Revive Us Again — Duncan Campbell

I was just saying to myself while sitting there, how lovely it is to be at a convention that is delivered from all starchiness. You know, sometimes we go to conventions and we find ourselves fearfully bound, but thank God for the liberty and the freedom.

And thank God for the friend behind me, Master, what's his name again, I forget, Macmillan. He is a way of delivering us from all starchiness, as we say in Scotland. Now will you turn with me to a very familiar passage of scripture.

Revival and the Cry of Psalm 85

You will find it in the book of Psalms. And together we shall read Psalm 85. Psalm 85. Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people.

Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God, of our salvation and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

Wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.

I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people and to his saints. But let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. A truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase.

Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps. The Lord will bless that reading from his word. Now return with me to verse 6. We might read verses 5 and 6. Wilt thou be angry with us forever?

Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? I mentioned the other evening that I would be speaking this afternoon on principles that govern spiritual quickening.

And I would also tell you something of how God, in his mercy, met with me and brought revival to this heart and life of mine. Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? These words of the psalmist express the heart cry of many of God's dear children today.

There is without question a growing conviction in many quarters that unless revival comes, that is, a God-sent revival, other forces that are out to defy every known Christian principle will take the field.

Indeed, the observant eye can already see shadows, a slant world that is ripening and ripening fast for repentance or judgment. With that conviction there seems to be a growing hunger for God to manifest his power.

And so intense is the hunger and so deep the longing that the cry of the prophet of old is frequently heard upon the lips of God's children. O, that thou wouldst lend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might fall before thy presence.

You will observe that in that prayer of the prophet fundamental things are suggested, that unless God comes down, mountains will not flow and sinners will not tremble. If God comes down, if God manifests his power, if God shows his hand, if God takes the field, mountains will flow.

Mountains of indifference, mountains of materialism, mountains of humanism will flow before his presence and nations, not just individuals, but nations shall be made to tremble. We haven't seen nations trembling, but we have seen communities, we have seen districts, we have seen parishes in the grips of God in the matter of hours when God came down.

Evangelism Compared with Spiritual Revival

It is true that we have seen man's best endeavor in the field of evangelism leaving the community untouched. We have seen crowded churches, we have seen many professions, we have seen hundreds, yes, and thousands responding to what you speak of here as the altar call.

But I want to say this, dear people, and I say it without fear of contradiction, that you can have all that without God. Now that may saddle you, but I say again, you can have all and never. Lord Spring was right when he wrote, the kingdom of God is not going to be advanced by our churches becoming filled with men, but by men in our churches becoming filled with God.

That's the difference. Oh no, crowded churches, keep interested in church activity, possible human level, the community untouched. The difference between successful evangelism, and I use the word successful, revival, is this, in evangelism you have the two, the three, the ten, the twenty, and possibly the hundred making confession of Jesus Christ, and at the end of the year you are thankful if half of them are standing.

But the community remains untouched. The public houses are crowded, the dancing saloons packed, the theaters and the picture houses patronized by the hundreds. No change in the community. But in revival, when God the Holy Ghost comes, when the winds of heaven blow, suddenly the community becomes God conscious.

A God realization takes hold of young, middle age, and old. So that as in the case of the Hebridean revival, seventy-five percent of those saved one night were saved before they came near a meeting. The fear of God, the beginning of wisdom.

That is where the difference comes in between evangelism and revival. That is why I say our only hope is not in crusades. Thank God for all that has been accomplished. Thank God for all that is being done through missions.

We represent a mission in Scotland. We have also workers in Canada. And we thank God for all that is being accomplished through the efforts of ministers and evangelists and Christian workers bringing one here and two there to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

I am the only answer to the problem that confronts the Christian church today. This occasion from God. Let me illustrate what I mean by an incident that happened not in Louis or in Uist, but on the small island of Berner.

