Review and Herald, Vol. 54, No. 3. (7/10/1879)

Review and Herald

Jul 10, 1879

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 10, 1879

OUR CAMP-MEETINGS.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

These annual gatherings are attended with great expense and wearisome labor. They are designed especially for our people, as the best means of reaching the greatest number. And while wisdom should be manifested in locating them where those not of our faith may be benefited by the light of truth presented, great care should be exercised that the object of the meeting be not lost sight of in the desire to make a favorable impression upon the public mind.

I see a marked change for the worse in our camp-meetings. Reporting the meetings through the secular papers, will, if properly conducted, be the means of calling the attention of the people to our faith, and awakening an interest in it; but if not managed in a manner to exalt Jesus and the truth rather than to make a display of what is done, the efforts are thrown away, and time and energy needed to keep up the interest of the meetings are worse than lost. When sincere piety, earnest devotion, and sanctified zeal are manifested by those professing the truth, and our devotional exercises are characterized by the presence of God's Spirit, impressions will be made upon the outside world that no amount of reporting will produce.

Our camp-meetings greatly fail of being what they should be, and our people do not gain the spiritual benefit from them that they might. Home burdens and worldly thoughts should be laid aside. Every individual should be upon the ground the first day of the meeting, prepared to remain until the closing service. When one family strike their tent a day or two before the close of the meeting, others feel inclined to do the same, and the interest of the meeting is greatly injured. One full week is none too long a time to devote exclusively to the service of God, having the mind withdrawn from worldly interests and concentrated upon spiritual things; but to abridge the one week to two or three days is robbing God of time which should be spent in his service. Some do not get into the spirit of the meeting before they start for their homes. Such show that they value temporal things above spiritual, and they will receive no permanent good.

How must our Lord look upon his people who are thus indifferent and careless when his servants are laboring earnestly to bring them up to the requirements of the Bible, and to awaken in them greater earnestness and devotion in the cause of God. The preaching on Sunday is generally designed more especially for the people outside of our faith, the evidences of our position being dwelt upon. Monday the work commenced on Sabbath for those who are seeking the Lord, is resumed. This, the day for binding off the meetings, is the most important of the series; and our brethren meet with a great loss themselves, and cast a depressing influence upon the meeting, by taking this day for packing, taking down tents, and leaving the grounds. This is a wrong which nearly destroys the good that might be realized from the meetings.

We would appeal to our brethren and sisters to come to the camp-meeting prepared to remain to the close. It is disheartening to your ministers to see a disposition on your part to scatter, as if in haste to get away from the camp. Be on the ground the first day, and feel an individual responsibility to labor for the interest of the meeting from the first day to the last.

As a people, we are backsliding from God. The hearts of his professed children are being estranged from him. While they have a name to live, the true, vital energies of the soul have become spiritually dead. To such, Jesus speaks: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!” Christ does not say days, but “day,”—“this thy day.” That last meeting may be the very day of the special visitation of Christ,—a day of rare privileges and blessings so much needed by them.

When Christ was upon the earth, attending one of the Jews' convocations, upon the last day, that great day of the feast, he stood and cried: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” His eye of tenderest pity was cast around upon the multitude who were apparently all joy and rejoicing; but he who reads the secrets of the heart saw that there were many in that festive throng who were thirsting for that peace, and comfort, and consolation which he alone can give. They had failed to quench their thirst at earthly fountains, and his voice was heard by the whole temple crowd: “I am the fountain of living waters. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”

In our camp-meetings Jesus is present with his gracious invitations; and if, on the last day of the feast, he is specially near, and his mercies and blessings are more forcibly brought home to us, how great the loss of those who fail to be present! On the very day of all others when they should be present, they are hastening to their homes; and thus failing to drink of the living waters, their souls are unrefreshed.

One family decide that their farm calls them; but if they had a little more faith and trust in their Heavenly Father, who has said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you,” they would be more willing to leave the consequences with God. But very few are willing to make any sacrifice of their temporal things in order to gain eternal riches.

We feel to the very depths the spiritual loss that our people are sustaining in not appreciating their privileges and present blessings. They are not becoming more earnest, devoted, and perfect in character. Their faith is dead, because it is not sustained by works. There is every year a growing tendency to assimilate to the world. Self and the world are becoming a ruling power. I state that which I know. Spiritual death is coming upon us, because of the absence of vital godliness. Says Jesus, “I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” It is one thing to profess Christ, and another thing to follow him.

