Abel Stevens and Nathan Bangs on the
final morning of the camp-meeting
Stevens Life and Times of Nathan Bangs 154-155
"The time was at hand at last for the
conclusion of the meeting. The last night was the most
awfully impressive and yet delightful scene my eyes ever
beheld. There was not a cloud on the sky. The stars studded
the firmament, and the glory of God filled the camp. All the
neighboring forest seemed vocal with the echoes of hymns.
Turn our attention whichever way we could, we heard the
voice of prayer or praise. As it was the last night, every
moment seemed precious; parents were praying for their
children or children for their parents, brothers and sisters
for one another, neighbors for neighbors, all anxious that
before they left the consecrated ground they should be
'sealed' as the 'heirs of salvation.' I will not attempt to
describe the parting scene, for it was indescribable. The
preachers, about to disperse to their distant and hard
fields of labor, hung upon each other's necks weeping and
yet rejoicing. Christians from remote settlements, who had
here formed holy friendships which they expected would
survive in heaven, parted probably to meet no more on earth,
but sang, shouted aloud, and had at last to break away from
one another as by force. As the hosts marched off in
different directions the songs of victory rolled along the
highways. Great was the good that followed. A general
revival of religion spread around the circuits, especially
that of the Bay of Quinte, on which this meeting was held. I
returned to Augusta [then the Oswegatchie] circuit*] and renewed my labors, somewhat
worn, but full of faith and the Holy Ghost."
* A separate Augusta circuit was
formed out of the the Oswegatchie circuit in 1808 (Cornish
163).