The Mission Board has prepared readings for June 28, setting forth the appeal for Christiania. This will call the attention of all to the service of offering on the following Sabbath, July 5. A missionary reading, made up of letters from the fields, has been prepared for July 5, when the offering will be made. A little painstaking preparation will make the services of these two Sabbaths occasions of special profit to all.
The envelopes and readings are now being sent out to church elders, conference laborers, and isolated Sabbath keepers, so far as we have the names. If they are not received by next Sabbath in all except the more distant conferences, send a postal card to your tract society or the Mission Board at once. The envelopes are to be distributed Sabbath, June 28.
Already some are sending in substantial offerings, saying that they can give now, and wish to make sure of no failure. The Lord is manifestly stirring up the hearts of the people to come unto the work to do it. How little one understands who feels that a call to give is a depressing one. It is more blessed to give than to receive. This service of giving will be a happy one. And if the whole burden is lifted by one united effort, there will be rejoicing throughout our ranks in every land. Let us have it so.
W. A. Spicer,
Secretary Mission Board.
The Pennsylvania Camp Meeting
By R. A. Underwood
The readers of the Review may be glad to know that the prospects for success in the camp meeting in Johnstown, Pa., are being realized. From the very beginning, the Spirit of God has been with us in a marked manner. The first Sabbath was a glorious day. Near the close of the Sabbath the congregation repaired to a stream running by the camp ground, where nine precious souls were buried in baptism.
The attendance from the outside has been large. Sunday afternoon was occupied by a temperance meeting. Elder Fitzgerald, of Philadelphia, addressed the audience, and was followed by W. F. Schwarts, Dr. A. J. Read, and E. E. Franke. Several ministers and lay brethren of other denominations also entered into the spirit of the meeting. Nearly every phase of the temperance question was dwelt upon. The meeting occupied about two hours and a half, and almost every one of the three thousand persons remained until the close of the services.
On Sunday evening a still larger number listened to the sermon by Elder Franke on “The Glorious Appearing of Christ.” The Lord is giving his servants freedom, and large congregations are present at all meetings. We are encouraged to believe that excellent results will follow the work of the camp meeting.
The conference reports already received show a general growth of the work of the State. During the last three years there has been an increase of over six thousand dollars in the amount of tithe paid, an average of over two thousand dollars every year.
I never before attended a camp meeting which had so little preaching. Practically all the hours during the day are occupied either in giving instruction or in studying with the congregation the different phases of our work. The Lord is blessing this method of conducting the meeting. The Sabbath-school work, the health and temperance work, the work of disseminating the truth by means of the printed page, the school work, and other lines are being studied.
During the canvassers’ institute, held just before the camp meeting, the canvassers sold nearly a thousand dollars’ worth of books in this place. This was an excellent preparatory work for the camp meeting.
We hope that the readers of the Review will remember us in their prayers, that God may greatly bless our efforts during the remainder of the meeting, and the work that shall follow.
R. A. Underwood.
From “Country Life in America.” Copyright, 1902, by Doubleday, Page & Co.
