The 1859 Revival in Wales (Part 3)

A three-part series based on a talk given at one of our Wednesday evening Prayer Meetings. You might like to catch up with Part 1 and Part 2.

4. The Revival Spreads

In February of 1859 a Calvinistic Methodist presbytery meeting was held in Aberaeron, south of Aberystwyth (pictured above). The churches had been urged to pray for God’s blessing upon the meetings. David Morgan was booked to preach during the presbytery gathering. Some were hostile to his presence and attended his first meeting with an antagonistic spirit. But such was God’s evident presence in the service that the all opposition was subdued. Morgan was given to preach most powerfully in the second meeting. Evan Philips witnessed the occasion,

"The revivalist stood in the pulpit and glanced around the audience, gazing more especially at the crowd of young people in the audience. That gaze was terrible. Hardly any one in the gallery could endure it. With one impulse they bent their heads like a sensitive plant touched. 'The world's sin is great', he says. The words fall like lead on the hearts of the multitude. 'Christ's atonement is greater,' he adds; and a shower of tears falls through a bright sky of joy." (Revival Comes to Wales, Eifion Evans, Evangelical Press of Wales, p. 73. All quotes where only a page number is given are from this title).

By the end of the week following the presbytery, forty people applied to join the Aberaeron church. The work begun under David Morgan’s ministry went from strength to strength. By the end of 1860 about 200 were added to the fellowship. After the Aberaeron presbytery, Morgan’s influence began to grow and the southern Cardiganshire churches embraced the revival. Soon many parts of Wales would experience a powerful outpouring of the Spirit.

As the year progressed the revival spread throughout Wales. David Morgan preached extensively throughout the Principality and was a powerful instrument of revival blessing. In the autumn of 1859 the preacher was invited to hold meetings in Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire.

"A deputation waited upon him at the Llangeitho Association in 1859 to invite him to Ebbw Vale and district. They were headed by David Hugues, who had arranged his previous tour in the days of his comparitive obscurity. The revivalist expressed a fear that he could not arrange a tour in Monmouthshire. 'Look you, David, my boy'' expostulated a the quaint old deacon, 'we at Ebbw Vale were dealing with you when you were carrying a basket on your arm and trading on a small scale, and now that you have opened an emporium, don't you think that you can turn the cold shoulder to your old customers.' This arrow found a joint in the revivalist's armour, and he yielded at once." (p. 91-92).

But Wales also experienced a moving of the Spirit independently of Morgan's ministry. Almost every county was touched. Thomas Phillips, an eyewitness and participant in the revival charted its course in The Welsh Revival; Its Origin & Development, reprinted in 1989 by the Banner of Truth Trust. I commend his account to those who wish to fill in the details.

Suffice to say for now that the refreshing gales of the Spirit breathed new life into moribund churches The Word was preached with fresh power and many were soundly converted. And still the churches prayed in earnest for yet more of the Spirit’s presence in their midst. It is reckoned that 110,000 people were added to the churches as a result of the 1859 revival in Wales. The Welsh communities in Liverpool and the Midlands were also affected by the awakening. During the same period there were also remarkable outpourings of the Spirit in Ulster, Scotland and England. Spurgeon experienced revival in his New Park Street Ministry. It might be said that 1859 was the last UK-wide revival.

5. Some Characteristics of the Revival

1) Fervent Prayer

Reports of the New York revival led to earnest prayer in the Welsh churches. The coming of revival also led to the churches laying a renewed emphasis on prayer. Psalm 85:6, Psalm 80:18. That is a lesson that we need to take to heart. We must pray fervently and persistently for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit. What else will revive and renew the churches? What else will awaken lost and indifferent sinners to their need of a Saviour? Yes, we must carry on preaching and witnessing. We must engage with the modern world and its concerns. But we need the demonstration of the Spirit and power to give our witness saving effectiveness.

2) Powerful Preaching

There was much preaching in Wales prior to the 1859 revival. But preaching during the revival was of a different kind. As early as the February of that year Thomas Edwards commented,

"The revival has made a great change in the style of preaching and in the spirit of the preacher. It would appear that the object is, more than ever, to preach the substantial truths of the gospel, so earnestly, closely and personally, that the hearers may feel that the preacher's aim is to save their should, and that God, by His means, desires to bring them to Himself." (p. 113).

