Opening of Missions in English Countries
By J. O. Corliss
The Experiences of Former Days—No. 18
Opening of Missions in English Countries
AT a session of the General Conference held in Battle Creek, in the spring of 1875, word was given through the spirit of prophecy that the third angel's message would yet gain so much strength as to have missions, and even publishing houses, in many foreign fields. This announcement was a surprise to some who had thought that time must close within a half-score of years, and the question was asked, “In what countries will such extensive work be done?” The answer was, “In several; one in particular, which I remember, is Australia.” This seemed very strange to most of the delegates, because Australia was then little known by them, being so far away on the opposite side of the globe. But the statement did this for our people: it caused them to take broader views of the work to be accomplished by the message, and to plan accordingly. An awakening regarding missions followed. Two years later Elder Matteson went to Scandinavia, and the following year Elders Loughborough and Ings went to England, and began their labors in the ancient town of Southampton. In time a church was organized there, and through the labors of others, the12work has spread until churches of Seventh-day Adventists are now located in many parts of Great Britain. Little was done, however, for several years about extending the work to the British colonies. But in a session of the General Conference held in the autumn of 1884 it was decided to send a company to open the work in Australia. This party, headed by Elder S. N. Haskell, sailed from San Francisco, May 10, 1885, and landed in Melbourne the ninth day of June following. After looking over the field around Melbourne, and Hobart, Tasmania, for a few weeks, Elder Haskell left for New Zealand, where he remained long enough to see a small company accept the truth. During his absence a portion of the company remaining in Melbourne began active work, and held two series of tent-meetings before his return. A church of twenty-nine members was organized, Jan. 10, 1886. Weekly additions were made to this company until, as the tent season closed, it numbered fully one hundred members. Ballarat was next entered, and at the close of a seven weeks' series of hall meetings a company of forty-five Sabbath-keepers was established. In September of the same year (1886) the work was opened in the town hall of Norwood, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, and in a little over three months a church of thirty-five members was organized. In the latter part of February, about six weeks after the organization of the church in Melbourne, Elder Haskell left Australia to return to America. About the middle of the following November, Elder A. G. Daniells landed in Auckland, New Zealand, to continue the work in that island. In April of the next year a large church was organized in that city, and workers were selected from among them to accompany Elder Daniells to Napier, where another large company was reared up in the truth. During the second series of meetings in Melbourne (in December, 1885) the publication of the Bible Echo was begun. The circulation of this paper added much interest to the work, and was the means of many learning the truth who otherwise would not have known of it. In time the message spread to all the colonies of the southern hemisphere. An industrial school was instituted in New South Wales for the education of mission workers to go to the islands of the sea. This has been successful in its work, and is still flourishing. A sanitarium is also filling a good place in that field. But let no one imagine that all the work done in that part of the world has been without anxiety and perplexity. Sacrifices of means, and even health, have been freely laid on the altar there, as in other foreign mission fields. But the work might have been more easily done had the field been entered immediately after the instruction came in 1875, that that field was one of the number to be so fully developed; for then some of the obstacles that hindered the work when it was entered, had not arisen. How slow men are at times to comprehend the voice of the Lord concerning duty. But these mistakes are covered by the hand of mercy, and the commission to the delinquents is not revoked, until they have opportunity to retrieve the past. Surely, our God is good, and greatly to be praised.