Daily Republican., 1879-08-25
Uns. &C essrul Camp Meetings.

cerned, suggests the decadence OF the
old time Methodist means put forth for
the conversion of the people. There
are many reasons for this, but princi-
pal amongs: them is the great desire o:
Methodists themselves to make money
out of all camp meetings that are held.
Another reason is that there is not the
same necessity for camp meetings now
a. means of grace, since the country
all over is dotted with churches SO near
each other that but seldom would a
person have to travel more than a coll
pie of miles without being confronted
with some neat commodious house of
worship. No person can help but be
struck with the great desire for money
making, that underlies all prepara-
tions for the holding of popular camp
meeting. There will be an attendance
OF from 1900 to 10000 or $1,000 per-
sons, and that number must be accom-
modatsd there is money to be spent
and made-indeed we might truthfully
say they are millions in it. Methodists,
however devout and pious, are not un-
like other people when there is chance
to turn what is considered an honest
penny, and hence We can expect moth
ing else than to see some Of the leading
members competitors for the fat jobs
and contracts incident to camp meet
ings. There are boarding tables to be
kept, the general provision store
presents a rare plum for compe-
tition, the people almost without ex-
ception are fond of ice- cream, and the
furnishing of that luxurious article
becomes tempting bait even for the
most devout church members, the
tenters must be furnished with the best
of tender loin cuts, and rivalry at
once springs up amongst the butchers
cleanly shaved faces and neatly trim
med mustachiOs are almost indispensi-
BILE to Godliness, and therefore the
barber and hair dresser are called upon
to contribute, and the milk man, the
butter man, the bread man, the cracker
man, the watermelon and fruit man are
all on the look out to make a penny.
Jehu drives furiously, and the crack of
his lash is heard whenever camp meet
ings are held, and the poor horses for
which the decalogue provides a day of
rest is cheated out of it by the. great
desire of its owner to make money
while the camp lasts. The putting Of
steam engines whenever camp meetings
are near railroads, are heard all day
long on the Sabbath, and for the con-
ductors and tired brakemen there is no
rest, for the people must be taken to
camp-meeting, and the Sabbath is the
only day upon which they can
attend. Even churches catch the
spirit Of money making. The church
needs a new carpet, refrescoing,
new fence enclosure, or perhaps the
minister's salary is behind, and there
fore company and boarding table at
the camp will be happy relief for
those burthens, no matter if it does in
volve the employment Of help, and the
receiving and exchanging Of money on
the Sabbath. All those things seem to
have become indispensable to the sue.
cess Of latter day camp meeting, and
yet strange to say those who attend
them for the religious benefit they
afford are surprised that there is no
real, substantial revival Of religion
None are so blind as the wilfully blind.
Ie cannot serve God and Mamm0n said
He who spake as never man spake, and
yet in the ,ace of this declaration it is
no uAusual thing in the latter day
camp meetings that those who make
the loudest professions of piety are the
leading dabblers in camp meeting con-
tracts. There may be no seeming
improperly to the church in this
action, but sharp eyed world |
is looking on and in its balances it is
weighing christian integrity to find how
nearly the theory of christian profession
balances the practice of the same. We
write in no captious spirit,nor in opposi-
tiop to amp-meetings, for We believe
they are beneficial in more ways than
one. As means of social enjoyment
and recreation for few days from the
weary monotony of daily avocations
they are a success and not to be con-
demned, and the idea of holding them
under religious influences is a good
one, but it is evident that as means
of grace appointed specially for the con-
version of sinners they are failure and
must necessarily be so as long as there
is such mix-up and commingling of
religion and mammon. If our good
Methodist friends want to see revival5
of religion to compare with anything
like those Of thirty, forty or fifty years
ago, they must return to the old Metho-