ringing there to turn their course that way again. Catching a charming
tune, they "must get the words, at least a verse or two." So, from pausing
outside to listen, they grew bolder, tied their horses, and civilly sat
down inside, not only charmed with the songs, but curious to hear the
fervent prayers and testimonies and occasional shouts of this bright-faced
company. When their friends said anything against this people as being
"unpopular," or "despised," these young fashionables would sing them a
Methodist verse or two, and perhaps join in the ridicule by mimicking their
shouts. And yet in their sober judgment they honored these honest and
devout worshipers for their fervent piety and zeal, and wondered at their
rapturous joys. But they were quite mistaken in their confidence that an
occasional attendance upon worship so spiritual was perfectly safe. The
Holy Spirit dwelt with this people. These gay young attendants became the
subjects of mighty prayers and powerful exhortations. Bows, "drawn at a
venture," threw arrows with great force. The Spirit directed one to
the proud but honest heart of Elizabeth Ward, and she was "thoroughly
awakened." Perhaps in the few prayer meetings these young people had
dropped into within the past year they had imbibed more gospel truth than
in all their former lives. But the songs which had so captivated them, many
of which they had learned to sing, had struck those truths into the mind
indelibly, and had so enlisted the moral nature of Elizabeth that the Holy
Ghost had written convicting impressions upon the inner tablet of her
heart. She did not long resist this new "conscience of sins." She clearly
saw and deeply felt that she was a sinner, and on the way to ruin. In more
of desperation than hope she set out to "flee from the wrath to come."

In this state of alarm, she walked alone to the Methodist prayer meeting,
made known her convictions and purposes, and sought instruction and help.
She returned from that meeting feeling that she had almost entered a new
world. Gospel hope, now for the first time in her life, began to spring up