For two days now, God has been laying
it on my heart that I should tell
you a little about my own life story.
But for some reason or other, I couldn't
find real liberty in my soul to do
so.
But this morning, the dear chairman of the
camp came and suggested that I might say
something to you this morning, and immediately it
came forcibly before me that this was God's
moment for me to tell you a little
of how God, in his mercy, led me
into the blessing of full salvation, and through
that, into the field of glorious revival.
So turn with me to the portion which
we read together, and to verse 16.
Come and hear all ye that fear God,
and I will declare what he hath done
for my soul.
I might say that there are three outstanding
experiences in my life story.
First of all, the night that God, in
his mercy, saved me.
My dear people, it begins there.
I was at a concert and dance, I
was a piper, and playing and dancing at
this concert, when suddenly God spoke to me.
I had a praying mother and a praying
father, and I believe that they were deeply
burdened that night because of my being at
this concert and at this dance.
But in that meeting, that concert, God spoke
to me as I was playing a Scottish
tune known as the Green Hills of Tyrol.
And while playing, oh, my fingers were busy,
but I was frightfully disturbed in my soul,
and I found myself not dwelling on the
Green Hills of Tyrol, but on the Green
Hill Calvary.
And I was so disturbed that on completing
the playing of that tune, I stepped off
the stage, went to the gentleman, and said
I was leaving the concert.
He looked at me and asked, are you
well?
I said, yes, very well in body, but
fearfully disturbed in my mind.
I've just made this discovery that I'm on
my way to hell.
And the chairman was a minister, and I
regret having to say that.
And he looked at me and said, you'll
soon get over that.
But I'm thankful to God I haven't got
over it to this day.
Not to this day.
On my way home, I passed a church.
And to my amazement, I found the church
lit at 11 o'clock.
Couldn't understand it.
Of course, I had been away from home
in business, and I wasn't aware of the
fact that two pilgrims of the faith mission
were conducting a mission in the parish.
And here they were in this church at
11 o'clock.
I listened at the door and heard someone
pray.
And who was praying but my own father.
Pouring out his heart for the parish and
for his own family.
Oh, God bless that father.
We need them today.
Now, horses couldn't have dragged me past that
meeting.
I went in, I'm in a piper's regalia.
I'm carrying a set of bagpipes and two
swords and that's where I was demonstrating sword
dancing.
I left the bagpipes in the back seat,
the two swords, and walked up the aisle
and sat beside my father.
He looked at me and said, I'm glad
to see you here, boy.
I'm glad to see you here.
In a matter of minutes, one of the
sisters, a highland pilgrim girl that spoke our
language, she got up and gave a text
of scripture out.
God speaks once, yea, twice, but man perceives
it not.
And I knew that God was speaking to
me.
But I was so afraid that I would
cause a disturbance in the meeting that I
rose and walked out.
If I fell on my knees, once I
fell on my knees half a dozen times,
my dear people, I was so distressed in
my soul that I was afraid the very
ground would open and I would fall into
hell.
My dear people, this is holy ghost conviction.
Amen.
Yes.
I must have prayed at least six times.
It was after two o'clock in the
morning before I arrived at the farm to
find my dear mother on her knees by
the kitchen fire.
She couldn't go to the prayer meeting that
night, the all-night prayer meeting.
Friends of ours had called and it was
necessary for her to stay at the farm
because they were staying overnight with us.
But I went over and I told her
my story, how distressed I was.
And she looked at me and said, your
cousins are in your bedroom.
But I will soon get a bed ready
for you.
But I would say this to you, my
boy, that I was just in my teens,
go out to the barn and tell God
what you've told me.
And I went out to the barn.
I can still see the straw prepared for
the horses in the morning.
And I fell on my knees among the
straw.
And I still remember the prayer that I
uttered, God, I know not how to come.
I know not what to do.
But my God, I'm coming now.
Oh, have mercy upon me.
Listen, dear people, in less time than it
takes me to tell the story, God swept
into my life.
