The GOSPEL TRUTH LECTURES
ON
REVIVALS OF RELIGION.
by
WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D.
PASTOR OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN ALBANY, N.Y.
1832
Lecture 2
DEFENCE OF REVIVALS.
Acts ii. 13. "Others mocking, said, These men are full of new wine.''
The occasion on which these words were spoken marked a memorable era in the history of the church. The disciples of Jesus, a few days after his ascension, being assembled for devotional exercises in a certain room, in the city of Jerusalem, where they had been accustomed to meet, were surprised by a marvellous exhibition of the mighty power of God. There came suddenly a sound from heaven, as of a violent rushing wind; and, at the same time, there appeared unto them a number of divided tongues, made as it were of fire; and it was so ordered that one of these tongues rested upon each of them. And at the moment that these tongues, or lambent flames, touched them, they were filled, in an extraordinary degree, with the Holy Spirit; and began to speak a variety of languages, which they had never before understood, with a fluency and fervour which were beyond measure astonishing. It is hardly necessary to add, that this was a most signal attestation to the divinity of the gospel, and a glorious pledge of the Redeemer's final and complete triumph.
It is not strange that so wonderful an event as this should have been instantly noised abroad, or that it should have excited much curiosity and speculation. Accordingly, we are informed that the multitude came together, and were amazed to find that the fact was as had been represented; that these ignorant Galileans had suddenly become masters of a great variety of languages; and were talking with men of different nations as fluently as if they had been speaking in their own mother tongue. The true way of accounting for this -- that is, referring it to miraculous agency -- they all seem to have overlooked; nevertheless, as it was manifestly an effect of something, they could not but inquire in respect to the cause; and we have one specimen of the wisdom that was exercised on the occasion in the words of our text -- "Others, mocking, said, These men are full of new wine;" -- as if they soberly believed that a state of intoxication, which often deprives a man of the power of speaking his own language, had strangely given to them the power of speaking languages not their own, and which they had never learned. All will admit that this was the very infatuation of prejudice.
The reason why this absurd and ridiculous account was given of this miraculous occurrence was, that the individuals were at war with that system of truth of which this was pre-eminently the seal; they could not admit that it was an evidence of the triumph of the crucified Jesus; and rather than even seem to admit it, they would sacrifice all claims to reason and common sense. Now I would not say that all objections that are made against revivals of religion, are made in the same spirit which prompted this foolish declaration of these early opposers of the gospel; but I am constrained to express my conviction that many of them are; and hence I have chosen the passage now read as introductory to a consideration of OBJECTIONS AGAINST REVIVALS. It was actually an effusion of the Holy Spirit which drew forth the objection contained in the text; the commencement of a scene which terminated, as revivals now do, in the conversion of many souls, and an important addition to the Christian church.
The sole object of this discourse, then, will be to consider, and so far as I can, to meet, some of the most popular objections which are urged against revivals of religion. And I wish it distinctly borne in mind, that the defence which I am to make relates not to mere spurious excitements, but to genuine revivals, -- such revivals as I have attempted to describe in the preceding discourse.
I. The first of these objections which I shall notice is, that revivals of religion, as we use the phrase, are unscriptural. It is proper that this objection should be noticed first, because, if it can be sustained, it is of itself a sufficient reason, not only for indifference towards revivals, but for positive opposition to them; and in that case, as it would be unnecessary that we should proceed, so it would be only fair that, at the outset, we should surrender the whole ground. No matter what else may be said in favour of revivals -- no matter how important they may have been regarded, or how much we may have been accustomed to identify them with the prosperity of Christ's cause -- if it can be fairly shown that they are unscriptural, we are bound unhesitatingly to conclude that we have mistaken their true character. God's word is to be our standard in every thing; and wherever we suffer considerations of expediency, in reference to this or any other subject, to prevail against that standard, we set up our own wisdom against the wisdom of the Highest; and we are sure thereby to incur his displeasure. To the law and the testimony then be our appeal.
In order to denominate any thing that is connected with the subject of religion unscriptural, it is not enough that we should be able to show that it is not expressly commanded, but we should also make it appear that it is either expressly or implicitly forbidden. There are many things which all admit to be right among Christians, and which are even regarded as important parts of duty, for which there is no express warrant in the Bible; though no doubt they judge rightly, when they suppose that they find a sufficient warrant for these things in the general spirit of the Bible. For instance, the Bible has said nothing about the monthly concert of prayer for the conversion of the world, which is now so generally observed throughout evangelical Protestant Christendom; and of course this is not be regarded as a divine institution: but so long as God has commanded his people to pray for the prosperity of Jerusalem, and so long as the Saviour has promised to bless them, where only two or three are met together in his name, it would be folly for any one to contend that the monthly concert is an anti-scriptural institution. The spirit of the Bible manifestly justifies it; though the letter of the Bible may not require it. In like manner, even if we were to admit, that what we call a revival of religion, so far as human agency and influence are concerned, were not directly required by God's word, nevertheless, if it can be shown that it is consistent with the spirit of God's word, no man has a right to gainsay it, on the ground that it is unscriptural.
