The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-25
HUNDREDS MORE ARRIVE
AT THE BIG CAMP MEETING AT
PLALNTILLE.

siding Elder j. e. Adams-ospeak
Unto the People That They Go For-
l.wnrd'-More About tn People Who
Are Present.
Plainville, Conn, July 24.-Splendid
weather marked the opening day of the
thirtyfourth annual camp meeting of
the New Haven district Methodist Epis
| copal churches. BY all the trains from
early in the morning until late in the
afternoon large crowds thronged to the
grounds swelling the number now To-
Gated here to nearly 400. The feature
| or the day was the opening sermon Of
the new presiding elder the Rev. J. E.
Adams of New Haven. Great interest
was taken in the event as it was ex-
pected that Dr. Adams would define the
policy he is to pursue in conducting the
camp meeting and also his attitude to-
ward the people. This, however he did
not trouble himself to do beyond saying
good naturedly during his sermon that
there was one thing he would not do
and that ito dictate TO his people" and
also that he would not let them dictate
to him.
The presiding elders sermon this af-
ternoon is the leading subject of CONVEX
satlon on the grounds. Everyone seems
10 agree that without doubt it was the
most powerful ever delivered here. In
opening he stated that he had not Sc
lected any subject and did not know on
what he would speak until he reached
the grounds short time ago. This he
SAID was due to the fact that everything
was new, that he did not know lust
What would be required. He under
stood, he said, that it was not usual
to open the camp meeting with a ser
mon, but he had reached the conclusion
that he could say what he wanted to
by selecting text and preaching a
regular sermon. He first read the 9th
psalm and then took the fifteenth verse
OF the fourth chapter of Exodus for his
text as follows: Speak unto the chill
uren OF Israel that they may go for
ward
Mr. Adams in the course of his ad-
oress said: When the advance was or
dered the Israelites were encamped ON
the coast of the Red Sea- Before them
was the sea, spread out for miles and
leagues, and they had neither bridge
nor boat nor pontoon by which to cross
1t. Behind them was the army Of Phar-
aoh, with horses and chariots, with
trained warriors and skilled command
ers, intent on their capture or destruc-
ton. On either side. it would seem,
were formidable obstructions, noun
tains or fortresses, or something that
could not be passed, for the Israelites
saw no way of escape, and cried out
for fear. In this perilous and appar-
entity hopeless situation the people re-
preached Moses for the dreadful ex-
tremity to which they had been reduc-
ed, whereupon that holy man appealed
to God for help, and then came, in tones
of thunder that sounded full and clear
above the roar of the sea, this strange
order; Wherefore criest thou unto Me?
Speak unto the children of Israel that
they go forward"
Leaving now the literal narrative, ex-
cept as we may have occasion to return
to it incidentally, let us attend to the
moral meanings and uses of the text.
The case before us is exceptional in
nothing but the physical facts; the
moral facts and underlying principles Of
this case are always and everywhere
present among the people of God. In
deed, the principles here involved are
so general and the analogies of univer-
sal history are so wide and complete
hat | think we are justified in regard
ng the text as the law of the universe
applied to the church. The physical
occasion of this text finds its duplicate
n the moral occasion of this service.
We are the children of Israel ourselves.
can prove it by St. Paul. IF We be
yhrists, then are we Abrahan's seed
md heirs according to the promise"
The Red Sea is before us. Not the Red
Sea that washes the sands of Arabia
md floats the commerce of the east,
,ut the Red Sea of moral hindrance-a
ea that is wider than the Pacific ocean
md deeper than the Atlantic. Phar-
loh's army is pursuing us, not the an
Egyptian division of 1T, but
he Internal brigade, strictly up to date
n every particular; and these enemies
rom the nethermost pit, inspired with
hatred and, in the words
f Milton, armed with hell-fames and
ury." are following us with overwhelm-
ng numbers and unappeasable fierce
ess. Such is our situation this very
our. and as we stand to-day amidst
hese threatening environments the
,aptain of our Salvation calls to us
rom heaven, go forward" and in .obe-
ience to this order lies our duty, our
afety and our happiness.
Let us approach our subject step py
tep, God is the author of the universe.
he universe existed in the Divine
lind as an ideal before it existed in it.
.lf as a substance. The ideal was COM
lete and perfect as well as beautiful
nd good, but the first states OF the
ctual universe did not realize that
erfect, ideal of the Divine mind. What
len? Did God fail? Did his active en-
,ey prove unequal to His benef1cent
,tentionsp BY no means. He gave the
inverse an imperfect form at first, not
acause He could not do otherwise and
ad to abandon his ideal, but because
-e saw it better to realize His ideal
radually through the law of progress,
IAN to realize it suddenly by one act
creative power. Deliberately and OF
is own voltion, God made the universe
crude mass of unorganized matter
I'd force, and then, entrustfng His SUBJ