The extracts herewith given are from a letter not intended for publication, a friendly letter, in which the writer speaks of his work unreservedly and freely. Yet it is well known that sometimes these personal and heart-to-heart interviews between friend and friend reveal a truer picture of the real situation than would be possible in an article intended for the public. It might seem very improper for a man to write for a religious journal as freely as he could speak to a friend; but it occurred to me that a real picture of the Icelandic field might be of much encouragement to some of our brethren who are working in what they imagine to be hard fields, although, really, the difficulties with which they are surrounded are not so great as they might encounter in some other parts of the vineyard. To quote:—
“Again I will thank you, my dear brother, for your kind letter. I frequently feel quite alone, and have sometimes been tempted to get discouraged. Iceland is a very hard field, indeed, and I often think: ‘How is it possible for the brethren to be satisfied with the results they see here? Shall I give up the work, or not? Before I came to this place, I was a successful minister in Norway. The last winter that I labored in Hamar, a new field, I had the joy of raising up a church of about twenty members; and I have been laboring here for five years, and do not see nearly so encouraging results.’ Such thoughts as these often come to me. But my only hope is that the Lord knows and sees all, and I trust that he will lead the brethren to take such steps in regard to my work as may be in perfect harmony with his will. Pray for me, dear brother, that I may not miss the mark. O, what a blessing it is to rest in the hands of the Lord, when the heart is disturbed by the troubles of life! But often it is a hard thing to become so resigned to his will that we can thus peacefully and trustingly rest in him.
“Here in Seydisfjord the prospects are dark both as regards religious and temporal matters. The poor people have no way of earning a living. Some years ago this was a good fishing station, and then a number of people moved here to work; but for the last five years nothing has been made in this work, to speak of, and scarcely any other kind of employment is to be had, therefore many a husband and father has to be contented with a working season of from two to four months a year. One can see that this would mean all but starvation—but this is the real situation in which many find themselves. For that reason hundreds of Icelanders, maybe nearly two thousand, a large proportion of whom are from Seydisfjord and the eastern part of the island, are planning to leave for America this spring. Of course most of them do not have the money for their passage; but their friends in America, and the government of Canada and Manitoba (it is to these lands that the Icelanders generally go) help them. This is not very promising for the small country of Iceland, and for our work here, as it is probable that some of our friends may go, too.
“In religious things the Icelanders are very indifferent. Only a few of them believe that the Bible, as a whole, is the Word of God. Scarcely any one here believes that there will be any suffering in the lake of fire. Naturally, much of our energy must be expended in showing them that the Word of God is the foundation of genuine religion. This is up-hill work in dealing with those who have lost their faith in the Scriptures. I write this that you may know a little of what we must contend with here.
“Of course we find precious souls among the people, those who are hungering for the light and blessing of God. I hope the Lord may give us more of this class the coming year. I have been much rejoiced by the coming of Brother Anderson, from Sweden. He is a faithful brother. God be thanked that he came.
“The paper I publish is getting along nicely. We now print fifteen hundred copies, and I hope they may be all sold this year.”
Every worker may have times when the work seems to go slowly, and his success is not what he thinks it should be. In the hour of trial, we may be encouraged by the thought that others, too, are surrounded with difficulties as we are, and thus the example of one may be blessed of God to the good of another.
There is also another good purpose to be served by “speaking often one to another” about the experiences which God gives us. When we thus learn of the hard circumstances in which a missionary is placed, we are called upon to lay his case the more earnestly before God in prayer, and then our own hearts are refreshed and built up; for every unselfish prayer strongly reacts upon him who offers it, watering his own soul, and making it more productive and fruitful in the Master’s service.
Yet one more thought: There is very apt to be in the mind of the inexperienced an altogether wrong idea of what foreign mission work is. Just as a distant view of a city or of a valley may lend enchantment to the landscape, so with the young, imaginative, and enthusiastic disciple of our Lord may be too strongly influenced by an ill-defined, general, semi-heroic notion of working for people of another language in another clime and in another country. As a people we are called to be missionaries; but the truth can not be too often reiterated that every one may learn to be a missionary just where he is, in the daily duties that come to him. God may not ask you in the judgment whether you labored in this or that field; but he will ask: Were your motives pure? and did you serve me with all your heart in whatever I gave you to do? The absolute and unconditional surrender of all is what we must come to; and the sooner we reach that position before our tender Father above, the more fully he will be able to use us in his service, and the more souls will he pluck from the burning through our ministry. Earnest work, hard work, work under discouraging circumstances, is sure to be the lot of him who would go forward in the rugged road marked out for his followers, by the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sin of the world. But the genuine joy of carrying out his bidding more than repays one for the troubles which may surround him in his attempts to be a herald of truth and righteousness, through the power of the everlasting gospel.
