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1893/4 – CHRISTIAN REVIVAL in Hopeman

Preface – by John McPherson 2019

During the latter part of the 1800’s and the early 1900’s there was a significant revival of the Christian faith where evangelists toured Scotland spreading the Gospel.  One such preacher was a Mr McKendrick who was born into a mining family in Ayrshire during 1859 .  He left school at the age of nine and with no formal training became a preacher and evangelist during his early twenty’s.  This he did for over twenty-five years covering the greater portion of the British Isles along with a tour of Australia.  During 1893/4 he spent around four to six weeks in Hopeman where, along with another evangelist called Mr McFarlane, around 300 professed to have been saved.

The following is an extract from his book ‘Seen and Heard’ which is part of The Pioneer Series of books published by Gospel Tract Publications which portray the lives and labours of past missionaries and evangelists.

Chapter 24 – Hopeman Revival

Hopeman is a large fishing village betwixt Burghead and Lossiemouth. Mr McFarlane had gone there for two weeks and had seen much blessing. He had to go to Avoch, intending to return to Hopeman later, but circumstances prevented, so he wrote asking me to take his place. He assured me that during his visit many had been saved, that there was every sign of an increased spiritual revival, and that he would come and join me as soon as possible.

I went and found all that he had said was true. At least about twenty people had been truly saved, and most of them were longing for the salvation of others. Three young men especially, who were boon companions, were showing much zeal and no little ability, and God was using their efforts to awaken sinners. When I arrived on the scene, it was to find a prepared people longing for salvation. The services were held in a large granary, which at that season of the year was always empty. About 400 people could be packed into it, and it was filled up to its utmost capacity the first night. The singing was the best I ever heard by a congregation. I did not propose an after meeting, being tired with my long journey that day from Fort George, but I spoke with many as they passed out, asking them if they had been saved during Mr McFarlane’s visit.

At my lodgings we sat and talked till about 1130, when there was a knock on the door. I heard my host say when he had opened it, “Oh, it’s you Sandy; come in”.  The man asked if Mr McKendrick was in bed. “Oh no!” replied my host,” he’s here.”  Aweel, I want tae speak tae him.  I gaed hame frae the meetin, and gaed tae bed, but I couldna sleep, and so I arose, and I’ve just hurried ower tae speak tae him.”

I heard all this and called out to him to come inside. He came in looking very distressed. I asked ”What do you want to say to me?”  “Weel,” he replied, “when I was guan oot o’ the granary, at the tap o the stair ye asked me if I was saved, an’ I said Ay, but I kent fine I was tellin’ a lee; an’ only said Ay tae get past ye. Oh! I gaed hame a meeserable man, for I thocht whit a wicked thing it was tae say, God had saved me when he had daen naething o’ the kind. Oh! tae think I tell’t a lee aboot God.

His grief was great, as the penitential tears rolled down his face. It was with great difficulty I could persuade him that God would forgive and save him, for his sin seemed so awful, and he kept repeating “Oh” tae think I tell’t a lee aboot God.” Sandy, however, was truly saved that night, and became a most devoted Christian.

There lived in Hopeman a most remarkable Christian, named Archie McPherson, known and respected by all in that district. When God saved him, he could not read one word, but he soon learned to read the Bible, which was his one book, and the Holy Spirit his only guide and interpreter. He rapidly became a most earnest, able Christian preacher. Evangelical  ministers at the various fishing centres were glad to get Archie take their pulpit, and in every place crowds would flock to hear him. He was not only a godly man, but he was a man of God, with backbone and grit. The minister of the church with which he was connected was a thorough type of the “moderate,”  who did not understand either in theory or practice the principles of grace.  Many a straight talk Archie had given him about his pointless preaching, and its lack of the doctrine of atonement and substitution.  Archie was the principal elder in the kirk, and the minister found him a “thorn in the flesh.”  At length matters came to such a pass that Archie warned him that if he persisted in a certain line of teaching, he would rebuke him publicly.  If the minister thought this an idle threat, he had mistaken his man. In the middle of his sermon one forenoon, Archie stood up and said, “Didn’t I warn you repeatedly against such preaching, and tell you that if you persisted, I would rebuke you publicly?  In the name of God, I utter my protest against all such teaching, as I believe it can only have a soul-damming effect upon any who believe it.”  As may well be imagined, this created a scene. Some approved of Archie’s actions; others condemned it; while women rushed out of the church in excitement, and the service ended amid confusion.

Next day the minister and two like-minded elders visited Archie, asking a withdrawal of his words and an apology, but Archie only added to what he had said in the church; and after much disputation, in which others took part, the matter ended in Archie challenging the minister to bring his manuscript before the Presbytery in Elgin, and he would meet him there. The minister, however, declined the challenge, and Archie ceased church attendance for a considerable time.  Eventually he returned, on the condition that such preaching would not be repeated.

All went well for some months, till one day, preaching from the text: “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord,” the minister said, “Here is the way to God – by your holiness, by your holy living, and not as some would teach, by the Saviour’s death.”  In a flash Archie was on his feet, crying out “How dare you sir, say such a thing in my presence?” And for about ten minutes he denounced the errors  proving all he said from the bible, and finishing by saying, “I call God to witness, and this congregation also, that I have done all I can in public and in private to prevent this preaching in our midst.” Then, turning to his family of grown-up sons four in number, he said, “Rise, and let us leave this place as a protest. Let us wipe the dust off our shoes as a testimony against it.” This he literally did and marched out of the church, followed by his family and others.

All this had happened  about twelve months before our arrival. Archie had hired the Granary and was about to open it for religious services when Mr McFarlane arrived. We soon recognised in him a faithful mad of God and guided by his advice we carried on our Gospel operations in Hopeman, and there, as in other places, the work of God increased daily. Never a day passed without some being saved. The granary and all its stairs could not accommodate the people, but there was a splendid vacant piece of ground adjoining, amphitheatre in shape, and there we erected a platform. The weather was perfect for outdoor meetings and the people crowded to our services. I had seen in other places fishing operations given up, but nowhere else had I seen such absolute abandonment of all other occupations for the Gospel of Ghrist as in Hopeman.

Mr McFarlane by this time had joined me, and for four weeks Hopeman was in the throes of a great revival. The Holy Spirit of God possessed the place – the wail of the  convicted and the anxious and the praise and rejoicings of the saved were to be heard throughout the entire village by day and by night. People flocked from Cummingston, from Burghead, and from all around. These, with the whole people of the village, would be at our open-air meetings. As I have said, the days were perfect, and people should sit on the light, sandy soil without risk of damp or cold. The evenings were so clam that many heard the singing from over a mile away. When we came to invite those that were anxious to be saved  to come into the granary, the scene was indescribable. People could not have been more anxious to get out of a burning house or a sinking ship than they were to get into that granary. Many had their clothes badly torn in the struggle to get up the stair; and there till early morn all who could help the anxious were busily engaged.

Hopeman was one of those fishing villages where drunkenness, with accompanying evils, had a good many slaves.  Strangely enough, two of these victims had the same name, and these two were looked upon as hopeless; but when God’s Holy Spirit is working daily surprises occur, and it was a surprise to all when the news spread the Jock M____ was converted. A few days sufficed to satisfy the most sceptical that a divine work had been wrought in the man, and as he stood up to tell how God had saved him, the big tears rolling down his face, few dry eyes could have been found in that great crowd.  He made his appeal with great force, saying, ”You all know what I was – the sort of life I lived – and if God has saved me, non-need despair. Without trying to be humorous he went on to say, “All of you good people need to be saved, I often thought, if I was just like some of you good people that didn’t drink or swear, I would be all right; but now I can see from the Bible that you good people are all wrong too. Our own goodness will not save us; we all need to be saved by Jesus our Saviour.” He speedily developed into an active, earnest witness for the Saviour.

When we were leaving, this good man said to me; “I wish I had some worthy gift to give you, but I haven’t; but I would like if you could accept this silver chain.” I protested, saying he would need it, but he assured me that he never wore it, but would like me to have it. I accepted his gift and have worn it ever since.

His namesake was an even more notorious character, I had seen him at several meetings, and had reason to believe that his lost condition was becoming very real to him. I called at his home and found it was as I expected, and ere I left I had the joy of seeing him truly born again – his life from that hour giving full proof of the great change. When I went and told our friend Archie that Jock M____ of whom he despaired, was truly saved, he replied, “If Jock is saved, I would not be surprised to hear of the devil next.”

