FIRST! Again

In the first half of the 19th century Ulster was at a low ebb spiritually, so much so that The Irish Presbyterian magazine recorded in 1853, “Many seem to put on religion with their Sabbath clothes... The Bible lies unopened on their shelves… And what a mass of baptised heathenism surrounds our doors! ” Prayerless Yet there were many pulpits with godly preachers who carried a burden for the spiritual state of the land. Feeling burdened by the need around them, they tried to get their congregations interested in prayer, without much success. One lamented over his people: “The congregation was in a most unsatisfactory state…year after year passed yet still no fruit, no outpouring of the Spirit. What alarmed me most was the indisposition, almost hostility of the people to meetings of prayer. They seemed mostly to think that they were well enough and that I was unnecessarily disturbing them.” One of these faithful ministers said, “There was no power to bring home to the people the message of the gospel.” Read the rest of this entry »