by Greg Gordon

John Wesley said: ?What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.? Sadly we have tolerated a hell-less, eternity-less, sin-less gospel and this next generation is aimed at accepting this as the genuine apostolic original. The true Christian witness seems to be almost overshadowed by false doctrines, false cults, and false prophets. It is time for a holy desperation for revival to arise in God?s people! ~Greg Gordon

HOLY DESPERATION
A Fervent Exhortation For
A Revival Of Religion In Our Day

The prophet Isaiah declared the woeful state of Israel over three thousand years ago: ?Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.? How much different are we? Churches are failing, leaders are fumbling, and truth is fallen in the streets. The prophet Isaiah continues with this divine reprimand: ?they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.? And what shall the end of a people be that ?hide not their sins?? I have seen a strange thing under the sun: professors preaching ?continue in sin? from the pulpit. The Apostle Paul in contrast preached ?God forbid? which is one of the strongest emphatic statements in Scripture used to convey the ceasing of sin in the life of the believer. John Wesley said: ?What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.? Sadly we have tolerated a hell-less, eternity-less, sin-less gospel and this next generation is aimed at accepting this as the genuine apostolic original. The true Christian witness seems to be almost overshadowed by false doctrines, false cults, and false prophets. It is time for a holy desperation for revival to arise in God?s people! Mary Warburton Booth said this when the Salvation Army movement was waning: ?How we have prayed for a revival?we did not care whether it was old-fashioned or not?what we asked for was that it should be such that would cleanse and revive His children and set them on fire to win others.? We need a fury of passionate pleading, desperate crying, fervent praying for a heaven-sent revival in our day. Chuck Smith gave this searing statement to a church that does not realize its hour: ?Today, we are living in desperate times. Yet, the Church is not desperate before God in prayer.? Leonard Ravenhill said that ?Revival only comes by birth.? With birth comes laborious gestation, travailing birth-pains, and conceptional agony. Shall the birthing of revival be any different? Revival prayer is born out of a holy and healthy desperation for the presence and power of Christ in His church. We need not shrink back from emotions and displays of desperation for revival. Read this old report from one hundred years ago with the Irish Presbyterian Church: ?Perhaps you say it?s a sort of religious hysteria. So did some of us when we first heard of the Revival. But here we are, about sixty Scottish and Irish Presbyterians who have seen it?all shades of temperament?and, much as many of us shrank from it at first, everyone who has seen and heard what we have, every day last week, it is certain there is only one explanation?that it is God?s Holy Spirit manifesting Himself in a way we never dreamed of. We have no right to criticize; we dare not. One clause of the Creed that lives before us now in all its inevitable, awful solemnity is ?I believe in the Holy Ghost.?? God is desiring to manifest Himself in ways that we ?never dreamed of? which is reminiscent of the Scripture in Psalms that says: ?When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.? Oh Lord! turn back our captivity and grant us revival.

REVIVAL OR DEATH

?For decades sincere believers have asked, ?Why don't we have revival?? And for decades the answer has always been the same, ?We don't have revival because we're willing to live without it!? It really is that simple. Do we really want to hear the truth? God responds to hunger and thirst. He fills those who recognize their need, who are empty and broken, who are at the point of desperation, who are panting for Him the way a deer pants for water in the desert. He answers dependent prayers. Sure, we want revival, but we don't need revival. That's the difference. God will meet us at our point of need, not our point of preference. Revival is God's radical measure to get the church in a given area or at a given time back to normal before it falls into spiritual oblivion and cultural irrelevance. Revival comes when we realize that it's either revival or death, revival or continued backsliding, revival or the world around us goes to hell.? In this above quote from Michael Brown, he really speaks to the high requirement for revival namely in one word: everything! Oh brethren, we must realize that this has always been so; there are no shortcuts with God. We will never see a revival until this is realized and acted upon. In light of eternity let us have tears for our lack of desire and desperation for God. John Knox was a great man of God and this was his prayer, ?God give me Scotland or I die!? Again, John Hyde, who was a missionary, prayed, ?God give me souls or I die.? Again, Whitefield prayed, ?God give me souls or take my soul!? May we take it further, dear reader; can you pray: ?Give me revival or I die??

Where are those that have a burdened heart like Evan Roberts? He prayed for revival night and day for twelve years. At the end of these twelve years he prayed with such intensity, agony and urgency that his landlord asked him to vacate his living quarters. Is there a burning in your soul? a building desire in your heart? Let us not fool ourselves; the prayer meeting is ?dead? and so are multitudes in their trespasses and sins. We need a holy desperation to fill our prayer meetings, a holy zeal that will not relent until revival comes. The ?Lord comes suddenly? to His temple; let us not be found sleeping or great will be our shame. Mario Murillo in his article: ?Vital insights into God?s preparations for revival? states: ?now is the time to pull out all the stops. No program is sacred, no worthy project is worth enough. None of the ointment can be spared. It is revival or death!? William Seymour, the father of the modern day Pentecostal movement prayed for five to seven hours a day for over a year for revival. And what resulted? A glorious, powerful, sweeping Pentecost swept the world. Winkie Pratney told why there was no revival in the church over twenty years ago: ?We do not have men and women who are prepared to pay the same price to preach the same message and have the same power as those revivalists of the past. Without these firm believers, the community can never be changed. Our concern is conciliatory, our obedience optional, our lack theologically and culturally justified. Quite simply, it costs too much!? S.B. Shaw, who wrote on the Welsh revival, shares the results of a true heaven-sent revival: ?A revival that like a tornado will sweep away all the old dried-up sermons, and all the cold formal prayers, and all the lifeless singing, and like a whirlwind will carry everyone that comes in its path heavenward. A revival that will fill the hearts of saints with holy love, and so burden the hearts of God's ministers that the word of God will be like fire shut up in their bones. For such a revival our heart cries out to God! For such a revival we are ready to watch and toil and pray.? May we take it further dear reader, for such a revival are you willing to die?

IF NO REVIVAL

In the writings of Isaiah we see three clear consequences for the result of the nation of Israel not having repentance towards God. May I say that these three consequences will also be ours if we do not have a renewed repentance in the Church and a revolutionary revival from Heaven. If no revival then we will see these three judgments come on the earth and surely anyone that has been awakened to the hour will realize these monstrous consequences already have fallen upon us. If no revival, then hell will be enlarged. ?Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure.? Oh the horror of it, hell yawning and swallowing multiplied millions of souls that will be damned forever. To just see a glimpse of this reality will shake any soul to ask, ?What can be done?? George Whitefield said: ?At the day of judgement we shall all meet again.? How will you feel when you meet all of the millions of souls that could have been saved if you prayed and sought God for a revival of religion? When the Church does not have revival hell enlarges. What a frightful thought.

If no revival, then sin will abound. Men will begin to draw sin ?with a cart?, speaking of the enormous amounts of sin that abounds in a season when the Church is not being the salt of the earth. We see that evidently today where people call good evil and evil good and to such God says, ?Woe unto them.? As Richard Baxter said of sin, ?It is the murderer of the whole world.? The only hope for lost captive sinners is Christ! Yet the Church and Christians keep multitudes from Christ. Lamentable fact! When the church is not the ?light of the world?, the world falls into outer darkness. When the Church does not have revival, sin abounds on the earth. If no revival, then the Word will be despised. In a season where there is no revival in the church the world will begin to disregard the law of God, as the Scripture says, ?they have cast away the law of the Lord.? And they begin to ?despise? not only the Word of God but the ?Holy One of Israel.? This is a doublesmart; the church is ineffective and God is mocked. Martyn-Lloyd Jones wrote to this fact: ?Does it grieve you my friends, that the name of God is being taken in vain and desecrated? Does it grieve you that we are living in a godless age? The main reason we should be praying about revival is that we are anxious to see God?s name vindicated and His glory manifested.? When the Church does not have revival God?s name is despised.

Leonard Ravenhill wrote: ?this generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of sinners.? This responsibility is of eternal consequence, dear reader; being a Christian is a somber thing. Over a hundred years ago Andrew Bonar wrote: ?Revivals begin with God's own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones?Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!? Evan Roberts wrote: ?Prayer is buried and lost, and Heaven weeps. If all prayed, the wicked would flee from our midst or to the refuge.?

LOSS OF REPUTATION

Perhaps one reason why there is no revival is because the ministers are not willing to pay the cost, namely the loss of reputation. Gilbert Tennet was used mightily of God in the second great awakening. Hear him give account of the popular preaching in his day: ?They often strengthened the hands of the wicked by promising them life. They comfort people before they convince them; sow before they plow; and are busy in raising a fabric before they lay a foundation. These foolish builders strengthen men's carnal security by their soft, selfish, cowardly discourses. They have not the courage or honesty to thrust the nail of terror into the sleeping souls!? Preaching without unction, praying without fervor, are two reasons why revival tarries in our day. We need a moratorium on reputation to see revival. May God rouse this generation to a passionate pursuit for revival and a determined ardor to see it come to pass.

When He shows no anger!

"The Lord disciplines the one He loves, and
 punishes every son whom He receives." Heb. 12:6

There cannot be a greater evidence of God's
hatred and wrath?than His refusing to correct
men for their sinful courses and vanities!

Where God refuses to correct?there God resolves
to destroy! There is no man so near God's axe?so
near the flames?so near hell?as he whom God
will not so much as spend a rod upon!

"Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline."
 Revelation 3:19

God is most angry?when He shows no anger!

Who can seriously meditate upon this, and not
be silent under God's most smarting rod?



All the hell that you shall ever have!

Consider Christian, that all your . . .
  trials and troubles,
  calamities and miseries,
  crosses and losses,
which you meet with in this world?is all
the hell that you shall ever have!

