To Charles Hill Roe
c. April 1850
[Extract published in Eliza Roe Shannon, A Minister's Life: Memoirs of Charles Hill Roe (Chicago: The Lakeside Press, 1900), pages 69-70. This letter was probably written from Worcester in March or April 1850 to Roe who was in Birmingham]
[page 69]
I never remember his [Roe's] contributing a line, aside form home mission reports, to any paper or magazine while we lived in England, and I might say almost the same in regard to his after life in America. His esteemed friend Charles G Finney, once wrote to him as follows:
"Brother Roe, how is it that you have nothing to do with the periodical press? Why don't you use your pen for the furtherance of Christ's cause? Could you not do great good by giving some [page 70] account of the work at Birmingham as you view it? It seems to me that you owe it to God and to the churches in this and other countries to record these displays of divine grace to the glory of the Redeemer. We have no right to conceal and hide so great blessings received from God. Hide pride from man and give glory to God."
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Charles Finney (1792 - 1875)
Known as one of the leaders in the Second Great Awakening revival in America. He was a revivalist who called for deep introspection of sin and preaching of the law to bring about sin. He was known to preach 30+ nights on sin and than the last night on Christ to have people flee to Him for mercy. Used greatly in the book: "Revivals of Religion" which is a classic on the subject of revival.He preached on the true Baptism of the Holy Spirit and its necessity. In his revivalistic campaigns he was used of the Lord to bring some estimate over 50,000 souls to the Lord which many were sound converts. There has been questions raised surrounding his theology in the later years of his ministry but this does not discredit that God used him powerfully in revival and for God's kingdom.
Charles Finney was born in Connecticut to an ordinary family and life that gave little hint of the great things God had in store for him. He was a schoolteacher and then a lawyer before his conversion at age 29. Finney was filled with the Holy Spirit on the same day he was saved and immediately began witnessing to friends and family members. More than twenty people were saved in the 24 hours following Finney's conversion. Finney's personal evangelism soon became public evangelism as he began to travel and preach in extended revival meetings. He considered revival to be a natural result of following the instructions God had laid out in His Word.
During Finney's fifty years of preaching, more than 500,000 were saved. He wrote many books, the most enduring of which are The Autobiography of Charles Finney and Lectures on Revival of Religion. After ill health forced him to stop traveling in meetings, he accepted the pastorate of a church in New York City. From 1852 until 1866 he served as president of Oberlin College in Ohio. Although some of his theology was lacking, he was a powerful, Spirit-filled soul winner who brought revival to cities and towns across the eastern United States.