Now we claim for revivals, (and it is the least that we claim for them on the score of divine authority,) that there is nothing in the general spirit of the Bible that is unfavourable to them, but much of an opposite character. It is the tendency of all the instructions of God's word to form men to a habit of serious reflection; to abstract their affections from the world; to lead them to commune with their hearts, and to commune with God; and to seek with greater earnestness than any thing else the salvation of the soul. Now this is precisely what is accomplished in a revival of religion. In such a scene, if any where, is fulfilled the great design of God's word in bringing men to serious consideration, to self-communion, to a right estimate of the comparative value of the things which are seen and are temporal, and the things which are not seen and are eternal. We say nothing here of the means employed, but simply speak of the effect produced; and we are sure that no one who admits that the effect is as we have stated, will doubt that it is in keeping with the general tenor of God's word.
But we need not stop here; for the Bible has given a more direct sanction to revivals, and in various ways. Look, for instance, at many of the prayers which it records, as having been offered for the spiritual prosperity of Zion, when she was in a state of deep depression. Says the Psalmist, "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger towards us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger unto all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation." And again, "Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and behold and visit this vine, and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself." And again, the prophet Habakkuk prays, "O Lord, revive thy work; in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." These prayers were offered in behalf of the church, when she was in a state of temporal bondage, as well as of spiritual affliction: nevertheless, they relate especially to spiritual blessings; and what was meant by a revival then, was substantially the same thing as what is intended by a revival now. Accordingly, we find that these very prayers are constantly used by the church at this day; and that from a regard to them, as we cannot doubt, God often appears to lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes; the blessings of divine grace descend upon her in such profusion, that she puts on her beautiful garments, and looks forth fair as the morning.
There are also recorded in the Scriptures many signal instances in which God has poured out his Spirit, and effected a sudden and general reformation. If you go back to the Jewish dispensation, you will find this remark strikingly verified in the reigns of David and Solomon, of Asa and Jehoshaphat, of Hezekiah and Josiah. After the church had languished during the long and gloomy period of the Babylonish captivity, her interests were signally revived under the ministry of Ezra. A similar state of things existed in the days of John the Baptist, when the kingdom of heaven is said to have suffered violence, and many of the most profligate part of the community became impressed with religious truth, and were baptized unto repentance. On the occasion referred to in our text, no less than three thousand, and on the day following two thousand more, were subdued to the obedience of the truth, and were added to the Lord. Shortly after this, multitudes in Samaria experienced the regenerating power of the gospel; and upon the dispersion of the disciples after the martyrdom of Stephen, they were instrumental of exciting a general attention to religion in the remote parts of Judea, and even as far as the territories of Greece. Here, then, are facts recorded by the unerring finger of inspiration, precisely analogous to those which the objection we are considering declares to be unscriptural.
But, in addition to this, there is much in the prophecies which might fairly lead us to expect the very scenes which we denominate revivals of religion. If you read the prophetical parts of Scripture attentively, you cannot, I think, but be struck with the evidence that, as the millennial day approaches, the operations of divine grace are to be increasingly rapid and powerful. Many of these predictions respecting the state of religion under the Christian dispensation, it is manifest, have not yet had their complete fulfilment; and they not only justify the belief that these glorious scenes which we see passing really are of divine origin, as they claim to be, but that similar scenes, still more glorious, still more wonderful, are to be expected, as the Messiah travels in the greatness of his strength towards a universal triumph. I cannot but think that many of the inspired predictions in respect to the progress of religion appear overstrained, unless we admit that the church is to see greater things than she has yet seen; and that they fairly warrant the conclusion, that succeeding generations, rejoicing in the brighter light of God's truth, and the richer manifestations of his grace, may look back even upon this blessed era of revivals as a period of comparative darkness.
If, then, the general spirit of the Bible be in favour of revivals -- if the prayers which holy and inspired men have offered for them are here recorded -- if there be many instances here mentioned of their actual occurrence -- and if the spirit of prophecy has been exercised in describing and predicting them, -- then we may consider the objection that they are unscriptural as fairly set aside; nay, we may regard them as having the sanction of divine authority in the highest and clearest possible manner.
II. It is objected, again, that revivals of religion are unnecessary. In the mouth of an infidel this objection would doubtless imply that religion itself is unnecessary; and so, of course, must be all the means used for its promotion. But in this view it does not fall within our present design to consider it. There are those who profess to regard religion, who maintain that revivals are modern innovations; and that they are unnecessary, on the ground that the cause of Christ may be sustained and advanced, as it has been in other days, without them. This is the only form of the objection which it concerns us at present to notice.
The first thing to be said in reply, is, that the objection supposes what is not true -- namely, that revivals are of modern origin. The truth is, that if, as the objection asserts, the cause of religion in preceding ages has been sustained and carried forward without them, so also it has been sustained and carried forward with them; and during the periods in which they have prevailed, the church has seen her greatest prosperity. You have already seen, that, instead of being of recent origin, they go back to an early period in the Jewish dispensation. And, passing from the records of inspiration, we find that revivals have existed, with a greater or less degree of power, especially in the later periods of the Christian church. This was emphatically true during the period of the Reformation in the sixteenth century: Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, the Low Countries, and Britain, were severally visited by copious showers of divine influence. During the season of the plague in London in 1665, there was a very general awakening; in which many thousands are said to have been hopefully born of the Spirit. In the early part of the seventeenth century, various parts of Scotland and the North of Ireland were blessed, at different periods, with signal effusions of divine grace, in which great multitudes gave evidence of being brought out of darkness into marvellous light. During the first half of the last century, under the ministrations of Whitfield, Brainerd, Edwards, Davies, the Tennents, and many other of the holiest and greatest men whose labours have blessed the church, there was a succession of revivals in this country, which caused the wilderness to blossom as the rose, and the desert to put on the appearance of the garden of the Lord. And when these revivals declined, and the church settled back into the sluggish state from which she had been raised, then commenced her decline in purity, in discipline, in doctrine, in all with which her prosperity is most intimately connected. And this state of things continued, only becoming worse and worse, until, a little before the beginning of the present century, the spirit of revivals again burst forth, and has since that period richly blessed especially our American church. The fact, then, most unfortunately for the objection we are considering, turns out to be, that if the church has been sustained at some periods without these signal effusions of the Holy Spirit, she has barely been sustained; and that the brightest periods of her history have been those in which they have prevailed with the greatest power. To object to revivals then on the ground that they are modern, or that they are unnecessary to the best interests of the church, betrays an utter ignorance of their history.
But let us inquire a little further, why the old and quiet way, as it is often represented, of becoming religious, is the best. If you mean that you prefer that state of religion in which the dews of divine grace continually descend, and Christians are always consistent and active, and there is a constant succession of conversions from among the impenitent, to the more sudden and rapid operations of God's Spirit --be it so; there is as truly a revival in the one case as the other. But the state of things which this objection contemplates is that in which religion is kept in the back ground, and only here and there one at distant periods comes forward to confess Christ, and the church is habitually in a languishing state. And is such a state of things to be preferred above that in which the salvation of the soul becomes the all-engrossing object, and even hundreds, within a little period, come and own themselves on the Lord's side? Is it not desirable that sinners should be converted immediately? Are they liable every hour to die, and thus be beyond the reach of mercy and of hope; and is it not right that they should be pressed with the obligations of immediate repentance; and is it not necessary that they should exert themselves to escape the tremendous doom by which they are threatened? Is it more desirable that the mass of sinners should be sleeping on in guilty security, liable every hour to fall into the hands of a sin-avenging God, or that they should be escaping by multitudes from the coming wrath, and gaining an interest in the salvation of the gospel? He, and only he, who will dare to say that the former is most desirable can consistently object to revivals, on the ground that the church had better revert to the quiet uniformity of other days.
Still farther: before you decide that revivals are unnecessary, you must either settle it that they are not the work of God, or else you must assume the responsibility of deciding that he is not doing his work in the best way. Will you take the former side of the alternative, and maintain that this is not God's work? If you say this, then I challenge you to prove that God ever works in the renovation of men; for the only evidence of the existence of a principle of religion in the heart, is the operation of that principle in the life; and I hesitate not to say, that I can show you as unequivocal fruits of holiness produced from a revival of religion, as you can show me in any other circumstances. Unless then you will assume the responsibility of saying that all the apparent faith, and love, and zeal, and holiness, which are produced from a revival, and which, so far as we can judge, have every characteristic of genuineness, are spurious, it were rash to decide that this is not a work effected by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
But if you admit that this is God's work, you surely will not dare to say that his way of accomplishing his purpose is not the best. Suppose that nothing appeared to render this course of procedure especially desirable, yet the point being established that it is the course which God hath chosen, the reflection that God's ways are not as our ways, ought to silence every doubt. But who, after all, will say that it even appears inconsistent with infinite wisdom and goodness, as the cause of God is advancing towards a complete triumph, that he should operate more powerfully, more suddenly, than in some other periods; in short, precisely as he does in a revival of religion? Has God bound himself that he will convert men only by small numbers, or by a very gradual influence; or does he not rather, in this respect, claim the right of absolute sovereignty? I ask again, in view of the bearing which this objection has upon the character of God, who will dare say that revivals are unnecessary?
III. Another objection against revivals is, that they are the nurseries of enthusiasm.
If by enthusiasm you mean a heated imagination, that prompts to excesses in conduct, then you meet with it in other departments beside that of revivals. You will see as much enthusiasm in a political cabal, or in an election of civil officers, or in a commercial speculation, or even in the pursuits of science, as you will find in a revival of religion. Yes, believe me, there is a worldly as well as a religious enthusiasm: and let me inquire how it comes to pass that you can tolerate the former, nay, perhaps, that you can exemplify and cherish it, and yet can regard the latter with so much disapprobation and abhorrence? Does it not look a little as if your objection lay rather against religion, the subject in respect to which the enthusiasm is exercised, than against the enthusiasm itself?
But are you sure, that in passing judgment on the enthusiasm connected with revivals, you always call things by their right names? Is it not more than possible, that much of what you call by this name may be the fervour of true love to God, and of genuine Christian zeal? Suppose you were to go into a meeting composed entirely of persons of the same religious character with Isaiah, or David, or Paul, and suppose they were to utter themselves in expressions not more fervent than these holy men have actually used, do you not believe that you would think there was some enthusiasm in that meeting, and that the exercises would be better if they partook a little more of the earthly, and a little less of the heavenly? Between enthusiasm on the one hand, and conviction of sin and love to God, and zeal in religion on the other, there is really no affinity; they are as unlike each other as any genuine quality is unlike its counterfeit; but is there not some danger that they who have a heart opposed to religion, and who are willing to find excuses for the neglect of it, will brand some of the Christian graces, when they shine with unusual brightness, with the opprobrious epithet of enthusiasm?
But suppose there is some real enthusiasm mingled with revivals, (and, to a certain extent, this no doubt must be admitted,) shall we on this ground reject them altogether? Because some few individuals in such a scene may act the part of enthusiasts, is all the true Christian feeling, and Christian conduct, which is exemplified by many others, to be considered of no account? Or suppose, if you will, that a small degree of enthusiasm may pertain to all, does this nullify all the exercises of genuine and perhaps elevated piety with which it may happen to be connected. Where is the man who adopts the same principle in respect to his worldly affairs? If you should import the productions of some foreign clime and should discover that a small part of the quantity had been injured by the voyage, and that the rest had not suffered at all, would you cast the whole of it from you, or would you not rather make a careful separation between the good and the bad, retaining the one, and rejecting the other? Or if you should hear a lecture on science, or politics, or religion, or any other subject, in which you should discover a few mistakes, while nearly the whole of it was sound, and practical, and in a high degree instructive, would you condemn the whole for these trifling errors, and say it was all a mass of absurdity, or would you not rather treasure it up in your memory as in the main excellent, though you felt that, like every thing human, it was marred by imperfection? And why should not the same principle be admitted in respect to revivals? Is it right, is it honest, because there may be in them a small admixture of enthusiasm, to treat them as if they were made up of enthusiasm, and nothing else? Would it not be more equitable, would it not be more candid, to separate the precious from the vile, and to let the sentence of condemnation fall only where it is deserved?
But perhaps I shall be met here with the declaration, that there are scenes, which pass for revivals of religion, in which there is nothing but enthusiasm and its kindred evils -- scenes which outrage the decorum of religious worship, and exert no other influence upon religion than to bring it into contempt. Be it so. If there be such scenes, whatever name they may assume, they are not what we plead for, under the name of revivals; on the contrary, every friend of true revivals must, if he be consistent, set his face against them. And I maintain further, that it is gross injustice to the cause of revivals, to confound those scenes in which there is nothing but the wild fire of human passion, with those in which there is the manifest operation of the Holy Spirit. Suppose you should see a man practising the extreme of avarice, and calling it by the honest name of economy, or suppose you should see a man inflexibly obstinate in an evil course, and calling his obstinacy virtuous independence, would this justify you in setting at naught a habit of economy and independence, as if a virtue could be turned into a vice by the misapplication of a name? And suppose that any man, or any number of men, choose to yield themselves up to gross fanaticism, and to attempt to pass it oft' under the name of religion, or of a revival of religion, who is there that does not perceive, that the existence of the counterfeit contributes in no way to debase the genuine quality? Prove to me that any thing that takes the name of a revival is really spurious, and I pledge myself, as a friend of true revivals, to be found on the list of its opposers. Names are nothing. Things, facts, realities, are everything.
IV. Another objection to revivals, closely allied to the preceding, is, that the subjects of them often fall into a state of mental derangement, and even commit suicide.
