NEW YORK by A. O. Burrill

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 17, 1900

NEW YORK.

By A. O. Burrill

It is now nine months since I began labor in this Conference. The last five have been spent with the president, visiting the churches in different parts of the State. In those churches which are the first in point of time, we visited homes on whose walls hang pictures of Brother and Sister White taken before a white hair was seen in their heads, when they were in the morning of life. At another place we visited the grave of Elder R. F. Cottrell, who sleeps under four evergreens. As we looked upon this resting place, we remembered such words as, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust.” “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves. . . . And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, . . . and brought you up out of your graves.” The graves will open, and these servants will come forth.

We were welcomed everywhere by this people. We held from twelve to fourteen meetings each week. At every place we had a new and fresh message for the people, as the Spirit dictated. Among the themes dwelt upon were the near coming of Jesus; the nature, and work of the Holy Ghost, as manifested in conviction and change of heart; fruits of the Spirit and its gifts. We have dwelt upon the importance of cultivating Christian benevolence both in the home and foreign fields. In some places we have gone out with our brethren and shown them how to solicit subscriptions for the Signs of the Times and to form clubs.

The book sales have amounted to nearly three hundred dollars. The tithe during the last quarter showed an increase of more than one thousand dollars over the corresponding period in the year before. The offerings for the foreign work have shown a healthy growth. All the debts on the tent fund have been paid. At Richburg two or three persons gave sufficient to buy a thirty-by-fifty-foot tent. At Syracuse, recently, in a few minutes, more than half enough to buy another new tent was pledged.

We have the names of forty-six young men and women who wish to fit themselves for work in the message. These names and addresses have been forwarded to South Lancaster, Mass., and we confidently expect to see a reasonable number of these youth in the summer school, fitting themselves to become teachers in church schools.

At one place five persons began keeping the Sabbath. At other places there was a good interest with the outside to hear more of the message. On more than one occasion the Holy Spirit healed the sick. A new power is coming into many of the people in this Conference.

It has been arranged that I labor in Syracuse during the spring and summer. A. O. BURRILL.