The Missionary by S. N. Haskell

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 24, 1882

The Missionary.

By S. N. Haskell

European Continent.

BY ELD. S. N. HASKELL.

Our object in coming to Europe was, first, to visit our missions where our brethren are making special efforts to spread the truth; second, to visit different persons with whom we have corresponded, or who we have otherwise learned were interested in the truth, or likely to become so. In doing this we have had opportunity to visit nearly all of the nations, and many of the cities of Europe. While carrying out the object of our mission, we have, at the same time, made it in our way to learn as much as possible from personal observation and otherwise about places of historical interest.

There is much in the Old World in the way of architecture, cathedrals, monuments, etc., as well as in the customs of the people, which are constantly reminding one of ancient times, and the history of past ages. In Paris, “the pleasure city of Europe,” we spent several days. Have also visited Strasburg, Berlin, Frankfurth, and Dresden in Germany. While in these cities we were very forcibly impressed with the fact, that the mould given any people or government by leading spirits, continues for generations after the men themselves have passed away. Paris has long been noted for its atheistical principles. It was here that Monvel defied God, if such a being existed, to strike him dead. And because the thunderbolts of heaven spared his life, he declared that God did not exist, and that from that time men would not believe in him. It was here also that a vile woman was borne upon the shoulders of others into the cathedral and declared to be the representative of the goddess of reason, and as such to be the true object of worship. We visited the building where these blasphemous words were uttered, and wicked deeds were committed. As we viewed the pillars which supported the structure, now devoted to Catholicism, we felt solemnly impressed with the scenes of those times. The Archbishop’s Cathedral of Notre Dame, is a relic of the twelfth century. It has two majestic towers, in one of which there is a bell which is said to weigh thirty-eight thousand six hundred and forty pounds. The tongue alone weighs fifteen hundred pounds. This bell is only rung on certain great occasions. As we went through the interior of this massive structure, and saw the evidences it gives of a power to devise and execute, given to man by God, and then considered how weak man is when left of God, as evinced by what we saw around us, the thought was almost overpowering. How often is God forgotten and denied by the creature whom he has made in his own likeness, and endowed with precious gifts in order that he might glorify his Creator.

We also visited the palace of the kings, now partly in ruins. Here wealth and art combined in doing their best to afford happiness, but with what success we leave our readers to judge.

In this city, in the morning, men and women can be seen carrying to the dead house, all earthly that remains of wasted lives. After tasting the pleasures of sin and folly for a few years, and wasting life’s blessings, many suddenly put an end to their existence. What better than this could be expected of thousands among a people who have been taught that there is no hereafter, and that death is an eternal sleep?

The sculptures in public places, pictures in art-galleries, and many of the customs of the people, reveal a morbid state of the public mind. There things show that when men depart from God and the Bible, although in some respects they may stand high in the estimation of nations, they sink in morality to the lowest depths of degradation.

As we left the city, we thanked God from the heart for the Christian religion. We were prepared to appreciate the moral atmosphere of Switzerland, the home of Zwingle, Ecolampadius, and other reformers of the sixteenth century. The stamp given to society by these men is also seen in the habits and customs of the people. We were also especially prepared to appreciate the home of Eld. Andrews, where the spirit of the Christian religion pervades the entire household. Here we found a rest which can only be found where the peace of God abides.

The cities of Germany also in their works of art, etc., show a marked contrast with those of France. This was the home of such spirits as Martin Luther, Philip Melanchton, and others, who have left an influence that has not only given cast to the characters of the people of Germany, but moulded the whole Christian world. We noticed this more particularly in Dresden, the literary city of Germany, than in other cities. The countenances of the people bear an expression of honest intelligence. Modesty and refinement here take the place of their opposites in Paris.

Here we became acquainted with persons of whom we have heard, and in whom we have been much interested for several years. The measure of God’s Spirit which rested upon us while in conversation with them on present truth, and while bowed with them in prayer, made an impression on our mind which will not soon be forgotten. Our interview was pleasant and we trust profitable. We became interested in Germany as never before. While God is doing much to enlighten France through the able writings of Eld. Andrews and others in Les Signes de Temps, we cannot see why Germany should be passed by. This paper, within the few past years, has visited not less than ten thousand families in France. Germany has forty-five million inhabitants, three-fourths of whom are Protestants. In that country all parents are obliged to give their children an education, while the more educated classes understand English and French. Publishers’ rates of postage, and the laws relating to the religious interests of the people, are more favorable than in most of the countries of Europe. France contains less than thirty-seven million inhabitants, of whom it is estimated that but seven hundred and forty thousand are Protestants, while in Germany there are thirty million Protestants, or about forty times as many as in France. We look forward to the time when God’s providence will do as much for Germany, in connection with the cause of present truth, as for France, inasmuch as to all outward appearances it presents a better field.

On our way to Christiana, Norway, we passed through Copenhagen, where our boat stopped seven hours. This gave ample opportunity to visit the city. Many of the churches in this part of the world have towers connected with them, built for the purpose of watching for the approach of an enemy. These towers differ from those in other parts of Europe. Instead of stairs, the top is reached by a smooth gradual ascent which winds round and round in the tower. Some of these towers are very large, so that the passage leading upward is fifteen or twenty feet wide. One of these we visited. The church called Trinity, or round church, is one of the finest in the metropolis. Its foundation stone was laid the seventh of July, 1639. It is said that during his stay in Copenhagen, in 1716, Peter the Great rode up this tower upon horseback, while his consort, Catherine, drove up the same way in a coach and four, for which there is ample room. The tower, judging from others whose height was given, must have been three hundred feet high. As it was located on an elevated spot we had from it a good view of the city. In another church called the Holy Ghost Church, having a tower two hundred feet high, the Danish reformer, John Tausen, defended his doctrines. Thus in nearly every city are found churches or cathedrals in which reformers of the sixteenth and seventh centuries defended the doctrines of the Reformation, and many of them have been scenes of great conflicts between truth and error. It would now be as difficult to present the truth for the present time in them, as it then was to present the truth for that time. The days predicted by Cotton Mather have come, when the truths for the last days are shut out of those houses consecrated to the worship of God by the reformers and their children.