The fact implied in this objection is, to a certain extent, acknowledged; that is, it is acknowledged that instances of the kind mentioned do sometimes occur. But is it fair, after all, to consider revivals as responsible for them? Every one who has any knowledge of the human constitution must be aware, that the mind is liable to derangement from any cause that operates in the way of great excitement; and whether this effect, in any given case, is to be produced or not, depends partly on the peculiar character of the mind which is the subject of the operation, and partly on the degree of self-control which the individual is enabled to exercise. Hence we find on the list of maniacs, and on those who have committed suicide, many in respect to whom this awful calamity is to be traced to the love of the world. Their plans for accumulating wealth have been blasted, and when they expected to be rich they have suddenly found themselves in poverty, and perhaps obscurity; and instead of sustaining themselves against the shock, they have yielded to it; and the consequence has been the wreck of their intellect, and the sacrifice of their life. You who are men of business well know that the case to which I have here referred is one of no uncommon occurrence; but who of you ever thought that these cases reflected at all upon the fair and honourable pursuit of the world? Where is the merchant who, on hearing that some commercial adventurer had become deranged in consequence of some miserable speculation, and had been found dead with a halter about his neck, ever said, "I will close my accounts and shut up my store, and abandon this business of buying and selling, which leads to such fatal results?" Is there one of you who ever made such an inference from such a fact; or who ever relaxed at all in your worldly occupation, on the ground that some individuals had perverted the same occupation to their ruin? Here you are careful enough to distinguish between the thing and the abuse of it; and why not be equally candid in respect to revivals of religion? When you hear of instances of suicide in revivals, remember that such instances occur in other scenes of life, and other departments of action; and if you are not prepared to make commerce, and learning, and politics, and virtuous attachment, responsible for this awful calamity, because it is sometimes connected with them, then do not attempt to cast this responsibility upon religion, or revivals of religion, because here, too, individuals are sometimes left to this most fearful visitation.
I have said that some such cases as the objection supposes occur, but I maintain that the number is, by the enemies of revivals, greatly overrated. Twenty men may become insane, and may actually commit suicide from any other cause, and the fact will barely be noticed: but let one come to this awful end in consequence of religious excitement, and it will be blazoned upon the house-top, with an air of melancholy boding, and yet with a feeling of real triumph; and many a gazette will introduce it with some sneering comments on religious fanaticism; and the result will be that it will become a subject of general notoriety and conversation. In this way the number of these melancholy cases comes to be imagined much larger than it really is; and in the common estimate of the opposers of revivals it is no doubt multiplied manifold.
But admitting that the number of these cases were as great as its enemies would represent -- admit that in every extensive revival there were one person who actually became deranged, and fell a victim to that derangement, are you prepared to say, even then, upon an honest estimate of the comparative good and evil that is accomplished, that that revival had better not have taken place? On the one side, estimate fairly the evil, and we have no wish to make it less than it really is. There is the premature death of an individual -- death in the most unnatural and shocking form, and fitted to harrow the feelings of friends to the utmost. There may be a temporary loss of usefulness to the world, and, as the case may be, a loss of counsel, and aid, and effort, in some of the tenderest earthly relations. Yet it is not certain but that the soul may be saved; for though, at the time the awful act is committed, there may be thick darkness hanging about it, and even the phrenzy of despair may have seized hold of it, yet no mortal can decide that God's Spirit may not after all have performed its effectual work, and that the soul, liberated from the body by the most dreadful act which man can commit, may not find its way to heaven, to be for ever with the Lord. But suppose the very worst -- suppose this sinner who falls in a fit of religious insanity, by the violence of his own hand, to be unrenewed -- why in this case he rushes prematurely upon the wrath of God, he cuts short the period of his probation, which, had it been protracted, he might, or might not, have improved to the salvation of his soul. Look now at the other side. In the revival in which this unhappy case has occurred, besides the general quickening impulse that has been given to the people of God, perhaps one hundred individuals have had their character renovated, and their doom reversed. Each one of these was hastening forward, perhaps to a death-bed of horror, certainly to an eternity of wailing; but in consequence of the change that has passed upon them, they can now anticipate the close of life with peace, and the ages of eternity with unutterable joy. There is no longer any condemnation to them, because they are in Christ Jesus. And, besides, they are prepared to live usefully in the world -- each of them to glorify God, by devoting himself, according to his ability, to the advancement of his cause. Now far be it from us to speak lightly of such a heart-rending event as the death of a fellow-mortal, in the circumstances we have supposed; but if any will weigh this against the advantages of a revival, we have a right to weigh the advantages of a revival against this, and to call upon you to decide for yourselves which preponderates? Is the salvation of one hundred immortal souls (supposing that number to be converted) a light matter, when put into the scale against the premature and awful death of a single individual, or, to suppose the very worst of the case, his cutting short his space for repentance, and rushing unprepared into the presence of his Judge?
V. It is farther objected against revivals, that they occasion a sort of religious dissipation; leading men to neglect their worldly concerns for too many religious exercises; exercises, too, protracted, not unfrequently, to an unseasonable hour.
No doubt it is possible for men to devote themselves more to social religious services than is best for their spiritual interests; because a constant attendance on these services would interfere with the more private means of grace, which, all must admit, are of primary importance. But who are the persons by whom this objection is most frequently urged, and who seem to feel the weight of it most strongly? Are they those who actually spend most time in their closets, and who come forth into the world with their hearts deeply imbued with a religious influence, and who perform their secular duties from the most conscientious regard to God's authority? Or are they not rather those who rarely, if ever, retire to commune with God, and who engage in the business of life from mere selfish considerations; who, in short, are thorough-going worldlings? If a multitude of religious meetings are to be censured on the ground of their interference with other duties, I submit it to you, whether this censure comes with a better grace from him who performs these duties, or from him who neglects them? I submit it to you, whether the man who is conscious of living in the entire neglect of religion, ought to be very lavish in his censures upon those who are yielding their thoughts to it in any way, or to any extent? Would it not be more consistent, at least, for him to take care of the beam, before he troubles himself about the mote?
