Crossing the Tyne to North Shields, we happily meet with similar tokens of religious prosperity. Mr Jeremiah Gilbert was appointed to superintend this circuit by the Conference of 1823. He arrived on the 1st of July and was highly gratified with the evidence of religious prosperity which he beheld. He says, — “The Lord is doing a great work in this part of the country. Thomas and John Nelson have been made a blessing." On the 20th, he and his brethren held a camp-meeting on Scaffold Hill, in the neighbourhood of North Shields. Thousands of persons attended, and many sinners were brought to the Saviour. In the evening a love-feast was held in the open-air when several other persons were made happy in the love of God.
The following Sabbath he spent at Newcastle and the neighbourhood, with similar satisfaction and success. In the morning he preached at Ballast Hills, to a congregation of a thousand persons, according to his estimation, when a cry for mercy was heard, the salvation obtained. In the afternoon, he conducted a powerful love-feast at Newcastle, when ten persons found the liberty of the Gospel; and in a prayer-meeting, held after preaching in the open-air in the evening, three more mourners were comforted.
From, ‘The History of the Primitive Methodist Connexion from its origin, by John Petty, 1860, p173.
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