THE POSITION OF SWITZERLAND

In the midst of these nationalities which we have named is found one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Insignificant indeed as to its extent and population, she has nevertheless maintained for centuries her national existence and independence, in the midst of the great powers who might seemingly have easily divided her territory among them. May we not believe that the hand of Providence has been in this, and that God has designed to preserve this little country in its national neutrality as a favorable field from which to send the truth of the third angel’s message to the populous countries of Central Europe? That it has thus maintained its national existence and independence in the midst of these great powers, that its inconsiderable territory and power have left it in a much-to-be-coveted position of neutrality, are facts which indicate the natural propriety of choosing this country as the location for the establishment of a mission designed to extend to all these nationalities.HSFM 13.4

There does not exist toward Switzerland that national prejudice so evident among the great powers toward one another. She holds in an eminent degree the position of neutrality among them; as illustrated by the fact that when the famous international arbitration occurred in the years 1872-3, by which the difficulties that threatened war between England and the United States were peacefully adjusted so that the impending calamity was averted, Switzerland was the ground chosen for this arbitration, and among its instigators were found the people whose undisputed position of neutrality gave them the right to be the bearers of the olive branch of peace.HSFM 14.1

In this free republic of Switzerland, so centrally situated, and so admirably adapted, by its political relations, to become a center for the great work among these various nationalities, the Central European Mission was to be established. With three tongues, the French, the German, and the Italian, as its national languages, with no sectional barrier of prejudice to stand between it and the surrounding nations which were to be united with it in the common brotherhood of truth, no other locality could have been selected so well adapted for this work as the one which, it would seem, Providence had thus prepared for it.HSFM 14.2

We only add by way of summary as to the great extent of the work before this mission which was about to be planted, that the countries which we have already named, to say nothing of the smaller countries adjacent to them, or of their possessions in Africa, and in the islands of the Mediterranean, contain a population of 188,744,882 souls, or nearly four times that of the entire United States.HSFM 14.3