They knelt by us. They prayed. They agonised. They groaned. They adjured
us, by our mothers, to come to Jesus ... all the while, over and over
again, softly, was sung, "O Lamb of God, I come, I come!"
"Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me!"
Weakening under the pressure, and swung by the power of herd-instinct,
most of us "came."
Then there was the hypnotism of the enthusiasm which laid hold of us.
It was indescribable in its power. It even made me want to rise and
declare myself, to shout and sing, to join the religious and emotional
debauch.
When chapel adjourned at ten o'clock many had been cajoled and bullied
into the fold. Then, still insatiable for religion, at the villas and
halls, the praying and hymn-singing was kept up.
In the big parlour of Crosston Hall the boys grouped in prayer and
rejoicing. One after the other each one rose and told what God had done
for him. One after the other, each offered up prayer.
Toward three o'clock the climax was reached, when the captain of the
hall's football team jumped to a table in an extra burst of enthusiasm
and shouted, "Boys, all together now,--three cheers for Jesus Christ!"
I was one of the three in our hall who resisted all efforts at
conversion. The next morning a group of convertees knelt and prayed for
me, in front of my door ... that God might soften the hardness of my
heart and show me the Light.
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