Connecticut western news., 1885-08-26


 q wild beast which a man would like to shoot, but is prevented by his child be- ing right in the way; but, brethren and sisters, get out of the way, and by the the grace of God we will soon have this flag down too" And so it happened, for in little while this heresy disap- peared. Lee circuit in 1883 embraced Lee, Lenox and West Stockbridge, Mass, Canaan, N. T., and Tyringham, Mass, with Thomas Sparks, Sylvester s. Strong and Clark Fuller as preachers. Notwithstanding all the difficulties they had to encounter they had refreshing seasons from the presence of the Lord, " souls were blest and a number added to the church.
 A few remember the camp meeting at Afford in August, 1S42. The tents were pitched in grove belonging to Philo Sperry, class leader and devoted mem- Der of the church. At this meeting the Methodist people had much to contend against, for Satan came also" and there was drunkenness and carousing by his servants. There was large attendance of people from the surrounding towns, and by the close of the week number of converts. At this meeting Revs Jer- emiah Ham, Ezra s. Cook and John B. Walker, the Egremont circuit preachers, were present, assisted by Albert Nash, James N. Shaffer, Goodrich Horton, Levi Warner and others. Rev William Jewett was again presiding elder.
 In August, 1S43. memorable camp meeting was held on grounds of 0rson King, near Guilder Hollow, in Egre- mont. Owing to the illness of Elder Jewett the gathering was placed in charge of Rev John Crawford, then preaching in Hudson, N. Y. The place of meeting being near the line of Con- necticut and New York, disturbance was feared, especially one day when there was muster of the militia at Hillsdale, | and in fact had it not been for the wise | forethought and excellent management | of Brother Crawford there would have | been serious trouble. But early in the | day Crawford selected 100 laymen of the | church, to whom he gave orders that the i camp must be protected. As the day ! drew towards close it was discovered i that the militia, several of them intoxi- | cated, were approaching. In moment Crawford rang the bell; the guard of 100 | gathered at the preachers stand and the order was, "Every man take man" As the rioters came on with yell the Meth odist police charged with vigor, and as a natural consequence the host of Satan { broke and ran in every direction; Q few i however were arrested, but released on { promise of good behavior and the en- | campment was disturbed no more. Al i this meeting Revs Elijah Crawford, Ben iamin Griffin, Ezra S. Cook, Jeremiah i Ham, with others were present, assisted l by such earnest, old-time cxhorters as David Weager of Ghent, x, l., deorgr 1 Sornborger of Hillsdale, N r., Thomas Lyons, Harvey Seymour, Daniel Warner | of Great Harrington, Mass, Daniel Fenn i of Afford, Mass, Orson King, Ira New | man, Gurdon Joyner of Egremont, | Mass, with others from various portions | of the Rhinebecli district. At this camp l meeting Q tent containing 600 yards of l cloth was erected by Daniel Warner, Thomas Lyons and Aaron Chapin. It was known as the Seekonk tent, that be- ing the name of that part of Great Bar rington from whence it came, and was used as prayer meeting tent. There were number of conversions at this meeting.
 But want of space demands that we hasten to a close. Therefore, passing over all other camp meetings that may have occurred, we pause to briefly no- tice the first meeting held at Pine Grove. This, according to good authority, was in August, 1860, under the sanction of Rev George F. Kittell, presiding elder of the district. The grove was hired of Mir Van Deusen. Rev M. R. Lent, Rev G. D. Townsend and John R.Ward were chosen managers. There was preaching by noted ministers, among them being Hiram Eddy, l.. H. King and John h. skip.
 August 21-27, 1865, camp meeting which resulted in much good was held on the Brush Hill road, short distance south of Great Burlington village. Rev Dr True and Rev Dr Ridgeway preached the concluding sermons on Sunday, Au- gust. .27, and they were sermons of great beauty and power.
 Monday, August 26, 1867, the meet ing at Pine Grove was revived and has continued annually to the present. And now trusting and praying that the Great Head of the Church will abundantly bless the present gathering and, as in the days of old, send the convicting, converting and sanctifying spirit to hun dreds, we bring this hastily prepared sketch to a close.
 HENRY c. WARNER.
 Great BdITingtO1s Mass, August 20, 1885.
 ''The ladies especially go into ecsta- asy nla