The GOSPEL TRUTH A HISTORY OF AMERICAN REVIVALS
by
Frank G. Beardsley PH.D, S.T.D.
1912
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTORY. The Genesis of Revivals.
The history of revivals is the history of the church. The great epochal movements which have characterized the development of religion may without impropriety be designated as revivals. In accordance with customary usage the term is generally applied to special religious services protracted for a term of days or weeks, when unusual efforts are put forth to reach the unconverted for the purpose of bringing them to repentance and winning them to lives of faith and obedience. Revivals in this sense of the word are of comparatively recent origin and date their beginnings a little more than a century and a half ago. It has been suggested, however, that the annual feasts of ancient Judaism corresponded in some respects to our modem revivals and were a means of promoting vital religion.
According to the generic significance of the word, it means to re-animate, to awaken new life, and hence it presupposes a state of declension. But since an awakened church is always a converting agency, any religious awakening is a revival, whether the term be applied to the work of converting the unregenerate or to the task of bringing new life to a dead and decaying church. With this understanding of the term ample justification may be found for the statement that revivals are as old as human history. It will be interesting, therefore, if not profitable, before proceeding to a delineation of American revivals, to consider briefly and somewhat cursorily the great revivals which have characterized the growth and development of religion.
For our earliest information upon this subject we must have recourse to the sacred scriptures. The Bible is a manual of revivals in so far as it is a record of the successive efforts which were made by patriarchs and kings, by prophets and apostles, for the redemption and religious betterment of a sinning world. The earliest awakening of which it speaks is that tersely described as occurring in the days of Enoch when men began to call on the name of the Lord. Of the character and extent of this revival we can only conjecture, but it was an event of deepest significance, since it marks the beginnings of revival history.
Passing on to the history of Israel we discover that the Exodus, in its purpose and aims, as a mighty spiritual quickening, was essentially a revival. It marks an epoch in the development of the chosen people, whence they were to emerge from the Egyptian bondage, not only as the conquerors of Canaan, but as the pioneers of a world-wide religion. It was no easy undertaking, however, to discipline this army of slaves and fit them for the responsibilities of self-government under the theocracy. Backslidings were frequent and periodic. God's providences were soon forgotten and it often became necessary to admonish and rebuke Israel for her rebellion and her sins. The periods of deeper religious life which followed were in reality revivals. As we study further the development of this people we learn that such awakenings were characteristic of their national life. Interesting accounts are given of spiritual quickenings in the times of Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah, Hezekiah, Josiah and Ezekiel. It is difficult to conceive how the Jewish nation could have been saved from utter apostasy and ruin had it not have been for these gracious visitations. Even these did not save the chosen people from the calamity which befell them in consequence of the Assyrian invasion. After the captivity there were extensive revivals under Ezra and Nehemiah, The awakening under Ezra resembled more closely our modern revivals than any of the recorded awakenings which took place during the pre-Christian dispensation. It was a protracted meeting in which unusual interest was displayed. Ezra preached from a pulpit of wood, while the people gave heed to readings and expositions of the law. The effects of this revival were lasting and beneficial.
With the inauguration of Christianity we find that Pentecost is the emphatic date in the commencement of the new era. The ministry of Jesus together with the influence of his character upon the minds of his disciples had been a work preparatory to the inception of that movement which had for its object the evangelization of the world. But the disciples were not yet fully prepared for that work. They needed the enduement with power. The gift of power accompanied the advent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. That they were then ready for their great work is evident from the fact that after they had received the enduement of power, under the preaching of a single searching sermon by the Apostle Peter, three thousand souls were converted to the Christian faith.
By this great and notable event the Apostolic age was ushered in as a great missionary and evangelistic era. The book of Acts is a manual of the revivals of that age and is replete with accounts of awakenings and ingatherings under the labors of Peter and Paul and other members of the apostolic band.
Dr. Kirk, in speaking of the influence of Pentecost, says: "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 scepter in the hands of Constantine, and destroyed thus the power of Pagan persecution; and then the decree of Milan pronounced the religion of the cross the religion of the empire."* *Kirk's Revival Lectures, p. 115.
The Christianization of the Roman Empire did not eliminate certain elements of paganism, the reflex influence of which proved disastrous to the new faith. As a consequence a night of spiritual darkness settled down upon Christendom, in which the church slumbered on in contented indifference to the pagan ideas and corrupt practices which were destroying her spiritual power. Voices of protest were raised now and then, but no sweeping results were attained until there came a mighty awakening through the Protestant Reformation.
The Reformation was not an event unheralded or unprepared for. The Crusades, resulting in the commercial expansion of Europe and the revival of learning, the preaching of Wyclif, Huss, and Savonarola, and the invention of printing, were potent factors in preparing the way for that tremendous movement which convulsed all Europe and shook to its foundations the papal throne. To Martin Luther belongs the credit for having precipitated the crisis which was bound to come. The hour was struck when he nailed his theses upon the portal of the church at Wittenberg, and that incident, insignificant as it was, became one of the supreme events in the world's history. Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and a host of lesser lights helped to complete the work which he had begun and which resulted in the spiritual quickening of Christendom.
In England the cleavage with Rome was chiefly along political and ecclesiastical lines. Henry VIII. through whom it was effected had been an ardent Romanist, but when the pope refused to grant him a divorce from Catherine of Arragon, he took matters into his own hands and proclaimed himself the head of the English Church. This never could have been done, had there not have been a strong undercurrent of Protestantism in the popular sentiment of the day. The efforts of Wyclif and his successors, the humble Lollards, together with the work of the Oxford Reformers, were not in vain. The fruit of their labors was now manifest in the submission and support of the people to the reforms of Henry. These reforms were not violent A change in the headship of the church was all that was at first contemplated. Other changes were inevitable, but the Protestantism of England partook more of the character of an evolutionary process rather than the more violent form of revolution.
In consequence of the persecutions of Mary, many of the clergy fled to the continent, where they came into contact with a type of Protestantism much more radical than that of England. Especially was this true at Geneva where the stem genius of Calvin presided in ascetic simplicity. On their return to England after the accession of Elizabeth, they carried with them a desire for further reform. As a consequence the Puritan revival was inaugurated, which subsequently peopled New England with colonists and thus prepared the way for the introduction of that more vital form of religion which has characterized the history of American Christianity.