The Missionary by Stephen Nelson Haskell

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 1, 1885

The Missionary.

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

Australian Mission.

It is about twenty years since circumstances took place that first gave rise to an interest concerning missionary labor in Australia. It will be remembered that in the war between the North and the South, General Lyon was killed in Missouri, and was taken to Eastford, Connecticut, where he was buried. Many came from all that section of the country to attend the funeral. Hannah More, a missionary from Africa, then in this country on a visit, came to Eastford for that purpose. It so happened that the writer was then holding meetings at that place, which she attended on Sunday. Here for the first time she heard the peculiar features of our faith presented. At the close of the meeting we repaired to the same home, where we spent the night, and had much conversation on these themes. She also procured publications, which she took with her to Africa. After a time, while in charge of the Mendi Mission in that country, she embraced the Sabbath, in consequence of which she was removed from her position. She then visited the other missions on the coast, taking with her the publications which she had received from her friends in America.

A man by the name of Dickinson, from Australia, who was laboring in one of the missions, at his own expense, also embraced the Sabbath and was excluded from the mission on that account. At that time I had correspondence with him respecting the publishing of some books which he had written. Finally he left Africa and went to Australia, and I lost all trace of him. For more than ten years I sought in every possible way to learn where he was, and about four years ago we found him in San Francisco. While in Australia he spent quite a sum of money in publishing and distributing Sabbath literature, but meeting with but little success and having no encouragement from friends abroad, he finally gave up the Sabbath and accepted Swedenborgian views.

My correspondence with the various editors, and different persons in every city, in fact in all parts of that country, served to increase my interest in the people. According to the action of the General Conference, the time has now come when the truth should be planted in a permanent manner in this country, containing three million inhabitants, a large proportion of whom speak the English language. This should be a cause of great rejoicing to every lover of present truth. In order that the mission shall be established on a permanent basis, and accomplish the design of God in its existence, the various agencies which he is using to carry forward and perfect his work should be incorporated into it at its commencement. When the church is deprived of a portion of her gifts, she is deprived of so much of her power. As the human body is imperfect without all of its members, so the church cannot sustain a healthy, prosperous condition without the various gifts which God placed in it for its perfection. The more these various gifts are brought to act in harmony, in entering any new field, the more successful will be the effort put forth.

Had this course been pursued when Elder Andrews went to Europe, we have reason to believe that the cause there would to-day have been further advanced, and that his life might have been spared. Never in the history of God's work in the past has there been an instance where the establishing and carrying forward of any important enterprise or work has been committed to any one man. Christ chose twelve apostles of different temperaments to go into all the world and carry the gospel, and afterward added to their number the great apostle to the Gentiles. And it should never be forgotten that the Apostle Paul was accompanied by a number of his brethren on his missionary tours. In the Great Reformation, with Luther God raised up a Melanethon and others who co-operated with him. This is true, in principle, of the reformation in Switzerland, France, and other portions of Europe. By this arrangement the work of God is made to bear more of the impress of the divine, and less of the human.

It is for these reasons that we want ministers, canvassers, and colporters to at once enter the Australian mission, also a select corps of volunteers,—men of means who feel that God has made them stewards of a few thousand dollars to use in his cause, and who have it on the altar ready to be consumed as the providence of God may indicate.

We want those who will devote their ability to manage in financial matters of the mission, and give of their means to support it; yes, more, those who are willing to become poor for Christ's sake. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." We want a few families who possess a competency of this world's goods, persons who will act as fathers and mothers to the cause in Australia. There will be room for a number of such families in the mission, and we believe that there are those who would esteem it a privilege to thus connect with this enterprise.

The establishing of a mission in Australia presents an opportunity for investing means and ability in a manner not only to tell directly on the salvation of souls, but to immortalize the deed in the kingdom of God. We have reached the time when we expect to see a fulfillment of Acts 2:45; 4:36, 37. The gospel is no less powerful now in the nineteenth century than it was in its earlier history. Also there are men and women at the present time who have as true hearts, and who feel as great a desire to consecrate not only themselves to God and his cause, but also their substance, as in the early days of Christianity. Incidentally the consuming of the sacrifice upon the altar was an evidence that God accepted it.

One object of this article is to call the attention of our friends to the subject. We now expect to leave next May, according to the recommendation of the Conference. A steamer leaves San Francisco for Australia every month. Those who think of going should be those whom their brethren can recommend. I should be glad to correspond with any such. My post-office address will be South Lancaster, Mass. S. N. HASKELL.