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3 For example, the Marxist historian, Gibbon, Peter, adopts this view of the 1859 revival in his The origins of Ulster unionism: the formation of popular Protestant politics in nineteenth-century Ireland (Manchester, 1975), p. 49Google Scholar.

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17 The Confession of Faith; the larger and shorter catechisms, with the Scripture proofs at large [1646] ... (Inverness, 1976), pp 274–5.

18 The relevant section in the Westminster Confession of Faith is ch. 5, sec. 3 (ibid., pp 34–5).

19 Marsden, G. M., Jonathan Edwards: a life (New Haven, Conn., 2003), pp 263-6Google Scholar, 334—40; Crawford, Seasons of grace, pp 130–38.

20 Holmes, Andrew, ‘Millennialism and the interpretation of prophecy in Ulster Presbyterianism, 1790–1850’ in Gribben, Crawford and Stunt, T.C.F. (eds), Prisoners of hope? Aspects of evangelical millennialism in Scotland and Ireland, 1800–1880 (Carlisle, 2005), ch. 7Google Scholar; idem, ‘The shaping of Irish Presbyterian attitudes to mission, 1790–1840’ in Jn. Ecc. Hist., (forthcoming, Jan. 2007).

21 Quoted in Stewart, David, The Seceders in Ireland, with annals of their congregations (Belfast, 1950), pp 186–7Google Scholar.

22 Stanley, Brian, ‘The future in the past: eschatological vision in British and American Protestant missionary history’ in Tyndale Bulletin, li (2000), p. 103Google Scholar. The biblical reference is to Isaiah 11:9.

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26 Orthodox Presbyterian, i (1829), p. 97.

27 Ibid., vi (1835), p. 241.

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34 For Kilsyth see Orthodox Presbyterian, n.s., ii (1839), pp 361–71; Monthly Missionary Herald, no. 53 (1841), pp 215–20. For America see Jennings, Origins of Ulster Presbyterian revivalism’, p. 85; Christian Freeman, i (1833), pp 194–9; Orthodox Presbyterian, ii (1831), pp 120–24, 189–96; iii (1831), pp 5–11; Presbyterian Penny Magazine, i (1834), pp 68–70, 131–2, 155–6; ii (1836), pp 147–8.

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42 Christian Freeman, iv (1836), p. 348; see also ibid., i (1833), p. 196.

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45 Orthodox Presbyterian, vii (1835), p. 61.

46 Christian Freeman, i (1833), p. 110; Orthodox Presbyterian, n.s. iii (1840), pp 9–11.

47 Hanna, Samuel, ‘On the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit, in promoting the cause of missions, and the extension of the church’ in Missionary sermons, pp 1–25Google Scholar; Johnston, John, The ministration of the Spirit: a sermon preached at the opening of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, in Mary’s Abbey, Dublin, July 4, 1859 (Belfast, 1859)Google Scholar.

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49 Minutes of a General Synod, held at Belfast, 1838 (Belfast, 1838), pp 42-3Google Scholar; Orthodox Presbyterian, viii (1837), pp 217–23.

50 Orthodox Presbyterian, n.s., ii (1839), p. 171; Holmes, Shaping of Ulster Presbyterian belief & practice, ch. 11.

51 Quoted in Berkley, J. M., ‘A history of the ruling eldership in Irish Presbyterianism’ (M.A. thesis, Queen’s University Belfast, 2 vols, 1952), ii, 212Google Scholar.

52 Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (henceforth M.G.A.), i [1840-50], p. 23Google Scholar.

53 Ibid. [1844], pp 327–8; Missionary Herald (1844), p. 146.

54 Missionary Herald (1845), pp 244–6; M.G.A., i [1845], p. 405.

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56 Missionary Herald (1849), p. 716; (1851), p. 966; (1852), p. 1086; Dill, E. M., The mystery solved: or, Ireland’s miseries; the grand cause, and cure (Edinburgh, 1852), pp 277–94Google Scholar; Edgar, John, ‘Ireland’s mission field’ in Select worfa of John Edgar, D.D. LL.D., ed. Killen, W. D. (Belfast, 1868), pp 542-68Google Scholar.

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59 Irish Presbyterian, vi (1858), p. 173.

60 Ibid., p. 171.

61 M.G.A., ii [1858], p. 678.

62 Missionary Herald (1858), p. 209.

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68 Liam Kennedy, ‘The rural economy, 1820–1914’ in idem and Philip Ollerenshaw (eds), An economic history of Ulster, 1820–1939 (Manchester, 1985), pp 10–13.

69 Hill, ‘Ulster awakened’, p. 458.

70 These observations are confirmed by a trawl through the official account of the revival compiled by Gibson, Year of grace. See also Hill, ‘Ulster awakened’, pp 457–8; Holmes, Religious revivals in Britain and Ireland, p. 6; Sibbett, R. M., For Christ and crown: the story of a mission (Belfast, 1926), ch. 11Google Scholar.

