The following is the account of the work at St. James' Church, Toxteth-park, for which we had not space last week:-
A really wonderful, nay, astonishing, work is being accomplished in this church this week (Dec. 1-8), and the results have
more than outweighed the expectations of the most credulous. The mission is conducted under the superintendence of the
Rev. S. Chorlton, M.A. Vicar of Pittsmoor, Sheffield, and the Roy. I. H. Gill, M.A, Rector of Whaley Range, Manchester,
assisted by the minister of the church, all three of whom are most anxious to make the mission a succeseful one, and bring
great glory to God. The church, which will seat 1,100 people, is crowded (literally) each evening, forms being placed in the
aisles to accommodate those unable to obtain seats otherwise. The services on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Nov.30, Dec. 1 and 2, were conducted by S Chorlton, while M. Gill followed up the work begun, by preaching on all the following evenings. Visible signs of the effect of the sermon are found in the tears of the people, and the very large after-meetings which follow each service. Most noticeable too is the class of people who attend these services - not the regular congregation only who wished to be stirred up but working men with their white trousers, women without hats or bonnets, loafers around public houses, young lads and old men, all sit side by side and hear the word and message which is common to them all. Practical results follow in a most marked manner after each service. One night eighty-three persons, including two confessed infidels, a noted drunkard etc, professed to have given themselves up to God.
The chief cause of success, after the blessing of God, is the unfaltering zeal which each worker (of whom there are a great
number) possesses and exercises as if the whole mission depended on him or her. Nothing has been spared to induce the people to come in. Round the square tower of the church hang four large printed invitations in large letters "Come to the Mission." On either side, a lighted lamp with the words printed "Come to the Mission" is suspended upon a pole and carried through the streets accompanied by singers who nightly parade the parish. Every house in the parish is visited daily and supplied with a tract, on the back of which is an invitation to the mission. These workers all assemble in the church at the time of service, and together make an attack upon the stronghold of Satan, by conversing with the anxious, and most blessed results have followed. The services to men are fairly attended - men giving their dinner hour, and often their hearts too, to God. The sermons to children are very well attended, and many striking results have been met with. The sermon to women is also well attended, and many are affected by the preaching and led to give themselves to Christ.
Another correspondent writes:-I have had a deeper conviction each day that the blessing resulting from this mission was striking and real. I noticed the work in St James Church to be the freshest I have seen anywhere for years. Up to Sunday
the names and addresses of professed converts exceeded 300, and the Lord gave to Captain Moreton also, in the Presbyterian Church in Catherine-street, a marked blessing. Some good cases of clear conversion were found towards the end of the week. Fresh life was also infused into the noon prayer meeting. Among the cases of conversion related were two infidels.
"The Christian," December 19th, 1878.