All night, in the fields,
the voice of prayer and praise
was to be heard.
CAMBUSLANG, 1742
the voice of prayer and praise
was to be heard.
CAMBUSLANG, 1742
Every Christian is aware of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and the amazing success which accompanied the preaching of the gospel immediately thereafter; but very many are ignorant that God has since, from time to time, refreshed his heritage, and extended the kingdom of his Son, in a manner almost equally remarkable. This ignorance induces a belief that Zion is to be enlarged only in the silent and gradual manner of our own day: and it is to be feared that Christians, in pleading for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, have so little expectation of obtaining their request, that they would be astonished beyond measure were their prayers answered. They pray for the outpouring of the Spirit because the word of God teaches them to do so, and yet they are hopeless of succeeding in their suit, although the same word engages that the prayer of faith shall not be in vain.
Cambuslang is a parish about four miles southeast of Glasgow, and at the time of this revival, was under the pastoral care of Mr. McCulloch, a man of decided piety and anxiously desirous of the spiritual welfare of his people. In his ordinary course of sermons for nearly a year before the work began, he had been preaching on those subjects which tend most directly to explain the nature and prove the necessity of regeneration; and for some months before the remarkable events now about to be mentioned, a more than ordinary concern about religion appeared among his flock. This was in the beginning of February 1742. On the 15th of that month, the different prayer meetings in the parish assembled at his house, and next day they again met for solemn prayer, relative to the interests of the gospel. Although this second meeting was of a more private description, others getting notice of it, desired to join, and were admitted: and on the day following they met a third time for the same purpose. At this period, though several persons had come to the minister under deep concern about their salvation, there had been no great number; but on Thursday the 18th, after sermon, about fifty came to him under alarming apprehensions about the state of their souls; and such was their anxiety, that he had to pass the night in conversing with them.
After this, the desire of the people for religious instruction was so great, that Mr. McCulloch found himself obliged to provide them a sermon almost daily; and after sermon, he had generally to spend some time with them in exhortation and prayer; and the blessing of God on these ordinances was so great, that by the beginning of May, the number of persons awakened to a deep concern about salvation exceeded three hundred.
About this time, (June, 1742,) Mr. Whitefield revisited Scotland, and in consequence of earnest invitations, he came to the west country, and to Cambuslang amongst other places, where, with his customary zeal, he preached three times on the very day of his arrival, to a vast body of people, although he had preached the same morning at Glasgow. The last of these exercises began at nine in the evening, and continued till eleven; and such was the relish for the word of life, that Mr. McCulloch preached after him till past one in the morning, and even then the people could hardly be persuaded to depart. All night, in the fields, the voice of prayer and praise was to be heard.
Cambuslang is a parish about four miles southeast of Glasgow, and at the time of this revival, was under the pastoral care of Mr. McCulloch, a man of decided piety and anxiously desirous of the spiritual welfare of his people. In his ordinary course of sermons for nearly a year before the work began, he had been preaching on those subjects which tend most directly to explain the nature and prove the necessity of regeneration; and for some months before the remarkable events now about to be mentioned, a more than ordinary concern about religion appeared among his flock. This was in the beginning of February 1742. On the 15th of that month, the different prayer meetings in the parish assembled at his house, and next day they again met for solemn prayer, relative to the interests of the gospel. Although this second meeting was of a more private description, others getting notice of it, desired to join, and were admitted: and on the day following they met a third time for the same purpose. At this period, though several persons had come to the minister under deep concern about their salvation, there had been no great number; but on Thursday the 18th, after sermon, about fifty came to him under alarming apprehensions about the state of their souls; and such was their anxiety, that he had to pass the night in conversing with them.
After this, the desire of the people for religious instruction was so great, that Mr. McCulloch found himself obliged to provide them a sermon almost daily; and after sermon, he had generally to spend some time with them in exhortation and prayer; and the blessing of God on these ordinances was so great, that by the beginning of May, the number of persons awakened to a deep concern about salvation exceeded three hundred.
