Chapter 27—Modern Revivals
Wherever the word of God has been faithfully preached, results
have followed that attested its divine origin. The Spirit of God ac-
companied the message of His servants, and the word was with power.
Sinners felt their consciences quickened. The “light which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world” illumined the secret chambers
of their souls, and the hidden things of darkness were made manifest.
Deep conviction took hold upon their minds and hearts. They were
convinced of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come. They
had a sense of the righteousness of Jehovah and felt the terror of ap-
pearing, in their guilt and uncleanness, before the Searcher of hearts.
In anguish they cried out: “Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?” As the cross of Calvary, with its infinite sacrifice for the sins of
men, was revealed, they saw that nothing but the merits of Christ could
suffice to atone for their transgressions; this alone could reconcile man
to God. With faith and humility they accepted the Lamb of God, that
taketh away the sin of the world. Through the blood of Jesus they had
“remission of sins that are past.”
These souls brought forth fruit meet for repentance. They believed
and were baptized, and rose to walk in newness of life—new creatures
in Christ Jesus; not to fashion themselves according to the former
lusts, but by the faith of the Son of God to follow in His steps, to
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reflect His character, and to purify themselves even as He is pure. The
things they once hated they now loved, and the things they once loved
they hated. The proud and self-assertive became meek and lowly of
heart. The vain and supercilious became serious and unobtrusive. The
profane became reverent, the drunken sober, and the profligate pure.
The vain fashions of the world were laid aside. Christians sought not
the “outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or
of putting on of apparel; but ... the hidden man of the heart, in that
which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price.”
1 Peter 3:3, 4
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