HARVEST WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

CHAPTER 1.

What is a revival? The relation of revivals to the growth of the church. Hindrances to their occurrence and progress. Testimony of Rev. James Caughy. Rev. E. Porter, D.D. The farewell words of John Angell James. The work of the Evangelist. The present position and duty of the church.

The terms revival, awakening, and reformation, with other forms of expression in popular use, mean the same thing—an unusual measure of the Holy Spirit among the people, beginning "at the House of God." Although the indispensable agent in regeneration was always abroad, and, since Abel bowed at his altar, has led every soul to Christ saved by his sacrifice; and there were at long intervals, times of great refreshing as in the reign of Hezekiah; yet, is it evident, that under the new economy of grace, the revival period in the church. commenced at Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost. The most spiritual branch of Zion has had and must have the harvest seasons, when, like the fields of the prosperous husbandman, the scenes of joyful in

gathering of the ripened grain, display the richness and abundance of God's goodness and mercy.

Rev. Dr. Hetherington, Professor of Theology in the Free Church College, Glasgow, in his introtion to "Good Will to Men," gives the following explanation of the word revival:

"The word itself is often used in Scripture, and, as so used, it generally implies the reproduction of a spiritual life which had almost died away. It is not, however, strictly synonymous with the term conversion; for while revival implies the renewal of a life which had almost died away, conversion strictly means the conferring of a spiritual life on those who were previously 'dead in trespasses and sins.' In truth, it so happens that revivals and conversions commonly accompany each other; so that, where conversions are frequent and striking, many will be re-quickened or revived."

In the glowing language of Rev. Wm. Reid, editor of the British Herald:

"God in his wise and holy Providence, answers prayer by terrible things in righteousness,' and close upon the back of a judgment period, the Holy Spirit descends upon a whole community as a rushing mighty wind' — like 'floods upon dry ground,' or 'like rain upon the mown grass;' and the great heart of society begins to heave and palpitate as the heart of one man, and myriads of careless sinners are arrested, alarmed, filled with anxiety about salvation, and turned simultaneously to look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn those sins that pierced Him and brought Him to the dust of death.

"The quiet conversion of one sinner after and ther, under the ordinary ministry of the Gospel, must always be regarded with feelings of satisfaction and gratitude, by the ministers and

disciples of Christ; but a periodical manifestation of the simultaneous conversion of thousands is also to be desired, because of its adaptation to afford a visible and impressive demonstration to a world lying in wickedness, that God has made that same Jesus, whom they have rejected and crucified, both Lord and Christ; and that, in virtue of his Divine Mediatorship, He has assumed the royal sceptre of universal supremacy, and must reign till all His enemies be made His foststool.'

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“And, considering that He is by the right hand of God exalted,' as the rightful though rejected Sovereign of the world, is it not reasonable to expect that, from time to time, He will repeat that which, on the day of Pentecost, formed the conclusive and crowning evidence of His Messiahship and Sovereignty; and, by so doing, startle the slumbering souls of careless worldlings, gain the attentive ear of the unconverted, and, in a remarkable way, break in upon those brilliant dreams of earthly glory, grandeur, wealth, power, and happiness, which the rebellious and God-forgetting multitude so fondly cherish? Such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit would form, at once, a demonstrative proof of the completeness and acceptance of His once offering of Himself as a sacrifice for sin, and a prophetic earnest' of the certainty that He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation,' to 'judge the world in righteousness,' and 'give to every man according as his work shall be.' And, in every age of the Church, the God of our salvation has graciously bestowed the Holy Spirit in His demonstrative power, that He might glorify Jesus, by discovering Him in all His fulness to the regenerated souls of multitudes of His ransomed people. When the promise of the Father' was first realized on the solemn day of the first Pentecost, after the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of power, an all but universal awakening was experienced, and thousands of Jerusalem sinners were simultaneously convinced of sin and

converted to God. We read that about three thousand souls' repented, and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,' and received the gift of the Holy Ghost,' as the result of one exhibition of the Cross and Sceptre of the glorified Emmanuel. With one voice we exclaim, 'How blessed!' But how very many of us are, at the same time, entertaining the idea, that although it was peculiarly needful, then, as a testimony for Jesus, and to solemnize the inauguration of the new dispensation, which is termed emphatically the ministration of the Spirit,' yet such a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and such a vast number of simultaneous conversions, are not to be expected in subsequent ages. But, by harboring such a thought, we entertain an opinion, which both Scripture and ecclesiastical history unite to disclaim: for the Word of God leads us still to expect the Holy Spirit, like floods upon the dry ground;' and such times of refreshing' and wide-spread, simultaneous conversion have repeatedly occurred in the history of the Church, as to prove conclusively, that extraordinary religious awakening and simultaneous conversion ought not to be regarded as peculiar to the day of Pentecost, but as part of the ordinary working out of God's great purpose of grace, for the conviction and conversion of the ungodly, and for ultimately bringing many sons to glory.' The history of the Church in our own land bears ample and frequent testimony to such periodical awakening and remarkable revival. "

We shall not attempt a narrative of the "times of refreshing," since that Pentecostal baptism of the Spirit, peculiar only in a few miraculous manifestations, to authenticate, and give a fitting inauguration to the new and glorious working of His power; nor of the mighty outgoings of the conquering Em