Some were critical of David Morgan’s preaching during the revival. He passionately would urge sinners to turn to Christ without delay. One John Jones of Bleannannarch was none too happy with this, and he tackled the younger minister on the subject,

"What is this that I hear about you, David, my boy?' said John Jones. 'What have you heard?', asked David Morgan guardedly. 'What have I heard? What means this lugging of the people into church fellowship without giving them time to sit down and consider and count the cost before they begin to build?' 'What time ought a sinner to get to consider, Mr. Jones?' 'Moe than you give them, by all accounts.' 'You are criticising my method; what is your idea of a reasonable period for considering this great question?' Accepting the challenge, John Jones retorted, 'A month is not too much at least.' David Morgan saw that his enemy was delivered into his hand, and replied, 'Well! Well! God's Spirit says, Today; the devil says Tomorrow; but the old evangelist of Blaenannerch says, A month hence will do'." (p. 71).

That is the kind of preaching we need, urgent, plain, passionate and gospel-centred. But sitting under such searching ministry would not be comfortable. The lost would be convicted of their sin and need of a Saviour. In Part 1 we saw how Humphrey Jones and David Morgan would preach with searching power to believers. How many of us could bear to be soundly rebuked for being “at ease in Zion” or "lukewarm"? We are interested in the story of revivals. Are they not thrilling accounts of what the Lord can do? But how would we fare if revival truly came to the Church? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Could we bear to sit beneath his penetrating gaze and be rebuked for our prayerlessness, lack of love, bickering and unbelief?

3) Conversions

Conversions are few and far between these days. Larger and smaller churches report but few sinners coming to faith in Christ. But as I have pointed out, around 110,000 were converted in Wales during 1859. Now, revival is first and foremost the re-vival – the re-awakening of the church. But true revivals also have a powerful effect upon the world. The ungodly begin to realise that there is a God in Zion. The church is given proclaim the gospel with fresh power and authority. 1 Thess 1:5.

4) New measures

C. G. Finney was an extreme Armininan who believed that all possible means should be used to induce the sinner to decide for Christ. Rather than believing that revival was a sovereign work of the Spirit, he suggested that revivals could be obtained if believers fulfilled certain conditions. This led to evangelistic campaigns being labelled “revivals”, an understanding of the word that would have been unrecognised by an earlier generation of men who experienced true revival.

Humphrey Jones, an Arminian was more deeply influenced by Finney than the Calvinist, David Morgan. Morgan, who was schooled the theology of the Puritans understood that revival is a sovereign work of the Spirit that is outside of man’s control. We saw in Part 2 that in October 1858 the preacher went to sleep one night and woke at 4 a.m. a changed man. He was endued with an extraordinary memory for spiritual things. His preaching from that date was marked with a new power. It has been said that Morgan went to bed like a lamb and awoke as a lion. But as the revival drew to an end the experience was reversed. His son testified,

"This astonishing endowment of memory was revoked as suddenly and unexpectedly as it was conferred. One night, in less than two years; time he went to sleep in possession of it, and when he awoke - it was gone!" (p. 54).

The pulpit lion was a lamb one more. David Morgan settled down to an ordinary, yet faithful pastoral ministry in the Calvinistic Methodist Church.

Humphrey Jones however had difficulty coping with that fact that revival did not invariably attend his ministry. Following Finney, he believed that revivals could be stimulated and perpetuated by man. Some sensed that he was sometimes trying to engineer a revival. If he felt that people were not responding to his ministry as he expected, he would stop preaching and ask for those who opened in prayer to start again. As Eifion Evans comments, for Jones, lack of success mean that, “There was something wrong with the machinery, and that had to be corrected before proceeding any further”. (Fire in the Thatch: The True Nature of Religious Revival, Eifion Evans, Evangelical Press of Wales, 1996, p. 199). Jones’ “revival meetings” in Aberystwyth ended in confusion and decline. He believed that the revival was going to usher in the Millennium, which he prophesied would come in July 1859. It obviously didn’t happen. The preacher withdrew from his work in the revival citing physical weakness. He ended up having to spend time in Carmarthen Mental Hospital, an exhausted and broken man. His experience shows us the danger of trying to stir up a revival using certain techniques, even techniques that the Lord has been pleased to use before. Revival is a sovereign work of the Spirit – an intensification of his ordinary work in renewing the church and regenerating sinners. We cannot manufacture a revival. Preachers who try to “engineer” revivals are doomed to failure and disillusionment. We sometimes forget the Holy Spirit is not a force that we can “tap into” at will. He is the third Person of the Trinity, sent by the Father to glorify the Son. His work in the church is subject to fluctuation and change as he wills. Sometimes preaching may come with evident Holy Spirit power, at others this is less so. The preacher and congregation may long and pray for more of the Holy Spirit’s empowering, but we cannot force his hand.

