The '59 Revival

Rev. Ian R. K. Paisley

LURGAN
This important town was the first in Armagh to receive the outpouring. Here the Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian ministers went hand in hand and were abundant in labours. So numerous were the cases of stricken ones that it was necessary to summon by telegraph Rev. L. E. Berkeley from the meetings of the General Assembly in Dublin. Mr. Berkeley himself writes: “The first meeting for united prayer in which any of the Episcopal ministers took part, was held in the Presbyterian church, on the 28th June. Hitherto the brethren had rather kept aloof, doubting the real character of the movement, but from this period, their doubts seemed to vanish. At that meeting, one public conviction took place. It turned out a case, as far as man could judge, of real conversion to God. The court, in which the individual who was the subject of it dwelt, resounded for many days with the voice of singing and prayer. It had produced a solemnising effect upon the whole neighbourhood, and it became evident that if Satan was working, it was for the overthrow of his own kingdom.

“I left for the Assembly in Dublin on the 4th July, having made arrangements for the meetings during that week. On Tuesday evening the second meeting for united prayer, in which all denominations were represented, was held. A student of theology addressed it. There were six cases of public conviction. On their way home, and after reaching it, many were brought to their knees. The next day the people were giving way in all directions. No meetings had been announced for that evening, but the young people and others assembled voluntarily, filled both the schoolrooms as well as the church, and continued till two or three o’clock in the morning in singing and prayer. On Thursday it was the same. United exercises were almost impossible. Every pew was a prayer meeting. Some were prostrated under agonising conviction. Others were rejoicing as having found Jesus. As in Israel of old, it was almost impossible to ‘discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people.’ It is believed that hundreds were impressed during those two nights, and many of them truly converted to God. The labours of the Rev. Matthew Murphy, the licentiate previously referred to, on this occasion and subsequently, were eminently useful and much blessed.

“The next Sabbath was a high day indeed. The courts of God’s house were crowded. I read the second chapter of the Acts. ‘No,’ said a woman to herself, as I read on, ‘I am not drunken,’ and she bowed down on her knees in the pew, pouring out her heart to God, and had shortly to be removed. Another in the gallery cried aloud to God, but the singing of a psalm quietened the people, and left time for her removal also. At the close of the service a young man was helped out, whom I found shortly after in the school-room in a very agony of prayer, wrestling with God, and asking help against Satan. He continues steadfast in the faith and hope of the gospel.

“The movement passed from one part of the country round here to another, and in some places, of course, the impression was more marked and manifest than in others. I remember one day in the beginning of harvest driving out to see a person in a rural district. No work was being done in the neighbourhood. The people were gathered in groups on the public roads, literally walking, and leaping, and praising God, or assembled in their houses engaged in exercises of devotion. No manner of labour was being attended to, though the fields were white to the harvest. The concerns of the soul and eternity were occupying exclusive attention.

The rector of the town, Rev. Thomas Knox, lists the immediate results of the revival as follows: “First, congregations, both in church and at cottage lectures, greatly increased. The increase is composed, in a great measure, of young men and women who were formerly indifferent to spiritual matters. Secondly, the communicants nearly doubled, and from the same class of persons. Thirdly, adult classes have sprung up of persons anxious for instruction. Fourthly, a young men’s Society, established by the exertions of my curate, the Rev. T. Cosgrove. They assist in district-visitings, and distributing tracts that we supply them with.

“I may also add, that a more religious tone pervades the entire neighbourhood. Drunkenness has declined, and we have observed no case of relapse in those who had really been affected at the period of the revival. Two or three Roman Catholics who had then joined our congregations, have been with us ever since, and are daily studying Scripture and attending the classes. These are the principal features. We require accommodation for five hundred more, at least, in the church, which I hope will be ready for them in about eighteen months.”

PORTADOWN
Portadown is the largest town of the county, a great revival open-air meeting was held here in a field by the side of the River Bann on the 11th July. A young male convert from Belfast addressed the vast multitude assembled, telling of tle tremendous happenings he himself had witnessed in Co. Antrim. As he spoke, a wave of power swept over the gathering. Scores were stricken down under conviction of sin, including the most notorious sinners present.

Following this meeting, the revival spread through the whole town.

TULLYALLEN
Rev. J. D. Martin’s report from the country district of Tullyallen, is, Dr. Gibson affirms, a specimen of the work in the rural districts of county Armagh.

“On Sabbath, the 30th June 1859 the Rev. S. J. Moore, of Ballymena, came to preach the annual sermon on behalf of the Sabbath-school Union in this quarter, at Tullyallen. The service commenced at five o’clock p.m. The audience was large, amounting to several thousands. Strongmen trembled; faces grew pale; many could scarcely reach home when the services were ended, through weakness and anxiety, and many as they went were disposed to retire to some solitary place to pray. Such was the state of feeling produced on such a multitude in a few minutes. This was surely the powerful work of the Holy Spirit as on the day of Pentecost. That meeting was kept up for several hours, and was addressed by the ministers of the neighbourhood who were present. Prayer-meetings were appointed during the week, and on the next Friday evening, a large, number attended. During the services, fifteen or twenty were impressed or stricken, crying aloud for mercy. The work of revival had now come.

