Mission Notes

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Dec 24, 1903

COLPORTAGE in the province of Algarve, south Portugal, has been prohibited. Steps are being taken to secure the removal of the restrictions.

MEXICO is not across the sea, but within a few days of where we rejoice in our freedom and education; but no one can estimate the distance, when we compare our opportunities with theirs.

THE first college for women in Japan is only two years old, yet it already has more than eight hundred pupils. Their ages range from twelve to more than thirty-five years. English, Japanese, and Chinese are taught.

A TIBETAN-ENGLISH dictionary has been recently prepared. It was revised and edited under the orders of the government of Bengal, by one of the chaplains in the English service in India and a Moravian missionary of the Tibetan frontier.

WRITING of the condition of the work in the Netherlands, Brother Jacob Wibbens says that the work is onward, although they have not yet recovered from the experience of the last year. The membership is still about one third of what it was before the apostasy, but the experience, though bitter at first, has been a blessing to those who stood firm for the truth. The prophecies and the sanctuary question have become much clearer and dearer than before.

ELDER E. VAN DEUSEN, after years of labor in the West Indies, has returned to his home in Lowell, Mich. He writes: “After I left the council meeting at Trinidad last spring, I went to Antigua with Brother D. E. Wellman, and stayed with him until the next mail, when I returned to St. Vincent. I immediately set about securing a house for the company there, as a place of worship. When I had succeeded, as I supposed, the party with whom I had bargained suddenly recanted. Then I tried to secure another house, but failed. So I was compelled to buy a piece of land, and build on it. We began the work the first of April, and had the church dedicated July 12. Going to Barbados and returning to St. Vincent and preparing to leave the field, took me until August 17, when I started for Trinidad, to visit our children, and sail for the States. “I left Trinidad on September 8, and arrived home the twenty-second. I am glad to say that I found my wife in a better state of health than I expected. I have thought best to stay here this winter, and do what I can in this vicinity. I see as great need of work here as in any place where I have been, and shall try to be of some use. “With interest I have been watching the trend this great work is taking. I am in harmony with the advance steps which have been made, and ever hope to keep in touch with every change the Lord may indicate.”

BROTHER MORROW, of Bermuda, has been visiting among the Boers who still remain in the island, which was used as a prison camp during the South African war. He now writes that two have accepted the truths of this advent message. Far removed from their own homes by war, they nevertheless did not drift beyond the Lord’s love and care.

ONE of the results of the recent war in China is a new spirit of restless, dissatisfied inquiry permeating most classes of people. Missionary work is being rapidly reorganized, and in no part of the country, except Kwongsai, has it been unsafe to sell the Scriptures. The results call for deep and devout gratitude to God. Our actual circulation during 1902 was more than double the figures of the previous year, and the largest total ever reported for China. Especially remarkable are the unprecedented sales of Bibles and Testaments. Though our depot at Shanghai issued more than a million books, it failed to keep pace with the extraordinary demand for the Gospels.—Bible Society Gleanings.

IN writing of the needs of India recently, Brother L. J. Burgess pens a picture which is a mute appeal from the millions in India. He says: “There are certainly many good souls among the Hindu and Mohammedan people who will be reached with the gospel of the kingdom. I saw a man coming along the road one day, holding his hand raised over his head, as though reaching up toward heaven. When he came near, I saw that his finger nails had grown about five inches in length, and that his hand had been held in that position until he could not get it down. It seemed to me like a silent call to heaven for help. There are many souls reaching out for help, which is right at hand, but they do not see it. They need some one to point them to Jesus, the Saviour of the world.”

WHEN Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary, first went to China, it was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of the Cannibal Islands the ship was becalmed, and it was slowly drifting shoreward, unable to go about, and the savages were eagerly anticipating a feast. The captain came to Mr. Taylor, and besought him to pray for the help of God. “I will,” said Taylor, “provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.” The captain declined to make himself a laughing-stock by unfurling in a dead calm. Taylor said, “I will not undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails.” And it was done. While engaged in prayer, there was a knock at the door of his stateroom. “Who is there?” The captain’s voice responded, “Are you still praying for wind?” “Yes.” “Well,” said the captain, “you’d better stop praying, for we have more wind than we can well manage.” And, sure enough, when but a hundred yards from the shore, a strong wind had struck the sails of the boat, so that the cannibals were cheated out of their human prey.—Dr. L. A. Banks.