Anciently God commanded his people to assemble three times a year, and from every city from Dan to Beersheba the people came to these annual feasts. The one at the commencement of the season was to entreat God's blessing upon their families, their lands, their flocks, and their herds. The one at the close of harvest was the crowning festal gathering, to bring their offerings to God. The land had yielded its increase, the harvest had been gathered into their granaries, the first-fruits had been stored, and the people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God, who had thus richly blessed them. Joy and rejoicing were there combined with the solemnities of a holy and sacred convocation.

God directed Moses to say to the children of Israel, “Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine.” “Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord shall choose; because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.”

Many sacrifices were made at these feasts; and this profusion of blood shed in connection with the harvest of thanksgiving was significant to them of the fact that even the bounties of the earth could come to them only through the cross of Calvary. By thus assembling and bringing their tithes into the treasury, they ever acknowledged the Lord to be the giver of all their blessings. The children of Israel are our examples, that while we should imitate their faithfulness and virtues, we should shun those sins which brought the displeasure of God upon them.

We have our convocation meetings yearly, and all who possibly can attend them should feel under obligation to do so. If they neglect to improve the opportunities to obtain a better knowledge of the truth, and to become more thoroughly in earnest in their efforts to perfect Christian character, they will be held responsible for the light, and privileges, and blessings which they might have had. Their case is nearly as bad in the sight of God as that of those who attend the meetings but fail to improve by the light and blessings there received.

I plead with our brethren and sisters to make the most of their God-given opportunities. Christ, when weeping over Jerusalem, exclaimed, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace; but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Jerusalem's sin was in abusing past blessings and privileges, and she was sealing her doom in rejecting present mercies and warnings. The weak faith of our people to-day shows that past warnings and reproofs have not been heeded, and hardness of heart, and indifference, and unbelief are the result.

The most solemn and awful period for the Jewish nation was when Jesus was in their midst. It was that generation that was responsible for not accepting the light of the world. For many years God has been pleading with his people by mercies, by judgments, and by the most solemn warnings and entreaties. Blessings have been bestowed, and blessings removed, and yet the people who profess to be in advance of every other people in the light of truth have not responded to these warnings and entreaties of the Spirit of God. The Saviour's love has been unrequited. Christ looks mournfully upon the individual members of the church, and exclaims, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

The hour of probation is fast passing; the cup of God's indignation is fast filling. Will those who profess to be waiting for the appearing of their Lord from heaven be found wanting in that day, or will they awake from their carnal security, repent of their indifference and hardness of heart, and in this their day give most diligent heed to the things which belong to their peace? Must the fast westering sun of merciful probation set, and the sentence be pronounced, “but now they are hid from thine eyes”?

From the crest of Olivet, Christ overlooked the world. Every soul who has become indifferent to the privileges within his reach, is personally addressed in this appeal. Christ is stooping over his throne to-day, his great heart of love yearning with deep and tender compassion over those who are careless, and neglectful of their eternal interests. Many professed Christians are now only stumbling-blocks,—false way-marks. They do not represent to the world by good works the principles of the doctrines of Christ. They neglect the study of the Scriptures, and secret prayer, and have become, so far as their influence is concerned, traitors to their holy trust. Their hearts have gradually become hardened; they have a name to live, while the vital energies of the soul have become spiritually paralyzed. Of this class our Saviour speaks: “Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

It is not enough to profess to believe in Christ, saying that we are saved by Christ, when we do not practice the lessons he has given. All such professed Christians are represented by the man who built his house upon the sand; while the hearers and doers of the word are represented by the man who built his house upon the rock, and amid tempest, storm, and flood, it remained unmoved. Thus the true foundation for every soul is represented by those who not only hear the truth but practice it. Those who claim to be children of God and do not his will are hypocrites.

He who is indeed a follower of Jesus Christ, will be assimilated to his image. He will be brought into sympathy with him through the fellowship of his sufferings. Storms of trial and adversity may break upon him, but he is not swayed from his foundation, for his soul is riveted upon the eternal Rock. Indolence in spiritual things will bring moral feebleness; active workers in the cause of God will be men of prayer, and will have success. Every day that they labor to do the will of God they will have increased ability to work efficiently to promote his glory. To such he will say by and by, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Dead and Alive.