“The attention of the community was quite arrested, and the people spoke of little else but the revival. The business of the world was to a great extent laid aside; religion seemed to take its proper place—the first place; the salvation of the soul seemed to be the one thing needful; many almost forgot to take their regular food—became pale and weak. Their great anxiety appeared to be, ‘What must I do to be saved?’
“Stated meetings weekly have been kept up in our church now for six months—well attended—and at most of these for months the cry for mercy was often heard.”

TARTARAGHAN
From Tartaraghan, another rural district, Rev. George Nesbitt writes: “A pious mother, in very humble circumstances, began early last summer to spend an hour daily in prayer for a revival in her family, and in our congregation. Her eldest boy, about sixteen, one Monday morning in September, after she had been thus engaged, came off his loom and went to his knees. A few minutes after, her second boy was found on his knees in the cow-house.

“One found peace on the following day, the other not till Saturday night. Three little brothers have been brought to Christ since. The youngest, who will not be nine years of age till March, was on his knees almost incessantly for sixteen days. His mother has been asked to pray with him three times after the family retired for the night, and often she lifted him from his knees to persuade him to take food. Not one of the five boys was ‘stricken’ and all had been in conviction a number of weeks before their distress was perceived by their parents.”

ARMAGH
The ancient arch-episcopal city of Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, did not receive its baptism until the middle of August 1859. Rev. Jackson Smyth relates how it commenced:

“One evening, as we assembled for prayer in the church as usual, the pews were almost empty. I made a few remarks in reference to our wonderful position. Like Gideon’s fleece, we were dry, whilst all around the earth was watered. But I concluded thus: — God has already blessed us in a silent way, and He will further bless us. If there are ten praying people in the city, God will revive His work, and I know there are more than ten.’ A brother minister rose, read a chapter of Isaiah, commented very briefly on it, and gave out a psalm. As he sat down, I whispered to him, ‘I see a young man under deep conviction of sin in one of the pews; he will cry out very soon.’ When the singing ceased, the wail rose up to heaven—’ O Jesus, have mercy on my soul.’ A new thing this in the city of Armagh! and the few in the church exhibited strong sensations. Another voice was heard in the gallery, crying loudly for pardon and acceptance with an offended God. The revival had come! That first young man was a Sabbath-school teacher, but his teaching had been lifeless till then. Now he teaches with all his soul, and he has been blessed to the conversion of many.

“This young convert, the first-fruit of a public manifestation of the power of God’s Spirit, on the following Sabbath evening, held a prayer-meeting in a private house, out a little distance in the country, where there were two or three cases of striking.’

Dr. Weir, who visited the city, narrates: “The revival had but begun to display its energy in Armagh when I visited it, but in the country districts around, at Moy, at Markethill, at Richhill, and Redrock, great numbers had been brought under alarming convictions of sin, and many truly converted.

“On arriving at the house of a beloved brother, the Rev.J. McAllister, about nine o’clock, pm I was told that he was at a meeting in the second Presbyterian church, and that such meetings were now held nightly at Armagh in different places of worship: and so after a little rest and refreshment, I proceeded to the place of assembly. Here I found a numerous congregation, which increased as the night advanced, until, when I was retiring about ten o’clock, I found many persons of the humbler class standing in the vestibule and near the door. The minister of the church, Mr. Henderson, presided on the occasion, and the Congregational minister was also present, after having conducted a separate service of his own. The Episcopalians (Mr. Wade, the rector, is evangelical), while they stood apart from other sections of the Church of Christ, held occasional meetings of their own, but to return to my narrative. A Scottish minister of great earnestness and piety was delivering a solemn address on ‘things revealed to us and our children,’ and concluded by fervent appeals to the ungodly and undecided. Then my friend Mr. M. ascended the pulpit, and informed the people of a manifestation of Divine grace which had appeared in the forenoon of that very day among the children of his day-schools. It appeared from his statement, and from what I more fully learned from him afterwards, that a scene similar to what had been realised at Ballymena and Coleraine among school children, had occurred that day at Armagh. The pious monitor of the girls’ school had previously noticed an increasing tenderness and solemnity of feeling among the children, as she spoke to them of sin, of Christ, and of eternal things. The Spirit was preparing the soil for a special shower of blessing, and that morning a little girl came into the girls’ school, and with joy sparkling in her eyes she threw up her arms and exclaimed, ‘I have found Jesus!’ Instantly, an electric sympathy ran from heart to heart, and a large number of the children fell down on their knees weeping over their sinfulness, and crying to the Saviour for mercy. Mr. M. and his Scottish friend came speedily, calmed, instructed, and comforted the children. Some of them were heard ere long, pleading with their parents to repent and turn to God.”

