The Coming Revival: Uncanny Similarities to the Prayer Revival of 1857
Are we on the verge of another awakening? Well, the Word declares that what has been again, and there is nothing new under the sun. So, let me share some facts about the 1857 revival and provoke you to believe in a fresh revival. Let’s compare recent events to those of the past.
1857 had started as a year with great excitement and potential, but ended with heartbreak and revival. It was a year of globalism, tariffs, a global downturn after the Crimean War, the sinking of the SS Central America by a hurricane, resulting in the loss of 425 lives and 30,000 pounds of gold. There had been an overinvestment in the railway system, a weakened banking system, and excessive market speculation. The result was the great panic of 1857. But God had provoked Jeremiah Lamphier to start a noon prayer meeting.
When Lamphier presented his proposal for the noon prayer meeting, the church leaders felt it would fail, but finally allowed him to proceed. Little could anyone have imagined what would happen.
Looking back at 1857, you will notice many parallels in this article. For example, if you went back to 2018, the New York Times. The Toronto Star and even the BBC all declared that Trump was just like James Buchanan, who was president from 1857 to 1861.
During the 1830s through the 1850s, a movement had begun in Britain in which many were calling for and preaching that Israel had to be restored as a nation. This would help cause the Balfour Declaration in 1917. The Prayer Revival of 1857 in America would first make its way to Ulster in Northern Ireland in 1859, before spreading into Britain later that year and in the early 1860s.
Also, during the 1850s, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were developing their ideas for a worker-led revolution. Utopian experiments were common in the United States in 1857. They saw capitalism as the source of inequality and injustice. There was also the rise of Christian socialism. 1845 saw a series of political upheavals, and in Europe it was known as the “Springtime of Nations.” Demands for liberalism, nationalism, and social change drove the protests and revolutions. However, in 1848, there was a major conservative backlash.
The sinking of the SS Central America gained the attention of the public. It was a terrible human and one of the worst maritime disasters for the United States. The newspaper shared harrowing stories from survivors, and fundraisers were held for the victims.
In the 1850s, the third Plague Pandemic, which started in China, spread into Europe and the Americas. Controlling the plague, especially in the dense urban areas, proved challenging and resulted in protests and forced evacuations. Millions would die as a result. The plague continued into the mid-20th century, though at a lower level.
Lamphier’s goal of drawing businessmen by his noonday prayer meeting, in which people were restricted to a five-minute prayer, was perfectly timed. Not long after he started, the banking crisis occurred. It was triggered by the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company as a result of several factors, including the global slowdown due to the war.
On January 5th, 1858, Jeremiah Lamphier visited some of the daily newspapers to get the attention of some of the editors and tell them about the noon prayer revival. Coverage of the revival would begin in mid-February, and initially, the coverage was based on controversy. The editor, James Gordon Bennett, decided to feature the revival more as a thorn in the side of the Protestant churches, particularly in New York.
Many were complaining about the desecration of the Sabbath, so Bennett began publishing news on the revival on a Sunday. This ironic attempt to mock Christians would be turned around for good and helped to promote the revival. Further, Bennett would target February 21st, which was the beginning of Lent, a day most Protestants would ignore. The paper wrote:
“The revival will probably continue during Lent and may be over sometime around Easter.”
During February, Protestants began publishing news and articles on the revival and thereby accelerated public knowledge and interest. Cards were distributed on the streets of New York. The local YMCA sent out a letter, which was more of a press release, that was published in various newspapers worldwide.
Editors like Bennett would talk about the revival but from a mocking standpoint. But this provoked other editors to realize that they could tap into the evangelical market by focusing on the revival. So, while some had a negative attitude towards the revival and sought to mock it, others helped to support it. Many did it simply for economic reasons, but regardless, it all helped to stir something inside people.
At the same time, many Christians began publishing articles attacking slavery and pointing out its horrors and directed people to the revival. The editors believed the revival would lead to an increase in the Republican Party’s influence.
However, soon people began to realize the apolitical nature of the revival, though some editors continued with a political agenda. The newspapers continued to run articles and would give weekly statistics from the revival.
Tracts became a popular tool for helping to spread news and information on the revival, and it was said, “Never has God so honored the instrumentality of tracts and newspapers.” In fact, some newspapers sought to capitalize on this business by making their newspapers appear more as tracts, and helped to push a call to Christian conversion.
