The New England Camp-meeting.
By Uriah Smith
THE New England Conference of S. D. Adventists, as at present organized, comprises the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The contour of this territory would remind us somewhat of a stately church edifice, of which Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut would constitute the body of the building, and New Hampshire the tower. Near the base of this tower, in Amherst, the camp-meeting for the present season was held, at the time appointed, Aug. 24–29. The grove was a pleasant one, in close proximity to the line of the Nashua and Wilton R. R.; but it was not calculated for a large gathering, being shut in on two sides by sharp rises of ground, and, owing to depressions in the land in some places, was unfavorable for rainy weather. The full benefit of this was experienced in a heavy shower on Sunday night, when some of the tents were flooded with water to a depth of from four to ten inches. The history of this meeting would not probably differ in any marked degree from that of others which have been held, except that there was a more manifest disposition on the part of the sons of Belial to make disturbance. Night after the Sabbath, they made known their determination to give the encampment no rest, by “howling” around the grounds all night, thus plainly identifying the class of animals to which they belonged. But howling on an empty stomach, and without umbrellas on a rainy night, did not prove to them so entertaining an enterprise as they had anticipated; and a little before midnight they left us to our usual quiet. The heavier rain on Sunday night prevented any further demonstrations of this kind. Much disappointment was felt by the brethren and sisters on learning that Bro. and sister White, being detained by matters in Battle Creek, would not probably be present; and correspondingly great was therefore their joy on seeing sister White unexpectedly come upon the ground on Friday, in company with her son, Willie, they having accomplished the long journey from Michigan to New England, to give their assistance at this meeting, and the following one in Maine. Bro. W. was unable to leave on account of a pressure of business affairs at the Office. Most of the speaking was done by Brn. Andrews and Littlejohn and sister White, and was of the usual solemn character of the great themes of present truth. There were about two hundred believers present, occupying twenty-six church and family tents, besides some portions of the two large 60 feet tents. Between fifty and sixty came forward for prayers, some making efforts to return to their first love, and some seeking the Lord for the first time. It was cheering to hear the testimony of those, who, on the Sabbath, stated that that was the first Sabbath they had ever tried to keep, but which they should hereafter endeavor to observe unto the Lord. To see young men who give evidence of firmness of principle and solidity of character, taking such a step, is a matter of great rejoicing. Fourteen were baptized. Bro. Rodman administered the ordinance. It was a peaceful, pleasant scene. Some of the candidates came up out of the water praising the Lord. The annual session of the New England Conference was held in connection with the camp-meeting, which will be reported by the Conference secretary. The brethren responded liberally in pledges to those enterprises for which means are now solicited. About two thousand people were present on Sunday. There were a few fanatical spirits on the ground, to whom the quiet earnest work of our meetings was altogether tame and distasteful. One remarked that this meeting was nothing to a Methodist one recently held somewhere in this section of country; for there, there was “yelling all over the ground.” But the work of present truth does not consist in noise and yells and excitement and frenzy. It is a deep, sober, solemn, intelligent work of preparation for the test of the Judgment which we are soon to pass. With far too many, a meeting is good for nothing, unless it is a scene of wild excitement. But that meeting which is characterized by deep self-examination, and by efforts to more fully understand, calmly and intelligently, the conditions and requirements of the gospel of the Son of God, and from which a person goes with his principles of good all fortified, with clearer convictions and stronger determinations, will be found to be a season of profit, in comparison with a time of ecstatic excitement, from which a person emerges with no definite principles by which to order his future course, to relapse, when the brief feeling has passed away, into a worse than his former state of doubtful Christianity, hungering and thirsting, not for the true principles and practices of a truly noble and godly life, but for another scene of noise and excitement. The meeting was one of interest throughout. The brethren nearly all testified to its good character, and the benefit they had received from it. Many good resolutions were expressed, which, if they ripen into deeds, will show a harvest of blessed fruit. But the parting hour came, as it does and will to all earthly scenes; and the brethren separated with faces, we trust, newly set for that land where “Free from all worldly woes
Our songs of praise shall close
Never! no, never!”