Series 6 > McCulloch examinations of the Cambuslang revival (1742) > Volume 6

EXAMINATIONS OF PERSONS UNDER SPIRITUAL CONCERN II
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And in this condition I continued oftimes till a Stranger Minister () came
to Glasglow in Septr thereafter (1741.) & hearing him preach in the High-
Church-yeard concerning Sauls conversion, when he said. Some of you will
not pray for a week or more, hoping you’ll grow better, & then you’ll pray:
I thought he was just speaking to [29/-] me and was going to name me out,
for a hypocrite: upon which I was put to great confusion, and was like to cry
out. When he further said. If one should ask many of you, How long since
you lov’d Christ, you would answer, Ever since I was born, or ever since I
can remember. And some of you would say, I thought I lov’d Christ once,
but I do not love him now: I thought here he was just describing me, & the
thoughts of my heart, & was in such distress, that I was afraid I would cry
out, and rather than do that, I choosd to withdraw from among the people,
& did so, & heard him no more.
Next Sabbath I was afraid I would be made to cry out in the Kirk, &
therefore I thought I would rather go to hear some of the Seceding Ministers
at Corshill; for I had observd, that in hearing them sometimes before, I was
never so nearly touchd with what they said, as in hearing some Ministers in
the Kirks; and so I thought I would not be in such hazard of crying out among
them as in the Kirks. Accordingly I did go to Corshill, & heard a Seceding
Preacher () there, who among other things said, You may remember, my
Friends, that I prayed that we might be sanctifyd, tho ye are all sanctifyd
by the word that I have spoken—and a little after that he said again, Ye are
sanctified. He also said, when our First Parents sinned; the Sun & Moon &
Stars and all things frowned upon them, & yet by the bye Christ died for us,
and within a little, [30/—] he repeated these words over again, by the bye Christ
died for us. I rose up & looked about me, & thought, it’s a strange thing if all
this multitude be sanctify’d, & I unsanctify’d: And Christs dying by the bye,
lookt to me, as if he had said, He dyd by chance or by accident: & if he dyd
in that manner, I thought his death could never avail me to Salvation, or any
other. I had before, thought that Christ dyd according to God’s purpose and
his agreement with the Father from all Eternity: and so did not at all die by
the bye. Finding my self put into great confusion by these things, I had not
patience to sit out the rest of the Sermon, but came away home: & because I
could scarce trust my own Ears, that I had heard such shocking Expressions,
tho they had been repeated over & over, I asked two other persons ( & ) if
they had noticd any such Expressions, & they both said they did; one of
them, saying he had heard many Sermons, but he had never heard such things
before: The Effect however on me was sad, for I was tempted to think for
several days after, that it might be that Preacher was in the right in saying
That Christ dyd by the bye; but that seemed so unreasonable-like, that rather
than think so, I thought it would be better to believe that he did not die at
all: and accordingly I did at length conclude that it was so: but was some
time after mercifully recovered from that horrid piece of unbelief, by reading