400 BAPTISED IN TANK

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 750, 24 August 1929, Page 34

400 BAPTISED IN TANK

PASTOR APPEARS IN RUBBER BOOTS Y' . , i - MANY CURES CLAIMED About 400 men and women were haptised in a tank of water in a Claphum garden on a recent Saturday afternoon in London. The tank, which was lined with grass and decorated with large lilies, was used in the Albert Hall some time ago, when Pastor George Jeffreys. head of the Elim Four-Square Gospel Alliance, which invited Mrs. Aimee McPherson to England, baptised a number of people. The latest ceremony was held In fhe grounds of the college of the Alliance in Capham Park. Two dressing-rooms were provided, where men and women changed their clothes. In preparation for a complete immersion, men changed into white tennis shirts and flannel trousers, while most of the woman wore long, old-fashioned night-dresses. , In the presence of a huge crowd j of spectators, the converts climbed i the wooden steps to the top of the !

: tank, where Pastor Jeffreys, wearing rubber hoots and a black robe, stood in the water waiting to baptise them. The converts were immersed in the heated water up to their necks, while four assistants, also standing in the water, were ready to give assistance. Pastor Jeffreys then said the bapi tismal words, and under the watchi ful eyes of a nurse the converts i scrambled out of the tank and hurried off to dry themselves. In answer to questions put by Mr. Jeffreys to the watemng crowds, 15 people declared that they had been miraculously cured of deep-seated i diseases.