The district of Kinnoir forms an outlying part of the parish of Huntly. In the days of the good Duchess of Gordon, a wooden church was erected in the district, and from that time it has annually had the services of a student missionary during the summer months.
Kinnoir is bounded on two sides by the parishes of Drumblade and Rothiemay, in both of which there was very blessed and widespread work early in the spring of this year. This led to much prayer for, and earnest expectation of, a blessing on the district itself. Because of the state of feeling thus produced, arrangements were made for a week of special evangelistic meetings. The first of these was held in the open air, on the evening of Sabbath, the 19th of July. The attendance, between three and four hundred, was very great for a thinly peopled district. A large number adjourned to the church for the second meeting; indeed, so many remained that we could not deal with them individually. The impression in the second meeting was very deep, and the prospect for the series of meetings most encouraging and stimulating. On Monday the meeting was crowded, and very solemn; and at the end of the first meeting, though a few hung about the door, unwilling to go away, none actually remained or would come back. There is often this difficulty near the beginning of a series of meetings. On Tuesday there was again a very fine meeting, and the ice was fairly broken. Six or seven very anxious ones remained. By Thursday night! we felt we could not discontinue the meetings at the end of the week, as we had intended. The interest was deepening and the number of anxious ones increasing night by night. We went on thankfully week after week for four weeks; and there has not been a night, since the Tuesday of the first week, in which we have not had as much work as we could overtake among the anxious.
Because of the approach of harvest, and the difficulty of finding assistance to continue the meetings nightly, the evangelistic meetings have now been reduced to three nights a week, - the other nights being still taken up with meetings specially for those who either profess that they have found Christ, or who are still anxious, conducted by office-bearers and other Christian friends resident in the district.
I am not inclined to specify numbers, but a very large number have been dealt with, avowedly under deep soul-concern, and not a few have professed to find Christ. The greater number have been young men and young women, but also a considerable number more advanced in years. God's people have been very much refreshed, and the whole district has been stirred.
The work in this district has deepened in my mind an impression, common to many who have been much engaged in revival work, that the present time is remarkable above any time they have known in this, - that the blessing has come on almost every district where earnest, prayerful effort has been put forth. Leaving out a few cases where there were obviously exceptional hindrances, it would be difficult to find an instance where two or three weeks of well-sustained evangelistic
meetings has not been attended by a signal blessing. Surely this is most encouraging to all who are concerned about the salvation of souls, to put forth such efforts over the length and breadth of the land.
"Times of Blessing," Sep 17th, 1874.