everlasting-gospels.gif

Rise Of The Camp Meeting

letter-text.gif
line.gif
guide_img.gif

July 7 - Rise of the Camp Meeting-3

guide_img.gif

 

line.gif

In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things. Isa. 25:6.

"Fat things" in the Bible are good things, spiritual blessings, the fulfillment of God's promises. Not only did God speak of feasts of fat things in the Old Testament, but also of the great heavenly feast of the redeemed at the end of time. In the interim, as the early Adventists saw it, the camp meeting was a feast of fat things.

At the one back in 1868 Ellen White gave what we might think of as the keynote address. She spoke on the needs of the Advent people and got the attendees mentally prepared for the spiritual feast to come. As Uriah Smith phrased it, she "put the brethren upon the right train of thought at the very commencement." And "those who before had not seen the need of such a gathering, if any such there were, must have seen it, when its objects were thus clearly set forth."

Or as joseph Clarke reported, "Sister White's testimony was such as to cause us to feel somewhat as the disciples when they queried 'Lord, it it I?' It was full of warning," urging the people of the possibilities in the meetings, and "to speak of heavenly things" rather than earthly.

The preaching services were central at Wright, James speaking six times. Ellen five, J. N. Andrews four, and Nathan Fuller one. Smith reported of the messages that they were "all aglow with the fire of present truth."

Afterward all the states wanted James and Ellen each year. They did their best to comply, sacrificing most of August through October for that purpose for years.

That Wright camp meeting saw some 300 people tented on the grounds, with several hundred staying in nearby homes, making up to 1,000 in attendance during the week. The weekend, of course, spiked the attendance figures, which soared to 2,000 and probably would have reached 3,000 except for the extremely heavy rain.

Later camp meetings often convened within easy traveling distance from the cities for the benefit of the large numbers of non-Adventist that they hoped would attend to hear the third angel's message and related truths. The most successful may have been the camp meeting held in Groveland, Massachusettes, when an estimated 20,000 persons gathered on Sunday to hear Ellen White speak on temperance.

What an opportunity! What a blessing!

         line.gif
guide_img_bottom.gif guide_img_bottom.gif

What a blessing of the Lord, our Father!

line.gif