Winning the Truth
By Dr. Bonar
GREAT truths are greatly won, not found
by chance,
Nor wafted on the breath of summer
dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of the
soul,
Hard buffeting with adverse wind and
stream;
Not in the general mart, ’mid corn and
wine,
Not in the merchandise of gold and
gems,
Not in the world’s gay hall of midnight
mirth,
Not in the blaze of regal diadems;
But in the day of conflict, fear, and
grief,
When the strong hand of God, put
forth in might,
Plows up the subsoil of the stagnant
heart,
And brings the imprisoned truth-seed
to the light.
Wrung from the troubled spirit, in hard
hours
Of weakness, solitude, perchance of
pain,
Truth springs like harvest from the
well-plowed field,
And the soul feels it has not wept in
vain.
— Dr. Bonar.
West Coast, Africa
By J. M. HYATT
CAPE COAST CASTLE, GOLD COAST.—After a slight delay in perfecting arrangements for our journey, we left Minnesota for New York. We stopped in Cleveland for a week's visit with friends and relatives. While there, we visited among the colored people, and had some interesting experiences, especially on Sunday at the largest Baptist church, where we were offered financial aid. Surely, a consecrated colored laborer could do much good among the thousands of intelligent negroes of Cleveland.
After riding a night and a day, we were in New York, where we were met by Brother Calvert, of the Bible Training School, who took us to that institution, where we spent the night. It truly is a haven of rest. The spiritual atmosphere is invigorating. Here we met Elder Luther Warren, whom we had not seen for years. We were glad to hear of the good interest that was manifested among the colored people, under his labors, and would have been glad, as was suggested, to spend some time in the school, and at the same time assist with interests that had been awakened.
After a trip of eight days we disembarked at Liverpool, where we found Elder Hale and his family ready to sail that day. In England we met some good friends, one a wholesale grocer, not of our people.
After ten or twelve days more of sailing, we sighted the coast of Africa for the first time—Free Town, Sierra Leone. We had the privilege of going ashore here, and were much surprised to find that all the natives are not illiterate, as has been said, but some are well educated. All government offices are filled by natives, except that of the governor-general. Some of our American colored brethren could do much good by settling here and living the truth, especially such as have trades. Among the trades that may be mentioned are dentistry, carpentry, blacksmithing, and farming. To such there are inducements offered in the matter of passage.
After dinner with the harbor master, we were soon on our way to our final stopping place. We reached Cape Coast Castle in four days. We were warmly greeted by the natives generally. There are less than five on the Gold Coast who make any pretense of keeping the Sabbath. We are very glad, indeed, to get here, and like it very much. We hope that it will not be long before we will have more of our American brethren on the Coast at different points; for it is true, as stated by others, that there is an affinity between the natives and other negroes that is not known by some at least.
While talking with the passengers as I came down from Free Town, I made the acquaintance of a man from the West Indies. He was going to one of the towns on the coast below us. In conversation with him, I learned that his sole mission was to carry the Sabbath to his people. He is a native. We were glad to see the direct working of the Lord in this manner. We are sure that he will use many agencies that are unknown to us to reach the millions of natives here. We are of good courage, and hope to see the work make fast progress.
J. M. HYATT.
Sumatra
By Marcelia A. Walker
PADANG.—I am very busy all the time, attending the sick, so do not even have time to study the language. I am picking it up slowly, however, as I often have to go alone, and must talk.
During the month of January I gave only one hundred and nine treatments. During February my helper and I together gave three hundred and seven; and so far this month I have averaged thirteen a day, and Hong Siong, five. I am kept busy from 7 A. M. till 10 P. M., and then have to turn away cases and neglect others.
