The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-20 00:00:00

extensive manifestation of the " work."

The

lenders of it would thus be mutually encouraged by
being brought together, and those who might attend
the ministrations would, it was hoped, be confirmed
in seriousness, or even aroused to that " deep con-
viction of sin," which is the necessary stage of tran-
_ _ _

-
sition to the final object of all awakening, an " as-
surance of pardon." These were the ends to be
obtained at a " great revival prayer meeting for all
lrehind," held at Armagh on the 14th inst. The
objects contemplated are described in the language

of the advertisements and announcements of the

gathering. But the style is not fitted for mere nar-
ration, and to give an account of the actual pro-
ceedings I must fall back again into the modes o
speech employed by the outside world.
The " friends of the cause" in Belfast had made
arrangements with the managers of the Ulster Rail-
way Company to run a cheap train to Armagh on
the occasion ; the distance is about 30 miles, and the
return was covered by a fare of is. 6d. It was a
very cheap excursion. The fare, of course, did not
permit any luxury of accommodation, so the train
consiste I wholly of third-class carriages and cattle
vans It was announced that the company
would not issue a single ticket beyond the number
of passengers it could convey comfortably. In this
community, at this time, and on this occasion of all
others, it might have been expected that the rail-
way managers would have kept faith with an anxi-
ous public. But I am sorry to say the besetting
sin of all railway hoards is as strong at Belfast as
any where else. As many tickets were sold as pos-
sible, and the engagement kept with the minimum
of wear and tear to the rolling stock. Money was
taken just as readily as if a mere profane spectacle
awaited us at the end of the journey, and the most
reprehensible pleasure excursionists could not have
been kept longer waiting or been more tightly
packed. This was the case in starting from Bel-
fast,. At the intermediate stations, where tickets
had been sold with the most cheerful readiness all
the morning, the difficulty was solved in the coolest
manner—by leaving the expectants behind ; and
the train passed along amid howls of disappoint-
ment from those who were " staying for waftage:'
They were picked up, I heard, two hours later, by
a " scratch" train of cattle waggons and ballast
trur:ks, and arrived on the prayer ground when the
proceedings were more than half over. The Com-
pany promised too much, and the delay produced
an unchristian amount of bad temper.
The meeting itself was to be " for all Ireland,"
and it was exyected that eminent divines would at-
tend it, specially, from " the three kingdoms."
Buinour even included Mr. Spurgeon and—singular
combination—the Bishop of Exeter in the list. The
result, in the present state of the public mind, might
have been anticipated to be something extraordinary.
But on the closest observation I could not so rate it.
Belfast is a city of some 130,000 inhabitants, and is
the head and centre of this movement ; yet it would
have been a very liberal calculation that could
have made 800 of the number that filled the great
prayer meeting train. The platform was not in-
conveniently crowded, and the unusual excite-
ment described in the local reports exists only in
the prevailing disposition in all who are mixed up
with the agitation to see an excitement in every-
thing. Even a congregation that exhibits the ordi-
nary external appearance of people in a place of
worship I have seen described as " solemnly im-
pressed." The same might be said with quite as
much truth of any London congregation at this
moment, except St. George's in the East. The dis-
count to be taken of all the local descriptions of the
agitation is very large.
The people assembled were the well-dressed,
orderly representatives of the middle class, of the
lower rather than the higher section of it. Had
not many of them carried prayer-books, the pur-
pose of the day could not have been guessed from
their demeanour. A few men of the serious cast
were comparing and culling out texts and hymns,
arranging the order of the proceedings on the
ground, probably, but otherwise there was not
much of the "impressed" look about the whole
party. Some were decidedly of the carnal world,
as subsequently appeared.
Some time after the hour appointed, the train
started ; it was a slow one, but in due course,
leaving the flax fields and bleaching grounds of the
country round Belfast, and also the expecting pas-
sengers at the intermediate points, behind, it pulled
up at Portadown, and made a long stop. As time
wore on without moving, the thing was growing
tedious. At last a small party struck up a hymn,
but the effect was not quite what I should have
expected. So far from all joining in, some persons
in another compartment hooted and whistled, and
expressed unmistakeable contempt of the manifes-
tation. The pious sang on steadily ; so the oppo-
sition gave out two lines of a burlesque hymn, the
words of which will not bear type, and sang it,
without mitigation or remorse of voice, with a run-
ning accompaniment of more hoots and more
whistling. So it proceeded, " strophe" and " anti-
strophe "—a very unseemly contrast—for some
time. Finally, the tri.in moved on again, the sing-
ing ceased, and the comparative harmony of silence
was restored. The vein, however, had been touched,
and bursts of vocal fervour were heard occasionally
during the rest of the journey from different car-
riages along the line. The malcontents were satis-
fied by getting on again, and offered no further in-
terruption. The effect of all this was not edifying,
but the reverse. The opposition was indecent;
but what provoked it was execrable as music, and,
as sentiment, out of place.
After this incident, there could be no doubt that
all the passengers by the great prayer-meeting
train had not the same object. On arriving at Ar-
magh, fully half the number, instead of turning
into the prayer field, close to the railway station,
left it behind them, walked into the town, and dis-
persed into the houses and side streets. I saw them
go certainly ; I did not see them return. Why
should they have come at all, then, it may be
asked ? " Sixty miles for eighteen pence" is the
answer. The prayer-meeting train was a cheap
opportunity of doing a little worldly business. And
I felt slightly "sold," after hearing so much of Bel-
fast piety, to find it so much alloyed by Belfast
thrift.

