ST. LAWRENCE CO., N. Y.
By J. Wilbur
I came to this county to labor about the middle of December. After spending a short time in the village of Gouverneur trying to strengthen those that had become interested in the third message at the tent-meeting held here last season, I went into a new field to labor in the northern part of the town. I met with strong opposition for a few weeks, and at times became almost discouraged about seeing any fruit; but continued to toil and pray on, distributing tracts and conversing with the people during the day, and preaching to them in the evening. The third house that I entered to distribute reading matter in the village I was saluted by the proprietor with the following words: “Are you one of them seventh-day Adventists?” I suppose I am, I replied. “Then I want you to take yourself out of here as soon as you can.” I tried to reason with him, but it was all in vain. But in the Griffith district where I have bestowed the most labor, I found a class of persons who were not so bigoted as to think that they knew all that was worth knowing, but, like the noble Bereans brought to view in Acts 17:10, 11, they “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” One man stated that although he had been a member of a church for twenty-five years, and had read the Bible a great deal, he had perused it more during three weeks of these lectures than he had before for two years. As a result of these meetings, a goodly number have believed. Neighbors and relatives who had been enemies for weeks and months broke down before God, confessed to each other, and met together to hold prayer-meetings in each other’s houses. Some started in the service of Christ who had never made any profession of religion before. Backsliders started anew in the service of the Lord. And a few had already commenced to keep the Sabbath before I left them in February. When I returned, day before yesterday, I found the interest still rising. Brn. B. L. Whitney and A. H. Hall had made them a visit in my absence, which was highly appreciated. And the books and tracts, as well as denominational papers, had been doing a good work here while I was gone. Some of the “well-to-do farmers,” and leading men of the place, who asked a great many questions, and were the strongest opposers at first, are now acknowledging that we have the truth, and are giving their friends and religious teachers no little anxiety about them. One man, after listening to a sermon from his pastor on the nature and destiny of man, his quotations from old poets, and Grecian philosophers, without any proof from the Bible to substantiate his doctrines, arose at the close of the sermon (to the astonishment of all in the house, for he was a man of good education and had opposed the present truth almost every night for weeks), and said to the minister that he had been a member of the church thirty or forty years and had been filled with quack medicines in the shape of unscriptural doctrines until he was sick and disgusted. This led to a lengthy discussion, and the end is not yet. The preacher is coming here to-night to look after the flock. It had been deserted so long when we came here that we found, at our meeting the first night, children from five to eight years of age who had never heard a sermon. We are expecting lively times. Pray for us. J. Wilbur. North Gouverneur, March 2, 1876.