2075

819

1862

UNIVERSALIST QUARTERLY

AND

GENERAL REVIEW.

ARTICLE I.

The Ulster Revival.

The Work and the Counterwork; or, the Religious Revival in Belfast, with an Explanation of the Physical Phenomena. By Edward A. Stopford, Archdeacon of Meath. Dublin: Hodges, Smith & Co. 1859.

The Ulster Revival and its Physiological Accidents. A Paper read before the Evangelical Alliance, September 22, 1859. By the Rev. James McCosh, LL. D. C. Atchison. 1859.

God's Work and Satan's Counterwork, as now carried on in the North of Ireland. By the Rev. Edward Hincks, D. D. Belfast: George Phillips & Sons. 1859.

Words of Caution and Counsel on the Present Religious Revival, addressed to his Parishioners. By Thomas Mac Neece, D. D., Rector of Arboe. Belfast: George Phillips & Sons. 1859.

The Epidemics of the Middle Ages. From the German of J. F. C. Hecker, M. D. Translated by B. G. Babington, M. D., F. R. S. London. 1844.

WHEN John Wesley commenced his career of religious reform, he came into the neighborhood of Bristol. At Kingsdown, near that city, there dwelt a half-barbarian population, engaged principally in the mines; and as Wesley was thoroughly in earnest in his reformatory intentions, he determined to inaugurate his work by carrying the message of religion to this unpromising class. In doing so, he succeeded beyond expectation. Thousands, in a short time, gathered round him, and a people sunk to the level of the

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beasts, began to rise into the dignity of man. When, to crown all, and to raise the missionary's hopes to triumph, a strange influence descended, as if to bless his work. Whilst engaged, one evening, in enforcing the necessity of the new birth and, in his non-impassioned way, appealing to the conscience and heart, a large woman, who for some time had been laboring under depression of mind and "could find no comfort day or night," suddenly experienced a strange weakness, and fell down to the ground, acknowledging her sins. The woman undoubtedly was disorganized in body and in mind, and by a minister to whom she applied for spiritual consolation, was considered half insane; and, consequently, the existence of hysteric or cataleptic manifestations in her person was intelligible enough. Yet the excitement consequent upon the apparent miracle, associated with the influence of agitating preaching, was sufficient to propagate the derangement in healthy subjects, and render it epidemic. For a considerable time after the first prostration, men and women fell down in convulsive fits every evening, and in agonizing screams acknowledged the power of the Lord. And in this we have the first modern revival of religion, the first revival, at any rate, whose principal features corresponded with those of the late Irish movement. Both were characterized by the same exciting preaching, the same unaccountable paroxysms, the same attainment of peace after a period of painful prostration, and the same general belief, moreover, that a season of Pentecostal influence had come. Wesley himself participated in this belief, and though certain inconvenient questions were proposed by his brother Samuel, as, for example, "Why did the prostrations occur only when the doctrine of the new birth was taught?"-the repose of his confidence remained undisturbed, and from a supposed sign from heaven, he gathered strength for new work.

Since the time of Wesley, several movements similar to that of Kingsdown, have occurred in different lands; principally in America and Scotland. Of those occurring in the first-named country, we shall offer as a specimen, the Revival of 1800 and 1801. The origin of the movement is somewhat obscure. It appears, however, that, impressed with the cold formality of the churches in Kentucky and Virginia, a number of earnest ministers, among whom we

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read the names of McGready, McCorkle, and Hodge, en deavored to remedy the evil by energetic prayer and preaching; and succeeded in their aim to the extent not only of awakening and agitating the conscience, but of convulsing the bodily frame. In the neighborhood of Nashville, a young man was so overpowered by the fervency of an address which he heard, that he returned home determined thenceforward to alter his course and serve the Lord," when retiring to his chamber, he was visited with sudden weakness, and fell prostrate on his bed. This is the first recorded case of prostration; and hailed as a celestial manifestation, no doubt, it served to promote the epidemic which ensued. At any rate, prostration became general, and with it an excitement sufficient, for a time, to make religion the principal concern of life. Seven thousand people are said, on one occasion, to have met for worship at Point Pleasant. At Caneridge Sacrament, eighteen Presbyterian ministers and a large number of Methodist and Baptist preachers, conducted the services to twenty thousand people. were one hundred and forty-eight waggons and coaches present. The number of converted persons was great, some crying for mercy, some shouting redeeming grace, and others collected in numberless small circles of twelve or twenty, singing hymns, all serious, and their whole conversation bearing on religion or something relating thereto." 1 The process of conversion, or, as some would say, the course of the distemper, included the following stages. After the experience of deep convictions of sin, the heart melted, the nerves relaxed, and in an instant, the patient became speechless, motionless, though generally retaining his senses. This state continued a few hours, sometimes a day or even a week, and was succeeded by languidness of body and a delightful peace of mind, the former marking the process of restoration, the latter generally accepted as a supernatural gift. The beginning was conviction of sin; the end was peace. During the movement, one thousand individuals were occasionally "converted" at one meeting. Those who came to mock frequently remained to pray, and in the midst of their prayers experienced the painful sensations that were considered to be identical with the pangs of

