The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-09-27 00:00:00

'CAMP MEETINGS.

Once or twice a-year, in each district, is held what is
called 'a carp meeting. For this purpose a suitable -place
is selected in the woods, 'generally near -a brook or -a spring;
a 'large eireular ipace is there cleared out 'under the shade
.Of the giant trees of the forest; 'split logs serve far seats;
'a sort of rostrum or pulpit is erected, capable Of containing a
doien
.preachers together. The most remarkable
ever, is the '` pen, the sanctum iancfdrunt. It is a place of
about 12 yards square, enclosed like a sheep-pen, and tilled, to
the height of about a feKit, with clean straw. All the religious
families of the neighbourhood come Or send beforehand to build
themselves a tent outside the cleared place, so that, 'towards the
appointed time of meeting, the forest assumes the appearance of
a village of rural huts, and greatly resembles the cantonment of
a regiment of cavalry, except that it is not so regular. On the
day appointed, generally a Sunday; families arrive in crowds,
oh horseback, in coaches, and in carts, bringing with them beds,
furniture, and kitchen utensils ; each family installs itself in its
hut, as if for a stay of some months. All the Methodist
preachers, exhorters, elders, circuitsriders, &c., take care to be
present, from 1(X) miles round. The bishop, or the local
preacher, or the circuit-rider, according to circumstances, com-
mences the ceremony by, giving out a psalm, which is sung by
the people ; afterwards comes a prayer, then a sermon, or two,
Or three, according to the inspiration of the preachers who fill
the pulpit. The service. Continues in this manner, alniost With-
out any interruption, for five or six dayS. Ido not mean to say
that everybody reniains-to listen Or preach all that time ; on the
contrary, everybody does as he pleases. 'The rich provide very
good dinners in their cabins,-and invite the preachers anclthe
poor. This is .a place chosen by the young people of both sexes
to court and arrange marriages. * * * * * * * *
Indeed, a camp meeting is an excellent place for all sorts of
busineis. it is eppitat of union for all the loungers and young
people; for those who have bargains to make or to conclude,
and for lhe'etindidates who'mean to " electioneer;" every one
minds his business, sleeps, eats, makes love, cheapens a horse,
and depreciates or exalts a candidate.
,The holy place is desert-
ed; silence for the first time reigns around the pulpit; the full
moon, though in her mid career, is veiled by a passing cloud,
and every thing seema_to invite to repose and to a suspension
of the labours of the day; when a preacher, who has remained
alone kneeling within the pulpit, rises up slowly; inspiration
begins to visit-him ; he begins a hymn, at first with a very
feeble voice, but which, crescendo by degrees, soon attains the
Melody of Stentor. Some pious souls retake their places upon;
the seats, other preachers join him, and curiosity soon reprp-
duees an auditory. An .enthusiastic and pathetic prayer fol-
lows: he engages the saints to pray for the conversion of the
poor sinners who are in the midst of them; he represents to
them'the greatness of God's mercy, and the pains of bell; he
exhorts-them to lay aside false shame, and make a clear breast
before their brethren. Five or six persons'rise up, and advanceslowly towards the sanctum sanctoruin. At the sight of so many
converts, the possessed saint becomes doubly heated : he de-
putes two saints to pray with each of them, The new convert,
kneeling upon the straw, sighs, accuses himself, sobs, and
cries; whilst on each Fide a saint, kneeling beside,him, yoci-
ferates in his ear a description, after his manner of the glory
of God, and the wickedness of Satan. These 18 or `persons,
Men and women, in the pen, make a clatter that may be heard
for some miles: everybody baWls, sings, prays, cries, preadhes,
together. * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The owls, attracted by the odour of the kitchens, answer them
from the tops of the trees, and tly away from this noise, Which
they cannot emulate. A young girl in the mean time has wan-
dered in the woods with tier lover longer than she supposed;
time passes swiftly in the company of a beloved object, perhaps
for the first time, and in the spring of life, dreaming of ages of
happiness in a cherished union, tasting perhaps its reality in
passionate declarations. Suddenly she is recalled to her senses
by this clatter, her spirits still agitated, her soul in a strange
state of emotion, her nerves stunned and shaken. She ap-
proaches; is troubled; fright seizes her; at first she believes
herself damned,—then converted: she enters within the sacred
enclosure; there she is soon stunned and seized with hysteric
convulsions; she cries out, weeps, sobs, rolls herself on the
straw in a frightful delirium. The assistants, the preachers,
and the saints, redouble their vociferations; the people Cry
" Amen!" The clatter and tumult increase: a conversion so
sincere, so exemplary, must, not be hidden by the shades Of
night; torches of pitch-pine; gathered from the neighbourhood,
are soon brought, and cast a vivid light upon this scene of hor-,
ror, The mother, the sisters of the young girl, run thither on
hearing the noise; but, instead of helping her, admire the
mercy of God, who is pleased to call her among his saints.
And such is the power of imitation on the nerves, that it rarely
happens that conversions of this sort take place without some
other persons falling into hysterics also. Frequently twenty
persons, of, every age, sex, and colour, roll themselves together
, pell-mell upon the strew, with haggard eyes and foaming mouths,
in the midst of the saints, who pray, sing, sob, and Cry with
joy, to see' so signal a triumph Obtained' over Satan.—Murcie
United States, 2d edition.