It was during the 1859 revival that certain Finneyite practices or “New Measures” began to be introduced to the Welsh Churches. Humphrey Jones and David Morgan would call upon people to make a visible response to their preaching, whether by raising their hands or coming to the front of the chapel. The "altar calls" associated with Billy Graham’s ministry are Finneyite in origin. It has to be said that Humphrey Jones and David Morgan were a lot more circumspect concerning the publication of numbers of converts than we might find in modern crusade evangelism. Converts were only added to the membership of the churches on evidence of a changed life. Most of the converts stood the test of time. But the introduction of “New Measures” during the 1850’s have had a detrimental effect on the evangelistic efforts of the church right up to the present day. (Mass crusade evangelism complete with "altar calls", publication of numbers of "decisions for Christ" etc). But in all revivals we see a mixture of good and bad. As Jonathan Edwards has taught us, we should not reject what was evidently a work of God for the sake of some suspect practices.

5) Concern for Glory of God

We saw this in Part 2, when after the meeting at Devil’s Bridge, David Morgan shouted Ps. 115:1 at the top of his voice. I wonder if we are far too “me and my needs” centred than God centred? During the 1859, people did not attend meetings as consumers to have their needs met, but as worshippers to glorify God and sinners to seek his grace. In August 1859 an open air prayer meeting was held at 8am, with 18,000 in attendance. A young farmhand prayed, “May the Heavenly Dove descend now upon this meadow!” A deep and awesome silence fell upon the meeting and David Morgan prayed powerfully for those who were to preach the Word that day. After the meeting two men entered into conversation,

"A new minutes later, Thomas John, Cilgerran, walked in a field nearby lost in reverie. A friend stopped him, and said, 'What a glorious sight that was, when the thousands were engaged in silent prayer at Mr. Morgan's request! Did you ever see anything like it, Mr. John?' He answered solemnly, 'I didn't see one of them: I saw no one but God. I am going home,' he said suddenly. 'How terrible is this place! It is too terrible for me. My flesh is too weak to bear this weight of glory...'." (p. 90).

That is revival – when a man leaves a meeting and says, “I saw no one but God” and is overwhelmed by his glory. That is what revival is ultimately all about – the glory of God blazing forth in the church. Let us pray, Exodus 33:18. May the Lord hear us and send forth his Spirit that we might see more of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4:6, John 16:14. "Will you not revive us again?", Psalm 85:6.

The 1859 Revival in Wales (Part 2)

A three-part series based on a talk given at one of our Wednesday evening Prayer Meetings. You might like to catch up with Part 1.

3. The Men God Used

There were two principal instruments of the 1859 Revival in Wales, Humphrey Jones and David Morgan.

Humphrey Jones

Jones was a native of Cardiganshire. He was converted at the age of sixteen after a period of prolonged conviction of sin. Soon he began to preach among the Wesleyan Methodists. By his own claim, hundreds of people were converted under his early preaching. This early success led him to apply for the Wesleyan ministry. But they turned him down. Resolved to preach come what may, in 1854 he emigrated to America. He spent a year preaching to Welsh settlers in New York before being ordained a deacon with the Episcopalian Methodists. Jones was then appointed missioner to the Welsh community in Wisconsin. However, after twelve months he severed his links with the Episcopalian Methodists. This gave him freedom to preach wherever he chose.

The power of the Spirit was evident in his preaching. There were remarkable meetings in Milwaukee, where forty-five people professed conversion. Under his preaching in Onedia, New York it is reported that seven hundred owned Jesus as their Saviour.

