So charged with gracious meaning that we find
ourselves turning to them again and yet again.
The portion that I am now going to
read is one such.
So come with me for a reading of
1 Kings chapter 18, reading from verse 30.
And Elijah said unto all the people, Come
near unto me.
And all the people came near unto him,
and he repaired the altar of the Lord
that was broken down.
And Elijah took twelve stones according to the
number of the tribes of the sons of
Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord
came saying, Israel shall be thy name.
And with the stones he built an altar
in the name of the Lord, and he
made a trench about the altar as great
as would contain two measures of seed.
And he put the wood in order, and
cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him
on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels
with water, and pour it on the burnt
sacrifice and on the wood.
And he said, Do it the second time,
and they did it the second time.
And he said, Do it the third time,
and they did it the third time.
And the water ran round about the altar,
and he filled the trench also with water.
And it came to pass at the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice that
Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord
God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let
it be known this day that thou art
God in Israel, and that I am thy
servant, and that I have done all these
things at thy word.
Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this
people may know that thou art the Lord
God, and that thou hast turned their heart
back again.
Then the fire of the Lord fell, and
consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and
the stones, and the dust, and licked up
the water that was in the trench.
And when all the people saw it, they
fell on their faces, and they said, The
Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he
is the God.
And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets
of Baal, let not one of them escape.
And they took them, and Elijah brought them
down to the brook Kishon, and slew them
there.
Amen.
God will add his blessing to the reading
of his own word.
I am most grateful to Dr. Eppleman for
his emphasis in his address this evening.
I refer to his word on a Pentecostal
experience that is gloriously possible today.
I would say that if Pentecost cannot be
repeated, then we are living in a period
in world history when the word of God
has neither pattern or precedent.
If Pentecost is the living link between the
eternal purposes of God and the world that
must inevitably perish, surely our supreme need is
a Pentecostal visitation, a moving of God
in the place of miracle.
Now will you turn with me to one
verse of scripture in the portion read?
Verse 38.
Then the fire of the Lord fell, and
consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and
the stones, and the dust, and licked up
the water that was in the trench.
Especially the words, then the fire of the
Lord fell.
In drawing your attention to the subject of
revival, I would like to make it quite
clear what I mean by revival.
Revival begins in an awareness of God gripping
a community.
This is where we see the difference between
a special effort in the field of evangelism,
a special mission, or a special crusade.
In such efforts we thank God for what
is frequently seen, souls bought to Christ, ten,
twenty, fifty, a hundred, and on occasions more
than that.
That is the fruit of a special effort
in evangelism.
But to my mind that in itself does
not constitute revival.
You can have all that and the community
remains untouched.
The picture houses are as full, the drinking
saloons are as full, yes, and our prisons
are as full, and the churches almost as
empty.
But in revival, God steps down and
his presence fills the community.
And perhaps in a matter of hours, scores
are brought into saving knowledge with the Lord
Jesus Christ before they come near any place
of worship.
I would say that in the gracious revival
that swept the Hebrides in 49, 50, 51,
and 52, and in the gracious movement that
is sweeping the Hebrides just now, seventy-five
percent of those who come into saving relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ come into that
experience before listening to a sermon or attending
a place of worship.
The minister of the parish in which the
movement began made this statement speaking at the
General Assembly in Edinburgh.
On the morning following the great prayer meeting
where God came down, an awareness of God
was felt everywhere.
You felt his presence and his power on
Meadow and Moorland.
You met him in the homes of the
people.
Indeed, God was everywhere.
You could not escape Him.
That, to my mind, is revival.
And of course, it is what I understand
revival to be.
Now, it is my desire this evening to
tell you something.
Of the beginning of this present movement in
the Hebrides and also on the mainland of
Scotland.
It began in the bedroom of a young
minister and his wife.
This young minister was brought to a saving
knowledge of the truth during the 49 revival.
He had a most gracious experience, both he
and the young girl to whom he was
then engaged.
God met with him.
God saved him.
And like many other young men of that
time, he was called by God into the
ministry and graduated in Aberdeen University and in
Trinity College in the same city.
He was then called to this congregation.
Now, this is one part of God's vineyard
in the Hebrides that wasn't touched by the
previous revival.
