Maine by J. B. Goodrich

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 17, 1883

Maine.

By J. B. Goodrich

I LEFT home Feb. 13, 1883, to labor a few weeks in Aroostook County, and that evening met with the brethren and sisters in Eddington. It was a refreshing time; the Lord by his Spirit met with us. We visited some Sabbath-keepers at Passadumkeag, and arrived in Houlton the 15th. Our people are scattered in this county, and Sabbath-keepers can be found in many towns.

God has blessed in the presentation of his word, and the solemn message which he has reserved for this generation has found a hearty reception in many hearts. Precious souls have been converted to God, from the youth to the man of gray hairs, and they have come out from different sects and orders and taken their stand to keep all of God's commandments, and the faith of his dear Son. Skepticism has given way before the clear, plain, solid truth of God's word, and churches have been raised up, and Sabbath-schools and meetings have been established where no meetings existed before the truth was presented there. Infidels have acknowledged the Bible to be a book of truth and perfectly harmonious with itself. And yet ministers in opposing the Third Angel's Message will publicly state that our work is that of division and not of conversion; to such I would recommend a careful reading of Rev. 22:15. I thank God for a message that calls for separation from sin in all of its forms. If there ever was a time when God's servants should cry aloud and spare not, and lift up their voices like a trumpet and show people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins, it is now, when crime is on the increase and sin abounds everywhere.

Our meetings have been very well attended in this county, and some more have decided to keep the Sabbath and live out the truth. Some children of Sabbath-keepers have taken up the cross to live Christians, and some that were backslidden have taken hold anew. Two united with the Tract and Missionary Society, and fourteen the Health and Temperance Association, and some of our brethren and sisters have done nobly in that they have not forgotten the cause which they have embraced, but brought in their tithes to help sustain the work, and this is just as it should be.

"Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." Prov. 3 : 9, 10.

I praise God for the truth.

Hartland, April 15. J. B. GOODRICH.