By Alice Cary

Till I learned to love thy name, Lord, thy grace denying, I was lost in sin and shame, Dying, dying, dying!

Nothing could the world impart, Darkness held no morrow; In my soul and in my heart Sorrow, sorrow, sorrow!

All the blossoms came to blight; Noon was dull and dreary; Night and day, and day and night, Weary, weary, weary!

When I learned to love thy name, Peace beyond all measure Came, and in the stead of shame, Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure!

Winds may beat and storms may fall; Thou, the meek and lowly, Reignest, and I sing through all, Holy, holy, holy!

Life may henceforth never be Like a dismal story, For beyond its bound I see Glory, glory, glory! —Alice Cary.

THE RESURRECTION.

By C. W. Stone

BY C. W. STONE.

(Continued.)

ISAIAH prophesied of the resurrection in the following plain terms: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” To make this language more clear would be about as difficult as to make a good argument on the proposition that two and two make four. To express the idea more forcibly, that dead men shall be restored to life again, and be brought up out of the grave bodily as they went into it, would be a difficult task. Isaiah’s hope most certainly was in the literal resurrection of dead men. “Thy dead men shall live.” But, according to the views of many, there are no dead men; it is simply the body that dies, while the real man lives on unceasingly. How, then, can dead men live again? That which does not cease to live cannot live again. But, however widely the view may obtain that men do not really die, there is no Bible for it, and no truth in it. It was the first lie ever recorded, and the devil was the author of it. Gen. 3:4. Men ought to know better. We see men die every day. And Isaiah says, “Thy dead men shall live.” Glorious thought! The same loved forms we used to see are to be seen again. The same dear mother that death took from our embrace, the same loved brother that went down into the grave in the morning of

FALLING

Those who object to our saying that the popular churches of the present day are fallen, will certainly have to admit, in view of the following testimony, that some of them at least are falling. The Boston Sunday Herald of May 18, 1879, under the heading “Religious,” says:—

“That a tendency toward a complete rejection of the Christian religion has, says the Christian Leader, made great progress among the Unitarians, is patent to every one who reads the current literature of that people. Yet the confession—rather, the complaint—of Dr. W. G. Eliot in the Christian Register, as to the extent of Unitarian negations, does indeed surprise us. We know a case not far from Boston in which the pastor of a Unitarian parish had trouble with his people, who made against him the solitary specification that he preached ‘too much Jesus!’ We supposed that this extremity of deism was, however, rather exceptional. Dr. Eliot complains that it is anything but uncommon. He gives an instance in which a Unitarian parish has been organized in which all recognition of Christian doctrine is purposely omitted. And he fears that the Register itself is following hard after. His own conclusion seems to us a ‘very sensible one, that ‘Jesus Christ can do without’ Unitarians, but that Unitarians will find that they ‘cannot do without him.’”

If the real facts in the case were made to appear, we think it would be found that the Lord has already for some time been doing without them.

THE POCASSET MURDER.

By Roswell F. Cottrell

The Evangelical Messenger of June 19, 1879, gives the comments of Rev. D. B. Byers on the cause of this tragedy. He starts out by emphasizing the fact that “Freeman was a ‘Second Adventist.’” Says he, “He no doubt had the full effect of the legalistic notions of that persuasion working in him.” (The italics are his.) Again, “If Freeman had held any other than the legalistic views of the Second Adventists, he would no doubt have been kept from the awful deed, and been spared the dreadful experience.” If this is so,—if legalistic views led Freeman to the commission of this terrible crime,—it is a matter of the deepest interest to know what these views are. What are they?

He continues, “I have more than once, in discussion with men of this faith, had occasion to remind them of the fact of St. Paul’s asseveration to the Galatians: ‘Christ is become of none effect unto you, whosoever of you are [seek to be] justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.’ To my mind Freeman’s slaughter of his child is the extreme, yet legitimate fruit of such extreme legalistic ideas.”

Now, every person at all acquainted with the facts of the “discussion” which he mentions, knows that the text he quotes from Galatians is never quoted in these discussions for any other purpose than to make it appear that Christians are not bound to keep all the ten commandments as they are found in the Bible. All who hold to the keeping of the whole ten commandments are reproachfully called legalists by their opponents, as seeking to be justified by the law.

