Accordingly, on the following Monday I went back to Colant, and found the place (an unusually quiet country village), together with the whole neighbourhood round, including two or three small towns all astir.  As a rule, in order to insure success in a mission, there needs preparation, visitation, and prayer; and I have observed that when there has been no preparation in the way of public announcements of services, the people have not come out, and the mission has been a failure.  Where there has been a regular system of visitation, without prayer, the congregations have been abundant, but the services have been dry and hard; but in places where preparation and visitation have been made with much prayer, there has ever been a most unmistakable blessing.  So much for human agencies, which are necessary to us, though God is not bound to them.

There had been no preparation for the mission I am about to tell of, no visitation, nor any special prayer; and yet it pleased the Lord to give in this little village such an outpouring of His Spirit and demonstration of His Power as is rarely known.  There was a great running together of the people, notwithstanding the difficulties of access to the church.  Some had to come several miles from the towns by road, some by sea, and others across a tidal river where mud abounded; and after landing, they had to climb a steep hill.  None of these things, however, deterred or discouraged them; they came, and they would come, in spite of everything which was urged at other times as an excuse for staying away, even on dark nights.  It was the day of the Lord’s power, and He made them willing; so much so, that in some places work was suspended, and people came even three times a day.

On the Monday evening, when I arrived, I found that the church would scarcely hold the people who bad gathered to hear the Word of God.  It was a time of much blessing, and we remained there hard at work till eleven o’clock, when, having four miles to go in order to get home, I closed the service, offering to meet any anxious souls there at half-past ten the next morning.  This I did, and was surprised to find a number of persons waiting, even at this early hour.

There were too many to speak to individually, so I addressed them collectively, giving the ordinary instruction to seeking souls.  In the afternoon we had a still larger number, and in the evening a crowded congregation; in this way the work continued, with three services a day throughout the week, accompanied with remarkable conversions every day.  Among the number of those who attended was a surgeon, his wife and brother, and the wife of a respectable yeoman.  These, together with several more from the village on the other side of the river, were converted to God.  Their rector was amazed to see them so changed, and wondered by what process this was accomplished.  He attended an afternoon service, and was astonished to see so many people present on a week-day.  Afterwards