increase of from three to five hundred, and besides, the young people have prayer-meetings among themselves. In the Carrickfergus Saltworks, the men meet for prayer seven hundred feet under ground. In Connor, from which place no report is made of the number of prayer-meetings, the return contains the statement, that there is a net-work of prayer-meetings, embracing the whole extent of that district of country. In Lecumpher, according to its report, district prayer-meetings, embracing the whole extent of the congregation, are held in the houses of the rich, and cottages of the poor. In the first congregation of Drum, the prayer-meetings are often thronged to inconvenience in the rural districts.

The Presbyterian congregations in the County of Antrim, returning the number of their prayer-meetings, report four hundred and seventy-two. In the County Down, they report three hundred and sixty-eight prayer-meetings. In the County of Derry, two hundred and five are reported. And thus the meetings of some seven or eight counties are returned.

These reports show a remarkable state of religion in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Can any of the larger churches in the United States show such a record? Could they, at any period, during the Revival of 1857-1859? The state of religion in any particular church will be better known from the state and number of its own prayer-meetings, among its own members, than from the outside, noisy, popular and exciting gatherings of the masses, headed by a few of the active spirits of the several churches, in the world-renowned Union Prayer-meetings.

We know they had their "Open-air Meetings" in Ireland. We remember the Weekly Union Prayer-meetings held in Music Hall, in the Capitol of Ulster; the City Mayor in the chair, with a hundred ministers of all denomi

nations filling the platform. And again, another week, the Lord Bishop in the chair, while the surging crowds without failed to find admittance. We have heard of the immense gatherings, on the grounds of the Botanic Garden, numbering thirty or forty thousand-such assemblage as was never before seen in the North of Ireland. Of this, more again.

These "demonstrations" may not be the best evidence of the gracious presence of Him who was not in the great and strong wind, rending the mountains and breaking the rocks, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still small voice. In the closet, at the family altar, and in the prayer-meeting, we shall find the better tests of the spiritual state of any church.

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CHAPTER XI.

REVIVALS AND PRAYER-MEETINGS IN SCOTLAND, WALES, ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND GERMANY.

The Scottish Guardian-Prayer-meetings in Glasgow-Fishing Villages of the North-Reports to the Free Church General Assembly-Humphrey Jones and David Morgan-England and Wales-Origin of the Prayer-meeting Revivals in Wales-Prayer-meeting characteristics of the Welsh churches-Prayer-meetings in France and Germany-Dr. Frederick Monod-In Paris.

The Revival and Prayer-meetings in Scotland.

So

far as we know, the history of the general revivals that occurred ten years ago, has been given more in detail in the United States, and in Ireland, than in any other portions of the church. The gleaning of Prayermeeting history from Scottish field, in these latter years of revival, is somewhat meagre. Reference to the prayermeeting is incidental only, and especially so in connection with the church. Here, as everywhere else, the history of the prayer-meeting is, as yet, unwritten.

The Revival of 1857 had progressed some time in Ireland and in this country before it made its appearance in Scotland. In August, 1859, the Scottish Guardian had the following notice of the beginnings of the revival in Glasgow and its vicinity:

"The Holy Spirit has been manifesting His gracious. power in a remarkable manner in this neighborhood during the last few days. Our readers are aware that ever since the news of the great revival in America reached Scotland, prayer-meetings for the special purpose of imploring a simi

lar blessing, have been held in Glasgow, as well as in other places. The intelligence which has reached us recently leaves no room to doubt that those prayers have been heard. We have heard-we trust, with gratitude-that God has been pleased, from the very beginning of these prayer-meetings, to use them as the means of converting souls, and quickening his own people; and latterly-at least in the meeting of the Religious Institution Rooms, with which we are best acquainted-the attendance has been decidedly on the increase, and anxious souls frequently remain, at the close of the services, to seek counsel and direction from the ministers and others who take part in these meetings. Christian men and women appear to be attaining to greater faith in the power of prayer; and petitions from Christian parents for their children, children for their parents, brothers and sisters for brothers and sisters, and friends for friends, have been becoming more common. There is already evidence that some of these prayers have been heard.”

Rev. Hamilton H. Macgill, Home Secretary of the United Presbyterian Church, in a communication published in the "Evangelical Christendom," bears the following interesting and important testimony to the connection between the revival and the prayers of God's people:

"The invariable testimony of the brethren is, that a spirit of prayerfulness preceded the revival. In Burghead, one of the fishing villages of the North, the first special part noticed, as preceding the revival, was the following: that at a prayer-meeting, held in the house of a Christian woman, laid for the last thirty years on a bed of affliction, the burden of the prayers, at her request, was for the outpouring of the Spirit, for the quickening of God's people and the conversion of sinners. Ere long the careless fish

ing people were awakened, and many of them converted to the Lord; while the entire community, with few excep tions, was moved, and not a few, formerly without the pale of the church, came forward to confess the faith. There have been cases in which nothing but almost total deadness existed before the blessing came, but in many places the preparation for the blessing was deep humiliation among the people of God, and much earnestness in crying for the descent of the Spirit. 'Where there were God's own faithful saints,' says Mr. Gordon Forlong, 'I have generally seen a spirit of prayer combined with faithful testimony.' Another layman, like Mr. Forlong, largely acquainted with the history of the revival, Mr. Reginald Radcliffe, puts the single word prayer opposite the query about preparation, as certainly the full and significant reply."

In May, 1861, the following report on the Revival was made to the Free Church General Assembly:

"This is, in some respects, the most important and interesting report that was ever laid on the table of the General Assembly. If, as has been said, a living soul is of more value than a dead world, what joy has there been in heaven over souls that have been made alive in Scotland since we met here last year! In consequence of instructions from last General Assembly, the Committee on Religion and Morals transmitted a circular to every minister and probationer in a charge or station throughout the Free Church. In reply to that circular, I have received one hundred and sixty-nine returns. Of these, eighty-six reported decided awakening and revival in the congregations of which they report. It is important to bear in mind that, besides the returns we have received, we know that there are many congregations where there has been revival, though not reported to us. We have reason to