Revival Library

THE HISTORY OF REVIVALS

OF RELIGION

William Allen

The Revival Library, King‟s Christian Centre,

High Street, Bishop‟s Waltham, Hants, SO32 1AA, UK

Telephone: 01489 894734 Email: librarian@revival-library.org

About This Booklet
This booklet is quite small – just eighty two pages in the 1951 paper
edition – but it is one of the best brief introductions to historical revival
that has ever been produced. Chapter One is divided into five parts, each
part covering the whole spread of historical revivals from the early
church through the Reformation period right up to early twentieth
century revivals.

The second and third chapters deal with the means of revival and the
place of revival in world evangelisation, respectively.

Overall, this book is an impassioned plea for serious prayer, expectant

faith and militant evangelism to produce a great outpouring of the Spirit
and an unprecedented harvest of souls.

Copyright Information
This booklet is NOT in the public domain. To reproduce any of it‘s
contents, in whole or in part, permission must be secured from Mr.
William Allen, Revival Publishing Company, Co. Antrim, N. Ireland. It is
used here with his kind permission.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
FOREWORD
NOTE

CHAPTER I - The History of Revivals of Religion

Part I. Early Church Revivals — The Early British Church —

Waldenses Revival— John Wickcliffe — Savonarola — The Reformation
— John Calvin— John Knox—Ulster Revival 1625.

Part II. German Pietism — Moravian Revival — Jonathan Edwards —

The Great Awakening.

Part III. Brainerd‘s Revival—The Puritans—The Quaker Revival—

Revivals in Wales—The Methodist Pentecost—Cambuslang Revival—
Missions the Result of Revivals—Early American Methodist Revivals—
Finney‘s Revivals—Revivals in Kilsyth and Aberdeen—American Revival
1857-58.

Part IV. ‗59 Revival in Ireland—‘59 Revival in Wales, England, and

Scotland—The Salvation Army—D. L. Moody—The China Inland
Mission—Christian Endeavour Revival.

Part V. C. H. Spurgeon—World Student Revival—George Muller—

Billy Bray—Sam Jones.

Part VI. Revival in Uganda—Pandita Ramabai‘s Revival—The Welsh

Revival 1904—Revivals in China, Korea, and Manchuria—Billy Sunday—
Torrey—Chapman—Alexander—Praying Hyde—Ruanda Revivals—
Youth for Christ—Billy Graham—Revival in Korea 1950— Remarks.

CHAPTER II. - How to Promote Local Revival.

Prayer Groups in History—Prayer for Revival— Youth Work—Sunday
Schools—Gospel Services— Open Air Meetings—Missions—Enquiry
Room Work—Purity Witness.

CHAPTER III. - Revival and World Evangelisation.

Introduction—the Call—Support of Students— Home Missions—How

Colleges and Churches Can Help—Revival Conferences—The
Possibilities—The Training of Converts—Personal Message.
Introduction
This book completes the "Revival Series." The following is a short account
of the ground of this work.

In 1936 God called me to devote my life to the evangelization of the

world. Since that time I have continually experienced the teaching of the
Holy Spirit as He led me to study the great revival movements of the
past, especially the life and writings of Charles G. Finney.

The idea of the ―Revival Series‖ was an inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
which led to the founding of the Revival Publishing Co., in April, 1948.
The vision of this work is to provide keen Christians and young converts
everywhere with a course of instruction that will lead them naturally into
a life of efficient service in the cause of Revival and World
Evangelization.

God has set His seal upon this work. Ministers, evangelists, missionaries,
and Christians in many countries, have testified to definite blessing
received through the booklets.

Revival is the key to world evangelisation. If the Christians in every

country were revived, the world would be evangelised in a few years.

The world is before us. Nations are calling for the Gospel. Let us each one
begin today to take part in this holy war.

W. E. Allen.
February, 1951
Foreword
The greatest need of the world and the Church today is a mighty
manifestation of the Spirit of God. Before the days of the Finney revivals
there were only 200,000 church members in the United States. When
Finney ended his ministry, over three million had joined the churches.

The greatest days of the Church have been the days of revival. Nothing
can take its place. The best that man can do does not meet the need. Only
as God comes upon the scene in revival power are the problems solved.

I know of only one or two Bible Schools where a course of study is

offered on the History of Evangelism and Revival, and nothing is more
needed. Moreover, there are hardly any text books on the subject. I am
glad, therefore, that Mr. Allen has attempted to meet this need.

I sincerely pray that this new book on the history of revivals will stir and
awaken the Church throughout the world, and lead to the greatest
outpouring of the Spirit we have yet seen. There is nothing more
important for our day and generation and I heartily commend it.

OSWALD J. SMITH.

The Peoples Church, Toronto, Canada.

Note
The Revival Publishing Co. has been founded in order to publish vital
revival literature, and thus to raise up and train a worldwide army of soul
winners who will learn how to promote true evangelical revivals of
religion in every country.

How can this be accomplished? By the formation of Revival prayer and

witness groups, where these booklets will be studied and their
instructions carried out. God has set His seal upon the ministry of these
booklets in the raising up of groups of soul winners in different countries.
The greatest revivals in history started in a similar manner. Will you help
to form a Revival group in your district?

There are seven booklets in this series. All who study each booklet
thoroughly can take the Revival Series Examination. Those who pass this
examination will be given a Certificate. All details concerning this will be
sent on request.

Already some of the ―Revival Series‖ booklets have been taken up for
translation into other languages, and we will be glad to hear from other
Missions or persons who desire to translate any or all of the ―Revival
Series‖ booklets into foreign languages.

All gifts to this work, and profits from sales, will be used only in the
cause of revival.

We also invite Christians who are burdened for revival to join with us in
the circulation of these booklets. If the profits are used in the Lord‘s work,
we are willing to supply any Christian with these booklets at Trade Price.
Chapter One. History of Revivals
PART I

EARLY CHURCH REVIVALS

Page 7
TERTULLIAN writing about 200 A.D., vindicating the Christian religion,
said: ―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.‖

In 110 Ignatius spoke of bishops being settled in the ends of the world.
Before 180 Christianity had spread rapidly in Asia Minor and Egypt; we
also read of churches in North Africa, Gaul, Germany, Thrace, and
Thessaly. But the great increase in the number of Christians came in the
years 260-303. Of this period Eusebius writes, ―Who could describe those
vast collections of men that flocked to the religion of Christ, and the
illustrious concourse in the houses of worship? On whose account, not
content with the ancient buildings, they erected spacious churches in all
the cities.‘‘

Harnack estimated that in 303 the Christian population in Asia Minor

was nearly one-half of the whole, and that scattered throughout the
Empire they were a considerable minority. But the greatest proof of the
growth and strength of Christianity was that the Emperor Constantine
embraced the faith, and gave peace, wealth and power to the Church.

THE EARLY BRITISH CHURCH

Page 8
Gildas the wise, a Welsh monk, writing about 500 A.D. said, ―The Church
is spread over the nation. It had spread, moreover, into Ireland and
Scotland. It was also a learned Church; it had its own version of the Bible
and its own ritual.‖
St. Patrick (395-493) became the Apostle of Ireland. He said, ―I was re-
formed by the Lord, and He hath fitted me for being at this day what was
once far enough from me, that I should concern myself for the salvation
of others, when I used not to think even of my own.‘‘ For about thirty
years St. Patrick preached the Gospel throughout Ireland, and established
churches, monasteries, and schools from which missionaries were sent
forth for four centuries after his death. A few lines from his famous
―Breastplate‖ hymn—which he composed at Tara on the eve of his
historic interview with King Leogaire—reveal the spirit of the man and
the Gospel he preached.

“Christ as a light, illumine and guide me!

Christ as a shield, o’ershadow and cover me!
Christ be under me, Christ be over me!
Christ be beside me on the left hand and right!
Christ be before me, behind me, about me!
Christ this day be within and without me!”
“Salvation dwells with the Lord, with Christ the omnipotent Word,
From generation to generation—grant us, O Lord, Thy grace and salvation.”

From Ireland Columba went to lona and established a church and

monastery. During the following years he and his associates founded
churches, monasteries, and schools from the Orkneys and Hebrides south
to the Humber.

The mission of Augustin and his successors in the sees of Canterbury and
York so limited the field of the Irish and Scotch missionaries at home, that
they ―swarmed like bees into the dark places of heathen Europe.‖ Ireland
was called ―the Isle of Saints,‖

Page 9
the ―University of the West.‖ Copies of the Bible marked with
commentaries in Irish to the Teutonic, Scandinavian, and Italian peoples
are still extant.

Some of the leading Missionaries to Europe were: Columbanus, St. Gall,

Kilian, Virgilius, Fridolin, and Willibrord. Thirteen monasteries were
founded by the Irish in Scotland, twelve in England, seven in France,
twelve in Brittany, seven in Lorraine, ten in Alsatia, sixteen in Bavaria,
fifteen in Rhetia, Helvetia, and Allemania; also many in Thuringia and on
the left bank of the Lower Rhine; and six in Italy. Of saints of Irish origin
who are recognised as the patrons or founders of churches, there were a
hundred and fifty in Germany, forty five in Gaul, thirty in Belgium,
thirteen in Italy, and eight in Norway and Iceland.

This purely British Church maintained its independence until 1172, when
the Synod of Cashel bound it to the Romanised Church in England.

WALDENSES REVIVAL 1184

The story of the faithfulness, endurance, and heroism of the Waldenses

down the centuries is unique in Church History. Where they live ―there is
not a rock that is not a monument, not a meadow that has not seen an
execution, not a village that does not register its martyrs.‖ In the twelfth
century they experienced a revival which resulted in great evangelistic
activity.

This movement was led by Peter Waldo. All were missionaries, and
preached in the houses, streets, and market places. Rev. Clarke says of
them, ― The sect spread with extraordinary rapidity, and extended from
Arragon to Ponierania and Bohemia, though most numerous in the south
of Frances Alsace, and in the mountain districts of Savoy, Switzerland
and Northern Italy.‖

BOHEMIAN REVIVAL

In 1315 it was reckoned that there were 80,000 true Christians in Bohemia
alone. This remarkable

Page 10
spiritual revival was partly the result of the labours of three reformers,
Conrad of Waldhausen, Milic of Moravia, and Matthias of Janow; it
prepared the way for the movement that was led by John Huss.
In 1467 some Bohemians, Waldenses, and Moravians united in what was
known as the Unitas Fratrum Church. When the Reformation dawned
they had four hundred churches, and were circulating their own
Bohemian Bible. This persecuted remnant of the followers of Huss
continued until 1715 when Christian David led a company of them into
Saxon Silesia where they settled on the estate of Count Zinzendorf.

JOHN WICKCLIFFE

In the 14th century Wickliffe reopened the Bible, and began to expose the
errors of the Roman Church. Many were converted through his preaching
and writings. He also founded an association of preachers called Lollards,
and sent them to preach up and down the country.

Wickcliffe was a man of prayer, and the reforms he advocated were the
result of his own spiritual enlightenment through reading the Bible. He
declared, ―The sacred Scriptures are the property of the people, and one
which no one should be allowed to wrest from them. Christ and His
apostles converted the world by making known the Scriptures, and I pray
with all my heart that through doing the things contained in this book,
we may all together come to the everlasting life.‖

John Huss embraced the doctrines of Wickliffe, and after exerting a

mighty influence for the Gospel inBohemia, he was martyred in 1415.

SAVONAROLA

After listening to a sermon from an Augustinian friar, Savonarola at the

age of twenty-three decided to adopt the monastic life. He became
famous as a preacher in the Lent of 1489, and shortly afterwards he was
elected Prior of St. Mark‘s Convent, Florence.

Villari says, ―Wonderful was the effect of

Page 11
Savonarola‘s preaching on the corrupt and pagan society of Florence. His
natural, spontaneous heart stirring eloquence, with its exalted imagery
and outbursts of righteous indignation, was entirely unprecedented in
that era of pedantry and the simulation of the classic oratory.

The Prior‘s preaching confounded his foes, for it completely changed the
aspect of the city. The women cast off their jewels and dressed simply;
young profligates were transformed into sober, religious men, the
churches were filled with people at prayer, and the Bible was diligently
read.

The fame of this marvellous preacher was now extending throughout the
world by means of his printed sermons. Even the Sultan of Turkey
commanded them to be translated into Turkish for his own study. Of
course, the individual aim of Savonarola was simply to be the regenerator
of religion.‖ As one of the first Protestants, and as a herald of the
Reformation, Savonarola soon got into trouble with the Pope, and as a
result he was executed in 1498.

THE REFORMATION

Under the Roman Church millions of souls lived in continual fear of the
wrath to come. No doubt their cry came up before God and He came
down to deliver them.

Through bitter experience Martin Luther knew the spiritual agonies of the
people, and the failure of any good works to give assurance of salvation.
Then he began to read the Bible, and slowly the truth of Justification by
Faith dawned upon his soul.

It is wonderful to follow the growth of Luther‘s work. The Reformation

burned in his heart. He was possessed with divine strength and wisdom,
as he met each difficult situation.

Luther prayed hours every day. Once a spy followed him to a hotel. The
next day he told his employer that Luther had prayed nearly all night,
and that he could never conquer one who prayed like that.
Page 12
One day Luther was told that Melancthon was dying. He hurried to see
him, and aroused him from his stupor. Melancthon looked at him and
said, ‖O Luther, is this you? Why don‘t you let me depart in peace?‖ ―We
can't spare you yet, Philip,‖ replied Luther; and turning round, he went
upon his knees, and wrestled with God for his recovery. From that time
Melancthon recovered. Luther said, ―God gave me back my brother
Melancthon in direct answer to prayer.‖

Luther knew what it was to travail in prayer, to wrestle with the powers
of darkness that engulfed the whole world. Listen to him in an agony of
prayer in the morning of the day when he had to make his defence before
the Diet of Worms. ―O Almighty and Everlasting God! How terrible is
this world! How weak is the flesh, and how powerful is Satan! O God! O
God! O God! Do Thou help me against all the wisdom of the world! For
this is not my work, but Thine. The cause is Thine, and it is a righteous
and eternal cause. O Lord! Help me! Faithful and unchangeable God!
Thou hast chosen me for this work. I know it well! Act, then, O God,
stand at my side, for the sake of Thy well-beloved Jesus Christ. Amen.‖

God answered this prayer immediately, and filled Luther with such
strength and wisdom that he won that day the greatest victory in the
history of the Reformation.

