06 - Lasting Fruit
CHAPTER VI
LASTING FRUIT
WELSH people who, during the last few years, have come into contact with Christians outside the Principality are familiar with such questions as these, "Why did not the Revival last?" "Are there any abiding results of the Revival?" Not infrequently it has been felt that these questions and others suggest a mind poisoned by a slander-produced prejudice, but, very often, as one has chosen to believe, they are expressions of a natural and justifiable concern. DO REVIVALS LAST? As to the query in its first form one has sometimes wondered exceedingly why it should be asked at all. Why, of all the Revivals of the ages, should the Revival of 1904 be the only one expected to last? Alas, which Revival has "lasted?" Did Pentecost last? If that great first Revival had "lasted" then the ’59 Revival, not to speak ·of many an intervening one, would not have been necessary. And, had the ’59 Revival "lasted" that of Moody in the seventies could have been dispensed with. It seems a great pity that it appears to be the habit of all Revivals that they do not "last". That being so, one may be permitted to enter a plea that the Revival of 1904 should not be the only one to be blamed or suspected because it has shared the ephemeral nature of all Revivals.
NOTHING BUT A FLASH An anxious one in woeful mood complained to Dafydd Dafis (Cywarch) of the ’59 Revival that he feared it was nothing but a "flash". "As likely as anything, I warrant," responded the old preacher, "even the Thousand Years compared with eternity will be nothing but a ’flash’." Another of the same type told the late Dr. Thomas Job, Conwil, that these Revivals were nothing but fits. Quickly came the retort, "Well, let it be so; I would as soon see the devil die in a fit, as see him die of gradual decline." As to the ephemeral character of Revivals the following wise words may be quoted. They were written of the ’59 visitation by the late Rev. Evan Jones of Caernarvon, a man of note and influence in the Wales of a generation or two ago. Said he, "It may be objected that the Revival was something that soon faded away. And such it certainly was, and such is everything like it. But, why should that lessen its value? Brief and vanishing are most things: such is the sowing season; such the reaping season. Such is the period of youth, and such, all our opportunities. But, does their ephemeral nature diminish their worth? No; their brief continuance rather compels us to value them all the more. Pentecost lasted but a day; perhaps, one service. Will any regard that as a defect? Why then should the brief day of the Revival of ’59 be regarded as a fault?"* * Dafydd Morgan a Diwygiad ’59, p. 593, A TIME OF OPPORTUNITY
"A Revival", as another of the spiritual leaders of Wales (the Rev. W. Hobley) so sanely reminds us, "is a leap from one extremity to another; It is always preceded by a period of apathy. It were not becoming that the commotion of a Revival should take permanent form, however blessed that might prove to be in its own due time. A child’s happiest smile comes suddenly out of the midst of its tears, and so the highest, the overwhelming joy of the Church supervenes upon her being crushed to the ground under a poignant sense of the terrible antagonism of satanic powers against her."
These indubitably true interpretations of what Revivals are should impress with a sense of the infinite importance of Revivals, and of the need of making the most of them while they last. They do not come so frequently as to justify indifference and negligence. They are tides in the life of a generation which, if not taken advantage of, leave the vessel high and dry on the shore. They are but few who live long enough to have the privilege of experiencing more than one of these stirring movements of the Spirit. Recognizing this fact, Mr. Roberts in 1904 warned his congregation, saying, that that sort of thing would not go on for ever; that fever-heat could not be kept going long; but they must keep at it until the Churches could be raised to a higher level, and then they could "settle down to business". A NEW GENERATION Of course, in a sense, the Revival of which we speak, like all its predecessors, "did not last". It were, indeed, difficult to see how it could. The Lord never permits His people to build their much-desired tabernacles on the Mount of Transfiguration. But all that this means is that the crowded all-day meetings have not continued; the tense emotion has not continued, nor the unwonted rate of conversions. Incidents characteristic of such a time naturally ceased to happen, although it may be added that they continued to happen for a length of time that would compare favourably with similar visitations in the past. It were idle and wrong to attempt to deny that many of the estimated 100,000 who professed conversion while the "fire" burned brightly went back. It must be admitted also that, more than a quarter of a century after, Wales shares in too great a degree with other lands the prevailing spiritual deadness. But while these statements are frankly made, it were in the last degree foolish to construe them as admissions that there is nothing of that great Revival left. Should there be any disposed to be unbelievingly critical, let them, first of all, realize the swift passing of the years. This is the last month of 1930; in Wales to-day there are but few, of forty years and under, who can intelligently recall the wonders of 1904 and after. A new generation has arisen; a generation, alas, needing revival quite as much as did its predecessor.
