Illinois, invited them to his church for three or four evenings as an experiment. Major Cole accompanied them on this trip. The first meeting was not an encouraging one in point of attendance, and there were no marked results except a powerful impression on the minds of the evangelists that the Lord was with them. The next day it rained and they looked for a small attendance, but the congregation was twice as large as the first, and a number of souls were led to Christ.

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Our hearts were very full," says Major Whittle, " and a great responsibility was upon us. The next afternoon we all three met in the study of the Congregational Church, where our meetings were held, and spent some hours in prayer. Bliss made a formal surrender of everything to the Lord; gave up his musical conventions; gave up his writing of secular music; gave up everything, and in a simple, childlike, trusting prayer, placed himself, with any talent, any power God had given him, at the disposal of the Lord, for any use He could make of him in the spreading of His gospel. Dear Cole united with us in this consecration. It was a wonderful afternoon. As I think back upon the scene in that little study, and recall Bliss' prayer, and the emotions that filled us all in the sense of God's presence, the room seems lit up in my memory with a halo of glory."