The Lord has been wonderfully blessing every move. I took a case with a temperature of one hundred six and one-half degrees, and with one treatment the temperature was reduced to normal, and the child was playing the next day. The doctors had tried for two years to get the fever out of his system, and failed, as every two or three weeks he would be sick again. Of course I gave daily treatments for some time, and prescribed his diet. Now he is well and ruddy. I have had many malarial cases of long standing, which showed remarkable improvement with the first treatment.
Very early one morning we were called to see a Chinese babe which was dying. The doctors had all given it up, and as a last hope, they called me. I knew at a glance that the child had a poor chance for life, but I decided to do my best. After one treatment, it was a little better. As I could neither stay there nor trust them with it, Sister Munson and I decided to persuade its mother to take it home with us. At first, fear of us made her say, “No!” But at last her mother love conquered, and she came. After nine days, during which she heard the gospel, she returned home, rejoicing. I visit her once or twice a day to treat the babe, and she often asks us to pray for her and teach her how to care for her family. Before she had been in the house half an hour, she cut off all the charms she wore, and gave them to me. This family is poor, and can pay but little; but this shows them that our work is not carried on for money. I have several other cases just as interesting.
We have only one outfit for treatments, and so are handicapped some, as both Hong Siong (Timothy) and I should be giving the same kind of treatments at the same time.
There is a call for a class in gymnastics, and the schoolhouse has been offered free of cost. But sometimes I can hardly take time to eat. I can not stop without letting some opportunity slip which might be the means of drawing a soul nearer the Lord. We could easily keep two more nurses employed.
We are seriously thinking of having another native helper to assist in treating the women and children. I could not do all I do if Sister Munson and her daughter did not assist. Several times there have been from twenty-six to forty-seven natives here at once, some for treatments, some for examinations, and others come through curiosity or to accompany another of the family, as the women never go out alone. While I work, Elder and Sister Munson teach. So in reality the whole family is put to work, while everything else is dropped for the time being.
MARCELIA A. WALKER.
Late Meetings at Nashville, Tennessee
By George Ide Butler
The meetings in Nashville, May 7 and onward, are past. They were excellent meetings in all respects. The election of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Publishing Association for the ensuing year took place, and the Executive Committee of the Southern Union Conference held quite a large number of meetings, and transacted considerable business. The new Board, elected without a dissenting voice, was as follows: Geo. I. Butler, N. W. Allee, J. E. White, John N. Nelson, I. A. Ford, W. O. Palmer, and Dr. O. M. Hayward. In the election of officers of the Board, Geo. I. Butler was chosen president; J. E. White, vice-president; John N. Nelson, business manager; I. A. Ford, treasurer; W. O. Palmer, secretary.
The Board recently decided to enlarge The Southern Watchman to a sixteen-page paper, the size of the page to be the same as before, and the first issue of the enlarged edition to be about the first of June. The Board elected the following editorial staff for the larger edition: Geo. I. Butler, editor; John A. Brunson and J. E. White, associate editors; Miss E. J. Burnham, assistant editor.
It will be noticed that the Board has been changed somewhat since last year.18Elder W. J. Stone, who was a trustee last year, has been assigned to labor in Indiana, by the recent session of the General Conference Committee at Battle Creek; and Elder N. W. Allee was sent to this field by the General Conference at Oakland. Elder Stone still remains president of the Tennessee Conference till the camp-meeting, to be held in a month or two. In the meantime Elder Allee has gone to Florida for a few weeks, inasmuch as I could not visit that State because I was to attend the Western camp-meetings in Iowa and the two Dakotas. Elder C. P. Bollman felt constrained to work on the farm for a season in order to recuperate his broken health. As he has been obliged by his duties to be absent from his family almost wholly for years, the privileges of home will be a great encouragement to all concerned. We hope he will be fully restored to health so as to be fit for duty in the near future. The presence of John N. Nelson and I. A. Ford on the new Board will be a matter of interest to all the friends of our publishing association. These men were trusted employees of the Review and Herald until the great conflagration swept that institution out of existence. Their loss to it is our gain. Brother Nelson is our business manager. Brother Ford is the treasurer of the union conference, and of the publishing association also. In their occupying these important financial positions we trust our friends in the North, and in all parts of the country as well, will have their confidence in the stability and prosperity of our young publishing house increased. According to the leading officials of the Review and Herald, these brethren were considered among the safest and most useful men in the employ of that large corporation. So in this respect their loss has been our gain.
