Newspaper Page Text
VOL, l.
As this is tins senstm of Camp-Meeting* j
throughout tins State, we have thought it would
lust he inopportune to republish the following
account of one, given by Stuart, a recent Bri
tish traveller through the United States. The
inquiry and opinion respecting their utility,
contained in the extract, appear to us to be very
dispassionate, sensible ami impartial. At any
rate, it is always interesting to know what in
telligent foreigners think ami say of us in every
tclation and regard to all our customs, manners
and institutions.
Some time after my expidition to Staten Is
land, an advertisement of a Camp-meeting, to
‘So held at Musqnito Cove,on Lung Island Sound,
•nine in my way. I expressed to the lintel kee
per at Mount Vernon a wish to ha present, and
he, and one of the friends who accompanied me
to Staten Island, very good buinouredly agreed
to make a party to Long Island for a day. We
hired a barouche, which is to lie hud at N. York
for four dollars a day, then crossing liy the
Sfeam-l>onl lerry to Long Island, and breakfast
ing at the village of Flushing, where are situat
edMr. Prince’s long established nursery grounds,
we renehed that part of Musqnito Cove, where
tvc understood the meeting was to be held, at
about twelve o’clock. The meeting was held
within a forest or wood, where a sufficient
number of trees had been cut to make such an
opening as was required. The morning service
was concluded some time before we arrived.
I’rum the high grounds, the view of the bay, of
the shipping, and of the assembled multitudes,
with their carriages and horses, was very strik
ing. A great many of the people were strag
gling in the adjoining fields during the interval
of service. The shiping all of which had been
employed in bringing persons from a considera
ble distance to join tho meeting, consisted of
five steam-boats, about sixty sloops and schoon
ers, besides open boats. The number of horses
and carriages was proportionally great. It was
calculated that there were about 12,609 persons
on the ground, certainly not less than 9,000 or
10,000.
There seemed to be about a dozen clergy
men, all belonging to the Methodist persuasion,
in a large covered and elevated platform.
Benches were provided for the congregation,
placed on the vacant or open space in front of
the platform. The males were on the one side
of the benches and the females on the other.
There were benches for u great part f tho m,.
seinbled multitude, and the benches were sur-j
rounded on all sides by a close body of those j
who had only standing room. When the after
noon services commenced, the effect of this pro
digious assemblage of people, all standing, list
ing up their voices, and joining in praise of their
Creator, was more sublime than those who have
not witnessed such a scene can well imagine.—-
The sermon, which was afterwards delivered,
lasted for an hour, and was distinctly heard all j
over the ground, for the most perfect order and
silence prevailed. The clergyman preached
from the 291 h verse of the 1011 1 chapter ot the
book of Numbers: “We arc journeying unto
the place of which the Lord said, 1 will give it
you : come thou wi'h us, and we will do thee
good , for the Lord hath spoken good concern
ing Israel.” The discourse seemed to me alto
gothci faultless, and the address at the end was
most remarkably impressive. The speaker, in
the conclusion, alluded to the sect of Christians
to which lie belonged, the Methodists ; but he
meant, he added, to say “ naught against other
denominations ol Christians who did good.
After sermon, prayer, all kneeling, succeeded.
Then a hymn was sung, and another clergyman,
a very old man, coining to tile edge of the plat
form, said that a friend whom they had never
heard before was about to address them. Ano
ther clergyman, an aged person, then stepped
forward, to enforce, as lie said, the invitation
in the text, which he did very shortly, mid very
skilfully, particularly, and with great earnest
ness, exhorting those members who had been
lately added to their church, to communicate to
their brothers, sisters, and friends, some idea ol
the happiness which they now enjoyed,that they
might be induced to follow their example, mid
accept the invitation, by ointng the church,
Cven lietaru the meeting wiw ovvr.
‘File afternoon service was concluded as usu
al, with singing and prayer, and the most per
fect decorum prevailed. The service continued
for about two hours mid half.
