The Mission to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
By Editor
Elder Matteson Must Have a Paper and Live Helpers.
Times are hard, and we have opposed the publication of papers in Europe in any language in which we now publish papers at Battle Creek, until those American papers had sufficient patronage to support them, and until enough friends should be raised up in the Old World to sustain papers there. But we had no just idea of the extent and strength of the work in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. We are in receipt of letters from Bro. Matteson which stir the soul to the very depths. He must have our sympathy and support. The faithful, working men who, like Bro. M., have ability and a heart and nerve to work, must not be crippled for want of a few hundred dollars. It is no small thing for a man to leave the field of his former labors, where he has spent the best of his strength, to suffer the toils, cares, and responsibilities of a Foreign Mission; and he should be cheered by letters from his friends. Especially should those at our houses of publication be very attentive to his letters, and his requests. Elder Matteson has charge of the Scandinavian Mission in Europe, under the supervision of the General Conference. He should let his wants be known. Does he want means and live men? He should call for them. He can appropriate means raised in his mission to help those laborers who need help and are worthy of it. No means can be sent from this country to help such. The following letters from our dear Bro. M. will be read with deep interest, and we hope they will stir the hearts of all who read them, especially the Scandinavian brethren in this country, as they have ours. The first is dated, Osterhausgaden 12, Christiana, Norway, Dec. 10, 1878. “Elder James White: Dear Brother,—I will again send you a few lines, that you may know how we are getting along. I think Bro. Jasperson will be a good man to labor in Denmark. But he needs a young brother there to help him, and I need one here if the work shall be carried on successfully. Could not Bro. Martin Olsen, of Wisconsin, come here to my assistance? I know him well. He fears the Lord, and is willing to work. And if he came here to help in the mission in Norway, I think some of our good Norwegian brethren in America would open their hearts and pockets much wider for this mission. For I notice that they have done but little up to the present time.
“I must say a little about a paper. We very much need one here now, and means to publish tracts. Without this the work will be cramped. The Lord has never before opened so large a field before me. I have never had so good an interest on my hands. Do not forsake me. Oh! give me help now, when the cause in this far Northern country needs it most. From three hundred to one thousand people listen with marked attention to the preached word every week. I have to move cautiously and slowly, and get as many souls converted as possible as we move along. The mere theory of the truth without a thorough conversion to God will not do in this country. We have had one interesting weekly prayer-meeting, and have now started one more in another part of the town. Last night about twenty souls (mostly Baptists) came to me and wanted to get all the light I had on the Sabbath question. All were fully satisfied, and some will begin without delay to keep the Sabbath. One of these is their leader. He is a Christian man, and publisher of a small monthly paper. He has about one thousand subscribers in this town. I think he could be persuaded to join his interest with ours. “Many of those who are most interested are Swedes. The truth would naturally work out from this city into Sweden as well as into all parts of Norway. There is ten times more religious interest in this country than in Denmark. And in Sweden religious subjects are still more agitated. Thousands of souls are willing to hear and read. A monthly paper will cost about $427 a year. And our small tracts printed in the paper first, as you do in the SIGNS, would not cost much. “Can you not help us now? You know that my work is arduous,—furnishing three-fourths of the matter for the TIDENDE every month, besides much correspondence, and preaching four times a week (with other meetings) to intelligent people, often preachers, I have to study my subjects thoroughly, and not be behind others, in order that the truth may advance against all this tide of superstition and hoary theology. Give me a good earnest fellow-laborer. Do send me help. God grant it, and direct your mind for Jesus’ sake.
Yours in Christ,
“John G. Matteson.” Bro. Matteson's second letter is dated Osterhausgaden 12, Christiana, Norway, Dec. 17, 1878. “Dear Bro. White: Please excuse me for visiting you again so soon. I have a few things on my mind which I would like to tell you. We need very much a paper here for 1879. The new year is coming on, and yet we are not ready to make this important move. If our dear brethren in America could see the necessity of it, they would send the lightning to speak for them, saying, Here we are, ready to sustain you in this enterprise; go on! “I am still waiting to hear from you. I have myself ordered and paid for one hundred copies of the ADVENT TIDENDE this year wherewith to supply those who want to read and become acquainted with our paper. Besides this, the Office has sent me thirty copies each month to supply new subscribers with the first two numbers. We have obtained about fifty new subscribers the past month, and all our specimen copies are gone, besides all the old ones. Now we are getting subscribers on the bare promise of securing them a paper by and by. But this is a hard way of canvassing. If we had a paper here we could get five subscribers where we got one in this way. And just now, when from three hundred to a thousand souls will listen to our lectures in the capital of this kingdom, is the time when we could work to the best advantage. Truly, the opening providence of God is far ahead of our preparations. “Would to God we had suitable publications here. And then a live fellow-laborer—oh! how much I need one such to help me here; not one that is asleep, and does the work with one hand in his pocket, having no burden for anything but to eat and get plenty of sleep and take things easy. “The new paper (The Danish SIGNS OF THE TIMES) will be best accepted by the people of this country if it is folded up so as not to be much larger than the ADVENT TIDENDE. It would be very convenient to have two columns, each exactly the width of our tracts. Then any article desired could easily be put into tract form. On account of the expense we want no cover, no stitching, or paring. “Five hundred dollars a year will more than cover the whole cost, and at two crowns [53 cents] a year, we will soon (by the help of God) be able to get five hundred subscribers. Then several hundred copies more would soon be taken by friends, for missionary work. “Our dearest child is dead. The next one (Tina) was dangerously sick and not able to write when we last heard from there. Our children cannot stand the Michigan climate. It seems to us that they would not have been sick if they had stayed in Wisconsin. They never were sick before, to speak of, and those that remain there are all well. “I have never in my labors left my field of interest on account of my family, though they have sometimes suffered. But I think the cause of present truth is more than parents, or children, or any earthly interest. I shall also now remain at my post, though I am weak and somewhat failing in strength on account of so many important things pressing unusually hard on my mind at present. I have never before had such an interest on my hands as now. Thirty good souls commenced last Sabbath to keep holy the rest-day of Jehovah. We now have prayer-meetings in three different places in town, where souls are awakened to seek the Lord and love the message, and calling most earnestly on the Lord. “Now I have spoken freely to you, for I think I have no better friend in America than yourself, and my confidence in you is stronger than ever before. I know that you will do the best for me that you can, and may the Lord bless you and your dear companion much, and give you strength of body and mind.
Yours truly,
“John G. Matteson. “If you say publish, I can get money here to begin the paper. I can borrow enough without interest to pay for two months. “If there was some way to get a picture for each number from the INSTRUCTOR, it would help the paper much. The people here think a great deal of pictures.
“J. G. M.”