A great-united prayer meeting similar to the Botanic Garden meeting in Belfast was organised for Wednesday, 16th September. In order that a concentrated effort might be made for full attendances, there were special trains from Monaghan, Dungannon and Belfast. While the crowded train was on its way from Belfast, the sound of voices singing well-known hymns arose from almost every carriage, while at the several stations, large numbers of tracts were extensively circulated.

The meeting was held in a capacious field near the Armagh railway station. Very many laymen from England and Scotland were present, as well as clergymen and ministers from different districts of Ireland. Two of the chaplains of the Lord Primate were on the ground. The chair was occupied by J. M. Lynn, M.D. The chief speakers were the Hon. and Rev.B. W. Noel, his son, Ernest Noel, Esq., and the Rev. S. J.Moore of Ballymena. The Banner of Ulster gives the following outline of the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel’s address:

“He took for the basis of his address the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was ready to save the immortal souls of sinners, and that they only were to blame, if they did not ultimately obtain salvation. Upon this topic he spoke with an amount of fervent simplicity, which we have rarely heard equalled. He expressed the great delight which he felt in being privileged to attend such an immense meeting as that was, and he thanked God that the souls of the people had been awakened to a sense of their position. If in the multitude (he said) that was before him there was one unconverted soul— and he was sure there were many—now was the time to approach the throne of grace—now was the time to approach to that heavenly Father, who, through the intercession of the Saviour, was willing and ready to forgive the transgressions of their past lives, if they only appealed to Him in the true spirit. He addressed himself to the young and to the old—he addressed himself to those who were upon the noontide of life, and to those who were upon the brink of the grave; and he earnestly besought them to avail themselves of this glorious opportunity to make their peace with God. He trusted that, with the blessing of God, this movement would not be confined to Ireland; that it would spread itself among the great intellects of England, and that men would see, at length, in a true and sincere spirit, that they had souls to be saved. It might be a strange thing that the north of Ireland, and its people, should become the great heralds of this movement; but he believed that, if they exercised their influence, they might do much to extend the cause of God’s kindgom and glory. He prayed that the mind of this country might be made to thrill with the name of the great Evangelist, and that Ireland might really become, in the sight of Heaven, the ‘Isle of Saints.’”

A Presbyterian minister, from Rochester, was present on this occasion, and wrote thus: — “At Armagh I attended the great gathering (upwards of 20,000), and took part in the service. Truly it reminded you of a field of battle, so many were the slain by ‘the sword of the Spirit.’”

“Considerable emotion,” says the Rev. R. Wallace of Tottenham, who was also present, “soon began to evince itself in the meeting, and during the day many (as many as sixteen came under the personal observation of my friend and fellow-traveller) men, women and children were struck down and forced to cry for mercy; in all there were about thirty such cases on this occasion. I sat on the platform, and had a commanding view of the countenances of the people during the whole of the service. The excitement was at its height during the address of a young convert, as he detailed God’s dealings with himself, and earnestly besought all hearing him to flee from the wrath to come and lay hold on eternal life. And what struck me most of all was, not the case of those who were prostrated and forced to cry out for mercy, but the case of those who were manifestly struggling to conceal their convictions and to suppress the rising emotions of their hearts. In many cases I saw the big tear roll down the man or woman’s cheek; and I saw strong men seeking to conceal their feelings by hiding their faces in their caps and hats, and leaning upon one another, as hardly able to stand before the preacher’s words and appeals. And from what I beheld of this sort, and from the general solemnity and seriousness which pervaded that meeting, it is my conviction that the number of persons struck down bears no proportion to the number of those who were really smitten in heart, truly convicted of sin, and made to cry out, although silently, ‘ What must we do to be saved?’”

On the 19th November 1859 The Revival reported a minor sensation in the city, ensuing from the conversion of a Roman Catholic nun, Ellen O’Hagan.

KEADY
This small town near the Monaghan border also shared in the blessing in August. Dr. W. H. Carson, the Presbyterian minister, writes: “About the time of the quarterly communion, in August 1859, a brokenness of heart and tenderness of conscience gave unmistakable evidence of an unseen power at work to which we were hitherto strangers. Then did our hearts burn within us, and many, with the life and love of a heaven-born spirit, exclaimed, ‘Of a truth, God is in this place, and I knew it not.’ In the house and by the wayside people ceased not to speak one to another. Prayer meetings spontaneously sprang up. In a distance of three square miles, no less than nine were originated by the people themselves, and have been conducted by them to the present time, with, if possible, increasing energy, and a lively manifestation of spiritual life and love truly refreshing to every child of God. The house of God was specially honoured. However protracted the services, the attention never flagged. Nay, the appetite for Divine things seemed still unsatisfied—wondrous change! We felt ourselves, as we never felt before, filled with a lightness, and fervour, and fluency. His service was indeed our delight, and preacher and people alike enjoyed their truest happiness.