I understood that this meeting was to last for
about four days. Many people came from a
distance of one hundred miles and upwards. Tiic
great objects of bolding such meeting in this
part of the country, arc to afford opportunities to
persons whose situation, such as that of servants,
prevents them from attending worship regularly
onSunday, of being present on the occasion,when
they are almost always indulged, and allowed to
avail themselves of it; and to keep people who
have not yet turned their minds to religious
subjects, together for such a time, that their at
tention must he arrested. It is conceived that
extraordinary effortsought frequently to be made
by all those ministers of Christ who tire faithful,
nml do not neglect their duty. Such of the
clergy ns approve of the observance of numerous
days of prayer meetings, and of such assem
blages as tins, ascribe the want of revivals, by
which l merely understand tho addition of any
considerable number of converts at one time to
any church, to the languor of the minister, and
the backwoodsman
AND UPSON YEOMAN.
to his m iking no further exertions than custor
as established as a standard. They maintai
hat where the minister contents himself wit
•reaching once or twice on the Sabbath, perfnr
uing the professional duties required of them
and nothing more, without questioning himsei.
whether any tiling more be required of him by
die precepts of the religion lie professes, tin
church becomes relaxed in discipline, and that
the absence of any thing like a revival m such
circumstances, sliotvs that those who believe in
the Gospel of Christ must perform more minis
terial and Christian duties, and must show more
earnestness. I had a very different notion of
what was meant by a revival of re.ligion in the
United States, both from what I had previously
heard, and from whnt l had been told i*>cc l j
was in this country, by jjwraona who consider •
every clergyman to he weak, and eccentric, and
an enthusiast, who deviates ftotn the ordinary ;
routine of ministerial operation, or who shows
the sincerity of his belief by using nil the means
in his power to obtain converts to that religion
which lie professes to believe.
The United Slates being free from any reli
gious establishment, .every one is not only tol- 1
ernted in the exercise of the religion be believes,
but is nt full liberty, without the fear, except in
very few and very peculiar cases, of his tempor
al concerns oeing at nil affected by Ins religious
profession, (whatever it ntay be,) to embrace j
those religious doctrines which he conceives on |
due consideration arc true. It follows from
ibis stute of things, that there is much less hy
poernsy in the professors of religion in this than
in other countries. Those in this country, who
voluntarily go to a Protestant church, and who
voluntarily puv for the ministration of a Chris
tian clergyman, may be gem. I ', illy, (I do not
mean to say universally,) held to have made the
necessary examination, and to be real believers
of the doctrines of the Christian religion;—
whereas those from ether countries, who have
travelled in the United Stales, and who have put
forth sneering and ill-founded statements on
the subject of revivals, cauip-mcctings, &c. are
generally Christians professing that relis ,1 ' n >
merely because their parents did so, or-' ecaus ®
Clnistianity is the religion of their —’Untry, na
not because they ever invesng trut h. I
found at Northampton a short narative of a re
vival in a Presbyterian e u,rc l | Baltimore,
writU-H hi a plain unseo* S U’ a by M r ”
Walton, the clergy-inn of that church, which l
would reccmn-nd to the attention of some late
English writers, who, in perfect ignorance, as
it appears to me, treat the religious meetings and
the revivals in ihe United States in h conteiwp*
>uou ma ner, and unit’ they tvi re approved and (
attended by no one of sane mind. Mr. Wa t n
descri : > s himself as having been for many years
a clergyman, who thought that, by preaching
the Go.-pel at tlm usual times, he was doing all
tliut was requir.ng of him, and that he ought to
leave the rest to the Divine influence; adding,
that, upon being called to a different sphere of
labour, lie had an increasing desire to be useful,
lie redoubled his exertions ; he appointed pray
er meetings, not oily public, but “private, from
house to house, and engaged the assistance of
all iriio were members of the church, to impress ,
u|Kin the young people the necssity of their ex- j
ambling the doctrines of tlie Christian religion, |
■ ncl, professing them, if they believed them to
e true. The result was the addition ot be
tween eighty and ninety communicants to his
church in the space of a few months. And this
is precisely what is called a revival in the United
States and what wn> formi riy, utid what very
prohahly now is, among certain classes of Chris
tians, called a revival in Great Britain. A re
vival then happens as often as any clergyman
is lead to make greater exertions than are usual,
by himself, or by exciting Ins flock, or by their
united exertions; and when the consequence of
their labour ts, that a greater number of persons
than usual is added to the church. Is there any
tiling irrational in this? Quite the contrary.—
This is not the place for attempting to prove or
disprove the truth of the Christian religion.
