1859 Revival Series - No 6: The Heritage of the Revival

This is an outline of a series of sermons preached, one per month, January - June 2009, marking the 150th Anniversary of the 1859 Revival in Ulster

Previous posts:

No 1: The Need of the Revival

No 2: The Origin of the Revival

No 3: The Spread of the Revival

No 4: The Features of the Revival

No 5: The Impact of the Revival

Psalm 16:6: The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

The last subject we want to consider in remembering the mighty moving of God in 1859 is that of the Heritage or the Legacy of the Revival. Any work which is really of God will stand the test of time. If the Revival was all of the flesh, and not of God, then it would disappear as darkness does before the rising sun.

I believe we can see many evidences that the Revival was indeed of God and that its effects did last. No work of God continues for ever. God moves at a particular time and revives His cause and over time the decline sets in once again and there is need for the Lord to revive once again. That is why we read of the Psalmist praying: Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Psalm 85:6.

1859 Revival Series - No 5: The Impact of the Revival

This is an outline of a series of sermons preached, one per month, January - June 2009, marking the 150th Anniversary of the 1859 Revival in Ulster

Previous posts:

No 1: The Need of the Revival

No 2: The Origin of the Revival

No 3: The Spread of the Revival
No 4: The Features of the Revival

Psalm 126 v 2,3  - the Lord hath done great things

In returning to our series commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 1859 Revival we are coming to consider the Impact that the Revival had.

It has to be confessed that it certainly had a mighty impact around the country. Wherever the Revival fires burned individuals and wider society did not remain the same. They were changed and changed for the better. As in this Psalm it was the confession of both saints and sinners that the Lord had done great things.

Spiritually the Revival made a tremendous impact. Socially and morally the Revival also made a significant impact. It may well be argued that the Revival had a major impact politically as well. It laid the foundation for the resistance of the Home Rule Bills which were initially pushed by William Gladstone, the British prime Minister. Charles Stewart Parnell had been campaigning for Home Rule for Ireland since the 1870s. The first Home Rule bill was introduced in April 1886. It became the cry of northern Protestants that Home Rule was Rome Rule and would not be tolerated.

1859 Revival series - No 4: The Features of the Revival

This is an outline of a series of sermons preached, one per month, January - June 2009, marking the 150th Anniversary of the 1859 Revival in Ulster

Previous posts:

1859 Revival series - No 1: The Need of Revival

1859 Revival series - No 2: The Origin of the Revival

1859 Revival Series - No 3 The Spread of the Revival

Acts 2:41-47: Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Once again we are returning to consider some aspects of the 1859 Revival. We have already thought about the Need the Revival; the Origin of the Revival and the Spread of the Revival. 

This evening we want to consider the Features of the Revival. Rev William Gibson, who wrote a history of the Revival, which was published in 1860, said:
It is interesting to observe the marked coincidence between its leading features and those which characterised the working of the Holy Spirit in Apostolic times. Any work that claims to be of God must be measured up against the word of God to see whether it matches up with that which we already know to characterise God at work. 

Without further introduction we want to consider these features:

1859 Revival Series - No 3 The Spread of the Revival

This is an outline of a series of sermons preached, one per month, January - June 2009, marking the 150th Anniversary of the 1859 Revival in Ulster

Previous posts:

1859 Revival series - No 1: The Need of Revival
1859 Revival series - No 2: The Origin of the Revival

In returning to our series commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 1859 Revival we are coming to consider: The Spread of the Revival.

Up until the end of 1858 this mighty moving of God was centred upon the parish of Connor, Co Antrim. In December of that year it began its outward flow and during the course of 1859 it reached virtually every county in Ulster. The only exception was County Fermanagh. It did not come with the same force to this county as to others in Ulster. This in part may be due to the fact that it was largely the Presbyterian ministers and their people who embraced this Revival. While many, but not all, Episcopalian ministers and their people shunned it. County Fermanagh had only a small Presbyterian population.

Rev John Crockett, a Presbyterian minister in Tyrone at the time of the 1859 Revival, had this to say:

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.

1859 Revival series - No 2: The Origin of the Revival

This is an outline of a series of sermons preached, one per month, January - June 2009, marking the 150th Anniversary of the 1859 Revival in Ulster

Previous posts:

1859 Revival series - No 1: The Need of Revival

Psalm 81:10 …open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 

In returning to this special series of subjects we are desirous of commemorating that great outpouring of God's Holy Spirit that came upon this Province in 1859. In doing so we are seeking firstly to increase our awareness of what happened in that great awakening, 150 years ago; and secondly to stir up our own hearts to seek another mighty outpouring of blessing. We are to remember what the Lord has done for us in times past.

