Advance in Hayti by W. J. Tanner

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 15, 1906

Advance in Hayti

By W. J. Tanner

We have now been in this field just one year. As I look back over the year, my heart goes out in gratitude to our Father in heaven for the many benefits and blessings he has permitted us to enjoy. What rejoices our hearts most of all, of course, is the manifest way in which we have seen his divine power operate on the hearts of men and women. During this time I have baptized thirty souls, twenty-eight of whom were Roman Catholics. I have fifteen more candidates for baptism, all but one of whom are from the Catholic Church. At least twenty-seven have embraced the message since our arrival. The number of our companies has grown from three to six.

The progress among Catholics has been an astonishment to the Protestants here, who have never made very much progress among Catholics. I was told by an old native Protestant, a few days ago, that our recent baptism of thirteen was the greatest number he ever heard of receiving the ordinance at one time in Hayti.

A few weeks ago the Baptist minister here at the Cape invited me to occupy his pulpit one Sunday afternoon, and tell his congregation about the progress of our work. This gave me a good opportunity to tell them what we believe to be the real reason for our progress—that God has commissioned us with a special and important message, and gives us a special measure of his Spirit with which to accomplish it. The past week this minister again invited me to talk on a special occasion. We had a large congregation, and the Holy Spirit was present to assist the servant of the Lord, and another victory was won, the results of which we fully expect to see in the kingdom of God.

Our present great need is a French worker, to help us reap the overripe harvest. And as our need is so great, and our General Conference brethren are doing what they can to find some one, we believe there is some one in Europe or America who will soon hear, if he has not already heard, the still small voice giving the call to service in this long-neglected and needy quarter of the harvest-field.

And let no one think that we are thankful only for what we see of the progress of the message in this field. The omens of a general advance all along the line cause our hearts to rejoice more than anything else. Those on the firing line have heard the signal from our Commander to "go forward," and are marching onward; and although the obstacles and difficulties in the way may be numerous, yet if those whose duty it is to supply the munitions of war, and to send forward fresh troops, are faithful, there is no apparent reason why the struggle may not soon be over. It is said that the readiness with which those whose duty it was to furnish and bring up supplies to the army in the field fulfilled all their obligations, contributed in a very important degree to the success of the Japanese in the late war. In short, it was this promptness in furnishing supplies, as much as it was valor, that won the remarkable Japanese victories. And so it will be when all our people in the home land realize and perform their duty toward the work in the regions beyond. We shall then see more decisive victories than we have yet seen.

W. J. TANNER.