Newfoundland by C. H. KESLAKE

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 4, 1908

Newfoundland

By C. H. KESLAKE

In my last report I gave an account of my visit to Englee, on what is known as the French, or Treaty, shore. Soon after my return to St. John's, a mass-meeting of the Newfoundland Lord's Day Alliance, presided over by the Anglican bishops of Newfoundland, was held. The principal speaker was the Rev. Dr. Curtis of the Methodist Church here. While the claim has been made that the aim of Sunday laws is to secure to “the poor workingman” one day in seven for rest, this speaker made it very clear that the true basis of such proposed legislation is religion. Try as they will, they can not hide this feature of the movement,—the cloven hoof, as it were, will protrude itself.

The managers of this mass-meeting were very much disconcerted, and withal incensed, when they learned that a copy of a protest which had been prepared by the writer especially for distribution at this meeting had been placed in the hands of practically all who were present.

During the winter months little or nothing had been heard of the Alliance, but of late it has been revealed that it is by no means moribund. Quietly the Alliance people are working in the dark, perfecting their plans and extending their influence. It has been made very plain to us that local organizations of the Lord's Day Alliance can be effected, and no one on the outside be the wiser, until the announcement of such fact is made through the press.

Through the Plaindealer, a semi-weekly paper which has the largest circulation of any paper in the island, especially in the outparts, I have been privileged to set before the people the true principles of religious and civil liberty. This has aroused the anger of the advocates of Sunday-keeping. Led on by a Methodist clergyman, numerous letters, attacking in the most shameless manner Seventh-day Adventists, have appeared in one of the evening papers. But not in a single instance have they attempted to discuss the merits of Sunday legislation. Stung to the quick by the exposure of this fact, one writer under a nom de plume, asking why any one, especially the president of the Alliance, the aforesaid Dr. Curtis, should try to justify their work, said, “The voice of the Lord's Day Alliance is the voice of the masses.” “The people demand that the Lord's day be maintained, and what other can a government do but ratify the will of the people?” To this I replied, “The voice of the leaders of religious thought (the Lord's Day Alliance, if you please) of Christ's day was the voice of the masses. The people demanded that Christ be crucified, and what other could a government (Pilate, in this instance) do but ratify the will of the people? O, fatal parallel!”

Lately a most bitter attack has been made upon me by Dr. W. Grenfell, who is well known for his medical work in Labrador, in regard to my visit to Englee last fall. Not having received any word during the winter from the friends there, of whom I made mention in my last report, we could not understand why the doctor should be so bitter. But a few days after the doctor's letter appeared in print, I received a letter, written six weeks before (it had to come overland by dog team and courier), from one of the sisters there, in which she told the glad news that two others, her own husband, and the husband of the other sister, had accepted the Sabbath, and that another man was, at the time the letter was written, expected soon to take his stand. Just at this time the doctor had visited the place and thus learned of the situation. It mattered not that these friends believed that they were walking in the advancing light of God, or as in the case of one of them, that Christ for the first time had been found, although the good doctor failed to mention these facts, the fact that Sunday was being desecrated(?) was an unpardonable offense, so heinous that it must be heralded all over the island that I was a man to be shunned.

It is a source of satisfaction, however, a cause for profound gratitude to God, that the seed of truth has sprung up so quickly in Englee. In less than seven months, with only two weeks of personal labor, as much fruit has developed there as has been seen in Twillingate after years of labor. This is not to reflect upon the work or workers in Twillingate by any means. The most discouraging conditions have had to be faced in this latter place, and in one sense it may be considered a cause for wonderment that we have had any fruit there at all. At present, however, we have a little company of five or six believers in Twillingate, two or three of these having accepted the truth during this present winter. A recent letter from Brother Johnston informs me that there is now a representative of the Sabbath truth in Morton's Harbor, eight miles from Twillingate, where a few sermons had been preached. In that place determined efforts have been made to keep the truth from entering, but God knows where his jewels are. The only hall in that place has been refused us. I learn, however, that Brother George Hadder of Twillingate is fitting up a small building that he owns in Morton's Harbor, in which meetings may be held. This brother has for years helped liberally with his means to spread the truth. And now he is rejoicing in the truth himself. Praise the Lord!

The work in St. John's has made some advancement. Within the past three weeks six converts, won to the truth during the winter, have been baptized, and we expect others to go forward soon.

To-morrow I expect to leave by the boat for Twillingate. I have received an urgent invitation to visit Englee, but I can not see my way clear to go there until after June. I hope to go then. We are of good courage in the Lord. Pray for the work here. C. H. KESLAKE.