In reality, the revival was the news, and while some used it for selfish ambition, the Lord was able to impact that generation through the revival.
The awakening of 1857 was a businessmen’s revival and a prayer revival. What had started as a local move in New York had become a national event, and the newspaper reinforced this. The revival would soon capture the front page of many newspapers, and prayer meetings began to occur all over, with thousands gathering for these events.
Businessmen’s prayer meetings were organized in various cities like Boston on March 8th, Louisville, March 15th, Chicago, March 22nd, and New Orleans on March 24th. Other cities followed, and the newspapers recorded the events of this awakening.
Behind the scenes, there was much organization and work put into setting up and publicizing the prayer meetings. The used mass circulations, various religious newsletters, tracts, and word of mouth.
While America had seen moves and awakenings in the past, never had she seen a national event that would spread throughout the nation. America and the world were becoming a smaller place as communication lines were being established along with railway connections. These allowed news to spread faster and further. There was a clear connection between the flow of the news regarding the revival and the increased religious activity.
The news provoked the hearts of local ministers and stirred the hearts of the people, so that people began attending churches
Going back to Bennett, he continued discussing the revival, and his articles became rude, and his mockery increased. His efforts to stop the revival and show his disdain for it only served to spark interest further. His foolish pride hindered him from seeing that what he sought to use negatively towards the church, God was wonderfully turning around for good.
In saying that, many newspapers continued to print positive articles on the revival, which, for many evangelical leaders, was proof of the Holy Spirit’s influence. Samuel Irenaeus Prime wrote:
“With scarcely an exception the daily and other papers make mention of the work in terms which indicate their good wishes for its continuance. Such a state of things altogether unprecedented and we regard it as an evidence of the all pervading power of the Holy Spirit.”
During the 1840s and 50s, there was a dramatic growth in commercial agriculture as well as in imports. The global trade increased, and more and more Americans became dependent on the market. Weaknesses, however, in the banking system had not been addressed, and as many began speculating on the market, a crisis was clearly coming.
Tariffs had caused a large federal trade surplus, such that in 1857, there was a significant reduction in tariffs, dropping them to around 20%. However, while some benefited from lower supply costs, this was short-lived. The Panic of 1857 would result in higher protectionist tariffs.
Further, the time the addition of Kansas to the Union meant slavery was front and center. As stated during the revival, Christians came to take a stand against slavery. The northern “free” states benefited from a better infrastructure that enabled businesses to flourish; the southern states depended on slaves. While the revival sought to address the issue of slavery, the elitists were more concerned about money, and while the revival brought great grace, it was followed by great judgment in the form of a civil war.
Several key leaders, like Cheever, spoke up and denounced the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision and called for people to stand up against it. Sadly, Cheever’s prophet’s mindset, in which he called judgment down on all who opposed him, didn’t help him with many Protestants. They tended to resent his constant, “Thus saith the Lord…”
Cheever, who believed in Christian socialism, would attack the revival as he felt Christians were too focused on it and were not giving “attention to the moral of the government or country, or to remember the claims of oppressed and enslaved humanity. “
The economic slowdown of 1857-58 also provided an opportunity for people to focus on family and for evangelicals to target the lost. Many lay people arose as voices during the revival. There had been a shift from the historic Calvinistic beliefs to Arminian beliefs. However, unlike the revivals of the past, the focus was more on decorum with a resistance to any form of emotionalism or manifestations that were historically seen in previous revivals.
During the awakening in 1857, prayer meetings were the vehicle through which God blessed His people. In saying that, this didn’t mean preaching was ignored. Charles Finney wrote:
“There was such a general confidence in the prevalence of prayer that the people very extensively seemed to prefer meetings for prayer to meetings for preaching. The general impression seemed to be, ‘We have had instruction until we are hardened; it is time for us to pray.”
Prayer clearly overshadowed preaching. Churches were filled and often compelled to hold three of four services on Sunday. One person wrote of the revival:
“The financial crisis was, as everyone will remember, followed by that great and unexampled religious revival which overspread the country, and moved society to its very foundations. The excitement of it lasted through the whole winter and late into the spring. Ministers and all those who took an active part in the direction of the great and frequent meetings of the people were called to make unwonted exertions and were themselves kept at sustained pitch or strain of feeling that was more exhausting than the work itself. “
To Be Continued…