“Instances of strong mental excitement, with its corresponding influence on the body, occasionally occurred, and, however lamented by the sentimentalist, or laughed at by the profane, sooner or later ended in that troubled soul ‘resting on the Rock of Ages.’

“A meeting for prayer had been announced in a district proverbial for Sabbath desecration, worldly heartlessness, and utter forgetfulness of God. Contrary to expectations many came. The individual in whose house we met, though long absent from the means of grace, seemed thoughtful; from the first a good spirit pervaded all, and we soon enjoyed a felt sense of God’s nearness. A subdued seriousness, softening, brokenness of heart, followed by individual wrestlings, agonising with God in prayer, took hold of the people, whose case I supposed, in my unbelief, was hopeless. And now, at this very day, over that district of sixteen or seventeen houses, there is not one without daily prayer and praise, and souls more or less renovated by Divine grace and refreshed by Divine love.

“One evening our weekly prayer-meeting in the church was prolonged beyond the usual time by the case of a young woman brought under conviction of sin and anxiety for her soul. Her bodily strength seemed so paralysed, and her soul so wrapt up in spiritual exercises, that she could not be removed without assistance. Her father was sent to conduct her home. A tall, robust man, of great muscular strength, in the vigour of life, travelling alone in his conveyance in the silence of the night, he was impressed. In deep alarm, he seemed to hang over a deep, yawning, bottomless pit. ‘Lord have mercy on my poor soul!’ he cried out on the public road. Far and near the words were carried on the stillness of the summer night. Again and again the same cry was heard, in piercing and piteous tones. “Had a thunderbolt from heaven fallen, it could not more powerfully have heralded the work of God. A bigoted Romanist said to me a few days after, ‘I now know what you are about. It’s good. Nobody will ever hear me or mine meddle with it. In my bed I listened, and heard, whether I would or not; and, God help us! surely that’s what every one ought to be at.’ Truly, God works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform!”

DRUMBANAGHER
Drumbanagher, three miles to the northwest of Newry also shared in the revival blessing. The minister, Rev. R. Lindsay, tells of a great open-air meeting: “The meeting was held in the open air, as it far exceeded the capacity of the church. A special train from Newry augmented the number. The Rev. Hugh Hanna, from Belfast, addressed the assembly. There were several manifest convictions, and more fruit was hopefully looked for.”

It was also reported that the steward and gardener at Drumbanagher Castle held a prayer meeting for twenty minutes at the hours of breakfast and dinner daily.

CREMORE AND TYRONE’S DITCHES
The following report is from the pen of a convert of the revival here: “The first prayer meeting at this place was held on the 7th of July, and was conducted by the minister, no converts from other places addressing any of the meetings in the neighbourhood. The writer, a student of the General Assembly, was one of those blessed by the Lord at the first meeting. There could not have been less than fifty cases of conviction on that night. The people did not leave the church till four or five o’clock in the morning. Since then the work has been advanced with astonishing rapidity. Meetings are held every evening in various places, and though the physical manifestations are not so numerous as at first, the meetings are still crowded. These have been conducted by the local ministers and some Presbyterian students, and no strangers have yet visited the place. There are some unbelievers in the movement, but they cannot deny the great change that has taken place in the country; they cannot deny that intemperance, Sabbath breaking, blasphemy, etc. are now almost unknown; they cannot deny that more than one public house has been closed. This neighbourhood was notorious for its religious sectarianism, but God has broken this heartless bigotry into ten thousand pieces. You can now see Covenanter, Seceder, Assembly-man, Episcopalian, and Methodist, sitting side by side listening to the story of the cross, when formerly they would scarcely have looked at one another. Many Roman Catholics have been converted, and the last person the writer spoke to was a converted Unitarian.”

Chapter III.

Continuation: The Blaze Of The Revival

Part VII: Counties Fermanagh, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan

COUNTY FERMANAGH

County Fermanagh did not have the same remarkable outpouring as the other counties already mentioned. Dr. Edwin Orr in his “Second Evangelical Awakening” comments:

“Unlike the other northern counties, Fermanagh possessed 38 per cent Episcopalians and only 6 per cent other Protestants, chiefly Methodists, whilst there were 56 per cent Roman Catholics. Tyrone, with the same proportion of Roman Catholics, possessed 46,000 Presbyterians as well as 52,000 Episcopalians, an important factor when one notices that the movement was generally approved among Presbyterians but only approved in part by the clergy of the Establishment.”

