In the autumn of the same year open-air meetings were held in the Barrack Park in this town. On the second day several of the ministers and others, fearing lest there should be no blessing, retired, on the suggestion of Matheson, in great heaviness of spirit to pray. Kneeling on the grass, we continued in intercession for nearly two hours. It was one of those seasons of agonizing prayer which seem ever to precede a remarkable display of Divine grace. It was the slumbering spouse arousing herself with painful effort at the call of her Lord; the laborious undoing of the bars of the everlasting gates to let the King of glory in. By the end of the praying the darkened sky began to pour down torrents of rain, and the mass of the people, with most of the speakers, were dispersed. The voice of Duncan Matheson was heard calling aloud, "Perhaps God is trying us by the rain; let us wait a little." Gideon's three hundred remained and continued in prayer and praise. Mr Campbell (Aberdeen), whose labours were so signally owned amongst us at that time, together with his friend our evan¬gelist, and another, leading the services amidst descending torrents. Just as the sun was beginning to shine out again and the rain was ceasing, an extraordinary sense of the Divine Presence fell upon the whole assembly. Suddenly the Christians were filled with great joy. Simultaneously many of the anxious found the Lord and began to break forth in songs of praise. Everyone began to speak to his neighbour of the Saviour he was seeking or the Saviour he had found. On passing through the whole company, we did not find one who was not either rejoicing in Christ or seeking Him with intense earnestness. The cloud of glory rested there for a season, and no visible signs or miraculous gifts could have added to the blessed consciousness and most veritable certainty of the immediate presence and gracious working of God. Mr "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth; . .. and of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." Many of the believers, if not all, were then sealed anew, and they began henceforth to testify to the grace of God with great freedom and boldness. Some Christians who had never known assurance were then ushered into the full light of the gospel; their bonds were loosed, and they entered into the liberty of the sons of God. Many sought and found the Lord upon the spot. The door of salvation then seemed to be peculiarly near, easy of entrance and inviting. Whilst you were praying with an enquirer, he would break out, "Oh, I have found Him!" or "I see! I see!"
After this the work went on prosperously; numbers were found awakened at the close of every meeting. Many thousands attended the open-air services, and great power accompanied the word.
From ‘Life and Labours of Duncan Matheson’ by John Macpherson, published in 1871.