uttered their farewell, they could not refrain from weeping, and their congregations were bathed in tears. The benediction was pronounced, and the doors of the churches closed against these faithful men for ever. Louth. W.O. EXTRAORDINARY REVIVAL IN IRELAND. DURING the last few months, events of no ordinary character have transpired in Ireland. The counties of Antrim, Londonderry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh, in the province of Ulster, the northern portion of the island, have been the scene of a great religious revival. It is too early to predict, with any certainty, what may be its ultimate effects; but it cannot be without interest to all our readers to receive a word or two about its apparently insignificant origin; to say the least, its startling physical phenomena, and its precious and gladdening fruits. We are, moreover, the more readily inclined to give this general survey, since the movement, as a whole, serves to confirm the general principle of true "religious revival" laid down in an article in our May number. We shall make use of Dr. Massie's admirable pamphlet as affording the best account hitherto published in England of this remarkable religious awakening. The origin is traced by ministers and others living in the province to several private and unostentatious causes. The Rev. W. Carker, of Carrickfergus, mentions especially the efforts of a lady, who visited the neighbourhood of Ballymena, in Antrim, two years ago. Interested in the spiritual condition of an elderly man named Mac she read, prayed, and conversed with him. God blessed her pious zeal. The man began to pray for himself, and "rejoiced, believing in God." He now sought his wife's conversion. Twelve months passed away, and at the end of that time his prayer was heard. Glad at heart, and too much so, to keep his joy locked up within himself, he called together his friends and acquaintance, that they might hear and rejoice with him. They also began to pray in their own dwellings for themselves. Special meetings were held; churches and chapels began to fill; the Spirit of God was poured out upon them; and the whole district seemed suddenly awakened up into newness of life. The converts from this region were invited, or, in the ardour of a new-born love, had gone unasked to other districts. The springs, concealed for a time in the mountains of Antrim, burst forth into a mighty stream; and, after sweeping over the whole county, from end to end, from Port Rush, in the north, to Belfast, in the south, the ever-gathering and ever-swelling waters rolled westward, with rapid tides, and the counties of Derry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh began to feel their bracing and fertilizing power. The revival has been accompanied with most extraordinary physical phenomena, especially when the character and advantages of the people among whom the present movement has occurred, and the simple means employed-are considered. In Ulster, the inhabitants are grave and sober to a proverb. Descendants, in very many cases, from old Covenanters, they differ widely from the impulsive Celt of Munster and Connaught. They are less emotional, less fanatical, and less superstitious. * REVIVAL IN IRELAND. Facts, Documents, and Correspondence. By J. W. MASSIE, D.D., LL.D. London: Snow, Paternoster-row. EXTRAORDINARY REVIVAL IN IRELAND. 333 For generations they have had a talented, faithful, and energetic ministry -none more so in Ireland. They were already well established from their infancy in a thoroughly sound and well-understood basis of doctrine. There has been no use of what the Americans call "new measures," no ecclesiastical irregularity, and no elaborate machinery of effort. Meetings for religious instruction and prayer were held first from house to house; afterwards in chapels; and, anon, when these were too small, out in the open-air. There was no "getting up" of a revival. It grew as the palm tree grows, from within outward. Notwithstanding all this, so-called "bodily manifestations," of an unusual kind, have occurred. The masses of the people speak of them as though they were the effects of a contagious disease, or prevalent epidemic. "He took it," "he caught it," and such-like phrases are very commonly heard. Those who are better informed describe the subjects of them as "stricken," and narrate "severe cases," marking "different stages in their operation," and refer also to "cases of a milder class." Many cases are described in Dr. Massie's pamphlet, and all by eyewitnesses. The "stricken," these gentlemen say, "fall prone on the earth, as if they were in a partial stupor," or "as if they were dead;" in one, "the muscles of the face twitched convulsively," in another, "every muscle shuddered, indicating excruciating torture," in a third, the convulsion extended from head to foot;" in this person "the eye dilated, and stared wildly and vacantly," in that, "the eyelids were firmly closed, except when partially raised by a convulsive paroxysm, and even then no part of the eye was visible, except a narrow line of white;" in some instances, "they remained for a long time speechless, "and" were so engrossed with their own feelings as not to listen when addressed;" in others, "they were roused into occasional feeling of mental agony, depicted in heart-rending expressions of the countenance, and deep low wailings of terrible despair;" or "offered impulsive prayer;" or, "cried aloud in frenzied supplication." The Rev. Hugh Hunter, of Bellaghy, says, "The physical phenomena are very startling. Some waste to a shadow: some are speechless for twelve hours; some are fearfully wrought in their