HOW
TO PRAY
R.
A. TORREY
CHAPTER
XII
THE
PLACE OF PRAYER BEFORE AND DURING REVIVALS
No
treatment of the subject How to Pray would be at all
complete if it did not consider the place of prayer in revivals.
The
first great revival of Christian history had its origin on the human side in a
ten-days' prayer-meeting. We read of that handful of disciples, "These all
with one accord continued
steadfastly in prayer." (Acts 1:14, R.V.) The
result of that prayer-meeting we read of in the 2nd chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (v.4) Further on
in the chapter we read that "there were added unto them in that day about
three thousand souls." (v.41,R.V.) This revival proved
genuine and permanent. The converts "continued steadfastly in the
apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the
prayers." (v.42,R.V.)
"And the Lord added to them day by day
those that were being saved." (v.47,R.V.)
Every
true revival from that day to this has had its earthly origin in prayer. The
great revival under Jonathan Edwards in the 18th century began with his famous
call to prayer. The marvelous work of grace among the
Indians under Brainerd had its origin in the days and nights that Brainerd
spent before God in prayer for an enduement of power
from on high for this work.
A
most remarkable and widespread display of God's reviving power was that which
broke out at Rochester, New York, in 1830, under the labors
of Charles G. Finney. It not only spread throughout the State but ultimately to
Great Britain as well. Mr. Finney himself attributed the power of this work to
the spirit of prayer that prevailed. He describes it in his autobiography in
the following words:
"When
I was on my way to Rochester, as we passed through a village, some thirty miles
east of Rochester, a brother minister whom I knew, seeing me on the canal-boat,
jumped aboard to have a little conversation with me, intending to ride but a
little way and return. He, however, became interested in conversation,
and upon finding where I was going, he made up his mind to keep on and go with
me to Rochester. We had been there but a few days when this minister
became so convinced that he could not help weeping
aloud at one time as we passed along the street. The Lord gave him a powerful
spirit of prayer, and his heart was broken. As he and I prayed together, I was
struck with his faith in regard to what the Lord was going to do there. I
recollect he would say, 'Lord, I do not know how it is; but I seem to know that
Thou art going to do a great work in this city.' The spirit of prayer was
poured out powerfully, so much so that some
persons stayed away from the public services to
pray, being unable to restrain their feelings under preaching.
"And
here I must introduce the name of a man, whom I shall have occasion to mention
frequently, Mr. Abel Clary. He was the son of a very excellent man, and an
elder of the church where I was converted. He was converted in the same revival
in which I was. He had been licensed to preach; but his spirit of prayer was
such, he was so burdened with the souls of men, that
he was not able to preach much, his whole time and strength being given to
prayer. The burden
of his soul would frequently be so great that he was
unable to stand, and he would writhe and groan in agony. I was well acquainted
with him, and knew something of the wonderful spirit of prayer that was upon
him. He was a very silent man, as almost all are who have that powerful spirit
of prayer.
"The
first I knew of his being in Rochester, a gentleman who lived about a mile west
of the city, called on me one day and asked me if I knew a Mr. Abel Clary, a
minister. I told him that I knew him well. 'Well,' he said, 'he is at my house,
and has been there for some time, and I don't know what to think of him.' I
said, 'I have not seen him at any of our meetings.' 'No,' he replied, 'he
cannot go to meeting, he says. He prays nearly all the time, day and night, and
in such agony of mind that I do not know what to make of it. Sometimes he
cannot even stand on his knees, but will lie prostrate on the floor, and groan and pray in a manner that quite astonishes
me.' I said to the brother, 'I understand it: please keep still. It will all
come out right; he will surely prevail.'
"I
knew at the time a considerable number of men who were exercised in the same
way. A Deacon P---, of Camden, Oneida county; a Deacon T---, of
Rodman, Jefferson county;
a Deacon B---, of Adams, in the same county; this Mr. Clary and many others
among the men, and a large number of women partook of the same spirit, and
spent a great part of their time in prayer. Father Nash, as we called him, who
in several of my fields of labor came to me and aided
me, was another of those men that had such a powerful spirit of prevailing
prayer. This Mr. Clary continued in Rochester as long as I did, and did not
leave it until after I had left. He never, that I could learn, appeared in
public, but gave himself wholly to prayer.
"I
think it was the second Sabbath that I was at Auburn at this time, I observed
in the congregation the solemn face of Mr. Clary. He looked as if he was borne
down with an agony of prayer. Being well acquainted with him, and knowing the
great gift of God that was upon him, the spirit of prayer, I was very glad to
see him there. He sat in the pew with his brother, the doctor, who was also a
professor of religion, but who had nothing by experience, I should think, of
his brother Abel's great power with God.
"At
intermission, as soon as I came down from the pulpit, Mr.Clary,
with his brother, met me at the pulpit stairs, and the doctor invited me to go
home with him and spend the intermission and get some refreshments. I did so.
