I may remark that there were two great revivals in the history of Judah’s kings, that under Hezekiah and that of Josiah. The first was characterized by faith. You will remember how Hezekiah prayed and spread the letter before the Lord, and the Lord came in and destroyed the army of Sennacherib. But Josiah’s revival had another characteristic, which was attention to the Word of God. The roll of the book was found, and then came the wondrous revolution effected by this judging of all things by that perfect standard.
In analogy you have these two revivals in the history of the church. That of the Reformation was characterized by bold faith, breaking up existing things, and although the word of God was in measure the basis of appeal, all things were not judged according to its standard. Rather it was a reformation of that which seemed to be the church around them. In the present day, beginning more than 150 years ago, another action has come, and God is leading souls back to Scripture; close attention to the Word of God gives a character to the action of His Spirit in souls at the present time. Everything is judged to which the veneration of centuries and the antiquity of ages lent a charm and led souls away from Scripture. God has taken care, in His infinite, boundless mercy, that when He has commended us to Scripture in these last days, we should find in it everything needed for the exigencies of this time.
F. G. Patterson