Here and now you have your hell.
Hereafter you shall have your heaven!

This is the worst of your condition;
the best is yet to come!

Lazarus had his hell first, his heaven last; but
Dives had his heaven first, and his hell at last.

You have all your pangs, and pains, and throes
here?that you shall ever have! Your ease, and
rest, and pleasure?is yet to come!

Here you have all your bitters;
your sweets are yet to come!

Here you have your sorrows;
your joys are yet to come!

Here you have all your winter nights;
your summer days are yet to come!

Here you have your evil things;
your good things are yet to come!

Death will put an end to all your sins?
and to all your sufferings!

Death will be an inlet to those joys, delights,
and comforts?which shall never have an end!

Who can seriously meditate upon this, and not
be silent under God's most smarting rod?

Then the scum appears!

Few Christians see themselves and understand
themselves rightfully. By trials, God reveals
much of a man's sinful self to his pious self.

When the fire is put under the pot?then the
scum appears; so when God tries a poor soul,
Oh! how does . . .
  the scum of pride,
  the scum of murmuring,
  the scum of distrust,
  the scum of impatience,
  the scum of worldliness,
  the scum of carnality,
  the scum of foolishness,
  the scum of willfulness?
reveal itself in the heart of the poor creature?

Trials are God's looking-glass, in which
His people see their own faults. Oh! . . .
  that looseness,
  that vileness,
  that wretchedness,
  that sink of filthiness,
  that gulf of wickedness,
which trials show to be in their hearts!

"I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."
     Isaiah 48:10



When Munster lay sick

"Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline."
 Revelation 3:19

"The Lord disciplines the one He loves, and
punishes every son whom He receives." Heb. 12:6

All the afflictions which come upon the saints,
are the fruits of divine love.

When Munster lay sick, and his friends asked
him how he did, and how he felt; he pointed to
his sores and ulcers, whereof he was full, and said,
"These are God's gems and jewels with which He
decks his best friends, and to me they are more
precious than all the gold and silver in the world!"

"It was good for me to be afflicted!" Psalm 119:71

God afflicts you, O Christian, in love! Therefore Luther
cries out, 'Strike, Lord, strike, Lord! and spare not!'



Father knows best!

"Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they
 thought best; but God disciplines us for our good,
 that we may share in His holiness." Hebrews 12:10.

What God, our Father wills, is best.

When He wills sickness, sickness is better than health.
 
When He wills weakness, weakness is better than strength.
 
When He wills poverty, poverty is better than wealth.
 
When He wills reproach, reproach is better than honor.
 
When He wills death, death is better than life.

As God is wisdom itself, and so knows that which is
best; so He is goodness itself, and therefore cannot
do anything but that which is best?therefore remain
silent before the Lord.



Everything on this side hell is mercy

Oh! labor every day to be more humble and more
low and little in your own eyes. 'Who am I,' says
the humble soul?'but that God should cross me in
this mercy, and take away that mercy, and pass a
sentence of death upon every mercy? I am not
worthy of the least mercy, I deserve not a
crumb of mercy, I have forfeited every mercy.'

Only by pride comes contention. It is only pride that
puts men upon contending with God and men.

A humble soul will lie quiet at the foot of God, it
will be contented with bare necessities. A dinner
of green herbs relishes well with the humble man's
palate; whereas a stalled ox is but a coarse dish to
a proud man's stomach.

A humble heart thinks none less than himself, nor
none worse than himself.

A humble heart looks upon small mercies as great
mercies; and great afflictions as small afflictions;
and small afflictions as no afflictions; and therefore
sits mute and quiet under all. Do but keep humble,
and you will keep silent before the Lord.

Pride kicks, and flings, and frets; but a humble man
has still his hand upon his mouth. Everything on
this side hell is mercy?much mercy, rich mercy
to a humble soul; and therefore he remains mute
under the smarting rod.


 

Some important dates in the life of Lewi Pethrus.

	1884 March 11. Lewi Pethrus was born in Västra Tunhem in the county of Älvsborg.
	1895. Pethrus is employed for the first time as a shepherd boy during the summer.
	1897. Employed at Vargöns AB, first as post messenger. Later in the chemical factory and finally in the paper factory.
	1899 February 12. Pethrus is baptized in the Baptist Church, Vänersborg. In May he moves to Vänersborg and starts to work as an apprentice in a shoe factory.
	1900 August. He travels to Fredrikshald, Norway, where he continues to work as a shoemaker. He participates diligently in the activities of the Baptist Church.
	1901. Pethrus moves to Oslo and starts to work at a shoe factory there. He is very active in the Baptist Church.
	1902. Pethrus becomes co-pastor with Adolf Mildes in the Baptist Church at Arendal, Norway. He preaches for the first time for five minutes during the service on Whit Sunday. After a series of meetings in Lillestrand he is baptized in the Holy Spirit while standing on the deck of the boat to Bergen watching the sun rise out of the sea. He does not understand the experience and is warned later by his pastor not to recount what had happened.
	1902-03. Pethrus holds meetings along the coast between Langesund and Lillesand.
	1903. During the summer Pethrus becomes a preacher in the little Baptist Church in Bengtsfors, Dalsland.
	1904. Pethrus commences his studies at Betel Seminary in Stockholm to become a Baptist pastor. During the first Christmas holidays he is a preacher in Stora Kil, Värmland.
	1905. Pethrus works during the summer for the Baptist Young People's Union at their headquarters in Karlstad. Back once more at Bethel Seminary he reads The Biblical Doctrine of Christ by Viktor Rydberg and loses his faith in the divinity of Christ. He is encompassed by doubt and darkness. Shortly before Christmas he has a deep spiritual experience while alone, a personal meeting with Christ which gives him back his faith and peace of mind for all time removes his doubt. During the Christmas holidays he is sent to preach in the Baptist Churches in Kristianstad and Hässleholm. Revival breaks out.
	1906 Spring. Pethrus does his National Service at Axvalla Hed, Västergötland. Autumn. He becomes pastor of Lidköping's Baptist Church.
	1907 January. Pethrus travels to Oslo after reading about T.B Barrat's revival there. He answers Barrat's questions: Are you prepared to be anything for Christ? Are you prepared to do anything for Christ? Are you prepared to go anywhere for Christ. The doctrine of The Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues becomes clear. " From that moment I was part of the Pentecostal Revival".
	1910 Autumn. Pethrus is appointed pastor of the newly started 7th Baptist Church, Stockholm which held their meetings in Philadelphia Hall, 11 Uppsala Street.
	1911 January 8. Pethrus preaches his introductory sermon in Philadelphia Church, Stockholm. Philadelphia Church starts its Rescue Mission.
	1913 April. Lydia Danielsson and Lewi Pethrus are married in the Baptist Chapel at Kragero, Norway.At the end of the same month Philadelphia Church is excluded from the Baptist Denomination because of a more liberal interpretation of Holy Communion than the Baptists.
	1913-14. The turn of the year. Pethrus writes the two first verses and chorus of 'Firm Are the Promises Standing'. The remaining verses were written two years later. He publishes the first issue of the hymnal 'Songs of Victory'.
	1915. Philadelphia Church starts its own bible school.
	1916. The first issue of the weekly magazine 'The Gospel Herald' is published. Philadelphia sends out its first missionaries, Lina and Samuel Nyström, who travel to Brazil. The Pentecostal movement's first bible study week is held at Korsberga, Västergötland, and becomes the forerunner to the later great Nyhem's conferences.
	1921. Philadelphia Church moves into its new premises at 45 Sveavägen.
	1928. The membership of Philadelphia Church exceeds 3000. Police raid Philadelphia's shelter 'The Ark' in Stockholm's Old Town. Several newspapers attack the church. The affair turns out to be a rebuff for the police.
	1930. Lewi Pethrus inaugurates Philadelphia's new church on Rörstrandsgatan, Sweden's largest church building as far as seating accommodation was concerned.
	1934. The membership of Philadelphia Church exceeds 5000.
	1942. A folk high school is started.
	1943. Philadelphia Church buys Kaggeholms mansion which becomes the new premises for the folk high school.
	1944. Pethrus takes the initiative for a conference of unity about the question of baptism.
	1945. After ten years of work to get a daily paper started Pethrus' efforts are crowned with success and Dagen is published.
	1949. Pethrus is awarded an honorary doctorate at Wheaton College, Illinois, USA.
	1952. The General Savings and Credit Fund is opened.
	1955. Lewi Pethrus inaugurates IBRA Radio from the station in Tangiers and is host for the Pentecostal world Conference in Stockholm.
	1958 7th September. Pethrus resigns from the pastorate of Philadelphia Church.
	1959. The Lewi Pethrus Trust for Philanthropic Endeavour is started.
	1964. Lewi Pethrus takes the initiative for the formation of The Christian Democratic Coalition.
	1966 30th December. Lydia Pethrus dies.
	1973. Lewi Pethrus is made Knight Commander of the Vasa Order.
	1974. Lewi Pethrus preaching at his last "Nyhemsvecka" (a yearly week for the Pentecostal Movement, near Jonkoping).
	1974. Lewi Pethrus dies.

Perpetual fuel to the flames of hell!

(Thomas Brooks, "London's Lamentations" 1670)

Our earthly fire destroys and consumes whatever is cast
into it. It turns all combustibles into ashes. But the fire of
hell is not of that nature. The fire of hell consumes nothing
which is cast into it. It rages?but it does not consume or
destroy either bodies or souls.