Jones was concerned to see the revival blessing spread to his native land, so in 1858 he returned to Wales, arriving in the June of that year. He began to preach on searching texts like Amos 6:1 and Revelation 3:16. Christians were humbled and the unconverted awakened. In a letter to the Welsh Herald newspaper he described what had been happening under his preaching in and around his home village of Tre'r-ddol in the summer of 1858,

"Fifty-one have been converted in this locality up to the present. This is regarded as a major revival in such a small congregation and in such a sparsely populated area. The revival continues. The movement has proved influential far and near... I believe that Wales is on the brink blessed things, and that revivals will be commonplace throughout the land." (Revival Comes to Wales, Eifion Evans, Evangelical Press of Wales, p. 48. All quotes where only a page number is given are from this title).

Jones was something of an unusual figure on the Welsh religious scene. He was a Wesleyan Methodist – an Arminian in a land dominated by Calvinistic Methodism. But it seems that the Lord was pleased to use the young preacher to prepare the ground for the 1859 revival.

David Morgan

David Morgan was a carpenter by trade. He was converted at the age of 21. Noticing the depth of feeling and rich quality of his prayers, people urged him to preach. In 1848 he was accepted as a ministerial candidate for the Llangeitho Association of the Calvinistic Methodists. But he refused to go to college for formal ministerial training. Morgan received his theological education by reading the old Puritans authors like Thomas Watson and John Owen. He was ultimately ordained in 1857.

It has to be said that Morgan was more than a little wary of the early revival meetings that had been occurring under the ministry of Humphrey Jones. But all that was to change when David Morgan heard Jones preach in Pont-rhyd-y-groes at the end of September, 1858. He spoke powerfully on Revelation 3:16. As he listened, David Morgan became aware of shortcomings in his ministry. The dire need of the church also pressed upon him. After the service, Morgan sought the preacher’s counsel. He was now convinced that the Holy Spirit was active in Jones’ ministry.

"They conversed for hours about the forlorn condition of Zion, and Mr. Jones insisted that it was due to the drowsiness and supineness of the watchmen on its walls. At last David Morgan said, 'There can be no harm in out attempting to rouse the churches of the religion; I am willing to do my best. We can do no mischief by holding prayer meetings, though there should be no more than man in it all'. 'You do that,' responded the other, 'and I will guarantee that God will be with you very soon'." (p. 52).

Deeply affected by Jones’ searching preaching and challenged by the news of what had been happening in New York, David Morgan began to pray in earnest for the blessing of God upon his ministry. Such was his concern on soul that he cancelled a preaching engagement on 3rd October and instead went to hear Humphrey Jones at Ysbyty Ystwyth. He spoke with great earnestness in Amos 6:1, but the congregation remained cold and unresponsive. In a church meeting after the service, Jones publicly rebuked the elders of the church,

"The preacher complained rather bitterly of the frigidity of the religious atmosphere, and turning to the elders, said, 'Not one of you helped me with so much as an "Amen".' One of them...rose and replied, 'It is very difficult for a man, when the ministry condemns him, to cry "Amen" with it.' Overcome by sudden feeling, the old man burst into tears, and fell into his seat as if in a swoon. he was a man of undoubted piety, and unfailing faithfulness in all departments of Christian work; and when he was heard acknowledging his guilt in the face of the sermon, the entire church was struck by an overwhelming wave of emotion, and, as if by a simultaneous impulse, every face was bowed low and bathed in tears." (p. 53).

David Morgan preached on the following Monday, but his ministry still lacked power. On the Tuesday night however, something strange and remarkable happened to him. As the preacher’s son explains,

"He retired to his rest as his usual time on Tuesday evening, and slept for some hours. He awoke about 4 a.m., and was instantly conscious that some strange, mysterious change had come over him. He became aware with awe of a marvellous illumination of his faculties, especially of his memory. 'I awoke about four in the morning.' said he himself, 'remembering everything of a religious nature that I had ever learnt or heard'." ( p. 54).

Congregations soon became aware that Morgan's ministry was attended with fresh power. In his intercessory prayers he seemed to be able to remember the names of hundreds of people and recall the details of their spiritual condition. Which absent-minded preacher would not wish for such a gift? He began to co-operate closely with Humphrey Jones and they held preaching meetings together. Churches were stirred and challenged, and sinners saved as they proclaimed the Word of God with power and convicion. There was now a real expectation that the Lord was about to do greater things. In once service in late November 1859 David Morgan cried out in prayer,

"We thank Thee, O Lord, that there are indications of a rising cloud. It is but a little one, like a man's hand, but it is a cloud and it arises from the sea. Let the whole sky grow black! Let the whole sky grow black! LET THE WHOLE SKY GROW BLACK!" (p. 58).

