USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve of Ohio and some of its pioneers, places and women's clubs, Vol. I > Part 7
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of clothes. I was in need of clothes and had spoken to the Lord about it. Others came from Ogdensburg and took tea with us; one said to Elder B. "How did you get the blessing?" He re- plied, "I stopped lying to God. I have been asking things of God that I was not willing to have. As soon as I promised God that I would not pray for what I did not really mean, the Spirit came down and I was filled with the Holy Ghost." Then Mr. S. fell on his knees and confessed that he had lied to God and had been a hypocrite in his prayers. The Holy Ghost fell on him immediately. The next day when I was in the pulpit this elder came right to me and said, "God bless you, God bless you," and then he told the congregation what the Lord had done for his soul. His son was going to leave the house. He said, "Don't leave; I never loved you as I do now." He went on to speak; the power he had was astonishing; the people melted and his son broke down immediately, and then the tailor rose up and said, "I was brought up a Roman Catholic and dared not read my Bible; I was told that the Devil would carry me off bodily, but I now see it was a delusion." He began to tell what the Lord had done for him; it was evident that he was converted. This made a great impression on the congregation; the whole meeting had this new type. I sat still and saw the salvation of God. In the afternoon one after another rose and told what the Lord had done for their souls. I never had seen such a spontaneous movement by the Holy Ghost. The Elder S. returned to Og- densburg Monday and talked to all he met. A revival began in Ogdensburg.
In October I went to synod in Utica. On my return to Law- rence County met Mr. Gale. He said, "I was going to the synod to see you; I do not believe that I ever was converted; I want to open my mind to you." We drove immediately to his home in
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Western. There was a great spirit of prayer in Western. Often, when they met, they would pray rather than talk, and two would take one individual and pray until the Holy Spirit had him converted. The revival in Western excited the men in the East and it was called "New Measures." The churches were mostly Presbyterian and Congregationalists, and called them- selves "The Oneida Association." I went to the first prayer meeting and the Elders prayed, telling the Lord that no an- swers had been given to their prayers. Then they asked me to speak. I said, "You mock God by blaming him for not answer- ing your prayers." They broke down and went on their knees and wept and prayed. They asked me to preach on the Sabbath -this was Thursday night. On Friday I went frequently to the church for secret prayer and had a mighty hold on God. On Sabbath the church was full of hearers. I preached all day. It was manifest that the work of grace had begun. The female members of the church were in prayer; two had unconverted children; one of them, whose husband came to me, said, "Brother Finney, the Lord has come." The work was spread over this whole region; I felt sure of it in my own soul. It went in the direction of Rome. One man who had a daughter who was thoughtful came from the field, and I said, "Do you have family prayer?" I told them I would not leave the house until they would promise to have family prayer. I knelt and prayed for them; they wept and before we arose that daughter was con- verted to God. This was the year before the Presbyterians were divided into "The Old" and "The New." If they were of the elect, in due time the Spirit would convert them. If of the non- elect, nothing that any one could do for them would benefit them. The atonement was limited to the elect. I assumed moral de- pravity is an attitude of the mind, it is a committal of the mind
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to the gratification of its desires; the lusts of the flesh cp- posed to the law God requires. I held that the truths of the Bible would lead the sinner to abandon his wickedness and turn to God, and that we had a right to expect that the Holy Spirit would co-operate with us, giving effect to our efforts; also that the Holy Spirit operates on the preacher, revealing truths in their order-so that he can set them before the people and can convert them. "Go and disciple all nations; and lo, I am with you to the end of the world." This is the charge committed to us. We go forth with a single eye to his glory; He will save souls. The command to obey God implies the power to do so. Moral depravity is altogether voluntary, therefore the Spirit persuades, teaching and convicting, so the Spirit's influence is moral as opposed to physical. It was said, "I rebuked the sin- ner as if the blame belonged to himself, and urged him to im- mediate submission to the Holy Spirit."