And I was gloriously born again.
Miracle had taken place.
After all, is it not true that a
born again Christian is a supernatural being?
A supernatural being who has had a supernatural
experience.
And blessed be God is so supernaturally altered
in the moment of his regeneration that godliness
will characterize every part of his being, body,
soul, and spirit.
My dear people, that was what happened.
And I'm here to say this morning, not
for one single moment since that day had
I ever any occasion to doubt the work
that God did in my heart.
It was real.
It was definite.
And blessed be God, it was supernatural.
That's regeneration, brother.
Oh, may I ask, have you had a
supernatural experience?
If not, doubt whatever experience you have.
God is supernatural.
And he moves in the supernatural realm.
Shortly after that, to go on with my
story, I joined the forces during the First
World War.
And I wasn't very long in the forces
until I discovered that there were powers resident
within me that were more than a match
for me.
I'm thankful to God that he kept me
from open sin.
Oh, how I praise him for that.
And the sensory gracious presence in the trenches.
Oh, I knew him there.
But having said that, I also knew that
inbred sin was troubling me.
An enemy in the garrison of the soul
fighting against God.
And again and again, keeping me in bondage,
I would go on my knees in the
trenches and I would ask God to forgive
me for the thoughts of my heart.
And sometimes they weren't too clean.
Oh, my dear, we've got to be honest.
The heart is defeated of all things and
desperately wicked.
And I was conscious of that.
But then a remarkable thing happened.
Somehow those in authority got to know, I
suppose from my record, that I was a
farmer's son.
And consequently, I would know something about horses.
And immediately I was transferred from the infantry
into the cavalry.
Into the cavalry.
Oh, God's ways are wonderful, dear people.
It was because I was transferred to the
cavalry that God met with me.
And met with me, would I say, the
second time.
Oh, I'm thankful to God that I believe
in a deeper work of grace.
I couldn't deny it today.
But in the last major charge of the
British cavalry, I was severely wounded.
And I'm now lying on the ground beside
a dead horse.
The horse had rolled over me in the
fall and injured my spine.
But I'm also severely wounded in my body.
And blood is flowing freely from me.
While lying there, I was convicted and convinced
in my own mind that I was dying.
Oh, it came forcibly before me, the blood
flowing freely.
Oh, no, you can't live.
These were thoughts that coursed through my mind.
And suddenly, that verse of Scripture came before
me.
Without holiness, no man can see God.
And my dear people, conscious, deep in the
glorious realization that I was born again, I
felt very unworthy and very unfit to meet
God.
Oh, I'm just telling you how I felt.
But then, in the providence of God, another
remarkable thing happened.
The Canadian horse were called out to a
second charge.
I refer to the Lord Strathcona, Horse of
Canada.
And when charging over that bloody battlefield with
the hundreds wounded and perhaps hundreds dying, a
horse's hoof struck me in the spine.
They were charging over the dead and the
living.
That horse's hoof struck me, and I must
have groaned.
Because that groan registered in the mind of
that young trooper.
And when the charge was over, he was
among the few that came back.
And I tell you, there were very few.
It was a dreadful day.
But he came right to where I lived,
dismounted, lifted me, and threw me across the
field.
He took the reins again and galloped to
the nearest casualty-clearing station.
Now it was on that horse's back that
the glorious miracle happened.
I remembered a prayer of my father, or
a prayer of Murray McChay.
And I cried, God, oh God, make me
as holy as a sane sinner can be.
And God did it.
Oh, I think I mentioned this already, but
it's worth mentioning again.
God swept into my life.
And I knew in a matter of minutes
an experience that I didn't think was possible
this side of heaven.
And through all my soul its waters flowed,
through all my nature's healing, and deep within
my heart I knew the consciousness of healing.
Oh, my dear people, I was healed.
Physically, no, spiritually, yes.
The sense of God, oh, coursing through.
I already mentioned this, that at that moment
I felt as pure as an angel.
I'm only saying what I felt, dear people.
