evivals, then, are seasons when Christians are waked to a more spiritual frame, to more fervent prayer, and to more earnest endeavors to promote the cause of Christ and redemption; and consequent upon this, seasons when the impenitent are aroused to the concerns of the soul and the work of personal religion...Revivals may be either false or genuine...There may be a whirlwind of agitation and no real revival. And these spurious movements have done much to harm the cause of true revivals.
H.C. Fish
Handbook of Revivals
The concealing, and the neglect of certain truths, and certain aspects of Christian truth, has always been the chief characteristic of every period of declension in the long history of the Church...It is no use saying, "Let's pray for revival." There is something we have to do before that. The work of the Philistines must be cleared out...there has never been a revival when men have put their ideas and opinions before the authority of the word of God.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Revival
If they wait to see a work of God without difficulties and stumbling-blocks, it will be like the fool's waiting at the river side to have the water all run by. A work of God without stumbling-blocks is never to be expected.
Jonathan Edwards
Distinguishing Marks
When revival comes, an intense spirit of conviction will be felt immediately. Conduct that has always seemed acceptable will appear unbelievably wicked...Private indulgences wupon which a person has looked with favor for years will suddenly seem to merit all the wrath of God poured out forever. Prayerlessness, ignorance of Scripture, sins of omission, and failure in good works will no longer be defended by a myriad of excuses, but will be laid open before the God "with whom we have to do."
Richard Owen Roberts
Revival
Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:8b-9
In the time of Jonathan Edwards, a revival was regarded as a supernatural and miraculous work of the sovereign Holy Spirit...By the time Finney's lectures had leavened their way into the Church, revival had become something for man to promote and work up...Finney began in revival and ended with organized "revivalism". He began in revival and he ended up with modern evangelism.
Clive Tyler
Charles Finney and the Disappearance of Revival
Their preaching seems to have been of the most masculine and fearless kind, falling on the audience with tremendous power. It was not vehement, it was not fierce, it was not noisy; if was far too solemn to be such; it was massive, weighty, cutting, piercing, sharper than a two-edged sword. The weapons wielded by them were well tempered, well furbished, sharp and keen. Nor were they wielded by a feeble or unpractised arm. These warriors did not fight with the scabbard instead of the blade. Nor did they spare any effort, either of strength or skill, which might carry home the thrust or the stroke to the very vitals. Hence so many fell wounded under them...
Horatius Bonar, editor's preface
John Gillies
Historical Collections of Accounts of Revival
After dinner, finding my heart much enlarged, I prayed, and with such power, that most in the room were put under concern. And one old minister was so deeply convicted, that, calling Mr. Noble and me out, with great difficulty (because of his weeping) he desired our prayers; for, said he, "I have been a scholar, and have preached the doctrines of grace for a long time, but I believe I have never felt the power of them in my own soul." O that all unconverted ministers were brought to make the same confession.
George Whitefield
Journals
Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?
Psalm 85:6
Revivals thus display a great variety in the manner of their beginnings, but preaching seems to be prominent in each case.
Eifion Evans
Revivals/Their Rise, Progress and Achievements
The preacher's text was one of Christ's words of invitation to sinners to come to Him. As he warmed to his subject the little congregation felt that it was not Richard Williams at all who was speaking; it was not his voice, not his style, not even his sermon! The preacher himself said afterwards that he was not very sure whether he was preaching or listening to someone else. The service ended in a still silence no hymn, no singing. There was no appeal. The belief then was that converts were not to "come forward" in a rush of feeling, but, as it were, in cold blood, in full realization of their commitment. How different this is from our present-day evangelistic crusades! One day the following week, the seiat (church meeting) was being held in the chapel, and the two elders...sat in the parlour of the chapel-house waiting to go in. One of them peeped through the door to see whether they could begin the service and saw to his astonishment that the place was nearly full. A hymn was given out, but as soon as they stood up to sing the whole congregation broke down in cries and tears..."It transpired that here was a chapel full of people at the end of their tether." How utterly different is all this from the build-up of personalities, and the accompanying lights and music which we often associate with modern evangelism!
Emyr Roberts/R. Geraint Gruffydd
Revival and Its Fruit
Much is said to-day about Revival and all manner of human attempts are made to bring it about. There is the resort to showmanship, sensationalism and musical entertainment and the effort to evoke confession without any basis in doctrine or conviction, and all of these, after a brief flurry of excitement, markedly fail. Whitefield's life teaches us that Revival is a sovereign work of God, a supernatural work, a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit. "When the Holy Spirit did set in," said Jonathan Edwards, "as much was done in a few days as at ordinary times in a year or two." We saw that "the Cambuslang Wark" arose from "the preaching of the great and substantial doctrines of the Christian faith" and was characterized by a new and powerful awareness of the reality and presence of God. This awareness brought the deep consciousness of sin and the fleeing to Christ for salvation, the "striving to enter in at the strait gate," and the joy, even unto ecstasy, upon the assurance of having done so. And such will ever be the nature of true Revival.
Arnold Dallimore
George Whitefield
