Tent Meetings in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
By J. H. W.
BRO. SMITH : We closed our meetings in Mt. Vernon, July 18th, and took down our tent. Next day we baptized seven believers in the present truth. We expected to start for Iowa City on the 20th; but the Cedar River was so high that teams could not cross it, and, unwilling to be idle, we complied with the request of some of the citizens of the village to put up the tent again. Our meetings then continued over the 25th. The attendance was not very large, but the interest was good, and several more decided to keep the Sabbath. The brethren and sisters there are firm in the truth, and expect to meet much opposition. The Methodists are very numerous, and have a college there. Of course they are proud and popular, and do not like to have the infallibility of their system questioned. They have expressed their firm determination to prosecute all who keep the Sabbath and labor on the first day of the week. Our hope is that the brethren will arm themselves with the same mind that was in Christ, and possess their souls in patience. If the power of the dragon spirit against the truth in the West is first to be manifested in that place, we shall rejoice that the Lord directed our steps there. The readers of the REVIEW will be pleased to learn that since Bro. Hull embraced the Third Angel's Message he has been diligently searching the Word, and is firm on all points of the present truth. He has given himself entirely to the work, and the Lord is blessing him and his labors. And yet the laborers are few. O that "the Lord of the harvest" may be entreated for more laborers, is my earnest desire. Yesterday we had the tent (the circle only) conveyed to the river, and taken across in a common sized skiff. This was the only way that it could be taken over, and the ferry-man had to row about a mile to land it where a team could get to it. We soon got a farmer to bring it to this place, where we arrived about nine o'clock this morning. We hear that there is considerable interest about here, and several teams came in from the country on First-day expecting to find the tent here. We expect the Lord to work for his truth. Iowa City, July 27th, 1858.