On Monday, May 25th, Messrs Moody and Sankey arrived at Saltcoats from Kilmarnock where they had been holding services the previous day. Arrangements were made for holding three services, the first in the Parish Church at 4:00 o'clock PM, also in the same place at 7 pm; and in the North Church at the same hour.
At the afternoon service admission to which was by ticket, the church was comfortably filled an hour before the time for opening the meeting. Large numbers of persons continued to arrive, who made their way into the building and through the passages, evidently satisfied to obtain even standing room. Every inch of space in the edifice was quite packed long prior to four o'clock and we believe there never was assembled so large a congregation in any church and Saltcoats. A considerable number were unable to obtain admission. A number of persons had come from the towns and villages in the district to attend the services. Mr Moody delivered an able discourse directing their attention to the difference between human and divine love. His remarks were listened to with great attention and seemed to make a deep impression upon his hearers.
At the evening service in the Parish Church, the attendance was quite as large as that held in the afternoon and numbers were unable to obtain sitting room and crowded all the passages of the church.
After the congregation had joined in singing a hymn, Mr Moody read several requests for prayer that had been handed to him and engaged in devotional exercises. A portion of the third chapter of John was next read and Mr Sankey followed with a hymn, at the conclusion of which he left the meeting and proceeded to the North Church to take part in the services there.
Mr Moody then delivered a vigorous and pointed address taking his text from John 3, last clause of the third verse. He said that there were a great many mysteries in the Bible, some of which would probably remain so, but when it came to the great question of salvation, God put it so plainly before them that he who runs may read, if he chose. There was probably no place in the world where they had such good preachers as in Scotland - a country famous for its good preaching - and yet he found there were some people who knew no more about regeneration than if they had been born in China. He was amazed to find that some people thought they were Christians because they were born in Scotland or attended church and partook of the sacrament. Others thought they were safe because they were baptised or confirmed. Another class who read the Bible thought they were converted. The scripture said there must be a new birth and while all those things might be very good they did not touch salvation. The great question for each individual was, “Have I been born again?” And if a man had not been born again nothing else would save him. He must be born again and born from above. He urged upon them to make up their minds this would be the date of their birth and closed by pointing out that judgement often came after mercy, earnestly urging those present to accept salvation. The address contained many striking illustrations which visibly affected the hearers.
A meeting for inquiries was afterwards held in the West United Presbyterian Church, at which Messrs Moody and Sankey and several clergymen were present.
There was a large attendance at the north church in the evening.
"The Christian", June 4th, 1874.
Now a museum
This article was from a newspaper - although there was no mention of numbers saved, I am sure there would have been many. There always were when Moody was around.