p. 11 | A Macedonian Call by W. E. Howell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 4, 1909

A Macedonian Call

By W. E. Howell

W. E. HOWELL

I AM now aboard the Italian steamer “Bulgaria,” on the Gulf of Corinth, returning home from a nine-days’ absence, in response to a Macedonian call across the border-line of Greece into Albania, within a short distance of Macedonia itself. The wind is furious, the waves are rolling high, the decks are drenched with spray, and our good ship is listing leeward as she plows on, undaunted by the stress of weather, toward the Corinthian Canal, Salamis Bay, and Piraeus, the port of Athens. I imagine that if I were Paul, and on the boat in which he sailed on the waters of the Mediterranean, I might have to assist in relieving the ship of part of its cargo. But this last message to the world is to go with speed, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. To facilitate its proclamation, the Lord has provided us with speedy and safe means of travel, for which we who have a share in proclaiming the message thank him every time we make a journey.

The place to which I went, however, being one of the more remote parts of Turkish territory, does not seem to have progressed beyond the days of Paul in the matter of travel, lodging, and roads. After reaching the Ionian coast by boat, I had to travel two days by horse to cover forty miles into the mountains of the interior, over some of the worst road that man or beast ever set foot upon, lodging in Turkish khans by the way, about as primitive and unkept in every feature of equipment and service as one’s imagination can picture.

Yet what one may suffer from these inconveniences and from poor food and exposure in midwinter on such a trip, seems nothing compared with the privilege of teaching the truth to hungry souls, and of seeing them receive it with joy. Several months ago a letter came to Athens addressed, in Greek, “To the Sabbath-keeping Missionary in Greece.” It first fell into the hands of a Millennial Dawn worker, who, through inquiry of the pastor of the Greek Protestant Church, whom I had met, was directed to me. It proved to be from the brother whom I have just visited, making request for some literature in Greek (the only language he knows) on the kingdom of Christ. Not having any literature yet ready in Greek, I set to work to prepare him some Bible readings on the second coming of Christ and the signs of the times, which I sent him, together with a letter of some length, explaining the leading points as well as I could with such command of the Greek as I had at that time. I did not hear from him for a long time, caused by sickness in his family, as I subsequently learned. Then came a letter, and afterward two cards, urging me to visit them, as he and his wife wished to learn more truth and to be baptized. Although I was very busy preparing manuscript for our first tracts in Greek, and although the season was very unfavorable for travel in a country where I had to ford six streams (the largest about ten rods in width) in going forty miles, yet it seemed to be a genuine Macedonian call, and might afford a foothold among the Greeks of Albania. So I went; and the results certainly justify the effort.

I found the brother and his wife already keeping the Sabbath, although they had never seen a Sabbath-keeper (except the Jews), and did not know that the Seventh-day Adventist denomination existed. They gained their knowledge of the Sabbath through the little tract, “Bible Facts on the Sabbath Question,” which a colporteur of the British and Foreign Bible Society had received from some of our people while in Constantinople. The colporteur did not care for the tract, but the Sabbath being mentioned in conversation with our brother one day, he spoke of having a Sabbath tract in his possession. By request he gave it to our brother, who made a careful study of it, resulting in his conviction that the seventh day is the only Scriptural Sabbath. He was then a member of a small Protestant company in Joannina, in southern Albania, where he formerly lived. The observance of the seventh day imposes so many social and business difficulties that he did not begin to keep the Sabbath for two years. But while on his way to work one Sabbath, he was so deeply impressed on the subject that he halted to consider, with the result that he returned home to observe his first Sabbath. His wife, also a Protestant, was strongly opposed, and for four years sought every means—by correspondence with every preacher or Bible student she could learn of, by her own study, and otherwise—to prove to her husband, and particularly to herself, that the seventh-day Sabbath is not binding. The more she tried, the more she became convinced that her case was hopeless, and finally submitted, having now kept the Sabbath for three years with her companion. She says that she did more than any one else to make it hard for her husband to follow his convictions.

