p. 20 | How the Message was Introduced in the Island of Haiti

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 14, 1916

How the Message was Introduced in the Island of Haiti

By W. W. Eastman

Not long before his death, Brother Henry Williams, our first Sabbath keeper in Haiti, wrote a letter to this office, in which he told how the truth reached that island.

In the year 1880 a royal mail steamer from Southampton, England, called at the port where Brother Williams lived, and gave some of our literature to the

agent to distribute. Thinking the minister would be the most interested in religious literature, the agent handed it to him. The minister distributed it to his congregation, and Brother Williams, being a member of that church, received a portion of it.

He says the first tract he read was on the Sabbath question, and it convinced him that he was keeping the wrong day. He then gave it to his wife, who, after reading, was likewise convinced, and together they decided to keep the Sabbath. Brother Williams was engaged in business at the time, and he notified his customers that after that week he would not open his shop any more on Saturday, and that every one must get what he wanted not later than Friday evening. The people were very much displeased, and threatened to withdraw their patronage, and as usual where new truth is introduced, sought to make a great deal of trouble for those who were conscientious enough to obey their convictions of truth. But this did not shake the faith of Brother and Sister Williams.

From addresses found on the literature, Brother Williams wrote to our headquarters, then in Battle Creek, Mich., to secure more literature, and was encouraged by letters received from the brethren. For a number of years he and his wife were the only Sabbath keepers in the republic of Haiti, but by faithfully distributing literature and by living consistently, others were led to join them. All remained faithful to the truth, and in 1905, Brother W. J. Tanner, the first Seventh-day Adventist laborer to the island, was sent there from Jamaica. Brother M. N. Isaac, who at present is the leading native licensed preacher in Haiti, came into the truth through the literature that Brother and Sister Williams distributed. Brother Williams lived to see nearly three hundred baptized believers in that island. In the closing paragraph of his letter, he says:—

“I praise God that I have been spared to see the message spread so far in Haiti, and to be able still to do some work in the vineyard of the Lord at my advanced age [then 74 years]. The Lord has seen fit to permit my life companion to rest, and I am left alone, without a relative,—with no one to cheer me on my pilgrimage, except Jesus, who is closer to me than a brother.”

Thus our pioneer agency, the printed page, as in many other fields, was used of God to plant the truth in this republic, so often torn by revolution; and though his servants who first received the truth have been laid to sleep, many others have embraced the message, churches have been raised up, and a growing work has been established.

W. W. EASTMAN.