By the time they got to "Azusa" they were humbled, ready for the blessing. The fodder was thus placed for the lambs, not for giraffes. All could reach it.

We were delivered right there from ecclesiastical hierarchism and abuse. We wanted God. When we first reached the meeting we avoided as much as possible human contact and greeting. We wanted to meet God first. We got our head under some bench in the corner in prayer, and met men only in the Spirit, knowing them "after the flesh" no more. The meetings started themselves, spontaneously, in testimony, praise and worship. The testimonies were never hurried by a call for "popcorn." We had no prearranged program to be jammed through on time. Our time was the Lord's. We had real testimonies, from fresh heart-experience. Otherwise, the shorter the testimonies, the better. A dozen might be on their feet at one time, trembling under the mighty power of God. We did not have to get our cue from some leader. And we were free from lawlessness. We were shut up to God in prayer in the meetings, our minds on Him. All obeyed God, in meekness and humility. In honor we "preferred one another." The Lord was liable to burst through any one. We prayed for this continually. Someone would finally get up anointed for the message. All seemed to recognize this and gave way. It might be a child, a woman, or a man. It might be from the back seat, or from the front. It made no difference. We rejoiced that God was working. No one wished to show himself. We thought only of obeying God. In fact there was an atmosphere of God there that forbade anyone but a fool attempting to put himself forward without the real anointing. And such did not last long. The meetings were controlled by the Spirit, from the throne. Those were truly wonderful days. I often said that I would rather live six months at that time than fifty years of ordinary life. But God is just the same today. Only we have changed.

Someone might be speaking. Suddenly the Spirit would fall upon the congregation. God himself would give the altar call. Men would fall all over the house, like the slain in battle, or rush for the altar enmasse, to seek God. The scene often resembled a forest of fallen trees. Such a scene cannot be imitated. I never saw an altar call given in those early days. God himself would call them. And the preacher knew when to quit. When He spoke we all obeyed. It seemed a fearful thing to hinder or grieve the Spirit. The whole place was steeped in prayer. God was in His holy temple. It was for man to keep silent. The Shekinah glory rested there. In fact some claim to have seen the glory by night over the building. I do not doubt it. I have stopped more than once within two blocks of the place and prayed for strength before I dared go on. The presence of the Lord was so real.

Presumptuous men would sometimes come among us. Especially preachers who would try to spread themselves, in self-opinionation. But their effort was short lived. The breath would be taken from them. Their minds would wander, their brains reel. Things would turn black before their eyes. They could not go on. I never saw one get by with it in those days. They were up against God. No one cut them off. We simply prayed. The Holy Spirit did the rest. We wanted the Spirit to control. He wound them up in short order. They were carried out dead, spiritually speaking. They generally bit the dust in humility, going through the process we had all gone through. In other words they died out, came to see themselves in all their weakness, then in childlike humility and confession were taken up of God, transformed through the mighty "baptism" in the Spirit. The "old man" died with all his pride, arrogancy and good works. In my own case I came to abhor myself. I begged the Lord to drop a curtain so close behind me on my past that it would hit my heels. He told me to forget every good deed as though it had never occurred, as soon as it was accomplished, and go forward again as though I had never accomplished anything for Him, lest my good works become a snare to me.

We saw some wonderful things in those days. Even very good men came to abhor themselves in the clearer light of God. The preachers died the hardest. They had so much to die to. So much reputation and good works. But when God got through with them they gladly turned a new page and chapter. That was one reason they fought so hard. Death is not at all a pleasant experience. And strong men die hard.

Brother Ansel Post, a Baptist preacher, was sitting on a chair in the middle of the floor one evening in the meeting. Suddenly the Spirit fell upon him. He sprang from his chair, began to praise God in a loud voice in "tongues," and ran all over the place, hugging all the brethren he could get hold of. He was filled with divine love. He later went to Egypt as a missionary. Let us have his own testimony for it: "As suddenly as on the day of Pentecost, while I was sitting some twelve feet right in front of the speaker, the Holy Spirit fell upon me and filled me literally. I seemed to be lifted up, for I was in the air in an instant, shouting "Praise God," and instantly I began to speak in another language. I could not have been more surprised if at the same moment someone had handed me a million dollars."—Ansel Post, in "Way of Faith."

After Brother Smale had invited his people back and promised them liberty in the Spirit, I wrote the following, in "Way of Faith: "The New Testament Church received her 'Pentecost' yesterday. We had a wonderful time. Men and women were prostrate under the power all over the hall. A heavenly atmosphere pervaded the place. Such singing I have never heard before, the very melody of Heaven. It seemed to come direct from the throne."—June 22, 1906.

In the "Christian Harvester" I wrote, at the same date: "At the New Testament Church a young lady of refinement was prostrate on the floor for hours, while at times the most heavenly singing would issue from her lips. It would swell away up to the throne, and then die away in an almost unearthly melody. She sang, 'Praise God! Praise God!' All over the house men and women were weeping. A preacher was flat on his face on the floor, dying out. 'Pentecost' has fully come."

We had several all nights of prayer at the New Testament Church. But Pastor Smale never received the "baptism" with the "speaking in tongues." He was in a trying position. It was all new to him. Then the devil did his worst, to bring the work into disrepute and destroy it. He sent wicked spirits among us to frighten the pastor and cause him to reject it.

But Brother Smale was God's Moses, to lead the people as far as the Jordan, though he himself never got across. Brother Seymour led them over. And yet, strange to say, Seymour himself did not speak in "tongues" until sometime after "Azusa" had been opened. Many of the saints entered in before him. All who received this "baptism" spoke in "tongues."

Many were stumbled in the beginning at "Azusa" because of the nature of the instruments first used. I wrote in "Way of Faith" as follows: "Someone has said it is not the man who can build the biggest brush heap, but rather the one who can set his heap on fire, that will light up the country. God can never wait for a perfect instrument to appear. If so He would certainly be waiting yet. Luther himself declared he was but a rough woodsman, to fell the trees. Pioneers are of that nature. God has polished Melancthons, to follow up and trim and shape the timber symmetrically. A charge of dynamite does not produce the finished product. But it does set loose the stones that later stand as monuments, under the sculptor's skilled hand. Many high dignitaries of the Roman church in Luther's time were convinced of the need of a reformation, and that he was on the right track. But they declared, in so many words, that they could never consent that this new doctrine should issue from "such a corner." That it should be a monk, a poor monk, who presumes to reform us all, said they, is what we cannot tolerate. "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

Fallen humanity is such a peculiar thing at its best, so shattered that it is very imperfect. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels." In the embryotic stage of all new experiences much allowance must be made for human frailty. There are always many coarse, impulsive, imperfectly balanced spirits among those first reached by a revival, also. Then our understanding of the Spirit of God is so limited that we are liable to make a mistake sometimes, failing to recognize all that may be really of God. We can understand fully only in the measure that we ourselves possess the Spirit. Snap judgment is always dangerous. "Judge nothing before the time." The company used at "Azusa" mission, to break through, were the "Gideon's band" that opened the way to victory for those to follow.

I wrote further in "Way of Faith," August 1, 1906: "Pentecost" has come to Los Angeles, the American Jerusalem. Every sect, creed, and doctrine under Heaven is found in Los Angeles, as well as every nation represented. Many times I have been tempted to wonder if my strength would hold out to see it. The burden of prayer has been very great. But since the spring of 1905, when I first received this vision and burden, I have never doubted the final outcome of it. Men are now in trouble of soul everywhere, and the revival with its unusual phenomena is the topic of the day. There is terrible opposition manifested also. The newspapers here are very venomous, and most unfair and untrue in their statements. The pseudo systems of religion are fighting hard also. But, 'the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.' Their 'hiding places' are being uncovered. A cleansing stream is flowing through the city. The Word of God prevails.

"Persecution is strong. Already the police have been appealed to break up the meetings. The work has been hindered much also by fanatical spirits, of which the city has far too many. It is God and the devil for it, a battle royal. We can do little but look on and pray. The Holy Spirit Himself is taking the lead, setting aside all human leadership largely. And woe to the man who gets in His way, selfishly seeking to dictate or control. The Spirit brooks no interference of this kind. The human instruments are largely lost sight of. Our hearts and minds are directed to the Lord. The meetings are crowded out. There is great excitement among the unspiritual and unsaved.

"Every false religion under Heaven is found represented here. Next to old Jerusalem there is nothing like it in the world. (It is on the opposite side, near half way around, with natural conditions very similar also.) All nations are represented, as at Jerusalem. Thousands are here from all over the Union, and from many parts of the world, sent of God for 'Pentecost.' These will scatter the fire to the ends of the earth. Missionary zeal is at white heat. The 'gifts' of the Spirit are being given, the church's panoply restored. Surely we are in the days of restoration, the 'last days,' wonderful days, glorious days. But awful days for the withstanders. They are days of privilege, responsibility, and peril.

"Demons are being cast out, the sick healed, many blessedly saved, restored, and baptized with the Holy Ghost and power. Heroes are being developed, the weak made strong in the Lord. Men's hearts are being searched as with a lighted candle. It is a tremendous sifting time, not only of actions, but of inner, secret motives. Nothing can escape the all-searching eye of God. Jesus is being lifted up, the 'blood' magnified, and the Holy Spirit honored once more. There is much 'slaying power' manifest. And this is the chief cause of resistance on the part of those who refuse to obey. It is real business. God is with us in great earnestness. We dare not trifle. Strong men lie for hours under the mighty power of God, cut down like grass. The revival will be a world-wide one, without doubt."—F. Bartleman in "Way of Faith," August, 1906. Some time later, the pastor of the Trinity Church, M.E. South, of Los Angeles, uttered the following words: "Here on the Pacific Coast, where the sons of men meet from every quarter of the globe, prophetic souls believe the greatest moral and spiritual battles are to be fought—the Armageddon of the world."

Evan Roberts' "Message to the Churches," was voiced by him in the following lines of an old poem: "While the fire of God is falling, while the voice of God is calling, brothers, get the flame. While the torch of God is burning, men's weak efforts overturning, Christians get the flame. While the Holy Ghost is pleading, human methods superseding, He himself the flame. While the power hard hearts is bending, yield thy own, to Him surrendering, all to get the flame. For the world at last is waking, and beneath His spell is breaking, into living flame. And our glorious Lord is seeking, human hearts, to rouse the sleeping, fired with heavenly flame. If in utter self-surrender, you would work with Christ, remember, you must get the flame. For the sake of bruised and dying, and the lost in darkness lying, we must get the flame. For the sake of Christ in glory, and the spreading of the story, we must get the flame. Oh, my soul, for thy refining, and thy clearer, brighter shining, do not miss the flame. On the Holy Ghost relying, simply trusting and not trying, you will get the flame. Brothers, let us cease our dreaming, and while God's flood-tide is streaming, we will have the flame."

I wrote a little tract in June, 1906, of which the following are extracts: "Opportunity once passed, is lost forever. There is a time when the tide is sweeping by our door. We may then plunge in and be carried to glorious blessing, success and victory. To stand shivering on the bank, timid, or paralyzed with stupor, at such a time, is to miss all, and most miserably fail, both for time and for eternity. Oh, our responsibility! The mighty tide of God's grace and favor is even now sweeping by us, in its prayer-directed course. There is a river (of salvation) the streams whereof make glad the city of God.—Ps. 46:4. It is time to 'get together,' and plunge in, individually and collectively. We are baptized 'in one Spirit, into one body.'—1 Cor. 12:13. Let us lay aside all carnal contentions and divisions, that separate us from each other and from God. If we are of His body, we are 'one body.' The opportunity of a lifetime, of centuries, is at our door, to be eternally gained or lost. There is no time to hesitate. Act quickly, lest another take thy crown. Oh, church of Christ, awake! Be baptized with power. Then fly to rescue others. And to meet your Lord."—F. Bartleman.

"If anti-Christ is about to make his mightiest and most malignant demonstration, ought not the church to confront him with mighty displays of the Spirit's saving power?"—Gordon.

A.B. Simpson said: "We are to witness before the Lord's return real missionary 'tongues' like those of Pentecost, through which the heathen world shall hear in their own language 'the wonderful works of God,' and this perhaps on a scale of whose vastness we have scarcely dreamed, thousands of missionaries going forth in one last mighty crusade from a united body of believers at home to bear swift witness of the crucified and coming Lord to all nations."

Arthur T. Pierson has said: "The most alarming peril of today is naturalism—the denial of all direct divine agency and control. Science is uniting with unbelief, wickedness and worldliness, skepticism and materialism, to rule a personal God out of the universe. This drift toward materialism and naturalism demands the supernatural as it’s only corrective. In Enoch's time human sin was fast making atheists, and God 'took him,' spirit, soul, and body, that men might be startled with the proof of a Divine Being, and an invisible world. In Elijah's day, general apostasy was rebuked by the descent of horses and chariots of fire; and if ever men needed to be confronted with fruits of power above nature—a living God back of all the forces and machinery He controls, who does answer prayer, guide by His providences, and convert by His grace, it is now." Oh, our weakness! Oh, our unbelief! May the Lord help us back to Pentecostal experiences. "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?"

"The presence of God in the church will put an end to infidelity. Men will not doubt His Word when they feel His Spirit. For a thousand reasons we need that Jehovah should come into the camp, as aforetimes He visited and delivered His people from bondage in Egypt."—Spurgeon's Dying Appeal.

Chapter 4: Eighth And Maple Meetings

August 8, 1906, I rented a church building at the corner of Eighth and Maple streets, for a Pentecostal Mission. I was led to this church in February. It was then occupied by the "Pillar of Fire" people, of which Mrs. Alma White of Denver was leader. I had been impressed to pray for a building for services, after I found the New Testament Church not going ahead. But I had not known even of the existence of this building until the Lord brought me in contact with it one day, all unexpectedly. I was passing by, and saw it for the first time. I noticed it was out of regular use. It had been a German church. Through curiosity I opened the door, which was unlocked, and entered. I found the "Pillar of Fire" had it. Kneeling at the altar for a season of prayer, the Lord spoke to me. I received a wonderful witness of the Spirit. In a moment I was walking the aisles, claiming it for "Pentecost." Over the door was a large motto painted, "Gott ist die Liebe" (God is Love). This was two months before the "Azusa" work began.

I looked no further for a building, knowing that God had spoken, but waited His time. One night, six months later, in August, I was passing that way, going home from meeting, when I saw a sign, "For Rent," on the church. It had just been vacated. The Lord spoke to me: "There is your church." The "Pillar of Fire" had gone up in smoke, not able to raise the rent. They had been the most bitter opposers of the "Azusa" work. The Lord had vacated the building for us. The next day I was led to tell our landlord, Brother Fred Shepard, of the situation. I did not ask him to help me. But the Lord had sent me to him. He asked how much the rent was, went into another room, and returned quickly with a check for fifty dollars, the first month's rent. I secured the place at once.

I had another attack of stomach trouble at this time. I could scarcely eat for days, and suffered terribly. But God finally delivered. The devil tried to kill me.

I visited the M.E. camp meeting at Huntington Park to give out some revival tracts and they chased me off the grounds. One preacher threatened to knock me down. He was very zealous. I had made no trouble, only they were afraid of heresy.

The truth must be told. "Azusa" began to fail the Lord also, early in her history. God showed me one day that they were going to organize, though not a word had been said in my hearing about it. The Spirit revealed it to me. He had me get up and warn them against making a "party" spirit of the Pentecostal work. The "baptized" saints were to remain "one body," even as they had been called, and to be free as His Spirit was free, not "entangled again in a yoke of (ecclesiastical) bondage." The New Testament Church saints had already arrested their further progress in this way. God wanted a revival company, a channel through whom He could evangelize the world, blessing all people and believers. He could naturally not accomplish this with a sectarian party. That spirit has been the curse and death of every revival body sooner or later. History repeats itself in this matter.

Sure enough the very next day after I dropped this warning in the meeting I found a sign outside "Azusa" reading "Apostolic Faith Mission." The Lord said: "That is what I told you." They had done it. Surely a "party spirit" cannot be "Pentecostal." There can be no divisions in a true Pentecost. To formulate a separate body is but to advertise our failure, as a people of God. It proves to the world that we cannot get along together, rather than causing them to believe in our salvation. "That they may all be one; that the world may believe."—John 17:21. And from that time the trouble and division began. It was no longer a free Spirit for all as it had been. The work had become one more rival party and body, along with the other churches and sects of the city. No wonder the opposition steadily increased from the churches. We had been called to bless and serve the whole "body of Christ," everywhere. Christ is one, and His "body" can be but "one." To divide it is but to destroy it, as with the natural body. "In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body."—1 Cor. 12:13- The church is an organism not a human organization.

They later tried to pull the work on the whole coast into this organization, but miserably failed. The work had spread as far as Portland and Seattle, under Sister Crawford. God's people must be free from hierarchism. They are "blood-bought," and not their own. An earlier work in Texas, later tried to gather in the Pentecostal missions on the Pacific Coast, and Los Angeles, but also failed. Why should they claim authority over us? We had prayed down our own revival. The revival in California was unique and separate as to origin. It came from Heaven, even Brother Seymour not receiving the "baptism" until many others had entered in here. He did not arrive in Los Angeles until the "eleventh hour." The great battle from the beginning, both in Los Angeles and elsewhere, has been the conflict between the "flesh" and the Spirit, between Ishmael and Isaac.

Sunday, August 12, we opened up at Eighth and Maple streets. The Spirit was mightily manifest from the very first meeting. He was given complete control. The atmosphere was terrible for sinners and backsliders. One had to get right in order to remain at Eighth and Maple. 'Tearfulness" truly "surprised the hypocrites." For some days we could do little but lay before the Lord in prayer. Sister Hopkinson was a great help to me in the beginning.

The atmosphere was almost too sacred and holy to attempt to minister in. Like the priests in the Tabernacle of old we could not minister for the glory. We had terrible battles with fleshly professors and deceivers also. But God gave victory. The Spirit was much grieved by contentious spirits. The atmosphere at Eighth and Maple was for a time even deeper than at "Azusa." God came so wonderfully near us the very atmosphere of Heaven seemed to surround us. Such a divine "weight of glory" was upon us we could only lie on our faces. For a long time we could hardly remain seated even. All would be on their faces on the floor, sometimes during the whole service. I was seldom able to keep from lying full length on the floor on my face. There was a little raise of about a foot, for a platform, when we moved into the church. On this I generally lay, while God ran the meetings. They were His meetings. Every night the power of God was powerfully with us. It was glorious. The Lord seemed almost visible, He was so real. We had the greatest trouble with strange preachers, who wanted to preach. Of all the people they seemed to have the least sense. They did not know enough to keep still before Him. They liked to hear themselves. But many a preacher died in these meetings. The city was full of them, just as today. They rattled like a last year's bean pod. We had a regular "dry bone" yard. We always recognized "Azusa" as having been the mother mission, and there was never any friction or jealousy between us. We visited back and forth. Brother Seymour often met with us.

I wrote in the "Christian Harvester" at that time, as follows: "The meetings at Eighth and Maple are marvelous. We had the greatest time yesterday that I have ever seen. All day long the power of God swept the place. The church was crowded. Terrible conviction seized the people. The Spirit ran the meetings from start to finish. There was no program, and hardly a chance for even necessary announcements. No attempt was made to preach. A few messages were given by the Spirit. Everybody was free to obey God. The altar was full of seeking souls all day. There was hardly a cessation of the altar service. Souls were coming out and getting through, while the meeting swept on. Men and women lay around the altar, stretched out under the power all day. A Free Methodist preacher's wife came through to a mighty "baptism," speaking something like Chinese. All who received the "baptism" spoke in "tongues." There were at least six Holiness preachers, some of them gray headed, honored and trusted for fruitful service for years, seeking the "baptism" most earnestly. They simply throw up their hands in the face of this revelation from God and stop to "tarry," for their "Pentecost." The president of the Holiness Church of Southern California (Brother Roberts, a precious man), was one of the first at the altar, seeking earnestly."—F. Bartleman, Los Angeles, Sept. 10, 1906.

Again I wrote, in the same paper: "The Spirit allows little human interference in the meetings, generally passing mistakes by unnoticed, or moving them out of the way Himself. Things that ordinarily we would feel must be corrected, are often passed over, and a worse calamity averted thereby. To draw attention to them brings the spirit of fear on the saints, and they stop seeking. The Spirit is hindered from working. He moves them out of the way. There are even greater issues at stake at present. We try to keep from magnifying Satan's power. We are preaching a big Christ instead. And God is using babes. The enemy is moving hell to break up our fellowship through doctrinal differences. But we must preserve the unity of the Spirit by all means. Some things can be adjusted later. They are much less important. God will never give this work into the hands of men. If it ever gets under man's control it is done. Many would join themselves to us if they did not need to 'lose their heads,' get small."

On the afternoon of August 16, at Eighth and Maple, the Spirit manifested Himself through me in "tongues." There were seven of us present at the time. It was a week day. After a time of testimony and praise, with everything quiet, I was softly walking the floor, praising God in my spirit. All at once I seemed to hear in my soul (not with my natural ears), a rich voice speaking in a language I did not know. I have later heard something similar to it in India. It seemed to ravish and fully satisfy the pent up praises in my being. In a few moments I found myself, seemingly without volition on my part, enunciating the same sounds with my own vocal organs. It was an exact continuation of the same expressions that I had heard in my soul a few moments before. It seemed a perfect language. I was almost like an outside listener. I was fully yielded to God, and simply carried by His will, as on a divine stream. I could have hindered the expression but would not have done so for worlds. A Heaven of conscious bliss accompanied it. It is impossible to describe the experience accurately. It must be experienced to be appreciated. There was no effort made to speak on my part, and not the least possible struggle. The experience was most sacred, the Holy Spirit playing on my vocal cords, as on an Aeolian harp. The whole utterance was a complete surprise to me. I had never really been solicitous to speak in "tongues." Because I could not understand it with my natural mind I had rather feared it.

I had no desire at the time to even know what I was saying. It seemed a soul expression purely, outside the realm of the natural mind or understanding. I was truly "sealed in the forehead," ceasing from the works of my own natural mind fully. I wrote my experience for publication later, in the following words: "The Spirit had gradually prepared me for this culmination in my experience, both in prayer for myself, and others. I had thus drawn nigh to God, my spirit greatly subdued. A place of utter abandonment of will had been reached, in absolute consciousness of helplessness, purified from natural self-activity. This process had been cumulative. The presence of the Spirit within had been as sensitive to me as the water in the glass indicator of a steam boiler."

My mind, the last fortress of man to yield, was taken possession of by the Spirit. The waters, that had been gradually accumulating, went over my head. I was possessed of Him fully. The utterance in "tongues" was without human mixture, "as the Spirit gave utterance."— (Acts 2:4). Oh, the thrill of being fully yielded to Him! My mind had always been very active. Its natural workings had caused me most of my trouble in my Christian experience. "Casting down reasonings," (marginal reading, 2 Cor. 10:5). Nothing hinders faith and the operation of the Spirit so much as the self-assertiveness of the human spirit, the wisdom, strength and self-sufficiency of the human mind. This must all be crucified, and here is where the fight comes in. We must become utterly undone, insufficient and helpless in our own consciousness, thoroughly humbled, before we can receive this possession of the Holy Spirit. We want the Holy Ghost, but the fact is He is wanting possession of us.

In the experience of "speaking in tongues" I had reached the climax in abandonment. This opened the channel for a new ministry of the Spirit in service. From that time the Spirit began to flow through me in a new way. Messages would come, with anointings, in a way I had never known before, with a spontaneous inspiration and illumination that was truly wonderful. This was attended with convincing power. The Pentecostal baptism spells complete abandonment, possession by the Holy Ghost, of the whole man, with a spirit of instant obedience. I had known much of the power of God for service for many years before this, but I now realized a sensitiveness to the Spirit, a yieldedness, that made it possible for God to possess and work in new ways and channels, with far more powerful, direct results. I also received a new revelation of His sovereignty, both in purpose and action, such as I had never known before. I found I had often charged God with seeming lack of interest, or tardiness of action, when I should have yielded to Him, in faith, that He might be able to work through me His sovereign mighty will. I went into the dust of humility at this revelation of my own stupidity, and His sovereign care and desire. I saw that the little bit of desire I possessed for His service was only the little bit that He had been able to get to me of His great desire and interest and purpose. His word declares it. All there was of good in me, in thought or action, had come from Him. Like Hudson Taylor I now felt that He was asking me simply to go with Him to help in that which He alone had purposed and desired. I felt very small at this revelation, and my past misunderstanding. He had existed, and been working out His eternal purpose, long before I had ever been thought of, and would be long after I would be gone.

There was no strain or contortions. No struggle in an effort to get the "baptism." With me it was simply a matter of yielding. In fact it was the opposite of struggle. There was no swelling of the throat, no "operation" to be performed on my vocal organs. I had not the slightest difficulty in speaking in "tongues." And yet I can understand how some may have such difficulties. They are not fully yielded to God. With me the battle had been long drawn out. I had already worn myself out, fully yielded. God deals with no two individuals alike. I was not really seeking the "baptism" when I got it. And in fact I never sought it as a definite experience. I wanted to be yielded fully to God. But beyond that I had no real definite expectation or desire. I wanted more of Him, that was all.

There was no shouting crowd around me, to confuse or excite me. No one was suggesting "tongues" to me at the time, either by argument or imitation. Thank God He is able to do His work without such help, and far better without it. I do not believe in dragging the child forth, spiritually speaking, with instruments. I do believe in sane, earnest prayer help in the Spirit. Too many souls are dragged from the womb of conviction by force, and have to be incubated ever after. As with nature, so in grace. It is best to dispense as far as possible with the doctors and old mid-wives. The child is almost killed at times through their unnatural violence. A pack of jackals over their prey could hardly act more fiercely than we have witnessed in some cases. In natural child birth it is generally best to let the mother alone as far as possible. We should stand by and encourage, but not force the deliverance. Natural births are better.

I had been shut up largely to a ministry of intercession and prophecy before this, until I should reach this condition of utter abandonment to the Spirit. I was now to go forth again in the service. When my day of "Pentecost" was fully come the channel was cleared. The living waters burst forth. The door of my service sprang open at the touch of the hand of a sovereign God. The Spirit began to operate within me in a new and mightier way. It was a distinct, fresh climax and development, an epochal experience for me. And for this we had been shut up as a company. The preparation was world-wide, among the saints of God. The results have already made history. In fact this has proven an epoch in the history of the church just as distinct and definite as the Spirit's action in the time of Luther and Wesley, and with far greater portend. And it is not yet all history. We are too close to it yet to understand or appreciate it fully. But we have made another step back on the way to the restoration of the church as in the beginning. We are completing the circle. Jesus will return for a perfect church, "without spot or wrinkle." He is coming for "one body," not a dozen. He is the Head, and as such He is no monstrosity, with a hundred bodies. "That they all may be one, that the world may believe." This after all is the greatest "sign" to the world. "Though we speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, etc."—1 Cor. 13.1 felt after the experience of speaking in "tongues" that languages would come easy to me. And so it has proven. And also I have learned to sing, in the Spirit. I never was a singer, and do not know music.

I never sought "tongues." My natural mind resisted the idea. This phenomena necessarily violates human reason. It means abandonment of this faculty for the time. And this is generally the last point to yield. The human mind is held in abeyance fully in this exercise. And this is "foolishness," and a stone of stumbling, to the natural mind or reason. It is supernatural. We need not expect anyone who has not reached this depth of abandonment in their human spirit, this death to their own reason, to either accept or understand it. The natural reason must be yielded in the matter. There is a gulf to cross, between reason and revelation. But this principle in experience is just that which leads to the "Pentecostal" baptism, as in Acts 2:4. It is the underlying principle of the "baptism." And this is why the simple people get in first, though perhaps not always so well balanced or capable otherwise. They are like the little boys going swimming, to use a homely illustration. They get in first because they have the least clothes to divest themselves of. We must all come "naked" into this experience. All of self gone.

The early church lived in this, as its normal atmosphere. Hence its abandonment to the working of the Spirit, its supernatural "gifts," and its power. Our wiseacres cannot reach this. Oh, to become a fool, to know nothing in ourselves, that we might receive the mind of Christ fully, have the Holy Ghost teach and lead us only, and at all times. We do not mean to say we must talk in "tongues" continually. The "baptism" is not all "tongues." We can live in this place of illumination and abandonment and still speak in our own language. The Bible was not written in "tongues." But we may surely live in the Spirit at all times, though possibly few, if any, always do. Oh, the depth of abandonment, all self gone! Conscious of knowing nothing, of having nothing, except as the Spirit shall teach and impart to us. This is the true place of power, of God's power, in the ministry of service. There is nothing left but God, the pure Spirit. Every hope or sense of capability in the natural is gone. We live by His breath, as it were. The "wind" on the day of "Pentecost" was the breath of God. —Acts 2:2. But what more can we say? It must be experienced to be understood. It cannot be explained. We have certainly had a measure of the Spirit before without this. To this fact all history testifies. The church has been abnormal since its fall. But we cannot have the "Pentecostal" baptism without it, as the early church had it. The Apostles received it suddenly, and in full. Only simple faith and abandonment can receive it. Human reason can find all kinds of flaws and apparent foolishness in it.

I spoke in "tongues" possibly for about fifteen minutes on this first occasion. Then the immediate inspiration passed away, for the time. I have spoken at times since, also. But I never try to reproduce it. The act must be sovereign with God. It would be foolishness and sacrilege to try to imitate it. The experience left behind it the consciousness of a state of utter abandonment to the Lord, a place of perfect rest from my own works and activity of mind. It left with me a consciousness of utter God-control, and of His presence naturally in corresponding measure. It was a most sacred experience. Many have trifled most foolishly with this principle and possession. They have failed to continue in the Spirit and have stumbled many. This has wrought great harm. But the experience still remains as a fact, both in history and present day realization. The greater part of most Christians' knowledge of God is and has always been, since the loss of the Spirit by the early church, an intellectual knowledge. Their knowledge of the word and principles of God is an intellectual one, through natural reasoning and understanding largely. They have little revelation, illumination or inspiration direct from the Spirit of God.

We will quote from well-known authors some interesting extracts on the subject of "speaking in tongues." Dr. Philip Schaff, in his "History of the Christian Church," Vol. 1, page 116, says: "The speaking with tongues is an involuntary psalm—like prayer or song, uttered from a spiritual trance, and in a peculiar language inspired by the Holy Ghost. The soul is almost entirely passive, an instrument on which the Holy Ghost plays His heavenly melodies."

Conybeare and Howson, commentators, write: "This gift (speaking in tongues) was the result of a sudden influx of the supernatural to the believer. Under its influence the exercise of the understanding was suspended, while the spirit was wrapped in a state of ecstasy by the immediate communication of the Spirit of God. In this ecstatic trance the believer was constrained by irresistible power to pour forth his feelings of thanksgiving and rapture in words not his own. He was usually even ignorant of their meaning." Space forbids our quoting from other standard commentators on this subject. Many have written very illuminatingly on the same subject, and to the same general end as those we have quoted. We will quote from just one more writer.

Stalker, in his "Life of Paul," page 102, has the following to say: "It (the speaking in tongues) seems to have been a kind of tranced utterance, in which the speaker poured out an impassioned rhapsody, by which his religious faith received both expression and exaltation. Some were not able to tell others the meaning of what they were saying, while others had this additional power; and there were those who, though not speaking in tongues themselves, were able to interpret what the inspired speakers were saying. In all cases there seems to have been a kind of immediate inspiration, so that what they did was not the effect of calculation or preparation, but of a strong present impulse. These phenomena are so remarkable, that, if narrated in a history, they would put a severe strain on Christian faith. They show with what mighty force at its first entrance into the world, Christianity took possession of the spirits it touched. The very gifts of the Spirit were perverted into instruments of sin; for those possessed of the more showy gifts, such as miracles and tongues, were too fond of displaying them, and turned them into grounds of boasting." There is always more or less danger attached to privileges. Children frequently cut themselves with sharp knives. But we are certainly in more danger from remaining in stagnation, where we are, than in going ahead trustingly for God.

Describing some of my personal experiences, previous to my "baptism," I wrote the following in "Christian Harvester": "My own heart was searched until I cried out under the added light, 'God deliver me from my religious self-consciousness!' Seldom have I suffered in humility, shame and reproach, as at this vision of my very best in the sight of God. My religious comeliness was indeed turned into corruption. I felt that I could not bear to hear, or even to think of it again. I felt I would be glad to forget even my own name and identity. I even destroyed with extreme satisfaction records of my past achievements for God, upon which my eyes had loved to linger. I now abhorred them, as a temptation from the devil to self-exaltation. Letters of commendation for religious services rendered, literary works of seeming excellence to me, and sermons which to me had seemed wonderful in knowledge and construction, now actually nauseated me, because of the element of self-pride detected in them. I found I had come to rest on these more or less for expected divine favor and reward. 'Nothing but the blood of Jesus,' had at least partially been lost sight of. I was depending on other things besides to recommend me to God. And in this lay great danger. I now destroyed these treasured documents, false evidences, as I would a viper, lest they tempt me from the efficacy of His merits alone. It meant a deep heart searching. I knew of but few Holiness leaders who were really being dealt with on this line so deeply.

"Past services now became a very blank to me, and with the greatest relief on my part. I began again for God, as though I had never accomplished anything. I felt that I stood before Him empty handed. The fire of testing seemed to sweep away all of my religious doings. God did not want me to rest in these. For the future I was to forget all that I might ever do for God, as quickly as it was accomplished, so that it might not prove a further snare to me, and go on as though I had never done a thing for God. This was my safety." Without a doubt the least satisfaction to self in one's religious service is the greatest hindrance to the blessing and favor of God. It must be shunned as we would a serpent.

We continued to have wonderful meetings at Eighth and Maple. The Lord showed me He wanted this work to go deeper yet than anything we had at that time attained to. He was not even satisfied fully with the "Azusa" work, deep as it had gone. There was still too much of the self-life, the religious self, among us. This naturally meant war, hard and bitter, from the enemy. Ours was to be a sort of "clearing station," where fleshly exercises, false manifestations, and the religious self in general should be dealt with. We were after real experience, permanent and established, with God-like character, and no relapses.

The Holiness people were especially most tenacious of their attainments and position. In fact many of them were filled with hard-hearted pharisaism. Only God could hope to get light to them on their condition and need. They had largely lost their "first love," with little left but the shell of their profession. There seemed even more hope for the church people. They were not so hard, censorious, critical and bigoted, on the whole. Our "shibboleth" may become a "brazen serpent," which we set up on a pole to worship. As such it will cease to heal us, and become a "piece of brass" (margin, 2 Kings 18:4), to be smashed.

I was greatly tested financially again. One day I had to walk twenty-five blocks to town, not having even car-fare. A brother almost as poor as myself gave me a nickel to ride home. At the same time we were having glorious meetings. Many were prostrated under the power. The devil sent two strong characters one night to sidetrack the work. A spiritualist woman put herself at the head, like a drum major, to lead the singing. I prayed her out of the church. The other, a fanatical preacher with a voice that almost rattled the windows, I had to rebuke openly. He took over the whole meeting. Conceit fairly stuck out of him. The Spirit was terribly grieved. God could not work. I had suffered too much for the work to turn the whole thing over to the devil so easily. Besides I was responsible for souls, and for the rent. So I had to tell him to leave.

We had a fierce battle with such spirits. They would have ruined everything. The devil has no conscience, and the "flesh" has no sense. The very first time I opened the church for meetings I found one of the worst fanatics and religious crooks sitting on the steps waiting for me. He wanted to run the place. He was a preacher. I chased him from the place, like Nehemiah did the son of Joiada. (Neh. 13:28) I had never dreamed there was so much of the devil in so many people. The town seemed full of them. It tempted the saints to fight and hindered the Spirit. These crooks and cranks were the first at the meeting. We had a great clearing-up time. Especially in the case of old professors. There was much professional, religious quackery. Judgment had to "begin at the house of God." Luther was greatly troubled with willful, religious fanatics in his day. He wrote from the Wartburg, where he was then concealed, to Melancthon at Wittenberg, a test-stone for these fanatics, as follows: "Ask these prophets whether they have felt those spiritual torments, those creations of God, that death and hell which accompany a real separation." When he returned to Wittenberg and they tried their sorcery on him he met them with these crude words: "I slap your spirit on the snout." They acted like devils at that challenge. But it broke their spell.

We were obliged to deal firmly with extreme cases, but in the main the Spirit passed over and moved out of the way irregularities, without further advertising them. Many have declared we cannot throw our meetings open today. Then we must shut God out also. What we need is more of God, to control the meetings. He must be left free to come forth at all costs. The saints themselves are too largely in confusion and rebellion. Through prayer and self-abasement God will undertake for the meetings. This was the secret in the beginning. We held together in prayer, love, and unity, and no power could break this. But self must be burned out. Meetings must be controlled by way of the throne. A spiritual atmosphere must be created, through humility and prayer, that Satan cannot live in. And this we realized in the beginning. It was the very opposite of religious zeal, and carnal, religious ambition. We knew nothing about present day "pep" and "make it snappy" methods. That whole system is a bastard product, as far as "Pentecost" is concerned. It takes time to be holy. The world rushes on. It gets us nowhere with God.

One reason for the depth of the work at "Azusa" was the fact that the workers were not novices. They were largely called and prepared for years, from the Holiness ranks, and from the mission field, etc. They had been burnt out, tried and proven. They were largely seasoned veterans. They had walked with God and learned deeply of His Spirit. These were pioneers, "shock troops," the Gideon's three hundred, to spread the fire around the world. Just as the disciples had been prepared by Jesus. We have now taken on a "mixed multitude." And the seeds of apostacy have had time to work. "First love" has been also largely lost. The dog has "returned to his vomit" in many cases, to Babylonic doctrines and practices. An enfeebled mother can hardly be expected to bring forth healthy children.

The Spirit dealt so deeply, and the people were so hungry in the beginning, that the carnal, human spirit injected into the meetings seldom failed to hinder largely the working of the Spirit. It was as though a stranger had broken into a private, select company. The presence was painfully noticeable. Men were after God. He was in His holy temple, earth (the human) must keep silence before Him. It only caused grief and pain. Our so-called tarrying and prayer rooms today are but a shadow of the former ones, too often a place to blow off steam in human enthusiasm, or become mentally intoxicated, supposedly from the Holy Ghost. Many of them are a kind of lethal chamber, with very little of the pure Spirit of God. This should not be. We had a tremendous lot of fanaticism in the Holiness movement also. In the early days the "tarrying room" was the first thought and provision for a "Pentecostal Mission." It was held sacred, a kind of "holy ground." There was mutual consideration also. There men sought to become quiet from the activities of their own too active mind and spirit, to escape from the world for the time, and get alone with God. There was no noisy, wild, exciting spirit there. That at least could be done elsewhere. The claims and confusion of an exacting world were shut out. It was a sort of "city of refuge" from this sort of thing, a "haven of rest," where God could be heard, and talk to their souls. Men would spend hours in silence there, searching their own hearts in privacy, and securing the mind of the Lord for future action. This sort of thing seems well nigh impossible today amid present surroundings. We die out to self by coming into His presence. And this requires great quietness of spirit. We need a "holy of holies." What Jew of old would have dared to act in God's temple as we do today in the missions? It would have meant death to him. We are full of foolishness and fanatical self-assertion. Even the formal Romanists have more reverence on the whole than we.

Sunday, August 26, Pastor Pendleton and about forty of his members came into Eighth and Maple, to worship with us. They had received the "baptism" and spoken in "tongues" in their church. The Holiness Church had thrown them out of their own building for this, to them, unpardonable crime. This congregation had built a church with their own money. The property was worth ten thousand dollars. But they gladly left it to follow Jesus. It had been deeded to the Association. This would seem to be a great mistake in such cases. The property should belong to the local assembly. I had been impressed to say to Brother Pendleton some weeks before this, when meeting him at "Azusa," that I believed we would yet worship together. This was even before I had gotten Eighth and Maple. I had no meeting of my own at that time. But the impression proved to have been from the Lord. At that time he was not thinking of ever needing another place to worship. He had not yet received the "baptism." When I heard the church was going to try him for heresy I invited them to come in with us if they were thrown out. Two days later they were expelled, and accepted my invitation. They came in a body. I had been praying for just such help as I was by this time very much worn in body.

Tradition is a tremendous curse in its power for thralldom. The Holiness church doubtless verily believed that Brother Pendleton and his flock had gone radically astray. They had no better pastor nor members in their connection. Brother Pendleton declared after this experience that he would never build another doctrinal roof over his head. He was determined to go on for God. Multitudes are shut up in ecclesiastical systems, within sectarian boundaries, while God's great, free pasture lies out before them, only limited by the encircling Word of God. "There shall be one flock, and one Shepherd."— (See Ps. 23.) Traditional theology, partial truth and revelation, soon becomes law. The conscience is utterly bound, like Chinese foot-binding, shut up against further progress.

I first met Brother Daniel Awrey here at Eighth and Maple. He came to the meetings and we had a laughing blessing together. I was with him later in India and China. He finally died in Africa. We were tremendously burdened for souls in those days, and had many all nights of prayer at the church. It seemed an easy thing to remain in prayer all night. It generally became daylight almost before we could realize it. We did not get sleepy. We had entered into the life of eternity, where there is no time. The presence of the Lord was wonderfully real. Sometimes the night seemed not more than half an hour, we were so quickened and exhilarated by the Spirit.

Sunday, September 9, was a wonderful day. Several were stretched out under the power for hours. The altar was full all day, with scarcely any cessation to the services. Several received the "baptism." In those days we preached but little. The people were taken up with God. Brother Pendleton and myself could generally be found lying full length on the low platform on our faces, in prayer, during the services. It was almost impossible to stay off our faces in those days. The presence of the Lord was so real. And this condition lasted for a long time. We had but little to do with guiding the meetings. Everyone was looking to God alone. We felt almost like apologizing when we had to claim any attention from the people, for announcements. It was a continuous sweep of victory. God had their attention. The audience would be at times convulsed with penitence. God dealt deeply with sin in those days. It could not remain in the camp.

At times my prayers were wonderfully answered for finances. I needed ten dollars for our house rent, and five dollars to pay for tracts. The owner cancelled the month's house rent, without a word from me. Then a sister handed me a sealed envelope. I opened it and found just five dollars in it. I had not said a word about my needs.

The New Testament Church had a split about this time. I was glad I had nothing to do with that. Brother Smale had forced the "baptized" saints to the wall. He had rejected their testimony finally. Brother Elmer Fisher then started another mission at 327'/2 South Spring Street, known as the "Upper Room" mission. Most of the white saints from "Azusa" went with him, with the "baptized" ones from the New Testament Church. This later became for a time the strongest mission in town. Both "Azusa" and the New Testament Church had by this time largely failed God. I soon after turned Eighth and Maple over to Brother Pendleton, as I was too worn to continue longer in constant service in the meetings. I had been for a long time under constant strain in prayer and meetings, and needed a rest and change very badly.

In the beginning of the "Pentecostal" work I became very much exercised in the Spirit that Jesus should not be slighted, "lost in the temple," by the exaltation of the Holy Ghost, and of the "gifts" of the Spirit. There seemed great danger of losing sight of the fact that Jesus was "all, and in all." I endeavored to keep Him as the central theme and figure before the people. Jesus should be the center of our preaching. All comes through and in Him. The Holy Ghost is given to "show the things of Christ." The work of Calvary, the atonement, must be the center for our consideration. The Holy Ghost never draws our attention from Christ to Himself, but rather reveals Christ in a fuller way. We are in the same danger today. There is nothing deeper nor higher than to know Christ. Everything is given of God to that end. The "one Spirit" is given to that end. Christ is our salvation, and our all. That we might know "the lengths and breadths, and heights and depths of the love of Christ," having a "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Christ)."—Eph. 1:17. It was "to know Him (Christ)," for which Paul strove. I was led to suddenly present Jesus one night to the congregation at Eighth and Maple. They had been forgetting Him in their exaltation of the Holy Ghost and the "gifts." Now I introduced Christ for their consideration. They were taken completely by surprise and convicted in a moment. God made me do it. Then they saw their mistake and danger, I was preaching Christ one night at this time, setting Him before them in His proper place, when the Spirit so witnessed of His pleasure that I was overpowered by His presence, falling helpless to the floor under a mighty revelation of Jesus to my soul. I fell like John on the Isle of Patmos, at His feet.

I wrote a tract at this time, of which the following are extracts: "We may not even hold a doctrine, or seek an experience, except in Christ. Many are willing to seek 'power' from every battery they can lay their hands on, in order to perform miracles, draw the attention and adoration of the people to themselves, thus robbing Christ of His glory, and making a fair showing in the flesh. The greatest religious need of our day would seem to be that of true followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. Religious enthusiasm easily goes to seed. The human spirit so predominates, the show-off, religious spirit. But we must stick to our text, Christ. He alone can save. The attention of the people must be first of all, and always, held to Him. A true 'Pentecost' will produce a mighty conviction for sin, a turning to God. False manifestations produce only excitement and wonder. Sin and self-life will not materially suffer from these. We must get what our conviction calls for. Believe in your own heart's hunger, and go ahead with God. Don't allow the devil to rob you of a real 'Pentecost.' Any work that exalts the Holy Ghost or the 'gifts' above Jesus will finally land up in fanaticism. Whatever causes us to exalt and love Jesus is well and safe. The reverse will ruin all. The Holy Ghost is a great light, but focused on Jesus always, for His revealing."

A.S. Worrell, translator of the New Testament, was an earnest friend of "Pentecost," and a seeker after the "baptism." He wrote the following in the "Way of Faith": "The blood of Jesus is exalted in these meetings as I have rarely known elsewhere. There is a mighty power manifest in witnessing for Jesus, with a wonderful love for souls. There is also a bestowal of 'gifts of the Spirit.' The places of meeting are at Azusa Street, at the New Testament Church, where Joseph Smale is pastor; some of his people were among the first to speak with 'tongues,' but most have withdrawn because they felt restraint in his church; and at Eighth and Maple streets, where Pastors Bartleman and Pendleton are the principal leaders."

In September, 1906, the following letters appeared in the "Way of Faith," from the pen of Dr. W.C. Dumble, of Toronto, Canada, who was visiting Los Angeles at this time. But, first, a note from Editor Pike himself. He wrote: "For some months we have been receiving letters from our dear Brother Bartleman concerning the great work of the Holy Spirit in Los Angeles. There has been some criticism of the reports we have published, and we were just on the point of writing to others on the ground, when our dear brother, Dr. W.C Dumble, favored us with the following most interesting description of what he has seen and felt there." The following from Dr. Dumble: "Possibly some of your readers may be interested in the impressions of a stranger in Los Angeles. A similar gracious work of the Spirit to that in Wales is in progress here. But while that is mostly in the churches, this is outside. The churches will not have it, or up to the present have stood aloof in a critical and condemnatory spirit. Like the work in Wales, this is a laymen's revival conducted by the Holy Spirit, and carried on in halls, and old tumble-down buildings, such as can be gotten for the work.

"This is a remarkable movement, that may be said to be peculiar by the appearance of the 'gift of tongues.' There are three different missions where one may hear these strange tongues. I had the rare joy of spending last evening at Pastor Bart leman’s meeting, or more correctly at a meeting where he and Pastor Pendleton are the nominal leaders, but where the Holy Spirit is actually in control. Jesus is proclaimed the Head, and the Holy Ghost His executive. Hence there is no preaching, no choir, no organ, no collection, except what is voluntarily placed on the table, or put in the box on the wall. And God was mightily present last night. Some one begins to sing: three or four hymns may be sung, interspersed with hallelujahs and amens. Then some overburdened soul rises, and shouts, 'Glory to Jesus!' and amid sobs and tears tells of a great struggle, and a great deliverance. Then three or four are on the floor with shining faces. One begins to praise God, and then breaks out with uplifted hands into a 'tongue.' Pastor Pendleton now tells how he felt the need, and sought the 'baptism,' and God baptized him with such an experience of the divine presence and love and boldness as he had never had before. The officials of his church therefore desired him to withdraw, and a number of his people went with him and joined forces with Pastor Bartleman. Then a sweet faced old German Lutheran lady told how she wondered when she heard the people praising God in 'tongues,' and began to pray to be baptized with the Spirit. After she had gone to bed her mouth went off in a 'tongue,' and she praised the Lord through the night to the amazement of her children.

"Next an exhortation in 'tongues' comes from Pastor Bartleman's lips in great sweetness, and one after another make their way to the altar quickly, until the rail is filled with seekers. Whatever criticism may be offered to this work it is very evident that it is divinely endorsed, and the Lord is 'adding to them daily such as are being saved.' It is believed that this revival is but in its infancy, and the assurance has been given that a great outpouring is imminent, and that we are in the evening of this dispensation. The burden of the 'tongue' is, 'Jesus is coming soon.'"—W.C Dumble, Los Angeles, Calif., Sept. 6, 1906.

Dr. Dumble wrote again, for the same paper: "At Pastor Bartleman's church meetings are held every night, all day Sundays, and all night every Friday. There is no order of services, they are expected to run in the divine order. The blessed Holy Ghost is the executive in charge. The leaders, or pastors, will be seen most of the time on their faces on the floor, or kneeling in the place where the pulpit commonly is, but there is neither pulpit, nor organ, nor choir. A young lady, for the first time in one of these meetings, came under the power of the Spirit, and lay for half an hour with beaming face lost to all about her, beholding visions unutterable. Soon she began to say, 'Glory! Glory to Jesus!' and spoke fluently in a strange tongue. On Sabbath last the meeting continued from early morning to midnight. There was no preaching, but prayer, testimony, praise, and exhortation."— W.C. Dumble. Much more of interest was contained in these published letters, but space forbids.

It is a fact that in the beginning platforms and pulpits were as far as possible removed out of the way. We had no conscious need of them. Priest class and ecclesiastical abuse were entirely swept away. We were all "brethren." All were free to obey God. He might speak through whom He would. He had poured out His Spirit "on all flesh," even on His servants and hand maidens. —Acts 2. We honored men for their God-given "gifts" and offices only. As the movement began to apostatize platforms were built higher, coat tails were worn longer, choirs were organized, and string bands came into existence to "jazz" the people. The kings came back once more, to their thrones, restored to sovereignty. We were no longer "brethren." Then the divisions multiplied, etc. While Brother Seymour kept his head inside the old empty box in "Azusa" all was well. They later built for him a throne also. Now we have, not one hierarchy, but many. ("Azusa Mission" is deserted, and Brother Seymour is in Heaven at this writing.) Kipling's immortal poem might well be recollected here: "The tumult and the shouting dies; the captains and the kings depart: Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, an humble and a contrite heart." God will not have us worship men or places.

I wrote for another religious paper the following, in 1906: "Cursed with unbelief we are struggling upward, only with the utmost difficulty, for the restoration of that glorious light and power, once so bountifully bestowed on the church, but long since lost. Our eyes have been so long blinded by the darkness of unbelief into which we were plunged by the church's fall, that we fight the light, for our eyes are weak. So far had we fallen as a church that when Luther sought to restore the truth of 'justification by faith' it was fought and resisted by the church of his day as the utmost heresy, and men paid for it with their lives. And it was much the same in Wesley's time. But here we are the restoration of the very experience of 'Pentecost,' with the 'latter rain,' a restoration of the power, in greater glory, to finish up the work begun. We shall again be lifted to the church's former level, to complete her work, begin where they left off when failure over-took them, and speedily fulfilling the last great commission, open the way for the coming of the Christ.

"We are to drop out the centuries of the church's failure, the long, dismal 'dark ages,' and telescoping time be now fully restored to pristine power, victory and glory. We seek to pull ourselves, by the grace of God, out of a corrupt, backslidden, spurious Christianity. The synagogues of a proud, hypocritical church are arrayed against us, to give us the lie. The 'hirelings' thirst for our blood. The scribes and pharisees, chief priests, and rulers of the synagogues, are all against us and the Christ.

"Los Angeles seems to be the place, and this the time, in the mind of God, for the restoration of the church to her former place, favor and power. The fullness of time seems to have come for the church's complete restoration. God has spoken to His servants in all parts of the world, and has sent many of them to Los Angeles, representing every nation under Heaven once more, as of old, come up for 'Pentecost,' to go out again into all the world with the glad message of salvation. The base of operations has been shifted, from old Jerusalem, for the latter 'Pentecost,' to Los Angeles. And there is a tremendous, God-given hunger for this experience everywhere. Wales was but intended as the cradle for this world-wide restoration of the power of God. India but the Nazareth where He was 'brought up.' "—F. Bartleman, Oct., 1906, in "Apostolic Light."

Again I wrote in the same paper: "If ever men shall seek to control, corner or own this work of God, either for their own glory or for that of an organization, we shall find the Spirit refusing to work. The glory will depart. Let this be one work where God shall be given His proper place, and we shall see such a work as men have never yet dreamed of. It would be a fearful thing if God were obliged to withdraw His blessed Spirit from us, or withhold it at such a time as this, because we tried to corner it. All our business is to get God to the people. Let us yield ourselves for this, and this alone. Some of the 'canker worms' of past experience have been party spirit, sectional difference, prejudices, etc., which are all carnal, contrary and destructive to the law of love, to the 'one body' of Christ. 'For in one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.'—1 Cor. 12:13. Self-satisfaction will always cause defeat. Oh, brother! Cease traveling 'round and 'round your old habit-beaten path, on which all grass has ceased to grow, and strike out into pastures green, beside the living waters." —F. Bartleman, Dec, 1906.

In the "Way of Faith" I wrote the following: "We are coming back from the 'dark ages' of the church's backsliding and downfall. We are living in the most momentous moments of the history of time. The Spirit is brushing aside all our plans, our schemes, our strivings, and our theories, and is Himself acting again. Many who have feathered well their nests are fighting hard. They cannot sacrifice to rise to these conditions.

"The precious ore of truth, the church's emancipation from the thralldom of man's rule, has been brought about in a necessarily crude form at first, as rough ore. It has been surrounded, as in nature, by all kinds of worthless, hurtful elements. Extravagant, violent characters have sought to identify themselves with the work. A monster truth is struggling in the bowels of the earth, entombed by the landslide of retrograding evil in the church's history. But it is bursting forth, soon to shake itself free from the objectionable matter yet clinging to it, unavoidably for the time. Christ is at last proclaimed the Head. The Holy Spirit is the life. The members are in principle all 'one body.' "—F. Bartleman, Dec., 1906.

Again, some extracts from an article in the "Way of Faith:" "We detect in the present hour manifestations in our midst the rising of a new order of things out of the chaos and failure of the past. The atmosphere is filled with inspiring expectation of the ideal. But unbelief retards our progress. Our preconceived ideas betray us in the face of opportunity. They lead to loss and ruin. But the world is awakening today, startled from her guilty slumber of ease and death. Letters are pouring in from every side, from all parts of the world, inquiring feverishly, 'what meaneth this?' Ah, we have the pulse of humanity, especially of the church of today.

There is a mighty expectation. And these hungry, expectant children are crying for bread. Cold, intellectual speculation has had nothing but denials for them. The realm of the Spirit cannot be reached alone by the intellect. The miraculous has again startled us into a realization of the fact that God still lives, and moves among us.

"Old forms are breaking up, passing away. Their death knell is being sounded. New forms, a new order and life, are appearing. There is naturally a mighty struggle. Satan moves the hosts of hell to hinder. But we shall conquer. The precious ore must be refined after it has been mined. The 'precious' must be taken 'from the vile.' Rough pioneers have cleared the way for our advance, through the thick underbrush. Heroic, positive spirits are necessary for this work. But purer forms will follow.

"Men have been speaking adown the ages, but the voice of God the Spirit is calling us today. Since the early church lost her power and place with God we have been struggling back. Up through 'its' and 'isms,' theories, creeds and doctrines (and schisms), issues and movements, blessings and experiences and professions, we have come. The stream could rise no higher than its source. We need no more theology or theory. Let the devil have them. Let us get to God. Many are cramped up in present experiences. They are actually afraid to seek more of God for fear the devil will get them. Away with such foolish bondage! Follow your Heart! Believe in your own heart's hunger, and go ahead for God. We are sticking to the bottom. We need the fire of God. Strait-jacket methods and religious rules have well nigh crushed out our spiritual life altogether. We had better grieve all men rather than God."—F. Bartleman, Jan., 1907.

Before the "Azusa" outpouring everything had settled down in concrete form, bound by man. Nothing could move for God. Dynamite, the power of the Holy Ghost, was necessary to free this mass. And this God furnished. The whole mass was set free once more. Our "year of Jubilee" had come. The last one had been realized in the great revival of '59, fifty years before.

The house we were living in was sold and we were obliged to move. I went to see some rooms and they looked so nice and large I took them at once. It was God's place for us, at 1319 San Pedro Street. But I had a strange experience in this connection. I hardly knew them when we moved in. They looked so much smaller. It had been a divine "optical illusion," by the Spirit. But He made us satisfied. We had been so nicely situated before it was a great change. The owner lived in one side of the house and was very wicked. We had a single, partnership aisle between, with a "slot" gas meter for both parties. We had much trouble as to whose turn it was to drop in the quarter. But the Lord kept us sweet. The owner drank and caroused much. We suspicioned her of being immoral also. She was a widow, with a family. She had male callers. It required much grace to remain there. But it was God's choice for us at the time.

Our church landlord, a Jew, now raised the rent on us. He evidently thought we were too prosperous. I was so worn by this time, from prayer and constant meetings, that I turned the pastorate over to Brother Pendleton fully. He had been a pastor before. I then began to stay at home more to rest and recuperate. I had written much, attended meetings constantly, besides going through the terrific siege of prayer both before and after the outpouring, so that my nerves were completely exhausted. I could hardly contemplate the writing of an ordinary postcard without mental agony at this time. I now decided to give myself to prayer, the study of the Word, and evangelistic work, as the Lord should lead. I had been tied to the Eighth and Maple meetings night and day. I can sympathize with Evan Roberts' nervous breakdown, after the revival in Wales. Eighth and Maple meetings ran for years after this, as a free mission. We never gave it a name. God marvelously used it. Dr. Yoakum held meetings there for a long time, in connection with Pastor Pendleton. Hundreds of souls were saved and blessed there. Brother Pendleton finally died, the lot was sold, and the building torn down. Only Heaven will reveal the good done and the souls and bodies blessed at Eighth and Maple. I want to repeat again there was never any jealousy or rivalry between Eighth and Maple Mission and "Azusa." God saved us from that spirit. It would have robbed us of His blessing. Brother Seymour always declared I had a company of angels traveling with me.

I spent whole nights in prayer, which did not seem a hardship but a privilege. The Lord was so near. I also wrote a number of new tracts, though very weak in body. My spirit could not rest from constant service. The message was upon me. Traditional teaching was so deep rooted in the people the Spirit strove constantly to free them, through this tract ministry.

"We should bring all human opinions and maxims to the Scriptures, as to a touchstone, by which to try them."—Luther. Luther himself suffered Gethsemanes of agony in breaking away from the Roman traditions. It is like death to break away from that which has become a very part of our religious being. Tradition becomes as binding upon us as the Word of God itself, and has become accepted as the same. And yet how much tradition has been proven all wrong scripturally.

I went to Santa Barbara for a change, preaching at the "Faith Mission," and at the Holiness Church there. I then spent a Sunday with Brother Harry Morse, in the Peniel Mission at San Pedro. Had a blessed time preaching. My time was mostly divided between meetings at Eighth and Maple, "Azusa" mission, Pasadena and Hermon. I frequently visited the "Upper Room" mission, 327 ½ South Spring Street, also. We came into severe testings in January. I had no money and we were almost out of food. Then the devil attacked me with a terrible stomach neuralgia. I cried to the Lord in desperation, as I was suffering horribly. He touched and relieved me at once of the pain, and I was also able to go to meeting and give Him glory.

