OUR WORK AND WORKERS by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Aug 2, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 31.

OUR WORK AND WORKERS.

By Editor

THREE converts are reported by Brother W. H. Steward in meetings held at Ymir, B. C.

A CAMP-MEETING is now in progress at Basin, Mont., thirty miles northeast of Butte, on the Great Northern Railroad.

AT the quarterly meeting of the church at St. Paul, Minn., seven members were added, six by baptism. Brother H. F. Phelps officiated.

AT the recent camp-meeting held in the Red Butte Settlement, twelve miles south of Great Falls, Mont., ten persons were baptized, and there was a marked revival of interest on the part of those who had formerly professed Christ.

AT the recent camp-meeting held in Spokane, Wash., twenty-nine candidates followed their Lord in baptism. Thus in the three camp-meetings held in Upper Columbia Conference this season, nearly one hundred persons have been baptized.

WE find this item in the Reaper: "It has been decided to establish a health-food store and a sanitarium in the city of Spokane, Wash., and an orphans' home at Boise, Idaho. The first of the above enterprises is pending the starting of the bakery at Walla Walla College; the second, the arrival of a physician from the sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich., and the third the securing of a suitable home near Boise."

THE Apostle Paul did much of his best work while in prison. So did John Bunyan, and it has occurred quite frequently that marked attention has been drawn to our work through the arrest of some of our brethren on account of their faith. This is especially so in the case of Brother Rodney S. Owen, who was arrested recently in Mississippi for doing a little hoeing in his garden on Sunday morning. The Argus, published at Amory, has given Brother Owen large space in its columns for the presentation of the truth which he has been advancing, and which was the real cause of his persecution. This paper also gives editorial attention to Brother Owen's position and the principles involved. Thus the truth is more widely proclaimed through his arrest than by his ordinary ministry. He closes his article in the Argus of the 7th ult. with these words:

"The battle for religious liberty will be fought with pen and voice, inspired by the principles of truth and justice. We believe there are many noble men in all the Christian churches, as well as those outside the church, who will stand in defense of religious liberty."

AFTER several arrests in different parts of Turkey, and other petty annoyances and prohibitions (principally because others professing to be Protestants would not acknowledge the "Sabbatarians" as Protestants) Brother Z. G. Baharian has obtained two important concessions. One is from the director of religions to the minister of the interior, as follows:—

"I have talked with Zadour Baharian, the preacher of Sabbath-keepers, who says that there are many denominations in Protestantism; that theirs, also, is Protestantism, and that he preaches nothing but the Bible. Then you may let him free to preach the Gospel as long as he shall not act contrary to the Bible."

The other document is an order from the minister of the interior to the minister of the police, and reads as follows:—

"Seeing that Zadour Baharian, the preacher of the Sabbatarian churches, has positively decided to preach his religion; that, according to his confession, their religion, also, is Protestantism, and he preaches nothing but the Gospel; then we command you to let him free to preach his religion, with the condition that he shall not act contrary to the laws of the Gospel."

It is worthy of note that the annoyances to our laborers in Turkey do not come from the Moslems, as such, nor from the Catholics. The Catholics and Protestants have nominal authority to carry on their work; but as the Sabbatarians, by which appellation our people are known, are not Catholic, and the Protestant churches have refused to recognize them as Protestants, they have been subjected to annoyance on various occasions by officers of the police, through complaint of ministers and others professing to be Protestants. Yet such a spirit is just that against which the original Protestants protested.