What l maintain is this, and nothing more than
this, that all persons, whether clergymen or
laymen, should show their belief in the religion,
whether Mahometan, Roman Catholic, or Pro
testant, which they profess, by obeying its pre
cepts and doctrines; and more especially, that
clergymen, who set themselves apart to the work
of the ministry should be zealous in promoting
liie doctrines of the religion they have embraced”
Those who do not so act show themselves to he
the vilest of all hypocrites. If they are clergy
men, professing the Christian religion, it is well
known to all those acquainted with the doctrines
of the Bible, that no duty is more strictly en
joined than that the teachers of the word shall
preach it to the world, —should be instrumental
in saving all the souls they can. They are
bound to make the utmost exertions that it is
possible for them to make, in order to produce
in others the same belief which they entertain.
We have teachers of philosophy, and of every
branch of science, and applaud and honor those
who show the greatest earnestness and talent
in explaining anil enforcing the doctrines which
they themselves believe. Why should equal
earnestness and sincerity not he expected from
those who undertake to teach and explain the
doctrines of the Christian religion?
Upon this subject of revivals, on which so
much nonsense has lately been written, there
is nbundence of sound authorities in the United
States, as well ns in Britain, which may be re
ferred to with ndvuntage.
TIIOMASTON, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1834.
LAY TUB AXE TO TIIE HOOT OF PUBLIC EVILS.
For example, Jonathan Edwards, a mao
family distinguished ns a profound divine, and
<i acute philosopher, the president of the Col
ge of New Jersey, published, so long ago as
io middle of the last century, account! of ru
uarkable conversions at Northampton, in Mas
-achusetts, attended by symptoms of bodily ag
tation. Dr. John Erskine of Edinburgh, about
the same period, or rather later, was the writer
of a pamphlet relative to revivals at Cambus
lang, and other places in the west of Scotland,
attended with remarkable mental and bodily
agitations, the truth of which is attested by the
evidence of men of the strictest truth, and
greatest respectability of character. At the
period when the famous Mr. Whitfield visited
| Mcotland, the multitudes that often assembled
in the open air were perhaps more numerous
than nny congregation ever before collected in
•Scotland. The religious impressions mHtle on
the people were much greater, and more gene
ral, and the visible convulsive agitati-ms which
accompanied them exceeded every thing of the
kind which had yet been observed; This is
stated in Sir Henry MoncriefFs Life of Doctor
Erskine. Sir Henry Moncrieff, than whom no
man had less claim to the character of an en
thusiast, a person too of sound judgment and
great eminence, and a zealous clergvmnn, de
clares in his life of Dr. Erskine, that no events
j enn be more satisfactorily attested, as utiques
] tioriahlc facts than those in the west of Scot
! land, to which allusion has now b<en made,
adding the following very pertinent and inter
esting observations: “ It must not hi forgotten,
that tile number was very considerable of those
who tinted their first and best iinpjessions of
religion from this time, and who Were after
wards distinguished by a visible and unques
tionable reformation of manners; of which few
examples of the same extent can be produced
in modern times. Even some of those who
have h ive done their utmost to decry the con
vert® <>f Cnmbuslang, and to diminish their
number, are obliged to admit that they might
amount to some hundreds, und others who ap- ’
pear to have honestly related the facts from j
their own observations and inquiries, and to (
have rejected every circumstance from their
narutives of which they dial not think the
mselves fully assured, mention 400 at Cam
buslaug, independent of those who belonged to
Kilsyth.
“ Whatever opinion may he held with regard
to the means or influence with which 400 in
dividuals connected a reformation in their mor
al and religious characters, which they after
wards supported through life, no fair man will
deny that such an effect produced on such a
number of human beings is a subject neither of
ridicule nor contempt. Many thousands at
tended, on whom no visible impression seems to
have been made. And this fact,according with
ordinary experience, and honestly related in the
narratives on the subject, confirms, instead of
lessening, their credibility.