The Reformation soon spread over Germany, France, Switzerland,

Holland, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, and the British Isles. But behind this
mighty movement we must remember there were the agonising prayers
of millions of hearts; much preaching of the Gospel doctrines; and
through the invention of printing, a wide distribution of the Scriptures.

JOHN CALVIN

Through reading the Bible John Calvin became a wholehearted follower

of the Reformed faith, and before long he was a leader of the Protestants
in

Page 13
Paris. In 1536 he published ―The Institutes of the Christian Religion,‖
which was the first complete outline and vindication of Protestantism.

The citizens of Geneva asked Calvin to come and help them in 1541, and
for over twenty years he laboured to make Geneva a city of God.
Attendance at public worship became compulsory. Wearing gay clothes,
and dancing, were punishable offences; marriage was regularised;
unchastity was punished with death. The taverns and haunts of sin
vanished. A good education became available to all. The churches were
crowded, and Geneva became a fountain-head of Protestant inspiration to
all Europe.

JOHN KNOX

John Knox the Scottish Reformer was a mighty man of prayer. Here is an
example of how he prayed, ―O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die !‖ After a
time of stillness, again the cry, ―O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die !‖ Once
more deep silence. Then again the cry with more intense pathos, ―O Lord,
give me Scotland, or I die.‖ God gave him Scotland.

If ever the man and the hour struck together it was when John Knox
landed in Scotland in 1559, and commenced his history-changing tour
preaching ―root and branch reform.‖ His trumpet-like call sounded over
mountain and moor, and within a few weeks the chief centres of Scotland
were won for the Protestant faith.

STEWARTON REVIVAL

This revival began in 1625, and continued for some years. Closely
following was the revival at Kirk of Shotts in June, 1630. Here a large
number of godly persons gathered for several days of prayer, and
conference. At least one whole night was spent in prayer, and when John
Livingstone preached, about five hundred persons were converted.
ULSTER REVIVAL 1625

This remarkable revival was promoted by a band

Page 14
of faithful ministers. They went forth in companies to evangelise the land,
and God used them mightily. There was much prayer and faithful
preaching in this revival.

A contemporary description of one of these ministers can be taken as

typical of them all. ―He was a man of notable constitution, both of body
and mind; of a majestic, awful, yet affable and amiable countenance and
carriage, thoroughly learned, of strong parts, deep invention, solid
judgement, and a most public spirit for God. His gift of preaching was
such, that seldom could any observe withdrawing of assistance in public,
which in others is frequent. He spent many days and nights in prayer,
alone and with others, and was vouchsafed great intimacy with God.‖
Here is a short description of those happy days, ―Preaching and praying
were so pleasant, and hearers so eager and greedy, that no day was long
enough, nor any room large enough, to answer their strong desires and
large expectations.‖
PART II.

GERMAN PIETISM.

In 1666 this movement began in the Lutheran Church under the ministry
of Spener. He was moved to oppose the dead orthodoxy that was
prevalent in many of the churches, and to work for a revival of true
religion. The pietists sought to promote Bible study, the development of a
lay ministry and practical Christian living. They believed that a blameless
life should be an indispensable qualification for the ministry, and that
preaching should be simple and direct. Riggenbach says, ―In less than
half a century pietism spread its influence through all the spheres of life,
and through all classes of society.‖

Spener and Franke also had an active part in the founding of the Danish-
Halle Mission, and in the training of such ‗men as Count Zinzendorf, and
the missionaries Ziegenblag and Schwartz.

MORAVIAN REVIVAL

Page 15
This revival began in 1727. Previous to this the settlers at Herrnhut could
not live together in peace. Finally Count Zinzendorf gave tall his time to
work for a settlement of their differences.

On the 12th of May, 1727, they all, with great joy, gave themselves afresh
to God, and promised to bury their disputes for ever.

The following account of the revival is taken from the ―History of the
Moravians‖ by A. Bost. ―From that time there was a wonderful effusion
of the Spirit on this happy church, until August the 13th when the
measure of Divine grace seemed absolutely overflowing.

Every day brought some new blessing. The Count applied himself to the
visiting of the brethren. This was the beginning of those little associations
which were afterwards called ―bands.‖ These consisted of two or three
persons, who met together privately, to converse on their spiritual state,
to exhort, and reprove, and pray for each other.‘‘

On the 22nd of July some brethren ―agreed to repair at stated times to a

hill near Herrnhut, in order to pour out their souls to God in prayer and
singing. On the same day the Count set out for Silesia. Before his
departure several of the brethren engaged to devote themselves to the
advancement of the revival.‖ At this time they had a great blessing
through the reading of the First Epistle of St. John.

―On the Lord‘s day, the 10th of August, the minister Rothe was seized, in
the midst of the assembly, with an unusual impulse. He threw himself
upon his knees before God, and the whole assembly prostrated
themselves with him under the same emotions. An uninterrupted course
of singing and prayer, weeping and supplication, continued till midnight.
All hearts were united in love.‖

The brethren held a Communion service on Friday, 13th. It was full of

deep spiritual power and emotion. The whole assembly united in prayer
to God, and then

Page 16
sung, ‗My soul before Thee prostrate lies,‘ amidst tears and sobs, so that it
could hardly be distinguished whether they were weeping or singing.
The scene was so moving that the pastor could hardly tell what he saw or
heard.

―A few days after the 13th of August, a remarkable revival took place
among the children at Herrnhut and Bertholdsdorf. On the 18th of
August, all the children at the boarding school were seized with an
extraordinary impulse of the Spirit, and passed the whole night in prayer.
From this time, a constant work of God was going on in the minds of the
children, in both places. No words can express the powerful operation of
the Holy Spirit upon these children.‖

On the 25th of August the brethren began the ministry of continual

prayer which continued for over a hundred years. ―They considered that,
as in the ancient Temple the fire on the altar never ceased to burn, so in
the Church, which is now the Temple of God, the prayers of the saints
ought always to ascend to the Lord.‖

In January, 1728, the brethren held their first missionary meeting. ―This
meeting was celebrated by meditations on different portions of Holy
Scripture, and fervent prayers; in the midst of which the church
experienced a remarkable enjoyment of the presence of the Spirit.‖

The Moravian Missions began in 1731. Work was commenced in the West
Indies and Greenland. In the years that followed missionaries were sent
to Labrador, North America, South America, South Africa, Asia,
Australia, and many islands of the sea. The Moravians Missions have
been a mighty force in the evangelisation of the heathen, but we must
remember that it all began in the revival in 1727.

JONATHAN EDWARDS‟ REVIVAL

Edwards reveals the secret of this revival. He said: ―The spirit of those
that have been in distress for the souls of others, so far as I can discern,
seems

Page 17
not to be different from that of the apostle who travailed for souls.‖ On
the evening of the day preceding the outbreak of the revival, some
Christians met, and spent the whole night in prayer.

There was scarcely a person in the town, (Northampton), old or young,

left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world. 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. This
work of God soon made a glorious alteration in the town; so that in the
spring and summer following, the town seemed to be full of the presence
of God; it was never 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 unto
them; parents rejoicing over their children as new born, and husbands
over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The goings of God were
seen in His sanctuary, God‘s day was a delight, and His tabernacles were
amiable.‖

THE GREAT AWAKENING

This revival in America began in 1735. Jonathan Edwards‘ revival was the
beginning of this awakening which continued for about twenty-five
years, and was powerful in many American states.

From Northampton the revival spread to South Hadley, Suffield,

Sunderland, Green River, West Springfield, Long Meadow, Enfield, and
Northfield. From these towns as a centre it spread throughout New
England and the Middle States.

The leaders in this revival were Edwards, the Tennents, Davenport, and
Whitfield. The preaching of Whitfield stirred the whole country, but it
should be remembered that he was preaching to people whose hearts
were prepared, and who were longing for the Gospel message.

Page 18
Of this period William Conant writes, ―The preaching of the Gospel was
attended with the most wonderful power, in every part of New England,
and revivals gave new life and multiplied numbers to the churches, in a
larger number of towns than our space enables us to enumerate,
throughout New England, and in the Middle States.

―It cannot be doubted that at least 50,000 souls were added to the
churches of New England, out of a population of about 250,000. A fact
sufficient to revolutionise, as indeed it did, the religious and moral
character, and to determine the destinies, of the country.

―Not less than 150 new Congregational churches were established in

twenty years. The increase of Baptist churches in the last half of the
century, was still more wonderful, rising from 9 to upwards of 400 in
number, with a total of thirty thousand members.‖ There was a similar
growth in the Presbyterian and other churches.
―The new converts were ‗fervent in spirit.‘ They thirsted for the salvation
of souls. Unexampled efforts. were immediately employed for the spread
of the Gospel. Some went from house to house in their respective
neighbourhoods ‗warning every man and teaching every man,‘ and
exhorting all to turn to the Lord. Pious ministers were stirred to unusual
exertion, and old Christians renewed their youth. ‗The Lord gave the
word; great was the company of them that published it.‘

They had deep convictions of the evil of sin, and of the peril of a
rebellious state. The love of God in Christ overpowered their souls. Their
views of the solemn realities of another world were vivid and heart-
affecting. Their earnest appeals made the stout hearted tremble, awed
many a reprobate into silence, and wrung tears from daring and
hardened offenders. Tens of thousands bowed before the majesty of truth.
Some of the most powerful preachers emigrated to other States; and
wherever they went, the floods of blessing poured over the land.‖
PART 3

BRAINERD‟S REVIVAL

Page 19
After some years of difficult and almost fruitless work among the North
American Indians, David Brainerd saw a powerful revival commence in
July, 1745. It was in answer to agonizing prayer.

Brainerd wrote, ―July 26th. In the evening, God was pleased to help me in
prayer, beyond what I have experienced for some time. My soul was
especially drawn out for the enlargement of Christ‘s kingdom; and for the
conversion of my poor people; and I relied on God for the
accomplishment of that great work.

―My soul, my very soul longed for the ingathering of the poor heathen;
and I cried to God for them most willingly and heartily, and yet because I
could not but cry. I longed that the remaining part of my life might be
filled up with more fervency and activity in things of God.

―August 2nd. In the evening I retired, and my soul was drawn out in
prayer to God, especially for my poor people, to whom I had sent word
that they might gather together, that I might preach to them the next day.
I was much enlarged in praying for their saving conversion, and scarcely
ever found my desires for anything of this nature so sensibly and clearly
disinterested, and free from selfish views.

―It seemed to me, I had no care, or hardly any desire to be the instrument
of so glorious a work, as I wished and prayed for among the Indians; if
the blessed work might be accomplished to the honour of God, and the
enlargement of the dear Redeemer‘s kingdom, this was all my desire and
care; and for this mercy I hoped, but with trembling. My rising hopes,
respecting the conversion of the Indians, have been so

Page 20
often dashed, that my spirit is as it were broken, and courage wasted, and
I hardly dare hope.
―August 3rd. Having visited the Indians in these parts in June last, and
tarried with them some considerable time preaching almost daily, I now
found them serious, and a number of them under deep concern for an
interest in Christ. I preached to them this. day, ‗ Whosoever will, let him
take the water of life freely.‘

―The Lord, I am persuaded, enabled me, in a manner somewhat

uncommon, to set before them the Lord Jesus Christ as kind and
compassionate Saviour, inviting distressed and perishing sinners to
accept everlasting mercy, and a surprising concern soon became apparent
among them. There were about 20 adult persons together, and not above
two that I could see with dry eyes.

―August 6th. In the morning I discoursed to the Indians at the house

where we lodged. Many of them were tenderly affected, so that a few
words about their souls would cause the tears to flow freely, and produce
many sobs and groans.

―In the afternoon I again discoursed to them. They seemed eager to hear;
but there appeared nothing very remarkable, till near the close of my
discourse; and then divine truths were attended with a surprising
influence, and produced a great concern among them. All seemed in an
agony to obtain an interest in Christ. It was surprising to see how their
hearts seemed to be pierced with the tender and melting invitations of the
Gospel, when there was not a word of terror spoken to them.

―August 8th. In the afternoon I preached to about sixty-five persons, and

was favoured with uncommon freedom. There was much visible concern
among them; but when I spoke to one and another more particularly, the
power of God seemed to descend

Page 21
upon the assembly ‗like a rushing mighty wind,‘ and with an astonishing
energy bore down all before it.

―I stood amazed at the influence which seized the audience: old men and
women, and some children, as well as persons of middle age.
―I never saw a day like it in all respects: it was a day wherein I am
persuaded the Lord did much to destroy the kingdom of darkness among
this people.‖

This revival among the Indians continued for some years, and produced
lasting results.

THE PURITAN REVIVAL

The name Puritan designated those in the Anglican Church who ―sought
a simpler faith and form of service.‖ This movement grew out of the
widespread reading of the Bible.

These men were the salt of English society in their day. They stood for
liberty and toleration, and were the champions of the rights of the people.

Owen, Bunyan, Baxter, Milton, Leighton, Flavel, and others, gave to the
world some of the best evangelical literature. How many have been
blessed through the ―Pilgrim‘s Progress‖?

Richard Baxter was a true revivalist. It is said that his study walls were
stained with praying breath. Through him God did a great work in
Kidderminster. He tells us of converts holding a Saturday evening prayer
meeting for blessing on the following day of such congregations that they
had to build five new galleries in his church; that on Sundays there was
no disorder in the streets, but that you would hear a hundred families
singing psalms in ‗their ‗homes.

The Puritan movement eventually branched into different church

organisations. Many emigrated to America. How much do we owe to this
seventeenth century revival?

THE QUAKER REVIVAL

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In the middle of the seventeenth century there were thousands of men
and women who were adrift from the Church of England. They were
seeking for the truth, and were like sheep without a shepherd. In addition
to Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, we read of Sabbatarians,
Seekers, Traskites, Millenaries, Familists, Etheringtonians, Fifth
Monarchy men, Muggletonians and many others.