I believe largely because the minister was very
opposed to myself.
He did not believe in my message because
in almost every address that I gave, I
stressed the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost.
And this dear man did not agree.
Perhaps he was a bit disturbed about the
pipe that he frequently had in his mouth.
I'm not sure about that.
But he did say that if I brought
the plague to his parish, he would put
the dogs in me.
Now, that gives you an idea of their
attitude.
It is true that he had some men
in the congregation who knew God.
And they definitely were disturbed at the attitude
of the minister.
But God, in his sovereign purpose, removed that
dear man from the parish.
Now, the congregation is vacant.
And looking round and praying for a successor,
they were directed to this young man.
And he felt it to be the will
of God that he should accept the call
and he was inducted to this charge.
After the induction, his young wife said to
him, Are we really prepared to begin this
ministry?
Somehow I feel in my heart that I
need a deeper work of grace.
Do you believe in a deeper work of
grace?
Thank God I do.
A second, oh bless God for the experience,
a second deep work of grace subsequent to
conversion.
You may not agree with me, but that
is a deep-seated conviction with me.
No one need ever tell me that in
the wonderful economy of grace, there is a
deeper work.
That took place in my life during the
First World War under very strange circumstances, on
a horse's back in a cavalry charge.
This young woman addressed her husband in that
fashion.
And he looked at her and said, My
dear, I am gripped by the same conviction.
I feel in my heart that there is
an enemy in the garrison of my soul
that God must deal with before I'm ready
to begin this ministry.
And together they decided to wait upon God
in prayer that night.
And to their knees they went, asking God
to deal with sin.
After all, is sin not the supreme human
problem in the life of the sinner and
in the soul of the believer?
The supreme human problem, sin.
Between two and three o'clock in the
morning, those two young people had a baptism
of the Holy Ghost.
You ask me, did they speak in tongues?
No, no.
I never heard anybody speak in tongues or
exercise that gift in the Hebrides.
And personally, I know nothing at all about
it myself.
But bless God, I know the baptism.
There's a Savior from all sin, if you
only let Him in.
To your heart He there will reign while
you trust Him.
He will put the evil out, save from
every fear and doubt, and you'll soon begin
to shout hallelujah.
As I sometimes say, man, it takes that
experience to make a Highlander shout hallelujah.
But that happened.
Oh, bless God, it happened that night.
And on the following day, following the patron
that was followed in Barvers in 49, he
went round his elders and suggested to the
elders that they should give themselves to prayer.
And they followed the patron two nights a
week.
Waiting upon God in prayer until God came
down.
Oh, until God came down.
You remember that in the Gospel by John,
it is said that Jesus breathed upon them
and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
And I believe that they had an experience
of the Holy Ghost in that room.
But to me that was preparation for Pentecost.
Waiting, God searching them, the Holy Spirit in
the midst, and things were put right, perhaps
among themselves.
I can almost imagine Peter saying to the
others, Boys, I'm not fit to go out
to fulfill our commission.
I have it in me that which would
deny him again.
And I believe he could have said that.
I am not fit.
God must do a deeper work.
And the deeper work was done when God
saw that they were fit for it.
Pentecost.
The outpouring of the Spirit of God on
hearts prepared through the breathing.
And that is exactly what happened in this
parish.
Men and women were fired by God.
And waiting with joyful anticipation the visitation that
was coming.
It was then that the young minister phoned
me and got in touch with me in
Edinburgh.
Could you come to my first communion?
My first communion.
Well, remembering the attitude of bygone days in
that parish, I could not resist.
So I said, Yes, I'll go to your
communion.
Now let me say that a communion in
the Hebrides and in the north of Scotland
is similar to your conventions and camp meetings.
The first service of the communion season begins
on Wednesday at a prayer meeting.
Now I was at a pre-communion prayer
meeting in the town on that island some
time ago.
I'm not referring to this communion.
But do you know that there were 1
,100 at the prayer meeting?
1,100 in a church that seated 1
,500.
It was a pre-communion prayer meeting.
Here in this parish they had their pre
-communion prayer meeting.
And there was an overwhelming sense of God.
One felt that God was hovering over us
and that something was going to happen.
The heavens would pour out blessing in abundance.
