Those who have a religious experience that opens their hearts to Jesus, will not cherish pride, but will feel that they are under obligation to God to be missionaries as was Jesus. They will seek to save that which is lost. They will not, in Pharisaical pride and haughtiness, withdraw themselves from any class of humanity, but will feel with the apostle Paul, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.” . . .
God cares no less for the souls of the African race that may be won to serve Him than He cared for Israel. He requires far more of His people than they have given Him in missionary work among the people of the South of all classes, and especially the colored race. Are we not under even greater obligation to labor for the colored people than for those who have been more highly favored? . . . The truth must be carried to them. They have souls to save as well as we. . . .
Sin rests upon us as a church because we have not44made greater effort for the salvation of souls among the colored people. . . .
Let us do what we can to send to this class laborers who will work in Christ’s name, who will not fail nor be discouraged. We should educate colored men to be missionaries among their own people. We should recognize talent where it exists among that people, and those who have ability should be placed where they may receive an education. . . .
There is a large work to be done in educating this ignorant and downtrodden class. We must do more unselfish missionary work than we have done in the Southern States, not picking out merely the most favorable fields. God has children among the colored people all over our land. They need to be enlightened. There are unpromising ones, it is true, and you will find similar degradation among the white people; but even among the lower classes there are souls who will embrace the truth. Some will not be steadfast. Feelings and habits that have been confirmed by lifelong practice will be hard to correct; it will not be easy to implant ideas of purity and holiness, refinement and elevation. But God regards the capacity of every man; He marks the surroundings, and sees how these have formed the character, and He pities these souls.
God will accept many more workers from the humble walks of life if they will fully consecrate themselves to His service. Men and women should be coming up to carry the truth into all the highways and byways of life. Not all can go through a long course of education, but if they are consecrated to God, and learn of Him, many can without this do much to bless others. Thousands would be accepted45if they would give themselves to God. Not all who labor in this line should depend upon the conferences for support. Let those who can do so, give their time, and what ability they have; let them be messengers of God’s grace, their hearts throbbing in unison with Christ’s great heart of love, their ears open to hear the Macedonian cry.
The whole church needs to be imbued with the missionary spirit; then there will be many to work unselfishly in various ways as they can, without being salaried. There is altogether too much dependence on machinery, on mechanical working. Machinery is good in its place, but do not allow it to become too complicated. I tell you that in many cases it has retarded the work, and kept out laborers who in their line could have accomplished far more than has been done by the minister who depends on sermonizing more than on ministry. Young men need to catch the missionary spirit, to be thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the message. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Work in any capacity, work where God leads you, in the line best suited to your talents, and best adapted to reach classes that have hitherto been sadly neglected. This kind of labor will develop intellectual and moral power, and adaptability to the work.
This call in 1891 to do a special work for the colored people in the South, came at a time when comparatively little had been done to carry to that field a knowledge of the three angels’ messages. In his biennial report to the General Conference of 1891, Elder
R. M. Kilgore, the superintendent of our work in the Southern field, rejoiced in a large percentage of growth during the two-year period covered by his summary; and yet, for the entire district, embracing Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, he was able to report a total of only “seven ministers, two licentiates, twenty-seven churches, 556 members, and tithes paid, $4,500.49.”
He further declared: “The State of South Carolina has not yet been supplied with even a canvasser, and so far as we know, there is not a soul in the State who is heeding the message. But little is being done in Mississippi and Alabama. The wants of these States in this respect cannot be fully appreciated or understood by those who have not been on the ground. To say that they are destitute does not express it.”
At this time Seventh-day Adventists had no educational institutions in the South, for either white or colored people. After referring to “the greatest call and most imperative demand of all for the advancement of the third angel’s message in the Southern field,” namely, “a school where workers may be developed on Southern soil to labor in this field,” Elder Kilgore said further:
“In all the educational work connected with the denomination no provision has been made for the development of workers to labor especially among the colored people. Here is one race of people within our own borders, for whom we as a people have done very little.”
“We therefore urge upon this conference the consideration of this matter, and ask this body to make some provision for the training of workers from the rank and file of this people, to labor effectually with those of their own race. We repeat, that in no section of the country can there be a more pressing demand, or,47a louder call for school advantages, than that which comes from this portion of our land.”
