CHAPTER IV

THE PRINCIPLES OF HOLINESS REVIVED, 1865 TO 1880

The meeting called for the specific purpose of organizing a holiness camp convened as scheduled on June 13, 1867, at the Methodist Book Room in Philadelphia. Dr. George C.M. Roberts of Baltimore, Maryland, acted as chairman, and Rev. John Thompson was secretary. Because of the great solemnity of the occasion, each person preset led in prayer individually before the meeting was called to order. An eye-witness at these proceedings reported that the glory and power of the Holy Spirit was manifested in such way "as to convince them all that God had taken the affair in His hands,..." It was decided, therefore, that a national camp meeting for the promotion of Christian holiness should be held that summer from July 17 to 26 at Vineland, New Jersey.1

The assemblage convened on schedule and was dedicated officially to the cause of Christian holiness by Rev. Inskip. The meeting was interdenominational in scope and was attended by Presbyterian, Baptist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Friends, and Methodist ministers. Those in attendance demonstrated their spiritual fervency during an early morning "love feast" (testimony meeting) when in approximately two hours as many as 325 persons testified publicly to the "redeeming" and "sanctifying power of Christ. According to Rev. George Hughes, a thousand affirmations of faith could have been recorded if more time had been allotted. The convocation ended in "tears, songs, and shouts" of joy when hundreds of people rose to their feet to symbolize their dedication to the cause of Christian holiness. On the last day of the camp, the congregation voted as a whole that a committee be established to select a site for a subsequent national camp to be held on the second Wednesday in July, 1868. During the final evening service "a canopy of celestial glory covered [reportedly] the Encampment [and] no less than fifty people were converted."2

Because of the strong and unanimous support for another national camp meeting, the promoters of the Vineland gathering met at the close of the final service and formed a permanent association to be known as the National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Christian Holiness. It was organized fittingly in a tent with its members kneeling in a circle during the whole proceedings. No new written by-laws were drafter for this organization, but its founders relied on the basic doctrinal statements in the discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The official charter members included: John S. Inskip (president), William McDonald (vise-president), George Hughes (secretary), James W. Horne, J.E. Cookman, I.R. Dunn, Alfred Cookman, B.M. Adams, William H. Boole, W.L. Gray, G.A. Hubbell, A. McLean, William G. Osborn, James Thompson, S. Coleman, C.C. Wells, G.C. Roberts, W.T.B. Clemm.3

Bishop Matthew Simpson was the first Methodist leader who participated in a National Camp Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness. The bishop with his family, attended the Vineland gathering where his son, Charles, sought and found Christ as his personal savior. After the camp ended, the boy returned home where it was discovered a few months later that he was terminally ill. The final words Charles spoke constituted a lasting memorial to the work of the National Association: "Mother, I shall bless God through all eternity for the Vineland Camp Meeting."4

The second National Camp Meeting for the Promotion of Christian Holiness was held in the Dutch community of Maneheim, Pennsylvania, from July 14 to 23, 1868. One of the most pronounced manifestations of divine power witnessed during this ten-day gathering came when the Rev. Alfred Cookman publicly delivered his spiritual autobiography. As Rev. Cookman spoke "men all over the grounds fell under the mighty power of God," and, according to a newspaper correspondent present, the sounds of spiritual victory rang over the campground through the night.5

As a result of such manifestations it was reported on the first Sunday that at twenty-thousand persons along with some three-hundred ministers were on the grounds at Manheim. Because of the great interest demonstrated by so many people combined with the large number of religious experiences reported, the leaders of the National Association scheduled a third camp meeting for the following summer specifically to promote Christian holiness.6

The Troy Conference Camp Ground near Round Lake, New York, hosted the third National Camp from July 6 to 16, 1869. This site was located on the Resalear and Saratoga Railroad Line about mid-way between Troy and Saratoga Springs, New York. Again Bishop Simpson attended with ten to twelve presiding elders and some five to seven-hundred ministers. Approximately eight-hundred tents were set in an orderly fashion along broad, well-defined avenues which gave the tent community the appearance of a small city.7 Dr. Dallas D. Lore, editor of the Northern Christian Advocate reported his eyewitness impressions of the Round Lake gathering in the following statement:

The religious character of the National Camp Meeting just closed was all that a Christian could desire. It is professedly a one-idea meeting; but that idea is a great and grand one--holiness to the Lord. Purity of heart, the cleansing power of the atonement, sanctification of body, soul and spirit, were set forth as the privilege and duty of all, and urged with a true Christian spirit.8

Another holiness association patterned after the National Group was organized in 1869 at Ocean Grove, New Jersey. The primary difference between the Ocean Grove and the National Association was that the National did not use the same camp site each year. On the other hand, the people at Ocean Grove purchased lots and built permanent cabins on their own 230 acre seaside camp ground. The purpose of the Ocean Grove Association was to further Christian perfection while furnishing Christian families with a retreat just five-hundred yards from the sea. No person could buy more than two (thirty by sixty) lots a cost of fifty dollars each. The founders enacted this rule to curtail speculation which they asserted was contrary to the whole purpose of the camp meeting.9

