Special Midsummer Services
[Recommended to be read in all the churches as the regular service on Sabbaths, July 19 and 26, the latter Sabbath being the time for the Midsummer Offering for missions.] (Reading for Sabbath, July 19) A Sabbath Afternoon With Our Missionaries—The Farewell Missionary Service at the General Conference
None who were present at the afternoon service the last Sabbath of the General Conference will ever forget the blessed and inspiring influences of that four hours spent in a farewell service with our missionaries gathered in from the four quarters of the earth. It was voted by the vast congregation of nearly three thousand persons that the report of this farewell service should be sent out to all the churches, to be read at the time of the regular Midsummer Offering for missions, July 26. The brethren and sisters who were at the meeting, and those who were not, will wish to hear the voices of the missionaries bearing those testimonies of courage and love for the work. It would be too bad to cut down the report of their words to the measure of one service; therefore the General Conference Committee voted to have this matter arranged as the program for two Sabbaths, July 19 and 26. Even then the testimonies must be abbreviated. But we thank God that the stenographers' pens made it possible for our missionary visitors to speak straight to the hearts of the believers in all the churches, whose prayers and gifts have sustained the work in the far lands. At the 2:30 hour, Sabbath, June 7, the delegates and representatives from abroad took seats on the platform, about one hundred fifty all told, from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Australasia, and the islands of the sea. They represented fields where the preaching of the message is going forward in more than one hundred tongues. A. G. Daniells: We are gathered here for the last time for a prayer and praise service together. After three weeks of association, meeting together, eating our meals together, reporting the work from our fields, praying together,—after this blessed time it seems that we ought in this public way to have a parting word from those who will soon leave us for other lands. We shall ask Elder J. W. Westphal, from South America, to lead us in prayer. After the prayer, the choir sang a song, the words of which were written expressly for this meeting, by one in the congregation:— Send Rain, O Lord, Send Rain!
(Tune: “O, for a closer walk with God!” No. 160, “Christ in Song”) The harvest-time is almost here,
But flowers and fruits and grain
Are drying up, and turning sear,
And languishing for rain.
The soil is baked, and hard as stone;
The very beasts complain:
The earth, with open mouth, doth moan:
“Send rain, O Lord, send rain!”
As pants the hart, we pant for thee;
All earthly help is vain:
O, hearken to our humble plea!
“Send rain, O Lord, send rain!”
“I will pour water,” thou hast said,
Upon the soul athirst,
“And floods,” where Want and Famine tread,
“Upon the ground” accursed.
The “latter rain” is due, O Lord,
To ripen off the grain,
The time foretold within thy Word,
When we must “ask” for rain.
We claim thy promise—thy “bright cloud.”
O, send thy showers again
“To every herb,” as thou hast vowed!
Send rain, O Lord, send rain!
By faith we hear the freshening breeze,
And see the lightning’s glare:
We know that thou hast heard our pleas;
Prepare us, Lord, prepare! A. G. Daniells: This message binds hearts together in ties strong as those of blood relationship. I think I never realized quite how much Seventh-day Adventists do appreciate one another, and how one section of our people loves another, as I did in St. Petersburg, Russia. After speaking to the little congregation there on a Sabbath morning, a brother stood up and began to speak. In a minute or two all the congregation were in tears. I whispered to Brother Boettcher and said, “What is that man saying?” “Why,” he replied, “he has risen to move that the St. Petersburg church send through Brother Daniells its Christian love and greetings to the brethren and sisters in America; and he is speaking of the kindness and love of our brethren in America in sending their laborers to Russia.” The whole house was in tears. When the meeting was over, I could not say a word to them, nor they to me; but they wanted to shake hands with me for a good-by; and as they passed me, they would simply take my hand and grip it, and show by the look in their faces that we were brethren and sisters. O, it is a wonderful bond that is formed the world over by this glorious message! It is born of the love of God. It is his love that binds us together. We are here to speak with one another. The first testimony will be from Brother F. A. Stahl, working with the Inca Indians in Peru. He has sent a message, which Brother Spicer will read to us:— “LA PAZ, BOLIVIA, April 27, 1913.
“DEAR BROTHER: I have been a very sick man. For four weeks I suffered intensely and despaired of my life. With malaria, I had rheumatism. It was so cold at Plateria [the Indian mission on Lake Titicaca, thirteen thousand feet above sea-level] and no fruit nor medicine to be obtained in that vicinity that, as soon as I could, I came to La Paz. Forty good Indian brethren carried me on their shoulders the twenty-one miles through the mud and water [to Puno, the port on the lake for steamer to the Bolivian side]. O, I wish I were strong enough to write! I am so weak now, and because of my heart we must flee down to the coast. We leave tomorrow.
