Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-06-30
lFor tho Tayette County Herald. ]
CamD Mesting.

Camp Meetings, ~ now held. originated
in Kentucky and Tennessee, about the be-
ginning Of the present century. The eoun-
try was Sparsely populated and houses Of
worship were few and far between. Al
com munion seasons congregations as.
sembled from a great distance. On one Of
these occasions an unusual interest was
awakened, and the services being pro
traeted, people came. bringing provisions
in wagons, aud camped about the church.
Other meetings were appointed, wonder
ful manifestations occurred. and. accord.
ing To the estimates made at the time, from
ten to twenty thousand people sometimes
convened A remarkable out-pouring Of
Gods Holy Spirit accompanied these meet
ings; strange influence effected the audi.
enee and the whole community was arous'
cd. Infdels and seo6srs were not unfrS-
quenily awakened. and were made the sub
jects Of Divine power. The excitement
began in the Presbyterian Church, and
spread rapidly among the Baptists and
Methodists. A Presbyterian minister Of
Kentucky, in letter dated 1901, to broth
er minister, sayG;
IL was lately at saeramentsl occasion,
and what saw there exceeds the power Of
human language to describe. There were
more than one hundred wagons arrived
with families and provisions. Some Of
them came more than a hundred miles.
A pulpit was erected in the open air, in
which Presbyterian minister preached
to eight or ten thousand persons. Another
preached in the Presbyterian Church to
as many as It would hold. At a little dis
tance there was another congregation Of
blacks, where one Of Themselves exhorted,
and in fourth place another congregation
OF a different denomination. All the dh
ferpnt denominations communicated to-
gether for they were in perfect union. One
Sunday there was seven thousand eommu-
nicants, and it was computed that the sew
eral congregations amounted, in the whole,
to twenty thousand persons. The meet
ing continued from Saturday till Tuesday
above seventy hours-without a min
ute's intermissiOn. The work Of convia-
ton and conversion, of which was 3 wit
ness, exceeded, think, anything heard Of
since the days OF the Apostles. They gen.
orally fell fat on the ground in an agony
Of distress. / saw at one time, about
five hundred lying thus. Some laid but a
few minutes, others for hours; when they
arose the first words they uttered were
Lord have mercy on me-" They gradu
ally added more, and, at length, began to
exhort. l saw about three hundred ex
horting at one time. Some Of them chill
dren who were held up in the arms or on
the shoulders of men. One little girl, Of
about nine years Of age, was put on man'1
shoulder, an delivered think, body Of
Divinity. At lenght, when exhausted.
she sank back upon her upholdsr, upon
which man who stood near, said, Poor
thing, let her down." She replied, Don't
call me poor; have Christ for my broth
er, God for my father, and am an heir to a
kingdom"
In contrast with every plan Of folly,
and every evasion of sin so generally ire-
quented, one may well say:
zone day in such place,
Where thou, my God art seen;
,Twere better than ten thousand days
of pleasurable sin"
To be continued.
STANTON, JUNE llth.
D. SMITH.