And God was going to do it again.
And I was reminded in that prayer meeting
of the prayer of Evan Roberts during the
Welsh Revival.
God bend us.
Oh, my dear people, don't we need bending?
Don't we need bending?
Oh, may God bend us tonight.
May God bend us.
Thursday we have what is termed in these
days and in that district the fast day.
Now on the fast day in the Highlands,
shops are closed.
Schools are closed.
No work.
Men give themselves to waiting upon God.
Saint and sinner alike.
They give themselves to the communion.
And we had a tremendous meeting but nothing
broke out.
There was no break.
And then on Thursday we have what is
commonly called the men's meeting.
The reason being that the dear sisters are
encouraged to remain silent.
And the menfolk give their testimonies.
And that meeting generally lasts for about three
hours.
On Saturday we gather again when the tokens
are given out.
That is a little card given to members
who have been before the session and have
been accepted as members.
They have to give a testimony of having
been saved by sovereign grace and live accordingly.
Finally they get a token to sit at
the Lord's table.
Then Sunday or the Sabbath.
There came also to that communion another young
man who was converted during the revival under
Mary Morrison on the island of Uist.
Graduate of Edinburgh University and New College Edinburgh.
An M.A. and a B.D. and
studying just now for his Ph.D. A
clever, brilliant scholar but a man who knows
God.
Oh how we thank God for such, for
such.
And he is called upon to preach the
action sermon.
Now the action sermon is the main sermon
of the communion.
At a communion service there are generally five
addresses.
There is the action sermon.
There is the fencing of the table, making
it clear to those listening who ought to
be at the table and who ought not
to be at the table.
Then an address before the sacraments are administered.
And then an address following the sacraments.
And lastly a word of guidance, comfort and
strength to God's people.
Five addresses.
Now during the action sermon suddenly the fire
of God fell.
Oh my dear people you've got to be
in the midst of it to recognize what
that means.
It just meant that it became increasingly difficult
to administer the sacraments.
Because of the distress among the people.
Oh to see holy ghost conviction.
The people of God, the few who are
there, are bowed under a burden.
And their cry was, God do it again.
God do it again.
Give us to see Barthas again.
Give us to see the revival of 49
again.
God do it.
That was the burden.
However, we got through the communion.
And the benediction was pronounced.
And the people left the church.
The church was crowded to capacity.
Some had come long distances to be at
the communion.
Many of them converts of the 49 revival.
Now elders in different churches.
They're there.
After a meal the people began to stream
back to the church.
And in a very short time we're back
in the midst of the congregation again.
It was my turn to preach that night.
And after some singing, oh what singing.
We sang when Zion's bondage, God turn back.
Us men that dreamed were we.
Then filled with laughter was our mouth.
Our tongues with melody.
Psalm 102.
I then give out my text.
Who is this that cometh from Edom?
With dyed garments from Bosra?
This that is glorious in his apparel.
Travelling in the greatness of his strength.
I that speak in righteousness.
Mighty to say.
I give out the text.
And give it out again.
But preaching was impossible.
The convicting power of God.
Swept, swept over the gathering.
When he is come unto you.
He will convict the world of sin, of
righteousness and of judgment.
And the Holy Ghost in his threefold office.
Was in the midst of the congregation.
We stood there in the pulpit.
Just gazing upon God.
Seeing the salvation of God at work.
It was glorious.
The young minister bent over to me.
He was with me in the pulpit and
said.
Oh bless God, this is Barba's over again.
This is Barba's over again.
And I am sure he felt it.
Because I believe that he was remembering.
The night that he himself was gloriously saved
among many others.
However, we are now almost four hours in
the church.
There is not a move.
Oh, there were times when the silence was
tense.
And then a burst.
A cry of distress.
How often during these days I heard men
sing.
Oh God, hell is too good for me.
Have you seen conviction like that?
Canes of hell took hold of me.
Said David.
And man is crying.
It's too good for me.
Distress.
Anxiety.
Conviction.
My dear people, that is the supreme need
of our day.
A wave of God that will bring Holy
Ghost conviction.
The fear of God which is the beginning
of wisdom.
Is that not our deed today?
And then the young minister pronounced the benediction.
But not a soul moved from a seat.
