The Hilo church adopted the Bible as its “Confession of Faith.” When individuals became members of the church, they placed their hand on the Bible and promised “to abstain from all that is forbidden and to obey all that is written therein.” The missionaries also urged church members to abstain from the use of tobacco and alcohol. Many natives struggled to break addictions to these substances, yet during the Hawaiian revival, “multitudes pulled up all their tobacco plants and cast them into the sea or into pits, and thousands of pipes were broken upon the rocks or burned, and thousands of habitual smokers abandoned the habit at once and forever.”
The Kilsyth Anniversary Revival (1839) When Reverend William Chalmers Burns returned to his home church in Kilsyth, Scotland, for a visit, he had no intention of preaching. He’d simply returned to see family and old friends. He knew the communion season would be a good time to visit because many acquaintances who lived in other places would also be in town. He was content to sit under the preaching of his father and uncle and enjoy a break from his own ministry in Dundee, Scotland. But God had other plans. Early in life, God had given Burns a broken heart for the lost and dying world around him. Kilsyth was a quiet little town, and Burns was seventeen years old when his mother first brought him to the big city of Glasgow. While they were shopping, the two became separated unintentionally. Concerned for her son, his mother retraced her steps and found him in an alley with tears streaming down his face. “Willie, my boy,” she asked, “what ails you? Are you ill?” “Oh, mother, mother!” he replied. “The thud of these Christless feet on the way to Hell breaks my heart.” Such was the heartbeat of the young man God would use to bring revival to Scotland and China. A century earlier, Kilsyth had experienced a “glorious awakening” under the ministry of a pastor named James Robe. According to one witness, as the hundredth anniversary of that revival approached, “the Lord was beginning to move in a striking manner.” In an attempt to move church members to begin praying for revival and the salvation of others in the community, Dr. William Burns Sr. (William’s father) chose to celebrate the anniversary by preaching from Robe’s grave. “God is not dead!” he cried out. “The gospel has lost none of its power!” He knew Christians would have to examine themselves and make significant lifestyle adjustments if revival were to come to their community once again. “It is we Christians who have lost our power with God,” he explained. “God is able right now to give us the same times of blessing that he gave this church one hundred years ago and even greater!” Then he asked his people a probing question: “Are you willing to let God search your hearts to see that there are no sins which grieve God and keep back the blessing?” The message had its desired effect on those who gathered that day. Many began seeking the Lord in a spirit of repentance and humiliation. A quickening of “dry bones”
http://www.servantofmessiah.org