Musselburgh (1860)



One of the most interesting figures in the devoted band of evangelists is that of Edward Payson Hammond, an American forerunner of Moody and Sankey. Arriving in this country as a student who had personal experience of revival on the other side of the Atlantic, he preached with great power in several centres in Scotland. He was particularly successful with the young: "When he did not seem to interest them by talking, he began to sing to them." At Musselburgh he addressed crowded meetings, and he aroused new life on the Border in January and February 1861, when the movement seemed to have run its course in other places. The town of Annan was greatly stirred by his discourses and several notable conversions were record­ed. "Many a drunkard has deserted the public-house in horror of his previous life; the artisans of the town have abandoned the corners where they lounged in the evenings and have betaken themselves to prayer; and even the `arabs' of the burgh—the boys who were forever shouting and yelling about the streets— have every evening been engaged in singing Psalms and hymns." The movement spread to Dumfries and the neighbouring villages, and for three weeks, Hammond laboured in the district with extraordinary success. Huge meetings followed in Glasgow and elsewhere, and it was only a breakdown in health caused by the severe strain of the heavy work that ended for a time his triumphant career as an evangelist.

From 'Scotland Saw His Glory,' edited by Richard Owen Roberts.


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