“On the other hand, let the thousands who
go away without having received any visible
impressions be out of the question, (though ma
ny good effects have been produced, which were
neither observed nor related at the lime,) 400
individuals, who, to the conviction of those who
knew them, become better men—men more
useful and conscientious in their stations, and
more faithful in their practical duties than they
ever were before, and who preserve this charac
ter while they live —exhibits a view of the reli
gion of Canitiuslang and Kilsyth which a wise
man will not easily bring himself to reprobate,
and which no good man, if lie candidly exam
ines the facts and believes them, willtllow him
self to despise.
“ It is vain to represent the religious instruc
tion of Cnmbuslang ns so defective, either in
form or in substance, as to be incapable of pro
dubingany salutary effect, and as having been
addressed much more to the imaginations and
the passions, than to the consciences or the un
derstandings of the people.
“ Though this is not admitted to have been
the fact by those who had best access to judge —
if it be true that whnt was there pleached be
came the instrument of producing s permanent
reformat on of manners in 400 or 500 individ
uals within the short space of six or eight
months—no other testimony is requisite to dem
onstrate either its value or its efficiency.
“ The examples published to establish this
fact it is impossible to mention here with any
minuteness. It was observed, in particular, at
Kilsyth, that, before this period, die people of
the parish had been remarkable for such a lit
igious spirit, as had, in a great measure, de
stroyed the comfort and confidence of private
life ; and that, immediately after this period, the
spirit of litigation seemed to be so mnch ex
tinguished by the spirit of religion, that the nin
gistiate of the district declared, that for many
months no action whatever had been brought
before Ins court, where it had before been usual
to have a great many during the course of every
week •
“ Similar facts, equally decisive, were rela
ted from other districts; and in general, it was
certainly believed, by those who had the best
iccess to be thoroughly informed, and who liv
d many years in the Imbits of intimate com
munication with the individuals, that they who
were called the converts of 1742, with few ex
<-ptions indeed, supported through life the
-hnracter which they then assumed, and were
quully distinguished by purity of tnauners and
Christian sincerity.
“ It is more than probable that they nre now
all in their graves, with Mr. Whitfield hiinsclt,
and every individual who attempted to stigma
tize or defend him ; and it is surely consolatory
to know, that, according to the best information
which has been preserved, they have left no
stain on their religious profession, or on the
strong impressions of religion, which, under
God, they ascribed to the ministry of Mr. Whit
field and his associates ; —that their conduct was
equally open to those who distrusted their orig
inal professions and to those who relied on
them; —nnd that, at the distance of upwards o
seventy years, every lnformaium with regard to
their personal conduct is in favor of the power
ful impressions, by means of which they be
lieved themselves to huve been first persuaded
to become Christians in earnest, mid to have
first imbibed the spirit of practical religion.”
Sir Henry afterwards mentions, that Dr.
Erskine, in his pamphlet already referred to,
appreciated the leading facts in the same way.
The bodily ugiialions or convulsions he con
sidered us nothing more than the effect of deep
impressions made on the conscience, such as
nny serious alarm on any subject tn common
life, remote from religion might, in similar cir
cumstances, have occasioned.
The evidence afforded by the testimony of
Edwards, Erskine, and Sir Henry Moncrieff,
clergymen of the uiost irreproachable character,
nil of them men of acknowledged talent, and as
free from religious enthusiasm and fanaticism
as any individuals who ever lived, is far more
than sufficient to show, that there is uo just
ground for condemning great religious meet
ings, now more common in tho United States
than in any other country, as inconsistent with
the principles or the practice of the real profes
sors of Christian religion, and ts far more than
sufficient to shield the clergy of the United
•States, or such of them, (especially the meth
odists, the followers of Mr. Whitfield,) ns still
maintaining the doctrine of revivals, from the
gibes of those, who, in their utter ignorance of
!the doctrines of the Christian religion, have
1 given circulation to insinuations respecting the
■ tendency of many of those religions meetings,
! for winch there is generally not the slightest
foundation.
