"Peru, Ind., September 14, 1876.--The camp-meeting in this place has been one of the best we have attended this season.
Sabbath forenoon my husband spoke with freedom upon the subject of faith. Luke 12:1.
In the afternoon I spoke to the people upon the barren fig-tree.
It stood forth among the leafless trees with its apparently flourishing branches far in advance of all other trees. Christ sought for fruit upon this tree from the topmost bough to the lowest branches, but finding nothing but leaves, he passed an irrevocable sentence of doom upon it.
Christ invests the fig-tree with moral qualities, and makes it the expositor of divine truth that he may teach a lesson to his disciples, and not only to them but to all who should believe on the Word.
--Opportunities have been unimproved,
--blessings have been unappreciated,
--warnings and reproofs have been rejected.
The fostering love and care of the Redeemer has been unrequited, and like the barren fig-tree they stand forth fruitless, having nothing but leaves.
Many testimonies of confession were borne, well wet down with tears.
A number stated that this was the first Sabbath they had kept.
Others said they were making a start to serve God and had come forward for the first time.
Very deep feeling pervaded the meeting.
Praying and weeping was mingled, and earnest, agonizing prayer went forth from unfeigned lips.
The solemn power of God rested upon the company bowed in humiliation before him. I thought of the day of Pentecost, when the power of God came upon the worshipers like a mighty, rushing wind. I have not witnessed such an exhibition of the manifest power of God for years.
There was no wild fanaticism, but a sweet, soft, subduing spirit.
The gathering was large for the place, and the audience seemed
charmed by the new and startling facts of truth brought before them. Men of repute from Peru who listened to the two discourses stated that an overwhelming array of argument had been presented in favor of the Sabbath which had knocked the last prop for the sacred observance of Sunday from beneath them.
At half-past two I spoke upon the subject of Temperance, taking for my text Revelation 3:21: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."...Tobacco and liquor lie at the foundation of a large share of the crime and violence that is polluting our world. I pointed them to Jesus, their Redeemer, who commenced the work of redemption where the ruin began on the
part of appetite.
Bro. Weber, a man of good repute in the city of Rochester, who attended our camp-meeting in Kokomo two years since, related his interesting experience, dating from that meeting. He stated that he had used tobacco for forty years, commencing its use when a child. His father and mother used it, and he thought it would cost him his life to give it up. But when I was speaking upon the evils of the indulgence of appetite for tobacco, strong convictions of the sinfulness of this indulgence forced themselves upon him, and he threw his tobacco from him with the determination never to taste or handle it again."
Sign of the Times 10/5/1876 E.G.W.
Sabbath forenoon my husband spoke with freedom upon the subject of faith. Luke 12:1.
In the afternoon I spoke to the people upon the barren fig-tree.
It stood forth among the leafless trees with its apparently flourishing branches far in advance of all other trees. Christ sought for fruit upon this tree from the topmost bough to the lowest branches, but finding nothing but leaves, he passed an irrevocable sentence of doom upon it.
Christ invests the fig-tree with moral qualities, and makes it the expositor of divine truth that he may teach a lesson to his disciples, and not only to them but to all who should believe on the Word.
Many, like the portentous fig-tree,
make high profession of godliness,
but bear no fruit to the glory of God.
They have not responded to the sacred influences which God has given them. --Opportunities have been unimproved,
--blessings have been unappreciated,
--warnings and reproofs have been rejected.
The fostering love and care of the Redeemer has been unrequited, and like the barren fig-tree they stand forth fruitless, having nothing but leaves.
Many testimonies of confession were borne, well wet down with tears.
A number stated that this was the first Sabbath they had kept.
Others said they were making a start to serve God and had come forward for the first time.
Very deep feeling pervaded the meeting.
My husband led in prayer,
and his faith fastened upon the throne of God.
Heaven seemed to be very near. Praying and weeping was mingled, and earnest, agonizing prayer went forth from unfeigned lips.
The solemn power of God rested upon the company bowed in humiliation before him. I thought of the day of Pentecost, when the power of God came upon the worshipers like a mighty, rushing wind. I have not witnessed such an exhibition of the manifest power of God for years.
There was no wild fanaticism, but a sweet, soft, subduing spirit.
The gathering was large for the place, and the audience seemed
At half-past two I spoke upon the subject of Temperance, taking for my text Revelation 3:21: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."...Tobacco and liquor lie at the foundation of a large share of the crime and violence that is polluting our world. I pointed them to Jesus, their Redeemer, who commenced the work of redemption where the ruin began on the
Bro. Weber, a man of good repute in the city of Rochester, who attended our camp-meeting in Kokomo two years since, related his interesting experience, dating from that meeting. He stated that he had used tobacco for forty years, commencing its use when a child. His father and mother used it, and he thought it would cost him his life to give it up. But when I was speaking upon the evils of the indulgence of appetite for tobacco, strong convictions of the sinfulness of this indulgence forced themselves upon him, and he threw his tobacco from him with the determination never to taste or handle it again."
Sign of the Times 10/5/1876 E.G.W.