George Fox was born in 1624. He was brought up in a Puritan home, and
could say, ― When I came to eleven years of age, I knew pureness and
righteousness. The Lord taught me to be faithful inwardly to God, and
outwardly to man.‖ But in spite of his good life Fox was not at peace; he
went through years of spiritual darkness and conflict until one day he
seemed to hear a voice say to him, ‗‗There is one, even Christ Jesus, that
can speak to thy condition.‖ He said, ―My heart did leap for joy. My
desires after the Lord grew stronger. Though I read the Scriptures that
spoke of Christ and of God, yet I knew Him not but by revelation, as He
who hath the key did open, and as the Father of Life drew me to His Son
by His Spirit.‖ In this way God prepared Fox to be His messenger to
seeking souls all over the land.

He obeyed God‘s call and he said, ―I was glad that I was commanded to
turn people to that inward light, spirit, and grace, by which all might
know their salvation and their way to God; even that Divine Spirit which
would lead them into all truth. With and by this divine power and Spirit
of God, and the light of Jesus, I was to bring people off from all their own
ways, to Christ, the new and living Way, and to know the Spirit of Truth
in the inward parts, and to be led thereby.‖

William Penn wrote of Fox, ―He had an extraordinary gift in opening the
Scriptures. But above all he excelled in prayer. The most living, reverent
frame I ever beheld, was his in prayer.‖ His

Page 23
personality radiated the holiness, and majesty, and love of God. Sinners
were afraid and often trembled in his presence.

Fox said that the Lord told him, ―If but one man or woman were raised
up by His power to stand and live in the same spirit the apostles and
prophets were in, he or she should shake all the country for ten miles
around.‖ This is how the Quakers lived. ―When the people came to see
Friends‘ honesty and truthfulness, and their lives and conversations did
preach and reach to the witness of God in all people, all the enquiry was;
where was a draper or shop-keeper or any other tradesman that was a
Quaker; in so much that Friends had double the trade beyond any of their
neighbours, and if there was any trading they had it. Then the cry was, ‗If
we let these people alone they will take the trading of the nation out of
our hands‘.‖

The founding of the State of Pennsylvania is a glorious chapter in Church

history. Listen to William Penn making the Treaty with the Indians. ‗The
Great Spirit who made you and me and all men, knows that I and my
children wish to live in peace and friendship with the Indians. The
children of Onus and the Indians should be brothers to each other; all
paths should be free and open; the doors of the white men should be
open to the Indians, and the doors of the Indians to the white men, and
they should make each welcome as friends. This league and chain of
friendship should grow stronger and stronger, and be kept bright and
clean, without rust or spot, while the waters run down the creeks and
rivers, and while the sun and moon and stars endure.‘

‗There were between fifty, and sixty thousand Quakers in England at the
end of the, first forty years of the Quaker revival. They were more
numerous than the Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Independents, and
Baptists combined. In proportion to the population they were even more
numerous in America, where they had founded two colonies, and where
they included

Page 24
more than half the inhabitants in several other important districts.‘ These
statistics are taken from, ―A Short History of Quakerism,‖ by E. B.
Emmott.

REVIVALS IN WALES.

Previous to the Evangelical Revival the moral and religious conditions in

Wales were even worse than in England. The first Welsh revivalist was
Griffith Jones, and his preaching up and down the country produced
lasting results. He was followed by Howell Harris, who was a powerful
preacher. Writing in his diary he says, ―I continued to go on exhorting the
poor people, and they flocked to hear me every Sunday evening. I soon
became the public talk of the country. The Word was attended with such
power that many on the spot cried out to God for the pardon of their
sins.‘‘

Harris was helped, at times, in his evangelistic labours, by Whitfield.

Daniel Rowlands was another Welsh revivalist, and he lived at the same
time. It is estimated that no less than seven revivals took place during his
ministry. He was a man of prayer. William Williams, of Pantycelyn, was
another of the Welsh revivalists of this period, but it was through his
hymns that his greatest work was done. These men were the leaders of
the Evangelical Revival in Wales, and the churches they founded were
called the Calvinistic Methodist Church.

Wales has been blessed with many local revivals. The story that follows is
very interesting. ―In a remote corner of Montgomeryshire the religious
friends of the place had heard so much about revivals elsewhere, that
they felt a deep longing for the same in their own locality, and they
resolved to hold meetings for prayer.‖ One night they heard some
beautiful singing that seemed to come from the sky. ―The next night at
the opening of the service the Holy Ghost descended mightily upon them.
This proved to be the dawn of a great revival in the neighbourhood.‖

THE METHODIST PENTECOST

Page 25
The Methodist Revival was born in the power of the Holy Spirit. Wesley
records: ―Jan. 1, 1739. Mr Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins,
and my brother Charles, were present at our love-feast in Fetter Lane,
with about sixty of our brethren. About Three in the morning, as we were
continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, in
so much that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the
ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that 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.‖

Of this love-feast Whitfield said, ―It was a Pentecostal season indeed.‖

And he adds, concerning those meetings, that, ―sometimes whole nights
were spent in prayer. Often we have been filled as with new wine, and
often I have 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 !‘ ‖

Of this period Rev. Ryle said, ―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.‖

On February 17th, 1739, Whitfield preached his first field sermon at Rose
Green. Then he preached at Kingswood near Bristol. Thousands of people
heard him, and were deeply moved by his preaching.

When Whitfield left for America, Wesley carried on the work. He

preached in the open air, for the first time, at Kingswood. Of this place he
says, ―In the middle of February, Kingswood was a wilderness, and when
the month of June arrived, it was already blossoming like the rose.‘‘

Page 26
This was the beginning of Wesley‘s amazing ministry which resulted in a
revival of religion all over the British Isles. In this ministry he travelled
250,000 miles, and preached 40,000 sermons, often to 20,000 persons at
once.

The Rev. W. H. Fitchett says of Wesley, ―He quickened the conscience,

not merely of his own followers, but of the Church which had cast him
out, and of the whole nation to which he belonged.‖ Of Wesley himself he
said, ―There was something of the unconscious loftiness of Alpine peaks
about him; a remoteness—as though caught from some purer air.‖ From
whence did he draw the strength and inspiration for his work? Here is
the secret: ―I resolve to devote an hour morning and evening to private
prayer, no pretence or excuse whatsoever.‖
Whitfield crossed the Atlantic thirteen times and travelled extensively in
the British Isles. Wherever he went thousands gathered to hear him
preach. He lived constantly with a clear realisation of the reality of
eternity: of heaven and hell, and that the eternal destiny of souls was in
the balance. Only eternity will reveal fully the tremendous influence he
exerted for God.

Whitfield once said, ―It is not for me to tell how often I use secret prayer;
if I did not use it, nay, if in one sense, I did not pray without ceasing, it
would be difficult for me to keep up that frame of soul, which, by the
Divine blessing, I daily enjoy.‖

We have not room to mention the work of the men God raised up to
extend the Methodist revival. But those who have the opportunity should
read the lives of John Nelson, Thomas Walsh, Francis Asbury, William
Bramwell, Hugh Bourne, and William Clowes. These men were not
content with steady progress in their work. ―But they looked for, and
obtained, times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.‖

CAMBUSLANG REVIVAL, 1742

Page 27
This work began under the ministry of the Rev. W. McCulloch. The news
of revivals in England and America caused him to seek to promote a
revival among his own people. Soon he had interested the church
members in this work, and the congregations so increased in number that
they had to hold the preaching services in the open air.

The interest increased until the minister was preaching every day, and
spending much time in giving instructions to anxious sinners. The
congregations on the hill side increased to nine or ten thousand, and
ministers from far and near came to help in the work. Whitfield helped in
this revival.

For many years afterwards, humble men and women who were
converted at Cambuslang, lived among their neighbours with an
unspotted Christian name, and then passed on peacefully to be with their
Lord.

MISSIONS THE RESULT OF REVIVALS

About 1790 in England, Hannah More, Bishop Partens, Drs. Bogue,

Andrew Fuller, Burder, and Rowland Hill, along with many others, were
engaged in promoting a strong evangelical movement. At the same time
Robert and James Haldane were engaged in revival work in Scotland.

As a direct result of the blessing experienced at that time, the Religious

Tract Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the local London
Missionary, and Church Missionary societies were formed. Also the
Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, which was the first society formed for
the evangelisation of the heathen.

It was in 1791 that William Carey preached his famous missionary

sermon, and said, ―Expect great things from God, and attempt great
things for God.‖ Who can say what the heathen world owes to Carey, and
to the revival that produced this missionary movement?

AMERICAN REVIVALS AND MISSIONS

Page 28
The year 1790 ushered in a new era of revivals for the United States.
Religion had sadly declined during the previous years. Unitarianism had
gained much ground, and infidel philosophy was poisoning the minds of
millions of people.

At this time there were no American Missionary societies, no Bible

societies, no Tract societies, no Education societies. At home—religious
indifference; abroad—the darkness of death over the heathen world.

In 1790 there were extensive revivals in Pennsylvania and Virginia. ―At

this time,‖ says Dr. Griffin, ―began the unbroken series of American
revivals.‖ In New England, during four or five years, about one hundred
and fifty churches were blessed with Revivals.
This revival period continued for many years, and powerful revivals
prevailed in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky,
Tennessee, the Carolionas, and Georgia.

Harlan Page writes of a revival in New York, ―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 praying as they
never prayed before. 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.‖

Christians at that time believed that, ―The Church is the Bride of Christ,
and the mother of his children.‖ And that, ―No soul is ever converted
except as some believer has painfully travailed in birth for that soul.‖

During this period of American revivals, the Christians began to feel their
obligation to send the Gospel to the heathen. All the first foreign
missionaries were the fruit of the revivals : Hall, Newell, Mills, Judson,
Nott, Rice, Bingham, King, Thurston, and others. The American Board of

Page 29
Foreign Missions, the American Bible Society, the United Foreign
Missionary Society, and other missionary movements, were formed at
this time as a direct result of the revivals.

During these years many colleges were blessed with revivals. Dr. Tyler
wrote of Yale College having thirteen special revivals in a period of
twenty-five years.

THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY

Inspired by the example of William Carey going to India, Dr. Bogue, an

Independent minister, through the ―Evangelical Magazine‖ appealed to
all Christians to support ―at least twenty or thirty missionaries among the
heathen.‖ As a result a company of Nonconformist ministers founded the
London Missionary Society in September 1795.
The first missionary party, consisting of over thirty persons, sailed down
the Thames in the ship ―Duff‖ on the 10th August, 1796, singing, ―Jesus at
Thy command we launch into the deep.‖ This society sent forth many
great missionary pioneers and founders.

Robert Morrison worked for twenty seven years in China. He translated

the Scriptures, and compiled a dictionary and grammar. John Williams
gave himself to work in the South Seas. He discovered Raratonga, and
from Raiatea as a centre he carried the Gospel to many islands until he
was martyred in 1839. Through William Ellis much of Madagascar was
brought to Christ.

Robert and Mary Moffat spread the Gospel from Kuruman over much of
South Africa. David Livingstone died on his knees after thirty years in
Central Africa. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and on the stone in
the nave are the words, ―His life was spent in an unwearied effort to
evangelise the native races.‖ Thus was introduced the great missionary
period in the history of the Protestant churches.

EARLY AMERICAN METHODIST REVIVALS

Page 30
The following article is taken from the ―New History of Methodism,‖ Vol.
II., p. 106. ―The early years of American Methodism witnessed an almost
continuous revival. Scarcely a society was formed which did not grow
out of a revival. The denomination grew because its preachers were
endowed with holy energy and an unction from on high. The revival in
Virginia was only one of many remarkable manifestations of divine grace
in the very earliest years of our history.

―American Methodism grew after this manner, in no period of the early

history were revivals more general than during the years from 1784 to
1808. At one time all Maryland was ablaze with revivals. Similar signs
and wonders were seen in Virginia. In New England revival followed
revival, some of them or great power. In 1800 one of the most remarkable
spiritual movements of American history began in Kentucky, and spread
through Tennessee and Ohio with the amazing swiftness of a prairie fire.‖
FINNEY‟S REVIVALS

Charles Grandison Finney testified, ―I was powerfully converted on the

morning of the 10th of October, 1821. In the evening of the same day, and
on the morning of the following day, I received overwhelming baptisms
of the Holy Ghost, that went through me, as it seemed to me, body and
soul. I 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 word 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.

―Sometimes I would find myself, in a great measure, empty of this power.

I would go out and visit, and find that I had 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,

Page 31
fearing that this power had departed from me, and would enquire
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.‖

For ten years: from 1824-1834, Finney laboured continually in powerful

revivals. In 1834 he came to a great crisis in his life: his health was broken
through his labours in preaching and praying; also at that time the subject
of slavery was calling so much attention that revivals of religion were
beginning to decline. In the month of July, 1834, as he was on a voyage,
the burden became unbearable. The spirit of prayer was upon him, and
he spent one whole day in prayer, until he prevailed with God. ―After a
day of unspeakable wrestling and agony in my soul, just at night, the
subject cleared up to my mind. The Spirit led me to believe that all would
come out right, and that God had yet a work for me to do; that I might be
at rest; that the Lord would go forward with His work, and give me
strength to take any part in it that He desired.‖

In the Autumn of that year he delivered his famous ―Lectures on Revivals

of Religion.‖ The reading of these lectures has resulted in hundreds of
revivals in America and other countries.

Finney became Professor of Theology in Oberlin College in 1835. Later he

became President of the College. Twenty thousand students came under
his influence during the years he was at Oberlin. While still in connection
with the College he conducted some of the most powerful revivals of his
ministry. He also visited England twice, and had revivals in many places.

Finney died in July, 1875, after a mighty ministry, in which Rivers of

Living Water literally flowed to multitudes of souls. His revival ministry
has been a tremendous blessing and challenge to the Christian

Page 32
Church. He emphasised that any company of Christians can have a
revival if they will fulfil the necessary conditions; agonising prayer, and a
balanced presentation of the truths of the Gospel.

