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The Father of Ocean Grove ――Dr. Elwood H. Stokes By Kenneth O. Brown, Ph.D. |
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Ocean Grove camp meeting sprang
directly out of the holiness camp meeting revival that erupted
shortly after the Civil War. Initiated by Methodist ministers,
this revival soon became institutionalized as the National Camp
Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness, today known as
the Christian Holiness Partnership. Many of the founding fathers
of that organization became charter members of Ocean Grove,
including John Inskip, William B. Osborn, Alfred Cookman, George
Hughes, Rulif V. Lawrence, William H. Boole, Aaron E. Ballard and
Benjamin M. Adams. In April 1867, William B. Osborn traveled to
New York City for the express purpose of discussing a bold new
plan of action with fellow Methodist pastor, John S. Inskip.
Osborn walked into Inskip's study and firmly declared, "I feel
that God would have us hold a holiness camp meeting!" [Emphasis
his.] Four months later the idea became reality as Methodist
holiness advocates held the first specifically holiness camp
meeting at Vineland, New Jersey. Immediately following this
encampment, the leaders formed the National Camp Meeting
Association for the Promotion of Holiness, and elected John Inskip
as president, and George Hughes as secretary. In 1869 Osborn founded Ocean Grove on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean as a holiness camp meeting and Christian resort. That same year he and other leaders formed the "Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association," and secured a charter from the New Jersey State Legislature. The members elected Elwood H. Stokes as the first president of the new association. There is a sense in which the story of Ocean Grove is the story of Elwood Stokes, and the story of Elwood Stokes is the story of Ocean Grove. He gave his heart and soul to the place. He more than loved it; it was as if he instinctively knew that it was God's will for him to be there. And the years proved him right. Under his leadership Ocean Grove grew until it became what Delbert Rose has called the "Mecca of Methodism," or as others have put it, Ocean Grove was "God's Square Mile." The main reason for that was Dr. Elwood H. Stokes. The Reverend Doctor Elwood Haines Stokes served as a New Jersey Methodist minister for over fifty years, a time frame that covered almost the entire last half of the nineteenth century. Stokes rose to national prominence as a religious leader due to his twenty-seven year presidency of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. His aggressive leadership enabled that encampment to achieve meteoric growth, and it became the premier Methodist holiness camp meeting resort in the world. Born in Medford, New Jersey, October 10, 1815, Elwood was the youngest son of seven children born to Quaker parents, Caleb and Ruth Stokes. In 1826 the family moved to Philadelphia. The Stokes' were very poor, and when Elwood was just thirteen years old his parents indentured him as an apprentice to James Crissey, a local bookbinder. This move provided their son an income, offered him training in a skilled trade and engendered in him a love of reading and books that lasted a lifetime. Elwood worked as a bookbinder for the next fifteen years, and become foreman of the establishment. In February 1834, under the ministry of the Reverend Charles Pitman, he became a Christian, and in April of that year Pitman received him as a member of Union Methodist Episcopal Church. Four years later, on July 31, 1838, Pitman united Elwood Stokes and Hannah H. Neff in holy matrimony, and to their home came one child, Mary. Three years later, on October 8, 1841, Hannah Stokes died. A cloud of gloom descended upon Elwood, and the despondency lasted until the next summer, when, at a local camp meeting, he saw a spiritual vision of his deceased wife and his depression began to lift. In 1843 Stokes received a local license to preach, and in May of that same year started his pastoral career on the Salem Circuit in the Camden District. On January 6, 1847, he married Sarah Ann Stout, and in 1848, Bishop Edmund S. Janes ordained him elder. He served several parishes in rapid succession, almost always conducting an annual revival. Some of these produced services of tremendous spiritual power, such as the 1857 revival at Pitman Methodist Episcopal Church in New Brusnwick, New Jersey. This meeting lasted more than four months, and over two hundred persons professed conversion, including his only child, Mary. Five years later, July 31, 1862, his daughter died. In 1859, while serving as pastor of the Third Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Camden, New Jersey, Elwood Stokes claimed by faith the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or entire sanctification. He wrote about it as follows: I wish to record, to the glory and praise of Divine grace, that between the hours of seven and eight o'clock this evening (October twentieth, 1859), God gave to me, one of His most unworthy creatures, a