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paralleling those which I shall copy from the published accounts. Let me here remind my readers that the people of Ulster are not given to emotion alism; they have too much Scotch Blood in them to be easily carried away by senti mental stories ; they are hard-headed, though not hard-hearted, even if they do not wear their heart on their sleeve. Some one thus described them before the re vival : “Trained to reason, warm in party, cold in religion; among-whom capital crime was rare, true piety equally so, religious fervor dreaded, and fanaticism unknown ; whose wanderings had been towards Unitarianism, not enthusiasm, and whose wills are re markably unyielding.” Religious conditions before the revival, in Coleraine, County Antrim, are thus describ ed by the Rev. J. A. Canning, one of the Presbyterian ministers of that time: UNEMOTIONAL FOLK “The great mass of the inhabitants of the city and of the surrounding country are of Scotch extraction and are members of the Presbyterian church. For centuries the Gos pel has been faithfully preached among a thoughtful, industrious, intelligent, and well- educated people. . . . The observance of the Sabbath and attendance upon Sabbath ordinances, have long been a marked char acteristic of the people. The doctrines of the Westminster Confession of Faith have from olden time, been preached by ministers and held by their flocks. There is no Uni tarian congregation in the wide district of which Coleraine is the business center and capital. The Puseyism of the Episcopal church has never found favor among the ministers and members of the Establish ment. There are wide districts in which there are almost no Roman Catholics. Sab bath ^Schools are everywhere established, and the religious training of the young is the rule and not the exception. Coleraine is the seat of a large Presbytery; and in the churches of which it has the oversight, the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper is ob-
union meetings of the churches, and for the special meetings in the individual church. Thank God for all the varied agencies that He condescends to use and bless; but let us never limit Him to working along any one line, nor forget that all our human ma-’ chinery can achieve no spiritual result ex cept as God guides, controls and blesses. YEAR OF GRACE The history of the Ulster revival was written and published the year after the event by the Rev. William Gibson, profes sor of Christian Ethics in the Presbyterian College, Belfast, and moderator of the Gen eral Assembly of, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the volume being entitled, “The Year of Grace.” I have been told that a lead ing Unitarian minister of Belfast published a pamphlet entitled, “The Year of Delusion in Ireland” ; but whether the title of the pamphlet suggested that of the book or vice versa, I do not recall. Perhaps some reader can tell me. Dr. Gibson’s .book was republished for the jubilee of the revival, in a slightly abridged form, after being out of print for many years, and its perusal by the later generation would do much, I believe, to kindle that strong desire for a revival that God always honors. The history of past revivals has always been used thus. In Ulster itself— just preceding the revival, ministers fre quently preached on the revivals under Ed wards in America; Whitefield and Wesley in England; the times of refreshing in Scot- , land; previous visitations in Ulster—and on the revival then-in progress in the United States; accounts of which were reaching them in letters and newspapers. ITS INFLUENCE The Ulster revival in its turn was used to influence the spiritual desires of other com munities in Scotland, England, and else where. I have several interesting accounts of its progress in some, bound volumes ol magazines of the period. These, and Dr Gibson’s volume, are my sources of infor mation. An aged relative of my own, now gone to her reward but a few months, and converted in that revival, told me of scenes
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