The Northwest India Mission by Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 13, 1915

The Northwest India Mission

By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

The Northwest India Mission was set off at the biennial conference held in Calcutta, Dec. 18-28, 1914. It embraces the Punjab Province and its states, the Northwest Frontier Province, Kashmir, and Sind. Occupying the extreme northwest corner of the Indian Empire, it extends from the Himalayas southward along the eastern boundaries of Afghanistan and Baluchistan to the Arabian Sea. The population is given at 33,000,000, divided as follows: Punjab Province and its states, 24,000,000; Northwest Frontier Province, 2,000,000; Kashmir, 2,000,000; Sind, 4,000,000. Delhi, the capital of the empire, and Simla, the summer headquarters of the government, both lie within the boundaries of this mission. The scope of the territory, the number of people, and the variety of races all combine to give almost boundless opportunities for missionary endeavor. It is a most interesting field, and the conditions in the Punjab Province make that part of the territory very promising.

The circumstances connected with our entering the Punjab and creating this new division are most interesting and encouraging. These were told by Elder Wellman at the Calcutta conference. He said:—

In the fall of 1913, while traveling down to Lucknow from Simla, I met on the train an Indian preacher, Mr. S. Samuel, of the Plymouth Brethren Mission of the Gujranwala District of the Punjab. We became acquainted, and for the eight hours we traveled together, kept up a constant conversation on the points of our message. When we parted, Mr. Samuel asked for literature, and pressed me to visit his work and tell his people the views I had explained to him.

In December I made a brief visit to the Punjab, and spent a part of two days in these villages. I was impressed by what I found here, and felt that we might here make a beginning in this most promising province. Returning to Lucknow, I explained the situation to Professor Salisbury, and we decided to visit these people as soon as he could find the time to do so. In March, 1914, we carried out our plan, spending two full days in the villages, visiting several places. We were deeply impressed that we ought not to hesitate to enter this field, which seemed to have opened so providentially. Brother Frank Loasby was immediately called to work here, and he and his wife settled in Lahore in May, 1914. In October, Dr. V. L. Mann and his family joined Brother and Sister Loasby, and together these brethren have been working among the villages the best they could under the circumstances.

Leaving Simla, Professor Salisbury and I visited this section of the Punjab. At Lahore we met Dr. Mann and his family and Brother and Sister Loasby. They were all well and happy, and full of courage regarding their new mission. At the close of the Sabbath we four men, and Brother Gardner, a native, left Lahore for the country, to spend a few days among the villages. We reached Dhaban Sing, forty-five miles from Lahore, about 9:30 P. M. Here we were met by Brother Samuel, our native preacher who first led Brother Wellman to this district. With Brother Samuel were fifteen or twenty men who had gathered from a number of surrounding villages to welcome us to their district. We were surely given a rousing reception. According to native custom, twenty or more homemade bombs were exploded at intervals of about one minute as a salute. We were then placed in a two-wheeled vehicle and taken some distance from the station; and then to do us full honor, the horse was taken from the cart and four men drew us back. This was a new kind of reception to me, and one I should have objected to under ordinary circumstances. But the brethren assured me that the better way would be to keep still and let our hosts have their way. I must say, however, that my heart was touched by the simple, whole-hearted earnestness of these people who wanted to tell us how glad they were to have us come to see them. I told the brethren who were with me that God will hold us responsible for the influence we exert over these people.

Our reception proceedings ended with a light repast of rice and fruit which they had prepared for us. When all was over and we were left to retire, it was midnight, and we were very weary.

We were up early the next morning for a strenuous day's work. When breakfast was over, we were requested to meet a company of about fifty gathered in an open lot near the station for a religious service. Native hymns were sung, a Scripture lesson was read, and prayer was offered.

OPEN-AIR DISPENSARY — DR. MANN AT A VILLAGE IN PUNJAB PROVINCE

Then Brother Samuel read an address to us from those present. As I should like to have our brethren in America know the situation we met way up here in the northwest corner of India, under the Himalayas and by the side of Afghanistan, I here give this address as it was read to us in the best English Brother Samuel could command:—

An Address for the Elder Daniells, the President of the Seventh-Day Adventist Mission

DEAR SIR: We are very thankful to the Elder Daniells because he has taken a great trouble in coming to us from a very far country. We realize that he has suffered the inconveniences of the terrible route. We are convinced that he has shown a favorable consideration for the strayed souls of this province, therefore he has made a sincere sympathy in coming to us, for which we are exceedingly obliged and grateful.

Now we supplicate God the Father that he bestow the dew of grace upon him, and moreover, fill him with both the secular and spiritual blessings, and besides this he may confer on his whole . . . the heavenly gifts.

We beseech God the Son that he may reveal on him the needs of more workers for the Punjab Seventh-day Adventist Mission work, because the field is vast,

but the workers are very few, consequently we are quite sure that God will send more laborers into his vineyard.

We implore the Holy Spirit that he will draw the attention of the elder toward those oppressed boys and girls who have been expelled from the boarding schools of the other missions because their parents have joined the Seventh-day Adventist mission. So we have a true hope that the Lord will manage the education of these poor people, and the hope maketh not ashamed.

Now the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost be forever and ever, amen.

Your brother in Christ, [Signed] S. SAMUEL, Assistant Missionary (and others). Seventh-day Adventist Mission, Martin Pur, Punjab. Dec. 12, 1914.

It will be noticed that in this address these people take the name of “Seventh-day Adventist Mission,” and that Brother Samuel signs it as “Assistant Missionary.” Several villages are represented, but we do not know how many people are living in them.