In closing his report, the superintendent outlined a plan which he declared “would not only advance the work in this Southern field, but would also be a great blessing to those who engage in it.” “I refer,” he said, “to the demand for experienced men and women who are dying spiritually in some of our churches, because they find no field of usefulness in which they can devote their ability to helping others. Cannot something be done to call out this latent talent in our churches, and locate these brethren and sisters in different places, where like beacon lights they may be the means, in the hands of God, of bringing the light of the last warning message to many cities, towns, and neighborhoods where churches may be raised up, and sustained through their instrumentalities?”
“There is indeed a loud call, an open door, throughout the South, to many of our devoted and conscientious brethren and sisters; and we ask, Why cannot Battle Creek, and others of our large churches, be prevailed upon to supply some of this demand? Some who have gone are now doing good work, and are greatly blessed. We are certain that others who will go with proper motives, and labor with wisdom, will be richly rewarded for the sacrifice they might make in this direction.”
Two years passed. At the next General Conference session, when Elder Kilgore was called upon to submit a report of the progress made among the colored people in the South, he said:
“The Southern District is a field peculiar to itself. As missionary territory it affords ample opportunity for most aggressive work, and offers to consecrated men and women an open door to ‘show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.’ We are moved and our sympathies are stirred by the Macedonian cries for help in foreign fields, and48our hearts are especially touched by the plaintive pleas for light we hear from those in heathen darkness.
“But what have we to say, and what are we doing to answer the imperative demands made upon us from the destitute mission fields within our own borders—the loud calls at our doors? Can we excuse ourselves if we permit these appeals which are echoed and re-echoed in our ears year after year from the millions in our own land, to go unheeded without more active and aggressive work on our part? The Lord has spoken to us in regard to this field, and especially concerning our duty to the colored people. . . .”
“Now what are we doing? At present there is but one ordained minister and one licensed missionary laboring among the colored millions of the South. There is not a school where one of them can receive any Bible instruction; and only one where even the common branches are taught by our people. One of our sisters, at Graysville, Tenn., has opened the doors of her home and is teaching a small class of colored youth. We plead most earnestly that this conference take immediate action in regard to this matter. We must do something toward educating workers to labor among this people, and to provide facilities whereby the children and youth of our colored brethren and sisters may have equal advantages with those of fairer complexion. . . .
“Workers who can most effectually labor in Southern fields and for Southern people, of both races, must be educated and trained on Southern soil. Many of the people are poor, and cannot send their children to our more northern schools; while those better situated prefer to accept of facilities not so good nearer home. Here is a most excellent opportunity for philanthropic men and women to bestow their charities in building much-needed houses, and aid in supporting teachers, that the poor, as well as those better situated, may be taught the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
“Where are the consecrated men and women who will go forth as teachers, and enter these destitute places49as true missionaries of Christ? Where are those of riper years, our good fathers and mothers in Battle Creek and other large churches in the Northern States, who are willing to give up the comforts of life, the more pleasant surroundings they are now enjoying, and locate in the towns and cities of the South, kindle a fire, and keep it burning on the altar of their sacrifice till their work is done? How many there are whose lamps of spiritual life would revive if they would go forth into these highways and hedges as workers with Christ; thus co-operating with the angel which shall lighten the whole earth with the glory of God.”
The obligation resting upon the Christian members of the white race to seek to lift the colored people of the South to higher standards of education and of home life, has been fully recognized by many leaders of thought throughout the South.
In one of the papers read before the Georgia State Sociological Society, it was declared that “a heavy responsibility rests upon the white race to bend a portion of its energies to the moral uplifting of this [the Negro] race. This people lies like Lazarus, full of sores at the gate of Dives, and woe to Dives if he heed not! The world’s acknowledged greatest Teacher laid down a principle applicable not only to individual, but to sociological development, when He said, ‘He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life shall find it.’ If the white race seeks supremacy as an end in itself, and overrides justice in so doing, it will lose what it seeks. . . . We must be honest; we must be just; we must try to uplift this people, and one reward will be that we will be uplifted ourselves.”
