Some people have regarded a protracted meeting and a revival as
synonymous. But they are far from being the same. The one is a means, and the other should be the end in view. The protracted meeting is inaugurated in order to obtain a revival. But many times the protracted services conclude as they began, without a sign of a genuine, scriptural, Holy Ghost revival.
There are preachers who were once famous for their success in this regard, but who in later life seem to have lost all their former power. There are Churches which were once noted as centers of salvation, that afterward entered upon a period of decline and spiritual lifelessness, reminding one of the Bible description, “Thrice dead and plucked up by the roots.” The change in individuals and churches in this regard is painfully evident to all spiritual observers.
A revival on the divine side is the undoubted manifestation of the presence of God, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and actual conscious arrival of Christ in the midst of the congregation. On the human side it is seen in the conversion of sinners, reclamation of backsliders, sanctification of
believers, great joyfulness and. activity upon the part of the Church, and deep and solemn conviction in the entire community.
This state of things is brought about by the faithful preaching of the Word and the humble, prayerful waiting upon God of the people. If the
protracted meeting lacks these features, the pulpit being without unction, and the pew failing in humility, obedience, supplication, and persistent seeking after God, the services end in utter failure. There is no descent of the Spirit, no quickening of dead hearts, no gladness and freedom, no rout and defeat of sin, no salvation, no anything that is desirable and blessed in the spiritual life.
A genuine revival is unmistakable. It is not only seen, but felt. There was no need to post bills and placards on the walls and fences, stating that the Holy Ghost had fallen upon the disciples in the Upper Room. Some kind of indescribable telegraphy flashed the news everywhere. It is a wireless telegraphy, but none the less certain. As soon as Samaria receives the Word of God, it seems to be known in Jerusalem. When any Church receives the Holy Ghost, it would be easier to hide a city on a hill with its twinkling lights than this fact.
In one of Dr. Finney’s revivals, a man was coming in from the country to the town where the work of grace was going on, and when he was still a mile away suddenly felt such a spiritual atmosphere that he was
completely melted, and came into the place all hushed and subdued. God had drawn a line of holy grace and power all around the town, and it came to pass that when a man passed it, he was shot through with a dart.
A revival brings with it such a spirit of song, praise, and gladness, such responsiveness in worship, such warmth and power in prayer, such a tender glow through all the service, such waves of joy and glory, that it can not be mistaken. There is no straggling to the meeting. People come in a hurry, and early, and stay late.
In one of my meetings in a Western State, the congregation packed the house one hour before the time of regular evening service, which was 7:30.
We were compelled to move the hour of worship up to 6:30. The crowd then filled the building at six o’clock. It was amusing to see the sexton ringing the first and second bell, when the audience had already crowded the house. The writer asked, him with a smile why he rang the bell when the congregation had jammed the building before the first belfry summons, was it to let the public know that there was no more room in the house?
He failed to understand the little piece of harmless satire, and rang on just the same for five minutes at a time, in obedience, we suppose, to the law of habit, while the people smiled all around at the needless wasted energy of an ecclesiastical machine or automaton.
The revival can come gradually, as the light creeps up over the hills in the east, or suddenly, like a cloud-burst. In the first instance there is seen a growing seriousness on the part of the people, a quiet, general melting, and almost before one knows it, the gospel tide is in, and the Church beach is
covered with the warm, sunlit waves of salvation. In the second instance, there has been faithful preaching for days, a steady holding on to God by faith and prayer, when on the fourth, fifth, eighth, tenth, or thirteenth day, as the place was more or less difficult, there is a sudden falling of the Spirit upon the people, followed instantly by a melting down, breaking up, and rejoicing time that would defy all description.
These sudden downfalls of the Holy Ghost would read in print as follows:
“The revival broke out at eleven or twelve o’clock on such a morning, or eight or nine o’clock on a certain evening;” the point being that all knew when the “Power came down,” the Holy Ghost fell on the audience, or the revival really began.
These instantaneous downpourings of the Holy Spirit have established a remarkable similarity in my mind to certain natural phenomena. As I have witnessed oftentimes in my meetings the hours of prayerful, anxious expectancy of the divine arrival, followed in a single second with the sudden overpowering descent of the Holy Ghost, and that succeeded by a steady outpouring on human hearts and lives, of streams and floods of grace and glory, I have been invariably made to think of a sudden flash of lightning, the sharp, cracklike report of a peal of thunder, and then the steady downpour of a tremendous rain.
