| Alarming distress
"Were a person who had committed an awful crime to be suddenly arrested;
were his guilt brought home to his conscience by some messenger of justice,
in the pointed language of Holy Writ, 'Thou art the man;' it would be
perfectly natural for the culprit to turn pale, to falter in his speech,
to tremble, and to present every symptom of real agony and distress. When
Belshazzar, the proud Assyrian monarch, saw the appearance of a man's
hand writing upon the plaster of the wall of his palace, his countenance
was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his
loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another. And the effects
have never yet been deemed unnatural. Why then should it be thought strange
to behold sinners who have been powerfully awakened by the Spirit of God,
who are so deeply convinced of the enormity of their crimes as to apprehend
they are every moment in danger of dropping into the burning lake, who
imagine that hell is moved from beneath to meet them at their coming,
why should it be thought unnatural for such persons to discover outward
symptoms of the alarming distress and agitation felt within?'' -- Memoir
of Wm. Bramwell"
About the middle of the sermon a man cried out. I fell
to prayer, nor could we preach any more for cries and tears all over the
chapel." - Thos. Collins.
Oswald J. Smith, The Revival We Need, pp. 51-52
A revival always includes conviction of sin
"A revival always includes conviction of sin on the part of the church.
Back-slidden professors cannot wake up and begin right away in the service
of God without deep searchings of heart. The fountains of sin need to
be broken up. In a true Revival, Christians are always brought under such
conviction; they see their sins in such a light that often they find it
impossible to maintain a hope of their acceptance with God. It does not
always go to that extent, but there are always, in a genuine Revival,
deep convictions of sin, and often cases of abandoning all hope."
- Chas. G. Finney.
Oswald J. Smith, The Revival We Need, pp. 58-59
Another gospel - with no conviction
There is another Gospel, too popular in the present day, which seems to
exclude conviction of sin and repentance from the scheme of Salvation;
which demands from the sinner a mere intellectual assent to the fact of
his guilt and sinfulness, and a like intellectual assent to the fact and
sufficiency of Christ's atonement; and such assent yielded, tells him
to go in peace, and to he happy in the assurance that the Lord Jesus has
made all right between his soul and God; thus crying peace, peace, when
there is no peace.
"Flimsy and false conversions of this sort may be one reason why
so many who assume the Christian profession dishonor God and bring reproach
on the church by their inconsistent lives, and by their ultimate relapse
into worldliness and sin. The whole counsel of God must be declared. 'By
the law is the knowledge of sin.' Sin must be felt before it can be mourned.
Sinners must sorrow before they can be comforted. True conversions are
the great want of the times. Conversions such as were common once, and
shall be again, when the church shakes off her lethargy, takes hold upon
God's strength, and brings down the ancient power. Then, as of old, sinners
will quail before the terror of the Lord." - J. H. Lord.
Oswald J. Smith, The Revival We Need, p49
|