REVIVAL IN ROME
Mr. Gillet said, "Mr. Finney, it seems to me that I have a new Bible. I never got hold of the promises as I do now." I went to Rome in exchange with Mr. Gillet and preached on "The carnal mind is at enmity with God." Many heads were down and there was deep conviction of sin.
I have said before, the only means I used was much prayer; secret and social, public preaching, personal conversation, and visiting from house to house. When inquirers multiplied I had meetings for their instruction. Mr. Gillett appointed a meeting at his house for inquirers; the place was full of influential mem- bers of his congregation. We spent a little time in attempting to converse with them; even a few words would make the stout- est men writhe on their seats. The truth under the power of the
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Holy Spirit is a two-edged sword. The distress was unendur- able. Mr. Gillet said, "What shall we do?" I replied, "Let us pray." I pleaded with the Savior to lead these people to accept his blood, and salvation, because of it. The next morning, we visited families and found convictions deep and universal. We appointed an inquiry meeting in a dining room of Mr. F. They crowded the apartment, men, women and children. This meet- ing lasted until it resulted in many hopeful conversions and greatly extended the work. We next met in the Court House; the next day at the church. Sinners were told not to sleep until they had given their hearts to God. I asked at the close of the daily meeting, for those converted to come in front of the pul- pit. We were surprised at the number and the class of persons that came forward. A physician who was a skeptic said, "It is fanaticism; the subject of religion is too high for me; I do not believe it. My child can understand it? I know better." He went to visit a patient. On his way he remembered the whole plan of salvation as explained and wondered why it had seemed so mysterious. He and his little daughter lived long useful Christian lives.
Of three young men who refused to listen to the voice of conscience and spent the Sabbath drinking and ridiculing the work, one dropped dead. Mr. Gillet said, "The other two com- panions felt that their conduct had brought on his death, as a stroke of divine indignation." Mr. Gillet said, "My people are all converted. The millennium has come already so far as my people are concerned." Mr. H. of Utica heard me preach at Rome. He was president of a bank and at one of their bank meetings he said, "There is something very remarkable in the state of things at Rome. Certainly no human power could pro- duce it; there is no accounting for it by any philosophy." He
S
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came to our meeting in Rome; he came forward, seemed hum- ble and penitent. I have always believed he was truly converted to Christianity. There are many converts of that revival scat- tered through the land. I told them in Rome that God would immediately answer prayer, if they would fulfil the conditions upon which He had promised to answer prayer. I believe if you unite in prayer for an outpouring of His Holy Spirit, you will get an answer sooner than a message from Albany. Some went to Gillet's study and read about speedy answers to prayers and determined to take God at his word. They had wonderful faith given them. The Spirit of God did give answer quicker than a post from Albany. The town was full of prayer. When they met they prayed. A woman came, whose husband was an officer in the army; she ridiculed the revival. The leaders of the church made her the object of prayer. At night when the congregation was dismissed the sexton said, "There is a lady in a pew who cannot get out." I prayed with her and Mr. Gillet took her home. She locked herself in her room and spent the night alone. The next day she expressed a hope in Christ. Mrs. Gillet was a sister of the Missionary Mills, whose zeal with some young men organized the American Missionary Band. She asked continually for my prayers. I said "You are depending on my prayers." She said, "The ornaments in my hair came up before me when I prayed. I gave them up. This was my diffi- culty. I have a fondness for dress, but now I have been received of Christ."
Mr. Aiken of Utica said, "That one woman has prayed for two days and nights for a revival. Will you come?" I did so. The rooms were crowded every night. The sheriff boarded at the hotel and attended the meetings. In his dream the Spirit said, "Will you accept Christ? Give up sin; give up yourself?
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Will you do it now?" Right then his distress left him and when he awoke he was full of rest in Christ. He became an earnest worker. Mr. S. and his family were converted. The stages passed through. Some stopped just for a meal and were aware of the presence of God. One man said, "The whole conversation is on religion. I can do no business here." One man made him the subject of prayer and before the stage came, he was con- verted. He told it and prayed with his family and it resulted in a revival in Loweville.