It is intended by this office that a special effort shall be put forth to increase our canvassing work to a large degree in all parts of this great Southern field. Brother Ford is chosen to superintend the department of circulation throughout this field. His experience in Atlanta a few years ago in securing and keeping some eighty canvassers at work, and disposing of several times as much literature as we are now doing in this whole field, gives special grounds of hope that a large increase will result from his presence among us. His help will also be given to greatly increasing the circulation of our enlarged paper soon to be brought out.
It was the unanimous judgment of the members of the executive committee, and of the retiring as well as the incoming Board of the publishing house, that it was advisable to purchase the building belonging to Elder J. E. White, which really joins the office building. They are nearly of the same size, and ought to go together. The office was renting a portion of it already. Brother White has been moving out onto a small farm a mile or two from the office, where he can take some needed exercise by tilling the soil, and raising his own fruit and vegetables. He gave very generous terms to the office. About four thousand dollars of stock was taken in payment, and no money had to be paid down. Terms were very fair. One important reason why it was thought best to purchase it was the fact that there was no home for the helpers in the office. They have been compelled to go here and there to restaurants, with nothing resembling a home. Now very pleasant quarters can be arranged in this part of the building. A restaurant for health foods can be provided in it, and things will be greatly improved. It is confidently believed by many that as the printing work increases, all the room in the combined building will be needed. It was purchased at considerable less than the original cost.
If anything is made clear by the great conflagration at Battle Creek, it is that the establishment of a printing office here two or three years ago was in the order of God. It is now ready to enter upon its work as soon as the facilities can be purchased to make it possible to do our work economically. This will be done in the near future. Now that the Review and Herald institution will likely go into liquidation, and an office be started in the East, our Southern office will be the most central of any in this country. We can see no good reason why all the original slave States should not need the Southern literature emanating from this office, and specially prepared for the Southern field, as much as the Southern Union Conference of nine States should need it. Why should not Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Virginia need our Southern literature as much as Tennessee or Kentucky? The influences centering in the color-line prevail in all these States. Should these States look to this office for their supplies, it would greatly increase the output from this office. Our enlarged paper should be circulated more or less in all these old Southern States. We hope very soon to have our office so equipped that just as good work can be done in it as in any of our older institutions.
I wish to say to all the readers of the REVIEW AND HERALD that those who have been struggling along for a few years past in this difficult field feel very much encouraged at the prospect before them. We expect better days ahead. There are many omens that indicate this. The General Conference dealt very generously with us at its last session. Sister White made many kind remarks concerning our Southern field and its importance. Any of us who have felt that there was a coldness in certain quarters toward the work in the South were made sensible that a change was taking place. For this our hearts were thankful, very thankful. We expect to see a growth in the South in the immediate future. The signs indicate it. Our faith grasps it, and we hope in God.
Our meeting was a pleasant one. A friendliness characterized all the proceedings. Our meetings were spiritual. Confessions were made, and tenderness of heart was manifested. Tears flowed, and alienations disappeared. Ah, dear brethren and sisters, how good God is to us poor imperfect creatures! And how needy we all are of his blessing! Let us all look up, thank God, and take courage.
GEO. I. BUTLER.
A Home in the Country and a School in the Woods
ONE of the most promising educational efforts of this generation is being wrought out at Berrien Springs. Each time I visit this school, I become more fully convinced that if those who are leading out in this work remain true to their God-given trust, in the providence of God Berrien Springs is destined to become as widely known as the exponent of true education as is Battle Creek for food reform, or Tuskegee for the solution of the negro problem.
Our advanced methods in the treatment of the sick have attracted widespread attention among the medical profession. Is it too much to assume that our educational work might to-day have occupied a similar position in the educational world?
A most encouraging feature of the work at Berrien Springs is the evident spirit of enthusiasm in the minds of the students for the ideas for which the school stands. At my recent visit I had expected to find a visible decrease in the number of students, on account of the pressure of spring work at their respective homes, but I was surprised to find almost as many in attendance as last winter, and that in spite of the fact that the school has been greatly hampered by lack of necessary buildings to accommodate these students.