But that he was not without other serious opposition is evident from the fact that he was publicly excommunicated from the Greek Catholic Church—not because he had become a Protestant several years before, but because he observed the Sabbath. The Catholic bishop called his flock together,—which usually means every Greek in the community, as there is no such thing in this country as a man without a religion,—and summoned our brother to appear before him. After urging him to renounce the Sabbath and return to the observance of Sunday, and after our brother’s refusal to do so, the bishop read the decree of excommunication.

The next step was to exclude our brother’s children from the Greek schools. With no school privileges at home, and no means to send his children away, what should he do? Later he learned of an Albanian school just across the border in Macedonia, founded by American missionaries, in which Albanian, Greek, and English are taught, and he investigated. His two oldest children (girls) were received with a very slight outlay on his part, and as the school is not in session on the Sabbath, he has kept them there for two years.

As I was approaching the village on my arrival, I was overtaken by a Turkish bey on horseback, who inquired in Greek whom I wished to see. On my giving our brother’s name, he said, “O, yes, the evangelist! I know him.” On walking with the brother on the streets of the village, I observed that any one wishing to call his attention, would say, “Hey! Sabbatarian, I want to speak to you.” His children are mocked at by other children on account of their religion, and on church festival days the people who pass by jeer at the family because they do not go to the church, buy candles, cross themselves, and kiss pictures, as the rest do.

None of these things shook the faith and courage of our brother and sister in the stand they had taken regarding the Sabbath. They learned the truth on the immortality of the soul and the state of the dead from the Millennial Dawn literature they had read, rejecting, however, the doctrine of a second probation, the end of the world in 1914, etc., which that literature teaches, as not being supported by the Scriptures, by which they carefully tested every doctrine that came to them. They learned baptism by immersion from the Protestant pastor (Presbyterian), who regards it as a Scriptural, but not the only acceptable, form of baptism. But by their own study they concluded that it is the only Scriptural, and therefore the only acceptable, mode.

On other points of truth they had only slight glimmerings. I found them so full of questions accumulated from their experience, and so eager to learn more truth, that the first night I was there we slept only four hours, the last only five. The days between were as full of Bible study and conversation on the truth as time and spiritual digestion would permit. The truth presented on the meaning of baptism, the proper observance of the Sabbath, the coming of Christ and signs of the times, the prophecies, the millennium, the judgment, the sanctuary, the saints’ inheritance, health reform, etc., were gratefully received and believed. They wished to be baptized at once, despite the fact that the ground was covered

with snow and ice all the time I was there.

Though very poor, they insisted on paying part of my expenses, and urged me to return to them at my earliest opportunity.

While there, our brother and I planned to make an itinerary, probably on foot, with a horse, mule, or donkey to carry our outfit, through the towns and villages of Albania, with literature, next summer, as we can work with less expense in warm weather. Meanwhile I shall push some tracts through the press, that we may have some good material to work with.

I now have ready for the press the four following tracts: “The Way to Christ,” “What Do These Things Mean?” “The Benefits of Bible Study,” and “Is Sunday the Sabbath?” I have also the first draft of manuscript ready on “The Second Coming of Christ,” “The Signs of the Times,” and “The Sure Word of Prophecy.” In addition to these I have translated the first few pages of “Steps to Christ,” and shall not rest in spirit until that heaven-sent treasure is printed in the Greek language. There is nothing better, outside of the Bible itself, to counteract the effect, upon the heart and life, of a religion that consists in lifeless forms and the payment of Peter’s pence.

