Testimony — Duncan Campbell

The Three Defining Experiences of a Life Led by God

For two days now God has been laying it on my heart that I should tell you a little about my own life story, but for some reason or other I couldn't find real liberty in my soul to do so. But this morning the dear chairman of the camp came and suggested that I might say something to you this morning and immediately it came forcibly before me that this was God's moment for me to tell you a little of how God in his mercy led me into the blessing of full salvation and through that into the field of glorious revival.

So turn with me to the portion which we read together and to verse 16. Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I might say that there are three outstanding experiences in my life story.

Conversion Through Holy Ghost Conviction

First of all, the night that God in his mercy saved me. My dear people, it begins there. I was at a concert and dance. I was a piper and playing and dancing at this concert when suddenly God spoke to me.

I had a praying mother and a praying father and I believe that they were deeply burdened that night because of my being at this concert and at this dance. But in that meeting, that concert, God spoke to me as I was playing a Scottish tune known as the Green Hills of Tyrol.

And while playing, oh my fingers were busy, but I was frightfully disturbed in my soul. And I found myself not dwelling on the Green Hills of Tyrol, but on the Green Hill Calvary. And I was so disturbed that on completing the playing of that tune, I stepped off the stage, went to the chairman and said I was leaving the concert.

He looked at me and asked, are you well? I said, yes, very well in body, but fearfully disturbed in my mind. I just made this discovery that I'm on my way to hell. And the chairman was a minister. I regret having to say that.

And he looked at me and said, you'll soon get over that. But I'm thankful to God I haven't got over it to this day. Not to this day. On my way home, I passed a church. And to my amazement, I found the church lit at eleven o 'clock.

Couldn't understand it. Of course, I had been away from home in business. And I wasn't aware of the fact that two pilgrims of the faith mission were conducting a mission in the parish. And here they were in this church at eleven o 'clock.

I listened at the door and heard someone pray. And who was praying but my own father. Pouring out his heart for the parish and for his own family. Oh, God bless that father. We need them today. Now, horses couldn't have dragged me past that meeting.

I went in. I'm in Piper's Regalia. I'm carrying a set of bagpipes and two swords where I was demonstrating sword dancing. I left the bagpipes in the back seat, the two swords, and walked up the aisle and sat beside my father.

He looked at me and said, I'm glad to see you here, boy. I'm glad to see you here. In a matter of minutes, one of the sisters, a Highland pilgrim girl that spoke our language, she got up and gave a text of scripture out.

God speaks once, yea, twice, but man perceiveth it not. And I knew that God was speaking to me. But I was so afraid that I would cause a disturbance in the meeting that I rose and walked out. If I fell on my knees once, I fell on my knees half a dozen times.

My dear people, I was so distressed in my soul that I was afraid the very ground would open and I would fall into hell. My dear people, this is holy ghost conviction. I must have prayed at least six times.

It was after two o 'clock in the morning before I arrived at the farm to find my dear mother on her knees by the kitchen fire. She couldn't go to the prayer meeting that night, the all-night prayer meeting.

Friends of ours had called and it was necessary for her to stay at the farm because they were staying overnight with us. But I went over and I told her my story, how distressed I was. And she looked at me and said, your cousins are in your bedroom, but I will soon get a bed ready for you.

But I would say this to you, my boy, I was just in my teens, go out to the barn and tell God what you've told me. And I went out to the barn and I can still see the straw prepared for the horses in the morning.

And I fell on my knees among the straw and I still remember the prayer that I uttered, God, I know not how to come, I know not what to do, but my God is coming now. Have mercy upon me. Listen, dear people, in less time than it takes me to tell the story, God swept into my life and I was gloriously born again.

Miracle had taken place. After all, is it not true that a born-again Christian is a supernatural being? A supernatural being who has had a supernatural experience. And blessed be God, he's so supernaturally altered, in the moment of his regeneration, that godliness will characterize every part of his being, body, soul, and spirit.

My dear people, that was what happened. And I'm here to say this morning, not for one single moment since that day had I ever any occasion to doubt the work that God did in my heart. It was real, it was definite, and blessed be God it was supernatural.

That's regeneration, by the way. Oh, may I ask, have you had a supernatural experience? If not, doubt whatever experience you have. God is supernatural and he moves in the supernatural realm. Shortly after that, to go on with my story, I joined the forces during the First World War, and I wasn't very long in the forces until I discovered that there were powers resident within me that were more than a match for me.