The reader needs to know that there are two classes of Second Adventists, one holding to the entire code of the moral law,—the ten commandments, and the faith of Jesus Christ also; the other class holds with Mr. Byers, that that law has been abolished, superseded, or amended by the faith of Christ, and they taunt the former class as having fallen from grace. Paul belonged to the former class. Said he, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3 : 31.

If Freeman had a standing with either of these two classes (which is very doubtful), he belonged to the class that held with Mr. Byers, and with him quote the text about being justified by the law and fallen from grace, to those who hold to all the ten commandments.

But supposing that Freeman was a legalist in the sense that he held the entire moral code as strictly binding upon him as the rule of his life and the guide of his actions; would the “fiery law,” flashing like a glittering sword over his head, “Thou shalt not kill,” have a tendency to lead him to kill his child? The idea is preposterous. There is more sense in two lines of A Lunatic’s Address to a Mosquito, which recently appeared in some of the papers; namely, “The laws which run this mortal state, ’Tis never safe to violate.”

What will not blind prejudice do for a man’s reasoning powers! Had the murder been committed by a Methodist, Presbyterian, or a Baptist, would the whole sect with its doctrines be charged as leading to such a result? Whence arises this peculiar spite against Second Adventists, but from a heart that does not love the appearing of Christ?

Mr. Byers says, “The members of the Second Adventists in the place, it is said, held a counsel [council?] over the matter, and justified the inhuman deed as a great act of faith and submission to the Divine will.” Yes, “it is reported;” and our writer seems not to have noticed the ample reputation of this report which has been published in the papers; but seems willing to take up a reproach against his neighbor, simply because he is a Second Adventist. Is this the better half, the Christian side of the world? It cannot be charged with legalism, for there is nothing legal about it. It is a good illustration of the doctrine that if you keep the moral law, you are fallen from grace.

R. F. COTTRELL.

SOLOMON AND THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN.

By W. H. Littlejohn

The wise man has said, “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Prov. 22 : 6.

To this declaration the infidel has taken exception, and endeavored to plant thereupon a battery with which to hurl at the book of God the shot and shell of his determined unbelief. With these words, also, some believers, even, have apparently been troubled. Their difficulty has consisted in an inability to make this statement harmonize with the facts. “Why,” say they, “how often it occurs that the children of good men turn out badly. Is it not true that ministers’ sons are notoriously reckless and unprincipled?”

To these queries we reply, first, It is true that the children of good men sometimes turn out badly; secondly, It is not true—common rumor to the contrary notwithstanding—that ministers’ sons furnish a larger percentage of wild, unprincipled youth than do those of other men. A gentleman has recently been to the labor of inquiring into the facts in the case, and his investigation proves that the reverse of the common supposition represents the actual state of things; i. e., a larger proportion of the sons of clergymen grow up to be men of principle and usefulness than are found among those of other classes.

But without enlarging upon this point, we inquire, Even though what is claimed were true, would this invalidate the correctness of the proverb under consideration?

This we unhesitatingly answer in the negative. Solomon does not declare that all children of good men will grow up and fill positions of usefulness and of honor; for a man may be a person of unexceptionable life and principles, and yet fail to comply with the condition which would enable him to claim at the hands of the Almighty, in the persons of his offspring, the fulfillment of the promise in Prov. 22 : 6. In other words, though upright himself, he may be utterly destitute of those qualities which would enable him to govern a family successfully. Mark you, the condition is not that he should desire or try to bring up a child in the way that he should go, and that when doing so that child should not depart from that way; but it is that he should actually accomplish the fact of training him up in that way. In other words, that he should make a success of training his child up aright from infancy to manhood. This done, the prediction is that he will not in subsequent life depart from the path of rectitude.

Nay, more; when we stop and consider for a moment, we shall discover that there is even another limitation. The candid reader will have no trouble in coming to the conclusion that there might be an occasional lapse of individuals who have been properly brought up, into bad habits and evil practices, without falsifying the teaching of the passage in question. That passage constitutes one of a large number of useful proverbs.

