The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-10-18 00:00:00

THE REVIVALS IN SCOTLAND.

SYNOD OF ABERDEEN.
This Synod met on Tuesday, and was opened with a dis-
course by the Rev. Mr. Davidson of the West Parish, from
2d Cor. iii. 7, 1.

REVIVALS.

An overture was introduced for vote of thanks to M-r. Da-
vidson for the opening discourse, and a request that it be
printed. Mr. Foote moved the adoption of the overture.
He remarked that the sermon was particularly interesting at
the present time. when, as he believed, God was showering
down more than the ordinary measure of the blessings of his
Spirit.
Air. Murray seconded the motion. A more able sermon he
had seldoxn beard. He was sure his excellent friend would
not misunderstand him, when he stated that he thought, in
discussing such a subject at the present time, he might have
adverted to the wonderful work of the Spirit of God now in
progress in the west of Scotland. It was matter of complaint
by God against us, that we regard not the work of the Lord,
neither consider the operations of his hand. If his excellent
friend believed, as he (Mr. Murray) was persuaded he did,
that the Spirit of God was working signally and extensively,
at the present time, in the west, it might have been well if he
had adverted to this work. . .

Mr. Pirie said-that if the public prints were correct in their
descriptions of the proceedings in the west, anything more
absurd, more disgusting, and more blasphemous than the
scenes called revivals, he had never seen or neard of in the
course of his existence. It might be that the Spirit of God
was exhibiting itself and was at work in those places ; he was
far from denying it, because he had no sure means of ascer-
taining, to a certainty, the facts ; but if he might speak from
the statements of the public prints, he had never heard of any-
thing so likely to injure the cause of religion and the inte-
rests of society. Referring to the American revivals, he said,
he earnestly trusted that the meetings which bore the same
name in the west of Scotland were of a different character ;
but was it not the fact that people assmbled together in the
evening and continued preaching on, or whatever else that
they did, the whole night ; This was one report, and he sus-
pected that it was true. This was certainly a practice highly
objectionable, and he trusted that it would not be continued.
Mr. Ferguson, assistant-minister, at Dunnichen (corre-
sponding member from the Synod Angus and the Mearns)
said he had been engaged in the work at Dundee, and could
declare it to be the work of the Spirit. He conceived it to be
the highest honour which his Maker had conferred on him to
have allowed him to proclaim the truths of God in that city.
One single fact would shew the nature of these revivals. If
they found not one person or two persons, but twenties and
thirties, who before had passed their lives in godlessness and
prayerlessness ; if they found these people awakened so far
as to come night after night to hear the Word of God—was
not that the Spirit of God ? Those that cared not for preach-
ing were awakened to a spirit of,love ; And it was with great
sorrow indeed that he had heard the rev. gentleman express
his opinions, and he could have wished that he (Mr. Pule)
had been present to witness the impressive scene. With re-
gard to the sermon of their Moderator, he thought it calcu-
lated to put the mode of the Spirit's working on the best
footing, and he could have wished that the gentleman who
spoke last had heard it.
Mr. Paull would pass no opinion whatever with regard to
what he had read in the public prints about the extraordinary
events which had taken place in the west of Scotland, farther
than that he must be allowed to say that these events, as they
are reported, are exceedingly similar to something which has
taken place, and which is taking place, he believed in Ameri-
ca. He did not speak of what he had read in public prints
about America, but from information which he had received
from a respected friend there, who felt it his duty to know
what took place at the revival meetings from his own obser-
vation, and was present at them, as long as his religious feel-
ings would allow him to be present, and he did not hesitate
to say that they were a disgrace to true religion. He (Mr.
Paull) would make no application of this remark to what had
taken place in the west of Scotland. The rev. gentleman
who spoke last mentioned that he had seen people who had
before been careless of religion become attentive to it, and
this was one test of the fruits at which he truly and cordially
rejoiced—what he found fault with was that this matter, he
thought, had been taken up a little too hastily. They ought
to have waited a little till they had been able to see more of
the effects of this work ; and he thought that in the exercise
of their duty as Christians, it would have been more to the
honour and advantage of true religion if they had done so,
It ought to be the subject of their earnest prayers that these
effects would be such as they would all rejoice in.
Mr. Gordon defined a revival to be—faith in God bearing
fruit unto holiness—and this was nothing new. There was
not a Sabbath passed that Mr. Paull, and Mr. Pink, and his
other reverend brethren, were not calling their flocks to be
converted. They all prayed that the Spirit might come down,
and that an effectual change might be produced on the hearts
of their hearers ; and, when this change was produced, then
regeneration was accomplished : and this was the practical
result looked for in all their labours, and what they should all
unite in thankfulness to God for. This was his idea of revi-
vals, and the question was, Were the revivals now taking
place such as gave reason to believe that the blessed Spirit
had come down amongst them ? Mr. Pirie had referred to
what he had beard and read in newspapers. Now, he la-
mented to say, that numbers of the newspapers were taking
up the cause of all that was opposed to the truth of God, and
their views on this subject were similar to their views of the
kingdom of God. Looking to the character of newspapers in
general, he was not surprised to see the statements made in
them with regard to this work. But they were not left to
reports in newspapers. Mr. Burns had, before the Presby-
tery of Glasgow, given his unaffected, simple, and judicious
report ; and were not the members of the Presbytery of
Glasgow, who listened to that report, as learned and as
pious as were the members of the Presbytery of Aber-
deen ? Did be not there assert that it was a work of
which God was the author ? Their Dissenting brethren
also, in Kilsyth, had offered up thanks to God for this change
which had taken place. Influential members of the Presby-
tery of Glasgow had gone there, and the answers which had
been received to letters written to that quarter had compelled
many to acknowledge that the hand of God had been seen
there. Mr. Pirie should have sought his information from
these sources, and not from the worldly and infidel press, as
many of the newspapers, which in other respects they did
not disapprove of, were. The Presbytery of Glasgow had
found that men had been turned from being infidels to read
their Bible, and to say to it, as it were, " Thou art my guide
for the time to come !" The drunkard had been turned
from intemperance, and was living as the servant of God.
All quarrelling had been healed, and churelimen and volun-
taries were meeting together on the common ground of their
faith in Christ. These were the effects, and, if they looked
to the pure sources of information, these were the evidences
of the work. The newspapers were not evidence that a
judicious Christian man could go upon. When he looked
to America, he found that the circumstances had taken place
at Dundee and Kilsyth were like the circumstances quoted in
that country by President Edwards and Dr. Sprague. They
ought not to condemn these doings ; and when they found
that people sat up all night, they should not look to that,
but to the deep feeing, and consider that the Apostle Paul
had preached late at night. All things should be done in
decency and in order. The people did not dwell on time,
or on two or three hours later; and it was better that they
should be all night there than in the alehouses, and in their
infidel club-houses, and in their dancing clubs—(laughter)—
where they would have been, but which had all gone down
since these revivals had taken place.
Mr. Davidson, of Drumblade said, that they should take
care not to bring themselves into the awful situation of the
Pharisees of old, who attributed the wonderful works of
Christ to Beelzebub. He did not say that that had been
done here to-day, but he thought that he had heard some
expressions of a light kind. (Hear, and a laugh.) Mr.
Davidson had, he thought, shown more wisdom and pru-
dence than some others who had referred to this subject, in
not taking up the point at all in his sermon, but in confining
himself to the word of Almighty God, and the promises and
principles laid down in that Word.
Mr. Bisset regretted that, in these revivals, as they were
called, there was, in his opinion, so little of the character of
reality ; and he was bound to say that they appeared to him
to resemble the crackling of thorns under a pot. They
seemed to be something like the exhibitions which bore the
same name in America, and the scenes enacted on that stage
and on this appeared to bear a considerable deal of resem-
blance. He would, in conclusion, throw out a suggestion to
fathers and mothers, that if they wish to have the healthy
pulse of religion beat in their families, especially he would
warn those who have young and delicately-formed females,
to put an absolute inhibition on their frequenting such
scenes, till such time as more satisfactory evidence was pro-
cured that it was the work of God. He would make this
suggestion to those especially who had families of young
women of easy and warm affections, to inhibit them from
attending such meetings. He was much afraid that these
things would be as transient and evanescent as they had
been in former days.. _