I'm thankful to God that he kept me from open sin. Oh, how I praise him for that. And the sense of his gracious presence in the trenches, oh, I knew him there. But having said that, I also knew that inbred sin was troubling me.

In the garrison of the soul, fighting against God, and again and again keeping me in bondage, I would go on my knees in the trenches, and I would ask God to forgive me for the thoughts of my heart, and sometimes they weren't too clean.

Oh, my dear, we've got to be honest. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. And I was conscious of that. But then a remarkable thing happened. Somehow those in authority got to know, I suppose from my record, that I was a farmer's son, and consequently I would know something about horses.

And immediately I was transferred from the infantry into the cavalry. Into the cavalry. Oh, God's ways are wonderful, dear people. It was because I was transferred to the cavalry that God met with me.

And met with me, would I say, the second time. Oh, I'm thankful to God that I believe in a deeper work of grace. I couldn't deny it today. But in the last major charge of the British cavalry, I was severely wounded.

And I'm now lying on the ground beside a dead horse. The horse had rolled over me in the fall and injured my spine. But I'm also severely wounded in my body. And blood is flowing freely from me. While lying there, I was convicted and convinced in my own mind that I was dying.

Oh, it came forcibly before me. The blood flowing freely, oh no, you can't live. These were thoughts that coursed through my mind. And suddenly that verse of blood flowing freely before me. Without holiness, no man can see God.

And my dear people, conscious, deep in the glorious realization that I was born again, I felt very unworthy and very unfit to meet God. Oh, I'm just telling you how I felt. But then, in the providence of God, another remarkable thing happened.

The Canadian horse were called out to a second charge. I refer to the Lord Strathcona Horse of Canada. And when charging over that bloody battlefield with the hundreds wounded and perhaps hundreds dying, a horse's hoof struck me in the spine.

They were charging over the dead and the living. That horse's hoof struck me and I must have groaned because that groan registered in the mind of that young trooper. And when the charge was over, he was among the few that came back.

And I tell you there were very few. It was a dreadful day. But he came right to where I lived, dismounted, lifted me and threw me across the horse's back, took the reins again and galloped to the nearest casualty clearing station.

Sanctification and the Birth of Revival

Now it was on that horse's back that the glorious miracle happened. I remembered a prayer of my father or a prayer of Mary McChain. And I cried, God, oh God, make me as holy as a sane sinner can be. And God did it.

Oh, I think I mentioned this already, but it's worth mentioning again. God swept into my life. I knew in a matter of minutes an experience that I didn't think was possible this side of heaven. Through all my soul, its waters flowed.

Through all my nature's deep within my heart, I knew the consciousness of healing. Oh, my dear people, no spiritually yet. A sense of God, oh, coursing through. I already mentioned this, that at that moment I felt as pure as an angel.

I'm only saying what I felt, dear people. Don't misunderstand me. Only God knew where I stood and how I stood, but that was how I felt. My dear people, if you wish to honor God, give him credit for the excellency of his work in redemption.

A God that heals and a God that saves. I was brought to the casualty clearing station. Now let me say this, that I could hardly speak a word of English then. My language was Gaelic, the language of the highlands of Scotland, and I couldn't praise God in English.

I couldn't pray in English. All my reading was done in Gaelic. My singing in the same language, but that afternoon I couldn't sing. I was too weak through the loss of blood, but I could repeat the psalm.

Oh, I could what in me is be stirred up his holy name to magnify and bless. And I kept repeating it. There wasn't a single person in that casualty clearing station that could understand a single word of what I said.

But my dear people, oh, this is God. This is the operation of a sovereign God. Into that casualty clearing station, God came in convicting power, and within an hour, seven Canadians were saved. It was my first experience.

Holy Ghost revival. I wasn't there very long when I had to be removed to hospital to be treated. And in the mercy of God, I got there. And after a few weeks in that hospital, I was transferred to a hospital in Scotland.

And there, for eleven months, I experienced the gracious movings of God in the hospital. Oh, my dear people, to see God working, to see men, yes, and women being saved. Just a word about Jesus, and that did it.

Oh, I couldn't preach, dear people, I couldn't preach. But after a year and a month, I got home to the farm. Now, on arriving home, more or less fully recovered from my injury and wound, my parents were very anxious that I should go in for the ministry.