Albania is beyond the boundary of geographical Greece, but our mission is to the Greeks wherever found, and this Macedonian call was so clear that I could not but respond. There are many Greeks in Albania (Epirus), and practically all the other races there—Albanians, Mussulmans, and Jews,—speak Greek as readily as their own tongue. Since in Greece proper the translation and distribution of the New Testament in modern Greek is forbidden, and proselyting prohibited by law, it may be a part of the Lord’s plan to start the more open work with literature, among the Greeks in humbler, more remote parts where there is not so much pride, skepticism, and worldliness as in and around the capital. It has been imperative that the preliminary work of studying the language, the views of the more enlightened, and the general conditions of government, society, and the church, be done in Athens, the center of learning. One need not go far from the capital to find the language much mixed with Turkish, Albanian, and Italian words, and the Greek element itself corrupted. There is no point on which intelligent Greeks are more sensitive than that of their language. Any printing not up to the standard is considered worthy of nothing but annihilation. We wish our work to command the respect of the people as far as lies in our power. Whatever the Lord’s plan may be, we feel clear in following the leadings of his providence as he opens the way.

The ways of the Lord are marvelous in our eyes. While the attention of our people was being directed toward Greece eight or nine years ago, when they made a seemingly futile effort to enter that country, the conscience of this Greek brother up in the mountains of Albania was being stirred on the Sabbath question. Now in our second effort to establish a work here, just as we are going to press with our first tracts in Greek, a worker is found ready to help distribute them.

I see no reason why our brother should not make a good worker. He and his wife are both Greeks, and natives of Albania. They know the ins and outs of the customs, religions, and general conditions prevailing there. He is a clear thinker, with no apparent tendencies to fanaticism—a not unusual trait among Orientals. He has stood a very thorough test of loyalty to conviction by keeping the Sabbath for four years alone, and together with his wife for three years more, before it was their privilege to see the face of a Seventh-day Adventist. He is on good terms with his neighbors, despite their ridicule, and has not been inactive in disseminating seeds of truth among them. We see in his case also that the truth has worked the same changes in the daily life as in so many others, in his discontinuing the use of tobacco, liquor, and card-playing.

Before closing, I ought to say that while at this brother’s, we made some visits in the village, and the last evening I was there, I had the privilege of giving a general talk in Greek to four Greek-speaking Jews. They manifested a deep interest as it was made clear that the time of Christ’s first coming is fixed in prophecy, and that the work and death of the Christ they have rejected fulfilled that prophecy to the letter. A further brief presentation of Christ’s present work in the heavenly sanctuary, the events attendant upon his second coming, the work of the one thousand years, and the final setting up of his everlasting kingdom in the earth made new, led them to urge me to stay longer and teach them more, but I could not at this time. The next morning a Greek neighbor who had been absent came in, and from the prophetic chart, which I had used in my talk to the Jews the evening before, I presented the truth to him until my guide called for me at the door. This neighbor accompanied me an hour on the way, while we continued our talk. Our brother accompanied me three hours on foot before he could turn back.

Thus from the very border-line of geographical Macedonia there comes the spiritual Macedonian cry for help. Even Macedonia, whence issued, in fulfilment of prophecy, the third world-conqueror in the series of four universal kingdoms,—Macedonia, out of whose depths the cry for help caught the ears of the great apostle to the Gentiles,—Macedonia, the scene of Ellen Stone’s heroic toils and deliverance from the hands of brigands,—Macedonia, one of the storm-centers of Balkan politics the past few years,—even Macedonia, already nourishing within her borders two Sabbath-keeping girls, must receive the light of this closing message. And may we not hope that before another twelve-month shall pass, the battle for truth may be pressed by earnest workers beyond the Albanian frontier into that historic Greek land?

I return home spiritually refreshed, with courage increased, and still more convinced that also among the Greeks, even in the fastnesses of the snow-capped mountains of Albania and of far-famed but agonizing Macedonia, there are some who will receive the truth with gladness. Pray for the work among the Greeks, and remember that our funds for producing literature in Greek are exceedingly small, and that the Lord expects you who have long lived in the blazing light of the gospel and in a country far surpassing in resources this poor, unfruitful land, to act a generous part in supporting the efforts made for these needy people.

Athens, Greece.