MEETINGS AT EAST CAMPBELL STREET U.P. CHURCH
THE Rev. Dr WALLACE of East Campbell Street United Presbyterian Church, Glasgow, writes to us as follows:
The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof the present blessed awakening, which God in His mercy has granted us during this precious time of visitation. Truly God has fulfilled His own promise: "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." Had we been told at the commencement of this year of the scenes which we have lately witnessed, - crowded prayer meetings at noon, nightly prayer meetings for young men, hundreds of anxious inquirers manifesting intense interest in the concerns of their souls; in short, had we been told that ere the springtime would come and pass away there would be such a fresh outburst of spiritual life, we should have felt inclined to say, as the prime minister of Israel did when Elisha, prophesied that there would be plenty of food sold at the market price in the gate of Samaria within twenty-four hours, when the famine was sore in the land, "Behold if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?' It has been; "times of refreshing' have come, and unto God be all the glory and all the praise! It is with a grateful heart that we place on record some of "the things which we have seen and heard"
On the 24th March, Mr Moody began a series of four meetings in East Campbell Street United Presbyterian Church. Admission was by ticket and the hour of meeting 8 o'clock each evening. The ticket bore the words that the meeting was "for men who wished to become Christians," and young men were specially invited to be present. Mr Moody's subject of address on the first evening (Tuesday, 24th March) was taken from the first three verses of the 10th Psalm. Fully a hundred young men remained to the inquiry meeting. Groups of anxious inquirers were scattered all over the church. On Wednesday evening the meeting was still more largely attended, and at the close about one hundred and fifty remained to be spoken to. On Thursday evening the number was increased to two hundred. At the meeting on Friday evening about two thousand persons were present. Mr Moody's theme was the "love of God," and a profound impression was produced. About three hundred remained to be spoken to by ministers and other Christian workers. Many professed to find Christ and went home rejoicing. The writer of this spoke to three young lads, and it has never been his privilege to witness such evident tokens of the melting power of the Divine Spirit. He has met them several times since, and their "joy still abounds." The interest created by these assemblies was such that we felt constrained to follow them up by a series of nightly meetings, extending over two weeks. Mr Brownlow North gave six addresses, and these were evidently much blessed to not a few. At several of these gatherings, which were thrown open, like the noonday meeting, for prayer and remarks, several young men stood up, and sweetly and humbly testified to the "blessing which they had got." This has become a very significant phrase in these days. All our prayer meetings have been thrown open, and with the very best results. Unction, brevity, variety are indispensable to a successful "sweet hour of prayer?" This is the communion week, and work presses, but I cannot withhold my humble testimony to the gracious and blessed character of the greatest awakening which I have ever seen. Never have I had so many applicants for admission to the Lord's table for the first time as at this season, but the spirit in which they express themselves are something still more satisfactory than mere numbers. God in mercy grant that the tide of blessing may deepen and spread throughout the whole land!
"Times of Blessing", April 18th, 1874.