07 - Addenda

ADDENDA

KESWICK 1905 i "DIOLCH IDDO"* By the late REV. J. B. FIGGIS, M.A.

"THANKS be to Him," or, as we may fairly paraphrase it, "Glory to God !" This is the language of multitudes who were in the little town in the fairest county in England, where the Kings of kings held court during the recent Convention. Some of our meetings might have been not in the Cumbrian but in the Cambrian hills, for the Welsh tongue often sounded, and the Welsh fire often flashed. Nor do we believe that anyone dared to offer "strange fire before the Lord". Of course, emotional spirits will break forth into raptures, while more calculating natures are con­sidering whether there is anything to be rapturous about. But we have yet to learn that the emotions have not a part-­though only a part-to play in the religious life. We had all the parts at Keswick--"the ordered harmony" of the stickler for proprieties; the"lumen siccum", the dry light, of the student of philosophies; the microscopic care of the Bible student, delighting in every jot and tittle in the sacred manu­scripts; the telescopic vision of those who love to take wide views of truth; the profound affection of those to whom in deed and in truth, "God is love"; and the deep emotion of those the tumult of whose sorrows and joys no voice but the voice of Jesus can tranquillize and still. Yes, we had them all. Never were Bible-readings more thorough and more prized. Never were prayer-meetings more numerous or more pro­longed. Never were testimonies more thrilling, or philan­thropies planned on a larger scale. The minister, the * The Life of Faith, Aug. 16, 1905 (by courtesy of the Editor). missionary, the divinity student, the deaconess, the Christian worker of every class and clime and grade, all came to the tables of the feast, and each found his portion of meat in due season. Perhaps ten thousand Christians from first to last came to those tables-and they only representatives of a great host left at home; and all the ten thousand have reason, for sins forgiven, for grace received, for visions of glory vouch­safed, to exclaim, "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift." "Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer." That familiar refrain is really the same as the newer Welsh note which we place at the head of this paper. And has not the new note a right to be there? Has not the blessing of Wales come upon us, and have we not reason to thank God specially that the wave of blessing which broke upon the shore of the Principality reached even unto us at Keswick? May it roll on and on, until in every land the God of all grace "shall appear to our joy!" This chord was the very keynote of the Convention. At the prayer-meeting for Erin on Monday morning, one prayed "that Ireland may be as Wales; yea, much more abundant". At the preliminary meeting of the Convention proper, one of the speakers most valued amongst us pleaded with might and main for a welcome for the Revival. If there was a doubt that night whether he had done wisely, that doubt seemed to be dispelled next day at that wonderful afternoon meeting, when the Welsh pastors gave their testi­mony. We felt like the disciples of old-"Who were we that we should fight against God?"

If that meeting, as some thought, was too short, the same cannot be said of Wednesday night’s meeting in Skiddaw­street Tent. That same evening the Salvation Army had a half-night of prayer. That was normal, that was the expected thing. But that in one of the great tents a prayer-meeting should be prolonged to three o’clock in the morning was neither normal nor expected. It was of God, as we trust, and is a prelude, as we hope, to what God is going to do in many a place. Yes, God will "do a new thing". Let us have a new faith, a new hope, and, above all, a new heart, aye, "a clean heart and a steadfast spirit with us." And here we cannot but add that all the friends of the Convention are under deep obligation to Dr. Pierson for giving up the hours he needed (more than most) for sleep, that he might join the meeting our Welsh friends and others had asked for; and then for the wise way he guided that meeting (how wonderful the sheaf of requests for prayer, 360 in number), and for his recital of the course it took, when he spoke in Eskin-street Tent next evening.

