ANNIVERSARY MEETING AT THE CHICAGO MEDICAL MISSION
SABBATH, Dec. 29, 1900, was an occasion long to be remembered by the company of workers and others gathered in the chapel of the Chicago Medical Missionary Training School, at 1926 Wabash Ave., Chicago. The occasion was in memory of the closing of the sixth year of the work in Chicago. The work of that year had really closed a few months before, and the published report was just from the press, but a public meeting in honor of the event had not yet been held. This was postponed until the last Sabbath of the year, and of the century.
Dr. Paulson made the opening remarks, after reading John 6: 5-14. He said, in part: “Christ and His disciples, while in this desert place, found themselves short of provisions. And we have often had just such experiences in our work. Then we have had prayer-meetings, and some of you in this room know that in twenty-four hours our prayers were answered. When Christ was asking about feeding the multitude, Philip said, It can’t be done. It seemed to him an impossibility; and so, as we have labored these years to bring forth men and women from their entanglement in the moral swamp of this great city, there have always been Philips on hand to say, It can not be done. But, thank God, there have also been Andrews present. Andrew, you remember, was the man who discovered the lad with the loaves and fishes. But even he asked, ‘What are they among so many?’ But, brethren, it was with these few loaves, after they were blessed and broken, that Christ fed the multitude. When this work began in Chicago, there were multitudes to be helped. There were plenty of Philips, but few Andrews. But there was one Andrew and his brother who came to the rescue, and I regard it a great privilege to have that man with us to-day,—Dr. Wessels,—who, with his brother, gave forty thousand dollars to put this work on a safe foundation. And to-day we are reaping the results of this. This large building here we might never have had but for this help. I believe there will be a multitude of men and women saved as the result of these few loaves and fishes.”
W. S. Sadler: “This occasion to-day is one for which I feel very thankful. This is not only a public acknowledgment, as it were, of the closing of six-years’ work, but it is also the closing of a century. It is the closing of the year. We are on the verge of the new year, of the new century, and, I trust, the beginning of newer, larger, and grander experiences for this work. It is now about five years since Providence turned my feet in this direction, and I have had the privilege of seeing our institutions and departments of work come into existence one by one. One after another, each department was organized, and started on its mission of usefulness. And to-day, as I look back and try to take a panoramic view of the marked providences and blessings that have attended this work, they are so numerous that I am lost to know which to speak of. God’s blessings in behalf of this work have been manifold.
“I never appreciated the widespread influence of this work more than I did when Brother Mackey and I were in New York City two years ago, working for a season. At every turn, in almost every mission we went, we heard men and women testify to being converted or helped in some department of our work here. You are all more or less familiar with the little beginning that was made on Custom House Place in 1893, when Dr. Kellogg first put forth efforts to establish this work in Chicago. I can well remember the first time I went into that little basement, and what a solemn impression I received when I saw the work going on there—wounds being dressed, men washing their bodies and their clothes. Well, this work went on till the Working Men’s Home was established, first on Custom House Place, and then at its present quarters on State Street. A little over three years ago the training school and its associated departments were begun in this large building at the corner of twentieth Street and Wabash Avenue. This greatly increased the scope of our work. Then came the Children’s Christian Home and the Life Boat Mission. These were followed by the Good Health Hotel, and, last of all, the Life Boat Rest, which was established last February on South Clark Street, in one of the most needy sections of the city.”
“From this small beginning of less than seven years ago, we now see six institutions and fifteen departments of organized work, which are now branches of the Chicago Medical Mission and allied charities. This work has become a power for good in the earth. I presume that if all the men and women who have been helped by it could be gathered here to-day, they would indeed be an impressive spectacle. If all the drunkards’ homes that have been reunited could be represented on this occasion; and if all the drunkards whom this work has been the means of reclaiming were present to-day to glorify God for what has been done for them, the sum of their testimony would indeed be glorious. They are not here; but we have the assurance that many a home has been made happy; we have the knowledge that many a man who was lost to society, lost to his family, and lost to God, is to-day a sober, and useful member of the Church and of society. We know that many a woman who had fallen, as it were to the very lowest round of the social ladder, has been rescued by a helping hand that was extended to her, and to-day she rejoices in her deliverance from the very gates of hell. On every hand throughout this broad land, there are many evidences that the efforts put forth through these six years have not been in vain.”