The missions were drifting into the hands of man again and much "flesh" at times was manifest. I tried to keep true to the "heavenly vision." At times the manifestations would become of such a character there seemed little Spirit in them. They would evaporate into thin air. At other times the meetings were very powerful. But the temptation seemed to be always, as today, toward empty manifestation. This does not require any particular cross, or death to the self-life. Hence it is always popular. But there is only one safe, honest course to pursue with the "old man." Bury him under six feet of earth, with his face downward. The harder he scratches the deeper he will go.

I went to San Pedro again, and preached at Peniel Mission on Acts 2:4. While I was "yet preaching" the Spirit fell. We went immediately to prayer and had a wonderful time. At Hermon I preached a number of times.

God had given me a wonderful tract ministry. In two years' time I had published, by faith purely, without a dollar to begin with, fifty-eight separate tracts. About fifty of these I had written myself. I circulated two hundred and fifty thousand, at a cost of at least five hundred dollars. No money was solicited, and thousands were mailed free to all parts of the world also. I ended the ministry without a dollar. No money had been made out of it.

One evening at this time I went to the little Alley Mission in Pasadena. I had a heavy burden of prayer during the meeting. There was a young wife, an ex-Volunteer officer, there, who had been backslidden for several years. God laid her heavily upon my heart and I felt she must be saved that night. The meeting was about to close, but she still sat unmoved. It was after eleven o'clock. I spoke to her and warned her it might be her last chance. Still she sat indifferent. Then I began to plead with her. The people resented this as I pressed her for a decision. They thought I was going too far. But an agony of prayer was upon me for her soul. I had to resist the opposition of the most of the other workers, as well as the enemy. For a full hour I battled thus, almost alone. At times I was driven back by the unequal conflict, and even tempted to think I must have been mistaken as to the mind of God. Finally I fell to the floor under a real travail of soul for her. It was the crisis. My life seemed almost pressed out of me. I felt a little bit of what Jesus must have felt in Gethsemane for us. This kind of prayer costs. Then all at once the burden left me. It fell on her. Conviction seized her. She fell to the floor as though shot and began to cry in an agony of soul. And so for nearly three hours she struggled and wept her way through, with a broken heart, to Calvary and to restoration. It was about 3 A.M. when she arose, with the very shine of an angel on her face, in perfect victory. It had paid to hold on to God and obey my convictions, be obedient to the Spirit. She confessed she had been very near the "dead line" that night, in her resistance to God. This sister later received a ministry of intercession, and was used of God in a marvelous way in soul travail in the meetings.

One night while preaching at Hermon a preacher jumped to his feet and cut my message off. He said he had to go home and wanted to testify. After speaking for some time he sat down. He had destroyed my message and the Spirit was greatly grieved. I did not resist him but committed the whole matter to God. The meeting was ruined. I did not attempt to speak further. He remained for at least half an hour after he was through speaking. This same man had opposed me in other meetings before. The devil had put him on my track to hinder my ministry. But this time he had gone too far. God smote him. Two days later he wrote me for forgiveness, promising not to oppose me anymore. He also returned to Hermon and asked forgiveness publicly in the meeting.

I went to Pasadena again and spoke at the little Alley Mission. My message was one of warning. The sinners had been terribly trifling with God. While I was speaking the spirit of prayer fell upon two sisters (Mamie Craybill, and Jessie Hewett, the sister lately so wonderfully reclaimed). I closed the meeting and called the workers to prayer, but no one stayed but these two sisters. They could not leave. The others deserted us in the battle. I could not leave the sisters alone. They were under heavy burden of prayer on their knees. The Lord held them. Then a spirit of prayer seized me also. The sinners crowded in upon us as we prayed and wept there before the Lord. Our burden was for them. The gang of toughs became almost demoniacal in their resistance. It was an "hour of darkness." The mission itself was located down a dark alley, in the middle of the block. We had no street lights there, and no police protection. The Spirit warned me three times that my life was in danger. By this time the hoodlums seemed thirsting for my blood. They were led by a German, a very wicked atheist.

They now accused me of hypnotizing the two sisters. We were in the lion's den, with no possible, natural way out. This gang had heard the Gospel, sat in the meetings, and resisted the Spirit, until they were capable of most any act of cruelty. I had to be willing to face martyrdom, if need be, at their hands. This was the real test I was up against. I thought of the wife and children at home, in Los Angeles. But God took all fear away from me in that moment. It was a wonderful experience. Finally one more bold than the rest seized me by the shoulder and commanded me to get up and quit praying. I offered no resistance but threw my hands up and called on God. The martyr spirit was upon me. The fire of God seemed to encircle and possess me. I felt no fear. The next moment, to my surprise my assailant lurched forward on his knees and began to beg me to pray for him. He had gone too far. God had struck him. Seriousness seized the rest of the mob for a moment. But they soon recovered.

Two of them seized one of the sisters. She threw up her arms and shouted victory. The power of God fell upon her. Fear fell upon the gang again and they left her. The other sister by this time was on her feet praising God. They stood the test like soldiers. I believe they would have died willingly for the Lord that night. It was midnight and we could do no more good there. We were in a nest of demons. I turned the lights out and had the sisters pass out ahead that I might know they were safe. They passed the mob safely. But the gang was outside waiting for me. The German atheist stood with a short club in his hand, ready for me. I shook hands with the first two toughs I met, evaded the leader, and passed through their midst without a scratch, by the mercy of God. They could not touch me. No doubt they expected me to show fear. But God kept me in peace, without a tremor. They could not even follow us. We soon reached the lighted street and were safe. It had been a rough experience, but the Angel of the Lord had protected us. And we had not failed Him. The sisters were real heroines. Wife told me when I reached home that she had been awakened from sleep (just at the time we were in the most danger), and prayed for my safety, though knowing nothing of the trouble. She felt I was in danger.

The gang had mocked our tears and prayers for them that night. But they had not mocked us, but Christ. I had never seen such daring before, and had a feeling they might have to pay for it. The very devil almost seemed to possess them. Some had Christian parents too, and knew better. Only a little while after this several of these same young men met a sudden, unnatural and horrible death. One had his head cut off by a train, while on a motorcycle. Another was burned to a cinder at the top of a telephone pole, by a live wire. He was a lineman. A third was burned to death with gasoline. He was passing a repair shop with his motorcycle, near this same mission, in the alley, when a man threw a burning rag with gasoline out of the shop. It had caught fire accidentally. It caught the young man full in the face and killed him.

Chapter 5: From California To Maine

The latter part of March, 1907, I received an invitation to come to Conneaut, Ohio, with a check enclosed for fifty dollars. They wanted "Pentecostal" meetings there. The leader wrote me they were hungry for "Pentecost." I felt it was a call from God to go east but could not help wondering if they really knew what they were inviting for themselves. The letter seemed full of enthusiasm, the thing John Wesley so strongly discouraged and depreciated. His definition of "fanaticism" was, "expecting the end without the means." I did not cash the check, fearing lest they might be disappointed when they got through with me. They had to learn that "Pentecost" meant the dying out to the self-life, carnal ambition, pride, etc., etc. It meant for them to enter into the "fellowship of His sufferings," not simply to have a popular, good time. This I felt they did not realize. A real Christian means a martyr, unavoidably, in one way or another. Few people are willing to pay the price to become a real Christian, to accept the ostracism, false accusation, and condemnation of others. But God has only one standard for His church, for all time. Present day profession is for the most part a mere sham. Only a small percentage of it is real.

A man once asked Luther to recommend to him a book both agreeable and useful. "Agreeable and useful!" replied Luther, "Such a question is beyond my ability. The better things are the less they please."

"Except a man forsake 'all'," said Jesus, "he cannot be my disciple." This may require some qualification, or explanation, as to positive action, but the principle remains the same for all. The church since her fall in the early centuries has had altogether a mistaken conception of her calling, and of salvation. All believers are called to a one hundred per cent consecration. God has no two standards of consecration for the foreign missionary, and the home Christian. We cannot find it in the Bible. One is called to consecrate their all as well as the other, as God's steward, in their own place and calling. One goes, one prays, and one gives. It takes the three to make a missionary. "This is a hard saying. Who can hear it?"

God has had but one purpose, and interest, in humanity since the "fall." That has been to bring man back to God. The whole old dispensation, with its providential dealings, was unto this one end. God had one recognized people, the Jews. He had one purpose in this nation. All their operations were to one end. All their worship pointed to that one end—to bring back the race, nations, to the true knowledge of God, and to bring in the Messiah of the world. Jesus Christ had but one interest in coming to this earth. His second coming waits for but this one thing also. When this Gospel shall have been preached in all the world "then shall the end come," the "curse" be lifted. Is the church working, with all her resources, for this one purpose, and to this one end? That certainly does not mean the selfish heaping up of property and riches, more than we really need. It does not mean getting all we want for ourselves, and then tossing the Lord a dollar we do not need. We have had the order totally reversed since the early church's fall. God requires exactly the same consecration of all. And here is where the Ananias and Sapphira business has come in. Not "one-tenth," in this dispensation, but "all." Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and we are to be one hundred per cent for Him at all times. We belong to Him. He has created us, and bought us back, redeemed us, after we had mortgaged His property, not ours, to the devil. In no sense are we our own. We are redeemed back, with the "blood." How long would it take, or have taken, to evangelize the world under this rule? Think on these things! Is the church moving normally, in divine order? The politico-religious system, since the early church, and today, is largely a hybrid, mongrel institution. It is full of selfishness, disobedience, and corruption. Its kingdom has become "of this world," rather than a "heavenly citizenship," calling, with spiritual weapons.

The doctrinal issue has also been a great battle. Many were too dogmatic at "Azusa." Doctrine after all is but the skeleton of the structure. It is the frame-work of the "body." We need flesh on the bones, the Spirit within, to give life. What the people need is a living Christ, not dogmatic, doctrinal contention. Much harm was done the work in the beginning by unwise zeal. The cause suffered most from those within its own ranks as always. But God had some real heroes He could depend upon. Most of these sprang from the deepest obscurity into sudden prominence and power, and then as quickly retired again, when their work was done. Some one has well said: "Men, like stars, appear on the horizon at the command of God." This is a true evidence of a real work of God. Men do not make their times, as some one has also truly said, but the times make the man. Until the time no man can produce a revival. The people must be prepared, and the instrument likewise.

The historian D'Aubigne has well said: "God draws from the deepest seclusion the weak instruments by which He purposes to accomplish great things; and then, when He has permitted them to glitter for a season with dazzling brilliancy on an illustrious stage, He dismisses them again to the deepest obscurity." Again he says: "God usually withdraws His servants from the field of battle only to bring them back stronger and better armed." And this was the case with Luther, shut up in the Wartburg, after his glittering triumph over the great ones of earth at Worms.

D'Aubigne writes again: "There is a moment in the history of the world, of such as Charles II, or of Napoleon, which decides their career and their renown. It is that in which their strength is suddenly revealed to them. An analogous moment exists in the life of God's heroes, but it is in a contrary direction. It is that in which they first recognize their helplessness and nothingness. From that hour they receive strength of God from on high. A great work of God is never accomplished by the natural strength of man. It is from among the dry bones, the darkness, and the dust of death, that God is pleased to select the instruments by means of which He designs to scatter over the earth His light, regeneration and life. Strong in frame, in character and in talents, Zwingle, whose defect consisted in this strength, was destined to see it prostrated, that he might become such an instrument as God loves. He needed the baptism of adversity, and infirmity, of weakness and pain. Luther had received it in that hour of anguish when his cell and the long galleries of the convent of Erfurth re-echoed with his piercing cries. Zwingle was appointed to receive it by being brought into contact with sickness and death."—D'Aubigne.

Men must come to know their own weaknesses before they can hope to know God's strength. The natural strength and ability of man is always the greatest hindrance to the work of God, and to God's working. That is why we had such a deep dying out, especially for the workers and preachers, in the early days of "Azusa" Mission. God was preparing His workers for their mission.

In answer to prayer the Lord opened the way for us, as a family, east. I carried my check from Conneaut, Ohio, in my pocket, uncashed. Wife wanted to see her people in New York State, and I did not know when I would be ready to return to California. I wanted to be free for God's full will. I remembered then, for the first time, that I had prophesied when we left Pittsburgh for the west that we would be back in five years' time. God must have shown me, for it was now exactly five years.

Mother Wheaton, the prison evangelist, and Brother Amil Alien, traveled with us. We got a pass part way. At Salt Lake City we saw the Mormon Temple, held a service in the penitentiary, and then ran on to Denver. Ruth and John, our two children, were taken very sick, but God delivered. I preached at Holiness headquarters one night in Denver. Here we had been members and labored before we came to California. I preached for Brother Fink at the Pentecostal Hall, and we had a powerful time. Several souls were saved, among them one whole family, and the saints were wonderfully built up. Some received the "baptism." I had three meetings in all. God wonderfully used two little girls here. They both had the "baptism," and a real ministry of prayer. Their pleadings with the unsaved broke up the house. Their freedom from self-consciousness was a powerful lesson to us all. It was a strange work and ministry of God. Terrible conviction was upon the unsaved. "Except ye become as a little child," we learned anew. Evidently modern evangelistic methods are not altogether essential for the salvation of souls. The churches can possibly beat us on that line. We had better stick to our peculiar gift, though it be a "strange work." We will succeed better at that. Let God have His way. In those days the power and presence of God among us often converted sinners in their seats. We did not have to drag them to the altar and fight with them to get them saved. They did not come to the altar to fight God. There was much of the "singing in the Spirit" at Denver, as at "Azusa." This peculiar "gift" seemed to accompany the work wherever it broke out.

At Chicago we stopped at Beulah Rescue Home. I preached in the Home, and also at Brother Durham's mission, on North Avenue, under a most precious anointing. I preached three times also at S.B. Shaw's mission, the author of the little book, "The Great Revival in Wales." We finally reached Conneaut, Ohio, April 30, in a snowstorm. God had shown me in Los Angeles that I would start my meetings there May 1. They tried to hurry us through a month sooner. But we kept in divine order. The presence of the Lord was with us in Conneaut, from the start. It was a Holiness mission. We really had little to do in the main but look on and see God work. The Spirit took the meetings. In fact we were on our faces most of the time in prayer. I could hardly keep off my face at Conneaut. The battle was the Lord's. And no one else could have fought it there. We were up against most stubborn resistance. The Lord had warned me of this condition before we left Los Angeles. The leader who had written inviting me had not the slightest idea what "Pentecost" meant, just as I had feared. He wanted a big time, with a big increase in the mission, to build up the work in numbers, etc.

I soon found him planted squarely in the way. While professing holiness he was tremendously alive to his own importance. God exalts no man or mission, but rather humbles all in the dust together, that He alone may be glorified. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Only God knows it. Sister Ivy Campbell, from "Azusa," was there with us. God had sent her on ahead some time before, to blaze the way for us. Her home was in Ohio. Brother Kennedy, a Wesleyan Methodist preacher, had been preaching for them. He was a most humble man of God.

The Lord wrought very deeply. Several were under the power all night on one occasion. There was no closing at 9 o'clock sharp, as the preachers must do today in order to keep the people. We wanted God in those days. We did not have a thousand other things we wanted before Him. And He did not disappoint us. One sister sang and spoke in "tongues" for five full hours. Souls were saved. The saints were wonderfully built up and strengthened by the presence of the Lord. A number received the "baptism," and the mission became full-fledged for "Pentecost." One Sunday night the hall was packed out, to the middle of the street. I went to the hall one morning to look up the folks, who had not come home. Several had stayed all night. I found them lost to all but God. They could not get away. A very shekinah glory filled the place. It was awesome, but glorious.

Our big fight proved to be with the leader, who had sent for me. The meetings had not gone far until we found him wedged squarely in the way. One sister nearly died under a travail of soul for him. He was fleshly, proud and self-important, and would not let the meetings go deeper. We could go no further. He did not seem to have the least idea of humbling himself with the rest of us. But he had to come down. God showed me I must deal with him. I had to obey, or quit. There was no use going any further. We were eating at his table and sleeping in his beds. It was a hard thing to have to do. But I went after him. We locked horns and he resisted me fiercely. But God brought him down. The Spirit convicted him and he fell in a heap. He almost jarred the building when he fell. He lay under a bench for five hours and began to see himself as God saw him. The Spirit took him all to pieces and showed him his pride, ambition, etc. Finally he got up, without a word, and went home. There he locked himself in his room and remained until God met him. He came out from that interview meek as a little lamb, and confessed his shortcomings. The hindrance was out of the way and the meetings swept on in power. He got the "baptism" himself some time later, after we had gone.

Brother Kennedy bought me a new suit of clothes before I left. So the Lord rewarded me for my faithfulness, and He did not have to depend on the leader, either. It pays to obey God. I visited Brother Thomas K. Doty, editor of "Christian Harvester," at Cleveland. Here I also preached with much anointing, for Brother Kramer, at the C.M.A. I spoke for two solid hours. I cashed my check here, that they had sent me from Conneaut to come east on. The meetings had been a success and all were satisfied. They gave me an offering, besides.

Our next meeting was at Youngstown, Ohio. Here I preached for the Christian Missionary Alliance. Some nights we were held in the hall until daylight. We could not get away. God was so near no one felt tired or sleepy. I had much real soul-travail here. In some meetings suppressed groans were about all one could hear. Very much prayer characterized the services. The Spirit was waited upon for every move, and He took complete control. No two services were alike. In one meeting the very silence of Heaven took possession of us for about four hours. Scarcely a sound was uttered. The place became so steeped in prayer and sacred that we closed the door softly, and walked the same, scarcely speaking to one another, and then only in whispers. Another night we were held in adoration and praise for hours. We seemed to be looking into the very face of God. There was no boisterousness in these meetings, but a subdued spirit throughout.

Another night we were all broken up by the love of God. We could do nothing but weep for a whole hour. Every meeting was different, and each seemed to go deeper. Two or three whole nights were spent in prayer. One night the Spirit fell upon us like an electric shower. Several went over on the floor and God was master for the time. Such singing in the Spirit, the "heavenly chorus," I have seldom heard. A number came through speaking in "tongues." But again our battle was with the leader. He opposed me fiercely. He was not right with God, and would not yield. His wife was now under the power, seeking the "baptism," but he carried on in the "flesh" until the Spirit was terribly grieved. The devil often gets into a preacher's coat. Satan used him persistently in the beginning of the meetings. But God got the victory, in spite of him. He did not yield. It is amazing the hold the devil has on some preachers.

I preached one night at Akron, Ohio, for Brother McKinney, with much blessing. We then had five services at New Castle, Pennsylvania, with the C.M.A. again. God greatly blessed here also. From here we went to Alliance, Ohio, for the Pentecostal camp meeting. It was June 13. We had a wonderful camp. It was the first one of its kind in the northeast. I led the preachers' meetings. The first Sunday morning I was given a message, but the leader asked me to speak in the afternoon, instead. I said nothing, but prayed. In a few minutes he came back and told me to preach in the morning. In those days men did not get far without God. I preached with great help from the Lord on, "Jesus Christ, in World-wide Evangelism, in the Power of the Holy Ghost." Everything centers around Jesus. We may not put the power, gifts, the Holy Ghost, or in fact anything ahead of Jesus. Any mission that exalts even the Holy Ghost above the Lord Jesus Christ is bound for the rocks of error and fanaticism.

This was a very important camp, in the inception of the work in that part of the country. We remained two weeks, and I preached eleven times in all. We had a powerful time and a large, representative attendance. Four hundred camped on the grounds. Often meetings lasted all night. Missionary enthusiasm ran high. Meals were on the free-will offering plan. God bountifully provided and a precious spirit of unity prevailed. We were "brethren," baptized in "one spirit," into "one body." Thus Jesus' prayer was answered, "that they all may be one." The harmony between the preachers was especially blessed. Such a spirit of love we have seldom seen displayed. Those were wonderful days. It could be truly said that in honor we preferred one another in those days.

No organ or hymn books were used. The Spirit conducted the services and there seemed no place for them. Hundreds definitely met God. Numbers were saved, baptized in the Spirit, and healed. Many received a call to foreign fields, to prove God along real faith, Bible lines. The rapid evangelism of the world, on real apostolic lines, was the goal set. The present generation must be reached by the present generation of necessity, or lost. The altars were seldom empty of seekers day or night. Men who had been both in the Wales and India revivals declared this to be the deepest work of all. We determined to fight nothing but sin, and to fear nothing but God. I asked the Lord for a certain amount of money, which we needed to get on east. The committee gave me exactly the amount I had prayed for, without a single hint from me. God did it. Praise Him!

I took the wife and children to my father-in-law's near Peekskill, New York. He was a Methodist pastor, living six miles back in the hills, in a beautiful, hid-away, quiet place. Here they remained while I ran out to conventions, etc. I preached three times, the first Sunday for my father-in-law, but both he and his churches were spiritually dead. Some of his official board both smoked and drank. I could do little for them. They did not want what I had. In New York City I visited Stephen Merritt, and attended a service at the C.M.A. headquarters. I also preached at a colored Pentecostal assembly. At Nyack (N.Y.) C.M.A. Convention, I spoke at two services, with much blessing. Some one paid my expenses there. I had not been invited. After a few days' rest with my family I went to Philadelphia, visited the Grace Baptist Church, where I had once been a member, and from there ran on to Pittsburgh. Here I preached for Brother Whitesides, at the C.M.A., afternoon and evening. I was to take the train the same night for Cincinnati, but could not stop my message in time. The people were so hungry. I preached for two hours. They gave me fifteen dollars, and I proceeded the following morning. This money paid my fare from Peekskill to Cincinnati. The Lord was with me.

I stopped at Brother Knapp's Bible School, and next morning ran on to Wilmore, Kentucky, to attend a prayer convention. Here I preached seven times during the convention. The object of this camp was to develop unity among the brethren, and to raise up intercessors. S.B. Shaw and Thomas K. Doty were there. Rev. Shaw had invited me. But the camp was pretty well divided. Many of the saints were hungry for more of God. Conditions proved very detrimental to this. Brother Pickett had charge of the camp and charged a gate fee. This was mercenary. The holiness manifested I felt was of a rather acrid nature. It was not a "Pentecostal" camp.

I was taken quite sick with fever here but a missionary from India prayed for me and God broke the fever. Both the food and the water were bad. The convention voted me twenty dollars. This paid my fare home, to my family. I had traveled eighteen hundred miles. It seemed a long trip as I had never been more than a hundred miles from my family before. Our train ran over and killed a man on the way south. How uncertain is life! Brother Doty wrote in "Christian Harvester," concerning this camp: "There was loftier preaching, but Brothers Bartleman and Shaw were probably the greater prayer contingent for the work in hand." So I thanked God, and took further courage.

I next went to Old Orchard, Maine, changing cars at Boston. There was a C.M.A. Convention at Old Orchard. Some souls hungry for "Pentecost" arranged a meeting in the woods and invited me to speak to them. The Lord visited us in a most wonderful way. The devil had tried to keep me from coming here. The trip would cost me at least twenty dollars, and I was not invited. But I knew God had sent me. One evening I had been praying in the grove with a visiting preacher from Scotland. He suddenly took me by the arm and led me up onto the platform, seating me beside himself. He was to preach that evening. He wanted me to pray for him. It was a bold thing to do, but he was a fearless man. I knelt in prayer while he spoke and God greatly helped him. I had never met him before that evening, and have even forgotten his name. The leaders were greatly surprised to see me on the platform, but it was not my doing. I did not, however, venture on again.

A score of hungry souls repaired to the village church for a whole night of prayer, having secured the key from the local pastor. We were not allowed to tarry on the camp grounds. One member of the Nyack C.M.A. faculty got the "baptism" that night, and a backslider was reclaimed. I spoke to this little company in the church the next afternoon and evening, as they would allow no meetings of this kind in the camp. The camp meeting committee then forced the pastor to close the church against us. They did not want their people to get the "baptism." We went to the woods again. There I spoke the next morning and evening to a good sized congregation. I had nothing to do with arranging these meetings. There were so many hungry for "Pentecost" they insisted on my preaching to them. I did not dare deny them. I spoke in all about four hours that day. The committee had no jurisdiction over the woods outside the camp. I am sure Jesus would not have refused these hungry souls the bread of life. There was no less than one hundred people at the woods meeting. And all hungry for God. Surely He had sent me there for that purpose.

They pressed about thirty dollars in money into my hands. So the devil had lied to me. I came out ahead of all expenses. One sister who had been a physician ran after me one day and begged me to receive twelve dollars restitution money that was burning a hole in her conscience. She could not locate the party she had wronged, so turned it over to the Lord. That was a real work of God. The Lord had blessed so mightily in our little meetings that the camp became stirred. Rather than have further, outbroken trouble, the saints thought it best to discontinue the meetings, and I dropped quietly out of camp before the committee could take any definite further action in the matter. Thus we avoided further unpleasantness and strife. The hungry ones were fairly dogging my steps and thronging me. The committee became afraid of my influence with the people.

I stopped a few days at the Moody Convention, at East Northfield, Massachusetts, where I had attended years before, while a young student. Here I had a good rest and took some part in the meetings. Returning to my family, I removed them to my parents' home at Michener, Pennsylvania. I had not been home for several years. Here I spent a little time with them, resting, and studying the Word. They were very glad to see us. They had never seen the children. Near here I had been raised on a farm, as a boy. At Carversville, nearby, I preached in the Presbyterian Church. My older brother, Will, heard me preach here for the first time.

It was now September. I went south to Columbia, South Carolina, preaching a number of times at the Oliver Gospel Mission there in connection with the "Way of Faith" office, where Brother J.M. Pike was editor. I had written many articles for this paper. We had much blessing in the services and I had a good visit with Brother Pike, whom I had never met before. I wrote two articles while here. A sister in New York City sent me ten dollars, Brother Pike gave me fifteen dollars, and another party gave me three dollars. So the Lord provided for my expenses again. I dropped off at Dunn, North Carolina, where Brother Cashwell's family lived, and preached five times in the little Pentecostal Church there. Brother Cashwell had gotten his "baptism" earlier, at "Azusa" mission, and had spread the fire in the south. He was away from home at this time. Brother Pike wrote in the "Way of Faith," after my visit: "Brother Bartleman dropped in upon us, unexpectedly, last week. His presence was a benediction to us and our home. His services were made a blessing to those whose hearts are longing for the Pentecostal blessings. None who have fellowship with him can doubt his absolute abandonment to God, and the fullness of the Spirit within him. He lives, moves and has his being in the will of God. We commend him to all who are seeking God's highest and best."—"Way of Faith." We hesitate to reproduce in print such a high commendation, knowing we are not worthy, but do so in order that we may have it before us continually as a goal to be striven to attain to.

The Lord was wonderfully with us in those early days. I preached six times in Washington, D.C., reaching my family again safely, at Michener, Pennsylvania. At Forty-second Street Mission, New York City ("Glad Tidings Hall"), we had powerful times. I had developed brain fag in the long and constant work in California, but this began to leave me now. What I needed was a change. That is the best rest after all. I visited Nyack, New York, again, preaching three times at the C.M.A. Then I removed my family to Philadelphia, to my brother Will's. Returning to New York City I attended the C.M.A. Convention at the Tabernacle. The saints paid my board at the Alliance House. Just before I arrived there was not a vacant room in the house. But the Lord emptied one almost the moment I reached there and I was dropped right into it. Rooms were in great demand. A brother gave me ten dollars besides. The Lord had spoken to me upon arriving there: "Let there be no strife between us, for we be brethren."

I spoke for three hours one night at "Glad Tidings Hall," while here. Then the people wanted me to continue. They were so hungry for the "Pentecostal" message. I stopped at 11:40 P.M. Workers kept coming in from the Alliance convention, after the meeting closed there. But the devil fairly tore up the earth at the beginning of the meeting, through the rabble outside. He evidently sensed something of what was coming. The next night I preached again and many were prostrated under the power. Some stayed all night. The evangelist in charge of the night meetings at the convention came in himself, after the services had closed at the Tabernacle.

The next night they had an all-night meeting at the convention. A young girl came under the power and her spirit was caught up to the throne. She sang a melody, without words, that seemed to come from within the veil, it was so heavenly. It seemed to come from another world. I have never heard its equal before or since. A.B. Simpson was there himself that night and was tremendously impressed by it. He had been much opposed to the "Pentecostal" work. Doubtless God gave it as a witness for him. Several were slain under the power. Toward morning the presence of the Lord was wonderful. I went to leave the hall just at daybreak and shook hands with a sister hungry for the "baptism." The Spirit came upon her and I could not turn her loose until she fell at the altar, and came through speaking in "tongues." I shook hands with another hungry sister, as I started to leave the hall again. The Spirit fell upon her and she received the "baptism" right there on her feet, speaking in "tongues" before I could turn her loose. That was a wonderful night.

It was now time for us to start for California again. October 16, 1907, we left Philadelphia, stopping at Pittsburgh, where I preached twice for Brother Whitesides, at the C.M.A. again. God met us in a powerful way. Several received the "baptism." The last one came through at 1 A.M. I preached twice at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, at a C.M.A. Convention, stopping off between trains, by special request. God greatly honored the Word. At Alliance, Ohio, I preached three times. The Lord was powerfully with us. We then proceeded to Chicago, where I preached at Beulah Home, and at Brother Durham's mission again. At St. Louis we stopped with Brother Seeley Kinne for some time. I preached here eighteen times in all, to as hungry, humble, and appreciative a company as I have ever met anywhere. God was wonderfully with us. I spoke twice at Mother Moise's Rescue Home, and four times at the C.M.A. hall, with much blessing, also.

At Topeka, Kansas, I preached five times for Brother Foster. One of the meetings here did not break up until daylight. God drew very near. At Denver I preached seven times. The Lord wrought again mightily among the people, but the leader was not true. He came very near causing the death of our little boy, John. He held back the collection the saints had given for me, to buy himself a pair of shoes with. The shoes he already had were better than mine. When I went to buy our tickets for Colorado Springs I found myself short, and had to return to the house and get the balance of the fare from his secretary. He had left town, with my money. We missed our train, and were thrown into Colorado Springs after night. No arrangements had been made for the family. They thought I was alone. We were taken hurriedly to a house without fire the first night. Little John contracted congestion and nearly died. It was freezing weather. And all this because of the sin of the leader in Denver. He had resisted the Spirit greatly in our meetings there. God made Him send me my collection later. Some years later he confessed he had faked "Pentecost." I am afraid too many leaders have done the same.

At Colorado Springs I preached six times. The Spirit flowed like oil. I have seldom found such liberty anywhere. Oh, the possibilities, where purity and unity reign! Brother Beresford was pastor here. He later went to Egypt as a missionary. Trinity, Colorado, was our next stop. I preached ten times here, to a very hungry band of saints. They were much strengthened and blessed. But the high altitude was hard on us. Then the devil had tried to ditch our train just before we arrived there. We came on to Los Angeles from here, over the Santa Fe railroad. One night our wheels began to slide, down a steep grade in Arizona. I put on the brakes with prayer. The Lord brought us through. But I slept very little for two nights. We saw several wrecks along the way, and came near jumping the track ourselves twice before we reached California. The high altitude was also a great strain on my nerves. I was very tired from the summer's strenuous work. We were glad to be back in California again.

We had checked our trunks to Los Angeles, not knowing where we would find our next home. But before reaching Pasadena the Lord showed me we should get off there. We did not expect anyone to meet us, though I had written Brother Boehmer that we would get back on that train. When we reached Pasadena, with no place to go, we found Brother Boehmer at the depot waiting for us. He took us to a mission home on Mary Street they had just opened in connection with the Alley Mission. So God had it all arranged for us, without our knowledge. We were weary pilgrims indeed, needing rest. We arrived December 5, 1907.

We were scarcely located when I went down with a terrible attack of the grippe. Ruth and John were both sick also. The devil had tried to hinder our return, and now seemed determined to kill us. I had shooting pains like needles for three days, in my shoulders and arms, until I was almost insane. The saints prayed and I was delivered. I found the work had fallen back considerably. The saints were badly split up. The Spirit was bound also. The outside opposition had become much more settled and determined. It was the same condition in Los Angeles.

The saints had suffered greatly under the tyranny of a leader who did not himself have the "baptism," at the Alley Mission. I now helped them to pray him out of the mission and the home, and they were delivered. He had imposed himself on the work. He was a regular "dog in the manger." A larger mission was opened up on Colorado Street, and I had some ministry there also. I found the power had been dissipated much. There was much empty manifestation. A great deal of it was simply froth and foam. This burdened me greatly. The spirit of prayer had been largely lost. In consequence much flesh and fanaticism had crept in. Prayer burns out the proud flesh. It must be crucified, cauterized.

One day I had a strong impression that Brother Allen was in town. We had left him east. Sure enough that very evening he walked in on us. He had just gotten back. The Lord had shown me. We now moved to 194 Stevenson Avenue, next door to Brother Boehmer, into a little cottage. The ministry of intercession was heavy upon me. I preached a number of times at Hermon, Eighth and Maple, and at Azusa Street. One evening at Azusa Mission the spirit of prayer came upon me as a rushing, mighty wind. The power ran all through the building. I had been burdened for the deadness that had crept in there. The temporary leaders were frightened and did not know what to do. They telephoned for help. They had not been with us in the beginning. Brother Seymour was out of town.

I was upstairs in the hallway. Others joined me in prayer. We went down stairs and the fire broke out in the meeting. But the leaders in charge were not spiritual. Other rulers had arisen that "knew not Joseph." They did not understand it. God was trying to come back. They seemed afraid someone might steal the mission. The Spirit could not work. Besides they had organized now fast and hard, and I had not joined their organization. And so it is largely today. Sign on the dotted line or we cannot trust you. We affiliate only with those carrying our papers. "Pentecost" took that thing out of us. Why go back to it? All who belong to the different divisions in the Pentecostal work today have not the spirit of division. But God would hold us to the ideal of the "one body."

The Lord showed me my place of hiding. I determined to follow Him. That is the place of power. Fear nothing but God, and obey Him. I spoke many times at Eighth and Maple, and at Azusa, and also at the Alley Mission in Pasadena, exhorting them to more earnestness, and to walk in the Spirit. I had suffered much in prayer in the bringing forth of this work, and felt I had a right to admonish them. Our great battle from the beginning was with fleshly religious fanatics, purporting to be of the Spirit of God.

Chapter 6: A Second Ministry East

Brothers Boehmer and Alien received the "baptism" about this time. March 11, 1908 I received a letter from Brother Sawtelle, leader of the Christian Alliance work in Portland, Oregon, to come north and hold some meetings for them. God had shown me that we would be called out again. I recognized His call. We were to go north and east again. Brother Boehmer now decided to go with us in the work. I felt we had come back to the coast largely to get him out. I was exhorting the saints all winter to push out in the spring for God. About a dozen followed us, to different points, as we started out again. I began to feel the world-wide call heavily upon me, also. The Lord seemed to show me the oceans must yet be crossed for Him. And this we realized later on. Like Peter the Hermit I felt at times like stirring all Christendom with my cry for a revival.

March 25, we started north, for Portland, Oregon. We reached Stockton safely. It was hard to leave Los Angeles. I saw a hardening coming over the work and was much burdened for it. Oh, that we might know "the time of our visitation," and lay up corn, not dissipate our blessing. We were to need it all, to be established, as the past years have proven. We have had our "seven years of famine," as well as plenty. I spoke six times at Stockton, where I found the "flesh" pretty strong. But God gave the victory. It was the same old story. They were expecting God to baptize their strength, instead of their weakness. I suffered much here physically, from cold and neuralgia.

Little John was taken very sick. We next stopped at Carrie J. Montgomery's Home at Beulah, near Oakland, for a few days. While here I visited San Francisco and went over the stricken city. I had not been there since the earthquake. In spite of two years' labor almost night and day to repair the damage, the whole city still lay practically in ruins. A few towers had gone up, in the shape of modern buildings, but they were only an apology for a city. There was still so much rubbish they could scarcely clear space enough to rebuild. Many streets were even yet so twisted, sunken, and raised, that it was difficult to make one's way along them. It looked like a straggling country town, largely gone to ruin, instead of the proud city it once had been. Many cheap wooden buildings had gone up. But the proud mansions still lay as they had fallen, in total ruin.

Sin seemed more openly rampant, if possible, than ever, the people more reckless and abandoned. Dens of infamy were running full blast in the very midst of the ruins where thousands of lives had been lost. Space was cleared, buildings run up, and the dance with death moved on. The dives were the first to be restored. God was openly defied. In fact boasting against Him could be heard on every side. What fools sin makes of men. A skull and cross-bones, illuminated by an electric light, adorned the entrance to one of the most infamous dives. I felt I wanted to get away. The wrath of God seemed hanging over the place.

We took the boat from here to Portland, and had a rough voyage. Most of us were sick. But God brought us through. Stopping at Astoria we got steadied up a little. We reached Portland in the morning, and wife and the children went by train to Auburn, Washington, to visit some friends we had known earlier in Los Angeles. I preached in all about twenty-four times in Portland, at the C.M.A. Brother Boehmer was with me. God blessed preciously, but we did not break through fully. There was too much opposition and conservatism. Altogether however, much good was accomplished, and the saints especially were greatly benefited and blessed. Brother Sawtelle was very kind to me. Later he left the Alliance, to enter a profession. He became discouraged because he could not go on with God in the Alliance, and so quit the work entirely. It was a very pitiful case. He was a good man. They gave me sixty-three dollars, while in Portland.

I ran on to Auburn, Washington, and found wife and the children well. After two days I started meetings at Tacoma. Here I preached ten times, at the Christian Missionary Alliance. God wonderfully blessed, and several received the "baptism." We had a very sweet spirit at this place. Great love and unity prevailed. The Lord was pleased with this. They gave me twenty dollars. At Seattle I visited Brother Gourley's mission, preaching there once. Boehmer and I took a little side trip by boat to Victoria, B.C., on Vancouver Island. I spoke at Brother Burns' mission in Seattle also. Taking my family from Auburn we left Seattle for Spokane, over the Great Northern railroad.

God gave us a furnished home to ourselves to live in while in Spokane. We could not have been treated more kindly. Brother Herbert Bursell had called us there. We found a strong company of fine saints at this place. I preached thirty-five times in all and we had some very powerful meetings. We were there three weeks. The meetings began in a home, but they opened a mission before we left. At times I had much soul travail. Often God broke through until I could not preach. We had powerful altar services. The saints were hungry for teaching. I suffered much from neuralgia at Spokane. Brother Boehmer left us here, to visit his brother, and unite with us east again. Besides our living expenses they gave us one hundred dollars. We needed a lot of money to make our next connection, so we did not have any too much. The love of the saints in Spokane for us was very deep.

We passed through Deer Lodge, and Butte, Montana, and near the Yellowstone Park, via the Northern Pacific railroad, on the way to Minneapolis. At Minneapolis I spoke four times in the little mission, to a precious company of saints. I visited Minnehaha Falls while there also.

We ran on from here to Chicago. I visited Zion City, and then preached at Brother Durham's mission. Our next stop was at Grand Rapids, Michigan. Here I preached once, and we passed on to Toledo, Ohio, where I spoke twelve times, at the Pentecostal Mission. We had very precious meetings. God especially favored me with illumination in the Word. They gave us twenty-four dollars here.

Our next stop was at Alliance (Ohio) Camp Meeting, where we had been the year before. I preached nine times at the camp. It was a harder fought battle than the year before. There had been much fanaticism and lawlessness developed. The "flesh" tried to run the meetings. I spoke on "soul-travail" with great help from God. The Lord began to break through. Little John was taken with convulsions and the devil tried to kill him. The saints were not under the burden as they needed to be. They were there too much to have a good time and get blessed. I preached one afternoon under a very heavy anointing. Just as we sat down at the supper table and were about to eat, the Spirit suddenly fell upon us. We had a table with "all things common." The Lord seemed to desire to show His pleasure at this condition. The fire ran through the whole camp in a powerful way. The supper remained untasted for an hour. Many went down under the power. It was a deluge. I preached again that night. On two occasions during the camp nearly fifty were swept down under the power at one time. There were many missionaries there. In fact the missionary spirit ran high. The newspapers were more abusive and untrue than ever. But they thus did our advertising for us, free. Many received the "baptism," numbers were saved, and quite a few healed. The supreme thought was that of Jesus' soon coming, and the evangelization of the world in preparation for this.

I was getting very tired in body and mind. At Grand Rapids the devil had seemed to take possession of the very children where we were staying, for my benefit. They would tear around the house until midnight, without a cause, simply to wear me out. I was so tired I could hardly live. At Toledo the enemy would catch the thoughts out of my mind while I was preaching before I could express them. I was under especial illumination of the Spirit at this place, capturing new territory from the devil. One can always tell in preaching when they have gotten onto new territory, not before recovered. The enemy is always discovered, and generally makes a furious attack upon you.

We stopped at Pittsburgh next, at the Christian Missionary Alliance, with Brother Whitesides. Here I preached four times, and wrote five articles for the "Way of Faith." I preached three times also at Braddock. The saints gave me forty dollars. We went on to Philadelphia and I left my family with my parents at Michener, Pennsylvania, not far from there. Brother Boehmer had rejoined us at Alliance, Ohio, and was now with me again. We went together to Rochester, New York, stopping at Elim Home. Here I preached four times. I had the message one night, but the leader refused to let me speak, because I had already preached over an hour in the afternoon. She was not used to letting God choose His own way. Human reason prevailed with her and she took the meeting in her own hands. The Lord dropped it right there. A crank got up and wore them all out with a long harangue. Then they allowed me to get up and deliver my message. A great burden came on Brother Boehmer and myself one night after going to bed. For over an hour we were tremendously pressed by the Spirit in prayer. We felt it was for some one. The next morning a preacher in the Home told of having received the "baptism" during the night. Then we understood. The burden had been for him.

We started for Toronto, Canada, visiting Niagara Falls on the way. At Toronto I spoke at Brother Sawder's mission one night, and at Brother Hebden's another. At both places God greatly blessed us. We then went to Brother Craig's mission at Camden Street. Here I spoke fourteen times in all. I preached also at the C.M.A., for Pastor Salmon, and at Sister Builder's home. One night the Spirit held us all through the service in silence at Brother Craig's. The Lord would not let me say a word, though the Spirit was heavy upon me. I tried never to speak unless God gave me something to say. Pastor Craig could not understand this. He had not received his "baptism," and was very brainy. He was a good man, but seemed oblivious to the influences of the Spirit. It requires a copper wire to receive and carry a current of electricity.

The Spirit wrought very deeply in the meetings at Toronto. But the leader was very much tried with me because he did not understand the Spirit. He expected things done the old way, new wine in the old skins. The Lord had given me a premonition of conditions in Toronto before I reached there. Thus the Spirit often prepared me for my ministry. The Lord would give me the message for the place and prepare me to meet the particular conditions and need. He put the quiet spirit on me for Toronto. There was too much "flesh" there. The first two or three days He would not even allow me to look around town to note the differences between English and American customs, though they were many. He did not want my spirit taken up with earthly surroundings. It was a close ministry. Later I was allowed to look around a little. The "fleshly" ones largely dropped out at the first message. They could not live in such an atmosphere.

We next stopped at Potter Brook, Penn. I spoke three nights there, but it was haying time and hard to get the farmers out. We went on to Elkland, nearby. Here we had a great battle. A child had a whining demon, and a dog seemed possessed with barking. This disturbed the meetings greatly. I spoke four times at the latter place and many received help and blessing. We rode twelve miles with a hired livery wagon to catch the early morning train on the main line, and reached Michener, where my family was staying, that evening.

We next went south, to Falcon (N.C.) Camp Meeting. Here I preached eight times. One night I was burdened all night in prayer. I could not sleep. The next day God came in the camp in great victory. The Spirit helped wonderfully. A multitude of people were there. We had some great altar services and many souls were wonderfully helped. Sinners were saved, and saints filled with the Holy Ghost. Some were healed. I had asked the Lord for forty dollars from the camp, but He told me to ask Him for fifty dollars. The trip was quite expensive. At the close of the camp Brother Culbreth handed me just fifty dollars. I had not even hinted about money. Someone else handed me six dollars. In Toronto God had shown me that Brother Sawders, whom they had invited to this camp, would not be there. I was not invited nor expected but God had shown me I was to go in his place. This, of course, I had kept to myself. Sure enough, Sawders did not get there. God knew. The devil had threshed me up to the last minute about going to Falcon without an invitation. It was an expensive trip. I had promised the Lord if He would give me forty dollars at Falcon, I would leave five dollars for the work there. But he gave me fifty dollars instead, and six dollars extra, to pay my pledge with. The Lord will never go in debt to us.

Dr. Hood wrote in the "Way of Faith," from the Falcon camp, as follows: "The preaching was of a high order. We were sorry of the inability of Rev. J.E. Sawders to be present, but we are sure the Holy Ghost guided in the matter, for he sent us 'a man of God' with a message most timely, and direct from the throne. We refer to Rev. Frank Bartleman, whom I believe to be perhaps the most humble and saintly person with whom I ever came in contact. He came to the pulpit from off his knees, charged with the power of God, and would hold the large audience in a very quiet way for hours as he delivered the message for 'this hour.' I believe he is truly one of God's men for this day."—Dr. D.H. Hood. I record the above with humility and shame, and only pray that I may become at least somewhat like the high order this dear brother has so graciously accredited to me.

I wrote myself at this time, in brief, concerning the situation at Falcon camp, as follows: "The Spirit impressed me while at Toronto that dear Brother Sawders would not be able to get to Falcon, and made known His desire for me to go. So I went without further call, just in obedience to Him. We are getting our calls that way these days, and God is also seeking to release us from the responsibility of choosing the workers ourselves. Dear Brother Culbreth was kind and patient, both toward friend and foe, in a most marked degree. Evidently God knows His man. An able heart of love is a most capable thing. Dear Brother Floyd Taylor reminded me of the little brown bird to whom God has given no fine plumage, but has recompensed with a most beautiful song. Doubtless God keeps some samples in affliction, for His glory. Mephibosheth was also 'lame in both his feet,' but he 'ate at the king's table,' and 'dwelt in Jerusalem.' (Brother Taylor was a cripple.) God bless these humble southern brethren. They have been an inspiration and an example to me."—F. Bartleman, in "Way of Faith."

Brother Pike, editor of the "Way of Faith," wrote regarding the Falcon camp meeting: "Rev. J.H. King, one of the regularly appointed leaders, preached with unusual unction and power, and the voice in preaching and prayer of Rev. F. Bartleman was like that of one of the old prophets, with the Pentecostal enduement superadded. 'From his knees to the pulpit,' may be literally said of this Heaven-anointed messenger, and though his bodily presence is weak, it is soon apparent that he is a man sent of God, and he speaks with authority. We have rarely heard more unctuous preaching than that of Brother King on Sunday night, and Brother Bartleman on Monday morning."—J.M. Pike. I sincerely appreciated the kind words of Brother Pike on this occasion. We generally get enough of the other kind to keep us humble, but I really feared the brethren had overestimated me. I only prayed I might not prove too great a disappointment to them. They had at least set a goal for me to strive for.

We came back to Washington, D.C., where I spoke four times with much blessing. We stopped in the home of Mother Perry. A precious sister was restored in these meetings. We stopped at Baltimore, where I also preached four times. Brother Boehmer seldom spoke in public. He had a wonderful ministry in prayer, and traveled with me for that purpose. His ministry was a hidden one. But I am satisfied it had much to do with the victory in our meetings. God may perhaps reward him even more than myself, though I did practically all of the preaching.

I removed my family from Michener to Peekskill, N.Y., to my wife's people, and then went to New York City and spoke twice at Forty-second Street Mission, for Pastor Robert Brown. From there Boehmer and I went to Boston, to attend a Pentecostal convention. It was a fierce battle. The "flesh" was simply rampant. I gave a message in the morning against the "flesh." Both afternoon and night a message was given in the same tenor, by different parties, both ignorant of the nature of my message in the morning. And yet the leaders would not heed. They confessed to me some years later that they were wrong on this occasion. They took their own way and came into great grief and shame. God is not mocked. They refused to be corrected by the Spirit.

We next stopped at Springfield, Massachusetts. Here I spoke three times, at the Christian Missionary Alliance Church, at "Rock Rimmon." We stopped in Sister Weaver's home. She was a very wealthy woman. Brother Cullen was the pastor. He had been a missionary in South America, and spoke Spanish fluently. The Alliance later sent him to Portland, Oregon, to fill the place of Brother Sawtelle, whom they had removed to Texas. Brother Cullen was later drowned at Portland. He was a good man and his end seemed very pitiful.

Boehmer and I returned to Peekskill for a few days rest, and then went west to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to attend a prayer convention. Riding all night through Canada we reached Grand Rapids safely. Here we stopped in the Pentecostal Home, with Sister Noble. I preached a number of times at the convention. But we had a great battle. They opposed the Pentecostal testimony and experience. God had sent me there to stand for this. I had such a soul travail one evening I rolled off the bed onto the floor, and under the bed. The battle was awful. I tried to run from it, and called up the railroad station to find when the next train left town. But the line was busy. While waiting my eyes fell on a Scripture motto just over the phone. It read: "My times are in Thy hand." The Spirit smote me with conviction. I had not felt clear in leaving, but was under strong temptation. We stayed and fought the battle out. God gave us victory. But I received no offering from this meeting.

We next went to Indianapolis. Here Boehmer bought himself a watch. At the same time he bought one for me, for a present. I was needing one. Thus the Lord rewarded me for my faithful stand at Grand Rapids. I had a feeling we were due for a freshet of God's power at Indianapolis, after our desert experience at Grand Rapids, and remarked as much to Boehmer. And sure enough, it came. We found a convention on at Indianapolis. This we had not known of. We had not been invited. But the Lord had appointed it.

Brother Copley, and the Brelsford family were there ahead of us. The Lord gave me a number of messages. We had a wonderful time. In fact I had not felt the power of God in such measure for a long time. There was tremendous opposition also, but God gave the victory. The work had been split into two factions. They came together in the meeting but were not reconciled. At one meeting the Spirit was so mightily on me in the message that the opposing faction held on to their seats and stiffened their backs to keep from yielding. I have seldom seen such resistance to the Spirit of God, and by Pentecostal saints, at that. It was simply awful. One night they had arranged for foot-washing. I gave the message that night and by the time I got through I think they had forgotten all about the foot-washing. They were too busy getting right with God, and with one another. Their souls needed washing more.

The Lord blessed me much at Indianapolis. I was so glad I had obeyed Him and gone there. I was there by His invitation purely. But I seldom if ever had felt such a wonderful flow of the Spirit before. The message seemed to be fairly drawn out of me in preaching. I felt almost drawn off the platform by the hungry desire of the people. I could not talk as rapidly as the thoughts came to me and almost fell over myself trying to speak fast enough. At one meeting when I was through the slain of the Lord lay all over the floor. I looked for the preachers behind me and they lay stretched out on the floor too. One of them had his feet tangled up in a chair, so I knew they had gone down under the power of God. I stepped over near the piano, among the people. My body began to rock under the power of God and I fell over onto the piano and lay there. It was a cyclonic manifestation of the power of God. We left the convention with great victory. I had not received a penny since leaving home and the devil was tempting me much over the matter. But the Lord kept assuring me He would make it up to me later on. I had to take His word for it, for I could not understand the situation. It was a new one to me. But I knew God had spoken.

We proceeded to Alliance, Ohio, where I spoke twice to the Bible Students. Our next stop was at Beaver Falls, Penn. Here I preached five times in all, at the C.M.A. Brother Rossiter was in charge. I had stopped here, between trains, the year before. We had a most precious and profitable meeting. I was much pressed in my body, being attacked by a terrible neuralgia pain in my stomach. Much of the time while preaching I had to hold on to the desk in front of me, and every effort seemed to drive a knife thrust through me. When I attempted to pray the very demons seemed to attack me, with extra pains. God was trying to get the leaders here into the Pentecostal experience and all hell was moved to oppose it. They were very precious workers. Sister Rossiter was especially deep in the Lord. I seemed to be battling for them, and for my own life also.

Brother Rossiter was a very active man, and very nervous. He could not get quiet. While I was preaching and the Lord wanted to get hold of him he would be running around looking after the ventilation, etc. The ventilation was all right, but he could not rest. The habit had grown upon him until only God could deliver him from it. This he himself realized, and begged me to pray for him. His mind was always at work. Nothing hinders God more than this, especially when waiting on Him for the "baptism." The mind must cease from its own operations and activities before God can get possession of it. And this is just where the death comes. We must be "sealed in the forehead," so to speak. Our own activities must die. The Lord chased dear Brother Rossiter all around the church trying to get hold of him. But He could not catch him while we were there. Otherwise he was a most blessed man. But the Spirit could not get His way with him. At Findlay, Ohio, sometime later, I had a convention, where the leader was so nervous the enemy had him on his knees on the platform striking matches and examining the straps on the pedals of the organ, while I was trying to preach. When a preacher is out of the Spirit the devil can get him to do the most fool things to hinder the success of a meeting. God was trying to deepen the work there and get the preacher quiet. But He could not. Perhaps the most distressing experience I ever had with a preacher in the "flesh" was at a convention just outside of New York City. A representative company of saints were there from many points. It was in the early Pentecostal days. This preacher was determined to preach, though I was burning up with the message. He wore the people out with a blackboard demonstration of mere statistics, long drawn out, while the saints groaned and waited for the message from the Lord. It was too late when he quit. Most of the people had to go early. I suffered for months over this defeat for the cause of Christ. Years later I met saints who had been at this meeting. They declared they were still waiting for that message that had been hindered. They felt they had missed a message of peculiar import for that occasion. I had seldom had such an anointing. We sometimes hear people say, "My message will keep." If God has given you a message for the people present, and for that hour, it cannot keep. When God gave a message to the prophets of old, or to the Apostles, it was to be delivered at a certain occasion, to a certain people. And just so today with a real messenger of the Lord, who is led by the Spirit of God in his ministry. The message, if not delivered on time, is lost.

It is hard for preachers to get the "baptism." They must die to so much self-ability, activity, etc. It puts self absolutely out of business. To become nothing is too hard for them. They may lose their position, support, reputation, etc. But God has always something better for us. We will have nothing left but God when the Spirit is through with us. But most of us cannot trust Him, so we go on our own way, follow our own calling. To be a real servant of God, obey His orders implicitly, with no plans of our own, is a path few care to tread. It comes too high.

Sister Rossiter was wonderfully visited of the Lord at this time. He laid hold of her in a very deep way for a deeper possession of her than she had ever known. But she struggled hard. I think she was afraid she might have to die to the Alliance. She was a blessed woman, a wonderful instrument for God. But to follow Jesus only is a very narrow way. We were kept awake all one night by the Spirit. No one could sleep. The Spirit was like a wind blowing through the house. We all prayed all night in our beds. Boehmer and I were stopping with the Rossiters. God wanted that pair for something far greater than they had ever known. What became of them later I have never learned.

Boehmer and I returned to New York City. I visited my family at Peekskill, and then returned again to New York City. We called on Sister Weaver, with whom we had stopped at Springfield, at her request. She had a home in New York City also. All the previous day the words of the hymn had been ringing in my ears, "God is faithful, etc." The Spirit had said to me when we left Grand Rapids, "Ye have need of patience," when tempted over the money phase of the situation. The evening before we went to see Sister Weaver I seemed to feel the promise was near fulfillment. Sister Weaver knew nothing of my sacrifice on my trip west. I had received only a very few dollars on that trip. The workers ahead of us got all the money at Indianapolis. I had paid out of my own pocket forty dollars.

The morning we went to see Sister Weaver, Brother Boehmer had asked the Lord to give me fifty dollars. He had means of his own at this time and was bearing his own expenses. I was also impressed to ask the Lord to speak to Sister Weaver to give me that amount. We were about to start for Columbia, South Carolina, en route for California again, and we had very little money on hand. While we were on our knees praying at Sister Weaver's, before leaving her, the Lord told her to give me just fifty dollars. No one had said a word to her about my needs. She handed me that amount. So the Lord had kept His promise and given me my fare back that I had expended on my last trip, west. But I had to be willing to make the sacrifice in faith, and wait until the end of the trip to receive it back.

At New York City I spoke three times at Forty-second Street Mission, and then went to Nyack (N.Y.) Y.M.C.A. Training School. One of the faculty, whom I knew, and who was Pentecostal, asked me if I would speak there again this year, and then we both broke out in a holy laugh. The Spirit witnessed His pleasure. The opposition was great by this time at the school. He arranged the meeting by telephone, as we were some distance from Nyack. The faculty were caught off their guard. Five minutes later they would have canceled the engagement if God had allowed them to. They subjected me to an attempted severe censorship before I went to the platform, as to what I would preach. It tied me up a little, but the Lord gave victory. I was speaking to the students. And they were a hungry lot. I was allowed to speak again the next morning, after sleeping in the building. God touched their hearts in the end. I returned to New York City and spoke four times at "Glad Tidings Hall." The Lord greatly blessed us. Next I took my family from Peekskill to my brother Will's, in Philadelphia, and ran up to Michener alone to bid my aged parents good-bye.

Boehmer and I then took the train for Providence, R.I., to attend a convention. Here I was the principal speaker, speaking eighteen times in all. We had a time of suffering. The leader hindered me much in the spirit, wanting everything run a certain way. But I had to obey God. I was not playing religion. I would rather farm for a profession. The people were very hungry, but the devil tried to hinder my messages. The Lord had faithfully warned me beforehand of this very situation.

I had a peculiar experience at this convention. God was wonderfully blessing my ministry. Preachers and leaders were coming in from many points. The message was largely new to them. The Lord so preciously used me that some got their eyes on the preacher. The Spirit could not stand for this naturally, so one afternoon with a full house, come to hear the speaker from Los Angeles, the Lord told me to go and sit back of the piano, out of sight, to the end of the meeting. It was time for the people to have this lesson. In those days I would rather have gone to the woods and prayed many a time than to come before the people to preach. I was tired of the adulations of the people, preferring to get away from them, and alone with the Lord. Some of them were very much tried with me, for they had no message that afternoon. But God knew His business.

I asked the Lord to give me fifteen dollars from this convention, and the leader without knowing a thing about this, handed me just fifteen dollars in a sealed envelope, before I left. It was a small, poor mission. I was not covetous for money. All I wanted was the privilege of working for God, and being used in blessing to the people. But I needed help to get my family back to California.

We started south for Columbia, S.C. Here I preached for Brother Pike at the Oliver Gospel Mission. The "Way of Faith" office was in this connection. I got a little chance to rest and pray here, with my family. I had been writing for the "Way of Faith" for a long time. We had meetings practically every night, however. Much intercession for this work was given me. Many of our meetings were taken up largely with waiting on God. And He met us in a wonderful way. Brother Pike was himself much blessed in these meetings. He was a very precious child of God. I spoke also at a Presbyterian church. I helped publish my little book, "My Story of the Latter Rain" (now out of print), while here also.

While we were here one of the workers in the mission had the mumps. Brother Boehmer and I were called to pray for him. The Lord had shown me sickness ahead before we started south. But I did not understand it then. Brother Pike handed me forty dollars when we left Columbia. That helped to clear the way forCalifornia. I had written for the "Way of Faith" for years without pay. In fact I have never written for any paper for pay. I could no more do so than preach for salary. We take what God gives us. I have written as many as 550 articles for the religious press, with not more than a half dozen failing to get in print, but have yet to write a single one for pay. My labor has been one of love. "Freely ye have received, freely give."

