~
~
~\%Y~
N  
C)
Q)
10
(1)
;t
I I
0
-1 
0
E      0
(1) w
z
i E      cn
,?i
I' 
D. L. MOODY.
II
I
....._ 
I 
,    REV. E. N. KIRK, D. D.,
';n years Vice-President of the College Society.
* V 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
BY
EDWARD NORRIS KIRK, D.D.
LATR PASTOR OF MOUNT VERNON CHURCH, BOSTON.
EDITED BY
REV. DAVID 0. MEARS.
BOSTON:
CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY,
CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE,
BEACON STREET.
I875.
I.             I 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
THE CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOaCETY,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
BOSTON:
STEREOTYPED BY C J. PETERS & SON,
73 FEDERAL STREET. 
PREFACE.
THE following Lectures were delivered before the
students of the Theological Seminary at Andover, in
the winter of i868. They may be said to embody the
observation and experience of Dr. Kirk's busy life,
while, at the same time, they reveal the principles
upon which his success was built up. The Lectures
are preserved in their original form of address.
The absence of footnotes, marking the source of
many quotations from other authors, is to be regretted,
but is unavoidable.
The wide range of thought, the freedom from any
bias of judgment, the scholarly analysis of the whole
subject, will be recognized by every reader; and the
style will recall to thousands the man himself at work.
The portrait of the true preacher in these pages is a
portrait of himself, unconsciously drawn.
From the day when he went from house to house in
Westfield, N.J., conversing with all upon the great
iii
; - -- _ *'
i
9 
PREFACE.
theme of salvation, he was never idle. "There I put
the cross on my shoulder: it was heavy all that dark
day, but never since."
This is not the place in which to record his labors
throughout our land; nor can we speak of the multitudes thronging him upon the Continent, eager to catch
from his lips the story of his Lord and Master. Such
labors and such opportunities gave him an experience
fruitful in its suggestions.  Yet hear him refer to a
memorable hour in his early life: "I think that never
since that night in Princeton, N.J., have I been either
troubled or elated by the number of persons in my
audience."   Such was  his  testimony, given  as he
waited for his Lord to come. It was his highest aim
to win souls to Christ, not to lead the multitudes.
But he did both. Such an experience has given shape
to the thoughts presented in this volume.
In response to an invitation of his younger brethren
in the ministry, Dr. Kirk addressed them upon Revivals, Monday morning, March 23, 1874. They asked
him to continue the theme the next week. Upon the
intervening Friday, March 27, he was writing the plan
for his address. The two first topics he had elaborated; viz., "I. What is a Christian Revival?" and "II.
Sketch of the History of Revivals." The other general division was worded thus, "III. Present State of the
Church and the World;" and the words were under
iv 
PREFACE.
scored. But, before the ink was dried from the paper,
the hand of death was laid upon him,- his work all
done. These Lectures, of which that paper was only
a brief, are now given to the public: we will call them
his legacy.  "He being dead yet speaketh."  It is impossible not to understand that voice.. If the "present
state of the Church and the world" is not yet one of
purity, it can become such only by widespread and
powerful Revivals of Religion.
Surely it is not a vain wish to express, that these
Lectures may have their part in hastening on that
brighter day.
D. O. MEARS.
CAMBRIDG=, MAsS., Jan. I2, I87S.
%  
CONTENTS.
FIRST LECTURE.
PAGE
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS, INDIRECT AND DIRECT. -DIS   CRIMINATIVE EXAMINATION OF REVIVALS. -SPURIOUS
REVIVALS......... 
SECOND LECTURE.
SPURIOUS REVIVALS (continued). - DEFENSIVE VIEW. - POPU   LAR OBJECTIONS.........
THIRD LECTURE.
THEOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS. -VALUE OF REVIVALS.-PHILO   SOPHICAL OBJECTIONS........
FOURTH LECTURE.
THEOLOGY. -AGENCY OF PROVIDENCE. -AGENCY OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT.-HUMAN AGENCY. -AGENCY OF THE GOS   PEL. - HISTORY. - APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS...
FIFTH LECTURE.
HISTORY (continued).- POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS
SIXTH LECTURE.
HISTORY (continued).- LATER REVIVALS.- REVIVALISTS WITH   OUT REVIVALS......... I38
. vu
-0 --
I
28
59
88
. 117 
CONTENTS.
SEVENTH LECTURE.
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS (continued). - REVIVALISTS
IN REVIVALS..................   x67
EIGHTH LECTURE.
REVIVALISTS IN IREVIVALS (continued). - REVIEW.
NINTH LECTURE.
PRACTICAL SURVEY. - PREPARING FOR A REVIVAL...
TENTH. LECTURE.
PRACTICAL SURVEY (continued). - EVANGELISTS. - OTHER IN   STRUMENTALITIES...................245
ELEVENTH LECTURE.
PREACHING. - WAITING FOR A REVIVAL. - WORKING IN A
REVIVAL.......................  272
TWELFTH LECTURE.
WORKING IN A REVIVAL (continued). - CLOSING A REVIVAL. 299
ADDRESS.
viii
. ir96
224
323 
ON REVIVALS.
FIRST LECTURE.
~ I. -DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
IN 6ur own field of observation, and in the
world's history, we find the phenomena popularly
designated Awakenings, Reformations, or Revivals
of Religion. Many persons entertain the notion
that they are abnormal; at best, mixed benefits:
whereas they hold in the religious world the same
place as the most glorious epochs in secular history; nay, they thoroughly affect that history,
and we find their counterparts in every other department of life, - whether vegetable, animal, or
intellectual,- in commerce and in art.  They are
merely advancing stages, culminating epochs, transition-periods, in human progress.
Indeed, Revivals are but the more manifest and
brilliant stages of the advance of Messiah's kingdom. Even the most isolated and limited of them
has an unearthly splendor; and though no news
LECTURES
0
I
I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
paper announces it, though its theatre be the
humblest hamlet, it has awakened more joy and
praise in heaven than the most brilliant of military exploits, or the grandest. triumphs of genius.
It is one in a series of events not only commensurate with human history, but which also constitutes its only intrinsic and permanent value;
whose originating and shaping influences are the
exercises of that power which has commenced the
redemption and renovation of a world ruined by
sin.
More definitely, then, what it is intended here to
affirm is, that every human event finds its ultimate
relative value in its more or less direct and intimate  connection with  two grand issues, -the
advancement of. the great Institution called the
Kingdom of Christ; and the introduction of the
individual man into that Kingdom, with all its
unending consequences to him.
This is our standard. Judged by this, the direct
Revival of Religion holds the first rank in moral
grandeur and in importance among all the occurrences of history, excepting only such purely divine
movements as prepare for them; such as the incarnation of Deity, and all those sublime events which
cluster around it.
I propose to consider Revivals, I. DESCRIPTIVELY; II. APOLOGETICALLY; III. THEOLOGICALLY;
IV. HISTORICALLY; V. PRACTICALLY.
We meet the inquiry at the outset, What is a
Revival of Religion?
2 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS. 
I. - DESCRIPTION.
A Revival is the result of special impulses on
the religious sensibilities of a community, charac terized by these features, - a change, a religious
change, wrought by the supernatural action of the
Holy Ghost, tending to the advancement of true
religion, directly or indirectly.
It is sufficiently obvious how we may apply the
first two tests of a change in the current of men's
religious thoughts and acts; but it may not be so
manifest how we are to determine whether the
Holy Spirit originated this change, or what the
yet future results are to be. It may, then, be stated
that we have generally adequate tests for our guidance while this change is in progress; and the
results may serve, when we reach them, either to
modify or confirm our previous judgments.
How, then, may we determine at the time
whether the Revival is the work of the Holy
Spirit?   First, the feeling predominant in the
people's minds must be a religious sentiment.
The instrument of its progress must be the distinctive truths of the gospel.   Then the leading
minds of the movement must be, or appear to be,
actuated supremely by zeal for God, and for man's
salvation, expressing itself in extraordinary kinds
and degrees of prayer, self-sacrifice, and effort.
As we cannot judge the hearts of men infallibly,
we may be mistaken as to the spirit of leaders;
3 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
but they must act so as to awaken religious
sensibility in their hearers. This is the test in the
case of what we may denominate direct Revivals;
and that may suffice for our present purposes.
Then, in regard to results, we apply the test
thus: every religious impulse which either arouses
men to remove the hinderances to the progress of
religion, or brings a believer nearer to his Saviour,
or directly secures the conversion of men to God,
is a true Revival. Its direct or its remote tendency
must be to quicken and elevate the consciences of
men, to renovate personal character, causing the
grovelling, the morose, the grasping, the hard, and
the selfish dispositions of men to give place to
"love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." *
Tested by this standard, we shall find that the
popular view is too limited, and that we must consider the Revival of Religion as it manifests itself
under various types of predominant sentiment or
result. It may indeed serve the purposes of those
who look no farther than to phenomena to consider
Revivals as always of the type prevalent in our day:
and for practical purposes this may suffice; for
it is not improbable, that, in our day and in this
country, no other will be needed; and that the
final triumph of our Redeemer will be secured by
an increasingly rapid succession of modern Revivals,
of increasing purity, power, and extent.
* Gal. V. 22.
4 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
This is said on the presumption, which is certainly not very extravagant, that the main obstacles, whether doctrines, institutions, or customs,
which have heretofore prevented the coming of
the kingdom of God, are in this day either overthrown, or so far enfeebled in this land as to offer
no absolute obstruction to true laborers.   Unless
the Papal Church should become very powerful
here, the work henceforward is to be mainly internal: if so, then the popular view of Revivals
suffices for practical purposes.
But that should not satisfy those whose professional employments require themn to go beyond
events to their relations as causes and effects; tracing the essence of the ephemeral occurrences of
our day and locality to that one great purpose of
redeeming love, which alone gives unity and profound significance to all the records of. history.
We must then observe how the forms of development which this power assumes are- modified by the
counteraction of human depravity and by the varying conditions of society.
Each epoch of personal or general history, each
prominent revolutionary or transitional period in
the life of an individual or a community, presents
some distinguishing feature or characteristic element, while it has much in common with other
movements of a different general type.
This variety in Revivals may result from divers
degrees and even forms of the Spirit's action, as
5
I*e 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
well as from innumerable modifying influences;
such as the variety of doctrinal views, of temperament, of habits, of education, and prevalent tones
of feeling in a community. The very climate and
season, as they affect the physical state, may,
through it, affect the form and progress of the
Revivals;  and  then,  too,  the  sovereign  Lord
adapts his work to the ever-varying wants of his
Church.
The  quickening  of personal  piety may lead
either to no prominent outward results, or mainly
to those secular manifestations which constitute
some of the salient points of history, - the stages
of social transition, on a field of greater or less
breadth.
Among the various figures employed in Scripture to illustrate the condition of God's kingdom
on earth, there is one of great beauty. Ezekiel
saw a river coming forth from under the Temple,
growing in dimensions as it advanced: so we find
the progress of the kingdom of heaven. It is a
little spring far up in the mountains; here moving
silently; there rushing with tremendous force and
commotion; now lying, a tranquil mirror, reflecting
the beauties of earth and sky; now creeping gently
through meadows of celestial peace and beauty;
then, meeting some obstruction, its character is
changed. Now it begins to swell, and gather resistless might, until it finally bursts its barriers,
and sweeps a continent with its wrecks.
6 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
There are, then, two classes of revivals, - the direct and the indirect. In illustrating them, it will
be necessary, to some extent, to anticipate our historical survey.
I.- The Indirect Revivats.
These include,  The  Politico-Religious  Movements.-The  religious feeling quickened, seeking to express itself
and to affect society, often finds unexpected embarrassments. Social and political barriers may lie in
the line of its march: they must be removed, even
at the cost of struggles and sacrifices.
The first in history is the exodus from Egypt
and the pilgrimage to Canaan, which may have
been only a blind outburst of nationality and
patriotism in the body of the people, wearied to
exhaustion by the oppressive policy of Pharaoh.
But in'their leader's mind, perhaps shared by
many of the tribal chiefs, it was a grand religious
inspiration. Moses' saw that the Church of God
could never expand into healthful and vigorous life
amidst an idolatrous race of masters, and under
the crushing, degrading tyranny of the Pharaohs.
In communing with God, he caught the holy
inspiration, and received the clear expression of the
divine will. It was indeed a revival, when the Israelites, led by Jehovah out of the land of bondage
through the sea and the desert, went up to the
mount of God to form the Jewish Church into a
theocratic nation.
7 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
A similar impulse was afterwards felt by their
descendants in captivity in Persia, when Ezra and
Nehemiah were awakened to such desires for the
restoration of their people and church to the land
of promise.
The wars of the Maccabees partook of the same
blended character of patriotism and piety. Those
were the glorious epochs of Jewish history.
At the opening of the sixteenth century the
Christian world felt the breath of the Lord afresh.
The Church, then conterminous with the Christian
states, had sunk to the lowest point of spiritual
life, had become a moral chaos, so far as a large
majority of its members were concerned. On the
face of those dark waters, as in the beginning, the
Spirit of God at length moved.
Luther's struggle began as a contest for doctrine
and for liberty of conscience. Its vital force was
in its resistance to the civil power in the pretended head of the Church, always employed to
suppress the truth. Incidentally, from this struggle
sprang the liberty that now distinguishes the Christian states of the world. This has been followed
by those less truly religious or spiritual movements
that severed the Church from the Civil Government
in the American colonies, in the Canton de Vaud,
and recently in Scotland. In the latter case, it
was a revived spirit of loyalty. Jealousy for King
Jesus and his rights, a horror of Erastianism, led to
one of the sublimest movements of the present century.
8 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
The second form of indirect Revivals consists of,
Those which are directed mainly to the Production
of Moral Changes; for these have often taken
place entirely distinct from revivals in the popular
sense. Yet they are, in reality, a part of the great
movement that is to give the kingdom to the
Lord's anointed.
Such were, in their incipient stages, many of the
agitations within the Latin Church, leading to
the reformation of those very monastic orders
which have themselves become the cess-pools of
the Church in its corruptest state. Again and
again, but to no ultimate good, true-hearted men
have entered their ranks and their cells with the
besom of reform in hand. Benedict and St. Bernard, and the eloquent Savonarola, formed moral
epochs in the history of their Church. The latter
entered the cathedral at Florence as the Master
entered the temple, with the scourge of a fiery
eloquence, trying to convert the den of thieves
into a house of prayer.
Our anti-slavery struggle was a revival of dormant moral principle, coming out in distinct, bold,
earnest, unwearied efforts to set the public conscience right on that great subject of oppression,
to giving our late war an eminently religious character. The temperance reformation partakes of
the same character, -principle contending with
passion and selfishness.
Another form of indirect Revivals is witnessed
in, -
9 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
The Efforts to construct, defend, and purify the
Church Doctrines.- In the apostolic period, the
Church believed the specific statements of the Canonical Scriptures, without attempting either a
systematic arrangement, or a philosophical defence
of them. But men of philosophic habits were converted; and heathen philosophers attacked the dogmas of the Church.   From  these  two sources
sprang the systems of didactic and polemic theology.
These processes were sometimes advanced in the
solitary retreat of the student; but, at other times,
they were attended with great public demonstrations and excitements within the Church-circle.
In many of the early councils, for instance, were
witnessed the most sincere struggles of the Church
to preserve her doctrines in strict accordance with
the word of God.
Our Protestant principles have compelled us to
resist the dictation of councils; and our dread of
patristic authority has set us in a defensive attitude toward their decisions.   But we can afford
now to take a more liberal view of them, as the
danger of being misunderstood is diminished. The
assembling and deliberations of the Council of Nice,
for instance, and its decisions, are really among
the sublimest features of ecclesiastical history;
whether we regard the doctrine they met to formulate, the emperor's relations to the council, the
men who composed it, the learning and piety ex
10 
O
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
hibited in the discussions, or the degree of success
which crowned their efforts to state with precision
what God has revealed respecting the relations of
the divine Son to the Father. Merivale thus remarks:  "In the dogmas there discussed lay the breath
of all spiritual life at the period. This one question
especially, then elaborately defined, was one of life
and death for the scheme of theology then established, and ever since maintained in pre-eminence,
in the Church of Christ." "The Creed of Nicaea
threw boldly into the world this first fundamental
conception of true divinity; and deep was the satisfaction with which it was received by the vexed,
the wavering, the terrified schools of disenchanted
heathenism."
The Reformation partook largely of this element.
The struggles of Puritanism were also eminently
doctrinal conflicts. The contest in Ireland and
in Holland, the Pietistic movement in Germany,
the conflict in Massachusetts at the beginning of
this century, and recent movements in France partake of this character of doctrinal revival; where
men contended with unwonted earnestness and
definiteness, and over a large district, for "the faith
once delivered to the saints."
2. - The Direct or Spiritual Revival.
We now proceed to consider the direct or
spiritual Revival. This may exist in one of various
forms. We distinguish first,
II 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
The Silent Growth or Quickening of Personal
Piety. -This is truly a Revival. It has existed
probably in every one of the thousands of years
since man departed from his God at first. Of a few
of these cases we have records; but of millions of
others we shall know nothing here, whatever the
future life may reveal.
Perhaps there are but few of God's children
whose lives have not been marked either by declensions and revivings, or by distinct stages of
progress, gradually rising from certain startingpoints to higher and higher planes of living.
If Dr. Thomas Scott and Dr. Chalmers were
truly regenerated men in the beginning of their
ministries, the great changes which took place in
their experiences afterward were striking instances
of solitary personal revival.
The next form we notice is,  The Quickening of a Community of Believers,
not resulting prominently in the conversion of men.
The first of which we hear was in the case of Jacob;
when, after an interval of forgetfulness and lukewarmness, he was called to take up his whole
family to Bethel. Solemn and transforming must
have been the season with the patriarch and his
household, when they put away their idols, and
renewed their vows in the place so sacred to their
fathers.
In the twentieth year of Samuel's rule over the
tribes, in the reigns of Josiah, Hezekiah, and even
O
12 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
Ahab, there were manifested quickenings of the
religious spirit. In the Corinthian Church there
appears to have been a sad declension within five
years after Paul had founded it. This called for
the severe rebukes of his first epistle to them. By
the time he had reached Philippi, he heard from
Timothy that the Church was penitent and revived.
The letter had wrought its legitimate effect, as it
led them to institute discipline, correct their
wrong practices, and cherish a purer spirit of
piety.
Another form, not always but generally spiritual in its results, is the revival of a generous
spirit, the overthrow of that love of property which
is deeply rooted in man. We may call it, then, in
a limited sense, the Revival of,  Benevolence. - It is indeed but a Revival of personal piety; but it assumes such outward forms,
and produces such distinct outward results, as to
call for a separate consideration.
The love of money, though among the strongest
human passions, yields to the controlling power
of a true faith; and, when that is quickened, we
look for its effects in leading to a generous abandonment of the joy of possession and a restriction
of self-indulgence, or a devotion of property in
various ways, to promote the public welfare, and
relieve the personal wants of the poor.
Let us now proceed to consider one other aspect
o f    Revivals:
2
I3 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Conversions, accompanying Efforts and Prayers
for Conversions. - Many think the word "Revival"
would be etymologically out of place here, were it
applied only to many conversions occurring simultaneously, or in rapid succession. But, in fact, that
phenomenon alone is literally a Revival, because that
probably never takes place apart from the revived
tone of piety in a few or in many believers. Probably a case seldom if ever occurs of quickened
love to the Saviour, which does not produce the
feelings these words express: "Oh that others,
whether backsliders or impenitent sinners, would
come and obtain what I have now received!"  It
is a genuine, noble, unselfish, Christ-like feeling,
probably permitted to die in many cases; in the
remainder, too widely, if not almost universally, to
slumber. When, however, it is quickened, there
surely is a Revival, manifested in increased fervor,
definiteness, and simplicity of prayer to God, and
earnestness of warning and persuasion toward the
unbelieving.
Then, also, probably, the larger portion of those
who are converted at such periods have been
awakened before, to some extent, to contemplate
and to feel the same truths to which their hearts
now fully yield. -Thus there is here a requickening.
We define a Revival, then, a quickened state of
religious feeling, manifesting itself in some social
form. The Scriptures employ these descriptions:
14 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
"Then began men to call upon the name of the
Lord;"* and "they that feared the Lord spake
often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and
heard." t  "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then
was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue
with singing: then said they among the heathen,
The Lord hath done great things for them. The
Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we
are glad." t "Thou shalt arise, and have mercy
upon Zion; for the time to favor her, yea, the
set time, is come; for thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof." ~
"Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and
gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time
of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of
the turtle is heard in our land." 11
And in Isaiah you may find some glowing descriptions indicative particularly of the holy joy of
these seasons.
It was a Revival, when men cried out under the
first gospel-sermon they ever heard, hundreds at
once, "What must we do?"
Latent loyalty under such conditions becomes
active and diffused, like the ointment from the
broken alabaster-box, filling the atmosphere of earth
with the fragrancy of heaven.
t Mal. iii. 16.
~  Ps. cii. 13, 14.
U Song of Sol. ii. I" 12.
i5
* Gen. iv. 26.
J PS. cxxvi. 1-3. 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
We are now prepared to pass from this description of direct Revivals to,  II.  A Discriminative Examination of them; or,
to draw the line between a Revival and the ordinary
spiritual condition of a church; and, also, the
spurious imitations of Revivals. We distinguish,
then, between, -
I. -A Revival and the Ordinary Spiritual Condi    tion of the Church and Society around it.
Probably no eye ever discerns the hour or day in
which winter gives way to spring. The two seasons have many features in common. Both have
trees and brooks. Yet we easily find other features
that difference the one from the other. So a Revival, very distinct in some features, cannot always
be assigned an exact date of commencement.
Although a tree is a tree, and grass is grass, and
water flows equally in winter and summer; yet a
leafless tree, a garden without a blossom, a river
bound in icy chains, are very different, as objects of
vision, from a tree in full foliage, a garden gay
with flowers, a river floating the full freighted barge
of commerce.
Our first contrast, then, is with
A condition of general ungodliness, of abounding
scepticism and wickedness in society, of coldness and
formality in the Church.
A godly traveller may enter a village, and be
painfully impressed with the moral features which
I6 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
meet the eye of even a stranger. He mingles with
the members of the church. Nothing in their life,
conversation, or spirit, distinguishes them as a
spiritual, regenerated, heaven-born, heaven-seeking
people. He finds discipline abandoned, the religious meetings oppressively dull, unmeaning, and
unedifying. Neither in them nor out of them is
manifested that peculiar mutual love which the
Saviour so earnestly enjoined. The conversation
of religious people is all earthly, betraying an entire absence of daily communion with their Saviour,
a lack of interest in his kingdom and in the salvation of men. In the social circles, in the families,
in the religious assemblies, everywhere, he witnesses
the marks of winter in that portion of the King's
garden.
The very preaching has lost all life but that
which is intellectual. It may be elegant, rigidly
correct, epigrammatic, learned, profound, but not
spiritually quickening, powerless in those effects
which distinguish the results of God's word. However adapted to produce intellectual gratification,
it is not "profitable for reproof, for correction," for
convincing of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Now, let that stranger return to the same village
after "the south wind" has quickened it. He needs
no definitions or explanations to show him what a
Revival is, or to prove its existence there. The
change is patent, cheering. The dead have arisen
to life. Every tongue is now employed in express
I7
2* 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ing it. Every countenance beams with it. The
praying and the preaching and the exhortation, all
give evidence of the descent of power from on high.
Boanerges has taken possession of the pulpit. No
more dull homilies, no more dilettante niceties:
strength, fire, tenderness, pathos, power, are there.
It is the son of thunder echoing the law from
Sinai; Jeremiah weeping over a degenerate church;
John opening the apocalyptic seals; Paul warning
every man with tears; an ambassador from the
skies, bearing on his person the badges of his commission, praying men in Christ's stead, as though
the eternal God were beseeching them to become
reconciled to himself.
The stranger now recognizes a change in the
entire moral atmosphere of the place. Abounding
frivolousness has given way to thoughtfulness and
earnestness. Men seem to have awaked to a discovery of the more serious features of life, to a
sense of responsibility to God, to a consciousness
of personal interest in matters of supreme moment,
heretofore neglected and unobserved. If he goes
far enough and deep enough in his examination, he
will observe that great moral transformations are
going forward in the community. Scepticism is
yielding to faith: licentiousness and fraud, profaneness and drunkenness, are forsaken.
Here is, then, a sufficiently clear line of demarcation between a Revival and a low condition of moral
feeling in a community. And frequently it is this
I8 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
very depression of moral sentiment which the Spirit
of all grace employs to awaken the conscience, and
quicken the soul to new aspirations. One has
remarked, "It is when sophistry has full sway that
the irony and extraordinary good sense of a Socrates show themselves. It is when Pelagianism
has reached its extreme consequences, when men
have come to traffic in eternal life, that that reaction of the religious conscience which we call the
Reformation takes place. It is when a prisoner in
the Castle of If, that Mirabeau writes his essay on
Despotism." *
There is, then, another contrast,- that between
Revivals and the ordinary healthful condition of the
Church.
The difference is seen principally in a manifestation of the demonstrative character of piety, of its
social elements, and of its moral power in the
world. There is such a condition of the Church
as may be characterized by regular, imperceptible
growth. This is eminently desirable; but it is not
a Revival; for that is always marked by three features, - a more or less sudden advance in the degree
of religious feeling and power of religious principle
in a people; this advance assuming positive expression; and producing more or less effect on the
subsequent action of the Church, and even beyond
its limits.
In ordinary conditions of the Church, its mem
* Theol. Eclect. iv. 129.
x9 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
bers generally may be "growing in grace and in the
knowledge of Christ," "walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless," like Zacharias, and yet, like him, dumb. No
one ever hears from their lips a word of penitential sorrow for sin, of love to Christ, of zeal for
men's salvation,- dumb in the family, dumb on
the exchange, dumb in the prayer-meeting, dumb
everywhere on this chief of interests, these sublimest of truths. But a Revival looses the cord of
Zacharias's tongue, and he speaks to men about
Christ, and pleads with Christ for men. It has
now become easy, natural, to speak of the things of
the heavenly kingdom. Even the ungodly expect
to hear it, and to join in religious conversation.
Children, as of old, are heard shouting hosannahs,
with the Lord's approbation.
Then piety strongly manifests its social character. Believers are not content to go to heaven
alone.   They  become  as  solicitous  about  the
eternal welfare of their neighbors as they ever
were for their own.   Parents  are looking  earnestly at the prospects of their children for time
and eternity. Then God's people "return, and
discern between him that serveth God, and him
that serveth him not." Then the scene which
Malachi describes is made a visible reality: "They
that feared the Lord spake often one to another.
I will send you Elijah the prophet, and he shall
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children." *
* Mal. iv. 5, 6.
20 
DESCRIPTION OF REVIVALS.
Then are fulfilled, in the experience of many,
the beautiful predictions of Isaiah: "In that day
thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though
thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned
away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is
my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for
the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he
also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy
shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Cry out, and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great
is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." *
A peculiar sense of the divine presence, a clear
discovery of the reality of salvation, a consciousness of personal communion with Christ, a scattering of those gloomy doubts which too generally
overhang the horizon of believers, all these experiences cause just that state of feeling witnessed
in Samaria in their revival: "There was great joy
in that city."
The word has been fulfilled, "Fear not, 0 Jacob,
my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen; for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,
and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my
Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine
offspring. And they shall spring up as among the
grass, as willows among the water-courses." t
It is, in fact, a dawning of that eternal day, in
which the tabernacle of God is to be with men,
a day in which sin's dominion shall have been completely overthrown.
+ Isa. xliv. I-4.
21
*Isa. xii. 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
It is a period of heavenly, Christ-like, benevolence. The awakened believer cannot rest while
his neighbor, his child, his friend, is a branch separate from the True Vine, only withering and drying
for the final burning. Thus the revival is distinguished by intense sympathy for the unconverted.
And it is equally distinguished by new exhibitions of the moral power of Christianity,-its relations to society as its mightiest moral force;
illustrating and confirming that parable in which
the Saviour compares the kingdom of heaven to
leaven, fermenting and fomenting, agitating, penetrating, transforming,- a hidden power working
the crude, innutritious paste into the pure, nutritious esculent.
This will appear abundantly when we reach
the more distinct, historical, aspect of our subject,
and observe some of those events, which, like
oases, have adorned the desert spaces of history.
Thus a Revival is distinguished from the healthful
but ordinary condition of the Church, - the winter,
in which even the tender grass is living, but in
which no flowers adorn and cheer the meadows,
nor is the sound of the turtle heard in the land.
2. - SPURIOUS REVIVALS.
Such a phenomenon as an irreligious excitement
in the public mind, even on religious themes, is
possible. Nay, the purest Revival will have much
in it foreign to its own spirit, because man's agency
22 
SPURIOUS REVIVALS.
is there, and its internal sphere of operations is the
heart of man. But, in many cases, they may be
called Revivals, because religious topics hold a
prominent place in them; spurious, because their
spirit and their influence are irreligious.
We inquire for their peculiar features and elements.
The various branches of the Gnostic system and
sect, which so harassed the Church in the early Christian centuries, may be cited as examples; such as
the Marcionites, the Patripassians, and the Priscillianists. Let us select the Montanists, whose pretensions were abhorrent to the reverential spirit of
true and enlightened piety, and yet who created
such a ferment in their day.
Their blasphemous claim was that Montanus,
their founder, was himself, or held the office of,
the Paraclete. The excitement was about a religious doctrine; but we must pronounce the entire
movement spurious, because the doctrine that
caused it was not the truth revealed in God's word.
We may also cite the case of Hildebrand, centuries later, who produced an intense excitement in
the Christian world. The personal motives which
he avowed, the means employed to enlist the people in his party, the general tone of the movement,
were not all, nor mainly, religious. He awakened
the religious zeal of his followers, indeed; but it
was by disguising under a religious garb that purely
political question, now settled forever, whether an
23 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Italian priest should be monarch of the globe, and
lord of the human conscience. It was, therefore,
a movement originating in ambition, and yet
shrewdly enlisting in its service the religious sentiment of Europe.
So Peter the Hermit aroused the religious feelings
of the world, to an intense degree, in favor of the
crusade.
Hans Bucheim aroused the Bohemian peasantry
by his fanatical addresses and pretended miracles,
and prepared them for that terrible commotion,
called the "Peasants' War," which has been denominated "the translation of spiritual liberty into the
political domain."
But neither of these religious excitements was,
by its own tendency, to any extent that is noticeable, an advancement of God's kingdom. They
seized on the party-spirit, and even the baser passions, of religious men, but awakened few or no
consciences to a clearer perception of the purity
God requires; brought few men, if any, to repentance towards God. They organized the crusades,
sending forth to battle multitudes, more wicked
than the Saracens, whom they slew in the name of
the Crucified; leading the zeal of men to rescue a
sepulchre from the infidel, while it fostered a superstition in the invaders as hostile to Christ as Islamism itself. Partisanship is not piety, even though
it inscribes the cross on its banner.
The Fifth-Monarchy men, the Jesuits, the Ana
24 
SPURIOUS REVIVALS.
baptists, the Mormons, have at times greatly
stirred the hearts of men. Judged, however, by a
true standard, in their origin, their objects, their
spirit, and results, if they were religious excitements, they were not Revivals of religion, not stages
of progress for the kingdom of heaven.
And yet while we must censure much in the excitements of the middle ages, while we utterly discard
many of the institutions then organized, there is
here, as in judging personal character, a large space
for charity. Although many a hermit's cave was
selected, and many a monastery founded, equally in
ignorance of human nature and of divine requirements, yet these sprang up from sincere desires to
escape the corruption and confusion of the human
passions, then boiling and heaving like the stormtossed ocean.
The Italian founder of the Benedictine order, for
instance, seems to have been actuated by the purest
motives in organizing his powerful society. Combining in himself profound genius, vast erudition,
and a spirit of earnest meditation, he undertook to
construct an ark within the ark of the Church,
whence the three mortal sins, indolence, self-will,
and selfishness, might be excluded, and industry,
obedience, and a community of property, secure
their extirpation from the heart.
But, however good his motives, his order became
the enemy of the spiritual light afterward to dawn
upon the world; while the service it rendered to
letters cannot be too much commended.
25 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Brother Martin was a monk living in the darkest
period. He wrote out a confession worthy of the
days of Luther; and, placing it in a box, he buried
it in the walls of his cell, where it was found many
years afterward.  On it was inscribed, "Although
I cannot confess these things with my tongue, yet
I confess them with my heart, and in writing."
There has been many a monk like Tauler, who
walked with God. We cannot, it is true, recognize
a large portion of the Mystics of Germany and
France - the Brothers and Sisters of the Free
Spirit, les Trembleurs de Cevennes or the French
Prophets, the Beghards - as other than fanatics.
And yet they lived in a day, the tone and manners
of which we are unable to imagine, -an age of
intense excitements, which would have disturbed
the balance of many a spirit regarded among us
as moderate and prudent.
We must recognize our own incompetency
always to draw the true line of division. There
are many religious excitements which begin in the
Spirit, but end in the flesh; starting from an impulse of the Holy Spirit, and coming, at length,
under the control of him whose employment and
enjoyment is found in marring all that is good.
In fact, this constitutes true wisdom in every
department of life, -to avoid undiscriminating
judgments. Judge doctrines, principles, systems,
candidly but firmly. Judge men and parties with
great deliberateness and charity. Make a wide
26 
SPURIOUS REVIVALS.
difference between withholding your influence
from a party, person, or measure, and opposing or
unqualifiedly censuring them. Many a man is
better than his theories or his party, as many a
man  is worse than either.   We  should, for instance, hesitate to form an unqualified judgment
concerning the doctrines and life of George Fox
and Robert Barclay.   Fanaticism  and  delusion
are very manifest in these men, but also much
that is good. And so it may be unwise in us
to condemn, without qualification, the Fifth-Monarchy men, the earlier Beghards, and the Lollards.
There is much that is unsound in the party
calling themselves "Brethren of the Life in
Common."   Yet it was that party who founded
the institutions called Houses, partly literary,
partly missionary, in which so many German youth
received a truly Christian education, and where so
many copies of the Scripture were written out; in
which originated the biblical instruction of Germany, her great march in theology and classical
learning; and that furnished the instructor of
Staupitz and Luther. We admire much in Finelon and Madame Guyon, yet cannot commend
them unqualifiedly, nor the type of piety they
represent.
27 
SECOND LECTURE.
SPURIOUS REVIVALS (continued).
A FEW remarks may be added in reference to
spurious revivals. A profound observer of men
and Providence has suggested this explanation of
many erratic social movements. When the plans
of Providence are approaching their maturity, and
some new truth is about to enter the current of
human thought, there are found persons of peculiar temperament, who are among the first to feel
the approaching change, and seize the idea, in its
fragmentary form of manifestation, and who pluck
the unripe fruit, and poison themselves and others
with its crude juices. Elated with their discovery,
they attack the established order and convictions
rudely and unwisely, and present the coming truth
in caricature.
I so regard the spiritism of our day and the socialism. The former distorts the great fact, that we
ought in reality to be more conversant with spirit
than with matter: the latter caricatures the
grand principle of political democracy, which, to
be healthful and harmonious, must be founded on
28 
SPURIOUS REVIVALS.
the theocracy of the New Testament and the
brotherly-love of the Christian fraternity.
Conservative men here make their chief mistakes;
not discriminating the wheat from the chaff, - the
grand truth that is to shape the future, from its
rude envelope. It was a noble declaration, verified
in the life of its author (F. W. Robertson): "I
am no more afraid of a truth because Pantheism
has it, than I am of another because revolution has
caricatured it into deviltry."
The history of Islamnism may be selected as
another illustration of a work commencing in a
true reforming spirit, and ending in fraud and
violence. Carlyle fails to make the true distinction and inference, when he attributes its endurance to its truthfulness.* Islamism and Popery
endure, just as Paganism endures, because they all
have elements of religion in them; thus meeting
the religious sentiment of the human heart, while,
at the same time, the forms of religion they present are suited to the permanent perverted dispositions of that heart.
Mohammed's protest against the polytheism and
idolatry of his day, even as seen in the Church,
appears to have been the fruit of a genuine religious impulse. It soon fell, however, under the
control of the baser passions, and became a blasphemous, marauding, lying, murderous despotism
and fanaticism.
* Heroes: Mohammed.
3*
29 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Puseyism has something to say for itself. With
socialism and spiritism, it protests against either
the formalism, the exclusiveness, or the materialism of the age.   But they are not Revivals of
pure religion, because their intellectual origin was
not the word of God; nor are their results the
fruits of the Spirit of the Lord.
While we may admire the earnestness of soul,
the tenacity of purpose, the martyr-spirit, displayed
by many of the leaders and proselytes, we must
regard with disapprobation the various erroneous
notions, the antagonism to the Lord of glory,
which have characterized these several movements.
I hesitate, indeed, in forming a judgment concerning that great impulse which actuated the Tractarian party in the Anglican Church. Revering,
as we must, the purity of spirit in its first and
second leaders, Keble and Newman, we cannot
forget that the first of these was a morbid worshipper of the past, as if it had any more real value
than the present; that the second finally plunged
into the whirlpool of the most corrupt and corrupting form of heresy, the vileness of which he seems
not yet to have discovered; and that so fair a mind
as that of Thomas Arnold charged the whole fraternity with the unfairness of Jesuits.
And while rot disposed to submit our judgment
to the opinions of the brilliant Frederick W. Robertson, yet it should have some weight with us, that
3o 
SPURIOUS REVIVALS.
he, when at Oxford, knowing the leaders, watching
the movement, and himself drawn to the outer
circle of its vortex, thus writes, "I have, in a measure, waked out of a long trance, partly caused by
the paralyzing effects of this Oxford delusion-heresy.
And, to know it, a man must live here, and he will
see the promising and ardent men sinking, one
after another, in a deadly torpor, wrapped up in
self-contemplation, dead to their Redeemer, and
useless to his Church, under the baneful breath of
this accursed upas-tree; accursed, because, I believe,
the curse of God will fall upon it. He has denounced the Papal heresy; and he is no respecter
of persons to punish the name, and not the reality.
I despond when I see the rapidly developed working of the Tractarian views, which are an indirect
denial of the foundation. How strange that'yoke
of bondage,' against which Paul warned the Galatians, steals around our necks, even when we think
we are most entirely free from any idea of selfjustification. As a system, it will not produce even
as noble an animal as the dog."
Yet fairness requires me to produce another witness.  "The North British Review," Presbyterian
as it is, thus speaks: "Keble and his party have
introduced into the English Church a higher order
of character, and taught it, we might almost say,
new virtues. They have diffused widely through
the clergy the contagion of their own zeal and
resoluteness, their self-devotion and Christian
31 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
chivalry." This concession is, then, qualified; still
it is made.
Our King has informed us, that sometimes on his
farm, although the soil is good, and well-prepared,
although his servants have sowed only good seed,
nevertheless, while they are sleeping, seasonably
or unseasonably, the enemy, even Satan, scatters
tares over the field.
The Holy Spirit's work may be marred. Unwonted religious aspirations may be awakened in
many hearts simultaneously. This is the element
of life and power in many a movement that becomes
finally irreligious. The perverse and perverting
spirit turns the holy impulse into a wicked channel.
Hence come those strange mixtures of lofty sentiment, with fanaticism and hatred of the gospel,
deceit, cruelty, and pride.
~ II. - DEFENSIVE VIEW OF REVIVALS.
Revivals have always been unwelcome to certain
classes, and some of these including truly godly
men, whose complaints are various. And, were we
investigating merely to reach conclusions for ourselves, the whole inquiry would turn on these
points, Is the Christian religion from earth, or
from heaven? Does God bestow its blessing on
this form, or not?
But we are dealing with other minds. And
while our defence will really turn on these two
points, and be a defence either of some essential
32 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
features of Christianity, or of this manifestation of
it, we shall not confine ourselves to any abstract
view of the subject, but take up the concrete popular objections as we find them.
And this is our division of the topic, -popular
objections; theological objections; philosophical objections; some of them referring to the very essence
of religion, some to the essential elements of Revivals, some to their incidents, some to imaginary
evils. We begin with
I.-THE POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
It is said,
I. "Revivals are Seasons of Unhealthful and
Disorganizing Excitement." -I remember the time
when the opposition to Revivals on the part of religious and irreligious men was even fierce. That
state of things has almost ceased. It will not be
surprising, however, if this intense hostility shall
be renewed, when the power of the Spirit shall
come to be felt in new forms, and breaking over
certain barriers thus far effectual against him; for
"he who now letteth will let, until" these barriers
"be taken out of the way." *
I wish, then, to suggest to you to be tolerant of
the opposition of good men to Revivals.  If they
have ever seen one, it may have been so full of
human imperfections, that their opposition is, at
least, greatly palliated. Then, again, it has been
* 2 Thess. ii. 
33
I, 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
well said, that even conservatism has its place and
its uses: it is the "brake" to the railroad car,
retarding its progress indeed, but making it only
the more safely reach its destination.
In our day, we have passed through painful con troversies about Revivals. Possibly you may have
to take an antagonistic posture in regard to them
before you shall have finished your ministry.
Be firm, then, but forbearing. A man may be
honest in opposing a good thing; though the probabilities are against his being honest.
Where Revivals begin to shake old religious
notions, institutions, and customs, where the pressure from Heaven begins to show a divine energy,
you may expect opposition from good men as well
as bad men.
Froude has well said, "Periods of religious transition, when the advance has been a real one,
always have been violent. They to whom the
precious gift of fresh light has been given are
called upon to exhibit their credentials as teachers
in suffering for it. They, and those who oppose
them, have alike a sacred cause; and the fearful
spectacle arises, of earnest, vehement men contending against each other, as for their own souls,
in fiery struggle."
Now, we inquire whether this objection refers to
the exercise of the affections, or to the degree of
their enlistment in these seasons. If to the
former, we make open issue with the objector, main
34 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
taining that religion has its seat alike in each
department of the human soul,- the understanding, the will, and the sensibilities; that it awakens
and sustains desire, joy, hope, fear, love, repentance, sympathy, gratitude, humility. That must be
a dead piety which leaves these affections unmoved.
Again is the objection to the degree of excitement? Then we inquire for the standard we are
to employ.   If it is any other than the word of
God, then we have no reply; for we obtain our
religion from that source. But, if that is the standard, then we refer to the various exhibitions of
religious feelings there recorded, -- some as produced by divine interposition directly, some by
inspired apostles and prophets.
When God revealed himself on Sinai, "all the people that was in the camp trembled;" * and their exclamation was, "Let not God speak with us, lest we
die." t And so terrible was the sight, that Moses
said, "I exceedingly fear and quake." t The devils,
too, believe and tremble. Are we so much wiser
than Moses, or stouter than the devils, that a sight
of the Holy One could not make us tremble too?
Jehovah makes the appeal, whether his word is
not like the fire and hammer. And it is said to be
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the
inmost soul. So that, when Peter preached, the
people were cut to the quick, and cried out
in the assembly, "What shall we do?" ~ Jesus
* Ex. xix. I6. t Ex. xx. 19. t Heb. xii. 2I. ~ Acts ii. 37.
35 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
only looked on Peter, and that look caused him to
go out and weep bitterly.
There was a Revival in Ezra's day; and, whatever
we may say about Jewish methods of expressing
feeling, we must admit that their feelings were
human, if the demonstrations of them were Jewish. He says, when he heard of the people's conduct at that time, "I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my
beard, and sat down astonished." * And, when he
closed his prayer of confession, the people, not as
Jews, but as men, "wept very sore."
When God revealed himself to Job, the patriarch exclaimed, "I abhor myself, and repent in
dust and ashes." t
The Psalms reveal to us the relations of piety to
man's emotional faculties.  "My  heart panteth:
my strength faileth me. I am troubled: I am
bowed down greatly. The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit." "Blessed are they that mourn,
that hunger after righteousness." "My soul thirsteth after God. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may
rejoice. My lips shall rejoice when I sing unto
thee. Serve the Lord with gladness. I will be
glad in the Lord. When the Lord turned again
the captivity of Zion, then was our mouth filled
with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Let
the saints be joyful in glory."
* Ezra ix. 3.
36
t Job xlii. 6. 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
These are but specimen quotations; and they
certainly should serve to settle the question for any
person who looks to the Scriptures for his views of
religion.
Some persons are particularly scandalized by
the excitement of fear and terror. But surely the
blame, if merited, belongs to the Bible itself and
its Author, to Christ and his doctrines. If any one
can deny that the Lord Jesus aims to alarm men,
we have no encouragement to reason with that
person, or to answer his objections. Woe unto thee,
Capernaum, "thou shalt be thrust down to hell." *
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." t
What state of mind were such words designed to
produce? What emotions do they stir, if not those
of fear and terror?
If, then, the question is about degrees of alarm,
reasoning cannot aid us greatly, as neither the objector nor we can claim to have an absolute standard.
If the complaint is, that these extraordinary
seasons make the ordinary religious services seem
flat and insipid, I reply by a reference to the whole
analogy of Nature. The joy of the harvest is
in strong contrast with sowing in tears. But
would there not be more tears, and less sowing, if
the excitement of the harvest were not in the programme? God has not made any portion of human life a dead level. He inclined the earth's axis
to its line of motion around the sun, that there
*  Luke  x. I5.                 t  Luke  xiii. 3.
4
37 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
might be seed-time and harvest, short rainy days,
and long days of sunshine.
Recall the testimony of the most acute, candid,
spiritual minds to the effect of Revivals. President
Edwards, speaking of the high excitement they
occasion, describes quite fully its character.
The mere perusal of his statement seems like
breathing the atmosphere of heaven. There is in
it no trace of animal passion, of nervous delirium,
of an unhealthful disturbance of the bodily or the
mental functions. The excitement-he manifests is
the direct, designed, legitimate result of the action
of the word and Spirit of God, and leads to the possession of heavenly, Christlike dispositions. He
calls it a being swallowed up with light and love, a
sweet solace, rest and joy of soul altogether unspeakable, continuing long in a clear and lively sense or
view of the infinite beauty and amiableness of
Christ's person, and the heavenly sweetness of his
excellent and transcendent love; so that the soul
remained in a kind of heavenly elysium." Thus
that grave, cautious writer continues through fourteen pages, in a strain, it must be seen, quite uncommon in our branch of the Church now, perhaps,
however, none the less desirable.
In "The Post Boy" of June 23, I740, appeared
the following: "Field-preaching prevails with the
vulgar here, so much that industry, honest labor,
and care for their families, with many, seems to be
held as sinful, and as a mark of neglect for the sal
38 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
vation of their souls. Mr. Whitefield and his adherent ministers have filled the multitude with the
doctrines of regeneration, free grace, conversion,
etc., after their peculiar way of thinking, as essential articles of salvation, though inconsistent with
true religion, natural or revealed, subversive of all
order and decency, and repugnant to common-sense.
We have daily instances of the melancholy fruits
of these sermons. Many naturally timorous, and of
weak minds, are terrified into despair with their denouncing, and their threatening eternal vengeance."
With those who accept the Scripture as the
word of God, such opposition has no force. Not
that we would venture the assertion that genuine
believers have not fallen into the snares of Satan in
this matter. Familiarity with the Bible would show
all such that the Lord Jesus expects great personal
struggles to take place, and terrible social conflicts
and commotions;  but they have determined that
the progress of godliness shall be quiet, and not
agitating, smooth and noiseless, never racking society to its depths.
But they find nothing of the kind in God's word,
prophetic, or historical, or doctrinal. The stone
that comes supernaturally from the mountain to
crush the fortresses which Satan has made, must
be a very disturbing element; for it is as an
avalanche rolling down upon kingdoms and institutions, grinding them to powder, scattering
them to the four winds of heaven, that it may fill
39 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the earth.* Then notice the military imagery of
the Bible. And has not the history of Christianity
been a history of struggles with unbelief and superstition?  "I saw heaven opened, and, behold, a
white horse; and he that sat upon him, in righteousness doth judge and make war." t
"I came not to send peace, but a sword.":t Is
not this a war-proclamation from the King?
. This notion, then, never was derived from the
Scripture, that the advance of Christ's kingdom
shall be smooth and peaceful. On the contrary, up
to the consummation, we learn from the very first
prophetic utterance, the promise given in Eden,
which is the key of history which lifts the veil
from the entire future, that good is to be in perpetual conflict with evil, through time; that Christ is
not to employ mere omnipotence in the struggle;
nay, his heel, though it ultimately crushes the serpent's head, must first itself be wounded.   The
promise to Abraham assumes, that, through his great
offspring, the final redemption is to come. But the
cross and the sepulchre lie between the giving of
that promise and its fulfilment, for the head and
the members equally. It is not a quiet, unobtrusive, conservative, ceremonial piety, but an agitating, aggressive, revolutionary religion, our Lord has
bequeathed to us, - one that draws on itself hatred
and persecution.
The enemy will continue to sow tares in the
* Dan. ii. 44, 45.  f Rev. xix. II.  t Matt. x. 34.
4o 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
Lord's wheat-field: good and bad fish will enter his
net. The ark may sometimes be carried from
Shiloh to Dagon's temple.
The bruising of the Redeemer's heel refers to
seasons of depression, and to Satan's temporary
triumphs. The entire book of the Apocalypse sets
forth that feature of the kingdom. The beast must
have his brief period of ascendency.
When the fiery flood burst under the dynasties
of Europe, in I848, a clergyman of England thus
uttered his feelings: "The world has become a new
one since we met. To my mind, it is a world full
of hope, even to bursting. Some outlines of a
kingdom of Christ begin to glimmer, albeit very
faintly. Nevertheless, a few strokes of the rough
sketch by a master hand are worth the seeing.
And these bold, free, dashing marks are made too
plainly to be ever done out again, - made in blood,
as they always are, and made somewhat rudely;
bJut the master hand is visible through the great
red splotches on the canvas of the universe."
If man had formed the plan of history, he would,
probably, have secured an altogether very clock-work
arrangement, a regular steady advance from beginning to end; no agitations, no civil wars nor any
wars, no revivals nor reformations, no declensions
of persons, communities, or epochs.  So, probably,
he would have built up this globe without an epoch
of chaos, of fire and flood, with none of those tremendous upheavings which have actually occurred.
