The evangelical revival in Scotland was a series of religious movements in Scotland from the eighteenth century, with periodic revivals into the twentieth century. It began in the later 1730s as congregations experienced intense "awakenings" of enthusiasm, renewed commitment and rapid expansion. This was first seen at Easter Ross in the Highlands in 1739 and most famously in the Cambuslang Wark near Glasgow in 1742. Most of the new converts were relatively young and from the lower groups in society. Unlike awakenings elsewhere, the early revival in Scotland did not give rise to a major religious movement, but mainly benefited the secession churches, who had broken away from the Church of Scotland. In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century the revival entered a second wave, known in the US as the Second Great Awakening. In Scotland this was reflected in events like the Kilsyth Revival in 1839. The early revival mainly spread in the Central Belt, but it became active in the Highlands and Islands, peaking towards the middle of the nineteenth century. Scotland gained many of the organisations associated with the revival in England, including Sunday Schools, mission schools, ragged schools, Bible societies and improvement classes.
In the nineteenth century the Church of Scotland was divided between the evangelicals and the Moderate Party. Events came to a head in the Great Disruption in which many of the evangelicals, particularly in the North and Highlands left to form the Free Church of Scotland. The country began to gain relatively large numbers of non-conformist churches and congregations, which were evangelical in outlook, including the Quakers, Baptist, Congregationalist and Methodist churches. They were joined by the Salvation Army, the Open and the Exclusive Brethren. A strand of evangelicalism developed in the Scottish Episcopal Church in the early nineteenth century, leading a group in Edinburgh to form a separate English Episcopal congregation.
A major emphasis of evangelical Protestantism were organised missions. In the eighteenth century the focus had been the Highlands and Islands. Missions also developed to fishermen and to the growing communities of the urban poor. The visit of American evangelists Moody and Sankey in 1874–75 revitalised the evangelical mission. David Livingstone became the movement's most well-known foreign missionary. After his death, Scottish missionary efforts were fuelled by the rivalry between different denominations in Scotland.
There continued to be spontaneous outbreaks of revival in the twentieth century. The most successful was the 1955 tour of Scotland by Billy Graham, which reversed the decline in church attendance in Scotland. In the late twentieth century the movement became divided. Evangelicalism had permeated Scottish leaving a legacy of strict Sabbatarianism and had helped foster local identities in the Highlands.
Nature The revival was spread by regular preaching and intense local revivals, where whole communities became highly concerned for their souls. This often occurred at communion, which was the central occasion of the church, conducted infrequently, at most once a year. Where ministers refused or neglected parish communion, largely assemblies were carried out in the open air, often combining several parishes. These large gatherings were discouraged by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, but continued. They could become mixed with secular activities and were commemorated as such by Robert Burns in the poem Holy Fair.D. Murray, "Religious life: 1650-1750" in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), , pp. 513-4. These were transformed by evangelicals into sacred occasions, with sermons by popular preachers and the sharing of spiritual experience. The communion season lasted from Thursday to Monday. In the Highlands communicants travelled great distances and lodged with friends and family. On Friday, known as the question day, lay catechists, called "the men", would give their interpretations of Bible verses chosen by the minister. They would occasionally emerge as charismatic leaders of local revivals. The climax was the Sabbath day celebration of communion, often outdoors in a natural amphitheatre.D. Meek, "Religious life: 8 Highlands since the Reformation" in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), , pp. 517-22.
Most of the new converts were relatively young and from the lower groups in society, such as small tenants, craftsmen, servants and the unskilled, with a relatively high proportion of unmarried women. This has been seen as a reaction against the oligarchical nature of the established kirk, which was dominated by local lairds and heritors. Unlike awakenings elsewhere, in the eighteenth century the revival in Scotland did not give rise to a major religious movement, but mainly benefited the secession churches, who had broken away from the Church of Scotland in the eighteenth century.G. M. Ditchfield, The Evangelical Revival (London: Routledge, 1998), , pp. 53 and 91. The Associate Presbytery and Presbytery of Relief had broken from the Church of Scotland over issues of patronage in the mid-eighteenth century. The Associate Presbytery then split over the Burgess oath imposed after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, with one faction forming the separate General Associate Synod.M. Lynch, Scotland: a New History (London: Random House, 1991), , p. 293. Between 1799 and 1806 the Old and New Light controversy, with the "Old Lichts" following closely the principles of the Covenanters, while the "New Lichts" were more evangelical and focused on personal salvation,M. Lynch, Scotland: a New History (London: Random House, 1991), , p. 400. split both the Associate and General Associate Presbyteries. This paved the way for a form of reunification, as both the New Licht factions joined together in 1820 to form the United Secession Church, which claimed to have 361 congregations and 261,000 followers at its inception. Thanks to the revival, the secession churches had made headway in recruitment, and by 1830 30 per cent of the Scottish population were members. They made particular advances in the major urban centres. In Glasgow in 1835-36 40 per cent of the population were members and in Edinburgh and it was 42 per cent.M. Lynch, Scotland: a New History (London: Random House, 1991), , pp. 279-81.
