The group of young evangelists who were present at the prayer-meeting on this particular occasion consisted of Samuel J. Mills, James Richards, Francis L. Robbins, Harvey Loomis, and Byram Green. Protected from the rain by the haystack, they continued, amid the conflict of the elements, their devotional exercises, and also discussed religious topics of deep interest to themselves and to the world. It was a sublime moment for them and for the world. The heavens were darkened; the lightnings flashed; dread thunders rolled; the rain fell; yet amid this conflict of the elements there came "a still small voice," as if from the storm-cloud. It was a divine whisper, an inspired thought, which stirred the life-currents in the heart of Mills, and diffused upon his brow a celestial radiance. That inspired thought, broad as the earth in its comprehension, Mills announced to his devout companions. They felt its divinity, and regarded it as a divine communication. At the instance of Mills, they knelt in prayer, and besought divine aid and guidance in executing the great work which they now believed had been revealed to them. It was nothing less than a mission to some foreign heathen land, and the ultimate evangelization of the world. In offering up the last prayer at this meeting, so enthusiastic became Mills that he invoked "the red artillery of Heaven to strike down the arm that should be raised against a herald of the cross." And now, as the storm-cloud passed away, the skies became bright and serene; the air was pure and fragrant as balm. The raindrops, like jewels, glittered on the leaves in the grove, and on the grass and wild-flowers in the meadows. In short, the smile of Heaven was reflected in the face of Nature. And the sublimity of the scene, as it may be supposed, was heightened by the appearance of a rainbow in the east,--that glorious emblem of a divine love, which is so ample in its character as to embrace within its golden circle the great world of mankind, of "every nation, kindred, and tongue."