But what is a proverb? Webster defines it to be a wise saying, maxim, aphorism, apothegm, adage, etc. Now who does not know that apothegms, aphorisms, and adages express in a forcible manner, and in few words, truths which, though general in their character, may nevertheless have their exceptions? Take for example the following: “As the twig is bent the tree inclines.” Is not this proverbially true? Does it not illustrate a general fact with which all are familiar? Do not ninety and nine out of every hundred trees show in their mature development those peculiarities of form which were manifest in them as saplings? The reply must be in the affirmative. But may not there be one in a hundred which through natural influences, or the application of artificial force, may have overcome the tendencies of its earlier life? You reply that this may be so; for you have seen the expert gardener, by pressure and trimming, cause his fruit or ornamental trees to assume at his pleasure a variety of shapes. Is, then, the incorrectness or unwisdom of the adage about the twig and the tree substantiated? You reply that it is not; assigning very correctly as a reason that the adage in question, like others of its character, accurately sets forth a general principle or rule which as such remains true notwithstanding the exception to which I have called attention.

So likewise I rejoin it is with the statement made by Solomon. What he said in this proverb, as in nearly all which he uttered, contains a general proposition which is verified by the experience of all ages and of all observers. It may be true that in one case in a hundred there might be found a man who, though properly reared, instructed, and indoctrinated, in early life, has nevertheless in later years overcome the effects of his education so far as to utterly depart from the road which he had habitually traveled in early manhood; but if we can find one of whom this is true, we can find ninety and nine whose general course has been the same in the after portion of their days as that upon which they had entered at twenty-five years of age.

That such is the case the very maxim of the twig and the tree, sanctioned as it is by all, furnishes proof; for it is to illustrate the point in hand that it is almost universally employed. How many times as individuals we have used it in this manner, either as a prophecy of what would be the end of an ill begun life in one, or as an explanation of the career of another ending in crime and wretchedness.

Why is it that Romanists and Protestants vie with each other in establishing Sunday schools and day schools, as well as seminaries and colleges of learning, if it be not that they are acting upon the principle in question, experience having taught them that in one sense, the boy is father of the man?

But we need not multiply words. We lay it down as a proposition which cannot be successfully controverted, that, in the great majority of cases, the characters of young men are almost universally fixed and permanent at twenty-five years of age; also, that were we able so far to discriminate as to determine at that point who had been so trained up that they had obeyed from the heart the form of sound doctrine, we could readily decide what would be the future history of all who had thus been indoctrinated.

Do you reply that in this way we make the man the creature of circumstances and education? We answer, by no means. Other young men may have had equally favorable surroundings, and yet failed to be affected in like manner by the training which their parents had sought to administer. Two things are required; first, there must be on the part of the parent, the ability to govern wisely and well; secondly, there must be on the part of the child a hearty submission to the discipline administered. When

these two conditions meet, and fail to produce in the majority of cases a life of virtue, then, and not till then, can Solomon be impeached.

As already remarked, he is not talking about men who should try to train up children in the way they should go, but those who shall succeed in so doing.

Here we leave the subject, believing that we have demonstrated to the satisfaction of every candid mind that the infidel objection is a mere cavil.

W. H. LITTLEJOHN.

THE ÆTNA ERUPTION.

THE Rome correspondent of the N. Y. Evening Post, gives a graphic description of the great destruction and consequent suffering caused by the recent eruption of Mt. Ætna.

This is said to be the most violent eruption of the present century. The mountain has been disturbed for five months. On the 22d of May, it threw out great quantities of dense, salt, and smoking mud. As this flowed down the mountain, the frightened people, unconscious of the fiery flood soon to follow, sought to protect their vineyards against it by building walls to control its direction.

On the afternoon of May 29, violent and repeated shocks of earthquake, loud thunder, high wind, and heavy rain, announced to the startled inhabitants the coming of the great outbreak. New craters immediately appeared. The fiery current began its fatal flow down the mountain, and clouds of smoke, ashes, and sand darkened all the country around.

The superstitious people with the priests at their head kneeled before the fiery flood, coming slowly but relentlessly down upon them at the rate of forty-five feet an hour, and with crosses and crucifixes prayed for pity and mercy. But the hissing avalanche was blind to crosses and deaf to prayers. It moved on taking their trees and vines, and houses, and cabins, and barns into its embrace, swallowing them up in its all-devouring heat.

The province of Catania, which a few weeks ago was a scene of living verdure, giving promise of a good harvest, now lies buried under a heavy weight of hard gray lava. One of the streams traveled a distance of thirteen miles from the crater, and in four days more than 230,000,000 cubic yards of lava were thrown out.