Now we are quite aware that these people have nothing approaching a clear conception of our message and work. From their manner of living in the villages we visited, we could scarcely recognize them as Seventh-day Adventists. Quite possibly some of them may have selfish aims back of what we see. All this we have taken into account, and yet after making great allowance we believe with all our hearts that the providence of God has led us into this field among these people.

In responding to their address, Professor Salisbury and I explained to them the best we could the meaning of our message, the object of our missionary enterprises, and our methods of work. We also told them we believed the providence of the Lord had brought us to them in much the way that it took Paul to Macedonia, and that we sincerely hoped that a great blessing would come to all of us by our association together.

AT RIGHT: DR. AND MRS. MANN AND THREE CHILDREN; AT LEFT: MR. AND MRS. LOASBY

The meeting having ended, Professor Salisbury and I started off with Dr. Mann and Brother Loasby to visit some of the near-by villages. In order to transport the dispensary and stereopticon outfits, we were obliged to get some of our new brethren to draw them in the one-horse wagon we found it possible to secure.

FOLLOWERS WHO HAVE TAKEN THE NAME OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST
MISSION, PUNJAB PROVINCE — FOLLOWERS WHO HAVE TAKEN THE NAME OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST MISSION, PUNJAB PROVINCE

After going a mile we came to a place where the vehicle could be taken no farther. Then the men carried the boxes another mile on their heads. The doctor set up his dispensary outfit on an open plot of ground. Quicker than one would think it possible, the whole village seemed to have been notified, and the people with ailments of all sorts began to flock around the dispensary. This was a revelation to me of the terrible condition and needs of these villagers, and the untold amount of good a medical missionary can do for them. The doctor seemed quite at home, and by his every act showed his love and tender sympathy for these unfortunate, suffering people.

Thus we tramped about until it was too dark to do more, and then found our way back to the railway station, where we were to sleep for the night.

Early the next morning we left for another large center thirty or forty miles south. The particular village we wanted to visit was Martin Pur, a Christian village in which there was not living one professed heathen. This is very rare in India. Brother Samuel, with a large circle of relatives, lives in this village. We found Sister Samuel more than an ordinary Indian woman. Her house was clean, and everything impressed us very favorably. We met Brother Samuel's father and mother, an uncle and aunt, and other relatives, all believing that they were members of the “Seventh-day Adventist Mission.” We were especially impressed with the superiority of his uncle and aunt. They had a good house, a nice little farm, and well-kept cattle. They received us with manifestations of Christian love. Tears were in the old man's eyes as we bade them good-by. We believe these people are not far from the kingdom, and that, like the woman at the well of Samaria, they need only to hear the message of life to take their stand for the Saviour.

What may ultimately be found by weeks of visiting among these people no one can tell. But we do feel that “a great door and effectual” has been opened to us in the Punjab, and that no time should be lost in beginning work. Dr. Mann and Brother Loasby are all wrapped up in this field and its work. But they are seriously crippled by the conditions in which they are placed. Their homes are from thirty to fifty miles from these villages. There is not a dwelling nearer in which they can place their families. They had no conveyance for traveling from village to village and transporting their tent, bedding, cooking outfit, and dispensary and stereopticon outfits. They had been trying to itinerate without a conveyance. After doing a little of this itinerating with them, I handed them several hundred rupees that one of our doctors had placed in my hands to use where I thought necessary for medical missionary work, and told them to buy two good bullocks and an itinerating wagon.

But they need more than two bullocks and a covered wagon. They need a bungalow in the center of these villages, so that they can be on the ground to look after the people. Just as soon as they begin active work, they will have to conduct Sabbath services, and, too, the doctor will have hundreds of patients to care for.

The brethren showed me the town on the railway line which they believe will make a good center from which to work.

In every direction are to be seen villages in which thousands of people are living. It is proposed to erect a hospital in this center, from which the doctor and nurses can go out to the villages, and to which a certain class of the seriously ill can be brought. There is at present in the treasury at Lucknow the sum of $6,000 which has been appropriated for this hospital; but when the war broke out, the Mission Board requested that all building operations not fully under way be suspended for a time. We have asked the board to grant us permission to proceed with the erection of this hospital at once, and are hoping the request will be granted. There is not a hospital, nor a dispensary, nor a doctor nearer than Lahore, forty miles distant. We shall have a commanding position there. While Dr. Mann carries on the medical work, Brother Loasby will push forward with the evangelistic work. These brethren are united heart and soul in these two lines. They have a clear vision as to what is needed, and how to do the work. It did my heart good to see their faces turned from the city to that forest of villages. And Sister Mann and Sister Loasby are as eager to get into the country as are their husbands.

It would have been a pleasure to tarry longer with these dear fellow workers. We felt the peace and blessing of the Lord in their home, and in all our association with them. We cannot help feeling the keenest interest in their mission.

Now the Northwest India Mission needs a superintendent. As there was no one to take the superintendency at the time of the conference, it was laid on Professor Salisbury's already heavily loaded shoulders. We must have a man of experience and consecration to take this great mission. The Punjab Province is one of the greatest in all India. It is one great alluvial plain; and since the British government has completed a system of irrigation, this plain has been turned into one of the most productive spots on the earth. The Punjabis are a progressive people. A report made public by a large influential committee while I was in that part of the country, takes strong ground for the education of women, the removal of the purdah, the destruction of the caste system, etc. It is in the Punjab that the great mass movements toward Christianity are taking place. Now is the time for our movement to be set on foot in the Punjab. What a work could be done if the Mann-Loasby combination were multiplied a hundredfold! Here indeed is a field for medical missionaries. May the Saviour of men lay the burden of this work on the hearts of those who will count it a joy to go to these suffering, hopeless, groping millions with the light of life.

A. G. DANIELLS.