Some speak of that meeting, which continued till the morn­ing dawned, as the climax of the Convention; others look back to the Friday evening in Skiddaw Tent, when the same speaker, quick to observe the workings of the Spirit in those present, magnanimously withdrew his address, and for hours (i.e., from 7.30 to 11.15) confession after confession went up as evening incense to heaven. It was in the other tent at the same hour that Mr. Meyer (only one brave as he would have come to Keswick at all, for he had been ill and suffering all the previous week) held us spell-bound by very thoughtful and very tender words. He told us that he was "going back to Lystra-back to the stones, and the difficulties of life-with a deep conviction of the duty of concentration-concen­tration upon the salvation of souls". If Mr. Meyer will but do this, it may be the saving of his life, and the prolongation of his usefulness. If other ministers will thus concentrate their energies, it may preserve them from scattering and wasting their powers. Such counsel from one who casts the net so widely is invaluable. Nor less, perhaps, were suggestions for the home he gave at a ministers’ meeting, and words he spoke on the Tuesday, as one of the Oxford house testified at the praise meeting on Saturday. What a meeting that was, in­cluding that invasion of University men-who came late, for they came for Holy Communion, and went away early, for they left to catch a train! May Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh, and all the Universities of the land catch the fire that burned at Keswick so brightly in many a young heart.

It would be an entire misapprehension to suppose that "the Keswick chord" this year was only that struck from the Welsh harp. All the old chords were also heard. There was as ever the emphatic teaching of sanctification by faith, and of the deep need of it. This was pressed to practical issues by leaders of the olden times. There was ever the searching the Scriptures, and their exposition by tried teachers known to all the world. How much we owe to Mr. Bowker, who, years ago, picked out Mr. Brooke for this service, and to Canon Battersby, who, in starting the Convention, had by his side, as we to-day, Prebendary Webb-Peploe !

There were the usual Convention meetings, ministers’ meet­ings, ladies’ meetings, meetings for young ladies, meetings for men, praise meetings, and missionary meetings. So we travelled along the old lines, but were touched by a new spirit. The Spirit of God is living; He is, as the ancient hymn calls Him, the "Creator Spirit"; and that He would not be if He did not fulfil the aspirations of His servants and "do a new thing". The evening meetings for men in the Drill Hall showed that the Spirit had stirred them deeply. Other late meetings in chapels and halls indicate that hearts were moved pro­foundly. The spirit of confession was surely "a new thing". We have always had prayer meetings, praise meetings, and testimony meetings; but when ever before had we meetings of which the dominating note was confession, when platform and people were united in "owning their sins and acknow­ledging their wretchedness"? "People have come here," said Archdeacon Madden, "because of deep dissatisfaction with their spiritual life." This state of mind is very familiar; but what was not familiar was its open and repeated ex­pression, the admission, from the very leaders downwards, that there was something wrong, and that by God’s grace it should be put right.

It would be simple ingratitude to God and man not to acknowledge that the new atmosphere the Divine Spirit created owed its development largely to the Welsh Revival and to the testimonies borne to that wonderful work of grace. We pity the man who could remain unmoved while one bore witness that he and his fellow-countrymen in the Principality "were like unto them that dream". "The devil had made me doubt the Atonement, then the Incarnation; and even God became merely a postulate. God brought me back to Him, and back to Wales; but I was still wanting something. The Life of Faith and another paper showed me that holiness was as needful as forgiveness. Then the power of God came and laid me at His feet. It altered my preaching. People said that there was something wrong. Every deacon seemed to turn his back upon me, and every church member to leave me. But that memorable night I prayed to be God’s, cost what it would, and it cost, and costs me, much. I am now in the Rhondda Valley; but one travels up and down now without hearing an oath. The work has been done not so much by our preaching as by God creating an atmosphere."

Another told how, on the second day of the last Llandrindod Convention, God set him right. He said you must get" a revived pastor first, and then a revived church. I didn’t know how to get my church into blessing. The Lord managed it. A week of prayer-meetings for the heathen became revival meetings, and these prayer meetings went on every night for two years. God became a reality to my people. The Saviour became an object of worship. The most neglected Book became the most popular. Prayer was a duty, a hard duty; to-day is a delight. Our meals are sacraments. The family altar is rebuilt in many a home. If any business men are here-do your best to promote a revival if you want bad debts paid!"