About this time, (June, 1742,) Mr. Whitefield revisited Scotland, and in consequence of earnest invitations, he came to the west country, and to Cambuslang amongst other places, where, with his customary zeal, he preached three times on the very day of his arrival, to a vast body of people, although he had preached the same morning at Glasgow. The last of these exercises began at nine in the evening, and continued till eleven; and such was the relish for the word of life, that Mr. McCulloch preached after him till past one in the morning, and even then the people could hardly be persuaded to depart. All night, in the fields, the voice of prayer and praise was to be heard.
"Cambuslang - scene of the out-door religious services."
The sacrament [ordinance] of the supper was dispensed on the 11th of July, and the solemnity was so remarkably blessed that it was speedily repeated. The following extract of a letter written by Mr. McCulloch, giving an account of the proceedings at this period, will be read with interest:
“[T]here was first one day, and then another, appointed for a general meeting of the several societies for prayer in the parish, at the manse; but as the manse could not conveniently hold them, they went to the church, and when light failed them there, a good many, of their own free motion, returned to the manse, and continued at prayer and praise till about one o’clock next morning. One design of these meetings was, to ask that the Lord would continue and increase the blessed work of conviction and conversion, and eminently countenance the dispensing of the holy sacrament of the supper.
“This second sacrament did, indeed, much excel the former, not only in the number of ministers, people, and communicants, but, which is the main thing, in a much greater measure of the power and special presence of God, in the observation and experience of multitudes who were attending.
“The ministers . . . appeared to be very much assisted in their work. Four of them preached on the fast day; four on Saturday; on Sabbath I cannot well tell how many; and five on Monday; on which last day it was computed that above twenty-four ministers and preachers were present. Old Mr. Bonner, though so frail that he took three days to ride eighteen miles from Torphichen to Cambuslang, was so set upon coming here, that he could by no means stay away; and when he was helped up to the tent, preached three times with great life; and returned with much satisfaction and joy. Mr. Whitefield’s sermons on Saturday and Sabbath were attended with much power, particularly on Sabbath night about ten, and that on Monday, several crying out, and a very great but devout weeping and mourning was observable through the auditory.
“The number of people that were there on Saturday and Monday was very considerable: but the number present, at the three tents, on the Lord’s day, was so great, that, so far as I can hear, none ever saw the like since the Revolution in Scotland; nor even any where else, at any sacrament occasion. The lowest estimate I hear of, with which Mr. Whitefield agrees, who has been much used to great multitudes, makes them to have been upwards of thirty thousand. The number of communicants appears to have been about three thousand. This vast concourse of people, you may easily imagine, came not only from the city of Glasgow and other places near by, but from many places at a considerable distance.
“There was a great deal of outward decency and regularity about the tables. But what was most remarkable, was the spiritual glory of this solemnity; I mean the gracious and sensible presence of God. Not a few were awakened to a sense of sin, and their lost and perishing condition without a Saviour. Others had their bands loosed, and were brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Many of God’s dear children have declared, that it was a happy time to their souls, wherein they were abundantly satisfied with the goodness of God in his ordinances, and filled with joy and peace in believing. I have seen a letter from Edinburgh, the writer of which says, that having talked with many Christians from that city, who had been here at this sacrament, they all owned that God had dealt bountifully with their souls. Some declared that they would not for the world have been absent from this solemnity. Others cried out, ‘Now let thy servants depart in peace from this place, since our eyes have seen thy salvation here.’”
Such is the substance of Mr. McCulloch’s account of this remarkable period; and as Mr. Whitefield was frequently at Cambuslang about this time, the following observations, given nearly in his own words, will be interesting. “Persons from all parts flocked to see, and many from many parts went home convinced and converted unto God. A brae, or hill, near the manse at Cambuslang, seemed to be formed by Providence for containing a large congregation. People sat unwearied till two in the morning to hear sermons, disregarding the weather. You could scarce walk a yard but you must tread upon some, either rejoicing in God for mercies received, or crying out for more. Thousands and thousands have I seen, before it was possible to catch it by sympathy, melted down under the word and power of God.”
