Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4

Kansas Camp Meetings

Accompanied by my daughter Emma, we left Battle Creek, October 23, for the Kansas camp meeting. At Topeka, Kansas, we left the cars and rode by private conveyance twelve miles to Richland, the place of meeting. We found the settlement of tents in a grove. It being late in the season for camp meetings, every preparation was made for cold weather that could be made. There were seventeen tents on the ground besides the large tent, which accommodated several families; and every tent had a stove. 4T 303.2

Sabbath morning it commenced snowing, but not one meeting was suspended. About an inch of snow fell, and the air was piercing cold. Women with little children clustered about the stoves. It was touching to see one hundred and fifty people, assembled for a convocation, meeting under these circumstances. Some came two hundred miles by private conveyance. All seemed hungry for the bread of life and thirsty for the water of salvation. 4T 303.3

Elder Haskell spoke Friday afternoon and evening. Sabbath morning I felt called upon to speak encouraging words to those who had made so great an effort to attend the meeting. Sunday afternoon there was quite a large outside attendance, considering that the meeting was located so far from the thoroughfares of travel. 4T 304.1

Monday morning I spoke to the brethren from the third chapter of Malachi. We then called for those to come forward who wanted to be Christians and who had not the evidence of their acceptance with God. About thirty responded. Some were seeking the Lord for the first time, and some who were members of other churches were taking their position upon the Sabbath. We gave all an opportunity to speak, and the free Spirit of the Lord was in our meeting. After prayer had been offered for those who had come forward, candidates for baptism were examined. Six were baptized. 4T 304.2

I was glad to hear Elder Haskell present before the people the necessity of placing reading matter in private families, especially the three volumes of Spirit of Prophecy and the four volumes of Testimonies. These could be read aloud during the long winter evenings by some member of the family, so that all the family might be instructed. I then spoke of the necessity of parents’ properly educating and disciplining their children. The greatest evidence of the power of Christianity that can be presented to the world is a well-ordered, well-disciplined family. This will recommend the truth as nothing else can, for it is a living witness of its practical power upon the heart. 4T 304.3

Tuesday morning the meeting closed, and with my daughter Emma, Elder Haskell, and Brother Stover, we went to Topeka and took the cars for Sherman, Kansas, where another camp meeting had been appointed. This meeting was interesting and profitable. It appeared small when compared with our camp meetings in other states, as there were only about one hundred brethren and sisters present. It was designed for a general gathering of the scattered ones. Some were present from southern Kansas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, and Tennessee. At this meeting my husband joined me, and from here, with Elder Haskell and our daughter, we went to Dallas, Texas. 4T 304.4