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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 7, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 10.

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Canada

By W. H. Thurston

The gospel work is steadily onward in the Canadian Union Conference; and here and there are being added to the church such as shall be saved. Elder Leland and his wife, who have been connected with the Lornedale Academy from the starting of the school, have gone into the field to labor, and W. E. Hancock and his wife have taken their places in the school.
The attendance has increased somewhat recently, and the work seems to be going on well. With the hope of a new school building next summer, the outlook is still more encouraging.
The work at the Williamsdale Academy is progressing nicely, and there are thirty-one students in attendance at the present time. Elder E. E. Gardner and his wife are the teachers in this school, and are giving the best of satisfaction. We have also a few church-schools, and we hear good reports from these.
It has been with difficulty and much perplexity that these academies have been established, but it is gratifying to see the interest manifested on the part of our young people to prepare for service in the Master’s work. As all take hold and co-operate heartily in this department, it will not be long until we shall have a good force of Canadian workers.
Our sanitarium work has been interrupted since November, but we are in hopes of recovering from the unfortunate conditions in which we find ourselves. Where treatment rooms are being conducted, the patronage is good, and the results are gratifying. Our nurses who are engaged in private work, as far as we know, are meeting with success.
Our publishing work is slightly improving, and now that we have a general canvassing agent, we hope greatly to revive this very important department of our work. The general agent, T. S. Jones, is laboring in Ontario this winter. We are planning a workers’ meeting for the Quebec Conference in April, and we hope to hold a canvassers’ institute in connection with this meeting. Brother J. S. Jones will be present to give instruction in the book work, and to assist all in getting started who may be recommended to go into the field. After spending some weeks in Quebec, Brother Jones will pass on to the Maritime Conference and connect with the Williamsdale Academy near its close, to give instruction in the canvassing work, and assist the students in starting in the work, after which he will return to Ontario. Those desiring to attend school can go out with books during the summer and earn a scholarship.
Our ministerial force has been somewhat augmented by the arrival of two ministers from the States, and we are expecting one more in the early spring. We are hoping and praying for greater results this year than we have seen in the past. There seems to be greater desire on the part of the public, in some localities at least, to hear the message, and we believe that as the laborers go forth with a burden for souls, many will be brought into the fold.
The Dominion Sunday law goes into effect the first of March; and while there is a clause which forbids action or prosecution for the violation of the law, without the leave of the attorney-general for the province in which the offense is alleged to have been committed, the promoters of the act are hopeful that this will not seriously hinder the enforcement of the law, and they are trying to bring pressure to bear upon the attorney-generals to secure their co-operation in enforcing the law. This law forbids not only the work of one’s ordinary calling, but the doing of, or the employing of any other person to do, any work, labor, or business for gain on the first day of the week. When the bill, which has now become law, was being discussed in Parliament, one member of Parliament said: “I want to see one Sabbath in Canada, and one only. . . . There is only room in this country for one Sabbath. . . . I feel that we should have simply one law for every class of people in Canada, and if these people (seventh-day people) do not like it, they need not come here.” It is not difficult to discern the times and seasons in which we are living.
W. H. THURSTON.