He then went down to the door of
the church indicating that the service was over.
But not a move.
So he came back to the pulpit and
said to me, What are we going to
do?
What are we going to do?
Oh, ministers, is this not something that you
long to see?
Baffled.
Wondering.
What can we do?
So I said to him, Well, you remember
what happened the night you were converted.
You remember that we're in the church for
about five hours.
And people are unwilling to move.
And I knew that there were many in
that congregation who had come long distances.
There were farmers there who had been away
all day and the cows weren't milked.
And naturally they would be thinking of the
cattle at home.
But not a move.
And then I said, Now you've been in
here five hours.
We're going to continue this service.
But seeing you have been in so long,
perhaps you would like to go out for
a breath of air.
And then, if you so desire, come back
to the church.
Now I said, Was that not what happened?
You went out and you came back.
And at before five o'clock in the
morning you were saved.
He said, Yes.
Well, I said, Just tell them to go
out.
And if they so desire to come back
again.
And in less than ten minutes the church
is crowded again.
Crowded again.
My dear people, this is revival.
This is God at work.
It's not something worked up.
It's something coming down.
And that meeting continued until five o'clock
in the morning.
Now I couldn't tell you how many were
saved.
God has delivered me from keeping numbers.
Oh, I thank God for that.
Water deliverance.
Counting hands.
I believe, dear people, that the record is
kept in heaven and we can leave it
there.
But I do know this.
That there must have been a very large
number who passed from death into life in
that service.
On the following day, work was put aside.
And again the church became crowded.
Word came that morning that the fire had
spread to another parish.
And God was at work.
Now that is over, well over a year.
A year last January.
And to this day God is moving.
The young minister was on the phone with
me just before I left to come over
here.
And he told me that the fire continues.
And prayer meetings continue until five o'clock
in the morning.
My dear people, that's happening just now.
Prayer meetings in different centers.
And many of them convened and conducted by
teenagers.
Oh, it would stir your heart to its
depths to hear of the movings of God
among teenagers on the island of Louis just
now.
There is a gracious, soul-saving work going
on over the whole island now.
This revival has spread.
It has left the bounds of different parishes.
And I heard just during that phone conversation
that on a previous night, forty-seven men,
forty-seven men were gloriously saved in one
service.
Yes, my dear people, this is God at
work.
No special effort.
No special evangelist.
No prominent personality.
God himself.
Oh, my dear people, this is revival.
Now you may ask me, what are the
main characteristics of the revivals that we have
witnessed?
First of all, I think of the forty
-nine revival, fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two.
What was the main, would I say, the
supreme characteristic?
Well, I would say the fear of God.
Atmosphere.
You know that a spiritual atmosphere can find
you where words fail to reach you.
Do you believe in a spiritual atmosphere?
Created by God, it comes down.
Like dew in the morning, suddenly you find
a community gripped by God.
You find people making their way to a
house of God, to the churches.
And in a matter of hours, the church
is crowded.
And men and women crying to God, no
preaching, no preaching.
Praying, yes.
And then the minister comes along.
It could be myself, or it could be
another minister.
And for a solid hour, and sometimes longer,
we preach the word.
Now I believe that the fact that we
know practically nothing of backsliding, this is a
fact that cannot be gainsaid.
I could count on my five fingers all
who dropped away from the prayer meetings since
forty-nine.
It has been a deep and a glorious
work of grace, of course.
They're scattered all over the world today.
I think of the large number of missionaries
in the mission fields saved at that time.
I think of the many congregations on the
mainland of Scotland and in the Hebrides supplied
by graduates of our different universities and colleges
in congregations today.
It has been a remarkable work of grace,
and I believe perhaps the main reason for
that is perhaps the knowledge that they had
of the word of God before they were
saved.
I believe, dear people, that the average person
in the Hebrides today has a far greater
knowledge of the word of God as an
unsaved man than the average Christian in many
parts of the world today.
This, to me, is unique.
They read the word.
Family worship morning and evening.
The word of God read.
And the families so respect their parents that
they're in for family worship in the evening
and are up in the morning to share
in it.
That is, would I say, a tradition.
Would I say a habit.
Call it what you like.