bodies, though not convulsively. I have seen some that would have dashed out their brains: my own servant, for instance." The severest case mentioned took place at Ballymena. Its symptoms, in the first stages, were not unlike those produced in poisoning by strychnine. A large meeting had assembled for united prayer in a grass park to the west of the Galgorm road. Many people were "stricken." Little groups were formed around these sufferers, often eleven in one group, and administered religious consolation. "In one of these circles we noticed a case of terrible severity-one in which visions of unspeakable horror must have been pictured to the imagination of the unhappy sufferer. A young woman lay extended at full length-her eyes closed, her hands clasped and elevated, and her body curved in a spasm so violent that it appeared to rest arch-like upon her heels and the back portion of her head. In that position she lay without speech or motion for several minutes. Suddenly she uttered a terrific scream, and tore handsfull of hair from her uncovered head. Extending her open hands in a repelling attitude of the most appalling terror, she exclaimed, 'Oh that fearful pit! Lord Jesus, save me!' I am a sinner, a most un worthy sinner-but, O Lord, take him away, take him away!' Christ, come-come quickly! O Saviour of sinners, remove him from my sight.' During this paroxysm, three strong men were hardly able to restrain her. She extended her arms on either side, clutched spasmodically at the grass, shuddering with terror, and shrinking from some fearful inward vision; but she ultimately fell back exhausted, nerveless, and apparently insensible. How long she remained in that condition we are unable to say; but we understand that she was treated with Christian sympathy, and removed from the field in safety before midnight. Three days afterwards she was visited by a Christian friend who had witnessed her agony. He found her weak in body, but her mind was thoroughly composed. She was a new creature. The light of peace and love was beaming from her countenance, and joy reflected in her eyes as she told him of her perfect reconciliation with God, and her unwavering faith in the Redeemer." This after-calmness and visible joy are specially noted in every instance. Severe as the above case was, such paroxysms were by no means confined to women. Out of a vast crowd gathered in the Drumachose churchyard, Newton Limavady, some three thousand persons being present, only strong men were affected. Cases occurred, too, and that very frequently, away from the excitement of public meetings, and in places the least expected. On the high road, as one was counting his money, he was stricken down as if with a sun-stroke, and his money was scattered on the road." In the field, in the street, in the factory, in a railway carriage, in an ale-house, and even at a wedding-party, men, women, and children were thus affected. One tells us that music had a soothing influence on some during the earlier stage of the paroxysm, but only sacred music. "A working man, residing in Belfast, received a powerful impression, and was in deep distress of mind. Some mischievous person sent a fiddler to the house, who commenced to play. This wanton and cruel joke threw the poor man into paroxysms. He was afterwards visited by a clergyman, under whose consolations he soon recovered and found peace." Even in "milder cases," characterized by copious weeping and temporary stupor, great prostration of body followed, and persons were "incapacitated for the slightest physical exertion.” The Editor of the Coleraine Chronicle, who has supplied a weekly account of the progress of the revival in his own district, apologizes for the delay in the issue of his paper, "because three of his compositors had been prostrated;" and Messrs. Ewart's mill, Belfast, was kindly closed one day by the owners, "because nearly twenty girls were stricken down in an instant, and became insensible, and great excitement, and no little alarm prevailed." At a monster meeting in the Botanical Gardens, Belfast, "It was a striking thing," says Mr. Drummond, of Stirling, who was present, "to see as the service proceeded, one and another struck down and carried off, just like soldiers cut down in a battle-field." Various explanations of these remarkable occurrences have been offered. Some ascribe them to hysteria, and declare "that the religion of hysterics prevails in India as well as England-among Hindoos as well as Christians; that these same physical prostrations have occurred in ancient Greece and Rome, and in almost every form of heathenism as well as Christianity." Mesmerists think they are pure cases of electro EXTRAORDINARY REVIVAL IN IRELAND. 335 biology; Papists, that drink and Satan have very much to do with them; Mr. Geo. Gilfillan, "that they are an authentic working of the devil;" and friends of the religious awakening, that they are the direct work of the Holy Spirit, and only to be paralleled with the wonders of Pentecost. It is only fair to state that while persons of all ranks, classes, and ages, are deeply and sincerely affected by the truth in a way they never were before, that these cases of prostration, according to so great a friend of the revival as the Rev. Dr. Wilson, "often occurred in persons very ignorant of religion, and of very limited education; that several young females were simply labouring under hysteria; and that the conduct of others had already shown that bodily exercise profiteth little."" An eminent medical man from Armagh, present at the meeting in the gardens referred to above, gave it as his opinion that it was no bodily affection which