4*
41 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
But so it has not pleased the Creator to build
this globe, nor to ad- ance his kingdom upon it. Let
us, then, all cease searching in the past, or waiting
in the future, for a faultless Revival. How can we
have a perfect work, when the material, tools, and
workmen are all very imperfect?
But this objection reaches still further. It founds
itself on the principle that "the concentration of
the mind on any subject is physically unhealthful,
morally injurious, and every way incompatible with
the claims of life and society. And this is eminently true of religious excitements."
Now, if this position accord with facts, then an
immense reform in society will be necessary; for
you will observe that religion, in this respect, is but
a sharer in the common evil of human existence.
The evil, if such it be, affects equally every department of life. The objection is to concentrated
attention as in itself an absolute evil. But what is
to become of scholarship and mental discipline,
commerce, the fine arts, the useful arts, philosophy,
science, political interests, education, if men are to
cease concentrating thought and feeling on specific
objects?   " Torus in illis" is the Pagan maxim.
"Be a whole man to one thing at a time," is Lord
Brougham's maxim.   "'Ev rovot; t' " is apostolic.
But if we should grant that health suffers, and
some interests of life are neglected, has not the
good sense of the world determined that one good
object may wisely be sacrificed for another and a
42 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
better? No one objects to the seaman, or soldier,
or congressman leaving his family, not to attend
two religious services daily for a month, but to spend
a month, six months, a year, away. Wise men and
women generally concentrate much time, thought,
and feeling on arranging for a life-companionship.
Now, to this entire class of affirmations, we present a positive denial. That some persons attend
a religious service when prudence would have prevented such attendance, is certainly true; some
persons also eat when prudence demands abstinence, but it is not a sound inference that therefore no one should eat.
The real questions here to be met are two. The
one is, Will mankind be more benefited, or injured,
by Revivals of religion, time and eternity being
taken into the calculation? So far as the decision
leaves out of view all the supernatural and eternal
relations of Revivals, we have no dispute. Our
discussion here is with those who agree with us on
these points; and to them we are fully prepared
to show that there is no room for question, - that
any evils incidental to genuine Revivals are but
spots on the sun's disk.
The other question is, How may we diminish
these evils? I would reply in one sentence, Go
straight forward. There is no repetition, in our
day, of the scenes of I740 and I8oo; and the reasons for this are very obviously to be found in the
instructions and cautions of wise men, in such
43 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
writings as Edwards's discriminating discussion,
and a very increased study of God's holy word.
There is occasion for every candid person to
make this discrimination. While we admit that
many evils.and abuses accompany Revivals, we
maintain that they are incidental to them, and for
the most part, and increasingly, separable from
them.
One, however, we admit to be inherent and inseparable.  It is,  2. The very Necessity for Revivals. - It has been
said frequently, "We ought not to need them. If
the Church were faithful, she would never have
occasion for them." But if she never has been so
faithful, and should not be so in our day, what
then? Let us try this objection by applying it to
the art of healing.   Men ought not  to become
sick, or to be wounded. Suppose that were true.
And yet they do become sick: is that an objection
to the medical art? Shall we, therefore, discard the
practice and the practitioners? Why not go further still with this, and say, Man ought never to
have become a sinner: therefore we object to redemption and the gospel? But if you accept our
definition of Revivals, as embracing the indirect
as well as the direct, you have an answer to this
objection. Doctrinal Revivals must be periodical.
Look at all the history of intellectual progress. It
is irregular,- progress now, now a rest; declension,
then revival. A mere doctrine of human reason,
44 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
like the right of property or wages, comes into
popular belief spasmodically; much more the doctrines of the divine reason supernaturally communicated to one or a few persons. How much
more, then, may we expect the emotional and the
voluntary powers to act spasmodically, if the intellect follows that law!
And again, besides the excessive feeling, it is
alleged,  3. That Various Extravagances are connected with
them. -We need but glance at these; for from
various causes, some quite obvious, they are ceasing
to exist.  "The neglect of common duties" has
been charged upon Revivals. This is vague, and
scarcely deserves a reply in this general form. The
reply must be to specific cases alleged. And then
we should examine two points in each case: does the
objector waste no time, and neglect no duty? ar
has the duty neglected a superior claim to the duty
discharged by attending these religious services?
You may see this objection well answered ini
President Edwards's "Thoughts," part iii. ~ 3.
Another objection was brought, in his day,
against "too much singing, bringing children together, too much earnestness in warning men, and
the excessive excitement of fear, vociferous preaching, and relating experiences." All of these, except
the last, he has well answered; and they have so far
passed away, that we need not further notice them.
As to telling experiences, I regard President Ed
45 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
wards to have failed in the exercise of his admirable
power of discrimination, in his letter to Gillespie of
Carnock, in I751. It is a point of much interest,
but is too far incidental to occupy our attention at
this stage of our study of Revivals. There is a
right way and a wrong way of doing what the
Psalmist engages to do: "Come and hear, all ye
that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done
for my soul." *
There has been, also, a wrong method of inspiring
hopes of personal salvation in individuals. This is
a serious and delicate task.  Counsel, warning,
instruction, invitation, promise, we can repeat to
every human being as such, because they belong
to all. But the case is altered when they are taken
from the generic form in which God has expressed
them, and made specific.  It is one thing to say, "If
you repent, you shall be forgiven," which every one
has a right to say to every one: it is another thing
to say, "Thy sins are forgiven."  Only One  has
authority to make that declaration.
There have been extravagances of spirit in conducting Revivals. Among the most prominent on
record are those of the Rev. James Davenport, a
man of noble ancestry and true piety, but left of
God to fall into Satan's snare. He checked the
glorious revival of I740, and afterward repented
of his madness, but too late to prevent the mischief it accomplished. Charity says he was non
compos mentis.
* Ps. lxvi. x6.
46 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
The charge of "idolizing Revivals" has been
brought against their friends. Dr. Bushnell says,
"The difficulty is with us, that we idolize such and
such scenes, and make them the whole of our religion.  They are the harvest-times of conversion;
and conversion is too nearly every thing with us."
If, now, the writer had warned Christians against
that danger, and then warned them against another
danger, - that of idolizing his favorite notion of
"the proper culture of children" as a means of saving a lost world,- he would have met the necessities of the case more fully.
"Bodily exercises" have brought Revivals under
reproach. In I740, much of this was witnessed in
New England; in I859, in Ireland. We hear of
them in Pagan Rome, entirely apart from any
Christian influences; also in the churches of the
middle ages, as in Germany, Scotland, and France.
In I688, persons in Dauphinde, France, commenced, in sleeping and half-waking ecstasies, to
exhort others to repent, speaking fluently and
correctly, though in their ordinary state they
could use only a provincial patois. The number of
these prophets at length filled Dauphinde and Languedoc; and, when they began to fail, impure fictions, and even demoniacal prophecies, succeeded
in their place. In the great Methodist movement
in England, under the Wesleys, these disorders
were at times very prominent. Convulsions, epilepsy, leaping, spinning like a top, convulsive
47 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
lamentations, vociferations, and trances, were com mon occurrences. These nervous agitations varied
in their forms; but probably all may be ranked
under the same pathological laws.
In the South-western States of this country,
at the beginning of the present century, they were
known as "the jerks." Mr. Cartwright describes
them as seizing all classes of persons. Horsemen,
riding up to disperse a camp-meeting, were arrested, at the very boundaries of the worshipping
circle, by the strange affection, and were the more
convulsed the more they resisted the impulse. One
describes it as being a suspension of the functions
of the cerebrum, and a corresponding excitement
of the cerebellum. The phenomena of gaping may
perhaps illustrate, to some extent, the great power
of sympathy in nervous affections. Under certain
circumstances, no one can resist the infection.
If we state that they are not found among any
people possessing general intelligence, and a
knowledge of the Scriptures, and guided by judicious leaders, we have then proved that they
do not belong to Revivals essentially. Had good
Christian men understood what was well known in
Pagan Romne, this scandal might have been spared.
The Romans had a law requiring, if any one
should be seized with epilepsy during the assemblage of the Comitia, the assembly to be at once
dissolved. They had so much of this in their
meetings, that it received the name of morbus
comitialis.
48 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
I witnessed something of the kind in my early
ministerial life. Two cases occurred, which alarmed
me. One was that of a young lady, who swooned
under a powerful appeal by a clergyman who was
assisting me. The other was a gentleman, who, on
the morning of his conversion, became delirious
with joy. His excitement lasted until the sleep of
the next night restored his balance. On inquiry,
it appeared that the lady had been living on sugarcandy, until her natural appetite was destroyed,
and she could bear no excitement of any kind. In
the other case, the gentleman, an active merchant,
had nearly starved himself, under the impression
it would aid his religious meditations. Fuller investigation of the relation of the gospel to man's
sensibilities relieved me from any anxiety about
making intelligent People feel too much on the subject.*
* Among the papers in the editor's possession is one bearing upon these
statements. He inserts them, even at the risk of repetition, inasmuch as
they afford a more clear and extended narration of the facts.
Dr. Kirk says, "Early in the history of the Fourth Church, Albany, I was
startled by two occurrences which brought before me the inquiry,' Are you
not producing too much excitement?'  The first case was that of an intelligent young lady, who, while Dr. Parker of New York was preaching, fell to
the floor in a swoon. The other was the case of a man in middle life. He
had published something which impeached the character of two leading
members of our church. Discovering his mistake, unwilling to confess to
them, he sought to pacify his conscience by attending one of our special
services.  The arrow of the Almighty pierced him.  He retired from the
meeting, shut himself in his counting-room; and the first I heard of him
was that he was crazy.
"I had entered the ministry under the impression that the truths of the
Bible were designed to reach the human mind in each of its departments;
5
49 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
We now meet a peculiar case, in which the question, What is extravagant, imprudent, or improper?
divides the friends of Revivals. The Rev. Charles
G. Finney had become a distinguished agent in
promoting Revivals, at the time when the Rev. Mr.
Nettleton was the most prominent laborer in this
work in the Eastern and Middle States. The latter complained of- the former as fostering a spirit of
censoriousness, attempting to displace clergymen
who were not of his way of thinking, praying for
that the intellect must perceive the truths it proclaims, which truths are addressed directly to the emotional faculties; and that, through the reason
and the feelings, the will must be brought to a right decision. A God of
infinite majesty, power, holiness, justice, and mercy, is there presented; a
hell of interminable shame, anguish, and despair; a heaven of unending
joy and unsullied perfection; a cross of bleeding love; an enemy of angelic subtlety and fiendish malice; a gate, difficult of entrance, opening on
a narrow road to heaven; a gate, broad and enticing, popular and accommodating, opening on a road suited to every variety of tastes, but ending
in the second death. If men were to hear these truths, if the preacher,
while preaching, were himself to be looking at these realities, I could not conceive how it would be possible for him or his hearers to put their emotional
natures in a sack, and keep them out of the range of these overwhelming
realities.  I accordingly aimed to reach the emotions, and shall while I
live.
"But what shall I do with cases like these?  If women are to swoon,
and men turn lunatics, under our preaching, there must be something
wrong. Just then I met a book written by a clergyman in Vermont,
describing the influence of the imagination. I remember nothing of it, but
that it confirmed my belief that no man was ever made crazy merely by
believing that what God says is true, by being afrighted when Christ says,
'I tell you whom ye shall fear,' &c., nor by rejoicing when God says, I Rejoice always.'
"But I entered at once upon an examination of these cases.   I found
that the young lady had been indulging in the use of sugar-candy until
her appetite for solid food was entirely destroyed, and her nervous system
entirely unstrung. I concluded it was the candy, and not the gospel, that
5o 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
persons by name in public assemblies, irreverence,
and even  ranting in  prayer.   Of  the  last he
says, "That holy, humble, meek, modest, retiring
form, sometimes called'the spirit of prayer,' and
which may be regarded as the unfailing precursor
of a revival of Religion, has been dragged from her
closet, and so rudely handled by some of her professed friends, that she has not only lost all her
wonted loveliness, but is now, in some places, stalking the streets, stark mad."'
There was also much complaint of women praying in public, of the practice of making the coldness of professors a constant theme of reproach,
while the monstrous sins of spiritual pride and
uncharitableness were prominently manifested by
even the leaders themselves.
threw her to the floor. I found the man had brought his nervous system into a very abnormal condition by the use of tobacco. It is my present
impression that he went to his counting-room under a deep consciousness of
sin, and passed two days alone, eating nothing but a few crackers. On the
morning of the third day, he accepted Christ as his Saviour, and experienced a joy which his nervous system could not bear. But the judicious
care of a kind physician in one day restored the lost balance. I concluded,
in this case, it was the tobacco, and not the gospel, which unbalanced
him.
"RELIGIOUS MELANCHOLY. - Subsequent observation  has brought
me to two conclusions on this subject: that cases of mania attributed to religious causes should largely be interpreted as cause and effect in the inverse
direction; that the mind deranged, from whatever cause, naturally is affected
and occupied by subjects containing the elements of grandeur and awfulness; and that a deranged mind occupied with religious subjects is no
more a cause for man's neglecting religion than derangements from commercial excitement, or the social affections, are reasons for neglecting
commerce, or refusing to exercise the social affections."
5' 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
To correct these and kindred evils, a convention of prominent clergymen was held at Lebanon, N.Y., in which Drs. Beecher, Hawes, and
Beman took leading parts. But I do not know
that any thing was settled by it, or the views
of any person modified by its discussions and
decisions.
As I am now called upon to act the part of a
critic, historian, and teacher on this subject, however reluctantly, I must express my opinions on
even such eminent men and their measures.
They were both honest and earnest, but probably had not reached the full stature of humility
and meekness. Mr. Nettleton censured the "anxious-seat," as it was then called. So far as he
used the odium tlzeologicum, and censured it as "a
new measure," he was not quite fair; for I am informed that no Revivalist or Evangelist in our day
has so abounded in new measures, contrivances, and
management, as he. The expediency of the anxious-seat I will discuss hereafter. As a standing
measure, it seems to me very undesirable; but I
have seen times and circumstances in which it
appeared an instrument which the highest wisdom
would employ.
But, on some points, some of our contemporaries
appear to have been far astray. I allude to irreverence in addressing the Most High; an irreverent
use of the sacred name in conversation; and censorious, sarcastic, handling of the faults of Chris
52 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
tians. As an instance of the flippant use of holy
names, I would cite one used by an officer of a
church.   Speaking of a certain clergyman not
very earnest in spiritual things, he observed, " Oh!
he is not a Holy-Ghost man." In regard to censoriousness, the divine injunction seems to have
been forgotten by these brethren: "If a man be
overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore
such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted." *  "Reprove,
rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine." t
In regard to prayer, I may say truly I have
witnessed horrible things. Suffice it to say, they
were no essential part, however, of the Revival.
This rule is settled: that Revival which does not
promote humility and reverence is just so far
deeply defective. How can mortal, sinful mxnan,
who would put on his most respectful air at the
entrance of an earthly prince, play his pranks, and
blurt out his coarseness, in the very face of the
King of heaven?
Another objection we encounter, if urged by
unbelievers, we regard as only a part of their
objection to the entire office and work of the Holy
Spirit, and not particularly to Revivals. The objector really denies every radical change of the
heart, in or out of a Revival.
But we must reply to it when used by those who
* Gal. vi. I.            t 2Tim.iv.2.
5*
53 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
believe in the universal need of regeneration. The
objection is this: -
4. "Revivals and their Fruits are Superficial
and Ephemeral Excitements." - True, in one
sense, Revivals are ephemeral: so are spring
and seedtime, and harvest, and human life: even
the life of Jesus on earth passed quickly away.
But the fruits do not perish when the blossoms
fall. What would be thought of a farmer objecting to planting apple-trees, because, having
counted the blossoms for several seasons, he noticed two great evils, - the blossoms were ephemeral, and the apples stood to the blossoms as one to
ten?. Yes, he found nine hundred and eighty
blossoms promising great things. They awakened the hope of nine hundred and eighty apples,
all as full of beauty as those pretentious blossoms
themselves. And what did he find at last? When
there had been time enough, and sunbeams enough,
and April winds enough, and. rains sufficient to
shake off half of them, he found only four hundred and ninety apples, most of them small. But
where were the other four hundred and ninety?
Gone, all gone; their fine promises all broken.
And then, in the autumn, it proved that only one
hundred sound, well-formed apples were there.
Now, what would you think of his logic, if it
came to this conclusion?  "Therefore no sensible
man will ever plant another apple-tree until he
gets one that will produce only infallible blossoms,
54 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
never deceiving, never outnumbering their fruit,
never looking any gayer or whiter than the sober
russet fruit they are going to produce. At present my business of pomoculture is brought to a
stand by my inexorable and infallible logic."
Mr. Nettleton testifies thus: "For a number of
years I have kept a list of the names of those who
have hopefully experienced religion, and made a
profession of it, in these Revivals. I have watched
them with anxious solicitude, and have made particular inquiries about the spiritual welfare of each
one, as opportunity presented. The thousands who
have professed Christ in this time appear, in general, to run well. Hitherto I think they have exhibited more of the Christian temper, and a better
example, than the same number who have professed religion when there was no Revival."
The following estimate is the result of investigation by the Rev. Joseph Tracy, as to the effects of
the Revival in the last century in New England.
The estimate of the numbers converted during a
few years in New England, he finds to be twentyfive thousand to fifty thousand. One hundred and
fifty Congregational churches were formed in less
than  twenty years.   Great numbers of churchmembers were converted in them. The same
proportion of conversions in our day would amount
to four hundred and fifty thousand. At Whitefield's third visit to America, there were not less
than twenty ministers around Boston who were
55 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
converted under his ministry. The Revival brought
such men as Bellamy and Hopkins into the ministry. It overthrew the prevalent notion, that an
unconverted ministry might be tolerated. That
Revival produced Princeton College, and thus led
to the founding of the Theological Seminary in its
vicinity. Dartmouth College came from the same
impulse. It led to the formation of missionary
societies; it checked the progress of heresy; it
corrected the current views of religious experience
and church-membership. It gave a mortal wound
to parish despotism; and then Mr. Tracy cautiously
suggests its influence in producing the independence of the colonies. That may be difficult to
prove; and yet we who are now on the stage have
had some opportunity to see what effect the Revival
of Christian zeal had in resisting the Rebellion,
which threatened to destroy every element of freedom in our civil institutions.
Mr. Finney has exhibited at length what he
regards as the causes of the declension of Revivals.
This statement may be exhaustive of the subject;
or it may fail to meet the whole case, by leaving
no room for the sovereign action of God's free
Spirit; by which I mean that the epochal form of
the work of Redemption may depend on causes
totally beyond the sphere of human action and
feeling.
He says, "A Revival will stop when the Church
believes it is going to cease; when they consent
56
i 
POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
that it should cease; when they become mechanical in their attempts to promote it; when they think
it will go on without their aid, and they consequently turn to other business; when they become
proud of its greatness; when they are exhausted
by labor; when they begin to speculate about doctrines, or to proselyte; or when they refuse to render to the Lord according to the benefits they
have received; when they grieve the Spirit by forgetting their dependence, by boasting, or by undervaluing the work of God; when they lose the
spirit of brotherly love; when they cease to be reconverted; when they refuse to practise self-denial;
when they engage in controversies about measures; when the Old School opposes, and the New
indulges, a bad spirit; when the public mind is
diverted by any thing; resistance to the temperance reformation or to antislavery; neglect of
missions, or of educating men for the ministry;
ecclesiastical difficulties; slandering revivals, censoriousness."
These he considers to be the causes of decline.
I enumerate them in this connection, simply to remark upon them.  If this statement is exhaustive,
it shows that Revivals are not the cause of their
own ephemeral character. And, before leaving
this point, it may be desirable to correct a wrong
impression as to the degeneracy of Revivals. It
has been said, that, for three centuries, the wave of
the first Revival under the gospel continued to
57 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
roll on in one glorious tide, sweeping over the
Roman empire. But it must be remembered that
the Christian history of that period is not the history of a town or district, but of a colossal empire.
The heathen world was then in a state of intense
mental activity on every subject,- political, philosophical, and religious. Paganism was losing its
hold on the world. This agitation moved from the
centre gradually to the circumference. Moving
thus from province to province, it was continually
furnishing a new field for the Christian laborers.
It is, then, a misapprehension to conceive the
Revival as moving steadily forward in one town
or church for three centuries. It was like our
missionary and our home-revivals: now moving
Oroomiah, now Ahmednuggur, now St. Louis,
now Boston.
Do you object to Revivals because they decline?
Then object to the labors of the apostles; for declensions and apostasies were going on side by side
with the Revivals of their time. Persecutors, Heresiarchs, Judaizers, were continually combining their
forces with the world to quench the fire of Christian zeal. While Paul was yet living, the Church
of Corinth had sunk quite low; that of Galatia had
been bewitched; the Hebrew Christians were crucifying Christ afresh; the Seven Churches of Western Asia Minor were tending fast to the extinction
of the light in their candlesticks.
58
1l
I, 
THIRD LECTURE.
II.- THEOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS.
TIIERE is, then, another class of opponents, who
on religious, or rather ecclesiastical, grounds, oppose these forms of religious life, regarding them
as intrinsically evil. Their opinion is, that, -
"Revivals are inconsistent with the very Nature and
Essence of Christianity."
In the "Bibliotheca Sacra," vol. xx. pp. 87, 877,
are two articles, forming part of the series contributed by representatives of the several branches of
the Church, to exhibit the peculiar features, each
of his own branch. You will there perceive that
the Episcopal and the German Reformed churches
are represented as setting themselves against Revivals, and on the side of sacramental piety.
Dr. Bushnell, too, has taken ground against Revivals, as exhibiting false notions of Christianity.
He desires a piety that quietly attends the services
of the sanctuary, but expends its zeal and enthusiasm within the domestic circle; so far as he
shows, to the utter neglect of all persons outside of
59 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Christian families and assemblies; excepting, he
would probably say, the silent power of example.
Against this view we would simply oppose the en..
tire movement of the Lord's apostles and their successors. If the Church had always acted on that
view, Europe would never have becomne Christian,
because this scheme provides for the salvation of
only those adults already in Christian congregations, and the children in Christian families. If he
replies that his view admits of sending clergymen
forth as missionaries, we answer, "Even then you
allow no one to go forth from your little flock of
one thousand to reach the ten thousand who never
come to hear you preach at home. And you forbid
the convert from Paganism to aid the missionary
in converting any but his own family." How totally
contrary this is to the truth of late discovered by
our missionary-boards, that the apostolic method is
still the right method,- to send forth a few missionaries to organize churches, expecting these
native churches to become the instruments of
converting the millions around them!
This system would never expel the heathenism
that still largely possesses even Christian territory.
But we must believe that the real ground of these
several objections is generally, not universally we
are sure, opposition to the religion of Jesus Christ
and the work of the Holy Spirit.
The late venerable Prof. Porter of Andover
Seminary, in his Letters on Revivals, gave a graphic
6o
I
l 
THEOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS.
description of the several classes of clergymen
who set themselves in opposition to Revivals. I
quote him:
"A        was one of those good men who are under the dominion of a sluggish temperament. To travel from one side of his
parish to another cost him as much self-denial as it cost Caesar to
cross the Alps, and subdue a kingdom.
"B       was a man of literary taste, an idolater of books.   He
laid down his favorite authors with reluctance, to attend a prayermeeting. He was so fond of reading, especially works of genius
and popular literature, that the spirituality of his heart was gradually impaired.
"C       was fond of social avocations, giving the energy of his
being to the lighter forms of social intercourse.
"D        overloaded himself with secular cares.
"These were a few who preached the sovereignty of God in
such a way as to provide a refuge for sloth in Christians and ministers."
Now, against all these forms of opposition, we
set the fact that Revivals have ever been held
in high esteem as the rich displays of redeeming
grace, by men and women of the most eminent
godliness, in every rank of life; persons, too, the
most free from delight in nervous excitement,
superficial piety, or any needless demonstration of
sensibility in connection with any subject. Besides this fact, the evidence of which can be presented to any required extent, we have other
sources of reply to all objections. We have showed
this to have been, from the beginning, the scriptural view of the kingdom of God and its advance;
and we are strengthened in our conviction by the
6i 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
testimony, which we could adduce to any length,
of the most eminent men in the Church of Christ.
Take, for example, "The Testimony and Advice
of an Assembly of Pastors of Churches in New
England, in a Meeting in Boston, July 7, I743,
occasioned by the late Happy Revival of Religion
in many Parts of the Land." This document,
entering at great length into the subject, is signed,
by such names as Joseph Sewall, Thomas Prince,
Benjamin Colman, Joshua Gee; one hundred and
thirteen signing the document, or, if absent, agreeing with its testimony.*
To all these objections we now present a succinct view of
The Value of Revivals.
The very title has been happily, nay, divinely
selected.  "0 Lord, revive thy work," is a petition
now two thousand years on record. What a beautiful term it is!- symbol of hope, of joyous experience, of beauty displacing deformity, the process
of decay suspended, the marks of death obliterated,
the tints and forms of life.returning. The farmer delights in a revival; for he has been watching
through long scorching days and feverish nights
for the vision of a single cloud, though it should be
no bigger than a man's hand, to cover those brassy
heavens, and cool the parched, gaping, dusty,
* Great Awakening, p. 287.
62
II 
THEOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS.
earth; to put vigor in that dead atmosphere, and
save those withering plants, and relieve those panting, thirsting herds and flocks.
Yes, it was a Revival that inspired the Hundred
and Fourth Psalm: water was, in part, its theme.
Sympathizing with all God's creatures, especially
the beautiful vegetable kingdom and the sensitive
animal races, the writer had profoundly appreciated
the worth of water. He had waited for its advent,
as Ahab and Elijah waited for it in a drought of
three years and a half. And oh! when it came,
how that sympathizing, pious heart shared the joy
of reviving Nature around him! He watched the
gathering vapors as they "go up by the mountains"
in mist, and then "down by the valleys" in showers, so gentle, so kindly, and refreshing.
And it was the more delightful to him that it was
his heavenly Father who had sent down the reviving showers from his floating cisterns in the skies.
"He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run
among the hills," joyous angels doing his errands of
mercy to man and beast. "They give drink to
every beast of the field: the wild asses quench
their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven
have their habitation, which sing among the
branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy
works. He causeth the grass to grow for the
cattle, and herb for the service of man; that he
may bring forth food out of the earth. The trees
63 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon,
which he hath planted, where the birds make their
nests."
Surely every lover of nature- of man or bird or
beast or flower- must delight in a revival, whether
it be of nature, or commerce, or letters, or art, or
bodily health, or decayed affections, or a good spirit
of any kind. How much should every child of God
delight in a Revival of religion!
And he would be a strange person who should
object to Revivals on any ground whatever, if it had
not been so common as to remove its singularity.
In any department of existence it would be a strange
objection to make to the revival, the objection that
really relates to the necessity for a revival, to blame
God or man for an evil which they were removing.
You may say you disapprove of spasmodic and
periodical revivings: then you must disapprove of
every returning spring. There always have been,
and there will continue to be, winters, however uncomfortable, in which many men perish by frost,even whole armies. There may be great objections
to thunder-storms; but they must come, and prepare
the way of autumn's golden fruits. There may be
a morbid love of peace, that shall incline to purchasing it too dearly. The ploughshare may be
needed to strike into the solid, compact subsoil,
and prepare the way for a finer species of grain and
better crops.
There are eyes enabled of God to see the bright
64
I 
THEOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS.
side of even a thunder-cloud. Indeed, I know not
how the injunctions, "Rejoice always," and "Be
careful for nothing," are to be obeyed, if not by a full
submission of our preferences to God's positive and
permissive decrees, a perfect confidence that he is
guiding the forces of the universe in supreme wisdom and goodness. No person living can say that
the world is managed as he would prefer; that all
his wishes are gratified by the course of events.
The only way of rejoicing constantly, and living in
the sunshine, is to rejoice, not merely in events
even the most agreeable, not to fret nor complain,
but to rejoice in the Lord, to sing with the old
prophet, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom,
...and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I
will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my
salvation."*
Just recall, now, some of the obvious effects of
Revivals. Begin with that in the sixteenth century,
of which Milton says, "When I recall to mind at
last, after so many dark ages, wherein the huge, overshadowing train of error had almost swept all the
stars out of the firmament of the Church, how the
bright and blissful Reformation (by divine power)
struck through the black and settled night of igno.
rance and of anti-Christian tyranny, methinks a
sovereign and reviving joy must needs rush into
the bosom of him that reads or hears, and the sweet
dawn of the returning gospel imbathe his soul with
* Hab. iii. 17, i8.
65 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the fragrancy of heaven. Then was the sacred
Bible sought out of the dusty corners where.profane falsehood and neglect had thrown it, the schools
opened, divine and human learning raked out of
the embers of forgotten tongues; the princes and
cities pressing apace to the new-erected banner of
salvation; the martyrs, with the unresistible might
of weakness, shaking the powers of darkness, and
scorning the fiery rage of the old red dragon." *
That was indeed a Revival, as full of imperfections, as much ridiculed, slandered, resisted, as any
of the most purely religious that ever provoked the
enmity of Satan. But what a blessing it has been
to the world!
Inquire of those whose knowledge qualifies them
to testify, and you may see that Revivals have
proved an inestimable blessing to pastors of
churches. The re-action on their minds and
hearts, their lives and ministry, has been very
marked; quickening the mind into new channels
of thought, giving new and higher impulses to the
heart, breaking up effectually a state of mental
stagnation and a monotonous routine.
Lyman Beecher accomplished a great work in
Boston.  Yet we may question whether he could
have done that work, had he not been brought
through the influence of that great Revival in Litchfield to a very high plane of thought and feeling.
A Revival teaches homiletics, as it forms the
* Reformation in England, p. 2.
66
i
I
6*
I
I 
THEOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS.
habit of earnest, direct, pungent preaching. Our
camps were great theological schools; for, in the
midst of those glorious displays of divine grace
there witnessed, preachers learned many new and
important lessons about bringing theology down
from the head to the heart of both preacher and
hearer.
A pastor thus testifies: "The most glorious
views I ever had of God came to me while laboring for my fellow-men. The most glorious views I
ever had of man's interior life and of essential divine truths were ministered to me while I was
working for the salvation of others. And I think
that Revivals of religion, in which ministers' hearts
are on fire with zeal to save the souls of men, are
the best schools for overcoming any doubts and
speculations which those minds may have."
The churches have derived lasting blessings
from them; some, indeed, having been saved from
utter extinction by them; and many a person
reaching in them a higher plane of spiritual life,
never again abandoned.
Souls are saved, through their instrumentality,
which, without them, would have been lost. And
this, so bold a statement, is justified by the Lord's
declaration concerning Tyre and Sidon, - that, if
the miracles and works witnessed by Chorazin had
been witnessed in them, they would have repented.*
Do any inquire why men are saved peculiarly at
* Matt. xi. 21.
67 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
such seasons? It may be said, in reply, special influences of the Holy Spirit make a Revival: religious truth is then aided by very peculiar accompaniments. The whole current of thought and
feeling in a community runs powerfully in one
channel.   It is easy  to  fix the  thoughts  on
spiritual and eternal realities. The example of the
Church, the preaching, the praying, the testimony
and exhortation of converts, the manifestations of
God's presence and power in conversions, - all
make conversion easier, according to the laws of
the mind and the laws of the kingdom of grace.
Prayer, then, assumes a peculiar tone; and earnest,
expecting prayer is the mightiest instrument man
can wield.
Instances may be adduced, in which Revivals
have entirely renovated the moral character of
towns and districts.
I might produce an instance from my pastoral
experience in the Fourth Presbyterian Church in
Albany. It was a laborious, earnest body of men
and women. Every alley and attic of the ward
was visited by them. The meeting for inquirers
was constantly held for years. The edifice had not
long been erected, before there was an increasing
demand for paint on buildings around it. Very
soon the chief of police testified, that that ward,
which had given the authorities more trouble than
any other, had become the most orderly in the city.
Mr. Delavan testified in a temperance meeting in
68 
THEOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS.
the church, that he wanted no other agent for his
property in that part of the city, it had grown so
much in value since the church commenced its
labors there.
The testimony of that High Church Anglican,
Southey, to the effects of the Methodist movement,
which, for half a century, was a perpetual Revival,
is very strong on certain points.   ie acknowledges
that "there never was less religious feeling, either
within the Established Church, or without, than
when Wesley blew his trumpet, and awakened
those who slept." And Priestley has conceded, that
while the Establishment, rich, learned, and powerful, was suffering the poor to sink to the depths
of moral degradation, these Revivalists saved a
large portion of them, and turned their thoughts
and aspirations toward a higher form of lite. He
commends the Methodists as not only "Christianizing, but also civilizing, that part of the community,
which," he informs this powerful aristocracy, " is
below the notice of your dignified clergy."
The process of demoralization was, by this great
Revival, checked in the rural districts, where growing manufactories had greatly corrupted the village
and farming population.
Howitt says, "They rescued them from brutality of mind and manners, and gave them a more
refined association on earth, and a warm hope of a
still better existence hereafter."
We may, then, close this defence of Revivals
69 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
against the popular and ecclesiastical objections,
by presenting this one touch of the sacred pencil,
which brings to our view a scene in one of the
earliest Christian Revivals: "And there was great
joy in that city."* Not that every citizen of Samaria was happy; not that there were no occasions
for anxiety in the very Revival itself; not that
some of the conversions were not spurious: the
expression reveals these new phenomena as then
existing. There was joy in the heart of the eternal Father, faintly set forth to our view in the
joy of the father of the prodigal son. There were,
indeed, elder brothers of the Pharisaic order, to
cavil and criticise, to murmur and look wise; but
the old mansion was echoing from every chamber
the delight of that paternal heart.
There was joy in one city on earth; for the
heart of the Eternal was moved more at the sight
of that one returning prodigal than at the rising
glories of a new-born world springing into existence, and falling into rank amid the rolling orbs of
heaven.
There was joy in the town of Samaria; for her
Father had recovered some of his lost ones, received his dead to life again; and the waves of
divine joy had rolled over the battlements of heaven, and reached and moved every susceptible heart
in the place.
There was joy in that city; for hearts were
* Acts viii. 8.
70
I
II 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
there which had borne heavy burdens of solicitude
for the perishing; and now their prayers were
answered.
There was joy in the converted heart. Joy, do
you reply, to be quenched in the sorrows of earth,
the deeper sorrows and the perplexities of earthly
care, the anguish of temptation, the deeper anguish of conscious declension?   Grant  it.  But
shall there  be no joy-no genuine, legitimate
joy- in the house when a man-child is born there,
because that child is born to the common inheritance of grief?
Nay, that wisdom is morbid. You must remem,
ber that that earthly birth is to the inheritance of
a glory, and a privilege in many respects, superangelic; and you should remember that the new
heavenly birth is to a life of discipline preparatory
to the entrance into an inheritance incorruptible,.
undefiled, and unending.
We come now to notice,
III.- THE PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
Some of you may hereafter find occasion to examine the objections to Revivals made by speculative and especially scientific minds. Nay, it is not
infrequently that the student of theology passes
through even terrific struggles in grappling with
PI 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
doubts which involuntarily but powerfully rush into
his mind, and confront his faith.
The element of the supernatural in Christianity
is the rock of offence to rationalism. The fact of
the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit in Regeneration, in Sanctification, and in Revivals, encounters the opposition of the rationalistic spirit
in several forms, but really under the same principle in each. The essence of this theory is, the
universe is actuated and controlled, not by will, but
by material forces.
We may consider it as one essentially, but applied to our subject in three several phases, - the
inviolability of the order of Nature; the supremacy of the laws of Nature; the supremacy of material, involuntary, or mechanical forces in Nature.
We first take up this theory, to measure its
force, and expose its feebleness.
I. "The Order of Nature is inviolable;" so that
"for science there are no miracles." Let us, then,
understand each other. By science, we here
understand to be intended, not the laws of thought,
not the testimony of consciousness, but merely
physical facts traced to their physical causes; the
observation of the order of Natuire, and the expression of that order in words. If we agree there, then
it follows, that mere science can never make theories for facts not recognized by her. When she
talks of the order of the universe, she really means
of so much of the universe as she has observed.
72
i 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
She has a right to deny only what would contradict
the facts of her observation. It must be only men
of physical science, inflated by their limited discoveries of God's modes of working in one sphere,
who declare that he cannot work otherwise in
other spheres.
One has very properly made this concession to
science: "Not only has it made man more truly
than ever the lord of creation by the thousand
instrumentalities which it provides for the progressive subjugation of Nature, it also charms the
spirit in its researches after wisdom and knowledge, by giving it such a view of the structure of
the universe in its totality as immeasurably surpasses in vividness and completeness all the representations of the past." Then most justly does
this writer, Prof. Beyschlag, thus expose the weakness, the vanity, the folly, of a large class of scientific men: "Intoxicated with the view, the child of
our age stands before Nature as the great Cosmos,
a most perfect system of order and harmony, resting on immanent laws, and interpenetrative necessities; and so firmly bound together, so exquisitely
adapted in all its parts, does the beauteous structure appear to him, that it seems as though the
power of no spirit, not even the hand of God,
could disturb any one of its links without detriment and derangement to the whole."
Confining the word "science," then, to the material world and the forces that govern it, we reply to
7
73 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the dogma that the order of Nature is inviolable,
thus the principle is true, but only within certain
limits. It would be to us an absolute and universal truth, but for one or two facts. The first is,
that the conclusions of science are never to the
human mind the basis of absolute certainty. They
never can, from the nature of the case, come nearer
to it than a high degree of probability. They suffice
in enabling mankind to make increasing use of material forces; but, philosophically considered, they
are only the best explanations of phenomena that
we can reach.  No truly scientific man claims for
the most elementary laws any thing more than that
they are approximative, not exhaustively and ultimately true. Then, again, if science were not
confined to the facts it observes, but were competent to deny other facts, of the reality or nonreality of which it is utterly incompetent to judge,
then, possibly, the position  might  be  true  as
objectors understand and apply it.
But, as it is, the judgment of science in this matter is extra-judicial: the court undertakes the decision of a case not within its jurisdiction. What
would be thought of a mathematician affirming, that
as mathematics ignores sentiment, and knows nothing about honor or benevolence, therefore honor
and benevolence are chimeras?
The story of the Scottish mathematician is here
in place.  His friend loaned him "Paradise Lost."
When he had read it, the lender inquired how he
74
i.
II
I 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
liked it. His reply was," Bah! there is not a demonstration in it!"
Science may take negative positions when any
one denies the contrary of its own established
truths; but, when it meets any other positions, it
has nothing to do with negations. Science is an
acquaintance with a certain order of things, their
antecedents and consequents, or causes and effects.
But does it include a denial that there are any other
ranks of existence, any other orders of cause and
effect? Surely not. That is not science, but presumption and assumption; for science is founded
on the observation of realities, not on ignorance or
non-knowledge. Because animals, minerals, fluids,
vegetables, are controlled by certain forces in prescribed and inviolable order, does that furnish evidence of this negative proposition, - there is no
other kind of force, no other kind of order, no such
thing as a force that may effect the recovery of
mind from its disorders?
Here we must firmly take our ground, and stop
this matter at the very threslold. We must affirm
that natural science moves in the sphere of the sen sible for obtaining the facts of a certain class, and
not of any other; that she has no right to invade
any other department of being, or to affirm any
thing about what may or may not be, independently
of those facts which are addressed to the senses, or
to the consciousness of all mankind. Then she
muist be sure that all does not mean merely a few.
75 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
It may be conjecture to deny what is not seen, or
cannot be inferred from the visible and tangible;
but that is not a sound philosophy which brings the
whole universe before the human mind to be judged
by the theories of material science. There may be
facts, beings, forces, lying entirely outside of the
sphere of sensuous observation.
Let us, then, beware that we, as defenders of the
Christian system, do not confound the immodesty
and arrogance of some scientific men with science
itself. Indeed, no class of men should more cordially encourage all truly scientific investigations
than those in our profession; but we should be
able to detect the assumptions and the sophisms
with which scepticism, in the garb of science, and
with her phraseology, opposes the kingdom of
Christ.
Demand of these men the meaning of their cant
phrase, "The order of Nature is inviolable."  It
assumes, without proof, the very point in question,
- whether there is not a sphere of existence from
which the laws of matter are excluded, and into
which they have no right to bring those laws.
We may safely challenge the scientific sceptic to
relax his bigotry, and enlarge the circumference of
his observations, and look at a class of phenomena
as real as gravitation, facts of human experience
as real as the experience of sensation, - the facts
embraced in the history of Revivals of religion;
and, meeting them, to deal with them fairly, scien
76
.i
I 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
tifically, trace them as effects to causes, causes
wholly adequate.   They then may discover that
thoroughly authenticated facts can be produced, so
numerous, so extended through time and space, so
uniform in their essential features, and so varied in
that which is incidental, as to forbid their classification with anomalous or exceptional events. They
are such as no finite cause is adequate to produce,
superhuman in purity, supernatural in origin.
These facts are real events in human experience
and history. They are confined to no country, to
no one of the eighteen Christian centuries. Beginning at Jerusalem, they have been witnessed in
every land where civilized man has lived, - from the
throne to the cottage, from the ermined judge to
the rudest ploughboy. Statesmen, warriors, princes,
poets, orators, merchants, mechanics, artists, freedmen, slaves, persons of all ages, of either sex,
millions on millions, could rise in open court, and
swear to that they have seen and felt in themselves, and witnessed in others, -an experience
which can be brought within no part of the order
of Nature.
These facts, to which I refer, are changes in
character, radical, beautiful, beneficial, permanent,
often       sudden; changes in communities, affecting
every department of life, quickening industry,
producing thrift, prudence, economy, benevolence,
gentleness, soberness, purity; raising the value
of property in towns and neighborhoods; strength
7*
77
i 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ening the hands of the magistrates; turning a
domestic pandemonium into a paradise; elevating
the degraded; reclaiming the debauched; refining the manners; sweetening the intercourse of
society.
I say, we are prepared to produce facts of this
class from such an extent of space, and through
eighteen centuries, in such overwhelming abundance; to show such an amount of elevated literature, of ecclesiastical history, so many edifices and
monuments erected from age to age as the direct
fruit of these changes, that the scientific man who
refuses to admit them as facts, and to account for
them by causes utterly out of the range of physical
science, and of which it knows nothing, must admit
his science to be too narrow to embrace all the facts
of the universe, and himself entirely out of place in
opposing the Christian theory as either unscientific, or opposed to true science.
You will do well to make for yourselves collections of cases which may challenge denial; for they
can be found by millions and tens of millions, -
cases of individual transformation, like those of
Saul of Tarsus, Augustine, Bunyan, Newton, Gardiner, and thousands of drunkards, abandoned
women,- blasphemers, men of violent passions,
utterly transformed, and for life, some of them in
a day.
Then to these you may add the history of Revivals in villages and rural districts, in large towns
78
I,
i 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
and cities. Take the colliers of Kingwood, the
nawvvies whom Miss Marsh instructed, the prisoners
whom Elizabeth Fry guided to the Saviour, the
Sandwich-Islanders, entirely transformed and elevated in one generation. Here, I repeat, are facts,
events, effects, to be accounted for, but not by
electricity, or diseased action of the nervous system; by no laws of Nature, no powers known to
science, no "order of Nature."
Another and equivalent expression of scientific
scepticism is this:  2. "The Laws of Nature must be held sacred by
the Author of Nature." - This is a step in advance,
however. Now we have an Author of Nature: now
we are permitted to have a God; but one whose
hands are tied, whose will has no occupation; at
least, down here. His only function is to respect
the laws of Nature. If his children cry to him in
distress, he refers them to galvanism and gravitation. He has for them neither ear nor heart, nor
hand to help them.
If we inquire what makes the "must" in this
case, we are informed that every valuable interest
of human life, and even religion itself, requires that
Nature move in regular orbits, at fixed times, without deviation, in order that man may place the
most absolute reliance on her regularity.
This sounds well; but it is full of weakness, and
betrays the narrowness of the soul which can apply
it to the entire life of the human race. It confuses
79 
I,ECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the mind by an unscientific use of terms; it betrays
an arrogant dogmatism; and it is as cruel as it is
unphilosophical. It affirms that the laws, as well
as the order, of Nature, must be inviolable; that a
God who would break them would prove himself
the enemy of mankind. Now, the sophism lies in
this: the word "law" here really means nothing
like law; for a law is addressed not to matter, but to
mind.  As Dr. Beecher once said, "The Almighty
did not give the ten commandments to the planets."
Then, again, if God had given laws to matter, he
did not give them to himself. They do not bind
him, if they bind the atoms of matter.
Then, again, the imagination is here enlisted to
make miracles appear horrible. In affirming that
the progress of civilization depends upon the stability of Nature's laws, this insinuation is made
(and it alone gives any force to the statement as an
argument against supernatural intervention), that
if, for example, Joshua made the sun really or apparently stand still once in six thousand years,
then no calculation of eclipses, no nautical tables,
no science of astronomy or navigation, could be
reliable.
I now refer to the arrogance of this assumption
of scientific men. They assume that there is no
higher power than that which controls, and is inherent in, matter; that Nature is superior in importance and power to mind; that the moral wants of
man are not so important as this order of Nature.
I
80
I
!i
I
tI 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
All this is assumption: it is not proved. Nay,
they have no right to assume that what we denominate "the supernatural" is not a higher department of Nature itself, not to be controlled by the
inferior laws of matter, nor measured and weighed
by its instruments.
They contradict a principle written on the whole
of this magnificent planet inhabited by man, and
on the heavens that curtain our abode; the principle that matter exists for mind; and not mind for
matter.
It is insulting to the Creator to deny him the
right and power to be master of the world he has
created and sustained; to affirm that the laws with
which he binds brute matter bind him.
I speak, too, of the inhumanity, the cruelty, of
this, as of every other form of anti-Christian scepticism, - a suggestion which may, indeed, provoke
the smile of the sceptic as being unscientific, unphilosophical. But to men of faith it is of supreme
importance. If natural laws are supreme, if God
can do nothing but through the channels of gravitation, chemical affinity, and the electric current,
then, of course, prayer is folly; the cry of human
want, the aspiration to commune with our Creator
and heavenly Father, is altogether vain; then the
present moral disorders of the race have no remedy.   Rheumatism and fever may be cured; a
broken arm may be set without violating the laws
of Nature, or disturbing the harmony of the plan.
8x 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ets, or arresting the march and the triumphs of science: but sin has no remedy; a broken heart, no
divine sympathy; a nation corrupted, and sinking
toward the abyss, must not pray, but despair!
This, it has been well said, is "the new heathenism, worse than the old Paganism, immeasurably
more radical, more godless; for while that, in its
simplicity, confounded the Creator with the creation, it was not, like this, a conscious denial of the
Father revealed in Christ. The grave wherein
this new heathenism would bury miracles ingulfs
every thing which would give to human existence
its ideal character, its real worth, -the soul as the
express image of God, faith and prayer, the holy
person of the Redeemer, the future world, the living God. He who would save these precious realities must purge his eyes of the glamour of
naturalism, and begin again with the faith, which' is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen;  with faith, therefore, in the
supernatural, in miracles." And to this I would
add, he must revive his faith in the supernatural
action of the Holy Ghost in Revivals.
Mr. Froude, the English historian, is very')old in
dealing with these gentlemen.   He says, "The
nobier principles are not provided for us by the
inductive philosophy. I once asked a distinguished
philosopher what he thought of patriotism.   He
said he thought it was a compound of vanity and
superstition, a bad kind of prejudice, which will
82
k
I
I
I
I
r 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
die out with the growth of reason. He could not
narrow himself to so small a thing as his country. I could but say to myself, Thank God that we
are not yet a nation of philosophers! A man who
takes up with philosophy like that may write fine
books, and review articles, and such like; but at
the bottom he is a poor caitiff, and there is no more
to be said about him."
But I would follow up this scepticism still further. In maintaining what it calls the inviolability
of Nature, it assumes, as a foundation-principle of
its whole structure,  3. The Supremacy of Material Forces in Human
Affairs.- \Ve believe, on the most abundant evidence, partly intuitional, partly from experience,
partly from observation and inference, as well as
from Scripture, that the Spirit of God is a power in
human life and human history. But we are informed, "There is no independent realm of spirit;
for all is controlled by material or mechanical
powers." This, I affirm again, is mere assertion
and assumption. Nor do I stop there, but bring
against it these facts:  (I.) Every rational being is conscious of spontaneity, and, in every exercise of choice, of the
possibility of having chosen the contrary. He is
further conscious of,
(2.) Being responsible, and of holding other
rational beings responsible, as he holds nothing
responsible which has not a free will. Every
83 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
man carries in his own being a tribunal, and a
judge, and a law, and undergoes a trial there for
violating that law; such a trial as he never subjects
a stone or a horse to undergo. A leading advocate of Mr. Buckle's views admitted to me that
this mechanical theory destroys the idea of responsibility.
(3.) Man is conscious of virtue and vice, which
are things lying wholly out of the range of objects
controlled by material forces.
(4.) Dying believers frequently show, that, the
more thoroughly the body approaches the control
of the disorganizing material forces, the more thoroughly does the spirit assert its independence of
their power, defy their attacks, and deny their
supremacy.
(5.) Every time you contrast the two actions of
lifting a stone, and persuading a man, you demonstrate the falsity of this theory; you show that a
material body is controlled by a will extraneous to
itself, but will is controlled by motives; that material force is the inferior, and spiritual force the
superior. Nay, why do sceptics not handle you as
they would a bar of iron or a block of marble? why
do they not apply the fire and the hammer to you?
Their very effort to persuade you to adopt their
theories is an act of homage to the portion of your
being lying out of the region of mechanical forces.
Persuasion is the recognition of the power of spirit
over spirit, dealing as it does, not with gravitation,
84
I
I,
AI I 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
vis, inertia, and cohesion, but with sensibility, conscience, judgment, and will.
Messrs. Comte, Buckle, and Draper write books
to convince the world that heat and moisture govern
opinions, and form character: why, then, do they not
employ steam-engines and vapor-baths, instead of
argument? They employ books, indeed; but they
place no dependence on the weight of the book, or
its other material properties, for the desired result.
Their very efforts stultify their theories. After
all, they believe the world is moulded by ideas, not
natural forces.
(6.) Every mechanic art displays a spiritual power
counteracting physical power.
(7.) Will-power, if not the only real force in the
universe, certainly is the predominant power in this
section of it. When your hand lies upon the table,
it is controlled by gravitation. When you raise it,
you conquer the earth's attraction.   How?  By
will-power. What right has Mr. Buckle to assert
that a mechanical power lay back of the will, or
that the will-power is mechanical? If it is so, who
informed him of it?
Nay, we affirm that (8) the very order of the universe is, to every one not perverted to the abandonment of common-sense for the sake of a theory, evidence of will-power, just as much as the existence of
a house manifests the will of a designer and builder.
Everywhere we behold mechanical forces, even in
their blindest, wildest operations, subserving the
8
85 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
purposes of a designing intellect and purposing
will.
Boldly, then, champions of the blood-stained banner, stand in the face of "science, falsely so called,"
and affirm that science and philosophy can furnish
no evidence to contradict that sublime theory of
the Bible, "Of Him, and through Him, and to Him,
are all things; He is before all things; and by Him
all things consist; God worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will." Maintain that the constructive and the reconstructive operations of the
divine will move in two totally different spheres;
that a supernatural power is acting equally in extent, and in entire harmony with the natural forces;
that human apostasy has given occasion to a new
and peculiar form of action, attributed in the Scriptures to the grace of God, which is a peculiar form
of his love, and especially to the Holy Spirit, one
person of the adorable Godhead.
To you, students of the works and word of God,
it is of great importance to determine how far it is
lawful to regulate religious belief by our knowledge
of causes and effects, or the philosophical relations of things.
Either cordially recognize the truth of the statements made in the Bible, or never cross the threshold of a Christian pulpit. Having settled the fact
that you have in the Bible a supernatural revelation,
transcending all science and all speculation, then
press your powers of investigation as far as you
86
I
I
,,,, i 
PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS.
desire, to see what your Creator will allow you to
explain, and account for, by permanent and farreaching principles or laws; always, however, carrying with you Dr. Paley's rule, Never let what you
do know be shaken by that which you do not
know.
87 
FOURTH LECTURE.
~ III. -TIE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
HAVING surveyed our subject on its philosophical side, let us now proceed to examine where it
stands in relation to doctrines, or the classified
truths of revelation or theology.
Science, speculation, logic, philosophy, are
bound to behave with more modesty than has thus
far distinguished their treatment of subjects belonging to a sphere to which they are no more
adapted than the finned fish to the upper regions
of our atmosphere.
Ignoring facts is not science: the finding a
priori theories to govern the world is not philosophy. Here are the whole universe of religious
facts, for which we ask an explanation. If "the
world by wisdom knows not God," * let the world
have honesty and modesty enough not to pretend
that it does.  If "the natural man  receiveth not
the things of the Spirit," t let him have the candor
to confess it, and the modesty to believe there may
be some worlds he has not yet seen, some substances he has not weighed in his balances, some
* I Cor. i. 21.
88
k
t   I  Cor. ii. I4. 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
forces he has not yet discovered, some beings
before whom he and his attainments do not appear
as vast as to his own vision, "more things in
heaven and earth than are dreamed of in his philosophy."
We welcome the testimony of Scripture to explain to us the phenomena we witness, the most
mysterious elements in human history. We do indeed find developments in societies and nations;
but we find every form of development, except
one, tending to either stagnation or extinction.
Every species of civilization, except one, terminates in either petrifaction or annihilation; and
that one, involving all the elements of permanence
and progress, is the Judaico-Christian civilization,
founded upon a supernatural dispensation and
record, all miraculous, from beginning to end.
Nor has any one a right to eliminate from that dispensation and record this essential element, and attribute these to subordinate forces in the system.
Turning from the vain conjectures of man to
the teachings of his Maker, we have opened to our
view the grandest spectacle the mind can conceive.
It is the history of the human race viewed from a
central point; its variety, vastness, and discordance brought into a glorious unity. Enveloping
all other powers is revealed to us one controlling
agent; not fate, destiny, tyranny, chemical affinity,
gravitation, climate, nor any form of animal vitality, but will, illumined by infinite wisdom, guided
8*
89 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
by infinite goodness, and competent to every thing
except intrinsic impossibilities.
Open the Book of Daniel, and witness the stupendous panorama,- the kingdoms of the world,
in their grandeur and their pettiness, their strength
and their frailty, rising successively to view, and
successively swallowed in the rushing current of
time's ceaseless flood. Amid them all you behold
one kingdom alone enduring, - the kingdom of the
Messiah.
This glorious book makes the apostasy the
starting-point of history, the triumphant kingdom
of Jesus its culmination.   From  the failure of
Adam, the representative man, to meet the demands of probation, God commenced recovering
whatever may be from the wreck.  The kingdom
of heaven, which is the kingdom of Emmanuel, is
the mightiest of institutions; not of this world,
yet working in it to gather together its loyal subjects on another and better continent.
To understand Revivals of religion, to appreciate
their solemnity, sublimity, and importance, we
must observe them in their relations to that kingdom, we must see them to be expressions of
God's mercy, proofs of the reign of Jesus.
This was the view presented by the apostles to
those who witnessed the wonderful indications of
ioral power with which the Christian dispensation
was ushered in, as the Mosaic dispensation had
been with miraculous displays of physical power.
i
9o
k 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
The physical miracles, and the transformation of
character then taking place, they attributed to Him
Who had just been crucified, and who had promised to send down the Holy Ghost when he should
have taken his place at the right hand of the eternal Majesty.
When three thousand hearts yielded in one hour
to the persuasive power of one sermon, Peter turned
every eye from the sermon and the preacher to the
invisible agent producing these sublime changes:
"This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all
are witnesses." * For that was the prime distinction
of an apostle, that he had seen the risen Lord.
"Therefore, being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this
which ye now see and hear." t
A genuine Revival of religion is, then, a link in
the great chain of redemption; a stage in advance
of that kingdom which is to absorb all other kingdoms into itself; a manifestation of the dominion,
power, and grace of him who is made King of
kings and Lord of lords; a fulfilment of that
promise, "If I go away, I will send the Comforter;
and he shall convince the world of sin."
The Revival of religion comes under that law of
the kingdom of Christ, that its advancement is to
be secured by three distinct classes of personal
agency, and one of instrumental agency,- that of
* Acts ii. 32.         t Acts ii. 33.
91 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the incarnate Son of God, the Spirit of God, and
man. The Son, in this, acts both as mediator with
the Father, and as the God of Providence, overruling all adverse and friendly forces; making all
institutions, inventions, discoveries, even oppositions to his cause, from men or devils, subservient
to his purposes. The Holy Spirit acts as his representative on earth. Man acts as a voluntary
agent; and the gospel of Jesus is his instrument.
First, then, we notice our Lord Jesus Christ in
this connection as the God of Providence, and
consider,
I. -THE AGENCY OF PROVIDENCE IN REVIVALS.
We speak of the Holy Spirit as a person of the
Deity, acting in his peculiar sphere, because we
are so taught by God himself.
There is also a still more general sphere and
form of divine agency, which we denominate
Providence. This includes the general control of
human and material forces, and the shaping of the
lives and circumstances of individuals. It differs
from the action of the Holy Spirit chiefly in this,
- that the latter deals with the inner life of the individual; the former, with his outward life, and all
that affects that life.
Providence furnishes the field, the occasion, the
material, and the instruments for the Revival.
Peter and John, and Saul of Tarsus, must be pro
92
i
I
k 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
vidled as instruments of the work. Their education must be guided by an intelligence infinitely
broader than that of their parents, who could by
no human possibility have anticipated their lifework. Saul must be born in a town full of Grecian culture, literature, and philosophy, where he
can at the same time master Roman law and
Greek speculation. His parents must send him to
Jerusalem to study Jewish law with Gamaliel, an
eminent Pharisee. He must be brought, at a particular day and hour, just where he can hear Stephen's speech, and witness his martyrdom. He
must be guided to Damascus, just when every
thing is ripe for his apostolical labors. Thus, too,
a Waldo is needed, a Martin Luther. And they
must be converted; and their conversion must
depend, as a critical event of their lives, and of
human history, on the sudden death of a friend,
in the case of each.
So the separation of Church and State in Connecticut, which the enemies of Christianity effected,
partly because the connection of the two was contrary to the genius of our institutions, and partly
because they hoped thereby to enfeeble the Church,
was much dreaded by the pastors of New England. But Dr. Beecher has expressed his conviction, that the removal of the church-tax, in various
ways, prepared the way of the great Revival that
so speedily followed this event, by destroying the
vain dependence of believers on law and human
93 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
authority and constraint, and compelling them to
depend on God, and to become more conciliatory
and persuasive toward men. "Before," he remarks,
"we had been standing on what our fathers had
done; but now we were obliged to develop our own
resources." And probably he might have added,
that a Church never can win men to Christ or
herself by assuming the attitude of authority and
constraint.
Alarming dispensations of Providence have sometimes preceded these seasons of blessing. The
period of the great plague in London, that of the
persecution which drove thousands of the godly
preachers of England from their pulpits, preceded
and accompanied wonderful manifestations of the
Spirit's power.
Dr. Cooley states, that in Granville, Mass., at the
close of the last century, sinful diversions had
become very prevalent among the young.  "In one
of their scenes of amusement God was pleased to
pour upon them" his Spirit; but he first visited
them with very awful marks of his displeasure.
Two young men were seized violently ill, and carried out of the ball-room. A young woman, in
consequence of a cold taken on the same evening,
was seized with fever and delirium, and brought to
the brink of the grave. One of the young men,
after a short illness, died. Being told by his weeping mother that he was dying, he exclaimed, "Oh!
I cannot die, I am unprepared," and immediately
94
t
k
i
I 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
expired. In a short time the work of the Spirit
was manifested in a Revival that continued three
years.
There are, then, instances sufficient in numnber
and variety to establish this principle, that the sovereign Spirit of God employs various providential
instruments and occasions, prepared for him, to
accomplish the purposes of his mercy in these
manifestations of his power.
Sometimes the Lord comes forth in terrible
majesty to awaken salutary fear. Sometimes, by sore
disappointments, he reveals the insufficiency of the
world to satisfy man's necessities, and thus prepares the mind for his offers of higher good. Then
he bestows health on preachers and hearers, and
orders domestic and other affairs, so that leisure can
be had for attending to the things which belong to
our peace.
It is not uncommon for persons describing the
operations of divine grace so to speak of various
influences affecting the minds of men as to affirm
what they have not the means of knowing. For
instance, a Revival of peculiar interest occurred in
New Brunswick, N.J., in I837. A prominent pastor in that town affirms, in his account of the Revival, that it was entirely independent of the terror
inspired by the cholera of I832, although he admits
that the people were much alarmed. This scourge
was followed by a most destructive tornado in 1835;
and after this came the financial crisis of i837.
95 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
All of these remarkable dispensations of Provi dence, he says, first alarmed the people, and then
left them hardened. But he could not know that
hundreds of that community were not, in I837,
feeling the subduing influence of all those calami ties, and thus were prepared by Providence to re ceive the special influences of the Spirit of the
Lord.
If, then, you would appreciate the sublime relations of Revivals of religion, accustom yourselves
to trace the movement of those high and dreadful
wheels of Ezekiel's vision. They are instinct with
the Spirit of God. Their wings are high and dreadful; they are full of eyes; the purposes of divine
wisdom, and the energy of the divine will, directing
the events which prepare the way of the Lord
when he comes in a Revival.
Study the movements of that Providence, preparatory to the Revival, which introduced the Christian ages; get your profoundest views of the Roman
empire, the philosophy of its history, the condition
of the people's minds; study even the movements
of the ambitious Macedonian warrior; trace the
phases  through which  he had  passed;  inform
yourselves fully of the state of the Jewish minds,
- and you may find that the wonderful, invisible, omnipotent hand that executes the fiats of
the Almighty Supreme Will, had been working the
Alexanders and the Casars, the senates and the
armies, the philosophers, all as the mere instru
96
I
i
i
i
I 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
ments, blind, and, in this respect, involuntary; of
preparing the way for the Great Revival with which
the Christian dispensation was ushered in. The
same is true of that of the fifth century, in which
the Goths, and the Romans they had conquered,
yielded  to the King of Zion.   Thus  Merivale
speaks of the providential cause, and of one instrument securing the latter: "The faith of Christ was
already enthroned in the East; half the empire had
been torn away from the' Metropolis of Heathendom.' Still the trembling votary fastened on what
remained, still refused to'regard' the Church of
the Holy Spirit as the true city of the Christians.
Then at last, in the fulness of time, came the assault of Alaric and the Goths; the abomination
of desolation stood in the holy places of heathendom; the temples fell, the idols were broken, the
spell of ages was dissolved; the Romans ceased to
be a nation; and Rome, the national deity, had no
more worshippers forever.
"That was the moment to make a salutary, transforming impression upon the mind of the heathen.
Conversion was at hand. The hour had come; and
the man was not wanting, - the man who should
interpret and apply, under God's providence, the
teachings of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. The
manifestation of the city of God by Augustine was
a full and final appeal to the conscience of the inquiring heathen, the stricken and despairing votaries of the discredited city of the Romans."
9
97 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
We next consider:
II. -THE HOLY  SPIRIT AS THE EFFICIENT
AGENT IN REVIVALS.
The Scriptures continually compare the advent
of the Spirit of God to the welcome descent of the
rain. In this light they speak of his being poured
out from on high. And his influences are illustrated
by the refreshing influences of rain in a drought:
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad
for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom
as the rose.   It shall blossom abundantly, and
rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of
Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of
Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the
Lord, and the excellency of our God." In this connection, the whole thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah may
be read profitably.
Of the mysterious relations of the Holy Spirit's
action to the free and conscious action of man in
Revivals we shall hereafter take notice. At present
we are concerned with his power and sovereignty
in these operations. In his own sphere, in all that
he does, he is bound by no fate or necessity, by no
mechanical law, by no moral obligation of justice,
to visit our sinful world, or one of our sin-defiled
hearts.  "The wind bloweth where it listeth." "Is
it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine
own?"  "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he
98
,,
.t
I 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth."
Cast a glance over the field covered with the
spiritually dead, - the mighty Roman empire rotten
to its core, and hastening to disintegration; the
Jewish Church, become, as the Lord described it, "a
carcass," whose offensive odor attracts the obscene
birds to feed on its flesh!
And was a new world to spring out of the abyss,
a cosmos from chaos? Were the Jeromes, the
Chrysostoms, the Monicas, the Augustines, of the
Church, to come up from among their descendants?
Were all the grandeur and might of modern European civilization to succeed such degradation? Was
Christianity to start from that point? Yes; but
by what law, -  that of development?  Credat _ud&is Apella.
There was the sphere of the Spirit's regenerating
power. On the face of that, as of the original
chaos, "the Spirit of God moved." Then, as at
first, God said, "Let there be light, and there was
light." The Christian economy was introduced by
Revival of religion, a convulsion, a series of agitations, a destructive and a constructive process.
Dead members of the Hebrew Church came to life.
Pagans, in thousands, became conscious of a new
power working within them; and then began the
new life of holiness. Enemies censured, ridiculed,
raved, persecuted; conservative saints cril.icised
and opposed; hypocrites took the maslk.t.:(ihonor
99 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the cause: yet the swelling torrent of mercy, fed
by the showers descending on the summits of the
everlasting hills, rolled on, refreshing the parched
wilderness, and making it bloom as Eden.
In three centuries, through which that work of
grace continued, millions were converted, churches
displaced temples, Dagon fell before the ark of
Jehovah. Nor did the sacred impulse fail until
Cesar had bowed the knee to Jesus, and on the
banner of the empire was emblazoned the symbol of
the gibbeted Nazarene. Thus was the downward
tendency of society checked: the race was saved.
And when the remainder of the work of purgation had been accomplished by fire and sword, and
the barbarous Goths had flooded the empire, there
was found vital energy sufficient in the vanquished
converts to regenerate their conquerors; and Europe started on that grand career, which, at the end
of fourteen centuries, we see her, and her scattered
descendants, still pursuing. Is not this a manifestation of the Spirit's power that should command
the world's admiration?
The Revival ceased; and sad declensions followed,
demonstrating that the human and the divine work
in the same sphere. "The servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not
thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence, then,
hath it tares?  He said unto them, An  enemy
hath dope this." *
e,  as  * ~Matt. xiii. 27, 28.
100 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
From the close of the fourth century to the
present day, we notice the constantly-repeated, and,
to a certain extent, effective resistance to decay and
destruction presented by the Spirit of God.
Nothing can be more unfounded than the inference, from the imperfection and intermittent feature of Revivals, that their origin is not divine.
Who denies that God made man, because he was
made capable of apostasy, and liable to sin, and
sure to sin, or because man abuses his faculties,
and effaces the godlike features from his soul?
Who maintains that God did not organize the
Church, because it has become, at times, a den of
thieves?   Or  who  reasons,  from  their perversion by man, that the family, the State, and
every other beneficent institution, are not from
God?
Whether we adopt, to account for it, the principle
of justice, or that of sovereignty, the case remains
the same. The Holy Spirit does affect the individual heart, and also whole bodies of men, differently
at different periods. Now the plenitude of his
power is felt: now man is left more fully to his
imbecility, his ignorance, his great adversary. The
reasons   for  religious  earnestness  remain  unchanged; but they cease to be felt by believers
as  impulses  to  aggressive  efforts  and  special
prayer:  the religious sensibilities of  the unconverted sink into the torpor of death.
In the spiritual life, both of individuals and com
I0I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
munities, there are varieties and fluctuations, advances and retrocessions.
But for this fact, a second Revival could never
occur; as there could be no spring, if there were no
winter. However, then, we blame declensions, the
censure must never attach to the Revival.
The Pentecostal Revival manifestly spread its influence through three or four centuries. Nor is it
certain that the eye of the historian may not yet
detect the living stream, uninterrupted in its flow
to the present day, hidden in the dark and tangled forests through which it has run, -here wide
as the earth; there creeping along its narrow channel, unnoticed by a godless world.
III. - HUMAN AGENCY.
Accepting the principle that a human and a
divine agency can occupy the same sphere, each
having its own place in the production of a common result, we find no embarrassment, either in
comprehending how man can be required to do
that, which, without the spontaneous action of the
Holy Spirit, he cannot accomplish, or in inducing
man to exercise the most complete feeling of dependence on the Holy Spirit, while putting forth
his entire personal power. Creation and redemption are the two forms of progress in the universe
which are accomplished by divine power alo)ne;
but development requires both divine power and
I02
9* 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
human co-operation. Beautiful are the analogies
of Nature and grace: beautiful occasions are found
in both for exercising a devout spirit of dependence, a fervent spirit of supplication, and a profound
sense of responsibility. The whole subject meets
us with powerful appeals to conscience, and to all
our nobler sentiments, abounding in the most
tender and urgent appeals to our piety and our
philanthropy, pressing us to engage in obtaining
Revivals.
In Providence and in grace much is done for
man without which his labors would be fruitless;
but in each a work is assigned to man as really
indispensable as that of the Almighty. In Providence, the power of God furnishes seedtime, and
the thousand forces necessary for the germination
of a stalk of wheat and its bearded ears; but man
must plough and sow and reap and grind and
bake, in order to have bread for his nourishment.
God must likewise make a covenant with Abraham,
a promise to David; fulfil them in the birth of
Jesus of Nazareth, give him to the death of the
cross, send forth his Word and Spirit to save men.
But each man's salvation is conditioned on his own
repenting and believing, which God will never do
for him. Sometimes the sovereignty of the Spirit
is made to appear very -distinct. Generally the
agency of man is made very prominent, even in
the early stages of the work.
The first stage in which man's action appears is
1o3 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
desire, more or less intense, for the unspeakable
blessing; one soul, at least, seeking supremely the
manifestation of the ineffable glory of God, or of
the loveliness of Christ to others, as the individual himself beholds it. Sometimes the loss of the
souls of others becomes an intolerable burden to
the heart. Its inquiry, by day and by night, is,
,How can they live on in sin, and bear eternally the
wrath of God?
Good men in the dark regions of Paganism,
from their point of view, saw enough in man's
moral condition to arouse in their hearts intense
desires to elevate their neighbors, if no others.
Confucius must have felt the workings of an intense
zeal to lift men out of the quagmire of immorality,
when he gathered all the wisdom of his ancestors
together, shaping it into maxims and precepts.
Socrates was really an apostle in spirit, a genuine martyr of truth, if not of Christianity. He
saw two facts of supreme importance, with that
clear, concentrated, vision, which may be compared
to the double-convex sun-glass, bringing to a burning focus the scattered beams of truth, and which
is the distinguishing feature of all true greatness.
He saw that the mind of man had been cheated
by the sophists; that truth was its aliment, its
vital breath; and he gave himself up with apostolic zeal to one single life-work, regardless of any
and all consequences to himself, unmoved by the
most terrible when he met it.
1o4 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
If the dim, scattered rays of truth which he
beheld so affected him, how ought we to feel and
act, on whom the Sun of righteousness has arisen
to shed his healing beams? This is the very starting-point of a Revival,- an intense desire in some
heart or hearts to have men awakened from the
fatal slumbers of unbelief, that they may walk in
the light of an eternal day.
To this desire succeed two movements, - the
one Godward; the other Manward. This burden
presses the soul to the footstool of sovereign grace
first, and then to seek for the lost, and to draw them
to Christ. Of the various forms which human
agency has successfully adopted, we will speak
when we come to the practical view of our subject.
At present, it may suffice to state the fact, that
man is an agent in Revivals. Paul speaks unqualifiedly of his agency in men's conversion, and calls
his converts his joy, his glory, and crown of rejoicing.
We then pass to notice, that, while man is a subordinate agent in this great work, he is limited to
one instrument.  That we now consider:
IV.- THE AGENCY OF THE GOSPEL.
Men are said to be quickened, regenerated, by
the truth, the word of God. There are two
classes of truths in the Bible,- the class that Na
105 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ture reveals, and introduced as subsidiary to the
other class; but this is such as "the natural man
discerneth," and is not by itself able to renew the
heart. The other class, supernaturally revealed to
us, and received by us, we call the gospel, - to the
Greek, folly; to the Jew, a stumbling-block; to the
redeemed, "the wisdom and power of God."
Now, which are those truths? On the right
classification and selection depends the main difference between a Pagan teacher and a Christian
preacher; between Plato and Paul. To exhibit only
natural religion is not preaching Christ.
A Scotch minister, in I740, gives the prominent
topics of his Revival-sermons. They are: regeneration; law and gospel mixed in the same sermon;
and the terrors of damnation. Mr. Whitefield mainly
presented these: original sin; justification byfaith;
regeneration, its nature, necessity; the person and
work of the Holy Spirit in conviction, conversion,
sanctification, and witnessing to the believer his
sonship and adoption.
While Edwards was preaching on the topic,
"Sinners in the hands of an angry God," men
could scarcely sit upon their seats under the
awful impressions he produced. The Wesleys
brought the mercy of God, the fulness, freeness,
blessedness, of salvation, in new aspects to the
minds of men. They preached a present, personal salvation.  Isaac Taylor says, "The Methodist preacher waked up" a consciousness toward
iio6
I 
THE THEOLOGY OF REVIVALS.
Almighty God, which gave a meaning to words
that had been unmeaning as used in the Liturgy
of the Church of England, - such as, "the wrath
of God, eternal damnation." The next point he
secured was the paternity of God to the individual. Individualizing characterized Whitefield.
The third element he described to be salvation, full,
free, and sovereignly bestowed, wrought and obtained for men by the Son of God; and which may
now, in this life, even in this very hour, be entered
upon and enjoyed by every one who thereto consents. The final element of Methodism, as presented by its first preachers, was evangelical
philanthropy, a brotherly love, and the missionary,
working, spirit of religion.
One preacher describes his preaching by its
prominent doctrines; another, by particular texts;
and another, by their characteristics.
Mr. Leonard, preaching in the Revival at Plymouth, Mass., in 1744, signalizes original sin, man's
spiritual blindness, his enmity against God, his
inability to save himself, the evil of sin, its eternal consequences, the sovereignty of God in renewing the heart, the person and attributes 6f
God, grace, redemption, justification by faith, faith
the gift of God, regeneration, as indispensable
themes.
To all these statements we may simply add the
glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ, his ineffable love to man.
Io7 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS
~ IV. -THE HISTORY OF REVIVALS.
We  are now to glance at one feature of the
entire history of our race, and endeavor to discover
what place Revivals of religion have occupied in it;
what part they have had in elevating the race;
how far the Spirit of the Lord has been pleased
to act powerfully on communities; and what forms
of Revival have characterized different periods of
history.
Under civico-religious Revivals we have placed
all those religious movements which have either
changed the outward form and action of the
Church, or removed some obstacles to her progress
that existed in the institutions or customs of surrounding society.
We are now to sketch a very rude outline of this
branch of our subject; for rude and defective it must
be, when so vast a topic, embracing such boundless
details of events, is to be presented within the
limited time alloted to this course of study.
The method adopted is sometimes to give the
general features of a particular Revival; sometimes
to expand it somewhat; and again, where a single
mind and heart, or a few of the born leaders of the
race, appear on the scene, to sketch their personal
history as the forming influence of the epoch.
We meet, then,
1. T/e Anlte-Mosaic Revivals. -The  first dis
lo8
i
i 
THE HISTORY OF REVIVALS.
pensation of grace to our fallen world came to
us in the form of family religion. This at length
yielded to, or expanded into, the patriarchal form;
and under that dispensation we have the mere hint
of one Revival extending beyond the family of one
man. We find it in the expression, "Then," that
is, in the day of the godly Seth, " began men to call
upon the name of the Lord."* Besides this, we have
a doctrinal Revival in Noah's emerging from the
ark to substitute the pure theism of antiquity for
the pernicious dogmas of the old polytheism.
Then we meet,
II  The Xewish Revivals, beginning at the period
of the Jews becoming a distinct national existence,
and their Church taking an organized form, -the
escape from Egypt under the guidance of Moses.
This was a distinct civico-religious Revival.
Moses was one of those men who embody in
their persons and personal histories the spirit of
an epoch. His natural endowments were very
peculiar. Like Washington, he was brilliant in no
one quality, grand in the massiveness and majesty
of his character and life, yet leaving our noble
deliverer far in the background in both personal
qualities and achievements.
He  was indeed a poet, a lawgiver, a judge, a
warrior, the founder of a State, the organizer of
the Jewish Church. But he is scarcely seen in the
grandeur of any one department of his character
IO           * Gen. iv. 26.
log 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
and achievements, because the whole is so unique,
so sublime.
We lose sight of his childhood and youth amid
the courtiers surrounding the throne of Pharaoh.
Imagination is left unobstructed and unaided by
any except one or two hints of his condition and
pursuits there. He evidently had, as the adopted
grandchild of the king, the entrye of the court.
Its pleasures, its honors, were probably all accessible to him as fully as to the children of Ham.
But we find two statements which mark very
definitely the outline of his course. Under his
mother's faithful guidance, he appears to have
chosen with unreserved purpose the living God for
his portion, however unpopular that might make
him at that idolatrous court. The whole round of
its pleasures and honors were to him utterly
unattractive when compared with the service of
Jehovah.
We learn, also, that he understood the grand
designs of God in reference to his people; and so,
thoroughly identified himself with them in their
enslaved and depressed state, rather than to reign
as a Pharaoh; "esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,...
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season."*
The other suggestion we find concerning his life
*  Heb. xi. 25, 2b.
IIo
I' 
THE HISTORY OF REVIVALS.
in Egypt, is, that he "was learned in all the wisdom  of the Egyptians," as well as "mighty in
words and deeds." This, then, exhibits him to us
in the learned circles of that land, and taking
rank with the leaders of the intellectual world.
He had both the wisdom of the world and the
direct revelation from God concerning man and
his relations to God.
In his mind was deposited the germinal truth
which has been the leaven fermenting and improving the world for more than thirty centuries,
saving it from stagnation and utter forgetfulness
of God. Well might the Psalmist mention among
the occasions of our thankfulness, this, that "he
made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto
the children of Israel."*
The unreflecting have not recognized the influence of that man's life and character on the world.
But we are feeling, this day, most effectively, in
every part of our mental being, the influence of
that one man, and of the Revival in which the
Lord called him to be the leader.
Deep in his spirit were the knowledge, love, reverence, and trust of Jehovah. Loving him, no other
love could divert him from the service of God;
trusting him, he dared undertake any task assigned
him, if we except the one case in which his faith
was not strong enough to overcome his diffidence
of himself. He could meet Pharaoh face to face;
* Psalm ciii. 7.
I I I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
he could fight the astrologers; he could risk his
life for Israel and Israel's God: but he could not
make a speech. Fearing the Lord had cast out
every other fear.
This man has stamped his name on the fountains and rocks of the Eastern world, and also in
the hearts of all that to us so singular people.
The Revival under his labors came, so far as he
was connected with it, after sixty years of prayer
and patient waiting, supposing him to have commenced in his twentieth year to comprehend, in
some degree, the divine purpose concerning Israel.
In the desert he waited and studied and prayed;
not eager nor restless, not discouraged nor selfwilled, but firmly expecting, earnestly praying, and
calmly waiting for God to move, and call him to
move.
As an ambassador of the King of kings, he
appeared before the mighty monarch of Egypt,
and produced a credential which the Egyptians
declared represented a God no way superior to
theirs. At length he brought forward the certificates which staggered the faith, or rather unbelief,
of the king and his councillors.
He then led his people forth, organized, defended, guided, instructed, judged, and prayed for
them.
The exodus was indeed a Revival. Its spirit,
its aims, its results, were high exhibitions of the
grace of God, and of his mercy to our apostate
II2
I
l 
THE HISTORY OF REVIVALS.
race. It was a Revival that constituted a nation
a church, that checked the career of a world rushing toward the abyss, that included the sublime
scenes on the summit of Sinai, where Jehovah
clothed himself in the symbols of his terrible
majesty, and man communed with his Maker face
to face, and began to form true conceptions of
God's moral government.
This Revival prepared the way for that ceremonial system which preached the gospel for fifteen
centuries before the facts that lie at the foundation of that gospel could enter the current of
events. It raised the multitude of slaves into the
rank of a people who should give birth and
training to the grandest race of men our earth has
borne: I mean the Jewish prophets, the Samuels
and Elijahs; the Isaiahs, Jeremiahs, Ezekiels, and
Daniels; Peter, John, and Paul,- men whose deeds
and words have so blessed the human race.
Never hesitate to call this one in the line of
Revivals, and to affiliate it with our own local Revivals; that and these abounding in human imperfections, but both alike purposed in heaven, given
in infinite mercy, carried forward by a supernatural
power, and contributing to bless the race of mankind, and lead the individual to eternal life.
When the desert-discipline was terminated, then
Joshua led the Church from her nomadic life to
possess her geographical station in the centre of
the then inhabited portion of the globe, as one
10*
II3 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
of the recognized nations of the earth, though very
exclusive in.character and customs.
This was a generation much superior to the
body which came from Egypt. Yet their settlement
in Canaan exhibits no special transition or Revivalfeatures; or, if any, a much smaller number than
we witness in the periods of their return from
exile. Under the Maccabees, religious patriotism
received a new impulse.
If we look for the Revivals distinguished by
quickened sanctification, we find them in the days
of Samuel, of David, Josiah and Hezekiah, Ezra
and Nehemiah.
But perhaps no period of the Jewish history
was marked with more peculiar features of religious interest than that in which its glory expired.
Under the preaching of the Lord's forerunner,
multitudes were awakened to a new apprehension
of their need of repentance; and they appear to
have turned to the Lord in great numbers.
But, before the Christian era, the doctrine of
regeneration had not been formulated, and scarcely
conceived by believers, although their prophets
had used this language: "Make you a new heart;"
"Renew a right spirit within me."
If men's hearts were renewed, it could not be
regarded by them, as it is by us who have heard
the Lord's declaration, that all men must be personally and radically changed in order to enter
the kingdom of heaven.
II4 
THE APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
We come, then, to
III.- THE APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
On the day of the ever memorable Pentecost
began the first Christian Revival; when the Spirit,
proceeding from the Son, according to the tenor of
his covenant with the Father, descended at Jerusalem, - first upon the disciples assembled and
praying for his coming; then upon the people,
convincing them of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and leading thousands to put their trust in
the crucified, risen, and glorified Redeemer.
This first Revival under the New Testament
dispensation, was, first, a quickening of faith and
zeal in the hearts of the one hundred and twenty
disciples. Then it became a Revival in the hearts
of the unconverted; all the.slumbering energies
of conscience being aroused. All the religious
aspirations, long quenched, were rekindled, and carried to the extent of radical spiritual renovation.
It was, at the same time, eminently a doctrinal
Revival; since the doctrines of Christianity were
proclaimed as never before.
The impulse of this Revival continued to be felt
through four centuries, Swelling, like a wave of
the sea, steadily onward, until the battle of the
Milvian Bridge put the sceptre in the hands of
Constantine, and destroyed thus the power of
Pagan persecution; and then the decree of Milan
I I5 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
pronounced the religion of the cross the religion
of the empire.
From that time conversions occurred frequently,
decreasing in intensity as they increased in numbers. Worldly influences had made it dangerous
to confess Christ; thus John declared that no man
could say that Jesus was the Messiah, but the
power of the Holy Ghost emboldening him. Now
this was all changed. Worldly motives led to the
profession of Christ's religion; and thus the Revival declined in the very triumph of the cause.
True piety now began to shrink from the public
gaze. The most godly men feared the effects of
Constantine's patronage. And the historian must
here date the great declension.
From time to time he will meet an Ambrose, an
Augustine, a Chrysostom, a Waldo, a Wickliffe, a
Huss; but they are rare.
However, amid the periods of deepest declension, the Lord never left himself without a witness.
There were probably, even then, men who faithfully held forth the word of life. Even then the
divine glories and the realities of redemption and
retribution, held up to the sinner's gaze, must have
been efficacious to thousands of whom we shall
never hear in this world. These stupendous realities must have turned many from their sins to their
Saviour, among all nations, - from the Chaldees in
Britain to the western boundary of Paganism.
II6
I
i
t
I
I 
FIFTH LECTURE.
We anr. now to consider, 
IV.- THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
We notice first,  I.  The Indirect  Revivals. - Those  we  harve
called politico-religious, began with the Reformation
of the sixteenth century, and have been repeated
in the Thirty-Years' War, and in various movements, already described, in Switzerland, England,
and Scotland. The moral reformations have been
directed to duelling, sabbath-breaking, intemperance, and slavery; none of them assuming any
large dimensions, except the last two.
The doctrinal Revivals began in the first century,
assuming one of four forms, - apologies, controversies, system and creed making, philosophic
construction.
These movements have been extended through
the entire space of the Christian centuries, embracing libraries of individual writings, and the
whole history of the early and mediaeval councils.
The order of these efforts it is sufficient to state
117 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
here.   The  apologetic writings  extend  to  the
death of Origen, in 254; the polemic, to 730; the
systematic, to 1 517; the attack on ecclesiastical
tyranny, or contest for freedom of thought, to I720;
the attempts to harmonize philosophy and the
doctrines of Christ, to our day.
2. Direct Revivals, among those of doubtful
value, are seen in the mediaeval zeal for church
architecture and ecclesiastical organization. But
pre-eminent among the genuine direct Revivals is
t/e quickening of tze spirit of benevolence.  We
find this, indeed, in the earliest records of the
Church, even in the history of the exodus, where
the zeal for public worship and the national welfare led to a generous bestowment of private
property on the erection of the tabernacle. The
statement is, "The children of Israel brought
a willing offering unto the Lord." * Perhaps it
was the first instance of those contributions,
become now so common, ever witnessed in the
world.
We meet the same quickening of public spirit,
religious zeal, and benevolence, in the reign of
David. The chiefs, princes, and rulers offered
willingly for the temple. "And they with whom
precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the  Lord....   Then  the
people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly,
because with perfect heart they offered willingly to
* Exod. xxxv. 29.
II8
t
i
II
I 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
the Lord; and David the king also rejoiced with
great joy." *
On a subsequent occasion, when the temple was
to be repaired, a proclamation was made, calling
for the voluntary contributions of the nation.
And it is said, "All the people and princes rejoiced, and brought in" t their money as long as
money was needed.
At the very opening of the Christian dispensation, the great Revival, under the first impulses of
the Spirit, which gave birth to Christianity, the love
of property was cut up by the roots; for the disciples having possessions sold them, and came and
laid them at the apostles' feet; and they thenceforward had all things in common.
The spirit of benevolence was quickened into
vigorous action frequently during the.middle ages.
We will not judge men's motives too severely, but
will believe that many a monastery, cathedral, and
chapel was an expression of genuine love to the
Saviour.
Sometimes we see this spirit moving spasmodically; sometimes forming itself into a habit, and
exercising itself systematically.   It builds  hospitals or refuges for various forms of infirmity
and want. Such characteristic monuments of the
Christian religion now adorn every land in which
the gospel has had time to mould the character
and habits of a people. London is more wonder
* I Chron. xxix. 8, 9.
lI9
t 2 Chron. xxiv. Io. 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ful in nothing than in the multitude and costliness
of these institutions. Some of them are contami nated with the mean selfishness of the old caste system. But even this does not prevent the purity
of the motive which founded them, while it indi cates the public sentiment of the age of their
endowment.
An eloquent orator, speaking of Mohammedan
Turkey, said, "Point me to the first effort that
Turkish barbarism ever made, since it encamped
in Constantinople," to create "great public benefits.
Point me to one single school or hospital it has
ever pretended to help."
Well may the Christian, in every country where
the gospel of Jesus is the controlling power, point
to its hospitals and houses of mercy, and say,
"These are the fruits of the gospel."
Sometimes this spirit of benevolence takes a
purely religious direction, and sends Bibles, missionaries, teachers, and tracts to those destitute of
the means of religious culture.
The opening of the nineteenth century witnessed
the dawning of a new era. The spirit of benevolence had, as already noticed, epochs of Revival
from an early period. But now it began to assume
a more broad, definite, and especially an organized
form.  The Moravians had already felt the sacred
fire burning in their hearts, and merely organized
their whole Church into a grand missionary society,
making beneficence one essential feature of piety,
120
I
i
i
i
I
I 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
but, to a wonderful extent, imitating the Saviour
in identifying themselves with fallen man in his
lowest condition.
So, too, Lady Huntingdon and the noble band
around her, who formed a living body by the grave
of the Established Church of England, had manifested this form of Christian zeal; this excellent
woman often leaving to herself but one dress, and
expending half a million dollars on her chapels and
preachers.
But the fullest development of organized benevolence must be traced to the Wesleys, and then to
the Baptists of England.
The spark from heaven fell on the Moravians,
the Methodists, and a few hearts within the pale of
the Baptist Church. Carey, a humble artificer,
felt the heaven-descended inspiration, and quickly
communicated it to kindred spirits. Then began
the organization of missionary, Bible, tract, and
other societies auxiliary to the Church of Christ;
or, rather, it was the Church herself organizing new
executive committees to superintend the aggressive
department of her work.
Through these well-conceived arrangements she
is now spreading the light of salvation to the ends
of the earth.
It is computed, that, since the beginning of this
century, two hundred million dollars have been given,
under the impulse of Christian benevolence, to make
the human race acquainted with their Redeemer.
II
I2I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
To the spirit thus engendered by the gospel and
the Holy Ghost, we owe the wonderful display of
generous sympathy presented by our citizens
toward the soldiers defending our government in
the late war.
At some of the missionary stations the same
form of Revival has been witnessed in most touching manifestations. For instance, in the Persian
mission, the Nestorian converts had been trained to
habits and principles of self-denying benevolence.
Early in I845 some mountaineers came down tc
beg  for clothing for their poor children.  The(
inquiry was then proposed to the pupils, "Who
will give her own garments, and wear poorer ones
until she can make others?" The responses were
many and prompt; and she was regarded the happiest who gave the best dress; some even weeping
that they had nothing they could give.
On one occasion the impulse of love came still
more powerfully upon this little church. It was
on the day of concerted prayer. One after another
of those simple-hearted people arose, prefacing his
donation by some quaint, fervent remark, showing
that an intelligent spirit of love for Christ and
men was predominant in their hearts. The remark
of one was, "If a man thrusts his hand into a pile
of gold, and gives it to God, is that a great thing
when he has filled his hand with the blood of his
Son, and given it to us?"
Before leaving this topic, let us observe the con
I22
. 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
firmation our examination thus far presents, of the
position that the religious sentiment of mankiitd is
progressively developed. We see that all the
graces of the Spirit are not prominent in any age;
that they come to view in groups, or singly, at
intervals of irregular duration; that, on the  hole,
there is a general progress or advance toward the
perfect spirit and image of Christ; and, finally,
that there is great room for progress, and therefore
for Revivals still. We pass now to consider in
a general way the genuine Revivals, which no
human pen can enumerate or describe. A glance
at them is all we can attempt. Let us begin with
merely naming the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the
Beghards, of the thirteenth century, the Moravians of the fifteenth century, and "The Friends of
God" of the sixteenth. The times were chaotic.
But the Itoly Spirit, like Noah's dove, found amid
the deluge of sin and the wrecks of the Church a
few spots on which he could alight. An association formed secretly, merely to escape the fangs of
the Inquisition, spread rapidly over the Rhenish
provinces. They found refuge in God. They had
eminent members in their ranks. Among these
were Tauler, Nicholas of Basle, the martyr, Nicholas of Strasburg, and the unnamed author of "Theologica Germanica;" a treatise which embodies
their sublime views and heavenly spirit, and of
which Chevalier Bunsen said, "I rank this short
treatise, with Luther, next to the Bible, but, un
123 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
like him, should place it rather before than after
Augustine. That school of pious, learned, and profound men, of which this book is, as it were, the
popular catechism, was the Germanic counterpart
of Romanic scholasticism, and more than the revival of that Latin theology which produced so
many eminent thinkers, from Augustine its father,
to Thomas Aquinas, its last great genius.
"The theology of this school was the first protest of the Germanic mind against the Judaism
and formalism of the Byzantine and medieval
churches, the hollowness of science to which
scholasticism had led, and the rottenness of society,
which a pompous hierarchy strove in vain to conceal, but had not the power nor the will to correct."
But prominent above all the Revivals of modern history stands the so-called Reformation of the
sixteenth century.
This movement was the fruit of an impulse
originating in more hearts than one, and centuries
before Zwingle or Calvin were born.
Dr. Ullmann remarks, "In one aspect it was a
fresh conception of the faith and doctrine of the
gospel, formed from a central point, then for the
first time  clearly and vividly recognized.  In
another aspect, however, it was also a great fact in
the history of the Church and of mankind, a conver.
sion of what before was only known and taught,
into action and reality,- a drama composed of
successive magnificent acts. It was only by the
I24 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
union and commixture of knowledge with action,
of faith with practice, that the Reformation became
what it really was, - a comprehehsive renovation of
the Christian life and spirit. For this reason we
find the Reformation preceded by two classes of
men." We may call them thinkers and actors.
The mystics had performed a great work. The
"Brethren of the Common Lot," Tauler, John Puffer, John of Wesel, Gerson, Berenger, Wickliffe,
Huss, Staupitz, Wittenbach, and many others, contributed to prepare Zwingle and Luther for their
task, and the world for their labors. Robert Hall
remarks, "The relation of the people to their rulers
was never explained on its just principles, till the
transfer of superstition to civil power shocked the
commorsense of mankind, and awakened their inquiries. They drew aside the veil; and, where they
had been taught to expect a mystery, they discerned
a fraud." Thus civil liberty sprung indirectly from
this purely religious movement.
Luther and his fellow-laborers are more generally known as expounders and defenders of doctrines, organizers of churches and ecclesiastical
institutions. But when churches and synods, and
all ecclesiastical machinery, shall be laid aside forever as mere scaffolding, when human systems
of theology shall have been superseded by the perfect revelations of heaven, then will remain the
other work they accomplished, now little appreciated by the world. They were wise to win souls;
II*
I25 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
and they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever. That is
the work which eternity will stamp with its own
deathless  endurance.  A  large  portion  of  the
labors of Calvin, Knox, and Zwingle was expended
in guiding the lost to their Saviour.
Wherever the light of the blessed Reformation
penetrated with its distinct exhibition of the doctrine of justification by faith, which Rome had so
long concealed, dead souls were brought to life,
sinners turned co the Lord.
The Reformation, at first, was mainly a doctrinal
conflict; yet as soon as the fainting hearts of
thousands felt the breath of this glorious truth,
salvation by grace, they revived. Then came that
highest form of Revivals, that spiritual work to
which the term is popularly confined. Very soon,
however, followed the declension from that high
condition, - first into intellectualism, then formalism and ecclesiasticism, and religious politics.
But, as a spiritual Revival, the Reformation was
a magnificent movement, splendidly described in
D'Aubign6's popular history of it.
Within a century from its origin the mighty
current had settled down in its newly-formed
channels; and the great work of personal awakening and conversion was reduced to a more limited
scale. The Church then declined in spirit, in
some cases hardened in its new mould. But it
never retrograded so far as to restore the old bar
126 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
riers which had obstructed the kingdom of Chrisi
and the work of his Spirit.
Let us, then, glance at the more limited quicken
ings which have followed that great convulsive
action of the Providence, Word, and Spirit of our
ascended Lord.
The impulse transformed many who still remained within the pale of the Latin Church. For
instance, men have never beheld a purer, sweeter
light than that which beams forth from that Roman
Catholic retreat, Port Royal, the home and sanctuary of Pascal, Arnauld, Nicole, De Sacy, Tillemont, La Mere Angelique, and Jacqueline Pascal.
Thus Vinet speaks of them, "Perhaps there has
been, in certain races, an illustrious moment, a
single moment in which the type of the race
slightly elaborated, having reached the degree of
energy and perfection to which it was destined,
deposits on two or three medallions its distinct and
strong imprint, and then is broken forever. Such
it appeared in Blaise and Jacqueline Pascal, two
precious vases, which were broken by the very
force of truth and genius and sentiment, bubbling
up as melted metal within them.
"Their envelope was found to be too frail, and
perhaps every one would have been, to resist the
internal forces. Blaise died at thirty-nine; Jacqueline, at thirty-six.  To give the world grand
and imperishable examples, this brief period sufficed them. WVe doubt if we ever have found
127
I
i
I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
anywhere a chaiacter of man, or even woman,
more accomplished than that of Jacqueline."
In I233 a Cistercian convent had been founded
a few miles from Paris. This became the seat of
these famous Port Royalists, -a company of the
most learned and godly men and women then in
France. Their great effort was to revive religion
in its purity, to cultivate the human intellect in the
most thorough manner.  They were crushed with
the Jansenist party, by the Jesuits; but their history, their labors, their influence, are as enduring
as the nation, as the race.
We may cite the cases of Dr. Caesar Malan, and
Merle D'Aubigne in Geneva, as illustrating this
form of Revival, which consists chiefly in the
quickening of the desire of personal holiness, taking on a social but scarcelyan aggressive form.
The Puritan movement partook largely of this;
developing such piety as that of Howe, Owen and
Baxter, Leighton and Bunyan.
The first stages of the Revival in Oxford University, that embraced the Wesleys in its influence,
is another instance of it, though it early took on
the aggressive form.
To these may be added the history of "the Clapham Sect," as they have been called; embracing the
Wilberforces, Simeons, Thorntons, and Sharpes,
men who sought, amid the crushing and stifling
formality of the Anglican Church, to escape to a
spot where they might breathe the pure air of
x28
i
iI 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
a living piety, and, amid the dominant selfish policies of the British Government, make the interests
of the planter yield to the higher demands of justice and humanity.  The "Practical Christianity"
written by Wilberforce was an index of that
Revivel which had made its reprisals within the
circle of wealth, culture, and fashion.
But we must be content with a mere sketch of
any part of our subject.
We must also notice the great religious movement in Germany, nicknamed Pietism.
After Luther's decease, came on that declension,
which is so natural, that only supernatural influence will ever prevent its recurrence; the human
heart being constantly exposed to a force of gravitation resembling that which the body feels,- spirit
gives way to form, heart to intellect. The faith of
the understanding had come to be regarded as the
essence of piety.
But the Spirit of the Lord, amidst the horrors
of the Thirty-Years' War, and the deadness of a
backsliding Church, had moved on the heart of
one man, who uttered his thoughts in a work
entitled "The Watchman's Voice."  This fell as a
spark of fire on the heart of Gerhardt: from
him the fire spread to John Arndt, -both men
of eminent qualities. But it remained for Spener
and Francke to bring the Revival into existence.
Their movement was essentially one of spiritual
life, to which thought was subordinate. So far as
129 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
they framed a theory, it may be thus stated:
Faith must precede and limit reason. Scholastic
divinity must give place to the direct and devout
study of revelation.   Polemic divinity must hold
an inferior place in the studies of the pastor.
Pagan philosophy and classical learning cannot
lead to the discovery of soul-nourishing truth: they
simply aid in the utterance of it. Usefulness must
be the supreme aim of the theological student.
But Pietism was eminently practical; in this,
contrasted with mysticism. Boehme and Spener
were alike in the purity of their hearts, but utterly
unlike in action. Spener, for instance, took up
the catechising of children, and gave it a new
character. He introduced a new style of preaching, reducing the sublime truths of Christianity to
the comprehension of peasants, training theological students to his own views and course, and
introducing laymen of piety, judgment and gifts,
into a course of unofficial preaching.
The University of Halle had been founded in
the interests of spiritual religion; and it now
became the fountain of a new life to Germany.
And Francke's Orphan House will ever stand a
refutation of the objection made to its founder,
that he was visionary and mystical. Arnold and
Peterson made many extravagant demonstrations,
we admit. But though Judas was a traitor, yet
Christianity was heaven-defended; and Pietism
had the same origin.
130 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
From Spenev and Francke the impulse went
forth over Germany, and reached as far as England. Conservatives exclaimed, "This work belongs to the Church;" ignorant of the fact that
great reforms, in their first stages, are always personal, and not ecclesiastical.
Envy, formalism, conservatism, and ecclesiasticism, as in every age, set themselves to overthrow this new organization; but it met at length
that more formidable foe, the gravitation of which
I have spoken. And perhaps we may say that
every reform accomplished by man must be selflimited; that no man may glory in man or institution, in names or parties, but he that glorieth
may glory in the Lord alone.
Even Halle became rationalistic; and Pietism
degenerated into intellectualism.
But we cannot leave the German field without
an allusion to another quickening of spiritual life
there.    Schleiermacher, in whom  the  religious
spirit had been early developed among the Moravians, became the fountain of a new life to his
country. With a commanding intellect, he came
on the field to combat the rationalist with weapons
from his own armory. His discourses on religion,
addressed to its despisers, quickened thousands
into a new life.
Neander's testimony I quote: "Schleiermacher
had touched a note, which, in the minds of youth,
was sure to send forth its melody over the land.
13' 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Men were led back into the depth of their hearts,
to perceive here a divine drawing which might lead
them beyond even that which the author of this
impulse had expressed with distinct consciousness."
The Reformation affected Scotland, perhaps,
more profoundly than any other land. It raised up
a body of preachers of eminent fidelity and power.
At their head, in many respects, stands John
Knox; though Wishart, under whose ministry
Knox was converted, was more eminent in spiritual labors than  Knox.   Rutherford,  Gillespie,
Walsh, and many others, were Boanerges.
There are in the history of the Scottish people
some scenes of the most sublime character, especially in the sixteenth century. The Revivals of
that period resemble those of the first and second
centuries, in which, to become a convert was to
make ready for the stake. There is nothing superficial or shallow in such Revivals. The Scotch
were made by them a martyr-nation.
On the twenty-eighth day of February, I638,
Scotland renewed the covenant with her God. The
wisest and the best of her sons and daughters were
assembled at Grayfriar's Church in Edinburgh.
They filled the church and the surrounding graveyard. "Henderson opened the meeting with a wonderful prayer, in which the dense multitude with
breathless reverence and awe responded, as if each
man felt himself alone in the presence of the Hearer
I32 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
of prayer. After a few remarks from the Earl of
Loudon and others, the venerable Earl of Sutherland stepped forward, and, with throbbing heart
and trembling hand, signed Scotland's covenant
with the Lord." From that hour the breath of the
Lord came afresh upon the entire land. It was
the banner erected for Jehovah-Jesus, the gauntlet
cast at the feet of a tyrannical hierarchy and a
persecuting throne.
Sobbing and triumphant shouting told the struggle in the hearts of that multitude. Some placed
after their signature the significant words,  "Till
death;" and some even opened their veins, and
signed the covenant with their warm blood.
Oh! such days and scenes are the redeeming periods of human existence, the brightest that history
presents. The historian remarks, "Never, except
among God's peculiar people, the Jews, did any
national transaction equal in moral and religious
sublimity that witnessed on this memorable day."
It was the culminating point of a national Revival.
There had been local quickenings before this day.
One of the most remarkable was that of Shotts,
eight years before this great day of national covenanting.
According to the usage of the people, there was
a great assemblage of the members of churches
for miles around this village. The communionservices of Sunday had been so impressive, that the
people were unvwilling to have them closed. John
12
I33 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Livingston, chaplain of the Countess of Wigton,
then only twenty-seven years old, was prevailed
upon, after much. solicitation, to preach on Monday.
He passed the night of Sunday in prayer and conference. Being alone in the fields, about eight o'clock
on Monday morning there came upon him such misgiving, such a sense of unworthiness and unfitness to
speak before so many aged and eminent ministers
and Christians, that he started to go to a neighboring
town. But courage was given him at that moment
when he was almost out of sight of the town.
He returned, and preached. His text was in
Ezek. xxxvi. 25: "Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shall be clean. A new heart
will I give you." He was in that frame which
brings the preacher right to the hearts of his hearers, manifesting itself by three signs,-loftiness
of conception, self-possession, and tender sympathy. The first elevates, expands, and animates the
speaker; the second makes him master of his vehemence; the third, while it keeps him in living
contact with the hearers, so as not to get out of
their range of thought and feeling, enables him to
seize on things local and obvious, and even personal, to make parables or comparisons which convey sublimest truths to minds of every grade.
Mr. Livingston had what the Scotch called
"great enlargement and melting of heart." A
shower coming up, and causing the people to put
on their cloaks and mantles, he seized the incident
134 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
with great effect, exclaiming, "Oh, if a few drops of
rain from the clouds so discompose you, how discomposed will you be, how full of horror and despair, if
God shall rain upon you fire and brimstone, as upon
Sodom and Gomorrah!" This does not affect us as
we now repeat it; but we are not at Shotts on that
day. The arrows of the Spirit are in just such words,
uttered seasonably and suitably; the effusions of a
heart fully impressed with the truths revealed in
Scripture. And feeble is the rhetoric, and shallow
the philosophy, that affect to despise them.
Mr. Fleming, whose opportunities of forming a
correct estimate were peculiar, and who was distint,guished for integrity, states, that, of the multitude
of divers ranks there assembled, "near five hundred had, at that time, a discernible change wrought
on them, of whom most proved living Christians
afterward. It was the sowing of a seed through
Clydesdale; so as many of the most eminent Christians in that country could date, either their conversion, or some remarkable confirmation of their
piety, from that day."
It may be a useful lesson to you as preachers of
the gospel to add here a leaf from Livingston's journal. Speaking of this sermon on Monday, he says,
"I was led on, in about an hour's time, in a strain
of exhortation and warning, with such liberty and
melting of heart as never before.  Some little of
that stamp remained on Thursday after, when I
preached at Kilmarnock. But the very Monday
I$5 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
following, preaching in Irvine, I was so deserted,
that the points I had meditated and written,
and had fully in memory, left me. So it pleased
the Lord to counterbalance his dealings, and to
hide pride from man." His first impulse was
never to preach again, at least in Irvine. But
Mr. Dickson persuaded him to stay, and, as he expressed it, "get amends of the Devil." He remained there, and preached with some freedom. I
would venture the suggestion, that nervous exhaustion, after such a draft on the sensibilities, often
lasts longer than from Monday to Thursday.
In I625 a Revival commenced in Stewartson,
which, for five years, spread its hallowed influence
over that section of Scotland. In'I628 a solemn
fast was observed by the people, in which the power
of the Holy Spirit was greatly manifested. At
the same time a Revival was experienced in the
north of Ireland.
But it was reserved to the eighteenth century to
begin the era of Revivals, which, we may hope,
will never cease, until all prophecy shall have been
fulfilled, and the kingdoms of this world shall have
become the kingdoms of our Lord.
In Great Britain and in America, the spirit of
godliness had fearfully declined. The complaints
of the few faithful ministers then living in both
lands are painful to read, even at this remote day.
Archbishop Leighton speaks of the Church as a
fair carcass deserted of its spirit. Isaac Taylor
136 
THE POST-APOSTOLICAL REVIVALS.
says, that, when the Methodist movement began,
"The Anglican Church was an ecclesiastical system, under which the people of England had
lapsed into heathenism, or a state hardly to be distinguished from it."
Of Scotland, the Rev. Mr. Robe declared, "Our
defection from the Lord, and backsliding, increased
fast to a dreadful apostasy. While the government, worship, and doctrine established in this
Church, were retained in profession, there hath
been a universal corruption of life, reaching even
unto the sons and daughters of God."
Of New England, Increase Mather said, in I702,
"0 New England, New England! tremble, for the
glory is going: it is gradually departing." In
I72i he says, "0 degenerate New England! what
art thou come to at this day? How are those sins
become common in thee, that once were not so
much as heard of in this land!"
Out of this darkness burst forth light. Simultaneously on this country, England, and Scotland,
the Holy Spirit descended in his renewing power.
Early in the century (in I704), there had been a
limited Revival of considerable power in Taunton in
this State; but it was not until nearly half the century had passed, that the Revivals assumed almost
a national character in those three countries.
We shall enter into some of the details of these
Revivals in the biographical sketches of a future
lecture.'
I[.
x37 
SIXTH LECTURE.
HISTORY OF REVIVALS (continued).
WHEN the Lord compared his kingdom to a
mustard-seed, he probably had in view these three
features of its history, -it was always to retain its
vitality, and capacity of growth; generally to be
growing; but that growth to be constantly varying with the soil and climate of each period and
locality.
Christianity is always living, generally advancing; yet its progress is marked by very varied
manifestations of the power it contains, and by
various degrees of rapidity at successive periods
and in different places. To the eye of science, the
forest not only retains its life in winter, but is
actually growing. To the eye of faith, there have
always been life and advance in the kingdom of
God, even, for instance, when the temple was a
smouldering ruin, and Israel a captive in Pagan
Babylon; even when the stone was set against the
door of Jesus' sepulchre, sealed with Caesar's signet, and watched by a Roman guard.
In our day, this progress meets the eye of sense.
138 
LATER REVIVALS.
We live in the era of visible advance, and therefore
of Revivals.  It had been declared, "When the
enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the
Lord shall lift up a standard against him."  Our
colonial troubles, including the French war, and
the war that secured our independence, had distracted the people's minds, accustomed them to a
disregard of the sabbath, and interrupted the regular ministrations of the pulpit. Then rolled in the
tide of scepticism from France, the more easily
yielded to by our people, because they had just
formed a special affection for the country of La
Fayette. Voltaire and Volney and Paine were
welcomed by leading minds as emancipators from
religious tyranny, the proper sequel of political
emancipation. As Thomas Jefferson rose in the
public estimation, infidelity advanced with rapid
strides  under his  powerful  patronage.    Secret
societies of the Illuminati were at work, propagating the writings of European sceptics.
The sky was growing black. To some it seemed
as if the eternal night was settling down upon the
world.
But the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard;
and around it rallied the noblest spirits of the land.
Edwards the younger, Bellamy, Backus, Strong,
Porter, Hooker, Dwight, Hyde, Mason, Davis,
Livingston, Waddell, the Tennents, were prominent
standard-bearers.   In  Yale  College,  President
Dwight, by the =race of God, turned the tide of
I39 
LECrURES ON REVIVALS.
battle. Scepticism shrank back into its concealment, under his luminous and eloquent attacks.
His sermons, powerful then, are indeed not adapted
to the phases infidelity has now assumed. Each
age must forge its own weapons, in part at
least.
From about A.D. I740 to the present day, the
Revivals have been mainly, though not exclusively,
distinguished  as  seasons  of  conversion.   The
Church, from the days of President Edwards, has
been awaking to a higher appreciation of her
responsibility, and her privilege to lead men to
Christ, and to help them find the path to eternal
life. Probably doctrinal views have been also so
far modified by the comparison of thoughts in our
various religious periodicals as to have removed
that class of obstacles to conversion which the pulpit once presented.   And certainly there is an
advance in those qualities of preaching which have
most direct relation to this result.
During the last century, at the period of that
great work of infinite grace in these colonies, while
the admiring attention of Christians in Europe was
turned to this country, in Scotland the same grace
was manifested. "Perhaps," Dr. Humphrey remarks, "no work in Scotland has borne richer
fruits than this of the eighteenth century, in which
McCulloch, Whitefield, Robe, Bonar, and Hamilton
bore so conspicuous a part." In England we meet
the remarkable movement in the little band of
140 
LATER REVIVALS.
Oxford students, the beginning of one of the most
important series of events in our age of wonders.
When the Wesleys and Whitefield left their
cloistered retreat, and entered the field, joined by
Fletcher, Romaine, Berridge, Madan, and kindred
spirits, Britain felt that the kingdom of the Lord
was coming among her people in power and great
glory.   The  low and the lofty bowed  together
before the King of kings, the Saviour of men,here the colliers of Kingwood; there the Countess
of Huntington, the Lady Chesterfield.
But the range of these several Revivals was
limited; for, during this brilliant period, the rest of
the civilized world was slumbering in spiritual torpor. Dark night had settled over the entire continent, with here and there a glimmering spark, as
among the Pietists and the Moravians.
In the present century, Revivals have been
experienced in Russia, Sweden, in fact every Protestant country of the world, but nowhere, as in
America, so free, so extensive in their influence,
so powerful in moulding the national character.
Almost every State has been visited with the
quickening influences of the holy Spirit in the form
of Revival.
In the Sandwich Islands, Africa, India, Persia,
Syria, Asia Minor, similar blessings have been
enjoyed.
About A.D. I812 the Rev. Mr. Nettleton commenced his remarkable course as an evangelist
I4r 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
and a laborer in Revivals; in which service he continued with eminent success for many years. He
was distinguished for his plain, earnest dealing
with the human heart, his humble dependence on
God, and his ingenious invention of measures to
make the truth reach the will, and bring the reluctant sinner to a right decision. About the year
I825 the Rev. Mr. Finney commenced his remarkable labors, and for forty years has continued to
preach in Revivals, having, perhaps, been instrumental of more conversions than any man since
Mr. Whitefield's day.
Other evangelists have labored with various
degrees of success in Britain and America.
The years I840, I857, and i865 have been favored by glorious influences of God's Spirit in our
land; and I859 was a year of grace to Ireland.
In I839 and I840 the labors of the Rev. Jacob
Knapp were crowned with signal blessings in
Baltimore, New Haven, Hartford, and Boston.
Complaints were heard of the superficialness of
conversions  under his ministry.   But following
him as I did, in I839 and I840, in Baltimore, New
Haven, and Hartford, I am able to testify, that, in
all those places, men's religious sensibilities had
been deeply moved. I found the ground ploughed
for the seed, and the harvest ripe for the sickle.
In I837 men's minds had been compelled to
recognize the vanity of mere earthly hopes. The
enormous annihilation of property by the fire of
.42 
LATER REVIVALS.
1835 in New York hastened on the financial crisis,
which in I837 made men stand aghast, as if the
earth were an island of ice in mid-ocean, melting
from beneath their feet. This convulsion was followed by the action of the Holy Spirit, turning
their attention to higher interests; and in 1840 the
sacred wave swept over large sections of the land.
In I857 occurred another financial convulsion.
A humble believer in New York opened a prayermeeting for men in trade, at noon. There the
fire burst forth, and spread in every direction.
Churches were daily filled with praying men who
had not been familiar with such places and services.
The Free Academy, a theatre, rooms in warehouses and hotels, were daily scenes of humble
praise and prayer. Denominational walls crumbled
to the earth before the heaven-descended impulse.
Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, and other large
towns,  shared  the  blessing.   The  Janes  Hall
prayer-meeting in Philadelphia will forever remain
a monument on the page of history of the power
of our exalted Redeemer, who promised to send
from his throne the spirit of conviction, of faith, of
praise and prayer. Secular papers reported daily
the triumphs of Zion's King.
The Church of Christ was greatly strengthened
by this work of the Spirit.
In I857 a very extraordinary convention was
held in Pittsburg, a convention on Revivals. It
continued in session three days - considering the
143 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
means, the hinderance, the encouragements, - in
an earnest, humble, and prayerful spirit.
The convention, by a circular, recommended the
preaching on this subject by all pastors on the
first Sunday in January, the frequent conversing
of believers on the topic, personal visitation, and
much special prayer. This advice was extensively
followed, and the Thursday following that Sunday
devoted to prayer.   Dr. Prime says, that, as a
result, "the public mind was thoroughly aroused."
We turn now to the Revival in Ireland. Hu manly speaking, the hope of that unhappy country
is in the inhabitants of the northern counties,
popularly known as the Scotch-Irish, because
descended from English and Scotch Protestants.
They have a pure gospel, and an open door for it.
This work was not sudden in its origin. Its
beginnings can be traced back many years. But it
assumed a definite form under the labors of four
young men living remotely from each other, but
meeting in a central schoolhouse for conference
and prayer. There the kingdom of God began to
come in power; reaching Belfast, the counties
Down, Derry, Tyrone, Armaugh, Monaghan, and
Cavan.   It is said that the  Revival  penetrated
with much power into the Roman Church, producing many noble specimens of Christian steadfastness; converts who proved, amid severe trials of
their faith, that they had found in Christ the Rock
of salvation.
144
I
I
k
II
} 
LATER REVIVALS.
Prof. Gibson remarks, that it closely resembled
the Revival in Jerusalem in these features: "the
converts held fast their profession; were steadfast
in doctrine, continuing in fellowship; delighting in
breaking the symbolic bread, continuing instant
in prayer; fear falling on every soul; oneness of
interest."
He remarks, "Till the Revival came, we had no
adequate conception of such a social state as is
described by Luke:'And they, continuing daily
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and
having favor with all the people.' * But we can
now in some measure understand it. The difficulty now is, not to bring the people to the sanctuary,
but to induce them to retire from its cherished precincts; an abounding and pervasive joy manifesting itself in open-hearted hospitality, and welcome
given to the brethren in Christ; the very countenance irradiated as by a beam of heavenly glory;
the every-day life a psalm of praise; and the adorning of the doctrine of God our Saviour so palpable
and attractive as to win all hearts, constraining
even the impenitent to accord the tribute of esteem and admiration. These are the indications
of a higher tone and a holier brotherhood than
have been generally exemplified in the Church."
England has been favored with limited awaken                   * Acts ii. 46, 47.
13
145 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ings within the century. Remarkable men have
been raised up, whose labors have been crowned
with great success. And yet the manifestations
of divine power have been much more limited than
in this country, and in connection with the labors of
the Methodists, than in the last century. In many
portions of the Continent, there have been awakenings of religious sentiment; and especially that in
Germany, resulting in introducing Baptist churches
there. In France, too, there have been religious
movements of deep interest, of which this is one result: at the beginning of the present century, there
was but one evangelical preacher in Paris, where
now there are many. The work of grace began
in a southern department, and at length reached
the capital.   To-day there are, perhaps, a thousand preachers of the pure gospel in the empire;
and the evangelical churches are carrying forward
a grand system of home-mission work.
Among the blessed effects of the Revival in
Great Britain in 1792, we may notice as prominent
the impulse given to the brothers Haldane of
Scotland. Robert sold his estate for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The income from
this was thirty thousand dollars, of which he spent
two thousand dollars on himself, and twenty-eight
thousand dollars in the work of his Master. The
brothers labored in Great Britain with unwearied
zeal, proclaiming Christ from place to place. And
in Geneva, Switzerland, they gave a ne'v character
x46 
LATER REVIVALS.
to the theological school under the instruction of
Merle d'Aubigne'. And to theirlabors, under God,
Caesar Malan, and other eminent ministers of the
gospel in the Swiss Church, owe their conversion.
In Italy a work of great importance has followed the political revolution. The Revival was
modified by the peculiar character and circumstances of the people; but it has moulded thousands into the image of Christ, and secured the
formation of evangelical churches in every part of
that beautiful land from which the tyranny of the
pope has been banished.
This superficial sketch of these operations of
the Holy Spirit in our world would hardly be complete, even as a sketch, did we omit to notice
another feature of them.
They are connected in America intimately with
educational institutions, as nowhere else in the
world. Indeed, it is the glory of our schools, that
God has so recognized the purposes of our fathers
in establishing the system of public education.
Pro Cliristo et ecclesia is the spirit of our whole
educational system as received from them. And
God  has  accepted  the  offering.   His  seal  is
upon our colleges, academies, and theological
schools. It has been well remarked concerning
them, "There are very few churches in which Revivals and conversions have been so frequent and
so numerous: there are few communities in which
so large a proportion of the population, especially
147 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
of the young men, are professors of religion as in
the colleges of New England and the Northern
States."
Here is a tabular statement of Revivals:
Yale        36, resulting in at least 1,2oo00 conversions.
Dartmouth  9,       "       "    "    250        "
Middlebury I2,
Amherst    12,    "         " 4        350 
And thus we might run through the history of
our colleges, and find striking evidence of God's
special blessings on them. Mt. Holyoke Seminary
has never passed a year without a Revival. Who
can compute the result and the effect of this on
the history of our country? Will it not powerfully affect the national character and its influence
on the world?
Among these converts are many who have occupied the highest positions in our churches and the
missionary field.
These seasons of divine visitation have extended
their influence through the intervening periods
that separated them, and have given to our schools
and colleges a healthful tone. In a word, it has
pleased the God of all grace, by means of Revivals
in these institutions, to secure, to an extent no
where else known, a sanctified intellect to guide
the public affairs, and form the character of the
nation.
In Amherst College, as an example, of four
I48 
LATER REVIVALS.
hundred and thirty-five who have become preachers
of the gospel, one hundred had been converted in
college. About one-fourth of the alumni of Williams College, who entered the pastoral office
during a period of twenty-five years, were converted in college.   The same is true of Dartmouth
College.
Here, then, is the glory of these periods of
religious transformation and progress, that, in so
many cases, they are an emerging from darkness
and spiritual torpor, a return of the Church from
more than Babylonish captivity.   They are the
quickening buds of spring ripening into blooming, glorious summer, followed by the rich, fruitful
autumn of the Church's years and centuries.
But we may not leave this historical sketch
without distinctly remarking, that our day is characterized by a Revival of peculiar features. It is
peculiar in the breadth of the field it occupies,
the progressive character it assumes, the class of
minds it most deeply affects, and the means by
which it is promoted. It is not a quickening of a
church or a town, a state or a nation; it is not a
quickening of personal piety; it does not directly
secure a single conversion to God: but it is a
Revival, for it comes from the action of the Holy
Ghost upon both the disciples and the enemies of
Christ, affecting mainly only the earnest thinkers
in each class.
It has been  denominated  "the  Christological
I49 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Revival." It is a doctrinal quickening. The archenemy has discovered, that, so long as men retain
their confidence in Christ, his own cause cannot
so far prevail.  The  efforts of his servants are
accordingly directed to destroy the belief in the
participation, by the Son, in the essence of the
Godhead.   Prof. H. B. Smith says, "The whole
Christian and even anti-Christian literature of
Germany, France, England, and America, is teeming with volumes bearing upon this point. The
sum and substance of the main theological investigations in Germany may be said to consist in
denying Christ the place assigned him by the
Church.   The  problems of thought, of faith, of
history, of speculation, are gathered up into the
dilemma, - Christ, or something else." He cites
as prominent in this great movement of the human
mind, "Ecce  Homo," "Ecce Deus," "Christ and
Christendom," "Liddon's Lectures;" and I know
not why he omits to say Strauss and Renan. He
remarks, that "truth was never, in its living reality,
more earnestly sought. Metaphysical theology is
indeed less regarded; merely critical and deistic
theories have lost their controlling power; but the
real, living, essential principles of the Christian
faith were never more deeply loved or more thoroughly pondered."
This Revival, I have said, is peculiar in its
extent and its duration, embracing the thinkers on
both sides of the Atlantic, growing in power from
13*
I50 
LATER REVIVALS.
year to year, and, if it continues its advance, will
probably usher in a Revival in the form of personal
transformations of character such as the world has
never witnessed. All these intellectual struggles,
these profound researches into the mine of revelation, this continued, intense contemplation of the
glorious Redeemer by the leading minds of the
world, certainly foreshadows great events.
Nor can we leave this glance at the history of
Revivals without taking you to a still different
point of view, -the borders of a land, which, while
we dare not cross its frontier, ever holds us gazing,
questioning, and wondering.   The present state
of the Jewish mind is deeply interesting. Hope
deferred, and accumulating evidence that he who
was born in Bethlehem-Ephratah is the Messiah,
are awaking portions of that degenerate race
from the torpor of eighteen centuries. But there
are, from age to age, some wonderful movements
in the Pagan world. When the word of God
affirms that all men are under the curse and the
power of sin, and that faith in Christ is the only
way of emancipation, we infer that there can
be no true Revival wherever that Word is not
found.   And yet when we  read the history of
Socrates, and observe that his life was consecrated,
just as that of Paul, to the moral improvement of
mankind, with the most profound humility and
self-renunciation; and at length conquering death,
not by the Stoic's proud insensibility to pain and
I51 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
privation, but by a moral victory; and when we
see what a spiritual quickening his life, labors, and
martyrdom produced in others, we must confess
our inability to name it. It was not a Revival,
because, while it was pure and genuine in both
spirit and aim, it lacked the moral impulses and
intellectual elements which the gospel supplies.
In this historical sketch some biographical passages have been introduced as a part of the narrative. We will now select the names of a few great
leaders of the Christian Church, and call your
attention to the lessons which their lives furnish
on the great topic we are studying. Whatever
repetition it may cause of the incidents before
stated will not hinder, but may aid, our acquaintance with the subject.
These men may be ranked in two classes in
reference to their relations to Revivals. Every
case of spiritual quickening was caused by a divine
influence on the mind, thrbugh the pure doctrines
of the Word. But some men are quickened in the
direction of sentiment; while others are turned to
investigation, and some to preaching, - " diversity
of operations, but one Spirit." As Ullmann remarks in regard  to the  Reformation, "Unless
founded upon doctrines genuinely Christian, derived
from a legitimate source, and embraced with deep
and experimental conviction, or, in other words,
152 
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS.
upon a new and purified faith, such a drama could
have had no true significance, taken no certain hold,
and must have passed fruitless away. On the other
hand, unless faith and doctrine had been immediately carried out into action and reality, both of
these must have continued as before, confined
chiefly to the domain of sentiment, or the school;
and no church reform, reaching the people, would
have ensued."
Therefore, he argues, a set of men was needed
to work out, in tranquillity and obscurity, the great
principles for which the reformers were to contend, even unto blood, -comparatively few, but
these indispensable. A thousand men construct a
railway: a thousand millions may travel on it. We,
accordingly, shall place the Revivalists in two
classes; glancing at the history and character of
the greater portion, and dwelling more minutely
upon a few.
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS.
By the practical men alone, it has been well observed, the Reformation never could have been
achieved, for two reasons. The reformer and the
practical Revivalist must, in the first place, himself be moulded for his work by some laborer preceding him; and then, also, he must find other
minds prepared by the same agency, even though
to a more limited degree, to appreciate and appro.
priate his labors.
-.153 
LECrURES ON REVIVALS.
There must be, for the mighty conflicts with
Satan, one class who dig in the mines, and forge
the weapons, as well as another class who put on
the armor, and use it. We are now searching out
the former. In other words, there have been men
of study, and men of deeds, in this work of recovering our world to God: sometimes both combined
in one; more frequently either department has
been sufficient for the energies of any one man.
There is, indeed, a difficulty in attempting to assign the preparatory work of Revivals to individuals. Only the omniscient eye has traced the path
of many a miner, digging amid darkness and solitude, in the deep hiding-places of truth, to furnish
the material for the weapons of the champions
who afterward appear full-armed on the battlefield. When the Lord said to his disciples,
"Other men have labored, and ye are entered into
their labors," his thought embraced all that noble
class, whether known or unknown to fame.
All we can now attempt is to cheer our hearts
by calling up the memories of a few of them,
and paying them our poor but cordial tribute of
honor and thankfulness; perhaps inducing others
to pursue the subject, and enter a field which
will amply repay the most assiduous cultivation.
According, then, to our classification, which is but
approximate, we first notice the men whose influence was effective in producing Revivals which
they themselves never witnessed, including,
154 
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS.
I. The  Old- Testament Prophets generally. -
Their writings are the earthly fountain, or rather
channel, of all heavenly grace and impulse. And
yet few of them ever witnessed a Revival.
2. The Christian Fathers. - They generally carried on earnest discussions, spread the influence of
the gospel; but, on the whole, the Church was
declining  under their labors.   Individuals were
converted; missionaries were successful; councils
were convened about doctrines and rites; empires
were moved: but there was, with a few exceptions
to be noticed hereafter, in all this no general Revival, no local Revival, no rapid and general translation from a lower to a higher plane of Christian
life.
From that turbid sea called the middle ages
rise lofty mountain-peaks, which catch the beams
of the rising sun. Prominent among them we
may name John Wickliffe, John of Wesel, and John
of Goch, John de Gorson, Cornelius Grapheus,
Hans Bo6heim, and Staupitz, whose labors and
prayers prepared the way of other men, without
producing on their own generation any positive
transition or revolution.
Since the Reformation, thousands of illustrious
men have labored, yea, and some noble women, in
this same direction, who yet produced no results
that we would designate as Revivals of religion.
Eminent among these are the Pietists, the Jansenists, especially the Port-Royalists, and the martyrs
of Queen Mary and Laud.
I55 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
We group here all the struggles against the
usurpations of Rome; her false doctrines, and un scriptural practices; the labors of the British
reformers; as Ullmann remarks, "The writings of
the biblical and sound mystical divines of Ger many and the Netherlands in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, from that school of humble,
scriptural, experimental theologians, of which the
calm and contemplative Staupitz was to Luther,
and the noble Wittenbach to Zwingle, the proximate representatives. If, too, we inquire from
what quarter emanated those influences of Christian intelligence and polite learning, which during
the fifteenth century, in ever-widening circles, and
increasing degrees, crept silently and imperceptibly through the various classes of the people, and
rendered them susceptible of the words and acts
of the reformers, we find ourselves again directed
to those modest men, who, in narrower spheres,
and often almost unobserved, employed themselves
in educating, training, and quickening those around
them."
Luther acknowledges his indebtedness to John of
Wesel, to Tauler, to the Germania Theologica, and,
above all, to Staupitz. It is easy to see in the doctrines and labors of men preceding the Reformation the seed that bore such glorious fruit. "John
of Goch, born at the beginning of the fifteenth century, showed his age the need of reformation as
respects the general spirit of the Church inwardly."
156 
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT RFVIVALS.
John of Wesel showed the same thing in reference
to ecclesiastical abuses. In this they had been
preceded, more or less definitely, by such men as
Dunstan (Abbot of Glastonbury), Cerularius, Berenger, Arnold of Brescia, the Waldenses, Milicy
(Archdeacon of Prague), Matthias of Jannon, Nicholas de Clemanges.
If we should begin to mention the writers who
came after the Reformation, and contributed to
subsequent Revivals, we should make a long catalogue. Perhaps the most extensively circulated,
after the writings of A Kempis, are the practical
works of British and American writers. Baxter,
Law, Bunyan, Alleine, Doddridge, Leighton, Edwards, brought the truths of the gospel home to
the hearts of men, directly and forcibly; while the
eminent theologians of the evangelical bodies
delivered the doctrines of the gospel from the
encumbrances that had so long muffled the sword
of the Spirit.
Perhaps no books have contributed more to
advance the piety of Britain and America for a
century, or, rather, to bring men to the first exercises of the Christian life, than Alleine's Alarm,
Baxter's Call, and Doddridge's Rise and Progress;
all of them now, however, to a great extent, displaced by works more in the present current of
religious thought, written, probably, as these men
would have written if living in our day.
But we are now to select two of these laborers,
14
157 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
who have contributed, in a large degree, to produce the new advances of the Church, in which
they themselves had no more direct participation.
The first is,
JOHN TAULER.
Born of wealthy parents in Strasburg, in I290,
he became a Dominican monk, dying in I36I.  He
has been called the representative of sentimental
mysticism, as Staupitz, of practical mysticism.
We select these two laborers in view of their relations to the great Reformation, and of its relation
to the special form of Revivals in our age.
After the first three Christian centuries of life
and progress, the kingdom of God, in the Christian form, began to yield before the pressure of
the mighty forces which were resisting it. And
for twelve hundred years there was a suspension
of that power which enlists a quickened Church
to labor successfully for the conversion of sinners.
Then came the sacred impulse from heaven, which
quickened at once the intellect of the civilized
world and the religious sensibility of millions.
The Reformation sustains to our Revivals these
relations: it recovered to the Church the doctrines
indispensable for securing conversion; it removed
the obstacles which unspiritual ecclesiasticism ever
presents to truly spiritual movements; it gave
society an impulse which at once diffused itself
into every faculty of men's minds, and every de
158 
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS.
partment of society, -an impulse which is to-day
working intensely in every Protestant and Catholic country, not even excepting Spain.
We have, then, a deep interest in inquiring who
they were, that, so many centuries ago, were thus
preparing the way for these blessed triumphs of
the gospel and grace of our Lord.
We place John Tauler in an eminent position
among them. Many had preceded him in this
work. Indeed, it is to be doubted if the torch
has ever been permitted to expire during these
eighteen centuries.
Born to wealth, Tauler gave himself up to a life
of abstinence, not merely cutting off the indulgence of the senses, but striking death-blows at
the pride and ambitious desires natural to all, and
fostered by high social position. At the very
beginning of his preaching, the city of Strasburg
was deeply moved by his fervent and earnest words.
But it was not until his fiftieth year that he attained to those spiritual eminences in which he is
best known by us. In I340 a mysterious stranger came to the city. The name the people gave
him, or perhaps the historians, was Nicholas of
Basle.  He is called "a strange and powerful person, enveloped in mystery." But we should remember, that secrecy and mysteriousness were not
sought by these eminent men to charm and attract
the simple. The Inquisition was then in full
blast. This man was followed by the officers of
x59 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
that demoniacal institution; for when he at length
threw off his prudence, and ventured alone, unprotected, to Vienna, in I1382, he was caught and
burned by those fiends.
At that period "he swayed the party known as
'the Friends of God,' or,  the Inspired Laymen.'
He was a man profoundly impressed with a sense
of the vanity of earth: he was a mighty wrestler
with sin, and carried in his heart anguish for his
own transgressions He was possessed with such
living and vivid convictions, that he spake and
acted with the authority of a prophet, and sought
too often truth and light in direct revelations from
God by ecstasy and visions." He came to Strasburg in 1340; gained an entire ascendency over
Tauler; induced him to leave the pulpit for two
years after he had become the admired theologian
and preacher from Basle to Cologne,- to live in a
cell, mortifying the body. and purifying the soul,
by assiduous meditations upon the sufferings of
Christ. They were two years of profound anguish, of spiritual and corporeal suffering, and of
salutary struggles, which ended in victory. From
the period of his renewed appearing in the pulpit,
we contemplate him as one of the most noble and
touching types of Christian character. Thenceforward he was distinguished for his eminent virtues,
profound humility, inner life of singular intensity,
simple, practical, and thoroughly Christian charity.
He partook of that immense compassion which
t6o 
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS.
moved the heart of Jesus, when, weeping over the
sins of Jerusalem, he was going about, a shepherd
seeking the lost of his fold, "doing good."
In a word, he had an ardent, elevated, childlike
piety. In intellect and character he was even
superior to his friend Ruysbroek, who had greatness enough to bring the wild and extravagant
mysticism of his day to the sobriety, purity, and
solidity of the later mystics.
In forming our estimate of the men of past ages,
we should both hold impartial balances, and make
allowance for the influences of the times on the
conscience and character. He lived in a terrible
age. It has been denominated an epoch of tears,
of blood, of unmeasured calamity.
The war between France and England, filling
an entire century with its woes, had commenced.
The pope and the emperor were in deadly conflict.
The conscience of Europe was filled with horror
under the interdict of a miserable monk, calling
himself head of the Church, and vicegerent of
God. Earthquakes, hurricanes, famine, and pestilence combined their horrors with those of a moral
nature, to crush the heart of the nations.
That was the period for monkery; and the inducements to it were powerful. But Tauler was a
monk of his own kind. He renounced the world
without forsaking his fellow-men. His theory was,
"When you are plunged in interior meditation,
and God calls you to go forth and preach, or to
14*
I6I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
discharge to a poor sick person a duty of charity,
do it promptly and with joy; and the presence of
God will be more sensible to you there than if you
remain concentrated upon self."'
This was wonderful in that age of selfish piety,
in which each earnest spirit was seeking solely a
salvation from suffering, and not from selfishness.
His doctrinal belief was not wholly scriptural.
The great sacrifice he regarded as a means of salvation, not as its only efficacious ground.
He was a mystic; which means much or little,
and depends for its meaning on certain views of
him who employs it. All supernaturalism is mysticism with the sensuous and rationalistic. But
we use it to describe reliance on personal intuitions, independent of, or in opposition to, the word
of God. It may be harmless when not anti-scriptural, and when contented with believing; terrific,
when it can and will wield physical power to
enforce its convictions on others.
It was one of the imperfect forms in which true
godliness was then working its way through the
world.
Tauler was no idler, nor dreamer, but was constantly preaching in the Rhenish towns. Associating with himself an Augustinian monk
(Thomas of Strasburg), and a Chartreux monk
(Rudolph of Saxony), he drew up two circular letters, addressed to the clergy, urging them to disregard the blasphemous interdict of the pope, which
I62 
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS.
forbade the poor dying man to receive the consolations of religion, because the pope and emperor
were quarrelling about their selfish schemes. His
bold language in his second letter was, "He who
confesses the true Christian faith, and has done no
other evil than that of resisting the pope, is still
far from being a heretic."
His holy charity culminated in I348, when the
plague hovered like a death-angel over a terrified
people, while fifteen thousand persons in Strasburg lay smitten as by a thunderbolt. The consciences of men were horrified under the sentence
of excommunication resting upon their emperor
and themselves; the churches were closed, and
the flocks forsaken of their shepherds. In that
awful period Tauler, calm and strong in faith
and love, went forth alone, defying the threatenings of pope and bishop, night and day, his
heart overflowing with compassion; preaching in
the churches; then hurrying to the couches of the
dying, and returning again to the pulpit. Braving
death, the pope, and Satan, he preached to the
terror-stricken people the consolations of Christ.
It is cheering, in looking back to those gloomy
ages, to discern, amid their dense darkness, the
glimmering of such heaven-kindled lights, their
horrors relieved by the presence of such spirits.
Such was the intensity of his soul, that his
oratory cannot be classed with what is ordinarily
called preaching. We are occupied much with the
i63 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
rules of art, and the demands of taste. But what
are the rules of art? They are the scientific explanation of the way in which fire burns. There
is no fire, however, in them. To think when we
get them we have fire too, that is a mistake very
common to our profession.
Tauler's soul was a sweeping flame rushing
upon the heap of chaff; a hammer hitting the rock
with blow on blow, leaving no time nor opportunity for fastidiousness and criticism to play
their poor game in the presence of judgment,
retribution, and redeeming love.
He had learned the first lesson in the school of
Christian oratory, - die to self and fame. He had
learned the second, -let the smile of Christ, and
the anticipated gratitude of redeemed souls, be your
present reward.
One day he was preaching on the parable of the
ten virgins. While describing the joy of a saved
soul at the coming of the Bridegroom, a voice
from the crowd was heard, "It is true!" and a
person fell as dead in the rapturous excitement of
the moment. "Enough, enough!" shouted the
people, "since this person is dying in his arms."
The preacher responded, "Ah, my dear children,
if the Bridegroom calls this dear soul away, we
must not detain it. But I will cease." The discourse ended there.
Chevalier Bunsen compares the men of this
class to Socrates, bringing "religion home from
I64 
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS.
fruitless speculation and reasonings, upon imaginary or impossible suppositions, to man's own heart,
and to the understanding of the common people, as
Socrates did the Greek philosophy. They exhibited
to their disciples the whole depth of that real Christian philosophy which opens to the mind, after all
scholastic conventionalism has been thrown away;
and the soul listens to the response which Christ's
gospel and God's creation find in a sincere heart
and a self-sacrificing life, — a philosophy, which,
considered merely as a speculation, is far more pro
found than any scholastic system.
"They brought the people back from  hollow
profession and real despair, to the blessings of
gospel religion, while they opened to philosophic
minds a new career of thought. By teaching that
man is justified by faith alone, they prepared the
popular intellectual element of the Reformation."
Never shall we appreciate the full measure of
our indebtedness to the Revivalists of the fourteenth century, to whose labors history traces no
direct results.
Those labors, like the beams of light from our
remotest fellow-planet, are continually reaching and
affecting us in our studies, our prayer-meetings, our
pulpits. All your future work will be performed
under this principle; "Other men labored, and
ye are entered into their labors." * Settled in
a remote Western village, or preaching in China,
* John iv. 38.
x65 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
you will find John Tauler at your side. His two
years of conflict, his victorious egress from that
retirement, master of himself, and "separated unto
Christ," form a portion of the mighty current of
forces by which the Spirit of the Lord is raising
the nineteenth century above the twelfth, and
sweeping away the barriers of pride, of self-indulgence and worldliness, by which the promised
coming of the Lord is delayed.
i66 
SEVENTH LECTURE.
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS (continued).
STAUPITZ.
As we have time but for one more brief sketch
from the class of Revivalists without a Revival,
we select one whose greatest work, probably, was
the shaping of one of the most effective instruments in securing the world's emancipation; and
therefore now interesting to us in only a section
of his life.
John von Staupitz was descended from a noble
Saxon family. Endowed by nature with those
qualities which insure the respect and confidence
of men, he was raised by grace entirely above the
age in which he lived, and led by Providence to
meet Martin Luther in the critical period of his
life, thus determining the current of his thought.
His figure was noble; his manners were dignified
and graceful; his mind was cultivated in the highest
range of science and literature; his eloquence was
commanding; his principles were pure and lofty.
A diligent and successful student, he was early
distinguished by successive elevations to responsible positions in the Church and the universities.
i67 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Frederic the Wise, Elector of Saxony, made him a
personal friend; and, in founding the University
of Wittenberg, he employed Staupitz first as a
counsellor and negotiator, and then as a dean of
the theological faculty. In the next year, he was
appointed vicar-general of the Augustinian order
for Germany.
To these natural qualities and distinguished
positions were added the higher qualities and
acquisitions of a humble disciple of Christ, free
from the superstitions and anti-Christian notions
then paralyzing the Church. Early disgusted with
the dry and unprofitable speculations of the scholastic theologians, he turned his attention to the
word of God and the writings of the mystics,
of Bernard and Gerson, and men like Thomas
a Kempis.
He was not, however, a demonstrative man,
not possessed of that form of energy which makes
a reformer; although, as Luther says, "He was
not only worthy to be heard with reverence as a
scholar in the seats of learning, and in the Church;
but also at the court of princes, and in the society
of the great, he was held in much estimation for
his knowledge of the world."
This man had been led to Christ by a profound
and conscientious study of the Scriptures, St.
Augustine's writings, and his own heart, and by
conflicts with that heart.
It was his duty, as vicar, to visit the convents
I68 
REVIVALISTS WITHOUT REVIVALS.
of his order. Coming to that of Erfurt, his attention was arrested by the remarkable appearance of
a young monk, the fire of whose great heart was
burning in his eye, but the rest of whose frame
expressed the anguish of a soul that feared God,
and yet longed to serve him, and that recognized
in Jesus only a judge. Pale, emaciated, gloomy,
but with a solemn earnestness in his mien, Martin
Luther stood before his director.
Their successive interviews, from that day, form
the subject of a beautiful chapter in church history.
Get the scene of this venerable vicar, -a man, by
birth, by learning, by position, by piety, among the
most eminent, - meeting the poor miner's son, a
sincere Catholic, carrying out the doctrines and
directions of his church conscientiously, to utter
despair, and the crushing of his manhood. The
venerable man understood his case at a glance.
He had learned by experience just what Luther
was doing, learning, and enduring in the great
school of the great Master. He had learned at
Jesus' feet what Luther ought to do; and he inspired that timid, trembling heart with confidence
and hope.
Suffice it here to say that Staupitz met him at
every point with the infinitely precious doctrines
of grace, and ended one interview with these
words: "There is no true repentance but that
which commences with loving God and his righteousness. What others regard as the completing
15
I69 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
of repentance is only its beginning. To be converted, quit these mortifications of the flesh. Love
Him who first loved you."
Luther heard with amazement. He seemed to
be listening, not to a man, but to Jesus, his blessed
Redeemer. "Yes," he exclaimed to himself, "it
is Jesus Christ himself who is consoling me so
admirably by his sweet and salutary words."
Luther might then have taken up the words of
the prophet: " How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation! "*
Thus prepared, Luther went forth into the great
field for which the Lord had been training him.
In a few years he entered the city of Rome to
complete his education: in aim a Catholic, his
Master meant him for a Reformer. He needed to
study the Hebrew Scriptures, which he there did;
and to see, with his own eyes, to what depths of
moral and social degradation Popery had reduced
the central city of Christendom. That lesson he
thoroughly learned there.
Luther led and guided, under his heavenly Captain, the great Revival of the sixteenth century,
in Germany; but Staupitz led Luther, and so
stands eminent in that class of Revivalists without
a Revival.
We must admit, however, that the distinction is
I70
* Isa. lii. 7. 
REVIVALISTS IN REVIVALS.
not a very important one; having only this historical value, that it is a very distinguishing feature of
any laborer's influence, that it has directly and
peculiarly contributed to lead on the leaders in
Revivals, or to prepare the public mind for the
labors of such leaders.
REVIVALISTS IN REVIVALS.
Having noticed, though briefly, the class of men
whose labors have contributed to bring about the
great epochs of church-history in an indirect way,
we shall now glance at the catalogue of those who
became, as it were, the pivots of the age, the real
cardinals or hinges of society; some of them carrying the whole body of the Church with them, to
a new stage of thought and action, with new light,
and under new impulses; the others acting within
a narrower sphere. These we denominate Revivalists in Revivals.
We may indulge the pleasing thought, that he
who brought our race to ruin was the first to tread
the path of repentance, as he was the first to enter
that of disobedience. His repentant sigh was, then,
the first uttered, perhaps, in the universe: his
purpose to return to trust and obey his Father was
the beginning of all the momentous changes by
which the elect are to be gathered home at last.
Yet neither in his case, nor in that of Abel, could
there be a social movement. Abraham introduced
a new era in the Church; but it was mainly a
I71 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
personal experience, which has left to us only his
sublime example, and the influence he exerted over
his own family directly, and his generation indirectly.
Moses, however, was eminently a Revivalist.
Under him occurred a change in the whole tone
and form of the Church. So was David a Revivalist in the department of worship. Elijah saved
the Church from utter apostasy, but seems not to
have affected immediately any manifest reformation. Ezra and Nehemiah led a great external
movement, accompanied by a great spiritual renovation in the people. John the Baptist met the
great current of public expectation, and gave it a
channel, leading men to the Messiah. The apostles were the instruments of the Revival par excellence. The missionaries who followed them were
eminently successful in arousing the consciences
of the Pagans, and in bringing cities and states to
accept the gospel.
We might, perhaps, consider Jerome Savonarola, the Italian reformer of the fifteenth century,
as one whose labors resulted in immediate and
widespread effects. But by that time the names
begin to cluster around us in such profusion, that
we must cease these general descriptions, and
select a few out of the great body upon whom to fix
our attention more definitely.
And our choice shall be guided by the purpose
of presenting individuals eminently and respect.
I72 
REVIVALISTS IN REVIVALS.
ively representing one of those elements of character which are required in all who hope for eminent
success in Revivals. We begin with
JOHN HUSS.
You may be inclined to inquire here: But had
John Huss a Revival in Prague, in I4IO, like that
in Boston in 1 840? The reply is, Yes, like, and yet
unlike; and this is precisely what, as Christian
philosophers, we must ever do,- discern the unity
in the various and diversified movements by which
the kingdom of our Lord is advanced. Precisely
the same spirit, with much diversity of temperament and acquired qualifications, is demanded in
them all. And it is only by studying the lives of
men who have preceded us in the more difficult,
perilous, and also intellectual forms of Revivals,
that we can enter into our own portion of the
work with suitable dignity of purpose, breadth of
view, courage, humility, and enthusiasm.
A pastor can afford to entertain a commonplace
view of no portion of his work.
We have ranked John Huss among the Revivalists with a Revival, because the world all around
him was stirred; and thousands were regenerated
and sanctified under his labors, although his personal history, his conflicts, and his martyrdom,
stand most prominent in the public eye. He was
a Revivalist indeed. His teachings, character, and
trials were like the sound of the last trumpet to a
I5*
I73 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
corrupt priesthood and a slumbering church. All
Bohemia-yes, all Christendom-felt the beatings
of the heart of the humble monk of Prague; and,
after his death, the fire spread over the face of
Europe. The Emperor Sigismund, a selfish and
superstitious man, respected Huss, but hated his
views, and  determined to bring  him  before  a
general council, who would induce him, he hoped,
to renounce his heresies. But that council, and its
issue, made the Reformation of Luther, one century later, a certain result. It kindled the funeralpile of Huss and Jerome; but the fire of the stake
touched the heart of all Bohemia and Germany.
The Hussites, the Thaborites, the Calixtines embodied his principal views in their creeds, and kept
the sacred fire of reform alive upon its altar.
John Huss was born at Hussinetz, in Bohemia,
July 6, I373. His parents, like those of Luther,
were  poor peasants.   They never imagined, in
educating him so thoroughly in sacred and profane
literature, that they were but adorning the victim
for the altar. He was distinguished as a scholar,
and was made professor of theology in the University of Prague when only twenty-five years old.
Within twelve years, there were twenty thousand
students collected there from all parts of Europe.
At twenty-seven years of age he was appointed
confessor to Sophia the Queen of Bohemia, and
preacher in the celebrated church of the capital,
named "the Church of Bethlehem."
174 
REVIVALISTS IN REVIVALS.
If we search for the providential training that
fitted him for his work, we find, first of all, the time
of his birth. Popery had gone as far as God or
man could tolerate it. The personal wickedness
and official tyranny of the clergy, from the pope
downwards, had brought on internal schism and
external opposition. The Waldenses, true successors of the apostles, had accustomed men to
bring the dignitaries of the Church to the bar of
conscience and common-sense. Switzerland and
Germany had been filled with their doctrines for
more than a century. Conrad Hager, who in I 342,
though a layman, had publicly impugned the mass
in Wurzburg, was but one of many. Claude, Arnold
of Brescia, Berenger, and Waldo had all done the
same. The three popes were claiming each to be
the infallible viceroy of Christ. Princes and philosophers were contending for and against the
incumbents; and probably some of them had seen
far enough to suspect the whole affair to be a
blasphemous usurpation of divine prerogatives, and
a tyrannous domineering over human consciences.
Amid this intense public excitement, John of
Hussinetz began to look around the world into
which he had come. His sincere simple-heartedness made him ready to receive such light as
might be vouchsafed to him. He never reached
our point of Protestantism; nor even did Luther
attain to our doctrinal and ecclesiastical views.
He was a Revivalist and reformer within his church,
as so many thousands have been.
I75 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
His mind seems to have received its first definite
impulse toward reform by a remarkable arrangement of Providence. Anne, sister to the king of
Bohemia, was chosen as the wife of a British
prince and sovereign, Richard II. This produced
an intimate alliance between England and Bohemia, in consequence of which a young Bohemian
studied at Oxford, and, on returning home, brought
the writings of Wickliffe with him.
Then Jerome, a man of still superior intellect to
Huss, of greater eloquence and learning, also returned from Oxford in I402, bringing, likewise, the
works of Wickliffe to Bohemia, having fully adopted
his views.   In  1406 he, as the predecessor of
Luther, posted on the doors of lecture-rooms in.
Heidelberg theses against the pope.
The eighth chapter of Ezekiel, in which the
prophet describes a hole made in the wall of a
chamber in the temple, by which the abominations
of the priesthood were exposed, powerfully impressed him, and emboldened him to make still
more direct attacks on the luxury and rapacity of
the clergy.
We see, from his admirable letters, published by
Luther, that his spirit was'much moulded by studying the zeal and condescension of the Saviour.
Huss may be regarded as eminently exhibiting
one element of the Revivalist, - self-renunciation.
Of course, the other graces cluster around that
root-element of character; but it was in him su
176 
REVIVALISTS IN REVIVALS.
preme, and the main source of his success. There
was the hiding of his power.  There came a time,
we know not when, in which he laid at his Saviour's feet all he was and had. From that period
John of Huss' honor, comfort, success, life, all
were held utterly subordinate to the Saviour's
honor, the maintenance of his gospel, the salvation
of men.
We look for this, not so much in strong professions and high pretensions as in its effects on the
whole character and life. It resulted, for instance,
in very great simplicity and sincerity. His letters
are the unveiling of his heart. In one to his friends,
written on leaving Prague to meet the council, he
has but one subject of prayer to propose to them.
He does not ask that his life may be preserved,
that he may not suffer at the hands of his fierce
enemies: his single request is, "Let us pray God
that I may return from the council unstained; that
is, that I may concede no truth of the gospel, that
I may leave my brethren a good example to follow.
Perhaps, then, you will never see my face in Prague
again; but, if the will of almighty God deigns to
restore me to you, let us then advance with a
firmer heart in the knowledge and love of his
law."
His entire correspondence, and his bearing before the council, reveal a mind fully convinced of
the truths he professed, and a heart deeply impressed with their supreme importance.  There
'77 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
was nothing perfunctory in the labors of John
Huss, - no counting how much honor they were
going to bring him, how his preaching might affect
his purse. He had renounced his own things;
and those of Christ had so taken their place, that
whatever affection, zeal, enthusiasm, earnestness,
he had in his nature, all belonged to the Redeemer
and his gospel.
This, also, resulted in boldness.
Men are cowardly because they are selfish. Having found nothing greater than themselves, nothing
they prize more, they of course know no reason
why they should not take care of self at the sacrifice of any other object.
Hear this martyr writing to his brethren, who
were overwhelmed with grief for his position in
the hands of his enemies. This was written to the
rector of the university: "I protest, then, venerable rector, that I have never been overwhelmed by
persecution. I am overwhelmed only by my sins,
and the backslidings of the people of God. What,
are the riches of the world to me? What afflic.
tion can cause me any real loss? What is to me
the loss of the world's favor, which turns us from
the Lord's way? What is to me the infamy
which, humbly borne, proves, refines, illumines, the
children of God, so that they shine and radiate
like the sun in the kingdom  of their Father?
What, in fine, is death, if it takes me out of this
miserable life? He who loses it here below tri
175 
REVIVALISTS IN REVIVALS.
umphs over death itself, and finds the true
life."
This was to his friends in Prague: "Dearly beloved, trouble not yourselves on account of either
my absence from you, or the maledictions with
which the enemies of God load me. They know
not what they do. They cannot injure me, whether
by blasphemously erecting my cross, or-by public
vociferations against me. In doing these things,
they are working their own ruin. It behooves
them to tremble."
He reached the point of unreserved consecration early in his life. And, however we may censure the act, the spirit of it is probably above
that exercised by any of us who censure it. One
winter evening he was reading of the martyr Laurentius. When he came to the description of his
death in the flames, he thrust his own hand into
the flame before him. His reply to the inquiry,
what he was doing, was this:" I am trying how
much of the torment endured by this martyr I
could bear."
In the same manner his life is a constant exhibition of meekness, patience, fortitude, firmness, all
the gentler, and then all the sterner qualities of
Christian manhood. There is a grandeur in Huss
which constantly foreshadows the nobleness of
Luther's character and career.
Luther remarks in his Preface to Huss' Letters, "When  a student of theolgy at Erfurt, my
179 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
hand fell upon a book, entitled'Sermons of John
Huss.' I was instantly inflamed with a desire to
learn what heresies he had promulgated. I was
seized with stupor, and filled with indescribable
amazement, on searching for their motives in burn ing so great a man, a doctor so grave, so skilled in
expounding the Scriptures."
Retraction was what his enemies claimed of him.
His reply was, "I have nothing to retract." Cessation of his pungent attacks on the vices of the
clergy was that which would have silenced their
opposition, and saved him from martyrdom. He
understood that, and never for an instant, either
in the damp filthy dungeon of Constance, or before
that great assembly of dignitaries, ecclesiastical and
civil, yielded to their wishes, nor consented to purchase liberty or life at the cost of his conscience.
I must, then, close this sketch of his character by
quoting the words of Balbuins, a Jesuit: "John
Huss was more subtle than eloquent; but the
modesty and severity of his manners, his austere
and irreproachable life, his pale and melancholic
visage, his great sweetness and affableness toward
all, even the most humble, were more persuasive
than the greatest eloquence."
His labors consisted in preaching and publishing.
Wickliffe had elaborated the essential principles of
what became, in a hundred and fifty years, Protestantism. But they needed just the dilution, and
the remoulding in a popular form, which Huss
i80 
REVIVALISTS IN REVIVALS.
gave them. It then only remained for Luther to
apply them. Luther says that his great offence
consisted in maintaining, that, though the pope
might be the pastor of a local church, he could not
be the head of the Universal Church. "All these
sage men of the Council of Constance had heard
the same thing said, and had encouraged others to
say it; for they themselves had dethroned three
guilty pontiffs. Yet these same men who recognized no right in the pope to burn them for saying it,
when John Huss said the same thing, led him to
the stake for it."
No persuasions, no threats, no subtle evasions
proposed, could induce him to save himself, and
sacrifice the truth; and on the 6th of July, I4I 5, he
ascended to his rest in a chariot of fire. Among his
last words were these: "After a hundred years you
Papists shall be called to an account. I suffer for
my Saviour's name; and to-day I go to reign with
him. To-day I joyfully sign with my blood the
truths which I have taught."
METHODISM, OR THE WESLEYS AND WHITEFIELD.
Our attention is now directed to a group of more
remarkable Revivalists than have appeared since the
days of Luther and his co-laborers: I mean Whitefield and the Wesleys.
Elizabeth had carried the day, and kept the
Church of England back from that completeness of
i6
i8i[ 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
reform which her brother and her noblest ministers
had labored to effect.
The Reformation entered England through two
channels, -the Bible explained by the writings of
Wickliffe and the subsequent reformers; and by
the political action of Henry VIII. When Elizabeth
ascended the throne, the Continental Reformation
had begun to betray its own narrowness and feebleness. Glorious as it was, it was divine power employing human instruments, as always, in building
up the kingdom of Christ. It was founded on the
one vital truth, that man is justified by faith. But
it was more than an application of that vital doctrine. It was too extensively ecclesiastical, and too
little spiritual, in its aims.
It retained many Papal errors; and this imperfect
Reformation came to England by the throne, still
more diluted, and still more Papal in many of its
features. Herein the great advantage the Stuarts
always had, and the Puseyites now possess, in their
attempts to restore Romish usages, spirit, and forms,
in the Anglican Church.
Religion and morals were dying out in England
when John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield were born. Bishop Burnet affirmed that the
men who came to receive ordination from him
seemed not even to have read the Scriptures. Arch.
bishop Secker says, "Such are the dissoluteness
and contempt of principle in the higher part of the
world, and the profligacy, intemperance, and fear
,82 
THE WESLE~S AND WHITEFIELtD.
lessness of committing crimes, in the lower, as must,
if this torrent of impiety stop not, become fatal."
Let us now look at these men rising to our view
on the scenes of history just at this period, contemplating them as illustrations of the views we
have been taking of Revivals of religion. Let us
trace alike the divine and the human forces in these
wonderful series of events; and the divine may be
contemplated as including the action of Providence
and that of the Holy Spirit; Providence raising up
the men, and qualifying them for their work, and
guiding them to it.
Observing these men, we are again reminded of
the justness and beauty of the Lord's remark:
"Other men  labored, and ye  are  entered  into
their labors." Not only had other men prepared
the way for their work, but were also employed by
Providence to prepare them for it.
God had sent before them men like A Kempis,
Law and Jeremy Taylor, Huss and Zinzendorf.
Huss had quickened and shaped the spirits of many
of his countrymen; and, three centuries after he had
been sent to heaven on his chariot of fire, Count
Zinzendorf was organizing his Moravian band,
among whom John Wesley was led by the hand of
Providence to learn many lessons, and receive many
impressions, which deeply affected his character
and course.
The same Providence brought together in Oxford University a band of congenial spirits, who by
183 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
prayer, and the study of the Scriptures, became
thoroughly fitted for their great task. We might
also trace features of the ancestry of Wesley, and
events of domestic history which Providence employed in preparing him and his brother for their
work.
We can equally trace the work of the Holy
Spirit in the whole course of their remarkable
lives. It was he who awakened in them such earnest longings after personal holiness; who led
them successively from under the law to a clear
apprehension of the way of salvation by faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ; who shed abroad in John's
heart that spirit of adoption which so characterized
his band, of which he thus speaks: "Oh, with
what joy unspeakable, even joy that was full of
glory, was my soul filled, when the weight of sin
went off, and an abiding sense of the love of God,
and a full assurance of faith, broke in upon my disconsolate heart! Surely it was the day of my
espousals, - a day to be had in everlasting remembrance."
It was the Holy Spirit who led Charles Wesley,
by the ministry of Peter Bo6hler, into the kingdom
of God's dear Son. It was the Holy Spirit who
so matured the piety of these two brothers; who
endowed the one with his remarkable qualities,his power to inspire other men, to instruct, to persuade, to organize men, - and the other with the
gifts of poetry, by which the gospel was greatly
I84 
THE WESLEYS AND WHITEFIELD.
spread at that period. It was the Holy Spirit who
made George Whitefield almost a seraph in piety,
and one of the mightiest orators that has ever
controlled an audience.
It was he who gave inspiration to that whole
Methodist band which went about through Britain,
Ireland, and America, overthrowing the kingdom
of Satan; imparting to the uneducated among
them a boldness, a dauntlessness, a zeal, a wisdom,
that went through flood and flame unflinching,
and filled the British dominions with their new
views, their heavenly spirit, their converts, and
churches.
John Wesley early discovered that religion is a
life with God, not a formal discharge of duties,
whether moral or ceremonial.   He  sought with
absorbing earnestness "peace with God," and "perfect love, which casteth out fear."   His mother
constantly urged him to make thorough work of
personal religion, and he did; but only by passing through fiery trials, could he reach the eminent
position from which he was so to bless the world.
Arriving at Oxford, he found the Holy Club
already known as "Methodists," - a club founded
by Charles, his brother. They used to spend four
evenings of the week reading together the Greek
Testament and the ancient classics; and Sunday
evenings studying theology. They partook of the
Lord's Supper every week, and fasted twice a
week Their tendency at first was to asceticism;
16*
I85 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
but Morgan, one of the band, led them out to do
good in prisons, and among the sick and poor.
This checked the morbid tendency.
Whitefield joined them six years after John
Wesley had entered the club. There, he says,
he "was built up daily in the knowledge and fear
of God, and taught to endure hardness as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ."
Who can ever doubt of the care of Christ for
his Church, after witnessing to what depths of degradation and feebleness its friends had reduced it,
amid abounding infidelity and immorality in the
high seat of learning, where the British Church
trained her pastors? who can doubt, when he sees
those young men thus living at Oxford, thus girding on their armor, thus preparing to go forth and
raise a sunken church, instituting a new order of
things in the whole British world, on both sides of
the ocean?
When  ready for their work, the Master summoned them to enter upon it. Their aim was not
to build up a sect, not to separate men from the
Church then established, not to teach new doctrines. "Methodism reversed the usual policy of
religious sects, which seek to sustain their spiritual
life by their orthodoxy: its orthodoxy has been
sustained by devoting chief concern to its spiritual
life."  It became "a system of vital doctrines and
practical expedients, a breaking-away from all old
dead weights which had encumbered the march of
,86 
THE WESLEYS AND WHITEFIELD.
thle Reformation, a Revival church in its spirit, a
missionary church in its organization."*
We come now to the human part of this great
organization and movement, whose results are
immeasurable by any human means of calculation.
Its first aggressive step was field-preaching, a
point to which John-a minister of the Established
Church, a man of order, tranquillity, delicacy,
scholarship, and refined manners -came with great
reluctance. But the track of these three men soon
became the fire-path of a comet. They ignited
their whole orbit: they shook the kingdom of darkness in Britain to its foundations. Prelates, bishops, gentry, and blackguards all attacked, insulted,
and resisted together the tremendous invasion.
Each chose his own weapons and methods; but all
united in the work of making Methodism an impossibility in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.
But it was a possibility, after all. Resistance
was vain. Persecution only quickened zeal. In
that eighteenth century were repeated the scenes
Paul had witnessed, - mobs, arrests, stonings,
scourgings, imprisonments,  murders.   For forty
years their preachers worked in the face of infuriated mobs, many of them laying their lives down
for their Saviour's cause.
To show the spirit in which these men labored,
I will cite two cases. Whitefield had erected his
immense tabernacle church; but he could not be
* Stevens.
187 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
satisfied with preaching only to such as would
come there to hear him. He knew that the lost
sheep must be searched out. On the Whitsun
holidays, Moorfields was Satan's harvest-field. His
remark was, "The devils there hold their rendezvous; and I am resolved to meet them in pitched
battle." He began early, in order to secure the
field before the crowd was large. At six o'clock
in the morning, he found ten thousand people
waiting impatiently for the sports of the day.
Mounting his field-pulpit, assured that he "had, for
once, got the start of the Devil," he soon drew the
whole multitude around him.
At noon he again took the field. Before long,
twenty and thirty thousand were around him. He
described it as in full possession of Beelzebub,
whose agents were fully awake. Drummers, trumpeters, Merry-Andrews, puppet-shows, wild beasts,
players, were all there, furnishing attraction to the
people. He shouted his text, "Great is Diana of
the Ephesians," and boldly charged home upon
their vicious and hurtful dissipations. The craftsmen were alarmed; and the scenes of Ephesus
were reproduced in a British form. The battle he
had challenged now began: stones, earth, rotten
eggs, dead animals, all forms of offensive missiles,
were hurled at him.  "My  soul," he afterwards
writes, "was among lions."
At six in the evening he was again in his pulpit.
The crowd was many thousands larger than before.
x88 
THE WESLEYS AND WHITEFIELD.
He soon drew them away from a harlequin. Lifting
up his voice like a trumpet, he pushed his battering-ram against the very citadel of Satan.
First the harlequin, mounted on the shoulders
of a man, tried to reach him with a long whip.
This  failed.    Then  a recruiting-sergeant was
brought on the field. He approached, with music
and some straggling followers, directly toward the
pulpit. Whitefield, in the calmness of faith, and in
full possession of his humor, and in the full knowledge of the passions of the people, cried out,
"Make way for the king's officer!" The people
opened a road through their dense mass.   The
sergeant passed on; the ranks closed up again;
and the preacher remained master of the field.
A third attack was made. This, too, failed. At
times the tumult rose like the roaring of the sea,
completely drowning the preacher's voice. He
would then call on his brethren around him to
sing, until the  tumult  entirely subsided.   He
preached, he sang, he kept his ground until night
drew its curtain over this grand field-day of Zion's
King, this great fight, this glorious victory, which
puts to shame the cowardice and sluggishness of
our day.
The triumph was complete. Whitefield moved
from the field to celebrate it with his friends in the
tabernacle; and great were the spoils then exhibited. More than a thousand notes were handed to
him, requesting prayers for those that day brought
I89 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
under conviction; and three hundred were soon
received into the Tabernacle Church, many of them
what he denominated, "the Devil's castaways."
Let us now observe another scene, exhibiting
in another light the noble spirit of these men.
On one occasion John Wesley went with John
Nelson, one of his lay-preachers, into a part of
Wales not yet penetrated by Methodism. Their
bed every night was the floor. Nelson says, " He
had my great-coat for his pillow; and I had Burkitt's Notes on the New Testament for mine.
After being there about three weeks, one morning,
near three o'clock, Mr. Wesley turned over, and
clapped me on the side, saying,' Brother Nelson,
let us be of good cheer. I have one whole side yet:
the skin is off only one side.'" Coming from one
of their preaching-tours, they halted to pick some
blackberries. Mr. Wesley remarked, "Brother Nelson, we ought to be thankful that there are plenty
of blackberries; for this is the best country I ever
saw for getting a stomach, but the worst I ever
saw for getting food.  Do the people think that
we can live by preaching?"
When John Wesley was attacked by a mob at
Wednesbury, and dragged from one part of the
town to another; struck at by a bludgeon several
times, but unsuccessfully, either of which blows
would have been fatal; and when, at length, he
received a powerful blow on the chest, and another
on the mouth, which made the blood gush forth,
I9o 
THE WESLEYS AND WHITEFIELD.
he declares he was perfectly calm, absorbed in
thinking of the movements of the mob.
Lay-preaching and field-preaching were thus the
first prominent instruments of their work. When
some converts began to present themselves, Wesley
strove to keep them within the pale of the Anglican Church. But when he found himself called to
organize a new form of church government, a new
creed, and new tactics, his great organizing talent
found its sphere; and he formed his classes, bands,
love-feasts, itineracy, schools, tract-societies, Sunday schools, and foreign missions.
Now let us glance at the results of this Revival,
beginning in the hearts of four young men  in
Oxford University.
We must remember, that, when these young men
went forth to open this new page of the Church's
history, there was scarcely a green spot in Great
Britain or Ireland. The only exceptions, perhaps,
were in small districts in Wales and Scotland.
The rest was certainly a spiritual wilderness.
The first result we trace was the preaching of
George Whitefield, of which John Newton remarked,
"If any man were to ask me, who, as a preacher,
was the second of all I had heard, I should be at
some loss; but, in regard to the first, Mr. Whitefield
so far exceeded every other man, that I should be
at none. He was the original of popular preaching;
and all our popular ministers are only his copies.
The whole evangelical dissenting Church in England feels his power to-day."
I9x 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
His preaching was not instructive, so far as that
means carrying the mind onward by logical steps
from one doctrine to another. It was, however,
awakening, impressive, convincing, converting.
Greater minds had methodically exhibited the doc trines of Christianity, they had logically defended
them; but Whitefield made a more important use
of them than that. His oratory penetrated the
citadel in which Satan holds his seat of power.
Satan employs the imagination, the affections, the
sensibilities, of man, to make and keep him a rebel.
This servant of God directed his artillery against
these very fortresses. He employed, too, with preeminent skill, the weapons God has furnished his
preachers for that purpose.   He  employed the
whole diapason of that noblest instrument, the
human voice.   He  used it appropriately to give
utterance to fervor, earnestness, pathos; but he
did not employ them by the rules of any school of
elocution. With magnificent organs of speech, and
a countenance of peculiar flexibility, he uttered
every word from the depths of a heart that was
held perpetually under the full power of the sublime truths he uttered. He was, in a word, an
enthusiast, but not a fanatic.
His labors did not originate the great Revival of
I740 in this country. But it had declined when he
came to Boston; and his labors were the instrument employed by the Holy Ghost to give it that
breadth it afterward assumed. The Protestantism
192 
THE WESLEYS AND WHITEFIELD.
of America had been said, and with much truth,
to have "taken its subsequent character from it;
and the Holy Club of Oxford may be recognized as
historically connected with the evangelical Christianity of all this continent."
Then, besides this great apostle of the modern
Church, there was raised up, under this Revival in
Oxford, a band of as noble preachers as the world
had seen since the first century, if we estimate it
not merely by learning, but also by zeal, courage,
fortitude, power to affect men. Their lay-preachers,
taken from the humblest ranks, without a liberal,
or often scarcely any education, were a greater
blessing to England than thousands who have
received the diploma of her universities. John Nelson, David Taylor, Thomas Maxfield, were Boanerges; and doubtless their names now stand high
on the roll of honor above.
Then Fletcher, Berridge, Venn, Romaine, Harris,
Lady Huntington, Lady Hastings, Lord St. John,
and a great company besides, from the ranks of'the
national clergy and from the upper ranks of society,
testify to the amazing extent and power of this
Revival.
The effect of this stupendous movement of the
Spirit of God through men in whom he dwelt to
an uncommon degree, can scarcely be overrated.
English society was checked in its rapid descent
toward, nay, attainment to, a state of morals which
Thackeray and Massey and Macaulay alike describe
17
193 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
as equal in baseness to that of the old Roman
empire, or that of the old French monarchy.  "The
popular classes were even more corrupt than during the undisguised profligacy of the Restoration."
This downward tendency was checked by this
Revival.
If we come to statistics, we find at Wesley's
death, in fifty years, these results attained: five
hundred and fifty itinerant preachers, thousands of
local preachers, more than one hundred and fifty
thousand members.
Then let us hear the testimony of two able
writers, connected with neither Calvinistic nor
Arminian Methodism.
Dr. Dobbin of Dublin University says, "There
were no Bible, tract, or missionary societies then,
to employ the Church's powers, and indicate its
path of duty. But Wesley started them all. He
wrote, printed, and circulated books in thousands
upon thousands of copies: he set on foot home
and foreign missions. The Church and the world
were alike asleep: he sounded the trumpet of the
gospel, and awaked the Church to work. Never
was there such a scene before in this land. The
correctness and maturity of his views, amid the
deep darkness surrounding him, are startling, wonderful, like the idea of a Catholic church springing
up amid a sectarian Judaism. It is mid-day, without the antecedent dawn. It defies explanation."
Isaac Taylor says, "The Methodism of the last
194 
THE WESLEYS AND WHITEFIELD.
century, even when considered apart from its consequences, must always be thought worthy of the
most serious regard. But, in fact, that great religious movement has, immediately or remotely, so
given an impulse to Christian feeling and profession on all sides, that it has come to present itself
as the starting-point of our modern religious history. The field-preaching of Wesley and Whitefield, in I739, was the event whence the religious
epoch now current must date its commencement.
Back to the events of that time must we look,
necessarily, as often as we seek to trace to its
source what is most characteristic of the present
time."
395 
EIGHTH LECTURE.
JONATHAN EDWARDS, AND THE REVIVAL OF I740
IN AMERICA.
THIS view of the origin of Methodism has necessarily brought before us the Revival in this country,
dating from 1740, of which we must now take more
particular notice, and especially of one of its instruments. 
Jonathan Edwards was born in a wilderness,
whose only relation to the civilized world was that
of an obscure colony. His education was such as
could be furnished by a little college which was
struggling to keep itself in existence.   Now  a
humble frontier pastor, now a humble missionary
among savage tribes, he became, at length, a leader
in the sphere of thought, especially theological
thought, and a prodigious spiritual force in this
embryo nation.
Yet, if his educational advantages were inferior
to those of our day, he had advantages, which, as a
nation, we have lost, and which go far to counterbalance this want. His home was the school in
which God prepared him for his important work in
x96 
THE REVIVAL OF 1740.
the Church; and if the extreme advocates of
woman, who claim for her a full share of man's
responsibilities, exposures, toils, and rewards, would
study such histories as that of Mrs. Edwards, they
might see reasons for modifying some  of their
views on the subject.
The mother of Jonathan Edwards was a diligent
student of the Bible, much attached to its doctrines; and she was his teacher. The government
of the family was strict, but affectionate. Young
Edwards grew to manhood in an atmosphere of
piety, refinement, affection, and intelligence. Their
family entertainment was derived chiefly from the
intercourse of refined, intelligent, and affectionate
spirits, and from the beauty and grandeur of the
works, word, and character of God.
In youth he formed habits which contributed
greatly to his subsequent usefulness. He was an
earnest observer of the Creator's works. He was
a diligent student of the Scriptures, generally reading with pen in hand. He was an earnest observer
of providence, or God's control of human affairs.
He accustomed himself to deep logical reflection,
tracing specific facts to general laws, and seeing
things in their rational order. He was a man of
prayer, and a powerful preacher.
In I727 he became the colleague of his grandfather Stoddard, over the church in Northampton.
Mr. Stoddard had been blessed with five Revivals;
but there had been a sad declension, until in I732
I7*
197 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
there was observed a check in the downward
tendency of the religious spirit of Northampton.
Levity in the youth was manifestly diminishing.
One sermon of Mr. Edwards had reference to some
prevalent evils, which the young people consented
to abandon. Early in I734 the religious interest
had so increased as to lead the young people to
form weekly meetings for prayer.   The pastor's
feelings were rising with the sacred impulse all had
felt. His sermons grew in solemnity, spirituality,
and effectiveness. He met with words of power
the speculative errors, as well as the misdeeds, of
the day.  His sermon on "Regeneration a Divine
Light imparted Supernaturally to the Soul" was
very effective.
The year I735 opened in Northampton as the
dawning of a new era. The king had ascended
his chariot, and was riding over the field a conqueror.  Mr. Edwards says, "The town was never
so full of love, nor so full of joy, yet never so
full of distress, as then."   But this great work
soon declined, probably from the indulgence of excessive physical excitement; and perhaps because
the limits of convertible persons had been reached;
and prominently from an unhappy controversy in
Springfield about ordaining a pastor, which agitated
all Berkshire.
We have some of the sermons then so effective.
They are on these topics: "Justification by Faith
alone," "Pressing into the Kingdom,"  "Ruth's
198 
THE REVIVAL OF I740.
Resolution," "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners," "The Excellency of Christ."
He took higher and clearer positions in directing
inquirers than had been adopted by his brethren.
He urged repentance on every sinner as his immediate duty: he insisted that God is under no
manner of obligation to any impenitent soul; that
a man can challenge nothing, either in absolute
justice or by free promise, on account of any
thing he does before repenting and believing.
In the spring of I740 there was a perceptible
and favorable change in public feeling. A growing
seriousness was manifest, until, in October, Mr.
Whitefield came to Northampton, and preached five
sermons. A new impulse was given by these; and,
in the spring of I74I, religion had become the
object  of general attention.   The  tide of life
rolled on with accumulated force, mingled with
some  extravagant  physical  demonstrations.   It
abated again in the autumn. In February, I742,
Mr. Buell preached there with wonderful effect.
But Satan took advantage of the physical excitement then indulged in. In March Mr. Edwards
drew up a very solemn covenant with God, which
the people signed.
His influence in purifying Revivals, enlightening
the people on the nature of true piety, on its
counterfeits, on various practical points, was very
great and very salutary. His vindication of Revivals
saved many a good and eminent man from joining
x99 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the enemies of God in opposing them, from hearsay.
His treatise on the religious affections, which,
perhaps, young converts may misapply to their
own discouragement, gave a powerful check to the
indulgence of false hopes, which, in the absence of
discriminating instruction of the awakened, Satan
will so often secure.
Before leaving this sketch, it may be serviceable
to present to you Mr. Edwards's statement of a
providential occurrence contributing to advance
the celebrated Revival. He says, "In the month
of April, I734, there happened a very sudden and
awful death of a man in the bloom of youth. The
sermon preached at his funeral affected many.
This was followed by the death of a young married
woman. In the beginning of her illness, she was
greatly distressed about the salvation of her soul,
but seemed to obtain satisfactory evidence of God's
saving mercy, and in a most earnest and moving
manner  counselled  and warned  others.   This
seemed much to affect many young persons, and
increased the religious concern on their minds.
It was in the latter part of December, that the
Spirit of God began to act in, and wonderfully to
work among us. Soon the noise among the dry
bones waxed louder and louder. The work of
conversion was then carried on in the most astonishing manner. Souls did, as it were, come by
flocks to Jesus Christ. It made such a glorious
200 
THE REVIVAL OF x 740.
alteration in the town, that, in the following spring
and summer (I 735), the town seemed to be full of
the presence of God. I hope that more than three
hundred have been brought home to Christ in this
town (a population of eleven hundred) in the space
of half a year."
Young and old shared alike this heavenly influence; the work extending to South Hadley and
the surrounding towns. Then (in I740) came the
so-called great awakening, in which Edwards
labored so efficiently with Whitefield, Bellamy, the
Tennents, Biair, Gilbert, Davies, Parsons, and others,
a Revival which stamped a new character on the
people of this country, and prepared them for the
horrors of the devastating war with Great Britain.
But it would scarcely give you a complete impression of this gracious work of the Spirit, in
which one man was made so extensively and eminently useful, if we did not keep in view that eminent holiness which was the vital element of his
power.
He states that once, when reading this passage,
"Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and
ever, Amen," there came over his spirit, and, as it
were, diffused through it, a sense of the glory of
the divine Being.  "I thought within myself, how
excellent a Being that is, and how happy I should
be if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to
him in heaven, and be, as it were, swallowed up in
him forever!
201 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
"I began, about that time, to have a new kind of
apprehension of Christ and the work of redemp tion, and the glorious way of salvation by him.
An inward sweet sense of these things at times
came into my heart, and my soul was led away in
pleasant contemplations of them.   The  sense I
had of divine things would often, of a sudden,
kindle an ardor in my soul that I knew not how to
express. As I was walking, and looking at the sky
and clouds, there came into my mind a sweet sense
of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I
knew not how to express, - majesty and meekness
joined together: it was a sweet, gentle, holy
majesty, and also a majestic meekness, a high,
great, and holy gentleness.
"The holiness of God has always appeared to me
the most lovely of all his attributes. The doctrine
of God's sovereignty and free grace in showing
mercy to whom he would show mercy, and man's
absolute dependence on the operations of God's
Holy Spirit, have often appeared to me as great
and glorious doctrines. There was no part of
creature holiness of which I had so great a sense
of its loveliness, as humility, brokenness of heart,
and poverty of spirit; and there was nothing I so
earnestly longed for. My heart panted after this:
to lie low before God, as in the dust, that I might
be nothing, that God might be all."
Now, it is possible some may regard all or much
of this as mere sentiment or sentimentality. Such
202 
PASTOR HARMS.
persons would do well to read Edwards on the
Affections, in which he shows that a large portion
of our religious exercises is sentiment. Love, joy,
godly sorrow, gratitude, humility, hope, trust, are
all sentiments. Praise is the expression of two
sentiments, - adoration and thankfulness. Prayer is
the expression of two feelings, - desire and trust.
But if any one thinks Edwards was a dreaming
sentimentalist, let him grapple with the great
metaphysician on questions like original sin and
moral freedom, and try whether it is so; not,
indeed, that we may regard Edwards as having
reached atrue position on either of these momentous subjects. I speak here only of his intellectual
strength.   No:  the stimulus to every high and
noble action is a sentiment. The soul of enterprise,
the essence of enthusiasm, the power of eloquence,
is sentiment: the swelling worship of heaven,
rolling its tides of song like "the sound of many
waters," is the outpouring of hearts in strains not
dissimilar to that of this eminent saint. If you
ever lead the exercises of a Revival, you will find it
making large drafts upon the heart's treasures of
sympathy, solicitude, and thankfulness.
Another laborer now comes to view, one of our
own times, just passed to his rest and reward, —
PASTOR HARMS,
who had less demand for the martyr-spirit than
Huss, for the belligerent spirit than Luther, for
203
I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the fervid eloquence that captivates strangers than
Whitefield; but who had, with them, all the same
self-sacrificing consecration to the glory of his
Redeemer, and to the eternal welfare of men,
taking on itself, in his circumstances, the type of
daily earnestness in a humble sphere, but perhaps most distinguished by his apostolical faith.
Louis Harms was born in the then kingdom of
Hanover, near the beginning of the present century. Fond of genealogical and antiquarian investigations, he traced his pedigree back to one of
the three mighty Hermanns, which of them he has
not told us. His physical and mental structures
were unique; having a powerful and athletic body,
and a robust spirit.
Bringing to the pastoral work this physical vigor,
and a constitution harmoniously developed by manly
exercises, he was able to bear an enormous load
of care, and to accomplish a prodigious work.
His eminent characteristic was faith; his eminent acquirement, the spirit of prevailing prayer.
Like Israel, he was powerful with man, because
powerful with God. Giving himself up to be filled
with God's Spirit, and used for God's purposes, he
had God's power in his actions.
His view of prayer and his use of it are strongly
exhibited in one of his enterprises. An immense
difficulty, impossibility unbelief would have called
it, met him. Thus he describes his course:
"Then I knocked diligently on the dear God in
2:4 
PASTOR HARMS.
prayer; and, since the praying man dares not sit
with his hands in his lap, I did,"  &c.   Then
came relief, and then another difficulty. Of that
he thus speaks: "That was a time of great conflict, and I wrestled with God; for no one encouraged me, but the reverse; and the truest friends
and brethren hinted that I was not quite in my
senses. I prayed fervently to the Lord, laid the
matter in his hand; and, as I arose at midnight
from my knees, I said with a voice that almost
startled me in the great room,'Forwzvard now, in
God's name."'
The purpose then formed became a life-purpose,
to be carried out with all the intensity of his heart
and the inflexibility of his will.
With his other qualities, subordinated to these
master elements of his character, we  have  not
much to do.  He had a rough, natural, rustic eloquence, suited to his audience, saying always the
true thing in appropriate phrase and with  the
appropriate feeling.   He  loved his country,  his
county, and his village intensely. This gives a
pastor whom the people respect a strong hold upon
their affections. The suspicion that he looks with
disdain, or even indifference, on his people or their
place, paralyzes his influence.   Indeed, his flock
become his children, all regarding him as a father.
When Mr. Harms entered upon his pastoral
work in that parish, a dead orthodoxy was paralyzing its spiritual life. But he went there with a
18
205 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
single purpose,   a purpose inspired by a living
faith, which took possession of his entire being.
He had no side objects to sap his strength, no ulterior points to which the pastorate of Hermannsburg
was a stepping-stone, as many make their first pastorates, and thus sometimes lower the tone of their
ministry through life. He entered a waste place
in his Lord's dominion, and determined to make a
garden of it, and so to report when summoned to
render his account of service.
To accomplish this, his labors were incessant.
He spent twelve hours a day over his books or
correspondence, writing about three thousand letters annually. Indeed, he would have been imprudent in these excessive labors, but for the peculiar
necessity he had for mental labor, as a painful disease made sleep impossible through many a night.
His work consisted in preaching three times on
Sunday, expounding the Scriptures, catechising the
whole congregation, conducting a prayer-meeting
every evening in his house, almost daily having
two meetings for inquirers about both their temporal and spiritual affairs.
Besides all this, with studying and letter-writing,
he organized the congregation into a missionary
society, sending out their own members to the foreign field; building for themselves a mission-ship,
which they kept continually passing from Hanover
to the stations in Africa; editing a monthly missionary journal, of which fourteen thousand were
206 
PASTOR HARMS.
published; training the missionaries for their work;
and, finally, superintending an establishment for
discharged convicts.
The story of his missionary work is long and
wonderful, but not now to our purpose, except so
far as relates to the effect of his various labors in
arousing his people from their state of spiritual
torpor to become a band of missionaries.
Now look at the garden thus reclaimed from the
wilderness.
"The parish is ten miles square, containing seven
villages, and forty-four hundred inhabitants. From
these villages, men, women, and children come
flocking to their sanctuary, - a thousand at a time
on Sunday, and four hundred on Wednesday,all well clothed, as grace has put an end to the race
of beggars in Hermannsburg. An altar to the living God stands under every roof. When Prof.
Park inquired of his landlord whether there were
any unbelievers in the place, his reply was,'Yes,
there is one.'
"The people are accustomed to pause three times
a day at the sound of a bell, at home or in the
street, in the market or a wedding-procession,
and offer a brief prayer. The annual missionary
festival draws large numbers of people from a distance. It is a jubilee-day in the village, showing
that the people's hearts are fully enlisted in the
Redeemer's cause."
In a word, then, pastor Harms was a Revivalist.
207
ar 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
His pastorate of seventeen years was one constant
Revival; and probably not a parish in Christendom
equals in spiritual attainment that of Hermannsburg. One writer puts the communicants, in all,
at eleven thousand. Prof. Park regards this as an
overestimate. They make one Christian family;
and their influence is a blessing over a wide surrounding district. Their houses are neater than
those of their neighbors. Drunkenness and poverty are unknown there. Kindness and gentleness
characterize their social intercourse.
Here is a model for the candidates for the
sacred office of pastor. Here is the true goal of
ministerial aspirations and efforts,- to take a Hermannsburg of I845, and make it that of I865; not
to make the end of life the composing great sermons, but securing great piety; not to acquire
knowledge or mental culture as ultimate ends, but
chiefly as instruments of training men for heaven.
One such laborer, even in some humble sphere,
can furnish a vast contribution to that fund of
moral power which shall recover a nation like
Germany back from the paths of anti-Christian
philosophizing into which her teachers have led
her.
A few minds endowed with high intellectual
power are sufficient to combat the heresiarch in
the schools; but it requires thousands of less
eminent intellectual powers, filled with the spirit
of Christ, to go among the people, and convince
208 
EDWARD PAYSON.
them of their need of a Saviour, and of his willingness and ability to save them. Heresy in a
few great thinkers does not do as much mischief
to the bulk of mankind as coldness and selfishness
in our ranks.
EDWARD PAYSON.
There is now a name which deserves a rank
among the elders, who by faith have obtained a
good report, in whom we have a right to feel a
special interest from the incidental fact that he was
a New-Englander, living in our day, -Dr. Edward
Payson, recently pastor of a church in Portland,
Me. His official course was crowned with eminent
success. It is, perhaps, not exaggeration in regard
to them, nor injustice to any other, to say that two
men, Jotham Sewall and Edward Payson, were
God's instruments to give type and tone to the
character of that State. Sewall was an artisan
until he had reached mature age, and therefore
cannot, in many respects, be ranked with his
brother, the cultivated graduate of Harvard, as a
preacher.
Let us notice the sources and instruments of
Payson's power.
The sources of his power were mainly in the
heart, partly intellectual. First of all may be
placed his sincerity, concentration of purpose, or
singleness of heart.
Sincerity is a power, even in a world abounding
is*
2o9 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
in falsehood and insincerity. When Mr. Payson
determined to enter the holy office, he understood
it to be an office admitting no compromise, no
division of attention, no selfish purpose. He was,
with Paul, crucified to the world, "set apart to the
gospel." If we dared to judge him, we should say
he erred in judgment in the extent of his fastings.
But the man who condemns him ought to prove by
his own example that a more comfortable line of
life is consistent with an equal elevation of life.
Jealous of his own heart, he strove to conquer and
guard it by subjecting it and the body to the
severest discipline. It is said to be almost incredible what abstinence and self-denial he underwent.
He devoted twelve hours to study, two to devotion,
two to relaxation, two to meals and family-worship,
and six to sleep. But, finding too much sloth in
this arrangement, he reduced the six hours of
sleep to four, and probably starved himself into
exhaustion, if not death.
But, prove what this may about his judgment,it reveals one secret of his power, - his sincerity.
Payson was in earnest. He fought for a crown,
he ran for the prize, and laid aside every weight.
The glory of God and the salvation of lost souls
were to him what gold and power, fame and pleasure, are to the most enterprising of earth. The
world was, by the cross, as effectually crucified to
him, probably, as to Paul.
Here was an element of his eloquence. Men
210 
EDWARD PAYSON.
felt that he lived near God; was seeking their
highest good, regardless of its cost to himself;
that he bowed his understanding to the word of
God implicitly; that what he said to them he
obtained by an honest, earnest, prayerful searching
for truth.
No man can imitate this, no elocutionist can
teach it. The heart is the only master in this
branch of oratory.   He  preached  against  sin,
because he hated it. "The guilt and pollution of
it were, beyond expression, hateful to him. He
dreaded its contamination more than death, more
than  the gnawings of the never-dying worm."
That is a power. You preach to men about the
torments of the damned; and it is far off in time,
with nothing in experience or consciousness to
make it real; so that they can generally sit unmoved
in hearing you. But, when you hate the pride and
selfishness and ungodliness that you have experienced in yourself, you strike a chord in many
which cannot be reached by exciting the fear of
suffering.
His heart-power, moreover, lay in his enthusiasm, which is one form or branch of faith. As
the evidence of things unseen, it is the vision
of the glory of our God, the loveliness of Christ,
the beauty of holiness, the magnificence of heaven
and its inhabitants, and their employments and
enjoyments.  One says of his sermons, "In perusing them, it seems as if their author had actually
2II 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
seen with his own eyes the spiritual objects he
describes; that he had actually heard from Christ,
talking with him face to face, the truths which he
declares." The man who has thus seen spiritual
objects does not deal in abstract statements, nor
cold and formal descriptions. He talks in the
concrete, and with a glowing heart. He makes
every thing'vivid and impressive. When Whitefield
cried out after the ascending angel to pause in his
flight, and take one more penitent's name to record
on high, men started to look for its effect on the
angel.
See how the unseen realities affected him in his
retirement from others. "I am so happy, that I
cannot possibly think nor write but about my
feelings.  Such  a glorious, beautiful, consistent
scheme for the redemption of such miserable
wretches! Such infinite love and goodness joined
with such wisdom! I would, if possible, raise my
voice, so that the whole universe might hear me,
to its remotest bound. How transporting, and yet
how humiliating, are the displays of divine goodness!  Oh! I long, I pant, I faint, with desire to
be singing,'Worthy is the Lamb,' to be casting
the crown at the feet of Christ."
When he saw men indifferent to their salvation,
it moved him to tears; as he expressed it, "a spectacle which made the heart ache, and the eyes
weep." His ordinary feelings about the Redeemer's kingdom, if shared by many, would have been
a perpetual Revival
2I2 
EDWARD PAYSON.
When he declares he "never was in such an
agony before in wrestling for mercies, especially in
behalf of poor souls, and for a work of religion in
the place," he reveals one element of his power as
a preacher and laborer.
Out of this sprang what we may consider
another source of that power, - his pathos. It has
been said that much of Whitefield's strength lay
there.   His biographer remarks, "While pathos,
from its relation to the natural affections and to
the common sorrows of men, affords to any orator
his chief power, from its congeniality with the
religious affections, contrition, trust in an atonement made by suffering, sympathy with erring
man and perilled souls, and the tenderness which
essentially belongs to all religious affections, it is,
in a special manner, the great power of pulpit
eloquence."
We see, then, this portion of his strength in language like this:" I never was fit to say a word to a
sinner, except when I had a broken heart myself,
when I was subdued and melted into penitence,
and felt as though I had just received pardon
to my own soul, and when my heart was full of
tenderness and pity, no anger."
And we may notice one other element of heartpower, - humiity. He dreaded nothing more than
becoming, through his popularity, exalted in his
own eyes. He wrote thus to a friend, "As you
suspect, popularity costs me dear; and, did it not
2I3 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
afford me the means of being more extensively
useful, I should heartily pray to be delivered from
it as the greatest of all curses."
The power of humility consists partly in its disarming opposition, in part also by conciliating to
the speaker the heart aroused to oppose the truth.
The intellectual power of Mr. Payson seems to
have consisted in imagination, knowledge, and tact.
He obtained a deep acquaintance with the human
heart by the very diligent study of his own. See
one specimen of his keen discernment of the subtle
workings of pride. He says, "When young Christians make confessions not called for, either they
wish to be thought very humble, and to possess
great knowledge of their own hearts; or they think
it is a fault which has been perceived, and are
willing to have the credit of having discovered
and striven against it; or they confess some fault
from which they are remarkably free, in order to
elicit a compliment." His knowledge of God's
word was extraordinary. There was not a verse
in Scripture, it is said, upon which he had not
formed an opinion, after examination.
He had a vigorous imagination, wisely cultivated.
Much of his preaching and conversation on religious subjects was parabolic  or illustrative.  A
good illustration is a good sermon in itself. This
Dr. Payson understood.
He had also tact in devising methods of imparting religious instruction, and also of bringing out
214 
EDWARD PAYSON.
the expression of feeling, and so, of increasing it.
"He made his church fasts and conferences, next to
the communion, the most humbling, melting, and
edifying seasons which his highly-favored flock
enjoyed." He was continually varying his mode
of approaching and winning souls to a higher life.
He was particularly observant of current events,
and, like his Master, wove them into his discourses.
From the visit of Lafayette to this country he
drew a forcible reply to the objection some might
make to an invitation he was giving the people to
unite in the services of a day of fasting and prayer.
He remarked, "If any should be disposed to inquire, with the Pharisees of old,' To what purpose
is this waste of time?' I would remind them of
the attention we lately bestowed on an earthly
benefactor;" and then he drew the parallel very
forcibly.
Such were the elements of his power as an
agent in the hands of his Lord. What, then,
were the instruments by which he accomplished
so much good? To speak, first, of what God did
for him to fit him for his eminent usefulness. He
was a great sufferer; and out of those sufferings
will come everlasting joys to himself and to thousands besides him.
But to speak of what he did to make himself
useful. He was studious, prayerful, diligent. You
may admit that a pastor of a church in a city of
this country, who assigns twelve hours a day to
215 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
study, must indeed be a student. He kept his
mind furnished and fresh for his great work. He
was an immensely laborious man, miserly of min utes for his Master's service, and the saving of
souls. He was also eminently a man of prayer.
His view of prayer was, that, for himself, he
could not live safely without incessant prayer;
not always on his knees, but always staying very
near the mercy-seat, and visiting it very frequently.
Such was his estimate of the prayers of believers,
that he aimed to form little groups of four or six
persons, who should meet before service on Sunday
morning, to pray for a blessing on the minister
and his labors that day.
Thus his diary describes his own praying: " Was
enabled to agonize in prayer for myself and people,
and to make intercession with unutterable groanings. My heart and flesh cried out for the living
God." HIe believed that nothing brought more
glory to God than social prayer.
And probably the indirect influence of his public prayers was even greater than that of his
preaching. They doubtless prevailed with God,
and they certainly affected men very profoundly.
To this subject the attention of theological
students must yet be turned, as it probably has not
yet been. It is not liturgies we need, but the
spirit of prayer, obtained, as Payson obtained it,
by close communion with God.
I
2I6 
REVIVALS OF OUR DAY.
REvIEW.
A few have now been selected out of the noble
band of leaders in these momentous eras of divine
mercy, not for the purpose of exhausting the subject, but to awaken an interest which may lead us
to seek an intimate acquaintance with this heroic
race.   In the elements of their character, the
motives and spirit which actuated them, the professional principles on which they acted, you will
find the most powerful stimulus to zeal, and the
most efficient guides in your professional life.
A full presentation of the history of Revivals,
both genuine and spurious, would embrace a full
examination of Quietism, Quakerism, Millenarian~
ism, Mormonism, Perfectionism, Spiritualism, and
Socialism.  A complete exhibition of the biographical department of our subject would include, of
right, all who have ever advanced the kingdom of
Christ. But, strictly speaking, we are confined to.
the periods of visible social transition-periods, and
the men whose agency more manifestly, whether
direct or indirect, brought about those transitions.
It is, however, sufficient for our present purpose
to have taken this bird's-eye view of church history.
In closing this historical sketch, the inquiry may
naturally be made, Are Revivals degenerating?
Are we coming to a lower type of Revivals? Are
ours not so genuine, so profound, so resultant, as
those of former times?
217 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Let us first notice what meets the eye, and then
reason from the sensuous to the spiritual. Men
are not now so long under conviction, nor under
convictions of so pungent a character, as formerly.
There are more children brought under the power
of this social impulse. These two features, in many
cases, have led to this inquiry about degeneracy.
Some might add, there is less appeal to fear. We
have dropped some of the old hymns, - "Hark!
from the tombs; " -" Oh, there will be mourning!"
&c. Is this a sign of degeneracy? Others might
add, there is less of doctrinal preaching. Does
this indicate that less scriptural truth is exhibited,
or that there is less sympathy with that truth?
These inquiries should be met in a very serious and
candid spirit.
I answer them all with reserve, and with a
right to reverse my own decision as God shall furnish me more light. They involve facts of the
past and the present with which I am not sufficiently conversant to give a fair, comprehensive
reply. And we may be, like men in the cabin of a
river-steamer, floating down the stream, unconscious of motion, and therefore misapprehending
our position at any particular moment.   With
these qualifications, I reply to the inquiries.
In the first place, I suggest whether we ought
not to comprehend in the phrase, "Revivals of our
day," a larger chronological field than ten, twenty,
or even fifty years. I can only now say, on that
2I8 
REVIVALS OF OUR DAY.
point, that there are periods in history in which
the various phases of social movements are to be
classified by centuries; others in which one year
presents a new dynasty, a new set of forces, new
influences, new causes of either degeneracy or of
advance.
It would take us too far aside to attempt now to
decide whether our period embraces the Whitefieldian Revivals, or not.
To enter, then, directly upon the question. The
first consideration I would suggest is this: conviction at Calvary is of a higher type than conviction
at Sinai.  The groans of an unpardoned sinner at
the latter are pressed out by fear; sometimes,
indeed, by aspirations after holiness; but the tears
of a pardoned sinner at the foot of the cross where
his guilt was expiated spring from a noble fountain. It is true that some of the most eminent
examples of piety are those who passed through a
long law-work, as it has been denominated. Luther
and Bunyan, like Jonah, "cried out of the belly
of hell." They, and other eminent leaders of the
Church, were moulded to statures of great moral
grandeur when poured like molten iron from the
furnace into the gospel-mould. But Saul of Tarsus
is not represented as going through such a process.
And many in our own day might be named, who
have done eminent service for Christ, who had
neither such long nor such agonizing'convictions.