The New Jersey Legislature granted a charter to the Ocean Grove Association on March 3, 1870, describing it as a "permanent camp meeting ground and seaside resort." This was not to say that individuals who retreated to Ocean Grove engaged in the same daily activities as persons who resided typically at other ocean-front amusement areas. In other words, the major differences revolved around the fact that the officials of the association meticulously planned the religious activities of each day. Generally, a prayer meeting was scheduled before breakfast, a testimony or experience meeting a mid-morning, and preaching services before and after lunch and in the evening. In addition to a rigidly structured day, no activities condemned as immoral in the discipline of the Methodist Church, such as drinking, using tobacco, dancing, cursing, and card-playing were allowed. According to an 1883 article in the New York Sun, such strictness, at least in part, contributed to the spiritual success and beauty of the Ocean Grove Camp.10

The success and popularity of these assemblages were evidenced in the fact that at any one time from May 15 to October 30 as many as ten thousand people of all major Protestant denominations found repose on the grounds at Ocean Grove. For example, in 1881 the Guide to Holiness reported that approximately fifteen-hundred persons participated in a sacramental meeting. At the same ten-day camp meeting some five-hundred confessed conversion, three-hundred sanctification, and seventeen-hundred said they were benefited spiritually by attending the services.11 At the close of such assemblages those in the congregation were often invited by the association president, Dr. Ellwood Stokes, to shake hands with their "neighbors." According to the editor of the Ocean Grove Record, "the scene was one that beggared description. The quiet Quaker, the staid Episcopalian, the opinionated Baptist, the rigid Presbyterian, the solid Lutheran, the noisy Methodist, were one according to our Lord's prayer. As Bro. Inskip would say: 'you couldn't tell which from t'other.'"12

Varied interest groups held such protracted meetings. These included among others the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Young Men's Christian Association, and the regularly scheduled annual camp meeting of the Ocean Grove Association. Accommodations for those who attended these gatherings included hotels, cottages, and tents. Hotel costs varied from ten to fifteen dollars per week, and cottages were eight to twelve dollars per week. Individuals who rented one of the six-hundred tents belonging to the association and ate at the camp cafeteria could get by on as little as one dollar per day for both board and room.13

However, the physical facilities at Ocean Grove were largely under-developed as early as 1870. "Great sand heaps, stubby trees, and tangled briars were in abundance." The first auditorium where religious services were held consisted of nothing more than a few pine trees with a canvas tabernacle nearby for shelter in case of rainstorms.14 The laying of road beds for the streets constituted one of the first improvements made. Main Avenue ran from the Turnpike to the sea (west to east) and was some sixty feet wide. Ocean Avenue paralleled the sea for approximately fifteen-hundred feet and like all the other roadways at Ocean Grove, had gravel sidewalks on either side.15

As the years passed one change after another was made until the camp resembled a developed community with broad avenues, parks, plenty of water, and two fresh water lakes which bounded the camp ground on the north and south. A new auditorium 225 by 61 feet was dedicated in July, 1894, and cost approximately sixty-thousand dollars. It accommodated ten-thousand people comfortable according to Dr. E.H. Stokes. Finally, he asserted that the acoustics of the structure were such "that a pin dropped at one end of the building could be heard at the other end."16

Some of the wealthier and more influential people who owned property at Ocean Grove including Walter C. Palmer, built large homes. The Palmer's summer home was situated along Ocean Avenue where from the upper piazza on warm summer evenings they could sit and observe immense "surf meetings" of some ten-thousand people. According to those present it seemed the "voices of praise, prayer, and testimony wafted by ocean breezes, told of scenes of moral grandeur.17 The doctor as well as his wife spent as much time at the Grove as their busy evangelistic and publishing schedules allowed. From 1878 when they became semi-retired until the death of the doctor in 1883, the Palmers spent each morning during the summer months holding religious services at Ocean Grove. The association president Dr. Ellwood Stokes made this possible by special invitation. Here on July 22, 1883, Dr. Palmer died. "For more than thirty years he lived an exemplary life of Christian holiness. Each morning he expressed an attitude of praise, and his last words at night were 'The God of peace' or 'The peace of God be with you.'"18

Dr. Palmer spent hundreds of hours and traveled thousands of miles as an evangelist before his death. One of the busiest and most productive campaigns he and his wife conducted was during the summer of 1870 when they traveled all over the United States holding meetings in such widely separated places as Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Red Rock, Minnesota; Kansas City, Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Oswego, Kansas; and Sacramento, California.19

The stay of the Palmers at the Oswego District Camp Meeting proved profitable. This meeting lasted from July 26 to August 4 and was held near the terminus of the Southern branch of the Pacific Railroad about one mile from Oswego. Approximately fifty ministers including Dr. and Mrs. Palmer, attended the camp conducted especially for the promotion of Bible holiness. People from all over the district were on the grounds where it was reported that fifty individuals received conversion and another fifty sanctification. Because of such great and almost unexpected success, the services were continued in the local Methodist Church at Oswego after the scheduled ten-day camp ended. While the Palmers were in Oswego, they also helped to organize a weekly Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Christian holiness patterned after the one they conducted in their own home.20

The encouraging results reported at the camp meeting along with the continued interest stimulated by extra-ecclesiastical assemblages (Oswego Tuesday Meetings) caused the supporters of Christian holiness in southeastern Kansas to hold another camp meeting during the last of August, 1870. Those present at this gathering reported that "hundreds were brought to Jesus and the work of holiness progressed with power." The Rev. Isaac Tharp described the meeting enthusiastically: "I never enjoyed such a meeting in my life, and never witnessed such power. There were about on hundred converted and a few professed sanctification. Souls were born strong--born shouting--born clear."21

