Part 6 (1/2)

My friend Mr Aitken used to rise above it all rand to see his great soul at full liberty rejoicing in the Lord He was quite at hos, and no doubt he thoughtdisciple, and a very happy one, too

Oh, what tremendous scenes itnessed whenever Mr Aitken came to preach at Baldhu The church, which was built to hold six hundred, used to have as many as fifteen hundred packed into it Not only were the wide passages crowded, and the chancel filled, even up to the communion table, but there were ts of occupants in every pew The Featover their souls, for at times he seemed as if he was endued with pohereby he could make them shout for joy, or howl for misery, or cry aloud for mercy He was by far the most effective preacher I ever heard, or ever expect to hear Souls were awakened by scores whenever he preached, and soht, and occasionally even to the daylight of the next

To the cool, dispassionate outside observers and the newspaper reporters, all this veheant and incoht it was done for excitereat deal more They did not esteem us better than themselves and consequently we had the full benefit of their sarcass by the occasionally in different places elsewhere, but in Cornwall they were frequent Every year, in one part or another, a revival would spring up, during which believers were refreshed and sinners awakened It is soreat deal of the flesh in these things--more of this than of the Spirit I am sure this is a mistake, for I am quite satisfied that neither Cornish nor any other people could produce revivals without the power of the Spirit, for they would never be without them if they could raise them at pleasure

But, as a fact, it is well known that revivals begin and continue for a tian

Someti for no ostensible reason; when a feords about the love of God in giving His Son, or the love of Christ in laying down His life, would prove enough to kindle a flain to cry aloud for mercy forthwith I have seen a whole school of more than a hundred children like this at the saenerally a token of the beginning of a work of God, which would last in power for four or five weeks, if not o on as before Soed with ano connection with one another, all equally surprised to see each other; and the regular congregation ers After a tian to know the cause, and understood that the coether of the people was by the Spirit of the Lord, and so we prepared accordingly, expecting a revival to follow

On these occasions it was very easy to preach, or pray, or sing; we had only to say, ”Stay here, or go to the schoolroo;” or, ”Kneel and pray;” and it was done at once: such was the power of the Spirit inthe hears of the people into entire submission for the time

CHAPTER 9

The Visitor, 1851

In the s, we had a scene quite characteristic of Cornwall, which was the funeral of ardener and friend, John Gill This man's conversion, it will be re ious state to a crisis After e, which I have already described, he continued to pray forSunday, when he heard ofpower ofer to hear of the progress of the work

At last the day of his departure arrived, and he was quite content and happy to go A large concourse of people asseathered by hundreds in front of John's cottage, several hours before the ti hyiven out two lines at a ti as they went along

In the West it is not the custom to carry the coffin on the shoulders, but by hand, which office is performed by friends, who continually relieve one another, that all may take part in this last th, they arrived at the ”lych” gate, and setting the coffin upon the lych stone (a heavy slab of granite, put there for the purpose), they sang their final hymn At the conclusion of this, I came out with my clerk to receive the funeral party and to conduct theive an address, when I was told that there were more people outside than within the church

In order, therefore, not to disappoint therave-side in the churchyard, and froreat concourse of people

I told them of dear John's conversion, and of my disappointment and distress on account of it; then ofthe opportunity to enforce the absolute necessity of this spiritual change, and the certain damnation of those who die without it

This funeral caused a soleered about, we re-entered the church, and further improved the occasion Then ent to the schoolroo, andthe strangers present was a gentleman who had come all the way from Plymouth, in order to witness for himself the wonderful work, of which he had read an account in the newspaper After attending several of our services, he came up to speak to h Churcharded as a very extraordinary thing, for at that tih Church seen me, and heard for himself of my conversion, and my adherence to the Church, he was satisfied, and asked me to spare time for a little conversation with hi, and co, ”Do you really think you would have been lost for ever, if you had died before you were converted?” This he said looking me full in the face, as if to see whether I flinched from my position I answered, ”Most certainly; without a doubt”

”Remember,” he said, calmly, ”you have been baptized and confirmed; you are a communicant, and have been ordained; do you really think that all this goes for nothing?”

”Most assuredly, all these things are good in their place, and fully avail for their respective purposes, but they have nothing whatever to do with a sinner's salvation”

”Do you mean to say,” he continued, ”that the Church is not the very ark of salvation?”

”I used to think so,” I replied, ”and to say that 'there was no Church without a Bishop, and no salvation out of the Church;' but now I am sure that I wasthe sheep; but the Church is not the Shepherd who seeks and finds the lost sheep”

”Well,” he said, ”but think of all the good men you conde that I hesitated, he went on to say that he ”knew land, who did not think much of conversion, or believe in the necessity of it”

”I ao back froht me It is burned into me that, except a man is converted, he will andfriend,” he said, shi+fting his chair, and then sitting down to another onslaught, ”do you o to hell if he is not converted, as you call it?”

”Yes, I do; and I am quite sure that if I had died in an unconverted state I should have gone there; and this compels me to believe, also, that what the Scripture says about it is true for every one”