Birth of a Reformation; Or, The Life and Labors of Daniel S. WarnerByers, A. L. (Andrew L.)
Religion
Birth of a Reformation; Or, The Life and Labors of Daniel S. Warner
Byers, A. L. (Andrew L.)
Church of God (Anderson, Ind.) -- History; Warner, D. S. (Daniel Sidney), 1842-1895
On the way we met a good many people returning from the camp,
and we were no little astonished to see so many of them smoking
cigars. Finally the thought forced itself on our mind, "Can it be
possible that they are selling such things on the camp-ground?"
But considering that it was the Sabbath-day and the people holding
the camp-meeting professed to be the "Church of God," such a
thing surely could not be. The very thought was shocking and
preposterous. When a half mile away we saw a smoke ascending at
the camp. As we entered the ground we observed a crowd of sinners
standing about a building with a sign, Boarding-Tent, and the smoke
from their many cigars blended into a cloud, that we had seen
from a distance. Soon after landing, we said to a brother, "Let
us walk up and see what they have to sell there." We did so, and
adventuring into the poison-fog we walked the whole length of the
long building, all opened in front, displaying a large stock of
every variety of ware that would be necessary to satisfy the pride,
vanity, and lust of the horse-race or any vanity-fair throng of
this ungodly world.
We were shocked and amazed at this horrible traffic. The chief sale
was tobacco. There the nasty, filthy stuff was piled up from one
end of the building to the other. The vile curse of the earth, in
every form and shape the devil ever invented, freely sold on a--oh,
the blasphemy!--"Church of God" camp-ground!...
It was all licensed by the preachers in control of the meetings.
And such men have the wicked presumption to call themselves
ministers of Christ! One of the "merchants of these things which
were made rich" by the "abundance of the delicacies," though we
understand he makes no profession of Christ, was ashamed of the
unhallowed traffic, and though his contract included another
year, he said he would never come back again. He confessed that
if he were to open up such traffic on Sabbath at his place of
business in town he would be prosecuted; but the superabundance
of righteousness (?) of these tobacco-soaked preachers, it would
appear, was to atone for the same sins on their camp-ground. Surely
it has come to pass what is written in the prophets, "They overpass
the deeds of the wicked" (Jer. 5:28).
After taking some refreshment and having obtained permission to
praise God, we engaged in our evening devotion, with singing and
prayer, to the God of our salvation. Our doors were soon crowded
with young folks to hear the singing.
The tobacco-smoke was so dense that we could scarcely endure
it without getting sick. But after a few songs and prayers
were offered, every one cast his cigar away and listened with
seriousness. This they did without a word said by any of us....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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