DESPAIR OF THE PEN
Well; but are there any lasting results? Lasting results? Indeed there are, the Lord be praised, and many too. And yet one attempts their enumeration and description with small hope of success. It seems too difficult to produce in the reader’s mind anything like an adequate sense of their nature and dimensions; their value and reality. The difficulty arises, in large measure, from the writer’s own lack of ability, and, partly, because the real worth of a Revival, be the pen ever so eloquent, is better judged by an eye-witness than described in words. Should any need convincing as to the "lasting results" of the Revival, a visit to Wales even to-day, under competent direction, would inevitably supply the conviction.
SPIRITUAL ATMOSPHERE
"Lasting results?" Here is one, to begin with. There still abides in Wales an "atmosphere" quite peculiar to it. The writer cannot claim to be a great traveller, but he knows something of other parts of the British Isles, and is not altogether unfamiliar with parts of the United States, Canada, and Europe, and he hereby bears his grateful and, he trusts, impartial testimony that in meetings on neither side of the Atlantic has he realized in these last years a spiritual atmosphere of the same intensity as is still to be found in Wales. That atmosphere was not here previous to the Revival; it is beyond any doubt the Revival’s after-glow. Visiting servants of God from other lands confirm by their spontaneous testimony this judgment. In Wales, those who gather to hear the Gospel message are generally found to be unusually sensitive to the Spirit and quickly responsive to the Word. The late Dr. Alexander Maclaren, after a service in Wales at which he had preached, paid the congregation an extraordinary tribute when he said, in the hearing of the writer, "That congregation was full of the Word of God." What was true then in 1901 the Revival has in many a case made to be still more true. *
* Just as the manuscript is finally revised for the press comes a letter from an esteemed veteran preacher known throughout the world, in which, referring to a visit this very month to the Principality, he says, "Nowhere do I enjoy preaching the truth concerning our glorious Saviour so much as in Wales."
Another feature which is notable is that which American and British visitors to Wales at Convention, Advent Testimony, and such meetings invariably remark upon, namely, the large proportion of men who attend. Whereas elsewhere the female element predominates, in the Principality the men, to say the least, in number equal the women. This, beyond doubt, is a Revival effect. The men whom the Spirit gripped a quarter of a century ago are still happy in that blessed grip. THE INVIOLABLE WHEAT
"Lastings results?" Oh! no; all of the estimated 100,000 converts did not lapse; no, nor even a majority of them. Too many, alas, as in all other Revivals, did lapse. When has the Lord’s people ever marched on without attracting the "mixed multitude" to pretend to do likewise. In the ’59 Revival one expressed his fear that many of the converts would fall away. "What then," answered his friend. "You have to turn many a mountain pony into the pound in order to catch one." There is always more blossom than fruit. * There are always those who "seek the young child’s life." A terrible degree of lapsing followed that great Galilean Revival conducted by the incarnate Son of God Himself: we read, "From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him" (John 6:66). Sad indeed; but even that fact does not touch either the character or the success of that Revival. Only twelve left! and yet that Galilean upheaval was a mighty success.
* "I have always found awakening times," said George Whitefield, "like spring times; many blossoms, but not always so much fruit."