I believe it's of God, and I have
no hesitation whatsoever in saying that when the
fire falls, oh, when the fire falls, the
word in the mind becomes the incarnate word
in the heart.
God becomes real.
And that is how we witness such deep
conviction of sin.
The awareness of God.
The fear of God.
A certain professor in Edinburgh sent for me
some time ago and asked if I could
explain to him how was it that these
parts were experiencing revival periodically.
49, yes, revival again.
Now, how is it?
Can you explain?
And I said, yes, I believe I can.
The people of the northwest of Scotland, men
and women in the Hebrides, believe in the
authority and in the inspiration of the word
of God.
If the word of God says she must
be born again, they accept that.
They accept that.
It's the word of God and they believe.
But here in the south, I said, you
ministers and you professors among them have robbed
the people of the authority and inspiration of
the word of God with your damnable philosophy
and theology.
These are the words that I use.
And you know that he had the grace
to rise to his feet, took my hand
and said, I believe you're right.
I believe you're right.
Of course, I knew I was right.
Word of God, a lamp and a light.
And then I would say that perhaps the
next characteristic or feature of the movement was
the very deep conviction.
Now, I'm going to tell you two incidents
that bring this out clearly.
I could keep you perhaps half the night
relating such incidents, but here are two.
I was called to a certain island, one
of the smaller islands in the group of
Hebridean islands.
This island up until then had not been
visited by revival.
And the stream of vital Christianity was running
low.
It was a communion season, and along with
another minister, I was there to officiate.
But oh, I found the going hard.
It was almost impossible.
The very powers of hell appeared to be
let loose around us, and I felt bound.
Ministers, have you ever felt like that?
Bound.
And suddenly, in that pulpit, I resolved to
get in touch with the praying men of
Barabbas.
And I got in touch with this dear
man, and suggested that he and several others
should come and pray with me.
And, if at all possible, bring little Donald
MacPhail with them.
Now, Donald MacPhail, I think I referred to
him already, was a young boy of about
sixteen years of age.
But a boy that had a mighty baptism
of the Holy Ghost, a fortnight after he
was saved.
Oh, what a difference it made.
What a difference it made.
We're caught up into high places with God.
This young fellow was caught to such a
high place.
Well, they came, and they brought this young
lad with them.
And I am now in the pulpit preaching.
It was on the Friday evening meeting.
And I find the going hard.
Then I looked down, and I saw this
young boy with his head bowed.
And I could see the tears wet on
the floor.
And I knew that that boy was nearer
to God than I was.
My dear people, we've got to be honest.
We've got to be honest.
And I stopped preaching.
And I said, Donald, I find it extremely
difficult to preach in this church.
I want you to pray.
And that boy rose to his feet with
the congregation in Lewis.
We stand to pray.
We sit to sing.
The whole congregation stood, and he stood with
them.
And he began his prayer by saying, Lord,
I seem to be gazing in through the
open door.
They had been reading at family worship that
morning, Revelation chapter 4, when John saw the
vision of the open door.
I seem to be gazing in through the
open door, and I see the Lamb in
the midst of the throne.
What a vision!
Oh, one is reminded of Ezekiel's vision.
The heavens opened, and I heard visions of
God.
And then the word of the Lord came
expressly to me.
And then his vision of the valley, Ezekiel.
But this is young Donald MacPhail.
I see the Lamb with the keys of
death and of hell at His girdle.
What a vision!
He stopped praying.
He began to cry, to weep.
And then, when he was able to control
himself, he lifted his right hand to the
heavens and cried, My God, there's power there!
Let it loose!
My God, there's power there!
Let it loose!
And what a manifestation!
Talk about the fire falling!
I tell you, the fire fell that night.
Now, I cannot explain the physical manifestations that
took place in that meeting, except to say
this, that God was in it.
Oh, be careful, brother, that you don't dictate
terms of revival to God.
Let God work His own way.
But on my right, in that congregation, the
whole body of people lifted their two hands
toward the heavens and fell back in a
trance.
Their hands were there for two hours.
They would break before you could pull them
down.
On the other side, they slumped on the
top of each other and I and the
other minister left them there.
As he said to me, God will take
care of them.
God will take care of them.
Of course He will.