Dr. and Mrs. Palmer were not the only Wesleyan evangelists who conducted protracted meetings during the early 1870's in the mid-and-far Western states. The Revs. John Inskip and William McDonald accompanied Bishop Edward R. Ames as he made his official visitation to different annual conferences during March, 1871, in the states of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. After reaching St. Louis on March 7, these men attended first the St. Louis Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. "Holiness of heart" was the main theme of the services, and it was reported that "nearly the whole conference went to the altar seeking the 'baptism of fire.'"22

The next stop on the tour was Paola, Kansas, where the Kansas Annual Conference was held. A resolution passed on March 17, by that body of Methodist ministers, invited "Rev. Inskip and his co-laborers to hold two National Camp Meetings near the City on August 25 and the other about September 25, 1871. The last annual conference attended on this tour convened in Lincoln, Nebraska. Here Rev. Inskip by special invitation of the conference took charge of the "morning meetings and all other religious exercises."23

When the conference ended, Evangelists McDonald and Inskip in company with Bishop Ames left for Omaha. By previous arrangement, they joined another contingent of holiness preachers traveling west to California. This group included: Revs. William H. Boole, William Osborn, and S. Coleman--all members of the National Association--together with Revs. John E. Searles of the New York East Conference, Stratton of the New York Conference, and Dwight L. Moody of Chicago. They departed from Omaha, Nebraska on the tenth and arrived in San Francisco, California on April 14, 1871. The first series of meetings commenced on April 22, in Sacramento, California. These evangelists pitched the new tabernacle of the National Association on the plaza near the center of the city.24 The association members purchased this 90 by 130 foot tent for a little over fifteen-hundred dollars.25

Reports published in the monthly periodical of the National Camp Meeting Association revealed that the average Californian encountered by the evangelists was a much rougher breed of individual than they customarily confronted in camp meetings on the East coast. A letter from the editor, William McDonald, stated that "indifference regarding spiritual Christianity prevails to an alarming extent." He further reported that the "roughs of the city of Sacramento were in the tabernacle from the first, and gave evidence of their character; but God's presence rested upon the Assembly." Many of the older people who attended these meetings praised God "with tear filled eyes" for the services "which brought memories of other days."26 The California Christian Advocate reported enthusiastically that some "three to four hundred people were converted and nearly double that number were sanctified." The editor of the Advocate commented on the spiritual effects of the Sacramento meetings:

Never in the history of California has so remarkable a meeting been held. Never have we seen such displays of divine power in the awakening and conversions of sinners. Men and women who have not been in church for twelve or fifteen years have found the pearl of great price. Slaves to rum and opium, and tobacco, have been thoroughly saved, though the chains had been on them for eighteen years. Men of affluence have found their way to the Cross.27

Rev. Inskip and his workers also pitched their tabernacle at Santa Clara and San Francisco. Here hundreds of people came face to face with the redeeming and sanctifying power of Christ. By the last night of scheduled meetings in California interest ran so high among the people that "thousands were unable to gain admittance into the tabernacle."28

Rev. Inskip and company next journeyed east to Salt Lake City, Utah, for two weeks of religious meetings. This city constituted "one of the most cosmopolitan-like centers in the United States." Besides being world headquarters for the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), the city was also recognized as the leading mining center of the West. Thousands of migrants crowded its streets from as far away as Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado.29

The results reported by the Methodists evangelists while in Salt Lake City were not as outstanding as those in California, although several conversions were witnessed among the predominantly Mormon congregation. Even one of the wives of Bishop Hunter professed Christ "resolving to assume her maiden name, and, thereby wash her hands completely of Mormonism.: In addition, the wife and daughter of Orson Pratt, one of the most capable supporters of the Mormon faith, "embraced religion."30 Rev. Talmage in The Christian at Work maintained that the results of the Salt Lake City Tabernacle Meeting put the Mormon leaders on the defensive. He wrote:

We found the track of the Methodist tent all the way across the Continent. Mormonism never received such a shot as when, with Brigham Young and his elders present in the tent, the party of wide-awake Methodist ministers preached righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come in great Salt Lake City. The effect of those few days of faithful talking will never be forgotten. Hardly a service is held in the Mormon tabernacle that an effort is not made to combat the sermons of the 'Itinerants.'31

All the members of the National Association were encouraged by the results of the West Coast and Salt Lake City convocations led by Inskip and McDonald. As a result of this success those who attended the annual business meeting of the National Association in October, 1871, voted to hold six camp meetings during the following summer. Oak Corner (June 13) and Sea Cliff Grove, New York (July 31); Richmond, Maine (July 24); Urbana, Ohio (August 8); Williamsville, Illinois (August 21); and some place in the South were chosen from a list of thirteen invitations received from officials of various Methodist camp grounds.32

A site near Knoxville, Tennessee, was selected for the last National Camp Meeting of the 1872 season. This was the first assemblage by the Association to be held in the geographical area of the old Confederacy. The ingathering commenced on September 25, with much open suspicion on the part of the local residents about the motives of the Northern evangelists. Locally it was theorized that any organization with the word national in its title of necessity had some connection with the federal government, and its members had probably been sent into the south to spy on the people. The leaders of the Church, South, also looked upon this endeavor as an encroachment on their rightful geographical and ecclesiastical domain.33

