Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 8 (1893)

Lt 83, 1893

Davis, Marian

Wellington, New Zealand

May 4, 1893

Previously unpublished.

Miss Marian Davis
Nos. 1 & 2 George’s Terrace
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Dear Sister,

I am thankful to the Lord for His mercy and kindness to me. I walk better and go up and down stairs with more ease. I walk a little out doors nearly every day. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 1

Last Sunday afternoon I spoke to quite a large audience. The people in Wellington have been, and many are yet, as prejudiced as any people I have ever met. It will take patient, careful labor to induce them to come out even to hear. We came here when the temperance question was having a great boom. Mr. Isit, a popular temperance lecturer, was holding meetings in the building we now occupy. The first Sunday I spoke on the temperance question, and the people listened with deep interest. I spoke at three p.m. At this hour the Sunday schools are in session. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 2

One of the sons of the late Mr. Spurgeon has been holding a series of meetings, and his last religious discourse was on Sunday, and on Monday evening he gave a lecture on tact. Mr. Ballance, the late premier, was buried early Sunday morning. Much has been going on. I was not feeling as well as I would like to feel. My head ached some. We have had a clouded sky for two weeks, lacking one day. But Sunday the mists rolled away, and we had a beautiful day. This was favorable for the meetings. We do want, if it is a possible thing, that this prejudice should be cut up from the roots. We are deeply interested in this place. It seems so strange that there are not families here keeping the Sabbath. Elder Israel and wife, Sister Tuxford, Brother and Sister Mountain, and a French sister, compose the company of Sabbathkeepers in this city. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 3

The Lord has people here I know, and I do hope we may be able to fasten their attention so that they will consider the truth from the Bible, just as it reads. The Lord alone can remove this unreasonable prejudice. The rays of the Sun of Righteousness are able to cut away the thick prejudice. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 4

On Tuesday, May 2, I spoke in the large hall at Petone, at 7:30 in the evening. About noon eight of us left here in a hired conveyance. We had a most beautiful day, and we drove to Brother and Sister Simpson’s of Petone where we opened our lunch baskets, and we had a social meal. There were twelve of us with Brother and Sister Simpson and their two children. After dinner most of the party visited the large woolen factory in Petone. I did not go, for I knew that the taxation of speaking and riding to Wellington, seven miles, after nine o’clock, would be all I could safely endure. We had a good congregation of intelligent people. I spoke upon [the] first chapter of Second Peter. The Lord gave me much freedom and His Holy Spirit, and the people listened as if spellbound. Great prejudice has been existing in this place. Brother Simpson was here today, and he said that the congregation was larger than our people have had at any time. He considered much prejudice was removed. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 5

We had a beautiful moonlight night to ride home, but the carriage was hard and very trying to me. We did not get to bed until after twelve o’clock at night. I slept from one to five, and the next morning I felt bright and happy, just as cheerful as if I had not had the strain. This you know must be in advance of anything I have done as yet. I can step around very much as I used to. Still there is not that activity in bone and muscle that I used to feel. I hope you will be of good cheer. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 6

I wrote seven pages yesterday on the life of Christ. (John 8.) I have not finished it yet. I have determined to drop letter-writing and put all my energies and brain in writing Life of Christ. At times there are letters I must answer. I am going to let Emily copy from my diary, and in that way I can keep up my communications with many of my friends. We so much enjoy receiving a large American mail. It is still a bright spot to look forward to. If you do not receive any long letters from me, you’ll know the reason. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 7

I have taken my bath and rested, after writing four pages and a half which I send to Brother Rousseau on this mail. I am troubled some with rheumatism, but it is not as striking by any means as when I was in Preston. We have a nice convenient place. I have two rooms upstairs, a bedroom and a parlor. Across the way is a large brick building; it is not quite completed. It is to be police headquarters; and a little above it is a still larger building which is to be used for the prisoners. The old prison house is not far from here, and every day some of the prisoners, ten or twelve, work on the buildings. Of course their warder is continually with them. On this large hill across the road are only these two buildings, and sentinels are stationed on different parts of it. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 8

I cannot see how we can get away from New Zealand this winter. Several have embraced the truth in Napier and Hastings since camp meeting. One large flour mill closes on Sabbath because the proprietor has taken his stand on the Sabbath question. He keeps the Sabbath. We have meetings appointed for two weeks for Elder Starr and myself to labor in Wellington. I dare not worry. I must not be faithless. We must do what we can and rest the results in the hands of the Lord. The work is His—the souls of the people He died to redeem, and He will open the way that the warning can come to the inhabitants of Wellington. Brother and Sister Starr leave here in about ten days to commence their journey for Melbourne. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 9

Yours respectfully. 8LtMs, Lt 83, 1893, par. 10