Burma by H. H. VOTAW

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 16, 1908

Burma

By H. H. VOTAW

H. H. VOTAW

RECENTLY many of our friends have chided us for failing to report our work. Lest our silence should be misunderstood, we send this word of cheer from the “land of the Judsons.”

We are now in our fourth year in this country, and I can truly say that during this time I have never had a homesick moment nor a discouraged day. When

we have been unable to see all the results that we had expected, and for which we had hoped, we have been enabled to rest the matter entirely in the Lord’s hands. But our experience here has been so much easier than what we had expected, that we continually feel that we are doing but little for the loving Saviour who has done so much for us.

The year 1908 bids fair to be the best in the history of our work. All the workers and believers here have been impressed to labor and pray that our numbers may at least be doubled during this year. All feel that the Lord has heard, and is even now beginning to answer. The evidences that we see on every hand of the mighty workings of the Lord of hosts lead us to believe that the work is to be finished soon. I believe as I never have in times past that the Lord will do a quick work and cut it short in righteousness. The end of all things is nearer than when we first believed. It is much nearer than most of us have believed. These dark heathen lands are on tiptoe of excitement. The Lord is going before us, and is preparing the darkened minds, so long bound in the shackles of ignorance and superstition, for the reception of the glorious message of Christ’s return. This is the glad word that will arrest the attention of the weary millions who now live “without hope and without God in the world.” And when the message begins in real earnest, when we who proclaim it believe it as we should, it will pass from mouth to mouth among Asia’s illiterate millions as swiftly as a prairie fire urged by the western wind.

Last month Mrs. Votaw and I made a trip to a city called Meiktila, in Upper Burma. We were enabled to gather a few together each day for the study of the Word, and as a result of about three weeks’ study five adults took a positive and decided stand for the truth. Never, in my short experience in the work, have I seen souls so hungry for the study of the Word of God as were these souls. These believers are blessed with a number of bright children, and this makes the Sabbath-school which we organized a fair-sized one.

After our return to Rangoon, I felt very much impressed that it was my duty to return for a short visit. While there I saw clearly that my impression to go had been from the Lord. The evening of my arrival—in fact, I had just gotten in the house where I was to stay—the Baptist missionary in the station came to ask my host to send his children to a Sunday-school that was just being started. This man replied, ‘I have lately had it pointed out to me very clearly, from the Scriptures, that the seventh day, and not the first, is the true Sabbath.’ The minister replied, ‘O, that doesn’t make any difference. You can send the children to Sunday-school just the same.’ But my friend said, ‘No, if I teach them one thing, and you teach something else, they will become confused.’ Just as the minister began to reply to this, I came out of my room, and as soon as he saw me, he said, ‘Well, I guess I have gotten myself into it. I must go. I must see a gentleman about some bricks.’ This so amused my host and his wife that they laughed very heartily. They were quite convinced that he was afraid to attempt to defend the doctrines which he teaches.

Before we went to Meiktila, there had been no Sunday-school held, but now both the Baptists and the Anglicans have begun to hold Sunday-schools. One man said that our coming had been a great boon, for besides what we did directly, we were the means of getting both the other denominations to go to work.

During this second trip one more adult became deeply stirred, and since my return home she has written telling of her interest in these truths. Her husband writes that she will be baptized when we come again, he believes. She had been a Roman Catholic, and some of her ideas were deeply rooted, but God seems to be leading her out of darkness into the full light.

Already this little company has begun to send in tithes. The Lord especially opened the way for us to present this portion of the message. I have always found it hard to present the subject of tithing in this country, where there is so much said about the missionaries being here only for the money which they get. And there is some color given to the talk by the fact that the ministers of the state church receive such large salaries. But the Lord made the way easy by causing these dear souls to ask about the subject first.

During our absence Brother Cook met a soldier who belonged to a regiment which was in Rangoon for only a short time. This man became much interested, and from the studies given, he said that he saw the matter clearly, and that there was but one thing for him to do, that is, to obey. He called once or twice after we came home, and we were all impressed that he is a real child of God. We are praying that he may stand firm and true. He is not a novice in religious experience. He has learned the power of prayer. He studies the Bible faithfully, and it was most restful to talk with him. He is now in Darjeeling.

Perhaps the most significant thing that has occurred this year in our work is the following: A Karen man has bought about four thousand five hundred copies of our Burmese tract upon the second coming of Christ. In fact he bought all we had in stock, and now he wishes us to get him five thousand more copies. He even paid more than the tracts cost us. Thus we have a profit, and he distributes the tracts in out-of-the-way places that we have never yet been able to visit. Most of the Karens can read Burmese, and we are hoping that the dear Lord will raise up some commandment-keepers among them. Ever since we first came to this field, we have been writing and begging for some one to come and labor with these people. With traditions that cause them to look upon the white man as the special messenger sent from God to tell them about the true religion, they are the most hopeful of the tribes of Burma as soil for the good seed. Is there not a soul in all our numbers, not one anywhere in all this denomination, who will respond to this oft-repeated call? I am sure that there is no tribe or tongue that has so much to encourage one to labor for them as has this race of Karens. But remember they need the gospel. Let no one come with the idea that they are now perfect Christians. They are not, but they present virgin soil that bids fair to bring forth a hundredfold. The other denominations have good beginnings made among them, but it seems to me that it is much better to come first and teach the truth than to come last and be compelled to cast out error before you can teach the truth.

In Rangoon, our work is growing. Our attendance has grown until we are enlarging our meeting hall somewhat. On Sunday nights we usually have about all our chairs occupied. Last night at the close of the service, a lady came and asked for baptism. She has had a knowledge of the truth for some time, but never saw the importance of obedience until recently.

A young man who is employed in the Rangoon Electric Company’s works has recently secured permission to observe the Sabbath. He had asked his immediate superior to release him from duty upon the Sabbath, but before the man had replied, the general manager began seeking a man to attend to duty upon Sunday. Most of the men objected, but this was just what our brother wished, so he was told that he might be absent upon the Sabbath, and attend work upon the first day of the week instead. We are always glad for such blessings, for we have always been told that no man could keep the Sabbath in this country. People here have said that it may be possible to observe the Sabbath in America or here by a man who is wealthy and does not need to work, but that no employer here would give a man the Sabbath off. So often I think of a remark that Brother G. B. Thompson made while here last year. He said, ‘I have preached a good many funeral sermons, but I have never preached the funeral sermon of a Seventh-day Adventist who starved to death.’ Our God does not allow us to starve when we obey his commands. I thank him that he can work here just as well as in the home land. We desire an interest in the prayers of our brethren that we may be kept faithful till the gathering day.

Rangoon.