This sermon delves into the background and characteristics of the 1949 revival in Lewis, highlighting the influence of Scripture, the emphasis on prayer, and the deep spiritual heritage of the community. It explores how the revival was already present through the praying people before Duncan Campbell's arrival, emphasizing the importance of prayer and the Word of God in preparing hearts for revival.

...and eventually it was prepared, the ground was prepared, and God sent Duncan Campbell to Barbos. But in the meantime, God had been working, and whilst Duncan Campbell was at Barbos, let me say this, there in Ness, just 15 miles north of Barbos, there they had, the minister had got two brothers from Broadford, Reverend McSween and his brother was a headmaster, he got them to hold one, Reverend McSween, came and held a campaign for a week, and then his brother came and held another one, and then the minister came and held another one. Now that happened whilst Campbell was in Barbos. The full churches in Ness, that church was filled again and again, people were waiting, and waiting for the word of God, they were in great expectancy. Now in Barbos, just 15 miles south of the very north of Ireland, there Duncan Campbell came in 1940. He came to the mission in 1920, the faith mission, and then he left it in 1925, he went into the United Free Church, he was in Ardasa, in the sky, then across in Baltimore, across on the other side on the east coast, and then part of the scene there, they have what they call the Orient Bank, which is a small communion, but it's not a communion, it's just an evangelistic, seriously, in every church. Now he was invited to Barbos to have that thing, to speak at that thing. So now revival was already there, people were already inside it. There was the movement in Ness, there was the movement here in Barbos, the people were praying and praying and praying. By the way, that story that Duncan Campbell tells about how the men came together in a barn, it wasn't a barn, it was a thatched cottage, but he thought it was a barn. But they gathered together there, and there was a man who read Psalm 34, do you remember the story? Who shall ascend up into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place with clean hands and a pure heart? And the man stopped, and he stopped and he said, are my hands clean, is my heart pure? Now when we told that story, nobody remembered that, because that kind of, when that happened, numbers of men fell into a trance and started complaining, and revival had come. That's the story that we hear. But so many other meetings were held like that, that that wasn't even in England. Nobody remembers that. Because there were so many like that. God was working all over the place. And people were praying all over the place. Now, so, and when Mr. Campbell eventually came, and the movement began in Barbos, then he returned back to the main man and back again, and other ministers took part, and the movement continued. And the praying men of Barbos and of the other places they were out about, my word, they were the men upon whom the burden came. They would get up and stand to pray, prayer was normally about 20 minutes or half an hour, and God would come down as they prayed. And there was a mighty time when they stood there and prayed. I mean, I heard Rory and I pray in 1964, I was there in a school hall, and they had it in Barbos, in Barbos school hall. The minister, the man who was leading the meeting asked Rory, and he prayed. I didn't understand a word he was praying. I got it. I looked round, and I looked at this man. I thought, my word, anything can happen. There's such a power in this place now. I don't understand what he's saying, but my word, my sense, God is here in the midst. Now that's the kind of thing that was happening again and again, in one meeting after another. The praying men carried the revival. So it was a revival of prayer, even before Campbell came. And what he said, that when he was described as the man who brought revival to Lewis, he said he was very pained with that. He was very annoyed with that. And he said, I did not bring revival to Lewis. The revival was there before I ever went to Lewis. That is absolutely accurate. It was there already, amongst the praying people of the community. Now that puts this revival in its perspective. There were many revivals. And when 49, he came to the Church of Scotland. Now the large church in the islands is the Free Church. So that it was, by virtue of the fact that he went to the Church of Scotland, he went from one Church of Scotland to another Church of Scotland, it was then a smaller revival than others where the revival had taken place in the Free Church, which is the larger church. Whilst many of the Free Church people joined the Church of Scotland, and enjoyed these meetings and were saved. So that is the background of the 1949 revival. And a very important background because that is not understood by many people. So now, I want to speak to you just upon this evening, this morning, on the characteristics of this revival. So first of all, the first characteristic is the influence of Scripture and the form of the Bible. The Sunday schools, the people who went to the Sunday schools, but they learnt Scripture in the schools. They learnt the catechism of by heart, the Westminster Shorthand. One hundred questions, they knew it. These children, they would come back with, quote, repentance and prayer is this and that. They would know this. They were taught, they were theologically educated, even though they were unsaved. Now, that was the heritage of the revival. And the fact that the Word of God was held in high regard throughout all the communities at that time, was a very definite and wonderful thing in the island. My wife Mary says, successive revivals in the island since the great revival in Gooey in the 1820s had brought the Scriptures into prominence in the schools and they were there, we were taught to honour the Word of God and to memorise it. We all memorised many Psalms and whole chapters in both English and Gaelic. In our home, my unsaved father would conduct worship each night. And there was a righteousness in the community. I mean, for the whole of that 2,000, or then about 2,500, 3,000 people in that Ness area with the 14 villages, there was one peaceman, and he existed to sign forms. And then going 15 miles south to Barbos, there was another one peaceman. He and he existed to help all the people in the district of Barbos. So, you know, there was an inherent honesty and righteousness. Now, the Word of God was there. The people respected the things of God. And so when the revival came, they were able to respond to that which they already knew in their own hearts. And they were not only the influence of the Scripture, but the use of Scripture, secondly, in the revival. This revival was Bible sent. Duncan Campbell preached the Word of God. Again and again he would go. My wife says that he went from Genesis to Revelation preaching the Word every night, quoting, quoting, quoting Scripture. And so he said, he seemed to go from Genesis to Revelation preaching the Word. He quoted so much it applied to our hearts. We were confronted by what God said. This was his authority, and this was the strength of his preaching. He, Duncan said, preached the Word, sing the Word, live the Word, anything outside of this has no sanction in heaven. He was a Bible preacher, and that was central to the revival. So we have the influence of Scripture, and the use of Scripture, and then prayer. Prayer. This is a marvelous part of the whole movement. Prayer was absolutely part of the whole scene. Prayer. There seemed to be a compulsion to pray, and we did pray. Norman Campbell says, there had been revival in 1939, a revival in which prayer was a dominant factor. No preacher led the movement, but people came to the Lord in the prayer meetings in their homes. Catherine Campbell speaks about the 39th revival. She says, the 39th revival was still fresh in the memories of my parents and their friends, and they were very burdened for the lost, always. The 39th revival was born in prayer, and that spirit of prayer continued, eventually increasing until the 49th revival.