General Conference Bulletin, vol. 4

THE WEST INDIA MISSION FIELD

A. J. HAYSMER

April 10, 9:15 A.M.

I will call attention to a very familiar text: “And he said unto them. Go ye into all the world.” This text has been emphasized at this meeting, but I want you to look at it once more. Christ speaks in this text, saying, “Go ye into all the world,” and my heart has been made to rejoice since coming to this meeting to see that we are getting our minds away from some of these congested places, and are looking at the whole world. Instead of making oceans separate mission fields, we now begin to see them simply as highways by which to pass from one field to another. A good brother came to me the other day, and said he was getting a burden for the missionary work. He was getting a burden to go abroad. He said he was just waiting for the Lord to tell him to go. GCB April 11, 1901, page 198.12

But the Lord has not only told us to go into all the world, but this commission was the very last word of Jesus to men before returning to heaven. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.1

I believe the Lord told me to go, and I am glad he gave me courage to pull up and go, I have never for one moment regretted the step either. Some of the brethren told me I had better be careful, for if I should go down to those fields where there are no other workers to counsel with, I would make a failure, and they said, “You know what that means.” But, brethren, when God says, “Go,” and we go, and God goes with us, our work is not going to be a failure. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.2

Do you think that there is need of our going into all the world? I have hurriedly composed a chart of calculations, which I will present. I do not know that it is exactly correct, but I have been studying about the matter somewhat of late:— GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.3

One minister in the world to	1,811,963
One minister in Asia and East Indies to	290,833,333
One minister in Africa to	9,074,169
One minister in Mexico to	6,300,000
One minister in Europe to	4,452,381
One minister in South America to	2,713,333
One minister in the West India mission field to	1,107,927
One minister in Ontario to	883,333
One minister in Australasia to	206,933
One minister in the United States to	107,936
One minister in Michigan to	37,122

Thus it will be seen that if all our ministers, ordained and licentiates, were spread over the world equally, we should have one minister to 1,811,963 persons. Can one minister do the work as the Lords wants it done among that number of people?—I do not think he can. In Asia and the East Indies we have one minister to 290,833,333 persons. Think of that! Can one minister over in Asia and the East Indies preach the third angel’s message to that many persons before we expect the Lord to come? GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.4

My heart has been stirred as I have heard at this meeting that we are going to spread out over the world. If the workers were divided equally all over the world, Michigan would have but one and one-third workers. God wants us to know that he says, “Go ye into all the world.” If the United States had no more ministers accordingly than Asia and the East Indies, it would have less than one third of a worker. We would have to have three times as many people in the United States as we have now in order for us to claim one worker. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.5

Now, brethren, just a few words in regard to the field of my labors. I have been laboring for the last eight years in the West Indian Mission field. Upon our arrival there, we found six or seven who were keeping the Sabbath. We soon found conditions that decided us to work in a very quiet way for a time. So we bent all our energies to getting our papers, tracts, and books into the hands of the people. Our literature has since literally covered the island. No district is now without it. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.6

In the island of Jamaica alone there are nearly one thousand who profess to love this truth. The work is now well started in other places, especially in Trinidad. The work has also extended to Barbados, the Antilles, and other places. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.7

Each island is a little world of itself, and so must be worked as circumstances develop, because everything is so different. The people are poor, and it is hard to get them to accept the truth. In some of these islands the people do not own a foot of land. All the island is owned by perhaps a dozen or fifteen men over in England, and it is consequently managed by agents. All the people are dependent upon these men for work. They will buy our small books and read them; and many believe the truth. But there is not another They can not buy any land to work; they can not do anything only work for these land agents, and they will not let them keep the Sabbath. But, brethren, we are looking for a change in the West Indies, when those who are bound down will be set free in some way; and I believe the seed is being sown, from which such a harvest will be reaped. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.8

