"An awakening" expresses better than the stereotyped phrase "revival,"
the idea of a wide-spread interest in religious truth. This is the
response to the righteous demand, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light," for at such a
time men but awake to the reality of truth, which was previously dim
and shadowy to them as things seen in dreams; or formerly the awful
facts of God's revelation had been as pictures hung up on the wall,
which now suddenly become alive.
Before entering on the discussion of this rather delicate subject, there
is one question which we would respectfully press upon the attention of
the reader, and that is, Whether he would like a revival of genuine
religion? We do not question him regarding his sympathy with any
particular form in which the supposed revival might come, far less with
any of those peculiarities which are supposed by some to be necessarily
characteristic of a revival; but supposing that such an awakening or
revival occurred by means of any agency, or any process, that it was
accompanied by such outward signs of calm and peace as he himself would
select, and that its results were unquestionable;--supposing that
society was unusually pervaded by a spirit of truth and holiness, that
no countenance could be given to evil by word, look, or sentiment, but
only to all that was pure, lovely, and of good report,--would such a
heaven upon earth be readily rejoiced in by him? If this question is
fairly and honestly put to the heart and conscience, the manner in which
we entertain the thought of the mere possibility of a revival becomes a
trial of our own spirit, a test of our sincerity when we pray, "Thy
kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven."
The weakest Christian has but one answer to give to such a question.
He may be pained by anticipating the contrast which he thinks is not
unlikely to be presented between himself and others more holy; or he
may fear that what is false and fleeting, but more attractive, may, in
a time of excitement, usurp the place of what is real and permanent,
though less obtrusive; but he cannot but desire with his whole heart
that he himself and all men may become more and more awake to the
realities of truth, and be revived as by the breath of a new spring,
so as to grow more in grace, and bring forth more fruit to the glory
of God.
For, given that a revival is possible,--that a wide-spread interest in
the will of God towards men, with a corresponding power vouchsafed to
know it and do it, may be suddenly produced and permanently sustained
in the minds of men,--we ask, Is not this _the_ one grand blessing
from God which we require? To the question, "What wilt thou that I
should do unto thee?" which we may conceive our loving Lord putting
to His blind, deaf, lame, even dead brethren of mankind, does not
the response come from individuals and congregations, from solitary
mourners, and from unhappy hearts, from the weary, the hopeless, the
despairing, the labourers at home and abroad--"_Life_, Lord! We need
life in our souls, life in our duties, life in our minds, life in
our families, life in our teaching and hearing, in our working and
praying, life in all and for all!"
All our clergy constantly need a revival of genuine life,--life which
no parishioner might be able to define, but which, if there, every one
would soon perceive. It would be felt in every home like the breath of
spring, experienced beside every sick-bed like a touch of healing, and
be heard in every sermon like a voice from heaven. Oh, what a
heavenly gift to himself and others would this be, and what a time of
refreshing from the Lord! And how many would share the blessing,
now hindered, perhaps, by his own unbelief and satisfaction with
indifference. For though "dead" ministers may in some rare cases have
succeeded in saving souls, we never heard of living ones who had
in every case failed. God has ordained that a living ministry--the
preaching of those who utter what they themselves _know_ from personal
experience to be true--shall be His most powerful instrumentality for
converting the world. We believe, accordingly, that every minister,
whose own soul became alive, would soon find that his life was
_contagious_, and that his living spirit would tell upon other spirits
in a way never before realised by him. That indescribable impression
made by a genuine Christian character, which never can be successfully
imitated, would exercise a marvellous influence upon all with whom he
came in contact; and if he had one sorrow for life, it would be
the remembrance of the dark and horrible time when he was a mere
formalist, dead to the eternal interests of his own soul and the souls
of others.
Again, What _parish_ does not stand in need of such a quickening? Few
ministers are encouraged and stimulated to aim at and attain higher
measures of good, from the abounding evidences of Christian life among
their parishioners. Many more are tempted, by all they see around
them, to wax cold in love, and to lower their standard of personal
and ministerial life,--to become quite satisfied with the every-day,
stereotyped formalism of things around them, or to submit to it as if
it were a doom. The very smile of incredulity with which the account
of alleged revivals is received,--the wonder which good men express,
if told of many being awakened by the mere preaching of the Word
in some congregation or district,--only indicates how all hope has
perished of our people over becoming what the preacher _in words_
urges them to become, or of their ever being delivered from the
torpor, the indifference, the death, which _in words_ he tells them
are the preludes of coming death eternal. Is not our hope well-nigh
lost regarding many a parish; and what but the quickening and reviving
power of God's Spirit can restore it?
