The Williamsport Camp Meeting

Thursday night, May 30, Ellen White, accompanied by Sara McEnterfer, boarded the train in Battle Creek bound for Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the camp meeting was to open Tuesday, June 4. Because of heavy rains, the train moved slowly. They had expected to reach Williamsport the next afternoon at 5:00, but soon they could see that this objective could not be met. Bridges had been swept away and roads washed out by the Johnstown Flood. When they reached Elmira, New York, they were advised to give up their journey.WV 258.6

But neither Ellen nor Sara was easily dissuaded. They were determined to go as far as possible, hoping that the reports concerning the conditions of travel were exaggerated. At Canton, some 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Williamsport, their car was switched onto a side track because of a washout; they spent the Sabbath there in a hotel. Determined to get through, Ellen and Sara put their heads together and left no stone unturned in their attempts to find a way. Traveling by carriage part of the way and walking part of the way, they compassed the 40 miles (64 kilometers) in four days, in a hair-raising venture described in her report in the Ibid., July 30, 1889. One interesting feature was the manner in which she was sustained physically. She reported:WV 258.7

We were obliged to walk miles on this journey, and it seemed marvelous that I could endure to travel as I did. Both of my ankles were broken years ago, and ever since they have been weak. Before leaving Battle Creek for Kansas, I sprained one of my ankles and was confined to crutches for some time; but in this emergency I felt no weakness or inconvenience, and traveled safely over the rough, sliding rocks.WV 259.1

At one point they waited for three hours as, at their direction, a raft was constructed upon which to ferry the carriage in which they traveled across a swiftly flowing stream. A small boat pulled it across, the horses swam the stream, and the two women travelers were rowed across. Then they continued their journey by horse and carriage. The destruction reminded Ellen White of what is to come in the last days and encouraged her to be even more diligent in preparation for that day. Her report in the Review closes with these words:WV 259.2

We arrived at Williamsport at three o'clock Wednesday afternoon. The experience and anxiety through which I passed on this journey greatly exhausted me in mind and body; but we were grateful that we had suffered no serious trouble, and that the Lord had preserved us from the perils of the land, and prospered us on our way.WV 259.3

When they reached the town they were told that the campground had been flooded out and that the tents had been taken down. Actually, they found the tents had been moved to higher ground and the meeting was in progress.WV 259.4

While it was a difficult meeting to get to, it was an easy meeting to work in. Wrote Ellen White:WV 259.5

The Lord had a work for me to do at Williamsport. I had much freedom in speaking to the brethren and sisters there assembled. They did not seem to possess a spirit of unbelief and of resistance to the message the Lord had sent them. I felt that it was a great privilege to speak to those whose hearts were not barricaded with prejudice and evil surmising. My soul went out in grateful praise that, weary and exhausted as I was, I did not have to carry upon my heart the extra burden of seeing brethren and sisters whom I loved unimpressed and in resistance of the light that God had graciously permitted to shine upon them.WV 259.6

I did not have to set my face as a flint, and press and urge upon them that which I knew to be truth. The message was eagerly welcomed; and although I had to speak words of reproof and warning, as well as words of encouragement, all were heartily received by my hearers (Ibid., August 13, 1889).WV 259.7

Ellen White spoke 13 times at the Williamsport camp meeting, including the early-morning meetings.WV 260.1

She worked her way west in the late summer to Colorado and then to California. After the camp meeting in Oakland she hastened back to Battle Creek for the General Conference session, which opened Friday morning, October 18.WV 260.2