Untitled article by Stephen N. Haskell

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 7, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 26.

FROM MOSS, NORWAY.

By Stephen N. Haskell

JUNE 2 we left London for Norway, to attend the European Council, stopping one day with Brother Lane at Great Grimsby, and taking the boat Friday at Hull. Arrived at Christiania Monday, June 6. We left Brethren Waggoner, Robinson, and Boyd by the stuff, while Brother Durland and self went in search of the printing-office located here, which we readily found. We took breakfast with Brother Clausen, and after resting under his hospitable roof, and going through the printing-office, we went aboard the boat which was to convey us to Moss, about forty miles distant, where the camp-meeting was to be held.

Christiania is at the head of Fuorden River, which is virtually a bay. The city contains about 130,000 inhabitants. Like all other European cities, many things of interest are to be seen, among others the king's palace, which is open to visitors at certain seasons.

The coast-line to Moss is mountainous, and romantic in the extreme, nothing being discernible but rocks, save here and there the shrubbery, clinging in the crevices. Back upon the upland are bodies of fresh water, streams that come dashing down over the rocks, and valleys which are under cultivation. In the various nooks and recesses on the rocky coast are houses, of which it may be truthfully said they are founded upon the rock. All along the coast were rocks painted white, indicating the presence of an iron bolt and ring, to which the fishing "smacks" may fasten, the water being deep even to the shore, and the mountains rising almost perpendicularly out of the sea. Where the buildings are, however, may be seen paths winding back into the country, and to the summit of the highlands, and here and there, where admissible, a wagon road.

There are also many ice slides for conveying ice from the fresh water bodies on the uplands to large storehouses erected near the sea, from which it is taken in ships to London and other markets, some, we were told, having been sent to New York. As we passed along, we could see the large cakes of ice winding down the slides connecting the storehouses and the vessels.

Our course lay along numerous islands, upon many of which nothing was discernible but bare rocks. The entire coast of Norway, about 1,100 miles long, is dotted by myriads of these islets, among which vessels of large size wind their way to the North Cape, a place which is much visited by the summer tourists. Here it is that the sun is seen for three months continuously. It rises and sets, however, the only difference being that instead of going out of sight, the sun passes around the horizon, and then comes up again the same as in other parts of the world.

Even where we are, at Moss, the sun does not set until 9:20 P. M. in the longest day, and rises at 2:40 A. M., twilight continuing nearly all night. As the setting of the sun is caused by the revolution of the earth, there is no portion of the globe where the days are not thus reckoned; and the seventh revolution is as clearly indicated by the sun in one place as another, demonstrating the fact that God made the sun to rule the day. While at the cape it is hazy at night, here at Moss it is twilight; and in America it is darker, there being scarcely any twilight. The moon shines brightly in the far North just as it does in lower latitudes. With just as much propriety might it be said that the revolution of the earth will not measure the months, days, and years in the new earth (Isa. 66:22, 23), because "the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days," as to say that because it is not as dark in one place as it is in another, we must lose our reckoning, and cannot tell which day the seventh day is.

David must have understood this when he wrote the 19th psalm: "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." And then in the next verse he adds, "The law of the Lord is perfect."

We arrived at Moss in the evening, and the following morning met Brethren O. A. Olsen and L. R. Conradi. Next Thursday we expect Sister White and party, comprising Brethren White, Whitney, and others. The camp-meeting begins to-morrow.

S. N. H.

Moss, Norway, June 7, 1887.