The meeting " for all Ireland" was held in a
gently sloping grass field, a few minutes' walk from
the railway ; there was a wide prospect from it,
over a well wooded country. The weather was very
fine for the occasion, with a fresh breeze and a
bright sun. At the foot of the slope, and facing
up the descent, a small platform was pitched, with
a sheet of canvas spread on a pole behind it. In
front of this primitive erection the people gathered
in a circular mass. The services consisted of ad-
dresses or sermons, alternating with hymns. Nine
or ten reverend gentlemen relieved each other in
the work of the afternoon on this, the chief point
of the meeting. The addresses that excited most
attention were those of the Hon. and Rev. B. Noel,
and the Rev. Mr. Moore of Ballymena, the place
where the movement is said to have commenced.
'['he platform was intended to be the centre of the
day's proceedings ; the best preachers spoke from
it, men of educaiion and training in their office.
But such an agitation cannot b© entirely controlled
by the regular ministers of the different churches.
They approve it, and go with it ; but there are ex-
tremes to which moderate and well Educated men,
eowever pious, cannot go. Yet they must accept
the co-operation of a host of ignorant fanatics, and
of no inconsiderable number of those zealots whose
zeal is half imposture, or always ready to slide
wholly into it. Seam of the clergy are beginning
at last to see this, and are endeavouring, though
far too timidly as a body, to cheek the horrible
10)11,es that have lately sprung up amid this
revival."
The Armagh meeting might have opened their
eyes as to the sort of men who will be the real
leaders of this movement among the lowest class.
it is "regretted" that on this great occasion the
people could not be kept at the centre of intelligence
:111(1 piety combined. They broke into separate
audiences round more violent and more exciting
prelehers. There were at one time five smaller
circles in the field, besides the main body. And
can assert that the most succe,sful preachers, tested
by the amount. of " mental agony" they produced
in the listeners, were not the ten ordained minis-
ters. 'Phis display of internal suffering is regarded
as the proof of the " operation of the spirit," which
is not supposed to triumph entirely till the patient
is " struck down ;" just short of this are those
deeply affected." It was in the circles round the
wildest and most incoherent preachers that the
most numerous cases of the " deeply affected" were
to be seen. Where "divine religion" was actually
being made " a rhapsody of words," there the most
one group I counted 20
effect was produced. In