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Andrew Murray
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 A Ministry dedicated to preserving the truth and accuracy of the infallible Word of God. |
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| The Revivals Page 13 | |
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Return to Revivals Main Index >> The Revivals "Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?" Psalm 85:6 "After that experience I was awakened every night a little after one o'clock. This was most strange for through the years I slept like a rock, and no disturbance in my room would awaken me. From that hour I was taken up into the divine fellowship for about four hours. What it was I can not tell you, except that it was divine. About five o'clock I was again allowed to sleep on till about nine." "At this time I was again taken up into the same experience as in the earlier hours of the morning until about twelve or one o'clock....This went on for three months." He then refers to the Convention at Blaenaunerch, Cardiganshire, last August: -- "The seven o'clock meeting was devoted to asking and answering questions. Rev. W.W. Lewis conducted. At the close Rev. Seth Joshua prayed, and said during his prayer, `Lord do this, and this, and this, etc. and bend us.' He did not say, `O Lord, bend us.' It was the Spirit that put the emphasis for me on `Bend us.' `That is what you need,' said the Spirit to me. And as I went out I prayed, `O Lord, bend me.' "On the way to the nine o'clock meeting, Rev. Seth Joshua re-marked, `We are going to have a wonderful meeting today.' To this I replied, `I feel myself almost bursting.' "The meeting having been opened was handed over to the Spirit. I was conscious that I would have to pray. As one and the other prayed, I put the question to the Spirit, `Shall I pray now?"Wait a while,' said He. When others prayed I felt a living force come into my bosom. I held my breath and my legs shivered, and after every prayer I asked, `Shall I now?' The living force grew and grew, and I was almost bursting. And instantly some one ended his prayer -- my bosom boiling. I would have burst if I had not prayed. What boiled me was that verse, `God commending His love.' I fell on my knees with my arms over the seat in front of me and the tears and perspiration flowed freely. I thought blood was gushing forth. "For about two minutes it was fearful. I cried, `Bend me! Bend us!...'What bent me was God commending His love (Rom. 5:8) and I not seeing anything in it to commend. After I was bent a wave of peace came over me, and the audience sang, `I hear thy welcomevoice.' And as they sang I thought of the bending at the Judgment Day and I was filled with compassion for those who would be bent on that day and I wept. "Henceforth the salvation of souls became the burden of my heart. From that time I was on fire with a desire to go through all Wales, and if it were possible I was willing to pay God to allow me to go. A plan was agreed upon, and eight of us were to go through Wales, and I was to pay all expenses" In other parts of South Wales, crowded and enthusiastic services are being held, and everywhere large numbers of inquirers are announced. At the Tabernacle in Cardiff a gang of gamblers has been broken up by the revival, and twelve of them have yielded to Christ. One of the Welsh hymns sung most fervently at all the services says - Gone is the morn, it's getting late, But open still is mercy's gate. And in at that gate hundreds are still flocking. A well dressed shop assistant staggered to the front and asked a minister to pray for him. As soon as he found the Lord he got up and shouted out in Welsh, "Is mother here?" When he was told she was at the back of the chapel, he called out, "Mother, I've had to give in at last. I tried to refuse, but I was compelled." And so the glorious work goes on.
God Hath Visited His People God brings round His seasons in the spiritual world as in the natural and there is none of them that we can afford to do without. Each has its proper purpose and use. Character, for its full information, needsits winter as well as its springtime, and its storms and its zephyrs alike. The main thing is to see to it that, by wise and careful husbandry, we take good value out of each vicissitude in its time. "There is no reason to doubt," says Bushnell, "that God, in framing the plan or system of His spiritual agencies, ordained fluctuations and changing types of spiritual experience, that He might at intervals take advantage of novelty in arresting and swaying the minds of men. These are the springtimes of His truth, otherwise in danger of uniform staleness. Thus He rouses the spiritual lethargy of men and communities, and sways their will to Himself, by aid of scenes and manifestations not ordinary or familiar. Nor is it anything derogatory to the divine agency in the case, that the spiritual spring can not remain perpetual; for there is a progress in God's works, and He goes on through change and multiform culture to ripen His ends... "Not that the Christian is allowed at some times to be less religious than at others. He is under God's authority and bound by His laws, at all times; he must answer to God for each moment and thought of his life. His covenant oath consecrates all his life to God, and stipulates for no intermission of service. It is his duty and privilege ever to be filled with the Spirit: God will never leave His temple except He is driven away by profanation. The Christian is as much under obligation at one time as at another, though not under obligation to be ever doing the same things. No intermission, no wavering or slackness is permitted him; nay he is bound to increase, or gather strength in his religious principles, every day and hour of his existence. God favors and appoints different moods, or kinds, of religious interest, but not backslidings or declensions of religious principle. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who worketh all and in all." While thus guarding against the thought of the manifestations of the Welsh revival, with its high tension, being a permanent condition, we rejoice in it exceedingly as a notable recurrence of God's spiritual springtime. Let us dismiss at once the thought of spiritual declension being necessary between such periods; our Lord can always keep us filled with His Spirit and loyal to His cause; but let us hail most heartily this special display of His grace and power, and pray and labor for its extension over all the land. Truly God has visited His people in Wales. It is not a question of one town being awakened, but of the whole principality being on fire. Profanity silenced, public-houses deserted, theaters closed, betting books burned, football teams disbanded, police courts idle, family feuds pacified, old standing debts paid, sectarianism and ecclesiasticism submerged, the family altar re-erected, and Bible study become a passion -- it is certainly a wonderful record. "This is the finger of God" Not only does it hold large place in the religious weeklies, but the chief Cardiff journals give columns to the revival each day, and some of the principal London papers give a full column every morning. It is "The Acts of the Apostles up to date," as Gipsy Smith says. One is struck with the simple spontaneity of it all. There is no great outstanding instrument of blessing, and little of organization. An indefinable influence pervades the country, and awakes to action in the services through the merereading of a passage, or the singing of a well-known hymn, or the inelegant prayer of a collier or a country maiden. The ministers, even when in sympathy, take little part; routine and system are tabooed, and prim sermons quite at a discount: the meetings, often prolonged through the whole night, seem to conduct themselves. "Disorder," one would say. But no: from all accounts it is clear that there is a controlling spiritual power that dominates and directs in all. Everywhere stress is laid upon the personality and operation of the Holy Ghost -- "the Pure Spirit," as the name reads in Welsh. |
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