Cross, Jonathan; Evangelists -- United States -- Biography; Missions -- Appalachian Region
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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