Your ShelfYour Projects

India

9%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 9, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 19.

Read the full edition

India

By J. S. JAMES

J. S. JAMES
KNOWING that our brethren are deeply interested in the progress of the work in the mission fields, I take this opportunity to write a few lines. I arrived in this field with my family, Dec. 21, 1906, having left New York November 7. We were favored with a pleasant voyage all the way. Out of the entire month we spent on the sea we were confined to our cabins only three or four days on account of seasickness.
Shortly after our arrival the general meeting convened in Calcutta. The Lord was present by his Holy Spirit at that time in a marked measure, and we all felt drawn closer to him, and to the trust he has placed in our hands. The burden of the meeting seemed to be for the native work and the mastering of the many languages spoken by the millions of this great field.
One item which received serious attention was the circulation of our English literature in this field, of which the Oriental Watchman is the chief representative. While the English-speaking people of this country are but a drop in the ocean compared to the millions of natives, still the Lord has laid upon us the responsibility of carrying the message to them also. This can be done most effectively by our literature, and chiefly the Oriental Watchman, which is our most able minister in India.
It was decided that a special campaign in the interests of the Watchman and British Good Health be carried on from the close of the general meeting till the first of April. This would give us ten or twelve weeks of the best season of the year to cover most of the field with our papers and small books.
Accordingly the field was divided, and fourteen workers were placed in the various parts, and the work was begun. Three workers were sent to the Northwest Provinces and the Punjab, two went into Bengal and western Assam, three went to Burma, two went to southern India and Ceylon, one went into the native province of Hyderabad and south central India, and the remainder took work in and about Calcutta. At this writing (March 3) the campaign is at its height. From the beginning, the Lord’s blessing has been with each worker, especially with those who recently came to this field from America.
From the beginning of the campaign it was my endeavor to issue a weekly letter to all the canvassers, giving their reports and extracts from their letters, in addition to my personal letters. In a field like this, where the workers are so widely separated, these weekly letters prove a source of great encouragement and strength to the workers, and serve to bind us all together in the one great object of the campaign.
I am glad to say that our books find a good sale in this field. In this respect we are not confined to the Europeans, as thousands of the native princes and of the educated classes are able to read English, and subscribe for our books. This field affords opportunity for several earnest, consecrated men to carry on this work on a self-supporting basis. We now have several lady canvassers who are devoting their entire time to this work, and derive their support from it. The time is ripe for a great work to be done in this field with our literature. The message must reach the different tongues spoken in this land in this generation.
Mrs. James and our two boys have been in southern India for two months now. We have been asked to locate at Bangalore, the chief city of the Mysore Province, fourteen hundred miles south of Calcutta. I expect to join them there in a few days, the Lord willing.
As soon as the campaign is over, some of the canvassers will take up the study of the vernaculars in the various parts of India, and some will continue their canvassing work. I will begin on the study of the Tamil language in southern India about April 1. I never enjoyed better health in my life than at the present time. Our children are getting along nicely, and are attending a good school at Bangalore. We are beginning to love India dearly, and we thank God that he has given us a part in the work in this needy field. Our great desire is to learn the language that we may thus be enabled to come in close touch with people as they really are. We desire to be remembered in your prayers.