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Page 48
"What image does my spirit bear?
Is Jesus formed and living there?
Ah, do His lineaments divine
In thought and word and action shine?
"Searcher of hearts, O search me still;
The secrets of my soul reveal;
My fears remove; let me appear
To God and my own conscience clear."
CHAPTER XXIII.
REVIVALS.
We might have closed our studies of the Way of Salvation with
Sanctification, without giving any attention to the subject of
Revivals. We remember, however, that, in the estimation of many,
revivals are the most essential part of the Way; so much so that, in
certain quarters, few, if any, souls are expected to be brought into
the way of life, otherwise than through so-called "revivals of
religion." According to this widespread idea, the ingathering of
souls, the upbuilding of the Church, her activity, power and very
life, are dependent upon the revival system.
In view of all this, we have concluded to bring our studies to a
close with an examination of this system. Before we enter upon the
subject itself, however, we desire to have it distinctly understood
that we intend to discuss the _system_, and not the _people_ who
believe and practice it. There doubtless are very excellent Christian
people who favor a religion built up and dependent on such movements,
and there may be very unchristian people who oppose it. With this we
have nothing to do. We are not discussing _persons_, but _doctrines_
and _systems_. The advocates of modern revivalism claim the right to
hold, defend and propagate their views. We only demand the same right.
If we do not favor or practice their way, our people have not only a
right to ask, but it is our duty to give grounds and reasons for our
position.
In discussing this subject, we intend, as usual, to speak with
all candor and plainness. We desire to approach and view this subject,
as every subject, from the fair, firm standpoint of the opening words
of the Formula of Concord, viz.: "We believe, teach and confess that
the only rule and standard, according to which all doctrines and
teachings should be esteemed and judged, are nothing else than the
prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testament." We
wish to test it by the infallible Word. By it, we are willing to be
judged. According to it, our views and doctrines must stand or fall.
What then is a revival? The word revive means to bring back to
life. It presupposes the existence of life, which for a time had
languished or died. Life was present, it failed and was restored.
Strictly speaking, therefore, we can only use this word of the
bringing back of a life that had been there formerly and was lost.
Applying it to spiritual life, strictly speaking, only a person who
has once had the new life in him, but lost it for awhile and regained
it, can be said to be revived. So, likewise, only a church or a
community that was once spiritually alive, but had grown languid and
lifeless, can be said to be revived. On the other hand, it is an
improper use of terms to apply the word revival to the work of a
foreign missionary, who for the first time preaches the life-giving
Word, and through it gathers converts and organizes Churches. In his
case it is a first bringing, and not a restoring, of life.
All those Old Testament reformations and restorations to the true
worship and service of the true God, after a time of decline and
apostasy, were revivals according to the strict sense of the word. For
these revivals patriarchs and prophets labored and prayed.
On the other hand, the labors and successes of the apostles in
the New Testament were not strictly revivals. They preached the Gospel
instead of the law. They preached a Redeemer who had come, instead of
one who was to come. It was largely a new faith, a new life, a new way
of life that they taught, and in so far a new Church that they
established. Its types, shadows and roots, had all been in the old
covenant and Church. But so different were the fulfillments from the
promises, that it was truly called a _New_ Dispensation. And,
therefore, the labors of the apostles to establish this dispensation
were largely missionary labors. It was not so much the restoring of an
old faith and life, as the bringing in of a new. We find their
parallel in foreign mission work much more than in regular Church
work. It is by overlooking this distinction that many erroneous
doctrines and practices have crept into the Church, _e.g._, as to
infant baptism, conversion and modern revivalism.
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