Part 10 (pages 134–147)
people’s hearts. Invitations flooded in from all over to repeat the message. ‘The evangelist never held back what he believed. As he said, “TI felt it my duty to expose all the hiding places of sinners, and to hunt them out from under those peculiar views of orthodoxy, in which I found them entrenched.”
In Philadelphia, Charles realized how entrenched the ministers and their people were in “‘old school” theology —the theology of Princeton Calvinism. The evangelist would later lament, “Where Princeton views were almost universally embraced. . .the greatest difficulty I met with in promoting revivals of religion was the false instruction given to the people, and especially to inquiring sinners. _ Indeed, in all my ministerial life, in every place and coun- try where I have labored, I have found this difficulty to a greater or less extent; and I am satisfied that multitudes are living in sin, who would immediately be converted if they were truly instructed.”
Continuing to point out the difficulty with this doc- trine, Charles added, “The foundation of the error of which I speak, is the dogma that human nature is sinful in itself; and that, therefore, sinners are entirely unable to become Christians. It is admitted, expressly or virtually, that sinners may want to be Christians, and that they really do want to be Christians, and often try: to be Christians, and yet somehow fail.”
Further, Charles pointed out:
It had been the practice, and still is to some extent, when ministers were preaching repen- tance, and urging the people to repent, to save “Charles Finne)
their orthodoxy: by: telling them that they: could no
ss repent,any: more: than: they: could-make a world.
But the sinner must be set.to do something; and. “s-with all their orthodoxy, they could:not bear to. :
-< tell:him. that he had nothing:to do: They:must:.:
_‘sudtherefore, set him: self righteously.to pray for-a
sinew heart: They would sometimes.tell him'to:do
~s: his:duty, to: press forward in duty,:to:read his.’
«+ Bible; to use the:means of grace; in short; they:
-< would tell him to do:anything:and. everything, but
ss the very thing: which God. commands him-to:do:
God commands him-to repent now, to:believe
now; to make:to him anew heart.now: But they -were-afraid to.urge God's.claims.in this. form, :
“vs: Because they:were:continually: telling’ the sinner:
oy that he: had no. panty whatever to oda’ shes ‘hing
ologi¢al:« dilemma: The minister ‘preached: a‘sermoni;: give. ing: as ‘this:text: “Repent: and:be coniverted;:that your sins may ‘be: blotted: out; whén the times’ of refreshing shall come?:from’ the -preserice: of . the: Lord?” The :minister, according to Charles,.presented-repentance:.as: an‘.invol: untary: change; it:consisted simply: of being in a'state of sorrow. for:sin. ‘The minister felt-obligated to remind:his. congregation: that) they: could: not repent; that: -although God required it of them,’still.he knew: that-it:was impos-
sible for them:.to repent on their.own:They could: only: ae
repent ‘when:God:gave them repentance.: . The, minister «concluded -his: message: by. telling: the people “You ask; he what: -you shall do. Go: home, and:
“88135 pray. for repentance; and if it does not come, pray again for repentance; and still if it does not come, keep praying till it does comes.”
When Charles heard this message, he was grieved because he knew the people needed simply, to repent by means of their own will. He maintained that the church had things backward: “The church, to a great extent, have instructed sinners to begin on the outside of religion; and by what they have called an outward performance of duty, to secure an inward change of their will and affec- tions.” He saw the inclination toward passivity as the stumbling block to people becoming Christians.
In spite of such obstacles, revival winds-were blow- ing through Philadelphia, and before long, Charles real- ized that going from church to church was not the most satisfactory way to preach. So the evangelist.and his co- workers secured a large German church that could hold at least three thousand people, and Charles began to preach nightly. Each night the church filled up with eager listen- ers; even the aisles filled to capacity. Soon, converts from the:revival seemed to be everywhere—not only in the city itself, but in outlying areas as well. For several months, the German church remained home base for the evangelist.
Charles related one of the interesting incidents that took place at the meetings: “There were some cases of very bitter opposition on the part of individuals. In one case, a man whose wife was very deeply convicted, was so enraged that-he came in, and took his wife out of the meeting by force. Another case I recollect as a very strik- ing one, of a German whose name I cannot recall. He was a tobacconist. He had a-very-amiable and intelligent wife; ~ hak Finney. :
; afl Was: himself,-as'I, afterwards. found; when: I:became : acquainted with:him, an. intelligent man:He::was;: how: - ever, a skeptic, and had:no confidence in religion atalli: -- His: wife, however,-came .to: our: meetings; and:became. = very.miuch: ‘concerned about her‘ soul; and: aftera'sévere. : suse of: many days, she was: thoroughly, converted.”
