Eye Witness Accounts
During the revival of 1842 a call was sent to
ministers on the mainland for assistance. One of these was a Rev Mr Fraser from Kirkhill, near Inverness. What follows is part of his account of the visit he subsequently made to Skye:- 	"In October, 1842, it was reported that there was a great religious movement throughout Skye, and that there was need for more ministers. Accordingly I went to assist, accompanied with Mr MacDonald of Urray (Black Isle near Inverness). We found the people ready to assemble in eager crowds on week days as well as on Sabbaths, whether the weather was wet or dry. One day in Bracadale the Rev Mr Glass (Mr Roderick's successor) and I wrote to a remote mission station an intimation that we were to preach. The day was so very rainy that we looked for a very small audience, but to our surprise we overtook group after group wending their way wet and draggled. We came to a rather broad and flooded stream, and for a little hesitated whether we should attempt to ford it through mounted on our horses. After crossing we waited to see what the pedestrians would do. They ingeniously formed a chain, linking arm in arm, the strongest men at the head of it towards upstream. They then stepped in, the men first, bearing the force of the stream supported by the rest, leaning against them. they thus diverted the force of the current from the women who formed the lower part of the chain. All got through slowly, but safely, and proceeded a mile further to the church, wet and dripping. The little Church was filled, and where there was such eagerness to hear the word of God, it was to be expected it would make some impression.
So it was, for about the middle of the service, all heads were down, silently weeping, and wiping their eyes, but, one hard-featured old man who though he held up his head, had some tears running down his furrowed cheek."
Referring to another occasion Fraser, continues:- "On the same day (Oct., 1842), we sent intimation that there would be preaching at Sconcer. The day turned out wet and there was no place for the people to sit with any degree of comfort, but on the shingle of the sea-shore, when the tide was out. For a shelter, and pulpit for the ministers, oars were set upon end and a sail thrown over them.
The Rev Mr Macdonald preached with effect to an eager congregation and we then wished to dismiss them, but they would not go away. They would insist on getting another sermon. I then preached: and after a time the tide was gaining upon us, so that those in front of the tent had to retire by degrees to the sides. Still they would not go away, until I intimated to them that I hoped to preach next day in the Parish Church at Broadford, some eight miles off, where they might go and hear more. This intimation spread, and next day many came great distances to hear; but unfortunately the parish minister would not give the use of the Church on that day, but offered to give it the next day, and word to that effect was sent to those assembling. We were much disappointed as well as they. Among them a boatful of people came from Strathaird, who offered to take us to see the stalactite cave there on condition that we would afterwards preach in their mission Church. We gladly agreed, and set off with them. After a time we landed, the female passengers who ran in various directions intimating that there would be a sermon at three o'clock. At that hour the little Church was crowded. After the sermon, we proceeded to the boat to return to the manse by six o'clock, as had been arranged; but the whole congregation followed us and pled so earnestly for another sermon, many weeping as they spoke, that I agreed to remain, and preached, though at the risk of offending the parish minister, and being denied the use of the Church next day, thereby disappointed hundreds.
The Minister was highly displeased, and went from home next morning without seeing me but left the key of the church. The Church is some distance from the manse, and on arriving at it, we learned that a large congregation had assembled on the previous day, when we had gone to Strathaird, and though disappointed of a sermon they returned this day and crowded the large Church. During the sermon it was necessary to stop twice and sing some verse of a psalm to calm their excited feeling, so impressionable were their minds at the time. What an ordinary congregation would hear with composure, effected them, so that many trembled, others wept aloud, and some fainted. It was altogether a striking scene."
Little known documents uncovered recently have shed new light on just how suddenly revival came to Skye in 1841/42. They also reveal how the revival was initially received in some quarters and the disturbance which accompanied it.
Rev James MacQueen, was minister of the small Baptist Church at Broadford, Isle of Skye, during this time. Revival came in the late Autumn of 1841 and Spring of 1842. The following are extracts from reports which he wrote for the Baptist Home Missionary Society for Scotland:-
June
"As a church we live in love; the people turn out well throughout the station, and although we cannot say that much good is doing, we have reason to believe the Lord has not forgotten us .... "
September -
I suppose you have heard what has occurred at the other end of the Island. They had the sacrament last week, and, I hear, that between 12,000 and 15,000 attended, and that hundreds fell down as if they were dead. This usually commences with violent shaking and crying out, with clapping of hands. Those affected were mostly women and children. We have had two or three instances of it in this station, and it is likely it will go over the whole Island. I think it better to refrain from these men, and let them alone; if it be of man it will come to nought.
December -
I never saw the church so lively and zealous as at present The Lord has enabled me to labour more during the last quarter than I have done any harvest since I came to Skye. The fields were truly white, and no employment hindered the people from attending. I never saw such a general desire to hear in every part of the station, and, indeed, through the whole Island. Four persons were baptised since I last wrote to you. I cannot visit one half of the places to which I am invited. This awakening commenced in the north of Skye, by means of a Gaelic schoolmaster. It has extended to all the parishes of the Island ....
March -
Ten persons have been baptised and added to us since the beginning of the winter, some are making application, and a saving change appears to have taken place on several in different parts of the station. .... As to the revival, things are more moderate. The crying and fainting are dying away in most places, but the desire to hear is the same. The revival has extended to the mainland; in some parishes it is at its height, and the people are carried home in carts."
In the Summer of 1842, Mr Angus Ferguson, the minister of the Uig Baptist Church, died . His brother Duncan Ferguson travelled to Uig in Skye at that time. During his stay on the Island it is reported that he witnessed "those contortions and screamings which have been so frequent." One evening while preaching he was "obliged to conclude, being unable to hear his own voice".
The same document clearly shows that the "fire" was not restricted to Skye. Reports clearly indicate a "stirring" in other areas of the Highlands and Islands. For example John MacIntosh of Lochgilphead reports of December 1842, " .... we baptised six persons in the presence of nearly a thousand spectators. .... there is an uncommon movement and an unsatiable desire to hear. Sinners are awakened, or receive peace of mind almost every week; the houses can hardly contain the hearers."