Passion, Purpose & Power

22. Stephen N. Haskell

Practical religion PPP 124.1

In the introduction of her biography of Elder S. N. Haskell, Ella M. Robinson shares recollections of those who had known him. PPP 124.2

I once asked the well-known radio preacher H. M. S. Richards if he had known Stephen Haskell. PPP 124.3

“Yes, indeed,” he replied, and related the following incident. “At a camp meeting in Waterloo, Quebec, in the year 1921, I mentioned that I needed more song books for an evangelistic effort I was conducting. S. N. Haskell, almost ninety years old, was present. He met me outside the tent, pulled out his pocketbook, and emptied . . . its entire contents into my hands. It amounted to a little more than seven dollars, and paid for several copies of Christ in Song. PPP 124.4

“I remember Stephen Haskell as a deep and constant student of the Word of God,” continued Elder Richards. “He hardly dared to take out his Bible while waiting . . . for a train, for fear he would become so absorbed in studying some line of truth that he would lose all contact with time. His train could come and go and he be left sitting there in the station still studying his Bible. . . .” PPP 124.5

[In] my mind [I recall] a scene I once witnessed on the Avondale school estate in Australia. The elder, in overalls and rubber boots, was working with a group of students building a wooden bridge. He was a favorite leader of the work teams. No matter what the job, whether plowing or planting, building fences or draining land, he always found the best and easiest way of accomplishing it. Then, too, he was ever ready to enter into individual experiences and problems of students in an understanding and helpful manner. PPP 125.1

Many people cherish memories regarding Elder Haskell. When Eugene Farnsworth was a lad in Washington, New Hampshire, some seventy miles⁸¹ northwest of South Lancaster, Haskell, then in the prime of life, visited churches in that area. On one occasion, Farnsworth recalled, snow was deep and the weather extremely cold. “I remember seeing him pushing his way with his horse through the deep snowdrifts, visiting all the members. . . . This was characteristic of his life and labors throughout the long years of his ministry.” PPP 125.2

A story is related demonstrating Elder Haskell’s faith in God’s personal guidance. While on a preaching tour in Georgia, Haskell felt impressed to leave the train unexpectedly at a deserted-looking station, explaining briefly to his secretary, a young man traveling with him, ” Someone here needs help.” The two were soon standing on the station platform with baggage piled beside them. There was not a soul in sight. They waited, praying silently. PPP 125.3

Soon a car appeared. The driver greeted them. “Are you expecting someone to meet you?” he asked. “No,” replied the elder, “but perhaps you can tell me if there are any Seventh-day Adventists in this part of the country?” PPP 125.4

“Yes,” replied the man. “An Adventist family lives about six miles from here. They operate a little school. I’ll be glad to take you there.” PPP 125.5

The story continues: “Away they went with grateful hearts. Upon arriving, Elder Haskell remarked that he would go alone to the door of the house. After repeatedly knocking at the door he heard a faint voice inviting him in. As he entered he knew there was sickness in the home. The mother and her two daughters were ill, and the mother was quite discouraged. After a few kindly remarks and inquiries, Elder Haskell picked up the family Bible from the nearby table and read some of our heavenly Father’s choice promises to the poor mother and daughters. Then came his warm and tender prayer for the sick ones, and heaven seemed nearer. PPP 125.6

“He learned that the family conducted a self-supporting school for the neighborhood. Soon he saw children coming to the little schoolhouse close by and begin playing in their schoolyard, doubtless hoping their good teacher would be able that morning to teach. Elder Haskell gently advised the mother to let him send the children home, and tell them not to return for two weeks. This was done. The mother recovered quickly, also the girls, and after they had had a good rest, the school work was taken up again. Years later the mother told me that Elder Haskell’s visit put new life into their hearts and into their work, and that they were never again discouraged over it.”—Ella M. Robinson, S. N. Haskell, Man of Action, 1967, pp. 8-10. PPP 126.1

Genuine sacrifice/tests the heart PPP 126.2

[Elder Haskell] warned against the danger of working in a legalistic spirit without depending upon God; and he promised that, “with our hearts warm with the love of God, other hearts will become electrified and be aglow with the same spirit.” He assured farmers that they need not be excluded from this soul-saving enterprise, and offered them some rather straight advice: If their large farms kept them at home, then let them sell off forty acres or so, and reduce their cares. He then made this stirring comment, “If the cause in which we are engaged means anything, it means everything; and to dabble with it at our fingers’ ends, . . . look out first for ourselves and then give a little of our surplus time and means for the cause, is solemn mockery.” —ibid., pp. 37, 38. PPP 126.3

