EVOLUTION OF THE CAMP-MEETING. 623 



camp-meeting feature of the denomination, they seek fields already- 

 populated and locate themselves in more profitable places. Where 

 are these places ? The answer to this question discloses a phenomenal 

 fact, that, could it be announced to them, would bring the scarlet to 

 the cheek of Wesley, and bow the heads of Asbury and Whitefield 

 with confusion of face. 



The camp-meeting of to-day is a very different affair. It is not an 

 extemporaneous festival in which the membership of one or more 

 churches take the lead, select a place of meeting, and invite neighbor- 

 ing churches to participate in a common service, each bearing its 

 share of the burden, and then scatter to their homes, to disband and 

 be as if they had not been. No, it is a very different thing. It is the 

 fruit of a chartered association, with corporate rights and franchises, 

 of the same nature as those which belong to banking and railroad 

 associations. Of course, the corporators are religious men, and the 

 controlling influence is secured to the ministry. A copy of such a 

 charter is now before me. It gives the institution its corporate name, 

 and states its object to be " the establishment and maintenance of a 

 sea-side resort, founded upon Christian principles, and affording relig- 

 ious privileges as well as healthful recreation." 



Provision is made for the transfer and redemption of stock, for 

 voting by shares and by proxy, as is usual in other money-making com- 

 panies. It defines the number of directors, one third of whom shall be 

 ministers, and one other third shall be ministers and members of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church. Its president " shall be a regularly or- 

 dained minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having control of 

 the conventions, assemblies, and other meetings that may, from time 

 to time, be held on the premises ; and the secretary and treasurer 

 must give bonds for the faithful performance of their duty in one 

 instance, as high as thirty thousand dollars. Is not this an anomaly ? 

 The camp-meeting feature, if indeed it is prominent enough to be a 

 feature, is merely incidental to the main object, viz., the establishment 

 of a sea-side resort. To do this, land must be purchased, stock must 

 be sold to pay for it, and the pastor-president is to be the executive 

 officer through whom these conveyances are to be made, and by whom 

 all the real-estate transactions are to be ratified. The entire time, out 

 of the three hundred working days of the year, that is to be set aside for 

 camp-meeting services, is ten days or a fortnight, and the remainder 

 is occupied with the secular business of the concern. We are largely 

 indebted to these associations for the grand development they have 

 made, on the New Jersey coast especially. Witness Ocean Grove, 

 Ocean City, and Atlantic Highlands. They have taken up coast-lands, 

 some of which were comparatively worthless, and made them into 

 fruitful towns, with prosperous and happy peoples. They are to be 

 credited also with the testimony they have borne to sobriety and good 

 morals, by preventing the sale of intoxicating liquors within their 



