VISIT TO LAKEVILLE, CONN.
By J. S. Miller
On sixth-day, July 11, in company with Bro. Wild, I took the cars at Pleasantville, N. Y., and rode some seventy miles north to Millerton, and thence we went five miles on foot to Lakeville, Conn., where Sr. Addison resides, and under whose hospitable roof we found a home that would gladden the heart of the weary pilgrim. As soon as we had exchanged Christian greetings, we were informed that a sister living in the same house had recently embraced the Sabbath, as the result of reading some books left by Bro. Wild on his last visit at that place. This was truly encouraging. The Lord knows how to send the truth home to the hearts of those who will embrace it, and where the living preacher cannot be heard, the books and tracts will do the work. We had meetings on Sabbath and first-day, and on the evenings before and after the Sabbath. A first-day-Advent brother from New Milford, a village some forty miles south of Lakeville, attended these meetings, and acknowledged that he saw new light in our position, and decided to live out the truth as far as he saw. If he follow out what he already sees, he cannot well avoid embracing the Sabbath before long. May the Lord help him to walk in the light. Our hearts were also gladdened to hear Bro. Addison, the husband of the sister with whom we were stopping, declare that he had decided that the seventh day was the Sabbath; and that he should in future keep it according to the commandment. Had a thousand-dollar note been placed in the hand of Sr. Addison, she could not have expressed more joy than beamed forth from her tearful eyes. For a year past, Sr. A. and her daughter have been trying to keep the Sabbath, under difficulties, many of them caused by Bro. A.'s mistaken view of the Sabbath question. But if he, like a Saul of Tarsus, has been exceedingly zealous for the religion of his fathers, he is now equally anxious to keep the law of God strictly. Bro. Wild returned the following Wednesday, while I remained some three weeks, during which time I called on many of the people living in the region for several miles around Lakeville, offering the REVIEW and Reformer for their inspection, and distributing among them a large number of tracts. Under the blessing of God, the seed thus sown will yet spring up, and bear fruit. On Sabbaths and first-days, I held meetings with the little flock of Sabbath-keepers, of whom there are now some twelve or fourteen within a radius of ten miles. They are gathering courage and have decided to hold meetings once in two weeks at Lakeville, in future. The interest among the outside people seems to be good, and I think if one of the messengers could go there the coming winter, and give them a course of lectures, there would be some gathered in. But much depends on the manner in which the brethren and sisters conduct themselves. May the Lord help them to see the importance of obeying strictly the law which they preach to others. J. S. MILLER.