I know this, that there wasn't one single
person who was exercised in that way that
wasn't gloriously saved within the week.
They shall seek Me and shall find Me
when they shall search for Me with all
their heart.
And what a transformation!
But the remarkable thing about that meeting was
what happened outside the church.
This again indicates God at work in a
sovereign way.
Five miles away from the church there was
a village.
There wasn't one single person from that village
in the church that night.
Not one single person.
But when this remarkable manifestation took place in
the church, the power of God swept through
the village.
Not a preacher, nothing organized.
There wasn't a single house that hadn't a
person saved.
Now my dear people, I can't explain this
except to say God is sovereign.
God is sovereign.
A vessel of the Klan line was sailing
down the channel we call the Minch.
The captain of that large vessel was lying
in his bunk and according to himself reading
a dirty novel.
No thought of God.
He fell asleep.
Night came on.
The other officers are in charge.
The vessel was making for Australia.
Were any of his officers at the door
switched on the light?
No.
He inquired and there wasn't one.
And then suddenly he began to ask questions.
Was this something supernatural?
Was it a manifestation from heaven?
Oh, he had heard his Christian wife talk
about such manifestations.
The news of the first wave of the
revival had reached Southport where his home was.
And she had been talking about it.
And suddenly that proud, godless captain was arrested
by God.
He knew that there was a young deckhand
on the vessel from the island and it
was reported that he spent much time in
prayer and reading his Bible.
So to that young man he went and
that young man led him to Christ.
I didn't know that until a few years
ago when I was addressing the Liverpool Convention.
This captain, now a member of a brethren
assembly, along with several others came to the
convention to see if I would be prepared
to go for a month to their assembly.
Rather an unheard of thing to ask a
brethren assembly to invite a Presbyterian minister to
address it.
But that was what happened.
Now that happened.
Now a girl, a young woman in the
medical profession in London was walking down Oxford
Street when she was suddenly arrested by God,
cried to God for mercy and she was
gloriously saved.
She is today the wife of a Baptist
minister in Tasmania.
These are indications that God is sovereign in
the field of revival.
But in mentioning that, let me say that
I do not believe in any sovereignty that
nullifies man's responsibility.
God is the God of revival, but we
are the human agents through which revival is
possible.
It's my people.
Oh, that's it.
But one other incident.
I was bitterly opposed by a certain section
of the Christian community in this particular parish.
They did not believe in my doctrine.
All this talk about the clean heart and
the baptism of the Holy Ghost, oh, it
wasn't according to the Confession of Faith, the
subordinate standards of the Presbyterian Church, the Westminster
Confession.
I was speaking against certain articles of the
Confession and I kept proclaiming that there was
an experience that brought you into a large
place with God.
They were against me.
And ministers came from the mainland to hold
opposition meetings.
My, what the devil can do, but there
are times when he oversteps himself.
The crowds went to listen to them.
Very, very few people came out to my
meetings.
One elder said to me, there's only one
thing that we can do and that is
give ourselves to prayer.
Give ourselves to prayer.
And he told me that he had spoken
to a certain man, his wife, and they
were happy to give the youth of the
house for a prayer meeting.
We gathered there, I would say over thirty
of us, there were five ministers, and we
are there to pray.
Now, I've got short knowledge that I felt
it hard and difficult.
Quite a number prayed, but all the prayers
were formless.
They lacked the fire.
There was a lack of patience.
About twelve o'clock, between that and one,
I spoke to a man who had been
silent up until then.
Now, the incident that I'm telling, I'm sure
many of you have read about.
It has been recorded in books, the heralds
of his coming had it, and books have
been written about it.
It will go down in the annals of
revival so long as revival is spoken of.
I asked this man to pray, and he
stood to his feet and began.
He prayed for about half an hour, and
then stopped.
After a second or two, he began again,
and addressed God in this fashion.
God, do you know that your honour is
at stake?
A man who intimately knew God.
Do you know that your honour is at
stake?
You promised to pour water on the thirsty
and fledged upon the dry ground, and God,
you know you're not doing it.
Oh, you say, what presumption.
Brother, a man in touch with God.
And then a pause.
Then he said this.
There are five ministers in this meeting, and
I do not know where one of them
really stands in your presence, not even Mr.
