After one night’s rest at home, I left the next morning for C——, thirty miles distant, to meet my friend Rev. Mr. D——, who was with us at the commencement of the meetings at L——, and engage in another meeting. The Rev. Mr. P——, who was pastor at that place, was likewise a colporteur of the Tract Society, and had five little churches in as many different communities in the county. So he left us to hold a meeting in C——, while he was laboring in other portions of his field.
I had on several occasions passed through this town, which, in a religious view, was one of the darkest I have ever visited. I saw the men, most of them young men, while Mr. P—— was preaching to a few, mostly women, standing all round the church with their heads in the windows, talking aloud, and even swearing profanely, till the preacher’s voice could scarcely be heard. As Mr. D—— was a stranger there, I informed him that we might expect open opposition. The meetings were to be conducted in the same way as those to which I have already alluded.
After warning the people of the impropriety of such conduct, and insisting that if they attended the services, they should come into the church, Mr. D—— preached, and I followed by telling of the Lord’s work in the places where I had been. A deep solemnity seemed to fall on every soul, and we felt God was there. All present were well supplied with tracts.
The next day our meetings were very solemn, and still more so at night, when there were five anxiously inquiring for salvation. By the next night most of the females began to feel very deeply, and some young men began to interrupt by their talking; but I rebuked them most solemnly, and we had no more interruptions during that meeting, and I am happy to say there have been none since in that place.
This meeting began on Thursday night, and by Monday twenty-two had professed hope in Christ. Among the number was one man sixty years old. He had been intemperate forty years. Though he was then so ignorant that he did not know who was the Saviour of sinners, and did not know one letter of the alphabet, he still lives a monument of grace.
One young lady of fortune, who was there at school, and whose anxiety about her soul bordered on despair, gained a hope on Saturday. On the next Saturday she joined the church, and then told her companions, “I will go to the Lord’s table to-morrow; it may be my last Sabbath on earth.” On Monday morning she came to school apparently in her usual health, and seemed deeply affected by the opening prayer; but soon complained of being unwell, went to her boarding-house, and in forty-eight hours she was numbered with the dead. Grace and glory came very near together.
After a few days of rest, at the request of the Rev. Mr. H——, to whom I have alluded at the town of U——, I met him in an old log-church on Wolf Creek, one of his preaching-places. I left home in the morning, rode twenty-four miles, and reached the place at one. Mr. H—— was preaching to a small congregation, as it was now the beginning of harvest. After an interval of thirty minutes, I addressed the people. The next day was Saturday. The house was full; and in the evening we had five inquirers. Sabbath morning Mr. H—— preached with great power, and then left for another appointment, with the expectation of returning on Monday. In the mean time I was to go on with the services. In the evening I had thirteen inquirers; and among them was Colonel H——, fifty years old, and Major B——, sixty-eight, two men of the largest wealth and highest standing in that community, who had been remarkable instances of grieving the Spirit of God. I related in their hearing the fact of what an aged man had told me about his grieving the Spirit. I saw it affected them both very deeply. They told me they had felt all that that man did whose case I had described, and that they had now made up their minds to seek Christ. In a few days both were hoping in Christ; and two years ago they had continued active Christians.
Becoming exhausted, almost as if I was at death’s door, I left for home; but Rev. Mr. H—— continued the meetings. Such was the interest awakened, that daily labor in the harvest-field was entirely suspended. Masters and servants were all at the same mercy-seat. God was there; the world was lost sight of, and eternal things took its place. Everybody had a tract in hand. You could see them reading on their way home; some in carriages, some on horseback, and others on foot. The result was, thirty-six were added to that little church, and many others to the other churches in that region of country. I soon learned that one wild, thoughtless young woman was awakened by reading a tract, and she is now one of the mothers in Israel.
I had received several letters from the Rev. Mr. C——, an aged man who had moved to Fayette county, to preach in a very destitute region, near the celebrated Hawk’s Nest, or Marshall’s Pillar, a cliff or precipice of about one thousand feet perpendicular height, hanging over New River, ten miles from its junction with the Gauley. After a day of rest, I took the stage, and at the end of fifty miles reached the place. On Friday morning the meeting began in the woods. No church was near; but an arbor was made by putting up poles and covering them with green bushes. When I came it rained, and only about thirty were present; but God was there with his gracious power. We had a meeting in the evening at one of the neighboring cabins, and a crowd was collected.
The next morning we met at the arbor. The day was fair and beautiful, and the crowd great. The Lord helped me greatly in the service. At the interval I scattered tracts freely, and set all to reading who could read. At the close of the afternoon service there were eleven anxious inquirers. On Sabbath morning we met at nine for prayer. By eleven o’clock a thousand people had assembled; and after the evening service, seventeen came out for instruction. On Monday the communion was to be administered, and seventeen were added to the Lord’s people. The Lord was there in his mercy. After the afternoon service nineteen more came out as inquirers, among them men of sixty years and from that down to boys, most of whom professed religion soon after. A church was soon after organized, which still lives. The blessed influence spread for miles around, and all denominations shared in the glorious work. I shall ever believe the way was prepared by a faithful colporteur, who had been over the ground a few months before.