In the midst of the revival in Utica, Mr. Nettleton wrote some letters to Mr. Aikin, but what he complained of was not done. One was that women would pray in the social meetings. This was true in some instances, but no opposition was made to it either in Rome or Utica. Mr. Aikin reported that five hun- dred had been converted, mostly in his congregation. Revivals were a new thing in that region. The United Presbyterians met there when the revival was going on in its full strength. Dr. -, who went to the Sandwich Islands as a missionary, was a visitor. Miss F. T., from Newburgh, who married Mr. Gulick and went at the same time as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands. Her several sons were also missionaries.
Theodore Weld had an aunt in Utica; he was the son of a clergyman. He came full of opposition; he did not intend to hear me preach, but I exchanged pulpits with Dr. Aikin that Sabbath. I knew he had a powerful influence. My text was "One sinner destroys much good."
I had never preached from it, but it came home with great power to my mind; and this decided me to take it. I showed how one sinner could destroy many souls. He tried to get out, but his aunt would lean forward on the seat and engage in prayer. The next day I went into a store and met him. He was
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very gifted in language and everybody listened. I said, "Mr. Weld, you are the son of a minister of Christ and is this the way for you to behave?" He immediately left the store. I went to Mr. Aikin's and when some one came to the door I went myself. It was Mr. Weld and he confessed and apologized for the way he had treated me. He went to his aunt's and the next evening was asked to pray. He kept on so long that the light went out; then went to his room and prayed all night. A voice seemed to command him to repent now. He found himself calling himself a thousand fools.
The next night he rose in the meeting and asked if he could make a confession and remove the stumbling blocks that he had cast before the people. He made a very humble confession and from that time he was a great helper in the work. He went to Labrador for his health but returned to be a worker for the Lord.
Rev. John Frost published a pamphlet which said, "The converts numbered three thousand." We told them the Spirit was striving with them and they must make themselves a new heart. If they would yield to their own convictions of duty, they would be Christians. We insisted if they were long under con- viction, they were liable to become self-righteous. They would grieve the Spirit not to accept its guidance. It was common for persons to be converted and converted in a few hours. Such sudden conversions were alarming to some people, but the events proved otherwise. Many of these are the most influential Chris- tians. Dr. Beecher wrote to Mr. Nettleton, "That the spirit of lying was so prevalent in these revivals that they could not be believed." Mr. Nettleton said to me, "You must go no further East as all the churches are closed against you." I gave myself to prayer for God to give me grace to ride out the storm. I
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seemed to draw nearer and nearer to God. God assured me that he would be with me and uphold me. I had nothing to do but keep about my work and wait for the salvation of God. I had kind feelings for those arrayed against me. I never doubted the result or spent a wakeful hour thinking about it.
When all the churches, except where I had labored, would shut me out of their pulpits, God assured me they could not put me down. Jeremiah xx, 7 to 12 verses, were so familiar, it was a support to my soul.
In Auburn, N. Y., I and my wife were guests of Rev. Lan- sing, pastor of the church. The church was much conformed to the world in dress, fashion and worldliness. One Sabbath 1 asked Dr. Lansing to speak after the sermon. A man arose in the gallery and said, "I do not believe your remarks will do any good while you wear a ruffled shirt and a gold ring. Your wife and the ladies of your family dress as leaders of fashion of the day." Dr. Lansing sank down by the pulpit and wept like a child. The people dropped their heads and I closed with prayer and dismissed the congregation. Dr. Lansing said at home, he was given the ring by his wife on her death bed and that he would not wear ruffles any more although he had long worn them. A confession was drawn up, approved by the church, and the revival went on with great power and many conversions.
In 1826 I went to Troy. Here I met Dr. Nettleton. I went to hear him preach, but it was evident that he did not approve of my way of promoting revivals. Before I left Troy a Miss S. from Columbiana County came to visit a friend, who was a con- vert and attended the meetings and was converted. She urged me to come to New Lebanon. She begged her father to give up "his old prayer" and wake up. He was very soon aroused and became another man.
