The 1859 Ulster revival was a
Christian revival
Christian revivalism is increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect. This should be distinguished from the use of the term "revival" to refer to an evangelis ...
in
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
which spread to the rest of the United Kingdom. It has been reported that the revival produced 100,000
converts.
The revival began in
Kells and Connor in
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
. In late 1857, through the encouragement of the minister of Connor Presbyterian Church, John Hamilton Moore, four recent converts began meeting in the Kells National Schoolhouse for prayer and
Bible study. 1 January 1858 saw the first person converted as a direct result of the prayer meeting, and by the end of 1858 the attendance was around fifty. By Spring 1859 there were 16 prayer meetings in the parish. The revival spread to
Ahoghill in March 1859 and then to
Ballymena
Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim.
The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...
.
Although the revival started with laymen, revival preachers such as
Henry Grattan Guinness
Henry Grattan Guinness (11 August 1835 – 21 June 1910) was an Irish Protestant Christian preacher, evangelist and author. He was the great evangelist of the Third Evangelical awakening and preached during the Ulster Revival of 1859 which dr ...
and
Brownlow North
Brownlow North (17 July 1741 – 12 July 1820) was a bishop of the Church of England.
Early life, family and education
Brownlow was born on 17 July 1741 in Chelsea, London, Chelsea, Middlesex, Great Britain, the only son of Francis North, 1st ...
soon got involved. On one occasion North preached to 12,000 people at
Newtonlimavady.
James Bain, pastor of the
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
church at
Straid
Straid (from the gle, an tSráid) is a small village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, about three miles east of Ballyclare, and about six miles inland from Carrickfergus. It lies at the centre of the townland of Straidlands, in the Civil Pa ...
, described a typical Sunday during the revival in the following terms:
Our Sabbath services are continuous, from nine in the morning until ten at night. We are engaged from nine to twelve in prayer meetings for the young, from twelve to two in public service, from two to four in prayer meetings, from five to eight in the evening service, and finally in our evening prayer meeting.
The revival was a largely Presbyterian phenomenon, but not all Presbyterians supported it.
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...
,
Moderator of the
Presbyterian Church of Ireland
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI; ga, Eaglais Phreispitéireach in Éirinn; Ulster-Scots: ''Prisbytairin Kirk in Airlann'') is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the Republic of Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in ...
in 1859, wrote a book about the revival called ''Year of Grace: A History of the Ulster Revival of 1859''. However, another Presbyterian minister wrote a response called ''The Year of Delusion''.
J. Edwin Orr
James Edwin Orr (January 15, 1912 – April 22, 1987)
retrieved 2009-08-15
suggested that the 1859 revival "made a greater impact spiritually on Ireland, than anything else known since the days of
St. Patrick."
According to
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...
, the revival is the reason that
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
is much more religiously conservative than the rest of the UK or Europe.
See also
*
1859 Welsh revival
References
{{reflist
Further reading
*Janice Holmes, ''Religious Revivals in Britain and Ireland, 1859-1905'' (2001)
*Ian R. K. Paisley, ''The "Fifty-Nine" Revival: An Authentic History of the Great Ulster Awakening of 1859'' (1958)
*Rev. John Weir, ''The Ulster Awakening: Its Origin, Progress, and Fruit. With Notes of a Tour of Personal Observation and Inquiry'' (1860)
*Rev. Wiliam Gibson, "The Year of Grace: A History of the Ulster Revival of 1859" (1860)
Ulster Revival
The 1859 Ulster revival was a Christian revival in Ulster which spread to the rest of the United Kingdom. It has been reported that the revival produced 100,000 converts.
The revival began in Kells and Connor in County Antrim. In late 1857, thr ...
Ulster Revival
The 1859 Ulster revival was a Christian revival in Ulster which spread to the rest of the United Kingdom. It has been reported that the revival produced 100,000 converts.
The revival began in Kells and Connor in County Antrim. In late 1857, thr ...
Christian revivals
History of Christianity in Ireland
History of County Antrim