The Year of Grace

Rev. William Gibson

The place was one, which had long enjoyed the benefit of an evangelical ministry. Even in days of darkness and defection Connor had been a favoured district; and under the oversight of a faithful pastorate and vigilant eldership, zealous for the purity of communion and the maintenance of a wholesome discipline, the flock were taught alike by precept and example the necessity of separation from the world. Some eighty years ago the venerable Henry rested from his labours, extending over half a century, and was succeeded by one who, in the wider sphere to which he was subsequently called, acquired an influential position in the Presbyterian Church. For about nine years the Rev. David Hamilton, late of Belfast, plied his congenial task among a plain people in that rural region, and sowed much of that precious seed which has subsequently borne abundant fruit. His successor, one of the ablest and most devoted ministers in Ulster, laboured for a length of time with little visible result, expounding and enforcing the old theology, training the rising generation in Scripture knowledge, using no flattering words with any, and fearing not to testify of the dread realities of the world to come.

In the spring of 1855 a movement was commenced in faith and prayer, which was destined ere long to spread over the neighbourhood a hallowed influence. At the close of a Sabbath evening at that period, at one of his Bible-class examinations Mr Moore addressed a young man present, and affectionately urged upon him the duty of doing “something more” for God. “Could you not,” he said, “gather at least six of your careless neighbours, either parents or children, to your own house or some other convenient place, on the Sabbath, and spend an hour with them, reading and searching the Word of God?” The young man hesitated for a moment, but promised to try. From that trial, made in faith, originated the Tannybrake Sabbath-school, and in connection with it, two years subsequently, a prayer meeting, which yielded some of the first-fruits of the great awakening. In the course of the winter following, a devoted Christian layman came to reside in the vicinity, with whose co-operation, in the spring, the school, which had been closed during the months proceeding, was reopened under more favourable auspices. During the summer it greatly flourished, a marked seriousness and earnestness being discernible both among the teachers and the taught. Seeing the good effects produced upon the children, the teachers anxiously considered whether an effort might not be undertaken on behalf of the parents also. Accordingly they resolved to commence a special meeting for prayer and reading the Scriptures each evening, after the closing of the school, to which the parents and others were to be specially invited. “One Sabbath evening early in August,” to use the language of a student for the ministry residing in the district, “found the expectant teachers engaged in their new work, with only one solitary visitor present. Nothing discouraged, they resolved to persevere, and a second meeting showed a more decided measure of success, for about thirty persons, besides themselves and a few scholars, attended. From week to week the numbers continued to increase, till at last the house was filled. Prayer, praise, and reading of the Bible, with plain observations on the portion read, were the exercises engaged in. Everything sectarian was strictly prohibited, and promptly checked as soon as it appeared. Questions that might have given rise to controversy were not discussed, while the one great and absorbing topic, ‘Christ and the Cross,’ seemed to occupy the attention and steal the affections of all present. The Sabbath-school teachers’ prayer meeting, for so it was called, became more and more interesting, till the knowledge of its existence spread throughout the neighbourhood.

“Among others who were associated in the Sabbath-school prayer-meeting, were four young men whose names have been much before the public in connection with the subsequent revival. These four rejoiced together in the glorious work, and took great delight also in each other’s society, enjoying sweet communion with each other and with their common Lord. But as they lived some miles apart, and could not come together so often as they desired, they resolved to meet at a central place for Christian fellowship, and for this purpose they chose an old school-house in the neighbourhood of Kells, where, in the month of October, about two months subsequent to the commencement of the Sabbath-school prayer-meeting in Tannybrake, those exercises were conducted which have been generally regarded as the origin of the revival. It will be seen, however, from what has now been stated, that the first stirrings of life were exhibited in connection with the Sabbath-school prayer meeting. Three, at least, of the converts were born there; two of them were scholars, and the third a teacher, while the gracious answers to the prayers offered on their behalf gave a powerful stimulus to prayer itself. From that time the gracious drops began to fall thicker and faster, until the rushing shower descended which has refreshed so many, and left behind verdure and beauty in the heritage of God.”

