The Year of Grace

Rev. William Gibson

“Before that week had closed, multitudes of strong young men and women from among the farming population were gathered to Christ, and nothing was more common than to hear of numbers finding peace in their own homes. In several instances the day-schools had to be dismissed, in consequence of the children being ‘stricken down’; while, in one case, an entire school, even while attending to the secular department of the business, was literally prostrated, and one-half of the children, say from thirty to forty, are now rejoicing in Christ. Strongmen who looked upon that scene wept outright; and few could hear these children pray, after they had found peace, without feeling that the Spirit was poured out upon them of a truth. The work is still progressing steadily, though in a more silent and imperceptible manner than heretofore. Rarely a week passes that I do not hear of one or more conversions; and I am confident I no not exaggerate when I say (and to God be all the glory!) that within the bounds of this congregation alone not fewer than from three to four hundred souls profess to have found peace during the past six or eight months. It is a cause of much thankfulness to be enabled further to state that, without almost an exception, their ‘conversation is such as becometh the gospel of Christ.’

A marked and marvellous change is now visible over the entire district. Twenty prayer meetings are held weekly, where not one was in existence before. Mere factory lads and girls are holding concerts for prayer. A short time ago one of the little fellows came to me, saying, “See, sir, this is my comrade in the mill; I have prayed him out, and he is now rejoicing with me.’ Those who have found Christ themselves are most anxious to bring others to Him; and hence, whilst teachers for our Sabbath-schools could not be had some time ago, there is no lack of them at present. There is an air of spiritual beauty now resting on the moral landscape here that is quite refreshing. Total abstinence is the order of the day. Even moderate drinking has all but disappeared; while drunkenness, except in the case of a few old topers, is altogether unknown; and even of the most confirmed of them we do not despair, as God has already plucked many such out of the fire. The line of demarcation betwixt the Church and the world is now marked and distinct. Torpor has given place to activity; the stillness and malaria of the stagnant pool to the rushing of the waters of life.”

A few miles distant from the place last noticed is Ballycarry, of which the Rev. John Stuart writes as follows:-

“Here was erected the first Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Here the Rev. Edward Brice, in 1613, unfurled the banner of Scotland’s covenant, and began preaching the everlasting gospel. Two faithful and godly ministers were his successors, and then for eighty long years the church lay under the incubus of Arianism—the frozen zone of Christianity. The God, however, who reserved to Himself seven thousand souls who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, reserved here a goodly remnant which adhered to the Synod of Ulster when, in 1829, their minister and a portion of his flock openly abandoned the faith of God’s people. Since that time, our church, like the house of David, has waxed stronger and stronger, and ‘Unitarianism,' as the heresy is now called, like the house of Saul, has waxed weaker and weaker, God’s gracious revival, which commenced early in May last, has still more added to our members. Through the mighty working of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of sinners, forty souls have been brought from under that Christ-less system into the communion of our church, and God has bestowed on some of them, males and females, wonderful power of prayer and fluency of expression.

“In this extensive district God’s right hand and holy arm have won many victories. Never was there such a summer as the last; never such an autumn; never such a winter, so far as it has gone. Hundreds have been savingly converted to the Lord, some ‘stricken’ down when the Spirit came upon them like a ‘rushing mighty wind.’ Others were convinced and converted whilst He spake to their consciences by the still small voice.’ The first effect of the revival was that ‘fear came upon every soul.’ Then was our church filled to suffocation, and we were obliged to take to the open fields to declare the message of mercy to a hungering and thirsting population. The hitherto unoccupied pews were ardently sought after. All were engaged. The aisles were filled with forms crowded with anxious hearers, and now preaching became a luxury. I had pastor’s work to do. I had living men and living women before me. They came to the sanctuary on the sole errand of obtaining the ‘bread of life.’ Every Sabbath was a day of sweet ‘refreshing.’ On every week-day evening ‘they that feared the Lord spake to one another, and the Lord hearkened and heard,’ and ‘there were added to the church daily such as should be saved.’ Of all the stricken ones — two hundred in number — I do not know of one backslider.”

Very similar statements may be made regarding the neighbouring districts of Ballyeaston, Ballinderry, and specially Dundrod.

Before passing away from the neighbourhood of Belfast, it is necessary to advert to certain physical phenomena, of a delusive character that sprang up under the shadow of the revival, and by which for a time many were deceived. I allude to what are called the “marks,” being neither less nor more than appearances on the body, resembling printed characters, impressed thereon, as it was represented, by a Divine agency. About the beginning of September these new developments began in Belfast to attract attention, and to excite the eager curiosity of the multitude. A young woman, for instance, who had been seized some three months previously, and who had been the subject of a nervous disease, aggravated by fits of dumbness and the like, would, in consequence of her repeated “prophesyings” of the further deprivations she would undergo, come to be regarded as in direct communication with heaven. By and by, however, sceptical people among the bystanders, even in her own humble circle, would begin to question her pretensions. What, then, was to be done? How were the unbelievers to be put to silence, and the vaticinations of the pythoness to be vindicated against the gainsayers? Why, by a notable miracle. Accordingly, strange signs would appear upon her person. Unbaring her bosom or her arm, she would exhibit to the admiring onlookers a mystic word or symbol, impressed so legibly that all might read and understand. What if the lettering were somewhat indistinct, or if the sacred name were incorrectly spelled? For this she was in no wise accountable. She was only passive in the hand of a higher agent. All unbelief would vanish before the preternatural authentication.

The intelligence of this new phase in the movement naturally produced a wonderful sensation. Hundreds flocked to witness the extraordinary phenomenon, and though the more discriminating might shrewdly conjecture that the “marks” could be accounted for without any other than a very ordinary interposition, there was enough of credulity in the multitude to yield assent to them as the genuine operation of a Divine hand. If any questioned their existence, or, in certain cases, could not trace them out distinctly, it was “because they had not been stricken down,” and therefore had not the visual organs requisite for such a delicate perception. Most of the visitors, it was remarked, were expected to pay for the gratification of their curiosity. Such instances had begun to increase and multiply to an extent, which it was serious to contemplate, when public attention was directed towards them in a way that cast a new light on their character. A meeting was held one evening in the town of Lisburn for the purpose of hearing from the lips of one of the ministers (the Rev. William Breakey) a statement bearing on his investigations into these new physical appearances. After a vindication of the revival as a genuine work of the Holy Spirit, the speaker entered on an exposure of the phenomena in question, his testimony being corroborated by other witnesses. He stated, in substance, that he had personally visited the parties on whom such marks were found, and that he had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that they were produced by some clumsy process of manipulation; and he denounced the whole affair as an imposture, fitted only to delude the credulous, and bring discredit on the work of God. Although it required some little courage to undertake this duty, owing to the excited state of feeling among the common people, the exposure was followed by a rapid return to reason and propriety, the furore which so extensively prevailed upon the subject almost immediately subsided, and “the work,” in that district at least, was saved the imputation of ministering to the excesses of fanaticism.