To John Campbell
c. April 1850
[Copy in Finney Papers #1458]
Extracts from one or more letters from Finney to Rev. John Campbell, were published in a printed letter entitled Rev. Professor Finney, of Oberlin College, United States, from John Campbell "To the Christian Inhabitants of Finsbury, and of all other Districts of London", dated, 1 May 1850, and printed by William Tyler of London. The date of these extracts must be sometime between 28 March 1850 (the date of Campbell's first letter to Finney), and 1 May 1850 (the date of the leaflet).]
In one of his letters to me, he [Finney] thus expresses himself:
"The thing needed here is to greatly elevate the standard of holy living, and of prevailing prayer among Christians. Unless this can be done, Revivals will be few and far between, as it regards the unconverted, and of an ephemeral character at the best. But let the work deeply search the church&emdash;let the truth be unsparingly applied to them, until they are thoroughly broken up in the fountain of their inmost being, and filled with the Holy Spirit, then, and not till then, will the work take on such a type as is needful to beat down all before it. To convert sinners to a low standard is not what is needed. Christians must go up higher, so that converts shall not be stumbled by them."
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For some weeks last past, he [Finney] has been with Dr. Redford, in Worcester, by whom I have been favoured with repeated communications, strongly expressive of the great satisfaction he has had both in intercourse and labours of Mr Finney. Mr. James, of Birmingham, bears like testimony. The voice of these two witnesses will suffice at once to prevent the notion arising in any quarter, that Nr. Finney is a mere noisy declaimer. Perhaps no man is less so, or makes a more close appeal to the understanding. His own words, in a letter to myself, will best show this:
"I find that vast misapprehensions prevail on this side of the Atlantic, in regard to the great revivals on the other side. Indeed, I have been astonished to find that many here had failed to gain even a conception of what they were, and supposed they were like the excitement that prevailed in this country under the labours of the Methodist, Mr. Caughey, than which, few things, I am persuaded, are more unlike each other. I fear and dread an unintelligent bluster and excitement. Let burning truth but reach the heart through the conscience, and I fear not any excitement that may result therefrom; but, excite the imagination, and inflame the feelings, without enlightening the conscience and informing the judgment, and the results must be disastrous. This has always been plain to me; and my practice has been uniformly governed by this opinion. I never allow myself to commence with the expectation of immediately bringing the masses into a state of great excitement. If I can but secure a hearing, and prompt attendance, and fixedness of attention, I do not expect truth to fall powerless. I know it will not. Only get the masses interested enough to turn out and hear, and God will surely see that his truth does not return to him void. As light is poured on in a steady increasing blaze, excitement will increase as fast, and be as deep as is desirable."
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Charles Finney (1792 - 1875)
Known as one of the leaders in the Second Great Awakening revival in America. He was a revivalist who called for deep introspection of sin and preaching of the law to bring about sin. He was known to preach 30+ nights on sin and than the last night on Christ to have people flee to Him for mercy. Used greatly in the book: "Revivals of Religion" which is a classic on the subject of revival.He preached on the true Baptism of the Holy Spirit and its necessity. In his revivalistic campaigns he was used of the Lord to bring some estimate over 50,000 souls to the Lord which many were sound converts. There has been questions raised surrounding his theology in the later years of his ministry but this does not discredit that God used him powerfully in revival and for God's kingdom.
Charles Finney was born in Connecticut to an ordinary family and life that gave little hint of the great things God had in store for him. He was a schoolteacher and then a lawyer before his conversion at age 29. Finney was filled with the Holy Spirit on the same day he was saved and immediately began witnessing to friends and family members. More than twenty people were saved in the 24 hours following Finney's conversion. Finney's personal evangelism soon became public evangelism as he began to travel and preach in extended revival meetings. He considered revival to be a natural result of following the instructions God had laid out in His Word.
During Finney's fifty years of preaching, more than 500,000 were saved. He wrote many books, the most enduring of which are The Autobiography of Charles Finney and Lectures on Revival of Religion. After ill health forced him to stop traveling in meetings, he accepted the pastorate of a church in New York City. From 1852 until 1866 he served as president of Oberlin College in Ohio. Although some of his theology was lacking, he was a powerful, Spirit-filled soul winner who brought revival to cities and towns across the eastern United States.