After all, the wonder is that so many did not lapse. The good seed in the parable matures only on one of the sorts of ground on which it was sowed, and even there the maturity is unequal. The most sedulous care notwithstanding, even as our Lord warns us, the enemy succeeds in sowing his tares among the Lord’s wheat. But, while it is, of course, impossible not to deplore the tares, it is surely very wrong to overlook the wheat. And, in the case of the Revival in. Wales, the wheat IS there. Scattered throughout Wales-some in the regular churches and denominations; many others outside of these-are a people whom God knows, and who know God. No weapon devised by the enemy has succeeded in slaying them. Anyone old enough to know the Wales of the last half century, and who has had opportunities for coming into intimate touch with its religious life will not contest the statement that there is in Wales to-day a people of God of such a type and in such numbers as were not found there in pre-Revival days. They are a people of keen spiritual vision, unusually versed in the Word of God, insatiably eager for the highest, mighty in testimony, missionary in spirit, and aggressive in evangelistic work. And, were ,confirmation of this needed, "deputations" and other visitors on behalf of "faith" missions and such, who have visited the centres where these people can be met with in appreciable numbers, could supply it.
LAND OF CONVENTIONS
"Lasting fruit?" Think of the many Conventions for the deepening of the spiritual life that are constantly being held in various parts of the Principality. Taking into consideration its size, it would be safe to say that as many such Conventions are held in Wales as in any other of the four parts of what used to be the United Kingdom. In addition to the central one at Llandrindod Wells, which has gone on unbroken since 1903, there are other local Conventions almost too numerous to mention. This fact is not only an acknowledgement of the Revival’s debt to the Convention movement, it is also evidence as to the character of the "lasting fruit" of the Revival itself, and of the healthy hunger of those who owe the chief blessing of their lives to that great visitation of God. The life then generated, they feel, can only be nourished by the truths enunciated at the Conventions. And, moreover, these Welsh Conventions, as a rule, are no minor affairs; they are meetings of some magnitude. The writer was a speaker at one within the last month. * The building was packed with, at least, 800 people, while many failed to find accommodation. And the Revival was still there!
* November, 1930.
"YR EFENGYLYDD"
"Lasting fruit?" The Revival still survives in Wales in many an institution which owes its being to the Revival. For example; not long after the stress of those early years was over-to be quite exact, in January, 1908-a new Welsh magazine made its appearance. Its purpose was to serve Welsh readers in much the same way as English readers are served by such periodicals as The Christian, and The Life of Faith. Without capital or human backing of any kind, a pure venture of faith, that magazine is still being issued to some thousands of readers. Yr Efengylydd (The Evangelist) is a direct fruit of the Revival, and-a "lasting" one.
"THE FAITH MISSION OF WALES" In connection with the magazine just mentioned several bits of aggressive work have been carried on. For years, its readers supported missioners, who, using a portable wooden tent in winter, and a caravan in summer (both the gifts of the readers), toured the Principality seeking the lost. At the present time there is in full operation what is called "The Faith Mission of Wales", and that with most blessed results. No one in Wales could think of these sacrifices and efforts apart from the mighty upheaval in 1904.
BIBLE TRAINING INSTITUTES In the way of institutions which owe their origin to the Revival may also be mentioned the seminaries which have arisen for the Bible training of Christian workers. The first of these was founded at Porth. Started in 1919 with but eleven students, it now has fifty-three! Its alumni, now running well into the second hundred, are found in home pastorates, city missions, etc., as well as in foreign fields. Its name, on acquiring a beautiful home for its work, has recently been changed into The South Wales Bible Training Institute. The second, which arose in 1924, is situate in Swansea, and goes by the name, The Bible College of Wales. Both these institutions have the same aims and are practically doing the same kind of work. They are mentioned here as some of the"lasting fruits" of the Revival. Wales, in pre-Revival days, had no such institutions; perhaps, did not need them. The need is present to-day, alas! But, had there been no Revival in 1904, it is safe to say that there would not have existed these attempts to meet it. Just as the Glasgow Bible Training Institute stands as a memorial of the great Moody Revival, in exactly the same way these Bible centres in Wales tell of the mighty days of 1904 and after.
