“Near the close of April, 1843, it was deemed necessary to take a decided stand on the subject. A meeting had been appointed for the afternoon, and Mr. Himes, who had been absent during these occurrences, with judicious brethren determined to endeavor to stem the current of fanaticism which had commenced. In a calm and faithful manner, he gave them the history of various movements which had been destroyed or greatly injured by fanaticism; and, without intimating that evidences of such then existed, he exhorted them to learn from past experience, and see to it that they avoid the rocks on which others had been shipwrecked.
“Mr. Starkweather arose in reply, and was so vehement that Mr. Himes felt justified in again addressing the audience, exposing the nature of the exercises that had appeared among them, and their pernicious tendency.
“This so shocked the sensibilities of those who regarded them as the ‘great power of God,’ that they cried out and stopped their ears. Some jumped upon their feet, and some ran out of the house. ‘You will drive out the Holy Ghost!’ cried one. ‘You are throwing on cold water!’ said another.
“‘Throwing on cold water!’ said Mr. Himes; ‘I would throw on the Atlantic Ocean before I would be identified with such abominations as these, or suffer them in this place unrebuked.’
“Starkweather immediately announced that ‘the saints’ would thenceforth meet at another place than the Chardon-street chapel; and, retiring, his followers withdrew with him.
“From this time he was the leader of a party, held separate meetings, and, by extending his visits to other places, he gained a number of adherents. He was not countenanced by the friends of Mr. Miller; but the public identified him and his movement with Mr. Miller and his.
“This was most unjust to Mr. Miller; but to this day the Romanists identify, in the same manner the fanaticism consequent on the Reformation, with Luther and those who repudiated the doings of Munzer, Storch and others.
“While Starkweather was thus repudiated, he persisted in forcing himself, wherever he could, upon the public, as a religious teacher and lecturer on the Advent.
“On the 9th of August, 1843, a camp-meeting commenced at Plainfield, Ct., at which Starkweather was, and some manifestations were exhibited which were entirely new to those present, and for which they could not account. Another meeting was held at Stepney, near Bridgeport, on the 28th of the same month, where the developments were more marked. A few young men, professing to have the gift of discerning spirits, were hurried into great extravagances. Elder J. Litch published a protest against such exhibitions, in which he said:—
“‘A more disgraceful scene, under the garb of piety, I have rarely witnessed. For the last ten years I have come in contact nearly every year, more or less, with the same spirit, and have marked its developments, its beginning, and its result; and am now prepared to say that it is evil, and only evil, and that continually. I have uniformly opposed it wherever it has made its appearance, and as uniformly have been denounced as being opposed to the power of God, and as resisting the operations of the Spirit. The origin of it, is the idea that the individuals thus exercised are entirely under the influence of the Spirit of God, are his children, and that he will not deceive them and lead them astray; hence every impulse which comes upon them is yielded to as coming from God, and, following it, there is no length of fanaticism to which they will not go.’”—Midnight Cry, Sept. 14, 1843.