After Mr. Davies had sung "When I survey the wondrous Cross", Mr. Seth Joshua rose and said, "There are breezes blowing from Calvary; shall we receive or refuse them? God can send a universal Revival when we take away the stone. There are places in Wales," he added, "where the Revival is shut out because they want it all in their own chapels." Who could resist these calls to repentance, these appeals to charity one toward another, all punctuated by shouts of "Diolch Iddo", and made very real by the scenes of the last twelve­-months in Wales? The ladies’ meetings, for obvious reasons, do not come under our purview, but some of us had the privilege of hearing one of the lady speakers-Mrs. Penn-Lewis-address meetings of the "One-by-one" Band. What could be more practical, and more precious in every way, than such a message as she gave us on the first Saturday? "The Spirit of Pentecost is the Spirit of Missions, the Spirit of witnessing, the Spirit of heavenly love for souls. Go then to the Lord for nothing short of Pentecost. If God can bring you into what Dr. Gordon called His "planet purposes", what it would mean! I get letters from abroad that are like whips to me .... The life that is to be the life of power is the life that flings itself into the hands of God with absolute abandonment. In the Welsh Revival God is showing the world that Pentecost is possible to-day. But God will not work to order. Don’t expect Him to repeat the Welsh Revival, nor think that everyone who comes from Wales is a charged battery .... There is no Pente­cost without the Cross. But then (as a Scotchman said) ’it’s a Cross with wings’. What does Calvary mean to you? Do you see that God has put you there? There is no other way to Pentecost."

There were a few who thought we had too much of this sort of thing; there were others who thought we had too little of it. The one would have kept repeating what we have heard a hundred times (and no doubt we need to hear a thousand times). The other would have changed all that and would have sought to turn the benches into the platform and to have reproduced as nearly as possible scenes read of in Wales. But the wise steward of his Lord’s goods is he who is found "bringing out of his treasure things new and old". So it has been in these blessed days. In both, we believe, our friends gone to "the land of the leal" would have greatly rejoiced. Dear Mr. Wilson, "a man greatly beloved," as Dr. Cumming well reminded us on the Monday night, has, after a long and well-spent day, heard the call, "Come up higher." Dear Mrs. Head, from whom we might have hoped for years of the winning and beautiful service of her sweet and lovely life, has very suddenly "gone to see the King". The Sesame and Lilies, as John Ruskin might have said, of our Convention gatherings are thus alike gathered by the Father Husbandman, and by Him whom Mary supposed to be the gardener. If they know, if God tells them, ought of what transpires here, surely they, even amid the glories of heaven, will be joyful in our joy and ready to shout "Diolch Iddo!" or to sing:

"Songs of praises, songs of praises, We will ever give to Thee." ii. A REVIEW OF THE KESWICK OF 1905* By the late REV. A. T. PIERSON, D.D.

* The Life of Faith, Aug. 23, 1905 (by courtesy of the Editor).

CERTAINLY, after thirty years, something comparatively new has been seen at Keswick, and it is incumbent on us all to form a calm, sober, spiritual judgment as to the meaning of these developments.

There are two opinions already "in the air", neither yet taking tangible form. One is that it was an impulsive, if not impetuous, outbreak of Welsh emotionalism that became infectious, and rapidly swept through the Convention. Another is that the same Spirit of God Who has moved so mightily in Wales, stirred those great audiences in the Keswick tents, and like the wind which bloweth where it listeth, bowed hearts, as some wind bends and sways the stalks of grain in the harvest field. In the quiet of this sea voyage, time for calm meditation and prayer has allowed opportunity for sober reflection and more mature judgment as to the inner phases of this move­ment; and the results are put before the readers of The Life Of Faith, not to forestall their independent conclusions, but to furnish such facts as may supply a broader basis for a safe induction.

Personally, I am entirely confident that we have had, not a visitation of Welshmen, so much as a visitation of God. Providentially brought into very close contact with the meet­ings where some most marked manifestations occurred, it seems incumbent on me to give such testimony as may prevent misconception and misrepresentation, on the one hand, and promote a true and healthy sentiment and sense of responsi­bility, on the other.

