On December 31, 1855 Reverend Andrew Murray
performed the wedding ceremony of my “Oupa Koen” who was my great, great
grandfather on my grandmother’s side in Graaff Reinet, South Africa.
However, in my personal capacity as an evangelist,
missionary and revivalist, my intrigue with Andrew Murray is his legacy of
revival and great spiritual awakening. What happened in South Africa during his
lifetime was connected to the mighty move of God that was happening
simultaneously in the United States of America.
Andrew Murray was the son of a Scottish
Presbyterian minister who settled in South Africa, learned Dutch, and devoted
himself to God’s work there. Andrew followed in his father’s footsteps. One day
Andrew concluded a worship service for the English-speaking congregation. He
then went to the Dutch service, already in progress. On his way to the Dutch
Reformed Church he realized that something wasn’t quite right. A loud noise
came from the church. It sounded like a disorderly, confused conglomeration of
voices.
History tells us he did “een drafstappje” (a fast
paced walk) to the building to see what was happening.
I can just imagine the
dignified Rev. Murray speeding up to fix the problem! When he entered the
building he found the place in apparent disorder. People were praying out loud
at the same time. People were confessing their sin. Some were on the floor
unable to deal with the strange conviction that had come upon them. A deep
sense of guilt was upon many, and they were praying to God to forgive them and
deliver them from that burden.
Rev. Murray tried to bring order to the place, but
no one noticed him or cared to pay attention. He got a hold of JC de Vries, who
had conducted the preliminaries. Outside he explained what had happened.
Parishioners had been invited to suggest a song. One young lady in the back
suggested one, and then asked if she could pray first. She then delivered a
moving passionate prayer. Then it happened.
First, someone began to sob. Then
someone else began to ask for forgiveness, and the influence spread through the
whole congregation until the combined voices formed a beautiful harmony of
prayer and repentance.
Rev. Murray went back into the church. “People, I
am your pastor. Listen to me, and be quiet,” he tried one more time. “God is a
God of order, but here all is disorder!” With that he stomped out of the
church.
But later on a stranger approached him. “Are you
the pastor of this church?” he asked. Andrew affirmed that he was. The stranger
continued, “Be careful what you do to these people today; for I have just
returned from the United States, and the same things you are witnessing here
are happening there also. The two don’t even know about each other.”
With that the convicting power of God also gripped
Andrew Murray. He realized it was a work of God. For the next six weeks all
Andrew could do was sit in the back of the church and weep. He would not
preach. He just sat there and wept. Finally, after six weeks they carried him
to the pulpit in his chair; and when he opened his mouth, it was as if words
burning with divine fire proceeded from his lips.
The revival became a community-wide awakening as
people became converted. The revival spread throughout the Eastern and Northern
Cape to other towns such as Calvinia, Stellenbosch, Tulbagh, Ceres, Robertson
and Paarl, and as far north as the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek, in the town of
Hartebeestfontein.
Some came to the services with the intent of
mocking the strange behavior of the worshipers, only to find themselves also seized
with the same conviction. A common manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s working
in the meetings was that people fell out under His power, or “fainted” as they
put it in those days.
An example of that is the report about a godly
woman Ms. Hessie Bosman. An eye witness said, “She attended, and was the third
to engage in prayer that evening. While she was pouring out her heart, the
whole meeting broke forth into prayer while she fell unconscious to the ground.
I carried her out to the parsonage, where they were some time in bringing her
round. That night she had to remain the guest of the parsonage, and next day
she was herself again.” She later married Rev. McKidd, who set up the first
foreign missionary station for the Dutch Reformed Church.
Initially Murray very much opposed such
manifestations, but came to the conclusion that God was at work.
