The Kentucky Ranger | Page 4

who labored in the meeting. The effect at the camp at
night was very striking. At intervals of several rods log fires were kept
burning and the bright light they threw was contrasted with the deep
darkness beyond.
It is astonishing to read how great an attraction these camps became to
the hardy pioneers of the Kentucky wilderness. People gathered from
all quarters in all kinds of vehicles, some traveling thirty or forty miles.
Many came in covered wagons in which they slept at night. History
records, that at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, a camp meeting was held
attended by twenty thousand people.
It is ten o'clock Sunday morning at Oak Grove Camp Meeting, where
our hero Jasper Very is laboring. Thousands are in the great wooden
structure, filling every seat and standing many deep beyond the edges
of the building. The preachers' stand contains twenty-five or thirty
ministers gathered from many parts of the State. The crowd has even
overflowed this stand, and all available room is occupied.
The Christians present have been prepared for this service by the cabin
meetings held at six o'clock in the morning and a prayer and testimony
meeting in the tabernacle at eight. And now the service begins. A
stalwart son of the prophets arises and announces the hymn:

"Come, sinners, to the gospel feast, Let every soul be Jesus' guest:
There need not one be left behind, For God hath bidden all mankind."
He starts the first note, and thousands take up the inspiring strain, and
the glorious music rolls through the forest like the sound of many
waters. A passage of Scripture is read and a fervent prayer offered. A
second hymn is sung: "There is a fountain filled with blood," and far
away the cadence is heard rising and falling, thrilling waves of sound.
The song is ended. A rustling noise is heard as the people settle
themselves in their places, and then a deep quiet ensues as they look
expectantly toward the preachers' stand. One whispers to another:
"Who is to be the preacher this morning?" They are not left long in
doubt. Slowly the minister arises. It is Jasper Very, the star preacher of
the camp meeting. He comes before his audience with a humble
self-possession which is reflected in the composure of his face. How
did he obtain this self-possession? Reader, we must lift the veil
somewhat and let you see.
In the morning he had gone into the deep woods to study and pray, as
was the wont of the forest preachers. Here he had prayerfully and
carefully completed the outline of his sermon. Then a great burden of
unfitness and helplessness came upon him. Like his Master he threw
himself prone upon the ground and poured out his soul to the Father.
"O God," he cried, "who am I, that I should be thy ambassador to
beseech sinners to be reconciled to thee? Who am I that I should stand
between the living and the dead and offer life and immortality to men?
Thou, O God, only art my sufficiency, my hope, my expectation. Stand
by my side and help me in this hour, for my need is great. This I ask in
the name of thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen."
Coming thus from the hidings of divine power, with the Spirit of God
like dew resting upon him, he announces his text: "Seek ye the Lord
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let
him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our
God, for he will abundantly pardon."

He began by describing the way of the wicked. He unmasked sin,
showing its hideous deformity, how it pollutes the soul, and makes man
unfit for fellowship with a holy God. Then he passed on to show the
guilt of sin, the awful misery coming to a man when he is face to face
with his iniquities. With great skill he pointed out condemnation arising
from particular transgressions,--the defaulter fleeing from his country,
the murderer with his victim's bloody form ever before his mind's eye,
the lustful man tortured and consumed with the rewards of his own
folly. Continuing, he proceeded to tell the final punishment of these
sinners. In those days ministers at camp meetings preached a literal hell;
and as the speaker uncovered the pit of destruction and compelled his
hearers to look into it many felt that they were "hair hung and breeze
shaken" over the mouth of perdition.
Now his manner changed. His voice, instead of being loud and startling
like thunder, producing awe and terror, became sweet, tender, and
appealing, like a shepherd calling his sheep to the