THE Iltlf311 REVIVAL FEVER.
IT seems that the age of wonders and of signs has not yet passed. If we may believe the accounts of the Revivalists the. North of Ireland is in process of rapid and visible conversion from light to darkness, from drunkenness to sobriety, from every vice to every virtue. Monster assemblies at Armagh and smaller meetings everywhere throughout Ulster are being held, and, at all of them great numbers are instantaneously converted." The days of Pentecost have returned, and " rushing mighty winds" are not uncommon. " In Coleraine," we are told, "gentlemen, ladies, and- beggars, have been struck down on the streets, and may be seen on their knees convinced of sin: In one school, in the middle of the day, above 100 boys were on their knees crying for mercy." Upon these persons the whole iniquity of their past lives suddenly flashes. The terrors of the judgment and the pains of hell have got hold upon them, How shall they find relief F. The air resounds with- groans and- shrieks, and incoherent utterances. Some of these eases are attended by strong convul- sions.; others by great weakness and entire loss of appetite. Pow it is just this point to which we chiefly object. Let us not be misunderstood. That genuine change- in the heart and life, which in religions phraseology is styled "•conversion " we hold- to be a sacred. question which lies entirely-between each man and his God.. We believe this union, of a spiritual awakening with a. bodily paralysis to ha most injurious in. its results. Yet these Revivalist preachers are troubled with no doubts: They evi- dently consider that they are possessed of gifts little short of
ipiraculous. They are net far behind. the Apostles. Nay. in some respects they excel them. The Apostles were wont to heal
sickness. The Revivalists have hitherto devoted themselves principally to producing it. The frirmAr used to cast out devils. The latter' it appears, do just the reverse. We fear it cannot bir denied that many of these subjects' of conversion have become in- sane, and have been removed to lunatic asylums. They have: gained doubtless a "sense of sin," but the sense of everything else they have lost, perhaps- for ever. To the discovery of the. need of "saving grace "' has succeeded the need of a strait-waist- coat Here the case passes from the hands of the preacher to those of the physician. The Tatter is requested to repair the mischief which the former has produeed. Yet it would be unfair to assert that the Revival has been attended by no good results. Has not the circulation of the Lear journals been doubled since. this movement began?- Is not the Morning Advertiser among, the proselytes ? The editor of-that paper has told' us that " crime has become comparatively unknown. The police constables have little or nothing to do, and the sessions and assizes have hardly any cases before them." But since he goes• on to say that no one who has not personally witnessed these effects can believe in them it is clear that his evidence is of no value to any one but himself. Moreover, is the experience of twenty-four hours, of a week, of a month, a sufficient test ? We have always believed that a dis- ease which has plagued the body for long years almost invariably requires years of anxious care wholly to eradicate it. Yet can it be that Holloway's ointment is really a universal panacea ? That Parr's life-pills will actually prolong our days ? If so, how fear- fully we have neglected. our opportunities ! We are well aware that this sort of thing is not confined to modern. times. It has been common to all ages. It was not un- known to the Wesleys and to Whitfield. But the Wesleys soon discovered the incalculable injui7 done to their cause by these outward manifestations; and utfieId had subsequently reason to regret that he had ever encouraged them. Yet these Irish Revivalists have no such misgivings. That these "times of refreshing " are from the Lord they do not for an instant doubt. They are worthy followers of Mr. Spurgeon, who assures us that to his certain knowledge there is scarcely one of his sermona which is not " stamped by the hand of the Almighty." The boldest of these ministers would, we presume, not assert in public that he had secured his own eternal salvation, yet none of them has the least hesitation in declaring that he has secured that of many others. In making, these remarka we have not forgotten that there is nothing genuine without its counterfeit; that, in feat -the existence of the imitation proves the existence of the original. It may be that some who were the vilest sinners, are on their way to become the most exemplary saints, but time alone can prove it. Meanwhile, let the Revivalists bear in mind that upon every fever there ensues a reaction, to every flow there is an ebb, and that the more violent the excitement, the deeper will be the subsequent depression.
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