The Revival of Religion, Calvary’s Mournful Mountain, by John Bonar and others, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, hardback, 463 pages, £18.50, obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
This book, which was first published in 1840, contains 14 addresses by Scottish Evangelical leaders which were delivered in Glasgow that year. Many of these Addresses were given by men whose names are well known to us: John Bonar, Jonathan Ranken Anderson, Alexander Moody Stuart, Robert Candlish, William Burns and Patrick Fairbairn, to name but a few. The concluding Biographical Notes provide us with a helpful summary of each of the speakers. However, the material on Anderson is inaccurate, his views were fully in line with The Westminster Confession of Faith.
Even though none of those men could remember the revival at Kirk of Shots, which was not much more than 200 years before this (1630), nor the revival at Cambuslang about 100 years before (1742), yet the time when their addresses were given was one of blessing in our land, and so the men who delivered them were speaking from an experience that we do not have today.
It is clear from the introductory statements to these addresses, as well as the Preface by William Maxwell Hetherington (1803-65), that the men chosen to give them were also given the subjects on which they spoke. There is clearly an order to them. Address One by John Bonar is entitled: “The Nature of a Religious Revival, State of Religion requiring it, Effects which it is calculated to produce in the Church and on the World, Vindication from Misapprehension and Prejudice”. Address Two, by Jonathan R Anderson, is entitled: “The Work of Christ in connection with the Revival of Religion – His Atonement, Righteousness, and Intercession”, and Address Three by Alexander Moody Stuart is entitled: “The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Revival of Religion”. One can see from those mentioned that the scope of these Addresses was wide and, while there was inevitably some overlap, there was not a great deal of it.
What is there in those addresses for ourselves in our day? They certainly highlight the need for a revival, as brought out by John M’Naughtan in his Address on “The Necessity of the Revival of Religion in the Present Circumstances of the Church”. And if what he was saying was true at that time, how much more is it so in our days when the Cause is so low in our land.
In his address on “The Sovereignty of God as connected with the Revival of Religion”, Michael Willis reminds us of the words of the Lord through Moses: “The Lord did not set His love upon you . . . because ye were more in number than any people . . . but because the Lord loved you and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers”. Willis gives many examples from God’s Word and subsequent history, of His grace in choosing nations and individuals, while passing by others.
The fact of God’s sovereignty however, does not cancel out our responsibility, as Willis is careful to emphasise. “Let us not for a moment suppose that election denotes God’s sovereign choice of one or another from among those that seek His face, to the passing by of the rest. The election will be found to embrace all who truly seek God: yea, as election takes effect only by our calling, and as effectual calling implies the outward or common call of the gospel, addressed to every hearer of the word of life; so it is just by hearing and believing, not otherwise, that any man can know his election. The earnest believing seeker is the very sign of his interest in God’s eternal purpose of grace. Nay, it is election which is the cause of all; nor, but for God’s merciful determination to renovate the corrupt will of the sinner, would he ever have asked in earnestness, or so much as knocked at the door of heaven” (pp 93,103-4).
The importance of praying for a revival is emphasised by Alexander Cumming in his address on “Prayer . . . as connected with the Revival of Religion”. After connecting numerous revivals over the years with the prayers that preceded them, Cummings goes on to stress the importance of earnestness in prayer. “There is a degree of importunity in prayer, which God expects us to reach, and which is represented by the wrestling of Jacob, who saith, ‘I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me’. Doubtless one of the most remarkable lessons taught us by that transaction is the amazing condescension of God. That the wrestling was corporal is evident from the fact that Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with the angel; this injury which was inflicted was intended to show him that he had not overcome the angel by his physical energy, but that He had lingered beside him, soothed and delighted by the melody of his supplications.”
Cummings goes on, “The high and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity stooped from His august elevation above all creatures, to permit a creature to lay a restraint on him; and indeed He has used the remarkable phraseology, ‘Concerning the work of My hand, command ye Me’. Moses commanded God when the latter exclaimed, ‘Now, therefore, let Me alone that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them’. Never do we honour God so much as when our faith towers to such a heroic pitch of trust in Him as prompts a boldness which will not be satisfied with anything short of the boon that is implored, for we believe there is so much love in the yearnings of His paternal bosom that He will not continue to repel our requests. And it is at the time when we confer the greatest honour on Him that He honours us most in permitting us as it were to lay fetters on His omnipotent arm” (pp 135,6).
Much more could be quoted from these addresses on the vitally important subject of “The Revival of Religion” than is brought out in this review. “The Symptoms and Fruits of a Revival of Religion” by Charles J Brown, for example, speaks of “an unusual thirst for the preaching of the Word, and unusual meltings of soul under it; the prevalence of anxious enquiries about salvation; an earnest general desire to give vent to our feelings in prayer, secret and social” (pp 298-301). The address by Patrick Fairbairn, “Hindrances to the Revival of Religion”, also has much to teach us as well as to warn us against.
If we are the Lord’s people, surely nothing will cause us greater desire than a revival of religion, one that will not only awaken the dead but revive the living. For such people these addresses will be of particular interest and help.
(Rev) W A Weale