Another. ‘incident: Happened. in:the:spring of 1829; At:the ‘time. of the: ‘Spring:thaw when. the:snow’ and:ice: mhelted, the ‘Delawaré: River’ was’ high, :and:lumbermen. floated down the riveron homemade rafts. The:river.ran ‘through : Philadélphia,.so:the men would take their rafts apart and sell:the: wood for’ profit. ‘The:area thése'men: were: from. was.known<as the! timber: Region, anarea roughly eighty. ; miles longs. oh ees : eo dn1829, the Lumber. ‘Region: was a complete. wilder: ; ; ‘ness Jacking:schools, churches, or other:;community. build:
ings:A number of the lumbermen:arriving in Philadelphia
‘that:spring: camé:to; Charles’ ’s revival, and-became Chis:
tians.: When+ they: ‘returned home;,.they prayed diligently for - an outpouring of ‘the Holy irit: “As the new: converts; 3
were :convertéd;: An: a ‘short time, revival; ibroke: ith oe Lumber Region::The revival spread over the whole: areas” even to-remote-places:.Some:of the people converted:had. never. attendéd: any:-meetings, and: »,Charles: remarked, were: “almost:as ignorant as heathens.” UReople even: found the Lord in:isolatedplaces'in thé:woods: . A man was living alone in the wildemesé, Coming under. conviction, ‘lie: senséd: that ‘he: was alienated. from’ _ God and .became -burdened: by his: sin. He got:‘onvhis -
©137 knees, confessed his sin, and asked Christ to become his Savior. The man had never gone to a prayer meeting nor heard a prayer in his life. After he became a Christian, the man ‘shared his new faith with some friends who also lived in the wilderness. They, too, became Christians.
The revival movement continued in these remote areas with hardly any ministers to support it. The movement contained no fanatical elements as was: sometimes. the case. It was truly a work of. God’s Holy Spirit. Charles described the wilderness revival “‘as one of the most re- markable revivals that have occurred in this country.”
A singular honor that came to Charles during this time was an invitation to preach at the General Assembly of the Presbytery when it met in Philadelphia. A. good friend of the evangelist, John Frost, cautioned him about this opportunity: “Brother Finney, I have said before, keep humble; I repeat it. Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought.” Charles’s confidence in himself and in the Lord could have been misunderstood.as pride, but, above all, he depended totally on the Holy Spirit to carry: out God’s work through him.
The evangelist remained in Philadelphia for a year and a half. During that time, the city played host to a tremen- dous revival, and Charles had. been catapulted into the limelight. He was now much better known, and no longer
- had to spend so much energy dealing with controversies such as the old conflict over his “new measures.” God was expanding the ministry He had for Charles Finney.
At last, the evangelist’s Philadelphia revival had con- cluded, and he felt drawn to the young, burgeoning city “Charles Finney 2
of: sading. Penriayivania. ‘When. Charles. arrived in the. _ Winter: of: 1829-30, Reading: boasted: a population: of-ten thousand::people. Charles: was: willing ‘to-go: :wherever. is God: sent ‘him,: -but:he:sensed ‘that probably his:days)of preaohing J in-small: Nillages were'a thing of the past. »He had been summoned'to: Reading: by. Dr. Greet; pi tor of the only. Presbyterian: church inthe city. Fhe:pr
lems’ the évangelist:encountered:in Reading turtied. outito.. .
be'somiewhat differentithan those he:had.in other places: AS! Charles ‘began..to preach:in Reading,..he: -quickl ‘dis: covered that-neither ithe :pastor. nor.the people: h understanding of what a:revival.’ Was=-or' eve: that/they - needed’one. In-addition; the people. weré more interested in dancing:and parties ‘than in:their spiritual: well: -being. The-evangelist-was. heptacnseee: to! ‘Bet ieffective: prayer meetings started.ivs) BL Pee With the pastor’s approval: Charles preached: onl 0 the church:members ‘for: three: weeks: His:. strorigest - - opponents: turned outito'be’ ‘the:local reporters. wh n- stantly » wrote: articles: criticizing: the: cevangelist:and-the meetings.: ‘But ithe -evangelist-lawyer swith his :strong, cleat:logi¢ soon gotithe better pf then and they stopped eas printing the:articles::: : _ On the: third: Sunday h reached, Charles setined that conviction: had begun: to'set in‘with the:people; so: he told them he:would hold:an inquiry meeting. Dr. Greer gave his a approval, but he did not think many would atténd. ¢ ‘harles' - Mentioned :to: the:people: the: ‘type’ of person-he: thought would come to:the meeting; then he invited: those.individ-» uals who “were seriously impressed:with the state.of their souls, and, had made up their minds to attend: immediately to. the subject, and desired to receive instruction on the particular question of what they should do to be saved.”