The ministers of the Methodist church were zealous workers in the revival, and took an active part in advancing the movement to all parts of the province. It must be recorded, however, that their efforts in Fermanagh were largely unsuccessful. Rev. John Crockett, a Presbyterian in Tyrone bears witness: “There is one thing connected with this movement that I have not seen noticed; it is this—and I say it in no sectarian spirit—that it appears to be very much confined to the localities in which Presbyterianism abounds. We are on the borders of Fermanagh, a Protestant county, but originally settled from England, where the principles of our polity are scarcely known, and other forms of Protestantism prevail. Now, every effort has been made by our Methodist brethren, who were very successful among us, to carry the work into Fermanagh, but hitherto to no purpose. I mention the fact, because to me it appears somewhat strange.”

Nevertheless, the revival did, in some measure, come to the county. Dr. Weir, tells of his visit to Enniskillen, the principal town of the county, thus: “The hour of noon is at hand as we approach Enniskillen, a frontier Protestant town. Its inhabitants fought a successful cavalry action with King James’s forces in 1690, and saved the place from plunder and massacre. Entering it, we find all the appearance of temporal prosperity. With my Tottenham friends, I make an excursion in a wherry-boat up the beautiful Lough Erne to the island of Devenish, and visited the ruins of an ancient abbey church. We also found one of those ‘round towers of other days,’ which have so puzzled and perplexed antiquarians, in perfect preservation there. We inquired of the boatman about the revival, and he stated that large meetings had been held in the town. Still we perceived that we are getting a little beyond the boundaries of the great revival wave, and that as yet the people of County Fermanagh were not, as elsewhere in County Derry, ‘stirred to the very depths of their hearts.’ Since the period of our visit to Enniskillen, a special revival meeting has been held in the pleasure grounds surrounding the striking monument of General Cole, —an East Indian officer of reputation, and the member of an ancient Enniskillen family. Of ministers of religion, there were present at this meeting, one Episcopalian, two Presbyterians, and a number of Wesleyans. One of the latter gave a narrative of what he had witnessed in Derry, previously to which the Rev. Mr. Dill, Presbyterian minister of Dromore, addressed the people—about 1,000 in number—from Ezekiel xviii. 32, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth,’ etc. In his introductory remarks he spoke as follows: --

‘My dear friends, I have seen so much of the power of the Spirit of God within the last two months, that I am willing to speak—anywhere and everywhere that I may be called upon to speak—a word for Christ. My own heart has been revived. And if I ever had a failing of faith before, blessed be God I have none now; if ever I had a doubt in my mind regarding the power of God’s Spirit, I have none now; if ever I had a doubt on my mind regarding the willingness and love of the Lord Jesus Christ to save the uttermost, I have none now; and if ever my heart was cold to Christ and His cause, there is no coldness now, but my feeling is that, like the apostle, I am willing to spend and be spent, yea, even to die for the Lord Jesus Christ.’”
From this and other similar gatherings, fruit was reaped unto life everlasting.

COUNTY DONEGAL

BUNCRANA
From Buncrana, a village on the eastern side of Lough Swilly, it was reported that in the Presbyterian congregation of fifty-five families, forty persons, including twelve heads of families, were converted, and between thirty and forty others were deeply concerned. This revived congregation also subscribed £400 towards a new meetinghouse.

RAMELTON
Ramelton, situated on the western side of Lough Swilly, participated in the awakening. Upwards of one hundred persons, chiefly from amongst the young, were converted. Many others who were awakened, however, soon lapsed back to their former hardened state.

MONREAGH
Monreagh, a rural district a few miles from the city of Londonderry, had a mighty deluge. Rev. Andrew Long records: --
“On Lord’s day, June 26, we enjoyed showers of blessing. The scene, which took place, baffles description. The church was crowded to suffocation. I preached from the words, ‘Thou restrainest prayer before God.’ (Job xv. 4) especially with reference to the outpouring of the Spirit in answer to prayer, (Luke xi. 13). God strengthened me as He never did before, for the services of that memorable day; but I know it was in answer to many prayers, and especially those of some of our new-born souls who were heard pleading for me during the day. I never witnessed such deep solemnity. The exercises had almost closed, when one person fell out of her pew upon the aisle, the door being open, and shrieked loudly for mercy. In a few moments about twenty were prostrated in different quarters of the house. And then, what a scene ensued! Relatives in groups carrying their striken ones into the adjoining vestry; multitudes weeping, and the whole congregation moved and excited as if the judgment day had come.

“In every part of the church there were broken-hearted penitents on their knees pleading for mercy; and at the same time, not a few hardened sinners were looking on and wondering. But at length the big tears rolled down many a wrinkled cheek.

“In the evening I held a meeting in the open air about a mile from the church, and addressed an assembly of two thousand, from Acts xvii. 30. There were three converts from Derry present—a porter, a tailor, and a sailor. The former said in his own tender, simple, touching manner, ‘I am but a poor porter, earning nine shillings a week, for drawing my handcart through the streets of Derry, but I would not change my situation for that of the richest among you if you have not got Christ.’ The tailor, in offering up a short prayer, said, ‘Lord, have mercy on those poor sinners who do not care one happorth about their souls.’

