Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/101

* REVIVALS. M. Cooley, and Charles G. Finney. The early years of the nineteenth century were marked by great missionary zeal, reaching out beyond the boundaries of New England, and even to foreign lands. See Missions, Christian. Toward the soutliwest, in Tennessee and Ken- tucky, we meet for the first time with 'camp- meetings,' great open-air asscnibiios, which since 1800 have played an important part in the evan- gelistic work of the ilethodist Church. {See Gamp-JIeeting. ) Ministers of other denomina- tions at first participated in this movement, spe- cial sympathy being manifested by the Presby- terians, but the extreme excitement soon alienated them from it. A considerable number of Presby- terians, however, who continued to believe in the revival theory as there illustrated, withdrew from conmiunion with the main body, and formed the nucleus of what has since become the Cumberland Presbv-terian Church. ( See Presbytekianism. ) One of the most valuable products of the camp- meeting idea is the Chautauqua Assembly, a highly successful educational enterprise, which is still closely connected ith religious work. (See Chautauqua.) One of the most noteworthy re- vivals of the whole series was that of 1858-59, which, like the Great Awakening, afl'ected nearly all branches of Protestantism, and was nowhere more successful than in New York City. No ac- count of modern revivals would be complete with- out ])rominently mentioning the work of Dwight L. iloody, who for many years exerted a large influence in Great Britain and Americiv, reaching all classes of society. ^'hat is commonly called the revival period of American religious history may be said to have closed soon after the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury. Horace Bushnell's work on Christian Nur- ture, published in its completed form in 1861, was undoubtedly a sign of the changing religious tem- per. Jlen's minds were turning to other w'ays of extending the Church's influence as being at once more normal and m,ore promising. The establish- ment of several theological schools, like Andover, Bangor, Hamilton. Newton, and others, due largely to the interest evoked by the revivals early in the century, tended to promote this very change. Although revivals mark a temporary departure from the historic method of propagating Chris- tianity, which is by religious training accompany- ing the sacrament of baptism, yet they are a nat- ural incident in the development of Protestant- ism. Most of the Protestant churches require some evidence of regeneration before admitting members into their fellowship, and this evidence is most naturally sought in religious experience, especially in the process of conversion. This is commonly understood to mean such a change of heart and disposition, often sudden, as can be wrought only by the operation of Divine grace. This idea laid firm hold upon many .merican churches, so that conversion came to be regarded as the nnrma! mode of entrance upon the reli- gious life. Baptism continued to be administered, hut the significance of infant baptism was largely lost sight of. and the historic system of catechet- ical instruction generally disappeared. No stu- dent of the subject can doubt that large num- bers of the conversions were genuine, or that the system of evangelizing, in the hands of earnest and sincere men, has been productive of great 83 REVOLUTION. benefit to humanity; but, on the other hand, it is impossible to doubt that grave abuses have appeared in connection with it. Such pundy physical phenomena as swoons, outcries, and con- vulsions were confounded with spiritual experi- ences. These are now known to belong to the domain of pathology, and to imlieate a psycho- physical condition, often met with elsewhere in the history of religion and of civilization. BiBi.iOGRAi-nY. Duncan, History of Itcvirals of Religion in the Brilish Isles (London, 1840); Tracy, The Great .iwakcning (Boston, 184-i) ; Porter, Letters on Religious Revivals ( Now York, 1850) ; Bacon, History of American Chrisliaiiitii (ib., 1807); Walker, Aspects of Religious Life in Sew England (ib., 189") ; Starl)uck, Psychol- OOP of Religion (London, 1900) ; James, Varie- ties of Rrliiiiiius Experience (ib., 1902). REVOCATION (Lat. revocatio, from revo- care, to revoke, recall, from re-, back again, anew ■+ vocare, to call). In law, the annulling, vacat- ing, or cancellation of a legal inslrument with intent to make it null and void in ellect, or the withdrawal of an authority previously conferred. Where an instrument is made in good faith, and without wrongfully alTecting the rights of third parties, it is generally held to be irrevocable, if it conveys property or rights to some one who pays for the same or accepts them as a gift. Powers not coupled with an interest in the donee are revocable. REVOLT OF ISLAM, The. A poem by Shelley (1818). The original title was Laoii and Cythiui, the names of the chief characters of the story, telling of a nation roused to freedom by a young poet. His triumph is brief, for the hero, Laon, is condemned to be burnt, and his niarlyr- dom is shared by Cythna. The regeneration of society, an echo of the Prench Kevolution, is the leading idea. REVOLUTION (Lat. rcvolutio. from rcvol- vere, to turn over, from re-, back again, anew -f- volvere, to turn : connected with (Joth. walujan, AS. icealician, Eng. iraUoic) . In politics, a radi- cal change in the fundamental constitution of a State, as opposed to reform, which implies a gradual transtormatinn carried out in accord- ance with established principles and through legal forms. L^sually. though not of necessity, it connotes a popular upheaval in which the will of the masses replaces for the time all laws and au- thority. The history of every nation presents instances where the organic growth of years and centuries has within a brief space of time been altered or destroyed by a people that has lost faith in the efficacy of orderly evolution. The English Revolution of the seventeenth cen- tury once for all established the rights of the nation as against its ruler. The .Vmerican Revo- lution, .so called, freed the united English colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America from the sovereignty of the English Crown and made them free and indo))endeiit States. The Erench Revolution of 1780 overthrew the Bourbon mon- archy and after three generations of sequential struggles brought in the sovereignty of the French people. It produced a profound ef- fect on the constitution of society and the relation of peoples and sovereigns through- out Europe. On the technical aspect of revolu- tions in the science of politics, consult: Locke,