The distress of the multitudes, whose entire earthly possessions, not houses and crops alone, but land also, have been blotted from the face of the earth, is heart-rending.

A BAPTISMAL FACT.

One of the stereotyped arguments against immersion, and in favor of sprinkling, as the apostolic mode of baptism, is that it would have been impossible for the apostles to immerse in one day the three thousand converts on the day of Pentecost. The Alliance of May 24, 1879, publishes the following report from a missionary in India, which very easily settles this vexed question:—

At Ongole, in India, 2,222 persons were some time ago immersed in a single day. Rev. J. H. Gunning of Titusville, Pa., wrote to Missionary Clough at Ongole to ask him how many men it took to baptize 2,222 persons in one day. The missionary replies as follows:

“With reference to your question: ‘How many men does it take to baptize 2,222 persons in one day?’ I should say that depends on several things; but in the present case the simple reply is ‘Six.’ But, lest this be too laconic, I will enlarge a little. Bear in mind that the baptistery was admirably situated for expeditious work. It was at the ford of a river, with a sort of basin on either side; and no time was lost in coming or going, as the water was sufficiently deep close up to the road. Remember, too, that the examinations and all necessary preparatory work had been previously attended to. The people were arranged in groups according to their villages. Only two preachers baptized at one time; when those were tired, two others took their places: these, in turn, were relieved by the other two; and so on. The baptizing commenced at about 5 A. M., and continued till 10. It was resumed at 2 P. M., and completed at 6. It will thus be seen that the baptism of 2,222 converts occupied two preachers 9 hours, or about 30 seconds for each candidate. If the six preachers had all been employed at the same time, the 2,222 converts would have been baptized in just three hours!”

A FACT ABOUT THE BIBLE.

The following, clipped from the Cleveland Herald, presents a fact which was no doubt new to many of the readers of that paper. But it is one of those stubborn facts which grow stronger under investigation. We are glad to see such facts passed around:—

“The words ‘immortal soul,’ ‘deathless soul,’ ‘undying soul,’ ‘deathless spirit,’ ‘disembodied soul,’ ‘disembodied spirit,’ ‘eternal torment,’ ‘eternal suffering in conscious misery,’ ‘eternal misery,’ ‘unending misery,’ ‘unending torment,’ ‘everlasting woe,’ ‘endless woe,’ ‘never-dying soul,’ and all their kindred words, are words that never, in a single instance, are found in the Bible. But from the copious manner in which these words are passed to us from the pulpit, and through the press, we should, without reading, suppose the Bible full of them! The word ‘immortal’ occurs but once in the whole Bible.”

ITS EFFECT.

The terrible licentiousness which prevails on Sunday in our large cities is arresting the attention of the better class of men and papers, without any reference to the matter as a theological question. The unparalleled prevalence of lawlessness and crime in Chicago for some Sundays past, calls out an article in the Inter-Ocean, of July 1, in the course of which it says:—

“Whether there is any middle ground between the old Sabbath severity and this wild riot, we do not know. It is to be hoped there is. But if there is not, then we say without hesitation, give us the old New England Sabbath. Anything is preferable to this letting down of all restraint, and turning loose thousands of young men to contract evil habits, and be led by vicious men into excesses, which finally culminate in crime.”

Those who are engaged in the Sunday movement from a religious standpoint, will of course see no middle ground. And those who are represented by the Inter-Ocean will give their adherence to such a Sunday as they demand, rather than endure the lawlessness which now abounds. The result is not difficult to foresee.

CAMP-MEETING AT DUNLAP, IOWA.

By George I. Butler

This was larger than either of the other meetings that have been held in the State of Iowa this summer. Thirty tents were pitched, and about four hundred persons encamped. The grounds were not well calculated for a camp-meeting, furnishing but little shade, and being situated in a bend of the Boyer River, and almost surrounded by it, giving little opportunity for retirement. It is difficult to find suitable groves for such meetings in that section of the State.

This meeting was composed mainly of those who had not previously attended our camp-meetings, and many were present who had but recently embraced the truth. Quite a number came from Nebraska. We also had a large representation of our Scandinavian friends. Bro. Hanson was present, also Bro. James Sawyer, to speak to them in their own tongue when other services were not in progress. Bro. and Sr. White attended this meeting, also Bro. Farnsworth, Bro. Boyd from Nebraska, Bro. Bartlett, and the writer.

