The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-10-21
NEEDS OF
THE CHURCH
CONTINUED from Page 81

modes, but that revivalS of religion
alone, among all these movements, the
most important of all, are arbitrary or
fortuitous or consist in an unaccount- |
able act to divine sovereignty for which
there is no assignable cause or reason /
or time or place? 1t certainly seems as
if such conception of Gods ways with |
man were impossible.
1 think I have discovered the law of
REVEALS. Pardon me, brethren, if 1 say,
L think 1 have discovered the great
| law of revivals. Doubtless there is,
| Just above our heads and quite within
our reach, reservoir of spiritual pow
er inexhaustible. as quick and as GER
tain to pour forth as water would, if
we can find the way to open the gate.
And 1 think 1 have found the law by
which the gate rises and the power
comes. 1 am so sure of this and it
seems to me so simple that / would
be glad to have the opportunity to say
| to some church, any church, any where,
Friends, if you will do what tell you,
on condition that it is scripturai and
reasonable, if you will follow my dfrec
tions and do what L say, 1 will guaran-
tee that true revival of religion shall
begin in this church inside of fifteen
minutes, so manifest that all will con-
| fess that it is unquestionabIy genuine"
| It would be quite reasonable if some
one should ask, What would your
guarantee be worth in this case? 1t
| wouldn't be worth very much if it were
not founded on the word of God, but it
| is. And it would be reasonable to make
this offer if we can discover the law of
revivals, for it is simply saying-if you
| will fulfil the conditions the results will
follow. OF course they will. | will
guarantee that the revival shall steadi-
| ly deepen for one year if you will con-
sent to do as 1 say. Yes, L will guar
antee that it shall continue for ten
years. increasing in power, reaching
out on every side and extending to all
the islands, if you will consent to fol-
| low my directions.
| This is all perfectly sound if we can
discover the great law of revivals.
| There has not been in these islands,
as 1 understand it, a revival that really
shook them for many years. If L should
ask most Christians here in the
churches, Brother, are you looking for,
expecting, a revival of religion on these
Hawaiian islands, the answer would
be quite generally, well, no, l am not. -
"Are you asking God for it?" well,
no. And why?" ''To tell the truth I
don't believe it would do any good.
Some such answer would be nearly
universal And this seems to indicate
| that the fatal defect in our case con-
| sists in nearly universal lack of faith.
| And that what is needed is that we en-
courage ourselves and all our friends to
| begin at once to treat the truth as true,
| to take the Lord at his word. For the
law of revivaIs is perfectly stated by
| the Apostle James, in James AS, Draw
| Nigh to God and He will Draw Nigh
| to You" One can see that his perfec-
lions make it impossible that he should
not do this. And any one can see that
this is the law of revivals. If we were
advancing toward him and he was re-
firing we should never preach him. If
he were drawing nigh to US and we
baeksliding, as is so frequently the case,
then there would be no revival. But if
we draw nigh to him he will surely
draw nigh to US and in much less than
fifteen minutes a true revival has be-
gun. This is the law of reviyals, and
of course it is infallible. It has never
any where failed, it never can fail. And
any church on earth can have a revival
begin at any minute,> and can have it
continue and deepen and widen for a
year, for ten years, if the church will
simply continue to draw nigh to God"
Humbling ourselves, with confession,
and new and deeper surrender, is the
way to draw nigh. 1t is perfectly sim
pie and all Christians understand it
well enough. 1t is a case of cause and
effect and failure is impossible. For this
| reason there is no excuse for us. We
all like to excuse ourselves but the ex-
cuse in this case is not valid.
There is nothing prevents or delays
any church from a revival but our own
wretched unbelief This unbelief we
ought to confess, deplore and put away.
Probably the most effective thing a
pastor can do is to rise when the audi
ence is largest and publicly confess that
nothing prevents, or has ever prevent
ed the desired revival but his own mis-
cradle and inexcusable unbelief. All
broken and contrite heart he will not
despise, but he does despise the heart
that is proud and self-righteous
Now the faith needed is to take this |
promise and begin Immediately to treat
1t as true. That is treating God as |
true. There is no other way to a true
revival. The most successful evangelist |
that ever led the people Of God had |
nothing we have not as to the grace |
and help of God. He could do nothing
more than this, he could draw nigh to |
God and he could treat as true the |
promises which our wretched unbelief |
makes dead to us. They have all testi- |
fled to this. The Rev. A B. Earlye |
says: Whatever you need, ask for it. |
and expect it to come at once Let the |
'nothing-wavering' prayer be offered |
and there can be no failure. No one
ever knew of a failure except where
faith was lacking"
The first step, indispensable, is to |
acknowledge that the lack of revival |
power is our own fault and that there
is no excuse for it,