Abel Stevens and Nathan Bangs on the
second day of the camp-meeting
Stevens Life and Times of Nathan Bangs 152-153
"At five o'clock Saturday morning a
prayer-meeting was held, and at ten o'clock a sermon was
preached on the words, 'My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge.' At this time the congregation had increased to
perhaps twenty-five hundred, and the people of God were
seated together on logs near the stand, while a crowd were
standing in a semicircle around them. During the sermon I
felt an unusual sense of the divine presence, and thought I
could see a cloud of divine glory resting upon the
congregation. The circle of spectators unconsciously fell
back, step by step, until quite a space was opened between
them and those who were seated. At length I sprung from my
seat to me feet. The preacher stopped and said, 'Take it and
go on.' 'No,' I replied, 'I rise not to preach.' I
immediately descended from the stand among the hearers; the
rest of the preachers all spontaneously followed me, and we
went among the people, exhorting the impenitent and
comforting the distressed; for while Christians were filled
with 'joy unspeakable and full for glory,' many a sinner was
weeping and praying in the surrounding crowd. These we
collected together in little groups, and exhorted God's
people to join in prayer for them, and not to leave them
until he should save their souls. O what a scene of tears
and prayer was this! I suppose that not less than a dozen
little praying circles were thus formed in the course of a
few minutes. It was truly affecting to see parents weeping
over their children, neighbors exhorting their unconverted neighbors to repent, while all, old and young, were
awe-struck. The wicked looked on with silent amazement while
they beheld some of their companions struck down by the
mighty power of God, and heard his people pray for them. The
mingled voices of prayer and praise were heard afar off, and
produced a solemn awe apparently upon all minds. As the sun
was setting, struck by the grandeur of the spectacle and the
religious interest of the crowd, a preacher mounted the
stand and proclaimed for his text, 'Behold, He cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see Him.' The meeting continued
all night, and few, I think, slept that night. During this
time some forty persons were converted or sanctified.