CHAPTER IX
"BY MY SPIRIT, SAITH THE LORD"—Zech. IV, 6.
On the evening of the 24th of August, 1884, we found ourselves in Maples. As we stepped off the train we were welcomed by several of the dear friends.
I had three meetings a day, which were attended with interest, and I felt that God was with us continually. All who came with the right spirit were made to rejoice.
There were fourteen ministers present.
The object of this meeting was to have a reunion, bringing the brethren and those who were converted in the meetings of the year previous together. In this respect we had several hundred converts come together, and all came up to the front and showed what God had done for them.
We had several police on the ground, and they were not needed, as the best of order prevailed. There was said to be from one to eight thousand on the ground every night.
On Sabbath it was wonderful how the Lord sustained me and gave me courage and strength to conduct all the meetings. I had never addressed such a multitude before. I had a bad cold all the time, but God gave me a voice so clear and strong that I could be heard distinctly all over the grove. Many aged people said they never saw such order and interest at a camp-meeting. There was solemnity resting over the people. They always seemed sorry to see the meeting close.
There were many converted. One was an old lady seventy-seven years old, who belonged to the Dunkard Church. Her son and his wife were converted in the winter, and are great workers in the vineyard of the Lord. One old man, leaning on his staff, whose locks were white with the frosts of many winters, was converted. I felt he was a brand plucked from the burning. Another brother, sixty years old, who had been trusting to morality all his life, had his eyes opened to see the need of eternal life. Jesus says: "You must be born again;" "Eternal life is the gift of God;" "It is not by works, lest any man should boast."
The last Sabbath day, the day I closed, we administered the
Lord's Supper in the grove. It was a solemn time. There were
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