“And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and if it seem ill unto thee to come with me to Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whether it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.”
GOD AT WORK! A man for a place
It is not uncommon for believers when they are first saved to be so filled with zeal and enthusiasm for the things of God and love for the Lord, that they think there will never be any obstacles in life from now on. That may continue with some for a while but when the reality of the ungodly world in which we live, and the awareness that we still have the old nature that is attracted to some of the things in the world, a caution sets in. This can be a good thing as long as we don’t let fears and doubts get a hold of us so strongly that faith becomes weak. God’s strength is made perfect in weakness, and that becomes real to us as we make inroads into the enemy territory that Satan wants to keep for his own nefarious purposes.
Young believers may wonder why those who are older seem to be so slow to act, and older people have a tendency to try to temper the zeal of youth and enthusiasm. There is a balance that needs to be found and maintained. George Campbell found the first two or three years he was in Newfoundland a real hard time for him personally. There were times he wondered if he was laboring in the right place, because there seemed to be so little interest in most of the centers where the Gospel had been preached for over ten years. Herb Harris was a good mentor, and he knew George’s temperament was much the same as his own. When they got back to Corner Brook after the first boat trip, Mr. Harris knew George was quite agitated, wondering what he should do next.
One evening as they had supper together in the apartment at 8 Valley Road, the subject came up as to what each would be doing now that it was late fall and the cold of a long winter was coming on. Mr. Harris spoke up and said, “I know what I’d do if I was a young man. I’d get a few things together and go back to Forteau, Labrador. But at my age and health condition, I can’t do that.”
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George took those words to heart, and for two weeks, he basically shut himself in a small room to read the scriptures and pray for guidance. With an open heart he appealed to the Lord to make it known to him what he should do and if he should go to Labrador. In the short time they were there on the boat, his heart had become knit to the people on the Labrador coast, but by nature he was impetuous and he knew that. So, he wanted, and asked the Lord for confirmation in some way, if he was to go to Labrador for the winter. Reading the Bible on his knees in that small room, he came to Jeremiah 40 and verse 4 seemed to stand out and speak to him in a direct way. “And now, behold I loose thee this day from the chains which were on thy hand. If it seem good to thee to come with me to
Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me to Babylon, forbear: behold, the all the land is before thee; whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.” That was his answer from God to go to Labrador.
We may not get a precise verse of scripture every time we seek the Lord’s guidance, but when we pray specifically, we can expect an unmistakable answer of either “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait a while.” There are a number of ways to get guidance and discern God’s will, and each of them can be very affirming. There is one that I have found particularly satisfying to me, and that is found in Colossians 3:14 and 15. “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
Mr. Harris certainly agreed with him when he told him of his decision. It was a great joy for both Herb Harris and George Campbell when he got on the last coastal boat for the year, MV “Northern Ranger,” with Bibles, tracts and some warm winter clothes for the winter ahead. He had sent a telegram to Nurse Mary Taylor, and she had arranged with Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hancock for George to stay with them. They had a number of sons around his age, and so it wasn’t difficult for them to make room for this stranger.
When George got off the boat it was dark although one or two people had hurricane lamps, and he got into a small boat on top of mail bags and freight, and was landed at a small pier in Forteau. Mr. Joe Hancock was a small man with a big heart and he inquired if George was “Mr. Campbell.” George assured him that he was, and Uncle Joe, said, “Then you are coming to stay with me.” Mr. and Mrs. Hancock received him gladly into their home.
It wasn’t long before Uncle Joe Hancock and others in his family and some from English Point across Forteau Bay, when they heard the Gospel, to respond in repentance and faith in the Saviour. Mr. Hancock sat weeping in a chair in his home on night after the Gospel meeting. When George asked him what was the matter, he said with tears, “My sins, my sins, my sins!” It wasn’t long before Mr. Campbell pointed him to Christ and he was assured from the word of God that he was saved. Miss Taylor had been praying for and witnessing to people in that place for four years, and God was answering her prayers.
God’s saving grace was at work right from the beginning of his time there. He was able to have meetings in the old hospital that was being used as a place of storage since the new Cottage Hospital was built. Every night he had a Gospel meeting and people came to listen. God was at work! One of the first ones saved was Olive Belbin, who when her boyfriend Wallace Buckle, came back from Seven Islands, Quebec where he had been working, got him to come to a meeting with her. He was so upset at the challenging message of George Campbell that he tore the door off the hinges when he went out that night, determined to prove George Campbell wrong. That story will be told later.
Mr. Campbell was asked to have meetings in Stan and Elsie Trimm’s house at English Point, and some more were saved there. While he was there, Mr. Will Earle from L’Anse au Loup came on his dog team to ask George Campbell if he would go to that community and preach the Gospel. Mr. Earle and two of his married sons, Spofford and Ralph Earle had been saved a few years earlier when Mr. Mitchell, a faithful preacher of the Gospel from the Pentecostals had meetings there. He had also preached in Red Bay and had built a small church building there.