"Men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long
 to die, but death will elude them." Revelation 9:6

They shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
They shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them and
to crush them to nothing! They shall desire that . . .
  the fire which burns them?would consume them to nothing,
  the worm which feeds on them?would gnaw them to nothing,
  the devils which torment them?would tear them to nothing!
They shall cry to God, who first made them out of nothing,
to reduce them to that first nothing from whence they
came! But "their Maker has no compassion on them,
and their Creator shows them no favor." Isaiah 27:11

They shall always be burned?but never consumed.

Ah, how well would it be with the damned, if in the fire
of hell, they might be consumed to ashes! But this is their
misery?they shall be ever dying, and yet never die; their
bodies shall be always a-burning?but never a-consuming!
It is dreadful to be perpetual fuel to the flames of hell!
What misery can compare to this?for infernal fire to be still
a-preying upon damned sinners, and yet never making an
end of them! The fierce and furious flames of hell shall burn
?but never annihilate, the bodies of the damned. In hell
there is no cessation of fire burning, nor of matter burned.
Neither flames nor smoke shall consume or choke the
impenitent. Both the infernal fire, and the burning of the
bodies of reprobates in that fire?shall be preserved by
the miraculous power of God!

"Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath!"
    1 Thessalonians 1:10

"For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to
 receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."
    1 Thessalonians 5:9

Be Filled With The Holy Spirit
by Zac Poonen

I saw a cartoon once of the disciples waiting in the upper room to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:12-14). (We know now that they waited for ten days, but at that time, none of them knew how long they would have to wait.) One of them walks out of the door on the ninth day, saying that he is tired of waiting and is going home. He tells the others that they can wait if they want. Imagine his disappointment, when he heard the next day that all the others in the upper room were baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire and endowed with power from on high. How close he had been to the answer. If only he had waited one more day.....

Jesus invited only those who THIRST to come to Him (John 7:37-39). Only those who seek God WITH ALL THEIR HEART find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). God rewards only those who DILIGENTLY seek Him (Heb.11:6 - KJV). Why is this so? Because it is only when we seek God WHOLEHEARTEDLY that we prove that our relationship with Him is the MOST IMPORTANT thing to us in the world.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AS WE SHOULD, WITHOUT BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SERVE THE LORD AS WE SHOULD, WITHOUT BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Even Jesus Himself needed to be anointed with the Holy Spirit, before He went out into His ministry (Luke 3:21-23).

The Lord told His disciples to WAIT until they "were clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). While the world lay dying in need of hearing the gospel, those apostles needed to wait until they were baptized in the Holy Spirit before they could go out and serve the Lord (Acts 1:8).

What about us??

How foolish we are to think that we don't need this too!!

On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people that God was offering TWO gifts to all who would repent, believe and be baptized - FORGIVENESS OF SINS and THE HOLY SPIRIT (Read Acts 2:38).

Forgiveness of sins qualifies us for heaven.

The baptism in the Spirit fits us for life on earth.

If you are only interested in going to heaven when you die, you don't need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You only need to have your sins forgiven. But if you want to spend your earthly days usefully, showing your gratitude to the Lord for dying for you, by serving Him, then you MUST be filled with the Holy Spirit.

There are FIVE main reasons why many believers are NOT baptized in the Holy Spirit:

(1) They have been INTELLECTUALLY CONVINCED by some theological argument that they were baptized in the Spirit when they were born again. And even though they are defeated, powerless, empty and fruitless, they continue to believe this theological deception.

(2) They feel that they are NOT WORTHY ENOUGH to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The fact of the matter is that the more unworthy you feel and the greater the sinner you consider yourself to be, the more fit you are to receive the Holy Spirit - because God's gifts are given only to those who feel themselves most unworthy to receive them. If you have repented of your sins, it doesn't matter how unworthy or unfit or useless you are. Hallelujah!

(3) They DON'T BELIEVE that God is a good God - who gives His gifts freely to all who ask Him. They feel that they have to pay a price - do some good deeds, like fasting and praying, before they can receive. But God's gifts are all freely given - whether it be the forgiveness of sins or the baptism in the Spirit. None of God's gifts can be purchased. Many believers feel that to have faith itself is a difficult thing. But Jesus likened faith to drinking (See John 7:37,38, "...DRINK.... BELIEVE"). To receive the Holy Spirit is as easy as drinking. Even babies know how to drink - and those who are newly born again can be baptized with the Holy Spirit. That is how it was in the early days - as we read in the "Acts of the Apostles".

(4) They DON'T THIRST. They are not desperate enough. Jesus spoke a parable of a man who kept on knocking at his neighbour's door, UNTIL HE RECEIVED what he wanted. Then Jesus went on to say that our Heavenly Father would also give the Holy Spirit to those who asked, sought and knocked like that man (Read Luke 11:13 in the context of the previous verses, beginning at v.5).

(5) They WAIT FOR SOME EXPERIENCE (tongues or thrills etc., ) similar to the one they heard someone else testify to. They are not willing to leave it to God to decide what gift or manifestation is best for them to have. The Holy Spirit is received by simple faith. Ask and ye shall receive (Gal.3:2; Luke 11:9-13). Don't wait for feelings. But ask God to give you an assurance. Leave it to Him as to how He gives you that assurance. Didn't He give you an assurance that your sins are forgiven and that you are His child? In the same way, He can also assure you that He has filled you with the Holy Spirit. What you need is not an experience, but POWER (Acts 1:8).

SO: THIRST - BELIEVE - AND RECEIVE. Now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation.

"The Spirit of the Lord WILL come upon you and you shall be CHANGED INTO ANOTHER MAN" (1 Sam.10:6).

NOT ALL THE BLOOD OF BEASTS

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Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

Music: South­well (Da­man), bio("Will­iam Da­man","d/a/daman_w")Will­iam Da­man, Psalmes of Da­vid in Eng­lish Me­ter, 1579lmn("s/o/u/Southwell") (MI­DI, score).

If you have ac­cess to a pic­ture of Will­iam Da­man that we could put on­line, please click here.

The World Passes Away!

(by Horatius Bonar)

The things that are seen are temporal.
Ours is a dying world, and here we have no
continuing city. But a few years, it may be
less, and all things here are changed.

Like a dream of the night, the world passes
away. We lie down to rest; we fall asleep; we
dream; we awake at morn; and lo, all is fled
that in our dream seemed so stable and so
pleasant! So hastes the world away. O child of
mortality, have you no brighter world beyond?

Like the mist of the morning, the world
passes away. The night brings down the
mists upon the hills, the vapor covers the
valleys; the sun rises, all has passed off,
hill and vale are clear. So the world passes
off, and is seen no more. O man, will you
embrace a world like this? Will you lie down
upon a mist, and say, "This is my home"?

Like a shadow, the world passes away.
There is nothing more unreal than a shadow.
It has no substance, no being. It is dark, it
is a figure, it has motion, that is all! Such is
the world. O man will you chase a shadow?
What will a shadow do for you?

Like a wave of the sea, the world passes
away. It rises, falls, and is seen no more.
Such is the history of a wave. Such is the
story of the world. O man will you make
a wave your portion? Have you no better
pillow on which to lay your wearied head
than this? A poor world this for human heart
to love, for an immortal soul to be filled with!

Like a rainbow, the world passes away.
The sun throws its colors on a cloud, and for
a few minutes all is brilliant. But the cloud shifts,
and the brilliance is all gone. Such is the world.
With all its beauty and brightness; with all its
honors and pleasures; with all its mirth and
madness; with all its pomp and luxury; with
all its revelry and riot; with all its hopes and
flatteries; with all its love and laughter; with
all its songs and splendor; with all its gems
and gold, it vanishes. And the cloud that knew
the rainbow knows it no more. O man, is a passing
world like this all that you have for an inheritance?

Like a flower, the world passes away.
Beautiful, very beautiful; fragrant, very
fragrant, are the summer flowers. But
they wither away. So fades the world
from before our eyes. While we are looking
at it, and admiring it, behold, it is gone!
No trace is left of all its loveliness but a
little dust! O man, can you feed on flowers?
Can you dote on that which is but for an hour?
You were made for eternity; and only that
which is eternal can be your portion or your
resting place. The things that perish with the
using only mock your longings. They cannot fill
you; and even if they filled, they cannot abide.
Mortality is written on all things here;
immortality belongs only to the world to come.

Like a ship at sea, the world passes away.
With all its sails set, and a fresh breeze blowing,
the vessel comes into sight, passes before our
eye in the distance, and then disappears.
So comes, so goes, so vanishes away this
present world, with all that it contains. A few
hours within sight, then gone! The wide sea
over which it sailed as calm or as stormy
as before; no trace anywhere of all the life
or motion or beauty which was passing
over it! O man, is that vanishing world your
only dwelling place? Are all your treasures,
your hopes, your joys laid up there? Where
will all these be when you go down to the
tomb? Or where will you be when these
things leave you, and you are stripped of all
the inheritance which you are ever to have
for eternity? It is a poor heritage at the best,
and its short duration makes it poorer still.
Oh, choose the better part, which shall not
be taken from you!

Like a tent in the desert, the world passes
away. They who have traveled over the
Arabian sands know what this means. At
sunset a little speck of white seems to rise
out of the barren waste. It is a traveler's tent.
At sunrise it disappears. Both it and its inhabitant
are gone. The wilderness is as lonely as before.
Such is the world. Today it shows itself;
tomorrow it disappears. O man, is that your
home? Will you say of it, "This is my rest," when
we tell you that there is a rest, an everlasting
rest, remaining for the people of God?

THE WORLD PASSES AWAY. This is the
message from heaven. All flesh is grass, and all
the goodness thereof as the flower of the field.

THE WORLD PASSES AWAY.
But God ever lives. He is from everlasting to
everlasting; the King eternal and immortal.