Far be it from me to deny that the evil which this objection contemplates does sometimes exist -- that men, and especially women, do neglect private and domestic duties for the sake of mingling continually in social religious exercises: nevertheless, I am constrained to say, that the objection, as it is directed against the mass of Christians, during a well-regulated revival, is utterly unfounded. For I ask who are the persons who have ordinarily the best regulated families, who are most faithful to their children, most faithful in their closets, most faithful and conscientious in their relative duties, and even in their worldly engagements? If I may be permitted to answer, I should say, unhesitatingly, they are generally the very persons who love the social prayer meeting, and the meeting for Christian instruction and exhortation; those, in short, who are often referred to, by the enemies of revivals, as exemplifying the evil which this objection contemplates. God requires us to do every duty, whether secular or religious, in its right place; and this the Christian is bound to keep in view in all his conduct. But there is too much reason to fear, that the spirit which ordinarily objects against many religious exercises, is a spirit which, if the whole truth were known, it would appear had little complacency in any.
But it is alleged that, during revivals, religious meetings are not only multiplied to an improper extent, but are protracted to an unseasonable hour. That instances of this kind exist admits not of question; and it is equally certain, that the case here contemplated is an evil which every sober, judicious Christian must discourage. We do not believe that in an enlightened community, it is an evil of very frequent occurrence; but wherever it exists, it is to be reprobated as an abuse, and not to be regarded as any part of a genuine revival, or as any thing for which a true revival is responsible. But here, again, it may be worth while to inquire how far many of the individuals who offer this objection are consistent with themselves. They can be present at a political cabal, or at a convivial meeting, which lasts the whole night, and these occasions may be of very frequent occurrence, and yet it may never occur to them that they are keeping unseasonable hours. Or their children may return at the dawn of day, from a scene of vain amusement, in which they have brought on an entire prostration both of mind and body, and unfitted themselves for any useful exertion during the day; and yet all this is not only connived at as excusable, but smiled upon as commendable. I do not say that it is right to keep up a religious meeting during the hours that Providence has allotted to repose: I believe fully that in ordinary cases it is wrong; but sure I am that I could not hold up my head to say this, if I were accustomed to look with indulgence on those other scenes of the night of which I have spoken. It is best to spend the night as God designed it should be spent, in refreshing our faculties by sleep; but if any other way is to be chosen, judge ye whether they are wisest who deprive themselves of repose in an idle round of diversion, or they who subject themselves to the same sacrifice in exercises of devotion and piety.
VI. It is objected against revivals, that they often introduce discord into families, and disturb the general peace of society.
It must be conceded, that rash and intemperate measures have sometimes been adopted in connection with revivals, or at least what have passed under the name of revivals, which have been deservedly the subject of censure, and which were adapted, by stirring up the worst passions of the heart, to introduce a spirit of fierce contention and discord. But I must be permitted to say, that whatever evil such measures may bring in their train, is not to be charged upon genuine revivals of religion. The revivals for which we plead are characterized, not by a spirit of rash and unhallowed attack on the part of their friends, which might be supposed to have come up from the world below, but by that wisdom which cometh down from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated. For all the discord and mischief that result from measures designed to awaken opposition and provoke the bad passions, they only are to be held responsible by whom those measures are devised or adopted. We hesitate not to say, that there is no communion between the spirit that dictates them and the spirit of true revivals.
Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that there are instances in which a revival of religion, conducted in a prudent and scriptural manner, awakens bitter hostility, and sometimes occasions for the time much domestic unhappiness. There are cases in which the enmity of the heart is so deep and bitter, that a bare knowledge of the fact that sinners around are beginning to inquire, will draw forth a torrent of reproach and railing; and there are cases, too, in which the fact that an individual in a family becomes professedly pious, will throw that family into a violent commotion, and waken up against the individual bitter prejudices, and possibly be instrumental of exiling a child, or a wife, or a sister, from the affections of those most dear to them. But you surely will not make religion, or a revival of religion, responsible for cases of this kind. Did not the benevolent Jesus himself say, that he came not to send peace on the earth, but a sword; meaning by it this very thing -- that in prosecuting the object of his mission into the world, he should necessarily provoke the enmity of the human heart; and thus that enmity would act itself out in the persecution of himself and his followers? The Saviour, by his perfect innocence, his divine holiness, his uncompromising faithfulness, provoked the Jews to imbrue their hands in his blood; but who ever supposed that the responsibility of their murderous act rested upon him? In like manner, ministers and Christians, by labouring for the promotion of a revival of religion, may be the occasion of fierce opposition to the cause of truth and holiness; but if they labour only in the manner which God has prescribed, they are in no way accountable for that opposition. It will always be right for individuals to secure the salvation of their own souls, let it involve whatever domestic inconvenience, or whatever worldly sacrifice it may. And so, too, it will be always right for Christians to labour in God's appointed way for the salvation of others; though, in doing so, they should kindle up against them the fiercest opposition. Where such opposition is excited, the opposers of religion may set it to the account of revivals; but God, the righteous Judge, will take care that it is charged where it fairly belongs.
