the Cambuslang Wark (Scots for ‘work’) was a bizarre - and peculiarly well documented - period of seven or eight months (February - November 1742) of extreme religious activity and mass hysteria that took place in Cambuslang, just outside of Glasgow, Scotland
events revolved around William McCulloch, the Minister for Cambuslang. The Minister was greatly interested in the Great Awakening which was sweeping Europe and the colonies of New England. Because of his son’s work as a colonial trader, and because of the mercantile relationship between the West of Scotland and the colonies, he had intimate contact with the energetic religious revitalisation taking place across the Atlantic
the Minister had already taken to preaching outside in the nearby gorge, because of the kirk’s (church) poor state of repair and he began to work letters received from the colonies into his sermons. He was also greatly interested in the Calvinist theology of conversion - the irresistible inner calling of the Holy Spirit that affected some followers. His sermons were unremarkable until Monday 15th February, when all of the congregation’s Fellowships arrived and spent several days praying, discussing, in wonder of the events being reported from the Great Awakening
the usual outdoor Thursday sermon went ahead that same week, except it was reported that the congregation were paying closer attention than usual to the Minister’s words. Normally, during Scottish worship, the crowd was solemn & unresponsive. On that day there was a public, passionate outcry in response to the Minister’s questions. After worship around 50 people came back to the Minister, expressing their conviction of sin & their fear of Infernal punishment in the afterlife
thus began a huge influx of people to Cambuslang- so much so that McCulloch took to preaching every day. Many who flocked to worship were haunted by their sins and the sense that they would be punished for them. It was reported that they were "bewailing their lost and undone condition by nature; calling themselves enemies to God, and despisers of precious Christ; declaring that they were unworthy to live on the face of the earth; that they saw the mouth of hell open to receive them, and that they heard the shrieks of the damned“ with the pervading cry at worship being ”what shall we do to be saved?“ As the spiritual frenzy took hold of them they beat their breasts, trembled, were seized by contortions, suffered nosebleeds, and fainted. One woman reported that the experience was more painful than childbirth
those who found themselves so vigorously affected often returned the next day, bandaged and bruised, and sat at the entrance of the tent, or in the front row of the sermon, and wept, and stayed on to pray through the night
this stage in Calvinist conversion was known as “Conviction” - the conviction of the sinner. It was followed, not for all, but for some, by “Conversion”, a sense of elation, a dismissal of will to the Holy Spirit. They were “raised all at once from the lowest depth of sorrow and distress, to the highest pitch of joy and happiness, crying out with triumph and exultation…that they had overcome the wicked one; that they had gotten hold of Christ!” and the Converted reportedly asked the congregation to sing & rejoice in their salvation & euphoria
people from across Scotland, Ireland, and England journeyed to Cambuslang to witness this dynamic spiritual sensation & ministers from across the country came to help McCulloch preach to the masses
August saw the peak of the Wark, when George Whitefield, a founder of Methodism and evangelism and perhaps the best known preacher of the 18th century, fresh from his travels across Britain and the colonies, delivered a sermon to 30,000 people in the site now known as the ‘Preaching Braes’ (pictured above on the left is an artist’s interpretation of the day; on the right a monument in what is now Cambuslang Park honouring the Wark)
William McCulloch was an unlikely figure to be at the centre of such an extraordinary, radical phenomenon. He was a learned man - competent in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics, and astronomy - but was a notoriously poor public speaker. His slow delivery earned him the title of the “yil (ale) minister”, because when he took his place to preach the men rushed to the taverns, “neglecting spiritual food in the search of bodily refreshment”. Furthermore, he himself had never experienced the elation of Conversion he urged his followers to seek, describing himself as “nothing but a hollow hypocrite” and a “perfect stranger to it himself”. He was sincere, studious, depressive, and haunted by “atheistic thoughts and blasphemous suggestions”. He suffered piercing headaches from his grief and complained of being crushed by the weight of his pride and “self-carnality”. In retrospect, he was probably going through some sort of mental breakdown, and it is unclear whether he himself ever experienced the euphoria he sought in Conversion
to this day, the reasons for the Cambuslang Wark are debated and unclear. As a supposed supernatural phenomenon some have claimed that it was a call from the devil (the Associate Presbytery deemed it to be an ungodly church, and claimed that God would never act in such spectacular ways, that the congregation were suffering the “delusions of satan”); others that it was a Divine call (the Church of Scotland rejoiced, proclaiming it to be the “glorious work of God”). A secular theory attributes it to national interest in the New England colonies, a growing awareness of Calvinist theology (which weavers read as they worked at their looms), and the distress of tailors and shoemakers following the previous year’s bad harvests
regardless of the cause, the Cambuslang Wark remains an extraordinary, radical religious event which will most likely remain a vague and enigmatic, but extremely well preserved, point in the town’s history. The constituent pieces of this eight month historical tapestry are all in bizarre, unexpected shapes and weave a strangely uncomfortable and wonderfully, Infernally enchanting pattern