Amongst the multitudes that flocked to Cambuslang at this interesting period, there were persons who went with a design to find matter of diversion; and while the bands of such mockers were, no doubt, generally made stronger, others were made happy monuments of Divine grace. The case of two young men may be mentioned, as affording a striking example of sovereign mercy. They were very profane, and had gone over to be amused with “the falling” at Cambuslang, as they jestingly termed it; but in place of being amused, they were both impressed the same day; and so deep were their convictions, that they were glad to get into a stable hard by, for the purpose of supplicating that grace which they had hitherto despised, and their subsequent conduct afforded reason to conclude, that the word they had that day heard had proved the savour of life to their souls.
Mr. Willison, of Dundee, also, has recorded his opinion, and the following extract shows what were his sentiments: “I had occasion to converse with many who had been awakened and under convictions there; I found severals in darkness and great distress about their souls’ condition, and with many tears bewailing their sins and original corruption, and especially the sin of unbelief, and slighting of precious Christ. Others I found in a most desirable frame, overcome with a sense of the wonderful love and loveliness of Jesus Christ, even sick of love, and inviting all about them to help them to praise him. I spoke also with many who had got relief from their soul trouble, and in whom the gracious work of the Spirit of God appeared in the fruits and effects of it, according to my apprehension; such as their ingenuous confessing of their former evil ways, and professing a hatred to sin; very low and abasing thoughts of themselves; renouncing the vanities of the world, and all their own doings and righteousness, and relying wholly upon Christ for righteousness and strength; and expressing great love to Christ, to the Bible, to secret prayer, to the people of God, and to his image, in whomsoever it was, without respect of persons or parties; and also love to their enemies. I conversed with some who had been very wicked and scandalous, but now wonderfully changed; though some were rude and boisterous before, they now had the meekness and mildness of the lamb about them, and though I conversed with a great number, both men and women, old and young, I could observe nothing visionary or enthusiastic about them, for their discourses were solid, and experiences scriptural; I had heard much of this surprising work by letters, and by eye-witnesses, before I came, but all that made slight impressions on me when compared with what I was eye and ear-witness to myself. Upon the whole, I look upon the work at Cambuslang, to be a most singular and marvellous outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which Christ hath promised; and I pray it may be a happy forerunner of a general reviving of the work of God in this poor decayed Church, and a blessed means of union among all the lovers of our dear Jesus.”
Reader, have you any relish for these things? Have you any sympathy with the hungering and thirsting after God which was so remarkably displayed at Cambuslang? If you have not—if conscience tells you that religion is unsavoury—it is certain that you are without Christ, and consequently without hope. Up then, and flee to Christ: delay not, for “now is the accepted time.” The needful change the Holy Spirit will accomplish in you, “to-day, if you will hear his voice.” “God now commandeth all men every where to repent.” This command is laid as a terror across your path; you cannot proceed one step further in an irreligious course without trampling it under foot; without practically saying, ‘God commands me to repent, but I will not repent: the Holy Ghost saith, hear his voice to-day, but to-day I will not hear it.’ If to-morrow’s rising sun find you out of the narrow way of life, it will find you where God forbids you to be on pain of his severest displeasure. Remember eternity is at hand. Time speeds away.
