The Great Revival Near by R. F. Cottrell

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 15, 1865

'The Great Revival Near.'

By R. F. Cottrell

THIS is the heading of an article in a recent number of the Independent, written "by Rev. Wm. Patton, D. D., New Haven." On reading this caption, it would be natural for one not taught to expect a great revival, to inquire, What great revival is near? But those who understand that a great revival is promised in prophecy to take place in these last days, will have no question of this kind to ask, but will without hesitation refer the expression to the great revival which is promised, and consequently expected some time in the future to occur.

When one speaks thus definitely—the great revival—we understand him to speak of some definite thing, which ought, at least, to be well understood by the reader. For example, When the apostle speaks of "that man of sin," (2 Thess. ii, 3,) it should be understood by the reader that the object of which he speaks had been the subject of some prophecy going before, and the Bible student will not be at a loss to refer it to the right thing, namely, the little-horn power described in the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel. So, if a great revival is promised in prophecy—greater infinitely than the earth has ever seen—the Bible student should be able to put his finger on the chapter and verse which promises it.

When the scoffers of these last days ask, "Where is the promise of his coming," we can cite them to numerous scriptures that promise a second, a personal and glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a matter of explicit revelation, and yet few care to inquire whether or not it is near. It is unpopular to believe that these promises are about to be fulfilled. But suppose we ask these men that are looking for a great revival instead of the coming of the Lord, Where is the promise of the great revival? we get no response from them. We hear nothing upon the subject but the echo of our question, "Where is the promise of the great revival?"

Our writer says, "It has been deeply impressed upon my mind that God is preparing the United States for a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It will be the most wonderful, for power and extent, ever witnessed on earth," &c. He then refers us to God's dealing with our nation in the past, claiming that times when iniquity has prevailed, have been followed by great revivals, and takes this as an evidence that a great revival is at hand. This to me is not infallible evidence. I should think that a people that have been blessed with exalted privileges, might become so wicked, that their wickedness would not be a sign of a great revival, but that, being given over of God, they might, like Capernaum, after having been exalted to heaven be brought down to hades.

Again, if the people have grown worse and worse, notwithstanding the revivals in the past, what would be their condition after enjoying another, and the greatest revival of all? Have we any guaranty from the past (and past experience is all the evidence to which appeal is made), that the benefits of this great future revival will be more lasting than that of past revivals, and that the people will not, as in the past, in a short time sink lower in the scale of religion and morality than they were before? Since then there is no promise of this revival and of its permanency, but experience is our only guide, would it not be best to pray against the occurrence of so great a revival, fearing that our people would immediately be plunged into still deeper wickedness and degradation?

We agree with the writer concerning the present state of our people, but wonder how it is a sign to him of a great revival, unless he has a clear promise of such a revival, and that great and unparalleled wickedness is to be a sign that it is near at hand. He says:

"At the present time there are heavy clouds which darken the horizon, and which fill many hearts with

fearfulness and trembling. The war of the past four years has broken up the quietude of former times, and given prominence and force to various forms of evil. This is true, not only in the armies both North and South, but also in the secret and open combinations of corrupt men in their contentions for place and power. How reckless have men become of the sacredness of an oath, and the obligation to keep the Sabbath holy unto the Lord. How unparallelled are the extravagance and demonstrations of fashion, so unseemly in a time of war and grief, which threaten to shut out all reflection from the mind, and to erase all sense of accountability from the heart. This tide of worldliness sweeps through the church, bearing along, not only the young and inexperienced, but the middle aged and even the aged, until the boundary line between the world and the church is so overgrown and hidden that it cannot now be found. These are indeed the dark overshadowings. If these powers of evil are not arrested, they will work mightily for evil, and will carry our people on to deeper depths of wickedness. But our hope is in God, and in God alone. It is when iniquity comes in like a flood that the Spirit of the Lord doth lift up a standard against it. The revival, the great revival will come; for this alone can save us. This alone, when the war is over, can allay the animosities and wipe out the alienations between the different sections, and make us a harmonious and loving people; and this alone can counteract the evil and make us virtuous; this alone can prepare us for the important influence we are destined to exert upon other nations in the future history of the world."

This extract contains a true picture of the present state of the people. Iniquity abounds. This is indisputable. There are truly "heavy clouds which darken the horizon" at the present time. The wonder is, how our writer can have faith strong enough to pierce these clouds with a promise from the Lord. He may, as he says, trust in God; but his trust will be in vain, while he hopes, not only for that which God has not promised, but for an event the very reverse of what God has declared will come.

We have a sure promise from the Lord Jesus that he will come again; and he gave this sign of the approach of that day, namely, "Iniquity shall abound;" and that it would be as it was in the days of Noah—the earth "filled with violence," and every imagination of the thoughts of men's hearts "only evil continually."

Not only are we forewarned that iniquity shall abound just before the coming of the Son of man, but also that "the love of many shall wax cold." That the professed church shall be in a state of declension and apostasy, amid the perils of the last days, being guilty of almost every enormity, and still "having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim iii, 1-5. Our writer sees this. He sees that the "tide of worldliness sweeps through the church, carrying all—youth, middle aged and aged—before it, so that "the boundary line between the world and the church is so overgrown and hidden that it cannot now be found." And this is the church through which, and to which, the world is to be converted ! Oh no; our author does not trust in the world nor the church, but in God alone, to do the work. As though God had determined that, at a time when the world was extremely wicked, and the church so fallen that it cannot be distinguished from the world, he would, by his own almighty power, convert this world and church to himself. If this is God's mode of converting the world, I can see no reason why the world should not have been converted long ago, and an almost infinite amount of sin and misery prevented.

It is hard for men to believe that the coming of the Lord is at hand, in such a time as this, though it is expressly foretold in the word of God. But by some strange infatuation, they can believe a thing not promised, a mere fable, the doctrine of the world's conversion, while increasing wickedness, in the professed church as well as in the world, and every sign of the times betokens the contrary, showing that the great day of wrath is impending. Thus it was with the Jews who rejected the Messiah at his first advent, and thus it will be with professed Christians who reject all the signs and evidences of his second coming. They will be looking for peace and prosperity when sudden destruction is about to overwhelm them. Spare thy people, O Lord! Gather them out and seal them with thy seal, that they may be saved in the day of wrath.

Our writer alludes to the scripture—"When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him;" and he is right in applying it to the present flood of wickedness; but at the lifting up of God's standard, we are not sure that the enemies will be converted; they may be slain. And the writer does not notice that the coming of the Redeemer is promised in the very next verse. See Isa. lix, 19, 20.

But though he has no Bible testimony to sustain him in his position that millions are about to be converted, he has an argument. It is this: "The revival, the great revival will come, for this alone can save us." Reduced to the form of a syllogism the argument stands thus:

We, as a people, must be saved.
Nothing but the great revival can save us.
Therefore the great revival must and will come.

If it is a truth that the American people must certainly be saved, all must admit that nothing can save them from the depths of wickedness, in which our writer admits that they are, but a greater revival than this world ever saw, a revival which shall, by almighty power save the vilest of the vile, whether they will or not. But I must be allowed to doubt the truth of the major premise in the argument, which is taken for granted and not expressed; for since we have no promise that the American people must and shall be saved, I must admit the possibility of their being lost, when the Coming One shall dash all the nations in pieces, like a potter's vessel. Psa. ii; Jer. xxv. The antediluvians might have urged that nothing could save them in case the flood should come, therefore it would not come.

But I must stop; permitting, the Lord willing, to speak in another article of the great revival promised in the word of God for these last days.