Such manifestations were not a proof of the
validity of the revival, but were very real manifestations that happened as the
Spirit moved upon people. The validity of the revival was rather found in the
complete commitment to Christ that came about in the lives of those touched by
the revival. Andrew Murray wrote “To my mind the most striking proof that we
truly had the Holy Spirit among us in the late movement is to be seen what He
is doing in stirring up in the hearts of believers a desire after a more entire
surrender to Himself and His service.” [1]
The following is part of an eyewitness account by
JC de Vries of what happened in that revival:
“On a certain Sunday evening there were gathered
in a little hall some sixty young people. I was leader of the meeting, which
commenced with a hymn and a lesson from God’s Word, after which I engaged in
prayer. After three or four others had (as was customary) given out a verse of
a hymn and offered prayer, a Colored girl of about fifteen years of age, in
service of a farmer from Hex River, rose at the back of the hall and asked if
she might propose a hymn. At first I hesitated, not knowing what the meeting
would think, but better thoughts prevailed and I replied, Yes.
“She gave out her hymn-verse and prayed in moving
tones. While she was praying, we heard as it were a sound in the distance,
which came nearer and neared, until the hall seemed to be shaken, and with one
or two exception, the whole meeting began to pray – the majority in audible
voice, but some in whispers. Nevertheless, the noise made by the concourse was
deafening.
“A feeling which I cannot describe took possession
of me. Even now, forty-three years after these occurrences, the events of that
never-to-be-forgotten night pass before my mind’s eye like a soul-stirring
panorama. I feel again as I then felt, and cannot refrain from pushing my chair
backwards and thanking the Lord fervently for his mighty deeds.
At that time Rev. A. Murray was minister of
Worcester. He had preached that evening in the English language. When the
service was over, an elder passed the door of the hall, heard the noise, peeped
in, and then hastened to call Mr. Murray, returning presently with him. Mr.
Murray came forward to the table where I knelt praying, touched me, and made me
understand that he wanted me to rise. He then asked me what had happened. I
related everything to him. He then walked down the hall for some distance and
called out, as loudly as he could, People, silence! But the praying continued.
“In the meantime I too kneeled down again. It
seemed to me that if the Lord was coming to bless us, I should not be upon my
feet but on my knees. Mr. Murray then called again aloud, People I am your
minister sent from God, silence! But there was no stopping the noise. No one
heard him, but all continued praying and calling on God for mercy and pardon.
Mr. Murray then returned to me, and told me to start the hymn-verse commencing
‘Help de ziel die raadloos schreit’ (Aid the soul that helpless cries.) I did
so, but the emotions were not quieted, and the meeting went on praying. Mr.
Murray then prepared to depart, saying, ‘God is a God of order, and here
everything is confusion.’ With that, he left the hall.
“After that the prayer meetings were held every
evening. At the commencement, there was generally great silence, but after the
second or third prayer the whole hall was moved as before, and everyone fell to
praying. Sometimes the gathering continued to three in the morning. And even
then, many wished to remain longer, or returning homewards, went singing
through the streets. The little hall was soon quite too small, and we were
compelled to move to the school building, which also was presently full to
overflowing, as scores and hundreds of country-folk streamed into the village.
“On the first Saturday evening in the larger
meeting-house, Mr. Murray was the leader. He read a portion of Scripture, made
a few observations on it, engaged in prayer, and then gave others the
opportunity to pray. During the prayer which followed on his, I heard again the
sound in the distance. I drew nearer and nearer, and suddenly the whole
gathering was praying.
“That evening a stranger had been standing at the
door from the commencement, watching the proceedings. Mr. Murray descended from
the platform and moved up and down among the people, trying to quiet them. The
stranger then tiptoed forwards from his position at the door, touched Mr.
Murray gently, and said in English: ‘I think you are the minister of this
congregation. Be careful what you do, for it is the Spirit of God that is at
work here. I have just come from America, and this is precisely what I
witnessed there’.” [2]
It was then that Andrew Murray became convicted by
the Holy Spirit, and as we have already related – he then then became its most
fervent supporter. Today Andrew Murray’s books are still read all over the
world. I pray that this little book will serve to wet your appetite for another
mighty move of God such as this.
[1] Olea Nell, South Africa's forgotten
revival: The story of the Cape's Great Awakening in 1860, (Xulon Press)
[2] Olea Nell, South Africa's forgotten
revival: The story of the Cape's Great Awakening in 1860, (Xulon Press)
For similar stories, and to purchase Joel Hitchcock's complete book on Revival and Great Awakening, (Young Fire - End Time Youth Revivalists for the Great Awakening) go to https://joelhitchcock.blogspot.com/p/products.html