"After
arriving at his house we were soon summoned to the dinner table. We gathered
about the table, and Dr. Clary turned to his brother and said, 'Brother Abel,
will you ask the blessing?' Brother Abel bowed his head and began, audibly, to
ask a blessing. He had uttered but a sentence or two when he broke instantly
down, moved suddenly back from the table, and fled to his chamber. The doctor
supposed he had been taken suddenly ill, and rose up and followed him. In a few
moments he came down and said, 'Mr. Finney, brother
Abel wants to see you.' Said I, 'What ails him?' Said
he, 'I do not know but he says, you know. He appears in great distress, but I
think it is the state of his mind.' I understood it in a moment, and went to
his room. He lay groaning upon the bed, the Spirit making intercession for him,
and in him, with groanings that could not be uttered.
I had barely entered the room, when he made out to say, 'Pray, brother Finney.' I knelt down and helped him in prayer, by
leading his soul out for the conversion of sinners. I
continued to pray until his distress passed away, and
then I returned to the dinner table.
"I
understood that this was the voice of God. I saw the spirit of prayer was upon
him, and I felt his influence upon myself, and took it for granted that the
work would move on powerfully. It
did so. The pastor told me afterward that he
found that in the six weeks that I was there, five hundred souls had been
converted."
Mr.
Finney in his lectures on revivals tells of other remarkable awakenings in
answer to the prayers of God's people. He says in one place, "A clergyman
in W----n told me of a revival among
his people, which commenced with a zealous and
devoted woman in the church. She became anxious about sinners, and went to
praying for them; she prayed, and her distress increased; and she finally came
to her minister, and talked with him, and asked him to appoint an
anxious meeting, for she felt that one was needed.
The minister put her off, for he felt nothing of it. The next week she came
again, and besought him to appoint an anxious meeting, she knew there would be
somebody to come, for she felt as if God was going to pour out His Spirit. He
put her off again. And
finally she said to him, 'If
you do not appoint an anxious meeting I shall die, for there is certainly going
to be a revival.' The next Sabbath he appointed a meeting, and said that if
there were any who wished to converse with him about the salvation of their
souls, he would meet them on such an evening. He did not know of one, but when
he went to the place, to his astonishment he found a large number of anxious
inquirers."
In
still another place he says, "The first ray of light that broke in upon
the midnight which rested on the churches in Oneida county,
in the fall of 1825, was from a woman in feeble health, who, I believe had
never been in a powerful revival. Her soul was exercised about sinners. She was
in agony for the land. She did not know what ailed her, but she kept praying
more and more, till it seemed as if her agony would destroy her body. At length
she became full of joy and exclaimed, 'God has come! God has come! There is no
mistake about it, the work is begun, and is going over all
the region!' And sure enough the work began, and her family were almost
all converted, and the work spread all over
that part of the country."
The
great revival of 1857 in the United States began in prayer and was carried on
by prayer more than by anything else. Dr. Cuyler in
an article in a religious newspaper some years ago said,
"Most
revivals have humble beginnings, and the fire starts in a few warm hearts.
Never despise the day of small things. During all my own
long ministry, nearly every work of grace had a similar
beginning. One commenced in a meeting gathered at a
few hour's notice in a private house. Another
commenced in a group gathered for Bible study by Mr. Moody in our mission
chapel. Still another--the most powerful of all--was kindled on a bitter
January evening at a meeting of young Christians under my roof. Dr. Spencer, in
his 'Pastor's Sketches', (the most suggestive book of its kind I have ever
read), tells us that a remarkable revival in his church sprang from the fervent
prayers of a godly old man who was confined to his room by lameness. That
profound Christian, Dr. Thomas H. Skinner, of the Union Theological Seminary,
once gave me an account of a
remarkable coming together of three earnest men in his
study when he was the pastor of the Arch Street Church in Philadelphia. They
literally wrestled in prayer. They made a clean breast in confession of sin,
and humbled themselves before God. One and another church officer came in and
joined them. The heaven-kindled flame soon spread through the whole
congregation in one of the most powerful revivals ever known in that
city."
In
the early part of the seventeenth century there was a great religious awakening
in Ulster, Ireland. The lands of the rebel chiefs which had been forfeited to
the British crown, were settled up
by a class of colonists who for the most part were
governed by a spirit of wild adventure. Real piety was rare. Seven ministers,
five from Scotland and two from England, settled in that country, the earliest
arrivals being in 1613. Of one of these ministers named Blair it is recorded by
a contemporary, "He spent many days and nights in prayer, alone and with
others, and was vouchsafed great intimacy with God." Mr. James Glendenning, a man of very meager
natural gifts, was a man similarly minded as
regards prayer. The work began under this man Glendenning.