Don't misunderstand me.
Only God knew where I stood and how
I stood, but that was how I felt.
My dear people, if you wish to honor
God, give him credit for the excellency of
his work in redemption.
He's a God that heals and a God
that saves.
I was brought to the casualty clearing station.
Now, let me say this, that I could
hardly speak a word of English then.
My language was Gaelic, the language of the
highlands of Scotland, and I couldn't praise God
in English.
I couldn't pray in English.
All my reading was done in Gaelic.
My singing in the same language, but that
afternoon, I couldn't sing.
I was too weak through the loss of
blood, but I could repeat the psalm.
Oh, I could repeat the psalm.
Oh, thou my soul, bless God the Lord,
and all that in me is, be stirred
up his holy name to magnify and bless.
And I kept repeating it.
There wasn't a single person in that casualty
clearing station that could understand a single word
of what I said.
But my dear people, oh, this is God.
This is the operation of a sovereign God.
Into that casualty clearing station, God came in
convicting power, and within an hour, seven Canadians
were saved.
It was my first experience of holy ghost
revival.
I wasn't there very long when I had
to be removed to a hospital to be
treated.
And in the mercy of God, I got
there.
And after a few weeks in that hospital,
I was transferred to a hospital in Scotland.
And there, for eleven months, I experienced the
gracious movings of God in the hospital.
Oh, my dear people, to see God working,
to see men, yes, and women being saved.
Just a word about Jesus, and that did
it.
Oh, I couldn't preach, dear people, I couldn't
preach.
But after a year and a month, I
got home to the farm.
Now, on arriving home, more or less fully
recovered from my injury and wound, my parents
were very anxious that I should go in
for the ministry.
In for the ministry, with the little English
that I had, what university would accept me?
What college could I go to?
And I immediately came to the conclusion that
it wasn't necessary.
Why should I spend five or seven years
in training when God, in a matter of
minutes, could send revival?
My dear people, that was the conviction that
gripped me.
And with the permission of my parents, I
just went out to the villages of Argyll
in Scotland.
And in a matter of days, I saw
what is commonly referred to as the Mid
-Argyll revival.
Oh, my dear people, God swept in.
When He, the Holy Spirit, is come unto
you, He will convict the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment.
And God was doing it, just talking about
Jesus, just talking about the Savior, and in
effect saying, He saved me, and because He
saved a sinner like me, He can save
you.
That was the burden of my message.
And for five years, along with another young
brother from Ireland, I saw the hand of
God in revival, in revival, and I could,
I think I could trace it back to
that experience on the horse's back when God
blessed me again.
Call it what you like, a second blessing,
or a deeper work of grace, or full
salvation, I'm not caring what you call it.
It's the experience that the doctor said yesterday.
It's the experience that comes, and bless God,
I felt that I had the experience.
Five years in the midst of revival, in
mid-Argyll, and then tragedy.
Oh, let me tell you, brothers, you can
never get to the place where it will
be impossible for you to fall.
A man said to me, last year in
the city of Birmingham, Mr. Campbell, I haven't
sinned for 40 years.
I said, brother, I'm afraid you've broken the
record.
I'm afraid you've broken the record.
There's such a sin as some sin of
presumption.
Brother, you've broken the record.
But let me say this, oh, let me
say it again, you'll never get to the
place where it will be impossible for you
to sin.
I think I would agree with the late
Dr. McIntyre of Glasgow that you'll never get
to the place where it will be impossible
to sin, but blessed be God, you can
be in the place where it's possible not.
I think I would agree with that.
You may not, but that, to me, is
a truth worth holding on to.
But, tragedy, I suddenly decided to go in
for the ministry.
By this time, I'm thinking of getting married,
and I had a question.
In my mind, as to whether it was
right to ask my young lady to go
out with me without any real preparation for
a home.
And somehow I had a doubt in my
mind as to the rightness of it.
