CANTON VAUD by John Nevins Andrews

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 25, 1878

CANTON VAUD.

By John Nevins Andrews

I HAVE now been with Bro. Bourdeau in Canton Vaud two weeks, engaged in an entirely new field. We have attempted to carry on meetings in three villages. In one the way is for the present closed up; in the other two we think the prospect is quite good. In Orbe we hire a hall in a hotel; in Valleyres we have the hall of the commune, that is to say, the town hall, and the syndic, the officer who has the control of the hall, permits us to use it free of expense. We have had at V. about eighty hearers, while at the National Church there are ordinarily only two or three men and a few women who are regular attendants. So if we can do any good in V. the National Church ought not to complain, seeing it has no power to do anything in that place. At present the people seem to be much interested.

In Orbe we have about the same number of hearers as in V. We have sold in this place more than thirty francs' worth of books, and as other subjects are introduced calling for other books we shall sell many more. But in this village the opposition is very bitter. The ministers have commenced to preach against us, and one of them yesterday spoke in a very bitter manner. The syndic of Orbe has sought to shut us out of our hall in the hotel, and even to compel us to leave the village. But all our arrangements were legal, and our passports gave us such advantage that he was obliged to desist in his efforts to drive us away. Now the effort is to prevent our hearers from coming to our hall. We hope that this opposition will be in the main ineffectual. Bro. B. will remove his family to this place immediately, and we intend to make an effort in all the villages in this vicinity as far as it is possible.

J. N. ANDREWS.

Orbe, Vaud, July 2, 1878.