First Australian Camp Meeting
275
will keep you from gaining every spiritual advantage possible. Come
to the meeting, and bring your families....
“We should use every power at our command to make this meeting
a success, and suit it to the needs of those who shall attend. The
work of the Lord is above every temporal interest, and we must not
misrepresent His cause. Watching, waiting, working, must be our
motto....
“God has committed to our hands a most sacred work, and we need
to meet together to receive instruction as to what is personal religion
and family piety; we need to understand what part we shall individually
be called upon to act in the grand and important work of building up
the cause and work of God in the earth, in vindicating God’s holy
law, and in lifting up the Saviour as ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world.’
John 1:29
. We need to receive the divine
touch, that we may understand our work in the home. Parents need to
understand how they may send forth from the sanctuary of the home,
Christian children, trained and educated so that they shall be fitted to
shine in the world. We need the Holy Spirit, in order that we may not
[346]
misrepresent our faith.... It is now fully time that an advance move
was made in Australia.... Let us move forward with well concentrated
effort, and overcome every difficulty.”
The Bible Echo, December 8,
1893
.
Thirty-five family tents were manufactured by some of the brethren,
in advance, for the Conference. It was thought that these would meet
all requirements. But as the orders came rolling in, more tents were
purchased, and others were hired for the meeting. When completed,
the camp had over one hundred tents, and five hundred and eleven
people. The grounds were well laid out and faithfully cared for. Many
of the tents were furnished with bedsteads, tables, chairs, and bureaus;
and the whole camp was a model of cleanliness and good order.
“We felt that the eye of God was upon all our arrangements,” Mrs.
White wrote when referring afterward to these painstaking efforts to
make the grounds appear attractive and inviting; “and in the order
of our camp we sought to show forth the praises of Him who hath
called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
1 Peter 2:9
. The
results attained were much greater than the toilers had dared expect.
“The encampment made the impression upon those who visited it,”