The Berner Revival and Hearing God's Voice

I was addressing the Berner Convention. The Berner Convention is perhaps one of the largest conventions in Britain. I was sitting in the pulpit beside the chairman of the convention and the other speaker when I was suddenly gripped by the conviction that I had to leave the convention and leave at once and go to this island.

I turned to the chairman and told him my convictions. Oh, he said, you cannot leave the convention and you are down to give the closing address. Oh, but I couldn't give the closing address with this conviction.

So, to make a long story short, it was agreed that I should leave the convention. I left the following morning by plane to the city of Glasgow and from Glasgow by plane to the town of Stornoway and then by car across the island where a ferryboat met me and took me to this island of, say, 500 inhabitants.

On arriving, I met a young lad. I said nothing to the men who ferried me across. They were strangers to me. I was never on the island. I wasn't invited to the island and no one on the island, to my knowledge, had ever met me.

But I was there and I said to the lad that met me, could you direct me to the nearest minister? We have no minister on the island just now. Both churches are vacant. Would you then direct me to the nearest elder?

Yes, the nearest elder lives in that house on the hill. So I said to the lad, would you mind going up to the elder and tell him that Mr. Campbell has come to the island and if he asks what to Campbell, tell him that Campbell was on the island of Lewis.

So the young lad went up and after a few minutes came back and said, Hector McKinnon was expecting you to arrive today and you are to stay with his brother and he has asked me to tell you that he has intimated a meeting in the church for nine o 'clock tonight and he expects you to address it.

Now explain that as you will. Here was a man who on the morning of the day that I sat in the church in Bangor, Ireland, decided to spend the day in prayer. He was concerned about the parish, particularly concerned about the state of the young people.

Growing up in a state of indifference to God and to the church. His wife told me that on three occasions she went to the door of the barn where he was praying and she heard him pray, God I do not know where he is but you know and you send him.

About ten o 'clock that evening he was possessed of the conviction that God had described and that I would be on the island on this particular day. Hence the intimation that I would preach in the church at nine o 'clock that evening.

We went to the church, quite a considerable congregation gathered, about eighty. The service was a very ordinary service. Indeed at the end I wondered after all if I was led to the island. But there were men there nearer to God than I was.

My dear people we've got to be honest. This old man that I already referred to came to me and said, I hope you're not disappointed that revival hasn't come to the church tonight. But God is hovering over us and he will break through.

There was a man near to God. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. We are now walking down from the church. The church is on a hillock. The main road is down about three hundred yards beneath, below the church.

The congregation are moving down and we are walking behind them. When suddenly, oh this is what I'm getting at, noting the difference between evangelism and revival. Suddenly the elder stands, takes off his hat.

Stand Mr. Campbell. God has come. God has come. See what is happening. And I looked toward the congregation and I saw them falling on their knees among the heather. I heard the cry of the penitent. And that meeting that began at eleven o 'clock that night, continued on the hillside until four o 'clock in the morning.

The island was suddenly gripped by God. By God. Was it because Campbell went to the island? Banish the thought. Banish the thought. I thank God for the privilege and how thankful I am that I was near enough to God in that pulpit to hear his voice.

Hallelujah. I've often thought of that. Oh, I've often thought of it. If I was out of touch with God. If I was not in a place where I could hear the voice of the Savior, the voice of God, would Bernara have missed that mighty visitation that shook the island from center to circumference?

I question if there was one single house on the island that wasn't visited that night. An awareness of God. A consciousness of God seemed to hover over the very atmosphere. The very atmosphere seemed to be charged with the power of Almighty God.

That's revival. Mark, note the principle. Brought into operation, if my people, called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my faith and turn from their wicked ways, then will I... There was at least one man on that island who fulfilled the message of Scripture.

And because he fulfilled... Being a covenant-keeping God must be true to his covenant engagement. Amen. And God had to listen to the prayers of the pious postman who knelt in a barn for a day. The principle that governs spiritual quickening.