Mrs. Dr. Paulson: “The growth of this work in a few short years has indeed been remarkable. In 1893, the World’s Fair year, I first came to Chicago, and the work had just begun. I was here again in 1895 and 1896, and I can say that I have very much enjoyed my experience in Chicago. And I was only too glad when the Lord permitted me to come again, a year ago last spring. In a work like this, something occurs every day which it would take volumes to relate. Recently we have been connected with the branch sanitarium, and the Lord is wonderfully blessing us there. The institution is full of patients, one of whom has gone to-day to the South Side church to be baptized. She is joining the church against great opposition, but she is determined to live up to her light.”
E. B. Vandorn: “It is now a little more than three years since I connected with the work in Chicago, and almost two years since I began work at the Life Boat Mission. One young man who was converted in the mission last fall is now canvassing, and is doing well. Many of you know something about the case of Brother ——, who came into the mission on the twelfth of last May. Almost all his life he had been a drunkard. His home was wrecked. He gave his heart to God, and in a short time was permitted to see his family reunited, from which he had been long separated. From that time he has been standing firm, a bright and shining light in the neighborhood where he lives. Recently a testimony was given at the mission to the effect that one year ago a man came to the mission and heard a few words of the gospel. He was separated from his wife and six children. The rent was not paid, the family was destitute, and almost without clothes. He went home, resolved to live a different life. And by the grace of God he has been able to do this. Now he is preaching the gospel every night, and earns his living during the day. I am glad this morning that not only these, but numerous others, might be mentioned, who are firmly standing on the solid Rock.”
A word from a stranger: A young man arose in the audience and said: “I am a stranger to most of you, but I know that I am not a stranger to the Lord. I know He has washed my soul in His precious blood. He saves and keeps me day by day. I want to give my testimony right from my heart. I have been a drunkard for over twenty-five years, a notorious one. I did not save a dollar when serving Satan. But since I have taken the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour, He has kept me every day. He has been my guide and helper. I want you to pray for me that I may be the means of saving souls. I can say for myself that the Life Boat Mission is doing a good work. It has not only saved me from a drunkard’s grave, but it has saved others.”
Brother Williamson, manager of the Working Men’s Home: “I am very sorry that I have not the ability to portray before you the wonderful things that have taken place in my experience with the Working Men’s Home. I well remember the first, the very first, step that was taken to establish the work on Custom House Place, at No. 40. At that time I was doing business at No. 42, and in those days I was a man of the world. I was looking for every opportunity for gain. If dragging a man down would be to my gain, I was ready to do it. I watched very closely the rise and progress of this medical mission. One thing that impressed me, and which I never forgot, was that when I would be going to my place of business, I would see a row of a hundred or a hundred and fifty men on a cold winter morning waiting for an opportunity to get a bath or a treatment at the medical mission. I tried every possible way to down those influences. I thought this work was against my business. But the Lord would not have it that way. In a little over a year from the time the mission was started, it was seeking larger quarters, and the Lord so brought it about that the Custom House Hotel, a cheap lodging house that I was then conducting, was wanted for the medical mission, and in spite of every effort I could make, the mission obtained it. I went away for about six months, and then came back.
“One day I thought I would visit the old place, and see how things looked. I received a cordial welcome, but of course I did not care to talk much with the people at the mission. I was not interested in religion or medical missions. But I was overcome. The Lord had His hand upon me, and shortly afterward I was converted at this very Working Men’s Home. Since that time the Lord has wonderfully blessed me, and I have been directly connected with the Chicago Medical Mission and the Working Men’s Home. The experiences of the last four years are more than I could begin to tell you, but the grandest of all is that the Lord has put a new song into my mouth; and He has touched my heart, and I am ever ready to lend all my influence to help my fellow men up. There are many interesting experiences that I might relate to you, but I will not take the time now.”
W. S. Sadler: “A few weeks ago I and six others went to Joliet, and there sought to establish a little center of influence and light. Sister Hoagland happens to be here this morning, directly from there, and I would like to have a report from her concerning the work there.”