REPORT FROM BRO. COTTRELL.
By R. F. Cottrell
Bro. Smith : For a few weeks past, Bro. Saunders and myself have been laboring at a school-house on the Hess road, in Newfame, Niagara Co., N. Y.53Have had sixteen meetings, and there is a good interest among the candid, thinking part of the community. The opposition, however, is strong, as it usually happens. A minister was invited from Somerset to come and vindicate \"old Tradition,\" and his work was performed to the satisfaction, doubtless, of latter-day scoffers, and the thoughtless youth who love to spend an evening in loud and boisterous laughing. In short, the speaker descended(?) to the level of a circus clown, in his disgusting mimicry and blasphemous jesting upon Scripture teachings. As a sample, he represented that we were for having the earth \"singed over\" and burnt to a sufficient depth to destroy the \"pussley and pig-weed,\" so that we should not be obliged to weed our gardens. Such things as this Peter foretold—that in the last days scoffers should come. \"But,\" said he, \"the day of the Lord WILL COME as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.\" The words of the scoffer, \"Where is the promise of his coming?\" were almost literally uttered by the speaker. Said he, \"They have been disappointed once and they will be again.\" He told a new story about Bro. Miller, one which he could not have expected that his hearers would believe. He said that on the set day for the Lord's coming, some of the brethren thought it would be a fine thing to go down to father Miller's and go up with him. So they got ready and went down, and when they got there they found the old man building a stone fence. The speaker would bah like a sheep, and when he had got off what he thought was a good joke, would even laugh at his own folly, to keep the house in frequent bursts of laughter. All this of itself is not worth the time of telling; but it is a sign of the times, and for this reason I have written it. When professed orthodox ministers of the gospel can descend to such things and still retain their standing in the popular denominations, true piety and a veneration for sacred things must be at a very low ebb. But this discourse failed to produce the desired effect. It was over-wrought. Serious-minded people were disgusted. The next Sabbath three more commenced to rest according to the commandment. May they be faithful to the end, and have a crown of life. At our last monthly meeting we were rejoiced to learn that Bro. Lindsay's oldest son and his wife had commenced to keep the Sabbath. Neither of them were professors of religion, but they had deliberately and alone, in a neighborhood where there are no Sabbath-keepers, made up their minds to obey the Lord, and had kept three or four Sabbaths previous to our meeting. They attended the meeting, and expressed their resolution to serve the Lord. He expressed his regret for his opposition to the truth in the past, and his grieving his parents while they were praying for him. He believed their prayers had been heard. All of Bro. Lindsay's children are now keeping the Sabbath. Three of the five have been baptized, and we expect the others will be ere long. Also their son-in-law and daughter-in-law are with them in the truth. I have spoken thus particularly of this family because many of the brethren, some east and some west, have been acquainted with them, and will rejoice to learn what the Lord has done for them. In hope of still witnessing the triumph of the truth, I am yours to labor on till victory is gained.