THE WORLD PASSES AWAY.
But man is immortal. Eternity lies before each
son of Adam as the duration of his lifetime.
In light or in darkness forever! In joy or in
sorrow forever!

THE WORLD PASSES AWAY.
What then? This is the question that so deeply
concerns man. If the world is to vanish away,
and man is to live forever, of what importance
is it to know where and what we are to be
forever! Life is no plaything, and time is no
child's toy, to be flung away. Life here is the
beginning of the life which has no end; and
time is but the gateway of eternity.

THE WORLD PASSES AWAY.
What then? You must, O man, make sure
of a home in that world into which you are
so soon to pass. One who had lived a worldly
life at last lay down to die; and when about
to pass away he uttered these terrible words,
"I am dying, and I don't know where I am going."
Another in similar circumstances cried out,
"I am within an hour of eternity and all is dark."
O man of earth, it is time to awake!

In the cross there is salvation; nowhere else.
In the day of darkening prospects, of thickening
sorrows, of heavy burdens, of pressing cares;
when friends depart, when riches fly away, when
disease oppresses us, when poverty knocks at
our door; then the cross shines out, and tells
us of a light beyond this world's darkness,
the Light of Him who is the light of the world.

Sweet poisons!

(Thomas Brooks "Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices")
 

Satan presents the world in such a dress, and in such a garb to the soul?as to ensnare the soul, and to win the affection of the soul.

He represents the world to them in its beauty and finery, which proves a bewitching sight to carnal men. (It is true, this deceived not Christ, because Satan could find no matter in him for his temptation to work upon.) So that he can no sooner cast out his golden bait?but we are ready to play with it, and to nibble at it; he can no sooner throw out his golden ball?but men are apt to run after it, though they lose God and their souls in the pursuit!

Ah! how many professors in these days have for a time followed hard after God, Christ, and ordinances; until the devil has set before them the world in all its beauty and finery, which has so bewitched their souls that they have grown to have low thoughts of holy things, and then to be cold in their affections to holy things, and then to slight them, and at last, with the young man in the Gospel, to turn their backs upon them. Ah! the time, the thoughts, the hearts, the souls, the duties, the services--which the inordinate love of this wicked world eats up and destroys! Where one thousand are destroyed by the world's frowns--ten thousand are destroyed by the world's smiles! The world, siren-like, sings to us, then sinks us! It kisses us, and betrays us, like Judas! It kisses us and stabs us under the rib, like Joab. The honors, splendor, and all the glory of this world, are but sweet poisons, which will much endanger us, if they do not eternally destroy us. Ah! the multitude of souls that have glutted on these sweet baits and died forever!

The inhabitants of Nilus are deaf from the noise of the waters; so the world makes such a noise in men's ears, that they cannot hear the things of heaven. The world is like the swallows' dung that put out Tobias's eyes. The champions could not wring an apple out of Milo's hand by a strong hand?but a fair maid, by fair means, got it presently.

Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, to dwell upon the impotency and weakness of all these things here below. They are not able to secure you from the least evil, they are not able to procure you the least desirable good. The crown of gold cannot cure the headache, nor the velvet slipper ease the gout, nor the jewel about the neck take away the pain of the teeth. The frogs of Egypt entered into the rich men's houses of Egypt, as well as the poor. Our daily experience does evidence this, that all the honors and riches that men enjoy, cannot free them from the cholic, the fever, or lesser diseases. No, that which may seem most strange, is that a great deal of wealth cannot keep men from falling into extreme poverty. You shall find seventy kings, with their fingers and toes cut off, glad, like dogs, to lick up crumbs under another king's table; and shortly after, the same king that brought them to this poverty, is reduced to the same poverty and misery (Judg. 1:6). Why then should that be a bar to keep you out of heaven--which cannot give you the least ease on earth?

Nugas the Scythian, despising the rich presents and ornaments which were sent unto him by the emperor of Constantinople, asked whether those things could drive away calamities, diseases, or death.

Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, to dwell upon the vanity of them as well as upon the impotency of all worldly good. This is the sum of Solomon's sermon, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!' This our first parents found, and therefore named their second son Abel, or 'vanity.' Solomon, who had tried all these things, and could best tell the vanity of them?preaches this sermon over again and again. 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!' It is sad to think how many thousands there are, who can say with the preacher, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,' no, swear it, and yet follow after these things as if there were no other glory, nor felicity?but what is to be found in these things they call vanity! Such men will sell Christ, heaven, and their souls for a trifle, who call these things vanity?but do not cordially believe them to be vanity?but set their hearts upon them as if they were their crown, the top of their royalty and glory. Oh let your souls dwell upon the vanity of all things here below, until your hearts be so thoroughly convinced and persuaded of the vanity of them, as to trample upon them, and make them a footstool for Christ to get up, and ride in a holy triumph in your hearts!

Oh the imperfection, the ingratitude, the levity the inconstancy, the treachery of those creatures we most servilely bow down to. Ah, did we but weigh man's pain with his payment, his crosses with his mercies, his miseries with his pleasures?we would then see that there is nothing got bargain, and conclude, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!'

Chrysostom once said, That if he were to preach a sermon to the whole world, gathered together in one congregation, and had some high mountain for his pulpit, from whence he might have a prospect of all the world in his view, and were furnished with a voice of brass, a voice as loud as the trumpets of the archangel, that all the world might hear him, he would choose to preach upon no other text than that in the Psalms, O mortal men,"How long will you love what is worthless and pursue a lie?" (Psalm 4:2).

Tell me, you that say all things under the sun are vanity, if you do really believe what you say, why do you spend more thoughts and time on the world, than you do on Christ, heaven and your immortal souls? Why do you then neglect your duty towards God, to get the world? Why do you then so eagerly pursue after the world, and are so cold in your pursuing after God, Christ and holiness? Why then are your hearts so exceedingly raised, when the world comes in, and smiles upon you; and so much dejected, and cast down, when the world frowns upon you, and with Jonah's gourd withers before you?

Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, to dwell much upon the uncertainty, the mutability, and inconstancy of all things under the sun. Man himself is but the dream of a dream?but the generation of imagination?but an empty vanity?but the curious picture of nothing?a poor, feeble, dying shadow. All temporals are as transitory as a ruching current, a shadow, a ship, a bird, an arrow, a runner who passes by. 'Why should you set your eyes upon that which is not?' says Solomon (Prov. 23:5). And says the apostle, 'The fashion of this world passes away' (1 Cor. 7:31). This intimates, that there is nothing of any firmness, or solid consistency, in the creature. Heaven alone, has a foundation?earth has none, 'but is hung upon nothing,' as Job speaks (26:7). The apostle commanded Timothy to 'charge rich men that they be not high-minded, nor put their trust in uncertain riches' (1 Tim. 6:17). Riches were never true to any who trusted to them; they have deceived men, as Job's brook did the poor travelers in the summer season (Job. 6:15). They are like bad servants, who ramble about and will never tarry long with one master.

As a bird hops from tree to tree, so do the honors and riches of this world from man to man. Let Job and Nebuchadnezzar testify this truth, who fell from great wealth to great want. No man can promise himself to be wealthy until the end of the day; one storm at sea, one coal of fire, one false friend, one unadvised word, one false witness?may make you a beggar and a prisoner all at once! All the riches and glory of this world is but as smoke and chaff that vanishes; 'As a dream and vision in the night, that tarries not' (Job 20:8). 'Like a hungry one who dreams he is eating, then wakes and is still hungry; and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking, then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water,' as the prophet Isaiah says (Chap. 29:8). Where is the glory of Solomon? the sumptuous buildings of Nebuchadnezzar? the nine hundred chariots of Sisera? the power of Alexander? the authority of Augustus, who commanded the whole world to be taxed? Those that have been the most glorious, in what men generally account glorious and excellent, have had inglorious ends; as Samson for strength, Absalom for favor, Ahithophel for policy, Haman for favor, Asahel for swiftness, Alexander for great conquest and yet poisoned. The same you may see in the four mighty kingdoms, the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman: how soon were they gone and forgotten! The most renowned Frederick lost all, and sued to be made but sexton of the church that himself had built. I have read of a poor fisherman, who, while his nets were a-drying, slept upon the rock, and dreamed that he was made a king, on a sudden starts up, and leaping for joy, fell down from the rock, and in the place of his imaginary felicities loses his little portion of pleasures.

Now rich?now poor; now full?now empty; now in favor?anon out of favor; now honorable?now despised; now health?now sickness; now strength?now weakness. The pomp of this world John compares to the moon, which increases and decreases (Rev. 12:1).

Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, that the great things of this world are very hurtful and dangerous to the outward and inward man, through the corruptions that are in the hearts of men. Oh, the rest, the peace, the comfort, the contentment?that the things of this world strip many men of! Oh, the fears, the cares, the envy, the malice, the dangers, the mischiefs, that they subject men to! They oftentimes make men carnally confident. The rich man's riches are a strong tower in his imagination. 'I said in my prosperity I should never be moved' (Psalm 30:6). They often swell the heart with pride, and make men forget God, and neglect God, and despise the rock of their salvation. When Jeshurun 'waxed fat, and was grown thick, and covered with fatness, then he forgot God, and forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation,' as Moses spoke (Deut. 32:15).

Ah, the time, the thoughts, the energy?which the things of the world consume and spend! Oh, how do they hinder the actings of faith upon God! how do they interrupt our sweet communion with God! how do they abate our love to the people of God! and cool our love to the things of God! and work us to act like those who are most unlike God! Oh, the deadness, the barrenness, which usually attend men under great outward mercies! Oh, the riches of the world chokes the word; that men live under the most soul-searching, and soul-enriching means with lean souls! Though they have full purses, though their chests are full of silver, yet their hearts are empty of grace. In Genesis 13:2, it is said, that 'Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold.' According to the Hebrew, it is 'Abram was very weary;' to show that riches are a heavy burden, and a hindrance many times to heaven, and happiness.

