5. Examples of Revival
James Buchanan
A series of local revivals, on a more limited scale, have occurred since the great general revival at the era of the Reformation.
From 1623 to 1641 there occurred a remarkable revival of true religion in the province of Ulster, in Ireland, which was the germ of the Presbyterian Church which continues to bless that province to the present time.2 The inhabitants of Ulster were settlers drawn from England and Scotland and planted there by James VI and I. At first they were men of reckless and dissolute character; J S Reid described them as “ripe for a great manifestation either of judgement or of mercy”.
In God’s good providence, some able and zealous ministers of the gospel who were oppressed in Scotland and England, took refuge in Ireland. Among them were the eminent Robert Blair, John Livingstone and Josias Welsh, and such a remarkable blessing accompanied their preaching that not only were many souls converted, but pure gospel churches were planted and a gospel discipline introduced. Not a few of the higher ranks were converted, and it is a memorable fact that the greatest success attended the preaching, not of the ablest and most prudent ministers, but of one whose gifts were weak, who knew little more than the terrors of the law – “a man, it is said, who would never have been chosen by a wise assembly of ministers, nor sent to begin a reformation in the land. Yet this was the Lord’s choice, that all men
1Taken with editing, from the “Illustrative Cases of Conversion” in The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit. It is based on Acts 2:17,18. Last month’s article continued to emphasise that revival is the work of God. This is the final article in the series.
2Buchanan’s book was first published in 1843, and so his reference here, and others later on, to “the present time” must point to that year or shortly before.
might see that it was not by power, nor by might, nor by man’s wisdom, ‘but by My Spirit, saith the Lord’.”
In 1625 a remarkable revival of religion occurred in the parish of Stewarton, in Ayrshire, chiefly through the instrumentality of David Dickson, minister of Irvine. He had not long before then been driven from his church by the Court of High Commission and banished to the north of Scotland. After being restored in 1623, he was greatly blessed in his ordinary ministry. He instituted a weekly service on the market day, for the benefit of those coming in from the country. He was enabled to cast the precious seed far and wide, so that it took deep root and produced an abundant harvest, especially in the parish of Stewarton, where the “revival spread from house to house for many miles along the valley”. Sometimes upwards of 100 would be waiting to converse with him in the manse after the service, and a complete change was wrought in the hearts and habits of many. This is attested, not only by the venerable minister himself, but also by some eminent men: Robert Blair, Robert Boyd and others who visited the scene and shared in the services.
In 1630 a very extraordinary revival occurred at the Kirk of Shotts, in Lanarkshire. A number of ministers, then suffering under the persecution of the civil power, assisted at the dispensation of the Lord’s Supper. Such was the interest felt in this solemn service that the people expressed a desire to have a sermon on the Monday. John Livingstone, then a preacher of the gospel and chaplain to the Countess of Wigtown, was requested to officiate, but “when he was alone in the fields in the morning, there came upon him such a misgiving, under a sense of unworthiness and unfitness to speak before so many aged and worthy ministers, and eminent experienced Christians, that he was thinking of stealing away, and was just about to lose sight of the kirk, when these words, ‘Was I ever a barren wilderness, or a land of darkness?’3 were brought into his mind with such an overcoming power, as constrained him to think it his duty to return and comply with the call to preach”.
He preached accordingly from Ezekiel 36:25, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you . . .”, and with such power, through the accompanying grace of the Spirit, “that about 500 persons were converted, principally by means of this sermon”. This great revival was afterwards described as “the sowing of a seed through Clydesdale, so as many of the most eminent Christians in that country could date either their conversion or some remarkable confirmation from it.”
In 1638, the same year in which the celebrated General Assembly at Glasgow was held, a general revival of true religion began in the Church of
3Words from Jeremiah 2:31 imperfectly remembered: “Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? A land of darkness?”
Scotland which left its precious fruits as an inheritance to the present time – a revival not confined to particular districts, but extending over the whole Church and influencing her courts as well as her congregations.
In 1734, a remarkable revival occurred in Northampton and many other towns in New England, under the ministry of such men as Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd, whose faithful narratives contain not only an authentic statement of facts, but many rich and instructive observations suggested by experience and observation.
