Chapter 2 - Camp Meeting Address
Boulder, Colorado, September 25, 1881.
Dear Brethren and Sisters Who Shall Assemble at the Michigan Camp
Meeting: [This appeal was written for the Michigan camp meeting, but
being forgotten at that time, was read before the General Conference,
December, 1881.] I feel a deeper interest in this meeting than in any
other that has been held this season. Michigan has not had the labor
which she should have had. God has planted important institutions among
you, and this brings upon you greater responsibilities than upon any
other conference in the whole field. Great light has been given you, and
few have responded to it; yet my heart goes out in tender solicitude for
our beloved people in Michigan. The warning that the Son of man is
soon to come in the clouds of heaven has become to many a familiar
tale. They have left the waiting, watching position. The selfish, worldly
spirit manifested in the life reveals the sentiment of the heart, “My
Lord delayeth His coming.” Some are enveloped in so great darkness
that they openly express their unbelief, notwithstanding our Saviour’s
declaration that all such are unfaithful servants and their portion shall be
with hypocrites and unbelievers.
Our ministers are not doing their whole duty. The attention of the
people should be called to the momentous event which is so near at hand.
The signs of the times should be kept fresh before their minds. The
prophetic visions of Daniel and John foretell a period of moral darkness
and declension; but at
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the time of the end, the time in which we are now living, the vision was
to speak and not lie. When the signs predicted begin to come to pass, the
waiting, watching ones are bidden to look up and lift up their heads and
rejoice because their redemption draweth nigh.
When these things are dwelt upon as they should be, scoffers will be
developed who walk after their own lusts, saying, “Where is the promise
of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
they were from the beginning of the creation.” But “when they shall say,
Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” “But ye,
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”
Thank God, all will not be rocked to sleep in the cradle of carnal security.
There will be faithful ones who will discern the signs of the times. While a
large number professing present truth will deny their faith by their works,
there will be some who will endure unto the end.
The same spirit of selfishness, of conformity to the practices of the
world, exists in our day as in Noah’s. Many who profess to be children
of God follow their worldly pursuits with an intensity that gives the lie to
their profession. They will be planting and building, buying and selling,
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the last
moment of their probation. This is the condition of a large number of
our own people. Because iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold.
To but few can it be said: “Ye are all ... the children of the day: we are not
of the night, nor of darkness.”
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My soul is burdened as I see the great want of spirituality among us.
The fashions and customs of the world, pride, love of amusement, love of
display, extravagance in dress, in houses, in lands—these are robbing the
treasury of God, turning to the gratification of self the means which should
be used to send forth the light of truth to
