The Truth Gaining Ground.
From the last number of the Signs of the Times, we take the following cheering statements concerning the progress of the truth in various localities:— “A brother writing from Del Norte Co. sends twelve new subscribers for the Signs, and says, ‘I hope and pray that some of these will be caused to keep the Lord’s Sabbath through reading this valuable paper. There are some here who desire to study into the merits of the question.’ “Another brother writes from Vermont, and speaks of a man who had received four numbers of the Signs, and says, ‘He has now become a paying subscriber to The Voice of Truth. It has accomplished a mission in interesting him enough to subscribe for the Voice. That is good. The truth of God in Signs or Voice is important, and we rejoice to know that it spreads by means of either.’ “Another case: A brother writes from Oregon, sending pay for a paper sent on trial to one of his neighbors, and says of him: ‘He says he would not do without it for twice the price of it. He loans it to one of his brethren, who has been raised from infancy in the doctrine of Methodism, and he told me to-day “it was the best religious paper he ever read, although it was different in its teachings from anything he had been used to hear.” I think the Signs will yet be the means of opening the eyes of several in this country in regard to the great truths contained in the Bible. The cause is bound to prosper when God is at the helm. I hope before long that some one can come out here and preach for us.’ “A couple of sisters near San Diego, Cal., who have embraced the truth by reading tracts and papers, write, sending a donation of $15.00 to our State Missionary Society, and say: ‘We would like very much to hear a living minister. Could not one come to San Diego?’ “The gentleman on the Minnesota campground, into whose hands a stray paper providentially fell, and who carried it to Pennsylvania, and then sent here for more, as we mentioned a few weeks since, now sends other subscribers, and says, ‘They too will circulate it, and induce others to subscribe.’ So it goes; one hears and then says to his neighbors, ‘Come and see.’ They come to see, and some of them abide with the truth. J. N. L.” From the same paper we hear indirectly from Bro. N. W. Allen, of Missouri, who embraced the truth in California last fall, and attended the late Biblical Institute at Battle Creek. He has returned to his friends in Missouri, and several of his near relatives have embraced the truth, while others are investigating, with a prospect of their soon taking their stand on the same. And among our own correspondence some interesting cases appear. A brother to whom the paper has recently been sent in Indiana, writes under date of Jan. 21, 1875: “I delight in the truths you advocate. They are very precious to me. Do send some one here to help us.” An interesting case is that of a sister who writes from Wood Co., O., that a kind neighbor of hers to whom the REVIEW was sent on trial, lent it to her. Whether that neighbor was benefited by the truth or not, we do not know, but at any rate through that channel the paper found its way to one who was ready to receive the truth. This sister and her husband commenced searching the Bible to see if the things the paper taught were true. They procured and read some tracts, and now stand firm in the truth. Thus the Lord has his eye on his jewels, and will through his providence cause the truth, in due time, to find its way to them. A sister writes from Arkansas rejoicing in the light she is receiving through the REVIEW, in relation to the fulfillment of prophecy in this country and others. She rejoices in the manifestation of the spirit of prophecy in the church, and is led to accept the writings of sister White, from reading them in connection with the sketch of her experience. Her labors and sufferings for others, and her patient endurance of the opposition of the world, is evidence to her mind, as it may well be to any, that she has not done it for the honor of men, but has been prompted by the Spirit of Christ. Bro. C. W. Olds, of Wis., sends us the following cheering incident. A brother living in Fremont, Wis., sent some tracts to his cousin living in Canada. In a letter dated Dec. 20, 1874, he received the following response:— “Dear Friend:—I received your tracts and papers. I have read them carefully, and am satisfied that they teach the truth of God for this time. Oh! how strange it is that we have so long been kept in the dark. It is now plain to my mind that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, and Sunday is not the Sabbath, but the work of the papacy. “I am glad the Lord put it into your mind to send me the light. I lend the books to our neighbors, and they are looking and searching to see if these things are so. “I wish I had more of the tracts and books that I might distribute them. I and my family are trying to keep the Sabbath, together with all God’s commandments, and intend to as long as we live, although it is attended with difficulty, as there is a fine for working on Sunday. Send me the REVIEW as often as you can. As far as the doctrine of the advent is concerned, I love it. James Dickie.” Thus the Lord is everywhere owning missionary work. “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand.”