What is revivalism?

But I must close. One or two more short warnings to my beloved and esteemed friends in the blessed gospel work. Beware of Revivalism! It is a wrong expression in itself, sprung from professing christendom. An unconverted person, dead in trespasses and sins, cannot be revived, but must be quickened in his soul. So much as to the absurdity of the term. But how far more serious is the thing itself! It is the flesh assuming the power of God — Jannes and Jambres imitating the miracles wrought by God through Moses — the forging of "Epistles of Christ" by a misuse of the writing of the Holy Ghost — a galvanising of corpses into apparent life — the seeming life of that which was destined to death and the killing of those which were destined to live. It falls like a mildew upon the tender plants, wherever it appears. May God in His great mercy keep His servants in the blessed gospel field from the baneful effects of "revivalism" with the fearful hardening of souls in its wake, the natural reaction after the natural excitement.

Should not, then, a right presentation and a right reception of the truth of the gospel be still productive of the same effects? Should we not view it as a defective gospel, either as preached or professed, if these effects be absent? God's grace must not be limited: but I am speaking of the responsibility which the truth brings to the soul. The effect of the gospel is not here limited, as it is so often now, to the heart having obtained peace by it, or even the knowledge of the possession of eternal life. If the heart rests in faith on the divine truths on which Christianity is based, must it not claim for them an energetic and a transforming power? Where God is working, I own it becomes the soul to tread softly. But in what are called "revivals," I think I see this — on the part of God, souls awakened in an extraordinary degree, and many doubtless brought to Christ; on the part of man, nature largely acted on, often a defective gospel presented, and the mind concentrated too much on its own assured and joyous feelings. The result of this is, to a large extent, even where the work is real, the rearing of hot-house plants, which wither and show the yellow leaf when the extraneous heat and forcing influences are withdrawn. Conversion is not everything. Fervour will not stand in the place of truth engrafted in the soul. Activity is not the only sign of spiritual life and power. "I am so happy!" may be welcomed as the soul's expression of a sense of having found in Christ what it could find in nothing else. But there is another word of Christ to be heard besides "thy sins are forgiven thee:" it is, "If any man serve me, let him follow me." It is a great thing that the practical aim of Christians be not lowered. True revival I take to be the leading back of souls to see from whence they have fallen, and to repent and do the first works. The sure token of a revival in the Church (I do not mean the fact of frequent conversions) will be found in Christians being led solemnly to lay it to heart, whether the Church is in a position to meet the Lord, and whether it is a true and faithful witness for Him in His absence. There are the dangers of all times, and there are the special dangers of our own; but the fullness of the truth as communicated to us by God is sufficient to enable the simple and dependent saint to meet them all, and so to find the special blessing promised, by the lips of Him whose name we bear, "to him that overcometh."

I do not doubt that such times as those of Josiah answer more or less to revivals of religion, or awakenings in our own or other days under the gospel. And assuredly it is solemn to feel that, besides the blessing to souls here and there, the general result is that they only increase much the responsibility of those who do not profit by the testimony God thus renders. We may and ought to be thankful for fruit to His grace, but should not forget that they evidently seem on the background to be a visitation not without grave consequences to the despisers.

At the same time, I think that the resemblance is stronger to such a dealing of God as the Reformation. For a revival is more a work of awakening sinners; whereas this was a recall of the people of God also to their place from idols and profanity. No doubt sinners were awakened, but there was a loud call to the people of God generally to hear the word of God instead of acquiescing in their own declension and dishonour. Now this is not always the case. We hear of some such effects locally; for instance in the revival which God wrought by Jonathan Edwards and others of his day in their districts of America. The Whitfield-Wesleyan movement was widespread in arousing sinners, but extremely partial as to any dealings with the state of Christian people. They were both, however zealous, too ignorant of the word and ways of God to help the church of God to any appreciable extent. I need not speak much of the comparatively recent revival chiefly in the North of Ireland, which spread over various parts of the world about the same time; but it seems plain that whatever may be God's goodness in a revival, it is in general a rebuke to the wickedness of man in its day — a strong reclamation on God's part against the routine in which the mass consent to go on, as well as a display of grace exceptionally. But the effect of slighting such a summons of His, not only in others, but even in those who have shared the revival and thus enjoyed blessing from God, leaves them as the rule in a worse state than before. This seems to have always been the history of such movements.