MISSIONARIES
"Lasting fruit?" "Let me never fancy that I have zeal," said Henry Martyn, as he contemplated the terrific obstacles to missionary work, "until my heart overflows with love to every human being." During the heat of 1904-5, the challenge was thrown out that the genuineness of the Revival would be judged by its missionary results. Mission fields, it was said, were yearningly looking toward Wales, desiring from its Revival additions to their missionary staffs and power. Did the Revival yield this "fruit"? Let the writer first give his own testimony. He distinctly recalls how, early in 1905, the matter of world-evangelization became a burden on his heart. He was willing to go himself, and definitely laid himself at the Lord’s disposal to that end. Not only that, but in all his daily meetings for a long period the missionary challenge was set before the young people who sought to know the yielded, spirit-filled life. They were asked to say whether, should the Lord need them, they were willing to leave home and comforts and be the Lord’s messengers to the heathen. Hundreds of names during that time were given the writer, a register of which he carefully kept and for which he prayed. Having received their "Yes" he had to pass on to other districts never to meet them again. But the reader may imagine the joy as, during several years that followed, he would receive at intervals letters of which the following may serve as an example:
"You will hardly be able to recall either my face or my name, but in one of the Revival services you conducted at Ll-- some years ago I was one of the many young people who responded to your appeal for missionaries. I told the Lord then that I was willing to go if He would send me. He took me at my word, and I know you will rejoice to know that I am about sailing for the field, and I could not leave without letting you know."
Missionaries? Yes; and many more than could here be named. The Rev. Sidney Evans, B.A., one of Mr. Evan Roberts’s first colleagues, married also to Mr. Roberts’s sister, is, together with his wife, working in the Indian mission field as Principal of a Missionary Training College. Among the firstfruits of the Revival in this respect were the late Dr. Fraser of Caernarvon and his wife. At the call of God Dr. Fraser sacrificed his position as medical officer for the county and, with his wife--as missionary-hearted as himself--became a missionary to the Khassis. To name but a few of the many others, there are Henry Rees and Mrs. Gertie Williams of India; Brinley Evans of Madagascar; Rees Howells and his wife who spent years in Africa; David T. Griffiths and his wife in Poland; John Jenkins of South Africa; Daniel Thomas and his wife in Amazonia; Tudor Jones and his wife in Japan; everyone of them Revival-born. And, the end of the fruit of the Revival in this respect is not yet. Just as one writes these words there comes the announcement of the going out to the foreign field of two sons of a minister who was made anew in the Revival, a signal evidence that the Revival "lasts". To mention these few names is, one feels, rather invidious, for there are many, many others, equally devoted, who are engaged in this most honourable of Christian services because of what the Lord did in the Revival of 1904. The records of all the missionary societies could bear eloquent testimony to the practical, lasting result of the Spirit’s work in those days. THE ADVENT
"Lasting fruit?" One could go on enumerating token after token of the fact that the Revival was no momentary flash. The addition of the following to what has already been stated must suffice. To the writer, as well as to many others, a most striking feature of the work was the light that came with it upon the truth of the pre-millennial, personal advent of our Lord. From personal, and not slight, knowledge of pre-Revival Wales it can be stated that this truth was then practically unknown and therefore untaught. Of late years one has heard of individuals, few and far between, who cherished the blessed hope in the years before 1904. Still, in the vast majority of churches and towns one would seek in vain for such. In the whole of the Welsh pulpit, anterior to 1904, one knew of but two ministers who held and taught the truth of the advent as above defined. There may, of course, have been one or two others, but to the writer it seems doubtful. Anyone holding such views then would, by the mere fact of being such an exception, be easily known. There was, one might perhaps add, a missionary in India, once a popular pastor in Wales, who held this truth and preached it, and the fact was by no means hidden from his fellow-countrymen. One is, of course, speaking of pre-Revival days. There were, certainly, even then a few of the body known as "Brethren", and fewer still of another name who held and taught the pre-millennial advent. But they were so few and so remote from the general religious life of Wales that the country generally hardly knew of their being, not to speak of knowing, and being influenced by their peculiar views.
Here then was a land filled with churches and religious people; people also, let it be added, not altogether unfamiliar with their Bibles but rather in many ways unusually well versed in it, and yet-inexplicable as it may seem-without but the vaguest idea of Scripture teaching on Advent truth! A GREAT ILLUMINATION But mark the Divine miracle. The Revival came. And, with it, a great light. Not only came light upon such matters as Justification, Regeneration, and Sanctification, but also on the Advent. It is a most remarkable fact that, almost without exception, all who entered definitely and fully into Revival blessing became pre-millennialist in their view of the Advent. Not, let it be repeated, that pre-millennialism was taught them; for, as has been already stated, there was none to teach. The writer’s own testimony is but an instance of that of thousands. Never can he forget the occasion, the place, nor the day when, alone with God, the truth flashed into his heart. He had heard no preaching, nor had he read any book on the subject; he simply shared the somewhat derisive attitude of others to a matter he knew nothing about beyond the mere name. At that moment, however, a conviction was wrought in his deepest heart that the Lord was coming; that He was coming quickly; that indeed He must come, and that, apart from His coming, there seemed no hope for the world.
