The Holiness Meeting at Port Albert.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 13, 13 December 1884, Page 2

The Holiness Meeting at Port Albert.

; of Auckland Herald.) 1 " Holiness Camp Meeting,'* Poet Albert, Dec. 8. Nothing akin to the erratic pheno« mena now the common topic ot conversation m this and adjacent districts and elsewhere, connected with the camp meeting at Port Albert, has, to the writer's knowledge, been recorded of any other part of New Zealand ; and few of the quiet and sane inhabitants here but .what would heartily rejoice ...could the whole., procgedingg foe utterly blotted out of all human^recollection and .remembrance. It wife hoped when Sun» . day evening arrived, and the causes of . difference and disagreement Jiad been happUy^ removed, that the concluding meetiajfr-wouia be peaceable and pleasant. Ther destines decreed otherwise. Those wljp sow disorder have, to reap contusion ; and on tliis '(Tuesday) evening the end of 'the eyil is not yet m view. /.,{>/ "A FEW EPISODES. . As the whole of the events would be of Kttle interest summarised, and given m detail *ould be of inordinate length, a few episodes of the whole seriesi narrated m a spirit' neither partisan nor hostile, may be t&ost agreeable to your ; readers. One of the early converts, of aaexcitable temperament, a constant, attendant at the services, ; by ; > -Sunday .afternoon . showed . ; a , disposition . so restless, unnatural,/and'.ttratiqnai» that, several of ima neaVestreiatives resolve'ct .to withdraw him at any cost' frbiti 'what was deemed a perilous dangerv -The" convert objected to this severance from his fel•low~ beKevers, and shifted from one .place to anQtber. A scene of turmoil, high words, and expostulations ensued, but m the end brute foece got the victory •over the iofter 'thing, and the fervent disciple was earned off m triumph by his natural pw|ectors,and careftdly guarded. One of largp experience of amilar scenes m Amerieajpronounced the poor man at the mome^ of his removal on the ex- A treme verge of an attack of insanity. A ■ ' AiSf ATTEMPT TO: WORK A / r MIRACLE. _ v ' The number of people prepent varied from a couple 'of score to Awo Hundred or more throughout the.whole, of tihe meetings? On Jfie^same- atternoon <hot less • than the latter nvimber were m the tent, when inspiria by -the ; utterance^ of the poor womatr : suffering 1 ' under' : hysteria and dementia, mentioned mmy last, an attempt iwai made (Jo work a .miracle on a man present, whose lower limbs were ; wholly paralysed through , a . mining accident manj years since. Perfect confidence was expressed by the conductor and his ban<i of disciples from Auckland iA the siic'ce^' of the experiment. Those present, wio-had countenanced the movement 'u* to this pointy looked on m grief and distress, but the i rest and larger portion stood up on the seats and ■ridiculed the impious folly. Singing and praying * :weij i on, '• witir thY usual loud cries and- ejaculations supposed to express- .'holy i s'cstas'yi) ; -:The, -.astonishing thing wasj,;j ad what even now causes one amazemnt, the evident sincerity of :the perform' rs m. this. religious saturnalia: Of course j the miracle' did not eventuate, aidauiet was , graduaUly re'stored.,'.vll.,', ',' '' . , '■'TESTlFtlNij.''' lii the evening the proceedings, for a time, went ton satisfactorily. Some fourteen haidj^testified," i. c., averred with iliofe or lesV brevity and propriety, that -they hafl been , " cpnverted," and. afterwards attained to the higher experience of "[complete holiness," when the' same woman^a daughter of one of Auckland's most respected merchantsdominated by the. hysteria and mania that had now 'lull hold of her, but who /was, claimed,^ her friehds^p,be full of the Holy- Spirit an«'^' s *» n^-'*"* < '** r •""*? -'■ oil n,umazrmterferehce ; resumed her control of the prooeedihgs; of those 'present left atfoulteri o'clock; the more. ' infatuated stayed two or three hours later. '" „ j. i jv.;^rrTiA^Bipr^BCENEßr -„ ThWughouV tne Monday 'thl visitors and a few residents continued their reHgious j exercise3i; ; Buringi the night the dementfed woman was disco* vered by the oyttiev of "the properly wan-, dering among the trees, with a single artiole of clothing only on her person, and conducted back to her tent; near morning she was again found, and thia time taken to his house, and has sinoa been under the care night and day of two Christian women, whose- assi^uoua ■ attention has; -been, rewarded by the ap« pearance of some amendment m their patient. •. Meantime, the' woman's husband has succumbed to thi^Bdme exoi* ting agencies eontinned day and night without proper intermission of food and rest, and ia now nearly as unsound m mind, though .stronger, in.body, asbia unhappy " partner^; These^itwo, the rest* .of the party-Hliieret • are '■■■-. nirje* altogether. ■\ — declare, are.ypoßsesß^3 ?DJgy the devil* and; in order, to exercise (he evil spirit certain thing^must^be.done^ which are. more or. 'less' obscurely.h inted at. Ifc was arranged last week that the whole* party, tents, and baggage,, were to leaya by the steamer to-day/ An^ati^mptwill . be made to get t^em^ oS.\ tha^wner of jhe property where il^e tpnts are pitched and^^ Bpirituwbij^ea ena^ted r % very desiroiis to; act ; TOselyarid//justiyY and naturally dislik^i to ejeci^.ihis > [guests by brute force, save as a last resource. Art attempt was made yesterday to separata them and take them to friends' booses* where they could rest, and.be seer* to till sanity returned. 'But' their consent could not' be obtained to. this plan; " They : wer&'in' the '-lAjrd's* hands anA doing His will.chnji 3vouH;;be-owfl^ngto go to prison aUo^ther;: for fb^s sake." This is aU. stuff, of course; hut it is . shockingstuflV Our lo»k : ttp is not constructed to contain^DiiA^fianiates at once. ,• ' Their lunaov ctaes noi ajjpear to be affected m aity way,-"anS' «eems wholly objectless, aiid can serve no useful objeot, pecuniary or other, btit the reverse, • Meantime, we -have Jiine monomaniacs here, ; and^ hearjily,; wuh^tle]yjwere safe at the Whau, carrying onCtheir inspira* -j tion under! propeFsuj^rji^on. ..i .. ,-. S THE LATEST.* The Revivalists still refuse to leave their; unrvvilling hxjst|a premises, with the. Exception of "orief "ww iias been induced to visit a friQnd'a for a day or two. The r poor demented woman Yds slowly regain* in,g reason, hut still "declines food. Mr P. £. Thomas, the American Evangelist, appears the most; 1 almcult to deal ■ witti,- ■.■■•..: >ij -v.'-'i » 'j i I!*'1 !*' ■■■■■: t