The Camp-Meetings by George I. Butler

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 2, 1882

The Camp-Meetings.

By George I. Butler

Eld. Geo. I. Butler, speaking of the camp-meetings of the present year, says thirty-one have been held, of which he has attended fifteen in fourteen different States. He says:—

The attendance at these meetings has been, on the whole, fully up to the standard of past years, and in some cases much greater. Our meeting in Michigan was a very large gathering, those who encamped on the ground, by actual count, numbering about twelve hundred, while many others came in from a radius of miles around. It seemed to me there must have been nearly fifteen hundred of our people present on the Sabbath. We were much surprised at the numbers in attendance, when we remembered that three other camp-meetings had been held in the State previous to this one. We think this was the largest meeting of Sabbath-keepers ever held for centuries in the past; we have no question but Testimony No. 31 had an influence in bringing together this large concourse. The meeting was in many respects an encouraging one.

Personally, I feel to thank God for his goodness to me the past season. Though feeling the effects of wearing labor in a degree, yet I am of good courage to labor on. God has blessed much from time to time, and the comforts of his grace have been bestowed. I thank him for health and strength, and that thus far sickness has been in a great measure spared me. I still feel an earnest desire to labor on in this most blessed cause. The more we work, the more work we see to be done, and the more we desire to share in it. Rest is pleasant, and it seems necessary at times to take it, in order to be better prepared for successful labor in the future.

May God grant that our people may not soon forget their solemn vows to be more earnest in the work of God, made while they were under the sacred influence of the camp-meetings. Let us all carry out these vows by being earnest in the Master's vineyard. Now is the time to prepare for earnest work this fall and winter. Time is short, and we have none to lose.