TENT MEETING AT DELTA, OHIO.
By James H. Waggoner
Our meetings commenced here under somewhat unfavorable circumstances, on account of the slanderous reports circulated against us. The youth took advantage of the reports thus raised against us, and made so much noise and disturbance that we could be heard with great difficulty. This, however, was mostly corrected by those who saw the reproach it would bring on the community; and finally, our lectures on Spiritualism completely removed the feeling against us, as it was on this point we had been particularly assailed. Mr. Bowman, the editor of the Truth Seeker, of Angola, Ind., attempted to defend Spiritualism, but an exposure of his perversions of Scripture made the triumph of the truth more complete. From this time on the attendance and interest were good, not only from the village, but from the surrounding country, notwithstanding the extreme heat and hurry of the harvest came on in the midst of our meetings. Some farmers, after the labors of the day, came six miles, and females attended almost regularly, walking four or five miles, and returning in the same manner. Eld. Collier, of the M. E. church, from Toledo, took occasion to express his grief at our course in endeavoring, as he claimed, to destroy the influence of those who are preaching the gospel in its purity, and thus bringing in the millennium! In closing he said if Sunday-keeping was a tradition, it was attended with good results, as might be seen in the harmony and progress of this great people, all in the observance of the first day of the week.77 We briefly replied to his statements, that the millennial theory was a fable, according to the declarations of Christ and his apostles; that by their inconsistencies they were destroying, or had destroyed, their own influence, as they opposed by argument and practice the keeping of the fourth commandment, the perpetuity of which his own church endorsed; and that every argument used to prove that Sunday was the Sabbath, was no better than an announcement to the world that the plainest declarations of the Bible may be evaded. We closed by appealing from the custom of a great people to the law of the great God, and invited all to meet the question on this issue! Others have promised to prove the propriety of Sunday-keeping at some future time, but will not say a word while we are here. But the people's eyes are open to the reason of this course. About twenty-five have firmly decided to keep the Sabbath, and many others are well convinced and deeply convicted of duty. Of some of these we have hope that they will yet obey the truth. The interest is still such that we do not feel warranted in entirely leaving the field, and have therefore concluded to not pitch the tent till next week. By that time the press of labor will be over, and a better attendance may be expected. Seven were baptized yesterday. J. H. W.