Revival meeting

“ Revival movements have always boasted of moral successes, but history shows that they make no real impression on the community. The method is unscientific and doomed to failure. A salvation meeting, with its noise and excitement, has as much effect on public morality as a savage’s tom-tom has upon the heavens. ”

“ C.'s reasons why these meetings will not do for England is, "Our country has long been inhabited, and distinguished for religious institutions." As to the length of time our country has been inhabited, that can have very little to do with the subject; and as to our being distinguished for religious institutions, I do not know that we have such a mighty advantage over the Americans. Some of our religious institutions, instead of diminishing, greatly increase our need of revival meetings. Mr. C. next attempts to draw from the Scriptures an argument against revival meetings. ”

“ Under a renewed sense whereof, my spirit is led to acknowledge, that “great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Even so. Amen.
In the spring of the year 1808, our yearly meeting, from an exercise in observing the many deficiencies, brought up in the reports from the several quarterly meetings, issued an epistle, or minute of advice and caution, to its subordinate meetings. And in order to strengthen and enforce the same, and to make it the more effectual to promote a reformation, appointed a committee to attend therewith. ”

“ Even if the general public has not comprehended the marvellous significance of the meeting of the Conference, perhaps it will be capable of perceiving the significance of positive results. Facts and successes are always more powerful than the most glorious theories, however irrefutable. ”

“ As we have met in the capacity of a General Conference, we shall expect to hear instructions from the Elders pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth This is our calling, this is the labor devolving upon us, and it should occupy our attention day by day from morning until evening and from week to week; in fact, we have no other calling or business, and if we are humble and faithful, God will strengthen us and increase our ability and give us power sufficient to accomplish the tasks devolving upon us in the performance of His work. ”

“ The next day we attended their monthly meeting, which proved a time of deep exercise to my spirit; occasioned, as I believed, by the dead and lifeless state of the professors of truth in that meeting. I sat through the meeting for worship in silence, under a great weight of death and suffering, and saw no way of relief until near the close of the meeting for discipline, when a prospect opened in my mind, with a degree of light, to propose to Friends, that the men and women should sit together again at the close of their business. ”

“ The noble lord said that in terminating the proceedings of that most remarkable meeting—remarkable not only for the ability of the speeches which they had heard, and the unanimity that had characterised their proceedings, but also for the presence of so many delegates, representing, and representing so truly, every suffering interest in this great community—he felt that he had a task at once most difficult and most gratifying to perform. ”

“ It is this, we confess, that weighs upon the heart, and leads us to pen this brief address to every assembly under the sun. Every soul in the [24] meeting is either a help or a hindrance, a contributor or a waster. All who attend in a devout, earnest, loving spirit; who come simply to meet the Lord Himself; who flock to the assembly as the place where His precious name is recorded; who delight to be there because He is there—all such are a real help and blessing to a meeting. May God increase their number. ”

“ Where the girls and young ladies are sure to be, there the boys and young men are apt to be; and so it comes that when the meeting, especially the "big meeting," is to be held, the people throng. And if you want to see a genuine democracy, untainted by any kind of aristocracy, you could not find it better illustrated than among the hills, [pg 187] at meeting time, in some log "church-house." No Sir Wonderful to claim best pew, no usher to give you the place he chooses. ”

“ When I had got the pledge from him I told the people that Thursday’s meeting would only be a prayer meeting. But after this some of the people went to him and he turned round again, and said it was a business meeting. I know that he said no business should be done at that meeting, and afterwards said it should be a business meeting. I then saw that this was a deep and cunning plan laid to divide the best people that ever lived. ”

“ Instead of relying upon the brethren in the neighborhood to do all the work and keep open doors for the week, we determined to pay our own bills, and thus permit the good people in the vicinity to enjoy the meeting, as well as those who came from abroad. The change was deemed a great improvement. There was a good show of tents, and the attendance was large. The preaching was excellent, as the good brethren were more intent upon saving souls than ventilating their great sermons. The meeting resulted in the conversion of many souls, while the membership was greatly quickened. ”

“ The Morning Meeting was a precious and refreshing time to our poor tried minds. There was a very full expression of near sympathy and entire unity with us in our intended religious service. It is a strength and encouragement not only to have the concurrence of our friends, but also to know that we have a place in their prayers for our preservation and support in every trying dispensation. ”

“ It is very observable that meetings, where those things are apparent, are generally in a declining state. I was exercised in a plain way of dealing with those delinquents, showing them the hurtful tendency of such conduct. Truth prevailed, and many hearts were much tendered, and the hands of the faithful strengthened; to the Lord only wise be the praise of his own work, who is over all, worthy for ever.
The 23d we attended a meeting at a place called the Gap, where there was a small meeting of Friends. ”

“ If we go home from this meeting resolved to rebuke our selfishness in whatever form it is displeasing to God, and if we begin to-morrow to act out that resolution in word and deed, we shall revolutionise this town in its business, its politics, its church, its schools, its homes. If we simply allow our emotions to be stirred, our sympathies to be excited to the giving of a little money on this occasion, it will do us and the community little permanent good. God wants a complete transformation in the people of this nation. Nothing less than a complete regeneration can save us from destruction. ”

“ Romer. The Social Meeting is an old institution of this village; and though it is not exactly a church affair, I believe it is almost entirely frequented by church-goers. I have always felt that it served an invaluable purpose in this place. It is indeed the only occasion when priest and people can meet on equal terms and discuss these great questions man to man. No—no, Lickwit, I cannot for a moment consent to the closing of the Social Meeting. ”