Let the faithful in Christ Jesus, into whose hands this narrative may come, be stirred up to earnest, persevering prayer, that the Lord’s work may be successfully carried on in Scotland, even the great work of quickening the dead, justifying the guilty, and sanctifying the ungodly. Let Christians throughout the land unite for this purpose. Let congregations unite to implore the Divine blessing on the labours of their pastors. It is in this manner that the arm of the Lord must be awakened; and when societies for prayer are multiplied, we may be assured that a day of power is at hand. The showers which have before refreshed our land will refresh it yet again, and the gospel will anew be preached with the Spirit sent down from above, making ministers divinely wise to win souls to Christ, and sending them forth in all corners and churches of this land, with as full a blessing of the gospel of Christ as Scotland or America has ever before experienced.
“[T]here was first one day, and then another, appointed for a general meeting of the several societies for prayer in the parish, at the manse; but as the manse could not conveniently hold them, they went to the church, and when light failed them there, a good many, of their own free motion, returned to the manse, and continued at prayer and praise till about one o’clock next morning. One design of these meetings was, to ask that the Lord would continue and increase the blessed work of conviction and conversion, and eminently countenance the dispensing of the holy sacrament of the supper.
“This second sacrament did, indeed, much excel the former, not only in the number of ministers, people, and communicants, but, which is the main thing, in a much greater measure of the power and special presence of God, in the observation and experience of multitudes who were attending.
“The ministers . . . appeared to be very much assisted in their work. Four of them preached on the fast day; four on Saturday; on Sabbath I cannot well tell how many; and five on Monday; on which last day it was computed that above twenty-four ministers and preachers were present. Old Mr. Bonner, though so frail that he took three days to ride eighteen miles from Torphichen to Cambuslang, was so set upon coming here, that he could by no means stay away; and when he was helped up to the tent, preached three times with great life; and returned with much satisfaction and joy. Mr. Whitefield’s sermons on Saturday and Sabbath were attended with much power, particularly on Sabbath night about ten, and that on Monday, several crying out, and a very great but devout weeping and mourning was observable through the auditory.
“The number of people that were there on Saturday and Monday was very considerable: but the number present, at the three tents, on the Lord’s day, was so great, that, so far as I can hear, none ever saw the like since the Revolution in Scotland; nor even any where else, at any sacrament occasion. The lowest estimate I hear of, with which Mr. Whitefield agrees, who has been much used to great multitudes, makes them to have been upwards of thirty thousand. The number of communicants appears to have been about three thousand. This vast concourse of people, you may easily imagine, came not only from the city of Glasgow and other places near by, but from many places at a considerable distance.
“There was a great deal of outward decency and regularity about the tables. But what was most remarkable, was the spiritual glory of this solemnity; I mean the gracious and sensible presence of God. Not a few were awakened to a sense of sin, and their lost and perishing condition without a Saviour. Others had their bands loosed, and were brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Many of God’s dear children have declared, that it was a happy time to their souls, wherein they were abundantly satisfied with the goodness of God in his ordinances, and filled with joy and peace in believing. I have seen a letter from Edinburgh, the writer of which says, that having talked with many Christians from that city, who had been here at this sacrament, they all owned that God had dealt bountifully with their souls. Some declared that they would not for the world have been absent from this solemnity. Others cried out, ‘Now let thy servants depart in peace from this place, since our eyes have seen thy salvation here.’”
Such is the substance of Mr. McCulloch’s account of this remarkable period; and as Mr. Whitefield was frequently at Cambuslang about this time, the following observations, given nearly in his own words, will be interesting. “Persons from all parts flocked to see, and many from many parts went home convinced and converted unto God. A brae, or hill, near the manse at Cambuslang, seemed to be formed by Providence for containing a large congregation. People sat unwearied till two in the morning to hear sermons, disregarding the weather. You could scarce walk a yard but you must tread upon some, either rejoicing in God for mercies received, or crying out for more. Thousands and thousands have I seen, before it was possible to catch it by sympathy, melted down under the word and power of God.”
