FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER.

NEW SERIES.

VOL. VII.	B E T H A N Y,   V A. SEPTEMBER, 1843.	NO. IX.

      THE meeting in New Lisbon, Columbiana County, was well attended. I had not the pleasure of being present. Thirty-eight were added by baptism.

      The annual meeting of the brethren in Trumbull county, at Youngstown, was the largest assemblage of persons ever witnessed by any of the ministering brethren present. I have seen very large religious assemblies in Virginia and Kentucky, but none equal to this one. It was variously estimated from six to ten thousand persons. Had it been a political meeting, the general opinion was that it would have been put down at ten thousand. Knowing how wont men are to exaggerate in numbers on such occasions, I choose rather to regard the minimum of six or seven thousand persons as more nearly approaching the actual number in attendance. The number of disciples present probably amounted to some two thousand.

      The immense audience assembled in one of the most beautiful and commodious groves in the immediate environs of the village of Youngstown, which was courteously tendered to the brethren by the proprietor, Mr. Wick. A tent provided by the brethren, covered only some two thousand persons. The remainder, covered by the umbrageous boughs of a dense grove, enjoyed equal comforts with those under the tent.

      During the whole meeting of three days not a single accident or unpleasant incident occurred. The most perfect attention and good order seemed universally to obtain. During these three days some fifty made the good confession, and were baptized. Many ministering brethren (probably some thirty or more) were present, and the meeting was truly refreshing and peculiarly pleasant to all.

      A more striking exemplification of the impolicy and folly of police regulations and ministerial legislation on good order, in anticipation of disorder and insubordination, usual at camp-meetings, could scarcely be desired, than was afforded on this occasion. Although not much less than a thousand carriages of one sort or other were on the ground (four hundred and fifty being counted departing on one single road from the ground,) and so many people, no unpleasant noise or confusion at any time disturbed the worshipping assembly. A respectful attention and a decent regard to public opinion on the part of non-professors and non-communicants, was as general as were the gravity and devout worshipful attention of the Christian community. This meeting, we trust, will be held in grateful remembrance for many years.

A. C. [427]

[The Millennial Harbinger, New Series, 7 (September 1843): 427.]

      Alexander Campbell's "Annual Meetings in Ohio" was first published in The Millennial Harbinger, New Series, Vol. 7, No. 9, September 1843. The electronic version of the essay has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1843), pp. 427. An excerpt was reprinted as "Annual Meetings in Ohio, 1843" in Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio by A. S. Hayden (Cincinnati, OH: Chase and Hall, 1875), p. 451.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 15 December 2000.
Updated 7 July 2003.