PROGRESS OF THE WORK by W. M. Jones

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 24, 1876

PROGRESS OF THE WORK.

By W. M. Jones

The Seventh-day Baptist General Conference held its sixty-first session in September, at Alfred Center, New York. The interest of the meetings exceeded that of any former anniversary. It was also the largest gathering, a thousand Sabbath-keepers being in attendance. The membership is increasing, and the publishing and mission work is more vigorous. They sustain the Rev. N. Wardner as missionary to Scotland and Ireland, and assist in the printing and circulation of Sabbath literature in the United Kingdom. Their work in China is extending, and the calls at home are increasing. Tent-lecture work is to be an additional feature for future operations. The remarkable success of the Seventh-day Adventists, by means of tent life, has doubtless finally awakened our brethren to action in this direction. We bid them God-speed: “To your tents, O Israel!”

The Seventh-day Adventist General Conference was held in August, at Battle Creek, Michigan. It was the largest gathering of Christian Sabbath-keepers of modern times. Hundreds have joined during the Conference year. Two publishing houses are established, one at Battle Creek, and the other at Oakland, California. A third on the Atlantic coast, and a fourth at Basle, Switzerland, are contemplated. The Rev. Mr. Bourdeau, a French Canadian, is on his way to France. The Rev. J. N. Andrews is laboring successfully in Switzerland, and the Rev. Mr. Ertzenberger is doing good work in Prussia. In less than a year, three Societies of Prussian Sabbath-keepers have been discovered, each ignorant of the other previously and of the American brethren; also a Sabbath-keeping Society of German immigrants has come to light in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Bible Sabbath leaven works wherever the Bible is read and esteemed as the rule of faith and practice. Publications and correspondence are awakening serious inquiry in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Africa, Australia, and Mexico. The brethren also aid our work in the British Isles.

In this country the good cause is surely progressing. In July, Mr. Wardner and the writer lectured in Grimsby, Elgin, and Belfast. Since then, Mr. Wardner has lectured in Elgin, Forres, Belfast, and Govan. Four have been baptized, three in Belfast and one in Glasgow. Converts to the Sabbath are, however, not reckoned by the number of baptisms. An edition of 40,000 tracts will soon be issued in Glasgow. A native Scot, by profession a lawyer, but who practices gospel as well as law, is now in the field as a co-laborer with us. We have tract distributors in Belfast, Elgin, Glasgow, Grimsby, Canterbury, Tewkesbury, and London. A correspondent writes: “I shall be glad to act as tract distributor over the whole of Ireland.” An influential Baptist minister writes: “I must confess, the more I read the more strength your position seems to acquire. You have the weightiest argument on your side.” Another says, “I am still thinking about the Sabbath.” We could fill pages with lines of interest and encouragement, but our tiny paper is already overburdened. To all who read our publications, we beg to say: Do not be foiled by tradition, and the vain, fanciful escapades, by means of which so many are estranged from obeying God. Let not convenience sit in judgment upon your CONSCIENCE.—W. M. JONES, in Sabbath Memorial.