On our first consideration of the 1859 Revival we dealt with The State of Society. There we noticed that the days prior to the Revival breaking out were very much in keeping with the Word of God as recorded for us the Psalmist's prayer: It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law, Ps 119:126. It was a day of the breaking of Gods law.

We want now to consider The Origin of the Revival. Where, how and with whom did it all commence?

Generally the times were bad prior to 1859 but here and there the Lord had a remnant that had not bowed the knee to Baal. Here and there believers were to be found who yearned for the Lord to come again and do something. In February 1853 an article appeared in a magazine entitled: The Irish Presbyterian bearing the title: Do we need a revival? There were those who desired and sought for a move of God.

1859 Revival series - No 1: The Need of Revival

This is an outline of a series of sermons preached, one per month, January - June 2009, marking the 150th Anniversary of the 1859 Revival in Ulster

Psalm 119:126: It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law. 

Virtually everyone is aware that the year 2009 marks the 150th Anniversary of the 1859 Revival. That mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God began in Kells, Co Antrim and spread out over most of Ulster. The influence of the revival was also felt further afield to greater and lesser degrees.

Many of us, if not all of us, have heard of the prayer meetings that were commenced in the school house in Kells where the four men prayed. The names of these men are James McQuilken, Jeremiah Meneely, Robert Carlisle and John Wallace. Encouraged by Rev J.H. Moore, minister of the nearby Presbyterian church, these four young converts began to meet on a weekly basis for prayer and Bible study. They met in the old national schoolhouse.

Special series marking the 150th anniversary of the 1859 Revival

Newtownabbey Free Presbyterian Church

First Lord's Day of each month January - June 2009
at 7.00 pm

Preacher: Rev Brian McClung

January
The Need of the Revival

February
The Origin of the Revival

March
The Spread of the Revival

April
The Features of the Revival

May
The Impact of the Revival

June
The Heritage of the Revival

The 1859 Revival preceded by a banking collapse

It became known as 'The Bank Panic of 1857'.

Prior to the third Great Awakening in America in 1857-58 there was a collapse of the banking system in America that also spread to Europe. Due to the long, hard winter of 1856-1857, transportation and trade transactions were delayed. The spring of 1857 brought some relief, but by the end of summer, businesses had begun to collapse. Before September 1857, the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company of Cincinnati, with a branch in New York City collapsed causing panic.

Some banks refused to redeem their promissory notes, while others suspended operations altogether, including eighteen of New York City's leading banks. On 14th October, 1857, the extensive banking system of the United States collapsed bringing ruin to hundreds of thousands of people in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the industrial centres of the nation.

The Panic caused rich men to go broke literally overnight. Suicide and murder increased, and people roamed the streets of the cities destitute.

May there be a parallel with our times and 1857 in more than just a banking crisis. May the Revival that followed this banking crisis in America and which came across to Ireland come again in the aftermath of the financial crisis that is presently being experienced in 2009.

Letter sent out from the General Assembly in 1858 on the subject of Revival

Due to the news of the Great Awakening in America 1857-1858 and the initial stirrings of the Holy Spirit in the district of Connor in 1858 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church discussed the subject of Revival when they met in Londonderry in June 1858.

As a follow up a pastoral letter was sent to every minister, elder and member. It is well worth reading as it contains a challenge to each individual to personally seek for Revival. True Revival is more than the conversion of the lost. It is the putting right of matters among the professing people of God.

Here is a short extract from that letter:

What then are we to do? How are we to seek an awakening among ourselves? Not certainly by mere imitation of the American meetings; not by any mechanical process of new and laborious measures, productive of little else than a transient and barren excitement; not by any instrumentality apart from individual consecration of the heart and life unto God.

Dear Brethren, if you really wish to see a solid permanent work of God advancing amongst us, begin with your own souls. Seek a revival there. When you complain as sometimes you do, of the low state of the church, you are generally disposed to look away from home for an explanation. You are prone to find fault with ministers and elders with the Synods and Assemblies. You seldom think of estimating your own particular share in the amount of the our general delinquency. Let every member of the Church put away the beam from his own eye, and then shall he see clearly to take the mote from his brother's eye.

Again look to the state of religion in your own households. What have you to say of family prayer? Of family catechising? Of your efforts to bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Put away the strange gods that are among you, if you would be prepared to meet and to hold communion with the Lord.

Further, consider that as members of the Church you are sacramentally pledged to be fellow-labourers in Christ for the emancipation of your fellow-countrymen from the bondage of Satan and of sin, and for the establishment of the kingdom of God over the whole earth… Beloved brethren, we have much to do in our own hearts, much to do in our own homes, much to do in our own Church, much to do in our own country. Let us regard these as our primary duty.

May the Lord indeed help us to take heed to ourselves!