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Page 51
When Jesus was about to leave His disciples they were filled with
deep sorrow. He gathered them around Him, in that upper chamber at
Jerusalem, and comforted them in those tender, loving words, recorded
in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of John. In these
chapters He promises and speaks much of a Comforter, whom He would
send. The whole discourse goes to show that this Comforter was
intended to be substituted for the visible presence of Himself. His
own visible presence was to be withdrawn. The Comforter was to be sent
to take His place, and thus, in a manner, make good the loss. Jesus
had been their comforter and their joy. They would no longer have Him
visibly among them, to walk with Him, to talk with Him, to hear the
life-giving words that fell from His lips. The announcement made them
feel as if they were to be left "comfortless" and forsaken. But he
says, John xiv. 16: "_I will pray the Father, and He will give you
another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit
of truth_;" verse 18, "_I will not leave you comfortless_:" revised
version, "I will not leave you _desolate_;" more literally still, as
in the margin, "I will not leave you _orphans_." John xvi. 5, 6, 7:
"_But now I go my way to Him that sent me.... But because I have said
these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts. Nevertheless I
tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I
go not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I
will send Him unto you._"
Now, from these words, and others in the same chapters, two
things are plain: First, that the Comforter came as _Christ's
substitute_; Secondly, that He came _to abide_. While Jesus was to be
absent, as far as His visible presence was concerned, the divine
Comforter, the Holy Spirit, was to take His place. His presence was to
substitute Christ's. But if He had come to be present only briefly,
and occasionally, after long intervals of absence, it would be a poor
filling of the painful void. Evidently the impression designed to be
made by the words of Jesus was, that the Holy Spirit would come to
abide. And this is made still more clear by the plain words of Jesus
quoted above "I will not leave you _orphans_;" "He shall _abide_
with you _forever_." He came, then, as a substitute; He came also to
abide forever.
The revival system is, however, built up on the idea that He
comes and goes. He visits the Church, and leaves it again. At
so-called revival seasons the Church has a Comforter. During all the
rest of the time she is left in a desolate or orphaned state. Thus is
the revival system built up on an entire misconception and
misapprehension as to the coming and abiding of the Holy Spirit.
It likewise misconceives entirely the _operations_ of the Spirit.
The idea seems to be that this Blessed One operates without means,
directly, arbitrarily and at haphazard. The Word and Sacraments are
not duly recognized as the divinely ordained means and channels,
through which He reaches the hearts of the children of men. That this
is an unscriptural idea we have shown elsewhere. That the Spirit uses
the means of Grace as channels and instruments, through which He comes
and operates on the hearts of men and imparts to them renewing and
sanctifying Grace, is taught all through the New Testament. We need
not enlarge on these points again, but refer our readers to what has
been written above on this subject.
Our _second_ objection to the modern revival system arises out of
the first. Because of the errors concerning the coming and the
operations of the Holy Spirit, the system undervalues the
divinely-ordained means of Grace. Little if any renewing Grace is
expected from the sacrament of Christian Baptism. Few if any
conversions are expected from the regular and ordinary preaching of
the Word. Little if any spiritual nourishment is expected from the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Who that has attended such meetings
has not heard the idea of Grace bestowed through Baptism ridiculed?
Who has not heard so-called revival preachers scout the idea of
"getting religion"--which must mean receiving divine Grace if it means
anything--through catechising the young in the doctrines of the divine
Word? Are not these divine means often entirely set aside by the most
enthusiastic revivalists? Who does not know that often at these
revival services the reading and preaching of the Word are entirely
omitted? Thus God's means, the means used by Christ and His apostles,
are undervalued. While they are used at the ordinary services, when
there is no revival going on, not much is expected of them.
Our _third_ objection again arises from the second. Because
the regular Church ordinances are undervalued, they are largely
fruitless. Because people have not much faith in their efficacy, they
do not receive much benefit from them. Few conversions are expected or
reported during the ten or eleven months of regular or ordinary church
services, while many, if not all, are expected and reported from the
few weeks of special effort. Even the work of sanctification is
largely crowded into the few weeks. It is during these few weeks that
saints expect to be quickened, refreshed, strengthened and purified,
more than during all the rest of the year.
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