Pennsylvania by J. S. Washburn

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 7, 1915

Pennsylvania

By J. S. Washburn

PHILADELPHIA.—As our camp meeting did not close till the latter part of June, and we found difficulty in securing a location for the tent, it was impossible to begin our tent meetings until July 25. Our tent is pitched this year in a part of West Philadelphia, some distance from our church building and from the homes of the larger part of our membership, so our people have not been able to attend the meetings as regularly as last year. Yet I am certain that the attendance of those who are not members of the church is fully as large as ever before. Our large pavilion is full every Sunday night, and the attendance through the week is very encouraging.

Sunday night, September 5, I spoke to a very large congregation on the subject of the unpardonable sin, and there was a deep interest. About $36 was given in donations toward the expenses of the meeting. We have presented the subjects of the Sabbath and immortality, and the interest seems deeper than ever.

A prominent physician has become very much interested in the meetings. He has bought “Steps to Christ” and “The Great Controversy.” He stated to me that if he could not secure another copy, he would not take a large sum for “The Great Controversy.” Recently he sent me a check for $25 for the expenses of the meetings. He has just begun to keep the Sabbath, and seems to be thoroughly converted to the truth. He employs an assistant physician, and has a dispensary of his own, and a large office practice. We feel encouraged to believe that he will be a real help to the work in this great city. Two other doctors are greatly interested. A motorman on one of the principal lines of the city, who is a Catholic, has been keeping the Sabbath to the best of his ability for over a year. He is hungering for the truth, though he has not yet dared to have a Bible of his own, but he is breaking away from the bondage under which he has been groaning for years, seeking rest and finding none. Last night he was willing for the first time to take home with him two small copies of the Gospels. He has feared to do so before. As he took them he very pathetically asked us to teach him how to pray. We pray that God will set this honest Catholic free. I am sure that the time has come when we may expect to see many honest Catholics accept the message that breaks every bond with which sin has bound its captives.

In the work in the large cities, it is sometimes difficult to get the names and addresses of those who attend the meetings, yet this year we have secured the names and addresses of nearly two hundred interested families. At our Sunday night meetings we ask how many would be glad to receive the twenty-eight numbers of the Family Bible Teacher, free. We distribute pencils and slips of paper to all who will give us their names and addresses. We then mail to each one these four-page leaflets in installments of about seven numbers at a time. This accomplishes two objects: the interested ones appreciate and study these valuable condensed Bible readings, and, second, we secure in this way the names of those who are already truly interested. These names are all filed in order, and when literature is sent or visits made, this too is recorded. We have found this system an excellent one, enabling us to get into close touch with the people.

For many years I have wished that we might be able to get the people to bring their Bibles with them to the meetings. But as all of us must sadly admit, many even of our own people seem to have given up the good, old-fashioned way of taking their Bibles with them to meetings. At this tent meeting we are following the plan of holding a short responsive Bible reading at the beginning of each meeting. We select a passage of scripture appropriate to the subject, and tell the people that our text for the sermon will be found in the scripture which they are reading responsively. At the end of the reading, we ask them to state what in their judgment would be an appropriate text for the subject announced. In nearly every instance the correct text will be selected by some one in the congregation. By this plan we have been able to get many of the people to bring their Bibles, and thus to look up many of the texts when read. This is a help in making the truth plain to the people and in starting them to study the Bible for themselves.

As never before we are seeking to tell of the love of Jesus in every sermon, and we tell the people the simple, plain way of confessing and giving up sin, and receiving forgiveness—the blessed truths which we so often take for granted that every one understands, and yet which ought to be kept before us always, for we forget them so soon. The truth seems more fresh than ever before, and after thirty-one years of preaching the message, it seems to me that I am just beginning to learn how to hold tent meetings and to teach the people this wonderful saving truth. The end hastens. Soon we shall hold our last tent meeting. “Surely I come quickly. . . . Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

J. S. WASHBURN.