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Ellen G. White: The Later Elmshaven Years: 1905-1915 (vol. 6)

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Continued Camp Meeting Ministry

From day to day Ellen White filled speaking appointments. One was in the young people's tent. In spite of the fact that it was crowded with young men and young women, when some of the older folks on the grounds discerned that she was speaking there, they tried to crowd in. The Saviour seemed close to her and she spoke with freedom on the Christian experience to be gained from the ministration of the Holy Spirit. 6BIO 108.6

The last Sabbath was the high day of the feast. Again Ellen White was the Sabbath-morning speaker. The tent was packed. Drawing lessons from the first chapter of Paul's letter to the Colossians, she set forth for forty-five minutes the privileges and responsibilities of the Christian life. She appealed to the church members to “rise to their opportunities” (The Review and Herald, October 4, 1906). 6BIO 108.7

Elder G. B. Thompson followed her address and appeal by a call for “the unconverted and the backslidden,” and all who had not made a full surrender, to come forward. There was a most gratifying response. 6BIO 109.1

The next day there was a baptism. Sixty-five were added to the church. For Ellen White personally, it seemed that a new day had dawned. As the camp meeting neared its close, she declared: 6BIO 109.2

I look upon this chapter in my experience in my seventy-eighth year as a miracle of Christ's working. We shall have peace and thanksgiving for the lines of work that were carried forward at this camp meeting. My soul is thankful, and I praise God with all my heart.—Letter 306, 1906. 6BIO 109.3

Some time later, in a letter to Edson, she referred to the camp meeting experience in 1876 at Groveland, Massachusetts, when she spoke on a Sunday to an estimated 20,000 people (The Signs of the Times, September 14, 1876 [MR, p. 114]): “The Lord was with us then,” she wrote, “but, Edson, I felt the power of God just as decidedly on the campground in Oakland, as I did in the earlier days of the message. The sweet peace of God was upon me, and I felt refreshed rather than wearied.”—Letter 288, 1906. 6BIO 109.4