Whatever other speakers may have seen in connection with other meetings, at the three evening gatherings of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, in the Skiddaw-street Tent, where the writer was a speaker, were witnessed undoubted and striking movements of God’s Holy Spirit, growing in intensity and power. It was remarked by many that Monday night witnessed an outbreak of spiritual interest that ordinarily would be considered a grand climax for the closing meeting. No after-meeting had been contemplated, yet it was not only natural but necessary, and followed inevitably, not as some­thing that needed urging, but would not bear suppressing. Yet the memorable "All-night meeting" of Wednesday rose to a higher flood mark than on Monday, and lasted, with growing interest, till, from motives of simple expediency, it closed at 3 a.m. Yet the closing meeting on Friday exceeded either of the others in the high level of spiritual power to which it rose.

If anything is sure to the writer, it is that the Keswick of 1905 has had, in a new measure, a Pentecost. This was not the intoxication of excitement and emotionalism, but the exhilara­tion of spiritual infilling, the new wine of the Spirit. That there was deep feeling was unquestionable, and that it found occasional vent in sobs, and tears, and cries to God; but it was not wild and uncontrollable. Nothing was more marked than the holy restraint that was manifested. The heart of the meeting responded immediately and instinctively to every spiritual suggestion.

There was little need of leadership. Another and greater One was in control, sensibly present and presiding. The place was solemnized with the overwhelming sense of that Presence.

It is true that, when, on Wednesday evening a few gathered for a supplementary prayer-meeting after the withdrawal of the throng, as the numbers rapidly increased it was evident that, to some degree, tumultuous elements were at work. There was, perhaps, undue noise, some little intemperate speech, and slight tendency to a fanatical spirit, such as beget not order but confusion. But there were also many who were silently praying to God to subdue and suppress any wrong spirit or discordant element; and presently and in a remarkable way, these disturbers voluntarily withdrew; and from that time on to 3 o’clock a.m. there was one anthem of prayer, and confes­sion, and praise, in which, though we passed from major to minor keys, and reversely, there was heard not one discordant note! For three hours there was not a break in spontaneous exercises varied in character, but all uplifting and helpful; oftentimes a half-dozen on their feet at once, yet no disorder. While some are trying to account for all this by human psycho­logy, we are constrained to look for explanation to Divine Pneumatology, as John Owen calls it. In the closing meeting of Friday night there were the most manifest demonstrations and illustrations of God’s working. Many prayerful souls had focused their prayers largely on this meeting. The writer was one of a company of about thirty that met by agreement at "Skiddaw Bank", by invitation of Dr. Neville Bradley, that afternoon. An hour or more was passed in prayer. Definite requests were made that the Holy Spirit would sweep through the meeting in power, setting aside the appointed speakers, if He pleased; breaking down souls in cries and tears of penitence, compelling confession of definite sins, bursting through all needless restraints of fixed programme, leading to boldness of testimony, keeping down all disorderly elements, leading to momentous decisions, in­spiring new self-dedication, and constraining all His servants to remove hindrances to holiness and usefulness, and men and women to offer themselves for the Mission fields of the world. Every specific request made that afternoon on the hillside, those who were present can witness, was fulfilled to the letter!