The local people and their leaders realized after the convocation began that the only reason the six members of the National Association were in Knoxville was to lead souls to Christ and preach the doctrine of "entire sanctification" advocated by Wesley. Popular acceptance of this attitude was evidenced during a "love feast" held on the second Sunday of the meeting. Over a hundred people testified that they received the gift of the Holy Spirit since the camp began. Furthermore, at least twenty ministers of the Holston Tennessee Annual Conference embraced the doctrine of "perfect love." The overwhelming consensus among the five-thousand people who attended this gathering was "that the meetings had a accomplished much good."34

The work of the National Association progressed steadily as the members entered one new area of the country after another. National Camp and Tabernacle Meetings were held in nineteen different states between 1870 and 1880. Widespread popular interest in the movement combined with a desire to spread the Gospel caused Inskip, McDonald, and Wood to also undertake an around-the-world tour as advocates of the doctrine of Christian perfection as taught by Wesley.35

This trio, accompanied by their wives, left New York City for Liverpool, England, on June 26, 1880. After they reached England they spent approximately a hundred days holding no less than eighty religious services where the main theme was, as usual, Bible holiness. On October 19 the ministers left Liverpool and on November 16 arrived by (fast) steamer in Bombay, India, where they joined forces with the Revs. William Osborn and William Taylor.36 Osborn had been in India since 1875, while Taylor had been there since 1870. Taylor previously expounded Christian holiness as a street-preacher in San Francisco during the gold rush years. Thereafter, he transversed extensively the North and South American Continents, England, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and India. At the General Conference of 1884 held in Baltimore, Maryland, his colleagues bestowed upon Taylor the ultimate ecclesiastical honor when they elected him the first Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Church.37

While in Bombay, Poona, Cawnpoor, Lucknow, Bereilly, and Jubapoor, India; these evangelists used the large tabernacle belonging to the National Association. Since the meetings were conducted in English, the majority attending the services were either British soldiers or Eurasians and natives who understood English. When they finished their work in India, the members of the party decided to divide forces. Inskip accompanied by Osborn, journeyed homeward by way of Ceylon, Australia, and then California. At the same time, McDonald and Wood returned to England through the Middle East and Rome. During 1880 these world travelers for Christ journeyed six-thousand miles by rail and spent eighty-two days at sea on nine different ships.38 While en route to the United States, Rev. Osborn and his wife decided to initiate a camp meeting for returning missionaries. Wesley Park within view of Niagara Falls was selected as the site. From the annual gatherings held there arose the International Missionary Union. This organization specialized in promoting Christian perfection in foreign lands in much the same way as the National Camp Meeting Association did in the United States.39

One of the most important meetings conducted under the auspices of the National Association was held in northeastern Kansas during the summer prior to the around-the-world evangelistic tour of Inskip, McDonald, and Wood. Bismarck Grove, the site of the Thirty-Eighth National was located forty miles west of Kansas City on the Kansas Pacific Railroad two miles from Lawrence, Kansas. The meeting commenced on June 24 and ended July 4, 1879.40 Revs. Inskip, McDonald, McLean, Simmons, Jones, Watson, Henderson, Lamb, and Scheutz were the members of the National Association present along with a large group of holiness people from Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and even Texas.41

Those who attended the Bismarck Grove Meeting agreed that the services were marked by an evident manifestation of the power of God. At least twenty ministers in addition to two-hundred lay people professed entire sanctification, and fifty conversions were reported.42 Of such meetings Dr. Reed, editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate wrote: "God poured out his spirit and the results were that many souls from almost every mid-western state were brought to the feet of Jesus." Another report in the Christian Standard and Home Journal confirmed the statement of Dr. Reed by saying: "The whole West is in a blaze of full salvation I have heard from several places that the ministers have gone from the National Camp Meetings covered with sanctifying power, and whole churches are at the altar seeking holiness.43

A new interdenominational holiness association was organized at the 1879 Bismarck Grove Meeting called the Southwestern Holiness Association. The majority of its members were Methodists, mainly from Missouri. This organization had approximately 185 members by 1882 and continued to spread its sphere of influence into the surrounding areas of eastern Kansas, southern Iowa, and southern Missouri. At its inception, the members of this new association openly confirmed their allegiance to the respective mainline Protestant denominations to which they belonged. They made this point clear in a resolution passed in October, 1880: "We are each and all members of some Christian church and as such have not and do not intend to sever our connections with such churches, but simply [want] to promote in our several communions and in the world at large the doctrine, experience and life of scriptural holiness."44

The members of the Southwestern Holiness Association as well as almost all other holiness people became subjected increasingly to severe criticism by the early 1880s. This resulted because they, for the sake of conscience, refused to adapt to a changing world. As a result individuals who supported the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian holiness rejected stridently Urbanism, industrialism, and technology outside the church along with the Darwinism, higher criticism, and a progressive trend toward formalistic worship within the church. As these isms became more and more prominent, many holiness people, especially those living in the rural areas of the Midwest came to the conclusion that their only recourse was to leave the established churches and start new ecclesiastical organizations dedicated to the spreading of scriptural holiness.45

As a result, six of the leading ministers of the Southwestern Holiness Association met in March, 1882, in Macon county, Missouri, to discuss the possibility of separating themselves from the authoritative control of the organized church. In June the Southwestern Holiness Association met in Centralia, Missouri, and adopted a charter to form independent Holiness Churches. By this action the association effectively severed its affiliation with the established churches.46


