The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-08-22
The Camp Meetings.

L
are holding at different places by the sca
and among the hills, is drawing to an end.
As these meetings are now managed, they
afford the means Of summer vacations, at
the same time that they provide religious
stimulation for the people who throng them.
The sermons and cxhortations, the fcrvent
prayers and rapturous songs, vary the pro-
cecdings of days In which much recreation
is found. The camp meeting has become
sort of heightened picnic In which many
people young and old, delight to take part,
for other reasons than the benefit Of their
souls A great deal of worldly ambition en-
ters into It; and the desire for social enjoy
ment is very manifest.
In the early days OF tho country, in the
| beginning Of the wondrous growth Of Meth
| odism in the United States, there was Il ne
ccssity for camp meetings; for the churches
| to which access could be had were few, and
entirely insufficient to hold the throngs of
people in whom the labors Of the itinerant
cvangelsts had aroused religious interest.
Hence the groves were utilized rs assem-
bling places aud in them Methodism plant
cd its most fruitful seed.
The history OF these carly camp meetings
|
and character Of the country, needs to bc
studied by any one who wishes to understand
| the development of our civilization. They
left permanent mark on the rural commu-
mites especially, in the South even moro
than in the North, and in the West much
more than in the East in fact they formed
one OF the most conspicuous moulding forces
OF the time. 1t is probably due to them that
| McthOdism is so much stronger in the coun-
try than in the cities, and they unquestion-
| ably were chief cause Of the rapid spread
| Of the doctrines OF WESLEY in the New
I Wori1. WING tfc BarSists iiKewlse Haih3d
extraordinary Roadway through means OF
them.
But the perfected modern camp meeting
is a very different thing. 1t is summerng
| place, with neat cottages, police, all the
| convenienccs of life, games and other amusc-
ments, and people go thither to occupy
abodcs Of their own while sometimes
snrcwu capitalists or real estate epecnlators
make them the means of turning n pretty
penny Instead Of the religious feature be-
ing the chief one, it nowadays has really
become subordinate in some places. to the
social and the secular pleasures of the stay
at one Of these resorts tempt people 10 IL
quito as much, certainly, as their desire e.
take part in devotional exercises At Mar
tha's Vineyard, at Sea Cliff, and at Ocean
Grove In New Jersey, we see how the
camp meeting has changed in acquiring
all the modern convenlences. 1t is II sea
side resort, with the advantages Of coope
rative effort, and the existence among Tn,
residents of a general religious and socia
sympathy. No wonder, therefore, that
some OF these enterprises have proved Sc
successful, and that they have become popu
lar among the class which frcquents them
for they supply II want, which, however, IL
only in part religious.
Nor is it surprising that the camp meet
ing as means OF religious propagandism il
not what it once was; though We have re-
ports from Ocean Grove Of crowded assem-
blic- for religious exercises and are told tina
the seekers after holiness are many. Tina
they may all find it, and when found keel
ii, must be the wish of every right-minde,
pcrson-proyiding the holiness is Of thu
kind which does not exhaust itself In senti
= mental breathings or religious ccstasies
but transforms character, and makes mel
and women faithful TO their duties an,
= honest in their dealings.