Rev. J White a minister in Ulster was greatly used in the revival in Carrickfergus, and his brother Rev. Dr. Verner M. White, the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Islington, Liverpool, came back from visiting him to describe his experiences over there. In the summer of 1859 he held a gathering in the Common Hall, Hackins Hey, at the request of the Liverpool YMCA, to give an account of the revival. This became the origin of a great awakening in Liverpool. ¹ Many people were stirred up to earnest prayer at this time. By September 1859 special revival services were being held with inter-denominational co-operation. Meetings multiplied, both prayer gatherings and meetings for spreading information, and towards the end of the year a weekly revival prayer meeting was decided upon by a united gathering of ministers. Richard Weaver, with inter-denominational backing began to hold evangelistic services at which numbers of people were converted. In 1860 great congregational prayer meetings began in all denominations, as well as united gatherings. The Adelphi Theatre, for example, was opened for united evangelistic services. James Caughey, who was greatly used in Liverpool in 1842, came back to Liverpool at this time and was particularly used to bring many people to Christ in the Methodist churches. In this year alone some 1,800 people were added to the roll of the Wesleyans in Liverpool. In 1861 numbers of evangelists were raised up to preach the gospel in our city. E Payson Hammond, the American evangelist visited Liverpool addressing large gatherings with hundreds of people responding to the appeal. Similarly the American J W Bonham also held successful meetings in Bootle and Liverpool. Another American Phoebe Palmer who was being greatly used to light revival fires around USA and had come to England with her husband Dr Walter Palmer for a rest, were immediately caught up in "an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit," and saw hundreds of conversions. Reginald Radcliffe the Liverpool Solicitor, who had been mightily used in a revival in Scotland, in particular in Aberdeen, began services in the Concert Hall in Lord Nelson Street on Sunday evenings, and these were again overflowing. The work continued with many other notable and powerful evangelists preaching in our city, sometimes with two or three meetings being held at the same time. Numerous halls were used for this purpose, including the Concert Hall, Teutonic Hall, Park Theatre, Richmond Hall, Hope Hall, Brunswick Hall, Clare Hall, as well as church buildings, such as Byrom Street Chapel. In addition to the evangelists mentioned above, Shuldham Henry, W Hill, Captain Taylor, Harrison Ord, Captain Hawes, John Hambleton, Edward Usher, Brownlow North, Denham Smith and John Finney preached in our city with such success that a shortage of personal workers became a major problem. Thus the pattern of the awakening in Liverpool was similar to London and other parts of England, with the initial activity of the prayer meetings in 1859 to 1860, followed by the evangelistic phase commencing in 1861 with a series of evangelistic crusades. Here are some testimonies of how Merseyside was affected during this early phase of the revival. I have included one testimony from Chester. Although it is not in Merseyside, it is at least served by the Merseyrail network, so it has been included.
The Liverpool Penitentiary
A clergyman by the name of Rev. John Baillie visited the Liverpool Penitentiary and addressed the women inmates for about 45 minutes on the revival. He then asked them if they meant to turn their backs that night coldly on Jesus and said that he would give them two minutes to consider their answer. Before the two minutes had expired one of them cried out, "Oh Jesus, I’m lost for ever," and fell prostrate on the floor. Others immediately cried out and in a few minutes the whole number were sobbing in intense anguish. He felt that he could say and do nothing, as the Lord had taken the whole thing into his own hand. He had to go away, and in about two hours he called at the Penitentiary, and found that they had continued in that state for nearly that time, till they went to bed. One who had before been seeking Jesus, found Him in the interval and had been speaking to others about Him.
Claughton Village
William Lockhart on 28th April 1860 wrote "a great awakening has taken place in Claughton and God has been manifesting Himself in an extraordinary way. On Sunday week Mr Daw preached an impressive sermon, and at the prayer meeting afterwards many of the people were in tears. Mr Webb announced without premeditation that on the following evening there would be a meeting at 8.00 o’clock for those who were anxious. When the time came, to his astonishment the schoolroom was nearly full. All of them seemed deeply affected, and after ministry, many were sobbing in a most piteous manner on account of their sins. The meeting continued in this way, singing, prayer, and conversation at intervals, almost everyone in the room being in tears. One after another found peace by trusting in the blood of Christ and their mourning was at once turned into joy. I was there a short time before the close, and certainly such a scene it never was my privilege to witness, such heartrending agony of soul on account of sin, and then such triumphant peaceful joy in the knowledge of pardon through a Crucified Redeemer. Oh it was a glorious scene, and one which I shall never forget!"
Chester
Following a week of special services held in the city in September 1860, after the visiting speakers had returned, a meeting was held on a Friday evening. At around 9.00 o’clock the pastor of the Presbyterian Church announced that the meeting would close, but that if there were any anxious souls present, that they should go into the vestries or in the church. They were not prepared for what happened, because the vestries were so filled that the passage through them was blocked up, and many in distress were scattered over the church. All five or six ministers who were present in the meeting plus friends went into the vestries and spoke to the anxious, but still they were very short of help, as many could not be spoken with. Two other gentlemen came to assist them. It was a glorious harvest time, with several finding peace on the spot. At about 10.30pm they assembled all those present, about 100 people, counselled and then dismissed them.
Bromborough Pool
It seems that virtually every town and village was affected by the revival, even in the tiny village of Bromborough Pool (where I used to attend the cubs). A letter to "The Revival" from somebody who simply referred to himself as "a believer in the power of united prayer" spoke of how God, in answer to earnest prayer, had visited this tiny village, bringing numbers of people to Christ.
Liverpool
These are some of the indications of what God was doing in the early stages of the revival, but as previously mentioned in the introduction the revival in Liverpool was more of a revival of preaching than the spontaneous and rapid ones experienced in other parts of the UK. As time went on though the period 1861 – 1865 the effects of the revival were being more and more felt. Writing in "The Revival" William Lockhart, who had experienced the revival in Scotland, wrote in August 1861 that he was not altogether encouraged by the progress of the revival in Liverpool, compared to what was happening in other parts of the UK, but writing to the same paper eight months later in April 1862 his tone was quite different and spoke of the work deepening and widening in Liverpool. Two years later he took the bold step of hiring the Hengler’s Circus in Newington, Liverpool for the purpose of taking services there, and a great work of God was accomplished in that place, which will be covered in the next chapter.
1. Quoted from "The Great Ulster Awakening (’59 Revival)" by Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley.