MR MCNEILL IN GLASGOW.
The mid-day addresses to Glasgow businessmen were continued each day during the past week, and they have proved eminently successful - On the third day the audience fairly overflowed the Merchants' Hall, and the meeting was adjourned to St. George's Established Church in Buchanan Street, close by. This fine but somewhat dingy edifice was crowded - passages, pulpit-stairs, and all - for the rest of the week, not less, we should say, than a thousand men being in attendance every day. The auditors were by no means confined to commercials, pure and simple; for there were to be seen many types of "business men" - from the venerable minister to the roughly-clad artisan.
The preacher seemed quite at home among his brethren and very skilfully adapted himself to the peculiar circumstances. Without any constraint or restraint his soulful utterances came thick and fast - tender appeal, courageous statement of doctrinal truth and playful humour being very happily mixed. The hearers were quite
SYMPATHETIC AND EVEN ENTHUSIASTIC,
for they frequently broke into applause - not, be it observed, at any of the speaker's declamatory periods, but when he had, in his own genial and decided way, given
form and shape to the foundation truths of the Gospel and the glorious experiences of the true Christian life. To see such a sight in the hear of one of the busiest cities in the world in the middle of a working day and in an age of fierce commercial competition was no ordinary cheat. One could not help reflecting sadly on the short-sightedness of our Presbyterian friends in London in not providing Mr McNeill with a similar opportunity somewhere close to the Royal Exchange, when he was a dweller and a worker in the Great City. Perhaps it was better so; if London had been sufficiently wide awake it might have retained for itself a man whom God has most plainly baptised for a world-wide mission. These mid-day meetings are to be continued this week in Glasgow, in response to an acclamatory vote given on Thursday. The meeting of Monday was very large, and the address was a beautifully simple and pathetic Gospel appeal. There must have been close on a hundred ministers in the congregation.
From, "The Christian," March 3rd, 1892.
This redoubtable champion of the faith has passed another very busy week. The midday meetings in St George’s Church, Glasgow, have been as crowded as before – sometimes more so. The manifestations of genuine interest from day-to-day have been remarkable enough to be described as the phenomenal. One very hopeful element in the case is the fact that the bulk of the daily audience is gathered from all the points of the compass in the Glasgow social firmament, while there are not a few casual visitors from outline places. Many brethren of the “white tie” are regularly to be seen in the crowd drinking in enjoyment and inspiration from the preacher’s unconventional, but most powerful presentations of Bible truth. Straight Gospel talk is freely mixed with clever ethical counsel and the claims of God are made very real to those who are in close daily touch with the seen and temporal. Much good fruit must inevitably come from these meetings, which are being continued for the first three working days of the present week.
From, "The Christian," March 10th, 1892.
I have included this under Moody 1891-2 because McNeill was largely working for Moody during this Mission.