Revivals; or, discerning the signs of the times.
They who read the times, with keen interest in the spiritual vitality of the Church, cannot fail to recognize the need of spiritual revival. The features of religious life may, in essence, be those characteristic of every age, but there may be subtleties and severities in their forms and settings at particular seasons which make them unusually effective for evil.
I. ONE SIGN OF OUR TIMES IS VASTLY INCREASED INTELLIGENCE. Science has developed. Literature has unfolded. Education has become a mania. In our pride we are saying, "We are wiser than our fathers." But this is attended with perilous moral evils. It is so easy now to become proud in our imaginations, confident in our reasoning, and scornful of the higher powers of the soul, in our admiration of the powers of the mind.
II. ANOTHER SIGN IS THE INTENSE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE. Facilities are now afforded for meeting the cravings of bodily pleasure which have nourished the cravings into a soul mastering passion. The world of landscapes, of art, of science, of music, of poetry, of play, lays its treasures now at the feet of the poorest. And no good man can begrudge the world's toilers the relief which these later days can provide. But the passion for that which is pleasing is telling seriously on the sense of duty, and even on the higher moral qualities, on the reserve and self-restraint, which belong to the essence of noble character. What we like is coming to rule, rather than what we ought.
III. ANOTHER SIGN IS THE PRESSURE OF BUSINESS, AND THE HASTING TO BE RICH. Typified in the man who regretted the compulsory Sunday rest, because then he had no chance of making money. Success in life is fast becoming the modern Baal that outrivals Jehovah.
IV. ANOTHER SIGN IS THE CALL FOR INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL, RATHER THAN SPIRITUAL PREACHING. Men ask for "essays;" they chafe under "persuasions." They seek for "soothings;" they do not want "reproofs," "correction in righteousness," and inspirations to the pursuit of holiness.
V. ANOTHER SIGN IS THE MULTIPLICATION OF ORGANIZED FORMS OF CHRISTIAN WORK. Machinery taking the place of life. Men paying for the doing of what they should do themselves. Christ claims our personal service, the expression of our soul's vitality; and that claim can never be commuted for any money payment, or entrusted to any substitute. If, then, we can see signs of the Church's falling from its vocation, let us see that:
1. God must not be thought of as separated from the interests of a decaying Church. To cease to connect God with its condition is the last stage of a Church's decline.
2. God must be sought as the only Source of spiritual revival. We cannot remedy spiritual evils by any form of personal effort, if those are made apart from dependence on God.
3. The revival of God's Church begins in the revival of individual souls.—R.T.