“Forty-eight dear people at Plateria wanted to be baptized. I was ill. We prayed about this. Should I get out of bed after such an illness, when yet I could not walk, and baptize these people in that cold water? I said, ‘Wife, I may be crippled for life, and people will call me foolish.’ ‘No, you won’t,’ she answered, ‘the devil is holding back this work.’ So I baptized those forty-eight Indians the next day. The tithe poured in, there was great rejoicing, we were all happy, and I rapidly became better from that day.
“The work is growing. Brother and Sister Rojas are there; they are dear people, and a great help. Our motto is, ‘On to Juli!’ The people of Juli want the message. They have seen the effects of God’s saving grace. Juli is where the tall Indians live. They come to us and say, ‘O teacher, you who love us, come over and teach us the right way.’ No wonder Satan wants us under the sod.
“The persecution by the Catholic bishop served only to enlighten the people, and help on the work. [The bishop and his men had beaten some, and cast eight brethren into jail.] One of the many questions to the candidates for baptism was, ‘Will you deny Christ if the bishop asks you?’ The answer was, in every case, ‘No; we are ready to die for our faith.’
“O brother, I wish I could write you all, but I cannot. I feel faint and weak. After a while I will write. God bless you all at this Conference.”
“F. A. STAHL.” A. G. Daniells: Now we want this meeting to be very free and open, as God may move upon hearts. M. C. Sturdevant (Tsungwesi Mission, Rhodesia): I thank God that I can see your faces once more, and have the privilege of bringing you glad tidings. As the testimony was read this morning, telling how none of us know how God has preserved us in many ways, my soul said Amen. I know this is so. He has delivered us from the mouths of lions, and from the mouths of leopards, and in many ways has preserved us. Eleven years ago, when the news came that Elder F. L. Mead had died at the old Solusi Mission, I was in the South. I sought a secret place, and said, “Lord, if you will let me, I will go and fill his place.” A few months later the brethren called me to that place; and I did the best I could. Later we opened a new station. God has kept me all these many years. My family has not suffered fever and sickness as other families have. But finally, a year ago, my health broke, and my brethren sent me our beloved Brother Lynn Bowen, my armor-bearer, a faithful man. Now the cable message comes that he is dead. Brethren, he has died in my place. He came in and ran the risk of all that I might have this chance to recuperate and get strength again. He has died, and I am spared. Brethren, I feel this intensely. When the news came the other day, I went to my room, and I said, “Lord, Brother Bowen has died in my stead; you have let me live a little longer; strengthen me, give me physical strength and spiritual power as never before, that I may go back to the Tsungwesi Mission (which I shall do very quickly) to take up my work anew.” I said, “Lord, I am not quite so strong as I was eleven years ago. Could it not be possible that the brethren would see fit to send me a teacher to take Brother Bowen’s place?” I believe, brethren, you will do it. The triumph of the blessed gospel is just before us. D. C. Babcock (West Africa): My heart is full to overflowing. I thank the Lord for the personal experience I have640had since I came upon this ground. My heart is filled with joy and praise as I think of the bright prospects before us of soon closing up the work. The question has been asked me on this campground, “Do you think that this message can close in this generation with the condition of things as it is, especially in the field in which you are?” I said, “Yes, I believe it can.” The message is going in those foreign lands much faster than we can imagine. Three or four hundred miles into the interior our books and papers are found, and we find that the people for hundreds of miles know about Seventh-day Adventists. I am confident that this message is to close up in a very short time. The congregation then joined in singing the first verse of “Joy to the world, the Lord will come.” [“Christ in Song,” No. 895.] O. Oppegard (Argentina): I am glad to be here, after many years in South America. Pray for us in Argentina. I look forward to the time when we shall meet together on the sea of glass, when we shall all be young again. F. H. Westphal (Chile): This meeting has been very precious to me. Here I have met H. W. Decker, who brought the truth to us about thirty-five years ago, in Wisconsin; and with many others. We see also how the message has progressed. The eighteenth of August, 1894, I landed in Buenos Aires, South America, and later organized the first four churches in Argentina. I had the privilege of visiting Buenos Aires last year, and I tried to find the grave of one of our first missionaries to South America. The old slab had fallen down, and I found it and raised it up. But the work has progressed, and we see many souls in the truth. Our brethren there sent words of greeting, of comfort, to you, and many prayers are offered in your behalf. I remember well when Brother Oppegard came there to unite with us in the work—how few we were, how we used to pray and plan together, and how the Lord blessed and opened before us the doors; and now the people rejoice in this precious message and talk of the soon coming of Christ, and labor for their neighbors. I return again to South America. I love the people, and we appreciate the offerings and the workers that you have sent. I hope the next General Conference may be around the tree