Mr. Robertson said, that from the outward phenomena
reported as having appeared at these revivals, be had serious
doubts as to their value, especially as recently there had
been nothing of the same kind in the church. They were
not, however, new in the country. Similar exhibitions had
attended the progress of the Wesleys ; and he found that
both John Wesley and his brother at first concurred in the
views now put forth regarding these things, but they did not
continue to hold this opinion ; and Charles Wesley at any
rate became convinced that they were physical effects pro-
duced from physical causes, and, in the latter part of his life,
laboured to prevent anything of the kind occurring at meet-
ings at which he officiated. He had lately read a paper by
Dr. Duff, in reference to revivals in India, but there ap-
peared nothing in these revivals like the demonstrations to
which he had alluded. The Doctor showed that the conver-
sions to the religion of Christ were brought about in the
course of Divine Providence, in a solid and satisfactory man-
ner, without any extraordinary movement ; and in the pre-
fatory remarks on the paper, Dr. Duff, with that caution,
and solid judgment, and deep feeling of piety, for which he
was distinguished, said that, with regard to the revivals in
this country, the time was not yet come when they could
speak of their fruits, and that there was reason to watch them
with jealousy before they gave a decided opinion on the sub-
ject. (Hear, hear.) Under present circumstances, he hoped
that the Court would pass no opinion on the subject, one
way or another.
The adoption of the overture was then unanimously agreed
to ; and the Moderator, in the most complimentary terms,
communicated the thanks of the Synod to Mr. Davidson for
his excellent sermon.