Dr. J. Y. Joyner, formerly Superintendent of Public50Instruction for the State of North Carolina, referring to this same question of Christian duty, writes:
“The weaker and more helpless the race, the louder the call to the strong to help. The humbler and more hopeless the child, the more binding the duty to elevate. Duty may begin at home, duty may begin with our own race, but it does not end there. So long as there dwells among us a weaker, a child-race, placed here in the providence of God through no desire of their own and without their consent, our stronger race owes this race a duty which it dare not fail to discharge, if it would escape the retribution of neglected duty, the penalty of violated law. We must do justice to this weaker race. In the light of the manifest teachings of the Man of Galilee, I can see it in no other way. I shall declare it as I believe it.”
The Hon. Dunbar Rowland, Director of the Department of Archives and History of the State of Mississippi, in a paper read before the Alumni Association of the University of Mississippi, June 3, 1902, declared:
“If there is no higher motive than self-interest, that demands that the Southern people do everything in their power to make the Negro an industrious, honest, self-supporting citizen. If the people of the North will help them do that in a fair, sympathetic way, their aid will always be welcomed.”
Mr. Rowland quotes at length Governor Longino, of Mississippi, who in his inaugural address said of the Negro:
“He is of our citizenship, and being of a weaker race, becomes a ward of the white people of the State, and they should not violate the trust by taking from him the benign influences of education, which help to make him a better man, a better citizen, and a better Christian.”
Senator Hoke Smith, while Governor of Georgia, declared:
“Could we be so blind, we in the Southern section, as to wish fully half of our population to grow up in ignorance? But education does not apply to the mind alone; it is the leading forth of the child, in mind and character, to nobler service.”
“Are we so blind that we would be willing to leave nearly half of our population groveling in darkness, mentally and morally, and hope to surround ourselves by the light? . . .
“As intelligent and Christian character pervades the men and women of our section they will become unanimous in favor of educating the mind and heart of the Negro children as well as the mind and heart of the white children.”
The late Dr. Walter B. Hill, beloved throughout the South, wrote:
“All history teaches that injustice injures and deteriorates the individual or nation that practises it, while on the other hand, it develops patience,—the nerve of the soul,—tenacity, and strength in the man or the people upon whom it is inflicted.” And he added: “The South is ready to bring to this problem not only a spirit of justice, but of tenderness. I do not mean ideal justice, for this would be impossible, all at once, between races that had lately sustained the relation of master and slave, but I mean such approximation to justice as is possible for sincere and good men under the limitations of the case.”
The appeal of Mrs. E. G. White to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination in 1891, seconded by the earnest pleas of the General Conference Superintendent in the Southern field, met with a response on the part of52some. During the General Conference of 1893, wise provision was made for the strengthening and development of a general training-school for white workers, at Graysville, Tenn., and, in addition, it was recommended that “local schools for white students and colored students be established at such places in the South, and on such a plan, as may be deemed best by the General Conference Committee after careful investigation of all the circumstances.”
A year later, early in 1894, the district superintendent was able to write encouragingly of the progress made. “The work among the colored race in the district has been more active, and very encouraging results are already realized. At Knoxville, Tenn., and Lexington, Ky., two very worthy companies have been added to our numbers from the ranks of this people. At both places the work was done in a quiet way, from house to house, by Bible readings and parlor instruction. Sabbath-schools have been organized, and at Knoxville a church has been organized. With the more systematic and aggressive work now being set on foot by the General Conference, we look for more satisfactory results to follow our efforts in behalf of this people.”
In view of the special problems met with in the South, the brethren of the General Conference requested Elder H. S. Shaw to take the oversight of the work among the colored people. Elder Shaw began this work in 1893.
It was during the year 1894 that Elder J. E. White and his associates, impressed with the special needs of the work in the South, undertook an important mission in Mississippi. They planned to labor for the colored people as self-supporting missionaries, but early in their experience in the field the officers of the General Conference drew close to them, and assured them of support. In a letter written Dec. 17, 1894, the founder of this special mission in behalf of the colored race wrote:53“We are now under the direct control and pay of the General Conference, the same as any other laborer in one of their fields. We expect soon to meet Elders Kilgore and Shaw and to plan regarding future work.”
