June, 1942
K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S
climax on Sunday evening, October 7, 1821, when Charles was' twenty- nine. ,. Charles says about that evening, “I made up my mind that I would settle the question of my squl’s salvation at once, that if it were possible I would make peace with God. As provi dence would have it, I was not much occupied either on Monday or Tues day, and had opportunity to read my Bible and engage in prayer most of the 'time.” , , He must pray in order to relieve the burden that Was burning its way through thé surface of his spiritual indifference. So he plugged the key hole of his office door, that his whis- pered prayers could not be heard outside. \ , Came the dawn of Wednesday after a wakeful night of conviction, and on the prodigal’s way to his office for a session with Blackstone, an inner voice confronted him, saying, “What are you waiting for? . . . Are you en deavoring to work out a righteousness of your own?” His spiritual eyes were opened and h J beheld the reality and fullness at Christ’s atonement. “I saw that His work was a finished work; and that instead of having or needing any right eousness of my own to recommend me to God, I had to submit myself to . . , Christ. Gospel salvation seemed to me to be an offer of something to be ac cepted . . . and that all was necessary on my part was to get my own con-
did little to turn his attention to re ligion, for the church's praying was not followed by receiving. “I heard them pray continually for the out pouring of the Holy Spirit, and as often confess that they did not receive what they asked for,” he says. Once in a prayer meeting, when asked whether h e wanted to be prayed for, the choir-leading lawyer stood up and said, “I suppóse that I need to be prayed for . . . but I do not see that it would do any good for you to pray for me; for you are contin ually asking, hut you'do not receive. You have been praying for a revival of religion ever since I have been in Adams, and yet you have it not.” He could out-argue their prayers but could not refute the call the Bible made to his soul while he read it in the privacy of his office. “On further reading of my Bible,” he writes, “ it struck me . . . they did not pray in faith ...,. And after struggling in that way my mind became settled that . . . the Bible was, nevertheless, the Word of God.” A Challenge Accepted— And the Result In spite of the minister’s implied doubts as to whether or not his choir leader would be saved, a band of the young people of the chui^h decided to pray for Charles’ conversion. Among the group was the young lady who was later to become his wife. These prayer meetings went on seriously for some time until they reached their
f T ^ H E STORY of Charles G. Fin ney can be told in one word . . . I revivals. This is the key that unlocks the treasures of his marvel ous life. So intense and distinctive was the soul-saving movement he brought into existence that some regarded him an innovator. But to Charles, the revivalist, slander, the impinge ment of his motives and all* else con cerned him little, if only he might win precious souls to his Master. For this he lived. Other items in his ca reer were stacked on s e c o n d a r y shelves in his thinking with reference to this one thing. The man whose ministrations from 1821 to 1875 broke down whole Com munities in Spirit-given revivals re sulting in the salvation of many tens of thousands of souls had a most unpromising background for spiritual leadership. Following a boyhood and youth in a home which was indifferent to any real religious convictions, Charles Finney at the age -of twenty-six went to Adams, New York, where he studied law and became partner of a law yer in the community. As leader of the church choir, he attended prayer meeting regularly, but the praying *The article appearing on these pages is con densed from Basil Miller’s Charles G. Finney, the official biography for the Finney Sesqui- centennial Conference to be held in Chicago, III., June 21-28, 19t2. The book is published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand 'Rap ids, Mich. Copyright 1841. Price 81.00. Used by special permission.
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