The Sovereign Origin of Revival and Human Responsibility

Oh, that God may find a people ready to fulfill and to comply with the governing principles relative to spiritual quickening. Now let me touch, first of all, on the origin of revival. You have it in this verse.

Wilt thou not ask again? My dear people, we do well to remember that in the whole field of experience the thought and remains with God. We want to remember that. Thought, endeavor, must find their basis, must find their inspiration.

The sovereign mercy of God. Now I believe that. I believe it with all my heart. I remember making that statement at a conference outside of London some time ago. And at the close of the conference the chairman overheard a certain titled lady say that was a wonderful address that we listened to.

But I don't agree with all that he said, particularly to the sovereignty of God. But we must not forget that the dear man was born and brought up among the hills of Scotland. And, well, that is his background and he can't help it.

Hallelujah. Yes, my dear people, let me say again. In the field of revival, the sovereign, but I hasten to say that I do not believe in any concept that nullifies man's responsibility. Amen. God is the God of revival.

But we are the human agents through which revival is possible. And God found that man in the postman of Banner. I believe this to be the reason for so few making contact with Christ that is vital to be one of the most disturbing features of present-day evangelism.

Let me say present-day evangelism is our overemphasis on what man can do. Come to the front. Raise your hand to call Jesus and be happy. God have mercy on us. I say God have mercy on us. But throw himself on the sovereign mercy of God.

So let's get that clear. That's not Thailand theology. It's New Testament theology. It's Old Testament theology. I am tired, positively tired, of this gospel of simply believing. Oh, there's a difference between human faith and saving faith.

I heard a prominent evangelist in Britain say something that really startled me. He said, you exercise faith in a plane. You go into that plane and you exercise faith that that plane will take you to your destination.

You go into a steamer, you exercise faith in the steamer and in the captain and crew to take you to your destination. Exercise that faith in the promises of God. Did you ever hear or listen to such nonsense?

Human faith! Human faith! Calvin was like, and I love to quote him, although I'm not an extreme Calvinist, though I'm a Highlander. Calvin said, that faith, that faith, that faith is never alone. God is in it.

Surely that is what Paul tells us. Great passage. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ, he liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of Paul.

Oh no. Oh no. That wouldn't get him very far. I live by the faith of the Son of God. I am convinced of this. That if this truth was stressed, there would be less appeals. Crusades and campaigns would not be producing harvest of the infidel.

Men and women would but recognize that glorious truth. They shall seek and they shall search for me with all their heart. That means that they may not find him tonight, they may not find him tomorrow night, they may not find him next week, they may not find him for a month or for six months, seeking God with all their heart.

They're going to find him. Or God is not true to his covenant engagement. Oh, let's get this clear. It comes into revival. That's why I could count upon my fine fingers all that I spoke to abet their soul during the whole of the three years I was in the midst of.

You see, in the northwest of Scotland, if you were to press yourself and your advice and your help upon an anxious soul, you'd be inclined to believe that it was man's work, just man's work. And he would much rather be left so that God himself would handle him.

Why, we have known people for weeks longer in distress of soul before light broke in upon them. But you go back to those villages today. I'm glad I see Mr. Macfarlane of the faith mission here. He was up in Lewes not so very long ago.

He was in a village that saw the mighty movings of God. I never spoke to one single person in that village in an endeavor to help them to find the Savior. We just left them to God, and God did it. And that's why you haven't a single backslider in the whole of that community.

Oh, my dear people, when God does a work, he does it well. You can go back. You can go back again, and you'll find them pressing on with the God that revealed not only himself to them, but revealed himself in them.

God, said David, is the God of our salvation. The fact of ultimate reality is of God. I was asked recently to help a young woman. She was a nurse in Glasgow, now home in the Hebrides, and she was in terrible distress of soul, and the distress continued for a long period.

Her father thought that perhaps a word from me might help her. So I called, and I found the young woman in a terrible state, fearfully distressed about her soul. The sense of guilt, the sense of unworthiness, and behind it all, the question, am I in the covenant?

