The Awakening of 1858 in America - Part 4 — J. Edwin Orr

The Planned Insurrection and Its Cancellation

In the South. I didn't know that there was an army of liberation in training in the South planning an insurrection in 1857. They were going to march on Atlanta. A hundred thousand drilled men. But so great was the revival that the leader of that underground movement apparently was converted and decided that a higher power was going to intervene in the struggle for liberty.

The Civil War and the Cost of Unresolved Conflict

So he called off the insurrection. Supposing it had not been called off, what would have happened? The South was well prepared. They would have slaughtered the blacks. There would have been a lot of innocent blood shed.

There would have been reprises taken. And so the insurrection was called off. It was almost as if the Almighty told the black slaves, slavery is a sin and it demands a blood atonement. Actually there were 600 ,000 white soldiers lost their lives in the Civil War.

Christianity’s Potential Witness After Emancipation

But the blacks weren't to blame for this and they were told to remain quiet, which they did. Had there been a slaughter of the blacks in the South, perhaps they would have turned their back on Christianity.

And you would have seen a situation somewhat like Haiti where they have voodoo or Brazil where they have Candomblé and Macumba and the other African cults. Now this revival continued for 40 years. It didn't continue as an exciting revival for 40 years.

D. L. Moody and the Extension of the Revival

But D .L. Moody, for example, extended the revival by his ministry for 40 years. Not only that, but the denominations took up evangelism and made it the usual practice of their meetings. Most churches planned evangelistic campaigns and most churches united in evangelistic efforts to reach a whole city for Christ.

The Revival’s Influence on Theological Education and Missions

It not only recruited candidates for the ministry. For instance, Union Theological Seminary had the largest class in its history. The same was true of all the theological seminaries. But it recruited quite a number of missionaries for the foreign field.

And following this revival, following the Civil War, there was a great expansion of missionary endeavors throughout the whole world. The revival continued in Canada also for a matter of 3 or 4 years and continued on in the following decades.

You could say that the Moody years, Moody began ministering in 1858 and continued until 1899. 41 years represent the extent of that revival. But that's another subject we can talk about somewhat later.

The Social Impact of the Great Awakening

It has been complained that there was not much social effect due to that Great Awakening. Actually, there was a great social ministry chiefly for soldiers and prisoners of war and those dislocated by the war.

But in the meantime, a revival broke out in Britain and there the new social developments occurred. Home missions in the Salvation Army were extended in the evangelistic social outreach of the Awakening worldwide.

And then after the war was over, these new developments were brought across the Atlantic to take root in the United States. Every Great Awakening has its social impact. Sometimes it takes some years before it's truly felt.

British Revival and the China Inland Mission

But books have been written on the social impact of the 1859 revival in Britain. And nearly all of those social developments were paralleled by similar developments in the United States. It's interesting also that out of that British revival came the rise of the China Inland Mission through Hudson Taylor who was busy working in the revival in London.

That was the first of the interdenominational faith missions. Now, how are we to account for this Great Awakening of 1858? I think it can be summed up in one way. And that is, it was preceded by prayer.

Prayer Before the Bank Panic

The Bank Panic had some influence on people, but it was not the cause of the revival. The revival movement, especially in its prayer concerts, had started before the Bank Panic and continued all the way through until it ran its course.

Denominational Unity in Christian History

And then it produced one of the greatest Awakenings of all time. The denominations were one in brotherly love. Everyone committed upon the extraordinary fraternal good feeling at that time. It was one of the most cooperative periods of Christian history when the denominations worked together as one man.

Lessons for Future Revivals

What lessons can we learn from it? Although things have changed and many other features of Christian work have arisen, I think we could say this is the most wholesome revival in American history and we ought to pray that the same sort of thing may happen again.

God grant it.