“A revival . . . is a special and manifest outpouring of the Spirit of God, when the work no longer labors in the hands of man but seems to be taken up by God himself, and God comes down in a manner and with an influence before which the wicked stand in awe, and all the people feel his special presence. . . . Everybody hears, because they come [to church] to hear; everybody feels, because they cannot help it. Every day sinners are awakened, and every day sinners are converted. While one is weeping for his sins, another is rejoicing in hope. And ministers and experienced Christians give themselves up entirely to the work which God has thrown upon their hands, to warn those who are yet careless, to guide the inquiring, and to nourish those who are born again. Conscience is almost universally tender. Turn where you will to speak of the things of eternity, and you may find a willing ear; address whom you will on the concerns of his soul, and not unlikely the first word will open a fountain of tears. And what is all this? And whence comes it? It is the Spirit of God, it is the power of the Highest, and all feel that it is so.”
Calvin Colton, The History and Character of American Revivals of Religion (London, 1832), pages 80-82.
HT: Ray Ortlund, Jr.
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