Four good mothers beget four bad daughters: great familiarity begets contempt; truth begets hatred; virtue begets envy; riches begets ignorance (a French proverb).

Polycrates gave a large sum of money to Anacreon, who for two nights afterwards, was so troubled with worry how to keep it, and how to spend it; that he carried the money back to Polycrates, saying that it was not worth the pains which he had already taken for it.

King Henry the Fourth asked the Duke of Alva if he had observed the great eclipse of the sun, which had lately happened. No, said the duke, I have so much to do on earth, that I have no leisure to look up to heaven. Ah, that this were not true of most professors in these days! It is very sad to think, how their hearts and time are so much taken up with earthly things, that they have scarcely any leisure to look up to heaven, or to look after Christ, and the things that belong to their everlasting peace!

Riches, though justly acquired, yet are but like manna; those who gathered less had no lack, and those who gathered more, it was but a trouble and annoyance to them. The world is troublesome, and yet it is loved; what would it be, if it brought true peace? You embrace it, though it be filthy; what would you do if it were beautiful? You cannot keep your hands from the thorns; how earnest would you be then in gathering the flowers? The world may be fitly likened to the serpent Scytale, whereof it is reported, that when she cannot overtake those passing by, she does with her beautiful colors so astonish and amaze them, that they have no power to leave, until she has stung them! Ah, how many thousands are there now on earth, who have found this true by experience, who have spun a lovely rope to strangle themselves, both temporally and eternally, by being bewitched by the beauty and finery of this world!

Sicily is so full of sweet flowers that dogs cannot hunt there. And what do all the sweet contents of this world?but make us lose the scent of heaven!

Remedy (5). The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider, that all the felicity of this world is MIXED. Our light is mixed with darkness, our joy with sorrow, our pleasures with pain, our honor with dishonor, our riches with wants. If our minds are spiritual, clear and quick, we may see in the felicity of this world?our wine mixed with water, our honey with gall, our sugar with wormwood, and our roses with prickles. Surely all the things of this world are but bitter sweets. Sorrow attends worldly joy, danger attends worldly safety, loss attends worldly labors, tears attend worldly purposes. As to these things, men's hopes are vain, their sorrow certain, and joy feigned. The apostle calls this world 'a sea of glass,' a sea for the trouble of it, and glass for the brittleness and bitterness of it. (Rev. 4:6, 15:2, 21:18). The honors, profits, pleasures and delights of the world are like the gardens of Adonis, where we can gather nothing but trivial flowers, surrounded with many briars.

Remedy (6). The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is, to get better acquaintance and better assurance of more blessed and glorious things. That which raised up their spirits (Heb. 10 and 11) to trample upon all the beauty, finery and glory of the world, was the acquaintance with, 'and assurance of better and more durable things.' You joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.' 'They looked for a house which had foundations, whose builder and maker was God.' 'And they looked for another country, even a heavenly one.' 'They saw him who was invisible, and had an eye to the recompense of reward.' And this made them count all the glory and finery of this world, to be too poor and contemptible for them to set their hearts upon! (Heb. 10:34; 11:10, 16 26).

The main reason why men dote upon the world, and damn their souls to get the world, is, because they are not acquainted with a greater glory! Men ate acorns, until they were acquainted with the use of wheat. Ah, were men more acquainted with what union and communion with God means, what it is to have 'a new name, and a new stone, that none knows but he who has it' (Rev. 2:17); did they but taste more of heaven, and live more in heaven, and had more glorious hopes of going to heaven, ah, how easily would they have the world under their feet!

Let heaven be a man's object, and earth will soon be his abject.

It was an excellent saying of Lewis of Bavaria, emperor of Germany, 'Such goods are worth getting and owning?which will not sink or wash away if a shipwreck happens?but will wade and swim out with us.' It is recorded of Lazarus, that after his resurrection from the dead, he was never seen to laugh, his thoughts and affections were so fixed in heaven, though his body was on earth, and therefore he could not but slight temporal things, his heart being so bent and set upon eternals. There are goods for the throne of grace?as God, Christ, the Spirit, adoption, justification, remission of sin, peace with God, and peace with conscience. And there are goods of the footstool?as honors, riches, the favor of creatures, and other comforts and accommodation of this life. Now he who has acquaintance with, and assurance of the goods of the throne, will easily trample upon the goods of the footstool.

Ah that you would make it your business, your work, to mind more, and make sure more to your own souls?the great things of eternity?that will yield you joy in life and peace in death, and a crown of righteousness in the day of Christ's appearing, and that will lift up your souls above all the beauty and finery of this bewitching world, that will raise your feet above other men's heads! When a man comes to be assured of a crown, a scepter and the royal robes, he then begins to have low and contemptible thoughts of those base things which before he highly prized. So will assurance of more great and glorious things, breed in the soul a holy scorn and contempt of all these poor, base things, which the soul before valued above God, Christ and heaven.

When Basil was tempted with money and preferment, said he, 'Give me money that may last forever, and glory that may eternally flourish; for the fashion of this world passes away, as the waters of a river that runs by a city.

Remedy (7). The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, that true happiness and satisfaction is not to be had in the enjoyment of worldly good. True happiness is too big and too glorious a thing to be found in anything below that glorious God?who is a Christian's summum bonum?his chief good. True happiness lies only in our enjoyment of a suitable good, a pure good, a total good and an eternal good! God alone is such a good?and such a good can only satisfy the soul of man. Philosophers could say, that he was never a truly happy man?who might afterwards become miserable.

The blessed angels, those glittering courtiers, have all felicities and blessedness, and yet have they neither gold, nor silver, nor jewels, nor none of the beauty and finery of this world. Certainly if happiness was to be found in these earthly things, the Lord Jesus, who is the right and royal heir of all things, would have exchanged his cradle for a crown; his birth chamber, a stable, for a royal palace; his poverty for plenty; his despised followers for shining courtiers; and his poor provisions for the choicest delicacies. Certainly happiness lies not in those things which a man may enjoy?and yet be miserable forever. Now a man may be great and graceless with Pharaoh; honorable and damnable with king Saul; rich and miserable with Dives; therefore happiness lies not in these things.

Certainly happiness lies not in those things which cannot comfort a man upon a dying bed. Is it honors, riches or friends?which can comfort you when you come to die? Or is it not rather faith in the blood of Christ, the witness of the Spirit of Christ, the sense and feeling of the love and favor of Christ, and the hopes of eternally reigning with Christ? Can happiness lie in those things which cannot give us health, or strength, or ease, or a good night's rest, or an hour's sleep, or a good stomach? Why, all the honors, riches and delights of this world cannot give these poor things to us, therefore certainly happiness lies not in the enjoyment of them. Gregory the Great used to say, He is poor whose soul is void of grace?not whose coffers are empty of money. The reasonable soul may be busied about other things?but it cannot be filled with them. And surely happiness is not to be found in those things that cannot satisfy the souls of men.

Now none of these things can satisfy the soul of man. 'He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with increase; this is also vanity,' said the wise man (Eccles. 5:10). The barren womb, the horseleech's daughter, the grave and hell, will as soon be satisfied?as the soul of man will by the enjoyment of any worldly good. Some one thing or another will be forever lacking to that soul, who has nothing but outward good to live upon. You may as soon fill a bag with wisdom, a chest with virtue?as the heart of man with anything here below. A man may have enough of the world to sink him?but he can never have enough to satisfy him!

Remedy (8). The eighth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider the dignity of the soul. Oh, the soul of man is more worth than a thousand worlds! It is the greatest abasing of it that can be?to let it dote upon a little shining earth, upon a little painted beauty and fading glory?when it is capable of union with Christ, of communion with God, and of enjoying the eternal vision of God.

Seneca could say, 'I am too great, and born to greater things, than that I should be a slave to my body.' Oh! do you say my soul is too great, and born to greater things, than that I should confine it to a heap of perishing earth.

Plutarch tells of Themistocles, that he accounted it not to stand with his state to stoop down to take up the spoils the enemies had scattered in flight; but says to one of his followers, 'You may have these things?for you are not Themistocles'. Oh what a sad thing it is that a heathen should set his feet upon those very things upon which most professors set their hearts, and for the gain of which, with Balaam, many run the hazard of losing their immortal souls forever!

I have been the longer upon the remedies that may help us against this dangerous device of Satan, because he does usually more hurt to the souls of men by this device than he does by all other devices. For a close, I wish, as once Chrysostom did, that that sentence (Eccles. 2:11), 'Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun,' were engraved on the door-posts into which you enter, on the tables where you sit, on the dishes out of which you eat, on the cups out of which you drink, on the bed-steads where you lie, on the walls of the house where you dwell, on the garments which you wear, on the heads of the horses on which you ride, and on the foreheads of all whom you meet?that your souls may not, by the beauty and finery of the world, be kept off from those holy and heavenly services that may render you blessed while you live, and happy when you die; that you may breathe out your last into his bosom who lives forever, and who will make them happy forever?who prefer Christ's spirituals and eternals above all temporal transitory things.