All human institutions are liable to abuse;
and there is no great reason to maintain, that,
because immoralities may have taken place
among the multitudes assembled at camp-meet
ings in the United States, that such meetings
should he discontinued, than that the sacrament
al meetings in Scotland, at which instances of
impropriety of conduct have beuu said to occur,
should he. put down.
I beiieva many clergymen of the United
States also conceive, from tho experience of
the past, that more converts nre to be expected
from a great meeting lasting several days, when
the people are at much as possible abs acted
from secular business, than from the ordinary
services of the church. They refer, in order to
prove the propriety of this sort of meeting, to
the 15-h Chapter ot St. Mu hi w, vere.-s 150 and
seq. where the mult tilde, consisting of 4000,
besides women and children, remaining with
Christ three days— to the Bth chapter of St
Mark, verses 4 and seq. —nnd to the *‘’‘ ,noll
from the mount, (in St. Mathew. 5,
6,7,) preached by Christ from the mountain to
the multitudes.
“ It is to be recollected,” (says Lord Byron,
perhaps a singular authority to refer to on such
a subject,) “ that the most beuutiful and impres
s ve doctrines of the Divine Founder of Chris
tianity were delivered, nut in the temple, but on
the mount; and that, waving the question of
devotion, and turning to human eloquence, the
most effectual and splendid specimens were not
pronounced within walls. Demosthenes ad
dressed the public and popular assemblies. —
Cicero spoke in the forum. That this added
to their effect, on the iniud of both orator and
lienrcr, may be conceived, from the difference
between what we read of the emotions then and
(here produced, and those we ourselves experi
ence in the perusal of the closet.”
Lord Byron adds, “ that, wero the enrly and
rapid progress of what is called Methodism to
be attributed to any cause beyond liie enthusi
asm excited by vehement faith and doctrines,
(the truth or error of which he presumed neither
to canvass nor to question,) he should venture
to ascribe it to the practice of preaching in the
flelds, and the unstudied and extemporaneous
effusions of its teachers.”
A contribution is at the camp-meetings made
among the people, in order to defray the expense
of the ground, and of the necessary police to
preserve order.
“ The rule* and orders for the government
of the camp meeting,” printed on a card, were
affixed to a great many of the trees on the neigh
boring grounds. 1 tore off one of the cards, in
order to preserve a copy of the rules, which
follow.
“I. Preaching, morning, afternoon, and
evening, at the sound of the trumpet from the
stand.
“ 11. During the time of preaching from the
stand, not more than one person ts to remain in
each tent, (except in cases of sickness,) but all
•ire to repair to the stand, and coute into the
• congregation.
“ 111. No walking, talking, or smoking to
; bacco, or standing up while there nre vneant
• seats, is to be allowed within the circle of the
I cuts in the time of preaching; no standing or
walking on the scats at an j time.
” IV. No cooknig >r preparing victuals, or
, elf in”- or clearing of tables, during preaching
from the stand, is to be allowed. This rule ap
plies to those tents that keep boarders as well
as others.
“V. About ten o’clock in the evering the
trumpet will be blown at the stand, when nil
who have lodgings on the ground must retire tw
rest, and all who have not will be required to
leave the ground.”
“VI. The ow ners or occupants of each tent
shall be responsible for these rules, and for anv
rudo or improper conduct in their tenets; and
on complaint the tent shall be subjected to be
X\ TOOV
These rules were most strictly observed, one
person having hecn taken up on the evening
before we arrived at the camp-nn i ling merely
for selling cide. All sorts of liquor are prohi
bited, except tea and coffee. During the in
terval of worship, many of the people were
walking aln-ut the adjoining grounds— others
were in the.r tents, w here the head of the fami
ly, or s me oilier person, was praying; and in
some ol those tents manifestations were occa
sionally given by the groans and exclamations
of the people. There was less of these excla
mations during the sermon than I had expect
ed ; the greatest order continued during the
whole period of its delivery. Two of the cler
gymen had gowns and bauds.
