p. 138 | The Missionary

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 26, 1885

The Missionary.

Our Missionary Work.

FROM a letter from Brother B. L. Whitney to Sister White, we are permitted to make the following extracts:—

"Believing it would be a privilege and a pleasure to our brethren to join with our friends in America in celebrating Christmas after the manner you proposed, I immediately communicated with each of our churches, making known to them your suggestion. Although the Review containing your article came only three days before Christmas, every church in Suisse took part in the good work, and their contributions, so far as I have heard from them, amount to 1,730 francs, or nearly $350. Of course this is not a large sum, but when it is considered that our brethren are none of them wealthy, that, on the other hand, the most of them are poor, and that skilled workmen have to work from early morning till late at night to earn from three to four francs (sixty to eighty cents) per day, I think it shows they are willing to do what they can. I know brethren, skilled workmen, who are not able by their best endeavors to earn more than two francs (forty cents) per day, and yet these brethren give freely of their scanty means, and, according to their understanding of the work, are trying to do the best they can to help carry it forward. The brethren

pledged liberally for the new publishing house when Brother Butler was here last spring. He said they did more than he expected, and still they did it cheerfully, and are still willing to do in any direction where they are asked to help. In three churches recently the brethren have subscribed for more than three hundred copies of the Herold and Les Signes for the missionary work. I speak of these things, not to boast of what they have done, but to show the great change for the better which has taken place during the last two or three years. And no one thing has had more to do in effecting this change than your words of admonition and warning. I fully believe, Sister White, that nowhere in the entire field do the brethren respect your words and your work more than in Suisse, and, under the blessing of God, the light which God has graciously given them through you, has proved of great good to them, and to the work here. Realizing this, we have already commenced the publication of a small volume of your writings especially designed for the instruction of the church. It is to be made up of a variety of practical articles selected from the 'Testimonies' and 'Early Writings,' and is being printed on our small hand press, for lack of type, etc., for having it done otherwise."

"I am here [Solingev, Prussia] for a few days with Brother Ertzenberger, visiting our German brethren in Prussia. My very soul is stirred as I see the extent of this field and realize how little is being done. I verily believe no field in Europe suffers to-day like Germany, and yet what can be done to help them? The prospect of the ultimate success of the message among the Germans is tenfold that of the French, and yet there has hardly been a beginning made. There is much moral worth and stability among the Germans, and many more Protestants among them than among any other nation in Europe except England, and yet comparatively nothing is being done to warn these millions of people. There are good, earnest souls among them, men who prove as steadfast and faithful to the truth as any to be found among our brethren anywhere. Such have already been found, and thousands of others must be waiting for the truth. One brother here has been in prison several times because he would not send his children to school on the Sabbath, the last time only a few weeks ago, and yet he stands firm, and it is really affecting to hear him tell how the Lord inclines the jailer and officers of the law to favor him. The friends here are poor, living in small and uncomfortable compartments, and living on the plainest, coarsest food, and yet they give freely for the support of the work. They have on the occasion of this visit donated 1,000 francs, or $200, for the new building, beside subscribing for clubs of the Herold to be used in the missionary work. They do not know as much as our Suisse brethren of your work, and yet they have confidence in it as far as they are informed of it."

"I very much wish a good laborer in this tongue could come from America to labor with Brother Ertzenberger for a time. I think this would be of great benefit to him."

"The work on the new building progresses well. The contract for nearly the entire work is already made, and we have the permission to occupy it July 1. Though we have had some difficulties, the hand of God has been over the work for good and it has prospered well. Not a day's work has been done on the lot or in the building on the Sabbath, and yet we have had the work done very cheaply, so that the insurance officials say there is not another so cheap a building in the city. Sincerely yours, "B. L. WHITNEY."