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1A. McLean and J.W. Eaton, eds., Penuel; Or Face to Face with God, 8-10. Cited hereafter, McLean and Eaton, eds., Penuel. BACK

2George Hughes, "The Vineland Encampment," The Guide to and Beauty of Holiness (New York), o.s. LII, September, 1867, 91-93. BACK

3McLean and Eaton, eds., Penuel, Intro., 6-15. On Camp grounds where National Meetings were held, its members, as arranged previously, exercised complete control. Therefore, all non-essential activities on the Sabbath including train travel, gate fees, and any type of sports were forbidden. This was demonstrated in 1889 when a National Meeting was scheduled for Ridgeview Park, Pennsylvania. Before the meeting commenced, however, the officials of the National Association learned that the local authorities planned to allow trains to stop and to charge gate fees at the camp meeting on the Sabbath. The National Association leaders responded by saying that under such circumstances they were "compelled by every consideration of honor, justice, and religion to recall the appointment, and therefore, no National Camp Meeting was to be held at Ridgeview Park." William McDonald, "Ridgeview Park Camp-Meeting Recalled," The Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness (Boston), n.s. VII, July 18, 1889, 1; William McDonald, "Ridgeview Park Camp Meeting Recalled," The Christian Standard and Home Journal (Philadelphia), XXIII, July 18, 1889, 9. BACK

4McDonald and Searles, Life of Inskip, 193; Hughes, Days of Power, 167-169. Rev. Matthew Simpson (1810-1884) was elected a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church at the 1852 General Conference. He held that position until his death thirty-two years later. George R. Crooks, The Life of Bishop Matthew Simpson of The Methodist Episcopal Church (1890). For a more recent account see Robert C. Clark, Life of Matthew Simpson, (1956). BACK

5E.W. Kirby and Adam Wallace, "Manheim! The Great National Camp Meeting," The Methodist Home Journal (Philadelphia), II, July 25, 1868, 232-237; E. W. Kirby and Adam Wallace, "The Great National Camp Meeting Closing Experiences," Ibid., August 1, 1868, 243, 244; E.W. Kirby, "A Scene at The National Camp," Ibid., August 22, 1868, 265; Henry Bascom Ridgaway, The Life of Rev. Alfred Cookman, 351. Alfred Cookman (1828-1871) one of those who signed the call for a meeting to be held in Philadelphia for the purpose of organizing the Vineland Camp Meeting, faithfully attended all the subsequent National Camp Meetings until his death. The last business meeting in which Rev. Cookman participated was in October, 1871, after which he returned to Ocean Grove where his health progressively deteriorated. On November 13, 1871, Alfred Cookman departed this life with a stirring eulogy to the redemptive and sanctifying power of Christ: "Everything is so quiet and peaceful. All is well. Jesus is coming closer and closer, I am sweeping through the gates washed in the blood of the lamb." Bishop Randolph Foster stated that Cookman was the most sacred man he had ever known in his thirty year episcopacy. Ibid. See William McDonald, Life sketches of Rev. Alfred Cookman. BACK

6"The Great National Camp Meeting [Maneheim]," Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany (New York), o.s. LIV, September, 1868, 81-91. BACK

7George Hughes, "National Camp Meeting," Ibid., o.s. LV, April, 1869, 117-119; George Hughes, "Third National Camp Meeting at Round Lake, N.Y. July 6th," Ibid., June, 1869, Supplement, 1-4. Each church was urged to bring its own prayer tent and to be prepared to pay one cent per square foot for ground. Any church not owning its own tent could rent one by giving advance notice. Tents plus furnishings rented at a median cost (medium tent - $7.00, double bed - $1.50, wash pan and stand - $1.00 and looking glass - $.50). Ibid. BACK

8Dallas D. Lore, "National Camp Meeting," Northern Christian Advocate (Auburn, New York), XXIX, July l, 1869, 205; Ibid., July 15, 1869, 220; Ibid., July 22, 1869, 228; Hughes, Days of Power, 722. Dr. Henry Ridgaway said that "no society [National Camp Meeting Association] was ever more in accord with primitive Christian custom as to its origin and organization, or could be more simple and exact in its aim or more thoroughly Catholic in its animating Spirit." Ridgaway, Life of Cookman, 324. BACK

9Ellwood H. Stokes, comp., Ocean Grove, Its Origin and Progress, The Annual Reports Presented by The President, to Which are Added Other Papers of Interest, Including List of Lot-Holders, Charter, By-Laws,9-ll, 14-16. Cited hereafter, Stokes, Ocean Grove Origins. The most lasting contribution of William B. Osborn (1832-1902) to the cause of Christ was his work for the propagation of heart purity. He helped establish three holiness camp meeting associations--The National Association in 1867, Ocean Grove Association in 1869, and the International Association near Niagara Falls in 1884. Osborn entered the ministry at the age of twenty-five as a member of the New Jersey Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1875 he went to India as a missionary. While there he simultaneously filled the position of presiding elder for both the Bombay and Madras districts which covered a geographical area of fifteen-hundred miles long and seven to eight-hundred miles wide. James M. Buckley, "The Rev. W.B. Osborn [Obituary]," Christian Advocate (New York), LXXVII, September 18, 1489, 1902. BACK

10Morris S. Daniels, The Story of Ocean Grove, Related in The Year of Its Golden Jubilee, 34-36; Simpson, Methodism, 162. BACK

