OUR WORK AND WORKERS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 9, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 27.

OUR WORK AND WORKERS.

At the camp-meeting at Jamestown, N. Dakota, last month, nineteen persons were baptized.

Elder Allen Moon reports the baptism of five persons in Washington City, June 13 and 20.

At the close of the recent camp-meeting in Santa Rosa, Cal., fifteen persons followed their Lord in baptism.

Seventeen students of Union College have joined the canvassing force in Iowa during the summer vacation.

At Alden, N. Y., nine persons were baptized on the 13th ult., by Elder George M. Ellis. At that time, as a result of meetings in progress, fifteen members had been added to the church.

Elder J. F. Hansen, who has been laboring at Christiania, Norway, for some months, reports the baptism of twenty-nine converts on the 31st of May, and on June 3 seven more were baptized.

Two tents are now pitched in New York City, one at 94th Street and Boulevard, under direction of Elder E. E. Franke, and one at 137th Street and Lenox Avenue, with Elder O. O. Farnsworth in charge.

The commissioner of docks of Brooklyn, N. Y., has given Captain Christiansen, of the missionary boat, The Sentinel, written permission to make fast and lay at any pier or dock without paying wharfage.

Three new churches were added to the list in Maritime Provinces during the past year. Elder R. C. Porter, superintendent of General Conference District No. 1, and Elder J. B. Goodrich, of Quebec, were present at the annual meeting held at St. John, N. B., May 27–31.

Elder C. L. Taylor, who has been laboring with the church in Oakland since camp-meeting, has begun tent meetings at Redwood City, in company with Brother J. G. Smith. Elder E. E. Andross is continuing the work in Oakland for a couple of weeks, until the camp-meeting in Humboldt County.

A good work is reported at Midland, Mich. Elder A. O. Burrill baptized four candidates May 24, and Elder S. M. Butler baptized nine more on the 30th. There are now about forty adherents in the vicinity, and a church organization is soon to be effected, and plans are being laid for erecting a house of worship.

After the meeting held in the church at Oakland, Cal., Wednesday evening, July 1, twenty-four persons were baptized. Twenty-three united with the church, and one with the church at Alameda. Others were prevented, on account of sickness, from going forward in the ordinance of baptism. This revival began with the days of fasting and prayer some weeks ago, and has progressed steadily and profitably to the present.

The Review of June 30 contains an interesting picture of the teachers, pupils, and other attaches of the new school for girls in Calcutta. It presents forty-five persons, including Elder D. A. Robinson. We all say this is good, and so it is, but it is only a beginning. What is this among so many? Only two things are lacking—laborers and means. There are thousands of pupils to be had for the gathering—souls for whom Jesus died.

We have interesting reports from meetings held at Portadown, Clonrute, and Richhill, Ireland, where Elder Wm. Hutchinson has been holding meetings, two a week in each place. At Portadown a grocery merchant and his wife commenced to keep the Sabbath, and the people were much excited over the matter. There was an attempt to boycott his business. When first he closed his store on the Sabbath, the rabble collected and threw burning peat against his shutters. But such things always call attention to the truth, and while some mock, others will obey.

A general meeting was held in Helsingfors, the capital of Finland, May 29 to June 7. Brethren O. Johnson, who is in charge of the work there, L. Johnson, from Scandinavia, E. J. Ahren, from Stockholm, and H. P. Holser, in charge of the European field, were present. Although a Russian province, the state church is Lutheran. Books printed in other countries can not be sold by colporters in Finland, hence it is necessary to print all our publications in that country that are to be sold there. There are now ninety Sabbath-keepers there. There is much more liberty than in Russia, and over fourteen thousand bound books have been sold, besides a large number of pamphlets.

At Ford’s store, Md., there have been three more arrests for Sunday labor. Brethren Wm. Mansfield, Alexander Dodd, and Isaac Baker being the victims of religious bigotry. Elder J. E. Jayne thus describes the official manifestation of zeal for the enforcement of Sunday observance in that community: “The same spirit that caused persecution a few years ago again appears to be dominant. A new magistrate and constable have been appointed. They are very active in what they conceive to be their duty with reference to the enforcement of the Sunday statute. In one instance the constable looked across a field and a strip of water a distance of about two miles, and saw some one at work. Being so far distant that he could not be sure who it was, but knowing that the work was being done on the farm of an Adventist, he walked across the country, procured a boat and rowed nearly a mile in order to identify the laborer.”

Under date of April 6, Dr. A. S. Carmichael writes from Bulawayo, Matabeleland, to his mother, who resides in Des Moines, Iowa, concerning the troubles in that country. Owing to the uprising of natives our missionaries were obliged to leave their mission farm and take refuge in the town. The writer thus describes the situation: “We are still in camp at this place, but we have the monotony of camp life broken every day or two by the sending out of troops to fight the natives, who come in large armies variously estimated at from 1,500 to 5,000. The forces sent out to meet them number from 150 to 300 whites. In each fight one or two white men are killed, and from one to five hundred natives. The white soldiers never leave a wounded native on the field. They are always killed. It is a war of extermination on both sides. Some of the white soldiers are as savage as the native black. The prospects are that we will be detained here for some time yet. There are about 1,500 people here, and provisions are getting scarce and expensive. This morning I paid one shilling and six pence for a loaf of bread that I could buy in San Francisco at the rate of three for ten cents. But fortunately for us we have a small amount of flour and a couple of sacks of corn meal, besides some other provisions. Meat is plenty and cheap yet; but a pest is thinning out the cattle very rapidly. At the present rate it will not be long before no cattle will be found here. The same disease kills the sheep and the goats. It will be two or three weeks before we can get reinforcements, and then I expect there will be a war of extermination that will make the Matabele an extinct race of people. Our camp is just outside the fort, but I sleep in the fort each night. We all keep well, and are thankful for the blessings we enjoy.”