Revivals and the “New Evangelism”
By L. A. S.
“THERE is a growing conviction among thoughtful people in America that the typical religious revival has had its day.” So says Mr. Frederick Morgan Davenport in an article contributed to The Outlook, on “the Religious Revival and the New Evangelism.” Mr. Davenport thinks it is just as well that the “typical religious revival” should have passed out of date, and presents an argument to show the superiority of the “new evangelism” as a method of leading the soul to God, the “guiding principle” of which “is the psychological insight of the Head Master of Christianity, that the child is born from above when he is first born into the world, if we have eyes to see it, and skill to lead the way in the divine unfolding.” This is a denial of the necessity of the “new birth;” there is no need of a “new birth” for that which is already “born from above.” The stress which the Saviour, in his conversation with Nicodemus, laid on the new birth as a prerequisite to seeing the kingdom of God, shows how fundamentally opposed is the new evangelism to the old gospel which was the basis of the revivals of former days. Speaking further of the “new evangelism,” which is to take the place of the old-time revival, Mr. Davenport says that “the appeal to fear, that central prop of the old revivalism, will be employed no more,” and in place of the doctrine upon which the appeal to fear was based, will be the teaching “that punishment does not await the verdict of an eternal assize, but that every hour of his life a man is at the judgment-seat, and every day he lays up penalty in character.” Other doctrines which have become popular in the churches have contributed to make the old-time revival impossible of repetition to-day, especially the doctrines of evolution and antinomianism. If there was no fall of a “first Adam,” there can be no necessity of a restoration by a “second Adam;” nor can one picture in his mind an old-time revival based on the doctrine that the law of God has been abolished. The sense of guilt from the condemnation of the law—condemnation to death without any human possibility of escape—prepared the penitent sinner in the old-time experience to appreciate the redemption purchased for him by the sacrifice on the5cross, and to rejoice in so great deliverance, and give thanks and praise to the Source of these inestimable blessings. These were the essential features of the old-time revival, and they were absolutely dependent on the old-time doctrines of the fall, of condemnation of sin by a holy and immutable law, expressed in the decalogue, and of deliverance through the sacrifice and merits of an all-sufficient Saviour, which were emphasized by the old-time evangelists. Without these old-time doctrines there can be no basis for a genuine revival, and therefore there is no occasion for wonder that since the churches began to give ear to teachings by which these doctrines were set aside, their history has been unmarked by any general movement for the conversion of souls. The last great revival wave swept over the churches more than half a century ago. Another great religious awakening of the kind has been talked about, expected, and awaited, but it has not come; and it will not come, because it can not. It is true that in places there are genuine revivals even now, but only where the old-time doctrines still find a place in the religious belief of the people. A great revival movement in Wales, which appears to bear the fruit of genuine conversions, has for some months been drawing the attention of the religious world. It is reported to be wholly based on the presentation of the love of God, little or no attention being given in it to the doctrine of hell and future punishment. The love of God, however, is realized only through an appreciation of the fact it is bestowed on guilty, lost sinners, who without it would be doomed to death as violators of his holy law. It brings hope, light, and peace to those whose condition without it would be one of hopelessness and dark despair. Thus the presentation of the law and of divine justice and wrath is necessary to the proper presentation and comprehension of the love of God which is given to the world in Christ. A revival movement which is based on any other presentation of God’s love than this does not rest on a solid foundation, and will bear no permanent fruit. A true revival is not an appeal to, and a play upon, the emotions. While the emotions are deeply stirred, the real work is that of a conviction of soul which is based upon a recognition of facts, some present and some historical. It is an intelligent belief which moves the Christian to surrender himself to God, and the emotional part of his experience is dependent upon, and is of no value apart from, this conviction of the mind. The one message in the world to-day which does embody all the doctrines from which the old-time revivals derived their force, is the third angel’s message. This movement alone is squarely opposed to all that atheistic and spiritualistic teaching which would sweep away the foundation of the old gospel of Paul, of Luther, and of Wesley. This message is in itself a great revival movement, and in this message, and only thus, is the great world-wide revival movement which has so long been due, to be realized. But while belief in the old-time doctrines has been largely lost, there remains the emotionalism of human nature, and its susceptibility to various influences not from above, to serve as a basis for a deceptive revivalism which will not bear the fruit of genuine conversion. That revivals of this sort will come there can be no doubt. They will not be omitted from Satan’s list of last-day deceptions. They may follow and claim to be a part of a real spiritual quickening, and only that knowledge which is derived from faith in the Word of God enables one to discern between the true and the false,—between the work of the Spirit of God and the work of lying spirits which are abroad in the world. “To the law and to the testimony,” is the test by which the Christian is to judge them. “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” More and more will the truth of God be the Christian’s shield and buckler against the deceptions which are the special weapons of the adversary in these latter days.