Finney insisted that, ―Young converts should be trained to labour for

Christ, just as carefully as young recruits in an army are trained for war.
The plan is to train a body of devoted Christians, who know how to pray,
and how to converse with people about their souls, and how to attend
anxious meetings, and deal with enquirers, and how to SAVE SOULS.
When the day comes that the whole Church will realise that they are here
on earth as a body of missionaries, and shall live and labour accordingly,
then will the day of man‘s redemption draw nigh.‖

The secret of Finney‘s power was the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and a life
of prayer. He wrote, ―In regard to my own experience, I will say that
unless I had the spirit of prayer I could do nothing. If even for a day or an
hour I lost the spirit of grace and supplication, I found myself unable to
preach with power and efficiency, or to win souls by personal
conversation. In this respect my experience was what it has always been.‖

―I have said, more than once, that the spirit of prayer that prevailed in
those revivals was a very marked feature of them. It was common for
young converts to be greatly exercised in prayer; and in some instances so
much so, that they were constrained to pray whole nights, and until their
bodily strength was quite exhausted, for the conversion of souls around
them. There was a great pressure of the Holy Spirit upon, the minds of
Christians; and they seemed to bear about with them the burden of
immortal souls.‖

Those who have studied the statistics involved, state that only thirty per
cent of the converts of the best evangelists stand, but they further state
that eighty-five per cent of those converted in Finney‘s

Page 33
revivals proved by their subsequent lives that they were soundly
converted. The reason for this was that Finney was honest and thorough
in his treatment of sinners and young converts.

REVIVAL IN ROCHESTER IN 1830

After receiving many pressing calls to preach, Finney felt that as

Rochester was the most needy— there were three Presbyterian Churches
in a very low and divided state—it was the Lord‘s will that he should go
there.

Soon after he began to preach the ministers came together, and a great
improvement in the spiritual state of the churches was manifested.
Finney said, ―The three churches, and indeed Christians of every
denomination, seemed to make common cause, and went to work with a
will, to pull sinners out of the fire.

―The spirit of prayer was poured out powerfully, so much so, that some
persons stayed away from the public services to pray, being unable to
restrain their feelings under preaching. Mr. Abel Clary continued in
Rochester as long as I did. The burden of his soul would frequently be so
great that he would writhe and groan in agony. He never appeared in
public, but gave himself wholly to prayer.‖

Soon there were some very marked conversions, one of the first being the
wife of a prominent lawyer. The meetings became thronged with lawyers,
physicians, and merchants. Many of the lawyers, became very anxious,
and freely attended the enquiry meetings. It was in this revival that
Finney began to use the ―anxious seat.‖

The revival took a tremendous hold of the High School. Nearly every
teacher and student was converted. As a result, forty of those students
became ministers, and a large number became foreign missionaries. The
majority of the leading men and women in the city were converted. Some
years later

Page 34
Dr. Beecher talking to Finney of this revival in Rochester, said; ―That was
the greatest revival of religion that the world has ever seen in so short a
time. One hundred thousand were reported as having connected
themselves with the churches as the result of that great revival.‖ The
mighty working of the Spirit of God, as in this revival, continued
throughout Finney‘s long ministry.

REVIVAL IN KILSYTH AND ABERDEEN

In the early months of the year 1839 there was a quiet moving of the Spirit
of God among the people in Kilsyth, Scotland. On July 23rd, of that year,
William C. Burns preached to a great crowd of persons, and as he retold
the story of the revival at Kirk of Shotts, the Spirit of God came mightily
upon the people. They broke forth simultaneously in weeping and
wailing, tears and groans. Some were screaming out in agony; others—
among these, strong men—fell to the ground as if they had been dead.‖
Burns continued preaching powerfully for some days, and the awakening
spread. All day long, in the vestry, the session-house, and the manse the
anxious were being prayed with and instructed.

In August Burns returned to Dundee, and at the close of a prayer meeting

told the story of the revival in Kilsyth. As he spoke the power of God
descended on the people, and all were bathed in tears. From that evening,
meetings were held every day for weeks. The whole town was moved,
and dozens of prayer meetings sprang into existence. Burns spent many a
day and many a night on his face before God. It was from long seasons of
prayer, meditations, and humbling before God that he went forth to
preach.
AMERICAN REVIVAL 1857-58

Finney writing of this revival said, ―This winter of 1857-58 will be

remembered as the time when a great revival prevailed throughout all
the Northern States.

Page 35
It swept over the land with such power, that for a time it was estimated
that not less than fifty thousand conversions occurred in a single week.
This revival was carried on to large extent through lay influence, so much
so, as almost to throw the ministers into the shade.

There had been a daily prayer meeting observed in Boston for several
years; and in the Autumn previous to the great outburst, the daily prayer
meeting had been established in Fulton Street, New York. Indeed, prayer
meetings were established throughout the length and breadth of the
Northern States. A divine influence seemed to pervade the whole land. It
was estimated, that during this revival not less than 500,000 souls were
converted in this country.

There was such a general confidence in the prevalence of prayer, that the
people very extensively seemed to prefer meetings for prayer to meetings
for preaching. The answers to prayer were constant, and so striking as to
arrest the attention of the people generally throughout the land. It was
evident that in answer to prayer the windows of heaven were opened and
the Spirit of God poured out like a flood. The ―New York Tribune‖ at that
time published several extras, filled with the accounts of the progress of
the revival in different parts of the United States.

The following account of the revival was published in a journal at that

time, ―Such a time as the present was never known since the days of the
Apostles, for revivals. Revivals now cover our land, sweeping all before
them, exciting the earnest cry from thousands, ‗What shall we do to be
saved?‘ Ministers seem baptised with the Holy Ghost, and preach with
new power and earnestness. Meetings are held for prayer, and for
exhortation, with the deepest interest, and the most astonishing results.
The large cities and towns generally from Maine to California are sharing
in this great and glorious work. It really seems as if the Millennium was
upon us in its glory.‖
PART 4

1859 REVIVAL IN IRELAND

Page 36
This movement originated in the work of the Rev. J. H. Moore in Connor,
Co. Antrim. For years he preached the Gospel faithfully, but with little
outcome. News of revival in America stirred him to seek to promote a
revival among his own people. He often preached on, this subject, and
read accounts of great revivals of the past, to his congregation. The idea
of having a revival began to grip the people and it became the subject of
much prayer.

In 1857 the Sunday School teachers began to hold a weekly prayer

meeting, and as a result they soon noticed a marked increase of attention
and seriousness among the children.

After some months, four of the young men who were connected with this
prayer meeting began a secret prayer and fellowship meeting to pray for
revival. Rev. W. Gibson records, ―For a few months they had to walk by
faith. They wrestled on. They prevailed.‖ The first conversion in answer
to their prayers occurred in December, 1857. From that time on, ―Humble,
grateful, loving, joyous converts multiplied. The prayer meetings began
to be thronged.‖ This work of grace continued quietly for some months. It
was a time when the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer was convicting and
converting sinners. ―The process was a purely spiritual one, the Spirit of
God acting through the medium of the truth upon the spirit of man.

―Prayer meetings began to multiply. The new converts, with other

Christians whose hearts the Lord stirred, engaged in the work of prayer
and exhortation with unquenchable zeal. At these meetings many
convictions have taken place. From one up to ten and twelve have been
arrested by the Spirit of God through the word and prayer of these
brethren. Even strong men have staggered and fallen down under the
wounds of their conscience.‖

Page 37
The Rev. J. H. Moore of Connor, where the revival broke out, reported
that they had, ―A network of prayer meetings over the whole district.‖
From here the revival spread in mighty power all over the north of
Ireland. There was no human leader in this movement; the Holy Spirit
was the leader.

―From first to last the revival was a record of answered prayer. Never
was there such a time of secret and public prayer. In all directions prayer
meetings have sprung up, and that without number. They are conducted
in a manner of deepest solemnity, and with a burning earnestness for the
outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and for the conversion of souls. These
meetings have been signally honoured of the Lord. The Spirit has
descended in power.‖

THE „59 REVIVAL IN WALES

The news of the American revival created in many Welsh Christians a

longing for revival. Many churches held a day of prayer for revival on the
first Sunday of August, 1858.

In September of that year the Rev. H. R. Jones returned from America full
of the spirit of prayer and revival. The Rev. David Morgan came in
contact with him, and soon they were talking of seeking to promote a
revival.

―I believe,‖ said Mr. Morgan, ―that it would be no harm, and say the
least, if we did our best to arouse the country, and conduct prayer
meetings, even if after all none but man were in the whole thing.‖ ―No, it
would not,‖ replied Mr. Jones, ―but you try it,—and it will not be long ere
God will be there with you.‖

Soon they were conducting prayer meetings. They literally drew prayer
out of the people. David Morgan received a remarkable enduement of
power, and from that time he became the leader of the revival.

By August, 1859, most of the churches in the southern counties of Wales

were crowded on Sundays
Page 38
and week days. Prayer meetings, morning and evening, were held
everywhere. God soon heard the cry of His people,‘ and showers of
blessing descended upon them.

David ‗Morgan visited the counties, towns, and villages preaching in the
power of the Holy Spirit, and a mighty harvest of souls was the result. It
is estimated that there were a hundred thousand converts in this revival.

THE „59 REVIVAL IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

The news of the American and Irish revivals caused Christians in

England and Scotland to seek God in prayer for a similar blessing. Prayer
meetings multiplied, but the revival remained local in nature, and in most
places the work was purely evangelistic. The mighty spirit of prevailing
prayer was lacking.

However, there were genuine revivals in some districts. Bolton was the
scene of a powerful awakening under the ministry of Mr. Finney. The
whole town was stirred.

Christians in Aberdeen began praying in earnest for a revival, and they

soon began to see wonderful answers. Rev. J. Smith said that the effects
were ―similar to what were described in connection with the labours of
Wesley and Whitfield; hundreds of souls have been awakened. Rich and
poor, many young men in shops, and many young women in factories,
were added to the Church.‖

Port Glasgow was the scene of a powerful revival. Rev. Paterson wrote,
―In the evening the place of meeting was crammed. There must have been
more than two thousand present. One cried out, and then another, and
another, and some of the cries were as piercing as anything I ever heard
in Ireland.‖

Mr. H. Johnson gives the following description of how one of these local
revivals commenced, ―A minister was depressed by the low spiritual
state of his
Page 39
congregation. His ‗cause‘ was like a stagnant pool. The news of the
revival going on in other parts of the country had reached him. One day
he suddenly decided to abandon the preparation of his sermon, and to,
devote himself to prayer. He pleaded earnestly and passionately for five
hours.

The next day was Sunday. On entering the pulpit the conviction seized
him that something remarkable was about to happen. The people Were
unusually attentive. Their faces betokened solemnity and awe. When the
service came to an end several persons were broken down under the
Spirit‘s influence. That service proved to be the beginning of a genuine
and permanent revival.‖

At this time England and Scotland were blessed with the ministry of a
number of remarkable evangelists. lncluded among them were, Reginald
Radcliffe, Brownlow North, Richard Weaver, Robert Aitken, William
Haslam, H. M. Grant, and Duncan Matheson.

THE SALVATION ARMY

William Booth was born in 1829. He was converted at the age of fifteen,
and as a young convert he was a most energetic worker among the poor.
Soon he became a local preacher and he longed to give his life to the
preaching of the Gospel.

Even in those early days he was studying how best to win the masses. He
said, ―What I wanted to see was an organisation with the salvation of the
world as its supreme ambition and object, worked upon the simple,
earnest principles which I had myself embraced, and which, youth as I
was, I had already seen carried into successful practice.‖

He was on fire for God and soul. While he was studying for the ministry
he was often in an agony of prayer for souls, when naturally speaking he
should have been busy with his text books.

In June, 1855, Mr. Booth married Catherine Mumford. There is ample

evidence that God had prepared

Page 40
this young woman to be the wife of Mr. Booth, and few marriages have
resulted in so much blessing to the world.

In five months of evangelistic work at this time Mr. Booth saw about
2,000 souls won to Christ. The following note taken from a letter gives us
a glimpse of him at this time: ―I cannot write about the natural beauties of
this place. I have done nothing yet but sigh for and seek the salvation of
its inhabitants.‖

Writing to her parents in October, 1855, Mrs. Booth says of her husband,
―God is blessing him richly, both in his own soul and in his public
labours. He is becoming more and more a man of prayer. The work
progresses with mighty power. Precious souls are being saved by scores.‖

Mr. Booth‘s meetings always closed with a time given to prayer, during
which anxious sinners were dealt with. From the beginning of his
ministry Mr. Booth spent each Sunday, as far as possible, as a day of
prayer and fasting. On Whit-Monday of 1858 Mr. Booth conducted the
first public day of prayer and fasting, and this was the beginning of many
―all days,‖ ―all nights,‘‘ and ‗‗two days with God,‘‘ which have been such
a blessing to the movement.

We have not room to describe the amazing growth and worldwide

ministry of the Salvation Army. Our purpose is to point out the spiritual
causes of this revival of religion.

D. L. MOODY

D. L. Moody was privileged to have as his mother one of those noble

high-minded women whose influence on their children has been such a
blessing to the world. He was born on February 5th, 1837, in Northfield,
Connecticut, U.S.A.

Moody was converted when he was seventeen. He afterwards testified, ―I

remember the morning after I had first trusted Christ. It seemed I was in
love with all creation. I was ready to take all men to my heart.‖

Page 41
By nature Moody was a man of great energy and impulse, and this
experience could only result in service to God.

The first Christian work he undertook was to rent some pews in the
church he attended, and he filled them each Sunday with young men
from the street corners and saloons. Then he turned his attention to
Sunday School work. He began to work in a Sunday School that had only
twelve children attending, and in a few years he was running a Sunday
School with an attendance of between 12,000 and 15,000 children. He
loved the children from his heart and they knew it.

This work continued to grow, and Moody knew that God was calling him
to give all his time to His service. He was enabled to obey this call
because of the blessing he received through seeing a whole class of girls
converted through their dying teacher. He said, ―God kindled a fire in my
soul that has never gone out.‖ From that time he engaged in regular
evangelistic work.

