But though this kind of revivalism does no good, I know that there are true and genuine revivals, and in each of these there is this prominent mark, that they are most visibly and eminently of God. In the great revival in New England, you remember it was at first produced under a sermon preached by Jonathan Edwards. There was an ordination, I think, and he attended it; but the expected minister did not arrive, and Jonathan Edwards was asked to preach. He had one sermon in his pocket, for he always wrote his sermons, and read them; and he was by no means a mighty speaker, in the common acceptance of the term. So he took out his manuscript, held it up close to his eye, and stood still, almost without motion, except now and then the lifting of his hand; thus he read his sermon through from beginning to end.
The Lord seemed to move among that assembly of people. A mysterious influence entered into all hearts. Men returned to their homes, and they told of the great things they had heard and experienced within. Ministers went home, and they began to preach differently from what they had done before. Church members went home, and they began to pray more earnestly; and, on a sudden, from the spark that seemed to be kindled by the accident of Jonathan Edwards being called upon to preach, there came, as it were, one mighty sheet of fire, which spread throughout the land, as the consuming element sweeps over the prairie. So, in the present revival, the same fact must be noticed. There are no great revivalists in America now, who are making any wonderful stir. God just sent them somewhere else, and said, “Now, gentlemen, I am about to revive My own work.” He began it Himself, and He is carrying it on. He has aroused New York, and all New England with a mighty blessing, the end of which no one can tell. The Lord Himself has done it; and however we may talk about revivals, the Lord must do the work Himself, and Himself alone. We must pray, “O Lord, revive Your work.” We must pray the revival down; it is ours to use all right means, methods, and instrumentalities, but it must be also ours to recollect that all the strength, and all the might, and all the success, must come from on high, even from God the Holy Spirit.
Are there any of you here who were converted by a man? If you were, you have grave cause to suspect your conversion. If one man can convert you, another may unconvert you. That which man can do, man can undo. Have any of you had your churches revived by a man? Then probably they may fall back again; but if the revival be a genuine work of God, a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, then not death, nor hell, can ever destroy God’s own work; stand it must, and prevail it shall. “O Lord, revive Your work.” “Will You not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”
Thus I have set before you the three truths in my text; and now, with all my might, I desire to speak to you on the subject of a revival, and to endeavor to stir up your minds, by way of remembrance, that you may be led to seek after a genuine revival of Christianity from the Lord. I beseech you, men, brethren, and fathers, strive with God, both by day and by night, for a revival of Christianity in our midst. My first argument is this: you may well be urged to pray earnestly when you consider some of the effects of a true revival.
When revivals come into a church, they make a great stir, and effect many changes. There is the minister. He used to preach at an average rate of three miles an hour; he certainly never went beyond that. He was diligent, too, all the week through, in trying to pick out long words of many syllables, and thrusting them into his discourses, because, as there are hard seeds in fruit, he thought so there ought to be hard words in sermons! It was very seldom that he ever stirred himself in his pulpit; had he taken but a pinch of snuff, the people would have noticed it. It would have been a new thing with him, for he was so regular a discourser that he had gone on in the same old rut for full twenty years.
But there came a revival, he did not at first know what to make of it; but, somehow or other, he brushed himself up, brought his energy into play, and, it is currently declared, the next Sunday he actually told an anecdote! He finds a tear unwittingly come into his eye; and, he does not exactly know how it is, but the people actually seem to understand his words. Another Sunday, and the man grows more earnest still; and the good old woman in the balcony, who had never been disturbed in her seat before, asked, “What has come over our minister?” It was said by some that he was “growing quite young again,” but the fact was, the dear man was growing quite good again, and God was pouring out His good Spirit into his heart. He put all his old sermons under his bed, and set to work to find a few good, homely thoughts, that he might earnestly speak to the people.
His congregation were so struck that they could not make it out at all; he was once so dull and drowsy, and now so changed! But Monday night comes, and with it the prayer-meeting. Never were seen so many present before. The church was half full; how wonderful! And the Monday after, better still, quite full! But the best of it was yet to come, they had to turn into the chapel at length, for lack of room in the main church building! And, what was almost regarded as a miracle, the good old senior deacon, who used to begin in such a boring manner and drift into idle talk for twenty minutes, actually prayed a half-a-dozen times over, “O Lord, save souls, for Jesus Christ’s sake! “And more than that, all the praying brethren, when they prayed, pleaded earnestly that God would bless their pastor, and prosper him in his work! Well, next, the blessing reached the Sunday-school; the teachers began to seek more children to attend; and the children became more thoughtful, yes, some of the dear boys and girls were converted to God. And then followed the good effects of the revival all around. The members of the church began to attend more regularly, and they not only came to the services both morning and evening on the Sunday, but they actually came on time!