Mr. Earle arranged for Mr. Campbell to use the old school in that community for Gospel meetings. The Earle’s didn’t have a big house but welcomed George to stay with them for which he was glad. He slept in comfort on the day bed in the kitchen with smooth, soft caribou skins for warm blankets in cold nights. There were some young people who were saved at that time including Francis Barney, Cornelia Linstead, Ellen Earle and quite a number of others. The young girls who were new believers began meeting together to pray for their parents and others to be saved. For a while nothing was happening and George was inclined to stop the meetings, but Spofford Earle said, “Don’t quit Mr. Campbell. God is going to do something yet.” Sure enough, a number of men and women were soon saved and formed the backbone of the work there. God was at work!
One night, Mr. Pierce Linstead who had been attending the Gospel meetings, heard Mr. Campbell preaching about the woman in the parable in Luke 15. During the course of his remarks, he made this statement, “She had to move the furniture that was in the way, until she finally found the lost coin.” About that time, one of Pierce Linstead’s daughters had to be taken to the hospital in critical condition, and then another serious event took place in his family. As he came to the door of the old school, he heard the young women who had gathered to pray, one of whom was his own daughter, praying out loud for him by name. That smote him to the heart and the Lord saved him.
When he told his testimony after that, he almost always said, “God had to move the furniture in my house until Jesus found me.” He was a man of a cheerful personality and a positive attitude. David Jones, a missionary in Chile, South America, who visited Labrador several times said of brother Pierce, “He has the gift of cheer!” God raised up spiritual leaders in that assembly when He designated Pierce Linstead, Spofford Earle and Wesley Linstead to guide His people.
After being there awhile, George became quite aware that God had been working by His Spirit through others before he got there. Beside Miss Taylor, Mrs. Suz Fowler from West Ste. Modeste had been saved a number of years before. Some of the old Methodist preachers in past years had been faithful preachers of the Gospel and the people knew the straight forward preaching of Mr. Campbell was like the old-fashioned preaching the older folks on that shore had heard years ago. The same denomination that once was faithful to the Gospel, had watered down the messages so much that the younger generation of people didn’t know anything about what salvation really was. All through that winter George Campbell preached the Gospel and precious souls were saved in the Straits area of Labrador. God had His man ready and prepared to reach out in the Gospel, and He had suited Mr. George Campbell to fill the need for that time and in that place.
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However, in all of us there are some things we are either not cut out to do, or else we haven’t got the background of experience to do. When George Campbell went to Labrador, he fit in with things the best he could, and so thought he needed some mode of transportation of his own rather than walking or depending on other people to take him around. Somehow, he persuaded someone to let him drive a dog team hoping to go up to English Point from L’Anse au Loup which is around five or six miles, and not a comfortable walk, in cold weather during the winter. So, he headed up the shore with the dog team and had gone about a mile when he met another team coming the other direction. The two words used to direct the dogs either right or left, were “Yahda, Yahda, Yahda!” for one way, and “Tukk, Tukk, Tukk, for the other. And of course, one has to be loud and firm or the dogs don’t pay attention.
At that meeting on the trail, either George said the wrong word, the dogs didn’t hear him, or they knew he wasn’t the boss. So, the two teams met and tangled. Now you can imagine what a time they had with sixteen Labrador huskies, each one on a single line and harness of their own! They could travel like a fan in that way with some on a short leash and then gradually getting longer up to the lead dog with the longest line. Anyway, the result of that encounter made it plain to George that he would either have to ask for rides, or walk.
Letters would go to his mother and father in California, telling of souls being saved, and as they were both new believers themselves, they shared in his joy. George Campbell had never done much singing in his life, and never having heard hymns sung when he was young, there were not too many that he knew the melody to. Over sixty years later, visitors coming from the mainland find themselves singing out of sync and off tune to the hearty singing on the Labrador coast. For visitors who haven’t been there or who don’t come very often, they are best to sing quietly, follow the tunes sung there, and be content to follow along and listen to the words. One or two mainland preachers have tried to lead their own singing, or to teach them, “the right tune” and either find themselves singing alone or else drowned out by the real singing of the saints.
During the summer of 1957, the crew on the “M.G.M.” after stopping at the communities on the Labrador side of the Straits of Belle Isle, travelled farther north. There were varying degrees of interest in the communities which seemed to reflect the opinions of the local businessmen, the clergy or those who were lay-ministers who took church services when the minister was not there. In each settlement they had open air meetings, preaching the Gospel from the front deck of the boat. The singing of Gospel hymns by Alex Morrison continued to be a great opening for gathering the people to the wharves. God was at work!
