Rev. Asa Mahan, D.D.

Chapter 16

Inetelligence.

The Proposed Camp Meeting at Lanowlee, India.

For some years past not a few earnest believers in India have been impressed with the conviction that the most pressing need of Christianity in this land is a full realization of the New Testament measure of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. While there is a general doctrinal agreement in reference to the Holy Spirit, while all admit that His aid is absolutely necessary in all efforts to bring sinners to Christ, and that His aid is assured to us up to the fullest measure required in each case, it is a mournful fact that comparatively few avail themselves fully of His ever-proffered assistance, and it thus happens that in this dispensation of the Holy Ghost, that one gift which is most fully assured to believers, is the one which most Christians are conscious of receiving in very imperfect measure. If it be true, as very many Christians believe, that the spiritual power of Pentecost may re-appear in our day, that in fact, we live in the Pentecostal age, and have within our reach the same "power from on high" which the first disciples received, it becomes a most serious duty for all earnest believers to know by personal experience what the Pentecostal measure of the Spirit is. We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, and to have His abiding presence with us, and we should not rest satisfied a single hour till we know what God would have us understand by these expressions. Especially is this important to believers in a country like India. We are confronted by an empire of disbelievers, and need the power of the Holy Ghost as much as the first disciples did when they went forth to bring the Roman Empire to Christ. If India is ever converted, it must be accomplished through the agency of a Pentecostal Church, and that Church or that band of believers which first realizes the Pentecostal outpouring and indwelling of the Holy Ghost, will have done the most signal service for Christianity in India which has yet been accomplished.

Impressed by these convictions, a number of Christian friends have resolved to hold a Camp Meeting during the Easter holidays for the special purpose of waiting upon God for the realization of this great blessing. They purpose to search the Word for indications of God's will in the matter, and to wait upon Him in expectant prayer for the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost. The meeting will be held in a grove at Lanowlee, forty miles from Poona, on the G. I. P. Railway. Tents will be provided for those who come, and the services will be held in the shade of the trees, after the manner of the American Camp Meetings. The elevation of Lanowlee is such that the weather is comparatively cool, and tent life not only endurable but actually pleasant. The meeting will begin on the 11th of April, and continue one week. Christian friends of all denominations are cordially invited to be present.

The above was handed us by Miss Drake, who stopped for a day or two in the city, on her way, for the recovery of her health, to the United States. Just as her voice failed her, and she was commending her case to God, she received a letter from a lady of wealth in Boston, U.S., offering to bear all her expenses in the voyage, &c., to America, and back to India. "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." The above is the first Camp meeting ever held in India. The object for which it was called together, with intelligence of a similar character from China and Africa, and other parts of the world, clearly indicate that the hour for "the brightness of the Divine rising upon Zion" has come, and all "the kindred of the earth" are about to experience the benign results. The meeting above referred to has, of course, been held, and we expect to receive, and present to our readers, from a minister who was to be present during the services, a full account of the same.