In 1742 also many parishes in Scotland were visited with times of refreshing. The parish of Cambuslang, near Glasgow, then under the pastoral care of William McCulloch, was one of the first to be visited. After he had preached for about a year on the nature and necessity of regeneration, he was requested by about 90 heads of families to give them a weekly lecture. Prayer meetings were also formed. One after another, and at last 50 people in the same day, came to him in distress of mind. After this, such was their thirst for the Word of God that he had to provide them a sermon almost daily and, before George Whitefield’s arrival, 300 souls had been converted. When that eminent servant of God preached at the dispensation of the sacrament soon afterwards, about 24 ministers were present and 30 000 to 40 000 souls, of whom 3000 communicated at the tables. Many of them came from a great distance and carried with them to their homes a saviour of good things; and the minister noted that not fewer than 400 people in the parish were converted that year.
In the same year, the parish of Kilsyth, where James Robe had laboured as minister for 30 years without any remarkable success, was visited first with violent fever and afterwards with famine – without any salutary effect. The minister was much discouraged, but betook himself to prayer, and soon some symptoms of growing seriousness appeared, which rapidly ripened into a great spiritual revival. Sometimes 30, sometimes 40 were awakened in a week; in all there were about 300 whose subsequent life attested the sincerity of their conversion. In the same year, we have authentic accounts of the sudden and simultaneous revival of religion in many other parishes – as in Baldernoch, where there was no minister at the time, but many were awakened through the labours of a pious schoolmaster; in Campsie, Calder, Kirkintilloch, Cumbernauld, Gargunnock, St Ninians and Muthill.
In 1794, a remarkable revival of religion occurred in various parishes in Wales, chiefly through the instrumentality of Thomas Charles of Bala. As early as 1649, soon after the Westminster Assembly, commissioners had been appointed by Parliament to supply the religious destitution of that neglected country; and 150 pious ministers were planted in its various counties, and good schoolmasters appointed in every market town, besides 30 preachers
who were appointed to itinerate from place to place. Several eminent ministers were afterwards raised up, such as Hugh Owen, Thomas Gouge, Griffith Jones and Daniel Rowlands, who successively devoted themselves to the cultivation of the same field, often with great success.
Whitefield testifies that the people thought nothing of coming 20 miles to hear a sermon and that thousands were savagely impressed. Thomas Charles was himself one of the fruits of Rowlands’ ministry, and he devoted himself with similar zeal to the same glorious work. He set up schools in every part of his wide circuit, and thousands, both old and young, received the Word with joy, while a general reformation was effected even among the careless and unconverted.
In 1798, a remarkable revival of true religion occurred in the parish of Moulin, in Perthshire, then under the pastoral care of Alexander Stewart, afterwards a minister in Edinburgh. In the interesting account which he has left of this event, he honestly confesses that he was himself ignorant of divine truth, at least in its saving power, for several years after he was ordained to the ministry; and that he was much perplexed when some people under concern for their souls came to him for advice. At last, through the writings of Newton and Scott, and the conversation and preaching of Charles Simeon of Cambridge, who visited him in 1793, he was brought to a knowledge of the truth. He immediately declared what he had learned and a great impression was made on the minds of the people – so that many nominal church members abstained of their own accord from going to the Lord’s table. Seldom a week passed without one, two, or three people being brought under deep concern of soul, till he could count 70 individuals as his crown of joy and rejoicing.
In 1812, a great revival occurred in the isle of Arran, under the ministry of Neil MacBride, which was accompanied with much excitement, and what the world will call extravagance, but it resulted in the conversion of between two and three hundred souls. In the same year, another revival occurred in the Isle of Skye, which was in many respects extraordinary. Religion appeared to be well-nigh dead. Among several thousand persons, there were found only five or six New Testaments. An itinerant preacher appeared, and laboured for some time amongst them, attracting considerable audiences, but without any apparent success, till a blind fiddler was converted and raised up as a mighty agent in the great work. One of the ministers soon followed, and at length the revival spread, until several hundreds were added to the Church of such as should be saved.
In 1824, a revival occurred under very different circumstances, in the parish of Uig, in the Isle of Lewis, where Alexander MacLeod was minister.
The first visible symptom of revival was a rapid decrease in the number of communicants, but 9000 people flocked from all parts of the island to hear the Word, and to witness the communion service in which they would not partake. Multitudes were converted, and a general spirit of prayer was poured out from on high. And this interesting revival has continued steadily to grow down to the present time.
I have not referred to the many revivals reported to have taken place more recently in America, nor to those which have gladdened our hearts in our own day and in our own land, but have confined myself to the authentic narrative of cases whose fruits and effects we have had time to test and ascertain. And I think the cases which have been enumerated are sufficient to show that such revivals are not novelties in the history of the Church, and ought not therefore to be regarded with those feelings of jealousy and suspicion which novelties in religion are so apt to awaken.