“God has offered no grander opportunity to those who would be His servants, and labor in His vineyard, than to go into a foreign country, there to educate the young, and instill into their minds pure and sound principles, which will fit them, not only for the practical duties of after life, but for a place of radiant brightness in the kingdom of God.... ” —ibid., p. 109. PPP 126.4

Quotes from S. N. Haskell’s articles in The True Missionary, a short-lived journal published during 1874: PPP 127.1

“It is when sacrifices that cost something are called for that the heart is tested.” PPP 127.2

“We should ask for great things and expect them.” PPP 127.3

“God is at work; and, work as fast as we may, his providence will keep ahead of us.” PPP 127.4

“The times call for action. . . . We have something else to attend to besides our farms and merchandise.” PPP 127.5

“The efforts we have made . . . [are] only a little field drill, testing the strength of our system, and learning how we can work together. Soon we shall be called upon to do something besides skirmish and drill.” PPP 127.6

“Love is an active principle, and cannot live without works. . . . The soil in which it grows is not the natural heart; but love is a heavenly plant, and flourishes only in a heart renewed by the grace of God.” —ibid., p. 41. PPP 127.7

Tireless efforts PPP 127.8

Haskell was a man of courage, endurance, and unbounded optimism. Neither weariness nor pain, bad roads nor poor transportation facilities, summer heat nor winter wind and snow—nothing!—dampened his spirits or abated his efforts. His persistent endeavors to meet all appointments, even under the most adverse conditions, were contagious. He wrote that at meetings where he expected only a small attendance or none at all, the brethren came in from different places, traveling all the way from ten to thirty-five miles.⁸² He tells of one brother who walked twenty-five miles⁸³ so that his family might ride. PPP 127.9

While he was visiting in New York State in January of 1876, when it was “neither sleighing nor wheeling,” one brother, living fifty miles⁸⁴ away, started for the meeting on a stone boat (a heavy sled used on the farm), came twenty-five miles, where he obtained a wagon, and brought another brother with him. Then he returned home and brought his family to Randolph, a distance of twenty-five miles, ⁸⁵ where another meeting was held. Twenty-five miles was quite a journey without automobiles and along unpaved country roads where horses’ feet and wagon wheels would sometimes sink deep in the mud.—ibid., p. 42. PPP 127.10

A Spirit-led outlook PPP 128.1

In his Bible classes Elder Haskell took the book of Daniel verse by verse and dug into it with the purpose of getting all the meat there was in any particular scripture, using other portions of the Bible to help interpret difficult passages. PPP 128.2

One day when he stated in class his belief that every portion of Scripture contained some valuable spiritual lesson, a student raised his hand. “I can’t agree with that statement,” he said; “I am sure that some portions of the Bible have a purely material significance.” PPP 128.3

“Will you give us an example?” asked the teacher. The young man stood up and read Paul’s words to Timothy: ” ‘The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.’ Now what spiritual lessons are we supposed to get out of that?” PPP 128.4

Without hesitation Elder Haskell replied, “One of deep significance, especially for self-supporting workers in God’s cause. The apostle Paul had brought the imperishable riches of heaven to thousands of souls; yet he was so poor in this world’s goods that he preferred to wait an indefinite length of time while Timothy made the uncertain journey from Troas to Rome rather than to have money expended in purchasing a new coat and writing materials.” He could say with a depth of experience known to but few, “as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:10). PPP 128.5

In the realm of personal sacrifice Haskell could speak from experience. Economical almost to a fault, he and Hetty were ever more careful of the Lord’s money than of their own. It was not unusual for them to share their wages with others who were eager to do service for God, supporting them from their own meager allowance until the efforts of these new workers proved fruitful and their names were placed on the conference payroll. PPP 128.6

Nor did the Haskells ever knowingly lose an opportunity to help a person in need. During their first year at Avondale, they had made room in their own home for a wayward child who had been expelled from school. PPP 129.1

Elder Haskell remembered how he and his first wife, Mary, had worked for twenty years to own a home of their own. Just after securing a clear title to a house in South Lancaster, while still rejoicing that the mortgage was no more, they received word of a financial crisis in Battle Creek. Three thousand dollars was needed immediately. Uncomplainingly they remortgaged their property and sent the money to headquarters. Elder Haskell said afterward that although at the time it was a great trial to him, God had rewarded him ten times over in every sense of the word.—ibid., pp. 150, 151. PPP 129.2