Daniel Rowland
"Howell Harris gave an account of the preaching of Daniel Rowland in Wales during March 1743: ‘O! Such power as generally attends the labours of brother Rowland, in particular, is indeed uncommon and almost incredible until one sees it himself.
"Their singing and praying is indeed full of God! O! How did my soul burn with sacred love when I was among them! They fall almost as dead by the power of the Word, and continue weeping for joy, having found the Messiah; some mourning under a sense of their vileness, and some in the pangs of the new birth!
"I am now in Pembrokeshire where Rowland has been preaching; he has been wonderfully attended with blessing in these borders also. The power at the conclusion of his sermons, was such that multitudes continued weeping and crying out for the savior and could not possibly forbear.’
"In 1858 John Girardeau was leading an evening service at this church in Charleston, North Carolina, when ‘He received a sensation as if a bolt of electricity had struck his head and diffused itself through his whole body.
"For a little while he stood speechless under the strange physical feeling. Then he said, ‘The Holy Spirit has come; we will begin preaching tomorrow evening.’
"He closed the service with a hymn, dismissed the congregation, and came down from the pulpit. But no one left the house. The whole congregation had quietly resumed its seat.
"Instantly he realized the situation. The Holy Spirit had not only come to him; He had also taken possession of the hearts of the people. Immediately he began exhorting them to accept the Gospel. They began to sob, softly, like the falling rain; then, with deeper emotion, to weep bitterly, or to rejoice loudly, according to their circumstances.
"It was about midnight before he could dismiss his congregation. A noted evangelist from the North, who was present, said, between his sobs, to an officer of the church: ‘I never saw it on this fashion.’ The meeting went on night and day for eight weeks.
"During 1905 the pastor of Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh visited Wales and when he related the story of God’s great work in Wales to his own congregation a movement of the Spirit began there also. The following year a fresh wave of new life came to the church: ‘It was at a late prayer meeting, held in the evening at 9:30, that the fire of God fell.
"There was nothing, humanly speaking, to account for what happened. Quite suddenly, upon one and another came an overwhelming sense of the reality and awfulness of His presence and of eternal things. Life, death, and eternity seemed suddenly laid bare. Prayer and weeping began, and gained in intensity every moment.
"As on the day of laying the foundation of the second temple, ‘the people could not discern the noise of the shouts of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people.’ (Ezra 3.13)
"One was overwhelmed before the sudden bursting of the bounds. Could it be real? We looked up and asked for clear directions, and all we knew of guidance was, ‘Do nothing.’
"Friends who were gathered sang on their knees. Each seemed to sing, and each seemed to pray, oblivious of one another. Then the prayer broke out again, waves and waves of prayer; and the midnight hour was reached. The hours passed like minutes."
(Excerpt from Revival! A People Saturated With God, by Brian Edwards (Evangelical Press, England) 1990, p. 11-12.)