Adventist Heritage, Fall 1985

- • , a.imp.-41M1m-dmin-min• •••=0•••=11.+INIP-maw-4M....Mw-nEw rim cAdventist Fall, 1985 Volume 10 Number 2 ISSN 0360-389X A JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST HISTORY MANAGING EDITOR Paul J. Lands Loma Linda University EDITORS Editor's Stump Dorothy Minchin-Comm Loma Linda Univemity Dorothy Minchin-Comm 2 Gary Land Andrews University A TIME OF BEGINNINGS ASSISTANT EDITORS Noel P. Clapham Ronald Grayhill 3 Columbia Union James It Nix 4 THIEVES AMONG THE MERINOS? Loan Linda University Tales from the Gospel Trail ASSISTANT TO THE MANAGING Elaine J. Fletcher 7 EDITOR Mary E. Khalaf Loma Linda University FULFILLING THE GOLDEN DREAM: The Growth of Adventism in New Zealand LAYOUT AND DESIGN EDITORS Ross Goldstone Mary E. Khalaf 19 Lorna Linda. University Judy Uu-son THE WAY OF THE WORD: Lake Elsitu.Pre, Ca. The Story of the Publishing Work in Australia PHOTOGRAPIIY Donald E. Hansen 26 Carol Fisk Lonna hinda University KWIC-BRU, GRANOSE, GRANOLA AND THE GOSPEL TYPESETTING Robert H. Parr 36 Mary E. Khalaf Lama Linda University HEIRLOOM The Family in the Shop MANAGING BOARD Dorothy Minchin-Comm 46 Helen Ward Thompson, Chairman Frederick G. Hoyt, Seeretniv James Greene SONGS OF THE ISLANDS: Maurice Hodgen Adventist Missions in the South Pacific Paul I Landa Judy Larson Robert D. Dixon and Dorothy Minchin-Comm 50 Dorothy Minchin-Comm Kenneth L. Vine BOOKMARK: A Fourth Book of Chronicles: Norman J. Woods A Review or Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Australian Years, EDITORIAL BOARD 1891-1900. Frederick G. Hoyt, Choir-man Arthur N. Patrick Paul Lands, Sec-retail/ 62 Gary Land Judy Larson Dorothy Mine/lin-Comm Mary E. Khalaf PROMOTIONAL. BORAD James Greene. Chairman. Paul .1. Lando., Secretary Viktor Christensen Frederick G. Hoyt R. Dale McCune ADVENTIST HERITAGE is published by the Department of History and Political Science, Loma Linda Richard Weismeyer University, Riverside, California, 92515. Bulk postage rates paid at Riverside, CA. Copyright 1985 by Loma Norman J. Woods Linda University, Department of History and Political Science, Riverside, CA 92515. Subscription rates: $6.00 per year (additional postage outside U.S.). Available hack issues are sold at $5.00 each. Subscription orders, change of address notices, editorial correspondence, and manuscripts should be sent to: Adventist Heritage, Loma Linda University, Box 1844, Riverside CA 92515. ADVENTLST HERITAGE invites manuscripts. Each will be considered, but no responsibility will be assumed for unsolicited materials. ADVENTIST HERITAGE is indexed in the S.D.A. Periodical. Index, and is available from University Microfilms International rdit0e$ 65 X DIM !---- I I he lands "Down Under" have long fascinated I people of the northern hemisphere. To walk I a sugar-white beach enclosing a palm-fringed lagoon, to feel sharp winds blowing up from I TAntarctica, to feed a big red kangaroo, to see I ten thousand sheep on the green Canterbury Plains below the snowy Southern Alps, to savor the solitudes I of the great Outback, and to feel the magnetism of I great thriving cities beside enchanting harbors — attrac- tions such as these have given the South Pacific its dis- I tinctive character. Here, to be sure, lies a worthy desti- I nation for the dreamers of dreams. In the 2nd century A.D., however, the Greek geog- rapher Ptolemy designated the great land mass of I Australia as "Terra Incognita," the "Unknown Land." With its land bridge to Asia destroyed by volcanic ac- tion and surging seas, this remote island continent was success story. Much of that success can be attributed, left to itself for millennia, a place where curious flora first, to the pioneering efforts of the early American and fauna survived and developed. And, indeed, Austra- missionaries who dared the seemingly impossible and lians sometimes do feel upstaged by the koalas, kan- established churches, schools, medical institutions, a garoos, kiwis, frilled lizards, wombats and Tasmanian publishing concern and the health food industry. Sec- devils. To say nothing of the immense prairies grazing ond, the remarkable ability of the indigenous member- millions of Merino sheep, the grey-green bush sheltering ship not only to catch the vision of the pioneers, but to loud-mouthed parrots and kookaburras, and the transform it into a vibrant reality even while dreaming springtime desert sporting hectic red-and-black Sturt new dreams for the expansion of the Adventist church Peas and fuzzy Bottlebrushes. "Down Under." In 1788, Australia broke into the modern age with the The articles in this issue of Adventist Heritage re- arrival of the First Fleet which deposited more than a cord the development of the Advent movement in the thousand persons of mixed fortunes on the shores of South Pacific. They are condensed versions from a just- Botany Bay. Bred of sun, surf and bush, the colonists published book, Seventh-day