By the end of December 1858, Morgan was already exercising a powerful awakening ministry. Let me give you two instances of this, one concerning his personal work and another of his preaching at that time. He urged an old stone-breaker to accompany him to a prayer meeting. The man refused his invitation, complaining that he would loose sixpence in pay if he had an hour off work. Morgan offered to give him a sixpenny bit if he came with him. The worker angrily rejected this offer saying, "I don't want your sixpence or your service". At this, the preacher insisted on praying for the old man. "You have a soul worth more than the world, in danger of eternal death." said Morgan before dropping to his knees and praying that God would melt the heart of the sin-hardened rebel. "Stop! Stop!" said the old man, grasping Morgan by the arm, "I'll come with you." And so he did. The aged worker remained behind for an after-meeting. David Morgan asked him what he wanted to which he replied, "Mercy for my poor soul. I have grown too old for Victoria (he was a discharged old soldier), but perhaps Jesus Christ will enrol me in His army and succor my poor soul."

On 23rd December, Morgan ministered at Pen-llwyn and his preaching had a marked prophetic quality,

"In the middle of his sermon he startled his audience by suddenly exclaiming, 'If any of you tonight deny the deity of the Son, I have nothing better to tell you than what Morgan Howell, Newport, shouted on Lampeter bridge, "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. He became poor when He came to Bethlehem; tell me, when was He rich?"' This remark was utterly irrelevant to the preacher's subjects matter, and no one could conjecture whence it came, and wither it went. Thy mystery was solved in the after-meeting, for among the converts were three Unitarians...whose presence in the service was quite accidental, and certainly unknown to the preacher." (p. 62-63).

Daivd Morgan preached at Devil’s Bridge on New Year’s Day, 1859 (the dramatic waterfall at Devil's Bridge is featured at the top of the post). A veteran minister described the event,

"The evening service was terrible. So near was the revivalist to his God that none could gaze steadfastly at him. Many of the hearers swooned. On the way home I dared not break the silence for miles. Towards midnight I ventured to say, 'Didn't we have blessed meetings, Mr. Morgan?' 'Yes.' he replied; and after a pause, added, 'The Lord would give us great things if He could only trust us'. 'What do you mean?' I asked. 'If he could only trust us not to steal the glory for ourselves.' Then the midnight air rang with his cry, at the top of his voice, 'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory'." (p 69-70).

So these were the men God used to light the fires of the 1859 revival in Wales. Humphrey Jones and David Morgan were mighty in prayer, powerful in preaching and jealous for God's glory. May the Lord raise up men of like calibre to awaken the churches in our day.

The 1859 Revival in Wales (Part 1)

A three-part series based on a talk given at one of our Wednesday evening Prayer Meetings.

2009 is a big year for anniversaries. For many it is the year of Charles Darwin, with 2009 marking the 200th anniversary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of The Origin of Species. The more theologically minded will be aware that 2009 also marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of a certain John Calvin. But now I would like to reflect on another important anniversary – that of the 1859 Revival in Wales. Let me begin by quoting R. S. Thomas’s poem, “The Chapel”. R. S., the somewhat cantankerous Welsh poet, nicknamed the “Ogre of Wales” was a Church in Wales Clergyman. He is reflecting on the decline of “old time religion” in the Land of my Fathers,

A little aside from the main road
becalmed in a last-century greyness
there is the chapel, ugly, without the appeal
to the tourist to stop his car
and visit it. The traffic goes by
and the river goes by, and quick shadows
of clouds too, and the chapel settles
a little deeper into the grass

But here once on an evening like this,
in the darkness that was about
his hearers, a preacher caught fire,
and burned steadily before them
with a strange light so that they saw
the splendour of the barren mountains
about them and sang their amens
fiercely, narrow but saved
in a way that men are not now.

But 150 years ago in February 1859, preachers did catch fire and people were saved – around 110,000 in the space of twelve months. In our days of decline and setbacks we find ourselves wondering,

And shall we then for ever live
At this poor dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to Thee,
And Thine to us so great?

We need an encouraging reminder of the great things that the Lord is able to do for his people, Psalm 145:4-7. So let us look at what the Lord did in Wales in 1859. What follows is only a brief sketch of what happened rather than an exhaustive account.