Mr McFarlane and I were walking towards a wood one day and met four women carrying bundles of sticks they had gathered. We began talking about meetings and found that most of them had been saved. Looking at one who seemed uncomfortable, I asked, “are you also saved?”  in a halting way she said, “yes” but it lacked the ring of sincerity. I urged upon her the necessity of being sure about such an important matter.

That night after the service we invited the anxious up to the granary, and the place was packed as usual. I heard a great commotion outside, and a man came up to me and said, “A woman who can’t get any further up the stair is weeping and screaming and says she must see you.” I went to the stair head, and could hear her shouting, “O God forgi’e me, I tell’t a lee! Oh’ whaur’s the man I telt the lee tae? It wis McKendrick I tell’t the lee tae.” They cleared the stairs to get her up, and here I recognised the woman who had told me she was saved.  She cried, ”Oh, Mr McKendrick, will ye pray God to forgi’e me – I tell’t ye a lee. I tell’t ye I wis saved, an’ I wisna. O God forgi’e me.” Her distress was deep and her pertinence real, but she seemed too excited to be spoken too.  I left a friend beside her till she was more composed, and it was then an easy matter to lead her to the Saviour.

These few cases will suffice to show you what extent God’s Holy Spirit was working in Hopeman. About 300 professed to have experienced the saving change at that time. Mr McFarlane was able repeatedly to visit Hopeman later on, and to see with the greatest joy the consistent life of those who were converted.

The month of May had begun, and all the fishing folk were getting ready for the summer herring fishing. Mr McFarlane and I went home, after eight months incessant labour in addressing meetings, and conversing with the anxious every day and at all hours. We were thoroughly wearied and worn out, but oh, so happy at having finished one of the most successful campaigns of our lives. About 1600 people had professed to be saved during these eight months.

We left old Archie a happy man. He often said ”I am like old Sameon.  I can now say, ‘Lord, let thy servant depart in piece, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.’ I have now seen what I have lived for and long prayed for – Hopeman blessed.”

A few months after we left, he set out to go by train to Aberdeen. He had reached the station, purchased his ticket, and was waiting the arrival of the train, when a strange feeling overcame him, as if a fish bone had stuck in his throat. He tried to clear his throat, but without effect.

Now Archie was far from being superstitious man, but he became possessed with the idea that God had said to him, “Return your ticket; you will never need it. I am going to take you home; you are not to go to Aberdeen, but to Heaven.

From the knowledge I have of Archie McPherson I firmly believe that by some means God’s purpose, as he told it, had been revealed to him.  He went home. His wife said, “Were you too late? Did you lose the train?” He replied, “No I am not going to Aberdeen, but have come home to put all things in order ere I go to Heaven.”  She exclaimed, “Oh, Archie, what dae ye mean? Are you trying to frighten me?” “No” he said “I am telling you the truth. Send for the boys, and get all the family together, I am going to bed to die.”  While this conversation was going on, he was busy undressing.  The boys were sent for, the doctor also, and a thorough examination of his throat was made. Nothing could be discovered, but so interested was the doctor in his old friend, and so anxious that nothing should be left undone, that he got a specialist to come and assist. Notwithstanding this, all efforts to convince Archie that there was no organic trouble and that he might expect to live for many years were unavailing. His unswerving answer was, “Doctor I am going home. My father calls me – no power on earth can keep me.”  When he had given instructions as to be what was to be done with the boats and the house property and their money, and all the family had confessed their satisfaction with the distribution, he said, “ Now that all is settled, let us worship God together as a family.” They sang a hymn of praise,  and then he prayed, committing his wife and children to God – naming them one by one like Jacob of old. After this had been done, he said “All is now settled, and I am going home tomorrow.”  And, as he said, so it happened.

People came from many miles around to his funeral; from Inverness and Aberdeen people were gathered. The Aberdeen Free Press, a leading paper in the North of Scotland, reproduced his photograph and devoted about three columns in reporting his funeral, and paid such a tribute to his godly life and character as few people have ever earned. A movement was got up by the Christian public to mark their esteem for the man and his work, and a monument is erected upon his grave, worthy of the man and the esteem in which he was held.

Archie sleeps with many more of the Hopeman converts. We who are still awake and remain, toil  on in the sure and certain hope that “We shall meet beyond the river, when the surges cease to roll.”  This chorus we often sang together in Hopeman, in a way I have never heard it sung elsewhere.

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