Am I in the covenant? So I knelt beside her and did my best to help her. I quoted that great verse of scripture that I so often quote, John 10 and 27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

Never can any man pluck them out of my Father's hand. I quoted it again, and I tried to point out the two supreme characteristics of the sheep for whom Christ died. They hear his voice, and they follow.

Have you heard his voice? Oh, have you heard his voice, young people? Have you heard his voice? It's different from the voice of man, the voice of the shepherd, speaking the word of conviction, speaking the word of pardon, speaking the word of assurance, speaking the word of power.

Have you heard the voice of the shepherd? And I spoke along these lines, and then she looked at me through her tears and said, Mr. Campbell, I thank you for your kindly words of counsel, but surely, surely, as a minister, you believe that a verse of Scripture won't save you.

Have you got it? Oh, have you got it? There are thousands today living under a self-created illusion, a crusade, but a verse of Scripture, a verse of Scripture. Listen to the poet. The promise can't save, though the promise is sure, till the blood we get under that cleanses us through.

It cleanses me now, hallelujah to God, on the promise that I'm under the blood. That's it. That's it. Beyond, beyond the sacred page, seek thee, Lord. Seek thee, Lord. My spirit yearns for thee. Thou living word.

Has the living word spoken? Has the living word spoken? Are you just holding on to a verse of Scripture? So she said, surely, you're not suggesting that a verse of Scripture will save me. My heart cries for Jesus.

That's it. My heart cries for Jesus. And Jesus, four or five days after that, revealed himself in her. Revealed himself in her. And she was gloriously saved. And today, she rests upon the promise. She feeds upon the word that brings her to Jesus.

Let's get this clear. It's a truth we want to lay hold of. And it becomes so wonderfully real in revival. People have said to me, but you see, Mr. Campbell, up there, up there, they know the word of God.

And the Holy Spirit has ground to work on. And they're not tied up with this doctrine and that doctrine and the other doctrine. But listen, friends. I shall probably be talking to you tomorrow night about how God sweeps into communities where the word of God to a large extent is unknown.

There are such communities in Britain. Pagan. But I've seen God sweeping into such communities. For instance, the Midlands of England. Just recently. Sweeping into a godless community. Suddenly, men and women perfectly know what it means to be born again and what it means to be sanctified.

Livings of God. Knew what Christ meant by saying you must be born again. That's why I say there's hope for when God takes the situation in hand. The origin then, God, the way God works. I think we've seen that.

Prayer, Preparation, and the Human Agents of Revival

But His agents, people, God, as I already said, is the God of revival. He is sovereign. But as I already said, I quote again, the conception of sovereignty that nullifies my responsibility to say, as many do today, well, we can do nothing.

We've just to wait for the wind to blow. Well, that may be a very accommodating doctrine to the man at ease in Zion. But it will not stand in the light of divine revelation. I wonder how many of us here talking about revival and interested in the convention are giving time to God in prayer.

I'm thankful that I was brought up in a home where prayer had a prominent place. Mother Hall, where at least God had an hour every morning. Stillness in the farmhouse. Mother at six in the morning till half past seven.

Horses head at six. They had to be attended to. These were the days of horses. I'm not sure, but they were better days than the days in which we're living. Half past six until half past seven. Quietness in the farmhouse in order that we might listen to God and give God an opportunity to speak to us.

Are we human agents? Revival is possible. Let me ask this question. What place where God can trust you with revival? A sovereign, supernatural, better and lesser that we can use, that we can trust with God?

I'm sure some of you will have heard of that lovely Scottish saint by the name of Murray M 'Cheyne died at 27 but left his mark, an indelible mark on Scotland. Murray M 'Cheyne was wonderfully used in revival prior to the disruption of 43.

It was the revivals of M 'Cheyne and Boner and others that led to that great disruption when the free church left the establishment. Murray M 'Cheyne said this, If we are to walk worthy of our high and holy calling, we must live in daily consideration of the greatness and glory of Jesus.