Brother Pike, editor of the "Way of Faith," wrote as follows regarding the meetings we held with him: "A remarkable meeting is now in progress at the Gospel Tabernacle, Columbia, S.C. It is remarkable for the prolonged vocal and silent prayer that is being offered, and for the unusual manifestation of the Divine presence that is being realized. Brother F. Bartleman is supposed to be the leader, but he will do no leading unless consciously prompted by the Holy Spirit. So the meetings are left perfectly free to the Holy Spirit's guidance. It is very certain that for depth of spirituality no such meetings have ever been held in the Tabernacle before."

Brother Pike wrote again, so complimentarily of my visit to Columbia, that I almost hesitate to reproduce it. He set a very high mark for me. He wrote as follows: "We have been enjoying the companionship and ministry of Brother Bartleman for the past two weeks, and have received a stimulus to our faith, and learned lessons which will be of great value to us in our experience and work in the future. The prayers that have been bottled up in Heaven, and the seed that has been sown in our midst, are sure to produce marked results in the future. Brother Bartleman's quiet ways, and his insistence upon quiet, prayerful waiting upon God, will find ready acceptance only among those who are accustomed to intimate fellowship with the Deity, and who know the blessedness of stillness. We are fully persuaded that God has some remarkable manifestation of His presence and power in store for this Institution if He is permitted to have His own way, and much of it will be due to the intercession and influence of this devoted brother, who leaves blessings wherever he goes.

"We do not know the secret history of how this man of God was brought into connection with the 'Way of Faith,' but that the whole arrangement was of God we have not the shadow of a doubt. He is a man after the editor's own heart, and we are sure that his connection with this paper was brought about by God, in the fullness of time. The pressure of the Divine presence is sometimes so great upon him that food has no attraction for him, and possibly he sometimes errs on the line of abstinence. Hence his appearance frequently indicates weakness, if not emaciation. God has committed to him, in large degree, the ministry of intercession; but He has also given him special messages for the present time to the saints in every part of the world. They are being delivered in various sections of the United States, and Canada, by the living voice, and through the paper they reach the saints in all nations. We commend him to the prayers of God's people everywhere, for, be very well assured, that he has come to the kingdom for such a time as this."—J.M. Pike.

I think perhaps no one knows better than myself how far short I fall at all times of being worthy of such high commendation, but I give it here to show the wonderful spirit that existed between brethren in those days. If we erred it was on the right side after all. I wrote regularly for some years for the "Way of Faith," my articles for a long time appearing almost weekly.

We stopped next at Atlanta, Ga., where we received a hearty welcome from Sister Sexton. The Lord blessed our ministry much there. Brother Boehmer left us at Columbia, for Altamont Bible School. He later took up pastoral work for himself in the south. We were glad we had helped to get him into the field definitely for God. (He is still active in the work at this writing.) We had some blessed meetings in Atlanta. Little Ruth developed the mumps there. She evidently had contracted them at Columbia. Here then was the sickness the Lord had shown me before we started south. Little John began to show symptoms of them also. Hell began to rage. I was preaching twice daily.

My main message here was the revelation of Jesus in the "baptism." It was the same message God had held me to at Eighth and Maple. The great danger was of the people worshipping the sign of "tongues," rather than the Lord, thus making a brazen serpent of it again (a "piece of brass.") It must be Jesus first of all. The Holy Ghost reveals Jesus. Both Ruth and John had the mumps now. The question was, would wife and myself escape them? But I went on in the work, trusting God.

I left my family here and took a little side trip to Birmingham, Ala. Here I began to suffer much in my body. The mumps evidently were working on me, though I refused to acknowledge it. At Birmingham I had a fierce battle. I met some most precious saints there, but there were some very strange spirits working in the meetings. Brother Pinson was in charge. He was a precious brother, but he had his hands full. The devil evidently wanted to ruin the work. We had a fair share of victory and blessing in spite of the enemy. I began to suffer intensely in my body. I was sick. The spiritual fight was one of the hardest ones I had ever been in. This caused me much suffering in my spirit. The weather was also very hot.

I found many professing a very high state of holiness here. But there was much of "self," and the spirit was very hard. When "holiness" loses its sweetness it is a fierce thing to come in contact with. This was largely the condition among the opposers of "Pentecost" in Birmingham. A backslidden spirit can become positively devilish, and that in the name of holiness even. I preached ten times in Birmingham.

Returning to Atlanta we started for Houston, Texas. The children had recovered from the mumps. We passed over the same track at night, this time in a Pullman sleeper (the only kind they had on this train), that I had walked the ties over, some years before, as a street evangelist to Mobile. I had some hours between trains at New Orleans, and visited the French quarters there. We reached Houston Dec. 24, just in time for Christmas. I began to develop the mumps on the train the night before. Wife was also beginning to have them. We went to Brother M.E. Layne's home, I got our trunks from the depot, and went to bed, just in time. I was to have attended a convention there.

God had opened a beautiful home to us there, with every care. We could not have been treated more kindly. I had one of the worst spells of sickness I had ever had. What I suffered was awful. I felt like dying. My jaws locked solid until I could not get a knife-blade between my teeth. But for the fortunate fact of having some front teeth out I could hardly have taken any nourishment. After a week of awful suffering however I began to recover. Wife did not have them quite so bad and was able to wait on me. The Lord protected the family we were stopping with from getting them. We prayed they might be spared, after the kindness they had shown us. They had several children. After three weeks I was able to get out, though very weak, and spoke a few times at the close of the convention. Here I met Brother E.N. Bell for the first time. We can never forget the kindness of Brother and Sister M.E. Layne to us at this time, in whose home we were staying.

I wrote for the "Way of Faith" while sick in Houston, the following observations on the life of a pioneer Pentecostal evangelist, as follows: "The Pentecostal preacher of today is obliged to spend most of his life in old drafty halls, with the poorest kind of ventilation. That means constant tearing down. The nervous strain brings on neuralgia and chronic congestion, through constant cold contracted, and overwork, for there are so few to do this strenuous kind of work today. This means a "living sacrifice," and the evangelist must find a place to rest, or go under shortly. We have said nothing about the separation from one's family, whose company others are able to enjoy. Then there are hundreds of other things the people know nothing about, such as dangers in traveling, constant change in beds, food, climate, etc. And we have said nothing of the spiritual conflict, the centering of spiritual opposing forces in each battle, and the constant, awful pressure of the forces of evil of the highest order. One is drawn upon for their utmost resources constantly. The worker is on the floor so much, on his knees in prayer in the meetings, that cold drafts in drafty halls sweep the body constantly. It is hard to keep off your knees in the present work. In fact you are driven to your knees and face in prayer constantly, and that for hours at a time. The remuneration generally is little if any more than expenses paid, and the evangelist is simply a channel in constant, strenuous use, soon to be worn out, and often then cast aside. His only refuge seems to be Heaven. But Jesus is coming soon. Then we shall need nothing more."—F. Bartleman. Old worn out Pentecostal horses are too often turned out by the roadside, to pick what grass they can find, with poor teeth, until they mercifully die. They are not as a rule turned into a fat pasture, after they are of no more service, to end in comfort and free from care the remainder of their days. Many are under the sod already, from overwork and neglect.

Our next stop was at San Antonio, Texas. Our money was all gone. Little John was taken very sick again. I felt on the train a warning that the devil was about to attack him, but tried to throw off the impression. He had not yet shown any symptoms of sickness. But that night he had convulsions. We spent a terrible night fighting for his life, on our knees, in prayer. The very demons seemed to attack us. He had both grippe and the malaria. We were stopping in the home of Brother and Sister Smale. He was finally delivered.

I preached in all about ten times here. My back pained me terribly, and I was still weak from the mumps and the hot weather. The grippe was attacking me also. I preached at a tent meeting where I met with much fanaticism. My message ran three false prophets out of town. The devil fairly howled. There were many soldiers encamped here and I preached a number of times to these boys in a little mission. I was looking to God for our fare to Los Angeles, and received several letters from a distance with money, after a fierce battle in prayer, and we were able to get on to Phoenix, Arizona. The devil had seemed determined to kill us in Texas. While at San Antonio I visited the old Alamo fort and mission, where Davy Crockett had made his last, heroic stand.

We had a pleasant journey to Phoenix. Running along the Rio Grande we could see old Mexico on the opposite side. We passed through El Paso, and received a warm greeting at Phoenix. We were very tired, and did not have our fares from there to Los Angeles. They were very kind to us in Phoenix. A sister went to look for rooms for us, while I prayed. I soon had the witness that she had found what we needed. Sure enough, she returned soon, having secured housekeeping rooms for us. We now began meetings in a little mission conducted by Brother Scull. We were there nearly three weeks. I spoke twice daily, and three times on Sundays. We spent more time at the altar than we did in preaching, however. The Lord met us in a very deep way.

We had a hard fight with the devil to begin with. Someone threw a rock through the window one night. It just passed over our heads. We were praying with a poor drunk at the altar. The devil did not want to lose his servant. In fact he even sent a preacher all the way from Pasadena, California, to oppose me here. So the enemy met me before I reached the state line, to oppose my return to California. But God gave the victory.

Little John was taken very sick again at Phoenix. I battled for his life one whole night in prayer. Was much worn out myself by this time. The money was given us here for our fares to Pasadena, where the Lord showed me we were to locate in California. We arrived there safely February 26, 1909. We had prayed for a home, not knowing where to go. I sent a note to one of the saints that we were coming. Mother Wheaton and Brother Crary met us at the depot. A new Pentecostal Home had just been opened up, at 786 Winona Avenue, and they dropped us in there. Thus God had provided again, without our foreknowledge.

I stayed at home over two Sundays, to rest up, and then plunged into the work again. I visited old Azusa Mission, where the Lord met me in great power. At Eighth and Maple He also blessed me wonderfully. I also visited the Upper Room Mission, at 327/2 South Spring Street. When nearly home one night, in Pasadena, on Winona Avenue, about 11:3 0, two dogs came tearing out at me from a nearby yard. They were known as vicious and dangerous, having already bitten a number of people. Their owner had gone to bed. Strangely enough, just at the same moment the street light went out. It was "the hour of darkness." Hell seemed suddenly turned loose upon me. The attack was so sudden and unexpected I did not even have time to think. But I cried out instinctively the name of Jesus for help. Instantly the dogs fled from me as though they had been shot. The light came on in the street again at the same moment. It was a strange coincidence. I am sure the devil set the dogs on me. He evidently had the light turned off some way also. But God delivered.

The Lord met and blessed me wonderfully both in Los Angeles, and at Hermon, in preaching, after this. He often broke me up with His love until I would weep like a child, especially at the Upper Room Mission. The leader here opposed me much. His spirit was largely unbroken and he thought me weak. He even implied at one time that I was mentally unbalanced. But he did not understand the love of God. Charles G. Finney, the great evangelist, once said: "If you have much of the Spirit of God, it is not unlikely you will be thought deranged by many. You must make up your mind to be so judged, and so much the more as you live the more above the world, and walk with God."

Chapter 7: Visit to Hawaii - Volcano Kilauea

I came home one night and found a letter waiting for me from Honolulu. For some time I had felt drawn to the Islands. Every day I would look at the foothills back of the Home in Pasadena, and something would say to me, "Hawaiian Islands." I had seen pictures of Hawaii that resembled these foothills. The letter was a complete surprise to me, coming from a party I had never known. When I saw it I felt at once before opening it that it was a call to come there. It contained a check for $165. I had never received so much money at one time in my life. Sure enough it was an urgent call to Honolulu, from Sister Henrietta Nuzum, and the saints there. In the natural I shrank from leaving my little family, to go so far, and across the water. But it was the voice of God. I dared not disobey.

I visited Azusa Mission and Eighth and Maple to say farewell. At the Upper Room Mission they tried to discourage me from going. Some even warned me of disaster if I persisted in going. But I knew the voice of God. The leader tried to discourage me from going. I had learned however, by bitter experience, long before this, even in the Holiness movement, that one must get their directions from God, and not from the mission leader. I think one would seldom attempt anything for God if they were to listen to those who always seem ready to discourage you. No one can get our leading for us. We must hear from God ourselves. Very often we are discouraged by jealous parties who desire themselves such a call from God, but have it not.

I took my family north, leaving them at Sister Carrie J. Montgomery's Home near Oakland. They were to have reduced rates for board, and await my return from the Islands there. I felt led to labor in that section when I should return. I paid one month's board for them, and sailed May 15, 1909, for Honolulu. We had an exceptionally smooth voyage. I was sick the first two days, but not after that. The Lord met me wonderfully on the vessel just before I landed. He welcomed me Himself to the Islands. I was met again wonderfully by the Spirit when I reached the home of Brother and Sister Harold Hansen, in Honolulu, where I was to stay.

The "fragments" of the continents (the Islands), must be gathered up also, that "nothing be lost." I found the Hawaiian Islands a natural paradise. Tropical fruits and foliage greeted me. There were Hawaiians and Koreans, Chinese and Japanese, but a very small white population. The sea voyage was a great benefit to me physically. Six days travel away from the little family, and without seeing land, seemed a long way, however. I had never been so far from them before. It was 2,100 miles from San Francisco. From here the "southern cross" was plainly visible in the heavens.

The power of God was wonderfully poured out in our meetings. They had no hall but we met in the homes of the saints. Many were greatly benefited and quickened in their faith. I took a trip to the largest Island, Hawaii, by boat, on the leeward side. We passed by the islands of Molokai, Maui, Lanai and Kahoolawe. I stopped at Kailua, Kone, with a missionary who owned a home there. Dr. Yoakum had visited here before me. We were in the same latitude as Central America. A party of us rode horseback to the top of Mt. Hulalai, 9000 feet high, through very wild vegetation, up the mountain side, guided by a Portuguese cowboy. We had a wonderful trip and a magnificent view, visiting a number of extinct volcano craters. I sent another month's board home to the family from Honolulu.

After returning to Honolulu, I took another trip to Hawaii, this time on the windward side, to Hilo. I found this a very wicked place. While here I visited the active volcano, Kilauea. This was truly a very picture of the "lake of fire," hell proper. I wrote an article on the volcano, from which I give the following extracts: "We reached the 'Volcano House,' Kilauea, Hawaii, at dark, and started for the crater afoot, three miles farther on, in the center of a deep basin, over a floor of lava rock seven miles in diameter. It was cold and raining. Down several hundred feet, over loose sand, and then over the hard lava flows, jagged, rough and craggy, we plodded. The lurid light of the crater glared in the distance, like a great chimney, flaring and smoking against the murky sky. The surroundings were most uncanny. The trail was dim. We were on our way to the 'pit.'

'Surely Thou settest them in slippery places.' 'Give glory to God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountain.' We crossed fearful chasms, rent by convulsions of internal conflict, from the fires of torment in earth's bosom. Hot blasts fanned us from beneath. Vapors of sulphur greeted us from the fissures. The whole earth seemed 'turned up' as it were by fire. Finally we reached the volcano. It was a terrible sight. 'Outer darkness' encompassed the lurid fires. Hot air greeted us fiercely, as we approached the brink. Sulphur fumes rose almost stifling from its depths. A very 'belly of hell.' Nothing was lacking but the forms of demons, and they seemed hovering near. The natives worship this crater.

“'Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' Truly 'salted with fire.' Here was a fire no one could explain. The splashing of its fusions struck the heart with terror. Like the just punishment for sin. They lashed themselves against the sides of that cavernous pit as if conscious of being confined only for a season. They seemed like living, 'eternal fires,' awaiting restlessly their prey. The 'pit' proper is 1000 feet in diameter. In it is situated the lake of fire. The dismal shadows, the lurid light cast upward on its deep, cavernous sides, by the continuous unrest of its fierce, fiery commotions, as though demons struggled with one another in fearful conflict, with the fumes of stifling sulphur that arose from its awful, abysmal depths in clouds to the top of the sheer, jagged precipices that mark the naked heights of its lonely confines, made it a picture terrible to behold. One stood solemn and awe stricken, as in the presence of offended Deity. The dark background of the mountain shadows, the rain and piercing cold of the night, all added terror to the picture. It made one, like Moses at Sinai, 'exceedingly fear and quake.'

"These fires, in mighty conflict of convulsion, threw up those mountain peaks, from three miles under sea level, to their present height of 13,000 feet above the sea. The 'pit' itself is 4000 feet above sea level. What an awful mass of uncontrollable, fiery matter must heave and roll beneath this monster chimney of the Pacific, in earth's belly. Are not God's fires eternal? I thought of 'the waves of the sea that cannot rest,' to which the wicked are likened. There is no rest in hell. 'The lake of fire that burneth with brimstone.' 'And the smoke of their torment goeth up forever and ever.' 'They have no rest day or night.' All the elements were there. It was a perfect picture.

"Two great channels or fountain furnaces were pouring from their subterranean depths tons of liquid fire, molten world matter, continuously. Billions of tons were heaving in seeming production. World making seemed in process. One seemed to be standing by the Almighty as at creation's dawn, when worlds were flung into far space, spoken into being by His fiat. But what makes these fires? What keeps them going? There is no answer from their abysmal depths. They scorn to answer. It is God.

"Their noise, between a hiss and a roar, like the cry of a wounded serpent or beast, seems crying for vengeance. They dashed against the sides of their unwilling confines, by force of continuous, internal conflict, with a cry almost human; then lashed themselves into greater fury, in their disappointed effort for liberation. What could man do once these fires were liberated?

"There was no rest for the fiery waves in that volcano. They rose by their mighty fusions, some forty feet high, all over this lake of fire, continuously night and day, only to fall back again baffled, with a sickening, terrifying thud, like the muffled rumbling of distant thunder. Their failure to scale their prison walls seemed but to enrage them more. As they lashed themselves against the sides their matter cooled, clinging to the rocks of their own production, but to encase and entomb them further. Others fell back, only to be fused again in that awful furnace of unbearable heat and fury. There is no escape from hell. A million years but makes the doom more sure in those lonely confines of despair.

"This mighty stream of molten lava was churned continuously into an underground passage at the other side of the lake. And still those two great feeding furnaces poured their red hot, molten matter from God knows where, to where God only knows, by some subtle, awful power, in a continuous, fiery flow. There is no Niagara to quench its fires. Its torment is only increased by its continuous, constant action. There is a fire that feeds itself, a worm that 'never dies.' 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'

"There could be no trifling with the fires of that crater. The natives call it Pele. They say Pele was a woman. She was robbed of her husband by another native woman, who enticed him. Pele wandered from island to island (leaving extinct volcanoes behind her), and finally settled on Hawaii in her wrath. The natives fear her. They throw bottles of gin, their favorite drink, to her, in order to appease her. And should not sinners fear a 'jealous' God? Presumption means swift, certain ruin. I turned from these lurid, mysterious fires in earth's bosom, with the weird surroundings of gloom that hung like a pall over the surrounding situation, with a feeling of awe, almost akin to terror. I shall not trifle with God."—F. Bartleman.

We had a rough voyage home from Honolulu. I brought a large basket of tropical fruits with me, for the family. The Lord had kept them safely in my absence. I preached at Beulah Chapel, at Sister Montgomery's a few times, then took a trip to Ukiah, Santa Rosa, and Healdsburg, holding several meetings. God was with me in power. I then preached five times in Oakland, at Barney Moore's tent. My next trip was to Woodland. Here I delivered my message under great affliction and suffering. The saints were in a peculiar condition of need. The evening I reached there I was seized with a terrible attack of appendicitis. It looked like death. The pain was terrible. I cried to the Lord in desperation and He delivered me. But a bad state of stomach neuralgia and colic remained. I could scarcely eat and got no sleep at nights. I could neither sit, lie down, nor walk without most severe pain. But in spite of this I delivered my message, remaining several days. My visit delivered the work from much extravagance that had killed the Spirit, but it nearly killed me also.

I had a blessed ministry at Stockton, preached a number of times more at Beaulah and at Oakland, and then took my family to Santa Cruz. Here they visited with friends while I went to San Jose, preaching six times at the Pentecostal Mission there. The Lord greatly helped me. The saints were badly split up. I spent three whole days in prayer in the mission. My message was a plea for love and unity.

We then returned to Los Angeles, and located at 163 South Gless Street. We had learned through a brother that Sister Throop had rooms about to be vacated. I phoned her from the depot and learned the rooms had just been emptied, and were for rent. The Lord had timed our arrival exactly. God had shown us to come, but we did not know where we should locate.

The missions, I found, were very zealous for doctrine, as usual. I began to preach at Eighth and Maple, Azusa Mission, and Hermon. Azusa had lost out greatly since we left. "How are the mighty fallen," came to me most forcibly. But the Spirit came upon three of us mightily in prayer one evening there. He assured us He was going to bring the power back to Azusa Mission again as at the beginning. We felt we had prayed through. (And the answer came a little over a year later, when Brother Durham came from Chicago. The place was then once more filled with the saints, and with the glory of God, for a short time.)

The work had gotten into a bad condition generally at the time we returned to Los Angeles. The missions had fought each other almost to a standstill. Little love remained. There was considerable rejoicing, but in the "flesh." A cold, hard hearted zeal, and human enthusiasm, had taken the place of divine love and tenderness of the Spirit largely. I suffered much from contact with this thing. The Lord continued to bless my ministry at Eighth and Maple, and at Azusa Street. In some of the missions 1 met with persistent opposition, especially from the leaders. But I kept my eyes on the Lord. He has never allowed me to become the satellite of any man, even for a place to preach. If we are servants of men we cannot please God.

October 14, 1909, wife presented me with another daughter, Lois. God graciously undertook for her. My ministry was principally divided now between Eighth and Maple, Azusa Mission, and Brother Hill's. The Lord blessed much and I also started weekly Bible studies at Eighth and Maple. In these the Lord blessed richly. We had some times of real testing, being completely out of money at times, but God always came in time to save us from actual suffering.

At one time our gas bill and rent were both due. I went to Pasadena, out of money. A brother was debating in his mind whether to help me or not. But I walked away from him. The devil was tempting me and I determined to trust God and not man. I went home without a cent. Before bed-time another brother brought eight dollars to the house. It was the exact rent. He said the Lord told him to bring it and he dared not disobey. He was a poor day laborer, too. But he got his reward from God. He was able to give him ten times as much, with ease.

Nearly every night found me either at Eighth and Maple or Azusa Street, preaching or testifying. We passed through another hard test for rent and food, but the Lord delivered. I received money from the saints in Honolulu on two different occasions, at one time ten dollars, and at another time fifteen dollars. The last time little John had volunteered to pray for money. We were about out of food. He went to his knees and put us to shame with his childish simplicity and faith in prayer. We had been sorely tempted. He asked us if Jesus would send us money if we asked Him. What could we say? Of course He would. Very soon the money came, from Honolulu. The Lord had answered before we called on Him, as He has said. "Before they call, I will answer." This strengthened John's faith greatly. "He knoweth of what things we have need before we ask Him." If this were not true He frequently could not get the answer to us in time.

Old Azusa Mission became more and more in bondage. The meetings now had to run just in appointed order. The Spirit tried to work through some poor, illiterate Mexicans, who had been saved and "baptized" in the Spirit. But the leader deliberately refused to let them testify, and crushed them ruthlessly. It was like murdering the Spirit of God. Only God knows what this meant to those poor Mexicans. Personally I would rather die than to have assumed such a spirit of dictatorship. Every meeting was now programmed from start to finish. Disaster was bound to follow, and it did so.

Many a God-sent "prophet" has been done to death, both physically and spiritually, in Los Angeles. God has been obliged to remove leader after leader for this sin. I had prayed five years for a typewriter. A sister gave me twenty dollars, and I bought a second-hand one for $12.50. This I carried around the world with me later, to write my diary with.

I now began to feel the Lord was calling me to girdle the globe on a missionary trip for Him. It was to be by faith, and I had not a cent in sight. I had really felt the call to make this trip for years, and the time had now come. It looked like madness to attempt such a thing in the natural. I was just at that time up against a very severe test both physically and financially. But the conviction became an assurance. After a very severe financial test, in which it seemed almost impossible to get even as much as a ten-cent piece, the Lord opened the way for me to start. I believe God allowed me to be thus tested in order to prove me for the journey. It looked almost like actual starvation just before the way finally opened up.

Dr. Sister Trout gave me fifty dollars to put in the bank for wife to draw on for the rent. Then Brother Pike, editor of the "Way of Faith," sent me twenty-five dollars from Columbia, S.C. This was to be used to start around the world, and with this amount I started. All this was absolutely unsolicited. I would not have dared to take a step in such a tremendous undertaking, impossible in the natural, had not God made it so plain to me that I could not doubt His will in the matter. Besides, to leave my little family without means, to go around the world, with all its possibilities for evil and disaster, to be gone nearly a year, would have been too much for a heart of flesh to bear, except God should guide fully and strengthen.

They gave me a little offering at Azusa Mission of eleven dollars. This I left with my family. I received no help from any other mission. It was all I had to leave them.

When I started to circle the globe I was warned by many of the saints not to attempt it. Some told me God had revealed to them awful disaster to follow, both for myself and family, should I persist in my purpose. But I knew God had called me. I had to obey Him, and in doing so I realized one of the greatest privileges and blessings of my whole ministry. I felt I could read considerable jealousy between the lines in some of the letters I received. One sister even declared she did not believe the Lord was sending me because she had always wanted herself to go on such a trip and the Lord had not allowed her. Her warning naturally did not have much weight with me. I did not carry a single dollar with me from Los Angeles.

I left home March 17, 1910. (My world-trip is published in a separate book, to which the reader is referred, "Around the World by Faith, With Six Weeks in the Holy Land."—price 50c.) Circling the entire globe by faith, visiting Europe and most of the principal mission fields in my course, I spent six delightful weeks in Palestine, returning home by way of Egypt, India, Ceylon, China and Japan, and across the Pacific, via Honolulu. I was gone eleven months and one week. My family trusted God fully and were better cared for than they had ever been while I was with them. I returned with about one dollar in my pocket. My wife had fifty dollars in bank. "Faithful is He who calleth you, who also will do it."

Brother Pike very kindly wrote the following notice of my trip in the "Way of Faith" when I started: "We take pleasure in publishing the personal letter of Brother Bartleman, who is following what he believes to be divine guidance, in his trip around the world. We do not know of anyone whose ministry is more needed, and will be more helpful in the present stage of the Pentecostal movement, than our dear Brother Bartleman."—J.M. Pike. I appreciated greatly this note of confidence. Also the following by the editor of the "Latter Rain": "Brother Bartleman spent a few days with us just before he sailed for England. Our brother is filling a very important place in this movement, in Bible teaching, and sober counsel, which is as ballast to a ship in storm. Let us follow this self-sacrificing servant of God with our prayers and support, as he goes out into the regions beyond."

Brother Albert Norton wrote for the "Way of Faith," from Dhond, India: "We were privileged last month to have a visit at Dhond from Brother Daniel Awrey, and Brother Frank Bartleman. Both of these beloved servants of Christ, like Barnabas, were 'full of faith and the Holy Ghost,' and they received a warm welcome both at Dhond and at Kedgaon (Ramabai's). Our only regret was that they could not stop longer in India."—Albert Norton. Brother Aurey and myself arrived in India on different vessels, providentially, at the same time.

Brother Pike wrote in "Way of Faith," at my homecoming, as follows: "Our readers will join us in humble and hearty thanks to God for keeping our dear brother on land and sea, in storm and calm, amid friends and foes, unwholesome surroundings and uncomfortable lodgings. Amid all he has been kept in health, and we believe has fulfilled the mission which was accomplished, under divine direction. The results of that mission will only be known when the books are opened and the record read. Money to meet every necessity as it was presented was on hand, sent in direct answer to prayer, without any personal solicitation."—J.M. Pike. I feel personally I can never be too grateful to God for the facts contained in this statement.

Pastor Alex. Boddy, of Sunderland, England, very kindly wrote the following in "Confidence": "Brother Bartleman is known to many through his recent journey around the world, and also through his writings. His life is a 'life of faith,' and on that round the world journey all his needs were wonderfully supplied. He never, however, mentions his circumstances, and we should uphold him in prayer. He is always about his Father's business, without a thought as to self."—Alex. Boddy.

While I am not able to describe my world trip here (the reader can secure this from me, in separate booklet, at any time), yet I feel to repeat a few statements published from my pen in the "Way of Faith," upon my safe home arrival, as follows: "I am so glad I was 'not disobedient to the heavenly vision.' Before I started I received a number of communications, both encouraging and discouraging. Some prophesied blessing, others disaster. Having settled it in my heart however that it was God's call, and not my own imagination and desire, I could do no other than go. If the Lord did not take me around I do not know who did. I did not pull any wires, no individual or Assembly pledged my traveling expenses, and I did not pledge or commit myself to any man or party. I knew that God was sending, and I trusted Him fully to take me through. Physically I had reason to believe, in the natural, that I might not live to get half way around. But I was not going in the natural.

"In a wonderful way the Lord preserved me from sickness. I passed through cholera, plague, and smallpox districts and exposure, and through fever sections at the most deadly time of the year. But the Lord preserved me. I came home weighing ten pounds heavier than I had weighed for years. My family had been kept in fair health during my absence, and with plenty for their temporal needs. I never asked for a penny nor a collection. All was given me voluntarily. I only received fifty dollars from America after leaving her shores. In Palestine, India and China, help came from the most unexpected and unlikely sources. God proved He could provide abroad as well as at home. I reached China with only ten dollars. No money came from America to me there. I visited England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Holland, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Ceylon, India, China and Japan, touching at Honolulu on the way home. Reached home February 25, 1911."

Chapter 8: Brother Durham in Los Angeles

Just about one week before I arrived home Brother Durham began meetings at old Azusa Mission. He was sent of the Lord from Chicago with a message for the Pentecostal saints in Los Angeles. He was first refused a hearing at Upper Room Mission, so he went to Azusa Street. Brother Seymour was absent in the east. He started meetings and the saints flocked back to the old place and filled it again with the high praises of God. This was what the Lord witnessed to three of us while in prayer, more than a year before. I had gotten back just in time to see it. God had gathered many of the old Azusa workers back, from many parts of the world, to Los Angeles again evidently for this. It was called by many the second shower of the Latter Rain. On Sunday the place was crowded and five hundred were turned away. The people would not leave their seats between meetings for fear of losing them.

With this the bottom dropped out of Upper Room Mission over night. The leader had abused his privilege, and also the saints. He had failed God in other ways also. The Lord can spare any man or mission if He is obliged to. We cannot persistently abuse our privilege, destroy the prophets of God, and hope to finally get away with it. Great was the fall of Upper Room Mission. The leader had at one time been much used of God. But God had another place, man, and message ready. He never deserts His true flock. The "cloud" moved on, and the saints with it.

The fire began to fall at old Azusa as at the beginning. I attended these meetings with great interest and joy. The Lord also blessed me much at Eighth and Maple, which was still running. At Lake Avenue, Pasadena, the little Methodist Church where God had wrought in 1905 so blessedly, had now for some time been turned over to the Pentecostal saints. They still occupy it at this writing.

We moved to Long Beach soon after my return, my family needing a change from Gless Street very badly. We were invited to occupy a nice Rest Cottage Home, at 323 Short Street, ready furnished, quite near the beach. This was a great treat. We had not even dared ask the Lord for so much. But He was so good to us. May 2, I went to Azusa Street, after noon, as usual. But to our surprise we found the doors all locked, with chain and padlock. Brother Seymour had hastened back from the east and with his trustees decided to lock Brother Durham out. But they locked God and the saints out also, from the old cradle of power. It was Durham's message they objected to.

I secured Kohler Street Mission temporarily, and the "cloud" moved with us. Rather, it led us there. In a few days Brother Durham rented a large building at the corner of Seventh and Los Angeles streets. A thousand people attended the meetings here on Sundays. We had an ordinary congregation of four hundred week nights. Here the "cloud" rested. God's glory filled the place. "Azusa" became deserted. The Lord was with Brother Durham in great power. God sets His seal especially on present truth to be established. He preached a gospel of salvation by faith. He was used mightily to draw anew a clear line of demarcation between salvation by works and faith, between law and grace. This had become very much needed, even among the Pentecostal people. And it is certain that such a revelation and reformation is needed in the churches today almost as badly as in Luther's day. We have largely a Romanized Protestantism.

"Learn from me," said Luther, "how difficult a thing it is to throw off errors confirmed by the example of all the world, and which, through long habit, have become a second nature to us." But a multitude of souls accepted the message Brother Durham brought with joy. "Men were astonished that they had not earlier acknowledged truths that appeared so evident in Luther's mouth," says the historian, D'Aubigne. And so with Durham's message. But it received great opposition also. Some abused the message, as they do every message sent of God, going to the extreme of declaring that because the work of redemption was fully accomplished on the cross it was of necessity finished in us also, the moment we believed. This was a great error, and hindered the message and work considerably. Man always adds to the message God has given. This is Satan's chief way to discredit and destroy it. Both Luther and Wesley had the same difficulties to contend with. And so has every God given revival. Men are creatures of extremes. The message generally suffers more from its friends than from its foes. We have this treasure in "earthen vessels." The truth can always be abused. Some even went so far as to fight the principle of holiness itself, pretending to justify themselves by Durham's message. But they had either misunderstood it, or more likely seized a pretended opportunity to fight the principle that their own hearts refused to yield to, and thus abused the message God had brought them.

The owner of the Rest Home in Long Beach decided to sell it, so we were obliged to move. We returned July 1 to the Pentecostal Home, at 786 Winona Avenue, Pasadena, where we had lived before I went to Hawaii in 1909- We should have moved one month earlier, but a party occupied the house and would not move, though God called them to Sacramento. Refusing to obey God they kept us out, and caused much suffering all around. They confessed their wrong later. Thus they missed the mind of the Lord for themselves, got out of divine order, and suffered much, besides causing great suffering to others. The party owning the beach home insisted on our vacating, but we had no place to go. God wanted us in the Home in Pasadena. We never know how much we are causing others to suffer when we are failing God ourselves. The Lord had blessed our stay in Long Beach. But now He wanted us in Pasadena.

I had a terrible attack of hemorrhoids, and was prostrated for days, suffering awful things, soon after arriving in Pasadena. Through earnest prayer the Lord delivered. My nervous system suffered greatly. It was an awful strain on the nerve centers, and the brain. Little John was taken with a terrible attack of convulsions also. The devil tried to kill him. Through prayer his life was spared. Many times the devil has come to me and actually tried to bargain with me. He has promised me if I would not press him quite so hard he would let me off easier. But God forbid that I should ever bargain thus with him.

1911 was a wonderful year in Los Angeles. The battle was clearly between works and faith, between law and grace. Much of the old time power and glory of the Azusa Mission days returned to us. I had much liberty and joy in Brother Durham's mission, especially in the beginning. God had prepared me beforehand peculiarly for the message. I had been brought completely to the end of self-dependence. Works had no further place with me in meriting salvation. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works."—Eph. 2:10. We are called to humility again, that the power of God might rest upon us.

So determined was I to take no chances of self surviving in my life that I burned at this time no less than five hundred personal letters that I had received in the early Azusa days, from leading church workers, preachers and teachers, all over the world, inquiring anxiously about the revival that was then in our midst. Some of these inquirers were in very high positions officially. They had read my reports of the revival in various papers. But I was afraid these letters might someday prove a temptation to me to imagine that I had been a person of some importance. Many of these inquirers begged an interest in my prayers. I almost wish at times that I had kept these letters. They would have been of much interest now as historical evidence to the widespread influence of the revival. No doubt the Lord could have kept me humble without this sacrifice, but I determined to take no chances. So deep and genuine was the work begun again in our hearts in Brother Durham's day.

We feared nothing more in those days than to seek our own glory, or that the Pentecostal experience should become a matter of past history. In fact we hoped and believed that the revival would last without cessation until Jesus should come, which it doubtless would, and should, if men would not fail God. But we drift back continually into the old, backslidden, ecclesiastical conceptions, forms and ceremonies. Thus history sadly ever repeats itself. Now we must work up an annual revival. We go to church on Sundays, etc., etc., just "like the nations (churches) 'round about us." But in the beginning it was not so. In the early Azusa days you could hardly keep the saints off their knees. Whenever two saints met they invariably went to prayer. Today we can hardly be dragged to prayer. Some make as much fuss about it as the old camel does in the east in kneeling to receive his load. He fusses, and bites, and groans, before the driver can bring him down. I am glad I did not destroy my diary, however, nor the articles I wrote all through those early Pentecostal days, with reports of meetings, experiences in different parts of the world, etc. I have preserved between five and six hundred separate, printed articles, besides more than one hundred different tracts written and published in the same connections. From these I have been able to draw a tremendous amount of most reliable information for the present book. Had I destroyed these the book would probably have never been written. In all my writings for at least twenty-five years I have labored for the unity of the body of Christ. They are full of the sentiment of John 17:21. I have also plead for reality from the beginning. My first article was titled, "Live the Life." My second one, "Salvation vs. Imitation."

The Lord gave us a little private school in Pasadena for our children. We had dreaded to throw them in among public school influences. Sister Anna Palmer, a precious Pentecostal sister, came to live with us and to teach them. She was a woman of most sterling character, and absolutely self-sacrificing spirit. She was also a woman of special ability. It was purely a labor of love on her part, for the Lord. Some of the neighboring children availed themselves of this opportunity also. We were very grateful for this, God's special mercy.

I had a powerful manifestation of the Spirit about this time at Lake Avenue Mission, Pasadena. The power of God came on me one Sunday morning, as I sat in my chair in the meeting. The Lord had given me a tremendous message on the way to the meeting. Brother Ansel Post had the floor and was commenting on the Word. What he was saying was good, but without special anointing. Suddenly the Lord anointed me to give my message. I hesitated, as Brother Post had the floor. The Spirit ran through me like a sword thrust and I was lifted from my chair. I ran across the floor shouting at the top of my voice, but sat down again. I did not want to interfere with the one speaking. The message was almost consuming me. I had already hesitated too long. God wanted it delivered then. The Spirit struck me again and nearly threw me off my chair. Then I knew I must obey God. I got up and spoke to Brother Post and he graciously gave way to me. I delivered the message with great anointing. How many times I have failed God by not obeying Him under similar circumstances. It seemed this time as though God would kill me if I did not obey Him. We fear to grieve men more than we do Him. It requires much grace to obey God under such circumstances.

I had much ministry and blessing in Brother Durham's mission during this summer. I also wrote and published a little booklet, entitled "A Prophetic Chart," which the Lord gave me. Three thousand of them cost me thirty-five dollars. He provided the means. We moved from Winona Avenue to Altadena in September. Our home was on Pine Street. Here we opened a little day school, with Miss Palmer for teacher. Other children came from the neighborhood. We saw some very hard financial pressure here. One sister gave me twenty-five dollars, in answer to most earnest prayer. I began to have a strong desire to get out into the active work of the Lord again.

Taking a little trip to San Diego, I preached nine times, with much blessing. I then took a trip, by water, to Oakland, where I held some meetings, with considerable blessing and profit. From there I went to Stockton, where I preached twice, but found a hard field. The spirit was not deep. Returning home I worked in Brother Durham's mission again.

The opposition against Brother Durham was tremendous and he was finally tempted to strike back. This I felt was not the Spirit of Christ, though he had tremendous provocation. Possibly few have been able to stand successfully such a test. I left the platform finally, not willing to stand for a spirit of retaliation. I felt I must keep clear of carnal strife and controversy. But the Lord had wonderfully used dear Brother Durham. He was sent of God to Los Angeles. Possibly his work was done. For him to have remained much longer might have destroyed his victory. His word was coming to be almost law in the Pentecostal missions, even as far as the Atlantic Coast. The paper he instituted in connection with his work began to take on especially the nature of a carnal controversy, fighting the old "second work of grace" theory. This spirit the Lord showed me He was about to stop. Too much power is unsafe for any one man also.

Brother Durham wrote the following observations on the work some time before he died, which are of such vital importance we feel led to reproduce them, as follows: "A great crisis is now on. Men do not see the plan of God in the present Pentecostal movement. Such a complete revolution is necessary that it staggers them. They are unwilling to see that which they have labored so hard to build up, thrown down; but before God's plans can be carried out, man's plans must be set aside. They fail to see that God, having set aside all the plans of man, is beginning to work after His own plan. God is revealing His real plan to so many that they will never consent to having the present work turned into a sect. God's people are simply not going to be led into the snare of human organization again.

"God has poured out His Spirit again that Jesus may be glorified. All past movements have resulted in the promotion to positions of honor of one or more men. The present movement will honor and exalt Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit always exalts Jesus, and His precious blood. As He is exalted, and faithfully preached, God is restoring the old time power. But it is not all restored yet. Not seeing the plan of God, men have not met the conditions, and therefore have not received all God has for them by a great deal. Many have run ahead of God."

Shortly after God filled me, His Spirit rested mightily upon me one morning, and He said to me: "If you were only small enough I could do anything with you." A great desire to be little, yea, to be nothing, came in my heart. But it has been, oh, so hard to keep low enough for Him to really work through me. And He only really uses me when I am little in my own eyes, and really humble at His feet. When I feel that I must do something, He always lets me fail. But when I stay at His feet, and feel that I am nothing, and that He is all, and so just trust Him, He does His work in such a beautiful way that it is wonderful to me.

"God is not trying to build up something else, or to do something for men that will make them great and mighty, but rather to bring all men to naught, and do the work through the power of the Holy Ghost. The call of God to His people now is to humble themselves; to recognize their weakness and lack of power, to get down before Him, and wait till His power is restored. The great question is, will men see the plan of God, and yield to it? Will men get down in humility at Jesus' feet, and pray and wait till He restores His full, Pentecostal power? Or will they continue to run ahead of Him, and fail in the end?

"Let God's people everywhere see His plan, and begin to seek in deep, true humility. Then He will reveal Himself, and His plan, to them. One man with the real power of God upon him can do more than a thousand who go on their own account. Only those who are true and loyal to God, and His present day message, will share in this great victory. The company who really humble themselves, and stand the test, God will use to do His work." —Wm. H. Durham. The fact is when a man gets to the place where he really loves obscurity, where he does not care to preach, and where he would rather sit in the back seat than on the platform, then God can lift him up and use him, and not very much before.

The old Upper Room, 327 ½ South Spring Street, was opened up again about this time, under the leadership of Brother Warren Fisher, Brother Manley, and Brother Alien. I delivered a message there one Sunday and two received the "baptism." God wonderfully anointed me. The presence of the Lord was very near. I had asked Him for a witness. So I now shifted my ministry to the Upper Room Mission. Conditions seemed to be changing at Brother Durham's mission. After I left his platform he seemed to mistrust me. Perhaps he thought I would work against him. I spoke many times now at Upper Room Mission where the Lord greatly blessed me. Brother Durham soon after this went to Chicago to hold a convention. It was in the winter and he contracted a cold there, from the effects of which he soon after died, after having returned to Los Angeles. He was wonderfully used in Chicago.

By this time the Lord was speaking loudly to me about getting out into the field again, with my family. I felt strongly drawn to Europe. I had had a conviction of this when passing through Europe in 1910. The time had come. The Lord began to touch hearts in a marked way on our behalf, to this end, although nearly all of our financial help, as it always had, peculiarly, before, came from outside of Los Angeles. A brother in Stockton, and a sister (not Pentecostal), in Pasadena, furnished our fares to Denver, our first stop. God did not allow any mission or party as such to send us forth. And perhaps it was better so. Today you are all right. Tomorrow you may be standing on your head with them. So it is better at least to look to God. Our poor missionaries on the foreign field seldom know where they stand in relation to most of the missions. Before the next letter can pass between them the whole doctrinal situation may be changed, or the society have been totally dissolved for that matter. They need our sympathy and our prayers. When will God's people become "one flock," with "one Shepherd," Jesus, as He has promised? It is surely time to pray as Jesus prayed, "that they all may be one; that the world may believe."—John 17:21.

We left Los Angeles, after sacrificing our little all of household goods, as we had so often done before, and started to work our way across the continent once more, this time, as we believed, en route for Europe. We had just enough money to take us to Denver. But the account of our "Two Years Mission Work in Europe, Just Before the World-War, 1912-1914," with labors in England, Scotland, Wales, Holland, Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and old Russia itself, where I had to preach in secret, although almost under the Czar's nose; with a lively account of the first few weeks of the Great World War, before we got out of Europe, and which finally drove us back to America, through the war zone, must be secured in a separate booklet, already published, price 30C. We did not want to return to America so soon, but were obliged to, in safety to the family. Besides, the whole effort of the nations now became one of filling their people's hearts with hate and murder. There seemed no place for the spirit of the Gospel. The Sermon on the Mount has nothing whatever in common with the tenets of the "god of war." You are expected to do all you can to hate, curse, or kill the enemy in war-time, certainly not to love him. Let others do this, however, if they will; but as for me, the Gospel is just the same in peace or war. "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever." –Los Angeles, Calif., April, 1925.

Chapter 9: Sparks From the Anvil

"The Fathers must be explained, interpreted, according to Scripture, and not Scripture according to the Fathers. How often has not Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose been mistaken! How often their opinions are different, and they retract their errors!" —Melancthon.

"The highest degree of wisdom attained ambitious minds, or by souls thirsting with the desire for perfection, has been to despair of themselves."—D'Aubigne.

"God, who prepares His work through ages, accomplishes it by the weakest instruments, when His time is come, that the work may be seen to be of God and not of man. To effect great results by imperceptible means such is the law of God."—D'Aubigne.

"It is a sair thing to the flesh for a man to have a little mair light than his brethren." A Scotch saying. They will make him smart for it.

The early church put God first, self last. We have self first, God last. This was the secret of the early church's power. The church is a backslider. But we are coming around the circle. She is to be fully restored. The Spirit is lifted from her, as in Ezekiel's vision. Her ministers need to "weep between the porch and the altar." The "carcasses" of the old crowd may have to "fall in the wilderness" today. We are too hard-hearted. Oh, to be a Joshua, or a Caleb!

There are two errors to be avoided. Dictatorship and lawlessness. Unorganized missions frequently have a tighter ring of fellowship than those organized. Sects generally begin with an honest effort to preserve and restore some long lost truth. They end in division. History repeats itself. No religious body has ever recovered itself after its "first love" was lost.

Every wrong influence in Christian profession makes the way just that much harder for the whole body of Christ. Each individual must be judged also on his own merits, apart from the particular party that he runs with.

The "tongues" were the "sign," the "burning bush," that God used to attract the attention of the people to the Pentecostal outpouring, as He had used "healing," etc., in previous outpourings. What particular "sign" will accompany the next outpouring?

Philosophical reasonings, intellectual speculations, etc., are rampant and the contagion of the hour, actuated by demon forces, to sweep us from the basis of a child-like faith in God, salvation through the blood. Many are in a mental maze, beguiled by the "serpent," like Eve. This is a terrible universe to be lost in.

To be like Jesus, is the standard that God has set us. Be as much in earnest as God is. If Heaven is real we should live like it. This will produce "Pentecost." The human spirit too often predominates, while love and humility are clothed in rags and sit by the wayside begging. The gentle Jesus is run over again and again and knocked down in the meetings. Sin and the "flesh" will kill any "Pentecost." The doctor looks at the tongue first thing. Have you been speaking evil? That denotes a bad heart. Every radical movement for God has ultimately failed on the test of love. The Philadelphia church ("brotherly love"), had the "open door."—Rev. 3.

If they had been "digging," going down, at Babel, instead of going up, God might have spared them. Israel sinned by asking an earthly king, and dividing the nation. We reject the Spirit rule, and divide the "body." "If thou take the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth."—Jer. 15:19. Better grieve all men than God. The very truths that gave birth to the Pentecostal movement are today generally rejected as too strong. But if Israel followed the pillar of fire and cloud so carefully, how much more should we the Holy Ghost. Every work of God so far has been sidetracked, or fallen short of its real object and purpose. Hence we have needed "new lumps" continually. Party spirit, and temporal interest, self, is the difficulty.We have too much Chinese Joss, and Dance Hall Jazz music. Charles G. Finney, the mighty evangelist, discouraged even too much good singing. It kills conviction. We spend too much steam on our whistle. Pentecost means "fifty." Some of ours is "fifty-fifty."

Millions are shut up in fixed systems of finality, both doctrinally and experimentally. They are bound, and frightened to move out with God in His great, green pasture. Tied to a stake, the pasture is all gone. The stream is moving beneath them, but they fear to let go the bank, separate from past attachments, and trust themselves to the current of God's onward move in restoration of truth once lost. Heathen, not indoctrinated, realize God's sovereignty of operation. They get the most.

Both Jonah and Balaam had the "gift of prophecy," but were largely graceless men. We need holiness of heart. It is a vital error to substitute light for heat. "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity (love), edifieth." Read 1 Cor. 13, once more. Be not drawn away from "the simplicity that is in Christ." Faith gets the most, love works the most, humility keeps the most. God's vision comes to humble men. He who seeks to make foot-prints and do sublime things is a failure. A self-conscious poser is a loser. Let self intrude and the whole is spoiled. Excellency is proportioned to the oblivion of self. A fisher for compliments has lost God. Self-consciousness must go. We are too conscious of the other fellow also. We need God-consciousness.

Humility, not infallibility, becomes fallen creatures. Water seeks the low places. Infallibility is the apex of Satan's proposition to man. The deepest repentance and humility, our own frailty and weakness, must be realized before we can know God's strength. Receding guns vanish out of sight after firing. And so must we, for safety. We need to be "broken."

Zealous religionists care only for the triumph of their particular doctrine or party. Anyone can have a standing and prestige if they will but work for some party's selfish interest. To stand for principle alone is another thing. Such are little understood. A selfish person can never understand unselfishness.

Most people need to carry heavy to keep steady. Waiting is God's common instrument of providential discipline. He tries acceptable men in the furnace of affliction. Most great men accomplish their life work in a short time. It burns them up. No man creates his own times. The times create the man.

The devil has no conscience, the "flesh" has no sense. Then why expect them to behave themselves in meeting? We should act and speak as in the immediate, conscious presence of God. Settle all differences before His throne also. Protect others' good name and they will speak well of you. Our influence, for good or evil, sets waves in motion only to break on the shores of eternity. A little push, just at the right time, may hurl a soul to hell, or lift it to Heaven.

Priest-craft is passing away. Men think for themselves today, not one man for thousands. The Holy Spirit will not resign His authority to any man or party. We have too much dogmatic controversy. To analyze Christ is to destroy Him. Terms mean little, except for conscious realization.

The human soul is naturally lazy toward God. All the weakness of humanity is shown up under the "Pentecostal baptism." We have but one life, one chance. It will pass quickly. Are our spiritual stocks inflated? Better take account.

"Seven years of plenty," in the beginning of the Pentecostal outpouring. "Seven years of famine," with the advent of the World War. We prophesied of this in the beginning. We also saw that the churches would largely go into it. This brought a hardening over the whole religious situation. What next? Luther looked for the "end of the world" in his day.

"Know no man after the flesh." What would this do to most of our meetings, which have become a babel of confusion and over-developed, fleshly sociability? They are as hard to sink into God in as the Dead Sea. The waves of human enthusiasm and zeal have no rest. In "Azusa" days when two saints met they invariably went to prayer. We could scarcely keep off our knees. In those days we had to dig the preachers out of the sawdust. Today we cannot keep them off the platform. They make a fearful howl if not invited.

Jesus in town would stop the traffic. He would stand in a class by Himself. But we need men with His character and spirit to handle the situation. Few men are big enough to deal with the difficulties, questions, and the people in the missions, successfully. We need more wisdom, patience, humility, love, everything. What would Jesus do? We need deliverance from strife and confusion, a deeper consecration and death to self. Human zeal and enthusiasm, the spirit of joking and lightness, in the preacher or Assembly, must result in ruin. If we have lost our "pilgrim and stranger" role we are not Bible Christians. Cares of life, deceitful-ness of riches, covetousness, etc., are the "canker-worms." Most Christians get their "oil" at the gasoline station.

The organized church has largely proven a tremendous framework of form and ceremony, built up against God. The Spirit had no right of way. They would offer violence if pressed by the claims of Jesus, as in His day. Are we not drifting also? Large churches, popular evangelism, sensational advertising, etc., etc. "One man" meetings, order of services announced beforehand. Is this "Pentecostal"? We have got to leave room for God somewhere. We need not be lawless either. We have gotten the Ark on a "new cart" again. God smote Uzzah for this mistake, and David left it by the way. When they put it on the "priests' shoulders" again all went well.—2 Sam. 6. We advertise "miracles," wonderful preachers, etc., and have the crowds following the bill-board "signs," to the next big meeting. But are the "signs following"? Men love the spectacular. What we do not understand is "wonderful."

God's fire falls on sacrifice, as in Elijah's case. The greater the sacrifice, consecration, the more fire. But Ananias and Sapphira are in the mission work today. They are striking the Peters dead, with their money and influence. The man who is paying the full price in consecration has very little voice in the meetings. Then multitudes are evidently serving the Lord for what they can get out of it, in selfish blessings, etc. There are plenty of "rice Christians" in America. A young man will sacrifice everything, even life if need be, for the girl he loves. Do we really love the Lord?

The Holy Ghost was given to witness of the "resurrection," not to help propagate every little fellow's pet notion and theory. The truth discovers itself to, and makes its dwelling with, the humble. The "baptism" is only a beginning, not the end all. He is to "guide us into all truth." The early church started out with it. We are coming back to the beginning, ready to start, from the church's fall

The Christian life is a "travail." We are on probation until finally delivered. "He must increase, but I must decrease." Luther's translation of the New Testament, the greatest work of his age, did not bear his name. It read, "The New Testament—German— Wittenberg." Here was self-abnegation. These are times of general sacrilege and peculiar presumption. Beware of undue familiarity with God. "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." Let the lid stay on the Ark.—1 Sam. 6:19. Daniel, and John the Revelator, fell on their faces when they met God.

A woman after child-birth is subdued, but has a joy that no other knows. The father does the shouting. Demonstration is not necessarily deep joy. Crude spirits trample the gentle spirit of Jesus under foot. Possibly ninety per cent of religious demonstrations since the early church's fall has been human. Note the continuous warring sects, strife of creeds, contention, and even inquisition.

Keep free from party spirit if you would have a clear vision, and speak the truth at all times, without fear or favor. Preach not to please a "party," but to raise a standard. Most movements go 'round a circle. They wear a rut so deep they cannot see out. God has just one "issue." That is "Jesus."

We have too much human manipulation and wizardry. Like the Church of England we must get up, sit down, now do this, now that. Where does "Pentecost" come in at? How can we follow both the Lord and the leader? "No man can serve two masters." Suppose we are in the spirit of prayer? Some leaders like control of their congregations completely. They change the order of service at their own sweet will. We do not believe in lawlessness, but the Spirit must surely have some control. A certain amount of government is necessary at times. But we speak of the abuse of it.

God gathered a lot of seasoned saints together at "Azusa" in the beginning. They were subdued and purified through months of prayer, and years of experience with God. We live in a light, jazzy age, since the war. They refuse the fires of purifying, holiness of heart. We have an atmosphere of confusion. There is too much "professional" work, railroading seekers through, like a "quack" doctor's office. This produces a "fake" Pentecost, with spurious "tongues." The "singing in the Spirit" is also imitated. Men have learned to do these things without the Spirit, and suggest them to others for their imitation. We have even heard leaders call for any demonstration they wanted from the people. What would Peter say to such a demonstration? Many have promised an elephant, but brought forth a mouse. But these are only backslidden substitutions.

Old parties, who are found steeped in bitter, sectional, factional positions, can never be used of God for the next move of the Spirit. History repeats itself. They are in no condition. It requires a "new lump," always. God's people are free-born. Only he who has been in the "mount," has seen the heavenly vision, and received the spirit of obedience, can overleap the chasms, and climb the mountains of doubt and fear to victory. We need men "full of faith and of the Holy Ghost," to lead the people to victory.

Let us appreciate our blood-bought liberty in the Holy Ghost. The early church lost this, and slid into the "dark ages," through compromise with temporal and ecclesiastical abuse and power. We are being tested today on the very same lines. History repeats itself. We are bound for the "dark ages" as a people, if we fail to be warned. "Be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage."

Chapter 10: A Plea For Unity

Dr. Philip Schaff, the well-known scholar, has happily declared: "The divisions of Christendom will be overruled at last for a deeper and richer harmony, of which Christ is the key-note. In Him and by Him all problems of theology and history will be solved. In the best case a human creed is only an approximate and relatively correct expression of revealed truth, and may be improved by the progressive knowledge of the church, while the Bible remains perfect and infallible. Any higher view of the authority of creeds is unprotestant and essentially Romanizing."

The editor of "The Friend of Russia" writes: "God's people can never get together on human creeds and disciplines. They are too narrow and changeable. We have a foundation that is broad enough to hold all. Christ Himself is this foundation. In Christ, all God's people are one, irrespective of race, color, social standing, or creed."

A certain preacher of standing, in a prominent church outside the Pentecostal ranks, addressing the "baptized" saints not long ago, said: "As we look upon the church divided, upon the sect-ridden multitude, none of whom can see alike, how our tried souls cry out for that original love, and we will never win the world on any other plane. It was said of the early Christians, by the beholding heathen, 'Behold how these Christians love one another!' While we are breaking up into sects, creeds, isms, and doctrines, our love is dying, our churches will be empty, and our people lost. Your beautiful Pentecostal work, so full of promise, where God has designed to come in and fill souls and wonderfully baptize them in the Holy Ghost, is broken and peeled and ruined for lack of love." Is not this a terrible indictment?

Eric Booth-Clibborn, one of our own people, who recently died in Africa, wrote: "Before the terrible agony of Gethsemane, our blessed Savior prayed earnestly that His disciples might be one even as He was one with the Father. As long as the church was contending with the onrushing forces of heathenism, it was kept pure and united, but as soon as it lost out in this conflict, the warfare instead of being with the outside forces of evil, was now within the church's walls. There arose terrible controversies. The Ecumenical Councils called for the purpose of peace and unity, brought nothing but dishonor and disgrace on the name of Christ, by the hatred and dissension manifested there. I have been in many places where 'Pentecost' had 'gone to seed.' They had been busy setting the other fellow right, and advancing some pet theme or doctrine. As to proving the other fellow to be wrong, this will take care of itself as we get on the forward march."

Someone has said: "On the day of battle one and the same feeling animates every bosom; after the victory they become divided." And this is only too sadly true of God's people.

Shortly after the World War started the Kaiser of Germany had a medal struck, with the following inscriptions on either side: "I know no parties more, I know only Germans." "The King called, and they all came." And should not the church be at least as wise?

John Wesley wrote the following: "I am sick of opinions. Give me a humble, gentle, lover of God and man, a man full of mercy and good fruits; without partiality or hypocrisy. Let my soul be with such Christians, wheresoever they are and whatsoever opinion they are of. Whosoever doeth the will of my Father, the same is my brother."

In an article against bigotry Wesley wrote: "Bigotry is too strong an attachment to, or fondness for, our own party or opinion. How unwilling men are to allow anything good in those who do not in all things agree with themselves. We must not narrow the cause of God to our own party, but rejoice in goodness, wherever it appears."

Wesley writes again: "May we not all be of one heart, though not of one opinion? Without doubt we may. There was a time when all Christians were of one mind, as well as of one heart; so great grace was upon them all, when they were first filled with the Holy Ghost. But no animosities are so deep and irreconciliable as those that spring from disagreement in religion." What a terrible statement, yet how true.