The leading figure in the evangelical movement within the Church of Scotland in the eighteenth century was John Erskine (1721–1803), who was minister of Old Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh from 1768. He was orthodox in doctrine, but sympathised with the Enlightenment and supported reforms in religious practice. A popular preacher, he corresponded with religious leaders in other countries, including New England theologian Johnathan Edwards (1703–58), whose ideas were a major influence on the movement in Scotland.
The movement was supported by the publication of Bibles and tracts, such as those printed by Peter Drummond at Stirling from 1848. In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, Scotland gained many of the organisations associated with the revival in England, including Sunday Schools, mission schools, ragged schools, Bible societies and improvement classes.M. Lynch, Scotland: a New History (London: Pimlico, 1992), , p. 403.
First wave
The evangelical revival was a movement that arose within Protestantism at roughly the same time in North America (where it is known as the First Great Awakening), England, Wales and Scotland. It put an emphasis on the Bible, the doctrine of atonement, conversion and the need to practice and spread the gospel.D. W. Bebbington, "Religious life: 6 Evangelism" in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), , pp. 515-16. It began to manifest itself in Scotland in the later 1730s as Protestant congregations, usually in a specific locations, experienced intense "awakenings" of enthusiasm, renewed commitment and, sometimes, rapid expansion. This was first seen at Easter Ross in the Highlands in 1739 and most famously in the Cambuslang Wark (work) near Glasgow in 1742, where intense religious activity culminated in a crowd of perhaps 30,000 gathering there to hear the English preacher George Whitefield.D. Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), , p. 5. Scotland was also visited 22 times by John Wesley, the English evangelist and founder of Methodism, between 1751 and 1790.J. D. Mackie, B. Lenman and G. Parker, A History of Scotland (London: Penguin, 1991), , p. 304.
Second wave
In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century the revival entered a second wave, known in the US as the Second Great Awakening. The early revival had mainly spread in the Central Belt, but the second revival became increasingly important in the Highlands and Islands. It was reflected in events like the Kilsyth Revival in 1839,M. Lynch, Scotland: a New History (London: Pimlico, 1992), , p. 401. the 1849-50 series of revivals that were particularly common among fishing communities and, in the following decade, the movement extended among Lanarkshire miners. Here the lack of a clear parochial structure led to a repeated pattern of spiritual enthusiasm, recession and renewal.M. Lynch, Scotland: a New History (London: Pimlico, 1992), , p. 364. Because the revival occurred at the same time as the transformation of the Highlands into a crofting society, evangelicalism was often linked to popular protest against patronage and the Highland clearances.M. Lynch, Scotland: a New History (London: Pimlico, 1992), , p. 365. Revivals in the Highlands probably peaked towards the middle of the nineteenth century, fed by the Ten Years Conflict and the Great Disruption.
Third wave
A wave of urban revivalism began in New York in 1858, sometimes called the "Layman's Revival" because of the prominence of lay preachers.M. E. Dieter, The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century (Scarecrow Press, 2nd edn., 1996), , p. 75. It reached Scotland the next year following a trade depression and enthusiasm would continue in a heightened form until 1862. In the major manufacturing districts of the country, prayer meetings were held in offices and factories and in the streets of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Some viewed the revival with alarm, as it caused absenteeism from work and long prayer meetings disrupted the working day.C. G. Brown, Religion and Society in Scotland Since 1707 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997), , p. 105. The revival saw an innovation in the introduction of the professional revivalist preacher, including Charles Grandison Finney (1792–1875), who visited Edinburgh in 1859.S. J. Brown, "Beliefs and religions", in T. Griffiths, G. Morton, eds, History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1800 to 1900 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010), , p. 135. Together with Edward Payson Hammond, he introduced the distinctive revivalist service of a short sermon, joyous hymns and calls for members of the congregation to come forward.Brown, Religion and Society in Scotland Since 1707, p. 117.
Impact on the Church of Scotland