Then, if we have less doctrinal preaching, I
219 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
believe we have more biblical preaching, than
formerly. This statement needs explanation. Theology is the classification of revealed truth, and the
metaphysical vindication of that truth. It deals
with the understanding and the logical faculty
alone. It consequently removes all the poetic elements of inspiration, takes truth out of the connections in which inspiration placed them, and foregoes
all the power of Scripture imagery, or the representation of spiritual truths under material forms.
That this is an immense loss to an audience
assembling constantly to hear the gospel is to me
manifest. If we have less law now, I am inclined
to believe we hear more of the gospel.
Yet here must be suggested a caution, and an
exhortation to vigilance. A free salvation by faith
without works, a Christ offered to the sinner freely,
every moment: this is the gospel. But this may
become so misapprehended by our audiences, that
we shall be compelled again to thunder the law in
all the rigid purity of its requirements and its
tests, and in its awful unveiling of the wrath of
God. Our piety becoming effeminate, we may
need a strong tonic. If so, bring it out, and in
firmness and kindness apply it.
But, for the present, we seem authorized to say
that the image of Christ is just as brightly and
distinctly observed in the type of piety of the
nineteenth as of the eighteenth century. There
is tenfold more beneficence now than there was
220 
REVIVALS OF OUR DAY.
then, and probably, on the whole, as consistent
Christian walking.
It may serve to confirm this view to notice the
experience of one of our prominent churches,
whose history has been the record of successive
Revivals. It is the First Church in Hartford, Conn.,
founded in I636 by Messrs. Hooker and Stone;
the former, one of the most eminent pastors New
England ever possessed, eminent in all that makes
the efficient minister of the gospel,- piety, talents,
and learning.
The labors of Thomas Hooker had been signally
sealed of heaven before he left England. His
preaching, and that of Mr. Stone in Hartford
gave rise to the series of Revivals which have
blessed that city and the State. After the decease
of these distinguished pastors, the Revivals were
not infrequent.
But the French war, followed by the dark
period of colonial conflict with George III., and
the flood of French illuminism which followed,
depressed the tone of religious feeling throughout
the land; so that the first twenty years of Dr.
Strong's pastorate (from I774 to I794) were apparently very unfruitful.  In I1795 the Spirit of
God began again to quicken the church in Hartford         and other towns.   To this succeeded three
other seasons of marked Revival under the ministry of Dr. Strong; one of them continuing two
years. Dr. Hawes remarks, that, when he suc           i9*
221 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ceeded Dr. Strong, he observed the happy effects
of those Revivals.  This was in i8i8.  "I found
the fallow-ground broken up, and the soil, in some
good measure, prepared to receive the seed of the
Word. A few tokens of saving mercy were bestowed during the first year."
Again, in I820, the Spirit descended in power
upon the people; and a work of mercy ensued,
probably as pure and thorough as that church ever
witnessed. Nearly two hundred were admitted to
the church that year; and whoever knew Dr.
Hawes knows that they were not hastily or carelessly taken into the fellowship of the Church.
He says, "Beyond any other Revival I ever witnessed, this was remarkable for a kind of all-pervading influence. There was a peculiar tenderness
and susceptibility in the minds of the people. A
distinguished physician, meeting me in the street,
remarked,' It seems as if the atmosphere is full
of God's presence and Spirit.'"
Besides this, the doctor states that it had been
his privilege to witness nine other seasons of
Revival, of various extent.
He signalizes one which gave an impulse to
many persons, "that has ever since borne them on
in a more cheerful, happy, useful state of mind, in
the path of duty, and to heaven."
Such is a sketch of the history of a church founded
by men whose labors were marked in producing
Revivals; a church ever since under the labors of
222 
REVIVALS OF OUR DAY.
men of the same type. Has the First Church in
Hartford declined below the standard of the days of
Hooker? I fully believe it has not: certainly it is
far above the condition into which it sank after the
period of Dr Strong's early ministry, when, we are
informed, the number of professors of religion was
very small, and they, with some exceptions, sadly
wanting in spirituality. No religious meetings were
held, except on Sunday, and before the administration of the eucharist. Night-meetings, as they
were called, were regarded as a public scandal.
At the same time, scepticism and immorality in
various forms were exceedingly prevalent.
There is, then, much reason to believe that the
notions about the inferiority of present to former
Revivals is but another exhibition of that spirit
which the preacher thus reproves: "Say not thou,
What is the cause that the former days were better
than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this; " * and yet I shall do the same at our
next interview; on another ground, however.
* Ecc. viiL zo.
223 
NINTH LECTURE.
~ V. - PRACTICAL SURVEY.
Now we pass on, from theories and outside surveys of our subject, to discover our own connections with it. And for this purpose we may
consider its four stages, -preparing for, waiting
for, laboring in, closing, a Revival. We begin
with, -
I. PREPARING FOR A REVIVAL.
What are the essential steps? Some of them
are purely internal.  Such is,  I. Faith in the special, supernatural, sovereign
agency of the Holy Spirit, and in the absolute need
of his agency.
If you have any theories or questionings which
prevent the full belief of any truth whatever, so far
that truth must fail to affect the sensibilities, or to
become a stimulus to specific action. The peril
of a liberal course of study to the simplicity of
faith is sometimes very great. You cannot begin
to start inquiries which throw every thing open to
logical inquiry without peril. It has made men fools
224 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
in the affairs of common life, and often destroyed
them as beings created pre-eminently to be, not
logicians, but children of God. If you are to dig
under the foundation-wall of your house, and live in
it until you have proved by science that it may be
trusted to stand, you may find the house in ruins,
and yourself buried under them, before the scientific question is determined. Live near your
Saviour while you are fighting the Philistines, or
making a guest of scepticism.
To you these facts must stand out like the
objects seen in meridian sunlight,- God is dishonored by the life of every impenitent person; God
is angry with the wicked every day; the impenitent are in a deplorable condition of guilt, of
condemnation, of peril; they may be saved, if
awakened to due solicitude in time; I am responsible for the salvation of certain souls, and God
alone knows who they are; I can reach them as
the instrument of their salvation, only by being
myself in thorough earnest; I am to reach some
by my direct action, some by quickening others to
act on them, all by earnest prayer.
These facts must not only be thoroughly believed,
but also strongly held in the exercise of a continuous faith, shutting out from the mind all
objects that diminish these impressions, or that
absorb the attention and the sensibilities. To a
great extent, the spiritual life, under the influences
of the Holy Spirit, moves in the channels of the
225 
LECmRES ON REVIVALS.
ordinary activities of the mind, and in conformity
with its laws; so that the two dominant laws
which we name attention and habit enter largely
into all the exercises of the spiritual, that highest
form of life.
In order, therefore, that any truth may exert its
legitimate influence over the mind, two conditions
must be met: the first, that the attention be concentrated on that truth. And probably, both intellectually and spiritually, there is more difference
between men in the use they make of these powers
than in the original degree of mental endowments.
To choose the right object of attention is one of
the prime duties of life: the next is, to hold the
attention to it.
But keep in view the difference between reading
a dialogue of Shakspeare and the Gospel of John.
You attend to the first as suggestive or entertaining, but to the other as true. Believe the great
realities just stated, if you would feel their impulse
as motives.
The other condition is this,- that the habit of
the mind be, to welcome, cherish, and obey the
impulse given by the objects of thought presented
in the Scriptures, and impressed on the heart by
the Spirit of God.
Search out the secret of any great life; go back
to the fountains of impulse in any mighty revolution; study the process of every transition-period
of history; acquaint yourself with the inner life of
226 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
every man who has accomplished great things in
any department of thought or action; learn where
the strength of Samson lies while you see him
bearing away gates of brass from the enemy's
citadel; search for the fountain whence all noble
enthusiasm springs; you will find it to be faith,
faith in something real, or fancied to be so.
The apostle Paul and Ignatius Loyola, Peter
the apostle and Peter the hermit, John Bunyan
and Mohammed,-the man that moves others powerfully cannot be a sceptic, nor a semi-sceptic:
he must believe something clearly, definitely,
deeply, honestly, or his life is a failure.
Two of the most eminent men of the sixteenth
century have been thus compared.   "In Luther,
belief was a certainty; in Erasmus, it was only a
high probability. And the difference between the
two is not merely great, it is infinite. In Luther
it was the root; in Erasmus, the flower."
And, if I may utter a special warning to my dear
young brethren pursuing theological science, it is
this, Guard your faith in the inspiration of the
Bible, whether you can define inspiration, and
defend it, or not. Believe with a martyr-spirit of
persistency in every thing God there teaches about
himself, and man's spiritual relations to him.
Then, out of this faith in this class of truths,
springs necessarily,  2. Iintense desire, - desire for the manifestation
of the Redeemer's glory in the conversion of men.
227 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Ttlis seems to have been supreme in the hearts of
the apostles. For three years they had thought
of almost no other subject but the character and
kingdom of Christ. To them it had become insup portable, that the world remained A ignorant of
him, and either so indifferent, or so opposed.
So far as we can judge, it would seem that a
Revival springing from such a lofty impulse would
have a much higher tone than those which are
mainly the result, so far as the inspiring motive
really operating is concerned, from a regard
supremely to man's salvation, in itself considered.
And it may not be a sound judgment, but it has
much in its favor, that this is the chief preferableness of the Revivals of the Edwardean type over
our Revivals, and of the Calvinistic over the
Arminian type. Both classes of motives are pure;
but the former is not only highest, it also includes,
and insures, the existence of the latter. Men of the
stamp of John Howe, Richard Baxter, John Flavel,
and John Owen, who dwelt, like the attendant
angels, in the very presence of the infinite glory,
reflected, like Moses, that glory, in all their ministrations. The human spirit was frequently overawed, not by the greatness of these men, but by
their reverent sense of God's holy presence. Our
present ministry does certainly move on a lower
plane, manifesting much less than.theirs of the
sublimer religious sentiments.
And you will find it profitable to contemplate
.228 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
those considerations which form the sublime impulses of our profession, and especially secure our
preparation for the part we are to perform in these
critical transition-periods for communities and for
individuals.
The chief consideration is the glory of God, the
unfolding to his creatures' view of those personal
qualities which nourish the love and loyalty of
heaven, animate its service, and inspire its anthems.
To this sublime impulse are added those less
exalted, and yet superior to all that earth and its
interests can furnish.   The  highest welfare of
society is immeasurably promoted by every genuine religious Revival. Out of that of the sixteenth
century, modern civilization grew. Nowhere can
you ever do more for the community in which
your lot may be cast than by promoting its religious growth.
And the whole history of the Church demonstrates that she has made her principal advances
by Revivals, or through that form of development.
And what shall be said, if it be true that on this
social agitation, this concentration of the public
mind on religious truth, depends the conversion
and salvation of certain souls! The difficulty in
urging this consideration is, that words enfeeble it.
It lies inwrapped in this one conception, - the
difference to a rational, sensitive, responsible being,
between, on the one hand, becoming holy, recon
20
229 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ciled to God, united to Christ, living to the glory of
God here, entering the abodes of the blessed for
eternity; and, on the other hand, remaining unrenewed, unforgiven, unfit for the service of God
here and his presence hereafter; and this unfitness stamped with immortality, - the difference
between a soul saved, and a soul lost.
The difficulty in our profession is not the want
of quickening motives to earnestness and activity,
but that hateful tendency to meet these motives
with cold, dry analyzing and  catechising of the
understanding, without giving them their legitimate access to the sensibilities and the will.
Then, too, you should be affected by the consideration of your own highest interests.   Do you
seek for the highest form of personal development? It will be found, not in making theology a
mere instrument of developing your intellectual
power, not in making grand exhihitions of your
intellectual force, furniture, and acumen, but in
bringing your entire spiritual nature under the
stimulating, humbling, elevating, refining power of
the gospel, and into the most intimate sympathy
with your Lord and Redeemer in the travail for
the' new birth of other souls.
Do you desire the highest form of happiness?
You will find it in forgetting yourself, sharing the
feelings that brought the Son of God from the
bosom of the Father to the manger and the sepulchre; and in yearning over dying men, and exult
230 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
ing over the new-born heir of heaven, the prodigal
returned.
Do you aspire after honor and glory and immortality? Look to the day when crowns are to be
distributed, and souls redeemed are to be the
adorning gems of those crowns; when "They that
be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness,
as the stars for ever and ever." *
It is not to be denied that success will not be the
sole ground of awarding the honors of the coming
dispensation; but it must be admitted that indolence, coldness, self - seeking, will fail of those
honors. The pound that gained five pounds insures
the possession of five cities; and the ten pounds
gained  insure  ten  cities.  Bountiful sowing is
declared to be the precursor of bountiful reaping.
Paul exclaims, "What is our hope, or joy, or
crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye" (converts
under my  ministry), "in  the  presence  of our
Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" t  "Dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown." It is
very manifest that each converted soul will hold
relations joyous and blessed, proportioned in honor
and affection, joyousness and thankfulness, to their
mutual relations in this life as convert and instrument of conversion.
Oh! the gratitude of one hour in heaven will
compensate for all the sacrifices of Henry Mar
t  I  Thess. ii. I9.
231
* Dan. xii. 3 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
tyn, the toils and tears of David Brainerd, the
labors of the longest and most wearisome life.
Covet, then, dear brethren, covet earnestly, the
best gifts, the gift of quickening slumbering
churches, of calling the dead to life, of moving
whole communities to an earnest seeking after
God.
Desire is the second requisite to secure this great
blessing. It was the pressure of this desire that
brought from Paul the exclamation, "I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." *
David Brainerd says on one occasion, "Thus I
spent the evening, praying incessantly for divine
assistance. What I passed through is inexpressible. There appeared to me nothing of importance,
but holiness of heart and life, and the conversion
of the heathen to God. I exceedingly longed that
God would get himself a name among the heathen.
All my cares and fears and desires of a worldly
nature disappeared, and were, in my esteem, of
little more importance than a puff of wind."
We witness much of the same feeling in the
prayers of Dr. Griffin for his daughter's conversion, and in the feelings of which he speaks, when
entering the pulpit on a certain occasion: "I could
scarcely stand erect under the burden of solicitude
for the salvation of the people. The agonies of
that hour can never be told." And Brainerd's
* Rom. ix. 2, 3.
232 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
prayers for his poor Indians display this feeling as
strongly as his declarations. In the Reformers, in
Martyn, Harriet Newell, Whitefield, Judson, and
Lyman Beecher, we witness intense emotions, that
command our reverence even more thoroughly than
our sympathy. There we discover that yearning
and longing for the conversion of souls, and for the
manifestation of God's glory, which generally constitutes the first human stage of a genuine Revival.
This feeling naturally induces the employment
of means adapted to secure the object. The first
and chief of these is, -
3. Prayer. Sometimes the attainment of a
higher life is the prominent object. And perhaps
this is the most desirable beginning. To deal thoroughly with one's own heart is a good preparation
for attempting to improve other  men's hearts.
Seeking to be filled with the Holy Ghost, to be
fully consecrated to the Lord's service, to obtain a
tender, penitent, lowly, loving spirit, is a movement in the right direction for benefiting our
neighbors. But God alone can give this blessing;
so that the prominent feature of every true Revival
is prayer.  Earnest and persevering prayer has
been kept up by one or more persons in the community where a Revival is enjoyed.  A Revival
without accompanying prayer is an impossibility;
and without antecedent special prayer, has probably never occurred.
Even the Revival of Samuel's day was preceded
20*
233 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
by the prayers of his mother, and then of himself
and other true-hearted Israelites. As we are informed, during that long, dark period while the ark
was detained at Kirjath-jearim, "all the house of
Israel lamented after the Lord." *  Then came the
blessing; and "the children of Israel did put
away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord
only."
We look back through the ages past, and behold,
from time to time, persons possessed of an extraordinary zeal for the kingdom of Christ and
the salvation of the lost, coming often to the
throne of grace, and - in the spirit of Elijah, of
Jacob, of Him who frequently arose before it was
yet day and prayed -asking and pleading for the
coming of that Spirit in his power to revive
the languid heart of the Church, and renew those
"dead in trespasses and sins."
In Oroomiah, to prepare the devoted missionaries
for the work of prayer, the first stage of that
memorable season of grace upon which they were
soon to enter in I845, they were brought into
extraordinary trials, such as made them utterly
despair of defence or success from their own
strength.   Unusual insensibility prevailed in the
school on religious subjects. This the missionaries made an occasion, not of discouragement, but
of extraordinary prayer.
Prayer, however, is more than words. It is the
* x SaM. Vii. 2,4.
234 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
utterance of the most profound and fervent desires of which the human heart is capable. When
the Spirit of the Lord makes intercession, it is said
to be "with groanings which cannot be uttered,"
because uttered groans are not the deepest.
Intense desires, thorough conviction of unworthiness, entire dependence on the sovereign will of
God, entire confidence that he will fulfil his promises, - these are the. salient elements of the first
stage of a Revival, found oftener in the cabin than
in the palace, in the pew than in the pulpit.
On the first Monday of the new year, which was
devoted to fasting and prayer, the missionaries
ascertained that some of the pupils had begun to
pray for themselves. That day the tide of salvation began to flow. That day the reapers put in
their sickles; and many and rich were the fruits of
the harvest-gathering to the glory of the Lord of
the harvest. At least fifty of these precious souls
were then, by their free and cheerful choice, consecrated to him forever.
But there are grades of prayer. Perhaps the
highest kind is intended by the phrase, "praying
in the Holy Ghost."
In order to pray thus, the mind must be filled
with his light, the heart fully subjected to his control. Living in the ordinary state of religious feeling and purpose does not comport with such
praying. In this state the peculiar features of the
Christian life and spirit all come out into a more
235 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
vivid manifestation.   Repentance is deeper than
usual. The soul lies, subdued and prostrate, in
the presence of infinite purity, under the sense of
its own vileness. *in is more than ever loathed,
abhorred, renounced. The heart is anew detached
from earthly objects; the glory of God's attributes,
of Jesus' person, is more distinctly recognized.
Compassion; earnest solicitude for men's souls;
distress at abounding wickedness, and the cruel
plottings of Satan; faith in the divine promises so
rich, so full; a readiness to do and endure and
sacrifice whatever  the  cause  demands,  these
feelings accompany praying in the Holy Ghost.
This state of feeling, then, leads uniformly to
social prayer. In addition to the regular assemblies for prayer always, such Christians seek to
meet together, more frequently and less formally,
to plead the promises of God.
You remember, that, in Ireland, the recent great
awakening manifested itself by four young men,
living remote from each other, who met for prayer
at a central place. This schoolhouse became the
radiating centre of the heavenly influence for the
whole country.
Prayer, to be prevalent, must express right desires, deeply felt, embracing just those things
which God alone can do.
As we have seen, man is dependent on God for
the Revival of religion in two directions: the one
is the vast range of influences which prepare the
236 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
way of the Spirit's work, and co-operate with his
action. This opens a wide field of observation.
In studying minutely the history of Revivals, you
will have occasion to notice that the forms of
man's dependence are very numerous. Innumerable atoms of light constitute the one sunbeam that
shines for a day on a plant: so there are countless emanations of the divine power, affecting men
through their nerves of general sensation, -the
brain, the stomach, the vision, the hearing, - combining sometimes to produce favorable religious
results, but sometimes unfavorable, through the
perverseness of the human heart. Sometimes
a Revival depends, for its introduction, on one
person; and every thing depends more or less on
the condition of both his body and his mind.
The progress of a work of grace is quickened
or retarded by a multitude of external influences,
which Providence alone can control. The health
of one, the financial condition of another, the state
of some family, a book, a sermon, a conversation, may powerfully affect a Revival.
And so, too, of the conversion of sinners: external influences have a most important place, because
the person to be converted is a compound of matter
and mind.
Mr. Nettleton is reported to have said that the
funeral of a distinguished man had so absorbed
the attention of a village, that the Revival came to
an end there.
237 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
To show how little things can be employed by
the Holy Spirit to secure the conversion of a soul,
I will mention a case.
A student in Union College was invited to go
and hear a certain preacher. He refused, from
utter indifference to his spiritual interests. His
friend awakened his curiosity by a remark about
the curious form of the building. He went to the
house of God, but paid no attention to the services.
Just as the preacher was about closing his address,
the.young man looked out into the churchyard.
One of the last leaves of autumn hung trembling
in the breeze. That leaf caught his attention.
Gazing at it, he observed it to tremble. Presently
its hold on the tree was broken. As a flash of
lightning, the sermon of the leaf struck his spirit.
"Emblem of my soul!" he almost exclaimed.   "I
shall soon lose my hold on life, and go down like
that leaf. But where shall I alight?" A train
of thought then commenced which will run an
eternal stream-life of joy and praise through the
ages of eternity.
See, then, the ground of prayer from merely this
point of view. WVe are dependent on the providence of our Saviour for our mental frames; and so
are all our neighbors. Whether we shall think
with clearness and concentration, with earnestness
of purpose, whether our physical endurance shall
be sufficient to bear the strain of deep religious
feeling, depends not on ourselves.
238 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
The state of the public mind, too, is a matter of
great moment in this connection. But who shall
control the mighty currents that sweep over the
face of society, unless it be He who regulates the
swelling and subsiding tides of the sea? When I
returned from Europe in I839, I was conscious, ini
all public services, of the impulse on the people's
minds; first from the financial trials of that year,
and then from the awful destruction of the
steamer "Lexington" on Long Island Sound.
Indeed, so delicate a plate is the human spirit,
when Providence has submitted it to a process
illustrated by that of preparing a photographic
plate, that the mere movement of a preacher's
hand, or the inflection of his voice, may powerfully
impress the spirit for good or for evil.
Here, then, is an occasion for prayer to Him who
"doeth according to his will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of earth." He holds
the winds in his fist, and he directs our steps.
Therefore it is right to pray to him for favoring
circumstances, the removal of embarrassments, the
raising-up appropriate instruments for the work.
But especially must we pray for the Holy Spirit.
This arrangement of divine wisdom and love is
made prominent in the Scriptures, that the coming of the Holy Spirit to renew the dead in sin is
intimately, if not indispensably, connected with the
prayers of believers. And the records of every
Revival, so far as we know, contain the illustration
of this fact.
239 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
The apostles must remain in Jerusalem fifty days
after the Lord's resurrection, and ten after his
ascension, before they could commence their work
under the baptism and power of the Holy Ghost.
But what were they to do in Jerusalem? -lay out a
great scheme of ecclesiastical organization, form a
great institution for sending out and sustaining
preachers? or was it to prepare sermons of great
power and polish? No: important as any or all of
these may be for the Church in subsequent ages,
these men were then to do but one thing, - pray.
Thus the Christian Church began her glorious
career, her march to ultimate victory, not in her
might, but in her weakness, not in displaying the
power of her ministers, but in feeling her sole
reliance on an almighty agent.
Prayer is one of the most wonderful features in
that wonderful institution, the kingdom of God.
Just imagine a creature of yesterday inviting the
all-wise God to incline his ear, and listen to him!
And yet so it is. Prayer is welcome to that ear,
whoever on earth may grow weary of it, or despise
it.
A praying pastor must be to the angels a profoundly affecting spectacle. To the people he
appears a man of strength, able to counsel, reprove,
encourage, strengthen them: before God he is "a
worm, and no man," crying in his weakness and
unworthiness; a priest, carrying each precious
name on his breastplate. Humbled, emptied of
240 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
all high thoughts, of all self-complacency, burdened
with the weight of immortal spirits, he has come
to plead for that divine power which alone can
qualify him to preach aright, which alone can
convince men of sin, and lead them to Christ.
This is the work in secret seen of Him who seeth
in secret, and rewards with open benedictions our
secret prayers.
Among the first pastors of the Scotch emigrants settling in the north of Ireland was Blair,
a man of grand physical proportions and yet
grander mental structure, - as a contemporary
says, "Thoroughly learned, of strong parts, deep
invention, solid judgment, and a most public spirit
for God. This man was favored with extraordinary success. He passed many days and nights
in solitary prayer, and many with others, and
was vouchsafed great intimacy with God."
Extraordinary success in the pulpit is well worth
extraordinary supplication in the closet.
The next step we may indicate is, -
4. A renewed consecration of thlzemsehles by pastor
and people.   And  to this step there are these
inducements.   Former  consecrations may  have
been incomplete; or, if complete, they have not
been sufficient to hold the ever-gravitating heart
and will up to that unearthly elevation. On that
account, a renewal of consecration is very desirable; for our weakness in all Christian work is a
weakness of purpose.
21
241 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
But, if it were not so, we are never, two successive years, intellectually in the same position. Our
views of truth and duty are, or ought to have
been, expanding. Consecration today means more,
comprehends more, than it did, or was possible to
mean, a year ago. The world may have a hold
upon the heart, self may have had a lurking-place,
not discoverable by the light of former days.
A pastor setting apart a day to the work of
renewed self-consecration; searching for his motives
in all former labors; looking at the claims of his
Lord, his church, and a perishing world, on his
sympathies, his labors, and his prayers, - is taking
a step in advance in the great work of his office.
A pastor, with the utmost deliberateness, thoroughness, and solemnity of which he is capable, going
to the gracious Friend and Lord who redeemed
him by his own blood, and yielding himself to be
fully employed in saving the lost, renouncing every
ambitious hope, every selfish end,- such a pastor is
doing more in one day than he could in a lifetime
of mere perfunctory intellectual labor.
Consecrated pastors are the world's great want;
for into their hearts, from which the world and
monstrous self have been ejected in the King's
name, the Holy Spirit enters.
In I679 the Massachusetts Government called a
synod of all the churches in the colony to answer
these inquiries: What are the evils that have provoked the Lord to bring his judgments on New
242 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
England? What is to be done to remove these
evils? Among the answers to the second inquiry
was this, The churches are advised to make an
express and solemn renewal of their covenant with
God and one another. The result is thus described
by Cotton Mather:  "Very remarkable was the
blessing of God on the churches, not only by an
advancement of holiness in the people, but also by
a great addition of converts to their holy fellowship. And many thousand spectators will testify
that they never saw the special presence of the
great God our Saviour more notably discovered
than in the solemnity of those opportunities."
(Christian History, book v.)
In 1704 we have a record (Christian History, i.
I io), in which we are informed what points were
specified in the covenant then made. It referred
specially to the sins of frequenting taverns, idleness, irreverence in worship, neglect of family
worship, promise-breaking, slanders.   The covenant was read in the morning; "they standing up
as an outward sign, to the rest of the inhabitants,
of their inward consent. In the afternoon, all
standing, each one brought his name on paper, to
have it entered on the church-record."
A copy of the covenant used in Northampton in
I74I is preserved (Edwards's Life by Dwight, chap.
xiii.). It is very minute, extended, and solemn. In
Boston, in I865, the Congregational churches united in a solemn renewal of their covenant. It was
243 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
done with much seriousness, and manifest benefit.
And yet it appears as if we had merely commenced
the work, so far had our churches declined from
that state of intimate communion with God, and
full consecration to our Saviour, which characterized the founders of the New England churches.
Let it be fully understood that the Lord accepts
not the lame and the halt, but demands the full
donation of all.
When the steps have been taken which secure
the soul's peaceful relations with God, and unreserved consecration to him, it is prepared to enter
upon the outward and aggressive stages of the
work.
But, before considering that, we may refer to -
5. Mutual confession. Alienations and unsettled
controversies among brethren are so entirely contrary to the spirit and precepts of the gospel, that,
where they exist, the Holy Spirit must be greatly
hindered by them.   These are a portion of the
descendants of Achan, who, by his one unrepented
sin, paralyzed the entire military power of the
nation, and threw it into the hands of its enemies.
The Saviour expressly declares, that, before we
offer our gift or prayer, we must seek as far as in
us lies to be reconciled to an offended, and forgive
an offending brother.
244 
TENTH LECTURE.
PRACTICAL SURVEY (continued).
WE are now to consider  6. The external or aggressive work; the form of
which depends much on the providence of God.
When Dr. L. Beecher went to Litchfield to reside,
he was in precisely the mood of mind that harmonizes
with the introductory stage of a Revival, without
reference to any particular measures.  "From the
first," he remarks, "I preached for a Revival."
And, by way of contrast, he observes in the same
connection, "If any ministers came to town, I did
not want them to help me, did not ask them, not a
single one. They would have struck forty miles
behind."
This may appear arrogant to some, and disparaging to his brethren: let them be assured it is
not.   Sermons prepared for an ordinary state of
the Church are not adapted to her extraordinary
states, any more than is a thanksgiving sermon for
a fast day.
Successful laborers have generally appeared to act
on these principles,- prayer must be increased in
frequency, earnestness, and definiteness; persona]
address to the impenitent is now demanded; preachl
21*                      245 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ing must adapt itself to the production of immediate
:esults; every other interest and pursuit must be held
subordinate to the conversion of souls. Very frequently the repeated renewal of covenant by the
Church, and days of fasting, in advanced or in flagging stages of the work, have been very helpful.
Lay-labor characterizes increasingly our modern
Revival, both in England and America. Yet we
find, as far back as the middle of the last century,
that some clergymen had discovered the value of
this class of laborers. When the Church sinks
down into a condition of torpor, the clergy are very
prone to increase in zeal for their caste, in proportion as they decline in zeal for souls. Then they
invent theories about the sacred office, which tend
to make laymen regard it as intrusion, on their part,
to exhort or instruct in religious meetings. But we
have evidence that the glad tidings were heralded in
the beginning by disciples not ordained as preachers.
It was a noble reply of Moses, when one attempted
to awaken his professional jealousy, "Would God
that  all the  Lord's  people were  prophets!" *
When all the Church was driven from Jerusalem,
they went everywhere, eay7',-~61    tot'v;6yov.  And,
except the apostles, we have no evidence that any
of them but Stephen had been commissioned to
preach; and he was then not living. Peter Waldo
was a merchant of Lyons; but he blew the gospel.
trumpet, and prophesied effectually in the valley
of dry bones.
* Num. Xi. 29.
246 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
The Rev. Mr. Robe, pastor of Kelsyth, Scotland,
a cautious man, thus writes concerning the Revival
in I742. In the parish of Badarnock, the pastor
having died, "The Lord hath honored their schoolmaster, James Forsyth, to be greatly instrumental
in the good work among them." Then, after expanding this point, he adds, "I have been more
particular in this article concerning Badarnock,
where about one hundred have been awakened, that
we who are ministers of the gospel may learn from
this not to be lifted up from.any success we may
have in our ministry, seeing that, though the
Lord maketh effectual the preaching of the Word,
yet he also blesseth the reading of the Word by
schoolmasters and others, and that he can, and doth
sometimes, make use of instruments weak and inconsiderable, for beginning and carrying on a good
work upon the souls of men, while men of great
gifts are not so successful."
Pres.  Edwards  remarks, that "some  laymen
are in some respects under greater advantages to
encourage and forward this work than ministers."
Richard Baxter says, in describing his labors in
Kidderminster, "One advantage I had was through
the godly people of the place, who thirsted after
the salvation of their neighbors, and were ready to
exhort men, and teach them how to pray."
Dr. Julius Wood thus testified to Free Church
general assemblies of Scotland in I86O:  "From
one hundred and sixty-nine returns from the
247 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
churches, eighty-six report Revivals in their congregations. I cannot help observing, that one great
means of awakening seems to have been the communicating intelligence of what the Lord has done
in other places. I find, in almost all the reports,
that this was done with the most blessed results.
The information interested the people, and brought
the thing home to them: they felt it was a reality;
and it excited a desire to benefit, and it led them
to use the means God has appointed for obtaining
the benefit."
In I743 the Rev. John Porter ascribes the
beginning of a Revival in Bridgewater to two
young men returning home from the Revival in
Yale College, who convened their friends, and related what they had seen there.* The same instrumentality was prominent in spreading the sacred
influence in Ireland.
Within a few years there have been some very
encouraging movements made by young men's associations and the Christian Commission. They
have been diligent in holding conventions, not for
business, ecclesiastical or benevolent, but directly
to promote Revivals. And the success has been
very cheering. I have not indeed heard of as
strong social impulses from them as in former Revivals: I trust this is not degeneracy, but that
Revivals are only changing their form, as every
social movement must, from age to age. Cheerful
* Great Awakening, 129.
248 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
ness, joy, brotherly love, unsectarian fellowship,
particularly distinguish these later movements;
and I see not that this type is lower than those of
a sterner, more heart-searching, and heart-breaking
character.
The labors of our brethren and sisters are becoming more and more valuable.
But I would particularly notice two directions in
which the aggression of the Revival should be
pressed,- the fireside and the Sunday school. It
is the time for parents to renew their covenant with
God, and entreat him to quicken their faith in his
promises,-precious season for parents, when the
Church is moving forward with new vigor, when
the cloud of prayer is swelling, when the very
atmosphere seems to be filled with God's presence,
and the Holy Ghost is nigh in peculiar power.
Now every thing aids paternal efforts for the salvation of their children. Now the current of feeling in the parish is running heavenward. Now the
topics of the pulpit are chosen with reference to
arousing the careless, aiding the inquiring, bringing the lost to their Saviour.
In these circumstances, let the domestic arrangements, business, amusement, social visiting, all
be made subordinate and subservient to this one
great interest.
And, in a measure, these considerations should
powerfully affect the teachers of children. Every
thing now favors direct concentration of prayer
249 
LECTURES ON -REVIVALS.
and effort. Now may be the harvest-season after
a long seed-time. Now more may be done in one
interview to bring; the soul to the great decision
than could be accomplished in years of toil before.
This is no more disparaging to the past than the
oak is to the acorn.
But the Saviour recognizes the fact that there
are seasons of peculiar privilege and responsibility,
the signs of which we are bound to observe.
A very important question here meets us. It
may be thus stated: as the periods of most eminent success in converting men have been connected with continuous, even daily, labors to this
end, is it obligatory on the Church, or even
expedient for her, to have daily, systematic efforts,
and especially public religious exercises, aiming at
the result?
To sustain a theory, we have heard persons make
statements concerning great Revivals, that they
accompanied the ordinary services of the sabbath,
and a few other exercises. I can only say in reference to this, no great, widespread Revival was
seen on this wise. It was not so in Ezra's day,
when the people forsook their ordinary avocations,
and for days stood in the rain to hear the reading
and expounding of their long-forgotten book of the
law. It was not so when the apostles preached
daily, and the people were constantly in religious
meetings for worship, instruction, and exhortation.
So the apostles spread the gospel, and founded
250 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
the churches of the New Testament throughout
the empire. The term "daily" will be found in
connection with the saints assembling in the temple, and the apostles preaching.
Dr. Lardner, says, "At first the churches assembled every day." Chrysostom, in the fourth century,
thus laments, "It makes me sigh to the bottom of
my heart to see the daily services beginning to be
neglected."
Pres. Edwards desired a restoration of the daily
service.  He even declared that "this alone would
secure the constant presence of the Holy Spirit,
and the light of his countenance, and keep the
Church awake, active, and successful as daily laborers for the salvation of men."
My judgment inclines to the middle position,
between the two extremes. The primitive laborers
occupied a very peculiar field, and cannot be our
patterns in every particular.
Whitefield and the Wesleys, Edwards, Nettleton,
and others, carried this out just as long as they
found it successful. But I have known churches
and preachers determined to continue holding their
daily services after the Revival had passed its culminating point. They appeared to me to do more
injury than good.  This, however, may have been
owing to their having grieved the Spirit to leave
them to empty ordinances.
These are considerations to be weighed on the
other side. The novelty gives a temporary interest
25x
I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
to these exercises. They tend to physical exhaus tion, and are thus exposed to a mental re-action.
There is, then, not the need of them in Christian
communities, that there was among Jews and
Pagans at first. Books, religious papers, Sunday
schools, have furnished the people with instruction
and impulse, which then could come only through
the public oral address.
And then it must be agreed, on all sides, that it
is not a matter of duty, as God has not required it
in his Word. I am therefore inclined to believe, that
while the ordinary services of the sanctuary suffice
for ordinary seasons, yet there are times in religion,
as in agriculture, when every power should be concentrated on sowing or reaping.
How many sermons a day, and of what kind,
each one who conducts the services must judge
for himself. But there can be no question that
there are seasons in the spiritual world, as in every
other department of life, when concentrated interest
and labor are called for, and promise peculiar
returns. A heart alive to the welfare of immortal
souls, and constantly looking to God for light and
guidance, we must believe, will judge rightly on
this point.
I have frequently been requested to give more
specific directions. Allow me, then, to suggest our
mutual relations.  I aim to assist you in distinguishing general principles from specific counsel or rules.
If I should attempt to bind your future action by
252 
PRACTICAL SURVEY.
rules founded, even legitimately, on my own experience, I should probably mislead you, because specific
rules are the statements of general principles modified by circumstances purely local and temporary,
and by peculiarities entirely personal. Following
the rules of a leader, you become partisans, formalists, and conservatives, even if your leader
should be a radical. Acting on eternal principles,
rigid in your obedience to them, free in the modes
of applying them, exercising your own independent judgment in humble dependence on God,
constitutes true Christian independence.
I have, then, no rules to offer regulating the frequency of meetings; but I state the principles that
belong to the subject. The attention of the people
ought always to be held supremely to religious
truth. There are seasons when their attention
should be absorbed in them. Preaching, conference, praise, prayer, exhortation, and direction to
inquirers, must be so employed as to secure  a
continuous impression on the public mind, and
the personal application of the truth to each specific case, according to the personal necessities of
it. That is the ideal to be aimed at. The evils to
be avoided are physical exhaustion, yielding, on the
one hand, prematurely to unfavorable indicatiohs,
on the other, pressing forward in a direction in
which the Holy Spirit does not accompany you.
Thus you-see you are to be thrown upon your own
judgment, under the Lord's immediate guidance;
22
253 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
and all the benefit of human advice is, that it aids
you to discover the general principles on which you
are to act in specific cases.
Another question then arises, Who shall preach?
The pastor may feel that he cannot meet the demands of the times, and must, therefore, be aided
from without. But the laborers are indeed few
who do the work of an evangelist among pastors,
judiciously and efficiently.
EVANGELISTS.
As to the order of men called "evangelists," there
are various opinions. An evangelist is a preacher
without pastoral charge, and not seeking it, but
intending merely to preach. I inquire first,  Should the churches raise up, train, and support
such an order of men?
That the ascended Lord gave some evangelists
is expressly affirmed. And Philip and Stephen
were such.
Then, in later days, Luther was an evangelist: so
were Whitefield, both the Wesleys, and all their
lay-laborers. The missionary in foreign lands, or
gathering churches in our country, is one. The
apostolic office, too, involved the same function of
preaching without the charge of a local church.
But we are inquiring about a particular class of
this order, -men to labor occasionally with pastors
within the bounds of their pastoral charge.
Two societies, at least, have been organized to
254 
EVANGELISTS.
raise and support such an order. But the Head of
the Church has not granted encouraging indications of his favor, sufficient to give any prominence
or permanence to the experiment: in fact, so many
difficulties surround the subject, that I cannot take
that side at present.
Another inquiry is, Should any man take this
office upon him? I would say, Do not seek the
office; for there is none in which more grace is
needed, and to which, it seems to me, a more special
call is necessary. On the other hand, if like Mr.
Nettleton, who was preparing to enter the field of
foreign missions, you find yourself led by the invisible hand directly into this form of labor, go,
nothing doubting.
Should an evangelist receive a formal ordination
or recognition? Before he is known to the religious world, some pastor or church, at least, should
indorse him.
Should a pastor or church employ such helpers?
and, if so, when? Some have resolved never to
employ them. I should not dare make that resolution; but I would be sure the time and the man
had come, before employing such assistance.
When one is employed, the pastor should hold
the reins, giving the helper full scope within prescribed limits. Do not depend on him, or any
other man, to do your work; nor look, in ordinary
circumstances, for help, except to your own flock,
or to a neighboring pastor, but chiefly to your
255 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ascended Lord. Trust him; prove him by earnest
prayer, submission, and expectation.
What are the indications that an evangelist
should be employed? They may be these, - one,
or all: the pastor feels an impulse, which, he is
conscious, his own labors cannot be expected to
follow successfully. This must be felt: description cannot make it known, unless you have felt it.
The Church have the same impulse, which the
pastor also knows he cannot work effectively.
Then, again, an evangelist can be procured who has
substantially the qualifications which the field and
the times demand. Employ him.
OTHER INSTRUMENTALITIES.
Among the various devices of a holy ingenuity
to make the most of a Revival-impulse for the
glory of God and the good of men, you may find
these, - the selection and judicious donation of
books and tracts suited to the various shades of
feeling then existing;  the visitation of families
by the most awakened and discreet of the church;
the gathering together by families to seek a blessing. Letters have been very useful at such times.
The inquiry has been made, What books are best
adapted for this service?
To the pastor may be recommended, James's
"Earnest Ministry," "Words to the Winners of
Souls," "Reformed Pastor" of Baxter.
For  the  church, "Words  to  the Winners,"
256 
MANNER OF REVIVAL PREACHING.
"Earnest  Church,"  "Memoir  of Mary Lyon,"
"Daniel Safford," "Power from on High," "Power
of Prayer," "Ephesus."
For the  unawakened,  "Leaflets,"  and  many
earnest tracts, "Jerry and his Friends," Baxter's
"Call," Doddridge's "Rise and Progress," Allein's
"Alarm," "Waiting Saviour."
For the awakened, "Come to Jesus," "How to
Repent," "A Saviour for You," "Behold the Lamb
of God."
For converts, "Apollos," "Christian Culture."
7. Preaching. We turn, now, to the constituted
messenger of God to a particular community, and
to his preaching.
The importance of a Revival in a minister's
heart, the descent of the divine impulse upon the
pastor, even  Gabriel cannot fully estimate.   A
quickened minister is a polished mirror let down
from heaven to pour its reflected beams on a sleeping church, a benighted, sensuous world.   His
sermons are echoes of Sinai and Gethsemane, of
hell and heaven. His unpremeditated addresses
are powerful appeals to slumbering consciences,
or minute, appropriate directions to the inquiring
spirit. His prayers are as the coming together of
heaven and earth. He really beholds the eternal
Majesty. He converses with the Most High in
reality; and men feel that prayer is real, -the
highest privilege and honor conferred on man.
Pres. Edwards remarks, that zeal and resolution
22*
257 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
are indispensable to the highest exercise of the functions of the ministry.  He  says, "A  man of but
ordinary capacity will do more with these qualities
than one of ten times the parts and learning without
them. Those that are possessed of these qualities
commonly carry the day in almost all affairs. The
very sight of a thoroughly engaged spirit, together
with fearless courage and unyielding resolution,
goes a great way toward accomplishing the effect
aimed at." He attributes Mr. Whitefield's success
greatly to these qualities.  "When," he says, "the
people see these things in a person, and to a great
degree, it awes them: it seems to them they must
yield. But while we are cold and heartless, and
only go on in a dull manner, we shall never do any
good."
Observe, however, that it is not a legitimate
inference from this, that immediate, visible success
is the uniform test of fidelity and efficiency. All
here affirmed is, that they who have such success
are men in earnest.
The most eminently successful pastors seem to
have been distinguished by these features: they
were peculiar in their spirit, their prayers, their
preaching, their collateral labors, especially in
enlisting others to labor.   They live under the
impulse of the truths they preach.   They pray
without ceasing, for definite blessings, for immediate blessings, for rich blessings. They study the
mystery of prayer in the Scriptures, that they may
258 
MANNER OF REVIVAL PREACHING.
acquire science, and learn the holy art of an eloquence which reaches the heart of God. Their eye
is fixed on the eternal throne. Vain, in their estimation, is all human agency, apart from the vouchsafed power of the Holy Ghost.  They wait for
the promise of the Father: and receive power
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon them.
Filled with that spirit, clad in the whole armor of
God, they go forth in the name of their King, to
conquer by the might of weakness and the power
of faith. Hell trembles at their coming. As Paul
describes it, the unbeliever feels, "the secrets of
his heart made manifest; and so, falling down on
his face, he will worship God, and report that God
is in you of a truth." *
Their peculiarities may probably be comprised
in the following particulars, - their aims, topics,
tone, style, and impressions on men's minds.
Their aims distinguish them from other preachers
generally. They seek to produce immediate and
radical changes in their hearers. Once they may
have sought to be considered learned or eloquent, to
make themselves and their sect attractive; now they
rise totally above that. To save the lost was their
Master's aim; and it has become theirs. Other
preachers may be distinguished, some as doctrinal,
some instructive, hortatory, eloquent, edifying, consolatory. But there is such a distinctive form of
ministration of the Word, that it just as much
* I Cor. xiv. 25.
259 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
requires a distinctive title, and with equal freedomn
from invidiousness, as the doctrinal or the eloquent.
One aims to build up himself; another, his denomination, to attach men to him and his party; another,
to do good in a general and indefinite way; a third,
to discharge his duty without much solicitude about
results. Then surely we should distinguish to our
thought, and by some appropriate epithet, a very
different form of preaching, - that which seeks to
revive the slumbering, and convert the unconverted, and stimulate inactive Christians to work.
The aim of the Revival-preacher, then, is to produce immediate and personal results. There are
souls in that community to be brought to an
immediate decision on the point at issue between
them and their Creator. There are families in
that town to be revolutionized in their modes of
life, and all that speedily, not by the might
of preaching, but by the power of God's Spirit
using adapted preaching.  "He that winneth souls
is wise." There is no wisdom out of heaven comparable to his.
This preacher begins with his Saviour. In his
presence, and under his inspiring smile, he takes
a commanding survey of the field, getting light
from every quarter, vigilantly watching the action
of minds under the extraordinary pressure, the
currents of thought that are passing through men's
minds, searching what stumbling-blocks there
may be, what form of opposition Satan is starting.
260 
AIMS OF REVIVAL PREACHING.
He aims first at the Church. They are in three
classes, - the cordial, the indifferent, the opposed
fIe aims to cheer the earnest, to create a public
sentiment which shall sweep the indifferent on its
mighty current, and drown opposition. He aims
to make the gospel, not a bouquet of flowers, but
an instrument of prodigious power in the hands of
its author; not a sweetstrain of music to entertain
an audience, but "a fire and a hammer" to break
and melt the quartz, that the gold it contains
may come into circulation.
A true Revivalist has his mind filled with Bible
models, and Bible views of preaching. He remembers Noah preaching just two doctrines,-a deluge
and an ark.  He  has listened to Jonah in the
streets of Nineveh, to Isaiah and Ezekiel, to
Hosea and Malachi, to John the forerunner, to our
Lord and the apostles. They all aimed at very
definite and immediate results.
He has examined the descriptions of the Word
by its own inspired authors.  It is a fire and a
hammer, perfect, converting the soul, a light to
the feet. He hears Paul say to the Romans,
Though your city is mistress of the world, though
your emperors are worshipped as present deities,
though you are elated by your pomp and luxuries
and victories, yet "I am not ashamed of the
gospel," which you statesmen, philosophers, and
wits despise; for "it is the power of God unto salvation."  To the Corinthians he says, "We preach
26I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom
of God."  He says to the Hebrews, "The word of
God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing" &c. John saw the
Lord in his glory; and "out of his mouth" went
this sharp, two-edged sword.
This preacher is unwilling that the lightning of
heaven should become a summer fire-fly in his
hand. One of much experience and success thus
speaks on this point, of a right aim in preaching:
"I believe that an early commencement and pursuit of an earnest study of the Bible, in connection
with a long continued experience in Revivals, and an
habitual aim, in my ordinary sermons, to reach the
heart and the conscience at every stroke, and the
habit of striking out, in review, every clause and
word which was not subservient to that end, are
among the most efficacious means of forming my
present manner of preaching, such as it is."
The topics of revival-preaching are also peculiar.
Not that all faithful preachers do not present the
same truths as they; but this class of preachers
see what others seem to overlook, or not so much
regard, - that a certain portion of truth in Scripture
is adapted to produce conviction, another repentance, another acceptance of Christ, and so on.
For instance, I began my ministry under this conviction, and, accordingly, drew out on four pages of
paper a series of topics under these four heads:
conviction, conversion, sanctification, eternal salvation.
262 
TOPICS OF REVIVAL PREACHING.
Dr. Payson, in the opening of a Revival, preached
from, "Confess your faults, one to another, and pray
one for another." At another time, he opened
with,  "the  stumbling-blocks."   Pres.  Edwards
recommends that topic, as also meekness and forbearance, heart-searching by the believer, fasting
and prayer, fidelity in moral duties, as important
agents in advancing the work of God. Dr. Porter
says, that preaching at such a time should be distinguished by being eminently evangelical, methodical, biblical, fervent, pungent, instructive, plain,
doctrinal, and practical.
Mr. Finney states his method to be, first, to
inform himself on two points, -where his hearers
are at the time doctrinally, and where they are
spiritually. If they have been under the influence
of the doctrine of God's sovereignty very prominently, he would preach responsibility. If he were
in an Arminian atmosphere, he would show God
on the throne.   But more particularly, his aim
being to get false professors out of the way, and
cold professors into the work of Revival, he generally begins with a thorough handling of the law,
and awakening the conscience, raising the thoughts
of the people to higher conceptions of God's requirements and the nature of true holiness, humbling the pride of men, chasing the soul out of
every false refuge, and urging an immediate surrender to the Lord's supremacy, and an immediate
acceptance of his grace.
263 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
It seems to be the testimony of those whose
records I have consulted, that men of various theo logical schools agree in the results of their preach ing, while, from local causes and their individual
theological views even, they differ in the selection of
topics. In the hands of some men, the sovereignty
of God in election and regeneration is a Damas cus blade, a crushing mountain to human pride.
Others never present it without a paralyzing effect,
awaking resistance, and discouraging the action of
the human will. The Calvinist and the Arminian,
Whitefield and Wesley, are both owned of the
Master in the work of converting the soul.
A certain Revival was conducted under "the
soul-humbling doctrines which exalt God, and stain
the pride of human glory," -the holiness, extent,
and inflexibility of the moral law; our depravity
and our dependence on God; his sovereignty and
universal dominion; the special agency of the Holy
Spirit; mere grace through Christ the only ground
of pardon,- these truths, one says, were like
"the fire and the hammer that breaketh the rock
in pieces."
