This well-known evangelistic hymn was written in 1863 by William P. MacKay. He was born in Scotland in 1839, and when he was seventeen, he left home to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. His mother had led him to the Lord and prayed for him regularly. She gave him a Bible inscribed with his name and a scripture verse as he left home.
Away from home, the young man began to drift away from the Lord. He began to drink heavily, and he sold the Bible his mother had given him so he could buy whiskey. Somehow, he successfully completed his training and became a doctor.
MacKay’s first assignment was in the hospital emergency room. One day, a seriously injured man whose condition seemed hopeless was brought to the emergency room. He had no relatives, but he asked to see his landlady because he owed her some money and wanted to tell her goodbye. He also requested that she bring him his book.
As MacKay regularly visited the dying man, he was impressed with the calm and peaceful expression on his face as they talked. He suspected the man was a Christian, but he certainly didn’t want to talk about that. After the man passed away, the doctor was filling out the required paperwork when a nurse asked what she should do with the book she was holding in her hand. It was the man’s Bible, which he read continuously for as long as possible. He gently hugged it to his chest when he could no longer read it. MacKay said that since the man had no relatives, he would dispose of the Bible.
When MacKay opened the Bible, he couldn’t believe his eyes! It was the Bible his mother gave him when he left home! His name, written in his mother’s handwriting, was still in it. He felt a deep sense of shame as he thumbed through the pages of the book that was his mother’s last gift to him, which he had sold to buy whiskey.
MacKay thought about how this Bible had brought comfort to the dying man. God’s Word had assured him of eternal life and given him peace as he died. Many of the underlined verses MacKay remembered hearing in his younger days. With tears in his eyes, he prayed for God to forgive him and restore the joy of his salvation.
The miraculous return of his Bible helped bring revival in his heart. He left the medical profession and studied for the ministry and later became the pastor of Prospect Street Presbyterian Church in Hull, Scotland. Shortly after becoming reunited with his Bible, he wrote the words to “Revive Us Again.” The hymn originally had twelve verses; usually, only four or five appear in most hymnals. A refrain was anonymously added, and the most common tune used for the hymn is believed to have been composed by John Husband almost forty years before MacKay wrote the words. The tune had evidently been used for a Scottish hymn and was borrowed for “Revive Us Again.”
The hymn gained much popularity in America. Traveling evangelists sang it in camp meetings and churches all across America. An eye-witness gives an account of the use of the hymn in the Moody-Sankey revival of 1875 in Philadelphia:
Mr. Moody then gave out the 25th hymn, which was sung by the choir and the entire congregation, led by Mr. Sankey. The people seemed to be deeply impressed with it, and such whole-souled singing by more than eleven thousand persons has never been heard before in this city. It is in these words: “We praise Thee, O God! for the Son of Thy love...”
It’s easy to see that MacKay was thinking of his renewed fellowship with the Lord when he wrote, “May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.” The hymn is unusual in that it is a prayer for revival and yet offers praise for what the Lord has done. Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? (Psalm 85:6). Even though the hymn may not be sung as much today as it was in the twentieth century, its message is as vital as it was then. The need for spiritual revival is needed in every generation!
for the Son of thy love-
For Jesus who died,
and is now gone above.
Hallelujah! Amen!
Hallelujah! Thine the glory,
Revive us again.
for thy Spirit of light,
Who hath shown us our Saviour
and scattered our night.
to the Lamb that was slain,
Who has borne all our sins,
and has cleansed ev’ry stain.
to the God of all grace,
Who hast brought us and sought us,
and guided our ways.
fill each heart with thy love;
May each soul be rekindled
with fire from above.
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