Such direct revelation from heaven came to all who opened their hearts to the full blessing peculiar to the Revival. The truth of the Advent of the Lord was as the light of that life which they had received. To them the day had dawned and in their hearts the day-star had arisen. And thus-the direct and immediate work of the Spirit Himself-instead of the insignificant few of pre-Revival days, there are in Wales to-day thousands who are eagerly waiting for the Son of God from heaven, first, to complete their own personal experience of redemption, and then to establish on earth the Kingdom of God. That, to the writer, is as impressive a miracle as any connected with the gracious movement. "Celtic emotion," it will readily be granted, would hardly be capable of such a result. It was, rather, a tremendous overthrow of Celtic prejudice, and a return to the old Puritan position of one at least of the great evangelical bodies in the Principality. Nothing could be a clearer or more indubitable proof that the Holy Spirit Himself was the Author of the Revival of 1904. ITS DISPENSATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE Does the fact just stated give this Revival a distinctive place among Revivals? The writer is not sufficiently versed in the history of such movements to be capable of judging. It would be interesting to have the matter discussed by those who have the requisite knowledge. One is at least certain that, as far as Wales is concerned, the Revival of 1859, in which the Principality richly shared, did not have this as one of its results. If, as one is strongly inclined to think, the creating of the Advent hope in such a marvellous way and in such a general degree, is something distinctive of the Revival of 1904, then the dispensational meaning of the movement becomes unmistakably patent. It would deepen the impression created by many another token that we are in the "last days", that the Lord’s Coming must be near, and that it is His urgent desire to prepare for Himself a people ready to receive Him.
WALES TO-DAY
"Lasting fruit?" We have given some of the possible answers to this question. They have been such answers as cannot but compel the admission, "Yes, praise God; much lasting fruit." There are, alas, in Wales to-day, as in other lands, features which disturb and grieve; and yet it is with increasing gratitude that one reflects on how much more disturbing and grievous things would be had not the Lord brought upon us those mighty influences of a quarter of a century ago. The Revival, one need have no hesitation in claiming, brought into being what, in many respects, is a new Wales. It raised up a band of men who, while holding fast the evangelical truths of past Revivals, during the many passing years have stressed vital truths in a degree not known in previous days. These men have their eyes open upon the mighty world-purposes of-God in Christ, and upon the Return of Christ in order to the materialization of those purposes. They have been taught from God’s Word that God’s methods for the realizing of His purposes are men-holy men; and their ministry is directed toward the edifying of the Church-His Body-in love. These men are known throughout the Principality for their staunch evangelical fidelity and their evangelistic passion; men whom the churches in their high festivals love to hear. There are, alas, in the Welsh pulpit to-day those who knew not the great days of 1904 and after; representatives of the "modernistic" school, men full of the energy of their devastating propaganda, * but it is the welcome, well-observed, and much-commented-upon fact that the preachers called for in Wales to-day are, as a rule, those whose fidelity to the faith once for all delivered unto the saints is unquestioned. This also is a debt which Wales owes in large measure to the Revival.
* One of this "school ", it may be gratefully recorded, was recently deprived of his ministerial position by the great denomination to which he belonged; a stand for the faith not remotely due to the Revival of 1904. A FULFILLED PREDICTION
We cannot refrain from calling attention to a most remarkable fact that the Revival of 1904 came in the line of premonitions given to and confessed by one of the most saintly and beloved men of two generations ago. One refers to Charles Haddon Spurgeon. In a sermon preached many years ago in London he used these words, "In a few years-I know not when; I know not how-the Holy Spirit will be poured out in a far different style from the present My heart exults, and my eyes flash with the thought there shall be such a miraculous amount of holiness, such an extraordinary fervour of prayer, such real communion with God, and so much vital religion, and such a spread of the doctrines of the Cross, that everyone will see that verily the Spirit is poured out like water, and the rains are descending from above." A correct and detailed description of the Revival of 1904 need seek no other words than these. The eminent preacher was a prophet; the Revival of 1904 the fulfilment of his prophecy.
