Reports of Converts and Church Growth
Elder W. W. Steward reports six converts at Colville, Wash. Brother C. B. Rule reports the addition of eight to the church at Kanawha, W. Va. Seven persons were baptized in Fresno County, Cal., recently, by Elder H. G. Thurston. The brethren in Soquel, Santa Cruz County, Cal., are moving in the matter of building a house of worship. At a point four miles from Oakdale Station, Wis., Elder I. Sanborn reports thirteen adult converts and a Sabbath school of forty members. On Bailey’s and Orr’s Islands, Me., twelve persons recently embraced the truths of the last message as presented by Elders H. C. Basney and P. B. Osborne. Brother George H. Smith, a Nebraska laborer, reports the organization of a Sabbath school of sixteen members at Taylor, and another of twelve members at Milburn; also, the addition of eight persons to the company at Arcadia. A delegate in the recent General Conference says: “Only a decade ago delegates were expected to use a large share of their time considering the extension of the work in America, but now the time is given mostly to considering the work abroad.” Elder H. W. Decker sends the following from Baker City, Oregon, under date of March 2: “Work has been carried on in a hall and by visiting in this place about six weeks, which has resulted in the conversion of thirty to the truth. The Lord is working mightily.” The meetings held on Market Street, San Francisco, by Elders E. E. Andross and H. H. Dexter, are yielding fruit, several having decided to take their stand for the Sabbath of the Lord. Aside from this special interest, ten persons were baptized in the San Francisco Church, February 27. A canvassers’ institute is now in progress at Milton Junction, Wis., to continue until April 30. The canvassing work is coming more and more to be regarded not merely as a business, but as an effective means of disseminating the truth. And the more this idea is imbibed, the more successful will be the business. Religious Liberty Library, No. 46, is entitled “Baptist Principles of Religious Liberty,” and contains 47 pages; price 6 cents, subject to regular discount to the trade. It is written by Geo. B. Wheeler, who has been a Baptist clergyman for fifteen years, and has full knowledge of what he writes. The cover page illustrates an incident in the life of Roger Williams while in exile. He is kneeling in a deep forest in the midst of a snow-storm, and asking God’s blessing upon the plain fare of which he is about to partake. In this connection we find these expressive lines:— “Father of mercies, thou the wanderer’s guide!
In this dire storm along the howling waste,
Thanks for the shelter thou dost here provide,
Thanks for the mercies of the day that’s past,
And for the frugal fare thou hast supplied;
And O, may still thy tender mercies last!
And may thy light on every falsehood shine,
Till man’s freed spirit owns no law save thine!”
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