In for the ministry, with the little English that I had, what university would accept me? What college could I go to? And I immediately came to the conclusion that it wasn't necessary. Why should I spend five or seven years in training when God, in a matter of minutes, could send revival?

My dear people, that was the conviction that gripped me. And with the permission of my parents, I just went out to the villages of Argyll in Scotland. And in a matter of days, I saw what is commonly referred to as the mid-Argyll revival.

Oh, my dear people, God swept in. When He, the Holy Spirit, is come unto you, He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and God was doing it. Just talking about Jesus, just talking about the Savior, and in effect saying, He saved me, and because He saved a sinner like me, He can save you.

That was the burden of my message. And for five years, along with another young brother from Ireland, I saw the hand of God in revival. In revival. And I could, I think I could trace it back to that experience on the horse's back when God blessed me again.

Call it what you like. A second blessing or a deeper work of grace or full salvation. I'm not caring what you call it. It's the experience that the doctor said yesterday. It's the experience that comes, and bless God, I felt that I had the experience.

Doubt, Theological Drift, and Return to God’s Call

Five years in the midst of revival, in mid-Argyll, and then tragedy. Oh, let me tell you, brother, you can never get to the place where it will be impossible for you to fall. A man said to me last year in the city of Birmingham, Mr. Campbell, I haven't sinned for 40 years.

I said, brother, I'm afraid you've broken the record. I'm afraid you've broken the record. There's such a sin as some sin of presumption. Brother, you've broken the record. But let me say this, oh, let me say it again, you'll never get to the place where it will be impossible for you to sin.

I think I would agree with the late Dr. McIntyre of Glasgow that you'll never get to the place where it will be impossible to sin, but blessed be God, you can be in the place where it's possible not to.

I think I would agree with that. You may not, but that, to me, is a truth worth holding on to. But tragedy. I suddenly decided to go in for the ministry. By this time, I'm thinking of getting married, and I had a question mark in my mind as to whether it was right to ask my young lady to go out with me without any real preparation for a home.

And somehow, I had a doubt in my mind as to the rightness of it. I was by this time associated with the faith mission. And of course, as a member of the faith mission, we are not promised a penny, not a dollar.

And I'm afraid that unbelief crept in. And to make a long story short, I found myself training for the ministry. And this is one thing that I deeply regret, because I wasn't very long training when I came under the influence of professors that had no time for the authority and the inspiration of the Word of God.

And I found myself doubting the first three chapters of Genesis. My dear people, it began there. Oh, it began there. Oh, may God have mercy on professors that lead young people astray. Oh, keep your young people from them.

If you have nothing at all for the ministry, then be cursed and damned by such men. My dear people, take that to heart. I had my own experience. For 15 years, I moved in a barren wilderness. It's true that I was evangelical in my preaching, so much so that on several occasions I was asked to conduct special missions.

I was even asked to address Catholic conventions, because I was Campbell of the fourth, the twenty-one revival, Campbell of the Middergale revival. And because of that, I was asked to address those conventions and conduct those missions.

And God, in His mercy, gave me a measure of encouragement. God is wonderful. Seventeen years of it, knowing in my own heart that I wasn't right with God. Oh, what an experience. What an experience. On my knees before God, again and again I acknowledged it, until one morning.

A Daughter’s Challenge to Recover a Revival Ministry

I was preparing for a Catholic convention. I'm in my study. It's about five o 'clock in the morning. When I heard someone singing in the drawing room of the Mass, and of course I recognized the voice.

It was the voice of my own young daughter. And she's singing, coming, coming, yes they are. Coming, coming from afar, from the Indies and the Gandes. Steady flows that living stream, to love's ocean, to its fullness.

Calvary, their wandering theme. There was something about that singing that spoke to me, and gripped me, and moved me. Because I knew that that lassie was thinking of the day when she would be in Nuthall as a missionary.

She went in for nursing, qualified. Then went into a Bible school, and did a full course. But she's now singing in the drawing room. Coming, coming, yes they are. Coming, coming from afar, from the Indies and the Gandes.

Steady flows that living stream, to love's ocean, to its fullness. Calvary, their wandering theme. There was something about that singing that spoke to me, and gripped me. Because I knew that that lassie was thinking of the day when she would be in Nuthall as a missionary.

She went in for nursing, qualified. Then went into a Bible school, and did a full course. But she's now singing in the drawing room. Coming, coming, yes they are. And I couldn't sit in my study, and I went down to the room.

