The Ulster Awakening: An Account of the 1859 Revival in Ireland

by John Weir

Writing in 1860 to defend the Ulster Awakening against the attacks of a skeptical press, John Weir, an Irish Presbyterian minister, skilfully weaves correspondence from the leading figures of the Revival into his truly fascinating, eye-witness account of the soul-stirring events of 1859.

Genres: Church History

262 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2008

Reviews

[David Holford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at the revival in Ulster in 1859 amongst the Protestant churches. It is a contemporary account, written at the time of the awakening, which gives it much authenticity. The author collected data on the events and effects of the revival by writing to people involved and many of those replies are quoted in full in the book. He comments on and critiques the scepticism of the press and the antagonism of some of the Catholic churches in the same area at the time. However, he does not fail to point out that Catholics as well as Protestants were impacted by the revival, not to mention the completely unchurched. He makes note of the fact that the traditional antagonism between Catholic and Protestant diminished significantly during the year of revival.

He also looks at various effects of the revival in social terms, by examining court proceedings, crime records and other secular sources. The book does tend to be a bit repetitive, since the same events unfolded in towns, villages and cities throughout Northern Ireland, and he has set out to record as many of the events as possible. But despite its repetition, it is an inspiring record of the supernatural wind of God's Spirit blowing through Ulster some 160 years ago, and the extraordinary social and religious effects.

There are many memorable passages but one particularly evocative description which stands out in my mind is the following:

"The Sabbath which I spent at Portrush will always be memorable to me, as one of the happiest in my life. The weather was beautiful, the sea was calm, the sky was cloudless. A holy tranquillity marked the fair morning, only broken by the sudden and sweet outburst of psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, from the pious captain and crew of a Welsh coaling vessel in the harbour." (p.139)

I don't know why this moved me so much, but for me it remains one of the loveliest pictures of the book. It is a book worth reading for anyone interested in the history of revivals in the British Isles.

[Carol Blakeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was filled with good information about the Ulster revival of 1858. It tells of some of the things that were going on as well as how it affected society at large and what those on the outside were saying about it.
There really was a lot of information but it wasn't very concise and somewhat repetitive as many different places experienced similar phenomena and results.

It was good to learn how God worked at that time.

[Shane Ryan Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent compilation of eye witness accounts of the Spirit's outpouring in a region of Ireland in 1859. People of all walks of life were convicted of their sins, realized their need for Jesus, and the result was that droves of people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better books about any revival that I’ve read. The author does a very good job communicating about what went on and some of the results of it such as a man teaching himself to read so he can read the Bible! At times I thought that the author borrowed too heavily from secondary sources but for me this didn’t diminish the overall quality of the book as it has in other books that I’ve read. I found the book theologically sound and quite interesting. I most certainly would recommend it.