Donaldson's Lodge is regarded as the most Methodistic society in the circuit today, and the full story of its rise and progress is crammed with romantic elements. George Holmes, of Wark, a local preacher, was amongst the earliest visitors to "The Lodge"; but it was in the seventies when the glory cloudburst over the thirsty land in the Marmion country. It was a time of power, expansion, and permanent planting remarkable in the history of Lowick Circuit. In the opening years of the decade there were signs of spiritual awakening in the station. It was then that William D. Dunn, an evangelist known throughout Scotland and the North of England, was first brought prominently into the field; it was then that William A. French made his signal mark upon the station; it was then that Henry Yooll, jun., was living at high pressure, and that he and the people became fused in soul; it was then that Joseph Hawkins led the hosts of Israel into the enemy’s camp on the Scottish side, and did exploits in the name of the Lord of Hosts. After repeated invitations from Donaldson s Lodge and elsewhere, it was decided that Mr Dunn should go to the Lodge for three days, and he and Miss Easton sang through the village. The meeting place was filled, but when the prayer meeting was announced, after preaching, only one or two remained. While John Johnston, who was sorely afflicted with asthma, was gasping out his petitions to the Lord, two young women fell prone upon the floor, cried for mercy, and obtained pardon. An elderly woman was so overcome the same night that neighbours had to carry her home, and put her to bed. These occurrences made a sensation in the village, and the people flocked in such numbers to the meetings that a partition had to be taken down, and even the doubled space became too straight. Subsequently, a farmer, an avowed unbeliever, gave his barn to the revivalists. Night after night souls were saved, and it scarcely abated for three years. French, Yooll, McKinley, Hawkins, and Dunn, aided by willing and able local preachers, were in the thick of the fray; and the Lodge became a centre of spiritual power, from whence mission bands went to all the country round, and grace abounded to the chief of sinners.
‘Northern Primitive Methodism’ by W M Patterson, published 1909, page 376.
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