SUCCESSFUL WORLD-WIDE REVIVAL IN 1900s
by George T. B. Davis (Dr.Torrey interview)
by George T. B. Davis (Dr.Torrey interview)
“Do you think it is possible for every community to have a revival, and, if so, how?” I then asked the famous missioner.
“I do believe that it is possible fur every community to have a revival,” said he. “I started out on the theory, when I began my ministry, that a revival condition was the true condition of the Church, that a Church ought to be in a perpetual state of revival. I went to work to see if this could not be realized, and it has been realized in the four churches of which I have been pastor. Since my first year in the ministry I have been in a constant revival in my own churches.
“As to how it is to be realized, first of all by a goodly number of Christians getting right with God secondly, by their giving themselves up to God to cry for a revival until it comes; thirdly, by their going out to he used personally in bringing others to Christ. A great deal, of course, depends upon the ministers, and one of the saddest things at the present time is to see how many ministers there are who are simply onlookers, sometimes sympathetic, sometimes critical, but not seeming to feel that they have any responsibility in the matter. I think there is a day of judgment coming for ministers who stand aloof at the present time and do not go alone with God and cry to Him until the blessing reaches their own churches. But where ministers will not do their duty, nor even feel their responsibility, still a revival may be had. There have been revivals in many communities during the past year where the ministers have been set aside and the people have simply gone ahead without them.
“There is not a church or chapel or mission on earth where you cannot have a revival, provided there is a little nucleus of faithful people who will hold on to God until it comes. The revival of 1857 in America started in answer to the prayers of three laymen, and spread over the whole nation. Four men prayed the great revival to Kells, and then to all the north of Ireland, in ’59. One was a farmer, one a blacksmith, one a school teacher, and the other a man in humble life. These four men held on to God week after week and, though at first there did not seem to be any result, the fire came at last, and Ireland, Scotland, and Wales were shaken by the power of God. One of these four men is still living in Scotland at an advanced age.”
“What have been, in your judgment, Dr. Torrey, the chief characteristics and the chief results of your mission in England?
“The chief characteristics of the mission,” he replied, “ have been dependence upon God; prayer to God by thousands of people all over the world; large expectations from God; a belief in the entire Bible as a divine revelation; a persistent preaching of the old doctrines—the only doctrines that have ever proved effective in winning men to Christ and the emphasis laid upon the personality and work of the Holy Spirit. The chief results of the mission have been the re-establishment of faith upon the part of men whose faith had largely vanished; the bringing to faith of men who never had it a widespread confidence in the Bible as the Word of God; the stirring up of Christians to new effort for the salvation of the lost; the leading of thousands of Christians out into a more thorough consecration to God; and the salvation of many thousands of men, women, and children.”
Just here it will doubtless be interesting to the readers of The Sunday Strand to know what sort of preaching by Dr. Torrey has produced such remarkable results. Dr. Torrey has condensed the creed he preaches into a brief statement, which is as follows:—
“I can sum up my creed in a very few words. I believe in the Word or God. I believe in the Bible as God’s absolutely reliable revelation of Himself to me, and I believe in the power of the Bible. I know the old Book is not worn out. I know the old Book is just what this old perishing world needs to-day just as much as ever it needed it, and when men stick by the Book and distrust their own opinions and every- body else’s opinions, and just approach God’s truth as He has revealed it in His Word, it meets the need of the hour.
“I believe in the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. I believe that their is power in that Blood to atone for the sins of the vilest sinner, and that in a moment, as soon as he accepts Christ, that shed Blood will blot out every sin and make his record as white in God’s sight as that of the purest saint in glory.
I believe in prayer. I know God answers prayer; it is no theory with me. I know God answers prayer just as well as I know I exist. I know God does, definitely, in answer to prayer, the very thing that you ask Him to do. I know it; it is no guesswork. I am not able to explain the philosophy of it. What I’m concerned with is not philosophy, but facts.
“I know that when a company of God’s people—not necessarily everybody in the whole community who professes to be a Christian—but when even a small company of God’s people get really right with God, and begin to cry to God for an outpouring of His Spirit in mighty power, I know God hears.”
I next asked Dr. Torrey what classes of people were reached before he came to London. In reply he said:-
“All classes were reached. Members of the nobility were reached in some of our provincial towns; very many men prominent in business life; men known in political life; a very large number of middle-class people, forming the backbone of society; and many hundreds of the poorest, the most depraved and vicious and a great many who call themselves agnostics or atheists have professed to accept Christ in the different towns we have visited.”
When asked whether members of the fashionable circles and the aristocracy had been reached to any extent during the London campaign, Dr. Torrey replied:-
‘‘Yes, indeed: in a matter like this one does not wish to mention names, but we know of quite a number of people who are members of the fashionable circles and the aristocracy who have been won to Christ, in some cases entire families.”
http://www.welshrevival.org/articles/sundaystrand/01.htm
Petra SEND REVIVAL START WITH ME
'WHY ON EARTH WOULD ANYONE PLAY RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH THEIR ETERNAL SOUL"
CARRIE UNDERWOOD
CHANGE
Disclosure: Much of what is in my posts are things I have compiled through the years and I do not know if they have copyrights. What I do know about origin or website I have tried to always post a link to the origin. I do not market anything in any way on this blog -- I merely hope it will encourage and inspire others.
No comments:
Post a Comment