In the year 1871 a great hunger and thirst for spiritual power took
possession of Moody. He said, ―I was crying all the time that God would
fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York, God
revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I
had to ask Him to stay His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons
were not different; I did not present any new truths; and yet hundreds
were converted.‖

The year 1872 contained an illustration of the power of prayer that had a
great influence on Moody. An invalid in North London prayed for God to
send Moody to London and through him to revive her church. Without
knowing anything about this Moody visited England, and preached in
that church for ten days. There was such a revival that 400 were
converted and joined the church. Moody could not understand it. He
knew that he had not prevailed in prayer for this blessing, but when he
met the invalid lady it all became plain.
Page 42
In June, 1873, Moody, and Ira D. Sankey, began their first extended
missions in some of the cities in the North of England. God blessed these
labours, and the work grew steadily. In November of the same year they
were invited to Scotland. The campaigns in the Scottish cities called the
attention of the whole country to spiritual things, and a wave of revival
spread over the land.

This was the effect of Moody‘s campaigns all over the British Isles and in
America.

Moody‘s ministry was unusually wide. In addition to his evangelistic

work, he founded the Schools and Colleges at Northfield, and the Bible
Institute in Chicago with its publishing department. He raised a
tremendous amount of money to help extend the work of the Y.M.C.A.
The Conferences he conducted for ministers, and students, and Christian
workers, were also an important part of his work.

All this work and worldwide influence was the natural result of Moody‘s
spiritual life; he loved Jesus; he lived with eternal Values in view; he had
a passion and burden for souls; he believed in prayer; and when he
preached he expected the Holy Spirit to convict and convert sinners.

THE FAITH MISSION

John George Govan founded the Faith Mission in 1886. The ministry of
the mission has been two-fold: Preaching the Gospel in the country
districts of Scotland, Ireland, and in the eastern counties of England;
witnessing to Christians that it is possible to live in an experience of ―full
salvation.‖

Mr. H. C. M. Patterson gives the following account of the early days of

the mission. ―There were two great things we had begun to learn; that an
essential experience for all true soul winners was the anointing of the
Holy Ghost, and that, all effective ―Revival‖ work must be the outcome of
prayer in the Spirit.‖
Page 43
After a day of prayer and fasting he tells of one meeting. ―The Chief (Mr.
Govan) was speaking, while I sat behind praying, when suddenly ―the
Holy Ghost fell,‖ and His power laid hold of the whole congregation. It
was a holy and awful time, and scores of men and women were
confessing sin and hindrance. Glory be to Him, our Lord was there to
heal as well !‖

Mr. Govan and the Pilgrims established ―Prayer Unions‖ and

Conferences for the converts of the missions. Later on a Training Home
was opened in Edinburgh, Scotland; a similar work is being carried on in
Canada, and in South Africa. Scattered all over the world scores of
missionaries, evangelists, and Christian workers can be found who were
raised up by God through the instrumentality of the Faith Mission.

THE CHINA INLAND MISSION

James Hudson Taylor was born on May 21st, 1832. Before his birth he had
been dedicated to God, and at the early age of five he was expressing a
desire to be a missionary in China. This ideal took more and more
possession of him as the years passed by. After he left school and
commenced to work, he experienced a period of spiritual darkness and
uncertainty, but at the age of seventeen he definitely accepted the Lord
Jesus as his Saviour.

A short time later he is on his knees surrendering his whole being and
future to God. He wrote, ―Never shall I forget the feeling that came over
me. Words can never describe it. I felt I was in the presence of God. And
from that time the conviction never left me that I was called to China.‖

Through the years that followed Hudson Taylor studied medicine and
carried on evangelistic work, in order to prepare himself for his work in
China. He set himself to learn to move God in prayer for his financial
needs, and he lived on a diet similar to what he would have in China.

Page 44
At the age of twenty-one Hudson Taylor sailed for China, to work in
connection with the Chinese Evangelisation Society. For about six years
he was a keen and energetic missionary, but he was invalided home in
1860.

Mr Taylor made use of every minute of his enforced stay in England. But
in the year 1865 a new burden came into his life, it was a burden for
unevangelised inland China. He wrote, ―A million a month were dying in
that land, dying without God. This was burned into my very soul. For
two or three months the conflict was intense. I scarcely slept night or day
more than an hour at a time, and feared I should lose my reason. Yet I did
not give in.‖

The need was vast and Mr. Taylor shrunk from taking such a
responsibility upon his shoulders. He felt he could not do it, but at the
same time he knew too that he could not stand the burden he had for
these souls while nothing was being done for them. Worn out and really
ill with the burden he went to Brighton, and on Sunday, June 25th, as he
was walking by the seaside, God, by His Spirit, made known to his heart
that if he obeyed His call to commence a work for inland China, He
would carry all the responsibility. ―Thou, Lord,‖ he cried with relief that
was unutterable, ―Thou shalt have all the burden !‖ There and then he
asked the Lord for twenty-four missionaries for inland China, and on
June 27th, he put £10 in the bank for the China Inland Mission. He had
prevailed with God; he was a new man physically and spiritually.

The C.I.M. has continued to grow, and has now about 1,100 missionaries,
and 4,400 Chinese workers. The history of how God has supplied the
financial needs down the years has been an inspiration to all Missions.
The success and blessing that has been enjoyed by this mission, in great
measure, is the result of the fact that Hudson Taylor, like Jacob, ‗as a
prince had power with God and men, and prevailed.‘

We have not room in this book to outline the history of other foreign
missions. The history of the

Page 45
foundation of each mission is essentially the same; in each case there was
a burden for souls; there was travail in prayer until God came and called
out missionaries, and moved Christians to give money, and to pray for
the evangelisation, of the world.

THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR REVIVAL

In ―The Story of Christian Endeavour‖ the Rev. W. K. Chaplin writes,

―On October 9th, 1876, Francis E. Clark was ordained as pastor of
Williston Church at Portland in the State of Maine. The church thrived
amazingly, and by the end of 1877 had so increased in membership that it
became necessary to erect a new church building in the western part of
the city.

As a result of the Week of Prayer in January, 1881, many young hearts

were given to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was felt that this was a very serious
and critical time. The new converts would receive impressions and form
religious habits during the first few weeks after conversion which would
never be lost. The first three months would set the stamp of consistent
devotion to Christ or sluggish indifference to His claims on the whole of
their subsequent Christian lives.

―So it was that a number of the young people were invited to come to the
parsonage on the evening of February 2nd, 1881. The minister presented
his plan for a Christian Endeavour Society, which included, ‗It is expected
that all members of the society will be present at every meeting, and that
each one will take some part, however slight, in every meeting‘.‖ That
night over fifty young people joined the Movement.

Other churches soon took up the idea, and every year there are held over
four millions of young people‘s meetings using the methods, principles,
and topics of the Christian Endeavour Society. Out of it have come
multitudes of Ministers, Missionaries, and church workers.
PART 5

C. H. SPURGEON

Page 46
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born in Kelvedon, Essex, on the 19th June,
1834. At the age of sixteen he was converted through hearing a Primitive
Methodist preaching on the text, ―Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the
ends of the earth.‖ Spurgeon said, ―I looked to Him; He looked on me;
and we were one for ever.‖

Soon after his conversion he joined the Baptist community in Cambridge,

and became a lay preacher. His fame as a preacher began to grow, and at
the age of seventeen he became pastor of the Waterbeach Church. In
those days he worked hard, and gave a great deal of attention to the
writings of the leading Puritans.

In 1854 he was called to be pastor of New Park Street Chapel, London,

and very soon people all over the country were talking, of the wonderful
―Boy Preacher.‖ His sermons began to be printed and were read all over
the world. For forty years he preached to immense audiences, and won
tens of thousands of souls to Christ.

In his Autobiography Spurgeon reveals the secret of his amazing

ministry. ―When I came to New Park Street Chapel, it was but a mere
handful of people to whom I first preached; yet I can never forget how
earnestly they prayed. Sometimes they seemed to plead as though they
could really see the Angel of the covenant, present with them, and as if
they must have a blessing from Him more than once, we were all so awe-
struck with the solemnity of the meeting, that we sat silent for some
moments while the Lord‘s power appeared to overshadow us; and all I
could do was to pronounce the Benediction, and say ‘Dear friends, we
have had the Spirit of God here very manifestly tonight; let us go home
and take care not to lose His gracious influences.‘

Page 47
―Then down came the blessing; the house was filled with hearers, and
many souls were saved. I always give all the glory to God, but I forget
that He gave me the privilege of ministering from the first to a praying
people. We had prayer meetings that moved our very souls. Every man
seemed like a crusader besieging the New Jerusalem. Each one appeared
determined to storm the Celestial City by the might of intercession; and
soon the blessing came upon us in such abundance that we had not room
to receive it.‘‘

WORLDWIDE STUDENT REVIVAL

Some of the earliest records of students joining together in spiritual and

missionary causes come from America. ‗‗The Concert of Prayer for
Colleges,‖ which later was called, ―The Universal Day of Prayer for
Students,‖ was started in June, 1815, as the result of a letter written by
Christians in Yale College to Christians in Brown College, inviting them
to pray ―for a revival of religion in all the Colleges of the United States.‖

The revival of religion in the British Isles in 1859 led to the formation of a
number of student societies. The Children‘s Special Service Mission, and
the Student Missionary Unions in the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge,
Edinburgh, and Glasgow were formed about this time. In 1885 the
student world was stirred by the example of the ―Cambridge seven‖—
one of them the Captain of the Cricket XI, and another the Stroke of the
Cambridge Boat—going out as missionaries to China.

Robert P. Wilder and a few other students, in 1883, founded the

―Princeton Foreign Missionary Society,‖ which grew until it had twenty
three volunteers for missionary service. During the autumn of 1885 and
the spring of 1886, Robert, and his sister Grace, met night after night to
pray for a widespread missionary movement in the Colleges and
Universities of America. In the summer of that year D. L. Moody

Page 48
invited students from many Colleges to a Summer School at Northfield.
The Wilders saw the opportunity, and Robert went, leaving Grace to pray
that the band of volunteers would grow to a hundred. On the last night of
the School their prayers were answered.
Thus was founded ―The Student Volunteer Movement‘‘ which had as its
Membership Declaration, ‗‗It is my purpose, God permitting, to become a
foreign missionary.‖ This Movement spread to many countries and
through its influence it is estimated that over 15,000 young people went
to the Mission Field.

The ―World‘s Student Christian Federation was founded in 1895.

Commencing with five national Movements, the Federation grew until it
comprised over twenty, representing about 300,000 members. Each
student group carries on a Gospel witness, prayer meetings, Bible Study,
and a study of Missions. The history of the Movement presents a
challenge and inspiration to all members to work for revival in this
generation.

GEORGE MÜLLER

Mr. W. H. Bergin wrote, ―In the year 1836, George Muller started out to
give proof in an unbelieving world, and amidst divided Christians, that
‗God is still the living God, and now, as well as thousands of years ago,
He listens to the prayers of His children, and helps those who trust in
Him.‘ Looking round for some method of demonstrating this fact, he
chose the care of destitute orphan children.

―In order that it might be quite plain that God was helping His servant,
he determined to abstain from any appeals to man for financial
assistance. God honoured his faith, and so blessed and prospered his
dependent servant, that, from a small beginning in a hired house, he went
on and expanded the work until he had built five large Orphan Houses,
with accommodation for 2,050 children.

Page 49
God enabled him to continue in this service for sixty-two years, until at
the age of ninety-two years, the Lord called him Home. Up to that time,
9,725 children had entered the Homes, and £988,829 had been received
for the Orphans, as the result of prayer to God alone.‖

In addition to this Mr. Muller received £392,341 for his work in

establishing Day Schools and Sunday Schools, the circulation of the
Scriptures, and for the assistance of Missionaries. During the years 1875-
1892 Mr. Muller travelled over 200,000 miles in seventeen worldwide
preaching tours. He received thousands of letters from persons who were
inspired by his living faith in God. The reading of his ―Autobiography ―
by James McQuilkin was a vital link in the chain of causes that led to the
‗59 Revival in Ireland.

BILLY BRAY

From his conversion Billy Bray ―was filled with a holy rapture of soul
which nothing could restrain. His words, his tones, his looks, had a
magnetic power. He could no more help speaking of Christ and His
salvation than the sun can help shining, or the trees in the spring can help
budding and blossoming into beauty and life.‖

This little Cornish miner was on fire for God, and for the rest of his life he
preached the Gospel faithfully, inspired the Christians, visited the sick,
and with his own hands built churches. The story of his life has been a
blessing to thousands; it is a revelation of how God can take up the ―weak
things‖ and use them for His glory.

SAM JONES

After being saved from the depths of sin Sam Jones said of the Lord Jesus,
―There is music in His name, a charm in His presence, and life in His
touch.‖ In 1872 he entered the ministry and soon he was recognised as a
man who possessed ―the eloquence of

Page 50
earnestness and action, the fire of glow and passion, the surprises of
thought, the wit, humour, ridicule, irony, sarcasm, invective, pathos,
sympathy, love, humanity, and faith‖ which made him the most
sensational preacher in the American pulpit.

But he was also endued with power from on high. Wherever he went the
churches were stirred and sinners were converted by hundreds and
thousands. In one meeting he said, ―Thank God, He is a prayer-hearing
and a prayer-answering God! I believe there is truth in God, and virtue in
the blood of Christ, and power in the Holy Ghost. If these divine agencies
will work with us, there will be a work done in this city that will outlive
the stars.‖
PART 6

REVIVAL IN UGANDA

This revival was led by Pilkington in 1893. Hundreds were converted,

and a blessed influence extended far and wide. Pilkington wrote, ―A
hundred thousand souls brought into close contact with the Gospel; two
hundred buildings raised by native Christians in which to worship God;
two hundred native evangelists and teachers entirely supported by the
native Church; the power of God shown by changed lives; and all this in
the centre of the thickest spiritual darkness in the world.‖

In 1899 there were over four hundred churches, more than seventeen
thousand baptised members, and nearly nine hundred native workers.

The secret of this movement was that the leaders realised their absolute
powerlessness to meet the need of the people and yielded themselves to
the Holy Spirit.

PANDITA RAMABAI'S REVIVAL

Page 51
In the year 1901 Pandita Ramabai‘s work at Mukti was enjoying much
blessing. Twelve hundred converts were baptised in two months, but
some of the workers continued to cry to God for greater blessing.

