FIELD NOTES by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 19, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 32.

FIELD NOTES.

By Editor

THE second year of the Australasian Bible School at Melbourne began on the 6th inst.

COPIES of the SIGNS sent to Elder F. Smoot, 180 St. Thomas Street, New Orleans, La., postpaid, will be used in missionary work.

AN Arkansas canvasser reports a Baptist minister and his wife and two other persons keeping the Sabbath as a result of reading "Bible Readings."

As a result of meetings recently held in Knoxville, Iowa, twenty-two members were added to the church. The meetings were conducted by Elder M. Larson and Brother G. F. Watson.

AT Millington, Maryland, May 27 and 28, six persons were baptized, and others were expected to follow soon. At Ford's Store seven were recently received into church fellowship by baptism. At both of these places there is bitter opposition to the truth.

TWO CANVASSERS in Helena, Arkansas, and vicinity report orders for 1,041 copies of "Bible Readings." These are already bearing fruit, and three families are reported to be keeping the Sabbath of the Lord, two being the families of colored Baptist ministers.

IN a former issue we made the mistake of stating that Elder Wm. Covert had returned from Vermont to his old field of labor in Indiana. The mistake occurred through a misunderstanding of directions for sending the SIGNS to his family. He is still laboring in Vermont.

THE elder of the church at Millington, Maryland, has been arrested for Sunday labor. A Methodist neighbor called upon him and found him laying a floor in his barn. On invitation the neighbor took supper with him, and the next day made a complaint against him. The complainant stated that his church had urged him to make the complaint. The trial has been postponed until the October term of court.

THE Christian Statesman commends the energy of Seventh-day Adventists in circulating their literature, "but not their habit of concealing the sectarian character and purpose of what they sell and give away, their 'Bible Readings for the Home Circle,' etc." As there is nothing concealed in the Bible or in authentic history, there is certainly nothing concealed in "Bible Readings," for it is simply a convenient topical reproduction of the Bible and corroborative history. If it is a sectarian book, then the Bible is a sectarian book. If the teaching of doctrines held by Seventh-day Adventists is a sectarian work, then the Bible is a sectarian book, for the said doctrines are all in the Bible. And this fact is fully demonstrated by "Bible Readings for the Home Circle." The commendation of Adventist energy in circulating their literature and the charge of their trying to conceal its purpose do not harmonize very well. But inconsistency is always a companion of misrepresentation.

THUS it is that one of our students at Ann Arbor, Mich., writes in a recent Review:—

"The Lord has most signally blessed those of us who are studying in the University of Michigan, now the largest university in America. A brief description of our missionary work will do more than anything else to show you that the time of preparation is not 'years thrown away,' but that the universities open before us the grandest field for work for Christ. For two years the Sentinel has been placed in the hands of hundreds of students, many of whom have been led from error to become the strongest advocates of religious liberty, by a perusal of its pages. In debates, thoughts and expressions taken directly from the Sentinel are used by the leading men and women of the university, to expose and crush bigotry and intolerance.

"Day after day, opportunities are given us to help those about us in religious things. Some of our students spend all the time that they can spare in giving Bible readings. One of these classes is attended by twelve ladies, many of whom are becoming deeply interested in their souls' salvation. An interest is awakening throughout the city, so that entire strangers send to us, requesting permission to attend these readings. Others of our students spend much time in helping the sick and afflicted. I cannot hope to describe to you the good that has been accomplished in this way, nor the blessings which have come to the doers. But this much I do say, if I had a thousand lives, they would all be consecrated to medical missionary work."