p. 125 | Indiana Camp-meeting by W. H. Littlejohn

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 3, 1871

Indiana Camp-meeting.

By W. H. Littlejohn

Immediately upon the close of the Charlotte meeting, Bro. Waggoner and I took our departure, via Battle Creek, for the camp ground in Indiana. Having passed the first night in Michigan City, we went on board the cars early in the morning, and resumed our journey toward Fairfield, Howard Co., where our meeting was to be held.

At Walkerton we were joined by Bro. Harvey and others, whose place of destination was the same as ours. The pleasure of such unions on the road can only be appreciated by those who have been like circumstanced. There is, in the very fact that from time to time individuals are stepping on board the train whose love for our common faith has induced them to separate themselves from home cares and pleasures in order that they may retire for a time to the quiet grove, for the purpose of seeking God with their whole heart, a sort of inspiration which imparts courage and energy to those whose flagging strength, as the result of protracted effort, needs the stimulant of that sympathy which springs from a living interest in the same great truths.

By the time we had reached the station at Fairfield, our party was somewhat increased in number, and the momentary disappointment arising from not seeing our brethren at the train, gave way as teams were descried in the distance which had evidently been sent to convey us to the place of our destination.

We were pleased to see that our brethren had not neglected the preparation of the ground until the very last thing. The large tent had been pitched, the ground was seated, the preacher's stand and provision stand erected, and something like twelve board houses which would probably accommodate as many persons as twice that number of tents of the average size, were either already filled, or in readiness to receive those for whom they were prepared. During the first two days of the meeting the people continued to come in. Fortunately, however, few of them waited as they do in some places—where we fear that they are more worldly minded—until just before the Sabbath before coming to the annual gathering, which, at best, is none too long to accomplish the work which should be done for them, even though every day of the period usually assigned for this purpose were employed to the very best advantage possible.

It was manifest from the outset that our location this year was much more accessible to the majority of the brethren than that of Tipton, where we met last year.

The cause is in its infancy in Indiana, and of course we did not anticipate an attendance any thing like that which has been witnessed so many times in the older Conferences during the past season.

We were prepared, therefore, to enter fully into the feelings of such men as Bro. Charles Seaward and Bro. James Harvey, who were in the State when they stood almost alone in the defence of God's downtrodden law and Sabbath, as with hearts almost too full for utterance they would look over what appears to us a small assemblage of our brethren, and with tears of gratitude thank God that they had been permitted to see so large a congregation of their brethren.

There were probably present, in all, about two hundred of our people; or double the number convened last year. On Sunday, the attendance was quite large for this locality, reaching, at least, when safely estimated, two thousand people.

Something more than twenty souls presented themselves for prayers, the most of whom, we believe, were those who were seeking Christ for the first time.

On Monday afternoon, seventeen persons were baptized by Eld. E. B. Lane, in a stream about five miles distant from the camp ground. This, together with examination of candidates, occupied nearly the whole of the afternoon.

The remoteness of the place of baptism presented a difficulty which is temporary in its nature, and would not exist in a season when they had the usual amount of rain. The distance, however, of the location from the R. R. Station (which is, we believe, about three miles), we regard as a more serious draw back, since experience has shown that in a region where they travel more by R. R., and less by wagons, than they do in Indiana, the place of meeting should not, when it is possible to avoid it, be more than one mile from a station.

We believe that about $400.00 were raised upon the ground by subscription for the benefit of the Publishing Association and Health Institute. This was very good, when we take all the circumstances into consideration; but perhaps there are a few who did not do their full duty in this direction.

The whole of the preaching during the meeting, with the exception of one discourse by Bro. E. B. Lane, was done by Bro. Waggoner and myself.

In the very outset we contracted severe colds which not only impaired our usefulness measurably, but, for a time, threatened to prostrate us altogether. Under the blessing of God, however, we were enabled to carry on our labor till the end of the meeting, and on Tuesday morning we left our brethren in Indiana, with whom the prevailing impression seemed to be that the meeting had been a success, to make our way to Mansfield, Ohio, there to enter immediately upon a meeting of like character with that which we had just closed.

As we separated from those with whom we had been so pleasantly associated for a few days, our hearts yearned over them, and we offered an earnest prayer to God that they might ever be preserved from that love of controversy for the sake of controversy which has characterized some sects in that State, and that they might always bear in mind that there are, in the Christian religion, no triumphs worthy of mention which do not result in the glory of God and the conversion of men, rather than the mere gratification of personal pride. W. H. LITTLEJOHN. Mansfield, Ohio, Sept. 28, 1871.