OUR WORK AND WORKERS by John Norton Loughborough

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 4, 1903

OUR WORK AND WORKERS.

By John Norton Loughborough

At New Hope, Texas, five members were added to the church during the week of prayer.

The address of Brother E. W. Webster has been changed to No. 26 Ohio Street, Phoenix, A. T.

Meetings held in a private house near Huntsdale, Mo., by Brother W. T. Millman, have resulted in the baptism of four candidates.

The new house of worship in Springfield, Mo., was dedicated January 25. The services were conducted by Brother J. M. Rees, president of the conference.

A letter from Brother A. R. Bell, who is laboring in New Jersey, mentions the addition of eight to our ranks—seven by baptism and one by profession of faith. Five others were awaiting baptism at the time of writing.

February 7 has been set apart for a collection to assist the brethren in England to purchase a sanitarium building. Just as they were casting about for a location to build, they (providentially, it seems) were offered a good place already fitted up, for about half what it would have cost to build such an institution. But cash is needed at once. It is a worthy object, and will be a great help to the cause in Great Britain; but the brethren there are not able to make the purchase without aid.

“Lifting makes the burden lighter, Lift, brother, lift.”

According to a report of Brother J. M. Hyatt in the Minnesota Worker, the work in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul among the colored people is progressing well. But, sad to say, as it is with many white folks, there are some who will acknowledge the truth yet claim that they can not obey. As if God required impossibilities! God’s commands are all-enabling acts to him who wills and leans on the everlasting Arm. A branch Sabbath-school in St. Paul, conducted by Sister Nellie Patterson for colored children has an attendance of twenty to twenty-five.

An instance of the effect of the work with “Christ’s Object Lessons” is told by Brother H. R. Johnson, of Wisconsin. “A groceryman in one of the cities in that State became interested in the book to such an extent that he procured a number of copies that he might have them to loan to his neighbors. Among many others a certain unconverted man got hold of the book, and his interest became so intense that he sought the Lord for relief from his sins and was converted. He then turned a room, which had before been used for card-playing, into a place for Bible study and prayer. He has now taken fifty copies of the Life Boat, and expressed a desire to engage in the sale of ‘Object Lessons.’ He thinks it is the most wonderful production he has ever found. A number of other persons have also been converted, and several of them are keeping the Sabbath as a result of this interest which grew out of the circulation of this book.”

Of the work of the church recently organized at Hull, England, Brother Joseph Brandt writes to the Wisconsin Reporter: “The Hull church circulates monthly between three and four thousand copies each of Present Truth and the Good Health. The Present Truth, our church paper, is a sixteen-page weekly; and the Good Health a thirty-two page monthly.

“In the short time we have been here, we observe that this nation is fast following in the paths of Romanism. Here the Church of England has about as many members as all other denominations combined. Some belong to the ritualistic, or high church, and others to the low church. In the high church they have their time for confessions, mass, candle burning, the crucifix to which they bow, prayers for the dead, and many other Catholic traditions. The Educational Bill, which has been one of the great governmental questions for the last six months, means to have all these traditions taught in the schools of England by teachers of their faith. Children from five to fourteen years are compelled to attend these schools. So we can make a practical application of our Sabbath-school lessons, which are very timely. May God grant that this people, who are watchmen on the walls of Zion, may be found giving meat in due season to the world when the Master of the house cometh.”

[The Educational Bill mentioned above is now a law, and will work a great injustice on all who are not adherents of the State Church.]

Brother W. G. Myers, who embraced the faith of the Seventh-day Adventists in Athens, Mich., in the spring of 1874, died in Oakland, Cal., Jan. 13, 1903, aged 75 years, 3 months, and 14 days. For many months he suffered from heart disease and other bodily infirmities but withal was happy in the assurance of acceptance with the Lord, and of his reward at Christ’s appearing. It was the blessed privilege of the writer to visit Brother Myers daily during the last week of his life, and to share in the rich blessing of God manifest in power in that sick room. He passed quietly away with a smile upon his lips.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.