Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 1, 1910

Editorial

By Editor

A Hope That Lives and Works

Another Word Concerning the German Meetings

The grand thing about this advent message is that it works. The third angel's message is a success everywhere. It transforms the individual and begets in his heart the “lively hope,” and it builds up and unifies a great movement. There is constructive power in this system of truth which is to us the “blessed hope.” Paul wrote to the Colossian brethren:—

“For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.”

Everywhere it is the same. Now in the two German unions we have ten thousand believers. It is four years since I met with them; and I can see evidence of the continuous growth not only in the work generally, but in the believers. They are experienced Seventh-day Adventists. A large and strong corps of trained workers has been developed. These believers have exactly the same aims and hopes and outlook upon the world-wide field that our brethren have in every other part; and here is a mighty force at work, under God, for the speedy finishing of the task committed to us.

It is by no means an easy way of service that our brethren have set before them. It is a battle all the time; but a winning battle. In many parts the book workers find themselves beset with restrictive and oppressive regulations; but the book work goes forward. In some parts our brethren have been subject to fine or imprisonment for celebrating the Lord's supper; but brethren who come from such experiences are not a whit behind any others in their courage and confidence in the triumph of the message.

The brethren know that the Lord is working for them. Liberty has come in Catholic Bavaria. In ancient Nuremberg, where a few years ago public meetings were forbidden, Elder F. Priester had last winter as many as five hundred out to his meetings. The Lord has done it. A sister from Augsburg—where the Augsburg Confession was prepared—told me of former experiences with intolerance, and the coming of a fair degree of liberty. “We fasted and prayed,” she said, “and asked the Lord to influence the hearts of men in power. And very soon after the special season of fasting, the liberty came.”

At this conference also the brethren have been thanking God for a splendid deliverance in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg, in northern Germany. It is a Protestant state; but there was an absolute denial of religious liberty. Elder F. Goetting told us how he, and later some fellow workers, had to work quietly among the people, watched by the police, and forbidden even to hold a cottage meeting. As souls accepted the truth, some were fined for meeting together. The situation seemed very hard indeed; and the Lutheran clergy were pressing the police on to more earnest action still.

Two of our brethren, lay members, with the prayers of all ascending to God, went to the grand duke, and laid the matter before him, telling of fines and police opposition, and of our desire to preach and practise the Word of God in a Lutheran province. One of these brethren was a delegate to our conference, and told us of the interview.

When the case had been stated, the grand duke said he would find out about us.

“We went away,” said the brother, “saying to ourselves, ‘Well, now, he will ask the pastors; and they are not on our side.’”

But our brethren put the case in the hands of God, and he led the grand duke to do splendid service for religious liberty. The permission came to our people to meet freely together, though it is supposed that only members can so meet. But this is an advance step, and our brethren rejoice. A police officer told them that the ruler had really a stiff controversy with the pastors, and against their opposition he nobly stood for right. “It was a wonder,” said the officer to our people; “the Lord must surely have helped you.” Our brethren are holding public meetings in spite of restrictions. In many places the local pastors are not aware of the distinctions in the permission and the law, and do not know how to apply hindering restrictions. In one country place Elder Goetting reported having had three hundred people at his meeting. The seed is sown, a foothold is gained; and by the time the opposition gets the machinery of oppression started, the worker is on to some other place.

And all the time the message spreads. Of course it is not to be understood that these difficulties are found everywhere. In fact, in most of the union territory there is liberty. But really the various hindrances do not seem to make any great difference as regards increase of membership.

That is a lesson for us to take to heart. We need not think that restrictive laws will be able to stop the truth. This last quarter, in the two German unions, there has been a net gain of five hundred members. This means a large, strong conference added every year, or, for that matter, the equivalent of a small conference every quarter. The third angel's message is a success. And how it wins the loving devotion of the believers!

It was good to watch the earnest, enthusiastic congregation day by day. These brethren are Seventh-day Adventists of the old-time stamp. Their hearts are in the forward moves in all the world, and they hunger and thirst for the power of God that is to cut the work short in righteousness. Just under the pulpit a good old brother sat day after day, in order that his dull ears might catch the words from the speakers. He comes from Bavaria. Down in that Catholic land he heard the first angel's message in the days of 1844, and his wife began to keep the Sabbath then. He himself began in 1854, knowing nothing of any movement in the world, but seeing only the truth as it is in the Word. How his heart rejoiced some years ago when he found this people! Old and feeble physically, his love is young and strong, and will never grow old, we trust. Drawing my ear down, he said to me, “O, I have such a hungering and thirsting after God.” This message is searching all lands, as a fisherman's net sweeps the depths of the sea, to find the true souls that are waiting; and the message is preparing them for heaven and eternal life.

The cheeriest message borne in the conference came by letter from a young brother who sent the message from prison, where he lies for refusing to work on the Sabbath. “Eight years ago,” he said, “I made the covenant of a good conscience with God at Friedensau. Nearly half of the time since, I have spent in prison. Why has the Lord showed just me such grace that I should be called to suffer for his precious name?” And he trusted that all at the conference might know personally that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Our youth are ready to endure hardness as good soldiers; and the Lord is standing by them. More than one told me of the richest of blessings that had come to them while suffering imprisonment and punishment for loyalty to the Sabbath truth while under military service.

Six young men and women at our

meeting were dedicated with prayer to the work in East Africa. When Elder L. R. Conradi called for those who were ready to follow on later to stand up, forty or fifty young people were at once on their feet. Four years ago, when such a call was made, I remember that about eighteen volunteered; and Brother Sander, one of the strongest and most robust of all, was selected. He now lies in an East African grave, and the heathen chiefs say, “He was a good man; and he loved our people.” There are other African graves, too, in this short campaign of our German brethren in East Africa. But for the love of Jesus and his truth our youth are ready to pay the price, and fathers and mothers give them into the hands of God.

These sights and scenes of the great German meeting would bring joy to all our people. I can only give the impressions here and there, almost at random. But God is in the work in the land of Luther and the regions worked directly from the German field. Years ago Froude, the historian, said, “The land of Luther needs again the spirit of Luther.” Well, in this reformatory message of Revelation 14, the spirit of Reformation truth is spreading once again through the land of Luther.

W. A. S.

Watford, England.