?The modern missionary movement as a whole is usually dated from the closing years of the eighteenth century. In 1787, the first mention is made of Missions established by the Methodist Society.? In 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society came into being, mainly through the influence of Carey. Three years later the London Missionary Society was founded?The closing year of the century saw the inauguration of the Church Missionary Society, and also of the Religious Tract Society?That all these agencies were the result of the (Evangelical) Revival cannot be questioned; the leaders In almost every case had come under its influence directly or indirectly; many of them were a part of its fruit. Under the strong constraining love of Christ they felt impelled to think of others, less favored than them selves. Their Master words rang in their ears: ?Go ye into all the World?; they realized that they were ?put in trust with the Gospel,? and in the spirit of loyal and willing obedience they began to see how best they might discharge their trusteeship. Such was the origin of the first effort of Protestantism, on any large organized scale, to evangelize the world.?  ? Rev. Bishop E. R. Hasse, The Moravians

?Revival always raises up agencies for the propagation of the Gospel?those gifted as exponents of vital truth, those who get visions of far-off heathen, and souls dying at our doors, either want to go themselves, or consecrate their faculties to make money to send others.?  - W. G. Bennett

 ?The main reason we should be praying about revival is that we are anxious to see God?s name vindicated and His glory manifested. We should be anxious to see something happening that will arrest the nations, all the peoples, and cause them to stop and think again,?  - Martin Lloyd-Jones

?History testifies to the power of prayer as the prelude to spiritual awakening and missions advance.? ? John Piper

?To understand aright the fruitfulness of this period (1866) it should be borne in mind that Mr. Taylor, among many others, was reaping the aftermath of the great revival of 1859.  That wonderful spiritual awakening had not only swept thousands into the Church of Christ; it had prepared the way for a new order of things, an up-springing of individual faith and effort, characterized by love for souls and new resourcefulness in seeking their salvation.?  - Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission ? The Growth of a work of God 

?Missionary fervor has always followed in the wake of revivals.?  ? W. J. Dawson

?All the first missionaries were converted and received their missionary baptism in revivals?There would have been no missionaries to send if God had not poured out His Spirit, and raised them up and prepared them to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. In these revivals the holy fire was kindled which waked up and warmed the churches to an onward aggressive movement such as had never been known in this country before.?  - Henry C. Fish, Handbook of Revivals

"I am convinced that nothing less than a mighty Holy Ghost revival will awaken us to a sense of our great privilege and responsibility with regard to the missionary challenge and world evangelization." - Clifford Filer   


 PRAYER, REVIVAL & MISSIONS... 

 "If you want the Kingdom speeded, go out and speed it yourselves. Only obedience rationalizes prayer. Only Missions can redeem your intercessions from insincerity." - William Carey 

The invasion of the Church by the world is a menace to the extension of Christ's Kingdom. In all ages conformity to the world by Christians has resulted in lack of spiritual life and a consequent lack of spiritual vision and enterprise. A secularized or self-centered Church can never evangelize the world.?  - John R. Mott

?There is need of a great revival of spiritual life, of truly fervent devotion to our Lord Jesus, of entire consecration to His service. It is only in a church in which this spirit of revival has at least begun, that there is any hope of radical change in the relation of the majority of our Christian people to mission work.? ? Andrew Murray  

? Whenever, in any century, whether in a single heart or in a company of believers, there has been a fresh effusion of the Spirit, there has followed inevitably a fresh endeavor in the work of evangelizing the world.?  - A. J. Gordon  

?Raymund Lull sought in vain for the sympathy of popes and prelates in his heroic missionary project, and finally had to go forth as a solitary and unsupported herald of the cross among the Muslims. Today this man's grace and apostleship are so fully recognized that historians of missions ask not whether he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, but whether he was not almost the only one who heard it, in that dreary and unspiritual age.? ? A. J. Gordon  

"Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after new obedience.?  -The Westminster Shorter Catechism

"Oh, for closest communion with God, till soul and body, head, face, and heart -shine with Divine brilliancy!  But oh! for a holy ignorance of our shining!" - Robert Murray M'Cheyme

?Compassion costs. It is easy enough to argue, criticize and condemn, but redemption is costly, and comfort draws from the deep. Brains can argue, but It takes heart to comfort.? ?Samuel Chadwick 

?How careful we should be lest we misrepresent a real work of grace because of some things which occasionally may accompany it!  When Whitefield was once preaching in Boston, the place was so packed that the gallery was thought to be giving way, and there was a panic in which several persons were trampled to death. But it would be unfair and unreasonable to blame the revival for this? We do not despise the great river because of the sticks and straws that may occasionally float on its surface.?  ? William Alexander McKay (1890)  

?Some people do not like to hear much of repentance; but I think it is so necessary that if I should die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance, and if out of the pulpit I would desire to die practicing it.?  -Matthew Henry

?Depend upon it, if you are bent on prayer, the devil will not leave you alone. He will molest you, tantalize you, block you, and will surely find some hindrances, big or little or both. And we sometimes fail because we are ignorant of his devices?I do not think he minds our praying about things if we leave it at that. What he minds, and opposes steadily, is the prayer that prays on until it is prayed through, assured of the answer.? - Mary Warburton Booth 

?How we have prayed for a Revival - we did not care whether it was old-fashioned or not - what we asked for was that it should be such that would cleanse and revive His children and set them on fire to win others.?  - Mary Warburton Booth
 

?I myself, for instance, am not especially gifted, and am shy by nature, but my gracious and merciful God and Father inclined Himself to me, and when I was weak in faith He strengthened me while I was still young. He taught me in my helplessness to rest on Him, and to pray even about little things in which another might have felt able to help himself.? - James Hudson Taylor

"Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.?  ?James Hudson Taylor

? Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.? ?Daniel  9:3-5 

?Our sufficiency is of God. Difficulties melt in His presence. In Him are those mighty, overcoming energies, which accomplish the possible and the impossible with equal readiness?The real resources are with Him for the evangelizing and the redeeming of the world. But He has not been able to do ?many mighty works? in the non-Christian lands, because of our unbelief as a Church.  We have not possessed our possessions. God has been waiting to be honored by the faith of a generation that would call upon Him for really large outpourings of His power.?  ?J. Lovell Murray (SVM) 

?God has honored this generation as He has never honored a generation before. He has thrown dazzling opportunities before it. He has flung wide open for it the doors of access to all parts of His world and has laid at its feet every possible advantage and facility.?  -J. Lovell Murray (SVM)  

?Ah, prayer turns trembling saints into great victors! There is no such thing as surrender, or even discouragement, to a man who dwells in the secret place of the Most High and abides under the shadow of the Almighty.?  ?Henry W. Frost 

?I have seen many men work without praying, though I have never seen any good come out of it; but I have never seen a man pray without working.?  - James Hudson Taylor
 

?The men that will change the colleges and seminaries here represented are the men that will spend the most time alone with God?It takes time for the fires to burn. It takes time for God to draw near and for us to know that He is there. It takes time to assimilate His truth. You ask me, How much time? I do not know. I know it means time enough to forget time.? - John R. Mott   

?You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most?It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.? ? John Wesley  

"And we ourselves are 'saved to save'-we are made to give-to let everything go if only we may have more to give. The pebble takes in all the rays of light that fall on it, but the diamond flashes them out again; every little facet is a means, not simply of drinking more in, but of giving more out." -Lillias Trotter     

"Yes, there lies before us a beautiful possible life-one that shall have a passion for giving: that shall be pored forth to God-spent out for man: that shall be consecrated for the hardest work and the darkest sinners." -Lillias Trotter   
 

?Let Christians remember, that in a season of revival as well as in a season of coldness, the evidence of piety is to be sought in the fruits of the Spirit.  And let sinners remember that no degree of attendance on means, no degree of fervor, can be substituted for repentance of sin and faith in the Savior..." -William B. Sprague  
 

? I am born for God only. Christ is nearer to me than father, or mother, or sister - a near relation, a more affectionate Friend; and I rejoice to follow Him, and to love Him. Blessed Jesus!  Thou art all I want -a forerunner to me in all I ever shall go through as a Christian, a minister, or a missionary."  -Henry Martyn
   

 ?If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels, or watching TV, or going to the movies, or talking to friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing Him, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever and ever in His presence...?  You'd be bored to tears in heaven, if you're not ecstatic about God now!? -Keith Green

?Oh! men and brethren, what would this heart feel if I could but believe that there were some among you who would go home and pray for a revival ? men whose faith is large enough, and their love fiery enough to lead them from this moment to exercise unceasing intercessions that God would appear among us and do wondrous things here, as in the times of former generations.? -C. H. Spurgeon

?Revivals begin with God's own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones?Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!? ?Andrew A. Bonar

?In the Irish Revival of 1859, people became so weak that they could not get back to their homes. Men and women would fall by the wayside and would be found hours later pleading with God to save their souls. They felt that they were slipping into hell and that nothing else in life mattered but to get right with God... To them eternity meant everything. Nothing else was of any consequence. They felt that if God did not have mercy on them and save them, they were doomed for all time to come."  - Oswald J. Smith

?We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism...To your knees, man! and to your Bible! Decide at once! Don't hedge! Time flies!  Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly excuses. Enlist! " - C. T. Studd 

"The love-slave has no pleasure like that of serving his master. this is his joy, and his very "crown of rejoicing." The love-slave is altogether at his master's service. He is all eyes for his master. He watches. He is all ears for his master. He listens. His mind is willing. His hands are ready. His feet are swift to sit at the master's feet and look into his loved face, to listen to his voice and catch his words; to run on his errands, to do his bidding, to share his privations and sorrows, to watch at his door, to guard his honor, to praise his name, to defend his person, to seek and promote his interests, and, if needs be, to die for his dear sake; this is the joy of the slave of love, and this he counts his perfect freedom." -Samuel L. Brengle

"My Lord was pleased to die for my sins; why should I not be glad to give up my poor life out of love for Him." -Girolamo Savanarola

"I feel very happy since the Lord called me to step out in faith, and I obeyed. The Lord is our inexhaustible treasure." -Pandita Ramabai

