Jeremiah Lanphier, a name no one recalls outside of Bible scholars.
Born in Coxsackie, New York in 1809 to a farming family. At 16, he apprenticed
to a cloth merchant and also studied music. Jeremiah opened his own business at
the same time he joined the Broadway Tabernacle choir at the church built for
Revivalist Charles Finney. Under his preaching, Jeremiah became a Christian.
As wealthy families moved away from lower Manhattan, the
churches moved with them. But Lanphier continued to live in lower Manhattan,
serving the Lord where he could. He embraced the call to be a city missionary
for the North Dutch Church in Manhattan.
Although Lanphier had no theological training, he was a
remarkably good candidate for such a ministry. He never married. His peers
described him as tall with a pleasant personality. He was full of energy and
perseverance. Gifted in music, prayer, and preaching. Jeremiah was noted for
his modest demeanor, his piety, and good judgment.
Ministry begins
On July 1,1857, he closed his business and took on his
lay-minister calling with determination. Going door to door, visiting homes,
passing out religious tracts, and inviting people to church filled his days. Additionally,
he invited children to Sunday School and encouraged the hotels to direct their
guests to services. All of this with little to show for his efforts.
Lanphier was given
the task of reaching the growing population of New York. At the time,
Manhattan's population was multiplying rapidly—immigrants, workers, and
businessmen filled the streets. Few had any connection to church or faith. He
struggled trying to fulfill his calling. People were busy, some distracted just
trying to survive. Others were uninterested in the Gospel. Thus, he tried
something different.
Lanphier found prayer brought him peace and contentment. He
resolved to start a prayer meeting for businessmen. As a former business owner,
he knew the value of time for them. During lunch, all the businesses were
closed—a perfect time to pray. He sent out handbills inviting people to attend
a prayer meeting every Wednesday during their lunch hour. The flyer encouraged
people to come when they could between noon and one and stay as long as they
liked; be it five minutes, twenty minutes, or the whole hour.
On September 23, 1857, he placed a sign outside the church
directing people to the prayer room. The first meeting he prayed alone for
thirty minutes, then one man came and before the hour was up, there were four
more. Six men in attendance might have seemed like a failure, but Lanphier was
persistent.
The next week there were twenty, the third week forty. and
by October the prayer meeting became a daily gathering. There were few simple
rules for the prayer meeting that Lanphier politely but firmly enforced: that
those praying out loud were to be limited to five minutes and that no
controversial topics were to be discussed. Women who attended the meetings
could make requests, but weren't permitted to pray out loud. In the early days,
hundreds of prayer requests came in to the Fulton Street meeting from all parts
of the country. What was later known as the Fulton Street Revival was in full
swing.
Fulton Street Revival Grows
By January 1858, the
church had opened a second room and by February a third, so prayers were going
on simultaneously each noon. As many as twenty noon prayer meetings were being
held throughout Manhattan. In mid-March Burton Theater, capable of holding
3,000, was crowded for the prayer meetings. By the end of March, every downtown
New York church and public hall was filled to capacity. Ten thousand men were
gathering daily for prayer.
It has been estimated that as many as a million people were
converted in 1858 and 1859, more than 3% of United States population of less
than thirty million.
For years after the revival, Lanphier continued to hold his
daily prayer meeting in lower Manhattan. As The New York Times wrote
after his retirement in 1893, "success did not elate him, nor was he
discouraged by indifference."
The man was quietly faithful to his
calling. He retired in 1893 due to age and failing eyesight. It is estimated
that he oversaw more than 11,000 prayer meetings, where more than a half
million people attended over 36 years, and that 56,000 prayers had been offered
and 225,000 written requests for prayer had come in.
Lanphier died on
December 26, 1898. He left no famous sermon or other legacy that caused him to
be remembered beyond the Christian circles he served in. Although he is given
credit for starting the Fulton Street Revivals, scholars argue it had already
begun before the prayer meetings started. Either way, Jeremiah Lanphier carried
the torch of prayer consistently, daily leading others, lifting up the lost to
the Lord.
Even after the
revival ended, he never abandoned his calling to prayer. On the 150th
Anniversary of the Prayer Meeting Revival, sculptor Lincoln Fox created a statue
of Lanphier sitting on a park bench with Bible in hand, inviting passersby to
pray, on the site where the Fulton Street Revival began. Later it was moved to
the lobby of King's College.
Although he never
sought fame, he impacted millions of lives through consistent prayer. What a
wonderful reminder for believers.
Have you ever heard
of the Fulton Street Revival or Jeremiah Lanphier?
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Cindy
Ervin Huff, is a multi-published award-winning author in Historical and
Contemporary Romance. She’s a 2018 Selah
Finalist. Cindy has a passion to encourage other writers on their journey. When
she isn’t writing, she feeds her addiction to reading and enjoys her retirement
with her husband of 50 plus years, Charles. Visit her at www.cindyervinhuff.com.
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