“For a considerable period,” Mr Moore adds, “before any general interest in religion was manifested by the people, there had been a growing anxiety about salvation. And some cases had here and there occurred of an unwonted character: a sinner, anxious about the state and prospects of his soul, experiencing a sudden, startling visitation of dread, followed by a peace and joy unspeakable—a protracted season of perplexity approaching to despair, succeeded by a view of Christ as a Saviour, full, sweet, restoring. About the spring of 1858 a very interesting work began to manifest itself, and to move onwards over a certain district of the congregation. For more than a quarter of a century the ‘prayer-meeting’ had existed in that locality, while similar meetings had in other districts, after many ineffectual efforts to maintain them, languished and revived, languished again, and died. Once the meeting in question was so far reduced in numbers that only two came together to call upon the name of the Lord. Still they continued to pray on, and by degrees the little company increased until it became ‘two bands.’ In the same district, also, the Bible training of the young in connection with the organisation of Sabbath-schools had been most successful; the class which had been established there being more promising than any of the others in the parish.”

The “fellowship-meeting” above referred to, was established almost simultaneously with those concerts for prayer begun by a similar agency in America, whose influence was so extensively felt throughout the great Western continent. “The society,” to adopt the words of the Rev. S.J. Moore of Ballymena, “soon ceased to be a secret one; and slowly one kindred spirit after another was introduced on the recommendation of some of the original members. For a few months they had to walk by faith, but the seed was not long cast upon the waters till the tender blade sprung up. The first observable instance of conversion occurred in December following. A young man became greatly alarmed. After some time, in answer to earnest prayer by himself and others, he found peace and confidence. Early in January a youth in the Sabbath-school class taught by one of those young men was brought to the saving knowledge of Christ as his Saviour. Special prayer about the same period was frequently offered in the fellowship meeting in behalf of two persons, who some three months afterwards joyfully professed their faith in the Lord Jesus. Faith grew. Hope brightened. ‘The power of prayer’ began to be known and felt and seen. The spring communion came on. Throughout the extensive parish, consisting of some thousand families, it was generally known that lately persons had been turned to the Lord among them, some moral, and some wildly immoral. The services were peculiarly solemn. The Master’s presence seemed to be recognised, and His call heard. The old prayer meetings began to be thronged, and many new ones established. No difficulty now to find persons to take part in them. Humble, grateful, loving, joyous converts multiplied. The awakening to a sight of sin, the conviction of its sinfulness, the illumination of the soul in the knowledge of a glorious Saviour, and conversion to Him - all this operation, carried on by the life-giving Spirit, was in the Connor district for more than eighteen months a calm, quiet, gradual, in some cases a lengthened process, not commencing in, or accompanied by, any extraordinary physical effects, more than what might be expected to result from great anxiety and deep sorrow."

It is a striking fact that it was not till more than twelve months subsequently, in the summer of 1859, when the work was spreading generally over Ulster, that some of the other districts of the congregation were blessed with the gracious visitation. Once begun, however, the movement rapidly extended. The great concerns of eternity were realised, as they had never been before. People, when they met, talked a new language. Many walked about in anxiety about the one thing needful, while others rejoiced in the realised experience of a present peace and a complete salvation. Meetings for Christian converse and prayer began to spread; in a short time the community was altogether changed in its outward aspects, and a pervading seriousness prevailed; and at the meeting of the General Assembly in July 1858, Mr Moore was publicly requested by the Moderator to furnish some account of the awakening, the tidings of which elicited an expression of the deepest interest on the part of the supreme judicatory of the Presbyterian Church.

During the succeeding months and throughout the winter a silent work of grace was gradually extending over the whole congregation of Connor, insomuch that when spring arrived it was believed that some hundreds had been savingly brought under its benign influence. As yet no physical excitement had appeared; the process was a purely spiritual one, carried on in the sanctuary of the mind—the Spirit of God acting through the medium of His own truth upon the spirit of man. Conversion-work, however, of the purest type had been going on; a total transformation had been effected in the hearts and lives of those who were the subjects of the change and throughout all the neighbourhood was heard “thanksgiving and the voice of melody.”

It was early in the month of May 1859, that, having heard of the great events that were being transacted there, I resolved to make a personal visit to the scene. Arriving on a Saturday afternoon at the manse, I found my excellent friend the pastor in the bosom of his family; his mind, which had for such a lengthened period previously been strained to the utmost, now somewhat relaxed into repose, as he was relieved for the time from preparation for the public services of the morrow. I had not long arrived till an intimation was sent from the neighbouring village, from a little company of praying ones, whose custom it was to meet on the evening before the Sabbath to invoke a blessing on the ministrations of the sanctuary. The place of meeting was the same, which on a subsequent occasion was visited by the Rev. Dr Edgar, and was thus graphically described by him: “It was a butcher’s shop. The butcher two years ago did not know A from B. God converted him: he taught himself to read, and he is now a large tract-distributor at his own cost, and a chief hand in the revival work. The secretary was a working shoemaker—another Carey. Others present were day-labourers, a stonebreaker, and a blacksmith’s boy. The stonebreaker, who sits on the roadside breaking stones to earn his bread, is one of four brothers, lately converted. Their mother was sister of a notorious pugilist, to whom she used to be a bottle-holder, and when she entered a shop she was watched as a noted thief. Her sons were pests, but God’s grace has made them vessels of mercy, overflowing with goodness for not a few.”