I confine my testimony very properly to my personal observation. While Rev. E. W. Moore was giving his address, from I Corinthians iii. II-I5, on the Ordeal of Fire-dwelling with searching power on the necessity, not only of building on the right foundations, but with purified materials; and picturing the careless builder fleeing from his burning house, losing all work and reward, and himself saved only as one who has barely escaped the flame-I felt God’s refining fire going through me, revealing the wood, hay, and stubble of work and motive. When I rose to speak, so humbling and over­whelming was this conviction, that, when called upon to "lead in prayer and address" the meeting, it was quite in­voluntary that I should first of all make my confession. I did so, and asked others, who, like me, had felt conscious of God’s direct dealing, to stand with me before God, as those who then and there besought Him to refine us now, that worthless material might not accumulate against the coming Day of Fire. The invitation was so responded to that the whole tent full of people rose as one man! And while prayer was being offered, many voices joined in audible Amens. Not one word of the proposed address, carefully prepared for this closing meeting, was ever delivered. It had been my intention to speak on "Praying in the Holy Ghost". As Prebendary Webb-Peploe well says, "God had no need for the address, as He proposed giving an illustration of the theme instead." The prayer was no sooner concluded than a spirit of penitent confession was already so manifest that it could not be re­strained, and broke out in every quarter; and I stood there on my feet for about two hours and a half, witnessing the Holy Spirit’s wondrous working. Scarcely any human guidance was needed. Christ was in the chair. A soldier confessed to desertion and theft, and left the tent to write out his confession; and some of us, later on, saw the letters he had written. A commander in the Navy grandly declared his purpose to make his ship a floating Bethel. Not less than fifty clergymen, evangelists, and leaders in Christian work, confessed to sins of avarice, ambition, appetite, lust of applause, neglect of the Word, of prayer, of souls; hundreds of other individual con­fessions of various sins of omission and commission followed, sometimes a half-dozen or more being on their feet at once. No improper word was spoken. All was subdued, but deep, intense, searching. The meeting might have still gone on, without decline or interest, had not again motives of ex­pediency and consideration for others prevailed. No one present will ever forget that meeting. Seldom has any such scene been witnessed by any now living. God moved in wholly unexpected ways, and no one could think of inter­fering. It was quite obvious that He had set aside chairman and speaker and was both presiding and speaking. There was a strange hush of God in the meeting, and few, if any, loud outcries. No one showed a hysterical mood, or fainted; few left the meeting, and meanwhile a great crowd gathered out­side. When we closed with "Coronation" and "Diadem" there had been no disturbance; penitence, confession, prayer, self-surrender, holy resolve, had led up to praise and adoration. And we quickly adjourned, with the profound sense that God had visited His people.

We thank God for the deputation from Wales. The brethren that came up were from the centres of the great Revival, and themselves God’s appointed leaders in it. Such men as Rev. Seth Joshua; Professor Keri Evans; Rev. M. H. Jones of Carmarthen; Rev. D. Wynne Evans of Chester; Rev. Owen M. Owen, of Merthyr; Rev. W. S. Jones, of Llwynypia, and others, like them, came from revival scenes in their own churches, and brought with them a spirit of believing and expectant prayer.

Apart from the special meeting on Tuesday afternoon, given up to testimony as to the Welsh Revival, only one of them spoke in the meetings; but they prayed, and the blessing-­borne to Wales from Keswick and the conventions at Llan­drindod and Pontypridd, and through the testimony of Mrs. Penn-Lewis, Mr. Inwood, Mr. Meyer, and others-came back to Keswick as ascending vapours return in showers.

It behoves us all to tread softly. The Spirit might be grieved, if not quenched, by attributing to man what belongs to God, by an over-critical spirit, by a disposition to adhere to a rigid method, to elevate a prejudice or a preference to the rank of a principle. Let us be tractable, and hold out reverent hands to be led by the all-wise Spirit. iii SOME FURTHER WORDS ABOUT THE RECENT CONVENTION * By the late REV. E. H. HOPKINS * The Life of Faith, Aug 30, 1905 (by courtesy of the Editor). By this time our readers will have gathered that of all the memorable meetings at Keswick this year, perhaps the most memorable was the Friday evening meeting in the Skiddaw­-street Tent. No description could possibly reproduce its atmo­sphere and influence. The calm presence of God was realized in a fashion not common even in our most favoured gatherings. It was not only that the speaker, the Rev. E. W. Moore-­whose address was so signally honoured and used-was in the power of the Spirit; but the whole of the vast congrega­tion was subdued and swayed by the heavenly breath. Many, we are quite sure, on that unique occasion obtained a quite new idea of the possibilities of Christian worship, and of the governance of the Spirit of God in the assemblies of His people.

We are very glad to be able to furnish our readers this week not only with Mr. Moore’s address, but with a report of a con­siderable number of the testimonies and confessions which were poured forth so freely. To report all was, of course, impossible, for sometimes half a dozen or more were speaking at the same moment. We trust, however, that these reports will be sufficient to revive the impressions of those who were present, and to pass to many who were not there something of the holy influence which was poured forth upon the assembled thousands. As to the Convention as a whole, there still seems to be a few things that need to be said. First of all, we are dis­posed to think that none of us realized how great were the practical problems that this year’s gathering would present. As we look back, we recognize, with wonder and praise, the marvellous achievements of the Holy Spirit in carrying us through to so happy an issue. At this last Keswick three great torrents of spiritual force and feeling met and coalesced; with the result that a deep strong river of God is now flowing forward to bless the whole world.