The recovery of the church to unity again, as at the beginning, has been the fond dream of many of the noblest minds in Christendom. Melancthon's famous maxim was: "In essentials unity, in doubtful points liberty, in all things charity." Melancthon labored for the unity of the body of Christ unceasingly in his day. We hear some saints say this can never be. Then we shall have to reject the last prayer of our Savior, in John 17. Possibly few would care to confess that the Lord could not restore them to this right Christian spirit. Then if myself, why not the other fellow? Am I of so much more hopeful fiber than he?

As a matter of history even the Greek Orthodox Church has looked forward hopefully since the Seventh Ecumenical Council, A.D. 787, to a future Eighth one (not yet held), when all the controversies of Christendom will be settled. They know they should be.

We are told that when General Allenby took Jerusalem he did not know what to do with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He could not find a real Christian committee to entrust with its care. The Christian sects hate each other so there. There are an even dozen of them worshipping under the same roof. So he was obliged to appoint an old Moslem to make up the timetable for the services of these various sects, and to keep them from actually killing one another in their religious fervor (a thing that often happens there). Under the old regime the Turkish guard kept order. This old Moslem laughingly tells the visitor that he is there to keep the Christians from killing one another. And he tells no lie. Can anyone tell us about how long it ought to take to get this Moslem converted at this rate?

History records of the Crusaders of the Middle Ages, the following: "The pious pilgrims entering humble and barefoot within the walls of Jerusalem, burned the Jews in their Synagogue, and watered with the blood of thousands of the Saracens the places where they came to trace the sacred footsteps of the Prince of Peace." Is it any great wonder the Jews have not been saved? Think of the "pogroms" in Russia, instituted by the Greek Orthodox Church against the Jews. The State Church in Europe, for centuries past, whenever waxing especially zealous, would pledge themselves to plunder the Jews.

Someone has said: "The passions never show themselves more violently than in religious discussion." It is a fact also that in no part of the world have there been more terrible wars than among Christians. Instance the one just past. These things being facts how it behooves us all to see that we have the Spirit of Christ, and not that of religion. Someone has also declared, "Factions are pitiless, and what should excite their compassion, does but inflame their anger." Multitudes seem to really think seriously that "the end justifies the means" in religion.

Luther in his day writes of the spirit of disunity among the various sects and divisions of the Roman Church, as follows: "Priests, monks, and laymen have come to hate each other more than the Christians hate the Turks. Each one is attached to his own sect, and despises all others. The unity and charity of Christ are at an end." So it appeared to Luther.

The historian, D'Aubigne, writing of the Reformation in Switzerland, says: "The Dominicans and Augustines and Capuchins, so long at enmity, were reduced to the necessity of living together (because of poverty); a foretaste of hell for these poor monks."

In the Council where Luther and Zwingli finally met, Zwingli plead with Luther to be reconciled to the Swiss reformers. "Let us confess, said he, our union in all things in which we agree; and as for the rest let us remember that we are brothers. There will never be peace between the churches if, while we maintain the grand doctrine of faith, we cannot differ on secondary points." Luther was very slow to yield this point, and as a consequence of his uncharitable and violent spirit he fell into a fit of melancholy and despair in which he felt God Himself had forsaken him. And so He doubtless had, for the time. Love is its own avenger, and Luther had violated that very principle. And that is the exact trouble with a multitude of preachers who suffer at times great depression of spirit. It is the law of retribution, rebounding on their own heads. When Zwingli and Luther finally did get together they were astonished to find in how many things they agreed. How much better it would be today if we would seek to find how many things we agree in, instead of how many we can differ in.

H.L Hastings has written as follows: "It seems to have been a favorite device of the devil for ages to nickname, and thus separate and persecute the people of God, for whose unity the Savior so earnestly prayed." John Bunyan was very crude. He wrote as follows: "Since you desire to know by what name I wish to be called, I desire, if God should count me worthy, to be called a Christian, a believer, or any other name sanctioned by the Holy Ghost. But as for those factious titles, such as Anabaptists, etc., I believe they came neither from Jerusalem nor Antioch, but rather from hell and Babylon, for they naturally tend to divisions, and ye may know them by their fruits."

Hastings writes further, of conditions shortly after the early church's downfall: "In those old days, when men whose kingdom was 'of this world,' had assumed authority over the flock of God, and had established organizations in which politics was more potent than piety, and where faith instead of coming by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, was settled by the decisions of councils and the decrees of despots, etc."

Hastings writes of James Murdoch, author of the Syriac translation of the New Testament, as follows: "With a well-balanced mind, resisting all tendencies to extremes, a wise sagacity to detect eternal principles, as distinguished from temporary forms of expression, with boldness to cast aside traditional fetters, and a breadth of view which comprehended a subject in all its bearings, his devotion to truth and righteousness was supreme. Questions of minorities, majorities, and policies, were of little account in his eyes."

It is said of Fryth, one of the early reformers: "Instead of propagating his particular opinions and forming divisions, he clung only to the faith which saves, and advanced the dominion of the true unity. This," adds the historian, "is the mark of the great servants of God." We are to "contend earnestly" for the great fundamental saving principles of the Gospel, not each for some little pet theory.

Cranmer, another of the reformers, did not embrace any particular party or age; but possessing a free and philosophical mind, he weighed all opinions in the balance of his judgment, taking the Bible for his standard.

How different another character of those times, of which we have far too many today. It is said of him: "Of a restless disposition, unable to enjoy any repose, always requiring new pursuits, he was a torment to all around him. Confusion was his native element; he seemed born for contention, and when he had no adversaries he fell afoul of his friends."

Someone has recently written as follows: "It is a common thing to read in the daily papers such words as these, 'Only union men need apply.' And it is becoming a common thing to read in the Pentecostal papers: 'Affiliating brethren are invited.' What is the difference, asks this writer. And he answers, 'No difference, except one is a secular union, the other is a religious union.' "

Every fresh division or party in the church gives to the world a contradiction as to the oneness of the body of Christ, and the truthfulness of the Gospel. Multitudes are bowing down and burning incense to a doctrine rather than Christ. The many sects in Christendom are, to say the least, evidence to the world that Christians cannot get along together. Written creeds only serve to publish the fact that we cannot understand the Word of God alike, and get together on it. Is the Word of God, then, so hard to understand? They who establish a fixed creed bar the way to further progress.

It is said of the mighty evangelist, Charles G. Finney, that he "forged his theology on the anvil of prayer, in his own heart." He was not bound by the systems of his day.

The Spirit is laboring for the unity of believers today, for the "one body," that the prayer of Jesus may be answered, "that they all may be one, that the world may believe." But the saints are ever too ready rather to serve a system or party, to contend for religious, selfish, party interests. God's people are shut up in denominational coops. Like chicks they must get their food only in these, their own coops. "Error always leads to militant exclusion. Truth evermore stoops to wash the saints' feet." One feels even in visiting many Pentecostal missions today that they do not belong there, simply because they have not lined up officially with that particular brand or variety. These things ought not to be. "In one Spirit are we all baptized, into one body."—1 Cor. 12:13. We should be as one family, which we are, at home in God's house anywhere.

We belong to the whole body of Christ, both in Heaven and on earth. God's church is one. It is a terrible thing to go about dismembering the "body of Christ." How foolish and wicked the petty differences between Christians will appear in the light of eternity. Christ is the "issue." Not some doctrine about Him. The Gospel leads to Him. It exalts Christ, not some particular doctrine, etc. To "know Christ" is the alpha and the omega of the Christian faith and practice.

"The church was in the beginning a community of brethren, guided by a few of the brethren."—D'Aubigne. "One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren."—Matt. 23:8. We have too much "leadership" spirit. These divide the "body," separate the saints.

We are coming around the circle, from the early church's fall, back to primitive love and unity, in the "one body" of Christ. This is doubtless the church for which Christ is coming, "without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing."

* * * * * * * * * *

If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

·         7 Classics on PRAYER

·         7 Classics on HOLINESS

·         7 Classics on EVANGELISM and SOUL-WINNING

·         7 Catholic Classics

·         5 Classics on the HOLY SPIRIT

·         5 Classics on POWER

PREACHERS AND REVIVALISTS:

·         The Azusa Street Papers

·         Charles Spurgeon: 40 sermons on Prayer

·         Charles Spurgeon: Lectures to My Students

·         The George Muller Collection

·         The Revival Writings of Jonathan Edwards (7-in-1)

·         The Works of Catherine Booth (7-in-1)

·         The Works of Charles Finney

·         The Works of D. L. Moody

·         The Works of R. A. Torrey

·         The Works of William Booth

·         Biography of John Wesley Collection: 4-in-1

·         Amy Carmichael 8-in-1

·         Samuel Zwemer 7-in-1(Missions in Arabia)

7.  THE REVIVAL WE NEED (1925) – Oswald J. Smith

by

OSWALD J. SMITH

With a Foreword

BY REV. JONATHAN GOFORTH, D.D.

The Christian Alliance Publishing Company

260 West 44th Street, New York, N.Y.

1925

Preface

Five years ago there came into my life a spiritual experience that revolutionized my work, and resulted in a Ministry characterized by some of the manifestations that usually accompany Revivals.

It was in this atmosphere that these messages were born; and while the writing of them has occupied the five intervening years, they but breathe the spirit that then prevailed.

may God through them reveal this His servants the shallowness apparent in so much of our Modern Evangelism, and turn them to that deep and abiding work of the Holy Spirit which will alone stand the test of divine fire!

Oswald J. Smith

Toronto, 1922

Foreword by Jonathan Goforth

MR. SMITH'S book, "The Revival We Need," for its size is the most powerful plea for revival I have ever read. He has truly been led by the Spirit of God in preparing it. To his emphasis for the need of a Holy Spirit revival I can give the heartiest amen. What I saw of revival in Korea and in China is in fullest accord with the revival called for in this book.

It is most timely that Mr. Smith has called attention to man effort and man method in modern revival. If we all had faith to wait upon God in intense believing prayer there would be genuine Holy Ghost revival, and the living God would get all the glory. In Manchuria and China, when we did nothing else than give the address and let the people pray, and kept out of sight as far as possible, we saw the mightiest manifestations of Divine power.

Had I the wealth of a millionaire I would put "The Revival We Need" in every Christian home on this continent and confidently look for a revival which would sweep round the world.

JONATHAN GOFORTH.

Toronto, May 5, 1925

Chapter 1: The Outpouring Of The Spirit

IT was in 1904. All Wales was aflame. The nation had drifted far from God. The spiritual conditions were low indeed. Church attendance was poor. And sin abounded on every side.

Suddenly, like an unexpected tornado, the Spirit of God swept over the land. The Churches were crowded so that multitudes were unable to get in. Meetings lasted from ten in the morning until twelve at night. Three definite services were held each day. Evan Roberts was the human instrument, but there was very little preaching. Singing, testimony, and prayer, were the chief features. There were no hymn books; they had learnt the hymns in childhood. No choir, for everybody sang. No collection; and no advertising.

Nothing had ever come over Wales with such far-reaching results. Infidels were converted, drunkards, thieves, and gamblers saved; and thousands reclaimed to respectability. Confessions of awful sins were heard on every side. Old debts were paid. The theatre had to leave for want of patronage. Mules in the coal mines refused to work, being unused to kindness. In five weeks 20,000 joined the Churches.

In the year 1835 Titus Coan landed on the shore belt of Hawaii. On his first tour multitudes flocked to hear him. They thronged him so that he had scarcely time to eat. Once he preached three times before he had a chance to take breakfast. He felt that God was strangely at work. In 1837 the slumbering fires broke out. Nearly the whole population became an audience. He was ministering to 15,000 people. Unable to reach them, they came to him, and settled down to a two years' camp meeting. There was not an hour day or night when an audience of from 2,000 to 6,000 would not rally to the signal of the bell.

There was trembling, weeping, sobbing, and loud crying for mercy, sometimes too loud for the preacher to be heard; and in hundreds of cases his hearers fell in a swoon. Some would cry out, "The two edged sword is cutting me to pieces." The wicked scoffer who came to make sport dropped like a dog, and cried, "God has struck me!" Once while preaching in the open field to 2,000 people, a man cried out, "What must I do to be saved?" and prayed the publican's prayer, and the entire congregation took up the cry for mercy. For half an hour Mr. Coan could get no chance to speak, but had to stand still and see God work.

Quarrels were made up, drunkards reclaimed, adulterers converted, and murderers revealed and pardoned. Thieves returned stolen property. And sins of a lifetime were renounced. In one year 5,244 joined the Church. There were 1,705 baptised on one Sunday. And 2,400 sat down at the Lord's table, once sinners of the blackest type, now saints of God. And when Mr. Coan left he had himself received and baptised 11,960 persons.

In the little town of Adams across the line, in the year 1821, a young lawyer made his way to a secluded spot in the woods to pray. God met him there and he was wondrously converted, and soon after filled with the Holy Spirit. That man was Charles. G. Finney.

The people heard about it, became deeply interested, and as though by common consent, gathered into the meeting house in the evening. Mr. Finney was present. The Spirit of God came on them in mighty, convicting power, and a Revival started. It then spread to the surrounding country until finally nearly the whole of the Eastern States was held in the grip of a Mighty Awakening. Whenever Mr. Finney preached the Spirit was poured out. Frequently God went before him so that when he arrived at the place he found the people already crying out for mercy.

Sometimes the conviction of sin was so great and caused such fearful wails of anguish that he had to stop preaching until it subsided. Ministers and Church members were converted. Sinners were reclaimed by thousands. And for years the mighty work of grace went on. Men had never witnessed the like in their lives before.

I have recalled to your minds three historical incidents of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of others might be cited. But these are sufficient to show what I mean. And this is what we need today more than anything else. When I remember that such an Outpouring has come to China, India, Korea, Africa, England, Wales, the States, the Islands of the Seas, and many other places, but that Canada, our Dominion, our own beloved country, has never in its history experienced a national Revival, my heart cries out to God for such a Manifestation of Himself.

Do we need it? Listen! How many of our churches are more than half empty Sunday after Sunday? What a multitude there are who never enter God's house? How many mid-week prayer meetings are alive and prosperous? Where is the hunger for spiritual things? Oh, the shame of it!

And Missions--the lands beyond the seas, heathen darkness--what are we doing? Does the fact that multitudes are perishing ever cause us an anxious thought? Have we grown selfish?

What about the tremendous wealth that God has given us? Take the United States as an example, the richest nation in the world today, and the major portion of her wealth in the hands of professing Christians. And yet the United States spent more on gum in one year than she spent on Missions. How many Christians are giving God even the tenth of what He gives them ?

Then take our colleges and seminaries, both at home and on the mission field where higher criticism is taught. We are told that Jesus never performed any miracles, never rose from the dead, and was not born of a virgin, did not die as our Substitute, and is not coming again. Oh, what blasphemy !

How many professing Christians are living the Christ-life before men? Oh, how like the world we are becoming! How little opposition do we find! Where are the persecutions that were heaped on the Early Church? How easy it is now to be a Christian!

And what of the Ministry? Does the minister grip, convert, and save by his message? How many souls are won through the preaching of the Word? Oh, my friends, we are loaded down with countless Church activities, while the real work of the Church, that of evangelizing the world and winning the lost, is almost entirely neglected.

Where is the conviction of sin we used to know? Is it a thing of the past? Let us look at one of Finney's meetings. Oh, that we could repeat it today! He tells us that one time when he was conducting meetings in Antwerp, an old man invited him to preach in a small school house near by. When he arrived the place was packed so that he could barely find standing room near the door. He spoke for a long time. At last he began to press home upon them the fact that they were an ungodly community; for they held no services in their district. All at once they were stricken with conviction. The Spirit of God came like a thunderbolt upon them. One by one they fell on their knees, or prostrate on the floor, crying for mercy. In two minutes they were all down, and Mr. Finney had to stop preaching for he was unable to make himself heard. At last he got the attention of the old man who was sitting in the middle of the room and gazing around him in utter amazement, and shouted to him at the top of his voice to pray. Then taking them one by one he pointed them to Jesus. The old man took charge of the meeting while he went to another. All night it continued, so deep was the conviction of sin. The results were permanent, and one of the young converts became a most successful minister of the gospel.

Ah, yes, men have forgotten God. Sin flourishes on every side. And the pulpit fails to grip. And I know of nothing less than the Outpouring of His Spirit that can meet the situation. Such a Revival has transformed scores and hundreds of communities, it can transform ours.

Now, how may we secure such an Outpouring of the Spirit? You answer, by prayer. True, but there is something before prayer. We will have to deal first of all with the question of sin; for unless our lives are right in the sight of God, unless sin has been put away, we may pray until doomsday, and the Revival will never come. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you so that He will not hear." (Isa. 59: 2)

Probably our best guide just here is the prophecy of Joel. Let us look at it. It is a call to repentance. God is anxious to bless His people, but sin has withheld the blessing. And so in His love and compassion He brings a fearful judgment upon them. We have it described in chapters 1 and 2. It has almost reached the gates of the city. But see--how great is His love! Notice verses 12-14 of chapter 2, where He says, "Turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him?"

Now my friend, I don't know what your sin is. You know and God knows. But I want you to think about it, for you may as well stop praying and rise from your knees until you have dealt with it, and put it away. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Let God search your heart and reveal the hindrance. Sin must be confessed and put away.

It may be you will have to forsake some cherished idol. It may be you will have to make restitution. Perhaps you are withholding from God, robbing Him of His own. But this is your affair, not mine. It lies between you and God.

Now notice verses 15-17. The prophet has called for a prayer meeting. Sin has been confessed and forsaken. Now they may pray. And they are to entreat God for His own name's sake, lest the nations say, "Where is their God ?" They are dead in earnest now and their prayer is going to prevail. Listen! "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders, gather the children. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, "Where is their God ?"

Ah! my brethren, are you praying? Do you plead with God for this city? Are you beseeching Him night and day for an Outpouring of His Spirit? For now is the hour to pray. We are told of a time in the work of Finney when the Revival had died out. He then made a covenant with the young people to pray at sunrise, noon and sunset in their closets for one week. The Spirit was poured out, and before the week ended the meetings were thronged.

And of course it must be believing prayer, prayer that expects. If God stirs up hearts to pray for a Revival it is a sure sign that He wants to send one and He is always true to His Word. "There shall be showers of blessing." His promises never fail. Have we faith? Do we expect an Awakening?

Now notice the speedy answer in verse 18. "Then!" After they had forsaken sin and cried unto God in prayer. "Then will the Lord be jealous for His land, and pity His people." The answer is not long in coming once the conditions have been met. We have it fully described in verses 28-29: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the hand-maids in these days will I pour out my Spirit."

Oh, my brethren, the trouble is not with God. It lies right here with ourselves. He is willing, more than willing. But we are not ready. And He is waiting for us. Are we going to keep Him waiting long?

Chapter 2: The Responsibility For Revival

AS far back as I can remember my heart has burned within me whenever I have heard or read accounts of the mighty work of God in the great Revivals of past years. The heroic missionaries of the cross in foreign lands, and the lonely men of God in the home field around whom these gracious Visitations have centered, have always been a source of untold inspiration to my life. David Brainerd, Adoniram Judson, Chas. G. Finney, Robt. Murray McCheyne--these and many others have been my bosom companions and friends. I have watched them, listened to them, lived with them, until I have almost felt the spirit of the atmosphere in which they moved. Their trials and hardships, their prayers and tears; their joys and sorrows, their glorious triumphs and victorious achievements have thrilled my very soul until I have fallen down upon my face and exclaimed with the prophet of old: "Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, and that Thou wouldst come down!" The great Awakening of the 18th century under John Wesley, the stirring Irish Manifestation of 1859, the glorious American Visitation in the 19th century under Chas. G. Finney, and in our own day the mighty Welsh Revival of 1904-05--Manifestations such as these have been my meat and drink for years past. I have heard again the uncontrollable sob and groan of the convicted, the exceeding bitter cry of the penitent, and the unspeakable expressions of joy of the delivered. And I have sighed within myself for another such Manifestation of God's presence and power.

From my boyhood it has been my delight to read more or less of God's work along these lines, but lately I have been led to lay all else aside and to literally devour everything I could lay hands on regarding Revival work. And as I studied the lives of those whom God has signally used all down the centuries, especially the labors of the Puritans, the early Methodists and others of later years, and saw how wonderfully they were owned of Him--how they worked for, expected and got what they sought --I was compelled to admit that I saw nothing like it today either in my own ministry or in the ministry of others. The average church does not aim at, let alone get, results. Men preach and never even dream of anything happening. Oh, how far away we have drifted! How powerless we have become!

It is reported that there were 7,000 churches that did not win a single soul for Jesus Christ in an entire year. That means that 7,000 ministers preached the Gospel for a whole year without reaching even one lost soul. Supposing that they preached, putting it at a low average, on 40 Sundays, not including extra meetings, that would mean that these 7,000 ministers preached 560,000 sermons in a single year. Think of the work, the labor, the money expended in salaries, etc., to make this possible. And yet 560,000 sermons preached by 7,000 ministers in 7,000 churches to tens of thousands of hearers during a period of twelve months, failed to bring a single soul to Christ.

Now, my brethren, there is something radically wrong somewhere. There is either something the matter with these 7,000 ministers or else with their 560,000 sermons, or with both.

In reading over the Twelve Rules of the Early Methodist church I was struck with the fact that they aimed at and looked upon soul-winning as their supreme task. Let me quote from one of them: "You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. It is not your business to preach so many times; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance, and with all your power to build them up in that holiness, without which they cannot see the Lord."--From "The Twelve Rules."--John Wesley.

The practical application of this rule is demonstrated in the life of Wm. Bramwell one of their most remarkable men. "He was not, as the words are commonly understood, a great preacher. But if that man is the best physician who performs the most cures, that is the best preacher who is the instrument of bringing the greatest number of souls to God; and in this view Mr. Bramwell will be entitled to rank amongst the greatest and best Christian ministers."--Memoir of Wm. Bramwell.

John Oxtoby was so used of God that he was able to say: "I am witnessing daily the conversion of sinners, I seldom go out but God gives me some Fruit."

It was said of John Smith, one of their most wonderfully anointed men and the spiritual father of thousands, that "he ceased to estimate all preaching, and indeed all ministerial labor except as it produced saving effects. 'I am determined by the grace of God to aim at souls,' he exclaimed. 'A minister of the Gospel is sent to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God!' Of that species of preaching which only produced intellectual pleasure, he had a holy abhorrence. Nothing can be more characteristic of the man than his remark to a friend, on sermons in which power of intellect or imagination is almost exclusively predominant: 'They achieve nothing, Sir.' "--Life of John Smith.

"I cannot tell how they get their time over who can drag on and see no Fruit. Were that so in my case I should be ready to conclude that I was out of my place."--Thos. Taylor.

"If your hearts be not set on the end of your labors, and you do not long to see the conversion and edification of your hearers, and do not study and preach in hope, you are not likely to see much fruit of it. It is an ill sign of a false, self-seeking heart, that can be content to be still doing, and see no fruit of their labor."--Richard Baxter.

Then I compared the results of my ministry with the promises of God. In Jet. 23:29, I read: "Is not My Word like a Fire, saith the Lord; and like a Hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" And in Eph. 6:17, "The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." But the more I pondered over it, the more I was convinced that in my ministry the Word of God was not a Fire, a Hammer, and a Sword. It did not burn, break and pierce. There was no execution. Heb. 4:12, declares that "the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." I had never seen it so. John Wesley saw it. John Smith was a constant observer of it. David Brainerd witnessed its sharpness; but I did not. "So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isa. 55:11.) And I knew that this wonderful promise had not been fulfilled in my preaching. I had no evidence such as Paul, Wm. Bramwell and Chas. G. Finney that it did not return void many and many a time. And I had a right to the evidence. Was it any wonder that I began to challenge my preaching?

And not only my preaching, but my prayer life as well. This also had to be challenged and tested by the Outcome. And I was forced to admit that the confident assertion of Jer. 33:3, "Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not," was not realized in my experience. The "great and mighty things" were almost daily witnessed by Evan Roberts, Jonathan Goforth and others, but not by me. My prayers were not definitely and daily answered. Hence, John 14:13-14, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do," and "If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it," was not real in my case. To me these promises were not vital since I asked for many things that I did not receive, and this was not according to the promise.

Thus I came to realize that there was something radically wrong with my prayer-life. And in reading the autobiography of Chas. G. Finney, I found that he, too, had experienced the same failure. "I was particularly struck," he relates, "with the fact that the prayers that I had listened to, from week to week, were not, that I could see, answered. Indeed, I understood from their utterances in prayer, and from other remarks in their meetings, that those who offered them did not regard them as answered.

"They exhorted each other to wake up and be engaged, and to pray earnestly for a Revival of religion, asserting that if they did their duty, prayed for the outpouring of the Spirit, and were in earnest, that the Spirit of God would be poured out, that they would have a Revival of religion, and that the impenitent would be converted. But in their prayers and conference meetings they would continually confess, substantially, that they were making no progress in securing a Revival of religion.

"This inconsistency, the fact that they prayed so much and were not answered, was a sad stumbling block to me. I knew not what to make of it. It was a question in my mind whether I was to understand that these persons were not truly Christians. and therefore did not prevail with God; or did I misunderstand the promises and teachings of the Bible on this subject, or was I to conclude that the Bible was not true? Here was something inexplicable to me, and it seemed, at one time, that it would almost drive me into scepticism. It seemed to me that the teachings of the Bible did not at all accord with the facts which were before my eyes.

"On one occasion, when I was in the prayer meeting. I was asked if I did not desire that they should pray for me. I told them no, because I did not see that God answered their prayers. I said, 'I suppose I need to be prayed for, for I am conscious that I am a sinner; but I do not see that it will do any good for you to pray for me; for you are continually asking, but you do not receive. You have been praying for a Revival of religion ever since I have been in Adams, and yet you have it not.'"

When John Wesley concluded his message he cried to God to "confirm His Word," to "set to His Seal," and to "bear witness to His Word." And God did. Sinners were stricken immediately, and began to cry for mercy under fearful conviction of sin, and soon after, in a moment they were set at liberty, and filled with unspeakable joy in the knowledge of a present Salvation. In his wonderful journal he sets down what his eyes witnessed, and his ears heard in the following words:

"We understood that many were offended at the cries of those on whom the power of God came; among whom was a physician, who was much afraid there might be fraud or imposture in the case. Today one whom he had known many years was the first who broke out in strong cries and tears. He could hardly believe his own eyes and ears. He went and stood close to her, and observed every symptom, till great drops of sweat ran down her face, and all her bones shook. He then knew not what to think, being clearly convinced it was not fraud, nor yet any natural disorder. But when both her soul and body were healed in a moment, he acknowledged the finger of God."

Such was also the experience of the Early Church. "Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37.) Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the name of the Lord, which gave testimony unto the Word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands." (Acts 14:3.) They prayed "that signs and wonders" might "be done." (Acts 4:30.) And Paul declared that the Gospel is "the power of God unto Salvation." (Rom.1:16.) Yet all this was utterly foreign to my work.

In the Irish Revival of 1859, "signs and wonders" were seen on every side. Among the Early Methodists they were of daily occurrence. But with me the Gospel was not "the power of God unto Salvation." God did not "confirm His Word," "set to His seal," or "bear witness to His Word," when I preached. And I knew I had the right to expect it for Jesus Himself had given the promise. "The works that I do," He declared, "shall ye do also and greater works than these shall ye do." (John 14:12.)

Then one day I read the Acts of the Apostles to find out if God's servants in the Early Church got results wherever they went. And I found as I read that they aimed at, worked for, expected, and never failed to get Fruit. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 responded to that first appeal. There was a definite Outcome. With Paul it was the same. Follow him from place to place, and wherever he goes churches spring up. See how repeatedly the results are noted throughout the book. "They were added unto them about 3,000 souls." (2:41.) "Many of them which heard the Word believed, and turned unto the Lord." (11:2.) "Much people was added unto the Lord." (11: 24.) "A great multitude believed." (11: 1.) "Some believed, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." (17:4.) "Many believed." (17:34.) "Some believed." (28:24.) And Paul was able to declare "what things God had wrought by His Ministry." (21: 19.)

Oh, how far short I fell! How fearfully I had failed! failed in the very thing for which God had called me into the Ministry. How seldom I could write after having preached that "a great number believed and turned unto the Lord," or even that "some believed." Nor was it possible for me to declare with Paul "what things God had wrought by my Ministry."

God clearly and emphatically states that it is His will that every servant of His should bear Fruit. "I have chosen you and ordained you," he affirms, "that ye should go and bring forth Fruit." (John 15:16.) Too long was I content to sow and evangelize, using the excuse that I left the results with God, thinking I had then done my duty. When people are saved and greatly blessed they will say so, and if they don't there is reason to doubt the reality of an Outcome. George Whitefield sometimes received hundreds of letters after he had preached telling of blessing and conversions.

"Go into the public assembly with a design to strike, and persuade some souls there, into repentance and salvation. Go to open blind eyes, to unstop deaf ears, to make the lame walk, to make the foolish wise, to raise those that are dead in trespasses and sins to a Heavenly and Divine life, and to bring guilty rebels to return to the love and obedience of their Maker, by Christ Jesus the great Reconciler, that they may be pardoned and saved. Go to diffuse the saviour of Christ and His gospel through a whole assembly and to allure souls to partake of His grace and glory."--Dr. Watts.

There are men who feel they have special talents for the edification of believers, and so they give themselves entirely to building up Christians in the Faith. This was where I was side-tracked. I felt that I had special gifts for teaching and speaking to young Christians on the Deeper Life, and so I prepared a number of addresses with the idea of devoting my time to this work, until God mercifully opened my eyes and showed me how far I was astray. There is nothing that will deepen Christian experience, edify believers and build them up in the Faith so rapidly and thoroughly as seeing souls saved. Deep Holy Spirit meetings where the power of God is working mightily in the conviction and Salvation of sinners will do more for Christians than the teaching of years without it. Such was the experience of David Brainerd. In writing of the Indians among whom he labored he says, "Many of these people have gained more doctrinal knowledge of Divine truths since I have first visited them in June last, than could have been instilled into their minds by the most diligent use of proper and instructive means for whole years together, without such a Divine influence."

An incident is related of Wm. Bramwell: "Several local preachers," it states, "had said that their talents were not to awaken and arouse careless and impenitent sinners, but to build up believers in the Faith. Mr. Bramwell endeavoured to prove that such reasoning was frequently used as an apology, for the loss of the life and powers of God. That although some preachers might have a peculiar talent for comforting and edifying believers, yet that Christ's true servants, those whom He sent into His vineyard, could do all sorts of work. They could plough, dig, plant, sow, water, etc., and he earnestly entreated the preachers not to be satisfied without seeing the fruit of their labors, in the awakening and conversion of sinners."

"The building up of believers in their most Holy Faith was a principal object of Mr. Smith's ministry; but he never considered this species of labor successful, except as its results were indicated in the conversions of sinners."--Life of John Smith.

"He most certainly and perfectly edifies believers who is most ardently and scripturally laborious for the conversion of sinners."--Life of John Smith.

Work among believers of itself will not suffice. It matters not how spiritual a church may profess to be, if souls are not saved something is radically wrong, and the professed spirituality is simply a false experience, a delusion of the devil. People who are satisfied to meet together simply to have a good time among themselves, are far away from God. Real spirituality always has an Outcome. There will be a yearning and a love for souls. We have gone to places that have a name of being very deep and spiritual, and have often found that it was all in the head, the heart was unmoved; and there was, not infrequently, hidden sin somewhere. "Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof." Oh, the pathos of it all! Let us then challenge our spirituality and ask what it produces; for nothing less than a genuine Revival in the Body of Christ resulting in a true Awakening among the unsaved will ever satisfy the heart of God.

Chapter 3: Soul-Travail

WE read in Isa. 66:8, that "as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children;" and this is the most fundamental element in the work of God. Can children be born without pain? Can there be birth without travail? Yet how many expect in the spiritual realm that which is not possible in the natural! Oh, my brethren, nothing, absolutely nothing short of soul-travail will bring forth spiritual children! Finney tells us that he had no words to utter, he could only groan and weep when pleading with God for a lost soul. That was true travail.

Can we travail for a drowning child; but not for a perishing soul ? It is not hard to weep when we realize that our little one is sinking below the surface for the last time. Anguish is spontaneous then. Not hard to agonize when we see the casket containing all that we love on earth being borne out of the home. Ah, no; tears are natural at such a time! But oh, to realize and know that souls, precious, never dying souls are perishing all around us, going out into the blackness of darkness and despair, eternally lost, and yet to feel no anguish, shed no tears, know no travail! How cold our hearts are! How little we know of the compassion of Jesus! And yet God can give us this, and the fault is ours if we do not have it.

Jacob, you remember, travailed until he prevailed. But oh, who is doing it today? Who is really travailing in prayer? How many, even of our most spiritual Christian leaders are content to spend half an hour a day on their knees, and then pride themselves on the time they have given to God! We expect extraordinary results, and extraordinary results are quite possible; signs and wonders will follow, but only through extraordinary efforts in the spiritual realm. Hence, nothing short of continuous, agonizing pleading for souls, hours upon hours, days and nights of prayer will ever avail. Therefore, "gird yourselves, and lament ye priests; howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord." (Joel 1: 13-14.) Oh yes! Joel knew the secret. Let us then lay aside everything else, and "cry unto the Lord."

"We read in the biographies of our forefathers, who were most successful in winning souls, that they prayed for hours in private. The question therefore arises, can we get the same results without following their example? If we can, then let us prove to the world that we have found a better way; but if not, then in God's name let us begin to follow those who through faith and patience obtained the promise. Our forefathers wept and prayed and agonized before the Lord for sinners to be saved, and would not rest until they were slain by the Sword of the Word of God. That was the secret of their mighty success; when things were slack and would not move they wrestled in prayer till God poured out His Spirit upon the people and sinners were converted." (For Those Who Seek.)

All men of God have become men mighty in prayer. The sun never rose on China, we are told, without finding Hudson Taylor on his knees. No wonder the China Inland Mission has been so wonderfully owned of God!

Conversion is the operation of the Holy Spirit, and prayer is the power that secures that operation. Souls are not saved by man but by God, and since He works in answer to prayer we have no choice but to follow the Divine plan. Prayer moves the Arm that moves the world.

Prevailing prayer is not easy. Only those who have wrestled with the powers of darkness know how hard it is. Paul says that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Eph. 6:12.) And when the Holy Spirit prays it is "with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Rom. 8: 26.)

Oh, how few find time for prayer! There is time for everything else, time to sleep and time to eat, time to read the newspaper and the novel, time to visit friends, time for everything else under the sun, but--no time for prayer, the most important of all things, the one great essential.

Think of Susannah Wesley who, in spite of the fact that she had nineteen children, found time to shut herself in her room for a full hour each day, alone with God. My friends, it is not so much a case of finding time as it is of making time. And we can make time if we will.

So important did the Apostles consider it that they would not even wait on tables, but said: "We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word." (Acts 6:4.) Yet how many ministers are burdened with the financial side of the work, and how many officials expect them to bear it! No wonder their spiritual work is of such little account !

"And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God." (Luke 6:12.) Such is the record concerning the Son of God; and if it was necessary for Him how much more so for us! Oh, think of it!--"all night in prayer." How many times could that be written of us? Hence, His strength! Hence, our weakness!

How fervently do the prophets of old urge a life of prayer! Hear Isaiah as he exclaims: "Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." (Isa. 62:6-7.)

"Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people, 'Where is their God?' (Joel 2:15.)

And not only did they urge prayer, but they themselves prayed. Daniel says, "I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes; and I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession." (Dan. 9:3-4.) And Ezra also wielded the same mighty weapon in every time of difficulty. "I fell upon my knees," he says, "and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God." (Ezra 9:5.) Then follows his most remarkable prayer. The same method was followed by Nehemiah. "And it came to pass when I heard their words," he relates, "that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven." ( Neh.1:4.)

Such was also the practice of the Early Church. When Peter was in prison it is stated that "prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him," and "many were gathered together praying."

And now in closing may we turn to the record of God's dealings with His honored servants, and hear what they have to say about the secret of results. And oh, may He put upon us the burden of prayer and supplication that rested upon these mighty spiritual giants and filled them with such travail!

"John Livingstone spent the whole night prior to June 21, 1630, in prayer and conference, being designated to preach next day. After he had been speaking for an hour and a half a few drops of rain disconcerted the people, but Livingstone asking them if they had any shelter from the storm of God's wrath went on another hour. There were about 500 converted on the spot."--Livingstone of Shotts.

"I once knew a minister who had a Revival fourteen winters in succession. I did not know how to account for it, till I saw one of his members get up in a prayer meeting and make a confession. 'Brethren,' said he, 'I have been long in the habit of praying every Saturday night till after midnight, for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon us. And now, brethren,' and he began to weep, 'I confess that I have neglected it for two or three weeks.' The secret was out. That minister had a praying church."--Chas. G. Finney.

"Prevailing, or effectual prayer is that prayer which attains the blessing that it seeks. It is that prayer which effectually moves God. The very idea of effectual prayer is that it effects its object."-Chas. G. Finney.

"In a certain town there had been no Revival for many years; the Church was nearly extinct, the youth were all unconverted and desolation reigned unbroken. There lived in a retired part of the town an aged man, a blacksmith by trade, and of so stammering a tongue that it was painful to hear him speak. On one Friday, as he was at work in his shop alone, his mind became greatly exercised about the state of the Church and of the impenitent. His agony became so great that he was induced to lay by his work, lock the shop door, and spend the afternoon in prayer.

"He prevailed, and on the Sabbath called on the minister and desired him to appoint a 'conference meeting.' After some hesitation, the minister consented, observing however, that he feared few would attend. He appointed it the same evening at a large private house. When evening came more assembled than could be accommodated in the house. All were silent for a time, until one sinner broke out in tears, and said if anyone could pray, would they pray for him. Another followed, and another, and still another, until it was found that persons from every quarter of the town were under deep conviction. And what was remarkable was that they all dated their conviction at the hour the old man was praying in his shop. A powerful Revival followed. Thus this old stammering man prevailed, and as a prince had power with God."-Char. G. Finney.

"'I have pleaded with God this day for hours, in the wood, for souls: He will give them. I know His sign. I shall have souls tonight. Yours, I trust, will be one.' Night came, and with it such a power as I had never felt. Cries for mercy rang all over the chapel. Before the sermon was done, I, with many others, fell upon my knees to implore salvation."--One of Thos. Collins' Converts.

"I went to my lonely retreat among the rocks. I wept much as I besought the Lord to give me souls."--Thos. Collins.

"I spent Friday in secret fasting, meditation, and prayer for help on the Lord's Day. About the middle of the sermon a man cried out; at the cry my soul ran over. I fell to prayer, nor could we preach any more for cries and tears all over the chapel. We continued in intercessions, and salvation came." --Thos. Collins.

"He gave himself unto prayer. Woods and lonely wayside places became closets. In such exercises time flew unheeded. He stopped amid the solitary crags to pray, and Heaven so met him there that hours elapsed unconsciously. Strong in the might of such baptisms, he became bold to declare the cross, and willing to bear it."--Life of Thos. Collins.

"It loaded me down with great agony. As I returned to my room I felt almost as if I should stagger under the burden that was on my mind; and I struggled, and groaned, and agonized, but could not frame to present the case before God in words, but only in groans and tears. The Spirit struggled within me with groanings that could not be uttered."--Chas. G. Finney.

"I proposed that we should observe a closet concert of prayer for the revival of God's work; that we should pray at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset, in our closets, and continue this for one week, when we should come together again and see what further was to be done. No other means were used for the revival of God's work. But the spirit of prayer was immediately poured out wonderfully upon the young converts. Before the week was out I learned that some of them, when they would attempt to observe this season of prayer, would lose all their strength and be unable to rise to their feet or even stand upon their knees in their closets; and that some would be prostrate on the floor, and pray with unutterable groanings for the Outpouring of the Spirit of God. The Spirit was poured out and before the week ended all the meetings were thronged; and there was as much interest in religion, I think, as there has been at any time during the Revival."--Chas. G. Finney.

"I have often seen him come down stairs in the morning after spending several hours in prayer, with his eyes swollen with weeping. He would soon introduce the subject of his anxiety by saying, 'I am a broken hearted man; yes, indeed, I am an unhappy man; not for myself, but on account of others. God has given me such a sight of the value of precious souls that I cannot live if souls are not saved. Oh, give me souls, or else I die!' "--Life of John Smith.

"God enabled me to so agonize in prayer that I was quite wet with perspiration, though in the shade and the cool wind. My soul was drawn out very much from the world, for multitudes of souls."--David Brainerd.

"Near the middle of the afternoon God enabled me to wrestle ardently in intercession for my friends. But just at night the Lord visited me marvelously in prayer. I think my soul never was in such an agony before. I felt no restraint; for the treasures of Divine grace were opened to me. I wrestled for my friends, for the ingathering of souls, for multitudes of poor souls, and for many that I thought were the children of God, personally in many different places. I was in such an agony from sun, half an hour high, till near dark, that I was all over wet with sweat.--David Brainerd.

"I withdrew from prayer, hoping for strength from above. In prayer I was exceedingly enlarged and my soul was as much drawn out as I ever remember it to have been in my life. I was in such anguish, and pleaded with so much earnestness and importunity, that when I rose from my knees I felt extremely weak and overcome I could scarcely walk straight; my joints were loosed; the sweat ran down my face and body; and nature seemed as if it would dissolve."--David Brainerd.

"Prayer must carry on our work, as well as preaching. He does not preach heartily to his people who does not pray for them. If we do not prevail with God to give them repentance and faith, we are not likely to prevail with them to repent and believe. Paul gives us frequently his example of praying night and day for his hearers."--Richard Baxter.

"Several members of Jonathan Edwards' church had spent the whole night in prayer before he preached his memorable sermon, 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.' The Holy Ghost was so mightily poured out, and God so manifest in holiness and majesty during the preaching of that sermon, that the elders threw their arms around the pillars of the church and cried, 'Lord, save us, we are slipping down to hell!'"

"Almost every night there has been a shaking among the people; and I have seen nearly twenty set at liberty. I believe I should have seen many more, but I cannot yet find one pleading man. There are many good people; but I have found no wrestlers with God. At two or three small places, we had cries for mercy; and several were left in a state of deep distress."--Wm. Bramwell.

"Where the result which he desired did not attend his own ministry, he would spend days and nights almost constantly on his knees, weeping and pleading before God; and especially deploring his own inadequacy to the great work of saving souls. He was at times when he perceived no movement in the church, literally in agonies; travailing in birth for precious souls, till he saw Christ magnified in their salvation."--Life of John Smith.

"If you spend several hours in prayer daily, you will see great things."--John Nelson. "He made it a rule to rise out of bed about twelve o'clock, and sit up till two, for prayer and converse with God; then he slept till four; at which time he always rose."--Life of John Nelson.

"Be instant and constant in prayer. Study, books, eloquence, fine sermons, are all nothing without prayer. Prayer brings the spirit, the life, the power."--Memoir of David Stoner.

"I find it necessary to begin at five in the morning and to pray at all opportunities till ten, or eleven at night."--Wm. Bramwell.

But must we go back to these mighty men of old? Are there not some today who will ask God to burden them? May we not even in this generation have a Revival in answer to faithful, believing, travailing, prevailing prayer? Oh, then, "Lord, teach us not how to pray, but to pray."

Chapter 4: The Enduement Of Power

The Holy Spirit is able to make the Word as successful now as in the days of the apostles. He can bring in souls by hundreds and thousands as well as by ones and twos. The reason why we are no more prosperous is that we have not the Holy Spirit with us in might and power as in early times.

"If we had the Spirit sealing our ministry with power it would signify very little about talent. Men might be poor and uneducated, their words might be broken and ungrammatical; but if the might of the Spirit attended them, the humblest evangelist would be more successful than the most learned of divines, or the most eloquent of preachers.

"It is extraordinary power from God, not talent, that wins the day. It is extraordinary spiritual unction not extraordinary mental power, that we need. Mental power may fill a chapel but spiritual power fills the church with soul anguish. Mental power may gather a large congregation. but only spiritual power will save souls. What we need is spiritual power."--Chas. H. Spurgeon.

"Let the Spirit be lacking, and there may be wisdom of words, but not the wisdom of God; the powers of oratory, but not the power of God; the demonstration of argument and the logic of the schools, but not the demonstration of the Holy Spirit, the all-convincing logic of His lightning flash, such as convinced Saul before the Damascus gate. When the Spirit was outpoured the disciples were all filled with power from on high, the most unlettered tongue could silence gainsayers, and with its new fire burn its way through obstacles as flames fanned by mighty winds sweep through forests."-Arthur T. Pierson.

"The ministers of the Gospel must needs have this power of the Holy Spirit, because otherwise they are not sufficient for the ministry. For no man is sufficient for the work of the ministry by any natural parts and abilities of his own, nor yet by any acquired parts of human learning and knowledge, but only by this power of the Holy Spirit; till he be endued with this, notwithstanding all his other accomplishments, he is altogether insufficient. And therefore the very apostles were to keep silent, till they were endued with this power; they were to wait at Jerusalem, till they had received the promise of the Spirit, and not to preach till then."

"If they have not this power of the Holy Spirit they have not power at all. And therefore, seeing the ministers of the Gospel have not power from beneath, they must needs have power from on high; seeing they have no fleshly power, they must needs have spiritual power; seeing they have no power from earth and from men, they must needs have power from heaven and from God: that is, the power of the Holy Spirit coming on them; or else they have no power at all."--Wm. Dell.

But who is in the Anointing today? Who has the experience? It is promised; it is indispensible, and yet we labor on without it, working in the flesh like the disciples who toiled all night and caught nothing. And just so will it be with us. An hour's work in the Spirit will accomplish more than a year's work in the flesh. And the Fruit will remain. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." (Jno. 6:63.) "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." (Jno. 3:6.) It is Holy Spirit Fruit we want, pure gold without alloy, and nothing less. Not the kind that comes undone, but the genuine article that stands the test of time and Eternity; the kind we find at the prayer meeting as well as the Sunday services. Is this the kind of Fruit we are bearing? Is there conviction, and do souls come through into the glorious liberty of the children of God?

But have we the Enduement of Power? I don't mean have we "claimed it" and gone forth reckoning it ours, but, have we the experience? If there is no Outcome, we certainly have not. If we are Spirit-filled there will be Holy Spirit Fruit. Men will break down in our meetings and sob out their sins to God. Let us see the Fruit if we are to believe in the Anointing. "Ye shall receive Power." And when Peter got it, 3,000 were saved. And so with John Smith, Samuel Morris, Chas. G. Finney and others--there was Fruit. This is the evidence, this is the test, and only this. If I am a man of God endued with power from on High souls will break down under my preaching; if I am not, nothing out of the ordinary will take place. Let this be the test for every preacher. By this we stand or fall.

"I was powerfully converted on the morning of the 10th of October, 1821," writes Chas. G. Finney. "In the evening of the same day I received overwhelming baptisms of the Holy Ghost, that went through me, as it seemed to me, body and soul. 1 immediately found myself endued with such power from on high that a few words dropped here and there to individuals were the means of their immediate conversion. My words seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in the souls of men. They cut like a sword. They broke the heart like a hammer. Multitudes can attest to this. Oftentimes a word dropped without my remembering it would fasten conviction, and often result in almost immediate conversion. Sometimes I would find myself, in a great measure, empty of this power. I would go and visit, and find that I made no saving impression. I would exhort and pray, with the same result. I would then set apart a day for private fasting and prayer, fearing that this power had departed from me, and would inquire anxiously after the reason of this apparent emptiness. After humbling myself, and crying out for help, the power would return upon me with all its freshness. This has been the experience of my life.

"This power is a great marvel. I have many times seen people unable to endure the Word. The most simple and ordinary statements would cut men off their seats like a sword, would take away their strength, and render them almost helpless as dead men. Several times it has been true in my experience that I could not raise my voice, or say anything in prayer or exhortation, except in the mildest manner, without overcoming them. This power seems sometimes to pervade the atmosphere of the one who is highly charged with it. Many times great numbers of persons in a community will be clothed with this power when the very atmosphere of the whole place seems to be charged with the life of God. Strangers coming into it, and passing through the place will be instantly smitten with conviction of sin and in many instances converted to Christ. When Christians humble themselves and consecrate their all afresh to Christ, and ask for this power, they will often receive such a baptism that they will be instrumental in converting more souls in one day than in all their lifetime before. While Christians remain humble enough to retain this power, the work of conversion will go on, till whole communities and regions of country are converted to Christ. The same is true of the ministry."

Where is the soul anguish of by-gone days, the wounded conscience, the sleepless nights, the groans and cries, the awful conviction of sin, the sobs and tears of the lost? Would to God we might hear and see it in this generation!

And who is to blame, the people? Do we attribute it to their hardness of heart? Does the fault lie there? Oh, no, my brethren, the fault is ours; we are to blame. Were we what and where we ought to be, the signs would still follow as in the days of old. Then should not every failure, every sermon that fails to break the people down, drive us to our knees and result in deep heart searching, and humiliation. Let us never blame the people. If our churches are cold and unresponsive, it is because we are cold. Like pastor like people.

Oh how many there are who have been robbed of their testimony or who have never known the power of the Holy Spirit in their work! Their service is ineffective and their witness bearing null and void, while they accomplish little or nothing for God. Oh, yes, they go through the motions and sometimes they are very active, but it is all in the energy of the flesh, and no spiritual results follow. Souls are not saved nor are believers edified and built up in the Faith. Their preaching produces no Fruit and their Ministry is a ghastly failure. Oh, what a disappointing experience!

But, thank God, this need not be, for "Ye shall receive power," is His promise, and, "Tarry ye until ye be endued with power from on High," His command.

The passage in Acts 1:8 literally reads: "Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you," so that the Anointing or Enduement of Power is that experience which is the result produced by the Holy Spirit coming upon the believer and equipping him for service.

Such Anointings are only received in the soul-agonies of deep travailing prayer. The nights and days of agonizing prayer for the souls of men, the countless hours of intercession that we find in the life of David Brainerd, the mighty wrestlings with the spiritual powers of darkness until the body is wet with perspiration that were so common to John Smith--this is something that goes much further than present-day teaching, but it is the only thing that will produce the Fruit, and do the work of which we are speaking.

It is from these hours of prevailing prayer that we go forth to our work in the Anointing to wield the Sword of the Spirit with deadly effect. Prayer is the secret. There can be no substitute. And for each special work there must be a special Anointing. It is not merely a matter of yielding and believing now. Ah, no! The glorious supernatural results that I am talking of are not obtained so easily. It costs and costs tremendously.

"'They continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.' Prayer earnest, prayer united, and prayer persevering, these are the conditions; and, these being fulfilled, we shall assuredly be 'endued with Power from on High.' We should never expect that the Power will fall upon us just because we happen once to awake and ask for it. Nor have any community of Christians a right to look for a great Manifestation of the Spirit, if they are not all ready to join in supplication, and 'with one accord,' to wait and pray as if it were the concern of each one.

"It is only by waiting before that throne of grace that we become endued with the Holy Fire; but he who waits there long and believingly will imbibe that Fire, and come forth from his communion with God, bearing tokens of where he has been. For the individual believer, and, above all, for every labourer in the Lord's vineyard, the only way to gain spiritual Power is by secret waiting at the throne of God, for the Baptism.

"If thou, then, wouldst have thy soul surcharged with the Fire of God, so that those who come nigh to thee shall feel some mysterious influence proceeding out from thee, thou must draw nigh to the source of that Fire, to the throne of God and of the Lamb, and shut thyself out from the world--that cold world, which so swiftly steals our Fire away. Enter into thy closet, and shut to thy door, and there, isolated, before the throne, await the Baptism; then the Fire shall fill thee, and when thou comest forth, holy Power will attend thee, and thou shalt labour not in thine own strength, but 'in demonstration of the Spirit, and of Power.' "--Wm. Arthur.

There are many in a false experience who think they are in the Anointing when they are not. All I can say is that the evidence, the proof is lacking. If they were there would be the same things happen that those who were truly Anointed always witnessed. If all the professed Baptisms and Fillings of the Holy Spirit in the modern conventions were real the whole country would be on fire. Nay, if just one man or one woman received the Anointing, the towns and villages for miles around might be swept by a mighty Revival, and thousands brought under deep conviction of sin and made to cry for mercy. The proof of the Anointing is the Outcome. The evidence that the spirit of Elijah had fallen on Elisha was the fact that he, too, smote the waters of Jordan and they divided.

"Why is it so hard to get?" you ask. Why? Because God will not pour His Spirit on the flesh. He must do His work in us first, and generally it takes a long time, for we will not let Him have his way with us. The saviour of our own name, love of praise, or some such sinful obstacle blocks Him at every turn. He cannot humble us; He is unable to break our hearts because we will not yield.

Or else, because He cannot trust us with so great an honor. He knows we will only make shipwreck of it. Oh, the sad, heart-rending incidents of men and women who were once used in mighty Revivals, and in the Anointing of the Spirit brought hundreds of souls to God, who lost that cherished blessing and worked in the flesh ever after, accomplishing little or nothing! They counted it too lightly; they became puffed up and proud; they allowed some little sin to come in; the Holy Spirit was grieved away. and they found themselves, like Samson of old, shorn of their strength. At one time when they preached souls cried aloud for mercy under awful conviction. Now they beg and coax; the meetings are dead and cold, while only a handful respond, and even these are not Holy Spirit Fruit.

It remains only to insert the testimonies of some who have received the Enduement of Power to convince us of the reality of the experience. And if God could give it to one or a dozen He can give it to all.

"For thirteen years," writes Evan Roberts, "I had prayed for the Spirit; and this is the way I was led to pray. William Davies, the deacon, said one night in the society: 'Remember to be faithful. What if the Spirit descended and you were absent? Remember Thomas! What a loss he had!'

"I said to myself: 'I will have the Spirit;' and through every kind of weather and in spite of all difficulties, I went to the meetings. Many times, on seeing other boys with the boats on the tide, I was tempted to turn back and join them. But, no. I said to myself: 'Remember your resolve,' and on I went. I went faithfully to the meetings for prayer throughout the ten or eleven years I prayed for a Revival. It was the Spirit that moved me thus to think."

At a certain morning meeting which Evan Roberts attended, the evangelist in one of his petitions besought that the Lord would "bend us." The Spirit seemed to say to Roberts: "That's what you need, to be bent." And thus he describes his experience: "I felt a living force coming into my bosom. This grew and grew, and I was almost bursting. My bosom was boiling. What boiled in me was that verse: 'God commending His love.' I fell on my knees with my arms over the seat in front of me; the tears and perspiration flowed freely. I thought blood was gushing forth." Certain friends approached to wipe his face. Meanwhile he was crying out, "O Lord, bend me! Bend me!" Then suddenly the glory broke.

Mr. Roberts adds: "After I was bent, a wave of peace came over me, and the audience sang, 'I hear Thy welcome voice.' And as they sang I thought about the bending at the Judgment Day, and I was filled with compassion for those that would have to bend on that day, and I wept.

"Henceforth, the salvation of souls became the burden of my heart. From that time I was on fire with a desire to go through all Wales, and if it were possible, I was willing to pay God for the privilege of going."

Such was the experience of Evan Roberts, God's honored instrument in the great Welsh Revival. Now let us listen to the testimonies of John Wesley and Christmas Evans:

"About three in the morning as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we recovered a little from the awe and amazement at the presence of His Majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.' "--John Wesley.

"I was weary of a cold heart towards Christ and His sacrifice, and the work of His Spirit---of a cold heart in the pulpit, in secret prayer, and in study, for fifteen years previously, I had felt my heart burning within, as if going to Emmaus with Jesus.

"On a day ever to be remembered by me, as I was climbing up towards Cadair Idris, I considered it to be incumbent upon me to pray, however hard I felt in my heart, and however worldly the frame of my spirit was. Having begun in the name of Jesus, I soon felt, as it were, the fetters loosening, and the old hardness of heart softening, and, as I thought, mountains of frost and snow dissolving and melting within me.

"This engendered confidence in my soul in the promise of the Holy Ghost. I felt my whole mind relieved from some great bondage; tears flowed copiously, and I was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of God, by restoring to my soul the joys of His salvation; and that He would visit the churches of the saints, and nearly all the ministers in the principality by their names.

"This struggle lasted for three hours: it rose again and again, like one wave after another, or a high flowing tide, driven by a strong wind, until my nature became faint by weeping and crying. Thus I resigned myself to Christ, body and soul, gifts and labors--all my life---every day, and every hour that remained for me; and all my cares I committed to Christ.

"From this time I was made to expect the goodness of God to churches, and to myself. In the first religious meetings after this, I felt as if I had been removed from the cold and sterile regions of spiritual frost, into the verdant fields of Divine promises. The former striving with God in prayer, and the longing anxiety for the conversion of sinners, which I experienced at Leyn, were now restored. I had a hold of the promises of God.

"The result was, when I returned home, the first thing that arrested my attention was that the Spirit was working also in the brethren in Anglesea, inducing in them a spirit of prayer, especially in two of the deacons, who were particularly importunate that God would visit us in mercy, and render the Word of His grace effectual amongst us for the conversion of sinners."

Now, apparently strengthened as by a new spirit, with "might in the inner man," he labored with renewed energy and zeal; and new and singular blessings descended upon his labors. In two years, his ten preaching places in Anglesea were increased to twenty, and six hundred converts were added to the church under his immediate care.--Christmas Evans.

UNCTION

Oh, for the Spirit's mighty pow'r,

The Unction from above!

Oh, for a gracious heav'nly show'r,

The fulness of God's love!

This, only this, our one great need--

Naught else can e'er prevail;

Thus for the Unction now we plead--

It only can avail.

Our sins to God we now confess;

To Him we yield our all,

Believing He will surely bless

As on His name we call.

And so we give ourselves to pray'r

That God may make us meet;

For He must first our hearts prepare--

His work in us complete.

Then shall men turn to Calv'ry's stream

With burdened hearts of woe;

Salvation then shall be our theme,

And earth be heav'n below.

Chapter 5: Conviction

THERE is one thing that was always prominent in the great Revivals of past days, viz., a deep and a true conviction of sin. And it is one of the vital elements that is lacking today.

How disappointing are the methods of present-day Evangelism! How shallow and unreal when compared with the genuine work of the Spirit! All this pressing, coaxing, urging; standing up, raising the hand, coming to the front, etc., all such public display as it is carried on in modern campaigns, is surely not the work of the Holy Spirit.

Not that pleading with men is unscriptural. God forbid! But with conviction absent it is fruitless. And modern Evangelism with its chilling irreverence, uncalled for slang, and spirit-grieving frivolity, let alone its lamentable professionalism, can by no means lead up to conviction of sin and result in a spiritual outcome.

Where there is genuine conviction of sin it is not necessary to urge, coax or press in the energy of the flesh; sinners will come without being asked; they will come because they must. Those who go home from the meeting unable to eat or sleep because of deep conviction do not need to be coaxed and urged to seek relief.

In the modern campaign the evangelist calls upon people to accept Christ, and rightly so. But oh, that we could hear sinners calling upon Christ to accept them! People take salvation today in such a cold, formal, matter-of-fact, business-like sort of way, that it appears as though they are doing God an honor in condescending to receive His offer of Redemption. Their eyes are dry, their sense of sin absent; nor is there any sign of penitence and contrition. They look upon it as a manly thing to do. But oh, if there were conviction! if they came with hearts bowed down, yea! broken and contrite, came with the cry of the guilt-laden soul: "God be merciful to me a sinner!"--came trembling with the burning life and death question of the Philippian jailor: "What must I do to be saved ?"--what converts they would be!

