Local Camp-Meeting in Oregon
By F. M. Burg
THE camp-meeting in Coos County (Ore.) this year will be looked back to by the people of God in that part of the conference as one of the brightest spots along their journey toward the kingdom. There were but a few of our people in Coos County who did not attend the meeting this year. All came early to the ground, and preparations for the meeting were so nearly completed that the opening was characterized by that quiet in the camp which we are sure is pleasing to him who would have us do all things “decently and in order.” There were about fifteen family tents on the ground, and about seventy-five campers. Prof. C. C. Lewis, of Walla Walla College, was present, and helped through the first ten days of the meeting. Dr. W. R. Simmons was on the ground and rendered valuable help for two or three days. From the start, the interest was good, and the attendance increased till the close. Indeed, the interest was such at the close of the first ten days that it was unanimously agreed to continue the meeting another week. This was done, nearly all the campers remaining, and we are sure a most profitable week was spent. Fewer meetings were held during the day, so that the brethren and sisters could join us in visiting the people of the town. A good work was done in this way, both for the community and for our people. It was truly good to see old and young so filled with the spirit of work. Many profitable visits with interested persons were reported at the meetings held at 8 A. M. Tracts and papers were distributed, books sold, and we are sure that seeds of truth were sown that will bear fruit. At the end of the seventeen days the interest was better than at any time during the meeting; so a meeting of the campers was held after the last evening service, and it was decided to send word to Elder Black to come at once to follow up the interest in Myrtle Point, and to make Coos County his field of work for the remainder of the year. Sabbath, August 8, was a day of richest blessing to the camp. A good meeting was held in the forenoon, in which the blessing of the Lord was felt by young and old. Hearts were melted in sorrow for sin and gratitude for pardoning love. The converting power of God came in a special measure upon the young, and such a forward move was seen among them as was truly a cause for rejoicing throughout the camp. At 2 P. M. the entire camp and many from the town gathered on the bank of the beautiful Coquille River to witness the baptism of twenty-one whose hearts had been opened to let the Saviour come in to live with them. The Lord was present in a special manner on this occasion, and witnessed to the yielding of heart and life to him. We then returned to the camp, and engaged in the celebration of the ordinances of the Lord’s house,—a meeting that was a fitting complement to the work that had preceded it. Thus the camp-meeting in Myrtle Point has closed, and the people of God in Coos County, encouraged by the tokens of divine favor, and by the evidences in the message itself that this great work is going to triumph gloriously in a little time from this, have entered upon another year’s work in the interests of the grandest work that has been given to men to perform. The week following the close of the camp-meeting at Myrtle Point was spent at Coquille, where we held meetings in14the new house of worship that has been built in that place. The series closed on Sunday afternoon with the dedication of this neat and commodious house, which has been built and paid for at considerable sacrifice to the members of the church and others of like faith in that section, and which is surely an honor to the cause for which it stands. May the experience suggested by the following beautiful lines, which were sung at the dedication service, be fully realized:— “To thee this temple we devote,
Our Father and our God;
Accept it thine, and seal it now
Thy Spirit’s blest abode.
“Here may the prayer of faith ascend,
The voice of praise arise;
And may each lowly service prove
Accepted sacrifice.
“Here may the sinner learn his guilt,
And weep before his Lord;
Here, pardoned, sing a Saviour’s love,
And here his vows record.
“Peace be within these sacred walls;
Prosperity be here;
O smile upon thy people, Lord,
And evermore be near.”
After spending a day with Elder Black and his wife at Myrtle Point, helping them to get settled and to get acquainted with the condition of the field, I started on my return trip to Portland, stopping two days at Roseburg, where I had the privilege of helping on the new church, which is well under way. It will be a good building when finished. I visited the Royal and Eugene churches on my way north. Am glad to be at home for a few days again, and to give my attention for a short time to matters here at headquarters. Let us labor so that the day of his coming may be hastened.