Adventists in the South were informal, hardworking and confident. Proud to be Pacifte,1885-1985, celebrating the centenary of Advent- Australians, they forged themselves into a nation. ism in Australasia. We are indebted to the Signs Pub- Thanks to rapidly improving communication and trans- lishing Company of Warburton, Victoria, for permission portation, Australia did not remain subject to the to use this material and to Dr. Noel P. Clapham, the tyranny of distance for long. It became a "Known Land." editor, for making it possible for us to share some In that newly found land, the individualistic traits of pages of Australian church history with our readers. We the people, the accidents of geography, and the unex- have chosen articles which highlight the local color of pected turns of history together created a unique field "things Australian" and which describe some of the for spiritual adventure. In 1885, a little company of fulfillments of the early dreams. Seventh-day Adventist missionaries made the long We want to wish the South Pacific Division (formerly Pacific voyage from California to New South Wales, the Australasian Division) a "Happy Birthday" as it also landing at Botany Bay. They had a mighty dream. moves forward into its second century of service. Looking back over one hundred years, one realizes that the saga of Adventism in Australia has been a major Dorothy Minchin-Corru-n. Ph.D. 2 ADVENTIST I IERITAGE • N N O.;k "iv`RR 0 Od 11$ •ol • -•••■ • - djfii4 migrants arriving in Sydney Owe in the late ithoetePnlh cv•nittrw Joel rh • nel A Time of Beginnings Noel P. Clapham n Saturday, the 6th of June 1885, a party of fluence of Seventh-day Adventists while on furlough in eleven Seventh-day Adventists landed in Syd- the United States, was intent on making known their ney, New South Wales, from the Royal Mail doctrines among mission communities in her field of Steamship Australia. Apart from Mesdames labor. Relieved of his mission duties because of his Corliss and Israel with two children each, the change of views, Dickson had returned to Australia. Ogroup consisted of three preachers — Stephen N. Has- There he, for a time, taught others; but when he left kell, John 0. Corliss and Mendel Israel—together with Australia for San Francisco, later abandoning his new- Henry Scott, a printer, and William Arnold, a man ex- found faith, the infant movement he had begun came to perienced in selling denominational literature from door nothing. Thus, the 6th of June, 1885, remains unchal- to door. Of these, S. N. Haskell, the leader of the group, lenged as the date for the founding of the Seventh-day had long been an advocate of a mission to Australia to Adventist Church in Australia. spread the distinctive teachings of the Seventh-day Ad- When the party of pioneers arrived on the island con- ventist movement. All were fired with the prospect of a tinent the Seventh-day Adventist movement had been challenging task before them. This was the beginning of twenty-five years on its way; it had adopted a pattern of the Adventist Church in Australia. prophetic interpretation and, while eschewing any Seventh-day Adventist views had, in fact, penetrated creedal statement, had recognized as vital certain coin- Australia twenty years earlier. Alexander Dickson, an monly held beliefs. It saw itself as carrying the message Australian missionary to Africa, had met there an Amer- of the third angel of the fourteenth chapter of John's jean woman, Hanna More, who, having come under in- Revelation: keeping the commandments of God and the • ADVENTIST HERITAGE 3 Of, MILWOMMANWNIMMWOVONWW \\WWW010.400NW.WAVVkWhrilklekl41M‘MMANN1WOMANNNVILV•VIANNWASONWOLVAVIAIN&10, faith of Jesus. Under the guidance of Ellen G. White, it The handful of clergymen on board remained gen- had adopted a number of reforms involving healthful teelly aloof, shying a little nervously from theological practices, especially the rejection of the use of tobacco discussion. But some of the passengers were more re- and intoxicating beverages. Little that Seventh-day Ad- ceptive and, indeed, were sufficiently impressed by the ventism offered in doctrine was new; all, or almost all, sincerity and conviction of John Corliss to listen to him had been propounded at some stage by earlier move- preach one afternoon in a specially arranged meeting. ments. But these views were presented as a fresh com- Further, these missionaries were not prepared to ne- bination, a new synthesis. glect the people of the islands lying near the ship's The expedition to Australia was part of a new phase course. Empty bottles obtained from the well-fre- in the evolution of Adventism; it was moving out from quented ship's bar were charged with Christian mes- being a small American sect to becoming a worldwide sages and dropped into the ocean for the prospective and rapidly growing movement stretching out to almost spiritual benefit of beachcombers and boatmen.

Load more