But in our Twentieth Century Evangelism such is not the case. Men are urged to be saved before they know they are lost, to believe without being convicted of their need. The fruit is picked before it is ripe, and of course the work is bound to come undone. If we are to get Holy Spirit Fruit, God must prepare the ground, the Holy Spirit must convict of sin before men can truly believe. It is right to tell people to believe when God has done His work in their hearts, but first they must feel their need.

Let us wait until the Spirit of God has done His part before we say: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Let us first see the signs of conviction as in the case of the Philippian jailor. And when their anguish is so deep that they are forced to cry aloud: "What must I do to be saved ?" then we will know that they are ready to be exhorted to trust and exercise faith in Christ, but not until then.

"There is another Gospel, too popular in the present day, which seems to exclude conviction of sin and repentance from the scheme of Salvation; which demands from the sinner a mere intellectual assent to the fact of his guilt and sinfulness, and a like intellectual assent to the fact and sufficiency of Christ's atonement; and such assent yielded, tells him to go in peace, and to he happy in the assurance that the Lord Jesus has made all right between his soul and God; thus crying peace, peace, when there is no peace.

"Flimsy and false conversions of this sort may be one reason why so many who assume the Christian profession dishonor God and bring reproach on the church by their inconsistent lives, and by their ultimate relapse into worldliness and sin. The whole counsel of God must be declared. 'By the law is the knowledge of sin.' Sin must be felt before it can be mourned. Sinners must sorrow before they can be comforted. True conversions are the great want of the times. Conversions such as were common once, and shall be again, when the church shakes off her lethargy, takes hold upon God's strength, and brings down the ancient power. Then, as of old, sinners will quail before the terror of the Lord."--J. H. Lord.

Would we think of calling a doctor before we were sick? Do we urge people who are well and strong to hasten to the physician? Does the man who is swimming well beseech those on the shore to come and save him? Certainly not! But let sickness come, and at once we feel our need and a doctor is called. We know that we require a remedy. When we feel ourselves sinking below the surface, and realize that we are drowning, we will then soon call for help, and oh, the agony through which we pass as we find ourselves going down and know that unless some one saves us, we are lost and must perish!

So it is with a perishing soul. When a man is convicted of his lost condition he will cry out in the bitter anguish of his heart: "What must I do to be saved?" He will need no urging, no coaxing; it is a matter of life or death to him, and he will do anything to be saved.

So you see I am not talking about an Evangelistic campaign. That is frequently man's work, and sometimes entirely so. But this Revival--oh, the glory of it! all, all of God! Man has no room for honor here. While these special evangelistic services--how different they are! Great excitement, much outward joy, scores of reported converts, and then--a spurious outcome, a false state. This "accepting Christ" theory without conviction, a head belief, but no New Birth, no "Born Again" experience--what a mockery it is!

It is this lack of conviction that results in a spurious Revival, and causes the work to come undone. It is one thing to hold up the hand and sign a decision card, but it is quite another thing to get saved. Souls must be brought into clear and abiding liberty if the work is to last. It is one thing to have hundreds of professed converts during the excitement of the campaign, but it is another thing to come back five years after and find them still there.

John Bunyan understood it well when he pictured Christian with his great load of sin on his back, and described his exercise of soul until he got rid of his burden at the foot of the Cross.

God has placed His own value on His word. He calls it a "Fire," a "Hammer" and a "Sword." Now fire burns; a blow from a hammer hurts; while a cut from a sword causes real pain. And when His Word is proclaimed in the power of the Anointing it will have exactly the same results. It will burn like a fire, break like a hammer and pierce like a sword, and the spiritual or mental pain will be just as severe and real as the physical. And if not,--then there is something wrong either with the messenger or the message.

"Were a person who had committed an awful crime to be suddenly arrested; were his guilt brought home to his conscience by some messenger of justice, in the pointed language of Holy Writ, 'Thou art the man;' it would be perfectly natural for the culprit to turn pale, to falter in his speech, to tremble, and to present every symptom of real agony and distress. When Belshazzar, the proud Assyrian monarch, saw the appearance of a man's hand writing upon the plaster of the wall of his palace, his countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another. And the effects have never yet been deemed unnatural. Why then should it be thought strange to behold sinners who have been powerfully awakened by the Spirit of God, who are so deeply convinced of the enormity of their crimes as to apprehend they are every moment in danger of dropping into the burning lake, who imagine that hell is moved from beneath to meet them at their coming, why should it be thought unnatural for such persons to discover outward symptoms of the alarming distress and agitation felt within?'' -- Memoir of Wm. Bramwell.

Such has been the experience of God's servants all down the centuries. In every Revival there has been deep conviction of sin. Some of the records sound strange indeed to those who have known and studied nothing but Twentieth Century Evangelism. Incidents such as the following were common to these men.

"About the middle of the sermon a man cried out. I fell to prayer, nor could we preach any more for cries and tears all over the chapel."--Thos. Collins.

"Cries for mercy rang all over the chapel. Before the sermon was done, I with many others, fell upon my knees to implore Salvation."--One of Thos. Collins' Converts.

"The sermon was swallowed up in victory. Seekers left their pews, and trooping, unbidden, up the aisles, knelt around the communion rail." -- Thos. Collins.

"A Quaker who stood by was not a little displeased at the dissimulation of these creatures, and was biting his lips and knitting his brows, when he dropped down as thunder-struck. The agony he was in was even terrible to behold. We besought God not to lay folly to his charge, and he soon lifted up his head and cried aloud, 'Now I know thou art a prophet of the Lord.' " --John Wesley.

"J. H. was a man of regular life and conversation, one that constantly attended public prayers and sacrament, and was zealous for the church, and against dissenters of every denomination. Being informed that people fell into strange fits at the societies, he came to see and judge for himself. But he was less satisfied than before; inasmuch, that he went about to see his acquaintances one after another till one o'clock in the morning, and labored above measure to convince them it was a delusion of the devil.

"We were going home when one met us in the street, and informed us that J. H. was fallen raving mad.

"It seems he sat down to dinner, but had in mind first to end the sermon he had borrowed on Salvation by Faith. In reading the last page, he changed colour, fell off his chair and began screaming terribly, and beating himself against the ground.

"The neighbors were alarmed and flocked together to the house. Between one and two I came in and found him on the floor, the room being full of people whom his wife would have kept without, but he cried out aloud, 'No, let them all come, let all the world see the just judgment of God.' Two or three men were holding him as best they could. He immediately fixed his eyes upon me, and stretching out his hand cried, 'Aye, this is he who I said was a deceiver of the people. But God has overtaken me. I said it was all a delusion. But this is no delusion.' He then roared out, 'O, thou devil! thou cursed devil! yea, thou legion of devils! thou canst not stay. Christ will cast thee out! I know His work is begun. Tear me to pieces if thou wilt, but thou canst not hurt me !' He then beat himself against the ground again, his breast heaving at the same time, as in the pangs of death, and great drops of sweats trickling down his face.

"We all betook ourselves to prayer; his pangs ceased and both his body and soul were set at liberty."--John Wesley.

"The power of God was present. They came to be saved, and were not disappointed. The sobs and cries were wonderful. It seemed as if God had come down in terror and power; as if the Spirit were passing through every region of every soul, diffusing Himself through all its capacities, and recesses; throwing light into the understanding, assailing and subverting the fortress of sin in the heart; revealing Himself as the antagonist of sin--disturbing and tracking it in all its windings--stirring the soul to its depths, drawing it slowly, but surely, to a crisis--piling up these sentences of condemnation, one upon another, until the whole soul, collecting all its energies into one out-cry for mercy, exclaimed, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner, what must I do to be saved? Save, Lord, or I perish! O, save or I sink into hell. Heal my soul for I have sinned against Thee !"--James Caughey.

"The power of God seemed to descend upon the assembly like a mighty, rushing wind, and with an astonishing energy bore down all before it. I stood amazed at the influence, which seized the audience almost universally; and could compare it to nothing more apt than the irresistible force of a mighty torrent or a swelling deluge that with its insupportable weight and pressure bears down and sweeps before it whatever comes in its way. Almost all persons of all ages were bowed down with concern together, and scarcely one was able to withstand the shock of this surprising operation; old men and women, who had been drunken wretches for many years and some little children, not more than six or seven years of age, appeared in distress for their souls, as well as persons of middle age.

"The most stubborn hearts were now obliged to bow. A principal man among the Indians, who, before, was most secure and self-righteous, and thought his state good, because he knew more than the generality of the Indians had formerly done, and who with a great degree of confidence the day before told me he had been a Christian more than ten years, was now brought under solemn concern for his soul and wept bitterly. Another man advanced in years, who had been a murderer, a conjurer, and a notorious drunkard, was likewise brought now to cry for mercy with many tears, and to complain much that he could be no more concerned when he saw his dangers so very great.

"They were almost universally praying and crying for mercy in every part of the house, and many out of doors, and numbers could neither go nor stand. Their concern was so great, each one for himself, that none seemed to take any notice of those about them, but each prayed freely for himself."--David Brainerd.

"A young Indian woman, who, I believe, never knew before that she had a soul, nor ever thought of any such thing, hearing that there was something strange among the Indians, came to see what was the matter. On the way to the Indians she called at my lodgings; and, when I told her that I designed presently to preach to the Indians, she laughed and seemed to mock; but went however to them.

"I had not proceeded far in my public discourse before she felt effectually that she had a soul, and before I had concluded my discourse, was so convinced of her sin and misery and so distressed with concern for her soul's salvation that she seemed like one pierced through with a dart, and she cried out incessantly. She could neither go nor stand, nor sit on her seat without being held up.

"After public service was over, she lay fiat on the ground praying earnestly, and would take no notice of, nor give any answer to, any who spoke to her. I hearkened to what she said, and perceived the burden of her prayer to be 'Have mercy on me and help me give you my heart.' Thus she continued praying incessantly for hours together."-David Brainerd.

"In the midst of my discourse I saw a powerful looking man fall from his seat. As he sunk he groaned and then cried or shrieked out, that he was sinking to hell. He repeated that several times. Of course this created a great excitement. It broke up my preaching; and so great was his anguish that we spent the rest of our time in praying for him. The next morning I inquired for him; and found that he had spent a sleepless night in great anguish of mind."--Chas. G. Finney.

"The chapel was crowded to excess. The Word was 'quick and powerful,' numbers 'were pricked in their hearts,' and in the agony of conviction cried mightily for mercy. The sermon was followed by a prayer meeting. Midnight arrived and the penitents were still upon their knees, resolved to plead till they prevailed. As one and another found peace through believing and withdrew, others whose hearts were stricken filled their places. So intense was the Awakening, that though the squire had retired, the alarmed and sorrowing people could not be induced to leave the chapel, but all night through, and all through the following day and night, the prayer meeting continued without intermission. It was supposed that over one hundred persons were converted, whilst many an old professor received quickening and gave himself to God by a fuller consecration."--Memoir of Squire Brooke.

"Had the preacher fired upon the people with grapeshot, the wounded had not been more numerous, or the cry of anguish more bitter. It was simply impossible to proceed with the discourse. Leaving the pulpit the Squire came down amongst the people to gather the praying men for intercession, whilst he conversed with penitents and endeavoured to assist them into the kingdom."-Memoir of Squire Brooke.

"While engaged in prayer, two of those who came in were awakened and began to cry for mercy.

"No sooner had she communicated the tidings, than her sister was cut to the heart and began to cry for mercy.

"While I was praying, the power of God descended and he and his penitent companion were cut to the heart and wept aloud for their sins.

"While talking with an old woman sixty years of age, she was soon cut to the heart, and in a very short time the Lord set her soul at liberty.

"In visiting from house to house, I fell in with a young woman, to whom I had not spoken many words before she was pricked in the heart and cried for mercy, as one hanging over the pit of hell.

"I had not spoken many words to her before she burst into tears and loud cries. She continued to groan under the weight of her guilty load. The cries and wailings of her broken heart were deeply affecting."--Wm. Carvosso.

"The spirit of the Lord was poured out abundantly and many cried aloud for mercy. Near the close he was like a flame of fire; the people burst into tears on every side, and could say, 'Lo, God is here, of a truth! 'Many cried, yea groaned, aloud for mercy, and God delivered them. Many were deeply convicted and cried out for mercy; an old woman about seventy years of age, was struck in a moment. She fell to the ground, making a frightful noise, and continued speechless and in an agony for above an hour. When she came to herself she jumped off the chair on which she had been placed, clapped her hands, and praised the Lord."--Memoir of Wm. Bramwell.

"I had not discoursed long when the congregation melted into tears. This abated for a few minutes, till a little boy about seven or eight years of age cried out exceeding piteously indeed and wept as though his little heart would break. I asked the little boy what he cried for. He answered 'my sins !' I then asked him what he wanted. He answered, 'Christ!'

"Others were so earnest for a discovery of the Lord to their souls that their eager crying obliged me to stop, and I prayed over them, as I saw their agonies and distress increase. Oh, the distress and anguish of their souls! oh, the pains that were upon them!

"Many of the assembled were deeply affected, groaning and sobbing; there was a great weeping and mourning." --Wm. Bramwell.

"When the conviction as to its mental process reaches its crisis, the person, through weakness, is unable to sit or stand, and either kneels or lies down. A great number of convicted persons in this town and neighborhood, and now I believe in all directions in the north where the Revival prevails, are "smitten down" as suddenly and they fall as nerveless and paralyzed and powerless, as if killed instantly by a shotgun. They fall with a deep groan, some with a wild cry of horror--the greater number with the intensely earnest plea, 'Lord Jesus, have mercy on my soul !' The whole frame trembles like an aspen leaf, an intolerable weight is felt upon the chest, a choking sensation is experienced and relief from this found only in the loud, urgent prayer for deliverance, usually the bodily distress and mental anguish continue till some degree of confidence in Christ is found. Then the look, the tone, the gestures, instantly change. The aspect of anguish and despair is changed for that of gratitude, and triumph, and adoration. The language and the looks, and terrible struggles, and loud desperate depreciation, tell convincingly, as the parties themselves declare, that they are in deadly conflict with the old serpent. The perspiration rolls off the anguished victims; their very hair is moistened. Some pass through this exhausting conflict several times; others but once. There is no appetite for food; many will eat nothing for a number of days. They do not sleep, though they may lie down with their eyes shut."--The Irish Revival 1859.

'The power of the Lord's spirit became so mighty upon their souls as to carry all before it, like the rushing mighty wind of Pentecost. Some were screaming out in agony; others--and among these strong men--fell to the ground as if they had been dead. I was obliged to give out a psalm, our voices being mingled with the mourning and groans of many prisoners sighing for deliverance." --Wm. Burns.

"A revival always includes conviction of sin on the part of the church. Back-slidden professors cannot wake up and begin right away in the service of God without deep searchings of heart. The fountains of sin need to be broken up. In a true Revival, Christians are always brought under such conviction; they see their sins in such a light that often they find it impossible to maintain a hope of their acceptance with God. It does not always go to that extent, but there are always, in a genuine Revival, deep convictions of sin, and often cases of abandoning all hope." --Chas. G. Finney.

Chapter 6: Obstacles

There is only one obstacle that can block up the channel and choke God's power, and that is SIN. Sin is the great barrier. It alone can hinder the work of the Spirit and prevent a Revival. "If I regard iniquity in my heart," declared David, "The Lord will not hear me." (Psalm 66:18.) And in Isaiah 59:12, we have these significant words: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." Sin then is the great barrier, and it must be put away. Nor is there any alternative. There can be no compromise. God will not work as long as there is iniquity covered up.

In Hosea 10:12 we read, "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you." And in II Chronicles 7:14 the promise of blessing is vouchsafed, based, however, upon unalterable conditions: "If my people, which are called by my name," declares the Lord, "shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Hence, nothing short of a broken heart over sin, full confession and restitution will satisfy God. Sin must be forsaken utterly.

And not only sorrow for the consequences and punishment of sin, but for sin itself as committed against God. Hell is full of remorse, but only for the punishment incurred. There is no real contrition. The rich man uttered not a word of sorrow for his sin against God. (Luke 16:29-30.) But David, though guilty of both murder and adultery, saw his sin as against God alone. (Psalm 51:4.) Mere remorse is not true Godly sorrow unto repentance. Judas though filled with remorse never repented.

Now God alone is able to bestow a contrite and broken heart, a sorrow that will result in the confession and forsaking of sin. And nothing short of that will suffice. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." (Psalm 51:17.) "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Prov. 28:13.) "Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God." (Jet. 3:13.)

There are three kinds of confession that must be considered :--

(1) Private Confession; for where the sin has been committed against God alone it need be confessed to no other but God. (1 John 1:9; Psalm 32:5.)

(2) Personal Confession; for where the sin has been committed against another it must be confessed not only to God but also to the one who has been wronged. Nor will there be any peace until the confession has been made and forgiveness sought. (Matthew 5:23,24.)

(3) Public Confession; for where the sin has been committed against the church, that is to say, the entire congregation, a class, organization or company of people the confession must be as public as the transgression. As long as iniquity among the people of God is covered over and unconfessed just so long will the Spirit of God be unable to bring about a Revival. Men must get right with each other in order to be right with God.

One night at the close of a searching message, a young man walked to the front, and, turning to the congregation, made the startling confession that he had stolen and used money that did not belong to him; after which he passed into the inquiry room to get right with God. He had been the treasurer of two important organizations and had squandered nearly all the funds entrusted to him.

It is a common experience to find souls kneeling at the altar and calling upon God with apparent great anguish of heart, who fail to receive anything. And it is just as common for groups of people to gather together for nights of prayer for a Revival and yet never have their prayers answered. What is the trouble? Let the Word of God answer: "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." Hence, let us uncover our sin first of all; let us make straight the crooked ways, let us gather out the stones, and then we may ask in faith and expectancy for showers of blessing.

Now let us take our sins one by one and deal with each transgression separately. And let us ask ourselves the following questions. It may be we are guilty and God will speak to us.

(1) Have we forgiven everyone? Is there any malice, spite, hatred or enmity in our hearts? Do we cherish grudges; and have we refused to be reconciled?

(2) Do we get angry? Are there any uprisings within? Is it true that we still lose our tempers? Does wrath hold us at times in its grip?

(3) Is there any feeling of jealousy? When another is preferred before us does it make us envious and uncomfortable? Do we get jealous of those who can pray, speak and do things better than we can?

(4) Do we get impatient and irritated? Do little things vex and annoy, or, are we sweet, calm and unruffled under all circumstances?

(5) Are we offended easily? When people fail to notice us and pass by without speaking does it hurt? If others are made much of and we are neglected how do we feel about it?

(6) Is there any pride in our hearts? Are we puffed up, do we think a great deal of our own position and attainments?

(7) Have we been dishonest? Is our business open and above reproach? Do we give a yard for a yard and a pound for a pound? Are we honest in our statements. or do we exaggerate and thus convey false impressions?

(8) Have we been gossiping about people? Do we slander the character of others? Are we talebearers and busybodies?

(9) Do we criticize unlovingly, harshly, severely? Are we always finding fault and looking for the flaws in others?

(10) Do we rob God? Have we stolen time that belongs to Him? Has our money been withheld?

(11) Are we guilty of the sin of unbelief? In spite of all He has done for us do we still refuse to believe the promises of His Word?

(12) Have we committed the sin of prayerlessness? Are we intercessors? Do we pray? How much time are we spending on our knees? Have we crowded prayer out of our lives?

(13) Are we neglecting God's Word? How many chapters do we read each day? Are we Bible students? Do we draw our source of supply from the Scriptures?

(14) Are we burdened for the salvation of souls ? Have we a love for the lost ? Is there any compassion in our hearts for those who are perishing ?

(15) Have we failed to confess Christ openly? Are we ashamed of Jesus? Do we keep our mouths closed when we are surrounded by worldly people? Are we witnessing daily?

(16) Are our lives filled with lightness and frivolity? Is our conduct unseemly? Would the world by our actions consider us on its side?

(17) Have we wronged any one and failed to make restitution? Or, has the spirit of Zacchaeus possessed us? Have we restored the many little things that God has shown us?

(18) Are we worried or anxious? Do we fail to trust God for our temporal and spiritual needs? Are we continually crossing bridges before we come to them?

(19) Are we guilty of lustful thoughts? Do we allow our minds to harbor impure and unholy imaginations?

These are the things both negative and positive that prevent the work of God in the midst of His people. Let us be honest and call them by their right name. "SIN" is the word that God uses. And the sooner we admit that we have sinned and are ready to confess and forsake it the sooner may we expect God to hear us and work in mighty power. Why deceive ourselves? We cannot deceive God. Then let us remove the obstacle, the hindering thing before we take another step. "If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged." "Judgment must begin at the house of God."

This has been the history of revival work all down the centuries. Night after night sermons have been preached and no results obtained, until some elder or deacon bursts out in an agony of confession and going to the one whom he has wronged craves forgiveness. Or some woman who is a prominent worker breaks down and in tears confesses publicly that she has been gossiping about some other sister or is not on speaking terms with the person across the aisle. Then when confession and restitution have been made, the fallow ground broken up, sin uncovered and acknowledged, then and not until then, the Spirit of God comes upon the audience and a Revival sweeps over the community.

Generally there is but one sin, one hindering thing. It was an Achan in the camp of Israel. And God will put His finger directly on the spot. Nor will He take it off until that one obstacle has been dealt with.

Oh, then, let us plead first of all the prayer of David when he cried, "Search me, oh God, and see if there be any wicked way in me." And no sooner will the obstacle of sin be taken out of the way than God will come in mighty revival power.

Chapter 7: Faith

FAITH is the key that unlocks the door of God's power. "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down." And in revival work one of the indispensable prerequisites is a living, vital Faith. "All things are possible to him that believeth."

The man who is to be used of the Lord will hear from Heaven. God will give him a promise. Not the general promises of the Word that apply to so many of His children, but a definite, unmistakable message direct to his own heart. Some familiar promise, it may be, will suddenly grip him in such a way that he will know God has spoken. Hence, if I would attempt new work for God let me ask myself first of all the question: "Have I a promise?" Has God spoken?"

It was this divine assurance that enabled the prophets of old to go to the people and declare, "Thus saith the Lord." And until God has so commissioned us, we had better remain on our faces in prayer lest He say: "Woe to the prophets that run, and I have not sent them !" But when a man has heard from God, then, "though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come." And even should years intervene yet will God fulfil His Word.

And oh, the joy of hearing and recognizing that voice ! What encouragement ! What faith ! How the heart leaps within! No questioning then. No guessing and wondering after that. For days, for weeks it may be, there has been the earnest pleading in prayer as to God's will. Then from His Word, or by the Holy Spirit there comes His message, and all is perfect rest. Not that the thing is done or the expectation realized; but God has spoken, and there can no longer be any doubt. "He will bring it to pass."

I saw, in days gone by, a vision of a great work in the city of Toronto, and I prayed about it that I might know the mind of the Lord. At last one day He spoke. Yea, a second time came His assuring Word. Forthwith I waited, waited in prayer and faith knowing that He would surely bring it to pass. Three years went by, years of fearful testing. Without His promise I would have gone down, my high hopes scattered to the winds, but God had spoken, and I had only to pray: "Do as thou hast said." Finally when three full years had passed, He established the work of which He had spoken.

An incident is told of a place called Filey in the early days of Methodism, to which preacher after preacher had been sent, but all to no purpose. The village was a stronghold of Satanic power, and each one in turn had been driven out until at last it was decided to give it up as a hopeless task.

Just before the matter was finally settled, however, the now famous John Oxtoby, or "Praying Johnny" as he was called, begged the Conference to send him, and so let the people have one more chance. They agreed, and a few days afterwards John set out on his journey. On the way a person who knew him inquired where he was going. "To Filey," was the reply, "where the Lord is going to revive His work."

As he drew near the place, on ascending the hill between Muston and Filey, suddenly a view of the town burst upon his sight. So intense were his feelings that he fell upon his knees under a hedge and wrestled and wept and prayed for the success of his mission. We have been told that a miller, who was on the other side of the hedge, heard a voice and stopped in astonishment to listen, when he heard Johnny say "Thou munna mak a feal o' me! Thou munna mak a feal o' me! I told them at Bridlington that Thou was going to revive Thy work, and Thou must do so, or I shall never be able to show my face among them again, and then what will the people say about praying and believing?"

He continued to plead for several hours. The struggle was long and heavy, but he would not cease. He made his very weakness and inefficiency a plea. At length, the clouds dispersed, the glory filled his soul, and he rose exclaiming, 'It is done, Lord. It is done. Filey is taken. Filey is taken.'

And taken it was, and all in it, and no mistake. Fresh from the Mercy-seat he entered the place, and commenced singing up the streets, "Turn to the Lord and seek salvation," etc. A crowd of stalwart fishermen flocked to listen. Unusual power attended his address, hardened sinners wept, strong men trembled, and while he prayed over a dozen of them fell on their knees, and cried aloud for mercy and found it."

Well now, do we know what it is to offer the prayer of Faith? Have we ever prayed thus? "I knew a father," writes Chas. G. Finney, "who was a good man, but had erroneous views respecting the prayer of faith; and his whole family of children were grown up, without one of them being converted. At length his son sickened, and seemed about to die. The father prayed, but the son grew worse, and seemed sinking into the grave without hope. The father prayed, until his anguish was unutterable. He went at last and prayed (there seemed no prospect of his son surviving) so that he poured out his soul as if he would not be denied, till at length he got an assurance that his son would not only live but be converted; and that not only this one, but his whole family would be converted to God. He came into the house, and told his family his son would not die. They were astonished at him. 'I tell you,' said he, 'he will not die. And no child of mine will ever die in his sins.' That man's children were all converted years ago."

"A clergyman once told me of a revival among his people, which commenced with a zealous and devoted woman in the Church. She became anxious about sinners, and gave herself to praying for them; she prayed, and her distress increased; and she finally came to the minister, and talked with him, asking him to appoint an anxious inquirers' meeting, for she felt that one was needed. The minister put her off, for he felt nothing of any such need. The next week she came again, and besought him again to appoint such a meeting. She knew there would be somebody to come, for she felt as if God was going to pour out His Spirit. The minister once more put her off. And finally she said to him: 'If you do not appoint the meeting I shall die, for there is certainly going to be a revival.' The next Sabbath he appointed a meeting, and said that if there were any who wished to converse with him about the salvation of their souls, he would meet them on such an evening. He did not know of one, but when he went to the place, to his astonishment he found a large number of anxious inquirers."--(Chas. G. Finney.)

"The first ray of light that broke in upon the midnight which rested on the Churches in Oneida County, in the fall of 1825 was from a woman in feeble health, who, I believe, had never been in a powerful revival. Her soul was exercised about sinners. She was in an agony for the land. She did not know what ailed her, but she kept praying more and more, till it seemed as if her agony would destroy her body. At length she became full of joy. and exclaimed: 'God has come! God has come! There is no mistake about it, the work is begun, and is going all over the region.' And sure enough the work began, and her family were all converted, and the work spread all over that part of the country."-- ( Chas. G. Finney. )

The story is told of an invalid who formed the habit of praying for a Revival, daily, for some thirty towns and communities, and from time to time made this entry in his diary: "I was enabled to pray the prayer of faith for __ today." After his death Revivals swept over each of these thirty places, almost exactly in the order he had noted them down. God had spoken, and though he did not live to see any of the answers, yet he was given the assurance that he had been heard.

This then is the secret--Faith, the Faith of Hebrews eleven, the Faith of God, His Gift. based on His Word direct to the heart of His servant. Such Faith will remove mountains, and accomplish the impossible. Not the presumptuous faith that believes without the evidence of the Spirit, and costs nothing, and then when time elapses and things do not come to pass rapidly fades away; but the Faith of God which has been born in the agony of prevailing prayer and soul travail. This Faith will rise above the storms of discouragement and adversity, will triumph over time, and continue to burn brightly while waiting for the accomplishment of its object. Oh, for such a Faith today !

"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,

And looks to God alone;

Laughs at impossibilities

And cries, 'It shall be done !'

"The thing surpasses all my thought;

But faithful is my Lord;

Through unbelief I stagger not,

For God hath spoke the word.

"That mighty faith on me bestow

Which cannot ask in vain:

Which holds and will not let Thee go,

Till I my suit obtain."

Chapter 8: Heart Yearnings For Revival

IT was in the years 1917 and 1918 that the yearnings for revival expressed in these messages were born of God. Nothing of a spectacular nature took place for the work was of a wholly local character, nor did it seem to reach full fruition at the time. It was, however, a wonderful personal preparation for the ministry that was to follow, nor will the experiences of those days ever be forgotten.

Perhaps the most profitable way to tell the story will be to simply quote from my diary which was kept day by day at the time. Space forbids a full account. It is only possible to select portions here and there, but these, I believe, will be sufficient to stir up a spirit of revival and thus glorify God.

AUGUST 16Th

It must come, the revival for which I have prayed so long. How God melted me this morning! How sweet is prayer! Praise His name! Oh, for Holy Spirit conviction and Holy Spirit fruit! Only that will stand the test of time and eternity. God has stirred my heart in an unusual way. How unspeakably precious He is. Oh, for conviction, old-fashioned conviction of sin!

Thanks be to God for these wonderful books! How they have helped me! My preaching has been revolutionized. Have been reading them hour after hour. Never got hold of anything like them in my life before: "An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners," by Joseph Alleine; "The Anxious Inquirer After Salvation," by John Angell James; and "A Call to the Unconverted," by Richard Baxter. These are the books. How clear and definite their message on Sin, Salvation, Heaven and Hell! Yet I realize that even these truths may be proclaimed without results unless there is the power of the Spirit. He must convict. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts." And this is perhaps the secret of failure. Truth is preached most earnestly and faithfully but nothing happens. What is the matter? No power.

During my intercession this morning I read a few chapters from "Memoirs of John Smith," by Richard Treffry, and it drove me to prayer. For some time God gave wonderful liberty, perhaps an hour, possibly less. I don't know for I was entirely unconscious of time. And first He led me to confession. Oh, how I have failed! Failed in prayer, for I have spent minutes when I ought to have spent hours. Failed in Bible Study for I have not poured over the sacred pages as I ought. Failed in time for I have allowed Satan to fill my life with other things and thus crowd God out. Failed in service for I have not given out Gospel tracts to the unsaved, nor spoken to them personally about their souls, nor preached on the street corners to the hundreds who do not attend church. Oh, I have failed miserably, miserably failed. And I long to be true and faithful. I plead for souls, yet my eyes do not weep as His did.

But glory be to God, I believe He is leading me into a deeper experience where I will count all things but loss for Christ; where I will suffer, sacrifice, pray, study and serve as never before; where there will be but one thing in my life, and thus the revival for which I long will come. He will pour forth His Spirit, souls will be convicted and saved. May God hear and graciously answer! I must not fail again. God help me to press on, and on, and on.

AUGUST 25th

In my reading this morning my attention was specially drawn to the following verse: "Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man" (Mark 6:20). Oh, the power of a holy life! Wicked men fear and tremble in the presence of holiness. May God make this an incentive to me. I am reading the New Testament through rapidly for the purpose of selecting those truths which will bring conviction when preached in Holy Spirit power. God is giving searching messages on Sin, Salvation, Heaven and Hell. Spent an hour in prayer and had sweet fellowship. May He lead me on. I want to know and experience more. Never will I be satisfied until God works in convicting power and men and women weep their way to the Cross.

AUGUST 26TH

His message to me this morning was, "All things are possible to him that believeth," and, "This kind can come out by nothing save by prayer" (Mark 9:23, 29). Prayer and faith are both necessary for results and thus the power of Satan will be broken in the hearts of men and Holy Spirit fruit produced. "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief."

Gathered three into my study this evening. Expected others but they did not come. Talked to them for about an hour. Found much sympathy and willingness to cooperate, but almost entire ignorance as to Holy Spirit fruit and the outpouring of God's Spirit. Decided to meet again along with others to talk it over that we may pray intelligently. Came home rejoicing for I firmly believe that God will move upon the hearts of the people in answer to prevailing prayer.

AUGUST 31st

Eight gathered in the church study tonight and we talked and prayed until after ten. Much prayer had been offered that His Spirit might open their eyes and let them see the need and feel the responsibility. If God has chosen them they will stand with me; if not, I will have to go on alone. We have decided to hold cottage prayer meetings, one each week to begin with. In closing I gave them this verse over which we prayed: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their lad" (2 Chron. 7:14).

SEPTEMBER 2nd

Preached tonight on: "Why you should be saved." Had liberty and a little power. People at great tension. Much prayer, but searched the faces in vain for signs of soul anguish and distress. Eyes dry. No outward token of conviction. Surely I am not yet endued with power from on high. If so there would be Holy Spirit fruit.

SEPTEMBER 7th

"We have toiled all the night and have taken nothing" (Luke 5:1-11). But when they let down their nets under Divine leadership "they enclosed a great multitude of fishes." Has this been my experience, or do I labor in the flesh instead of in the Spirit? Truly I "have toiled all the night and taken nothing." If men do not tremble and go away distressed and broken it is my fault. I must take the blame. When I agonize and travail over souls there will be results, but not before. Then to my knees and on my face until the power comes and God can manifest Himself. Prayed nearly all afternoon, but not much freedom. Heavens like brass.

SEPTEMBER 9th

"But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6: 4). Once again it must be that I have preached in the flesh and not in the Spirit. Had much liberty and power and felt that there was considerable conviction. The people listened most attentively and there was a great deal of discussion afterwards. Yet nothing happened. None were broken. No distress manifested; no soul anguish; no tears. Oh, for God's power! Luke 24:49; Acts 1: 8; Zech. 4:6; John 6:63. He has chosen me that I should bring forth fruit, fruit that will remain and stand the test of time and eternity (John 15:16). Yet I am not doing it. There is but little fruit. However it sends me to my knees. There must still be hours of waiting upon God. The price has to be paid. And when the Spirit comes upon me and fills me I will know it by the evidence of Holy Spirit fruit. Short of this I dare not rest.

SEPTEMBER 10th

Glory be to God ! There has been a move at last. It occurred in the cottage prayer meeting tonight. The service at first was cold and the people unresponsive. I spoke on prevailing prayer, concluded and closed. But no sooner was the meeting over than a woman suddenly cried out: "Pray for me, a church member--" and the rest was drowned in a flood of tears, great mighty sobs that shook her whole body. There was no let up, nor could we speak. She sobbed and sobbed as though her heart would break. Down we went on our knees and prayed one after another. Then we sang, "Just As I Am," and in about fifteen or twenty minutes she came through gloriously saved. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Oh, how our hearts thrilled with joy. Scarcely could we speak. All the way home in the street car I could hardly contain myself. Only two meetings and God had come. Prayer was answered. The Holy Spirit had commenced to work, for one soul at least had been broken up. A church member unsaved! I wonder how many others are in a like condition ?

SEPTEMBER 12th

God is surely working. Another young woman who had been convicted got up tonight and testified that she was saved yesterday at her work and received full assurance this morning. Praise God! He has again answered prayer. She says she has done almost nothing else but pray all week. So now we have two brought in through the power of God alone. It is for this I have been burdened, the coming of the Holy Spirit in such mighty convicting power that souls would cry out for mercy without even an invitation. God has set His seal and honored His truth. Lord keep me humble and teach me Thy will.

SEPTEMBER 16th

Spoke tonight and had unusual liberty and power. People listened intently. Many eyes were filled with tears, but there was no break. However, I am convinced that God is preparing His servants and that He will yet manifest His power in the conversion of others. It only means that I must spend many more hours in prayer this week than last.

SEPTEMBER 18th

Powerful cottage prayer meeting. House full, prayer fervent. Many hungry for God. Meeting continued until nearly ten o'clock, yet no visible sign. I must experience God's power no matter what it costs. Oh, that He would break me down and cause me to weep for the salvation of souls!

SEPTEMBER 19th

Another break tonight. A backslider tried to pray in the meeting but immediately broke down and wept out her confession. She continued to pray in broken syllables weeping at the same time. Thank God for this, but oh, for an intensified effect! Am still far from satisfied.

Another who has had a terrible struggle asked me tonight if she must confess having stolen something. So God is working.

SEPTEMBER 21st

Received a letter this morning from one in great distress and went to see her at once. Found her weeping in anguish of spirit. After prayer God wonderfully met her and it was good to see the glow of joy in her eyes when leaving. God is surely working with her. Praise His name! More and more I feel the need of prayer.

SEPTEMBER 22nd

Have just finished reading, "Glimpses of Life in Soul-Winning," by James Caughey. Oh, what passion, what devotion and wholehearted earnestness, and what a record of souls saved. Months of battling in prayer, then the victory. I do not believe that there is power enough on earth or in Hell to prevent a revival if I am willing to pay the price.

SEPTEMBER 23rd

After service this morning a lady came to me and said she wanted to become a Christian. We talked and prayed together. She left with a hope but I want to wait and see. Do not know yet whether it is Holy Spirit fruit or not.

SEPTEMBER 24th

Went today to the home of my friend, Dr. E. Ralph Hooper the beloved physician, and had a couple of hours with him in prayer. Was greatly discouraged over last night's service. Things seemed as dead as stone. No liberty, no power, no freedom to preach. Everything was hard. Feel I am just playing with prayer. Must spend more time in intercession.

SEPTEMBER 25th

Three of us met this morning and prayed for four hours. Experienced much blessing. Yet at the cottage prayer meeting tonight there did not seem to be a move of any kind. Two or three confessed sin, while one young man broke out and prayed.

SEPTEMBER 26th

Have been greatly impressed with Joel 2:18 and 28-29. There it is, the need, the methods, and then the results of a great revival. But I can't do it myself. My heart is cold and hard. I do not weep and mourn. May God melt and break me and then work mightily among the people. I found Jer. 5:14 also a great and precious promise and have prayed it on my knees: "I will make my Words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood and it shall devour them." God grant that it may be so.

Glorious break tonight. The prayer meeting seemed cold and dead. Very few prayed. I spoke and closed the meeting disappointed. Then a woman started to weep. She was followed by another and later on a third was broken by God's power. All gathered around and prayed. The first two sobbed and sobbed as though their hearts would break, praying and confessing by turns. Oh, it was glorious. God was working mightily. One of them who had stubbornly refused to pray in public the first night and who had sat throughout the meeting utterly unmoved, now wept so bitterly that she was unable to speak. Finally all went home fully satisfied, the light of heaven in their faces.

I saw that a fourth was under conviction as the result of what had just taken place. She is one of our prominent members. I simply shook hands with her, feeling that it would be best to leave her alone and let the Holy Spirit do His own work. As she passed out there was a look of anguish on her face and her handshake told the story. How wonderfully God uses conversions to bring conviction upon others. Can it be that the revival has started?

Once again I have cause to glory in God. He has given another sign of His presence and power. One other has been convicted and saved and is today rejoicing in God. Six weeks I think it has taken. Now she is free. God has brought her into clear and abiding liberty. In the meeting tonight she testified, her one time dejected face shining with the light of heaven as she told how she had found the peace which passes understanding, saying it was worth all the struggle. Praise God! I believe the work is genuine.

Another also testified, but confessed that she had wandered and grown cold. She knew that she was not right and asked to be prayed for. She did not get through however. There must be deeper conviction. Apparently she has been in a false experience and as a result the work has come undone.

OCTOBER 4th

Spent this afternoon in prayer on my face before God. Then went to Dr. Hooper's home for the evening where we continued in prayer until a quarter to twelve. Oh, for the power of God! We must have it. How wonderfully He opened His Word to us while in prayer. We have read it and prayed it on our knees, especially the second chapter of Joel. Oh, for a baptism of tears! Also the ninth chapter of Daniel. Sentence by sentence we prayed it out before the Lord. We are surrounded by mountains of unbelief and opposition on every side. Only the power of God can overthrow them. "Have faith in God." I want to be wholly absorbed in Him. One passion--Christ.

Lately I have been reading Robert Murray McCheyne, George Fox, Billy Bray, Chas. G. Finney, Henry Moorehouse, John Fletcher, George Whitfield, David Stoner, Henry Martyn, John Wesley, John Bunyan, Thos. Collins, James Caughey, John Smith, David Brainerd; and oh, what men of God they were! What examples of devotion, zeal and piety! Would I could be like them! What a wonder was Wm. Bramwell! But where am I? Oh, to burn out for God! All, all for Him. Jesus only. Souls! Souls! Souls! I am determined to be a winner of souls. God help me.

OCTOBER 5th

Once again, thanks be to God, there has been another conversion. This time a man. He came into my study tonight and told me that he had been convicted in a previous meeting and was most miserable. He had made resolutions again and again and had even tried religion but was still unsaved although he was a member of the church. Yesterday he threw his pipe away. I prayed with him and then we went into the service. Near the close of the meeting he stood up and confessed to all what he had already related to me. His eyes were filled with tears. Yet in spite of this he did not get through. I came home and settled down to pray for him most definitely, pleading with God to let him see the light and enable him to believe.

Faith is rising to assurance. God is working. Deep conviction has already settled upon many. Oh, for a mighty break! Have found Mark 11:22-24; Joel 1:13,14,16; 2:1,11-18, 25, 28, 29, most precious today. Have prayed them one by one before God.

OCTOBER 8th

Very strong opposition. Some of the leading officials object publicly to the meetings. Worldly members up in arms. Satan is beginning to give evidence that he is also interested in what is going on. Have taken it to the Lord in prayer. Continued intercession this evening from about 8 o'clock until a quarter to one in the morning with Dr. Hooper.

OCTOBER 10th

Dr. Hooper and I spent the day waiting on God, and as a result we had a good meeting tonight. Many testified splendidly for over half an hour. Indeed, I had to restrain them in order to give time for prayer. God is working, conviction deepening and spreading. Lives are being changed, souls coming into abundant joy and glorious liberty.

October 11th

God's Word is becoming so precious. We are hearing His voice through the prophets of the Old Testament. Our method is to read a little and then pray it out before God, closing by asking Him to fulfill it in our experience.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). If we work in the flesh our fruit will correspond and souls be brought into a false experience. Lord, give us Holy Spirit fruit. We have taken the method of prayer as commanded in God's Word. Every other method has been tried and is being tried today, but the results do not satisfy. So now if we do not prevail in prayer we will become a reproach and to that extent prayer will be discredited. We cannot afford to fail. We must give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. If our lives do not convict people of sin there is something wrong. Oh, for the faith of the Syrophenician woman. She would not take "No" For an answer (Mark 7:24-30).

OCTOBER 14th

Preached morning and night with freedom and liberty, but no apparent result. Am still unsatisfied. Yet God is working a little. A man has restored stolen money to his employer and a woman has given back funds that were taken from the Sunday School as a result of the convicting power of the Spirit. But I pray for the conviction to spread and deepen. Oh, for souls to be wounded! Have been reading the diary of David Brainerd. Months and Months of agonizing prayer and then the mighty power of God upon the Indians. I must have Holy Spirit fruit, nothing less.

Chapter 9: Manifestations Of God's Power

OCTOBER 17th

DAY by day we have been meeting as usual for prayer. Today we began at 9:30 this morning and continued until after 3:00. We have been asking God to break us for many weeks. About 2:00 this afternoon I was praying when suddenly I stopped and began to praise God. Tears flowed copiously. All I could do was to sob out, "They're lost ! They're lost ! They're lost !" And so I wept and prayed for the people.

At the meeting tonight, one who had been convicted but had not yet been saved, testified, her face radiant. It was clear that she was genuinely saved and had tasted of the Lord's abounding joy.

OCTOBER 21st

During the past few days the burdens have been very heavy. There is much opposition, but have been burdened in prayer, and some tears have been shed in private for poor perishing souls. Yet how cold is my heart, how little my concern. Oh, for an exhibition of God's power in greater measure, a greater manifestation of His presence!

NOVEMBER 10th

Have had a few precious hours today with Dr. Hooper. Oh, how my heart hungers! Ezra, chapters 8 and 9 have been very precious. Truly, God has opened my eyes to some of the abominations of the Church. But, oh, for a glimpse of my own heart! What abominations must be hidden there! The Lord help me to sigh and cry, for the heathen have come into His inheritance, the Canaanites into the sanctuary.

Everything seems tied up. No more breaks. Work appears to be stopped. But let me to my knees. Results must come. Why should I preach without souls? Lord fulfill Thy Word, begin with some one else. Let something happen. Spirit of God, reveal the hindrance.

NOVEMBER 14th

God has begun with some one else. During the prayer following my message tonight, two broke down and wept. One got through, I believe. The other left under conviction.

NOVEMBER 16th

Another testified tonight. For weeks she has been under conviction, so great that she was afraid to sleep at night, but she is now happy and knows that she is saved.

NOVEMBER 19th

Faith rises. The heavens have seemed like brass, but this afternoon in prayer nothing appeared to be impossible. God is enabling me to believe. O, Lord give me souls. Of what use is preaching if souls are not saved?

It seemed impossible to ask for things this evening. I could only praise and thank Him for all He is going to do. Never have I had such an experience before. The conviction, the certainty that He is working is marvelous.

My Sunday School superintendent has just 'phoned me to say that when he asked a certain person to teach a class she just broke out weeping, saying, she could not because she was not right herself. He prayed with her but she did not get peace. Now he wants me to join him on her behalf. For weeks she confessed she had been under conviction.

NOVEMBER 20th

Am finding God's Word most precious. How it reveals the abominations of my heart!--doubt, unbelief, spiritual pride, coldness, prayerlessness, powerlessness and indifference, as well as the awful abomination of the Church,--the lack of separation, the worldiness of the membership, ungodly choirs, worldly methods of raising money, such as bazaars, concerts, entertainments, etc., the failure to differentiate between the holy and the profane, the clean and the unclean. Do we need a revival? God knows we do. It matters not how holy a church may be, nor how famous as a spiritual center, if souls are not saved, sinners awakened and convicted, there is something radically wrong.

NOVEMBER 21st

At the meeting tonight both the young women for whom we had been pleading came out bright, glorious and clear. They gave splendid testimonies and wept much. Oh, how I praise Him! He is working, convicting and saving. All honor to His name!

DECEMBER 12th

Both of those convicted at the last meeting testified clearly tonight. They are now saved and happy. One has been on our prayer-list just seven days. Praise God!

Spent about three hours in prayer with Dr. Hooper today with much profit.

DECEMBER 19th

Dr. Hooper and I met at eleven this morning and continued in prayer until three in the afternoon. God worked this evening. A young man whom I thought was saved entered my study and astonished me by stating that he had never been born again. This was on Sunday. Tonight he came and sat in the back seat. The doctor and I pleaded long for him in prayer. Had asked God to convict him, to bring him back and cause him to come right out and weep over his sins. I placed three chairs facing the people in the front for the penitent form. At the invitation he walked forward at once and knelt down. Soon he was shaking with great convulsive sobs. Nothing could check them. He pled for mercy and soon knew his sins were pardoned. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he stood up and faced the people and told them that he was saved.

He went home rejoicing in his Saviour. Praise God! He answers prayer. Oh, the joy of soul-winning! The sweetest music I have ever listened to is the cry of a penitent sinner coming home to God. Am determined to cast ease aside and give myself unreservedly to this great work.

JANUARY 9th

After much thought and supplication I set aside this week for prayer and announced a meeting to be held every night except Saturday. Tonight's meeting was truly wonderful. The Holy Spirit so filled one of our number that for the first time in her life she broke out in public prayer. We all felt the power of God. The people refused to go home and so the meeting continued until after eleven o'clock.

JANUARY 11th

This has been the most wonderful week of all. Seldom have our meetings closed until after ten o'clock. The people would not go. God has poured out His Spirit. Conviction has been real. Much soul anguish. Blinded eyes have been opened, sins confessed and put away. Many who never prayed before in public and some whom I thought never could, have broken down and prayed with many tears. The burden for souls has been laid upon several, both young and old. The presence of God has been most real, and oh, what singing! Not the lips only but the hearts.

At the close of the service tonight a quarter after ten, I asked the people, and there was a large attendance, what they wanted done in the future. They were unanimous to continue the meetings. So next week we are to go on again every night. Glory be to God! How graciously He has answered! It is not of man but of Him. God has answered prayer

Prayer has been most difficult all week in spite of God's blessing. Satan seems to be fighting continuously. The heavens have been like brass. This afternoon I went to my study and tried to pray. It was impossible. So hard was I opposed that I finally threw myself down and ceased to struggle, but after awhile I arose determined to win. Then victory came. The powers of darkness seemed to leave and I was enabled to pray for over an hour.

JANUARY 20th

Another wonderful week has passed. The meetings have grown in depth and power. More have been saved.

JANUARY 23rd

A shower at last. Praise be to God! Room packed. During the meeting I was in an agony almost to bursting, so heavy was the burden. At the close I gave an invitation. We sang two verses but no one came. Then we sang, "Like a Mighty Sea," our grand old favorite. During the first two verses I was still in agony. The load lifted as we started the third verse. Oh, how they sang! Soul and heart in every word. But I had given up hope of results. Suddenly a woman came forward and knelt at the front. Soon a second followed. Then two or three others. I stepped up to a fourth who was under deep conviction and spoke only a word or two. Almost immediately her eyes rifled with tears, her head dropped and in a moment she was on her face before God. There were six altogether. Oh, what a night! Finally I dismissed the people and told them to go home, but they still stayed, unwilling to leave. Tears flowed freely, sobs were heard as they wept out their confessions of sin. God worked and soon many had risen to testify of sins forgiven. Oh, the joy that filled our hearts!

MARCH 6th

The work of God still prospers. Souls are saved every week. Wonderful meeting tonight. Last Thursday night a young university student was saved. He came some weeks ago and went away determined he would never come again. Next week he found himself in the meeting once more, much against his will. For weeks he fought but kept coming. God was working with him. Conviction deepened. He was most miserable. Last Thursday night however, he yielded. Another man stood beside him so that he could not get out, but he pushed the chair in front of him away and knelt down before every one. God saved him and we broke out as usual with, "'Tis done, the great transaction's done." Tonight he bore glorious testimony.

MARCH 7th

Another saved tonight. It was her first meeting. She literally sobbed out her prayer. Oh, this a glorious work! To God be the praise!

MARCH 13th

Two more. One, a leading member, exclaimed, "I thought I was a Christian; I have been a member of the church so long, but tonight I see myself a guilty sinner." The other, a woman for whom we have long prayed and who has been under deep conviction and most miserable, came and sought pardon. Both were saved. I myself always thought she was a Christian. Oh, how God works! May He save many more church members who are in a false experience.

MARCH 27th

A very clear exhibition of God's power tonight. A young man standing against the door at the back cried out. The audience was startled. He said he had professed salvation two years ago, but that sin had crept in and he was not right with God. He had spent an awful week, but was determined to get through before he left. He came down the aisle and knelt at the front. God heard and answered. Oh, for more such fruit!

MAY 2nd

The hardest and most discouraging meeting we have yet had. Let a man who doesn't believe in a personal and very real devil begin to pray and work for a revival and he will soon meet the enemy and know something of his resisting powers. Surely he was present last night. Everything was dead and frozen. Nothing would go; neither prayers nor testimonies. I had a message prepared, but could not deliver it. All that I could do was to groan and weep in prayer. At the close of the meeting I announced that I was going to retire to the study to pray. Who followed me I did not know, for I was engaged with God. But I found afterward that there were at least a dozen surrounding me in prayer. It was a hard time. I prayed and broke down in the middle of it and sobbed until I was weak. I was determined to pray through and find out where we were. One by one the people left until at last there were but two of us. Some time after midnight the light slowly broke and many things were revealed. My own failures became apparent. Faith began to rise, and at three o'clock in the morning we left perfectly satisfied, weak in body but strong in faith. The battle had been won, and Satan defeated.

Tonight it was heaven. Oh, how our hearts sang for joy and how near God seemed! Heaven seemed open and faith was, within our grasp. We mounted up as eagles. God gave us full assurance. Nothing seemed impossible. I prayed four times during the meeting and a wonderful spirit of prayer was upon all. Over and over again we sang those glorious words of Wesley's:

"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,

And looks to God alone;

Laughs at impossibilities

And cries: 'It shall be done!'"

MAY 17th

This morning in my reading God gave me a precious word from Dent. 2:25. We have been meeting for prayer from 5 and 6 until 10 at night, but I find that Satan is at work as an angel of light. May God make us wise as serpents. Have been reading the diary of David Stoner. How I thank God for it! He is another Brainerd. Have been much helped, but, how ashamed and humble I feel as I read it! Oh, how he thirsted and searched after God! How he agonized and travailed! And he died at thirty-two.

What kind of an experience have I? Am I burdened for lost souls? Do I love to pray? Has my desire for the world gone? Do I hate sin? Am I filled with joy and the love of God? Do I get my prayers answered? Is there any hidden thing, any secret sin, or am I holy in heart and life? Have I spiritual discernment? Am I able to detect a Holy Spirit sermon? Can I tell when people are spiritual? Is my religion real? Do those at home believe in me? Am I truly representing Christ? Will people get a right view of Him from my life? Am I willing to let God search and try me? Is there anything false about my experience? Have I the clear witness of the Holy Spirit? Does my life magnify Jesus Christ? I must pray about these things.

THE CHURCHES

A city full of churches,

Great preachers, lettered men,

Grand music, choirs and organs;

If these all fail, what then?

Good workers, eager, earnest,

Who labour hour by hour:

But where, oh where, my brothers!

Is God's Almighty power?

Refinement: Education!

They want the very best.

Their plans and schemes are perfect,

They give themselves no rest;

They get the best of talent,

They try their uttermost,

But what they need, my brother,

Is God the Holy Ghost!

We may spend time and money

And preach from wisdom's lore,

But education only

Will keep God's people poor.

God wants not worldly wisdom.

He seeks no smiles to win;

But what is needed, brother,

Is that we deal with sin!

It is the Holy Spirit,

That quickeneth the soul.

God will not take man-worship,

Nor bow to man's control.

No human innovation,

No skill, or worldly art,

Can give a true repentance,

Or break the sinner's heart!

We may have human wisdom,

Grand singing, great success;

There may be fine equipment,

But these things do not bless.

God wants a pure, clean vessel,

Anointed lips and true,

A man filled with the Spirit,

To speak His message through.

Great God, revive us truly!

And keep us every day;

That men may all acknowledge

We live just as we pray.

The Lord's hand is not shortened,

He still delights to bless;

If we depart from evil

And all our sins confess.

--Samuel Stevenson.

Chapter 10: Spiritual Experiences Of Priceless Value

MAY 22nd

IT is coming to me more and more to challenge my work; to test and prove everything. I feel quite certain that one of the outstanding reasons for failure lies in the fact that we do not judge ourselves. I must challenge my preaching. God claims that His Word is a fire, a hammer, and a sword. Now if it not this, then there is something WRONG. God has promised fruit. There must be results. He must make His Word what He says it is. I challenge my prayer life. Have I power to prevail with God? If not, why not? Has God not most emphatically stated that "he shall have whatsoever He saith?" If I pray and do not get answers there must be something wrong. I must challenge my Christian experience. Do I feel any uprisings, any temper? Is there anything contrary to love in my heart? Am I growing in grace and going on with God? Have I complete deliverance from sin? Do my nearest and dearest believe in my religion? Lord judge me, and bring me to a higher level spiritually.

Weeks ago God gave me the gift of faith, and I knew He was going to work, but after a few hours I let it go. Weeks passed and finally on a Thursday afternoon He again gave me the same wonderful gift only far more glorious. For a week I held it in conscious joy, and then once again lost it. Oh, what a failure I am! Why can I not believe God? Has He not said that "all things are possible to him that believeth?" This is where David Stoner failed. Lord, increase my faith.

"That mighty faith on me bestow

Which cannot ask in vain;

Which holds, and will not let Thee go

Till I my suit obtain."

MAY 24th

Spent the day in prayer and fasting. On Wednesday night at the prayer meeting I announced that we would set aside the holiday when most were in the parks and places of amusement, as a day of prayer and fasting unto God. So we met at nine this morning and prayed through until nine tonight. The time passed very quickly and was a great blessing to many. Our prayer was for an outpouring of God's Spirit. Oh, how the people prayed! "What hath God wrought!"

Have been greatly blessed in reading the story of the glorious Irish revival of 1859.

MAY 26th

Preached tonight on the Judgment. God gave me marvelous liberty. There must have been about a thousand present. The wife of a leading business man was greatly affected. Used her handerchief[Sic.] freely and finally pulled her veil down to hide her tears. Our leading soloist, for whom we have been praying much, kept her head bowed all through the sermon and appeared to be deeply concerned. Others were also under conviction. Praise be to God for answered prayer! May we continue to "hold the fort" until He comes.

MAY 27th

I have come to the place where I realize that I know almost nothing about experimental religion. I have the "form of Godliness," but not the "power." It is in my head but not in my heart. My religion is theoretical, rather than experimental. Mrs. John Fletcher, Wm. Bramwell, and John Smith had something to which I am a total stranger, As a result of much reading I am convinced that the Early Methodists were nearest to the apostolic experience of any body of people I know. Would to God they had never lost their power! Oh, what God has in store for His saints. Experience it I must, cost what it will. May the Holy Spirit be my teacher as I read, pray and meditate. Oh, for the faith to believe!--the faith of those wonderful men and women of a century or two ago.

MAY 29th

Wonderful meeting! Marvelous exhibition of God's power! Was unable to give the message prepared but spoke with liberty as He led. Conviction very deep. Some quite mad. Six came and knelt at the front without an invitation. One who had been very angry because we prayed for her was deeply moved tonight. She had sworn that she would never come as a penitent, would never bow at the front. But she came, nevertheless. Hallelujah!

JUNE 2nd

We made Saturday our second day of prayer and fasting, pleading with God for eight hours and had a very blessed experience.

Have been reading the marvelous life story of Mrs. Fletcher. How little I know of her wonderful walk with God. Oh, how she suffered! What patience, faith and confidence! It drives me to my knees and I have to cry out as I see my unworthiness. Lord, deliver me from everything that does not glorify Thee. Keep me each moment in Thy will. Give me a little of what John Fletcher possessed. Oh, how I yearn for more! How my heart hungers after righteousness.

JUNE 5th

Wonderful meeting tonight. Four backsliders came and knelt at the front. All got through. The people then began to testify and the singing was deeply spiritual. Finally I said to them, "Don't you want to go home? .... No," they answered from all sides. "Well," I replied, "it is now twenty minutes to eleven." They were amazed. "I wonder," I continued, "if this is the revival?" The joy was very great in many hearts tonight. To Him be all the glory!

I find as we advance spiritually and go deeper that we lose our relish for the lighter and more popular hymns, and develop an amazing love for the grand old standards that were so greatly used of God in other days. Over and over again now we sing, "Come ¥e Sinners Poor and Needy," "Oh, Could I Speak the Matchless Worth," "Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing," "Depth of Mercy," "Arise, My Soul, Arise," "Oh, for a Heart to Praise My God," "Oh, Love Divine," "Give Me the Wings of Faith to Rise," "Faith, Mighty Faith."

JUNE 9th

This morning on my way to church the peace of God filled my heart to overflowing. Passage after passage of Scripture came to me and I sang as I walked along. Especially was that verse precious:

"Jesus, the name high over all,

In hell, or earth, or sky;

Angels and men before it fall,

And devils fear and fly."

I wondered at the unusual presence of God and asked myself if such peace could remain in times of trial and persecution. After the service I was greatly encouraged by two who told me of fetters snapped and wonderful blessing received. Trial and bitter opposition followed. Satan is still busy. Even some of our best church members are allowing themselves to be made his tools to hinder the work and put obstacles in the way.

JUNE 18th

While the message was being given tonight a man suddenly rose from his seat and with a deep groan sank down on his knees at the front. The light soon broke and turning to the audience he said: "Well friends. I have found Jesus. I have found Jesus." Oh, the marvelous power of God! How wonderfully He works in answer to the prayer of faith.