I sat on a chair. And after singing through the solo, she came over and she threw herself on my knee, as daughters sometimes do. She put her two arms round my neck, and said to me, Daddy, I would like to have a talk with you.

Well I said, Gina, I'll be happy indeed to talk with you. But first of all, might I ask, what is it that is moving you this morning? And then she looked at me and said, Oh Daddy, isn't Jesus wonderful?

Isn't Jesus wonderful? And I said to her, Gina, what is it that makes Jesus so wonderful to you at five o 'clock this morning? Daddy, I've just spent an hour with him. I've just spent an hour with him.

An hour in the presence of God, up waiting upon him at four o 'clock in the morning. Oh my dear people, listen to it. That's what makes Jesus wonderful. Fellowship divine. But oh, what was coming to me.

We went to my study. And she said, For several days, Daddy, I've been battling against facing you with this question, but I must do it. When you were a young pilgrim, before you went in for the ministry, you saw revival.

You saw revival. How is it, Daddy, that you're not seeing revival now? And then faced me with this crushing question. Daddy, you have a large congregation, and many are joining the church. But Daddy, when did you last kneel beside a poor sinner and led him to Jesus?

My dear people, that shook me. That shook me. I went to the Catholic convention that night and did my part. But on my way home, I vowed in the presence of God that if he didn't bring me back to the experience that I had on that positive back, I would give up the ministry and go back into business.

And my dear people, I meant it. Oh, I meant it. I would be anything but a deceiver. When I arrived home, I couldn't take supper. I went to my study. I said to my wife and daughter, Don't disturb me tonight.

I'm going to have a session with God. And I threw myself on my face in my study. I cried to God to forgive me. Oh, I cried to him to forgive me. In about an hour, blessed is the name that came to me. Who healeth all thine iniquities and who healeth all thy diseases.

And I knew that God had come to make me again and to bring me back to that glorious experience in the fullness of the blessing of the Holy Ghost. I know that I lay there with this power coming over me.

I can't fully describe it. I can't put it into words. But I was caught up in an experience that could only be explained in terms of God. An experience of the Holy Ghost that had come again. But just at that moment, a vision came to me.

And that was a vision of hell. A vision of hell. And I could see multitudes, multitudes streaming over the caverns of death to be doomed and damned eternally. What a vision. What a vision. At that moment, the door of my study opened.

And that dear lassie came in. She lay down beside me. And I can almost hear her voice now as she is praying to God and saying, Oh Jesus, keep his reason to die. She was afraid that I was going mental because of the vision that God gave me.

The vision of souls lost eternally. God kept my reason to me. And suddenly it left me. But it left me weak. Oh brother, it left me weak. And then a voice seemed to say to me, Go back to the faith mission.

Give up the ministry. You've suffered much by what you listen to in the church. For seventeen years you've been in a barren wilderness. God has come to you again. Obey God. At that moment, the old question arose again.

The children aren't yet educated. They're not yet educated. They will have to face university and college. Is that possible in the faith mission? And for a second or two, darkness. Oh, darkness came into my soul.

Darkness came into my mind. And I was facing the cost of this decision. When suddenly this angel of God, I can call her that, she put her hand on my body and said, Oh daddy, daddy, whatever it costs, go through with God.

Go through with God. And then she said a remarkable thing. I believe that you're facing the question that if you go back to the mission, because I'm fully persuaded that God is asking you to go back. My dear people, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.

And that lassie knew that God was calling me back to the mission. And she said this, daddy, perhaps you're wondering how you can look after us. I know, daddy, that you've promised to give me a new coat on my birthday.

But daddy, mommy will be quite willing to change my old coat. You needn't buy me a new coat. I tell you, my dear people, it was that that did it. Here a lassie as anxious to be well dressed as anybody, but quite willing to have her old coat changed in order that that would make it easier for me to come to a decision and go back to the faith mission.

And thank God. Oh, thank God. I said yes to God. And the flood tides of glory came over me again. And if I had a vision of hell, oh, I had a vision of the risen Christ. The risen Christ appeared to the uttermost and God saying to me, go out and tell it again.

And on the following morning, I wrote three letters to the secretary of my congregation, to the presbytery clerk and to the clerk of assembly, resigning my charge in this town, but retaining my status as a Presbyterian minister in Scotland.