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76 Nelson, Isaac, The year of delusion: a review of ‘The year of grace’ (Belfast, 1862), pp 37–8Google Scholar.

77 Hempton & Hill, Evangelical Protestantism, p. 158; Holmes, Janice, ‘The “world turned upside down”: women in the Ulster revival of 1859’ in eadem and Diane Urquhart (eds), Coming into the light: the work, politics and religion of women in Ulster, 1840–1940 (Belfast, 1994), pp 126–53Google Scholar.

78 Stewart Brown makes the point that there was little attempt to convert Catholics (‘Presbyterian communities, transatlantic visions & the Ulster revival’, p. 97). For the broader impact of the revival on sectarian relationships see Wright, , Two lands on one soil, pp 223, 232–40Google Scholar; Hirst, Catherine, Religion, politics and violence in nineteenth-century Belfast: the Pound and Sandy Row (Dublin, 2002), pp 123–31Google Scholar.

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82 Gibson, Year of grace, pp 291–2.

83 Thompson, Joshua, ‘Irish Baptists and the 1859 revival’ in Ir. Baptist Hist. Soc. Jn., xvii (1984—5), pp 4–10Google Scholar; Henry, J. M., ‘An assessment of the social, religious and political aspects of Congregationalism in Ireland in the nineteenth century’ (Ph.D. thesis, Queen’s University Belfast, 1965), ch. 10Google Scholar; Latimer, W. T., A history of the Irish Presbyterians (2nd ed., Belfast, 1902), pp 495-7Google Scholar. Unfortunately no academic study exists of the mission hall culture in Ulster. For a popular account see Maxwell, Victor, Belfast’s halls of faith and fame (Belfast, 1999)Google Scholar.

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85 Richey, Connor & Coleraine, p. 205; Presbyterian Magazine, n.s. i (1859), p. 209; Wright, Two lands on one soil, p. 231; Brown, ‘Presbyterian communities, transatlantic visions & the Ulster revival’, pp 101–2.

86 Gibson, Year of grace, pp 254—5.

87 Ibid., p. 128; McCosh, James, The Ulster revival and its physiological accidents: a paper read before the Evangelical Alliance, September 22, 1859 (Belfast, 1859)Google Scholar; Richey, Connor & Coleraine, ch. 17; Presbyterian Magazine, n.s., i (1859), pp 145, 270.

88 Gibson, Year of grace, p. 232; Nelson, Year of delusion, ch. 3; Latimer, History, pp 492–3.

89 Nelson, Year of delusion, p. 51.

90 Hamilton, William, An inquiry into the scriptural character of the revival of 1859 (Belfast, 1866), pp 197–201Google Scholar.

91 Holmes, ‘Tradition & enlightenment’, pp 154—5.

92 Missionary Herald ( 1860), p. 636.

93 Holmes, Religious revivals, p. 174.

94 Bebbington, Evangelicalism in modern Britain, pp 80–86, 167–9.

95 Holmes, Religious revivals, p. 174.

96 Bardon, Jonathan, A history of Ulster (2nd ed., Belfast, 2002), pp 324-40, 350–52, 380–82Google Scholar; Hempton, David, ‘Belfast: the unique city?’ in McLeod, Hugh (ed.), European religion in the age of the great cities, 1830–1930 (London, 1995), pp 145–64Google Scholar.

97 Missionary Herald (1862), pp 165–6.

98 Ibid. (1865), p. 586.

99 Evangelical Witness, >x (1871), p. 57.

100 Ibid., iv (1865), p. 105.

101 Holmes, Religious revivals, p. 55; Long, Revival of 1857–8, chs 4, 7.

102 Missionary Herald (1874), p. 293.

103 For an outline of the campaign see Thompson, Joseph, ‘The influence of D. L. Moody on Irish Presbyterianism’ in Patton, (ed.), Ebb & flow, pp 122-9Google Scholar.

104 Magee, Hamilton, The present religious awakening. God’s foundation, and man’s superstructure: a sermon preached before the Synod of Dublin in connexion with the General Assembly (Dublin, 1875), pp 7–8Google Scholar.

105 Missionary Herald (1875), pp 643–4.

106 Thompson, Joseph, ‘Aspects of evangelisation in Irish Presbyterianism, 1880–1965’ (M.Th. thesis, Queen’s University Belfast, 1971), pp 93-9Google Scholar.

107 Thompson, ‘Influence of D. L. Moody on Irish Presbyterianism’, p. 123.

108 Ibid., pp 133–40.

109 Barren, Robert, Memoir of the Rev. William Rogers M.A., LL.D. minister of Whiteabbey Presbyterian church, Ireland (Belfast, 1898), p. 123Google Scholar. For the broader British context see Bebbington, Evangelicalism in modern Britain, ch. 5.