REV. JOHN AVERY, EVANGELIST
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Miss S. prayed for Dr. W., who was an infidel. One Sab- bath he came to church and many were in a prayerful state with their heads down. He called on me the next morning and con- fessed he had been in the wrong and a change had come over him. He took hold of the work and went forward with the work with all his might. I recollect John Avery, a noted evan- gelist, whose family lived in Lebanon. He came to me and said, "I could understand your sermon. I gave up. I gave all to Christ." He was one of the most faithful converts that I ever have seen.
The Presbytery sent a man to inquire about me in New Lebanon and he reported, "The Lord is in the work-take heed lest you be fighting against the Lord." There was a convention of delegates from the East and the West. We wished to know from whom the faults had been raised. At last it was said, "That women had taken part in the revivals." I said it was the custom of the Apostles. They did not oppose their praying, but admonished them to wear their veils when they did so. No answer was made to it; it was too conclusive to admit of any refutation. Mr. Nettleton then read a letter charging me per- sonally, though no names were given. I arose and said, "I have a copy of that letter and those charges are not true. If you be- lieve they are, say so, now, and here." I said, "Let us have a resolution on lukewarmness." Mr. Beecher rose and said, "We are in no danger of that," and the convention adjourned.
Revivals should increase in purity and power as intelligence increases. The converts in Apostolic times were either Jews with all their prejudice and ignorance or degraded heathen. The art of printing had not been discovered. Copies of the Old Testament were not to be had except by the rich. Christianity had no literature accessible to the masses. But now, we have
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every facility to guard against error. The people are intelli- gent. God has set his seal to the doctrine preached. The con- verts are in every state of the Union and are useful Christians. It was no wisdom of my own. I do not take credit to myself. No, oh, no. It was the wisdom of Him who directed me. God led me by his Spirit to take the course I did. I can never doubt that I was divinely directed.
Zebulum R. Shippard, a celebrated lawyer of Washington County, N. Y., hearing of my revival at Stephenson, came to assist me. He was an earnest Christian man and attended all the meetings. On the evening of election day Mr. Shippard's father, J. J. Shippard, who afterward established Oberlin, beckoned me to come to a pew, where he sat after my preaching in the evening. Sitting by him was one who received the votes that day. He was overcome by conviction. I was asked to talk to another of those men, who had been prominent in the election. He was too much overpowered by his feelings to leave the house. I conversed with him also. He was converted before he left the house. One family of sixteen members were all converted, children and grandchildren. An influential family of M. was also converted.
There was not a single house where family prayer was maintained. I went to a schoolhouse and took the text, "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked." The Lord gave me a very clear view of the subject. Their former minister was now an infidel and they had little conviction of the reality of religion. This meeting resulted in the conversion of nearly all present. Several families of influence did not attend. Miss S. of Troy heard these families did not attend and called upon one and induced their two daughters to attend. Then she went to another and another, and these families were converted. The
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town was morally renovated. The converts maintained a good degree of spiritual vigor. There was a mighty spirit of pre- vailing prayer, overwhelming conviction of sin, sudden and powerful conversions, great love, joy and activity in the con- verts' labor for others.
Rev. Gilbert of Wilmington, Del., whose father resided in New Lebanon, came there, heard me preach and invited me to come to Wilmington. I went and found they had old-school views. They were afraid they would take the work out of God's hands. They thought God would convert sinners in his own time. I spent hours in conversing with Mr. Gilbert. After three weeks, I preached on the text, "Make yourselves a new heart, a new spirit, for why will you die?" I showed what a new heart is not; what it is; and the sinner's responsibility. Some stood up in every part of the house, some wept, some laughed. All were interested. I was preaching to please God. It might be the last time that I would preach there. I tried to show that man was not as helpless as they represented; he was not to blame for his sins, if he had lost in Adam all power in obedience it was mere nonsense to say that he could be blamed for what he could not help. The atonement was not grace, but a debt due us from God for having placed us in such a deplorable condition. I prayed and went down the pulpit stairs and Mr. Gilbert and I went out together. One lady said, "Mr. Gilbert, what do you think of that?" He replied, "It is worth five hun- dred dollars." Then she said, "You have not preached the gos- pel." Then he said, "I am sorry to say that I never have." I went to Mr. Gilbert's, where I was entertained, and Mrs. Gil- bert said, "Mr. Finney, how dare you preach such a thing in our pulpit?" I replied, "I did not dare to preach anything else. It is the truth of God." She said, "I always thought that God
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was, in justice, bound to make an atonement for us." For two days I did not see her-she then came out clear, not only in truth but in the state of her mind. From this point the work went forward. The lady who asked Mr. Gilbert what he thought of it said she "Would never pray again." She did not pray for six weeks; she then broke down and became thoroughly changed.