The services on the Sabbath were attended as usual by an immense audience. The congregation being one of the largest in Ulster, comprising nearly a thousand families, the church, at all times well filled, was thronged by a mass of devout worshippers. During the service there were indications of an unusual solemnity, the most intense earnestness being depicted on every countenance, and many being melted into tears. The singing of the psalms was a perfect outburst of melodious sound, the greater portion of the people having for some years previously been trained in the practice of sacred music, and their hearts being manifestly engaged in the enlivening exercise. When the service, which had been somewhat more protracted than usual, concluded, the pastor requested as many as could find it convenient to remain for an additional half hour, for the purpose of invoking the Divine blessing on the statements, which they had then heard. ‘The greater portion of the audience remained, when, after a brief exposition of a psalm, a request was made that some member of the church would engage in supplication. The call was at once responded to, and our devotions were led with much appropriateness, by an individual who as his pastor afterwards informed me, had not on any former occasion taken such a part in the public services of the house of God.

In the evening of that Sabbath I took the opportunity of visiting one of the many meetings for exhortation and prayer in the vicinity, selecting that (as being nearest) in the adjacent village of Kells. The exercises had begun and were going forward when we entered. The house in which the meeting was held was filled to inconvenience, the greater portion occupying the available space above, while the ground floor was crowded, and the very stair was occupied in every part. There was the utmost order and decorum, and for some twenty minutes we sat listening with much interest, unobserved by the speaker, who was overhead, to a very touching address delivered by one of comparatively tender years, in which he dwelt with pathetic earnestness on the necessity of an instant closing with Christ on His own terms, as the only and all-sufficient Saviour. After he had concluded, and prayer had been engaged in, it was agreed that, in consequence of the crowded and uncomfortable condition of the apartments, an adjournment should take place to another house hard by; which being done, the exercises were resumed - Mr Moore himself presiding. There were many present who appeared to be in deep mental concern. It was now nine o’clock, and we took our leave, the benediction having been pronounced. We left the majority, however, still in a state of apparent expectation, and showing, from the way in which they lingered outside, a disposition to engage once more in exercises, which were manifestly so much in unison with their feelings. I have little doubt that they did resume in the same place the congenial occupation.

A short time after we had returned to the pastor’s dwelling, an intimation was made to us that in the course of the morning service a young man who had for some time been under anxiety of mind had obtained “ peace in believing”; — “But that,” said my excellent brother, “is nothing uncommon, for scarce a sermon is preached or meeting held in which some such results are not realised.”

Next morning I took my departure. On passing through the village, Mr Moore alighted from the vehicle on which we were conveyed, and entered a respectable-looking dwelling. On his rejoining me, he said, “Yes, it is even as we heard last night. That is a house, which is visited by almost all our younger converts as soon as they have obtained peace. They are all in Christ in that habitation, and there others are attracted by the assurance of their sympathy. Late in the evening, the young man referred to, a holder of land in the neighbourhood had called. He told them that at such a part of the service his burden was lifted off, and when he came to them, as they expressed it, “the tears were trickling down his cheeks for very joy.”

Continuing our drive, we passed two houses by the wayside, referring to which my friend said, as he pointed to them, “There are seven in that little nook,” meaning thereby that these had also through grace believed. Had time and opportunity allowed me to accompany Mr Moore in some of his pastoral rounds, I have little doubt that he could have pointed out hundreds of such cases.

In regard to the results of the revival, as witnessed in the improved state of the district, one or two statistical facts may be mentioned. Of nine public-houses, two are closed by the conversion of their owners, and a third for want of trade; while the quantity of drink now sold by the six that are open is less than that formerly sold by one. In 1857 there were in the parish thirty-seven committals for offences connected with drunkenness in 1858, eleven in 1859, four, of whom two were strangers. And whereas in 1857 there were twenty-seven paupers in the Union Workhouse, there are now but four, while the poor-rates are only half the amount they were before.