H. H. DEXTER by H. H. Dexter

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 12, 1907

H. H. DEXTER

By H. H. Dexter

France

H. H. DEXTER

THE message of Rev. 14:6-12 is making headway in our field. We are waiting to see the Lord do great things in France. For the past twenty-five years the message has been preached more or less, but with meager results. Two years ago the membership of this mission field was one hundred and fifty. Since then, one hundred honest souls have accepted the truth. Lack of workers has been the cause of the slowness of the progress in past years. At present we have a corps of strong, faithful young men and women, who are devoting all their energies to pushing the triumphs of the cross to the very gates of the enemy. We have three ordained ministers, five licentiates, five Bible workers, and seven canvassers—a small force to evangelize forty million people. But we are of good courage, having the settled conviction that God is at the head of this work, and that it will soon triumph gloriously.

The words of Jesus in John 10:16 have given me much encouragement of late: “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” The Good Shepherd has wandering sheep in France, lost on the bleak mountains of sin. “Them also I must bring.” Determination is here expressed. We are all anxious to “bring” people into the truth; now, if we are truly united with the Good Shepherd, he will surely guide us to the places where he knows there are lost sheep. “They shall hear my voice.” We must hunt, we must call, and we must bring. When a lost sheep recognizes the voice of the Shepherd, it will not take him long to respond. It is the earnest desire of the workers in this field to be God’s true spokesmen, so that the call we are making may be clear and positive.

Before attending the General Conference Council at Gland, I went to Clermont Ferrand, in central France, to baptize three candidates, and to receive into the church one other upon her former baptism. Two of these are a former Baptist minister and his wife. For a few years he has been working at his trade as optician. He is well-grounded in the truth, and is a faithful witness to the message in this city where Catholicism has a strong hold. We hope that sometime this brother will be able to arrange his business affairs in such a way as to devote all his energies to the proclamation of the message. One other candidate is an intelligent young man—a former Catholic. We are glad that there is a little company of earnest believers holding up the banner on which is inscribed, “The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

In two years over thirty persons have been brought to accept the truth at Paris. A few of these have apostatized, but the rest are earnest, devoted Seventh-day Adventists. The work at Paris is now on a good, firm basis, and there is an encouraging outlook for a large, flourishing church. From Clermont Ferrand I went to Paris, to administer baptism to six new converts, and to hold the quarterly meeting. Among these new members is a brother who has left his position as bookkeeper at a large salary, in order to keep the Sabbath. Recognizing in him qualities that would make a valuable laborer, I felt free to encourage him to enter the work. He is now with me at Nîmes, in southern France, devoting his strength to canvassing and studying the message. He is thirty-nine years of age. He was at one time a devoted Roman Catholic; was converted among the Baptists ten years ago, and for a short time was a lay preacher. Two other young men, brothers, members of the Paris church, have entered the work, as colporteurs. One is helping Brother Augsburger in Paris; the other is with the workers in southern France. Thus the Lord is adding to our laboring force new recruits who are Frenchmen. We are very glad for this; for it is next to impossible for workers from the home conferences to come to France to labor successfully in this language. Not that the language in itself is very difficult to master; it is the pronunciation that the foreigner, and especially the English-speaking one, has great difficulty in acquiring.

At the Gland General Conference Council, after I had given a report of the progress of the work, and of the needs in our field, the Lord put it into my heart to appeal to my dear American brethren for a large new tent for field work. To my glad surprise, immediate response was made by Brethren E. T. Russell, Wm. Covert, and W. B. White. In behalf of the two hundred and fifty Sabbath-keepers in the French field, we extend our heartfelt thanks to the union conferences represented by these three brethren. Brother Russell writes me that the tent is made and shipped. So we hope to pitch it this summer.

There are two tents in the field this season—one in eastern, the other in southern France.

The laborers with the former write me that their interest is not large, about twenty adults regularly attending the services. One person has already declared his determination to keep all the commandments of God. The other tent is pitched at Beauvoisin, a village of two thousand inhabitants, twelve miles from Nîmes. Brethren A. Jaques and Paul Steiner are presenting the message to large, attentive audiences. Owing to the rough element in the cities, we can not hold successful tent-meetings in these populous centers; but here hall meetings can be very successfully operated in the fall and winter, while the towns and villages can be easily worked with tent efforts in summer.

As the result of a hall effort in the city of Nîmes last winter, by the writer and Brother Paul Steiner, nine have accepted the message, among them being a Baptist minister’s wife, with her two sons, also a middle-aged woman, a widow, proprietor of a fine shoe store, with her lady clerk. When convinced of the binding obligation of the fourth commandment, these two women did not hesitate about closing their store. While some of their customers have left them, and many of their former friends are persecuting them because of their faith, they are firmly holding on, trusting their business in the hands of the Author of their faith. Another woman, who, in company with her husband, formerly attended meetings held by a society of free-thinkers, has become a meek follower of the lowly Saviour, and her little boy, who had heard the name of God or Jesus used only in swearing, is now, with his mother, a member of our Sabbath-school.

Sabbath, July 6, I went to Montpellier, a city of eighty thousand inhabitants, forty miles west of Nîmes, to help Elder Nussbaum organize the church. Two years ago he was asked to begin meetings at this place. He and his family were the only Sabbath-keepers. Last Sabbath we had the privilege of organizing a church of twenty-two members, eight of whom had formerly been Roman Catholics, tainted more or less with Spiritualism. The brother whom we ordained elder is a printer, hiring five or six men in his shop. His wife keeps a stationery store. Both are sound in the message, and have a burden for souls.

We are more and more convinced that the best way to build up the kingdom of God in this country is to place in the field men and women full of faith, and let them scatter the printed page freighted with the precious truth, and to let meetings be held in halls and tents. We are glad for the beautiful property at Gland, where we hope soon to see in operation a Latin Union Conference school for the training of our young men and women who ought to be placed very soon in all our large cities to sell our precious literature.

More than fifty persons have embraced the message since our last camp-meeting. We wish to double that number next year, by the Lord’s help. France is a beautiful country. The French people are polite and kind, and we feel much at home among them—all the more since the Lord has helped me in a remarkable manner in getting hold of the language. Pray for the work and workers here.

Nîmes, France.