I was invited to go to Philadelphia, a distance of forty miles. The word there took so much effect I felt that I must give my whole time and leave Mr. Gilbert to carry on the work in Wilmington. He had changed his views to mine. Rev. James Patterson, with whom I labored, had the Princeton views. His wife believed in a general and not a restricted atonement. I
was a Presbyterian myself, but when licensed said. "I believed it, as far as I understand it." I did not approve of the "Con- fession of Faith" as they construed it. Mr. Patterson saw that God was blessing the word as I presented it, and stood by me. I was invited to other churches to preach of the same faith. Dr. Livingston told me to preach as the Lord had given me. Dr. Skinner had New-School views. I preached by request seven sermons on the Atonement. I said God was the author of sin, if they said their nature was sinful. I stayed from late in the fall to August. I preached in Philadelphia one year and a half.
The lumbermen came down the Delaware River and at- tended our meetings; they went back in the wilderness and be- gan to pray and their efforts were blessed. In 1831 I was in Auburn again and two of these lumbermen came to see if they could get a minister to go there. Said five thousand people had been converted in their lumber region. It had extended for eighty miles and not one minister of the gospel was there.
I went to Reading, a city forty miles west of Philadelphia.
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I was invited by Rev. Green of a Presbyterian church. They had made arrangements to have a ball every alternate week, attended by the church members and headed by one of the elders. I told him, "Those balls would have to be given up." He said, "Go on, take your course." I did so; preached three times on the Sabbath and four times during the week. We had no prayer meetings for the lay members had taken no part in them. The third Sabbath I appointed a meeting of inquiry in the lecture room. I wanted only those who were seriously impressed and desired to receive instruction. Monday was a very cold day; the lecture room was as large as the church above and was full. Many influential persons were present. I made a short address. "I want you to tell me as I pass around your exact state of mind." Dr. Green followed me around. I found a great deal of feeling and conviction in the meeting. I went back to my desk saying, "You must not wait for God to convert you; you must submit and give up all sins." I called upon them to kneel down and then I knelt myself. Now, submitting, believing, and con- secrating themselves to God, sobs, sighs, and weeping were heard-then I arose and pronounced the benediction. Dr. Green took my hand and said, "I will see you in the morning." He went his way. I went to my lodgings. About eleven o'clock a messenger came to say that Dr. Green was dead. He had apo- plexy and died immediately. His sudden death was a great shock. He was a man of thorough education, but of a timid na- ture and did not like to face the encroachments of sin, as he needed to do. After a week or two the work took on a powerful type.
A Mr. B. was at the meetings. He sent for me and as I entered he said, "I am lost." I took his hand and told him of Christ who had come to save to the uttermost. At last his bur-
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den was removed. He came out joyfully in hope. The elder who led the balls was under conviction; he gave his heart to the Lord and soon his family was converted. Those who entered the work their families were converted. A lawyer who had studied at Princeton came and said, "When in college three of us went to our minister and said, 'What shall we do to be saved?' He said, 'Keep out of bad company; read the Bible steadily; pray God to give you a new heart and he will convert you.' We did as he said but our convictions wore away. We lost all interest in the subject and the other two filled drunkards' graves. I soon shall be one myself."
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