“At this meeting a few were awakened and at its close a great number flocked to the church, though it was now nine o’clock, and remained there till next morning. There was one great-grandmother present, and several grandparents were rejoicing over their penitent offspring.

“On the following Tuesday evening, June 28, I held a meeting in the church, and chose as the subject of my address Luke vii. 36-50. At the close of the service, about seventy were on their knees praying as in an agony—some of them the vilest of the people. Next day I addressed about three hundred in the open air at Molenan, from the text 1 Kings xviii. 21. Fifteen persons who were in deep distress retired to an adjacent house, and prostrated themselves on an earthen floor.
“On Friday, July 1, a most interesting meeting was held in the church, which could not contain the numbers that repaired to it. Many had come from a great distance, so that the like was not seen here in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. Upwards of seventy were brought to cry. ‘What must I do to be saved?’

“Before the congregation was dismissed, I announced that a meeting would be held next evening at Carrigans, in the open air. Although the notice was short, upwards of one thousand of the surrounding population assembled, and among the multitude I saw a few of the aristocracy of the district, who belong to the Established church. There were many violent prostrations, which created a wonderful sensation in the minds of those who had not previously witnessed such manifestations.

“On the following day, Sabbath July 3, I arranged to hold three meetings—two in the church, and one at Drumennon in the open air, about three miles distant.

“The Divine influence came down upon the people at each service throughout that interesting day. There were many physical manifestations. Upwards of one hundred persons lay prostrate in the pews, and agonised in prayer till three o’clock next morning.

“Towards the end of July, bodily prostrations became less frequent, yet God did not cease to work mightily among the people.”

RAY
The revival did not reach Ray until the month of October. Eleven revival prayer meetings soon sprang up in the district and many prostrations occurred. Dr. Rentoul, one of the Presbyterian ministers, comments: “To pronounce many cases of nervous excitement that I have seen, as some have done, cases of real conversion, is great presumption, and extremely dangerous. The only apology is that the phenomena are little understood by the masses who have never studied the wonderful mechanism of the human frame.”

TRENTA
Here there was a remarkable demonstration of revival power in the conversion of an aged female, a notorious worldling, who for twenty-three years had never entered a house of worship. Her consistent living afterwards was the greatest testimony to the genuineness of the movement.

Two children’s prayer meetings commenced and were conducted by children of scarcely twelve years of age.

DONOUGHMORE
Donoughmore had a revival baptism similar to that of Monreagh. Rev. Alexander Caldwell narrates: “The work began on the 29th June, at the annual meeting of our Sabbath schools. On the former Sabbath there had been a case of conviction, and on the evening of that day a female had been stricken, and forced to cry aloud for mercy while reading the Bible in her own house.

“On the 29th June the Rev. Richard Smyth, of Derry, kindly came to our meeting, and delivered a very powerful and effective address. I never saw an audience so deeply moved. Every person with whom I have since conversed seems to have experienced the same deep, solemn feeling pervading the mind. He was followed by two young men from Derry, who gave a statement of their experience. The meeting was next addressed by the Rev. W. A. Russell of Strabane, and during his address three females present were stricken, and cried aloud for mercy in the congregation. There were persons present from all the congregations around, and all being deeply impressed, the revival spread at once through the surrounding districts.

“In the meeting house on the following Lord’s day and again on Monday evening the number of those forced to cry aloud for mercy was so great that it was difficult to proceed with the service and to preserve order in the meeting.

“With respect to the outward manifestations attending the revival, there have been comparatively few cases of bodily prostration. There were many more cases of persons simply forced to cry aloud for mercy. And the number of those silently convinced of sin and brought to believe was much larger than the two former classes combined. In this district I find among all these classes as subjects of the revival persons of all ages, from threescore and fifteen to ten years of age—persons of all decrees of intelligence, from the best educated to the most ignorant— persons of very different physical constitution, from the most intrepid and resolute men to the most timid and nervous female among us—and persons of every shade of character, from the most amiable and blameless to the most profane and reckless in the community.

“With respect to the permanency of the work, thank God I am able to say that, out of more than two hundred cases which have come under my observation, I do not know one who professed to be savingly converted who is not still maintaining a consistent walk and conversation.”
COUNTY MONAGHAN

MONAGHAN
Monaghan town witnessed a tremendous outpouring. The aged minister of the first Presbyterian church, Rev. John Blakely was summoned home from the meetings of the General Assembly in Dublin by tidings that the revival had commenced.

Arriving back on a week day evening he found his church crowded to excess with a deeply anxious and stricken people as the service preceded physical manifestations took place. The congregation, which included members of all the denominations, remained in the church all night. Mr. Blakely himself continues the story: “I announced a prayer meeting for nine o’clock the next Sabbath morning, and at four in the evening. At these I delivered addresses recommending that the striken should be kept calm, should pray by themselves, and that no singing or loud praying should be allowed. I referred to Saul’s three days by himself at Damascus, with only a promise which he was permitted to plead and pray, and not till after that time did he appear in the church or speak to others. This meeting was largely attended. I believe it contributed much to the quietness of our after operations. Anyone stricken afterwards was removed quietly to the session room, and only one or two friends or judicious Christians being admitted, we had no after confusion.