I was, by this time, associated with the
faith mission, and of course, as a member
of the faith mission, we are not promised
a penny, not a dollar, and I'm afraid
that unbelief crept in, and to make a
long story short, I found myself trailing for
the ministry.
And this is one thing that I deeply
regret, because I wasn't very long training when
I came under the influence of professors that
had no time for the authority and the
inspiration of the word of God.
And I found myself doubting the first three
chapters of Genesis.
My dear people, it began there.
Oh, it began there.
Oh, may God have mercy on professors that
lead young people astray.
Oh, keep your young people from them.
Better of no training at all for the
ministry.
Than be cursed and damned by such men.
My dear people, take that to heart.
I had my own experience.
For seventeen years, I moved in a barren
wilderness.
It's true that I was evangelical in my
preaching, so much so that on several occasions
I was asked to conduct special missions.
I was even asked to address Catholic conventions,
because I was Campbell of the fourth, the
twenty-one revival.
I was Campbell of the Midder-Gail revival,
and because of that I was asked to
address those conventions and conduct those missions, and
God, in his mercy, gave me a measure
of encouragement.
God is wonderful.
Seventeen years of it, knowing in my own
heart that I wasn't right with God.
Oh, what an experience.
What an experience.
Feeling out of touch, on my knees before
God, again and again I acknowledged it, until
one morning.
I was preparing for a Catholic convention.
I'm in my study.
It's about five o'clock in the morning.
When I heard someone singing in the drawing
room of the Mass, and of course I
recognized the voice, it was the voice of
my own young daughter, and she's singing, coming,
coming, yes they are, coming, coming from afar,
from the Indies and the Gandes, steady flows
that living stream to love's ocean, to his
fullness, Calvary, their wandering theme.
There was something about that singing that spoke
to me, and gripped me, and moved me,
because I knew that that lassie was thinking
of the day when she would be in
Nutt Hall as a missionary.
She went in for nursing, qualified, then went
into a Bible school, and did a full
course, but she's now singing in the drawing
room, coming, coming, yes they are.
Be in Nutt Hall as a missionary, definitely
called by God to that field.
She's only 16 years of age, but she
accepted the call, and decided to train, with
a view to being there.
She went in for nursing, qualified, then went
into a Bible school, and did a full
course, but she's now singing in the drawing
room, coming, coming, yes they are.
I couldn't sit in my study, and I
went down to the room.
I sat on a chair, and after singing
through the solo, she came over, and she
threw herself on my knees, as daughters sometimes
do.
She put her two arms round my neck,
and said to me, Daddy, I would like
to have a talk with you.
Well, I said, Gina, I'll be happy indeed
to talk with you.
But first of all, might I ask, what
is it that is moving you this morning?
And then she looked at me and said,
oh, Daddy, isn't Jesus wonderful?
Isn't Jesus wonderful?
And I said to her, Gina, what is
it that makes Jesus so wonderful to you
at five o'clock this morning?
Daddy, I've just spent an hour with him.
I've just spent an hour with him.
An hour in the presence of God, up
waiting upon him at four o'clock in
the morning.
Oh, my dear people, listen to it.
That's what makes Jesus wonderful.
Fellowship divine.
But oh, what was coming to me.
We went to my study, and she said,
for several days, Daddy, I've been battling against
facing you with this question, but I must
do it.
When you were a young pilgrim before you
went in for the ministry, you saw revival.
You saw revival.
How is it, Daddy, that you're not seeing
revival now?
And then faced me with this crushing question.
Daddy, you have a large congregation, and many
are joining the Church.
But Daddy, when did you last kneel beside
a poor sinner and led him to Jesus?
My dear people, that shook me.
That shook me.
I went to the Catholic convention that night
and did my part.
But on my way home, I vowed in
the presence of God that if he didn't
bring me back to the experience that I
had on that posse bank, I would give
up the ministry and go back into business.
And my dear people, I meant it.
Oh, I meant it.
I would be anything but a deceiver.
And when I arrived home, I couldn't take
supper.
I went to my study.