1. “The Low State of Religion”

Wales is sometimes known as the “Land of Revivals”. There is definitely something in that. For a period of 170 years the land of my birth experienced a number of powerful outpourings of the Spirit. It all began in 1735, the year in which Daniel Rowland and Howell Harris were converted, and ended in 1905 as the revival associated with Evan Roberts and others began to peter out. But we must not think that the Welsh churches were in a constant state of revival. They were not. Powerful revivals were followed by periods of decline and deadness. The years before the 1859 were characterised by just a time. The Churches were orthodox. The Calvinistic Methodists held tenaciously to their Confession in the face of growing attacks on the doctrine of Scripture. But church leaders bemoaned, “The inefficiency of the ministry… the low state of religion” and the “hardness of the times”.

In some respects the period before the 1859 Revival mirrors our own. We have many sound churches where the Word of God is preached faithfully. But the spiritual state of the churches is low and we seem to be having little impact on the world. Of course there are differences too. The Christianity is no longer the “default faith” for people in our land as it was in Wales during the Victorian period. We live in an increasingly post-Christian society. We have to face the challenges of religious pluralism and the consumer society. But I think that part of the battle is acknowledging that there is a problem and that we are desperately in need of a fresh outpouring of the Spirit.

2. Hopeful Signs

One of the main instruments of the 1859 Revival was David Morgan. An entry in his diary for 1855 gives us a glimpse into his soul,

"It is a big thing to have a feeling that God would revive His work. Whoever possesses such a feeling will be compelled to do all he can to revive the Lord's work. By reading the history of the Church we find that the great cause fluctuates up and own through the ages, but whenever the Lord draws near to save there was some considerable expectancy amongst the godly for His coming. As well as praying, we should be doing out utmost to revive the work. So did the godly of old; they prayed and they worked." (Revival Comes to Wales, The story on the 1859 Revival in Wales, Eifion Evans, Evangelical Press of Wales p. 25).

Renewed interest in revival was awakened by reports of what had been happening in New York in 1857-58. Businessman Jeremiah Lanphier was deeply concerned about the prevailing spiritual conditions of the day. He wanted others to join him in a lunch time prayer meeting at Foulton Street. He handed out some 20,000 fliers advertising the first noonday prayer meeting on September 23, 1857. For the first thirty minutes he sat alone praying. Eventually, steps were heard coming up the staircase and another joined. Then another and another until Lanphier was joined by five men. The next Wednesday the six increased to twenty. The following week there were 40. Lanphier and the others then decided to meet daily, and within weeks thousands of business leaders were meeting for prayer each day. Before long over 100 churches and public meeting halls were filled with noonday prayer meetings. God moved so powerfully that similar prayer meetings sprang up around the nation.

Lanphier’s Pastor was one James Waddell Alexander. He laid great emphasis on prayer for revival, writing in a tract, Pray for the Spirit, ‘what we especially need is for the whole church to be down on its knees before God.’ The headings give us the gist of his teaching:

1. There is such a thing as the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.
2. The influence of the Spirit of God is exceedingly powerful.
3. The Spirit whom we seek is the Author of Regeneration and Sanctification.
4. The Holy Spirit sends those gifts which are necessary for a successful work.

It is reckoned that tens of thousands of people were converted as a result of those prayer meetings. News of these remarkable events began to filter through to Wales, creating a fresh longing for Revival. D. Evans, a minister from Aberaman published an address that he gave to his congregation on the Foulton Street revival under the heading, The Great Religious Revival in America; Or God’s Triumph over Mammon in the New World in 1858. He concluded,

"In order to be blessed with a similar gracious visitation we must think of and exercise the following things - 1. To repent and be humbled before God because of our sins... 2. The prayer meeting must have more attention from God's people; and the characteristics of their prayers must also change... 3. Christians must also make a personal effort, as well as pray in public... 4. There is every encouragement for God's people in their endeavours, and also for sinners to turn to the Lord." (Revival Comes to Wales, p. 32-33).

Soon revival prayer meeting began to spring up across the land. As Matthew Henry once put it, “Before the Lord does a great work he first sets his people a praying.”

How we need to pray, Isaiah 64:1, Acts 4:29-31. While prayer meetings are neglected and private prayer is simply going through the motions, we cannot expect but little from the Lord. May this report of what the God did in 1859 stir us up to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit.