Establishing the British Mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church 1863-1887: Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

METHODS OF LABOR AND THEIR RESULTS

In covering his short history of the British Mission, from 1879 to the beginning of l886, Wilcox thought it would "not be amiss to reflect for a brief space on some of the difficulties to be met within this field, difficulties upon which there is general agreement among those who have labored here." He briefly alluded to the curse of caste and class, the "terrible reality" of hard times, the stereotyped customs and manners of the British, and a resentment and misrepresentation of things American.¹

The Difficulty of Being American

Loughborough had early sensed "a prevailing distrust of foreigners" in general, and being an American did not help him, certainly in the early stages of his work for the British Mission.

Preconceived Ideas of America

By the end of the Mission's first year in Southampton, prejudice against Americans had grown considerably, with reasons much more recent than the wars of 1776 and 1812. First, Mormonism had made its "raids and ravages" among the population. A band of 50 new Mormon converts from Southampton had travelled to Salt Lake and had made their way back to Southampton with "curious" impressions of America and some of its "clever Yankees." Shakerism also had put down roots close by to Southampton causing some to see America as a "queer country" because it produced such sects.²

Certainly, many practices and attidudes of Americans turned the British and other Europeans against them, and possibly against the changes of belief they sought to introduce. The situation continued over the years covered by this history. Haskell informed the American membership in 1882 regarding Europe that there was "such a feeling there against anything that is American."³ In 1888 Dr Merille de Courville, president of the Brighton, England, Vegetarian Society and a Sabbatarian, wrote John Vuilleumier in Switzerland that Americans were more unpopular in Britain than they were in Europe, and went so far as to say that an American-led church would be unpopular.⁴ True or not, the beliefs held had tended to hinder the work of the British Mission, if only because of the attitude of the workers themselves. Wilcox certainly believed that being American did present some difficulties at least, even if what was known was nothing more than "one-sided misrepresentations." He believed:

Anything directly sensational, ludicrous, wicked, or barbarous, happening in America, is generally reported or reprinted in English papers, while the better features are conspicuously absent. Naturally this has educated many of the lower classes to believe that America is a semi-barborous country. Of course, many know that this is not true, and the people generally are becoming more enlightened in regard to the real condition of American society.⁵

It is of interest that White believed that often the problem of being American was self inflicted, and often due only to the attitudes of Mission workers. She felt that workers made the error "of extolling in conversation and in the labor for souls American practices as far above those of other nations," and nothing could have set the minds of Englishmen against them more than such a demonstration of superiority.⁶

There is no doubt that the workers in the British Mission felt the pressures of being American and they seemed not to be able to hide the fact of their nationality. Durland, for example, "would be easily recognised as an American," and this was probably true of all the Mission workers.⁷

Meeting Old Established Religious Beliefs and Attitudes

Not only did Loughborough sense a distrust of foreigners, but noted it "especially if they introduced anything new to the people,⁸�and certainly this was the intention of these American workers. The Mission found it hard to break into the well established religious beliefs, customs, and habits of the religious communites and the people for whom they worked. This they blamed on an adult-youth attitude:

Great Britain is old. She has done much to enlighten the world. Age is generally suspicious of youth, especially when the later advocates advanced ideas. So Great Britain thinks it strange that she should be taught of America the first principles of truth, and looks with suspicion upon what originates there.⁹

Over the years even those interested in the teachings of the British Mission found well established practices hard to break, even in the face of new convictions, for families had attended the same place of worship which "their fathers have attended for hundreds of years."¹⁰

Because the Church of England claimed the total population of the country as under her jurisdiction Loughborough found himself having to contend with "much prejudice" from the established Church. Not so much was experienced from the evangelical denominations who were still fighting a cause themselves. Fortunately, with so many dissenters against the laws and statutes of the established Church it made it virtually impossible for them to enforce many laws that could have proved troublesome for the Mission. Seventh-day Adventists were seen immediately as just another sect, "another company of dissenters,"¹¹�and there were enough of these.

Loughborough found almost as great a variety of denominatins in England as in America, "although they are of a different kind, and have different names." He observed them as passing through "a state of fusion," and consequently a number of "devoted members" from these groups became interested in the truths the British Mission had to share.¹² However, Loughborough found it a slower process to persuade his interests to change church allegiance, and join his new denomination, than he had in America:

I am of opinion that you will find the English people, as a rule, harder to convince than the Americans. They are of a less excitable temperament, and are not so readily induced to surrender their preconceived opinions; nor are they so enthusiastic as their transatlantic brethren.¹³

Often the British Mission workers attempted to adapt their approach to well established practices and customs in the religious arena. However White pointed out the danger of "seeking in our words and actions to exalt foreign national customs above our American habits and practices." She believed that "suiting our American stamp to adapt it to foreign countries," would "bring us no influence."¹⁴

Certainly many customs and practices of the British were different from those in America, and consequently Loughborough and other American workers in Britain had often been told that "the people of England must be approached in a manner different from that employed in the United States.¹⁵ White herself had heard, even before arrival in Britain, of the different national pecularities and that people had to be reached "in a certain way,"¹⁶�and was told often during her travels in Europe that "you cannot labor here as you do in America."¹⁷ In 1887 it was believed that the work had grown slowly in Britain because of the idea "that we should not expect much and that we could work only after English methods."¹⁸

White was very guarded when it came to change in the Church's methods of evangelizing in order to carry out the mission of the Church according to the established way of doing things. Some of her last advice to the leadership in Europe after two years in that field was that the workers in Britain "are not to study English rules, customs, or practices." By this advice she had special reference not to those social customs of the country but to the forms of religious practice. She emphasized that they were to "make everything according to the pattern shown them in the Mount. They were to study the Scriptures and "bring a new, divine element into their work, that will be like leaven put into the meal." Unless they were prepared to do this they might just as well "quit the field." She explained:

Old habits of precision, of moving in a certain groove, will have to be changed; old customs and habits that have long been cherished and idolized, will have to be broken up. Men will have to experience a daily conversion, in order that they may be working agents, who can be molded and fashioned as clay is molded and fashioned by the hands of the potter.¹⁹

White indicated that she had decided early that she would give the message God had given her, and not accept the advice that methods of work in England must be different from those in America.²⁰

White was specific on this matter, believing that "there must be a firm determinatian on the part of our laborers to break with the established customs of the people whenever it is essential to the advancement of the work of God."²¹

White considered that the attempt of the workers, under pressure from members, to conform to English customs had prevented the work of the Mission from expanding, causing it to be far behind what it could have been:

The work might be much further advanced in Europe if some of those who embrace the truth were not so wedded to the habits and customs of nationalities. They plead that the efforts of our ministers must be made to conform to these customs and prejudices, or nothing will be accomplished. This has been a binding influence upon the work from its commencement. The effort that has been made to comform to English customs, to eat and drink English, to dress and sleep English, has circumscribed the work, and it is now years behind what it might have been.²²

However Haskell had informed the American leadership of a need to produce the Church's publications in Europe with a European style.²³ In 1886 the European Missionary Council voted that major publications of the Church be revised and adapted to English readers,²⁴�and Loughborough had seen a need for at least a British Supplement in the Signs.

Ings believed that it would take American girls to reach the better classes in England until such time as English girls "can be educated" in "our American customs" of selling literature. Obviously the manner of working with books, house to house, was not something that was customary in England, and this old custom would have to be changed.²⁵ Haskell believed he had the solution to that problem, send them to America, "where they would be broken off from their old associations."²⁶ However Jenny Ings thought it best to use national workers rather than American.²⁷ White felt that there was not such a change required "in the manner of working" in Europe as the countries "require an element of energy and renovation" that would "surprise and startle the people from their sleepy lethargy," and this could be done only by the "quickening, vitalizing power of the Holy Spirit, which will alone be efficient, and will speed the work in rapid movements."²⁸

White explained that she personally would make no changes in the advice she had to give in order to conform to any established customs and practices:

I tell them I will give them the message as God has given it to me. God has not changed since I came to Europe and I will bear my message just as He has given it to me, and if I fail of meeting the ideas of the people in this place I want them to remember that God has not changed; He is the same here as in America, and He can give the same message here. It is Christ and Him crucified, and the Christ in me will respond to the Christ in you. Here is the Bible and the truth, and we must come to the platform of eternal truth and seek to be partakers of the Divine nature, and then the true light will come into this nation.²⁹

She condemned "Brother L and some others" who "have sought to imitate the customs and blend with the peculiarities of the nations where and for whom they labor," believing that to do so would give them influence with the people.³⁰ She would have sided with Butler who returned to America, following his 1884 visit to Britain, stating that great good could be accomplished in the British Mission, "but it will not be by conforming to the customs and habits of the people who are not in harmony with the truth." He explained the meaning of this advice:

God's truth is designed to mold the people to the true principles of the Christian religion, and not to have them mold the truth to the customs and habits of any one. The truth preached with humility and earnestness will accomplish wonders in the British Empire; the other course will result in sure disaster.³¹

The Danger of Demonstrating a "Missionary" Spirit

White was quick to realize what workers in the three European Missions must recognize that the countries they represented were Christian. Although she did not intend for them to change the message that the Church had for these countries she saw that the workers must "move with the greatest wisdom" so as not to create prejudice against that message. She also recognized early that "the religions of these nations they think superior to all others, and are exceedingly jealous on this point." Raising unnecessary prejudice was discouraged by White, as was giving the impression that the people of Europe "are regarded as heathen." These countries of Europe, Britain in particular, had been sending missionaries to the uncivilized heathen of the world for decades, and there was now a danger that the Church workers would give the impression that "we are sent to this country from America as missionaries." It would be better not to emphasis that the Church's workers were American, nor that they were missionaries.³²

The Need for Good Planning of the Work

White considered that the truth the Church had to give the world, and the ideal manner of working in order to give it, was God given and as such should be seen to be so. She advised missionaries to consider the importance of carefully directed planning of their evangelizing and gave important guidelines throughout her stay in Britain.

Methods Used Must Represent the Divine

White believed the manner of work should be seen as representative of God:

Let not any one of you belittle the importance of your mission, and lower the work in a cheap, inferior way of planning to get the church before the people . . . Again I would urge up (sic) the necessity from the very first establishment of your work, to commence in a dignified, God-like manner that you give character to the influence of the truth which you know to be of heavenly birth.³³

Again:

Do not cheapen the work of God. Let it stand forth as from God. Let it bear no human impress, but the impress of the divine.

Now as you enter a new field, elevate the work from the very commencement. Place it on a high level, and have all your efforts of such character as to bring all who are interested in the truth to a noble, elevated platform, corresponding with the magnitude of the work that they may have a proper education and be able to teach others. The truth is of heavenly origin, and it has been mercifully given to us in the trust of heaven.³⁴

Because the message of the Church was being "planted in all countries and among all nations" White felt that the time had come for all workers to try and shape their labor "as to secure immediate results." This could be done only if each worker would so educate those who received his message that "they in turn will become light-bearers to others." She recogized this would take careful planning.³⁵

Well Ordered and United Plans

Giving advice to the missionaries commencing the Church's work in South Africa, White used the British Mission experiences to advise them. She indicated a need to know exactly what they plan to do before starting, for "the work you are engaged in cannot be done except by forces which are the result of well-understood plans." She repeatedly discouraged them from undertaking the work "in a narrow, cheap plan, as they have done in the British Mission." She believed such an approach would not work in South Africa nor "in any British territory" nor would it be wise "in any large city."³⁶

During her second visit to the British Mission, and to the European Council in Grimsby, White told workers that she had spent sleepless nights because "the matter that was presented before me pressed my mind." She had given considerable thought to "the work and its importance in every department" and concluded that "God will not accept half hearted work in His cause," but requires "all to perform with an exactitude."³⁷ She believed that much had been lost in the work, both in America and Europe, "through want of wise methods of labor,"³⁸�and that "great wisdom" was necessary in determining the manner in which the message was brought before the people. "There are certain clearly defined ends to gain at the very introduction of missionary effort," she believed, and if the plans and methods had been "of a different character," even if they had cost more, there would have been "far better results."³⁹ She recognized that "much has been lost" through following "the mistaken ideas of some of our good brethren." The reason being that their plans were "narrow," and they reduced the work done to their own peculiar ways and ideas which obviously did not create the best impression. This was one reason why the higher classes were not reached. What unbelievers observed they saw as being of "very little worth," a "stray offshoot or religious theory entirely beneath their notice."⁴⁰

White had observed the workers in the cause as having "loose and dilatory" habits and the Mission work she felt called for business-like practices:

Everything that bears any relation to the work and the cause of God should be as near perfection as human brains and human hands can make it. God is not pleased with the present lack of order and accuracy among those who do business in connection with His cause. He would have things done with as much order as was seen anciently in the arrangement of his sanctuary and of the armies of Israel. No slack, bungling work was done there; for death would have been the penalty.⁴¹

She considered that, in fact, "far more might have been done" if things had been managed better, and there would have been "less means actually taken from the treasury."⁴² For example, she believed it had been a mistake for the British Mission to move the headquarters and publishing work from Southampton to Grimsby. That decision had been made by a committee consensus of opinion with Butler as chairman, and they had seen benefits in cheaper publishing and accomodation costs, but Grimsby was not an ideal location for creating a good impression of the Mission, and in the end it was not cheaper.⁴³

White reasoned that when "the workers are not many; the means are not abundant," the work "must be fashioned accordingly," there was a greater need for concerted planning effort. She did not believe it right that Church money should be used to support workers who "labor in such a way that no special results can be seen," and consequently workers should concentrate on those methods that brought success. If anyone wanted to experiment then that person should sustain himself from his own funds, "so that if loses occur he alone will be the loser." She is obviously not against trying new ideas, but when money is short it should be spent mainly on doing the work which has already been agreed upon and tried and tested. In fact, no one should "strike out on his own independent judgment, and work according to his own mind," "unless he has a treasury of his own from which to draw." She believed "that the management of the work must not be entrusted to inexperienced hands," and obviously supervision of younger men was needed by those of longer experience. Her emphasis was on united planning and operation.⁴⁴

White saw Durland as "not the man for Europe." He was obviously in the habit of doing his own thing, perhaps without much consultation with his superiors, and White believed:

He has no wisdom in expending money. He makes large expenditures. He needs to exercise economy else he will drain the treasury.⁴⁵

John had a similiar problem:

He has gone to Wales, but in place of working with the Welsh and getting a knowledge of the language he has situated himself in a large watering place and hired a house for above one hundred dollars a year, a portion of it to be used for a meetinghouse - just as though he was to raise up a large company at once that would demand any such facilities.⁴⁶

She had further remarks concerning John:

Brother John's manner of labor will be after the same order - flourishing himself as a remarkable man to do a big work, neglecting, not seeing fruit, neglecting the work next to him.⁴⁷

Before her return to America in 1887 White found it necessary to write a joint letter to Durland and John concerning their questioning of the plans of others. White saw Durland and John as keeping themselves "in your own hands," and encouraged them not to "think that of yourselves you are a whole, because you are not." They were "only threads in the great web of humanity," and the part they played was "in binding humanity together." She was anxious that they did not "cling to our own ways, our own plans, our own ideas." She wished to see them work together with other workers for the success of the British Mission:

There is danger of doubting whether the plans of others are what they should be and of advancing our special ideas and plans when we have not sufficient experience to show that our ideas are perfect and will prove a success. Do not encourage in your hearts the disposition to question another's plans, another's ideas. Until you have evidence that they are wrong do not criticize your fellow laborers. Let God take care of your brethren. He requires us to surrender our own souls to him.⁴⁸

Concentrated Labor

White recognized the danger of being "far-reaching in ones labor, and not enough defined." This method she believed resulted in loss of time, finances, and members. She wrote from Europe:

The mind must be active to invent the best ways and means of reaching the people next to us. We should not be far-reaching, incurring great expense. There are families near us for whom we should make personal efforts. We often let opportunities within our reach slip away, in order to do a work at a distance from us which is less hopeful, and thus our time and means may be lost in both places. . . Our cause is struggling in poverty because we are trying to do so much. At this point in the history of our work we may spread over a great deal of territory, scatter our efforts, use up our time and money, and yet have little fruit to show for our labors - few souls who will help sustain the work by their influence, their effort, and their means.⁴⁹

Such remarks were specifically true of the British Mission and its personnel. There was a danger of trying to cover too much ground and consequently not achieving what might have been accomplished otherwise:

There are those who embrace too much in their labors, and by so doing accomplish little. At present, the labors of our ministers cannot be so uncertain and extended as to cast the seeds of truth upon all waters.⁵⁰

White told the British workers that if there were not enough laborers to work the field, "then occupy less territory."⁵¹�She believed that extensive work was already being done through the publications, and it was time to use the ministry in "concise" work:

God directs us, and reason tells us, that at this stage of this work, and with the present condition of our finances, our ministers must be more personal and concise in their labors, binding up the work as they go along.⁵²

She wrote Haskell before his arrival in Britain in 1887:

I have seen in dreams, instructed that we overlook the fields close by us, to labor in far away fields, and we pick very inferior berries when there are larger and a better quality of berries all ready to be gathered. And we are making a mistake in this kind of labor.⁵³

Not Working in Isolation

White had observed over the years that often when a person felt he should give himself to the ministry he was sent by the Church leaders to some unimportant place to work alone. This she felt was not the way to do it,⁵⁴�for "there is little that any of you can do alone," but rather "two or more are better than one."⁵⁵ At the 1885 European Council she spoke specifically to the missionaries about "going out two by two," considering it "Christ's arrangement."⁵⁶�She understood human nature however, and recogized it would only be benefical "if there will be that humility that you will esteem each other better than yourselves," and if such individuals were able to counsel together.⁵⁷ In 1886 Lane and Durland worked side-by-side in conducting public tent meetings, and Durland and John did the same after Haskell's arrival in Britain in 1887.

Variety of Approaches

White believed the Mission should use a variety of methods and approaches to teach the public according to time and place, "always shaping the message to the circumstances" as did the apostle Paul, and "must vary with the class of people they are among." Although it would be true that "some there are who will not be convinced by any method of presenting truth that may be pursued" that fact should not excuse the worker from studying carefully the best method. Such should be done so as not to "raise prejudice nor stir up combativeness."⁵⁸

One-on-One Advantage

White believed that a one on one approach to proclaiming the Church's message was the guiding rule in all considerations relating to the methods to be used. She looked for results that could be seen:

Our ministers should not feel at liberty to pay large sums for halls in which to hold meetings, when they do not feel the burden of following up the interest with personal labor. The results are too uncertain to warrant using up means so rapidly.⁵⁹

She strongly believed that the closer a worker was able to get to a person the better the method. She saw the need to obtain "the confidence of the people," and considered it impossible without "working to obtain acquaintance with them."⁶⁰

White also urged the workers to recognise for themselves that preaching, the giving of "discourses," was not the only way to labor, and saw a need for "devoting less time to sermonizing, and more time to educating those for whom they labor." For her "the best work you can do is to teach, to educate," to sit down with individuals and "let them ask questions." One of the major reasons for obtaining a knowledge of the Scriptures by those who were working as missionaries was first and foremost the fact that "the servants of Christ" are educators. She saw this need of preaching less and educating more even in connection with the public meetings. She believed God would hold them "as good and faithful" if they held Bible readings, and prayed with families and little companies. She stressed the importance of gaining access to "the fireside" where they could open the Bible with people by "being social" with them. She explained:

The current of their thoughts will be changed quicker than by the most able discourses. The presentation of Christ in the family, by the fireside, and in small gatherings in private houses, is more successful in securing souls to Jesus than are sermons delivered in the open air to the moving throng, or even in halls or churches.

Personal influence is a power. The more direct our labor for our fellow men, the greater good will be accomplished. The minds of those with whom we are closely associated are impressed through unseen influences. One cannot stand off in a multitude and send down his voice to men, and move them as he could if he were brought into closer relationship with them.⁶¹

She wanted to see people led along step by step, as was the custom of the apostle Paul, who approached the Gentiles first "by exalting Christ," and then showing "the binding claims of the law."⁶² She saw the time when broader efforts might be in order if churches and halls were available, and there was a desire to hear. Then "they should embrace the opportunity and do the best they can," but for the present, she admitted, "we have no great men among us, and none need try to make themselves what they are not, remarkable men,"⁶³�"the humble ways and means of reaching the people are what we want."⁶⁴

House to House Visiting by All Believers

Writing to Ings about tent meetings to be held in Grimsby White considered that with these meetings "there should be visiting from house to house to get at the people," and "to pray with them, talk with them,"⁶⁵�and that in this method of work members should be involved, for "the humblest toiler for the salvation of souls is a laborer together with God, a co-worker with Christ."⁶⁶ She in fact envisioned every believer a worker on behalf of their neighbors:

What is needed now is not preachers merely, but laborers, those who will give themselves heartily to the work of the Master; those who will visit from house to house, and bring the truth home to the hearts of the people.⁶⁷

She believed that members should be trained to missionary work, considering it a failing of the ministry that this had not been done as it should have been. If the ministers had been "baptised with the Spirit of Christ, they would have done fifty times more than they have done to train men for laborers." Believing as she did, that "holding Bible readings was a heaven-born idea," she considered that both men and women could engage in this branch of missionary work.⁶⁸ She told the Swiss Conference members:

Here is a vast field which our sisters can enter. If devoted to God, women can do fully as much good by opening the Scriptures in families as the minister can.⁶⁹

In this way:

Workers may be thus developed who will become mighty men of God. By this means the word of God has been given to thousands; and the workers will be brought into personal contact with people of al1 nations and tongues. The Bible is brought into families, and its sacred truths come home to the conscience. Men are entreated to read, examine, and judge for themselves, and they must abide the responsibility of receiving or rejecting the divine enlightenment. God will not permit this precious work for Him to go unrewarded. He will crown with success every humble effort made in His name.⁷⁰

White strongly believed that the work in foreign missions could soon become self-sustaining, and that the one "great means" by which this could be accomplished would be "by well-directed efforts of those already in the truth to bring in others who will be a strength and support to the work."

Although White believed that "men of ordinary talents" could accomplish more "by personal labor from house to house" than by placing themselves in "popular places at great expense, or by entering halls and trying to call out a crowd,"⁷¹�as was being done by John and others, she nevertheless believed there was a place for reaching the people through the hired hall, tent meetings, and in the open air.

Hired Halls

Early, while working with Loughborough, Andrews had come to believe that "to reach the middle and upper classes to any great extent it is necessary to hire respectable halls," although admitting it was not really possible in view of "our present circumstances" to do this.⁷² Certainly the halls used by Loughborough, Lane, and others never appear to have been very attractive, and certainly were not of the respectable variety. Lane reported that his cheap "old club room" connected with a public house in Bardney had attracted, in the main, only the poorer classes.⁷³ He also wrote of "an old dilapidated hall" that could not be heated and was "uncomfortable on account of the cold."⁷⁴ Hall rents in Exeter were reported to be too high for public meetings,⁷⁵�and Durland had admitted that "the hinderance to holding meetings in this country is in getting a suitable hall." He explained his problem:

Most of the villages have but a few halls or rooms suitable for public meetings, and they are usually engaged from two to four nights in the week. The managers think they are doing you a great favor if they let you have a room at $1.25 to $5.00 per each service. These prices have a tendency to discourage an American, who had been accustomed to have school-houses and halls free of charge.⁷⁶

Those attending the 1885 European Council recognized that there was, throughout Europe, a great difficulty in obtaining inexpensive places for holding public meetings. Consequently it left the three Missions with much to be desired in the way of public access to the people. The British Mission appeared to be the most favorably situated, but even here it was impossible to obtain suitable halls that would give the right character to the work without a large expense. It was found that class distinctions applied also to halls, so that it might be said there was "a caste in halls." On top of the class distinction there was to be found in some places a control of many halls by the Church of England, which used its influence to oppose their use for teaching dissenting doctrine.⁷⁷

White recognized that if halls were to be used they would have to be good halls, especially where the work was just beginning, or they would create a poor impression.⁷⁸

Tents

Andrews observed that "tent-meetings are no novelty in England," but quickly realised that tent use did not give access to the better classes, as they did in America. The better classes regarded a tent-meeting as "only designed for poor people and for those who have no place of worship."⁷⁹

Loughborough had different reasons for disliking tents, he was not satisfied with their performance in British weather. However, his bad experiences were cancelled out in the minds of all representatives of the British Mission by 1885 and the tent effort in Riseley conducted by Durland and Lane. W. C. White believed that at least "in some parts of England tents can be as useful to our work as they are in America."⁸⁰ John, however, did not agree and opposed the idea of tents "being the best for meeting house purposes," considering open-air meetings preferable.⁸¹ The 1885 European Council agreed that tents could be "used to advantage" in most of Europe, England included, and recognized that the "difficulty and expense of obtaining suitable and respectable halls make the use of a tent in the summer season very desirable."⁸²

The European Council perceived a number of major advantages from tent use. They solved the problem of (1) finding inexpensive and suitable halls and rooms for holding public meetings; (2) they provided a better means of advertizing the work of the Mission and attracting the attention of the people; (3) there was a better opportunity for coming close to the people; (4) they provided a better health environment for both the speaker and the audience than did crowded, poorly ventilated halls; (5) and it was better than speaking in the open air where vocal organs were severely strained.⁸³

Such statements did not negate the fact that there were certainly some difficulties. There had been difficulties in America connected with tents but nevertheless one hundred or more were in use there. The major interest in their use seemed to be the self-supporting nature of their use, and England had been cited as a favorable example of this. In Riseley, the cost of the summer tent meetings had been $35, and collections and donations were $30.⁸⁴ By 1886 Lane believed the tent work "is a success, and that it will constitute a means of introducing the truth to the attention of thousands."⁸⁵

White was requested to speak to the European Council of 1885 regarding the use of tents in conducting public meetings. Her only experience with tents in Europe had been during her visit to Durland and Lane's Riseley meetings just prior to her arrival in Switzerland. However, she was able to tell them that "according to the light the Lord had given me tents could be used to good advantage in some places and if conducted properly would result in great good,"⁸⁶�and proved her point by using England as an example where "it has been thought tent-meetings could not be held." The experience of Lane and Durland had "proved that in many places this is the very best means of reaching the people."⁸⁷ Unbeknown to her at the time she found herself in opposition to John who earlier, in her absence from the meeting, had "spoken rather against tents being the best for meeting house purposes."⁸⁸

Open-Air Meetings

Loughborough recorded conducting only one open-air meeting, but did not make any comment.⁸⁹ Wilcox on the other hand conducted some open-air meetings with John and was not altogether impressed with the method, although recognizing God had used them in religious reformations in the past:

The people all stand and are constantly coming and going, yet there are some who listen attentively. But little reading matter is taken by the people unless it is given to them. These things make it difficult to give a regular course of sermons as we do in America, and consequently the truth loses much of its force. Then, again, the people are not free to talk with strangers, which makes it difficult to get in sympathy with them individually. Not withstanding all this, some are reached with the truth. Some who listen to the truth but a few minutes hear something which awakens an interest in them to know more about it, and they afterward order publications. Much has been done in these ways in the reforms of the past, and we trust that the Lord may use them now, as ineffectual and imperfect as they seem to be.⁹⁰

In view of the high cost of halls in Southampton Durland had seen only one way out of the difficulty, and that was "to make good use" of the summer months in holding open-air meetings. He considered "more people can be reached in this way than in any other." Even though he recognized himself inexperienced in this kind of work his summer was the means of bringing his message "before a class that I could not have reached in any other way."⁹¹ Just what class this was he does not say, but possibly the better class who walked The Avenue.

In a report for the Review concerning the English Mission White spoke positively regarding her views on the conducting of open-air meetings writing:

Open air meetings are quite common in England. If conducted on right principles, these are good. Jesus placed Himself in the great thoroughfares of travel, where His voice was heard by thousands. The precious words that fell from His lips found a lodgment in many hearts and caused them to search and see if these things were so.⁹²

However, privately, she did not agree with them in general, perhaps taking the side of Wilcox.

When John presented what he considered the advantages of open-air meetings over tent meetings at the European Council of 1885 White presented her objections to this method and the disadvantages of working this way. She believed (1) that from such meetings the people "do not obtain the best ideas of our work," and the Mission objective was for them to know that "we have the most sacred truth ever given to mortals."⁹³ She considered open-air meetings as (2) "very wearing to our ministers, because taxing to the vocal cords. The voice is strained to an unnatural pitch, and would be greatly injured by this method of labor." She had been speaking more or less for the last forty years and knew how "trying it is." She considered that in Britain "no one can long bear the taxation to the throat and lungs," especially taxing "on account of the dampness of the air," and leading to difficulty in preserving "bodily health and strength while conducting such meetings."⁹⁴ She believed also that (3) discipline and order could not be preserved at such meetings, usually being attended by a drifting class of people.⁹⁵ This resulted in (4) "the fact that the congregation is constantly changing, and one cannot come close to them in personal effort." One might preach in the open-air "till the Lord comes and then be unable to show definite results" from the preachers perspective.⁹⁶ Then (5) the lack of men and means "at this time will not warrent our brethren in doing this kind of work."⁹⁷ As far as the preacher was concerned, (6) such meetings did not call for, nor did they encourage, studious habits "in diligently searching the Scriptures." The preacher tended not to know what he should preach because he did not know for whom he was working. He had "very little encouragement to grow in the truth, to obtain a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, and he does not obtain that experience that will make him an able minister for Christ."⁹⁸ There was also (7) a tendency "to make the laborer not obtain that kind of experience that is fitting him to be a perfect workman." The reason being that "he becomes negligent in regard to following up his own work and binding it off securely." He does not do the very work "that is so essential to be done," not only to preach but to follow up his preaching by "ministering," by "becoming acquainted with the interested ones, going to their homes, opening to them the Scriptures around the fireside, making plain essential points of present truth, and removing the objections which always will arise when the truth is brought in conflict with error." Personal contact was missing,⁹⁹�and consequently (8) the worker "cannot possibly prove his own work by concentrating his labor to bring out and organize a church." He cannot give proof of his ministry.¹⁰⁰

During the 1885 European Council White had a private interview with John regarding his open-air meetings, and he does not appear to have been very pleased that his methods were brought into question. However, White believed that John's "strange ideas that have not proved a success," and his reliance on this open-air method to the exclusion of other means, had made his labors "almost a failure" during his stay in England.¹⁰¹

Nevertheless, White did recognize that "sometimes great good may be done by this manner of labor." She saw that "as a practice it is better to reach the people in some other way," it not being "the best regular means of presenting the truth."¹⁰² Certainly after this date we hear nothing of open-air meetings being a major, or perhaps even a minor, part of the work in the British Mission.

Publishing

From the very early beginnings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in America a great deal of importance had been laid on the need for publishing and distributing their own literature. This was the result of discovering that the printed page was able to go where the living preacher was not, due to a great shortage of workers. Often it was able to accomplish better results than the soon gone itinerant preacher could. It is little wonder therefore that simultaneously with the opening of the British Mission of Seventh-day Adventists agitation began for the erection of a publishing house plant in the British Isles, and that the sale and free literature distributation became an integral part of Loughborough's evangelistic efforts.¹⁰³ The National Tract and Missionary Society, which came into existance on 11 January 1880, was calculated to systematically work with the literature made available.¹⁰⁴

The desire for a paper "especially adapted for the cause in England" was always in the minds of all working on behalf of the success of the Mission, resulting in not a few requests to the General Conference.¹⁰⁵ The British Mission's decision to publish a supplement to Signs, "filled with items calculated to interest English readers,"¹⁰⁶�constituted the early attempts of the missionaries to obtain material that would lend itself to the interests of the British. This finally culminated in the 1883 General Conference action authorizing the publication of the monthly periodical Present Truth in England,¹⁰⁷�which appeared April 1884 after a change in the location of the Mission headquarters and publishing interests to Grimsby,¹⁰⁸ and the appointment of Lane and wife "to take a leading part in the British Mission, and the printing work of that Mission."¹⁰⁹

As early as her first 1885 visit to Grimsby White saw a need for securing "a larger building" for the British Mission, and "to purchase a press upon which to print the paper, as well as books and tracts,"¹¹⁰�"so that the light may shine forth in more distinct rays to every part of the kingdom."¹¹¹

However, as a result of her observations and knowledge of Grimsby, compared with Southampton and London, White believed Grimsby was not the ideal place for the center of the Mission's publishing work. She told the leaders in Europe at the time of her departure:

The Lord has presented the matter before me in clear line. The publishing interests should not have been removed from Southampton to Grimsby; but should have remained in that important place, where greater character would have been given to the work until it could have been removed to London.¹¹²

Consequently, in May 1887, plans were put into effect for the removal of the printing plant from Grimsby to London, with this move coinciding with the arrival of Haskell from America. It is certain that White and her son W. C. White had much to do with the advice that prompted this change.

Of all the work undertaken during those early years of the British Mission that of publishing seems to have had the greatest success. Looking back on her stay in Britain White expressed her belief that "publications have been and still are doing a good job,"¹¹³�and the facts would indicate that this was so.

White, advising those going to South Africa and encouraging them to "keep up the elevated character of the work," suggested that one way of doing this was to "let the publications, the papers, the pamphlets, be working among the people, and preparing the minds of the reading class for the preaching of the truth." So important did she see the part played by the publishing work of the church that she encouraged "no stinted efforts be made in this line."¹¹⁴

The Problems of Class Distinction

After one year of public preaching Loughborough realized that his hearers were made up almost entirely of the poorer classes, "artisans, merchants, tradesmen, and laborers." Consequently there was a recognition almost immediately that one of the greatest difficulties "in presenting the truth" in England was the difference between the three principle classes, and the feeling of caste which was "very strong in this country."¹¹⁵

In 1885 White observed wide differences "in education, in sentiment, and in circumstances between the capitalists, shopkeepers, and the day-laborers" in the cities, and "the landlords, and the tenant-farmers, and the farm-laborers" in the country areas.¹¹⁶ This was something that did not exist in America, at least to any great extent, and this rigid barrier between class and class greatly affected the British Mission. The American workers found the situation hard to deal with, frustrating, and discouraging, especially when it was found to be difficult to reach those individuals who could give valuable personal and financial support and respectability to the cause of the Mission.

Lack of Work for the Better Classes

Loughborough had seen little if any way by which he could minister to the wealthy, lords, nobles, and gentry who had learned to keep themselves apart from the lower classes. Certainly he was not able to reach both classes at the same meetings, or with the same methods. His public meetings were conducted in the full knowledge that they would be the means of attracting only the lower classes. All the others working in the British Mission equally recognized this problem.

Those who lived in their large, fenced homes the Mission would endeavor to reach by means of literature sent through the mail, really the only avenue open to them. Loughborough explained the difficulty:

Those of wealth do not expect to listen to the same man to whom the poor listen. How, then, can we reach them with our preaching? In our hope to find candid, truth loving persons among those of wealth, we see no way to reach them, except with reading matter. I presume our American vigilant missionary workers will say, "Canvas among them with papers and books." But how will you do that, when you find their mansions surrounded with high walls, with great iron gates locked and barred, and no admission unless you have a note of introduction from some of their own class. "Her Royal Majesty's mail" does find admittance in the post boxes by their gates. This open avenue we are using, hoping by this means to reach some candid souls, even of the wealthy class.¹¹⁷

Andrews had earlier expressed his opinions regarding the methods used in the British Mission, and believed it strange "that we have almost everything to learn in beginning labor of any kind in the Old World." He observed, for example, that the use of a tent "does not give access to the better class" as it did in America, and it was considered no more than a place of worship for "poor people." The use of halls he felt would attract the upper class, but only "respectable halls" that were expensive, and the present circumstances would not allow hiring them. Tracts, he also observed, "are for the lower class." In fact for a better class person to accept a tract was to imply "they are sinners who need conversion."¹¹⁸ Lane had also noted that his poor choice of hall attracted in the main none but the poorer classes.¹¹⁹

Certainly the methods used during the first decade of the British Mission did little to attract those of the better classes either in the north or the south of England, although there appears to have been a few scattered and isolated ones who were of this class.

White expressed her concern of what amounted to lack of interest in the higher classes. She recognized that workers were often "afraid" to work for "intelligent men and women," "fearing repu1se,"¹²⁰�and this may have been the major problem, a problem White believed would be with them longer than any problem there might be with the lower or middle classes.¹²¹ However, although it took wisdom to reach such individuals as "ministers and noblemen," and the "worldly wise men," they should not be neglected.¹²²

Six months before her departure White wrote Haskell expressing concern that the British Mission had done little or nothing toward solving the problem:

I dreamed we had lost in our want of effort and faith to pray and work for intelligent men and women, and when we see these have an interest there has been a neglect by some to follow it up and pray and work and to move with great wisdom, yet in love to win them to the truth.¹²³

Attracting the Lower Classes

If the British Mission was unable to work for the upper classes, their labors were certainly attractive to the poor, and conversions of the lower classes did shape the British Mission's membership, and consequently added to the problems of proclaiming their message.

Haskell was emphatic in his belief that in the main all the work in Europe "has been largely among the poor classes."¹²⁴

White was constantly perturbed over the situation presented by wide-spread poverty of the lower classes and saw it as "one of the great difficulties" confronting the British Mission, and also the other European Missions. She saw "the poverty that meets us at every turn" and observed that it "retards the progress of the truth, which, as in earlier ages, usually finds its first converts among the humbler classes."¹²⁵

The poorer classes had had little opportunity over the years to educate themselves even in the basics of reading and writing, and consequently such individuals could be reached only by the preached word. This lack of reading ability Loughborough, and the other missionaries, saw as a great hindrance to the work of the Mission:

The real laborers have had but a poor opportunity to educate and inform themselves until within the last few years, since laws have been passed making the attending of some school compulsory, from the ages of six to fourteen. Ignorance, to an alarming extent, prevails among the poor laborers of maturer years. In a town not far from this, as good as the average of English towns, out of a population of six thousand adults the census showed that there were but one thousand that could read or write.¹²⁶

Also, those who could read had little to spend on books after meeting their necessary living expenses out of their small wages.

A Need to Reach all Classes

White was a firm believer in a variety of approaches and methods of working, in order that the greatest number of people present in a population could be reached, and she believed this had not been achieved among the different classes found in the British Mission territory. She explained, "the plans and efforts have been shaped in many fields that the lower classes only are the ones who can be reached."¹²⁷ The reasons being "it is very difficult for one person to labor for all classes at the same time," and individual workers often found it difficult to work outside their own perceived class.¹²⁸

White observed the greatest difficulty was in the "difference in the condition of the three principal classes," the lower classes imprisoned in a "state of servitude" to the wealthy and higher classes, and that class was in turn "held in bondage by long established customs." Consequently she believed the advancement of truth would be slow.¹²⁹ Wilcox agreed that such a situation made it hard to convince either class, and was a serious problem for the Mission:

It is difficult indeed to reach such with the truth of God. The one is too proud and selfish, the other too weak and timid. The straitness of the times aggravates the evil.¹³⁰

When White wrote to Boyd she encouraged him to "first reach the high classes if possible," but not to neglect the lower classes.¹³¹ In all fairness, she recognized also that "the truth will often find its way to the noblemen by first reaching the middle and poorer classes," and likened such witness to that of the early church:

Some who are now employed in England as servants and ladies' maids are quietly working to get the truth before those for whom they labor. Thus through servants or relatives the truth will reach the honest-hearted among the highest as well as the lowest.¹³²

In her advice on the best methods to use in the British Mission White saw that working for the better classes was first dependent on getting "as close to the people as we can." She encouraged that special efforts be made to secure the good will of men "in responsible positions." She suggested that plans be devised to reach the higher classes, and that if the Mission "plan to reach the best classes it would not fail to reach the lower classes."¹³³ Consequently she wrote to Haskell encouraging "earnest efforts" be made for this class, "coming close to their hearts, visiting them, and using special wisdom," "leading their minds out to investigate."¹³⁴

Seventh Day Sabbath Observance

Although White recognized that some individuals would "conscientiously accept the truth for its own sake," she had to admit that many would see certain beliefs of the Church as "objectionable features of our faith." Such features of the faith she believed would "bar the way" for many who did not want to be "a peculiar people, distinct and separate from the world." She believed that the growth of the Church, especially "in untried fields," had been slow "because of the seventh-day Sabbath." There were other beliefs, such as the non-immortality of the soul, and the personal and proximate coming of Jesus Christ, that slowed the growth of the young Church, but these she considered not as objectionable as the Sabbath. Here she saw "a sharp cross directly in the way of every soul who accepted the truth."¹³⁵

The lower classes particularly had their cross to bear when conviction clashed with present needs. In Grimsby she witnessed men who had been convicted of the Sabbath truth and who had to weigh the consequences of following those convictions. She recognized that for them it "was not whether they could keep the Sabbath, and have the conveniences and luxuries of life, but whether they could obtain bread, simple bread, for their children." She saw such "severely tested," but believed God had His eye upon these "faithful children in England, and he will make a way for them to keep all His commandments."¹³⁶

Certainly other workers in the British Mission had recognised the problems created by the teaching and acceptance of the seventh-day Sabbath. Durland had observed that "it is more difficult for people to accept the Sabbath in this country than in America." The major reason was that "it requires some faith for the man with a large family to accept the truth, when he may expect to lose his situation, and be left without means of supporting his family."¹³⁷ Some "very serious" individuals had told Durland they would "love to obey" but could not see how they could make a living if they did so.¹³⁸ Lane added his observations to those of Durland in recognizing "several men," "deeply moved by the truth," but without sufficient faith to take a stand "on account of not being able, as they think to make a living." For this reason Lane found England "a hard field in which to induce people to accept the truth," and had it not been for this difficulty believed it would be "a fine field in which to labor," and wished the difficulties removed.¹³⁹

R. F. Andrews in Ireland, was told by interested persons that "if they were in America they would keep the Sabbath." He did not see these people like "reeds shaken with the wind" but as individuals who, "if they did take hold of the truth," "will stand."¹⁴⁰

Perhaps Wilcox summed it up best when placing the difficulty of Sabbath observance under the heading of "hard times." The British Mission workers did not find it hard to bring conviction concerning the Sabbath truth, but rather difficulty in persuading those convicted to take a stand for their belief, "knowing that he is liable to lose his situation if he does, and then starvation of his wife and little ones stares him in the face." The acceptance of the Sabbath also would lessen the hope of getting permanent work for those already out of employment.¹⁴¹

Members of the British Mission Church

Perhaps it would be fair to say that White was not so overconcerned with the class of persons found in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Britain, nor with the small numbers joining as she was to see representative, quality members:

It is not the number that you gather into the truth but it is the quality, the pith of those who take hold of the truth, that counts.¹⁴²

She was anxious for the finest representatives of the Gospel that could be found for Britain, believing as she did that the work would not go forward "as God would have it" unless there was a manifestation of "the Divine" in it. She considered the objective of the workers should be

. . .to so present the truth that all who will take hold of it will feel that they have something to do; not that they are to 1ower the standard, but they must lift the truth.¹⁴³

White saw that one of the great needs of the new converts in the British Mission was for a deep and growing experience with Jesus Christ and that without it the Church would not grow. Writing to the Ings regarding her proposed second trip to England in 1886, and joining with them in conducting meetings there, she expressed the need "to educate the people to be Bible Christians." She felt "our people talk the truth, but do not live the truth, thus carrying its principles in their life practices." Her desires were well expressed:

Not only must we show in our character the meekness and lowliness of Christ, but we must educate the people who profess present truth so that they will not be satisfied to merely have a nominal faith in the truth for this time but have that faith brought into their character as a sanctifying power . . . Every church that has been organized needs a work done for them that God alone can do. They talk consecration, mention consecration in their prayers, and say over and over again, "We give ourselves wholly to Christ," when they hold tenaciously to their own ideas and will and are not consecrated to Christ.¹⁴⁴

She proceeded to explain her use of the term "consecrated" as "present religion," as opposed to "imaginary religion," and this she saw lacking:

It is a Saviour today to help us. It is to reveal Christ in our words today; it is to be kind, tender, and affectionate today; it is to esteem others better than ourselves today.¹⁴⁵

Comments made by White and the workers of the British Mission in letters, talks, and articles in the Review, give us sufficient indication as to the type of persons who were acknowledging the beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Britain and becoming official members. Most often the class of person brought into the Church reflected, at least to some extent, the modes of communication that had been used to reach them.