“I may add that not one of those affected the first night belonged to us; being mostly, if not all, of the Established church.

“Our weekly and Sabbath prayer meetings continue to be largely attended, although now there are many others.

“The Wesleyans have adopted the same hours on Sabbath morning and Friday evening. They have also a meeting every evening. The Established Church has a service on Wednesday evening. Mr. Rankin has a meeting at the Second Presbyterian Church on Thursday, and I understand that next Sabbath he will also have a similar meeting at 9 a.m.

“I have for these three weeks preached every evening in the country to crowded audiences, always taking some place distant from the regular prayer meeting of any other church. With regard to prostrations, so far as I have seen them (for there have not been many among my own people) they have been confined to the ignorant; I should rather say to the ill instructed in the doctrines of the gospel. The cases of deep prostration and loss of consciousness for hours have all been of that class.

“With others, there may be for a season, an hour or two, deep distress from a sense of sin, and then gradual trust and bright hopes of salvation—agonising prayer passing into adoring praise.”

BALLYBAY
In Ballybay the power of the Spirit was most marked upon the careless, the profane and the intemperate. Many ‘wild’ young men were converted. The majority of converts were aged between fifteen and twenty years. An ungodly person who had been absent from church for twenty years was savingly impressed.

Rev. J. G. Smith writes: “The doctrines of the gospel are being more adorned by master and servant, by parents and children, and in the business transactions between man and man; glaring vices have been dethroned, and the demon of intemperance has been chained up; boisterous spirits have been tamed, and turned into men of peaceful bearing; and the whole community has felt the majesty of God and His presence in the land.”

The Presbyterian Magazine of September 1859 reports: “The united prayer meeting continues to be well attended. The revival is evidently going on more quietly than in other localities, and the outward manifestations are not so numerous though still to be met with. Open-air services are held almost every night, by the converts, and others in the neighbourhood of Clontibret; and many instances there occur of parties being striken down. Persons who have not entered a place of worship for years may now be seen availing themselves of the means of grace; and this, if nothing else, augurs well.”

NEWBLISS
The revival commenced here in August after the visit of two lay agents from Co. Antrim. Rev. R. Dunlop records: “In their addresses there was not the slightest attempt to arouse an undue excitement, or produce a merely temporary enthusiasm.

“On the morning of the day following their first visit, I was summoned to attend a young woman, a member of my congregation, who was under deep and awful conviction of her sinfulness and danger. She had been carefully and religiously trained, had frequently communicated and was looked on by all her acquaintances as sincerely and unaffectedly pious. When I entered her room, she was lying on her bed in a state of great physical weakness, but wrestling most earnestly in prayer. Her language was almost entirely scriptural, and strangely appropriate to her condition. Her utterance was most fluent; she never seemed at a loss for either sentiments or words; and, although naturally of a shy, retiring disposition, she did not feel the least diffidence to pray before a large number of strangers. What most astonished me was, that though she knew little or nothing of the features of the revival movement, the physical and mental characteristics in her case were almost exactly similar to those, which had been exhibited in County Antrim. Hers was the first case I had attended, and I shall never forget the sensations of solemn awe which I experienced as I stood by her bedside witnessing her soul-agony, and listening to her supplications for mercy.

“Two or three other cases of conviction occurred during that and the following week. In the second week of August, the great outburst of religious feeling began, and spread with unexampled rapidity from house to house and from district to district. From Newbliss to Drum, there was scarcely a town land where there were not several families some of whose members had been under deep convictions of sin, and had been led to put their trust in the only Saviour.

“As to the parties mainly reached by the movement, I should say that those who had received a good religious training in early years form the most influential class. The number of women converted is greater than that of men, but not to any very marked degree—not more than might be expected from the well known fact, attested by the attendance at all religious assemblies, and by the communion roll of almost every church, that women are much more religiously disposed than men. The number of young persons brought to experience an interest in Christ’s salvation is very much larger than that of the middle-aged and old; and while I rejoice to say that many old people in the neighbourhood are giving evidences of a saving change having been recently wrought on their souls, the statistics of the movement here confirm the solemn fact, that the difficulties of conversion and the chances against salvation are increased in direct proportion to an increase in years from youth upwards.”

COUNTY CAVAN
Though situated far from the cradle of the revival in Connor, Co. Antrim, County Cavan was not untouched by the flood tide of blessing.