Another says, "No preaching seems so effectual
to drive men from their hiding-places as to tell
them plainly that they are eternally undone if the
unpromised mercy of God is not displayed in their
favor; that they have not the least claim on God,
and, if he does not exercise mercy toward them,
they are lost forever."
264 
TOPICS OF REVIVAL PREACHING.
Pres. Edwards remarks, "I never found so much
immediate saving fruit in any measure of any discourse I have offered to my congregation, as some
from those words,'That every mouth may be
stopped;' endeavoring to show from thence that it
would be just with God forever to reject and cast
off mere natural men."
Dr. Porter says, "There is a kind of Antinomian orthodoxy, which abuses the doctrine of
divine sovereignty by so representing man's dependence on it as virtually to excuse him from all
obligation to obey the gospel."
The extremes of this subject he states to be, "on
the one hand, making it appear that there is no
connection between a faithful, powerful exhibition
of the truth and the sanctification of men's hearts;
and, on the other hand, making salvation depend
entirely on human agency, leaving no place for the
sovereignty of God; thus producing ministerial
pride when success is granted, and utter discouragements when it is withheld."  He adds, "The
special blessing of God usually attends only that
kind of preaching which exhibits in due connection the accountability of sinners, and their dependence on divine grace."
I think he is with the Bible until he calls "the
direct agency of the Spirit the doctrine of the
Bible;" for he virtually affirms, that the Bible
speaks of man as regenerated, first by. creative
power, then by moral force through the i:th.  The
23.
265 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Bible makes no such statement, so far as I can
discover.
Brethren of his school make the doctrine of
regeneration to be a twofold operation of the
Spirit.  We find but one in the Book.  "He  hath
begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." *
But theology is not assigned to me here. I am
inclined to the conclusion that no routine-preaching
will be the instrumental cause of a Revival. There
are certain principles to which the sovereign Spirit
conforms his operations; and it is our wisdom to
discover and conform to them.
But it should be here remembered that a pastor
and an evangelist occupy very different positions.
The former cannot always preach in one strain.
The demand for variety in pulpit-ministrations is
not the result of fickleness, superficialness, always,
but results from the human constitution made in
God's image. He delights not in monotone. He
has made not two of the innumerable millions of
leaves just alike. The word we preach is profitable
for several results, - for indoctrinating, instructing,
reproving, converting, and consoling. The pastor,
then, must judge when he should concentrate his
power on awakening the minds of his people, and
when on consoling and guiding.
But probably the best use we can make of the
history of our predecessors in this blessed work
*,' s  * i Pet. i. 3.
266 
TOPICS OF REVIVAL PREACHING.
is to get their tone of feeling, their point of view
of the work itself, and then we must look for special guidance when we come personally to a new
specific Revival.
I say the tone; for the tone of feeling, with its
appropriate manner of utterance, may, on the one
hand, utterly misrepresent the truth we are preaching, or give full scope to all its light and all its
power.. Logical proof of eternal punishment may
make hearers become Universalists. As John says
of confessing Christ, I would say of preaching
retribution in hell: "No man can preach the damnation of a soul but by the Holy Ghost." Addressing the intellect alone has no tendency to subdue
the heart. You that would shudder to see one of
your audience in the anguish of delirium-tremens
must not talk in cold blood about "the quenchless
fire, the undying worm, the weeping and wailing,
and gnashing of teeth."
And, probably, a deep feeling of the evil of sin in
the preacher's heart is more convincing than any
intellectual proof of damnation, and tends more to
produce repentance in his hearers.
Mr. Robe of Kelsyth says, "In preaching on
regeneration, I had more than ordinary tenderness
merely in reading the text, and could scarce do it
without tears."   That is one great  element  of
pulpit-power.
A preacher once opened a successful course of
Revival-preaching by showing that Christians ought
267 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
to be happy. In 1840 I had just left a scene of
Revival in Philadelphia, and was called upon by
Dr. Skinner, at a little prayer-meeting in New York,
to make some remarks. I spoke from the passage,
"Be filled with the Spirit." * A powerful work of
grace seemed to commence that night.
But Revival-preaching is equally peculiar in its
style, being marked in its highest forms by solemnity tempered with cheerfulness; reverence modified
by childlike familiarity; awfulness by tenderness;
profoundness by simplicity; respectfulness by
directness; self-possession by earnestness.
The man no more appears pre-eminently the
theologian. He has, indeed, soared to catch the
lightning; he has dived to find the pearls: but he
leaves the ocean and the clouds in his study, bringing only the lightning and the pearls to the pulpit.
He has studied his subject in the abstract: he now
puts it in the concrete, of the intensest form.
Doctrines have now passed with him from the
region of cold intellectual contemplation, and
become realities, the most momentous, absorbing,
arousing, that the mind can contemplate. Every
doctrine of theology now comes a burning lavastream from the volcanic heart.  "Is not my Word
a fire?"
Mr. Whitefield and Newman Hall complain about
the reports of their sermons. But it must be so:
the most effective preaching for the ear is not the
* Eph. v. xI8.
268 
EMOTIONAL PREACHING.
style of an author. Mr. Whitefield's sermons were
"direct, abrupt, full of local allusions: his ranguage
was simple and colloquial, abounding in abrupt
transitions, and strongly idiomatic.   The  reader
misses the conversational manner, the tears, the
tender, thrilling, persuasive voice."
Revival-preaching is also peculiar in its mode of
presenting its topics.
It is said of Patrick Henry, that he used to fix
his eye on a juryman to watch the effect of his
speech on an individual. When the countenance
indicated that conviction had been produced, he
would leave him, and select another, and thus conquer them one by one. "The children of this
world are wiser than the children of light."
The advocate pleading for an acre of land, the
fisherman seeking a meal for his family, the sportsman seeking the life of a poor little bird, all exercise
judgment, patience, earnestness, good sense; while
we who are laboring for the eternal life of souls
often content ourselves with saying things men
ought to hear, throwing our bait where fish ought
to be and bite, firing where the birds ought to be,
while, after all, we are getting no verdicts, catching
no fish, bagging no birds. "No: why should we?
Is not ours a holy profession? Are we not sent to
make speeches, throw out hooks, fire guns? What
care we for verdicts, for fish, for birds, for souls
converted!" Alas, brethren! our hearts too often
talk in that strain.
23*
269 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
The climax of preaching to the unconverted may
be illustrated by Grace Darling, dashing in her
life-boat. out into the raging sea. She must save
them then, or never.
But does any one object to this view. as favoring
"sensational preaching"?  What is sensational?
That which produces feeling. Let us look for our
guidance to two branches of human industry, - the
medical and the histrionic.   The  physician has
substances which he calls sedatives, and others,
stimulants.   Is  he  blamed  by men  of  sense,
because, in the exercise of his professional judgment, and under the responsibilities of his position,
he determines to employ either?  If not, may not
our profession blamelessly do the same? Then
the actor illustrates the case by contrast. One of
the most irremediable evils of his profession is,
that its sole aim is to produce emotion. And, when
emotion is made the end, it is intellectually and
morally ruinous.
The preacher who aims solely at producing
emotion degrades the highest office held by man
or angel. Let me explain briefly the place our
adorable Creator has assigned to the emotions in
the complex life and actions of responsible beings.
The agreeable class are designed to induce actions
which promote our own good and that of the race,to accompany such action, and make it agreeable
while it is useful.
The agreeable emotions in holy beings make the
270 
EMOTIONAL PREACHING.
sunshine of their existence. God is called a
blessed Being. The agreeable emotions in him
are supreme: the disagreeable emotions excited by
the wrong-doings of his creatures are subordinate.
The capacity for disagreeable emotions was given
us that we might be deterred from evil, before, in,
and after indulging it.
Now, if we inquire whether the Scriptures have
emotion-exciting topics, agreeable and disagreeable,
there can be but one reply. What, then, must
guide the preacher in selecting them? He must
aim, in preaching, to do just what God intended to
effect in giving man his emotional nature, -keep
him from evil, withdraw him from evil, incite him
to be good and do good.
The emotions have a moral gradation among
themselves. The lowest is the fear of pain; and
yet that is not intrinsically, only relatively low. I
do not believe Gabriel is degraded by desiring not
to be an eternal sufferer. I can discover nothing
low in fearing God's wrath, nothing unworthy of
manhood in dreading the loss of the soul; for, if
there were, I think Jesus would never have made
the appeal that calls it into action. If it is low, it
is only because the other emotions are higher.
The practical rule, then, perhaps to be deduced
from these considerations is, that we must play on
all the harp-strings of the spirit of man, aiming
not at the entertainment of our hearers, but their
eternal well-being.
27I 
ELEVENTH LECTURE.
PREACHING (continued).
I WOULD now describe some features, which,
while they characterize all genuine preaching, seem
to be indispensable for securing the largest results
from the special presence of the Holy Spirit. It
is (a) Thought-quickening. You are not going so
much to show the people what you think on religious topics, as to make them think. That end
must be held distinctly in the preacher's view; and
the only means of accomplishing it is to express
to the hearers thoughts that have awakened his
own spirit.
The minds of the people are to be pressed or
drawn out of their present torpid state.   They
must be driven from the holes in which they have
been hibernating, whether for months or for years.
But you can never strike fire from flint with cotton
or wood: nothing short of steel will answer. The
prophet gives this description of a certain class of
preachers: "They sow pillows under all armpits." * The business of true preaching is to remove those pillows.
272          * Ezek. xiii. x8. 
PREACHING FROM EXPERIENCE.
In other words, a Revival is a state of quickened
thought; and no preacher can advance it by dull,
stale thought.   His own  conceptions of divine
things must be fresh and glowing. Thought merely borrowed, not digested, thought that went no
farther than the preacher's memory, that made no
glow nor sparkle as it entered the preacher's mind,
will produce none in a mass of stupid hearers.
And this is the first delightful characteristic of a
revived state of religious feeling, a quickened state
of the intellect.   The Scriptures to an awakened
heart become like the winter sky to an astronomer.
Every star starts his mind on an upward, onward
flight.
A second element of true preaching. It is (b)
Enligitening. The Holy Spirit, in his blessed influence, baptizes the whole immortal being of man.
He quickens the intellect, and then guides it; guarding it from the vagaries and delusions into which
men, without his aid, will certainly fall.  The
preacher, full of the Holy Ghost, moves like a
torch-bearer along the path of benighted men.
Light glows around him, making things, before
obscure and unseen, manifest.
He who is filled with the Spirit of the Lord
throws light on the Scriptures. While he is speaking, the hungry are feeding on bread they never
found before in particular passages; the thirsty
come to gurgling fountains in the King's garden,
never before seen by them. The riches, the beauty,
273 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the deep significance, of the Word, is revealed to
their admiring eyes.  They find it, to an extent
wholly unusual, "profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
This was the glory of primitive preaching,yes, of the preaching for three centuries, of the
Reformers' preaching, and of that of the three centuries preceding ours. But we of the nineteenth
century are falling back in some respects. There
have been periods in which the sword of the Spirit
was felt to have a keen edge every time it was
handled, "quick and powerful."
Too many of our able men have not yet gone
through Horne's Introduction and the Prolegomena.
They are still feeling whether the Bible is really a
rock, or thin ice, that they may venture to stand
upon it with all their weight, and plant upon it battering-rams and fifteen-inch guns, and thunder at
the gates of hell from it. They are still engaged
in measuring the porch of the temple, - not yet
standing before the Shechinah.
True preaching throws light on experience, and
mounts even to the eternal throne; unveiling to
man the thoughts, the feelings, the purposes, of the
God of all holiness and mercy. It makes the cross,
the mercy-seat, the judgment, heaven, hell, stand
before the hearer's mind in the vividness of corporeal vision.
It especially throws light on present duty, dissecting excuses, exposing sophistries, unmasking
274 
PREACHING FOR CONVICTION.
idols, revealing obligation, showing the believer
just what the duty of the moment is, exhibiting to
the sinner the sword of Damocles suspended by an
unwinding thread above him, while Christ is holding salvation's cup to his lips, - and he must drink,
or die! Such preaching is awful. Men swooned
when Edwards stood like an angel from God,
echoing words from the eternal throne.
The old preachers of the law used to make the
services of the sanctuary the opening of the grand
assizes of the judgment. We have no more of
that now, but a good deal of dilettanteism in its
place. We live too far from Sinai and from Gethsemane, busied with our alphabets and the questions of grammar and metaphysics.
This preaching is also (c) Heart-searching, penetrating the retreats of each soul, introducing men
to themselves, unveiling many a chamber of imagery never before visited by the conscience of its
owner.
It is a beautiful image the prophet employs when
he says to the people, "Break up your fallow
ground." The hard, matted surface of the heart
must be ploughed and cross-ploughed before the
seed can find lodgement there.
The preacher holds the plough, and guides it,
while the Spirit of the Lord presses it through the
entangled roots of many years' growth. Each one
is led to examine his own sins, and observe his
own position in God's sight. The minister is gen
275 
LECTURES ON -REVIVALS.
erally prepared for that by a previous ploughing in
his own heart. Whitefield, Bunyan, Luther, Brai nerd, strikingly exhibit that. Dr. Nettleton passed
through a period of conviction which made him
master of the conscience.
There are stumbling-blocks in the Church and
the world to be removed, and these are personal
sins of heart and life.  "Prepare ye the way of
the Lord," the herald proclaims. "Take up the
stumbling-blocks out of the way of my people."
Open transgressions of the law must be openly
confessed and forsaken. All sin must be abandoned without parley or compromise.
I have heard of a church brought to such a
sense of its unfaithfulness, that its members signed
a confession which was read, as a confession before
God, to the congregation. The effect was most
salutary.   The  hearts of the  impenitent were
bowed in awe of this manifestation of judgment
beginning at the house of God.
Often there are cases of backsliders who are not
really penitent, only awakened; not humbled, making a show of zeal. To them should be preached
some heart-searching tests, that may silence their
garrulity, and bring them to the cross.
True preaching is also (d) Heart-quickening.  All
the profoundest sentiments of the soul are moved
by it, - fear, shame, regret, desire, hope, love, compassion, and zeal, together with earnest purpose.
Argument and instruction may prepare the high
276 
PREACHING FOR CONVICTION.
ways to the heart. But only fire can kindle fire.
Pastor Harm's preaching is thus described:" It
would be impossible to convey a sense of the
fervor and holiness of the speaker, his utter simpleness, the directness of his country phrases, his
fire, and that love and faith that color all his
words."
Perhaps enough has been said about the relation of the emotions to godliness; and yet I
would add these views. The emotions of your
hearers are excited every day; and back of them
stands what has been called the generic purpose,
-choice, or election, of the objects of supreme
affection and pursuit.  If that is selfish, ungodly,
worldly, every fibre of the emotional nature is
enlisted in its service. And men generally will
never undertake the work of a radical change of
the generic choice in themselves, until a new class
of emotions is excited. Feeling has its dangers;
so has  medicating.   Medical  remedies  are  an
appeal to slumbering sensibilities and energies in
the system. On their success depends health;
and. yet they may destroy life. And their first
effect is disease. not health. If successful, they
simply remove impediments to the normal action of
the system.
This preaching is also (e) Conscience-quickening.
This power must be aroused, so that its voice shall
be heard above all the din and strife of passion
and pride.  The word "must" is to assume a new
24
277 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
power. The will of God is to be made supreme.
They who have heretofore lived easily and quietly,
doing as it pleased them, must be brought to feel
that all this is to be entirely changed. The life is
now to proceed from a new impulse, and be directed
by a new Master.
True Revival-preaching always brings conscience into its place of supremacy as the vicegerent of the Lord among all the other faculties.
I have found encouragement in preaching by
comparing the impenitent soul to a rebel city, to
which, in the king's name, I am laying siege. All
in sight is hostile,- artillery, armed men, banners.
But I am aware that the king has friends in the
citadel; and I have with them an open channel
of communication. No matter how frowning the
aspect of the walls, my business is to supply the
loyal subjects within the citadel with weapons and
food. Many a discouraged preacher would wax
very bold, if he could but see all that is going on
in some hearts, back of those frowning and those
stolid countenances. Preach on, preach on, brother!
We are to destroy false foundations of hope, to
chase the backslider out of every refuge. It is
worth any amount of solicitude and labor to bring
the Church, or any portion of it, to a right position.
A humbled church is the mightiest power on
earth, as it is the unobstructed channel of the
Holy Spirit.
This preaching is, moreover (f) Conscience-guid
278 
PREACHING TO THE CONSCIENCE.
ing. Clear exhibitions of the precise steps to be
taken, it always makes. Every one that hears it,
unless entirely hardened and blinded by unbelief, is
made to see the steps it must begin to take, instantly to come under the full power of the Spirit
of God. In some respects, these steps are always
the same, the world over. In other respects, they
vary with the varying circumstances of men.
Among those which are unvarying we may
mention the renewed repentance of God's people,
and their renewed consecration to the Lord by
solemn and affectionate covenanting; not by constraint, but in the most eager desire to live nearer
their Saviour, and more wholly devoted to his
service. Out of this comes a new style of conversation for all, and an utterance from many who
have been as dumb children in their Father's
family heretofore.  Then is realized an increase of
prayer in the closet, and the establishing of circles
of prayer. This uniformly, I believe, is the result
of increased pungency in preaching to the conscience.
In the recent Revival in Ireland, the prominent
means of advancing the work were the narrating,
by eye-witnesses and converts, to others, what the
Lord  had done for them and around them, the
establishing meetings for prayer, and the increase
of pungent preaching. Saints were quickened,
sinners made to utter the old cry, "What  must
I do to be saved?"
279 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Before closing this branch of our subject, let us
contemplate  our position.   We  will begin back
at the mystery of the movement of divine love
in the heart of our God.   He  anticipated the
apostasy of man; and the prospect moved him
to form the purpose of redemption. And a part
of the plan devised by infinite mercy to accomplish
that purpose was to organize a body of men, once
rebels then redeemed and renewed by grace, to
cultivate their powers, and employ them exclusively in persuading and guiding others to come
and remain under the influences of grace.
We are, then, in this elect company, ambassadors
for Christ, employed in his service, in his place,
to represent his claims, nay, his feelings. The love
that glowed in his heart, tender, fervent, condescending, self-sacrificing, - this we should bring in
our measure to this work.
The  King's eye is ever upon  us.   Jesus  is
observing us, to see how we represent him; how
we do the work which he has so much at heart.
It is perfectly legitimate for us, also, to represent
to our imaginations that which is real in substance,
but the form of which we may not rightly apprehend: I mean the cognizance of angels good and
bad. With what interest they must contemplate,
from their contrasted positions and feelings, the
spectacle of a man rising before a thousand souls
on probation, to win them to holiness and heaven!
Thus is the preacher surrounded in all his work.
280 
THE PREACHER AN AMBASSADOR.
But Satan is not a mere spectator of this work.
He has combined all the powers of an archangel
to organize the spirits that have entered into his
malignant projects to ruin the souls of men. "We
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." * To pluck the soul from his
murderous grasp, to dissolve the spell of his enchantments, to rescue the prisoner from his thraldom, this is the preacher's work.
Look on that doomed and deathless spirit before
you. In it is a capacity for angelic purity, glory,
service, blessedness; an equal capacity for a demon's malignity and misery. It can love God, and
serve him. It can live in the light of his smile
forever, - well-springs of joy ever leaping up within
it. It may diffuse light and joy all around it forever.
It can also hate God and goodness; rebel
against his authority; despise his mercy; wander
like a star from the central power into everlasting
darkness; and turn all its beauty to deformity, its
joy to wretchedness, its hope to despair. It can
rush forever through space, a quenched, blackened
planet, a darkling, dismal mass of corruption and
despair.
See that soul! It is brought before you: it is
on the sliding side of the precipice, but yet within
* Eph. vi. 12.
2811
24* 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
mercy's call and reach. One hand is on the latch
of salvation's door: the other holds the door-latch
of the eternal prison. Oh, what a position is that of
the preacher! His it is to persuade that soul to
open the door of life, and enter upon the pilgrimage to heaven. What position more sublime,
more important, more urgently pressed with responsibility!
Every noblest quality of the heart, every godlike
affection, every grandest human feeling, every
angelic power of the human intellect, has here its
fullest scope, its widest sphere. Why are the sermons of George Whitefield so meagre and unimpressive on paper? I have already answered in
part; but there is more.
The reader has not seen the man radiant with
the light of that mercy-seat he has just left. He
has not heard the introductory services. He does
not feel the tidal wave rolling and surging over a
thousand hearts around him. Then, again, Whitefield, like every other man preaching to save men,
shaped every sentence under the influence of innumerable local circumstances; so that words
which in those circumstances are powerful, because
they are the rushing, crushing avalanche, are now
tame as the tranquil dibris of that avalanche, as
they lie expended and motionless in the valley.
But beyond all this is the great fact that printed
words are, for the emotional nature of man, the
feeblest elements of language. While Garrick's
282 
THE PREACHER AN AMBASSADOR.
statement, that Whitefield could make an audience
weep or tremble simply by his pronouncing the
word Mesopotamia, seems to be an exaggeration, I
can fully believe that his utterance of the thrice
holy name of our Creator could thrill one hearer
with rapture, and another with terror. But to do
this is no trick of elocution: it must be the welling-up from the soul's deepest, purest fountains, of
a reverence, a love, a trust, a peace, a joy, a rapture,
almost angelic.
Language consists not of words alone, printed
or spoken. The eyes speak. The muscles of the
entire face, its flitting colors; the tones of the
voice, its pitch, its pause, its rush, its tranquil
movement; the attitude of the body; the movements of the hand and arms, - are all the heart's
telegraphs, its electric conductors.
Young gentlemen, learn to preach, - to save men
from present impenitence, ending in hell, and to
raise them to present repentance, ending in heaven,
by preaching the gospel of Jesus. Architecture,
artistic music, mere learning, mere oratory, you will
hold as subordinate, as mere instruments, when you
really pray and preach in their presence.
I am not speaking of the work of edificatibn,
but of converting souls, when I urge you to this
superhuman earnestness.
8. Removing  Hinderances.  I have spoken of
preaching about stumbling-blocks. I now come to
speak about removing them. There are two forms
283 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
of obstruction to a Revival, - external and internal.
The former may be local customs, diverting influences, the presence of a powerful sceptic in a
village, unrebuked scandals in the Church. Some
of these may be removed by the children of God.
Some they must tolerate, only pleading with God
about them.
The internal hinderances are personal and social.
Achan has a prohibited Babylonian garment in his
tent: and Israel must be stayed in his march and
his triumphs. I once heard of two unreconciled
brethren, officers in a church. Prayer-meetings had
continued for days with no encouraging sign. One
day one of them was brought to repentance and
humility.   He  went  earnestly to his  offended
brother, grasped his hand, and tenderly begged his
forgiveness. The flood-gates of tears were opened
at that moment, and the stream of mercy flowed
in upon the church.
If the hinderance is in the domestic life, business,
social or personal habits, it must be removed.
"Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take
up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people." * " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain
and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall
be made straight, and the rough places plain:
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the
* Is. lvii. IS
284 
WAITING FOR A REVIVAL.
Lord hath spoken it." *  "Break up your fallow
ground; for it is time to seek the Lord till he
come, and rain righteousness upon you." t
We reach, now, our second practical topic,
II. - WAITING FOR A REVIVAL.
The question is important, Should we ever expect
a Revival yet undeveloped?'
It is very manifest that we should always be
aiming at the highest form and largest amount of
good; and even then we shall always find a wide
sphere for the operations of that Spirit who is free
from all dictation, and superior to all control.
But the more difficult task is to answer this
inquiry, What degree of solicitude for manifest and
immediate results will an enlightened conscience
require?   From  mere  speculation, probably, no
solution of the question can be obtained; but as
matter of experience, when  our consecration is
unreserved, and no selfish absorption of the sensibilities prevents an overwhelming solicitude for
other men's salvation, then it is found that there
are alternations of feeling. At one period the soul
is wrought to that intensity of desire which is the
vital element in importunate prayer. Then ensues
a sweet calm, breathed from some unperceived
source upon the spirit, relieving it from the painful
pressure, which, carried farther, might have paralyzed, not invigorated, the executive powers, and
t Hosea. x. 12.
285
*Is. Ixl 3-5. 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
yet drawing themn forth to their utmost tension in
the most cheering and encouraging exercise. Thus
the Lord says to his weary disciples, "Come apart,
and rest a while."  "My yoke is easy."
Now, Revivals come to a parish, sometimes
sought, sometimes unsought. Of the latter we
have only to say that every pastor is under the
most solemn obligation to be a discerner of spirits,
to know "the signs of the times," to discriminate
soberly and justly, whether the new impulse upon
the people is mainly from heaven, or from earth;
from God, man, or Satan. No voice from heaven
will inform him. He must be living near his
Saviour, familiar with the word of God, and single
in his purpose, or he may take a wrong position,
and either abet the work of Satan, or attribute the
operations of the Holy Spirit to Satan. That, you
know, was "the sin against the Holy Ghost" in
Jesus' day.
Then, in regard to Revivals sought for, and
obtained in answer to prayer and by a divine blessing upon we]l-directed labors, the experience of
eighteen centuries has taught the Church something; and many believe (I am not of them, nor yet
prepared to oppose their view), that there are just
as definite and obvious laws of the divine action
guiding the action of man in the department of
grace as in that of nature.
All I consider myself authorized to say on this
subject is, that there appear to me more encourage
286 
WAITING FOR A REVIVAL.
ments for the spiritual agriculturist than for the
farmer.
Still we may inquire, Does the Holy Spirit act
arbitrarily in originating Revivals? or does he act
principally by laws not cognizable by man? or
does he act by laws which we may discover, and in
view of which, as in the material world, our action
is to be shaped?
It may be agreed upon at once, from what we
know of God's nature, that sovereign action with
him is not arbitrary action. His will is never exercised without the concurrence of his reason, rectitude, and goodness. But while there are parts of
his ways inscrutable, and not to be anticipated by
us, there are others that we can understand, because
either they are revealed in his Word, or the principles they involve are already embodied in some
portions of his acts and works.
Are there, then, any, and if any which, of his
ways discernible by us in regard to commencing a
Revival of religion?
Before attempting a specific reply, I would
remark, in general, that God's unphilosophical children often anticipate his ways more accurately than
their philosophizing brethren. The reason of this
may be, that they live in more intimate communion
with him, trust more to the guidance of the Spirit,
and lean less to their own understandings. We
can always approach God more effectually on the
side of the affections, will, and sympathies, than on
287 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
that of the intellect. "I dwell with the humble."
"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear
him," not with them that reason the most logically.
Their intuitions are profounder than all specula tions and inductions. Dr. Beecher generally con sulted a poor praying woman in one of his parishes
when he thought the Lord was giving signs of his
approach.
The specific reply the inquiry should meet may
be this, As any person may be saved at any
moment by believing on the Lord, so any one can
have the Spirit at any moment, or at any particular
period, by complying with certain conditions. And,
when one is filled with the Spirit, he can move
others.   The Psalmist saw this when he prayed,
"Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and
uphold me with thyfree Spirit.  Then will I teach
transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." *
Waiting for a Revival is really a very important part of the Revival itself,  -the seed buried
in the earth.   The  seed-time  and  the waitingtime equally constitute a portion of the agricultural year. Some of the most interesting pages
of church-history record these seasons. You see
a type of them in the scene on  Carmel.   The
prophet has set himself to turn the key of prayer
until it shall have unlocked the cisterns of heaven.
One subject fills his mind, one desire engrosses his
* Ps. li. 12 I3.
288 
WAITING FOR A REVIVAL.
heart. Men and cattle, dying of thirst and hunger,
give pain to his generous heart. He intends to lie
a suppliant at mercy's footstool until the waters are
poured out from on high. He is waiting in prayer,
in patience, in confident expectation. He is waiting upon God and for God.
The mode of waiting for the Lord is worthy of
the most serious and prayerful investigation. In
the physical department of life, men are growing
truly wise. They know that a wheat-crop depends
upon a thousand forces totally beyond their control.
Their sense of dependence on God, however, does
not make them indolent and inactive. The uncertainty whether the sun may shine sufficiently or
too much, whether there will be too much or too
little rain, does not check their diligence in preparing for a crop.  They act, in all this, on the principle stated by Moses: " Secret things belong unto
the Lord our God; but those things which are
revealed belong unto us and our children forever,
that we may do all the words of this law." * The
secret things are God's motives and rules of action;
the revealed are ours.
Waiting for a Revival, then, includes two lines of
action combined with a state of passive, hopeful
submission.   These lines of action are directed
heavenward and earthward, toward God and toward
man,- prayer that can wait, but can take no delay
as a sign of refusal from God; persuasion that can
take no denial from man.
25            * Deut. xxix. 29
289 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
The spirit of prayer is essential to him who
truly waits upon and for the Lord. Any other
waiting or patience is only indolence and presumption. When the Psalmist speaks of waiting, he thus expresses himself: "I waited patiently
for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard
my cry." * So that he was crying to the Lord in
his waiting.
Conjoined with this must be direct efforts for
men's conversion. The chief point to be secured
seems to be this, obtaining men's sustained attention to the Word. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a man having a house which he desires to sell.
He would have a thousand pieces of gold in exchange for it. But the man to whom he offers it
has no interest in it, no sense of its value, while he
fully appreciates his thousand pieces of gold. The
owner must, then, take him to the house, and fix his
attention on its beauties and' advantages in detail.
Thus the gold grows lighter, and the house weightier. So men come to part with all for the kingdom
of heaven. But by Sunday night, generally, they
have not more than reached the frontdoor.  "The
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force," t the Lord has declared.
Gen. Grant intended to fight on that line all summer; and he did fight until rebellion collapsed
Let us now come to the third practical point.
t Matt. xi. Ia.
290
* Ps. xI. I. 
WORKING IN A REVIVAL.
III.-WORKING IN A REVIVAL.
Almost every thing said on the point of preparatory work belongs to this stage. Yet, as several
new features now present themselves, some modification of those directions is required.   Faith in
the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit, earnest
desire, fervent prayer, personal consecration, continuous aggression on Satan's territory, are still
demanded.
The modifications now required respect the
preaching, general directions of the work, thanksgivings, and guiding inquirers.
I. The preaching must shape itself to the pecu.liar development of the work; for it never is alike
in two seasons or in two places, any more than in
its minor features.
2. Special phases of the movement may demand
special counsels and modes of working. Imprudent courses, extreme manifestations of feeling,
misunderstandings, peculiar impediments, may present themselves, and call for peculiar measures.
Things in themselves undesirable it may be expedient to let alone, because calling attention to them
as of much importance, or awaking controversy
about them, may do more evil than the things
themselves. I have been in Revival-work with
Mr. Hammond, and others, who were useful; but
I should hesitate much before entering upon work
with them again. I would not check them in the
291 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
midst. of the work; but a repetition of their
courses I should much dislike.
The question has been asked, what opinion we
should form in regard to the relating of experience.
It would require more time than our limits allow to
give a full reply on the point. Briefly it may be
said, there are here, as everywhere, two extremes.
Some churches and believers go to that of absolute
reticence. They will talk of their bodily condition,
their worldly plans, the kindness of friends, and
especially the unkindness they have experienced;
but they never say with the inspired believer,
"Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will
declare what he hath done for my soul."* The
Psalms, as records of personal religious experience,.
reprove this reticence. Paul, on at least three
occasions, introduced the scene of his conversion into his addresses; and his epistles abound
in descriptions of his own feelings. Thus entire
reserve on this subject is not founded on scriptural
authority. On the other hand, it is a practice
fraught with many dangers.   I have watched the
class-meeting with interest. It is my conviction,
from what I have learned there, that unless it
becomes a mere conference and prayer meeting,
and unless the members are highly cultivated angels,
and the leader an archangel, it is impossible to
save it from degenerating into routine generally,
and vapidness and cant in many cases.
292
* P- lxvi. 16, 
WORKING IN A REVIVAL.
But in Revivals the judicious employment of it
is very useful.
I was also asked whether women should exhort
and pray in public assemblies. I am aware that it
is favored by many churches. When this question
was proposed to me by a class of students, my
reply was, Paul says, No; and he is authority in
some sections of the church. Yet, immediately
after writing that sentence, my eye lighted on the
passage in Acts xxi: 9:  "And  the same man"
[Philip] " had four daughters which did prophesy; "
which I have been accustomed to understand as
meaning, speaking eloquently on divine themes in
meeting. And Peter says from Joel, " Your daughters shall prophesy." There I leave it.
3. Gratitude and thanksgiving are important
steps in a Revival. Mere supplication, without
acknowledging the answers to prayers, is a painful
manifestation of our degraded spiritual condition.
" Make known your requests with thanksgiving"
is the rule of the kingdom. There is danger, with
persons of a certain temperament, that they may
forget to temper their joy and thanksgiving with
reverence. The angels rejoice and praise and render thanks; but they veil their faces and their feet
with their wings when they do it.
Prominent still in this stage of the work is,
4. Prayer. It is not easy to keep it on a high
ground, earnest, but humble; and there is a danger
to be watched. Prayer is directly an action of man
25*
293 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Godward, an expression of the deepest feelings of
his heart: indirectly, it is powerfully impressive on
human sensibilities. Here lies the danger. I have
seen a prayer-meeting used chiefly with reference
to its impressiveness. The instant they who offer
the prayers take that position, the impressiveness
is lost. It may be a very good exhortation or
meditation; but its impressiveness as prayer ceases
the instant it ceases to be expressive to God of real
want.
So long as there are some in the Church who
are not satisfied, like the King of Israel, with smiting thrice, but long for a larger blessing; or, in
other words, so long as intense desire for the work
of the Spirit to be continued exists in some hearts,
and  these continue  in  prayer, -the  energized
prayer of the righteous, that availeth much, - so
long the work may continue, if it were to the millennium.
Your prayers are shaped by your theology, and
they preach it. Get, then, a very distinct view of
your position in supplicating for an impenitent sinner. Keep in view two of God's sentiments or
attributes, and his entire relations to the sinner.
Before the justice of God, never take the rebel's
side: the Advocate we have in heaven never does.
Hence it is said, "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." *
Take the sinner's part only before the mercy of
* i John ii. I.
294 
WORKING IN A REVIVAL.
God. Pray on the side of God's justice and of the
sinner's urgent need.   It is to me shocking to
hear a prayer that calls the sinner a "mourner,"
when he is merely anxious to save his soul, but not
to abandon his pride, self-will, and self-righteousness, neither penitent, submissive, nor believing;
for Jesus has made that epithet of mourner sacred
to the penitent. The Holy Ghost is dealing with
this rebel in what direction? Convincing him
that he is a sinner, guilty, rebellious, helpless; debating with him about his life, his heart; holding
to his view a righteousness he has not, yet must
obtain or perish, -a judgment to which he is hastening, and for which he is utterly unprepared.
Take, then, the side of the Holy Spirit in your
supplications.
Some praying in Revivals may be illustrated by
a neighbor entering a house in which the father is
trying to subdue the stubborn heart of a rebellious
son; and the neighbor takes the rebel's side, and
fortifies him in his rebellion.
We now turn to notice a peculiar measure, called,
5. " The anxious seat."  The title was peculiarly
unhappy.   It can easily and properly be made
ridiculous: it easily becomes cant. It is peculiarly
offensive to certain persons just awakened from
spiritual torpor, to be classified thus by their tenderest, profoundest feelings, and to hear that term
associated with the business-like talk into which
people easily slide when the reverential regard of
295 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
the Holy Spirit's operations has passed away, as it
so often does.
But we are now to deal with the thing itself. Its
essential feature is calling persons who have
become solicitous about their spiritual condition,
and desire to receive suitable instructions, to separate themselves from the congregation, and take
seats apart, where prayers will be offered specifically
for them, and counsel be given them.
Is it a desirable practice? In certain cases it
seems to be precisely the step that enlightened zeal
in a pastor would take. But as soon as it is used
mechanically or superstitiously, as a part of a Revival-routine or machinery, it becomes decidedly
mischievous.  Instead, therefore, of attempting to
decide in the abstract when and where it may be
safely employed, I will set before you its advantages
and its perils.
THE ADVAN'rAGES.
a. It has often proved a most efficient means of
fixing the mind in that momentous decision by
which the dividing-line between life and death is
crossed. (Charles Wesley says, "Oh that blessed
anxious seat!" &c.) It operates on the same principle, in many cases, as the pledge.
b. Its effect on the wavering, to see others so
definitely expressing decision, is powerful.
c. Its effect on a church is, for a time, very beneficial. But in this it shows itself to be a human
296 
WORKING IN A REVIVAL.
device. Unlike the divinely-ordained instruments
of good, it wears out.
d. It encourages the inquirer to find the sympathy which his case requires.
EVILS AND DANGERS.
a. Inquirers easily substitute the mechanical act
for the spiritual step that leads to the Saviour. I
have known leaders to become so earnest in urging
to this bodily exercise, that it seemed to me certain some of those thus urged would lose sight
of the spiritual objects which are the only real
magnet to draw the life into new channels, while
their attention was engrossed with the outward.
b. And, when they yield to this urgency, there is
some danger they may substitute the outward act
for the faith which saves, depending on the measure instead of Christ.
c. The leader is often placed in a very undesirable position. He has undertaken a public contest
with the inquirers; and I have seen one become
angry because he was foiled in it. This can be
avoided, however, by simply making the offer, and
not undertaking to urge the step.
d. The inquirer sometimes is hardened by his
resistance to the minister; so that he the more
easily resists the Spirit of God. His success in
the contest with God's servant emboldens him.
e. The attention of the Church becomes diverted
from the mercy-seat, to watch the success of this
297 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
measure, with mixed emotions of true zeal, curiosity, and a party spirit.
I have known an evangelist who seemed to be
conscious of considerable tact in manipulating an
audience. His aim seemed to be to get his hearers
on their feet, for any one of twenty objects.
298 
TWELFTH LECTURE.
WORKING IN A REVIVAL (continued).
WE meet now another phase of the work, -
6. Guiding Inquirers. When the Spirit of God
moves on the hearts of the people, he begins, as
the Saviour states, by convincing of sin.   The
discovery, by the sinner, of guilt and danger, never
so seen and felt by him before, also reveals to him
both his lack of knowledge and need of sympathy. The preacher must, accordingly, now become
more directly and personally and minutely the
guide of the inquirer after the way of life; and for
this work he and every disciple should seek to
become qualified.
What, then, are the qualifications needed? The
first of all are rightly developed and balanced sympathies.                    A heart full of loyalty to God, and
sympathy with his feelings, is indispensable, as I
endeavored to show in regard to prayer for the
awakened. You are acting the solemn part of an
ambassador to a rebel province, of a mediator
between    a parent and his obstinate child.  You
m     u     s     t      do more injury than good, if you do not fully
sustain the government you represent, or the par                                        299 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
ent for whom you mediate. The rebel must yield,
the child must submit; and your deep conviction
must be, that the government is right, or the
parent is right, and the rebel or child is wrong;
and the feelings must coincide with the judgment
in the case.
Sympathy with the guilty, ruined soul, is equally
indispensable. If the inquirer has an inadequate
sense of his guilt and danger, the want of tender
solicitude on your part tends to increase his insensibility: if, on the contrary, he feels deeply, your
lack of sympathy tends to discourage him.
In a word, to work with the spirit of God, your
views and feelings must be in harmony with his;
but he feels deeply the dishonor done to God by
the sinner, and also the sinner's terrible condition
and prospects.
Clear and abiding perception of our relative
position in this work is important. We are but
secondary instruments; the gospel of Jesus Christ
being first, and the Holy Ghost the efficient agent
in regenerating a soul.
A  knowledge of the way in which the Spirit
leads the sinner is indispensable. It is revealed in
the general form. We must learn to apply it to
specific cases; and this is done by close and judicious comparison of Scripture with the experience
of converts.
What, then, must the guide attempt to do? He
must not attempt to interfere with the freedom of
3oo 
WORKING IN A REVIVAL.
either the spirit of God, or the spirit of man. No
two human faces are precisely alike; and yet every
human face bears the great family likeness more
or less. Do not attempt, therefore, to make any
particular experience the model for every other aim
at certain great results, which may perhaps be thus
stated, - the voluntary and thorough turning from
sin to holiness, the thorough and absolute acceptance of a free salvation, the entire trust of the
soul in the Lord Jesus, the unreserved surrender
of the affections and will to him.
This is the issue to which each must come. But
the variety of the paths which men take to reach
the Saviour, and the variety of the channels
through which the guide must reach it, is very
great. I would, then, attempt to make for you a
classification of cases more or less complete. There
are, first, 
The superficial in thought and sensibility.
These are hard cases, in which the guide is, for a
time, to do all the thinking and feeling. One says,
"I should like to be a Christian; but I have no
sense of my sinfulness."
Such cases are trying and humiliating, unless
you are in close communion with God, and yourself
feeling deeply the evil of sin, its hatefulness, and
danger. If in that state of mind, it is easy to
press your own views and feelings on the inquirer,
with a deep conviction that he possibly must be
saved now or never. If not in that state of mind,
26
30i 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
it may be best to pray for him rather than talk
much to him out of a cold heart.
But no one should be permitted to leave you in
this state until you have done every thing in
your power to disturb this unhallowed tranquil
lity. Alarm, then, if possible; strike some chord
of the conscience so violently, that it must vibrate.
Perhaps you may awaken even some nobler sentiment of the heart.
The morbidly-timid, conscientious, discouraged,
and legally-inclined inquirer will be found. One
says, "I see so much imperfection in the Church,
that I shall not trouble myself about becoming a
Christian." To answer such a fool according to his
folly, you might reply, "If the Church is so imperfect, do you, and all such conscientious persons,
enter it, and make  it better."   But when  you
meet a gentle, timid spirit, remember what was
said of your Lord, "He shall not break the bruised
reed, nor quench the smoking flax." If a soul is
discouraged, search out the views, real or fancied,
that discourage it, and proclaim to it with a full
heart the cordial invitations and the rich promises
of the gospel. "Whosoever will;" ring the changes
on that. If it is a legal spirit, one that is waiting
to do half the work of salvation before accepting
Christ's half, reveal to it with the utmost discrimination just wherein the gospel differs from the
law.
Show him, that, while there are conditions to
302 
WORKING IN A REVIVAL.
fulfil that he may be saved, they are exactly not the
things he is trying to do. He is trying to become
very good before coming to Christ. The gospel
rule is, come to Christ in order to become good.
He is trying to reach a point where he can feel he
has something to offer Christ not quite so unlovely
as his case is. Christ's requirement is, that the
sick bring their loathsome leprosy, and not cure
it before coming to him.
I have seen a tract recently, which must do
much mischief. Its instruction is summed up in
this, Believe that your sins are pardoned, and you
shall be saved; that is, believe a falsehood, which
is the condition of salvation. No one's sins are
forgiven until he has believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This belief embraces two exercises of
trust or belief, - belief in a truth, and trust in a person. But what is the truth to be believed? Not
this, that the sins of one John Jones are forgiven,
for there is no such declaration in the Scriptures,
but that the sins of every individual in a certain
class are forgiven. If I am in that class, then I
may make the inference, I, John Jones, am forgiven.
The sceptical and speculative may often present
themselves as inquirers, with more or less sin cerity.
One of two courses is before you, -meet them
on their own ground, and reason with them; or
stand on your ground of faith, and press their
consciences with the things you see to be real.
3o3 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
You may find in Spencer's "Pastor's Sketches" a
splendid specimen of the first method. It is the
first in the series. If you take the latter course,
you must urge him to enter in at the strait gate
without delay, informing him, that, in that case,
he would go but a short distance before he
would come to the house of one named Interpreter, who is accustomed to clearing difficulties
from the paths of honest inquirers. "If any man
will do his will, he shall know" all that is necessary about Jonah's whale and the other stumblingblocks.
Then there are the self-conceited. Their case is
difficult; but some plain dealing from the word
of God out of a tender and earnest heart may reach
even them.
The self-righteous need to be searched by the
law applied to the motives of the heart and the
details of life.
The self-deceived will inquire sometimes for
light.  "What shall I do that I may inherit everlasting life?" was proposed by one of this class to
the Master himself, who took this course with
him: he brought a test that revealed the utter
hollowness of all his goodness.
The self-justifying will meet you. If one says
he cannot repent, assume it to be true, and then
tell him his doom is fixed; for a soul that cannot
repent cannot enter heaven. If he replies, that he
meant only to say, "Unless God converts me," then
304 
WORKING IN A REVIVAL.
tell him that he ought to be very much alarmed, if
he believes that; for he does not know that it will
ever please God to convert him. You may meet,
too, the stubborn rebel. Take firm ground with
him. Hold him to God's terms, and yield nothing
to him. If you meet the declining, losing conviction and diminishing in earnestness, take the
alarm yourself, and grasp the soul sliding down to
the abyss. Show the peril of quenching the Spirit.
Talk with tender earnestness of this fearful condition. You may meet the unconsciously believing. We see the evidence of faith in them, which
is not obvious to their own sight. Perhaps it is
safe, very rarely, for us to express a positive belief
to such persons, that they are regenerated; but
we must beware of trying to carry them back to
the ground they occupied before conversion. It is
safe, however, to urge them to exercise so strong a
faith in Christ, that they shall become conscious
of its exercise.
We are sometimes in a position where we must
present tests of character or conversion. The main
points seem to be these:  Have you a right apprehension of sin as guilt, as
a perverted will, as opposition to God, as vile and
ruinous in any and all of its forms?
Is there a radical renunciation of pride, selfishness, and self-will? Does the soul come self-condemned, despairing in self and every creature, to
rely solely on Christ? Is Christ really accepted
26*
3o5 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
and relied upon? Is there an unreserved consent
to consecrate all to Christ?
We now reach our fourth practical point, aiming
to determine,
IV. - How A REVIVAL SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO
A CLOSE.
The expression may be startling to some who
hear it.  "A  Revival ought never to close," they
affirm. "This Revival never will close," is a remark
frequently made in these blessed seasons. But
there is a hurtful misapprehension here. I do not
affirm that it is not possible for a church to be
making continual progress. Many a church has
lived without declension during an entire pastorate;
some, even longer.
But, in the nature of the case, a Revival cannot
be a Revival forever. The term is a relative one.
It presupposes a previous state of coldness, a present rising from the dead. But it ceases to be a
Revival, when the quickened state has become the
established order of things.
And then, again, a Revival includes, like a harvest,
like the medical treatment of an invalid, a concentration of effort, a remedial appliance that must be
temporary. If any imagines this involves a decline
of personal piety, he misapprehends the subject.
306 
CLOSING A REVIVAL.
Assuming, then, that this tension of feeling and
concentrated attention cannot be permanent, the
pastor should seek after the best method of utilizing this social excitement; thus turning it into
healthy channels of personal spiritual cultivation,
holy living, and Christian beneficence. I would,
then, suggest that he,  I. Guard the change from becoming a declension
of personal piety; for, if that is what any understand
by closing a Revival, it should be regarded with
horror. We have seen Revivals close shabbily,
shamefully, in ways that disgusted the cautious, and
made sport for the enemy.
The closing of a Revival should correspond to
the end of harvest. The farmer is no less zealous
or watchful; only he begins to work differently.
There is a change, but no interruption of the
farming.
It seems, then, of the first importance that Christians should be particularly counselled and persuaded
to recognize the greatness of the blessing enjoyed,
and be quickened by it to a closer walk with God.
Let the time given to the lecture-room now be
bestowed upon the closet; social prayer take no
more the place of private prayer; let earnest pleadings with others to become Christians now give
place, in some measure, to earnest pleadings with
their own hearts to enter more fully into the rights,
privileges, joys, hopes, fellowships, and labors that
belong to the child of God.
307 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Then let the pastor, -
2. Proceed at once to a complete organization of
the church into a working corps.
The Moravians did this. The Methodists failed
just there. Had they advanced in this line, their
body would, probably, to-day, have been manifold
more numerous and powerful than it is. The
Wesleys did not grasp the really democratic element of the gospel. At this day their noblest
leaders are urging the reluctant laymen to bear
their part in the public affairs of the body.
But I will cite you examples of what I mean by
closing a Revival.  The hearts of brethren are warm
with conscious love to Christ and the human race.
They are waiting to find some channel for their
zeal. This is the propitious period for carrying forward that most important revolution which is now
commenced in the Church of Christ, - the practical
application, or, rather, expansion, of the principle
of stewardship.
I have spoken of the Revival of benevolence as
expressed in the donation of property. But that
was a partial development of the Spirit of consecration. Believers are coming now to perceive that
the claims of our Lord extend to time, speech, and
personal influence in all its forms. And may the
time be hastened when a test of Christian character shall be a conscientious use of time and power
to reconstruct human society on the basis of loyalty to Christ!
3o8 
CLOSING A REVIVAL.
The pastor, then, as he perceives the time has
come to give a new direction to the thoughts and
labors of the church, should aim to organize every
available member into a special society of some
kind.
The complaint about having "too many societies" does not apply here. This is not to form a
new set of salaried officers to do our work for us,
and to make new calls for money, but to set every
one at work personally.
These organizations should embrace, at least,
three objects,- Christian fellowship, mission-work,
biblical study. For the cultivation of Christian
fellowship, let a portion of the church, of both sexes
and every age, adapted to the work, be formed into
a committee to' arrange the social meetings, sewingcircles, or any other feasible way of bringing all
classes together  in  pleasant  intercourse.   Let
another committee be formed to secure the most
efficient employment of the church's power in reaching the poor and unevangelized; setting every one,
so far as possible, to work in doing good to somebody, in a mission-school, or tract distribution, or
neighborhood prayer-meetings. Then let the pastor
organize some system of biblical instruction, which
shall involve two courses,- the enlisting of every
one capable of teaching, in a thorough study of
the Bible; and all the others in classes under
them. It was the boast of our immediate predecessors that they thoroughly studied Bellamy,
309 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
Hopkins, and Edwards.   Let it be our nobler
boast, that we thoroughly study Moses, Isaiah,
John, and Paul.
Several of our churches are now quite thoroughly
organized; all, probably, admitting of improvements. Mr. Spurgeon has secured several important points. But he is a man of such peculiar
endowments as scarcely to be a inodel to the body
of pastors.