11"In the Groves," Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany (New York), o.s. LXVIII, October, 1881, 120. The reports indicated by these figures pertaining to the work at Ocean Grove as reported in Wesleyan periodicals such as the Guide were not the exception but rather the rule year after year. For these reports see "Ocean Grove Camp-Meeting Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church," and "In the Groves, Ocean Grove," Ibid., n.s. XII, March, 1870, 99; "Camp-Meetings, Ocean Grove," Ibid., o.s. LX, September, 1871, 94; George Hughes, "Services at Ocean Grove, 1879," Ibid., n.s. XXXI, October, 1879, 116-119; George Hughes, "God Among His People," Ibid., XXVII, October, 1882, 122; George Hughes, "The Home Field, Ocean Grove," Ibid., o.s. LXXIV, October, 1884, 121; George Hughes, "The Harvest Field, Ocean Grove," Ibid., o.s. LXXIV, October, 1885, 124; George Hughes, "Our camp-Meeting Tour, Ocean Grove," Ibid., LXXX, October, 1887, 315. BACK

12Adam Wallace, "The Annual Love-Feast," Ocean Grove Record (Ocean Grove, New Jersey), VIII, August 26, 1882, 1. The Central Christian Advocate, an official Methodist periodical, also vividly reported this meeting. W. B. Hardman, "Six-Thousand at a Love Feast," Central Christian Advocate (St. Louis, Missouri), XXVI, September 27, 1882, 315. BACK

13"Ocean Grove," Christian Advocate and Journal (New York), LII, June 14, 1877, 373; Ellwood H. Stokes, "Ocean Grove: The Christian Seaside Resort," Ocean Grove a Record of Religion and Recreation (Ocean Grove, New Jersey), II, July 8, 1876, 305. BACK

14"Letter From Dr. Levy. Ocean Grove, N.J. June 23, 1894," The Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness (Boston), n.s. XII, July 5, 1894, 12. BACK

15Stokes, Ocean Grove Origins, 16. Important facts to be remembered about the Ocean Grove Camp-Meeting Association by Dr. Stokes:

(1)
"Cottages, erected by private individuals, in considerable numbers, can usually be rented for the season.

(2) Stages for Ocean Grove connect at Long Branch and Squan, with all trains, until such times as the Rail Road shall be completed, when passengers will be landed a few hundred yards from the Camp-Meeting circle.
(3) Everything needed by house-keepers, either in furniture, provisions, or country produce, can be purchased at Ocean Grove as cheaply as elsewhere, without the trouble and cost of transportation.
(4) The water at Ocean Grove is superior, and inexhaustible.
(5) Lots at Ocean Grove are leased for 99 years. subject to renewal without expense, if conditions are complied with.
(6) Lots are sold to Ministers at reduced rates.
(7) All the proceeds from the sale of lots, and other incomes at Ocean Grove are devoted to the payment of lands, and the improvement of the same. The individual members of the Association receive no benefit whatever.
(8) Lots can not be occupied for purposes other than as summer residences without the written consent of the Association.
(9) Lots can not be transferred from one party to another without the written approval of the Association.
(10) Cottages cannot be occupied longer than from the 15th of May to the last of October, without the written consent of the Association.
(11) Boating and bathing are prohibited during the hours of public worship, through the ten days allotted to the Camp-Meeting.
(12) Boating and bathing are prohibited at all hours on all Sabbath days.
(13) The gates at Ocean Grove are kept open on Saturday nights until 11 o'clock, up to which time all are welcome. They are then closed until Monday morning.
(14) When the Sabbath dawns, stillness prevails except for the occasional sound of sacred songs blended with fervent prayer. You hear no clatter of wheels, no loud conversation: You feel in your very soul a spirit of repose. This is a real Sabbath." Ibid., 7,67. BACK

16"Letter From Dr. Levy, Ocean Grove, N.J. June 23, 1894,:"The Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness (Boston), n.s. XII, July 5, 1894, 12. For comments made during the dedication service see Ellwood H. Stokes, "Greetings from President Stokes [Auditorium Dedication]," Ocean Grove Record (Ocean Grove, New Jersey), XX, July 7, 1894, 1, 2. BACK

17Hughes, Beloved Physical, 290-293. It was customary for a "surf" meeting to be conducted each Sunday at 6 P>M> One of the most requested hymns sung at these gatherings was "All Hail The Power of Jesus' Name" which could be found in the special Ocean Grove song book. To those seated on the shore, the stirring anthem combined with the rolling surf seemed to foretell of a future day when as a part of the glorified Church of Christ, they would "Crown Him Lord of All." Stokes, Ocean Grove Origins, 67; J. N. Fitzgerald, C.H. Yatman, Tali E. Morgan, Let all The People Sing. For Choir and Congregation Ocean Grove Christian Songs,3. BACK

18George Hughes, "Memoriam, Death of Walter C. Palmer," Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany (New York), o.s. LXXII, August, 1883, 65-100. Rev. George Hughes (1828-1904) was a charter member and the first secretary of the National Camp Meeting Association which held its first camp meeting at Vineland, New Jersey. Rev. Hughes continued the work of Walter C. Palmer as editor of the widely circulated periodical, Guide to Holiness. In addition to The Beloved Physical, Walter C. Palmer, M.D. and His Sun-Lit Journey to The Celestial City; Hughes wrote and published Days of Power in The Forest Temple, A Review of The Wonderful Work of God at Fourteen National Camp-Meetings from 1867 to 1872; Fragrant Memories of The Tuesday Meetings and The Guide to Holiness and Their Fifty Years' Work for Jesus. Several of his sermons were published, and their main theme was always Bible holiness. Who's Who in America (1897-1942), 500. BACK

