George Whitefield ---- 1714 - 1770
William Carey ---- 1761 - 1834
Adoniram Judson ---- 1788 - 1850
Charles Finney ---- 1791 - 1875
D.L. Moody ---- 1837 - 1899
Hudson Taylor ---- 1832 - 1905
John Hyde ---- 1865 - 1911
C.T. Studd ---- 1860 - 1931
Billy Sunday ---- 1862 - 1935
J. Frank Norris ---- 1877 - 1952
Jack Hyles ---- 1926 - present
Charles Finney
Probably no name is more recognized when the subject of Revival is mentioned than Charles Finney.
As a young attorney, Charles Finney found many references to the Bible in his law books. He decided to buy a Bible and was soon spending much of his time studying the Scriptures and became concerned for his soul. However, pride became an obstacle to his accepting Christ. He was unwilling to let anyone know that he was studying the Bible. If anyone would come in, he would throw the law books on top of the Bible to hide what he was doing.
On October 10, 1821, at the age of 21, he decided he would settle these questions of his salvation and make his peace with God. Great joy filled his heart when he got saved. He said,
"No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love;and...I bellowed out the unutterable gushing of my heart. These waves came over me and over me and over me one after another until I recollect I cried out, "I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me..Lord, I cannot bear any more."
That same evening a choir member of a church he had attended came to his office and saw him weeping. He asked Finney, "Mr, Finney, what ails you? Are you in Pain?"
"No, but so happy I cannot live" he replied. The church members rushed out of the office and asked the leader of the choir to come and hear his testimony. At the conclusion of Finney's conversion testimony this man fell to the floor and cried "Do pray for me to be converted."
Upon seeing several others saved soon after this, Finney had the impression that god wanted him to preach the Gospel, and that he must begin immediately.
"I found that I was unwilling to do anything else. I had no longer any desire to practice law...I had no disposition to make money. I had no hungering and thirsting after worldly pleasures and amusements in any direction...Nothing, it seemed, could be put in competition with the worth of souls;and no labor...could be so sweet..as that of holding up Christ to a dying world."
When Finney began to preach, American churches were in a bad condition, being divided basically into two groups, the Universalists and Hyper-Calvinists so that Christians as individuals and churches felt no responsibility to the Spread the Gospel.
Finney preached that Christ died for all men and that it was the responsibility of every believer to spread the gospel. This stirred up much opposition but some Christians begin to be convicted about their responsibility to the lost and revival broke out.
He was given the responsibility to preach in two small villages in New York. At one of these villages, Evan Mills, he would not only preach on Sunday, but weeknights. The people enjoyed his sermons but when he concluded that they had never experienced the new birth and that they would not make a decision to accept Christ, he gave them an ultimatum evening in his message:
"Now I must know your minds, and I want all of you who will give your pledge to make peace with God immediately, to rise up; all of you who resolved not to became Christians and wish me to understand so and Christ to understand so, remain sitting."
This shocked the Congregation!
"They looked at one another and at me, and all sat still,just as I expected. He spoke again, 'Then you are committed. You have taken your stand. You have rejected Christ and his Gospel..You may remember as long as you live that you have thus publicly committed yourselves against the Saviour."
The congregation left--some angry--some with heads hung down in shame. One of the few members, a deacon, who had been born again, came to him and said, "Brother Finney, you've got them. They cannot rest under this. You will see the results."
Together they spent the next day in prayer and fasting, something Finney always practiced when results did not come. By the next evening they left assured the power of God would be revealed. The church was packed as he preached. He said when he preached it was like a hammer breaking a rock, the conviction was so strong. But instead of giving an invitation, he dismissed the service. It was more than the people could bear and that night many were heard crying out to God and many were saved.
Early in his ministry he met a believer named Daniel Nash. This man was a great man of prayer and he joined Finney. As Finney would preach, nash would go to nearby house and pray and the result was a work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those listening to Finney.
Everywhere Finney went revival followed. Estimates of those saved through his preaching range from 100,000 to as many as 500,000.
He was accused of letting down the dignity of the pulpit and criticized for not preaching like the other ministers did. He answered, "Show me the fruits of your ministry, and if they so far exceed mine as to give me evidence that you have found a more excellent way, I will adopt your views."
It did not matter how wicked the place was for Finney would go preach and revival would follow. He had heard about a wicked village and decided to go there and preach. He preached on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and selected the text, "Up,get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city."
Finney says;
"The people looked as if they were angry. They looked at each other and at me. Their anger rose higher and higher as I continued...The congregation began to fall from their seats and cried for mercy. If I had a sword in each hand, I could not have cut them off their seats as fast as they fell. Indeed nearly the whole congregation were either on their knees or prostrate...in less than two minutes...Everyone prayed for himself, who was able to speak at all."