It is a part of a liberal education to study carefully the co-operative plan that is being forged out at this place. Every student seems to be as conversant with every feature of the management of this great enterprise as he is with the problems presented in his text-book. This is because every student literally shares in the development and working out of every question that arises in every phase of the movement.
Each student pays for the amount of fuel and light that he consumes. The school management assumes no financial responsibility for the purchasing of coal, as that is entirely in the hands of a committee of students chosen by the student body. By this plan every student felt the importance of this coal strike in a more tangible way than by merely following it in the newspapers.
Six young ladies who desired to take lessons in cooking volunteered to take part in that work; three of these prepare the breakfast, and the other three the dinner. Although working under many disadvantages at present, they have made a splendid success. As each student pays for the food he eats, a vital question that these amateur cooks must constantly have before them is not only how to prepare palatable food, but, Does it pay to cook a certain food material? This makes it necessary for them to give constant study to actual food values.
One purpose of this school is to develop up-to-date church school teachers, so it is essential that they should practice agriculture with their other studies. Accordingly, the services of their farmer have been dispensed with, and the faculty have divided the responsibility of the farm work among themselves, and make it such a study that they are as ready to teach the students in the fields as in the class room.
Their splendid school buildings were constructed almost entirely by the students, the majority of whom, when they entered the school, could not saw at all.
Each student opens a regular book account with the institution, and an important part of the book-keeping work is taught in this practical way. There is among us a deplorable lack of men and women prepared to fill positions as matrons, business managers, and heads of departments. Modern methods of education do not furnish an education that fits one for such responsibilities, but19with such an educational effort as is being developed at Berrien Springs, we may certainly hope for better things in the near future.
If there ever was an institution born without a golden spoon in its mouth, it certainly is the Berrien Springs school. Its promoters had the courage and devotion to divine principles that led them to abandon splendid buildings and educational facilities, and almost without any promising financial outlook, begin to plant a home for themselves in the country, and a school in the bosom of nature, and God is rewarding their noble movement.
A class of students have gathered in here who were willing to lay aside their school work in the dead of winter, and go out in a body and sell “Christ’s Object Lessons” to raise enough money to enable the school to meet its pressing obligations, then return again to their books, instead of losing heart and going to their homes. With such loyalty and devotion pulsating in the hearts of a company of sturdy young men and women, the success of this educational effort is well nigh assured.
The educational world has already begun to watch this work, as is evidenced by the words of a prominent Eastern educator: “I now understand better why your school moved from Battle Creek to its new location. You are placing the rock foundations of successful work. You are returning to nature, and many thousands will learn to thank you for your undertaking. The movement in that direction will take on vast proportions during succeeding years.” DAVID PAULSON.
Notes from the Field Workers
FROM all parts of the United States our general men are reporting that the institutes have been very well attended, and that the prospects are better this year than they were last. There is a strong tendency in favor of the sale of large books, and, particularly, of those which give the message for this time in clear lines. This is a good indication, for which we are thankful to God.
A LETTER recently received from Brother Nordyke, manager of the Kansas City Branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Company, brings to us the good news that the canvassing work is taking on strong features in that section of the country. When the school closes at Keene, they expect at least twenty canvassers in the field. There are now thirty in Oklahoma and about forty in Kansas. Good success and good prospects are also reported from Colorado.
DURING one week, ending May 8, nine agents in Texas sold books to the value of $833. The following is a condensed report showing the number of agents working on each book, and the value of the orders:—
AGENTS
NAME OF BOOK
VALUE
4
Desire of Ages
$616 25
2
Patriarchs and Prophets
124 25
1
Great Controversy
55 00
2
Coming King
37 50
Total.....$833 00
We invite our State and general agents, and also our canvassers, to observe that the best record was made with “The Desire of Ages,” the highest-priced book; and the cheaper the book, the smaller the record. This is another illustration of the truth which has been repeated again and again in this department during the past year, that our book business declines as we drop from the large books to the smaller ones. There never was a time in the history of our subscription book work when agents selling large books were selling more in value each week than now. Our only lack is workers.
A REPORT just received from Pennsylvania for book sales during the week ending May 8 affords another striking illustration of the principle stated above. Seven agents canvassing for “The Desire of Ages,” “Great Controversy,” and “Patriarchs and Prophets,” sold books amounting in value to $288.35; and the remaining thirteen canvassers, eight of whom were selling small books, made sales to the value of $124.15.
