Strathaven (1859)
A great work has been going on here. The Revival movement has been seen in all its phases. There have been a very considerable number of cases of prostration; there have been many more of hopeful conversion, and there has been an almost universal awakening. For a long time there had been prayer-meetings held, but there was no visible manifestation of a Revival till some converts from Hamilton addressed the meetings. They were followed by converts from Stonehouse, and since that time the work has been going on with great power. The three U. P. churches have a union prayer-meeting daily. So great was the demand for more light on religious points, that five mid-day meetings had to be started in different parts of the town. These have been going on for about a month now, and are well attended. Many converts belonging to the town have spoken at the meetings and told their experience. As an instance of how the work proceeds: One Wednesday evening, a young convert remarked how sorry he was that he had gone thoughtlessly to the Lord's table. A young man was struck with this remark. Being told by a friend to pray for mercy and for the Holy Spirit, he continued almost incessantly praying that prayer for two days, even going out to the fields with a friend to pray, till on the Friday morning he found Christ and found peace. On the following Monday he was able to address a crowded meeting. So the work goes on and prospers.
From 'The Revival Newspaper,' Volume ii, p45.
-A correspondent writes: "We have had a stirring time here of late. Thursday last was our fair day, and such a day was never known among us. A number of preachers from Edinburgh and Glasgow came and preached in the fair, both forenoon and afternoon and in the Free Church at night. There was a large concourse of people in the town, and hundreds of them heard the Gospel earnestly preached in a very unlooked-for place. There were about 400 at the meeting in the evening, which was kept up from seven till ten o'clock, and about a hundred waited for the anxious inquirers' meeting, many of them truly in earnest about their souls."
"The Wynd Journal," April 12th, 1862