p. 739 | THE BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL IN NEW YORK CITY

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 12, 1901

THE BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL IN NEW YORK CITY.

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

Many of the readers of the Review may have wondered why we have not previously given a report concerning the work. If the reader could understand and comprehend something of the magnitude of New York City and its connection with adjacent cities, he could better understand the nature of our work. New York City and the cities which immediately surround it, including Jersey City, contain about 4,000,000 people. The statistics of 1900 show that the number of inhabitants is larger than that of any State in the United States, except the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois, being more than a million more people than there are in Michigan or Massachusetts. In this city there are some buildings over thirty stories high, and the city averages five stories in height; so there are five families deep in this city. We are located near the center of the city, and in the building where we live there are fifty-three families. The building is seven stories high, and two elevators run night and day. The elevator men in the buildings are all instructed not to let any peddler, canvasser, or stranger enter unless he first states his business plainly, and tells whom he wishes to see.

There are four Seventh-day Adventist churches in Brooklyn, two English, one German, and one Scandinavian; in New York proper, including the church that has been organized since we came here, there are four; and in Jersey City there are two. The united membership of all these churches is about five hundred. The churches in New York proper are located as follows: No. 1 on 125th Street, in the northern part; No. 2 on 11th Street, in the southern part of the city; and another across the Harlem River.

We live on West 57th Street, in the central part of the city, between the Upper and Lower churches, and work among all classes of people. We now have a small church organized in this part of the city.

From the beginning of our work the providence of God has gone before us. We have labored to train and educate the workers themselves in canvassing, in visiting from house to house, in holding Bible readings, and in other ways, and have endeavored also to form as many little nuclei in the city as possible, where we can interest the people. We have labored to educate our brethren and sisters in the churches to go out and distribute tracts and hold Bible readings, that the seed may be scattered in all parts of the city. Our Bible workers have worked almost exclusively in the section near where we live. There are at present eight workers in our family, besides Elder J. A. Brunson, my wife, and myself. All of these except one are holding Bible readings and selling publications wherever opportunity offers. One of our workers who was called home on account of sickness, returns next week; then our family of workers will number twelve. Those who had no experience before coming here are beginning to see fruit of their labors, some with whom they are reading taking their stand on the Sabbath.

The special providence of God has attracted people to us. One of the first to accept the Sabbath, having never heard anything about the truth, wrote us asking if he could come and have a Bible reading on the law. One of his friends who had been to Washington, D. C., had heard the truth preached, and returned home all wrought up over it. He learned our address and wrote us, and kept the second Sabbath after this. Special circumstances have developed an interest in different places, and some have been led to accept the truth.

We held meetings in our own house until two weeks ago. About six weeks ago we began to pray that the Lord would give us a hall in this vicinity. Respectable halls in this city rent very high. Usually our brethren pay five dollars for the use of a hall for Sabbath meetings in the daytime. Twenty-five dollars is a cheap price for Sunday nights. In God's providence we have secured for our present use a hall that will seat over one thousand persons. It is right in the heart of the city, and its rent has been held at five hundred dollars a month, but we have it for a trifle. It is lighted with electricity: inside there are three hundred and fifty eight-candle-power lamps, and outside there are one hundred more to attract people to the place. However, the building is for sale, and could our brethren furnish us five thousand dollars at once to head a list, we feel sure that the building could be purchased, as well as the land upon which it stands, by donations from interested parties outside of our people who would be glad to see our work permanently established in this city.

The cost of fitting up the hall for religious meetings was about three hundred dollars. A large part of this was given by outside parties and by our brethren who helped in the work. Lumbermen gave us lumber; the Heywood Company donated two hundred chairs, the wholesale price of which is $4.50 a dozen; the Estey Organ Company placed an organ valued at three hundred dollars in the building, subject to their call. The hall is not for ourselves. If it were simply for us alone, a much smaller place would serve the purpose, but we need a place where the public of this city can be reached. If the hall were purchased, there would be no taxes on the building if owned for religious purposes. It would furnish a place for general meetings and for the assembling of large crowds. New York is a wealthy city, and there are many in it who are noble, generous-hearted people, when they see a work going forward for the benefit of humanity.

To relate the particular instances of God's opening providences would occupy too much space in an ordinary report like this. We can only say that we are thankful to our brethren for remembering us, and we hope that they will continue to do so, and that those who have means to invest in establishing a settled place for the Lord to abide in this great city will send it in, for we would be glad to receive donations from a small sum up to thousands of dollars. Now is the time to purchase before others take it from us.

In reference to the running expenses of the Bible school in this city, our friends have remembered us from all over the field. They have sent us sums of from fifty cents to one hundred dollars, so that our expenses, which have amounted to more than one hundred and fifty dollars a month, have all been met. Now they are increased to about two hundred dollars a month, as we have added to our number of workers.

Our Bible readers have gained access to many homes; a goodly number have already taken their stand for the truth, and many others are now in the valley of decision. One striking fact is that while the persons who have accepted the truth have held a variety of positions in business, none have lost their position on account of the Sabbath. All are keeping the Sabbath in the same business that they were in when the truth found them. We praise the Lord for this.

We distribute large quantities of reading-matter in the city. If the reader has clean papers and tracts that he would like to have scattered among these teeming millions, kindly send them, prepaid, to our address, and we will gladly receive them. Please be sure to pay all expense of sending, as our balance of cash is something like the widow's meal in the barrel: we are always near the bottom, but the Lord has never allowed us to pay out the last dollar. We praise Him for all this, and go forward. Pray for us that the Lord may give many souls.

S. N. HASKELL.

400 West 57th St., New York City.