The historian of the time says, "He was a man who never would have been
chosen by a wise assembly of ministers nor sent to begin a reformation in this
land. Yet this was the Lord's choice to begin with him the
admirable work of God which I mention on
purpose that all may see how the glory is only the Lord's in making a holy
nation in this profane land, and that it was 'not by might, nor by power, nor
by man's wisdom, but by My Spirit, saith the
Lord.'" In his preaching at Oldstone multitudes
of hearers felt in great anxiety and terror of conscience. They looked on
themselves as altogether lost and damned, and cried out, "Men and
brethren, what shall we do to be saved?" They were stricken into a swoon
by the power of His Word. A dozen in one day were
carried out of doors as dead. These were not women,
but some of the boldest spirits of the neighborhood;
"some who had formerly feared not with their swords to put a whole market
town into a fray." Concerning one of them, then a mighty strong man, now a
mighty Christian, say that his end in coming into church was to consult with
his companions how to work some mischief."
This
work spread throughout the whole country. By the year 1626 a monthly concert of
prayer was held in Antrim. The work spread beyond the bounds of Down and Antrim
to the churches of the neighboring counties. So great
became the religious interest that Christians would come thirty or forty miles
to the communions, and continue from the time they came until they returned
without wearying or making use of sleep. Many of them neither ate nor drank,
and yet
some of them professed that they "went away
most fresh and vigorous, their souls so filled with the sense of God."
This
revival changed the whole character of northern
Ireland.
Another
great awakening in Ireland in 1859 had a somewhat similar origin. By many who
did not know, it was thought that this marvelous work
came without warning and preparation, but Rev. William Gibson, the moderator of
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1860, in his very
interesting and valuable history of the work tells how there had been
preparation for two years. There had been constant discussion in the General
Assembly of the low estate of religion, and of the need of a revival. There had
been special sessions for prayer. Finally four young men, who became leaders in
the origin of the great work, began to meet together in an
old schoolhouse in the neighborhood
of Kells. About the spring of 1858 a work of power
began to manifest itself. It spread from town to town, and from county to
county. The congregations became too large for the buildings, and the meetings
were held in the open air, oftentimes attended by many thousands of people.
Many hundreds of persons were frequently convicted of sin in a single meeting.
In some places the criminal courts and jails were closed for lack of
occupation. There were manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power of a most
remarkable character, clearly proving that the Holy Spirit is as ready to work
to-day as in apostolic days, when ministers and
Christians
really believe in Him and begin to prepare the way by prayer.
Mr.
Moody's wonderful work in England and Scotland and Ireland that afterwards
spread to America had its origin on the manward side
in prayer. Mr. Moody made little impression until men
and women began to cry to God. Indeed his going
to England at all was in answer to the importunate cries to God of a bed-ridden
saint. While the spirit of prayer continued the revival abode in strength, but
in the course of time less and less was made of prayer and the work fell off
very perceptibly in power. Doubtless one of the great secrets of the unsatisfactoriness and superficiality and
unreality of many of our
modern so-called revivals, is that more dependence is put upon man's machinery
than upon God's power, sought and obtained by earnest, persistent, believing
prayer. We live in a day characterized by the multiplication of man's machinery
and the
diminution of God's power. The great cry of our day is
work, work, work, new organizations, new methods, new machinery; the great need
of our day is prayer. It was a master stroke of the devil when he got the
church so generally to lay aside this mighty weapon of prayer. The devil is
perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations, and deftly
contrive machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ if it will only
give up praying. He laughs as he looks at the church to-day and says to
himself:
"You
can have your Sunday-schools and your Young People's Societies, your Young
Men's Christian Associations and your Women's Christian Temperance Unions, your
Institutional Churches and your Industrial Schools, and your Boy's Brigades,
your grand choirs and your fine organs, your brilliant preachers and your
revival efforts too, if you don't bring the power of Almighty God into them by
earnest, persistent, believing, mighty prayer."
Prayer
could work as marvelous results today as it ever
could, if the church would only betake itself to it.
There
seem to be increasing signs that the church is awakening to this fact. Here and
there God is laying upon individual ministers and
churches a burden of prayer that they have never known before. Less dependence
is being put upon machinery and more dependence upon God. Ministers are crying
to God day and night for power. Churches and portions of churches are meeting
together in the early morning hours and the late night hours crying to God for
the
latter rain. There is every indication of the
coming of a mighty and widespread revival. There is every reason why, if a
revival should come in any country at this time, it should be more widespread
in its extent than any revival of history. There is the closest and swiftest
communication by travel, by letter, and by cable between all parts of the
world. A true fire of God kindled in America would soon spread to the uttermost
parts of the earth. The only thing needed to
bring this fire is prayer.
It
is not necessary that the whole church get to praying to begin with. Great
revivals always begin first in the hearts of a few men and women whom God
arouses by His Spirit to believe in Him as a living God, as a God who answers
prayer, and upon whose heart He lays a burden from which no rest can be found
except in importunate crying unto God.
May
God use this book to arouse many others to pray that the greatly-needed revival
may come, and come speedily.
LET US PRAY