Monday night, preached in Great Homer street chapel Liverpool. The Rev. Mr. Farrar was present, and many of the leaders and local preachers, and a good congregation; text, 1 Cor. x. 15. In this sermon, I endeavoured to lay down a few great principles, and the Lord applied the whole by his Spirit; afterwards we had a powerful prayer meeting, but none converted.
Mr Farrar and his official board were unanimously of opinion, that a special effort should now be made for a revival, and that the meetings should be continued in this chapel. During the first week we had small congregations; my soul was much assisted from on high; glad of an opportunity of using those weapons which are not carnal, “but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds.” The week ended, and we had only one sinner converted. Sabbath, 13th, I preached in the afternoon to the sailors, aboard of the Bethel ship, having been invited to do so by Captain Hudson, chaplain for the port. We had a very gracious season. The services, during the ensuing week, were interfered with by tea meetings for important purposes; and no sinners, I believe, were converted. The following Sabbath evening, the Lord opened my way to Great Homer street chapel pulpit, and there was a shaking among the dry bones; text, 1 Kings xviii. 21; and from that night the work of God has advanced with majesty and power.
Last Sabbath afternoon, I met those who had found mercy since the 7th of November. The meeting for the young converts was conducted in a similar manner to that I described in Cork. One hundred and thirteen persons came forward, and in the most distinct manner, and with many tears, declared, that God for Christ’s sake had pardoned their sins. Many who had found salvation, but who did not understand the nature of the meeting, were not present; but thirty additional persons gave their names in the evening, as trophies of redeeming love. All glory be to God!
My labours are now nearly finished in this town. On the nights of the 5th, 6th, and 7th of April, 1843, I preached farewell sermons in Great Homer street, Brunswick, and Pitt Street chapels. Two of those nights, the rain came down in torrents, but this did not prevent the chapels from being crowded.
The Wesleyan Methodists, English and Welsh, have seven principal chapels in town; the Brunswick, Wesley, and Great Homer Street are the most elegant. Four of them are furnished with handsome and fine-toned organs. That in Great Homer Street I consider the sweetest and most powerful; and full justice is done to the instrument, by the accomplished organist. His ear seems to be acute for poetry as for music. It is sufficient for the officiating minister to emphasize a word, or line, in the verse, and I have seldom observed an absence of a corresponding expression in the music.
The congregation appear to have more confidence in uniting with the organ than I have ever witnessed in any place of worship. The life and soul he throws into the instrument allure or compel the people to sing. Such a state of things tends admirably to the liveliness and devotion of the audience: and it is desirable that every organist should endeavour to bear with a little inaccuracy or discord, now and then, for the sake of encouraging the congregation to unite heartily in this very important part of the worship of God. In this chapel, for the first time in my life, I have had liberty granted me to select any hymn in the book, for the service; and I assure you, I have luxuriated amidst some of the most sublime and beautiful poetry in the collection; which, though often admired, I never before dared to offer in the sanctuary. Years ago, I copied the following lines from one of the poets, and sometimes in the course of my travels, have had them delightfully realized; but never as in the Great Homer street Wesleyan chapel, and. throughout such a succession of services: -
“The silenced preacher yields to potent strain,
And feels that grace his prayer besought in vain;
The blessing thrills through all the labouring throng,
And heaven is won by violence of song.”
Est 1848 - destroyed by enemy action May 1941, closed 1958
I cannot trace where this chapel was in the street.