“ Many of our brethren have desired for years that a general or national meeting be held for the purpose of uniting our people everywhere in doctrine and practice; others have feared that this end could not be attained in this way, and so hesitated to encourage the move. ”

“ The hubbub was indescribable, and the sufferings of the crowd were so great that it was clearly impossible that, under the conditions prevailing, any meeting could be held. Fortunately, there were active and willing workers on the spot, and a band of young men was organised who, mounting to the temporary roof of the hall, tore the planking open, and quickly relieved the pressure upon the sufferers beneath. ”

“ One comes from a meeting like that, through which glimpses are caught of opportunities for work, of openings by the Unseen Hand into spheres of service which stretch out into the future beyond the range of our human vision, with the overwhelming conviction that the Lord isn’t just at present to stop the wheels of this world. ”

“ If any of you feel that there is no life in your meetings, as I occasionally hear some of the brethren say, then it becomes {264} your duty to go and instill life into that meeting, and do your part to produce an increase of the Spirit and power of God in the meetings in your locality. ”

“ With all these facts, then, before us, it is well for us to-day, assembled as we are in this general Conference, to take into some consideration our own condition, the circumstances which surround us, and examine them in the light of intelligence and wisdom, as He has given it to us, and whether we should not take steps to preserve our existence, and not only preserve, but perpetuate it, and to increase our power, and to cause that work with which we are identified to continue to progress and to fulfil its high and glorious destiny. ”

“ After meeting it seemed best to us to try for a meeting, and, no obstacle appearing, at the time appointed nearly all assembled, and the short silence was blessed with His presence who is invisible. With awfulness and fear we ventured to make known our requests, and our dependent souls were made joyful in the house of prayer. Great solemnity pervaded the assembly, and these desperate spirits seemed contrited and made to fear. We were comforted with the spirits of a little band of humble followers of the Lord in this meeting, whom doubtless the Saviour loves. ”

“ Thoughts of love, if sent out by us steadily and consistently, must reach to the ends of the earth, as the ripples which a stone makes in a pool.”
But the war was little touched upon. That, with almost all of the more important business of the meeting, will be taken up in the later meetings this afternoon, tonight, Wednesday afternoon, and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. This morning was held apart almost entirely for the text “One for another.”
It could almost have been a country meeting. The old, square, red-brick building on 15th Street hears little of the noise of the city. ”

“ They publish that all who are never reported as reconvicted are reformed, and all love to make a big showing for the money subscribed at the all-important annual meeting, the result being that all the men hustled out of the country by the society count as reformed men. ”

“ When I returned to the church, after an absence of more than five months, the people greeted me with enthusiasm, and said to me, “You find us a united people. God has kept us together during this sad summer. We are ready for work. When will the revival begin?” I told them we should begin special meetings with the “Week of Prayer;” but the time for earnest labor was already at hand to prepare the people for the work of grace, which I felt sure God had in store for us. Our prayer meetings were largely attended, and I could see that the Church were longing and praying for a glorious revival. ”

“ As the Convenor of such a fate-laden Conference, whose task is to facilitate the execution of the most far-reaching, the most challenging, and the most dramatic of all the enterprises destined to be launched by the followers of the Faith throughout the whole planet, your Assembly assumes a responsibility at once immense, soul-stirring and inescapable. ”

“ Everything, too, points to a daily acceleration of the process. At the very time that Convocation is resuming its functions, the Non-conformist Union is compelled by internal dissentions to abandon their yearly meeting. ”

“ Consequently our teachings during Conference will be to instruct the people how to live and order their lives before the Lord and each other; how to accomplish the work devolving upon them in building up Zion on the earth. To accomplish this will require steady faith and firm determination, and we come together in this capacity that our faith and determination may be increased and strengthened. When we have spent three, four or five days together in giving instruction, we shall only just have commenced to instruct the people ”

“ It is rather to be viewed as expressing the opinion of that meeting respecting the degree of reformation which individuals of their body might introduce, in places to which their authority and influence extended. ”

“ But, as we have the unfortunate example in our own times—not so very long ago, in Trafalgar Square—the calling together of a Mass meeting does not always guarantee that the gathering shall consist entirely of persons interested in the object of the meeting—the thing is impossible. ”

“ The members of the participating churches in such a meeting are placed under unusual circumstances which often serve to repress rather than develop their activity, and thus the labor falls on only a few more prominently gifted persons; whereas, a meeting in which the responsibility rested on only one church would have drawn into active work the mass of its members, and secured to it the blessing which such general activity brings. ”

“ Are there no public meetings held amongst us for the purposes of political change, social improvement, religious extension, moral amelioration, charity, or festivity, in which large numbers of the people, and often of all ranks and both sexes, are brought together, in which there is ample room for the display of all the graces of oratory, and in which the most eloquent and impassioned speaker is sure to carry away the palm? ”

“ To-day our quarterly meeting convened, and it was signally owned by the holy Head. In and over the first meeting was a sweet solemnity, which lost none of its sweetness after separation to transact the weighty business of the Church, which to me never seemed more weighty. I was mercifully helped again to spread the important prospect before the Church, which received its full and cordial unity, and many living testimonials were given forth to the power and goodness of Him [77] whose ways are not as our ways. ”