News of the Welsh Revival, 1904, stirred Ramabai, and she started daily
prayer meetings for revival in India. In June, 1905, five hundred and fifty
were meeting twice daily to pray for revival.

The answer came suddenly. One of the girls received the Holy Spirit, and
was so transformed that soon all the girls on that compound were on
their knees, weeping, and confessing their sins.

Helen Dyer writes, ―The next evening, while Ramabai was expounding
John 8 in her usual quiet way, the Holy Spirit descended with power, and
all the girls began to pray aloud so that she had to cease talking. Little
children, middle-sized girls, and young women, wept bitterly, and
confessed their sins. Some few saw visions and experienced the power of
God, and things too deep to be described. Two little girls had the spirit of
prayer poured on them in such torrents that they continued to pray for
hours. They were transformed with heavenly light shining on their faces.

―Such repentance, such heart-searching, such agony over sin, and tears,
as they cried for pardon and cleansing and the baptism of the Holy
Ghost! Then a baptism like fire within came upon them. They seemed to
have their eyes opened to see the body of sin in themselves. Then came a
strong realisation of Christ‘s work upon the Cross; then peace, followed
by intense joy. It often took a soul hours to pass through all these
experiences. The Lord used the Word greatly.

―The work went on, and a spirit of prayer and supplication for a revival
in India was poured out like a flood.‖ The spirit of prayer possessed the
people. Waves of prayer go over the meetings like the rolling thunder;
hundreds pray audibly together.‖

Page 52
Ramabai wrote, ―You will rejoice to know that the revival is bearing fruit.
Some seven hundred girls and women have given themselves to prayer
and the study of God‘s Word, that they may go to the places where God
sends them, to give the Gospel. They are already visiting the villages
around. About sixty go out daily by turns. The Lord is strengthening and
developing them.‖

This revival continued for over a year, and it was a great blessing to
Christians all over India.

KHASSIA HILLS REVIVAL

In 1902 two missionaries in Calcutta heard Dr. Torrey speaking on

prayer. They were so moved that they went back and began prayer
meetings for revival. The result was that in 1905 the Khassians were
praying everywhere and revival broke out.
THE WELSH REVIVAL, 1904

During the years just previous to the 1904 revival there were some local
awakenings. The most important result of these movements was the
forming of spontaneous prayer meetings. In these meetings all were free
to take part. Each one obeyed the promptings of the Holy Spirit: one
would read a portion of the Bible, another would pray, another would
give out a hymn, another would give a testimony. These meetings
sometimes lasted for two or three hours but no one got tired of them.

At the time these local awakenings were taking place Evan Roberts was in
college preparing for the ministry. But it was not long until the burden of
souls was upon him in such a way that he was unable to continue with
his studies. He said, ―something drew me irresistibly to think of the
condition of the lost world.‖

He began to seek for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and it was not long
until God gave him a mighty experience which made him a new man. He
was

Page 53
quickened physically, his spiritual life became full of power and stability,
and he was on fire with the idea of going through Wales with a Revival
Party. He began to pray for a hundred thousand converts, and he talked
freely of the great revival that was coming to Wales.

God guided him to commence revival meetings in his home church. The
meetings were full of prayer for souls to be saved. During the first week
the Holy Spirit was clearly at work. The second week of the meetings was
the visible beginning of the revival. Dozens of prayer meetings were
going on every day in the district. The revival was the topic of
conversation everywhere.

The fame of the revival caused a stir all over the country. People who
were blessed in the meetings carried the revival to their own churches,
and prepared the way for Evan Roberts and his Revival Party. In the
course of the revival they conducted thousands of meetings, and tens of
thousands of souls were converted.
The revival meetings took the form of the spontaneous prayer meetings.
The Holy Spirit was the great Leader of the meetings, and the people
became amazingly sensitive to His guidance. The revival was also
powerful in many places that Evan Roberts did not visit.

The meetings were full of the spirit of prayer. Evan Roberts was often in
an agony of prayer, and he drew floods of prayer out of the people, He
observed that the success of a meeting in saving souls, was in proportion
to the amount of fervent prayer in that meeting.

REVIVALS IN CHINA, KOREA, AND MANCHURIA

After being a missionary in China for about thirteen years, Jonathan

Goforth, in 1901, began to be dissatisfied with the results of his work. This
led him

Page 54
to study how to promote revival. News of the Welsh Revival in 1904 was
a great inspiration to him.

He says, ―Slowly the realisation began to dawn upon me that I had

tapped a mine of infinite possibility.‖ He became so obsessed with this
subject and spent so much time in prayer that his wife began to fear that
his mind could not stand it.

At this time Goforth began to read the life and writings of Charles G.
Finney, who emphasised that any company of Christians can have a
revival if they will fulfil the necessary laws. Goforth said, ―If Finney is
right, then I am going to find out what these laws are and obey them, no
matter what it costs.‖

Early in 1906 he was preaching at a great idolatrous fair. ―It was at this
fair I began to see evidence of the first stirrings in the people‘s hearts of
the greater power. Conviction seemed to be written on every face. Finally,
when I called for decisions, the whole audience stood up as one man,
crying, ‗We want to follow this Jesus who died for us.‘ ―This was the
beginning of Goforth‘s revival ministry. It is necessary to point out here
that he did not receive any extraordinary personal blessing, apart from
the spiritual preparation already mentioned. The Holy Spirit began to
work quietly.

At this time there was a wonderful revival in Korea, and Goforth was
invited to visit that country. He said, ―The Korean movement was of
incalculable significance in my life, because it showed me at first hand the
boundless possibilities of the revival method. Korea made me feel, as it
did many others, that this was God‘s plan for setting the world aflame.

The Korean revival was preceded by months of prayer. Of one group

Goforth says, ―Those missionaries were just ordinary people. I did not
notice any outstanding figure among them. They seemed to live and
work and act like other missionaries. It was in prayer that they were
different. Those missionaries seemed to carry us right up to the very
Throne of God.‖

Page 55
After this Goforth told the story of the Korean revival to missionaries in
China. In this way a prayer movement for revival was started which
prepared the way for Goforth‘s revival ministry in China and Manchuria.

BILLY SUNDAY

Billy Sunday was a typical American from the middle-west. As a boy he

learned many lessons in the school of poverty and toil. At the age of
twenty he became a professional base ball player, and for some years he
went along in the way of the world, until one Sunday afternoon in the fall
of 1887, after listening to an open air service, he left his friends, saying,
―I‘m through. I am going to Jesus Christ.‖ On his knees he staggered out
of sin into the arms of the Saviour.‖

From the first, Sunday was out and out for God. He soon became a
Y.M.C.A. secretary, and later. he was a helper in some of the great
Chapman-Alexander campaigns. After Dr. Chapman retired from
evangelistic work, Sunday was invited to conduct meetings in the small
town of Garner, Iowa, and from that time his services were in constant
demand. His preaching was a biting, blistering, blasting condemnation of
sin, delivered with tremendous earnestness and energy. A revival of
practical righteousness was the uniform result of his campaigns.

Taking the Philadelphia campaign as an illustration of his methods and

ministry: all the churches in the city had to unite in the effort before
Sunday would accept the invitation to conduct the meetings. Next he
made them organise cottage prayer meetings. During one month at
Philadelphia there were more than 5,000 prayer meetings going on at the
same time. Little wonder that 40,000 converts ―hit the sawdust trail,‖ and
over 50,000 men joined the Bible classes in the city.

Sunday was also a burning enemy of the liquor traffic, and he often said it
was ―the most damnable, corrupt institution that ever wriggled out of
hell.‖ It

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was a common thing for a whole district to go ―dry‖ as one result of a
campaign. The following are two typical utterances of Billy Sunday.

―I say, young girl, don‘t go to that dance; don‘t you know that it is the
most damnable, low-down institution on the face of God‘s earth; it has
proven to ho the moral graveyard that has caused more ruination than
anything that was ever spewed out of the mouth of Hell.‖

―The carpet in front of the mirrors of some of you people is worn

threadbare, while at the side of your bed where you should kneel in
prayer it is as good as the day you put it down.‖

TORREY—CHAPMAN—ALEXANDER.

Mr. George T. B. Davies says, ―It was nothing less than a great volume of
prayer that sent Dr. R. A. Torrey and Mr. C. M. Alexander sweeping
round the world like a gale from heaven. Their meetings in Melbourne,
Australia, were preceded by I,700 cottage prayer meetings. No wonder
multitudes were saved. For three years they held meetings in Great
Britain and again the cities were shaken by the power of God as in the
days of Moody and Sankey. The very atmosphere of heaven was in the
meetings.

And what was the secret of it all? Dr. Torrey told me that during their
three years of meetings 20,000 people were banded together in Prayer
Groups praying for their meetings.‖

From 1908 the Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D.D., and Mr. Alexander worked
together in similar worldwide campaigns. Multitudes of souls were saved
and tens of thousands of Christians were wonderfully revived. Prayer
was always given first place. Dr. Chapman said, ―Revivals are born in
prayer. Whole nights of prayer have always been succeeded by whole
days of soul-winning.‖

PRAYING HYDE

John Hyde was brought up in a godly home at Carthage, Illinois, U.S.A.

As a young man he went

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as a missionary to India, and his wonderful ministry of prayer was
started in the early days when he was driven into the secret place with
God to seek for victory over sin in his own life.

Soon he began to share the sufferings of God‘s heart over sin. Often he
broke out into tears over the sins of the world, and of professing
Christians. He pleaded for them with sobs—dry choking sobs—―Father,
give me these souls or I die.‖

The revival blessing experienced at the Sialkot Conventions from 1904-

1910 was the direct result of the fervent prayers of Hyde and a group of
his friends who spent days and nights in the special prayer room. During
those years Hyde was led, first of all, to pray for one soul each day, until
he was seeing two, three, and four souls saved each day in direct answer
to prayer. The burdens he carried in prayer cost him his life, but he being
dead yet speaketh.
The following story illustrates how his example inspired other Christians.
―A lady missionary had worked hard for many years in her district, and
none of the work was bearing real fruit. She read of Mr. Hyde‘s prayer
life, and resolved to devote the best hours of her time to prayer and
waiting on God.

―In less than a year what a change! New life everywhere—the wilderness
being transformed into a garden. Fifteen were baptised at first, and one
hundred and twenty-five adults during the first half of the following
year.

Another year passed and she wrote: ‗The spirit of enquiry is increasing in
the villages and there is every promise of a greater movement in the
future than we have ever yet had. Our Christians now number six
hundred in contrast with one sixth of that number two years ago‘.‖

W. P. NICHOLSON

In 1921 the Rev. W. P. Nicholson said, ―The revival which ought, to come
is a revival that will make the preachers weep in their pulpits. Lord, let it
come!

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Let it strike Ireland, though it blow the French and classic music out of
our choirs and the feathers out of our bonnets. Let us cry to God night
and day for this.‖

About a year later Mr. Nicholson was conducting great revival campaigns
which stirred the whole country, and resulted in the conversion of
thousands of men and women. The Christian Workers Unions which
were established in many towns, and the number of converts who
became ministers, missionaries, and leaders in all branches of Christian
work, are evidence of the great blessing experienced in those days of
revival.
GEORGE AND STEPHEN JEFFREYS

George Jeffreys was converted in the revival of 1904 when the power of
God swept through the Welsh valleys. The Rev. W. G. Jones of the
Congregational Church, Maesteg, said, ―At the open-air revival services I
always found George Jeffreys at my side. I knew he was a chosen vessel.‖
In 1912 Mr. Jeffreys began to prepare for the ministry, and in the years
that followed he gained fame as an evangelist who was able to pack the
largest halls in the British Isles with eager listeners.

There were Ten thousand decisions for Christ in ten weeks in

Birmingham. Fourteen hundred conversions in venerable York. Fifteen
hundred in Brighton, in Dundee, in Glasgow. Twelve hundred in
Nottingham. Two thousand in Leeds. Three thousand in Cardiff. Twelve
thousand in Switzerland during five weeks in 1935. Mr. Jeffreys‘ brother
Stephen conducted similar notable campaigns in the British Isles and
other countries.

RUANDA REVIVALS

In 1922 some C.M.S. missionaries began to work in Ruanda, and for years
the work seemed most successful until in 1927 some of the leading
Christians began to fall back into sin.

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One of the missionaries, Jack Warren, being deeply concerned, asked for a
Week of Prayer to be held at home and on the field. During this week
many pleaded with God for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit From that
time great crowds began to attend the services. The Spirit of God was
Working on the hearts of the people, and this experience made the
missionaries believe in the possibility of a true revival even among the
uninstructed heathen.

In 1932 another revival began in the Gahini Hospital. In 1933 great

blessing was experienced at one of the African Conventions. This resulted
in a new evangelistic zeal among the native Christian.

Of this period Dr. Stanley Smith in ―Road to Revival‖ writes, ―Let no one
imagine that a work in which the Spirit of God is manifesting His power
is going to be easy or comfortable. Within, it is a story of many prayers
and tears and confessions of sin and misunderstandings, end of heart
searching before God. And without it means war with the enemy. The
Mission was being encouraged in spite of conflict by a great move
forward all over the country. Churches were springing up everywhere,
with a great increase of adherents, baptisms, and confirmations.‖

From this time God began to prepare some of the Africans to be leaders in
the revival that were to come. In 1936 Dr. Joe Church sent out a pamphlet
calling the friends of the Ruanda Mission to prayer. Again Dr. Smith
writes, ―God used this to call forth a great volume of prayer, unique in
the history of the Mission. The whole Revival movement seemed to surge
forward as prayer ascended up on high. From this time onward the
smouldering fires blazed out. ‗At the Mukono mission a deep work was
done. Simultaneously at Gahini, revival again broke out with great
power. News began to come through of like manifestations from all over,
the Mission—Kabale, Shyira, Kigeme, Buhiga, Matana—everywhere this
strange mysterious power was at work.‖

In the years that followed Revival Teams went

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from Ruanda to Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, the Sudan, and Congo. This
revival is still going on.

RECENT REVIVALS

James A. Stewart gives the following short glimpses of revivals in recent

years in Europe. ―In Hungary, we have been experiencing a national
revival. It will soon be twelve years since it began, and we believe it will
go on until the Lord comes.‘‘

A Christian lady spent twenty-four hours in prayer in a church, and Mr.

