H. Moule

Handley Moule tells of a revival in his father's parish at Fordington, near Dorchester, in the mid-19th century:

"I must not close without a memory, however meagre, of one wonderful epoch in the parish. It was the Revival. The year was 1859, 'that year of the right hand of the Most High', when, beginning with a noon prayer meeting in the premises of a church in New York, a spiritual movement wide and marvellous spread over the States, was felt in the West Indies, and touched even ships on the Atlantic, so that once and again a liner reached New York 'with a revival on board' which had originated on the voyage. Ulster was profoundly and lastingly moved and blessed. Here and there in England it was the same, and Fordington was one of the scenes of the divine awakening. For surely it was divine. No artificial means of excitement were dreamt of; my Father's whole genius was against it. No powerful personality, no Moody or Aitken, came to us. A city-missionary and a London Bible-woman were the only helpers from a distance. But a power not of man brought souls to ask the old question, 'What must I do to be saved?' Up and down the village the pastor and the pastoress, and their faithful helpers, as they went their daily rounds, found the 'anxious'. And the Church was thronged to overflowing, and so was the spacious schoolroom, night after night throughout the week. The very simplest means carried with them a heavenly power. The plain reading of a chapter often conveyed the call of God to men and women, and 'they came to Jesus as they were'."

"I do not think I exaggerate when I say that hundreds of people at that time were awakened, awed, made conscious of eternal realities. And a goodly number of these showed in all their after life that they were indeed new creatures, born again to a living hope and to a steadfast walk."