Our Brother in Red. (Muskogee, Indian Terr.), Vol. 4, No. 7, Ed. 1 Monday, March 1, 1886 Page: 4 of 16
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OUR BROTHER IN RED.
"
Notes from the Field.
PauVs Valley District. As in
our last we urged upon others to
write, we are reminded that one
should practice what he proaches
Though our experience with the
devil has not been so great in some
respects as Brother Jones', yet he
has nevertheless made some as-
saults upon us. We are so far from
railroads that it strains our weak
comprehension to fully understand
Brother J. N. M. as he speaks of
being side - tracked. We indeed
have a "place at the wheels," but
it is at the wheels of Zion, and
much pushing is needed sometimes
if any progress is made. A por-
tion of the winter has been very
severe, and consequently many
of our Sabbath-schools have gone
into " winter quarters," and in
many places the houses of wor
ship are poor and uncomfortable,
so little could be done. But balmy
spring will soon be here, and then
we can be as free as the pure zeph
yrs that blow over our fair land
In comparing the present sur
rounding with the past, we find
ample ground for encouragement.
On the first round there has been a
better attendance of the official
members of the quarterly meetings
than ever before; and yet there is
room for much improvement on
this line. The larger portion of
the Paul's Valley District is new-
ly settled, and the population is
rapidly increasing. All available
resources are needed in these
new communities in establish
ing the Church. It seems to be
hard to get all the Christians
to enlist in the work. Men and
women come here from the States
and fail for a time to identify
themselves with the Church.
Soon they become indifferent,
and then they fall into a back-
slidden condition, and then into
total apostasy. I find more old
backslidden Christians in this coun-
try, in proportion to population,
than any country I ever saw.
There is a wrong somewhere. I
am of the opinion that a great por-
tion of it rests upon the pastors.
Our Discipline makes it the duty
of the preacher in charge to furnish
every member leaving his charge
with a certificate of Church-mem-
bership. In the greater number of
cases this is neglected, and the
brother goes into a strange com
muuity, and not having a certificate
of his Church relation fails, on ac
count of timidity or embarrass
ment, to identify himself with the
Church, and the result is, he is soon
back in the world. Awake, 0 pas-
tors, to your duty! To remedy this
evil, let us start out upon a reform
at both ends: give certificates on
the one hand, and hunt up the new-
comer as good pastors on the other.
We need all the combined strengtli
of all God's people in every com
munity to check the tide of evil
and worldliness that is ready to
sweep the rising generation down
to perdition. It is needless for
us to say in regard to all the
preachers in the District that
" they are the right men in the
right place," and that each one
is " growing in favor with his peo
pie, and preaching with great
acceptability;" this would require
too much space, besides, it might
tickle the vanity of some, so we
desist upon this point. We are
trying to bring up our collections
assessed by the Conference. The
spirit of liberality is being de
veloped among us, and we hope
to come out much better on this
line. The preachers are being
better sustained also. We are very
hopeful of a wide-spread revival
throughout the District during the
year. For this we are laboring,
hoping, and praying. 0 for a great
baptism of the Holy Ghost upon us
all. Then our work will not be in
va'1]- J. 0. Shanks.
White Bead Hill, I. T., Feb. 26. IHfifi
Skullyville Circuit. Dear Broth-
er Brewer: — Siuce the session of
the Annual Conference at this
place in September last there
have been, on different occasions,
the buds of promise indicating an
expansion into a gracious revival.
Some two months since thirty of
the pupils at New Hope attached
themselves to the Church. The
weather recently having been
so inclement, and some of the
school houses in which we worship
being in so dilapidated a condition,
together with the depth of snow
and piercing winds, that neither
preacher nor congregation could
with propriety attend on the reg-
ular appointments for purposes of
worship, so I preached on three
consecutive Sabbaths at New Hope,
or in its vicinity, where we have a
;ood house in which to worship with
pleasure and profit to ourselves.
Here, recently, we held a series of
services which were by night ex-
clusively except those held on the
Sabbath. Fifty - seven attached
themselves to the Church, but I
suppose there were seventy who
gave evidence of having received
saving faith in Christ. Many of
these conversions were, perhaps, as
bright and satisfactory as I ever
saw. The young converts imme
diately became active and success
ful in the revival, bringing their
triends to the altar for the benefit
of prayer. I shall not soon forget
one of them who, perhaps, was
well - nigh a full - blood Choctaw
young woman, who, when convert-
ed, praised God in the Choctaw
language, thinking, perhaps, she
could express her religious joy more
fully in her native language than
otherwise. Gazing on her amid
her rapture, I thought that in one
respect I might be like those who
accompanied Saul of Tarsus on the
way to Damascus to persecute the
saints, when amid the dazzling light
flashing around them, attended by
the warning appeal ringing out
from the canopy above, "Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me?
All of them heard the voice, but
Saul alone understanding the
words. So I heard the language
bu did not comprehend the ideas
shadowed forth by the words, and
yet I saw nothing bordering on the
extravaganza of undue excitement.
When these girls shall have left
this fount of scientific culture, may
they c. rry to their respective homes
not only the body of professional
r
V
x.
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Brewer, Theodore F. Our Brother in Red. (Muskogee, Indian Terr.), Vol. 4, No. 7, Ed. 1 Monday, March 1, 1886, newspaper, March 1, 1886; Muskogee, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc234195/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.