Amongst the multitudes that flocked to Cambuslang at this interesting period, there were persons who went with a design to find matter of diversion; and while the bands of such mockers were, no doubt, generally made stronger, others were made happy monuments of Divine grace. The case of two young men may be mentioned, as affording a striking example of sovereign mercy. They were very profane, and had gone over to be amused with “the falling” at Cambuslang, as they jestingly termed it; but in place of being amused, they were both impressed the same day; and so deep were their convictions, that they were glad to get into a stable hard by, for the purpose of supplicating that grace which they had hitherto despised, and their subsequent conduct afforded reason to conclude, that the word they had that day heard had proved the savour of life to their souls.
Mr. Willison, of Dundee, also, has recorded his opinion, and the following extract shows what were his sentiments: “I had occasion to converse with many who had been awakened and under convictions there; I found severals in darkness and great distress about their souls’ condition, and with many tears bewailing their sins and original corruption, and especially the sin of unbelief, and slighting of precious Christ. Others I found in a most desirable frame, overcome with a sense of the wonderful love and loveliness of Jesus Christ, even sick of love, and inviting all about them to help them to praise him. I spoke also with many who had got relief from their soul trouble, and in whom the gracious work of the Spirit of God appeared in the fruits and effects of it, according to my apprehension; such as their ingenuous confessing of their former evil ways, and professing a hatred to sin; very low and abasing thoughts of themselves; renouncing the vanities of the world, and all their own doings and righteousness, and relying wholly upon Christ for righteousness and strength; and expressing great love to Christ, to the Bible, to secret prayer, to the people of God, and to his image, in whomsoever it was, without respect of persons or parties; and also love to their enemies. I conversed with some who had been very wicked and scandalous, but now wonderfully changed; though some were rude and boisterous before, they now had the meekness and mildness of the lamb about them, and though I conversed with a great number, both men and women, old and young, I could observe nothing visionary or enthusiastic about them, for their discourses were solid, and experiences scriptural; I had heard much of this surprising work by letters, and by eye-witnesses, before I came, but all that made slight impressions on me when compared with what I was eye and ear-witness to myself. Upon the whole, I look upon the work at Cambuslang, to be a most singular and marvellous outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which Christ hath promised; and I pray it may be a happy forerunner of a general reviving of the work of God in this poor decayed Church, and a blessed means of union among all the lovers of our dear Jesus.”
Reader, have you any relish for these things? Have you any sympathy with the hungering and thirsting after God which was so remarkably displayed at Cambuslang? If you have not—if conscience tells you that religion is unsavoury—it is certain that you are without Christ, and consequently without hope. Up then, and flee to Christ: delay not, for “now is the accepted time.” The needful change the Holy Spirit will accomplish in you, “to-day, if you will hear his voice.” “God now commandeth all men every where to repent.” This command is laid as a terror across your path; you cannot proceed one step further in an irreligious course without trampling it under foot; without practically saying, ‘God commands me to repent, but I will not repent: the Holy Ghost saith, hear his voice to-day, but to-day I will not hear it.’ If to-morrow’s rising sun find you out of the narrow way of life, it will find you where God forbids you to be on pain of his severest displeasure. Remember eternity is at hand. Time speeds away.
Let the faithful in Christ Jesus, into whose hands this narrative may come, be stirred up to earnest, persevering prayer, that the Lord’s work may be successfully carried on in Scotland, even the great work of quickening the dead, justifying the guilty, and sanctifying the ungodly. Let Christians throughout the land unite for this purpose. Let congregations unite to implore the Divine blessing on the labours of their pastors. It is in this manner that the arm of the Lord must be awakened; and when societies for prayer are multiplied, we may be assured that a day of power is at hand. The showers which have before refreshed our land will refresh it yet again, and the gospel will anew be preached with the Spirit sent down from above, making ministers divinely wise to win souls to Christ, and sending them forth in all corners and churches of this land, with as full a blessing of the gospel of Christ as Scotland or America has ever before experienced.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
—Condensed from Narratives of Revivals of Religion in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1842
—Condensed from Narratives of Revivals of Religion in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1842