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The Iowa Camp-Meeting

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 25, 1872

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 40, No. 2.

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The Iowa Camp-Meeting.

By George I. Butler

Our annual camp-meeting has just closed. It was the largest and best meeting of the kind ever held in the State, though not as large as it would have been by considerable, had the weather and season been as propitious as usual. It commenced with a rain and under rather discouraging circumstances, but it steadily improved till the close. Many were intending to come, and some started who gave it up because of the bad roads and weather. In some parts of the State we have had unprecedented floods, in some cases greater than have been known since the settlement of the State. But the Lord put it into the hearts of nearly five hundred Sabbath-keepers to come to the feast; and none were sorry so far as I have known.
There were twenty-four tents on the ground besides the large tent, and these were crowded full, besides those who came in their covered wagons and lodged in them. There were many of these. The crowd, Sunday, was large, numbering some three thousand people. We had no disturbance whatever, and the most of those who attended manifested interest in listening to Brn. White and Littlejohn and sister White during the day.
Our meetings Sabbath were most solemn seasons. I should judge some two hundred were forward for prayers, and the meetings in the tents were very remarkable on account of the earnestness manifested in seeking God, and the spirit of confession prevalent among the people. Many came to the meeting lukewarm and indifferent, but the earnest labors of those who came among us were effectual in arousing them to a sense of their wants, and some of them went home far more in earnest than when they came. Twenty-one were baptized.
Our business meetings were characterized by union and interest. Four new churches were united to the Conference. Means sufficient to pay all claims against the Conference were on hand, besides paying five hundred dollars to the General Conference fund and leaving some six hundred more in the treasury for future use.
One very encouraging feature of our meeting was to see a disposition on the part of prominent brethren to rally to the support of the cause. The two ministers who have labored in the Conference being called away to other fields, it gave occasion for some fear that a depressing influence might be left upon the minds of the people, seeing there were no ordained ministers left to carry on the work. But the brethren came up with courage to take hold of the work. Six brethren were ordained and set apart to the ministry. Brn. Henry Nicola, J. T. Mitchell, Jacob Hare, J. H. Morrison, R. M. Kilgore and Squier Osborn, and some seven or eight others licensed.
A subscription sufficient for a new tent was soon raised and ordered, so as to have two run this summer; and a State Tract Society, organized. It is peculiarly gratifying to those who have labored here in the past to see such evidences of interest, and it is to be hoped they are not delusive, but real. We expect to see God bless the work here if all take hold with zeal as present appearances seem to indicate. We feel that the cause is onward in Iowa in spite of all the opposition it has met in the past.
One of the most gratifying features of the meeting was the cheering and instructive testimony of Bro. and sister White among us. In spite of their weakness of body, and feeble, worn condition, they were enabled by the blessing of God to cast a powerful influence for good all through our meeting, and encourage the hearts of God's people. Bro. White seemed to have far more than usual freedom, and we could but hope this was evidence that God was soon to raise his servant to strength again to labor in his proper sphere in the cause of truth. And while he labored to encourage us, we hoped he might be much encouraged also at the evident blessing of God which rested upon him.
Our meeting broke up Tuesday morning, when our six brethren above mentioned were ordained to the work. It was a powerful, melting season. God's presence seemed to be especially near. The very ground seemed sacred; and we believe angels of Heaven came very near and surrounded us with their hallowed influences. It seemed hard to separate under such circumstances, who knows when to meet again? We trust God will bring a goodly number of that company to himself at last to meet in a better world where partings will never come.
GEO. I. BUTLER.
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, June 14, 1872.