The day of the scheduled meeting turned out to bea cold, snowy Monday, yet that evening when Charles and Dr. Greer arrived at the meeting place, they were sur- prised to see most of the congregation waiting for them. Much to Dr. Greer’s amazement, many of the respect- able, influential members of his church had decided to attend. The pastor opened the meeting, then turned it over to the evangelist. He explained to Charles, “I know noth- ing about such a meeting as this; take it into your own hands, and manage it in your own: way.”
With that, Charles spoke to each person individually. and to the group as a whole. He told them he wanted all of them. to tell him what they understood about salvation, what their convictions were, and what their difficulties were.
Charles also said to them: “If you were sick and called a physician, he would wish to know your symp- toms, and that you should tell him how you were, and how you had been. I’ cannot adapt instruction to your pre- sent state of mind, unless you reveal it: to me. The thing, therefore, that I want, is that you reveal,.in.as few words as you can, your exact state of mind at the present time. I will now pass around among you and give each of you an opportunity to say, in the fewest words, what your state of mind is.” :
Dr. Greer stayed:close to the evangelist as he talked to the people but did not say anything. Charles spoke in a low voice to each one so as not to be overheard by oth- ers. He discovered as he moved through the group. that mercy. of-God in Christ Jes all: sin;..and::to::renounce:
while I peice commit: uate ):
very: ‘much surprised at ithe test: pee anit
then: and thee to pee nei to. li ~ who were willing to commit themselves to: the’ sovere
whieh I pressed them to‘ instant submissio
- -» Following this: exhortation; | Charles aske those people . eho o. wished to, “to -kneel,-and knelt: ammyself- ‘Dr: Greer.
eal Charles Finney.
knelt by my side, but said nothing. I presented the case in prayer to God, and held right to the point of now submit- ting, believing, and consecrating themselves to God. There was an awful solemnity pervading the congregation, and the stillness of death, with the exception of my own voice in prayer, and the sobs, and sighs,-and weeping that were heard more or less throughout the congregation.”
After the prayer of committal, Charles ‘said noth- ing further and dismissed the group. When Dr. Greer left, he took Charles’ s hand, saying, “I will-see you in the morning.”
At about eleven o’clock that same night, aman ran to the evangelist’s quarters, called him, and told him that Dr. Greer was dead. When Charles asked what happened, the man told him that Greer had just gone to bed, was taken with “a fit of apoplexy,” and died immediately. The pas- tor’s death put a damper on the evangelist’s work. But within three weeks or so, the revival once again began to go forward'ina powerful way, and many people found Christ as their Savior.
There were many interesting incidents connected with the Reading. revival. One of them occurred when at about midnight on.a very snowy night, family members knocked on Charles’s door, asking him to go out and visit a man who was under such “awful conviction that he could not live unless something was done for him. The man was a stalwart man, very muscular, a man of great force of will and strength of nerve, physically a fine specimen of humanity. His wife was a professor of religion; but he had ‘cared for none. of these things.’ ” ; “ches Minney-
je man’ had. attended: the: mnsetiny eatlier: that ¢ even: nd: the: sermon: had: gréatly distressed him: ‘Charles 3 é went | home i ina terrible: state of mind, rhis'c cony
When: BE éiitered iE found: him: Sitting: on a thé floor; Hie ae . Ee believe;: supporting chis head—and’ sehaels look:in: ‘his
tcingtie for pain’ He etd: out to. me; 0, Me. Finnie} lost!:I:am: alostsoul!’:I was: greatly: sliocked. and! elaithed,: “If this’is conviction; ‘what is'hell?”.?:: :
- Charles:sat down: beside: the:man:and: explained Si vation in Christ: After berpia ‘with the man a short:tit
. tered had to do ‘with a: alae whi camie:to:see him: earl ; one:morning; When the man, “who: belonged:t to one:of the most réspectable: families’ in town, called at! room; ‘he. was' greatly. agitatéd"The man: was:highly.int
igéi vax gentleman-—but:the evangelist: could: no! recall:having seen him: before. The man:then: proceeded to'tell‘Charles' that he'.was:a lost: sinnei,-and: that’ ‘he had. made up his mind’ there: was no ‘hope for-him.
» -Further, he told:Chatles: ‘that when he:was.at Princeton: College; he and:two:of his classmates became:very anxious
43”
about their souls. They had-gone to talk with Dr. Ashbel Green, then the president of Princeton, and asked. him what they should do to be saved. The doctor told them he was glad to have them come and make inquiry. Then he said they should keep out of all bad company, read their Bible. regularly, and pray for God to give them a new heatt. The. president added, “Continue this, and press forward in duty; and the Spirit of God will convert you; or else He. will leave you, and you will return back to your sins again.”