That's it now. Living in daily consideration of the greatness and the glory of Jesus. The man who is there is just the man that God can trust. With revival he is sovereign but I am the instrument that he wills to use.

Campbell's Conversion and the Battlefield Experience

Oh, tell me, friend. Tell me, are you there? Now I want to close my talk by telling you something of how God in his mercy met with me. I think I must go back to the days of my conversion. I was converted under strange circumstances.

I cannot take time to tell it all. But I was a piper and a step-dancer and I was playing in a concert and dance outside of Auburn when God spoke to me. God spoke to me in the dance. I had a praying father and a praying mother.

And I left the dance and went home, shut myself in the bar and knelt among the straw prepared for the harvest in the morning and cried, God, I do not know how to come, I know not what to do, but if you'll save me as I am, I'm coming now and God save me.

And I say here today that never for one single moment had I ever any occasion to doubt the work that God did in my heart that morning. Supernatural work, truly glorious. I believe that I can honestly say that God raised every part of my being by the Spirit.

Wonderful experience and I'm not talking of sanctification or the deeper life. I'm just talking of a soul born again when God does the work. Well shortly after that I joined the 46th and found myself in France during the First World War.

And I wasn't long there until I discovered that there were powers resident within me that were more than a match for me. You see I was cradled in the midst of godliness. And I was sheltered in a godly home.

Now I found myself in the midst of extreme ungodliness. Extreme ungodliness. And I soon discovered as I already said, forces resident within me that were more than a match for me. Again and again I cried, Oh God, speak the word of deliverance along this particular avenue.

However to make a long story short, I'm in a cavalry charge. And in that cavalry charge I at last found myself lying on the battlefield badly wounded. I thank God for a young trooper of the Canadian horse.

I owe a great deal to Canada for that reason I'm happy to be here to pay a long standing debt. I was lying on the ground when there was a second charge and this charge was by the Canadian horse. The last charge, cavalry charge of the British Army outside of Amiens on the 12th of April 1918.

Thus they charged over that bloody field a horse, a hoof, struck me in the spine. And I must have groaned. And that groan registered in the mind of the young trooper that was in the charge. So much so that in the providence of God he came right back to where I lay.

After they had cleared the hills and took the guns, he came back. Dismounted and threw me across the horse's back. And carried me to the first casualty clearing station. I thank God for that young man whoever or wherever he is on that horse's back entered into an experience that revolutionized my life.

I believed that I was dying. I knew that I was being carried to the casualty clearing station. But would I ever see it? And I prayed a prayer frequently prayed by my father. God, make me as holy as a saved sinner can be.

I have to say, James prayer. Make me as holy as a saved sinner can be. And listen, friends. God swept into my life. God the Holy Ghost. I cannot explain it in any other way. Into my life. And I was brought to the station.

Now listen, I couldn't speak very much in English then. Gaelic was my language. But I know this, that I began to talk about Jesus. In Gaelic. In Gaelic. There wasn't a soul there that could understand me, but God understood me.

And I want to say this, that before we left that casualty clearing station, seven Canadians were gloriously saved. Seven of them. Again, I must leave that casualty clearing station. And after a year in hospital, a year and a month, and after a few months of Bible training, I went out to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Jesus.

Drifting from God and the Need for Repentance

And I saw the niddergeil revival. God nourishes in a mighty way. And hundreds were swept into the kingdom of God. And then an evil hour struck me. I stepped consciously out of the will of God. Began to study for the ministry.

And I'm sorry to say that during that period drifted far from God in my mind. In my mind. And in my heart. Oh, I was still evangelical. Passed through. Came out as a minister. And for seventeen years ministered to two congregations.

I was candle of the niddergeil revival. And I would be asked to address conventions and conferences. Oh, the deceit of the human heart. Oh, how unfit I was. Oh, I would never question my salvation. No one in the parish would question my salvation because I tried to live consistently.