The nurse at the Mary’s River Cottage Hospital was Ruth May, another faithful Christian who was nursing there as a service for the Lord. A good hearing was found at Square Islands, the summer fishing place for people who lived in the winter, in the more sheltered areas, farther in St. Michael’s Bay. Ben Powell, a merchant there, was one of the sons of Mr. Herb Powell who was part of the assembly at Carbonear. His father-in- law, Alex Campbell of Scottish descent, was a believer and his family and almost all of the other people living in that area, had real respect for the Bible, and for God. That area was a real point of interest in follow-up for the brothers on the boat.
Different places on the coast, the farther down they went, responded well to the preaching of the Gospel and so those on board the boat felt the season of travelling the Labrador coast was well-spent. They went as far as Goose Bay, which was quite a different story, because of the variety of armed forces that were stationed in that place. During the war years, the Americans built a major airport there as an alternate stopping place for air travel to and from Europe. The USA Airforce had a base there. Canadians had a base there. Other countries sent their pilots there for training for low level flying and flying in cold weather. All the things that accompany the influx of military bases world-wide, were at Goose Bay. It wasn’t until nearly forty years later, a consistent Gospel effort was made in that small city by Wallace Buckle.
While they were down on that part of the Labrador shore preaching in the open air in one larger center, a message was sent from a small place asking the preachers to come there as soon as they could. They responded to the message right away, and when they got to that small community, they were asked to speak to a man who was dying and he knew he wasn’t ready to meet God. Mr. Bert Joyce moved to his bedside and asked him what he needed most. The reply was forgiveness of his sins.
Mr. Joyce opened his Bible so the man could see that he was reading and speaking from God’s word, and he began to read to him about what God said about sin. Then he read what God has done about sin through the death of Jesus. Then reading John 3:16 and Acts 16:30 and 31 what God expected of the needy sinners. The anxious soul saw right away through the word of God and the comments Bert Joyce made, why he needed to be saved, how he could be saved and how he could make that plain to himself and others. He did confess with his mouth the Lord Jesus and was saved. Soon after he died. He was saved just in time.
More and more the confirmation of the outreach of the Gospel by traveling by boat was evident. Not every community responds the same. It often depended on what the merchants thought, or some of the leading people in the community, as to how the community as a whole accepted the Gospel. Some communities were openly favorable to the Gospel and others were opposed. That was the same all around the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. George Campbell was committed heart and soul to the work on the Labrador coast and couldn’t wait to get backup into the Straits area to continue to seek souls for the Lord to whom he had been preaching for over a year. God was working in the area, but God was also working on his servant. He had never spent much time in one place in his life, and now he realized that when a man preaches the Gospel and souls are saved, they are almost like his own children. “Though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel.”
In five years, God changed a tough Marine who had been traveling the world, to a spiritual father who dearly loved those who the Lord saved through his preaching.
I believe this would be an appropriate place to speak about the heart of George Douglas Campbell towards those to whom the Lord of the harvest sent him to take the Gospel to on the Labrador coast. Those of you who knew him when he was in his late twenties, and for the twenty-five years until the Lord took him home, will remember a man who could talk to you straight from the shoulder. Sometimes he might have hurt your feelings, but that was because he had your best spiritual welfare in his heart.
In the spring of 1984, he had been in Vancouver with his wife and daughters for a year. His son was graduating from Memorial University that year, and he would have been the first one to do so in his family. For some reason George wasn’t feeling good, and when I was talking to him on the phone, he indicated he wouldn’t be able to come to the graduation ceremony. However, he did come alone on the airplane to St. John’s to rejoice with his only son on his educational accomplishment.
When I picked him up at the airport, he was extremely tired and went right to bed when we got to our house. He did enjoy seeing that milestone in the life of his son, but then he told me, there is something wrong with me that I have to find out about, but we will not be back to Newfoundland this summer. I offered to take him back to the airport so he could go right home, but he said, “No. I must go to Labrador again one more time.” I never thought much about what he said at the time, but a month or so later I found out what he was afraid of.
He wept tears, and his heart was soft, as he spoke to me of those who the Lord had saved through his preaching. When he left for Labrador, he felt that was his last time seeing those people to whom his “soul was knit” for twenty-five years. He dearly loved the Lord’s people there and it was the joy of his heart to be there, even though he was engaged in the Lord’s work in other places as well. It was on the Labrador that he became his own man. It was there he became the Lord’s own servant in a special way. It was there he met his wife, Mona. It was there his son was born, and where he lived with his whole family for the early years of their life. All of the saints of God there were dear to his heart and he was delighted, even when in his pain as he was nearing death, when two of his dear friends came from Labrador to be with him when he left this life to go to be with the Lord.