Under the prospering hand of God, the work among the colored people advanced steadily, though slowly, during the years 1895-1897. At the beginning of this period, there were but six persons giving their full time to this work; early in 1897, this number had increased to seventeen. During this time a great impetus had been given the work by the publication of several appeals from the pen of Mrs. E. G. White in the columns of the “Review.” The officers of the General Conference, desiring to place this work on a more permanent basis, led out in the establishment of a training-school near Huntsville, Alabama, for colored workers. This school, known as the Oakwood Industrial Training-school, has been supported largely by appropriations from the General Conference treasury, and has proved an important factor in the development of the work for the colored people, throughout the Southland.
Portions of the appeals referred to, will be reprinted in the next article, that all may know just what was called for at that time.
AN APPEAL FOR THE SOUTHERN FIELD
Dear Brethren and Sisters in America:
I would appeal to you in behalf of the Southern field. If we consulted our own ease and pleasure, we would not desire to enter this field; but we are not to consult our own ease. . . .
The Southern field is beset with difficulties, and should I present the field to you as it has been presented to me, many of you would draw back, and say, “No, I cannot enter such a field.” But the condition of the colored race is no more disheartening than was the condition of the world when Christ left heaven to work for fallen man. . . .
Since the slaves gained their freedom at terrible loss of life both to the North and to the South, they have been greatly neglected by those who professed to know God, and as a result thousands of them have failed to gain spiritual freedom. But shall this indifference continue? Shall not decided efforts be made to save them? Sin has degraded and corrupted the human family, but Christ did not leave men to perish in their degradation. . . .
Why should not Seventh-day Adventists become true laborers together with God in seeking to save the souls of the colored race? Instead of a few, why should not many go forth to labor in this long-neglected field? Where are the families who will become missionaries, and who will engage in labor in this field? Where are the men who have means and experience so that they can go forth to these people, and work for them just where they are? There are55men who can educate them in agricultural lines, who can teach the colored people to sow seed and plant orchards. There are others who can teach them to read, and can give them an object-lesson from their own life and example. Show them what you yourself can do to gain a livelihood, and it will be an education to them. Are we not called upon to do this very work? Are there not many who need to learn to love God supremely and their fellow-men as themselves? In the Southern field are many thousands of people who have souls to save or to lose. Are there not many among those who claim to believe the truth who will go forth into this field to do the work for which Christ gave up His ease, His riches, and His life?
Christ gave up all in order that He might bring salvation to every people, nation, and tongue. He bridged the gulf that sin had made, in order that through His merits man might be reconciled to God. Why is there not an army of workers enlisted under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel, ready to go forth to enlighten those who are ignorant and depraved? Why do we not go forth to bring souls out of darkness into light? Why do we not teach the perishing to believe in Christ as their personal Saviour, and aid them to see Christ by faith, and wash in the fountain that has been opened to cleanse away the sins of the world? . . .
Are there not men, women, and youth who will go forth to establish schools, and thus become teachers to instruct the colored people so that they may be enabled to read the word of God? We must teach56them to read God’s word, or they will become the ready dupes of false shepherds that misinterpret the Scriptures, and that manufacture doctrines and teach traditions which will lead them into the paths of perdition. There are preachers and teachers among the colored people who are addicted to licentious habits; and how can they understand the binding claims of the law of God, when the standard of righteousness is not revealed and exalted before their eyes by the precept and example of their teachers? We must go among them, and show them how to honor and obey God’s law, in order that they may be prepared to have a part in the new earth. . . .
Many of the colored people are among the lowly who will receive the word of God; and shall not this long-neglected work of enlightening the colored people be entered into perseveringly, and be carried forward all the more diligently because it has been so long neglected? We must do a work for the colored race that has not yet been done. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” . . .
God cares for the colored people, and if we would co-operate with Him for the salvation of their souls, we must care for them, too, and become laborers together with Him. We need to repent before God, because we have neglected missionary work in the most abandoned part of God’s moral vineyard. . . . We should rouse up to the interest that true Christians ought to feel for those who are depressed and morally degraded. . . .