19Richard Weatley, The Life and Letters of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, 436. BACK

20J.R. Jaques, "Camp Meeting of The Oswego District, Kansas Conference," Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany (New York), n.s. XIII, September, 1870, 88, 125. Preachers in attendance at the Oswego Camp included among others Rev. Harden Wallace who was destined to play a prominent role in the establishment of the holiness work in Texas and later in Arizona and southern California. Ibid. BACK

21Jacksonville, Kansas; Southern Kansas," Ibid., December, 1870, 186, 187. BACK

22William McDonald and John S. Inskip, "The Work Begun,' 'Evangelism,' 'Our Plans,'" Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.x. II, April, 1871, 162, 163; John S. Inskip, "Western Evangelistic Tour Letter from Brother Inskip," Ibid., June, 1871, 189. Inskip and McDonald were the first member of the National Camp Meeting Association to leave their pastorates to become full time evangelists. William McDonald, "Evangelists," Ibid., March, 1871, 146. BACK

John S. Inskip (1816-1884) entered the ministry as a member of the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in May, 1835. Rev. Inskip filled relatively unimportant pulpits until he transferred to the New York conference. While a member of that body, he pastored the Madison Street, Fleet Street, Cherry Street, and Ninth Street Methodist Churches in New York City where between 1852 and 1861 some twelve-hundred persons confessed conversion. In 1867 Inskip was elected the first president of the National Camp Meeting Association as a result of the active part he played in the formation of that body. He presided at fifty-four National Camp Meetings prior to his death in 1884. William McDonald, "John S. Inskip is dead," The Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness (Boston), n.s. II, March 20, 1884, 4.

William McDonald (1820-1901) was a charter member of the National Camp Meeting Association. He served as its first vice-president until the death of Rev. Inskip at which time Rev. McDonald became president of the Association. He acted as the first editor the Advocate of Christian Holiness, a position he held until 1884 except for a brief six month period during 1874 when Inskip acted as editor. McDonald initiated a title change in 1883 for the periodical to The Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness. In 1891 he began to promote an organization called the General Holiness League and at the same tine he was co-owner of McDonald and Gill Publishing Company of Boston. Who's Who in American (1897-1942), 809.

23John S. Inskip, "Western Evangelistic Tour Letter From Brother Inskip," Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.s. II, June, 1871, 176-190. The officials of the National Association did not return to Kansas to hold a camp meeting for the promotion of Bible holiness until June, 1879. William McDonald, "38th National Camp Meeting Bismarck Grove," Ibid., XI, August, 1879, 188, 189. BACK

24William McDonald, "Letter From The Editor, The Work in California," Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.s. II, June, 1871, 190, 191. Prior to 1894 membership in the National Association was limited to official members in good standing of the Methodist Church, but all camp meetings were open to all Protestant denominations. Charles Edwin Jones, "Perfectionist Persuasion: A Social Profile of The National Holiness Movement Within American Methodism 1867-1926," (Ph.D. Dissertation, Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, 1968), 150. BACK

25Henry C. Benson, "Tabernacle Meeting in Sacramento," California Christian Advocate (San Francisco), XX, May 10, 1871, 4. John S. Inskip, "The Tabernacle," Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany (New York), n.s. XII, june, 1870, 189. BACK

26William McDonald, "Letter From The Editor, The Work in California," Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.s. II, June, 1871, 190, 191. The need for a periodical to keep the supporters of Bible holiness informed about the proposed National Camp Meetings and their results was first voiced in Philadelphia at the 1869 annual business meeting of the Association. The members of the Association voted to publish a magazine called Advocate of Christian Holiness which first appeared in July, 1870. A Boston printer, John Bent, financed the enterprise in return for any profit realized the first year. Rev. William McDonald acted as editor with the Revs. George Hughes and William H. Boole as assistant editors. From its inception the magazine cost fifty cents per year, and by the end of the first twelve-months of publication it had grown to some eight thousand subscribers. John S. Inskip, "The New Volume," Ibid., IX, January, 1877, 19, 20. For a contemporary view of the development of the Advocate from 1870 to 1894, see William McDonald, "Future of Our Advocate," Ibid., II, April, 1871, 162, 162; John S. Inskip, "Publishers Notice," Ibid., VII, November, 1876, 315; William McDonald, "The Eleventh Volume," Ibid., XI, January, 1879, 16, 17; John S. Inskip, "Publishers Notice," Ibid., XI, May, 1879, 114; and William McDonald, "Enlargement of The Witness," The Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness (Boston), n.s. XII, January 4, 1894, l. BACK

27Henry C. Benson, "Tabernacle Meeting in Sacramento," California Christian Advocate (San Francisco), XX, May 10, 1871, 4. BACK

28Proceedings of Holiness Conferences Held at Cincinnati, November 26th, 1877, and at New York, December 17th, 1877, 126, 127. Cited hereafter, Proceedings of Holiness Conferences, 1877. For a contemporary account of an experience received during the San Francisco Meeting see Edward Franklin Walker Diary, June, 1871, 4-6; Edward Franklin Walker Papers, Nazarene Archives, Kansas City, Missouri. BACK