! The Methodist Magazine. Vol. xxvi. P. 127.

the new birth. It is recorded of Dr. C., a sceptic, that he was converted from the errors of his doctrine as well as from the errors of his ways by prostration under the reigning influence. Certain hardened sinners, when engaged in cutting whips for the purpose of castigating negroes more evangelical than themselves, and who would cry out for mercy, were also, we find, similarly "struck."

Altogether great work in the way of conversion was being accomplished, when the epidemic began to assume a new form. At first nothing more serious was experienced than certain nervous movements akin to those of hysteria or trance; but after a time violent jerks and twitchings and other phenomena indicative of deep-seated disorganization, made their appearance. These jerks were altogether involuntary and irrepressible. After a violent trembling, a severe hiccough, or suddenly and without any premonitory sign, the patient would be impelled to jump up, whirl round like a top, run backward and forward with the greatest speed; dance or leap, laugh with loud unearthly laughter or weep. The seat of the convulsion in one district was the arm; in another, the back-bone at the waist; in another, the neck, whose violent motions appeared to threaten dislocation. Sometimes those affected would bark convulsively; assuming a pugilistic attitude they would strike at everything near them; again, they imitate persons playing on the violin or sewing with the needle. Considering the distemper to be injurious, the clergy endeavored generally to put it down; and in this, after a time, they succeeded. A clergyman, who has left behind a record of his observations, mentions that a startling remark in the current of conversation was sufficient to provoke the jerk; and that when, for purposes of experiment, anything exciting was introduced into his sermon, a sudden start in different parts of the congregation would indicate its effect. Certain friends of the strange visitation, endeavored to perpetuate it; and we believe that they yet retain a lingering existence as a Christian denomination under the name of Jerkers, or Shakers.

In order to understand what psychologically as well as physically this revivalism produced, we shall adduce the expressions and experience of two individuals,—the one converted" in Wesley's movement, the other in that of 1801.

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During the earlier stages of her "awakening," a young girl, "struck" at Kingsdown, mentions that one overpowering impression occupied her mind. Although her life had been what the world calls irreproachable, she felt that her sins were great. Her very tears were sin. She doubted, feared, sometimes despaired, her heart felt hard as a stone. Being advised by her sisters to pray, she did so, and saw Christ by faith, told him how ungodly she was, that for her he had died; his blood she pleaded to blot out the handwriting that was against her. Then she saw the fountain opened in his side, and a great many other things for which she was indebted to a morbid imagination, among others the devil tempting her; till, at last, she obtained in a buoyancy of mind and consciousness of pardon, the reward of all her tribulations. "I was dissolved in love," she says. "My beloved is mine, and I am his. He has all charms. He has ravished my heart. He is my comforter, my friend, my all." 2 Beginning with the agony of despair the revivalistic process invariably goes forward to a consummation in jubilant exultation, and what moderate Christians would call a presumptious assurance of salvation. Of the conversions achieved in 1801, the following case is mentioned by Rev. Samuel McCorkle, in the "Methodist Magazine" of 1802. A negro woman, affected profoundly by revivalistic preaching, was so overpowered by apprehension that she imagined herself in hell. "O hell! hell! thy pangs have seized me," she cried. "O torment! torment! I see hellfire below, and myself hanging over the pit by a thread, and a sharp, bright sword drawn to cut it through." "Her exertions at this moment," says Mr. McCorkle, 66 nor man, nor angels could describe. Two stout negro women were no match for her struggles. I thought of the man among the tombs with his legion. Such an exercise I never beheld, and I have seen no less than a thousand. At intervals she cried Oh, for mercy! but what have I to do with mercy? No mercy for poor miserable me.' Hope, however, began to prevail, and at last she shouted Glory, glory,' as loud and as long as she had roared out hell torments' before. Astonishing,' said she, 'I have mocked the mourners, have been in hell, and, oh praise God, praise 2 Southey's Life of Wesley, Vol I.

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