We have a good start in Trinidad. The Lord is blessing in Barbados. That island has been literally covered with out literature, so that our agents there will soon go to other islands. Hard times have come in; they have had cyclones that have swept everything down. Some of our agents go out for a whole week, and come in with their faces glowing. We ask them how much they have made. Seventy-five cents,—a dollar at the outside. But they have had some glorious visits, and have come in beaming with brightness, because the Lord is blessing their work. They are not laboring for money in those islands. Right through here, in Montserrat, St. Kitts, St. Martin, the islands are right in the line of hurricanes. And one little island, Montserrat, had five hundred earthquakes in a year. One storm washed everything away that it could reach; and one terrible cyclone that passed over it, broke down all the fruit. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.9

We could not keep agents there. We wanted to help support some agents, and keep them there; but we could not manage it just at the time. So we had to take all our agents out of those islands, and bring them over here in St. Kitts, Barbuda, Antigua, Tobago, and Trinidad. So all our agents now, with the exception of one who is in Santa Cruz, a Danish island, have had to be taken out, because of the hard times. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.10

While in St. Kitts the other day, I went up where people were working on an estate. There was an old woman, as old as my mother, one limb all swollen up, perhaps eight inches across it, and she was working with one of those great heavy English hoes. I said to her, “Mother, how much do you make a day?” “Oh,” she said, “last week I made forty cents. I am getting old, and I can not work quite as hard as the younger ones.” GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.11

There are thousands in those islands who are just as poor as that, but they are as anxious for this third angel’s message as any others, and more so, because they feel the oppressions of this world, and long for something better. They can not buy our books. What do we want?—O, we want our brethren in America, or wherever they may be, to open up their hearts, and give us plenty of little leaflets, plenty of papers, so that we can give them to these people, and say, “Here, take this home and read it. There is something in there that will do you good,—something in there that speaks of a country better than this. Take it home and read it.” We want a plenty of literature like that, brethren. GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.12

Well, the Lord is blessing, and in the West Indies to-day we have about 1,500 Sabbath-keepers. But, you say, what per cent of those do you count on?—Brethren, we don’t count that way. We labor for them, set the truth before them, and believe that God will take care of the rest. We think that they will average as well as in any other place in this world. We have hardly touched Central America, Columbia, Venezuela, the Guianas, or Hayti. In fact, we have no worker in Hayti at all; we have no workers in Cuba; nor in Porto Rico; we have no workers in the French islands, but there are people in those places who are seeking for the third angel’s message. There were two sisters at San Domingo who were desirous of being baptized. But there was a little difficulty between the two republics, and I was not allowed to land there, so I had to come away and leave them. There are enough English-speaking people there so that a person could work among the English until he could learn the Spanish language. What does the Lord say? He says, Go. I know that he means me. Does he mean you? GCB April 11, 1901, page 199.13

I am glad that God is in this work. As I look over the fields I want the Lord to come, and put an end to all this sin, misery, and woe, that we see everywhere. Brethren, the Lord is waiting for us to do our duty; but he is not going to wait much longer. O, may he let his Spirit rest upon his people at this Conference, so that plans will be laid to carry this message to every island of the sea, to every corner of the earth! GCB April 11, 1901, page 200.1

Our needs in the West Indies are great. We need Spanish and French workers. We ought to enter Cuba and the French islands; we should enter hayti, a French portion of the islands; we want to enter San Domingo, Porto Rico, Martinique, and Guadeloupe, all French Catholic islands. They are just steeped in sin and iniquity; but there are some noble souls whom God wants us to gather out. GCB April 11, 1901, page 200.2

Where are the young men who are studying Spanish, and getting ready for the Spanish field? Where are the young and strong minds that are studying French to enter these French fields? Where are the men and women that are consecrating themselves to God, in order to enter every needy field? May the Lord let us see glimpses of his glory; may he give us his Holy Spirit, so that we may know just what he wants us to do, and just how he wants us to do it. May he help us to do this work with all our might, because the Lord is soon coming to gather up his jewels. GCB April 11, 1901, page 200.3

“Men often think they are getting the earth, when, in fact, the earth is getting them, like the drunken man who thinks the earth is flying up into his face, when, instead, his face has fallen against the ground.” GCB April 11, 1901, page 200.4

“Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.” GCB April 11, 1901, page 200.5