And is there no revival needed in _our most living congregations?_ We
may, indeed, have cause to thank God for many signs of genuine life
within them, and for such good works as indicate a living spirit in
the body. But in the most encouraging cases we have more cause to
deplore the vast extent of the ground where the seed sown has been
carried away, withered, or choked with thorns, rather than to rejoice
in the small patches which may be bringing forth fruit. Let any
minister, as he surveys his congregation, and as he visits them from
house to house, ask himself the question, How many of these really
care about Christ, and ever pray to Him, or try to serve Him? and
making every allowance for our ignorance of other men's condition,
for the life that may be hidden from the eye, yet will there not be
innumerable evidences, _forcing_ upon him the conviction, that if the
doctrines he preaches are true, death reigns to a very awful extent
even among members of the Church? We do not wish to exaggerate, or
make out a case against pastors or their flocks, but we leave it to
every candid man who will dare to look the truth in the face, to deny
the existence among us of a, mighty want--the want of a revival of
spiritual religion among both.
Once more, let us look at our _missions_, and consider whether there
is any need of a revival in this department of Church life. We confess
that a mingled feeling of shame and sorrow swells our hearts as we
think of the contributions, whether of men or of money, furnished
by all Christendom for the conversion of heathendom. It is not
that Protestantism is behind Romanism even in the number of its
missionaries, while in _quality_, and even permanent and holy results,
we never will compare these two sections of the Christian Church. But
how can we hope to possess such missions as shall be worthy of the
Protestant Church, without a revival of spiritual religion throughout
the parishes, families, theological halls, and congregations of Europe
and America? Is it too much to expect, for example, that Christian
_parents_, who would now rejoice if their sons received "an excellent
civil appointment in India," or "a commission without purchase," or "a
partnership in a first-rate house," shall also rejoice in the prospect
of one of their children becoming a missionary of the Cross? Is it too
much to expect that those _licensed to preach the gospel_ shall love
the work for the work's sake, and that some years at least of health
and strength may be given to the foreign field? What is needed more
than a revival among our _preachers_, before we can look with hope for
a revival in our missions?
And, finally, is not a revival much required to banish the
estrangement, coldness, envy, which exist between _the clergy of
different Churches?_ There are delightful exceptions, where genuine
Christian goodwill and love exist. But, alas! we sadly miss the want
of that manly, truthful maintenance of what appears to us to warrant
our own church organisation, with that just appreciation of the sense,
principle, and judgment of those who have no sympathy with our views.
Surely every great branch of the Church has at this time of day proved
to every honest and fair man, that enough can be said in its favour
to justify a man in belonging to it without his belying his Christian
profession, or being either a fool or a hypocrite. Yet, what an inward
_chuckling_ is often manifested at each other's blunders, failures,
or even sins,--what a straining for the masteries between the rival
sects,--what an utter absence, in innumerable cases, of the slightest
sign or symptom of that Christian love and forbearance which is the
very proof of being children of God--nay, how little of the good
breeding and kindness which are universal among gentlemen! And all
this evil, and more than we have described, is often glossed over with
such an evangelical phraseology, that what is of the earth earthy is
made to appear as if it were heavenly; and the coarsest product of the
coarsest and most vulgar vanity, self-seeking, and pride is so painted
and misrepresented as to look like love of principle or love of truth.
What will put an end to the proud antagonism, the Popery, the Church
idolatry of Protestantism? Can it ever be that we shall carry one
another's burdens, and _so_ fulfil the law of Christ, and so love
_the_ Church and its Head as to love ourselves and our sections of the
Church less,--that we shall so love our brethren of every name,
that their sins shall be our grief, and their well being our
blessing,--that we shall be willing to decrease, if Christ only
increases, by whatever means He may in His sovereign wisdom select?
In one word, can it be that Christian ministers and people of every
church shall, in any town or district, come to love one another with a
pure heart fervently, because loving the Lord? Who would not long for
such a blessed consummation! "But, behold, if the Lord could make
windows in heaven, might this thing be!" So we exclaim in our
unbelief. But, unless we have lost all faith in the power of God's
Spirit, why should we not believe that God _can_ open the windows of
heaven, and pour forth such showers of His grace that ministers shall
believe what they know, and act as they teach, and be what they
profess, and that thus the parched places shall rejoice and blossom as
the rose. Then, indeed, would be fulfilled the gracious promise made
to a renewed Church:--"For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth
with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you
into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the
brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a
name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."