29G.M. Pierce, "Camp Meeting at Salt Lake City," Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany (New York), o.s. LIX, May, 1871, 159, 160. BACK

30Proceedings of Holiness Conferences, 1877, 129-132. BACK

31Ridgaway, Life of Cookman, 425. BACK

32Hughes, Days of Power, 80. BACK

33George Hughes, "Annual Meeting of The Association," Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.s. II, December, 1871, 117. The reason for such apprehension on the part of the Southern Methodists dated back to the closing years of the Civil War. During those hectic days as many as twenty-one so called missionaries were sent by the Northern Church into the federally occupied South, and these men confiscated property belonging to the Southern Church. This was made possible when Secretary of War, Edward M. Stanton, under authority granted by President Lincoln, as early as November, 1862, gave the bishops of the Northern Church the right to appoint ministers and fill any vacant pastoral positions in the territory occupied by federal troops. Journal of The General Conference, 1864, 278, 279; "Future of Southern Methodism," Christian Advocate and Journal (New York), XLI, February 22, 1866, 60. BACK

34William T. Harlow, "Fourteenth National Camp-Meeting at Knoxville, Tenn., Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.s. III, November, 1872, 108. BACK

35William B. Osborn, Intro., The Double Cure or Echoes from National Camp-Meetings, 5-8. For a week by week account of the around-the-world tour see John S. Inskip, "Around the World Tour," Christian Standard and Home Journal (Philadelphia), XIV, July 4, 1880 to XV, April 23, 1881. BACK

36John Allen Wood, Autobiography of Rev. J.A. Wood, 101. Cited hereafter, Wood, Autobiography. Rev. John Allen Wood (1832-?), as a strong believer in entire sanctification, began his ministry in the Susquehanna County Pennsylvania Conference. His first book, Perfect Love sold between fifty and sixty-thousand copies and was published in England by three publishing houses. His other works included: Purity and Maturity: Wesley on Christian Perfection, and Sunset Echoes. He excelled in revival work which led him to establish the Vineland Holiness Meetings. In 1867 Wood began to devote his entire time to evangelistic work which he continued for twenty-four years. Ibid. BACK

37James M. Buckley, "The Rev. W.B. Osborn [Obituary]," Christian Advocate and Journal (New York), LXXVII, September 18, 1902, 1489; "William Taylor and His Continental Diocese," Pacific Herald of Holiness (San Francisco), IV, April 17, 1885, 1. For a more complete account of Bishop Taylor see his autobiography, William Taylor, William Taylor of California, Bishop of Africa; An Autobiography. BACK

38Wood, Autobiography, 102-105. BACK

39Jones, "Perfectionist Persuasion," 156-159. For primary source accounts of the International Camps see "International Camp Meetings [Niagara Falls]," Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany (New York), o.s. LXXIV, July, 1884, 28; Ibid., August, 1884, 59; Ibid., October, 1884, 123; "Niagara Falls," Ibid., LXXV, February, 1885, 59; "Niagara Falls International Camp Ground," Ibid., LXXVI, July, 1885, 29. BACK

40The Thirty-Eighth National Camp Meeting for The Promotion of Holiness Will be Held at Bismarck Grove on The Line of The Kansas Pacific Railway, Near The City of Lawrence, Commencing June 24, 1879; Closing July 4, 1879 (Handbill printed by Kansas Tribune, Lawrence, n.p.). Many conveniences were afforded those who attended Bismarck Grove such as groceries and fresh meats delivered daily, excellent railroad connections, hacks to and from the ground, a post office, and a well stocked book store. Meals could be obtained at a cost of forty cents for dinner and twenty-five cents for breakfast or lunch. Tents rented for fifty cents to a dollar a day, while a gate fee of ten cents a day was charged. No fees were charged on Sunday and no offerings were taken during any of the services. Ibid. BACK

41"38th National Camp Meeting," Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.s. XI, August, 1879, 188-190. For a full account by John Inskip of the Bismarck Grove Meeting see John Inskip, "Editorial Correspondence [Bismarck Grove]," Christian Standard and Home Journal (Philadelphia), XIII, July 12, 1879, 220; S.P. Jacobs, "The Closing at Bismarck Grove," Ibid., July 19, 1879, 229. Established Methodism also used the Bismarck Grove Facilities for their annual summer gatherings. J.E. Gilbert and John D. Knox, "Church Encampment," Kansas Methodist (Topeka, Kansas), II, May 1879, 36; III, July, 1880, 7; "Kansas State Camp Meeting of The M.E. Church," Ibid., V, July 7, 1881, 5. BACK

42Ibid., At the regularly scheduled "love feasts" on both Sundays of the camp, the association leaders ask those in the congregation to limit their testimonies to only a few words. This practice allowed a greater number of people to witness for Christ and was generally observed at all meetings conducted by the National Association. This affirmation of faith was typical: "I can say that I have the victory through the blood of the Lamb." "The Thirty-Eighth National Camp Meeting," Lawrence (Kansas) Standard, July 2, 1879, 4, 5. BACK

43McDonald and Searles, Life of Inskip, 210, 211. BACK

44Clarence E. Cowen, "A History of The Church of God (Holiness)," Ph.D. dissertation (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri, 1948), 18, 19. Cited hereafter, Cowen, "Church of God (Holiness)." BACK

45Jones, "Perfectionist Persuasion," 100. BACK

46Cowen, "Church of God (Holiness)," 20-27. BACK


 

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