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

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EXAMINATIONS OF PERSONS UNDER SPIRITUAL CONCERN II
the strong man armed kept quiet possession of my heart; & all his goods
were in peace.5
But And thus it continued with me till one Sabbath in the Spring 1742,
that I came [537/—] to Camb. & heard a Minister (26)6 preach on that Text,
Joh. —he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abideth on him:7 where he gave many marks of these that beheve not on
the Son of God, & that are under the reigning power of unbelief; & shewed
that all these are in their natural State: and shewed their great misery, how the
wrath of God abides on them: I was then made sensible by the marks given,
that I was yet in Unbelief & in my natural unrenewed condition, but knew
not how to get out of it. And when he said, All you that are in this condition,
whatever ye do, wherever ye go, & wherever ye are, even in that very brae
where ye are sitting, the wrath of God is still hanging over you, and abiding
upon you; I found these words brought home to my heart with such a power,
and affected me much, & made me very uneasy: My uneasiness return’d every
now & then as I went home, at the thoughts of my sad condition: & after
I got home, I would frequently have taken my Bible and read that Text, &
bursted out into tears and weeping at the thoughts of being an Unbeliever,
& being under the wrath of God wherever I was, and not knowing how to
get out of my natural State.
About three weeks after that, coming to Camb. on a Thursday, while
I stood at the Stair-head in [538/—] the Manse, where I had come to hear
the Exhortations there, after the Sermons were over, that Word spoken by
a Minr (14)8 who was then exhorting in the Hall, pierc’d my heart like a
Sword, Awake thou that sleepest, arise from the dead and Christ shall give
thee light,9 I then thought I was both dead in sin and asleep in sin, & that
there was no mercy for me: and I continued as I went home and for about
20 days after that, in great distress: and during that time, I often felt such a
great heat within me, that I thought I would have been burnt up with it. I
had was not without fears of Hell, but what made the greatest impression
on me was a sense of the dishonour I had done to God by my Sin, that
I had triffled away so much precious time, & given so little heed to the
Calls of God in his Word & when I was hearing Sermons. I then thought I
could pray none, and tho’ I often essayd it; yet I was afraid to go about it,
or to take Gods holy name in my polluted lips. I could not apply my self
to work; & could not eat but little, my sleep oft departed from me, & one
morning I awaked with a great Fright, thinking all was in a flame about
me.
5 Lk 11:21.
6 William McCulloch (1691—1771) - minister, Cambuslang.
7 Jn 3:36.
8 John McLaurin (1693—1754) — minister, Glasgow/Ramshorn.
9 Eph5:i4.