Campbell.
Ah, he was an honest man, an honest
man.
But he said, God, if I know my
own heart, I think I can save thine
thirsty for revival.
I'm thirsty to see a manifestation of thy
power in this parish as in other parishes.
And you promised to pour water on the
thirsty.
And then this Christ.
My God, I now on the basis of
Christ's atonement challenge you to fulfill your covenant
engagement and do it now.
Could you pray that prayer?
Oh, brother, could I pray.
At that moment, that huge farmhouse shook like
a leaf.
Shook like a leaf.
A minister standing beside me said, And I
said, Yes.
But my thoughts went back to Revelation chapter
four.
When they prayed, the place was shaken.
Could your God do it again?
My dear people, he was doing it.
And because again, the acts of the apostle,
again, a little after two o'clock, I
pronounced the benediction and opened the church door
to see the whole community alive.
Alive!
Men carrying chairs, women carrying stools and asking,
Is there room for us in the churches?
And the Arnold revival broke out.
And water dissipated.
The drinking house of the parish was closed
that night and it's never been opened since.
And I was visiting that parish a short
time ago and while walking through the parish,
I met an old man.
And he pointed to a house, a large
house, boarded up, every window boarded, the door
boarded.
And then he said to me, Of course,
you know, Mr. Campbell, that was the drinking
house of the parish where men gathered to
drink.
It's closed and it will never be opened
again.
And fourteen of the men who frequented that
house were praying in our prayer meetings last
week.
My dear people, that revival and perhaps the
outstanding feature lies in the fact that there
are more people attending the prayer meetings in
Lewis today than attended public worship before the
revival.
More people attending the prayer meetings.
That appeared in the local press not so
very long ago and added more people than
attended just on a communion Sunday attending the
prayer meetings.
Now, dear people, I want just for a
minute or two to come back to the
text.
Then the fire of the Lord set.
Now, here I refer to this as a
very significant fact.
There are three main thoughts in this story
that I generally speak from, but I'm not
doing that tonight.
First of all, there's a vital necessity.
Oh, we need rain.
We need revival.
We acknowledge that, don't we?
A vital, oh, a vital necessity.
And then you have a significant fact.
The miracle happened when the altar was built.
When the altar was built.
And then a divine visitation.
The rain fell.
The people fell.
The fire fell.
And, of course, the people fell.
Now, having said that, may I just touch
for a minute on the divine visitation.
When did the fire fall?
I already said when the altar was built.
When the altar was built.
How could the prophet address God as he
did?
Well, I believe he could because his own
altar wasn't broken.
Because his own altar wasn't broken.
It's not stated.
It's true that the altar there was broken.
But I believe that this man of God
was in a relationship with God that would
indicate that his altar was not broken.
And I want to ask this of you.
What about your altar, brother or sister?
It once burned with sacrifice, but that's in
the yesterday of your experience.
Is the fire burning there this evening?
Or is the altar broken?
Listen, brother.
God can enable you to build it again.
I believe that God can organize glorious victories
on the very ground of my visitation.
The soul that comes to Jesus through failure,
shame or pain, by his wondrous love and
mercy may soar high again.
My dear people, if that were not true,
I wouldn't be here this evening.
Because for seventeen years as a Presbyterian minister,
my altar was broken.
Broken.
But he took me back.
And my vessel he made again.
Oh, thank God he made again.
He gave back the years of the locusts
and eaters.
And led me again into the stream that
I left years before, the stream of glorious
revival.
I refer to the Middergyle revival of 21
and 22.
Brother, we can make it again.
I perhaps use my imagination here.
I think we are permitted to do that.
And I visualize the prophet.
And he calls for a bulwark.
And the bulwark is brought.
And complete awful.
The fire hasn't fallen.
And then I see the prophet lay the
bulwark.
And it lies dead beneath the altar.
The fire hasn't fallen.
And then I see the prophet take his
knife.
And he cuts the bulwark in piece.
Piece after piece.
It's placed on the altar.
But nothing happens.
The fire hasn't fallen.
And then can it be possible that in
the excitement of the moment he overlooks a
small piece.
He just overlooks it.
And this, of course, is the last piece.
And I see the prophet move round.
And I see him lift that last piece.