Stewart told her that she should go home, but she replied, ―I will not go
home until revival comes to the Lutheran church in Hungary. I will not
go home until hundreds of Lutheran pastors are born again, and come to
know Christ as their Saviour.‖
―The Bishop of the Lutheran church said to me, ‗Brother Stewart, I wish
to thank you for bringing revival to the Lutheran church of Hungary, as
well as other Protestant churches.‘ I replied, ‗Brother, you are wrong,
revival came to your church, and hundreds of your vicars have been
saved, and tens of thousands of your people have been saved, because of
the agonising spirit of one woman.‘

―Many times in Europe, when I came into the theatre, or the cathedral, or
the ice skating rink where our meetings are being held, all I can hear are
sobs from the people of God burdened for the salvation of loved ones.
During the time of revival in Latvia, which lasted six years, again and
again, the choir of 200 voices could not sing the invitation hymn. They
were so burdened for the souls of men.‖

DR. OSWALD J. SMITH

To Christians in every country the name of Dr. Oswald J. Smith

symbolises the challenge of revival and world evangelisation. Because of
delicate health he had to give up missionary work, but as Pastor of the
Peoples Church, Toronto, he turned to the idea of

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sending out substitutes. First of all five missionaries were sent forth, and
now that church is providing the financial support of over three hundred
and twenty-five missionaries.

Through his world-wide preaching tours, and his books, Dr. Smith seeks
to inspire others with the vision of the possibilities of revival. He says, ―Is
it not true that God does more in a few weeks during days of revival than
in years through the ordinary channels of church work? All God‘s
servants, right down through the centuries, have travailed in prayer; for
soul travail is part of the price that must be paid for revival.‖

YOUTH FOR CHRIST

Torrey M. Johnson gives the following account of the ―Youth for Christ‖
movement, which is doing a wonderful work in the United States and
Canada, and many other countries. ‗‗The question is frequently asked,
‗Where and how did Youth for Christ begin?‘ No one knows. . . except
that ‗the Spirit of God raised up a standard in this time when the enemy
was coming in like a flood.‘ Small rallies began in different parts of the
United States and elsewhere, all unknown to each other. Then suddenly
out of those small beginnings, fed by the Word of God and nurtured by
the Holy Spirit, larger rallies began.

―Hundreds are being won to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ
every week; thousands of young people are yielding their hearts in
surrender to the will of God for their lives. There are literally thousands
of young people all across America who are planning to go to the ends of
the earth with the Gospel of the Grace of God.

―We join hands and hearts with every agency of the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus to the end that (1) There may be a deep and abiding Revival in the
Church in our day, and that (2) The world may be completely evangelised
in the life time of our generation.‖

ISLE OF LEWIS REVIVAL

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The Rev. Duncan Campbell speaking of the revival that broke out in the
Isle of Lewis, Scotland, in 1949, said that long before the revival
commenced ―several groups of men and women in the parish church of
Barvas were spending hours in prayer for an outpouring of the Spirit of
God; indeed so great was their burden, and so intense their intercession
that the small hours of the morning frequently found them on their faces
before God.‖ This revival spread powerfully to many parts of the island.

BILLY GRAHAM

The Christian world has been stirred by the news of the great evangelistic
campaigns which are being conducted by Dr. Billy Graham in America.
This movement started in Los Angeles, and Dr. Graham reveals the secret
of it. He says, ―The Los Angeles campaign has humbled me and driven
me to my knees as never before. The success of the campaign is due to
three things:

(1) The prayer of God‘s people. It was the people who prayed who made
the difference. What power there is in prayer! I‘ve never realised it before
in all my life and ministry. It has given me a tremendous blessing in my
own heart. (2) The power of the Holy Spirit. I have never in all my life
seen men and women under such conviction of sin. (3) The power of the
Word of God. How God blessed the plain and simple Word of God in this
campaign.‖

REVIVAL IN KOREA 1950

Bob Finley wrote, ―When Bob Pierce, Gill Dodds and I were invited to
Korea we discovered that our Lord had brought us into the midst of a
revival that might well have been lifted out of the pages of the book of
Acts.

―I saw revival in Korea. I saw more than 25,000 persons profess to accept
Christ as Saviour within six weeks. I saw more than 4,000 persons daily at
5 a.m.

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prayer meetings. I saw hundreds continue all night in prayer for days on
end. I saw crowds up to 75,000 come together to hear the Gospel.

―In such a movement of the Holy Spirit, our part was incidental. These
meetings in which we participated were only a small part of the great
revival in Korea. All the while there were other great meetings being held
by Korean pastors and evangelists. The revival is a demonstration of the
awful reality of the Person of the Holy Spirit.‘‘

WORLDWIDE REVIVAL MOVEMENT

On January 19th, 1952, some of the leading evangelical ministers and

laymen in the North of Ireland met in Belfast for the Inaugural Meeting of
the Worldwide Revival Movement.

This Movement has grown out of the work of the Revival Publishing Co.,
and aims ―to promote revival in every denomination through the
―Revival Series‖ books, Revival Conferences, and Prayer Groups.‖ Any
Christians who wish to become members should write to: The Secretary,
Worldwide Revival Movement, 15, Slemish Way, Lisburn, N. Ireland.

RECENT NEWS

Summing up the present position in America, Horace F. Dean writes,

―Great masses of people are coming under the sound of the Gospel as
never before in our generation. Revival fires are burning in scores of
individual churches. A sweeping continent-wide evangelistic movement
is on. God-anointed evangelists are reaping a harvest in every part of the
U.S.A. and Canada. The masses are being stirred.‖

The tides are rising! News of revival blessing is coming from many
countries. Evangelists are conducting successful campaigns all over the
British Isles. Almost one hundred years ago the English speaking
countries experienced one of the greatest revivals in history. Let us pray
that God will visit the whole world with an even greater revival in this
century.

REMARKS

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We have seen a little of the tremendous blessing that revivals have been
to the world. They always bring new life and power into the Church;
produce a new generation of soul winning ministers, missionaries, and
Christian workers; and extend a blessed influence far and wide. The
obligation of Christians to promote revivals is equal to the tremendous
amount of good they produce.

This short history of revivals illustrates three things:

(a) Revival always begins in answer to the effectual fervent prayers of
spiritually revived Christians, who see sin and the world‘s need as God
sees it; and who feel the same hatred of sin, and love and compassion for
sinners that God feels.

(b) While Christians pray and feel in this way, preachers of the same
spirit should make a balanced presentation of the truths of the Gospel to
the unsaved. In modern times there are few preachers who so understand
the Gospel that they can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, enlighten the
minds of sinners to such a view of the guilt and horrid nature of sin, and
the love of God in Christ, that will induce them to turn with their whole
heart and mind to God. The stability and usefulness of converts depends
on the extent to which preachers can do this work in the power of the
Holy Spirit.

(c) All the Protestant denominations have experienced periods of revival.

Whatever differences they have, the evangelical members of all
denominations are united on one point, that is, God‘s ability to save and
change men through the Gospel. In view of the terrible need of the world
today let us all work together to promote revival and world
evangelisation.
Chapter II. How To Promote Local Revival
Page 65
PRAYER Groups have always taken first place in the promotion of
revivals of religion. It was always from such gatherings, with an
atmosphere of fellowship and prayer, that Christians went forth to spread
the Glad Tidings of the Gospel in the power of the Holy Ghost.

There were many secret prayer groups in the Reformation. The Pietist
Revival exercised its influence through ‗‗ Circles of devout Christians in
the churches.‘‘ The Moravians had their prayer and study "Bands". The
enemies of the Puritan Revival sought to suppress their groups in the
churches. The ― Class Meeting‘‘ composed the spiritual force which
conserved and extended the blessings of the Evangelical Awakening.
Finney always formed groups of those who had the spirit of prayer. The
1857-58 Revival in America was a ‗‗ Prayer Group Revival.‘‘ The '59
Revival in Ireland was the direct result of the prayer group which was
formed by M‘Quilken, Meneely, WalIace, and Carlisle.

The first work to be done in promoting local revival is to form a prayer

group. The "Revival Series" booklets are specially designed for the use of
such groups, so that each member may become an efficient soul-winner.
The place where a prayer group meets in connection with a church or
mission can be called a Revival Centre, and the members can work
together for revival in the following manner

1. Prayer. The chief work will be to pray effectually for the blessing of
God on the church

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services. A prayer meeting could be held on the Saturday evening, or the
Sunday morning. The meeting should be simple, opening with an
appropriate prayer and hymn, followed with Bible reading, and a short
address, or reading of some account of prayer for revival being answered.

Let as much time as possible be given to prayer. Here I wish to express an

opinion which is the result‘ of years of observation. It is that prayer
meetings would be a thousand times more effective if at least the first half
of the prayer time were given up to silent prayer.

After a stirring address Christians feel the love of souls and their faith in
God warm and strong and they feel like praying. Let them pray silently.
Let there be perfect silence and each soul will forget everyone else, and
will deal alone with God.

Keen Christians will love such prayer times, and great work will be done
in the spiritual realm. We are living in a time when life is one mad rush.
Let us give Christians a chance to be alone with God in the prayer
meeting, and they will love it and will begin to make more time for such
blessed communion with God.

Certainly the latter part of the meeting should be open for audible prayer.
But Centre members would do well to make a vow never to allow the
devil to use cranky, egotistic, or verbose people, to spoil their prayer
meetings. Such persons should be firmly and kindly dealt with. Persons
coming in late also spoil a prayer meeting. It is important to stop these
things in the beginning.

Such a prayer meeting can result in continuous revival in a church, and

this is its object. If it is carried on in the right spirit, it will have the
support of the whole church.

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The remainder of this chapter outlines how members can work to
promote revival, but unless all this work is backed up with effectual
prevailing prayer; unless it is all carried out in the spirit of prayer, it will
not promote revival.

2. Evangelism. The aim of each Revival Centre is to evangelize in revival

power ―for every creature‖ in the district, and to win and train for service
all the young people connected with the church.

The task of winning and training young people calls for deep love for
them, and a clear understanding of their surging energies, feelings, and
ambitions. The most powerful factor in winning young people is a leader
who embodies their ideals of genuine Christian character and personality.
People are not born with these winning qualities, they are acquired by the
blessing of God, and experience, and study.

3. Youth Meetings. In order to win the young people and to keep them in
the church, it will be necessary for them to have their own special
meetings and activities. Suggestions along this line will be found in the
programmes of the many different youth movements.

AN ARMY OF LAY PREACHERS.

There was a time in the history of the Methodist Church when five out of
seven of all the services were conducted by lay preachers. The same has
been true of other denominations. The great 1857—58 Revival in the
United States of America, and the 1859 Revival in Ireland, were promoted
chiefly through Cottage Meeting of Prayer and Testimony conducted by
local lay preachers.

The Church all over the world needs a new army of soulwinning lay
preachers. To help raise this army

Page 68
Ministers, Pastors, Missionaries, and experienced Christians could
conduct ‗‗Revival Classes‘‘ giving young Christians instruction on Bible
Study, the ‗‗Revival Series‘‘ booklets, and Public Speaking. Where there is
no capable leader, any group of young people can benefit greatly through
study on their own. This training will have a practical outcome in the
activities suggested in other parts of this chapter. As text books for such
Classes I would recommend, ‗‗The Hundred Texts ‗‗ by T. C. Hammond,
and ‗‗ Public Speaking‘‘ by Dale Carnegie.

SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

The greatest need to-day is to reach the masses outside the Church. First
of all, the children. Tens of thousands of children in our country never
attend a Sunday School. Sunday is a wild holiday for them. This is a
terrible state of affairs, and it is leading to most serious consequences.

Keen Christians can help to meet this need in every district. In most
places it will not be difficult to obtain premises, and parents will be glad
to send their children along.

In this work each child‘s contact with a devoted teacher is the most
important part of the work. The lessons can be the same as those taught
in the church. On special occasions Flannelgraph illustrations will add to
the interest. Children love to sing and they should be encouraged to learn
and sing- good Gospel hymns as an important part of their lesson. They
will never forget these hymns, and the memories they will bring back.

When children profess conversion they need continual care: especially in

towns where they have so much temptation to return to the world. It is
the duty of those concerned to care for such children and provide

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them with suitable and profitable entertainment. They will love a week-
night meeting if it is kept bright and warm.

All this calls for love and work; but there are eternal issues at stake. Those
capable of doing this type of work, sin, while they refuse to do it for any
selfish reason.

GOSPEL SERVICES.

All over the country there is a great need for Gospel Services to be held.
Here Christians have a Home Mission Field, and if they are
understanding and sympathetic, people everywhere will be glad of their
services. Premises for these meetings can be obtained, even if they must
be conducted in the homes of the people.

Young Christian, you love Jesus, you love souls, and you are the very one
to help these people who are without God and without hope in the world.
Dare you sit in ease and comfort among other Christians while these
millions are going to hell?
WOMEN‟S MEETINGS.

If a Revival Centre has some lady members with sympathetic and

understanding hearts, they could do a wonderful work in giving some of
their time to visit the homes in the district and conducting women‘s
meetings. There is a vast need for this type of work, and if you win a
mother, she can win her children and the father will soon come in too.
These meetings can be held in the homes of the people. Christian
women—thousands of mothers in sin, darkness and misery look now to
you to brighten their lives

OPEN AIR MEETINGS

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As the majority of the people to-day do not attend places of worship one
of the Revival Centre‘s chief aims is to preach the Gospel to the crowds in
the open air.

It is quite in order to hold a long open air meeting in any place where
there are no residents, but in the case of an ordinary street it is different.
To be a blessing these meetings must be so conducted that the people will
want them and look forward to them. Have plenty of bright singing, and
bright testimonies, followed by a short Gospel message.

LOUD SPEAKER WORK.

This type of open air work is more specialized, and a few men can
conduct very effective meetings. When a man comes home tired from
work anyone shouting in the street will be considered a nuisance, but if
the same tired man heard sonic sweet Gospel Hymn Records being
played over a loud speaker he would enjoy it. To follow this up there
should be a short bright Gospel message and more music.

