The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

lowliest and the most abandoned, if they would but
put their trust in him, his hearers were alternately
exalted with fervor or melted into tears. He prayed
for all conditions of men--for themselves, their
friends, their enemies, for the government which
had persecuted them, for the king whose face was
turned upon them in anger. At times, according to
one who was present, not a dry eye was to be seen
in the crowd. When the minister had finished, he
left his congregation abruptly, for he had to travel
all night in order to reach Alkmaar, where he was
to preach upon the following day.
“By the middle of July the custom was
established outside all the principal cities. Campmeetings
were held in some places; as, for
instance, in the neighborhood of Antwerp, where
the congregation numbered over fifteen thousand;
and on some occasions was estimated at between
twenty and thirty thousand persons at a time, ‘very
many of them,’ said an eye-witness, ‘the best and
wealthiest in the town.”[7]
Looking back through the mist of time, we
147