Speaking of those who attended her meeting in Grimsby White said, "my heart was especially drawn out for this people," this "little company of Sabbath-keepers." She recognised the sacrifices made by these early members in Grimsby who, "in the face of obstacles, of reproach and losses, had stepped aside from the multitude who were making void the law of God, and had turned their feet into the way of his commandments." Those attending in Risley she observed were "honorable women not a few." She saw the experience of the members in Grimsby, Ulceby, and Hull as similar to those in America, in fact she saw "how similar is the experience of all true followers of Christ." �She recognized that the acceptance of truth ever involves a cross, but the only safe course is to follow the light God permits to shine.¹⁴⁶

John's type of program had tended to draw into the Church a class of persons who evidently did not all become pillars of the Church, nor were all of them of lamblike or docile character. Loughborough found it necessary on one occasion to speak with the Grimsby members on reverence in the Church.¹⁴⁷

At the end of her stay in England White was able to write, "In Grimsby there are some precious souls," for she recognized that "some are not what they might be and yet their influence has done much for the cause of truth." She specifically mentioned two ladies in the church and their niece as "precious souls" and having done what they could "with their influence." She saw them becoming useful workers in the cause.¹⁴⁸

White also spoke of the Armstrong family in Ulceby, recognizing "the great sacrifices" the father had made, to the blessing of God on them all. Armstrong as a "superior baker" had lost "custom" because of refusal to deliver bread on the Sabbath.¹⁴⁹

Southampton, as the Church's headquarters, stands out perhaps as attracting a better class of believer than some places, especially compared with those in the north of England. Although in 1884 Durland had to deal with a specific problem that resulted in the dismissal of a certain individual from the Church, and reported that some signing the covenant had turned out to be "stoneyground hearers."¹⁵⁰

R. F. Andrews, John, and others seemed not to have instructed the new members in Keynsham as thoroughly as they might have. Ings found the church in great need of practical instruction. He found them not living as healthfully as they might and working on the Sabbath. After he had pointed out the health problems they drew up a pledge, that all signed, not to drink tea or other stimulants. They were also found to be "a little shaky" on the prophetic inspiration of Ellen White, "but after hearing on the matter they were satisfied." Some were also maintaining their membership with other denominations, but Ings helped them to see their duty "to be wholly on the Lord's side." What was done about the Sabbath working Ings does not say.¹⁵¹

White had to admit to Haskell that some members of the Church "who have embraced the Sabbath are not an honor to the cause."¹⁵² Certainly members in Kettering, Northampton, appear to have presented the Mission with some difficulties.

During White's third and last visit to England she spoke to the church at Kettering, recording her feelings in her diary she wrote:

Quite a number of unbelievers were present. I know that they will have trouble in the church because of the elements here that are turbulent. Some are ignorant, undisciplined, self-important, and unmanageable.¹⁵³

She preached on Heb. 12:1-4 on the morning of the Sabbath and upon Matt. 22:11-14 in the afternoon, and "felt that souls were in peril." She was concerned for two persons "convinced of the truth" because "neither knew what experimental religion was." She wondered about the impression they would give of the truths that they had espoused.¹⁵⁴

In a letter written to the membership at Kettering following her return to Grimsby, she outlined some of the problems in the church as she saw them. The church members had obviously been trying to manage themselves in the absence of a permanent minister, and White hints at disunity among them. She believed that "nothing can weaken a church so manifestly as division and strife," and "nothing can so war against the truth, and against Jesus Christ, as this spirit."¹⁵⁵

It would seem that some individuals with the wrong traits of character were seeking to rule the church. They tended to present themselves "as having great wisdom and ability," making this known by "pompous words of self-praise," being "self-sufficient, self-inflated." She believed such needed a "clear and well-defined view of Jesus, of his holy character, His self-denial, His self-sacrifice, and His holy mission." It appears that when some individuals did not receive "that deference and respect" that they thought they should have they then revealed their true character, "uneasy, unsatisfied," thinking themselves "ill-used and unappreciated," showing the defects of "fault-finding, complaining, ready to combat anything that does not meet their mind, even when assembled to worship God." To make matters worse this behavior was seen by some as "a Christian boldness." Fortunately this picture of the church in Kettering does not appear to be indicative of member behaviour in the other churches raised up in these early years of the British Mission.

When White returned to Grimsby she thought of Kettering often, because they "must be left much of the time without preaching." Yet she was not as concerned over their being left on their own as she was over the fact that they needed to care for themselves adequately:

. . . it is the duty of those who are connected with the church to feel an individual responsibility to do to their utmost ability to (sic.) strengthen the church, and make the meetings so interesting that outsiders or unbelievers will be attracted to your meetings.

Obviously there had been some attempt to do this, not only in Kettering but in "the small meetings of our people." With only four or five such meeting places in the British Mission at this time one wonders if the problem might have been experienced elsewhere.

White further observed a "danger of killing the interest of the meetings by imprudence." This she sees in the "long," "oratorical," "sermon" prayers that were directed "all over the world," and that "kill the interest of the meetings, and make them tedious." She advised the church at Kettering to look to the short sample prayer of Jesus Christ. She also tried to give advice in regard to conducting the church services in the absence of a minister and preacher. She advised, "let one take the lead, but not devote long time to sermonizing," and that none should "talk words for the sake of talking and killing time." She encouraged an all-member participation in such services:

Let each work a part in diligently presenting the experience of the soul. Let them state their own individual experience, their soul struggles, the victories obtained. Above everything, let them offer to God a tribute of praise from a thankful heart that Jesus has died for them. Here is the subject matter that each may dwell upon with profit. It is the duty of all to feel that they must contribute a part to the life and soul of the meeting. Do this and the blessing of God will come into your midst in large measure.

White certainly had the best interests of the church at Kettering in mind and was able to inform Haskell, "there are precious souls in Kettering."¹⁵⁶

Summing up her feelings concerning the members that had been added to the Church through the efforts of the British Mission, White expressed:

. . .It is a pity all who have embraced the Sabbath are not an honor to the cause because their will has not been brought into harmony with God's will. Self and selfishness has a controlling power with some showing they have not yet learned the lessons in the school of Christ, but has not it been the same in America to full as large an extent? And is it not now? Are not these unmanageable elements which are constantly causing trouble? Look at this matter how hard it has been for these persons to receive the mould of Christ and even after years in the truth they are still like off (sic.)oxen. We must then look at other persons at different points and thank God for the good work done and go on to perfection.¹⁵⁷

To White the greatest witness that any member could give was the witness of a Godly life. She believed that "the power that God will give to His Church, if they will only walk in the light as fast as it shines upon them, is scarcely conceived of," and "if in holiness of character they keep pace with the truth revealed, their light will grow brighter and brighter." This truth she said was available for understanding even by the poor, and that such persons did not need to remain ignorant or defective in character.¹⁵⁸

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