BAILIEBOROUGH
Dr. Gibson writes: “On the 8th August last, two young men, now students in divinity in connexion with the Presbyterian church, visited the first congregation of Bailieborough, of which for many years their father has been the respected pastor, and addressed a meeting there. Having intimated that they would narrate, on the evening following what they had witnessed in the north, they had an unusually large attendance, when the usual results were witnessed. A few evenings later, and the green around the church was thronged by groups of persons, now returning thanks for some near relative or friend who had found the Saviour, now in earnest supplication that light might break in upon the darkness of some distressed soul, and peace be found by some troubled conscience.

“Special meetings were immediately established in the Presbyterian churches, and the neighbourhood was deeply moved. The hands of ministers were so full, that had they not received timely aid, they must have been altogether overborne.

“In the congregations of Bailieborough there are few houses in which family worship is not maintained. Throughout the district generally there is a marked improvement. Meetings are held for prayer and Christian fellowship, sometimes in the houses of those who formerly neglected gospel ordinances altogether, and several such meetings are also held among the female members of the church. Two congregational libraries are being organised; while in the town itself a public library and Christian Literary Society are being formed. Scripture commentaries, and such books as Watson’s ‘Body of Divinity,’ are in growing demand among the people.”

DRUMKEERAN
This district had an extraordinary, and in some respects, an unprecedented demonstration of power. Rev. Samuel Patrick, the young Presbyterian minister, was so engaged in the work and became so enfeebled by arduous labour, that he was unable to record any of the many revival manifestations.
For the first whole week of October when the awakening commenced in Drumkeeran, Mr Patrick never lay down to sleep. Dr. Gibson speaks of the commencement of the movement thus: “It was on the evening of Sabbath, the 1st of October, that a meeting had been announced in the church, at five o’clock. Before four it was completely filled; and when the time of service came, it was found necessary to hold the meeting in a field adjoining, there being about 1,500 persons present. At an early period in the devout exercises, a wild cry was raised, the first of many following, that almost drowned the preacher’s voice. Those who were thus affected were removed into the church in which there were eventually no fewer than three hundred! Then the manse was filled; and many more who could find no other place of shelter, were lying among the trees.”

Meetings held nightly in the church after this remarkable service were so exciting that the people attending would not disperse till the following morning; while every day anxious inquirers demanded the incessant attention of the pastor.

Rev. F. F. Trench, the son of an Archbishop of the Church of Ireland, and rector of Newtown, relates what he himself witnessed in County Cavan during the revival: “Very lately, I spent a Sunday in a neighbouring parish in the county of Cavan for the purpose of ascertaining facts. I had heard that several persons had been struck in Presbyterian churches, and in the parish church, some at open-air meetings, many more at their own houses, in the fields, and while engaged at their ordinary occupations. On visiting this parish, and making inquiry from the curate, and also from the Presbyterian ministers, I found that the facts were quite as remarkable as had been stated to me, and that the awakening had not been confined to the lower classes, but that men of wealth and respectability, and considerable education, had been led to feel their sins, as well as persons in the lower class, and of the most abandoned character, male and female. I found that a large and lucrative business in the sale of spirituous liquors had been renounced for conscience’ sake, serving as a strong testimony of the sincerity of the merchant who did so. I found that persons had been convinced of their sins in an overwhelming manner in all sorts of places—churches, meeting houses, parlours, shops, bedrooms, and in ‘byres’ or cow-houses. And I also ascertained that these conversions had been attended with a great variety of the most remarkable circumstances, and the best moral results.
“On the borders of Meath, I preached in a densely crowded school house, in which about three hundred persons were assembled. I had preached for upwards of an hour to this congregation, listening not merely with what is called ‘breathless attention,’ but listening in that indescribable way which is sure to draw out from the preacher the very best he has in him. Having heard that there had been much of bodily affections in connexion with other religious services in the neighbourhood, I felt thankful for the quiet and happy manner in which ‘the Word’ had been received. After the sermon a hymn was heartily sung, and the meeting was being concluded by prayer, offered up by the incumbent of a neighbouring parish, when some persons, unable to restrain their feelings, began to cry. Kneeling beside me there was a stout, elderly farming man, who was crying, not in such a way that advocates of the ‘hysterical’ theory could think of claiming him as their ‘patient,’ but the tones were such as in a boy would be called ‘blubbering.’ There was no screaming, but the number of persons who cried and sobbed increased rapidly; perhaps one fourth of the congregation was more or less affected in this way, and ten or twelve persons, perhaps, either swooned or fell from their seats, or needed support. If any encouragement had been given to outward manifestations, either by loud or exciting prayer, or by loud preaching I have no doubt that three-fourths of the congregation, if not more, might have been brought into this excited state. The object of the wise and good rector of the parish, who conducted the meeting, was, of course, to calm the people without saying anything which could be construed into a rebuke of what was manifestly involuntary, and mixed up with so much of what was inestimably precious, and what more ministers of Christ from Sabbath to Sabbath labour (I fear often in vain) to promote, namely, any degree of proper feeling of religion.”