“The services at this Exeter encampment were dragging perceptibly. Joseph Bates was in the speaker's stand, seeking to quicken the hearts of the hearers and to enlighten their minds. But he was making little progress. In the rather informal style of those open air meetings a middle- aged, quiet- spoken woman arose and addressed him thus:

‘It is too late to spend our time upon these truths with which we are familiar, and which have been blessed to us in the past, and have served their purpose and their time ‘
The preacher sat down. Every eye was fixed on this woman as she continued:

‘it is too late brethren to spend precious time as we have since this camp meeting commenced. Time is short. The Lord has servants here who have meat in due season for His household. Let them speak, and let the people hear them. Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him’

[Samuel] Snow had come on the campground. He had hardly dismounted from his panting horse before the word spread around that there was a man who had a message. That is what the middle- aged sister meant when she interrupted Bates’ discourse. When Snow had presented his views the whole spirit of the camp meeting was changed. A tentful of fanatics from Watertown, Massachusetts, who had inflicted themselves on the camp, and whose influence was growing because of the idle curiosity of many who gathered about them, now became silent. They seemed smitten dumb by the awesome message. The campers had something more important to give ear to. They must make ready for the coming of the Lord in a little more than two months. Writing of this camp meeting only three years afterwards when the memory of it was still vivid, Bates told of setting out for the meeting with the thought constantly coming to his mind: ‘You are going to have new light here, something that will give a new impetus to this work.’” (F. D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry, 1944, 214-215)