This morning I left the house at 6:30. Walked to the church and began to pray at 6:45. But was so weary, tired and sleepy that I laid down after trying in vain for some fifteen minutes to get in touch with God, and slept for an hour and a half. Then at 8:30 I began to pray again and for the next hour and a half I had wonderful liberty and great blessing. God was very near and I believe I was able to prevail. I then had a quiet feast on the Word and noted specially the power of a righteous and holy life.

JUNE 19th

This morning four of us met for prayer from eight to twelve and had a blessed time. At the meeting last Thursday some took exception to what I said and felt that I was complaining, scolding and criticizing because I had urged them to more prayer. But at the service tonight we gathered in a new consecration and there was great joy on many faces. However, it has shown me that it is useless to try to work it up in the flesh, that only God can lay the burden of prayer upon others, and that I must leave it to Him. When people are really burdened by the Holy Spirit they will not require any urging. Thank God, real prayer-helpers have been raised up.

JUNE 21st

There are two verses which have been specially blessed to me lately. The first: "Call unto Me and I will answer and show thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not" (Jer. 33:3). Lord, enable me to grasp it by faith and let me see the "great and mighty things" that I call unto Thee for. And the second: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following" (Mark 16:20). Am I sure that the Lord is working with me? What proof have I unless I see the Word that I preach confirmed by signs following. Am I satisfied to go on without the assurance? I must see conviction of sin culminating in the salvation of souls.

JULY 1st

Spent this day in prayer and fasting along with five or six others whose hearts the Lord has touched. Satan's resistance was strong; nor were we able to pray through and prevail.

AUGUST 5th

The Devil has been busy once more. One man is determined to stop his wife attending the meetings. He was very angry and threatened many things. But a meeting was held in his home upon the invitation of his wife at which he was convicted, brought to see his error and is now convinced that he is not right. Satan does not mind people attending the ordinary church at all, but as soon as his kingdom is invaded he is up in arms at once. There are several who have forbidden their wives attending our meetings.

AUGUST 16th

Looking back in my diary I note that today marks one year since I was first burdened in a special way for a revival. We have made this a day of prayer and have reviewed the year's work before God. Some of the professed converts have gone back, though the majority are standing true. What kind of children have we borne? We must distinguish clearly between the genuine and the counterfeit, between the work of the Spirit and the work of the flesh. May our prayers prevail more than ever. Fruit must not be plucked before it is ripe. We want children who will love their parents, love their home, the place of their birth, and who will always be present at meal time. The other kind are unnatural. Some are going on wonderfully and becoming real prayer helpers.

AUGUST 24th

God is still working and answering prayer. We are seeing some mighty things. The converts are being called upon to suffer persecution. One of them tells of how the people next door ever since the change came into her life have acted as mean as possible, throwing dirty water and rubbish on her pathway and doing everything to make her angry. She never said a word but treated them just the same as she always has. She put one of our tracts in their letter box and believes she read it, for the next day the woman looked daggers at her. Well, the other day the woman was taken very hurriedly to the hospital for an operation. Our convert went to the husband who was very much surprised, and next day visited the woman in the hospital and prayed with her. The woman broke down and sobbed. Next morning the husband came and said, "Do you think the Lord can forgive me for all I have done?"

AUGUST26th

Last week I wrote to George W. Stenton. of Peterborough, insisting that he come to help me in prayer. He came and we have had a wonderful time together. This afternoon when I announced that supper was ready he lifted his head from the floor with a look of amazement on his face. His eyes were filled with tears. He looked as though he had been in heaven and had been suddenly hurled to earth again, for he was all melted and broken up. God has given him a great faith and he knows how to hold on in prayer. The answers he receives are amazing. It inspires faith in others for he lives with God.

SEPTEMBER 9th

The Word is becoming more precious to me all the time. I delight in reading chapters from the old prophets. My heart hungers for a fuller experience of God's salvation and a closer walk with Jesus Christ. I want to be weaned from the world and all it contains. The more I pray the more I love to pray. God is my portion.

SEPTEMBER 15th

God has tonight set to His seal, borne witness to the truth, and confirmed His Word. While I was preaching a young woman, who was a stranger, rose to her feet and stood still for some time before I observed her. I stopped speaking, praised God, and asked her if she had decided for Christ. From her answer it appeared that she could not wait until the close of the service so deeply had she been convicted. Then I went on with my sermon. The effect was wonderful. An awe overspread the entire congregation and scores were deeply stirred. As I went on three men and two women were observed weeping. One man sobbed aloud. The young woman who had stood came to my study after the service and so far as I could tell was clear in her pardon. How we praised God!

SEPTEMBER 23rd

There must be more soul-anguish and deeper conviction of sin, but this is wholly the operation of the Spirit. Therefore nothing but the prayer of faith will avail. It is God who saves souls. The work of God is the operation of the Holy Spirit in answer to the prayer of faith. I have read the life of John Smith once again. What a man of prayer and faith he was! And how he aimed for souls! There are many books that describe revival and relate the results of God's work, but John Smith tells me how to get it, how to do it, the method, the only method that produces Holy Spirit fruit and procures an outcome for God's glory.

Am now reading the Journals of John Wesley for the first time. Four large volumes. Will I ever finish them ? I think so for I find them intensely interesting and helpful. Oh, what a man he was! And how wonderfully he proclaimed the great fundamental doctrine of salvation by faith alone.

Work on, Thou Spirit of Power, and raise up once more a people for Thy name! Grant us again a visitation from on High, a return of apostolic days, for surely this is heaven below! And in it all may Jesus Christ be glorified. Amen!

THE REVIVAL HYMN

Revive Thy work, 0 Lord!

And manifest Thy power;

Oh, come upon Thy Church, and give

A penitential shower!

Revive Thy work, O Lord!

Come now and answer prayer;

Oh, come in Holy Spirit power,

And save men everywhere!

Revive Thy work, O Lord!

And every soul inspire;

Oh, kindle in each heart, we pray,

The pentecostal fire!

Revive Thy work, O Lord!

And give abounding joy;

Oh, fill our hearts with perfect love;

And burn out all alloy!

Revive Thy work, 0 Lord!

And make Thy servants bold;

Convict of sin, and work once more

As in the days of old.

Revive Thy work, O Lord!

Fulfill Thy promise true;

Let Jesus Christ be glorified,

And great things for us do.

--O.J.S..

* * * * * * * * * *

If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

·         7 Classics on PRAYER

·         7 Classics on HOLINESS

·         7 Classics on EVANGELISM and SOUL-WINNING

·         7 Catholic Classics

·         5 Classics on the HOLY SPIRIT

·         5 Classics on POWER

PREACHERS AND REVIVALISTS:

·         The Azusa Street Papers

·         Charles Spurgeon: 40 sermons on Prayer

·         Charles Spurgeon: Lectures to My Students

·         The George Muller Collection

·         The Revival Writings of Jonathan Edwards (7-in-1)

·         The Works of Catherine Booth (7-in-1)

·         The Works of Charles Finney

·         The Works of D. L. Moody

·         The Works of R. A. Torrey

·         The Works of William Booth

·         Biography of John Wesley Collection: 4-in-1

·         Amy Carmichael 8-in-1

·         Samuel Zwemer 7-in-1(Missions in Arabia)

8.  THE WAY TO PENTECOST (1932) – Samuel Chadwick

By

Samuel Chadwick

-- 1932 --

Chapter 1: Do We Believe in the Holy Ghost?

The Apostles' Creed contains ten articles on the Person and Work of Christ, and only one on the Holy Spirit. The proportion of ten to one about represents the interest in the doctrine of the Spirit in the history of Christian thought. No doctrine of the Christian faith has been so neglected. Sermons and hymns are singularly barren on this subject, and the last great book on the Spirit was written in 1674. This is all the more remarkable when we remember that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate fact of Revelation and the unique force in Redemption. No other religion has anything corresponding to the Christian doctrine of the Spirit, and in the Christian religion there is nothing so vital, pervasive, and effective. John Owen speaks of it as the touchstone of faith; the one article by which the Church stands or falls. Thomas Arnold said it is "the very main thing of all. We are living under the dispensation of the Spirit; in that character God now reveals Himself to His people. He who does not know God the Holy Ghost cannot know God at all."

The Holy Scriptures declare Him to be the revealer of all truth, the active agent in all works of redemption, and from first to last the instrument of Grace in the experience of salvation. In Him, and through Him, and by Him, is the power that saves. Illumination and Conviction, Repentance and Regeneration, Assurance and Sanctification, are all the work of God the eternal Spirit. To the Church He is the Source and Supply of wisdom and power. The Church is the Body of Christ, indwelt and controlled by the Spirit. He directs, energizes, and controls. From first to last this Dispensation is the Dispensation of the Spirit.

The Fruit of Neglect

The Church affirms its faith in the Holy Ghost every time it repeats its Creed, but does the Church really believe its belief? Modern writers are contending that the name is nothing more than a figure of speech for spiritual atmosphere. They regard it as one of the misfortunes of the Christian religion that Personality has been claimed for the Spirit. The life of the Church witnesses to the same attitude. The things of the Spirit are ignored as of no account. Atmosphere is valued. Religious assemblies of a certain order give a large place to silent pauses which produce emotional excitement When our fathers glowed with fires kindled in the soul, they gave vent in noise. The modern way is to be still. Spirituality and silence are as wedded as were revivalism and rowdiness. Both types are emotional, but revivalists did believe their work was of the Spirit; the Quietists cultivate psychological influence. They speak of the Spirit with a different content from that of the Creeds.

The blunders and disasters of the Church are largely, if not entirely, accounted for by the neglect of the Spirit's Ministry and Mission. The morass of speculation about the Bible takes no account of the Holy Spirit. It regards inspiration as negligible, and insists upon interpreting Revealed Truth by no standards save those of history and literature. Miracles are condemned without trial. Prophesy is dismissed without inquiry. Revelation is ignored without reason. Under the plea of breadth, all truth is thrust into uniform ruts. Our Lord spoke of the Spirit as the Spirit of Truth, and promised that He would guide His people into all Truth. He spake by the Prophets. There were many writers, but He is the Author, and the Bible can neither be accounted for nor interpreted but by His guidance, He holds the key; He is the Key. Revealed Truth can be known only through the Revealer, Ignoring this. scholars and historians, grammarians and antiquarians, critics and agnostics, are blind in the midst of light. The same result is seen in the belief about our Lord Jesus Christ, the Experience of Grace, and the Doctrine of the Church. No man can say Jesus is Lord save by the Holy Ghost, but men are seeking to interpret the Christ in terms of reason, history, and philosophy. The Christian religion begins in a New Birth in the power of the Spirit. It is developed under His guidance, and sustained by His presence; but ignoring the Spirit, it becomes a matter of education and evolution. The Church is the Body of Christ begotten, unified, and indwelt by the Spirit, but forgetting the Spirit, men wrangle over limbs, functions, and orders. The Christian religion is hopeless without the Holy Ghost.

The Problems of the Church

As in truth, so it is in service. The Church is helpless without the presence and power of the Spirit. The Church never talked so much about itself and its problems. That is always a bad sign. The lust for talk about work increases as the power for work declines. Conferences multiply when work fails. The problems of the Church are never solved by talking about them. The problems arise out of failures. There is no need to discuss the problem of reaching the masses, go long as the masses are being reached. There is no problem of empty churches, so long as churches are full. There is no class-meeting question, so long as the classmeeting throbs with life and ministers to the manifold needs of heart and life. The power to attract is in attractiveness, and it is useless to advertise the banquet if there is nothing to eat. We are acting as though the only remedy for decline were method, organization, and compromise. The Church is failing to meet modern needs, grip the modern mind, and save modern life. The saints are the ordained rulers of the earth, but they do not rule; indeed, they have dropped the scepter and repudiated the responsibility. The helplessness of the Church is pathetic and tragic. There might be no such Person as the Holy Ghost.

Believers Without the Holy Ghost

The Church knows quite well both the reason and the remedy for failure. The human resources of the Church were never so great. The opportunities of the Church were never so glorious. The need for the work of the Church was never so urgent. The crisis is momentous; and the Church staggers helplessly amid it all. When the ancient Church reproached God with sleeping at the post of duty, God charged His people with being staggering drunk. The Church knows perfectly well what is the matter. It is sheer cant to seek the explanation in changed conditions. When were conditions ever anything else? The Church has lost the note of authority, the secret of wisdom, and the gift of power, through persistent and willful neglect of the Holy Spirit of God. Confusion and impotence are inevitable when the wisdom and resources of the world are substituted for the presence and power of the Spirit of God.

Proofs abound. The New Testament furnishes examples of Churches filled with the Spirit and Churches without the Spirit. The differences are obvious. The Church of which Apollos was minister had not so much as heard that the Spirit was given. The Church in our day has no such excuse. Ours is the sin of denial. He has been shut out from the province in which He is indispensable. Religion has been reconstructed without Him. There is no denial of the supernatural, but it is insisted that the supernatural must conform to natural law. It is admitted that truth is inspired, but its inspiration must develop along the lines of natural selection and growth. Religion cannot be allowed to have come upon any other lines than those of literature, philosophy, and ethics. The Christian religion has simply the honor of being less faulty than the rest. Jesus Christ must be accounted for in the same way. He is simply the crown and consummation of a progressive humanity. The emphasis is upon the Man, and in that emphasis there is reason to rejoice but the strange thing is that in the intense interest in Jesus the certainties about Him that come through the Spirit have been lost.

Doctrine Without Experience

The Church still has a theology of the Holy Ghost, but it has no living consciousness of His presence and power. Theology without experience is like faith without works: it is dead. The signs of death abound. Prayer-meetings have died out because men did not believe in the Holy Ghost. The liberty of prophesying has gone because men believe in investigation and not in inspiration. There is a dearth of conversions be cause faith about the New Birth as a creative act of the Holy Ghost has lost its grip on intellect and heart. The experience of the Second Gift of Grace is no longer preached and testified, because Christian experience, though it may have to begin in the Spirit, must be perfected in the wisdom of the flesh and the culture of the schools. Confusion and impotence are the inevitable results when the wisdom and resources of the world are substituted for the presence and power of the Spirit.

The rebound from materialism is seen in such movements as Christian Science, Spiritualism, and Theosophy. It is the truth in these things that gives them their power, and it is useless to denounce them. They are the reaction of the spirit against the bondage of the flesh and of the mind. The cravings they represent must be met by the experience of Pentecost. Modernism and Mysticism are also the products of a religion that is not baptized of the Holy Ghost. Sacerdotalism is another. These things flourish on impoverished soil and dunghills. They are the works of the flesh, and the product of spiritual death. The remedy for them is not in reproach and bitterness, but in floods and rivers, winds and sun. The answer is in the demonstration of a supernatural religion, and the only way to a supernatural religion is in the abiding presence of the Spirit of God.

Chapter 2: The Church Without the Spirit

The Church is the creation of the Holy Spirit. It is a community of believers who owe their religious life from first to last to the Spirit. Apart from Him there can be neither Christian nor Church. The Christian religion is not institutional but experimental. It is not an ordained class, neither is it in ordinances and sacraments. It is not a fellowship of common interest in culture, virtue, or service. Membership is by spiritual birth. The roll of membership is kept in heaven. Christ is the Door. He knows them that are His, and they know Him. The Church Roll and the Lamb's Book of Life are not always identical. "No man can say Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit," and confession of the lordship of Jesus Christ is the first condition of membership in His Church. The command to tarry in the city until there came enduement of power from on high proves that the one essential equipment of the Church is the gift of the Holy Ghost. Nothing else avails for the real work of the Church. For much that is undertaken by the Church He is not necessary. The Holy Ghost is no more needed to run bazaars, social clubs, institutions, and picnics, than He is to run a circus. These may be necessary adjuncts of the modern Church, but it is not for power to run these things we need tarry. Religious services and organized institutions do not constitute a Christian Church, and these may flourish without the gift of Pentecostal fire.

The Life of the Body

The work of the Spirit in the Church is set forth in the promises of Jesus on the eve of His departure, and demonstrated in the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospels "tell of "all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day in which He was received up," and the Acts of the Apostles tell of all that He continued to do and to teach after the day in which He was received up. The Holy Spirit is the active, administrative Agent of the glorified Son. He is the Paraclete, the Deputy, the acting Representative of the Ascended Christ. His mission is to glorify Christ by perpetuating His character, establishing His Kingdom, and accomplishing His redeeming purpose in the world. The Church is the Body of Christ, and the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. He fills the Body, directs its movements, controls its members, inspires its wisdom, supplies its strength. He guides into the truth, sanctifies its agents, and empowers for witnessing. The work of the Church is to "minister the Spirit," to speak His message, and transmit His power. He calls and distributes, controls and guides, inspires and strengthens.

The Spirit has never abdicated His authority nor relegated His power. Neither Pope nor Parliament, neither Conference nor Council is supreme in the Church of Christ. The Church that is man-managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is College trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles. The Church that multiplies committees and neglects prayer may be fussy, noisy, enterprising, but it labors in vain and spends its strength for naught. It is possible to excel in mechanics and fail in dynamic. There is a superabundance of machinery; what is wanting is power. To run an organization needs no God. Man can supply the energy, enterprise, and enthusiasm for things human. The real Work of a Church depends upon the power of the Spirit.

The Presence of the Spirit is vital and central to the work of the Church. Nothing else avails. Apart from Him wisdom becomes folly, and strength weakness. The Church is called to be a "spiritual house" and a holy priesthood. Only spiritual people can be its "living stones," and only the Spirit-filled its priests. Scholarship is blind to spiritual truth till He reveals. Worship is idolatry till He inspires. Preaching is powerless if it be not a demonstration of His power. Prayer is vain unless He energizes. Human resources of learning and organization, wealth and enthusiasm, reform and philanthropy, are worse than useless if there be no Holy Ghost in them. The Church always fails at the point of self-confidence. When the Church is run on the same lines as a circus, there may be crowds, but there is no Shekinah. That is why prayer is the test of faith and the secret of power. The Spirit of God travails in the prayer-life of the soul. Miracles are the direct work of His power, and without miracles the Church cannot live. The carnal can argue, but it is the Spirit that convicts. Education can civilize, but it is being born of the Spirit that saves. The energy of the flesh can run bazaars, organize amusements, and raise millions; but it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes a Temple of the Living God. The root-trouble of the present distress is that the Church has more faith in the world and the flesh than in the Holy Ghost, and things will get no better till we get back to His realized presence and power. The breath of the four winds would turn death into life and dry bones into mighty armies, but it only comes by prayer.

Form and Spirit

The Acts of the Apostles gives us an account of a Church destitute of the Spirit. The picture corresponds in many particulars with that of the Church in the Apocalypse that had lost its Christ. The Church in Laodicea was rich and respectable, prosperous and influential, complacent and confident, but was blind to the tragedy on the doorstep. Their worship was faultless in form and passionless in spirit. There was no heresy in their creed, but there was no fire in their souls. The Spirit of Christ was outside. Ephesus and Laodicea have much in common, for where Christ is dishonored there can be no Pentecost.

The Church at Ephesus had the advantage of a distinguished and brilliant preacher. He was a man of great scholarship, who had won distinction at a great University. No preacher can have too much learning, and the Bible gives due recognition to the fact that Apollos was "a learned man." In addition to the wisdom of the schools, "he was mighty in the Scriptures." Some preachers have finished their ministerial training with the confession that they had learned less about their Bibles than about any other subject; but this man had been taught the Scriptures and "instructed in the way of the Lord." His teaching was Scriptural, orthodox, careful. To scholarship he added passion. This accomplished scholar, Scriptural in doctrine and careful in exegesis, literally "boiled over in spirit." Enthusiasm does not often accompany scholarship. It is bad form among cultured people. Religious fervor generally declines with the advance of education. Much learning has a tendency to make cold, dry preachers. This was a rare type of College-made preacher. His fervor survived success in study, and he came through his course intense and scholarly, fervent and accurate, faithful and accomplished, courageous and cultured.

It seems hardly credible that such a minister should lack the very things essential for the work of the Christian ministry. He had neither Gospel nor power. In his preaching there was no Cross, no Resurrection, no Pentecost. He preached Jesus, but he did not know Christ crucified. Peter the fisherman was worth a thousand of him. Eloquent, learned, Scriptural, impassioned, faithful and courageous, Apollos had no Gospel. Carefully trained, well-instructed, a courageous learner, and an effective teacher, he had no vision. Skilled in definition, powerful in debate, earnest in advocacy, he had no power. The Colleges had given him of their best, but they left him ignorant of things vital and destitute of the Holy Ghost.

Like priests, like people. Like minister, like members. Truth comes through personality; and the level of a preacher's experience determines both the range and level of the sermon. It also determines the level to which he can help others. John's Baptism in the pulpit resulted in a corresponding religion in the pew. It was a cold-water Gospel and a cold-water piety. To Paul's keen eye there was something wanting. They were sternly devout, orderly, reverent; but it was not Christian worship and experience. Their heads were bowed and their faces gave evidence of discipline, but they were not radiant. Their lives were marked by strict integrity, for John's cold-water religion was severely moral. They were as fervent as they were upright, and as religious as they were conscientious. Their religion was marked by a spirit of deep penitence and godly fear. They were upright in life, fervent in religion, devout in spirit, faithful in service; and yet, without the Holy Ghost. Their religion was a strict, external observance; not an Indwelling Presence. They lived by rule, not by illumination. God. saves from within; they disciplined themselves from without. Religion to them was a joyless burden, for they carried their God on their backs instead of in their hearts.

The Difference Holy Ghost Fire Makes

Pentecost transforms the preacher. The commonest bush ablaze with the presence of God becomes a miracle of glory. Under its influence the feeble become as David, and the choice mighty "as the angel of the Lord." The ministry energized by the Holy Ghost is marked by aggressive evangelism, social revolution, and persecution. Holy Ghost preaching led to the burning of the books of the magic art, and it stirred up the opposition of those who trafficked in the ruin of the people. Indifference to religion is impossible where the preacher is a flame of fire. To the Church, Pentecost brought light, power, joy. There came to each illumination of mind, assurance of heart, intensity of love, fullness of power, exuberance of joy, No one needed to ask if they had received the Holy Ghost. Fire is self-evident. So is power! Even demons know the difference between the power of inspiration and the correctness of instruction. Second-hand gospels work no miracles. Uninspired devices end in defeat and shame. The only power that is adequate for Christian life and Christian work is the power of the Holy Ghost.

The work of God is not by might of man or by the power of men, but by His Spirit. It is by Him the truth convicts and converts, sanctifies and saves. The philosophies of men fail, but the Word of God in the demonstration of the Spirit prevails. Our wants are many and our faults innumerable, but they are all comprehended in our lack of the Holy Ghost. We want nothing but the fire.

The resources of the Church are in "the supply of the Spirit." The Spirit is more than the Minister of Consolation. He is Christ without the limitations of the flesh and the material world. He can reveal what Christ could not speak. He has resources of power greater than those Christ could use, and He makes possible greater works than His. He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Witness, the Spirit of Conviction, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of Holiness, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Adoption, the Spirit of Help, the Spirit of Liberty, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Revelation, the Spirit of Promise, the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Meekness, the Spirit of Sound Mind, the Spirit of Grace, the Spirit of Glory, and the Spirit of Prophecy. It is for the Church to explore the resources of the Spirit. The resources of the world are futile. The resources of the Church within herself are inadequate. In the fullness of the Spirit there is abundance of wisdom, resources, and power; but a man-managed, world-annexing, priest-pretending Church can never save the world or fulfill the mission of Christ.

Suppose we try Pentecost!

Chapter 3: The Spirit of Promise

The Divine Spirit is called "the Holy Spirit of Promise." The expression looks both backward and forward. He is the Spirit given in fulfillment of promise, and in Him is the earnest of the promise as yet unfulfilled. The gift of Pentecost fulfills the crowning promise of the Father. The Spirit is the Promised One. Our Lord spoke of Him as "the promise of the Father," and on the day of Pentecost the Apostle Peter, in explanation of the descent of the Holy Spirit, declared: "This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath poured forth this, which we see and hear." Pentecost was God's seal upon the Messiahship of Jesus, and the fulfilling of His promise to Israel. Fulfillment brings new promises. Attainment inspires new hopes. The Spirit comes to the believing disciples, as the earnest of inheritance through sonship and the pledge of our resurrection in Christ the Risen Lord and Saviour. He is the Spirit of Promise in fulfillment, and the Spirit of Promise in assurance through faith.

The Promise of the Father

Throughout the development of the Old Testament revelation the promise of the Spirit is always closely identified with the Person and Ministry of the Messiah. In the earlier stages He is conceived as a Power rather than as a Person, but in Him is always revealed a Person who is an active Agent, and not a mere influence emanating from God. There was little knowledge of Him as a distinct Person with whom man could hold personal fellowship, but in slow stages there emerged a Living Person in whom was the fullness of Divine wisdom and power. In Him was the secret of the redemptive and sovereign power of the Servant of the Lord who should save Israel, and through Israel redeem the world.

Our Lord claimed that these promises concerning the Spirit were to be fulfilled in Him. John the Baptist baptized with water, but the Christ came to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He claimed the fulfillment of prophecy in the gift of the Spirit to Him in Jordan, and He claimed it also in the gift of the Spirit to the world. There are few incidents more illuminating than that recorded of "the last day of the Feast," in John 7:37-39. The Feast was the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast proper lasted seven days, during which all Israel dwelt in booths. Special sacrifices were offered and special rites observed. Every morning one of the priests brought water from the pool of Siloam, and amidst the sounding of trumpets and other demonstrations of joy the water was poured upon the altar. The rite was a celebration and a prophecy. It commemorated the miraculous supply of water in the wilderness, and it bore witness to the expectation of the coming of the Spirit. On the seventh day the ceremony of the poured water ceased, but the eighth day was a day of holy convocation, the greatest day of all. On that day there was no water poured upon the altar, and it was on the waterless day that Jesus stood on the spot and cried, saying: "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." Then He added these words: "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water." The Apostle adds the interpretive comment: "But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified."

"As the Scripture hath said." There is no such passage in the Scripture as that quoted, but the prophetic part of the water ceremony was based upon certain Old Testament symbols and prophecies In which water flowed forth from Zion to cleanse, renew, and fructify the world. A study of Joel 3:18 and Ezekiel 47 will supply the key to the meaning, both of the rite and our Lord's promise. The Holy Ghost was not yet given," but He was promised, and His coming should be from the place of blood, the altar of sacrifice. Calvary opened the fountain from which was poured forth the blessing of Pentecost. The descent of the Spirit depended upon the. ascent of the Son.

The Promise of the Son

The promise of the Father becomes explicit in the promise of Jesus.

For the greater part of His ministry He rarely mentioned the Spirit. On the eve of His Passion He spoke of Him with amazing fullness. Until then there had been no need to speak of Him, except to warn those who were in danger of "eternal sin" through their blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Neither were they ready to hear of Him. When the time came for the Son to return to the Father, it was necessary that His own should know about the Comforter whom He would send to them. The promise is complete. It summed up all the teaching of prophecy, and anticipated all the development in experience. Those who would know the doctrine and work of the Spirit should study carefully the words spoken about Him in the Upper Room. They should be underlined, searched into, read over and over again, and prayed through till they are received into the mind and made the possession of the heart. There are seven fundamental statements about the Spirit in the promise of the Son.

1) That the self-same Spirit that had been given to the Son would be given to them

2) That He would be to them all that He had been to Him

3) That He would be to them all that the Son had been to them and more

4) That He would be in them as the Son' had been with them

5) That they would gain in Him more than they would lose in the departure of Christ

6) That He would be the Paraclete, or Other Self of the Christ, and through His indwelling the Christ would live in them

7) That His Mission was to glorify the Son by taking of the things of Christ and making them available to us

Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Paraclete. It is unfortunate that "Paraclete" should have been translated "Comforter," for the ministry of consolation hardly enters into Christ's promise. The margin of the Revised Version suggests the Latin word "Advocate" as the nearest equivalent to Paraclete, and if "Advocate" is substituted for "Comforter" in St. John 14 to 16, it is astonishing how illuminating it becomes. The Spirit is not our Advocate, but Christ's. An advocate appears as representative of another, and the Holy Spirit comes to represent Christ, interpret and vindicate Christ, administer for Christ in His Church and Kingdom; to be to the believer all that Christ Himself was, and is -- with this difference, that the Christ was with His disciples and the Spirit is in them.

The Promise of the Spirit

St. Paul speaks of "the supply of the Spirit." All the promises of God are made possible by the Holy Spirit. All our wants are met in His supply. He is the all-inclusive gift. In Him, and by Him, and through Him is the supply of all our need. He is the Spirit of Truth and Life, of wisdom and might, of grace and love. He knows the deep things of God, and teaches the heart the secret of prayer. He takes of the things of Christ, and makes them known to both mind and heart. He is the source of Divine energy and power, and through Him the inner man receives strength. "The supply of the Spirit" fulfills every need.

The Church is the Minister of Supply. The measure of our usefulness is the measure of the supply of the Spirit which we bring. The work of God is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Living God. It is useless to attempt in the energy of the flesh what can be accomplished only in the power of the Holy Ghost. The promise of the Spirit covers every present need, and guarantees the consummation of redeeming grace. He is both seal and earnest. He secures us to God for an inheritance for His own possession; and He secures to us a glorious, complete, and eternal inheritance in God. That is why the gift of the Spirit always sets the heart singing. Its confidence is unwavering, its power is invincible, and its joy unspeakable.

Have ye received the Holy Ghost? There are many who have believed of whom the words of St. John are still true: He is "not yet given," and the reason is the same, for the Coronation gift always comes when the King is crowned.

Chapter 4: Pentecost

What happened at Pentecost? There was something that began a new era for the world, a new power of righteousness, a new mission of redemption, and a new basis of fellowship. What was it that made Pentecost the birthday of the Church of Christ? It is not enough to say the Holy Spirit was given. In what sense was He given?

Before Pentecost

The Spirit of God has been active in the world from the beginning. He brooded upon the face of the waters when the earth was without form and void, and the order of creation was the result of His brooding. In the Old Testament He is the creative Agent, Sustainer, and Renewer of the world of Nature. He is the Lord and Giver of life. In Ezekiel's vision the forces and machinery of nature were impelled and controlled by the Spirit of God that dwelt in the wheels. It was God's gift of His Spirit to man in creation that distinguished man from the rest of His works.' What else can it mean when it is said, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust or the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul"? Breath is the word for Spirit. It is a picture word. God does not breathe. The Spirit is not wind. It is a figure of speech to illustrate the fact that God communicated to man the life which was within Himself, God breathed into man His Spirit and man became a living soul. It was by the Spirit of God that man was made in the image of God, and it was by the Breath of God in His Son that there was given unto man again the gift of the Holy Ghost. On the evening of Easter Day the Risen Lord breathed upon His disciples and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." He communicated to them the Life which He had in Himself.

"There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty giveth understanding." "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty giveth me life." All through the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is creative, directive, energizing. He came upon Moses, Bezaleel, Samson, Gideon, Samuel; and all the prophets spake by Him. Every creative period had its gift of the Holy Ghost. The manifestations are occasional and special. There is in them a consciousness of limitation and incompleteness, and prophets like Isaiah and Joel foretold a day of fullness of the Spirit which would be the crowning gift of redeeming grace. In the New Testament the Spirit of God is the active Agent in salvation, but in the Gospels lie was "not yet given," and our Lord Himself was straitened until His baptism was accomplished, and He had "sent fire upon the earth." The Spirit was in the world, but "not yet given."

At Pentecost

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came as He had never come before. The signs were not new except in their combination and intensity. The Wind and the Fire and the Tongues had all been associated with the gift of the Spirit, but they were now intensified, enlarged, and distributed to a community of believers. There was a sense of overflowing fullness. Something had happened in the cosmic order that sent forth the Spirit of God in larger measure, with new powers and enlarged opportunities. He was the gift of God to His Son, and the gift of His Son to the world. He came to fulfill the mission for which Christ came into the world. He is our Lord's Paraclete, His Advocate, and Administrator. His ministry is redemptive and regenerative. In Him the Risen and Ascended Lord finds His enlarged opportunity. The straitening is past. He is exalted far above all rule, and authority, and dominion, and power, and to Him are given all authority in heaven and on earth, and the fullness of "Him that filleth all in all."

He had said, "It is better for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter, the Paraclete, will not come to you." The inference is that the presence of the Spirit is better than the bodily presence of Jesus. That is a strange word. Why could not the Spirit come if Jesus did not go away? Why should the coming of the Spirit wait for the going of Jesus? It is not difficult to understand that the Spirit found the fullest opportunity of manifestation in Jesus. To none but Jesus had He ever been able to come "without measure," but why wait to come upon such men as Peter and James and John?

The gift of the Spirit is inseparable from the work of the Son. Is it not true to say that Deity gained new experience of humanity in Jesus Christ? Our great High Priest learned obedience by the things He suffered, and because He is touched with the feeling of our infirmity, He is able to succor and mighty to save. By the sufferings of Christ the Throne of God is the Throne of Grace where mercy and help are found. If Jesus needed to learn that He might be our Great High Priest, was there not a reason for waiting till that was accomplished before the Spirit could be given? The Scriptures are reticent about the Holy Spirit, which means that the Spirit is reticent about Himself, but they do make it clear that the Spirit is the crowning gift of redemption through Jesus Christ, and the Spirit was through it all. As the Son learned and thereby entered into the Priesthood of Grace, so the Spirit was prepared to be His Paraclete in the Church and the world. In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, and when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, "they were altogether in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

After Pentecost

The change in the Apostles was more wonderful than any of the marvelous portents of the day. The wind and the fire passed, but the transformation remained. It is easy to see the difference in Peter, but it was no greater in him than in the rest. All that Jesus had promised had come to pass. Pentecost interprets the Upper Room. The Paraclete had come, and they were comforted. The Spirit of Truth had come, and they knew. The witness to the Christ had come, and they became witnesses. The Executant of the Kingdom had come in power, and each found himself under authority and speaking as the Spirit gave him utterance. Fear had gone. They no longer sat with closed windows and bolted doors for fear of the Jews. They feared no one. They were afraid of nothing. They no longer spoke with bated breath. They proclaimed the truth concerning Jesus in the open streets of the city where Jesus had been murdered, and within six weeks of His death. A new power was at work. The Lord Jesus had said that when the Spirit was come He would convict of sin, and righteousness, and judgment; and, lo, multitudes were smitten, and three thousand souls cried for mercy. It was indeed "a great and notable day." The world had never seen such a day. The angels had never seen such a day. Neither had Satan and his hosts of spiritual darkness ever seen such a day.

The vital thing that happened at Pentecost is that the Spirit of Jesus came to abide in the hearts of men in the power of God. That is the difference Pentecost made. "Ye know Him, for He abideth with you and shall be in you." It is the difference from with to in, plus the difference in Christ by His exaltation and coronation. Through that indwelling Presence Pentecost makes us one with Christ as the Son is one with the Father: "I in you, and ye in Me." So the Spirit brings the Life of Jesus into the soul; by Him we say, "Christ liveth in me."

What did Pentecost do for men? It brought a new dynamic of righteousness. From the beginning there has been the light lighting every man that cometh into the world; a light the darkness could neither apprehend nor overcome. In the incarnation of the Word made flesh, the Light came into the world. Pentecost focused the light. He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. There is a new power of conviction. Men were pricked in their hearts as they had never been pricked before. That conviction centers in Christ and is wrought by the Spirit.

Pentecost brought a new fellowship. That is the abiding miracle. Community of the Spirit of Jesus issued in community of life in His Name. The Kingdom of God henceforth is a new theocracy, permeated, dominated, sanctified in the Spirit of Pentecost. The new thing is not in the wind and fire, or the gift of tongues, but in the possession of the Spirit by each for the good of all.

That which happened at Pentecost is the biggest thing that ever happened. And now the biggest question of all is, has it happened to you and me? Have ye received the Holy Ghost?

Chapter 5: The Gift of the Holy Ghost

Pentecost is the crowning miracle and abiding mystery of grace. It marks the beginning of the Christian dispensation. The tongues of fire sat upon each one of them. The word "sat" in Scripture marks an end and a beginning. The process of preparation is ended, and the established order has begun. It marks the end of creation, and the beginning of normal forces. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." There is no weariness in God. He did not rest from fatigue. What it means is that all creative work was accomplished. The same figure of speech is used of the Redeemer. Of Him it is said: "When He had made purification of sins, [He] sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." No other priest had sat down. The priests of the Temple ministered standing, because their ministry was provisional and preparatory, a parable and a prophecy. Christ's own ministry was part of the preparation for the' coming of the Spirit. Until He "sat down" in glory, there could be no dispensation of the Spirit. John says of our Lord's promise in the Temple: "This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified." The descent of the One waited for the ascent of the Other. When the work of redemption was complete, the Spirit was given, and when He came He "sat." He reigns in the Church, as Christ reigns in the Heavens. This is the dispensation of the Spirit.

The Holy Ghost is God's gift to the Church of His Son. For the work of Redemption the Son of God emptied Himself of the prerogatives of His Divine status, but for His ministry the Father gave Him the Spirit, and at its close "He made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly sphere, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every Name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Pentecost is the sequel of the Son's investiture. "Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath poured forth this, which ye see and' hear."

The Spirit in the Church

The sphere of the Spirit is in the Living Temple of sanctified humanity. He dwells not in temples made with hands. The Temple at Jerusalem was a permitted mistake, as surely as the kingship of Israel. In the New Jerusalem there is no Temple. The Tabernacle was a type of heavenly realities. The Temple sought to give solidity, permanence, and magnificence, to that which God meant to be provisional and typical. God cares nothing for costly buildings, and everything for loving hearts. He seeks men. He wants men. He needs men. He dwells in men. Immanuel is the first word and the last of the Gospel of grace. In a powerful plea for the life of prayer, E. M. Bounds says: "God's plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God's method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men." He has staked His kingdom on men. He has trusted His Gospel to men. He has given His Spirit to men. The Church is on the stretch for new methods, new plans, new buildings, new organizations, but "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." The Holy Ghost does not come upon methods, but upon men. He does not anoint machinery, but men. He does not work through organizations, but through men. He does not dwell in buildings, but in men. He indwells the Body of Christ, directs its activities, distributes its forces, empowers its members.

Those gathered in that Upper Room "when the day of Pentecost was fully come" had been prepared for His coming. They were disciples who acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus. They had realized His saving power, and surrendered all to His Sovereign will. For ten days they had been in prayer, and for the greater part of three years they sat at the feet of Jesus. When they realized His Sonship He blessed them, and now the promise of the fiery baptism is fulfilled. The Spirit "sat upon each one of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." He had come to reign over each and all. Jesus Christ had defined His mission, and outlined His program. He was to unify them into one Body, guide them into all truth, and strengthen them for all service. In the Church He is the supreme executive, but He has His seat in the soul. He directs all things from the spiritual center of the inner life. The body prepared for the Eternal Son was born of a Virgin; the body prepared for the Indwelling Spirit is begotten of faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. The Church is the sphere of His ministry, the agent of His purpose, the place of His Presence.

The Spirit in the Believer

"The Spirit sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled." The whole is for each, and each is for all. The study of Pentecost reveals what the gift did for individual men, as well as for the whole company.

The Spirit in the World

It is this mystery that has filled the history of the Church with anomalies. Inadequate men are always doing impossible things, and ordinary men achieve extraordinary results. God's biggest things seem to be done by the most unlikely people. Unknown Davids kill terrifying Goliaths. The weak confound the mighty, and things hid from the learned and wise are made known to unlearned and ignorant men. The All-wise seems to delight in nothing so much as turning the wisdom of the vain to folly, and the strength of the proud to shame. He has declared the insufficiency of all but Himself, but man struts and sets himself to demonstrate his own sufficiency. Pride of logic, pride of skill, pride of personality, pride of power, perpetuate the spirit of Babel in the Church of God with the same inevitable result. It ends in defeat, disaster, and dishonor. There is no conquest of the world for God but by the Holy Ghost. He alone can convict the world "in respect to sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." There is no other power that can do that, and without conviction there can be neither the salvation of the soul nor the coming of the Kingdom. Our one lack is the power that comes of the Spirit. For holiness and for service, for prosperity and for victory, He is our one need. The Spirit is God's gift. The power cannot be bought either with money or merit. A gift can only be received or rejected. This gift is for all who believe and crown Jesus Christ in their hearts. Peter moves in the blaze of the sun. Throughout the gospel narrative he is a man of generous impulses, with many failings. He utters his resolves with the emphasis of the irresolute, and often fails in the hour of testing. Pentecost reveals him transformed. He has the certainty of revealed truth in his speech, and the confidence of invincible power in his bearing. The man who cringed and skulked a few days ago stands upon both feet, utterly destitute of fear. Temperament and natural aptitude are unchanged, but the man is radiant with a new energy, transfigured with a new Spirit, effective with a new power. The Spirit of Christ has clothed Himself with Peter. He speaks with the same Galilean accent; but the utterance is of the Holy Ghost. St. Paul put the same truth another way when he said: "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me." The indwelling Presence is clothed with sanctified manhood, and becomes the very life of life, and the very soul of the soul, "I live; yet no longer I."

The Apostle attributes all spiritual effectiveness to the indwelling power. "Our sufficiency," he says, "is of God Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." There are other kinds of ability than that which comes of God through the Spirit, but they are death-dealing and never life-giving. It is the Spirit that quickens. Everything else fails. The letter may be faultlessly orthodox, the method may be marvelously ingenious, the man may be tremendously earnest, but only the God-made, God-inspired, God-enabled avails. Carnalities kill. The power that quickens, transforms, perfects, is of God the Spirit. There never was so much human perfection in the Church, but the New Jerusalem is not built up by the powers of Babylon; it comes down out of Heaven from God. Believers without the Holy Ghost cannot do the work of the Spirit.

Chapter 6: The Pentecostal Life

When Andrew Murray was led to write on "The Temple of the Holy Spirit," he said with reverential awe: "I will meditate and be still, until something of the overwhelming glory of the truth fall upon me, and faith begin to realize it: I am His Temple, and in the secret place He sits upon the throne." Then, when he had written, this prayer rises like incense: "I do now tremblingly accept the blessed truth: God the Spirit; the Holy Spirit; who is God Almighty dwells in me O my Father, reveal within me what it means, lest I sin against Thee by saying it and not living it."

Hour after hour, since I wrote the headline of this chapter, my mind has been held in the same reverential awe. I have written and preached much on the Holy Spirit, for the knowledge of Him has been the most vital fact of my experience. I owe everything to the gift of Pentecost. It came to me when I was not seeking it. I was about my Heavenly. Father's business, seeking means whereby I could do the work to which He had called and sent me, and in my search I came across a prophet, heard a testimony, and set out to seek I knew not what. I knew that it was a bigger thing than I had ever known. It came along the line of duty, in a crisis of obedience. When it came I could not explain what had happened, but I was aware of things unspeakable and full of glory. Some results were immediate. There came into my soul a deep peace, a thrilling joy, and a new sense of power. My mind was quickened. I felt that I had received a new faculty of understanding. Every power was vitalized. My bodily powers were quickened. There was a new sense of spring and vitality, a new power of endurance, and a strong man's exhilaration in big things. Things began to happen. What we had failed to do by strenuous endeavor came to pass without labor. It was as when the Lord Jesus stepped into the boat that with all their rowing had made no progress, "immediately the ship was at the land whither they went." It was gloriously wonderful.

The things that happened were the least part of the experience. The wind and the fire and the tongues excited most comment, but they vanished, and it was the realities that remained that were most wonderful. The experience gave me the key to all my thinking, all my service, and all my life. Pentecost gave me the key to the Scriptures. It has kept my feet in all the slippery places of all sorts of criticism. The things that are stumbling blocks to so many are steppingstones to me. The inexplicable becomes plain when we recognize the Presence and Law of the Spirit. It balances scholarship, and gives discernment beyond all human learning. Indeed, learning without the Holy Ghost blinds men to the realities of Divine truth. The man who thinks he can know the Word of God by mere intellectual study is greatly deceived. Spiritual truth is spiritually discerned. The soul sees with the eyes of the heart, and they are opened by the Holy Spirit. The knowledge He gives is something more than information it is knowledge that leads to trust, knowledge that brings life, and knowledge that inspires love. The same Spirit gave me a new understanding and experience of prayer, and with these gifts there came a new enduement of wisdom and power. From the first day of my Pentecost I became a seeker and a winner of souls.

A Definite Experience

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a definite and distinct experience assured and verified by the witness of the Spirit. The disciples who were commanded to "Tarry until they were endued with power from on high" had already received the Spirit for salvation. It is puerile to say they were not already saved. Our Lord places that question for ever beyond doubt in His intercession for them on the eve of His passion. They were His. He had kept them by His power, given them the eternal Word, and they were not of the world even as He was not of the world. Still they were commanded to tarry for the fullness of the Spirit. Of the believers at Samaria it was said that when Peter and John came down they prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost, for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:14-17). Of the group of believers at Ephesus, Paul asked: "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" The Revised Version renders it, "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" (Acts 19:2). In any case the receiving of the Holy Ghost was so definite an experience that they were expected to know whether they had received the gift or not. Their answer was an emphatic "No." and they added that they had not so much as heard whether the Holy Ghost was given.

The experience is distinct from that of Regeneration. Of those who had believed and been baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, it was said they had not yet been baptized of the Holy Ghost. It is evident, therefore, that a man may be born again of the Spirit and not be baptized with the Spirit. In regeneration there is a gift of life by the Spirit, and whosoever receives it is saved; in the baptism of the Spirit there is a gift of power, and by it the believer is equipped for service and endued for witnessing. In the Corinthian Church there were many believers who were not filled with the Holy Ghost, though they were rich in the gifts of the Spirit. Nevertheless, it is the inheritance of every believer to receive the gift of the Spirit, to be baptized with the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit; and to this definite experience thousands have testified. They were born again of the Spirit, and afterwards, sometimes a long time after, and sometimes after a little while, there came a conviction of need and an assurance of Faith through the Word of God by which they entered into an experience of sanctification and the abiding fullness of the Spirit.

The question of Paul to the converts of Apollos proves that we may be Christians and not filled with the Spirit. There are many Christians of whose devotion and Christian experience there can be no doubt who have never had a Pentecost; and they know it. Sometimes they grieve over their lack and sigh for the blessing. Pentecost is the gift of power. The Spirit fills, vitalizes, and energizes with the power of God. Deliverance from sin, efficiency in service, and effectiveness in witnessing are given with the fullness of the Pentecostal blessing. Power to move the world for God and to win souls for Him is neither intellectual nor social, but is in the fullness of the Spirit of God in the soul. "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

Ye Shall Know Ask...

The promises of our Lord concerning the Spirit gather around the centers knowledge, prayer, service. In that day "ye shall know," "ye shall ask," "ye shall do." Certainty, prayer, work. Certainty in knowledge, assurance in prayer, power in service.

The fullness of the Spirit brings the certainty of revelation to the soul. The men of Pentecost knew the things of God. No theological instruction could have given Peter the doctrine he preached concerning Christ's life, death, and resurrection. In that day ye shall know, said Jesus, and when the day came they knew; and they knew the things Jesus had said they should know. They knew the essential relationship between Christ and God. The mystery baffles all investigation, but it was made known to them when the Spirit of the Lord "sat upon each of them." They knew the mysterious union of the believer With Christ, that we are in Christ, as the Son is in the Father. It can never be explained, but there is no uncertainty in the knowledge. The secret is disclosed to the heart, and no one sees the writing but the soul that receives it. They knew that Christ is also in the believer as surely as the Christ and the Father are one. There are no words in the Bible quite so profound as these seven tiny words, "Ye in Me, and I in you"; but the gift of Pentecost reveals their mystery and establishes their certainty. The Spirit-filled KNOW. They have knowledge that does not depend upon intellectual capacity, scholarly training, or even on experience, and their certainty is the secret of their power. They have knowledge that comes not of flesh and blood, but from the Spirit Who knows the deep things of God, for He is Himself God. And the Spirit not only reveals the deep things of God, but gives also illumination for all the practical affairs of life. All questions are answered in Him. The Spirit-filled are not left in uncertainty as to the mind of God. Pentecost brings a pervasive light, according to the words in I John 2:27, "the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him."

The Pentecostal blessing makes the believer mighty in prayer. "In that day ye shall ask in My Name, and whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name He will give you." Prayer is an impossible task without the Holy Ghost. We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. There are two kinds of praying. Before Pentecost we pray in the Spirit, after Pentecost the Spirit prays through us. "He maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered." None but the Spirit-filled know that kind of praying. It is the kind that wrought miracles in the Acts of the Apostles, and to this day prevails. It pleads the Name, enthrones the Name, and claims the Name. It prays in His will, presents His promise, and decrees in His Power. Prayer brings Pentecost, and Pentecost makes prayer omnipotent for all the will of God. The Spirit instructs and inspires prayer, gives intelligence and intensity to intercession, and brings reality and joy to communion with God. The Spirit-filled love to pray, and prayer that is in the Spirit must prevail.

Pentecost is always associated with power. The final promise of our Lord was, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Power. Everywhere in the Scriptures He is associated with the might of Almighty God. In the Old Testament He wrought mightily, even though "He was not yet given." In the New Testament He is God's crowning gift of Power. He clothes Himself with sanctified men and women, "that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." The measure of our power is in the energy of the Holy Spirit, working in us and through us. All fullness of life, all resources of vitality, all certainty of assurance, all victory over sin and the flesh, all prevailing power in prayer, all certitude of glory -- all and everything is in the Indwelling Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Inheritance of the Spirit-Filled

Romans 8 is the fullest exposition of the life which comes through "the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus." It is the charter of the believer's inheritance in the Spirit.

1) Pentecost Brings Deliverance

The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus makes men free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. He is the Spirit of Power, and the first demonstration of power is emancipation. He breaks the power of canceled sin. There is no bondage from which He cannot deliver. He breaks the fetters of the soul, and opens the prison doors of the redeemed. Salvation comes with the suddenness of a mighty rushing wind and as with the flash of fire; or it may come as the breath of the morning and the light of the dawn. However it comes, it comes to set men free from all that brings into bondage and condemnation. It is the Gospel of Liberty to all imprisoned life. There is no slave the Gospel cannot save. The greatest deliverance of all is from the moral impotence of the dual personality of chapter 7. The measure of completeness is in the word: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." They are delivered from all and everything that brings condemnation.

2) Pentecost Brings Abounding Vitality

Our Lord came that we might have abundant and abounding life, and it is found in the Gift of the Spirit of Life. The Gift of God is Living Water, springing up into everlasting life. Living water is the water of vitality from the Eternal Source of Life. The law i. good, but weak through the flesh, ineffective through human infirmity. The Holy Spirit strengthens the inward man. The Spirit of Life dwells in men, permeates their being, sanctifies their nature, quickens their powers, vitalizes their mortal bodies, and radiates their life. They live -- really live! They live the life that is life indeed. Pentecost turned anemic believers into exuberant saints. People said they were drunk, and so they were, but not with wine. They were vivacious with abounding vitality. Pentecost wakens people up. It vitalizes latent powers, and makes the utmost of every faculty and gift. Those who would have Life abounding Life, victorious Life, satisfying Life, glorious Life must get to Pentecost. Life is the best medicine for every kind of sickness. It cures all ills, ends all weariness, and conquers death all the time.

3) Pentecost Brings Understanding

Where did Peter get the sermon he preached on the Day of Pentecost? He did not read it from a carefully prepared manuscript. This fisherman Apostle is always surprising us with the things he knows. Who taught him? How did he know the hidden meanings of Prophecy? How did he come to understand the philosophy of history so that he could say with certainty, "This is that"? How came he to understand the meaning of the Cross and to discover the explanation of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Who instructed him in these things? The Master tells how he had come to know that He was the Christ the Son of God; and that one explanation explains the rest. He knew by the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation. The Spirit of Truth guides into all Truth. "In that day ye shall know." We know by the Spirit that we are sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ. The Spirit Himself is our Witness. We know that the world is redeemed, and therefore travails in Hope, waiting for its redemption through "the revealing of the Sons of God"; a new Creation by Regeneration. We know, and do not despair. "We know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose." We know, and are not as others in the day of adversity. We know God. We know, and we know that we know. We know that at the last we shall be saved, and shall stand approved in Christ at the Throne of God. None shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. Nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. "In that Day ye shall know." The Spirit is familiar with the deep things of God, and He takes of the things of Christ and reveals them unto those who receive Him. He is the Spirit of Wisdom as well as of Revelation. He leads in practical wisdom, as well as guides into all Truth. He makes men wise with the wisdom that is from above.

4) Pentecost Brings a New Fellowship in Prayer

"And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered; and He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" That is the secret of prevailing prayer.

5) Pentecost Brings Power

That was the specific promise of Christ. "Ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me." Witnessing prevails over the enemy. "We are more than conquerors," says St. Paul, and St. John ascribes the victory to testimony. "And they overcame him [Satan] because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death" (Rev. 12:2). The Spirit of Power is given for witnessing. The testimony of Pentecost was mighty. It is always mighty in the demonstration of the Spirit.

6) Pentecost Brings the Fire of God

Fire is the chosen symbol of Heaven for moral passion. It is emotion aflame. God is love; God is fire. The two are one. The Holy Spirit baptizes in fire. Spirit-filled souls are ablaze for God. They love with a love that glows. They believe with a faith that kindles. They serve with a devotion that consumes. They hate sin with a fierceness that burns. They rejoice with a joy that radiates. Love is perfected in the Fire of God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. 7) Pentecost Brings Passion for the Souls of Men The eighth chapter overflows into the ninth. The experience consummates in anguish and tears for the lost. There is no sterner test of Grace than the attitude to the lost. Pentecost leads back to Gethsemane, for it baptizes into Christ's Baptism of Redeeming Passion. Spirit-filled hearts are always tender, and they see men through the tears of a holy compassion.

Chapter 7: The Indwelling of the Spirit

Inwardness is the distinctive feature of the Spirit. The Son of God reveals and works from without, but the Spirit of God dwells and works from within. The Son is the Word. He reveals the Living and Eternal Truth and is the express image of the invisible and Glorious God. The Spirit is the secret Presence. He is the source of Life and Truth; the very soul of the universe, and the source of Light and Life, Wisdom and Power. He is behind the Word, within the Strength, the Dweller in the innermost of all secret places.

In all the Old Testament references to the Spirit there is the suggestion of inwardness. At the Creation, God made the heavens and the earth, but the Spirit is said to have brooded over the face of the waters, as if He would beget rather than create. The Son is said to have made the worlds, but there is no suggestion of the Son brooding over Creation. When God threatened to destroy the world for its wickedness, He said, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." Striving implies an inward contest rather than an outward compulsion. From within He sought to instruct, correct, and save. Again, when God chose Israel to be His peculiar people, Nehemiah says, "Thou gavest also Thy Good Spirit to instruct them." The instruction covered a wide area, from Bezaleel, the craftsman, who was filled "with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship," to the Prophets, who "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." There is one marginal reading in the Revised Version that is both emphatic and illuminating: "The Spirit of the Lord clothed Itself with Gideon." He did not come upon him like a garment, but the Spirit clothed Himself with Gideon as with a garment.

From "With" to "In"

The distinction is patent enough in the New Testament The very first word of Promise concerning the Spirit in the Upper Room emphasizes it. "Ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you." The change from with to in marks the transition from one dispensation to another. The very essence of the Christian religion is in the realized Presence of God in the soul, and this Presence is the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit. There is often some confusion in the inter change of terms, and the elimination of the middle factor. The Son comes in the coming of the Spirit, and abides in the soul in the presence of the Spirit; and in the coming of the Son through the Spirit the Father comes and abides also. "He will come... I will come... We will come" all refer to the Coming of the Spirit as promised in our Lord's farewell talk with His disciples (John l4:16-23) "In their relation to the human soul the Father and the Son act through and are represented by the Holy Spirit. And yet the Spirit is not merged in either the Father or in the Son." There is absolute unity with perfect distinction of Persons in the Trinity. They are never confused in the unity nor divided in the distinction. Each is Divine and all are One.

The Spirit works from within, That is the distinction that makes all the difference. There were things Christ could not do that are possible to the Spirit for this very reason. "He that abideth with you shall dwell in you"; and so it came to pass. "The Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us." Auguste Sabatier says:-- "It is not enough to represent the Spirit of God as coming as a help of man's spirit, supplying strength which he lacks, an associate or juxtaposed force, a supernatural auxiliary. There is no simple addition of divine power and human power in the Christian life. The Spirit of God identifies Himself with the human ME into which it enters and whose life it becomes. If we may so speak it is individualized in the new moral personality it creates." The Spirit of God identified with the human Me; the human Me identified with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and the experience of Gal. 2:20 is the result. That is as our Lord promised. He that is with you, shall be in you. "I in you, and ye in Me."

The Spirit in the Son

St. Paul singles out the fact of our Lord's Resurrection to set forth the work of the Spirit in the mediatorial work of the Son. He selects the Resurrection because it was the culminating and representative act, but the same Spirit was in all our Lord's life and ministry. The indwelling Spirit is the key to both His personality and His work. When He became man He emptied Himself of all the prerogatives and privileges of deity. He Himself was unchanged, for He is the same yesterday, today, and for ever, but He laid aside all that belonged to His exalted state and submitted to the limitations of our nature and our lot. But God gave to the self-emptied Son the fullness of His Spirit, and our Lord was in all things dependent upon the Spirit. His body was prepared for Him by the Spirit. He grew in wisdom and in stature under the guidance of the Spirit. His teaching was given to Him by the Spirit, and His miracles were wrought in the power of the Spirit. At the last He offered Himself to God through the Eternal Spirit, and it was the Spirit that brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead. The standard of the Spirit's power is demonstrated in the Son. He is the Spirit's unit of measurement; the standard and sample of what the Holy Ghost can do in and for and through sanctified humanity.

The Spirit in the Believer

The believer's fellowship with the Son is as absolute as the Son's fellowship with the Father. He has no more reserves in His partnership than in His renunciation. He has made possible to us whatever was or is accessible to Him. The gift of His Spirit includes all His inheritance just as the Father gave all in His Son, "He shall be in you." The very same Spirit that was in Him shall be in us. All that He had been to Him He comes to be to us. The Spirit dwells in the believer as He dwelt in the Son. There is no other interpretation to be put on such sayings as these: "Know ye that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" (I Cor. 6:19).

"Ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them" (II Cor. 6:16).

"Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Rom. 8:9).

"But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:11).

What does it mean exactly to say "He dwelleth in you"?

Christian teachers are often disposed to interpret the language of the Scriptures as a strong figure of speech. Dying with Christ, fellowship in His Resurrection, and the mutual indwelling of the believer and our Lord are attempts to express the experience of the soul in its relation to spiritual life and power. They argue that these expressions are not to be taken literally, but as types of great spiritual realities in the soul. What saith the Scripture? The New Testament abounds with teaching and testimony that demand a deeper explanation if the terms used do not involve personality, there is an end of intelligible speech. The indwelling is that of a real, personal, spiritual Presence. It is not a gift that can be located somewhere in the brain or heart of a man, but a personal Spirit that indwells another personality; a personality within a personality by which the Spirit becomes the life of my life, the soul of my soul; an indwelling that secures identity without confusion and possession without absorption. "He that is Christ's not merely has the Spirit of Christ ruling in him, leading him, guiding him, sanctifying him, preparing him body and soul for glorification; but has Him also as the new animating Soul of his soul, Spirit of his spirit, repeating in himself the mystery of the union of two natures in one personality."