Christ said, “They that be whole need not a physician,57but they that are sick.” We cannot leave souls for whom Christ died, to be the prey of Satan’s temptations. We cannot abandon this great flock to their ignorance, want, suffering, and corruption. This would not be doing the will of God. We cannot heap advantages upon ourselves and upon those who are not in need, and pass by those who are in utter want, and be approved of God. This neglect is charged against those who have had great light, who have had marvelous opportunities, and who yet leave so large a portion of God’s moral vineyard unworked. For years Satan has been sowing his tares among the colored people, and the field cannot be worked as easily now as it could have been worked years ago. But there should be no delay now. Reproach is brought upon Jesus Christ when those who profess to be carrying the last message of mercy to the world pass this field by. Christ did not pass by the needy and suffering. He united works of mercy with the message of salvation He came to bear to men. He engaged in a constant, untiring ministry, and worked for the perishing and sorrowful. He prefaced His message of love by deeds of ministry and beneficence, leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps.
We need men who will become leaders in home and foreign missionary enterprises. We need men whose sympathies are not congealed, but whose hearts go out to the perishing that are nigh and afar off. The ice that binds about souls that are frozen up with selfishness, needs to be melted away, so that every brother shall realize that he is his brother’s keeper.58Then every one will go forth to help his neighbor to see the truth, and to serve God in an acceptable service. Then those who profess the name of Christ will aid others in the formation of a Christlike character. If every one would work in Christ’s lines, much would be done to change the condition that now exists among the poor and distressed. Pure religion and undefiled would gleam forth as a bright and shining light. . . .
True religion will induce its advocates to go forth into the highways and byways of life. It will lead them to help the suffering, and enable them to be faithful shepherds, going forth into the wilderness to seek and to save the lost, to lead back the perishing sheep and lambs.
The neglect of the colored race by the American nation is charged against them. Those who claim to be Christians have a work to do in teaching them to read, and to follow various trades and engage in different business enterprises. Many among this race have noble traits of character and keen perception of mind. . . .
After their deliverance from captivity, . . . we should have sent missionaries into this field to teach the ignorant. We should have issued books in so simple a style that a child might have understood them, for many of them are only children in understanding. Pictures and object-lessons should have been used to present to the mind valuable ideas. Children and youth should have been educated in such a way that they could have been instructors and missionaries to their parents.
Let missionaries who are truly converted and who feel the burden of the work, seek wisdom from God, and with all the tact they can command, let them go into this field. Medical missionaries can find a field in which to relieve the distress of those who are failing under bodily ailments. They should have means so that they may clothe the naked and feed the hungry. Christian help work will do more than the preaching of sermons. There is a great need that a class of workers should go to this field who will do this kind of work. Let them meet together and relate their experiences, pray together, and hold their services, . . . in quietness, in meekness, and lowliness. . . . Let the workers be Christlike, that they may by precept and example exert an elevating influence. Let them furnish themselves with the most appropriate, simple lessons from the life of Christ to present to the people. . . . Let them present the sufferings and the sacrifice of Christ; let them hold up His righteousness and reveal His grace; let them manifest His purity and holiness of character. Workers in the Southern field will need to teach the people line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. . . .
Deeds of sympathy will be needed as well as words that will touch the heart, and leave an uneffaceable impression upon the mind. Small schools should be established in many localities, and teachers who are tender and sympathetic, who can, like the Master, be touched by suffering, should be engaged to educate old and young. Let the word of God be taught in the simplest manner. Let the pupils be led to study the lessons of Christ; for the study of the60Bible will do more to enlarge the mind and strengthen the intellect, than will any other study. Nothing will so awaken the dormant energies, and give vigor to the faculties, as coming in contact with the word of God.
There is much talent among the colored people. Their minds must be aroused, their intellects quickened into activity, that they may grasp the precious truths of the plan of salvation.
Those who love Christ will do the works of Christ. They will go forth to seek and to save that which was lost. They will not shun those who are despised, and turn aside from the colored race. They will teach them how to read and how to perform manual labor, educating them to till the soil and to follow trades of various kinds. They will put forth painstaking efforts to develop the capabilities of the people.