If it be asked why the fire, when it came, fell on Wales? the answer may perhaps be found in much that was written at the time. Fire preferably falls where it is likely to catch and spread. Wales provided the necessary tinder. It is a grateful fact that, spite of the presence of many who were irreligious, the mass of the people of Wales were religious. If any nation could be called religious Wales was that nation. It was familiar with the Word of God. The Sunday Schools of Wales, veritable theological seminaries, had, and still have, in them the old man of eighty as well as the babe of three. Child instruction in the things of God and the Bible had in Wales attained to an exceptional degree. It was no uncommon thing to find young people in their teens met together to discuss the most abstruse theological problems. The people had imbibed the principles of the Gospel not only from the Bible but also through their incomparable hymns. They were, as Dr. Maclaren testified, "full of the Word of God." Here then was the fuel ready for the fire when it fell. The lesson hardly needs stressing. No fire can burn where fuel lacks. Let then the fuel be prepared. "Never let a generation grow up without that knowledge of Divine things which may contain the germ of national revival in years to come." In closing, we may perhaps return to the thought already expressed that another great Revival is on the way. The need for it is at least painfully obvious, and history shows that periodical revivals is God’s usual method of calling a sinning and godless world to repentance. Each revival comes in a time characterized by confusion, politically and morally; by the spread of sacerdotalism; by social lawlessness and chaotic homelife; by worldliness in the churches and scepticism in the pulpits. These features are as pronounced in Christendom to-day as they have never been within a century and a half. Thy pre-Wesley period is, perhaps, the nearest period that affords anything analogous to the present condition.
If Revival was needed in I859 and I904 it is surely needed to-day in an even greater degree. It is needed to still the multiplicity of voices and to enthrone "Thus saith the LORD"; to magnify the local churches as against the encroaching tyranny of the confederated "church". How can faith be restored to the ministry and preachers be quickened? How can the tide of worldliness now sweeping over the churches be stemmed? How can the youth of our lands be won to faith in a personal God, an atoning Saviour, and a truthful Bible? How can sacred institutions such as marriage and the Lord’s Day be rescued from their desecraters? There is but one answer-REVIVAL! Revival such as comes through "heaven-anointed men rather than human-appointed machines".*
* "Our leaders," to quote a recent true statement, "are planning the work of a paralysed church. They hope to accomplish by human plans and programmes what the Holy Spirit only can do."
Even the secular press has been forced to say, "There must come a great spiritual awakening or civilization is doomed. The only religion that has ever been known in human history that produces such an awakening is orthodox Christianity."* Mr. Lloyd George once told a number of ministers that "the material conditions of this country will not improve until there comes a spiritual awakening", adding, "and I charge you ministers with the responsibility of promoting and fostering such a revival."
* A New York daily.
Such a revival has one condition. The one authority on the matter says, " If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Some day such a revival, if the Lord tarry, must come. History abundantly encourages us to expect that. "In the hour of darkest portent," as Dr. Torrey has written, "when the case of the Church seemed beyond hope, believing men and women have met together and cried to God, and the answer has come." And, when it comes, may the Lord’s people not be guilty of the tragic error of not knowing the day of visitation. In Israel, nineteen centuries ago, neither the pipe-player could provoke to mirth nor the dirge-chanter start the tears. The Fore-runner was criticized because of his stern unget-at-ableness, and the Messiah because of His free condescension. The sad tragedy of human history is the repeated failure of God’s own people. Let us not think that we are wiser than God; whatever His providences, may we have grace gratefully to accept them even when they disappoint our expectations as to their forms.
ADDENDA
KESWICK, 1905 "God gave unto them the like gift as He did also unto us."
-- Acts 11:17 (R.V.).
"They went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for...His people."
-- 1 Kings 8:66.
"And there was no Passover like unto that."