But I knew in my spirit I became a burden in the word of God. A dead word. Oh, brother, have you had that experience? So one day Oh, how I thank God for that day. My young daughter came to me. Thank God for her.

A girl of sixteen years of age. She came to me and she said, Daddy I would like to see you in your study. I have been praying for you, Daddy. I want to speak to you. And she took me to my study and she threw herself on my knees as daughters sometimes do.

She put her arms round my neck and I can still see the tears streaming from her eyes as she said, Daddy when you were a pilgrim in the state mission after the First World War you saw revival in Scotland.

You saw revival. Daddy how is it that God is not using you in revival today? Tell me, Daddy when did you last lead a soul to Christ? Thank God for faithful daughter. And I tell you, dear people, that shook me.

Oh, the convention speaker Campbell, the evangelistic minister was smashed by a question from his daughter. Listen I was booked to address the Keswick Convention that year along with a brother of Dr. William Fitch of Toronto Doctor of Delta.

I went to the convention Oh, the deceit of the human heart. I went to the convention and I gave my address and I was so thankful when it was over. The words kept ringing in my ear When did you last lead a soul to Christ?

When did you last lead a soul to Christ? Then God in his own wonderful way moved Dr. Tom Fitch to depart from the address that he had prepared under his own personal testimony and Dr. Fitch gave his personal testimony and I went home resolved that unless God would do something for me and give me back what I lost that I certainly would resign from the ministry.

I was absolutely decided on that. So on going home I said to my wife and daughter I'm going to my study and I want you to leave me alone. I'm going to seek a meeting with God. I went to my study I shut the door I put the rug down on the floor in front of the fire and I lay on the rug.

I cannot take time to tell you what God said to me in that hour but I'm thankful to say that he spoke to me the word of pardon and the word of forgiveness and the word of re-commission. I cried won't you give me again what you gave me on the battlefield.

Listen friend God did it. My daughter came in at two o 'clock in the morning she lay down beside me and she said this daddy whatever it costs go through with God. Whatever it costs go through with God.

And I said Sheena I'm going through whatever it may cost and God knows what it cost me to stand in my post at the following Sunday and make a public apology for pretending what I was not in the midst of my congregation.

Five of my office bearers left me within a week. They wouldn't have a fool in the pulpit. Oh that may happen it sometimes happens you see in revival there's subtraction before addition. But listen friends as I lay there God the Holy Ghost came upon me.

Wave after wave came rolling over me until the love of God swept through me like a mighty river. So much so that there were moments now listen my daughter beside me put her hand on my shoulder and she prayed Oh God keep his reason to daddy.

I was never more sane in my life. But I was so wrought upon by the Holy Ghost that I cried and I laughed and I prayed. Oh I cannot someone ask me did they speak in tongues? Oh I was asked that again and again.

No my dear people I've never spoken in tongues nor have I ever been in a meeting where tongues have been practiced. Just a short time ago I heard someone say something in a meeting they said she spoke in tongues but I didn't understand it or hear it.

No my dear people mind you when I say that don't think that I'm denying the gifts mentioned in the New Testament. Precious gifts when God gives them. All I can say that that never came to me but I say the baptism of the Holy Ghost came to me.

Cleansing empowering power. A professor in Edinburgh met me sometime afterwards of course it was known abroad that something had happened to Campbell of course something did happen to him. I was set free glorious freedom.

This professor said to me now tell me tell me Campbell tell me that you had a wonderful experience in your study. Yes I said God came to me. What difference did it make in your life? Well I think professor that the difference must be obvious to you from what has already happened.

I said I went out to preach the same sermons that I've been preaching for 17 years I went out to preach the same sermons with this difference that I now saw hundreds converted hundreds brought savingly to Christ.

May God in his mercy have been pleased to use me in some small measure since that hour. I can trace it back to that moment when Sheena said to me whatever it costs daddy go through with God. I say to you brother whatever it costs whatever it costs.