troubled those who fell down, but an affection of the mind, which no doubt affected the body also. Dr. Wallace, a physician of Randalston, so far from regarding these physical manifestations as supernatural, thinks that they may be classified among known disordered conditions of the human economy, arising from disease, from mental emotion, involuntary imitation, or intense expectation of their occurrence. These "cases become multiplied, till what may be called an epidemic constitution, has pervaded society; so that all who are susceptible come to be affected independently of mental emotion altogether. I regard these manifestations as accidents of the revival, not as integral parts of it. They might, I believe, have taken place in connexion with the propagation of religious delusions-Papist, Irvingite, and Mormon." Granting all the limitations suggested in a scientific estimate of these singular phenomena, and making all the deductions, frankly acknowledged by friends in the midst of this religious fervour, the effects that still remain are extraordinary in kind and degree, and are matter for devout thanksgiving to Almighty God. Churches and chapels are crowded with eager listeners, not only on the Lord'sday, but sometimes during five successive services on the week-day, and often during two or three. A deep religious feeling pervades all classes of the people, while "bodily manifestations are evidently on the decline." Christian men of every name mect together for prayer and praise, a very unusual assembly of this kind numbering fiftyfour ministers. Nightly vigils have well-nigh exhausted some pastors, and hourly visits to penitents in the day, and incessant meetings, have worn down the strength of others. A Town Hall has been opened in Derry with a prayer-meeting instead of a ball. Thieves have grown honest men. Magdalenes sit weeping at the feet of the Merciful One. Places once noted for debauchery and drunkenness resound with the sweet voices of prayer and thanksgiving. "In Lisburn the mill opera. tives seem quite a changed people; and, if the impression lasts, the employers of labourers will have much cause of rejoicing over the revival of 1859." "In Sandy-row, Belfast,-the former scene of riot and mischief, the policemen say there is now no trouble of any kind." The constable's office at Coleraine is fast becoming a sinecure. Ballymena, with one hundred and twenty public-houses, in a population of seven thousand people, has become a sober place. Distillery travellers declare it to be of no use going into that county, for "the people will neither drink whiskey nor buy it." Ahoghill, "the worst wee place in the world," said the resident policeman, is totally changed. No drunkenness, no swearing, no fighting, no riot, and the lock-up empty after a funeral! Whiskey shops are everywhere deserted. One man, who has received the truth, has taken down his sign, and washed his hands of the trade, and converted his house into a Bethel. Another, once noted for his intemperance, assures a large audience that the work is not the devil's, "for Satan never put him from drinking whiskey." A third, a car-driver, shrewdly says: "Catholics say it's the work of the devil; but I always say, would the devil teach people to pray? Sure, if it was the devil, or glamoury, that was put on the people, it's drinking and swearing they would be, and not praying and doing good." At Creaghrock, a cock-pit has been turned into a sanctuary. Papists that came to mock, remained to pray." Many have broken their rosaries, and one old lady hesitated about burning her missal because it had some precious words of Scripture in it, and eased her conscience by burying it deep down in the earth. Scoffers and sceptics have felt the power of redeeming love. Many young men in Belfast, "the scamps of the town," have professed to feel its influence, and are now labouring earnestly to bring others to the cross. Dr. Carson, a medical gentleman of some note in Ireland, says, "that more good has been done than a person might have expected in the ordinary way in a quarter of a century. Already the face of society seems altered, and crime and vice arrested." Such are the present effects of this great religious awakening in the province of Ulster, as recorded by eye-witnesses. When much of the present excitement shall have passed away, as it assuredly will-for human weakness can neither bear the present tension without weariness, nor devise any effective means for its permanent continuance-every Christian will rejoice to hear that "fruits," such as we have pointed out, everywhere" remain." Meanwhile, we cannot fail to be impressed with what has so often been taught, and so often, at any rate in actual life, been commonly forgotten, that every Christian, no matter how obscure his lot, or how few his talents, may yet accomplish great things for God; that the strongest and best motive for Christian activity is that Divine Love which Paul felt "constraining" him; and that, instead of the meeting for supplication and prayer being held in light esteem and systematically neglected, it should be more worthily honoured and more vigorously sustained, for in these days, as in the olden time, "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." "AND THEY TOOK THE BODY OF JESUS, AND WOUND IT IN LINEN CLOTHES, WITH THE SPICES, AS THE MANNER OF THE JEWS IS TO BURY."-John xix. 40, THE Hebrews swathed the corpse round with numerous folds of linen, and sometimes of a variety of stuffs, and anointed it with a mixture of aromatic substances, of which aloes and myrrh were the chief ingredients. A sparing use of spices on such occasions was reckoned |