Russian Tract Society Threatened

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 8, 1912

Russian Tract Society Threatened

Elder J. T. Boettcher, writing from Riga, January 10, mentions an authentic report in the newspapers just at hand, which may mean a further hindrance of the message in Russia. Translated, it reads:—

“The senate had under consideration the protest which the minister of the interior rendered against the registration of some societies. Some time ago there were about six societies properly registered by the governors, against which the former minister of the interior, Mr. Stolypin, protested. Because these societies were religious organizations, they had to be registered by the minister of the interior. The senate agreed to this protest, and dissolved the resolutions of the governors. Among these societies is one registered by the governor of Lio-land, namely, the Russian Tract Society, a society for the distribution of religious literature.”

The Russian Tract Society is the name under which our tract society operates in that country. Brother Boettcher adds: “You can imagine how this made us feel when we first read it. We are now expecting the execution of this resolution almost any day.” He further writes: “About the same time we read the above report in the papers, we heard that Brother Wildgrube was sentenced to two months in the fortress. The newspapers have given quite full accounts of the trial. He was in the courtroom from ten o’clock in the morning until twelve o’clock at night. The Lord must use this as a means for spreading his truth.” Let us not forget in our prayers, the work and the workers in that land, that God may in his own way reach the honest in heart with his saving truth.