George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

CAMBUSLANG REVIVAL 189
among the wheat, but the watchfulness and wisdom of the
minister detected it, and quickly drove it away. And for long
years afterwards humble men and women, who dated their con-
version from the work at Cambuslang, walked among their
neighbours with an unspotted Christian name, and then died
peacefully and joyfully in the arms of One whom they had
learned in revival days to call Lord and Saviour.
The most remarkable thing in the whole movement is an
absence of terrible experiences. The great sorrow which
swelled penitential hearts was not selfish, and came from no
fear of future punishment, but from a sense of the dishonour
they had done to God and their Redeemer. The influence of
the Cambuslang meetings was at work in many a parish, and
Whitefield's first ride from Edinburgh into the west was through
places where the greatest commotion was visible. When he
came to Cambuslang he immediately preached to a vast con-
gregation, which, notwithstanding Gib's warning against hearing
sermons on other days than the Sabbath, had come together on
a Tuesday at noon. At six in the evening he preached again,
and a third time at nine. No doubt the audience on the brae-
side was much the same at each service, and we are prepared to
hear that by eleven at night the enthusiasm had reached its
highest pitch. For an hour and a half the loud weeping of the
company filled the stillness of the summer night, while now and
again the cry of some strong man, or more susceptible woman,
rang above the preacher's voice and the general wailing, and
there was a swaying to and fro where the w r ounded one fell.
Often the word would take effect like shot piercing a regiment
of soldiers, and the congregation was broken again and again.
It was a very field of battle, as Whitefield himself has described
it. Helpers carried the agonised into the house, and, as they
passed, the crying of those whom they bore moved all hearts
with fresh emotion, and prepared the way for the word to make