Messers Ewart & Sons Belfast (1859)



"An intense and very general excitement has prevailed in the factory of Messrs. Ewart & Son, Crumlin Road, and the streets in the immediate vicinity in which many of the workers reside, because a number of the females employed in the mill have exhibited sudden religious impressions, quite as strong as those manifested in any of the meetings where awakenings have occurred. We are informed and have no reason to doubt that more than twenty cases of this description — several of them of the most marked character — have already taken place. The particulars of some of these have been detailed to us and are in almost every respect similar to other instances of deep and absorbing spiritual impression which we have witnessed, heard or read of.

"On some occasions the persons affected have become utterly prostrated under the visitation and so incapacitated from the slightest physical exertion that they required to be conveyed to their homes and placed under medical treatment. From this state most of them recovered within a few hours, but still obtain a deep conviction of the urgent necessity of saving grace. Others have been enabled to rejoice in the presence of a revealed Saviour and one prominent and general feature is their ardent affection for those who are convicted, or whom they desire to be convicted in the same manner. For the conversion of their relatives and companions their prayers are frequent and incessant. Some of them now enjoy perfect peace of mind and are constant in their efforts to awaken or console others. "This is shown by two young females who were struck down in Messrs. Ewart's Millon Thursday morning and whose cases excited a profound sensation among their fellow workers. The females convicted had not previously attended any of the recent meetings for prayer, or to hear religious messages and it is remarkable that, although they worship in various congregations, the majority when In their calmer stage of spiritual fervour expressed an earnest desire o be visited by a particular minister (the Rev. Hugh Hanna) who has since been most diligent in his attention to them, even proceeding to their houses for the purpose of prayer and advice, after a long evening's pastoral labour. An entire change seems to have taken place, not only in the hearts of many who are affected but also in the enlargement of their intellectual powers and their capacity for clothing their thoughts and wishes in language which surprises them, as well as their hearers’ hearts. We learned that the females, who have been the subject of this wonderful visitation, have been treated with the kindest consideration by the proprietors and managers of the establishment, in which they are employed — and that, when some of those who were most powerfully stricken removed to their homes, others united in prayers for them.”

"The Banner of Ulster" Saturday, 4th June 1859

Additional Information

This is where the factory was.


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