Scandinavia in the Line of God’s Providence
By J. O. Corliss
Experiences of Former Days— No. 17
Scandinavia in the Line of God’s Providence
In the month of June, 1857, Elder Loughborough was holding tent-meetings in Mackford, Wis. While in that region, he made the acquaintance of Philander Cady, a First-day Adventist, whose home was at Poysippi. Upon hearing the truth, Brother Cady embraced it with all his heart, and became its zealous advocate till the day of his death, which occurred in the latter part of 1896. When he received the truth, he had a very firm friend, by the name of John Matteson, who, through Brother Cady’s influence, heartily received the truth. Brother Matteson was well educated, and in his study of the message he kept in view the people of his own nationality, and, as the truth brought increasing light to his mind, he put that light into tract form in the Norwegian tongue. Not being fully satisfied with these abbreviated productions, he prepared manuscript for a larger work, which he entitled “Liv og Dod” (Life and Death.) This accomplished, a great barrier seemed to rise in the path of the man, which at first he saw no way to remove. His time in preparing these manuscripts was lost, unless he could find some way by which they could be printed. He had not the necessary funds for such an enterprise, and how to secure them became the problem of his life. To solve this, he laid by every penny not actually needed for current expenses, until quite when a sum was saved. The amount collected, however, fell far short of being sufficient. In the meantime, precious moments were passing, and his people were not privileged to read the truth in their native tongue. Having waited as long as he felt that he could for the opportune time, the intrepid young man gathered up the sum of his earnings, and started for Battle Creek, to make some arrangement by which he might see his manuscript in form for distribution among his countrymen. At that time (1860) no one was employed at the Review Office who could intelligently read his productions, and so his word had to be taken for the orthodoxy of the matter. But there was still another hindrance to its production, which, aside from the money consideration, made the prospect rather shady. Among the limited force of office employees in those days, no one was qualified to set the type for a foreign language. When this condition of things was made known to Brother Matteson, he hesitated but a moment, then said that he himself would learn to set type, and so be able to set up his own tracts and book. This was agreed to, and in due time his productions appeared in type. These gave an impetus to the Scandinavian work in America that it had not felt before, and soon friends of the message were sending these printed expositions of the truth to their friends in Norway and Denmark. People there soon began to respond to the call of God in these books, and appealed for further enlightenment for themselves and their neighbors. In considering the call of that distant country, there was no choice of men to send. Only one was thought of for that work, and that one was Elder John Matteson. Accordingly he sailed for that country in the year 1877, and began work in Christiania, the metropolis of Norway. Here his audiences were very large and attentive, resulting, in the course of a year, in the formation of a large and flourishing church. From there the work spread to other parts of Scandinavia, and even to Finland, calling for a large force of workers. After a score or more of years, the pioneer of that work retired from the field, disabled. After spending considerable time in Colorado in a vain search for the restoration of health, Brother Matteson sought relief in the Pacific coast climate. But there, too, he failed to find the object of his search, and shortly gave up the struggle in Southern California. In reviewing the life-work of such men, one must think of what the Lord said of Abel: “He being dead yet speaketh.” It is worse than folly to deny that the Lord made them instruments through whom the voice of the Infinite might be heard. With this thought in mind, one must become more firmly grounded in the message of truth for these days. But to be thus, all must partake of the same spirit of sacrifice and deep devotion that filled these men.