Or, That Which Produced the Revival.
In a letter which we have received from J. B. S. we have the following: —
“I quite believe Philadelphia will last to the end. In one sense it has always existed; but when the cry raised about fifty years since awoke up the slumbering saints, when the word, with power, reached souls— ‘Behold the Bridegroom! go ye forth to meet him’—then, I say, Philadelphia (Rev. 3) came out in new and brilliant colors; and though there was nothing outwardly to boast of, yet, it was a great sight in the eyes of angels, to see the grave-clothes removed—the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free practically known—the time-honored institutions—endeared by the most sacred associations separated from because on inquiry, on comparing them with the word of God—they had no authority for their rules and regulations; when not only the safety of the soul was the end of all ministry, but the desire and labor to help one another in the knowledge of Christ.
The universal effect on every awakened one was that there was no food for his soul in the system in which he found himself. The faithful course of a few with very imperfect knowledge produced an astounding effect. The seats of learning and the centers of theology were stirred by this great moral revolution. Habits of life in private and public were subjected to the scrutiny of the Word of God everything—dress, furniture, and employments, were required now to be in conformity with a new rule of life, namely Christ. The Holy Ghost was relied on as the only power for testimony; and it is here the first step of declension has occurred.
No sooner had the evangelistic work become ardent and engrossing, than the pastor’s and teacher’s service began to decline; and with this increase of seeking souls in the world, arose the use of human means in reaching them. The Spirit of God was not simply and entirely relied on; and, corresponding with the means and the increase of human means to obtain congregations, there has been a manifest falling off in the supply and devotedness of the pastors and teachers. I am not excusing the pastors and teachers; far from it—I say the world has hindered them: but I say the Evangelist introduced and gave countenance to the use of human means, and this has produced, when generally accepted, a weakness corresponding to the strength required in the department of each. I think, had there been an increase in every department as well as in one, different results would have been apparent, though I think the zeal in the one has not been without a stooping to man, which has tended to enervate everywhere.
The Spirit of God has not been honored: hence there is not the same care and earnest service to the saints; the gifts are undeveloped; and the gifted men are connected with things in private and public, which, though not morally wrong, deter them from being very powerful expositors of the life of Jesus: for a man cannot really press on another, what he is not living out for himself. Thus worldliness and decline have set in wide spread; though, I doubt not that there is a deepening in many souls of affection to Christ, and waiting for Him; and as when He left this earth He saw in the crowd one who answered fully to His mind, “She hath cast in all the living that she had.” So when He returns there will be a phase of the Church, though unseen to man, most pleasing to Him – “The Spirit and the Bride say, come.”