While two men are conducting the meeting others be giving out suitable
tracts, if possible, having printed on them an invitation to local meetings,
also an address to which enquirers can write for spiritual help, or to ask a
worker to call, or asking for a gift of a New Testament..

Children are certain to gather around a Loud Speaker, and they should
have a little time given to them. Tell them a Gospel story, teach them a
chorus, and invite those to a Sunday School who do not attend one.

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With a car a few men could preach the Gospel to a whole district in one
evening in this way. But remember, a loud speaker unwisely used could
disturb a whole district just as easily in one evening.

PERSONAL WORK.

The best personal worker is the Christian who is recognized by all who
know him as steady and consistent. Here I would add that one of the
most effective forms of personal work is to give a person a gift of a New
Testament, on the condition that he will read a portion every day.

VISITATION EVANGELISTS.

This type of work is being done in many places with great success. Two
workers visit the homes of the people when the husband and the wife are
at home. They conduct a little service and invite the people to attend local
meetings.

MISSIONS.

In addition to what has been said in the previous booklets I would add
the following:

Instructions on the way of salvation should be included in every sermon.

Persons should be encouraged to decide for Christ at any time or in any
place, on the understanding that they will report to the evangelist, and
publicly witness to this on the following night by sitting with other new
converts in seats specially kept for them in the church or hall where the
mission is being conducted. When a sinner is truly anxious about his soul,
it is often too much of a strain and distraction for him to be expected to
deal alone in his heart with God, and at the same time to make a public
decision.

ENQUIRY ROOM WORK.

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The essential part of enquiry room work is to lead enquirers to deal alone
with God. They are to be ― born of the Spirit,‖ and He should be allowed
to be the chief enquiry room worker.

The missioner should be his own enquiry room worker, having a short
conversation with each one, and then addressing them all together to
make everything clear and plain. After this let each one pray silently and
deal only with God.

When for any reason other enquiry room workers are needed none
should be allowed to take part in this work unless their blameless
character and ability are well known. The best workers may be slow to
come forward. Cranks and proselyters push to do this work. Keep them
out; the devil will only use them to sow tares.

Each enquiry room worker should at least have passed the Revival Series
Examination on booklet No 2. Female enquirers should have female
workers. Do this work thoroughly and it will bear eternal fruit.

FOLLOW UP WORK.

This is as important as the mission in the salvation of souls. See that each
convert joins a live church, and begins at once to have regular times of
Bible reading and private devotion. Encourage them to join the Revival
Centre. Make each feel that you are a true personal friend.

PURITY WITNESS.
In 1885 the Salvation Army began rescue work among fallen women and
girls. The revelations of how even very young girls were being ruined,
body and soul, caused a stir which called the attention of all England.

There is a terrible need for a clear Purity Witness

Page 73
all over the world to-day. In the cause of a true revival of religion,
Christians must make a firm stand in this matter, and expose with a clear
voice, not only the sins of adultery and fornication, but also the sins that
lead to them: seeing sensual picture shows, dancing, reading low novels,
indulgence in flirting and petting. Every Christian should be a living
testimony against these sins, and should rebuke openly those who
indulge in them.
Chapter III.
Revival and World Evangelisation

Page 74
OUR Lord‘s command to the Church is still ‗‗ Go ye into all the world,
and preach the Gospel to every creature.‘‘ This chapter outlines how each
Revival Centre can contribute to the cause of world evangelisation in the
widest sense.

It is going to cost to complete this task. It will mean much agonizing

prayer, continual sacrifice, tears, sweat, and blood; but it is our privilege
and duty to engage in this holy war.

The Gospel is now being preached in almost every country in the world;
there are thousands of young Christians who are willing to be trained to
complete the evangelisation of the world; a tremendous amount of wealth
is in the hands of Christians. This is a day of opportunity. But we need to
remind ourselves that men have preached the possibility of evangelizing
the world before, and it has not been accomplished. There are more
heathen in the world to-day than there were fifty years ago.

This task can only be completed by men who live and work in the spirit
of St. Paul. ‗‗I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified. And my speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but
in the power of God.‖ ― And He said unto me, My strength is made
perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.‘‘

In order to evangelize the world an adequate number of missionaries and

evangelists must be called out

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by God. How will this be done? Jesus said, ― Pray ye the Lord of the
Harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His Harvest.‖ To ensure
that men of God will go forth in His power, they must be called by God in
answer to prayer.

To support such an army, Christians must give their money regularly and
intelligently. It is God‘s money and should be given where it will
accomplish most in saving souls.

But above all else, what is most needed by missionaries to-day, and will
be most needled in the future, is an effectual prayer backing. We need
Christians who will pray like this man spoken of by Finney, ‗‗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 to 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 a prevailing prince in prayer.‘‘

THE “CALL.”

To promote revivals of religion at home is the aim of every Centre, and

this is the first and greatest contribution that can be made to world
evangelisation. When young people experience revival blessing you soon
find them expressing a desire to enter training for the home ministry or
the mission field. Here they begin to wonder what it is like to be ‗‗ called
― by God.

The first step to a real call is to be definitely surrendered

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to God; to be willing to do His will whatever it is; God is perfectly free to
call any Christian who is surrendered to Him in this way.
In many cases men grow into their calling. A young man begins to take
occasional meetings, God blesses these efforts and souls are saved. He
next becomes a local preacher, God continues to use him, and he enters
the regular ministry of some denomination. In this way God raised up the
early Methodist ministers, the early Salvation Army officers were
provided in the same way, and the same thing has happened in nearly
every denomination; it is going on all the time.

Some calls come in the form of an impression. From childhood Hudson

Taylor had the impression that he was called to China. From the day of
his conversion Finney had the impression that he was called to preach the
Gospel. This call is something deep down in a person‘s consciousness.

Many people have had sudden calls, sometimes to a certain work, or to a

certain place. In some cases it may take the form of a revelation of the
future. Many Christians have experienced God speaking to them as they
have read some passage of Scripture. Others have been called by
receiving a burden for souls in a certain place.

There is one essential element in every real call, and that is a sincere
desire to win souls. Young people with a real call, may have mixed
thoughts and ambitions; but if they love the Lord Jesus and lost souls,
they can become wonderful channels for God. A call, however clear, is no
guarantee of success. Many have had wonderful calls and have shown
great promise, yet they have failed. Obedience to God must be continual
or failure is certain.

SUPPORT OF STUDENTS.

When a young Christian is called, the question of financial support

naturally arises. In many denominations

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this is done in a systematic and honourable way. In other cases — Go to a
railway station and you will see a company of people around someone.
Go nearer, and you will see a young woman with tears in her eyes saying
goodbye, to her parents and friends. What is she doing? She is going
into training for the mission field sacrificing the comfort and securities of
home for the sake of God and souls.

There are men in the group. Are they going, too? No fear! They are going
back to a warm home to sit in a cushioned chair. Will they support that
girl? No! They say,

‗‗ God has called her, and He will look after her.‘‘

The same is true of many missionaries. They sacrifice the comforts of

home and climate, and risk their health and life for the sake of souls, and
behold, on top of this many Christians think that they should be willing
to live without any guaranteed support.

In the Old Testament we see God‘s detailed care for the support of the
Levites. In the New Testament we have the plain declaration, ― They
which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel.‘‘

The following plan should be used. It is based on the usual system of

Christians giving the tenth of their income to the Lord‘s work.

If a Christian‘s tenth amounts to ten shillings per week, of this six

shillings should go each week to the support of a missionary student, or
regularly to a foreign mission. This leaves him four shillings each week
that can be given to his church or local Christian work.

When a young Centre member is called to go into training, he should

inform the secretary of his Centre, and the members will consider his
case, and if they are satisfied with his spiritual history, and work in
connection with the Centre, and that he is called, then let them agree to
support him.

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The benefits of this system will be that the supporters will all know the
student, and there will be a bond of fellowship and love; they will also
pray for him with more feeling and interest. This will be a most important
part of the work of the Centres to choose out suitable students. If
members are not satisfied with an applicant, let them put him on
probation, and prove him.

It should be mentioned that there are some evangelical churches which

support a large missionary work of their own, and whose members give
the whole tenth of their income to the church, knowing that it will be
used to spread the gospel at home and abroad.

HOME MISSIONS.

During recent years it has become increasingly clear to missionary leaders

that the time has come, in most parts of the world, for missionaries to put
the burden of evangelisation on the naitive Christians, and to train them
for this work. "The native with his bundle on his back marches into the
town attracting no attention, and preaches Christ and Him crucified; men
and women are born again and a church is brought into being. He knows
the language and customs, as well as the difficulties and mentality of his
own people, better than the missionary can ever hope to.‘‘

In view of this situation a new type of missionary is needed, and this

should be kept in mind by young people in training. The time seems to be
ripe for Foreign Missions to develop Home Mission branches, in order to
prove the ability of men and women to win souls, and to train others to
be soul-winners, before they are sent forth.

HOW COLLEGES CAN HELP

In our Colleges the History and importance of revivals of religion have to

a great extent been overlooked. What a grave mistake! There are subjects
of greater importance in the preparation of any young person for
Christian work. Christian professors

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in our Colleges should do all that is possible to provide students with
lectures and books on this subject.
HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP

The People‘s Church, Toronto, Canada, provides a wonderful illustration

of what a church can do towards world evangelisation. The members of
that church are now supporting 325 missionaries. This began in a small
way, and it is still possible for any church to send out a missionary, or
missionaries, in association with a Society, and to assume full
responsibility for their support.

REVIVAL CONFERENCES.

In order to stir up local interest in revival and world evangelisation,

members should seek to promote monthly Conferences in cities, towns,
and suitable districts. They should form an executive committee, and
invite the local Christian ministers of different denominations to speak on
different revivals and soul winning. At suitable times missionaries and
evangelists can be invited to take part in the meetings.

Revival Conferences will stand for:

(a) Unity among Christians of all denominations on the subject of soul-

winning and revival. Speakers should not bring in denominational
differences.

(b) Prayer. In each meeting, at a suitable time, there should be a short

period of silent kneeling prayer. Let each one in complete silence pray for
himself, his family, church, minister, and for revival in the district.

(c) Study of the History of Revivals and Soul-winning. In addition to the

messages on these subjects, Christians will be able to purchase the
―Revival Series‖ booklets. Conferences will be supplied with these
booklets.

(d) Missionary Outlook. After the expenses of each Conference are met,
all remaining funds should be given to known Evangelical Foreign
Missions in rotation
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Conferences like these will draw together the living members of the
Church, and under the power of the Holy Spirit, they will be
strengthened and inspired to live in revival blessing. These Conferences
can be a mighty force in local revival, and world evangelisation.

THE POSSIBILITIES.

When Jeroboam became king of Israel he made two golden calves and led
the nation to the worship of idols. Listen to God‘s judgement on him and
the nation, ‗‗The Lord shall smite Israel, and He shall root up Israel out of
this good land, and shall scatter them. And He shall give Israel up
because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to
sin.‘‘

This king had power to lead nation into sin. Jehoshaphat a king of Judah
was a reformer, and he led the people back to God. Every leader of men
has a tremendous influence. Few men are in a position to exert such an
influence for God as ministers and preachers generally. If, all over the
world, these men would use their influence aright they could turn
millions of people to God. If they do not, God will require it at their
hands.

Listen to Finney speaking solemnly to ministers and preachers. ‗‗

Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality
prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay
of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks
moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the Church is
degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses
its interest in religion; if Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is
responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact my dear brethren; but let us
lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to
the morals of this nation.‘‘

Not only preachers, but every editor of a religious paper, every church
officer, every Sunday School teacher, every Christian worker, and every
individual
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Christian has a degree of influence that he is responsible to use for the
glory of God and the salvation of souls.

INVITATION TO ALL.

In order to promote this work of raising up an army of soul-winners for

world evangelisation and revival, we invite EVERY CHRISTIAN and
YOUNG CONVERT to become Agents for the ― Revival Series ‗‗ booklets,
so that they may be circulated as widely as possible in every country.
Write to us for details and free literature. Join us in sowing these seeds of
revival.

THE TRAINING OF CONVERTS.

It is easy for a spiritual mind to see the tremendous Potential Energies of

the Church that have been, and are being, wasted. As a result there are
many weak converts, backsliders, and carnal Christians in the churches,
who do not know how to pray, or to sacrifice for missions, or how to win
souls. Yet with proper instruction and training every one of them could
have been a power for God.

As a result comparatively few young Christians give their lives to God‘s

service. Many of the best young people are unable to enter training
because of lack of financial support. Do those who enter training find that
sufficient time is engaged in the study of the History of Revivals and
kindred subjects? What shall we say of the waste of supporting
organizations, or even individual ministers and missionaries who do not
seek to win souls?

The ‗‗ Revival Series booklets are being published as a result of a God-

given burden concerning this waste. The vision is to supply keen
Christians and young converts with a course of instruction which will set
them on fire for God, and lead them naturally into efficient soul-winning
service.
THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH IS IN THE YOUNG CONVERTS

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Through the ― Revival Series ― booklet, and Prayer Groups, individual
Christians can receive instruction, fellowship, and scope for the
development of their talents; churches can receive new members,
workers, ministers, and revival; Colleges can receive new students;
Christians can be inspired to support students; Missions can be helped by
new support, new missionaries, and revival; Native Christians can be led
to shoulder the burden of evangelisation. In this way all the Potential
Energies of the Church World-wide can be utilized in the cause of Revival
and World Evangelisation.

PERSONAL MESSAGE.

In a revival Christians come nearest to knowing thoughts and feelings of

the Holy Spirit. What are His thoughts? They are thoughts of the awful
guilt and danger of sinners. What are His feelings? They are feelings of
agonizing desire for sinners to repent and be saved.

In this hour let us stand firm with the Holy Spirit, and never allow
ourselves to be side-tracked into giving a moment‘s attention to any
subject that does not further this great work.

Let us spread the burden of world evangelisation on the shoulders of

every living member of the Church; let us harness the energies of every
convert, Christian, and preacher of the Gospel in the campaign of soul-
winning. Then the Church will be, ‗‗Fair as the moon, clear as the sun,
and terrible to all wickedness, as an army with banners.‖