The Opening of Foreign Mission Work
By J. O. Corliss
Experiences of Former Days— No. 16
The Opening of Foreign Mission Work
One must be impressed, as he looks back over the development of the third angel's message, with the fact that the people to whom it has been entrusted have been very slow, at times, to comprehend the magnitude of the work given them to do. In almost every great movement among them, they have seemingly been forced into the positions they have finally occupied. The development of their foreign mission work is an illustration of this, and shows how surely God has prepared the way, step by step, so that they might make no mistake in assuming aggressive attitudes. Very early in the labors of Elder M. E. Cornell, he was called to hold a series of meetings in western New York, which resulted in bringing into the ranks a Polish priest by the name of M. B. Czechowski. He was quite highly educated, and for a time gave promise of being a valuable addition to the working force of those days. But this man's talent did not seem suited to the peculiar work of presenting the detail of the message among Americans, and he soon requested to be sent to open a mission in Europe. He was not, however, considered well adapted to such a calling, and so received no encouragement in his chosen work. The result was that he drifted away, and sought employment among the First-day Adventists. By them he was sent to Switzerland in behalf of their work. But (as he afterward confessed) his conscience would not permit him to give up the Sabbath, and as he knew of no other way to present the importance of the Lord's coming but that which first impressed him, he preached the Sabbath message in the Swiss mission. About fifty intelligent persons embraced the message under his labors in that field. But in time they came to feel that he was not a safe leader in financial matters, and by degrees they became alienated from him. Then they opened correspondence with brethren in Battle Creek, which resulted in the sending of James Ertzenberger to America in the early part of 1869. On his arrival, he was met at the station in Battle Creek by Elders White and Andrews, and was recognized by a pre-concerted signal, which was that of the young man's holding an envelope above his head having written on it in bold hand “Elder J. N. Andrews.” He was taken to Elder White's home without a word's being passed between them, each being ignorant of the other's language. That evening, however, a meeting was held in the old church. A fair-sized audience was present, when Brother Ertzenberger gave a short address in French, which was interpreted by Brother John Daigneau. The gist of the address was a conveyance of fraternal greeting from the brethren in Switzerland to the brethren in America, and a statement of the needs of the cause in the distant European field. Brother Ertzenberger remained in America a year or more, and in the meantime Elder Andrews was asked to superintend the struggling work in Europe, which he consented to do. Arriving there, his life became one of hardship, for several reasons: (1) The work was new, and consequently experimental for some time; (2) the language of the country had to be acquired, which is hard for one past the meridian of life; (3) the customs of the people were far different from those with which the missionary had always been associated. And yet, amid these disadvantages, Brother Andrews succeeded in so organizing his work that he could early begin the publication of a sixteen-page paper in Basel, Switzerland, entitled Les Signes des Temps (The Signs of the Times). As early as 1882 Elder Andrews, whose health had failed considerably, pleaded that Elder B. L. Whitney be permitted to unite with him in labor. At the next General Conference, held in Rome, N. Y., this request was granted, and Elder Whitney and his family went to Europe in the summer of 1883. Elder Andrews died in October of the same year. Elder Whitney's labors wore upon him so much that, in about five years, he returned to America, where he died. Elder J. H. Waggoner was sent to that field, and he, too, soon succumbed. Thus by sacrifice was the work of missions begun by Seventh-day Adventists.