Report from Ridgeway, N. Y.
By R. F. COTTRELL
THERE are favorable indications for the cause in Ridgeway and the adjoining towns. I am holding meetings at Jeddo on first-days at half past ten, and at our dwelling at four. The meetings are not large, but a goodly number of attentive hearers attend; and some speak very favorably of what they hear. We also keep up our Sabbath meeting at Shelby Basin. The attendance from abroad at our Monthly Meeting just held here was small; a heavy rain on sixth-day preventing a number from coming. There were however about thirty Sabbath-keepers present; and I trust it was a meeting of profit. On first-day a considerable number of the neighbors came in to hear, and listened with marked attention. Some confessed the truth of what they heard. We took incipient measures for the organization of a church in this place, adopting the covenant, organizing Systematic Benevolence and appointing a leader, so as to be prepared to ask admission to the N. Y. State Conference. Seventeen gave their names, and our s. b. amounts to $147.16. There are some six or eight more of the scattered Sabbath-keepers within the bounds of this church, who, we trust, will unite with us. In fact, I now think of enough already keeping the Sabbath, to increase our number to twenty-eight. I shall labor to get them into working order, and bring them together. And I am confident that others will be brought in. I see encouragement to labor in this and adjoining towns; and I trust God has guided me to the right place—a place where I can find openings to preach, and at the same time be where I can attend to my writing at home, where I can have access to my books. When the evenings become a little longer, I intend to have frequent evening meetings. I thank God, and all his dear people who have kindly provided me a little place for a temporary home. I am well pleased with the place and situation. Hope I may use it as a gift from God, to aid me in my labors and preparation for a home in the world to come. And may I never be left to apostatize from the truth, and pervert the gift of God and the benevolent contributions of his people, by turning to fight against him and his cause. Brethren, pray for us, and for the success of the truth here.