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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 17 | |
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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 Mrs. Roberts is a happy woman today. She said that her step was much lighter than it used to be, and her heart is lighter. She told of the early years, when her husband broke his leg, and the lad had to go to the mine; and how, even then, he was different from other lads, had always a book in his hand, and cared for religion. She told how, before the revival came, he could neither eat nor sleep. Then the now familiar narrative of the outbreak of the revival at Loughor was told again; and then the account of the baptism which had come to her, after seeking it for eight days -- "a kind of burning in my heart" So we get to the little chapel, perched on those Welsh hills, the central building amid clustering cottages. It would seat about 600, and was filling fast. The area and galleries were soon packed with young miners, with women and girls, with men in the prime of life; two or three ministers in the big square pew below the pulpit; but no hymn-books, no organ or piano --as these were not needed to lead that magnificent singing, which rolled in successive billows of harmony over the congregation. What noble tunes! And the hymns full of the music of the gospel! Again and again you catch the names of Christ, of Golgotha, of Calvary! Such voices also, each trained to its part! Two hours pass in prayers from old and young -- from women for their husbands, from men for their mates -- in singing, and in little snatches of exhortation; but most of these are cut short, especially where the speaker is inclined to be prosy. Mr. McTaggart speaks a little in English, on the filling of the Holy Spirit; and there are one or two English choruses, as "For You I Am Praying," but the volume of sound is doubled when the congregation falls back again into the grand familiar sacred Welsh tongue, the language of childhood, of early memories, of sacred associations with the sainted dead. Two or three young ladies quietly slip in, and take their seats beneath the pulpit; these accompany Mr. Roberts, and help by prayer, often broken with and ending in sobs, and with sweet solos, of which the people catch up and repeat the refrain. Presently Mr. Evan Roberts enters -- a tall young man of twenty-seven years, with a pleasing open face, a winning smile, dark searching eyes, unobtrusive, simple, strong. No weakling this, but a man born to lead, and certain to be known as one of the great religious forces of the coming time! This is the man whom God has awakened to hold communion with Himself from 1 till 5 a.m. for three successive months, promising that a revival should break out, which like a tidal wave should sweep through the world. What wonder that he who has seen God is a master of assemblies, and that hearts bend before his words though these may be the simplest! Shortly after entering, he speaks a few words on the necessity of obeying the Spirit, which are interrupted, first by corroborating testimony on the part of two or three who feel impelled to bear witness, and then by bursts of song. The meeting next falls to prayer; and amongst others a young miner in the gallery mentions that some men behind him are mocking, and he prays for their conversion. There-upon one of the men referred to gives the direct lie to the statement, and says that he is quite prepared to be convinced of the existence of God, if some tangible proof is given. This challenge greatly agitated the meeting, and especially Mr. Evan Roberts, who cast himself on his knees, and began to wrestle forthese two with the most terrible anguish of soul that I can conceive of. It was as though he were a father in agony for the life of his only son. His outcries were heartrending to listen to, and a friend of mine started a chorus to drown them. There was no effort at display, no unreality, no false emotionalism, but just travail of soul. Shame on us that so few have known it! That we have so callously considered the hardness of impenitent sinners! That our eyes have so seldom been fountains of tears. They told me afterwards that they were obliged to use a handkerchief to dry up the pool of tears upon the chair over which the revivalist bent. After some time spent thus, he challenged the men to yield, and on their refusal he asked all the congregation to join him in prayer. In a moment every person in the place rose up, and knelt down; a hurricane of audible prayer swept through the place, and for some ten minutes the air was heavy with sobbing, strong crying, and prayers audibly uttered by 500 voices. I have heard nothing like it in my life. It reminded me of the piercing cry which arose to heaven when the Princess Alice went down with her living freight. A knot of people gathered round the two unyielding souls, and so we continued. Then Mr. Roberts called for an interval of silent prayer, and read the pas-sage from Exodus, where the people are bidden to stand still and see God's salvation. It was one of the most moving spectacles that can be imagined, and it was impossible to speak for tears. What wonder that under such a strain of emotion two or three fainted, and had to be carried out; but these episodes were hardly noticed, and could not break the holy spell which was on all hearts "in the school of the Holy Ghost." The meeting broke up at 5:30, and we hastened to the good minister's house (where the young revivalist was also staying) for a little hurried refreshment; and then, in the dark, along the muddy roads, to the other chapel, Tabor, where the evening meeting was to be held. It was almost impossible to get in, but by great courtesy way was made for us. They recognized the London preacher, and urged him to speak, but he felt that his wisdom was silence before the great manifestation of Divine power, and that he must sit still as a little child in the school of the Holy Ghost. For two hours the meeting took its Spirit-prompted course. A girl would pour out her heart in prayer, rising almost to agony; another would follow, falling at last into a kind of rhythmic chant; a minister would give a few words of exhortation; then a boy would pour out an earnest appeal for decisions, following his urgent words by drop-ping on his knees amid a group of his associates, and uttering his soul in prayer. So the time passes rap-idly till Mr. Evan Roberts entered; and we, alas, must reluctantly tear ourselves away, pushing through the crowd to our carriage, and so back to the train. But we have seen and heard things which have unveiled the spirit-world, and are so totally dissimilar from the stereo-typed religious forms that we are wont to pursue, as to usher us into a new world -- should we not rather say into that old world which Pentecost introduced, and of which I Corinthians 12 is a specimen! They who merely read such descriptions as this may think that the meetings are characterized by emotional excitement. But that is not the case. There are undoubtedly strong excitement and deep emotion, but these are well under control; and beneath all that can be ac-counted for by the influence of highly-exalted moods of soul on other minds, it is undeniable that the power of God is working after the fashion of those wonderful scenes of which our fathers have told us in 1859. It is pre-eminently a young people's movement. Boys and girls, young men and women, crowd the chapels. The keynote is Calvary -- no other aspect of the work of our Lord seems to satisfy. The personality and work of the Holy Spirit are in every prayer and on every tongue. The pent-up power of godly people which has too long been restrained, has broken loose, and before it the ministers are silenced. One told me that he felt that things would never again be as they had been in this direction, but that liberty of utterance would have to be conceded (during a part at least of the ordinary services) to the speech of the Holy Ghost through consecrated lips. A new way of closuring the cranks and bores, who have been the bane of our open meetings, has been discovered in the power of sacred song; and an example has been set which may well be adopted universally. Of course there will have to be definite teaching, and even now I think there is room for more wise counsel than is for the most part permitted. But such things as these will necessarily right themselves as time goes on. In the meantime, there can be no doubt that God has answered prayer, and visited His people, and that the marvelous and widespread ethical results attest that this is the finger of God. -- London Christian |
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