I remember it is the same God who does both, and so the likeness should not be so astonishing after all. These are the revivals the writer prefers to see. It is a kind of Noah’s Deluge that sweeps skeptics off their feet, chokes their utterances, drives sinners and backsliders to the trees and hills, while the Ark of Salvation, with a full passenger list and cargo, sweeps victoriously over everything, and that in full view of everybody.
No one needs to be told that a revival is going on. Everybody knows it! Its gladsome and yet solemn presence is being felt everywhere in the
community. God has granted the writer the privilege of witnessing many of this order, and he has an impression that he is destined to see many more before his work is ended.
On a certain morning in a Southern city, we were standing facing an audience that had been faithfully preached to for four or five days. God had been, and was working still in hearts, but there was no unusual
manifestation of his presence. A hitch or clog was felt to be somewhere.
What was it, and where was it?
Suddenly a young lady arose, and confessed to anger, estrangement, and separation from her mother, both parties being members of the Church.
With tears dripping down her cheeks, she begged her forgiveness, as she sat on the opposite side of the building. They met midway in the church and were locked in each other’s arms, while handkerchiefs were busy in the congregation, though scarcely a sound was to be heard except the low sobs of the mother and daughter referred to above.
In the midst of the quiet, subdued feeling, a gentleman walked down the aisle, and, stopping before a fellow-member of the Church, requested his pardon for some act of the past. In an instant the two men were in each other’s arms. Two ladies next arose in different parts of the house, and asked the pastor to forgive them for having talked about him. Both burst into tears as they made the requests and he, with full eyes himself, went to them and gave them his hand with a fervent “God bless you.” Next
followed two humble confessions from two of the brethren, and two most touching reconciliations, when suddenly, like a flash of lightning, the Holy Ghost fell upon the audience, and there followed a scene I shall never be able to forget, of men and women prostrated under the power of God, some helpless on the floor, some weeping convulsively with faces buried in their hands, some on their feet, laughing, shouting, and clapping their hands, and every soul melted, fired, or filled with the Spirit of God.
We recall a second meeting, where we had reached the fifth day without any notable break. There had been a few souls brought into the light; but the “power” had not come down. One morning, while preaching, the fire fell, the wine of Pentecost arrived, and the congregation looked like drunken people. A man leaped to his feet, crying out in tones that thrilled every heart, “Jesus has come! Jesus has come!” The aisles were filled with laughing, weeping, shouting Christians, a number of them walking or running up and down, clapping their hands and praising God. Sinners were struck down on all sides as if by invisible bolts. Under a single word or touch of the hand of the Spirit-filled Christians, the men slipped from their seats on the floor, or fell down wherever they were. God’s people were busy all over the house, talking to and praying with the penitents and
seekers; while the shouts of the saved, the cries and wails for mercy, and the hallelujahs of the workers made a combination of sounds astonishing to that town, fearful to hell and its hosts, and all beautiful and delightful to angels and the redeemed of heaven. About twenty-five souls were converted and sanctified at this single service.
A third remarkable revival broke out on the thirteenth day of a meeting I was holding in a city in California. There had been a number of souls saved and sanctified; but what I called the “break” had not come. One Sunday afternoon I was preaching in Peniel Hall to an audience that packed both floor and galleries. The subject was the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, received after the birth of the Spirit, a second work of grace. I was concluding the sermon, while a deep, sweet realization of the presence of God was on my heart and that of others, when suddenly that indescribable flash! crack! and heavenly downpour took place. In other words, the Holy Ghost fell upon scores, if not hundreds, at the same moment. Many will remember the amazing scene. We do not question that a couple of hundred people were all shouting and praising God at the same time. We saw fully fifty people in the gallery standing on their feet, waving their hands and crying, “Glory! Glory to God!” Down on the lower floor the scene was even more wonderful. Numbers rushed to the altar without bidding, a man fell flat on his face in the main aisle, a woman leaped on the platform and began exhorting, while in the midst of shining faces, clapping hands,
liberated tongues, singing, shouting, mingled with wails for mercy and cries of victory — salvation free and full flowed like a torrent.
“O Lord, send the power just now, O Lord, send the power just now, O Lord, send the power just now,
And baptize every one.”