The son and grandson of the man named Lot both were converted at that meeting and both became preachers. The grandson enrolled in Finney's Bible School.
He went to DeKalb and had many Presbyterians and Methodists saved. Finney recalled later:
"A Roman Catholic priest who came from Ogdensburg to be measured for a suit of clothes was converted on the spot and this spread the revival in all directions."
After a few services Finney had no chance to preach, for everywhere people were seeking the Lord. A friend of Finney's said:
"Finney could only sit still and see the salvation of the Lord, by the spontaneous movement of the Holy Ghost in converting sinners."
Finney says the most amazing display of God's power in his life came one day as he went to visit a cotton factory at New York Mills, a small town near Utica, New York. Prior to his visit to the factory, more than 500 converts were reported saved in the short time he had been in Utica.
Unusual conversions were reported. A Proud, disbelieving school teacher came to make light of what was happening to her friends who had been saved, when she too was suddenly convicted of her lost condition. Not long afterwards, she married a Mr Guilick, who became a missionary to the Sandwich Islands, where God used them both mightily.
Everyone in the area had heard what was going on and the people were divided. A great number of those against the meeting were openly opposing it.
As Finney walked into the Cotton Mill, one of the opponents of the meeting, a young lady employee, saw him. Looking at her co employee, she began to laugh. some writers say she made a cynical remark about Finney and his meeting. In a spirit of prayer, Charles Finney simply looked at this young lady without saying a word. As he kept looking at her, being grieved by her criticism, the lady stopped working as she had broken her thread. She became so upset that she couldn't repair the thread and start again. The Spirit of God mightily convicted her of her sin to the point that she began to weep. Soon her companions were convicted and began to weep. A chain reaction occurred as hundreds began to be overcome by their lost condition.
The factory owner, seeing this, was deeply moved himself and said. "Stop the mill, and let the people attend to religion, for it is far more important that our souls be saved than the factory run. " All the workers were assembled in a very large room and Finney said,"...a more powerful meeting I scarcely ever attended. "Within a few days nearly every employee was saved (some accounts say all were saved . several authors say thre were 3,000 employees in this factory.
Others say the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit's power was in the revival held in Rochester, New York. In 1830 over 10,000 people were converted into a livery stable, the circus into a soap and candle factory, and the rum shops (bars) were closed!
Before he arrived in Rochester, wickedness abounded and dance halls flourished. One of the first conversions was the wife of a prominent lawyer who previously had been a worldly woman. She was afraid that Finney's meetings would interfere with the pleasures and amusements she had. She got saved instead and several days afterwards Finney did something he had never done before. He gave a call for and dealt with concerning salvation. Finney says:
"It was soon seen that the Lord was aiming at the highest classes of society. The lawyers, physicians, merchants, and indeed all the most intelligent people became interested and more easily influenced...a large number of lawyers, nearly all the judges, bankers, merchants and master mechanics and leading men and women in the city were converted."
Revival, which started with the poor and common people, as it always has, had spread to the influential in society and the Lord Jesus welcomed them all into His Kingdom.
The spirit of prayer and crowds were so great that people, although greatly wanting to attend, volunteered to stay away from the overcrowded services to pray for the lost.
A pastor and an opponent of Finney's revival at Rochester, Dr. Lyman Beecher, soon changed his opinion that this revival was...
"...the greatest work of God, and the greatest revival of religion the world has ever seen in so short time."
Edwin Beecher, Dr. Beecher's son, was a pastor in Boston, Massachusetts. When Finney came to preach in his church he said:
"He preached to a crowded house; the most powerful sermon I ever heard...no one can form any conception of the power of this appeal. It rings to my ears even to this day."
To Finney, Revival was something that would come any where where certain conditions were met. He would say:
"A revival can be expected when Christians have a spirit of prayer for revival."
"A revival is no more a miracle than a crop of wheat. In any community revival can be secured from heaven when heroic souls enter the conflict determined to win or die--or if need be--win and die!"
"Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one's will to God in deep humility."
The same Holy Spirit power in life of Charles Finney is available to you and I as the Word of God says:
"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon their offspring."
Home
George Whitefield ---- 1714 - 1770
William Carey ---- 1761 - 1834
Adoniram Judson ---- 1788 - 1850
Charles Finney ---- 1791 - 1875
D.L. Moody ---- 1837 - 1899
Hudson Taylor ---- 1832 - 1905
John Hyde ---- 1865 - 1911
C.T. Studd ---- 1860 - 1931
Billy Sunday ---- 1862 - 1935
J. Frank Norris ---- 1877 - 1952
Jack Hyles ---- 1926 - present
