A Significant Incident by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Oct 13, 1904

A Significant Incident

By L. A. S.

The spirit of lawlessness which seems to be growing more and more prevalent in this country, is beginning to be turned into religious channels, and to be manifested in connection with feelings of religious animosity. In plain defiance of law, even the fundamental law embodied in state and national constitutions, Christian men in Campbell County, Va., are by armed force, accompanied with threats of violence, interrupted in the work of preaching the gospel there, for no other offense than that of proclaiming views contrary to the religious belief and practise of the majority. Some allowance can be made in cases where doctrines are proclaimed which are repugnant to good sense and decency, examples of which might be cited, but in this instance the only effort was to lead men to return to the observance of the law of God. The following account of the proceedings in the case is given by the Lynchburg Evening Advance, of October 3:—

Information has been received here that a number of men, said to have been armed, last Friday forcibly removed a large tent in which the Seventh-day Adventists had been holding a meeting at Naruna, in Campbell County, about twenty-five miles from this city. . . .

Elder R. D. Hottel furnished The Advance with the following statement: “The circumstances leading to this rash act are as follows: The Virginia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists sent one of their ministers, Elder C. B. Rule, to Naruna the last of August with a forty-foot circular tent to hold a series of gospel meetings. Mr. Rule secured the privilege of ground near the village, and began his meetings on the night of September 2. Large crowds attended the services each night and on Sundays. As the meetings progressed, a number accepted the views held by their denomination, and many friends were made in the neighborhood.

“The opposition began to work, and not being able to confute the views of the Adventists, threatened other measures. On Wednesday evening last, Elder Rule received through the mail the following letter:—

“NARUNA, VA., Sept. 28, 1904.

“DEAR SIR: The people of this community are tired of your performances, and after talking together, have decided that you must leave this community in twenty-four hours from tonight, and not stop in twenty miles of this place. This is no bluff. Obey, or take the consequences.

“COMMITTEE OF FIFTY.”

“Elder Hottel spoke in the tent on Thursday night, and everything seemed quiet. The next day, after making several visits, returning to the tent about two o’clock, they were met by three men on horseback, who said that they were a committee appointed to call and see if Elder Rule intended to obey orders and take the tent down and leave the place. They were asked for reasons for this threat, and the only reply was that they would enter into no argument, but demanded an answer. Elder Hottel stated that the tent was there for the purpose of preaching the gospel to the people, that there were those who wished them to remain, and that they were protected by the laws of the commonwealth of Virginia, and that they could not obey and be loyal to God.

“The men rode away, and in about fifteen minutes returned, leading about sixty men, a number of whom were armed with shotguns, and again demanded that the tent be taken down, and that they leave or take the consequences. Again the elders tried to reason with them, stating that they were placing themselves under heavy penalty of the law, but they said that they knew the law, and that we must obey or take the consequences. In the face of the mob and their guns, the elder again refused to obey. Orders were then given to take the tent down, which was immediately done, and it, with the fixtures, was hurriedly folded together.

“Elder Rule, seeing that the small tent in which he and his wife had been living had been taken down also, packed up his personal effects and trunks, which, against his protest, were taken, together with the tent and fixtures, to the depot.”

The committee again waited on the elders, and said they would have to leave that night or the next day on the 10:50 train, and that they should not preach in Campbell County. If they did, they would have to meet the consequences.

These proceedings constitute a step in advance of anything in the opposition yet experienced by those engaged in the proclamation of the third angel’s message. Before this there have been threats in various places from unknown parties, and in some instances violence from persons who sought to keep their identity secret. Openly, by means of the Sunday laws of the States, force has been employed legally against the message, and secretly it has been employed

illegally; but now its opponents are proceeding both illegally and openly. They know the law of the State, but in this matter they have determined to openly disregard it. There has been open disregard of law on other occasions of a different nature, when individuals have been lynched for the perpetration of crimes; but now this spirit of open lawlessness seems to be shaping its course toward the domain of religion, and conditions may soon be realized out of which will grow the worst forms of religious persecution. “Straws show which way the wind is blowing.” It is for us to take earnest heed to the signs of the times, and be moved by them to greater zeal and diligence in the work of God. L. A. S.