Adventist History in Indonesia: 1902, An Interesting Baptism

Australasian Union Record, July 1, 1902, page 6.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD.

AN INTERESTING BAPTISM.

AT the time of my second visit to Singapore I
received a letter from Brother Anderson, of Hong Kong,
China, telling me that a soldier in the British Army who
had learned the truth from Brother La Rue, had been
transferred to Singapore, and asking me to look him up.
I at once went to the fort, and without difficulty found
him. He had for some time desired baptism ; but as
there was no ordained minister in Hong Kong at the
time of his departure, he had not had that privilege.

Becoming satisfied of his fitness for baptism, March
9 was appointed as the time for the ordinance to be ad
ministered. On that day, Elder Munson, of Sumatra,
the young man, and myself drove out into the country a
few miles to a quiet spot on the beach. After preparing
to enter the water, we sat down under some cocoanut
trees and read from the Bible, talked with the brother of
the important step he was taking, after which Elder
Munson offered a fervent prayer for God's blessing on
what we were about to do. . Then I led the brother down
into the water and buried him beneath the waves of the
China Sea. No person witnessed the scene except one
solitary Malay who happened to be near ; but we were
certain God's angels were near with their gentle pre
sence, which we felt in a marked manner.

The blessing we received was worth more than all
the wealth of Asia.

On one side of us, and at but a little distance, was a
British fortification, where this brother had for several
years trained for service as a soldier of the Queen ; while
on the other side, in the roadstead, a mile or two away,
was the large United States man-of-war Brooklyn, which
had just come into port. But we enjoyed peace, though
seeing on all sides the instruments of war.

E. H. GATES.