Progress in Hayti by W. J. TANNER

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 2, 1906

Progress in Hayti

By W. J. TANNER

W. J. TANNER

In our last report to the Review we mentioned the fact that our work in Hayti was making its way into an exclusively Catholic community. Since then there have been no backward steps. Brother Isaac, our native worker, has located in this place, the town of Limbé, and has succeeded in developing a very good interest indeed. At his earnest request I left home on May 18 to make him a few days' visit. As the journey required only about four hours in the saddle, the trip was no great undertaking.

Limbé contains about five thousand inhabitants. It was never our privilege to look upon more fertile soil than we saw in the surrounding country. All about were large cultivations of plantain, fields of waving rice, and corn as fine as any we have seen in the United States, a fact that can not always be stated of tropical corn fields. But notwithstanding the many bounties a beneficent Heavenly Father has bestowed upon this section of the island, we found the town itself suffering from poverty to a greater extent than any place we have yet visited. This is to be charged to the dread monster, war.

In the revolution of four years ago Limbé figured as one of the principal battle-grounds. On account of the scarcity of money, much of the havoc of that day is unrepaired, and is everywhere in evidence in the shape of demolished and burned buildings, and bullet-pierced galvanized iron roofing. My interpreter, Brother Solon Blot, was with the government forces at the time, and was able to point out to me the exact place where he was riding, when a rifle-ball through the body put him out of action. This was the first time he had visited the place since then, and he felt to rejoice greatly that he had been spared to hear the third angel's message, and to again visit Limbé, this time as a soldier of Jesus Christ, and to assist in a better warfare.

The past year or two there has been some desire on the part of certain ones in Limbé to leave the Catholic Church. Whether or not the motives that prompted this desire were all of the best we can not say. At any rate there had been some correspondence on the question with the American Episcopal church in the island, and they had promised to send a minister "to hold mass in the language of the people, and to make arrangements for establishing a church." This minister was to have been there in May, but did not put in his appearance, although I learn he has gone over to-day (June 1). The Wesleyan pastor from the Cape has also been over, but it rained all the while he was there, and he had to come away without holding any meetings. In February Brother Isaac, in returning from a visit to his home, stopped and preached two or three sermons at Limbé. As a result some of the people became so much interested that they made him promise to return as soon as possible. He was able to fulfil his promise the first of May, and his meetings have always been well attended, even in rainy weather. When we arrived, we found him holding his meetings in the best available place he could find,—two medium-sized rooms in a private house. We never saw better attention, and we could not help noting how quickly the average listener grasped the salient points of the message. Eight have already given in their names for baptism, and others claim to be keeping the Sabbath. For the most part they are young men, and all are or have been Catholics.

Since I left, the interest has continued to grow. Brother Isaac reports that he has had to hold his meetings in the open air so that more could get within hearing. At one of these meetings he had a remarkable experience with the priests. He was speaking on the subject of the second commandment, image worship. Before he had finished, the priests, who had been listening, came forward and endeavored to break up the meeting by interrupting him. Confusion reigned for a little time, and in the midst of it one of the priests tried to cap the climax by starting the cry, "Vive Saint Pierre, notre saint patron!" (the equivalent of “St. Peter forever!”) To their consternation, however, the crowd did not follow their lead, but instead began to give as a counter-shout, "Vive les Adventists! vive les Adventists!" At this the priests became furious, and one had to be restrained from laying hands on our worker. Hearing the uproar, the commandant de la place came on the scene, demanding the cause of the confusion, whereupon a man of influence in the crowd came forward and told him that the priests were in the wrong, as they had disturbed the meeting. The official then turned to the priests with the rebuke, “What right have you to disturb these people? Does any one ever disturb your public processions?” Thus for the moment the emissaries of Rome were silenced, and the message can still be freely proclaimed to the people of Limbé.

This, however, puts us face to face with Rome. The situation is not one of our own making. We have simply stepped into the openings God's providence has made for us. What the future has in store for us we do not know. We are confident, however, that the truth will ultimately triumph, and that there are precious souls in Limbé that the Master wants to shine in his kingdom.

The indications all point to the fact that just now is the time to work for Hayti. A desire for something better than the wine of Babylon seems to be taking possession of many. It has not always been thus. Twenty-five years ago Baptists found it necessary to hold baptismal services by night in order to escape rough handling by the mob, and other Protestants had much to make their pathway difficult. We believe that in order to prepare the way for the final message the Spirit of the Lord has developed a situation favorable to the progress of our work. Many, especially of the younger generation, seem anxious to leave Rome. Among the official class the impression is gaining ground that their concordat with the papacy is a failure, and many are predicting that this government will soon be following the recent example of France in the matter of disestablishment of the church. If we had twelve workers, it is safe to say that all would find themselves abundantly occupied for some time to come. The clearness of our message and its complete consistency appeal to those Romanists who are looking for something better; and therefore when we hang up our charts and go through those prophecies that explain Rome's past, present, and future, we are always assured of a congregation of intelligent listeners; and although the conclusions to be drawn from these prophecies are anything but complimentary to Romanism, yet present conditions make it safe to preach the message in very much the same way that we do in Protestant countries. This, to be sure, is not as we expected to find it when we came. However, we are glad that it is so, and are encouraged to see that the simple third angel's message manifests the same power in Catholic Hayti that it does in other countries.

The most perplexing problem that we have to solve now is the matter of providing houses of worship for those who

accept the message. The company at Grande Rivière is very much in need of a chapel, and at Limbé this need is one that presses us sorely. Haytian currency has depreciated in value the past few years until now it approximates on exchange six Haytian dollars for one American. This fact makes it very difficult for our people here to do much in the matter of raising money. We are encouraging them to do their best to provide material, means, and labor; but with all this it is evident that before we can finish a church building, we must have some outside help. However, the leading hand of the Lord has already been so manifest in the work in Hayti that we feel sure that the Lord has a way out of this difficulty for us. Our confidence in the Lord and his message was never better than at the present time.

Later: Since writing the above, I have received a short visit from Brother Isaac. He reports that public sentiment at Limbé in favor of the truth is becoming stronger all the time. He was called before the authorities last week and shown a letter from the Chamber of Deputies at Port au Prince asking for the particulars of the Protestant work at Limbé. He was requested to write out an answer to this letter from our standpoint, which he did. Later he was told by the chief military officer of the district and representative of the president of the republic, that he had received special instructions from the government at Port au Prince to give “the fullest protection to those Protestants at Limbé.” Thus it will be seen that our work is attracting attention in the capital of the republic.

Brother Isaac also informs me that the archbishop went out to Limbé yesterday (June 5) to assist his disconcerted priests in quenching the fire of truth that has sprung up there. Whether or not his visit will bring the crisis, remains to be seen. This work is God's, and men can oppose it no further than God will permit.

Cape Haytien.