of life. J. W. Westphal (South American Union): I rejoice in this great privilege of attending another General Conference, and of meeting our brethren from all parts of the world, and our brethren in this country to whom we have looked for help and who have taken such a sympathetic and generous interest in our work. Wonderful changes have come in this work since I left for South America twelve years ago. Wonderful changes have come in the field to which I went, and we rejoice at what we see, and it creates in our hearts a wonderful longing to see still greater things. It is thirty-five years since I first heard the truth, thirty-four years since I accepted it. I didn’t expect then that so many years would roll by and we still be here. Those who brought it to us are now aged. I was but a boy. I am now older than they then were. Some of us were together this afternoon to talk a little about our experiences, and have our hearts tied together more closely, and as we separated we said, ‘Not another thirty-five years will pass before the Lord will come.’ We thank God, and we thank you, brethren and sisters, for what you have done and are still doing for our great South American field. I have labored in various fields in the States, and have become attached to every field. But I do not know that I have ever labored in a field to which my heart has become more closely attached than to South America, and I have felt to dedicate my life to that field until the Lord comes or my life ends. Brethren, we ask your prayers and your help still to continue with us. J. S. Washburn: One of our number who sings today has had experience in dark India. Brother Lowry tells me that the first sermon he preached there was on the call of the father to his wandering-prodigal son. Male quartet (first stanza):—
“In the land of strangers,
Whither thou art gone,
Hear a far voice calling,
‘My son! my son!’
Welcome! wanderer, welcome!
Welcome back to home!
Thou hast wandered far away:
Come home! come home!” A. G. Daniells: These are good words we have listened to. Now, we must cut down shorter in order for so many to have a part. F. W. Spies (Brazil): About twenty-four years ago I embraced the truth in Pennsylvania. One year later I went into this work. Since that time I have given my life to it. As I came across Pennsylvania from New York, and our train stopped at various places where I had labored formerly, I felt glad that I had ever been called to a knowledge of this truth. As, on this ground, I have since met with many whom I knew and learned to love in my early days in this message, and some whom I helped to gain a start in this work, I thank the Lord again. I have been asked many times since coming here whether I intended to go back. I say, “Yes.” As I think of those souls down in Brazil whom the Lord has helped us to win and strengthen in this message, I want to go back. I have been told here many times by those whom I have learned to love in the message: “We take a great interest in reading your reports. We are glad for the work going on, and whenever we can do something for that work we feel a special interest in it and you.” Brethren, such words encourage the missionaries. As we go back, we shall meet with difficulties, but we shall remember, dear friends, that our brethren and sisters at home are praying for us. Hubert Fletcher (Jamaica): This is my first visit to the United States. I rejoice with all my heart that I have the privilege of being connected with this people and this work. John Lipke (Brazil): My heart is filled with gratitude for the many blessings that I have received since coming to this Conference. I am so glad that our workers in Brazil are to be reenforced. We have found a number of young people ready to go back with us. We have found our brethren ready to help us and to send them. This makes my heart very, very glad. I go back to Brazil with courage. Sister J. W. Westphal (Argentina): Dear brethren and sisters, I don’t want to step in the way of these brethren who have been at work in the different fields, but I feel I must praise the Lord for the blessings I have received. I think there is not one in this congregation who has received the blessings I have. Twelve years ago we left for South America. I was sick, but my doctor said that country would be as good a place for me as any she knew of. I traveled as far as New York in bed. Brethren and sisters, I am glad that after twelve years I can look upon this congregation of God’s people and tell what the Lord has done for us in that land. I praise God for the experiences there. He has led me all along. It has been a schooling in the school of Christ, and I thank and praise him as I have watched the growth of the work, seen the institutions in God’s work grow step after step. When the invitation came from the General Conference inviting me to return home this year, so many came to me and said, ‘Aren’t you glad you are going home?’ I said, ‘Brethren and sisters, that is a hard question to answer. I am glad I am going home to meet my loved ones again; but instead of going home I am leaving home, and by God’s assisting grace I expect to return.’ Many who came in to bid me good-by said, ‘We are so sorry you are going to leave, Sister Westphal; for as long as you are here, we know that Brother Westphal will return; but when you go, we do not know. Perhaps you will remain.’ I said, ‘Brethren and sisters, I am going to return;’ and I expect by God’s grace the middle of October we shall return to our field of labor. I love the work there. If necessary I would die with the people there, if the Lord sees fit for me to die before he comes. Everything is not clear to me. I think most of you know that I have spent most of the time on these grounds in bed or lying in the hammock. But, brethren, the Lord is going to make the way clear. I do not know how, but I know the Lord is going to make it clear somehow. I want to go back to the field that I love, and to the brethren and sisters among whom I would die if that is God’s will. G. W. Caviness (Mexico): Our Saviour said, ‘This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; then shall the end come.’ As some have expressed it here, ‘The Lord has gone out before us, and much more is known of us and our work than we think.’ The last letter received from Brother Schulz, in southern Mexico, says, ‘All down through here I find the people know you.’ I have visited the places only three or four times, and for only a brief time at that. The Lord is able to carry his message. Why, we Seventh-day Adventists believe the Lord made this earth in six days, and if he could make it in six days he can warn it in a very short time. Sister Caviness: I, too, believe that this truth is going to triumph, and that very soon. I am so glad that as we are to separate, we can take One with us ‘wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.’ A. G. Daniells: This is Elder A. A. Carscallen, from British East Africa, on the east coast of Lake Victoria Nyanza. A. A. Carscallen: Both in Africa and since I have returned, the question has17been put to me, “Can anything be done with those heathen in Africa?” Well, now, friends, the other day I read you the greetings from our brethren and sisters, converts from heathenism, who have accepted the truth. Before I came away, the boys and girls gathered for a farewell meeting. One young girl was leaning against the post of the veranda, and as I was passing by I heard the sobs. I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “Malinda, what is the matter?” She replied, “O, sir, we do not want to see you go away! You have been here these years, and the door has been shut before you, and you have had so much opposition; and now, just as the doors are opened, it seems that you should not go home.” Several of the boys and girls, the youngest of them, were weeping as if their hearts would break to see me go away. If you had seen a scene of that kind, and some one should ask you, “Can anything be done in heathen Africa?” what should you reply? My friends, we ought rather to question whether anything can be done in those hard hearts that ask such questions. One who has really been saved himself loves the work in those needy fields. As I look upon your faces this afternoon, I wonder how many of you hundreds of young men and women are really ready and willing to go out into some of those dark fields to bear the banner for Jesus. May God bless you and prepare you for that work. Just one more word, to tell you how anxious our people over there were that I should not forget to give you their greetings. They said, “Be sure to tell them.” They repeated it two or three times: “Be sure to tell them that we have accepted this truth.” They were so afraid that I would forget. My friends, they knew the joy it would bring to your hearts to know that they had accepted this truth. And now I would just like to ask how many of you here today will return your greetings, to let them know that you have enjoyed hearing from them. [Apparently every one present raised his hand.] Thank God! Friends, you don’t know what that will mean to those young hearts when I tell them that this company of three thousand sent greetings to them in the heart of Africa. A. G. Daniells: Brother Sheafe is asked to come and sing. Elder L. C. Sheafe then came forward and sang “Only a Sinner Saved by Grace.” A. G. Daniells: That’s what we all are, dear friends,—sinners saved by grace, and to God be the glory. [Many voices: Amen!] This is Brother Okohira, from Japan, and you will want to hear what he says. T. H. Okohira: Dear friends, I do not know how to express my heart this afternoon before God and before you. God has done me great things in the past; he has chosen me as the first from my nation, and he has given me a chance to study in this country about twenty years ago. And then I was sent back to Japan, and I was working there sixteen years. Now God has sent me here to attend this great meeting. God has done to me so good! I have received a great blessing during this great meeting. I was inspired by what I saw, by what I heard. I learned many things. I do believe the Lord will help me that I may do ten times better work when I return to Japan. Dear friends, I heard that a number are going to Japan this fall. That has been my prayer for a long time. This afternoon I met one brother and sister and baby who are going to Japan. How I was glad, indeed! I will take good care of them, don’t be afraid; don’t worry about them; send more. We can take care of them! Now, dear brethren and sisters, pray for me that I may be faithful to the end. It is a sad thing to separate so soon. I don’t think I meet you again on this earth; but, dear friends, I thank God I know where I meet you again soon, in near future. The Lord so good to me! Dear friends, help me that I may be faithful. I am so thankful for your kind, warm way of conversation. Dear brethren and sisters, be faithful till the Lord Jesus comes! F. H. De Vinney (Japan, standing by Brother Okohira): I am glad that I am here as a missionary from Japan. I used to think, when I labored down in New York, that I had one of the best fields in the world, and that the brethren there were the truest-hearted and most loyal people in the world; and I am glad to come back and see their faces again. But I am glad, friends, that I am going back to Japan. There never has been a moment of my stay there, though it has been trying and difficult, that I have regretted separating from the conveniences and friends and loyal hearts of the home land to go there. I am looking for the coming of the Lord soon, and I hope that he will come before my hair gets so gray that I cannot remain in the field, and meet him with the dear ones from that land. Now, I want to say that when we have been in the field and have seen the need of money, have seen the mission treasury going very low, then in spirit we have visited the different homes in the old conference, and we have seen how the brethren have sacrificed to send us out into the foreign fields, and we have not felt to complain one single moment because we were cramped for funds. And when the work has been hard and trying, and we have been perplexed so that we scarcely knew where to turn, we have, in spirit, visited the same homes, the same firesides, and have heard the prayers ascend to God in our behalf, and it has been a means of strength under temptation; it has been a means of courage when we were in trial. And so we thank you all for your prayers and for your help, and we want you to continue to pray for us that our strength may continue, that God may give us wisdom and help, that many more may be called out of that great nation to meet you around the throne of God. Mrs. De Vinney: My heart is full of praise and thanksgiving to the great God of heaven, our loving Keeper all the way through. I love him, and I love his service. H. F. Benson (Japan): We are indeed thankful for the help that has been voted to us by this Conference. We have waited a long time for it. Some have even seemed rather reluctant to give their sons and daughters for the work. You all remember that Sister White has told us that after God’s work is finished, many will be ready to give of their means, and will offer their farms and all that they have that the work of God may be forwarded; but it will then be too late. I have been wondering if any of you will wait until it is too late before offering your sons and daughters. We are not in the least discouraged, and we know that we shall have the work in Japan ready for the Lord to finish up along with the other fields. F. A. Allum (from Australia, now of China): Brethren and sisters, there is a great joy in my soul this afternoon because of the privilege I have of being here in this meeting. As I left China, and went around the world to different places, and met with the brethren and sisters, I found that wherever I went they met me with hearty hand-shakes and words of encouragement; and I said to myself, “Surely this is the people of God.” As I came on this ground, it just seemed to fill up my cup of joy. I want to tell you today that I love this people. I love you with all my heart. As I go back from this meeting, I shall return full of courage to take up the work, with a note of praise in my heart for the privilege of being here. And I am going to tell the people in China about this meeting. Although we are only six in Central China, among one hundred twenty million, we believe that God is going before us. Silently the workers are going to the different parts of that great empire, like Gideon’s band of old; and I believe the grand and glorious day is coming when the pitchers shall break and the great light of this message shall flood the world, and then we shall see our Saviour come. As I return to this field, I know you are going to pray for me; and I go back with courage born of the fact that my brethren in China are praying for me and my brethren here are also praying for me. And my prayer is something like this,—
“And we will go; we may no longer doubt
To give up friends and idle hopes, and every tie that binds the heart.
Henceforth it matters not if storm or sunshine be our earthly lot,
Bitter or sweet, our cup;
We only pray, God make us holy;
And our spirit, nerved for the stern hour, will strive.” Note to the congregation: Here we must close this Sabbath’s service. The other testimonies from the missionaries, with the responses from some of the older veterans in the message, will come next week. And next Sabbath comes also the annual Midsummer Offering for missions. The Mission Board treasury depends on this offering every year to tide over the needs until the week of prayer offering at the end of the year. At this General Conference more workers were appointed to the mission fields than ever were voted by a General Conference in the history of this message. The fields were calling, the workers were ready to go. The Conference believed that God’s people, his stewards, would say, Send the workers on to the fields where the millions are waiting in darkness, and where God’s providence is so wonderfully leading us on. Therefore, it was voted to appoint the new recruits, a large company; and the Conference voted to ask all the believers to pray and plan for the largest Midsummer Offering we have ever made for missions. Let every soul in secret pray aloud to God, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Pray about it, dear brethren and sisters, and work for it, so that next Sabbath may be a day of special consecration of means, as well as of hearts and lives, to the finishing of the work. This Conference, with the view it has642brought of the fields and the new uplift and inspiration it has given to all, has seemed to bring the end much nearer. Thank God for the blessed hope, and pray that every unsurrendered heart, of young or old, in the congregation, may make the offering of a fully devoted heart to God and to his service. Amen.