Editorial Correspondence.
By John Nevins Andrews
I HAVE no word of discouragement to write from this mission. God is here by his Holy Spirit to help in the accomplishment of his work. I am certain of this, though I have plenty of things to try my faith. I see the hand of God in the work, but it does not follow that there are no obstacles to be surmounted. I find as many as Satan is permitted to throw in the way, but hitherto the Lord has helped me. What he has done in the past he will still do in the future. And with his help nothing is impossible. In Germany things go well. The Lord is blessing the labors of Bro. Ertzenberger not only for the instruction of the Sabbath-keepers but for the benefit of the public. He is at work in an entirely new field, the city of Solingen. His first congregation was 300 persons, and it has continued to increase. There seems to be deep feeling among the people. With God’s blessing there is reason to hope for important results from this series of meetings. I feel that God is truly with Bro. E. I hope for cheering reports for the REVIEW. But I will say that he has had to meet the cruel working of Satan in Germany. It is here as in America. If there is anything to do for the Lord Satan will do all in his power to injure and to defeat the work. The first object which I am now seeking to accomplish is the publication of a paper in French. I cannot express the intense anxiety of my heart to bring this to pass. Nor can I well state to those not here the difficulties in the way of the undertaking. This work will not be delayed an hour after it is possible to begin. Suitable help is lacking; those that are most competent to assist are so situated that they need to spend nearly all their time in their own business. But I hope with the help of God’s providence we may soon make a commencement. This may seem to our friends in America like a small thing, but it will be to us a great event. It will be as though we had ascended one hard hill, though we are well aware that other hills not less difficult are before us. But with God’s help all things are possible. I cannot doubt that God will grant success. What could be done in America if we had no papers? Comparatively little. And here in Europe, if possible, such instrumentality is even more necessary than in America. Our people in Switzerland have never been thus favored. As they cannot read English, they have not the means of knowing the progress of the work by the weekly visits of the REVIEW. I should correct the statement that they have never had a paper. For a time Eld. M. B. C. published a paper, but he long ago departed from God. His case has given me great pain. He has been for several years a resident of Roumania, a province of the Turkish Empire. His course has been such that I know of no way to help him. In fact, though he is a very unhappy man, I have no reason to think that he is in a state of mind in which he would accept faithful counsel, however tenderly given. Though he accomplished good in this country and in Italy, yet he eventually brought much pain and sadness to the people of God. Nor have our people recovered, even yet, from the discouragement which he brought upon them. The earnest zeal, the spirit of sacrifice and consecration, and the warmth of their first love, have all been abated by the saddening trials to which they have been subjected. This is not strange, though it is greatly to be regretted. It is the work of time, and the result of earnest and untiring effort, to retrieve such loss if it be retrieved. I have witnessed the blight, and have found it no light matter to accomplish the needed change. Our brethren and sisters stand firm in the truth as far as they have learned it. But their courage and their missionary spirit are less than they were before their troubles came upon them. I have no doubt but they will regain the lost ground, and yet stand far in advance of their past attainments. But the brethren in America know well that this is not accomplished without earnest effort, and that even then time is necessary. I have sought by every means in my power to change this state of things. But I have not found the task an easy one. I have found very kind friends, but I cannot say that they know the value of reproof, even as fully as do our brethren generally in America. The German brethren were cut to the heart and melted to tears by words of admonition and reproof which would by no means produce the like effect among the Swiss. It is my conviction, and I think it proper to state it here, that the good accomplished in Europe by Eld. M. B. C. was largely due to the wise counsel and valuable assistance of sister A. E. Butler, at that time a member of his family, but now sleeping in death at Tramelan. Her services as translator and general assistant were such that he could not have done without them. Indeed, when her labor ceased and other helpers took her place the work of Eld. C. soon ended in sorrow to the people of God. It will give pain to those who knew the family in America to learn that Ludomir, the eldest son, died the past week. He was accounted one of the best printers in the city of Neuchatel, but I fear that he had no interest in religion. He leaves a wife (a Catholic) and one child. The funeral services were held in the Catholic hospital where he died. I will speak of them to give the manner of such services in this country. They were conducted by the pastor of the Independent church who offered a very appropriate prayer, and pronounced the benediction. This was all that he said or did. But the coffin was not in the room, nor was the wife, nor any of the mourners. On going to the door we found the hearse standing near it and the coffin already therein; there were quite a number of men and boys to follow the hearse on foot to the cemetery, but not a woman nor a girl was to be seen in the procession. The coffin was a plain box painted a dark color, and was not opened to show the corpse. There was no service whatever at the grave, the coffin being placed in the ground without the protection of a box. The cemetery is beautifully situated in the east part of the city, and commands a pleasant view of the lake and of the Alps. I have learned that Eld. M. B. C. has recently lost the sight of one eye, and his hearing in part. He has suffered much affliction; may it cause him to return to God with all his heart. I have received from the Office a generous supply of Health Reformers. I have taken some pains to procure the names and address of those who have some interest in Christian temperance, and who are able to read the English language. I shall therefore, if God will, send them to every person of this class whose address I can procure. I have already sent to persons in Paris, Geneva, Lausanne and Basel. With these also I have sent Reviews, Voices, Signs and Instructors. I intend also to send them to Germany and to Holland. Though I have received many papers from our Office since coming here, I have only a very few on hand; for I have freely distributed them wherever I could find readers. I hope to report good fruit from the seed thus sown. Yesterday another person was baptized; she has become a Sabbath-keeper since our first baptism. We have here several persons who might make valuable laborers in the cause of God; but the most are so circumstanced that I know not how to get them into the work. My anguish of spirit is very great to see the work thus hindered. I long to witness the great salvation of God. I have had to labor under great difficulties. I think God is about to work in power in Switzerland, and to place in my hand greater facilities for the advancement of his work. I want men who can and will throw their whole energies into the work. I think I am willing to labor and to suffer. If I am not, God give me a heart that shall be thus willing. Hereafter, no doubt, we shall need some money; at present we need the converting power of God that shall make missionaries of our brethren here who are capable of becoming such. My anxiety for the work in America is intense, but I must give my time and strength to the work here. Brethren, pray for us, that God will help us to break through all the obstacles in the way of his work. La Coudre, Neuchatel, Aug. 29, 1875.