Conference in Connecticut.
By E. L. Barr
Bro. Smith: I wish to lay before the readers of the Review a brief report of the Conference in this place, which commenced Sabbath eve., Feb. 13th, and continued over First-day. This will probably prove to be the most profitable Conference to the church ever held in this State. There were not so many from a distance as probably would have been, had the traveling been good. We found the church united, and the solemn message to the Laodiceans doing a work for them that has never been done before. God's searching Spirit was with us on Sabbath morn, and presided over the meeting during the day. We had much freedom and help from the Lord in preaching from Joshua iii, 5. The church saw their deplorable condition, and the great work before them, and had a mind to work. The hard hearts were made to feel, and the stubborn wills to bow. Deep, thorough, heart-felt confessions of faults followed. Unfaithful to God, unfaithful to the church, unfaithful at home, unfaithful abroad. Parents' hearts were filled with sorrow as they were made to see the perilous and almost hopeless condition of their children, caused by their unfaithfulness. Under a powerful manifestation of the Spirit, this short testimony was given in a solemn and powerful manner, as near as I now recollect, "Parents, take your children from those Babylonish schools." Then came up the claims of the second commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath," &c. But the apology has been, We do not bow down and worship them. O my dear brethren, I tremble when I think how far we have been from the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus. Turn and read Isa. ii, 12, 16. "For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low: and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures." Margin, pictures of desire. May the Lord help you, my dear brethren, to clear your dwellings, or I fear you will not get them insured so that no plague will come nigh them. O think of the lovers of pleasure, think of the vast amount of money paid out at the present day for pleasant pictures. In the bitterness of my soul I cry, "wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked." Dark despair would seize at once upon my poor soul, and hope die, were it not for that beacon light, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." O Lord, give us a zeal that is according to knowledge, is my prayer. On First-day, it seemed good to us and to the Holy Ghost to give Bro. Wm. H. Graham the place vacated in the church by the death of our dear Bro. Chamberlain. After the transaction of some other church business, the great work of preparing for the latter rain was resumed, while the presence of the Lord was manifest among us at times in a solemn and awful manner. The church was much strengthened, and returned to their homes determined by the grace of God to make straight paths for their feet, realizing that it is now life or death, be faithful in all things henceforth and live, or remain in our lukewarm condition, and be cast off as detestable. Now, dear brethren and sisters, let me say in conclusion, that we have reached the point where we are spared a little while, if we bring forth fruit well; if not, we are cut off, we are lost, forever lost. Now is our last chance. Die to sin, repent of every sin, confess and forsake every fault, return to God with all your heart, consecrate your entire all to his service, live out the truth every where faithfully, and thereby become partakers of Christ's sufferings, and then when his glory is revealed, be glad with exceeding joy. Kensington, Ct., Feb. 18th, 1857.