This meeting was not so free as our meetings at Fairfield and Indianola, though larger; yet we think it was a very profitable meeting for the cause in that section of the State. The instruction given was very much needed, and we trust it will be highly prized. Bro. and Sr. White reached the ground Friday afternoon, accompanied by Bro. W. C. White and wife, comparatively in good health and spirits. Their testimony had never before been heard by most of these present, and of course their presence added much to the interest of the meeting. Bro. W. gave a valuable discourse Sabbath, bearing on spiritual gifts, with many interesting incidents connected with their manifestation among our people, bringing out new thoughts to most of us concerning the unity of the Bible and God's method of instructing his people through Christ and his angel, and those to whom he is pleased to manifest himself. We were reminded during his stay with us of his recent article on “Growing Old Gracefully,” and judge he is making quite a success of this. He spoke with freedom on other subjects. We had an excellent Sabbath-school, led by Bro. W. C. White, with good words of instruction from several others on this important subject.

Sister White had her usual freedom on important practical subjects. A large number came forward for prayers on the Sabbath, and on Monday also, and many good testimonies were given. Sister W. talked to the people Monday forenoon almost continuously for three hours, and such excellent practical instruction on the way to live out the principles of our holy religion in the common walks of life, it has rarely been my privilege to hear. While it was known that the speaker was wholly unacquainted with most of those she was addressing, we were also aware of the fact that her instructions were exactly adapted to the circumstances of the occasion, and could but feel that God specially directed her mind. We hope her remarks may never be forgotten by those present.

Bro. and Sr. White are a father and mother in the cause. They feel the physical effects of their hard labor, and ought not to be called upon to bear heavy burdens of perplexity. Younger soldiers should take such burdens, and let these veterans in the cause long have the privilege of meeting with God's people, to encourage, counsel, and instruct them. Their experience in this work has been invaluable, and may be a source of great profit to us all.

Our congregation on Sunday was about a thousand. We took up the temperance work in earnest, and with encouraging results. Two hundred and seventy-three signed the teetotal pledge, giving up alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, and all such stimulants. Eighty-one signed the anti-rum and tobacco pledge. Six hundred and forty-five have signed the teetotal pledge at the different meetings recently held in this State; and if we add to this the number of signatures obtained at the two meetings held in Missouri, we have in all eight hundred and eighty-nine. Many of these persons were enslaved by cups and pipes, and we trust the temperance influence will be strengthened by these meetings.

The canvassers on the ground Sunday secured subscribers as follows: REVIEW, 15; Good Health, 16; Signs, 10; Instructor, 15; College Record, 59. Total, 115. Total number of subscribers secured at the three meetings in Iowa, 331. At this meeting we obtained pledges on the reserve T. and M. fund, amounting to $250, making in all about $700 at the three Iowa meetings, besides nearly $200 to the tent and camp-meeting fund.

On Monday, we had a pleasant baptism, administered by Elds. Farnsworth and Hansen, on which occasion twenty-two were baptized, making seventy in all who have been baptized at the three meetings. We had a good farewell meeting Tuesday morning,—the best one of all. Much of the time several were waiting an opportunity to speak. All expressed much gratitude for the benefit received during the encampment.

Quite a number were present from Nebraska and Dakota, some of whom came one hundred and fifty miles with teams. Bro. and Sr. White expected to go to Dakota from this meeting. Thus closed the last of six camp-meetings which I have attended, in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa. They have been seasons of hard labor and anxiety, but we trust they have accomplished good. The three held in Iowa have been of great good to the State. From 1000 to 1200 Sabbath-keepers have attended them, many of whom we never saw before, and who had never enjoyed such a privilege. If we had before doubted in the least the advisability of holding such meetings in different sections of the State, our experience this year would have settled the question. I believe more has been done by these three camp-meetings to improve the spiritual condition of the cause than could have been done by two ministers laboring six months in each of the separate churches. Our meetings when very large become unwieldy, and many do not get that benefit from them they would from smaller meetings. It is cheaper to take camp-meetings near the people in central localities, than to force the people to go long distances; and the meetings reach many who most need them, and who would not go far to attend them. God has blessed us greatly in these meetings, for which we hope to ever be grateful. May we all remember the truths we have heard.

GEO. I. BUTLER.

Fairfield, Iowa, July 4, 1879.

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