Antrim, who has held office for twenty years, told me that the cases of committal had averaged thirty at Ballymena every Monday morning, during the two years of his residence there; but that during the last four months, ending September 6, he had not had thirty cases in all, including those of all the wakes, weddings, fairs, and Mondays!"

"A factor in the parish of Aghadowe, whose father and himself have had a bleaching-green and linen-factory for thirty years, employing two hundred men, women, and children, mentioned to me that, in place of quarrelling and fighting, since the Revival spread amongst them, they have not even had a single dispute."

Two ladies described an occasion on which they had been present at the daily Bible-class of a clergyman, attended by a large number of young women from another factory, during part of the three quarters of an hour allowed for their dinner-time. At the end of twenty-five minutes the clergyman stopped and said— "I have detained you too long to-day. You must go home at once for your dinner."

"Oh, you would not send us away without prayer? they pleaded.

That prayer concluded, they hastened to their homes.

As the factory bell began to ring, at a quarter before one o'clock, the ladies watched with some anxiety for the faces they had seen so lately at the class; and said to

the manager, "Those girls cannot possibly return in

time, can they?"

"Those are the girls," he replied, be here before the bell is done. than to waste their master's time."

"who are sure to

They know better

The Rev. Mr Sewell, who has had many opportunities of judging of the effects of the movement, observes:

"Now, as to the effects upon the community at large, I have no hesitation in saying that they are equally marked. I believe there is no class of the community, from the highest to the lowest, whatever may be their creed, that are not influenced to some extent. Even Romanists are standing in awe, and many of them, to my own knowledge, have professed conversion; while among Protestants there are few families where some have not been arrested and led to Christ. Our policecourt, our streets at night, and the comparative absence of drunkenness on market days, attest how wide-spread and powerful is the reformation. If need be, I could adduce facts to prove all this, and much more.

"I have never heard any supposed theory of the cause of this Revival," writes another English visitor,† that, when honestly viewed in the light of facts, does not appear utterly futile, except one cause—

* See the Times of October 4, 1859.

Rev. J. Graham.

that which inaugurated the triumphs of Christianity on the day of Pentecost. This can account for it, but nothing else. And why seek a cause apart from God, when the grand results of the movement are so unmistakeably in favour of pure morality, earnest piety, and brotherly union and love? It was my joy to labour unintermittingly some seventeen days in the work, and to see and hear of much fruit being gathered into the garner of the Lord. I saw, except on one or two occasions, little demonstrative excitement; and on these occasions I found a little judicious, firm management easily kept it within bounds. Often, however, I saw indications of 'that speechless awe that dares not move-of that internal concentration and intensity of soul that speaks of truth searching the depths of the inner man. If what I saw was not something of the fulfilment of God's promise that He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh,' I do not expect to see it in my day.

"Individual cases throng on my recollection. One notedly wicked youth came to a meeting at Newtownlimavady, having his pocket full of stones to throw at his praying companions. He was suddenly stricken with conviction of his guilt, and after hours of literally agonizing prayer, when he found peace, a stone was still clenched in his hand. He became, in the language of Scripture, a new-ereature in Christ Jesus.

He

"One evening, after the service, I saw a young man enter the vestry of a chapel in Londonderry. was a fine-looking young man of about twenty-three,

but pale and trembling. Eight days before, he had left his home in anger, resolved never to return. With this intention he came to Derry to take the steamer to Liverpool, and from thence sail to America. He was about three minutes late for the steamer, and, in disappointment, went to wander through the city. He went with a crowd to Victoria Market, where a public service was held. Some power-(what was it?)— pierced his conscience with a sense of guilt and danger, and so arrested him that he could not embark till he should find peace with God. He said that for seven days he had been in the deepest anguish. He had often come to speak with a minister, but till that hour had not courage. He confessed himself a wicked man, and declared that he had so profaned sacred ordinances, as on one occasion to go from the Lord's table to the public-house, and ere Sunday ended he was drunk. After much instruction and prayer, he found rest in the Saviour of the dying thief and the Philippian jailor; and in a warm gush of divine and domestic love, he exclaimed, 'Now I'll go home and tell them what great things God has done for me.' And next day the prodigal returned to gladden many hearts.

"In every place I visited, principally in the counties of Antrim, Derry, and Tyrone, there was an absorbing earnestness about the things of God, such as, I believe, could only be produced by the gracious influence of that Spirit whose office it is to convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. By accounts I receive almost daily I rejoice to learn that the work

*

is deepening and widening in its power. Physical prostrations, having done their part in arresting attention and awing the ungodly, are much less frequent, especially where the Revival has established itself; but the converting and sanctifying grace of the Spirit is working in silent, extending circles. Oh! that churches in England, and especially in its metropolis, instead of doubting the reality of the work, or thinking it too good news to be true, would do as faithful brethren in Ireland did on intelligence of the American Revival— set themselves silently and socially to pray for the Spirit, and so prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God.''

A happy religion, too, is this religion of the converts -this simple faith of pardoned sinners in a living, loving Saviour. An eye-witness tells us of the peculiar "brightness of their faces," and of country roads made joyful by songs of praise from groups of young men returning from some heart-stirring assembly for prayer.

It is a faith which works by love, and begins that work at once. Take a single instance :

* That amongst these, human extravagances, and even Satanic counterfeits, should here and there occur, is but another proof that the great work is of God. As our Saviour foretold, there will be tares amongst the wheat. Let us be careful that, in our terror of the tares, we "root not up the wheat."

The Rev. J. Baillie. See "The Revival; or, What I Saw in Ireland."