However, he later wrote the following qualification: "It will be readily acknowledged that the terrible visitation of the Cholera was principally the means of arousing the attention of our hearers to consider seriously the important truths with which they were already theoretically acquainted ...".
Lewis made the following informative observations: 1849 – This year has been remarkable for cholera epidemic [sic] in England and Wales.
Thousands have died from the disease, which caused a panic among the people – the mere hearers of the Word.
[5] It had its roots in the Third Great Awakening (1857–1859) in the United States,[6] which Jones had experienced in New York City.
He subsequently documented, in two follow-up letters to Wills, detailed enthusiastic accounts of the revival.