?Perhaps if there were more of that intense distress for souls that leads to tears, we should more frequently see the results we desire. Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of the hearts of those we are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts and our feeble apprehension of the solemn reality of ­eternal things may be the true cause of our want of success.? -James Hudson Taylor 

?This season of waiting is always an essential qualification for successful service. God would have His children realize the utter inadequacy of all human means to accomplish His gigantic purposes, that thus the praise and glory might be afterwards ascribed exclusively to Him. The disciples were given ten days to review the field of battle, to recognize the difficulties that bristled round on every side, to measure the adversaries' strength, and to understand their own helplessness and weakness; thus were they driven to their knees in earnest, anxious prayer. Then came the answer. The promise was fulfilled, and the power stored up in the almighty Savior was brought down to His disciples in the person of the Holy Spirit.? -Hugh D. Brown

?The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis.  God give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!?  -A. B. Simpson

?It is not the bee's touching on the flowers that gathers the honey, but her abiding for a time upon them, and drawing out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most on divine truth, that will prove the choicest, strongest Christian.? -Joseph Hall  

?The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.? -James Hudson Taylor

?The reason why many fail in battle is because they wait until the hour of battle. The reason why others succeed is because they have gained their victory on their knees long before the battle came...Anticipate your battles; fight them on your knees before temptation comes, and you will always have victory.?  - R. A. Torrey
  

?The way to stimulate and provoke others unto good works is to strive to outrun them in the race.  The way to rebuke the cold and indifferent is to be always full of zeal and ?abounding in the work of the Lord? yourself.  Men will be much more ready to answer a call to come up to your level, than a command to advance beyond you.? - Record of Christian Work, May 1909

?A sermon in shoes is often more eloquent than a sermon on paper.? - Theodore L. Cuyler    

?Closet communion needs time for the revelation of God?s presence.  It is vain to say, ?I have too much work to do to find time.?  You must find time or forfeit blessing.  God knows how to save for you the time you sacredly keep for communion with Him.? ? A. T. Pierson  
 

?Today comes but once, and comes never to return.  We hope it will come again tomorrow; but it does not. It is gone forever, with its inexhaustible possibilities, privileges and responsibilities.? ? Record of Christian Work, October 1908  

?Elijah on Carmel did not only pray; he kept his eyes open to see the rising cloud.? ? Theodore L. Cuyler  

?With some men it would seem, if they could control God's operations and manipulate His actions they might tolerate a revival; but to allow God a free hand, fills them with righteous indignation and horror. If only God would consent to become an 'ecclesiastic' and respect their dignity and decorum and beautiful order of service and ways of running the Church, they might condescend to have a revival.? ? William P. Nicholson

?To arouse one man or woman to the tremendous power of prayer for others, is worth more than the combined activity of a score of average Christians.? - A. J. Gordon 

"I would rather train twenty men to pray, than a thousand to preach; - A minister's highest mission ought to be to teach his people to pray." -H. MacGregor 

?Oh, to realize that souls, precious, never dying souls, are perishing all around us, going out into the blackness of darkness and despair, eternally lost, and yet to feel no anguish, shed no tears, know no travail! How little we know of the compassion of Jesus!" - Oswald J. Smith

?Wise leaders should have known that the human heart cannot exist in a vacuum. If Christians are forbidden to enjoy the wine of the Spirit they will turn to the wine of the flesh....Christ died for our hearts and the Holy Spirit wants to come and satisfy them." - A. W. Tozer 

?In regard to our foreign mission, we are at present in need of almost everything. We are greatly in need of money, and we are sorely in need of missionaries; but what we want most is Life and an increase of spiritual power? Money will flow in streams to God?s treasury, and men will offer themselves in companies, and our missionary enterprise will expand into missions worthy of the name, when the enthusiasm of Christ, the fire of the Holy Ghost, possesses the Church - never tilt then.? ? Rev. Archd Scott, The Church of Scotland Home & Foreign Missionary Record

?Missionary work in foreign fields would soon cease to bring forth fruit if it would not have been for special revival seasons.? ? Henry B. Roller, The Twentieth Century Revival (1911)

?The only hope of missions lay in a revival of religion, wide-spread and deep-reaching.? - Arthur T. Pierson, The Crisis of Missions (1886)

?The first work of the Spirit of God at this epoch was to convince men anew of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come; to set before them the heinousness of unbelief in Christ, the possibility of victory over evil through Him, and the certainty of retribution for all that set Him at naught. When the people of Christian lands felt the pressure of these truths on their own conscience, they were not slow to think of the danger of loss and misery that hung over races which had never heard the glad tidings of the Christian salvation.? ? J. P. Lilley, The Victory of the Gospel

?It is the century of missions largely, yes mainly, because it has been also, beyond any other, a century of revivals, of quickening and purified spiritual life? In large measure modern missions are the direct product of revivals. ? ? Delavan L. Leonard, A Hundred Years of Missions (published ?1895)

?A passion for missions is the result of a special conviction, a new inward work of the Holy Ghost.? ? James Elder Cumming

?Yes, my friends, it is amidst the effusions of the Spirit of God that men are trained to engage actively and efficiently in the great enterprise of Christian benevolence: here they are to have their hearts and their hands opened in behalf of those who are sitting in the region and shadow of death: here they are to catch that spirit of zeal, and self-denial, and holy resolution, which will lead them to attempt great things, and by God's blessing to accomplish great things, towards the moral renovation of the world?.I hardly need to say that all our great benevolent institutions ? our Missionary, and Bible, and Tract, and Education and all kindred societies, have flourished most when the influence of God?s grace have been most abundantly experienced.? ? ? William B. Sprague , Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1832)

?In every revival there is a reemphasis of the Church's missionary character. Men return to Calvary, and the world is seen afresh through the eyes of Christ. The infinite compassion of Christ fills the heart, and the passion evoked by Calvary demands the whole wide world as the fruit of His sacrifice.? ?John Shearer, Old Time Revivals

?The Revival of 1859 helped to lay the foundations of the modem international and interdenominational missionary structure?Every revival of religion in the homelands is felt within a decade in the foreign mission-fields, and the records of missionary enterprises and the pages of missionary biography following I860 are full of clearest evidence of the stimulating effect of the Revival throughout the world.? ?J. Edwin Orr

?A mighty spiritual revival in the Church is the fundamental need of the hour; it is the only thing that will avail? When it comes the problems of missionary recruits and missionary support will be solved.? - Robert Hall Glover, The Progress of World Wide Missions

?The fact is indisputable that revivals of true Christianity issue in missionary effort. In the absence of revival and of a healthy Church life missionary interest and effort alike languish.? ? S. M. Houghton, Sketches from Church History

? Whenever, in any century, whether in a single heart or in a company of believers, there has been a fresh effusion of the Spirit, there has followed inevitably a fresh endeavor in the work of evangelizing the world.? - A. J. Gordon, The Holy Spirit in Missions

?Following the 1858 Prayer Revival, a world-wide interdenominational student missionary movement began to flourish. In 1886, the Student Volunteer Movement was founded. This movement heightened missions awareness and over the next several decades helped recruit some 20,000 students who went forth to serve on the mission field.? - Timothy K. Beougher, Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions

?It is utterly impossible to divorce the story of student awakenings from the course of missions in countries overseas. From the beginning, one of the most immediate and dramatic effects of college revivals has been the recruitment of personnel for the work of Christ abroad.? -J. Edwin Orr, Campus Aflame

?A mighty spiritual revival in the Church is the fundamental need of the hour; it is the only thing that will avail? When revival comes the problems of missionary recruits and missionary support will be solved.? - Robert Hall Glover, The Progress of World Wide Missions

?Water cannot rise any higher than its source, nor can the mission overseas be any stronger than the supporting church at home. A sick church can never save a dying world?Throughout history, revival at home and missions abroad have always gone together.? ? J. Herbert Kane, A Concise History of the Christian World Mission

?There is need of a great revival of spiritual life, of truly fervent devotion to our Lord Jesus, of entire consecration to His service. It is only in a church in which this spirit of revival has at least begun, that there is any hope of radical change in the relation of the majority of our Christian people to mission work.? - Andrew Murray (1900)

?Awakenings resulted from revivals as the Church moved powerfully into the world in evangelism, social transformation, and mission?The two cannot be separated.? - Paul E. Pierson, Evangelical Dictionary of World missions

?The Evangelical Awakening both founded and established the far-sighted world Protestant foreign missionary movement, this is a fact no student of the period can doubt.? ? J. Wesley Bready, England: Before and after Wesley

?The evangelical revival in the English-speaking world two hundred years ago had vast influence in increasing the confidence that all nations of the earth would yet be turned to the gospel of Christ.? ? Ian Murray, The Puritan Hope

?Not till the eighteenth century began to usher in the great Evangelical Revival did the churches of Reformed Christendom put forth their strength in missionary effort.? - J. P. Lilley, The Victory of the Gospel

?The astonishing missionary advance at the close of the eighteenth century and the onset of the nineteenth was a direct consequence of the Evangelical Awakening.? - Skevington Wood, The Inextinguishable Blaze

?The first work of the Spirit of God was to convince men anew of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come? When the people of Christian lands felt the pressure of these truths on their own conscience, they were not slow to think of the danger of loss and misery that hung over races which had never heard the glad tidings of the Christian salvation.? ? J. P. Lilley, The Victory of the Gospel

?In times when church work and missionary endeavors have dwindled for lack of support, it has been from revivals that a new supply of manpower has arisen? ? Iain H. Murray, Pentecost ?Today?