The Rev. Dr. MacColl of Glasgow, from his own
successful experiment, thus describes the idea and
work of a church:
"The central idea of this successful home-mission * in the
crowded depths of city life is in the Church as embodying theoretically the necessary gifts both of wisdom and work, and the
adequate power to unite, intensify, direct, and multiply individual
effort. Organized Christian fellowship in a church is regarded as
the true association for the.propagation of the faith and life.
"The idea is further, that of a mission-church, not only to spread
the faith and life of Christ, but to spread it immediately by those it
gathers in. The meal as it is leavened is put by handfuls into
new measures. As the church fills, another is built, and the original congregation divided. Thus not only individuals are planted
out, but complete churches. Office-bearers and members are
encouraged to take to such forms of work as they are best fitted
for; and the widest scope for individual effort and enlargement is
afforded. Thus there are gifts specially used in prayer, preaching, teaching, visiting, finance, church-music, colportage, nursing
the sick, domestic training, and the higher education.
"The Church works both within and without, to enclose more of
the world, and to cultivate what is enclosed; and, as spiritual life
is largely dependent on knowledge as well as faith, there is room
anid necessity for the highest culture. This culture should keep
in view both body and spirit.
* Work in the Wynds
3Io 
CLOSING A REVIVAL.
"The Church strives to seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness. A church of poor, prayerful men, may be very
richly endowed. Nothing is impossible to faith The seed is
the Word. Apostolic fruits can still be grown from it.
"The Church keeps a wide door for those that would enter, but
strict discipline for those that would abide.
"The Church is bound not only to teach, but train, not only in
sound doctrine, but in good works. In addition, therefore, to the
education of the school and the church, TRAINING CLASSES give
specific education for mission-work to men and women who wish
to enter on various spheres of Christian work, paid or unpaid, at
home and abroad.
"A curriculum of three winter sessions is at present laid out,
embracing sanitary and mental science, English literature, mission history, doctrine, difficulties of faith, phases of evangelistic
work, and Bible resources applicable to these. One night in
the week is thus occupied.
"A library largely furnished with missionary literature is available. A mission-house is attached to the school for domestic
training of girls. A model home as regards cleanliness, order,
economy, cooking, and needlework, is here to be seen at work
among a dozen girls, who pay their lodging and board; and here
from one to two hundred girls living elsewhere get a variety of
lessons gratis.
"The Church, while thus seeking to organize work, and introduce to it, encourages Individual effort; but it seeks to maintain
fellowship in all."
A third suggestion I would make,  3. The style of the pulpit and its topics should
change, but not descend, nor go backward.
Now, the nature of union with Christ; the ineffable preciousness of that union; the relations of
believers to the Church catholic and to one
another; the application of the gospel to the details
of life, of the family, of business and social inter
3I I 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
course; all the truths, in a word, that the apostles,
in their most precious epistles, expanded from the
teachings of the Lord, -these are themes demand ing the most serious attention of every one.
The preacher may find some physical re-action,
and a little depressing influence, in the less ani mated services of the sanctuary; but there is no
occasion for this. The animation is of a different
type, just as valuable in its season. The themes
of the new epoch are even more powerful in their
place thai those of the Revival would be.
Then there arises a demand for,
a. The judicious treatment of particular cases.
Giving hope to converts, advising them to make
full confession of Christ, and enter the church,
admitting them to its fellowship, are matters
requiring, not human rules, but special divine
direction. One other step I regard as of immeasurable importance, 
b. The converts' Bible class. The features of
chief interest are these:  The very act of organizing converts into a class
is a suitable recognition of their professed regeneration, which is due to the holy Author of that
work. It draws a line between them and their former associates. It commits them, for the time,
almost as strongly as a full profession of religion,
and yet has a probationary character.
To make it more effective, and bring home to
each convert the sense of personal responsibility,
312 
CLOSING A REVIVAL.
and to show the pastor's interest in them individually, I opened each service by calling the roll.
Some features of that, however, led me to discontinue it, and merely to enrol any name by its
owner's request.
The topics I selected for one class were, The
great change, its Author, nature, and designs;
growth in grace; prayer; leaven (to present
growth in another aspect); faith; pleasing God;
delight in God; the good Shepherd; the Bible and
its study; count the cost; worship; compassion
for the impenitent; individuality; quietness.
Had I pursued it, my intention was to go through
the various phases of Christian experience in its
early stages, to check the presumptuous, encourage
the timid, guard against their dangers, show the
sources of their strength and the modes of reaching them.
It was a blessed work; and any pastor may well
covet the possession of a converts' or catechumens'
class in every year of his ministry.
And another work following a Revival is,-.
c. Keeping down the barriers between the pastor
andpeople, which such seasons always, more or less,
remove.
Aim to keep in their minds the sense of the
naturalness and propriety of free communication
between every unconverted person and his pastor
in regard to his eternal welfare.
Where Revivals never occur, I doubt if it is
3x3~ 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
fully understood that it is a proper, natural, very
desirable thing, that every member of the parish
should converse freely, and not infrequently, with
the pastor on this first of all interests. A judicious
pastor can secure that understanding with all his
hearers generally, so that he can have the advantage
of observing the first favorable movements of any
heart toward God and salvation. This is peculiarly
true in regard to children.   They pass through
seasons of awakened religious sensibility which are
very important to seize with a friendly hand, and
to hold their attention to the claims and offers of
Christ, until the great decision shall have been
made. In some cases pastors have made the
inquiry-meeting a permanent institution. The desirableness of that depends upon the state of the
people's mind, as well as the mode of doing it. If
new cases of inquiry are occurring after the subsiding of the general excitement, this should, by all
means, be done; but it may become hurtful to
continue it for a long time for chronic cases of
indecision.
We are to avoid appointing such an exercise
when it is manifest that no person wishes to avail
himself of it. And yet I have known, I may say,
many instances of such an appointment, in a season
of apparent religious insensibility, developing the
existence of a deep, hitherto hidden, current of feeling; a fact which shows that a faithful minister
cannot lead a routine-life: he must be in constant
314 
CLOSING A REVIVAL.
living sympathy with the invisible presence and
poweri of the Holy Ghost, the wind that "bloweth
where it listeth."
Here we meet an evil incidental to Revivals,that of undervaluing religious services of a less
exciting and demonstrative character; that of discouragement. from confounding the physical and
mental re-action with the withdrawal of the Paraclete from our hearts; that of despising "the day
of small things," and, consequently, neglecting
those less exciting, more difficult, less encouraging
details of work, which have now become the duty
of the hour.
The analogy of farming is' very instructive at
this, as at so many other stages of Christian life
and work; the harvest is a season of extraordinary excitement, labor, social gatherings, hilarity,
and mutual help; but it comes to a close at
length. Then work becomes more solitary,-less
gladdening to the eyes, but full of promise for the
future, a constant quickener of hope.
The hour has come for a change. Meet it manfully. The ploughs are now to be critically
inspected, fences examined, a thousand details to
receive attention. That constitutes good farming.
In a word, then, seek to meet the providence of
God and his Spirit in every manifestation of the
divine purposes, suiting your labors to your ciricumstances, always vigilant, always faithful.
I must now point out to you,
3I5 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
4. The vital elements of power in our profession.
A heathen could see that what he called virtue
was the vital element of true eloquence. But we
have instructions of the Son of God, and can go
far deeper and higher than Cicero.
Your power as preachers of Christ's gospel lies
in your character, your moral self, not what you
have learned, or know, or think, but what you
are.  And it may be expressed in two words,enthusiasm, dependence.   By enthusiasm I mean
two things, - a high, fixed purpose; a profound,
quick, acute sensibility. The purpose to which I
allude is this: to save from eternal ruin as many
immortal spirits as possible, to defeat Satan's
schemes as far as possible, to put as much honor
upon our adorable Redeemer as possible. The
sensibility of which I. speak is the emotional
nature fully impressible and impressed by two
facts of supreme moment, - sin, redeeming love.
There, dear brethren, is the real weakness of the
ministry. Our young men delude themselves with
a show of learning and mental acuteness, which
indeed have their place, but which, without charity,
are but sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.
Lord Buchan has well said, "Exquisite power has
its root in exquisite sensibility." An educated
clergy, in shrinking from the enthusiasm of the
Ranters, has virtually surrendered the whole field
to the Ranters, so far as the it n6Uot are concerned;
for they demand, first of all, heart.
3x6 
THE PREACHER'S POWER.
This, then, I consider the first root-element of
sacred oratory, - enthusiasm, a fiery, tender heart,
moved to its depths in view of man's sin and
Christ's love, an intense will or purpose to bring
every sinner to trust the loving Saviour. The second element is, -
The spirit of dependence, arising from a full
perception of personal unworthiness of the position occupied, and of insufficiency to secure the
ends sought. This tempers the solemnity, sternness, energy, boldness, impetuosity, of the sacred
orator. This keeps him in living sympathy with his
humblest hearer. This makes him a man of prayer,
and gives the glory to Him to whom it belongs.
This holds logic and learning in their proper
place, not as forces, but as instruments of real
force, the power of the heart.
And both these, enthusiasm and dependence, are
really summed up in faith; for faith includes both
the vision of those spiritual realities which so profoundly move the sensibilities, and also the dependence of man on God, as of the branch on the vine.
All, then, that Cicero demands in the orator faith
produces, and on a higher plane than he ever
dreamed of. Faith can produce the vividus vultus,
vividi oculi, vivida manus, denique, omnia vivida.
This was the secret of Whitefield's oratorical
power. That very voice, of which so much is said,
was formed, in its most exquisite and effective
tones, by no other master of elocution than the
27*
3I7 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
heart.  "The North American Review" speaks of
his intense desire to see a changed face put upon
the religious world, his prodigal benevolence, his
recklessness of all temporal consequences to himself, his absorption in the saving of souls, his consuming desire that others might enter his rapture
aid peace; and, almost above all these, a childlike
simplicity, a humble sense of self, gave him a
higher distinction than mere oratory could obtain.
Let me now speak of,
5. Your expectations.
I have spoken of your aims. Now make this
discrimination: when you seriously take up the
subject in that light, conscience will be in the foreground, and you will have very lofty and pious
views.   But, that service performed  in  a less
serious mood,lyou will find the heart at work in a
somewhat different line of action. It may talk on
this fashion: "I hope to be a very faithful and successful pastor, very godly, very useful, and to have
Revivals, and in heaven shine as the stars in the
firmament, having turned many to righteousness.
Yes, that is all settled. But I hope my work will
be assigned me in a pleasant town, among cultivated people, and that I shall be somewhat distinguished as a preacher, and that no one will oppose
me or perplex me, and that I shall make the parsonage a little paradise. The pinchings of poverty, the arrows of slander, the annoyance of officious people, the toil of rmaking sermons with a
318 
THE PREACHER'S EXPECTATIONS.
headache, the mortification of having my best
efforts unappreciated, -all that I expect to be
spared."
Brother, when your heart thus speaks, meet it
with something like these three regiments of the
king's troops, to conquer it so effectually that it may
never peep nor mutter again. The first is the
example of your Saviour. He was rich, but made
himself poor in order to enrich us. He had the
Father's glory, but divested himself of it, that he
might make our eternity glorious. He came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister to us, and
give his life a ransom for us. He consented to be
despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, to be misunderstood, misrepresented, his love requited with
hatred, his professed help with contempt, his tears
with scoffs, to be here without a home, a large
church around him, a splendid place of worship.
We are not to imitate and repeat his outward
life, but fully to share his spirit.
Bring against your pride and selfish aspirations
the experience of Paul as recorded in 2 Cor. xi.
23-33.
The third battalion is the example of our best
soldiers. They enlisted with one definite object at
heart, -to suppress the Rebellion, and save the
institutions of the country. They knew they were
not competent to make the plans of the campaigns,
or to station themselves to the greatest advantage,
but, committing themselves to the leaders in whom
319 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
they confided, went into the ranks, unquestioning,
uncompromising, determined on one thing, - to
conquer the rebels if possible.
So much for your expectations concerning your
comfort and respectability.   Then  in regard to
your success. Beware of shaping too definitely the
form of that success. You see, from our brief
review, that much of the past has been seed sowing; that there were many Revivalists without
Revivals. While I doubt if there will ever be
many more such, especially in this country, yet
your work may be largely a sower's work, for
others to reap, that reaper and sower may rejoice
together.
Let, then, your expectation take but these definite
forms, -" I expect to be faithful to Christ, ready for
the coming of the Spirit in any form he may adopt.
I expect to find my blessed Lord with me in my
closet, in every visit, every prayer-meeting, every
sermon, every part and branch of my work. I
expect that my faith will be tried, sometimes as by
fire. I expect to be a man of prayer, labor, and
self-denial. I expect to be cheerful amid hardships
and trials. I expect to be a great blessing to my
fellowmen, but in what way I need not anticipate.
I expect to be an instrument of converting men,
comforting and edifying believers, leading children
to Jesus. I expect my influence will all be on the
side of a humble, earnest, aggressive piety, in the
same channel with every good institution and good
man in the world.
320 
THE PREACHER'S EXPECTATIONS.
"I hope for great Revivals under my labors.
These, however, may never occur; but I intend
that their non-occurrence shall not be because I
was  indifferent to them, or self-sparing.   And
I finally expect to finish my course with joy, and to
say, by the grace of God,' I have kept the faith,
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day.'
"I expect to review my course from heaven, and
see, that, with many mistakes and many defects,
there ran through the whole of my ministry one
sincere, supreme purpose of doing the greatest possible good, one simple exercise of reliance upon
my Saviour and his Holy Spirit.
"On my way to heaven, I hope that I shall be the
means of causing frequent joy in the presence of
the angels of God, by turning the feet of wandering
children back toward their Father's house."
Carry this one woTrd of the Lord with you into
your work: "Likewise, I say unto you, There is
joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repenteth." *
Did the Lord say this joy would be occasioned
by your getting a splendid call and the offer of a
large salary, by that eloquent sermon you preached,
by that distinguished man taking a seat in your
sanctuary? Nothing of all this, but by the tear of
* Luke xv. Io.
L
32x 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
penitence falling from the eye of a child, a beggar,
or a prince.
Mark the Saviour's motive in uttering this declaration. It was, first of all, to rebuke the proud,
selfish, earthly spirit of Pharisaism, so rife in his
day and in our day, which says there is too much
ado about a change of heart. No, replies the Lord
of glory: it causes more joy in heaven than any
thing you Pharisees ever do, or cause to be done.
"There is no reality in the change."   Yes, there
is: Heaven does not rejoice over pretensions and
illusions. "I doubt if the change will be permanent." Heaven has more faith than you. "It does
not concern me." No; but it concerns the whole
hierarchy of heaven.
The Saviour uttered these words to encourage
sinners to repent, to assure them of Heaven's sympathy with their feelings, their yearnings, their
grief, and their joy.
He uttered these words to stimulate believers;
showing them how they could add to the happiness
of Heaven; that all the heavenly host, with the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are with them in full
sympathy in this blessed word.
He uttered these words, dear young brethren, to
animate you in your sacred vocation. Go forth
to persuade men to repent toward God, swelling
thus the tide of joy now rolling through heaven, to
roll forever through your own hearts there.
3-22 
ADDRESS.
Now, dear brethren, we have reached the close
of a series of interviews, which I regard with a
deep sense of gratitude to Him who has granted
me the privilege of aiding, in the smallest degree,
those who are laboring to prepare you for sublime
work and its eternal rewards.
I welcome every return of affection from you;
for brotherly love is the atmosphere of heaven.
We part on earth to meet at the judgment, or,
rather, in our Father's house of many mansions.
From this point suffer me to look with you upon
the several paths leading from this school of the
prophets to the door of that house.
God may change the form of development for
his kingdom; but the spirit of that kingdom can
never change. I would, then, aim to bind you to no
parties, no formula, no master, no routine. My
aim has been to give you the facts of the past
connected with our subject, to help you discover
the eternal principles they involve, and to cherish
in you the spirit that will fit you for the highest
degree of usefulness, whatever your external course
may be.
323 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
I would speak first of,
I. Your aims. Settle it now and forever; plant
your foot upon a rock; have your vision clear as
the eagle's, gazing on the meridian sun, in refer ence to this question, For what end do I enter
the ministry?  Is it self, or God, I intend  to
please? Am I to seek my own earthly good, or
the eternal blessedness of my fellow-men? Posi tion, power, ease, fame, pelf, all will make thorough
proof of you. And how will you pass the ordeal?
What will you say to each of them? On your
response to their appeals hang immortal destinies.
Leave not these consecrated halls until you can
say, gazing humbly on your Saviour's countenance,
"For me to live, is Christ!" To win men's love to
him; to strengthen their faith in his promises; to
win them from every form and degree of selfishness; to work for their transformation into his
likeness; let that be your purpose, fixed at the
foot of his cross, written on the tablets of your
heart, in the book of his covenant; to be met again,
when you meet him, in its light, to review your life.
Aim to have Revivals, Christian quickening,
soul-converting  Revivals.   If they come  not to
crown your ministry, let it not be because you were
averse, or even indifferent, to them.
Aim to secure men's admiration, not of you, but
of Christ. Let us take two cases. A minister
ascends the pulpit, and spends an hour in convincing his hearers of this fact, real or imaginary, that
324 
ADDRESS.
he is a man of extraordinary talent, of wonderful
acquirements,-  an orator.  He  brings resistless
proof to their eyes and ears. He illustrates it.
He presses the evidence with intense zeal and
complete success. The result is, that one thousand
persons leave the house of God on his day, having
made this vast addition to their stock of knowledge: they have discovered that Mr. A. B. is an
extraordinary man.
What think you of the thing, brethren? Is it
wise, is it kind, is it honorable, is it fair to God or
man, is it the right use to make of the pulpit, of
the Sabbath, the sanctuary, or the word of God?
Was it for this Jesus died? for this he called that
man to the ministry? Who will be the better for
it a century hence?
On the opposite side of the street was a man
whose hearers retired from the sanctuary, saying,
"How poor and sinful we are! How glorious Jesus
is! How can we love him more, and serve him better?"
Brother, which of them is yourself?
I speak next of,
2. Your earnestness in your vuork.  There is a
sense in which you are nothing: at best, a harp
that can make no music of itself, but awaits the
soul and touch of the Master. The power that
saves is not in you; and yet there is a sense in
which the destinies of certain souls are suspended
on your action. If you pursue one course, they
28
325 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
will perish eternally; another, they will shine and
sing forever in heaven. This was the Lord's mean ing, when he said to Ezekiel that the blood of the
soul he should neglect to warn would be required
at his hands. It is to this Paul alludes when he
says, "I am pure from the blood of all- men."
What an appeal to your hearts, to your consciences! Shall any one go down to the second
death because you are ambitious, covetous, indolent,
proud, frivolous, prayerless? Imagine a hundred
persons pointed out to you by the finger of the
Omniscient. As you look at them, he says, "If you
pursue one course, not one of these persons will
ever repent and prepare for heaven; another course
will result in the salvation of ten of them; another
still, of twenty; another, of fifty. But if you will
commence your ministry with a thorough crucifixion
of ambition, leaving your reputation for talent,
scholarship, and eloquence, totally in my hands; if
you will give the wealth of your affections, and the
energy of your being, to the single work of saving
men from eternal death, being an earnest, laborious,
self-denying minister of the gospel, - every one of
these immortal beings will turn to the Lord, and
dwell eternally in his love and his blissful presence." What, my dear young brother, will be your
decision?
But this is precisely what I understand by the
responsibility of our office. What say you, then?
Will you save none, or ten, or fifty, or all? If the
326 
ADDRESS.
latter, then you must consent and determine to be
a whole-souled, single-eyed, earnest laborer.
I urge you, also, fully to realize,
3. Your dependence. Do you know that our proud
hearts can go even so far as to begrudge our Saviour
the whole glory of every good thing we have or do?
Paul's attainment was quite uncommon, which he
thus described: "We are not sufficient of ourselves
to think any thing as of ourselves."  "I glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me."
His pride was effectually exterminated. Absolute, universal, incessant dependence on such a
being as the Lord Jesus Christ was to him a source
of repose, joy, confidence, boldness, earnestness,
and love, which he would not have exchanged for
any gratification he might have derived from the
consciousness of independence, or the glory of
being considered sufficient to himself.
The more thoroughly you habituate yourselves
to regard the figure of the branches and vine as
describing your personal relations to the Lord, the
more thoroughly Christian will you and your ministry be. It will make you bold as lions, without
ostentation, obtrusiveness, or impertinence. It will
preserve you calm and self-possessed in the most
trying positions; for it will keep you consciously in
the Saviour's presence, filled with the power of his
Spirit. It will shield you from the perils of success, the poison of flattery, the discouragement of
28
327 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
failure, the corrodings of.envy of others' reputation,
and jealousy for your own.
Engrave on your hearts these words of the noblest, most useful man that ever lived: "Not I, but
the grace of God that is in me." It will cause
some of you a struggle, -yes, inany a tearful hour
perhaps, many an agonizing prayer, many a visit to
Gethsemane, to reach that point,-to count  all
your talents and attainments as sounding brass and
a tinkling cymbal unless the Master plays on them.
To make the love of approbation and admiration
hold a place totally inferior to the desire that men
should glorify Christ, and not you; this, dear
brethren, is a costly attainment, a pearl of great
price, but worth more than it will ever cost you.
Here I will give you a modern specimen of humility. It is contained in a letter addressed by
M. Rochat, a Swiss pastor recently transferred to
the better world, to M. Bonnet of Frankfort. It
seems the latter had published a translation of
Leighton's works by Rochat, and, in his introduction, had called him "one of the most advanced
Christians, an eminent servant of God." M. Bonnet says, "In this I spoke not beyond my convictions, but short of them; and therefore I took it
for granted that I was not wounding even the most
delicate conscience. But in this I was mistaken.
M. Rochat, much farther advanced than I thought
he had been in the Christian life, had, as I now
find, long since abjured the principle and the
328 
ADDRESS.
practice of giving and receiving praise." For,
soon after the book had been published, M. Bonnet received the following letter:
"DEAR BROTHER IN THE LORD, -I rejoiced in seeing the
translation of Leighton; but (must I say it?) this pleasure has
been diminished by seeing the encomiums on my piety in your
preface. My dear brother, bear with me while I give you the
results of a long experience. Pride is the chief of our sins, the
most difficult to overcome. God hates it chiefly because it, more
than any other, disputes his place and prerogatives. It breaks off
all communion with him, and brings down his judgments; for' God
resisteth the proud; and every one who is proud in heart is an
abomination to the Lord. He will destroy the house of the
proud.'
"This being the case, you perceive, dear brother, that you can
do no one a greater injury than to nourish his pride.' He that
flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a snare before his feet: a flattering mouth worketh ruin.' Moreover, dear brother, believe me, we
are too ignorant to form a very just estimate of each other's piety.
To weigh a man's piety, you need the balances of the sanctuary,
which we have not, but which are in the hands of Him who alone
' weigheth the spirits.' Let us judge nothing before the time until
the Lord comes, who will make manifest the intentions of the
heart, and will render praise wherever it is due. In the mean
time, let us judge our brethren with much reserve, favorably or
unfavorably, remembering that that is always the best judgment
which leads us to esteem others better than ourselves. If I should
ask you, dear brother, how you ascertained that I am one of the
most advanced Christians, an eminent Christian, you would be
embarrassed to give your proof. Would you refer to my writings?
But do not you, dear brother, who have had such experience in
nlaking excellent sermons, know that the eyes see farther than the
feet go, and that we are not always as good as our sermons? We
have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence and glory
of its power may be ascribed to'God, and not to us.
"I do not wish to tell you what I think of myself.  I should
probably scrutinize myself, and perhaps, in the process, appear to
329 
LECTURES ON REVIVALS.
be humble, when I am not. I would rather tell you what the Lord
thinks of me. The glorious Master, who searcheth the heart, who
speaks truly, who is the amen, the faithful and true witness, has
often - thanks be to his name for it! - spoken to me in the depths
of my soul. But I must declare to you he never told me I was an
eminent Christian, advanced in the ways of righteousness. On
the contrary, he has told me most distinctly, that, if I knew myself, I would put myself in the rank of the chief of sinners, and
least of saints.
"Permit me then, dear brother, to appeal from your judgment
to that of the Master. I may say, that, when I am praised, I experience two effects: my pride seeks its nourishment in it; and at
the same time my conscience, nay, something more I hope, which
is the beginning of the new man in my heart, is offended by these
commendations, is ashamed of them, even feels it to be a kind of
reproach for appearing better than I really am.
"The most eminent Christian is perhaps, nay, probably, one
about whom no one makes any such remarks,- a poor laborer,
who has no treasures, nor glory, nor enjoyment, nor boasting, but
Jesus.'The first shall be last.' Believe me, dear brother, we
should praise the Lord. He alone is worthy of being praised,
revered, and adored. Never has his goodness been sufficiently
praised. In that direction, we are in no danger of mistake or
excess. The song of the redeemed in the Revelation praises only
Him who has purchased them with his blood. It contains not one
word of eulogy for any one of the singers, not a word that ranks
them as eminent or not eminent. All accept one common title,
'Redeemed,' which is their glory and their blessedness.  Let us
labor to bring our hearts into harmony with this song, in which
we hope, one day, to unite our feeble voices. From henceforth
let us resemble the seraphim, who cover their faces with two of
their wings as expressing their confusion; with two others, their
feet, as concealing their obedient steps from every creature-eye but
their own; and, with the remaining two, flying to execute the will
of God, while they cry, one to the other,'Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.'
"Excuse, dear brother, this exhortation. And in your next
edition do me the favor to erase these two phrases, and designate
330 
ADDRESS.
me simply as a brother, a minister of the Lord. These titles are
good enough, without adding any thing to them.
"Yours, &c.,
"A. ROCHAT."
And now I beg any of you who may have
thought this letter too long for this place to excuse
me. I have read it, because I believe that pride
does more to make us rank low in God's sight, to
cut us off from the channels by which the Holy
Spirit enters the heart, than any other sin. Our
conversion was an elevation. Our choice of the
sacred office raised us still higher socially. Our
cultivation here still raises us. Our success, our
position as pastors, places us, at length, at the
summit of society.
Can you, dear brethren, go so high without
becoming dizzy? Are you where Rochat was
when he wrote that letter? Do you understand
your own hearts? Are you awake to the perils
and sinfulness of pride, and its subtle workings?
I believe, that, if you take the right direction in this
respect, your success in this life, and untarnished
glory in the next, is made sure.
33x 
I
i 
INDEX.
ADDRSS  dosing, 323-33x.
Agency of man in Revivals, 102.
Agency of Providence in Revivals, 92.
Agency of the gospel in Revivals, o05.
Aims of Revival-preaching, 259262.
Aims of the Revivalist, 259; of the true
preacher, 324.
Amherst College, influence of Revivals
in, I48.
Amount  given, through  benevolence,
the present century, 2x. 
Ante-Mosaic Revivals, io8.
Antislavery conflict, revival  of moral
principle, 9. 
"Anxious-seat"  295;  advantages of,
296; evils of, 297.
Apostolical Revivals, x  5.
Are Revivals degenerating? 2x7-223.
BENEDICT, forming epoch in history, 9.
Benedictine order, at last an enemy to
religion, 25.
Benevolence,  Revival  of,  -3; under
post-apostolical Revivals, i i8.
Bernard, forming epoch in history, 9.
Beyschlag, Prof., upon folly of many
scientists, 73.
Bodily exercises," 47.
Books for advancement of piety, -57.
Brainerd, David, intense desires of, 232.
"Brethren of the Life in Common,"
27.
Bushnell, Horace, upon "idolizing Re  vivals," 47; objections to Revivals
examined, 59, 60. 
Bucheim, Hans, and "Peasants' War,"
24.
quickening, 276; conscience-quicken.
rag, 277; conscience-guiding, 278.
Christ, agency of, in Revivals, 92.
Christian Commission, labors of, in Re  vivals, 248.
Christian economy, ushering in of, 99.
Christian fathers, Revivalists without
Revivals, I55.
"Christological Revivals" of the pres.
ent day, x49; Prof.  H.  B. Smith
upon, x50.
Civol liberty and the Reformation,.25.
Civilization,  Judaico-Christ ian, alone
permanent, 89.
"Claphau sect," x28.
Class meetings, 292.
Classification of inquirers, 30o.
Closing a Revival, 306; guard against
declension of piety, 307; organization
of the church, 308; change of pulpit
themes, 3 I I; converts' Bible class, 312.
Closing address, 323; aims of the
preacher, 324; earnestness, 325; de  pendence, 327.
Coldness and formality of the church
contrasted with the Revival-state,
16-I9.
Colleges, tabular statement of Revivals
in, 148.
Concentration of thought demanded,
42, 43Confession, mutual, 244.
Confucius, intense zeal of, 104.
Conscience-guiding characteristic of true
preaching, 278.
Conscience-quickening characteristic of
true preaching, 277.
Consecrated pastors the world's great
want, 242.
Consecration of pastor and people be.
fore a Revival, 241.
Conservatism, its use, 34.
Constant growth of the church not a
Revival, x9.
333
CALVINISTIC and Arminian types of Re  vivals compared, 228.
Censoriousness, 53.
Characteristics of Revival-preaching: -
thought-quicken ing, 272;  enlighten  ing, 273; heart-searching, 275; heart 
INDEX.
English  Reformation,  two  channels,
I82; its errors, x82.
Enthusiasm  a branch of faith, 2 1,
2x2; first element of sacred oratory,
317.
Epochs in history formed by Benedict,
Bernard, and Savonarola, 9.
Evangelists, who are they? 254;
questions concerning them, 255, 256;
their  preaching  and  that  of the
n   pastor compared, 266. (See preachers
inRevivals.)
Excitement, objections against, 35; in
harvest-time, 37; specific cases, 49-5.
Exodus, the, a Revival, Ix 2.
Experience, relating of, 292.
External or aggressive work in Reviv  als, 245.
External influences, relations of, to the
impenitent, 237; hindering a Reviv  al, 284.
Extravagances  of  Revivals, 45; "bodily
exerci se s," 47; 6             the Jerk s," 48.
Ezra and the Revival, 36.
FACTS  other  tha  n  those o f n  atural
science, 77-79.
Faith, its necessity, 225; its elements,
3-7- (See prayer.)
Family religion, first d ispen sation  of
grace, -09.
Fear  as  a motive,  37; noth ing lo w in,
271.
Field-preaching first aggressive s t ep of
M       ethodis m, 187, 195.
Fifth-Monarchists, 24.
Financial crisis of x837, and results,
x43; of x857, I43.
Finney, Rev. Charles G., Mr. Nettle  ton's criticism, 50, 5 x; remarks upon
causes of declension, 56, 57; remarka  ble success, -42; topics in Revivals,
263.
Forms of development in Revivals
modified by external conditions, 5.
France, religious movements in, I46.
Francke's Orphan House, -30.
Froude upon contentions of good men,
34; upon philosophers, 82, 83.
GRATITUDE, important step in a Reviv  al, 293.
Guiding inquirers, 299.
HALDANE, the brothers, of Scotland,
I46.
Harms, Pastor, 203; faith and prayer,
204; pastorate at Hermannsburg,
206; labors, 206; results, 207; preach ing described, 277.
Hartford, Conn., First Church of, 22I 223.
Convention of 1857, upon Revivals, at
Pittsburg,'43.
Converts' Bible class. 3I2.
Conversion, tests of, 305.
Conviction of sin, Calvary and Sinai,
2I9.
Corinthian Church, low state of, -3.
Councils, severe struggles of, Io; of
Nicea, Io.
Covenant of x679, 242, 243.
Covenanters of Scotland, 332.
Crusades, 24.
DAILY  meetings,  scriptural customs,
25x; testimonies of Chrysostom, Dr.
Lardner, President Edwards, in favor
of, 2 5 I; principles underlying the sub  ject, 253.a
Daniel, Book cf, its wonderful history,
90.
Davenport, Rev. James, 46.
Declension of Revivals no objection to
them, 58.
Defensive view of Revivals, 32.
Dependence upon the Holy Spirit, 327.
Description of a Revival, I-3.
Direct Revivals, I; quickening of per  sonal piety, 12; quickening of a com  munity of believers, I2; results of,  benevolence,  x3; conversions,  I4;
under post-apostolical, i 18.
Direct tendency of Revivals, 4.
Discriminative  examination  of Reviv  als, t6.
Disturbing element in religion, 39, 40.
Doctrinal and biblical preaching, 249  222.
Doctrinal Revivals, I; beginning of in
first century,   7Dwight, President, and Yale College,
139.
EARNEsTNESS of the preacher in his
work, 325.
Edwards, President Jonathan, personal
experience,  38;  his thoughts,  45;
Revival of 1740, x96; his birth and
education, x96; his mother, x97;
colleague over church at Northamp  ton, x97; vindication of Revivals,
.99; the Revival of x735, 200; the
great awakening, 20o; his eminent
holiness, 20o;  intellectual strength,
203; testimony as to lay-efforts, 247;
remarks upon zeal and resolution, 258.
Efforts to construct, defend, and purify
church doctrines, an indirect Reviv  al, so.
Eloquence of Dr. Payson, source of,
2o0, 211; grounds of, 3z6, 317.
Emotional preaching, 269-272.
Emotions, moral gradation of, 27I.
334
a 
INDEX.
Heart.quickening characteristic of true
preaching, 276.
Heart-searching characteristic of true
preaching, 275.                               l
Hermannsburg, Pastor Harms's labors
in, 206-209.                                      R
Hildebrand and his labors, 23, 24.
Hinderances to a Revival, external and
internal, 284.
History of Revivals, io8; Ante-Mosaic,
io8; Jewish,'o9;  apostolical, II5;
post-apostolical, I I 7; later Revivals,
I440- 52.
Holy Ghost, in Revivals, 82; Christ's
representative, 92; efficient agent in
the work, 98; employing little things
as means for the sinner's conversion,
238; sin against, 286; sovereignty of,
287.
"Houses," institution called, 27.
Human agency,.02.
Humility source of strength, 213, 214;
letter of Pastor Rochat, 328-33i.
Huss, John, of Prague, great Revival  ist, 173; power and influence, 174;
providential training, 175; self-reliun  ciation, s 76; boldness, a 78; sermons,
i8to;  prophecy and martyrdom,.8           o
" IDOLIZING Revivals," Dr. Bushnell
upon, 47.
Impraperf ect                         Revivals may  be  divinely
given, ioi.
Indirect  Revivals, 7;  f     irst for  m, po  litico-religious, 7; second for       m, pro  duction of  moral chang             es, 9;   efforts
to construct, defend, and purify church
doctrines, o; under post-apostolical,
xx8.
Inf    idelity, its chec   k  in America,             239.
Influence of Revivals up         on      miniesters,
66, 67.
Inquirers, guiding,  29 9; classificatio      n
of, according to character, 30i.
Inquiry-meeting, 3t4.
Insanity? instance of, and, 49-5I, cawte.
Inspiration of the Bible, necessity of
full belief in, 227.
Intellectual  progress irregular in its
movements, 44, 45.
Intense desire necessary before suc   cess, 227.
Internal hinderances to a work of
grace, 284.
Ireland, Revival in, 144; Prof. Gibson
upon, 145; narrations of experience
during, 279.
Italy, work in, I47.
JACOB at Bethel,.2.
Jerks, the," extravagant exhibitions,
48.
Jewish Revivals, 1o9-x'4.
KNAPP, Rev. Jacob, in 1839 and  1840,
142.
LATER Revivals, I40-152.
Laws of the material and spiritualworlds,
79-83; in the operations of grace, 286.
Lay-efforts in Revivals, 246-249.
Lay-preaching, 193;
Leaders in Revisals, 3.
Livingston, Rev. John, at Shotts, I34;
leaf from his journal, 135.
Luther, Martin, and Staupitz, 169; Ref  ormation, 170; John Huss and, 179.
MACCABEES, wars of, 8.
MacColl, Rev. Dr., upon church-work,
31o.
Man's probable plan of history unlike
God's plan, 41, 42.
Martin, the monk, his confession, 26.
Material forces not supreme in human
affairs, 83-86.
Means employed in a Revival, 3.
Melancholy, religious, 5, note.
Merivale on Council of Nice, iI; on
conversion of Goths and Romans, 97.
Methodism, or the Wesleys and White  field, i8S, men who had prepared the
way for them, 183; the "Holy Club"
at Oxford, 185; first aggressive step
of, field-preaching,  187; persecution
o f, 187; Whitefield at  Moorfields,
i88;  lay-preaching,  I93; results,
193-195; failure in grasping the demo   cratic idea, 308.
Methodists,  continuous  Revival  for
half a century, 69; Isaac Taylor upon,
io6.
Milton, John, Revival of the sixteenth
century, 65, 66. -
Ministers in Revivals, preaching of, S8.
(See preachers in Revivals. )
Miracles and science, 80;  and natu   ralism, 82.
Mohammed's  protest against polythe   ism, 29.
Montanists, 23.
Moorfields, Whitefield at, I88.
Moravian%s 120.
Mormons, 25.
Moses, leader in first Revival, 7; charac   ter of, l09; sixty years of prayer,  112;
eminently a Revivalist, 172.
Mutual  confession,  step  towards  an
awakening, 244.
NECESSITY for Revivals in church
history, 44.
Nestorian converts, benevolence of, 122.
. Nettleton, Rev. Asahel, "new meas
335
IP 
INDEX.
s  Preaching for a Revival, Dr. Beecher's
remark, 245 * importance, 257; char    acteristics of: -    thought-quickening,
272; enlightening, 273; heart-searcf    ing, 275; heart-quickening, 276; con    science-quickening, 277; conscience  guiding, 277; removing hinderances,
283.
Preparing for a Revival: -faith in the
supernatural,  224;  intense  desire,
227; prayer, 233; consecration, 24[;
mutual confession,  244;  aggressive
work, 245.
Preservative force in religion, 29.
Probable increase in number of Re    vivals, 4.
Progressive development  of religious
sentiment, I23; by awakenings, 229.
Providence in Revivals,  92;  alarning
ldispensations of, 94; movements of
preparatory, 96; likened to work in
nature, I03.
Puseylsm, 30.
QUESTIONS concerning evangelists, 254,
256.
Quickening of personal piety in a com   munity, a Revival, 12.
REFORMATION  of  the sixteenth  cen   tury,  8; doctrine  and  liberty of
conscience, 8; civil liberty, 8; greatest
quickening in modern history, x24;
influence  upon  the  Latin  Church,
Ib 27; Germany,   3; Scotland,:32;
Dr. Ullman upon the reformers, I56.
Religious excitement not always a Re   vival, 25.
Responsibility of pastors, 280;  their
office, 326.
Results of Revivals, benevolence,  13;
conversions accompanying efforts and
prayers, 14; change from a season of
coldniss, I6-I9.
RevivaIsts in Revivals,  7-; Moses,
David, Elijah, Ezra, and Nehemiah,
John the Baptist, and apostles, 172
john Huss, 173; the Wesleys and
Whitefield, i8i; Jonathan Edwards,
e96; Pastor Harms, 203; Edward
Payson, 209.
Revivalists without Revivals, I53; the
Old Testament  prophets  generally,
I55;  the  Christian  fathers,  155;
writers, I57; John Tauler, 158; John
von Staupltz, 167.
Revivals,  descrifition of; place in
religious world,  I;  give  value to
history, 2; leaders in, 3; modified by
outward  conditions  of society,  5;
influence of climate and season upon,
6; two  classes  of, - indirect  and
ures," 52; persevevace of converts
in Revivals, 55; an evanglist1 141.
New Brunswick, N.J., Reival in, 95.
Nice, Council of, Io; Merivale on, I I.
Nicholas of Basle, 159.
OLD TESTAMENT prophets generally
Revivalists without Revivals,'53.
Opposition of good men to Revivals
33, 34.
Ordinary condition of the church, x9, 20.
Organization of a working church, 308.
Oroomiah in x845, 234, 235.
PASTORS  and  evangelists, 255;  dif   ference in the preaching of, 266.
Pathos, i ts  power, 2        3.
Payson,  Edward,  land  Sewall,  209;
sources of his power, 209; sincerity,
2.0; eloquence, 2i x; enthusiasm,
211;  pathos,  213; humility,  2-3;
intellectual  power, 214; tact,. 214;
incessant prayer, 216.
Peter the hermit, 24.
Philosophers and the church, zo; moral
changes, 9.
Philosophical objections to Revivals,
7I;    order of nature inviolable," 72  76; facts unexplained by nature, 76  79; Author    and laws of         nature,  79
83   44; "material  for ces supr eme   n
human affairs," 83-86.
Piet ism,  I29;  degenerated               into  intel  lectua lism,  13 i.
Pittsburg convention of I857, 143.
Politico-religious movements, 7.
Popular view         of     Revivals too limited,  4.
Popular object ions to        Revivals,  33;  u n  healthful         excitement, 33; their neces  sity, 44; various extravagances, 45
"bodily exer   s, "7  " theJesrksn,
48; pathological laws, 48; insanity
and epilepsy, 49; superficial excite  ments, 54.
Port Royalists, I28.
Po~rter, Prof., "clergymen against Re  vivals," 6I.
Post-apostolical Revivals, x17.
Prayer, lack of reverence in, 53; sci  ence and, 81, 82; sixty years of, 122;
prominent feature of every Revival,
233; more than words, 234- grades
of, 235; "in the Holy Ghost," 235,
236; social prayer, 236; for the Holy
Spirit, 239; power at Pentecost, 240;
pulpit and, 240, 241; in Revival, 293.
Preachers in Revivals expect im  mediate results, 259, 26o; Bible
tr.Iths) 261; topics, 262-266; tone,
267; style, 268; employment of the
emotions, 269-271; power, 3x6-328;
expectation 3.8-322.
336
i
i4
fII 
INDEX.
o f,'o8;  ante-Mosaic,  o8; Jewish,
Io09;   apostolical, ixxI5;  post-apos tolical, I7; later Revivals, -40-152.
Revivalists  swithou  Revivals, 153;
Old Testament  prophets generally,
s55;  the  Christian  fathers,  155;
wnters,.57; John Tauler, i58; John
von Staupitz, i67. Revivalists in Re vivals,  x7x; prophets and apostles,
172; John  Huss,'73; Methodism,
or the Wesleys and Whitefield, I8s 195; Jonathan Edwards, and the Re vival of 1740 in Amenca, x96; Pastor
Harms, 203; Edward Payson, 209;
" are Revivals degenerating?"  217 223.   Practical  survey,  224;  pre paring for a Revival, 224; faith in
the supernatural, 224; intense desire,
227; prayer, 233; consecration, 241;
mutual confession, 244; external or
a ggressive work, 245; are daily meet ings advisable?  25I-254;   evangel ists, who  are they? 254; other in strumentalities,   books,   &c.,  256;
preaching,  its  importance  as  an
agency, 257; aims, 259; topics, 262;
tone,  267;  style,  268;  emotional
preaching, 269-27i.  Characteristics
of  Revival-preaching,- t h o u g h t quickening, 272; enlightening,  273;
heart-searching, 275; heart-quicken ing, 276; conscience-quickening, 277;
conscience-guiding,  278;  removing
hinderances, 283.  Waiting for a Re vival, 285.  Working in a Reviva4
29x; preaching, 291; special phases,
29x; gratitude and thanksgiving, 293;
prayer, 293; the anxious-seat, 295;
guiding inquirers, 299-306.  Closing a
Revival, 306; guard from declension
of piety, 307; organization of church
into a working body, 308; change
style of pulpit themes, 3 II; converts'
Bible class, 3 x2.
River of Ezekiel, type of God's king  dom, 6.
Robe, Rev. Mr., testimony as to  lay  efforts, 247.
Robertson, F. W., quoted  29.
Rochat, M., letter of, upon humility, 329.
Roman  empire, conversion of, likened
to a tide, 58.
SAUL of Tarsus, conversion of, 93.
Savonarola, 9; eminent reformer, 172.
Scepticism of some preachers, 274.
Schleiermacher and rationalists, -31.
Scotland, Revival in, 132-i37.
Scriptural descriptions of Revivals, I5.
Science, definition of, 72; conclusions
never basis of absolute certainty, 74;
judgment of, extra-judicial, 74; nat
dsrect,7. Indirect,-politi c-religiousa
th    e exodus,  7;  producti on   of moral
c       h      anges, 9;     efforts to  construct,
defend, and purify church doctrines
lo.   Direct,- tqutickening  of personal piety, 92; quickening  of community  of believers,          12; Israel under
Samuel,       J     osi         ah,  and Hezekiah,  12;
Corinthian   Church, 8 3.  Results of,
benevolence,  3; conversions,  x4;
definition of, 14; discriminative examination of,.6; ordinary condition
of church and, x6; contrast with coldness and formality in the church,.6I9; contrast with the ordinary healthful condition of the church, i9-22;
three features of every Revival, I9;
constant growth of church not a Revival,.9; spurious Revivals, 22-32.
Defensive view of, 32. Popuar objections, 33; Revival in Ezra's day,
36; President Edwards upon personal piety, 38; disturbing elements
in, 39, 40; Revivals not faultless
while instruments are imperfect, 42;
their necessity, 44; vayious extravagancies, 45; "idolizing Revivals,"
47;  " bodily exercises," 47;  " the
Jerks," 48; insanity notproduced by
Revivals, 49 and note; fruits not of
superficial excitements, 54; Mr. Nettleton's testimony as to those converted during Revivals, 55; effects of
Revival during the last century, in
New England, 55, 56; Mr. Finney
upon cause of declension in, 56, 57;
declension no argument against them,
58.  Theologicalobjectfans, 9; "Revivals inconsistent with the nature of
Christianity," 59; criticism of Dr.
Bushnell's objections, 59, 6o; Prof.
Porter's "clergymen against Revivals," 6I; value of Revivals, 62;
scriptural statements, 62, 63; dearth
without them, 64, 65; Revival of
sixteenth century, 65; influence upon
ministers, 66; teaches homiletics,
66, 67; churches blessed, and souls
saved, 67; influence upon the character of towns and districts, 68-70.
Philosophhical objections, 7;' I order
of nature inviolable," 72-76; facts
unexplained by nature, 76-79; "the
laws of nature must be held sacred
by the Author  of nature," 79; exatnination of the statement, 79-83;
"supremacy of material forces in
human  affairs," 83-86.  Theology of
Revivals, 88; agency of Providence
in, 92; the Holy Spirit as the efficient
agent in, 98; human agency in, 0o2;
agency of the gospel in, io5. History
29
337 
INDEX.
ural science moves in the sphere of
the sensible, 75; facts beyond science,
76; assumptions of, 8o; prayer and,
8., 82; material forces not supreme
in human affairs, 83-86.
Sensational preaching," 270.
Sentiment, its use and power, 203.
Separation  of  Church  and  State in
Connecticut, 93.
Sewall, Jotham, 209.
Shotts, Revival at, x3.
Sm- against the Holy Ghost, 286.
Sincerity, its power, 2o9-rIr.
Smith, Prof. H. B, upon Revivals of'the
present day, x5o.
Socialism, 28.
Socrates,  martyr for the truth, 104;
consecration of, 1 5.
Soul, capabilities of, 28X.
Sovereignty of the Holy Ghost, 98;
not arbitrary action, 287.
Special phases of religious work, 291.
Spiritism, 28.
Starting-point of history, the apostasy,
90.
State of church in the seventeenth cen  tury, 136, I37.Staupitz, John von, x67; at Wittenberg,
x68; meets Luther, 169; connection
with Reformation,  7o0.
Style of Revival-preaching, 268.
Sympathy with sinner, misplaced, 295;
necessity of, 300.
TAULRR, JOHN, 26; Dominican monk,
x58; at Strasburg, x59; Nicholas of
Basle and, 259;  character of, x60;
conflict with the pope,.62; labors in
the great plague of -348,.63; elo  quence, x64;  compared with Socra  tes, I64.
Taylor, Isaac, upon the Methodists, i06.
Temperance  reformation,  Revival  of
moral principle, 9.
Tests of Revival, 3; of results. 4; of
conversion, 305.
aTheologica Germanica.' Chevalier
Bunsen upon, I23.
Theological objections to Revivals, 59-62.
Theology of Revivals, 88; agency of
Providence, 92l  the Holy Spirit the
efficient agent, 98; human agency, 202;
agency of the gospel, os05-07.
Thoughtquickening   characte istic  of
true preaching, 272.
Tone of   Revival-preaching, 267.
Topics of Revival-preaching, zo6, 262.
Tractarian party and its leaders,  30;
Robertson's  opinion  of  them, 31;
opinion of "The  North British Re  new," 3I.
Tracy, Rev. Joseph, estimate of results
of the great awakening of the eigh   teenth century, 55, 56.
True preaching, 274.
ULLMAN,  DR., upon the Reformation,
x24; upon the reforners, I56.
University of Halle, -3o.
VALUIC of Revivals, reply to popular
and theological objections, 62-7X.
Variety in Revivals, 5.
Vinet upon " Port Royal," x27.
WAITING for a Revival, 285; two lines
of action, 289.
Wesley, Charles and John, x8r; con.
version, 384; results of their labors,
z94, x95. ~
Whitefield, Rev. George, extract from
"Post Boy," 38,39; ministers around
Boston converted under his ministry,
55; Methodists,  s85; at Moorfields,
188; remark of John  Newton upon
I9x; his preaching,.92; Revival of
r740, 192; his pathos, 213; sermons
unreportable, 268; manner of preach  ing, 282, 283.
Wickliffe, John, influence of his works,
s76; elaborated principles of Protest  antism, 180.
Williams College, tabular statement of
conversions in, I48; influence of Re  vivals in, -49.
Woman as an exhorter, 293.
Working in a Revival, 29z; the preach.
ing, 29.; special phases, 291; grati  tude and thanksgiving, 293; prayer,
293;. the anxious-seat, 295; guiding
lWoquirers, 299.
Work of a church, Rev.  Dr. MacCol
upon, 3 io.
Writers after the Reformation,?57.
YALE  College,  tabular statement  of
Reviva ls in-, 148.
ZEAL and resolution, remarks of Presi  dent Edwards upon, 257, 258.
338
.1
I
k