The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-25
Camp Meeting Eccentricitics.

Camp Meeting Eccentricitics.
1t has never been our good or bad fortune
to have witnessed On Indian war dance, but
from what we have read and heard Of such
scenes, and from what we have seen and heard
at Methodist camp meetings, we should Judge
that there is not much difference between the
two, especially when the latter becomes in
tensely excited. AS means of social Chris
tan enjoyment undoubtedly camp meetings
have their advantages, not only for Methodists,
but for all other denominations of Christians;
but as q means of promoting spiritual growth
they have, like many other MEANS outlived
their usefulness, and have now degenerated into
huge land speculations, whereby chosen few
make money at the expense of the many who
are called but not chosen. Viewing camp
meetings either in their social or in their re-
| ligious aspects we have never been able to
comprehend why such unlimited license Of
word and deed should be granted to jewellers
in the tented grove which would not be
allowed nor be expected in the
private dwelling or in the church.
We cannot see the propriety of a
score or a hundred men and women jump
ing upon the seats in church as politicians
do at mass meetings, and shouting "Hurrah for
Jesus" and clapping hands and falling on
each others shoulders and necks and believing
like mnniacs let loose from bedlam. And if there
is no propriety in acting thus in church, by
what law and under the operation of what
principle of physics or of morals is it permits
sible in q grove church? The Apostle Paul
must have had some experience with highly
emotional churches in his day, else he never
would have written to the Corinthians as he
did, cautioning them against all talking at
once He recommends the Christian breth-
rem when assembled together to prophesy one
by one, that oil may learn and all may be
comforted, and he ferestalls the objections of
thusiasm, by assuring them that the spirits of
the prophets are subject to the prophets And
there are many in the Church who think they
are led by the Holy Spirit into these
excesses and to all such the Apostle
declares that God is not the author
of confusion, but Of peace. While the indi-
vidual soul may be benefited and relieved by
good shout or hallelujah once and again, it
is unquestionably true that strangers, and
especially irreligious persons, are not edited,
but, on the contrary they receive the impress
sion which Paul declared the unlearned and
unbelievers would receive upon entering such
a gathering of babblng Christians-namely,
A1,ok all 80
among many why camp meetings Of today
lack the spiritual power over sinners which
they once possessed.
But eccentricity manifests itself in other
forms besides these in camp meetings. 1t is
seen and heard in its most ludicrous light in
ing Some of the most meaningless twaddle
that can be gathered together is heard on camp
grounds and passes for sermons. They con-
tain neither the statement Of the fact nor the
relation Of the experience which an eminent
minister at the Sing Sing meeting declared
constitute preaching. It seems to be taken
for granted also that any kind of trashy
rhyme is good enough for the camp
meeting, and people 60 to those gatherings
surcharged with wretched doggerel The
good old songs of Wesley and Cowper, and
Doddridge and Watts, and Montgomery and
Toplady, and Newton and their compeers,
are too tame. too pure and too poetical to suit
the feverish imaginations of the present gene
ration of Methodists. If they could be
equalled, or in any way nearly approached by
the metsoric poets of to-day, we should not
find fault, but it requires very little poetic
knowledge to appreciate the superior senti-.
ment and rhythm of the former.
The prayers, too, Of camp-going Christians
lack that conciseness and purity of diction
which knowledge of the nature of prayer
should and does impart. We have sometimes
heard men pray that the Lord would knock
some certain sinner heels over head or that
He would shake him over the bottomless pit
without letting the guilty one fall in. We can
scarcely imagine the effect such prayers must
have on the souls that feel their burden of sin
and are seeking salvation by faith in Jesus
Christ but it seems TO us they ought to deter
many from seeking, if they do not drive
others away altogether, from the Cross We
heard minister's wife lately, at camp meet
ing, tell the Lord in prayer what good bust
ness her husband gave up that he might
enter the ministry, and how rich he might be
had he continued in business, and we could
not escape the conviction that that much Of the
prayer was, to use q Eibernianism, no prayer
at ALL We have frequently heard men and
women tell God how much they had done and
suffered for his cause, and by implication how
much they were entitled TO receive from Him
in return. And. again, persons praying often
indulge in exhorations to the Lord how He
should act in given cases, and to the people
how they shlll perform certain duties Such
sentences and phrases, however nicely rounded,