?The Church today needs a revival?There is plenty of missionary sentiment; but little of that practical self-denial and burning zeal which impelled the Moravians to go forth without script or purse, to carry the banner of the Cross to the dark places of the earth.? ? Edwin Hodder, The Conquest of the Cross, A Record of Missionary Work throughout the World

?The first work of the Spirit of God was to convince men anew of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come? When the people of Christian lands felt the pressure of these truths on their own conscience, they were not slow to think of the danger of loss and misery that hung over races which had never heard the glad tidings of the Christian salvation.? ? J. P. Lilley, The Victory of the Gospel

?In times when church work and missionary endeavors have dwindled for lack of support, it has been from revivals that a new supply of manpower has arisen? ? Iain H. Murray, Pentecost ?Today?

?The Church today needs a revival?There is plenty of missionary sentiment; but little of that practical self-denial and burning zeal which impelled the Moravians to go forth without script or purse, to carry the banner of the Cross to the dark places of the earth.? ? Edwin Hodder, The Conquest of the Cross, A Record of Missionary Work throughout the World

?Following the 1858 Prayer Revival, a world-wide interdenominational student missionary movement began to flourish. In 1886, the Student Volunteer Movement was founded. This movement heightened missions awareness and over the next several decades helped recruit some 20,000 students who went forth to serve on the mission field.? - Timothy K. Beougher, Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions

?It is utterly impossible to divorce the story of student awakenings from the course of missions in countries overseas. From the beginning, one of the most immediate and dramatic effects of college revivals has been the recruitment of personnel for the work of Christ abroad.? -J. Edwin Orr, Campus Aflame

?The Revival of 1859 helped to lay the foundations of the modern international and interdenominational missionary structure?Every revival of religion in the homelands is felt within a decade in the foreign mission-fields, and the records of missionary enterprises and the pages of missionary biography following I860 are full of clearest evidence of the stimulating effect of the Revival throughout the world.? - J. Edwin Orr

?If I should die, I shall be able to say to the rising generation, God will surely visit you. A work is begun that will not end till the world be subdued to the Savior. ? - Andrew Fuller

?The outpourings of the Spirit will bring about the work of conversion in a wonderful manner. They will result in the calling of new laborers who will be zealous to carry the gospel to the nations of the world.? - Charles L. Chaney, The Birth of Missions in America

?When the churches stirred to life near the end of the Eighteenth Century, they gave themselves to missionary organization and action as never before. The dynamic of the renewed efforts was that ?powerful impulse? let loose in America in the Great Awakening. Pious missionaries crossed the mountains, sought out the Indian tribes and invaded the southern frontier. They gathered churches in the cities, preached to the slaves, and ultimately spread out to the islands and continents of the world. The categories that marked the boundaries of their theology came from the Puritans. The under-girding spirit that moved them to action and flavored their theology was that of the Evangelical Revival.? - Charles L. Chaney, The Birth of Missions in America

?Almost all the (missionary pioneers) had come more or less directly under the influence of what we call the Evangelical Revival, that is, that movement of the Spirit of God which? gave a new vitality in the second half of the eighteenth century to personal faith.? ? Ernest A. Payne, The Growth of the World Church

?It is a want of a revived godliness in our church at home which prevents our hoping for any great success abroad. Ah brethren we must till our own vineyards better, or else God will not make us successful in driving the plow across the broad acres of the continents?.Just as the anointing oil was first poured on Aaron?s head, and then went to the skirts of the garment, so must the Holy Spirit be poured on us, and then shall it go to the utmost borders of the habitable earth.? - C. H. Spurgeon

?Revivals and missions have always been closely related. Eighteenth-century awakenings laid the foundation for the modern missions movement. In the next century they brought renewed zeal among the faithful, inspired believers to enter the ministry or become missionaries, and influenced non-Christians to convert.? - A. Scott Moreau, Gary R. Corwin, Gary B. McGee, Introducing World Missions

?The eighteenth-century evangelical revivals that began in England with Whitefield and Wesley played an important role in awakening Christian leaders and laypeople to the responsibility for evangelism worldwide.? - Ruth A. Tucker

?The times have changed; but the need for the Holy Spirit has not passed away. It is the special need of this age. It would not be difficult to find analogies between the beginning of the last century and the close of the present century. History repeats itself. And just as during the last century salvation was of the Lord, so now salvation must be of the Lord. It is the incoming of God?s life that raises the level, that freshens and invigorates the springs of progress, that improves society, that elevates and strengthens the moral tone, that gives success to the Gospel, that fits and qualifies the Church for the triumphant accomplishment of her mission in the world. And the lesson of the last century?and the lesson of Pentecost and the lesson of all similar seasons of blessing?is that the incoming of God?s life is conditioned by prayer. The preliminary is prayer. The law is prayer; and it is not arbitrary, but in the very nature of things necessary?When, therefore, God?s people ?give? themselves to prayer, compelled by the heart?s longings after God and after the salvation of men, genuine revival is near?

Shall we not, then, supply the condition? Observe the law? Prepare the way? Cast out the stones?? Make it possible for God to bless us and to ?REVIVE His work in the midst of the years?? He is summoning us to the duty, and will therefore help us if we strive to do His will. He is eager to fill us with the Holy Ghost, and is just waiting for us. Oh how much longer will He have to wait? How we are wronging our own souls, and hindering God, and standing in the way of the salvation of men! Let us prostrate ourselves before Him, and acknowledge our offences, and seek the forgiveness that is never denied to the penitent, and ask for the gift unspeakable; and we shall rise up ?endued with power? and instinct with the life of God.? - William Crosbie, The Evangelization of the World

?The links between the missionary movement and the Evangelical Revival are remarkably close. Revival largely supplied the men, the motive, and the message? Each of the missionary societies was indebted to it.? - Arthur Skevington Wood

?The modern missionary movement as a whole is usually dated from the closing years of the eighteenth century. In 1787, the first mention is made of Missions established by the Methodist Society.? In 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society came into being, mainly through the influence of Carey. Three years later the London Missionary Society was founded?The closing year of the century saw the inauguration of the Church Missionary Society, and also of the Religious Tract Society?That all these agencies were the result of the (Evangelical) Revival cannot be questioned; the leaders In almost every case had come under its influence directly or indirectly; many of them were a part of its fruit. Under the strong constraining love of Christ they felt impelled to think of others, less favored than them selves. Their Master words rang in their ears: ?Go ye into all the World?; they realized that they were ?put in trust with the Gospel,? and in the spirit of loyal and willing obedience they began to see how best they might discharge their trusteeship. Such was the origin of the first effort of Protestantism, on any large organized scale, to evangelize the world.? ? Rev. Bishop E. R. Hasse, The Moravians

1. Heidelberg Man - Built from a jaw bone that was conceded by many to be quite human.
2. Nebraska Man - Scientifically built up from one tooth and later found to be the tooth of an extinct pig.
3. Piltdown Man - The jawbone turned out to belong to a modern ape.
4. Peking Man - 500,000 years old. All evidence has disappeared.
5. Neanderthal Man - At the Int'l Congress of Zoology (1958) Dr. A. J. E. Cave Said his examination showed that the famous Neanderthal skeleton found in France over 50 years ago is that of an old man who suffered from arthritis.
6. Cro-Magnon Man - One of the earliest and best established fossils is at least equal in physique and brain capacity to modern man...so what's the difference?
7. Modern Man - This genius thinks we came from a monkey.
8. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools - Romans 1:22

Lars Ulstadius

The old Dome of Turku, Finland

The Castle of Turku, where Lars Ulstadius was imprisoned the first three years of his life sentence.

In Finland the first appearance of radical Pietism is personified in the mysterious figure of Lars Ulstadius (~1650-1732). He was a Lutheran minister and a schoolteacher who, due to contacts with early pietistic literature, came to be tormented by religious doubt, guilt, and general anxiety. He first caused a stir in the beginning of the 1680s by blowing up his philosophical works in Oulu. He also renounced his priesthood in the Lutheran church and his schoolteacher job.

He then fell ill (or so it was thought by those who didn't understand his prophetic calling) and for about two years he neither washed himself nor had his hair or beard cut. In his agony he turned to the local vicar, asking for public absolution for his sins. The vicar explained to him that such scruples were merely the work of the devil and he should not pay attention to them.

In July 22, in 1688, Ulstadius then in due course appeared in the Dome of Turku in his rags, with his hair hanging long and with a huge matted beard, interrupting the service by starting to read aloud the radical theses he had written down. Like some Old Testament prophet, he proclaimed that the Lutheran doctrine was to be doomed, that prayer books and postillas were a bunch of lies, and that the ministers were not endowed with the Holy Spirit.

When two men grabbed him to throw him out of the Dome, what was left of his humble dress fell off and poor Ulstadius stood there naked, only covered by his long hair and beard. He then ran down the main isle of the church, bare naked, screaming that the disgrace of Finnish clergymen will once be revealed like his disgrace now.

Ulstadius and two of his most impassioned followers were sentenced to death, but the conviction was changed to life in prison. Ulstadius was then sent to the infamous prison Smedjegården in Stockholm, Sweden, where he remained for the rest of his life, for many years under very hard conditions.

During the end years, when he was an old man, he once was offered the freedom, but when he learned that his freedom was only a pardon, not a change of the original conviction, he said that he didn't want such a freedom, and asked to stay in the prison.

He was granted that, and they also gave him better conditions, so that he even was able to hold meetings and prayers in his prison cell, together with the people of the growing Radical-Pietistic movement in Stockholm, during that time.

He finally died in 1732, 82 years old. He had then been in prison for 44 years, and was remembered long after, both in Finland and Sweden, as a forerunner for the Pietistic revival and for free revivals as a whole.