First of all we had a large band of friends from Wales, full of the fervour and fire of revival, and eager to impart it. Nor could they have been blamed--it would only have been human -if they had come amongst us with a desire for some literal repetition of the glorious scenes which they had been witnessing in the Principality during the recent revival. But the spirit of our Welsh friends was altogether delightful, and worthy of the Master Who has so greatly blessed and honoured them. Then, again, the Torrey-Alexander missions were represented at Keswick this year by a large contingent of friends who had taken part in them, and were full of holy zeal for aggressive Christian effort. Last of all, there were present a very large number familiar with the "Keswick" of the past, many of whom would choose as their motto the sacred words, "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Add to these great sectional characteristics and differences, the individual idiosyncrasies to be found in a gathering of, say, ten thousand people, and it will be understood at once that the Convention this year presented problems of extraordinary magnitude and intricacy. And yet the Spirit of Christ gloriously prevailed, and by the end of the week the great multitude were of one heart and mind, and marvellously knit together in the sweet bonds of the love of Christ their Lord. We are free to confess that there were moments during the week when the difficulties of the situation assumed a menacing mien; but it was only for a moment, and to our poor vision. Nor were the gains transient and temporary. Our hearts have been knit to our beloved Welsh brethren and we trust theirs to ours, in the most enduring fashion. In view of what happened at Keswick, and a little later at Llandrindod, it is not too much to say that the Welsh Revival and the Conven­tion movement have entered upon a fellowship which is full of promise and hope for both. In many other ways, also, the "Keswick" of this year has made for the increase of that large union and unity amongst the people of God which is so dear to the heart of our Lord Jesus. We rejoice in the cementing of the bonds between ourselves and our brethren of the United States, effected by the presence and fruitful ministry of Dr. Pierson amongst us. At Northfield too, where Dr. Pierson and Prebendary Webb­-Peploe are speaking, this fellowship will be still further developed. Of the innumerable other uniting influences at work in Keswick, it would be difficult to speak adequately. Think, for instance, only of the nations represented. At that Friday night meeting amongst those who stood up was a Japanese gentleman who, in excellent English, spoke of God’s wonderful loving-kindness. In several other meetings it was the testi­mony of a German sister that was signally used of God to stir the hearts of his people. In fact, it is a great and precious education of heart and spirit to share for ten days the fellow­ship of the Convention.

There is one other point we feel constrained to refer to. We have a strong conviction that the blessing given at Keswick this year, in innumerable cases will be tested and utilized in sore conflict with the powers of darkness. Again and again has there come to mind the scene at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration. The Church of Christ to-day is encompassed by a host of undelivered souls. Surely our pitiful Lord, at the earliest possible moment, will press the new measure of faith and knowledge which He has bestowed upon us, into the service of these miserable men and women. And that means conflict, Many years ago, our dear friend, Mr. Hudson Taylor, remarked to us, "If you undertake to subvert Satan, Satan will under­take to subvert you." The devil always hits back. Directly we make any real and effective attack upon his kingdom, we shall be made to feel his resentment and resistance. Hence it is almost certain that before another "Keswick" comes round, many of us will have had experience of such wrestling with wicked spirits in heavenly places as perhaps we have never known before.

There is nothing to be troubled about in this. As Paul sets forth in the Epistle to the Ephesians, ample equipment is provided for this conflict, and if we will only put on the whole armour of God, we shall not only be able to stand ourselves, but to take the prey from the mighty. The present writer has lived in a heathen country, and is familiar enough, as all spiritual workers are, with the sense of the presence and hostility of the principalities of darkness. For the first time, he had a similar experience at Keswick this year, and on two occasions. But let us be of good courage. Christ has given us power over all the power of the enemy; He who overcame summons us to overcome, and is as willing, and as able, to make us sharers of His victory here as He will be one day to make us sharers of His throne yonder.