After spending several days longer in counsel in Cairo, Elder Wakeham, Brethren Passebois and Bezirdjian, and the third writer went to Alexandria, to visit our company in that city, intending, at the same time, to close the bargain in reference to the rental of the new quarters for the health home.
PRESENT MISSION HOUSE IN CAIRO
I might say in this connection, that traveling in Egypt is very cheap, as the government gives missionaries half-fare on the railroad. We had to pay only sixty cents for a third-class ticket from Cairo to Alexandria on the fast train, the distance between the two cities being about one hundred and twenty-five miles. We had two Armenian brethren there; and since my last visit, one of them had finally succeeded in securing the proper permission for his wife to leave Asia Minor and come to him in Egypt (I baptized his wife in Asia Minor); but the other brother has not been so fortunate, for the Turkish government has so far refused his wife the necessary permission to go to Egypt. In Alexandria there is also one of our Armenian sisters, with her son, whose acquaintance I formed in Bulgaria; so there is now a company of five holding up the light of truth in this city. We held meetings with them Friday evening and Sabbath, and they paid us sixty-five dollars tithe; they seemed glad that there were prospects that the work would be pushed forward with greater vigor. We celebrated the ordinances with them in the afternoon.
Late Sabbath afternoon, the steamer “Cleopatra,” of the Austrian Lloyd, pulled out for Europe. I had secured the third-class passage on it, and arranged afterward to share the cabin of one of the mates.
Sunday morning we entered a terrible storm, and one wave after another dashed over the prow of the boat. I had not been seasick for quite a while, but I was reminded that there is hardly such a thing as one’s being immune from this malady, and I noticed that even the sailor boys were keeping me company. But next day the sun shone bright and clear, as we sailed along the shores of Greece, whose mountains were covered with snow. We hope that the day may soon come when Greece, also, shall have some workers.
Early on the 26th I reached Triest, and as in Alexandria, so here, we had to pass a severe examination at the hands of a physician, to ascertain whether we were free from disease. From the southern end of Austria on to Vienna there are about six hundred miles of nice territory where no Seventh-day Adventist minister has ever labored. However, I was glad upon reaching Vienna to meet Brother Kokolsky, one of our German Bible workers, who has recently located here. During the two days of my stay, we called on several interested families, and had Bible studies with them. One Bible study was given in a leading vegetarian restaurant in the heart of the city, where two hundred and fifty dine daily. I was sorry I could not accept an invitation to lecture before the Theosophic Society, as the appointment had been given out for several days later. I myself attended one lecture, where several hundred intelligent people composed the audience. One of our greatest difficulties in Austria is that we are not allowed to circulate our literature. We had hoped that the new laws might help us, but that hope has proved vain. Just lately a case occurred in Austria, where a blacksmith, incensed by a priest’s sermon against the Bible colporteur, made a fire in the street, took the Bible, and publicly burned it; but we know that the blessed seed of the Word of God will yet continue to spread and bear fruit.
I spent one Sabbath with Elder Lorenz, in the historic city of Prague, where we now have a company of about twenty. Up to the time of my visit, Elder Lorenz had been holding the meetings in his own dwelling in a suburb of Prague, but he has finally succeeded in securing a hall in the center of the city, facing the city hall, where so many thrilling events have taken place. The only way in which we could secure permission to hold public meetings was by one of the brethren renting a part of the hall, and putting his bed there. The hall will seat about one hundred persons. We are very glad that even in this way we can present the truths of the third angel’s message to the people of this city, and we trust that through this effort a still larger company may be gathered out.
Sunday I stopped in Dresden, the beautiful capital of Saxony. After Brother Perk had been sent out of the country by the authorities, we moved Brother Sinz thither. He is one of our licentiates, and a citizen of Saxony. This makes it impossible for the police to send him away, and we find that this greatly bettered the strained relations between our people and the government. I was agreeably surprised to find that the hall we have there was literally packed on Sunday night, about one hundred and twenty people being present. We have every reason to believe that the work there will prosper.
The next morning I reached Leipzig, where the new book on Revelation is nearing completion. In Friedensau, about fifty young people were in attendance at the school, and so many applications for admission were being received that the Board decided to admit no more students this year, unless they could pay all their expenses. We are thankful that our people are more and more awakening to a realization of the needs of education,12and that they are willing to make any sacrifice to train their youth, and fit them for service in the Master’s vineyard. This is indeed the hope of our field.
SQUARE IN FRONT OF MISSION
HOUSE IN CAIRO
I reached Hamburg safely December 3. One feels all the more grateful to God for his protecting care, traveling over seven thousand miles, when he realizes that others have been swept off by pestilence and disease.
We hope that, as Egypt is now provided with more experienced help, we shall soon see the work more rapidly advancing in that land of the ancient Pharaohs.
