The island of Mull was left without any special experience of the spirit of revival till 1839-42. Even then it was not moved so deeply as many other places in the Islands have been. For a period of nineteen years Mr Campbell, of Kiltearn, visited the island annually, where his labours were owned of God to the salvation of many. Mr Peter McBride, of Rothesay, was similarly used; and the able ministry of Mr Peter M 'Lean, latterly of Stornoway, bore gracious fruit in the salvation of souls. It was, however, during the ministry of the Rev. Christopher Munro, who was ordained in Tobermory in 1857, that the power of God was especially experienced on the island. His first sermon was blessed to the conversion of one of his hearers, and, in 1859-60, Tobermory was favoured by a season of blessing unsurpassed anywhere by intensity of feeling and depth of devotion. The weekly prayer meeting grew into a nightly one. The meeting place, at the foot of the brae, was packed night after night by an audience gathered from the town and the surrounding districts. An eyewitness relates that, though he had gone to Tobermory from the stirring scenes in Glasgow and neighbourhood, he had never felt such intensity of spiritual power as in Mr Munro's meetings. The prayers were a passionate outpouring of the heart before God for individuals and for the community. The singing was equally impressive; and Mr Munro's addresses, while quiet and undemonstrative in delivery, were charged with spiritual power, every word of which quivered with emotion and life. Again and again the entire congregation was swept by a tide of spiritual emotion which left no one untouched. Not only Mull, but Eigg, Rum, and Coll felt the influence of the signal blessing given to Tobermory.
‘Revivals in the Highlands and Islands’ by Alexander Macrea – Republished in 1998 by Tentmaker Publications.