March 1900, pgs 56-57
Bright Words
FOR PILGRIMS HEAVENWARDS
A FAITH MISSION PUBLICATION

In the Island of Tiree the brothers are having very good meetings in various parts; and at Achosnich, on the mainland, not very far off, a fair mission was held in a new hall.  The next three places in the list have all been worked before, and the present missions are encouraging.  Creca is a little village in Dumfriesshire, where the people have turned out very well, but seem slow to take up the cross in definite decision for Christ.  Skye work is terribly discouraging on the whole, and no place has been more so in the island than Carbost, where two or three would turn up for the meeting.  At Corpach, near Fort William, attendance and interest are good, and also at Garve, a little place in Rossshire.  The Donaldson’s Lodge Mission, with the influenza epidemic rampant, affecting people and both pilgrims, was quite a failure.

Some helpful Christians’ meetings were held at Oban, and then, on a stormy Friday morning, Pilgrim Campbell started by steamer on a long journey to Loch Inver, away north in Sutherlandshire.  This is our first opening in that northern county, for which we would ask much prayer.  Pilgrims Angus McLean and McKenzie joined the same steamer en route, and reached Glenelg at 2 a.m. Saturday morning.  They have had a fair start there.  Pilgrim McFarlane joined the steamer later at Portree, and the two sisters (Miss Beaton going to friends at present) reached Loch Inver on Monday, and soon found comfortable lodgings.

Missions have been held before at Bankfoot, in Perthshire, and Dykehead, in Lothians, but in both places there was desire for another visit of pilgrims.  Some other places in Scotland open shortly, and two sisters go early in March for a special mission we have been invited to take at Cleckheaton, near Bradford, in England.

In Ireland there have been large meetings with good results at Gilford and Killyman in Co. Armagh, and at Moorfields in Co. Antrim.  Attendances were large at Portavogie, but there was not much visible outcome of the mission, while Balnamore and Bangor were stiff and disappointing.  The meetings at Doagh, Billy, and Drummond were specially for Christians, and such have also been held at a number of Prayer Unions in County Donegal, all attended with blessing.

Pilgrim Pottie went to Kilrea for some Christians’ meetings, but the interest and blessing has been so great that he is trying to arrange for sisters to carry on the work longer.  The other places mentioned in the list are in various counties, and have just recently started, the mission at Lisburn being by invitation in connection with the Y.W.C.A.

Since we started in Ireland some seven or eight years ago, several other agencies have followed suit on somewhat similar lines.  A Mr. Duff has a mission in the north with a number of workers, and in the south there is the mission conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Todd, formerly workers with us.  Then, recently, we have heard of workers going out in connection with the Society of Friends in the north of Ireland, and that there has been much blessing at some places.  There are plenty of openings for all, and the Lord seems to be giving much blessing in the sister-country.

Pilgrim Irvine is in the south of Ireland.  We have not had regular reports from him lately, but he has been building two movable wooden Halls, and has also had meetings at Cloughjordan, Roscrea, Moneygall, Kildare, and other places, attended with a good deal of blessing.  The wooden halls are cheaply put up, and he writes of them as a great success, proposing that we should have some for Scottish counties.  This we will consider.  The friends at Rathmolyon, County Meath, are also building one to be used in that county.  Perhaps it might be a good plan for P.U. members in a Scottish county to own one, to be worked by pilgrims.

We have decided not to have further training till next autumn.  Applicants for the Faith Mission, or any wishing training for foreign work, should write us here.

Our Annual Convention at Rothesay will likely be held about 20th to 24th September.  Some speakers have already promised to come.

A monthly Prayer Union meeting is conducted by Mr. George King on the second Tuesday of each month at 94 West Regent Street, Glasgow, to which all friends are invited.  Some of us were there on 13th February, and it was nice to meet with a number of friends, both old and new, local, and gathered into the city from many parts of Scotland and Ireland.

Broughty Ferry.— For the past six weeks Pilgrims Livingstone and Bradley have conducted a mission in the Y.W.C.A. Hall here.  The meetings were commenced on Sunday, 7th January, and the attendance on that evening was extremely large.  The week-night meetings, however, were not so well attended, but on every occasion those who were present gave earnest heed, signifying that their being present was from a far higher motive than curiosity.  Throughout the whole course of meetings the audience consisted largely of Christians, who appeared desirous of learning more about Jesus and His love, and how to follow Him more faithfully than they had done in the past.

The message of the two pilgrims in their addresses was very simple and very direct.  It was the old story of the fulness of Christ, the sinner’s only hope, and the only satisfaction of His people.  Very earnestly were the unsaved persuaded to accept God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Their appeal to the Christians was also very direct.  They urged the necessity of completely yielding oneself to God—body, soul, and spirit—and accepting the full salvation and deliverance from sin which God was so anxious His people should enjoy.

Saturday nights’ meetings were on a few occasions preceded by an open-air, where Dundee, Midmill, and Tayport friends took part, and the subsequent inside meeting was generally thrown open for testimony, when many testified of the blessing they had received through this visit of the pilgrims, or confessed their faith in Christ, and their experience of His keeping power.

The attendance of the unsaved throughout the meetings was not so good as might be expected, probably due to other meetings going on, and other reasons.  Those who were present were undoubtedly moved through the Spirit’s power, and although, perhaps, many left the meetings undecided, yet we are confident that a silent work has been going on among the unconverted, which must produce great results, even if "after many days."  Among the Christians, those who were formerly lukewarm and useless have been stirred up to take a more decided stand for Christ, and not a few testified their desire to be wholly the Lord’s.  We are extremely grateful to God for the mission, and those of us who have received blessing ascribe to Him all the glory.  We all desire that God will continue to bless and use our sisters wherever He leads them.  Their work in other places will be watched with interest, and we hope they shall again find their way back to this town, where they will always have a hearty welcome.  We trust the work they have begun here may continue, and His kingdom be greatly extended in this place.  God grant that it may be so.

Gilford (Co. Down).—A mission was commenced in the Y.W.C.A. Hall on 31st December, by Pilgrim McNeill.  This being the first time the Faith Mission has worked in Gilford, the meetings were small during the first week, but the attendance steadily increased during the second week, and has averaged about 250 on Sunday evenings and 160 on the week nights.

The Spirit of the Lord has been present with us in blessing the preaching of His own word, and almost every evening during the past five weeks some professed to take Jesus as their personal Saviour.  Many Christians also were greatly blessed, and some have been led to see that smoking is one of the weights to be laid aside in the...

Our pilgrims have preached the glorious truths of Full Salvation in many different counties in Ireland; there have been numerous open doors, more than we have been able to enter, and a good deal of encouragement and spiritual blessing.  We should mention that the work in the South of Ireland has not been reported, and thus is not included in our statistics, much of the time of the pilgrim in charge [William Irvine] having been taken up with building movable wooden halls, nearly all of which are worked on independent lines by workers unconnected with, and not under the direction of, the Faith Mission.