WESTERN NEW YORK CAMP-MEETING.
By B. L. Whitney
This meeting was held, according to appointment, at Fillmore Park, on the Buffalo, New York, and Philadelphia Railroad, June 7 to 12, 1877. Although designed especially for the brethren in the western part of the State and attended almost exclusively by them, this meeting was fully as large as the average of our State meetings, and was considered by all as one of the best ever held in the State. Not a dozen persons east of Syracuse attended the meeting, yet we had forty-one church and family tents on the ground, and there were between three and four hundred Sabbath-keepers in attendance. The general attendance was very good, yet there were several churches which were not represented at all, and many of the brethren in some localities were hindered from coming on account of hard times. These facts show the strength of the cause in this part of the Conference so far as numbers are concerned. The weather was fine throughout, except on Sunday, when it was cold, stormy, and windy. But generally, providence favored us, and the circumstances all seemed to conspire to make the meeting a success. The location was all that could be desired, easy of access, with every courtesy extended to us by the R. R. officials who did all in their power to help forward the enterprise. Those who had the arrangement of the grounds in charge, took hold well, so that when the brethren came on Wednesday they found their tents all pitched and things in readiness for the meeting. This spirit was manifest during the entire meeting. Perhaps the two most prominent features of the meeting were the outside attendance, which increased to the last, and the uniformly good order and decorum maintained by those who came on the ground. In these particulars this meeting went beyond anything we have ever had in the State. Our last public meeting Monday evening was attended by from eight hundred to one thousand people, and on Sunday, when we had a large crowd considering the weather, although there were no police arrangements and no officers on the ground, the very best of order was maintained and good attention given to the discourse by nearly all in attendance.197This was considered remarkable considering the fact that we were located so near the city of Buffalo. There was not a public meeting from first to last without outside attendance; and on Monday afternoon and evening the large tent was well filled, and the very best attention was given. The unfavorable weather on Sunday prevented many from coming who otherwise would, yet there were from three thousand to three thousand five hundred persons on the ground, and in spite of the fact that the wind was blowing a vigorous gale, the large tent, 60x100, was filled to its utmost capacity with a congregation that listened with good attention to two discourses in succession, both in the forenoon and afternoon. The tent was also well filled in the evening. The singing seemed to be an interesting part of the exercise to the crowd. The choir, led by a cabinet organ, gave a song service of fifteen minutes before each public meeting and we believe this added much to the interest of the meeting. The social meetings were good. On one occasion 156 testimonies were given in 50 minutes. Many of those attending the meeting had lately started in the service of the Lord or had been aroused from a backslidden state by the meetings which have been held among the churches in this part of the State this spring, and most of these took hold well in these social seasons. Of course, as revival meetings had been held in nearly all these churches it was not to be expected that this would be a prominent feature of the meeting, yet twenty-eight backsliders and unconverted persons came forward for prayers as occasion was offered, eighteen of whom were baptized. The scene at the baptism Monday was a most beautiful one, and was witnessed by hundreds from the surrounding country. On Monday morning, after a discourse on S. B., the scattered brethren who are not connected with any of our churches and have not been paying S. B. were called together, and they were invited to share with their brethren in this. Pledges were made by them to the amount of $300. Then by a unanimous vote of the entire meeting a sum equal to one-third our S. B. was pledged to the Tract Society, to be paid quarterly the same as S. B. The wants of the Battle Creek College were then presented by Bro. C. and pledges to the amount of $1700 were made. Full reports of the meeting were published in the three leading Buffalo daily papers, the Courier, Express, and Commercial Advertiser, they devoting in several instances, more than a column a day to these reports. At a business meeting Monday morning, the following resolutions were most heartily and unanimously adopted by a rising vote of the entire meeting:— Resolved, That the sincere thanks of this meeting be tendered to the officers and employes of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad for their gentlemanly courtesy, both in granting us the use of their beautiful grounds, Fillmore Park, and their unceasing and successful endeavors to aid and promote the interest of the meeting and accommodate all who have attended. Resolved, That the grateful thanks of the Seventh-day Adventists of Western New York and Pennsylvania be tendered to the editors and reporters of the Buffalo daily papers for their full, candid, and interesting reports of this meeting. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be furnished to the railroad officials, and to the daily papers for publication. The main burden of the public labor of the meeting fell, of course, on Bro. Canright, though Bro. Reynolds spoke twice and the writer five times. As Bro. C. is soon to leave us to go to another field of labor, a resolution expressing the grateful appreciation of his labors among us during the past year was unanimously adopted by a rising vote. The brethren separated with feelings of new courage and determination to work in the cause; and as we look back upon this meeting, undertaken somewhat as an experiment, we can but feel that it has been a great success; and we trust that under the blessing of God it will prove of lasting benefit to the cause in Western New York.