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Revivals Under Finney
(Continued)

Another scene, evincing the depth and power of his feelings, he puts thus: "As I went into the office alone and shut the door after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus face to face. It did not occur to me then, nor did it for some time afterward, that it was wholly a mental state. On the contrary, it seemed to me that I saw him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at his feet. I have always since regarded this as a most remarkable state of mind; for it seemed to me a reality that he stood before me, and I fell down at his feet and poured out my soul to him. I wept aloud like a child; I made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed his feet with my tears; and yet I had no distinct impression that I touched him, that I recollect."

Closely following this came a mighty baptism of the Spirit, of which he says, "Without any expectation of it, without even having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love; for I could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me like immense wings. No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love."

Certain circumstances suggested to his mind some doubt as to the nature and significance of this baptism, but another recurrence of it brought his soul to rest. "When I awoke in the morning, the sun had risen and was pouring a clear light into my room. Words cannot express the impression that this sunlight made upon me. Instantly the baptism that I had received the night before returned upon me. I rose upon my knees in the bed and wept aloud with joy, and remained for some time too much overwhelmed with the baptism of the Spirit to do anything but pour out my soul to God. It seemed as if this morning's baptism was accompanied with a gentle reproof and the Spirit seemed to say to me, 'Will you doubt? Will you doubt?' I cried-'No! I will not doubt; I cannot doubt!' He then cleared the subject so much to my mind that it was impossible for me to doubt that the Spirit of God had taken possession of my soul."

Then followed a conscious experience of justification by faith, presented by himself in these words: "In this state I was taught the doctrine of justification by faith as a present experience. I had never thought of it distinctly as a fundamental doctrine of the gospel, nor did I well understand its proper meaning. But now I could see what was meant by the words, 'Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' I could see that the moment I believed, while up in the woods, all sense of condemnation dropped entirely out of my mind. From that moment I could not feel a sense of guilt or condemnation by any effort that I could make. My sense of guilt was gone; my sins were gone; and I do not think I felt any more sense of guilt than if I had never sinned."

Whoever would fathom Mr. Finney's power in revivals, must take his first soundings here, in his experiences at the point of his conversion. To know him, we must know his heart-the great depth and intensity of his emotional nature; the transparent clearness of his apprehensions of God, of Christ, and of the Spirit, and of the overwhelming power of those apprehensions upon his will-his purposes of life, his whole character. Whatever may be thought of these experiences as an average model and standard by which all genuine conversions are to be estimated, none can reasonably doubt that in his case they were thoroughly genuine and honest, penetrating to the very depths of his soul and transforming his heart into love and obedience to God. " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; all things have become new."

This doctrine of Paul is at one with both his own experience and that of Mr. Finney with both, conversion had a mighty significance; opened a new world of truth to the mind's eye; a new life for the whole activities of the soul. Paul says of himself: " Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, but forthwith preached the faith I once destroyed;" and even so Mr. Finney; his unassuming narrative shows that forthwith he laid hold of men on the right hand and on the left, to "save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire." In his own words, "I soon sallied forth from the office to converse with those I should meet about their souls.

I had the impression, which has never left my mind, that God wanted me to preach the gospel, and that I must begin immediately. I somehow seemed to know it. If you ask me how I knew it, I cannot tell how I knew it any more than I can tell how I knew it was the love of God and the baptism of the Holy Ghost that I had received. I did somehow know it with a certainty that was past all possibility of doubt, and so I seemed to know that the Lord commissioned me to preach the Gospel."

In his characteristic way he tells us how he closed off his law business. Dea. B. came into the office and said, "Mr. Finney, you recollect my case is to be tried at ten o'clock this morning; I suppose you are ready." (I had been retained as his attorney on this case.) I replied to him, "Dea. B. I have a retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to plead his cause, and I cannot plead yours."

Forthwith he began. His words were barbed arrows sharp and fast in the heart of the King's enemies. The work pervaded the village, and spread outward in every direction through the country.

But before we follow the track of his evangelistic labors, particular attention should be given to two points, (a) his personal experience in prayer; (b) the truths he preached and the points of personal duty which he impressed upon the hearts of men.

(a) As to prayer, let us recall those first impressions, which he received when he stepped into prayer meetings and was struck with the difference between the amount asked for and the amount received. Manifestly his view of real prayer will be drawn, not from conventional notions or usages, but from the revealed promises and the perfect veracity of God. Hence prayer must needs have with him a very great significance. It brought him face to face with God. It meant the pleading of promise-an asking that grew out of conscious want and sought the promised supply. How it brought him into debate with God and an urgent pleading that could not be denied may perhaps be put best in his own words, thus "In regard to my own experience I will say that unless I had the spirit of prayer I could do nothing.

If even for a day or an hour I lost the spirit of grace and supplication, I found myself unable to preach with power and efficiency or to win souls by personal conversation. In this respect my experience was what it has always been. For several weeks before I left De Kalb I was very strongly exercised in prayer, and had an experience that was somewhat new to me. I found myself so much exercised and so borne down with the weight of immortal souls that I was constrained to pray without ceasing. Some of my experiences, indeed, alarmed me. A spirit of importunity sometimes came upon me so that I would say to God that he had made a promise to answer prayer, and I could not and would not be denied. I felt so certain that he would hear me, and that faithfulness to his promises and to himself rendered it impossible that he should not hear me, that frequently I found myself saying to him, ' I hope thou dost not think that I can be denied.

I come with thy faithful promises in my hand, and I cannot be denied.' I cannot tell how absurd unbelief looked to me, and how certain it was, in my mind, that God would answer prayer-those prayers which from day to day and from hour to hour I found myself offering in such agony and faith. I had no idea of the shape the answer would take, the locality in which the prayers would be answered, or the exact time of the answer. My impression was that the answer was near, even at the door; and I felt myself strengthened in the divine life, put on the harness for a mighty conflict with the powers of darkness, and expected soon to see a far more powerful outpouring of the Spirit of God in that new country where I had been laboring." It should also be said that a spirit of most importunate prayer prevailed extensively in those revivals. In some instances young converts were constrained by their burdens for souls, to pray whole nights, and until their bodily strength was quite exhausted.

Continued