THE Russian empire is the largest in the world. It has an extent of over nine thousand miles from east to west, covering all Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, and only separated from Alaska by a narrow strait. Thus it is in fact the neighbor of the United States, while at the same time it threatens India and borders on Germany. It has a population of over a hundred million, which, though mostly Russian, comprises about a hundred other nationalities and tongues, and many creeds. Europe and Asia, civilization and barbarism, Christianity and heathenism, the ancient and the modern, are there strangely mixed and blended.HSFM 250.1

As the last message of warning is to go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, we would certainly expect it to be proclaimed among the millions of inhabitants of this great empire. And God has, in his wonderful providence, opened the way, by repeating the experience of the Pilgrim Fathers. Thousands of earnest souls, attracted by the story of a distant land where civil and religious liberty was granted, have during the last twenty years left Russia and crossed the Atlantic to find homes in America. Not only did they find homes and freedom, but some received the precious truth for the last days. Ere long the light found its way back to their old homes near the shores of the Black Sea, at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, and along the great river Volga, to the very border of Asia, the cradle of humanity and religion. Soon the Macedonian cry was raised, “Come over and help us.” It was in answer to this call that I decided to visit Russia.HSFM 250.2

On the 28th of June I left Basle, taking the direct route to Vienna, and from there turning southward to visit our brethren in Roumania. For nearly a hundred miles after leaving Basle, our road lay along the northern border of Switzerland. We passed the noted Rhine fall near Schaffhausen, and entered Constance, where, nearly five hundred years ago, John Huss was burned at the stake. The house where Huss was arrested, and the old Dominican monastery in which he was confined, on an island in the lake, are still standing. To the west of the town a large boulder with inscriptions marks the spot where this illustrious reformer and Jerome of Prague suffered martyrdom.HSFM 250.3

At Constance I took a steamer, and after a delightful ride across the lake, landed at Bregenz, within the bounds of the Austrian empire. From here the train wound its way through the narrow valleys of the Tyrolese Alps, passing many an old castle of historical interest, and affording a view of some of the finest scenery I have seen in Europe. The road gradually ascends, until it enters the Arlberg tunnel, which is about six miles long, and near the center of which it reaches its highest point, at an elevation of about five thousand feet. Above us is Arlberg pass, which forms the water-shed between the Rhine and the Danube.HSFM 250.4

From these snowy heights we soon descended to the green valleys past Innsbruck and Salzburg; and on the morning of the 29th we were in the capital of Austria. Here I visited St. Stephen’s cathedral, the most imposing edifice in Vienna. Its tower, which is four hundred and fifty-three feet high, affords a good view of this great city, containing over a million inhabitants. Neither here nor anywhere else in Austria has the present truth been preached, though there are four million Protestants in the empire.HSFM 251.1

From Vienna our road followed the Danube to Buda-Pesth, the Hungarian capital, and branching off here I stopped at Oroshaza, the largest village in Hungary. I had been told that there were persons here keeping the Sabbath, but found none. I had an opportunity, however, to speak through an interpreter to a company of Protestants concerning some of the leading points of our faith.HSFM 251.2

At Pitesti, Roumania, I spent a day visiting our brethren and others who were interested in the truth. Bro. Thomas Aslan with some others here received the truth upon the second advent and the Sabbath from Eld. Czechowski about eighteen years ago, and in the midst of opposition and discouragement a few have remained faithful.HSFM 251.3

Continuing my journey to Gierguwo on the Danube, I took a steamer for Galatz, near the Russian frontier. Among the babel of nationalities on the boat, - Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians, etc., - I met a German minister who had been converted from Judaism and had become a Presbyterian. After his conversion he went from Germany to England, and finally entered the employ of the English Bible Society, and with his family he was now on his way as a missionary to Russia. As our steamer glided past Roumanian and Bulgarian towns, where the Greek cross and the Turkish crescent reflected the bright sunlight, we spoke of the blood-stained cross of Calvary, of the great love of God to us, and the importance of manifesting our love to him by walking in his commandments. This minister had upon accepting Christianity renounced the Sabbath, but he listened with candor as I presented the Bible arguments in favor of its observance. He stated that nearly all the converts from Judaism were troubled on the Sabbath question, and that if the seventh day were kept by Christians it would remove a great obstacle in the way of the conversion of the Jews. I called his attention to Bro. Andrews’ “History of the Sabbath,” and as he expressed a desire to read it, I gave him a copy of the first part of our new German translation.HSFM 251.4

At our second interview, on the following day, I found him much interested in the Sabbath history, and he insisted on paying me for it. I learned that he expected to visit Kishenev in Russia, where there is a society of converted Jews who keep the Sabbath. On a previous visit to Kishenev he had become acquainted with Mr. Rabbinnowitz, the leader of this society, and I requested him to inform Mr. R. of our people and belief. In a letter afterward received from him I learned that while Mr. R. was glad to hear of our people he was strictly forbidden by the Russian authorities to have any connection with other Christian societies, and was therefore unable to open a correspondence with us.HSFM 251.5

From the German minister I obtained information which proved of much value to me. He had come by the way of Constantinople, where he presented his passport to the Russian Consul for signature. But since he was entered on the pass as a minister, the Consul refused to sign it, the laws of Russia being very strict against admitting preachers into the country. He accordingly went to Bucharest, and had another pass made out as a private individual. Warned by this experience, I took advantage of my former apprenticeship in our publishing house at Battle Creek, Mich., to enter myself as a printer, and thus I succeeded in getting my pass signed by the Russian Consul.HSFM 252.1

July 6, I arrived at Galatz, and went by hack to the Russian border, crossed the Pruth in a little boat, and for the first time set my feet on Russian soil. After my pass and baggage had been carefully examined at the custom-house, I succeeded in hiring a little farm wagon to take me to Reni, the starting-point of the railroad. As those with whom I had to deal could understand no German, and I no Russian, and we had to communicate wholly by signs, the whole proceeding was extremely interesting. Early the next morning I took the cars for Odessa. The Russian trains generally move very slowly, and we had a good opportunity to view the country. We soon noticed some villages of a different style from any we had before seen, and presenting a better appearance. Consulting a map, we learned that we had reached the first German colonies.HSFM 252.2

NOTES OF TRAVEL

THE GERMANS IN RUSSIA