I said to my wife and daughter, don't
disturb me tonight.
I'm going to have a session with God.
And I threw myself on my face in
my study.
And I cried to God to forgive me.
Oh, I cried to him to forgive me.
And in about an hour, blessed name he
came to me.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities and who healeth
all thy diseases.
And I knew that God had come to
make me again and to bring me back
to that glorious experience in the fullness of
the blessing of the Holy Ghost.
I know that I lay there with this
power coming over me.
Oh, I can't fully describe it.
I can't put it into words.
But I was caught up in an experience
that could only be explained in terms of
God.
An experience of the Holy Ghost that had
come again.
But just at that moment, a vision came
to me.
And that was a vision of hell.
A vision of hell.
And I could see multitudes, multitudes, streaming over
the caverns of death to be doomed and
damned eternally.
What a vision.
Oh, what a vision.
At that moment, the door of my study
opened.
And that dear lassie came in.
She lay down beside me.
And I can almost hear her voice now
as she is praying to God and saying,
Oh Jesus, keep his reason to die.
She was afraid that I was going mental.
Because of the vision that God gave me.
The vision of souls lost eternally.
God kept my reason to me.
And suddenly it left me.
But it left me weak.
Oh brother, it left me weak.
And then, a voice seemed to say to
me, go back to the faith mission, give
up the ministry.
You've suffered much by what you listen to
in the church.
For seventeen years you've been in a barren
wilderness and God has come to you again.
Obey God.
And at that moment, the old question arose
again.
The children aren't yet educated.
They're not yet educated.
They will have to face university and college.
Is that possible in the faith mission?
And for a second or two, darkness, oh
darkness came into my soul.
Darkness came into my mind.
And I was facing the cost of this
decision.
When suddenly this angel of God, I can
call her that, spoke.
She put her hand on my body and
said, oh daddy, daddy, whatever it costs, go
through with God.
Go through with God.
And then she said a remarkable thing.
I believe that you're facing the question that
if you go back to the mission, because
I'm fully persuaded that God is asking you
to go back.
My dear people, the secret of the Lord
is with them that fear Him.
And that lassie knew that God was calling
me back to the mission.
And she said this, daddy, perhaps you're wondering
how you can look after us.
I know, daddy, that you've promised to give
me a new coat on my birthday.
But daddy, mommy will be quite willing to
change my old coat.
You needn't buy me a new coat.
I tell you, my dear people, it was
that that did it.
Here a lassie as anxious to be well
dressed as anybody, but quite willing to have
her old coat changed in order that that
would make it easier for me to come
to a decision and go back to the
faith mission.
And thank God, oh thank God.
I said yes to God and the flood
tides of glory came over me again.
And if I had a vision of hell,
oh I had a vision of the risen
Christ.
The risen Christ able to say to the
uttermost and God saying to me, go out
and tell it again.
And on the following morning, I wrote three
letters to the secretary of my congregation, to
the presbytery clerk, and to the clerk of
assembly, resigning my charge in this town, but
retaining my status as a Presbyterian minister in
Scotland.
And I retain that to this day.
But I'm now free.
And I'm free to go out.
I'm free to proclaim the glorious gospel.
And I'm happy in the midst of the
Holy Ghost.
My dear people, I say that from the
depths of my heart.
It was the Holy Ghost that did it.
And in a very short time, I found
myself in the midst of this glorious revival
that continued for three years, and continues to
this day.
It has kept coming since then, wave after
wave.
I was telling someone yesterday of a meeting
that I attended in the town of Stornoway.
It was addressed by one of our workers.
And she's singing, a wonderful singer, reputed to
be the finest gospel singer in Scotland at
that time.
Wonderfully used of God.
And she's singing, and the crowds have gathered.
And the crowd were so tense that the
police had to be called out to control
the traffic through the town.
And they, recognizing that God was moving, directed
the traffic round the back of the town,
rather than disturb the meeting.
My dear people, this is God at work.