And I retain that to this day. But I'm now free. And I'm free to go out. I'm free to proclaim the glorious gospel. And I'm happy in the midst of the Holy Ghost. My dear people, I say that from the depths of my heart.

Revival as God’s Sovereign Work

It was the Holy Ghost that did it. And in a very short time, I found myself in the midst of this glorious revival that continued for three years and continues to this day. It has kept coming since then, wave after wave.

I was telling someone yesterday of a meeting that I attended in the town of Stornow. It was addressed by one of our workers. She's singing, a wonderful singer, reputed to be the finest gospel singer in Scotland at that time.

Wonderfully used of God. And she's singing to the crowds of Gabba. And the crowd was so tense that the police had to be called out to control the traffic through the town. And they, recognizing that God was moving, directed the traffic round the back of the town rather than disturb the meeting.

My dear people, this is God at work. A young man was passing the open-air meeting on his way to a dance when, along with others, he was suddenly gripped by God. And in a very short time, on his knees in a close, he cried to God for mercy.

He didn't get deliverance. He didn't get peace. And at the end of the meeting, or near its end, he came over to this girl and said, Would you mind addressing a meeting in my home if you're prepared to have a meeting between twelve and one o 'clock in the morning?

Because I don't think it would be possible for me to be at your home before then. I believe that I shall be here till eleven o 'clock at any rate. We went to his home that night, arrived there between twelve and one o 'clock, and the Spirit of God came down.

Oh, my dear people, to witness this is something that you can never forget. So much so that the Father rose and went out to God-fearing men, went out and gathered the neighbours in, got them out of bed, telling them that revival had come to his home.

When his son, who was saved yesterday, led the family worship. And before the morning, eleven of the neighbours were soundly saved. But within a fortnight, sixty-two were born again, including the minister's three sons.

My dear people, that's God at work. That's God at work. But before I sit down, I think I ought to tell you this. One of the leading tweed merchants in that community came to me and asked how many of the family I had.

So I told him, and then he said this to me, you know that practically all my weavers were saved during the revival, and I feel that I must give you a peace offering of thankfulness. And I want you to come to my office tomorrow, and I'm going to give you some patterns of Harris tweed.

You'll take them home, and you'll get your wife and yourself and every member of the family to select two lengths of tweed. One for a suit, and the other for a coat, so far as the menfolk are concerned.

And the ladies, a costume and a coat. And dear Sheena got a new Harris tweed coat. My dear people, that's how God works. But I come to this thought and challenge. What has all this, brother, to do with you?

A Call to Humility, Prayer, and Revival

Perhaps you're in a congregation, perhaps you're in a community that needs God. God, are you prepared? Oh brother, are you prepared to recognize that the answer is in the baptism of the Holy Ghost? The answer is to be rightly related to God, and God in control in your life.

Is that true of you? Oh my dear people, that's the question that I want to leave with. Is this desire and this hunger and this thirst uppermost in your heart this morning? And are you saying, oh God, do it for me this morning?

And God's arm is not short. His ear is not heavy. And the God, oh my brother, listen, the God that did it for me is no respecter of persons. Not because I'm a Highlander with a Highland background. No, no.

He's no respecter of persons, and the God that did it for me can do it for you now. Come, my dear people, I believe that. God, covenant -keeping God. A God who is true to his covenant engagement. People called by my name will humble themselves.

Let me say again what that dear young woman said addressing a meeting of ministers. God is not obliged to send revival to you because you pray. What a statement. But she went on to say this. A covenant -keeping God must be true to his covenant engagement when you humble yourself and pray.

But it begins with a humbling. My dear people, I leave that with you, and I ask you to face it with honesty and with sincerity. I believe revival could break out here. I believe that, dear people. I believe that God is anxious.

The Promise of Answered Prayer

Oh, he's anxious. This is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Is it according to God's will that your heart should be cleansed today and made a fit temple for God the Holy Ghost to dwell in?

Is that according to his will? Is it according to his will that revival should come, the multitudes screaming to hell should be arrested? My brother, he willeth not the death of any, but that all should come to him and live according to his will, he heareth us.

And if we know that he heareth us, oh my God, dear listening, we know that he heareth us. We know that we have the petition, what we desire of him. My dear brother, my dear sister, if that is a conviction with you and a realization that you are not yet in that place, I would say that's the place for you.

On your knees before God, confessing, oh confessing. But brother, you can do it where you're sitting just now. You can do it.