110 Thompson, ‘Aspects of evangelisation’, p. 117; Barren, Memoir of William Rogers, ch. 7; Addley, W. P., ‘A study of the birth and development of the overseas missions of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland up to 1910’ (Ph.D. thesis, Queen’s University Belfast, 1994), ch. 15Google Scholar.

111 Barren, Memoir of William Rogers, p. 96; Missionary Herald (1887), pp 196–206; ibid. (1888), pp 232–43.

112 Thompson, ‘Aspects of evangelisation’, pp 103, 107; Missionary Herald (1888), p. 234.

113 Missionary Herald (1885), p. 34; Latimer, History, p. 525.

114 Sibbett, For Christ & crown, pp 269–70.

115 Holmes, R. F. G., Our Irish Presbyterian heritage (Belfast, 1992), p. 125Google Scholar.

116 Quoted in Carson, J. T., ‘Rev. Dr F. C. Gibson: man of the maintained glow’ in Bulletin of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, xvi (1987), p. 8Google Scholar.

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118 Thompson, ‘Aspects of evangelisation’, chs 3, 4.

119 Figures from ibid., p. 168. For political developments see Hempton & Hill, Evangelical Protestantism, ch. 9; Holmes, R. F. G., ‘“Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right”: the Protestant churches and Ulster’s resistance to home rule, 1912–14’ in Sheils, W. J. (ed.), The church and war (Studies in Church History xx, Oxford, 1983), pp 321-35Google Scholar. For intellectual developments see Livingstone, D. N. and Wells, R. A., Ulster- American religion: episodes in the history of a cultural connection (Notre Dame, 1999)Google Scholar.

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121 Missionary Herald (1875), pp 644–5.

122 Magee, Present religious awakening, pp 9–15.

123 For example, Christian Banner, ii (1874), pp 1–2; iii (1875), pp 41—4, 189–92; Houston, Thomas, Plymouthism and revivalism: part second, on regeneration, justification and sanctification, scripturally stated, in opposition to Plymouthist and revivalist errors (Belfast, n.d.)Google Scholar.

124 Presbyterian Churchman, vii (1883), pp 21–3.

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127 Presbyterian Churchman, vi (1882), p. 10.

128 Scott, John, Modern evangelistic missions and their abuses (Belfast, 1889)Google Scholar.

129 Ibid., p. 5.

130 Ibid., p. 13.

131 Thompson, ‘Aspects of evangelisation’, p. 189.

132 Holmes, Our Irish Presbyterian heritage, pp 151–3.

133 Barnes, Stanley, All for Jesus: the life of W. P. Nicholson (Belfast, 1996)Google Scholar; Livingstone & Wells, Ulster-American religion, ch. 5; Murray, S. W., W. P. Nicholson: flame for God in Ulster (Belfast, 1973)Google Scholar; Wells, R. A., ‘Transatlantic revivalism and Ulster identity: the career of W. P. Nicholson’ in Fitzgerald, Patrick and Ickringill, Steve (eds), Atlantic crossroads: historical connections between Scotland, Ulster and North America (Newtownards, 2001), ch. 7Google Scholar.

134 Nicholson, W.P., The evangelist: his ministry and message (London, n.d.), ch. 5.Google Scholar

135 Ibid., pp 30–31.

136 Cited in Wells, ‘Transatlantic revivalism & Ulster identity’, p. 106.

137 Nicholson, The evangelist, p. 102.

138 Smith, David, ‘Sacred learning: its evangelical necessity’ in The Witness, 27 Oct. 1922, p. 4Google Scholar; Strahan, James, ‘What Ireland needs’ in Irish Presbyterian, n.s., xxvii (1921), p. 2Google Scholar; idem, ‘Spiritual revival’ in The Witness, 3 Nov. 1922, p. 5.

139 The Witness, 10 Mar. 1922, p. 4.

140 Murray, Nicholson, pp 15–16.

141 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Reports and accounts (Belfast, 1923), p. 20Google Scholar; Thompson, ‘Aspects of evangelisation’, pp 189–92.

142 Quoted in Sibbett, For Christ & crown, p. 321.

143 Ibid., pp 331–9.

144 Carson, , God’s river in spate; I. R. K. Paisley, The 59 revival: an authentic history of the great Ulster awakening of 1859 (Belfast, 1959)Google Scholar.

145 Two examples have been published by Ambassador Productions with forewords by a Congregational minister, Shaw, Tom: Gibson, William, The year of grace (Belfast, 1989)Google Scholar; and Weir, John, Heaven came down: the revival of 1859 (Belfast, 1987)Google Scholar. The latter is a reprint of Weir, ’s The Ulster awakening: its origins, progress and fruit (London, 1860)Google Scholar.

146 I wish to thank David Bebbington, Crawford Gribben, David McMillan and Mark Smith for comments on an earlier draft of this article. Needless to say, the author alone is responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation.