Year: 1876

Father Wakefield had been attending


meeting for several days. A meeting


had been appointed for singing, prayer,


and more especially for each one to


tell what the Lord had done for him.


After many had spoken, the class leader


the Lord had done for him. He ad-


dressed the meeting as follows:


Friends in my younger days it was


my misfortune to live in section OF


country where there was but little said


or known about religion. 1t turned out


however, after a number of years, that


a preacher of much devotion and talent


came into our section and preached a
series of discourses with great effect.


He portrayed with great clearness the
sinfulness of man, his fallen, helpless
and undone condition without divine
aid. He also set forth our Saviour as
all sufficient. He impressed us with his
kind and gracious invitations; the assu-
rance that be is not willing that any
should perish, but all should come to re-
pentance; that he who comes to Him he
will in no wise cast out, and they who


seek shall f1nd.' This all sounded
rational to me, and l resolved at once to
go. l rose at once from my seat and
went forward and fell trembling upon
my knees at the mourners' bench and
cried from the bottom of my heart,
Lord, be merclfuL to me, a sinner
Others-some of them preachers knelt
around me and prayed fervently for me-
Thus we continued until we were all ex-
hausted. was occasionally exhorted to
give up my whole heart; exercise living
faith, and make an application of the
blood of Christ. reasoned with myself
thus: Do not believer believe the
Bible. believe in the Saviour, Have
l not given up my whole heart? hate
sin; loathe it from the hottom of my
heart, and have turned away from it
with full purpose of heart. love the
Lord; the people of God. love the
Bible, and the worship of God. have
submitted myself to the Lord, as far as
is in my power. What more can do9
Still the Lord did not bless me. The
question, 'Oh, what shall do to be
savedr almost crushed my soul. The
preacher told me to come again the next
night-perhaps the Lord would speak
peace to my soul. went away crying
for mercy, but finding none. The next
night came again, but all in vain.
thus continued to come night after night
for a long time, but no peace was spoken
to my soul. was advised to join the
church as a seeker, and assured that the
chance was better for finding the Lord
in the church than ont of it. / consent
ed and Joined the church as q seeker. !
would frequently inquire of my preach
ers what 1 was to do, and why could
not find peace2 They would tell me l
should not be discouraged, that they
had known many persons to be seekers
longer than had been. l saw Others in
a similar condition with myself, and was
led to inquire: Is the way of salvation
so darkenedl Is it SO difficult to find
that an honest man may mourn and
seek for years and not find itl At length
/ heard a man preach that made the
assertion that this thing of honest, pen
itent mourners continuing to seek for
years was unknown to the New Testa-
meat. He said the thing was modern
affair entirely that the Scriptures did
not authorize it, and that persons could
be converted on the first hearing of the
Gospel as well as at any time in their
lives. did not believe him. thought
l could find an account of mourners
seeking religion, and continuing to do SO
for years, almost any place where l
might please to open the Bible. de-
termined would prepare myself to meet
such men, and would have the Scripture
at hand to refute them. For this pur-
pose, with pencil in hand, resolutely
commenced 20 read the New Testament
through, and mark ever passage found
that said anything about mourners or
seekers, especially when they had been
seeking for long time. l commenced
with the first of Matthew, and in a short
time found an account of John the Bap-
tist preaching to great crowds. l read
eagerly, with pencil in hand. and think
ing now shall find his mourners and all
about how long they mourned and
grieved before they got hope But
to my utter astonishment l found 40
mourners. l read on and soon found
our Saviour preaching the great sermon
on the Mount, and found where he said
to his disciples, BLESSED are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted.' l
| thought that when came to the close
of the sermon I would find scores of
mourners, and had my pencil ready to
mark the place, but to my utter aston
ishment found none. determined to
read on. and commencing with the Acts
of the Apostles soon came to where 1
found an account of Peter preaching to
an immense assembly. ! prepared my
pencil again, and said to myself, Now
1 shall find all about mourners.' But
to my surprise found not a word about
mourners, and not a seeker, so far as
could learn, went away seeking or
mourning. Every seeker was converted,
and every one in distress was comforted.
l read on, and soon found Peter in
Solomon's porch, preaching to a great
multitude, and not a mourner to be
found. 1 followed Philip down to Sa-
maria, and found him preaching TO great
numbers of both men and women, and
found nothing about mourners, or a
single instance of seeker continuing to
seek without finding. 1 read on, and
soon found Philip preaching to the
Ethiopian, but in the place of his con-
tinuing mourner he was converted and
went on his way rejoicing the same day
/ read on, and found where the Lord
appeared to Saul, great sinner, and
said to myself, L will now find where
this man was kept mourning a long
time, but to my surprise the preacher
(Ananias) did not tell him to Exercise