And I see him place it upon the
altar.
I see it in my imagination.
And I see he places it on the
altar.
The fire has.
But listen, brothers.
For God's sake!
Demanded that the last piece be placed on.
And this is my challenge in this meeting.
How many in this gathering have placed the
last piece on the altar?
Oh, you have given much, I believe.
And you have consecrated again and again.
But your consecration was too often mingled with
the destructive element of self-preservation.
And there have been reserves in your consecration.
Reserves.
The last piece has been held on.
My dear brother, listen.
You can talk and pray about revival till
doomsday, and your prayer and your consecration will
be just the laughingstock of devils if the
last piece hasn't been offered.
If there has been a reservation.
God demands all.
Hudson Taylor addressing meeting in Perth in Scotland.
He will have all or nothing at all.
My dear people, do you believe that?
Do you believe that?
Now, I want to ask, who will offer
and give the last piece in this meeting?
Now, most of you know that it is
not my custom to make appeals unless I'm
definitely moved by God to do it.
Unless I'm definitely moved by God to do
it.
Do you know, dear people, that in this
meeting there is the atmosphere of revival?
My eyes felt it when my dear brother
was speaking about the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, about Pentecost.
And I kept saying, my God, do it
again.
Do it again.
And I was praising God for the truth
proclaimed in that address.
And as the meetings continued, I felt an
atmosphere coming.
I don't know how you feel, but I
feel, my dear people, that God is here.
That God is here.
And I believe the angels and archangels gazing
over the documents of glory are looking on,
wondering who is going to place the last
piece.
The last piece.
Lord, I give my all.
My time, my talent, my wealth.
Yes, brother, but above all, myself.
Myself.
And I just want to ask this one
thing.
Those to whom God has spoken these days,
and who with purpose and intention, oh, get
that, purpose and intention, decide above everything else
to be rightly related to God, and at
this moment are going to place the last
piece on the altar.
Now, I don't want every person to stand.
I don't want spectators.
Oh, may God deliver us from that.
I'm only speaking to the sincere, honest soul
who means business with God in the interest
of revival.
I'm just asking you this one thing.
This one thing.
And I'll finish.
I'll not stress the appeal, nor will I
repeat it.
If you mean business with God in this
meeting tonight, will you stand to your feet
now, the
gentlemen of the meeting?
Yes, there it is.
Will you come forward and commit this meeting
to God in his presence?
Our Heavenly Father, tonight, it is with thou
and thy presence we are aware of the
fact that you are here.
Our Father, we've come so close to revival
so many times, and then we've walked away.
Father, we pray in Jesus' name tonight that
someway, somehow, that thou wouldst bring us on
through.
Heavenly Father, if it takes midnight weeping, if
it takes a night of prayer, oh, God,
help us not to walk away from this
service tonight and futilely forget that which we've
heard.
But, our Father, we pray that you'd so
grip our hearts tonight that in the midnight
hour there'd be cries and agonies all over
this church property, people crying out to God
for revival.
Father, we don't believe that you're any respecter
of person, but, God, we pray that if
you gave revival there, you can give revival
here.
Our Father, if you gave revival there in
that convention, we've been told so many times
it had to come in local churches and
so forth, but, God, if that meeting broke
out in conventions, thou canst give revival here.
Oh, God, tonight we pray that you'd wipe
away all of our excuses and help us
to be shut up to thee, that we'd
just confess that it's our sins that separate
us from thee.
Oh, God, tonight deal with us severely about
our sins.
Deal with us about any grievance or hindrance
tonight in this service.
Heavenly Father, grant in my own heart, Lord,
that I'd have the grace to say, Lord,
I'm putting the last piece on the altar.
May there be no reservations in my own
heart.
Oh, God, tonight I'm asking you to try
me and see if there'd be any wicked
way in me.
Oh, God, any grievance or hindrance to the
Holy Spirit tonight.
And, Father, we pray that that be the
heart cry of every man, woman, boy or
girl in this building tonight.
Oh, God, that we'd open our hearts to
thee that thou couldst see if there'd be
any wicked way in us.
Move on our hearts through the night.
Oh, God, may this service just be begun.
In Jesus' name and for his sake we
pray.
Amen.