Reports from the Field by John Norton Loughborough

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jun 12, 1879

Reports from the Field.

By John Norton Loughborough

Southampton, England.

"Commit thy way unto the Lord, and he shall direct thy paths." "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy steps." Such are the words of inspiration, and such is our experience here. That same Providence that prevented our taking passage on the ship Homer, which I now learn directly from the Warren company, is lost, has opened the way in securing the most desirable site for our tent. Only those who have tried to procure a central position for a tent in such large cities as New York, Boston, Detroit, or Cincinnati, can appreciate our difficulty in procuring a similar site in a city three hundred years old, where most of the vacant lots are beautiful public parks or gentlemen's lawns, fenced with iron palings, "not to be let for any purpose, at any price."

Bar Gate, the northern entrance to Old Southampton into the then "walled village," is now about the center of the city. A lot one half mile from Bar Gate was let two days last season for a circus tent at an expense of $60. It is an elevated spot and left a tent too much exposed to the wind for our purpose. We found another lot two and one half miles north of Bar Gate which we could obtain for $25.00 for two months; but it was too far from the borough. We have prayed over the matter, confidently believing that the providence of God would indicate the proper spot as soon as we had favorable weather. Meanwhile, we have tried to obtain almost every vacant lot excepting one. New buildings are being erected all around that one, and on it stood a sign, reading, "To be let for one thousand years." I passed it many times and said, There is no use in asking for that. The owner is an infidel, but a special friend of the gentleman who constructed our tent. We decided, however, that we must get that lot or none in this vicinity. What was our astonishment, upon application, to find the gentleman more than willing to let it, even anxious that we should have it, only asking $1.25 per week for two months, or longer if we wished.

We are told it is the best location for such a meeting in the whole city; and, looking over the situation, we believe it to be such.

Our first service in the tent will be held to-morrow, Sunday, May 18, at 3.30 P. M. I have given appointments for five sermons a week—two on Sunday, and one each on the evenings of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. These, with Sabbath service and Sabbath-school, are probably all I should undertake alone. I consider that our public mission here is now just opening. We earnestly sought God to-day in our Sabbath meeting, and received the assurance that if we move out humbly relying on him, our labors will not be in vain.

Since my last report I have received, from different parties in England, donations toward the purchase of the tent amounting to $40. I have received, in all, up to present writing $110.00, nearly one-fourth the cost of the tent.

We desire the prayers of God's people, that, above all, his hand may be seen in the work here. J. N. Loughborough.

May 17, 1879.