That is the mystery of grace that passeth all understanding, and the miracle of grace by which the incarnation is perpetuated in the Body of Christ. That is the mystery of the ages. "In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (St. John 14:20). Of course it is a mystery; a truth that can never be discovered and is known only by revelation. What is promised transcends human clothed Himself with Gideon." Spirit clothing itself achievement and human understanding. "It is a work of Divine Omnipotence and love. The gift of the Holy Ghost is the most personal act of the Godhead. It is the goodness of God alone that must give it. It is His omnipotence that must work it in us. The blessing of Pentecost is a supernatural gift, a wonderful act of God in the soul. It is an unspeakably holy and glorious thing that a man can be filled with the Spirit of God."

The Incarnation of the Spirit

The marginal reading of Judges 6:34 (Revised Version) will help us here again, especially if we read it in the light of New Testament experience: "the Spirit clothed Himself with Gideon." Spirit clothing itself with humanity is the miracle of the incarnation. A body is as necessary to the Spirit as to the Son. For the Son a Body was prepared by the Spirit; for the Spirit a Body is made possible by the Son. The Spirit lived in and through Gideon. The life of Gideon became the life of the Spirit. The man was endued and the Spirit was clothed. The Spirit thought through Gideon's brain, felt through Gideon's heart, looked through Gideon's eyes, spake through Gideon's voice, wrought by Gideon's hands, and yet all the time Gideon was still Gideon and the Spirit was still the Spirit.

The same Spirit quickens our mortal bodies by dwelling in them. Romans 8:11 is a present experience. Calvin says by "mortal bodies" he means "whatever remains in us that is still liable to death. The customary usage is to apply this term to the more material part of us, therefore the word is used, not of the final resurrection, which takes place in a moment, but of the continual operation of the Spirit, which, quickening the flesh, sets up the heavenly life within us." The Spirit that dwells in us quickens our mortal bodies. It does not create new faculties, but it awakens the dormant and develops the latent. The natural endowments of a man are the basis of the Spirit's energy, but there is no part of a man's being that is not vitalized and strengthened by His power. The Spirit gives fullness of life He gives health as surely as He gives life. There is truth at the back of all the vagaries of health movements in the name of the Christian faith, and fear of extremes must not be allowed to frighten us from the truth. Sickness may be and is in the will of God for some of His children, but even in them strength is made perfect in weakness. Faith health is better than faith healing, and the quickening Spirit makes for vitality and vigor as surely as He makes for sanity and spiritual power. The Spirit redeems the material through the spiritual. Creation groans for deliverance through the Spirit, and for social redemption there is no other way of salvation. The Spirit dwells in men, clothes Himself with consecrated humanity, and accomplishes extraordinary things through quite ordinary people on the simple conditions of abiding surrender, implicit obedience, and simple faith.

Chapter 8: The Communion of the Holy Ghost

Communion means partnership. The word passes through various phases in the New Testament, and is variously translated, but the idea of sharing runs through them all. In Luke 5:10, it is said that James and John, sons of Zebedee, were partners with Simon. Paul says of Titus (II Cor. 8:23) that he was his partner and fellow laborer; that is, they were colleagues in the ministry of the Church. Of Philemon and Onesimus it is used in the still more intimate sense of comradeship. The communion of the Holy Ghost, therefore, means that we are partners, colleagues, comrades with the Spirit of God. We are partners in vocation and resources, sharers in work and power. Such communion involves communication. The partners put into the common stock for common ends. The New Testament insists upon this grace of fellowship in the Church. The Christians at Philippi are commended because they communicated with the Apostle in the matter of giving and receiving (Phil. 4:15, 16), and the Romans are exhorted "to communicate to the necessities of the saints" (Rom. 12:13). The rich are charged "that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate" (I Tim. 6:18). This idea of partnership is carried into the highest aspects of our calling. We are called of God "into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (I Cor. 1:9); we are "partakers of His sufferings and His comfort" (II Cor. 1:4-7; Phil. 3:10); and through Him we "become partakers of the divine Nature" (II Pet. 1:4). In all these senses the Holy Spirit of God enters into partnership with us, and becomes to us colleague and comrade, sharing what we have, and admitting us into His Mission and placing at our disposal all the resources of His Person and Power.

Our Fellowship and His

Emphasis is laid upon the fact that He enters into partnership with us rather than that He takes us into partnership with Him. Both aspects are true, for all fellowship must be mutual, but it is never said that our fellowship is with the Spirit. It is always "the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you." In Philippians 2:1, it is "fellowship of the Spirit," and not "with" Him. John says "Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" (I John 1:3). There is no mention of fellowship with the Spirit, and yet "communion" is the special function and distinction of the Spirit. The omission implies that there is a difference between our fellowship with the Father and the Son, and the communion of the Holy Ghost with us. "In the one case we are partakers with Christ; in the other the Holy Ghost is partaker with us. This may possibly be connected with the special intimacy of His communion, by which He, as a Spirit, enters into the deepest and closest relation with our spirits. That is the first form in which we know it; but thereafter there is a reflex fellowship which we come to have with Him. He enters at first into our position, because He fills our heart and sympathizes with all our need. He then leads us to enter into His position; but that is a higher thing."

This distinction makes plain many things. The Christian Benediction ascribes Love to the Father, Grace to the Son, and Communion to the Holy Ghost. These qualities are common to all the Persons of the Trinity, but distinctive of each. Love is attributed to the Son and Spirit, as well as to the Father. Grace is of God the Father as well as of the Son; and our fellowship is expressly said to be with the Father and the Son. There is a distinction, however, that must not be confused. The love of the Father is the origin of Grace; the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the medium of redeeming love; and through the Spirit is communicated both the grace of the Son and the love of the Father. The Spirit is the executive agent of the Father and the Son. He brings us into the fellowship of the Father and the Son by entering into communion with us. The range of our experience of love and grace is therefore determined by the measure of His communion with us. His partnership with us is progressive, and often His progress is hindered because we admit Him into partnership with qualifications. There are reserves of mind and heart and life. His communion is with us. He seeks to come into co-operation with us. The negotiations are from Him, the consent is with us. There are no reserves with Him. He is straitened in us, for all His negotiations wait for our consent.

The Fellowship of the Spirit in the Church

This distinction is observed in all the teaching of our Lord concerning the Spirit. He is the Paraclete, sent by the Father and the Son to abide in the Church until the purpose of redeeming love is accomplished in the world. For all the work of the Church they were to look to Him for light and guidance and power. They were sent forth to witness, interpret, and save, but they were first to receive a Witness and Teacher, and the Spirit of Power. He would be in them and with them. From Him would come the knowledge of the Truth in Jesus, by Him they would have the right word at the critical moment; through Him they should do greater works than they had seen Him do. The Church would be a second Body of Christ prepared and indwelt of the Spirit. In the corporate life of the Church He would find a temple, a medium, and an agent, and in Him the Church would find all its supply of life and grace, wisdom and power.

The basis of His work is always that of communion. That is why the work of the Spirit is always linked with the life of the Church, and the power of the Church is associated with the presence of the Spirit. The Church derives its authority from the Spirit, but the Spirit speaks and works through a praying and consecrated people. The Church that has authority "to bind and to loose" is a Church agreed in prayer and gathered in the Name; and the Church that has power to cast out devils is a Church that believes and prays. The Spirit and the Church cannot be independent of each other. The Spirit needs the Church, and the Church needs the Spirit. They are partners; both necessary, and each dependent upon the other. The success of both is according to the measure of "the supply of the Spirit" through the Church to the world. Power is not in organization, neither is it in wealth or learning. It is still true that this work is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.

Why, then, is the Church bewildered in the day of confusion, and powerless in the presence of both her adversaries and her opportunities? The answer is found in the terms of communion. Conditions exist that make the partnership ineffective. There is "a law of the Spirit" by which His communion is made operative. The laws are few and simple, but they are imperative. He cannot work if they are ignored. Communion must rest on common ground. Its basis is a common bond of union; communion is the outcome of union. In this fellowship the bond is Christ. Where Christ is glorified the Spirit comes to abide, reveal, direct, and work. Through Him we enter into living union with our Lord, for the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God, and by Him we find the unity which brings identity of interest and community of possession. That is why faith and prayer count for so much in the work of the Spirit. Nothing else really matters. These are the things that make possible the fellowship of the Spirit. He asks for nothing more than unreserved consecration to Christ, unclouded simplicity of the open heart, and exultant faith in His grace and power. By these the Churches live and prevail through the fellowship of the Spirit.

The Fellowship of the Spirit in the Believer

The Apostolic Benediction prays: "The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all." All the blessings of communion are for each believer. There is nothing promised to the Church that does not belong to its humblest member. The Spirit of God is not the monopoly of any particular class. There is nothing done by a minister that may not be done by anyone to whom the Holy Spirit is given. Let that be quite clear. Everyone can say: The Holy Ghost comes into partnership with me. He is my Helper, my Witness, my Teacher, my Guide, my Strength. For all the will of God we each have the Spirit with all His resources of wisdom and power. All things are possible to the soul strengthened with His might and led in His wisdom. If these things be true, wherein lies the explanation of our weakness and reproach? Where is the note of certainty in our testimony? Where is the prevailing power of prayer? Where is the power that overturns strongholds and casts out devils?

The communion of the Spirit is with us. He seeks partnership with us. His resources are inexhaustible, and His power invincible, but! but! but! There are reserves, conditions, interests; barriers that hinder, grieve, and quench the Spirit. He is held up by the barriers of unbelief, and prayerless living, worldly ambition, stupid vanity, and inflated pride. He longs for our fellowship. For the sake of Christ and the Kingdom of Grace, He longs to be admitted to confidence and co-operation. He wants a central place in our hearts, and to be admitted to the life of the soul. He comes to co-operate, and co-operation waits for confidence and consent. Where there is "agreement" there is power. Service becomes mighty in this fellowship. All the conditions of power are met in "the supply of the Spirit." Personality is quickened and sanctified. Sympathy is deepened and enlightened, and in sympathy are the discernment that understands and the appeal that woos and wins. Weakness becomes strength when the Spirit of Might comes upon us. Ordinary men become wonderful when clothed with the Spirit of Power.

Weakness is a reproach when such might is at our service. Defeat is dishonor when the partnership of God is rejected. With the communion of the Holy Ghost at our command, what manner of men we ought to be! With such a partnership what mighty works we ought to do! There are no limits to His power. There are no reserves in His communion. There is no respect of persons with Him. Why do we set boundaries to His work, limit His activities, and refuse His appeal? He brings all, let us give all. "The Spirit which He has planted within us jealously longs for our love." He seeks to enter into communion with us in all our life, and in return He will lead us into the communion of all that He has and is. Sign the deed today, and there will come the joy and power of the Holy Spirit of God who is the Spirit of Christ. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all."

Chapter 9: The Spirit of Christ

The Spirit of the Lord God is also the Spirit of Christ. This is the distinctive teaching of the New Testament The progress of the Old Testament revelation of the Spirit finally associates the gift of the Spirit with the promise of the Messiah. "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Jesus Christ claimed that in Him was fulfilled the Messianic prophecy of the Sprit. He opened His ministry at Nazareth with the announcement that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. The Synoptic Gospels reveal the Spirit as the unique power in the life of Jesus, and in St. John's Gospel He is in a unique sense the possession of the Christ, the Son of God. In the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles He is called the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ; and the Christian Benediction, like the Baptismal Formula, associates the Spirit with the Father and the Son. He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Lord the Spirit, and He is known by about twenty-five other Names in the New Testament, but He is the same Spirit. It is this multiplicity of names and functions that leads to so much confusion about the Spirit.

The Indwelling Spirit and the Indwelling Christ

There is confusion in some minds because the New Testament speaks of the indwelling Presence sometimes as the Spirit and at other times as Christ. St. Paul says emphatically, "Christ liveth in me," and that Christ is in man the hope of glory; and yet with equal emphasis he tells us we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost. Does the Risen Lord live in us or is it the Spirit of Christ that dwells in our hearts? The perplexity arises from our imperfect conception of the Persons in the Trinity. With us personality is divisive and exclusive. Each is separate from the rest and must always be a separate personality. Personality in the Trinity is not exclusive but inclusive, not divisive but inherent. God was in Christ, and so also was the Spirit in each is All, and in All is each. The Spirit "proceedeth from the Father and the Son." The indwelling Presence of the Son is revealed and realized in the indwelling Presence of the Spirit. The great Temple Prayer of the Epistle to the Ephesians (3:14-19) includes all the Persons of the Trinity in the Temple of the human heart. The Spirit strengthens the inner man, the Son reveals the Divine love to the heart, and the infinite God fills the whole being with Divine fullness of love, blessedness, and power. As it pleased God that in His Son should dwell the fullness of the Godhead bodily, so it has pleased Him that in the dispensation of the Spirit there should dwell in Him the same fullness; and as in the Son the Father and Spirit were revealed, so in the Spirit are the Son and the Father made known in the soul.

It need not surprise us, therefore, if such close intimacy is expressed in terms that are identical and interchangeable, but the careful reader will observe that the personalities are always distinct. Most modern writers take the view that the Spirit is the New Testament designation for the Risen Christ, perpetuated by the influence of His Spirit in the world, but the New Testament Scriptures speak of the Holy Spirit as a Person, and never merely as an influence. They always speak of Him, and never of It. And the Person of the Christ is never confounded with the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit did not become Christ in the incarnation, nor does Jesus become the Spirit at Pentecost. In one sense it is true that when the Spirit comes it is Jesus who comes again to dwell and rule in the hearts and lives of men, but though the Presence is identical, the Personalities are always distinct. Moberly has expressed the distinction perhaps as clearly as we may ever hope to get it when he says:

"It is not for an instant that the disciples are to have the presence of the Spirit instead of the Son. But to have the Spirit is to have the Son."

The Spirit in the Earthly Ministry of Our Lord

Our Lord said very little about the Holy Spirit during the greater part of His ministry. He confessed freely that He spake and wrought not in His own power, but except where necessity constrained Him to speak, He was silent concerning the Spirit by whom He taught and wrought. The explanation of His silence comes out when, on the eve of His departure, He begins to speak at length of the Paraclete, that should come when He had gone to the Father. The first word shot its revealing light through all the silent years. "Ye know Him, for He abideth with you." Just as seeing Him they had seen the Father, so in knowing Him they had known the Spirit. In Him was the fullness of the Godhead, and as through Him came the revelation of the Father, so by Him was the

All themes that lead us into the inter-relations of the Trinity are "hard to be uttered," but the things that are revealed are intended to be understood, and prayer opens the eyes of both mind and heart. It is no part of faith to shrink from a subject because it involves risk, and demands great caution, sustained attention, and delicate expression. The emphasis of modern theological thought has been for years upon the Kenosis, as stated in Philippians 2:5-7. It is contended that by reason of our Lord's self-emptying there remained nothing that distinguished Him essentially from other men. The contention overlooks the fact that there is a Pleroma as well as a Kenosis. Our Lord emptied Himself, but the Father gave to His self-emptied Son the fullness of His Spirit. He did not cease to be God, but He became in all things human, and was subject to such conditions as were possible to human nature possessed of His Spirit. Through all the earthly life and ministry of our Lord He was indebted to the Presence and Power of the Holy Ghost.

The Spirit of Counsel and Might

Our Lord's life was mapped out for Him. He came to do the Father's Will, and that Will was unfolded and interpreted to Him by the Holy Spirit. He grew in wisdom as in stature, but it is difficult to mark the stages and boundaries of His knowledge. He was led of the Spirit, taught of the Spirit, and strengthened in the Spirit. He never said "Perhaps," never balanced probabilities, never made a mistake. His sagacity never erred, neither did His power fail, and for both He was constantly dependent upon the Spirit that was given without measure.

He spake the words of God as they were given to Him by the Spirit. Five times in St. John's Gospel our Lord claims to be speaking under authority:

"He whom God sendeth speaketh the word of God: for He giveth not the Spirit by measure" (3:34).

"Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His that sent Me" (7:16).

"Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself. but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things" (8:28).

"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I say unto you I speak not from Myself: but the Father abiding in Me doeth His works ... He that loveth Me not keepeth not My words: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me" (14:10, 24).

The same is true of His ministry of power. His first text linked His ministry with the Messianic promise of the Spirit. He was Spirit-prepared, Spirit-called, Spirit-equipped, and Spirit-sent. He did nothing of Himself any more than for Himself. Speaking in the house of Cornelius, the Apostle Peter thus summarizes and accounts for the life of our Lord: "Even Jesus of Nazareth, how that God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." His miracles were all wrought in the power of the Holy Ghost. Even His atoning death was by the Grace of God and through the Eternal Spirit (Heb. 2:9; 9:14), and it was by the same Spirit of power that God raised Him from the dead. From the incarnation to the resurrection, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, were lived and wrought in and through and by the power of the Spirit of the Father and the Son. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God. In Christ the Spirit of God becomes the Spirit of Man in "the Word made Flesh."

It is this truth, so immense in its significance, that is the distinctive revelation of the New Testament and the distinctive note in the life of the Church of Christ. For the Spirit of Pentecost is the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit He gives is the self-same Spirit that inspired, instructed, and animated His own life: His own, very own Spirit, which may be said to be His very self. He calls Him the Paraclete, and assures the distressed disciples that in that day they should know what He could not teach them, and do greater works than He had done. The Spirit is the all-inclusive gift of the Father to His Son, and the crowning gift of the Son to His people. In a deeper and fuller sense than we have yet realized, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and it is in the Spirit of Christ we live the life which is life indeed. The fullness of God is in Christ, and Christ lives in men through His Spirit. He is Himself the gift. He brings all the blessings of Grace, and Wisdom, and Power, but He is the Blesser and the Blessing. There is in the soul a very true sense of a divinely real Presence. The Spirit makes the Presence real. This is the crowning mystery and glory of Grace. The Christian religion is not a set of doctrines about Christ, neither is it a rule of life based upon the teaching and example of Christ. It is not even an earnest and sincere endeavor to live according to the mind and spirit of Christ. It is Life, and that Life is the Life of Christ. It is a continuation of the Life of the Risen Lord in His Body which is the Church, and in the sanctified believer. "Christ liveth in me" is the essence of the Christian religion as set forth in the New Testament. It is not a system, but a Presence; the Spirit of Christ indwelling the spirit of man.

Chapter 10: The Spirit of Power

There are two words for power in the New Testament, one of which stands for authority and the other for force. Much confusion has arisen from the failure to distinguish between them. Just as the two words for perfection stand respectively for completeness and consummation, so the two words for power stand for authority and effectiveness, right and efficiency. The Revised Version has been more careful to preserve the distinction than the Authorized, but it has not been so successful as might have been expected; for instance, in St. John 10:18, where our Lord speaks not of His ability, but of His authority to lay down His life and take it again. Both words are used in St. Luke 9:1: "He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases." When the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us in Thy Name, He said, Behold, I give you authority over all the powers of the enemy" (St. Luke 10:17-19).

Man's Instinct for Power

Man wants power. There is probably no instinct of the human heart so strong as the craving for the sovereignty of power. Might is the attribute of God most coveted of men. Satan snatched at it and fell, and the same craving was the undoing of the human race. "Ye shall be as God," was the appeal that prevailed; and its success was in the fact that it appealed to the craving for sovereignty. Man was made for thrones and dominion. He knew it He snatched at it and fell. Even then the instinct for power remained. It is the dominant passion of the human race and the key to its history. The determination to possess it is responsible for more than half the bloodshed of the world, and its urge has been the dynamic of civilization in all ages. The kingdoms of this world are built on the love of power. Babylon stands in the Bible for the symbol of human ambition. The Tower of Babel was to reach unto Heaven, and make for its people a name that should endure for ever.

"Thou said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the earth. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."

Babylon is not a geographical term, and its spirit is still with us.

Man was meant for the heights. God made him for sovereignty, and he cannot fulfill his destiny without power. God destined him for a Throne; Satan premised him a kingdom, The difference between God's purpose and Satan's promise is a difference of method and purpose. The kingdoms were not the same. Neither was the way the same. God's way is the way of Grace; Satan's is that of lawlessness. God brings it as a gift, for which man must wait in patient obedience and humble trust; Satan bids man snatch at it, demand it as a right, and take it. The devil's doctrine has always been that might is right No authority must stand between man and his will. Animal instinct, the gratification of desire, the passion to have and to know, are declared to be the only justification man needs for taking what he wants, provided he has the power. Satan's way to thrones and dominion is by the assertion of self for self-realization; God's way is by the surrender of self on the altar of sacrifice. Calvary is God's way. In the Kingdom of Heaven the Bleeding Lamb is in the midst of the Throne. and in the midst of everything else that abides. The way of sovereignty is by the way of the Cross. The badge of authority is service, the mark of distinction is humility, and the right to rule is the power to obey. God's way gets there. The other ends in the ditch and the pit.

The Promise of Power

Man needs power. He is of no use without it Dominion is impossible without authority, and authority is useless without power. Man must have power. It is his supreme need. Without power he can do nothing. He needs it for both character and inheritance. He cannot be what he was made to be, and be cannot do what he ought to do, without the right to command and the power to accomplish. The gift of power was the last promise of our Lord and the first declaration of the Spirit.

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

Our Lord promised that the indwelling Presence of the Spirit of God should be in men the all-prevailing source of Power, The Spirit of God is always associated with energy and vitality. He brooded over the chaos of the world and brought it into order and under control. He was God's gift to man at his creation, and it was "the Breath of God" that distinguished man from the rest of His creatures. During the period recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures the Spirit was given to men chosen for special tasks. The prophets foresaw an age in which He would be poured forth upon all flesh and spake of His coming. Jesus manifested the Spirit as He revealed the Father. By His Promise the Spirit was to succeed the Son with increased effectiveness and enlarged dominion. For that reason it was better that He should go away.

The gift of the Spirit is God's gift of power, for effective witnessing, holiness of life, and consecrated service. It gives authority, aptness, and force in speech. On the Day of Pentecost they spake as the Spirit of God gave them utterance. They spake with authority, certainty, and power, because they spake out of an experience of revealed truth interpreted by the Holy Ghost. The power of the keys follows a Divine revelation of God in Christ, and no man has a right to speak for God who has no personal, first-hand knowledge of Him: he certainly will not speak with power. The Spirit of power sanctifies, vitalizes, energizes the natural faculties, and makes possible things beyond their most perfect development. God's man becomes mighty in the power of the Almighty. Personality is the seat of power, and the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit is the gift of a God-possessed personality.

Power in Personality

The gift of the Spirit is a gift of personality. It turns ordinary persons into extraordinary personalities. That is the miracle of Pentecost.

Personality is the discovery of the age. It is not easy to define, but there is a certain currency of ideas and words that give it high rank in all modern thinking. It is meant to imply more than a person. It is a person of distinctive quality. Remarkably enough, the New Testament never uses it. God asks for persons, and turns them into personalities. It is a quality that counts. "For Shamgar slew six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad, and saved Israel; but the men of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle." The reason was not in the weapons, but in the men. Personality is the supreme power. Superior to heredity, stronger than environment, higher than prestige, mightier than adversity, a man's personality conquers, compels, commands. It gives distinction in art, effectiveness to energy, and character to life. In all the work of the world it is personality that counts, and everywhere it is held that the qualities of powerful personality are: courage, strength, sympathy, and sanity. Not one of them can be spared, and I do not know that the order can be changed.

Now "God hath not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of a sound mind." The gift of the Spirit is a gift of personality that possesses man's spirit, quickens man's faculties, sanctifies man's powers, and empowers him for all the will of God.

The Bible nowhere uses the word Personality. It is difficult to imagine how it could be written without the word, but it was. God never asks for personalities. They are the first condition with us in all enterprises that call for power. God asks for persons. There is no Divine quest for supermen. He calls all sorts of people and chooses quite ordinary men and women for His great work. He somehow calls persons, and makes them personalities. He gives power. Our Lord said to His disciples: "Behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you: tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high."

To be clothed means something more than to be covered. The Holy Spirit of God clothes Himself with sanctified humanity, and in Him sanctified humanity is clothed. He fits in with every element of personality, gives power of expression to every faculty, shines in illuminating power upon every theme in reason, conscience, and heart, and brings to pass the ideals, desires. and purposes of God in heart and life. Every kind of power comes in the Spirit: intellectual power, moral power, spiritual power, and physical power. That is the Personality of Pentecost. There is no higher quality of man anywhere, and he can be produced everywhere by the Power of the Holy Ghost. He is the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Holiness, and the Spirit of Power. He quickens the mind, purifies the heart, and strengthens the whole man.

Power! Power belongeth to God, and in the gift of the Spirit He makes all grace abound to us, that we, having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every good work. Power! All things are possible to those who have power. Power! The supreme need of man and the crowning gift of God is Power: power to conquer, power to attain, power to achieve. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Power.

The Laws of Power

All power is conditioned. A very little thing will stop a motor-car, silence thousands of spindles, or plunge a city into darkness. Spiritual power is subject to conditions. Once it failed in the hands of the Apostles. The same chapter that tells of its gift tells how they tried to cast out an evil spirit from a demoniac lad and could not.

The power of the Spirit is inseparable from His Person. God does not let out His attributes. His power cannot be rented. It cannot be detached from His presence. He strengthens by indwelling. Spirit works through spirit. He is not simply the Giver of power. He wields it. No one else can. It is His power working in us that makes us all-powerful for all the Will of God. Is it not in this we so often fail? Is there not often in our praying for power more desire for IT than for HIM? Is it not possible to be more anxious for the achievements of power than for the Spirit of Power? We want visible results, dramatic wonders, mighty works; and it is not always for these the Spirit of Power is given. Power may be as necessary for silence as for speech, and as mighty in obscurity as in high places. He comes to make us effective in all the will of God. In the one Spirit there are diversities both of function and manifestation.

The work of the Spirit depends upon the power of the Spirit. No other power will do. The energy of the flesh cannot do the work of the Spirit For His power there is no substitute. When Zion covets Babylonish gold, envies Babylonish garments, copies Babylonish ways, adopts Babylonish altars, and fights with Babylonish weapons, Her strength fails because the Spirit of Power is lost. Carnal resources are no asset in spiritual enterprise. The weapons of this warfare are not carnal. Prayer brings power, for the Spirit of Power is given to them that pray. Testimony is a chosen weapon of conquest, and the Spirit is given for witnessing. He does not save by argued abstractions, but by living witnesses who testify with power out of the personal certainty of a living experience. It is by the power of the Spirit there comes conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The work of the Church is supernatural. It cannot be done in the strength of the natural man. "It is not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." There is no excuse for failure, no justification for ineffectiveness, for the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Power, and the gift of the Spirit is the inheritance of every believer in Christ Jesus our Lord. "He that is feeble among them at that Day shall be as David; and the House of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them."

Where is the Spirit of Power?

The atmosphere of the Apostolic Church is charged with Divine Power. Their word was with power. Conviction accompanied their speech. Signs and wonders confirmed their testimony. They uncovered the hearts of evil doers, and Heaven put its seal upon their judgments. Rulers trembled in their presence. The dead heard their voice. Disease fled at their touch. Devils were subject to their word. The presence of the Spirit endued men with Divine authority and power. They were sure of the mind of God, for they were taught of the Spirit. They asked and received, for they prayed in the Spirit. They wrought mighty works, for they were strengthened in the might of the Spirit. The normal life of the Church was filled, inspired, and empowered in the fullness of the Spirit of the living God.

The study of Pentecost reveals a startling contrast between the Promise of Power and its absence in the Church of today.

Judged by its own standards of power, the Church is not effectively doing its own proper work. This is the conviction of devout and thoughtful men in all the Churches. Why? Where is now the Lord God of Elijah? Where is the Spirit of Power that raised the dead, cleansed the lepers, cast out devils, and transformed men into saints and heroes of God? So far as external conditions can be judged, they are more favorable to the work of the Spirit than they have been for many years. There is a revolt against materialism and rationalism. There is an intense belief in the reality of the spiritual world. All these things have opened a great and effectual door to the witness of the Holy Spirit of God; and yet the Church has less power than in the days of aggressive antagonism. Why? is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Forsyth as usual puts his finger on the spot when he says: "The arrest of the Church's extensive effect is due to the decay of its intensive faith, while a mere piety muffles the loss." There is no substitute for the Holy Ghost. The sufficiency of the Church is not of men, but of God. The one vital cause of failure in the Church is in the poverty of the spiritual life of its people.

As the Holy Spirit was straitened in the human body and the earthly ministry of our Lord, so is He straitened in the Church which is His Body -- with a difference. There were words the Spirit could not yet speak and works He could not yet do, but there were no limitations of unbelief, unresponsiveness, or disobedience in Christ, whereas in the modern Church there are conditions that make His work difficult, and sometimes impossible.

All the causes of our failure go back to this one common source: Do we believe in the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, the Lord and Giver of Life? Is it not true that there are many who have not go much as heard that the Holy Ghost has been given? Without His guidance wisdom gropes in darkness, and without His strength there is no might. Light becomes darkness, and strength weakness apart from Him. There are many who would save the Church by linking it up with the powers of the world. Christ was the Good Physician Who healed by the Spirit of Life, but the modern Saviour is an Engineer who will redeem by organization and accommodation. The salvation of the world is "not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit. saith the Lord of Hosts." There is no straitening in Him. The reason of our failure is not in Him. He is straitened in us. Is He straitened in me?

Chapter 11: The Spirit of Life

Truth and Life are the distinctive features of the Spirit emphasized in the Nicene Creed. He is said to be the Lord and Giver of Life . who spake by the Prophets. The Lord and Giver of Life! Our Lord said that He was the Life, and the Spirit is said to be the Spirit of Life, just as our Lord is the Truth and the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. The Eternal Word, the Living Spirit, and the Tongue of Fire are a trinity in the Unity of the Revealed Word; and so it is with the Creation, Lordship, and Perfecting of Life. Our Life is in Christ. It is in Him, and from Him, and by Him, and to Him. "In Him was life." "For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son to have life in Himself." He came that through Him men might have life, and have it abundantly. Life is the gift of God in Christ Jesus. The Divine Spirit is the Spirit of Life.

The Lord and Giver of Life

All life is due to the direct action of the Spirit of God. He is its medium and its Lord. The phrase "Spirit of Life" is a comprehensive phrase indicating His relation to all life. By Him came the life of the world. Through all the seasons and millenniums, the earth has been renewed and replenished by the Eternal and Living Spirit of God. To Him the Bible attributes the whole life of man, From Him is every intellectual and artistic gift, every emotional and volitional capacity every gift of grace and love. The Spirit is associated with the whole man. Apart from Him men are dead. It is the coming of the Spirit that gives Life.

That He is the Spirit of Life cannot mean less than that He is the Life-giving Spirit. It cannot mean less than that in the Spirit of the Living God is the Source, Medium, and Agent of living energy, the expression of revealed truth, the secret of divine power, and every other quality and function of Life. The source and seat of all life is in and through Him, for all life is of the Spirit. The Spirit is the Giver of Life, and where the Spirit is not, there is no Life. Life has been defined by the scientists as the dynamical condition of an organism, but the definition confuses more than it makes plain. Life is in its essence of the Spirit, spiritual. It is more than a dynamic, separate from conditions, and distinct from its organism. Life is in itself spirit, and the true life is from the Spirit of Life. It is more than existence, for the Bible speaks of those who are dead while they live. Life has its seat in man's spiritual nature; in his self-conscious reason, his moral sense, and his capacity for the knowledge of and fellowship with God. Life is more than animal existence, just as death is more than physical dissolution. The Spirit of God quickens into life the spirit of man. The body of man is the temple of the Holy Ghost, but He does not dwell in the flesh. Spirit dwells in spirit. The Spirit of God dwell, in the spirit of man; and from that center of life and power He quickens, directs, controls, and sanctifies the whole man. He indwells sanctified men and women. He becomes the spirit of their spirit, the mind of their mind, the heart of their heart, the strength of their strength, and the life of their life.

The sphere of the Spirit is in the realm of life. He gives the Life that is in Christ, and in all things He works through the law of the Spirit of Life. He works and fashions the outward from the inward, and the material through the spiritual. He functions through Life.

The Spirit giveth Life, and the Spirit working through the Life strengthens, directs, and transforms. He reveals the Face of Christ, and transforms into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit All understanding of the Truth as Truth is in Jesus, is by the Lord and Giver of Life Who spake by the Prophets, and is given to guide believers into all the Truth. All Christlikeness of life and character is by the transforming power of Life through the Spirit of the Living God, the Lord and Giver of Life. That is why the work of God in the Church depends upon the Life of the Church. The City of the Living God comes through the Spirit of the Living God. That is why an ecclesiastical dignitary may know less about conversion than a Hallelujah lass of the Salvation Army! That is why spiritual power is so often in inverse ratio to scholastic accomplishments! It is not by might of carnal strength, nor in the power of organized authority, but by the Spirit of the Lord. Life is greater than all the resources of material power.

Life in the Spirit

The Holy Spirit is emphatically both Giver and Lord of the Life that is in Christ "His action covers the whole life from first to last He is the Spirit of Life for regeneration (John 3:5, 8); the Spirit of Sonship for adoption (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6); the Spirit of Holiness for sanctification (Rom. 8:5); the Spirit of Glory for transfiguration (11 Cor. 3:18; I Peter 4:14); and the Spirit of Promise for resurrection (Eph. 1:13; 4:30)." The Believer is born of the Spirit, he believes in the Spirit, prays in the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit. From first to last he is sphered in the Presence of the Spirit, and the Spirit dwells in him; just as in his natural life he lives in the air, and the air dwells in him.

Delivered from the flesh, he lives in the Spirit And what is the life in the Spirit? It is a life lived in the realm of the spiritual. It is a life in which there is no condemnation. Guilt is purged, sin is cleansed away, carnality is destroyed. There is not only an imputed righteousness by grace, but a realized righteousness through faith. The things that bring condemnation have been put away, and life stands approved and accepted in the will of God. Instead of condemnation there is the assurance of Sonship and Heirship in Christ Jesus. The Life of Prayer finds a new intelligence, intensity, and power. The Spirit prays in the praying heart, and prayer in the Spirit prevails. Conquest takes the place of defeat, and the Spirit-filled life prevails in conflict as it prevails in prayer. Consequently there comes to the heart a deep sense of security in the love of God, and a Christlike compassion for the souls of the lost. The Spirit of Christ brings the mind of Christ, and baptizes us into the fellowship of His redeeming love. This is the abundant life Christ came to bring -- the life filled with His Spirit.

The Law of the Spirit of Life

The Spirit is the Ruler, as well as the Giver of Life. Rule means law, and there is a law of the Spirit of Life. There is no escape from law. There is a law of the flesh, a law of the mind, a law of sin, and a law of death. There is no escape from law in the life that is unregenerate. Neither is there any escape for those who live in the Spirit. It is another law, but it is still law. There is a law of faith, a law of grace, a law of truth, a law of life, and a law of the Spirit.

Chapter 12: The Spirit of Truth

Our Lord spake of Himself as the Truth, and of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Truth. The revelation, inspiration, and interpretation of truth are in a special and unique sense the work of the Divine Spirit. God has spoken through His Spirit. It is reasonable to expect that He would. He had made man for fellowship. and it is incredible that God should expect fellowship without mutual speech, especially when the need of revelation became manifest. Had there been no sin man would have still needed a guide to things beyond himself. Someone must have told him of things above and beyond himself, for there are many things that cannot be found by searching. By faith we know these things, but there is no sure basis for faith without revelation. Still more is revelation necessary when sin darkens the understanding. Love could not be silent in the presence of such need and peril. God has spoken He has revealed His mind, declared His will, and set forth His way to Truth, and Life, and Power. By the Spirit of Truth God spake through the Prophets, and by Him has come the inspired and infallible revelation of God.

The Spirit of Revelation

By Revelation is understood those truths made known by supernatural means, because they lie beyond the power of man to discover. Inspiration is concerned with the means and processes by which these truths are made known. Revelation comes by the inspiration of the Spirit of Truth. It is in this way we know anything authentic about creation and the events that happened before man was there to see. The records of these things must be either guesses or revealed truths. The same applies to all that we know of God in His nature and attributes, and still more of His redeeming purpose of love and grace. Many by searching cannot find God, but it has pleased God to make Himself known to the children of men. We know God by revelation, and in the knowledge of Him is the life which is life indeed. To revelation we owe also the knowledge of the final issues of the Kingdom of Grace. The ascended glory and the triumphant Return of our glorious Lord are of such a character that no human mind could have conceived them. The sum of the Divine Revelation is in Jesus Christ the Son of God. Revealed truth is truth "as truth is in Jesus." He is the Eternal Word of God; the oracle of God in human flesh. He is emphatically the truth: the embodiment of Truth, the Word of Truth, and the sum of Truth. The Eternal Word and the Eternal Truth are one. The Incarnate Word is the sum and substance of Truth. In Christ is God's final revelation of Truth, but in the Spirit of Truth is its unfolding, interpretation, and realization. It was the Spirit that made known the Revelation, directed its development, and watched over its integrity.

The Bible is the record of the Revelation of God through the Spirit. The Prophets of the Old Testament claimed to be the spokesmen of God on the ground that they had received a revelation from God. They are God's messengers, for they have heard His voice. They gave account of the way the Word of the Lord came to them, and their claim to speak for Him is that they have received His Word. The same authority is claimed in the New Testament. The Gospel came to the apostles by Revelation. Our Lord despaired of making them understand the Gospel of His Cross, but He assured them that the Spirit of Truth would reveal it to them; and He did. Pentecost was the crowning day of Revelation.

The Spirit and Inspiration

It was in this way the Revelation came from God, and that is how the Scriptures came to be written. The Revelation was before the record, and it was the Revelation that created the necessity for the Scripture. They are the work of the Spirit. Whatever may be the true theory of inspiration, the Scriptures claim a special influence of the Spirit, by which they possess a Divine quality and a final authority. They are inspired and infallible, and therefore the Divine Rule of Faith and Conduct. There was given to inspired speakers and writers of the Divine Revelation a special and unique influence by which they were able faithfully to make known the truth revealed.

The Bible never defines inspiration. It insists upon the fact, but it never attempts to explain the theory. That is left to the theologians, and the theory must be deduced from the facts, and it must take account of all the facts. For all practical purposes, the assurance that it is an energy of the Spirit of Truth, sufficient to secure accurate and adequate expression, satisfies all reasonable demands. The fault of most discussions on inspiration is that they have overlooked some important facts and factors. Some have claimed for the Bible more than the Bible claimed for itself, and others have ignored some of its demands. Both would have escaped their pitfalls if they had taken pains to know the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and understand the relation of the Spirit of Truth to the Word of God.

Modern methods have specialized in the Scriptures, and in nothing has the change wrought been so drastic and, for the time being, disastrous. It is claimed that the orthodox and traditional views have been demolished for ever, and that never again will the Bible be regarded as a Divine and infallible Book. Great sport has been made of the superstitious reverence of the devout who accepted all its parts as equally inspired and of equal value. The so-called traditional view has been ignorantly or willfully misrepresented, or flippantly caricatured. It is difficult to be patient with the spacious shallowness and colossal vanity that masquerade under the claims of modernity and scientific criticism, but it will be plain in the end that they have helped to a better understanding of the Truth. They have taught us much of the human and historical side of inspiration. The Spirit works by human cooperation. He spake by the Prophets. No prophecy came -- as Weymouth translates it, -- of the Prophets' own prompting. Holy men of God spake as they were moved of the Holy Ghost. He moved; they spake. There was no suspension of personal powers, personal consciousness, personal gifts. Inspiration intensified personality. but it neither changed nor confused it. The message was spoken by many voices, and when it came to be written, the writing of the Divine Word was by a man's hand." A careful study of St. Luke 1:14; I Peter 1:11, 12, II Peter 1:21, and Hebrews 1:1 would safeguard our thinking against many errors. There are diversities of inspiration, but one Spirit, and He is the Spirit of Truth. There are sixty-six books in the Bible, but it is one Book. There are many writers, but only one Author. The unity of the progressive Word is the miracle of the Spirit in revealed truth.

The Spirit and Interpretation

Before man can see he must have sight and light. Eyes cannot see in the dark, and light shows nothing to the blind. So with regard to truth there must be the seeing eye and the illuminating light The Word is Truth, but it is the Spirit of Truth that makes it the Living Word. Inspiration ceased within a hundred years. The best writings of the second century reveal a transition that is an  abrupt and abysmal gulf. Creative inspiration gave place to imitative devotion. The Holy Spirit was still in the Church, but He no longer inspired new revelations. "Since the New Testament times the Holy Spirit has illumined truth, but has not revealed anything new."

All agree that we must have an interpreter. The Sacerdotalist holds that the Church is the custodian and interpreter of the Scriptures. He argues that the living voice is more than the written Word. That depends on whose voice it is. We do need an interpreter, an infallible teacher, a trustworthy guide, and the interpreter of the inspired Word is the Spirit of Truth. The mere grammarian cannot find it. The controversialist cannot explain it. The critic knows not its secret. The carnal mind cannot perceive it. The natural man cannot possess it. The twice-born see. The anointed know. The Spirit that revealed illumines, and He that inspired interprets.

The Spirit of Truth honors the Word of Truth. He consents to be tried by the Word of God. Illuminations that come from Him are in harmony with the Word. He guides into all truth. The Sons of God are led of the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot receive Him, but they know Him. In the world the Spirit of Truth convicts, challenges, condemns; to the Spirit-filled He illumines, interprets, and transforms.

Had a Scriptural view of the Person and Work of the Holy Ghost been more powerfully prevalent in the Church, not merely in her formularies, but in reality and life, there would never have been so much occasion given to represent the teaching of the Church on the inspiration of Scripture as "mechanical" and "converting men into automata"; and the whole question would not have assumed such a scholastic and metaphysical form. For then the living testimony and the written testimony would appear both as supernatural and Spirit-breathed. The more the supremacy of the Holy Ghost -- Divine, loving, and present -- is acknowledged, the more the Bible is fixed in the heart and conscience. But if the "Book is viewed as the relic and substitute of a now absent and inactive Spirit, Bibliolatry and Bible-rejection are the necessary results." Without the Spirit of Truth even the Word of Truth is a dead letter. It is the Spirit that quickens, illumines, and interprets the Word.

The Spirit and Illumination

Jesus said: "Howbeit, when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He shall guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak; and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. And He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you" (St. John 16:13, 14).

Divine truth is not of grammar, of learning, or of logic, but of the Holy Spirit of God. He is given to reveal "the deep things."

"The Spirit searcheth the deep things of God." There is no adjective in the Greek. It is not "deep things," but "deeps." There are fringes of the Divine Glory such as Moses and the Prophets saw, and they are glorious and wonderful, but there are depths, abysses, like those of the heavens and the sea. Deep beyond deep, fathoms unfathomable, and these the Spirit of God searches and reveals. He does not search to discover. In Romans 8:27 and in Revelation 2:23 God and Christ are said to "search." It implies thoroughness, and not quest. The Spirit is ever active in fathoming the depths of God. His omniscience is ever exploring and revealing the depths of God. Romans 11:33 unites the ideas of depth and unsearchableness.

The point of the argument is that the deeps in God cannot be known by any other means than the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Just as the deep things in a man are known only to the spirit of a man, so the deeps of God are known only to and by the Spirit of God. Our wisdom cannot discover Him. The princes and rulers of the world's intellect and intelligence cannot know Him. The well is deep, and they have nothing wherewith to draw. The deep things are not discovered; they are received. They are not achieved; they are believed. They are not taught; they are revealed. The Spirit is the Spirit of God, and by Him we know the things of God.

The Spirit is given to glorify Christ No man can know Jesus without the distinct revelation of the Spirit. The deeps of Christ cannot be explored by human wisdom. His life in Nazareth may be reconstructed by novelists, dramatized by genius, and immortalized by art; but the Christ is not in them. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (I Cor. 12:3). The same is true of His teaching. Grammar cannot discover its truth, and the letter killeth. It is also true of His word. The Cross must always be an enigma, a stupidity, and anathema to the wisdom of this world. It belongs to the deeps known only to the Spirit and to those enlightened and instructed of Him. The depths of Christ are unsearchable. The love of Christ passeth knowledge. The grace of Christ is immeasurable. The glory of Christ is unfathomable. There are deeps beyond deep, heights beyond height. Deep calls unto deep, and glory unto glory. To the natural man they are without meaning; to the taught of the Spirit they are eternally sure. We know Him, and we know that we know Him because we have an anointing of the Holy One that takes of the things that are His and reveals them unto us.

The Renewal of the Mind

"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned." Part of the ministry of the Spirit of Truth, therefore, is the preparation and renewal of the mind of man, for receiving the deep things of God. But Who is sufficient to describe the transformation wrought by the Spirit in the consenting mind? The ancient Messianic prophecy finds fulfillment in the simplest believer.

"The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord."

But the Spirit's operation upon the mind does not end with the bestowal of understanding. The Gift of the Spirit brings a sound mind as well as a new Spirit. Both need to be renewed for the reception of Truth as it is in Jesus (Eph. 4:23). The mind must be renewed, for through the renewed mind comes the transformed life and the proving of the will of God (Rom. 12:1, 2). Dedication of the body as a living sacrifice must be sustained by the constant renewal of the mind. The Spirit of God dwells in the spirit of man to guide the mind into all truth. He interprets the mind of Christ, for He takes of the things of Christ and reveals them unto us. It is in this way the Spirit interpreted all things to our Lot. The Spirit worked through His mind. So the prophecy goes on:

"And He shall be quick of understanding, and His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth."

And so the Christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Chapter 13: The Spirit of Holiness

The title of the Spirit most frequently used in the New Testament is the Holy Spirit. The phrase "Spirit of Holiness" occurs but once, and it can hardly be claimed that it refers directly to the Holy Spirit. St. Paul says in Romans 1:4 that as Christ on the hum an side was of the seed of David, so on the Divine side He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection of the dead." It was not the Holy Spirit that the Apostle evidently had in mind, but our Lord's human spirit distinguished by holiness and conquering the powers of death. Elsewhere the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead is attributed to the Holy Spirit; and even if it be the quality of our Lord's own Spirit that made it "impossible that He should be holden of death," the human spirit was equipped, sanctified, and kept by the Divine Spirit. The phrase, however, reaches further than the Resurrection, and implies that, by the Spirit of Holiness, men are sanctified in truth. His work is to glorify Christ and sanctify the saints, making holy the Body of Christ which is His Church.

What is Holiness?

It is unfortunate that the term has ceased to attract even good people. There are many who regard it with suspicion, and some who dismiss it with scorn. It is not uncommon for it to be made the butt of cheap wit and the subject of some doubtful stories. This is all the more surprising because of the emphasis with which the New Testament insists upon its necessity, urges its experience, and enforces its obligations. There is little teaching and testimony on the subject, and, therefore, there is dense ignorance and much misunderstanding. The subject is generally dismissed without inquiry, but even among those who take the trouble to think there is much misapprehension, and the reason is that due attention is not given to the place and work of the Holy Spirit in the sanctification of the Believer. He is the Sanctifier.

The meaning of holiness must be interpreted "according to the Scriptures." It has a Biblical content and value. It is no use to search for it in pagan literature, however classical, for the Biblical idea of holiness is not to be found elsewhere. Even in Israel it was of slow growth, and the idea passed through many stages before it took its complete and final form. Its root meaning is separation, and it was used of things dedicated to religious uses. Then God was conceived of as separate in majesty and apart in character, and holiness was ascribed to Him and His ways. This quality in God demanded a like quality in His people, and to His covenanted people He said, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." He chose them to be "unto Him a holy people." For this purpose He called them out from among the nations. They were to be unto Him "a peculiar people" in whom all men should see a holy and sanctified people. Holiness had its positive as well as its negative side. They were to be distinguished by moral and spiritual excellence as well as by ceremonial and national distinctions. Holiness is an experience as well as an attitude, a life as well as a separation. Their separation unto God was to be manifest in their likeness to Him. The supreme revelation and standard are in Jesus Christ. He revealed the Holy Father and made manifest the Holy Spirit, thereby making known in both God and man the Spirit of Holiness.

Believers are called unto holiness. "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." "God chose you from the beginning in sanctification of the Spirit." Without holiness grace fails in its purpose, and without it no man can see the Lord. The experience is set forth in various terms and under many forms, but in all its manifold representations the same root ideas persist and prevail. Holiness is an attitude of dedication and an experience of grace in which the heart is cleansed from sin and made perfect in love.

Misapprehensions About Holiness

There is a strange mistake abroad that holiness is something quite optional. It is regarded as desirable for certain people and in special circumstances, but its claims are by no means universal. The preachers sometimes speak of it as an alternative way to Heaven, but as both ways get there, the routes do not really matter. Holiness is regarded as an emotional luxury, if not as a spiritual fad. Its claims are deemed to be emotional rather than ethical, optional rather than imperative. There is little exposition of its character, and still less insistence upon its urgency; consequently, few seek to enter into the experience or take seriously the solemn words of Holy Scripture. Many take it for granted that if it is necessary it will come to them in due course without any concern of theirs. Such slackness accounts for much of the backsliding among believers. The Christian calling is one that demands "all diligence" and "earnest heed." Those who fail to seek after holiness "fall short of the grace of God," give opportunity to "the roots of bitterness to spring up," and become secular and worldly, like Esau, who bartered his spiritual inheritance for material good.

Another mistake made by many earnest Christians about holiness is that it comes by a gradual growth in grace and a steady progress of spiritual discipline. They are always growing toward it, but they never get into it, always struggling and striving to attain, but never entering into possession. The positive expectation is always seen to be afar off, and they die without having possessed. The hopeful future never becomes the positive now. The time never comes that calls for a definite step and a positive act of faith But holiness does not come by growth; neither is it identified with growth. Growth is a process of life; holiness is the gift of abundant life. Growth is the result of health; holiness is health. Holiness implies a crisis, a new experience, a transformed life. It is not an achievement or an attainment, but a gift of grace in the Holy Ghost. It comes not by works, but of faith.

Not a few good people mix up things that differ. They confuse cleaning with maturity, motive with achievement, love with blamelessness, and the perfection of grace with the perfection of the resurrection glory. People who ought to know blunder hopelessly over these things. Perhaps the confusion that is most common and most senseless is that which persists in associating perfection with finality. There are many people who seem to be afraid lest they should come to a point at which there will be no more room for improvement. They need not distress themselves. ever their best friends being judges; but really such shallow and foolish thinking is without excuse. Love never exhausts its inheritance or reaches its limit in being made perfect. Health never hinders growth. The perfection of efficiency is surely not final but primary. No doctrine of the Bible has been stated with greater care, and if any man wills to possess he need not err as to the way.

Holiness Through the Spirit

The Scriptural method of sanctification is through the personal work of the Spirit of God. The law of the Spirit of life makes us free from the law of sin and death. It is God's work wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit who makes Christ our sanctification. There are diversities of operation in all the works of the Spirit, and the method of entering into possession was manifold as the temperaments and conditions of human life. No two experiences are ever really alike. Generally there is an awakening of heart and mind in which there comes vision and persuasion. There is a conviction of need and a revelation of grace, a hunger and a search, a process and a crisis, an act of faith, and an assurance of cleansing. It is as distinctly a second work of grace as regeneration is a New Birth. Consecration is as practical as repentance, and sanctification as definite as regeneration. Unbelief stumbles at a name, and the heart shrinks from a crisis that involves a death and a resurrection. Satan multiplies difficulties, and an evil heart backs him. The way of life must be sought in the Holy Word and by the Holy Spirit, and the twofold guide will not fail those who seek with all their heart.

Holiness is in the spirit and of the Divine Spirit. It is not in forms and ordinances, not in "will worship and voluntary humility." It is not in prohibitions and self-denial. It is a spirit, a life, a principle, a dynamic. The Spirit of God indwells the spirit of man. He clothes Himself with man, and man is clothed in the presence and power of the Spirit. The Body is the Temple of the Spirit. Christ lives in men through the Spirit. He is no longer a model but a living Presence. Christian faith does not copy Him; it lives Him. Christ is not imitated, but reproduced. Life is sanctified because He possesses it, lives it, transforms it The Spirit of God does not work upon us; He lives in us. This is the contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Works are by the sweat of man's brow; fruit is God's gift to man. Fruit does not come by toil but by appropriation, assimilation, and abiding. Holiness makes life fruitful because it abides in the Living Word and gives free scope to the Spirit of Life. The Spirit of Holiness makes the heart clean, the mind true, the faculties fit, and the life fruitful, by making His holiness ours.

Chapter 14: The Spirit of Love

Love is the last word in religion. It completes the revelation of God and sums up the whole duty of man. Love is of God, and the Spirit of God is the "Spirit of Love." This designation of the Spirit is not so well known as some others, but it is the quality that gives value to all the rest.

The Love of the Spirit

There is one passage that speaks directly of the Love of the Spirit "Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me" (Rom. 15:30). There is some dispute as to whether the love of the Spirit refers to the love which the Spirit produces in us or to the personal love of the Spirit for us. The former meaning finds considerable favor, and in that case the Apostle would mean: "I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of your spirit to me, that ye strive together with me in your prayers." Such a request would be natural enough, but the form of the request would be unnatural and strange. The phrase becomes awkward and enigmatical if it is meant to mean the love which the Spirit gives, but it is natural and plain if it names the Son and the Spirit as the ground of appeal. The entreaty names all the Persons of the Trinity, and beseeches "for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and by the love of the Spirit Whom He hath given to us," that they will pray with him and for him. The love of the Spirit is the emotion and quality of love in the Spirit; it is His love, not ours, that is the basis of appeal.

This is the unmistakable teaching of the Word. Rom. 5:5 speaks of the love of God that hath been shed in our hearts by the Holy Ghost being given unto us. This must mean that it is God's own love that is shed in our hearts. It is a quality of life that is given to us, and this quality comes from and through the Holy Ghost. It is not a gift that can be received apart from the Giver. The love comes with the Spirit.

Love stands first in the order of fruit. Dr. Campbell Morgan argues that it is the whole fruit, and that all the rest of the list in Galatians 5:22 are but manifestations of the one great and all-inclusive quality of love. Be that as it may, and it may well be so, there can be no doubt that love in the believer is the fruit of the love of the Spirit. Fruit is an expression of life, and love is the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit is not of our growth. It is the result of abiding in Christ by the Spirit of Love dwelling in us. Love is the first, the chief, the most notable result when the Spirit of Love dwells in us.

There is another notable passage which speaks of the believer's "love in the Spirit" (Col. 1:8). This is something more than "spiritual love." It means that our love of the brethren is a love not human in its origin; not mere good nature and goodwill perfected by grace, but the love of God that dwells in our hearts by the good Spirit of Love. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but (the Spirit) of power, of love, and of a sound mind" (II Tim. 1:7). The Spirit of God is not a spirit of fear, or a spirit of bondage, but the Spirit of Adoption, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Power, and the Spirit of Love. Just as His coming into the heart brings Assurance, and Truth, and Power, so it brings the conscious possession of love shed abroad in the heart, and the love with which we love God is God's own love imparted to us, and implanted in us by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Love.

The Ministry of Love

The ministry of the Spirit is a ministry of love. The Church of Christ has chosen to call Him the Comforter. The ministry of consolation may be a very small part of the meaning of "Paraclete," but the human heart will never give up the name "Comforter" for that of "Advocate." "The comfort of the Holy Ghost" is treasured as a priceless possession more precious than power; more even than truth. Sorrow is more universal than the thirst for knowledge, and in the day of distress consolation is more than might. The word "Paraclete" means more than Comforter, but in meaning more it cannot mean less. The Comforter is in the Paraclete. Our Lord promised that He should save His disciples from the desolation of orphans. He even declared that they would gain by the exchange of His presence for that of the Paraclete. "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto you" (John 16:7). It is hard to see how He could expect them to be comforted by the promise of one who would more than fill His place. Fancy a dying mother making any such promise to her children. They would protest that they did not believe any such gain possible; that they did not want anyone better, for to them none could be half so good. Our Lord said it, and none dared to deny it or even challenge His words. The Spirit came to fulfill our Lord's ministry of love in the world. The world cannot receive Him, for the Spirit of Love cannot dwell in a heart of hate, or a spirit of worldliness. The world does not even know Him. In this He shares the fate of the Son, and in the succession He takes up the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. He seeks the lost. With loving patience He pursues and pleads. It is He who convicts the world. The sacrifice of Calvary is perpetuated in the Spirit of Love. Like our Lord, He suffers the contradiction of sinners against themselves. Love agonizes where it is powerless to help. What anguish is there like love in despair? The mother who has to stand helpless and see her child perish goes mad with grief. The father who strives in vain to keep his boy from the madness of folly either turns gray or grows hard. Think of the grief of the Spirit of Love Who can measure the anguish of His rebuffs, reproaches, and rejection. Love is sensitive. It shrinks from distrust, indifference, and reproach. It yearns for love. So the Spirit yearns for us "even unto jealous envy" (James 4:5, R.V., margin)

There is the same sensitive love in all His work. The love of God in Christ made Him the friend of sinners. He associated with them. His enemies said He was a chum with them. He sat at meat with them, and was evidently welcome amongst them. It does not seem to occur to us what contact with sin must have cost Him. Love shrinks from the ugly and offensive, but it overcomes and loves all the more for the greater need. The Spirit of God dwells in men's hearts. When Christ came a Body was prepared for Him. It had the limitations of humanity, but it was without sin. The Temple of the Holy Ghost is not thus prepared for His coming. He comes to hearts confessedly unclean. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and yet He comes to abide at its very seat and center. Through what travail the Spirit of Love must pass before the heart becomes indeed His Temple and His Home. The patience of the Spirit would be impossible were it not for His love.

The Perfecting of Love

"Herein is love made perfect with us, that we In the secret of the indwelling Spirit of Love.

"Hereby know we that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit."

"God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him." "Herein is love made perfect with us." Wherein? "That we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth is not made perfect in love" (I John 4:13, 16, 17, 18).

The whole secret is in the "Hereby" and "Herein." Perfect love is by the Spirit of Love. There are two senses in which love may be in need of perfecting. It may be defective in quality, or it may be deficient in quantity. If the love shed abroad in the heart is the very love of God Himself, it cannot be defective in quality, but it may be deficient in range and scope of operation. The Spirit fills what is given. He does not wait for fullness of knowledge. Wherever there is a sincere purpose to serve Christ He accepts the motive, however great the ignorance. There is a law of the Spirit of Life, and it patiently waits through all the stages of the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear. He yearns for fullness of love, and as He led to repentance, so He leads to surrender and fullness of blessing. Love is made perfect when the Spirit of Love alone reigns in all the heart and life. We love because the Spirit of Love dwells in us, and that Love is made perfect when the indwelling Trinity of Love permeates, dominates, and possesses us entirely to the praise of His glory and the excellence of His power.

Chapter 15: The Spirit of Fire

"Our God is a consuming fire." The elect symbol of His presence is the fire unkindled of earth, and the chosen sign of His approval is the sacred flame. Covenant and sacrifice, sanctuary and dispensation were sanctified and approved by the descent of fire. "The God that answereth by fire; He is God." That is the final and universal test of deity. Jesus Christ came to bring fire upon the earth. The symbol of Christianity is not a Cross but a Tongue of Fire.

