REVIVAL OF LETTERS 9 REVOLUTION taneously or in quick succession become alive to their importance, alter spirit- ually and morally, and act with exceed- ing zeal in converting others to their views. A Mohammedan revival takes the form of a return to the strict doctrines of the Koran, and a desire to propagate them by the sword. A Christian minor- ity living in the place is in danger of being massacred by the revivalists. Christian Revivals. — Pentecostal effu- sion of the Holy Spirit (Acts ii) pro- duced a revival within the infant Church, followed by numerous conver- sions from outside. Revivals, though not called by that name, occurred at intervals from apostolic times till the Reformation, the revivalists being some- times so unsympathetically treated that they left the Church and formed sects, while in other cases, and notably in those of the founders of the monastic orders, they were retained and acted on the Church as a whole. The spiritual impulse which led to the Reformation, and the antagonistic one which produced or attended the rise of the Society of Jesus, were both revivalist. It is, how- ever, to sudden increase of spiritual ac- tivity within the Protestant churches of the English-speaking peoples that the term revival is chiefly confined. The enterprise of the Wesleys and of White- field in this country and England from 1738 onward was thoroughly revivalist. There were revivals at Northampton, in Massachusetts, in 1734, and throughout New England in 1740-1741, the Rev. Jonathan Edwards being the chief in- strument in their production. A great one arose in America in 1857, after the financial crisis of that year. It spread in 1859 to Ireland, and in 1864 to Scot- land and to parts of England. Since then various revivals have from time to time occurred, and nearly all denomina- tions aim at their production. One of the most remarkable movements of mod- ern times, properly coming under the head of a revival, is that of the Salva- tion Army (q. v!), founded by the Rev. William Booth, a Methodist minister of Nottingham, England. This movement has been recognized since 1880 as a dis- tinct sect, and with its essential military organization has become an immense power among the poorer classes both in this country and in Europe. In the United States the commander, Balling- ton Booth, withdrew from the Salvation Army and organized the Volunteers of America. Modern revivalists include J. Wilbur Chapman, "Gypsy" Smith and William A. Sunday. See also Moody. REVIVAL OP LETTERS, the revival ©f literature after the apparent death- blow which it received when the barbar- ous nations of the North destroyed the civilized Roman empire. It commenced in England feebly at the beginning of the 11th century, and became more po- tent in the 14th, 15th and subsequent centuries. REVOCATION, in law, the destroying or annulling of a deed or will which had existence till the act of revocation made it void. The revocation of a deed can only be effected when an express stipu- lation has been made in the deed itself reserving this power. The revocation of a will can be made in four different v/ays: (1) by another will; (2) by in- tentional burning, or the like; (3) by the disposition of the property by the testator in his lifetime; (4) by mar- riage. REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES. See Edict of Nantes. REVOLUTION, a fundamental change in government, or in the political con- stitution of a country, effected suddenly and violently, and mainly brought about by internal causes; a revolt against the constituted authority successfully and completely accomplished. In most revo- lutions there are three turns of the wheel. First there is a moderate move- ment forward, then, after a time, a second forward movement. The extreme party who now come into power create a reaction against the revolution, and the wheel moves backward. In the great French Revolution first there were the Girondists, then the Jacobins, then the reaction to monarchy under the first Napoleon, and in due time again to the Bourbons. In the United States the term Revolution is applied specifically to the American War for Independence, which began in 1775 with the irregular running fight popularly known as the battle of Lexington, and practically ended with the surrender of Lord Corn- wallis, at Yorktown, Va., to the com- bined forces of the French and Ameri- cans, in the year 1781. The English Revolution was that revolution in Eng- land by which James II. was driven from the throne in 1688. The Russian Revolution was that of 1917 which led to the triumph of the Bolsheviki over the moderates, and the development of So- viet power. The German Revolution was that of 1918, by which the German Em- peror and the kings and other reigning princes of the various sovereign Ger- man states were driven from their thrones. In astronomy: (1) The motion of a planet around the sun, or of a satellit • around a planet. The point to which it
