Knoxville, Iowa by B. Auten

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 11, 1873

Knoxville, Iowa.

By B. Auten

Bro. Nicola has just closed a series of thirteen meetings here, which commenced Feb. 12, which we believe were among the best and most important meetings ever held at this place.

Trials occurred here ten years ago which brought discouragements upon us, from which we had never been able to recover, and since which time we had been gradually backsliding. Some had gone back to tobacco, tea, coffee, pork, &c. We had long since felt we had reached a point where preaching alone would not benefit us.

Under these discouraging circumstances, our meetings commenced; first, by visiting from house to house, talking with, and praying for, those who were far from God. In this kind of labor the Lord greatly blessed, and it was evident to all that engaged in these exercises that God is more willing to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children.

For the first few meetings, things looked rather dark. It was evident that confessions should be made and wrongs righted, but it seemed hard to come to the point.

Bro. Nicola labored hard and faithfully, to show the necessity of making this an individual work. To get ourselves right before God was a greater work than we had anticipated, but the Lord wrought for us greatly. A spirit of self-examination and true confession came into our midst to such a degree that each one's greatest burden seemed to be to get the beam out of his own eye and get his own heart right before God. We have all the evidence we could ask for that souls were converted to God. We believe that the brethren made a clean work, with two or three exceptions, and that the cause of truth stands better here than it has since our first difficulty occurred.

At our last meeting, Bro. Minos Miller was unanimously elected and set apart to the office of deacon by prayer and laying on of hands. Nine united with the church. Others are ready to join us as soon as they see us bring forth fruits meet for repentance. How important the work of self-examination. My prayer is that we may continue this work until we shall have developed such characters as will stand the test of the Judgment.

Truly there has been a great work wrought for us, for which we will give our Heavenly Father all the praise.

B. AUTEN.