A young man was passing the open-air
meeting on his way to a dance.
When along with others, he was suddenly gripped
by God.
And in a very short time, on his
knees in a close, he cried to God
for mercy.
He didn't get deliverance, he didn't get peace,
and at the end of the meeting, or
near its end, he came over to this
girl and said, Would you mind addressing a
meeting in my home?
If you're prepared to have a meeting between
12 and 1 o'clock in the morning,
yes.
God, I don't think it would be possible
for me to be at your home before
then.
I believe that I shall be here till
11 o'clock at any rate.
We went to his home that night, right
there between 12 and 1 o'clock.
And the Spirit of God came down.
Oh, my dear people, to witness this is
something that you can never forget.
So much so that the father rose and
went out to God-fearing man, went out
and gathered the neighbours in, got them out
of bed, telling them that revival had come
to his home.
When his son, who was saved yesterday, led
the family worship.
And before the morning, 11 of the neighbours
were soundly saved.
But within a fortnight, 62 were born again,
including the minister's three sons.
My dear people, that's God at work.
That's God at work.
But before I sit down, I think I
ought to tell you this.
One of the leading tweed merchants in that
community came to me and asked how many
of the family had I.
So I told him.
And then he said this to me.
You know that practically all my weavers were
saved during the revival.
And I feel that I must give you
a peace offering of thankfulness.
And I want you to come to my
office tomorrow, and I'm going to give you
some patterns of Harry's tweed.
You'll take them home, and you'll get your
wife and yourself and every member of the
family to select two lengths of tweed.
One for a suit, and the other for
a coat, so far as the menfolk are
concerned.
And the ladies, a costume and a coat.
And dear Sheena got a new Harry's tweed
coat.
My dear people, that's how God works.
But I come to this thought and challenge.
What has all this, brother, to do with
you?
To do with you.
Perhaps you're in a congregation, perhaps you're in
a community, that needs God.
Are you prepared?
Oh brother, are you prepared to recognize that
the answer is in the baptism of the
Holy Ghost?
The answer is to be rightly related to
God.
Cleansed from sin.
And God in control in your life.
Is that true of you?
Oh my dear people, that's the question that
I want to leave with you.
Is this desire and this hunger and this
thirst uppermost in your heart this morning?
And are you saying, Oh God, do it
for me this morning.
And God's arm is not short.
His ear is not heavy.
And the God, oh my brother, listen, the
God that did it for me is no
respecter of person.
Not because I'm a Highlander.
With a Highland background.
No, no.
There is no respecter of persons and the
God that did it for me can do
it for you now.
Come, my dear people, I believe that.
God is here to do it.
I believe in a covenant keeping God.
A God who is true to his covenant
engagement.
If my people called by my name will
humble themselves.
Oh, let me say again what that dear
young woman said addressing a meeting of ministers.
God is not obliged to send revival to
you because you pray.
What a statement.
But she went on to say this.
A covenant keeping God must be true to
his covenant engagement when you humble yourself and
pray.
But it begins with a humbling.
My dear people, I leave that in.
And I ask you to face it with
honesty and with sincerity.
I believe revival could break out here.
I believe that, dear people.
I believe that God is anxious.
Oh, he's anxious.
This is the confidence that we have in
him.
That if we ask anything according to his
will, he hears us.
Is it according to God's will that your
heart should be cleansed today and made a
fit temple for God the Holy Ghost to
dwell in?
Is that according to his will?
Is it according to his will that revival
should come?
And the multitude screaming to hell should be
arrested?
My brother, he willeth not the death of
him, but that all should come to him
and live according to his will, he heareth
us.
And if we know that he heareth us,
oh my God, dear listening, if we know
that he heareth us, we know that we
have the petition, that we desire of him.
My dear brother, my dear sister, if that
is a conviction with you and a realization
that you are not yet in that place,
I would say that's the place for you.
On your knees before God, confessing, oh confessing.
But brother, you can do it where you're
sitting just now.
You can do it.