BATTLE CREEK by James White

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, May 6, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 19

BATTLE CREEK.

By James White

The city of Battle Creek, Mich., as the seat of our College and Sanitarium, and the principal head-quarters of our publishing work, has become a very interesting and important point to S. D. Adventists. Here is located one of the most complete publishing houses in this country; here is the largest and most complete health institution of its kind on the globe, and here is located an institution of learning, possessing in itself moral and religious force enjoyed by few.

And it is only a quarter of a century since our work of publishing commenced here on a hand press, in a small wooden building, and the then little church at Battle Creek met in their house of worship, 18x22. As the work has increased at this point, a second, third, fourth, and fifth publishing building of brick has been put up, and a second, third, and fourth house of worship has been built, each larger than the preceding one. Meantime, the subjects of health reform and education have been agitated, resulting in the establishment of the College and Sanitarium.

In the prosecution of this work, the church at Battle Creek has borne very heavy burdens. And when the fact is taken into the account, that the entire membership of the Battle Creek church is composed of the poorer class, with very few exceptions, and that nearly all earn their bread as day laborers, the amount that this church has given of their hard-earned means seems incredible. At the time of the last printed report, the entire State of Michigan had taken stock in the Battle Creek College to the amount of $22,384.16. Of this sum the B. C. church took $11,363.66, which is $343.16 more than has been taken by all others in the State.

The church at Battle Creek has taken stock in the Sanitarium and the Publishing Association in amounts nearly in the same proportion as the foregoing figures of College stock. And in the last noble effort for a house of worship of sufficient size to seat the congregation, made large by the location of our institutions at this point, the church at Battle Creek has given $11,650.28; while all others in Michigan have paid $2,637.27. During the same time, this church has paid tithes into the Michigan treasury, to the amount of $1,725, and has given to the support of the poor during the past three years, a sum not less than $1,500. And a large share of this last amount has been given by this church to support the poor who have drifted into Battle Creek from other States.

The following figures represent what the Battle Creek church alone has given to our institutions and the several branches of the cause:—

College ........................................ $11,363.66 Sanitarium ..................................... 9,450.00 Publishing Association .......................... 1,865.00 Tabernacle ..................................... 11,650.28 Total .......................................... $34,328.94

Add to this, what this church has given to raise a book fund, and for missions, at home and abroad, tract work, and for the poor in their midst the last ten years, and the entire sum of their liberalities would amount to $50,000, besides the many thousands the church has put into the treasury of the Michigan Conference.

We give the foregoing figures and facts for the information of the friends of the cause in other States, and those of other churches in Michigan.

We appeal for equality in bearing the burdens of the way. Why should the church at Battle Creek have the care and support of the poor from other States, and other churches in Michigan? Why will people, calling themselves S. D. Adventists, move to Battle Creek uninvited, and before making their condition and wants known? And why will our brethren in other States, and other parts of Michigan, consent that their poor should drift in here? And why do they not take measures, either to take them to the places they left in coming here, or furnish means to help them here?

We do not object to brethren moving to Battle Creek, if those will come who can help bear the burdens. We want men of piety, means, and of mind, here at the heart of the work. We have no use for those who come here to drive sharp bargains and improve their financial condition in taking advantage of the fact that our institutions are located here. Persons of this class have given next to nothing, and yet they seem willing to reap advantages from the very institutions where our faithful brethren have made great sacrifices.

The church at Battle Creek has acted a part in building up our institutions worthy of the sympathy and confidence of our people everywhere. And we are happy to report that the working condition of the Publishing Association, the College, and Sanitarium, has never been as good as at the present time. It was necessary, in order to make ample provisions to prosecute the increasing work, to make debts. And that which increased the pressure of those debts was the hard times which immediately followed. But with the improved times, came lower rates of interest and greatly increased patronage.

The Sanitarium is worth to-day, after the payment of all its debts, two dollars for every one taken in stock. The Publishing Association has two dollars fifty cents for each dollar taken, and the College stock is worth one dollar twenty-five cents on every dollar.

Those who have charge of these institutions are faithful men of God, close thinkers, judicious managers, and hard workers. They should have the confidence of our people everywhere. And those connected with these institutions labor excessively hard for small wages. Those ministers and outside workers generally who enjoy the freedom and rest of change, and contrast their labor and privations with the supposed advantages of a position at Battle Creek, greatly deceive themselves, and in expressions of murmuring cast an influence against the work at Battle Creek, which is as cruel as the grave; but God may forgive them because of their ignorance of the facts in the case.

We claim to be an impartial witness in this case. We have been here at head-quarters much of the time during the past twenty-five years, and know the history of matters here better than any other one of our preachers. And we have also traveled extensively, and are acquainted with the working of things in all the field. And while we may admit that there are exceptions to the general statements relative to faithfulness on the part of the members of the Battle Creek church, it is proper and just to state that the unworthy exceptions have generally been with those who have moved to Battle Creek for selfish purposes. And, after looking over the entire field—and we are acquainted with it all—we come to the conclusion that those who have withdrawn their sympathy and support from our institutions and work at Battle Creek, under a spirit of prejudice and fault-finding, would not do as much for the cause, or manage as well, were they here.

J. W.