As a people claiming to be proclaiming the last message of mercy to the world, we cannot consistently neglect the Southern field, for it is a portion of God’s moral vineyard. . . .
We are not to wait for great men to undertake the work. We are to encourage those who have a burden to go to this field. . . . Let those in responsible positions give their sympathy to such workers, and furnish them with facilities whereby they may do the work required. Let not men in our institutions feel that it is their prerogative to tie the hands of workers at every step. Let those who have a mind to work do with their might whatsoever their hands find to do. Let those who take no part in the trying experience61of teaching the colored people, unite their petitions with those of the workers, and plead that the Holy Spirit may move upon the hearts of the workers, and aid them in doing successful work for the Master. The Lord God of Sabaoth will hear earnest prayer. He will lead those who feel their dependence upon Him, and will so guide the workers that many souls shall come to a knowledge of the truth.
Those who work in the Southern field will need to have a sanctified judgment, in order to discriminate in applying help where it will do the greatest amount of good. They should help those who will be a help to others, as well as those who may not be able to carry on very decided missionary operations. I know that it will be impossible for workers to remain in this field in a barehanded condition, and do the work that is required to be done in the Southern States. It will be necessary that a fund shall be created, so that the workers may have means with which to help those who are in poverty and distress; and this practical ministry will open their hearts to respond to the truth. . . .
We are to lift up our eyes, and look upon the fields that are white already for the harvest. For years we have passed by the Southern field, and have looked upon the colored race, feebly deploring their condition; but our eyes have been fastened upon more promising fields. But now God’s people should lift up their eyes, and look upon this destitute field that has not been worked. The missionary spirit must62prevail, if we form characters after the pattern, Christ Jesus. . . .
Here is a field in America that is nigh at hand. One is to sow the seed, another to reap the harvest, another to bind it up. There is a variety of work, which must be done now while the angels continue to hold the four winds. Many who desire to do missionary work may labor in this field. There is no time to be lost. As men, women, and children among the colored people receive the truth, they should be instructed by those who are imbued with the Spirit of God, and educated and directed in such a way that they may help others.
The Southern field is right in the shadow of your own doors. It is as land that has had a touch of the plow here and there, and then has been left by the plowman, who has been attracted to some easier or more promising field; but those who work the Southern field must make up their minds to practise self-denial. Those who would aid in this work must also practise self-denial, in order that facilities may be provided whereby the field may be worked. God calls for missionaries, and asks us to take up our neglected duties. Let farmers, financiers, builders, and those who are skilled in various arts and crafts, go to this field to improve lands, and to build humble cottages for themselves and their neighbors.
It is essential . . . that families should settle in the South, and as missionary workers they can, by precept and example, be a living power. . . .
The most successful methods are to encourage63families who have a missionary spirit, to settle in the Southern States, and work with the people.
The Southern field is a hard field, a very unsightly field, because it has been so long uncultivated. All who take hold of the work in the cause of God and suffering humanity will have to be one in their designs and plans. They will have plenty of trials and discouragements to meet, but they must not allow these to hinder or dishearten or handicap them in their work. In love for Christ, who died to save this poor, downtrodden people, in love for the souls of the perishing thousands, they are to labor for this worse than heathen country.
Brethren, you have a work to do which you have left undone. A long-neglected field stands out in plain view before God to shame the people who have light and advanced truth, but who have done so little to remove the stones and the rubbish that have been accumulating for so long a time. Those who have enjoyed every privilege and blessing have passed by on the other side. As a Christian people, God has called you to prepare the way of the Lord in this unpromising field. . . .
In His providence, God is saying, as He has been saying for years past: Here is a field for you to work. Those who are wise in agricultural lines, in tilling the soil, those who can construct simple, plain buildings, may help. They can do good work, and at the same time show in their characters the high morality which it is the privilege of this people to attain to. Teach64them the truth in simple object-lessons. Make everything upon which they lay their hands a lesson in character-building.
The South is calling to God for temporal and spiritual food, but it has been so long neglected that hearts have become hard as stone. God’s people need now to arouse and redeem their sinful neglect and indifference of the past. These obligations now rest heavily upon the churches, and God will graciously pour out His Spirit upon those who will take up their God-given work.