When the man finished.his story, Charles asked him: “Well, how did it terminate?’ ‘O,’ he said, ‘we did-just as he told us to do. We kept out of bad company, and prayed that-God would make usa new heart. But after a little while our convictions wore away, and we did not care to pray any longer. We lost all interest. in the subject. With that, the young man burst into tears and said, ‘My two companions are in drunkards’ graves, and if I cannot repent I shall soon be in one myself, ”
Charles said, “J tried to instruct him, and to show him the error that he had fallen into, under such instructions as he had received, and that he had resisted and grieved the Spirit, by waiting for God to.do what He had com- manded him to do. I tried to show him that, in the very nature of the case, God could not do for him what He required him to.do. God required him to repent, and God could not repent for him; required him to believe, but God could not believe for him; God required him to sub- mit, but could: not submit for him: I then tried to make him understand the agency that the Spirit of God has in giving the sinner.repentance and a new heart; that it is a divine persuasion; that the Spirit leads him to see his sins, urges him to give them up, and:to flee from the wrath to come. He presents to him the Savior, the atonement, the plan of salvation, and urges him to accept it.”
Then. Charles asked the man if he did not feel.this urgency of the Spirit upon him, and even a call to submit, to believe, to.make himself a new: heart. The man cried out fervently that he did ‘see and feel all of it, but won- dered even so, if God had not given him up. He asked, “Is not my day of grace past?” The evangelist assured him that the very fact that he had concern for his soul and had come ‘to him showed that the Spirit-of God was drawing him, and that it was a divine.call. With that; Charles asked him to kneel-down, submit to God, and. lay hold on eter- nal life. The man did:so and soon rejoiced. that: he knew Christ as his Savior.
The workin Reading was not easy, but Charles worked: long and hard to finish the task God. had .set before him. In the late spring of 1830; Charles went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He found’ the: Presbyterian church there without a pastor, and:a dismal spiritual life pervaded the community. After a short time; Charles felt his work in Lancaster was-done. As he said, “The work of God was immediately revived, the Spirit of God being poured out:almost at once upon the people.”
Soon after the Lancaster meetings, the evangelist traveled to New. York to visit his father-in-law. While there, he received. an invitation to preach as the state legislature was in session in Albany. To be asked to speak to mem- bers of the legal profession was a high honor and spoke ‘Charles Finney
of Charles’s increasing stature.
Sometime later, the evangelist was asked to preach at Old Light:Church in New York City. Several of his good friends warned him, however, that it might not be a fruitful time for him. Even Pastor Gale felt that any large city was no place to seek a revival and cautioned Charles that he might lose his evangelistic zeal. But while in New York City, Charles took the opportunity to visit Pough-keepsie, a city about seventy miles north of NewYork.
The Presbytery session that met in that community resolved: “That we in a Session highly approve to the labors of the Reverend Charles G. Finney among us the past week and do now invite him to’return and labor among.us as God in His Providence shall open the way.”
Another wonderful event took place in New ‘York, too. The Finneys’ first son, Charles Beman, was born on March 26, 1830, while the family lived in New York City.
In the summer of 1830, Charles received an invitation to preach in Columbia, New York, a town southeast of Utica. Columbia had a strong German congregation; their large, well-appointed building and. numerous members attracted.Charles. The situation seemed ideal to him, and he accepted:
But when he arrived in Columbia, Charles learned that all was not as it appeared. The pastor who had invited Charles had trained under a German doctor of divinity who had ‘completely discouraged any form of dynamic reli- gious experience. But the pastor’s mother was a devout Christian who had prayed earnestly for her son. When the young man had been called to pastor the Columbia church, his mother had shared with him what Christ can mean ina person’s life, and the pastor found. Christ.
The pastor then began witnessing to his wife, church members, and the: elders, but’ when he learned that Charles was in New York, he had invited him to preach. When Charles began preaching, he quickly discerned that the church members, though doctrinally. orthodox, had not had a personal experience with Jesus Christ. They believed that correct theology was all that was needed to be.a:good Christian. °
Although Charles’ wondered if revival. could. ever take root in. such a‘dry place,. he faithfully. preached God’s Word. ‘A revival began Which’ spread. throughout the community.
Later, a wealthy philanthropist, Hansan G. Phelps, visited Charles and invited-him‘to come preach in New York City once more. The evangelist did and revival. broke out as in other places. He stayed in New York for sometime preaching the gospel. ; i : The New. York revival: proved to be significant:to Charles’s ministry. First, it opened the door for the orga- nization of what -was.then: called’ free Presbyterian churches in the city. Converts of the Finney ‘revival attended’ these churches. Also,'the New York :ministry allowed Charles to get to know the Tappan brothers. This contact would: be very useful in the evangelist’s future _ ministry. Then, Charles ‘came to understand New York, and in turn, New York became acquainted with the evan- gelist. This set the stage for even further ministry in America’s largest metropolitan area.