VII. It is objected, again, to revivals, that the supposed conversions that occur in them are usually too sudden to he genuine, and that the excitement which prevails at such a time must be a fruitful source of self-deception.
That revivals are often perverted to minister to self-deception cannot be questioned; and this is always to be expected when there is much of human machinery introduced. Men often suppose themselves converted, and actually pass as converts, merely from some impulse of the imagination, when they have not even been the subjects of true conviction. But, notwithstanding this abuse, who will say that the Bible does not warrant us to expect sudden conversions? What say you of the three thousand who were converted on the day of Pentecost? Shall I be told that there was a miraculous agency concerned in producing that wonderful result? I answer, there was indeed a miracle wrought in connection with that occasion; but there was no greater miracle in the actual conversion of those sinners than there is in the conversion of any other sinners; for conversion is in all cases the same work, and accomplished by the same agency; namely, the special agency of the Holy Spirit. This instance, then, is entirely to our purpose; and proves at least the possibility that a conversion may be sound, though it be sudden.
Nor is there any thing in the nature of the case that should lead us to a different conclusion. For what is conversion? It is a turning from sin to holiness. The truth of God is presented before the mind, and this truth is cordially and practically believed; it is received into the understanding, and through that reaches the heart and life. Suppose the truth to be held up before the mind already awake to its importance, and in a sense prepared for its reception, what hinders but that it should be received immediately? But this would be all that is intended by a sudden conversion. Indeed we all admit that the act of conversion, whenever it takes place, is sudden; and why may not the preparation for it, in many instances, be so also? Where is the absurdity of supposing that a sinner may, within a very short period, be brought practically to believe both the truth that awakens the conscience, and that which converts the soul; in other words, may pass from a state of absolute carelessness, to reconciliation with God? The evidence of conversion must indeed be gradual, and must develop itself in a subsequent course of exercises and acts; so that it were rash to pronounce any individual in such circumstances a true convert: but not only the act of conversion, but the immediate preparation for it, may be sudden; and we may reasonably hope, in any given case of apparent conversion, that the change is genuine.
I may add, that the general spirit of the Bible is by no means unfavourable to sudden conversions. The Bible calls upon men to repent, to believe, to turn to the Lord now: it does not direct them to put themselves on a course of preparation for doing this at some future time; but it allows no delay; it proclaims that now is the accepted time, now the day of salvation. When men are converted suddenly, is there any thing more than an immediate compliance with these divine requisitions which are scattered throughout the Bible?
But what is the testimony of facts on this subject? It were in vain to deny that some who seem to be converted during the most genuine revivals fall away; and it were equally vain to deny that some who profess to have become reconciled to God, when there is no revival, fall away. But that any considerable proportion of the professed subjects of well-regulated revivals apostatize, especially after having made a public profession, is a position which I am persuaded cannot be sustained. I know there are individual exceptions from this remark; exceptions which have occurred under peculiar circumstances: but, if I mistake not, those ministers who have had the most experience on this subject will testify, that a very large proportion of those whom they have known professedly beginning the Christian life, during a revival, have held on their way stronger and stronger. It has even been remarked, by a minister who has probably been more conversant with genuine revivals than any other of the age, that his experience has justified the remark, that there is a smaller proportion of apostacies among the professed subjects of revivals, than among those who make a profession when there is no unusual attention to religion.
After all, we are willing to admit that the excitement attending a revival may be the means of self-deception. But we maintain that this is not, at least to any great extent, a necessary evil, and that it may ordinarily be prevented by suitable watchfulness and caution on the part of those who are active in conducting the work. To accomplish this, requires an intimate knowledge of the heart, and of God's word, and of the whole subject of experimental religion. But with these qualifications, whether in a minister or in private Christians, and with the diligent and faithful discharge of duty, we believe that little more is to be apprehended in respect to self-deception during a revival, than might reasonably be in ordinary circumstances.
VIII. It is objected, that revivals are followed by seasons of corresponding declension; and that therefore nothing is gained, on the whole, to the cause of religion.
This remark must of course be limited in its application to those who were before Christians; for it surely cannot mean, that those who are really converted during a revival lose the principle of religion from their hearts after it has passed away. Suppose then it be admitted, that Christians on the whole gain no advantage from revivals, on account of the re-action that takes place in their experience, still there is the gain of a great number of genuine conversions; and this is clear gain from the world. Is it not immense gain to the church, immense gain to the Saviour, that a multitude of souls should yield up their rebellion, and become the subjects of renewing grace? And if this is an effect of revivals, (and who can deny it?) what becomes of the objection, that on the whole they bring no gain to the cause?