Strange Fire

So universally is this recognized that men substitute strange fire for the fire of God. A fireless altar is the sign of desertion and death. It means that the Temple has lost its God, and worship has died out of the land. There must be fire, or there can be no religion. If it cannot be procured from heaven it must be kindled of earth. There is much speculation about the strange fire offered with such terrible results by the sons of Aaron. The offense for which they died is expressed in the words, "they offered fire which the Lord had not commanded." The exact form of their sin is not stated, but the reasonable explanation is that they carried into their ministry unconsecrated fire. It did not come from the altar. The precise form of this transgression is no longer possible, but the sin is common to all ages. It is a kind of will worship, by which man substitutes his own enthusiasms for the will of God. The revealed will is ignored, and the divine commandment set aside for other ways and means in worship and service. Earth-fires can soon be set ablaze. It is so much easier to excite the passions than to kindle souls. Thorns crackle as they burn, and the flying sparks arrest and amuse. True, the fuel is soon exhausted and the fire fizzles out, but they serve while they last.

The penalty of strange fire in the sanctuary is death. "Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves about with firebrands: walk ye in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow." Earth-kindled fires burn fiercely, but they burn out. They allure to deeper darkness. Lights that glare and dazzle blind the eyes. Artificial excitement destroys spiritual sensibility. Satiated desire fails. When religion turns to humanity for its inspiration and to the world for its power, God is dethroned and the sanctuary becomes a secularized fellowship.

Stage Fire

Strange fire may be offered in sincerity and in good faith. Stage fire is a trick. In the absence of the supernatural, earnest souls may turn to the best substitutes they can find, and believe they are doing God's service. When the fires of spiritual devotion go out, ritualism finds its opportunity. Aids to voluptuous meditation take the place of reverent adoration. If there be no power to cast out devils, transform sinners and save souls, there are other ministries within reach. John did no miracle; may not a ministry of "water baptism" avail for our day and generation? [Not] If we have no fire from on high by which men's souls can be saved, there are minds to be instructed and bodies to be fed. Churches destitute of divine fire may devote themselves fervently to good works, but stage fire is a mockery and a pretense. Stage-lights have found their way into the Church. The red glare dazzles, but it does not burn. Fireworks are brilliant, but they end with the hour. No ideals are kindled, no ministry impelled, no sacrifice inspired. The pretense of spirituality is the worst profanity. Strange fire is less offensive than stage fire. A religion of mere emotion and sensationalism is the most terrible of all curses that can come upon any people. The absence of reality is sad enough. but the aggravation of pretense is a deadly sin.

Holy Ghost Fire

What is the fire of the Holy Ghost? Everywhere earnest believers are lamenting its absence and praying for a Pentecost of Fire.

What is this Fire? The Scriptures evidently regard it as the supreme need of the Church and the final gift of God. The prophets associated it with the Messiah, and promised it as the unique triumph of His coming. It marked the difference between the Old Dispensation and the New. John's ministry shook the nation, but was only preparatory. "I indeed baptize with water ... He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire." Our Lord spoke of the coming of Fire as the one purpose of His mission, and the fruit of His sufferings and death. "I came," He says, "to cast Fire on the earth." The supreme need of the Church is Fire. The one persistent prayer of them that "sigh and cry" is for the fiery baptism of Pentecost. What do we mean by Fire? When Jesus promised the gift of Fire, what did He mean them to expect? In our impassioned pleading for the descent of Fire, what is it we want? For what does this elect symbol stand? Our God is a consuming Fire; the gift of the Holy Ghost is a baptism of Fire; Christianity is a religion of Fire; we are saved by Fire. If Fire is so vital and comprehensive, it is important its meaning should be clearly understood.

Moral and Spiritual Passion

Whatever this Fire may be, it is identified with the Person of the Holy Ghost. The baptism of the Spirit is the baptism of Fire. Our Lord's straitening for the baptism of blood was followed by the fullness of Pentecost, in the gift of the Spirit of Fire. Its power was moral and spiritual. Men's souls were charged, saturated, enveloped, in the Spirit of God. The Divine life entered into them. The passion of God possessed them with the intensity of fire. His love was shed abroad in their hearts, and His holiness became the master passion of their souls. They burned and they shone: burning and shining lights. They were intense as they were breezy, fiery as they were jubilant, impassioned as they were daring. The spirit of cold obedience was kindled into an enthusiasm for righteousness, and the slavish sense of duty burst into a flame of eager devotion. That is the miracle of Pentecost. It kindles the fires of Christ's soul in the souls of men. They receive, realize, and reproduce His mind, His heart, His life. His zeal becomes the all-pervasive character of their lives. They manifest His fervent devotion to the will of the Father, His holy passion for reality and righteousness, His consuming zeal for the salvation of the lost. It kindles a fervent devotion to God, a passion for righteousness, and a consuming desire to seek and save the lost. Religion at flame-heat illumines the mind, energizes every faculty, and impassions every element of compassion. Fire does not mean rant, or noise, or ruthless self-will. It acts differently on different material and in different people, but in all it burns, kindles, and glows. It is religion at white-heat.

The Offense of Fire in Religion

Fire in religion awakens a peculiar sense of distrust in the modern mind. There is no objection to it anywhere else. Enthusiasm in politics and recreation, fervor in reform and business, intensity in work and friendship, are among the most coveted qualities of modern life. In religion they are bad form. Enthusiasts in piety are suspects. Christians full of zeal are merely tolerated where they are not despised. They are regarded as intellectually inferior; the "babes and sucklings" to whom God has a way of revealing things precious to the soul. Their conception of religion is narrow and antiquated, and their experience of it too emotional and fervid. It is sometimes said they are defective in ethical balance and moral stamina, and they lack the charity which appreciates other types of goodness. Judged in the lump, the saints of the Fire-heart are condemned as unlovely, undesirable, and unreasonable. For things not fire-proof burning is not a pleasant sensation; but then, only that which can "dwell in everlasting burning" can be saved. We are saved by Fire. Light is not enough, and water is not enough. Knowledge does not save, neither is cleanliness the equivalent of grace. Salvation is of the heart. External conventionality and correct observance may make a Pharisee, but never a Christian. It is by a holy passion kindled in the Soul we live the life of God. Truth without enthusiasm, morality without emotion, ritual without soul, are the things Christ unsparingly condemned. Destitute of fire they are nothing more than a godless philosophy, an ethical system, and a superstition. Moral and spiritual passion are of the essence of the religion of Christ.

The Power of Fire

The penalty of intensity may be narrowness, but its reward is power. It submits all things to a severe test, and what will not assimilate it mercilessly assails. Fire cannot compromise. The logic of passion is direct, simple, relentless. Cool calculation is impossible to men ablaze. Inspiration despises dissimulation. Issues are simple when the heart is intense. The pure flame of a holy enthusiasm is a safer guide than the dry light of cold reason. The soul's safety is in its heat Fire is the best defense against corruption. If we would be safe we must be clothed with zeal as with a garment. Our religion is only secure when it is guarded by "a wall of Fire round about."

It is Fire that prevails. For fifty days the facts of the Gospel were complete, but no conversions were recorded. Pentecost registered three thousand souls. It is the cause that sets men ablaze that wins converts. Gladstone's fiery passion routed Parliaments and slew the giants of oppression. Wesley, Whitefield, and General Booth wrought wonders by the Fire kindled of the Holy Ghost. Men ablaze are invincible. Hell trembles when men kindle. Sin, worldliness, unbelief, hell, are proof against everything but Fire. The Church is powerless without the Fire of the Holy Ghost. Destitute of Fire, nothing else counts; possessing Fire, nothing else really matters. The one vital need is Fire. How we may receive it, where we may find it, by what means we may retain it, are the most vital and urgent questions of our time. One thing we know: it comes only with the presence of the Spirit of God, Himself the Spirit of Fire. God alone can send the Fire. If is His Pentecostal gift.

Chapter 16: The Fruit of the Spirit

There are nine gifts of the Spirit and nine graces of the Spirit. The graces of the Spirit are Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance. The Scriptures never confuse gifts and graces. Gifts are for service, and are bestowed in the sovereign wisdom of the Spirit. They are given according to natural endowment as their talents were according to the ability of those who received them. They are given according to Grace: "Having then gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us." The differing gifts are adapted to the kind of service to which by the Grace of God we are called, whether of Prophecy, Ministry, Teaching, Exhortation, Beneficence, Administration, or Works of Mercy. Each may have some gift, some may have more than one, but all gifts of the Spirit are according to the Election of Grace, and are given for the effective working by each of the Divine Will. They are also according to Faith. There is a Faith that is among the gifts of the Spirit, but there is a faith that is basic to all gifts, and "God hath dealt to every man the measure of Faith."

Fruit Not Gifts

The Graces of the Spirit are the Fruit of the Spirit.

There are three leading passages that speak of the Christian character as fruit. The first is our Lord's allegory of the Vine and the Branches; the second is St. Paul's catalogue of nine virtues which he calls "the fruit of the Spirit"; and the third is St. Peter's list of Christian graces which he regards as the fruitful result of the life of Christ in the soul. There are many other passages in which the figure of fruit is used, but in these three representative passages there are set forth the conditions of fruitfulness, the cluster of fruit, and the process of fruitage. In the figure of the Vine the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, but in comparing Himself to the Vine and His disciples to the Branches, the Tree corresponds to the Body and the Life to ills Spirit. The diffusion of Life is the work of the Holy Ghost, and the fruit by which the Father is glorified is the fruit of the Spirit. Apart from Christ there is neither life nor fruit, but without the Spirit of Christ there can be neither union nor abiding.

Our Lord does not specify the fruit. What He emphasizes is the fact that it is fruit, and that it is fruit directly from Himself. Some have "no fruit," and they are cast forth as a branch that is withered; others are described as having "fruit," "more fruit," "much fruit," and "fruit that abides." The conditions of fruitfulness are union with Christ; being purged or cleansed by the Father; abiding in Christ; and having Christ abiding in us. St. Paul sums up all this teaching of the Vine and its Branches in the phrase "the fruit of the Spirit." He enlarges upon neither conditions nor process, for everything is implied in the word fruit. He assumes both conditions and process, and sets forth the result. This explains the difference between his list and that of St. Peter. Paul begins where Peter ends. One gives the result, the other dwells on the process of cultivation. Peter begins at conversion, by which the soul has "escaped"; to this experience of deliverance he says, "Yea, and for this very cause, adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue, and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge temperance; and in your temperance patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness love of the brethren; and in your love of the brethren love." The process begins in faith and ends in love. Then the Apostle Paul takes up the list: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance."

Garden or Factory

In the Galatians passage the fruit of the Spirit is placed in contrast with the works of the flesh; and a striking contrast they make. The catalogue of sinful works begins with the sins of the flesh, and passes on to idolatry, discord, and drunkenness. The fruit of the Spirit begins with the characteristics of the spiritual mind, and passes on to its manifestation in personal character, social virtues, and practical conduct. The most striking feature of the contrast is the emphatic change from works to fruit. Works belong to the workshop; fruit belongs to the garden. One comes from the engines of the factory; the other is the silent growth of abounding life. The factory operates with dead stuff; the garden cultivates living forces to their appointed end. Works are always in the realm of dead things. Every building is built out of dead material. The tree must die before it can be of use to the builder. There is no life in stones and brick, in steel joists and iron girders. They are all dead and in the process of disintegration. Nothing material lasts. Man's best works fail and fade, crumble and pass away. "The works of the flesh are these" -- these are the products of all the operations of the flesh. The sinner becomes a victim of devilish ingenuity and cunning; a monotonous machine from which are turned out "fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like." That is the factory that keeps up the supply of the devil's kingdom and furnishes Hell with the souls of the damned.

Fruit does not come of man's labor. It requires his diligence, but it is neither his invention nor his product. He does not make the flowers. No skill of his brings the golden harvest of the fields, or the luscious fruit upon the trees. When man has done all he can, then God begins, and life proceeds. Fruit is God's work. The phrase "fruit of the Spirit" assigns the graces of the Christian character to their proper source. They are not of man's producing. They do not spring from the soil of the carnal nature. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. Every tree brings forth fruit after its kind. The fruit of the Vine is not deposited in its branches to be quickened by an act of faith. It grows by the life that is in the Vine. Salvation is by grace, and the Christian virtues are the fruit of the indwelling Presence of the Spirit of Life. Fruit, not works!

The Cultivation of Fruit

Fruit implies cultivation. "My Father is the husbandman." A neglected garden grows weeds in plenty, but its fruitfulness soon passes away. The gardener is a busy man. He always has to be caring for the things he grows. They only respond to love. They need protection, nourishment, and cleansing. Pruning is the surgery of love. "My Father is the Husbandman." He holds the knife. Chastening is proof of love. For the present it may not be joyous, but grievous. The present pruning is for future perfecting. It is often a painful process, but the glory of the Father is in the yield of the life in its fruit of the Spirit. Fruit must not be confused with gifts any more than it must be mistaken for works. Such confusion often leads to doubt and distress. It is not an uncommon thing for earnest workers in the Church to imagine that if they are filled with the Spirit they will be endowed with marvelous and miraculous power for service. Examples have been quoted of wonderful enduement that has turned commonplace men into marvels of power, and they look for like results. Gifts are not fruit. They may exist apart from great spirituality. The Corinthians were rich in gifts and poor in fruit. Our Lord told of some who wrought wonders in His Name, but they were none of His. Fruit is for all; His gifts He gives to each severally as He will. The fruit of the Spirit consists of sanctified dispositions. Gifts are according to the basis of natural endowments; fruit is the perfecting of grace in heart and life. Gifts apart from fruit do not glorify Him. To glory in gifts bringeth a snare, but fruit is sacrificial and sacramental and brings glory to all. It grows by abiding, and is perfected without noise or fuss, without anxiety or care. God glories in Fruit.

The Nine Graces

The term is singular, and though the number is plural, the grammar is correct. There is no grammatical difficulty any more than in the statement that "the wages of sin is death." The term is generic, and is used of the graces that follow as we use it of a cluster of grapes. They refer to character, and set forth the kind of man the Spirit produces rather than the things He inspires him to do. The nine elements have been divided into three sections of three each.

1) In relation to God: love, joy, peace.

2) In relation to our fellows: longsuffering, gentleness, goodness.

3) In relation to ourselves: faithfulness (not faith), meekness, self-control.

Perhaps all such divisions are a little arbitrary. It is much more likely that the singular term was meant to indicate unity, and all the nine belong to all three divisions.

In newspaper English, the passage would read something like this: The Fruit of the Spirit is an affectionate, lovable disposition, a radiant spirit and a cheerful temper, a tranquil mind and a quiet manner, a forbearing patience in provoking circumstances and with trying people, a sympathetic insight and tactful helpfulness, generous judgment and a big-souled charity, loyalty and reliableness under all circumstances, humility that forgets self in the joy of others, in all things self-mastered and self-controlled, which is the final mark of perfecting.

This is the kind of character that is the Fruit of the Spirit. Everything is in the word Fruit. It is not by striving, but by abiding; not by worrying, but by trusting; not of the works, but of faith.

If this is the Fruit of the Spirit, for whom is the fruit grown?

Chapter 17: The Gifts of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit is Himself a Gift. In the Gift of the Spirit there are gifts. "Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men ... and He gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some, Evangelists; and some, Pastors and Teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ" (Eph. 4:8-12). "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal" (I Cor. 12:4-7).

Diversities of Manifestation

The manifestation of the Spirit is not always the same. There are diversities of gifts, differences of administration, operation, and manifestation, but the same Spirit. There is a manifold variety of the one Spirit. There are varieties according to temperament, according to capability, according to grace, and according to function. The failure to remember this ensnares the unwary. They look for the experiences and gifts in others to be given to them. To some it is given to be as men filled with new wine, to others it is given to speak with tongues, and to others to work miracles of healing and of power, and we are apt to think these are invariable and inseparable from the Holy Spirit baptism and fullness. The Spirit divides to every man severally as He will, but the gifts of the Spirit are no more arbitrary than the elections of Grace. In the distribution of the talents each received "according to his several ability." Spiritual gifts must not be interpreted as natural endowments, but the principle of distribution is the same, and the two are not related. The gifts of the Spirit transcend the gifts of nature, but they function through the sanctified powers of man. There is a new creation, but it is along the lines of natural endowment. Not all have the same gifts, and one deciding factor in the Will of the Spirit is according to the ability of sanctified nature to receive and function. The scope is not according to our natural talents, but "according to the power that worketh in us," and the power works consistently with personality. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, but it is to spiritual man spiritual gifts are given according to each man's several ability in the will of the Spirit.

"All have not the gift of healing, neither do all speak with tongues." Neither does the Baptism of the Spirit make all Evangelists. This is a snare into which many fall. They read of the mighty Pentecostal experience of Evangelists who have won souls for Christ by the thousand. The Evangelist links soul-converting power with the gift of the Spirit of Power, and it is almost impossible to separate the two. Therefore as it wrought in them it may be expected to work in us, and many have passed through agonies of disillusionment and disappointment. God does not make every Spirit-filled man a Moody, a William Booth, a Thomas Cook, or a Thomas Champness. He gives the Spirit to some that they may be ministers of helpfulness; to some that they may be faithful witnesses; and to others that they may be sanctified mothers who are keepers at home and miracles of patience, wisdom, and sweetness. To each there is a gift of the Spirit, and whatever the kind of gift, there is to all the gift of power for effective service and testimony. Each receives power. Pentecost swallows up ineffectiveness in power, and banishes fear in the victory of courageous faith.

Distinctiveness of Gifts

The gifts of the Spirit are distinct from natural talents and from the Fruit of the Spirit. They are related to both and distinct from both. The fullness of the Spirit vitalizes natural powers, quickens dormant faculties, and reinforces capabilities. Fire quickens, energizes, clarifies. The brain gets a new quality of alertness, endurance, and effectiveness. The mind receives new powers of perception, intelligence, and understanding. The heart finds a new clarity of vision, a new simplicity of motive, and a new intensity of emotion. The impossible becomes capable of achievement in the sanctified powers of the natural man. These are undoubtedly the work of the Spirit, but the gifts of the Spirit are distinct from these, and they transcend the powers of even sanctified natural powers. They are not unrelated, and yet they are in some ways independent. There are nine gifts of the Spirit: Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Miracles, Healing. Prophecy, Discernment of Spirits, Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues. Wisdom and knowledge are related to intelligence and learning, and yet they are so distinct that they are undiscoverable from the natural powers of man, and are given to those who have neither natural sagacity nor education. Faith is man's sixth sense. We live by Faith. We walk by Faith. We do everything by Faith. The gift of the Spirit is Faith. By the Spirit Faith sees the Invisible and proves the reality of the Unrealized. Healing is a gift of the Spirit. This is not the same as the sanctified skill of medical science. Those to whom it was given in the Early Church knew little or nothing of medicine. The sick were instructed to send, not for the doctors but the Elders, and the appointed means of healing were anointing and the Prayer of Faith. None could heal indiscriminately. Paul kept Luke, the beloved physician in his journeys, and Trophimus was left at Miletus, sick. The Lord the Healer still gives to men the gift of healing by His Spirit; and the gift works quite apart from the medical knowledge or the use of drugs or herbs. Miracles are the gift of the Spirit, and the age of miracles is not past. Prophecy is more than insight or foresight, though the prophet is a seer and a fortune-teller. By the gift of the Spirit there is a God-given discernment of spirits. The Apostles had it. Many prophets of God had it. The Gift of Tongues comes last on the list, and is first in controversy. There is a gift of Tongues that is given for a sign, and there is a gift of Tongues that is for the perfecting of the saint. and the building up of the Body of Christ. It means more than a gift for acquiring an unknown language, and it is certainly no substitute for such learning. A careful study of the New Testament places the gift among the enduements of the Church, and specially safeguards it against abuse. The gift of the Spirit gives a supernatural power to the works of sanctified natural endowments, so that men are challenged to see and consider cause and effect, and find there is nothing in the natural man to account for what is manifestly of God.

The Relation of Fruit and Gifts

Fruit and Gifts are not identical. Fruit belongs to character; gifts are enduements of power. Gifts are an evidence of the Spirit; but they are no proof of holiness. Gifts are according to the elections of the Sovereign will of the Spirit of God; fruit is the manifestation of cultivated Life. Gifts are for service; fruit is for character. Gifts are functional; fruit is a quality of life. Gifts are bestowed; fruit is a manifestation. Gifts may be given immediately and complete; fruit is implanted and of gradual development. They are of the Spirit, and are intimately connected with one another, but they are not inseparable, much less identical. The gifts of the Spirit are given to people who are elect according to the Sovereign will of God, who by His Spirit divides to every man severally as He will. Love, in which is included all the fruit, is not in the list of spiritual gifts. Fruit is for all; gifts are for those for whom they have been prepared. All may not prophesy, but all must love. We may covet gifts, but we must bear fruit. Gifts cannot take the place of fruit.

The Function of Spiritual Gifts

"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness" (Rom. 12:6-8). The gifts of the Spirit are for service, and they differ according to the kind of ministry to be fulfilled. Occasion may determine function. There are seasons when special gifts abound. Some are permanent. Others are given for special vocations and exceptional occasions; as, for example, the gifts that came upon Timothy by the laying on of hands, and the special manifestations of power in times of special visitation. There are no reasons why the gifts of the Spirit should be operative in one dispensation and not in another. They did not cease at the close of the Apostolic Age. They have been manifest in all ages of the Church, and there are abundant proofs that they are still available to the faith and need of the Church. There is no reason why they should not be more manifest, and perhaps there is a greater need for them now than in some other times. The wonders of man rival the miracles of God. The psychic is hardly distinguishable from the spiritual. The Dragon-Lamb works wonders more theatrically impressive than the Lamb in the midst of the Throne. In the realm of wisdom and knowledge, faith and healing, miracles of power, prophecies and discernment of the occult, tongues and their interpretation, the wisdom of this world outvies the works of modern religion. The counterfeit outbids the true, but the true is the power that destroys the false. A revival of spiritual gifts in the Church would bring to naught the mocking pretensions of the world. Pagan cannot cast out pagan, any more than Satan can cast out Satan, but in the Spirit of God there is victory over the world.

Safeguards Against Abuse

Gifts are liable to abuse. In the Early Church they appealed to unspiritual men who desired them for carnal purposes, and thought they had a commercial value. They are still commercialized though not always for their cash value. In the Corinthian Church they became a fruitful source of rivalry, jealousy, and disorder. Those possessed of one gift claimed priority in importance and precedence in order. The root of the difficulty lay in the fact that carnal people were in possession of spiritual gifts, and used them for carnal ends. Spiritual gifts are no proof of spirituality. The New Testament nowhere makes spiritual gifts the sign of Holiness, and there were some greatly endowed of whom Jesus said that at the last it would be declared that He never knew them. There is no suggestion that the gifts were not genuine, but they were perverted to wrong ends or exercised in the wrong spirit. This is a serious difficulty to many, but the Scriptures make it plain that in a Church that "came behind in no gift, waiting for the Coming of the Lord," there were carnalities that would have disgraced a decent pagan assembly. Gifts are not substitutes for Grace, and ignorance and carnality have made them a menace to holiness of heart and integrity of character.

The safeguards against abuse are in the loyalties of faith. The first is loyalty to the Lordship of Christ. That is the first law of Christian discipleship and the continual standard of Christian life and service. The second line of defense is loyalty to the Word of God. The Word and the Spirit are never at variance, and the Word of Truth attests the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit interprets, corroborates, verifies, and confirms the Word. No wisdom is of God that is not according to the Scriptures. There is laid down a plain practical rule in loyalty to the Fellowship in the Body of Christ. Edification is the test and order is the rule. Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues came into competition, and for these definite rules were laid down, but the law of love applied to all.

Chapter 18: The Law of the Spirit

There is no escape from law. Grace, love, and faith are all declared to be the end of law, but they are also subject to law. There is a law of grace, a law of love, a law of faith, and a law of the Spirit of Life. The Christian set free from the law of sin and death is still under law. He exchanges one kingdom for another, but in each there is law. Salvation, which is of grace and not of works, brings deliverance from the law of works, but it subjects to the law of grace and truth. St. Paul glories above all others in his liberty through grace. The law has no more authority over him. He conforms to it, or rejects it as a thing of no account. Though free, he brings himself under bondage to all, that he might gain some. To the Jews he became as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews; to them that were under the law, as under the law, not being himself under law, that he might gain them that were under the law; to them that were without law, as without law, that he might gain them that were without law. His argument is familiar, and his authority and example are often quoted in defense of diplomacy, expediency, and tact; but there is a vital clause in the argument that is often omitted. The Apostle's freedom was not lawless. All his expediency was subject to law; "Not being without law to God, but under law to Christ" (I Cor. 9:20, 21). Christ was supreme. All expediency was subject to the will of Christ. The freed slave was the free slave of Christ; but he was still a slave; a bondservant subject to the law of Christ. To the Christian "all's Love, and all's Law," just as truly as all's Law and all's Love.

Law and Spirit

There is, therefore, nothing anomalous in the paradox of Law and Spirit. The Christian life is above all else a spirit. It is not a philosophy to be debated; not an ordinance to be observed; not an ethic to be achieved. Truth and ritual and ethic are important, and in some sense inseparable from Christian life and experience, but they are not of the essence of the Life in Christ. They may exist without it, and they are in no sense essential to it. Theological intelligence is not necessary to salvation. The pedant who makes doctrinal instruction a necessary content of saving faith has missed the most elementary teaching of the New Testament, and professing wisdom, he turns out to be what the Scriptures call a fool. The ritualist is no wiser. In this matter circumcision is nothing; neither is uncircumcision. Sacraments and ordinances have their value, but neither the one nor the other is necessary to a cry; and the promise is to everyone that shall call on the Name of the Lord. Good works spring from grace, for faith without works is dead; but no logic can make that mean that grace is conditioned on works. Christianity is a life that must be imparted, before it can be lived. All life is a gift, and the gift of God is eternal life. It is a spirit; the Spirit of Christ indwelling the spirit of man, and if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His.

The supreme value of all life is in the quality of its spirit. The moral quality of an act is in the spirit that prompts it. Familiarity that is acceptable to a friend is an offense to a stranger. The difference between a caress and an insult is not in the act, but in the spirit. Action is without morality, apart from questions of motive and disposition. It is the spirit that counts. In all work of the soul it is the soul that tells. Law effects nothing; certainly it makes nothing perfect. The most careful observance of technique never makes an artist, a statesman, or an orator, much less a friend, a father, or a lover. Where the spirit reigns, law is forgotten, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Worship is not of rules and regulations, it is a spirit inspired by the Spirit of Life. Preaching may be perfect art and poles away from an Evangel. The power of preaching is in the demonstration of the Spirit. So it is in fellowship. Love is without law. Cupid is of all creatures the most erratic and incalculable; and Christian fellowship is of the breath of the four winds. From first to last the life and work of the Christian Church are not of laws and rules, but of the spirit of common life, begotten of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. The life is the Life of the Spirit, and is therefore not lawless, but subject to the law of the Spirit.

Law and Life

Christ's gift is a gift of Life. It is called Eternal Life, and "the life which is life indeed." Its distinctive feature is not in its duration but in its quality. It is eternal in its quality; the gift of Divine Life from Him Who is "the same yesterday, today, and for ever." Eternal life stands for fullness and fruition; life that is divine in quality and eternal in progression. It is the life of God in man. It comes by the New Birth through Him Who is the Spirit of Life. The same life is common to the Vine and the Branches, the Body and the Head.

All life is subject to law. The laws of different spheres and qualities of life may not be identical, but they are analogous. In some sense the laws of life are common to all life, and the life of the believer is not without law. It needs attention or it will perish, and without cultivation there can be no progress. There are several things in which the law of the Spirit of Life follows the general order of life in other spheres. Life is inward, mysterious, and secret. It dwells somewhere at the seat of the spirit of life, and vitalizes personality without either absorbing or confusing it. The manifestation appears in an endless variety of forms, and yet through them all it is the same life that appears. There is unity of Spirit without a trace of uniformity in manifestation. The life of the One Spirit appears in each, according to the natural aptitudes and temperament of each, making all like Christ and no two exactly like each other.

The law of the Spirit of Life is seen also in its propagation. Life propagates by contact and cooperation. All that lives comes into being by birth, and no living thing is born of one parent. There must be mutual and complementary service. Life lives by propagation, and there is no propagation without co-operation. This is pre-eminently true of the law of the Spirit of Life. As the Father is dependent upon the Son for revelation, and the Son dependent upon the Spirit for both revelation and administration, so the Spirit is dependent upon the Church for Evangelization. The Church is the Body of Christ, and the Holy Ghost in His Spirit. No soul enters the Kingdom of God born alone of the Spirit. There is a human agent, as well as a Divine Spirit. This goes far to explain the limitations of the Kingdom, the sterility of the Church, and the barrenness of the saints. Spiritual children come of a travailing Zion. The trouble of the Church is in its declining spiritual birth-rate.

Space fails for extended notice of the laws of protection and progress. These also are subject to law. All life is exposed to peril, and all life is given for cultivation. There must be watchfulness and nourishment, fellowship and exercise, instruction and obedience. Health must be maintained. Waste products must be shed. Carnality must be destroyed, and "the body of sin done away." There must be receptivity, co-operation, discipline, obedience. The life of the soul cannot live haphazard. There is a law of the Spirit of Life by which spiritual life is ruled.

The Law of the Spirit of Life

The Spirit rules. Christ reigns. There are not two Kings in the Kingdom of Grace. The Spirit is never called King, though He is called Lord. He is the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. In all things He is subject to the Son, as the Son is subject to the Father. His mission is to glorify Christ. He takes of the things of Christ, and makes them known to us. He indwells the Body of Christ; and administers the Kingdom of Christ. He calls, equips, and appoints for service. By Him, and of Him, and through Him are all the gifts and power of the Kingdom of God. No soul is begotten of God without Him. No advance of the Kingdom is made but by Him. No victory of grace is won without Him. He is the sole source and medium of grace and power; but in all things it is "in Christ Jesus." Christ is Lord. But the Spirit of Life reigns in the Kingdom of Life. He is a Person in authority. To Him is committed the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven. He reigns in Christ Jesus and for the Kingdom of our Lord. If we would live in the Spirit we must obey the laws of the Spirit. If we would find the power we must obey the law. We must surrender to Christ, for He cannot rule where Christ does not reign. We must yield our bodies with all their powers, for they are His Temples and His instruments of righteousness. We must obey Him, for without obedience there can be neither fellowship nor co-operation. Communion means mutual understanding, mutual consecration, and mutual cooperation, and it is in the communion of the Spirit of Life we find Eternal Life, abiding peace, and prevailing power. The law of the Spirit of Life is found in such words as faith, prayer, truth, love, and obedience. By these the soul lives. Life is before law, but by law life is maintained and developed, and by the law of the Spirit of Life comes the fruit by which God is glorified and man is blessed. Life is often scant for want of law.

Chapter 19: The Challenge of Pentecost

Pentecost challenges the very citadel of our faith, The gift of the Spirit is the distinguishing feature of the Christian religion. It is the very soul of our faith. In His indwelling Presence. is the secret of all Christian experience, and in the abiding energy of His power is the dynamic of all Christian service. The promises concerning the Spirit challenge us. The record of the day of Pentecost challenges us. The history of the Christian Church challenges us. Do we believe in the Holy Ghost? If we do, what is the practical proof of our faith?

The Fullness of the Spirit

The blessing of Pentecost is the blessing of fullness. The symbols of wind and fire reveal the mission and quality of the Gift, but the essential truth is that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Fire, power, courage, and joy had their source in the fullness of the indwelling Spirit. They overflowed because they were filled to overflowing. They had already received the gift of the Spirit for salvation. In the Upper Room on the first day of the Resurrection the Risen Lord had breathed on them and said: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Pentecost was a second gift, which verified and completed the first in an infilling Presence and an overflowing power. It is the fullness that makes the difference. In a memorable passage William Arthur in "The Tongue of Fire" illustrates the difference fullness makes. "A piece of iron is dark and cold; imbued with a certain degree of heat it becomes almost burning, without any change of appearance; imbued with a still greater degree, its appearance changes to that of solid fire, and it sets fire to whatever it touches. A piece of water without heat is solid and brittle; gently warmed, it flows; further heated, it mounts to the sky. An organ filled with the ordinary degree of air is dumb; the touch of the player can elicit but a clicking of the keys. Throw in not other air, but an unsteady current of the same air, and sweet, but imperfect and uncertain, notes immediately respond to the player's touch; increase the current to a full supply, and every pipe swells with music. Such is the soul without the Holy Ghost; and such are the changes which pass upon it when it receives the Holy Ghost, and when it is filled with the Holy Ghost."

The Blessing of Fullness of the Spirit

The blessing affects the whole being. The seat of the Indwelling Presence is the innermost recesses of the spiritual being, but it permeates, energizes, and controls every faculty of our nature. It is another incarnation of which the Body is the consecrated believer. The Holy. Ghost clothed Himself with the waiting Disciples in the Upper Room, and He still clothes Himself with consecrated believers. He clothes Himself, and they are clothed in Him. In them He finds a Body, and in Him they find the power of spiritual expression and execution. Without confusion, without loss of personal consciousness, without change of inherent qualities, there are mutual appropriation and oneness of operation.

The effects are seen in the apostles on the Day of Pentecost, and in every particular the experience corresponds to the promise. Jesus had said the coming of the Spirit would bring fullness of knowledge. "In that day ye shall know." Things He could not teach them they would know with certainty when the Spirit of Truth had come; and they did. There is nothing more wonderful on the Day of Pentecost than the wisdom and certainty with which they taught. Prophecy shone with new meaning, and the facts of Christ's death and resurrection were interpreted in the light of the eternal purpose of God. The Word of God became new, and the history of Christ's teaching and ministry got a new meaning. They had been dull enough before, but Pentecost changed all their outlook. The Scriptures were made luminous in the light of the Holy Ghost.

The change in their characters was even greater than the change in their knowledge. The Gospels portray these men as proud and contentious, selfish and cowardly; but the first pages of the Acts of the Apostles tell another story. Something had happened between the Judgment Hall and the streets of the city Resurrection found them all shivering behind closed doors for fear of the Jews, but at Pentecost they were openly preaching Jesus and charging the rulers with His death. Pentecost transformed them. It was the fullness that made the difference between timidity and joyous daring, shivering weakness and exultant power. They were jubilantly fearless and hilariously happy. That is the difference Pentecost always makes.

The Challenge of Fullness

How does the challenge find us? Do we measure up to the standard of the fullness of Pentecost? Is not the explanation of our confusion in the lack of it? The gift is not for the working of miraculous deeds, for there were men filled with the Holy Ghost who wrought no miracle. There is danger lest we claim more than is promised, but how dc the unchallenged tests find us? What about our assurance of heavenly things? There is an end of uncertainty when the fullness of Pentecost is known.

Have we power over sin? The Spirit of Truth is the Spirit of Holiness. He sanctifies in truth. The Day of Pentecost changed carnal thought into spiritual vision, pride into humility, selfishness into love, and cowardice into courage. It changed hearts, and transformed lives. Victory comes by fullness. Have we the joy of conquest over sin? Is the character of the average Christian anywhere near the standard of a Spirit-filled soul? What about the love of the world? Jesus said He was One "Whom the world cannot receive." They are in irreconcilable antagonism. What has come of the doctrine of separation? If believers were filled with the Spirit, would they haunt the world's gaudy fountains and brackish springs? It is mockery to profess fullness, and go about panting with thirst and gasping with vanity.

What about the power for service? Is our decline due to external difficulties or internal weakness? Think of the host of workers, the vastness and variety of their service, the earnestness and ingenuity of their labors, and the scanty result of it all. What influence has the Church upon the life of the people, and what impression does it make upon the strongholds of iniquity? What about the dearth of conversions? Pentecost brought awakening, conviction, conversions, and baptism; but the ungodly no longer speak of chapels as "converting furnaces." The gift of the Spirit is the gift of power, and the lack of power is due to the absence of His indwelling fullness. Abounding fullness overflowed in gladness, testimony, and sacrifice.

The Call of Pentecostal Fullness

There is no doubt that the one thing needful for the Church is the blessing of Pentecostal fullness. The flood would sweep away all the rubbish, fill all the dykes, and fertilize all the desert. The work of God cannot be accomplished without the fullness of the Spirit, and everywhere God waits to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. It is His Will that every believer should be filled with the Spirit, overflow in the power of the Spirit, and in all things prevail through the Spirit. What hinders? The blessing is for all, and for all now. The conditions are simple, unalterable, and universal. God waits to fill ordinary people with extraordinary power, and to turn a baffled faith into a rapturous conquest. How? Ask Peter and James and John! They were deeply attached and openly committed to Jesus Christ before Pentecost. They had left all for Christ's sake, but were still without Pentecost. They believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, were witnesses of His death and of His resurrection, but without Pentecost. They were workers: stewards, preachers, evangelists, workers of miracles, without Pentecost. Then they heard the Promise of the Spirit, and set themselves to claim, wait, and pray, and according to the Word the Spirit came, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.

Chapter 20: The Way Into the Blessing

There are many who have not because they ask not, and there are others who ask and have not because they ask amiss. There are many who miss the Blessing because they do not seek it, but there are those who seek and do not find. There are believers who are deeply concerned about the failure and disappointment of their religious experience and their lack of effectiveness and power. They yearn for a fullness of Life in Christ that never comes. They pray, and nothing happens. They seek, and somehow always miss the way. They cry unto the Lord in secret, and that which seems to come so easily to others does not come to them. They confess their need, and seek the prayers and counsel of others. They obey injunctions, repeat avowals of faith, and claim according to instructions, but the emotion passes and all is as before with the added disappointment, and another dart has been added to the quiver of the enemy. It may be as real and as easy to others as they affirm, but to them there is no answering reality to their faith, and they lose heart. They miss the blessing, but they cannot give it up. It must be there, for others have it; and it must be for them, for with God there is no respect of persons. So periodically there comes a sense of hunger and a deep want of soul, and again the quest begins, and again the way is missed.

What Blessing?

Almost every day I get letters from people asking the way into the Blessing. They probably represent a great host, and I am going to try to help them, even though I must begin with the confession that my own plea for help brought me nothing but confusion. I was concerned to know what was the blessing that I knew I needed. Witnesses failed under cross examination, and sent me books to supply what they could not give. The books were as confusing as the witnesses, but there was no doubt that they had something I had not, and I was aware that the something they had would make all the difference to me if I could find it. Somehow I was led to leave all books and interpreters, and give myself up to a search of the Scriptures, believing that God would make the truth known to me.

Our Lord prayed that we might be sanctified by the Truth, and I expected to find in the Scriptures the way into the Blessing. Even there the way was not easy to find, for I was seeking an explanation rather than an experience. There were no definitions, no explanations, and no interpretation of processes. My search was for a practical solution of a work wherein I had failed. I had energy, and lacked power. I had ideas, and I had words of my own and other people's, but there came no convicting, converting result. The blessing I sought was power. The blessing God had for me began farther in and deeper down. Power was conditioned. The Truth that sanctifies begins with cleansing of heart and motive, a life surrendered to the Divine Will, and a personality possessed by and filled with the Holy Spirit, and I very nearly missed the way.

The Way in the Word

The way I came is the way I know. That is why I send every seeker to the Word of God, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit of Truth. The method looks hopeless, but it works, because the Spirit is promised to guide us into all Truth; and He does. In the light of the Word of God, a seeker should know what it is he seeks. The Blessing is known by many names, and it is often confused with other experiences of Grace. It is known as the Pentecostal Gift of the Spirit, as Entire Sanctification, Christian Perfection, and Perfect Love, according as it is interpreted in the terms of the Law, the Sanctuary, or the Home. The Scriptures are not written to exempt from thinking, and there are certain facts that need to be adjusted and accounted for. There are believers in the New Testament who had received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and there were those who had not. There were those who were born again and yet carnal, and there were those who were sanctified. Some were addressed as Perfect, and others who had not been made Perfect. There is a Perfection that is definite, decisive, and determinate; and there is a Perfection that is progressive, disciplinary, and ethical; and there was an experience by which believers passed from one order to the other. It is an experience of Grace, in which the nature is cleansed from all sin. The carnal mind, the body of sin, is done way. That is the Bible word for what happens -- sin is done away. The fullness of the indwelling Spirit sanctifies and quickens every natural faculty, and bestows gifts that are peculiarly His own. Love is made perfect, and the sanctified will is energized by Divine Power.

The Way of Faith

Salvation from first to last is of Grace through Faith. We are Justified by Faith, Sanctified by Faith, Spirit-filled by Faith. There are those who think we are saved by Faith and made perfect by philosophy; and there are those who imagine we are justified by Faith and sanctified by Works. That is why so many miss the way. This second experience of Grace is the Gift of God through Faith unto Faith. The Word of God must. be received in Faith. Consider the commands of God that we be holy. Search out the promises of God that we shall be holy. Pray through the prayers in the New Testament which set forth the Spirit-inspired pleadings for Holiness. Have faith in God; in His Word, and in His Spirit. Where there is no faith it is useless either to ask or seek; but where Faith is, prayer will prevail. Everything depends upon what you believe about God, about Jesus Christ the Saviour, and about the Holy Spirit. God meets every seeker of the Blessing with the challenge of Faith: Believe ye that I am able to do this? To every man is given according to his Faith. Many stumble at the question of Faith. It is simple enough to those who will leave aside all disputing about Faith, and substitute honest obedience for subtle definitions. Faith is an attitude of mind and heart and an act of obedience to what is believed to be the 'Truth. An honest heart never gets lost on a straight road; and the Spirit of Truth makes straight paths for the feet of every honest seeker who desires to know the Truth that he may obey it. The Holy Spirit leads by the Holy Word. Obedience is the way of Faith.

The children of light walk in the light, and in obedience to the light there is conscious fellowship with the God of Life, Light, and Love, "and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

The test of obedience is often a trial to sense and reason, and still more to freedom and pride. The decisive battle is nearly always over some apparently trivial issue. The story of the Fall is true to the experience of life, when it makes the destiny of the race turn upon the eating of an "apple." The occasion may be trivial, but the issues are momentous. It is no business of ours to go scenting idols for the burning, but the Spirit searches every honest seeker and convicts, condemns, and commands; and there is generally a bonfire when the Fire of God falls. They are not things wrong in themselves that are condemned, for this Blessing is for believers, and they that are born of God do not keep sinful things in their lives. Their condemnation does not turn upon the law of right and wrong, but upon the ethical and spiritual claims of a surrendered life. So it is wide of the mark to ask, What wrong is there in these things? They are judged by the standard of Consecration and the Law of the Spirit of Life, and they must go, however profitable, however pleasant, and however right.

The Steps of Faith

Two things are plain:

1) Pentecost is a definite work of the Spirit in Believers.

2) It is by Grace through Faith.

Now what are the steps of Faith by which the Blessing is appropriated?

The first step is to repent. "And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38). There is a repentance of believers as well as of sinners. When men begin to pray for the blessing of Pentecost the answer begins in conviction of sin. The things of which they are convicted, as we have said, are not transgression of the law, but sins of the spirit. The things of which the believer is convicted are not in themselves sinful, but they are kept in disobedience to God's will. Things are not surrendered, indulgences retained against light, possessions held for selfish ends -- these must all be surrendered to the supreme authority of Christ. For until He is exalted, crowned, glorified, there can be no Pentecost.

The second step is to ask. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him" (Luke 11:13). There must be definite asking for the specific gift. I was talking with a farmer in Lincolnshire a few years ago about prayer, and he said all the preachers he heard just now were urging people to pray and come to prayer-meetings. "But," he said, "to my mind, desire has a good deal to do with praying, and praying is a slack business when desire is lacking." There must be desire that is focused into petition. "Ye have not," says James, "because ye ask not," and there are thousands of believers who have never definitely asked for the Blessing. God waits to give, but He is a God of discretion, and waits to be asked. "I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. For this, moreover will I be inquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them."

We must be careful not to ask amiss. Nothing hinders faith so effectually as a wrong motive. "How can ye believe, which receive the glory of one another, and the glory that cometh from God ye seek not?" James traces the failure of prayer to the same source: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures." The pleasures may be lawful and laudable enough, but God will not give the glory of His Son to another, and the mission of the Spirit is to glorify the Son. If the power is sought for success m Christian service merely, it will not be given. Christ must be supreme in affection and aim.

The third step is to receive. When the consecration is complete the act of faith is quite simple. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost" is the all-inclusive command. It is the word used in the Upper Room when our Lord gave them the Bread that symbolized His Body -- "Take." There is a point at which asking becomes foolishness. Faith claims and takes. "Therefore I say unto you, all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them." Take God at His Word.

The fourth step is the continuous life of obedience.

Jesus Christ identifies faith with obedience, and in the Acts of the Apostles obedience is made the condition of receiving and retaining the Spirit. "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Ghost, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts 5:32). Abiding fullness depends upon obedience to the ever-widening circle of illumination. The blessing of Pentecost may be lost, and it is always lost when obedience fails. The Spirit-filled must be Spirit-ruled. We are ministers of the Spirit through Whom the supply is conveyed. Those who are greatly used of God have no monopoly of the Holy Ghost; they are mighty through God because the Spirit has a monopoly of them.

Again I say this extraordinary gift is for ordinary people. All may be filled as full and as truly as the hundred and twenty on the day of Pentecost. The conditions are the same for all. Repent, Ask, Receive, Obey.

* * * * * * * * * *

If you have been blessed by this volume, you may also be interested in some of our other Christian Classics Treasury collections:

CLASSIC COLLECTIONS:

·         7 Classics on PRAYER

·         7 Classics on HOLINESS

·         7 Classics on EVANGELISM and SOUL-WINNING

·         7 Catholic Classics

·         5 Classics on the HOLY SPIRIT

·         5 Classics on POWER

PREACHERS AND REVIVALISTS:

·         The Azusa Street Papers

·         Charles Spurgeon: 40 sermons on Prayer

·         Charles Spurgeon: Lectures to My Students

·         The George Muller Collection

·         The Revival Writings of Jonathan Edwards (7-in-1)

·         The Works of Catherine Booth (7-in-1)

·         The Works of Charles Finney

·         The Works of D. L. Moody

·         The Works of R. A. Torrey

·         The Works of William Booth

·         Biography of John Wesley Collection: 4-in-1

·         Amy Carmichael 8-in-1

·         Samuel Zwemer 7-in-1(Missions in Arabia)

[1] The above is taken, mainly, from the paper of 1866, which we referred to. See, also, under "Revivals the Hope of the World."

[2] See under "Treatment of Inquirers."

[3] See the sermon, and criticisms, in History and Repository of Pulpit Eloquence, Vol. II. p. 395.

[4] Dr. Noah Porter. See also facts of the same nature under “Revival Means and Methods."

[5] "What We Owe to Revivals."

[i] Mr. J. Addington Symonds records a somewhat similar experience when under chloroform. He says : " I thought that I was near death, when suddenly my soul became aware of God, who was manifestly dealing with me, handling me, so to speak, in an intense personal present reality. I felt him streaming in like light upon me. I cannot describe the ecstasy I felt." When the effect of the anaesthetic faded, he longed for death, rather than to lose " that long dateless ecstasy of vision " in which he felt " the very God in all purity and tenderness and truth and absolute love." He adds: "The question remains, is it possible that the inner sense of reality which succeeded when my flesh was dead to impressions from without to the ordinary sense of physical relations was not a delusion but an actual experience?  Is it possible that I in that moment felt what some of the saints have said they always felt, the undemonstrable but irrefragable certainty of God?"  Symonds's works, cited by James, p. 392.

See also the experiences of Madame Guyon : "It seemed to me that God came at the precise time and woke me from sleep in order that I might enjoy him." Ib., p. 277.

[ii]  This mystic vision, which enables a man to comprehend the secret of God in the creation and ordering of the universe, was common to all the great saints, and also to one not usually classed as a saint, Walt Whitman. George Fox was so confident that the nature and virtues of all things had been opened to him by the Lord that he actually contemplated practising physic for the good of mankind.  Ignatius Loyola, on the steps of the choir of the Dominican church, saw in a distinct manner the plan of Divine Wisdom in the creation of the world. St. Teresa says that it was granted to her one day to perceive in one instant how all things are seen and contained in God.  Jacob Boehme, in one quarter of a day in trance, saw and knew the being of all things. Whitman wrote:

" I mind how once we (my soul and I) lay, such a transparent summer morning,

Swiftly arose to spread around me the peace and knowledge

That pass all the argument of the earth ;

And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own ;

And I know that the Spirit of God is the brother of my own,

And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the

women my sisters and lovers,

And that a kelson of the creation is love." Id., p. 396.

[iii] Professor James writing on the mystical absorption of the Sufis into God says :

"The incommunicableness of the transport is the key-note of all mysticism. Mystical truth exists for the individual who has the transport, but for no one else." Symond's -works, etc., p. 404.

[iv]  1 George Fox used to converse with Jesus Christ ; but St. Teresa, like Evan Roberts, spoke with God. She says : “God establishes himself in the interior of the soul in such a way that when she returns to herself it is wholly impossible for her to doubt that she has been in God and God in her. This truth remained so strongly impressed on

her that even though many years should pass without the condition returning, she can neither forget the favor she received nor doubt of the reality." Symond's works, etc., p. 409.

[v]  1 This, again, is one of the most familiar phenomena of ecstasy.  Professor James says :

" There is one form of sensory automatism which possibly deserves special notice on account of its frequency. I refer to hallucinatory or pseudo-hallucinatory luminous phenomena, photisms, to use the term of the psychologists. St. Paul's blinding heavenly vision seems to have been a phenomenon of this order. So does Constantine's cross in the sky. Colonel Gardner sees a blazing light. Finney says, ' A light perfectly ineffable shone in my soul.' "  - Symond's works, etc., p. 252.

Table of Contents

From the Editor

1.  A FAITHFUL NARRATIVE OF THE SURPRISING WORK OF GOD (1736) – Jonathan Edwards

Preface

Section 1: A General Introductory Statement

Section 2: The Manner Of Conversion Various, Yet Bearing A Great Analogy.

Section 3: This Work Further Illustrated In Particular Instances

2.  LECTURES ON REVIVALS OF RELIGION (1868) – Charles Finney

Preface.

Lecture 1: What A Revival Of Religion Is

Lecture 2: When A Revival Is To Be Expected

Lecture 3: How To Promote A Revival

Lecture 4: Prevailing Prayer

Lecture 5: The Prayer Of Faith

Lecture 6: The Spirit Of Prayer

Lecture 7: On Being Filled With The Spirit.

Lecture 8: Meetings For Prayer

Lecture 9: Means To Be Used With Sinners

Lecture 10: To Win Souls Requires Wisdom

Lecture 11: A Wise Minister Will Be Successful

Lecture 12: How To Preach The Gospel

Lecture 13: How Churches Can Help Ministers

Lecture 14: Measures To Promote Revivals

Lecture 15: Hindrances To Revivals

Lecture 16: The Necessity And Effect Of Union.

Lecture 17: False Comforts For Sinners

Lecture 18: Directions To Sinners

Lecture 19: Instructions To Converts

Lecture 20: Instructions To Converts- (Continued)

Lecture 21: The Backslider In Heart

Lecture 22: Growth In Grace

3.  HANDBOOK OF REVIVALS FOR THE USE OF SOUL-WINNERS (1874) – Henry Fish

Preface

Chapter 1: WHAT IS A REVIVAL?

Chapter 2: HISTORICAL VIEW OF REVIVALS

Chapter 3: WHAT WE OWE TO REVIVALS

Chapter 4: DIVINE ECONOMY OF REVIVALS

Chapter 5: OBJECTIONS TO REVIVALS

Chapter 6: POSITION OF EVANGELISTS.

Chapter 7: CHILD-PIETY AND PROFESSION.

Chapter 8: INDICATIONS OF A REVIVAL.

Chapter 9: REVIVALS HINDERED AND ARRESTED.

Chapter 10: REVIVAL MEANS AND METHODS.

Chapter 11: PREACHING AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 12: PRAYER AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 13: SINGING AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 14: PERSONAL EFFORT AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 15: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 16: TREATMENT OF INQUIRERS.

Chapter 17: TRAINING THE CONVERTS.

Chapter 18: REVIVALS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD.

Chapter 19: ARE YOU REVIVED?

4.  THE AWAKENING IN WALES AND SOME OF THE HIDDEN SPRINGS (1905) – Jessie Penn-Lewis

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

5.  THE WELSH REVIVAL (1905) – Stead & Morgan

Chapter 1: From the Author to the Reader

Chapter 2: The National Significance of Revivals

Chapter 3: What I Saw In Wales

Chapter 4: Evan Roberts

Chapter 5: The Rise And Progress Of The Revival

Chapter 6: What Ought I To Do?

Chapter 7: The Revival: Its Power And Source

6.  AZUSA STREET (1925) – Frank Bartleman

Dedication:

Chapter 1: Trials And Blessings, Revival Begins

Chapter 2: Pastor Smale Returns From Wales

Chapter 3: The Fire Falls At Azusa

Chapter 4: Eighth And Maple Meetings

Chapter 5: From California To Maine

Chapter 6: A Second Ministry East

Chapter 7: Visit to Hawaii - Volcano Kilauea

Chapter 8: Brother Durham in Los Angeles

Chapter 9: Sparks From the Anvil

Chapter 10: A Plea For Unity

7.  THE REVIVAL WE NEED (1925) – Oswald J. Smith

Preface

Foreword by Jonathan Goforth

Chapter 1: The Outpouring Of The Spirit

Chapter 2: The Responsibility For Revival

Chapter 3: Soul-Travail

Chapter 4: The Enduement Of Power

Chapter 5: Conviction

Chapter 6: Obstacles

Chapter 7: Faith

Chapter 8: Heart Yearnings For Revival

Chapter 9: Manifestations Of God's Power

Chapter 10: Spiritual Experiences Of Priceless Value

8.  THE WAY TO PENTECOST (1932) – Samuel Chadwick

Chapter 1: Do We Believe in the Holy Ghost?

Chapter 2: The Church Without the Spirit

Chapter 3: The Spirit of Promise

Chapter 4: Pentecost

Chapter 5: The Gift of the Holy Ghost

Chapter 6: The Pentecostal Life

Chapter 7: The Indwelling of the Spirit

Chapter 8: The Communion of the Holy Ghost

Chapter 9: The Spirit of Christ

Chapter 10: The Spirit of Power

Chapter 11: The Spirit of Life

Chapter 12: The Spirit of Truth

Chapter 13: The Spirit of Holiness

Chapter 14: The Spirit of Love

Chapter 15: The Spirit of Fire

Chapter 16: The Fruit of the Spirit

Chapter 17: The Gifts of the Spirit

Chapter 18: The Law of the Spirit

Chapter 19: The Challenge of Pentecost

Chapter 20: The Way Into the Blessing

Table of Contents

From the Editor

1.  A FAITHFUL NARRATIVE OF THE SURPRISING WORK OF GOD (1736) – Jonathan Edwards

Preface

Section 1: A General Introductory Statement

Section 2: The Manner Of Conversion Various, Yet Bearing A Great Analogy.

Section 3: This Work Further Illustrated In Particular Instances

2.  LECTURES ON REVIVALS OF RELIGION (1868) – Charles Finney

Preface.

Lecture 1: What A Revival Of Religion Is

Lecture 2: When A Revival Is To Be Expected

Lecture 3: How To Promote A Revival

Lecture 4: Prevailing Prayer

Lecture 5: The Prayer Of Faith

Lecture 6: The Spirit Of Prayer

Lecture 7: On Being Filled With The Spirit.

Lecture 8: Meetings For Prayer

Lecture 9: Means To Be Used With Sinners

Lecture 10: To Win Souls Requires Wisdom

Lecture 11: A Wise Minister Will Be Successful

Lecture 12: How To Preach The Gospel

Lecture 13: How Churches Can Help Ministers

Lecture 14: Measures To Promote Revivals

Lecture 15: Hindrances To Revivals

Lecture 16: The Necessity And Effect Of Union.

Lecture 17: False Comforts For Sinners

Lecture 18: Directions To Sinners

Lecture 19: Instructions To Converts

Lecture 20: Instructions To Converts- (Continued)

Lecture 21: The Backslider In Heart

Lecture 22: Growth In Grace

3.  HANDBOOK OF REVIVALS FOR THE USE OF SOUL-WINNERS (1874) – Henry Fish

Preface

Chapter 1: WHAT IS A REVIVAL?

Chapter 2: HISTORICAL VIEW OF REVIVALS

Chapter 3: WHAT WE OWE TO REVIVALS

Chapter 4: DIVINE ECONOMY OF REVIVALS

Chapter 5: OBJECTIONS TO REVIVALS

Chapter 6: POSITION OF EVANGELISTS.

Chapter 7: CHILD-PIETY AND PROFESSION.

Chapter 8: INDICATIONS OF A REVIVAL.

Chapter 9: REVIVALS HINDERED AND ARRESTED.

Chapter 10: REVIVAL MEANS AND METHODS.

Chapter 11: PREACHING AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 12: PRAYER AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 13: SINGING AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 14: PERSONAL EFFORT AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 15: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND REVIVALS.

Chapter 16: TREATMENT OF INQUIRERS.

Chapter 17: TRAINING THE CONVERTS.

Chapter 18: REVIVALS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD.

Chapter 19: ARE YOU REVIVED?

4.  THE AWAKENING IN WALES AND SOME OF THE HIDDEN SPRINGS (1905) – Jessie Penn-Lewis

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

5.  THE WELSH REVIVAL (1905) – Stead & Morgan

Chapter 1: From the Author to the Reader

Chapter 2: The National Significance of Revivals

Chapter 3: What I Saw In Wales

Chapter 4: Evan Roberts

Chapter 5: The Rise And Progress Of The Revival

Chapter 6: What Ought I To Do?

Chapter 7: The Revival: Its Power And Source

6.  AZUSA STREET (1925) – Frank Bartleman

Dedication:

Chapter 1: Trials And Blessings, Revival Begins

Chapter 2: Pastor Smale Returns From Wales

Chapter 3: The Fire Falls At Azusa

Chapter 4: Eighth And Maple Meetings

Chapter 5: From California To Maine

Chapter 6: A Second Ministry East

Chapter 7: Visit to Hawaii - Volcano Kilauea

Chapter 8: Brother Durham in Los Angeles

Chapter 9: Sparks From the Anvil

Chapter 10: A Plea For Unity

7.  THE REVIVAL WE NEED (1925) – Oswald J. Smith

Preface

Foreword by Jonathan Goforth

Chapter 1: The Outpouring Of The Spirit

Chapter 2: The Responsibility For Revival

Chapter 3: Soul-Travail

Chapter 4: The Enduement Of Power

Chapter 5: Conviction

Chapter 6: Obstacles

Chapter 7: Faith

Chapter 8: Heart Yearnings For Revival

Chapter 9: Manifestations Of God's Power

Chapter 10: Spiritual Experiences Of Priceless Value

8.  THE WAY TO PENTECOST (1932) – Samuel Chadwick

Chapter 1: Do We Believe in the Holy Ghost?

Chapter 2: The Church Without the Spirit

Chapter 3: The Spirit of Promise

Chapter 4: Pentecost

Chapter 5: The Gift of the Holy Ghost

Chapter 6: The Pentecostal Life

Chapter 7: The Indwelling of the Spirit

Chapter 8: The Communion of the Holy Ghost

Chapter 9: The Spirit of Christ

Chapter 10: The Spirit of Power

Chapter 11: The Spirit of Life

Chapter 12: The Spirit of Truth

Chapter 13: The Spirit of Holiness

Chapter 14: The Spirit of Love

Chapter 15: The Spirit of Fire

Chapter 16: The Fruit of the Spirit

Chapter 17: The Gifts of the Spirit

Chapter 18: The Law of the Spirit

Chapter 19: The Challenge of Pentecost

Chapter 20: The Way Into the Blessing