Field Notes
A SABBATH-SCHOOL numbering twenty members was recently organized at Raleigh, Tenn.
A SABBATH-SCHOOL of fourteen members was organized recently at Local, Minn. At this place there are some who desire baptism, and it is hoped a church may be organized in the near future.
AT Drywood, Minn., three persons have begun the observance of the Bible Sabbath, and others have expressed an intention of doing likewise, as a result of meetings conducted by Brethren J. F. Anderson and M. S. Reppe.
BRETHREN W. W. STEBBINS and E. M. Chapman report the organization of a Sabbath-school of twelve members at Niawa, Minn. The recent labors of these brethren at Niawa have done much to encourage and strengthen the believers there.
EIGHT young people of Hamilton, Mo., united with the church there on the occasion of its last quarterly meeting.
A SERIES of special missionary conventions is being held with the churches in Southern California, by the Conference president, Elder Clarence Santee. He reports that “to the present date, May 13, three conventions have been held,—at San Pedro, April 25; at Pomona, May 2; and at Santa Ana, May 9. At each of these places the Lord gave a special blessing, and new consecrations of self and means were made to the Lord. We believe these meetings will meet a long-felt need.”
The Periodical Campaign
THE readers of the REVIEW have already been made acquainted with the fact that Brother A. D. Gilbert, who for seven years has had charge of the periodical work in England, has been invited by the Pacific Press to devote a few months to the circulation of The Signs of the Times in the United States. Brother Gilbert attended the last General Conference, and then entered with much earnestness upon his work. A letter just received from him gives an interesting account of how he is going from one church to another, and enlisting the members in some definite work with our periodicals. In some instances persons are engaged to devote their entire time to the sale of periodicals from house to house. In the churches the members are called together, and an effort is made to enlist every person in the church in the good work. Brother Gilbert goes from house to house with those whom he endeavors to instruct, and by example as well as by precept helps them to succeed.
The following extract from a letter recently received from Brother H. H. Hall, manager of the Circulating Department of the Pacific Press Publishing Company, will be of interest to all:—
“As a result of Brother Gilbert’s work in San José, their club of papers has been raised from eighteen to two hundred. It has not simply been raised to this number for a short time; for the people are out selling the papers, and the club is continually coming up. Some of their young people are having an excellent experience. Brother Gilbert has also worked some time in San Francisco, and their club has been raised about one hundred per cent. Here in Oakland a large number of individuals are using more papers than for many months. Brother Gilbert stopped at two places on his way north, and this morning we have orders from two societies amounting to nearly four hundred papers. The secretary of Western Oregon says that he went out with the workers, and they had a most excellent time selling the paper from house to house. They have planned to visit each house in the city where their camp-meeting is about to be held, and are providing themselves with The Signs of the Times and The Pacific Health Journal as an introductory card. We feel to praise the Lord for the results thus far seen, and believe we have really entered upon a successful, inexpensive way of reaching the people.”
Brother Gilbert is about to engage in similar work in Wisconsin, and expects to visit several other States before returning20to England. We trust that our people will improve this opportunity for learning how to handle our papers. Let us all pray that the Lord will inspire his people throughout the wide field to take hold of this work; and then, dear brethren and sisters, while you pray, resolve with God’s help to do a little yourself. The work is so simple and easy that every child of God can engage in it successfully.
Silent Messengers
By E. R. Palmer
Our Books, Tracts, and Periodicals
E. R. PALMER : : : : Editor
Shining for Jesus
By Lilla M. Alexander
“They that be wise shall shine.”
ARE you shining for Jesus, my brother,
Shining so clear and so bright
That the souls that are perishing round
you
May be guided to him by your light?
Are you shining for Jesus, my brother,
Shining in deed and in word?
Is your life by its purity showing
The likeness of Jesus your Lord?
Are you shining for Jesus, my brother,
Shining for truth and for right,
Where bold unbelief and its minions
Are posing as angels of light?
O, shine out for Jesus, my brother,
Shine where he needs you the most;
And shine where the darkness hangs
deepest
O’er the path of the straying and lost.
Shine only and always for Jesus,
Then when your toiling is o’er,
In mansions of glory eternal,
You shall shine as the stars evermore.