But it is not true that revivals are of no advantage to Christians. It is confidently believed, if you could hear the experience of those who have laboured in them most faithfully and most successfully, you would learn that these were the seasons in which they made their brightest and largest attainments in religion. And these seasons they have not failed subsequently to connect with special praise and thanksgiving to God. That there are cases in which Christians, during a revival, have had so much to do with the hearts of others that they have neglected their own; and that there is danger, from the very constitution of the human mind, that an enlivened and elevated state of Christian affections will be followed by spiritual languor and listlessness, I admit; but I maintain that these are not necessary evils, and that the Christian, by suitable watchfulness and effort, may avoid them. It is not in human nature always to be in a state of strong excitement; but it is possible for any Christian to maintain habitually that spirit of deep and earnest piety, which a revival is so well fitted to awaken and cherish.
IX. The last objection against revivals which I shall notice is, that they cherish the spirit of sectarism, and furnish opportunities and inducements to different denominations to make proselytes.
I own, brethren, with grief and shame for sin: common imperfections, that the evil contemplated in this objection frequently does occur: and though, for a time, different sects may seem to co-operate with each other for the advancement of the common cause, yet they are exceedingly apt, sooner or later, to direct their efforts mainly to the promotion of their own particular cause; and sometimes it must be confessed the greater has seemed to be almost forgotten in the less. Wherever this state of things exists, it is certainly fraught with evil; and the only remedy to be found for it is an increased degree of intelligence, piety, and charity, in the church.
But here again let me remind you, that, let this evil be as great as it may, the most that you can say of its connection with revivals is, that they are the innocent occasion of it, not the faulty cause. Suppose an individual, or any number of individuals, were to take occasion from the fact that we are assembled here for religious worship, to come in, in violation of the laws of the land, and by boisterous and menacing conduct to disturb our public service -- and suppose they should find themselves forthwith within the walls of a jail, -- the fact of our being here engaged in the worship of God might be the occasion of the evil which they had brought upon themselves, but surely no man in the possession of his reason would dream that it was the responsible cause. In like manner, a revival may furnish an opportunity, and suggest an inducement, to different religious sects to bring as many into their particular communion as they can; and they may sometimes do this in the exercise of an unhallowed party spirit; but the evil is to be charged, not upon the revival, but upon the imperfections of Christians and ministers, which have taken occasion from this state of things thus to come into exercise. The revival is from above; the proselyting spirit is from beneath.
But the fallacy of this objection may best be seen by a comparison of the evil complained of, with the good that is achieved. You and I are Presbyterians; but we profess to believe that our neighbours of many of the different denominations around us hold the fundamental truths of the gospel, and are walking in the way to heaven. As Presbyterians we have a right, and it is our duty, to take special heed to the interests of our own church; but much as we may venerate her order or her institutions, who among us is there that does not regard Christian as a much more hallowed name? In other words, where is the man who would not consider it comparatively a light matter whether an individual should join our particular communion, or some other, provided he gave evidence of being a real disciple of Christ? Now apply this remark to revivals. The evil complained of is, that different sects manifest an undue zeal to gather as many of the hopeful subjects of revivals as they can into their respective communions. Suppose it be so -- and what is the result? Why that they are training up, not as we should say, perhaps, under the best form of church-government, or possibly the most unexceptionable views of Christian doctrine, but still in the bosom of the church of God, under the dispensation of his word, and in the enjoyment of his ordinances, and in communion with his people -- are training up to become members of that communion in which every other epithet will be merged in that of sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Place then, on the one side, the fact that these individuals are to remain in their sins, supposing there is no revival of religion, and on the other, the fact that they are to be proselyted, if you please, to some other Christian sect, provided there is one; and then tell me, whether the objection which I am considering does not dwindle to nothing. 1 would not deem it uncharitable to say, that the man who could maintain this objection in this view, that is, the man who could feel more complacency in seeing his fellow-men remain in his own denomination, dead in trespasses and sins, than in seeing them join other denominations, giving evidence of being the followers of the Lord Jesus -- whatever other sect he may belong to, does not belong to the sect of true disciples. Whatever may be his shibboleth, rely on it, he has not learned to talk in the dialect of heaven.
1 have presented this subject before you, my friends, at considerable length, not because I have considered myself as addressing a congregation hostile to revivals -- for I bear you testimony that it is not so -- but because most of the objections which have been noticed are more or less current in the community, and I have wished to guard you against the influence of these objections, on the one hand, and to assist you to be always ready to give an answer to any one that asketh a reason of your views of this subject, on the other. I hope that what has been said may confirm your conviction, that the cause of revivals is emphatically the Saviour's cause; and that you may be disposed, each one to labour in it with increased diligence and zeal. And may your labours be characterized by such Christian prudence, and tenderness, and fidelity, that while you shall see a rich blessing resting upon them, they may have a tendency to silence the voice of opposition, and increase the number of those who shall co-operate with you in sustaining and advancing this glorious cause.
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