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The Revivals
From: Classic Books for Today #156
By S. B. Shaw (1905)
(Used by Permission)

"Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?"   Psalm 85:6

Report By Mrs. M. Baxter

This mighty movement must be seen to be understood. A sense of awe came over me again and again as in a large chapel, on a week-day afternoon, I saw a large, deep gallery surrounding the chapel literally packed with men. They were manly, intensely earnest faces, not looking around or talking one to the other, but with one consent utterly taken up with God. The body of the chapel was also crowded with men and women of all classes, with but one purpose -- to meet God.

There was no opening of the meeting; the hearts were full and burst with prayer and praise to a God felt to be in our midst. One gentleman who had come from Oxford to see the work, said: "These men are not praying to be heard of man; it doesn't matter to them what people think of them; they are thinking about the answer, not about the hearers"; and it was true. At times a wave of power, without any human instrumentality, or anything external to cause it, would sweep over the mass of the people, and spontaneously almost the whole company would pray aloud, no one heeding the other, and without the slightest confusion.

Every one was absorbed with God; but in the midst of it, no one dealing with them, a man here, a woman there, would yield to God, and in a few minutes stand up and give praise that they had found the Lord. Sometimes singing and prayer would go on together, but there was no real confusion -- the praying was not to man, and the singing was not to man. But such singing is rarely to be heard. It was perfect time and perfect harmony; often the same hymn (never given out, but started spontaneously), sung in English and in Welsh at the same time, andsung over and over, until it penetrated. There was no organ, nor need for one; when men -- for the women were too few to make much impression -- sing unto the Lord in this way, an organ is out of place. It was heart-singing, "singing with melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:19).

I was present at three meetings in which Mr. Evan Roberts was not present, nor yet either of the young lady singers who help in some of the meetings. But God was there; and though Mr. Roberts was expected in the afternoon, not a murmur of disappointment was ex-pressed -- God was present and He satisfied. In two morning meetings where I had the privilege to be, the same spirit reigned; as the people gathered, the prayers and hymns burst forth -- no one led but the Spirit Himself. One and another entered the place, knelt down, and in a few minutes an intense prayer, or as intense a chorus or verse of a hymn was sung, or a text of Scripture or a chapter read -- but all in the most perfect harmony and in-tensity. Mr. Roberts himself is as simple and natural as a child; he comes into the meetings, and in no way interferes with what is going on, and no one stops in prayer, singing or testimony because he appears. He waits until there is a moment's pause, and then speaks a few strong, simple words, with no apparent oratory, but an intensity which calls forth earnest responses from the congregation. Sometimes he asks a question, and they answer.

He opens the Bible, but there is too much singing at the moment, and he quietly closes it, sits down out of sight, and remains in silent prayer. He has a real belief in the leading of the Holy Spirit, and knows how to wait on the Lord and wait for the Lord.

The proceedings were mostly in Welsh, but a kind man of God, or some kind sister, would translate for me, or put me in the way of under-standing what was going on. There was prayer made in a little group close to me for a man in the gallery; it was quiet -- a group kneeling while others were standing and singing around. Shortly that one in the gallery, knowing nothing of the prayer, got up and said he was saved. In the singing of the lady revivalists there is much power, and the same following of the Spirit. No one announces them; they simply await the opportunity. This is in-deed the mighty hand of God.

Man is at a discount. "The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" We are reminded of that day when the Holy Spirit came down upon the hundred and twenty on the Day of Pentecost. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" No intellectual treatises, no trained choirs needed, when God the Holy Ghost can find yielded, obedient hearts to occupy, and tongues through which to speak. Drunkenness, swearing, stealing, quarreling, flee before the presence of the Lord in His people. What is the secret of this movement? On man's part, believing, persevering prayer; on God's part, the promised answer.

-- The Eleventh Hour.

The Revival in the West - Striking Stories and Incidents

From the London Methodist Times
of December 22.

"The Wash-Day Of The Lord" by
Rev. T Ferrier Hulme, M.A.

The last issue of The Methodist Times has brought me much correspondence, revealing the wide-spread interest in the revival. Perhaps the most touching and suggestive letter is from a probationer, who says: "Yesterday my Quarterly Meeting very kindly offered to send me to the scene of the revival for a week in view of the missions I am undertaking here. Like you, I believe the revival is a manifestation of God, and I look forward to my visit as a supreme opportunity for getting a personal blessing, and trust I may return, like one of Samson's foxes, to `burn the world out with the sweet gift of fire.'

What a blessed awakening awaits England if our people will realize the infinite possibilities of prayer and the unspent resources of God." It is almost impossible to exaggerate the demand for well-authenticated news. Last week a reporter, having heard that a journalist of worldwide renown had been spending Sunday at Maerdy, and was staying in Cardiff on the Monday night, telephoned from a distant town to one hotel after another till he found him, and was then informed he had gone to bed. "Never mind, tell him I must speak to him now." The victim was dragged from his bed to the telephone, only to be asked, "What do you think of the revival?"

Not the least interesting part of one's experience is the journey thither. At every wayside station you pick up pilgrims, many of them ministers, and from one end of the train to the other you have revival talk and song. Those who know Wales know how the denominations are duplicated, and how pronounced and even bitter have been denominational jealousies, especially in the small towns.

For the time being all these distinctions are forgotten. You find yourself talking to a brother minis-ter, and in a few moments you arerejoicing with him in the pentecostal power that has come upon his church and neighborhood. You don't know to what sect he belongs, and you don't care, and when you have left him you awake to the discovery that whilst you have asked him many things it has not occurred to you to ask him that. Like you, he is anxious that the Spirit may be glorified and the community regenerated, and that is enough to satisfy the heart. The movement is as undenominational as the air, but the results are not. People are joining the churches in scores and hundreds. In many cases the member-ship is doubled. This is as it should be.

The spontaneity of the work is glorious, and the lack of organization is most refreshing. It is all so novel, and so contradictory to what we are accustomed to regard as essential. There is no creaking of the machinery. The stir is caused by the blowing of the wind -- the breath of Heaven. Where all is so black and grimy, and the one cry is for cleansing, we all felt we could understand the fervent ejaculation of the simple-hearted collier, "Lord this is Thy wash-day" and forgive the familiarity. The absence of advertising posters and window bills causes no confusion. Everything is advertised by living witnesses and signs following. You walk, as I did, into a town of 14,000 inhabitants, while there are at least twenty chapels, and you ask the first person you meet, "Where is the meeting?" and he tells you. The only advertisement I have seen was in another district, and was the most significant thing of the kind I have known in these modern days. As I walked down the streets of Aberfau and Merthyr Vale last week I read in the shop windows: -

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