BONAPARTE AND LAFAYETTE.
nv 11F19.K.
TrannlateH for the Cincinnati Mirror.— from the French.
Whatever blind friends and hypocritical ene
mies may say, Lafayette is the purest character
of the French Revolution, and its greatest hero
utter Napoleon. Napoleon and Lafayette are
the two most splendid names now in France.
Their glory is, doubtless, Very different.—
The latter fought more for peace than for vic
tory, and the former more for tire laurel than
for the oaken crown. It would certainly be ri
diculous to pretend to subject the greatness of
the two rneu to the same standard, and to place
one upon the pedestal intended for the other.
It would be ridiculous to wish to clemrn tiic
statue of Lafayette on the pillar of the Place
Vcndome, molten out of the brass cannons con
quered in so many battles,- that pillar, says Par
tner, that a French mother cannot bear the
sight of. On the pillar of brass, put Nnpoleor,
the man of brass, supported her as he was in liie
by his cannon-glory; let him, in his frightful
isolation, pierce the clouds, so that the ainhi.
lions soldier, when he shall In hold him at tl.at
vertiginous and inaccessible height, mao let I
fits cart humbfeu ana cured of ttm vnm thirst
ol glory; arid may, ta this maimer, this color.a:. |
metallic spire become Europe’s most powerful
and pacific aliy, the tutelary lightning-rod of
her political surety.
Lafayette has raised for himself pillar pre
ferable to that of the I‘lact Vcndome and a
pedestal more solid than i* >t were of marble or
of brass. Where wu find marble us pure
as the heart, bra'*’ HS i,s the constancy of
old Latoya'*® t h is true that lie had but a sni
g|e iJca, but tn this he resembled the needle
winch points always to the north, without vary,
ing once to the south or east. Thus, Lafayt tie
has repeated the satne thing every dy for the
Inst 40 years, and is always pointing to North
America. He opened the revolution by the
declaration of the rights of man, and he insists,
up to this very hour, upon tins declaration, with
out which there is no safety, according to tins
invariable man with Ins invariable enrdim 1
point of liberty. Oh no, by no means, lie is
not a genius like Napoleon, in whose head the
eagles of inspiration had established their eyrie,
while the serpents of calculation twined about
his heart ; but Lafayette suffered liimst sf nei
ther to be intimida;ed by the eagles, nor seduc
ed by the serpens.* With the wisdom of age
in youth,and the warmth of youth in age, pro
tecting the people against the arts of the great,
and the great against tin fury of the people, a
tomp&ssionate combatant, never presumptuous
and never discouraged, severe and mild in the
same degree, Lafayette lias always remained
the same, and always with his one idea, and
one set of feelings, from the days of Marie
Antonietta down to the present hour; the faith
ful Eckardt of liberty, always leaning bis sword
in front of the entrance of the Tuileries, and
pointing to that enchanted mountain, whose
magic accents draw with so much power, but to
whose labyrinthic nets there is no issue for those
who hare once suffered themselves to be entan
gled in them,
It is certainly true that the dead Napoleon is
even more beloved by the French than the liv
ing Lafayette. It is indeed, perhaps, the dead
Napoleon, which pleases me most in Napoleon,
for if he were living, I should think it my duty
to nssist in opposing him. Nobody, out of
France, can imagine how much the French peo
ple still are attached to Napoleon. Conse
* Nothing can show butter than this sentence the char
after islic contrast between Napoleon and Lufnyette
the lightning-like and deep catcnlution of the one, nnd
the unshaken moral constancy of the other. It it not pre
tended that one had not twice the genius of tiro other,
but it shows that a heart in the right place is proof against,
and a match for, the subtlest ingenuity. Look at the re
sult too —finis coronal opus—what proves bettor the rela
tive triumphant position of the two men, than the fact
that Lafayette runted the abdication of Napoleon, who,
however, as Lafayette says, by a most unacrnnntal>'e and
impenetrable singularity of character, gave it in tenth a
tnMe: like his prototype Sylla, who. in the words of
j Byron,
“ did lay down
I With an atoning smile, a more than mortal crown.”
NO. 12.