A prominent Christian leader is reported to have said that it is extremely unlikely that a revival will occur in our time; indeed the idea of a revival is out of date. In referring to that statement there is no wish to cast a slur on the speaker in question, but the incident is adduced to show the character of the times in which we live. Some time ago, a daily newspaper propounded the question, "Have we lost God?" Prominent men representative of different walks in life, were called up to answer the question. Only one of them, a worker in the slums of London, had a clear-cut solution to offer, and he was imbued with the sense of the continuing value of the old, old story of redemption through the blood of Jesus. The others were greatly divided in opinion as to the need of revival, and where this was admitted it amounted to no more than a revival of religion. But we ought to remember that the great persecutors of the Christians in the first century were the greatest religionists of all history. With such evidence before us, we conclude that, in spite of the enormous sale of Bibles, there is a great famine of food for the soul analogous to the conditions relative to the body obtaining in Samaria at the period recorded in 2 Kings 7. The sale of an ass' head for eighty pieces of silver is an apt description in metaphor of what obtains in spiritual food purveying in many circles professedly Christian. It is not suggested that the theological philosopher has an ass' head. In common speech, an ass is averred to be typical of a fool and a fool is the Scriptural title of a man who says "there is no God." But that is not the thought we wish to impress, because it would be a libel on the ass, as the ass is a very wise animal. But the head of an ass is mostly skin and bone and affords little food. Those enlightened by the Holy Spirit will readily concede that the spiritual nourishment derived from the bulk of current theological disquisitions is very like the physical nourishment derived from an ass' head.

But it is not so. The word of God is not loved and studied, either privately or publicly. Trashy literature is devoured in private; and music, ritualistic services and imposing ceremonies, are eagerly sought after in public. Thousands will flock to hear music and pay for admission; but how few care for a meeting to read the holy scriptures! These are facts, and facts are powerful arguments. We cannot get over them. There is a growing thirst for religious excitement, and a growing distaste for the calm study of holy scripture, and the spiritual exercises of the Christian assembly. It is perfectly useless to deny it. We cannot shut our eyes to it. The evidence of it meets us on every hand.

And, secondly, we have to weigh the fact that the children were to be gathered before the Lord to hearken to His word. Both these facts are full of weighty instruction for all the members of the church of God — instruction urgently called for on all sides. There is a most deplorable amount of failure as to these two points. We sadly neglect the assembling of ourselves together for the simple reading of the holy scriptures. There does not seem to be sufficient attraction in the word of God itself to bring us together. There is an unhealthy craving for other things; human oratory, music, religious excitement of some kind or other seems needful to bring people together; anything and everything but the precious word of God.

What characterised that movement was especially the practical acknowledgment of the presence, authority, and guidance of the Holy Ghost in the assemblies of believers. But that acknowledgment was closely united with the practical recognition of the written word of God and its authority, unlike many religious revivals, so called, where Satan endeavoured to conceal the assumptions of the religious flesh set in motion by him, and to set aside, under the pretence of guidance by the Holy Spirit, the authority of the word of God indited by the same Spirit. The believers, referred to above, acted upon the thoroughly sound principle: "Neither the Spirit without the word, nor the word without the Spirit."

Such was the work at Thessalonica — a blessed divine work — all real, the genuine fruit of God's Spirit. It was no mere religious excitement, nothing sensational, no high pressure, no attempt to "get up a revival." All was beautifully calm. The workman, as we are told in Acts 17, "came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews; and as his manner was, he went in to them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures" — Precious, powerful reasoning! would to God we had more of it in our midst! — "opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach to you, is Christ."

"Major, would you not be happy now if you knew your sins were forgiven?" "Oh yes, indeed, nothing on this earth could make me so happy." And then, addressing the nun, I said, "And would not you be happy if you also knew, like the believing Ephesians, that God had for Christ's sake forgiven your sins?" She said, "I do not know how to answer you." The commercial man now spoke: "I have no doubt that a man is justified, as you have said, by faith; but will you tell me when a man may conclude with certainty and safety that he is saved?" "That is a very important inquiry," said I. "Many make a fatal mistake by concluding, because they have passed through a religious excitement, that they may hope they are saved. There is no safety in such a conclusion. Neither can a person be sure he is saved by fasting, and prayers, and works of kindness. No, there is sin mixed up with it all. Neither dare the person conclude that he is saved by keeping the holy law of God; for the more sincerely he strives to keep it, the more miserable and desponding he is, for he finds an evil heart that is still breaking it. But when a person sees himself so great a sinner that there is no remedy for him but death, and that God has met his need as a sinner in the death of Christ, and that being risen from the death the sinner deserved, He is now his justification and life — in plain words, when stripped of all dependence on himself, he is brought by the Spirit of God to trust alone in Christ, he may then conclude with certainty and safety that he is saved."

There were no great things to show in Jerusalem after the return from the captivity; but real solid work was wrought which delighted the heart of God. By the hand of Zechariah the prophet Jehovah sent this encouraging message to the leader of the people. "This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel: not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts" (Zech. 4:6). Again we say it was the still small voice which made Elijah feel that he was having to do with God. It is the same today. God speaks now to consciences and hearts in the written Word. The band, the choir, the solo, and other forms of religious excitement are unlikely to lay bare the conscience, and create in the hearer a horror of sin and its eternal consequences; such unapostolic methods would rather tend to hinder the voice of God reaching the inner man at all.