clear, calm, quiet, yet unmistakable evidence that I am entirely His, through the blood of the slain Lamb of God. For a long while, even for the last seven years, with greater or less intensity, but especially for the last three months, my soul has longed for the fullness of that redemption which I have seen was my privilege to enjoy in Christ. This afternoon, as I was about to engage in my pastoral work, I sat down and wrote to the woman's prayer meeting, which meets weekly on Thursday afternoon, and which my wife attends, requesting them to pray for the baptism of the Holy Ghost upon the church generally, upon the official members particularly, but especially upon me, who, in a ministry of sixteen years had never felt so much the need of Divine aid as now, that I might be prepared for my high and holy work. They met, five of them, my wife with them, and while I visited and prayed and talked with the people, they prayed that their pastor might be baptized with the Holy Ghost. God heard and answered. After I had returned to my family and had taken tea, I retired to my study, fell upon my knees, and there, in the twilight, alone with God, the Divine baptism came. Not as I expected it, but soft and still as lightest snowflakes fall, it came and filled my soul. (Quoted from Stokes, Footprints in My Own Life, pp. 110-111.) Stokes ever after called this the 'red-letter day' of his spiritual life, and it marked him from that time forth as a holiness preacher. Shortly after the Civil War, Stokes served in Trenton, New Jersey, where he helped lead the congregation in building a new sanctuary. From 1867 to 1875 he served two four-year terms as Presiding Elder (District Superintendent), and in 1869 he became one of the founding fathers of the Ocean Grove camp meeting. He served as the first president of the new association, and held that position until his death in 1897. Stokes was a gifted pastor, preacher and writer, and published several volumes of poetry, but his genius began to show forth at Ocean Grove. Under Stokes' leadership, Ocean Grove grew at a steady and rapid pace. He placed the spiritual emphases first and last, and always his theme was 'Holiness to the Lord.' The Reverend Aaron E. Ballard, vice president of the association, outlined seven specific areas in which Stokes stressed this particular doctrine. Ballard claimed that holiness 1. stood out prominently in the
charter of the institution; (See Ballard's "Tribute," in Stokes, Footprints in My Life, p. 128.) It must have seemed to his peers that Stokes could see into the future as he envisioned the growth of Ocean Grove. His projects included several wells that guaranteed fresh water for years to come; a large sewage system; a plan of streets and avenues within the campground; outside roads and railroads to transport the people; electric lights; and even a newspaper. (When Adam Wallace founded the Ocean Grove Record in 1875, Stokes served as the first editor.) But the greatest accomplishment Stokes ever achieved came with the construction of the spacious new tabernacle. The first "auditorium" at Ocean Grove consisted of bare pine boards under the trees and the open canopy of heaven. In 1875 leaders erected a huge 'brush arbor' for shade, and it was enlarged in 1876, and again in 1880. However, over the next few years it became obvious that the encampment needed a new auditorium. At the annual meeting in 1892, Stokes reminded the membership that in two years Ocean Grove would celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary, and he suggested they honor this event with the construction of a brand new auditorium that would seat ten thousand people. The idea did not meet applause, and some scoffed outright. Unmoved by the criticism, Stokes forged ahead, and largely due to his tenacity and leadership the idea became reality. From August 9-12, 1894, Bishops Thomas Bowman, John M. Walden and Charles H. Fowler helped dedicate the new $70,000 auditorium debt free. It was a grand moment in the history of Ocean Grove, and Stokes reportedly said, "Now I can die happy."] Perhaps Stokes knew that he had over-extended himself by working so hard for the new auditorium. At any rate, his health deteriorated rapidly over the next three years, and it became obvious that he did not have long to live. On July 16, 1897, several of his close friends spent the day with him, and he died peacefully that evening. His funeral was held in the spacious new auditorium three days later, and as many as nine thousand persons attended. Nearly two dozen clergy assisted in the service, including Bishops James N. Fitzgerald and John P. Newman. In 1902 the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association decided to erect a memorial to its first president, and hired sculptor Paul W. Morris to create a large bronze statue of Dr. Elwood Stokes. During special ceremonies it was proudly unveiled in 1905. This statue still stands between the auditorium and the sea, and serves as a fitting tribute to the man who can be called "the father of Ocean Grove." Bibliography Stokes, Elwood H. FOOTPRINTS IN MY LIFE. Asbury Park: M. W. & C Pennypacker, 1898. |
