Chris-tocentric.com

Spiritual revival is possible today, just it was in generations past. As I and our Evangelism Committee now prepare for the launch of our new church-wide prayer initiative, it is good to remind ourselves of how God has moved in years past in order to lift our eyes with faithful expectation. Following is one such example.

James Grant (1802 – 1879) traveled to Ireland in 1859 to witness the events of the Ulster Revival, a remarkable period in the history of the British Isles when many thousands of people came to faith in Jesus Christ, and large numbers of professing Christians experienced great advances in their walk with God. As the gospel changed people, so the society in which they lived was transformed. Grant’s pamphlet on the impact of the revival is a remarkable witness to the moral and social change that the power of God brings to communities. He writes:

“This extraordinary movement continues to make rapid progress in all parts of the North of Ireland. It is not only the most wonderful movement in our day, but, all things considered, it has, perhaps, no parallel since the days of the Apostles . . .

But the great test of the reality and worth of any moral or spiritual change which has been wrought upon the minds and hearts of men, is the effect it produces on their conduct. Tried by this test, the religious movement in the North of Ireland must be confessed to be of Divine origin. Nothing but Almighty power ever could accomplish such complete changes in the human character as those which are hourly witnessed. The drunkard gives up his habits of inebriety; the swearer ceases to take the name of his Master in vain; he who was addicted to the utterance of falsehood speaks the truth, and nothing but the truth; the man who stole, steals no more; and he who delighted in everything that resembled the savage nature of the tiger, becomes gentle and harmless as the lamb. Husbands who ill-treated their wives, and acted unnaturally towards their children, are suddenly, as if by a miraculous agency, transformed into the best of husbands and kindest of fathers. The aspect of society in the districts where the progress of the Revivals has been most decided has, in a word, undergone so thorough a change, that no one could believe it who has not been a witness of it, seen it with his own eyes, and heard the wonderful things with his own ears . . .

Let me repeat the expression of my full belief, that, taken altogether, the history of the Christian Church contains no parallel to these Revivals in the North of Ireland. And when we witness their blessed effects, morally and socially, as well as spiritually, we can well imagine what a happy world this would become—how it would, in at least a moral and social sense, be transformed into a perfect paradise—were the same principles universally adopted and embodied in practice, as have produced and are producing such a marvellous reformation in the North of Ireland.”1

Footnotes:

1 James Grant, Personal Visit to the Chief Scenes of the Religious Revival in Ireland (London: J. Snow, 1859) cited in Benjamin Scott, The Revival in Ulster: Its Moral and Social Results (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1859), 45-46. Emphasis in original.

After a humiliating loss to the Americans in the Revolutionary War, the English were heartened by Admiral Nelson’s recent naval victories against the French. King George III issued a proclamation of prayer and praise, and John Newton (1725 – 1807) used the occasion to call the nation to repentance. His sermon title: “Motives to Humiliation and Praise.” The date: December 19, 1797. Newton, himself, was no stranger to repentance, for he once served in the slave trade. His conversion was a great work of Christ, the inspiration for his hymn, “Amazing Grace.” When he wrote and sang, “saved a wretch like me,” he meant it. Though his sermon text addressed the Israelites, Newton knew the lesson applied as well to his own people. Here he defined “national sins,” found grave culpability in gospel hardened England, and pressed his countrymen to repent. It is not difficult to see how his admonition also applies to Americans in 2007.

8. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee . . . Hosea 11:8-9 (KJV)

“But can we read the history of Israel, without remarking how strongly it resembles our own? Have we not been equally distinguished from the nations around us, by spiritual and temporal blessings, and by our gross mis-improvement of them? We are assembled this day to join in public thanksgivings for public mercies, but we have great cause for public humiliation likewise. We have much reason to rejoice in the goodness of the Lord; but we have reason to temper our joy with trembling, when we compare the state of things around us, with that of Ephraim and Judah in the days of the prophet Hosea . . .

Let us consider sin as the procuring cause of all our troubles. Let us recognize his hand in them, and confess that, in all the distress he has brought upon us, he has not dealt with us as our iniquities deserve . . .1

In this sense, I fear the sins of Great Britain are of a deeper dye than those of any nation in Europe; because they are committed against greater advantages and privileges than any other people have enjoyed. May not the Lord appeal to ourselves, as to Israel of old, “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done?”. . .2

There are likewise sins so generally prevalent, so familiar and habitual in every rank of life, that they may properly be called national; because, either by their nature or their frequency, they mark and distinguish our public morals . . .3

The contempt of the Gospel of Christ will, I fear, be found a national sin, with the exception of the comparatively few who cordially embrace it . . . This Gospel is shunned and dreaded like a pestilence, and the strongest exertions are made to prevent its entrance, or to expel it, if possible. The ministers who preach faithfully, are stigmatized and misrepresented . . . “4

Footnotes:

1 John Newton, The Works of the Rev. John Newton, vol. 5 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1988), 279.
2 Ibid., 280.
3 Ibid., 284.
4 Ibid., 287.