The Word Fulfilling in Earth’s Remotest Bounds by William Ambrose Spicer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 7, 1910

The Word Fulfilling in Earth’s Remotest Bounds

By William Ambrose Spicer

THE last recorded words of Jesus, according to the account in the first of Acts, were, “The uttermost part of the earth.”

The Lord Jesus loved to the uttermost. His heart was ever reaching out with longing for the “other sheep” to be called into the one fold. That is the spirit of the Master, and that spirit in the hearts of his disciples leads them ever out into the earth’s uttermost parts, where also the message must be heard.

In what is clearly a prophecy of the last days, Isaiah cries: “From the uttermost parts of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous.”

Just now I am writing from Finland, which is one of the lands on the uttermost northern border of the earth. And from this uttermost part we hear the songs of praise for the third angel’s message.

It seems like meeting an old friend in a far country to pick up our Finnish hymn-book, and find good old Father Cottrell’s Sabbath hymn,— The God that made the earth, And all the worlds on high,

being sung in the Finnish tongue,— Jumala, joka maan Ja kaikki aineet loi.

And I hear the good old advent hymns that we have loved so long, as, for instance,— Watchman, tell me, does the morning of fair Zion’s glory dawn?—

ringing out in the same familiar tune, but in this Finnish tongue, sung by brethren and sisters on whose faces is written the bright advent hope. The “blessed hope” is the dearest hope on earth to these brethren and sisters. I hear it in their testimonies, as they are translated to me, and I feel it in my heart as the Spirit of God in their words that touches the chord that vibrates in hearts the world over wherever the advent people are found.

It is blessed to find all this spiritual atmosphere of the message and of heaven in this town of Bjorneborg, on the Gulf of Bothnia. About eighty believers have been gathered this Sabbath day of the conference meeting, and the Lord has richly blessed them. The work began in Finland among the Swedish, but about half the believers at the meeting are Finnish. Of fourteen baptized this morning, eleven were Finns. The Swedish believers rejoice to see these Finnish brethren and sisters coming in, for while the providence of the Lord has brought in the truth through the large Swedish population, a strong and a leading element in Finland, the masses of the people speak the Finnish tongue only.

A gray-haired Swedish brother, from Wasa, away north on the Bothnia, said in the meeting this afternoon:—

I prayed for light for years, and now it has come. God answered my prayer. The light came to us from Sweden, and I thanked God for it. But I loved the Finns also, and prayed for them. And now I am so happy as I see the numbers of the Finnish people coming in. There is that Finnish brother standing over there. I am so glad to see him, though I can not talk with him.

The Finnish brother referred to, an elderly man, came down to the meeting from the north country, never having met Seventh-day Adventists before, but having read the truth in our books and papers.

This Finnish tongue is one of the oldest in Europe. That is, it has not been mixed with other languages, as have most of the languages of Europe. Students of the ancient Sanskrit of India, if I remember correctly, claim the Finnish tongue as more nearly related to Sanskrit and the mother tongue of our Aryan race than any of the other tongues of Europe. It seems good to hear the praises to God for the last message in this language, which has been preserved less changed than many from the ancient times when the Aryan race dwelt together on the Asiatic table-lands.

Finland is a rugged, beautiful country, with much stir and business, notwithstanding its northern latitude. Helsingfors, the capital, is as fine a city as one meets with anywhere. It has a church of about sixty believers. We were entertained, in passing through, at the home of the chief of the medical and health department of the city, whose entire family are consecrated, earnest believers in the present truth. From all walks of life, and from amid all circumstances, the believers here are being gathered out.

Here is an earnest sister from an inland

region, the wife of a Lutheran pastor, who comes to the meeting bringing $80 tithe. Years ago, before marriage, she heard of the message in Helsingfors. It made no marked impression. But after some years she lost a child, and in her sorrow turned to seek the Lord for a personal experience. Then, wife of a Lutheran pastor though she was, she remembered the little she had heard of the third angel’s message years before, and wrote to Helsingfors and came in touch with our people, and is now an earnest witness for the truth.

So by many varied paths the Lord has called out these believers in Finland, as in other lands. In these days of the finishing of the work, he is fulfilling his promise:—

'I have long time holden my peace; . . . now will I cry. . . . I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.' Isa. 42:14-16.

Truly now, just now, is the time to work these long-neglected uttermost parts of the earth. The Lord has gone before us. Here is an earnest worker who, five or six years ago, was a militant Socialist in the uprising in Finland against Russia. He had to flee for his life to Scandinavia, and encountered many hardships, but he found the Lord and the third angel’s message in Sweden, and now he is back in Finland, giving his life to the cause of the coming kingdom of Christ Jesus. And here is Brother H. Mikkonen, who went to far San Francisco, found the truth, and returned to labor among the Finnish people. So the Lord is calling the believers and workers in.

The canvassers have been blessed in selling both Swedish and Finnish books. A Finnish brother is with us whose home is exactly on the arctic circle, directly north of the Gulf of Bothnia. In the summer, when there are no roads over which to travel, he engages in salmon fishing; then, in the long winters, when snow and ice make roads for travel, he is out with horse and sledge, placing our books and papers in the homes that line the polar regions.

This is a wonderful work. With our own eyes we are seeing the last message accomplishing the very work of the prophecy. The Lord is coming. The warning cry is ringing out in the uttermost parts of the earth. I thank God for the new courage that comes with what I see and hear and feel among these hearty believers of Finland.

Elder F. Anderson, formerly president of this conference, has been called to take charge of the North Swedish Mission, and Elder L. Mudderspach, of Denmark, who is with us, has been elected to the presidency here. Elder J. C. Raft, the union president, is here; and Dr. A. B. Olsen, of England, also, who has joined in the spiritual work of the meeting, given public health talks, and met with those needing medical advice. Best of all, the Lord has been with the brethren and sisters, and in no field have I enjoyed in any greater measure the fellowship with the Lord and his children of the 'blessed hope.'

W. A. S. Bjorneborg, Finland.